The recession challenge!

It’s Monday; one more week and it will be March. I hope the weather will get better, remember that I am in Winnipeg and -30 C is the average. I need some warm weather....

Last week someone asked me to help them with growing their business through the web (put up or shut up, to quote them directly). They have heard over and over again that the web will help them grow their sales, but so far they had not seen the benefit even with a website they had done a few years ago (NOT Webidiotz, I add).

With that request in mind, this week I will put up and help ten businesses grow their online sales by personally guiding their growth in the next 12 months.



My challenge

There are many stages of an economic recession. The first is overconfidence: "We're busy as bees. There can't be a slowdown." Then comes denial: "Nah, things are fine here" (this is also known as bending the truth, especially popular among entrepreneurs who are strung out on credit).

Next is the blame phase: "We wouldn't even be having this recession if it weren't for (pick two: the wars, banks, the government, or anyone else you can blame )."

Right now I think we're in the fourth phase where everyone asks everyone else, "What are you hearing? What are you seeing?" This is the "What the hell is going on?" phase, in which people tire of listening to the learned economists. They try to divine the future by consulting other business owners, which is only partly effective, since they're all bending the truth anyway.

The Chinese proverb "May you live in interesting times" must have been coined in a business climate similar that of today. The credit crunch and its reverberations are being widely felt, nowhere moreso than in smaller organizations that have fewer marketing resources than the big boys.

Businesses need help to navigate these tricky economic waters while staying focused on profitable expansion rather than contraction. If you can grow in these times, you will emerge on the other side of the economic crisis ahead of the competition.

Here are five of my ideas on how to grow your business during the next twelve months:

1. Create a weekly newsletter updating your old and new customers about you; what you are up to? What’s the latest topic in your industry? How you are helping the community?
2. Blog once a week and deep link your blog to 5 social conversations on the net every week.
3. Create a Facebook/Twitter business page and get friends and family to help promote your business.
4. Ask your customers what they love and hate about you.
5. Make your website perform sales 24 hours a day.
6. Extra one: for my next 10 clients.

Ok, yes, it’s easier said than done but it’s better than waiting for the economy to change or feeling lost because you just don’t know what to do next.

So here is my challenge: the next 10 clients that order their website from Webidiotz will get my services free of charge for one year. For the next 12 months, I will offer coaching and mentorship that will support the implementation of the above strategies and I will personally oversee the challenge of growing your business.

What I promise is simple: together we will grow your business without fail. We will use all the resources that we have available and set up weekly and monthly goals in order to grow your business all for the cost of a new website.

CALL 1-888-211-8133 NOW to reserve your place and challenge me to grow your business.


Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Queen launches new-look website

The Queen has relaunched her website at a Buckingham Palace reception in the company of the world wide web's inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

The royal site, which started in 1997, now includes more video material as well as historical documents.

Queen Victoria's journal in which she describes trying out Alexander Graham Bell's new invention, the telephone, is to be among the new features.

About 250,000 people around the world visit the site each week.

The Queen stood in front of a bank of nine screens and clicked a remote control to re-launch the site.

The Monarchy site's homepage appeared showing a range of simple menus and tabs which it is hoped will make it easier to navigate.

In a speech, Sir Tim Berners-Lee said the website "celebrates a really important part of the British cultural tradition - the monarchy - and is a great resource for the people within Britain, so it deepens that culture.

Tim Berners-Lee: "The number of things people do on the web is amazing"
"But at the same time it's there for anybody to see it from other countries, where they really don't understand how the monarchy works - what it does do, what it doesn't do - so now they can go and look."

When the site was first launched, the Queen spoke of how some parents and grandparents found the internet "a bit of a mystery".

BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said while the site should be more user-friendly, the Queen is only going so far into cyberspace.

"We can't e-mail her and there's little prospect of the Queen blogging, conducting a webchat or indeed twittering," our correspondent added.

The Duke of Edinburgh appearing in an advert for the Playing Fields Association, 1951
The site was visited more than 100 million times in its first year, making it one of the most popular locations on the internet at the time. And in the week of Princess Diana's funeral, some 35 million visits were recorded.

Royal.gov.uk is not the only presence the Queen has on the internet. In 2007, she launched her own channel on the video-sharing website YouTube.

The Royal Channel features her Christmas Day message, and recent and historical footage of the monarch and other members of the Royal Family.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

You Need To See This Video (1981 TV Report On Birth Of Internet News)

Pope launches Vatican on YouTube

The Pope is said to be fond of new technologies

Pope Benedict XVI has launched his own dedicated channel on the popular video sharing website, YouTube.

Video and audio footage of his speeches as well as news of the Holy See will be posted on the site, the Vatican says.

Although the Vatican has its own website, the YouTube venture represents its biggest reach into cyberspace, Vatican officials say it is aimed at everyone from devout Catholics to the casual web user.

But there is a debate within the Catholic Church about the value of the internet as a missionary tool.

The 81-year-old Pope's first YouTube message spoke of a new way to spread hope around the world.

"You must find ways to spread - in a new manner - voices and pictures of hope, through the internet, which wraps all of our planet in an increasingly close-knitted way," he said in Italian.
Working in collaboration with YouTube's owners, Google, the Vatican is to supply a variety of material for its new channel, which was launched on the Church's World Day of Communications.

Featuring text, audio and video initially in English, German, Spanish and Italian, the channel marks the Vatican's latest foray into new media. The Vatican's own website (www.vatican.va) was launched in 1995.

The Catholic Church will retain full control of the content.

The aim of the deal was to "secure the Pope's presence on the web", said the Vatican's Osservatore Romano newspaper. It added that Pope Benedict had always been "fond of new technologies".

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the Vatican's communications department, told the newspaper the Pope hoped to reach out to "the digital generation".

Google & Apple set a new record!

It is no surprise to Webidiotz that Google has announced total revenue was $5.7bn - up 18% compared with the same quarter the previous year. Apple, the technology giant, made a record net profit of $1.61bn (£1.15bn) and posted record revenue of $10.7bn for the final quarter.

What does this mean?

The answer is simple - more and more consumers are turning to the Internet to find better deals and also a better shopping experience. It is not any coincidence that Google & Apple are bucking a trend while many businesses in Q4 2008 suffered negative growth.

If you are a business and unsure of when you should get a website and present your business to the World Wide Web, then wake up! And take a look around you.

To survive the credit crunch and to make sure you come out the other end healthily you need to make those important steps of embracing the Internet. Your customers already have and the message is clear you need to have a website that delivers a good shopping experience and makes you stand out from the crowd.

Don’t be arrogant or foolish to think the last 10 years have been great or that I have done well till now without a website or a website that does not perform for your business that maybe your friend or family member did for you. A website is the most important tool for your business so treat it as such.

Every day millions of new Internet suffers are joining the worldwide web and millions more are buying or researching what they will buy next.

Don’t be left behind and miss out even more - don’t be one of those business owners saying I wish I had got a website, it might have been the difference that helped your business to survive.

It’s a small margin when it comes to failing and being successful and the Internet could just be that margin.

Is Your Web Site as Good as Your Favorite Bistro? A Post-Holiday Recipe for Online Success

Just before the New Year, I was having lunch with my good friend, a restaurateur; I'll call him Chef M. We were eating at one of Chef M's two highly regarded, very successful neighborhood bistros in Portland, OR. My rockfish was a gorgeous plate of buttery, flaky goodness. Across the table, his duck confit looked scary delicious.

We were meeting to discuss some Web site/blog/social media ideas for his soon-to-be-launched third restaurant, scheduled to open this spring. (Yes, notwithstanding the end of capitalism as we know it, he is opening a third restaurant.)

The food was delicious, but the lessons were even better. The choreography of the dining room staff—all alert anticipation—coupled with Chef M's insights into how successful restaurants work, provided invaluable lessons that I thought were applicable elsewhere. The whole vibe was thought-provoking and terrific.

If the walls could talk, they would have said, "We like what we're doing here, we do it well and we like sharing it with our customers."

As I listened to Chef M talk, I became convinced that the fragile nature of the restaurant business has more than a few things in common with the fragile nature of doing business on the Web.

What Is the Menu Telling You?

A restaurant is either clean and bright... or it's not, yes? It is either tastefully laid out, welcoming and warm, or is too slick and clever for its own good or perhaps it's dumpy and stuck in a time warp. It serves fresh food or not. Maybe it serves processed, poorly prepared dreck. Through menu, wine list, service, décor, and value, a restaurant reflects a keen understanding (and respect) of its core customers. Or, it does not.

I'm sure that each of us, from personal experience, can point to any number of examples all along the good-experience/bad-experience continuum in dining. What comes to mind for me is a long-ago disaster in Albuquerque that involved an uncooked cheeseburger. If only I could forget.

One of the morsels of insight from Chef M that day was that any restaurant—most especially those not run by world-famous chefs—has to maximize every possible opportunity to win people over and to persuade them to return. The Gordon Ramsays, Mario Batalis, and Thomas Kellers of the world can afford to make a few mistakes (although they make far fewer than most) because their brand is so strong and they're so widely known. The margin of error for them is just a bit wider.

But that place in your neighborhood? They can't afford mistakes. While they might have less-discerning customers than the big dogs, they still have to treat every customer like gold, because the brand and reputation they own is less powerful and thus more fragile. They are much more dependent on a collection of positive individual experiences, good restaurant reviews... and word-of-mouth: "Hey, have you been to River Bistro? You have to go, it's fabulous."

Your Homepage: An Appealing Appetizer of Possibility

So let's consider the moment when someone lands on your Web site. Just as in the restaurant, your Web site is either clean or cluttered. It is welcoming or not, packed with everything you can think to throw up there... or laid out with just the right information—an appealing appetizer of possibility.

The visitor feels understood and knows what to do because the design and the copy help her understand all of that and more. And, just like a well-regarded, high-functioning restaurant, the site reflects a keen understanding of, and respect for, its core customers. Visitors enjoy their stay and they come back often. They tell their friends. All that is true of course only if your site treats each visitor like gold—as if your entire business depends on each visit... because, in a way, it does.

Restaurant goers and Web site visitors are trying to accomplish something: They want to feel good about their decision, and they want value. Most people don't want to be intimidated. They want to be informed and educated in an informal and respectful way. Who can blame them?

Good restaurants and good Web sites do one thing well—they present clear, organized, and attractive choices. They don't overwhelm you.

A Good Restaurant Is About More Than the Food

One of the more interesting things I learned at lunch that day was that, as a general rule, service trumps food.

The food is important, no question, but the best food in the world is going to have a heck of a time overcoming poor service, poor presentation, and a disorganized dining room. Conversely, decent presentation, good service, and an organized dining room will take at least some of the sting out of sitting down to a mediocre meal. Context is everything.

So how does this translate to your online business?

Good Writing on the Web Is About More Than the Words

In my work as a copywriter, one of the biggest challenges I face with clients has to do with the idea of thinking only about the words. Or maybe it's more precise to say that words and copy are seen in isolation: Too often, the perception of the problem is very narrowly focused—"If we can just get the words right, if we can nail down the language, everything will be good."

That would be great if it were true, but it isn't.

That's the same sort of thinking that says, "If our food is beyond reproach, then all will be well." Well, sure: If you have a restaurant, you have to nail down the food. But can you get the dish to the table hot? Can your staff pair the dish with the right wine? Can you handle complaints? Can you deliver your core product quickly and efficiently again and again, day in and day out? Can you deliver what your client wants even before your client knows what he wants?

When an online business simply focuses on one thing (the words) to the exclusion of all else (design, functionality, layout, and presentation)—it's a recipe for failure.

My Meat-and-Potatoes Advice for 2009

In the same way that good food cannot survive crummy service, the best copy out there cannot survive a poorly designed Web site. Good copy cannot survive poor delivery, lack of styling, low functionality, and lousy execution and presentation. It is a totality of experience that people are craving. Mark my words. Give your customers a full meal and they'll keep coming back for more.

Written by Richard Pelletier

Measuring Social Marketing and Media

Hardly a week goes by when you don't read or hear about social marketing or social media. Those terms are frequently used, so it's probably a good idea to first define them.

Social marketing was "born" as a discipline in the 1970s. Philip Kotler & Gerald Zaltman of Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, in 1971 used the term to describe the application of commercial marketing principles to health, social, and quality-of-life issues.

Social marketing was defined as "seeking to influence social behaviors not to benefit the marketer, but to benefit the target audience and the general society." It leverages the value that consumers/customers have in sharing between themselves and with the brand/manufacturer. It delivers a two-way communication link between the consumer/customer and the brand.

While social marketing was originally developed from the desire that companies had to capitalize on commercial marketing techniques, it has evolved into a more integrative and comprehensive discipline that draws on a wide array of technology, from the traditional media to new media, referred to as "social media."

These social media comprise primarily Internet-based tools for sharing and discussing information, such as viral videos, blogs, and online reviews, to help the company build its business.

Whereas your Web site provides customers and visitors with information about your company and its products—and you use the Internet to enhance your reach through things such as pay-per-click, webinars, and search—social media is about leveraging relationships and networks. It complements other online and offline marketing initiatives.

As more and more companies invest resources into social media and marketing, it's natural to ask the value of this investment is to be measured. Social media and marketing doesn't replace other media, just as radio didn't replace newspaper and television didn't replace radio. Rather, social media are another part of your multichannel-marketing efforts.

The same principles that you apply to determine how much you are going to invest in other media apply to online social media. The first principle is to select your target market. Second, develop consistent relevant messaging and content. Just as with any online effort, content is king when it comes to social media.

Today's challenge with social media and marketing is the same challenge affecting all forms of media: People's attention spans are short and they are easily and quickly distracted. Therefore, just like any other effort, a single strike may not be enough. When you decide to leverage social media you need to deploy it consistently over time.

As with any initiative, you can measure the impact of a social media effort only after you've determined the business outcome it supports and established performance-based objectives. For example, possible objectives could include increasing customer trial, improving brand advocacy/customer loyalty, or increasing share of preference. Each of these objectives should be tied to a business outcome. For example, increasing customer trial or share of preference may be tied to business outcomes around acquiring new customers or accelerating the rate of customer acquisition in order to impact revenue and market share.

The metrics you choose for your social media will be determined after you've established what business outcome needs to be achieved and how the social media supports your marketing objective. However, just as with any communication channel, you will want to have some way to create a measurement framework.

One possible approach is to measure your social media similar to how you measure public relations (PR) using outputs, outcomes, and business results as the basis of your framework. Why choose a framework similar to one used for PR? If you review the purpose of each—PR and social media—you can see that they are kissing cousins.

Public relations is about attempting to favorably influence the impressions and attitudes of a target audience primarily through endorsements (published articles, reports, reviews, etc.) by trusted, credible, objective third parties. Social media isn't very far afield from this idea when you consider that it is designed to have an impact on both engagement and influence through the participation and interaction of third-party networks and communities. They both rely on perceived trusted and credible third parties over which you have very little direct control.

How do you use the outputs, outcomes, and business results framework? First, let's define each category, because each category measures something different:

Outputs measure effectiveness and efficiency, such as... whether the campaign cost-effective, in terms of the number of positive reviews produced by community influencers, or the number of people engaged in a blog discussion on a topic related to your category that includes positive mentions of your company and its product.

Outcomes measure changes, preferably behavioral, resulting from the program/campaign/activity. For example, this could be the quantifiable change in the number of positive reviews for your company's recently launched new product.

Business results measure how the program, campaign, or activity helped the organization achieve a specific business objective. For example, the rate of adoption for your company's new product—that is, the incremental lift in sales for the product as a result of the social media.

The more quantitatively you can measure your social media, the better. The closer those measurements are to business outcomes, even better. How rapidly people in the network engage with you and respond to your "call to action," such as write a review, participate in the blog discussion, or forward something to a colleague.. can all be measured.

What you want to know is whether the social media efforts are having any incremental impact, and if so how much, so you can assess return on investment. Remember to keep the business outcome in mind, such as seeing an increase in the number of people "trialing" your product in order to increase the number of qualified leads in the pipeline and ultimately increase the number of "buyers."

So, even if the social media is producing a good return in terms of its specific metric, if it isn't moving the needle on the business outcome then more than likely you need to revisit your effort.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Effective Online Marketing in a Recession

The Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times," must have been coined in a business climate similar today's. The credit crunch and its reverberations are being widely felt, nowhere more so than in smaller organizations that have fewer marketing resources than the big boys.

Marketers need help to navigate these tricky economic waters while staying focused on profitable expansion rather than contraction. If you can grow, even in these times, you will emerge on the other side of the economic crisis ahead of the competition.

Creativity, combined with on-demand marketing tools, will help. When budgets are tight is the best time to try new and less-costly techniques leveraging Web 2.0 technologies.

What Is the Right Marketing Mix?

Web 2.0 technologies offer new ways for you to reach your audience for little to no cost. Customers have become inoculated to tired methods like email and even pay-per-click. Waiting for them to visit your Web site is simply insufficient to drive growth. Instead, the new generation of marketing tools includes things like social communities, Web site syndication tools, gadgets, and RSS feeds because they are online ("on-demand"), scaling to any size of audience. The best part is that most Web 2.0 technologies are easy to use and are, often, free.

So which Web 2.0 marketing tools can best help you promote your Web site, content, and applications? Remember that before using any of these you must first work out what specific strategic marketing goals you are trying to achieve. Then, see how some, or all of these options, can work together to achieve your goals.

Social networking platforms are extremely popular now. Create a page on Facebook or MySpace for your company or product. Or you can create your own social network at Ning. Populate your page with gadgets and fresh content. Start a group or a fan page so prospective and current customers can stay in touch.

Web site syndication tools put your Web site on the move. For example, if you put the best elements of your Web site on a community toolbar that sits in the browser, then your company goes everywhere on the Internet that your customer does.

Any content or application can be made into a gadget/widget, which is a simple distribution mechanism because it can be hosted on any Web site, and is easy to install into a browser, social-networking site, personalized start page, or toolbar. Check out Widgetbox, where you can easily make your own widgets.

Syndicate your blog or your Web site with an RSS Feed. Don't wait for people to come to read it. Make it available as an RSS feed, which will be sent to them whenever you update the blog. Most blog tools include an RSS creation tool. These feeds can also be hosted on social community page, community toolbar, and personalized start pages.

There are also some great sharing tools, like ShareThis, which can make it easy for you to syndicate product announcements, press releases, blog updates, media coverage—any content you want—to your various networks simultaneously. It's a better delivery mechanism than simple email because it delivers your content to myriad places, like email lists, your Facebook page, etc. with only a few clicks. Moreover, it can track and measure the entire life of the information.

Analyze It: Is It Working?

The most successful Web 2.0 marketers establish measurable goals and then consistently track the results. Set your specific campaign objectives and establish performance goals for each deployment method.

These goals should be aligned to business needs: for example, conversions to membership or purchase; increased site traffic if you are ad revenue based; and conversions from social networks to your Web site.

Gadgets/widgets can help you measure return traffic to your site and repeat purchases. A tell-a-friend or sharing tool can help you capture the power of your word-of-mouth campaigns and measure conversions from social media.

Most importantly, and unlike email analytics, all these tools and their analytics provide instant feedback so that you can react in real time to campaigns that are working (and those that are not).

Optimize It: Make Adjustments Where Needed

Use your analytics to determine what is working best, and then invest there. Tweaking your program based on analysis should allow you to quickly see results. Success begets success. For example, when you update new content on your Web site and your customers are immediately drawn to it time and time again, you want to be able to syndicate this positive experience with other users.

In some cases, the results will surprise you, but trust the data. Just as importantly, if it doesn't work, stop wasting your time. Ignore emotional attachments to popular campaigns if they don't prove their worth.

Anecdotal feedback from prospective and current customers is just as important. Give your visitors and community ample opportunity to provide feedback about your site, campaigns, and products, and make adjustments accordingly. For example, online surveys are easy to deploy and can centralize the results for comparison.

Web 2.0 technologies are easy to adjust and refresh so that you can react more quickly and tweak your campaigns on the fly.

In Perspective

Waiting for the larger economic picture to improve is not going to make the path ahead any easier. Proceeding with targeted and cost-effective marketing campaigns could mean the difference between success and failure during the downturn. It is worth noting that 16 of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average started in downturns. Will your business be number 17?

Going Green: Moving Printed Newsletters, Statements, and Promotions to Email

In this day and age, one could say "Green is the new Black." More than ever, consumers are engaged in environmentally sound practices. And companies can easily leverage this "Green" trend to not only show their customers their concern with the global environment but also reduce the continually increasing cost of the direct mail process.

There will always be a place for direct mail. However, if you look closely at the type and frequency of your printed pieces that you are sending, organizations can easily identify those items that would be a good fit in the email realm.

Many large travel, banking, and other service providers were the first to jump on the email bandwagon for regularly scheduled statements, newsletters, and other already-existing direct mail advertisements.

Properly executed, consumers find many advantages in receiving these types of communications via email.

Advantages for Consumers

• Review, retrieve, and save electronic pieces for easy reference and reduced clutter.
• Immediately respond to offers or call-to-actions with clicks, not postage.
• Share information electronically by forwarding to a friend.

Advantages for Advertisers

• Reduce cost associated with direct mail pieces.
• Shorten the amount of time and reduce the resources needed from "concept to distribution."
• Customize electronic pieces with more personalized content to increase relevancy for each recipient.
• Decrease the amount of time to provide customers with information that they have requested by using "triggered" or "recurring" messages to send electronic collateral or links.
• Track success of email campaigns through electronic reporting within minutes/hours, not days/weeks.
• Collect other customer information that can be used to tailor unique and customized campaigns based on subscription-collection pages as well as by tracking user activity via visited links.

Identifying the Opportunities and Making the Move

But moving direct mail pieces to an electronic format doesn't happen overnight. Also, not all direct mail pieces are a perfect fit for the email world.

Email-design constraints, along with best practices, need to be fully fleshed out to ensure that you are providing a message that is visually pleasing and relevant, and renders properly in the email inbox.

Steps and Considerations for Print-to-Email Shift

One of the biggest obstacles when moving from a printed direct mail piece to email is not having an email address, or having an email address that is not opted-in to receive your messages.

Direct mail itself has an integral role in converting direct mail customers to email customers:

• Include a subscription link/address for individuals who are receiving printed pieces via your direct mail campaigns.
• Provide a review of the benefits of "Going Green" as it relates to the environment, direct costs back to the consumer, as well as other perceived advantages for your customer.
• If you plan to phase out a particular printed piece, be sure to clearly call out any dates that the customer will need to "enroll by" to ensure that they don't miss future communications.
• Offer incentive for the customer to start receiving your message electronically: a discount on a future purchase, points or miles in a loyalty program, enhanced area for VIP access within your Web site, early announcement of discounts, or special or unique offers tailored exclusively for you email-recipient customers.
• If enrollment incentives are non-transferable (unique to those whom you are specifically collecting email addresses for), create your registration page to require your customer to provide his/her "Customer ID" or "Membership ID." Additional database work on your end is needed to ensure that those you have intended to receive the offer are the ones who qualify.
• Collect email information the correct way: Use two email fields that require the customer to enter his/her email address, and verify that both fields entered match. Use a double-opt-in email communication plan that will generate a message confirming the email subscription selections to further ensure a correct email address.
• Ensure that your Web site has an "Sign Up Today" link on every page to capture new customers
• If you require a "Customer ID" or other type of "Membership ID" to access your Web site, create reminders that ask for their email and subscription authorization.
• Promote your "Green Initiative" on your Web site as well as your current printed direct mail materials.

Taking the steps today to create a road map to a "greener" marketing program can result in significant cost savings in the direct mail channel; doing so will also show your customers that you are a responsible marketer, playing in an ever-growing field with businesses that are trying to make the world just a little better.

The ability to track ROI and campaign success with email can also help drive sales and provide for a more unique and customized user experience that will help strengthen your brand.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The Internet As A Force In Politics: “Obama Would Not Have Won Without The Internet”

The Internet played a disruptive role in the 2008 election in the same way television played a disruptive role in the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy to president. Neither medium was new in the respective elections, but both “came of age” and swung the election towards the winning candidate. Kennedy, in particular, used television ads extensively in his campaign to reach the American voters directly, and embraced simple things like makeup.

The televised debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon was probably the most decisive event for the election of 1960. The growth of TV as a new medium, and declined use of radio marked a significant change in how campaigns are ran today. For the TV appearence, Nixon refused to wear make-up and therefore appeared unshaven, tired and sweaty under the lights. Kennedy, however, did wear the make-up and so appeared cooler and more composed than Nixon. Kennedy, before the debate, returned tan and attractive from vacation. Not only did Kennedy appear to be better groomed, and handsome, his suit was navy popping off the grey back drop. Nixon’s suit was grey, blending in to the curtain behind him. With these factors combined, Among TV viewers agreed, Kennedy won the debate. Richard Nixon’s deep, strong, radio appealing voice won over all radio listeners, they agreed Nixon won the debate. Nixon entered the race ahead of Kennedy. Television as a new medium changed presidential elections from this point on, marking the election of 1960 significant. Radio voice failed to prevail over now “candidate centered” television campaigns.

If it wasn’t for the Internet, Obama would not be president. Obama’s YouTube spots gathered an aggregate of 14.5 million viewing hours. The Internet was used by candidates previously, Obama really leveraged the internet fully with online video, blogging, social networking and fundraising.

If the internet is as powerful as electing the first black American President then what can the internet do for your business. Very few businesses use the all the benefits available today online from blogging to social media like facebook and twitter these are just a few I could talk about.

The internet is changing the world forever so make sure you are using all the tools available to change the direction of your business.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Seven Steps to a Successful Marketing Blog - by Connie Reece

How do you start from scratch yet create a top-ranked marketing blog in less than a year?

If I had anything close to a foolproof formula, I'd be making an infomercial right now rather than writing this article. Nevertheless, I can share some tips from my own experience to help you achieve success with your marketing blog.

1. Read

Before you draw up a plan for your blog, do your homework. Find and read the top marketing bloggers (see Mack Collier's Top 25 list). Don't overlook new voices, however; they may have valuable ideas and a fresh perspective.

It's important to listen before jumping into a conversation—and that's what blogging is all about. Often the back-and-forth discussion that takes place in the comments is the most valuable part of a blog post.

2. Comment

I did nothing but read blogs and bookmark them for about a month before I moved on to Step 2, which is to join the conversation by leaving comments on the blogs that you read.

Rather than a bland "nice post" type of comment, write something that adds to the conversation. Why was the subject important to you? How can you use the information?

Now, when you leave your comment, here's where marketing magic begins. Most blogs have three boxes for personal information to identify the commenter:

• First, your name. Unless you are widely known by a nickname or pseudonym, always use your real name.
• The second piece of information requested is your email address; it will not be visible to readers but lets the author know that you're a real person, not a bot or spammer.
• The third blank to fill out is the URL of your Web site or blog, if you have one. When you add a URL in this space, it creates a hyperlink to your site, and when a reader mouses over your name, your blog title is displayed.

Because you've automatically generated a way for readers to find you, it's considered poor etiquette to use the comment space of someone else's blog for self-promotion. So resist the urge to hijack the comments; make your point, and use no more than one hyperlink. Most blog filters are defaulted to flag as spam any comment with two or more hyperlinks.

3. Write

When you first start writing a blog, it takes a while to find your voice. The best advice I can give you? Don't try to be Mack Collier or Drew McLellan or John Moore—or anybody else.

It's good to quote from industry leaders, but take time to formulate your opinions and express them in your own words. And don't write a lengthy essay that draws final conclusions, which has the effect of shutting off dialogue.

Learn to ask for comments in your post, and phrase them in a way that invites response.

4. Respond

When visitors comment on your blog, follow up with an appropriate response in the comment section. There's a fine line between dominating the conversation and keeping it going, so let several comments accumulate before you address them in the same reply.

Remember that commenters may not revisit your blog to see your reply, although this has been made much easier with new tools that allow RSS or email feeds for individual comments. Toby Bloomberg taught me an early lesson about responding to new commenters: She sent a short email thanking me for the comment and introducing herself. What a nice surprise for this brand-new blogger to get a personal email from the Diva! It started a conversation that has continued to this day.

5. Converse

A blog is not your only venue for interaction with readers and thought leaders. Take the conversation to another forum—a microblogging tool like Twitter, for example, or Facebook. More than 900 people follow me on Twitter, which provides many opportunities for interesting or helpful conversations. When I send a "tweet" with a link to a blog post, I always see a spike in traffic.

I do not treat Twitter, however, as just another marketing channel. Users who send only links and never engage with others will not find Twitter valuable.

6. Connect

Look for ways to extend the conversation to face-to-face meetings with other bloggers: Attend conferences, for example, or invite a local blogger to coffee. These connections will invigorate you and help you become better known in the marketing blogger community. When you visit the blog of a personal connection, it's like catching up with an old friend.

7. Rinse & Repeat

Don't rest on your laurels. Blogging is a long-term commitment, and you need to be aware of that—and prepared for it—going in. A writing schedule, or even an editorial calendar, can be a helpful tool to keep you producing fresh content on a timely basis. Set aside time each day to read and comment on other blogs.

Happy Blogging

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

How New Media Helped a Rural UK Mail Order Company Go Nationwide, Global

Company: Wiggly Wigglers
Contact: Heather Gorringe, Managing Director at Wiggly Wigglers
Location: Blakemere, Herefordshire, UK
Industry: Home and Garden, B2C
Annual revenue: Confidential
Number of employees: 17

Quick Read:

Wiggly Wigglers is a natural-gardening retail company descended from a farm in the countryside between England and Wales. Its products are not high-tech, but its marketing certainly is.

In fact, largely due to Wiggly Wigglers' use of new media to build a stable and successful business, it was recognized by Dell as the No. 1 small business in the United Kingdom in this year's Small Business Excellence Awards—and has made it to the finals of the global award.

Staring in 2005, Wiggly Wigglers Managing Director Heather Gorringe all but abandoned traditional marketing and instead took up a podcast, a blog, a wiki catalog, an e-newsletter, and social media outlets such as Facebook and YouTube.

The company has since reduced its annual marketing costs from over £100,000 to less than £3,000, all the while expanding its customer base and building international brand recognition.

Challenge:

Wiggly Wigglers specializes in natural gardening products such as composting kits, meal worms, English flowers, and native hedges.

"We sell products that gardeners may not know that they want," said Gorringe. "No one is going to wake up in the morning and think, 'Ah-ha, I really do need to be composting my kitchen waste using worms.'"

The company's early challenge lay not only in generating demand for such products but also in building a customer base beyond its immediate area, since it resides in a village of just over 60 people in England's rural West Midlands.

To that end, in 1995 it became one of the first mail order companies in the United Kingdom to incorporate e-commerce. "It's essential that we embrace new technology," Gorringe said. "If we didn't do that, we simply wouldn't have any customers."

Still, e-commerce wasn't enough. The company was spending more than £100,000 a year in marketing with direct mail, print advertising, and its catalog, but sales weren't adding up. The company accountant even suggested that it might be time to give up.

But Gorringe was confident in the company's product offerings and felt she simply needed to connect with people and share her enthusiasm. In 2005, she set out on a new campaign to engage people in a bold attempt to both increase leads and decrease marketing spend.

Campaign:

To generate awareness, Web traffic, and community, Wiggly Wigglers launched the following, all of which linked to the company's Web site:

• A podcast: Every Thursday morning, Gorringe records a program covering an array of gardening- and farm-related topics, with frequent references to the company Web site. Gorringe shares her passion, provides detailed information with all the crucial points intact (which, she noted, were often edited out when she had submitted to media interviews), and address many overlooked topics that listeners may not be able to hear about elsewhere.

The podcasts are available on iTunes and the Wiggly Wigglers Web site (where they are also archived); feed addresses are also made available for users to cut and paste into podcatcher (feed aggregator) software.

To help generate additional interest in the podcasts, Gorringe has included celebrity interviews, and she often asks for user reviews on iTunes.

• A blog: Blog posts are written several times weekly by a Wiggly Wigglers staff member. The blog plays off of the podcast and includes tips, seasonal commentary, and industry and company news. Readers have the option of forwarding a post to a friend and clicking through to the podcast, company Web site, and online retail shop.

Readers and other bloggers are urged to comment and contribute to the blog, and their comments are often included in the podcast. Staff members also visit and comment on other blogs.

• A wiki: The company initiated a wiki to create its latest catalog, encouraging bloggers and others to contribute to the product-selection process. The wiki been effective in generating exposure, since bloggers often relay to their own readers their experiences with the wiki or the products they reviewed or selected.
• A Facebook group: A group was established on the social-networking site for users to ask questions, join in forums, and post photos.
• A YouTube channel: The channel includes videos from the podcast, how-to demonstrations, ads, and other videos about the company.
• An e-newsletter: The Wiggl-e-news is sent out twice a month and reminds readers to revisit the company Web site.

For advertising, the company now spends around £2,000 annually on Google AdWords and less than £1,000 on Facebook ads and other media.

It also conducts a good amount of traditional PR work to encourage journalists to write about the company; it has contributed content to select media and has made two podcasts in partnership with major UK magazines.

Results:

• An estimated 50,000 Web site visitors and close to 700,000 pageviews per month
• An average of 40,000 regular podcast listeners, and up to 100,000 listens each month for the company's top 15 podcasts combined.
• More than 60 reviews on iTunes, 99% of which are 5 stars
• 849 members in the Wiggly Wigglers Facebook group
• Over 10,000 video views on the Wiggly Wigglers YouTube channel
• 43,000 e-newsletter subscribers
• A 97%+ reduction in advertising costs
• Higher Google rankings due to blog and podcast content
• Increased online sales that now account for 50% of the company's total sales

The online campaign has also helped Wiggly Wigglers establish broader, even global reach. The company now has more than 90,000 customers, including some in the US and New Zealand.

Gorringe's podcasts have also been noted by media outlets such as The San Francisco Chronicle, and she has received speaking invitations from India and New York.

Lessons Learned:

Instead of money, Gorringe says, she is "spending time, effort, ingenuity and having genuine conversations with people," and this has resulted in a campaign that is not only low-cost but also more long-term.

The podcast has been particularly effective. "It's not only the short-term gain; people still go right back to podcast number one and work their way through. The longevity of this form of marketing, in my opinion, is unique," she said.

Among the steps that Wiggly Wigglers took to make its new media initiatives, such as the podcast, successful:

• Establishing credibility: Although the Wiggly Wigglers name is lighthearted in nature, the company aim has always been "to ensure that our Web site was not a joke and always delivered lots of useful information," said Gorringe. This was also carried through to the podcast and other media. For example, Gorringe was able to build a strong reputation for her podcast by addressing rarely covered but important issues, interviewing celebrities, generating press coverage and working in connection with major UK magazines, and earning 5-star reviews on iTunes.
• Creating community: Particularly through the podcast, blog, and Facebook group, Wiggly Wigglers has built a following of people with similar interests and provided them an outlet to interact with the company as well as each other. "This enables us to keep that conversation going with people who can then help us learn what they need, and what they want, to keep their gardens going," Gorringe said.
• Further fostering participation: Gorringe doesn't wait for users to rate her podcast, comment on the company blog, or contribute to the wiki catalogue; she asks them directly, and thanks them when they do, by reading the comments and reviews over the podcast. She and other staff also make the effort to visit and comment on other blogs so that those bloggers are more likely to respond in kind.

Related Links:

• Wiggly Wigglers Web site
• Wiggly Wigglers podcast
• Wiggly Wigglers blog
• Wiggly Wigglers Facebook page
• Wiggly Wigglers YouTube channel

Note: In 2007, Wiggly Wigglers' turnover was £2.6 million.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Tackling the 'Too Hard to' Pile of Marketing Accountability

If you're like us, you probably have one of those piles on your desk that keeps being moved from one corner to another. You know, that pile you need to get to but avoid because it will take some real effort to tackle? For many marketing professionals, marketing accountability, analytics, and ROI are in this pile.

Not too long ago at a marketing conference where Laura was speaking, the organizers had set up round tables with specific topics for discussion over breakfast. Laura was sitting at the measuring marketing ROI table (of course, where else would I be sitting?), strategically located right next to the buffet line.

While she was sitting there waiting for people to join her, she kept hearing people say, "Oh, measuring marketing, that's just too hard." Hundreds of marketers were attending this conference, and about two dozen tables of 10 were set to accommodate the early risers. Yet only four other brave souls joined her.

We marketers must stop avoiding this topic and tackle the pile.

As Sylvia Reynolds, CMO of Wells Fargo, has said, "Marketing must be a driver of tangible business results...we must start with the goal in mind and a clear way to measure that goal."

ROI is important for accountability—besides being able to justify spending and enable us to run the marketing organization more effectively and efficiently, knowing what is and isn't working helps marketing achieve greater influence and serve in a more strategic role.

Various surveys suggest that over one-third, and as much as 42%, of marketing budgets are not adequate enough to achieve the outcomes and impact expected. Perhaps your organization like many others is in the thick of budget planning. A key part of budget planning is to establish and validate the money you plan to spend. The more aligned Marketing is with the outcomes of the organization and the more the plan includes performance targets and metrics, the more likely you will be allocated the budget you need to achieve the expected results.

So what does it take to tackle this Marketing Accountability pile? Here are six affordable steps that any marketing organization can take to start whittling away at the marketing accountability and measurement pile.

Focus

Nothing of importance miraculously gets done on its own. Effectively tackling the marketing measurement pile will take all of Covey's seven habits—from taking a proactive approach and beginning with the end in mind (that is, the outcomes you are expected to impact), to keeping the effort a priority when other things present themselves as urgencies, to making marketing measurement a win/win for you, your team, and the rest of the organization.

More than likely, you are going to need a cross-functional team to tackle this pile—people from Finance, Sales, IT, Operations, etc.—working collaboratively to define the metrics and hunt down and organize the data.

Plan an attack

You know that age-old question, "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer: "One bite at a time." That approach is valid for the marketing accountability and ROI question.

If this is a new effort for you, you need to break it into manageable pieces. Quantify your objectives, decide how you will measure them, collect the data that you need to meet the objectives, establish a baseline, gain commitment to the measurement plan, and, finally, measure.


Get data

"Data is the new creative," declares Stephan Chase of Marriott Rewards. Establishing metrics, determining effectiveness, understanding efficiencies... all take data. Without data you cannot monitor and measure results.

And don't assume that you have the data that you need to measure your objectives. For example, if you want to measure how many new customers you interest in a new product, you may find that you need first to determine what a "new" customer is. This may require different views of your customer records or new strategies for evaluating.

Analyze

Once you have the data, the challenge is to generate insights that facilitate fact-based decision-making.

One of the most valuable applications of data and analytics is in leveraging your metrics. The metrics are what enable continuous improvement as you strive to achieve and set new performance standards.

Just looking at numbers doesn't tell you as much as evaluating trends or creating statistical models that help you identify an optimized approach to your marketing efforts. Consider looking at your measurements for what isn't immediately obvious, such as what might have happened if that campaign had gone to the three bottom deciles of customers.

Use a systemized process

You may need to set up systems and processes that enable you to capture and track results on an ongoing basis. Many organizations put a substantial amount of energy into initiating these programs and then let them fizzle as other priorities surface. It takes both process and discipline to sustain a measurement effort.

Systems help you automate a process so that the process can become a manageable part of your day-to-day operations. Today, every marketing organization is moving at a breathless pace. Implementing a test-and-control environment can keep you from having a fatal, head-on collision.

Train

Many marketers are unaccustomed to living in a metrics-based environment. You may need to invest in measurement, analytics, as well as data training and skills development.

Start by taking a skills inventory. Find out who in the organization has data management, analytics, and measurement skills. Decide what skills they need to perform at your expected levels. Develop training that fills the skill gaps.

Doing this in-house allows you to tailor to your needs, but consider courses from universities, associations, and external consultants to fill out your requirements.


Moving marketing performance metrics from the "too hard to" pile to the "we can do it" pile can reap rewards for the entire organization.

Top Tip Today

Microconnecting With Your Customers via Microblogging: Q&A With Connie Reece

There's a new kid on the social media block that's starting to garner a lot of attention from companies.

Microblogging sites, such as Twitter, are increasingly becoming a companion to an existing blog—or a standalone strategy for businesses that are using social media to connect with their customers.

But many companies aren't sure what the microblogging "rules of the road" are. This is where Connie Reece comes in.

Connie was an early adopter of Twitter and is considered a true microblogging authority. She will be moderating Best Practices in Microblogging session at Marketing Profs Digital Marketing Mixer, and she was kind enough to give us a preview of that session, as well as a primer for companies that want to learn more about Twitter and other microblogging sites.
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Q: Microblogging seems to be the hot area of social media recently. What exactly is a microblogging site, and what makes it different from a blog?

A: "Microblogging" is a misleading term, in my opinion. "Micro" is accurate, because the popular services like Twitter strictly limit content to 140 characters, about the length of the average text message. It's the "blogging" aspect of the term that is fuzzy. Even though you can pack a lot of information into 140 characters, the content and format are much less structured than a blog.

Sometimes you'll see these sites referred to as "presence" applications; in other words, they are a quick and easy way of being "present" with friends who are far away. This phenomenon was aptly termed "ambient awareness" in an excellent article by Clive Thompson for the New York Times: "Brave New World of Digital Intimacy."

Each little update—each individual bit of social information—is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends' and family members' lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting. This was never before possible, because in the real world, no friend would bother to call you up and detail the sandwiches she was eating.

Q: A lot of companies seem to be creating presences on Twitter. What are some of the ways that companies can utilize Twitter?

A: Twitter is yet another way to put a personal face on an impersonal entity: the corporation. Most companies are initially attracted to Twitter because they perceive it as an additional marketing channel. If that's all they use it for, they will not succeed.

However, if they use Twitter to actively engage with people, then a couple of things will happen. One, they will be able to use Twitter as a means of promotion, by occasionally sharing links to their online content. But most likely they will wind up using Twitter for the sheer enjoyment of interacting with customers.

As far as particular uses are concerned, Twitter is especially suited to promoting an online contest. It can also be used as an additional sales channel: Dell's Twitter account DellOutlet has generated around $500,000 in sales by offering special discounts to Twitter users. And many Twitter users enjoy subscribing to their favorite news channels on Twitter.

Marketing Profs Digital Mixer conference attendees will get to hear from Bryan Person how he looks forward to ESPN tweets' popping up in his timeline. And I will share how our local newspaper, the Austin American Statesman, not only uses Twitter effectively on a daily basis but provided superb coverage of Hurricane Ike through a special account, TrackingIke.

Another panelist, Frank Eliason, who tweets as ComcastCares, provided an immediate answer to someone who lost Internet service during the hurricane, explaining that Comcast could not restore cable service until the power company gave them clearance. (As we're conducting this interview, some 1.5 million homes in the Houston area are still without power, one week after Ike.)
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Q: While many companies are beginning to explore using Twitter, some companies are finding that their brands are being "hijacked" by people that are posing as employees of a company, but really aren't. How can a company guard against this?

A: Companies need to reserve their name space now, even if they are not ready to use Twitter—and the same applies for other sites. When they do start to use Twitter, the company should add a link from its Web site to its Twitter account, so the public will know the account is genuine.

Of course, companies should be monitoring Twitter to follow chatter about them, and if they find their brand has been hijacked they should contact Twitter to have the unauthorized user account shut down.

Q: Twitter seems to be the microblogging site that most people have heard of, but are there other microblogging sites that companies should be aware of?

A: My favorite, as you know, is Plurk because of its threaded conversations. I love the informal "plurkshops" we have, which are online discussions around a particular topic. (They are archived at plurkshops.com.) I have not seen business adoption of Plurk yet, and it is unlikely until the API is released and it becomes easier to use.

One of the reasons we know that microblogging is here to stay is the rapid uptick in enterprise adoption. Several applications intended for behind-the-firewall use have been launched recently, including Yammer, which is a domain-specific application with many similarities to Twitter.

Q: Moving forward, do you think that companies will begin to use a microblogging strategy in place of a company blog, or in conjunction with an existing blog? Which approach do you think is more effective?

A: Some companies might start with Twitter as their entry-level implementation of social networking, but it will be more effective long-term in conjunction with a blog. The Twitter-blog combination will provide synergy, with Twitter being used to drive traffic to the blog and vice-versa.

Some limitations are inherent in the 140-character format of Twitter: It's difficult to retrieve tweets, for example, if you have more than a few favorites; the lifespan of a tweet can be less than a minute if you follow many people. And some things, like this interview, simply need a longer format.