As a result of the job loss situation and the poor economy, there are numerous Digital Entrepreneurs considering an Internet Based business where they leverage a suite of best practices, Internet software tools, education, and support in a community of gifting colleagues thereby placing themselves at the center of the New Economy 2.0 & the Ascendancy of the Entrepreneur.
Innovation on the internet is proceeding at a super-fast pace. Phone books are going away … print advertising is disappearing … at any time over 1.5B people are searching for something on the Internet.
When you buy something on the Internet, you want to buy from someone that you believe is an authority and someone that you can trust. As a result, there is certainly innovation occurring on the Internet with the Web 2.0 technologies that include social networking, blogs, video-sharing channels, and micro-blogging … these are being used by agents and representatives with home-based businesses to become a trusted authority.
A few years ago during my career with Deloitte, a Big 4 Accounting and Consulting Firm, I worked on a consulting project with Microsoft in Redmond and lead teams undertaking marketing and advertising activities as part of a very large product launch. Our team was fond of a saying, “a fool with a tool is still a fool.”
In order to be effective and not be foolish by solely emphasizing technology during the product launch, it was important for our team to understand how the rules of marketing and PR (public relations) in the offline world had evolved and merged into a set of new rules for Marketing and PR in the New Economy 2.0 of the Internet.
In the offline world, marketing is a one-way interruption with yesterday’s message. Here is a listing of several of the old rules of marketing and advertising:
- marketing simply meant advertising (and branding);
- advertising needed to appeal to the masses;
- advertising relied on interrupting people to get them to pay attention to a message;
- advertising was one-way – company to consumer;
- advertising was exclusively about selling products;
- advertising was based on campaigns that had a limited life;
- creativity was deemed the most crucial component of advertising;
- it was more important for the ad agency to win advertising awards than for a client to win new customers; and
- advertising and PR were separate disciplines run by different people with separate goals, strategies, and measurement criteria.
In the offline world, PR is a money pit of wasted resources dealing with the journalistic black hole. The following old rules of PR are becoming obsolete:
- the only way to get ink and airtime was through the media;
- companies communicated to journalists via press releases;
- nobody saw the actual release except a small number of reporters and editors;
- companies had to have significant news before they were allowed to write a press release;
- jargon was okay because the journalists all understood it;
- you were not supposed to send a press release unless it included quotes from third parties, such as customers, analysts, and experts;
- the only way buyers would find out about the press release’s content was if the media wrote a story regarding it;
- the only way to measure the effectiveness of press releases was through “clip books” which noted each time the media decided to pick up a company’s release; and
- PR and marketing were separate disciplines run by different people with separate goals, strategies, and measurement techniques.
Marketing in the online world is not about generic banner ads built to trick people with neon colors or wacky movement. It is about understanding the keywords and phrases that buyers in your target market are using, and designing and activating a series of micro-campaigns to drive buyers to pages that are full of the content they seek.
In order to do this effectively, it is best to understand the new rules of Marketing and PR in the online world that are listed below:
- Marketing is more than just advertising;
- PR is for more than just a mainstream media audience;
- Your are what you publish;
- People want authenticity not spin;
- People want participation not propaganda;
- Instead of causing one-way interruption, marketing is all about delivering content at just the precise moment your audience needs it;
- Marketers must shift their thinking from mainstream marketing to the masses to a strategy of reaching vast numbers of underserved audiences via the Web;
- PR is not about your boss seeing your business on TV - it is about your buyers seeing your company on the internet;
- Marketing is about your organization winning business - not about your ad agency winning awards;
- The Internet makes public relations public again, after years of almost exclusive focus on media;
- Companies must drive people into the purchasing process with great online content;
- Blogs, online video, ebooks, news releases, and other forms of online content let organizations communicate directly with buyers in a form they appreciate; and
- In the internet, the lines between marketing and PR have blurred.
In the offline world, marketing and PR are separate departments with different people and different skill sets. In the online world, marketing, advertising, and PR are converging hence there is just one set of Internet Marketing rules for the Digital Entrepreneur to follow.
People do not like to be sold to, however people want to shop and buy.
Great content helps potential buyers see you, relate to your brand, and understand and value what you have to offer (your products).
By utilizing hypnotic writing, your content will drive a (lead and/or) customer to take the action you want!
Internet Marketing for the Digital Entrepreneur is not a battle of products … it is about using multiple online tools all directed toward increasing the visibility of brand You Inc, generating viral and word-of-mouth online awareness, and utilizing key tactics to ensure success in the knowledge economy.
The Internet provides opportunities you never had before. Internet Marketing is all about selling anything, to anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world!
Finally, a great book to read is "The NEW RULES of MARKETING & PR" by David Meerman Scott. It is the source of a majority of the old rules and new rules listed in this article. This book also contains an action plan that can be followed to harness the power of the NEW RULES!
In closing, be sure to meet me at my website, WhoIsMikeFarrell, learn some tips about being No 1 on Google at apenIbiz My Go-To-Market Partners, my affiliate website, and learn how to be savvy with your money like the insiders at aspenIbiz The Conspiracy For Your Money blog.
Showing posts with label Internet based business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet based business. Show all posts
Monday, June 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Water - It Is a Good Place to Be in the Years Ahead, by Mike Farrell with aspenIbiz
When you think about commodities that are in demand and other hot items right now among traders, you probably don’t think of water. But you should as alternative wealth creating strategies in water are surfacing.
The pipelines that provide our drinking water cover a distance of a million miles … more than four times the length of the Interstate Highway System. Much of this pipeline is over 100 yrs old, has exceeded its useful life, and in many parts of the country, it is in a state of utter disrepair.
The fix will cost at least $500B over the next 20 years.
And, the renewable bio-fuel targets of the US Dpt of Energy can’t be met because we don’t have the water supply. It will take 2.5 trillion gallons of water to make 1 billion gallons of ethanol … this is more water than used by the farmers in the Central Valley and the population of Southern California combined. It takes energy to make water and water to make energy and we don’t have enough water to make the mandated biofuel … perhaps this is another conspiracy in the making.
As a result, the price of water in some parts of the world is rising … sometimes very quickly and it is rising right here in the good ole USA … especially in California.
Water rates in California have experienced a 71% increase in five years and despite these increases, water is still too cheap in Southern California.
Water is a resource that has been underpriced for 50 years … consumers pay $10 day for power and only $3 a day for water. Water costs more in Manhattan and New York City isn’t even a desert.
California is a good case study where the water crisis is in bloom and here are drivers of some of the issues and challenges ahead.
First – Supply Limitations. As the water flows down from the Sierra Mountains, it also flows through an estuary before it reaches the state’s water supply. The estuary was depleted due to excessive pumping which endangered a species of fish native to the river. A few years ago, a federal judge put limits on the amount of water taken out of the Sacramento – San Joaquin Bay Delta to protect the fish. The system is now delivering only 40% of the capacity as a result of these judge implied limits. At this point, even several wet years will not get the capacity back to 100%.
Second – Drought. Current reservoir levels are at all-time lows because California just had its third consecutive dry year.
Third – Aging Infrastructure. The system is no longer capable of supporting the increased population without significant investment.
To combat these problems, the state has done a number of things, including the price increases mentioned above. Yet because water is still so cheap, the increased water rates have not had much of an effect on water use so far. There is also an $11.1 billion water bond that will provide funds for storing water. And there is a search for new supplies of water.
Having picked all the low-hanging fruit, it is clear there is no single solution to the water crisis. There will be many ideas – conservation, desalination, and more.
For example, some companies are working on ways to capture the rain and snowfall from various mountain drainage and watersheds before it flows to natural dry lakes and eventually evaporates. The rain and snowfall will be stored and eventually delivered to major population centers in California via pipeline and pumping stations.
On the surface, it will appear that the value will be in the water provided for consumption and irrigation of crops grown on farms in the region. Yet the real value will not be the actual water or resulting farming but in monetizing the water rights.
Today’s investor portfolio should include companies that hold these water rights; companies that provide pipes, valves, seals, tanks, treatment plants, and pumping station equipment; firms that provide the engineering services to design and build these pipelines and pumping stations; and water utilities that operate and deliver quality water, that will better than most bottled water, to major metropolitan areas of California.
Water worries extend far beyond California and the America West … and it will be a good place to be in the years ahead. As goes California, so goes America.
I favor a quote from Steve Forbes … Forbes says that pursuing additional financial education and the resulting increase in our financial literacy will open our eyes to alternative wealth creating strategies and this will be they key to resolving our financial crisis.
As an example of alternative wealth creating strategies … consider investments in non dollar-denominated assets … perhaps emerging markets … perhaps energy assets that are inherently useful like oil rigs, hydropower, or methanol plants … perhaps water rights, precious metals, oil, natural gas, potash mines, or gold mines … things hard to build, difficult to replace, and costly to substitute … definitely not financial stocks, definitely not retail stocks, definitely not commercial property.
I trust this article provides a little more insight as to why water rights, pipelines, and water utilities continue to represent alternative wealth creating strategies.
I will continue to introduce alternative wealth creating strategies to consider like water rights and other like emerging markets, oil rigs, precious metals and potash mines, in future articles and updates here at my blog over the next few weeks.
You can find out more about Financial Education, Alternative Wealth Creating Strategies, Internet Marketing opportunities, Home-Based Businesses, and the global economy by reading updates that will be posted here at my blog over the next few weeks and by following me on Twitter.
As a former engineer with General Dynamics and management consultant at Deloitte … I am on a mission to empower individuals by increasing their financial literacy, improve their ability for personal sustainability, and contribute to the program that has a goal of creating 100 Millionaires by 2012.
Until next time, I invite you to:
Meet me at Facebook :
Follow me on Twitter :
Read my Posts :
Watch my Video Channel :
Join me in pursuing financial literacy and alternative business opportunities with multiple income streams at aspenIbiz .
When not traveling for business or pleasure, Farrell operates his own internet marketing company and consulting firm from his home in the mountains of Colorado.
In closing, if you are a reluctant entrepreneur, a business owner, employed in an 8-5 job, or recently retired, yet still wanting to be plugged-in to the next wave of economic prosperity, you can join him in pursuing the lifestyle you want to live by following the aspenIbiz link provided above.
The pipelines that provide our drinking water cover a distance of a million miles … more than four times the length of the Interstate Highway System. Much of this pipeline is over 100 yrs old, has exceeded its useful life, and in many parts of the country, it is in a state of utter disrepair.
The fix will cost at least $500B over the next 20 years.
And, the renewable bio-fuel targets of the US Dpt of Energy can’t be met because we don’t have the water supply. It will take 2.5 trillion gallons of water to make 1 billion gallons of ethanol … this is more water than used by the farmers in the Central Valley and the population of Southern California combined. It takes energy to make water and water to make energy and we don’t have enough water to make the mandated biofuel … perhaps this is another conspiracy in the making.
As a result, the price of water in some parts of the world is rising … sometimes very quickly and it is rising right here in the good ole USA … especially in California.
Water rates in California have experienced a 71% increase in five years and despite these increases, water is still too cheap in Southern California.
Water is a resource that has been underpriced for 50 years … consumers pay $10 day for power and only $3 a day for water. Water costs more in Manhattan and New York City isn’t even a desert.
California is a good case study where the water crisis is in bloom and here are drivers of some of the issues and challenges ahead.
First – Supply Limitations. As the water flows down from the Sierra Mountains, it also flows through an estuary before it reaches the state’s water supply. The estuary was depleted due to excessive pumping which endangered a species of fish native to the river. A few years ago, a federal judge put limits on the amount of water taken out of the Sacramento – San Joaquin Bay Delta to protect the fish. The system is now delivering only 40% of the capacity as a result of these judge implied limits. At this point, even several wet years will not get the capacity back to 100%.
Second – Drought. Current reservoir levels are at all-time lows because California just had its third consecutive dry year.
Third – Aging Infrastructure. The system is no longer capable of supporting the increased population without significant investment.
To combat these problems, the state has done a number of things, including the price increases mentioned above. Yet because water is still so cheap, the increased water rates have not had much of an effect on water use so far. There is also an $11.1 billion water bond that will provide funds for storing water. And there is a search for new supplies of water.
Having picked all the low-hanging fruit, it is clear there is no single solution to the water crisis. There will be many ideas – conservation, desalination, and more.
For example, some companies are working on ways to capture the rain and snowfall from various mountain drainage and watersheds before it flows to natural dry lakes and eventually evaporates. The rain and snowfall will be stored and eventually delivered to major population centers in California via pipeline and pumping stations.
On the surface, it will appear that the value will be in the water provided for consumption and irrigation of crops grown on farms in the region. Yet the real value will not be the actual water or resulting farming but in monetizing the water rights.
Today’s investor portfolio should include companies that hold these water rights; companies that provide pipes, valves, seals, tanks, treatment plants, and pumping station equipment; firms that provide the engineering services to design and build these pipelines and pumping stations; and water utilities that operate and deliver quality water, that will better than most bottled water, to major metropolitan areas of California.
Water worries extend far beyond California and the America West … and it will be a good place to be in the years ahead. As goes California, so goes America.
I favor a quote from Steve Forbes … Forbes says that pursuing additional financial education and the resulting increase in our financial literacy will open our eyes to alternative wealth creating strategies and this will be they key to resolving our financial crisis.
As an example of alternative wealth creating strategies … consider investments in non dollar-denominated assets … perhaps emerging markets … perhaps energy assets that are inherently useful like oil rigs, hydropower, or methanol plants … perhaps water rights, precious metals, oil, natural gas, potash mines, or gold mines … things hard to build, difficult to replace, and costly to substitute … definitely not financial stocks, definitely not retail stocks, definitely not commercial property.
I trust this article provides a little more insight as to why water rights, pipelines, and water utilities continue to represent alternative wealth creating strategies.
I will continue to introduce alternative wealth creating strategies to consider like water rights and other like emerging markets, oil rigs, precious metals and potash mines, in future articles and updates here at my blog over the next few weeks.
You can find out more about Financial Education, Alternative Wealth Creating Strategies, Internet Marketing opportunities, Home-Based Businesses, and the global economy by reading updates that will be posted here at my blog over the next few weeks and by following me on Twitter.
As a former engineer with General Dynamics and management consultant at Deloitte … I am on a mission to empower individuals by increasing their financial literacy, improve their ability for personal sustainability, and contribute to the program that has a goal of creating 100 Millionaires by 2012.
Until next time, I invite you to:
Meet me at Facebook :
Follow me on Twitter :
Read my Posts :
Watch my Video Channel :
Join me in pursuing financial literacy and alternative business opportunities with multiple income streams at aspenIbiz .
When not traveling for business or pleasure, Farrell operates his own internet marketing company and consulting firm from his home in the mountains of Colorado.
In closing, if you are a reluctant entrepreneur, a business owner, employed in an 8-5 job, or recently retired, yet still wanting to be plugged-in to the next wave of economic prosperity, you can join him in pursuing the lifestyle you want to live by following the aspenIbiz link provided above.
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