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

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

Formula for the perfect voice

Researchers say they have worked out a mathematical formula to find the perfect human voice.

The mp3 files I’ve heard of the ‘perfect voice’ don’t sound too good to me.

‘Perfect’ isn’t best.

Filed under: BBC, Research , perfect, perfect voice, presentations, public speaking, sound

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

Google your way to being wacky. Or pretentious?

You decide…..

Thanks Laura :-)

Filed under: BBC, Design, Fun, Google , BBC, Design, Google, Interior design, Office design

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

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

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

Trusted advice or marketing clap-trap. Your choice.

I have written about Crowdstorm in my posts The UKs small firms – “failing to make use of web” and 13 British dotcoms to watch, and yesterday the price comparison site developed by Philip Wilkinson, the founder of Kelkoo UK and Shopgenie, was launched.

What I like about this offering is that it’s a shop comparison site plus much more.  The wisdom of a crowd (community) is leveraged to help buyers make better informed purchase decisions, based on the crowd’s advice and recommendations.  This overlays the usual price comparison elements. The result is a one stop destination for researching products and getting impartial buying advice from a crowd of experts and trusted users.

Nice.

I’ll take trusted advice over marketing clap-trap anyday.

Go take a look at there offering.

Filed under: 2.0, BBC, Buzz, Entrepreneur, Social Media, User Generated Content, dotcoms, marketing, startups, trust , advice, Crowdstorm, dotcom, trust

Second Chance Tuesday – Learn from Last.fm

This afternoon I was invited to join Second Chance Tuesday for a rare opportunity to hear first hand, the inspiring story of how three swashbuckling entrepreneurs developed their ground-breaking social music experience, raised angel and venture capital from some of Europe’s most respected investors, guided their user growth to over 20 million active users in 240 countries, and sold to CBS as one of the biggest European Web 2.0 exits to date.

Sound interesting to you? Go register

The BBC’s technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, will be unearthing the secrets of their success, debating the future of online communities and digital content, and posing some more lighthearted questions including whether they still sleep in tents on the roof of their office, and what they plan to do with their share of the $280m. Spend it?

Who’s Who?

Felix Miller is CEO of Last.fm. He came to London from Germany to study in 1997. He met Martin Stiksel at a gig through a mutual friend. He was in a punk band at the time.

Martin Stikselis the co-founder and CCO of Last.fm. Martin came to London in 1995, where he created a sound design company (working on commissions for the likes of MTV and the BBC), before meeting Felix Miller at a gig in the late ’90s. The two of them set up an online record label, before launching Last.fm in 2002.

What is last.fm?

Founded in 2002 in London, Last.fm is the online, social music revolution that connects people with music and artists with listeners. By joining the Last.fm community, music fans can choose to share their music preferences by linking their media player to the Last.fm database. This database is populated continually with over 500 million monthly track submissions from Last.fm music fans. As a result, Last.fm can intelligently recommend songs, artists, local concerts and even other members based on their musical tastes.

Thanks to partnerships with EMI, Warner Music Group, Sony BMG, independent aggregators The Orchard and IODA, and more than 100,000 independent musicians and 20,000 labels that upload music directly to the site, Last.fm can draw recommendations from one of the most extensive online music catalogues.

Second Chance Tuesday is an event for anyone who believes in the power of the internet to change everything, from the way we communicate to the way we entertain ourselves.

Interested in mingling with London’s leading entrepreneurs and investors (as well as some older and wiser faces from the ‘99 dot.com boom) who are helping create the world-changing ideas of tomorrow?

Filed under: 2.0, BBC, Business, CBS, EMI, Entrepreneur, Events, IODA, Music, Online, Second Chance Tuesday, Social Media, Sony BMG, Strategy, The Orchard, User Generated Content, Warner Music Group, Web2.0, dotcoms, last.fm, marketing, startups, venture capital, web 2.0