bijan sabet: Who is your customer →
Ultimately every startup has to decide who is their customer. That priority needs to take precedent over all other decisions even if it means giving up “low hanging fruit”.
When I meet a startup that says we are building a consumer app and also a white label app, my first reaction is to cringe.
There is nothing wrong with a b2b or white label business. And certainly there is nothing wrong with building consumer apps. But to try to do both is beyond challenging.
“Many designers label themselves “UX designers.” This implies great confidence in the capabilities of the designer; it suggests that the user experience can be designed. But as explained, we cannot do this. Instead, we can design for UX. We can design the product or service, and we can have a certain kind of user experience in mind when we design it. However, there is no guarantee that our product will be appreciated the way we want it to be. We can shape neither our users’ expectations nor the situation in which they use what we have designed.” - Helge Fredheim: Why User Experience Cannot Be Designed
For Bernays, the public relations business was less about selling things than about creating the conditions for things to sell themselves. When Bernays was working as a salesman for Mozart pianos, for example, he did not simply place advertisements for pianos in newspapers. That would have been too obvious.
Instead, Bernays persuaded reporters to write about a new trend: Sophisticated people were putting aside a special room in the home for playing music. Once a person had a music room, Bernays believed, he would naturally think of buying a piano. As Bernays wrote, “It will come to him as his own idea.
Source: 
BRYCE DOT VC: OATV is Hiring →
OATV is our start up. Like most start ups we gather information, process feedback and iterate with eye an towards delivering a product our customers will love. And, like most start ups, we’ve built a small team committed to doing just that. Every two years, an opening on our team becomes available…
SF folks, check this out. Great opportunity to work with an innovative company.
Possible approaches include rewarding people who explore to deep areas of the system – a tactic frequently used by game designers – or something as simple as unannounced free shipping on your tenth order. Google’s holiday logos provide a real example of how the tiniest detail can keep users interested.
Beauty in web design, part 3 : Cennydd Bowles on user experience
I try to build this into everything I make: video, web, anything. Take every opportunity to make things more fun.
So, then, what makes for a Big Story? Lifshits notes that, of the 40 most-Liked stories of the past three months, many are related to “lifestyle, photo galleries, interactives, humor and odd news.” Four of the articles in the top 40 are about “actual political news”; three are about celebrities. But “the most common type of hit stories is opinion/analysis.”
That’s unsurprising; opinion and analysis have been driving journalism’s circulation since long before Thomas Paine put quill to paper (and, hey, since long before some Sumerian gadfly put wedge to clay). But, then, are the stories here really just about “opinion/analysis”? That captures some of it, sure; but the shareability factor, I think, is about more than the simple fact of people liking analysis. Arguments, importantly, aren’t just presented opinion or POV-driven narrative; they’re meant to sway and persuade — and, in that, they’re implicit invitations to discussion and interchange.
You can outsource your development to India, the Ukraine, Buenas Aires, or even Indiana. That’s right—Indiana. If you’ve got an idea good enough to get accepted to Sprout Box, the team there will actually build your app.
This is going to be BIG! - The bar is higher
Thanks Charlie!
Indiana: just like India but with a slightly lower number of proper English speakers.
Multivariate Testing | A/B Testing | Split Testing - Visual Website Optimizer →
I like the simplicity of this plans/pricing page. Also, I’m signing up.
9GAG - The difference between marketing, PR, advertising & branding
I find it somewhat funny that the PR person is a girl with a pony tail. I wonder why so many girls go into PR and guys into advertising?
We’re pleased that according to our research, the customers who saw these responses have reacted favorably. However, there are still many people who haven’t heard our beef quality facts.
David Owens - Chief Marketing Officer, Taco Bell
I do not consider myself anti-marketing, but I do find it difficult to imagine uttering the phrase “there are still many people who haven’t heard our beef quality facts” without immediately questioning every personal and professional decision that led up to that moment.
(via whitneymcn)
I vow to never sleep until every person on Earth hears our beef quality facts. This is terrible. Some marketers think that everyone on the planet should be forced to watch/listen/ingest their dumb advertainmentucational ideas. They should be stopped. People should seek out your message, your product, your content. You shouldn’t shove it in their face. This is the new way. Get on board.
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