About marc meyer

Marc Meyer has been a digital marketing consultant for nearly 18 years now. Marc observes, dissects, and disseminates what brands and their customers want, how they want it, why they want it, and how to get it to them via digital means. Marc has held positions ranging from social media lead at Ernst and Young, external social media lead at Accenture to CTO at Emerson Direct and EVP of Sales and Marketing at Marblejar. Currently, Marc is the CMO and Co-founder of Digital Futures Initiative, an educational non-profit geared towards providing curriculum, content, and conversations for children, parents and educators struggling to grasp and understand the rapid pace of all things digital, mobile and social related. Thus, Marc has a unique perspective to offer those who seek his views and thoughts on everything that is digitally relevant as it pertains to all things marketing and technology related and now educational.

Party on Everest, everyone invited, minimum requirement: the ability to climb 18,000 feet.

Posted on October 5, 2007 by marc meyer

According to Oregon Scientific, you’re all invited up to base camp on Mt. Everest for Everest Rocks. It’s a fourteen-day trek up Mount Everest by 40 of the world’s top musicians and mountaineers, Everest Rocks will culminate with the first-ever rock concert to take place at Mount Everest’s Base Camp.

Footage of the concert, the trek and events leading up to it will be filmed exclusively using Oregon Scientific’s ATC2K Waterproof Action Cam. Forty ATC2K cameras have been
donated to the Love Hope Strength Foundation, making it possible to capture
footage of this ground-breaking event.

The climb is designed to bring awareness to, and raise money for the Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHSF), The Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHSF) is an international not-for-profit organization with chapters in The United States, United Kingdom and Australia, founded by leukemia survivors Mike Peters, of the Welsh Rock Band the Alarm and James Chippendale, President of CSI entertainment. The goal of LHSF is to give people with cancer the same opportunities Peters and Chippendale received including access to information, quality cancer treatment, medications and support.

On a side note. check out the waterproof action cam. It’s only a $130.

If Google went away, would you care?

Posted on October 4, 2007 by marc meyer

How would Google impact your life if by happenstance, they just,”went away”? As a casual user of the web, I would think that you wouldn’t miss a beat, you’d just migrate over to Yahoo or MSN or one of the hundreds or thousands of other second tier search engines out there. Would your results suck? Would they be tainted by gross inacurracies? I’m sorry to say, and it probably pains Google to hear this (not really) but the answer is more than likely, no and no.

You see, the other search engines are not that bad, in fact Ask.com for instance, is really really good. But when you are trying to compete against this Goliath of a company, you’re little pebbles will have no noticeable effect or impact, no matter how cool and powerful.

I imagine that if Google went away, their 10,674 employees would have to find new jobs doing something that we have no clue about. Since they are so secretive anyways… Then there are the tens of thousands of people that make money on Adsense. What would they do? Arghhhh!!!! Get real jobs? I suppose they might go back to that fine affiliate marketing model that was and is still so annoying. Here’s a thought. Maybe the CTR on banners would go north of 1% if Google went away?

SEO and SEM professionals would naturally just shift their attention in the forums and their blogs to bitching about Yahoo and MSN’s “Algo” and why it’s so unfair, and why they never get back to you, and why they never give you a straight answer, and why you need to do it “this way”. They also would be lost without having a Google toolbar that gave them their PR’s; Oh and Matt Cutts, the Google Guru, would probably be an authority on something, but it just won’t be in search.

Would there be less web sites if Google wasn’t around? What would be the ideal business model for making money on the web? Yahoo would own PPC outright at this point so what would they do differently if Google wasn’t around?

Would MSN be even more formidable if Google wasn’t around? Since Google has come on the scene, casual water cooler talk has shifted from, “I wonder what Microsoft will release next”? to “Did you see where Google’s stock is at”?

Are we better off socially because Google is so entrenched into our daily lives? Do they make us better at what we do? Do they solve nagging problems that previously existed before they came on the scene? Do they have our best interests at heart? Does Google care about you and I?

What do you think life would be like without Google? Does Google impact your life?

Dumb People and Technology

Posted on October 3, 2007 by marc meyer

According to Wikipedia:

Dumb may refer to:

Stupidity, the state of
Dumbing down, a term referring to over-simplification

I recently wrote about the fact that sometimes technology and the use thereof, may be too complicated for some “slower” people to grasp, therefore what they might use their computer for, might not neccessarily be what others use it for. Is that ok?

In creating web apps and websites, we always try to dumb down what we are creating, in the hopes that its simplicity will push it over the top in terms of the broadest possible audience grasping what we are trying to convey. In lieu of words sometimes we create icons. Yet other large manufacturers choose to assume that people will “get it” and if they have problems just call the help desk. Can you say focus group? Or lack thereof?

Maybe Dumb people shouldn’t operate computers? Maybe we underestimate the dumb person; Or perhaps they use it to go to YouTube? Do dumb people use email? Has anyone or any company actually looked at that sector of the public to see, just what they use the computer for? Is it a group that we should market to? Are we missing out on this demographic? Or do we just assume that they will get it? Isn’t it the goal of all technology innovations that they are accessible to all? If so, doesn’t that mean regardless of your mental capacity, that that person will be able to grasp it? That you, the slow one, will get it?

Is technology biased towards people who are educated? If it is, do they leave the dumb people in their wake? What are dumb people supposed to do? Rely on smarter people? Or the Geek Squad? Do dumb people want a crack at technology and what it has to offer? Does technology provide a fair shake to people who want to learn but just are really really challenged?

A dumb person might have the grandest of intentions when buying a computer, but what are they to do when they have to install software, get an internet connection, download updates, install security software, burn a disc, download some music from itunes, buy some porn, etc etc etc…?

You see the world is moving more and more towards a paperless virtual high speed electronic environment. But it moves at a speed that not a lot of people are comfortable with. And you know what? Technology could not care less! Social networking sites are great but I’m willing to bet the affluency of the users is solid middle class and up. Educationally, we provide our 1st graders with a solid foundation for technology, but we’ve forgotten about the boomers and some gen X’ers even, and those who may have slipped through the cracks and those that it just passed right over. For whatever reason, those people are missing out on what technology can do for them. But now that I think about it, maybe they don’t care. Maybe to them, playing FreeCell, Bejeweled and watching Videos on YouTube, is just fine…

Google Envy? Do you have it?

Posted on October 2, 2007 by marc meyer

For some of us, like it or not, our world revolves around Google. Does yours?

Google Envy

Posted on October 2, 2007 by marc meyer

GE… Google Envy. We all have it. Even if you don’t admit it because you are above that, deep down you know you have it.

In contemporary times, GE is the term used metaphorically to refer to the idea that we all wish we worked for Google, had Google stock. or were bought by Google. In more subtler terms it refers to the anxieties we as marketers and site owners and SEO folks feel about our impact in Google’s search engine.

Think about our world and how Google has managed to work its way into our lexicon. Lik Pez, Google is a proper noun. Pez is a candy and Google is…. Google. But where they differ is that I can’t “Pez you” but I can “Google you”. You know this conversation happens a half million times a day… “Hey I Googled Thomas/Cynthia last night, and you won’t believe what I found!”

So alas, Pez is not a verb and Google has become one. How many companies can become a verb? Not Microsoft, Nike, Coke, McDonalds, Toyota, NBC, Rolling Stone, The Rolling Stones, Yahoo, The NFL, The NBA, Nintendo, Sony, The World Cup, The Olympics, Not even…. Microsoft-cue the reveal music.

I wonder if Microsoft has Google envy? I used to have Microsoft envy. In fact right after the bubble burst in my dot com world, I still had Microsoft envy. I wanted Microsoft to buy my company. Didn’t they buy anything that was cool and had a pulse back then? They were the big dog and I think we all worked for small start-ups with the hope that Microsoft would notice us and decide to buy us. It’s at this juncture that we should bring in Andy Rooney from 60 Minutes.

Andy: “Do you ever wonder if Microsoft has GE? or Google Envy? I bet they do. I know I do. I think we all have Google Envy. Even my dog has Google Envy.

As a world that now uses technology in every day life in every way possible, we now measure things by our ability to search for them on Google. It’s almost as if it’s the great judge of legitimacy. However, from the perspective of the marketer and the SEO’r, it’s also the gold standard by which one is measured. If you rank #1 in Google, then you must be good. Because Google said so.

So it just goes without saying that Yahoo and MSN, the other 2 search engine’s, should have major GE. They fight over the scraps of what is left in Google’s vapor trail. And like it. I envision Shaq going up against Herbie the wannabe dentist destined for Misfit Island, and The Keebler Elf. All fighting over the gold and girl, and it really not being much of a fight. It’s just not fair. But I like Shaq, he’s a likeable guy. I even think Herbie and the Keebler Elf are cool, but in the end, you know they wish they could trade places with the big man. Even if they don’t admit it.

Is technology complicating things? Or is it making us more dependent?

Posted on October 1, 2007 by marc meyer

With social networking sites taking off and the evolution of the cell phone as more than just a communication device grows exponentially, questions are raised as to whether we as marketers and designers and developers are “Getting it”. Do we really know what the user wants? Are we asking them? Or are we shoving it down their throats?

Technology. Is it making our lives easier? Or does it complicate them?

Posted on October 1, 2007 by marc meyer

While thinking of what to write about this morning I thought that some questions should be asked.

Does technology serve a broad audience? Or a broad enough audience? In other words, are we serving enough people, with what technology brings to the table? What do people who happen to have a computer, who have no more than a high school education, and possibly less, use the computer for? Do they use it to look at porn? Do they use it to set up My Space? Is it for Flickr? Music? Email? Is the computer user friendly enough for people who might be learning challenged? If it’s not, then what do they do with it?

Who do we as marketers and web masters gear our websites to? What is the demographic? Do we even consider the number of people using a computer who don’t really fit the audience that we THINK we are attracting? Do we even TRY to speak to that segment?

Is the cell phone and it’s current capabilities the “dumb’ed down” version of the PC? Is what is on the phone from a spec standpoint what all users en masse want? Or what we think will sell more phones? Do we not give the people that use any type of technology on a day to day basis, enough credit for what they want? and how they might want to utilize it?

When does any type of app, fly completely over someone’s head? What is the level, when someone just shuts it down and says,”this is too difficult”? Will all generations from here on out be so technically gifted, and knowledgable that nothing will be impossible for them to grasp? Regardless of educational levels?

What does user friendly really imply? Does everyone need a computer? If so why? If not, how come? Does anyone use a fax machine anymore? Why is YouTube so popular? Why is MySpace the same? Does anyone care about social networking? DO I really want my friends to know what I’m doing at all times? How can I find really cool web sites? Without having to put up with google ads?

And speaking of Google, should I care about what they do? and how they do it? Does Google make my life easier? Does Microsoft? Does technology make my life easier, or does it complicate it because of updates and licences and fees and subscriptions and user names and passwords and security threats and viruses and hackers and…..???

Do we know what we want? Do you know what we want? Do we know what you want? We all think we do, but you know what? No you don’t, and neither do we..

Web Design ethics

Posted on September 28, 2007 by marc meyer

I have been talking about ethics when it comes to whether a site designer should or shouldn’t put a hyperlink back to their site at the footer of anew sites pages that they have just built. Here is more on the subject from SEO Roundtable

Web Sites Worth Sharing

Posted on September 28, 2007 by marc meyer

It’s Friday and I really don’t wanna get too deep about technology or internet marketing, instead lets look at some fun websites or websites that might be of interest. In ivillage there is one site I’m sure some of us will want to forward to uh.. our friends. It’s called the perfect position selector. I will let you use your imagination as to what it might be in reference to.

This interactive company HiFade, in Pittsburgh, PA has a killer website and a friend of mine did the design work on it, check out the portfolio Brilliant stuff. Pittsburgh by the way, is this country’s hidden little secret.

Have you ever been curious as to what people are into search wize from day to day and week to week? Well the Yahoo Buzz Index, willl give you a glimpse into that. My take is there is way too much testosterone flowing in today’s young males. Jessica Alba, can you hear me? Can you say Brazillian Models?

Speaking of Brazil, Has anyone seen the fallout stemming from The US Women’s Soccer Team loss to Brazil? If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, type in Hope Solo in a search or just click her name since she may be venting more, soon.

Lastly..

Quantcast is an internet ratings service. Advertisers can find reports on the audiences of millions of web sites. Publishers can ensure their sites are represented accurately by tagging them for direct measurement. The service is free to everyone. It’s pretty cool.

Ok having said, it’s pretty cool, reminded me of this site that everone might enjoy playing around with, it’s called The Wayback Machine, and what it does, is it will show you archived versions of websites from years gone by, just type in the URL and check it out, it’s pretty accurate.

That’s all I got Mr. Peabody! Thanks Sherman.

Have any sites that are cool? Let me know.