10 things I’ve learned recently…

As President of a Digital Agency, I’m always learning.  I hope to make a habit (or at least a series) out of my recent learns. More coming soon, but for this first one, here goes.

01. The amount of effort required for success is not a static ratio. In other words, sometimes success (in life, love, business and marketing) comes easy. Sometimes it comes at phenomenal cost.

02. Selling the media trumps selling the technology. When you really look at the success of smartphones, the iPad and the new Amazon Fire, you realize these devices are almost giveaways. Apple cut their margins to the bone and Amazon is selling theirs at a loss. AT&T, Verizon and other wireless carriers are happy to give you the technology for free. All of these businesses have learned they can make FAR more money on the media and the service than on one-time technology purchases.

03. Facebook will keep changing around their GUI — deal with it. Progress is impossible without change. Speaking of, the uptick in search engine’s participation in social sharing is amazing, if not a little creepy.

04. Clients LIKE revision rounds — a lot. Why do clients like to change their minds a lot? Because it’s their money and they can. It’s up to the account manager to discuss changes and not just pass them off to production willy-nilly.

05. Twitter will not make you money — ever.  So many saw Twitter as a profit center, but it just isn’t. It’s a handy way of syndicating real-time information and links. It’s handy to monitor what people are saying about you (behind your back). Will it make your business money? Probably not.

06. There’s a huge trade off between engagement and practicality. Sometimes people see a crazy-creative website and think it’s engaging — and it probably is. However, the trade off is practicality. Can you really feed a site like that with that level of new, engaging content DAILY?  Does it actually convert visits into leads or just entertain them? Worth a thought.

07. I really don’t like white fish. I used to. I just don’t anymore. Honestly, not sure why.

08. Doctors make the worst patients — agencies make the worst clients. I’m as guilty as any, but working on marketing a marketing firm or advertising another advertising agency is madness. The pissing contest is extraordinary to watch though…

09. People like to shop for more than just gifts in December. JDM gets more opportunities “closed-lost” during Q4 from prospects just shopping and pricing things out than any other time of the year. Not complaining. Just sharing.

10. Your mobile site is lame. I’m astounded how many really great brands have no idea what they’re doing with mobile website alternatives. I’ve learned to take slow, deep breaths.

Alright! So that’s the first (hopefully not the last)  “10 things I’ve learned recently”.  A little all over the place, I’ll admit. Fun to write. Was it fun to read?