EirePreneur

Think 'share of wallet', not 'share of market'

As the reviews for Seth Godin's new book start trickling in he decides to post his list of 'what every good marketer knows'. Each of the 30 or so bullet points is worth absorbing but the one that stands out for me is this -

- Share of wallet is easier, more profitable and ultimately more effective a measure than share of market.

How many business plans mention share of wallet? Time for a rewrite.

Brilliant web advertising

LiveVault launch a brilliant advertising campaign starring John Cleese which, needless to say, appears to be already gone viral.

Whatever you do, don't press the third button ;-)

[Via Adam Curry]

A startup needs to be remarkable, not just very good

One of the core tenet's of Seth Godin's book - Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable was that very good is bad!. In other words, it's not good enough that your product, service or company is very good, it must be remarkable to survive in the marketplace.

Customers don't switch for very good. What they've got is already very good! Google wasn't a very good alternative to Yahoo. It was something far bigger than that.

Right now I'm thinking about how this wisdom applies to online dating services, particularly in the Irish market. There are a number to choose from - AnotherFriend.com, Date.ie and maybefriends.com for starters. But what differentiates them? Not much that I can tell. In fact they all seem to be a cookie cutter combination of profiles, message boards, private messaging and live chat rooms.

Is this the full extent of what online dating services can offer? I think not but believe the only way a new startup in the online dating space could now compete is by being entirely different... and remarkable.

Small business owners must be 'cool hunters'

From yesterday's Sundy Business Post - HOW TO: Take advantage of the latest trend

“Big companies employ cool hunters to find out what is going on. If a firm makes trendy clothes for young people, for example, the cool hunter will go round the clubs the young people go to. Owners of small businesses have to be their own cool hunters.”

Sponsoring Podcasts

Its good to see the innovative Irish company Nooked sponsoring some of the great podcasts on IT Conversations

.

All Marketers Are Liars, says Seth Godin

Fergus Burns drew my attention to a newly available excerpt from Seth Godin's new book - All Marketers Are Liars.

I read very few business books but I can't wait to buy this. I skipped out on Seth's last tome - Free Prize Inside - because it seemed a little too 'corporate' for my needs but I previously bought and devoured The Purple Cow and Unleashing the Idea Virus, two great marketing books. Seth really is a next generation marketeer providing brilliant insights in a no-nonsense, for-the-common-man manner which I find really appealing.

Entrepeneurs need brass neck

The Sunday Times carried the interesting story behind Webtrade - one of Ireland's top web development and online marketing companies. Its the little tidbits like this which really spark my imagination -

NGENUITY is a crucial part of any entrepreneur’s marketing strategy, particularly when budgets are tight. In a bid to generate business for his fledgling company, Jack Donaghy roped in his younger brother Patrick to keep a Webtrade golf umbrella opened during the blistering sunshine throughout the Irish Open seven years ago.

Brilliant - sometimes it just take a brass neck!

Googling for brand scores

How to use Google to determine brand scores. Now that's a clever way to use a search engine! Some comments to the post argue that Technorati gives a more up-to-date indication but what interests me here is the inventiveness of using a search engine in such a way.

Price and Volume in the Digital Marketplace

Audible CEO Don Katz is guest blogging on paidContent.org and contributes a prescient analysis of volume pricing and price elasticity in the digital marketplace.

Obviously Katz has gleaned a huge amount of invaluable knowledge from his experiences at Audible. And as all our microbusiness products are digital I'll be reading paidContent.org even more religiously than normal while Katz is posting.

Google finally get (ad)sense

On the first occasion I applied for Google AdSense - a few months ago - I was uncerimoniously rejected. And how I hate rejection! But I'm nothing if not persistent and maybe its their new found paper wealth but the Googlers seem to have lightened up a bit and had no problem accepting me into the fold this morning.

They were even kind enough to provide a colour scheme which nicely matches my TypePad style sheet. See my new AdSense tower banner over at left.