In a few days, we’ll be celebrating the 10th anniversary of starting Rare Bird. I woke up this morning with the words of Teddy Roosevelt on my mind, which I first encountered years ago in “The Norman Shield,” the pledge training manual of Sigma Chi. “It is not the critic who counts: not the man […]
Blog
Since 1998, we have been reflecting on marketing, design, code, and much more.
The World is Flat (and Free)
“Oh, and I forgot to mention, we’re trying to sell a lot of books.” How Jeff Seroy, Senior Vice President of marketing and publicity at Farrar, Straus and Giroux sounds in my head. My latest “Change This!” update included a notice that the publishers of “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman are offering the […]
Etsy Lets Artists Create a Living
Ah, the idealism of youth… There’s something truly refreshing (and yes, at times, frustrating) about the effervescent optimism on display by young people. They look at the world, see a problem (perceived or real) and set out to change things. Of course, most of their efforts end up on the pile of broken dreams, but […]
‘I’m going to lunch. We’re going to win this.’
There has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth in the business community in recent years about the quality of the work force. I’ve read articles and seen reports detailing the habits of the “millennials,” the generation that is exiting college and entering the workforce. Their lack of preparation has been blamed on all sorts […]
From Your Brain to Google in Four Minutes
“Now you have to decide whether you have anything to say that’s important to you, your customers, your prospects… your career. Go ahead, think it over. You’ve got four minutes.” Still wondering if you should have a blog to help explain who you are, what your business is, how you help your customers? You may […]
In Case You Weren’t Convinced: More Reviews Needed
Another recently released study cites the importance of consumer reviews for e-commerce sites. In fact, nearly nine people out of ten use consumer-generated reviews at least “some of the time” in their buying decision, and many — 46% — read several reviews before making a decision. The study, performed by PowerReviews and the e-tailing group, […]
The Secret Indicator of Business Health
Harvey Mackay writes an interesting article today about the power of humor in the workplace to transform moods, heighten morale, and — surprisingly — act as a strong indicator of the true health of the business. “I’ve always felt that humor,” says Mackay, “is the unrecognized indicator of any business’ true condition.” Turns out he […]
If You Read Nothing Else Today, Read This:
Real permission is different from presumed or legalistic permission. Just because you somehow get my email address doesn’t mean you have permission. Just because I don’t complain doesn’t mean you have permission. Just because it’s in the fine print of your privacy policy doesn’t mean it’s permission either. Seth Godin Seth Godin, pitchman for common […]
Digging Your Well
Back in the Dark Ages, before we started Rare Bird and before I was creative director at an advertising agency, I was a salesman. My personality being what it is, I read a lot of books on sales. Two, in particular, stand out in my memory as being best in class: Harvey Mackay’s “Swim with […]
The Inmates (and/or the Legal Department) Are Running the Asylum
Seriously guys, keep those lawyers out of here! Just tell them somebody in accounting is using the wrong Pantone color in the logo again. Matt Dickman File this under the same business category as “New Coke” only bigger, dumber, but (possibly) less expensive, though the true cost is to be determined. You probably didn’t know, […]
Business Consulting or Web Development?
Let’s see… we talked about about design, site architecture, implementation strategy, marketing strategy… We walked out of a client meeting the other day when Michael, one of our recently-acquired programmers asked me, “So, was that fairly typical of how these meetings go?” I ran through a mental checklist… let’s see, we talked about design, site […]
“I’m Jim, and I hate Google.”
Inexplicably, Google is indexing it’s own ads on sites in their content network, leading to a whole bevy of related problems, inaccuracies, and heartburn. “Hi, Jim.” That may be a slight overstatement, but I gotta tell you, at this point I’m dealing with a fairly serious love-hate relationship. The company and their eggheads do so […]
