Buzz is what people are paying attention to -
and the buzz in online marketing is social media.
If we take the leaders, like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, you get a cross-section of the concern - is this social or is it media? Mixing the two is an exercise in discretion, inclusion and public relations. Who says business and pleasure don't mix? Well, social media are the playground where you can work out the mix.
Social Media are largely unbound by convention - and that's not such a bad thing. Advertising with long hair - well, not advertising exactly, but promotion. If you ever wondered what the 'voice' of your brand is, now is the time to work it out. Test it out. You will probably get lots of feedback (or worse, none, a message in itself).
MySpace tends to the younger demographic, and lean towards music and lifestyle. Our client Tritickets is an obvious match.
Facebook is the more middle-of-the-road community- half the size of MySpace's, but very lively and online-saavy. This is core audience for which an event tickets blog would be an ideal diversion.
Twitter, the micro-blogging tool - now that's a way of harnessing the power of PR and making it personable. 'Tweets' done well are informative and convey your voice. Done less well, they can occur as annoying chatter that will get people hitting that dreaded 'unfollow' button.
User-generated content - i.e. the feedback from your social marketing - can form a crucial part of your strategy. Bring your business case. Be prepared to be responsive and adaptive. And welcome to permission marketing.
Showing posts with label business goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business goals. Show all posts
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Friday, September 26, 2008
Blogs are websites
The old-school way of thinking is that blogs are mickey-mouse versions of 'real' websites.
No more, and not in the future.
Blogs are displacing the classic website for a variety of compelling reasons.
The full-sized functionality of blog software, and the enormous uptake of the Open Source software movement opportunity, have made blogs directly compete with CMS - Content Management Software.
We've been using CMS to make easy-to-edit 'websites' for our clients. And guess what? Blogs ARE CMSes! They have many of the same features, and a lot of the underlying robustness required.
ContentRobot has some nice resources on this:
http://www.contentrobot.com/category/blogging/business-blogging
Mobility is one of the great technology themes of our time. Think about it - cellphones, laptops, the internets ... device location independence. Blogs equal mobility/independence of the authoring resource - it goes with you no matter where you are. A web browser, no proprietary software. Any time, any place.
Mobility - and democracy of use - are what will make blogs the indispensable replacement for the static web. Now your blog does what your business requires - not what the IT department has time for.
No more, and not in the future.
Blogs are displacing the classic website for a variety of compelling reasons.
The full-sized functionality of blog software, and the enormous uptake of the Open Source software movement opportunity, have made blogs directly compete with CMS - Content Management Software.
We've been using CMS to make easy-to-edit 'websites' for our clients. And guess what? Blogs ARE CMSes! They have many of the same features, and a lot of the underlying robustness required.
ContentRobot has some nice resources on this:
http://www.contentrobot.com/category/blogging/business-blogging
Mobility is one of the great technology themes of our time. Think about it - cellphones, laptops, the internets ... device location independence. Blogs equal mobility/independence of the authoring resource - it goes with you no matter where you are. A web browser, no proprietary software. Any time, any place.
Mobility - and democracy of use - are what will make blogs the indispensable replacement for the static web. Now your blog does what your business requires - not what the IT department has time for.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Keeping it simple - a manifesto
We've always been fans of keeping things simple.
In fact, we view complexity as a red-flag. Is there something we are not supposed to notice? Is there confusion about the central message?
We came across a tract written by our friends at 37signals - famous variously as being the developers of Ruby on Rails, a development environment, and such amazing products for business as Basecamp (project management) and HighRise (contact management).
Getting Real
...is a wonderful manifesto that can apply not only to software development, but any structured endeavor.
Declarations like 'Make it Smaller' and 'Be Relentlessly Truthful' give clues as to how these guys turn out crackerjack products - and still manage to write a book about the process!
Recommended reading.
In fact, we view complexity as a red-flag. Is there something we are not supposed to notice? Is there confusion about the central message?
We came across a tract written by our friends at 37signals - famous variously as being the developers of Ruby on Rails, a development environment, and such amazing products for business as Basecamp (project management) and HighRise (contact management).
Getting Real
...is a wonderful manifesto that can apply not only to software development, but any structured endeavor.
Declarations like 'Make it Smaller' and 'Be Relentlessly Truthful' give clues as to how these guys turn out crackerjack products - and still manage to write a book about the process!
Recommended reading.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Search Engine Strategies 2008
I'm at the Toronto edition of SES 2008 and there is no question: there are a lot of companies in this space. Search marketing has become a multi-billion dollar business, almost overnight.
Why so popular? Well, it's hard to match the targeting, agility and return on your investment, as measured by business results.
Yet search marketing, as with most online marketing, can struggle to connect the dots when it comes to off-line actions. If you don't sell online, you have to be creative in terms of how you measure success - what actions exist (or can you put in place) to measure or indicate adoption, an engaged audience, and a message that 'sticks'?
There are a lot of promising secondary technologies on show; call forwarding, chat ... and many facilitative technologies, like profile matching. At Warren Huska Associates, we've been exposed to many of these, and deploy them when we determine they might serve a customer. Like anything else, we test (and negotiate for a free trial if one is not on offer!) - and measure results, so you can be assured that any given tool or technique is workin' for ya.
- - - - - - -
I still love the Yellow Pages tagline: "The Find Engine". Good for them.
Why so popular? Well, it's hard to match the targeting, agility and return on your investment, as measured by business results.
Yet search marketing, as with most online marketing, can struggle to connect the dots when it comes to off-line actions. If you don't sell online, you have to be creative in terms of how you measure success - what actions exist (or can you put in place) to measure or indicate adoption, an engaged audience, and a message that 'sticks'?
There are a lot of promising secondary technologies on show; call forwarding, chat ... and many facilitative technologies, like profile matching. At Warren Huska Associates, we've been exposed to many of these, and deploy them when we determine they might serve a customer. Like anything else, we test (and negotiate for a free trial if one is not on offer!) - and measure results, so you can be assured that any given tool or technique is workin' for ya.
- - - - - - -
I still love the Yellow Pages tagline: "The Find Engine". Good for them.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Case Study: Traffic Segments
Use of Web Analytics to qualify traffic
Specialty clothing retailer
Challenged by our initial campaign results, the client was able to test, and then adjust their assumptions about ‘who’ the primary customers of their products were.
Mounting our web analytics on their existing website, we were able to demonstrate the sources of their most profitable traffic. By showing the relationship of keywords, search engines, and referrals, we were able to not only demonstrate where to focus resources, but identify previously unsuspected characteristics of a large segment of their visitors that 'converted' from visitors to customers.
The insight was that people that bought the specialty clothing were not, in fact, the people that used it. Who the purchase decider was - was in fact the caregiver or institution.
These new insights allowed them to re-deploy their marketing in a way that not only dramatically boosted their website inquiries and sales, but also meant they were able to eliminate wasteful spending.
Specialty clothing retailer
Challenged by our initial campaign results, the client was able to test, and then adjust their assumptions about ‘who’ the primary customers of their products were.
Mounting our web analytics on their existing website, we were able to demonstrate the sources of their most profitable traffic. By showing the relationship of keywords, search engines, and referrals, we were able to not only demonstrate where to focus resources, but identify previously unsuspected characteristics of a large segment of their visitors that 'converted' from visitors to customers.
The insight was that people that bought the specialty clothing were not, in fact, the people that used it. Who the purchase decider was - was in fact the caregiver or institution.
These new insights allowed them to re-deploy their marketing in a way that not only dramatically boosted their website inquiries and sales, but also meant they were able to eliminate wasteful spending.
Case Study: Analysis
Use of Analytics to drive conversions
Promotional products company
Conversion is that slippery state where the visitor makes the ‘buy’ or ‘action’ decision – which we were able to progressively refine for a client in a very highly competitive field.
Tuning the filters, campaigns and website itself yielded a continual improvement of results, where to best target their resources, and informed the client further about their most distinct offerings, as seem by the marketplace.
Promotional products company
Conversion is that slippery state where the visitor makes the ‘buy’ or ‘action’ decision – which we were able to progressively refine for a client in a very highly competitive field.
Tuning the filters, campaigns and website itself yielded a continual improvement of results, where to best target their resources, and informed the client further about their most distinct offerings, as seem by the marketplace.
The Drill-Down #3: What? / Why? (Conversions)
3) Conversion Analysis:
Only then can you work back to determine what sources of traffic are worth paying for: most relevant, most cost-effective, and able to generate continued growth.
Hold your online results to business standards.
That was fun – um, did we make any money?And this is the big secret. With traffic, with analysis, - it is all assumptions until you can measure against your business goals. Are you getting referrals, leads? Do these convert to sales? Or just increase your costs?
Only then can you work back to determine what sources of traffic are worth paying for: most relevant, most cost-effective, and able to generate continued growth.
Hold your online results to business standards.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Our Process: a step-by-step
You can take away 'Our Process' as homework: what do you know, or think you know, about your online marketplace?
A typical engagement starts with:
Business Research Interview
Your viewpoint on your markets:
Business Web Marketplace Profile
Obtain all the information that will allow you to craft winning messages:
Campaign
Put all this good stuff on the road and monitor, test, and refine:
A typical engagement starts with:
Business Research Interview
Your viewpoint on your markets:
- what makes you unique, distinctive,
- what are the major drivers in your industry,
- who do you feel are your main and indirect competition,
- what are known and assumed audience influencers,
- and what are the audience segments you are currently aware of
Business Web Marketplace Profile
Obtain all the information that will allow you to craft winning messages:
- Unique propositions,
- distinctive characteristics,
- industry influences and trends,
- who is really the competition,
- revealed audience factors and segments
Campaign
Put all this good stuff on the road and monitor, test, and refine:
- Campaign design - use existing website as baseline
- Campaign launch
- Campaign monitoring and adjustment
- Campaign review (1,2,3 week, 1 per month)
- Website campaign modifications - high-value indicated modifications to organization, features and content
- Website search profile improvement - fold in learning from campaigns, monitor and adjust to seasonality
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