Brian Giese's Blog

How Far Can Word-of-Mouth Marketing Go?

WOM marketing has been around forever but with technology (chat, email etc.) the speed in which it travels can change the game. I saw this tool today www.paltalk.com and took some creative license with the possibilities! Enjoy!

6 Ways to Promote Your Product in Social Networking Communities

Social Communities, interchangeably referred to as UCC’s (User Created Content Sites) are predominantly social hubs where people meet and interact; rekindle friendships or create new ones. When introduced to the internet the first time, online users did not see social communities becoming important marketing tools, but just another group of sites for fun-chats; in fact, they cater mostly to teens and young adults, and it was unlikely to imagine a tight-lipped businessman doing marketing on these social hubs.

MySpace, Facebook, Multiply, Hi5, Orkut and Friendster are some of the more popular social hubs on the internet that initially derived traffic from teens and the younger set of professionals who are in the lookout for friends, rather than clients. However, today that demographic is fast changing.

Businessmen saw the vast potential of social hubs for their sales campaign or product and service promotions. As millions of people interact on social communities everyday, getting into the mainstream for sales promotion while making friends seems to make a lot of sense. Here are some “rules of the game”:

1. Avoid blatant sales promotion, lest you let the cat out of the bag too soon. Make friends genuinely; when you have built rapport, advertising your product or service becomes effortless;
2. Avoid sneaky redirects and pop-ups on your community page as these will annoy rather than impress;
3. Exert effort on your profile. Personalize it by adding your photo or creating your avatar. You can employ subtle advertising here by leaving a link to your website, your contact details, or display your company or product logo.
4. Do not abuse chat rooms with obtrusive advertisement of your product or service. You may create a special room or group for this purpose where you invite your prospects or like-minded people who share your enthusiasm about a certain topic to join you.
5. Share ideas rather than sell them. Most professionals do not like to be sold to, but they would appreciate ideas that can help them make up their minds to come up with a good choice.
6. Engage in lively and informative conversations that provide subtle reference to your product or service. Create an authority image for a particular topic, which you can use to highlight your product or service when timing is ripe for it. Without appearing too eager to advertise or hold a sales campaign every time, online users will develop their respect on you, as you have shown respect to them, too.

Social communities are the fastest routes you can take to getting people discover your business, but not the easiest. As interaction is on a person to person level, you should have good people skills. Regardless of your product or service, and the risk you take in building connection, there is always a room for everyone in social communities; it’s just a matter of finding the right people to speak to about your offer.

Try a social community today, and discover how it can add value to your sales campaign. As you win friends, you gain prospects – definitely, not a bad deal.

How Google and Yahoo Manage (not) Click-fraud

OK, I admit I read a lot of technology business mags. Wired, Fast Company, CRN etc... but I really like BusinessWeek. It has it's long fingers on the pulse of the worldwide, mainstream business community. Have you read the recent BusinessWeek (October 2) cover story on "Click Fraud"?  WOW. This is a really revealing overview of how the business community view's Google and Yahoo's slack management of click-fraud. Go to my post on July 7 2006 for more on this topic.

The article says that as a result of click-fraud "confidence (in Google and Yahoo) may be slipping. A BusinessWeek investigation has revealed a thriving click-fraud underground populated by swarms of small-time players, making detection difficult. "Paid to read" rings with hundreds or thousands of members each, all of them pressing PC mice over and over in living rooms and dens around the world. In some cases, "clickbot" software generates page hits automatically and anonymously."

This is big. Will it affect Google and Yahoo sales forecasts? You bet it will. Is this a new tech bubble? I hope not but time will tell.

Top 10 (ok 11) Rules for Email Marketing

OK, the VoIP market is really hot. It's really the next "big idea" in the telecommunications industry and it's become a marketshare land-grab amongst players like Vonage and Skype. A few years ago I tried Vonage and it really wasn't reliable but today the pipes are wide enough, the costs are cheap enough and the market is ripe for change.

So how are these VoIP providers going to sell to us? Vonage is using TV and Internet integrated marketing campaigns and Skype is using affiliate partnerships and of course their parent company eBay. As it happens, I just discovered a new VoIP provider by the name SunRocket. Yesterday I got an SPAM email advertising SunRocket (on right) and notice that it's curiously sent from a bogus affiliate domain.  It looks like they were not careful to meet requirements for the US government rules for SPAM ,but even if they were, compliance isn't enough to create a lasting brand. Apparently, SunRocket's sales plan is to use Internet affiliates to drive interest and then use call center outsourcser Sykes to take orders. Pretty efficient plan for stort-term, top-line growth.

I forwarded the SPAM to SunRocket management for comment and they responded with the obligatory "...our apologies and many thanks for the notification". I suppose this market is growing so fast that some companies will overlook some of the most basic rules of Internet marketing. Here are my 10 (recently 11) email marketing rules.

Rule 1 - Decide what your objectives are.  Keep focused on them.

Rule 2 - Ask your prospects and customers how they want to receive information and get permission to communicate. 

Rule 3 - Test Test Test.  This is the way to discover what people really think.

Rule 4 - As a mass communication medium, the Internet is unique because it is interactive. Use it that way. 

Rule 5 - Create e-relationships (with customers and business partners).  How can you help each other to prosper? 

Rule 6 - Digits are easy to measure. Measure everything. 

Rule 7 - Integrate your Internet marketing with your traditional promotional mix. 

Rule 8 - Keep everything simple. Don't use technology for the sake of it. 

Rule 9 - Content is everything. Have useful, helpful content. 

Rule 10 - Don't expect instant success. Persistence is what counts.

Bonus Rule

Rule 11 - Don't SPAM.

How Does Sales Execution Affect AOL?

Last Friday, Steve Case, the co-founder of AOL, appeared on PBS's Charlie Rose Show. Steve told Charlie that he was "sorry" for AOL's merger with Time Warner. Case said that the concept behind the 2001 mega-deal "made tremendous sense," but has not turned out the way he envisioned. "Ultimately it comes down to execution," he said. "One of the lessens learned, I think, is that an idea is important, but leadership and execution is really what matters… I'm disappointed and frustrated that it hasn't developed in the way that we all hoped at the time it could." In response to a question from Rose, Case added, "Yes, I'm sorry I did it." Case, who now heads DC-based private investment firm Revolution, has in recent months publicly advocated for the break-up of the two companies. Here is the video from the show...

Corporate Blogging Generates Sales

I read a recent report by Cymfony, an analytics company, and public relations agency Porter Novelli about corporate blogging. I was happy to hear that three-quarters of corporate blog owners (76%) said company Web traffic and "media attention" increased as a result of the blogs. It also said that 42% said at least one specific post on their blog has affected the company's brand and in most cases has had an extremely positive effect.

We know that corporate blogging is still very much a pioneer environment and most companies don't have blogging guidelines in place. I see most companies using blogs because they feel a need to participate in the "wave" rather than to satisfy a specific objective. There is still has a lot of room for growth and a burgeoning future for B2B marketing using blogs. Lots to do here. I encourage all of my clients to create relevant, specific blogs to generate knowledge power and share thier subject-matter expertise in thier field. This has an immediate impact on search engine rankings and drives customers your way. More on that later.

Newsworthy podcasts create new revenue possibility

PostNewsweek, the business-to-business publishing company, will soon automatically convert ordinary text stories into MP3 audio. This big idea is from the company Newsworthy, the makers of Click-to-Listen technology.

Here's how it works. Click-to-Listen takes an FTP feed of any text article, converts it into MP3 audio format within minutes and returns it via an RSS feed. Really cool. PostNewsweek will brand the new audio feature for all of its sites, calling it Tech Media Cast.

The Click-2-Listen feature goes up on www.GCN.com this month. Six to eight weeks later, it will launch on sister sites www.WashingtonTechnology.com, www.DefenseSystems.com and www.GovernmentLeader.com. Great work Newsworthy!

Google Ducks Lawsuit

Just read that Google has dodged a lawsuit filed by a California man who claimed his Web site rankings unfairly dropped. Apparently, Mark Roberts, who runs http://www.pinnaclejuicedprotein.com/ sued the search engine for breach of contract. 

Roberts had claimed that Google was negligent and breached its contract--making the unusual claim that the company's Web site-submission service constituted a binding contract. Technology law professor Eric Goldman writes in his blog that even though this lawsuit came to a premature end, the question of legal liability over search rankings remains an open one and more lawsuits could follow. What's next?

Click Fraud Affects Google Sales

A survey about fraudulent clicks on online advertisements by research company Outsell, Inc. offers insight into a serious problem faced by online advertisers. The report exposes one of the most detailed looks at the massive headache that Google, Yahoo and other search engines have faced for years. The fact is that online advertisers have long complained that major search engine companies don't do enough to combat the click fraud practice. Here's some of the findings from the report:

-Revenue lost by Google, Yahoo and other Web sites, as a result: $500 million

-Clicks believed by advertisers to be fraudulent: 14.6 percent

-Money paid by advertisers for bogus clicks: $800 million (2005)

-Advertisers who said they were victims of click fraud: 75%

-Advertisers who said they reduced click-based advertising or plan to: 37%

-Advertisers who request refunds because of fraud: 7%

-Average refund: $9,507

Ok, this has been going on for a long time. I competely agree with Scott Karp and Brian Clark in thier blogs on this topic and Brian's view that Affilate Marketing is on a major comeback. My company and my clients have been using Adsense for years and it needs serious attention from Google. In the meantime, we'll manage it as best we can as we find more creative ways to market.

Google releases "Checkout"

Google just announced that it has launched Google Checkout, a secure online payment process. The new service gives shoppers purchasing ability with a Google login. It also works with the company’s AdWords search advertising program to enable merchants to process all or a portion of their sales for free. They say that for every $1 you spend on AdWords, you can process $10 in sales through Google Checkout at no charge. Does that make sense? Maybe, we'll see.

The service is currently available to U.S. marketers, and Google said it is working on making it available to merchants internationally.

"By integrating the checkout process with search and advertising, we're helping our users complete the cycle of searching, finding and buying," said Salar Kamangar, VP-product management at Google.

Are you being uhh Googled?