Ask someone to describe Google and they’ll most likely end up talking about a search engine that saved the web. If they’re a little more interested in tech, they might talk about its funky campus, its Android mobile operating system, or its “don’t be evil” corporate ethos. Few would describe it as a highly-efficient, profit-driven business machine.The company is coming increasingly under fire for the amount of tax it pays, particularly in smaller countries where it rakes in ...

Instead of getting into the technicalities of response-based marketing, let’s go straight to the heart of the matter. I want to share with you what might be the two best marketing messages I’ve ever seen. Yes, ever. By looking at the psychology of these two examples, you’ll be able to see the path to making your marketing irresistible.1. An insulation company sends a man up Mount Everest The Aerogel insulation company sent a mountain climber up Mount Everest ...

Few people remember third place. Whether in sport, science or business, there's little glory attached to the bronze medal. But two multinational giants, BlackBerry and Microsoft, are straining to be the third player in the burgeoning smart phone market.The latest figures from IDC, an industry analyst, show a rapidly expanding global market for this new generation of mobile phones. Over 216-million handsets were shipped during the first three months of 2013, an increase of over 40% compared with the same ...

I’m no Xperia fan. I dislike the name (any product name that begins with an “X” in it reeks of nineties shame), I've never warmed up to Sony’s range of phones and I certainly didn't care when Sony split from Ericsson and stole the Xperia range from them. But I care about Sony’s Xperia Z -- a handsomely made 5-inch smartphone that’s near invulnerable. There are two standout features that elevate the Xperia Z above the competition: the incredibly fetching ...

For a while, pet-related startups seemed to be a rarity. Ever since the Pets.com debacle in which the venture-backed startup went from a Nasdaq IPO to liquidation in about 9 months, entrepreneurs have given pet-ecommerce a slightly wider berth.Looking back, it was a difficult time for online startups in general. Not to mention one that spent US$1.2 million on a super bowl ad without any profitability in sight, right at the dot-com bubble’s popping point. Since then, the online economy ...

Social media marketing has, over the past few years, gone from something practiced by a few early adopters to a crucial part of most big advertising campaigns. For proof of that, you only have to look at the results of a recent Gartner survey, which showed that most people now see social as being nearly as important as a corporate website and more traditional forms of online advertising.It makes sense too. Research from eMarketer suggests that brands can profit dramatically ...

Nudging in the direction of e-governance, the South African ruling party is trying to further expand its crucial social media reach. The African National Congress is launching a new application on the popular mobile chat platform Mxit. Through this initiative, the ANC Western Cape community (MyANCWC) will attempt to educate and mobilize South African voters.By using modern ways of market engagement, South Africa's majority party is planning to strengthen its online presence. As ANC Chair Marius Fransman announced, this ...

It’s all about perspective. There are things, that looked at from afar seem perfect, but walk a little closer and the imperfections become glaringly obvious.Most large-scale businesses operate under two distinct perspectives or paradigms. An “up-close” perspective, which considers how the business looks at the individual store front level and its day-to-day functioning with the people who frequent it. And a helicopter (the head office) perspective which interprets how the business looks and operates across all outlets, as a ...

Yahoo has officially announced its acquisition of blogging platform Tumblr for US$1.1-billion cash. The news was first broken on Twitter by the Wall Street Journal, seemingly confirming rumours of the buyout, which have been floating around for a few days now from Kara Swisher and the AllThingsD crew.It's not all great news though as it seems nearly 72 000 Tumblr users have moved their blogs to rival platform WordPress following the rumours, according to WordPress founder, Matt Mullenweg.Mullenweg, wrote in ...

This is pretty nifty. Net Prophet is raising money for its bursary, Kickstarter style. The annual gathering of 2 000+ geeks is one of the bigger tech conferences on the South African calendar, and every year at the event the organisers raise money to help fund university education for students who would otherwise not be able to further their education. But instead of just auctioning off an iPad, the organisers decided to jump on the crowdfunding train.This year the ...