A few random thoughts after a sunny weekend in Portland, Maine, partially spent looking at a strange bulge in my tire that wasn't there when I left Manchester.

-Why do business owners bother using telephone numbers as part of their non-traditional advertising? As we drove around this weekend, I saw a lot of places listing numbers on their storefront signs in addition to people displaying numbers on their vehicles as part of their car detail. Let's think about this for a minute: if you're in your car at a stop light and have just a few seconds to look around, what's going to register faster: a series of numbers or a website? While asking potential customers to call a number may seem quaint and something "that you just do," it's time to move into the era of the internet. In today's world, you have to register with an audience quickly, not make them scramble for a pen and paper to jot down your telephone number.

-Remember when the sudoku craze hit a few years ago? You couldn't pick up a paper, go online or walk past a newsstand without seeing a sudoku puzzle or the ability to play it. The game of numbers was everywhere and while I have never played it, I was certainly aware of my ability to play anytime I wanted. However, I used a sudoku reference with a friend of mine recently and he looked at me like I was speaking a new language. "What's that?" I was sure he was kidding, but he wasn't. He also recently asked what a spinning class was, which I also was shocked at. This is a guy who shops online constantly, is a very media savvy guy and is generally aware of most popular culture happenings around him. The fact he didn't even have an inkling about what either could be led to some thoughts on how we market our product.

Often, we develop products and ideas based on what we know and understand, rather than what the target audience knows and understands. It's easy to assume that end users understand how to use an unsubscribe function or how to sign up for an email, but is there anything wrong with taking a step back and simplifying the process as much as possible? Even the most up-to-speed person will let some stuff slip past if they don't see it as important. Hopefully, it's not something vital to making a decision about your business. Not assuming and taking the time to ask the simplest of questions could mean the difference between dollars and donuts.