Category Archives: Reality checks

July 11, 2012 · 8:38 am

An Audience Of One

I was catching up on my podcasts the other day when one of the marketing gurus

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used the phrase “an audience of one.”  It resonated with me because it seems a concise expression of everything we’re trying to achieve in marketing and media:  reaching exactly the right individual at exactly the right time via the exact channel with the unique message that will get them to use our product or service.  The Holy Grail, right?

To a certain extent, search marketing comes closest to that.  The user is expressing intent – where can I get a pizza around here?  What’s the best replacement hard drive for a PC?  We don’t know always know for certain if the search is for themselves or on behalf of another nor do we know where they are in the purchase cycle.  On the other hand, when they click on a search ad – not just on a search results listing – my thinking is they’re indicating that they’re nearly ready to buy since one generally conducts research with neutral sources and not something as obviously prejudiced as an ad.  Maybe that’s wishful thinking.  But whether it’s search or some other form of audience targeting, the ability to gauge intent and anticipate a reply is at the core of digital marketing technology.

I’m raising this today because of the record fine levied against Google yesterday.  As you probably know, they were caught bypassing some privacy controls to snoop on iPhone and iPad users.  I’m sure in some engineer’s mind, being able to use all the data made available by this tracking would help improve a user’s search experience and bring them (and Google’s advertisers) closer to the nexus of intent and message.  But it was, and is, a nasty invasion of privacy.

That issue – how to balance the quest for the audience of one and the rapidly disappearing concept of privacy – is big and getting bigger.  I think it may invoke the law of unintended consequences – as we try to make advertising better and more relevant we end up making it less so due to the imposition of strict controls by folks who don’t understand technology.  Not only won’t we get to the audience of one but the audiences we currently can distinguish will become less clear.  That helps neither the marketers nor the recipients of the messages.

Any ideas?

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June 28, 2012 · 9:25 am

Out Firefoxed

A few days ago, videos stopped playing nicely on one of the computers we use here at The World Headquarters.

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Image via CrunchBase

It happened right after a Firefox update. Now, while it’s not a computer (or browser) I use very often, other team members use it regularly and they need to watch videos from time to time. I spent the better part of an hour diagnosing the problem (since I’m the I.T. guy around here) and after reading a lot of web postings in which Mozilla blamed Adobe (it’s a Flash problem), and vice-versa (it’s fine on other browsers) and where they both blamed Real Player, I’d had enough. I had spent several more hours updating video drivers, uninstalling and reinstalling components, tweaking settings, rolling back to old versions, and wading through the general snark that’s around the various support sites that mention this issue. No, it’s not resolved, but it’s not an issue any more. I installed Chrome on the damn thing and that is that.

So here’s the broader business point.  According to Adobe’s site, the issue is fixed.  Mozilla says the same since they give you a few workarounds.  How can I sum that up politely?  Hogwash?  A load of crap?  Who are you going to believe – me or your lying eyes?  The very last thing we as businesspeople want is for our installed base (customers to you non-tech types) to migrate to an alternate solution (blow us off for a competitor, in English).  I’ve been using Firefox since the early days.  I’m now gone forever, and I understand I’m not alone.

How would I have handed it?  Transparently:  we have a problem, we don’t have a fix that works for sure so we’re suggesting you roll back to an earlier version – here’s the link as to how to do it.  I’d say it loudly and in as public a way as I could.  I certainly would NOT suggest users turn off high-end video acceleration (those cards are expensive), uninstall other software, disable virus protection (seriously?) or muck about in configuration files that are best left to people with Computer Science degrees.

Stuff happens.  It doesn’t go away when we deny it, minimize the issue, or suggest things we don’t know for sure will solve the problem.  The only thing that does go away are customers.  We’re happily watching video on another browser.  People have choices about most products.  Keep that in mind and work hard to earn their trust and business.  You’ll need it when the fan is turned on and something hits it.

Thoughts?

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June 26, 2012 · 9:22 am

Chosing Ignorance

Today’s screed is a little backwards.  As you might have noticed, much of the time I’m taking something I learned or realized and applying the point to business.  Today I want to do the opposite – take a business point and apply it to life outside of business.

I don’t believe that anyone who plans on staying in business for very long chooses to be ignorant of what’s going on in that business.  Sales reports, analytics, financial reports and such are all part of the daily life of a businessperson.  In fact, one big complaint I hear from clients is that they’re often overwhelmed with the amount of information that’s available to them and they need help sorting it out to understand what it all means.  They do NOT, however, simply ignore it.  They also tend not to take a single piece of data that supports their world view and ignore many others that contradict their position without a number of damn good reasons to do so.  Using a good sales report to say you’re doing well while ignoring the P/L that shows you’re losing money on each sale isn’t just irresponsible – it’s suicidal.

Most of us who’ve been doing this for a while (like more than a year, frankly) understand this.  So what has me baffled is why we chose to do exactly the opposite when it comes to our government.  No, this isn’t a political statement but yes, it is about politics.  I’ve spoken with a number of pretty smart people lately who have done with their political views something they would never do in business.  They didn’t get the facts or let one fact which supported whatever world view they had obliterate an overwhelming amount of evidence to the contrary.  In some ways it’s like my grandmother choosing to vote for the Jewish-sounding names regardless of their political positions – she had the only fact she wanted and chose ignorance about the rest.

We live in an age where there is a lot of  information about issues.  Some of it is carefully researched, some is twisted into propaganda, and some is totally made up.  It’s not easy to sort it out but each of us has to try, whatever our own beliefs about an issue and a candidate.  What are the facts?  Is what a candidate saying today the same as what they said last week or month or year?  Do they acknowledge inconsistencies in their positions?  Is someone telling the truth (and please let me know when you find someone who is!).

Obviously I support certain candidates and have positions on the issues but I respect those who disagree as long as they’ve got a grasp of the facts and have thought through their positions.  We never choose ignorance in business because if we do we’re not in business for very long.  Why would any of us chose to do so with something that has an even greater impact on our collective lives?

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