Hello World

I'm not a developer, but I understand that for many the first program they ever wrote was a program to get the words "hello world" to display on a monitor screen. In my mind I see these words in the upper-left corner of the screen in monochromatic green on black telling the developer they have succeeded in creating something.

We all have a need to create--to synthesize the world around us and come up with something new. Whether it is a jarring new explosion in creativity or the results of more subtle exercises, such as "piggybacking" or "piling on" or "standing on the shoulders of others," we all have a desire to make our own mark on the world.

Although I've been marketing online for more than 13 years now, this is my first attempt to create what I have previously believed to be somewhat narcissistic or self-aggrandizing: a personal reflection on what I have learned during my online marketing career. Instead of increasing my personal profile I have spent all of my time dedicated to building the profiles of some pretty innovative brands, including Ancestry.com, Move Networks, and FamilyLink.com.

Paul B. Allen, a co-founder of Ancestry.com and the founder and CEO of FamilyLink.com once shared the concept with me of "value creators" vs. "value managers." My role has always been that of building value for companies that are nascent in creating their brand identities. I've learned that the best seemingly organic paths for value creation tend to be well-planned and executed and that most examples of serendipity or "dumb luck" actually obey the principles of common sense. Like my seventh grade physics teacher, Mr. Browning taught me, "you can't cheat work." There are very few shortcuts to good marketing and long-term success, but some have managed to discover the principles that lead to success unintentionally or even by mistake.

If you want to learn from my past experiences and current challenges, I invite you to follow along. If you want to participate in a dialog of ideas, I encourage you to extend yourself. If you desire to gain an understanding of the principles and concepts that make marketing work (especially online marketing), I encourage you to weigh my contributions carefully. You might decide I have something worth reading.

The following are a few of the concepts I will be exploring and expounding upon here in my little corner of the Internet:

• Marketing strategies that are really strategic
• Interactive marketing that actually creates interactions
• Using common sense to understand likely customer scenarios and responses
• Projection, patterning, and invitation as methods to reach customers on a psychological level
• The balance of art and science that is marketing
• Creating layered campaigns that amplify across customer segments and channels
• Managing marketing initiatives, such as PPC, SEO, affiliate programs, partner programs, and email
• Designing effective ads for different online channels
• How to get a blank check for your marketing budget
• Playing the averages to achieve both low cost and high volume
• Focusing on creating a remarkable product to stretch your marketing dollar
• And much, much more . . .

That's probably enough for a first blog post. I'll be adding a lot more this week, including some tutorial content on PPC and Affiliate Marketing. You can also look forward to some lists of best common sense marketing practices and the biggest mistakes you will want to avoid.

Hello World