Throughout history, commoners and kings have been drawn to the desert in search of adventure, intrigue and the wonder of distant lights. Although the footing sometimes was treacherous, the rewards were grand. Time has illustrated that the ancients had the right idea. Welcome to Las Vegas, the most incredible oasis the world has ever known.
I stumbled and fell in love with the above quote shortly after moving to Vegas… three years ago.
Three years. Damn. It’s a good thing I didn’t make any bets when I moved here, otherwise, I’d be out a million bucks right now
Two years ago, I wondered when I would start making Vegas permanent. A year later, I’ve realized it’s never gonna happen. Now, I’m just looking for my next big adventure…
- Secretly, I love getting friend requests from high school friends and discovering that they totally let themselves go. Also known as… they got fat.
- I LOVE Said in Bed. Besides good ol’ Seth Godin, it can always be counted on for a few daily posts. And, even better laughs.
- I hate spelling mistakes. I want to crawl under a rock when I make them.
- I love stumbling upon randomly awesome blogs. I’ve stumbled upon a few in the past week
- Yea, there’s quirks and pain points, but I LOVE my new job. Sometimes, waiting for the “right” opportunity really does pay off.
- I’ve fallen in love with a few guys. They’re never going to love me back and I’m okay with that. There’s enough love to go around and the flirting is fun as hell.
- The hammock on my balcony rocks my socks. Another fantastic decision by yours truly.
- Friends that help you look like rockstars? TOTALLY rock.
As I went down the Rabbit Hole tonight, I came across this post about the 10 Different Types of Clients. It got me thinking about 5 Types of Agencies:
The Scammer. This agency is usually out of Florida They do a great initial presentation. They promise the world, including a PageRank of 10 and an SEO ranking of #1. They wow and excite. Best of all? You can have it all for one, low price. The reality? They take your money and don’t do jack shit. But, since you have no background in online, you believe them when they say a SEM campaign running at 200% ROI is fabulous.
The BDA. They’re big. They’re cool. They’re well known. Just having them as your Agency of Record makes you feel special. But, since you’re not McDonald’s or IBM, you’re treated like chump change. Only Interns work on your account. If you’re lucky, the right-out-of-college Account Executive talks to you once a month.
The Sinker. Back in the heyday, they were magical. But, somewhere along the line, they missed the interactive boat. Now, you can smell the desperation. They’ve acquired new partners in an attempt to keep afloat. Too bad these inexperienced partners are only helping them sink faster.
The Dinosaur. This agency has had the same employees for twenty years. They’re set in their ways. The employees have lost their vigor from being beat down by horrible clients. They’ve stopped caring about producing awesome work. Now, they just get something to the Client as quickly as possible, proofreading be damned. Their carelessness is slowly helping them become extinct.
The Rockstars. They get it. They’re not too big nor too small, but just the right size to care about each of their clients. They listen. While they bring new, “fun” ideas to the table, they also bring ones that can be easily implemented. They respond in a timely manner. And, my favorite, they proofread before sending things to you
I’ve been curious about where Generation Y is for quite some time. This post, has similar questions backed up with stats.
I don’t get it.
The majority of people I graduated college with aren’t on LinkedIn. The ones that are have all of 10 connections.
None of my real life friends are on twitter. I’ve had a whooping two try it. It made me super excited. They lasted two days.
Of course, all my friends have Facebook profiles. It was a “Greek” thing. Today? Many of them rarely use it. Often, it’ll be weeks before one of them responds to a Facebook message.
The few friends that had MySpace profiles? Deleted about two years ago.
AIM? My buddy list has dwindled dramatically. Although, this is partly due to time zones.
So, where the hell is everyone? My theory:
The majority of Generation Y is still single, unmarried or in that “honeymoon” stage of marriage. They’re in Graduate school. Their routine is chaotic. They’re on the go. They’re connected via their phones; not computers.
The “old” people inventing the “new” web? They’re well situated in life. They’re married, have kids, a 9 to 5 job and a routine. Being online is part of their routine. But, it makes them feel like they’re living. Voyeuristically, they get to peek into others’ lives, they get to help others and feel like rock stars for doing so, they get to share with someone besides their partner on a regular basis. They have time to be connected via their computer.
Will Generation Y continue to lead their lives via mobile? Or, once situated, will they turn to the “new” web to create excitement in their lives?
Patience is not a virtue of mine. I try and sometimes succeed, especially if it involves kids. But, lately, all I feel like I’ve done is wait. A few things that I currently hate waiting on:
Web Analytics Data. Ugh. Waiting 24 hours to see if your data populates correctly kills me. What a waste of time. Make a change. Pray you set things up right. Book a room. Wait. No data? Figure out what you think went wrong. Do it all over again. Yep, longest 24 hours of my life. Over and over and over again.
Website Changes. Our process is ridiculous. It’s all paper based. I feel like we kill 20 trees a day. I have little to no digital record. I wonder if I can convince them to go paperless
Waiting for responses. Waiting for an email response is like the new sitting by the phone.
Waiting for proposals. Are they here yet? Are they here yet? I can only hold the mob back for so long.
Waiting on me. Sometimes, I can make a decision in a heartbeat. But, other times…
I’ve experienced some less than stellar BDA’s in my day, but the one I’m currently working with takes the cake. And I mean the WHOLE cake. Needless to say, I’ve doubled the yardage I swim in the morning. Otherwise, I’d be so pissed I’d probably get arrested for trying to beat the shit out of them.
You’ve been told several times that I am your new, main contact. Yet, you continue to go around me and brush off the weekly call we’re supposed to have.
Any time I ask a “real” question, you ignore me. I’m sorry, I didn’t think requesting to see MY Adwords campaign in an hourly view was a tough one. Personally, I’ve pulled the report in less than 60 seconds. It’s been three days. I’m still waiting.
Refusing to remove YOUR logo from MY site. Ummm…
Sending me an email with the words, “if you force us to” when I requested something that should have been done in the first place.
Setting things live or ass-u-ming things without getting explicit approval from the client. If you can’t daypart my Adwords campaign correctly, you certainly don’t even come close to understanding my business model and goals.
We just launched a new mini site. To be clear, it’s not a microsite. It’s a mini version of the full blown site with the little content we currently have.
Frustratingly, I came into the process one week before we were set to launch. No one on the team had ever been part of a site launch, designed a site, participated in usability or eye tracking studies… you get the idea.
Because the Powers That Be couldn’t wait another week for a site launch, here’s what happened:
My navigation is below the fold. Yes, I’m serious.
Analytics tracking isn’t set up properly on the site. Yep, people yes’d me along and brushed off my concerns. Now, they want to know how many “hits” the site is getting.
My customer data is being dropped into a black hole. Oh yes, I’m very serious. It was apparently not an important “go live” feature to have the data feed into our current database. I can’t wait until I’m asked to send an eblast
I fought the SEO battle and lost. Now that the site is live, the Powers That Be are asking questions like, “Why is that what it says in the address bar?” and “When will I show up as #1?” ARGH. I’m glad you care AFTER THE FACT. Horribly and selfishly, I hope our SEO rankings turn out horrendous so I can say, “I told you so.”
The agency who designed the site refused to make many of my requested changes or allow me to check parts of the coding. Because no one on my team understood the ramifications of what I was asking, I had no back up.
Most of all, I’m frustrated with myself. Obviously, I didn’t communicate strongly or clearly enough for my message to be heard. I didn’t stand up for myself. I didn’t put my foot down. Once again, I tried to appease the masses instead of saying, NO.
I’m struggling. I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle. I also feel that if I lose the battle, maybe I’ll win the bigger war. Maybe, just maybe, if I lose the battle, I’ll be ahead of the game.
Here’s my dilemma:
There’s SO much talk about streams and NOW Media. Inevitably, it’s where we all expect the web to head.
But, do you forsake the tried and true? Do you stop focusing on the basics you don’t have and focus energies on the social web? One of my favorite analogies is that the web is a Monopoly board. To succeed, you need to buy more than Boardwalk (aka your own website). So, the question becomes, do you forsake Boardwalk all together and focus on everything else? Or, do you spend the money cultivating Boardwalk and then amass the “smaller” properties once you have a solid foundation?
If no one stops on Boardwalk anymore, i.e. if people are finding, viewing and purchasing your content elsewhere, is it worth the rent? I’d like to think yes. I’d like to think you need a strong foundation to build upon. A safe haven. A place you own. A place to come “home” to and a place to distribute content from. But, is that a mindset of the past? In this day and age, is Boardwalk necessary?
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