
SEO, Influencers And Good Content: How To Grow Your Company’s Online Presence
Carm Lyman is President of Lyman Agency . Getty We live in a digital world that em...
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Tony Fadell led the teams that created the iPod, iPhone and Nest Learning Thermostat. The book takes a deep dive into not just successes, but also failure stories making it a more realistic read than many books of the same genre.
Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell is full of personal stories, practical advice and fascinating insights into some of the most impactful products and people of the 20th century. Here are key ideas curated for you.
Nothing in the world is ever 100 percent sure. Even scientific research with entirely data-based outcomes is actually filled with caveats—we didn’t do this kind of sampling, there was this variant, we need to follow up with this test.
“It’s not data or intuition; it’s data and intuition.”
Ivy Ross, vice president of hardware design at GoogleYou need both. You use both.
The 4 types of assholes in any org.
Steve Jobs was a mission-driven “asshole,” a passionate hurricane.
When a company gives that kind of care and attention to every part of the journey, people notice. Our product was good, but ultimately it was the whole journey that defined our brand. That’s what made Nest special. It’s what makes Apple special. It’s what allows businesses to reach beyond their product and create a connection—not with users and consumers, but with human beings. It’s how you create something that people will love.
Tony FadellSteve Jobs used a technique call the virus of doubt. It’s a way to get into people’s heads, remind them about a daily frustration, get them annoyed about it all over again.
If you can infect them with the virus of doubt—“Maybe my experience isn’t as good as I thought, maybe it could be better”—then you prime them for your solution. You get them angry about how it works now so they can get excited about a new way of doing things.
Your product’s story is its design, its features, images and videos, quotes from customers, tips from reviewers, conversations with support agents. It’s the sum of what people see and feel about this thing that you’ve created.
And the story doesn’t just exist to sell your product. It’s there to help you define it, understand it, and understand your customers.
And it all starts with “why.” Why does this thing need to exist? Why does it matter? Why will people need it? Why will they love it?
Use analogies. Analogies (example: 1,000 songs in your pocket) can be such a useful tool in storytelling. They create a shorthand for complicated concepts—a bridge directly to a common experience.
There are three elements to every great idea:
1. It solves for “why.” Long before you figure out what a product will do, you need to understand why people will want it. The “why” drives the “what.”
2. It solves a problem that a lot of people have in their daily lives.
3. It follows you around. Even after you research and learn about it and try it out and realize how hard it’ll be to get it right, you can’t stop thinking about it.
The bulk of your focus and the whole of your branding should be for consumers or business—not both.
Understanding your customer—their demographics and psychographics, their wants and needs and pain points—is the foundation of your company.
For the vast majority of businesses, losing sight of the main customer you’re building for is the beginning of the end.
..if you cater to both, your marketing still has to be B2C. You can never convince a regular person to use a B2B product that’s obviously not meant for them, but you can convince a company to use your product if you appeal to the human beings inside that company.
1. True work/life balance: A magical, quasi-mythical state where you have time for everything: work, family, hobbies, seeing friends, exercising, vacationing. Work is just one part of your life that doesn’t intrude on any other part. This kind of balance is impossible when you’re starting a company, leading a team that’s trying to create innovative products or services on a competitive timeline, or just experiencing crunch time at work.
2. Personal balance when you’re working: Knowing you’re going to be working or thinking about work most of the time and creating space to give your brain and body a break.
Tony Fadell: In an interview I’m always most interested in three basic things: who they are, what they’ve done, and why they did it. I usually start with the most important questions: “What are you curious about? What do you want to learn?”
Another good interview technique is to simulate work—instead of asking them how they work, just work with them. Pick a problem and try to solve it together.
The ultimate job of marketing is to find the very best way to tell the true story of your product.
There are generally three kinds of CEOs:
Carm Lyman is President of Lyman Agency . Getty We live in a digital world that em...
Read MoreIn May 2020, a one-minute video tugged on the heartstrings of locked-down viewers all over the worl...
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