Introducing “BOOM”, Brand Thunder’s Startling Easy Browser Enhancements by Patrick Murphy

Today we’re releasing a dramatic improvement to our branded browser themes – which were already industry leading in their ease of use.

Holidays are usually down times for many companies. Start-ups are not usual companies, so we used the seasonal slow-down to significantly improve the user experience for our product.

Here’s the quick summary of the BOOM:

1. BOOMS are lightweight active customizations including theming, toolbars, sidebars and more
2. Users can dynamically switch between BOOMS without restarting their browser
3. Integration of multiple Brand Thunder BOOMS into a single BOOM Pack for a single location for managing all BOOMS

Now, here’s the long version:

It has always been easy to get a user into a Brand Thunder custom browser theme. We combine multiple elements for customizing the Firefox browser into a single download. Once a user installed one of our themes, however, to change or move between different themes was difficult.

The difficulty arose from the default placement within the Firefox browser for each custom element. Functionality is under Extensions, the visual look and feel is under Themes, both of these are under the drop-down menu for Tools, and then under Add-ons. Individual preferences for each are in a profile that really can’t be seen or modified easily. There just wasn’t an elegant way to handle all of this capability … until BOOM. The Brand Thunder menu, included with every branded browser theme, will be the central home for managing BOOMS.

Users can now switch between BOOMS without modifying multiple settings and without restarting their browser – a big step forward for any Firefox user. It’s like Firefox Personas on steroids. (Please note: No performance enhancing drugs were used in the development of BOOM. Not counting coffee and Mountain Dew.)

Currently, BOOMS are available for the Holiday and Inauguration BOOMS. As the functionality rolls out across all products, the user experience will be like this: a fan of NASCAR who wants a different look during the off-season can easily move to their favorite hockey team, like the Canadiens, then jump over to Inauguration for the celebration, back to the Canadiens and then back to NASCAR as the season starts. New BOOMS can be added, old ones removed and changing from BOOM to BOOM and each change is achieved with a single action. Any new BOOMS installed will become the default experience but the user can gracefully switch to any of their other BOOMS.

Now that the work is done, we’re optimistic a big usability issue is solved. It’s like we got our Christmas gift and we’ll use it to enter the New Year with a bang… or rather a BOOM!

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Eat Your Own Dog Food by Ryan D Miller

In my years of being in a customer focused business I have learned a very important phrase and philosophy: eat your own dog food.

Most of what I have to say this week is stepping back to the basics.  But that’s where successful business processes have to begin so these points can never be over emphasized.

I was fortunate enough to teach a high school economics class this week through Junior Achievement, that’s where I found the inspiration for this blog (thank you to Ms. Campbell’s first period class at Olentangy Orange High School.)  The class is selling t-shirts for a project that gives them the experience of running a business.  One obstacle the class has seen so far, was selling a t-shirt they couldn’t show off.  The shirts have not yet been shipped so they don’t yet have the product in hand.  Out of a muffle of conversation identifying reasons sales were low, I heard one student say “If I could actually wear the shirt, I could sell it easier.”  Ah ha!  Eat your own dog food.

The ability to communicate your product or solution to your client is the key to making a deal.  A part of that communication is knowing your product and being able to spread the importance of what you have to offer.  By using your product or solution internally you not only better understand your offering, but you can better understand the needs of the client.

In my situation, we build customized browsers, so I personally use one of our customized browser on all of my computers (currently using our Christmas theme for those of you wondering).  The client has to trust that what you have to offer is the best there is, and if it’s not good enough for you, than how is it good enough for them?  One of the strongest tools you can bring to the sales table is being a client yourself.  We have all see the commercial “not only am I president, but I’m also a client.”

It’s easier to communicate the quality of dog food if you feed it to your beloved pup at home.  It’s easier to express the wow of a t-shirt if you can wear it yourself.  It’s easier to show off our customized browsers if I surf the web with them daily.  Practice what you preach, eat your own dog food.

Happy Holidays Everyone

Posted in Commentary | Tags: brand thunder, business development, client, communication, desired results, game plan, ryan miller, sales, strategic plan, strategy, success | No Comments »

Passing the 500,000 Mark and Important Steps to Reach Goal by Patrick Murphy

From day one, we’ve felt like Brand Thunder was approaching a million downloads of our branded browsers. It’s just at day one; you’re still a million away. Now, we’ve passed the 500,000 mark. It feels good.

We’re not at our goal, but well on our way. And, I think once you take out hard work, good fortune and sheer luck – a lot of the credit has to do with goal setting. It’s one of those every day bits of advice you get and it’s amazing how often it rings true.

Thinking along those lines, here are some ideas around goal setting that we find useful. These should feel familiar, and hopefully this is a good reminder:

1. Write it down.

That simple action alone increases your odds of reaching the goal. If you add the SMART elements (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time), you increase your odds even further.

2. Begin with the end in mind.

I’m sure most of use have read or heard of Covey’s “Seven Habits.” Habit 2 is a great line to remember, and it’s useful in so many ways – from creating company direction, to executing a project. When you think about where you want to be, it’s easier to work backward and determine the necessary steps to get there. For us, that boils down to a combination of solid design, easy-to-use product and a quantity of business partners.

3. Take action.

I think part of the value in writing down goals is that’s an early action that builds momentum, and once you’ve got movement it’s easier to sustain. With the goal written down, and the steps to reaching it defined, it’s a whole lot easier to move from step to step.

4. Celebrate the little victories.

This is easy to overlook or forget, but it’s quite important, whether you’re a solo-entrepreneur or working with a team. We all do better with a little reward or acknowledgment. We’re trying to get better at this and an example was issuing a press release for being nominated for an award. We didn’t want to miss out in a case we didn’t win (which we did!). I try to acknowledge the team’s value, and this was a way to shout it externally for a change.

5. Review.

This is especially true for a start up, where the business you start creating is seldom the business you finish with. Reviewing along the way helps you see what adjustments need to be made, rather than finding yourself too far down a wrong path. So, along with the New Year’s resolutions, I’m working on the Year End Review.

6. Repeat.

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Brand Thunder Bolts to Add-on-Con by Brij Charan

Well this week Mozilla and Microsoft put on their Add-on-Con (add-on conference).  The conference showcases the latest and greatest for the browser extension and addon market.  The agenda covered talks from both a business and tech side…or as I like to refer to it, Suit’s and G33ks. :) Patrick, Mike Kaply, and I all attended this event.

Mozilla Open House:

We were lucky to attend the Mozilla Open House.  I felt pretty excited myself, as it was ‘my’ first time ever visiting California…and the infamous ‘Silicon Valley’.  I went with my friend and colleague Mike Kaply (http://www.kaply.com/weblog/).

The food-spread and drinks Mozilla put out was quite impressive.  They had Mediterranean cuisine, snacks, and plenty of beverages.  I was able to finally put a face to some of the names I’ve either met online, or heard of through the community. These included: Mary Colvig, Rey Bongo, & Mark Finkle.

And of course, a special thanks to Mary and Julie Deroche for helping me arrange the 2nd North West Moz Dev Group.

We were able to discuss our own interests in the mozilla community, as well as hear and understand the possible future of AMO.

I was also able to meet with some old friends from Dance Jam & Flock.

The Conference:

So the actual conference was pretty cool. It was hosted at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.  We were able to establish some good network connections (business connections, stop thinking like a g33k ;) ), and meet some more folks.

We also met Joshua Allen and Matthew David Crowley.  They were both at the conference representing/evangelizing Internet Explorer.  It was enlightening to see how understanding and receptive these guys were towards IE development and its inherit complexity.

However, we both understood that IE still represents a very large market share, and it needs to be supported more by extension developers.

We also heard some more talks regarding AMO and other mozilla technologies.  Mark Finkle was able to talk more about various Mozilla technologies as well.

At the end of the day…

Overall, we all thought this event was quite a good investment.  We met some cool people, made some good business connections, and learned more about the Mozilla/Microsoft World.

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Building a Game Plan by Ryan D Miller

For starters, I love basketball.  It is hard to swallow the end of the college football season, but its good to know that college basketball is always right there to catch my fall.  Although that sounds like random gab, you’ll get the picture when you’ve finished reading this blog.  Business development and basketball, how could you not read on?

When a company has a great product or service to offer the first step to sales is getting deals as easy as possible.  The typical approach is tapping into the contacts that you have and taking the shot gun approach to get in front of anyone and everyone.  No doubt this will provide some immediate success and help build some case studies that will be the foundation of your company.  This will also get your name out there and start developing chatter in the industry giving you a presence within the market.

Leveraging existing contacts and going after easy wins can jump start any company, creating a base of clients and generating necessary revenue to move forward.  Thanks to the immediate tactics you have seen the early success you were anticipating and it’s evident that there is a demand for your offering, so what’s next?

This is where my addiction to analogies comes in.  I think it is safe to say that the overall objective in basketball is to score, and score as much as you possibly can.  As a start-up company our objective is pretty similar, land quality deals, and land as many as we possibly can.  Knowing the objective is to score, basketball coaches spend days, weeks, and sometimes even months coming up with a game plan that will maximize the teams potential.  At a competitive level you won’t see any team take the court without a game plan.  Shooting at will from all over the court won’t lead to success.  Although some shots may fall, ultimately maximum scoring potential won’t be reached.

At Brand Thunder we have a talented team and great scoring ability, but what will make us successful is our strategic approach to expand our presence in the market.  We continue to put together a strong game plan internally and expect it to pay off in the end.  The next step is execution, which is fairly self-explanatory.  A coach can put together a book with the greatest plays, but if you don’t execute correctly, you won’t see the desired results.  And not unlike basketball, you have to be flexible and willing to change the selling game plan when necessary.  Go into half time and make adjustments where necessary and take what the market gives you.

Not having a thought out strategy can be detrimental to the success of business development.  The sales approach and strategic direction at Brand Thunder is ever evolving but a game plan is in place.  We believe we have the team, the scoring power, and now the game plan to come out on top at the end of the fourth quarter.  Fortunately for me, all I have to worry about is offense.   ☺

Posted in Commentary | Tags: basketball, brand thunder, business development, Ryan D Miller, ryan miller, sales, sales approach, sales strategy, selling, start-up, strategic, strategy, success | No Comments »

Thoughts on Recent Widget and Facebook Apps Press by Kevin Dwinnell

What do you want a widget, app or branded browser to do for you? Your answer can determine your results.

Over the past week, three articles from AdAge, Adweek and MediaPost have provided their take on the current state of widgets and Facebook applications. I’m inserting myself into the discussion because there’s commonality with widgets, apps and Brand Thunder’s branded browsers – engagement. The articles follow, and not all are kind:

Widgets Are Made for Marketing, So Why Aren’t More Advertisers Using Them?
Apps: The Newest Brand Graveyard
Of Widgets, Apps And Social Advertising

When these products get criticized, it seems to be on quantity of downloads and users. You get the feeling that the measures of success are the old reach and frequency metrics of broadcast. Expectations for millions of users for a single product should be lowered. Tens or hundreds of thousands, however, is achievable and can pay dividends.

By the time a user has invited one of our branded browsers into their life, we’ve worked hard to make sure they find it interesting, compelling and adding value or we know we’ll be asked to leave. If we’ve done our job, our branded browser gets to engage that user for weeks, months or years. Pretty phenomenal communications channel, and you’ll find widgets and apps can offer the same engagement value.

Are we splashing a message to millions of people? Probably not. But, we connect with a sizable audience for really large amounts of time. If you use that time wisely, you can come away with a very committed customer.

Posted in Commentary | Tags: Adweek, Branded Browser, Facebook, Social Advertising, Widget | No Comments »

Holiday Parties and Elevator Pitches by Kevin Dwinnell

I had a rude awakening over Thanksgiving – my elevator pitch isn’t as polished as I thought.

I think the reason has to do with my circle of friends and network. You work in technology long enough and even your non-tech friends have heard so many stories from you, they grasp the concept of what you’re talking about. They are no longer “fresh” ears for me. When I joined Brand Thunder over the summer, most of my friends had a vague idea of what I was talking about when I mentioned “branded browsers.” (Okay, maybe more than once I had to discuss the big blue E on the desktop.)

When I traveled to the D.C. area on Thanksgiving, I was at gatherings where I saw friends who I hadn’t talked to in many years. I was surprised at some of the blank stares and glazed looks as I gave my cocktail-party spiel. These were smart, successful people, but not in Internet technology – even words that feel very common to me had to be explained.

That got me thinking. With so much communicating that goes on through email and phone calls, how many glazed looks am I not seeing? Are there words, phrases and examples used that are causing confusion? Am I so close to the product, I don’t recognize the jargon any more?

With the range of holiday parties and family gatherings on the horizon, I’m going to revisit my elevator pitch. Not just for the practice but because a prospect isn’t likely to be as patient as a friend.

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Joining a Start Up by Ryan D Miller

Taking the leap from the corporate world to join a start up company can be a scary thing and create a sense of uneasiness to many people.  During my process of deciding if making this change was the right move or not I weighed heavily on three major factors: proven success, ideal business model, and the existing team.

Just the idea of joining a company that has been existence for less than the lifespan of my favorite blue jeans was enough to make shiver at first.  After doing my research and after endless numbers of conversations with the team, I started to realize that Brand Thunder already had proven success.  This is when name-dropping was more than appropriate.  I research recent clients such as Sugarland, Huffington Post, and the Washington Capitals; Brand Thunder and the Browser solution was no joke, and the common phrase we use popped into my head, “I just get it!”

The second area I took a close look at was the business model and how Brand Thunder was going to move forward.  I was able to see that this start up wasn’t just about getting a few clients here and there to pay the rent.  Brand Thunder was getting into position to own the market.  Without getting into specific details, the vision of this team was much bigger than today, and the pieces were in place to move forward.  The tool that Brand Thunder used the most is the tool that drew me in, EXCITEMENT.  I couldn’t talk to anyone on the team without noticing the excitement for company and the product, and let me tell you, its contagious.

Similar to any career change someone will make, the people you could be surrounded by for endless days/hours make a difference.  I was able to see right away that Patrick believed in the team, individually, and as a whole.  Granted, those of you reading this may only know a few of us, one of us, or even just know our names from reading about us, but this company wouldn’t be making the progress it is without great people involved.  And that to me was more than enough proof that Brand Thunder was more than a startup, it was a new place for me to call home.

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Brand Thunder Hires New Business Development Manager by Brand Thunder

For Immediate Release

COLUMBUS OH (December 3, 2008) — Brand Thunder LLC, the branded browser specialists, is pleased to announce that Ryan D. Miller has joined the company as Business Development Manager.

Miller will be responsible for broadening the vertical markets in which Brand Thunder’s branded browsers are being utilized. He brings a solid background in technology, marketing and business development and has held positions at Assurance Group, Sapphire Technologies and Junior Achievement of Central Ohio. He remains active with Junior Achievement and is currently serving on the board of directors for the Heart of Ohio Tech Prep Consortium. Miller received his B.A. in Psychology from Flagler College.

“We’re seeing increased demand for our custom, branded-browser themes,” says founder Patrick Murphy. “And, we find ourselves talking to a range of departments within a company – Executive Management, IT, Marketing, Innovation and New Media. We needed someone adept at addressing the needs of each audience, and Ryan’s broad accomplishments make him an ideal choice to fill this role.”

About Brand Thunder

Formed in April, 2007, Brand Thunder creates a more persistent presence between corporate brands and their internet consumer through its browser customization which leads to increased web site visits and revenue. Through a software installation, end users change the look and feel of their internet browser into an immersive experience from their favorite sports team, entertainment franchise or internet site. The customized browsers feature official logos, colors, content and functionality, but can also extend capabilities including video, music players or other internet widgets. Current business partners and clients include the The Huffington Post, NCAA, NHL, Starpulse.com, Universal Music and Yahoo!. Samples found at http://brandthunder.com/gallery/.

Contact

Patrick Murphy, CEO
Brand Thunder, LLC
614-408-8202

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Posted in Press Releases | Tags: Branded Browser, business, custom browser, new hire | No Comments »

Brand Thunder Expands its Business Development Team by Patrick Murphy

Despite every VC and investor crying “preserve your cash!” to their start ups, being frugal doesn’t mean you can’t spend – especially if the expenditure will help ensure your survival. While we keep Brand Thunder pretty lean, we needed to hire and are thrilled to say that Ryan D. Miller has joined our company as Business Development Manager (official release here).

There is simply too much opportunity and not enough bandwidth for the current team alone. Ryan comes with a great skill set that spans technology, marketing and business development. In the end, bringing in quality and necessary talent was a required expense.

That doesn’t change the way we manage the rest of our spending. We continue to be very cost conscious and are pushing to be cash-flow positive in the near term. The current economic environment hasn’t changed that. It’s just reaffirmed the importance.

If you’ve missed the discussion of what the economic environment means to start ups, there’s a good review of Sequoia Capital’s warning to its companies here. But, we also feel that if you have the need, and you find the talent – you hire it. We did. Welcome aboard Ryan.

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