This is otherwise known as the endless version number system. I remember starting to use Microsoft 2.0, before that it was WordPerfect 5.1, or worse Multimate 1.0. This is why the "2.0" brand that is associated and attached to web-based technologies and services is so laughable. Soon, someone will be saying they are a 3.0 company, and so on. This is herd mentality. Go with the flow. Run with the pack.
This is a concept developed by technologists for the business and not-so-savvy-about-tech community. It gives a quantitative number to such virtual products like social networking, blogs, wiki, SEO, CPC, tagged "indexes", etc. These all add value to some business models, but not in the proportions being inflated by today's online media outlets. This doesn't embrace innovation, IMHO.
True innovators would kick the "2.0" part of their sales pitch to the curb, announce that they've found a real number between 6 and 7, and market that to the masses.
Duck, duck, goose!
Another user on LinkedIn.com had posted a question to the Q&A section about what defines a top online marketer.. The following was my response:
What makes a person unique in the marketing industry is their approach to any given internet/online (or offline) situation. There aren't any set techniques or methodologies that would work for all industries or organizations.
I'd say that at the very least, the person would have to be..
a) already at the top of their field in the industry and an SME (subject matter expert)
b) a process owner that is held accountable for profits or market share growth
c) a social networker who knows the business and can evangelize any product or service offering
d) someone who embraces disruptive technology ("Any new technology that is significantly cheaper than current, and/or is much higher performing, and/or has greater functionality, and/or is more convenient to use.")
Attitude and perception have a lot to do with what separates out the top 3% from everyone else. Of course, many of these personable characteristics are qualitative features, and measuring those would be difficult out of context.
Most organizations tend to define a top marketer by quantitative stats only, e.g., how much revenue generated, increased domain territories, growth in ad revenues or site traffic, etc. It's easier to find job candidates that way, but they may think like a duck, act like a duck, quack like a duck, but they won't be able to evolve or adapt to the changing environment.
Agree? Disagree?
What makes a person unique in the marketing industry is their approach to any given internet/online (or offline) situation. There aren't any set techniques or methodologies that would work for all industries or organizations.
I'd say that at the very least, the person would have to be..
a) already at the top of their field in the industry and an SME (subject matter expert)
b) a process owner that is held accountable for profits or market share growth
c) a social networker who knows the business and can evangelize any product or service offering
d) someone who embraces disruptive technology ("Any new technology that is significantly cheaper than current, and/or is much higher performing, and/or has greater functionality, and/or is more convenient to use.")
Attitude and perception have a lot to do with what separates out the top 3% from everyone else. Of course, many of these personable characteristics are qualitative features, and measuring those would be difficult out of context.
Most organizations tend to define a top marketer by quantitative stats only, e.g., how much revenue generated, increased domain territories, growth in ad revenues or site traffic, etc. It's easier to find job candidates that way, but they may think like a duck, act like a duck, quack like a duck, but they won't be able to evolve or adapt to the changing environment.
Agree? Disagree?
Disruptive technology
"Any new technology that is significantly cheaper than current, and/or is much higher performing, and/or has greater functionality, and/or is more convenient to use."
Starting from scratch - mailing lists
"I have a new website and I want to setup an e-newsletter that users can sign up for. How do I get started?"
This question comes up frequently, especially from new site owners who want to offer a value-added service to their user community. There are several ways to approach this and each depend upon the type of community you have. There are always use third-party solutions available which may cost more than an open-source application, but the time saved from not having to deal with the headaches associated with managing distribution lists manually would make it worthwhile.
These are some common third party vendors:
Constant Contact - http://www.constantcontact.com/
IntelliContact - http://www.intellicontact.com/
Vertical Response's iBuilder - http://www.verticalresponse.com/
CampaignerPro - http://www.campaigner.com/campaignerpro.html
JangoMail - http://www.jangomail.com/
Or, you can go with a bulletin board format:
Yahoo! Groups - http://groups.yahoo.com
vBulletin - http://www.vbulletin.com/
VoyForum - http://www.voy.com/
YaBB (open source) - http://www.yabbforum.com/
phpBB - http://www.phpbb.com/
Or, with a mailing list manager:
L-Soft listserv - http://www.lsoft.com/listserv.stm
eXtropia - http://www.extropia.com/scripts/mailing_list.html
ecartis - http://www.ecartis.org/
Mailman - http://sourceforge.net/projects/mailman
If you send frequent broadcasts and intend to use an off-the-shelf app with your own servers, you may still want to sign up with DomainKeys (http://www.dkim.org/), and work with the various email service providers to maintain your "whitelisted" status.
This question comes up frequently, especially from new site owners who want to offer a value-added service to their user community. There are several ways to approach this and each depend upon the type of community you have. There are always use third-party solutions available which may cost more than an open-source application, but the time saved from not having to deal with the headaches associated with managing distribution lists manually would make it worthwhile.
These are some common third party vendors:
Constant Contact - http://www.constantcontact.com/
IntelliContact - http://www.intellicontact.com/
Vertical Response's iBuilder - http://www.verticalresponse.com/
CampaignerPro - http://www.campaigner.com/campaignerpro.html
JangoMail - http://www.jangomail.com/
Or, you can go with a bulletin board format:
Yahoo! Groups - http://groups.yahoo.com
vBulletin - http://www.vbulletin.com/
VoyForum - http://www.voy.com/
YaBB (open source) - http://www.yabbforum.com/
phpBB - http://www.phpbb.com/
Or, with a mailing list manager:
L-Soft listserv - http://www.lsoft.com/listserv.stm
eXtropia - http://www.extropia.com/scripts/mailing_list.html
ecartis - http://www.ecartis.org/
Mailman - http://sourceforge.net/projects/mailman
If you send frequent broadcasts and intend to use an off-the-shelf app with your own servers, you may still want to sign up with DomainKeys (http://www.dkim.org/), and work with the various email service providers to maintain your "whitelisted" status.
Global business innovation models
IBM's campaign was elegantly executed and its content is what I would consider viral. Of course, if you're not interested in what your competition is doing then read no further!
There are two aspects of this post that may be of interest. The first is the closed-loop marketing process that IBM uses to drive traffic to their website and further qualify prospective leads. The second is the study itself which serves two purposes: it is very well written and its research data is easy to comprehend, and the results of which are tied into a Flash-driven web tool that helps prospect companies understand where they stand in relation to the other global firms with respect to business innovation.
This is a recent publication from IBM which details and illustrates their findings from 765 in-depth interviews with CEOs about their business innovation models, external collaboration, and the challenges and issues surrounding business innovation. The study itself is an interesting read.
I got to this research report by responding to a banner ad on Forbes.com. This prompted me to fill out my contact information before I could download the report. A web form is a typical way for companies to generate warm leads. The site also led me to an assessment tool for CEOs to gauge how their company’s innovation ranks against those surveyed. This tool is really cool and generates a custom report based on how you answered the survey questions. It can be printed at the end of the flash demo. There are multiple call to actions on the end page, one of allows you to subscribe to IdeaWatch, an e-newsletter from IBM’s Institute for Business Value.
Granted IBM has millions to spend on ad and marketing campaigns. But, they really do get it.
Resources:
IdeaWatch
Institute for Business Value
Expanding the Innovation Horizon Global CEO Study 2006
There are two aspects of this post that may be of interest. The first is the closed-loop marketing process that IBM uses to drive traffic to their website and further qualify prospective leads. The second is the study itself which serves two purposes: it is very well written and its research data is easy to comprehend, and the results of which are tied into a Flash-driven web tool that helps prospect companies understand where they stand in relation to the other global firms with respect to business innovation.
This is a recent publication from IBM which details and illustrates their findings from 765 in-depth interviews with CEOs about their business innovation models, external collaboration, and the challenges and issues surrounding business innovation. The study itself is an interesting read.
I got to this research report by responding to a banner ad on Forbes.com. This prompted me to fill out my contact information before I could download the report. A web form is a typical way for companies to generate warm leads. The site also led me to an assessment tool for CEOs to gauge how their company’s innovation ranks against those surveyed. This tool is really cool and generates a custom report based on how you answered the survey questions. It can be printed at the end of the flash demo. There are multiple call to actions on the end page, one of allows you to subscribe to IdeaWatch, an e-newsletter from IBM’s Institute for Business Value.
Granted IBM has millions to spend on ad and marketing campaigns. But, they really do get it.
Resources:
IdeaWatch
Institute for Business Value
Expanding the Innovation Horizon Global CEO Study 2006
Advice to Prospective (List) Vendors
Topic: e-mail marketing lists
Issue: I get requests all the time from senior managers about how we can grow our e-mail database. Most of our data comes from our existing customers. There are a few ways we could create interest in doing business with us, but that is for another blog post.
Today, I got a sales rep of a list reseller company all worked up, hostile and offended, just from asking a few basic questions about their company. Preliminary research about their company showed that they manage two websites, one is registered in the UK and the other is registered in Ireland. It has one sales office in San Francisco and a data center in India. There is zero information about their company on either website, why wouldn't I think it's a subsidiary of a larger company? Mid-conversation I realized that the company had no identity and they were completely unaware of what differentiated themselves from other list firms.
What did I ask?
What process do you use to verify your e-mail marketing data?
What is your pricing like, could you give me an example?
Tell me about your company.
How long have you been in business?
How large is your company?
What I didn't get to ask was:
How often do you scrub your database?
What's the recency of your data?
What's your policy on opt-outs?
Is your company a member of the DMA (Direct Marketing Association)?
They probably started off with good intentions, but there's nothing on their website to suggest that they are CAN-SPAM compliant or value the integrity of their data. Heck, they offer e-mail lists for purchase. Standard practice is that qualified industry e-mail lists are for rent. Any prudent marketing firm knows that the database is the lifeblood of the company. A good list company will manage their relationships really well, be it a business buying a list to target prospective customers, or managing a publication's subscriber list.
It doesn't matter what position you hold within a company. When a stranger greets you at any random place: the mall, a party, a corporate event, a wedding, the park, or standing in line at the local deli, you need to be able to give good details about your company, who you are, what products/services your group is responsible for, and be proud of it in some way enough to generate interest about your company. After all, if you aren't interested in your own employer, why should anyone else be?
And, you can never lose your cool because once you do, you may never get that customer back.
Conclusion: When I was asking for specifics about the company, we got disconnected. Sure, that happens a lot if you're using a VoIP connection. While we were disconnected, the rep took the time to send me an e-mail with sample records of what their data looks like. The first file that I opened had a sample record of someone from my own company. Hey, that looks cool right? This is where I would have had my "data recency" question answered.
The contact name listed, supposedly an EVP of audit services, wasn't an employee anymore since they didn't show up on our intranet employee directory. Out of curiousity, I looked up the telephone number that was associated with that contact record. Guess what it came back as? Admin mail services. Yeah, I can see how *cough* accurate this data is.
One record does not make or break a company. But having erroneous data of the company you're trying to sell to is an inexcusable mistake.
Issue: I get requests all the time from senior managers about how we can grow our e-mail database. Most of our data comes from our existing customers. There are a few ways we could create interest in doing business with us, but that is for another blog post.
Today, I got a sales rep of a list reseller company all worked up, hostile and offended, just from asking a few basic questions about their company. Preliminary research about their company showed that they manage two websites, one is registered in the UK and the other is registered in Ireland. It has one sales office in San Francisco and a data center in India. There is zero information about their company on either website, why wouldn't I think it's a subsidiary of a larger company? Mid-conversation I realized that the company had no identity and they were completely unaware of what differentiated themselves from other list firms.
What did I ask?
What process do you use to verify your e-mail marketing data?
What is your pricing like, could you give me an example?
Tell me about your company.
How long have you been in business?
How large is your company?
What I didn't get to ask was:
How often do you scrub your database?
What's the recency of your data?
What's your policy on opt-outs?
Is your company a member of the DMA (Direct Marketing Association)?
They probably started off with good intentions, but there's nothing on their website to suggest that they are CAN-SPAM compliant or value the integrity of their data. Heck, they offer e-mail lists for purchase. Standard practice is that qualified industry e-mail lists are for rent. Any prudent marketing firm knows that the database is the lifeblood of the company. A good list company will manage their relationships really well, be it a business buying a list to target prospective customers, or managing a publication's subscriber list.
It doesn't matter what position you hold within a company. When a stranger greets you at any random place: the mall, a party, a corporate event, a wedding, the park, or standing in line at the local deli, you need to be able to give good details about your company, who you are, what products/services your group is responsible for, and be proud of it in some way enough to generate interest about your company. After all, if you aren't interested in your own employer, why should anyone else be?
And, you can never lose your cool because once you do, you may never get that customer back.
Conclusion: When I was asking for specifics about the company, we got disconnected. Sure, that happens a lot if you're using a VoIP connection. While we were disconnected, the rep took the time to send me an e-mail with sample records of what their data looks like. The first file that I opened had a sample record of someone from my own company. Hey, that looks cool right? This is where I would have had my "data recency" question answered.
The contact name listed, supposedly an EVP of audit services, wasn't an employee anymore since they didn't show up on our intranet employee directory. Out of curiousity, I looked up the telephone number that was associated with that contact record. Guess what it came back as? Admin mail services. Yeah, I can see how *cough* accurate this data is.
One record does not make or break a company. But having erroneous data of the company you're trying to sell to is an inexcusable mistake.
Hot gadget? No pun intended..
I was browsing the top 10 gadgets on MSN today and read this:
TurboChef Technologies' Speedcook oven will cook a 12-pound turkey in 42 minutes instead of four hours and will shave an hour off the time it takes to bake an apple-cranberry pie. In addition to its speedy performance, the oven's brightly colored doors--hues include red, orange and blue--set it apart in a sea of stainless-steel appliances. The 30-inch oven has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $7,495.
At first, I thought, hey that's great! Except, there's this similar product at a infinitismal fraction of the price...the Thane Flavorwave. It doesn't cook as fast, but it can roast a 12-lb frozen turkey in 2.5 hours.
These two products are for very different market segments. But, if you ever got around to read The Millionaire Next Door, you'd find out that prudent millionaires don't particularly have extravagant lifestyles.
TurboChef Technologies' Speedcook oven will cook a 12-pound turkey in 42 minutes instead of four hours and will shave an hour off the time it takes to bake an apple-cranberry pie. In addition to its speedy performance, the oven's brightly colored doors--hues include red, orange and blue--set it apart in a sea of stainless-steel appliances. The 30-inch oven has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $7,495.
At first, I thought, hey that's great! Except, there's this similar product at a infinitismal fraction of the price...the Thane Flavorwave. It doesn't cook as fast, but it can roast a 12-lb frozen turkey in 2.5 hours.
These two products are for very different market segments. But, if you ever got around to read The Millionaire Next Door, you'd find out that prudent millionaires don't particularly have extravagant lifestyles.
Tools for the Digital Photographer
If you have ever worked for a marketing or ad agency, you may have been charged with finding images that help convey quality, service, freshness, or some other attribute for a product flyer, advertorial, datasheet, or website, only to find that the world of image rentals is a very pricey business. Thanks to technology, consumer awareness, and the vast plethora of search engine indexes, the web prices for images have come down quite a bit.
Today, it's easier than ever for non-technical professionals to have a professional-looking website without all the design costs. Digital Railroad built a user-interface for photographers (amateur and professional) to market, share, and sell their digital photographs in an easier medium than what is currently offered by sites like Getty Images, Corbis, or JupiterImages, with those who buy digital images.
I use a similar online photo hosting site, Smugmug, for my photography, mostly for the unlimited storage, no ads, registration-free guest viewing, and the ability to convert any of my photos into photo gifts. Aside from its 14-day free trial period, all of its user accounts are paid subscriptions. The site does this because they believe their web tools and services are worth paying for, and the 200,000 mostly paying subscribers agree.
Differences in UI (can you spot them?):
Digital Railroad
Smugmug
Reference links:
http://www.popphoto.com/inamericanphotomagazine/3514/2006-innovators-technology.html
http://www.ephotozine.com/freelance/fullstory.cfm?freelanceid=19
Today, it's easier than ever for non-technical professionals to have a professional-looking website without all the design costs. Digital Railroad built a user-interface for photographers (amateur and professional) to market, share, and sell their digital photographs in an easier medium than what is currently offered by sites like Getty Images, Corbis, or JupiterImages, with those who buy digital images.
I use a similar online photo hosting site, Smugmug, for my photography, mostly for the unlimited storage, no ads, registration-free guest viewing, and the ability to convert any of my photos into photo gifts. Aside from its 14-day free trial period, all of its user accounts are paid subscriptions. The site does this because they believe their web tools and services are worth paying for, and the 200,000 mostly paying subscribers agree.
Differences in UI (can you spot them?):
Digital Railroad
Smugmug
Reference links:
http://www.popphoto.com/inamericanphotomagazine/3514/2006-innovators-technology.html
http://www.ephotozine.com/freelance/fullstory.cfm?freelanceid=19
Soup to nuts
Nearly synonymous to "cradle-to-grave" and "end-to-end" phraseology, "soup to nuts" is an English idiom conveying the meaning of "from beginning to end". It is derived from the description of a complete meal, where the courses ranged from soup to a dessert of nuts. It is comparable to expressions in other languages, such as the Latin phrase ab ovo usque ad mala ("from the egg to the apples"), describing the typical Roman meal.
This antiquated phrase seems misplaced and is used to denote a new and improved way of describing an all-encompassing service. A Google search shows 110,000 hits to the search phrase "soup to nuts" +marketing. However, the phrase isn't just limited to marketing services. It is used today because many people, especially non-foodies, are not familiar with the reference; and thus, ignorance breeds creativity? Ahh, whatever. You simply don't want to give customers the impression that your service offering has anything to do with something as small and insignificant as a serving of nuts.
References:
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19961125
http://www.word-detective.com/back-m2.html
This antiquated phrase seems misplaced and is used to denote a new and improved way of describing an all-encompassing service. A Google search shows 110,000 hits to the search phrase "soup to nuts" +marketing. However, the phrase isn't just limited to marketing services. It is used today because many people, especially non-foodies, are not familiar with the reference; and thus, ignorance breeds creativity? Ahh, whatever. You simply don't want to give customers the impression that your service offering has anything to do with something as small and insignificant as a serving of nuts.
References:
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19961125
http://www.word-detective.com/back-m2.html
Google & Blogger
It was perhaps not such a good idea to migrate from the old Blogger standard to this new fandangled Googleishness. Ok, it's not that new and I'd been ignoring that login option for quite some time now. The new Googleish Blogger site shows up as one flagged and blocked by the company's WebSense filter for "proxy avoidance". It would seem that WebSense has a problem with websites that use frames.
What to read...
I used to have the luxury of time to read a lot more print publications. I thought I'd discontinue that practice (read & recycle) and migrate to online newsletters. Occassionally an online article's title will catch my attention and I'll read it, sometimes reading several more articles of the same flavor if they happen to be linked on the same webpage.
What do I read?
BtoB E-mail Marketer Insight (e-newsletter)
Chief Marketer(e-newsletter)
MarketingROI (e-newsletter)
If I had the time, I'd be reading...
Journal of Strategy & Business
Harvard Business Review
Fortune
Forbes
So how do you get the attention of a busy decision maker who barely has the time to catch up on your e-mail campaigns, let alone consider any product or service pitched in advertorials?
What do I read?
BtoB E-mail Marketer Insight (e-newsletter)
Chief Marketer(e-newsletter)
MarketingROI (e-newsletter)
If I had the time, I'd be reading...
Journal of Strategy & Business
Harvard Business Review
Fortune
Forbes
So how do you get the attention of a busy decision maker who barely has the time to catch up on your e-mail campaigns, let alone consider any product or service pitched in advertorials?
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