Posted by imark | Under Blog Marketing
Thursday May 22, 2008
One of the things which Management teaches is to do proper planning for any activity. It is often said
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”
So today charging up my management cells (if they exist 
), I thought to myself about how to plan for blog marketing for a company, does there exist any “What to do list for blog marketing?”
I came up with the following list. I am sure that this list is not complete and there is lot which can be added to it.
1) The Objective: Before any marketing campaign, it is important to understand the objective behind it. Its knowledge would also help to determine the success criteria for the campaign. Same goes for blog marketing. One must gauge what is the objective behind blog marketing. Is it lead generation, Is it for brand building or is it a platform to share information with the customers (both internal and external). Since the success criterions for each of these objectives are different, the clear understanding of the objective would go a long way in making the campaign a success.
2) Internet Usage Pattern of Target Customers: Tons of literature has been written about customer centric marketing, about understanding customers’ behaviour before designing any product. So naturally this had to feature in the list. J On a serious note, for blog marketing to become a success, it is imperative that internet usage pattern of target customers is studied. This would include:
i. Studying what the target audience is looking for. What is the kind of information they search for, what are the web sites do they visit, what sort of social media do they visit.
ii. What kind of language is being used on those web sites to engage the users.
Understanding of internet usage pattern would help in 2 ways:
i. Identify the keywords which target customers are using to search the information. Help from tools like wordtracker or hitTail could be used.
ii. The kind of language which would engage them.
3) Identify the identity: For a corporate blog, it becomes very important to find out the identity who would be writing the blog. Identification of identity for the blog would drive the attitude and hence the language. Clues could be taken from Brand identity prism by Kapferer which helps an organisation to identify the brand identity. I will cover the model in next post in great details.
4) Style Guide for the blog: After putting the pieces of objective, internet usage pattern and identity in the Jigsaw puzzle, it is the time for style guide of the blog. This would include the format, the design and the color combinations. By format I mean would it be like a simple diary like or magazine style or something else. Many would say magazine style or simple diary format is just an aesthetic issue and does not matter. I agree to an extent to that argument but the difference comes in at the perspective level. The thought process has to be clear before taking up any kind of format since that would be reflected in the blog as well. Design and color combinations have to go hand in hand with the objective and the identity. Here again Brand identity prism could be referred for help.
5) User Experience: You would say how could one plan something intangible and then put it into tangible form? Well I also used to think the same way till sometime ago but now I am learning how to put rich user experience into your web presence. There are many ways by which user experience could be increased. I will share one simple method of navigation. It has been found out in a research that users like to read vertical than horizontal and eye moves from left to right.
Now those are facts. But what do they signify?
Following are some of the implications:
i. It is preferred to have vertical navigation bar rather than the horizontal one. Vertical bar would make it easier for users to glance at the information.
ii. If pictures are to be included in the post, then it would be better if those are included in the upper left corner of the post as it would attract the user.
iii. Try to include the kind of words which the user is likely to use in his daily parlance. This would make him feel at ease while reading the post.
These are just the planning steps which should go (according to me ) into any blog marketing campaign. If will be more than happy if you have anything to add to this list to make it much more comprehensive.
Posted by imark | Under Case Studies, Emerging Trends
Friday May 16, 2008
Recently Lee Odden of Online Marketing Blog conducted a survey on “How Online Marketing Blog readers use twitter?” The survey has 220 respondents which is a decent number and results are also pretty much in line with the expectations.
To read more about the survey and result, please visit Top 10 Uses of twitter and Tools.
One of the uses which Lee mentions in the last part of the post is “Customer Support and Customer Outreach“.
I would go a step ahead than Customer Support and Customer Outreach and would talk about Engaging customers with Twitter. Customer support is a product’s view of marketing where customers are seen as a burden and hence the word “support”.
Today businesses talk about customer centric marketing and believe in relationships. For maintaining relationships, it is important to engage customers rather than supporting them. But how does one engage customers?
Customers get engaged when they have an ecosystem where they have the freedom to not only provide feedback, express their concerns and complaints but also partner in designing better value proposition for them i.e. better products and services for themselves. The engaging ecosystem also provides a platform for businesses to offer their services in a fun manner which in this case is 140 words tweets. J And above all, it comes free.
To provide an example of engaging customers through twitter, assume an online internet based marketing club which offers its services to small and medium enterprises. Now being a small company itself, it can’t afford to invest much on marketing collaterals or feedback channels. Also since the industry is so dynamic, it becomes imperative for the company to partner the customers in designing value proposition rather them delivering them a product.
Keeping all these things in mind, what should the company do? How should it make sure that it engages its customers in the true sense?
It uses twitter as a platform for feedback where customers can complain, if they have any and then they are taken good care of (and not Support). The company also uses twitter to provide consulting to its customers as telephone sessions across the globe would cost much more. Community is built around twitter for people to interact, communicate and share. Above all, it provides a medium to the company to make their customers, partner in designing better value proposition in future. Customers could be reached directly and requested to provide invaluable insights on products before the actual launch.
Conclusion
Uses like customer support are product’s view of marketing and not good for any business. Today for businesses to thrive, it has become imperative for companies to talk about engaging customers rather than satisfying them or just meeting their needs. And Twitter provides a perfect platform to companies to do just that Engage Customers.
Posted by imark | Under Case Studies
Tuesday Apr 22, 2008
Internet has become a ubiquitous resource now a days. We have leveraged the power of internet to different walks of life. While some use it for socialising, some for making money and many for information seeking.
But how about nailing down an auto thief?
Sounds weird, right!!!
But that is what exactly happend to Shaun Ironside, a car dealer in Calgary, Canada. Two young men stole Nissan skyline GT-R from Heritage Auto Sales, when they took it for test drive. After reporting its disappearance to police, Ironside posted a message on www.Beyond.ca, a website for Canadian auto enthusiast.
The post read:
” 10:28 pm, March 26. Unfortunately I have to post this as one of my first posts. My 1991 Skyline GT-R is officially STOLEN. “
The post included several pics of the car and offered a cash prize.
The next day , James Lynch, a forum moderator spotted the car parked outside a mall. He followed the car and at one of the traffic lights, got a picture of the thief. Lynch who is known over the forum by JAYMEZ, posted:
“4:19 pm, March 27 I FOUUUNNNDDDDD THEM =) And I have pictures Called the police and chased them, also talked to them. “
After the posting of Lynch, Allan Thomson known as Numi over the forum, posted about the car’s whereabouts. The post read something like this:
“10:23 pm. March 27 FOUND!! PMED with exact location. Guy drives it like he owns it. Idiot parks outside his house backed in so you cant see his plate. “
Another forum member added google maps to the thread for directions to the house. With the help of another guy named Punit Patel, alias DjStylz on the forum, the thief was nailed in less than 48 hours.
The story does not end here. Even the shaky video of police arresting the curprit Jamie Glen Jacobson was shared for happy ending.
Stories like this vindicate the fact that there are still numerous yet to be explored applications of internet which we have not thought of as yet and hence “Engagement of people”.
Posted by imark | Under Emerging Trends
Wednesday Apr 16, 2008
One of my friends recommended me to join him on twitter.I wondered why another “one of those networking sites” when there are already hundreds present…
But then I thought why not give it a try as it was recommended by a no nonsense guy. I visited the platform and saw a bird on the home page and a question:
” What are you doing?” …. thought what crap is this!!!!
but then joined it, made myself comfortable with it by spending some time exploring it…
And now that I know twitter better,whats the result ?
Warning: Don’t try twitter!! It is an addiction. Once hooked on it , you can’t escape it. It might be injurious to your health!
But kudos to guys who made twitter and gave altogether a new dimension to “Engaging people by leveraging internet”
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