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THE COOLEST THING I'VE SEEN TODAY 23.12.09.

I love when smart people find a new application for something we consider mundane.

Check out how this researcher invented a new way to look at cells -- with a cell phone.

Happy Holidays everyone! And happy 2010!

THE SMARTEST THING I'VE READ TODAY 22.12.09.

Marketers spend a whole lot of time trying to figure out how to get us to buy their stuff. Chris Brogan suggests the answer is simple.

"Think about that for a moment. We think that price matters. We think that locale matters. We think that having a good shopping cart software matters (it certainly helps). What really has to happen when you think about buying is that you have to beat the current “best in class” for “simplicity."

More here.

WHAT'S YOUR TWITTER TYPE?

Guy Kawasaki expounds on what Twitter clique each of us belongs to.

I think I'm somewhere between a "Brand" and a "Maven," though sometimes I may veer into "Bitch." (My bad.)

PERSUASION.

How do you persuade someone who's never used Twitter or an iPhone that they ought to?

How do you convince a partisan who believes healthcare should be administered by the private sector that a government option is superior? -- Or vice versa?

How do you sell reading glasses to a blind man?

Seth's blog post today made me wonder today about persuasion.

We call it the 'art' of persuasion because if it were simply a science, the facts would do the job.

Take healthcare reform in the US. I've debated this issue with tons of folks on Twitter. Having grown up with a single payer system in Canada, it's clear to me the Canadian system is more fair and cost-effective. The statistics, for the most part, back this up. But I have done a dismal job of convincing or even getting anyone on the other side to reconsider his point of view. Mostly because, despite all I know about advertising, I have looked to bolster my belief in the superiority of public healthcare with facts that substantiate it. The trouble of course is my opponents are doing the same in reverse. And facts alone can't do the trick.

Marketers do this all the time. Rogers commissions a study that suggests it has the most reliable network. It's a fact, says Big Red. Bell has its own study, performed with slightly different paramaters that results in an opposite outcome -- Now Ma has the most reliable network. Like children telling their parents "he hit me first," both behemoths then spend millions of dollars on advertising telling consumers "the facts." But consumers end up tuning out because (a) both telecoms can't be telling the truth, and (b) why should consumers care? 

It's in this last question where the answer to true persuasion lies. The art. Not the science. Watch Ron Popeil late one night selling one of his innumerable schlocky contraptions. Does anyone really need his own rotisserie? Or food dehydrator? How many bloody Ginsu knives do you need? But watch. Really watch and listen to what he's doing. Sure he tells you it's the sharpest knife ever made. Or that you can make 23 different shapes of pasta. Those are the "facts." But what makes him one of the most successful pitchmen ever is not his ability to convince you of the facts but of his ability to persuade you that you need his piece of chochka for only $29.99. Like an evangelist, he makes you believe your life is incomplete without a Chop-O-Matic. The facts? They're just the excuse your rational mind will use later to justify the purchase.

Now I know this. I've been in advertising long enough to have learned that the objective is always to create an emotional connection, a need, with customers and prospects. It's why we always say: don't sell them the features, sell them the benefits.

So really, all this time, on the healthcare debate, I should not have been spewing "facts." I ought to have persuaded on an emotional level. Not that persuasion is guaranteed to work either, mind you. One person I debate with on healthcare reform recently told me her partner had a foot condition that cost the couple $80,000 in medical fees. They don't have insurance. And she's still not persuaded that public healthcare would have been to her advantage.

But then, I'm still not persuaded I need a food dehydrator. So I guess I see where she's coming from.

THE COOLEST THING I'VE SEEN TODAY 17.12.09.

People have been buzzing about a tablet device for ages.

When I was in journalism school nearly 20 years ago, I remember one of my teachers describing a digital newspaper where you'd load up information into your tablet in the morning while your coffee brewed, unplug it and take it with you on the subway to read.

Except for missing wi-fi, he wasn't too far off.

If you have an iPhone, that's what you essentially have right now: a mini tablet. Still, the prospect of a large-scale, magazine-size iPhone with a host of other cool features is dazzling, at least to iPhiles like me.

Take a look.

FLUSH OUT BUSINESS JARGON.

Some are words and expressions that are misused. Others are simply meaningless filler words business people use to make themselves sound smarter.

At the risk of channeling my Andy Rooney, here is some of my most despised corporate BS:

• Utilize. "Use" works just as well without sounding like you're trying so hard.
• I hear you. Usually the person saying this says it so much all I hear is him.
• Paradigm. Does anyone really know what this word means? No. Really? Can we just say "example" from now on?
• Flush out the concept. Flesh. It's flesh. Like putting flesh on bone. Not like flushing it down the toilet. That's what we do to the concept later.
• Mute point. It's a moot point, not a point made in silence.
• I'm reading your mail. I believe there are laws against this.
• Solution. Nothing is actually anything anymore. It's a solution to something. Coke isn't a drink. It's actually a thirst solution. (No, it really isn't.)
• $0. It used to be when something was free, we said it was free. In fact, FREE is one of the most effective words in marketing. But now thanks to lawyers, we have to tell consumers they'll get a phone for $0 because "free" apparently implies they're getting something for nothing. And $0 doesn't?

Here's Forbes' own list of annoying business jargon.

What's your most hated bit of corporate gobbledygook?

THE KICKASSIEST THING I'VE SEEN TODAY 16.12.09.

Wine business owner turned social media bad boy Gary Vaynerchuk is a piece of work. In a good way. A new business leader who looks and sounds nothing like the establishment. Definitely not from the Lloyd Blankfein or Conrad Black school of business. How f'ing refreshing.

Have a look.

What I love most about what he has to say (besides his call on all of us to get off our asses and make money by doing what we love most) is his championing of personal branding -- how effectively using social media is the key to selling ourselves in a post-job-security world. I think he's right on.

THE COOLEST THING I'VE READ TODAY 14.12.09.

Naturally, it's from Seth Godin.

"Here are more than seventy big thinkers, each sharing an idea for you to think about as we head into the new year. From bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert to brilliant tech thinker Kevin Kelly, from publisher Tim O'Reilly to radio host Dave Ramsey, there are some important people riffing about important ideas here. The ebook includes Tom Peters, Jackie Huba and Jason Fried, along with Gina Trapani, Bill Taylor and Alan Webber."

 

THE SMARTEST THING I'VE READ TODAY 13.12.09.

Denial in the face of seemingly incontrovertible facts is a mystery to those of us who believe we live in a reality-based world. Yet, from climate change to corporate culture, the deniers seem to have the upper hand, especially when change is so uncomfortable and inconvenient.

Says Harvard Business School's Rosabeth Moss Kanter:

"Fact-based management is lauded as the best way to run any organization, and I generally agree. But answers will never come directly from analysis. There is always judgment and politics. When facts become subject to interpretation, or when science is discredited, then denial grows beyond garden-variety change resistance. All that remains is leadership."

More of her great insights here.

THE SMARTEST THING I'VE READ TODAY 12.12.09.

Mac or PC? This guy offers a brilliant analysis on why what Apple is to Microsoft, Cinderella is to the ugly step-sister. And what Gates & Co. are trying to do about it.

"Apple has learned that despite good software, and fairly good, well designed and consistent hardware, there's still the question of content, and in the end you need more than just content. You need a way to consume it. What's the one thing you can't do without? Your mobile phone. What was the most frustrating thing about your mobile phone? It was difficult to use, and every new feature is just that much more difficult to use and no new device released is quite good enough. Apple offers you an option. A superphone, a smartphone. Something so easy to use, has great applications, and runs on the same philosophy and operating system the Mac operates on. Fantastic. Applications are easy to get (Delivery), inexpensive and can be consumed just like music has been, through iTunes 99 cents at a time. Apple made it painless and somewhat inexpensive to buy the supporting content, be it music, movies or applications. Before you know it you've removed pain from your life by adopting an iPhone. Well that makes me as a potential convert pretty receptive to the overall Apple experience."