This advice matters to everyone: Favour action over all things.
For the uninitiated: This speach was given by a famous football coach in Australia during an AFL Grand Final (think Superbowl / FA Cup). With passion he emplored his campaigners to just get out there and do whatever they could. The end result being a victory – or the ability to say ‘at least I had a go…’
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9db1GgNtCKw]
here’s no electricity required for th business tool below. And this ‘app’ is only a few thousand years oldSome times the old! The notepad.
This one is the really small type you can fit in your back pocket. When you have an idea – jot it down.
One page 1 – You ahve a list of things to do. You cross them off when they are done. Easy.
On an aiplane you don’t have to wait until crusing altitude to use it. You never run out of batteries. No compatibility issues. Light and compact. Everything is automatically in chronological order. It’s the ultimate in user friendly.
Sure , we all need and use our cell phones. Most of the technology we adpot is super useful. But the really great technology reduces complexity. And sometimes the old school methods are still best.
Many including startup blog predicted the death of Mother Energy Drink before it was launched. By the way this was Coca Cola Australia’s 4th attempt to get a share of the energy soft drink market. Other attempts included Lift Plus, Burn and Sprite recharge. All of which bombed.
As predicted ‘Mother’ should have been called ‘Dog’. So they’ve burried the old stock on hand and Coke have re-launched Mother with an all new fix all flavour. Which has lead to the following badvertising:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvgIopzPflI]
Memo to Coke Marketing team: Taste has nothing to do with it. Half of Red Bull’s consumers even admit they don’t like the taste. Consumers know the same people developed the flavour profile of this launch too, and yes they know it’s made by Coke.
The energy space is already occupied in the minds of consumers. The market is already dominated by two powerful brands with strong identities & distribution depth. Save your money on advertising and put it towards buying Red Bull gloablly or V for the Asia Pacific market – because this category is already game set match. The two horse race which all categories become has been run and won.
One more thing – this spot is so contrived, your target market would be laughing at you.
Kind regards – Startup Blog.
Note to start ups – if you’re launching a me too, without a price, distribution or technology advantage – best to re-think the launch plans. If Coke can’t do it – why can you?
We all agree that media is changing – “ing”, not “ed”.
So it still makes sense to consider both options for our limited marketing and startup budgets.
So here’s a simple summary of each:
Old media
Costs a lot, but is really quick. Reaches people who might not have been looking for you. Leverages solid infrastructure so demands less human capital. But has a high wastage rate. Suits mass markets
New media
Usually free, and reaches those who are seeking you. Can be quick, but only for the lucky few who nail ideas people want to spread. Uses fragmented infrastructure so requires more man hours. Leaves a digital footprint and so effort compounds. Suits niches.
Until old & new media fully merge, we need to allocate budgets. But it’s also important we remember we can replace money with time when we are financially constrained.
I was in a session with the ‘School of thinking’ founder Dr Michael Hewitt-Gleeson on Friday. (he co-founded this organization with guru Edward De Bono)
The session was amazing. I wrote down a particular quote which resonated with me:
“The perfect pitch being worked on at your desk can send you out of business. The imperfect pitch being presented to a customer can keep you in business.”
Get out there.
If you could offer entrepreneurs one piece of advice what would it be?
Start up blog’s is this: Don’t die wondering.
I’m sure all 20,000 monthly startup blog readers want to hear yours. Add them to the comments or email them to me and I’ll post them on an upcoming blog entry with your name / blog beside it.
