TL;DR

Passing the Scan Test 

With dozens of different presentations, web pages and white papers for different companies in the last few months, I always use the Scan Test.

What did I see First? 

• Where did my eye go?
• What was communicated there?
• Did it actually say anything? 

And, why did I put a picture, change fonts, italics or underline it? 

Did I use a picture to draw the eye down the page....

To where we really communicate what is different and important about this particular product to this particular person and create an emotional attachment or intellectual resonance with the viewer?

Or should we have just used a graphic and accepted that few people read?





On the other hand, I focus on B2B Technology Marketing. Most of my customers actually care about their technology, their job, and their reputation. The people I want to reach are highly-connected information junkies. They read a lot, write often, and value their time.

To reach them, we must provide the in-depth explanation of what, how, and why of the product, the use case and the architecture behind it to be credible. The presentation must be concise with the ability to drill further in the areas where the reader is curious.

 So I write and I edit and a make certain that when you scan, you get something valuable.

Never a Wall of Text...

Heartbleed: Open Source Branding

We all know Heartbleed, the branded, logged version of CVE-2014-0160. The logo is everywhere.

Codenonmicon claims independent discovery of the bug, but they get undisputed credit for branding Heartbleed. The branding package was simple: The name, the logo, a branded URL and a page that clearly communicated the situation in simple text. 

Rather than protect the considerable Intellectual Property a great name and logo represent, Codenonmicon provided the logo with No Rights Reserved. At this point, even the most jaded IP lawyer will recognize CC0.

As a result there are hundreds of millions of instances out there. The value of that is staggering.

It is a brilliant example of the ease of Open Source Branding.

Not everyone can or should Open Source Intellectual Property. My test of whether to do so is very simple:

1. When it's value increases with adoption. 
2. When it is not core to your company's value proposition
3. When you are willing to take responsibility for it. 

Codenonmicon is not in the logo or naming business. They are security specialists who happened into a great idea with a good designer, but I'm now one of the hundreds of millions of links pointing back to their web site. Well done!


Some facts:

• On April 19th, 2014 Google Image search returns about 512 Million instances of the logo on the web. 
• Searching for CVE-2014-0160, returns just over 1.5 Million pages
• The Wikipedia article has 693 edits in the 9 days since it was created. 
• The Heartbleed logo is provided under Creative Commons CC0 license: No Rights Reserved. 
• Heartbleed is an exploit of the Heatbeat function of SSL.
• Codenonmicon is clearly a play on Cryptonomicon.   

I should not have to explain what Cryptonomicon is... 

I miss Snail Mail.

Checking the mail meant something different when the postman was your connection to the outside. no matter how impatient you are for the news, you could only check it in a relatively short window - maybe an hour or two each day as you anticipated the daily rounds of your letter carrier. 

 

These days, you can pretend to be doing something when all you are really doing is waiting for the mail. 

http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6479d184-b9a0-11e3-b947-94de80a03a39

 

The View from Outside

I'm working with Marshall van Allstyne's students on a start-up business model. I've learned a lot just trying to transfer knowledge. It is the opposite of explaining to your Grandmother what you do for a living.

• The students use modern analogues that I didn't think would fit.
• Which helps me understand our product category. 
• They don't value distribution.
•  Which makes me rethink the sales cycle and cost of sales.
• They assume reaching people is easy.
• Which makes me rethink our marketing

It's all good.

"It will work. I'm a Marketing Genius."

That quote is attributed to Paris Hilton. Yes really.... 

Sometimes, the only cure for writer's block (or typist's demotivation) is just to give up on quality and just pour bad stuff onto the page.

You are going to edit it anyway. 

Early Customers are Easy

Your first sales prove almost nothing about your long term success. 

• Someone you know loves your product vision. 
• Because, you are highly connected to similar people.
• They have a budget line item for you. 
• Because, you use the pricing model of your established competitor.
• You don't need good marketing, channel, support or even sales tools. 
• Because, your best people are focused on making these sales.  

Your long-term success is predicated on learning from those early customers

• Why this is their point-of-pain.
• So you can imagine a _much_ better product or even a new category of solution.
• How they value you.
• So you can build a pricing model that puts your competitors at a disadvantage.
• What they say about you
• So you can help others Discover, Appreciate and Purchase your product.

Inspired by Rich Mironov's Keynote at Product Camp LA.  

Finder, Minders & Grinders: Everyone has Expertise

The phrase "Finders, Minders and Grinders" has a long backstory with the common lesson being that you need to become a Finder in order to rise to the top. Those who bring in the most new business tend to make the most money, but their success is built on top of the Minders & Grinders who actually deliver. Even the best Finder can only sustain a business if the product they are selling is good.

Every organization needs Finders selling, Minders analyzing, and Grinders delivering results.

I'm inherently a Finder. I'm highly networked, willing to talk to anyone, and deeply invested in finding the right Product-Market Fit.

I can be a damn good Minder, but I can't sustain it forever. I get curious about the next thing, rather than being happy about pulling all the money out. Minders analyze what is going on and constantly optimize and tune. Good Minders love A/B testing and empirical results. Mature products in established markets need great Minders. Sustained social media success is built on the backs of Minders.

Grinder is not my strongest suit, but I love working closely with them! It isn't that they aren't brilliant, it tends to be they are focused on what is in front of them. Grinders are Engineers who enthused about their new feature. A good Finder or Minder needs to help them get that story out there to the right audience. Everyone should love the feature, but really only certain users in certain contexts. Finders help Grinders see a bigger picture.