Who?

What?

When?

Where?

How?

Sometimes Why.

The questions above are used by journalists to capture all the most significant information about a story.

Why?

Why is on the list too because I wish to emphasize its double-meaning (i.e. “A,E,I,O,U, and sometimes Y”)

Let’s see what Google thinks about these questions vis-a-vis auto-suggest:

Who?

What?

When?

Where?

How?

Why?

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Earlier today, during a DoublePositive pizza lunch, I asked my fellow lunch-mates to name their favorite movie.

Wait. “Favorite” or “Best” they asked.

Good question.

Here’s my best/favorite list of all time:

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. West Side Story
3. The Sound of Music
4. Star Wars
5. Empire Strikes Back
6. Amadeus
7. Back to the Future
8. Raiders of the Lost Ark
9. Rocky
10. The Karate Kid
11. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
12. Caddyshack
13. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
14. Jackass 2 The Movie
15. Borat
16. The Holy Grail (Monty Python)
17. Goodfellas
18. Dumb & Dumber
19. Jerry Maguire
20. The Great Escape

Honorable Mentions

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Memento
3. Exorcist (not a “favorite” in the classic sense but always in awe)
4. Exit Through the Gift Shop (still in theaters)
5. Blade Runner
6. Ghostbusters
7. Fight Club
8. Rain Man
9. Raising Arizona
10. V is for Vendetta

I was curious to scrub my subjective picks against a more objective source.  I decided to use the American Film Institute’s Top 100 list as the objective source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI’s_100_Years.100_Movies

But I completely disagree with their Top 5 films of all time.

I just checked my theory with Google Insights.  It appears I’m right.

SPF

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It was a pleasant surprise to come to work today and see a late-night conversation I had at LeadsCon East 2010 with my friend Mike Ferree reflected on his blog.

Mike’s LeadCritic blog has blossomed in parallel with the blossoming of the LeadsCon franchise.  While chatting, we were reminiscing about how far the Lead Generation space has come since the first LeadsCon in 2008. 

But before LeadsCon there was the (now almost forgotten) UN-conference Leads2007.  And before Leads2007 the progressive visionaries at TARGUSinfo had launched their annual Online Lead Quality Summit (now re-named Interactive Insights Summit).

After the 2nd TARGUSinfo Summit in 2007, I remember being amazed by how different people used different basic terms (such as “lead” or “click”) to mean different things.  It prompted me to write a blog post titled “What is a Lead, What is Lead Generation”:

http://blogs.doublepositive.com/2007/09/24/what-is-lead-generation-what-is-a-lead/

I have always been of the mindset that there is no such thing as a “Lead Generation Industry” per se.  I believe that the Lead Generation ecosystem is actually a subset of the ADVERTISING industry, and that buying and selling on a per-lead basis is actually buying and selling performance-based advertising.

I tried to provide a history of the Advertising Industry evolving to Performance-based Delivery Models in a blog post written in June 2007 titled “Online Performance-based Marketing Overview - Part I” (I never did complete Part II but that is a different story ;-)).

Despite my blog-based lecture and the early tradeshows, in 2007 there was still a great deal of confusion around even the most basic terms and concepts such as clicks, leads, and lead generation.  Here’s a quote from my experience at the TARGUSinfo Summit in 2007:

A conversation I had with the CEO of a major shopping engine was referring to an Internet user “clicking” on a link to visit a the site of an e-commerce retailer as a “lead.”  I found that rather strange use of a the lexicon - we have always referred to such a phenomenon as a “click” and pricing models are this type of user action are typically Cost-per-Click (CPC).

My confusion was compounded when I witnessed a panel-discussion about “lead quality,” but the advertiser on the panel only paid out when a sale occured:

Later in the day, ValueClick and Scholastic, Inc. gave a case study of how offers made for Dr. Seuss books in a co-registration environment resulted in completed “sales.”  However, in the PowerPoint presentation, they referred to the completed sales as “leads.”  We have always referred to transactions that are fully-completed online as “sales” and this type of user action are typically priced as Cost-per-Sale (CPS).  Another way to support this position is to think of yourself as an advertiser that ONLY pays the advertising cost when a sale is completed - I don’t think you’re too concerned with “lead quality” since the quality is essentially perfect every time you are asked to pay.

I summed up my frustration by defining the absolute differences between a click, a lead, and a sale:

A lead is NOT a click.  A lead is NOT a completed transaction.

A lead IS a consumer’s “Expression of Interest” in a product or service offer.  Using this definition, an “Expression of Interest” is typically represented by an action or form-fill process (anywhere to 1 field of contact information such as an email address to dozen of fields of information).

Of course, if there is confusion amongst simple terms/concepts such as clicks, leads, and sales, you can imagine my frustration over the past 6 years with a market that tended to conceptualize a LIVE Hot Transfers as nothing more than a very expensive lead.  We even designed a special diagram to illustrate the distinct difference of each method of buying and selling.  Many of you may have seen this slide before because we use it every chance we get:

In my conversation with Mike at LeadsCon, we both agreed that while the space has matured (and the tradeshows have grown), there is still a great deal of uncertainty and confusion in the meaning of words we use everyday in performance-based marketing.  As a strong industry advocate, Mike decided to use the voice of his blog to try galvanize a lexicon and thus improve communications across the industry.  I admire him for that and I hope that I can aid the effort.

It’s a simple concept but one worth pounding on over and over.  I like to work backwards from the demand-side of the equation with the concept that ALL leads cost money but only some will actually make money. 

At the end of the day, a consumer buys a product or service or they don’t. It’s absolute.

However, there are other absolute milestones along the way… was a consumer presented with an offer or weren’t they (CPM)? Did they click on the ad/offer or didn’t they (CPC)? Did they express interest by taking an action or didn’t they (CPA/CPL)? And my personal favorite… did they agree to be transferred and speak to a sales rep or didn’t they (CPT)?

Of course there are countless dependencies and nuanced correlations in the shades of gray in between those milestones that can be analyzed and optimized, but I feel as though identifying the absolute milestones in the wireframe of a sales funnel is Step 1 and Position A.

EPILOGUE:

In Mike’s post, he playfully refers to me as “Maestro,” presumably referring to my academic music background.  While I’m dubious the new nickname will stick, I had to share the irony that I just recently completed a BUSINESS book titled “Maestro.”

This short book by conductor Roger Nierenberg uses a symphony orchestra as a metaphor for any dynamic organization (business or otherwise).  He describes “The Music Paradigm” for developing organizations.  I found this book to be 100% consistent with my experience in symphony orchestras and dynamic business organizations - I highly recommend it.

If, however, you are more of a viewer and less of a reader, this TED presentation by a different Maestro Itay Talgam touches upon many of the same concepts and tenets.  It’s an excellent video presentation with a wonderful final example of world-class leadership by Leonard Bernstein beginning at about 19:00.

If you love something, give it away.

Cheers.

SPF

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Google.com/Voice

You seldom see “Bad” in a subject line along with Google, but “Google Buzz” and “Google Wave” have significantly under-performed (as far as Google product launches go).

Here’s a Google product launch that is GUARANTEED to reverse that trend…

Google Voice:

I first blogged about Google Voice when Google acquired Grand Central back in 2007 (I’m still bothered by this Caller ID issue FWIW).

This week, Google Voice was released as a FREE product.

I signed up right away - I suggest you do the same.

Here is the FREE Google Voice phone number I signed up for:

My Current Mobile Phone #:     XXX-XXX-XXXX

My Google Voice Phone #:       XXX-ABC-XXXX

There are many ways to choose your own FREE Inbound Google Voice Phone # (including vanity letters), but I chose the similar-numbers-approach.

This product launch is a game-changer for Google and for DoublePositive.

I guarantee it.

SPF

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As a result of the performance of the Baltimore Orioles over the last 10+ years, I am not much of a baseball fan these days.

I am, however, a fan of baseball history.

I may soon also become a fan of the Washington Nationals as a result of one new player - Stephen Strasburg.

I request that all the baseball-fan readers of this chart below take a moment to digest this insightful prediction from Google.

Wow!

Cheers Steve!

SPF

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Agreement Represents another Top-tier Client Addition to the Managed Services offering from DoublePositive

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Education-Management-bw-55070469.html?x=0&.v=1

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/education-management-corporation-online-higher-education-edmc-ohe-selects-doublepositive-marketing-group-as-its-online-marketing-agency-of-record-2010-06-01?reflink=MW_news_stmp

BALTIMORE, Jun 01, 2010  — DoublePositive Marketing Group, Inc. announced today that it has been chosen by Education Management Corporation — Online Higher Education (EDMC OHE) as their Online Marketing Agency of Record for all Online Marketing across all EDMC OHE brands (including South University Online, Argosy University Online, and The Art Institutes Online). EDMC OHE is among the largest providers of private post-secondary online education in North America. This agreement builds upon the existing LIVE Hot Transfers(TM) relationship between DoublePositive and EDMC OHE.

Founded in 2004, DoublePositive has expanded its offerings into the Education, Insurance, Mortgage, and Automotive industries. As the leading provider of LIVE Hot Transfers(TM) for sales organizations, DoublePositive broadened its offerings into Online Marketing Managed Services in 2009. The DoublePositive Marketing Agency of Record agreement with EDMC OHE follows a similar agreement with a national auto insurance carrier.

"Having developed a strong partnership with EDMC over the years, we are thrilled that our relationship has grown to encompass Managed Services for EDMC OHE and all of their brands," said Sean Fenlon, CEO of DoublePositive. "We are deeply embedded within EDMC OHE in order to push their online marketing up and beyond best-practices."

Any business that can add genuine value to this relationship between EDMC OHE and DoublePositive are asked to contact Casey Cook immediately using the contact information below:

Casey Cook, 410-991-4510
casey@doublepositive.com

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Three years ago, I blogged about my favorite Internet navigation shortcut trick:

http://blogs.doublepositive.com/2007/04/20/it-is-better-to-be-lucky-than-it-is-to-be-good—are-you-feeling-lucky/

I use the trick ten times a day at least.

Today, however, the trick does NOT work.

Today, the trick invokes the “Insert Coin” button, which then in turn subjects me to a real-time instance of Pac Man - YES right there on Google.com

Please don’t tell anyone, but I made it to Level 6 before losing.

I still firmly believe, though, that it’s much better to be lucky than it is to be good.

SPF

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WOW - just look at that chart below.

Looks like Spam lost.

Nobody is interested anymore - especially in Australia and USA.

The Wisdom of Crowds wins again.  Well done fellow Internet users.

Special thanks to Google for reporting on it.

SPF

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I never use coupons but I love Groupon.

And not just because they’re good for 1 acupuncture:

And not just because they’re a $1.35 billion dollar business:

Last month DST and Battery Ventures valued Groupon at $1.35 Billion.  http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/18/its-official-groupon-announces-that-1-35-billion-valuation-round/

And not just because it is a business that was founded in 2008.

This reminds me of a question I asked on LinkedIn Answers back in 2008.  I asked “Who Is Crushing It?” 

http://www.linkedin.com/answers/finance-accounting/economics/FIN_ECO/279172-5222431?browseIdx=3&sik=1273377816705&goback=.amq 

There were no answers provided (understand given the timing - or perhaps the category of the question), but apparently the ANSWER was Groupon. 

And not just because their founder is also a musician:

VentureBeat interviewed Groupon founder and CEO Andrew Mason - “.being in a band makes you learn how to disagree with people and hold onto a kind of uncompromising belief. You have to stick to doing what you believe is right.”

And not just because they send me discounts for my favorite local Baltimore businesses:

I have received discounts from Groupon via email to The Blue Hill Tavern, The Mt. Washington Tavern, and The Chesapeake Wine Company.  All local and frequent businesses for me.

I love Groupon because they’re bringing email back in vogue. 

Did I mention that I REALLY love email marketing.

SPF

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I love Apple.

Not just because they’re huge:

At this moment, their market cap is $245 Billion — that’s more than Walmart, GE, Google, Cisco, and IBM. They’re only 10% less than Microsoft’s market cap of $272 Billion, and worth more than HP and AT&T combined (well… almost).

Not just because I’m a user of many Apple products:

I currently own 3 iPods, an iMac, an iPhone, an AppleTV, an AirPort Extreme Router, and an iPad and new MacBook Pro are on their way.

Not just because I own their stock:

I bought their stock in late October 2008 at $91.49 based on some good advice from Warren Buffet.  It has grown 300% since then to $269.74 (as of today). Margins are fantastic as well.

Not just because Steve Jobs is my favorite entrepreneur:

I quote Matt Coffin “He probably is perfect – Pixar only produces $1+ Billion movies - and it is Steve Jobs’ SIDE Business!”  BTW, as a side note I completely agree with the premise, the analysis, and the description of Steve Jobs in this blog post by Ben Horowitz – Marc Andreesen’s VC partner – defending their investment strategy preference for founding CEOs.

http://bhorowitz.com/2010/04/28/why-we-prefer-founding-ceos/

While all of these things certainly play a role, I love Apple because I LEARN from Apple, I’m ENTERTAINED by Apple, and I’m INSPIRED by Apple. That is something only great art can do for me.  As a business, Apple is art (whereas Google is science).

I LEARNED from Apple that you can acquire an entirely independent business in January and then turn that business into an integrated product launch by April.

In January of this year, Apple acquired Quattro Wireless.  And on April 8th announced the iAd product based upon the Quattro Wireless platform.  Another side note — with Google’s purchase of AdMob and Apple’s purchase of Quattro, I don’t think I’m going too far out on a limb to predict that Microsoft will acquire Millennial Media in the near future.

I have been ENTERTAINED by Apple’s products for years, but most recently I have been entertained by their high-stakes corporate strategy to completely avoid any compatibility between Apple’s mobile products and Adobe’s Flash.

I originally viewed this strategy as simply closed-network chest-thumping, but then I read the letter Steve Jobs published today on the Apple website which articulates six reasons why Apple won’t support Flash technology on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. If you read these reasons and digest them, they all make complete sense. A great decision (while provoking a highly-entertaining battle).

I am now INSPIRED by Apple’s liberated and practical acquisition of Siri.

Siri is an iPhone app – a really cool Virtual Personal Assistant.  Apple is certainly NOT in the habit of buying their app developers. Moreover, in the tech sector, the emphasis is always on core technologies (i.e. “proprietary” or “secret sauce” or “patents”) – Siri does not fit this mold. Siri is a service that pulls together all sorts of services and technologies OTHER COMPANIES have already created (e.g. buying tickets on StubHub, dinner reservations through OpenTable, third-party speech recognition, etc.). I LOVE this kind of play – I often refer to this as “Second Layer Technologies.” I consider DoublePositive to be a “Second Layer Technology” play. We certainly did not invent Internet Leads. We do not have a patent for Call Centers. We have considerable proprietary technology for lead optimization, but we INTEGRATE with best of breed providers for technologies outside our wheelhouse.

In the past, “Second Layer Technology” plays have been undervalued, if not dismissed, as Middleware. However, a company as brilliant as Apple obviously feels otherwise about Siri which inspires me to think of DoublePositive in a similar light.

Did I mention I love Apple?

SPF

==============

Update as of May 26, 2010

Apple’s Market Cap Exceeds That of Microsoft.

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