Micro postings 02/11/08

Here are some micro postings and bookmarks,  c. November-December:

Merriam-Webster’s 2008 Word of the Year – from Boing Boing.
Too be honest it will be a few years before the American Dialect Society’s 2005 Word of the Year (“truthiness”) is beaten imho.

The Book Design Review blog’s top book covers for 2008 – from Boing Boing.
The Trouble with Physics wins for me.

The leading application and service providers laying the foundation for the Top 500 retailers’ e-commerce operations – from Internet Retailer.com

Everything is an Emotional Buy – from CSM
(Poor spelling aside, this piece makes some good points)

B2B Branding – from Neutron

The Death of Blogging – (How Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004), from Wired.
Luckily no mention of Pownce in the title.  Personally I think that the rumours of the death of the blogosphere are perhaps greatly exaggerated.

Filed under: Art, B2B, Books, Branding, Design, Micropostings, Twitter, Wired.com, marketing, technology , B2B Branding, best book cover design, ecommerce technology, neutron, truthiness, Wired death of blogging

People & customer experience

David Jackson, the MD of Clicktools has posted about a conference on customer experience organised by the Henley Centre for Customer Management.  Quoting David directly;

Henley’s research into the perfect customer experience identified the top three attributes that drive satisfaction for both B2B and B2C.

For B2C the three are:

1. How helpful the organisation (ie its people) is.
2. How the organisation minimises the time consumers have to spend on a transaction.
3. The organisation’s ability to recognise the customer – i.e. knows about them.

For B2B , what matters is:

1. The extent of personal contact
2. Flexibility in dealing with the customer
3. Demonstrating an implicit understanding of their needs

In summary; you can have all the technology you need, but when push comes to shove, it’s still people that make the difference.

This is great stuff.

I wasn’t there, but I wonder if I may add a spin to David’s summary – just to be clear this isn’t an either/or situation:

You can have all the technology you need, but when push comes to shove, it must be integrated with people, business processes, systems and solutions to really enhance customer experiences.  Truly integrated customer experiences, across channels, are a pre-requisite for solving customer problems.

David’s blog home on e-consultancy is here.

Filed under: B2B, BBC, Business, Customer Experience, Customer service, IT, IT Planning, Software, Strategy, Web, marketing, technology , B2B, B2C, Clicktools, Customer Experience, David Jakson, Henley Centre for Customer Management, People, systems integration, technology

It’s official. I need help.

As my current Marketing Manager is going on maternity leave, I need help. A years worth of help. It’s official. Email me with you CV if you think you are the up to the mark

This really is an exciting opportunity to contribute to a leading UK SI, Salmon. Salmon’s UK marketing department is small, but its lead generation efforts are big; to match the the aim of driving the achievement of Salmon’s annual revenue targets.

You will need experience in business-to-business (B2B) marketing in a high-tech (software, hardware or IT services) environment; and you will naturally enjoy demonstrating skills related to integrated marketing programmes, and working well with internal stakeholders.

From day one, you’ll enjoy understanding Salmon’s brand values. And when you are ready (you’ll be a quick learner) you’ll thrive on communicating our core values and building sophisticated campaigns; successfully helping to plan, execute and measure integrated lead generation campaigns.

For the listaholics…….

Main duties

• Help to plan, execute and measure integrated marketing programmes, against agreed objectives and budget
• Sound marketing administration
• Assist in the planning and execution of PR, seminars, conferences, user groups, direct marketing
• Work with salespersons on a day-to-day basis, providing support for their activities
• Create content for internal and external communication, both email based and print based such as email updates, Newsletters, customer win postcards
• Maintain list of customer reference sites for sales use, press opportunities and case studies
• Liaise with Salmon’s business partners and suppliers, in a professional and conscientious manner
• Maintain marketing relationships, processes and systems with business partners
• Maintain Salmon’s CRM system (Salesforce), sourcing and managing data for external communication
• Maintain and update the Salmon website
• Create collateral/presentations to support Salmon’s services and solutions
• Maintain marketing budget

Experience and skills

The successful candidate will need to be able to demonstrate their experience in the following:

• B2B marketing in a high-tech industry
• Successful execution and measurement of lead generation campaigns
• Effective copywriting for corporate website, micro site, emails, eNewsletters, direct mail
• Organising seminars and conferences
• Measuring campaign performance against objectives
• Integrated campaigns: – PR, events, email marketing, web
• Microsoft Office, especially MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Word

Experience in the following is desirable:

• UK IT Services market
• Using Salesforce.com or similar CRM systems to track and report on marketing campaigns
• Digital and Email marketing
• PR Administration, and/or Romeike Media Disc
• Adobe / Macromedia Contribute, Photoshop, Acrobat

Don’t delay. This position will be filled quickly.

Filed under: B2B, Business, Job, Salmon, marketing, technology , Job, Manager, marketing, Salmon

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

Celebrity endorsement. The good and bad

Sporting icons have long been used in B2C advertising. Thierry Henry for Renault, David Beckham for Adidas and dare I say it George Foreman for the….ahem….Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine.

Initial thinking might lead you to the conclusion that B2B, and high technology marketing in particular, has been slower to adopt the celebrity endorsement. But actually the reality is that this is not true. For instance since 2003, Tiger Woods has been the centrepiece of Accenture’s advertising. The sporting world’s “ultimate symbol of high performance” serves as a metaphor for Accenture’s commitment to helping companies become high-performance businesses. Cute.

And low and behold today, in Computing Magazine another sporting celebrity with cause to endorse an I.T. product. It’s an enormous pity Minolta’s campaign isn’t quite so well thought through though.

Somehow taking a picture, capturing a toothy grin and adding the strapline “The Skills to win” doesn’t quite cut it. Even if we are talking Ronaldinho. And that Minolta Football kit. OMG!

Lets face it. Accenture wins hands down. Now in its fifth year, the campaign is no doubt widely recognised by IT buyers around the globe.

Accenture has clearly spent big on this initiative. And their research and findings are no doubt the outcome of comprehensive studies. But lets face it, the creative idea “We know what it takes to be a Tiger” surpasses a cheesy grin from the worlds best footballer any day of the week or year.

Filed under: Advertising, B2B, BBC, Branding, Business, marketing, technology , Accenture, Advertising, B2B, B2C, celebrity, endorsement, Milnolta, Ronaldinho, Tiger Woods

WordPress for a corporate site?

Does anyone out there have good examples of WordPress being used for a B2B Corporate website? 

This is not related to my job – but a family member asked the question, and I hadn’t considered it before.

Any tips, examples or feedback appreciated!

Filed under: B2B, Business, Online, Planning, Strategy, Wordpress, marketing, technology , B2B, Business, Corporate, website, Wordpress

Enterprise Software v Consumer Software

Oh lovely juberly.

A debate is raging about Enterprise Software v Consumer Software. This is right up my street as I market one, and use the other.

What great reading!

Robert Scoble started it by having the balls to say that ‘Enterprise Software’ isn’t covered by blogs and journalists. Instead, he points out, that we like talking about Consumer Software’.

It seems Enterprise Software just isn’t “sexy” enough. lol. How will the AIM, FTSE and the NASDAQ react to this news?

Camp A says something like, “enterprise software is usually very expensive, very bloated, very hard to use, and very hard to keep running. In other words, very crap.“

Camp B says, “Sure it’s not sexy. But enterprise software enabled you to fly to London, check into your hotel. Enterprise software allows you to bank on line, use an ATM. Enterprise software was involved in building your car, building your laptop, designing and building your house. Enterprise software delivers your entertainment, enables the capturing of images used on Google Maps. Was likely involved in building and shipping your camera, your Kindle, and any other gadget you have. So, while it’s not “sexy”, it’s a bigger factor in your life than blogging, twitter and any other Web 2.0 flavor of the month.“

I find it all hilarious. What a futile debate, and yet it’s so readable!

Seeing as every man and his dog is happy to contribute to however, I wonder if there is anyone out there who can help me get to the bottom of an equally futile discussion? – Do blondes really have more fun?

Filed under: B2B, BBC, Software , B2B, B2C, Consumer Software, Enterprise Software, Robert Scoble, Sexy

Learning from the B2C sector

There is plenty of discussion out there about B2B and B2C marketing, and whether there is a difference in the disciplines. On the one hand business to business marketing is just marketing to consumers who happen to have a corporation to pay for what they buy. And yet there is a perspective that buying a product for yourself verses buying for your company is a very different, emotional experience.

Lets face it. There are plenty of good and bad marketing examples on BOTH sides of the divide, and the best marketers will be those that draw best practices from both disciplines.

To that point, this week I saw a great DM piece from Sky. This is clearly a world away from High Technology marketing, but what I received was a timely reminder that you can get inspiration from anywhere.

You see, being a subscriber to Sky+ I get to come home after a hard day at the office, open a beer, and watch my wife’s favourite TV programmes – all series linked using Sky+! It was great of Sky therefore to mail the household to explain that one of the broadcasters in the UK (Channel 4) were making a few changes in my area – and that programmes due to be recorded using Sky+ wouldn’t work on or after a particular date.

Maybe not a big deal at face value eh? Think again. For my wife to be reminded that someone in the household would need to re-select what they wanted to record is a pretty big deal. She works hard all day with two (great) kids, and at the end of a draining day likes nothing more than putting her feet up and watching some dross. With Ugly Betty just one of the programmes set on permanent record, the aftermath of a failed recording would have caused a fair old rumpus in the household.

My wife will have blamed Sky (when in fact this is a broadcasting issue apparently), complained about how poor the service is (it only takes one glitch for a consumer to feel hard done by these days) and held a grudge for quite a while (1 bad customer is worth 10 delighted ones).

The lesson for a High Technology B2B marketer therefore?

The next time a technology partner makes a software update or a major new release, make sure you do a real good job finding out the consequences for your customers, and the potential ramifications. Then in a clear and concise fashion, explain the issues and the route to resolving the issues that might surface.  Why?  Your brand depends on it. And moreover do it right, and you’ll have a brand advocate on your hands – after all my wife passed me the DM knowing I’d love it.

Best practice in building trust, building a powerful brand, and providing exemplary customer service doesn’t require you to think differently just because you are operating in B2B or B2C. Poor is poor, good is good, and great is great whomever your customer is.

Filed under: B2B, BBC, Branding, Customer service, Direct Mail, Software, ideas, marketing , B2B, B2C, best practices, Brand, Branding, Customer service, Direct Mail, DM, seth godin, Sky, trust, vista consulting

CMR – Customer Managed Relationships

I wrote about Customer Managed Relationships (CMR) here back in July.

The debate still goes on here and here. I find it interesting that web 2.0 technologies are very aligned to this ethos, and that in the context of B2B, web 2.0 may help organisations better understand their customers – and at least partially ‘deal with’ or ‘embrace’ the fact that customers (or consumers) are in control.

There has been much debate about the relevance of web 2.0 in the commercial sector. The news concerning Youtube, Google’s Open Social, Facebook & Microsoft has further fanned the flames as B2B marketing managers crave to identify the real value that web 2.0 will bring to the B2B space; over and above standard user generated content and viral video to name just two spheres of influence web 2.o has garnered.

And so I wonder if establishing a real monetary link between web 2.0 and CRM is what will really create the breakthrough in mindset that seems to be needed to tip the balance?

To me there are too many advertising agencies that are still looking to apply new technology against an old paradigm – where advertising and publishing rules.

That is clearly not the case. Customers manage relationships whether advertisers and brand managers like it or not. But perhaps it is time to prove it?

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, B2B, Business, CRM, Customer service, Facebook, Ideas and Riffs, Open Social, Social Media, Strategy, User Generated Content, Viral, ideas, marketing , B2B, Customer managed relationships, Facebook, Open Social, web 2.0

Agenda Setters 2007

Silicon.com has come up trumps with its Agenda Setters for 2007.  Take a look at the List and see who’s on it.  Alternatively take a peek at the break downs by Business Leaders,  Technologists, Entrepreneurs, and Media Movers.And for the real trend followers there is the Achievers 2000-07 trackback (which charts the top performers over the last 7 years) and a review of the Panel who was sitting in judgement.

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Extra Stuff from Silicon.com

The world’s 50 most innovative companies BusinessWeek

The world’s 100 most powerful women Forbes.com

Chron 500 – The San Francisco Bay Area’s top public companies San Francisco Chronicle

100 fastest growing tech companies Business 2.0

Filed under: Analyst, Awards, B2B, BBC, Business, Computing, Entrepreneur, IT, Influence, Measurement, Research, Web, Web2.0, marketing, startups, web 2.0 , , Agenda Setters, Business Leaders, Entrepreneurs, innovation, Media Movers, Silicon.com, Technologists

Good news for UK based B2B marketers

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has teamed up with six other trade bodies, including the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Institute of Sales Promotion (ISP), to raise the profile and standard of business-to-business marketing communications in the UK.

The joint initiative, to be called the B2B Best Practice Alliance, will cover 14 areas of B2B marketing and also includes the Institute of Direct Marketing and The Market Research Society, as well as eight DMA councils.

Steve Dyer, managing director of Clockwork IMC and a member of the DMA B2B committee, is leading the initiative.

DMA chairman Rosemary Smith says: “The wealth of expertise and knowledge that such and alliance can bring to the table will create a truly comprehensive set of best practice guidelines in the B2B arena.”

Filed under: B2B, Business, Planning, Research, Strategy, marketing

10 Tips for Becoming a Great Corporate Blogger

According to Scoutblogging, successful blogging is not just about being the best writer on the web or even the most prolific. Phew!

Being a successful blogger is about “creating a connection with an audience by providing relevant content, nurturing that relationship with comments and links and keeping the dialogue flowing.” Pretty good advise, and here are their ten tips to get you started.

There is also a great piece today by Brandchannel.com, about Brand (or Corporate) led blogs. As they define quite accurately, a brand blog is not a business blog.

Filed under: B2B, Blog, Blogging, Business, Conversational marketing, Social Media, Strategy, blogs, marketing

Now available as an email

By popular request, you can now subscribe to this blog by email. Powered by Feedburner,  an email simply shows up in your inbox once a day. It is the same low, low price as the regular blog,  but a bit more convenient for the easily forgetful, or the very busy marketing or technology executive.

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, B2B, Branding, Business, Direct Email, Email, Planning, Strategy, ideas, marketing

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?

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, B2B, Blog, Blogging, Branding, Buzz, CRM, Customer service, Direct Email, Direct Mail, Experiential, Ideas and Riffs, Measurement, Planning, Strategy, Viral, blogs, ideas, marketing, word of mouth

Three letter acronyms (TLAs)

I got an invite to a webinar today.  I get a lot of these.  Tech vendors LOVE their webinars.

I’ve read the title of the invite twice.  Twice.  Slooooooowly.

“TWO WORLDS COLLIDE:  Combining PPM and ALM, from the PMO Perspective” *

Now I’ve worked in technology marketing all my working life.  I get technology.

But the use of two, three, four letter acronyms is getting beyond a joke.  Either that or I am getting too old and need to be put out to pasture.

P.S.  The invite went into the deleted items before I could be bothered to read the title a third time.  And I am usually a patient lad. 

* Hint.  Drop the TLAs.  Prospective clients might actually be interested in what you do – if they can get through your complex messaging and hyperbole. 

Filed under: Advertising, B2B, Computing, Direct Email, Direct Mail, Events, IT, Ideas and Riffs, Strategy, copywriting, ideas, marketing