Catch up
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Morning all 
I’ve been away for a few days so I am in a major catch up mode. For any clients / friends / twitter buddies, I will get back to you as soon as possible. The inbox is groaning and the task list is full, but I will get back to you!
I will be online working for most of the weekend, so do ping me if you need anything.
Blog posts coming up in the next couple of days - the joys of train travel and how to survive, and my take on exhibitions / conferences, and how to amplify their effectiveness with online marketing.
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Metrotwin
UGC (User Generated Content) is a big deal right now. Companies who do it right stand to make significant inroads in customer engagement and brand recognition.
BA are in the process of launching Metrotwin at the moment -it is looking to generate UGC for the 2 cities of NY and London which BA fly between. It is currently on private invite and the email you get back from them once registered says to look at the blog.
Which takes you back to the start page and no blog. Come on BA, get with it! At least you can follow Metrotwin on twitter here.
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Baacode
Stand out. Do something different. Be remarkable. Make your customers smile
Icebreaker, one of my fave clothing brands, just did this with their new baacode system.
Your unique Baacode will let you see the living conditions of the high country sheep that produced the merino fibre in your Icebreaker garment, meet the farmers who are custodians of this astonishing landscape, and follow every step of the supply chain. We’re sure you’ll find the experience as inspiring as we do. Enjoy your journey back to the source.
What a great story - completely immersive, UNIQUE, fun, yet with a very serious message. All you do, is look for your baacode on your item of clothing, and tap it in on the site:
Now, we’ve got a few items of Icebreaker Merino clothes and it’s true, they are the best out there (along with howies merino stuff). Unfortunately, none have baacodes, but you can click for a demo, and you should - it tells a wonderful story about the people farming the sheep, the location and the history.
This is a perfect example of doing some original and well-executed marketing. If your reading this Icebreaker, a big well done. Made me smile
Ubiquity for Firefox - impressive
If you watch one thing today, watch the video below. Mozilla labs have just released the alpha of Ubiquity for Firefox. It looks like a major advance in web browsing / web interface. It is almost like a short cut app on steriods but has the potential to really take off - it is that impressive.
It reminds me a little of Quicksilver - an application which is loved by some and not quite understood by others (I’m in the latter camp). Anyway, check the video out below…v cool
Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Is this the new MacBookPro?!
I wish it was, but it isn’t, but you never know! It is in fact a very nice mock up from someone over on MacRumours.
I’m going to be in the market for a new Apple laptop in the next 6 months. My first gen MBP is pretty slow now, has AWFUL battery life (and that is even with a supposed extra capacity battery), and is going to be used to show photos off at weddings (so risking people touching the screen) 
I must say that this mock up looks superb - but I am still lusting after the Air, as long as it has a +2.0 chip.
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Don’t Put It Off
Tim Ferris is one guy I am REALLY looking forward to meeting. He is the author of the best selling book, the Four Hour Work Week
He has recently done a great interview with Derek Sivers and is well worth reading. Something that resonated very strongly with me, and I am sure it will with you is this:
I heard this beautiful bit of advice once that said, “If you’ve got a list of 20 things you should be doing, pick the most important one or two and then just let go of the rest. You will never upload your music to every one of these sites. You will never contact every person. You will never enter every contest. Just take the one or two things that would make the biggest difference in your career, do those one or two, then stop. Turn your attention to the next one or two most important.”
Listen up, smell the coffee, give yourself a slap (I just did, ouch) - this is something to never forget.
(Oops, forget to say - I’ve just found out he is going to be speaking to us at the Do Lectures!). Hmmm… the website is saying he is not confirmed yet….
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Get the simple stuff right and you will be a success
I bet you all know companies, people, products that seem to get the simple stuff right. Take a second and try and think of an example….
Perhaps it is an online store that provides great service and communication time and time again (Amazon is my vote here - they really cannot be beaten in my mind at the moment).
Perhaps it is someone you know who never forgets your birthday and always remembers to send a card (I really try hard with this, and in fact, some people have complimented me on this - set an alarm on your online calendar a few days before and set to annual repeat - not that hard really).
Maybe it’s a brand of clothes you can always rely on - good quality and fit, no quibble returns and also some good technical features (Howies every time for me here).
Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter.
What matters most is getting the simple stuff right.
Doing something consistently and brilliantly. Many people, me included, have exactly the opposite effect 8 times out of 10. So if you can be those other 2 times, you are going to stand out.
I really, really try and do 2 things well with my marketing clients,
1. Great ideas and enthusiasm for their business - I take it personally that what we do does well
2. Communication and availability - I’ve recently received some feedback from a client who commented on this and said it was a huge selling point.
Could be fantastic but you are often let down
Food is a good example to look at. You can pay stupid prices for over complicated meals, whereas in fact, a superb pie n’ mash, or fish n’ chips, is much nicer and cheaper.
Pizza is one of my favourite foods - done well, you cannot beat it. However, the trick is to find a restaurant that makes authentic pizza - proper dough, fresh ingredients, and cooked correctly. (If anyone knows of a decent place like this in Yorkshire, then let me know).
The 37signals guys have a good post highlighting an amazing pizza place in NY, and when I get back there, this is going to be on my list of places to visit.
Again, simple stuff, done brilliantly works.
You can also apply this to every day items. I have a strong opinion that if you are going to be using an item every day, day in, day out, then you want that item to work. Simple. Needs to work well, with no irritation, preferably looking good too, and also it must ‘feel good’.
Feeling good is hard to pin down, but a couple of examples are:
OSX - everything feels great and the UI is stunning.
Vipp and Simple Human bins - yes, you read right, bins. Something you use day in and day out, so these ones are well designed, look cool and work perfectly.
Telephones - our B&O phones have an interface not dissimilar to an iPod’s scroll wheel - makes looking for a contact / name so much easier.
So, back to your business, my business…. Concentrate on delighting your customers by getting the simple stuff right. You will stand out, and it can make a BIG difference.
If you fancy a good read, then check this book out >>> Simply Better
Sunday Catch Up
It’s been a manic few days - driving down to Somerset to shoot a wonderful wedding, staying in the worst hotel I’ve seen for a while and driving through torrential rain to get home. It really makes you value your house / home and especially, my wonderful fiancee who has been such a star this week :-) You are the best!
The coming week is also looking pretty busy - 2 big web projects, a PPC / lead generation campaign project with one of my fave friends and clients, some work for a company in Canada (this is looking amazing) and lots of wedding photography processing (not forgetting an amazing wedding on Saturday! Phew!
One thing of note, Karoo, our wonderul ISP went down for over 7 hours yesterday so I will be placing a call with their marketing / pr lady tomorrow - I feel some compensation coming on.
New iPhone 2.0.1 Software Released
Well this is looking very hopeful! The actual navigation and user interface seem much snappier and I don’t seem to be getting the dreadful lag which spoiled the whole experience.
Looks like they have done a good job. Now I need to go and try the GPS and see if I can get that to work! There’s also a new version of the Wordpress App, so I’ll be interested to see what features they have added, if any.
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jonprefers.com
As most of you know, I spend a great deal (too much?!) time on the web, and use a lot of online services, both for business and also personally.
I’m a BIG fan of learning from people who know me more than me. You then get their experience, their knowledge and you can save yourself time, money and hassle.
Now, many of my friends, clients and family ring me, call me, email me and often ask my advice.
“What web host do you use Jon?”
“Who do you use for your email campaigns?”
“Where would you buy a camera online?”
So, I thought it would be useful for me to set up a dedicated site pointing people in the right direction! So, here is www.jonprefers.com !
I’m going to be continually adding to jonprefers.com and will let you know when I update on the blog. Any feedback on the design, concept and of course content would be welcome.
The services and products that I prefer are ALL ones I personal recommend - there is not rubbish here. All tried and tested, so do have a look!
Disclosure - some links are tied into affiliate programmes, so I get a little money back, and helps to pay for some of the charitable work I do
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BBC News- You may like to read this...
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