The Finish Line

Welcome to blog#31 of our series on New Media Marketing. I wanted to present a summary of the last 30 blogs and the various aspects of New Media Marketing. I thought the best way was to share with you an announcement that we crafted for one of our clients who just announced there advertising campaign for the upcoming year. The content has been modified, where appropriate, so as to provide some unanimity for the client.

“Last year we embarked on the continuous journey of making our company stronger and better. The reason we were even able to start such a journey was we were building on an already strong foundation of quality, design, and service.

Our first step was to launch a stronger and updated brand. One that through consistent usage, will grow our perceived quality, name recognition, and customer loyalty.

This past year we have been concentrating on new and improved methods of customer communications and effective sales and marketing. We started this segment of our journey with a statement that was made at one of our planning sessions with our creative design firm: ‘Customers are still buying but they are buying differently.’ This statement becomes even more powerful given our present economic environment.

We also agreed upon four givens:

• It still takes on average seven contacts to make a sale
• Conventional approaches of direct mail and phone campaigns are becoming more costly and time consuming with in many cases response lead times being too long
• It is important to control costs and yet successful organizations do not cut marketing and sales activities during economic down times.
• And probably the most telling – over 72% of consumers now communicate electronically

We thus have started implementing a new approach to our sales and customer communications. It is called New Media Marketing – using today’s technology and communications channels. The result is more communications, in a more timely fashion, with lower costs, in a manner of electronic communications that we all are moving toward in our everyday lives.

So what is New Media Marketing? Would be more then happy to discuss in more detail the hows, whats, whens, and where but you will get a good picture by giving some examples of what we are implementing to bring more prospects into our community of buyers using today’s technology.

1. More then ever, the web site becomes critical. We are completely overhauling our present web site to bring it from what is known as Web 1.0 (information only) to today’s Web 2.0. Today’s consumers look for and expect not only information but also collaboration and personalization. Our new look will be more simple, cleaner, and easier to navigate with the ability for viewers to ‘tap’ into other channels of communications and discussion. Also our brand will be more dominant. The web is one of if not the most important vehicle for branding in today’s business environment.
2. You will start seeing on all of our electronic communications (web, email, electronic newsletters, etc) what we call “opt-in” capabilities. We are starting to constantly offer and request that our future and present community of buyers choose to provide their name and email. With these two pieces of information, we can proactively – electronically market without becoming spammers.
3. In the very near future, we will be introducing our blog. We are still working on a name and look, but this will provide another networking channel where we will be able to provide information and opinions on various topics. Our blogs will encourage readers to make comments that we will respond to. We will be blogging at least twice a week. Blogs are critical to providing collaboration capabilities and also providing timely and up-to-date communications. From our blogs, viewers will also be able to link to our new web site.
4. We will be re-launching our newsletter. But it will now take the form of a html(nice looking) email. These are known as ezines –electronic magazines. When fully implemented, we will be publishing once a month. Articles will have links to our blogs and web site for additional information.
5. We will be expanding our email campaigns. We will not be abandoning totally direct mail, but a well designed, visual email piece is much more cost effective. It is how people now communicate and with email you get feedback within 48 hours not weeks.
6. Like it or not, one of the fastest growing and impactful communications channels are the Social Media Channels. Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIN, Twitter, etc. are becoming dominant forces in not only personal networking but also business networking. You will be seeing not only our company but each staff member, establishing presence in these Social Media Channels with always a think back to our web site. As a side note we have found out that these Social Media channels are one of the major methods that the googles of the world determine where your site appears on a web search.
7. We will then move on to podcasts (both audio and video) so that we can provide communications on a longer term bases.

This sounds like a full plate and it is. But we are very excited. It is something that we all need to do to stay competitive. You see the secret is that every time someone clicks on our web site or clicks on our blog and from there clicks to our web site or clicks to open an email or clicks to read our ezine and from there our blog, etc - each one of those clicks is one of the 7 needed to move a prospect or keep a current client in our buying community. “

E-PR and Mobile Marketing

New Media Marketing impacts the full range of marketing and sales. Traditionally, PR dealt with reaching the media, usually through press releases. This would connect the PR professionals and their client with reporters and newswire services. New Media Marketing permits one to distribute releases directly to the customers. Done properly this can greatly increase the impact and effectiveness of your PR function. Note: This requires that you create news releases that are not loaded down with technical jargon but rather can be easily understood by your clients and potential clients. Some recommendations to develop ePR strategies are:

Keep in mind SEO – Enhance your URL by including in your electronic PR release the same key words and phrases you use for your web site SEO. Including images, videos or audio to your releases will make them more attention grabbing. Also use Social Media tags so that they can also be circulated through the various Social Media Channels. Also a carefully crafted headline and sub-headlines, using your key word phrases, is also important.

A second consideration when using NMM vehicles is the whole concept of mobile media. More and more of your potential readers will be using mobile instruments to receive, read, and respond to your electronic communications. The following are some of the differences you will need to take into consideration:

• The size of the preview screen goes from 13-21inches to 2-4inches.
• Content rendering hardware and software vary in how they render your data.
• In many cases, mobile units are used to categorize messages for delete or save for further review and action via phone or computer.

Recommendations for mobile readers:

• Reformat text – always offer a text only option to html formats. Also remember most mobile viewing screens will show smaller lines and fewer number of lines. Do not create long paragraphs or sentences.
• Unlike other media formats, for mobile communications use short URLs for tracking purposes.
• Be Brief – Small file sizes, smaller paragraphs and sentences.
• Include a mobile option on your opt-in forms
• Test before using

Social Media as Business Networks

With respect to Social Media as business networking, the following are the major social media business networking sites:

AdGabber (http://www.adgabber.com)
LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com)
Plaxo (http://www.plaxo.com)
Spock (http://www.spock.com)
Jigsaw (http://www.jigsaw.com)

Unlike MySpace, Facebook, and other personal Social Media sites, the above sites are set up to be business-oriented. It should be noted that one can use Facebook for business solutions. Visit http://www.insidefacebook.com to learn how to incorporate Facebook into your marketing program.

The following are some examples on using Social Media for business applications:

• Develop focused target list by using search capabilities of LinkedIn
• Use contact tools in Jigsaw
• Use Facebook to build a group around a new product or service you want to launch. This is a good way of beta testing and getting feedback.

So how do I start:

• Select a professional network
• Create a presence on that network
• Invite a few colleagues to join
• Ask colleagues what networks they belong to and join them.

Always remember, when it comes to Social Media, active participation is a requirement.

As you become more active in Social Media networks always remember that they are a means to an end not an end in themselves. You should always be guided by the following:

• Developing a presence to extend your brand
• Reaching out to potential employees
• Gathering feed back about your products and services
• Building a sales prospect profile

Please share with us other Social Media business networks that you use and how you use them.

When it comes to Social Media it is personal

Many of the Social Media vehicles were developed for personal relationship building. This must constantly be remembered when using Social Media. Unlike other media such as TV, for Social Media the other participants and not some producer or programmer determine actions. Thus there are several considerations that must be taken into account when using Social Media for business concerns.

• Social Media vehicles are often advertiser unfriendly. For Social Media we want to share our information with others and visa versa. There is really no motivation for one to share advertising with others.
• Your conduct is very important while using a Social Media channel. The guests make the rules not you. We have a business acquaintance that is “gung-ho” about Social Media. The problem is that this person uses any and every Social Media channel to communicate some business event or offering. After getting 6 – 7 invites from the various channels about the same topic, it starts having the same affect and effect as spam and I stop even opening up the corresponding emails from this person.
• Social Media is just one part of an integrated marketing approach. So do not become too concerned when you cannot strongly suggest or forcefully persuade. Use your other media channels to accomplish this.
• Social Media, since it is a personal network, is a very good channel to recruit new employees
• Act as if you are a guest – one that would like to be invited back.

Do not let the above sway you from using Social Media as part of your marketing program. Often times us baby-boomer will say that w e do not like to use Social Media channels since they are for kids. Remember those “kids” probably are in their 20s or 30s – large buying community.

Facebook, Twitter, Flicker, LinkedIn? What a busy social life

An important part of New Media Marketing is the integration of the various Social Media vehicles. For many Social Media is a new type of building friends and relationships. This is also true for businesses where we are concerned with customer relationships and sales. In this case we refer to it as Social Media Marketing.

One of the first couple of blogs in this New Media Marketing series dealt with the arrival of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 users took for personalization and collaboration. This is also one of the major discriminators of Social Media. Social Media differs from traditional media of newspapers, broadcast, books, etc. in that with Social Media the audience can participate in social media by adding comments and stories themselves.

Social media has the following characteristics:

• It is involved with a number of different social media channels.
• Social Media changes over time. Actually the more participants the faster the amount of change
• You cannot have social media without assuming and encouraging the audience to be part of your sales or creative process.

A question often asked: “Is social media accurate?” Yes and no. Statements may be made about your products/services that may not be true. However, if your customers reject them, you better fix them ASAP if you want to be successful. Guidelines when it comes to this:

• Social Media uses the collective, the wisdom of the crowd – they cannot be entirely wrong
• Social Media is effective when used for participation and influence not command and control.

Marketing classically deals with awareness -> consideration -> purchase. Social media feedback is user generated: use -. form opinion -> talk. This talk must be captured and made part of the marketing consideration. Social media is word-of-mouth. It is based on actual post-purchase experience. This is critical to help maintain the perceived quality aspect of your brand.

In terms of psychobabble, Social media follows Reed’s Law. David Reed’s work at MIT developed the Law of the Pack. This holds that the value of a network grows more powerful as the network grows. Thus a network of 100 customers is much more powerful than a network of 10 customers.

The simplest and effective way to jump into the Social Media Marketing is to use the New Media Marketing vehicle of the blog.

But to at least starting looking at all the various vehicles out there, here are just a few:

Microblog Services:
Twitter (http://twitter.com)
Tumblr (http://tumblr.com)
Plurk (http://plurk.com)
Seesmic (http://seesmic.com)

Multimedia Sites
Flickr (http://www.flickr.com)
Photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com)
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com)
Seesmic (http://seesmic.com)
Metacafe (http://www.metacafe.com)

Taggin Services:
Del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us)
Stumble Upon (http://www.stumbleupon.com)

Social Sites
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com)
MySpace (http://www.myspace.com)

Business sites
AdGabber (http://www.adgabber.com)
LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com)
Plaxo Pulse (http://www.plaxo.com)

Please share with us any others that you may be using.

All dressed up and no where to go:

The past few blogs, we discussed some guidelines and recommendations to help create an effective email. Now that is done – but it is a waste of time (except for practice) if you do not have a list to send the email to.

Jut a reminder as we continue this discussion – remember you cannot spam – it is the law!
So how do I build up my email list to send this perfect email to? There is actually two parts to this question. The first is to get legitimate emails and the second is to keep them on your list (not opting out).

The second part is straight-forward: target the right people and keep your emails relevant and engaging:

• Keep it relevant – tell your audience about things they are interested in.
• Tailor to your audience – consider different emails to different sub-targets
• Attract attention with your subject line
• Get straight to the point – people do not like you to waste their time
• Use simple language – create text that is simple to understand and very clear on benefits and call to action
• Offer exclusive benefits – offer special benefits that will appeal to your audience
• Correct frequency – send on a regular basis but only when you have something relevant to talk about.

So how do I begin building my email database? Before we address this question – make sure you have some procedure/process to capture and maintain your email list. You do not need to capture extensive amounts of data BUT capture enough so that you can select sub-lists. This will help you sent out emails based on message relevance. Now on to collecting and building your email list.
Collect information on-line: Place sing-up (opt-in) requests on your web site and other similar locations.

• On every page of your web site
• E-mail signature
• On your blog
• On banner ads and online advertising
• Online directories

Collect information in person: Always ask for permission when you collect information in-person.

• Swap business cards
• Guest book on counter or in office
• Business card bowl at trade shows and events
• Train employees to capture customer information

Collect information through print:

• Send a postcard offering an incentive to return card with email information
• Position sign-up request to add value to the mailing piece
• Add sign-up incentive
• Always add your domain name to ALL print media

If you have any other suggestions, please share them with us.

If you're going to send an e-mail, design it right!

In our last blog, we talked about picking the proper theme. We will now look at format and layout considerations.

One of the most important parts of any email is "from:" and "subject" lines. There are studies that show up to 65% of recipients will decide to open an email based on the from: line.

The secret is to keep the from: line familiar. Some guidelines to achieve this is to include the following:

• Your name (drjack)
• Name of your business (tCDG Studios)
• Combine your name and your business name. (drjack - tCDG Studios
• If you have many locations, include your locations - drjack - tCDG Studios, Orlando

Also create an email of what you are and what you are doing

• Newsletter@tcdgstudios.com
• Coupons@tcdgstudios.com
• Event_response@tcdgstudios.com
• Announcement@tcdgstudios.com

It is estimated that up to 31% recipients will open an email based on the subject line. Some suggestions:

• Highlight immediate benefits
• Include value words
• Work with a theme. Colors work well, eg. making your sales more green

Another important aspect of your email is its format/layout. You should consider the following when working with text.

Font - This is especially true if your email is in a html format. If you select a font that is not stored on the viewers computer, it will not display properly. Use commonly accepted fonts such as Arial, Garamond, Georgia, Impact, Times New Roman, or Veranda.

When considering font styles, use the following rules:

Bold: contrast or emphasize

• Headlines
• Short phrases
• Captions
• Key words or phrases

Italic: subtle emphasis

• Single word
• Subheadings
• Proper names
• References to titles

Underline: emphasize words or phrases

• Text links
• Column headings
• Headlines to separate from text

Font Color: enhance overall look and feel

• Add emphasis to headlines and subheadlines
• Links within text

Images - Make sure that the file format can be recognized by browsers. These are usually .jpg, .gif, or .png.

Images should re-enforce your text.
Photographs are most versatile in telling your story.
Examples include:

• Key staff members
• Products/Services being used
• Site location
• Event activities
• Customer testimonials

Created Art

• Logos - required for brand strengthening
• Clip Art - recommend limiting use since it can "date" your design/layout
• Animated .gif - same as clip art
• Icons
• Text images - most common is signature. Also effective for headlines

Another important consideration is how to increase the content value of your email. The following help increases the effectiveness of your email.
Include an offer

• coupons
• Give-a-ways
• Lost leaders
• Extending urgent offers

Effective Call to Action. Examples of Call to Actions are:

• Read your email
• Save your email
• Print your email
• Forward your email
• Make a purchase
• Fill out a form
• Visit your web site
• Visit a physical location
• Request information
• Register for an Event
• Make an appointment
• Phone you

So what is your theme?

There are two aspects of “what an email should look like”:

Format and Theme. There are many who do not consider both but often one will at least consider format. Format refers to the classification and configuration of an email. For a successful email campaign, you need to also consider the appropriate theme. The theme is the main idea of your entire email campaign. It is not the same as format.

Once you have decided on the objective(s) for your campaign, you then select your theme. Most objectives can be achieved using one of the four typical email themes:

• Promotional
• Information
• Procedural
• Relational

We will also address emails that have multiple themes.

Promotional Theme – Use the promotional theme when you want to persuade your audience to take a specific action or at least ask for a specific purchase decision such as making an appointment. Typical PROMOTIONAL theme include:

• Product images and descriptions
• Testimonials
• Coupons
• Headlines and links that cal for action
• Links to information that supports your main call to action
• Directions on how to make the call to action

Informational Theme – Use this theme to inform you audience so that they will form an opinion. They are different from Promotional in that they usually do not include a call to action.

• News articles
• Stories and narratives
• Opinions and viewpoints
• Announcements
• Event calendars
• FAQs

Procedural Theme - This theme is used to give instructions or explain processes. Like informational themes, they usually do not include a call to action. Examples are:

• New customer or opt-in welcome
• Notifications
• Shipping or privacy policy
• Disclosures and warranties

Relational Theme – This theme is used to build or deepen relationship(s). These are usually one-way communications and no call to action. Examples:

• Greetings
• Acknowledgements
• Personal experiences news and stories
• Customer recognition messages

At times your email campaign may require you to use Multiple themes. Try to minimize the use of multiple themes. Recommend the following when considering multiple themes:

• State your main theme very succinctly right up front
• Sub-group together with design and layout elements
• If there is that a major theme within the multiple themes, then send out separate emails
• Remember objectives -> themes -> formats -> genre.

We will discuss the concept of genre when it comes to design in a future blog. But just remember, if your email is not text only, then maximize the visual impact by doing it right. Viewers are very savvy and can quickly detect amateur design. As I covered in my blog of January 29, 2009 “Crap is Crap”.

Why email if you are going to do it wrong?

As we start the email portion of the New Media Marketing (NMM) blog series, we will not be spending time on what is an email or how important they are. Most of us are very familiar with emails; email marketing campaigns, and which ones seem to work. Creating emails as part of your integrated marketing program is not the same as sitting down and writing an email as most of us do several times a day.

When it comes to email marketing campaigns, there are three distinct tasks that you must follow to maximize your email campaign effectiveness. (Thus don’t waste your time sending out emails).

The first is to determine your message – what your email message should say.
Remember: Make your emails as concise and focused as possible. Most recipients scan e-mails and do not necessarily take the time to read every word or sentence of your email.

Your message should contain the following three content elements:

• Value proposition – why you versus someone else or some other solution/product/service.
• Supporting Information – Provide additional information to support your value proposition. Summarize the following four questions in a paragraph: (1) What are the features of your product or services, (2) Benefits (always more important then specifications), (3) How are you different (4) Why that different is important
• Call to action – ask the readers to take a specific action in a specific way. So often a well-crafted email forgets this part. Do not be afraid to ask the viewer to do something. This need not be “buy now” it could be call, click a link, download, save this message, forward this message, print out and use as a coupon, etc.

After you determine your message, you should select the look/type of your email. We will address this in more detail in the next blog.

The second step is to deliver your message. The how is easy to answer especially with the well-developed email service providers such as Constant Contact. The who is most important.
Like direct mail, email campaigns have the same mantra – junk mail/email is good mail/email sent to the wrong person.

As we so often mentioned in this blog series: targeting your campaign, categorizing your lists is critical.

The third step is to evaluate your message. The beauty of email is that you will learn very quickly if your message worked (usually within 48 hrs) and you can change the message or target for your next email.

Some suggested metrics you can use:

• Increase in number of web visits
• Increase in orders and sales
• Event attendance increase
• Increase number of opt-ins
• Change in opinions over time

Please refer to our last ezine Studio Buzz articles to read more about email as a marketing tool.

• Getting Started with an Email Campaign
• Do it Right – Five types of Emails

Note: links
Getting started… www.tcdgstudios.com/articles/articles_030901.php
Do it right… www.tcdgstudios.com/articles/articles_030902.php

PODCASTS – Newest and Soon to be the Greatest

Podcasts are the newest media member of New Media Marketing and is rapidly growing in usage. eMarketer estimated that at the end of 2008, 6.5 million people will download a podcast at least twice a week. They also estimate that number to be 25 million by the end of 2012. For those who hate the idea of sitting down and composing a blog or writing an article for your ezine – podcasting is your solution. Podcasts permits you to “talk” about your product or discuss your business. You can speak directly to your audience.

As we have previously mentioned, New Media Marketing works the best when you integrate the various medias. This is also true for podcasts. Even though a stand alone podcast can work, since podcasts are web based, they are much more effective when used in conjunction with your web, blogs, ezines, and email campaigns. The secret to New Media Marketing is it provides media variations on the same theme.

If podcasting is your main New Media Marketing vehicle then you should provide a podcast at least twice a week (similar to blogging). If it is used in conjunction with other NMM, you should podcast once or twice a month (similar to your ezine).

Podcasts can be viewed directly from your audiences computer via the web or they can be downloaded to a mp3 player (such as your ipod) and can be viewed or listened to at your audiences convenience.

Make sure that in your ezine, you describe your podcasts and lists the titles of at least the last three casts. Also add a link so that viewer can subscribe.

Just like the other NMM vehicles, name your podcast with a compelling name – one that will both grab the viewer attention and also establish relevancy for your targeted audience. Once you have selected such a name, then you can choose a theme. All podcast episodes for the theme should thus focus on that theme.

An example would be if you are a design studio, you may want to select the theme “Emotional Branding through Color” or “The Wonderful World of Color”. You then can create a video podcast that shows how colors actually create different emotions and also an audio podcast that talks about the process of selecting the right color for a given message.
There are some technology requirements that are not necessarily required for the other NMM vehicles:

• Need a computer with a high-speed internet connection
• Audio software to produce the required audio files and a microphone. Also consider buying a pair of headphones
• For video, the software and equipment is more extensive then for just audio. However one can product a low-budget video using such programs as Mac’s iMovie and photographs and illustrations. Life video is not always required.
• You will also need to select a hosting company for your podcasts:
• Often your existing web site hosting company provides podcast hosting, some other suggestions:
• Switchpod (www.switchpod.com
• Liberated Syndication (www.libsyn.com)
• Godaddy (www.godaddy.com)

• When creating your podcast remember to make the media have heart with your enthusiasm
• Create a picture in your listener’s “mind’s eye”
• Practice your enunciation and diction
• Remove words such as uhms, ers, etc.

Content suggestions:

• Key business products and services
• Interviews
• Profiles
• Business tips
• Panel discussions
• Behind-the-scene tours and looks

Like most NMM vehicles, once you tried them you will become comfortable with them and actually enjoy using the various media to tell your story. Remember it is all about your story.

E-zineanomics (Part III)

Your e-zine is probably one of your best tools to constantly build your community of buyers. Because of this we are going to spend one more posting on this all important New Media Marketing tool.

Now that you have created your e-zine and have it ready for posting the next important question is How do I get viewers to read it?”

The first answer is obvious but often overlooked – build your database of email names (remember just taking names and sending an email can be considered spamming).

• Add the opt-in names from your web site
• Get your contact lists that you use for business and personal and go through that list for candidates
• Join professional and civic group and use their membership list (check on membership list policies for each organization)
• Collaborate with businesses that service the same audience but our not in competition with you. Adding information to the e-zine for them provides the ability to use the names that your collaborator can provide.
• Provide a description of your e-zine in your web site opt-in registration page that provides a simple but direct benefit of the e-zine.
• Register with an e-zine directory. Many such directories often offer categories that you can register with.
  

Some such directories are:
The Directory of E-zines (www.directoryofezines.com)
E-zinelocater (www.ezinelocater.com)
BestEzines (www.bestezines.com)
New-List (www.ezine-universe.com)

The last two blogs we provided some suggestions on writing your e-zine content and how to build an e-zine skeleton layout.

Well here are some E-zine Do Not Dos:

• No generic greetings. Remember in the world of web 2.0, viewers are looking for collaboration and personalization.
• Do not have your e-zine look totally different from your web site
• Do not use a free e-mail domain. It makes you look “mom-and-popish”.
• Do not write long articles. Be brief. Viewers are often time starved.
  
• Do not try to show off by trying to demonstrate how much you know.
• Content should not be all self-serving. So often in corporate story telling, we advise our clients: you know your story (we hope) the task is to tell it to others in a way they understand it. This is the same with e-zines. Readers are interested in information of value. Make it relevant. If not viewers will unsubscribe.

E-zineanomics (Part I)

“E-Zine”

“God Bless You”

“No I did not sneeze I said e-zine you know electronic magazine”

“What?”

“Let’s try this – email newsletter”

“Oh, why did you not say that from the beginning?”

An e-zine is a regularly scheduled email that connects to your targeted audience by providing information and re-establishing the relevance of your product/services with the audience’s needs and wants.

Unlike email campaigns, blogs, and other types of electronic communications, e-zines communicate with your targeted audience, periodically offering information, tips, and suggestions that will help the viewer.

A good rule of thumb is to send out your e-zine once or twice a month – always on the same day. This way the potential viewer will grow to expect your email and will be looking out for it being sent.

E-zines are critical to stay in touch with present and past clients. Remember that email marketing can lift brand awareness by over 58%.

E-zines usually have the following standard parts/sections:

• Business information – This includes your log name, contact information, etc. Try to use a header that becomes part of your branding. Should look similar to your web site header. (you may have to resize it)
• Personal Greeting – Should be relevant to the e-zine issue, make it personal, and use it to introduce content, a new product, an event at your organization, etc.
• Main Content – It is here that you offer your information, helpful tips, and recommendations. This can be a mixture of (but not necessarily all): Articles, FAQs,Book Reviews,Interviews, Customer Profiles, Statistical information, or Guest writers articles
• Product and Service Information
• Privacy and Subscription Information

There are many good e-zines being posted. If you know of any or have suggestions of other content elements, please share them with us. Tomorrow’s blog we will continue with how to create a good e-zine.

Blog – Summing it all up

Over the last few blogs, I attempted to give you some insight into the world of blogging. It is a key element of a successful New Media Marketing campaign. Like most marketing vehicles, it has its own set of guidelines and suggestions. Also do not be fearful of or discount blogging. I remember when our studio staff wanted me to blog. My initial reaction was “no”. It was something foreign and strange. Even the name sounded strange. So the request rapidly moved to a command and I found myself in the blogosphere. It went from dragging my feet to really enjoying blogging. Anyone out there who is hesitant, make the decision, the commitment, and start developing the related skills – results will come.

Anyone out there that blogs on a regular basis, please share some start-up stories and suggestions you may have.

Suggestion Summary:

1. The blog name is important. Choose one that relates to the topic you selected for your blog. Remember that relevance is the key factor for all electronic marketing.
2. The best way to maintain relevance is to keep your blog focused on its purpose. The reverse side is to select a theme that you will be blogging on such as these blogs are focusing on the theme of New Media Marketing
3. Say what you think about your professional focus. Remember to write blogs that contain your own opinion.
4. When writing your blog make sure you write them personal, informative, and somewhat casual without loosing your professionalism.
5. Be consistent – you should blog at least twice a week.
6. Your blog is part of your integrated marketing program so make sure the look of your blog is in tune with your other marketing vehicles especially your web site, email campaigns, and ezines.
7. Be brief – Blogs should be short but frequent. To tell you the truth, blogs within our 31 Blogs for New Media Marketing, at times border on being too long just because there is so much information to provide.
8. Don’t throw too many listings or blatant advertising at your viewers.
9. Make sure you proofread your blog. I have at least two people read the blog before it is posted. Even then some mistakes are found so use a blog service where editing is very convenient.
10. Consider using RSS feeds and blogrolls.

Blogs are for Companies also

One thing about a good blog is that it is personal. So how does this apply to business? First of all blogs being personal can portray to the reader sense of personal touch which is very important in today’s environment where service is so important.

Blogs can also give you insight into your clients’ attitudes and behaviors that you probably would not gain from a survey.

Blogs can also extend your company and brand personality. Distinguish yourself by writing with an unique voice that is welcoming, fun, somewhat entertaining, always being informative.

Keep your blog low-profile but have links to your company sites. Do NOT make your blog a get in your face sales piece but tell your viewers about opportunities for sales and discounts.
Blogging should be a major part of your marketing program. Some lessons learned from other companies that successfully use blogs:

Give it time – creating your blog page, developing a blog strategy, and keeping up with your postings takes time – but it is worth it. As a blog author you need to be active in the blogosphere. When we say that it takes time that also means that your blog will not produce results over night.

The Golden Rule Applies – Write your blog just as you would want someone to write about you. It does not mean not to be truthful and/or controversial. Just review the voice of the blog before you finally post it. Remember your blog is a representative of your brand.

As we mentioned, blogs should have a personal touch. Thus it becomes very obvious if you are not knowledgeable or passionate about what you blog. Don’t fake it.

Continue improving your blog by increasing your participation in the blogosphere and staying with the basics of what makes a good blog.

If you have any other examples or suggestions on how you use your blog for your company, please share them.

I am a blogging but not a seeing. . .

Now that you finally have taken the leap and jointed the world of blogging how do I become part of the blogosphere. In other words, once you have created your blog and started posting blogs on a regular basis, how do I let people know about your blog? Remember: It takes time for a blog to become established, accepted, and frequently visited.

The following are some techniques you can use to help “get the word out about your blog”.

1. Create a blogroll. This is a list of related blogs and site on the same subject. You can place your blog roll in your blog and also on your web site. This helps establish your community affiliation. It states that for a given topic or profession your blog is relevant.
2. Comment within other links and include in your comment a link back to your own blog.
3. Social media Link on Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and others.
4. Include links on your own web site and email signature blocks
5. Use trackbacks – acknowledgement tool that lets other bloggers know that you have mentioned them and are sharing information
6. Most important tool for blog-distribution is RSS. A RSS enables those following your blog to be instantly informed when you update your site.
7. FeedBlitz and FeedBurner(owned by google) are services to help you establish a RSS for your blog
8. End your blog posts with open-ended questions. Ask for feedback.
9. List in a blog directory – Blogs are rated by popularity in blog banks. Top places to submit your blog (also search for other blogs) are: Technorati (www.technorati.com), Google Blog Search (blogsearch.google.com), Blogarama (www.blogarama.com), and BlogPulse(www.blogpulse.com - These directories categorize blogs by topic.
10. Guest Blogging – invite others to post on your blog
    

These are just a few of the ways you can gt people to know about your blog. If you have any other suggestions and recommendations please share them with us.

Blog – No not a 50’s B-Monster Movie

It is known as a blog not the “Blob”. There are many different approachs to creating a blog or even describing the act of blogging – posting a blog or comments to a posted blog. Think of it as a type of journaling. You may also think of it as an on-line newspaper or magazine of opinions and interactive comments.

Blogs have the greatest effect on business communications. As it relates to New Media Marketing, they are the most direct to-way online communication vehicle used in today’s business environment. Consumers today do not want a monologue. They want conversation and that is exactly what a blog does.

Just as any other marketing tool, blogs must have a specific target audience to be successful.
Remember: Because of the nature of blogs they are the key to building your community of buyers. Your audience, who may not normally have the chance of communicating with each other, can use a blog to do exactly that. Thus they can not only communicate with a business owner but also with each other. To ignore this is ignoring how people use electronic communications.

Working with clients and New Media Marketing, the blog is often the most difficult to convince them of and yet the most important and critical. Some of the reasons used for not blogging:

• Fear
• Ignorance
• Lack of leadership (agents of change)
• Lazy
• Insecure
• Belief that it does not apply to their industry (this demonstrates a total lack of what is happening in the world today or misplaced sense of knowing better than your customer)

Blogs also permit you to not only listen to your targeted audience but also to communicate with them in an informal manner. Many entrepreneurs are using blogs to introduce their new concept or enterprise.

Some people do not blog because they do not want return comments. In today’s environment that is “burying your head in the sand”. With that attitude or fear, you might as well raise the surrender flag and prepare to close your doors.

There is one simple rule for a blog: make it relevant and update frequently. A good rule of thumb is to blog at least twice a week. One of the great things about blogging is that it is an excellent platform to stir the pot, kick the ant hill, stimulate thought. Just remember to be interesting and not offensive.

Some people just cannot blog, it is not in them. Many in this situation have others create their blog. It is no different then having a writer create your text/copy for other marketing collateral. Several of our clients retain us to write their blogs. It is also acceptable to get personal just keep your professionalism.

And finally, if you build a successful blog site, you can actually create revenue through such programs as Google’s AdSense.

Widgets, Wikis, Dashboards - What the heck are you talking about

Took a few days off to visit my son and 8 grandkids in Chicago – but am now back. This blog takes a side step to cover topics that are surfacing more frequently. They are widgets, wikis, and dashboards. These tools are very effective if and when used properly.

Widgets

Definition: A widget is anything that can be embedded within a page of HTML, i.e. a web page. A widget adds some content to that page that is not static. Generally widgets are originated by third parties, though they can be home made. (Wikipedia)

Basically it is a mini-web application that you place onto a web page, desktop, blog, or social profile that stream information to the viewer usually containing some visual information. The widget becomes very valuable if it provides relevant information that someone can use daily. For example if you had an airline web site, you may have a widget on your home page that would provide visual in-flight information for a given flight.

Widgets are here to stay and should be considered for your web site or blog.

• Do not contain just a collection of titles and hyperlinks – this is no more than another web page.
• Display information tailored to the user
• User should be able to glance at
• Scrolling titles to breaking news, videos that play inside the widget are acceptable examples

Widgets can also be used to support customers. A widget that puts a subject matter expert directly in touch with a customer to answer questions is a viable widget example. Widgets are also used to help provide added value during document approval processes.

Wikis

Definition: A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content (excluding blocked users), using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. (Wikipedia)

Basically it is software that enables visitors to create and edit Web page content using their web browser. Wikis are like web sites but are more interactive. Note: when using wikis there is a risk that someone may add content that is not relevant or inaccurate.

A blog is similar to a daily journal that others can comment on. A wiki is also participative but its end result is a single entry that reflects a collective consensus.

For both widgets and wikis remember content is king – must be new and relevant.

Dashboards

Dashboards are at the opposite new of a New Media Marketing process. They are instruments that one uses to monitor metrics to measure your program. We will cover these metrics in detail toward the end of this blog series but since it is one of those new words that frequently appear, it is a good idea to at least understand what the word means.

There are several definitions and uses of dashboards. We are referring to a measurement dashboard. Think of it being a report card – a standardized data presentation that provides information reporting on the metrics you use to determine the effectiveness of your business process.

Web Speech – How to say it on the web

Since your web site increasingly becomes a hub for your marketing program, what you say and how you say it is extremely important. One of the original assumptions of New Media Marketing (NMM) is that we still buy from people we know, like, and trust.

Values
At the studio we believe that it is important that your web site convey values that are important to your organization and industry. They go beyond the basic ones of quality, reliability, customer service, professionalism, etc. Ours are: talent, creativity, design, and great stories (t • C • D • G •).

Mission
Mission and Vision statements have been around for a long time. Because of this, we often think that they must not be hip or in vogue. You can not be so far from the truth. Mission tells the world who we are and vision announces where we are going.

Compelling Content - verbal
The main purpose is to address the visitors needs and wants; their stereotypes and emotions. (customerology psychographics – remember focus, targeted audiences).
As a storyteller I will not be able to get through this series of blogs without telling this story (analogy) so we might as well do it here. It is the key to everything we are addressing. I call it my Grass Lawn story.

“Lets say that I manufacture grass seed. Over the years my engineers have the developed the best grass seed ever produced – needs hardly any watering, birds do not like its taste, grows deep roots, not effected by weather, and produces the greenest grass. We have this technological process that no one else can even come close to replicate. Visit are labs and you will see the investment in equipment and knowledge we have put into this product. The problem is as a consumer I really do NOT care. I do not care how you do it just make sure that I have minimal lawn maintenance and yet have the best looking lawn in the neighborhood.”

You see as founders and entrepreneurs we are very proud of our product specifications but the buyer is ONLY interested in benefits. Make sure your site benefits oriented not specifications oriented.

Some other tips:
• When offering solutions and advice opt for conversational writing style.
• Address directly using ‘you” instead of customer, client, patient, etc.
• Modifiers actually tend to dilute and weaken what you are saying
• In all cases remain professional
• Use headlines and sub titles to guide readers
• Again stay focused on your audience with benefits, results, and solutions.

Compelling Content – Nonverbal

Color: If you have read any of the studios’ past ezines, you have heard how important color is. Color is often the most nonverbal element of your site. Put bluntly – we do not care what your favorite color is, we are interested in what color provokes the emotions we want created to cause a response to a call-to-action. Just like specs versus benefits, concern is not about you, it is about the buyer.

Logos and Header: Your site should protect and foster your brand. Your top header is extremely important. Have a professional design a header that incorporates your log, tag line, and appropriate color schema.

Images: The web is 70% visual so make visually appealing. Images can help. Make sure that the image files should be optimized for fast browser loading. They should also be part of telling your story. The wrong image could just as easily make your site look totally unprofessional and “mom-and-pop”

Special Effects and Rich Media: When used properly, they have their place. Some will say for SEO considerations – no flash others will say that as a society we are custom to special effects. As most things in life, the answer lays somewhere in the middle. Pure technicians will only do what can be produced by code and pure graphics designers will over-kill with eye-candy. Find the proper balance. Branching to pages that load electronic presentations, video, etc. should be considered for providing additional information.

Navigation –Extremely important both in extent and placement. In recent years, placement has moved to the upper center and gone from an extended list of buttons to more of a hierarchy of information. A good rule of thumb is a main nav bar with around seven buttons. Latest studies have shown that males use the web to surf and females use the web for research. Too complicated navigation, males will opt out.

Lena Claxton and Alison Woo, in their excellent overview book How to Say it: Marketing with New Media, Prentice Hall provides a good checklist.
• Refine your home page copy – it is the first impression of your company
• Write conversationally – use words to convey the desired emotion
• Choose the right color
• Use the correct pronoun
• Communicate your credibility
• Use language that positions you as an expert
• Focus on benefits and results
• Use a variety of promotional methods to promote your business

And don’ts:
• Don’t use corporate speak
• Don’t use passive language
• Don’t focus on your own gains
• Don’t lose track of the customer
• Don’t use multiple animations on your home page

What is the number of your Web?

This blog starts part B of the 31-blog series of New Media Marketing (NMM). Over the next few blogs, we will be addressing one’s web site as the foundation and starting point for a NMM program. Instead of starting with what makes a good site or how should you say it on a web or some of the more standard questions concerning web sites (we will address these topics in subsequent blogs). It is important to realize that when we are talking about web sites for NMM, we are concerned with certain characteristics of the site. Did you know?

• Only 40% of companies with 100 or less employees still do not have a web site. The web is more often then not, the first place a potential client will go to validate your business or receive their first introduction to your products and services.
• It has not been just an electronic equivalence of the yellow pages for a long time.
• Without online presence your business can be considered nonexistent.
• For many successful organizations it is an essential lead-generating tool
• It is the stage to build your brand.

I mention this for many companies are implementing an obsolete approach when they finally decide to have a web site . I am not talking about its look or functionality. Ask yourself what category web site does your existing site fall into. What I am talking about is the fact that today our web sites should be or moving toward Web 2.0. The following definitions also highlight the fact that the web world is evolving, for technology continues to impact marketing effectiveness.

• Web 1.0: Access information, purchase online
• Web 2.0: Share and collaborate
• Web 3.0: Experience, participate, and co-create

Most sites today are Web 1.0 sites - that is the site provides the customers with information and ability to purchase and/or register on-line. Successful organizations realized that with today’s customers that is not enough. Thus Web 2.0 enters the scene. It is where all web sites should be moving. Web 2.0 pushes sharing and collaborating, whether that is product reviews or asking for help on how to market a product. Web 3.0 is a world of visual experiences with the goal that the user is an actual participant and co-creator - the user is actually immersed in the experience. Do not make the mistake of thinking that Web 3.0 is far in the future, some companies have already made the move toward Web 3.0. Web 3.0 enables the web 2.0 communities to come alive.

A good way to compare web 1.0 and web 2.0 is that web 1.0 is read only and web 2.0 is read-write. Web 1.0 was somewhat passive, with users downloading information. Web 2.0 encourages users to be more involved by uploading information to the web. It no long is about destination but distribution. You no long only interested in having users come to your destination but how do you distribute your site outward.

Your web site should be designed to support other community-building platforms and also be supported by them. Your web site participates in other web building servers and social media sites. Your web site is not only the hub for information but also the hub to foster and support your NMM vehicles such as your blog, pod casts, ezines, email, etc. A prime example but a very simple one is not only does your contact information need to be on each web site page (providing information) but also opt-in form (becoming part of your business’s electronic community) or your site to have the ability to post and archive articles as a read more location for articles presented in your ezine, etc.

As you move toward web 2.0, realize that you do not need to utilize all vehicles that it offers. The following is a table of some of your options (selection depends on your target market – staying focused)

Communicating:
• Blogging
• Podcasting
• Online video
• Videocasting

Participating:
• Social networking
• Social tagging
• User ranking and rating
• Online user groups
• Social Bookmarking

Collaborating:
• Comparison shopping engines
• Wikis

Trial environments
• Picture/video sharing
• Community development projects
• Collaboration software

Setting agendas
• SEO
• RSS
• Content syndication engines
• Content distribution via social networks
• Person to person viral marketing

So back to the original question. What number is your web site?
0 – No excuse for not having one.
1 – Average but not good start moving it to web 2.0
2 – Good but do not get too comfortable, web 3.0 is coming
3 – Great and like me anxious to see what web 4.0 brings (you can count on there being a web 4.0 and with today’s accelerated technology, it will be here in a blink of a marketer’s eye.

Only if you have Permission

When utilizing New Media Marketing (NMM) there are three basic tenets that must be constantly considered:

• Permission - do you have permission to send this to me?
• Relevance – is your message and/or content relevant to my needs and wants?
• Value – does your content provide value? does it help me with some aspect of my business?

Of all the topics that are being addressed over this 31 blog series, these three questions are paramount and need to be asked before any e-communications you originate. The first is important for a very simple reason – it is the law. The CAN-SPAM of 2003 requires one to have permission to send an e-communications especially when it comes to email. The topic of permission is usually centered around opt-in and opt-outs.

First some definitions:
Opt-in: A specific proactive request by an individual email recipient to have their own email address placed on a specific mailing list.
Opt-out: A request to remove an email address from a specific list or from all lists operated by a single owner.
Spam: Popular name for unsolicited commercial email. However, some email recipients define spam as any email they no longer want to receive, even if it comes from a mailing list they joined voluntarily.

Basically, asking contacts for their email and permission to send them information needs to become part of your business culture. Remember: Over 74% of Americans now communicate electronically.

Step 1: Make sure that you have an opt-in form on all your electronic media to include:
• On every page of your web site
• In your email-signature
• On your blog
• Personal Web
• Banner ads and online advertising
• Online directories

Step 2: Gather essential information:
• Don’t ask for too much information
• Don’t ask for too little information
• Address validation – include a script that checks for syntax errors upon submission

Opt-in request form fields – minimum
• First Name
• Last Name
• Email address

Optional fields:
• Secondary email address
• Frequency – how often they wish to be contacted
• Demographics
• Interest/Preferences

Step 3: Use incentives to get viewers to opt-in
Whenever possible, include some type of information product that is relevant and can help the viewer you want to opt-in. Some examples are:
• Tip of the week
• Free white paper
• Promote special sales
• Give tips to executives and professionals
• Informational article
• Location-specific guide
• Free audio
• Offer an e-book

Step 4: Request opt-in in person:
• Exchange business cards
• Guess book on store counter
• Basket for business cards at events/seminars/shows
• Train employees to take down customer information

Step 5: Use print to collect information
• Send postcard offering an incentive to return card with email address
• Include opt-in incentive as part of print advertising
• Add opt-in incentive t back of your business card
• Utilize a domain name and place in your print advertising such as www.joinouremailjust anexample.com

WRITE THIS DOWN: Opt-in requests and awareness has to become part of your standard operations.

This completes Part 1 - next week is dedicated to the web.