Online Video Marketing Class

Online Video Marketing

iPad - A magical device that can transform your life

iPad is going to change the textbook industry

Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us

Watch Daniel Pink's presentation related to his new book Drive that was hosted by Anderson's Bookshop.
Based on cutting-edge research about leadership and motivation and how business addresses challenges today, Mr. Pink explores three key ingredients for success: autonomy, mastery and purpose.

Socialnomic: How social media transforms the way we live and do business

Watch the video presentation of Eric Qualman related to his book Socialnomics at the Social Media Club Chicago Holiday Event

Chicago Media-Marketing & Advertising - First 2010 Meetup

CMM&A hosted a diverse panel of marketers and industry leaders whose goods, services and organizations pose special marketing challenges.

Search Engine Strategies Expo (Chicago)

Watch the video presentations of some exhibitors at the recent Search Engine Strategies Expo in Chicago and learn more about their services.

Mind Mapping strategies and tools (Organize all the scattered ideas in your mind)

I have so many ideas in my head that I am trying to link and organize on paper related to my new book "Marketing the Future". I thought that it would be helpful to use traditional Concept Mapping technique, which lists the main concept and its sub-ideas and then hierarchy break down each idea to different sections or sub-sections using tree structures. However, my book is still in its initial stage and I don't have all my ideas and objectives clear in my head. Instead, I started using Mind mapping to help me create a diagram that represents my ideas, examples, case studies, quotes and other items and arrange them around my central idea in a very effective and visual way.
To get a better understanding of mind mapping, check out these useful videos and books:

- What is Mind Mapping (Video)
- Power to Create Profits - Mind Mapping (Video)

While there are many mind mapping websites and software programs, here are some of the websites and programs that I like:
• Mindjet Catalyst is a very interesting product with many advanced features. Such as, integrated chat, full-featured web conferencing, and mind manager compatibility.
• Mind42.com offers collaborative and browser-based mind mapping service for free.
• Mindmeister.com is my favorite. It offers so many useful tools. Such as search in maps, history view, mobile access through iPhone and additional desktop gadgets.

Think like Alexander the Great

"I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion". Alexander the Great

Imagine that you are a leader of an army of 40,000 Macedonians in 331 BC and you are on your way to fight the Persian Empire's army of more than 100,000 men. You know for sure that the odds of winning the battle are not in your favor. However, all your soldiers believe in your strategic thinking and ability to maneuver in battles. You reach to the edge of the hills where your enemy is waiting for you. What would you do? Do you think they have a more powerful position than you? What is your strategic plan? What rules do you follow to win the game?
Well, Alexander the Great was once in your position leading his army against the Persian army which was led by Darius. Alexander was famous for his hammer and anvil strategy, where the center of the army engages with the enemy while the cavalry on each side moves behind the enemy and pushes them forward.


Alexander knew that the same strategies he had used in past wars were not going to be effective in winning this battle because the enemy's army outnumbered him 3 to 1 and spread horizontally in the battle field to overlap his army. Knowing the Persians can't move without Darius' command and that Darius must have guessed his hammer and anvil plan, Alexander thought about an alternative counter-tactic. He attacked the Persians on the left side, drawing as much of the Persian cavalry as possible to the left side and creating a gap within the enemy line where he could then break through the center in order to kill or capture Darius. When Darius saw his left line crumbling and Alexander advancing toward him, he fled and the Persians retreated. The Persians lost tens of thousands of men in the battle, and the Macedonians lost only a few hundreds.




Alexander wasn't playing by the rules. Instead he was able to understand the advantages of his position and created weakness in the lines of his enemy. He didn't focus on how much power he had but rather on how to position his power strategically in a way that conquered his opponent and allowed him to turn the odds to his favor. Marketing is all about strategic thinking and understanding the market place, along with your competitors' strategies and the market rules. Taking all of these elements into account can allow you to think like Alexander and make your products breakthrough and dominate the market. This can be done not only by taking advantage of your company's strength but also by analyzing your competitor's weaknesses as well as changing the rules of the game in the market.

Google Analytics (Powerful, Flexible, Intelligent)

Watch the presentation of Dai Pham, Senior Google Product Manager, at the recent SEMPO Chicago event and learn how to use Google Analytics to monitor and measure the traffic and conversion rate of your website.

Building Social Web Applications on Facebook

Watch the presentation of David Recordon & Luke Shepard from Facebook at the recent SocialDevCamp Chicago and learn how to integrate your website and social web application with Facebook.

What's your Cultural Intelligence (CQ)?

I got the chance recently to meet Dr. David Livermore, a global expert in Cultural Intelligence "CQ", and attend his keynote presentation related to his new Book "Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret to Success". He explained why global leaders need a cultural map to lead across cultures not just across continents and how they can use his Four-Step Cycle of Cultural Intelligence to navigate throughout their global journey.

Please enjoy watching Dr. Livermore's insights in this video and definitely take the CQ test to get your report.

Marketing Keurig's Brewing Machines to Train Commuters

During the second week of October 2009, Keurig promoted its brewing system to the commuters of Chicago Union Station, which has one of the worst commutes in the country according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Keurig offered them free coffee cups during the morning rush hours. However, Keurig didn't provide clear directions on the coffee cups to help commuters figure out how to get or brew their coffee. As such, many of them got confused and threw their coffee cups away. Here is how I got involved in this story.

When I passed by my boss in the morning, I found him trying to figure out how to use a Keurig's coffee cup to get his coffee (the picture on the right). He asked me, "Do I need a machine to get my coffee from this cup". I took a look at it and I said. "For sure. Unless there is a new way that I don't know about". He looked back at the cup, read the directions on the top and then after a short pause, threw it in the trash and said, "Why the hell did they give this to me if I don't have the machine. It took me 5 minutes to find out that I can't get my coffee. They wasted my time".

I left him feeling frustrated and angry and went to the kitchen to get my coffee just to find 5 more coffee cups on the kitchen counter placed by people who figured out in the same way that they are useless without the machine. I took one of them and decided to do some research to find out what was going on. I examined the coffee cup and noticed that they said "Take this cup to the nearest Keurig brewer". So I visited Keurig's website and did some research online but there was nothing on the website to help me find the nearness brewing location. However, I noticed that Keurig is one of the leading coffee brewing brands and customers wrote great reviews about Keurig's brewing system.

While I was thinking about Keurig's marketing campaign on my way home, I noticed many of Keurig's ads posted inside the train without any reference to their marketing campaign at Union station. So I decided to stop next day by Union Station and try to solve this puzzle.

The next day, I noticed that about half of the people, who were getting out of the Union station, were carrying their Keurig's coffee cups. However, their cups were empty. In addition, I noticed that trash cans next to station entrance were full with unused coffee cups. Close by the entrances of the train gates inside the station there were Keurig's employees handing out the coffee cups to the commuters who just got off the train and shouting "Free Coffee in the Grand Hall" (See the video below). Because commuters where passing very quickly, grabbing the coffee cups and heading directly to their offices, they didn't have the time to stop, listen and understand that they needed to go to the Grand Hall to brew their coffee, or perhaps they didn't have the time or energy to walk to the Grand Hall.

I went to the Grand Hall to get my coffee and I was surprised that about half of the people, who were visiting the Keurig's booth, didn't have their coffee cups with them. The more surprising thing was that the people who got their coffee cups were stopping by Keurig's booth to switch the coffee flavor to Tea or other coffee flavor.

I went to the Keurig's machines to get my coffee and told one of the managers in the booth that there not having clear directions on the coffee cups confused some commuters who are trying to get their free coffee. The manager replied, "Sure, I understand. It is human nature, we can't do anything about it". I disagree with him, I think that if Keurig understood the behaviors of the commuters, they would understand that commuting to work is one of the most stressful activates that people do during the day and morning commuters have hectic schedules that leave little room for variation. Even though commuters would love a free cup of coffee they need to have very clear understanding on how and where they can get it as fast as they can or they will just go to closest coffee shop and get their own.

I used Keurig's machine to brew my Hazelnut coffee. It was very fast and easy to use and the coffee itself was very good. Of course, I didn't forget to grab an extra cup of coffee for my boss to help him overcome his bad experience and thank him for inspiring me to write this blog post.

Marketing the Future

Download my presentation at the SocialDevCamp Chicago.