Presentation: “The future of Marketing”

A nice presentation created by Matt Dickman, and posted on his slideshare page.

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, Branding, Business, Customer Experience, Design, Influence, Strategy, Twitter, Web, Web2.0, ideas, marketing, technology, web 2.0, word of mouth

What’s Next In Marketing And Advertising (2009)

Here is an updated look at What’s Next In Marketing and Advertising based on the presentation by the same title that Paul Isakson gave last year at Marketing 2.0.

The greatest takeaway from this outstanding presentation (outstanding in so many ways:- message, typeface, imagery) from my perspective is, “It’s not what you say that matters, its what you do.“

Living by that statement alone will make me a better marketer, and the companies that I work for more many times more effective.

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, Business, Ideas and Riffs, Strategy, ideas, marketing , Advertising, marketing, marketing 2.0, Paul Isakson, slideshare

Volvo Tweets *in* YouTube Ad

Volvo has integrated a Twitter feed into an ad on YouTube. It is very nicely done, particularly as some of the tweets are from Volvo Execs at a motor show.

Via

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, Conversational marketing, Social Networking, Twitter, User Generated Content, Web2.0, YouTube, marketing, technology, web 2.0 , Twitter, Volvo, YouTube

The disconnect between between Brands and Agencies

Futurelab is a marketing strategy consultancy with a focus on customer-centricity and innovation.   They help:

• Marketers to generate the highest possible return on their investments.
• Innovators to create meaning for the customer and the bottom line
• CEO’s to connect their strategy to what customers really want.

Now I have never worked with Futurelab, nor can I say with any authority whatsoever, that they are good at what they do.  But I was delighted when they emailed me with a nice report offer.

As a result of Futurelabs belief that something is “seriously broken in the land of marketing”, they have decided to encourage debate and thinking by producing and distributing two reports.

The reports analyse the disconnect that currently exists between brands and the agencies that service them – with the aim to encourage a global conversation on the renaissance of marketing as a profession that drives profit, innovation and customer-centricity.

Here is what they cover;

• In Reconsidering the Advertising Industry they take the agency perspective, and compare the internal workings of agencies to what their clients need.  They offer tactical suggestions and structural recommendations that allow agency executives to better equip their organisation for a challenging future.
• In Bridging the Brand Divide they look at the same data from a client perspective; reviewing what brands are looking for and what they feel agencies are not delivering.

For each disconnect (between Brands and Agencies) they offer suggestions and tips brand leaders can apply to get their agencies to better deliver what they need.

Great stuff.

Filed under: Advertising, Branding, Business, Media, Planning, Strategy, ideas, marketing, technology , marketing, innovation, Branding, investment, Futurelab, customer, disconnect, brands, profit, Reconsidering the Advertising Industry, Bridging the Brand Divide, agencies

SEO: Fine Art and Science results in comedy value

Although this is only likely to be relevant to my UK readers, I’ll post it all the same.  Its also not very B2B’ish, so my humble apologies…..

As you can see Compare The Market’s campaign Compare The Meerkat is getting some funny PPC tactics applied to it by rival Confused.com.  Nice work.

Filed under: Advertising, BBC, SEO, SEO / SEM, Search Engine Optimisation, marketing , comparethemarket.com, confused.com, Funny, insurance, Meerkat, PPC

10 reasons why online advertising spend will dip in the UK recession

10 reasons why online advertising will dip in the UK recession:

1. There is a very small (but growing) percentage of conscientious people who don’t want to waste the advertiser’s money on a bad PPC click-through.  And so, as times get tougher, and because everything is tracked, some statistical trends will show a downward shift.
2. There is a percentage of people who do want to waste the advertiser’s money on a bad click-through.  And because everything is tracked, stats are up on poor quality click through’s.
3. Online advertisements are still too impersonal.  And this will become even more apparent in a ressesion.  If you read a magazine with an advert, or if you see an advert in a store, you can be mad at the shop assistant or the publisher.  If you click on a bad web ad, you have only yourself to blame — and by default that is never fun.  And rarely repeated.
4. Online PPC ads like “iPod Touch, just £20″ work.  But an ad like “SAAS.  Bespoke BPM Development testing professional” doesn’t.  The largest volume of investment in PPC advertising is in the long tail, and the adverts down in the long tail are broken.  Badly.  Ineffective advertisers with be the first to cut the budgets or shut down their experiments.
5. When up against it in a recession, human beings often ’stretch’ the truth.  The problem is, misleading and aversive adverts don’t perform well, especially online and especially during difficult times – when consumers become more defensive, critical and wary.
6. There’s no way “ad supported” ventures can pay for as many things as they were supposed to pay for any more.  Now this is being realised, there is going to be a pileup of ventures hitting the wall- taking their ad budgets with them.
7. When online ad revenues fall, there is major potential for a media driven ‘death spiral’.  A well communicated idea, story or worldview behind the short term argument “online advertising is dying” will easily transcend more relevant medium or long term spend trends.
8. Online advertising is horribly inefficient (becoming less so) but cheap (becoming less so).  And cutting spend is easy-peasy.  Your mum could do it.  Human beings are programmed to make these easy decisions quickly and painlessly.
9. ‘The End of Online Advertising as we know it’ will be auto-translated into ‘The End of Online Advertising’ in the consciousness of unknowing or immature advertising buyers.  The product of this will be FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) in the consciousness of a big proportion of online advertising buyers in the long tail.
10. Behavioural targeting will be trumpeted as a saviour in an era when existing online advertising will be promoted as ‘in transistion’.  The result will be a drop in spending whilst behavioural advertising is researched and evaluated.

Filed under: Advertising, Business, Computing, Conversion, Ideas and Riffs, Media, Strategy, Web, digital, ideas, marketing, technology , budgets, marketing, Online Advertising, recession

the little things that matter

Adam Kmiec is an Interactive Marketer at Colle+McVoy.  His presentation on Slideshare about micro interactions is well worth looking at.

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, Branding, Business, Conversational marketing, Customer service, Design, Facebook, Ideas and Riffs, Media, Social Media, Social Networking, Strategy, Twitter, User Generated Content, WOM, Web, Web2.0, digital, ideas, marketing, technology, trust, web 2.0, word of mouth , 2.0, interactions, interactive, marketing, Media, micro, new, social, Twitter, Web

The word of Mouth Manual: Volume II

ChangeThis wrote to me today with a special offer from Dave Balter.  Dave is the author of “The Word on Word of Mouth,” a manifesto they published in 2004.

The creator of BzzAgent, co-founder of WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) and author of THE GRAPEVINE, Dave has a new book out. It is entitled THE WORD OF MOUTH MANUAL: VOLUME II, and in an rather unorthodox move, he has decided to self-publish it. The physical edition costs $45.00, but he is offering a digital edition free of charge. If you’d like a copy, simply download a PDF of the book.

Filed under: Advertising, Business, Buzz, Influence, Media, PR, Social Media, Strategy, ideas, marketing, trust, word of mouth , Bzz Agent, Dave Balter, Free, Free Book, WOMMA

The future of marketing communications….

….or “How to think in a world gone digital.” by Jan Leth, Ogilvy & Mather.

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, Branding, Business, Buzz, Data, Design, Ideas and Riffs, Media, Planning, Social Media, Social Networking, Strategy, User Generated Content, Web2.0, digital, ideas, marketing, ogilvy, technology, web 2.0, word of mouth , 2.0, Advertising, alpha, beta, conversations, dada, Data, digital planning, future, Jan Leth, ogilvy, Web

Please help

Sport Relief

(I should apologise for bringing you here by illicit categorisation and tagging, but I won’t. You might have wasted just 10 seconds. Hopefully you will make the choice to change someone’s world in less than a minute).

Filed under: 2.0, ACL, Adobe, Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Analyst, Analytics, Apple, Awards, BBC, Blog, Blogging, Blogroll, Books, Branding, Business, Buzz, CBS, CIM, CRM, Charity, Colour, Computer, Computing, Conversational marketing, Conversion, Cool, Corbis, Customer service, Data, Deloitte, Design, Direct Email, Direct Mail, EMI, Email, Entertainment, Entrepreneur, Events, Experiential, Facebook, Fairchild Semiconductor, Forrester, Fun, Gartner, Google, IBM, IODA, IT, IT Planning, Ideas and Riffs, Illusion, Imagery, Influence, Infrared, Job, Keywords, Knee, MIT, Mac, Measurement, Media, Microsoft, Mobile, Music, News, Online, Online Video, Open Social, PC, PR, Planning, Power 150, Printing, Public Relations, Punchstock, Quotes, RSS, Religion, Remarkable, Research, SEO, SEO / SEM, SPARQL, SQL, Salmon, Scene7, Search, Search Engine Optimisation, Second Chance Tuesday, Second Life, Semantic Web, Sinclair, Social Graphs, Social Media, Social Networking, Software, Sony BMG, Spam, Spectrum, Strategy, Surgery, Survival, TV, Tattoo, The Orchard, Tim Berners-Lee, Twitter, Usability, User Generated Content, Viral, Viral Coefficient, Virtual Worlds, WIFI, WIKI, WOM, Warner Music Group, Web, Web2.0, White Paper, Wired.com, Wordpress, Xerox, Xuuk, Yahoo!, YouTube, ZX, blogs, bob, copywriting, digital, dotcoms, garfield, iStock, ideas, illustration, last.fm, marketing, ogilvy, permission, photography, podcast, sport, startups, stock photography, technology, trust, venture capital, verge, web 2.0, webmasters, wi-fi, word of mouth , 2008, Advertising, Age 5-14, Animals, Anime, Announcements, Answered, Art, Articles, Barack, Basketball, Bible, Big, Big Questions, Blog, Blogging, blogs, Books, Business, Charity, Children, China, Christianity, Church, clinton, Club, Comedy, Commentary, Community, Crime, Culture, Current Events, Daily, Democrats, Design, Economics, Economy, Education, Election 2008, Elections, Eliot Spitzer, English, Entertainment, Environment, Events, Faith, Family, Fashion, Fiction, Film, Food, Friends, Fun, Funny, Games, God, Government, Health, Hillary, Hip-hop, History, Home, Humor, ideas, India, inspiration, internet, Iraq, Islam, Jesus, John McCain, Journal, Kids, Leadership, Life, Links, Love, marketing, Marriage, Me, Media, Misc, Miscellaneous, Money, Movies, Music, Musings, My Life, Nature, News, Obama, Opinion, Parenting, penguin, People, Personal, Philosophy, photography, photos, Physics, Pictures, Poems, Poetry, Political, Politics, Pop culture, Prayer, Projects, Psychology, Questions, Quotes, Race, Ramblings, Random, Rants, Recipes, Reflections, Relationships, Religion, Research, Review, Reviews, School, Science, Sewing, Sex, Shopping, Society, Software, Spiritual, Spirituality, Sports, Stories, Stuff, technology, television, The Page, Theology, Thoughts, Travel, trends, TV, Unanswered, United states, Update, USA, video, Videos, web 2.0, Welcome, Women, work, World, Writing, YouTube

Mad Men in the UK

New to the UK and the BBC, Mad Men is a Golden Globe winning drama series set in the world of advertising in 1960s New York.  And with Emmy® Award-winning executive producer and writer of “The Sopranos” Matthew Weiner behind it, Mad Men really is the provocative drama that UK Marketing professionals should catch.

My advice is to cook a good meal, sit down with the wife, and watch it. ….under the pretence of course that the working day has ended…..When in actual fact you are thinking about the approach back in 1960’s, and how it applies (or doesn’t) in today’s era of multiple channels and a plethora of media types.

That’s what I did. Enjoyed it too.

What you are, what you want, what you love doesn’t matter. It’s all about how you sell it.

Manipulation of the media. Hell, that’s what I pay you for.

For UK viewers, it’s on iPlayer for another 4 days.

For the tech heads amongst you the throw away line to the newbie; “now try not to be overwhelmed by all this technology,” was just great.

Can someone help me though? What’s the difference between an Account Executive and a Creative Executive? lol.

Filed under: Advertising, Media, TV, marketing , Advertising, BBC, iPlayer, Mad Man, TV

When is your next Grand Opening?

I was recently invited to Apple’s store opening in Milton Keynes.

It got me thinking. 
If you are a technology business professional there is no reason why you can’t put on a “Grand Opening” the next time there is a new office, or an “Open Day” when a new Service is launched, or a “Country Tour” when a new product is launched.

Invite your prospects.  Invite your customers.  Get them to mix together and bring their curiosity, experiences, enthusiasm and orientation – it can be the best thing you can associate yourselves with.

If you are a software, hardware or IT Services marketing professional setting up a place to test-drive, experience or catch a free workshop is a golden opportunity.  And add a sprinkle of peer group – more’s the better.

All that said though – I would definitely advise laying on qualified ‘concierge’ staff (in easily spotted attire, a branded polo shirt will do), to provide hints and tips and a guide to everything.

In an era of web 2.0 (and 3.0), of new marketing techniques and new thinking generally – ‘old’ thinking and ‘traditional’ techniques still bear fruit for the lead oriented marketer.

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, Apple, Business, Buzz, Events, Strategy, ideas, marketing, technology , Apple, Country Tour, Grand Opening, open day, traditional marketing, web 2.0, web 3.0

US Marketers Losing Confidence in TV

<Update 03/02/08: More advertising shifts here>

Whether traditional TV advertising has truly lost its power, marketers and advertisers are already eager to find alternatives. The US based Association of National Advertisers and Forrester Research’s fourth biennial TV and Technology survey shows a dramatic loss of confidence in the medium as the industry gears up to explore new ad formats and forms of video commercials.

Wow.

There is a bit of me that is surprised that someone somewhere still feels the need to research TV and marketing; but with so much money spent on TV advertising it is very understandable that TV is being scrutinised so heavily, and for so long.

Here’s the science bit…

• 2/3s of C-level-executive respondents said they are watching the medium closely, up from just half two years ago
• 87% of respondents said they were going to be spending more on web ads in the coming year.
• 62% percent of marketers believe traditional TV ads have become less effective during the last two years.
• 50% of marketers reported that when half of all TV households use DVRs, they will cut spending on TV advertising by 12%.
• 87% percent of advertisers believe branded entertainment is the key to TV advertising in the coming year, and 65% of them are eager to try ads in online TV shows.

And emerging technologies continue to lure marketers looking to experiment.

• 43% would like to try interactive TV ads
• 55% are interested in ads embedded in VOD; and
• 32% would like to try ads attached to the set-top-box menu.

With the proliferation of new media, media agencies have stepped up their game to help clients deal with the changes. Two years ago, just under half the agencies reported they were ill-equipped to address changes in TV advertising, whereas only 28% did so this year.

But quite surprisingly it is the creative agencies that are falling behind, according to marketers:

• 47% of them said their agency was ill-equipped to deal with the changes, a mere 8% improvement from two years ago.

By the way the study was conducted in January 08 and is based on a survey of 78 leading advertisers across all major industries and categories in the US.

Filed under: Advertising, Analyst, Business, Forrester, Measurement, Media, Online, Research, Strategy, TV, digital, marketing, technology , ad formats, Advertising, Advertising confidence, ANA, Association of National Advertisers, Forrester Research, TV, TV Advertising

The 26 Week Internet Marketing Plan

If I said to you, you can learn about Internet Marketing in a weekend, and implement a thorough Strategic Internet Marketing plan in just 26 weeks, you might react in two negative ways; depending on your perspective. I know I did.

How can you provide me a strategic plan? That’s nonsence.
or
26 weeks? That’s too slow, too lethagic.

I’ve changed my mind. And I’d urge you to think again. I VERY rarely recommend items on this blog, but this deserves a mention…….

When the authors of the 26 Week Internet Marketing Plan asked me if they could send me a full preview of their package I was flattered, slightly nervous about what I would receive and hestitant to be seen like so many other bloggers who jump on a bandwagon to secure affiliate revenue, or traffic to their site (the latter is just not my style)

But I am so glad I accepted the gift, and challenge! What a wealth of content. It took nearly a full weekend to get through the content – and I am sure I missed bits.

Many UK marketing bloggers have been sent the pack as part of the stealth launch, and I’ll link to some of their content in this post. In a nutshell though, to be one of the best online marketers it is really key to know the basic rules of Internet Marketing – and this package has the basics outlined in as clear a manner as I have EVER seen.

The 26 week Internet marketing plan contains 4 DVD’s, 8 Multimedia CD’s and 4 ring-bound workbooks; plus a wall planner and 10 step quick start guide. It is written in a no-nonsense, pragmatic and conversational way – clearly a reflection of author David Bain’s clear understanding and experience in the Internet Marketing space. Great stuff.

Now don’t get me wrong. If you are a well read, experienced Internet Marketer, with a record of practising Internet Marketing for a number of years this quite possibly is not the guide for you. BUT (and I think this is a big ‘but’) if you are a marketing manager, business leader, entrepreneur or anybody who needs to make an impact online, is serious about it (you should be), and don’t know where the hell to start, the 26 week Internet Marketing Plan is an unbelievable package for you.

To give you an idea on its depth and breadth, this is what is provided out of the box.

Phase 1: Website Structure
Business Strategy
Keyword Research
Site Architecture
Conversion Rates
Viral Coefficient
Visitor Tracking

Phase 2: Automation and Launch
Blogging
RSS
Email Updates
Blog Communities
Blog & RSS Directories
Press Releases
Pay Per Click

Phase 3: Broaden Your Base
Major Directories
Industry Directories
Local Directories
Article Marketing
Competitor Backlinks
Forum Interaction
Blog Comments

Phase 4: Broaden Your Horizon
New Website
Social Networking
MyPage Marketing
Podcasting
Video Marketing
Visitor Analysis

Phew! See why it took 2 days to get through it!

This is what my marketing counterparts are discussing about the materials, and here is a brief introduction, plus here’s another.

As I mentioned the workbook writing is hype free, clear, easy to read; but most importantly littered with examples that makes the content easy to read and understand. So what? Well I have read many internet marketing books and too many are still poorly written.

But whilst the 4 workbooks form the core of the 26 week Internet Marketing Plan, they really are just the tip of the iceberg. And that leads me to the next great thing about the package. Its loaded with MP3’s of interviews, documented transcripts and .pdfs which really help to contextualise what you can learn in the core workbooks. Contributors include Jonathan Farrington and Yaro Starak by the way.

And finally what I really like is the overriding candid, honest, hype free approach that David has taken in producing this package.

IMHO there are numerous starter courses that prospective Internet Marketers could take – seminars, courses, training sessions etc. The trouble is they’re slick, polished but ultimately forgettable (most of the time).

For £399 I would be amazed if you could spend your hard earned money more wisely. And for the forgetful – the CD’s, MP3’s, .pdf’s and workbooks are a timely reminder of what to do, when and how. Highly recommended!

Filed under: Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Analytics, B2B, Blog, Blogging, Branding, Business, Buzz, Conversion, Data, Direct Email, Entrepreneur, IT, IT Planning, Influence, Keywords, Measurement, Media, Online, Online Video, Open Social, Planning, RSS, Research, SEO, SEO / SEM, Search, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media, Social Networking, Strategy, Usability, User Generated Content, Viral, Viral Coefficient, Virtual Worlds, Web, Web2.0, YouTube, blogs, copywriting, marketing, permission, podcast, technology, web 2.0, word of mouth , david Bain, Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing Plan, Jonathan Farrington, Marketing Automation and Launch, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Training, Purple Internet Marketing, Strategic Plan, The 26 Week Internet Marketing Plan, Website Structure, Yaro Starak

10 emerging trends in Media

Rainer Präsoll points out this study which examines 10 emerging trends sure to have a major influence on the media sector.

Filed under: Advertising, Business, Deloitte, Media, Research, Strategy, marketing, technology , Advertising, business model, Deloitte Media Predictions 2008, Research, technology, Web