Comments on: During Tough Times, The Echo Chamber Can Be Your Best Friend

By: Redefining the Echo Chamber to Excel in an Economic Crisis | PR2.0

Redefining the Echo Chamber to Excel in an Economic Crisis | PR2.0 — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:29:01 +0000

[...] latest post is now up on TechCrunch. What follows is the unedited director’s [...]

By: Entrepreneurs: On the Importance of Focus and Targeting | Max Gladwell

Entrepreneurs: On the Importance of Focus and Targeting | Max Gladwell — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:04:23 +0000

[...] In general, our advice is to focus your marketing efforts in two ways. First, target those who will have a passion for your product and the motivation to spread the message. Word of mouth is the most efficient form of marketing. If you can reach people who want to tell others about it, your marketing efforts will be magnified. The second principle, however, is to target those who have the wherewithal to most efficiently spread your message. Just because someone is motivated to tell other people doesn’t mean they’re equipped to do it with any measure of reach. This is where social media becomes a powerful tool. If you can reach someone who is (a) highly motivated to spread your message and (b) has hundreds or thousands of “friends” across the social web, that’s your ideal customer. This is the absolute center of your target market. Start here and work your way out. Many refer to this as the echo chamber. [...]

By: tinyComb » Blog Archive » Wait Out The Downturn On An Island With The Friends You Met On TravBuddy

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:02:03 +0000

[...] TC View Jason Wilk’s Profile Subscribe via RSS RelatedBookmarksTags iPhone China… The jailbroken iPhone has been spotted all over China, but will they actually ink a deal with China Mobile for the 3G? Does this so… Direct Line Gets You To An Operator… Direct Line is a new iPhone app that maps corporate phone trees to get you straight to the operator No more need to punch in all th… LinkedIn Gets The Message… LinkedIn, launched their updated ‘Groups’ section last week to widespread disappointment. Today, they have rolled out a few new fea… Digg it Stumble del.icio.us reddit Yahoo Google TravBuddy TravBuddy.com Travel [...]

By: Liquidity and the capital markets | MFA's Business Insights

Liquidity and the capital markets | MFA's Business Insights — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:10:19 +0000

[...] UPDATE: I found this great blog post, even among others like Ron Conway’s recent email, that puts forth some great thoughts on this subject: During Tough Times, The Echo Chamber Can Be Your Best Friend. [...]

By: Is the ‘echo chamber’ key to marketing success in tough times? | IP Marketing Advisor

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:54:59 +0000

[...] Traditionally, the term echo chamber describes a group of media outlets that tend to parrot each other’s reports. In the online world, where much early marketing is done, the expression has expanded to refer to blogs that write about the views of other blogs, echoing the same information back and forth. It is this process — resulting in highly viral marketing, that Solis recommends taking advantage of by targeting the small group of highly interested individuals first, whose excitement and discourse can drive more widespread interest. “If you dissect the art and science of technology marketing using a car as a simple metaphor, your product serves as the chassis, your cash as the fuel, Social Media, Interactive/Web, Sales, SEO, and PR as the accelerator, marketing strategy and execution as the gears, RPMs as a market indicator for listening and responding, the speedometer to convey inertia, and you … sitting in the driver’s seat, steering and controlling the entire operation,” says Solis. “Marketing to the echo chamber, believe it or not, is how you get that car rolling, starting everything in first gear.” Innovators and early adopters, Solis notes, “are global citizens and do not solely reside in Silicon Valley. Remember: reporters, bloggers and online tastemakers (aka trendsetters) who spotlight innovation can send tens of thousands of [prospects] to you almost instantly. When done right, the echo chamber can generate real world interest and support.” Go to: TechCrunch [...]

By: Profitcode Biz Blog » Hard Times Hitting the Tech Sector

Profitcode Biz Blog » Hard Times Hitting the Tech Sector — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:51:29 +0000

[...] Unless you open source it and host it on something like sourceforge or a free app hosting service and hope it sticks to the masses one day, your still investing time in it. A few years back I started coding a shopping cart system.Mainly used for paypal and c.o.d. orders on a music merchandise site.Since it worked pretty well for us, I decided to add a few modules to it, (affiliate, publisher, etc.), and sell it on profitcode.net.Right now I do not have the time to maintain it (have to work a full time job), so I had to put it on standby for a while. Fortunately, the only person I layed off was myself.It didnt stop me from coding, i just moved on to another project and still deciding if i should pretty package the cart system with an easy installer etc., and spend more time on it opensource/not shure.These companys that are letting go of dozens if not hundreds of employees do not have that option.Lets just hope that this bad economy thing blows over quickly, its been a rough couple of years.For all you coders and entrepreneurs out there, heres a little bit of inspiration. [...]

By: HRM Today - Blog Archive » 25 Ideas for Employees and Employers in the Financial Crisis

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:00:47 +0000

[...] Don’t trap yourself by being overly conservative, it is time to shine (TechCrunch) [...]

By: 25 Ideas for Employees and Employers in the Financial Crisis | YourHRGuy.com

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:06:47 +0000

[...] Don’t trap yourself by being overly conservative, it is time to shine (TechCrunch) [...]

By: Another Vote for Social Media in Tough Times

Another Vote for Social Media in Tough Times — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:37:05 +0000

[...] During Tough Times, the Echo Chamber Can Be Your Best Friend [via TechCrunch] [...]

By: everlater » Blog Archive » Our Real Competitor

everlater » Blog Archive » Our Real Competitor — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:24:28 +0000

[...] they are adopted into the mainstream. Brian Solis (responsible for the picture too) put it the most succinctly: …where are Digg and Twitter in respect to the adoption cycle? They’re not as far along as [...]

By: Riding the adoption bell curve at Ghost of Midnight

Riding the adoption bell curve at Ghost of Midnight — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:43:23 +0000

[...] posting on TechCrunch came with this nifty illustration about adoption of new online services the other day… [...]

By: links for 2008-10-13 | The Marketing Technology Blog

links for 2008-10-13 | The Marketing Technology Blog — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:31:12 +0000

[...] During Tough Times, The Echo Chamber Can Be Your Best Friend Applied to Marketing and Technology, this article is very important. Companies with great products and services should be able to shine in an economic downturn and explode when we stocks go bullish again. Low cost Marketing solutions should shine during this downturn. (tags: web2.0 techcrunch strategy startups startup marketing innovation) SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “links for 2008-10-13″, url: “http://www.marketingtechblog.com/2008/10/13/links-for-2008-10-13/” }); Jet Blue sued by Muslim PilotDisplay your Most Popular Posts with Clicky’s APIlinks for 2008-05-03links for 2007-06-13ExactTarget debuts on the 2006 Inc. 500 List [...]

By: Pavan K

Pavan K — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:27:01 +0000

Truly strategic debate, especially between Jackie and Brian. Thanks to Jackie for hitting so many nails on the head about crossing the chasm, and shouting into a closed chamber. Thanks to Brian for providing a valued response in their being echo chambers in each respective community or vertical. Although the only disagreement I could see here was one of perspective and semantics, this debate adds great value to our strategic planning for a concept that we hope will add huge value for the organisations or individuals that use it to search share or advertise. No cheap plugs or links here, but thanks to TC and Brian for another brilliant article, and even more thanks to the community & their comments. This is why Techcrunch and GigaOm are so addictive for those of us that are passionate about adding value, about building something great. It all comes back to Jason Calacanis:

” Great entrepreneurs build value and market-share in down markets. They go to work seven days a week and the(y) breakout when other folks check out. — Jason Calacanis ”

Value, Backs up against the wall, creativity, passion and plenty of “elbow grease”…

By: Pavan K

Pavan K — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:51:17 +0000

@ Andrew: Dig deeper?

By: Pavan K

Pavan K — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:46:32 +0000

Surely there is always room for improvement from the Status Quo? This is a very logical Article, and provides the seeds we need to sow in our current economic climate for a sustainable or strategic focus. Anyone who appreciates this and wants to build a product focussed on Customers rather than assumptions should read Steven Blank’s 4 Steps to The Epiphany:

http://books.go...ma56Ifw#PPR3,M1

And watch Guy Kawasaki’s videos, of which here is one:

http://uk.youtu...h?v=lQs6IpJQWXc

Here is a video with Ron Conway & Mike Maples who later mentions Blank’s book:

http://ecorner....o.html?mid=1902

By: Adriana Gascoigne

Adriana Gascoigne — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:18:48 +0000

B-Solis:
It’s great to see that TechCrunch is publishing more and more of your posts. I think that you provide a well-versed, comprehensive perspective on the state of economy as it pertains to tech and other industries that influence it.
Can’t wait for your new book to come out!
Adi

By: Would Twitter Have Emerged If Current Pessimistic Attitudes Were Around Last Year? « I’m Not Actually a Geek

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:38:39 +0000

[...] there’s no shortage of advice on how to handle the upcoming winter. The most talked-about advice came from legendary venture capital [...]

By: pNielsen

pNielsen — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:26:12 +0000

Not all of us are gripped by fear like the media like to suggest . . .

By: Jimmy Hendricks

Jimmy Hendricks — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:23:13 +0000

Staying alive is the # 1 goal companies should focus on. The longer the life not the most cash is what is important to grow a successful company. We run our startup with a staff of 5 on $20k a month and are growing steadily. I just posted a our tips. http://jimmyhen...a-tough-market/

By: TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » Microsoftの怒りっぽい王子がまた攻撃してきた

TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » Microsoftの怒りっぽい王子がまた攻撃してきた — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:23:11 +0000

[...] しかし実際先週のわれわれは結構明るく、新しいスタートアップや製品を何十と紹介したし、できる限り前向きなことに注目し、市場で今起きていることに関してベンチャーキャピタリストを責め立てることから、群衆の目をそらしてきたつもりだ。 [...]

By: Alan Weinkrantz

Alan Weinkrantz — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:37:17 +0000

Well articulated.

And one more thing.

Marketers need to stop thinking in the vein of “campaigns.”

Think sustain and not campaign

By: The Prickly Prince From Microsoft Strikes Again

The Prickly Prince From Microsoft Strikes Again — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:41:18 +0000

[...] week, reporting on a couple of dozen new startups and products, focusing as much as possible on the positive, and trying to defocus the mobs from blaming the venture capitalists for what’s happening in [...]

By: LEADSExplorer

LEADSExplorer — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:19:44 +0000

If others are down sizing and if your company can keep the spending or spending more intelligently or effectively on marketing, then your company should benefit from in the end.

Digg and Twitter do generate a traffic spike, but not sustained traffic.
Digg and Twitter have no influence in B2B.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:15:58 +0000

I have to say I agree with alot of what Brian is saying. At the end of the day, really smart serial entrepreneurs position for things and guess where that happens? Web 2.0 has a bad habit of ignoring what is and what has always been in media: quantity doesn’t always equate quality. Focus is as valuable if not more than mass market.

By: Trevor Plantagenet

Trevor Plantagenet — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:15:06 +0000

You people seem to be missing the fundamental problem. If your startup depended on advertising, it’s in trouble, to say the least. You’re only going to survive if you end up selling your own ads, the magic ad programs that you thought would let you focus on programming or your users, will deliver dwindling results. If you’re focused on eyeballs over revenue, those days are coming to an end. That strategy always had the implicit assumption that someone else would buy the eyeballs and they’d be able to monetize them. No one will be buying eyeballs anymore. Every potential acquirer has more eyeballs than they know what to do with. If you disagree with these points, all I can say is you’re in denial, and time will bear this out. Freemium? That has never been proved to work, it’s just a way that you can justify getting eyeballs for their own sake, with the unsaid subtext that you’re still thinking about being acquired while claiming you have a business model. What percentage of Web 2.0 companies have executed on a successful freemium model? It’s a low single digit percentage, at best. So, if you’ve got a startup based on the majority of your users paying a monthly subscription fee and your revenues exceed your expenses, then you may have a chance to survive and maybe thrive. But, what’s life going to look like for you if you’re in one of the startups that makes it? It’s going to be about working the phones, making sales, starting at spreadsheets, and the fact you were x% more productive because you used a clever web framework or you could use cloud computing will have been a happy footnote for week 1, but won’t make a bit of difference after that. Other than that, it’s a great time to build a business, as long as it’s really a business and not a coder’s vanity project paid for by venture dollars.