Category Archives: Innovation

Excellent flood coverage at CR Gazette

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Shame on me for reading it first somewhere else, but my eyes were glued to Web coverage of Iowa flooding by the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

My friend Jason Kristufek heads up the paper’s Web efforts, and he’s been doing them proud.

From a map-enabled display of stories as they were breaking (sorry, no link) early on and wall-to-wall coverage during the event to reader-driven clean-up resources and assistance and postings of “Random Acts of Kindness” by volunteers in the area, the Gazette rocked under extreme conditions.

Great work!

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Make new friends, but keep the old…

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Note: This post started as a reply to a post by WeMediaGuru, but it just got too long for that format and turned into its own animal.

Today, Jason at wemediaguru notes words from Mike Blinder of the consulting firm The Blinder Group, which works with media companies to maximize revenue:

The mafia (yellow pages) comes to town every year and steals 18 to 20 percent of the revenue that newspapers should be getting in their local market. Google is doing a great job at killing yellow pages. The enemy of my enemy is my friend today.

Jason’s wondering if incorporating Google is a wise strategy for media companies, especially those who are considering local search, but aren’t entirely sold on the idea.

Building a Web strategy without Google is like trying to start a business in town 30 years ago without placing a newspaper ad.

The fact is that many people (though admittedly less all the time) think the Internet IS Google. Take Steve Krug’s example of people typing whole urls into Yahoo or AOL. The big problem Google has, though, is in rooting out relevant local information. But it’s getting better and we (local media) aren’t part of the solution.

Take my wife and me. We like local restaurants, quaint hotels and out-of-the-way sightseeing. Up until a couple of years ago, a pre-roadtrip Google search brought such local gems as Super 8 Motel and Pizza Hut.

That’s changing, in part because others are starting to realize that while Google might be the shotgun approach, once a source of good local information earns their trust, they’re the go-to for future information.

Take a Google search for restaurants in our current town.

There are three things to note here:

  1. Our newspaper isn’t among the top ten sites for information on the topic.
  2. The top two sites contain reader reviews and do, in fact, highlight some pretty cool local eateries.
  3. The search has brought up a couple of local restaurants who have done at least a passable job at SEO. Without an ally in the local media company, locals are taking the Web into their own hands.

There are some obvious lessons in all three. But where to go from here?

Why not become the local expert in getting local businesses in front of Googlers? Could we start consulting those who already have a Web presence in SEO (for a fee) and a link?

Obviously, reader reviews are a big part of Web 2.0 trust-building. Businesses don’t often want to take the bad with the good (and years of pandering local business coverage have taught them bad habits about dealing with us).

Why not sell ad space, for example, next to reader reviews of that business? Then maximize Google’s ability to access that information?

Am I out of my mind here?

Lessons from Leatherman

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I had a chance to hear Tim Leatherman, inventor of the multi-tool today (yes there is a guy named Leatherman). He was featured at Speakerlunch a monthly pep-talk for entrepreneurs put on by a local guy in Corvallis.

I came away with a couple of entrepreneurial lessons to consider that I wanted to share:

  • Leatherman had his moment of insight on a European vacation. His Scout knife wasn’t hacking it for repairs on his $300 Fiat 600, so he jotted down a quick note, “Put a pair of pliers on a pocketknife.” Lesson: Carry a notepad everywhere to capture ideas. Even on vacation.
  • Once he’d created a working prototype (after three years of cardboard, wood and metal models) he took the thing to knife and tool makers. Knife makers wasn’t interested because the thing wasn’t a knife. Tool makers called it a gadget. No thanks. Lesson: Sometimes the industry best positioned to capitalize on a good idea can’t tell one when they see it.
  • That prototype looks a lot different from the first PST (Personal Survival Tool). It’s got two pair of pliers mounted to the top and a bunch of other stuff. He also was asking $40 wholesale, which meant retailers would have to sell it for $80. Buyers for mail order house Early Winters took him under their wing and suggested paring down the expensive multiple pliers and scissors. Final price: $24 wholesale. Leatherman was selling a million in 10 years. Lesson: Sometimes paring your idea down to the basics is what people want. Bells and whistles just get in the way and boost the price to unmanageable levels.
  • Once Leatherman got his business rolling, he farmed out some of the knife blade tempering to Portland neighbor knifemaker Gerber (who was the first to turn him down years before). Gerber execs realized exactly how many blades they were subcontracting and learned just how big of a business the multi-tool market had become. They engineered their own tool and became Leatherman’s first prime competitor. Lesson: Be careful who you partner with. Even if you’re the only game in town, it’s a temporary condition.

By the way, Leatherman carries two of his tools at all times: the Charge and the Squirt on his keychain. Are you surprised that the inventor of the American version of the Swiss Army knife wouldn’t be prepared?

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