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FrankelTips
FRANKELTIPS : "Your weekly dose of painful but effective
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The more people we meet,
the more people we help.
In this issue:
1. The Smart Money: Rob's take on "I
Can See it From Here"
2. Monday Q&A: If yours didn't make it this week, don't worry.
It will.
Remember: questions are answered in the order they arrive.
"Brand-based viruses"
~ Michael Kimsal
~ Rob's response
~ Paul Smith
~ Rob's response
"Gateway's Stupid Branding"
~ Lenann McGookey Gardner
~ Rob's response
"How Do I Generate Yellow Pages
Revenue?"
~ Paul Smith
~ Rob's response
3. Plugs: http://www.mail-list.com/
Cheap list hosting with most of the amenities.
4. Links and Info: Books, tapes and assorted propaganda and services
5. Copyright, reprint policy and legal threats.
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Building revenue-generating Branded Community™: http://www.i-legions.com
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1. THE SMART MONEY: "I Can See it From Here"
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I could be wrong, but let me try something
out on you here. I firmly
believe that as the economy bumps up and down, certain industries
feel the
effects in different order. Some feel the effects before others,
depending
on what part they play in the food chain.
Generally speaking, I'd say that the
minute things start to hint of going
south, it's the forefront services that get sacked first. The
basic
necessities get hit last. And everyone else takes it somewhere
in between.
In business, the forefront services include strategic planning,
marketing,
advertising and public relations. My thinking is that when business
starts
to contract, management figures that forward thinking services
are least
important to bringing in the bucks to meet next quarter's numbers.
So out
goes the ad agency, the branding guy, the public relations agency
and the
marcomm department.
The survivors include anyone and anything
that has to do with sales. If
business improves, management hangs tough for a quarter to make
sure the
ship is righted. If the sailing is smooth, they may hire back.
If not, the
next victims are anything and anyone that has to do with maintaining
the
organization, starting from the outside and working its way in.
Typically,
this means customer service people walk the plank, followed by
their
supervisors and technicians.
You get the idea. This isn't rocket
science: everyone has their place in
the food chain. The axes fall in fairly predictable order. What
I find
interesting is that the axe doesn't reverse itself when business
starts to
pick up. Certainly not in the exact reverse order in which it
fell. In
fact, a brief survey I conducted pretty much surprised me when
I found that
the first signs of a recovery are when the first people who get
axed are
the first ones hired back.
That's right. Where you might have expected
the last ones to go to be
hired back first, the exact opposite is true: the first ones
who felt the
axe's edge are the first ones to get the call. There's only one
way I can
figure that to work, which is that having been burned through
a bad economy
and having cut their organizations to the bone, management must
figure that
if they're going to re-think or re-structure, they'd better plan
it out
before they implement. Hence, they start hiring their strategizers
and
planners again.
Is it true? Well, speaking for myself,
I've notice an uptick in business.
Could be coincidence, although month over month, it's a nice
coincidence to
have happen. I'm hoping that being in a forefront service myself,
that I'm
one of the first ones touched. I'm hoping that there's a recovery
nearing.
I think I can see it from here.
Rob Frankel, Big Time Branding(TM) http://www.RobFrankel.com
Have a comment? mailto:Rob@FrankelTips.com?Subject=RECOVERY
"Branding is not about getting
your prospects to choose you over your
competition; it's about getting your prospects to see you as
the only
solution to their problem." ™ ... Rob Frankel,
consultant and author of
"The Revenge of Brand X: How to build a Big Time Brand™
on the Web or
Anywhere Else."
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2. MONDAY Q&A:
Send your questions mailto:Rob@FrankelTips.com?SUBJECT=FrankelTipsMondayQ&A
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BRAND BASED VIRUSES
The Comment from: Michael Kimsal
Rob said: "Since no harm would
come to anyone's data, where's the crime?"
Rob:
Most laws on the books regarding anything
computer-related define the crime
in terms of 'unauthorized use'. It's a broad term that can be
made to fit
anything, really. For example, I might try to telnet into a school's
network. Even if I don't have a name/password, and am simply
presented
with a 'welcome' screen, it's technically 'unauthorized' since
I'm not a
student. However, since I'm not a student there, and haven't
been able to
log in, I've not been able to read their acceptable usage policy.
But it's
still unauthorized.
Will people come after me for that?
Generally no. But the laws are
intentionally vague because lawmakers don't fully understand
the
technology, and broader is better, as it can be adapted to whatever
"cybercrimes" may happen in the future.
Large companies most likely won't try
to go after this because of the
negative publicity and potential liability a virus could cause.
Knowing
exactly where it came from makes it all the more tempting to
actually
pursuit the large companies for damages, because you know they'll
have
deeper pockets. :)
Rob's Answer:
Okay, but what if this isn't a web virus?
What if it's transmitted by
e-mail and is written to briefly take over your screen and then
disappear
just as suddenly? What if, as I wrote last week, it actually
does some
good to your computer? For instance, if Symantec creates a super
hero
virus that attaches itself to your e-mail and discovers viruses
on your
recipients' PC's, giving you the credit for alerting them to
the virus?
Who really gets hurt there? In fact, isn't Symantec coming out
of it
looking good?
Have a response of your own? mailto:Rob@FrankelTips.com?SUBJECT=VIRUS
Send your questions mailto:Rob@FrankelTips.com?SUBJECT=FrankelTipsMondayQ&A
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BRAND BASED VIRUSES
The Comment from: Paul Smith
Rob wrote:
>"As many of you already know,
I'm a Macintosh guy. No, it's more than
that.
>I'm a Macintosh evangelist. I laugh at the forwarded e-mails
I get,
>warning me about the latest PC viruses. If I'm in an especially
malevolent
>mood, I hit "Reply to all" and tell the recipients
that if they'd bought a
>Mac, they'd be chuckling too, instead of wondering why everyone
on their
>mailing list has had their hard drives erased."
This is kind of an example of "security
through obscurity." That is, if
the target, in this case Mac users, does not have nearly as large
a
customer base as Windows users, then hacking/viruses will not
be as widely
experienced.
I happen be one of a group of ISPs that
uses a firewall that not only has
NEVER been hacked, there is also good reason to believe it NEVER
WILL be
hacked. However, as additional steps (as part of our security
through
obscurity program) we do not discuss it's name outside our membership,
will
not allow its user manual to be put in digital form, and we purchased
a
license to further develop its software.
best, Paul
Rob's Answer:
Which are fine ideas, but my point was
that the efficacy of a virus being
deployed as a branding tool. Per your comment, anyone using a
brand-based
virus would aim it at the same market the hackers do: the Windows-based
PC
users. The real question is whether the virus is inherently evil,
or has
the virus simply been used for evil purposes? Does the preclude
its uses
for good?
Have a response of your own? mailto:Rob@FrankelTips.com?SUBJECT=VIRUS
Send your questions mailto:Rob@FrankelTips.com?SUBJECT=FrankelTipsMondayQ&A
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GATEWAY'S STUPID BRAND
The Question from: Lenann McGookey Gardner
Rob,
Well said, once again. But I can't help
but wonder: have you let the
people at Gateway know how you feel? And how you can be of help?
Saying
they don't have a brand is one thing, saying they will never
have a brand
is quite another. Here's the sales trainer in me again ... have
you gotten
yourself in the door to talk turkey with these people?
As always, thanks for my "weekly
dose"!
Lenann McGookey Gardner, President
Lenann McGookey Gardner Management Consulting, Inc.
505.828.1788
Please visit us on the web at http://www.YouCanSell.com
Rob's Answer:
Lenann, you'll be pleased to know that
one result of this last year's
recession has been a serious overhaul of my own outbound sales
processes.
Through careful analysis and a certain injection of intestinal
fortitude, I
kicked into sales gear with what I think is a very effective
sales program.
Response rates are up. Sales are highly profitable and growing.
So
that's not the real problem here.
The reason why I don't go after Gateway
myself has more to do with a brand
compatibility more than anything else. There's a very definite
footprint
that any branding prospect lays down from which I can fairly
well ascertain
our compatibility.
The very fact that Gateway would choose
an ad agency to re-create its brand
is only the tip of the iceberg, but a telling one. It communicates
to me
that this is a company whose management buys into too many myths
for my
message to get through. Of course, that's only the first issue
and the
latest one, at that. If you check gateway's history, you'll find
that
their entire track record has been one whose compatibility with
my own
practices is remote, at the very most. Other key indications
are
executions that historically have centered around self-glorification,
the
most notorious being the founder's appearances in his own TV
spots, the
surest sign of too much in-breeding.
Those are just some of the clues that
let me know Gateway is not a prime
candidate for my services. Interestingly, the clients that respond
most
favorably are those with no brand at all. These are companies
who not only
have a name and a logo, but something far more important: a CEO
who
understands his company's inability to do their own branding.
Those are the companies whose management
is far more compatible, and thus,
tend to close more quickly.
Have a response of your own? mailto:Rob@FrankelTips.com?SUBJECT=GATEWAY
Send your questions mailto:Rob@FrankelTips.com?SUBJECT=FrankelTipsMondayQ&A
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GENERATING YELLOW PAGES REVENUE
The Question from: Paul Smith
Rob:
We are finally getting known, and getting
traffic up, and now want to start
getting revenue from http://www.smarteryellowpages.com/index.cfm
What suggestions do you have on revenue-delivering
services and products we
might offer?
best, paul
Rob's Answer:
Paul, being an old Golden Bear myself,
any guy that has his picture taken
in a Cal hat is okay by me, so I'm going to give you the royal
treatment
here. Which could mean being as brutal as helpful, but hey, it's
all in
the Oskie tradition.
Nah, just kidding.
There are a couple of things you're
going to have to consider before you
even approach the revenue issue, the foremost being "old
baggage". What I
mean by that is the pre-existing notions of what the term "yellow
pages"
conjures up in your users' minds. And let's not forget that you
have TWO
users here: advertisers and genuine looker-uppers.
The looker-uppers notion of yellow pages
is a free medium. They expect to
come to your site, search what they're seeking, find it, click
on it and
say goodbye, all without spending a dime. Advertisers are expecting
a
return on their advertising investment, hoping that what they
spend to list
with your site will result in more business.
So where's the revenue opportunity?
If you ask me (and you did) it's with
the looker-uppers, not the advertisers. At least not at first.
Of course,
you're going to have a bear (no pun intended) of a problem when
you finally
do decide to charge for listings, because all those freeloaders
are going
to either bail or start whining. But that's another story.
For your looker-uppers, I think it comes
in the form of Branded Community.
Especially in the Bay Area, where the sense of community is so
strong, it
seems fitting that they would subscribe to a mailing list that
allowed
users to notify each other of new things in the Bay Area that
were targeted
to special interests and promoted member to member relationships.
After
that, promoting inexpensive downloadable directories that include
your
listing advertisers is a high-margin way to go, too, as is an
"Ask Mr. Bay
Area" service, which can be automated and served out of
your listings.
Some things to think about, too: Your
URL is NOT Bay Area specific. I
wonder how much that hurts. Also, your site asks for a member
sign in, but
I'm not really clear what the benefits to signing up are.
Anyway, that's the quick take on the
site. Now, you tell me: when is Cal
finally going to win a Rose Bowl? ....Rob
Have suggestions to Paul of your own?
mailto:Rob@FrankelTips.com?SUBJECT=YellowPages
Send your questions mailto:Rob@FrankelTips.com?SUBJECT=FrankelTipsMondayQ&A
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3. PLUGS: People and Stuff You Should Know About
Want to plug your biz? mailto:Rob@FrankelTips.com?SUBJECT=FrankelTipsPlug
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http://www.mail-list.com/ Seems like
a good deal, although I haven't tried
them. Cheap list hosting with most of the amenities.
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4. LINKS AND INFO:
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Rob Frankel: http://www.RobFrankel.com
FrankelCall: Real Time Consulting by the hour:
http://www.RobFrankel.com/frankelcall.html
The Book: http://www.RevengeOfBrandX.com
The Frankel Tapes: Volume One: http://www.RobFrankel.com/store
Instantly Downloadable E-Books: http://www.RobFrankel.com/store
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FRANKELTIPS c.2002, Rob Frankel · Hey, people have paid
their hard-earned
money for this newsletter. Please respect them and do not reprint
the
copyrighted contents herein without the express written consent
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