Today we’ll talk about a new online coupon service that’s been described as Mint meets Groupon.
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We’ve got an interview this week, the first of 2011.
I talk to Faisal Qureshi of the company Offermatic. With all the hype around Groupon and other competitors, it was great to speak with someone doing something really unique and new in the space.
In the interview, we talk about:
- What Offermatic is and how it works
- Faisal’s background and what led to the founding of Offermatic
- The current pros and cons of “daily deal” sites
Then we get down to details
- How Offermatic offers “Bank Level Security” for your private information, without ever asking for your name or credit card information
- Why they are different than Groupon and other competitors
- How they built their list of beta users before launch
Finally, we have tips for marketers
- The most important thing to know as an entrepreneur
- What we online marketers can learn from his company
This week I ask you to please answer 10 quick questions in my year-end reader survey, and I cover the top trends of 2010 as I go.
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What a year this has been in the digital marketing world. From the continued surge of Facebook and the movie surrounding it, to the launch of the fastest selling consumer electronics product of all time — the iPad — and the disruption surrounding that, it’s been a fascinating year for digital media.
I’m going to ask you a favor. Before you read the rest of this post, please answer 10 simple questions about the show and this blog. Whether you’re a longtime fan, or this is the very first episode to grace your eyes or ears, it’s invaluable for me to get feedback on the direction of the program.
Bonus! One reader will win a Hopkinson Report t-shirt!
I am to do two things with this show…
#1 is to entertain and #2 is to inform.
Those go hand-in-hand. If I keep your attention and make you laugh but you get no value, that doesn’t work.
If I give some helpful hints but bore you to death, you’re not going to stick around either.
Quick example: Q: Why should you do a survey, how do you create one, and how much does it cost?
A: You should put together a survey to make sure you’re continually serving the customer. It doesn’t matter if you’re a major retail business, a publisher, a podcaster, or even a small-time blogger. You want to make sure your customers and readers are happy, and the best way to know that is to ask them. Things change over time, trends evolve, and you want to make sure you’re still on track.
The ideal customer is not only one that keeps coming back, but that buys more expensive items over time.
Is Apple the best in history?
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We are winding down the end of the year, just a few podcasts left to go. As we hit the holidays,
I bet there are a lot of Apple products on people’s lists:
- I’ve been predicting all year that the iPad is going to be the #1 tech gift of the season (along with the Kindle)
- iPod music players are always in demand
- The laptop elite will be lusting for the Macbook Air
- Digital entertainment geeks might long for the $99 Apple TV
Tired of tracking too much data from multiple sources? Create a Be All, End All spreadsheet – it could help your career.
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[Summary of what I talk about in this week's podcast]
I love stats.
While talking to someone recently, I realized there a bunch of numbers I carry around in my head
- I took more than 10,000 tech support calls in my first job
- Friends and I estimated we drank 6-10,000 beers in college
(this just sparked a discussion in the office… how many beers do YOU estimate you drank?)
- I’ve tracked the miles per gallon for every fill-up in every car I’ve owned
- Since I purchased the Nike+ running chip in 2006, I’ve completed:
400 workouts
216 hours (9 straight days)
1,473 miles (NY to Boston and back 3.3 times)
Average pace 8:48
155,476 calories
I know that this is podcast episode 132, and I know exactly when and how many times each and every show has been downloaded. The total is well over 100,000 right now, and the most downloaded is Episode 85, How to Write Great Tweets.
Today’s interview brings together so many things that I love about this podcast… meeting cool people, digging into the mix of marketing and technology that created a successful project, and hearing a great story of an entrepreneur that worked really hard, and with a little luck, some great decisions, and the help of social media, achieved his goal.
In this case, the story is about Matt Rix, a Canadian Flash developer working full-time, that learned how to program on the iPhone, sketched out a puzzle-style game called Trainyard, topped the popular game Angry Birds at one point in iTunes, and by next year, will leave his full time job in order to pursue his dream of developing games and other apps full time.
Along the way, he gives great insight on:
- The evolution of the game
- How he tapped the international market
- The importance of a tutorial in his game
- The best day to launch an app
- How to leverage social media to launch a successful app
- The key turning point for his success
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Below is a full transcript of our conversation:
Jim Hopkinson: Welcome everyone, this is Jim. Today on the phone I have Matt Rix who is a Canadian developer. And the reason he’s on the show is kind of a success story – bit developer, bit entrepreneur, and he’s used Social Media, and the App Store, to develop a game that ended up beating Angry Birds and making some money on the side and he’s going to tell us the story today. So welcome, Matt.
Matt Rix: Hey, how’s it going?
JH: Great, great. So what part of Canada are you dialing in from today?
JH: Excellent, and so, you work fulltime for a company called Indusblue, and there you do iPhone app development, as well?
MR: Yeah, I do iPhone and iPad app development; usually not directly for ourselves, but for big name clients, like TV channels and stuff like that.
JH: And so the main story, though, is you’ve had this kind of whirlwind tour of an app being successful and everyone likes to hear these success stories. Have you been interviewed by any other media outlets or any fame, or just nerdy podcasts like me?
MR: Yeah, just a couple things. There’s been a couple blogs and sites that have done written entries and stuff, but nothing too much yet.
JH: Well, give us little bit of your background, how did you get here, did you have a computer background coming into it, and any kind of entrepreneurial spirit; what led you to this point?
I’ve had a few good bosses in my life. Let’s take a quick look back at some good examples.
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I talk a decent amount about career advice on the blog, such as resumes, interviewing, salary negotiation, and internships. But one key factor is the importance of a good manager.
My original topic today was going to be the BMW Magazine app on the iPad, — and I do feel there’s a great story there how car makers can reach consumers via the Apple tablet — but the story needed a lot more research.
So pressed for time, I thought about a story or two I could tell on the podcast. But that got me to thinking about cars and bosses.
A good manager is like a good set of tires
Sometimes people really underestimate tires. It’s more fun to talk about how a car looks, the 0-60 time, the 300 watt stereo, or the 405 horsepower. But tires play a HUGE part in the enjoyment, and safety of a vehicle. They control ride, handling, steering, braking, cornering, acceleration, and traction.
If your tires are old or balding, it can ruin a lot of other good things on car. Just being a few pounds over- or under-inflated can be a serious hazard.
The same goes for your boss, although it’s perfectly ok for him to be getting old or starting to bald (hey!!!).
What I’m saying is, a boss that isn’t very good can make even the best job suck, and a really bad boss can permeate everything you do and make you hate your job. They can stall your career, prevent you from getting raises and advancing, and create office politics.
In story one on the podcast, I pause 30 seconds for a shameless suck up to my current bosses. As recent readers know, I have a broken arm. This happened while on my (deservedly earned) 7 business days of vacation, so I was out of work during that. But then add time missed during my subsequent 2 surgeries, leaving for appointments, coming in late after physical therapy, and working at about half speed. Even though I was working remotely, jumping on conference calls while on buses, and consistently on email, tack on nearly an additional 10 business days — that’s a lot of missed office time.
Not ONCE has anyone said anything besides “do whatever you need to in order to get better.” From my immediate boss, to our department VP, to coworkers, to the President of Conde Nast Digital (who I saw in the elevator and who is also a competitive athlete and biker), nothing but concern and well-wishes. I am thankful that these people have my back.
The other four stories I cover:
- The New York Move
My VP at ESPN had to make some hard decisions when moving the team from Seattle to New York. Also listen how he handled the “coaching” of his employees during the free-reigning late 90s dotcom era like Jim’s childhood Boston Celtics teams.
The Startup Guru / Bartender / Softball King
Has one of YOUR bosses ever served you drinks, hit the game-winning home run, and kick started the second half of your career?
The Female Assassin
Hear how a quiet supervisor reacts like a violent Grizzly defending her cubs when an employee is attacked by an outsider.
Shin Yoshino/Getty Images
The Scoutmaster
A fatherly figure saves Jim’s college party plans and prevents a poor, dark, winter.
What are some of the things a manager needs to do to have their employees backs?
1. Filter and disseminate information
2. Have a grasp of email etiquette
a. On vs off the record, forwarding, proper CC: and BCC:
3. Gives credit in public, criticizes in private
4. Steer their careers, ask them about next steps
5. Protect and defend against other departments
a. Too much work, annoying employees, giving credit
Ask yourself this:
- As an employee, take a look up the chain of command. For the most part, will your supervisors be there for you?
- If you’re a manager, are you doing everything you can to instill confidence in your employees?
Jim can see the next big trend, and he’s not going to let it go by.
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I get asked the following question quite often: “Jim, what’s the next big trend?”
Sure, the internet is always growing, and social media, Facebook, Twitter, geolocation, group buying, online video, and mobile are still at the top of everyone’s list. But I think there’s something bigger. Am I qualified to guess at trends? Sure, why not.
Take plane travel. Some things are good, like getting to board early (with the executive platinum crew and the Octo-mom toting a crew of toddlers). It’s like traveling first-class at an economy price.
But some things are not so good. Like getting denied the request to sit in the roomier exit row, specifically because I only have the use of one arm and couldn’t open the door (they ignored my request/joke that my other arm is now REALLY strong).
Oh, and some other things too, like brushing your teeth, opening a cereal box, tying shoes or buttoning buttons.
> It means you have to rely on others more.
> You have to be more humble.
> You need to ask people for assistance.
And what I’ve learned is that these situations bring about a heightened sense of customer service, and really give employees a chance to shine — or to fail miserably.
In this week’s podcast, I take you through five quick scenarios, and point out how the key employee interaction succeeded or failed (you can guess which ones went well or not):
1) On an American Airlines flight
2) At a Banana Republic retail store
3) Online shopping
4) Dining at a restaurant
5) Having lunch in a city park
In the end, I give you the one simple thing — you can teach your employees, build into a website, or start to do in your own life or personal business — that will make the difference between a good customer service experience and a bad one.
Stop trying to make the perfect viral video, just jump on someone else’s bandwagon
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‘We want this to go viral!’
It’s a sentence that anyone that has spent time in internet marketing has heard 1,000 times. Mostly, it’s from an advertiser that doesn’t realize the cold, hard truth. It’s damn near impossible to purposely create something and make it go viral.
Sure, you can add all the elements that the internet lusts for, such as:
- Cats
- Kids
- Boobs
- Celebrities
- Getting hit in the groin
You can ‘seed it on Twitter.’
You can ‘post it on Facebook.’
You can ‘distribute it on YouTube.’
You can ‘submit it to Digg and reddit.’
Jim’s guest is Deanna Zandt, author of a social media book. They talk about how she got a book deal, raised money to fund it, and how she got free pizza.
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Deanna Zandt is the author of the new book, “Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking” which you can find out more about at her website, DeannaZandt.com.
During our interview, we talk about the following topics:
- How the former corporate employee and self-proclaimed ‘webmonkey’ went from independent consultant to author
- The process she took to turn her training seminars into a book idea
- The “Jedi Mind Trick” philosophy her publisher uses, and how she used “the force” of social media to raise funds in order to work on her book
- How she used crowdsourcing on everything from the title to the cover — and how people reacted to it
- The free software program she used to dramatically ramp up her productivity during the writing process
And yes, she explains how she scored a free eye exam and free pizza along the way.
