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Marketer. Designer. Entrepreneur.
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Can Prices Be Too Low?

October 8th, 2008

Yes…yes they can.  I was recently shopping for a new camcorder.  The retail value of the one I had in mind was $1,200.  My goal was to get it for $500 lightly used.  On one site I found my choice, the Canon HV20 for $369…what was my first thought?  “Wow, hook me up with that” or “What’s the catch…is it made out of used pinball machine parts?”  Sure enough, after a little research this website was famous for selling you something for super cheap and then refusing to ship it unless you were successfully upsold to a variety of different accessories…all with high markups.

Recently, a project of mine was faced with small margins that left it little room for growth.  Over the course of many months however, prices for this product soared, leaving me the opportunity to almost double my prices while maintaining the niche I had of being the affordable solution.  The result?  Order volume stayed level, leaving me with an huge jump in revenue and the ability to put a lot more into marketing and advertising to foster some growth.

The lesson?  If I would have kept my prices where they were before, what would have been the thoughts of people doing some comparison shopping?  It could have been, “wow, what a great deal”, but at the same time, they could have felt my product was either inferior…or just too good to be true.


An Indecent Proposal of Value

August 13th, 2008

I am tired of websites that shout at me and I am tired of hype.  I am tired of headlines full of words like: instant, secret, laser, exposed, killer, and explosive. I miss simplicity.  I miss clarity and honesty.  I miss being able to trust a website. Stop shouting…talk to me.


Sometimes Dumb, Illogical Things Work

August 9th, 2008

I went to a concern a few nights ago…Nada Surf was the main band.  The opener, Tim Fite was a dude in blue, cut-off overall singing some of the weirdest stuff I’d ever heard.  It was a cross between Salad Fingers and Weird Al.  Crazy at is sounds, I liked it…really.  The dude was so crazy eccentric that it was fun, I have no idea why.

So, sometimes I create a website or product or whatever that is logically perfect and smart…and it turns out average.  Sometimes I see a product or website that makes me scratch my head and wonder why moron spent 10 minutes on this one…and then notice that is in the top 20,000 in Alexa’s rankings and kicks the trash out of all my sites.

So why do they work?  I dunno…I honestly don’t.


Made to Stick: Incredible Example

July 14th, 2008

Last year I read the book “Made to Stick” and while I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style (making it a little tough to get through some parts) the ideas were intense and super-applicable.

Today, whilst reading the Made to Stick Blog, I saw this video that embodies this book and it’s concepts.  Out of the six factors that influence stickiness, it nails almost all of them: its simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, and highly emotional.


New Media Expo ‘08…Here I Come!

July 7th, 2008

I decided to go to my first out of state expo…the New Media Expo in Vegas on August 14-16th. A good friend, Steve Nance, is getting married the morning of the 15th. After the ceremony I will be whisked away by my limo (a UTA bus) to my private jet (economy class on US Airways) where my greeting party (a hotel shuttle) will take me to my private suite (the Palace Station hotel/casino). I am super excited for it. I think podcasting and blogging over the next couple of years will be a key to branding myself and getting my name out there. This conference should be a great way to learn uber-valuable stuff to help my on my path.


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