Last week Fred wrote a post on marketing that attracted a lot of comments and replies – in part because it had some “bugs” but more because it was provocative. One thing that seemed missing from the discussion (and given that there was so much I may simply have overlooked it) was the relationship between customer acquisition and network effects. I am going to use the word customer acquisition to mean the entire set of tactics (PR, marketing, advertising and even sales) that results in new cus...

Occasionally I take time out from talking to startups to meet with folks from big brands. What keeps surprising me is that many of these brands don’t seem to understand the power of direct. By direct I mean any communication that is direct between the brand and existing or potential customers without requiring the use of a “medium” to carry the message. Instead, many brands treat the Internet as if it were just another medium that is similar to previous ones. The logic seems to be mostly arou...

Rob Kalin from Etsy has referred to customer support as marketing and Etsy has significantly enhanced its customers support team to cut down response time dramatically. Danny Meyer in his book Setting the Table and the actual operations of his restaurants also makes helping the customer central to the experience. I believe this to be especially important in an age where a customer whose problem is not addressed can tweet and blog about it as I am about to do with regard to my recent experienc...