Comments on: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, are you paying attention to #booksthatchangedmyworld?

By: beritague

beritague — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:40:44 +0000

This is my first time i visit here. I found so many entertaining stuff in your blog, especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! Keep up the good work.

By: Tommy McInnis

Tommy McInnis — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 18:50:01 +0000

Do you really want to know which book changed my world? The one I decided to write. See the above website for more information.

By: Mat

Mat — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:56:22 +0000

So true. I find this to be a very common reality with many large enterprises. Often there is a PR group, Sales group, Marketing dept., and sometimes even a .com group all managing different aspects of their digital marketing efforts. There is usually no clear ownership of the digital, let alone social media strategy. The result is that with no clear ownership there is no clear strategy and great opportunities like you outlined so well are lost rarely to be recovered.

By: edward boches

edward boches — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:05:52 +0000

Well that’s a mistake. On a related note here’s B&N recent earnings http://bit.ly/bQl2T2. Not looking so good. Need a little long term thinking.Any opportunity to build advocates, community and conversation is good. And by the way, not all that expensive. Doesn’t replace the other stuff, just needs to be added to the quiver.

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 04:16:54 +0000

The reality is that the major bookstore chains are, by and large, interested only in marketing efforts that can directly demonstrate a sales lift, ie. an email coupon, a weekend sale, a category promotion. Driving buzz? Driving online engagement without clear-as-day ROI? Being at the front end of an emerging reader movement? These are all too “soft”, too slow, too wishy-washy. There are pockets of passion and vision in these companies, but without leaders that can see it and feel it, those voices are shushed into submitting to the usual, the safe, the boring. Sigh.

By: Gabriella O'Rourke

Gabriella O'Rourke — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:34:52 +0000

Loved your commentary on this! Great observation.

I agree, many organisations miss the opportunities staring them in the face because they are too stuck doing what they’ve always done. As an avid consumer of books who wouldn’t be without the tactile version, I would pay extra for bundled packages of hard copy with supplementary e-books and extra features for your e-reader to read on the go or take on vacation. The modern day version of built in shelves perhaps??

By: edward boches

edward boches — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:33:25 +0000

Howie:
Interesting thought. Mike Troiano, with whom I plan to do a panel at FutureM, argues the very same thing. It’s less about knowing what to do anymore, rather we need to restructure everything from compensation to work models to achieve inter vs multi disciplinary ways of working that emphasize results rather than tasks and disciplines.

By: Howie G

Howie G — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:00:35 +0000

Another perfect example of the disconnect between the marketing departments and compensation structure of our clients. Sales are compensated on sales. Because Marketing often has a hard time proving ROI their compensation is handled differently. While you might say work with an Amazon and ask them why aren’t they going after an opportunity, if its their marketing group they might not care. They are paid the same no matter how much they work. And damn if they are going to help the sales head make more money. Then of course plenty of people have egos and if it the opportunities doesn’t get them credit they sabotage things.

So in my view this is all Comp Plan and Business Structure driven. The best performing companies don’t have walls within they have common goals without and ways of ensuring everyone is rewarded for success.