Travis Scoops Harvard Business Review

Harvard Business Review must have seen my blog last week, prompting them to check with Pew Research Center and publish "The Year the Internet Overtook Newspapers" today!

In 2008, for the first time ever, more Americans relied on the Internet for national and international news than on newspapers. In December 2008, 40% of those surveyed said they get most of their news on the Internet, up from 24% in September 2007. 35% still mainly read newspapers, and 70% say television is
their primary source of news.

SOURCE: Pew Research Center

One Giant Falls as Another Giant Rises

In the past week, there has been a palpable feeling that our national government is going to march to a different beat than we've seen for the past 8 years [couldn't have come soon enough, IMHO].

Just as evident over the past week has been the nail in the coffin of the news print industry. Since the dot-com bust 8 years ago, we've seen media companies "dabble" in the online business while they rearranged the deckchairs on the proverbial Titanic. Look no further than the bankruptcy, sale, or pending exit of the venerable Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Austin American-Statesman, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Rocky Mountain News, and on and on.

But here's the real kicker...

In covering the Obama inauguration, CNN.com and Facebook had almost 14 million people streaming and chatting online -- blowing away the past record of 5+ million simultaneous video streams on Election Day 2008.

So...

You've been hearing the change was coming. Online media advertising now exceeds that of television. You've been told -- we're experiencing the change as we speak. Things are different.

Now how does your present marketing mix compare with that of 2 years ago or 4 years ago?

It's a race between who changes first -- you or your competitor. Drop me a line if you need some help getting started down this path.

Remove Thorns so Customers Remember the Beauty & Aroma

I've frequently used with clients the metaphor that we want their customers to remember the experience of smelling, seeing, and appreciating the rose. Any negative experience is like pricking them with thorns.

Well this topic comes to mind when an up-and-coming Skype competitor (that I was planning to promote because it is filling a need Skype has missed) made it so difficult for me to change subscription levels that I won't say anything about them moving forward.

They'll struggle, not because of me, but because poor usability in this regard -- and because their customer service took far too much time and wouldn't recognize the amount of time and trouble I spent helping them make this better.

I'm not the only customer who behaves this way. In fact a research study years ago found that customers feeling the company no longer cares about them is the leading reason for attrition. See a video I did a couple years back on this.

Political humor hits the mark

Years and decades from now, the Blagojevich (Governor of Illinois) scandal will seem like a big joke...

Until then, this Chicago Furniture Company is doing a great job of finding the "lighter side" of the daily news about the Governor who outlandishly sought to sell former Illinois Senator Obama's seat to the highest bidder.

LeatherCreations, took out this quarter-page ad in the Chicago Tribune on Thursday. Even as ad sales decline in the newspaper industry, their sense of humor is noticed by customers today and will be remembered for years!

Key: unlike most events in the current, partisan, U.S. political world, there is nobody defending the selfish acts of the current (and soon former) governor.

So, keep your eyes out for opportunities. Ask: how can you be playful with your customers in a way that they are enticed into your business?