Finding Free WiFi

He Practices What He Preaches

I have some regrets from college...big things not little things, 'wish I would haves' if you will.  While I don't dwell on them whatsoever in my perfect time machine world i would have done these things....meet my girlfriend earlier, not diving for the ball that lead to broken ribs my senior year of rugby...and work for a summer in New York City.

It's one of those things that you have the opportunity to do when you're young...but can't necessarily do later on.  Life doesn't give you a lot of three month segments in which to do something like college does.

Seth's offering a summer internship with him.  The link is here.  2 months just outside of NYC building something from 10 to 5 with Seth Godin.  And it's paid.  Sounds awful doesn't it?

If I was Seth, I'd forgot about the high school kids (unless someone amazing pops up), and not dare pick a local.  I'd pick 5 kids from 5 different parts of the country, help get them housing together and help them get to NYC as much as possible.  Build a little family that ends up building something purple.  Or multiple things.  Or just has purple smores.  I have no idea...but I bet it will be far more beneficial than any quarter of college has been for those 5 kids.

I wrote on having remarkable internships here.  I think he got all 10 (we'll see if he has beef jerky on hand). 

Undergrads and Social Networks

On Brad Feld's blog, there's a guest post where undergrads at the University of Michigan (booo I'm a State fan), were asked about their social networking habits:

Of 300 some odd polled, only 2 didn't use facebook, one of which was 37.  Even that surprises me... all my friends who were 'facebook holdouts' have now joined due to the rise in the 'events' usage my senior year.

2 used twitter, 10 used MySpace and 20 used flickr. 

Reverse the flickr and MySpace numbers and that'd be my friends.  MySpace still has a huge music following, and everyone I know who has musical talent has their own MySpace music page.  I only know one person who has a twitter account though.

My thoughts: facebook is king...though many I know are actually getting sick of applications, many (including myself) have all sort of application 'invites' that are unopened...one friend's profile I saw must have 60 unopened application invites.

What SUPRISES me is the lack of MySpace usage in that group.  Many my age don't use MySpace only because Facebook came onto our radar at the same time.  I assumed that as the MySpace generation moved into collegem Facebook's usage would actually drop a bit, and that many would simply maintain two profiles.  At least at U of M, looks like I was wrong.

The biggest result of his survey, to me, is the fact that students all claimed they'd seen little or no advertising.  The little skyscraper ad to the left of the profile is typically overlooked, simply because there's already so much information on the page to take in.  A developer I met spent $80 on targeted local flyers trying to get some information from students...he didn't get a single response.

I'm sure Microsoft knew this when they inked the deal...I'm assuming it was just the start of something bigger.

So You Want To Hire an Intern...Ten Things to Know

Hiring some college interns seems like a good idea right?  Cheap (you're thinking FREE) labor...upbeat college kids eager to run your errands...etc. etc. etc.  There are a lot of internships out there...and a lot of businesses not maximizing the potential from these college kids who still think they can change the world.  A REMARKABLE internship...on the other hand...will give you great interns...and potentially remarkable future employees.

Ten things you need to know (in no discernible order).

10.   Yes you need to pay them.  If your name is Nike, or ESPN, or the Seattle Seahawks, or any other 'cool,'  'name brand' company...then no, you don't.  And you're probably not reading this blog.  However...if you're Company XYZ...you do, because having your name on our resume doesn't mean any more to our future employers than having Company CBA.  And CBA is paying $10-15 an hour.

9.  Be Flexible.  For most of your interns, it'll be their first full-time day job.  We're used to having time off, and probably have some vacations, long weekends, and late nights planned out.  If something comes up, let your intern have the day off...they have to be happy to be remarkable.

8. Offer Credit.  A student can get 4 credits for a full-time internship.  All YOU typically have to do is approve some paper work.  If the student wants this do it for them, it'll take you 10 minutes and make their life much easier, others won't really need the credit.  THIS DOESN'T MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY THEM.

7.  Make it Real.  About eight business school students sat at the same bus stop every morning last summer.  I had probably the best internship of the group...but I worked for a software company.  No tie, no shoes, no worries.  Those who had to wear ties everyday actually had significant clout at the bus stop.  Same with those who got laptop bags.  Moral of the story: if you have some branded gear, give it to your interns.  Your branded polo probably means more to them than the extra one does to you.

6. Be a leader of a creative team.  Heard great advice on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast from the guy who wrote What Got You Here Won't Get You There (Marshall Goldsmith).  Fuel creativity by allowing your interns to follow their own ideas.  As soon as you say "that's a great idea...but try this," it becomes an order.  Let them try their creative ideas...if it's not working well, then the next day stear them in the direction that they should go.

5.  Buy them lunch.  Once a week.  Minimum.  Make it a weekly thing.  That $6 and non-brown bag turkey sandwhich means much more to them than it it does to you.  Ordering lunch into the office counts too.   Take them out occasionally for an hour or two at an actual restaurant, talk about stuff other than work.  Even cooler.   Buy them a beer?  Coolest boss ever.

4.  Teach.  Your interns are giving you cheap labor.  You better share your knowledge, be a reference, and help them out when they need it.  They're a student.  Don't hire an intern if you're not willing to be a teacher. 

3.  Get them away from the computer.  We are NOT ready for 8 hours a day at a computer.  Even some random errands are worth it.  Don't drop us off at the monitor, check in at lunch then pick us up at 5 pm.  That was kindergarten.  But in kindergarten we got naps.  Give us a few non-computer tasks to do.  Excel spreadsheets kill your spirit after awhile.

2.  Keep stuff on hand.  Trailmix.  Coke.  Vitamin Water.  Beef Jerkey.  We like snacking, and free stuff means a lot to us.  It's worth the trip to Costco once a month.

1.  Listen to them.  Ask them questions.  Want to market to the college demographic?  They're your avenue.  Want to understand how an individual can possibly view 35 pages per day on facebook?  Watch them do it.  You have an amazing opportunity to understand the youth market through their eyes...use it.

Lessons From Graduation

Yep....I graduated from the University of Washington on Saturday (hence few blog posts recently).  I suppose that may mean that the blog may shift to a new focus...but for now, a major lesson learned from the awful graduation speech that my classmates and I endured:

KEEP YOUR CUSTOMER IN MIND...IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU, IT'S ABOUT THEM.

Norm Dicks had little time to prepare for his commencement address at our ceremony.  He started out well enough, he was a Husky Football player after all.  He then moved into a 15 minute tirade about his political career, what he was doing, where he was going (very specifically), and very focused on his political ideology.  We were graduating from college...we could have cared less.  It was raining...we just wanted something rousing.

Alas, he used the opportunity to address the parents in the audience who might vote for him in the future.  I hear he's running for senate.  Who knows really, a student even walked up to the front of the stage and motioned for Dicks to wrap it up.   It was disappointing for many students...but the business lesson  (unfortunately at Dicks' expense rather than learned from him) was obvious.

Make it about your customers, not about you.  It's great that Dicks' is planning to restore Pudget Sound...but all 40,000 some odd people wanted to do was hear some brief inspirational words, and move through the ceremony to get out of the rain.  A long, non-student centered rant on the environment was the last thing anyone wanted.

This is what we wanted:

What Do You Think You're Empowering Me To Do?

A lot of social web companies (I guess the phrase web 2.0 is on the out)...are niching themselves.  That's great...but as more and more crop up... I hear one word more often than not:  Empower.

Athleon's guilty of it too...we like the word empower.

Empower is a very dangerous word.  Empower means to equip or supply with an ability.  Empower means you are giving me the power or authority to do something.  The problem I find with more and more people using the word empower is that...well...we don't need the power you're giving us.  I'm a very selfish web user.  I only post things for people that I know...I'm not a big sharer of information for the masses (until I started blogging of course...but in my case the masses just don't know about me yet).

Many new sites are empowering people to share stuff.  They're failing because the majority of people don't particularly want to share stuff.  They're forgetting that people tend to operate under the 'what's in it for me' mindset.

You empower me to share information about my favorite restaurants with others...but what's in it for me?  You empower me to share my essays with other students online....but what's in it for me?   You empower me to share cool blog posts I find ...but what's in it for me?

Seriously, what's in it for me?
MySpace- started with bands.  Bands, from top 10's to garages, can easily showcase their music and a bit about themselves...obvious benefit

Facebook- find out things about people/share things about yourself easily with people who you might see everyday on campus and no one else.  Keep in touch with your friends from high school who are at other universities.   Major benefit...though there's a bit of magic behind it as well

You Tube- watch clips of stuff online (this is what's in it for me...and with content rejection it's starting to die off).  Ever hear of Lazy Sunday?  Easily post videos places that you feel like posting them.   "Dude, did you see that SNL skit last night?  No..oh, go check it out on YouTube."  Benefit worth sharing

Del.icio.us- organize my bookmarks...I'm willing to bet the sharing came in later.  Benefit of organization.

So, before you build something that empowers me to share something...tell me what's in it for me.  Empower me to do something that I want to do.

Building a Brand with College Students: Fresh Samantha

In 1992 in Maine, a family began growing herbs and selling them to local markets.  The son in law of that family, Doug Levin, left New York for a more quiet life in Maine.  He realized that selling fresh juice to supermarkets had vast potential, convinced the family to cash in a life insurance policy, and purchased a local carrot juice company.

A little while later Fresh Samantha was born, named after his daughter.  Fresh Samantha was later purchased by Odwalla for $27 million (2000), and then subsequently acquired when Coca-Cola bought Odwalla for $181 million (2001).

Know how Fresh Samantha started to take off?  Doug and his wife took his juice to Tufts University in Boston, and started handing out samples.  "On college campuses, the words 'free samples,' automatically draws a crowd."  At Tufts, as well as dozens of other Universities, the juice makers engaged their samplers in conversation, talking about how much fruit went into each bottle, how good fresh juice was...etc.  If someone didn't like something, either the flavor, the bottling, the label, or whatever, "we had to know why."

News of Fresh Samantha spread...amongst a college crowd eager to drink healthy, natural stuff (ironically offsetting the huge beer consumption levels)

Fresh Samantha retailed at $2.50 a bottle, extremely expensive for a drink.  "I was really surprised if I ever went a day without someone complaining about the price," Doug said.  In a brilliant move, Fresh Samantha sold directly to campus food programs, so that students could buy the beverage with their student account.

"College students may not have cash in their pockets, but they have a meal plan...and that's disposable income that they can spend however they want.  You could get a bottle of Fresh Samantha and a bagel instead of eggs."

Seems so easy doesn't it?  Hand out samples, engage your students, let them buy your product how THEY want to buy it, make it viral (fun, whimsical labeling was a major benefit).

How are you going to start your $28 company?

Red Bull- Want Some Free Samples?

Analyzed a case study on Red Bull today in a marketing communications class (read previous post on Red Bull here), pretty neat story of how to define a new market segment, maintain a premium brand, and fight off competition from ingrained and large competitors (Red Bull's tonic originated in Thailand.  The original bottle is to the right). 

The BEST part was the antecedent from our professor.  Last year, the student who prepared the case presentation actually called Red Bull to ask about some of their marketing plan for the future.  Know what Red Bull did?  Sent TWO FREE CASES TO HAND OUT TO THE CLASS.  Give us something, make it free.  Have college students in your target market?  Give students free stuff to share.  Awesome.

Slightly less cool, but I had a similar experience with Under Armour, one of my 'iconic brands.'  Unfortunately they didn't send me free gear when I wrote some marketing people asking about their strategies, they did send me a huge Under Armour folder stuffed with marketing materials, clips of magazine articles, etc.  It gave a great touch of 'real world' to my marketing project.

What would you do for a student who asks about your brand?

Oh Crap...Facebook Did WHAT?

I'm not going to name them...but a whole lot of people are trying to capitalize on the college community and their potential need for a 'college craigslist' classified system.  My first internship was actually marketing just such a thing for Microsoft over a year ago.  None, at least at UW, have really seemed to catch on.

Facebook has caught on.  Something like over 30,000 users in the UW network.  That's nice traction.

I can only imagine a collaborative yell from founders of the classified sites "Oh Crap...Facebook Did WHAT?" if they read today's article on TechCrunch about Facebook Marketplace...if not...they'll say it tomorrow when the thing goes live.

Ouch...I'm curious to see how these sites adapt.

How to Market a Social Network

You don't.

Wow...great advice from a marketing major.  While there are multiple layers to that answer...the overriding theme is you don't...at least you don't do it just to get eyeballs. 

Social Networks inherently must be viral.  Zuckerberg had half of Harvard within a few days.  I bet you've never seen a MySpace, LiveJournal, or Hi5 add.  Users have to want to talk about it.  I joined facebook early after a friend from CU asked if the site was at my school.  Seth Godin has a joke about BMW (more so a joke about their competition), that BMW's marketing department is called 'engineering.'  The same must hold true with your site...your marketing is called 'coding.' 

Don't get me wrong, you must launch, you must use PR, blogs, other online communities, everything you possibly can to find you champions, to find the people who will help your product spread.  If your product isn't good enough though...the champions stay quiet.  You can't pay them either.  Viral can't be bought. 

There are certainly ways around it.  Tagged, according to TechCrunch, may be the fastest growing social network.  Tagged strongly entices/tricks you into entering your email password, so that they can access you entire contact list.  Questionable tactic...but it's working.  A network trying to generate buzz around UW is 'chalk' guerrilla marketing like crazy, advertising in our newspaper, and working hard to get their brand known (it works...but I don't know how many people are actually signing up).  It takes a lot to launch a product in a crowded space...but the value proposition of creating yet another profile has to stick.  It has to keep the people coming back.

Josh Kopelman, writer of Redeye VC, calls it 'catch and keep,' rather than 'catch and release.'  He says the social networking winners right now entice users to come back, spend hours, invite their friends etc.  Catch and release, however, is the buzz generating, blogosphere post crazy, banner ad buying sites that create huge hype, get people to check out the site...and then never come back.  It's like fish swimming upstream...constantly fighting (and paying...a LOT) to get more people to join the site while the original demographic stopped showing up.  These sites are where, as my advertising professor often says, "no amount advertising will ever get someone to buy a crappy product twice."

In this web craze, every site developer better play the role of VP of Marketing until you are at the point where you can afford to and need to hire one.  How are you marketing your social network?  Find an influencer (in your target market), figure out why they aren't using it, then figure out how to make it something they can't live without.  Then they'll want to talk about it.

Market Like Maroon 5

Before Maroon 5 was big, right after they'd released 'Harder to Breathe,' I watched their set during a free concert at the University of Colorado in Boulder.  Right in the middle of it, lead singer Adam Levine invited the crowd to buy his album, or even downloaded it from the internet he didn't care (pre-iTunes days...back when Napster was king and downloading was 'free').  He said he just wanted people to hear it. 

Songs about Jane debuted in the Billboard top 10 TWENTY SIX months after the album was released...apparently the longest stretch for an album to break that mark.  That means it wasn't an instant hit.  Buzz rolled out slowly.  Exact opposite of Spiderman 3.

What MAY have happened was everybody downloaded Songs About Jane without purchasing it....hence the lag time in the top 10.  That may have been tough for the band initialy, but a triple platinum selling album later...do you think they care?  Whether their fans intially bought the album or downloaded it illegally, they had it, they shared it, the music stuck. 

Now, 5 years after the first release, Maroon 5 has its second offering coming out May 22nd.  It Won't Be Soon Before Long.  Times have changed, and iTunes is now king...and Maroon 5 gets to see initial download profits.  Their single, Makes Me Wonder, is number one on iTunes, and has been for quite a few days.  Their album... is #2.  All orders are pre-sales.

More remarkable...Maroon 5, unlike many bands with hit singles...offers the entire version of Makes Me Wonder for free listening on their MySpace page.  It's been listened to over 1.5 million times as of today.  Same strategy as Songs About Jane...but new mediums.  And their attacking those mediums too.  When the song's for free on MySpace, why download it?  Because, with a presale album purchase...you get two bonus songs PLUS the opportunity to get first access to Maroon 5 tickets on TicketMaster. 

It worked on me.