In an article in the Harvard Business Review, Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, provides some timely insight.

Bezos comments that “It helps to base your strategy on things that won’t change.”

It took me a moment to consume that idea. I spent over 20 years in the computer industry where all you think about is change, what’s next, and what is everybody else doing. Instead of just asking his team to create the next breakthrough, Bezos asks “What’s not going to change in the next five to ten years?”

“At Amazon we’re always trying to figure that out because you can really spin up flywheels around those things. All the energy you invest in them today will still be paying you dividends ten years from now. Whereas if you base your strategy first and foremost on more transitory things — who your competitors are, what kind of technologies are available and so on — those things are going to change so rapidly that you’re going to change your strategy very rapidly, too.”

This is about getting back to core competencies, and focus. What advantage do you have in the marketplace? How can you keep building on it so that it will keep giving you returns for years instead of constantly spinning wheels to come up with something new?

You can get the summary of the complete article here (or purchase the article from HBR.org) Show me more »

Top Five Reasons a Small Business Should Blog

1. Reveal the company’s personality. Your audience wants to know more about you than your product or service. They want to relate to your style and personality, and they want to know what’s important to you.
2. Become more transparent. As they say, “tell, don’t sell.” Provide any information that audiences will find useful or important. Explain why you prefer online customer service over phone calls, where you source materials, why you’re in this business, and other revealing details.
3. Open a dialogue with customers. Make sure a comments section is available on the blog so that readers can respond and interact. Customers reveal more of what they think online than they do in person or through formal channels. It’s a great learning opportunity.
4. Differentiate yourself from insular competitors. Be the company customers can interact with, offer ideas to, and relate to. Be open to outside input.
5. Attract more customers. By broadening your communications, you will attract more customers who are searching online for information on your market or product type. Be the information authority and customers will come to you.

Top 5 tips for small company blogs

1. Ensure the CEO writes his/her own blog. It must be authentic, and it’s worth their time to better connect with stakeholders, and enable outsiders to identify with the company.
2. Allow employees to blog. Set up a public discourse policy to ensure rules are followed, then let employees express their experiences and knowledge. They will draw a broader audience to your company and products.
3. Don’t hire a PR agency to blog for you. That’s not authentic and people will sense it.
4. Do market the blog on your corporate Web site, in email marketing campaigns, and of course through general search and blog search sites.
5. Be informative and interesting. Write in an informal tone that draws people in and makes them feel a part of the conversation.
Show me more »

If Tmobile, Verizon, and AT&T have it their way, we will likely never see the power and functionality in mobile phones that marketers are clamoring for. Mobile phones are the computer (credit card and of course phone) of the future. They can — and will — do it all. However, possibly not in the U.S.

Google’s attempt to change the rules will enable cellphones that work across cellular carriers — meaning the phone offers the value add, and the service is more of a commodity. Cellphones will come with (or make available) hundreds of applications and opt-in services. Consumers will be able to sign up with any company at any time to receive announcements, coupons, information, or other goodies.

The number of innovative services available on the cellphone will explode. Credit card or debit functionality, bar code reader (for more product information), video on demand, are just a few ideas that have been floating around.

Advertisers will be able to advertise seamlessly (they have to jump through hoops on fire at this point in time), offer free services, or valuable information.

Although it’s a lot more fun to root for the little guy, in this case, I’d really like to see Google win.

The cellular carriers will loose their iron-fisted control over the marketplace. And that will be oh so very good for all of us. Free markets, more innovation. Show me more »

Of all the change Web 2.0 has created, the biggest impact to business has been the open developer model. Apple just announced it will release a software developer kit (SDK) in a few months for the iPhone (WSJ article), a famously closed platform. And MySpace just announced (Reuter article) it will broaden its third party software model to include an SDK anyone can use (not just a select few key developers chosen by MySpace management).

Facebook has proven the market wants open platforms. Its growth from 28M visitors in May when it first offered its developer kit to 47M today — just 5 months later is astounding. Over 6000 applications have been developed for the Facebook platform in that short time.

The model for third-party developed applications has been around for a long, long time. What makes it so powerful now? Wikis, social sites, blogs, and podcasts have made for a Web where anyone can share their ideas and work or collaborate with like minded people anywhere in the world. It fosters an environment of creativity around products and platforms people like.

Where 10 years ago a company might spend 5 years or more building up a developer base of just 1000-2000 applications, today triple the number of apps can be developed in just 5 months. If you don’t play in the open arena, you’re going to get left behind.

For a deeper look at building an open model into your company read Henry Chesbrough’s Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape. Show me more »

The trend towards traditional advertising growth may soon come to an end. The major consumer marketers who spend the big bucks on TV, print, and outdoor advertising and sponsorships are figuring out that their money is better spent creating relationships.

Nike, Coca-Cola, P&G, Anheuser Busch, Disney, and others are setting up their own social sites, virtual reality sites, WebTV and events, and they’re spending few dollars on traditional ads.

According to this New York Times article, “Nike executives say that much of the company’s future advertising spending will take the form of services for consumers, like workout advice, online communities and local sports competitions.”

But there’s more to it. Nike has really hit on something with Nike+ — a small sensor that tracks running information and posts it to your iPod or the Nike+ website. This little product (which apparently Nike doesn’t profit or make much a profit from) offers a service that keeps customers coming back to Nike over and over and over again. And of course that’s its purpose.

The reality is that TV ads are losing their ability to create trends or define what’s cool. There’s too much conversation and interaction on the Web and across blogs and social sites — and this is where the next great thing is being marketed.

What are your customers passionate about and how can you tap into that passion, and keep them coming back? Show me more »

This week BusinessWeek redesigned their print publication with a much cleaner, crisper look, and a clear focus on their core business coverage (they dumped lifestyle). The print publication has gotten back to its core competencies (just business), and its persuasive value (short to the point articles) that makes it stand out. (Good choice).

Older products tend to get over developed. (I’ve been reading BusinessWeek in print for almost 20 years.) They can lose their purpose. As a product’s scope is broadened, it has more crossover with other products expanding the competition (and giving customers more reasons to choose some other company’s more focused product).

Whether you’re vying for customers or ad revenue, focus on your core audience and core differentiator is critical. For BusinessWeek, the impact of a substantial print ad revenue decline (according to a WSJ article), combined with the move readers have made to the Web, has driven them to make the hard choices.

BusinessWeek has developed its website far beyond its print content, incorporating fresh content and a broader appeal with reader comments, columnist blogs, and other Web 2.0 features. They now have to remake the print publication (focusing on the road warrior and over 40 set who still like some things in print) to realize the most ad revenue.

When going after ever bigger audiences and broader revenue streams, it is easy for your product to lose its way, essentially, get beyond its intended use. Focus is harder. It takes discipline — a willingness to say no, and to let your competitors go wild while you stay focused. If you think there’s market potential for new features, figure out if it makes more sense to put them in new product.

Sometimes you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, you just have to figure out why you were here in the first place. Show me more »

Apparently Americans are addicted to their Internet, cellphone, and TV — in that order. According to a survey by advertising agency JWT, 55% of Americans can’t go more than a few days without access to the Internet.

Honestly, among the folks I hang around that’s more like 80% can’t make it one day without connecting.

That’s of course good news for Internet marketing, and mobile marketing. Email, WebTV, social networking, and searching are all opportunities to attract the hearts and minds of your target audience. The question isn’t so much where to gain access anymore, but how. How do we get the right message, to the right person, at the right time?

Much more complicated, indeed.

You have to know more about your audience. You need them to opt-in to programs and agree to provide you data. The program can be:

1. Free materials, reports, gifts
2. Downloads (mini apps, widgets)
3. Contest
4. Sneak previews, early access
5. Point system (loyalty program)
6. Priority membership

You also need to assure people (repeatedly) that they can trust you with their data and their clickstream. Don’t abuse the privilege (by over communicating, selling the info., sharing the info, or losing the info.). Show me more »

What are the stickiest sites on the Web? Games.

FullTiltPoker.com: 1.4M users; 23.5 hours per session
PokerStars.com: 1.6M users; 18 hours per session
Electronic Arts Online: 10M users; 9 hours per session
FanFiction.net: 1M users; 7 hours per session

Wouldn’t it be great if people interacted with your brand at the same level?

Basics:

1. Getting into the game is free. Free account, free software. (No barriers to entry)
2. Create groups. Alerted when your friends are playing. Chat while playing. (Social)
3. Real money (cash), contest (competition), or free (don’t win or lose anything real).
4. Subject people really want to talk about, comment on (creativity, and self-expression).

Beyond basics: avatars playing in virtual worlds are a common element across the winning sites.

Online games solve the bridge problem my grandmother had. When a player passes (not uncommon at the retirement home), it can be impossible to find someone to take their place. (Because everyone already has their group of 4.) Or if you move, how do you join a new group? Playing bridge online broadens the spectrum of players and friends. If you’re wondering what bridge is, look here. By the way, she was a huge fiction fan, and would have loved fanfiction.net.

The tops sites are social, fun, and you can win something. You can express yourself (show off your gaming skills), yet belong to a group (develop relationships). And your avatar can represent you as you would like to be seen (maybe not how you really are).

Even if your audience is just 1000 people, you want them to stick around. Employ the basic principles that attract people and keep them clicking. Show me more »

Some companies still believe email, newsletters, surveys, and advertisements are the best ways to communicate with customers, partners, and employees. Others are charting a new path, choosing open business models and many-to-many communications on top of platforms they don’t own. It seems to me open communication is the way to go.

I know I just wrote about this (Social Networks: Organic versus Command-and-Control)… but you have to look at MySpace versus Facebook. MySpace is sending cease-and-desist letters to companies building applications that add functionality to their platform. Techcrunch reports that MySpace has shut down TellThem.mobi, DatingAnyone, SingleStatus, RealEditor, among others. They are only letting important companies that top executives choose to build on top of their social network. Why let the market choose when you can have executives do it for them? Show me more »

The social network wars are going to be very interesting to watch over the next year. Twenty-three-year-old Mark Zuckerberg is driving Facebook with openness and sharing, and through user-driven organic evolution. The top-down, hierarchy of News Corp. has chosen to manage MySpace through controls and funnels.

My bet is on Facebook. Since Facebook launched their developers platform and API this past May, the results have been astounding. One developer, iLike, spent six months attracting 1 million customers to their corporate Web site, but just one week after posting their application on Facebook, they had an additional 1 millions customers. I suspect, all of the social networks will be pushed to open their platforms to outside developers. Show me more »