Beautiful Word Clouds

I like tag clouds and have just found Wordle – a playful service for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.

It’s not a development of rocket science proportions – but what I like about it, is the ability to tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.  I think that this might be very useful for the promotion of online collaterals – as an additional tool for online précis.

Here is a word cloud derived from a piece of collateral written for Salmon (where I work)

Word Cloud

Incidently the images you can create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

Filed under: 2.0, Data, Imagery, Salmon, User Generated Content, Web2.0, ideas, illustration, marketing, web 2.0 , Design, tag clouds, wordle

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

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

Web 2.0 – Why we got here and whats next

Alexander van Elsas points us to a Marketingfacts post highlighting a brilliant presentation by Rolf Skyberg, the disruptive innovator at eBay.

Skyberg discusses the evolution of the Internet by placing it into a historical context; the result a unique perspective.

At 477 slides you could be inclined to give this a miss.

Don’t.

You’ll fly through this.

And no doubt this will capture attention in the same way that The Machine is Us/ing Us has.

Filed under: 2.0, Business, Computer, Computing, Data, Online, Social Media, Strategy

You may say I’m a dreamer

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try.
No hell below us,
above us only sky.

Imagine all the people
living for today.

Imagine there’s no countries.
It isn’t hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for
and no religion, too.

Imagine all the people
living life in peace.

You may say I’m a dreamer.
But I’m not the only one.
I hope someday you’ll join us
and the world will be as one.

Imagine no possessions.
I wonder if you can.

No need for greed or hunger,
a brotherhood of man.

Imagine all the people
sharing all the world.

You may say I’m a dreamer.
But I’m not the only one.

I hope someday you’ll join us
and the world will live as one.

Perfect in so many ways…..

And if you believe Hit Song Science or HSS for short, which was featured at London Calling this year, we can all be knocking songs out like Lennon in next to no time.

You see HSS is a software package that was developed through extensive mathematical research on other hit songs. And the result? Complex algorithms (1 million songs in the making) are used to compare your uploaded song with other hit songs similar to your song’s algorithms. A score is given in a scale of 1-10, and if your song scores 7.5 and above, then, according to HSS, it would be a hit. If your song scores below 7.5, then maybe not.

This is crazy in so many ways. And yet;

“….the technique, known as Hit Song Science (HSS), picked out the potential of the jazz singer Norah Jones months before she topped the US charts and won eight Grammy awards for her first album. Five major record companies have been so impressed that they are beginning trials of the software, New Scientist magazine reports today.” The London Times

What I hate about this is that songs are placed in clusters, a “universe” of songs. If your song happens to be among the “hit” cluster of similar sounding songs, then your song is considered worthy as a hit.

Hmmmm. In other words, if you have a song that is different to the rest, it is almost certainly not going to be flagged up as a potential hit. It seems being ‘remarkable’ in the HSS world is a bad thing?

And worse still, in HSS’s ideal world your future hits need to be nearly the same as a previous hit, just a tiny bit different.

The website says “Do you want to have your music reach new fans“, “Do you want to be able to know where to best place your music“, “Do you want to know the success potential of your songs within different markets, music lover´s niches, and choose the best channels and targets?“

If I was a musician I would take a leaf out of John Lennon’s book. I suspect he was motivated to write ‘Imagine’ (considered by many as the best song ever written) not by copying hits by other artists, but by his feelings – his feelings of pain when he looked at the world around him.

I suspect greedy record labels and the artists of the future would do well to try the same.

Filed under: Analytics, Computing, Data, Ideas and Riffs, Measurement, Music, Planning, Remarkable, ideas, marketing , Hit Song Science

A brief history of spam

“Damn Spam”, The losing war on junk e-mail, by Michael Spector of The New Yorker

Filed under: Data, Direct Email, Direct Mail, Email, Spam, marketing