Geeks Rule!
I am adding a new blog to my blogroll: VisInsights with a great blog on social media by Chris Prilllo-- who looks like a 20 something geek but is totally passionate about social media and how it rules our world, our brands, our life..... Check it out.My First Virtual Conference
I just registered for my first virtual conference--but I have a feeling that it wont be my last.Digital Marketing World which is sponsored by Marketing Profs will be held on April 1st in the comfort of your own home or office. The only downside that I can think of is that the sponsors will have my email to nudge me with.As you know, I am a big fan of David Meerman Scott and will defintely attend his session:2:00pm–2:45pm EST
The New Rules of Viral Marketing
David Meerman Scott, author and marketing strategist
Following the worldwide best selling book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, David Meerman Scott’s new book, World Wide Rave, focuses on the power of viral marketing online. Attend this presentation—just a few weeks after the launch of the new book—and be among the first to learn from David about how to create triggers that get millions of people to spread your ideas and tell your stories. Whether you market to businesses or consumers, a World Wide Rave is when people around the world are talking about you, your company, and your products. It’s when online buzz drives buyers to your virtual doorstep. And it’s when tons of fans visit your Web site and your blog because they genuinely want to be there. Learn how to take your marketing to the next level by following the six rules of “The Rave”:
1. Nobody cares about your products (except you)
2. No coercion required
3. Lose control
4. Put down roots
5. Create triggers that encourage people to share
6. Point the world to your (virtual) doorstep
C u there!
David Meerman Scott's New Book on Viral Marketing
David Meerman Scott's New Book about Viral Marketing: World Wide Rave--another step away from "Old" Marketing Tools. David gives 9 tips on how to create a Viral Marketing campaign and the last tip is:"Above all, have fun!
Don’t be afraid to go out
there and experiment.
Video content on the Web is still very new for marketers and communicators. But the potential
to deliver information to buyers in new and surprising ways is greater when you use a new
medium. And while your competition is still trying to figure out “that blogging thing,” you
can tap into the world of video and leave the competition behind."
Why Marketing is So Much More Important than Technology
All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin--a brilliant video of a lecture to Google personnel about Google and why Marketing is so much more important than Technology....Social Media Marketing Madness
Social Media Marketing Madness--this says it all-and we marketers have to track it all....The Easiest Way to a First Page Ranking on Google
A good article from Forrester that I would like to share with you:The Easiest Way to a First-Page Ranking on Google. "If you're not optimizing your videos, you should start. "Blended search," the practice in which search engines display videos, images, news stories, maps, and other types of results alongside their standard search results, has become increasingly common on major search engines. And optimizing video content to take advantage of blended search is by far the easiest way to get a first-page organic ranking on Google," says Nate Elliot from Forrester.
- Best of all, so few interactive marketers focus on video optimization that most of the videos in Google's index aren't very well optimized -- so if you optimize your videos well, your chances of success will increase even further.
So how can you optimize your online videos? The agencies and search engines I've talked to offer a number of different tips:
*Insert keywords into your video filenames.
*Host your videos on YouTube, and embed those YouTube videos into your own site. Google says its algorithms consider how many times a video is viewed, and any views embedded videos receive on your own site get added to the 'views' tally on YouTube. (And yes, nearly every video we saw Google blend into its results came from YouTube.)
*Optimize your YouTube videos by writing keywords into your videos' titles, descriptions, and tags.
*Embed videos into relevant text pages on your site. The context provided by the text on those pages (which is hopefully already optimized for search as well) will help the search engines figure out what your videos are about.
*Also create a video library on your site, so Google knows where to find your video content. (Google Video Sitemaps can help with this too.) Write keyword-rich annotations for each video in the library.
Clients can read more about this topic, including some examples and further best practices, in our reports SEO for Blended Search (a Europe-focused report) and Video and Image Optimization (which is US-focused).
Marketing for 2009
One of my favorite websites for information on new web marketing tactics is Duct Tape Marketing even though it is supposed to be for small businesses-I find a lot of practical advice and free webinars on hot topics such as Social Media. It looks like that will be the keyword for Marketing 2009. Here are some general tips to help you change your mindset:
focus on your ideal customer
find a unique value proposition
educate instead of sell
be found as opposed to hunt
harness the Internet
A free ebook on social media for small business-but there is still some good advice for medium sized businesses.
Should Analyst Relations Focus on Sales?
This is the title of an article by Kevin Lucas, Forrester. The subtitle is: "It's Not Just the Wrong Question-It's Downright Misleading." so you can guess what Kevin's answer is. From Forrester's perspective the real question should be: What corporate business value can AR Deliver and that may or may not be Sales. Forrester's research shows that AR managers felt more confident about reaching goals for marketing and product management.Kevin lists other values that AR can bring including:- Share Value
- Product and Service Creation
- Market Awareness and perception
- Order to Cash
- Service and Support
His recommendations are:
- Clarify which corporate business goals you'll support
- Align all elements of your AR program with the chosen business goals
- Be realistic about what you can really acheive
My take on this is that all of the above is true-- in a different economic environment; however, many companies are in survival mode now, or worse, and are cutting marketing and AR functions and focusing only on sales and the short term. Although this is not a recommended strategy--that is the reality of the situation right now and AR has to pay attention to the shift.
In light of this, I believe that AR must focus on Sales for at least one of their goals--no matter how difficult it is to execute--it can be done. In addition, the other goals mentioned are very difficult to quantify and if you can assist in shortenting the sales process-that will be noticed and is quantifiable. What do you think? I will discuss how AR can affect sales in the next post. Comments welcome.
New HI-Tech Model for Marketing 2009
We just had a very successful Seminar on The Most Cost Effective Marketing Tool for Technology Companies-as a result of the Seminar, one of the participants and lecturers, Moshe Shamir, VP Marketing for IDIT Technologies, wrote the following article on a new Model for Hi-Tech Marketing in 2009This includes two major strategies: SEO-Search Engine Optimization and Analyst Relations for the best ROI in these troubled times.
http://cafe.themarker.com/view.php?t=735017 (in hebrew)
Globalization of AR
I just got back from the Gartner IT Expo in Orlando. The day before I attended the KCG AR Forum with AR professionals from Microsoft, Siemens, HP, CA, EMC and others. I spoke as one of KCG's Global Partners on the Globalization of AR together with partners from India and Australia. The message was that some things are the same but some markets are very different. The rankings and influence of different analyst groups are very different from the U.S. market; for instance, Frost and Sullivan is highly regarded in some EMEA and APAC markets as is IDC whose on the ground precense is very strong.Gartner still rules in many parts of the world but we all got in a little Gartner bashing and let out our frustrations about some of the bureaucray and out of touch policies at Gartner. Emily Green, the CEO of Yankee Group gave us a presentation on her vision of the Anywhere world of Yankee and also tried to convince us that firing a significant number of analysts was just an efficiency move.
I was a bit jealous and in awe of my AR counterparts in the U.S. who talked about their AR budgets and teams while in EMEA and Israel we usually have to make do with 10-20% of the Marketing or Marcom Managers time. There are no real AR positions in Israel and even the marketing positions will probably be in danger because of the current financial crisis. I have already heard news of one NASDAQ traded Israeli company who is downsizing their Marketing Team. In the U.S. companies fire R&D in bad times; in Israel they let the Marketing people go because some companies still dont know that it is all about perception (marketing) and not the great technology.
Will blog later this week my thoughts on the Gartner conference...
Highly recommend the KCG AR Forum for any AR professionals that want to network with the best in the profession, learn, and whine a bit about our frustrations with both the analyst companies and our own management....