Convert Offline

While technology has made it more difficult to build one’s brand by spending lots of money, it has made it a lot easier to build a brand while spending no money.

Let me show you how the owner of a garage door company where I work has turned an ordinary problem into a $0 cost brand building bonanza.

Here was the problem… everyday he would get a ton of phone calls for garage door problems that did not really require a garage door technician; like changing the battery on the remote. Not knowing this he would send someone out who only needed to change a 9-volt battery and charge a service call.

Here lies the problem. People resent like hell having to pay a service call for things like that and so the reputation of the business suffers. And the business LOSES money, because the service call charge can’t cover the cost of the technician, gas etc.

So, a series of videos was made on how to solve simple garage door problems and they are distributed in 2 ways: via the website and by video email.

We feel that any marketing should use nice packaging and giving something away shouldn’t be any different. Nice packaging makes the solution more credible so more people will use it and more people will pass it on. Here is a picture of the how the video email looks when being viewed by a “customer.”

The video is optimized to load and play in that format and its container is optimized so the customer will remember the name of the garage door company that helped them out.

You’re probably thinking this is all well and good but will this really effect the way people think and talk about a business. I’ll let you be the judge. These 2 testimonials came in just hours apart last Friday…

Thank you very much for your assistance in “fixing” my garage door today. Your explanation as well as the helpful video certainly helped me to solve my problem. So far, all is well and my whole family is thrilled. Your diagnosis over the telephone and your honesty are certainly appreciated in today’s world. Thank you for listening to me and taking the time to help me.

I will certainly remember your company and refer you in the future.

You rock.

I was moving some stuff around the garage the other day and inadvertently moved my son’s bike right in front of one of the eyes. I moved the bike and we’re go to go.

Thank you so much for helping me to avoid the cost of a service call. If in the future I need anything done on my garage doors you’ll be the first one I call. Great customer service.

How often does someone say that a garage door company rocks?

Now, all that is left to do (I’ll use the words of Seth Godin) is to amplify these voices.

Subscribe | Submit

• Knowing this url: https://google.com/accounts/ or doing a search on Google for ‘my account’ (it’s the 3rd result) will allow you to manage multiple accounts on Google. Good to know, if for example you have one for business and one for personal. Google does not provided an option to sign in or out on on the G-phone home page provided. You need to navigate to that page, then sign out… you can figure it out from there.
• Liquid layouts look like hell until they are zoomed out… many look so bad that I’m not sure users will stick around long enough to zoom unless they are familiar with the site.
• Laying down and reading the internet is really comfortable. This position was previously reserved only for books. Prediction: More time on the internet… less time watching TV.
• If it’s in Flash I won’t see it…
• Javascript is turned off by default… there is an option to enable.
• Apps wish list – screen capture. I hope someone comes out with this quick before Snag-it charges me for it next year when Market will allow paid apps.
• Viewing pdf’s was quick and simple… I was able to view it quickly without the option to download… a more pleasant experience than I am accustomed to with this format.
• Every telephone number on every webpage is in effect “click-to-call.”
• Double-tapping an image is the equivalent of the right-click; it allows viewing and saving the image.
• Yellow Book provides a yellow pages app complete with auto-complete. It worked well but… uh… the phone comes with google maps… it is the G phone after all; so it doesn’t really take-on an unsolved problem now does it?
• If you are Curious whether folks are finding your site on the Gphone or iPhone. Shimmy over to Google Analytics (you must have Google Analytics hooked up to your website) and look under Visitors > Browser Capabitities > Browsers and OS. Here’s how it looks:

Subscribe | Submit

Back in May, after weeks of consideration, I had made the decision to purchase an iPhone. Soon after that, Apple announced 3g so I decided to wait. Finally, in July with much anticipation I trekked over to the Apple Store and was stopped cold in my tracks by a 4HOUR LINE.

Annoyed and without a solution I hadn’t done anything about it until this week. The Google phone came out last week and so I was even more uncertain. Given the complexity of the issue and the number of features to consider, I brought out the big guns… my nine year old daughter.

After she recited the available features of each phone, I decided the 3 most important to me are surfing the web from anywhere, GPS, and a convenient way to purchase the darn thing. Since Apple didn’t offer the latter, I bought the G1 by T-Mobile.

UPS knocked on the door last night and I’ve been like a kid on Christmas morning ever since.

Some quick and dirty thoughts about the browser as a consumer and designer.

1) The browser is more than I expected from mobile. It really allows you to enjoy the full web.

Here is how it renders Mihmorandum a well designed blog of which I am a frequent reader. Notice how it allows you to see the site how it was intended to be seen, while also allowing you to read it with only a minimum horizontal scroll. (2 zoom outs)

2)I have definitely endured some frustration in getting used to it. My most frequent peeve is that the home key doesn’t take me back to the browser’s home page, it takes me back to the device’s home. It’s the equivalent of hitting home on your browser and being taken back to your desktop.

3)I can see the eventual disappearance of the drop-down navigation menu. When touching the link, I am taken to a new page and the hidden links are never revealed. If I scroll through the links the hidden links are revealed on “hover” as they should be… I just don’t think that very many people will navigate that way on this browser; which could spell doom for the drop down.

Caution: Really geeky sentence coming, I’ll try to make it brief. If the navbar is absolutely positioned the scroll wheel can’t “see” it; so it CAN’T be hovered. In this case, Hidden links will never be revealed by android’s browser and accessing those links is impossible as far as I can tell. If anyone can let me know in the comments if the same is true of the iPhone I would appreciate it. It’s safe now, total geekyness is over.

Despite the early frustration I am thrilled with the phone. Each time my daughter hears me swearing under my breath, she sighs, and says “no one under 20 should have a phone that cool.” I’m determined to prove her wrong.

Subscribe | Submit