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Stop Delivering Products and Services: Deliver Happiness like Zappos
In this presentation done today by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh and Tony Robbins, they explain why good service and quality products are not enough to grow a business. They explain how “Delivering Happiness” is the way to go in order to succeed in today’s business environment.
A Short Christmas Break. Petit congé de Noël.
After a first full year of blogging and a major rush at job last fall, I will enjoy a few days with the family. I just want to wish you a wonderful Holiday period. I take this opportunity to thank you for your comments on this blog or on twitter during the past year. I have made very special online friendships in 2009 with social media. Check the personalized Christmas ornament I designed for you here.
During this period, take time to relax and chill with your loved ones.
I look forward to exchange with you in 2010.
Peace.
Etienne
Après une première année complète de blogging ainsi qu’un rush majeur au travail l’automne dernier, je vais profiter des quelques jours de congé avec ma famille. Mes 3 ti-prouts grandissent si vite… Je veux simplement vous souhaiter une merveilleuse période des Fêtes. Je profite de cette occasion pour remercier tous les contributeurs à mon blogue ou ceux qui prennent le temps d’échanger avec moi sur Twitter. Je me suis fait beaucoup de nouveaux amis en-ligne cette année grâce aux médias sociaux.
Je vous transmets mes voeux de manière virtuelle cette année. Allez-voir ma bouille de Noël ici.
Pendant les Fêtes, prenez le temps de relaxer et de prendre l’air avec vos proches.
J’ai déjà hâte à 2010 pour échanger avec vous.
Allez en paix.
Etienne
No ROI for Social Media? Some examples for you.
A couple of months ago, Socialnomics launched this clip with factual data on Social Media making it clear that Social Media is a revolution and not just a fad. Now, they re-iterate with this compelling clip with several Social Media ROI examples along with other effective Social Media Strategies. Catchy music is by Bob Sinclair.
I am not advocating that Social Media is for everyone nor every company but, with the diversity of industries and company sizes in this video, I think that every marketer has the obligation to be curious enough and ask himself how he could leverage those tools for its own business. As marketers, can we afford ignore these success stories?
What do YOU think?
Web Usability: “Don’t Make me Think”
When it comes to web usability, web site navigation, ergonomy, etc., one of the most frequently cited name is Steve Krug, world-renowned web usability consultant. Any marketer who has to make decisions on web site design MUST read his book: “Don’t Make me Think”. The book is available at Amazon here. For those of you who can’t afford the book or do not have the time to read, h This nice slide deck sums up the essence of the book and should be enough to entice you to rush to Amazon and invest a couple of bucks to get your own copy. Enjoy!
This presentation has been created by Amit Mullerpatta located in, India. He works at www.byteridge.com. Originally, the presentation was intended for his colleagues to get them interested in one of the best books he had read on usability. Now, I’m sharing it with you. Isn’t amazing?
Marketers, Another Wake Up Call Video. Pay Attention.
I discovered this video via the Facebook page of Patrick Patparazzi Landry. It is the same type of short video, full of stats and thoughts, that makes you realize that the world of marketing is changing and it is changing fast. A few stats that you will discover in that video:
- This year, traditional advertising is in steep decline.
- Newspapers: -18.7%
- Magazines: -14.8%
- Radio: -11.7%
- TV: -10.1%
- My Space, You Tube and Facebook did not exist 6 years ago. They collectively get 250 million visitors/ month.
- 90% of the 200 billion emails sent everyday are spam.
This is another official update to the original “Shift Happens” video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://mediaconvergence.economist.com and http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com.
If you liked this one, you might also want to review this one about Social Media Revolution or this one about the Re-Invention of modern marketing. Similar contents, different formats, same powerful reality check. Great content, great stats.
Sources:
Content by XPLANE, The Economist, Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Laura Bestler. Design and development by XPLANE, http://www.xplane.com. You can follow them on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/xplane
Etienne in Canadian Executive Quarterly
A vanity post today 
I just received my hard copy of Canadian Executive Quarterly.
The magazine is committed to highlighting the best practices of business and organizational leaders in Canada. They showcase knowledge and strategies proven to stimulate growth and position Canada for global success. They typically showcase a diverse spread of executives from successful entrepreneurs and non-profits to corporate governance to multinationals. Since I do not necessarily fit any of these usual profiles (I consider myself a heretic marketer trying to help SMBs to succeed in a new environment), I was surprised to see my story featured in their publication.
I did a phone interview with them last Spring and… I almost forgot about the next step which was an eventual publication of the article. Now I am really proud of this interview because I shared a lot about my vision of modern marketing especially for SMBs. Basically, I talked a lot about the things you can read on this blog but the main emphasis was on the importance of online development for SMBs to become and remain more competitive against global brands. I am really proud because, like it or not, a lot of Canadian decision makers still rely on traditional magazines and paper publications to identify new schools of thought and ideas that will help them grow their business. They rarely turn to bloggers when seeking for credible info. Sorry but that is a reality we need to overcome…So I am really proud that my ideas and thoughts about marketing in SMBs are featured in that publication that is going to be read by thousands of entrepreneurs, marketers, CEOs and so on.
Canadian Executive Quarterly is a printed publication, therefore, you will not be impressed by their web site… But still, you can get the article here in their viewer. If you actually want to READ the article, you might want to download the pdf to be able to zoom in the tiny characters! Here it is: Canadian_Executive_Quarterly Etienne Chabot Fall 2009
By the way, you can subscribe to the printed version of this magazine for free here.
Do You Get the Best Return on your Graphic Design Expenses?
As marketers, we all try to stretch our marketing dollars (especially in these tough economic times). And even if you have a huge marketing budget, I cannot understand why you would want to pay a premium when you can get the same product or service for a fraction of the price…
Graphic design could potentially be a major expense in your marketing budget because to access these services, you typically need to go through an agency for which you have to pay for their big corporate office in a downtown location, nice cappuccino machine, enhanced receptionist, designer chairs, creative director, chief strategist and so on so forth. Do you get what you are paying for? Sometimes yes, but very often no. If you are already dealing with freelancers, then you are limited by their time constraints and also the number of choices they can propose.
About 1 year ago, I tried 99designs. It was just to create a small logo to be applied on the web sites of our customers with the mention “Authorized Dealer”. I did not want to spend 10k on that but still, I wanted something that looked professional in a timely manner. I was very pleased with the results. In the recent weeks, I have launched 2 design contests on their site and I am amazed with the results. Even one of my twitter friend @NicolasRoberge just launched a contest here based on our experience.
What is 99designs?
99designs is a disruptive startup which connects passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design. In my own words, you don’t want to pay big bucks but you want to have some alternate designs for your projects. You would not be able to explore as much design alternatives with one single agency at a decent cost.
They reach more than 41k graphic designers worldwide. Talking about diversity… They literally do design crowd-sourcing and the big winner is YOU, not your agency.
How it works?
Prior to submit a project, make sure you know what you want. Be as clear as possible about what you are looking for. Once you have that it is easy as 1-2-3.
Depending on the complexity of your project, you will be ask to select among 4 different package levels (This was not there 1 year ago and it is a nice improvement for both the clients and the designers)
Once the contest is launched, be prepared to receive tons of designs like in the following examples for which we received more than one hundred designs to choose from in less than 3 days. We wanted to have a logo for one of collection of basic items named “Smart Basics”.
As the contest moves forward, you can rate the received designs and give feedback to the designers to help them rectify their proposals if necessary. It also helps the other designers to submit designs that are most likely to fit your needs.
You can visit their blog here or become a Twitter follower here.
My profile on 99designs is: http://99designs.com/people/etiennechabot or just click here.
So, what do you think? For me, this has been a revelation. This is true example that the web connects people. This is also a true example that if you run a graphic design agency, your new competitors are global, flexible and very competitive. To me, in a small company, why should I deal with one graphic firm and pay the big price when I can have access to the top graphic designers in the world for a fraction of the price? Welcome to the new world.
So, What the F**K is Social Media?
I am a strong believer of the power of Social Media. I try to envision Social Media as a complement to traditional media although I believe that one day, Social Media will have completely changed our media consumption behaviors to the point where traditional media will be unprofitable for the media companies nor completely ineffective for the advertisers. But in the meantime, traditional media is necessary for many brands to reach their segments. (I did not say convert…)
Social Media is cool and hype but can be more that just that. It can also be profitable for your business. I recently shared with you that you can generate qualified leads with Social Media. We see more and more top brands using social media effectively. Even hard rock music bands use social media to enhance their presence and grow their fan base. Fine, but you will say, I am not working for a big corporate cheesy organization and I am not managing the rock band that will kick Bono’s ass, (like the vast majority of marketing managers in North America) should I be spending time in Social Media? YES! As I mention in one of my post (in French), I think there are even more benefits to embrace social media if you work in a Small Business. You can also get other arguments why I think SMEs have no reasons to post-pone social media initiatives here.
In one of my recent post, I briefly discussed how to sell Social Media to your boss:
If you are about to go through the difficult task of selling the idea of Social Media to your boss nor to the management team of your company. … I highly recommend that you “invest” 1hr of your time to present social media the right way. Download Chris Brogan’s presentation and watch the video here.
Today, I have found this great presentation via SlideShare. Before you get your act together to demonstrate the incredible power of Social Media to your boss, have a look at this self-explanatory slide show. Nice pics, nice stats. Very convincing. Fits perfectly the Garr Reynolds‘ Presentation Zen Principles. Find them here in pdf. By the way, they chose the title: What the F**k is Social Media: One Year Later.
Note: It has been created by an Agency named Espresso Brand Infiltration but trust me, it doesn’t look like an infomercial to sell their services… Also I haven’t received any commission to insert their presentation here!
Also I haven’t received any commission to insert their presentation here!
4 min of Anti-Stress Therapy-Thérapie Anti-Stress de 4min
Check out this wonderful clip by Jon Rawlinson shot at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan. The music is “Please don’t go” by Barcelona.
It needs to be watched in HD on youtube. 4 minutes to escape your daily tasks.
Un merveilleux clip de Jon Rawlinson filmé à l’Aquarium Okinawa Churaumi au Japon. La musique est “Please Don’t Go” par Barcelona. Pour l’apprécier à sa juste valeur, on le regarde en HD sur youtube. 4 minutes pour s’évader un peu de notre quotidien…
