BLOG ROLL
ARCHIVES
June 29, 2006
Earlier this month, Jeffrey Eisenberg, founder and CEO of FutureNow, Inc. (a New York-based marketing consulting firm) headlined a luncheon for the Oregon Chapter of the American Marketing Association. Jeffrey was in town promoting his new book, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark (co-authored with his brother, Bryan).
The main point of his presentation (and the book) is that marketers should help customers buy the way they prefer to buy, instead of forcing them to do things they don't want to do (which wastes a lot of cycles for everyone).
Eisenberg gave a number of great examples during the presentation, but the one that really stuck in my mind involved Google AdWords. He highlighted how some companies try to incorporate query data (you know, the word or phrase you type into the search box) into their Google Ad so that it becomes a "custom" and "relevant" ad.
However, as Eisenberg points out, this often produces erroneous or irrelevant results, which frustrate the user and run up the advertiser's costs.
I was reminded of this today while doing an online coverage search for Marqui. I typed in the name "Janet Johnson" to see if she has been quoted anywhere recently...and this is what I see:
Apparently, eBay really does offer everything. I mean, who couldn't use a few extra Janets? We are a little short staffed around here...
Now, Jeffrey probably isn't the first person to use this example and I'm certainly not the first person to blog about it. This just serves as a gentle reminder that we marketers should definitely step back once in a while and make sure that what we are doing really is relevant and helpful to our target audiences.
June 29, 2006
At the risk of breaking into the 'engadget for the over 40 crowd' business, I have a new favorite thing: La Loop.
I had to get glasses when I was 8 years old, as a result of reading with a flashlight under my covers at night. When I was 18 I got contacts, which I've worn all my life.
Until I hit 40. And couldn't read my computer screen, or a menu, or a newspaper - anything within arms length got blurry with my contacts on. So for the past nine years, I've had glasses at work. And my eyes have gotten progressively worse. So now I have glasses stashed around at home, in my purse (my food looks better with glasses on now, never mind the menu), and at the office.
Anyway, I was fortunate enough to have admired my friend Tim's fashionable "necklace" one night at dinner, as he smartly put his glasses through the ring (we were finishing "menu" stage at the time) and I was blown away. Lucky me, a lovely envelope arrived in the mail a couple weeks later (thanks to dear Tim, who's generous and a big La Loop fan), and I had my very own La Loop!
I tell you, they're the nicest eyeglass holders on the planet. And if (ahem, when) I forget to take it off, I am not overly embarrassed by my own forgetfulness.
So if you're challenged by having to take glasses on and off (inside or out - they have sport loops for sunglasses, too!), check out La Loop. Think of it as a necklace. With function and form.
June 28, 2006
I don't read as much as I'd like to any more. In fact, I've tried (and failed) to finish about four different books in a row. But I'm pleased to report I'm making it through my most current attempt, "I Should be Extremely Happy in Your Company: A Novel of Lewis & Clark," by Brian Hall. And I'm actually quite enjoying it.
I was captivated by a headline in the NY Times today: Harper Lee Writes Again... Apparently, in the July issue of O Magazine (dedicated to reading), Harper Lee (author of the excellent "To Kill a Mockingbird" for those who may not recognize her name) has written a letter about reading.
In reminiscing about her life growing up, she noted that her mother read her a story a day, and her father, a newspaper article. Her mom read to her mostly from my favorite books growing up, the Uncle Wiggily stories by Howard R. Garis. Here's the quote that made me stop still:
"75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cellphones, iPods and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books."
I think I'll take this long upcoming weekend to finish my book. And start a new one. On the porch, with only the birds and trees to distract me.
June 28, 2006
As a marketer, I'm constantly being pitched to have Marqui sponsor events:
"Janet, it's the only event to cover blah blah blah, Janet, blah blah blah... and our attendees are the decision makers... blah blah blah... real ROI!"
And we all know (when push comes to shove) that our partners in sales would much rather have selling time than booth duty time, so we're prepared to shoulder that delightful responsibility ourselves.
It's a rare day that I actually look forward to sponsoring an event at which we're only exhibiting. Give me a speaking engagement and the attendee list, and I will much more likely fork over for a sponsorship.
Once in a while, though, I am excited to sponsor an event or an organization that really fills a need. In my opinion, the Internet Strategy Forum works. The brainchild of Steve Gehlen (also from Portland, Oregon), the ISF is a nonprofit association for managers responsible for driving Internet strategy and implementation for mid- to large-size organizations (members come from such diverse organizations as American Express to Reser's Fine Foods). In fact, I like the organization so much, I'm also a member.
Here's why: one of their objectives is to "help bridge the gap between Marketing and IT professionals to improve the chances for success of Internet initiatives." They have meetings once a month which are available to participate in online.
We all know marketers and IT folks have much in common (those pesky Internet initiatives), and we at Marqui have built a whole company around freeing Marketers from dependence on IT or other technical resources... but (as the ISF has admitted) there's a gap to be bridged.
Frankly, I'd recommend ISF membership to anyone interested in extending an olive branch to their favorite IT person (or Marketer) by understanding them just a little more.
Their annual conference is coming up in a couple of weeks, and they've been able to bring in some stellar speakers. We happen to be sponsoring the event. Proudly. Hope they have internet access there, so I can blog about it "live." Stay tuned - an olive branch just may be on its way to you.
June 26, 2006
I always smile when this question comes up, because it is consistently one of the first things people ask during Web seminars, tradeshows, etc. I never really mind answering it (no matter how many times) because it is a great question and I know there are still a lot of skeptics out there.
Why should businesses care about blogging? Because there are almost certainly conversations taking place in the blogosphere right now that are relevant/important to just about any organization. Still don't believe me? Just go to Technorati and type in your company name (or maybe a competitor's name) and hit "search."
Chances are you'll find something interesting. And trust me when I say that these conversations are going to take place whether a company cares or not, and they are going to take place whether a company likes it or not.
That being said, one thing that people sometimes overlook is that there are many different ways to get involved in the blogosphere. Not every organization needs to run out and start its own blog right this minute in order to participate effectively.
Instead, a business might be better served by just using tools like Technorati (or PubSub or IceRocket or whatever) to keep an eye on what bloggers are saying about the company/market. That way, they at least know what's going on. If something is incorrect, they can refute it...if someone says something nice, they can acknowledge it...or if someone says something negative, maybe they can learn from it.
Or perhaps a business would benefit from an internal blog - one focused on product development, HR, team-building, etc. The sky is really the limit.
Should businesses care about blogging? Absolutely. And there are plenty of ways to get started that don't require a lot of time or money.
So what are you waiting for?
June 23, 2006
I'm kind of surprised there hasn't been more buzz about this completely strange (yet oddly fascinating) commercial for the Dodge Caliber. (Warning: the quality is bad and the content could be offensive to some viewers.)
Or maybe people are just tired of picking on Dodge advertisements?
Anyway, if you are into advertising and haven't been to Adrants in a while, be sure to stop by and check out their commentary on the latest and not-so-greatest conjurings from the advertising community (again, content could be offensive to some viewers).
Perfect way to spend a Friday afternoon.
Not that I would ever do that on company time, of course.
June 19, 2006
A few weeks ago, Janet and I decided to set up Google Analytics on Marqui's corporate Web site. For those of you who aren't familiar with this, it's Google's freebie tool to help folks track Web site activity (e.g., how visitors are getting to a site, what they are doing once they get there, etc.).
Access to Google Analytics is by invite only, but it seems like anyone who signs up gets an invite (eventually). The waiting period seems to be anywhere from two weeks to two months.
Anyway, once we got our invite, the set up actually wasn't that bad; it just involved dropping some code on various Web pages. (Shameless plug: it wasn't bad because we use our own software to manage our Web site. It might be a little trickier depending on what you're using, so you may need to check in with an IT person first. )
Now, we've only had access to the data for a week or so, but already we like what we see. The tool is super easy to use and the whole integration with AdWords seems pretty compelling.
Obviously, we'll have to test this out for a while longer to see how it really compares to other Web analytics products. Stay tuned for more...
(In the meantime, you can sign up for your own Google Analytics invite here.)
June 16, 2006
Indeed... the AMA has a dictionary of 4077 terms, from A-T-R
Definition: see also: Awareness - Trial - Repeat (seriously! which linked to):
A paradigm consisting of three key steps by the intended user. The steps take the person or firm from a state of ignorance about a new product to the point of product adoption. Awareness (cognition) may be of the product generally, its brand, and one or more of its attributes. Trial means some form of test purchase or use, following upon favorable affect stemming from knowledge regarding the attributes. Repeat means the trial was sufficiently successful to warrant one or more repeat purchases. There are other, similar, paradigms (for example attention, interest, desire, action) but these are not new product specific and do not cover the entire product adoption process.
to zoning
Definition: zoning - 1. (retailing definition) The regulation of the construction and use of buildings in certain areas of a municipality. 2. (sales definition) A method for scheduling sales calls that divides a territory into areas or zones. The salesperson then makes calls in each zone for a prespecified length of time.
Talk about a language of romance! A language to compel action! A language to establish that elusive, emotional connection...
So, in order to speak the language of marketing, must we speak in paradigms, prespecified lengths, purchase and product attributes?
Sigh.
June 16, 2006
So it's Friday afternoon, and I'm getting ready to go represent Marqui at DM Days in New York (and I LOVE NY!).
Stephen, Tara and I were discussing the marketer's language this week, and it got me thinking:
Is there an 'official' language of marketing, or is it too specialized? Do we have an accent, depending on whether our focus is on B2B, B2C, ROI, SEM/CPC/SEO, CPM, LCV, DM, EM or ADV?
Anyone seen a compendium of marketing speak? Maybe I will google it.
June 15, 2006
As I mentioned before, we were fortunate to participate in a blogosphere study conducted by Nora Barnes, PhD. at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research. She just posted it yesterday, and I have to say - it's a fabulous report.
She interviewed and surveyed 74 bloggers, and she says it best in her conclusion:
"The data presented in this study came from the most established and well-known bloggers in their respective fields. They have run their blogs for several years, some more than six years. In the world of the blogoshere that makes these contributors the wise elders. They responded to a simple inquiry that promised to pass on their advice to businesses contemplating entering their world. Seventy-four bloggers responded with candid comments and quantitative data that are rich and clear.
Blogging takes time, commitment, and honesty. In return connections are made that are personal and strong. Blogs are not a fad. They are no longer even an option. Those businesses that choose to remain outside this online conversation, will be sidelined. Eventually they will become extinct."
The beauty of the report are the quotes from the bloggers themselves. If you're considering blogging for business, this is a strategic "must read."
June 15, 2006
I love e-mail. But I have to admit, it's happened to me over and over again... I am in a hurry, or not paying complete attention, and I dash off an answer in e-mail, only to have my hasty response completely misunderstood. You'd think I'd learn, right?
Well, in a recent study by Profs. Justin Kruger of New York University and Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago, they found not only do e-mail senders overestimate their ability to communicate feelings, but e-mail recipients also overestimate their ability to correctly decode those feelings.
Shocking! People are egocentric.
Who, me? I certainly assume (usually not in my best interest, either) that people will read exactly what I've written, with emotional nuances intact. Of course, I also assume people (especially those closest to me) can read my mind. Hmph.
So it's good to remember (before you hit send) some of the professors' additional findings:
- e-Mail lacks cues like facial expression and tone of voice, which makes it difficult to decode meanings.
- e-Mail is instantaneous communication, and creates an urgency that pressures us to think and write quickly, which can lead to carelessness. (Now there's an understatement, know what I mean?)
- The relative inability to develop personal rapport over e-mail makes relationships fragile in the face of conflict. (Which is why it's so important to get people who work together together once in awhile. It's worth the money.)
For more interesting information on the study, there's a nice article here in the Christian Science Monitor.
Therefore, if you have something to say that's going to even possibly be misconstrued:
Take a deep breath. Pick up the phone (if you can) and have a live conversation. You might not be the only one glad you did.
June 9, 2006
This afternoon I laughed hard when I read the following sentence from [Company X]:
"[Our] solutions integrate web analytics, content management, Web 2.0 collaboration tools, and dashboards for marketing automation allowing your company to make real-time decisions to facilitate dynamic communications and relationships to provide active, targeted user experiences that generate real ROI."
Still chuckling, I sent it, along with some snarky, superior comment to my sweetie. I laughed even harder when I got back:
"is it really that different from a lot of what you write? i'm just asking."
I'll be the first to admit, I've been around technology and technologists too much. Apparently I don't realize what a different language we can speak from most normal people. And when I'm reminded, I think of the Gary Larson Far Side cartoon: What dogs hear - blah blah blah, Ginger, blah blah blah.
What did [Company X]'s target audience get from that run-on sentence? "Blah blah blah, real ROI."?
Did [Company X] fall prey to publishing a positioning statement written by committee, or has search engine optimization and keyword loading gone to the Far Side?
June 8, 2006
If you read this blog on even a somewhat regular basis, you probably already know that Marqui spends a fair amount of time at tradeshows. In the past two months alone, we've had some sort of presence at Market to the Max, the AMA Leadership Summit, Syndicate New York, IABC 2006 and a number of other events in Oregon, Washington, California and British Columbia.
Marqui has a 10x10 booth at most of the shows we go to, and I am typically the person responsible for making sure said booth gets shipped, set up, staffed and torn down correctly. I also have the privilege of working the booth a lot of the time.
Lucky me.
Now, I like to think I know what I am doing when it comes to tradeshow planning and prep (most of the time, anyway). I also like to think I am organized. However, every once in a while I just have to shake my head and sigh at some of the crazy things that go wrong.
Thus, let me share five completely ridiculous, yet oh-so-practical suggestions (or perhaps observations) for others in my situation. (Disclaimer: I am obviously not a professional event planner/manager, so for all of you pros out there...stop laughing!)
- Regardless of how carefully you follow the shipping instructions provided by the show coordinators, hotel package receiving room, conference hall or whoever, I can almost guarantee that something (or everything) critical will probably get lost. In fact, I've noticed the more obsessive compulsive I am about following the instructions, the greater the likelihood that various boxes of collateral, banner stands, etc. magically get "misplaced" in transit. Therefore, I'd strongly recommend traveling with at least a small stash of corporate collateral and perhaps a banner stand or two to minimize the odds of standing in a completely empty booth sheepishly twiddling your thumbs.
- On a somewhat related note, never, ever forget to bring a screwdriver. By the time Fed Ex, UPS or whoever you use for shipping finishes playing kickball with your materials and actually delivers them to the show, you may need to perform emergency surgery on a banner stand or two.
- Even if you have a small, easy-to-assemble booth and even if set up is scheduled immediately before the show starts, resist the urge to wear a skirt. There is simply no way to maintain your dignity while wearing a skirt and crawling around on the floor frantically searching for the power outlet the show coordinators SWEAR they installed.
- If you are crazy enough to disregard suggestion number 3 and insist on wearing a skirt, don't bother with nylons because you will almost certainly get a run in them in less than 30 minutes. If you only brought one pair with you and if every single store in a 20-mile radius is sold out of everything but hot pink tights, you probably won't even make it out of your hotel room.
- Finally, if your organization happens to have an office in the same location as a show, be very careful about shipping anything to that office in advance and asking a co-worker (no matter how wonderful and reliable they are) to help out by storing everything in a safe place....because they just might stash stuff in a storeroom that only one person in the entire company has a key to. (Seriously, this happened to me on Monday.)
Actually, more things are starting to come to mind, so I may have to revisit this topic in the near future...
June 8, 2006
Well, on this day in Portland, Oregon, they have ISITE Design in common, and their Love at First Website seminar. I was lucky enough to be on a panel this morning at the seminar (thanks, ISITE!), and to sit through presentations by Blake Ross, founder of Firefox; and Kelly Telfer, Sr. Manager of Demand Generation for Siemens AG.
We were spending the morning talking about "The Art of Persuasion" to an audience of marketers and IT professionals.
Kelly started the whole thing off by talking about "reexamining familiar things differently."
- He does things like save newspapers for six weeks, then calls around for things that were advertised then, and has unearthed some great deals as a result (because, after six weeks, if something advertised then hadn't sold, people were willing to take almost anything for the item).
- Or, he's misspelled searches on purpose to see what he finds. For example, on Craig's List, he's intentionally misspelled Porsche (Porche) to see if he can unearth any deals. And what do you know? It worked.
So how can marketers put his wisdom into practice? Perhaps you can get some real buys on adwords for your top competitors' misspelled names? Or even your own company's name misspelled? (Believe me, this is hard to write when I'm a stickler about typos and such - but apparently I need to reexamine that particular proclivity differently...)
And, by the way, this is not to be confused with the recent "cybersquatting" lawsuit (thanks, CNET) that Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman (two favorite stores) brought against Dotster (our neighbor in Vancouver, WA.) Or "typosquatting..." another disreputable practice!
Blake talked about how Firefox started from zero and moved into the mainstream of the browser market in an Open Source (basically without money) fashion.
Firefox was founded with this simple goal: to make a browser that their parents could use. (Have I mentioned how young Blake is? I'm old enough to be his mother.)
In about 2001, they started with 2000 passionate developers with lots of time on their hands (as evidenced by their frequent and lengthy discussions on Firefox blogs and forums). Their challenge was to inspire these developers to talk to their dentists and doctors and cleaners and (yes, even) parents to use Firefox. So what did they do?
- They created a cause that inspired the community to spread the Firefox gospel
- No longer was the ideal to make a browser their parents could use... it was either to:
- Annihilate Bill Gates' empire and feast on the bloody remains (sorry - his description, not mine) or
- Liberate the world from proprietary software and put it into the hands of the people - in other words:
"Take back the Web!"
The results? More than 186 Million people have downloaded Firefox to date.
The bottom line for me in listening to these two very entertaining and accomplished speakers?
In your online marketing efforts: be creative (always be honest) and let your passion - especially your users' passion - shine through.
June 7, 2006
I used to hate the saying "Those who can, do. And those who can't, teach." I have always found teachers to be so inspirational, hard working and largely underpaid for what they do... And (somewhere in the back of my mind) I have always felt I would love to give back - by teaching myself someday.
So I was fortunate yesterday to speak to Kelli Matthew's journalism students at the University of Oregon. I was invited to do so by Dana Turell, account manager for Eugene PR and design agency CAWOOD. The subject was blogging - and how blogs and other sources of Consumer Generated Media (CGM) are changing the face of journalism.
It was great fun to talk to the communications professionals of the future about the future of professional communications.
My perspective is this:
- The tools that journalists use to research stories and anticipate trends are changing radically
- Corporate marketers have lost (or will lose) the traditional, tight control over their messages.
Why?
It's All About Consumer Generated Media
In a recent report (via ClickZ) published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project (download the PDF here), 48 million Americans - mostly those with broadband connections - have posted content to the internet.
Your employees, your parents, your kids all have easy (and free!) access to community sites like Flickr (for posting photos), MySpace, Friendster, Blogger and the like. And they're talking and posting and tagging and sharing information about things that interest them. It's a gold mine of information - about you, your company, where you live, the movies you like, the wine you love and the things you worry about.
And the trend toward CGM and open dialogues online won't go away. The kids in class yesterday get it because they live it.
How are you preparing your company for open, online discussions? At Marqui, we think about this a lot.
If you'd like to talk about it, start here... comment on this post. For many of you, it'll be your first step in publicly blogging. If so, good for you! It's like the first e-mail you wrote fifteen years ago to a large group of people.
Soon, it'll be a part of everyday business.
June 2, 2006
I belong to the American Management Association. It's kind of funny how I joined, I asked my assistant to sign me up for the AMA a few years ago. I meant the American Marketing Association, she couldn't read my mind.
Anyway, I got an e-mail from them with a link to a whitepaper on Innovation this afternoon. It's a survey of business leaders from around the globe. Here's a part of the abstract:
"The AMA/HRI Innovation Survey 2006 found that more than two-thirds of the 1,356 global respondents considered innovation either "extremely important" or "highly important" to their organizations today.
In today's fast-paced business environment, innovation is a prerequisite for success - and perhaps even for survival. That's why innovation has found its way to the top of the agenda at organizations around the world. Once considered primarily an output of R&D labs, innovation has become a corporate priority that touches every facet of, and, indeed, every employee in, an organization. External constituents, too - customers, academia, the government, vendors, even competitors - are playing a growing role in companies' creative processes."
I found it especially interesting that respondents believed organizational communication (aptly listed as a key factor in innovation) will be an even bigger business driver of Innovation in ten years than it is today. And that it's expected to continue to be a bigger factor than innovation accountability/goals.
|
In Ten | ||
|
Factors |
TODAY |
Years |
|
Customer focus |
1 |
1 |
|
Teamwork/collaboration with others |
2 |
2 |
|
Appropriate resources (time and money) |
3 |
6 |
|
Organizational communication |
4 |
3 |
|
Ability to select right ideas for research |
5 |
4 |
|
Ability to identify creative people |
6 |
5 |
|
Freedom to innovate |
7 |
7 |
|
Ability to measure results of innovation |
8 |
8 |
|
Encouraging both small ideas and big ideas |
9 |
9 |
|
Innovation accountability/goals |
10 |
10 |
|
Culture of risk-tolerance |
11 |
12 |
|
Organizational structures |
12 |
11 |
|
Diversity |
13 |
13 |
|
Balancing incremental improvements and breakthrough discoveries |
14 |
14 |
|
|
|
|
Marketers are largely responsible for organizational communications. Here's a question for a Friday afternoon:
How would you rank your communications inside your organization at fostering innovation?
| Marketing Automation | Web Content Management | Campaign Management Privacy Policy | © 2008 Marqui Inc. |
 |