Monday, June 30, 2008

Mini-podcast: Listrak's Ross Kramer on not investing in sales and marketing

An audio story from The Mistake Bank.

When Ross Kramer started his first technology business, he focused on the technical side to the exclusion of sales and marketing. In retrospect, that was a mistake.

You can download the story here.

Biography:
Ross Kramer started his first company, a web hosting firm named Vertex Internet, in his Penn State dorm room in 1997. He quickly noticed the struggles his customers were having in communicating with their customers efficiently and effectively, so he started Listrak to help with their email marketing needs. Under Ross’ direction, both companies have grown into technologically-advanced companies that are leaders in their industries.

Listrak services clients such as Daimler Chrysler, Motorola, L’Oreal and the Islands of the Bahamas from its Lititz, PA headquarters. Listrak is a two-time winner of the Central Penn Business Journal’s Top Fifty Fastest Growing Companies and the 2005 Growth Company of the Year by the Technology Council of Central PA.

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Shop Talk Podcast #12 - Listrak's Ross Kramer on common mistakes made in email marketing

The latest edition of the podcast includes an interview with Listrak Founder and CEO Ross Kramer. Ross discusses the ins and outs of communicating customer via e-mail, including the definition of the term "house file." (I didn't know what it meant either.) It was a fun and frank discussion, and I learned a lot.

You can download the podcast here.

Disclosure: I use Listrak's email marketing platform.

Related links:
Ross Kramer's blog

(Theme music: "Up the Coast," from West Indian Girl's latest album 4th and Wall.)

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Friday, June 20, 2008

Fran Ten mini-podcast: the impact of filesharing on musicians

The recent post on giving away digital creative works has gotten some attention, not least because of the link from the New York Times' David Pogue on his blog. One of the inspirations for the post was my talk with Fran Ten of the great LA band West Indian Girl--specifically when he spoke eloquently and from the heart about the issue of filesharing and its impact on music and musicians.

I've extracted that piece of the podcast into a mini-podcast (5min30 seconds long). You can download it here.

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Monday, June 16, 2008

Shop Talk Podcast #11 - (Not) Raising Prices - a mistake

From The Mistake Bank:

The following story discusses how something as well-meaning as holding off on price increases until there's no other option often backfires.

Click here to access the podcast.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Shop Talk Podcast #10 - John Quelch on Democracy and Marketing

This time we talk with Harvard Business School Professor John Quelch, co-author with Katherine Jocz of "Greater Good: How Good Marketing Makes For Better Democracy" (Harvard Business Press, 2008).

John talks about how marketing and democracy share many goals, and how each can learn from the strengths of the other--including how democracy's lessons on acting based on altruism rather than self-interest has echoes in the corporate social responsibility movement.

One of John's welcome themes is that marketing on the whole benefits society greatly--which leads into a detour about why people--even marketers themselves--often view the profession as unseemly.

It was a fun discussion. I learned a lot, and I hope you like it.

The podcast is here (right-click to download).

You can learn more about John Quelch's research and thinking on his blog.

Other resources:
Interview with John Quelch from Personal Branding Blog
My review of "Greater Good"

(Theme music: "Up the Coast," from West Indian Girl's latest album 4th and Wall.)