BLOG ROLL
ARCHIVES
February 28, 2006
Greetings from lovely Vancouver, BC! Marqui's Michael Samson and Gordon McNeill are onstage at TechVibes' Massive 2006 giving a presentation on blogging for business.
As part of their presentation, they are posting this little entry to Marqui's World. They also randomly picked an attendee to win a gift certificate to The Keg. So, congratulations to Richelle of Dyrand for winning that certificate.
February 28, 2006
One of the things we get asked about all the time here at Marqui is how to find the ROI in blogging.
The cost of entry to the blogosphere is very low -- pretty much anyone with an Internet connection can start a blog in as little as five minutes.
The longer term investment of time seems to worry people -- we find that overworked executives and marketers are sometimes concerned at the level of commitment required to keep the blog up to date and stay plugged into the constellation of online conversations within and around your company. There's a good answer to this concern (and an interesting discussion to be had about how marketers spend their time when they're not actively engaged in conversation with their markets) but that's not my main focus for this post.
As marketing continues to become more of a left-brained discipline (increasingly analytical and measurement-driven), the big FAQ we get is: "I understand the investment, but where's the return?"
Lots of ways to answer this, but let's keep it simple. This article from last weekend’s Sunday Telegraph offers a simple, utterly compelling answer. In summary, the equation is: blog marketing initiative equals doubled sales.
The Telegraph tells the story of a startup South African winery, Stormhoek, whose founder, Nick Dymoke-Marr, took an unconventional approach to entering the UK market:
"...six months after Stormhoek launched, Dymoke-Marr despatched a bottle of his mid-price Sauvignon Blanc to 150 of the UK's most frantic-fingered "bloggers"."
At the same time, Stormhoek eschewed the traditional approach of a big glossy corporate web site -- their entire online presence is a blog. They also, not incidentally, started working with UK blog marketing genius and cartoonist Hugh "gapingvoid" Macleod, who blogged the blazes out of their launch.
The Telegraph story continues:
"Of course, anyone who doles out free booze might expect to get a good write-up. But the pith of the Stormhoek story is that the chitchat in the virtual world has generated real sales.
"Since last summer, monthly sales of Stormhoek's bottles have doubled," (my emphasis).
Bingo! You want tangible, hard-edged R for your I? There it is, right there. Doubled sales. You'd be hard pressed to find a CFO who'd be upset with that kind of return.
Stormhoek's open, smart approach to this effort was exactly right:
"We were just really honest," (Dymoke-Marr) says.
"We didn't say we were selling the best wine in South Africa. We just said: 'Here's a nice wine, reasonably priced, tell us what you think.' "
Reminds me of Marqui's own Pay Bloggers program. As Nick Dymoke-Marr concludes:
"The thing is that you can't control the message. You just wind it up and let it go."
...and where it goes might well surprise you. But one thing seems certain: nothing moves a message nowadays as fast or as far as the blogvines. When rapid message movement and buzz can translate directly into increased sales, why would you not want a blog for your business?
February 27, 2006
Okay, we have more than 40 questions to answer from last week's American Marketing Association presentation. Here's the first batch...
Q. I don't know what RSS is. Can you explain?
A: RSS stands for really simple syndication or rich site summary (depending on who you ask). It's basically a way to publish information on the Internet. There is a full Marqui whitepaper available on this topic, if you are interested.
Q: What percent of people that go online use RSS? I understand it is growing, but what is the current percent of people that actually use it?
A: According to Nielsen/NetRatings, about 20 percent of Web traffic now comes from blogs and 11 percent of blog readers use RSS to stay updated.
Q: What does SEO and BEO stand for?
A: SEO = Search Engine Optimization; BEO is Blog Engine Optimization.
Q: What does "backchannel" mean?
A: The term "backchannel" generally refers to online conversations about a topic or -- if it's during a presentation -- the topic and the speaker. Wikipedia has a lengthy explanation here.
Q: What is Six Sigma Marketing? Where can I find more information on it?
A: This means applying the Six Sigma methodology for measuring defects/improving quality to marketing. I blogged about it a while back and included some links to resources. It was also a big theme at the MOM Symposium, so you might want to check out the site for future events.
February 23, 2006
Thank you to the 1,600 plus people who signed up for today's Marqui/American Marketing Association presentation on "Invisible Marketing: 3 Things Every Organization Needs to Know in the Era of Blogs, Podcasts and RSS Feeds." As Stephen mentioned during the discussion, we will be posting answers to all of the questions asked during the presentation here on Marqui's World. Just keep in mind that it will take a day or two to get the full question log from the American Marketing Association, so bear with us if there is a slight delay.
One of the things I was impressed with was the side discussion taking place via the Chat feature on Web Ex. For example, when someone asked about RSS (a.k.a. Really Simple Syndication), 3-4 people chimed in with advice and sources for more information. This type of interactivity is what it's all about, isn't it?
Anyone who listened in is more than welcome to leave comments here. Did you like the event? Hate it? Think we should do a sequel? Please let us know.
(Note: For those of you who aren't familiar with Marqui's World, we have "comment moderation" turned on, so your comment won't appear right away. Don't take it personally though, we will post all comments as soon as we can. Just trying to prevent spam.)
February 22, 2006
I'm giving a presentation next month to attendees of the Images of Youth 2006: New Directions in Media Literacy & Teen Health Conference. It'll be held on March 20-21, 2006 at the University of Washington.
The conference helps adults who work with teens and youth understand "media literacy." I'm giving a presentation on blogging, social networks (like MySpace) and the like. I'm charged with helping make sense of the online universe - and what is available out there - for attendees.
As such, I signed up for a MySpace account today.
It may seem ridiculous for a 48 year old to set up an account there, but there's no substitute for an actual experience.
And within seconds of typing my name in and uploading my photo, the most amazing thing happened: suddenly, I had a "friend."
His name is Tom, he's single, white, 30 years old and lives in California. He shared his favorite music with me (a range of those I recognized and didn't), his favorite movies (c'mon, can someone love Gladiator, Titanic AND the Sound of Music?) and authors.
He was there to help me negotiate through MySpace if I had any questions. I poked around through some of Tom's 57,858,014 friends, many of whom were online at the same time I was - in the middle of a school day. All were obviously way younger than I, many of them had photos of themselves in interesting poses, and they were all sending Tom their thoughts.
No wonder kids are productive in MySpace immediately. It's an amazing (and pretty smart) way to 'enter' into a network. The power of a friend - with a face, movie "preferences" (just like mine!), and plenty of other friends to meet immediately, offering help - right there.
I'm fascinated - and frankly just a little disturbed - at how easy it is to make lots of (virtual) friends online.
You can bet I'm going to recommend every attendee at the conference go out and try it for themselves. It's an amazing look at the world through much younger eyes.
My bet is, Tom will help them through it.
February 17, 2006
I read an article recently on the Mayo Clinic web site recently about how iPods and other MP3 players can cause significant hearing loss.
My dad wears hearing aids, and had his hearing damaged because he spent his days in a noisy telephone switchroom. It took years, but the noise finally hurt his hearing.
With the proliferation of MP3 players, I wonder how many people actually know they're potentially damaging their hearing through misuse (or worse, ignorance)?
You're potential for damage is high if:
- your MP3 volume is set to more than 60% of maximum
- you can't hear conversations going on around you
- people near you can hear your music
- you find yourself shouting instead of talking to people nearby
It's great to have your own, personal music on the go. How sad it would be to contribute to hearing loss.
February 17, 2006
I read an article today in one of my favorite newsletters (ClickZ) about the fact that 77 percent of home buyers and sellers begin their purchase process online, yet fewer than 10 percent of $11 billion spent on real estate marketing every year is dedicated to interactive communications, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Talk about an underserved market.
I'm a perfect case in point. I'm buying (and therefore selling) a new home this year. I went to the sales office and toured a model home - spent a few hours doing so. But (through the beauty of the web) we can pour over floor plans that are available on our own time. And pour over them we do! Suddenly, planning a move - from buying furniture to doing my own comps when I sell - is made easier when you've got tools online to help you.
There's a very cool site from HGTV that let's me drool over a "Dream Home" they're giving away. No matter that it's in North Carolina - I want it!
Buying a home is one of the most significant purchases a person can make. It's a wonderful thing to have technology aid in the purchase. Clearly, there's a demand for it out there! How long before marketing folks catch up with the boom their clients are driving?
February 16, 2006
I've been in the tech business for more than twenty years here in Oregon. In the software business, we have always been the poor southern neighbors to the Seattle technology hub, fueled mostly by Microsoft. And we've been the poor northern neighbors to our buddies in Silicon Valley. Don't get me wrong, Oregon has a thriving "deep technology" landscape fueled by Tektronix, Mentor Graphics and others.
We actually kind of call our little technology hub the Silicon Forest - smirking a little to shrug off the inferiority complex we software geeks have generally toiled under - whether deserved or not.
I can personally say I've worked with many brilliant people for some excellent companies over the years here in the Forest. One of them, Craig Barnes, is the president of Attensa. He blogged recently about an event here in Portland that actually might have roots that will grow.
Turns out, Oregon is kind of an RSS hotbed. Who knew?
At the recent Syndicate Conference in San Francisco I saw a bunch of Portlanders I'd known over the years. The work for companies like Freerange Communications, Attensa, Webtrends, TechTracker, Extensis, SplashData, and of course, Marqui.
We're driving some pretty exciting RSS technologies, understanding and adoption here in the Forest. Perhaps we can make a claim here of some sort. Craig calls it a "Cluster." I will be happy if it turns into a "Stand."
February 15, 2006
For those of you following our Influencer50 project, here's a link to the survey they put together. Based (in part) on the information they glean from these questions, they will compile a report of the top 50 influencers in our market.
Of course, if you are a marketer and are so inclined, please take a moment to fill out the survey and help us with the project.
February 13, 2006
Another interesting question from Marqui's RSS Rx web seminar concerns our neighbor to the north, Microsoft. We had just discussed the fact that Microsoft was incorporating "web feed" technology (their term for RSS) into every one of their Microsoft Office applications Todd Watson asked:
Q: Will Microsoft's incorporation of RSS potentially create a rift in the standard and lead to a fractionalization of the subscription space (i.e., IE v. Netscape), or do you think it will drive synergy and harmony and, in turn, widespread usage?
A: I think it will drive synergy and harmony and certainly more widespread usage and adoption because of the sheer number of Microsoft users out in the world. They're not doing us any favors by 'renaming' RSS to "web feeds," except that it's a better, more friendly way of describing the results of the technology. People will subscribe to feeds in ways we haven't even anticipated yet.
That's a promise I know I'll see delivered.
February 13, 2006
...or at least this particular Monday. Check out the funding announcement Marqui issued this morning!
February 10, 2006
Another inspiring question at the Marqui RSS Rx web seminar from attendee Sean Williams was:
Q: What else is evolving based on Web 2.0? (Check out what Web 2.0 is in one of our recent posts here.)
A: Recent advancements in technology in general are driving and facilitating changes in consumer/business behavior; RSS is simply one manifestation of that.
- The shift from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and corresponding availability of new applications such as blogging, podcasting, wikis, RSS, microsites, etc. is emerging. Need a definition of these? Check out our Marketers' Glossary.
- All of these technologies are experiencing phenomenal growth. There have already been 5 million podcasts in 2005, which is up 500 percent vs. 2004. Flickr currently has 19.5 million photos online - an 80 percent increase over June of 2005. Wikipedia is now "hit wise" the number one reference site on the Web. (According to the Buzzmetrics presentation at the SRI Beyond Blogs conference.)
- They all map to the "whatever, whenever" model: customers want - and expect - personalized, culturally appropriate information at their finger tips at any time.
Customers also want more involvement (i.e., conversations) with their favorite brands. Of course, this means businesses must also make some adjustments to the way they view marketing and sales.
We're going to be speaking more about that in an upcoming Marqui/AMA seminar on Invisible Marketing - Three Things Every Organization Should Know in the Era of Blogs, Podcasts and RSS Feeds.
It's free. Sign up here.
February 10, 2006
More Q&A from Marqui's recent RSS Rx Web Seminar:
Q: Why are these eyeballs/impressions on blogs and RSS feeds different from eyeballs/impressions you can buy elsewhere?
A: This is a completely opt-in audience that is usually passionate about a subject matter. It is also a real-time environment that allows for two-way conversation.
- Research indicates that blogs have greater corresponding impact because their readers tend to be policy makers and other influencers of public opinion. (This is from an Associated Press article earlier this year.)
- Blogs and RSS have the "word of mouth marketing" feel that businesses crave. Research constantly shows that word of mouth is one of the top factors in purchasing decisions.
- Jupiter Research says that 59% more people would subscribe to "more information" offers if they had to give less personal information. RSS/blogs answer this need, while still giving businesses access to these individuals for targeted marketing.
February 9, 2006
Finally, I'm able to start answering the excellent questions raised in our RSS Rx Web Seminar. If you haven't seen it yet, you can get the recording here. And our white paper companion piece is available here.
By the way, there were so many great questions, and so much demand for more information on RSS, we're going to do another in the series of web seminars as soon as we can on RSS + Metrics - What is the State of the Art? Stay tuned for more on that.
Hey, subscribe to our Marqui's World blog, and you'll be automatically notified when we post about it! Look for the icon that resembles this on the right hand side bar:
Q: Is there a good frequency level for RSS feeds? My concern would be providing too much content, too regularly, and coming across as "spam" (even though I know you're opting-in, it's not email, etc...)
A: As long as the content is of high quality to your readership, you can feed information as many as several times per day. At a minimum, if you are going to take the effort to generate RSS feeds, you should be sending out fresh information a few times a week. They're best served fresh, daily. Like a nice croissant and fine quality coffee.
Q: Can you list examples of sites that explain RSS well to its customers?
A: I like what Purina did for their customers. You can find their explanation here. (Scroll to the bottom of their page and you'll see a link that says "Add Purina RSS Feeds" next to their orange XML button.)
Q. Would you recommend having several different feeds? One for press releases, one for newsletter content, etc?
A: Yes! Treat your subscribers to options - they might be interested in a particular product line, vs. your entire set of products. Remember Apple's example: An iPod user probably wouldn't be interested in the latest releases of software for an iMac. Consider how you can slice and dice your information, and serve it up accordingly.
This is a start. More tomorrow...
February 8, 2006
I recently blogged about a new project we are trying here at Marqui: Influencer50. I am pleased to report that it's moving along nicely. The Influencer50 team started out by requesting a brief overview of Marqui, our product and our "ideal" target customer. Based on this information, they pulled together a survey that they will use to ferret out the names of the top influencers in our market. That survey will be distributed to a combination of our existing customers and partners, one of our prospect lists and then some super-secret lists they maintain in house.
The best part so far has been that they haven't demanded much of a time investment on my part -- in fact, they appear to be completely up and running, and I've only had to dedicate a few hours to the project. I hope this continues. Nothing quite like spending 60 hours trying to get a new project/third-party vendor up to speed!
More as the project continues...
February 6, 2006
I've been grossly neglecting Marqui's World for what seems like weeks. I still owe our readers the answers to the many questions posed by attendees of the recent RSS Rx web seminar we gave. The truth is, I've been sick. It's amazing how your body can just slam you down - no matter how much work there is to be done.
So this is an apology to all who've been awaiting the promised Q&A. I plan to get it done this week. But first I need to get some energy back. Apparently my mother was right - you have nothing if you don't have your health.
February 6, 2006
In this morning's Globe and Mail (Canada's biggest national daily newspaper), Grant Robertson focuses on "CEO blogs: The new company water cooler".
I spoke with Grant when he was researching the piece a couple of weeks ago, and it's nice to get a little pointer in the sidebar, alongside a couple of blogosphere friends.
My one quotation might seem a slightly odd thing for a passionate advocate of blogging to have said. Grant quotes me, accurately, saying: "The blogosphere is still considered pioneer territory for most people. It's the Wild, Wild West out there."
Thing is: in a corporate context, we're finding this perspective absolutely holds true with the clients and prospects we're speaking to every day.
As Grant's article suggests - blogging offers real, tangible benefits for those companies and individual executives willing to make the leap; but the risks are just as real, just as tangible.
Grant comments: "...blogs come with significant pitfalls for executives who aren't careful. In the corporate world, where CEOs must watch what they say publicly, the potential for letting material information slip is something companies need to guard against."
He's right, of course - which is one of the reasons why Marqui's own corporate blogging product strikes me as such a compelling solution to the problem (if you'll forgive me while I toot our own horn here. As this is my first ever post on the Marqui blog, it's kind of hard for me to squash my excitement about our own product. Promise I won't make a habit of it.)
When some of our new sales guys asked me recently how I'd characterize the main benefits of our approach to corporate blogging, I figured the most succinct way to define what we offer is just: Peace of mind. Simple as that.
As our guys are on the phone to potential customers every day, they're finding that professional marketers and corporate executives really are immensely interested in blogging. No big surprise there - we all know this. But people are also nervous as heck, as stories such as this morning's Globe piece point out.
It is the Wild Wild West out there - there are "fortunes" to be made (in reputation, brand awareness, and customer satisfaction terms), but equally great risk.
We've spoken with lots of people in the last few months who have diligently studied the benefits, followed the success stories, and watched as big competitors have leapt onto the blogwagon. Blogging works! And yet, in many case, people are still scared to get their feet wet.
The typical areas of concern revolve around issues of disclosure and liability, and related issues of brand integrity. Let's take a look at those concerns in turn...
| Marketing Automation | Web Content Management | Campaign Management Privacy Policy | © 2008 Marqui Inc. |
 |