The Power of Information, Networking, and Social Media

Here is an excellent video about the effects of technology and social media on our world. I thought it was crazy that 90% of customers trust peer recomendations and only 14% trust advertisements. This one fact alone informs businesses that advertising isn't what it used to be. Now, the best and most efficient way to advertise to your customers is to get people to talk about your products and services on social media sites and to comment on their experiences. Hope you enjoy the video!

3 Ways Social Media Can Ruin Your Career

I read an interesting article on the internet today about the negative side effects of social media. First off, joining a social media network can be helpful to starting your career, but as we shall see it can be detrimental as well. When done right and maintained properly, social media can enhance your career; but one false move and it can come back to haunt you in the future. Here are a few social media moves you should think twice about doing: 1.) Being too opinionated; 2.) Allowing photos of yourself to be posted or tagged; and 3.) Using foul or inappropriate language.

If you are voicing a strong opinion, you might want to be careful about how free your speech is, especially in regard to the following topics: religion, politics, race and employers. When talking about religion or politics, you have your own values that you strongly believe in and are proud of, but there's no need to attack someone else's. The same goes for complaining about employers while you are still under their employment. A future employer might stumble across your profile, read comments from months or even years ago, and decide you are not a suitable. The article provided an example, in which someone updated their status on Facebook to “bored at work.”  The final result, her boss saw the post and she was fired.

The best line of defense with regards to photographs is to not have any questionable photographs taken at all. The article provided an example of a teacher posting photographs on Facebook from a trip to Paris. There was alcohol in her picture and guess what? She was fired for it.

With regards to using foul or inappropriate language, just keep it clean and you will have nothing to worry about. There is always an element of risk when posting online, especially under your social media profiles because you can't always control who is going to be reading or watching it. If nothing else, familiarize yourself with privacy settings and keep in mind that the internet remembers everything.

Small Businesses and Social Media

I read an interesting article tonight about social media and small businesses. The story talked about how Ivy Guiler, a social media specialist, created a job for herself by helping small businesses with their online marketing strategies. A local Ace Hardware store wanted her to do a presentation about social media and to give them tips about how to get involved with it. Turns out, that Ace Hardware store created a Facebook page and it was an instant success. Small businesses alike enjoy using Facebook because it makes a more personal "relationship" with the customer and its easy to use. Facebook is a perfect medium for advertising your business to potential customers and it makes it easy to invite people to events. It also helps the businesses better understand their customers and makes it easier to communicate with them. Some businesses view Facebook as a relationship building tool rather than an advertising opportunity. Click on this link to read the article: http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=96533

New Social Media

Before Facebook, Myspace was king. However, times have changed and Facebook has become the most popular networking site available. Is Facebook going to remain on top? Or is there room for more potential? Color, a new photo application, thought there was more room for potential and created a free social networking photo application for mobile phones. Click this link to read the full article: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/new_photo_app_called_color_is_1.html

1st Annual 5K Run and 1M Walk Benefit

Hi everyone! I know this is short notice but I just signed up for a 5K run this Saturday (March 26,2011) to benefit the disabled and disadvantaged individuals of Western and Central MA. I hope some of you can sign up! The road race starts and finishes at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame @ 10:00 a.m. in Springfield, MA. Click on this link to register! HRUn4FUN! run2overcome. Your participation in either the 5K run or 1M walk will help demonstrate that diversity and inclusion can be a reality for all!!

Small Businesses Seek Word of Mouth

In a recent American Express survey of small business executives, 82% responded that they get their new customers from word of mouth. This is exactly how social media sites work, people tell other people about interesting and useful things, and share useful and interesting places. People respond to insight from other people because they view them as more trustworthy than listening to an advertisement on television telling you how great their product is. The most common online marketing techniques currently used by small businesses are company websites at 86%, social media at 44%, and search advertising at 21% of all businesses. If you want to read this article, click on this link:http://communication-solutions.tmcnet.com/topics/communication-solutions/articles/157167-why-social-media-perfect-small-businesses.htm

5 Great New Social Media Strategies

I was skimming through the news archives on Google today and an article caught my eyes, so I decided to take a look at it. The title of the article was “5 Great New Social Media Strategies.” It basically discussed the effects of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn on businesses and how effective they are. The article also mentioned five great new social media strategies that businesses should engage in to market themselves. They are as follows:

1. Claim your business profile on Yelp. If you have a storefront or office, you absolutely must list it on Yelp. Why? Because Yelp has a great mobile app that is very popular for finding products and services when you are on the road. It is quicker and easier to use than Google's iPhone search app, making your store hours, phone, and location instantly accessible to the large group of Yelp users.

2. Improve your business search results with a listing on Google Places. In its recent efforts to improve search results, Google now gives greater weight to local data, most notably from its own Google Places. The first step is to simply Google your company name, then locate it on the Google map for your area. Like Yelp, you then claim your business identity (creating a Google account if you don't already have one) and are able to add lots of information about your business.

3. Engage with other experts in your field on Quora. One stand-out social media tool isQuora.com, which operates on a simple premise: there should be a place to go on the web for clear, concise answers to specific questions. With a minimum of hype and noise, Quora does just that. It is an excellent way to increase your visibility and connect with others interested in similar topics. Its interface is also clean and relatively easy to master, unlike Facebook with its endless settings and options.

4. Create big value with a very small camera. If there is one gadget that will do more to boost your online presence than anything other than your phone, it is a video camera. Whether you use your iPhone 4, a Flip camera, or something else, the technology is well within your grasp to create short, fun videos on topics of interest to your customers, and upload them to your website, blog, Facebook page, or YouTube channel in minutes.

5. Join or create a group for local events on Meetup. If you regularly hold informational meetings about your business, consider expanding your reach by listing them on Meetup.com. And if you want to network with others in your area with similar interests, you are most likely to find them on Meetup. Unlike most tools mentioned so far, Meetup results in actual face-to-face meetings with like-minded people from your own area. It gives event planners the tools to set maximum attendance levels, send out reminders before the meeting, and easily keep in touch with group members.

Social Media Use and Unemployement

Some consider social media as an entrance into a new world of expressing themselves. Others, including employers, find it a a detriment to their business. More and more people are loosing their jobs from making posts on Facebook, or tweets on Twitter regarding their businesses. Some are evening losing their jobs for pictures on Facebook. In an article I read earlier, a woman lost her job for having a picture on Facebook of her holding an alcoholic drink. It's very important to think before you post something. The article made a great point when stating that before you tweet you should ask yourself "would I want my employer to read this?" Just recently the man behind the Aflac duck voice was fired for posting a series of jokes about the disaster in Japan. Click on this link if you want to read this article: http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/local_news/Social-Media-Use-Leads-to-Rise-in-Firings-20110323-am-sd
Also, if you want to audition to become the new voice for the Aflac duck, click here:http://www.quackaflac.com/

Social Media Reconnects Japan Quake Victims With Loved Ones

I found this article very interesting as survivors from the earthquake in Japan used social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter to connect with families and friends about their whereabouts. The article noted that less than an hour after the earthquake, there were 1,200 tweets per minute coming from Tokyo. Also, Google's Person Finder, which allows people to leave information about their whereabouts or information about a missing person was used 158,700 times! Check out this article by clicking on this link: http://mashable.com/2011/03/14/internet-intact-japan/

Social Media Disaster for Chrysler

Chrysler uses social media to communicate with consumers, partners, and the press. In this article, an individual working on Chrysler's marketing team, New Media Strategies, posted a tweet on Chrysler's twitter account: "I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the # 1 motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f***ing drive." Chaos was the result, and Chrysler ended up ditching the marketing firm and decided to find a new one. That individual who made that comment on Twitter was also fired. This tweet totally offended the drivers from the city of Detroit as well as Chrysler and totally went against Chrysler's new ad campaign that promotes the city - at the end of Chrysler's TV commercial is the catchphrase "Imported from Detroit." Here is just one of many examples that shows how devastating online social media can be for a company. So many individuals have access to company Twitter and Facebook accounts and need to understand the proper way to represent their company through social media. Chrysler just needs to be careful with who they give access to their tweets...You can read this article by clicking on this link: http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/social_network/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229300819

Benefits from Social Media

If you think that businesses are the only ones benefiting from social media, think again. The Utica police department created a Facebook page back on November 24, 2010 and have made their 13th arrest on Tuesday thanks to social media. Social media has become popular for police departments and more and more departments are utilizing the social media to prevent and solve crimes, strengthen police-community relationships, and enhance services. To view the article click on this link: http://www.cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=590739

Will This Viral Video Get a Division 3 Player into the Slam Dunk Contest?

While surfing the internet I came across an interesting article on Yahoo! On Yahoo!'s home page one of the four top stories was titled "Undersized Dunker Becomes Web Sensation." I love basketball so I had to check it out. The article was very interesting -  Jacob Tucker, a division III college basketball player, wanted to participate in the Division I slam dunk contest later this month. He contacted the organizers of the slam dunk contest and unfortunately was denied to participate; they said "Division III players typically lack the notoriety needed to receive an invitation (to the slam dunk contest)." In response, Jacob created a two minute YouTube video of his dunking abilities and posted it on the web. Within five days, the video attracted over 500,000 views and today its up to 816,228 views. Talk about a viral video! In addition to this video, 2,000 fans joined a Facebook group dedicated to giving Jacob Tucker an invitation into the dunk contest. Jacob created the video for the organizers of the dunk contest and did not expect to rack up thousands of views or have a Facebook group supporting his case for going to the dunk contest. This is just another example of how powerful social media can be.   Check out this video below and if you want to read the article click on this link:http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Viral-video-could-land-Division-III-player-in-du?urn=ncaab-wp65

Do you think Jacob Tucker deserves to be in the dunk contest?

Social Media Guidelines

This morning I was skimming through some articles on the internet and one of them caught my eye so I decided to read on. The article was titled "Why Social Media Paranoia is Healthy." Many businesses are finding it beneficial to engage in social media, while others still haven't realized or understand its importance. Point in fact, social media creates awareness, attracts customers, brings in revenue, and increases profits. In order to reap the benefits of social media you have to abide by some guidelines or else the effects could be devastating for you and your company. The article provided some guidelines for social media:

Basic Guidelines for Social Media Communications

Be clear about whether staff accounts are official or personal. If they are personal but relate to their job, then ensure the account holder adds a disclaimer explaining that these aren't necessarily the opinions of their employer. If it is official, they need to follow these guidelines:

·       All enquiries from mainstream media (e.g., national newspapers) should be passed to the press office or a senior director if there is no press office. Don't respond even to seemingly mundane questions about the company without making someone senior aware first. 

·       Never answer a comment in anger, no matter how provoking. Always stop and remember you represent the company -- not yourself.

·       Don't be rude. Companies have to remain polite. It's professional. You can be firm, implacable, and contradict people, but always do so with a professional manner. 

·       Ask a colleague to check any major communications, such as a blog post. This ensures you have an additional pair of eyes checking the tone and content, as well as for typos or spelling errors. 

·       Keep relevant and stick to your area of expertise. Commenting on subjects that you don't know much about risks making the whole organization look amateur. 

·       Never comment publicly on any legal challenges the company is involved in. 

·       The company can be sued for slander. Never pass comment or judgment on rivals, other businesses, or individuals. 

·       Remember that the Internet has a long memory. Don't publish anything if you aren't confident it will still be on-message in 12 months time. 

·       Make sure you differentiate clearly between opinion and fact.

 If you want to read the full article you can access by clicking on this link: http://searchenginewatch.com/3641986

Social Media Video

This is an amazing video that I found on YouTube showing how social media has transformed the world we live in. Its kinda cool, check it out...(its tough to read all the words with such a small display so it might be helpful to click on the screen  where is says "YouTube" ( bottom right corner) to view it on the YouTube website so you can watch it on a bigger screen- makes it is easier to read). Enjoy!

Tweet for Cheap

I was cruising around the internet this afternoon and found an interesting YouTube video which discussed the positive results that businesses could achieve through using Twitter, building up their brand image. Small and large businesses can both benefit through using Twitter as a marketing tool. Since small businesses do not necessarily have the capital to market their business with the same scale as larger businesses; utilizing  free social media tools like Twitter and Facebook can positively build up your brand/company and get that "buzz"; especially if you don't have the money for the traditional marketing campaigns that cost large businesses millions of dollars.

Social Media and Small Businesses

This morning I was reading the Boston Globe at work and I stumbled upon an article that caught my attention, titled "Small businesses learn to tweet, post, and blog." This articled discussed how the new technologies (Twitter, Facebook, Groupon) have changed the way small businesses market themselves. In the article, Mike's Automotive Services always tried to keep up with the latest technology when it comes down to marketing, building their first web page back in 1994. Small business owners have begun to navigate away from the traditional refrigerator magnets and wall calendars and moved towards tweeting on twitter, social networking on Facebook, blogging, and offering online coupons at Groupon (an online coupon site). Their online presence increased their businesses tremendously; they sold over 1,705 coupons for a "ten dollar oil change" from Groupon alone! New customers for Mike's Automotive Services went up 28% after they began their social media campaign and the numbers are still increasing. The biggest effects of social media is igniting "buzz" about any company or business. Before there is any "buzz" no one knows anything about a company/business and leaves them local/loyal customers that frequently stop by. By igniting "buzz" with social media more and more people realize their existence which drives the business to receiving more and more revenue. The results are proof that social media works and the businesses that are avoiding it, are losing customers and profits. So, the lesson learned is to jump into the social media and see the results first hand! 

I found this article online at the Boston Globes website. Here is the link to view the article: http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2011/02/22/small_businesses_learn_to_tweet_post_and_blog/

Important/Critical Components For Developing a New Media Strategy

I think the most important/critical component  for developing a new media strategy is to understand the customer and know your buyer persona. Only after gathering this pertinent information can you begin to develop a strategy to reach your buyers. You will not succeed if you make a strategy and are aiming for an audience that isn't interested in your products. By understanding your potential customers you can begin a campaign to meet your buyers needs and give them useful information which will help expedite the sales process.

Second Life: Marketing in the New World

While reading Chapter 19, Social Networking Sites and Marketing, it was very interesting that Scott brought up the online virtual world of Second Life. He talked about how businesses can use this as another medium for marketing. As a result, Second Life has become more and more popular. I thought it was extremely fascinating that companies are using Second Life as a place to conduct live press conferences. This gives companies the ability to save money from traveling expenses and also gives them the capability to have a "web conference" with people in different areas around the globe. What I also found fascinating is that Second Life has recently created an environment for Vet's to deal with PTSD. Up to one in five U.S. military service members screen positive for PTSD following combat deployment. Yet, almost half of those do not seek information or help for their suffering. The T2 Virtual PTSD Experience invites people to endure the causes, confront the symptoms, and discover the help available for combat-related PTSD in Second Life. It gives them the ability to seek help without giving away their identity. Check out this interesting article on the U.S. Army’s website: http://www.army.mil/-news/2011/01/24/50751-dod-gives-ptsd-help-second-life-in-virtual-reality/

Social Networking

Social networking sites are a wonderful source for marketing. Not only is it a free medium to spread the word or get yourself or your band, business, etc. noticed; it offers a way to connect with millions of people and let them know about certain functions or new products. My three roommates are apart of the band known as The Raft and they have both a Facebook and Myspace page. On Facebook they have the ability to notify everyone (friends) about upcoming shows and new songs that they are making. They use Myspace to give people the opportunity to listen to their tracks for free. They also network with other bands by showing what their likes and interests are on their Facebook page and those bands also have them (The Raft) on their pages as well.  If your interested, you can check them out on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Raft/159395607415352?sk=info or on MySpace at : http://www.myspace.com/getontheraft YouTube is another wonderful source to give people a chance to watch and listen to anything you want people to see. They have also taken advantage of this ability as they have a few recorded songs available. Check them out at this YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRaftMusic

Nike Commercial

While I was watching TV this afternoon I saw a Nike commercial and it really impressed me. Nike did not make an obvious attempt at selling their product but showed average people doing above average things while using their products. They made their focus very broad and showed a wide variety of athletic activities that people were engaging in; ranging from running and basketball all the way to extreme wheel-chair stunts and break dancing! It was quite impressive. Take a look at this YouTube video showing Nike's commercial... 

Blogging Ethics

Blogs are a wonderful tool for organizations to communicate with the marketplace and their buyers. People often struggle to come up with content to populate their blogs which can be harmful in more ways than one can imagine. Remember, consumers come first, honesty isn't optional, and deception is always exposed. Here is a short list included in the New Rules of Marketing and PR to think about ethics and blogging:
-Transparency. You should never pretend to be someone you are not.
-Privacy. Unless you've been given permission, don't blog about something that was disclosed to you.
-Disclosure. It is important to disclose anything that people might consider a conflict of interest in a blog post.
-Truthfulness. Don't lie.
-Credit. You should always give credit to bloggers (and other sources) whose material you have used in your blog. Besides being good ethical practice, links to other bloggers whose ideas you have used helps to introduce them to your blog and they may link to you.
Using these rules as a guideline for your blog will provide yourself with the benefit of having a clean, well-kept blog.

Groundswell

The information from the book Groundswell revolves around a strategic perspective on the use of new media in the marketplace which was created through the advancement in Internet technologies. The new media has weakened the control that businesses had on its customers with regards to production, operations, and markets. Today, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube have enabled people to create, connect, collaborate, react to each other, organize content, and accelerate consumption, which puts the customer in more control than any business thought was possible.

The authors of the Groundswell created a model for developing a new media strategy called the POST model. POST stands for People, Objectives, Strategy, and Technology.

People- what are your customers ready for? How will your customers engage?

Objectives- what are your goals? Listening(research), Talking(marketing), Energizing(sales), Supporting(support), and Embracing(development). By starting with an objective and you can create your groundswell strategy and tap into the power of the groundswell. Listening is referred to as learning what your customers are saying. People are talking about companies and if they listen, that information flows back into the organization which will enable them to better serve their customers. Talking refers to the two way conversations that take place. You send your messages out, hear what comes back, and you also see if your messages are reverberating out in the groundswell. Talking lets people spread the message of an organization through social networks. You can also communicate directly with your customers and monitor the information that is coming back- blogging. Blogs are a highly effective strategy that yields important information from the consumers to any business. Energizing is helping your best customers to recruit other people. Businesses can send a message out to their customers, they get excited about it and tell other people, which also gets them excited about products. This chain reaction goes on and on and on through various forms of social networking. Supporting enables your customers to support each other. This objective is all about saving money. If you can enable your customers to support each other in forums, this takes away the need for customers to call your business and ask questions. Embracing involves customers in the product development stages. 

Strategy- How do you want relationships with your customers to change? 

Technology- What applications should you build?

The POST strategy can be summed up by listening, talking, energizing, supporting, and embracing your customers. Using the new media will enable your business to accomplish all of these tasks, and success is sure to follow. 

Using News Releases To Reach Your Buyers

When writing news releases its crucial to write for your buyers because those are the people that will be purchasing your products. In the new world of marketing, its important to be active and write news releases all the time that have high quality content which shows the audience that your an expert in the industry and a trusted resource to turn to. The New Rules of News Releases are helpful when considering what and when you should make a news release. They are as follows:

-Don't just send news releases when "big news" is happening; find good reasons to send them all the time.

-Instead of just targeting a handful of journalists, create news releases that appeal directly to your buyers.

-Write releases that are replete with keyword-rich copy.

-Include offers that compel consumers to respond to your release in some way.

-Place links in releases to deliver potential customers to landing pages on your Web site.

-Optimize news release delivery for searching and browsing.

-Add social media tags for Technorati, DIGG, and del.icio.us so your release will be found.

-Drive people into the sales process with news releases.

Simultaneously posting releases to your own Web site and news release wires such as Yahoo!, Google, and Lycos will ensure that they will reach hundreds of Web sites, countless people, and it will be indexed by the news search engines and vertical market sites. Creating links on your news releases is also important because it will give people the ability to navigate from your news release to the specific content on your web site so they can purchase your products. Your buyers are important so give them the information they need to purchase your products and do it often!

Linking Thought Leadership Content into the Sales Cycle

After you have given your potential customers content that will be useful for solving their problems and answering their questions, you need to provide content that will draw buyers into the sales cycle. Providing detailed information about your products and services that will benefit the buyer will be useful in pushing the buyer further along the sales cycle. Also, when designing your website you need to have easy-to-use mechanisms that someone can "click" on to directly link them from the content about the product or service to where they can purchase the items to finalize the purchase and enter their credit card information, shipping address, etc. Now hold on a moment, just because the buyer finalizes the purchase doesn't mean that the sales cycle is over. You still need to continue that relationship with the customer so they will come back and purchase more goods and services. Adding that customer to your e-mail newsletter, encouraging customers to give feedback, and providing customers with ways to interact with your company and other customers on your website will all turn out beneficial. All of these tactics are critical to the success of your company.

Developing Thought Leadership Content

 "The New Rules of Marketing and PR tell us to stop advertising and instead get our ideas out there by understanding buyers and telling them the stories that connect with their problems" (Scott p.141).Why go through the effort of writing information on a webpage about your company and your products? That is boring and above all ineffective. People already know about your products and your company, which is why they are visiting your website in the first place! The important thing to remember when trying to capture a buyer is to help them solve their problems. Give your customers something they can value- give them solutions to their problems, answer questions that they might have, and most of all show them that you are trustworthy and worth doing business with. Remember, you are not writing for yourself so think of the customer when trying to write thoughtful content. Make it interesting and provide stories of how your products will help the customer.

In chapter 11 of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, Scott gives a perfect example of developing content for the buyer. It would be wise for a marketer at a tire manufacturer to write about or make a video of how to drive safe in the winter. Just saying that you should buy model FTL 3000 Extra Grip tries will be ineffective. Promoting this ad on your website would be useful for the customers. By providing content that helps the buyer solve their problems (driving safe in the snow) you captured their attention and they can find a product that is useful for them.

Super Bowl Ads and Social Media

Its crazy to think about how big of change the social media has made for marketing strategies. In the past, there was no way that any company was going to release their new commercials before it was shown during the Super Bowl. This year, Volkswagen, Pepsi Max, and Doritos  released their Super Bowl commercials on YouTube, Facebook, and were talking about them on Twitter. If someone heard about a company doing this years ago, they would think that they were crazy and were wasting their millions on their 30 second TV spot. However, other companies (such as Anheuser-Bush) viewed these marketing promotions as a hit, a new strategy, and its viral. In only five days Volkswagen was able to rack up 13 million views  from its 1 minute long commercial before the kickoff of the Super Bowl! Quite impressive. The new rules of marketing and pr have defiantly changed and its once again backed up by the strategies that companies are taking during the biggest advertising day of the year, the Super Bowl. It's going to be quite an exciting week before the Super Bowl in 2012 as more and more companies begin to make the switch, releasing their BEST commercial of the year days before kickoff.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR

While reading the chapter titled  Forums, Wikis, and Your Targeted Audience I came across situation for a company Sony BMG and thought the information regarding that company was very interesting and important. What was important for Sony BMG and for every organization is how critical it is to respond quickly to situations as they unfold on the web. Reacting quickly and honestly in the online forums, blogs, etc, where the discussions take place is critical to enhancing the value your customers receive which ultimately builds a stronger relationship with their customers. Customers will comment and tell their story to anyone who is willing to read what they have to say and the internet is the perfect place for that. Since their are so many niche topics and wonderful search filters, anyone can find a topic that is suitable for them. A company will not be able to completely turn a negative situation into a positive one, however, they will be instantly seen as a real person who gives a name and a personality to a large organization. Just by participating in the discussion about their company  they can contribute to making the situation right. The internet's unlimited power will link that post to multiple places and ensure that anyone who is eager to read articles about that company will see that post and know that this entity really does care about their customers, not only up until the point of purchase, but even after the fact, further continuing and building a stronger relationship. The important point I am making is that the company spoke out as a person, an individual face that cares about its customers.
"The internet is like a massive focus group with uninhibited customers offering up their thoughts for free!" (Scott p. 81) Companies have the ability and should chose to either read or participate in these discussions. Just by having a presence on blogs, or any other form of online discussion shows that that company cares about the people that are spending money on their organizations products. The web enables new opportunities for organizations to engage in everyday...

The New Rules of Marketing & PR

The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott reveals how the internet has transformed the world of advertising and public relations into an opportunity to reach niche buyers directly with targeted messages that cost a fraction of what big budget advertising used to cost. The average person gets bombarded with hundreds, even thousands of commercial messages a day and most of the time, they ignore them. At least I do anyway. Traditional advertising is so wide and broad that it has become an ineffective way to reach your customers. Big media advertising is still effective for products that have wide distribution and mass appeal; however, it doesn’t work for niche products, local services, and specialized nonprofit organizations. Traditional advertising focuses on interrupting a person and getting that person to pay attention to a message, whereas web marketing and advertising focuses on giving practical information at the exact moment, at the right place, and the right time a buyer needs it. The web doesn’t need to interrupt a person to get their attention, people Google the web and use search engines to visit websites to gain information about a product they are interested in and want to hear reviews about what other people have to say about a company’s product, not what the media has to say.

            Scott provides an excellent perspective on the effectiveness of web advertising but still makes the point that big budget media advertising is still very effective for very large companies and very famous people. It all depends on the company and the products they are advertising to determine which method would work best. Basically, Scott states that there are easier and more efficient ways to inform your audience about your products and the web allows direct access to that. If a small company or average person has something to say, they media will not relay that information and nobody will hear about it. Instead, the internet provides the perfect medium to reach buyers directly. Best of all, it can be done for a very small fee if not, for FREE! To take advantage of the opportunities that the web provides, it is necessary to forget about the old rules of marketing and public relations and realize that one-way marketing isn’t that effective anymore.

            It is important to understand that web marketing isn’t about flashy advertisements and cool sound effects but to understand the keywords and phrases that consumers are using to search for the content that they seek. Companies like Amazon, Netflix, and iTunes are perfect examples. You can search for any niche book, movie, or CD and get informed about what similar consumers also purchased. Most websites give people a place to search for information to solve their problems; however, it doesn’t offer them a place to browse for additional products. These three companies that I just mentioned understand that concept and even take it a step further. They begin to answer questions before the consumer even asks.

            Since the focus of this book is on the new rules of marketing and PR I figured I should include Scotts new list:

            -Marketing is more than just advertising

            -PR is for more than just a mainstream media audience

            -You are what you publish

            -People want authenticity, not spin       

            -People want participation, not propaganda

-Instead of causing one-way interruption, marketing is about delivering content at                                                 just the precise moment your audience needs it

-Marketers must shift their thinking from mainstream marketing to the masses to a strategy of reaching vast numbers of underserved audiences via the web

-PR is not about your boss seeing your company on TV. It’s about your buyers seeing your company on the web

-Marketing is not about your agency winning awards. It’s about your organization winning business

-The Internet has made public relations public again, after years of almost exclusive focus on media

-Companies must drive people into the purchasing process with great online content

-Blogs, podcasts, e-books, news releases, and other forms of online content let organizations communicate directly with buyers in a form they appreciate

-On the web, the lines between marketing and PR have blurred

            Getting people to write about your products on blogs can be compared to getting your products an article on the front page of any newspaper. If you can get hundreds of bloggers to write something about your product, the combined reach can be thousands, if not millions of consumers. Old marketing and PR strategies focused on the wrong things such as getting advertising awards and such. Nowadays, successful organizations focus on news releases, blogs, websites, podcasts, and other content that draws visitors into considering the purchase of their products. Last I checked, winning an advertising award wasn’t the same as drawing potential buyers into the sales-consideration cycle.

"Should You Invest in the Long Tail?"

The article “Should You Invest in the Long Tail?” provides an interesting perspective on the blockbuster “hits” and the niche “misses.” Online access has significantly increased everyone’s ability to find products tailored to their obscure needs which has created the long tail. The article provides evidence that businesses should avoid concentrating on the niche markets and only focus on the blockbuster hits because that’s where all the profits are. After reading the article, the author presented some good points about why businesses should focus on the blockbusters instead of the niches. Obviously the hits are attracted by the majority of the population, which makes high demand for these products. For brick and mortar business, this would and still is the only business model that can provide the most profits. If businesses tried to carry products that are tailored to the small markets, the demand for such products is spread too thinly. The cost of holding that inventory would be too high to be profitable and their simply isn’t enough demand in the local market for those products. This is the reason why that article focuses on businesses pursuing the strategies revolving around the blockbuster hits.

 I am not writing this post to say that businesses shouldn’t operate like that, but, I am saying that I do believe that the long tail of niche products is very profitable for those businesses who can take advantage of having an unlimited online inventory that virtually costs them nothing. By providing endless arrays of products to a market segment the size of the world, which the internet has created, businesses can and do become profitable. Those consumers who navigate themselves through search filters and recommendations find products that suit their individual needs, wants and desires. Those products become a perfect match to those individuals. This creates an ideal experience for those individuals and the internet was able to connect the supply to the demand for that product. Once people begin to navigate away from the blockbuster hits and into the niche marketplace I feel that they would spend most of their time searching for products in the long tail. People get more satisfaction out of products that become custom to a certain niche as opposed to those that purchase products that are tailored to the mass market. I think its experiences like these that keep people away from the head of the demand curve, and focus on the niche markets.

THe Long Tail: A Closer Look

Does the long tail exist simply because the internet has provided a vehicle to promote inferior products to a market that is still dominated by “hits?”  I would have to agree that the long tail does exist because the internet has provided a vehicle to promote inferior products to the market that is dominated by “hits”. This internet can provide an unlimited shelf space that no brick and mortar store can achieve. With the help of search filters, one can easily navigate the long tail to find their niche products. If their wasn’t an internet, businesses would not be able to afford carrying every product because the cost of inventory would be too high compared to the number or items that would get sold. Collectively, all of these niches can add up and make a significant market. Companies can now provide a variety of smaller niches and become a viable entity. When consumers are given the choice as well as the option to travel down the long tail which can focus more on niche markets and products, they will move away from the “hits” that are provided by the economy to the niche products that suit their needs better. The digital revolution has provided consumers with shipping innovations that enable products to reach their intended destination in efficient ways which reduce the cost of doing business. Democratizing the tools of production populates the tail, democratizing distribution creates availability, and connecting supply and demand creates the community where these products can be bought, sold, and discussed with one another.

Does the Long Tail result in Tyranny of Choice, or, Paradise of Choice? I would defiantly have to say that the long tail results in a paradise of choice. For consumers to walk into any physical store they could be faced with the Tyranny of Choice due to the limited shelf space. For example let’s talk about books. Let’s say you go to Barnes and Noble and search for a specific book that you want. Unfortunately, that book was not a best-seller and they do not carry that item. This would give you the tyranny of choice because you are unable to get the product that you really want. The internet enables any consumer to achieve the paradise of choice because you can search through millions of books over the internet and you will be able to find THE book that you are searching for. Some companies print books on demand. This has been an excellent inventory model and comes to be very efficient and cost affective. This gives some companies to virtually carry no inventory and only print books after an order has been received.

What are your thoughts about the long tail concept (provide specific thoughts supported by information from the text or other sources, not a general and amorphous comment)?

The long tail concept can be explained in one word, brilliant. The long tail has been created through the advent of the internet as an effective marketplace. The internet has evolved into the perfect marketing mix; providing every product, at a convenient place, with the lowest price, and the best of all promotion (word of mouth). Every product has reviews about how the consumer appreciates or dislikes any product. Before purchasing, each consumer can read reviews about anything to either make or break the sale. Also, when/if someone purchases a product, there are also suggestions for what similar customers also purchased. This can be an affective form of advertising because it promotes similar products that individuals that focus on that specific niche would purchase. This model is a great form of advertising.

The Long Tail Post

The theory of the Long Tail is truly amazing. Our economy and culture has increasingly shifted from the focus on a small number of hits at the head of the demand curve and moving towards the massive number of niches towards the tail of the demand curve. With the help of the internet and an unlimited shelf space, business can   form new strategies in ways they never could have imagined ten or fifteen years ago. Now, businesses such as NetFlix, iTunes, Rhapsody, eBay, and Amazon have realized the success of providing niche products to the market and are taking over the profits that used to be captured by brick and mortar stores such as Blockbuster (movies), Barnes and Noble (books), and Best Buy and Wal-Mart (music). The idea of zero inventory is every businesses dream, and unfortunately not all businesses can pursue such a strategy. However, the new business models that are revolving around the philosophy of zero inventory are realizing the successes of such strategies. For example, lets talk about print on demand books. Who would have ever thought that this could have been an effective way of selling books? Publishers used/still create batches of books that range up to 50,000 per batch. Depending on what their estimates of demand would be, they would have to guess whether or not they should make more in that batch and chance having too much supply and not enough demand, or risk not making enough books and forgoing profits. Now with the print on demand capabilities, there never has to be an inventory for most book titles. Each book is just a mouse click away from creating something that did not have a shelf life minutes before that click of the mouse. Since there are so many book titles that are not in high demand, it would not be beneficial for anybody to carry all of those book titles that may sell one or two copies a year. However, you multiply that by the huge size of the long tail and you get a market that crushes the top fifty selling books.
Internet sales have been growing and especially this past holiday season. The Coremetrics Holiday Online Shopping Report is proof of that and it doesn't look like that trend isn't going to continue to increase. As more and more people are shopping online, the Long Tail becomes even longer. People are not going to settle for a product because they can't find the ideal product they are looking for in a brick and mortar store. They are going to get on their smartphone phone, lap top, or iPad and become a mouse click away from getting any product they choose.
The three videos that were posted about the Long Tail, two of which by RonAmok and one by Chris Anderson highlight these points in just a few short minutes. RonAmok makes a wonderful point when discussing the double value curve that exists in the market. As mentioned in his video, the value of information is directly proportional to how much an individual needs it at any given moment and it is important to understand that the value of content has to do with the immediate need of a customer.
Chris Anderson makes a great point about the Long Tail when discussing movies that enter the cinemas. Just because these films have it into the cinemas, doesn't make them the hits. Movie theathers are limited to showing about 120 movies each year that represent the so called "hits". However, the number of movies watched outside the cinemas far exceeds those movies any given year. Since Hollywood and high level business executives are creating the head of the demand curve in the movie industry, its clear to make a point in stating that the head of the demand curve in all industries is created by each industries suppliers instead of the consumers- which results in the long tail.    

“Out with the Old and In with the New!” I thought it was very interesting how the definition of marketing changed so much from 1960 to 1985 and again to 2011. In 1960 the definition focused more so on the channel of distribution bringing the products from suppliers to the consumers whereas in 1985 it focuses more so on the actual conception of the product with relation to its price, promotion, distribution, and the product itself and its ability to satisfy individuals (aka marketing mix).The definition of marketing in 2011 now focuses more on creating, communicating, and delivering value to the customer. If the customer does not receive the value that marketing is attempting to create for the consumer then the game is over, it’s a failed attempt at marketing.

I really enjoyed the discussion about the marketing mix with relations to solutions, value, convenience, and conversation. Obviously as consumers we purchase products because we have a need for them. At that moment the consumer is faced with a dilemma or a problem and the only way to solve it is by purchasing a product, which is the solution to the problem. The same holds true when you are sick and go to the doctor. You have a problem (e.g. sickness) the doctor then writes you a prescription (e.g. solution) to solve your problem. After you get the prescription you travel to the pharmacy and pay a price for that prescription. Hopefully the price is worth the value you receive from the medication and the pharmacy should be a convenient place for you to go to.

Response to Four Videos

"What is Marketing" This short clip provides an interesting view of what marketing is. To give a good definition of marketing, he starts out in stating what a market actually is. A market is a place where goods and services trade hands according to the laws of supply and demand. Thus, marketing is a tool that increases the demand for products and services. For every need, there is a product or service that can be consumed to satisfy that need. Since the economy depends on consumption of goods and services, marketing becomes a vital tool to keep the economy from stagnating. As more goods and services become marketed, the demand will increase and provide the necessary ingredients to stimulate demand in the market place. I thought it was very interesting how he brought up the Great Depression and the reason for its occurrence. The Great Depression resulted from having too much supply and not enough demand. Therefore, marketing becomes a necessary component of a prosperous economy and a primary component of a growth economy. "If the economy stops growing, it will crash." This quote alone shows how important marketing is to the economy. Without marketing, demand for products and services declines and when there is too much supply and not enough demand, the market will crash just like a plane running out of fuel.

                                

“A Short Introduction to Marketing” I really enjoyed this clip as it provides some key concepts that are essential to marketing. Marketing assists in meeting the objectives of an organization by ensuring that the products or services are sold to the right market at a price to ensure a profit. The customer value proposition (CVP) is the fundamental premise that underpins all marketing activities. The integration of product, price, place, and promotion (the marketing mix) supports the CVP. In a market there are collections of buyers and sellers where the sellers send products or services as well as communication (e.g. advertisements) to the buyers in the market; in return, the sellers receive money and information (e.g. customer feedback, sales data, etc.) I thought the Chartered Institute of Marketing provided an accurate definition of marketing which is “Getting the right goods, to the right people, in the right place, at the right time, at the right price, with the right level of communication profitably.” However, Peter Drucker states “the aim of marketing is to make selling unnecessary.”  I feel that this definition fits perfectly into the actual concept or idea of marketing. Instead of persuading customers to come and purchase a product or service, the customer finds out about the product and they come to you. This is the best and most effective strategy that any organization can have and should be the goal of any marketing department. Most importantly, marketing is the process of understanding what your customers want, providing them with what they want, and communicating with them the fact that those products and services are readily available to them.

In this video, Philip Kotler @ London Business School provides his perspective of marketing strategy. CCDVTP which means Create, Communicate, Deliver Value, to the Target market, for a Profit. I really enjoyed his view of brand management, product management, and customer management where product management is the process of creating value, brand management is the communication of value to your customers, and customer management is the process of delivering value to the customers. The idea of customer management is to get the customer involved. Phil Kotler ends this clip in a very powerful way in stating as marketers, we want to hear what the customer has to say. We want to meet the customers and known them personally. We want to get the customers help to co-create our products and co-create the advertisements. This ensures that we can effectively communicate with the intended target markets which are the consumers.

Seth Godin video- In this video Seth Godin presents his interesting perspective on marketing and how important it is to be able to spread the word about an idea. Just having an exceptional product alone is nothing without an idea to get the consumer excited about it. I enjoyed his reference to the long tail of marketing when he states that you should not be marketing toward the majority because they are really good at ignoring advertisements but to market towards the smaller percentage of the population (innovators and early adaptors) because they care about your products and they will listen and they will spread the word to their friends, family, etc. I also liked his rationale on how good products are boring. You need to make something fresh, new, and exciting; and you need to find the right people to get excited about it. I enjoyed his example of Silk soymilk and how it was such a success. Put it in the milk section at the grocery store and it was an instant success. 

Response to First Two Articles

The first article by Frederick E. Webster Jr. about marketing management brought up some very interesting topics. It is crucial for businesses to realize the importance of the service part of their product offering because that is what differentiates them from their competitors. Building marketing strategies around customer needs instead of company needs is the ideal. Since hundreds of companies can offer the same product worldwide, how are consumers to choose which company to purchase their products from? The final decision would revolve around a company's marketing strategy. Those companies that can market their products to meet the needs of the consumers have won the battle. Businesses need the ability to articulate a clear, concise value proposition that communicates how they will create superior value to their customers. The core customer value proposition must be based on customer information and understanding of that information. Customers purchase products because they have a need that can not be satisfied without the purchase of a new product. Identifying that need for customers and linking it with their marketing strategy in the main goal of a firm. Gathering, analyzing, and communicating that information is the central responsibility of the marketing department. The fundamental role of profit is not simply to reward shareholders but to ensure the long-term viability of the firm and its ability to attract all of the resource providers necessary to create value with and for customers. Johnson and Johnson did just that in their credo which gives first priority to the doctors, nurses and patients, mothers and fathers, and others who use their products.

The second article by Stephan Haeckel does a good job mentioning the importance of the four pillars of managerial framework:: purpose, strategy, structure, and governance.