Posted by Christopher Dawson @ 8:52 pm
Have you used the beta of Office 2010? I have. It’s incredibly slick, well-done software. I really like Office 2007, but 2010, even in beta form (much as Windows 7 beta was to Vista) is a real leap ahead. The interface is polished and it has everything a power user could want, from Access to Word. Microsoft announced pricing for it today and, while volume licensing hasn’t been hammered out, the academic version of Office 2010 Professional looks to be running $99 a pop. Upgrade pricing won’t be available for current Office 2007 users.
I’ve asked before if Office is good enough to pay for.
…even I can’t deny that Office 2007 is worth the money, at least for a subset of users, as I look over at the document I was creating when I started this post, not in OpenOffice, not in Google Docs, but on a spare PC using Office 2007 because it was the right tool for the job.
This will remain true for Office 2010…for a small subset of users. However, if those users already have 2007 licenses, is it worth the upgrade? For $99 (or even $79, if we assume volume academic licensing will be cheaper), I can buy a toner cartridge. Or a bunch of e-books. Or send a user to a conference. Or buy a digital camera for a class. A few licenses will get a classroom a slick new device or two coming out of CES.
I spent the day in brutal budget meetings. My business manager joked, noting that a few of us happened to be wearing red, that people wouldn’t notice the blood stains from a first difficult pass through budget lines that we slashed to save money. With staff and programs as our top priorities, it becomes very difficult to justify any expenses that don’t directly contribute to teaching and learning. Does Office 2010 help us educate kids better? If secretaries and other power users are already adeptly doing their jobs with the excellent 2007 version of Office, does an upgrade help them do their jobs better?
And more importantly, is there any reason not to phase out Office altogether for the average user and leverage Google Apps? OpenOffice would do the trick, too. I know that Microsoft is rolling lots of technology into their 2010 products (SharePoint and Office especially) and will be upping the value proposition for their Live@Edu and other educational offerings. However, no matter how much I like Office 2010, there won’t be any upgrades happening this year (or the next, for that matter). I just can’t rationalize it, whether 2007 keeps doing the job or my users embrace the free Google Edu Apps for their document creation needs.
I can’t expect Microsoft to give away Office to schools - this is a cash cow for them. However, deep upgrade discounts for educational institutions or drastically lower volume academic pricing would go a long ways towards keeping their desktop productivity software alive in budget-strapped schools as their own cloud implementations mature and competitors crank out the feature improvements.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Apple iPad: Is iBooks enough to get Apple back into education?
Posted by Christopher Dawson @ 10:51 pm
Not yet. And maybe it never will be, but I’m not quite as willing to write off the iPad announced Wednesday as I was last week. I’m also not as convinced that my midnight snack tonight should consist of too much crow, either. Like most pundits, I was completely underwhelmed by the device, surprised by its price, and dubious about what it brings to the table. I think the more interesting question in education, though, is what it will force to the table in the next year.
iBooks is what really has me wondering. Wednesday, Apple announced partnerships with Penguin, Harper-Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and the Hachette Book Group. Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, of course, is one heck of a big textbook publisher and the iPad just happens to be the first multitouch color e-reader(-like) device that can go with interactive textbooks where the Kindle, Sony Reader, and Nook never could.
The iPad, however, has less than a 10″ screen, no keyboard, and no stylus (I know, there are accessories and who wants a stylus, right?). What this means is that it’s a nice, if small, platform for viewing textbooks, but taking notes via keyboard or handwriting is out. Apple, however, did a couple big favors for education, whether or not any of us embrace the iPad. First, they standardized to EPUB for their iBooks application. EPUB documents can be read on an awful lot of devices, can be implemented with or without DRM, and EPUB is an extensible standard that will grow as ebooks mature.
The second and arguably more important gift that Apple gave us was to partner with a textbook publisher, push them towards interactive book development, and drag them to the EPUB party. Given Macmillan’s size, it isn’t a significant stretch to expect other publishers to follow a model that lets them get in on the game.
That game, although centered around iBooks and its iTunes-like store for e-books, will ultimately make a lot more interactive (or simply electronic) content available in a format that is highly usable on netbooks, laptops, and desktops. In fact, one could argue that, despite the lack of multitouch, netbooks with their generally larger screens, built-in keyboards, and lower prices might make better e-textbook readers than the iPad. Without the iPad, though, how long would it have taken publishers to jump on the bandwagon?
That being said, there are a few missing links. Although Jobs mentioned textbooks today, I saw a lot of leisure reading and the New York Times. No revolutionary interaction with texts. It’s early though, and I’m more than happy to give this time.
The second is price. $499 was shockingly low. Kudos to Apple on that one. Greedy public educator that I am, though, I want more (or actually, less). We haven’t seen if Apple will offer an educational discount, but even $50 would bring the iPad in line with Intel’s convertible Classmates (which have built-in EPUB reader software, keyboards, styli, and touch capabilities, but aren’t nearly as pretty).
The iPad is, as Jason Perlow puts it, most likely a “game changer”. In education, though, I think it will change the e-textbook market far more than it will make most of us want to run 1:1 programs with iPads. Anyway it goes, I’m glad the game is finally changing.
Not yet. And maybe it never will be, but I’m not quite as willing to write off the iPad announced Wednesday as I was last week. I’m also not as convinced that my midnight snack tonight should consist of too much crow, either. Like most pundits, I was completely underwhelmed by the device, surprised by its price, and dubious about what it brings to the table. I think the more interesting question in education, though, is what it will force to the table in the next year.
iBooks is what really has me wondering. Wednesday, Apple announced partnerships with Penguin, Harper-Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and the Hachette Book Group. Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, of course, is one heck of a big textbook publisher and the iPad just happens to be the first multitouch color e-reader(-like) device that can go with interactive textbooks where the Kindle, Sony Reader, and Nook never could.
The iPad, however, has less than a 10″ screen, no keyboard, and no stylus (I know, there are accessories and who wants a stylus, right?). What this means is that it’s a nice, if small, platform for viewing textbooks, but taking notes via keyboard or handwriting is out. Apple, however, did a couple big favors for education, whether or not any of us embrace the iPad. First, they standardized to EPUB for their iBooks application. EPUB documents can be read on an awful lot of devices, can be implemented with or without DRM, and EPUB is an extensible standard that will grow as ebooks mature.
The second and arguably more important gift that Apple gave us was to partner with a textbook publisher, push them towards interactive book development, and drag them to the EPUB party. Given Macmillan’s size, it isn’t a significant stretch to expect other publishers to follow a model that lets them get in on the game.
That game, although centered around iBooks and its iTunes-like store for e-books, will ultimately make a lot more interactive (or simply electronic) content available in a format that is highly usable on netbooks, laptops, and desktops. In fact, one could argue that, despite the lack of multitouch, netbooks with their generally larger screens, built-in keyboards, and lower prices might make better e-textbook readers than the iPad. Without the iPad, though, how long would it have taken publishers to jump on the bandwagon?
That being said, there are a few missing links. Although Jobs mentioned textbooks today, I saw a lot of leisure reading and the New York Times. No revolutionary interaction with texts. It’s early though, and I’m more than happy to give this time.
The second is price. $499 was shockingly low. Kudos to Apple on that one. Greedy public educator that I am, though, I want more (or actually, less). We haven’t seen if Apple will offer an educational discount, but even $50 would bring the iPad in line with Intel’s convertible Classmates (which have built-in EPUB reader software, keyboards, styli, and touch capabilities, but aren’t nearly as pretty).
The iPad is, as Jason Perlow puts it, most likely a “game changer”. In education, though, I think it will change the e-textbook market far more than it will make most of us want to run 1:1 programs with iPads. Anyway it goes, I’m glad the game is finally changing.
Friday, January 22, 2010
‘Should we advertise on TV–or online?’
By Ned Roberto, Ardy Roberto
Philippine Daily Inquirer
LAST December 18, we published our Rx to this question from a reader: Last year, we had an online ad agency present to us how much more cost-effective it is nowadays to advertise via online channels (versus TV).
So we tried online advertising via both banner ads and display ads. But we did not give up our TV advertising.
Last week, we got a summary monitoring report on our “online ad effectiveness” projected to yearend. It was disappointing, to say the least.
The number of responses to our online ads (both banner and display) was way below the year’s forecast. Daily responses were often zero!
When we contracted for online advertising, many of us in the marketing committee were asking: “Should we still advertise on TV?”
But after reading the report on our online advertising, all of us are now asking: “Should we advertise online at all?”
Not bad
This column got readers to put on their thinking caps and submit their own prescriptions:
Raj De Los Santos says, “having many TV channels, each with its own audience, is not a bad thing. More channels mean more markets to sell a product. Instead of spending money on major networks, funnel the funds into channels where target audience tunes in.
“Put money in market and media research, too... [But] imagine [the effect of TV advertising] if TiVos and/or DVRs are introduced in the Philippines.”
According to Wikipedia, TiVo is a brand and model of digital video recorder (DVR).
TiVo was introduced in the United States and is now available in New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Taiwan, and the UK.
TiVo DVRs provide an electronic television programming schedule and features such as Season Pass recordings, which ensure subscribers never miss an episode of their favorite shows.
A benefit of TiVo is that you can skip or fast forward through the commercials of the TV shows that you recorded.
Another reader, Alberto Villa-Abrille, submits this:
“I have been in the [Internet marketing] industry for five years and have run numerous large budget campaigns in each channel/aspect of Internet marketing.
Unfair comparison
“Regarding your article ‘Should we still advertise on TV?’ It really is unfair to compare television with banner and display ads on the net. The reason is that these are the least effective forms of online advertising.
“In fact, in the company I am affiliated with, banner advertising would comprise a minority of the budget.
“That being said, I am not against advertising on television. In fact, while we have historically advertised purely online, we are now looking at advertising on television. However, since our market is in the United States, we will be doing our TV ads via Google.
“The challenge is quantifying the response from traditional media. However, we have found innovative ways to do so. We will be running a large campaign Q1 (2010). If you are interested, we can exchange notes on the effectiveness of traditional vs online media once we get our campaigns launched. Also, I would be curious to know how your online advertising campaigns were run. I can be reached at albertova3@gmail.com.”
For those who think that online “advertising” is tricky and think online is just banner and display ads, think again. Next time, attend industry events and conferences like those organized by the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (Immap).
Here you’ll discover what and how marketers – whether they are small and medium scale enterprises or multinational corporations –are doing online to maximize their marketing budgets.
Marketing campaigns
Multinationals like Nestle, P&G and Unilever are using WEB2.0 / Social media (think YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) with great bang for their bucks. Go ahead and Google these online and digital marketing campaigns:
Nestle’s Kitkat Space Promo 2011
Nestle Philippines and Rapper Balagtas
Gillette India’s (To Shave or Not Debate). Increased the market of P&G’s Gillette razors in non-shaving India by 35 percent!
Pringles Philippines campaign. 60-percent increase in business reported.
Charmin Toilet Paper viral e-mail campaign
Unilever’s Axe Deocologne Digital marketing campaign (Unilever reports that it is increasing spending in digital marketing by 400 percent every year. So what does that tell you?)
Charice Pempengco’s 2009 concert at MOA (more than 7,500 tickets were sold through their Friendster campaign).
So we hope these Immap conference cases add light or help reframe the follow-up question “should we advertise online at all?”
At the conference, the JuniorMRxer bumped into former Inquirer marketing director, Donald Lim, who is now the head honcho/CEO of Yehey!. Donald shared with me that they now help companies and entrepreneurs navigate the online marketing “maze” that is Web 2.0.
Yehey! now acts like an Internet advertising and marketing agency (and not just a search engine/portal offering advertising packages). So consider these non-traditional “agencies” next time you seek advise or plan to “advertise” online.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
LAST December 18, we published our Rx to this question from a reader: Last year, we had an online ad agency present to us how much more cost-effective it is nowadays to advertise via online channels (versus TV).
So we tried online advertising via both banner ads and display ads. But we did not give up our TV advertising.
Last week, we got a summary monitoring report on our “online ad effectiveness” projected to yearend. It was disappointing, to say the least.
The number of responses to our online ads (both banner and display) was way below the year’s forecast. Daily responses were often zero!
When we contracted for online advertising, many of us in the marketing committee were asking: “Should we still advertise on TV?”
But after reading the report on our online advertising, all of us are now asking: “Should we advertise online at all?”
Not bad
This column got readers to put on their thinking caps and submit their own prescriptions:
Raj De Los Santos says, “having many TV channels, each with its own audience, is not a bad thing. More channels mean more markets to sell a product. Instead of spending money on major networks, funnel the funds into channels where target audience tunes in.
“Put money in market and media research, too... [But] imagine [the effect of TV advertising] if TiVos and/or DVRs are introduced in the Philippines.”
According to Wikipedia, TiVo is a brand and model of digital video recorder (DVR).
TiVo was introduced in the United States and is now available in New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Taiwan, and the UK.
TiVo DVRs provide an electronic television programming schedule and features such as Season Pass recordings, which ensure subscribers never miss an episode of their favorite shows.
A benefit of TiVo is that you can skip or fast forward through the commercials of the TV shows that you recorded.
Another reader, Alberto Villa-Abrille, submits this:
“I have been in the [Internet marketing] industry for five years and have run numerous large budget campaigns in each channel/aspect of Internet marketing.
Unfair comparison
“Regarding your article ‘Should we still advertise on TV?’ It really is unfair to compare television with banner and display ads on the net. The reason is that these are the least effective forms of online advertising.
“In fact, in the company I am affiliated with, banner advertising would comprise a minority of the budget.
“That being said, I am not against advertising on television. In fact, while we have historically advertised purely online, we are now looking at advertising on television. However, since our market is in the United States, we will be doing our TV ads via Google.
“The challenge is quantifying the response from traditional media. However, we have found innovative ways to do so. We will be running a large campaign Q1 (2010). If you are interested, we can exchange notes on the effectiveness of traditional vs online media once we get our campaigns launched. Also, I would be curious to know how your online advertising campaigns were run. I can be reached at albertova3@gmail.com.”
For those who think that online “advertising” is tricky and think online is just banner and display ads, think again. Next time, attend industry events and conferences like those organized by the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (Immap).
Here you’ll discover what and how marketers – whether they are small and medium scale enterprises or multinational corporations –are doing online to maximize their marketing budgets.
Marketing campaigns
Multinationals like Nestle, P&G and Unilever are using WEB2.0 / Social media (think YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) with great bang for their bucks. Go ahead and Google these online and digital marketing campaigns:
Nestle’s Kitkat Space Promo 2011
Nestle Philippines and Rapper Balagtas
Gillette India’s (To Shave or Not Debate). Increased the market of P&G’s Gillette razors in non-shaving India by 35 percent!
Pringles Philippines campaign. 60-percent increase in business reported.
Charmin Toilet Paper viral e-mail campaign
Unilever’s Axe Deocologne Digital marketing campaign (Unilever reports that it is increasing spending in digital marketing by 400 percent every year. So what does that tell you?)
Charice Pempengco’s 2009 concert at MOA (more than 7,500 tickets were sold through their Friendster campaign).
So we hope these Immap conference cases add light or help reframe the follow-up question “should we advertise online at all?”
At the conference, the JuniorMRxer bumped into former Inquirer marketing director, Donald Lim, who is now the head honcho/CEO of Yehey!. Donald shared with me that they now help companies and entrepreneurs navigate the online marketing “maze” that is Web 2.0.
Yehey! now acts like an Internet advertising and marketing agency (and not just a search engine/portal offering advertising packages). So consider these non-traditional “agencies” next time you seek advise or plan to “advertise” online.
Are You a Marketer or a Promoter?
By Stone Evans
Are you an online marketer? Or do you simply promote affiliate programs? Marketing is truly the most misunderstood word in use today on the Internet. Let me see if I can clarify this issue just a bit.
In Marketing 101 at your local university, marketing is actually the process of Product, Place, Price and Promotion.
PRODUCT
No business can exist without a product or service to sell.
In a nutshell, entrepreneurs are the people who believe in a product, service or idea, so much that they are willing to invest their lives into the development of their dream.
Historically, every major corporation in the world was started by an entrepreneur with a dream and the drive to make it a reality.
However, there comes a time in the life of every corporation when those who fear the gambling nature of their founder, squash the entrepreneurial drive that made the company a viable concern in the first place. The entrepreneur will either submit to the careful nature of the stockholders, or he will be forced to leave the company he created.
The only entrepreneurs who withstand the pressure to move more carefully are those who have maintained majority control over their companies.
PLACE
In the offline world, place is defined by location. On the Internet, place is defined by domain name and the web hosting service chosen.
Both online and offline, place can make or break a company without respect to the quality and value of the product, service or idea.
PRICE
Selecting a price is determined first on a basis of whether the company wants to be seen as a discount or a value company.
Take for example Wal-Mart and Staples.
Wal-Mart is the lead discounter in the marketplace. Staples on the other hand is the specialist in office supplies.
Both sell a significant number of office supplies despite the fact that the lowest price can usually be found at Wal-Mart. As a value dealer, Staples can afford to charge more for their products than Wal-Mart.
So the question for you is whether you want to position your company as a discount or value company.
Testing has shown that products and services can be sold at any number of prices and still reach a significant number of people.
The challenge of selecting the best price for your product or service will require a certain amount of testing.
UNDERSTANDING THE PRICING EQUATION
Let`s assume we are selling a product. Let us also assume that we know that the product can be sold for $10 or $50. Let us also assume that if the price dips below $10 or rises above $50, then the product sales fall off significantly.
Our challenge is to determine the best rate at which to sell our product.
Testing has shown us that we can sell 1000 items a week at $10. Testing has also shown that we can sell 500 items per week at $50. And testing has shown that we can sell 650 items per week at $45.
At $10, our projected weekly earnings are $10,000. When we sell the product at $50, we know that we can earn $25,000 per week. Most importantly, we know that we can earn $29,250 when our product is priced at $45.
With the imaginary testing we have done on our imaginary product, we can easily see that selling our product at $45 per item will earn us more money over the long haul.
Thus, when we make the decision for a national rollout of our product, then we will price our product at $45.
Of course, this is a very simplistic analysis of the point I am trying to make. Though simple, I believe this analogy will help you understand the methods of developing a product`s prices.
PROMOTION
Promotion, on the other hand, is the process of notifying the consumers for your product or service of your availability to serve them.
Methods of promotion vary distinctly and should be arranged to meet very specific goals.
As with product, place and price, promotion should not be left to chance. You should test every ad, every media, and every price point to determine the best bang for your promotional dollars.
HEADS UP!
If you are an online promoter or marketer, please factor in the most important element concerning the cost of your promotions.
What element is that? Your time!
Value your time at a certain dollar amount, and figure in your time into the cost of your promotional accounting.
I say this because too many online promoters lose sight of this concept and spend 20 hours to generate one sale while using free advertising. Even if you rate your time at the federal minimum wage, then you will have invested $105 of your time for one sale that might only net you a gross sale of $45!
ARE YOU TRULY A MARKETER OR ARE YOU JUST A PROMOTER?
Most people who run a business on the Internet call themselves marketers. Yet, most of these same people are really just promoters wrapped in the label of a marketer.
True marketers do not promote without a lot of advance work. They spend time planning, testing and measuring their actions and results to get the most out of every dollar spent and earned.
Entrepreneurs finesse the art of marketing as they build their company into a major enterprise.
If you are a promoter who does not keep an eye on the total marketing equation, then you are bound to fail.
If you do call yourself a marketer, then do what a professional marketer does. Make sure that every dollar spent is spent well. Make sure that every dollar earned is put to good use.
Market well so that when the people of the next generation look at your life, they will see a fine example of a successful entrepreneur that they will strive to emulate.
To YOUR success!
Are you an online marketer? Or do you simply promote affiliate programs? Marketing is truly the most misunderstood word in use today on the Internet. Let me see if I can clarify this issue just a bit.
In Marketing 101 at your local university, marketing is actually the process of Product, Place, Price and Promotion.
PRODUCT
No business can exist without a product or service to sell.
In a nutshell, entrepreneurs are the people who believe in a product, service or idea, so much that they are willing to invest their lives into the development of their dream.
Historically, every major corporation in the world was started by an entrepreneur with a dream and the drive to make it a reality.
However, there comes a time in the life of every corporation when those who fear the gambling nature of their founder, squash the entrepreneurial drive that made the company a viable concern in the first place. The entrepreneur will either submit to the careful nature of the stockholders, or he will be forced to leave the company he created.
The only entrepreneurs who withstand the pressure to move more carefully are those who have maintained majority control over their companies.
PLACE
In the offline world, place is defined by location. On the Internet, place is defined by domain name and the web hosting service chosen.
Both online and offline, place can make or break a company without respect to the quality and value of the product, service or idea.
PRICE
Selecting a price is determined first on a basis of whether the company wants to be seen as a discount or a value company.
Take for example Wal-Mart and Staples.
Wal-Mart is the lead discounter in the marketplace. Staples on the other hand is the specialist in office supplies.
Both sell a significant number of office supplies despite the fact that the lowest price can usually be found at Wal-Mart. As a value dealer, Staples can afford to charge more for their products than Wal-Mart.
So the question for you is whether you want to position your company as a discount or value company.
Testing has shown that products and services can be sold at any number of prices and still reach a significant number of people.
The challenge of selecting the best price for your product or service will require a certain amount of testing.
UNDERSTANDING THE PRICING EQUATION
Let`s assume we are selling a product. Let us also assume that we know that the product can be sold for $10 or $50. Let us also assume that if the price dips below $10 or rises above $50, then the product sales fall off significantly.
Our challenge is to determine the best rate at which to sell our product.
Testing has shown us that we can sell 1000 items a week at $10. Testing has also shown that we can sell 500 items per week at $50. And testing has shown that we can sell 650 items per week at $45.
At $10, our projected weekly earnings are $10,000. When we sell the product at $50, we know that we can earn $25,000 per week. Most importantly, we know that we can earn $29,250 when our product is priced at $45.
With the imaginary testing we have done on our imaginary product, we can easily see that selling our product at $45 per item will earn us more money over the long haul.
Thus, when we make the decision for a national rollout of our product, then we will price our product at $45.
Of course, this is a very simplistic analysis of the point I am trying to make. Though simple, I believe this analogy will help you understand the methods of developing a product`s prices.
PROMOTION
Promotion, on the other hand, is the process of notifying the consumers for your product or service of your availability to serve them.
Methods of promotion vary distinctly and should be arranged to meet very specific goals.
As with product, place and price, promotion should not be left to chance. You should test every ad, every media, and every price point to determine the best bang for your promotional dollars.
HEADS UP!
If you are an online promoter or marketer, please factor in the most important element concerning the cost of your promotions.
What element is that? Your time!
Value your time at a certain dollar amount, and figure in your time into the cost of your promotional accounting.
I say this because too many online promoters lose sight of this concept and spend 20 hours to generate one sale while using free advertising. Even if you rate your time at the federal minimum wage, then you will have invested $105 of your time for one sale that might only net you a gross sale of $45!
ARE YOU TRULY A MARKETER OR ARE YOU JUST A PROMOTER?
Most people who run a business on the Internet call themselves marketers. Yet, most of these same people are really just promoters wrapped in the label of a marketer.
True marketers do not promote without a lot of advance work. They spend time planning, testing and measuring their actions and results to get the most out of every dollar spent and earned.
Entrepreneurs finesse the art of marketing as they build their company into a major enterprise.
If you are a promoter who does not keep an eye on the total marketing equation, then you are bound to fail.
If you do call yourself a marketer, then do what a professional marketer does. Make sure that every dollar spent is spent well. Make sure that every dollar earned is put to good use.
Market well so that when the people of the next generation look at your life, they will see a fine example of a successful entrepreneur that they will strive to emulate.
To YOUR success!
Are You a Marketer or a Promoter?
By Stone Evans
Are you an online marketer? Or do you simply promote affiliate programs? Marketing is truly the most misunderstood word in use today on the Internet. Let me see if I can clarify this issue just a bit.
In Marketing 101 at your local university, marketing is actually the process of Product, Place, Price and Promotion.
PRODUCT
No business can exist without a product or service to sell.
In a nutshell, entrepreneurs are the people who believe in a product, service or idea, so much that they are willing to invest their lives into the development of their dream.
Historically, every major corporation in the world was started by an entrepreneur with a dream and the drive to make it a reality.
However, there comes a time in the life of every corporation when those who fear the gambling nature of their founder, squash the entrepreneurial drive that made the company a viable concern in the first place. The entrepreneur will either submit to the careful nature of the stockholders, or he will be forced to leave the company he created.
The only entrepreneurs who withstand the pressure to move more carefully are those who have maintained majority control over their companies.
PLACE
In the offline world, place is defined by location. On the Internet, place is defined by domain name and the web hosting service chosen.
Both online and offline, place can make or break a company without respect to the quality and value of the product, service or idea.
PRICE
Selecting a price is determined first on a basis of whether the company wants to be seen as a discount or a value company.
Take for example Wal-Mart and Staples.
Wal-Mart is the lead discounter in the marketplace. Staples on the other hand is the specialist in office supplies.
Both sell a significant number of office supplies despite the fact that the lowest price can usually be found at Wal-Mart. As a value dealer, Staples can afford to charge more for their products than Wal-Mart.
So the question for you is whether you want to position your company as a discount or value company.
Testing has shown that products and services can be sold at any number of prices and still reach a significant number of people.
The challenge of selecting the best price for your product or service will require a certain amount of testing.
UNDERSTANDING THE PRICING EQUATION
Let`s assume we are selling a product. Let us also assume that we know that the product can be sold for $10 or $50. Let us also assume that if the price dips below $10 or rises above $50, then the product sales fall off significantly.
Our challenge is to determine the best rate at which to sell our product.
Testing has shown us that we can sell 1000 items a week at $10. Testing has also shown that we can sell 500 items per week at $50. And testing has shown that we can sell 650 items per week at $45.
At $10, our projected weekly earnings are $10,000. When we sell the product at $50, we know that we can earn $25,000 per week. Most importantly, we know that we can earn $29,250 when our product is priced at $45.
With the imaginary testing we have done on our imaginary product, we can easily see that selling our product at $45 per item will earn us more money over the long haul.
Thus, when we make the decision for a national rollout of our product, then we will price our product at $45.
Of course, this is a very simplistic analysis of the point I am trying to make. Though simple, I believe this analogy will help you understand the methods of developing a product`s prices.
PROMOTION
Promotion, on the other hand, is the process of notifying the consumers for your product or service of your availability to serve them.
Methods of promotion vary distinctly and should be arranged to meet very specific goals.
As with product, place and price, promotion should not be left to chance. You should test every ad, every media, and every price point to determine the best bang for your promotional dollars.
HEADS UP!
If you are an online promoter or marketer, please factor in the most important element concerning the cost of your promotions.
What element is that? Your time!
Value your time at a certain dollar amount, and figure in your time into the cost of your promotional accounting.
I say this because too many online promoters lose sight of this concept and spend 20 hours to generate one sale while using free advertising. Even if you rate your time at the federal minimum wage, then you will have invested $105 of your time for one sale that might only net you a gross sale of $45!
ARE YOU TRULY A MARKETER OR ARE YOU JUST A PROMOTER?
Most people who run a business on the Internet call themselves marketers. Yet, most of these same people are really just promoters wrapped in the label of a marketer.
True marketers do not promote without a lot of advance work. They spend time planning, testing and measuring their actions and results to get the most out of every dollar spent and earned.
Entrepreneurs finesse the art of marketing as they build their company into a major enterprise.
If you are a promoter who does not keep an eye on the total marketing equation, then you are bound to fail.
If you do call yourself a marketer, then do what a professional marketer does. Make sure that every dollar spent is spent well. Make sure that every dollar earned is put to good use.
Market well so that when the people of the next generation look at your life, they will see a fine example of a successful entrepreneur that they will strive to emulate.
To YOUR success!
Top 10 Ways to build a better website
After seeing millions of Yola websites, we'd like to share some tips with you on building a great site.
1. Make an impact with pictures:
Add photos to your site from your camera or iStock. Be sure to include Alternative Text in the Properties section for better search engine ranking.
2. Customize the banner
Replace the default image with one of your own - then resize and crop it with our built-in editing tool.
3. Buy a custom domain name
Your web address is how people remember your site and the right domain helps your site stand out in search results. You'll find it's configured to work perfectly with your Yola website.
Log in to buy one now»
Get a custom domain
4. Sell, sell, sell
Use the Online Store widgets to accept online payments or donations with PayPal.
5. Upgrade to a Premium Style
Get specially-crafted designs with unique frames and vibrant images. We've added 10 new Styles to choose from. Log in to see them all»
Premium stlye
6. Make a site that's more interactive
Try out widgets from well-known companies like YouTube, Skype, Google and more.
7. Keep your site updated
New text and images on your website can increase your search engine ranking.
8. Get feedback
When you Publish or Update, notify friends and associates via Twitter to see what they have to say.
Widgets
9. Upgrade to Pro
Yola Pro includes a Premium Style of your choice and loads of features like 100MB file uploads and advertising credits. Log in to upgrade now »
Yola Pro
10. Get more site design ideas
The tips don't need to end here. Find at least 10 more tips in Creating Good Looking Webs
1. Make an impact with pictures:
Add photos to your site from your camera or iStock. Be sure to include Alternative Text in the Properties section for better search engine ranking.
2. Customize the banner
Replace the default image with one of your own - then resize and crop it with our built-in editing tool.
3. Buy a custom domain name
Your web address is how people remember your site and the right domain helps your site stand out in search results. You'll find it's configured to work perfectly with your Yola website.
Log in to buy one now»
Get a custom domain
4. Sell, sell, sell
Use the Online Store widgets to accept online payments or donations with PayPal.
5. Upgrade to a Premium Style
Get specially-crafted designs with unique frames and vibrant images. We've added 10 new Styles to choose from. Log in to see them all»
Premium stlye
6. Make a site that's more interactive
Try out widgets from well-known companies like YouTube, Skype, Google and more.
7. Keep your site updated
New text and images on your website can increase your search engine ranking.
8. Get feedback
When you Publish or Update, notify friends and associates via Twitter to see what they have to say.
Widgets
9. Upgrade to Pro
Yola Pro includes a Premium Style of your choice and loads of features like 100MB file uploads and advertising credits. Log in to upgrade now »
Yola Pro
10. Get more site design ideas
The tips don't need to end here. Find at least 10 more tips in Creating Good Looking Webs
Toshiba TV adds third dimension to video viewing
Agence France-Presse
LAS VEGAS--Toshiba on Wednesday unveiled a flat-panel television that converts any digital video into 3-D.
"With Cell TV, everything is in 3-D," Toshiba America marketing vice president Scott Ramirez said while unveiling Cell TV to the press on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which this year gathers some 2,500 industry exhibitors.
"All the home video games you have right now will be in 3-D," he said.
The Japanese electronic's titan's Cell TV is powered by a microprocessor typically used in advance computers and high-end video game consoles and was billed by executives as the future of television.
"We are finally ready for the decade of conversion," Ramirez said.
"Consumers are getting more connected. Everything is connected. We are moving beyond just television. This year is going to be all about the experience."
Cell TV technology upgrades digital video content, even adding pixels to enhance low quality streams such as those common in user-generated online video.
Cell TV senses room lighting and adapts screen quality accordingly.
Cell televisions are synchronized to an array of online video channels and have built-in cameras, microphones and software for video-enabled Internet telephone calls.
"With video phone capability, you can talk to people anywhere in the world," Ramirez said. "You are going to look crystal clear at 55 inches with our technology."
The 3-D and enhanced Internet connectivity technology will be in a set of Cell TV models this year and eventually will spread to other parts of Toshiba's television line-up, according to Ramirez.
"We see the TV as an engine capable of providing a transformative entertainment experience," said Toshiba America consumer products chief executive Atsushi Murasawa.
Cell TV is at heart at a powerful "broadband engine" processor for multimedia content, according to Murasawa. Cell boasts 143 times the processing power of televisions in the market today.
Toshiba also unveiled a Home Entertainment Server with a terabyte of memory and Blu-ray high-definition DVD player to act as a wireless entertainment hub as well as a massive storage site for digital content.
LAS VEGAS--Toshiba on Wednesday unveiled a flat-panel television that converts any digital video into 3-D.
"With Cell TV, everything is in 3-D," Toshiba America marketing vice president Scott Ramirez said while unveiling Cell TV to the press on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which this year gathers some 2,500 industry exhibitors.
"All the home video games you have right now will be in 3-D," he said.
The Japanese electronic's titan's Cell TV is powered by a microprocessor typically used in advance computers and high-end video game consoles and was billed by executives as the future of television.
"We are finally ready for the decade of conversion," Ramirez said.
"Consumers are getting more connected. Everything is connected. We are moving beyond just television. This year is going to be all about the experience."
Cell TV technology upgrades digital video content, even adding pixels to enhance low quality streams such as those common in user-generated online video.
Cell TV senses room lighting and adapts screen quality accordingly.
Cell televisions are synchronized to an array of online video channels and have built-in cameras, microphones and software for video-enabled Internet telephone calls.
"With video phone capability, you can talk to people anywhere in the world," Ramirez said. "You are going to look crystal clear at 55 inches with our technology."
The 3-D and enhanced Internet connectivity technology will be in a set of Cell TV models this year and eventually will spread to other parts of Toshiba's television line-up, according to Ramirez.
"We see the TV as an engine capable of providing a transformative entertainment experience," said Toshiba America consumer products chief executive Atsushi Murasawa.
Cell TV is at heart at a powerful "broadband engine" processor for multimedia content, according to Murasawa. Cell boasts 143 times the processing power of televisions in the market today.
Toshiba also unveiled a Home Entertainment Server with a terabyte of memory and Blu-ray high-definition DVD player to act as a wireless entertainment hub as well as a massive storage site for digital content.
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