Top 50 Australian Marketing Pioneer blogs
June 13th, 2008Ok, I admit it. I was flattered when Julian Cole listed my blog as one of the Top 50 Australian Marketing Pioneers blogs. A lot of entries I don’t recognise, but Servant of Chaos, Brand DNA and Better Communication Results have been setting the standard for some time.
So why does it matter, beyond making me feel good?
It’s great to see someone make the effort and look around in his own backyard. We’re probably all passionate about the opportunities today’s web offers to share ideas and collaborate.
I’d like to see more Australian organisations get involved and take advantage of the fantastic opportunities today’s web offers.
To spread the word, we need to connect in the “real” world as much as online
The thing is that to spread the word to the people who are not participating, we often need to go”offline”, because that’s where the audience is. They’re conversations over a coffee, or a presentation, or articles in the print media or other traditional media.
that top 50 list of people are probably all doing exactly that. And that’s why local is important. We need to be on the ground, face to face or in the local media as much as online. So that’s the other reason I’m excited about this list. Thanks Julian.
See the full list here and check out some great blogs.
How web 2.0/social media is offering opportunities to B2B marketers
May 19th, 2008I subscribe to few newsletters these days, instead preferring RSS feeds, but the “Modern B2B Marketing” newsletter from Marketo is one that I like. Probably due to the easy lay out and great content. So the e-newsletter is not dead yet.
The discussion about social media/web 2.0 (I wish there was better terminology for this) tends to centre around consumer marketing, so this headline about B2B marketing got my attention.
It features Laura Ramos, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research (interviewed by Jon Miller from Marketo) who provides an interesting insight into how changes in the media environment (i.e. the fragmentation of media and the fact that we are all getting overloaded with communications) is starting to make B2B marketers look at other avenues beyond the traditional outbound marketing activities.
Engaging customers and prospects who are activly looking around for solutions to their problems with information and interaction that is relevant and valuable, seems to be a no-brainer. But how many organisations invest in this “pull” activity? With web 2.0/social media still in its infancy (especially in B2B marketing) there is a real opportunity to differentiate for those who take the lead.
Laura also offers specific examples of B2B marketers successfully using Web 2.0 tactics like rich media, blogging, RSS, and social networks. I’m not a great podcast consumer (because I’m impatient and want to scan for the good bits), but this was time well invested. Have a listen to this short, (10 minute?) podcast.
Using Digital, Web 2.0 Tactics to Boost B2B Marketing Results (Podcast)
“The Age of Conversation” mark II: Why don’t people get it?
April 7th, 2008Writing a book with 103 people from all over the world is a pretty interesting thing to do. That was “The Age of Conversation” and I enjoyed participating last year with my contributing chapter, “The voice of the CEO”.
Drew and Gavin (who had the idea, edited and co-authored the book) put an enormous amount of work into that project but that clearly didn’t scare them off; they are now coordinating the next edition, “The Age of Conversation: Why don’t people get it?”
Again, the book is created online, from start to finish. Again, all the proceeds go to charity. Again, the authors come from all corners of the world, but this time there are not 103, but 276, including me.
Some of the authors are people who have already gained a lot recognition for their work, some are lesser known online authors. The fact is, with that many different voices, it is bound to be worth the investment.
One area of improvement in this edition is that the book is now structured into topic-specific sections:
- Manifestos - Declarations, up front, on the Age of Conversation and why don’t people ‘get it’
- Keeping Secrets in the Age of Conversation - With everyone talking so much, why do we need secrets and what is the role of privacy?
- Moving from Conversation to Action - The practical steps that businesses and brands can take to move from conversation to something more valuable to their business
- The Accidental Marketer - What is the attraction of marketing and are there company’s or brands that happen into marketing success?
- A New Brand of Creative - With the changes in the way that people communicate and collaborate online, marketing and advertising companies are needing to reach out and work with a new type of creative team. What do these “creatives” look like and what are the challenges that they face?
- My Marketing Tragedy - covering projects that have failed and what was learnt from the failure?
- Business Model Evolution - Just as the markets and people are changing, so too are the business models around both clients and agencies - this chapter will explore the implications of the new business model
- Life in the Conversation Lane - Bringing it all back to the individual and how is life in a digitally connected, social world impacting us all?
Get to know the authors!
Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem
Gordon Ramsay’s Marketing Nightmare
April 4th, 2008
Not sure if you watch Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmare, (or if it is broadcast in your part of the world) but I’m a little hooked. There is plenty not to like about the show, in particular his tendency to humiliate people to get a point across. What there is to like is that every episode is a marketing and branding case study.
Every episode starts with an audit - he assesses the look of the place as he walks in and sits down, reviews the menu and has a meal in the place. He reviews the service and the management.
Nine times out of ten the mistakes are the same.
The quality of food is often poor; no care, no passion. There is no positioning; the menu is confused or bland. The service delivery is chaotic. But one thing stands out: they see the world through their own rather than their customers’ eyes. They live in a vacuum.
The next thing he does is walk the local streets. He checks out the competition, looking for a niche, chats to people in the street to find out what the restaurants’ brand reputation is. He talks to local suppliers and generally gets a feel for the specific environment he is in.
So he looks at the restaurant through the eyes of the customers. Brand: “The company seen through the eyes of the customer”. Mostly, he comes back with an idea of how to position the restaurant; a signature dish or direction for the menu that will uniquely position the restaurant. Because he knows his environment he positions away from competitors and ensures that the positioning is relevant to the target market: If he is on the coast it’s about fresh fish, if it is in the heart of the US it is about steak.
He does a local launch promotion with only one purpose; generate word of mouth. He doesn’t start promoting before the house is (more or less) in order though. Now I’ve never eaten in Gordon’s restaurant and although it makes great television, I don’t like his style. But he truly understands marketing and branding.
Time to sound out your advisors - online or on leave?
March 2nd, 2008Overall, marketing and PR agencies and professionals haven’t come to grips with the online world. Media and communications people believe that “online” and “digital” is about technology rather than media and simply haven’t got their nut around it. Why is this important? Because it takes time to learn. Marketing professionals who wait until their clients demand it from them before they do are in trouble.
There are digital specialists of course. But try and find a PR agency that demonstrates an understanding of current online media. Try and find leading advertising agencies that demonstrate an understanding of online media not through words, but through their own presence and behaviour online.
Speak to them about online and they are likely to refer you to their “web guy” who “is really smart”" and gets all this “technical stuff” or “their specialist partner”. Just don’t ask me. Ask about social media and web 2.0 and it gets worse.
Greg Verdino is is not shocked to read the result of a survey by “TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony that “agencies don’t get it”. Nor am I. (After all, even newspapers put anything to do with online media under their technology section, here in The Age and here in the “Tech&Web” section of The Times).
Why is this so? Everything they ever need to know is a mouse click away. All I can think of is that it is either laziness or arrogance.
If they had a poke around and took an interest, they would found that understanding and participating in online media is not about technology. It hasn’t been for quite a while. They would see that it is all about media and communications. Which, after all, is their world.
Joseph Jaffe thinks it is almost too easy to lay into agencies, but they are the external marketing advisors to most companies so I think it is warranted. Over to Joseph with a few tips to marketing professional regarding social media:
To help you in your quest, here are 3 pieces of advice:
- Stop being so damn arrogant and deluded to think you can do this yourselves. You can’t. This is all about humility.
- Stop trying to automate the whole process and solving your problems by a quick technology acquisition fix. You’re drowning in your own data and laziness. This is labor intensive.
- Stop trying to scale the whole process and replicate your old bad habits. This is about planting seeds and sticking around long enough to reap the rewards of care, consideration and hard work.
Clients deserve better. If you are a client, you deserve better. The people I am ranting at here are unlikely to read this of course, because it’s a blog. But if you are a client, expect more. There is no excuse for PR or marketing people not to have a solid grip on digital media. And I mean everyone, not a dedicated “Geek”. It is no longer something for tomorrow or for other people. Media and communications people should be leading the way.
(image source as far as I can track it: http://www.oneletterwords.com/weblog/)
B2B + social media = natural fit
February 20th, 2008For business, words like “social media”, blogging, or Youtube don’t often inspire a great deal of confidence. Really, they are mostly associated with staff wasting time on “socialising”.
At best, social media is seen as an interesting experiment for consumer brands, but hardly a useful strategy for business to business marketing. But if you have a closer look, you might find a very different opportunity.
Social media : “Social Media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into content publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism to a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers” (source:Wikipedia)
What are the most defining features of B2B marketing? Deep, one-to-one relationships, often built through personal interaction between individuals. We build these through face-to-face meetings, telephone contact, mail and email. We network at events designed just for that purpose. We present our ideas and innovations at industry seminars, and we know the incredible value of word-of-mouth in B2B marketing, so PR is often at the top of our list in terms of promotion.
So what is the strength of “social media”? One-to-one conversations and deep relationships. Word of mouth. PR. networking. Sharing and presenting ideas. A significantly higher profile online through improved search results.
Debbie Weil, (subscribe to her blog; it’s fantastic) author and speaker on the use of social media and blogs for corporate organisations, wrote a little manifesto that sums it up nicely:
The Inflection Point of Corporate Blogging
- Blogs and other social media tools are here to stay
- Blogs are just next-generation Web sites
- Social media tools (RSS, blogs, podcasts, video, wikis, etc.) can be used by any company, large or small, B2C or B2B
- They symbolize community, conversation, mutual respect between users and an ethos of sharing
- These tools are more powerful at informing/influencing/persuading than traditional forms of marketing, advertising and corporate communications
- They help you get found online
- If you can’t be found, you don’t exist
Conclusion: This isn’t optional
You gotta start using blogs, podcasts, online video (social media) today!
The opportunity: Carving out your niche is easier when you’ve got fewer competitors. When it comes to using social media in B2B marketing, there is still plenty of opportunity for you to be take the jump on your competitors. So don’t wait. Get in now.
Looking for more ideas? Check out these blogs: Web Ink Now, by David Meerman Scott, his guest post on “The New Rules of B2B Marketing and PR”, and Publishing 2.0, by Scott Karp.
Update: Hat tip to Bruce Nussbaum for highlighting this Business Week article by Stephen Baker and Heather Green: “Social Media Will Change Your Business”
Riddles or offers?
January 20th, 2008Is this a riddle or an offer? I’m still not sure I’ve worked this out… It’s amazing how many sales you can lose if people don’t understand your offer.
Does digital marketing work for professional services firms?
December 21st, 2007Professional services firms should in theory be one of the most prolific users of the internet and digital media. Their business is about knowledge, ideas and relationships; perfect.
From my observations, they lag behind as an industry online, instead of leading the pack. I asked David Maister, one of the leading international business strategist focused on professional services what he thinks the role of digital marketing is in this industry, and he wrote a blog post that received a great response.
In the post, he notes although the opportunity to demonstrate expertise is there, he wonders how much hard evidence there is that it works for prof services, firms: “I’m not sure how much hard evidence there really is about the benefits of the web in marketing professional services” and; “It’s still early days for blogging, podcasting and videocasting, but I’d have to guess that, for most professional service firms, these are not high return activities – again, because I’m not sure that the “high-level” buyers are listening and watching.”
After reading the comments from people who are in the industry and who consult on this topic (like Michelle Golden and James Cherkoff), I had a few thought about this.
Top tier firms vs mid tier and small business
Firstly, I asked an incomplete question. A small business local accountant is a completely different beast from a top tier, multi-billion dollar turn over business and their objectives will be different. For example, where everyone knows the top tier brands, one of the key objectives of small brands is simply getting on the radar of potential clients.
David wonders if the “high level” buyers are listening and watching online. He’s probably right, but I think the real opportunity is in that the traditional media increasingly sources their ideas and content online. What if Bill D. Green CEO of Accenture wrote a blog? Would Wall Street Journal editors keep an eye out? You bet. David Meerman Scott’s book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR offers some wonderful ideas about how to drive PR using the web.
Budget vs time
David Maister wonders how much of their budget he would advise his customers to dedicate. I think it is more about time than money. For most firms this is a greater constraint than money. Although the cost of distribution of ideas is cheap online, capturing and developing the sort of content that clients want to read is time consuming.
Marketing for talent
For many services firms, the “war for talent” may be a greater incentive to market online than anything else. Now, this audience will go online to listen and look and I know of many companies who spend most of their marketing budget on getting talent, rather than clients.
Opportunities
One of the key issues with professional services brands is that what is offered is really not that differentiated. The differentiation needs to be about how they do things; how their people are more accessible, more interested, more capable. How do you break down the barriers?
A nice example is Clayton Utz, a local Australian law firm using video in a very simple but effective way; two partners having a discussion about a specific topic of expertise. Apart from meeting these guys in person, there is nothing that will get me closer at a human, emotional level than watching them on video. It is exactly at this human, emotional level that business is won and lost when all else is equal.
Although the point David Maister makes about “proof that it works” is valid, if implemented properly, there is probably more metrics around online activity than say, sponsoring a yacht for a few million a year. To some extent it is also a chicken and egg question; if you don’t invest in digital marketing you’re probably not tracking it’s performance either.
Now, where are the prof services firms with the hard facts?
PS: KPMG outperformed everyone this year and turned over $US 19 Billion. Judging by their website, their digital effort wasn’t the one that delivered that growth:)
With thanks to David Maister for starting this discussion.
The Brand Gap - must see slideshow
December 17th, 2007Sometimes other people tell the story so well, you just get out of the way.
Click through to this simple, powerful presentation.
“Director, Differentiation Strategy” is a title at Boeing
November 19th, 2007
Randy Baseler, CEO of Boeing and noted CEO blogger writes: “My colleague Blake Emery, who has the unique title of Director, Differentiation Strategy…”
What a great idea. A person whose sole focus is to differentiate the brand, the products and the services from competitors. It’s explicit, it’s on the agenda. I understand that on the average payroll there may not be room for a “Director of Differentiation” but there is still something really valuable in the idea.
Maybe rather than having a Director of Differentiation, you could have a loose team of people consisting of customer service, sales, product, services, operations, finance and marketing.
Marketing might take the initiative, but you rotate the chair between the participants to ensure everyone is engaged and committed. The agenda is clear from the start: “what can we do, what do we need to do, to improve our differentiation.”
Many marketing thinkers now believe that marketing success in the future will rely more on “baking in” the interest, i.e. doing things that are of interest to your customers. (see Mark Earls post here and my follow up here)
In my post I wondered aloud about how to get this type of new thinking implemented under the pressure of delivering day-to-day results. If you believe that this is the way of the future for marketing and branding, then maybe a Differentiation Task Force is a great first step.
