In 2001, the Verizon Corporation asked me to write a book that they could distribute to their customers about ways to be profitable in the Digital Age. They wanted it to contain some basic orientation material, but to be chock-full of ideas that would make a difference in just about any size business.
That original concept became the book, What's the Big Idea?, and a column by the same name. Every Big Idea has to meet two tests.
First, it must make a difference in your business. If it won't help you increase revenue, decrease expenses or just help things work better, it doesn't make the cut.
Second, a Big Idea needs to be easy to implement. You should be able to put one of these ideas to work for you without spending a ton of money on equipment or special programming skills and without having to bring in a bevy of consultants.
Some Big Ideas involve technology. One of these is "Use Autoresponders." If you've got an Internet Service Provider, you probably already have this capability. All you have to do is put it to work to help you make money.
Other Big Ideas don't have anything to do with technology at all. The Kiss II Principle, which is covered in the section on Digital Age Business Basics for example, suggests that you concentrate your marketing efforts on repeat and referral business. No new technology, just what may be a new way of thinking that will boost your bottom line.
You'll find a complete list of Big Ideas that have individual chapters below. The number in parenthesis is the page where you'll find that topic in the book.
In addition to the Big Ideas themselves, the book contains an outline of how the net changes business, discussion of Digital Age Business Basics and how to adapt your strategy to this exciting new age.
There's also a chapter with guidelines for managing e-business projects. That chapter is based on my research into what e-business initiative succeeded and which ones did not. It may be worth the price of the book all by itself.
The Special Offer for Monday Memo Readers is pretty straightforward. You order the book and pay $14.95 using your credit card on our secure ordering form. I sign the book and send it to you.
I didn't think that was enough for my readers so I decided not to charge you shipping either. So you get a signed copy of the book shipped to you at my expense. And it still comes with my usual guarantee. If you don't like it, send it back and you get a full refund, no questions asked.
- A Great Website is Not Enough (73)
- Autoresponders (51)
- Design Your Site From the Visitors' Perspective (23)
- Extend the Value of Training with Online Job Aids (121)
- Fine Tune Your Web Site, Using Log Analysis (109)
- Get That Inventory Down with Supply Chain Management (91)
- Get Those Manuals Online (115)
- Have Your Door Always Open Electronically (63)
- Keeping People Current on Certification (123)
- Know the Difference Between Search Engines and Catalogs (95)
- Load Your Web Site With Lots of Relevant Content (27)
- Make it easy for folks to find things on your site. (29)
- Make It Mine (37)
- Make It Mine with a Separate Entrance (39)
- Make It Mine with a Specialized Site (45)
- Make it Mine with E-mail (49)
- Make It Mine with My Own Personal Page (43)
- Make People Comfortable By Using Design Features That They're Used To (111)
- Move Some of That Supply Buying to the Web (113)
- Move Some of Your Training Online (115)
- Outsource to an Application Service Provider (53)
- Permission Marketing (87)
- Price it right (83)
- Promote your site on search engines. (97)
- Promote Your Site Using Catalogs (101)
- Put a Browser Over Your Legacy System (93)
- Put Sign-up for Training Classes on the Web (119)
- Put Some Recruiting Online (57)
- Put the Right Products Online (79)
- Putting Basic Orientation Materials on the Net (127)
- Support Your Dealers (65)
- Take Orders Direct (69)
- Tie the Physical Store and the Web Store Together. (75)
- Use Peer Mailing Lists to "Get a Little Help from your Friends." (107)
- Use Technology Wisely (33)
- Use the Net for Public Relations and Issue Management (61)
- Use the Net to Support Your Sales Force (103)
