Archive for 2010

The New Gap Logo = A No-go!

If you’ve watched the news or picked up a newspaper lately, then you’ve probably heard what The Gap did to upset its customer. The Gap changed their 20-year-old logo in a failed attempt to appeal to a younger audience. It didn’t take long for The Gap to realize that changing the logo was a big mistake stating, “we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way”.  The Gap quickly changed it back to the old, reliable logo that the public associates with the store and even publicly acknowledged their mistake in a press release this week.

So, what can small businesses take away from The Gap’s logo controversy? Well, if you have loyal customers, elicit their feedback before making major changes to your public image. Customers appreciate being involved in the decision-making process so utilize social media sites to interact with customers.

While most seem to think that The Gap made a huge mistake by changing the logo, others think it could have been a brilliant PR stunt. Gap has received a tremendous amount of press since changing the logo, and you know what they say…any publicity is good publicity, right?

What do you think?

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Archive for 2010

The turtle and the hare-revised! A cyber security fable

Hello, everyone! How is your week going? Any of you SIS-U folks reading this? Yes? Great! Hi there!*waves* So,you’ve all heard about security problems on the internet and are probably going to click away from this post because you think it’ll rehash what has already been said. Well…you’re partly right, but only because it deserves rehashing, and you’re partly wrong. Did any other blog post give you the lesson in fable form? Yes? (Really? Where?). It all started when I read this post about experts urging people to ‘Stop. Think. Connect.’ I saw the word stop and immediately thought of turtles. [I think I had my university mascot on the brain.] Turtles move through life slowly, which is how we should move through the internet. (I wonder what this says about my university then)So, then I thought about updating the old turtle and hare fable for the modern internet age.(This fable dates back to the days when there was no copyright.)Everyone know how the original story went? Yes? Good for you, but you have to suspend that little bit of knowledge because this update is completely different!(Disclaimer: I did not reread the original version before I wrote this and it has been a while since I read the original) On to the story!

Once upon a time(all good stories start out this way) there was a large(very large) kingdom called Cybertopia (fanfare). Since this kingdom was very big, it was besieged by a vicious army of bots, viruses and malware out to steal it’s citizens identity and wealth.(cue the danger music)[from now on referred to as the BVM]{this would be easier if WordPress had a footnote button} Since Cybertopia’s citizens kept falling for the BVM’s tricks, the Cybertopian police decided to train a special division to educate the citizens about the BVM.(cue happy music!) Two of the most promising officers of the new division were  Rabbit and  Turtle. Today was the day of their obstacle course.

“All right recruits! The BVM has it in fer ya. They’ll set up traps, like the ones in this here obstacle course and it’s your job not to fall for them,” Sargent Monkey yelled.

“Yes,sir,” the recruits replied.

“Alright,” St. Monkey took out a list, ” the first one up is recruit number 55. Rabbit, yer up!” Rabbit stood on the starting line and waited for the signal. (ready, set, go!) Once he heard it, he was off and running. Rabbit raced through the obstacle course easily. He ignored the ads, dodged the bot’s lasers and smashed through the malware puzzles as if they were tissue paper. Rabbit was nearing the end of the course when he saw this billboard:

I Finally got a signal on the AT&T Network!!!!Click here to find out how I did it!

Wow,Rabbit thought, I should check that out! I have AT&T and I never get a signal! So Rabbit touched the billboard. Immediately a wormhole opened up, sucked Rabbit in and deposited him near St. Monkey.

“You fail,” St.Monkey hollered, “since you were in a rush, you failed to notice the trap! You’re going to have to take this course again! Turtle, yer up.” Unlike Rabbit, Turtle took the obstacle course very slowly. He ignored the ads, was too slow for the bot’s lasers to hit him and made the malware puzzles explode out of sheer frustration.  Turtle was the nearing the end of the course, when another ad popped up. Turtle looked at it for a few seconds, then shook his head and moved on.

“Congratulations,” St. Monkey said, ” because you took things nice and slow, you avoided the traps. You pass the course!” So, Turtle got his badge, while Rabbit had to retake the course. The moral of this story, slow down when you are on the web. Things that may look tempting, may harm you.

Contest!!!

If you can guess the show this picture is from( the logo on the bottom right gives you a hint) you get a landscape drawn by me! You can request scenes of course( as long as they don’t involve people or too complicated to draw animals, because I cannot draw them) and I will try my best to draw it the way you want it.

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Archive for 2010

Video: Sir Richard Branson on Marketing and Business

Here is a very good short 6 minute video of the great entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson, on marketing and business.  As always he has some great tips and stories that small businesses, entrepreneurs and startups can learn from for our businesses.

Please check it out and let us know your thoughts.

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Archive for 2010

Pumpkins, Spices, and Seasonal Marketing

Ah yes, fall is finally here. I just love when the seasons change. The temperature has dropped and as the leaves begin to change colors, the air seems to have a new, crisp smell to it. I pull out my coziest  sweaters and decorate my door with an autumnal wreath, but it doesn’t really feel like fall until I have a Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte in my hands. Okay, so I’ll admit it, I am incredibly susceptible to seasonal products. Come December, I won’t rest until I have the Edy’s brand pink, Limited Edition, Peppermint Ice Cream piled in a bowl in front of me. The sad thing is, I don’t necessarily even enjoy the seasonal products as much as I enjoy the idea of them. In fact, every time I take my first sip of my Pumpkin Spice Latte in the fall, I remember that I do not like the flavor.

So how did Starbucks convince me that their Pumpkin Spice Latte is an integral part of fall?  Well, the drink makes me think of pumpkin patches and hayrides and pumpkin pie, and ultimately it reminds me of celebrating the holidays with my family as a child. I associate their product with precious memories.

You don’t have to be a multi-billion dollar business, like Starbucks, to take advantage of seasonal marketing techniques. So, how can small online businesses utilize seasonal marketing techniques to increase sales? Here are a few ideas:

• Change the website appearance to reflect the holiday/season. This could mean changing the color scheme or adding an image or phrase.
• Create special limited-time offers for certain seasons or holidays.
• Make it easy for website visitors to donate to a charity that is related to the season/holiday.

Have you made seasonal changes to your website that have benefited your business? What worked for you?

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Archive for 2010

Lego Models: The New Windows Phone 7

Anyone checked their homepage recently? Anyone have an iGoogle homepage?(Wonder if they ripped that off Apple…?) NO? Well if you do, you know you can customize it and get various news feeds from different news sources.

I have a PC World news feed on my homepage and when I was looking at it this morning, the headline said Microsoft sends out Windows Phone 7 Mockups Made Of…Lego Bricks. So, I clicked on it and found this article. PC World speculated that the Microsoft folks were inspired by the Lego iPad, shown here. I don’t think so. Looking at the photos provided by Engadget, the Lego version of the Windows Phone 7 is one ugly thing. The picture of the real one shown in the photo looks way cooler than the Lego model.  According to PC World’s article , the new Windows Phone 7 launches in New York(Figures,the day someone launches a cool tech product in DC, I will show up to that event.) on October 11, of this year. PC World is still speculating on the list of carriers for the phone, but the list includes all four major US cellphone companies.  The phone manufacturer is still unknown, but the list includes HTC, Toshiba, Samsung, LG and Dell to name a few.

So what exactly is the Windows Phone 7?  PC World has a neat little slideshow explaining that.(Quick little shout out to PC World, you guys are great!) Some of the highlights:

• a mobile Windows Office
• the only(currently) Xbox live app on a phone
• the phone lets you manage its content from the web
• makes it easier to find your lost

The rest is just what every other phone can do. Why buy it? I have no idea. Because it’s new and shiny? Because you’re an early adopter? Because you do a lot of work on your phone? Surprisingly enough, I couldn’t find a PC World article that dealt with that issue. If anyone has a good reason for buying this phone, let me know.

Extra!(because this post is way too short)

Want more Lego models? These sites have some incredible and strange ones.

Popular Mechanics: I liked the Lego Difference Engine and the Lego Air Conditioner(which actually works!)

Huffington Post: I liked the Lego Capitol, the Lego Man(actually Iron Man, but made out of Lego’s),Milk and Lego’s( is that actually milk in that Lego glass?), and the Lego Soccer Stadium(someone had way too much time on their hands)

Mashable: I didn’t know the Twitter mascot was named Ollie. I’d like to see the Google logo made out of Lego’s in a museum somewhere. See the iPhone unpacking slideshow(Mashable has a link) and the Google Chrome Logo video is epic.

Anyone else feel like a five year old watching/looking at these?

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Archive for 2010

Google's Next Game Changer: Google TV?

I was reading this article in the USA Today the other day about how Google’s next big product launch this Fall is going to be Google TV.  Google TV promises to bring a more user-friendly web interface to our TVs than the consumers in this country have ever seen.  Google’s vision seems to be to offer up web content side-by-side with the same television programs that we have been watching for years. Google also plans to offer an “app store” where consumers can buy free and paid applications that can run on the set-top boxes that will also be required to use this new service.

Whenever I think of the Internet on my TV I always think of those annoying wireless keyboards and terrible user interface that I have been finding in hotel rooms for over a decade for a $5 per day fee.  I always thought that the major flaw in these systems was the terrible user experience – it is always very difficult to navigate the web on these systems because of the lack of a usable mouse and the slightly different web browsers that never seemed to support the web content I wanted to see.  Google seems to be promising a solution to these problems by simplifying the browser and keyboard and supporting all standard web technologies.

I am still going to wait until I am able to use the new Google TV interface to form my opinion but I am hopeful that if any company can successfully bring the Internet to our TVs that it is Google.  If they can convince consumers that the Internet on their TV is the same or comparable to the Internet on their PCs, then I think they have a good shot at being successful here.

On a side note, I also wanted to mention that today Skype announced that they have released a version of their product that is compatible with Android, the up and coming operating system for smart phones. Watch for the popularity of these mobile video calling applications to grow in the near future!

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Archive for 2010

A New Entreperneur's Motto: Try to Win Each Day

Marty Schotenheimer giving small businesses and startups inspiration

So as many of you may know, I am from the Cleveland/Akron area and a lifelong Browns fan.  Yes, I am celebrating Sunday’s first victory of the season, but that is another story.  My point is the great former Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer used to tell his team – “Try to win every play.” I believe his thinking was, forget the first half or second half or all 60 minutes of the game.  Break the game of football down to the smallest element and that is each play.  Win each play, and you increase your chances of winning the game.  It really is a good way of looking at the game of football.

The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma: This got me to thinking about the overwhelming odds that most entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses face.  We are up against larger companies, better funded competitors, new products being launched every day and the challenge of just trying to get our names out and keeping our customers happy.  These and the many additional challenges that entrepreneurs face every day can be overwhelming.   They often drown even the strongest and most driven people who take the entrepreneurship plunge.

Just one of these challenges is entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses are faced with being pulled in every direction.   The job of focusing is so difficult (as we discussed previously).  How many of you can not even send an email out or quickly resolve a customer inquiry without being interrupted a hundred times?  We get half way through a three line email and it takes us two hours to get the rest of the email completed and by the time we are done we do not remember what we were responding to in the first place.

A New Approach? So taking Schottenheimer’s football quote, lets try to apply it to our small businesses and startups.  How do you win each play as an entrepreneur?  Here are some tips for us to try:

1) What do you control? Refocus your lens on the issues, tasks, projects and deliverables that are under your control. Forget the rest or at least do not spend a lot of time on items that are outside of your control for your business.

2) What can you attack? Make a daily list of these issues, tasks, projects and deliverables that are under your control and attack them in bite sized pieces.

3) What small steps can I take? The reminder is do not focus on trying to get everything accomplished at one time.  That approach will get you overwhelmed. Instead, take small steps each day and the snowballing effect of this forward motion will eventually help you make progress on your list.

4) What is my daily plan? Take time for an “internal huddle” each morning to plan out your day and what items you want to accomplish for your business.  Even if it is just you taking 5 minutes, it will be worth it.  The alternative is just jumping into the day and letting your emails, telephone calls and employees dictate what you do.  Fight that urge.  The huddle helps you assert some degree of control of your day as Inc Magazine discussed here.

5) How can I give 110%? By concentrating on these smaller steps and items that you control, that should help you really focus your efforts and energy on particular tasks.  That then helps you concentrate your efforts so you can do the best job possible on that task.  This is much better than being distracted and trying to still make progress on these tasks.

6) What is my daily progress? Repeat, repeat and repeat.  And oh yeah, also measure your progress too by giving yourself a scorecard of what you get done.  That way you can track how well you are doing.

Because I am such a huge Browns fan (and I also want us all to succeed at KikScore!), I am going to commit myself to taking these steps to see if I truly can win each day.  I will let you know what progress I make.

Please let us know how you “win each day!”

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Archive for 2010

Searching for the Nonexistent Website

You’re in the mood for Chinese food tonight. You use Google to pull up a list of several Chinese restaurants in your area. The name of a particular restaurant grabs your interest. The phone number and address are listed, but you want to know more. Do they have steamed dumplings? Is the setting formal or casual? Why haven’t you heard of this place before? You don’t see a website for the restaurant, but you figure they must have one, so you continue searching. Fifteen minutes have passed and even though you have read several reviews of the restaurant, you still haven’t found the website. You still don’t know if they have steamed dumplings! At this point you’re annoyed, and hungry! Why don’t they have a website? They must be unprofessional, behind the times, or just lazy. You don’t waste any more time on this restaurant.  You pick the next restaurant on the list, one that is linked to a website.

Does this sound familiar to you? Have you ever spent far too much time searching the Internet for a particular website, only to discover that…there is no website? Maybe you were looking for a doctor’s office, a plumber, or a Chinese restaurant. How did you feel when this happened? I feel beyond irritated in such scenarios. A product of my Internet-dependent generation (18- to 29-year-old “Millennials”), I’m accustomed to accessing an absurd amount of information and services with the click of a button. Using the Internet, I can learn a language, view satellite imagery, and even find my soul mate,  but I can’t get an accurate profile of what services/products a company offers its customers! Am I asking too much of small businesses? Is there a generational divide here? What do you think?

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Archive for 2010

What Makes a Good Partnership for Your Business

No matter what type of product or service your business provides, the question of partnerships will come up.  There are several types of structures a partnership can take,  but it usually breaks down into two real forms: Complementary and Marketing.  Complementary relationships focus on offering a service to an existing platform (and group of potential customers for your business).  Marketing relationships is really just an offshoot of that, but the focus is less on filling a need than attracting the attention of an audience. 

Which is right for your business really depends on your product and the potential audience.  For example, we here at KikScore just announced an integration with Shopster.  To us, it really is an ideal arrangement.  First off, it broadens the awareness of our product and has been generating a lot  of new customers.  But it also filled a need for Shopster — providing a cutting edge trust/security service for its platform customers.  In other words, we’re providing a service that is needed to a customer base that we both want to reach. 

Sounds pretty straightforward, right?  But it’s not.  You need to find the right partner.  Our integration and relationship with Shopster would never be successful if we didn’t share the same view about customer service and quality. It’s hard enough to build concencus with your own team, but unless you communicate well with your partner, and are on the same page, things can get really difficult.

We’re feeling pretty good about our newest partnership, and we’re excited about the buzz it’s creating, but it only reinforces all the preparation and deliberation we took in working with Shopster.  So here’s to partnerships and finding the right one.  We feel we did.

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Archive for 2010

Breaking: Shopster to Kick Butt with KikScore – Helping Small Businesses Demonstrate Trust Online

A few of the founders of KikScore spent much of their formative years within a few miles of Canada! We grew up cheering for Canada’s favorite son Michael J. Fox in Family Ties and jamming to the hard rock sounds of Rush. We even enjoyed a few too many Canadian beers growing up.   So it’s only fitting that KikScore is excited to announce a great new partnership with a Canadian based company and global ecommerce leader.

Our friends at Shopster, the powerful ecommerce platform that has over 100,000 small business merchants, are teaming up with us to help small online businesses. KikScore is proud to launch a fully integrated trust seal offering to all of Shopster’s growing small business customer base.

Here are some facts behind the partnership:

1) Studies have shown small online businesses lose billions each year around the world because shoppers’ trust concerns with buying online;

2) Studies have shown that 63 percent of online shoppers fail to complete a transaction because of concerns about site security or trust;

3) Shoppers are increasingly seeking more information and data from online stores before those shoppers will complete purchases with these small online businesses;

4) Many small businesses have a strong track record of trustworthiness and would significantly benefit if they could show shoppers their history of reliability and stability.

Our partnership gives Shopster’s customers an opportunity to obtain KikScore’s independently verified trust score and seal. The KikScore seal along with the embedded merchant report card empowers small businesses to take their good track record and display it to shoppers and the general public. This will help these small businesses demonstrate trustworthiness and reliability to shoppers who visit their site. Shopster’s customers can then create an environment for website visitors to shop with far greater confidence. This enhanced shopper confidence means more sales for Shopster’s small business customers.

Here are more details on this exciting new partnership between Shopster and KikScore.

Also we want to say a special thanks to everyone both at Shopster, KikScore and our family and friends everywhere that helped support the launch of this fantastic partnership!

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