Kevin Hillstrom: MineThatData
Helping CEOs Understand How Customers Interact With Advertising, Products, Brands, and Channels
October 10, 2024
A Post-Tropical Cyclone
October 09, 2024
End of the Line for the Orvis Catalog
- Blog unsubscribes happen from the company as much as a month before a decision is made, because some employees no longer have a need for the content I produce.
- LinkedIn requests for connections happen close to the implementation date of the decision.
- Email addresses bounce as the decision is made.
October 08, 2024
CanJam
A few weeks back I attended my first-ever CanJam ... a headphone conference.
Yeah. I'm a nerd.
Not surprisingly, the folks at Headphones.com were everywhere. They sponsored the event, they had a booth where you could try exotic headphones or the headphones they sold. You could interact with their staff (blue shirts above) ... the very people who lead their popular Noise Floor podcast / weekly video program on YouTube. Their hosts (you'd likely call 'em "influencers") led well-attended sessions about the science of the ear and impact on what you hear with your headphones.
I heard a headphone / amp combination (Meze Empyrian II ... available for just under $3,000 on Headphones.com ... paired with a $2,000 Ferrum Oor Desktop Headphone Amp) that, as I told my wife, was "like having God reach down and touch you in the brain".
The best voice I heard in a headphone? The ancient Sennheiser HD600 for just $349. Bonnie Raitt sounded like she was in my living room.
Conference organizers were expecting a comparable or larger crowd than the 2,500 who attended the two-day event in Irvine last year.
If you are in the Dallas area the first weekend in November, head over to the event.
I am not being paid to say this.
I am encouraging you, the humble business professional, to do "something". So many of you are telling me it is too hard to find new customers in 2024. Of course it is. This is where hard work comes in.
What stops you, especially if you are a $5,000,000 to $95,000,000 business, from creating your version of CanJam? Seriously, what stops you? If you sell widgets, spend a year building out a media division, become "the" community for widgets online, then bring together the widget community with your own events ... in person, online, I could care less ... do something! If you sell collectibles or gifts, be THE place on the internet people come to learn about collectables or gifts.
As I write this, I'm watching "You've Got Mail" ... a nearly 30 year old movie about the death of a local bookstore, run out of business by the big/bad Fox Books and their low-priced store across the street. I'll bet "The Shop Around The Corner" had a very difficult time acquiring customers before succumbing to Fox Books (who would have eventually succumbed to Amazon, and so goes capitalism). The Shop Around The Corner failed ... but all across America independent book stores somehow got through the transition. They built a community, and what they sold catered to their community. Don't compete against Amazon. Create your own market.
I mean, 70% of people who own headphones own an Apple pair or Bose Noise Cancelling headphones or Beats (also Apple). In the face of such steep competition, how in the heck is CanJam generating record attendance? How in the heck does Headphones.com stay in business when you can buy from Amazon tonight and have your new iems tomorrow ... the same ones you'd get on Headphones.com?
I spent much of tonight listening to my new Meze Alba iems. The only reason I bought them is because the Headphones.com reviewers liked them, the guys hosting the Headphones.com podcast liked them, and the community on Reddit liked them. So I gave Headphones.com $159 of my money. They created the purchase (my first purchase from Headphones.com) with hard work and a lot of indirect selling, earning a newly acquired customer in the process. They didn't pay Facebook, they didn't pay Google, and they didn't give Amazon a hefty cut of the profit.
They created the purchase out of thin air.
You, too, are going to have to do the hard work of creating purchases out of thin air.
You've got this. Get busy!
P.S.: How do I stay in business? I pay nobody. Nobody. I create purchases out of thin air from you, the community reading this content.
October 07, 2024
What Should An Analyst Actually Do?
Allow me to show you.
First, watch this video - it's pure interbreed dog craziness.
https://x.com/i/status/1841956538048520557
We can break down the action into a series of images. Like this one. I've time-stamped each image for reference purposes.
We have a German Shepherd who leaves the pen, then jumps back in. Each time the German Shepherd jumps back in, one of the cream colored doxies (we'll call this pup "Sparky") tries to jump up and take a nibble out of the neck of the German Shepherd. Look at the elevation ... the extension of the back legs. Also notice that another cream colored doxie owns the observation deck.
Moving along.
Sparky is feeling a lot of joy ... Sparky already pivoted in anticipation of another chase.
In fact, three doxies are already anticipating more mayhem (above). Three seconds later (below), the German Shepherd has left the pen!
Sparky goes vertical, a little early if you ask me.
Again, Sparky excels at pivoting in mid-air. There's a lot of raw athleticism on display. Also, there will be a day eight years from now where a vet will say "Sparky has three bulging discs, do you know why?" and the owner will say, "no, I have no idea why".
Within the matter of one second, and for reasons unknown to anybody, one of the doxies decides that deck doxie needs to get lit up.
So yeah, deck doxie is about to get lit up. As you can see from the time stamps this all happens within the period of one (1) second. Deck doxie is not only ready, but gets in a series of nips that the black doxie doesn't appreciate.
In pickleball, we call those "counterattacks".
Notice that it only took Sparky one full second to refocus on the German Shepherd.
It's back to live action.
Once again, notice the outstanding bodily extension Sparky exhibits on each leap.
Sparky also behaves in chaotic and unpredictable manners. Seconds later, Sparky is headed back to the deck - and is quite happy about it.
The German Shepherd senses a chance to engage with Sparky, and heads to the deck. Sparky senses an opportunity, goes for the neck, and blows out two additional discs in the exchange.
The scene ends with a winded German Shepherd guzzling water from a bacteria-laden tray of tepid water.
What have we learned?
- The German Shepherd is an instigator. Via seemingly innocent acts, the German Shepherd causes complete chaos.
- Sparky ... well ... wow. Full of vim and vigor, Sparky is entertaining in an athletically manic sort of way.
- Deck Doxie ... willing to counterattack if required. If you don't want hip nips, stay away from Deck Doxie.
- Black Colored Doxie ... unsure of role, clearly smart and unwilling to damage joints by recklessly jumping after the German Shepherd, occasionally attempts to assert control over other doxies, then acts surprised when suffering a series of hip nips.
October 06, 2024
Project Opportunity
Ok, you've read all about reactivation ... and scoring your customer base to know which customers you should be targeting. You've clicked on the images, you've paid attention, you've sent email messages.
Now, loyal readers get a new project opportunity.
My "Playbook" methodology is now available!! As with all new projects, I give loyal readers first chance to use the methodology at a discounted rate (so that I can test my programming code).
Normal Cost: $24,900.
Your Price (Through The End of the Week): $12,900.
Click on the image below for a sampling of details. Contact me (kevinh@minethatdata.com) to get your project booked ... I have openings for November, saved for you, knowing this was coming.
October 03, 2024
Fan Fiction
I recall the late Don Libey telling me about his enjoyment of Sherlock Holmes ... he wrote fan fiction, bought barrels of wine, bottled them in Sherlock Holmes themes, and drank them among like-minded individuals or sold them. Fan fiction as a hobby can be downright enjoyable.
You've heard about people who write their own Seinfeld Script ... Kramer becomes a Presidential Debate moderator, George damages Jerry's car while pursuing his side hustle as a Lyft driver, Elaine dates a YouTube influencer with an inconvenient secret, and Jerry is obsessed with an air fryer. There, see how easy that was? Also, it was terrible.
As I write this, the NFL postgame show on Amazon Prime is sponsored by JCPenney. I can return my Amazon purchase at a Staples store or at Kohl's ... both stores will give me a coupon for a discount if I buy something in the store (but won't give the same coupon to somebody who randomly enters either store because of brand loyalty). How much fan fiction do you have to write to think that giving money to Amazon or being paid by Amazon to process returns is smart for the long-term hopes and dreams of your brand?
I just spent a month telling you how to think about reactivating customers. On Monday, I'll tell you what a project might look like, and I'll give you an opportunity to pay less to break-in my code. Are you going to do the hard work required to reactivate customers, or are you going to download a white paper about eight discounting strategies for Black Friday? The latter is fan fiction.
October 01, 2024
Dashboarding New Customers by Week
Each week, you acquire new customers. Count the number of new customers by segment.
- Elite = 0 Customers (0%)
- Loyal = 1 Customer (< 0.1%)
- Quality = 16 Customers (< 0.1%)
- Average = 5,006 Customers (25.5%)
- Struggling = 14,573 Customers (74.4%)
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