Online Marketing: Traditional Media Gives Way To Conversation-Based Web Marketing Channels

Corporate Web sites may not push out awesome viewership statistics compared to many media sites, but the data coming out of recent research is pointing to direct communications with online audiences providing multiples more impact on their bottom lines than media-based advertising.


Online media companies are likely to have a great year in 2007 but the looming question is how much longer marketers are going to care about Web site advertising in an era when direct conversations between sellers and buyers are pushing traditional media to the sidelines.

The media isn't dead yet, but if it can't shoehorn its way into these conversations more effectively it better start thinking about it's retirement plan.

Here is the full story:

The environment for online media is looking pretty robust, these days: forecasts for 2007 online ad revenues are looking great and new forms of electronic media production are flourishing everywhere. Brand advertisers are also beginning to embrace the Web more enthusiastically, shifting more of their spend into online channels than ever before. Yet for all of the buzz and bubble over online advertising the greater fact is that media companies are beginning to face the greatest challenge of all: disintermediation.

Disintermediation is a word that has challenged publishers before, but it was a less important threat in the early days of the Web. Corporations were content at first to put out "brochureware" Web sites with little meaningful content and user's interactions were limited to viewing pages and filling out forms for the most part.

But as corporations have learned to create and to sponsor their own engaging content and Web 2.0 technologies have encouraged users to write about and engage corporate content, things have changed quite a bit.

Advertising Age brings this together (registration/subscription) in an article that highlights some interesting statistics surfacing in recent online ratings data. Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble Co., for example, does not have blockbuster Web sites by media ratings standards - P&G sites captured about 3.3 percent of ComScore's U.S. October audience ratings - but by comparison this percentage is more than double it's percentage share of overall U.S. ad spending and nine times its percentage of online ad spend share.

The AdAge article also points to McKinsey & Co. research that showed visitors to one corporate site generating $40 in corporate profit per visitor on average, compared with $5 for audiences reached by traditional media. Not only is going through intermediaries an expensive route through which to acquire customers, but one which doesn't pay off as well in the end.

While content generated by media companies continues to engage audeinces it's not clear that advertisers seeking return on their investment are going to follow suit endlessly with major brand-building campaigns. If markets are conversations, as The Cluetrain Manifesto once intimated, then media companies are having a much harder time figuring out why anyone should be chatting with them.

User-generated content is held out oftentimes as a way to help media companies to find a place in the chit-chat between sellers and buyers, but owning a user-generated media property is not synonymous with being able to engage in a conversation. Brand advertising is about seduction: conversations are about relationships. In the meantime the focus on user-generated content leaves fewer dollars to spend on traditional media products - further weakening their potential to appeal to audiences.

Are we witnessing the death of media? Well, yes, in an abstract sense.

There will always be advertising and there will always be companies willing to extend their conversations with their markets through media-based advertising. But if marketing is better served through more direct and focused communications with audiences and through multi-channel advertising wholesalers like Google, then traditional media companies have nowhere to go but down.

The conversations that drive media spends are shifting radically and rapidly and will continue to do so over the next several years. Here are a few ideas as to how media companies can keep abreast of these changes:

* Polish your conversation skills.

In spite of the influx of user-generated media services being adapted by media companies most are pretty "hands-off" when it comes to integrating user content with editorial sources. While traditional editorial content is still valuable it's lack of integration with conversations found in user content is going to compromise its ability to attract premium ad dollars in the long run.

If marketing is moving from a command-and-control economic model to a networked model then media needs to adjust its fundamental purpose from being a medium for advertising to being a gatherer of market participants exchanging views. It sounds simple enough, but making a conversational marketing model work in the long run is going to take a lot more skill than slapping banner ads on MySpace pages.



* Move beyond your roots.



Advertising at the very dawn of commercial radio was thought of - literally - as a phone booth in a studio which people would rent for a limited time to broadcast a message. Today that phone booth is online and interactive - much to the pleasure of advertisers, but also to the detriment of publishers who still struggle with their role.

Media companies can continue to focus on renting out studio phone booths, but it's a better bet to focus on providing content that marketers can contextualize as they please in their own "phone booths" and in contexts defined by their audiences - and to provide expertise and technology that will allow marketers to extend those conversations into deeper levels of engagement.



* Rethink aggregation.



For the vast majority of publishers aggregation is about gaining an edge by bringing together your own content or licensed content into one "walled garden" or another for advertisers or subscribers. But search technologies and services such as social bookmarking, feeds and web mining have make the ideal garden something that is much closer to the needs of individuals and institutions than the ambitions of publishers and aggregators.

Marketing value is now maximized when content flows to the contexts that users desire most as efficiently as possible - rather than trying to corral them into contexts not conducive to marketing conversations.

With a near-infinite inventory of content and a finite inventory of advertisers, media companies are in a race with corporate marketers to come up with the most compelling content and context that can get a marketing message across to audiences.

In the long run this is a race that most media companies can only lose. It's time for media companies to shift permanently to being enablers of effective conversations from all sources.

Today's "media star" is no longer the one with the least common denominator gazing at them but the one who can get audiences and marketers looking at one another most effectively.

Online Video Publishing - Customize Your Blog Or Webpage With Google's API

Online video is a great way to add rich content to your blog or website, whether you are keeping a personal journal or running a for-profit operation. The Google Ajax Search API is a great way of being able to customize the way you display your video content in a visually rich way that you can adapt with the minimum of technical knowledge.

Think of it as a great way to call search information right out of Google Video, and compile it together into customizable 'video bars' that you can resize, position anywhere on your website and let your site visitors browse visually. This adds an intuitive way for your visitors to access targeted video content that goes beyond the simple text-based, descriptive approach.

The GSVideoBar Solution gives you everything you will need to get these great looking video bars onto your website by copying and pasting a few lines of code into your blog post or website template. While there are Web Widgets like the incredibly impressive Blinkz.TV Video Wall that will do this for you, the advantage of using the API approach is the ability to tinker with its look.

Want to change the size of the individual video clips? No problem. Want to position your video bars across the top of the screen, the bottom, running along the side? Again, you have the power to choose. This makes for a video search display that will not only be suited to your site visitors tastes, but also to the parameters of your webpage or blog, giving you the flexibility to truly integrate the content into the look and feel of your website.

In this brief introduction, I take you through the simple process, before showing you the end results in action.

What is the GSvideoBar Solution?

To cut a long story short, the GSvideoBar Solution is an application that allows you to tap into the power of Google Video Search and the Google Ajax Search API to gather together videos on a particular search term, and organize them in a film-strip like bar on your website.

The Google people describe it like this:

''The GSvideoBar Solution is a simple to use application of the Google AJAX Search API that is designed to let you easily add application and page controlled video search and playback capabilities to your pages, sites, and blogs.

In this solution, the videos are displayed in a horizontal or vertical bar and there is no search form or tag stack. The solution composes nicely with the Video Search Control solution as well as other Video Bar solutions running on the same page.''

n other words, you can have as many of these bars on your website as you like. The features list is quite impressive, and includes:

* An ability to display a collection of videos in either horizontal or vertical orientation.

* A set of four or eight video thumbnails that will play directly on your page.

* An ability to compose with other instances of the Video Bar solution or Video Search Control solution. The net effect is that multiple solutions may share a single video player. Interaction between your search bars is possible, to create some interesting effects.

* The solution is designed for extreme ease of use. As a site designer you are able to control the initial search expression, how many search results appear, the search result orientation, the location of both the player and the search results.

If, like me, you are scared at the idea of too much code-tinkering, the great guys at Google have even supplied a ready-to-cut-and-paste version at the bottom of the service's webpage. So, while there are almost infinite possibilities for those with a bit of Javascript know-how, even rank-amateurs like me can make use of this impressive service to brighten up their websites.

All you need to do is scroll down to the bottom of the page and copy everything in the Hello World of GSvideoBar section, and then change one tiny parameter, which I have highlighted in the image below:



You just need to swap the part where it says "vw gti" with your own search term, such as "masternewmedia", "Robin Good" or anything else you might be interested in finding videos about. It's that simple.

The results, if you change nothing else, look like this. On your website, the thumbnails on the left will determine the video playing in the player on the right. Try to click on anyone of the video clip thumbnails displayed on the left column.

The ability to customize the service

The example above is impressive in its own right, and could be embedded in the appropriate part of your blog or website template as quite a striking way of granting access to online video. If you, or your webmaster do have even the most basic Javascript and CSS skills, a lot more can be achieved, however.

The examples on the service's own website illustrate how you can have video bars interact with one another, so that one controls the others, and it is certainly well within the reach of those with a modicum of technical knowledge to arrange several of these video bars on the same page with perfect integration.

Whatever your level of knowledge about these things, the GSvideoBar Solution offers a great way of tapping into the rich media qualities of online video, and bringing an intuitive and visually-driven approach to the navigation of this content.

Text Link Ads Support Blogger Platform Now

The Text Link Ads program can now be used to sell links on your blogspot blogs hosted on the new Blogger.com platform.

Unfortunately, if you are still on the old Blogger platform, the TLA script will not work for you since it makes use the new RSS Page Elements style to add the ad code to the blog.

Integrating Text Link Ads inside Blogger is extremely simple. Assuming that your site is approved for advertising by the TLA team, get the XML ad code from their website by choosing Blogger language (slightly weird but they call Blogger a language)

Goto your Template Layout inside www2.blogger.com and choose Page Elements and stick the code. Save the changes and you are done.

You will immediately receive an email from TLA if the ad script is integrated successfully in blogger. There will be a test ad now on your site, reading, "Test Link Ad" that will disappear in a few hours.

2007 will be a big year for Text Link Ads because with Blogger integration, they now have so much extra space to expose their ad inventory. More publishers, more advertisers, more money.

Italy says "buongiorno" to WiMAX

WiMAX, which has been an "any day now" type of technology for the last several years, continues its slow march to market. The Italian government has just announced that it is opening up a necessary bit of spectrum for WiMAX and will offer licenses for the band sometime in the first half of 2007, according to Reuters.

WiMAX will operate at 3.5GHz in much of the world, though not in the US, and the WiMAX Forum announced in January 2006 that it had certified the first WiMAX hardware for that band. To make space for the new technology, Italy has reassigned 3.4-3.6GHz from military use.

The move is expected to pull in a couple hundred million euros, a far cry from both Europe's past auctions for 3G cellular technology and the recent US auctions of cellular spectrum.

As WiMAX services are rolled out in Europe, the US, and South Korea (which has been developing its own service called WiBro) over the next few years, expect to see competition from traditional cell phone companies, which have already invested a fortune in building their own wireless voice and data networks. Nokia has already committed to the new technology by developing WiMAX handsets.

Critics have dismissed these grand WiMAX dreams as little more than hype and marketing dollars. Phones and laptop cards that combine well-tested technologies like WiFi and cellular could prove to be cheaper and more reliable in the short term, but we'll have to wait for large-scale deployments before making the call.

Fortunately for customers who like competition, companies like Clearwire have pulled in big sacks of cash and are racing to deploy WiMAX here in the US. Intel, which wants to provide the smarts for each piece of the data chain (production, transmission, consumption), has been aggressively pushing the technology and in fact is a major investor in Clearwire.

Size doesn’t matter: The distributed media economy

I know that’s counterintuitive and counter everything we’ve assumed about mass media. But today what matters is reaching the right people by the right means. That has always been the case. Only now, thanks to connected, collaborative media, it’s finally possible.

I’ll pull together a lot of links around this topic below. But most of them are still trying to measure mass: the new pageview, the new audience count, the new click. I say the change we’re facing is much bigger than just the obsolescence of the pageview, much more fundamental: Size doesn’t matter. Relevance, credibility, and attraction do.

Instead of measuring quantity, we have to measure quality. And only when we do that will the true value of these new media be unlocked for everyone.

Some of the discussion that is boiling up out there:

* The end of the pageview: Steve Rubel has been doing a good job hammering on the anti-meme that the pageview is over: “The page view does not offer a suitable way to measure the next generation of web sites. These sites will be built with Ajax, Flash and other interactive technologies that allow the user to conduct affairs all within a single web page - like Gmail or the Google Reader. This eliminates the need to click from one page to another.” See, for example, Yahoo grappling with the impact of the unpage. This is not entirely new; it was a problem I grappled with on refreshing chat pages a decade ago. But the phenomenon is growing in both an Ajaxed web and a Flashed video world: What’s a page now? What’s a view? What’s a viewer? A decade ago, I spent months on a tortuous committee of the Audit Bureau of Circulations answering just those questions. Now, it doesn’t matter, or at least, it matters less and less.

* Targeting and verification matter more than size: When I sat in those endless ABC committee meetings, our aim was to come up with the standards against which to audit the circulation or audience — old terms — of web sites. But that effort was eventually abandoned because advertisers didn’t care about verifying the size of a site; only publishers cared about those bragging rights and not enough to pay for auditing them. As it turned out, advertisers cared only about auditing their own flights of ads: ‘Did I get what I paid for (whether that was people or views or clicks or actions or demos or branding)?’ You see, circulation mattered only when you were stuck in the same pages as all the advertisers and you all got the same audience whether that audience gave a damn about you or not. But online, you could find ever-better ways to reach just the people you wanted or who wanted you. Travel advertisers didn’t need to care about the circulation of NewYorkTimes.com, only about who saw its ads in the travel section. Oh, yes, advertisers are still buying the old way, but that’s because it’s more convenient — albeit far less efficient — to buy us in bulk. But the mass is gone. Size doesn’t matter.

* The widgetization of the web: Niall Kennedy called it back in July: Pages are now made up of widgets that operate like multiple pages themselves. But this is about more than adding cool stuff to your site. See how MySpace is built with widgets from elsewhere and how Flickr is spread via widgets. This is a new means of distribution.

* The people are your distributors: One day this week, seven of the top 10 viral videos — determined by links and embeds, that is, by recommendations rather than just traffic — were performances by James Brown, following his death. (By the way, I didn’t see these videos on the most-viewed lists on YouTube; those are the old, mass lists people still look at but they’re pretty much meaningless). This tells me that the people will distribute your stuff if given a chance; they jumped onto word of Brown’s death and they served relevance. Note well that you don’t need everyone doing this; even as Wikipedia’s content is made by the fabled 1 percent of its users, so can the new networks of information be driven by 1 percent of their members.

* The distributed media economy is taking over: This last week, Google was said to surpass Yahoo as the second most visited site on the internet after Microsoft; this comes after MySpace surpassed Yahoo in pageviews. But the truth is that Google surpassed them all long ago, for Google is not a site; it is a platform. Every piece of Google — like the ads on this page — counts as another pageview, if you’re still counting them. This is why I keep saying that Yahoo is the last old-media company, relying on controlling content and marketing to attract an audience to see ads, but Google is the first distributed platform, no longer making the people come to it but going to the people wherever they are. And see James Brown: The people will take you to the people, if you’re good and if you’re lucky and if you let them.

Add to this the notion that advertising can be content (the viral ad) and that ad creative gets tangled up again with media and distribution (being on MySpace is itself the brand statement) and you continue to unravel all the old assumptions about the media economy; see Scott Karp arguing that the page view will be dethroned by innovation in advertising.

And mess things up even more when you start tearing apart the methodologies of measurement. Fred Wilson, on the board of Comscore, begins to address this. I argue that any paneled, sampled measurement scheme will simply not work in this new world. Full stop. The Nielsen method of putting together a sample of people who represented the rest of us cannot work in the mass of niches, for you cannot have a sample that is ever large enough to measure the tail. You can’t measure quantity.

So pageviews are obsolete already, thanks to Ajax and other unpage technologies and to the widgetization of content, funtionality, and branding: Again, what’s a ‘page’? Audience measurements are obsolete, at last, thanks to the fact that the former consumer is now also the creator and distributor: What’s an ‘audience’? Mass measurements are dead, thank God, because we are now joyfully fragmented into the mass of niches: Who’s a ‘user’?

The truth is that we, the former audience, have long paid only scant attention to the old, quantitative measurements: Box office numbers and Nielsen ratings were curiosities. We have always measured, instead, relevance, trust, usefulness, interest, attraction, action, value. Those are the measurements that matter, always have been, only now media must catch up to us. And when media and marketers do, they will give us greater value and get more in return.

The Increasing Power of Publicity

The call came into my office and the voice on the other end was very energetic, almost giddy: "I have finalized my marketing budget and need your help launching an advertising campaign for my new product," he breathed. "Congratulations," I replied, "but before we implement an ad campaign, I want to make sure you have explored potential PUBLICITY opportunities that could generate some cost-efficient media exposure first." Then, silence. "I never thought about that," he sighed. "Frankly, I don't know much about it."

He is not alone. It's a common conversation. Although many entrepreneurs or business people know a bit about publicity or media exposure, the majority of them simply don't understand the full benefits of "publicity placements" or how to go about generating them successfully. Publicity placements have always been a cost-efficient way to market a product/business and generate clients or customers, but because of lack of knowledge or a misunderstanding of what publicity is and does, many entrepreneurs don't take full advantage of publicity opportunities -- and that can lead to missed marketing chances.

I recently surveyed a few dozen business owners and entrepreneurs in newsgroups and business chat rooms about their knowledge of "publicity placements" in the media. I found that only 37% knew that a simple "product profile" in a magazine was generated as a result of publicity efforts. Most thought the company had paid the media outlet to run the feature, much like an ad. And of that 37%, less than half of them knew HOW to generate a similar placement.

Another interesting fact, because of the recent slowdown in the economy, expensive advertising budgets have been slashed. As a result, many businesses, like your competitors, are turning to publicity/PR campaigns as a more affordable means of marketing to compete with other companies. Here are some ways to use publicity placements to help your business:

Editorial Placements/Media Notification:

What some entrepreneurs might not realize is that we see editorial placements from publicity efforts everyday in the media: product profiles, feature articles and contributed by-lined articles in magazines, newspapers, trade industry newsletters, or on TV/radio/cable newscasts and shows. This is not advertising, this is "EDITORIAL Placement" or "Media Notification" of a product, business or industry expert. Notify the appropriate media that your newsworthy product is on the market or your business is offering a unique new service and let them run a feature placement that will spread that message to your consumer market. These placements can detail your product or business very effectively, giving consumers some objective, pertinent information that may well entice them to become future customers.

These editorial placements are looked upon much more credibly than ad placements. That is not a slam on advertising. Paying for advertising placements is indeed an effective way to market your product. But the fact is, a positive editorial placement such as a product profile in a magazine or a newspaper can be much more persuasive than a glossy, over-hyped advertisement -- and a fraction of the cost. My point is that editorial placements are an overlooked marketing vehicle for a business, and that entrepreneurs should understand the full benefits of these placements to make the most of their marketing efforts.

Editorial placements are a wonderfully reciprocal way for you and the media to work together for the betterment of your business.

The media needs to fill its pages and airtime with interesting information -- and you need to get the word out to your market. Research the media market to find those media outlets and editorial contacts with which you can forge that mutually beneficial relationship. But you have to do your part and do it right, or the media will forge that relationship with your competitor. Make sure your media message is solid, contains newsworthy angles and isn't disguised as overly commercialized ad copy. Have high-quality photos and media samples available and do all you can to make the media's job of featuring your product as simple as possible. It also helps to have some sort of clipping service in place to track your placements and get you copies so you can use them in your secondary marketing programs.

Expert Branding:

This type of publicity placement generating takes advantage of the expert knowledge within a particular business. It is an effective tool for entrepreneurs whose businesses are more service related, like consultants or specialists. Expert branding basically treats the expert like a product. Alert the media as to your expertise on a specific topic and avail yourself to serve as an expert interview resource for future articles or news feature segments. Additionally, the expert should write a few brief articles on a specialized topic and make them available to editors for review and possible publication. The challenge of this type of publicity placement is the tedious task of finding out which outlets accept "expert editorial contributions" or contributed by-lined articles in their publications. Again, it comes down to meticulously researching your media market to find those media outlets that may be in need of the editorial content that you can provide them.

With some creativity, expert branding can be effective for product-based businesses as well. One client of mine runs a fresh wild salmon distribution business in the Pacific Northwest and was looking to increase consumer awareness of his products. Based on his more than 20 years of experience in the wild salmon harvesting business, we are expert branding him as a viable interview resource to health/food editors for features detailing the differences and benefits of wild salmon over farm-raised fish, as well as other related topics. In this case, my client (the expert) is identified and quoted in features and the name of the business and even a link to a website are often included for consumers to check out. This is great credibility building exposure at little or no cost.

Overall, when using the media to help market your product or business, take advantage of as many FREE media opportunities as you can. If you lack the expertise or time, a PR agency or publicist can generate the editorial placements for you. The fee you pay them is a FRACTION of what it would cost you to buy similar sized ad placements. And those publicity placements typically lead to a much better consumer response right out of the gate -- which is just what you need to boost your business to the next level.

The Ties That Bind

One key way to build brand equity is to create a set of design “rules” that tie together the look and feel of all your marketing materials. These rules are often referred to as “brand standards.” Ideally, brand standards do the double duty of creating awareness of your brand and differentiating your brand from your competition. It is recommended that even the smallest companies develop and maintain brand standards.

The breadth and depth of brand standards can vary greatly, depending on your needs. Keep in mind that if you are too strict, you may hem yourself in creatively, while if you are too loose, design chaos can result. Focus on strategy and consistency in the following five areas:

1) Logo – There is perhaps no single element more important to your brand standards than the consistent use of your logo. First, you should never alter or re-draw your logo. Second, its placement and sizing should remain consistent within each communication vehicle (e.g., letterhead, brochures, postcards, etc.). Rules can vary by type of material, but not drastically.

If you want to look like a large company, remember this irony: the bigger the company, the smaller the logo.

2) Graphics – Use distinctive symbols and shapes in a consistent way. Choosing the same basic graphic elements helps your customers remember your brand faster. Also, stay consistent with borders and/or backgrounds—or show a pattern of consistency that complies with your brand standards. For example, choose a cupid-themed border for a Valentine’s Day ad and a clover-themed border for a St. Patrick’s Day ad. In both cases, your border should be consistent in size and/or weight (the amount of emphasis it receives relative to the other elements on the page).

3) Colors – Color is one of the most important components in brand identity. It makes an immediate impression on your audience, and plays a large role in memory retrieval. Therefore, color can significantly impact someone’s perception of your brand. For example, gold, silver and burgundy are perceived to be upscale, while green is viewed as fresh and healthy.

I highly recommend you research and/or test-market certain colors before you commit to a palette. One easy (if not scientific) way to do this is to create a brochure or ad in three or four different color palettes, then survey various people for feedback. Remember that colors have different meanings in different cultures.

4) Fonts – Choose a handful of fonts for use on all your materials, selecting at least one serif font and one sans serif font. Serif fonts have “feet” at the bottom of the font to guide the reader’s eye, while sans serif fonts don’t. (Times New Roman and Century Schoolbook are examples of serif fonts; Helvetica and Verdana are examples of sans serif fonts.) Serif fonts work well in paragraphs (“body copy”) because they give the eye something to “hang on” to. Sans serif fonts should be reserved for headlines, numbers in charts, very small text, and/or text that is reversed out of a color. As a general rule, you should use no more than two fonts in a document, although a third decorative font can be used sparingly.

5) Illustrative and/or Photographic Style – Consider what type of visuals (pictures) you want to feature on your marketing materials. Will your visuals consist of illustration or photography? Try to stick with one or the other. Regardless of your choice, your visuals should be similar in style and color usage—black and white, four-color, two-color, etc.

When you have identified rules for the above, write them down and distribute them to any employee or vendor (like a designer or printer) who may need to reference them. Brand standards go a long way toward building brand equity. It’s worth the time and effort to do it right.

How to Perform SWOT Analysis

A valuable step in your situational analysis is assessing your firm's strengths, weaknesses, market opportunities, and threats through a SWOT analysis. This is a very simple process that can offer powerful insight into the potential and critical issues affecting a venture.

The SWOT analysis begins by conducting an inventory of internal strengths and weaknesses in your organization. You will then note the external opportunities and threats that may affect the organization, based on your market and the overall environment. Don't be concerned about elaborating on these topics at this stage; bullet points may be the best way to begin. Capture the factors you believe are relevant in each of the four areas. You will want to review what you have noted here as you work through your marketing plan. The primary purpose of the SWOT analysis is to identify and assign each significant factor, positive and negative, to one of the four categories, allowing you to take an objective look at your business. The SWOT analysis will be a useful tool in developing and confirming your goals and your marketing strategy.

Some experts suggest that you first consider outlining the external opportunities and threats before the strengths and weaknesses. Marketing Plan Pro's EasyPlan Wizard will allow you to complete your SWOT analysis in whatever order works best for you. In either situation, you will want to review all four areas in detail.

Strengths

Strengths describe the positive attributes,tangible and intangible attributes, internal to your organization. They are within your control. What do you do well? What resources do you have? What advantages do you have over your competition?

You may want to evaluate your strengths by area, such as marketing, finance, manufacturing, and organizational structure. Strengths include the positive attributes of the people involved in the business, including their knowledge, backgrounds, education, credentials, contacts, reputations, or the skills they bring. Strengths also include tangible assets such as available capital, equipment, credit, established customers, existing channels of distribution, copyrighted materials, patents, information and processing systems, and other valuable resources within the business.

Strengths capture the positive aspects internal to your business that add value or offer you a competitive advantage. This is your opportunity to remind yourself of the value existing within your business.

Weaknesses

Note the weaknesses within your business. Weaknesses are factors that are within your control that detract from your ability to obtain or maintain a competitive edge. Which areas might you improve?

Weaknesses might include lack of expertise, limited resources, lack of access to skills or technology, inferior service offerings, or the poor location of your business. These are factors that are under your control, but for a variety of reasons, are in need of improvement to effectively accomplish your marketing objectives.

Weaknesses capture the negative aspects internal to your business that detract from the value you offer, or place you at a competitive disadvantage. These are areas you need to enhance in order to compete with your best competitor. The more accurately you identify your weaknesses, the more valuable the SWOT will be for your assessment.

Opportunities

Opportunities assess the external attractive factors that represent the reason for your business to exist and prosper. These are external to your business. What opportunities exist in your market, or in the environment, from which you hope to benefit?

These opportunities reflect the potential you can realize through implementing your marketing strategies. Opportunities may be the result of market growth, lifestyle changes, resolution of problems associated with current situations, positive market perceptions about your business, or the ability to offer greater value that will create a demand for your services. If it is relevant, place timeframes around the opportunities. Does it represent an ongoing opportunity, or is it a window of opportunity? How critical is your timing?

Opportunities are external to your business. If you have identified "opportunities" that are internal to the organization and within your control, you will want to classify them as strengths.

Threats

What factors are potential threats to your business? Threats include factors beyond your control that could place your marketing strategy, or the business itself, at risk. These are also external – you have no control over them, but you may benefit by having contingency plans to address them if they should occur.



A threat is a challenge created by an unfavorable trend or development that may lead to deteriorating revenues or profits. Competition – existing or potential – is always a threat. Other threats may include intolerable price increases by suppliers, governmental regulation, economic downturns, devastating media or press coverage, a shift in consumer behavior that reduces your sales, or the introduction of a "leap-frog" technology that may make your products, equipment, or services obsolete. What situations might threaten your marketing efforts? Get your worst fears on the table. Part of this list may be speculative in nature, and still add value to your SWOT analysis.

It may be valuable to classify your threats according to their "seriousness" and "probability of occurrence."

The better you are at identifying potential threats, the more likely you can position yourself to proactively plan for and respond to them. You will be looking back at these threats when you consider your contingency plans.

The Implications

The internal strengths and weaknesses, compared to the external opportunities and threats, can offer additional insight into the condition and potential of the business. How can you use the strengths to better take advantage of the opportunities ahead and minimize the harm that threats may introduce if they become a reality? How can weaknesses be minimized or eliminated? The true value of the SWOT analysis is in bringing this information together, to assess the most promising opportunities, and the most crucial issues.

An Example

AMT is a computer store in a medium-sized market in the United States. Lately it has suffered through a steady business decline, caused mainly by increasing competition from larger office products stores with national brand names. The following is the SWOT analysis included in its marketing plan.

Strengths

1. Knowledge. Our competitors are retailers, pushing boxes. We know systems, networks, connectivity, programming, all the Value Added Resellers (VARs), and data management.
2. Relationship selling. We get to know our customers, one by one. Our direct sales force maintains a relationship.
3. History. We've been in our town forever. We have the loyalty of customers and vendors. We are local.


Weaknesses

1. Costs. The chain stores have better economics. Their per-unit costs of selling are quite low. They aren't offering what we offer in terms of knowledgeable selling, but their cost per square foot and per dollar of sales are much lower.
2. Price and volume. The major stores pushing boxes can afford to sell for less. Their component costs are less and they benefit from volume buying with the main vendors.
3. Brand power. Take one look at their full-page advertising, in color, in the Sunday paper. We can't match that. We don't have the national name that flows into national advertising.

Opportunities

1. Local area networks. LANs are becoming commonplace in small businesses, and even in home offices. Businesses today assume LANs are part of normal office work. This is an opportunity for us because LANs are much more knowledge and service intensive than the standard off-the-shelf PC.
2. The Internet. The increasing opportunities of the Internet offer us another area of strength in comparison to the box-on-the-shelf major chain stores. Our customers want more help with the Internet and we are in a better position to give it to them.
3. Training. The major stores don't provide training, but as systems become more complicated with LAN and Internet usage, training is more in demand. This is particularly true of our main target markets.
4. Service. As our target market needs more service, our competitors are less likely than ever to provide it. Their business model doesn't include service, just selling the boxes.


Threats

1. The computer as appliance. Volume buying and selling of computers as products in boxes, supposedly not needing support, training, connectivity services, etc. As people think of the computer in those terms, they think they need our service orientation less.
2. The larger price-oriented store. When they have huge advertisements of low prices in the newspaper, our customers think we are not giving them good value.

Look Big, Win Big

Your logo appears on everything from your letterhead to your website, reaching customers, prospects, suppliers and the press. In other words, your logo reaches everyone and is the first impression someone will have of your company; therefore your logo needs to create a favorable introduction. Present yourself clearly and dynamically and you will look like a pro, even if your office is your basement.

Easier said than done, you say? Maybe. Luckily, there are time-tested guidelines to follow in your quest for a great logo. Whether you hire an agency or do it yourself, commit these rules to memory (or at least bookmark this Web page):

1) Your logo should reflect your company in a unique and honest way. Sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many entrepreneurs want something “just like” a competitor. If your logo contains a symbol (often called a “bug”) it should relate to your industry, your name, a defining characteristic or to a competitive advantage. What’s the overriding trait you want people to remember about your business? If it’s quick delivery, consider objects that connote speed, like wings or a clock. Consider an abstract symbol to convey a progressive approach (abstracts are a great choice for high-tech companies). Or maybe you simply want an object representative of the product or service you’re selling. Be clever if you can, but not at the expense of being clear.

2) Avoid too much detail. “Simple” logos are recognized faster than complex ones. Strong lines and letters show up better than thin ones, and clean, simple logos reduce and enlarge much better than complicated ones.

Although your logo should be simple, it shouldn’t be simplistic. Good logos feature something unexpected or unique without being overdrawn. Look at the pros: McDonald’s, Nike, or Prudential. Notice how their logos are simple yet compelling. Anyone who’s traveled past a McDonald’s with a hungry four-year old knows the power of a clean logo symbol.

3) It should work well in black and white (one color). If it doesn’t look good in black and white, it won’t look good in any color. Also keep in mind printing costs for four-color logos are often greater than for one- or two-color logos.

4) Your logo should be scalable. It should be aesthetically pleasing, both small and large, in a variety of mediums. A good rule of thumb is the “biz card/billboard” rule: your logo should look good on both.

5) It should be artistically balanced. The best way to explain this is that the logo should seem “balanced” to the eye – no one part should overpower the rest. Just as a painting would look odd if all color and detail were segregated in one corner, so do asymmetric logos. Color, line density and shape all affect a logo’s balance.

Many logo gurus insist your logo should be designed to last for up to 10 or15 years. But I’ve yet to meet a clairvoyant when it comes to design trends. The best way to ensure longevity, in addition to the rules above, is to make sure you love your logo. Don’t settle for something half-baked.

Once you commit to your logo design, you will need it in three essential file formats: EPS for printing, JPG and GIF for your website. Essentially, these file conversions render your logo a single piece of art (i.e., no longer a symbol with a typeface). Which brings us to the most important rule in logo use:

Never, never re-draw or alter your logo. If you want to animate it for your website, fine. But don’t change its essence. Reduce and enlarge proportionally. If you become tired of your logo, good. That’s usually about the time it’s starting to make an impression on everyone else!

PubliCity Outside Your City

We all know that the Internet has taken away geographic boundaries in the business world. The accessibility and expansiveness of the Internet allows the entrepreneur/business owner anywhere in North America to search outside his local yellow pages for the best and most affordable services available. This is especially true when it comes to finding PR/publicity services for your business. What it boils down to is…the Inter'net can mean a 'net savings in your publicity budget.

A few months back, I got an email from a California client who discovered that the local part-time freelance publicity specialist he had hired was charging three times the amount I charge and providing half the services I offered. Because of that, the client hired me to work with the freelancer in heading up this nationwide campaign launch. The freelancer told me that because of West Coast cost of living/overhead, he was forced to charge the higher fees — surprisingly, he was one of the cheapest publicity pros in that area! I have heard stories like this time and time again from clients who hit the 'net in search of a cheaper alternative to PR services listed in their local directory.

That fact was drilled home to me even more when I recently took a detailed look at my portfolio of clients. I was surprised to learn that over the last few years more than 40% of my clients for my Midwest-based PR business have come from the West Coast, another 25% from the East Coast and 10% from Canada. A quick email polling of clients revealed the same story over and over. They simply found it hard to locate professional, affordable PR services in their area, so they turned to the Internet to find it.

Frankly, for publicity campaigns restricted to your city/region, I recommend going with a local PR specialist/firm. They typically know the local media market best and have solid media contacts there. But for a national or industry/trade specific publicity campaign for your product/business, explore the possibility of hiring a PR individual or team outside your geographic area — especially if your product has nationwide appeal. One client remarked that he liked how our campaign brought a Midwest feel to his East Coast-based business and helped him open up potential new business avenues.

Another client said he looked to outsource to a small to mid-sized city PR business because, as he put it, "No matter the size of the office, West Coast PR firms seemed very plastic and glitzy, while the East Coast firms seemed to be too hectic, almost frantic." That may indeed be a huge generalization on his part, because I’m certain there are wonderfully professional PR businesses in almost every city.

Be advised — mechanically, most PR agencies do basically the same thing. Sure each firm/office/freelancer has their strong points. The major difference lies with the respective creativity, ingenuity and professionalism of the PR individual or staff. Don’t take this to mean that "cheaper is better" – there is certainly something to be said for the phrase "you get what you pay for." Just don’t pay three, four or even ten times as much to get you the same amount of quality. Look for a firm that can give you an entire campaign from start to finish — release/kit, media market research, media contacts, large-scale media distribution, media tracking/clipping — not just a $100 - $500 release distribution.

Take to the 'net and see what you can find. Above all, ask for references, writing samples, publicity placement history — where they have generated publicity for past clients. Make sure they are technologically advanced enough to get timely, high-quality publicity information to media outlets all over the nation that benefits your business. Look for a PR service with a broad range of media contacts in multiple formats (print, broadcast & Internet) and strong media tracking capabilities. Some PR pros promise to pitch your campaign to hundreds of magazines and newspapers when your strongest media market may be in radio/TV shows & newscasts — or vice versa.

I am not reinventing the PR wheel here, I am simply saying that when it comes to generating publicity for your business/website/venture/invention, the best match for you may not be in the big glass building in your city's downtown. Big firms in big cities most often mean big fees and not necessarily big quality.

Bottom line — the Internet is giving entrepreneurs of all types the opportunity to afford publicity — publicity from outside your city.

Publicity Campaigns: How Many Hours…How Many Months?

When it comes to generating publicity for a product, business or website, one of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs have to make is whether to launch the campaign themselves. What makes it tough is trying to determine the amount of time it might take to launch and maintain a successful publicity campaign. This article will help address a couple of those critical elements: the length of your publicity efforts and; the respective number of hours it may take to get the job done effectively.

In my PR career, I have launched campaigns that needed the blast of just a few weeks of publicity and I have also maintained lengthy campaigns that generated media exposure for years. From my professional experience, I can tell you that a single distribution of a media release is rarely effective. Most times, editors and reporters are working on multiple stories at once and need some time to consider your pitch. Although your release may indeed be interesting and newsworthy, the editor may simply not have the space to use your pitch at that point in the media outlet's editorial calendar. So make sure he/she sees it again when that editorial calendar opens up a few weeks down the line. Keep in mind also that because media outlets receive so many media releases and story pitches these days, it can sometimes take them weeks before they actually get to something you may have sent their way. That's why it's important to conduct extensive media follow-ups over the course of several months to ensure media reception, proper media digestion and hopefully media acceptance of your release or pitch.

I tell my clients, "No PR agency or publicist in the world can FORCE the media to use their releases, but they CAN make sure that by the end of the campaign, the media has seen or heard about your message in one form or another – which will lead to solid media coverage."

One of the keys to determining the length of a successful campaign is knowing when you have fired all your publicity bullets; when it's time to re-pack the chambers with new ammo; or when you should move onto other marketing targets. Over the past several years, here's how the campaign lengths have broken down for my clients:

# 1-2 month campaigns: 9%
# 3-6 month campaigns: 46%
# 6-9 month campaigns: 29%
# 9+ month campaigns: 16%

* 1 - 2 month campaigns are most often timely, date-sensitive campaigns – a release or message tied to a current event that may be outdated in 6 - 8 weeks. A while back, one client of mine quickly produced a website aimed at stopping Napster's file sharing services. We launched a campaign a few weeks before the Supreme Court ruling and generated some great spot coverage in newspapers and TV news shows nationwide – the site and the campaign were finished in 6 weeks.

* Most new product publicity campaigns are best suited for the 3 - 6 month time frame – allowing for the often drawn out lead-times of some media outlets. Having said that though, some product campaigns can be extended for several more months based on media reaction and subsequent consumer interest. For instance, the "scooter" product publicity campaign likely started out as a six-month program, but that was stretched out over a year because of the sales fervor and popularity of the product.

* The longest campaigns are for those clients whose businesses or expertise are "evergreen and regenerative" – meaning they are not tied to the shelf life of a new product launch; aren't linked to a specific date; and can be re-stoked for a new round of media interest every few months. One of my longtime clients is a "tradeshow specialist". Her expert advice is newsworthy anytime of year and can be covered editorially year after year – especially in business and trade magazines. That lends itself to multiple articles and features month after month in a wide array of media outlets. Remember – creativity and media pitching ingenuity can help add months of success to your publicity campaign.

HOW MANY HOURS:

A large number of hours will be spent planning and shaping your publicity campaign for the media market. The preparation of the media market research and the polishing of the media release may seem painstaking, but when done right, they are well worth the effort. After the initial launch of the campaign, be prepared to spend at least an hour or two each day maintaining it: conducting numerous media follow-ups and making new media pitches, (emails, faxes, mailings and phone calls); fulfilling media requests (forwarding product photos, media kits/product samples, arranging interviews) and tracking/clipping articles and features.

Here's a brief rundown on the number of hours that may be involved in a typical campaign: (These hours are averaged estimates. Many PR specialists might be able to get the work done more efficiently for you.)

CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

Media Release Writing/Editing 10 hours
Media Market Research 15 hours
Media Distribution 10 hours
TOTAL LAUNCH HOURS 35 hours

CAMPAIGN MAINTENANCE @ 30+ hours /month
3-Month Campaign 90 hours
TOTAL CAMPAIGN HOURS 125+ work hours

If you have the time, staff and expertise to launch your own campaign, then take advantage of the media and get your message to them. But if your expertise lies in another area, and you or your staff lack publicity generating skills (or have little or no experience in dealing with the media) it might be best to hand it off to someone who can make sure its done right – the first time. Ask yourself these questions when deciding whether you can handle your own publicity campaign:

* Do I have the expertise and time to get it done effectively without hampering my current workload or that of my staff?
* Do I have the writing capabilities to put together a media release or feature pitch to which editors, reporters and producers will respond?
* Do I have the resources to conduct the media research and distribute my release to those media outlets?

If you answered "yes" to all, not just some of these questions, then perhaps you can benefit from launching your own publicity campaign. Best of luck!

Customer Relationship Management

What is CRM?

Customer Relationship Management is an information industry term for methodologies, software, and, usually, Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organized way. For example, an enterprise might build a database about its customers that described relationships in sufficient detail. Therefore, management, salespeople, people providing services, and perhaps the customers could directly access information, match customer needs with product plans and offerings, remind customers of service requirements, and know what other products a customer had purchased. According to one industry view, CRM consists of:

* Helping an enterprise to enable its marketing departments to identify and target their best customers, manage marketing campaigns with clear goals and objectives, and generate quality leads for the sales team.
* Assisting the organization to improve telesales, account, and sales management by optimizing information shared by multiple employees, and streamlining existing processes (for example, taking orders using mobile devices).
* Allowing the formation of individualized relationships with customers, with the aim of improving customer satisfaction and maximizing profits; identifying the most profitable customers and providing them the highest level of service.
* Providing employees with the information and processes necessary to know their customers, understand their needs, and effectively build relationships between the company, its customer base, and distribution partners.

Brief History of CRM

With the advent of e-commerce comes the e-customer. According to Vantive, a customer relationship management solutions provider, the e-customer expects constant access to a company; through e- mails, call centers, faxes and websites. They demand immediate response and a personalized touch. Meeting their needs places new demands on the enterprise. Since traditional enterprise resource planning applications did not include a customer management aspect, CRM was the logical next step. Vantive, for example, has been developing and implementing customer-facing applications since 1992.

Two trends have brought CRM to the forefront, explains Boston University professor Tom Davenport, who directs Andersen Consulting's Institute for Strategic Change. First, as global competition has increased and products have become harder to differentiate, "companies have begun moving from a product-centric view of the world to a customer-centric one," says Davenport.

Second, technology has ripened to the point where it is possible to put customer information from all over the enterprise into a single system. "Until recently, we didn't have the ability to manage the complex information about customers, because information was stored in 20 different systems," says Davenport. But as network and Internet technology has matured, CRM software has found its place in the world.

Why is it Necessary?

Many companies are turning to customer-relationship management systems to better understand customer wants and needs. CRM applications, often used in combination with data warehousing, E-commerce applications, and call centers, allow companies to gather and access information about customers' buying histories, preferences, complaints, and other data so they can better anticipate what customers will want. The goal is to instill greater customer loyalty.

Other benefits include:

* Provide faster response to customer inquiries.
* Increasing efficiency through automation.
* Having a deeper knowledge of customers.
* Getting more marketing or cross-selling opportunities.
* Identifying the most profitable customers.
* Receiving customer feedback that leads to new and improved products or services.
* Doing more one-to-one marketing.
* Obtaining information that can be shared with the company's business partners.

Market Leaders

The top vendors of CRM software include Siebel, Vantive, and Clarify along with ERP vendors Baan Co. and Oracle Corp. These top five vendors contributed 40 percent of overall CRM revenue, with the market leaders growing a hardy 90 percent combined in 1998.

In the growing segment of CRM professional services, market leaders include Andersen Consulting, Cambridge Technology Partners, CSC, Deloitte Consulting, EDS/Centrobe, eLoyalty, Ernst & Young, IBM Global Services, KPMG, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The Future of CRM

AMR Research expects the CRM market to change dramatically, reaching $16.8 billion by the year 2003. The CRM segment is expected to witness 60% revenue growth this year, with compound annual growth of 49% by 2003. Companies are developing business plans with CRM strategies as the driving element, as customer service is a top priority.

Implementing A Successful Publicity Campaign

There's no denying that the Internet is allowing more and more entrepreneurs to start their own businesses and effectively market their new products. However, there seems to be an increasingly common misconception when these businesses try to generate media attention and publicity for their products or businesses. Over the past several years, I have had more than a few clients come to me seeking "a PR" to get people interested in their products/businesses. That’s right "a PR." Contrary to what some people think, PR is NOT an acronym for "Press Release" – it stands for Public Relations. PR is much more than just a press release and that distinction is very important to understand.

I often cringe when I see articles from well-intentioned "marketing" experts that say, in effect: "simply write a press release, pitch it to the media and just sit back and reap the benefits." Unfortunately, it is far from being that simple. That statement pre-supposes that the media release is written well – containing all the right elements and newspegs to catch the media eye – and that it is pitched and maintained in the correct media market, which is often the downfall of many amateur PR campaigns. By all means, a press release is an integral part of a PR campaign. But a press release alone does not a PR campaign make. A successful PR/publicity campaign for your business product, website or whatever should include many, if not all of the following:

* An interesting, quality, newsworthy product that the media (and its audience) will find merit in;

* A concise, articulate media release or story pitch – not a glorified ad – detailing the benefits of your product/business/website and what effect it will have for it's users;

* A supply of media "supportives" – product photos (digital & hard copy), possible review samples, etc.;

* An extensively researched media list detailing all applicable media outlets whose editorial profiles match your product/business profile. Here's an important detail – the targets of your pitch should be "name-specific" not just "title-specific" media contacts. By that I mean the media market research you compile should give you particulars like "Sally Jones-Cooking Editor" not just Tribune Newsroom or Managing Editor;

* A solid, trustworthy media contact vehicle that gets your release/media kit directly into the hands of the appropriate reporter/editor/producer and allows them to respond easily to your pitch.

* (As always, beware of press release distribution services that often times indiscriminately spew your release to hundreds of untargeted media outlets with little or no results.) Research to find out the preferred method of receipt of your media targets – don't just assume an email will suffice. Whether it's by snail mail, email, fax or phone calls, the media can't run your story if they don't hear about it. For one reason or another, some media may decide not to include your product/business in a placement – but don't let them say the reason is because they weren't made aware of it;

* Meticulous media relations to immediately fulfill media requests (photos/interviews/product samples) and extensive media contact follow-ups over several months to generate as many placements as possible. Many times, media outlets can't immediately respond to an initial pitch due to tight editorial deadlines and the time it takes to wade through a multitude of similar media pitches. I have found, without question, that the media interest continues to increase as you re-introduce the pitch and gently "rattle the media cage" over the course of the next several weeks/months;

* Some sort of media tracking capabilities – whether it's your own media follow-ups, Internet research, or a professional broadcast/print clipping service. Having "hard copies" of the placements generated by your PR campaign can be invaluable in the further marketing of your business/product. Media placements are a unique validation of the market acceptance for your business/product and can help you convince new customers of that fact.

Think of launching a PR/publicity campaign like flying a kite. The press release (which aptly details your product/business) is the kite. But if your kite doesn't have the proper amount of string, a good tail, a strong wind and the expert manipulation of the kite flier – it has very little chance of getting off the ground. But if all these elements are in place – a PR/publicity campaign can send your business soaring like a kite on a breezy Spring afternoon.

What is a Market Forecast?

A market forecast is a core component of a market analysis. It projects the future numbers, characteristics, and trends in your target market. A standard analysis shows the projected number of potential customers divided into segments.

This example of a simple market forecast defines two target market segments and projects the potential customers in each of those segments by years, for five years.

In the market forecast, the example numbers indicate that there are 25,000 home offices included in the market, and that number is growing at an estimated five percent per year. There are also 10,000 small businesses in the area, and that number is growing at five percent per year.

These numbers are estimates. Nobody really knows, but we all make educated guesses. The developers of the plan researched the market as well as they could and then estimated populations of target users in their area and the annual growth rates for each.

You can use your market forecast numbers to draw a chart of projected market growth, like the one shown here below. It offers a visual view of the market forecast.

Market Value

Normally you would also look at market value, not just market size. For example, although the high-end home segment is 2.5 times larger than the small business segment as measured by number of customers, the small business customer spends almost four times as much as the home office customer. Therefore, the small business market is a more important market in terms of dollar value.

The important numbers in this table are the average purchase per customer and the market value.

* Average purchase per customer is an educated guess based on experience. Sales managers got together to make the estimate. Although they would have liked some external source of information to use for this, there was none available. Notice that the home office customer tends to purchase much less overall than the small business customer.
* The market value is simple mathematics. Multiply the number of potential customers in the market by the average purchase per customer. In this case they took the average number of customers in each segment over the five-year forecast period, and multiplied that by the average purchase per customer, to calculate the market value.

The other items in this table are subjective qualities that help with marketing. The planners assign these points to people charged with preparing marketing materials.

Reality Checks

A market forecast should always be subject to a reality check. When you think you have a forecast, you need to find a way to check it for reality. In this case if the total market is worth some estimate, you could estimate sales of all the competitors and see if the two numbers relate to each other. In an international market, you might check production and import and export figures to see whether your estimates for annual shipments appear to be in the same general range as published figures. You might check with vendors who sold products to this market in some given year to see whether their results check with your forecast. You might look for macro-economic data to confirm the relative size of this market compared to other markets with similar characteristics.

Review Target Focus

The market analysis should lead to developing strategic market focus. That means selecting the key target markets. This is the critical foundation of strategy. We talk about it as segmentation and positioning.

Under normal circumstances, no company will attempt to address all the segments in a market. As you select target segments, think about the inherent market differences, keys to success, competitive advantage, and strengths and weaknesses of your company. You want to focus on the best market, but the best one is not necessarily the largest one or the one with the highest growth. It will be the one that matches your own company profile.

Classic Marketing Mistakes That May Never Go Away

It has been over fifty years since organizations began to understand the real importance of marketing strategy and planning. Prior to the 1950s most companies did not have marketing departments, but instead marketing activities were scattered among many departments such as advertising and sales. Things began to change as scholars and consultants pushed for companies to adopt strategies designed to unify a variety of marketing activities carried out in different parts of the company. By the 1960s most major college and university business programs were preaching the importance of marketing and an avalanche of books and magazines supported this cause.

With so much time and energy directed to improving marketing decision making, one might think that past mistakes attributed to lack of marketing knowledge would now be all but eliminated. In reality, there are many mistakes that are bound to be repeated no matter how much attention is direct to understanding marketing. Here are a few:

1. The Research Tells Us So

Relying on the results of market research as the deciding factor when making marketing decisions is a risky proposition. Why? Because research is inherently fraught with many potential problems. These problems are often the result of how the research is designed or how it is executed. It is particularly a problem if the researcher does not have access to all information. For instance, errors often occur with customer surveys including questions not being asked correctly and non-customers completing the survey. The bottom line is companies must perform market research to gain information needed to make informed marketing decisions. However, marketers must understand its limitations. In the end the marketer must weigh all available information to make their decision and not focus solely on what the research says.

2. All We Need to do is Pump More into Promotion

Wouldn’t it be great if marketing was this easy? Just spend more on advertising and other promotions and we will quickly see our sales increase. More likely what you’ll see is your profits decrease! The argument for more promotion as the medicine needed to fix lackluster sales is heard in nearly all organizations. But to view marketing problems in terms of promotional deficiencies is extremely shortsighted. Marketing is much more than advertising. Sales problems could be the result of numerous other marketing problems. Before deciding to spend more on promotion it probably makes more sense to spend time reviewing all marketing decisions to make sure problems do not lay elsewhere.

3. We Have the Best Product on the Market

Says who? The marketer might think it’s the best product, but remember the marketer is not buying the product. The marketer’s target market is supposed to buy it. If a marketer can’t understand why customers are buying a competitor’s product when the marketer thinks the competitor’s product is inferior then the marketer does not know the market well enough. More than likely how the product is positioned in customers’ minds is different than how the marketer sees things. This situation calls for extensive customer research to find out why the product is not performing as expected.

4. The Boss Knows What’s Best

A classic problem in many small businesses is when the person who built the business believes they know what works. The entrepreneur justifies this by telling everyone that the business is successful because he/she knows what the market wants. The boss often discounts market studies as a waste of funds, and worse yet, brushes aside marketing suggestions from others in the organization. While it is very likely the boss knows a lot about the market, it is unlikely the boss knows everything about the market. Making marketing decisions based on executive intuition works sometimes, but eventually lack of information, whether from refusing to undertake research or giving a cold shoulder to employees’ ideas, will lead to poor decisions.

5. Our Customers Only Care About Getting the Lowest Price

No they don’t. They care about the best value for their money. Customers first and foremost want to feel comfortable with their purchase and know they got their money’s worth from their decision. It is a miscalculation for marketers to believe customers reduce purchase decisions to selecting the product with the lowest price. Yet if a marketer undertakes a little research they will invariable find many other issues affect the purchase. Companies that feel they are losing out to lower priced competitors are really losing out to higher value competitors. Clearly to fight this requires marketing efforts that increase the value of the firm’s products in the minds of its target market.

6. We Know Who Our Competitors Are

Most marketers when asked to name their competitors can easily rattle off a list. While the length of this list shows strong knowledge of the market, what is more important is who is not on the list. Companies not viewed as competitors are potentially the biggest threat to a company, especially for companies operating in a rapidly evolving market. At the very least the marketer should have two lists – current competitors and potential competitors. The list for potential competitors should be heavily weighted with companies that are outside the current industry. In this way the marketer broadens the universe of potential influencers in their market. Having this knowledge not only makes the marketer aware of potential competitors but investigating firms in outside industries may also provide insight and ideas for product innovation, new markets and new channels for communication.

7. The Only Thing That Matters Is ROI

For many companies investing in a marketing decision must have only one payoff – profit on the investment. Yet if this approach drives all marketing decisions the company is at best an underachiever and at worst vulnerable to competitors. Why? Because not all marketing decisions should be tied to a positive return on investment. Sometimes a firm must make strategic decisions that sacrifice profits in order strengthen other parts of the company. For example, a company may spend significant funds to develop a new product that research suggests has little chance of being profitable. But the product may serve as a major annoyance to your competitor’s top product. Because of this the competitor may need to expend more resources to insure their product retains its market position. Being forced to direct more funds to support their top product may slow down their efforts to develop new products that could compete against your products.

8. Who Needs to Plan
Marketing executives within fast moving industies often feel planning beyond the short-term is useless since the market changes so rapidly. Yet failing to lay out a plan may lead to some big surprises, like running out of money! In a business environment where decisions are made quickly it is easy to lose track of where the money is going. A marketing plan can help the company insert controls on marketing expenditures. It also has the added benefit of having marketers take a step back to see where the company has been and may uncover important information that was not apparent earlier. Additionally, a marketing plan may help insure that everyone within the company is on the same page with regard to the basic direction of the firm’s marketing efforts. This may prevent finger pointing down the road. Even if a plan is limited to only covering the next six months of operations it is an exercise that should not be avoided.

The future of marketing: direct mail, network, email, strategies, ideas, relationship marketing, campaign slogans

Building a Better World - recently ranked as one of the 20 most influential business thinkers alive today (Thinkers50) and author of Building a Better Business. See also separate keynote multimedia event: Future of Marketing slides at Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) marketing conference. See also two different one hour videos on The future of marketing: direct mail, network, email, strategies, ideas, relationship marketing, campaign slogans for Finland Marketing Federation and Why market research can't tell you the future. Also How to write a marketing plan: major trends to consider and 10 steps to a better marketing plan.

See also presentations to the Belgium Marketing Federation, Finland Marketing Federation, Portugese Marketing Federation and MCCA.

New consumer values will demand a new approach to marketing
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Get ready for the greatest shift in consumer values for fifty years
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Fundamental attitude / fashion changes are about to sweep through society
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More powerful than internet, biotech and globalisation combined
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Accelerated dramatically by recent events, chaos and uncertainty
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Huge future impact on all marketing activity, business and personal decisions
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Became obvious to me as a Futurist as well as a physician

Big questions about the value of "progress"
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The revolution began shortly before the Millennium - the New Dawn
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We've never had so much, consumed so much, enjoyed so much
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A century of science, medicine and technology has improved our lives
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Yet it's left us time-hungry, seeking greater work-life balance and meaning
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Deep issues remain untouched in our families and neighbourhoods
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We created a global village without knowing how to live together inside it
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Opened the doors to designer life, cloned babies, biotech war and more
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Result: people asking questions - does more always mean better?

The ultimate marketing slogan or advertising banner

(See the $20,000 Marketing, Management and Motivation Challenge offered to all participants at conferences)
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We build a better world for you - the greatest claim of all
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A better future for you, your business and your world
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It also happens to be the reason for everything that people buy and do
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Improving something, in some way, somewhere, for themselves /someone else
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People like to feel the world is a better place with them living in it
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That's why 60% of Americans enthusiastically give a total 20 billion hours a
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year to worthy causes - equivalent in value to 4% of the entire US economy
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They want to feel good about what they do and buy

One simple truth is the key to all marketing in future
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Building a Better World is the big value, the key to selling in future
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Four Corners of the Human Heart motivate us, but marketers focus on one
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Satisfy Individuals - basis of most advertising campaigns
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Support Family - your inner circle of special people
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Strengthen Community - your neighborhood, city, nation
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Sustain the World - life on earth, environment, your own world

Connect with all the passions people have and they'll follow you to the ends of the earth to support your business. They'll spread goodwill, work hard for you - buy your products, your services and your stock with pride. You'll attract the best people, form highly motivated teams, sell the strongest brands with greatest purpose and highest values, promising all a better future.

A Business Guide to Federal Export Assistance

For over a decade, the Export Programs Guide has been the most comprehensive guide to federal programs that assist U.S. exporters. This completely updated 2006 edition continues this tradition, with detailed descriptions of more than 100 programs offered by 19 different federal agencies. These include:

* export counseling programs
* information on trade promotion events
* export financing programs
* sources of industry- and country-specific information and assistance
* information on export controls and licenses


Each entry includes a brief description, a contact name and telephone number, and a Web site and e-mail address.

Among the valuable new information that can be found in this updated edition are listings of regionally-focused programs — such as Asia Now, the China Business Information Center, and the Middle East Business Information Center — that provide exporters with a single point of access for information on regional trade events, business counseling, and market research specific to these regions. Two appendices to the book include a list of all 109 U.S. Export Assistance Centers located throughout the country and contact information for the 19 federal agencies that are members of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee.

India Market Overview

The Indian market, and its one billion plus population, presents lucrative and diverse opportunities for U.S. exporters with the right products, services, and commitment. In recent times, the declining value of the dollar, vis-ˆ-vis competitors' currencies, is expanding and accelerating these opportunities. India's infrastructure, transportation, energy, environmental, health care, high-tech, and defense sector requirements for equipment and services will exceed tens of billions of dollars in the mid-term as the Indian economy globalizes and expands. India's GDP, currently growing at around 7 percent, makes it one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Construction of nearly everything from airports to container ports to teleports, is setting the stage to remake India.

Key Economic Indicators

* GDP: $691 billion
* Growth: Estimated 7-8 percent or higher in 2005-06; 7 percent in 2004-05
* Breakdown:Services equal 50 percent of the GDP; industry and agriculture equal 50 percent
* Ranking: 10th largest economy in the world in 2004, and fourth largest in purchasing-power parity terms
* Per capita income: $603 in 2004-05, (almost double the figure of two decades ago). Of the 1.065 billion people, 39 percent live on less than $1 per day
* Purchasing power: In 2005, approximately 170-200 million people had growing purchasing power, thus creating a growing middle-class consumer population
* Youth Power: Over 58 percent of the Indian population is under the age of 20. That is over 564 million people, nearly twice the total population of the United States

U.S. - India Trade

* Total Trade: Total bilateral trade in 2005 was $26.77 billion
* U.S. Exports to India in 2005 increased to $7.96 billion, a 30.3 percent increase from the previous year
* Imports from India in 2005 totaled $18.81 billion, a 20.8 percent increase from the previous year

Doing Business in India

The Indo-U.S. relationship is in the midst of a remarkable transformation. The two countries, politically and economically distant for much of the late twentieth century, now find their national interests converging at many points. Indian tariffs have been reduced progressively since the early 1990's. Tariffs and poor infrastructure present the biggest obstacles to foreign investment and growth, but India's infrastructure requirements also present trade and investment opportunities for American companies. Key factors to doing business successfully in India include: finding good partners who have knowledge of the local market and procedural issues; good planning; aggressive due diligence and follow up; and patience and commitment.

The U.S. Commercial Service in India offers customized solutions to help your business enter and succeed in the Indian market. Our India-wide network of trade specialists will work one-on-one with you through every step of the exporting process, helping you to:

* Target the best markets
* Promote your products and services to qualified buyers
* Meet the best distributors and agents for your products and services

Visit our services available for U.S. companies for more information on doing business in India.

See your company listed for free on our website through our Featured U.S. Exporters program. Market Entry Strategy

* Finding partners and agents. New business must address issues of sales channels, distribution and marketing practices, pricing and labeling and protection of intellectual property. Relationships and personal meetings with the potential agents are extremely important. Due diligence is strongly recommended.
* Geographic diversity. U.S. companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, should consider approaching India's market on a local level. Good localized information is a key to success in such a large and diverse country. U.S. Commercial Service posts in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Calcutta provide indispensable local information and advice and are well plugged in with local business and economic leaders. Often multiple agents are required to serve each geographic market in the country.
* Market entry options. Options include using a subsidiary relationship, a joint venture with an Indian partner, or using a liaison, project, or branch office.

Best Prospects

Ranked on the basis of estimated Indian imports from the U.S. for 2005, the best prospects for U.S. exports follow. The most promising investment opportunities exist in healthcare services, retailing and biotechnology. For more information on each of the best prospect sectors, go to Leading Sectors for U.S. Exports of the India Country Commercial Guide.

* Airport & Ground Handling
* Computer and peripherals
* Education Services
* Electrical Power Generation, Transmission & Distribution Equipment
* Food Processing & Cold Storage Equipment
* Machine Tools
* Medical equipment
* Mining & Mineral Processing Equipment
* Oil & Gas Field Machinery
* Pollution Control Equipment
* Safety and security equipment
* Telecommunication Equipment
* Textile Machinery
* Water

Search Engine Marketing: What Does It Take to Get Found?

By now you have heard of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and you know the goal: to improve a website's positioning in search engines and directories. If you're not doing it, you may be wondering if it should be on your radar and if so where to start.

Why Marketers Care: Audience Usage and ROI

Across industries, SEM has quickly approached the top of marketers' to do lists for two reasons. First, it's where target audiences are. Whether B2B or B2C, consumers are using search engines for the efficient, self-directed purchase decision research they've always wanted to do.

Second, SEM is cost effective. Using a B2B example, online "push" tactics like e-newsletter advertisements and white paper listings can produce high quality sales leads at 10-20% of the cost of offline advertising. But adding search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising to enable motivated prospects to "pull" themselves into a solution-focused website even further decreases cost per lead and increases sales conversion.

So just what does SEM include? What does someone need to do to make a website show up when a prospect does a relevant search?

The SEM Toolkit

A marketer can take three approaches to SEM:

* Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - designing and adjusting a site to improve organic, "free" listings (the results listed in the main body of the search engine results page);
* Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) - bidding on targeted keyword search results in the sponsored section of a search engine; or
* Integrated Search Engine Marketing - incorporating both SEO and PPC, and in some cases adding tactics like paid inclusion.

Each approach has its merits and drawbacks. PPC works almost immediately; but you need to watch results carefully since each click to your website costs money. Because your positioning is based on a bid model, competitors with deep pockets can knock you off the first page of results. And when your budget is spent, your visibility is gone.

SEO takes patience. You may implement every optimization best practice and still wait weeks or even months before the engines add your site to their databases and rank it in their search results. The advantage is that once this happens you're on your way and the clicks don't cost a thing - except your service costs to keep the site optimized, stay ahead of the competitors and change your keyword focus as your business strategy evolves. One argument for SEO is that 77% of searchers' clicks are on organic rather than paid listings (according to "Balancing SEM for Success" by Paul Bruemmer, Search Engine Guide Website, Oct. 18, 2005).

If you have the time and the budget, the best SEM approach is a strategic combination of SEO and PPC. But how do you do it? Start by assembling a knowledgeable team, then focus these resources on strategic keyword (search term) prioritization. From that point SEO and PPC methodologies diverge. Countless tactics exist, and they change frequently as the search engines refine their algorithms. However, below are some of the keys to an effective SEO program:

1) Search Term Selection (Keywords)

The goal of every search engine is to determine the main themes of your website and rank its relevancy compared to other similarly themed sites. It is extremely difficult to achieve premium search visibility for numerous different search terms using one webpage. Therefore, try to create separate pages pertaining to different aspects of your organization's offerings. Focus on only a handful of search terms on any one page.

2) Site Design

SEO efforts should begin with a look at the overall design of your website. One key is ensuring that your site contains HTML text, since search engines cannot discern content formatted in Flash or other graphics.

3) Linking

Look at both internal and external links. Internal links are those that point to other areas of your site. They allow search engines to index more of your pages, resulting in better search engine visibility. Use a site map with text links to each page to provide the search engines a path through your entire site. External links - links pointing to your site from another site - also help search engines determine relevancy. The best links are those originating from a reputable site, preferably within your industry. Strengthen the description text of these incoming links with top tier search terms. For example, "click here" is less powerful than a term specific to your products/services, like "used auto parts." Other linking tips include:

* Be careful with sites that promote reciprocal links. Many are irrelevant and will provide no benefit.
* Research your competitors' links (one way to do this is to type "link:www.yourcompetitorsurl.com" into Google).
* Leverage your online PR to build relevant incoming links to your site.

4) Page Copy and Code

A webpage's copy and code are critical. Try to have at least 200 words of copy per page, and use your most critical search terms in the first paragraph. The most important piece of code is the Title Tag. This is the text that is displayed at the top of a browser window and is also used by search engines as the title of a search listing. While this is a very basic piece of meta data within a website, it is a significant factor of most engines' ranking algorithms. The Description Tag is the second most important piece of code on a page. This meta tag provides a summary of the page to someone conducting a query. If a description tag is not provided, the search engines may display a random paragraph from the page text as the summary, potentially confusing the searcher.

If you consider all of these elements, your website has a good chance of being indexed by the search engines and getting found by prospects. To sustain these results, an SEO or PPC program needs to be maintained. Stay on top of the engines' changing algorithms and your competitive positioning; monitor your results (not just visibility but traffic and conversions); and keep your target keywords tied to your evolving business strategy.

Recently, there has been a significant split in search engine marketing approaches. Seeing rising target audience usage and increased competition for positioning, organizations for which strategic search marketing is a critical marketing tactic are finding success by hiring a dedicated team of experts. 90octane's strategic SEM programs have helped organizations worldwide gain visibility, targeted traffic and revenue since 2000. Companies that rely less on SEM and have the time and expertise are bringing this function in-house. 90octane has recently developed a search engine marketing seminar series for organizations looking for ways to keep in-house resources educated on the evolving search engine landscape and best practices in both SEO and PPC. This seminar series includes hands-on guidance from industry experts and online tools for participants to use when marketing websites via the search engines.