Do It Wrong Quickly: How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules

DO IT WRONG QUICKLY: HOW THE WEB CHANGES THE OLD MARKETING RULES provides a step-by-step program for transitioning from plan to execution in a non-stop cycle of changes, using the author's experience building [...] to show how businesses of all kinds can learn quickly from customers - and make effective changes. From social networking and w2ikis to virtual worlds, podcasting, blogs and other new marketing approaches, DO IT WRONG QUICKLY is an excellent modern alternative to your usual marketing approach, focusing on the ever-changing Internet, its opportunities, and exactly how to take full advantage of them. Business libraries need this specific set of tips.

I absolutely love Mike Moran's take on Internet marketing. Do It Wrong Quickly is not about how to do Internet marketing wrong, it's about how to not get caught up in having to do it right so that you'll do something now. Doing something wrong is far better than doing nothing right. Doing something wrong quickly is far better than doing something right slowly. The bottom line is that you simply need to do something. DIWQ is full of well-thought out internet marketing knowledge. Mike covers all the things that you should be doing (wrong, if necessary, but always quickly at first) to get your Internet marketing campaign up and running. While many of us that have been around Internet marketing for a few years may not need the refresher in how to do Internet marketing, we definitely can get something out of Mike's book. The concept of "doing it wrong quickly" is repeated throughout the book, not as a redundancy, but as a reminder of how we can simply start doing various aspects of Internet marketing without having to worry about doing it right right away. The Web changes that need. Thanks to Mike, I've got a whole new philosophy. Just start doing. If I you do it wrong quickly, you can do it right later... Once you know what you're doing to begin with.

Mike Moran's new book is an excellent introduction to new Web technologies and processes that are changing marketing and customer relations. He encourages experimentation and speed in trying new ways of conversing with customers. And while much of the book addresses what is new in online marketing, it is grounded by what has been proven to work in direct marketing. He goes beyond introducing and explaining what's important in Web 2.0 technology showing you how to put it to work at your company. This useful and valuable book can help you learn how to turn online conversations into customer conversions. I think so highly of "Do It Wrong Quickly" that I bought a bunch of the books to give to clients and friends in the business. Mike Moran has a voice worth listening to, he reminds me of radio funnyman Fred Allen, offering sage advice spiced with acerbic observations. Mike's books, blogs and presentations offer wisdom with humor about advances in internet marketing. If you are in the business or want to be, don't miss Mike.

This is a very accessible guide to web marketing. There is no intimidation factor - everything is clearly explained. At the same time, Moran doesn't talk down to his audience either - so even experienced web marketers will benefit from reading the book. The main messages are: 1) Respect your customers. Whatever we do on with web marketing needs to be relevant, authentic and demonstrate responsiveness to their concerns. 2) Think of marketing as a conversation - that is a two-way event. The Web makes this very doable in lots of ways. Moran shows how to gather information, and engage customers, in a variety of ways. Most are low cost, low effort. One of his mantras, the title message, is to not fear doing it wrong - instead just fear not doing it at all. Implicit in that is that you respond pretty quickly to what's working well or badly. But you don't need to float a loan to take his advice; there is a range of approaches to choose from. 3) Part of correcting what's worked well or poorly is to have the right metrics. Moran reminds us to keep our eye on the goal. E.g., transforming customers to revenue-producing customers. 4) The software community has been big on Agile methods for some time. Moran (who's an engineer as well as a marketing expert) translates that approach into marketing initiatives. Not only is this a great idea for web marketing, it also will give the reader enough of a view of the buzzwords to have more productive conversations with their programmer co-workers. 5) A very pragmatic approach to putting the advice into action. Moran writes credibly about how to overcome objections like "no one will listen to me," or "we tried that already." My sense is that there are enough tools here to allow almost anyone to start implementing at least some of these approaches successfully. And since the whole idea is to do it wrong quickly, starting small or in a limited way isn't a bad thing - it is perfectly appropriate. Who's the right audience for this book? It is unusual in that it works for people who are struggling to jump start their marketing into the web era or learn what the web era even means to them - and also works for experienced web marketers who want to improve their game. Overall, a pragmatic, well written book with tons of good advice and examples.

Who would have thought you'd ever hear an engineer encourage failure? Well, author, engineer and IBMer, Mike Moran does in his new book. This book does more than make the case for a more nimble and carefree attitude. In today's supercharged marketplace, especially on the web, marketers cannot afford to wait for perfect. They need to track and react to the consumers quickly and adjust as they go. Moran encourages listening and watching consumers and taking their lead. The book is an easy read, broken into manageable chunks of information. The best part, in my opinion, is the third section. Moran offers not only encouragement but suggestions on how to bring this new way of thinking into a corporate climate. Well worth the time and money. I can't imagine you could read this book and not do a few things better, smarter and more profitably.