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For an entirely reasonable fee, Litmus gives you fast, pretty testing with shareable links for your websites and emails. Well recommended!
Second Wednesday, the meetup for web industry folks in Nottingham has risen from the ashes. Join us for an evening of beer and good conversation covering technology, clients and anything else that comes our way. There is nobody in charge, no entrance fee and very little in the way of direction – we just go wherever we go…
Second Wednesday
– The “official” website.
I got really interested in traditional investments such as stocks, shares, bonds, savings etc a few months ago after reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad. When I did more research though, it seemed to me that I hand over my hard earned monies to someone that invests them for me, takes a cut and has minimal risk. This sounds ridiculously risky to me. Add in the fact that my return is likely to be 10% if I am REALLY lucky and that forces beyond my control would shape my “investments” it was looking less and less attractive. Then there is the fact that I could LOSE MY CAPITAL as well. Not good.
So if I invested £1000 in something or other, I could expect up to £100 interest over the course of a year? Rubbish. That’s not even worth me doing the paperwork for.
So instead of trusting my money to “experts” and hoping for a meagre return, I am just going to hold on to my money and develop my business. With my website business having low overheads and the profit being based on labour rather than trading of goods, I can make that same £100 in a few hours of web designing (even after paying tax on it) instead of POSSIBLY making that same £100 in a year with “investments”.
I realise there are some people out there that make a fortune out of the stock market and other investments, but in my position it is extremely risky and even in the best-case scenario would only return a small profit.
This is going to be a bit jumbled because it covers a lot of things, and I have just got up. Cashless systems for small transactions are obviously here now. Are they a good thing for us, for the retailer, both, or neither?
From my point of view, cash is easy. I don’t struggle to put my hand in my pocket and retrieve some coins or notes. I can’t imagine why anyone would find this difficult. What I would struggle with is keeping track of how much I have spent. This might encourage me to spend more.
From a retailers point of view, cashless is good for them for two reasons. Firstly, it’s quicker so they can process more transactions with fewer staff. Secondly, if I do spend more on impulse because I have lost track of how much money I actually have, then they sell more stuff.
So at this point, it seems pretty stacked in favour of the retailer. Reading the marketing copy, it’s all about presenting this in terms of how it will benefit me. How easy it is. How free I will be blah blah. Persuasive lies.
So this leads neatly on to why I see red at a lot of marketing. I don’t have a problem with people promoting their products and services as long as they are straight up about it. What I don’t want to see is self serving fluff that tries to persuade me that the Next Big Thing is actually for my benefit. Come on Corporations, I know you are primarily driven by the need to provide return for your shareholders. My happiness only matters in that I stay a customer and keep buying your stuff.
“Why not relax with a INSERT PRODUCT NAME HERE?” they coo. I can think of a thousand reasons, Mr Marketing man. Not least of which are that the economy is declining and we could all be out of a job soon. Or that your product is actually really unhealthy and will benefit me in no way whatsoever. Or that your corporate practices are highly dubious.
Just call a spade a spade for once. Seth Godin talks about authentic marketing, Cluetrain manifesto is all about not being evil and talking crap to your customers. I have been feeling this way about fluffy marketing for a long time – I am really glad to see that there are other people saying the same thing more eloquently that I and getting listened to.
I was stuck behind this battered scrap truck the other day and laughed out loud when I saw what was written on the back. If you are going to cuss someone, at least spell it right.
