It's an 80:20 World

I am in the middle of reading BLINK. Absolutely brilliant - a real eye opener. It highlights the dangers of over analysis and just like tipping point which was Malcolm Gladwell’s previous contribution to the language of modern business I'm sure that the term thin-slicing will start to appear in lots of presentations in the very near future.

If you have ever had a hunch then you maybe surprised to discover that the decision you arrive at within 2 seconds is quite often more valid than the conclusions you reach after days of mulling something over. The style is conversational and the case studies are really enlightening especially the story of the war games played by the pentagon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141014598/qid=1142245397/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/202-9670953-0039023

It seems that there will be a move toward charging for email if the noises that are coming out of Yahoo and AOL are anything to go by. I think potentially this could be a very good thing for the marketing industry as it could help to eliminate a large amount of the spam that currently blights many people’s mail boxes. I think that people will start to seek the advice of expert direct marketers rather than bulk email senders whose only skill lies in their ability to bypass the spam filters.

So from now on I'm going to advise my clients to attribute a nominal charge per message – say 1p to all their email marketing activity. This should make think about what they are doing, encourage more rigorous testing of copy and creative treatments and prepare them for the inevitable day when email will attract a cost.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4684942.stm

I was speaking with 2 forty something colleagues yesterday and they were discussing with incredulity the success of myspace.com. What is the point – they were saying. Why would anyone bother to do that? I have come across a similar attitude to blogging amongst many of my business associates here in the North East of England. Typically, I will hear that there is no money in it, or it’s only useful for people in the technology sector etc. The argument is in essence - I don’t use it so why would anyone else.

I don’t have any quick responses that will make people at least investigate the new methods of communication that are sweeping into our lives nor have I become some kind of blogvangelist hell bent on converting people. What I can say, however, is that I find the blogs I visit regularly stimulating and interesting as they provide me with information, alternative view points, and new perspectives. How many people can honestly say they are getting the same level of stimulation from their local business press?

Anyway whilst my 40 something colleagues continued to discuss how they couldn’t be bothered to use any online web space – the young graduate we have hired quietly logged out of his myspace account.