Pay and We’ll Remove Our “Powered By” Logo!
We’ve all seen freemium models that encourage users to convert to paid by the “if you convert to paid, our branding goes away!” promoting pressure. Sometimes that might be a decent enough incentive. Sometimes a userbase will say, “Meh… I don’t mind your branding.”
And this brings up an interesting decision point: if you’re going to take this approach, you need to play out a couple scenarios before making the call…
If I’m using a product’s free version and the paid selling point is to have a “powered by [LOGO]” removed, the logo needs to be juuuuuust glaring enough that I’d at least consider my user experience without it. I need to be able to say, “Yeah, you know what? If the company’s logo wasn’t slapped on here, I’d be happier. They can have their $9.99.”
However, if the freemium branding skews too much towards cool (aka, not glaring at all), the majority of users won’t care - and worse yet… they’ll like it. If the “powered by [LOGO]” becomes a badge of cool, you’re sunk.
Another “however” scenario… What if the “powered by [LOGO]” is so God-awful that it’s halting potential users from even signing up for the freemium version? (Needless to say, a branding exercise is on the horizon.)
So it’s certainly a gray area. One solution? Avoid the “pay and we’ll remove our logo” model. It’s much more effective to convert free users to paid (aka: high-value) on additional functionality that they really want than it is to sell on brand removal.
Pre-Meeting Prep
Let’s talk about meetings! (Control your excitement.) Everyone’s done ‘em. No one loves them. One aspect of meetings that often goes overlooked is the pre-meeting prep. We’re not talking final touches on the deck or talking points or secret head nods that are supposed to indicate input moments.
We’re talking basics…
- Don’t have a ton of crap in your hands. Walking into an office or a meeting juggling coffee, a laptop, a jacket, a scarf while trying to remove your gloves not only gives off a less-than-stellar first impression, but it also causes physical repercussions. You’re going to get flustered. And that’ll all have a direct impact on how you operate in the meeting. Minimize your accoutrements.
- If you’ve got some distance to walk from, say, the subway station to the meeting, mind your pace. If you speed-walk, your body temperature is going to catch up with you right about when you’re sitting down. And you’ll get hot. Getting hot equals that lovable body response: sweating. Sweating implies nervousness. You get the idea. Pace yourself. Better yet, get where you’re going early. (Or, when you have to make that walk, take off your jacket. You’d rather be cold in transit, than sweaty in the meeting.)
- Be charged. It sort of goes without saying, but if you’re meeting involves some tech (i.e., a laptop, iPad, etc.) be fully powered. Having to crawl under a conference table to find an outlet or stringing it across where people walk is lame. Bottom line: get powered up well in advance.
- Eat something clean. Just this morning, I was hanging out at a McDonald’s before a meeting (Not my choice.) While I was hungry, I knew slugging down an egg McMuffin wasn’t the right call. Not only are they bad for you, but they hang around long after you’ve consumed them. It’s not what you’re thinking. Let me explain. Egg McMuffin-ness just seems to stay with you. It’s a hand food, so there’s a good change your hands will “feel” like egg McMuffin. And for those of us who have awesome auburn beards, you’ll “taste” it. However, every meeting requires fuel. So do it the right way: oatmeal, yogurt, fruit… clean foods! (Did I really just refer to my beard as “auburn?” Woah.)
- Know something. Not about the meeting or the company (although that’s pretty important), but the person/people you’re meeting with. It feels sort of Michael Scott-ish, but having something to talk about besides work goes a long way. I just talked about BASE jumping in south central West Virginia with a guy who loves skydiving. Next thing you know, we’re watching videos of his dives. And information like that is EVERYWHERE. AND IT’S SELF-VOLUNTEERED.
Just a few basics. What else goes on the list?
Pakora Butty: Back to Business
For all of us who’ve had that “dad” conversation…
(Thanks to JP Toto for the share)
It’s business time.
I’ve been embarking on various entrepreneurial adventures since the age of 21 when I got my first ‘professional’ job. As a new graduate I knew that the 9 - 5 (or midnight as it was in my case) life was not for me. After learning the industry standards and the company…
Source: pakorabutty
Opposing Forces Theory
From product development to biz dev to consumer marketing to every decision we make as human beings, there are reasons to do a thing and there are reason not to do a thing. Known as opposing forces (or dual process) theory, it’s a concept near and dear to AuthenticMatters advisor and behavioral psychologist Matt Wallaert.
The following excerpt is re-posted from Matt’s blog, An N of 1. For the full article, go here.
Opposing forces (or dual process) theory is my psych shorthand for a powerful but relatively simple way of understanding human behavior. Speaking in sweeping generalizations, all decisions and behaviors are the the product of two fundamentally opposing sets of forces: reasons to do something (promoting pressures) and reasons not to do something (inhibiting pressures). These can be internally or externally generated, and how receptive you are to internal vs external cues can itself be acted upon.
The reason this is such an important concept in behavioral change is that if you want to inspire a particular behavior that is not already occurring (or make an existing behavior occur more or less frequently), you start by understanding the balance of forces behind the current state of the world. Once you know why people are doing what they are doing, you can figure out whether you need to remove obstacles or place more in the way, or make something more or less rewarding.
Generally speaking, I see companies (and non-profits and the government) leap towards promoting explanations much too quickly. Want people to eat healthy? Most programs are about telling people why it is important (promoting pressure). But the answer most likely to yield results? Make healthy food cheaper and easier to get (inhibiting pressures). Most people love strawberries (they already have plenty of promoting pressure) but not when they cost three times as much as a bag of pretzels and are in terrible shape at your corner bodega.
In short, we love this. In that much of our time is spent trying to encourage someone - be it a journalist, user, potential partner or anyone in between - to do a thing, understanding why people do what they currently do helps us understand what we need to do (i.e., remove or place obstacles) in order to create the behavior or action we seek.
It doesn’t sound like rocket science but as Matt mentions, people don’t always take the time to really understand what’s happening.
Strong Opinions @marksbirch: Patience in Startup Land
One of the hardest things about life in startups, whether you are an employee, founder or investor) is patience…It’s easy to get caught up in all of the new startups that are created and funded each week. There is always a shiny new thing, scary new competitor or a shiny new person…
Source: bijan
“Firewall” (Don’t Let Our Government Ruin The Internets)
Music and Lyrics by Leah Kauffman
Brought to A/M attention by the awesome @MikeyIl.
Prefacing happy hour with: “Sorry, I need to keep my phone on the table. I have to be connected to email and phone just in case," equals "No you don't, but I'm psyched to know how important you are."
It’s silliness like this that gives PR a bad rap.
You, The Holidays, and Internet Martyrdom!
The holidays. Chaotic, annoying, busy, hassled, too quick, too sudden, crazy, too much, fun-filled, regrettable… the adjectival list goes on. And on.
A related trend? People using the holidays and the web to be a martyr (even if they don’t know they’re doing it).
Let me explain. We’ve all seen Facebook status updates or tweets from people where they bemoan how “busy they are!” or how they “can’t believe how anyone can take time off!” While they are most likely venting to a specific frustration (i.e., a client out of the office or a backlog of email to wade through), they’re also doing themselves a disservice. They’re positioning themselves as a woe-is-me martyr. Subconsciously they want to broadcast to their peers how busy they are. Their rant about how overwhelming their inbox (“So much email! I’ll never get to relax this holiday!”)… perhaps there’s a tinge of boastfulness there? I mean, if you actually want to relax, turn off your phone. I know that’s easier said than done, but it’s sort of the simplest solution to your epic problem of having to read every Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt, Facebook, and Twitter email - that you subscribe to.
But no. Instead of dedicating just a few more minutes to un-busying themselves, a status update about how they “just WISH they could ignore their inbox!” takes priority. And I just sort of wonder whether or not there’s a bit of pride there. And it makes me think… the people who actually do have an insane inbox/schedule/amount of work this holiday… they’re not the ones sharing it with the world. No, they’re most likely getting done what’s reasonably expected during the holidays (if not more so) and then they’re taking some time for themselves and their families. It’s about prioritizing. And telling the world how much you “can’t believe that all your friends took a half day the Friday before Christmas!” is not a priority to the doers of the world. (Neither is writing a blog post about this subject. It’s somewhat paradoxical. I understand that. But whatever. It at least remotely fits into the vein of what I do.)
Happy holidays, peoples.
Brands are Human - They Need to Communicate as Such
Thanks to the socialization of the web, brands have taken on very human characteristics. They’re conversational. They’re sometimes awkward. They’re nerdy. They’re intelligent. They’re jerks (sometimes). They’re cute. They’re welcoming. They’re darling. They’re ignorant. They’re self-righteous. They’re self-important. They’re helpful. They’re all sorts of things that, frankly, our friends are.
Point is, brand managers need to understand that their brand has the opportunity to create, embody and promote a human side, via social channels. I mean, deep down, we all sort of think of the brands we love as qualitative pieces of our identity. (Actually, we probably don’t consciously think about this.) Example. I love Ipath shoes. And to me, I associate Ipath shoes with certain characteristics based not only on the product itself, but also on the way the brand communicates on, say, Twitter. There’s a sense of camaraderie. I hear a couple of buddies hanging out. They tweet about things I might dig. Essentially the brand communicates socially as if it were the ringleader of a group of super-passionate customers without a whole lot of corporate-speak. It communicates like a human being to other like-minded human beings who are likely to resonate with the messaging… and purchase.
Now none of this matters if the product isn’t up to snuff. So before you go focusing on humanizing your brand, build a quality product. There’s a reason why I’m at the stage where I’m an Ipath zealot - it’s because I’ve bought probably five pairs over 10 years… including these bad boys which I’ve had since 2008, are still in great shape and currently on my feet at the moment…
Making Branding Fashionable
**This post reblogged from my personal blog, daveclarke.co**
See these sunglasses? They’re a knock-off of the “legendary” (quotes used heavily) RayBans. Everyone and their mother has a pair. And they come in a kaleidoscope of colors as opposed to the traditional black of the originals. Whatever. They’re popular. That’s fine.
I’m pointing them out today because I recently got a pair. They were giveaways at an event. The company giving them away must’ve thought along the lines of “these multi-colored glasses are cool right now… and cheap! Let’s slap our URL on one arm and our company name on the other and hand ‘em out!” Totally makes sense. In fact, it’s refreshing compared to the standard stress ball or magnet or keychain we all get. And frankly, I like the style so I would wear them.
Emphasis on the “would.”
The product in itself is cool. It’s relatively universal. Most people would hang on to a cheap pair of sunglasses, right? (Always handy in the glove compartment.) They’re not terrible.
But. As mentioned, the pair that I got at this event… they had the company’s URL on one arm and their company name on the other. My “I’d totally wear these” excitement plummeted upon seeing that. It just feels lame to wear a pair of sunglasses that are so blatantly commercial. So I probably won’t.
And that’s too bad. The company that gave out these glasses could’ve done something. They could’ve made their branding fashionable. If instead of a URL and a company name, they put JUST the logo on the arm, that might’ve been a little bit more digestible - and they still would’ve retained some branding. Here’s an example…
Say you’re Comcast. Actually wait. Bad branding example. Say you’re Netflix… DAMN! OK, let’s take a company near and dear to my heart, Thrive (for those that don’t know Thrive was a free personal finance management site… launched in 08, acquired by LendingTree in 09.).
Our URL was justthrive.com. Our slogan was “Watch your money grow”
Here’s the logo:
So which pair of sunglasses would you actually wear:
1. Orange frame, black arms. Spiraling leaf on one arm. Just the word “Thrive” on the other arm.
OR…
2. Orange frame, black arms. The URL (justthrive.com) on one arm. “Watch Your Money Grow” on the other arm.
My guess is most people would pick option 1. No, you’re not “getting your URL” out there, but at least the glasses are being worn and not discarded! If you want people to actually wear your branded swag, you have to make it fashionable. And that means sacrificing some of the core branding requirements. Figure out which elements of your brand can actually fashionable. Not all logos will work. Not all company names will work. (I admit, “Thrive” works… so would something like “Moorings” or “Android.” “Wells Fargo Investments” might not… but “WF” would.)
That all said, envision the scenario when someone’s wearing the Option 1 sunglasses and their buddy asks, “Where’d you get those?” “Oh, the guys from this personal finance website, Thrive, were giving them away.”
That’s a brand moment.
So. Stop forcing people to be a walking billboard for your call to action (i.e., your URL). Give them something that looks good and that they’d actually rock without feeling like a tool.
