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    We are…So-cial.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Pic by NY TImes Photog.
    Charlene Li is writing a book targeted for May publication on the topic of leadership. The overall thesis seems to be that good corporate leaders give up control and allow consumers to make more product and service decisions. Her first book The Groundswell, co-authored with Josh Bernoff, got the ball rolling. There is no doubt social media is the haps in marketing today and that lots of smart people are on board. Social media marketing can teach us a lot.  

     

    An interesting article appeared in The New York Times today discussing how college tours are taking more of a conversational approach to selling — even to the point where tour leaders are asked to not walk backwards or recite school statistics.  This is a nice analogue for what’s going on in social media marketing today and one that sidles up to the premise of Ms. Li’s new book.

     

    All too often in marketing today companies decide what’s important to consumers by mining statistics — then they use media to face customers and walking backwards reciting the selling benefits. It’s a one-way exercise that does not engage consumers and doesn’t encourage easy interaction. It’s hard to listen when you are reciting from a script.

     

    Social media marketing is about listening. Understanding patterns of behavior, needs, and then acting upon them.  By packaging the learning into a story, not a recitation, the selling becomes more palatable. And memorable. Oh yeah, and when you are walking backwards you can’t see what is before you. Scuffing your shoes is the least iof your worries. Peace!  

    The Pedal Dividend.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0


    The Lowes Companies reported poor earnings this quarter. Though a lot of people are doing home improvements themselves, sales are down because contractors are not as busy and luxury extras aren’t moving. Big box stores are of great value to consumers in a tough economy but gassing up the guzzler to make ad hoc trips to Costco just doesn’t make sense.

     

    Mom and pop stores are certainly hurting too, but they have an advantage — they are reachable by bike. Mom and pop and/or local grocery stores, in addition to giving a dollar off to people who bring in sustainable bags, should provide spiffs or economic incentives to bike riders. More people on bikes is a good thing. A really good thing. Exercise aside, it creates less demand at the pump and sends a good message to all kids. Pedaling is a better form of short transport and it also keeps us shopping closer to home, supporting our communities.

     

    Mention it to your local retailer. There is only upside. (Except, maybe, for the big box stores. But they want you to live longer too.) Peace.

    Reverse Supply and Demand

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    DentBetty.com is an exciting example of supply and demand in reverse. Car owners post dent and ding photos to the site so car repair shops can provide competitive estimates. Ain’t the Web grand? When body shops compete, you win! (DentBetty is in Beta and not available everywhere, but has bust-a-move upside.)  Currently free until they prime the user pump, DentBetty has a business model that will be mimicked across the Web benefiting both consumers and wired entrepreneurs.  As my kids used to say “I yike it.”

     

    Which brings us to AOL.  Huh? AOL’s new shtick is to become the single greatest source of advertising supported content on the Web. (They should leave off the advertising supported part of their mission; it’s irrelevant and brand-limiting.) You might think being a content provider is being in the supply business — and it is — but as AOL uses that content to analyze and learn about online behaviors, it will find itself in a better positionto create new, un-thought of content. And if it develops new online inventions and conventions, like DentBetty, will attain revenue heights not yet seen. Content is king for sure, but it is not always one way.  User generated content isn’t just text and party pics. Peace!

    A Search Is Not A Tweet.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    So (All the cool people start their sentences with “so” today.) search is a major force in marketing. No doubt. It’s driving Google’s revenue, helping software nerds buy big houses, making Ad Age and Adweek boring to read, and giving ad geezers apoplexy.

     

    Search is very important and needs to be in every marketing plan.

     

    That said, social media is an even newer marketing darling. (I can’t imagine any of the Wendy’s pitches not having 20 minutes of silly social media ideas, can you?) But here’s an interesting distinction between search and social: A search is not a tweet. Search is an inbound information gathering exercise, while a tweet is an outbound broadcasting exercise. And though one can certainly search Twitter, that search is taking place in a smaller pond filled with influencers.

     

    Twitter is filled with Posters (original content creators) and Pasters (referrers of content). Every marketing plan needs to target Posters for maximum thrust. If you reach the Posters, you will reach the Pasters. If you reach the Pasters, you will reach the searchers.

     

    This is how we do-oo ii-it. 

    Gooing Goggle.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

     

     

     

    No, that’s not a typo. Gooing Goggle is the obverse of Google’s new ad campaign “Going Google.” Ad campaign? Yes, ad campaign. Fueling its insatiable need to make mo’, mo’ money, Google is now targeting Microsoft Office with an out of character  campaign to promote Google Apps. The Going Google campaign will take many forms, including outdoor billboards, but most noticeably we’ll see it infect Twitter – a component will look more like a virus than viral.

     

    This effort, if not shut down quickly, will do Google more harm than good. Going Google is fine, being told to go Google is ham handed (what ever that means). Google continues its pursuit of dominance in all things digital (Google Voice is next) and has  been drinking so much Kool-Aid they forget America and many countries dislike the overdog.   

     

    Sorry Google, this effort is going to ratchet up your negs. Start watching the comments in the social stew. (Come on? Asking people to print out anonymous nuisance notes and pin them to bosses computers: “Please, please, please, can we go Google?)  You had better clean the goggles quickly. 

    Incentive and Loyalty

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Here’s the thing about loyalty: Humans desire it but, frankly, are hard-pressed to embrace it. (Why else would one in two U.S. marriages end in divorce?) Brands seek loyalty because it keeps their marketing expenses down. Experts remind us we need to “delight” customers to engender loyalty, meaning don’t take them for granted, treat them better than family and provide unexpected, thoughtful product gestures. 

     

    Creating incentive to remain loyal to a free Web property (part three in a series this week) may seem difficult but there’s a trick. The trick is the “brand promise.” Technology can be matched or mirrored by a competitor. Services can be matched by a competitor. But it is harder to match a promise.

     

    Companies that look within, find a value that customers want and they alone can provide, can maintain an edge in loyalty.  I wrote a position paper for a free Web property entitled “Technology, service or brand?” The brand promise was future-ready and stood long after the platform morphed and evolved. More importantly, it helped provide direction to that evolution.

     

    Loyalty is constantly being tested and needs to be strengthened over time. If a free online property has a good brand promise and stays loyal to that promise, that’s a huge start. 

    Incentive and First User Experience

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Yesterday I wrote that creating incentive for free online products or services starts with the First Visual Experience, an experience revolving around what one sees on the page: the product name, logo, visuals, tagline or brand promise. If any of these visual cues are confusing, odd, or generate a negative vibe, the user has no incentive to stay – and will likely click away.

     

    A good way to accomplish a positive First Visual Experience is by nailing the Is/Does. The Is/Does defines what a brand “is” and what it “does.”  Offline, the "Is" is pretty straightforward but online, in this age of innovation, engineer-run companies and wacky names, it’s not always so obvious. With the Is out of the way, consumers need to know what a product does – the benefit to them. Some might call this the value proposition.  

     

    Once a consumer knows your Is/Does, the First User Experience must deliver upon it. If your First User Experience is complex or incongruous with the Is/Does, you will likely lose the user. When it comes to free, people are willing to put up with a little user drama…but not too much. Many online companies with great FVE and poor FUE have gone by the wayside.  Can you name some? Peace!

    Incentive and First Visual Experience

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

    Incentive is one of the most powerful tools in marketing. For the first time in a while U.S. home sales are up and one of the reasons is the first time home buyer tax credit of $8,000. In marketing incentives work.

     

    Incentives are mainly monetary, e.g. “free trial” or “30% off,” but what happens when the product is already free as is the case with many Web properties? 

     

    The incentive has to be delivered in the rational and emotional value that accrues to the product.  It starts with the brand (first visual experience), continues on to the product itself (first user experience) and deepens with loyalty (relationship management).

     

    Here’s a quick exercise relating to the first step — first visual experience. 

     

    Let’s assume you’ve never heard of any of the following video sharing sites and your first visual experience isthe home page. Read these taglines/about statements and decide which provides the strongest incentive to try:

     

    YouTube — “Broadcast yourself.” 

    Vimeo  — “People connecting through video”

    Revver  — “Video sharing powered by advertising”

    Blit.Tv  — “Independent web shows”

    CastTV  — “One stop watching.”

     

    Stay tuned for steps two and three. Peace!

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