Have you heard about Greg Verdino’s new book, microMARKETING? The insights found inside are quite intriguing especially if you are:  1) trying to market your products and services in a cost-effective manner—and in today’s economy who isn’t? 2) enhancing your marketing, communications or customer service by implementing social media as part of your business culture; and 3) working to build one-on-one relationships with your customers and prospects. 

Given that these are things Serengeti helps our clients with, I was excited to get a peak into Greg’s thoughts on how harnessing social media and thinking and acting small is absolutely a proven and successful mindset.

While micromarketing is not a new concept (it’s been around since the late 80s), social media and social technology certainly enhance the “micro-ness” of how organizations can, and should, connect with their customers, clients, stakeholders, etc. today. With this mindset, Greg explores micromarketing for a new age through three key trends: 

• Microcultures;
• Microcontent; and
• Micromavens.

Think Small 

Repeat after me: microcultures, microcontent, micromavens. All are the very opposite of MASS. Marketers are taught, practice and hedge their marketing budgets on mass. You know exactly what I mean… How many people can we get into that lead pipeline? How many names can we buy for our direct mail or email marketing campaign? How many thousands of people surfed our website this month? The more, the better, the happier the sales and marketing management team will be! Right? 

Wrong. 

Unfortunately, there are situations where mass marketing just doesn’t work—and is quite expensive to boot! All of those names you cram into your lead generation machine, well they typically aren’t qualified and require a lot of nurturing (Read: coercion). What does this mean for your business? Flipping that lead funnel might just work better for you…less in, more out. 

Act Small

Wouldn’t it be much, much better to have people willingly lining up to knock on your door because they want to buy your product or service or donate to your cause? And how great would it be to have people out there evangelizing your brands to their entire network because they feel so strongly connected to them? After all, who doesn’t want BIG results?

So then, how can you start acting small?  You’re first priority is going to definitely include changing your marketing mindset. This can be a challenge, especially when marketers count on mass! Second, you’ll need to shift your thinking by asking “How can we… 

1. Resonate with masses of communicators;
2. Tap into pass-along power and peer-to-peer potential of the network effect;
3. Deliver mutual value through two-way interactions;
4. Make a commitment to engage people directly in real time;
5. Build meaningful relationships;
6. Earn attention; and
7. Have success through lots and lots of small things?”

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus… and he is bringing you customers and revenue!  

From large (Ford, Best Buy and Samsung) to small (author J.C. Hutchins and makeup artist Lauren Luke), Greg dives into how companies and professionals have used micromarketing to connect with their customers and grow their business by thinking and acting small. And Greg’s promise to help you become a micromarketer is as solid as the worksheet (40 Questions!) at the end of the book. 

What are you waiting for? It is a small world after all. 

[Disclosure: Greg Verdino is a friend, but I purchased this book and read it with only the scrutiny a traditional marketer turned micromarketer and Client Services Director could. Great job Greg!]

Image: Greg’s Website

This post is part of a series entitled The Four Pillars of Social Media. For this post we will be focusing on the first pillar: Research. Our other research topics, as part of this series, included:  

• Human Analysis in Social Media Monitoring: 5 Simple Steps to Navigate a Sea of Records
• Buzz Monitoring Tools Can’t Tell You Everything

How Audience Research Can Help You with Your Traditional Marketing Efforts

As traditional marketers, we have years of experience understanding our markets, what products and services they need/want, how to communicate best with them, and how they regard our brands, right? 

Well, maybe not… 

We have often relied on marketing research (primary or secondary), sales team feedback, customer satisfaction surveys, etc. to provide insights into those areas. The issue with most of those forms of feedback is that they tend to provide the answers we want to hear or find necessary to meet our internal business goals (either as an organization or a professional). 

Audience research, on the other hand, uncovers specifically how markets use products and services, speak about them, form communities, etc. It’s like watching a pride of lions in their natural habitat. Regardless if it’s a B2B or B2C market, when we take the time to watch people in their natural – or comfortable – habitat, we will see their true behavior and opinions surface. If you haven’t done audience research, it can be quite eye-opening. But more importantly, it can’t be fabricated. As an organization it’s your choice to ignore it (at your peril, potentially) or to embrace what’s really going on in the market. 

So how can audience research help traditional marketing efforts? 

Products/Services: If we build it, they will come… Not always. And more often “not” is the outcome (unless, of course, you are Apple). Many times startup companies fail or new products or services fail because they are built from the internal premise that people actually want to buy your product or service. And throwing your marketing communications budget at it isn’t going to help move the buying needle. Why not start with your customers and prospects and identify what their needs/wants actually are? If you aren’t a ‘social’ company, audience research is one way to tap into what’s being said online while standing on the sidelines. If you are a social company, why not just simply ask and then collect the data that the audience shares? 

Communication: There is large misperception in marketing that people respond specifically to tactics (i.e.  ads, direct mail, messaging, emails, etc.). That is not the case. People respond only when they have a brand relationship (see below). When there is a brand relationship, people are open and receptive to receiving your message. Your task is to make sure you send the right message, at the right time, in the right format. Audience research can help you to determine receptivity levels. 

Branding: While organizations do control their brand identity and messaging, what they don’t control are the relationships that people form with brands. Are you aware of how people (customers, prospects, clients, employees, stakeholders, shareholders, etc.) see and talk about your brand? Do you know what the sentiment (positive, neutral, negative) levels are for your brand? You might just be surprised! The  goal of using audience research is to understand how people perceive your brand(s), to take that feedback internally and to adjust your branding efforts accordingly.

What would you add to the list? How have you used audience research in your marketing efforts?

[Image: BG-Hotel International]

The opening keynote to kick of Search Engine Strategies New York was definitely well worth getting up early for and getting a front row seat.  I was rather excited to be attending this keynote since I had just finished up reading the speaker’s latest book, World Wide Rave.

David Meerman Scott is just as engaging in person as he is in his books and his presentation was chock full of great information for any audience to take back and implement into their own marketing strategies.

David started off his presentation just like his book starts off, by relating the story of Cindy Gordon from Universal Studios Parks and how she launched the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  She only told 7 people.

That may sound like a small number, but those 7 people were very influential in the Harry Potter world of fans.  From those fans over 350,000,000 now know about the new theme park that Universal Studios is launching. It’s all about how big is YOUR world.  Sure you likely don’t have a “Harry Potter” in your arsenal of marketing strategies, but that doesn’t mean creating a World Wide Rave is going to be impossible for you.

It’s about knowing your audience and creating triggers for them.  Triggers are valuable content that just naturally want to be shared with others. During this keyknote David explains the 5 rules he sets out in more depth in his book and had some really great examples to go with the rules.

1. Nobody Cares About Your Product
   The most overused word in press releases is “Innovate” the 3rd most overused word is “Unique”.  Who searches on that stuff really?  This tends to be insulting to your customers, just like those stock photos of models who you choose to represent your company.
   
   
2. No Coercion Required
   Here David speaks to an ad he saw that featured a Fly V style guitar.  It was an advertisement for parents against explicit lyrics.  He clicked through and was lead to a landing page for the Toyota Matrix.  This is REALLY stupid, why trick people?  If your content is valuable, you don’t need to trick them.
   
   
   David shares the story of Girls Fight Back and how at the beginning of every session Erin has the girls turn off their cell phones.  At the end of the session she has them turn them back on and use them to take photos or videos of them doing the moves they learned in the self defense session.  What happens is these girls share the photos and videos, without even being asked.
   
   
3. Lose Control
   This is about understanding you don’t really control the message, no matter how you craft it, or spin it, you just really can’t control how other people interact with it.  When you loose control it allows the world wide rave to happen.  David starts to explain about how the Grateful Dead used this to their advantage by allowing people to record their concerts and share it with their friends.  To this date the Grateful Dead is still the most successful touring band.
   
   
4. Put Down Roots
   Don’t just be a lurker in social media, get involved in the community and make it your home.  Create relationships that are meaningful.  Henry Poser from B&H Photo does this so well that people in the photography communities he’s involved with find him to be a valuable asset because he helps them with their problems, not pitching the products B&H sells.
   
   
5. Create Triggers that Encourage People to Share
   You need to think about what makes people want to share.  David relates his own story of being asked to ring the closing bell for NASDAQ as his book was being released.  They told him he could bring 50 friends.  He shared this on Twitter and 50 people signed up, it was the first Tweetup ever that happened at NASDAQ and it made the main stream news.
   
   

These five rules can really help you when you are entering into the world of online marketing, but there’s something that companies wrangle with even more.  Fear.

Fear of loosing control, fear that they can’t do this or that, fear of the negative.  You can’t be afraid if you are going to be successful in engaging your audience.  Right now over 25% of companies still limit the access that employees have to the internet because they are afraid of what they “might” do.  This hurts companies more than they know.

David points to the US Air  Force and their use of Twitter and social media.  His story was even picked up and reported on by Wired magazine and he brought one of the US Air Force’s commanding officers to South by Southwest with him to speak to them using these social media channels.  They want to have 330,000 employees in public affairs – all of their soldiers.  When asked about restrictions and worrying about “what could happen”, the officer had the perfect answer:

“If these generals are trusting a 23 year old with a 50 million dollar jet airplane, why can’t they trust them to be on the internet?”

Lots of food for thought if you are a company entering into the online marketing space.  If you haven’t already, make sure you pick up a copy of  “World Wide Rave”, where David goes into more stories about how companies are finding success online every day.

At IM Spring Break our very own Li Evans spoke with Robert Garcia of Ecom Phenom about branding.

Check out the interview for some best practices on building your brand.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/show.aspx?userurl=Ecom-Phenom&year=2009&month=06&day=03&url=Brand-Building-with-Li-Evans

So, you stopped getting the newspapers delivered to your house because it was so much easier getting your news online.  But, now you wonder if there’s an even easier way of finding out about news events without having to type in all those troublesome URLs.

Well, have no fear….Twitter’s here!

All you need to do is sign into your Twitter account and follow the Twitter accounts of the organizations listed below.  Before you know it,  you’ll have access to news from around the world.  When you see something posted that sounds interesting to you, simply click on the link in the tweet, and away you go.

TV News Twitter Feeds
CNN	NBC News
CBS News	ABC News OK, it’s the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
FOX News	MSNBC News
SKY News	BBC News
Newspaper Twitter Feeds
New York Times	USA Today
USA Today On Politics	Washington Post
Wall Street Journal	Chicago Tribune
LATimes	International Herald Tribune
Daily Mirror	Financial Times
Radio Twitter Feeds
NPR News
Web Based News Service Twitter Feeds
Google News US	Drudge_Report
Yahoo News (no custom logo)	CNET News

I’m sure there are plenty more news services on Twitter, so feel free to add your favorite in the comments.

“Twitter isn’t something that we plan to use right now.”

“We don’t have the resources to invest in a site like Digg or Mixx.”

“Plurk? Never heard of it, not something that we want to bother with until it reaches some kind of critical mass.”

Do any of these sound familiar? These aren’t a problem.  Not every company is ready for each social network, and not every social network is ready for your company. It may be that your company and social networks (some or all) never meet, because they’re just not a real fit.  So, what’s my point with this post?

Even if your company decides not to use a social network, you should make sure to secure your brand on each through user names. Because, if you don’t, the chance is that someone else will.  And, the potential is that that someone may be a detractor, someone who dislikes your brand, and uses that profile to spread messages contrary to your corporate message.

True, when you notice that someone is doing that you can, depending on the strength of our brand and the policies of the social network in question, have them turn that ID over to you  But, damage to your reputation may already be done.

So, you need to go out to social networks and secure your brand name(s). …and you might want to point this post out to a certain former President…

Yesterday morning, when I was thinking about this blog, it was actually shaping up to be quite a different post. But then, the events of yesterday changed things.

Originally, I was going to write about ways to encourage your customers to participate in your brand. I thought about some brands that I happily participate in. For example, having long been a Seth Godin fan, not just reading all his books and his blog daily, but occasionally posting a quote from him on our blog or recommending a book.  I’ve joined his ‘fan club’ and received his book ‘Tribes’ before it was officially released.

There are many examples in that one brand alone of great ways to encourage participation with your brand in a positive way.

But then, yesterday. Sure, it was election day. And, I was thrilled with the outcome (yay!!!). But then, it was also the day that I had quite possibly my worst ever experience as a customer (well, as a potential customer)…

Being relatively new to the area, I took the lazy, convenient way of finding a place to board my dogs (the Petsmart across the street). I won’t bore you with the exhaustive details but it started with three phone calls to their veterinary department, Banfield, to schedule a shot. (One that they are current on for every other kennel I have talked to since, but that is another story.) They ‘lost’ my information (apparently twice because I had to fill out a form that reiterated what I had told two other employees). 

I was forced (before any vet would see them) to watch their sales video (Sure, I get advertising to a captive audience [stuck in the exam room].  But please, this was more torturous than a time share experience).  I was told that my dogs (who, did I mention are current on all of their vaccines) needed hundreds of dollars of shots that Banfield recommends, ugh. I declined the ‘recommended vaccines.’  But, it got worse (didn’t think it could, but it did). So, I left.

I can’t think of any experience that I’ve EVER had as a customer that was worse. Apparently, Banfield has a system to generate the most revenue based on annoying sales tactics (the video), deceptive tactics (pulling up a list of vaccines that are not necessary), and trying other ways to charge for services that are unneccesary. So, I will participate in their brand. I will tell every pet owner who I talk to about my experience and never, ever even shop in Petsmart, as they must see this practice as not a problem.

My point is that there are two ways that customers who will participate in your brand can participate – and there are not that many customers who will. So, you can choose.  Choose by the way you treat your customers (or mistreat them).

Video games are the new Cadillac of mass marketing.  I’m not really sure what that means either, but video games can be a great way of promoting your brand and creating a devoted following. They can also be a disastrous waste of time, money, and customer goodwill.

This four part series will discuss To Play or Not to Play i.e. whether you should embark on this perilous yet rewarding journey (Part 1); those who have gone before i.e. companies who have succeeded and failed at this endeavor (Part 2); What do I do now? …or the types of decisions you need to make on how your game is going to look, feel, play, operate, and perform (Part 3).  And finally, The pitfalls (Part 4)…or the things to look out for along the way.

So let’s get down to it: is this a good idea?  Here are seven things to consider:

1. Know your audience.

Rolex should probably not make a video game.  Why?  Because their target demographics are generally not the type that would be interested in games.  Worse yet, a Rolex game would probably be a catastrophe as it would juvenilize their brand - making it irrelevant to the high-end customers they cater to.

So, make sure that your audience is one that would be interested in a game.  At the same time, do some research before assuming that your audience wouldn’t be interested.  The Entertainment Software Association in their 2008 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry states that “women 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game playing population (33%) than boys age 17 or younger (18%).”

2. Know your product.

Not every product should have a video game based around it.  Mortuary services seems to me a rather bad idea for a game.  Cotton swabs too seem like a bad idea.  But, if you can build a character or story around the cotton swabs, then it might be the perfect way to add depth and interest to a dull product. (No offense to any cotton swab makers who might be reading.)

3. It’s expensive.

Even with advent of Flash, Silverlight, and other technologies that vastly cut costs on design and development, it’s still no cheap beast to tame.  With artwork, programming, and interactive design, even the smallest of games will take time and money to produce whether you do it in-house or have an agency do it.  That being said if customers enjoy the game, it’ll be worth it.

4. Don’t expect direct revenue.

Directly selling the game is generally a bad idea.  Although, if you go so far as to create a console game, there’s probably room for a low-cost price tag to help reclaim some costs.  The best idea is to give this game away to your customers and perhaps, more importantly, to your potential customers.  This push of authenticity and good will can pay dividends for years to come.

5. It will be fun.

The whole point of this is to inject fun and entertainment into your brand/company.  If you don’t have fun making it, no one will enjoy playing it.

6. Thinly veiled marketing sucks.

Don’t make a game so you can stuff your product/service down your customers’ throat.  You seem manipulative and customers feels used.  No one wins.

7. They’re already interacting with you.

If customers take time to play your game you’re – by the nature of gaming - interacting with them.  Slap on a forum or game player blog and you’ve got a community of engaged people who are loyal to your brand.

***Warning*** Do not just tack on any portion of this experience.  Everything must be intelligently measured and decided on before you take any steps toward adding features.  Blundering through a campaign adding every Web 2.0 buzz word you can think of only makes you look bad.  Promise quality and deliver quality – just like you do with your products and services.

So, you’re cautiously optimistic about creating a video game.  Good.  Next time, we’ll discuss the trials, travails, and triumphs of marketing games in Those Who Have Gone Before.

Nate is out this week, so I am filling in.  Next week, he will be back and the political coverage will resume.

Last week, I had the great opportunity to go to the XM offices (the COOLEST offices I’ve ever seen – even cooler than the Turner Broadcasting offices in Atlanta) and meet the band Safety Suit .  Their first hit song, ‘Someone Like You,’ has been popular since even before they officially released their album mid-May.

I was blown away by how nice, friendly, humble, and appreciative all four guys were.  But, I was more surprised by what I experienced.  The band was there as sort of a ‘meet and greet’ for some of the Program Directors from some of XM’s 170 digital channels.

After being friendly and gracious to everyone they met, the band eventually ended up in a conference room with their acoustic instruments.  After introducing themselves to a room full of strangers, they performed a few songs.

When they were done, they immediately began to work the room.  I am not saying that in a negative or condescending way.  Each band member made sure that they introduced themselves to each person in the room, and not just with a passing ‘hello’ but with a decent, funny, interesting conversation.

I’ve seen a LOT of concerts and up till now, I had always figured (like I assume most people do) that famous bands have some combination of talent and luck.  That may have been true at one time, but not today.  With all of the competition, the only way to be a hit (or frontlist) and not part lost in the tail - a band must have:

• Talent – Listening to any song on the album, you will hear the talent

• Personality – Funny, funny, funny guys

• Willingness to work harder than they ever imagined – The first time I heard of Safety Suit was back in April when I was driving through Columbia, SC.  They had stopped by a radio station there to do an on-air performance.  If you Google Safety Suit, you will see that the station in Columbia is one of MANY.

• Embraced the concept of networking/marketing in a traditional sense – Using their funny personalities and humility to win over person after person as they tour and promote their album

• Embraced even more the concept of social marketing – MySpace, Facebook, YouTube – they have it covered

In talking with Doug, the singer, he mentioned that if he weren’t ‘doing what he was currently doing’ that he’d be in Advertising/Marketing.  Then, he laughed and said jokingly… ‘Well, I guess this is being in advertising.’   Not only could a lot of bands learn a lot from these guys, so could a lot of companies.

Much has been written on the presidential candidates use of social networks, including a recent post from Simon. While I was online this morning catching up on news, I saw a banner advertisement for Obama. I also received a text message alerting supporters of his Vice Presidential pick, Joe Biden (even though the effort was scooped by some overzealous reporters). On Facebook, I’ve seen a consistent Obama presence and now, after her Convention speech, even his wife, Michelle has Facebook Fans. A link to that speech was also emailed to me the next morning. I watched the entire thing and emailed it to my Mom.

I don’t recall seeing anything online from John McCain, and really nothing memorable in traditional media except his television ads comparing Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.

The candidates’ online presence and lack thereof clearly illustrates the key difference between them: one is young, forward-thinking, open to change, innovative, and relates to me on my turf (aka the Internet). The other is old school with traditional campaign tactics. There are great learnings in Obama’s campaign strategy for businesses attempting to enter the online marketing arena.

• Know your audience and relate to them where they already are visiting.
• Find out the tools that they use and weave your way into their online experience.
• Don’t overlook the potential in media such as text messaging and email.
• Be real, open, and accessible.