The Brave New World of the Engaged Web : MarketingProfs

It goes without saying: The Web is very different from what it once was.

CNN and other "old media" stalwarts such as NBC, ABC, and the New York Times are no longer the top-ranked, most highly trafficked websites. Now, the darlings of Web 2.0 and beyond are Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter.

It's clear that Web habits are changing fast. In terms of clicks per minute, the world's attention is dominated not by traditional content-based sites but by a set of radically different, interactive, community-based tools and services. Read More.

Marketing Communications Talent Needed Now More Than Ever

I recently finished reading “What Would Google Do?” by Jeff Jarvis (I really do not read ultra slowly and I did start reading this book a several weeks ago-other reading temporarily usurped this book’s place in the queue).

As I read this book. I had many “ah ha” moments. I do not believe Mr. Jarvis’ book contains all of the answers—it is a book designed to stimulate thought, not a Ouija board.

The seeds were planted for the changes we are now experiencing 15 years or so ago, but it has really been the last handful of years that the world of media has been turned on its head. Every type of media from television, newspapers, magazines, books, movies, music….the list goes on and on, has been forever changed.

B2B media has been far from immune. And an improving/recovered economy will not bring new life and prosperity to a forever changed and constantly changing landscape. Those merely waiting for the economy to recover so that we can return to “the way things were,” will be sorely disappointed.

However, in a media landscape that has radically changed, I find comfort in the reminder that as long as there is more than one supplier for a given product or service (in other words, as long as there is competition), marketing, marketing communications and advertising will exist. As long as competition or choice exists, product, service and solution providers will work to establish themselves as the products/solutions of choice.

In other words, as long as choice exists, marketers will strive to change the behavior of non-customers. And, changing behavior of non-customers or motivating continuation of desired behavior amongst existing customers has been the core goal of marketing and advertising for decades. If we are Coke, we want to change the behavior of Pepsi drinkers. If we are Thermo Scientific, we probably want to change, at least to a degree, the behavior of Bruker customers. If we are Emerson Process Management, we certainly want to change some of the behaviors of Rockwell customers.

So as marketing, marketing communications and advertising professionals, we can rest assured that there is an ongoing need for our craft. However, the question is, are we going to update our thinking, strategies and tactics to take advantage of and to survive in the new marketing and media landscape? This is the magic question in my mind.

My Experiment with Google AdSense

I am fascinated by all things Google. Google has reinvented the world as we know it in many ways and has made some extraordinarily smart moves. I am particularly fascinated by Google’s efforts to get to know us as individuals, to predict our needs and to predict what might interest us. Given that the majority of their revenues (just under $22 billion in 2008) are achieved by Google AdWords pay-per-click sales, their entire business model is based on predicting as accurately as possible which ads, which vendors and which information might interest us. Google continues to get smarter…to know us better while staying within the bounds of acceptable privacy practices.

I write three blogs—this blog as well as two blogs in which I address interests, opinions and thoughts outside the context of my professional life. I am now permitting Google ads to be served on all three blogs.

No, I do not envision getting rich via blogging. And no, I have no plans to quit my day job. Rather, I am interested in following the types of ads that are served. As traffic continues to grow on my blogs, I am interested to observe to what extent Google gets to know my audience. Quite possibly, Google will get to know my audiences more quickly than I do.

It will be a fun experiment and maybe within twelve months or so a check large enough to take my husband out to dinner might roll in from Mountain View, California.


This Wikipedia article offers a very good overview of how the Google AdSense program works.

Marketing Profs: The Three Most Popular Social Networks for Business (and Why You Should Use Them)

This article offers a very good basic overview of the three largest business social networks: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

I am active on all three networks; however, at this point I use Facebook for personal connections and my Twitter activity is far from regular. LinkedIn I find extroidinarily useful for a wide variety of professional networking, sourcing, idea and information sharing. I will be interested in hearing your thoughts on your use of the three networks.

MarketingProfs
The Three Most Popular Social Networks for Business (and Why You Should Use Them)

Thoughts on News Ways to Create Value

This is quite interesting and pretty funny in places.

Learning to Let Go—Examining True Value

For most of my adult life I have considered myself to be receptive to change, mentally agile, not rigid and a lover of learning.

The reality is, I want to possess these characteristics and comparatively speaking I do in a lot of ways. But, at times (more and more frequently as of late) I catch myself and realize that I am far from immune to resistance to change.

Recently, my husband and I stumbled into a conversation about the movie theatre industry. A variety of internet distribution channels are revolutionizing the movie, television and cable industries. Movie rental stores are closing at a rapid pace across the country and I cannot imagine that closure of the big multi-screen movie theaters will be far behind. As my husband and I progressed in our conversation, I started becoming sentimental.

Over the years I have watched so many great movies (and plenty of bad ones too) sitting beside friends, family members, boyfriends, my husband and my stepson. I experienced new freedom as an early teen during Friday night movie outings with friends. I experienced first kisses at the movies. My experiences are far from unique.

Just as I started to convince myself, with a sigh of relief, that as a society we would never give up on the collective experience of going to the movies, my husband asked the following. “Are all of these great memories really worth spending $50 (by the time you buy popcorn and sodas), sitting in a big room with strangers (some of which are always talking insistently right in front of you) and prying your feet off of the sticky floor when you go to leave?” He continued, “Even though we watch a lot of movies, we rarely go to the movie theater anymore.”

Deflated, I conceded that he was right. Sooner rather than later, going to the movies as we know the experience, will take its place along side the memory of drive-in movies. Going to the movies, as we have as a culture for 80+ years, will soon enter our collective memory banks and fond memories will be shared with our children, grandchildren and/or great grandchildren.

Many other media experiences (both informational and entertainment) are being assessed as well. Media and entertainment companies (and individual people) trying to hang on to the old hear the death rattle in the approaching distance.

This is NOT to say that traditional media will die. It just means that value is constantly being re-evaluated. If the “old” provides value in the “new” and changing world, it will continue. If the old does not provide value or enough value—for instance, what value is there really in today’s movie theatre experience—it will either change or die.

Given human and organizational resistance to change, I believe that there will be a lot of bodies in the wake. Personally, I just hope not to be one of the bodies.

Google--"the U.S. Steel of Our Age"

I am currently reading "What Would Google Do?" by Jeff Jarvis. This book, so far, is an extremely well articulated view of many of the changes we are currently living and working through—both exciting and challenging times. The following is just a brief excerpt from the book.

“Do what you do best and link to the rest….

….In retail, media, education, government and health—everything—the link drives specialization, quality, and collaboration, and it changes old roles and creates new ones. The link changes the fundamental architecture of societies and industries the way steel girders and rails changed how cities and nations were built and how they operated. Google makes links work. Google is the U.S. Steel of our age.”

Really Funny, Really Great Sales Lesson Reminder

We all know the importance of keeping our customers at the forefront in all that we do--sales, marketing, product development, etc. But, let's face it. Sometimes we all get a little sloppy. This is a great reminder.

Ribbons for Research Continues to Grow

Last year I blogged about Ribbons for Research, a foundation founded by HCG Healthcare.

Read 2008 Ribbons for Research post

I caught up withHCG Healthcare again at DIA's 2009 Annual Meeting and was thrilled to learn that Ribbons for Research donated more than $25,000 to 16 different medical research organizations in 2008.

You can learn more about Ribbons for Research at www.ribbonsforresearch.com. HCG Healthcare is always looking for other companies to participate in this very worthwhile effort. As I described in last year's post, participation in this program is a highly effective trade show promotion, channels money to great causes and is much more environmentally friendly than squishy balls or other traditional logoed tradeshow handouts.

Print Is Dead! No It's Not! Yes It Is!

I am a self-professed centrist on many issues. Those who know me would not classify me as a wishy washy person and I have some kind of opinion on most everything. So, being a centrist does not mean having a lack of conviction, it simply means that on so many issues in life and in business, the answer lies somewhere between the extremes.

Americans are often big fans of extremes--we like there to be a clear winner and a clear loser, good and evil, black and white... Yes, some issues are clear, but many are more complex.

Is print dead? No. Is digital media the sole future of b2b marketing? No. Is digital media unimportant? No.

Print has been battered by this recession because effective print advertising often requires a bit more thinking and you have to be very strategic to "prove ROI" (some of my thoughts on "proving ROI" are contained in posts in August and September of 2008). A print ad does not deliver directly measurable instantaneous clicks. This does not mean print advertising does not have an important place in today's marketing mix.

By the same token, you can do things online that are simply impossible in print.

Like so many things, the answer to the question, "What does an effective marketing mix look like today?" is....it depends. In many cases mixing the old with the new in new ways is the path to greatest success. One of the many entertaining debates on this topic can be found within a recent Folio blog post.

Stance on B2B Digital Ethics

I have been growing increasingly concerned about digital media privacy policy practices surfacing in the B2B media industry. I am not sure if reasonable digital ethics are being violated due to a lack of thought about strategic audience care or due to economic pressures caused by the recession. Or a combination of these two factors.

It is my stance, and the position of Putman Media, that a typical visitor to our websites, a typical e-newsletter subscriber or a typical member of our digital communities do not think a great deal about the software and other mechanisms most all publishers now have to track audience behavior and activities.

We do know that our web site visitors want access to meaningful and quality information and to explore our sites at their leisure.

Of course, as marketers we all study to learn tricks and tips to increase response rates and other desired behaviors. However, I strongly believe in transparency on the internet.

When a website visitor fills out a registration form to access a piece of content, or to attend a web event I believe that it is well understood that contact information will be shared with the sponsor. It is a buy/sell relationship. I will "sell" you my contact information in order to "buy" the content you are offering.

An individual, in my view, does not expect their full contact information to be shared as a result of clicking on an ad or an article link. In short, a click is not a lead and no publisher has the right to reveal the full identity and contact information of an audience member as a result of just a casual click. A click is just a click--an indication of some level of interest.

Publishers who release click activity as sales leads concern me greatly for a couple of reasons. First, audience members will catch onto this practice, not understand or care which publishers are doing this and which publishers are not. Industry members will simply lessen their participation on industry web sites--this is bad for all of us.

The second source of concern is that plenty of advertisers do not understand where these "leads" are coming from. All they know is that they have new leads and who would not be happy with that? Advertisers do not understand that they are putting information into their sales pipeline that was acquired in a shady fashion. When advertisers understand this dynamic further they will either retract from their marketing activities with industry sites, or encourage publishers to further escalate these unethical practices. Either option is destructive from my standpoint.

PharmaManufacturing.com and PharmaQbD.com have become more vocal about our stance on digital privacy practices. If you would like to review our formal privacy policies contructed with the aid of Putman Media's lawyers, you can find those statements on our websites. Or, our newly released Digital Pledge outlines our position in plain English.

If B2B Marketing E-Mails Could Talk

This is pretty good.

Spring is Here. Will the Recession Melt Along With the Ice?

Spring officially arrived in Chicago at 6:44 CT this morning, March 20, 2009. I have to say that I can’t recall ever being more excited about spring’s arrival than I have been this year. I was giddy when my husband and I spotted the first robins of the season in our backyard last weekend and was nearly delirious when I noticed tiny patches of green in our flower beds (granted this greening vegetation are weeds that I will pull in a few weeks, but at this point, green is green).

Let’s face it; it has been a depressing winter. In the Chicagoland area it has been bitterly cold and snowy for months. The economy has been in shambles…stress and worry has been as abundant as the ice itself.

The miracle of spring’s arrival seems to be bringing yet another form of thawing…the thawing of our economy. Just as we are in the very early moments of spring (in Chicago we have another solid six weeks of yucky weather in front of us), the economy seems as though it could be showing the very initial signs of life.

I attended INTERPHEX, a pharmaceutical industry trade show, this week. Several of the capital equipment companies serving the pharmaceutical industry reported that projects in the industry are starting to inch forward again. Some of these capital equipment companies have not had an instillation of significance for more than 13 months. I am hearing similar reports from colleagues working in other industries. In February, retail sales were higher than expected and the credit markets seem to be continuing to thaw.

Three to four weeks ago I was of the mindset that this recession could easily grind on well into 2010. Could the arrival of spring be prompting the shedding of our economic doldrums along with the shedding of our winter parkas? Maybe.

Personally, I feel a little more apt to think about a brighter future when I am not freezing to death just trying to get to work in the morning. I may even call my financial planner on Monday and put a little bit of cash I have been squirreling away (to buy guns, ammunition and canned goods if necessary) into the stock market.

Each year there seems to be a painful delay between the initial promises of spring and the arrival of consistently nice weather. This will certainly hold true for our economic recovery as well—early signs of life followed by plenty more dreary days.

But, the spring thaw does offer a welcome reminder that this too shall pass.

B2B Marketing and Dating--A Parallel For Consideration

Business-to-business sales and marketing still requires finesse and seduction. The harried and highly electronic world each of us lives within requires more creativity and strategy than ever before. There is, in my opinion, a strong parallel between dating and b2b marketing. Please consider the following parable and let me know what you think.

The Seduction
One bright and sunny day Bob met the woman of his dreams. She was beautiful, smart, had an effervescent personality and a sharp wit.

Nearly instantly Bob began creating plans to capture her attention as he wanted her to be as interested in him as he was in her. Bob first put him best foot forward. Dressed nicely and hair neatly combed, he invited her to join him for coffee. Their coffee date went very well. They found that they shared similar values and life ambitions. Bob had planned that his next step would be to invite her to lunch a few days following their coffee date. But, they enjoyed each others company so much during their coffee date that Bob decided to make a bold move. Instead of inviting her to lunch, he invited her to dinner.

The courtship was going well and Bob always made sure to call her regularly, plan enjoyable evenings on the town and send flowers on occasion. After all, this woman was special and Bob knew that if he let too much time pass between communications her attentions could all too easily be captured by another.

Soon enough, Bob began introducing her to his friends and then to his family. After dating for four months, Bob invited her to join him for a weekend get away.

Their relationship started becoming more serious. When the time was right, Bob asked her to marry him and she enthusiastically accepted his proposal.

After years of marriage, their relationship is a happy one. She is more special to Bob than ever and he still pops her friendly calls just to say hello and gives her flowers to let her know that even after all of the years they have been together, she is still as special to him as the day they met.

There is a strong parallel between dating and business-to-business marketing.
Business-to-business sales and marketing requires seduction, attention, thoughtful relationship development strategy and ongoing reinforcement after a prospect becomes a customer.

Print and some digital media formats are excellent vehicles to present your company’s products and/or services in an attention grabbing manner—putting your company’s best foot forward. Digital media allows you to take your budding relationship to the next level. Is your potential buyer seduced enough to explore your web site, to spend time reading your white paper, to listen to your podcast, to attend a webcast you sponsored or to engage in a social network in which you are involved?

Does it make sense to assure that regular messaging is delivered to your potential customers so that their attention doesn’t stray elsewhere?

What will it take for your potential customer to get serious—to accept a meeting with a member or your sales team and eventually cut a purchase order?

After the initial seduction is complete, how do you maintain a strong bond? Excellent products and services are essential. In addition, does it make sense for your customer to be exposed to ongoing messaging from your company to reinforce their decision?

Back to Bob
Could Bob have moved his relationship along faster? Maybe he did not have to be so concerned about calling as often as he did. He could have saved money by not going on as many dates. It is difficult to tell. Maybe Bob would have saved time and money by trying to move the relationship along faster, or maybe he would have lost his opportunity all together. After all, managing relationships with human beings in our personal and business lives is a bit unpredictable.

Professional Digital Social Networking—Where are Your Boundaries?

I invite you to share your thoughts and opinions on the topic of boundaries for professional digital social networking.

For someone who did not grow up in the age of the internet. For someone who is constantly learning and working hard to hang on within this fast moving world, I feel pretty good. I am a regular blogger, use LinkedIn as a professional tool rather than just a list of random people and am active on Facebook.

I also have a Twitter page, although I never post and currently have ten people I do not know following me. I have no idea who these ten people are, nor what they are following due to my lack of posting activity. I “get” all of the above mentioned social media platforms with the exception of Twitter—I have to confess that I am still working to get my head totally wrapped around it.

Given these new social media platforms, where do our new professional boundaries lie? We know that it is generally rude to call a professional colleague on their cell phone after a certain hour, and we know not to phone someone who works out of a home office at midnight to leave a voice mail message. We also know that it is not generally acceptable to show up on the door step of a professional colleague’s home unannounced and uninvited.

Where are the lines in cyber space? I have created my own lines, and I am interested to hear yours.

For me, LinkedIn is professional. I conduct myself as if I were in an industry member’s office or at an industry event. Not boring or stiff, just professional. My communications, for the most part, are purposeful and support a variety of professional objectives.

Facebook, on the other hand, is personal for me. I certainly conduct myself appropriately and my posting behavior is similar to the manner I would conduct myself if I were at a restaurant having dinner with friends. However, my personal communications don’t necessarily have a purpose other than to let friends know I am thinking of them.

In our professional lives we generally want to accomplish something, move toward something. Hopefully, in our personal lives we often just ARE. No agenda, no strategy.

I am rarely hesitant to share my opinions on a WIDE range of issues with people I have a personal relationship with. I consider myself respectful, but I do enjoy debating such things as politics, religion, books, Brad Pitt’s latest movie and life in general. I especially enjoy debating these topics with people I disagree with because often I learn something new.

Friends and family, even those friends and family you disagree with on big issues, still love you the day after a vigorous debate (typically conducted over a few glasses of wine). However, sometimes when we say inappropriate things in professional company, the “love” can evaporate quickly.


Some business-to-business companies have started using Facebook for professional purposes, but I have not interacted with the pages and groups companies within the pharma industry have created. Although I am a member of a number of LinkedIn pharmaceutical industry groups, I enjoy using Facebook as a combination reunion tool, social organizer, a convenient way to pop busy friends quick messages and a vehicle for sharing pictures with people I don’t see very often. In addition, I fairly frequently use Facebook as a soapbox for my political opinions and frustrations with the hope of generating some discussion.

Rumor has it that Facebook will be upgrading their platform so that you will be able to maintain separate personal and professional friend lists and profiles. This would be great as I really do love the functionality of Facebook.

Generally speaking, my life is an open book. I grew up in a bustling household where privacy was not readily available. However, even though I will share nearly anything with anyone, I do I have my boundaries.

I prefer that my pharmaceutical industry colleagues and customers see me in a professional light. Not stiff or boring, just sharp, fairly together and fun.

I don’t really need for the entire pharmaceutical industry to see pictures of me in high school (huge hair and all) or some silly picture taken one morning with my stepson before I could put on make-up or even get through the shower (that my husband thought would be funny to post)--these are some of the photos within my Facebook albums, but would never, ever see the light of day on LinkedIn.

These are my boundaries—what are yours?

Double Down on Strategic Advertising

by Susanna Hamner and John Maas, BNET

The scenario: Hard-sell or luxury-oriented ad campaigns are starting to sound tone deaf to recession-wary consumers. Some competitors are pulling back on advertising.

The tactic: Increase communication with customers to show how your product can ease the difficulties they’re going through.

Advertising budgets often become easy prey during down markets — but companies that start to slash do so at their own peril. “If there’s any time to increase communication, it’s during a recession,” says Andrew Razeghi, a marketing professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

During the recession that followed September 11, just 25 percent of all companies boosted their ad spending — and those that did saw their market share rise more than twice as fast as it typically rises during a normal economy, according to a 2001 Cahners Advertising research report. According to a MarketSense study, during the recession of 1989-91, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell saw sales jump by 61 percent and 40 percent, respectively, after pumping more money into advertising, while McDonald’s slashed its ad budget and saw sales drop 28 percent.

It’s not that easy, of course. Marketers need to spend smart — and tune their message to customers' shifting attitudes during a financial crisis. “The closer a brand can cozy up to a consumer with a message along the lines of ‘we’re all in this together,’ the better off a brand will be,” says John Quelch, a Harvard Business School professor and author of Greater Good: How Good Marketing Makes for Better Democracy. For instance, a credit-card company should change its message from “use our card to give memorable holiday gifts” to “our card gives you the most money back.”

Taking advantage of its “Talk to Chuck” campaign, brokerage giant Charles Schwab brought out its CEO this fall to reinforce a calming message of reassurance. “I’ve been through at least nine of these ... and I’ve learned that I have to keep my patience,” Schwab says in one commercial. What’s the logic here? “The recession is sufficiently serious that investors don’t just want to talk to Chuck, they want to see Chuck,” Quelch says. “He’s a savvy person capable of holding the hand of the younger investor.” For companies without a high-profile “Chuck,” the communications budget may be better spent on smaller hand-holding gestures. Razeghi suggests preparing white papers about the recession to send to valued customers. “It reassures folks you’re still in the game,” he says.

Caution: Now is not the time for positive, brand-focused campaigns that won’t resonate with cash-strapped customers. But don’t campaign on fear, either. “People are sufficiently panicked already,” Quelch says. “A message that exacerbated the fear would be counterproductive.”

This One Will Separate the Men From the Boys

As a professional woman, I feel quite licensed to utilize a cliché that could be viewed as sexist..."Separate the men from the boys."

I don’t know of any other clichés that better describe the current economic environment. Few would disagree that it is rough out there. Every company I know is being cautious, monitoring the environment carefully and cutting unnecessary expenses.

Although companies certainly run much leaner than they used to, nearly every company can tighten its belt a bit when necessary. However, which budgets should be trimmed, which budgets should be candidates for elimination if necessary and which budgets should stay in tact and maybe even be increased?

There are no cookie cutter rules. However, I believe that it is logical to ask ourselves the following questions as we are reviewing and adjusting our budgets:

• Will this budget cut damage my organization’s core value proposition?
• Will this budget cut give my competitors a window that might leave my organization exposed and vulnerable?
• Will this budget cut hamper my ability to keep sales opportunities moving through my sales pipeline even if my pipeline is moving slower than it does in better economic climates?
• Will this budget cut strip my organization of essential resources needed for long-term prosperity—talent, customer service, innovation, product development, manufacturing quality, etc?
• Will this budget cut damage my brand, potentially beyond repair?

Many of the cost-management tactics I see companies implementing right now are reasonable and responsible. Some of the tactics I am seeing are short-sided and just plain silly…these companies will likely be permanently damaged, probably will never catch up and will likely fold.

The weak are being separated from the strong. The untalented are being separated from the talented. Archaic organizations are being separated from forward-thinking organizations. The men are being separated from the boys.

Nearly everyone I know is on edge right now. It is rough out there. However, those of us who keep our heads on straight and think about how we can continue to advance our value propositions will make it through this. Those who cut to the bone, cut harmfully into their value propositions, cut their own legs out from under them and let their competition stroll past will in all likelihood become a memory.