Simple permission marketing – in action

You may recall a blog entry I did on Simple permission marketing. The basic premise being, if we have a startup which is ‘interesting’, it’s not difficult to get some good media coverage which is ‘content’ – not advertising.

In the spirit on practicing what one preaches, here’s a little summary of how we’ve achieved this for rentoid.com

* You can see the article for each by click on each listed below:

          The Leader Newspaper (metro ciculation)

          The Herald Sun Newspaper (biggest circulation in Australia)

          The Age Newspaper (most respected broadsheet in Australia)

          The Age – Livewire (web weekly of above)

          The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney’s broadsheet)

          ABC radio – National Public radio – interview

          The Australian Financial Review (Wall Street Journal of Aust)

          The Pod Cast Network – G’day world interview

          Multiple targeted magazines & blogs

Net cost of all this was zero. No PR firm, no dodgy deals. Just honest conversation with people about rentoid.com and what we are doing.

It works, but it takes 2 things: effort and a lot of follow up.

Try it for your start up, and let start up blog know how you go!

15.4%

Only 15.4% of the worlds population have ever accessed the internet.

If we think the internet is ‘world changing’, then let’s imagine what would be possible if ‘the world’ actually had access to it? The idea sharing, the education, the cultural understandings….

trs80-computer.jpg

Maybe start ups should be thinking of how to give the remaining 84.6% of the world access to the net rather than working out a new social paradigm to leverage.

Fringe benefits

Today it is 42º Celsius / 107.6 Fahrenheit, where I am (Melbourne, Australia).

So I went surfing.

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Start up blog author enjoying fringe benefits!

I got up early and worked until about 10am and then headed down the coast to cool off in the heat of the day. It was very refreshing. At times I was just chilling out and catching waves, at other times I was thinking about some current projects and business issues I’m facing.

The main point is I have the flexibility to plan my hours as I see fit. Something most employers talk about, but rarely institute. It’s a great fringe benefit for all entrepreneurs.

So when considering your corporate exit, or for those who already have, don’t forget to take advantage of the fringe benefits you’ve created.

The richness of life is far more important than getting rich.

Ideas are free

An excerpt from the blog of Seth Godin today. I had to post it:

“This isn’t about having a great idea (it almost never is). The great ideas are out there, for free, on your neighbourhood blog. Nope, this is about taking initiative and making things happen.”

Vicious circle

Do we…

Work in a job we don’t like

To buy things we don’t need

To impress people we don’t like

?

 

To be really happy we need to ensure one sub optimal arrangement doesn’t feed another. This holds true if we run our own business or hire our time out to a company (have a job).

Quote – Ben Rowe

I asked marketing polymath Ben Rowe his thoughts on Facebook in 2008 and if it is going to grow or decline…

Response

“Facebook is so 2007…. it’s just p2p spam. I reckon facebook is going to die a fairly fast death this year.”

Sure the jury is still out, but it wouldn’t be the first time Ben’s predicted the future of a brand or launch. It does seem that there was something very wrong when Zuckerberg referred to his ‘army of viral marketers’ he forgot one thing…. viral marketing is always done by people, not companies. Abuse them and lose them.

The gaping void view in December was this

gaping-void-zuckerberg.jpg

I still think facebook is a great platform (especially the app’s component) which needs to take a few steps back before everyone disappears. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.