Itty Bitty Bit of Branding

For my first contribution to this blog, I figured it would be fitting to start small.  Really small.  16x16 pixels to be precise.  The favicon, or bookmark icon has become a somewhat ubiquitous visual moniker for that we rely on and appreciate when browsing through multiple open webpage tabs or a long bookmark lists.   A few examples are the favicons for Wired Magazine website, the Amazon website, this bizologie blog, and Google Calendars (which features the date). I say somewhat ubiquitous though because while many established institutions, especially those with popular recognizable brands have been using favicons for some time, small businesses sometimes overlook this opportunity to display their brand image.  In a deeply sweeping and precise scientific survey, I did a Google search for the words: Austin coffee, and opened 10 pages from the first Google results page.  Four of the cafes had a favicon and six of the cafes did not.  In a second search for the words: San Diego pet boarding, only two of the 10 boarding centers from the first results page sported favicons.

How does a small business go about remedying this?  Visit an icon generator page like this one from Project Fondue.  Upload an image or logo, or use their editor to create one from scratch, download the finished product, and use a website editor to embed the code.

As Harvey S. Firestone, founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, said:  “Success is the sum of details."

Casual Friday: Google Chrome Ads

Everyone get your Kleenex ready, Google just launched it's Chrome TV ad campaign - their biggest offline campaign ever - and the first two ads are real tearjerkers.  There is a tactical reason for all that emotion. As explained in the New York Times article, Google wants to appeal to users who are not interested in the technical benefits, but just want to see see what they can do with Chrome. The Dear Sophie ad shows a father creating an online scrapbook for his daughter in Gmail by sending her notes, photos from Picasa,  Google mapping their first house, and videos of dance classes and birthday parties. The It Gets Better ad , first aired this week during Glee, shows people using Chrome’s toolbar to record videos for the Dan Savage project of the same name to encourage gay teenagers that they can make it through the tough times.  How can you not tear up during these ads? Makes me want to switch to Chrome right now, so I guess it's working!

Tracking Down Free Market Research Reports

Update: Check our Free Research Reports page for a list of  current free reports available. One of our missions here at bizologie is to help our readers find business information for free whenever possible. But what can you do when that great market research report you need costs anywhere from $500 to $5000? Well, that's when you put your mad library skills to good use and start doing some creative Googling. For example, we know that Gartner, Inc and Forrester Research offer all kinds of market research reports in the information technology space. I also know that Gartner calls their reports "Magic Quadrants" while Forrester uses the title "Forrester Wave". These reports are very expensive to purchase but sometimes other companies will post them freely on their websites. As an example search, we'll use a Gartner report. I've chosen "mobile enterprise applications" as a subject I'd like a market research report on. Using Google as my search engine of choice, I type in "gartner magic quadrant mobile enterprise" and then choose "advanced search". Under "file type" I use the drop down menu to choose PDF. Then I click the "Advanced Search" button and...bam! First hit: Gartner's "Magic Quadrant for Mobile Enterprise Application Platforms". And I've just saved $1995.00.

Now sometimes you won't know that Gartner has this report available. I can still type in "mobile enterprise application" and limit my search to PDFs. As a shortcut, you can just add "filetype:PDF" to your search string rather than using the advanced search feature. That particular Gartner report is still the fourth item down in my search. And now I'm not limited to only Gartner reports but reports from other firms, as well.  Some other research firms you might look for include IDC, Frost & Sullivan, Jupiter and Aberdeen.

We'll be honest and say it doesn't work every time, but I'd say I have good luck finding reports about 70% of the time. Obviously, the newest reports present the biggest challenge, but even if you can find one that's a year or two old, it can still be very valuable information.  Some research firms also offer the option of buying just a section of a report for a discounted price. For example, let's say you find a report that is $5000. You might see that the information you need is in chapter 7 of a report and they may be willing to sell you just that section for say $700.

If you've never seen one of these reports, they're usually maybe 20-30 pages long and include things like a graph of players in the space, an overview of the industry, strengths and weakness of players in the space and maybe a forecast of future expectations for the industry. Below you'll find examples of Magic Quadrants and Forrester Waves. Happy Searching!

Private Cloud

Gartner knows that most large enterprises see private clouds in their future. They see companies trying to determine whether to invest in building a cloud service or buying from cloud service providers. To make the best decision, companies need to be able to evaluate the private cloud computing trend, vendors and road maps. For more information on private cloud, create a free account with Gartner and then watch this webinar to learn:

• What private cloud computing is and how will it evolve?
• How to choose between public and private cloud computing?
• Who are the vendors?
• How should a private cloud computing strategy be developed?

This short video from David Mitchell Smith, Gartner VP provides a short intro to Private Cloud:

Inc's Hiring Tool Kit

The Business Owner's 2011 Hiring Tool Kit from Inc. features information on hiring, orientation, training, and performance evaluations. But it's not just a few helpful hints there are also checklists, forms, and policies - everything a small business needs to grow.

Here's a sample of what you can find:

• How to write a job description
• Interview questions to ask - Do you volunteer within the community?, What weakness has most impacted your ability to succeed at your career?
• Rejection and job offer letters
• Tips for the first day on the job
• Vacation policy
• Non-compete agreement
• How to start an online training program
• Performance evaluation form

A Quick Video Tour of QR Codes

We recently talked about QR Codes and why you might use them.  The video below from Rocketboom Tech shows several examples of how QR Codes are being used, different QR reader applications and how to make a QR Code yourself.

Casual Friday: A Tour of Westminster Abbey

Didn't get an invitation to hang out at Westminster Abbey today? Never fear. There's an app for that, of course. With Abbey 3D, you can tour the Abbey right from your smart phone. The app features an internal scaled replica of Westminster Abbey and includes several historical facts and figures about the Abbey along the way. The app "uses the latest laser scanning technology combined with 3D modelling to create a super realistic version of the Abbey, a technique commonly used in film production but rarely applied to mobile devices." It's a bit pricey at $4.99, but proceeds from sales will be split equally between the Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton Charitable Gift Fund and Westminster Abbey Foundation, which is responsible for the care and upkeep of the Abbey. It's available for Android and iPhone. You can view a demo below and check out the procession route in 3D on Google Earth. Happy Friday, y'all!

New Wii arriving in 2012

Nintendo just announced that they'll be coming out with a new Wii in 2012! And for good reason, their profits are plummeting. Our reporters on the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show report that Nintendo didn't even show up to the party since they couldn't compete with the Kinect. There is no news yet about exactly what the new Wii will look like or what awesome features it will offer. But, "Nintendo is looking to repeat past successes in the gaming market. The Wii took the industry by storm five years ago by offering motion-based gaming that appealed to a broad audience rather than just 'core' video game fans."  Mitsushige Akino, Chief Fund Manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management believes that these gains won't be possible because they are now competing with the smartphone market that didn't exist in 2006. "Core users and game lovers will certainly buy it, but I think it will be hard to capture buyers outside of that group," he said. That competition might be killing all the big game companies. According to VGChartz all hardware sales in the Americas are down 79% overall.

Personally I can't wait to see what the new Wii has to offer, but honestly I can't imagine how they can improve bowling or American Idol karaoke.

Economic Impact of The Royal Wedding

All eyes are on London this week for the wedding of William & Kate. Like everyone else, we at bizologie are excited to see the dress and all the pomp and circumstance. But, as usual, we've got our business socks on and are wondering things like: How will this impact London's economy? How many tourists and how much money will they spend? Here are some economic predictions about the Royal Wedding:

• According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the wedding will bring in about £107 million or around $178 million for the city of London.
• Over two-thirds of visitors will go shopping while they are there and well over half intend to visit bars, clubs and restaurants. 58% say they will visit tourist attractions while they are in London, with 36% of visitors budgeting to spend between £75 and £99 per person per day on tourist attractions.
• According to Visit London, the official tourism agency, over 1 million people are expected to visit London for the wedding. If everyone attends the procession, that's 400,000 more than lined the parade route for Charles & Diana's wedding in 1981.
• Some economists believe the wedding will actually cost the UK economy upwards of $50 billion--$35 million alone spent on extra policing and overtime for the city. In addition, many UK citizens will take not just the day off for the wedding but several--the wedding comes between two long holiday weekends in England which allows many workers to receive 11 days off while only claiming 3 vacation days.

Unfortunately, we at bizologie can't take 11 days off to celebrate. However, we've got our TiVos fired up and are anxiously awaiting the big day.  We're hoping to get our hands on some of the crazy souvenirs available. Here are some of our favorites:

• Will & Kate commemorative refrigerator from GE. Yes, yes I would put this in my kitchen.

• Papa John's Royal Wedding Pizza.

• The Royals: Prince Williams & Kate Middleton Graphic Novel Edition

Can't wait until the big day? Here's a little preview of what you can expect to see inside Westminster Abbey this Friday:

Using LinkedIn for Company Research

We know LinkedIn is a great place to start when you're researching individuals but it's also a great place to find some pretty helpful company statistics. In the LinkedIn Search box, change the drop down menu to search for companies and plug in the company you're interested in finding out more about. Using Whole Foods as an example, on the first page I can find out who I'm connected to at Whole Foods, who some of the new hires are, new job postings and position changes within the company. One really cool feature is in the right hand sidebar: "Check out insightful statistics about Whole Foods Market employees". On this page I can see that 66% of Whole Foods employees have a bachelor degree and that before going to work for Whole Foods, most employees worked for Wild Oats Market and Starbucks. There's even a tab showing where most employees went to college. In this instance, most employees went to the University of Texas at Austin. Which, of course, makes sense as Whole Foods'  home office is in Austin. What's interesting is that there are also several employees from Colorado State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder. This also makes sense as we know that most employees came from Wild Oats which had its headquarters in Boulder, Colorado and was for a time owned by Whole Foods. It's important to remember that these statistics are based solely on the information provided by employees on LinkedIn, but it's easy to start to paint a picture of the culture and types of employees.

Are you using LinkedIn or another social media tool in different ways to do business research? Tell us about it in the comments.

Social Media Plan Template

Marketo is offering a free Social Media Plan template. The plan includes the tactical objectives you can use to accomplish two primary goals of social media. Download the Social Media Tactical Plan Template below, and find out where to budget your time and resources to maximize your organization's social media efforts.  The customizable social media tactical plan helps you:

• Measure the value of social media strategies
• Efficiently create tactical objectives
• Drive more unique traffic to your website
• Convert anonymous traffic to known visitors

It's a simple template, and you probably actually know what you should be doing already, but the template will help you outline the necessary steps to keep track of your social media and provide you with some ideas for how to measure your success.

Casual Friday: The Swanson Pyramid of Greatness

Happy Friday, Everyone! If you're a Parks & Recreation fan like us, then you already know that Ron Swanson can always be counted on for sound advice. A life coach if we ever saw one. In the video below, Ron introduces us to the "Swanson Pyramid of Greatness". You might want to bookmark it for those times when you need a little motivational pick-me-up. Happy Weekend and don't forget: Fish for sport only; fishmeat is practically a vegetable.

Moat--The Search Engine for Ads

While plenty of us tend to avoid ads while we're searching the web, the folks at Moat are doing just the opposite. Moat lets you search brand names to see all their ads across the web. It's a great way to quickly see all the different campaigns for a particular brand and would be pretty handy for advertising students or perhaps getting ready for a meeting with a publisher or even a job interview. Here's an example of what a search on Mini Coopers brings up:

In addition to ad search, Moat also offers ad analytics helping advertisers understand how users are interacting with their ads using heatmap technology. You can see an example of their technology here.

IDC Tech Talk: Epsilon Email Breach

Many of us were hit by the Epsilon email breach. In this IDC Tech Talk Phil Hochmuth, Research Manager of Security Products, and Michael Versace, Global Risk Analyst, discuss the recent breach. Phil delves into how personal information is becoming a new currency among cyber criminals and highlights the need for more security around access to this information. Michael discusses the impact and on the financial services industry and how this attack could further breach the security of financial institutions.

Common Craft Explanations Made Fun

At the Texas Library Association last week I had the pleasure of meeting Lee and Sachi LeFever from Common Craft. Those names might not sound familiar, but I just bet that you have seen their work. Those short explanatory videos with the paper cut outs that explain complex things "in plain English" - yep, those are from Common Craft. The Lee founded Common Craft in 2003 and now both Lee and Sachi work to create these 3 minute educational videos that seem deceptively simple. Their first video, RSS In Plain English has been viewed 1.6 million times on YouTube. Lee is the voice of the videos. He comes up with the outline and Sachi is the detail oriented part of the team. She fleshes out the script and then Lee begins the sketching and filming and Sachi does the editing.

Common Craft videos are really cute, but the trick is that the LeFevers know how to explain! They are so good that Google hired them in 2007 to explain their newfangled Google Docs product. Google Docs changed the way people thought about sharing documents and they needed Common Craft to explain that new way of thinking. That is exactly what Common Craft does so well. They take a foreign concept and create a story around it so that we understand what it means, and more importantly, what it means for us personally and why we should care. Plus they are memorable - I still think of camping whenever I think of wikis because of their Wikis In Plain English video.

Common Craft still does custom corporate videos and now they are also creating more educational videos and offering subscriptions for libraries and classrooms. So if your library or your company has some 'splaining to do, look no further than Common Craft.

Happy Tax Day!

So are your taxes in and your refund spent? Or, are you one of those people finishing that up at midnight tonight? According to the IRS, as of Friday, April 1 over 89 million people had already filed their taxes. 85% of those folks filed online and the majority of them used a tax professional to help them out. You won't be surprised to learn that 84% of those early birds were getting an average refund of $2,922. Even if you didn't get a refund this year, some companies are trying to make your Tax Monday a little nicer. Kiplinger has compiled a list of great tax day deals for you. My favorites are the free chips and queso deal from California Tortilla, because "you have to pay the big cheese", the $10.40 entrees and tax relief drink specials from McCormick & Schmick's, and a free appetizer or dessert from Chili's with a coupon on their Facebook page. Bally's is also offering free workouts today and deals on 2 year membership packages and current members can sign up for a free personal trainer session. So take advantage of the offers and enjoy your 2011 tax day!

Casual Friday: A Google a Day!

A Google a Day is the new game from Google. It's trivia with a search twist. You aren't expected to know the answer, you have to Google for the answer. The cool thing is that the answer can't be found with just one search - that would be way too easy. The answer can only be found by answering one piece of the puzzle and then using that information to lead you to another piece of puzzle until you finally find the answer. You know, like real research! Don't worry about spoilers, Google thinks of everything. You play the game on a day old archived version of Google called Deja Google. They describe it as "a wormhole inspired time machine that searches the Internet as it existed before the game began."

This could be a great teaching tool or just for fun because we like solving puzzles! Take a break today and check it out.

Social Media Map

Trying to keep up with all the social media platforms available can be pretty overwhelming. Luckily the folks over at Overdrive Interactive make it easy for us with this great Social Media Map. You can download the map for free after providing some basic information and the downloadable PDF comes with live links.

IDC Tech Talk: Media Tablets & Business Application

IDC recently started a series on YouTube called "IDC Tech Talk".  In the following video they discuss media tablets, specifically the iPad, and how they're being used in a business environment. They also discuss enterprise vs. personal use and the impact tablet use is having on usage of other devices such as netbooks and laptops. While IDC is typically available only through a subscription service, these videos are a great preview of the type of information you'll find in some of their reports.

bizologie Favorite Apps: Flex Search Mobile Research App

One of our new favorite apps is Flex Search from Dynotes Mobile Technology. Flex Search combines all the places you like to search all in one place. You can search Google, Bing, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Wolfram-Alpha, YouTube, Flicker, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook all without switching between different apps on your phone. You can also search images and Webster's Dictionary & Thesaurus from inside the same app. Once you've got your results, you can even share it directly from the app to Twitter or Facebook. Flex Search is available free in the iTunes AppStore.