free

“Old marketing” is about to take ownership of both customers’ and investors’ imagination and cash flow in the “connected” space. “Free”, “discounts” and “coupons” seem to be the new digital brand.

Recent examples and experiences from the digital realm presents connected technologies as nothing more than a platform to accelerate companies’ ability to give away their products at a discount – rather than innovate and change business:

I can't claim to be qualified to dissect the behavior of venture capitalists (and I certainly don't mean to throw them all under the bus, as some of them number among my good, respected friends), but I wonder sometimes if marketers have been duped into believing in a social media liturgy that's actually a cover story for a concerted effort by technologists and their supporters to make money.

How does digital communication affect business outside marketing?

In this three-part article I will try to explain the changes I’m seeing in the convergence of emerging digital communication, branding and business.

Read part 1 here.

Review – Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business by Nancy Lublin

Zero does have a seemingly magical impact on our brains (see The Power of Free), though zero isn’t always a good thing. Zero resources, for example, are generally not good for business! That’s exactly what many non-profit organizations start with, though. In Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business, author Nancy Lublin translates her years of experience in under-resourced non-profits into strategies that can be applied by any company.

Virgin America is giving away free flights to social media influencers it has identified on Twitter. There is (it assures us) no catch. It has used Klout, a tool which analyses influence on Twitter, to identify influential people in the Toronto area and offered them free flights on its new services to Los Angeles and San Francisco. These influencers only have to pay taxes. They are not being asked to do anything in return for this. They are just being asked to enjoy a flight, free Wi-Fi onboard and a launch party in Toronto.