Memorial Day Links

Rather than write a full blog post I thought I'd share a couple of BizSugar articles I enjoyed reading this weekend.  Yes, it's kinda lazy on my part, but that's what 3 day weekends are for!  Seriously, both articles are well worth reading.  Enjoy!

Ten Great Lessons Learned from Business History: The 1970s Harley-Davidson/AMF Fiasco!

What's In A Name?

Permission Marketing Is NOT Quid Pro Quo

I'm a big fan of Seth Godin.  I subscribe to a handful of blogs, and his blog is probably the one I enjoy reading the most.  So when I heard someone misuse the concept of permission marketing this week it bothered me.

I was listening to a lecture, and the presenter was telling us about a marketing campaigns he ran.  His client sponsored an event where people could have their pictures taken with a particular celebrity.  Once their picture had been taken the client would ask for an email address where they could send the picture.  The presenter claimed that their client now had "permission" to email the client, and they could then begin sending them promotional offers.

I don't agree.  The people only wanted their picture, nothing more.  Maybe a few of the people at the event would have been willing to receive promotional information from the company, but they were never asked.

There's a big difference between permission marketing and quid pro quo.  Of course nobody explains the difference better than Seth:

Permission Marketing

Quid pro quo (santa math)

Yahoo!'s New Location-Based Tool

A couple of weeks ago I admitted in a post that I don't see the value of location-based social media.  There were some great comments posted on this blog and in LinkedIn discussion posts.  Some had examples of effective location-based marketing campaigns (like Starbucks discounts given to Foursquare "mayors").  Many others recognized that while there may not be apparent marketing benefits yet, location-based media is fun and therefore relevant.

It looks like Yahoo! agrees that location-based media has great potential.  Yesterday they acquired Koprol, a location-based social network in Indonesia.  This article on Mashable.com explains the possible implications of the acquisition:

This acquisition is especially interesting in the context of Yahoo’s new partnership with Nokia. Yahoo says it plans to continue to invest in the evolving Koprol service, including mobile applications, like its newly released app for the BlackBerry.

I'm still not convinced that location-based media has any value today, but there are enough powerful companies interested enough to make it effective tomorrow!