Coke announced and launched their official Second Life presence, Virtual Thirst, with a low-key press event in SL last Monday. Low-key is part of the strategy; as is the hope that Coke’s initiative will spread virally within and outside SL,...
clipped by: pallefs
If you are a small business owner, an entrepreneur or an independent contractor, you should have a marketing or business plan to use as a guidepost/compass to lead your business' day-to-day activities.
Your plan does not have to be elaborate, nor does it have to be set in stone forever. However, it should specifically define key information including your target market and value proposition, as well as tactical ideas and action steps you will take in order to acquire customers and/or increase sales.
Here are 10 basic components to include in a Marketing Plan:
Creating and sticking to a marketing plan is the best way to keep you and your business focused, and on track for success. Writing the plan is the easy part, sticking to it tends to be more difficult for most people.
Source:http://www.pertinent.com
Author: Rob Engelman
clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: So they're going to make your computer run slower in order to keep you from making backup copies of music and movies. I think I'm going to get a new computer while XP is still out.
In a controversial technical analysis PeterGutmann goes into fantastic detail about the recently released Vistaoperating system and its content protection scheme. One thing became clear tome after reading this analysis. Vista is being marketed to content producers,not consumers. If Windows XP was Microsoft’s attempt to embed a browser intothe operating system then Vista is the attempt to embed DRM. Digital RightsManagement technology has been applied to literally every ring of the OSarchitecture.
Vista's target market is content producers and the underlying philosophy of theuser experience will be far different then what many consumers expect it willbe. Microsoft has attempted to plug the infamous “analog hole” asmuch as is possible by forcing all data through encryption algorithms. Forthose unaware of the “costs” of encryption it is sufficiently high.Pushing HD audio and video content through encryption/decryption routines is atremendous strain on any system currently available and in the near future.Even with the application of Moore's Law a conservative estimate could placeaffordable and usable systems within this new content system 5 years away. Itwill be interesting to see how these restrictions will be spun by the largemarketing and PR teams since none of these innovations will benefit consumersin any way. The job that has been handed to these PR and marketing teams is todress up a product designed with every restriction a producer has asked for andmake a consumer want to buy it. One of the most quotable lines from the Gutmannanalysis sums this up perfectly as, “breaking the legs of Olympicathletes and then rating them based on how fast they can hobble oncrutches.”
