DROBO MINI review

The Drobo Mini is like no other Thunderbolt storage device I've reviewed before. For one, it's very compact, yet its four drive bays mean it can host up to four 2.5-inch hard drives. Secondly, it's the first multiple-bay Thunderbolt storage device that also supports USB 3.0, and the first Thunderbolt device I've seen that offers a ceiling storage space of up to 16TB, despite having just 4TB of actual raw storage at most, thanks to Drobo's flexible BeyondRAID setup.

And finally, it's got a slew of unique little features including an mSATA drive bay, a built-in emergency battery, a cool magnetic drive bay door, and many colorful LED status lights. There's also a little bit of money-saving: like most recent Thunderbolt storage devices, the Drobo Mini comes with the necessary Thunderbolt cable included.

On the down side, at the time of the review, the Drobo Mini bears a crazy price tag of $650 with no storage included; it takes a long time to start up; and it's noisier than most Thunderbolt devices I've worked with. In terms of performance, when hosting four high-speed 2.5-inch hard drives, the drive fell short in my testing when compared with its peers, using both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 connection types.

That said, if you don't mind spending money on uniqueness, the Drobo is available now, though you won't find it at Apple's store, where you'll find most other Thunderbolt storage products. For productivity, remember to also check out the alternatives on this list. For example, for just $500 the WD My Book Thunderbolt Duo offers slightly faster overall speeds, 6TB (or 3TB protected) of storage space, and a much more straightforward experience.

Design
Measuring 7.3x1.8x7.1 inches, and weighing just about 3 pounds (with the four drive bays fully loaded), the Drobo Mini is the most compact four-bay storage device I've seen. This is mostly because it's designed to house 2.5-inch laptop hard drives and not the regular 3.5-inch desktop hard drives. The Drobo Mini is not exactly "the size of a deli sandwich" as described on Drobo's Web site, however; rather, it's about the size of a Mac Mini, slightly thicker and heavier, in fact.The Drobo Mini comes with a crazy number of bright LED lights on the front that can be fun or annoying, depending on your mood.Dong Ngo

On the front, the Drobo Mini's drive bays are covered by a magnetic lid that stays on easily and firmly. It's a little hard to remove this lid, however, mostly because it's very smooth and kind of slippery, and there's no handle to grab. You just have to jiggle it around and eventually it'll come off, revealing the four drive bays. Each of the bays can host a 2.5-inch standard high-speed drive, be it a hard drive or solid-state drive (SSD). Since standard high-speed 2.5-inch drives on the market are currently capped at 1TB, the Drobo Mini offers up to 4TB total of raw storage space, or 3TB of usable capacity with data protection. The drive bay can house a drive that's either 9mm thick (standard) or 7mm thick (ultrathin).

It's very easy to insert a drive or remove it from its bay; no tool is necessary, since each drive can be pushed in its place. To remove it, you just push again and it will come out. This is very similar to how you use an SD card with most digital cameras, which is as well-designed as can be.

Wrapping around each of the drive bays is a bright LED light that stay green when everything is in order. When something happens, such as a drive has crashed (or was pulled out during an operation), the color of the light will change to red. During a RAID rebuild, all of the lights of the four drive bays will be flashing green and amber. This is a helpful feature when something is not right. Most of the time, however, I find these lights too bright and they can be an annoyance when you want to keep the room dark. Especially considering that the Drobo Mini has even more lights.

It's true: also on the front, at the bottom edge, the storage device has three more LED lights, two little ones that show the power status (always green) and activity (flashing green), and a long blue light that works as a storage gauge: from left, it partially glows brighter to indicate how much of the total capacity has been used up. As you can imagine, all these lights make the front of the Drobo quite busy to look at, especially while the drive is starting up, when these lights are constantly flashing or changing colors or both. The good news is you can use the Drobo Dashboard software to dim these lights.

And the Drobo Mini takes a long time to start up, ranging from 1.5 minutes to a whole 4 minutes in my trials. Other Thunderbolt storage devices take just a few seconds to be ready. This in itself could make the drive a terrible choice as an external storage device when you are in a hurry.


On the back, the Drobo Mini has two ventilation fans on both of its sides. These fans run all the time starting from the moment you turn the drive on, and they're noisy. In fact, the Drobo Mini is the noisiest compact storage device I've used, rivaling even the Pegasus R6, which is a huge device, about six times the physical size of the Drobo Mini. Again, together with the excessive number of LED lights on its front, the Drobo Mini's noise could really be a nuisance for many users.

Also on the back, the drive has two Thunderbolt ports (which is standard for most Thunderbolt storage devices), a USB 3.0 port, a power port, and a power on/off button. It's important that you use this power button to turn the drive off. This is because if you unplug the drive from the power source, it won't turn off right away. The Drobo comes with a built-in battery that keeps it alive when the power goes out spontaneously, "for the data to be written to nonvolatile storage," according to Drobo. While this seems like a good data protection feature, in my trials it was, again, more of a nuisance.The Drobo Mini comes with an mSATA SSD bay on the bottom, which may inspire you to spend more money on a feature that promises to boosts the drive's performance.Dong Ngo

When I unplugged the power to the drive to simulate a power blackout, the device would stay on though its fans turned off immediately, but it was also immediately dismounted from the computer, as though its Thunderbolt cable were unplugged. To be clear, if you are working on a file or copying data to the drive and the power goes out, the data will still be lost. Now when I plugged the power back in, the drive would turn back on with fans back on loudly, but would not be recognized by the computer for a few minutes; then it appeared to restart by itself, so would be another few minutes before it was back to normal. From the users' point of view, the built-in battery is quite useless and seems to only make life harder.

In addition to the four drive bays on the front, the Drobo also has an mSATA SSD drive bay on the bottom where you can install an mSATA SSD. Drobo calls this bay the Accelerator Bay, claiming that it will boost the performance of the Mini when an mSATA SSD is used. Whether this performance boost happens is to be determined -- I didn't try that out -- but for sure this will increase the total cost. On a good day, a 64GB mSATA SSD can be as cheap as $70, but larger drives will cost significantly more.

Setup and features
Generally, there's basically nothing to the setup process of a Thunderbolt storage device. For most of them, you just have to plug the drive into a power outlet and the computer, using a Thunderbolt cable, and that's it. Within a few seconds you can use the drive. With others, you might have to format the drive using the Disk Utility (Mac) or Disk Management (Windows), a process that takes less than a minute to do.

It's quite different with the Drobo Mini.

Out of the box, the Drobo Mini comes with no storage, but Drobo shipped the review unit with four 750GB Seagate Momentus 2.5-inch hard drives for me to use in testing. These are high-speed laptop drives that spin at 7,200rpm. It was easy to install these drive in the Mini's four drive bays, as mentioned above. The Mini also comes with a standard USB 3.0 cable and a foot-long Thunderbolt cable.

9 HIGH TECH HUNTING GADGETS WORTH THE MONEY

These 9 high tech hunting gadget are worth the money because they perform and will increase your odds of success.

There are lots of huntin  gadgets out there, but which ones really help you enough to be worth the money? Here are some favorites that do what they are intended to do and enhance your hunting experience and success rate.

View the slideshow to see the picks, and leave a comment below if we left something out.

Ozonics

Ozonics Hunting offers a “machine” that changes oxygen molecules into ozone molecules. A silent fan projects the molecules downwind where they bond with scent molecules. The result is molecules that are unrecognizable to game.

These units can be used in a treestand or a ground blind. It is not uncommon for game to approach from downwind since they simply cannot smell the hunter. It is worth the money because you will not get busted by the animal’s nose. See the Ozonics hunting site for more info.

Firefly


The Firefly wind detector is a handheld device that uses advanced technology to determine wind direction, including the slightest air movement that may be undetectable to human senses. You simply push one button and the unit takes 512 readings per second and shows a report after three seconds via the LED screen.

It will sample and report for five more seconds and turns off automatically after eight seconds. Always know the wind current and avoid the common mistake while still hunting or stalking. It is worth the money because no other item is as sensitive in providing the direction of the slightest air movement. For more info visit Huntfirefly.com.

Caldwell Wind Wizard II

Photo via Midway USA


The Wind Wizard II is a handheld device that will provide you with exact wind speeds. Use these wind speeds to figure out the trajectory of your bullet or arrow. You can use it in conjunction with another high-tech gadget such as a ballistic calculator to increase your accuracy. This is worth its price – what is the value of not missing your target? See more information at Caldwell Shooting Products

Burris Eliminator



The Burris Eliminator takes the guesswork out of ballistics and aiming. Burris’ motto is “Range ’em and ‘Eliminate ’em.” This is a rangefinder and ballistic calculator built into a rifle scope. You pre-program the system with the ballistic information for your rifle and cartridge combination. Then, one press of the button illuminates a red dot within the scope that appears on the crosshairs. Place the dot on the target and squeeze the trigger. It is that simple. The system will even compensate for wind speed if it is known. This works great in conjunction with other high tech gadgets like the Caldwell Wind Wizard II. Visit Burris for more information.

Leupold Vendetta Bow Rangefinder



Leupold’s Vendetta attaches to your bow. The rangefinder emits a continual beam that shows a digital real-time reading in bright red display. No more fumbling with a handheld rangefinder or using pre-determined landmarks. No more figuring out a range only to have the animal move closer or further away causing a miss. The actual range is displayed as you aim, so at the point of release you know exactly how far that trophy is. See Leupold for more information.

ThermaCell



This simple device will keep and other flying insects away from you so you can focus on the hunt. An odorless gas cartridge heats a small surface. The surface in turn warms a pad that contains repellent. The repellent is odorless as well and will not spook game. You can even purchase scent pads that emit natural earth cover scents to help you remain undetected while keeping bugs at bay. There are no batteries to worry about. This one is worth its weight in gold if you hunt where mosquitoes may be hunting you. See ThermaCell for the variety of units and accessories.
MOULTRIE ALL IN ONE TIMER KIT

Moultrie All In One Timer Kit is ideal for anyone who is willing to have a smart feeder that makes practically no scaring noise for animals. Moultrie All In One Timer Kit is the best helper for hunters.

The Truth About SEO

I frequent many SEO company NY and Web Marketing forums on a daily basis and every so often there is a debate about the NY SEO services and ethics. After being involved in several of those debates, it's become really obvious that the principal problems are the facts that no best SEO company New York are alike and there is no unified methodology. It is very hard to make announcements about the business as a whole as it is debatable what precisely 'SEO New York company' is. Mix in the fact that most SEO company New York keep their methodology and campaign plans secret and we have a scenario where every company is wholly different with very different results.

Fact 1: There is no unified search engine optimization methodology. best local SEO is really defined by Wikipedia for a procedure for enhancing traffic from SERPs into a website. Needless to say, HOW they do that is the actual question and triggers the debates.

Fact 2: The effectiveness of a search engine optimization campaign depends on the website structure, site content, keywords, a methodology used, and just how popular the website is. A site can't just rank for any random key word. Search engine optimization is likewise not voodoo. It's logic, problem-solving, and Internet marketing mixed together. If your website provides no value to users, it likely will not rank.

Truth 3: Some 'CEOs' do search engine optimization and a few do search engine exploitation. Needless to say, it's all promoted as affordable SEO company. Unethical optimization provides results at any price and can be always short term (typically ends in a forbidden domain name). Ethical optimization opens the site to the search engines and gives long term gains.

Truth 4: Most SEO services NYC businesses get paid whether your website gets any rankings. Sadly, this is how it is with the industry. Most best affordable SEO company Businesses employ A, B, and C and move to the next customer. Hopefully, the site ranks. If it doesn't, they consistently have more customers.

Truth 5: Most SEO services New York use both ethical and unethical inbound linking strategies.To maximize gains, it's extremely frequent for affordable SEO company to purchase bulk links from India, links on spam/scraper internet sites, or market big directory entry packages. It is also common for local SEO agencies companies to put huge amounts of the contract to inbound linking to compensate for the inadequate quality of the site optimization.

Polo Shirts Sale Guide - Choose Your Own Shirt

Polo tops are perennial favorites for casual and formal wear which allows you move out in fashion whilst maintaining comfort regardless of what your activities may be. This flexible all-time apparel will certainly make your fashion sense a bit more elegant with new layouts and fashion for women and men. There are amazing choices for adults and kids designed and fabricated by major apparel and t-shirts sale government.

Ralph Lauren is one of the most esteemed and established names in the polo manufacturing industry and has even set the tendency of this t-shirts sale. Therefore, you would certainly get a vast variety of new layouts accessible with soaring price rates to perfectly match your budget. This fashionable deal is fantastic for girls who are always on the go but still wish to keep their feminine and classy look.

Under the exact outstanding manufacturer also comes with the guy's polo t-shirts for men collection which you can avail of super deals. From classic, stripe to pique variations, you get fashionable wear for both guys as well as high comfort and quality. You'll surely love the 100\% cotton t-shirts sale designed for breathable cotton mesh along with the ribbed knit cuffs and collars in most designs that made this attire perfect for casual and formal occasions.

Get complex and timeless with Tommy Hilfiger polo t-shirts for women which are not just available in a variety of designs and color but also manufactured reachable for even the tightest budget. You could still enjoy the one-time favorite variants of this apparel figure in stripe, pique and trim match types that suit your preferences and style. Most importantly, you are 100% confident that you get authentic and 100\% comfort and high quality with each apparel you decide on.

If you would like trendy style with a twist of exciting prints and colors, then you would certainly adore the Nautica polo top collection. This apparel group is carefully crafted with the very best and traditional soft substances for extreme comfort and breathable wear. In addition, the customized designs and features are made to match your own fashion statement and taste. High quality is certainly equivocal for this new brand with its embroidered information and flexibility for many occasions.

Other exceptional brands for polo t-shirts online you may avail using discounted and super saving features include equally reliable and highly esteemed names like Ed Hardy and dress polos. Search the internet for internet retailers to get the best bargains that will surely fit your budget today. You're going to find fascinating and irresistible offerings on brands and t-shirts sale from Polo outlet stores and eBay. Most importantly, you get bonus features such as safe payment and free shipping from other suppliers with top quality goods and apparels you are attempting to find.

It's truly significant time that you invest in your t-shirts sale especially on ones which are classic and fashionable at precisely the exact same moment. Together with the best ranges of polo t-shirts shop now, locating the best packages and deals is just within the reach.

AUTOMATIC GATE OPENERS: SECURITY AND CONVENIENCE THAT PAYS FOR ITSELF

Gates ( for example: MIGHTY MULE MM562 ) offer you security and privacy by controlling access to your property, but sometimes the inconvenience they present can seemingly outweigh these important benefits. The simple act of going out or returning home becomes a process riddled with the additional inconvenience of having to open and close your gates, especially when you don't have a willing passenger to assist in the performance of that tiresome open-and-close dance. You know the one, it's a little like a waltz: 1) Open Gate; 2) Move Vehicle, and; 3) Close Gate.

Perhaps you find yourself cursing at your gates daily. They're just like queues and traffic. They're time consuming obstacles you have to clear before you can get to where you want to be. They're inconvenient most of the time, but can be absolutely infuriating when you're running late and under pressure. If you're fully utilizing your gates they're also locked, so first you have to fumble around unlocking them. Now you have to open them. Perhaps you have to open two halves just to get the car out. Now you have to clamber back inside your vehicle, move it to the other side, climb out and repeat the unlocking and opening process in reverse.
This whole routine wastes time and energy.

It's a little like maintaining an oil lamp. It's an inconvenience you're prepared to go through in the absence of alternatives, but let's face it, who goes through all that trouble now that we have electricity, globes and switches? Sure, it may cost a little more to install electrical lighting, but it sure is worth it in the long run.

Maybe you're a little more Zen and don't mind the hassle of fiddling around with your gates... most of the time. Of course, rain strikes at the most inconvenient of times. Even when you're not heading out to a formal evening, important meeting, or any other occasion where your attire must be immaculate, wet clothing can be a real pain.

Or maybe you're at the extreme end of frustration. Now you leave your gates unlocked or, even worse, open. "I can't be bothered with them" you say. A short drive through any neighborhood will quickly reveal that you're not alone. But, if you're so inconvenienced by your gates that you're just going to leave them open, why bother having them at all?

But what if someone offered you a magic button that could control the weather, eliminate queues and traffic, and remove inconvenience from your life? Unfortunately, such a thing doesn't exist, although a similar convenience can be afforded by the installation of an automatic gate opener. Coming and going from your property becomes a breeze when you never have to leave the security and comfort of your vehicle.

Mere convenience aside, the installation of an diy automatic gate opener will provide many additional benefits. An automatic gate opener can pay for itself over time. It can also provide additional security benefits that a manually operated gate alone may not provide.

Imagine that you, or one of your more vulnerable family members are returning home late at night. Perhaps a suspicious looking person is loitering on your street. Do you really want to find out if they're harmless or not? Wouldn't it be safer to remain in the safety of your locked vehicle until you were secure within your own property?

Another immediate benefit of an automatic gate opener is the addition of a simplified first layer of security to your property. The mere presence of a gate will deter most crimes of opportunity. An unlocked gate, or no gate at all, presents a tempting opportunity to the would be burglar. After all, in some ways they're just like regular people: they prefer the most convenient option. Presented with a locked gate, most will move on to the easier option across the street or down the road.

An automatic gate opener also provides you with the ability to control who makes it to your front door. Easy control of your gate will allow you to easily grant your welcomed guests access to your property, but will allow you to keep unsolicited door knockers, scammers and predators at bay.

This additional security and convenience will also provide a couple of additional benefits, ones that will pay for the installation of your automatic gate opener over time.

Upon installing your homelink gate opener, you may discover that you're eligible for reduced insurance premiums. Insurance companies base their premiums on the risk that insuring you presents to them. Some considerations that determine your insurance premiums are largely out of your control. Your neighborhood's crime rates and the value being insured, for example. But many insurance companies will take safety features into consideration when determining your premium. By simply securing your house and car behind an automatic gate opener, you may well save a considerable amount in premiums over the years.


Then there's that time when you'll inevitably need to sell your house. Purchasing a home can be an emotional experience, even for the most rational of people. Quite often the feeling a person has when inspecting a house will have a huge effect on their judgement of its value. This is why people can spend huge amounts of time and money preparing a house for sale. Every little thing counts, so the simple presence of an remote gate opener app will only serve to increase the impressions of convenience and security that your property leaves in the minds' of potential buyers, hence increasing its value.

If you're still 'on the fence' as to whether an automatic gate opener is for you because you think that the initial outlay may be too great, take the time to consider whether these benefits are really worth sacrificing. Security, privacy and convenience, all wrapped up in a package that can pay for itself over time. You might also be pleasantly surprised to discover that there are many affordable options available, especially for the average Do It Yourself-er. A well put together automatic gate opener kit makes the installation achievable by anyone with basic DIY skills and a little bit of spare time.

Finding your brand voice on social media

Having a strong brand voice online is crucial as you grow a business. People look to your company's website and blog posts, as well as its social media outlets, when they are trying to get a feel for its missions and what it represents. Believe it or not, every social post helps define your brand for consumers, so it is crucial that you take each one seriously. Here are some tips that will help you establish a strong and cohesive brand message through the use of social media.

Defining your brand

Before you start posting pictures, blogs, and other content online, have a good idea of the overarching image you want to present. In this exercise, simplicity is best. Start by trying to describe your brand in one word. While it might feel as though you are oversimplifying a complex concept (i.e. your business and its mission), using a single word as a road map makes marketing efforts much easier. Before you ever post, you weight the value as it relates to that word.

Defining your brand in this fashion requires a great deal of soul-searching and a look into the future. How sustainable is your business model? If you see yourself branching out into many more directions, your one-word brand concept may seem significantly larger than your current business model. Do not let that concern you. Play the long game when you think of company branding.

Social media and your brand voice

Once you know your business and see a clear direction for your brand, it is time to put some effort into your social posts. Try to create value in every post in order to align with your overall brand mission. No matter what your goals are in your specific industry, you want to be known as a brand that takes itself (and the time of its followers) seriously. Always think quality over quantity with your social posts—even when you are squeezing them into 140 characters. Frivolously posting on Facebook or Twitter will lead to consumers ignoring future posts.

More importantly, figure out how to tie images into your brand mission and social media strategy. Photos get more page views and shares than posts that rely solely on words. Brands that specialize in design, fashion, art, or photography have it easy in this regard. For a business that has no ostensible visual angle, find a way to get images into the themes of your post. Law firms, pet adoption services, and food truck owners each have ways of making noise on social media with the right pictures.

Finding help from followers and advocates

When you are stumped on how to write about your brand, take a tip from the many social media users who already cover your brand in their daily activities. Social media followers who comment on your products and services can become brand advocates—a company's best allies—when you engage them in the right way. This give-and-take relationship with brand ambassadors and advocates also allows you to hone in on your brand voice. The response people have to your business should not be lost on your marketing efforts.

To engage followers and advocates more, consider offering them samples of new products to review or test while you are still developing them. You might consider reaching out to bloggers and journalists for their takes on your products, and for a measured review. These steps all allow you to gain more exposure while igniting conversations about your brand on social media. As long as you monitor and respond to the activity, you are helping differentiate your brand and present its voice to the public through direct interaction.

Nailing down a company's brand voice on Facebook or Twitter might seem like a tall order for a social media novice, but offers from partners in The UPS Store can help. Constant Contact social campaigns can push your posts out to more followers, expanding the reach of your company's mission.

How to master the changing social environment and stay relevant as a business

While running a small business, you may feel like you have threats coming from all sides. Competitors copying your concept, innovators on the rise, and a constantly changing world will test even the best businesses. The fast-paced social environment is another aspect for small business owners to consider. As everything shifts around you, it is normal to feel like your company is being left behind. Here are a few ways for your business to stay relevant.

Stay informed

The technology section of your local newspaper will give you a beat on what is happening on the digital landscape, and there are specialized websites for everything from social media marketing help to improving your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to gain ground in Google rankings. Tech conferences and marketing forums also highlight developments in the business world and society.

Another excellent way to keep on top of societal changes is by talking with your children or anyone who is young. What makes it into the newspaper and what the kids are saying do not often meet halfway. Have a source with an ear to the ground to stay informed about changes in social life. You may learn nearly as much by watching the top 10 YouTube videos of any given month.

Find out what works

While small business owners may feel overwhelmed by social media strategies, you have more tools at your disposal than ever to measure what is working. Twitter campaigns work for many businesses, but if you do not see any increase in followers, favorites, or retweets after months of activity, then your best bet is to change course and try another network.

Each social network has a way for you to see how your marketing efforts are performing. A skilled marketer will suggest ways for you to move the needle and expand your brand's reach, but you can take a look for yourself whenever you have doubts. The changing social environment is making it harder for marketers to tell companies tall tales of their success. Everything is verifiable.

Hire young

Those who say great recruiting is an exact science suggest you hire employees to address weaknesses in your company. In order to keep up with changing times, you may consider hiring a younger candidate to offer tips in social strategy and help you grasp what a new generation is looking for from your company.

Ignoring the fast-paced social environment was the downfall of many companies, like Blockbuster and Tower Records. In both cases, shifting habits and trends among younger consumers eventually made their products obsolete. By the time these businesses tried to adjust their approach, it was too late. Even the smallest business can learn from companies on that scale.

Outsource your concerns

As you try to keep your business model relevant, you may want to look for help outside your company. Business coaching, social media strategy, financing options, search engine optimization and help for other concerns are available through UPS Store professional partners. When you are having trouble with one area of your business, hiring a new employee may not be the most practical solution.

Outsourcing has the potential to solve your company's pressing needs without a large commitment in money or the valuable time of your staff. Businesses operating with a tight-knit group may not have the advantages of larger companies, but the number of freelancers and one-off professional service providers is allowing small businesses to close the gap. Before taking on more payroll, consider your outsourcing options, which require far less commitment.

A rapidly changing social environment should not intimidate a small business owner, no matter how long you have been in the game. Let The UPS Store partners help make your website mobile-friendly or give you the edge in any other area where you feel like you have fallen behind.

Are Customer Needs Receiving The Attention They Deserve?

Most entrepreneurs start a business with an answer to a problem. You notice something is lacking in the marketplace and create your company to provide the solution. You anticipate customer needs and offer the product that meets them. Thus, a brand is born. The growth successful companies experience tends to complicate this relationship. However, anticipating and meeting your customer's expectations should remain the focus of your business model, even when priorities change.

Are your customers satisfied?

Customer feedback is crucial as you grow any business. The first people to buy a product are often surprised at how a company could meet or exceed their expectations with such a great solution. This type of response is why many people go into business in the first place. Entrepreneurs see an inadequate marketplace and deliver a product to take care of that issue once and for all. The challenge of business is sustaining success through expansion and new product development.

Along the way, you will learn a great deal about how your customers feel, if you are willing to listen. Open multiple channels of communication (e.g., social media, e-mail, online chat, etc.), so customers can take the time to leave feedback quickly and easily. Through these comments, complaints, encouragements, and suggestions, you will likely see a picture of what your earliest adopters think of your work. Understanding the prevailing mood of customers is important if you want to meet their needs. Then, you can grapple with ways to respond.

The customer needs conundrum

An apocryphal quote usually attributed to Henry Ford perfectly sums up the complexity of company-customer relationships. "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses," the saying goes, according to Harvard Business Review. Basing your entire business strategy on company feedback and suggestions could lead you down a dead-end path. After all, no one following you on Twitter suggested a direction for your company back when you created it.

At the same time, burning a bridge with an existing customer is foolish. Any experienced marketer will tell you it is far easier to sell a new product to a returning customer than it is to convert someone using another brand or find a new customer in the clutter of modern media. Likewise, loyal customers (i.e., brand advocates) serve companies better than any splashy ad campaign. Your customers are your best marketers.

Meeting customer needs better

The best way to meet (or exceed) customer expectations is to compromise on the warring urges. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your company as you apply feedback. If you entered the market as the budget provider of a popular product, you may enter dangerous territory by expanding to high-end goods. Consumers in the luxury market tend to prize brand recognition when they make purchases. As Kia learned with its venture into the luxury car market, convincing people to associate its brand with exclusivity can be a long, hard battle.

A better direction for a provider of budget goods would be to expand into another market using the same tactic. The case of Warby Parker, the maker of fashionable eyewear at low prices, is an instructive example. Were this company to enter another fashion accessory market at the best-value option, existing customers would undoubtedly give the products a shot. Other ways to meet customer needs are less complicated. Improving your shipping options or order fulfillment can change your company's reputation without having to change the business model. Great customer service, extended product warranties, and lower prices also work well.

When customers talk, business owners are best served by listening. Whether you tune in to social networks or launch an online survey, there are ways to receive valuable feedback you can use to improve your company's standing in the marketplace.