Marketing - It's a Limbic Thing
this site the web

Facebook, steal this idea!

Amazon has the great recommendation feature that they have developed over the years. As their customer, I've found it very useful and helpful as it makes it easier for me to find new interesting music and books while browsing their site, based on my previous purchases and browsing history.

Now Facebook is a free web service and I sincerely hope they continue it that way. However, Facebook needs a steady cash-flow to support its business, so naturally web marketing is their key source of income.

What I'm suggesting is that Facebook offers service providers like Amazon a possibility to extend the helpful information over to its own website - for example, while browsing Facebook, I would be seeing reminders of upcoming books and music and some recommendations provided by Amazon. Naturally, I'd been approached by either Amazon or Facebook (the latter perhaps) previously and asked, whether I would be kind enough to allow Amazon and Facebook to exchange my user data (some "Seth Godinian" permission marketing there), so that Facebook is able publish marketing information drawn from the correct Amazon user's database.

---

16th of July 2009 update:

Paul Dunay innovates similar Facebook/Amazon co-operation in MarketingProfs Daily Fix, check it out!

Learning objectives

I've been considering my main learning objectives for the coming studies in Cranfield University, 2009-2010. I find these important because they will help me assess my development after and along the studies and help me stay focused as the study year will undoubtedly offer many (positive and negative) distractions.

I've grouped my objectives into 'skill sets', which are: core skills, business skills and language skills.

Naturally, my main objective is to develop my knowledge and insights of marketing in general. Skills and know-how related to marketing are my 'core skills', these form the basis of my "marketing expertise".

Secondly, but not any less importantly, I aim to better my business skills, namely argumentation/critical thinking, presentation skill and the skill of asking the right question (rather than finding the correct answer). I link 'the creative mind-set' to the skill to assess the situation and come up with the right question of what is the problem and what is the next successful strategic move - abilities I personally rank higher than the ability to solve given problems. Also among important business skills I intend to monitor my team-working skills.

Thirdly, I hope to become a more fluent English speaker and writer. If nothing else, I'll bring back home a "present" of a pure Oxford English accent!

Of course these objectives might change over time, since it is only natural. But overall I feel it's important to have clear ambitions and objectives.