Trust truss

I’ve discussed trust a lot on this blog. Here, here, here, here, and here to list just a few occasions.

Whilst I’d like to think trust will become the biggest focus area for B2B technology marketers and their brand managers, the challenge we face is NOTHING compared to our counterparts in the sports business right now.

Cycling is dealing with a drug culture. Formula One is caught up in a spying row. Cricket is suffering from dirty tricks scandals. And football is dealing with a human rights debate.

Phew. Getting some perspective is a great thing.

***UPDATE 01/08/07 ***     Now BA is getting in on the act with their price fixing collusion.  Is Travel next?

Stock Photo Showdown

There is a lot of bad stock photography out there. But some great stuff too.

As users adopt user generated content sites like iStock in increasing numbers (at the expense of sites such as Corbis, Punchstock, Getty Images) the outlook for cheap stock photography looks bright. Or does it? Just how good is user generated photograph content?

Find out in Wired.com’s Stock Photo Showdown: “Corbis Pros vs. iStockphoto Amateurs”

Wired.com collected comparable images from iStock and Corbis Pro for a side-by-side comparison of photographic quality. Judge for yourself which image service wins the day – the professionals at Corbis or the amateurs at iStockphoto.com?

To me it appears that Corbis clearly has a larger library in terms of volume and scope. In some categories iStock can’t compete (‘News’ for example). And a global Ad campaign can rarely be launched off royalty free images. However, it is possible to find superb images at near give-away prices on iStock….
….And that means for designers that are prepared to use iStock images as a base, it will forever be their ‘dirty little secret’. And at those prices who can blame them?

Changing definitions: The survival of the fittest

‘Survival of the Fittest‘ is a phrase which is shorthand for a concept relating to the ‘competition for survival‘ or ‘predominance‘. It is not a scientific description – for instance it is not generally used by biologists who almost exclusively prefer to use the phrase ‘natural selection‘ – and yet I don’t know many people who don’t believe in the principals of the ‘Survival of the Fittest’ despite the lack of scientific evidence.

But I wonder….We are clearly entering an era when business activity, relationships and principles are more ‘open‘ and ‘transparent‘ than ever before. Technology is empowering genuine ‘two-way‘ communication and ‘trust‘ is fast becoming the pre-requisite component of leading brands. Companies get ‘found out’ if they try to pull the wool over the eyes of their consumers or partners (see Dell, Ratner, Enron).

And so I believe the definition of the ‘Fittest’ companies will soon align to the following principles:

• Courage and boldness. Embracing moral ‘wholesomeness’ and achieving a ‘purity’ of thought through education and betterment.

• Constant mindfulness of others and one’s surroundings; self-control, abstinence possibly, but certainly moderation.

• Generosity. Willingness to give. Nobility.

• A zealous and careful nature in actions and work. Decisive work ethic.

• Endurance through moderation. Resolving conflicts peacefully, as opposed to violently. The ability to forgive; to show mercy.

• Charity, compassion, friendship, and sympathy without prejudice.

• Modest behaviour, selflessness and the giving of respect. Giving credit where credit is due; not unfairly glorifying oneself.

Now I don’t want this post to be a semi-religious outpouring – but those bullets are the seven virtues.

Perhaps in the foreseeable future the ‘Fittest’ companies will be those that genuinely consider the economic, social and environmental impacts of their activities, wherever they operate in the world.

Mac or PC?

Here’s something for your weekend viewing pleasure.

Hat tip to Miguel Umanzor from thewayiseetheworld.  What a great spoof.

With viewing figures down around their ankles, MTV might be better off playing the odd curveball video like this….

Working at big co. just got duller

How predictable. A big I.T. company is telling it’s employees how to behave online….

IBM has just released ‘employee guidelines‘ for virtual worlds. The seven-page .pdf outlines basic principles governing how employees should represent IBM in the virtual arena.

Rules like these make me feel sad. It seems that the bigger the company, the lower the risk they want to assume. The trouble is, the more stakeholders/shareholders a company has – the bigger the potential risk.

Ok, in this instance it’s IBM, but I might very be writing about Microsoft, Oracle, Xansa, Cap Gemini or any other ‘big’ I.T. company. Market gorillas play it safe. They are protective, defensive and either instinctively behave in this fashion, or ‘learn’ to behave like this.
But the result of strategies like this? You become monotone, dreary, dull and predictable.

Two things that IBM’ers won’t do under this type of governance….

• They will never break ‘news’. Big companies want their employees to play safe. Safe = Boring and dull.

• They will never be ‘nearly libellous’. Unless you flirt with danger, you never dare a response. To me that seems like easy street. And easy street takes you nowhere, fast.

Acting ‘big’ in this way slows you down. And it certainly waters down what you are doing. And that is a very bad thing.

Whoever you work for (Big or small, but particularly if you work for a big company) be brave, tell the truth, be remarkable, break news, be transparent, be pithy, challenge convention, enter debate, admit your wrong, and lobby for what you think is right. And tear up the rule book.

The Power 150 (and the hangers on)

Yikes. This blog has been listed on The Power 150. Kind of.

Actually we are listed in the ‘honourable mentions’ list.

This blog is rated as the 297th best English language blog about marketing in the World. WOW.

And drilling a bit further we are the 22nd best UK marketing blog.

Time to have a sit down.

The Power 150 is a global ranking of the top English-language marketing blogs. Originally launched in January 2007 as a USA-based ranking, the Power 150 expanded worldwide to include all English-language blogs after TechBrew provided the list’s automation in March 2007. To calculate each blog’s final ranking in the Power 150, a very simple, multimetric algorithm was used. Final ranking is based on the sum of four unique and mostly objective sources:

Google PageRank (0 to 10) – Google PageRank is a link analysis algorithm that interprets web links and assigns a numerical weighting (0 to 10) to each site. High-quality sites receive a higher PageRank. The Power 150 ranking uses the actual PageRank as part of its algorithm.

Bloglines Subscribers (1 to 20) – Bloglines displays the amount of subscribers each blog has to its feed(s). Subscriber ranges were determined (i.e., more than 20, more than 30, etc.) and each range was assigned a number (1 to 20) that was used as part of the Power 150 algorithm.

Technorati Ranking (1 to 30) – Technorati ranking relates the number of sites pointing to a particular blog. The more link sources referencing your blog, the higher the Technorati ranking. Similar to the Bloglines Subscribers value, Technorati ranking ranges were determines (i.e., top 9,000, top 10,000, top 20,000, etc.) and each range was assigned a number (1 to 30) that was used as part of the Power 150 algorithm.

Todd And Points (1 to 15) – As the only subjective measure in the Power 150 algorithm, 1 to 15 opinion points were assigned to each blog. Todd And values frequent, relevant, creative and high-quality content. The use of audio, video and graphics is also heavily weighted in the Todd And Points.

All four metrics were added to determine each blog’s total score. The total score carried the most weight in assigning the final Power 150 rank. If blogs shared the same final Power 150 rank, the suborder was determined by Todd And points. If Todd And points were the same, Technorati ranking points were compared – then Bloglines subscriber points and finally Google PageRank points. Rankings are automated and updated every 24 hours.

Now all we need to do is crack the top 150, and stay there.

Customer Managed Relationships

Seth’s low key post “CRM is dead” – has really touched a nerve with me. I’ve been thinking about it a lot since.

It might be more than just semantics says Godin. I think he was right. And some.

CMR is our version of CRM – just a slight nuance regarding our philosophy that our guests invite us into their lives and ultimately manage our presence/relationship with them says Disney.

Tech Vendors in the CRM space needed a jolt in the arm, and CMR might still be it. Trouble is their technologies will most likely need to be re-architected, re-designed and re-thought out to actually meet the functional requirements that this shift in emphasis would dictate.

I hope that if CMR does take off, it doesn’t end up getting ruined by CRM technology vendors.  But I do think the time for this is now.

The scalability of Buzz and Viral marketing

…..Lots of Buzz and Viral marketing in my life today.

Although I have Sky TV, and have seen the entire first series of Heroes on the SciFi channel, mainstream BBC2 is getting the series starting tomorrow.  So everybody is talking about it, spreading content, ideas and adding to its momentum.

And if it isn’t Heroes, it’s global warming and flooding.  Abingdon where I live has been hit hard by high rainfall, the rising river Thames, and people being dis-placed from their homes.  And again the locals are gossiping, spreading news and flood information is spreading wildly.

What is fascinating – it’s something I’ve never considered before – is that Buzz and Viral is truly scalable.  From local news – to global issues.  From ‘TV programme’ to ‘weather’.

Viral and Buzz marketing knows no limits.

A Potted History of B2B High-Tech Marketing

A while ago, brands were communicated simply by ‘campaigns’. Blast a message out a gazillion times and the message would hopefully ‘stick’, and hey presto…..more sales. A consistent monologue was established. In this era, messages and media were key. Communication was the order of the day. But times change.

A short time ago, brands were communicated via integrated marketing ‘programmes’. Consumers were treated equally across different channels. Messages and creative were executed consistently – and a consistent ‘dialogue’ was established. Channels, dialogue and CRM were key. Building a relationship was the order of the day. But times change.

Today, long lasting ‘experiences’ are required for brands to differentiate and lead. And that means that the bar has been raised yet again. Today’s focus therefore? ‘Experience’ is the order of the day.

‘Experience’ is a process of interaction between consumers and a brand that creates new brand meaning.

Experience takes saying and listening and adds a third activity: ‘making things happen‘.

Is you B2B High-Tech Marketing making things happen?

Web trend (tube) map

They have done it before: The 200 most successful websites on the web, ordered by category, proximity, success, popularity and perspective.

They have done it again – and better.

After popular demand – here is iA’s next Web Trend Map:

New Interactive Campaign for Toshiba.

Toshiba choose Mason Zimbler for their latest notebook campaign across Europe.

Targeting business and consumers across EMEA, this highly integrated campaign includes a flash and CGI-generated microsite with six animated films all shot on green screen and mapped into an animated online world. This enabled the site to work across 18 different languages, throughout Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle-East and Africa. The campaign also includes on and offline ads, brochures, DM and in-store POS.

I think its great! What’s your view?

Priceless

Petrol for the Car: £52.00

Double shot Cafè Latte: £2.20

Croissant: £1.05

Arriving at the office at 7.12 a.m to think about a big marketing idea, focusing hard, but throwing it away because it’s a bad one: Priceless*

For completeness sake I suppose I should say;

“There are some things money can’t buy. For everything, else there’s Mastercard.”

* Sometimes simply not acting on an idea, is the best thing you can do.

The customer is not ‘King’, merely a ‘Prince’…

It seems to me that nearly ALL high-tech organisations have got very messed up growth strategies. In my experience the vast majority are fixated with investing in ‘selling’, and very few focus on ‘retention’ strategies.

Whilst banks are high profile culprits in the consumer space, the same stories exist in the b2b high-tech sector too, where customers are certainly not treated the way they deserve to be.

High-tech firms seem to spend a disproportionate amount of money on sales methodologies, growth strategies (incl. training for the entire sales team) and yet very little on programmes and initiatives which foster genuine two-way communication. And yet “The Customer is King” screams the old adage? Rubbish.

Usually it is the ‘pre-customer’ (prospect) that is made to feel like a ‘King’ in the high-tech world. Money is spent on pre-sales, demo’s, proof of concepts or pilots – and sometimes hospitality is thrown in for good measure. …..all to ensure that new business is secured. Software companies appear to be the worst offenders, especially those quarterly driven ones nearing a financial year end.

Conversely bona fide customers are treated like a mere ‘Prince’. Customer service emails are left unanswered, calls on dedicated phone lines are prioritised lower than new business calls, and existing customers are almost NEVER offered the same discounts and special offers that new customers enjoy.

And how do you feel as a genuine ‘long term’ customer? To stretch the analogy too far – usually like the proverbial Court Jester.

Most high-tech brands have little time for their most loyal customers. It’s easy business, rich pickings, to win repeat purchases for simple support and maintenance contracts.

What a mess. What a broken industry.

And there is no better way to sum it up, than with a message from a real ‘King‘ – Billie Jean-King.

Anytime you give somebody less, you are sending them a message, you are telling them they are being discounted. They are worth less.

High-tech firms would do well to develop marketing strategies that prioritise existing customers first and foremost. Developing initiatives that allow customers to interact quickly and easily are essential, and should be the first line items in any marketing matrix.

What is ironic, is that those companies that truly achieve high levels of customer satisfaction become ‘remarkable’ – particularly in an era where we have a culture of dissatisfaction and ‘average’ is commonplace.

Only when high-tech firms prioritise conversations, interaction and expenditure on customers – can they genuinely say The Customer is King.

Until then – customers will have to put up with being second best.

Top 50 Sites of 2007

From Photonhead.com to Cellswapper and FunnyorDie.com to Lastfm, Time Magazine (in partnership with CNN) have chosen their favorite sites of the year.  You can vote too.

Social bookmarking sites feature prominently, as do sites that focus on providing web services and information and news.

As Time Magazine is very US centric, it is fascinating to see the US perspective of weblife. It appears that despite the internet effectively creating a ‘global village’, perspectives between continents can be vastly different.

#1 at the time of writing?  Weebly.com.

I’ve never heard of it.  Guess I’ll be visiting a few new websites this evening….

Weekend Round-up

I’ve played the role of ‘consumer’ this weekend – as opposed to thinking too much about life, marketing, and consequently dropping my thoughts down in posts.

Saturday was spent at a Children’s Food festival.

And today my family travelled into London to visit Star Wars Celebration Europe.  My four year old is 2 1/2 years into his Jedi training.

Anyway still in ‘consumer’ mode, these stories and posts have all captured my interest:

Virtual marketers have second thoughts about Second Life

Wall Street Journal Tries to Re-Write Blogging History

Viva the Time on Site, The Page View is Dead!

LinkedIn Traffic Up, But Is It Enough?

The Next Small Thing

I am hoping to share some interesting news with you this week.  So stay tuned.