Big Winner and Loser for 2011

As 2011 quickly comes to an end, it is perhaps a good time to look back and ponder who the big winner and losers are for the year.

Although there were many incredible successes for 2011 I think it would be difficult to go past Google as a worthy winner.

Google continued to refine and develop all its existing products, and significantly brought out Google + where it now legitimately has a product that can in the not too distant future, rival Facebook as the worlds leading social networking site.

Through this the value of perseverance was also highlighted as Google learned from earlier mistakes and brought out a quality alternative with some true aspects of differentiation and genuine business insight.

That is not to say that the product is complete. Far from it there is still a long way for Google to to in refining its platform such as allowing businesses to generate vanity URL's for their business pages as seen on Facebook.No doubt this and other refinements will come in the not too distant future. Suffice to say Google + is an enormous achievement and worthy of your attention.

The biggest loser on the other hand (on a more abstract level), is all of us collectively with the death of Steve Jobs and the loss of one of the worlds great developers and pioneers.

It is now well known that Apple were all but broke after Jobs left the firm, and were it
not for his timely return to the firm, Apple would today would almost certainly be gone.

So the baton for its future success now passes to others that must sure that the iPhone 5, The iPad 3 and all the other cascade of products continues at the cutting edge of computer and IT standards.

What about you. Who would you nominate for the best and the worst of 2911?

And as 2011 quickly draws to a close, let me say a Happy New Year to you all and until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Twitter Announces New Improved Profile Pages

Last Week Twitter announced on it's blog a new version of Twitter
where they have attempted to simplify the design in an attempt to make it even easier to follow the people and organisations you are interested in, connect with those people and generally expolre the Twitterverse.

This new layout willbe seen both from computer and mobile access to ensure a consistensy for each member regardless of the platform. Accordingly TweetDeck has also been modified to reflect this latest set of changes.

Twitter has made it clear that it will gradually roll out these changes in the next few weeks, however you can seen the changes now on mobile.twitter.com, Twitter for iPhone, and Twitter for Android.

To obtain early access for your computer, you can log into Twitter for iPhone or Twitter for Android and download the updates.

Let us know how useful you think these changes are.
And finally let me wish everyone out their in the wonderful world of the blogosphere a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

So until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Recent Survey Confirms SEO is the Most Sought After Promotion for Small Businesses

The recent “merchant confidence survey” from US based lead-gen company MerchantCircle/Reply.com, conducted a survey in November 2011 with 2,500 US small businesses, and has found that search engine optimization (SEO) is the most preferred marketing channel that SME's would choose if they could choose only one.

The businesses being surveyed were each asked the question: “If you had to put all your marketing time and budget into only one channel, what would it be?”

Understandably the choices included several possibilities reflecting the wide variety of choice available to businesses today including: Social media platforms, PPC, SEO, mobile and traditional advertising media. With a staggering 70%, SEO was clearly well ahead of the chasing pack of other key options.

As well it is highly significant to think that coming into 2012, “traditional media” defined as radio, TV, newspapers, magazines and direct mail, was ranked ahead of both Social Media and Paid Media, with newspapers being the highest ranked of the traditional options.

What's even more interesting is that the most common tool used amongst 70% all the respondents was Facebook. Apparently the conclusion here,is that even though SME's are using social media but to less than spectacular effect.

What we need to ask then is, is SEO more powerful or is it that we need to better educate SME's on how to effectively monetarise social media tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube?

What are your thoughts? Until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Census Data Provides A Rare Opportunity For Perfect Demographic Data

Rarely are we in a better position than right now as marketers to be able to be more certain about the specific potential size of any target market locally based on either demographics or psychographics. This is of course because of the recently conducted statistical, national census.

We all know how difficult it is to be sure about the data that we base our decision making on, but for now at least we all have access to an almost perfect representation of the national profile.

Incredibly when I ask students and clients about how they go about breaking down their market and validating segment sizes and attitudinal and behavioural data, rarely if ever do people respond with the answer that I'm looking for. Namely "I call the ABS and purchase the latest report".

For the record not only is this data incredibly current and accurate, but concurrently incredibly inexpensive and oozing with information that properly used will deliver true insight about your target audience, who they are, where they live, how much they earn, etc., etc.

It goes without saying that the more time passes the older the data will get and yes, potentially inaccurate. But for now it is the real Mc Coy.
So don't wait, don't hesitate. Either call the ABS or visit them on their website (www.abs.gov.au) and search out all the incredible data that may very well lead you to better defining your audience and what USP you may be in a position to offer them that others can't.

Let's hear how you go. And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Why Are Key Success Factors So Important to Know When Target Marketing

A while back you may remember that I did a post on the key criteria for determing how you know what potential market segments are the most viable for you, as an important preface to choosing which segments your business will and wont target.

As a key step to effective target marketing, you need to be able to isolate what the key success factors (KSFs)are for each potential segment and match these up with your businesses ability to deliver this aspect of product or service.

So in other words the KSFs are essentially must haves that if you don't have or can't arrange to have, means you will lose if you compete in that segment against rivals that can provide those essential aspects of the product or service being sought after by the target market audience.

For example if you are looking to start a restaurant and are seriously considering a pizza style parlour, you will certainly need to provide the following KSFs. To begin with you will need to provide a large assortment of pizzas. They will need to come in a least 3 or 4 sizes. You will need to be able to buy soft drinks with those pizzas and probably even desserts. Etc.

Failure to consistently provide these will mean you are not providing the minimum acceptable level of service expected by your would be clients.

Now of course doing all this, still will not mean you have a meaningful point of difference to differentiate you from other rivals but at least you are in 'the ball game'.

Differentiation is another important topic which we will look at in future blog posts.

What about you and your business what are the the KSFs for you.

I hope this is of help to you and until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Comparing Time Spent On Each of the Big Three: Facebook, Twitter or Google +

As the debate about which of the big three social media marketing platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Google +)is more effective, some important information about the average time spent on each site has recently been released by Nielson.

Allowing for rounding up, Facebook leads the pack with 21 minutes, Twitter 13 minutes and Google + at 6 minutes.

Simply put the longer members stay on the site the more engaged they become and the more likely it is that your business objectives will eventually be met.

Obviously these numbers are averages across all members on each site and do not take into effect the specific average of superior pages and content quality of those accounts. However there is a clearly established trend demonstrated towards longer times spent each day on Facebook.

Although there is no need to select one over the others simply put, Facebook with its 800 million and longer session times remains the first choice for may social media marketing campaigns.

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Regards,

Daniele.

Segmentation is (Still) Not a Dirty Word

It's amazing how often segmentation gets brought up during marketing workshops or generally by clients these days. Years ago the question would be along the lines of: 'should we be segmenting our market?' I think people with greater business insight these days know that with ever increasing levels of competition and in an attempt to remain relevant to your preferred audience,the answer is most certainly yes, so the more likely question being raised these days is normally along the lines of: 'how do we know whether to pursue a specific niche or not?'

Much, much better question to be asking. And the key to answering it is to know what the key criteria for evaluating market segments are.

The criteria most commonly used to evaluate whether or not to target selected market segments are:

(1.) Ability to be quantified - A market segment must be quantifiable, e.g., what is the potential number of customers? How much are they willing and able to spend?

(2.) Ability to identify groups with similar needs – For market segmentation and subsequent target marketing to be done successfully, it is vital that you are able to identify and group together people with similar needs that the business can fulfill.

NOTE: These needs can be based on product usage, product attributes, location of business, benefits sought by customer or on any other appropriate dimension.

(3.) Actual size - A market segment must be big enough i.e. are there enough customers? Do they have enough money to spend?

(4.) Ability to communicate with the segment - With few exceptions, most market segments can be reached on both a promotional and distribution level. The critical factor is whether the net cost to achieve and sustain this communication is within acceptable levels, so that your business can effectively communicate with this segment.

When these criteria are used individually and collectively, the business will be able to gain additional insight into the respective viability of different segments.

I'd be interested to know if you have done any evaluation of segments that exist in your market place.

And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Emails Vs. Social Media. Does it have to be a choice?

Interesting that some of the recent email vs. social media effectiveness data is filtering down through the community, and surprisingly being quoted back by people who traditionally have had very little interest in anything related to marketing before.

Case in point this week when one of my clients sent me a recent review that took a position that emails were more effective than social media marketing activities.

As someone that's been involved in marketing for 30 years I never tire of seeing people have these 'grade 5' type arguments about who's better, as if there has to be a clear winner and loser.

Well news flash. They are both useful, strong and proven in marketing, and as part of a balanced and blended promotional strategy will both provide value.

Although they will do so in slightly different ways.

Let's start with email. Certainly it's been around longer and more people have email accounts than social media accounts, proving that the potential audience will be bigger. Very true. However the real drawback with email is that the laws that have evolved over the last decade or so against spam, are quite severe and it goes without saying that email is really only for existing clients that have given you prior approval to communicate with them (by way of a double opt-in process).
Naturally once that has been lawfully done, email becomes a viable and sustainable channel through which your business can communicate over time to customers.

Social Media on the other hand has been around less time and has less people involved in it. However unlike email you can communicate with prospects, qualified leads and former clients as well as current clients alike.

As such it can help you gain a raised market awareness within all of these groups in an open, social and engaging way.

Clearly, this is not a black and white, two dimensional argument. There are serious shades of grey here and all businesses should include elements of both of these promotional tools to their marketing plan to help ensure success.

Let us know. Which one do you prefer and why?

And until next time, good marketing and good luck.

Daniele.

Do You Really Digg It

Lately I've been asked several times about what's the best way a person can leverage an article that they have written.
I think I should preface this response by saying that what is often written to this question assumes that you have a well written, informative, current, humorous or challenging article that will for what ever reason engage the reader on some level.
If any of these things apply to you and your article, read on.

To begin with you can always submit your article to the major journals and magazines that specialise in your area and whose target audience perfectly matches your own.
Writing for magazines carries a lot of prestige and certainly helps you to position yourself quickly as an expert in your field.

Away from printed media, there are also article submission directories that receive electronic versions of articles and publishes them on the web. Providers such as ezine.com well know and widely read.

And yest another and for some inexplicable reason one of the best avenues for articles around on the web, remains largely under utilised. Namely news sites such as: Digg.

The concept being that articles on any topic are submitted and referenced on the site and readers get to vote on the quality, relevance and ultimate usefulness of the piece by either voting to 'Digg' it or alternatively bury it.

Clearly still finding their place within the overall, social media marketing landscape, social news sites I suspect have the capacity to grow in popularity and become a more prominent platform moving into 2012 and beyond. If you haven't already done so, give it a go and see how you go.

And until next time, Good marketing and good luck.

Daniele.

Remembering Steve Jobs. Innovator, Visonary and Technological Icon.

With the sad news of Steve Jobs recent passing I think it's fitting to pay homage to a man that has forever changed the way we communicate and interact with each other.

With a seemingly endless list of technological initiatives and breakthroughs including the global icons of: Macs, iPods,iPhones, and more recently i Pads, Jobs lead the charge for better, faster and more functional technology.

But as much as this man being an unparalleled IT genius he was quite clearly also a marketing wizard with a singular talent to interpret people's unmet needs and translate them into these amazingly advanced and yet always practical pieces of hardware art.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives," Apple's board said in a statement. "The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

Like so many wonderfully talented figures before him, Jobs died at the early at of only 56. We can only imagine what other advances and refinements he most certainly would have come up with given better health and more time.

In 2005, following the bout with cancer, Jobs delivered Stanford University's commencement speech.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life," he said. "Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."

I'm sure that these words fall into the realm of timeless wisdom and I know they certainly resonate with me, and perhaps you as well.

Thank you for all that you've done Steve and may your after life be as brilliant as your life on Earth. R.I.P.

And until next time, Good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

LinkedIn : Not the only professional networking choice but still the best

I must admit I am writing this weeks blog post partially out of a sense of frustration in regards to how many businesses I know who have still surprisingly not taken up the opportunity to be involved on the LinkedIn networking site.

I know some people even now will be thinking yes but surely your social media goals will dictate what sites you use or don't use. This is true to a point but some things are a must and this is doubly true especially B2B businesses.

Where do you start outlining the advantages of this amazing networking platform.
Currently LinkedIn has over 120 million active users globally and unlike Facebook its primary focus is business not social.

This means that people go there unashamedly looking for win - win, business opportunities that can be mutually beneficial to both parties.

So it is important to get involved and I mean now. As LinkedIn's size and influence continues to grow, there is also an expectation that serious businesses will be listed there and well placed in terms of profiles, recommendations and general activity to put them into the mix of firms that may be considered for a specific project or task.

Over time we will look at several of the key linked features and how they can be used to leverage success for your business, but for today the message is simple and direct.

Get involved now.And if you're already involved, maintain your input, focus and commitment to your LinkedIn professional network.

Please let me know what your favorite LinkedIn feature is. Personally I love LinkedIn questions.

So until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Facebook Crashes Through the 800 Million Barrier Mark

It's incredible to me that so recently I was having a discussion with a student telling them about Facebook's amazing growth to 400 million, and here we are a year or so later and it has redoubled in size to 800 million. Newsflash then. Facebook is for real and isn't going anywhere so get on board now.

With this in mind the last couple of weeks has also seen the latest set of changes made to the Facebook layout.

Of the latest batch with include:

- Changes to the News Feed: Where Facebook now ranks them according to what you've been interested in the past, and the recent stories are in chronological order.

- Smart Lists: The ability to subdivide our network into separate subgroups e.g. co-workers, friends, family, etc. where we have the ability to follow the messaging of individuals within a specific group.

- The Subscribe Button: A new feature that allows an individual the choice of making their personal data more accessible to the public by allowing them to be able to see your public updates.

As is with most of the changes in recent times the jury is still out on what will be and wont be significant from a business point of view.

What do you think the most major change has been and how do you plan to leverage it for your business?

As always thanks for reading and until next time, good marketing and good luck.

Daniele.

New YouTube Video Editing Capability

It is interesting to hear that as of this week, YouTube have included a video editing facility, which now allows users to make changes to existing videos rather than have to redo the video away from the platform.

For example if you wanted to change an existing element of the existing piece such as adding sound effects, changing the soundtrack, or remove part of the video you can now make these edits routinely.

The other big advantage to making any proposed changes on the YouTube platform is that it allows you not forgo your existing video counts with any comments already made by way of retaining your original video identification.

This feature will essentially allow members to make on the run improvements to the quality of videos and by inference the capacity for them to be more likely to be shared around.

Obviously as the worlds second biggest search engine, ensuring that your videos have all the right SEO boxes ticked will always be a key success factor to get the best ranking, but with tools like this you can now look to improve the quality of the video as well as it's organic ranking.

Google Offers Growing

As the feedback around Google Plus continues to clog the internet highway and the unending comparisons between it and Facebook continue, one potentially very useful product that is largely going under the wire is Google Offers (currently in beta in Austin, Boston, Washington D.C., Denver and Seattle. The product has been available for some months in the Californian Bay Area, New York and Portland. Essentially Google Offers is an incentive form of online advertising.

It has tremendous potential especially in its ability to drive more local traffic. The offer made by a business is made up of a heading, pictures, a Google Places listing with the businesses address and general backgrounder of both your businesses function and exactly what you're offering your audience.

By way of the Google platform, any interested consumers can register with Google Offers and periodically receive communications via e-mails from Google on daily offers from their local. Consumers taking up the offer will pay online and download redeemable vouchers that they exchange with the business at the time of the purchase or transaction.

The concept used here is not new, but is proving to be very effective and no doubt will be expanded to include non US markets in the future as the search for value is certainly a universally attractive concept.

The cost to the businesses in the US is around 2 to 3% of the transaction cost, as well as a minimal transaction fee of 30 cents.

As marketers continue to find new and exciting ways to target qualified prospects and add value to them, Google Offers may when it hits our shores present us with another viable option to blend in with our other existing online and offline promotional tools.

Please let us know how do you think your business may utilise this type of service and of course don't forget to follow us for automatic notifications for all updates.

And until next time, good marketing and good luck.

Daniele.

The Five Don't Do's for Retail Marketers

Last week we look at things you should do as a retail marketer. So this week let's look at the opposite side and focused on the 5 things you should never do.

1. Assume you know what the customer’s needs are.
Perhaps the fast way to ensure any retailer fails is to assume you know what the customer wants.
Leading Australian market researcher, Frank Domantay (Managing Director of Decision Insights) says: “Successful businesses routinely do customer research that allows them to understand what they are doing well and what they are not doing so well.”
This research can be in the form of a survey, one on one interview or focus group. With the results directly feeding in to strategic planning for the retailer and
often being the first indication for the need to change some aspect of the business or it's product offerings.
For example a recent survey done by a local Melbourne based, medical clinic found great dissatisfaction by patients in the approach by the front office staff.
As a result, the staff was retrained on both customer relations and social style training.

2. Try to market yourself exactly like your competitors do.
To fully understand how important this point is, you need to understand that the customers need is really made up of 2 things. Firstly:
The met portion of the need which are the elements that customers are already satisfied with and secondly, the even more important unmet need, which is where the real
opportunity lies to standout from the crowd. Now if you for example, your business follows your competitors blindly and mimics everything they do, you will basically be meeting the same met portion of the need and leaving the same unmet portion of the need.
An example of a retailer that did not follow its larger rival's example, was Dial a Dino's Pizza. They were the first to include free home delivery and as a result differentiated themselves in a
way that not only made them successful, but ultimately compelled the market leading Pizza Hut to buy them out or risk losing market share.

3. Take your customers for granted.
The ongoing support of key customers must also be acknowledged with incentive schemes designed to reward and maintain customer loyalty, as well as drive demand for future purchases.
These schemes do not need to be complex. Trendy cafe Buddha’s Belly offers a simple scheme on their business card, where they offer a free coffee after 5 purchases. Simple but effective.
Larger organisations like Subway have a similar card that offers a free drink after 8 purchases of their subway sandwich. These are simple ideas that work.
It's important to remember that for a lot of businesses the 80 / 20 rule applies. That is that 20% of your customers generate 80% of your business.
The bottom line is, know who the 20% are and reward them for their support.

4. Fail to strengthen areas you have identified in your business as weak.
There is no doubt that a business is only as strong as its weakest link.
You may have a great product but if it is incorrectly priced, poorly promoted or not consistently available in the store due to unreliable suppliers, it will fail. These or any other ongoing weaknesses must be promptly addressed to ensure the businesses ongoing success.
For example, critically acclaimed 12 part miniseries Camelot, after its first 2 issues, suffered from an irregular printing schedule due to unreliable product suppliers which caused the
series to fail. Today's consumers are more aware and less tolerant than they have ever been and any ongoing weakness your business has that it does not seek to overcome, will translate into lost customer loyalty and sales.

5. Lose your overall perspective and work / life balance.
As important as it is to perform well and run a profitable business, retailers must always be wary that the business has the potential to take over your life and leave you with an imbalance between your work and the rest of your life. This is a complex issue but there are some key strategies that can help.
1. Schedule time outs and honour them.
2. Take a time management course that will teach you to be more efficient with your time.
3. Learn the power of delegation, once you have established that an individual is capable of doing that task or role.


Summary:
It is well recognised that many retail businesses fail in their first 5 years of operation.
Many of those who have failed, failed to respect the 5 must do's and the 5 must not do's of small business.
By following these rules laid out in this and the previous post, you will maximise your chances of not joining their ranks.

Please let us know if you feel that there is another key don’t do you’d like added to this list.

And until next time, good marketing and good luck.


Daniele.

Five Must Do's For Retail Marketing

As the retail sector becomes increasingly competitive and even major retail chains are known to be struggling to meet financial objectives, it becomes even more important to focus on the key strategies known to drive performance.

Here are five that you may want to consider and apply to your retail business.

1. Observe your market carefully to capture opportunities and trends early.
Businesses need to be able to look at the key factors such as technological changes, in social attitudes, changes in government and legal regulations, which can profoundly affect their business.
This is to both take advantage of possible opportunities for growth and also to help avoid threats that may harm their business. Usually the business will have no control over these market factors but still needs to react quickly to their presence.
For example: Many successful retailer selling fur coats suffered greatly reduced demand and sales because attitudes towards killing animals for fur changed drastically in the eighties and made fur coats virtually redundant.
Another example is that one third of all photo printing stores that operated in Australia ten years ago have now shut down. This is because the technology changed from traditional film processing to digital photography. This meant new equipment, more training for staff, the need for more capital, etc., with the result being that those who were not well prepared or able to afford the change went out of business.
From a positive perspective of following positive trends early, renowned cellular skin specialist has positioned herself as the ‘celebrity skin guru’ by regularly updating her expertise abroad by studying with the recognized authorities in cellular regeneration in Switzerland and the United States.


2. Be aware of your businesses relative strengths and weaknesses.
Any retailer (especially an SME) must be very objective about it's relative strengths and weaknesses if it's to survive and grow. Unlike external opportunities and threats that the market offers you which you can not control, internal strengths and weaknesses can be controlled and changed by the retailer. For example: leading Melbourne based, creative design firm Fine Design realising that only one staff member had expertise operating a newly available printing software CAD program, quickly arranged for additional training to raise the skill level of the other employees to protect itself if this one employee were unable to use the program. As well by having a complete inventory of your strengths you will be in a better position to take advantage of any opportunities that may be around.

3. Look for groups of customers with similar unmet needs you can meet.
In most markets, you will find smaller groups of customers that exist within the overall market that have similar needs and can be grouped into market segments or niches.
If the retailer can provide a product or service that can meet this common need, then it will do well by targeting that market niche.
For example: Retailer: Easy Tone Studio in Melbourne offers an exercise studio that offers exercise equipment with a difference. Rather than the standard gym equipment, it offers assisted exercise where the machine exercises that area of the body passively. This can be used for: older people, people recovering from illness, injured athletes, etc.
Although these are all different groups, they have a similar need for assisted exercise. Suffice to say, Easy Tone has differentiated itself from other gyms, and is highly successful as a result.

4. Know exactly who your customer is and what you need to deliver to keep them satisfied.
Most small businesses retailers make the mistake of mass marketing. In other words they try to sell their product or service to everyone in the market. Simply put, different people need different things.
Therefore it is critical to look at your market and make a decision about exactly what part of the market you want to target for your business and what their specific needs will be.
For example, The Athletes Foot sells only running shoes for athletes and runners. They are known to have the best range of brands, shoe sizes, fitting equipment and general expertise in fitting to ensure the correct size and shoe for any foot. In short they have an area of proven excellence. They know who their customers are and they deliver a personalised product for each. This is the true essence of marketing.

5. Acknowledge and reward those people who contribute to your success.
In most businesses, your staff will be a combination of high performers, average contributors and occasionally low performers.
Suffice to say, it is imperative that you identify your top performers so that you can acknowledge their efforts and reward them accordingly.
Traditionally larger firms lead the way by having incentive packages that not only reward individuals for the period just gone, but also involve rolling incentives over 2 or 3 years, to act as an effective retention tool for key staff over a longer period.

What are some other key's you think we should add to this list. Please let us know.

Next time to balance the ledger, we'll look at the 5 don't s for retail marketing.
But until then, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Social Media and Advertising. Friends or Foes

Yesterday as sometimes happens, I found myself participating in not one but two separate business conferences, and interestingly I was asked virtually the same question came up at both events. Specifically if advertising was still valuable now that social media marketing was continuing to play such a powerful role?

It's a great question and the answer lies in the fact that social media is as we all know, about engagement and forming networks of like minded individuals with a common interest, passion, problem or need. Advertising on the other hand is all about mass marketing and getting your message out to a wide group.

The problem is this. Advertising works by increasing the level of awareness of you, your brand or business generically and reinforces the relationship you have with your market if you have one. If you don't, it reinforces that as well.

In other words it will be like a blank billboard with little value if the connection is not already there to support it.

This fact was made clear to me several years ago when I had just taken over as product manager of some major pharmaceutical brands and on doing a review of past spending, I found that my predecessor had been poring in a half a million dollars a year to a specific medical journal despite the fact that the product appeared to be receiving little or no benefit from it.

on doing a little research with a group of doctors, I found that they all agreed that if they were not using a product then just seeing ads of it in the magazine would have no effect. In short, no relationship equals no sale.

Interestingly when I cancelled the remainder of those ads, I was able to redirect those funds back into an innovative program designed to give the doctors exposure to using the medicine in a specific group of patients, as a basis for (wait for it) forming a relationship. Result millions of dollars increased revenue that year.

So yes advertising can and is still an effective option today, but needs to be properly applied when there is already an existing relationship, to remind people of that relationship.

Hope this sheds some light on this issue. Please let me know your thoughts a s well.
And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Google Swoops On Motorola

It has now been announced that Google is in the process of buying mobile phone giant Motorola for an estimated US$12.5 billion.

In yet another example of a market leader understanding the diversified nature of modern day marketing, has purchased a key platform that will add to its existing strength in the areas of search engine marketing and mobile software, to add one of the most progressive and iconic brands in the mobile marketing world.

With the seemingly unstoppable rise in social media marketing, and allied to that the continual migration of social media usage going from traditional personal computer and laptop viewing, to now people engaging via their smart phones and now tablet devices, Google is acutely aware of the need to vertically integrate its product offering.

To highlight this, Facebook has recently announced that around one in three of its members routinely access Facebook via their mobile devices and these people are twice as active as those who don't. With over 750 million users currently, this means that over 250 million people are clearly voting on their preferred modality and it is clearly a trend that will continue into the future with experts predicting that more people will be using social media via mobile devices than computers by 2016.

All things considered, this may end up being on of the smartest purchases Google ever makes. What are your thoughts on it and who else do you think they should consider buying out?

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.


Daniele.

Twitter Now Allows Picture Sharing

After what seems to be years of Twitter users screaming for some form of photo sharing, is now available to all users, Twitter has now recently revealed its exciting new photo uploading function.

Originally made available in June this year, it now gives Twitter users the ability to add photos to any of their tweets.

To do so, you will see there is a camera symbol at the bottom of the “What’s Happening?” box on the Twitter site at www.twitter.com.

By simply clicking on the symbol, any user will now be able to nominate a picture to upload.

The tweets that do contain a picture will also have a link to: pic.twitter.com, as well as a thumbnail of the original picture.


Have you been using this feature at all. If so how.

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

I Want to Blog Every Week, But Where Do I Get The Content?

I have often heard that people (as the importance of blogging) becomes increasing clear, say that they want to blog but are not sure where the ideas come from week in and week out.

This mindset presupposes that the blogger whether it be Chris Brogan or Fred Brown needs to do everything themselves. This is simply not the case. In most instances, the better known bloggers in every area occasionally beg, borrow and very (rarely) steal from other sources.

One classic example of this that is widely available to every blogger is the very under hyped resource of: Google Search Stories (GSS).

GSS provides copious amounts of video footage that can help augment the videos and content that you provide yourself.

It works the way Google always works. Namely by searching for content on a particular subject and then provides the best examples for you to peruse.


Let’s face it, some weeks the creative juices may not always be flowing. Writers are not machines and sometimes it's nice just to be able to get some other content of interest and sharing that with your network.

Here’s some food for thought. Good blogging is about providing good content consistently. N one ever said it always had to be your own.

What other sources do you know that provide quality content?

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Victoria's Small Business Festival

As we are fast approaching August, I thought it may be an appropriate time to let you all know that through the entire month of August (i.e. 1st through 31st) the annual Small Business Festival will be run at several metropolitan and rural venues throughout the state.

In fact this year there are a striking number of workshops with over 400 listed on every conceivable business topic imaginable ranging from Business Planning and Financial Management to exporting & importing and marketing.

As usual yours truly will be participating and for those wishing to learn more about social media marketing and how it can be used to effectively help your business grow.

Naturally I'd like to invite you all to the August the 18th seminar, and to attend the full day workshop I'm doing with VECCI at 486 Albert St, East Melbourne going from 9 to 5pm.

Just call VECCI on (03) 86625211 to inquire and book your place for a great day.

Hope to see you there.
And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

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Starting to Like Likestester

As is always the case with Social Media, there continues to be a seemingly endless stream of ongoing programs, apps and platforms that are released almost on a daily basis.
One new platform that you should consider joining and getting to know better is: Likester.
Likester is a a powerful platform that allows you to gain insight into what’s happening with any person or product brand that you may have any interest in.

Specifically it can be a tremendous channel to follow the latest updates of key rival businesses and plans, industry trends, key internal or external personnel or any other specific thing that you need to know more about.
This system can track individuals, locations and brands at no cost.
I think many will be glad they gave this program a closer look.
If you already use Likester or like it after your first look, please let us know with your comments and until next time,
Good luck and good marketing.
Daniele

The Question Is No Longer To Blog Or Not To Blog. But Rather How Often.

Over the last couple of years as the importance of blogging has been so beautifully highlighted by virtually all of the leading, social media marketers, I have made a concerted effort to encourage (and in some cases even cajole) my clients into starting and being committed to a business blog.

In my recent times it seems I'm repeating the same answer in the same discussion undertaken again and again, about how often should a blog be updated each month.

To answer this question there is some exciting new data by leading Social Media firm Hotspot. In a recent survey with over 4000 businesses, several key strategic insights were clearly revealed and providing a tremendous lead that we should all follow.

Amongst the most revealing data captured is the fact that Business-to-Business (B2B) businesses who blogged just 16 to 20 times per month received 3 times more leads than those who didn’t blog at all. Whilst Business - to - Consumer (B2C) businesses that blogged just 16 to 20 times per month got over 4 times more leads than those who didn’t blog.

So clearly its a case of blog, blog often and commit to producing quality content that helps position you and your business or brand as a thought leader or industry leading product amongst your preferred target audience.

To build up a good following takes time not a few weeks but rather one to two years but once it's done you will have a powerful resource at your disposal that you can leverage to great success. But more on that another time. For now the take out is simple. Your firm needs to blog regularly and engage the community of customers and prospects alike.

What about you. How often do you post to your blog and what are the key barriers that you think hold you back from posting more frequently. Please share your comments below.

And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

New Research Shows That Social Media is the Most Effective Promotional Platform

Recent marketing research by technology firm Roost has revealed exactly how effective social media is in comparison to other promotional options. Specifically it has been shown to be the most effective option.

Roost is a business development company that helps its clients drive new business contacts focusing on social media marketing platforms.

Almost three quarters of the respondents (72%) have according to the recent Roost survey; found that social media marketing is the most effective channel for promotion to its target audience for SME's.

This figure may not come as any surprise to readers but the fact that only (15%) who responded that paid search marketing was the most effective for them.

Specifically of the major the social media marketing platforms the responding business tend to use, almost 85% said that Facebook was the most effective for them.

Although this data is further evidence of the ongoing adoption and success of social media, there are still many SME's that continue to grapple with social media and specifically how best to use it and integrate it with more traditional modes of promotion such as print and electronic advertising.

How successful has social media been for your business? Drop us a line and let us know.

And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

The Single Biggest Mistake In Social Media Marketing Continues to be the Hard Sell

Social media continues to undergo change and development at a staggering rate.
However despite the dynamic nature of this medium the biggest mistake that continues to be made by marketers is the unfailing desire to sell their product.

Message to the uninitiated, Social media is not about selling its about being part of a community of individuals with a common passion, problem or defined need.

Once this community is established and attracts members, the members gain currency within the group be ongoing involvement and engagement.

People's expectation is not to be sold to but given information, support, empathy whilst providing appropriate content as needed.

Over time as you gain standing within your community the opportunities will eventually arrive where as part of a balanced discussion and solution you will earn the right to provide a possible solution and redirect the discussion away from a communal platform to a commercially based location such as a corporate website or fan page with commercial service capabilities.

A balanced approach for example may include ten blog posts with another directly providing an offer for a commercial product or service, given that it is an effective option to meeting some aspect of the person's unmet need.

Social media is about being social, otherwise it would be called business media marketing.

Don't make the same mistake that so many others make. Contribute, care provide content and eventually were appropriate, commercialise your wares.

What other mistakes do you see people making with their social media marketing?

Until next time, good marketing and good luck.

Daniele.

Top Online Destinations for Video

As we have seen over an extended period of time, Video streaming is certainly growing, as evidenced by the fact that recent Nielsen data shows that in the US alone in May, The American public screened more than 15 billion videos, which was an increase of 2 percent from the previous months previous record of 14.7 billion streams.

As well the number of online viewers also increased from the previous month by 3 percent to 145 million unique viewers.


Of the prime online video destinations, MSN/WindowsLive/Bing experienced the most significant growth in unique viewers (+29%), followed by Fox Interactive Media (+21%).

Simply put this enduring trend is a key indicator to the need to be actively involved in the video sharing space as it is an area that individual consumers and corporations alike, continue to search as they seek to gain valuable information and insight around their issues, concerns and ultimately decisions they need to make.

Please let us know how you're going about using video. We'd love to get your ideas.

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Creating Events on LinkedIn

This week during a seminar I gave in Melbourne the question was raised about how can LinkedIn be used to help generate publicity for important corporate events.

This is a very important question and it still surprises me that so many people are unfamiliar with the amazing power of LinkedIn Events.

With LinkedIn events any member can create at no cost an event that will be visible to anyone referencing that subject or looking to attend a meeting in that particular area, by simply filling in the simple form document as shown below.

But as well as that indirect type of exposure, LinkedIn also gives you the means to directly alert people in a number of different ways.

Of course you can let your own direct network know by simply sending a message to them.

As well you can use the group facility to let either existing groups or your own group made up of members who may have an interest in this in this topic.

Once this is done, it is likely that individuals will continue to disseminate this information further to their own respective networks.

And of course we should remember that a big advantage of LinkedIn over other networking sites is that when you participate in group discussions, the system generates an email to each member that captures that message. Not bad PR for no cost.

As well, if you want to you can also use some paid LinkedIn advertising in the form of their sponsored links which are comparable to Google's Adwords.

Suffice to say if you need some strong word of mouth for a professional event, LinkedIn can certainly help drive the good word for you.

Can you think of any other LinkedIn or external strategies that would further help here. Please comment and let us know.

Also don't forget to check in at our website on:
www.roadscholarstraining.com to keep up with the latest in all aspects of marketing and training.

And until next time,
Good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

New Twiitter URL Shortener Facility Now Operating

After a lot of waiting, Twitter has unveiled its new, automatic link shortening
facility.

AS we all know the main limitation of micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, has always been its maximum allowable 140 characters. Now you may argue that this is a bonus in that it forces you to be focused and succinct, but none the less it is a modest amount of words.

Therefore it will now be easier for Twitter users because this new update to Twitter will make it easier to share links with others they are tweeting.

Specifically Twitter has now announced that the new built-in link shortening capability will automatically shorten long URLs down to 19 characters.

This is highly significant when you consider that around 80 percent of Twitter's activity is done around people clicking on links.

In the past we have of course had other popular, link-shorteners like:
Bit.ly, TinyURL and Google URL, which also have provided users an additional benefit in link analytics, which at this stage Twitter’s URL shortener doesn't offer.

To use the service all you need to do is write your link as part of your tweet in the Tweet box and then press tweet.

I have no doubt that Twitter will match the analytics part quickly as well.
Anyway, what are you thoughts on this initiative. Do you think it will be a help for you? Let us know.

Until next time. Good luck and good marketing.
Daniele.

Social Media Update: Twitter's New Follow Button

Recently Twitter released its new: 'Follow' button, designed to make it simple to follow any other platform with no effort or fuss.


To add the button you simply obtain the HTML code and paste it on to your site or blog.


Using the Follow button will allow you to be instantly notified in real time, of all updates made to those blogs, websites, or other social platforms you routinely visit, without the need to have to go there directly to check.

As well this button now includes the additional functionality of allowing you to access the actual profile of the individual or group by clicking the username next to the button.

The commercial potential of this new function for businesses is of course clear to see as you can now add this new feature to all you key platforms and ensure that each part of your social media marketing strategy is being seen and potentially shared by interested parties within your target market.


History has shown that anything you can do to drive the message to your customers and prospects is preferable to needing them to routinely come to you, as time is always at a premium as we all know.

The Twitter 'Follow' button is not an original idea by any means but a logical progression for the micro blogging giant and a useful addition to its growing bag of tricks.


Let us know how it goes for you.

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

The Real Aim of All B2B Social Media Has Always Been to Provide A Centre of Excellence

As all my clients that I work with and students will tell you, I have always been a huge proponent of the philosophy that B2B social media is and has always been about provide a centre of excellence that interested parties or individuals gravitate around and form a community that over time further engages with one another.

So in light of this I'm very pleased to see that recently:Industry Analyst Jeremiah Owyang posted a piece along similar lines and defined a Centre of Excellence as:

A program deployed by companies trending in the advanced levels of social business maturity. The Social Media Center of Excellence (CoE) is a centralized program that provides resources, training, and strategy to a variety of business units that are deploying social media in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and provide standardization. This team is often run by the Corporate Social Strategist, who’s the business stakeholder and program champion. To learn more, read the full research report on this role, and a list of these budding professionals.

I think this was a brilliantly written piece and articulates what most social media hubs dont have. Namely a well defines reason for being.

Suffice to say that I believe that this is absolutely correct and that every one who aims to have a blog, Facebook fan page, You Tube channel, etc, needs to sit down first and answer the question: 'where and how will my platform stand out'.
In answering this key question you also answer the real question of why will people want to keep coming back again and again to be part of what you're offering.

If you haven't already done this, start now.

What are some of the things you came up with.

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Daniele.

Submiting Website URL's To Search Engines

This week a client asked me an interesting question about submitting URLs of websites to major search engines. Specifically whether or not it was important to do it or if submitting had become a redundant task in the modern day.

I think the short answer to this important question is that technically you don't have to submit your URL as the spider (or locator) search engine programs will ultimately after it is propagated up on to the net, will find your site and list it appropriately.

However let me also add this that if you do submit it manually to each of the main search engines including Google, Ask, Bing, Yahoo, etc. the process will be quicker.
As well it is always advisable to do so if you are adding pages to your website that you want indexed for the search engine.

There is no doubt also that if you have a large website with potentially dozens or even hundreds of pages, it is also very important to provide a site map using webmaster tools to aid the search engine spider to better understand exactly what each page is and how it all links together with all the other pages on your site.

So in the end the answer is you don't have to submit it, but there is some upside if you do.

Until next time. Good marketing and good luck.

Daniele.

The Need for a Consistent Avatar

Recently I had a word to a long time client about the fact that she is missing a huge opportunity to further brand herself and by association, her business by not having an appropriate avatar of herself for the various networking sites and platforms that she already is part of or will be part of in the future.

Remember that Social Media is just that social. People want to see who they are dealing with and just as important, they like consistency.

So knowing all this it is very important to pick an avatar that is appropriate based on your target market and by extension the types of sites they are likely to see you on.

This can be done with a standard (2D) picture and in most cases this is what it is.
Occasionally you will see examples of people using humorous avatars from well known TV shows or even 3D avatars from virtual software tools like Second Life (owned by Linden Lab, but again this would depend on how serious you needed it to be.

Suffice to say it is something that is the norm, is expected and most definitely needs to be commensurate with the positioning of your brand and your audience.

What are your thoughts on what a good avatar should be? Feel free to comment.

And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Microsoft Buys Skype

After a great deal of recent speculation that the VOIP Skype may be an acquisition target by one of the leading It giants, it has now been revealed that the deal is done and Microsoft has emerged victorious acquiring Skype for a massive $8.5 Billion dollars.
This is an extraordinary amount to pay when you consider that its value remains somewhat speculative given that despite generating revenue of $860 million in 2010, the company made an overall loss of almost $7 million and is saddled with an overall debt of nearly $700 million.
Microsoft recently revealed that Skype now has almost 700 million users of which 9 million are paying customers.
Skype will now be integrated into Microsoft devices and systems such as Xbox, Outlook and the Windows Phone. The company has additionally also committed to continuing its support in developing Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms

Facebooks New Marvel: The SEND Button

Facebook's new SEND button is the latest in a long line of recent innovations that continue to be unveiled at break neck speed thus far in 2011.

In simple words, the SEND button now allows Facebook users to send their content to individual friends directly whereas up until now, using the LIKE button they could have sent it to their whole network or specific groups.

And to go along with this, you can now get a combined Like and Send button.

This is an important update and recognises the importance being able to direct certain messages selectively to one particular individual or a few people, as opposed to messages that are specifically written for public and mass distribution.

As the discussion becomes more involved and the various media platforms continue to ramp up their privacy controls in the hope of positively reassuring users, I suspect we will start to see more of this type of innovation, that continues to provide the user greater levels of control.

What about you are their any new buttons you'd like to see Facebook or the other sites add?

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Press Jack: Another Exciting Desktop Application

This week I have come across what appears to be an exciting new desktop application called Press Jack.

Press Jack allows writers and content publishers of all types to take their content and then simply convert that web content into a digital magazines format.

Currently a beta version of the product is available.

Given the extraordinary focus and popularity of eMagazines and eBooks the utility of this type of application is simple to see and allows web marketers the chance to effectively and quickly convert one type of content into another.

Although there are two paid versions of Press Jack, namely the Pro and Enterprise costing around $500 and $900 respectively, the basic lite package is free and allows a single licensee to publish 5 digital magazines a month at no cost.

Additional information: Ref: www.pressjack.com

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Regards,
Daniele.

Work Life Balance

In the last week or so it has been a tough time as two of my best friends fathers have passed away and had their respective funerals here in Melbourne Australia.

And to top this off, I have just heard a little earlier today that a good friend of the family died suddenly of a heart attack and was also buried yesterday.

Now this blog is usually all about business and more specifically about key aspects of marketing sales and social media, buy today I think a more important post is about maintaining a healthy work life balance and ensuring we all give ourselves every chance to maximise our time on this amazing planet with our wonderful families and friends.

For one let's forget about Facebook, segmentation and SEO and think about even more important things.

Until next time, good marketing and good luck.
Regards,
Daniele.

Salesforce.com Buy Radian 6

Interesting news emerged recently that leading social media monitoring software platform Radian 6 has been bought by C.R.M system giant Salesforce.com.
The reported sales price is $326 million dollars.

This purchase underpins the growing need for accurate ROI information and platforms such as Radian 6 provide true insight to clients by way of their various monitoring tools which allow accurate appraisal of sentiment around all relevant discussion.

It's the first big purchase but no doubt not the last and a precursor I suspect of things to come.

Until next time, Good marketing and good luck.
Daniele.

Incresing Time Spent on Social Media is the Real Proof

In the recently released 2011 Social Media Marketing update report by Michael Stelzner from the Social Media Examiner, we see more proof that people are voting positively on the acceptance of social media by way of their commitment in time to it.

That being said it is interesting to see exactly how much time individuals are devoting to their favorite websites, platforms and blogs day in and day out.

In the report it is noted that, a staggering 58% of marketers are using social media for 6+ hours each week and 34% are spending 11+ hours online each week. And almost 1 in 6 spend above 20 hours per week on social media.

Also of great interest is the observation that as people become more experience on the medium they spend more and not less time on it, with 63% vs. 41% of people spending 10+ hours per month on the internet when comparing those with 3+ years vs. those with between 1 and 3 years.

As someone put it once, "time really is the most precious resource because it's the only thing that no one can give you anymore of." And if this is true than people are using their most precious resource in greater amounts on social media.

Until next time, good marketing and good luck.
Daniele.

Think broadly about the business you are in.

It may seem to be a silly thing to say, but it is important to understand exactly what business you are in.

Have a look at the three columns in this example. In the first column, the names of a number of well-known businesses are listed. The second column displays their respective product offerings.  It is, however, more important to identify what the customer is actually buying beyond the product itself. This is found in the third column.

Business	Product Offering	What's in it for the customer?
Universal	Movies	Entertainment
Revlon Cosmetics	Make-up	Beauty
Telstra	Telephones	Communication
Carrier	Air-conditioning	Comfort
Metrail	Trains/Trams/Buses	Convenience
Coca-Cola	Soft Drink	Acceptance
Club Med	Travel & Tourism	Escape

From this type of analysis, the broader offering of a business is quickly revealed.

Consider the Cadbury Schweppes Company.  Their product offerings are confectionery, food and beverages.  But what are the customers really buying?

Mark Smith (Former Managing Director of Cadbury Schweppes – Australia & New Zealand), said:
"I work for an outstanding company. And I'm really passionate about what we do, which put simply, is to bring delight into the lives of millions of consumers."

Therefore, Cadbury Schweppes is in the business of putting joy and fun into people’s lives.  Not just to sell confectionery, food and beverages.

Please consider.

Do you have any other examples you can add to this list? Please send them through and until next time,

Good luck and good marketing.

Regards,

Daniele.

Update on the Pending FDA Announcements of Social Media in Pharmaceuticals

Long time pharmaceutical management consultant Frances Alexandria Walls - Ayalasomayajula wrote in a recent post: on Facebook the following brilliant preface to upcoming changes to social media guidelines by the FDA. Specifically:

"The FDA will be coming out with preliminary guidelines on the use of Social Media in a few weeks. Regardless, the guidelines on SM will not be the industry’s miracle pill to handling this form of branding . Though the US is a DTC market, many pharma companies are still very shy when it comes to the use of social media. Many may have profiles on FB and other channels, but mostly the communication remains static, stale, and uni-directional for fear of something being said off-label...or heaven forbid, someone might actually stumble upon an adverse event. But alas, resistance is futile. We are in the midst of a true paradigm shift. The continued empowerment of patients is making great strides forward. The notion that pharma companies will actually be dialoging directly with patients is a prime example of this shift. The longstanding traditional route of communication with patients is still through providers or other healthcare educators. I think that the further application of SM and the personification of brands reflect heavily the reality that patients are consumers. They have choices, unique & specific needs, as well as a right to choose how, when, and from whom they will receive (and even demand) information. And as consumers, if pateints don’t like the practices of a company, the why the products make them feel, or the ever increasing price of medication…Guess what?...Companies along with millions of others are going to hear about it via these channels. I imagine this will be somewhat similar to how physicians are being put in the hot seat now that patients are educating themselves online about their health conditions, and challenging their doctors on the therapies being prescribed. Alas the industry can no longer afford to wait, Pharma is going to have to dive in, grow some thick skin, and be prepared to handle the complexities of what may be found through this medium. “Let’s get personal Mr. Pharma. I’d like to get to know my drug maker better. “" 

Well said Frances. And here in Australia of course there is the added layer of complexity that pharmaceutical firms are not allowed to speak directly with the consumer, but rather need to direct all their communication to medical personnel such as doctors and pharmacists.

I suspect then that in Australia, Medicines Australia will use these guidelines as a stating point and then   overlay the additional layers of compliance necessary to adhere to the Australian Code of Conduct.

Please let me know what rules you think will be put in place locally.

Certainly interesting time ahead and naturally we'll keep you in the loop as soon as we know any more.

Until then, good marketing and good luck.

Regards,

Daniele.