Credit Crunch and Start ups

Times are tough right now for everyone, and it will be tough for a while. This time, the tech sector is not immuned, either. Here are some suggested articles from a start up CEO:

-- A presentation that Sequoia Capital provided to 100 of their CEO's, "Sequoia Capital’s 56 Slide Presentation Of Doom"

-- Similarly, an email to Benchmark's CEO's, "Benchmark Capital Advises Startups To Conserve Capital, Look For Opportunities"

-- Here's a piece in today's Journal, "Silicon Valley Finds It Isn't Immune From Credit Crisis"

Obama and DB Marketing

No matter what is your party affiliation, you have to give Obama and team the credit for the successful marketing efforts so far. The entire primary was very well executed.

One of the innovative marketing tactics the Obama team used was to make the vice-presidential candidate announcement via text message. This has some interesting impacts:

• increased buzz and anticipation
• provided a call to action and increased traffic to the BarackObama.com website
  
• created loyalty with participation and a sense of inner group with priority
  
• created a sense of cutting edge leadership and being closer in touch with the younger generation
• equally important, from the database marketing perspectives, he now has one of the biggest opt-in SMS list in America! Now he can continue the relationship building via one of the most sought after channel.
  

The actual text message was: “Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee.” And, it went to 2.9 million people. Sure, there were some technical difficulties, but I am sure he would turn this into an opportunity. Also, I am not sure whether the team was savvy enough to negotiate a lucrative deal with the carriers, by my own estimate, this first blast should have made 30-100K for the campaign.

Sources: Nielsen Mobile, MocoNews

Mobile Ad Spending Expected Soar!

The global mobile advertising spending is expected to grow from $4.6 Billion in 2008 to $7.4 Billion in 2009. The bulk of the spending is still with Mobile Messaging, however, the Mobile Search Advertising and Mobile Display Advertising are expected to double and triple.
In the US, spending on mobile ads will reach $6.5 billion in 2012, up from $1.7 billion in 2008.



In addition, the global mobile video advertising spending is expected to triple from $427 Million in 2008 to $1.5 Billion in 2009.


Sources:
eMarketer: Mobile Ad Spending Set to Soar (8/20/2008)
eMarketer: The Big Picture on Small-Screen Advertising (8/12/2008)

When do People Check Email?

Well... looks like people check their emails all day long.

Source: eMarketing: When Do You Check Your E-Mail?

Tips: Calculate hours between two dates in Excel

Here is a handy function to calculate the difference between two dates:

• =DATEDIF(Date1, Date2, Interval) where:
  
• interval="m" for number of months
• interval="d" for number of days
• interval="y" for number of years
• For example:
• =(DATEDIF(today(),A1, "d")-1) *24 is approximately number of hours between today and the date value stored in cell A1.

Reference:

• check out more details and examples in cpearson.com
  
• check out a ton of excel date/time tips in exceltips.com
  

Tips: Add Outlook Mail Box

Add additional mail boxes for Outlook 2003
1) go to Start; Setting; Control Panel
2) Double click on the Mail icon
3) Choose Email accounts
4) view or Change email accounts
5) Click on Microsoft Exchange Server and choose Change
6) Click on More Setting..
7) Goto the Advanced tab and click the Add ... button
8) Enter "Robert.Demo" and click OK
9) Continue clicking OK buttons to close up the Mail control panel

The 6 Worst Domain Names EVER! by the E-Commerce Diva Jamila White

These are pretty intelligent and legitimate sounding web sites, right?

• "Who Represents?", a database of agencies for the rich and famous
• Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views
• Pen Island, a pen retailer
• Therapist Finder, a directory of counselors
• PowerGen Italia, a power utility company in Italy
• The Mole Station Native Nursery, an Australian plant nursery

Go to E-Commerce Diva Jamila White's site and check out what domain names they came up with!