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January 27, 2010

Will the Apple iPad kill Amazon’s Kindle with iBooks?

Apple iPad with iBooks Steve Jobs has just announced the introduction of the much anticipated Apple iPad for only $499! While it had been dubbed the tablet for a while, it has officially been named the iPad. I have been following along on gdgt’s live coverage.

Here are some features:

Can be rotated and held in any direction
Web-enabled (um, duh) and extremely fast
Has a virtual keyboard
Video playback is HD, not widescreen however
iBook store enables instant download and display of books, newspapers, and magazines
Enhanced iTunes interface

At a glance this device appears to be an overgrown iPhone. I should admit, I am a huge fan of the iPhone, I like its portability and slick design. I also like my laptop for what it does. Do I really need a new “netbook” device to combine the best of both features? It seems to be eerily similar to the infamous Chevey El Camino – that mutant-like hybrid of a car and truck that some people had the nerve to buy. Let’s be honest, the back had enough space to fit a 30 pound bag of dog food.

I don’t know that I would consider the iPad a replacement for either device. Instead, it appears to be forging a new market. A market catered to gamers, scholars, and hobbyist. It is a device which allows reading of books, textbooks and changing of fonts, etc. It seems to be in direct competition with Amazon’s Kindle device. Although it has a lot more to offer – and a much more robust interface. While the market has been somewhat slow to embrace the Kindle, we’ll see if things speed up now that Apple has entered the game.

I’m curious to see how the market will respond to this device. Would you buy one?

January 26, 2010

Email optimization strategies to boost revenue

Email optimization strategies to boost revenue Successful email marketing incorporates a combination of strategies. I’ve condensed a long list to what I would consider the top five best practices

Compelling content
Effective email strategy starts with intriguing content. Don’t just send emails preaching about how great your company is. In order to captivate the attention of your readers, you first need to fully understand your audience. It’s a good idea to do some research and identify topics that will be of particular interest and timely. Share your knowledge of the industry or a unique perspective on an important subject. Continually mix up your creative messages and styles. Feel free to use a rotation of different templates to give your newsletter a fresh look.

Segment your audience
It takes a lot more time and preparation, but segmenting your list of recipients allows you to speak directly to your customers and prospects. You’ll be able to clearly identify common business problems and cover topics that truly captivate you audience. The key is planning, organization, and testing.

Delivery dates
You can significantly increase the effectiveness of your newsletter by determining the best day of the week and time to send. Know your audience. For many businesses, Tuesday or Wednesday are the best days to deliver. Mondays can be hectic and Fridays can be busy or people may be rushing to cut out early. Know your audience and more importantly know their schedules. This will help you to determine which day they will be most inclined to open and read your e-newsletters.

Maintain lists and keep them updated
e-Newsletters can only be effective if your customers and prospects actually receive them. In today’s economy, turnover rates can be high. Periodically confirm that you have the correct information – more importantly, make sure you have the most appropriate contact person on your list. If an assistant is receiving the information, there’s a good chance, it’s getting filtered into the trash bin. Also, clean out undeliverable addresses and respect those who unsubscribe.

Optimize landing pages
As your email links back to your website, take the time to optimize the landing pages and highlight the information that you want them to see. Take full advantage of the qualified traffic you are generating. Highlight upcoming events, new product releases, and other relevant announcements.

While there are many strategies which can improve the effectiveness of email newsletter campaigns, I have taken excerpts from our white paper which discusses in-depth best practices to boost revenue. We encourage you to share your success stories or challenges with email marketing.

January 24, 2010

Pants on the Ground for the Minnesota Vikings

Pants on the ground for the Minnesota Vikings “Pants on the Ground” was an instant sensation when Larry Platt first sang his self-written song on American Idol. It became so catchy that Brett Favre even sang a tribute version after the Minnesota Vikings beat the Dallas Cowboys. That’s some powerful viral marketing. It’s now crossed over from American Idol to the NFL.

According to NBC Sports, the Vikings loved the song so much that they flew Larry Platt along with them to their playoff game against the New Orleans Saints to perform for the team.

I’m sure round 2 of this song will be circulating soon. I have a feeling we’ll be hearing a lot more from Mr. Platt. Stay tuned…

January 24, 2010

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie break up – a marketing scheme?

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie break up It’s been reported that the powerful Hollywood couple Brangelina, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, have officially called it quits. With a brand as recognizable as Brangelina, why would this pair consider separating? Could this be a stunt to generate even more publicity? When you’re on top of the entertainment world for five years, what else is there to do?

With six children between them and arguably the most popular Hollywood icons of our time, is this just a silly rumor circulating around the Internet? That’s what Perez Hilton says. However, it seems there is more validity to this report than is apparent.

Was Jennifer Aniston a better fit for Brad… what do you think?

January 22, 2010

Measuring Social Media ROI

Measuring Social Media ROI For many small businesses, measuring the return on investment (ROI) for social media is a mystery. While some of these businesses actively engage in blogging, tweeting, and perhaps even Facebook, they have no idea on how to gauge the effectiveness of their efforts. The remaining businesses that have not entered the social media frenzy are hesitant to get started because they too are looking for an accurate method of determining the ROI or impact of their social campaigns.

Since this has been a burning question for many small businesses, I’d like to share my thoughts. For starters, let’s take a quick look at measuring ROI for a traditional marketing vehicle – direct mail. The first step is to determine the goal of the campaign. Are you trying to create awareness, generate leads, close sales, or drive traffic to your website? Once you have decided on your goal, establish an attainable benchmark and track responses against that baseline. For example, let’s say you are anticipating a 2% response to your campaign. It’s good practice to direct your recipients to respond to a unique URL or web address. Since this page is not part of your standard web traffic, you can easily determine the number of people that initially reply to your mail piece. Furthermore, if you have an offer, you can have them submit some basic information to access a whitepaper or other incentive. This will further screen your qualified leads and allow you to monetize the results of your campaign. From this point, you should have some metrics that determine your conversion rate – from interested prospect into valued customer. The most accurate ROI calculation takes into account a customer’s lifetime value, or the amount of sales generated by that customer over time.

So if measuring the results of traditional marketing is so tangible, why is social media different? The answer, it’s not. Many of the same principles of conventional marketing analysis holds true for social media campaigns. For example, let’s say you want to start a company blog. Unlike the options for traditional marketing, your goal should be to share, educate, and create awareness. In other words, you post information that is timely and of interest to your customers and prospects. You do this in a non-invasive manner to attract potential customers. You can create awareness and drive traffic to your blog with an e-newsletter and direct mail, but additionally you want people to seek you out and subscribe to your content on their own.

This brings us back to measuring the effectiveness of your blog (or Facebook page or Twitter account). There are many tools available such as Google Analytics which can generate a number of meaningful reports. You definitely want to monitor the traffic of your blog over time. This will help determine trends and most appealing topics. Again, without a clear benchmark, you won’t be able to accurately determine your ROI. Set realistic goals… perhaps set out to obtain 2 new subscribers to your blog in the first month, 5 in the second month, 10 in the third, etc. I won’t get into how to attract new subscribers in this article – but rather stay focused on the success-rate of the initiatives.

Using a combination of website traffic statistics, new subscriptions, and specific page views, can help you determine where to focus your energy – and the effectiveness of your social media campaign. Unlike a single direct mail campaign social media is an ongoing campaign. It takes time, knowledge, and patience to get it right. Over time, you can build long-term relationships and interact with customers and prospects in a friendly manageable format. With the proper tools in place, you can accurately determine the ROI of your social media efforts.

Don’t be discouraged. We can help.

January 21, 2010

Conan – future Donkey Kong champion

As I watch the Late Show with Conan O’Brien (on his second to the last night as host), he continues to take advantage of every opportunity to make fun of NBC. Since he reached a separation agreement with NBC – he will no longer be employed or allowed to work for a competitor until September. He introduced himself as the “future Donkey Kong champion”.

“I’d like to apologize to our guests that were scheduled for next week: Barack Obama, the Pope, the Queen of England… and our good friend, Elvis Presley was stopping by.” He claimed he was ordered to immediately stop production of his NBC documentary “inside the cock”.

He added another brief (30 second) but expensive bit which consisted of the Kentucky Derby winner, Mind that Bird, wearing a mink snuggie and watching restricted NFL footage. He claimed the skit cost NBC $4.8 million – ouch! He is a natural comedian and making the most of his unpleasant situation.
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January 21, 2010

Conan blows $1.5 million of NBC’s cash

Conan O’Brien, who recently walked away from NBC with a reported $45 million settlement after the late night fiasco with Jay Leno, decided that wasn’t enough. Since his show is running through the end of the week, he is on a mission to run up a tab for NBC by broadcasting songs and media bits which demand high royalty fees.

“We can do whatever they want, and they have to pay for it,” said O’Brien at the beginning of the sketch. And later, while describing the reason for playing the Stones’ “Satisfaction,” he said, “Is it crazy expensive to play on the air, not to mention the rights to re-air this clip on the internet? Hell yes!”

Perhaps the buzz will actually help NBC attract a spike in viewers over the next two nights. We’ll have to wait and see. Is he doing the right thing, give the way NBC treated him? Or is he entitled to express his resentment for getting bumped off of the air?

January 21, 2010

Social media creates a small business success story

I thought this was an interesting article detailing how a small bag manufacture in Seattle – Tom Bihn – was able to leverage social media outlets to connect with fans and customers.

Darcy Gray is a VP at Tom Bihn.

Gray manages the Tom Bihn Facebook fan page, forums, blogs, Flickr and Twitter. She said updating them is a lot of fun and works on them whenever she checks her iPhone… She said engaging directly with customers began with the TomBihn.com forums.

“In 2006, it occurred to us that our customers and potential customers could get significant value from talking with each other as opposed to just with us. They could share their experiences of their Tom Bihn bags, offer advice for selecting the right bag to new customers, and post reviews/pictures of their experiences with their bags,” she said.

She said the company’s success on social media starts with their bags and that social media tools have given them more powerful ways to connect.

“Anytime a company is given more ways to directly communicate with customers, it’s an opportunity for growth. Tom Bihn designs all of our bags himself. Interest in a particular type of bag might encourage him in a certain direction,” Gray said.

By using a combination of blogging and interaction with their communities on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr, Tom Bihn has been able to build a sustainable business.

January 21, 2010

What’s next for Twitter?

What's next for Twitter? After millions of people scrambled to get a Twitter account activated, they later asked themselves – ok, what’s next? While the underlying concept behind Twitter is interesting – stay connected with brief snippets, the software is still in its infancy. There are several companies trying to add more functionality and purpose to this infrastructure.

January 20, 2010

Profiting from social media

Many people continually ask me how they can make money or increase sales from social media. My answer is simple: it’s like losing weight. There are no shortcuts or magic pills that will instantly shed pounds. Losing weight is a lifestyle change and commitment to health and fitness.

The same holds true for social media. Don’t expect to sign up at Twitter or Facebook in the morning and start generating sales in the afternoon. It’s not that simple. It’s a change in corporate culture. It’s a commitment to participating in relevant online communities and discussions. It is most effective by adding relevant and interesting content and opinions, inviting others to share their experiences, and most importantly reading and listening.

Jeffrey Gitomer had some interesting observations in his article: Social media – the new cold call. Wanna play?

There are key words to consider as you try to build your social media world. Connections, attract, video, value, consistent, fan, relevance, write, allocate, monetize.

But there’s a secret. How you position and promote yourself in the NON-social media world is critical to your success in the social media world. Your writing, your website, your blog, your ezine, your personal brand in your marketplace, your perceived value in the marketplace, and your reputation, are elements of attraction that affect your social media status – and surely your success.

There’s billions of dollars of new business being generating by social media – how much of it will you get? Maybe you need to get a bit more serious about being a bit more social.

It’s not an overnight sensation; social media is here to stay… and your involvement could be critical to the future of your business.

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