Marketing Pilgrim

As I write this post, it is my birthday, and there is a White Russian with my name on it, after this post is done. So you will have to excuse me if today’s column is a bit short, but I have a party to go to!

Even though all of the data says something different it is clear that the life span for most small businesses is incredibly short. Yep that’s right, people fail all the time.

If you ask most defunct small business owners why they failed, they will point towards one or two key areas of their business. Some will say that they didn’t have the right marketing mindset, others might say they didn’t have the right product. And all of these reasons may be true. But one thing that many won’t even recognize is because their business wasn’t flexible.

And news.com.au proves it’s clueless

If you read the headline “Reporters put Twitter, Facebook, to ‘Big Brother’ test,” what would you assume:

1. Intrepid journalists will show just how much the Internet knows about individuals by scouring those social media sites for personal details about strangers and assembling a doubleplusthorough profile on the activities and personality of people they’ve never met—people who believe they are safe and “private” online, OR
2. Reporters will be going on a paid vacation in a French villa with only Twitter and Facebook as their news sources.

I suppose both stories have some potential, but I’m a bit disappointed that it’s B—especially since I have to assume that “Big Brother” in that headline is a reference to that reality show where people are forced to live together in a house with a bunch of cameras. (No, not The Real World. No, not Road Rules. Please focus.) Ungood to forget where that title actually comes from.

Today, YouTube is rolling out its video rentals program (maybe it’s a good thing Blockbuster is already closing all those stores!). And just in time for the Sundance rentals, YouTube is trying out another stripped-down version of its video viewing page.

The most noticeable improvements are in the video player. The player now offers more viewing options, including viewing with a larger player (without going to full screen) and multiple resolutions. Also, if you search while watching a video, the video continues playing in a small left-side panel, while search results are listed in a larger right column

Every couple of months, we can reliably count on a big brand to help us learn a lesson about online reputation management. Today, we give thanks to P&G for today’s lesson:

The conversation starts when your customers say so, not you!

As AdAge reports, P&G has launched what it considers to be the most significant improvement in its Pampers line of diapers, in 25 years. Unfortunately, the company decided to start shipping the new diapers in old packaging, without explaining the benefits of the new pooper-protector.

Engineering this manufacturing overhaul meant putting the new diapers into the old packaging and into stores starting last summer in parts of the country. But because the new diapers had only reached a fraction of the U.S. by fall, P&G wasn’t ready to launch its campaign. Without marketing or communication, some consumers in early markets reacted strongly and spread the word virally to markets that did not yet have the diaper.

When you’re Google, having a great quarter is not good enough. Apparently, there’s a secret society of Wall Street Analysts that quietly hold Google to a higher standard, says MarketWatch:

However, several analysts maintained their bullish long-term view in the wake of the report, noting that Google missed higher "whisper" numbers even though it handily beat Wall Street’s consensus.

Those whisper numbers meant that Google’s share price is currently drifting 3%, with Google executives likely staring at their stock portfolio wondering what the heck just happened. After all, Google saw net income rise to $1.97 billion in the December quarter, compared with $382 million, earned in the same period a year earlier. Net revenue hit $4.95 billion–beating the target of $4.92 billion Google thought Wall Street was seeking.

The review site Yelp has been interesting to watch over time. It gets a lot of interest from different businesses like Google who was interested buying it. Then it gets more investment from VC’s when those deals don’t pan out. It has been vilified for business practices and then has worked to make the service more ‘balanced’ as well. Regardless of your point of view of the service it certainly has established itself as the leader in the small business online review space. This month’s Inc. magazine’s cover story is on the service (take note of the what not to do story that opens the piece ….. creepy.)

Now Yelp is looking to make the service even more interesting by adding a location based feature that allows reviewers to show how many times they have “checked in” to a location that they have reviewed. Mashable tells us more