Random thoughts
No random thoughts today…
Articles (and emails)
- The Pivot to Advertising Has Begun (link). “The reality is that companies increasingly realize that it’s an advertising and subscription world, not an either-or. But for those that are pivoting toward ads, find what fits your product. It may not be the standard offerings that everyone else does.”
I’m not sure I totally buy into the article’s title, however I do agree with two things as they relate to business communications (one in the article, one not): We have to determine what and how our own unique audiences will consume our ‘products’; and there’s more of a demand-generation / efficiency / cost reduction angle at play here. - Mailchimp Benchmark Report 2022 for agencies (link). “There are many different disciplines in marketing, but agency owners tell us they’re now becoming even more specialized. After all, small businesses don’t need help with just one thing. They need help with branding, social media strategy, SEO, B2B demand generation, and all of the other elements that go into a modern marketing mix. But even the best agencies can’t excel at everything, so many say they’re finding a niche instead.”
How tired are we of the phrase niching down? I suppose if there’s any type of business that should be narrowing its focus, it’s agencies. In this case, the top five topics (by word frequency):
1. Marketing
2. Email marketing
3. Web development
4. Design
5. Online Marketing / Search / PPC / SEO
In all honesty, I’m not sure how much niching down this actually is.
- 7 Essential Ingredients of a Metaverse (link). “There are, broadly speaking, two competing visions for how to bring this about: One is decentralized, generous with property rights and new frontiers, interoperable, open, and owned by the communities that build and maintain it. The other vision — too familiar to many people today — is centralized, closed, subject to the whims of corporations; and often extracts painful economic rents from its creators, contributors, and inhabitants.”
For those old enough, are we going back to the Apple v. Microsoft or a bit more current, the Apple v. Android angles? I remember back in my data center days, we’d talk about private v. public clouds. Then, we moved to a hybrid cloud solution environment. Maybe it won’t be open v. closed. Rather, like many hyped things, it’ll be a little open and a little closed.
Podcasts (and videos)
- Web Design Mistakes and HOW to fix them (In 4 minutes) (link). I’m not a designer, although I do work with enough designers to know and understand how to talk about customer experience and intuitive interfaces. This video was a great overview on the fundamentals of digital design. (video)
- H.I. #83: The Best Kind of Prison (link). Do you ever listen to old podcasts? I mean, It’s similar to reading older documents or books or stories, right? I don’t know what a simulation is, nor do I understand why I should care. One section from this Hello Internet episode, however, was a great (and fun) tutorial. (audio)
- The Zabar’s Podcast (link). Makes you think if Zabar’s can produce a (short-run) podcast, you can too? (audio)