Distributed Presence TM

Land Rover Connects NY Auto Show Attendees & Online Enthusiasts with Twitter: #LRNY

NEW YORK (Distributed Presence @keithrhodes) -- This week automakers kicked-off the 2010 model year with exclusive reveals at the New York International Auto Show.  Land Rover has some exciting news for their 2010 vehicles and they are leveraging Twitter in a very unique way to connect Auto Show attendees with online brand and automotive enthusiasts in real-time.  Land Rover, with the help from Y&R/Wunderman, will be the first known brand to actively promote a Twitter hashtag in both traditional and digital media to build  discussion around it's new vehicles and to quickly distribute consumer generated content online. 

What's a hashtag, you say?  Hashtags are keywords preceded by a # sign and used in Tweets  on Twitter to allow consumers to participate and follow a conversation through a common discussion thread.  Using the Twitter platform, consumers can use hashtag #LRNY as part of each Tweet to comment, share, post photos, links, etc. about the new Land Rover vehicles.  Consumers can also follow the conversation online and on mobile devices by heading to Twitter Search and searching on the hashtag #LRNY. 

To generate consumer awareness and to encourage participation in the social media campaign, Land Rover communicated the Twitter: #LRNY hashtag in both traditional media and in online social channels.  Additionally, Land Rover leveraged TwittAd's extensive affinity network to execute a 3-touch Twitter campaign- the first of it's kind for a global brand.  Combined, Land Rover's integrated social media campaign around the 2009 New York Auto Show is expected to reach more than 500,000 Land Rover brand and auto enthusiasts. 

At a time when brands and marketers are actively seeking new ways to leverage social media to join consumer-led conversations online, Twitter has quickly emerged as a leading channel.  But why, until now, have brands so far ignored the enormous opportunity to create a dynamic and real time communications channel  connecting online and offline audiences using hashtags?  Twitter users and conference goers all know about hashtags and they regularly take advantage of this conference "back-channel" as evidenced recently by the South By Southwest Music Festival #SXSW.  Today, marketers are not using all that Twitter has to offer since they are primarily using Twitter to broadcast messages to consumers; sometimes replying to specific @replies.  But this is not what social media is all about.  Hashtags represent a whole new way for brands to use Twitter; creating a dynamic platform for consumers to participate and share information on a brand.  Though, many top brands are using Twitter today such as GM, Ford, Honda, JetBlue, Starbucks, Marriott, Southwest, Zappos, HRBlock, Best Buy, etc., none are actively using or promoting branded hashtags. 

No longer.  Land Rover is leading the way by adopting the #LRNY hashtag as part of it's 2009 New York Auto Show event communications strategy.  So far, so good.  Land Rover has already achieved significant buzz around not only it's 2010 vehicles, but about the social media strategy itself.  It's clear that Land Rover is on to something here.

My prediction?  Brands will quickly come onboard employing hashtags as part of their larger social media strategy beyond event marketing and Land Rover will be credited with establishing what everyone will soon call "conversation keyword marketing."

Follow on Twitter @keithrhodes

Hello...Are You Listening?

Recently, someone that I know said to me "people just don't listen," which got me to thinking about what they meant and what it really means "to listen."  In your lifetime you've probably heard someone say "you hear me...but you're not listening to what I'm saying."  For the most part, "hearing" is a passive activity, while "listening" requires active participation.  Being an active listener requires interpretation, analysis, understanding and action.  And, it goes both ways.  Effective dialog requires active listening, engagement and bi-directional sharing by participants.

So, I ask the question: Are marketers today listening to their consumers; are they even hearing them?  I'm anticipating the standard response to be "yes, we run focus groups, we perform voice-of-the-customer studies and we employ customer surveys to understand how to improve our products." There is no doubt that these are great listening and learning tools, but you'll have to agree that [a] you probably don't do them enough, [b] they're expensive to execute, and [c] there is a time lag from what you've learned and when you choose to respond.  What if I told you that there was a faster, better and less expensive way to listen to your customers? Would you listen? 

If so, here goes:  Social Media (blogs, photo sharing sites, audio/video sites, microblogs, social networks, wikis, text marketing, review/ratings sites, etc.) provides a set of tools to the modern marketer that will allow you to not only listen to what your consumers are saying, but to also respond to them in a timely manner.  Sound fascinating?  It will take some work on your behalf, but the rewards are happier customers, which leads to positive commentary (both online and word of mouth), which will result in increased revenues. 

Below I've outlined some ways that you can listen to your customers and how you can respond.  Both will assist you as you set-out to define your listening and consumer dialog strategy. 

Listening Tools:

Search:  Use Google, MSN, Ask and Yahoo to search on your company name, product names, competitors, URLs, taglines, logos, company executive names, etc.  Searches should be performed on a regular basis and alerts can be set-up with each search engine to do some of the work for you.

Blog Spotting:  Today, there are are millions of bloggers in the blogosphere that are creating millions of new entries each day.  If you're thinking "bloggers don't matter, they're too small to have significant influence," think again.  Even small blogs have arms and legs that reach all corners of the web via social bookmarking, search engine indexing, tagging, linking, etc.  Social Media makes it all possible and you need to know what they're saying about your company and your products.  That said, there are some great tools out there to know what is being said in the blogosphere.  Start with Google Blog Search, BlogPulse, Technorati and IceRocket  Again, search on your company name, product names, competitors, etc. and trend it over time.

Linking:  Start by entering your company and product URLs into the top search engines.  You'll quickly find-out who is linking to you.  Alternatively, regularly check your analytics service provider (Omniture, Hitwise, Google Analytics) for incoming links to your sites.  Know who is linking to you and what they're saying about you, both positive and negative.  Linking is often the best source of understanding where your traffic is coming from and why.  Remember, not all traffic to your site is a result of something that you're doing right.

Microblogging/Twitter:  Sign-up for a Twitter account and download and install TweetDeck, which will allow you to set-up groups based on keyword searches of Twitter conversations; such as "your company name" or "your product name."  Then, all you have to do is to check these groups on TweetDeck to know what is being said about your company or your products.  As a bonus, set-up groups for competing products to know what is being said about your competitors.  If this is too much for you, simply go to Twitter Search and enter details in the search field to "see what's happening - right now" on Twitter.  Search anything, it's amazing what you'll find.

Wikis:  Regularly check your product entries at Wikipedia and other relevant wikis.  As you likely know, these entries are consumer generated and often change.  Also, check your competitor's products to see how they are positioned vis-a-vis your products.

Product Review/Ratings Sites:  Some of your best source of product information will come by way of consumer ratings and reviews.  These sites can be stand alone sites such as Epinions or can be supplementary features on expert or shopping sites such as Edmunds or Amazon. Either way, consumers that are at these sites are likely in the consideration phase of the purchase funnel and are subject to the the influences of others; especially people that have purchased your product or are your current customers.  Carefully review these ratings and review sites and determine how you should respond to consumer dissonance or complaints.  Also, review what consumers are saying about your competitor's products as well.  Note that you should not seek to publish false reports on these sites to balance or counter criticism; this will only lead to trouble.  In the digital channel, transparency and authenticity deliver consumer trust. 

Consumer Dialog Tools:
It is important to point-out here that your tone should be conversational, authentic and timely with the goal of influencing the conversation, which is why it's now being referred to as Influence Marketing.  Below I detail a few ideas, however know that your choice of tactics will depend on both your strategy and individual issues that arise.  Many companies are now employing company communications professionals whose sole job it is to dialog with consumers via social media.  This role is a combination of both marketing and operations, which entails gauging whether or not consumer expectations are meeting the delivered experience, and if not, work to fix issues both internally and externally.

Microblogging/Twitter:  Many companies, such as Starbucks, Baskin-Robbins, Jet Blue, IKEA, and Zappos, are now Twittering to engage in two-way conversations with their consumers.  Twitter allows consumers to "follow" you; which is essentially a subscription to your Tweets, or micro-messages.  Products, such as the aforementioned TweetDeck, facilitates this process as it allows a company to organize their communications with consumers.  There is a 140 character limit to each Tweet and companies should know that the style of conversation should be personal and informal.  Other microblogging services exist as independent services or as part of a social networking site such as Facebook, however, Twitter is the standard at this point.  Your company's listening strategy will dictate how little or how much you chose to engage in microblogging.  However, know that microblogging is becoming more and more popular everyday; even NBC's The Today Show and Fox News now Twitter.

Blogging:  Many companies are now setting-up company blogs to engage in two-way dialog with their consumers. Though a recent Forrester report, titled Time To Rethink Your Corporate Blogging Ideas, found that consumers distrust corporate blogs, I feel that authenticity engenders trust, which should be what you set-out to do with your blog.  Be honest, be authentic and be apologetic, if necessary.  Beginning a blog post with something like "We heard you..." is a great way to let consumers know that you're listening.  Again, the blog should be conversational and informal.  Be careful though, sometimes the corporate blogger themselves will gain some level of fame, so make sure to have a succession plan in place if your blogger quits the company.

Social Networks:  Creating a "Fan Site" on Facebook and other social networks is often free.  Set-up a fan site for your products or company and frequently communicate with fans providing some level of value for becoming a fan of your company or product.  Additionally, the fans of your products on social networks form the foundation of an advocacy network; a segment that you may want to treat differently by providing them with product samples, coupons, exclusive demonstrations, etc.  Making them feel special and valued will pay dividends.  Your social media advocacy network will likely create the buzz or word-of-mouth exposure that you're looking for at a fraction of the cost that word-of-mouth companies such as BzzAgent charge. 

Sites/Microsites, Email, CRM and Online Advertising:  With all of this talk about social media, it's easy to forget about the core; that is your website, email/CRM programs and online advertising.   I sometimes jokingly refer to these as "traditional digital," since so much has changed in recent years.  The new mantra is Distributed Presence, which entails being everywhere. Though, be sure to integrate your listening and social media strategy with everything else that you're doing in the digital medium; each tactic should complement the other.  Your company voice will likely shift based on your digital channel, though make sure that the message is integrated and consistent.

Traditional Media:  Of course, integration is key here; whether it's TV, Radio, Print, Direct Mail or Out-of-Home.  As I stated in the in the last section, your voice will change based on channel, but the message should be consistent across mediums. It's important to call out here that your Public Relations strategy should be tightly integrated with your listening and consumer dialog strategy.

Keep in mind that the above serves only to get your started.  Once you begin to understand both the complexity and rewards of participating in Social Media, you will naturally augment your strategy to include other tools and tactics.  As you head down this path, recognize that it's a best practice to baseline and trend social media conversations over time so that you can demonstrate your listening strategy's impact and return on investment.

If for some reason at this point you're think that it's not for you, keep in mind that these consumer-led conversations are taking place with or without you.  By not listening and not responding, you're taking the position of agreement; silence is consent.  That said, dig-in, listen, analyze, understand, and do your best to influence these conversations through active participation; your job may depend on it.

(Note:  I apologize for the long post, I didn't have time to write a short one. ;-)

2009 Industry Prediction: Influence Marketing Comes of Age

Adweek recently published an article titled "Brands Tap Web Elite for Advertorial 2.0," where they describe Panasonic's jump into blogger influence marketing at the Consumer Electronics Show.  As you may recall in an earlier post titled "Blogger Influence Marketing," I described HP's foray into influence marketing in their 31 Days of Dragon promotion.  Though it's hard to determine ROI from these programs, HP credited their influence marketing program with an 84% increase in sales of the Dragon notebook computer.  These early successes, combined with strong evidence of consumer ad blocking and the consumer's acceptance and trust of social media, will drive many more marketers in 2009 to adopt social influence marketing as part of their overall digital strategy.  This new focus on influence marketing will lead to growth, further integration and consolidation in the digital media environment.  In 2009, expect "social media" shops to pop-up and steal the spotlight, expect existing digital agencies to add social media and influence marketing capabilities and expect existing pure-play social media shops to be acquired. 

Here what it's all about:  Social media has made a permanent imprint on the customer journey as consumers now have the opportunity to expand their sphere of influence to guide them through the purchase funnel.  Think about it, in the past consumers had only a few friends and family to seek advice on their experiences or perceptions of products.  Now, consumers can reach hundreds, if not thousands, in a matter of minutes via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google, Technorati, product review sites, expert blogs, etc. 

Therefore, as you set-out to define your influence marketing strategy, start by mapping the customer journey; too many marketers ignore this important step.  Understand consumer touchpoints with your brand as they move through the purchase funnel and develop influence marketing programs that complement other marketing tactics.  Be sure to be creative in both your programs and in how you determine ROI as there are no rules or standards as of yet; expect these to come later in the year as more programs get under way and establish benchmarks.

To help to get you started, I've provided a definition of Blogger Influence Marketing, a subset of Social Influence Marketing: 

A systematic approach or process where organizations actively solicit and engage online bloggers or key influencers for the purpose of obtaining a predetermined marketing objective.  Blogger Influence Marketing provides the brand with the opportunity to engage with their target consumer through trusted and credible communications platforms, which influences the consumer's purchase decision.  Programs or campaigns often include prepackaged marketing material, products, contests, promotions, giveaways, etc. that are provided to key bloggers who then execute the programs at a fraction of the price that it would cost the brand to execute the program employing traditional media tactics.

2009 Industry Prediction: Digital Marketing Goes to Washington

Obama's use of technology and social media has been widely credited with his ability to connect with U.S. citizens and to raise an unprecedented amount of money ultimatly resulting in his historic presidential win.  As Business Week stated "[Obama] leveraged his website, the blogosphere, and even user-generated content (remember Obama Girl) and video games to engage not just donors and volunteers but all citizens." There is no doubt that future presidential candidates will elicit outside agencies with the directive to employ the "Obama online community networking model" to mobilize their constituency, but what is the near-term impact to the digtital marketing industry? 

Recognizing that change must come to Washington, Obama has already promised to appoint a Technology Czar to ensure that the Government is appropriately investing in next generation technology.  Obama's vision of a friendlier and more responsive government should be seen as very good news for the digital marketing industry.  Here's why:  The Government has long invested in technology infrastructure projects, which is why today you see D.C. and Northern Virginia riddled with technology consulting firms.  Though, as most of us know in the digital marketing industry, the "back-end," though an enabler, is transparent to the end user.  What matters most to the consumer (and to the average U.S. citizen) is their experience; were they able to complete the task that they set-out to do with as little frustration as possible.  From a marketing perspective, we take this further by ensuring that the consumer experience reflects the brand's positioning and provides a consistent stop along the customer journey.  In our industry we continuously seek to optimize the consumer experience; employing testing techniques such as heuristics, split and multivariate tests, concept and usability testing, focus groups, etc.  We think beyond the core consumer experience and seek to create a brand web or distributed presence that touches  consumers across all channels (both paid and unpaid) with a consistent message.  Simply put, we want to get noticed, while at the same time we continuously seek to demonstrate value to our target consumers.  I don't need to tell you that accomplishing this is difficult to do today given the short attention span and high expectations of the digital consumer. 

That said, the U.S. Government and it's various agencies do not have the expertise to effectively leverage the new media environment to accomplish their goals all on their own.  Just having a website no longer does the job, as Obama clearly demonstrated to McCain during the 2008 campaign.  If you combine the above with Obama's recently announced economic stimulus plan set to kick-off shortly after his inauguration, it doesn't take much to connect the dots:  Beginning in 2009, digital marketing agencies are headed to Washington D.C.  Sure you can argue that they're already there; AKQA, Arnold & Wunderman/RTCRM all have offices in the area, but given Obama's new mandate it won't be long before many more digital marketing agencies infiltrate the newest digital marketing frontier; our nation's capital. 

Do You ShopText?

What if I told you that there is a platform out there that allows you to sell or interact with your customers directly from traditional media?  Would you say, "that's impossible!"  Well, I have some surprising news for you.  You may recall that in a previous post I discussed Text Marketing and how it's bringing both accountability and interactivity to traditional static channels such as radio, print, direct mail, out-of-home, events, etc. Enter ShopText.  ShopText has created a platform that allows consumers to request product samples, enter sweepstakes and even purchase products directly from your mobile device. 

How does it work? Here goes...

Registration:  Consumers can choose to register with ShopText, but it is not required for a consumer to participate in an advertiser's program. During the site registration process, the consumers opts-in to Pull-only Text Marketing, provides secure credit card information, billing/mailing address and a secret code that confirms requests or purchases.  This entire process takes about two minutes.  If the consumer is not pre-registered, the ShopText platform will lead them through this process when the consumer sends their first text message to a brand marketer.  

Program in action:  Whenever this consumers sees that friendly ShopText Logo (seen here) on advertisements, they can simply text the advertised word to a specific short-code to perform a desired action, such as enter a sweepstakes, obtain a discount code and even purchase a product. 

ShopText Example:  A female consumer who has previously registered with ShopText is flipping-through Shape magazine while waiting at the dentist's office and sees an advertisement and/or editorial about a new type of yoga mat that promises to "elevate her workouts" through special ionic material that encompasses the mat (no, it's not true).  She has to have it, but doesn't want to call an 800-number, go to the website or tear-out the page.  She notices the ShopText logo that allows her to either "buy it now" or request more information.  She decides to buy it, she sends keyword "ionicmat" to short-code "54321."  ShopText responds with a text message requesting her PIN to confirm the order.  She replies with her PIN, ShopText then sends a receipt to her email address on file and sends the order to Ionic Mat, where they handle fulfillment.  

It appears that ShopText is having some initial success with their new business model as they've inked deals with an impressive list of companies:  Burger King, General Mills, Unilever, Rodale, Meredith, P&G, etc. to name a few.

I love this idea.  ShopText not only brings accountability and interactivity to traditional media, it allows brands to engage in mobile commerce as well.  Sure you can set-up your own Text Marketing program to do much of this, but ShopText has simplified the process through the creation of a robust platform and a broad network of both media partners and on-the-go consumers.

Be sure to check-out ShopText and consider it for your next offline program; it just could be the next big idea that you're looking for.

Social Media's Impact on the Customer Journey

Traditionally, the Customer Journey has been defined as:  the cycle of the relationship/buying interaction between the customer and an organization across all channels and over a period of time.  However, the online environment, specifically social media, has created the opportunity for external forces to impact the traditional Customer Journey. That said, marketers are now beginning to map the Customer Journey to include these external forces and seek to optimize the consumer experience during each stage of the customer lifecycle.

Sound interesting?  Check back soon for the complete article where I go into detail on how social media is rattling the traditional marketing funnel and what marketers can and should do about it.

SMS/Text Marketing: Friend or Foe?

Recently, I've been engaging in more and more discussion with other marketers about the use of SMS/Text messaging as an alternative/support marketing channel, referred to as Text Marketing.  From flu alerts to special offers/discount notifications to mobile viral promotions, text messaging as a marketing channel is growing in popularity.  However, Text Marketing is fundamentally different from other channels and marketers need to tread lightly when communicating with their customers via this very personal channel.  

This morning I came upon Davis Brewer's article Mobile Brings Value to Traditional Channels, where he discusses the use of text messaging as a support channel for traditional media to bring both interactivity and accountability to traditional (static) channels.  I couldn't agree more with Davis as I've been trying to convince my own clients to incorporate a Text Marketing component into their media plans using the same two arguments. 

Davis further cites Neilsen research stating that "77 percent of U.S. wireless phone users use text messaging. In a month, the average cell phone user sends and receives more text messages (357) than phone calls (204). The average age of those using text messaging is 35." 

The fact of the matter is this; text messaging is growing in popularity with US consumers and marketers are eager to open an additional channel to reach their target consumers.  However, it is important to note that consumers have preferred communications channels, where they may wish to hear from marketers; email, postal mail, phone AND text messaging.  Employing research and consumer insight, marketers should seek to optimize the customer journey by reaching their consumers via their preferred communications channels, which may or may not include text messaging.  

From a marketing perspective, Text Marketing can be placed into one of two categories: 

1.  Pull Text Marketing:  Consumers make a request via text message and a response is made by a marketer, referred to as demand-response.  Here's an example: A consumer sees McDonald's print advertisments that states: send the word "happymeal" to short-code "54321" to receive a $1 discount code toward your next purchase.  This is usually a one-time contact by the marketer with the consumer.

2.  Push Text Marketing: Consumer subscribes to alerts, special offers, discounts, etc. and agrees that the marketer can contact the consumer according to their agreement.  The marketer then pushes alerts or notifications to consumers at will.  Here's an example:  A consumer goes to Chevy.com and subscribes to be notified via text message of upcoming special offers or incentives.  Chevy then pushes incentives text messages to the consumer whenever they update their marketing programs.  It is important to note in this example that there is no end to these alerts unless the consumers replies with a "stop" message.

Pull Text Marketing is the less intrusive of the two tactics since the consumer made a specific request.  In short, consumers are expecting an immediate response from the marketer and actually sit and wait for the response. However, Push Text Marketing is where the waters become a bit murky as it feels more invasive to a consumer compared to its counterpart.

So, why is this?  Text messaging is more personal than any other communications channel.  I've often said that today, email is for business (impersonal), social networks are for friends or extended relationships (more personal) and text messaging is for very close or immediate relationships (very personal).  Additionally, there is a cost to the consumer to receive text messages, which is different from other communications channels.  When a marketer begins to employ Text Marketing tactics, even if previously invited, backlash against the brand can occur.  Here's an example of a recent experience:  I received a text alert from My Coke Rewards; apparently they missed me.  Though I opted-in to text alert notifications, I forgot about it since it was more than 6 months ago.  When I heard that familiar text notification sound on my Blackberry, I excitedly checked my text in-box in anticipation of hearing something like:  Wife: "what do you want to do for dinner?"  Friend: "are we still going skiing over Christmas?"  Another Friend: "what time are we meeting for the 5K this Sunday?"  As you can imagine, I was not expecting to hear: Coke "we miss you, come back to us."

That said, here are a couple of key take-aways with regard to setting-up and executing a Text Marketing program:  

1. Text Marketing is not email marketing; different consumer engagement rules apply.  Messaging should be timely and relevant; keep in mind that over time, consumers will forget that they subscribed to your alerts and will likely be annoyed regarding the contact.  Therefore, opt-in programs should be short with an expiration date.
2. Pull Text Marketing is a marketer's best friend as its: immediate and brings both interactivity and accountability to traditional vehicles such as Print, OOH, Broadcast, etc.
3. Text Marketing costs your consumers money.  Though many mobile plans include unlimited text messages, many still do not and consumers are charged for each incoming and outgoing email
4. You will need to partner with a mobile aggregator who will help you to set-up your program; obtain short-code, work across carriers, execute the program, etc.
5. Text Marketing limits communications to 160 characters, including spaces.  It is good marketing to engage in split or multivariate testing to optimize communications messages.
6. Keep in mind that cost of text marketing programs are variable.  Successful programs are great, but they are very hard to budget for.
7. As always, don't forget to measure and optimize the program.  With regard to a Pull Text Marketing program, it is optimal to use different codes or messages for different vehicles to allow you to measure a vehicle's contribution to overall program success.

I'm interested in hearing from you; please write to me and let me know if you have something to add to the above conversation: mail@keithrhodes.com

Confused about Widgets & Gadgets? Read on.

Recently I created an iGoogle Gadget for Lufthansa Airlines to support the Lufthansa "Discover your moment" sweepstakes.  When we began our planning we felt that a gadget would be a great idea to distribute the Lufthansa brand online, beyond their US microsite.  However, with limited content to distribute combined with the short attention span of the digital consumer, we were unsure of what to do with a gadget and Lufthansa. 

Now, I know what you're thinking; why use technology for technology sake?  Technology should only be employed to support a well defined consumer strategy, right?  I completely agree, however, there were special circumstances that required us to create a Google Gadget- let's just say that it was a special budget that could only be used for "innovative" ideas.

As we continued to refine our sweepstakes concept, an idea occurred to us:  Let's create a gadget that enables consumers to enter into the Lufthansa sweepstakes every day for the duration of the promotion by simply answering a new question each day about Lufthansa.  The gadget concept had everything that the marketing team was looking for: Brand awareness, distributed presence, engagement and education.  To date the Lufthansa gadget downloads, brand engagement and program performance has exceeded our expectations. 

So what can Widgets/Gadgets do for you?  Below is an article that discusses widgets, gadgets and other content distribution tactics.  It provides some examples of widgets/gadgets that were created by agencies for top brands. 

Before you go, I have a couple of key take-aways for you:

1. Gadgets/Widets are cheap to produce, but they're worthless if no one sees them.  Widgets/Gadget's require promotion to encourage distribution; don't rely on on viral or word of mouth.
2. There are many platforms that you will need to develop for.  We chose to use Google, but we could have also developed Widgets/Gadgets for Yahoo, Apple, Gigya, Clearspring, Facebook, Myspace, etc. Begin with your target consumer, let that be the driver for the networks or platforms that you choose.
3. Don't forget about mobile.  Many of the most useful iPhone and Blackberry applications are not applications at all; they're nothing more than Widgets located on mobile devices.  Explore the possibilities of mobile Widgets to provide utility to your target consumers.
4. Content and utility are king.  Without content, you have nothing to distribute.  I assure you, no one needs another branded weatherbug or desktop analog clock.  Your best bet?  Start with an existing concept or program and explore ways that you can extend your program, content and brand by using Widgets. 
5. Evolve.  The attention span of a digital consumer is short to say the least.  Think about how you will evolve the Widget/Gadget over time to maintain a level of utility to your target consumer.
6. Widgets/Gadgets don't have to always be consumer facing.  Consider using Widgets/Gadgets for measurement dashboards, monitoring sales, and other performance data. 
7. Always measure and optimize.  A Widget/Gadget is part of your program.  Measure, analyze and consider ways to optimize the consumer experience like you would a website, a CRM program or a banner campaign.   

Finally, here's the article:  Widgets are made for marketing, so why aren't more advertisers using them?

Great Read on "How Blogs Drive More Sales than Social Media Sites"

Check-out this article by Heidi Cohen, a writer on the ClickZ Network.  She provides terrific insight into "How Blogs Drive More Sales than Social Media Sites."

Fundamentals Series: Search Engine Optimization

Continuing my Digital Marketing Fundamentals Series, I’ve added a few marketing insights with regard to Search Engine Optimization. Note that key to SEO is an SEM strategy that is complementary. Companies need to be realistic in the SEO efforts and know that they may be able to achieve better Search program results by redirecting their Search budgets from SEO to SEM.

As always, begin your program with a Search strategy and be sure to measure and optimize your program. The below outlines some fundamentals to improve your site’s organic search results across multiple search engines.

Keywords: Select key words should be placed in title tags, meta tags, alt tags, text links body copy on each page of the site. Site should focus on 3 to 4 keywords per page for optimization.

Copywriting: Site content should be written with two audiences in mind: 1. Target Consumer, 2. Search Engine Spiders that index sites. Text blocks and paragraphs should be led with headlines with keyword-rich copy.

Linking: Site linking strategy should focus on inbound, outbound and on-site links. Inbound Links: Quality of links matter over quantity. Links should be acquired consistently, not all at once. Plan to work with referring domains so that links are formatted using keywords and embedded in external content. Outbound Links:  Plan to use keyword-rich anchor text for links leaving the site. On-site Links: The site should be designed with adequate link navigation between all top-level and keyword-rich content pages. Always consider creating a site-wide site map with content and links for all site pages to facilitate optimization.

Creative Execution: Search Engine Spiders cannot index text or audio that lives in images, Flash components or media files. Therefore, develop spider-friendly and keyword-rich HTML content that will live on the same page as the Flash files. Additionally, avoid using images to render text, where possible, so that keywords can be indexed. Note that alt text on images do not receive as much weight from spiders as plain text rendered in HTML.

Development: Development guidelines should be created and shared with site developers so that code is optimized for spiders. Optimization tactics should include; meta tags (titles, descriptions, keywords)- though meta data does not receive as much weight as they used to, Using HTML with proper title tags, heading tags and alt attributes that are given more weight by spiders, use flat directory structures in Web applications as spiders view content as less relevant the deeper it lives on the site.

Measurement: Post-launch benchmarking is critical to ongoing site optimization. Once in market, reports should be generated to demonstrate site ranking compared to competitor site rankings across selected keywords. As part of the ongoing maintenance of the site the site will be optimized according to best practices to demonstrate improvements in keyword rankings.

Fundamentals Series: Measurement, Testing & Optimization

Don't forget about Measurement, Analytics, Testing and Optimization. Consumer experience optimization is critical to overall program performance. Effective digital marketers continuously analyze, report and make optimization recommendations to their clients. It's easy to understand "what" the consumer is doing through quantitative data, but relating that to "why" the consumer is doing something requires qualitative testing. A good marketer then forms a hypothesis and tests the hypothesis through split or multivariate testing in order to optimize the consumer experience.

The below diagram will help you to better understand what I've described above.

   

Four Great Books

Below is a list of four great books that I recommend for any digital marketer:

Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
Social Media Marketing, by Dave Evans
Web Analytics, by Avinash Kaushik
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, by Clay Shirky

Will the REAL mobile "Game Changer" please stand up?

During the past 6 months, I've been using the iPhone for work email, calendaring, contacts, etc. This was my second go-round with the iPhone, both times switching from my beloved Blackberry. Each switch was primarily perpetuated by the "coolness" factor of the touch screen itself.

When I first purchased the iPhone, I was amazed by the technology and absorbed all of the expert commentary that called it a game changer in a category that seemed to be stagnant for more than a few years. After using it for awhile, the coolness factor wore off as I became frustrated with the poor phone quality, synchronization issues and, yes, touchscreen typing. I often summarized all of the above to people by telling them that the iPhone was just not ready for primetime; then I would follow-up kiddingly with something clever like "yeah, Primetime just thinks that it's too hard to type..." Silly yes, but my choice to switch back to the Blackberry was a serious one.

With the launch of the iPhone v2.0, I became excited about the possibilities with Apple's release of their SDK and access to the iPhone's accelerometer. It's shocking how quickly I left my prior frustrations behind and raced back to the Apple camp. I told myself that as a digital marketer, I "needed" to use the new platform and experience the bevy of new applications myself in order to really understand it; y'know to provide better advice to my clients. Though, after months of incessant frustration with the iPhone, namely MobileMe synchronization issues and that damn touchscreen keyboard, I have finally given-up on it. This weekend I switched to the Blackberry Bold; primarily due to the stability of synchronization and the mechanical keyboard. Yes, I was very briefly tempted by the coming Blackberry Storm, but I'm just not convinced that their touchscreen will be any better than Apple's. My only reservation was leaving behind all of the Apple applications that I enjoyed; though most didn't provide my life with any genuine utility.

So, what does this all have to do with digital marketing? Here goes:

Mobile provides yet another platform for distributing a brand's presence; reaching target consumers with targeted messaging where they live and work. From my research, I've determined that consumers view the Internet as a utility, no different than electricity, natural gas and water. They don't think about how the Internet works or that they're going online to do something, it's just there for them and they go about their lives. That said, consumers are increasingly accessing the Internet on their mobile devices, but still don't think about it too much; they just want what they want, when they want it. Where does digital marketing fit into the mobile landscape? Currently, there are quite a few opportunities to reach consumers via their mobile devices: display media, WAP sites, SMS/Text/MMS messaging and/or promotions, search, audio/video AND installed applications. All tactics are important elements in the digital marketer's toolbox, however, the latter is likely the largest untapped opportunity and holds the greatest potential for brands reaching and frequently interacting with their target consumers. The iPhone has made significant advances by opening their platform to developers who are developing all kinds of useful and not so useful applications. However, Apple's iPhone penetration rate among corporate users is minimal, which is largely the reason for brands lack of enthusiasm for developing branded applications for the iPhone. You can easily see this by quickly scanning Apple's App Store; most of the top applications are games; not utilities or brand/product applications.

This leaves an enormous opportunity for Blackberry. Blackberry has a captive audience and a platform that reaches millions of Blackberry obsessed consumers everyday. To date, RIM has done a poor job with allowing developers with complete access to their development platform, which has resulted in lackluster applications, web widgets and icon-based bookmarks that have very little branding and utility.

So, I ask the question, with regard to digital marketing, is the iPhone or the Blackberry the real game changer and which device has the greatest potential? Unfortunately, at this point, both leaders in the smart-phone space remain seated. The reason? The iPhone doesn't have the penetration rates or the potential to beat Blackberry with corporate users. I just don't see corporate IT groups handing-out iPhones to their employees anytime soon. Conversely, Blackberry doesn't yet have the open platform to allow agencies to develop anything beyond a simple bookmark or widget.

Agencies and brands are more than anxious to tap this market, however, RIM must lead the way. Until then, I'll be on my Blackberry using web widgets and bookmarks while trying to convince my clients that a real mobile game changer is on the way.

Blogger Influence Marketing

Recently, I read an article about Hewlett Packard's "31 Days of Dragon" blogger promotion that achieved significant results. Basically, HP ran a promotion for 31 days where they gave top bloggers a $5,100 HP HDX Dragon Notebook computer to give away to their readers. HP did little to define the actual promotion for these bloggers, they only required that the bloggers give the machine away to one of their readers in a fair manner. The results of their 250K promotion was astonishing: The program was credited with an 84% increase in sales of the unit, a 10% increase in overall HP PC sales and a 14% increase in traffic to HPshopping.com. Further, the program also benefited the bloggers: The program created strong online buzz that was reflected in 400,000 Google searches that were specific to the product/contest name. Site traffic to these key bloggers increased between 150 to 5,000% during the contest.

So, this got me to thinking about a framework or marketing process that can be employed to achieve similar results.

Below I've defined "Blogger Influence Marketing" and provided details into this framework to assist those that are interested in tapping this influential group of authors.

Blogger Influence Marketing is...

A systematic approach or process where organizations actively solicit and engage online bloggers or key influencers for the purpose of obtaining a predetermined marketing objective.  Further, it provides the brand with the opportunity to engage with their target consumer through trusted and credible communications platforms, which influences purchase decision.  Programs or campaigns often include prepackaged marketing material, products, contests, promotions, giveaways, etc. that are provided to key bloggers who then execute the programs at a fraction of the price that it would cost the brand to execute the program on their own.

High-level steps to execute a Blogger Influence Marketing Campaign

1. Identify opportunity: Example could include to generate awareness of a new product launch among target consumers

2. Define marketing objectives and success measures: objectives should be clear and focused

3. Develop marketing program/campaign

4. Define program; rules and parameters

    - Develop marketing collateral and supporting elements (i.e. microsites, gadgets, widgets, etc.)

    - Identify program execution tactics and schedule

5. Identify and solicit Bloggers or key influencers for program participation

6. Execute program

7. Measure, report results, benchmark