Monday, July 28th, 2008

Nailing that presentation: Have one idea

In conjunction with Bitcurrent, Syntenic, IDG, Flow Consulting and others, we’re helping to run a weekend-long conference in Montreal in September. It’s called Bitnorth. It’s an informal take on conferences, where the attendees are expected to provide much of the content.

One of the ways they participate is by delivering Short Bits, 10-minute long presentations on a topic they care about. This year’s general theme is The Other 99 Percent, and we’re looking at how technology has changed non-technologists’ lives.

Getting an idea across cleanly is always hard, and presenting is a challenge for many people. So for those folks presenting (and anyone else who cares abount communicating) I decided to try and summarize the process of creating and delivering a presentation. I’m constantly humbled by great presenters (and there are some links to noteworthy ones at the bottom of this entry.)

It boils down to knowing what your point is, and getting it across memorably.

The path less travelled by

in: Communicate, Create, Standing out, Startups

What can a bookstore teach Canadians about positioning their companies?

Marketing is increasingly about attention, and less about product.

Most competent people can build a competent product or service. But in today’s world of instant attention, it’s often more about how to succeed in the market than how to get the product right.

I had lunch a couple of weeks ago with Robin Axon, formerly of VenturesWest (and candidate for the coolest cyborg name of a VC ever.) We were chatting, as often happens among Canadian entrepreneurs, about The Canadian Ailment. Despite tremendous competence in product design, we never seem to make it North of the Border in the same way the US does. Even US bookstores, apparently, know this instinctively. But more on that later; back to Robin.

He had a pretty clear theory about what ails us, which I’ll paraphrase (badly) here:

Canadians try to succeed with a product, but Americans succeed with a market strategy.

Targeting and repetition

in: Communicate, Create, Standing out

The Nova Scotia Liquor Commission is trying to sell more wine.

This campaign does three things really well. If you’re trying to put together a marketing effort, you should:

Know the purpose of your marketing effort. A lot of times I have clients tell me, “we need to do some marketing.” They’re often surprised when I push back. But unless they know what outcome the marketing should have — and how to measure it — it’s a waste of time. The Nova Scotia Liquor Commission clearly wants to sell more wine, and can measure sales of wine that accompany beer purchases.
Know your target audience. This picture’s taken in the gigantic beer fridge. There’s no wine in this room. It’s where the men go to get cases of beer. Nagging reminders from housewives with facemasks and towels on their heads might be stereotypical, but their target market notices them.
Repetition, consistency, and simplicity. Every message is a variation on, “while you’re getting beer, bring some wine home for your wife.” There’s no way to mistake it. It’s something even a beer-obsessed weekender can grasp.

When it comes to beer, nothing beats Nova Scotia brewery Alexander Keith’s focus. They even have a bar (the Lower Deck, the “official home” of Keith’s.) Revel in these gems where a mad Scot channels Mike Meyers, some of my favorite ads of all time.

Beautiful. “Often, I’d dreamt of a lake of beer. But not like this. Never like this.”

BTW, the actor who played this Scotsman was arrested on charges of child pornography, and Keiths has since pulled them. Sick bastard, but the ads are no less funny.

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Monday, June 30th, 2008

Don’t use 4by6.com: How not to handle customer support

in: Communicate

A bit of a rant here. But it’s a great example of how not to do customer service. The bottom line: Don’t tell your customer something like, “my horoscope tells me to move on,” in a format that can be quoted publicly.

There’s an old saying that it’s a good idea to fire your worst customers, or better yet, refer them to your competition. This is generally true if those customers are costing more than they bring in. But when you clearly fail to deliver the agreed-upon service, it’s a better idea to resolve it than to renege.

The Internet means that a frustrated customer can be very vocal. Sites like Yelp yield gems like “The main reason for my 2 star review is not the quality, rather the customer service (or lack thereof).” Companies need to weigh the cost of that negative press, particularly when the product is being bought on reputation.

Here’s the full history, with some juicy mail thread embarrassment at right.

I had a run-in with 4by6.com recently, which, frankly, surprised me since someone had told me they liked them. I ordered some cards for delivery in Las Vegas, and went through their extensive process for validating layout. I then contacted them to confirm that my Canadian payment information would work.

The cards never showed (and this is back in January.) I contacted them several times by email and got no answer. Then, one day in April (two months later), I got a mail from them saying the shipment was returned by Fedex. The mail exchange that followed astonished me. Ultimately, 4by6.com said that they didn’t know why the order wasn’t delivered, or why they hadn’t responded to my mails, and told me to forget about it.

I’ve heard complaints about 4by6.com’s customer service from a number of online forums. Hopefully the Internet’s ability to self-regulate and communicate problems will weed out companies that adopt this kind of customer disservice. Meanwhile, I’ll use Moo.com, Henley Printing, Ondemand Printing, JMF Printing, or one of the many other alternatives.

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Thursday, June 19th, 2008

The penny machine

in: Communicate, Funding

An entrepreneur walks into the maple-paneled boardroom, glances around the table at the well-groomed investors gathered there, and reaches into a large leather bag. He pulls out a strange machine, roughly two feet high by one foot wide, sets it carefully on the table, and plugs it in.

The room is expectantly quiet.

“Does anyone have a penny on them?” asks the entrepreneur. The general partner raises an eyebrow as one of the junior staff hands over a faded copper piece.

“Now watch.”

The entrepreneur inserts the coin into the top of the machine, and pulls a small lever. There is a low-pitched whirring, a pause, and then a shiny new nickel tumbles into the small shelf at the bottom of the machine.

The only sound in the room is the ventilation system, cooling the warm Palo Alto air.

“That’s a neat trick,” says the silver-haired general partner, straightening up in his seat and grinding his brown Mephistos into the new rug beneath him. “Do it again.”

The purpose of your first slide

in: Communicate, Funding, Standing out

I was talking with the CEO of a startup last week and we were going over funding slides.

There’s always an overview slide up front. According to common wisdom, this is supposed to “tell them what you’re going to tell them.” But I have a slightly different take on it.

Sure, you have to say what industry you’re in, how much you’ll make, how you’ll make it, and why you’re the one to make it happen. And do all that in a couple of sentences. But your first slide has a different, more important purpose.

The purpose of the first slide is to change their mindset from “I have to sit through this” to “I get to sit through this.”

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