8 posts tagged “interactive”

They find videos through blogs and direct navigation to video sites, mostly. Google is the top individual site referring video views; also: social networks refer more views than video search engines.

People discover videos online in a variety of ways, from embeds on blogs to video search engines. But which sources drive the most video views? TubeMogul just released some interesting stats…Methodology

Analysis/Conclusions
These results likely come as bad news to the myriad sites that are set up with online video discovery in mind, such as video search engines, which source a relatively modest 0.63% of all referred video views.

To those trying to unlock a formula for making a video go viral, perhaps this gives some clues: reach out to bloggers and optimize a video’s meta-data to ensure it ranks highly on intra-video site plugs.

Taken from:

TubeMogul’s patent-pending technology and our partners.

Everything we wear, the food we eat, the car we drive, where we live, the music we listen to, the people we hang around with speak volumes about us as individuals. We all choose very carefully each and every aspect of our lives. We all have an inner circle of brands that we want to be associated with – that we’re proud to be seen with. I call this Brand ‘Me’.

Read Chris Catchpole’s interesting thoughts about branding and more

I am what I say I am

People use clothing to define themselves. We are also judged by what we wear. I know that I get treated very differently in shops when I wear a smart suit to when I’m dressed casually. Exactly the same person but a different response depending on clothes. Weird, isn’t it? But that’s often how we get our first impression. This is how I explain the importance of art direction – it doesn’t matter what you’ve got to say if you don’t look right. More on this in another post though.

Occasionally, new brands come along or established brands get a makeover and they join our list of close ‘friends’. They may stick around for a while, perhaps just until the special offers run out. This is the true test of friendship. Once the honeymoon period is over, has enough been done to persuade the customer to stay? When the three months free are over, the 50% off is done, 2 for the price of 1 has gone, the free gift yesterday’s news, what’s the reason to stay. Apart from the handcuffs they may have had to sign up to that they now regret, what really makes this company’s offering any different to their competitor’s?

Why not ask people what they want not tell them what they want

Companies spend vast amounts of time and money developing products and services then even more time and money telling everyone how wonderful they are. Do any of them ever think to stop and ask consumers what they want in the first place then create around the need rather than try and create the need? Surely the best way to sell a product or service is to show how it would enhance someone’s life if they had it. Some of the hardest and least successful work I’ve done has tried to create a need where really none exists and probably never would. Why not make the new product ‘amazing’, the new service ‘revolutionary’? But first, ask the people what they want.

Love is…

Think about a company you love. What do they do right? Not only will they make a product that you think is wonderful (or a service that’s remarkable), I guarantee that good Customer Services will play an important role in your relationship with them. It’ll probably be a company that its customer at the centre and does all it can to make them feel special, appreciated and wanted. Why go elsewhere?

All the c&f ‘Rules of Friendship’ deal with precisely this approach for the mutual benefit of both sides. For more information on these, have a read of http://www.chriscatchpole.com/

This article was written by Chris Catchpole. Go check out his impressive direct marketing portfolio

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Michael Leander will be speaking about Marketing Through Social Networks at the ProMarket 2009 in Ljubljana in February 2009 and at the International Marketing Summerschool in Madrid in June 2009.

Not following the opportunity until it is too late
When it first hit me in 1994 – it hit me hard. And it is still very much on my mind. From time to time so much that I have been moments from setting this high flying plan into action; rearranging my life with an objective to take on that enormous opportunity it could represent for someone like me.

But. Alas. Like many before me, I did not follow my first instinct. It took me 8 years before I finally became an internet marketing entrepreneur – taking my hard earned experience from the corporate world and turning it into rather expensive, but – I’d like to think – valuable advice to large companies in Europe and beyond. By 2006 my companies were sold. After that - for some years - time became an abundance.

Much of that time have been invested with an objective to fully understand a number of intriguing marketing tactics, including sales, marketing and acquisition trough social media. I no longer get the same sort of super excitement about the prospects of the richnesses I could attract by setting up a social networking platform or even a social media of sorts. But I do believe that social networking and marketing through social networks represents a real opportunity for many companies, big and small.

Warnings are in place
I must warn you now. Social media, social networking, and marketing through these phenomenon is fascinating. And some “experts” will tell you that it is for everyone.

Not I … I will not give you that advice. Not ever.

Because as with any other direct or interactive marketing vehicle, only the smartest of the bunch will manage to design the right plan, execute it with excellence and reap the Return on Marketing Investment benefits. The rest won’t. In fact, the rest will continue doing what they always have been doing; following in others footsteps with no real game-plan and – naturally – without any success.

I have heard the sentence “anyone can participate and benefit” far too often. Remember when the internet was new & hot? The “experts” said; it is for everyone. Get in there, or die. Remember that?

During my presentation at ProMarket in Ljublana I will elaborate more on that. But for now, I’d like to give you a brief introduction to Marketing Through Social Networks. I plan to follow up with a second and third article in January 09.

First - terminology

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Let’s take a look at the terminology. Because, you see, a certain very accomplished writer - whom I deliberately will not refer to as a direct marketing guru - claims that it is important that we all agree on the meaning of words. And since I have a tendency of making up the meaning of words as I go along, I thought I’d better get help from a reliable source.

We want to understand the exact definition of two terms. One is “social media”. The other is “social network marketing”.

In comes Wikipedia.

According to Wikipedia, the definition of Social media is:

Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences.

Aha.

So now I suppose that well known communities such as Facebook, Youtube and MySpace are considered social medias.

As for social network marketing, Wikipedia suggests

Social network marketing or social level marketing, is a advertising method that makes use of social network service and to increase their web presence. This ranges from simply advertising directly on social networking sites, viral marketing that spreads throughout the web, email, and word of mouth, or providing niche social networking sites focused around the item being advertised.

Many sites include features where companies can create profiles. For example, on Facebook companies can create “pages” where users can become fans of this company, product, service, individual, etc.

That makes sense, right? I am sure you knew that already. So – just checking

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I think it is fair to say that both social media and social networks all fit under the web 2.0 umbrella, even though I am aware that some social media “experts” would argue that social media is its own umbrella. But that is merely semantics. I much prefer to take a more pragmatic approach to these things.

Second – the conversation
In order to become a successful marketer you must understand that the vast majority of social network marketing programs starts and ends with an opportunity to initiate, take part in and follow an interesting and relevant conversation. It is really that simple. And, might I add, not any different from any other direct or interactive marketing effort. Only, through social networks and social medias we have been provided platforms that enable us to actually have the conversation. Not only one-on-one, but with the participation of many, all at the same time. So I can be one-to-one, but most often it is (take your pick) one-to-many, company-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer – heck, even friend-to-enemy.

Social media thus is much more than the typical journalist driven news related website. Since social media is open, any company, or any person for that matter, can become a publisher.

Learn - become your own publisher
I would argue that in order to understand how you can effectively market to social networks, it is quite beneficial to experiment with setting up a social media type of activity within your own organization first. It will help you understand how a few important things work in real life, namely

- how to get a conversation started

- how to keep the conversation going

- how to convert people from conversation to call-to-action

Apart from founding the Chief Marketing Officer’s Community aka Marketingboss on Xing, which currently counts around 7.000 member, I have setup a blog – http://www.meemoo2.com – and a Marketing “TV Channel” – http://www.marketingboss.tv – to test how this works. During my presentation at the ProMarket I will share some of my concrete findings with you. I will also be giving a similar presentation in Madrid in June at the International Senior Management Programme in Direct, Interactive & Relationship Marketing.

Now. Obviously marketing on social networks differs depending on your target audience. A B2C marketer will need to use slightly different techniques than the average B2B marketer. But at the corner stone of any successful marketing through social networks is a solid understanding of how social medias work. What makes them successful, what makes people like them, what makes people refer them to friends, family and colleagues and so on.

Third – setting objectives

It never seizes to amaze me how many marketers initiate new marketing programs without clearly defined objectives. Luckily most of these adventurous marketers almost always fail.

Before you venture into marketing through social networks, you must define your objectives.

In part 2 and 3 of this article, I will walk you through the following;

• setting your objectives

• defining your target market / segmentation

• defining the sales funnel and aligning it with the conversation and the dialogue

• engagement tactics with social network marketing

• top 10 most important tips to successful marketing through social networks for both B2C and B2B marketers.

  If you would like to connect with me on a social network platform, feel free to do so at Linkedin or Xing using the email address [micleander@gmail.com]
  

I found these three excellent marketing education opportunities. I realize that many will claim that their company currently is facing some tough times and therefore are reluctant to put emphasis on your continued marketing education.  Read on for more.

Well, in my opinion, you should focus on obtaining new knowledge, get inspiration from people in the know and flat out look for better, cheaper and more effective ways to market your product.

Having been lucky enough to speak at many marketing conferences and marketing seminars in more than 15 countries, I have often been excited about the feedback conference participants have provided only weeks after attending.

It turns out, that often attendees are able to put the knowledge they acquire at a conference or seminar to good use immediately following the event. In other words,  time and money spend are often payed back many times over within weeks after attending.

Here are the three excellent marketing education opportunities I mentioned:

1. EADIM - The European Academy of Direct & Interactive Marketing - A certificate rewarding program founded by Drayton Bird in association with FEDMA

Established by the world renowned direct marketing guru, Drayton Bird, EADIM was founded in 2008. It is the first certified course in direct and interactive marketing to be offered to the European community as a whole. The EADIM certificate was granted official recognition after a formal review in Brussels in 2008 by The PEACC Committee of the Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing Associations (FEDMA).

Now EADIM is ready to bid the next group of marketing students ready to join their 2009 course. The inaugural course had students from all over the world attending. And they were ecstatic about what they have experienced so far.

This is an excellent one year on/off campus programme designed to help you excel in direct and interactive marketing. Faculty includes a handful of the worlds foremost thinkers and practitioners. Go learn more.

And there’s more: It is increcible cheap. No. Really it is. You get one year of quality training for the value of two conference days. And. You can save £ 400 if you book your place before January 15th. 2009.

2.The International Senior Management Programme in Direct, Interactive & Relationship Marketing, June 2009 in Madrid in association with DMA, ICEMD and FEDMA

4 days in Madrid, Spain in company with likeminded marketing professionals and no less than 14 leading marketing practitioners from around the world. Taking place at ICEMD, The Institute of Direct & Interactive Marketing, the June 2009 summerschool will cover these three main areas:

	how to communicate more effectively using direct and interactive media
	how to market more competitively through data driven, relationship focused strategies
	how to sell more profitably by understanding and integrating offline and online channels

I will definately be there. Will you?

Go read more about this exciting summerschool.

3. Permission marketing ABC - a DVD and handbook set developed to teach you all you need to know about permission marketing legislation in more than 20 countries. EXCLUSIVE

In fact, you cannot find this information anywhere else. FEDMA and Fokus Integrated produced this 5 module course with an objective to teach you important components you need to know about permission marketing.  The legal factpack covers more than 20 European countries. The course covers online as well as offline channels including one module providing hands-on input to your permission based email marketing strategy.

Buy the DVD + Handbook at a very low price now. You will not regret you did. Guaranteed.

Stay tuned for more marketing education opportunities - signup for the Meemoo2 Marketingboss Newsletter and get the free report Marketingboss Regrets 2007 and Resolutions 2008 - click here

>>by Ray Miller

The first rule of stellar service delivery is: Service is all about expectations..

You buy a product; you expect it to work the first time. You go to a discount supplier, you expect the quality to be less than the high end dealer, but you still expect what you buy to work, first time every time. When it comes to products, expectations are pretty clear. People expect a good quality product based on the price they are willing to pay for it. When it comes to service, expectations can get a little fuzzy.

When a customer begins a relationship with you he or she already has a specific set of expectations. These expectations are based on their perceptions of you, your company and your industry. They are formed through personal past experience, and the experience of others with whom the customer interacts.

Consider the last time you went into a self-service gas station. What did you expect? Other than the pump to be working, not much else right? After all - you are doing all the work. You have the opportunity to Satisfy, Dissatisfy or Impress-and two of these are bad. Delivering below expectations is obviously bad, but in the context of creating loyalty, so is simply satisfying customers, because they are getting nothing more or less than they expect.

If it exceeds your expectations, you’re impressed, and If the service you receive meets your expectations you are satisfied.

If it is below your expectations…well, you know. Creating customer value and loyalty comes from consistently exceeding expectations.

Prof. Benjamin Schneider and Prof. David E. Bowen published an article called “Understanding Customer Delight and Outrage”.

Delight and outrage?
That may sound a bit melodramatic but this concept is critically important to providing basic customer service. Consider this hypothetical bell curve measuring the quality of service delivery in general: Basically, most service falls into the median of the curve - the take it or leave it level of service. If you provide this level of service the customer will be satisfied.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT RETURN ON BEHAVIOR MAGAZINE

Marketingboss TV offer you more than 200 free videos about marketing. You will find lots of educational, inspirational and educational videos as well as many examples of great viral marketing campaigns, outstanding TV commercials and funny commercials. You will even find banned commercials - i.e. commericals that for one reason or other did not pass the consensus.

Go to Marketingboss TV to watch. It is free, no registration is required to watch.

I had the honor of presenting some ideas on the topic “How to find customers through new media” at EADIM’s first week of training in Brussels last week. EADIM (European Academy for Direct and Interactive Marketing) was founded by Drayton Bird. Yes - that’s right. Advertising legend the late David Ogilvy said he (Drayton Bird) “knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world. His book about it is pure gold. His speeches are not only informative, but hilariously funny.”
I only spent 2 days in Brussels. But I learned a lot. And a lot more than I expected. And I am going to share what I learned. For now, I am going to sum it all up in 5 important learnings. These learnings are important IF you really want to get ahead in the game of marketing.

To further your career in marketing, you need to become a success at your present marketing job. Once succcessful, you will find yourself in a situation where better jobs will be thrown at you. That is - if you don’t decide to become self-employed in the meantime.

When time allows, I will follow up with more learnings.

But. First things first. Please do forgive my grammatical mistakes. I have only 30 minutes to write this article. So I am bound to make heeps of mistakes. Please do not shoot me.

5 learnings all marketers need to know about career development

1. Know thy audience
I have seen it again and again. Marketers “forget” to define the audience they want to engage and to stay focused on their target market. Most companies have not written a customer strategy - many companies don’t even know what it is. And what is worse; more often than not, we seem to “forget” to care about the needs, wants, dreams, problems and pains of our target group(s).  In other words, we all know the learning of the famous Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard - yet we do not apply his wisdom.

In fact in Brussels I too made that terrible mistake. I prepared a presentation targeted at marketing people with 1-3 years experience. An hour later I knew that I should have prepared at presentation relevant to very smart and quite experienced marketing professionals. Because it turned out that EADIM students are just that. They are professionals who have made a smart move by joining EADIM with an objective to become even smarter.

I won’t make that mistake again. Ever.

2. The packaging has changed - but everything is still the same
Having been part of the internet marketing hype for some 12-14 years, I have often heard selfproclaimed internet marketing specialist utter statements such as “old school marketers don’t know jack-all about internet marketing”. And I am ashamed to admit, that I have often agreed with them.

Why?

Because sometimes I tend to avoid confronation. But if you ask EADIM teachers such as Drayton Bird, Malcolm Auld, Professor Srikumar S. Rao and others, they will tell you that nothing has changed. Becoming a succcesful internet marketing person requires a thorough understanding of direct marketing and the very basic principles that have proven themselves for decades.  Drayton Bird claims that even todays most successful internet marketers all consider one particular book (written many, many years ago) their Bible.

drayton-bird-direct-marketing-guru-and-founder-of-eadim.jpg

Interestingly, if you listen to the wise words of Marshall McLuhan, you will understand that many things have not changed, eventhough we would like to think so.

3. Continued education is the only guarantee that you will improve your results
It is true. And I am ashamed to admit that I haven’t been following that very important principle. You see, I got to a point many years ago where I thought I knew it all. And I know many others whom came to the same conclusion based on their seniority, status and what not.
But it is - of course -all wrong. If you want to continually improve your game, you need to practice. Well, we all do really. And practicing equals studying. Reading books, articles, white papers. Attending well produced seminars, conference, webinars. The fact of the matter is that you can’t know it all. You can’t test anything and everything yourself. That is the reason it is smart to let others inspire you. Awfully simple, isn’t it. Yet - why have so many of us forgotten to continually be open to new knowledge, ideas and innovations?

4. Writing is essential to anybody in marketing
My wife (who is a lot smarter than me) have often told me “Michael, read more. Reading will improve your writing skills”. Fact is, I love writing. I am not very good at it, but I still love it. According to Drayton Bird (who is a writer himself) - as a marketer you are at a great advantage if you are - or become - a good writer. And it makes perfectly sense, doesn’t it?
More than 20 years ago, I secured one of my first advertising clients (Fagor) because the CEO thought I was a good copy writer. But I wasn’t, I am sure. I wrote the copy for a brochure promoting some inferior washing machine only because no one else had the time. But he insisted. And while he debated heavily about every offer we made for various advertising/agency services, he paid handsomely for my copy writing.
I recommend reading Drayton Bird’s bestselling book Commonsense Direct & Interactive Marketing to learn what you can gain from becoming a better writer.

5. Testing is still friggin’ important
I live in a small country. Small countries are at a great disadvantage when it comes to testing. Nevertheless. Testing is more important than ever. So why don’t we prioritize testing. Lack of time? Lack of budget? Insufficient knowledge about testing principles?
I think it’s all of the above, or no less than a combination.

It is difficult to excel in marketing, if you do not apply testing relentlessly. And if you think about it, I think you will agree. The cost of testing is likely to be a mere fraction of your total investment in any given marketing effort. No matter your marketing instrumentation, testing will enable you to improve your Return on Marketing Investment.

Of course you knew all that, didn’t you?

Well, I thought I did too. Yet, in Brussels last week I made all these mistakes while addressing an exclusive audience of smart EADIM students from some 10-12 countries. People who travelled from far away places to learn more about direct and interactive marketing from a faculty including numerious highly respected marketing gurus.

Now I know I need to get back in the game, but differently this time. So I hereby declare to abide by these rules:

1. I want to understand my target group and their needs before doing anything else. If I do not understand whom they are, and what they need, how will I be able to effectively convince them?
2. I am going to trust what others have learned before me; the basic principles of direct marketing still apply even if the media or medium is new.
3. I will continually educate myself by reading books, articles, attending seminars, conferences and such.
4. Even if I am awfully bad at it, I am going to force myself to write more, blog more, comment more on other peoples thoughts and ideas.
5. I am not God. Therefore I need to test my marketing in order to decide which approach will work best.

If you are looking to improve your direct and interactive marketing skills and results,   advance your career or simply to learn more about direct and interactive marketing, you should consider EADIM – The European Academy of Direct & InteractiveMarketing.

Founded by Drayton Bird, one of the most respected direct marketing gurus of the past decades, EADIM is
probably the most comprehensive direct and interactive marketing course around. Students will receive more than 140 teaching hours over the course of one full calendar year.

The course kicks off on September 7^th 2008 at the Marriot Hotel in Brussels. Here EADIM students and the world class faculty of direct and interactive marketing experts gather for one week of intensive face to face training. The course ends with a 6,5 hour long exam in Brussels app. 1 year later.

To attend you need to be have a grasp of English and either a University degree or one year’s marketing experience.

Check out the EADIM course website here

A full year of learning starting in Brussels
The EADIM certificate covers just about all the modern direct/interactive marketer needs to know including;

- The basics of Direct and Interactive Marketing (D&IM)
- Planning for D&IM
– strategy and campaigns
- The European Legal and Social Context
- The customer as the only profit centre – segmentation, targeting, and customer focus
- D&IM, a numbers game (research, testing, result analysis and LTV)
- Where to find customers – media planning and integration
- Getting people to act – creative for D&IM
- D&IM in practice

If you want to know more about the logistics of the course, check
this page: http://www.eadim.com/where_what_when.asp

World class teachers are coming together to provide the best possible
direct and interactive marketing education

Apart from Drayton Bird, the EADIM have secured some of the industry’s best and most knowledgeable teachers. They include:

- Professor Srikumar S. Rao – one of the highest rated professors at London Business School and Columbia Business School
- Steve Harrison whom leading advertising journal, Campaign”, called “the greatest DM creative of this generation”
- Rowan Gormley, a highly successful entrepreneur who currently is in partnership with Sir Richard Branson

and many more interesting profiles.

Check the full list of teachers here

The EADIM is organized in association with and under the auspices of FEDMA  - The Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing.