Same Zach Heller, Better Place to Find Me

April 12, 2011
Zach Heller

Zach Heller

Though I may continue to update this blog on a less frequent basis, I wanted to alert all of you to check out my new blog over at www.zachhellermarketing.com.

I’ve found a new home on the Squarespace platform which has allowed me to reinvigorate my passion for blogging and for marketing.  I’ll be updating the blog frequently with information about marketing, small business, etc., similar to the material that has brought you here.

I encourage you to check it out, “I” of the Consumer, and subscribe today!

Thanks.

2 Comments | change, Features, Innovative Reads | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Zach Heller

Google TV is Coming!

March 18, 2010

I know that I don’t update this blog as often as I used to, or as often as I probably should.  But upon scanning the headlines of the blogs that I follow this morning, one inspired me to get back in the game, if only for this one post.

Awhile back I posted a blog titled “When Will Google Take Over TV”.  And apparently, the answer is soon.

From Mashable yesterday comes a report that Google is already a few months into a project to develop an Android based TV platform that may include both set-top boxes and internet connected TV’s.  Google is partnering with Sony and Intel on this project, which is sure to shake up the media world as it gets closer.

This is a big move for Google, whose advertising possibilities will increase greatly with control over a television based platform.  Obviously we’ll have to wait and see what kind of experience the Google based TV platform will give us, but this is a big step in the converging of traditional television media and the internet.

I for one am excited.

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Posted by Zach Heller

$10,000 for Innovation

January 13, 2010

Businesses all over the world ask themselves the same questions every day.  Or, if they don’t, they probably should.

“How can we make our company better? Run smoother? More efficient? Make more money?”

Often times we look outside the company for help or advice.  Sometimes we think that we know all the answers and we don’t need help from anyone.  And much of the time I am sure that we just expect things to get better without trying at all.

But take this new idea from the struggling publisher, Conde Nast.  They are offering their employees a $10,000 prize for whoever comes up with the best idea to improve the company.

Sure this is probably a sign of desperation more than anything else, but it still makes sense.  The reason companies hire people is to move forward.  In essence, you want every employee to not only do the job that they were hired for, but to bring new ideas forward and shake things up.  Every entrepreneur from an early point in their lives learns that you are suppose to surround yourself with people that are smarter than you to help you succeed.

Why don’t more companies look internally for help when looking to create a change?  And why don’t more companies have rewards in place (maybe not $10k) for employees that take on that challenge?

I am a strong believer that innovation most often comes from within.

3 Comments | change, Theory | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Zach Heller

Job Search Needs an Upgrade

August 4, 2009

jobsearchUnemployment is still on the rise in this country and there are certainly an endless list of reasons for that.  As someone who has recently joined that group of people, I feel the need to comment on one major problem that I have been dealing with.

Job searching is stuck in the past and needs a major upgrade.

I have grown up on the internet, and continue to experiment with new technologies every chance I get.  New services and applications are developed everyday.  But for some reason, searching for a job online is still a pain in the ass.

Craigslist, in my opinion, has the simplest listing of jobs there is.  They got it right, for the most part, by making it easy to search, sort and apply to all of their listing quickly.

Here is where the rest of the websites and services that I have tried go wrong.  They make you sign up on their website as a new member before applying.  Some make you fill out pages of information, create an online resume, write a traditional cover letter (that they expect you to use for every application).  And some make you pay for the right to apply to the jobs listed on their website.  Thanks for all the help!

The problem is that the job listings are spread across all of these various sites, HotJobs, Craigslist, LinkedIn, TheLadders, Monster, etc.  There is not one site that has all of them, which is primarily because the employers listing the jobs have a choice.  So if I am looking for a marketing position in New York City, to give me the best possible chance of finding the right jobs to apply to, I have to create 5 different accounts, create new versions of my resume, continue to change and update cover letters, store all the information somewhere so I know what I applied to and how to contact them.

Finally, another major issue with most sites is the ability to sort out the junk from the good positions.  With Craigslist, they need a way to filter out the internships from the full time search.  But you put up with it because they make everything else so easy.  However, the other major websites make sorting through their listings too complicated.  If I search for marketing, I should not be inundated with 100s of sales positions from the same company or recruiter.

What we need is a joint effort by every employer to get all listings up on Craigslist, or a new service that aggregates all the listings and makes applying as easy as clicking on the email address provided.  We have come to a time when this is possible, and necessary.  It’s time for the job search industry to catch up with the rest of the online world.

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Posted by Zach Heller

Cash for Clunkers: A Job Well Done

July 31, 2009

cash-for-clunkersIf you can remember back to a time when I posted about Google’s 10^100 Contest, then you can see that I mentioned having put in a suggestion of my own.  And even though you may think that I am lying, my submission was almost word for word what the “Cash for Clunkers” program has become.

The original description of my idea looked something like this:

“Set up a program, backed by the government or some independent investors, that uses a pool of money to offer car buying vouchers for people that trade in older cars for newer, more fuel efficient vehicles.  This helps people in multiple ways.  It can increase the number of cars that are sold, giving a much needed boost to the economy.  And it can make the average fuel efficiency of cars in the country go up more than it would without this help.”

So, of course, when I saw the initial idea for Cash for Clunkers, I was very excited.  I backed the program, thinking that it would definitely help do exactly what it was designed to do; spur the struggling auto industry, and get more fuel efficient vehicles on the road.

And now, less than a week after the program was launched, it appears that the program was so successful that it ran out of the appropriated money that was supposed to last until November 1st.  For more information on exactly what the Cash for Clunkers program is, how you can take advantage, and how the government is adding more funds to help keep the program alive, check out this article from The Politico.

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Posted by Zach Heller

What does Free Mean to you?

July 16, 2009

youtubeThere are many ongoing debates on whether or not the nature of free information on the web can continue to last.  As free content continues to put at risk the traditional media sources that charge their customers to get the information, it also has proven tourblesome for many of the companies that offer the free content.

For example, this story from the New York Times discusses the many issues with Youtube.  As Google continues to try to find big money in advertising dollars for the most popular video sharing site on the web, the cost of storing the infinite amount of videos uploaded to the site everyday is out of control.  It appears that no amount of advertising can possibly make up for the money lost just on server space each year.  Therefore, at this point, Youtube looks like a failing business for Google, and one they will need to evaluate over time.

In addition to Google, there are entire industries that are caught in between free models and paid models.  For example, CNBC recently aired a special on the porn industry, and how they are caught trying to embrace the internet and trying to protect their profits at the same time.  For porn, free videos online have taken a big swipe at profits from paid sites as well as dvd sales, which some say are down close to 30% this year.

Once something is available for free, it decreases the likelihood that anyone would want to pay for it.  Whereas in the past you could say, “you get what you pay for”, nowadays the quality of content and information you can get for free is many times just as good as the stuff that you pay for.  We are approaching a time and a place where Free is costing businesses a fortune.  And eventually, Free may hit a brick wall.

How much is Google willing to lose on Youtube before they charge you to upload videos?  How much is Facebook willing to lose before they charge you to share photos, or to write on someone’s wall?  How much are we all willing to pay to use the sites we love so dearly?

Right now there is no balance between free and pay. The time is coming when we need to find that balance or internet users and businesses alike are in for a major shock.

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Posted by Zach Heller

What Ever Happened to Trust and Honesty

June 9, 2009

trust me I'm a docter-786643There will always be things in place to keep us honest.

Doctors and Lawyers have malpractice to keep them from making mistakes, not following procedure, and not taking care of those people they are there to take care of.

The government has the people they represent to keep them in check because they will always be up for re-election again.

CEO’s have a board of directors and large groups of investors to make sure they are doing the right things with the company’s money or else a replacement will be found.

It seems we are kept as honest as we can be because if we stray too far off course, we risk losing a title, or some power, or our money.

But what about just being honest?  What if elected officials, doctors, lawyers, bankers, and CEO’s – the people that we need to trust in order to successfully grow ourselves personally and professionally – were just honest people.  Maybe it’s just a matter of greed, and it will never be perfect.  And I know I am lumping large groups of people in where they don’t belong, but it just seems that if we have to fear people in power then we are never going to dig our way out of tough times.

Trust is an important thing.  It can mean the difference between success and failure.  So let’s put honesty back in its place.  You don’t need us to keep you honest.  Just do it.

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Posted by Zach Heller

If You Force Me to Change, I’ll Fight You

May 28, 2009

newspapersWe have seen it time and again in business and in society as a whole.  If you force someone to change their behavior for whatever reason, they will fight back.  They will resist what does not come naturally, and they will hate you for pushing this change on them.  Lots of them will simply look for a new alternative that will allow them to keep up the status quo.

Governments can force corporations to change the way they act by enforcing new laws and taxes and business activities.  And those businesses that can afford to do so, will fight back.

Companies can force consumers to change by reinventing a product or service that we have come to know.  Many times customers will fight the change, because it is new, and look for any way to get the products that they are already used to.

Companies can force their competitors to change by shifting the way their industry behaves or creating a new model for success.  And those business that find themselves behind struggle to turn things around.  They fight the innovators, claiming that they are cheating or that they’re wrong.  They fight with politicians to get some protection.  And they fight with their own customers to avoid losing them (see if that makes sense).

Enter the printing industry in all their luster.  Enter newspapers and magazines and major publishers.  Enter paid content providers.

We are in the midst of a content revolution.  Advertising markets are down everywhere you look.  Major media companies that have relied on newspaper and magazine circulation to thrive are losing money in a hurry.  People don’t want to pay for their information, and advertisers don’t want to pay not to be seen anymore.

Too many online content providers are succeeding in a free model system.  The issue is that the publications that have been around and successful for so long as pay services don’t know how to react.  So most of them fight the change.  They ask the government for help.  They ask consumers to make difficult choices.  And they spend all day firing back at those free content providers that have made it work.

Publishers are being forced to change, and because of that, they are fighting that change.  It’s time to rethink distribution, rethink salaried reporters, rethink free vs. paid models, and rethink consumer behavior.

I can get free information on technology and small businesses via TechCrunch, on business and investing via Bloomberg, on the law via Above the Law.  They have made free information work by making money on other ventures or in other ways.  They are valuable to me, more valuable to advertisers, and they are winning.

Change has come.

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2 Comments | anti-innovation, change | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Zach Heller

A Case of the Mondays

May 11, 2009

office-spaceA surefire way to bogged down by routines is to come in every Monday morning after a nice relaxing weekend and do the exact same thing you always do.

Most people use the better part of Monday before noon to clear their inbox of all the emails that have accumulated over the weekend, update yourself on the to-do list you carried over from last week, and catch up on some work that you left over from Friday.  And before you know it, you are moving through your week the same way you do every week.  And even though this is what feels comfortable and efficient, it will never create the need or desire to create or innovate.

So here is a thought.  In order for your business to thrive and grow, you need to be thinking outside the box.  To help spur new thoughts and creative vision, you need to do something different.  Use Mondays as routine busters, because if you take the time to throw yourself off a bit, then your mind will have more freedom to roam and create.

Take your breakfast at a place you’ve never been before.  Stay away from the computer.  Read a magazine article.  Take a pad and a pen and just start making lists.

Keep your mind active, but also free to wander. Take a walk, listen to music, keep your distance from work.  If you have the ability to stay out of the office, this is the time to do it, though you can certainly do these things at the office as well.

I know that eventually you have to get to your emails, you have to finish those boring, endless tasks that you’ve been chipping away at, but there is plenty of time for that as you move through the week.  A little time to think on a Monday morning can be just the medicine you need to help avoid the weekly routines and help you concentrate on the big picture.

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Posted by Zach Heller

Carpooling Service…from an Oil Company?

May 1, 2009

carpool_sign_500The good people over at Springwise continue to point out some of the most innovative startups competing for your attention, and today, they had one that really caught my eye.

“In March 2009, Galp Energia launched Galpshare, a carpooling platform where commuters can create a profile, specify their daily route and find others heading the same way. Users can also list their musical preferences and interests (politics, sport, business, etc.), helping them find people they’d enjoy sharing a ride with.”

The most interesting thing to note here is that Galp Energia is the largest oil company in Portugal.  It’s strange to think of an Oil company as part of the solution for energy efficiency.

I commend them for stepping up to the plate and designing a service that is forward thinking and helpful.  A quick look at the website and you can tell that it is still relatively new, but there are a number of members.  The free site could obtain some significant advertisers as the network starts to grow.  It is the perfect example of a company innovating outside the boundaries of their current business model to position themselves in a new market and become more sustainable.

Hopefully this is more than just a PR ploy to gain some friendly attention, and they are in this for the long haul.  Maybe other companies in a similar situation will start to take notice and deploy similar business strategies.

As more companies see the value in becoming environmentally conscious, we will see a growth in the “green economy” that will help society as a whole.

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Posted by Zach Heller

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