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Many times I am asked by clients to review their business model
in an effort to help them with their marketing or business development.
There are many times that these same clients have actually developed a product that they feel is superior in performance and appearance.

When I ask them why anyone should prefer their product to any other similar products they always tell me that their product has one or more features that make it better.  In this post we will look at the importance of innovation, the traps and the advantages and how to prosper from it.

When I checked my mail today, I eagerly tore off the plastic wrap of this month's edition of Wired magazine and flipped open to find myself staring at the start of an article entitled "The Good Enuf Rvlutn" about how cheap and simple beats perfect almost every time.

I'm always surprised when I meet a fellow entrepreneur who's working on a fantastic new product that could be on the market today, but has instead spent the past 3 years - and plans to spend the next 2 years - getting it "just right."

The Despair poster for Quality sums it up best:

"The Race for Quality Has No Finish Line - so Technically It's More Like a Death March."

When creating new products - and please keep in mind I'm not talking about implantable medical devices, surgical instruments, avionics, or bear spray - it's better to get your product to market and tweak as you go than spend years in development.

Last night after the first day of Srini's Internet Income Summit, Logan, Mahesh and I went over to Planet Granite and played on the adult Jungle Gym. Logan and I climbed to the top of the rope with no hands, and then I learned how to climb a rope upside down. You've got to love circus tricks.

This is a guest post by Srini Saripalli. Srini is a Info-marketer, speaker and above all a blogger dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed online. Srini spoke at the Bay Area Mastermind in July 2009 and practically mesmerized everyone with his knowledge and energy. You can read more about Srini at www.SriniSaripalli.com

It was indeed a pleasure and honor speaking at the Bay Area Mastermind. Even though I was there to talk about how offline marketers can benefit from taking their business online, my entire presentation was focused on three specific areas.

Despite the fact that all of us are a lot more savvy these days, and we are inundated with information,email marketing continues to be a viable vehicle that is driving some real results.

I am sure that it is no surprise to anyone that executive level managers are first seeking the internet to get their information when doing research. What was not known is to what extent.  According the "Rise of the Digital C-Suite" study from Forbes Insights and Google, the Internet has become the most valuable information resource for US executives.

The media these days continues to pound out large amounts of bad economic data. However, even in the mist of all the turmoil  there are positive signs  that need to be acknowledged.  Of course, this is not to say that all is well and that we simply throw caution to the wind.  Rather let's take a moment and see where the opportunities are developing in this economy.
Recently, eMarketer forecasts that US retail e-commerce sales (excluding travel) will total nearly $132 billion in 2009, down 0.4% from 2008.

Many of us have heard that video is the in thing these days if you are going to be trying to captivate visitors on your site. A recent study is showing that on average Americans are spending as much as 9 hours in front of some screen per day.

The question then is are they viewing videos, movies and the like or just spending time on the computer.

It is no secrete that E-mail marketing is one of the more effective and less expensive ways to retain and get customers.

In fact, a recent study by comScore found that e-mail had a 4.4% sales conversion rate in the US.

Similarly in a survey conducted by MarketingSherpa and ADTECH, 44% of marketers said that e-mails to house lists had "great return on investment" 

When it comes to a preferable way of marketing may companies claim that the last thing they would cut out of their marketing is email marketing.

However that does not mean that customers feel the same way about the emails they receive from marketers.

34 Million Moms Are Online

Keeping up with their children keeps moms on the leading edge of new technologies and online activities. In fact, they are among the most savvy of all online users.

They are also one of the larger user groups online.

eMarketer estimates 34 million mothers in the US go online at least once a month.

Moms are the key decision-makers for many family purchases, and increasingly the information they obtain and activities they engage in online affect those decisions.

They shop for their kids--and themselves, and when they find something great for their family, they talk about it, not only with their family and friends, but often with a much broader online audience.