Manhattan Marketing Maven

Web 3.0: Brand Strategy Must Drive Integrated Interactive Marketing

Web 2.0 was about finding, developing and embracing interactive technologies to engage customers, prospects and other constituencies. Web 3.0, says Clark Kokich of Razorfish, is about integrating these cool new toys to work together to achieve business results. 

While Michael Leis jokes about the nomenclature, Clark’s underlying thought is spot on; the holy grail of integrated digital marketing is to frame a vision of a fully realized multi-dimensional interactive relationship between a brand and its customer base and then implement that vision using the latest and greatest tools we can find to achieve predictable business results.

It’s a grand and very difficult to achieve grail. Why?

Four reasons. 1. Because it forces us to get past the “amazing” features of each new tool and focus on end-user benefits rather than first user bragging rights. 2. Because the tools are constantly evolving and we are unlikely to settle on a few at the risk of missing the next big thing. 3. Because it requires both agencies and clients to overcome organizational and attitudinal silos with their attendant politics of self-interest in service to a greater goal. 4. Because it requires marketers to balance measurable business effectiveness against probable marketing efficiencies which demand a combination of proven tactics and carefully considered experiments; risks that both agencies and clients are generally afraid of.

But there is a way forward, if marketers would adopt these four tactics:

Follow a Boss. Altitude is the only predictor of successful marketing integration. Somebody at the top of the organization (possibly a

CMO

) has to be the boss, make decisions, broker arguments, set the direction and establish the party line. It’s a stick-your-neck-out posture that requires vision, guts and political savvy. Too many post-modern, post-industrialist MBA-trained managers publicly shrink from the very notion of a boss, but without it, the natural politics of bureaucracies will overwhelm and undermine any effort.

Build Consensus Goals. The most effective marketers have a vision that sets a goal which then determines a logical series of priorities that drive creative, channel and spending decisions. This is that big strategy piece that everyone talks about and aspires to but few actually accomplish. A broad but quantifiable goal gives context to all the varied tactics and lays out hypotheses for finding synergy within an organization and its marketing partners which can be mapped out as tactics and executed in a coordinated and thoughtful way through a set of channels. The game is won on the choice of strategy not on the choice of channels.

Harness the Mule Team. Nothing great ever gets done unless everyone is in-harness and pulling in the same direction. This requires the greatest application of energy and force and is most affected by staffing choices and vendor selection. Nobody sets out to create a dysfunctional operation, but too many of us end up with one because we don’t have the discipline or the appetite to harness, direct and motivate our team in a single direction.  

Picture & Measure an

End

State

. Too many marketing efforts attack immediate pain points or address immediate problem areas. Not enough start with an understanding of what the brand needs and wants in terms of its relationship with clients and their identification with the brand that drives adoption and purchase of its products or services. Brands need to set awareness, preference, attitudinal, purchase, loyalty and interactive goals, and then deploy marketing programs to engage customers to achieve the stated objectives. Then measurements of business effectiveness and internal efficiencies can be used to genuinely steer the ship.       

Mobile Marketing Gets Mojo

Mobile marketing is on the cusp of moving markets and deserves consideration as part of the marketing mix for a wide variety of products and services. No longer the province of teenagersor a parlor trick prepetrated by a nerdy early adopter, mobile media is gaining widespread use as new phones and new software make the Internet accessible everywhere. In no time we'll all be tethered to the digital grid; connected by a single multi-functional device. 

Consider several recent developments:

Almost two-thirds (63%) of cellphone users have received e-mail, used text messaging or obtained news and sports information on their phones.

More than one-third (38%) of mobile phone users access the Internet from their phone. There are 40 million smart phones in use, closing in on 20 percent of the cell phones in use and the market is growing; driven by iPhones and Blackberry Pearls and Curves. 130 million phones have "highly capable Internet browsers" and the IBM Institute for Business Value survey recently found that 40%  of those surveyed had Internet data plans in-use and that a third of those had already watched a video on their phones.

Once you start watching video on your phone, 45% begin to do it regularly which according to Black Arrow cumes up to 800 million hours of mobile video viewing, still a tiny slice of the 389 billion hours of broadcast TV watched, but a bell weather nonetheless.

Evidently we have begun to solve the technical issues of compression, design and compatibility that bring the Internet off the desktop and out of the laptop and into our on-the-go daily lives. You can bet this trend will continue. Continuous improvements in speed, signal clarity and software integration will lead to a single compact, personalized device that becomes an indispensable tool for managing communication, interaction, commerce and most practical aspects of our lives. Dick Tracy's wrist watch video phone and the Star Trek communicator already exist. Soon we'll all be using their progeny.

Think about the mobile applications that people we know have already rely on. Many people use their phones to search, get news alerts or sports scores, interact with TV shows, vote or take surveys, play games, send or view photos,get directions or actually talk or text with other humans. Facebook access from mobile devices has grown 3X in the last year to 15 million users and who knows how many other social networks are making similar claims as we get used to the idea of telling everybody what we're doing in real time and sharing everything we find, like or do with a gang of unseen others.

The NFL streams video of games to mobile phones, Sears2Go.com allows you to buy Craftsman tools using a phone and a Disney-Verizon alliance will use cell phones to interact with kids and families while they're in the parks as early as next year. Progress in m-commerce is making the interfaces and downloads between websites and phones easier, smoother and less kluge-y day by day. Soon mobile wallet applications will allow us to use our phones to fill up parking meters, buy from vending machines, purchase movie tickets, check out quickly at retail stores and complete complex financial transactions from a phone keypad.  

And while there are a few indications that consumers expect and will tolerate advertising surrounding these nifty new tricks, its not really clear how much and what kind of messaging will resonate.Therefore the prudent forward-looking professionally paranoid marketer will get started and get smarter about mobile media and marketing now, during the ascent phase while prices are low, content and merchant partners are flexible and open to experimentation and before anybody develops a killer app, gets a lock on game-changing technology or establishes a beachhead in critical market segments.

Bad Times Mean Online Advertising Opportunities: A Time to Experiment

Bad times are perfect opportunities to test media and try the wacky ideas that have been percolating within your organization. The economy is in free fall. The shift to digital media has begun but hasn't been fully realized even as print and other traditional media are suffering mightily. Enter the former high priestess of the dot-com bubble, Morgan Stanley's Mary Meeker, with her insights into Internet Trends.

Social networks, Voice over IP (VoIP) and web video are the rage attracting large audiences and provoking considerable pass-along. Think YouTube, Facebook, Skype and PalPal.But these drivers of user growth are not necessarily ad friendly either from the perspective of site functionality or from the perspective of audience sensibility. In banker's terms they are under-monetized because nobody has yet figured out how to get commercial messages embedded in ways that last longer than 15 seconds and that are engaging enough to overcome a hair-trigger sensibility about SPAM and unwanted online ads. Because users think of these sites and others as personal utilities which encorage customization and opt-ins, they expect them to be free of anything they haven't asked for or specifically chosen. As a result the costs to experiment with these media are relatively cheap and the low CPMs make them atrtractive to brands looking to stick their toes in the online pond.

What Mary doesn't say is that we have both a credibility and a creative problem. On one hand netziens are rebelling against the gross commercialization of the sites they like the best. They aren't watching pre-rolls and they want their web video  free of intrusive ads. For the most part  TV ads translated to the web and the web-centric video ads have the usual track record for advertising -- most are misses and few are hits in terms of popular resonance and pass-along buzz.

When you get past the sites driving usage and interaction and go back to the thousands of sites now represented by the hundreds of ad networks, we have an inventory glut of legendary proportions where low CPMs are matched by even lower credibility and lower creative expectations, From a branding or a direct response perspective banners in most shapes and sizes, with and without rich media applications, suck. Add to this general belief serious doubts about click fraud, parity among networks and large numbers of advertisers who have spent big money for little return and you have a buyers market with huge opportunities to pick up and test affordable campaigns, assuming you can create messages that are compelling.

Its also time to test re-marketing and behavioral targeting, both use nominally sophisticated techniques to follow people and serve them up messages based on directly expressed or inferred interests.. The trick is to negotiate low prices and to guess right in terms of the messages and offers served up. For many of my clients these experiments have had the most interesting runs and have returned the greatest ROI in the shortest time periods.

For some unexplainable reason many new start-ups and services expect advertisers to make good on their business plans, even in a global recession. There will be all kinds of mobile Internet, 3G devices and place-based media joining the fray for the shrinking pot of ad dollars. Many of these will be interesting, but unproven ideas, and if money remains tight you'll have a chance to play with them on the cheap. Though look to prove conceptual validity rather than strong branding results or significant leads and direct sales.

Miss Mary says "value" is the key to growth and survival. Offer advertisers much more for their money and offer consumers and web surfers deals when and where they want them. Bad times spell opportunity to break out of existing patterns, test-and-learn new tactics and gain awareness or market share by leveraging low negotiable prices. Its a time to go for it not to run away from it.

  

Helping PR Make the Digital Transition

The practice of public relations, especially media relations, is making a transition from semi-traditional press agentry to the digital age. In working with both PR agencies and clients, it is clear that the recession will further complicate the process of getting attention and visibility for brands.

 

Here are 11 things to do to help smooth the transition.  

 

Integrate Channels. A publicity campaign is a multi-media event. Be sure that your website, your customer service representatives, your front line customer-facing employees and your printed materials are aligned and on-message. Think about what you are going to say and anticipate how, when and to whom your customers, prospects, investors, employees or competitors might react. Coordinate your announcements with other sales, marketing and out reach activities including e-mail, blogs, circulars, position papers, speeches, appearances and trade shows so that your brand speaks with a single, clear and consistent voice.

 

Don’t Rely on Releases. The press release is the classic vehicle for communicating with journalists because they mirror the style and content found in the media. Many marketers think that the creation and transmission of a press release constitutes communication and persuasion. Nothing could be further from the truth. Press releases are a dime a dozen. They vary widely in quality and content and are frequently ignored by the intended recipients. As you compose your message consider a broad array of vehicles to transmit information. In many cases a short e-mail or voice mail message with punchy pitch points will work better. In other cases Op-Eds or letters to the editor or comments and feedback to blogs or published pieces are far better vehicles to get your message on the record.

 

Leverage News Cycles. Each day has a news cycle and on an annual basis there are predictable sand evergreen stories that our 24/7 media cover. You can increase the likelihood of coverage by understanding and tracking these cycles and connecting your news to these patterns.

 

Do the Math. You have an affirmative burden to link your news to ideas in the media, topics on the national agenda or subjects in widespread conversation. A new announcement without context and missing links to broader themes dies quickly of loneliness. You must also explain clearly and persuasively why your news matters, who it matters to and why anyone should care. Too often things that matter to you have little or no significance to broader audiences. The media serves as a gatekeeper to local, national, professional or global audiences.

 

Think Like an Editor.  News has to be new, different and significant in both absolute and relative terms. Reporters, producers and bloggers covering your industry or business can assess these elements in a nanosecond and grant you a hearing or close you down instantly. In framing any news release, announcement or pitch these elements have to be clear and up front.

 

Make a Target Press List. Every business, industry and sector is covered by dedicated journalists. In some cases, its a challenge to figure out who naturally covers you because the number of journalists is shrinking and the amount of interconnection and overlap between topics is increasing. Err on the side of adding more names to your list because while the number of writers and reporters is shrinking the number of distribution outlets is increasing. So as you figure out who follows your business, each voice is likely to carry farther.

 

Then figure out which media your most likely customers and prospects watch, read and follow and make a list of these outlets. Everybody really pays attention to a couple of sources and many of these sources can be predicted based on the age and business tenure of your customer base. Nobody can follow everything so don’t sweat the big picture. Zero-in on what the people you care about most do.

 

The combination of these lists should be your primary media targets. Call and e-mail these people and keep the list as up-to-date as possible.

 

Savor Search. Nine in ten journalists search the Web for story ideas, news sources and to check out people and companies they are covering or considering. Being found on Google, Yahoo and other search engines must to be a part of every PR program. This requires an understanding of natural search tactics, demands coordination between online and offline media channels and can be expedited by using the web for press release distribution.  

 

Optimize Keywords. We live on a word filtered, sorted and governed by key words. As you conceptualize your news or information you have think about which terms, phrases, and jargon will be used to quickly communicate meaning. These same words and terms must be used frequently in your documents as keywords which can be searched efficiently in cyberspace.

 

Act Like a Telemarketer. The disparity between the number of journalists and the huge demand for attention makes most media people hide. They have unlisted phone numbers, send all calls immediately to voicemail, publish e-mail addresses for mailboxes they never look at, don’t respond to e-mail and get really annoyed if you try to pitch them using IM or social media. They appear to be friendly, open and accessible but vigorously screen themselves from unwanted or unsolicited pitches. Reaching working journalists is like telemarketing. You have to be canny, call frequently and be satisfied with a very low response rate.

 

Be Social. Social networks are becoming American’s preferred platforms for ideas and conversation. You can not afford to ignore these big and growing communities. A PR campaign should create specific messages and tools to leverage the interactivity and viral potential of online communities because they give you an opportunity to marshal and direct brand advocates and evangelists, enlist new customers and prospects to your cause and reach people who may have great interest but little awareness of your brand and its offerings.

 

Monitor the Conversation. Set Google Alerts to track themes and competitive messages. Become familiar with Digg, Technorati and Twitter which allow you to gauge the frequency and intensity of topics in-motion and concepts in-flux. Register and participate in Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, LinkedIn and any other social network that has relevance to and participation from your employees, customers, competitors or prospects.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Re-Imagining My Morning Newspaper

I just read a blog at NYTImes.com and it struck me that I must be the last Luddite who blindly clings to the print version because I can read it on the subway or in the can. 

This belated revelation is ironic not only because I know a bunch of guys at the Times but because I[ve always fantasized about having a personal newsroom that could monitor and report on the stuff that I either desperately care about or casually stumble upon 24/7. And yet its been happening for a while with a richness that approaches my fantasy and I've ignored it even though I get several e-mail alerts each day from the Times and have signed up for mobile election night alerts..

It finally dawned on me that the stories in the paper are the tip of the iceberg and that audio, video, still images, impressions, reactions and corrections to almost everything I read is a click away. Plus there are options for sharing, interacting, reacting and enriching the experience. If only I had the time to invest in paying attention to all this stuff!

Maybe I've missed this because I hate staring into that cathode ray tube. Maybe I'm too old or too blind to read the paper online. Or maybe I missed it because I'm trapped in a 19th century print paradigm fed by myopia and the nostalgia of having been a paperboy. Or maybe I missed it because the Times hasn't really opened my eyes to this digital world because its marketers are trapped in a print cirrculation paradigm and haven't reached me with either direct or digital marketing.

Now that I'm learning to use social networks and helping clients get their arms around the digital world, I guess I have to re-imagine the daily newspaper and see it as a hub of information and interaction rather than just the great gray lady that arrives on my doorstep every morning.