Leadership

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11
Nov 09

Google Magic and Web Intelligence

Everyday it seems as if we’re bombarded with more information than the day previous. To bring clarity to our digital lives, we will increasingly look to web intelligence tools. Google Magic is one of those web intelligence tools that is helping bring relevance, convenience and clarity to the digital world. The new Google Reader feature brings relevant feeds and posts based on browsing history. Therefore, my Google Magic stream is going to be different than yours.

Google Magic was released a while ago, so I’ve had some time to experiment and see if it works. To my surprise, it does. Having browsed popular feeds with the Google Magic feature, I can tell you, I find much more interesting information than browsing without it.

Google is a leader in web intelligence by incorporating a tailored experience to many of their services. For instance, if I search Super Freakonomics, next time I type “Sup,” Google will suggest Super Freakonomics. So I don’t need to type the entire search query over again.

Amid a sea of information, there is an increasing need to find clarity. Web intelligence tools answer this problem with sophisticated, adaptive algorithms — bringing a personalized experience to every user. As Google is a leader in web intelligence tools, it will be interesting to see how they will incorporate this tech into their new OS.

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9
Nov 09

7-Eleven Sells Wine?

Why walk into a 7-Eleven:

1) Morning coffee
2) Slurpee for hot days
3) Cheap beer for a party
4) Kitchen basics (bread, milk)
5) Wine for a romantic evening?

The convenience store known for their Slurpee is now going to be selling it’s own wine, Yosemite Road label. Fifteen thousand outlets will be offering the private label, “value” wine at $3.99 a bottle. What sparked this new wine venture? Was it misguided focus groups or a complete misread of the market?

First, look at how wine is purchased. If the wine is intended for a last minute pickup for diner, why not go to the liquor store where there is more of a selection? As there are not often many “beer stores,” picking up a six pack at 7 Eleven seems reasonable. There is a designated place for wine (a liquor store) and a designated place for beer (a convenience or grocery store).

Simply put: wine is not a convenience item. Therefore, for 7 Eleven will have to change the cultural image of wine as a whole in order to be successful. Quite a task for a convenience store, but more luck to them.

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31
Oct 09

Two-Way Advertising

Recently, FirstBank (in Colorado) launched an innovative ad campaign. The bank features their small business customers in their advertising by placing their business cards in kiosks. FirstBank taps into a new trend called two-way advertising. More and more, advertising is less about “me too,” and more about “us” (i.e. brand and consumer).

FirstBank illustrates its dedication to customers success by giving them their own advertising space. More and more, it’s about promoting your community and figuring out how to help others. It is through this goodwill that brands are cultivating larger audiences.

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30
Oct 09

Everyone’s a Publisher: Why Aren’t You?

As SEO Becomes More of a Digital Asset, Content Strategy is Going to be an Industry Standard

A couple of days ago, I stumbled across Doctor David’s Blog. David writes about issues related to his field while posting personal pictures. Thinking of David’s blog, I began to think, with the influx of accessible self-publishing tools, anyone is a publisher. From doctors, to pet enthusiasts, to mechanics–there are publishers for nearly everything. As blogging becomes more and more pervasive, what does that mean for marketers?

Content Strategy: The Future of Marketing

The need for digital content writing skills are becoming increasingly important for marketers. In the quest for search referrals, brands are placing more and more emphasis on key words. To enhance SEO efforts, it’s very important to have fresh content that is consistently updated.

Unlike the infant stages of the web, a digital presence is more than a billboard-like ad. It’s about creating interesting, updated content that gives your audience a reason to return. It’s about sparking new conversations and adding to the discussion about issues facing your industry.

Content strategy is becoming evermore necessary for brands. Therefore, marketers are playing the role of publisher more and more. Before launching a branded blog or creating a newsletter, do your research. What is the market audience looking for?

Consider Seth Godin. Several years ago, marketers and brand managers were looking for an innovative, interesting and thought-provoking perspective. It was at this time that Seth Godin was about to launch from obscurity to blogging fame.

Or you might want to start your own blog to familiarize yourself with the responsibility of maintaining an online property. By knowing the ins and outs of content marketing, you can better serve your clients.

In the quest for search referrals, it’s becoming increasingly important to generate fresh, relevant and interesting website content. As marketers, there will likely be a time when you are faced with writing a blog post or giving content strategy advice to a client. Put your best foot forward by getting in the game now. It is an industry skill that is going to increase in value exponentially over the coming years. Why not take the time now and invest.

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29
Oct 09

How Subtle Design Changes Can Make a Sustainable Impact

Taking a lesson from Time.com’s Digg Success and Examining How You Can Make and Impact

To my surprise there are an incredible amount of WordPress plugins that incorporate social network widgets (or APIs). Everything form Digg to Twitter to Facebook to Tumblr–WordPress seems to have a widget plugin. Considering adding a widget to apointb, I searched for best-in-class uses of widgets to see if it is appropriate.

Interestingly, when TIME.com incorporated, “Time.com on Digg,” into its website, traffic from Digg to Time increased by 164% and Time stories on the Digg homepage increased by 55% monthly.

The deeper issue here is visibility. The more visible and accessible you make a feature, the more likely your audience is to use it. Case-in-point, Time.com simply added a Digg widget–making the social network more accessible to its audience–and their Digg traffic skyrocketed.

To determine which feature to emphasize on your site, first consider the purpose of your website. If you manage an e-commerce site, your priorities are much different than a news site. Through subtle design changes, you can make a real impact. For Time, it was as easy as embedding a Digg widget.

E-commerce
How have you differentiated your “shop” or “checkout” button?
What is the first thing your customer sees when they land on your site?
How many steps are in your check process? Can any be eliminated or combined?

Non-Profits
Does your donate button pop-out?
How many faces do you have have on your site?
What is your mission and is it on your homepage?

News Sites
What social networks do you want to be a part of?
How is that social network emphasized on your site?

At the end of the day, it’s about taking an introspective look at your company, jotting down your priorities, then figuring out how to solve them. As the web has become more and more user-friendly, it’s easier for non-tech savvy business owners to create sustainable impact. It doesn’t take a genius to embed a widget, nor is it difficult to change the color of a “donate” button.

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27
Oct 09

The Power of the Human Jumbotron: A Lesson In Crowdsourcing

When has the crowd been more exciting than the game? No, it’s not the wave, nor is it the “war paint” covering bare-chested men. It’s crowdsourcing: when everyone works collectively towards a single objective. Below there is a video of a soccer game where the power of the crowd created more compelling entertainment than the game itself:

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Crowdsourcing has never been more apparent and pervasive than in the online world. Wikipedia is often the most cited example of crowdsourcing–as it has met extreme success since its inception in 2001. It has tapped into the collective knowledge of the world to create a comprehensive and awe-inspiring assortment of content.

To understand how more brands can incorporate crowdsourcing into their business model consider the following key characteristics that lead to successful crowdsourcing initiatives:

Set an objective — Before throwing in tons of money and time in to your project, what are you trying to create; who is going to get you there; and who is going to benefit? In Wikipedia’s case: create an online encyclopedia; those experts specialized in specific areas of study; all those with web access seeking more information knowledge in one site.

Rally the troops — When you tell 100 people you want to create a human jumbotron, they can get excited about it because 1) it’s unique and 2) it’s tangible. With two words, you can inspire and lay out a clearly defined objective.

Plan — A human jumbotron does not get up and running overnight. It takes time, training and planning to make a vision a reality. Consider Wikipedia, they have a solid foundation for which individuals can build an rich resource for information.

Work as a team — The human jumbotron exemplifies how no one person is of greater value than another. It is through the collective efforts of everyone that the human jumbotron was successful. If even one person was of greater value, it would dissolve the final outcome.

Have a pay-off — Sellaband is an example of a crowdsourcing website that has a financial pay-off for participants. Fans give money to their favorite bands so they can cut a record. Once the record is released, fans can even share a portion of the profits if the album is successful.

Leveraging the power of the crowds, even if it’s only to fact-check or spark a discussion on your blog, can be invaluable for your brand. Allowing users to participate in something greater than themselves is tremendously rewarding and the nature of the web as a connector and facilitator has made collaboration and crowdsourcing more possible than ever before.

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25
Oct 09

Give Boring a Bang

How to Make Simple Things, Great

Everyone remembers gym class: sweaty locker rooms, dodgeball, track, etc. Across the board it wasn’t the most thrilling class, but at the University of Houston, they are trying to change that. They are offering something a bit more interesting and technologically advanced. The phys ed teachers decided to incorporate the Wii Fit into their curriculum. Had I had such forward-looking gym teachers, I would have actually enjoyed attending class.

What the teachers at the University of Houston have done is bring a new demographic into the fold by taking a new angle to an old tradition. Including the Wii into the course gets student excited about exercising while providing entertainment at the same time.

How can you put a new spin on an old website or product? Apple utilized touch-screen technology to revolutionize the way we interact with our mobile devices; Starbucks offered high-quality coffee when people thought quantitatively about coffee; Arm & Hammer found their product could not only be used in baking recipes, but baking soda is also a deodorizer; or even Ms. Baker’s high school biology class has a blog and wiki where students report on experiments. It can be subtle updates or completely re-thinking the traditional model.

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24
Oct 09

Making Brands Tangible

How to Create Impact with Your Customers

Dan and Chip Heath, authors of the book, Made to Stick wrote an interesting post about moving beyond sentiment to the real thing. They tapped into a rising trend in branding that speaks to not only sentiment but action. It’s about what can we do for you, not just how can we make you feel; it’s about making your brand tangible.

To get you thinking about making it real, consider purchasing a car. You’ve seen the commercials, talked with friends and you have several cars you’re excited about. It is only when you step into the car and start driving do you know whether you can see yourself buying it. The same is true for brands–make the experience tangible by putting your customer in the drivers seat.

Through cause-related initiatives, brands can make a real-world connection between consumer and brand. For instance, Tide has Loads of Hope–a program that assists families affected by disasters.

The Heath brothers suggest ways brands can turn a ephemeral feeling into a sustainable relationship. Bounce could have a bounce back from your lay off–where they help job seekers find work. Or Snuggle Bear could offer coats for children in need.

The large amount of brand choices available to consumers is making it difficult for brands to say, “me too.” It’s not about the “me brand” anymore. Consumers are not forced to watch ads or be bombarded with promotions. That’s why it’s increasingly important to make “our brands.” Consider TOMS Shoes. For every pair of shoes TOMS sells, a pair is donated to a person without. It is an “our brand.” TOMS is not self-serving nor do they bombard anyone with their message. If you want to become a part of the brand and make a difference, you’re welcome to enjoy the product.

Rolling out your marketing plan over the next year, consider not how you can blast your message to as many people as possible–instead consider how you can incorporate an audience in creating impact.

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20
Oct 09

What Can Save Newspapers?

Do the Flaming Lips Have the Answer?

Going through my old photos, I stumbled across a picture that I took at a Flaming Lips concert. I managed to capture the confetti, dozens of flashlights held by women in alien and Santa Clause outfits, a nun hand puppet, balloons the size of a compact car, billowing smoke and enthusiasm brimming to near chaos. Any Flaming Lips fan will tell you though the music is fantastic, the concerts truly showcase the band’s abstract, off-the-wall creative energy.

In a world where CD sales have plateaued and despite the efforts of Apple and other MP3 marketplaces, music is stolen en masse by vast global networks of internet users. Further, for emerging bands, it’s all they can do to give their music away (think MySpace Music). The CD and MP3 are meant entice fans into attending shows. The money is in the concert–the unique experience in which music, performers and the audience unite for one night. Bands need to sell you on an experience. Flaming Lips have done this famously well.

Typically, the music industry is a step ahead of most other media–particularly newspapers. As newspapers are challenged by declining offline readership, many are finding it difficult to charge the same advertising rates circa 1980s. The main obstacle newspapers face is information. The hallmark of all newspapers is now available for free, anywhere on the web. They face a similar challenge as the music industry and its issues with music pirating.

Newspapers can learn a valuable lesson from the music industry. Just as the music industry sells the unique experience of concerts, so too does the newspaper industry need to develop a unique experience. What can you offer that no one else can? Because information is no longer the commodity it was was, what is uniquely valuable to your readers that you can offer? Is it a unique angle? What makes you different and valuable to your user base? Once you’ve developed a limited resource, now you’ve created value that can be monetized.

It is the answers to these million-dollar questions that will ultimately save newspaper companies.

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8
Oct 09

Narrating Your Company’s Future

Most quality programming gets pushed aside for subpar, “WipeOut” type shows. Arrested Development is one of those quality shows that was canceled to make room for “the next big thing.” Spending hours watching a show I never enjoyed while it was on air, in the early episodes, I noticed the narrator addresses himself.

This started my thinking about the relationship between narrators and CEOs. The typical role of a narrator is to fill-in as an omniscient character–the all-knowing glue that holds the show together. A CEO has a similar responsibility. Knowing the market and your company within it are essential for CEOs to effectively create and follow their strategic vision.

CEOs set the tone for the entire company, internally and externally. The characters (employees) in the show (company) provide most of the entertainment, while the narrator (CEO) updates the audience on the intricacies of the plot line (internal goings on).

If your employees are anything like the characters in Arrested Development, surely you’re on the brink of disaster. However, just as in a TV show, your employees are the characters entertaining 90% of your clients / consumers. Having a pulse on that 90% of “entertainment” is essential for you to narrate the company. If you’re clueless about the 90% of client / employee interaction, then you’re no longer narrating your company–you’re just an invisible character.

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