The Crowdfunding Pricing Paradox
Marketing for non-marketeers, lesson 6 I’ve haunted the working world for quite a while and have found that more often than not, common business workings… Read More »The Crowdfunding Pricing Paradox
Stage 3 Marketing
Marketing for non-marketeers, lesson 5 As an engineer entering the land of entrepreneurship, you know (over simplification warning) design can be split into two philosophies:… Read More »Stage 3 Marketing
Minimalist Market Segmentation
Marketing for non-marketeers, lesson 4 As an engineer entrepreneur, you’ve probably heard the phrase “market segmentation.” If you haven’t, you really should have, and, well…… Read More »Minimalist Market Segmentation
Secret Dialects of Marketing
Marketing for non-marketeers, lesson 3 Much of marketing can be summed up with the word “communication.” It’s communicating about a product or service, about wants… Read More »Secret Dialects of Marketing
Millennials Need Not Apply? Boomers?
Do you know how to get past your biases and market to “the other” generation? Are they just too mysterious? Well, I don’t give a… Read More »Millennials Need Not Apply? Boomers?
An Engineer Entrepreneur’s First Brand Lesson
Marketing for non-marketeers, lesson 2 If you’re an engineer starting a business, do you need to worry about the business’s brand? In a word: yes.… Read More »An Engineer Entrepreneur’s First Brand Lesson
What is Marketing in the world of Engineers?
Marketing for non-marketeers, lesson 1 Good marketing requires a black-box of arcane knowledge and magic spells – or does it? No, despite what many marketing… Read More »What is Marketing in the world of Engineers?
Cromemco, where are you?
Seattle Computer Products placed a quarter page black and white advertisement for RAM chips on page 224 of the September 1979 BYTE Magazine. The ad promoted type 4044 chips: 4K by 1 [bits], 18-pin, 5 Volt, 5% supply. 250 nanosecond chips sold for $7.50 in quantities of 1 to 31. You could buy the slower 450 nanosecond chips for a dollar less apiece. These were the same chips used in their “premium quality” RAM boards.
For every Andrew Carnegie or Bill Gates, there is an Alvah Roebuck, a story of a miss of almost unimaginable proportions. Richard Sears and Mr. Roebuck started a small business selling, at first, surplus pocket watches and eventually virtually anything needed by the fast expanding nation of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Sears kept at it while Roebuck left to do more important things. Many years later, Mr. Sears’ former business partner finished his life nearly penniless and working in the mailroom of the company he co-founded. Sears went on to become Americana.
Maggie
In 1975, the federal government passed the Magnuson-Moss Act. Ask the next 100 people you see, what this law is and why it made the explosive growth of the computer industry possible, and you will likely get somewhere between 98 and 100 blank stares.
Back in the 1960’s and 70’s, IBM sold mainframe computers, and sold a lot of them. IBM also sold service, accessories and upgrades for those systems. What IBM did not do was allow anyone else to poke around in those machines – even after the sale. IBM did not allow the machine purchasers to add in accessories from other manufacturers. IBM kept it all and kept it all as trade secret. Hence, when, in 1981, IBM introduced its take on the personal computer, the world marveled at its open architecture. The IBM PC was open. Anyone could, and did, build and sell accessories and replacement parts. IBM copied the Apple II in that respect. The infant industry had already learned from the success of Apple II, that open is best.
How to succeed in marketing without really trying
If you’re old enough, you might remember the 1967 movie, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” Well… you don’t really need to be old enough. The movie’s before my time and I’ve watched it.
In the movie, window washer J. Pierpont Finch, reads a book titled the same as the movie, and takes it to heart. Shortly after starting to read the book, he talks his way into a mailroom job. Within hours, he’s manipulated and bumbled his way upstairs and eventually lands a coveted corner office without, as the title suggests, really trying. At least, he didn’t really try working for his success. He did try a lot of manipulation, fast talking, and subversion.
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