The 4-hour work week...

Imagine a world where you work 1 hour per day, but still make $10,000 per month+. Now consider what would you do with the time? Me? I'd write, hike, teach, and spend more time with the family. So, how can we do this? Sounds nice right?

The answer may be found in this book: th 4 hour work week. I've just finished reading this book, and am prepping to be a judge at Moot Corp 2010, and I find myself thinking: will any
students have a business plan like this? Why not? Less work, solid income, the new rich... Reason: they would lose the business plan competition, even as they win at life. With no hockeystick and no pot of gold at the end: living this way would seem blasphemous to the entreprenurial community... At moot Corp, you would be squished for your lack of scalability, lack of investor attractiveness, and lack of vision.

I for one want to try it. Lifes too short to live in retirement. Live now, work less, and make a business plan investors scoff at, but could deliver a new rich lifestyle.

Here we go!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Measuring Marketing: An Engineering Challenge.

Engagement is quite the word.  It means getting in touch, getting together, and the promise of a union.  To Marketers, this means getting attention.  In 2010, Marketers find Engagement to be their #1 priority.  But what will they do with this engagement?  How can we measure its effect.  Show me the money!

Engineers and Scientists have striven for hundreds of years to go about measuring things.  Measurement and observation are the keys to enlightenment.  Modeling comes next, followed by theory, and then sometimes law.  So why then do Marketers have so many theories, and so few models?  Where are the measurements?  The answer is troubling and disheartening.  Marketing, alas, is no science, yet science shall be its salvation.

My journey into Marketing through my new company Karmaback and beyond, is leading to answers we engineer-type business folks have sought for decades.  The struggle between marketing science and art WILL come to a head in our lifetimes, and maybe Karmaback will bring it there.

The $600 Billion question: does engagement lead to marriage?
E.g. can marketing lead to sales?

Karmback Evolves: Facebook Fan-share-tool

Karmaback has evolved. The company is growing and finding more and more opportunities to deliver huge value to our partners while keeping it 'real' and fun for our members. The latest tool in our arsenal is called the Fan-share-tool (currently supporting Facebook and soon Twitter). This tool allows our partners to post interesting stories, images, videos and more to their fan-page, while enabling several unique features on the post: a "Reshare, Get Rewards" button which gives their readers Karmaback points for resharing the post with their friends, and complete analytics on every level of share from top to bottom... letting us measure the Viral Coefficient (how many levels of sharing) occurs for any given post.

So, why the new feature? What happened to our Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

Actually, our MVP was a huge success. We learned most importantly, that people were not willing to pay a lot for "just feedback" on their website. We learned that our customers were really interested in getting beyond their fans to new customers. So, we defined a new MVP, and set about building that. Meanwhile, we've opened up our "feedback" tool for anyone to put on their website, completely 'free'. Check it out here: http://karmaback.com/partner-sign-up/

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is one which is the smallest thing you can build that someone would be willing to pay (or show willingness to pay). I've blogged about this before, but I've been following this practice now for almost a year, and find the term to be useful in so many situations. What is surprising to me was how important the feedback we have gotten back was! The real question is though, what do you do when the feedback says... people aren't willing to pay for your MVP? Answer, construct a new MVP, build that (and only the minimum of that) and sell it! The whole point is getting feedback from real customers ASAP.

To that light, we've built out our new tool and are announcing its general availability today. The message:

Get beyond your fans to your fans friends and beyond. The Fan-share-tool from Karmaback rewards sharing of your fan posts. Say something cool AND reward people for sharing it, and see how far your viral coefficient can extend!

For details contact me at:

harlan@karmaback.com

Brand Loyalty doesn't cross product genres.

Imagine a Kleenex brand PC. Imagine a Toshiba bed. Imagine an Apple iCar. Does your loyalty inspire you to 'try' these unusual combinations? Are you more apt to love that new PC from Kleenex, because you like their tissues? This one is simple, and engineer-types like simple: Brand Loyalty doesn't cross product genres... Apple would have to spend a ton of money, time, and tests to get anyone to buy their new car.

The better question is, does Brand Loyalty matter at all? Is it the brand or is it the product experience that keeps you coming back for more? And if a user has a bad experience with a new product from a brand they trusted... what happens? They disdain that product... but not necessarily the one(s) the knew and loved.

Put it this way.... would an Apple iCar failure hurt iPhone sales? Would a Kleenex PC that frustrates and annoys cause a drop in Kleenex sales?

I don't think so.