Calgary-Internet-Marketing

I was looking for a little reading material at lunch today and grabbed a copy of Seth Godin’s book, Permission Marketing which was published in 1999.  Not certain if he was responsible for that phrase but the book explains how  “Interruption Marketing” doesn’t work in 1999 and how the Internet was beginning to reflect that. By 1999 the Internet had 200,000,000 commercial websites and was growing in leaps and bounds.

10 Years Later

Wow…have times changed. Those numbers are minuscule compared to the figures we see today. There are some other statistics in the book that made me chuckle. Hind site from 10 years later is astonishing to say the least.

My Father’s Book

My father turned 85 this month and just finished self publishing a book about his life. It is a narrative of his life story and to be frank, only me and a few other family members will ever read it I suspect.  Still, the perspective of how times changed for a farm boy growing up in Ontario until now is pretty amazing.

One chapter talks about how he started his own business when he was 22. I suspect he invested about $200.00 and was up and running. He was a butcher and sold meat door to door; no advertising, no PR,  no mailers or website.

Time is Passing

I see people today who think the world still works like that . All you have to do is invest a few dollars, start networking and tell the family and you are off and running. At least when I talk to them about marketing, that is the impression they give me. The want a website (because they know you have to have one) built by a friend, neighbor, neighbor’s kid or the least expensive web service provider available.  Then they wonder why their business is failing.

You Have to Think Ahead

Reading my father’s book  and then reading  Seth Godin tell about how complicated the world was back in 1999 and then thinking about the world we live in today really got me thinking how quickly times change. In the world of Internet marketing, 10 years is a lifetime.