Social Media Calling…….

The social media phenomena is moving the industry towards a new paradigm. Zachary Rodgers articulates a report finding that suggests EMarketer has sharply lowered its outlook for ad spending on social networks in this country. A new report from the researcher finds such expenditures will fall 3 percent to $1.1 billion this year as marketers continue their retrenchment in the poor economy. Other story argues about the traffic on Facebook? Up 10%. Twitter? Up 16%. FriendFeed? Flat. But with this can we discount the shift social media has brought or bringing to our lives.

Of course we can ask about Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 — Where is the Web Going, and What is the Semantic Web? or How Social Media Influences. David Finch admits that social media has influenced him. He can’t recall the last time he purchased something because of an advertisement he have seen or heard. Every decision seems to be influenced by conversations he had or overheard from social media channels. I am sure this is the case with all of us that are acquainted with the world of web and social media. But Mark Laymon look at online social networking by asking Is Being Social Online Enough?, through which he argues about true open communication (recommended read).

Has Marketing become personal or do we have to personalize our marketing to masses that becomes something “specially” for them. Gary Stein accentuates on how  Social Media Shrunk Big Business and Shana Albert highlight on a simple element on how  Social Media can provide a new life to your static website. Of course how Facebook Helps Brands and Personalities Transform Visitors into Fans is an amplified example of  the Decline of Traditional Advertising and the Rise of Social Media and Using Social Media to “Socialize” Existing Marketing by marketers who are looking to make Social Marketing as a Solution for them. Of course current recession has played an pivot role for those marketers that does not believe in this road of marketing to Seek Alternatives to Traditional Media Channels Amid Recession. With Russia and Brazil Top Social Network Engagement Rankings according to comScore's World Metrix audience measurement service does not discount the effectiveness of this mean of marketing in other countries.

With ever increasing Internet users the emergence and importance of Social Media for marketing has forced itself in all the marketing plans or brains of marketers. A saying “either you learn or life will teach” stands even true for social media - “Either you embrace or it will force in”.

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Marketing & the “R” word.

As the world is facing “Recession”, India and Indian economy is no different.  However it might be time for us to make the most of it by channelizing marketing in the right direction. I wish I could have said that this is not a time for worry; but I would further add that it’s a time for some strategizing.

As the US Economy slackens, Indian economy fear a danger; no matter what sector we are talking about. Can we say that It's Just a Recession, and hence we need to differentiate between the Necessity and Luxury.  

What we have learned from the banking crisis or let me rephrase have me made an attempt to learn anything out of it. The Global Economic Crisis has lead to lesser work, lesser profits and even the fear is sinking of having work taken away from organizations. However even the fact that we are going through turbulent times panic wouldn’t help us, rather we need to prepare ourselves well for what is to come. Is it the Time to get serious about strengthening your systems and work towards shaping your marketing strategy for the downturn to emerge stronger when economic growth returns.

With Fed dropping Funds Rate To Zero, is a clear indication that in Depression Economics, Normal Rules Don't Apply and hence we need to make the most of what marketing costs offer you in a slump. How to Market in a Recession is a question that seems to be on every marketers mind, or are we all waiting for the the next Great Disruption?

As the economy slows down, and in pursuit of Preparing for the Future this is the time companies can leverage to the utmost by investing in its image to find The Secret of Success in a Failing Economy and build the Brand in Difficult Economic Times

If you present your strengths at the time of a slowdown, it puts you at an edge around your client. If you show results and enthusiasm at a time when all is not well, you are bound to reap benefits in the long run.

Instead of worrying over the US economic slowdown, it is a time of cost saving for most Indian companies. However pure cost saving would not lead you nowhere; hence we need to systematically think about rerouting our marketing dollar to get closer to our customer(s). That is the only way you can recover from loosing profit margins. When you concentrate on confidence building with clients at this point, you are bound to make a stronger statement that will stay with them much after the slowdown has recovered. You can focus on some image building, find newer clients during the slump, and who knows, you might win a whole new set of friends. This is the time where we need to dive deeper into our existing clients building stronger and longer ties.

It is up to the Indian industry to make the most of the situation now. If everyone’s cutting costs in the US, which is where most of India’s business comes from, there are all the more chances that more varied work will flow into countries like India. Imagine we are thinking about the effect on outsourcing but are we realizing that the companies in US, and due to the economic slowdown that never thought about outsourcing has now been forced outsource to optimize cost.

Raman Roy in a recent interview opined that “Downturn is definitely an issue. But is it a long-term issue? I don't think so. In the short term the discretionary spend is likely to get affected but not the non-discretionary spend.” Another interesting perspective that Ibrahim Ahmad articulated - “ A very interesting reason for this boom in current mobile subscriber base came from an industry senior who said that with everything becoming unaffordable for the common man in the last few months, being able to chat and gossip with other people is one of the cheapest things people do today. Jokes apart, I know that my own maid now uses her cell phone more to talk to her sisters because the cycle rickshaw fares have gone up, and its cheaper to talk to them rather than visit them.”  He further adds that “ I believe that slowdown presents itself as a great opportunity for the mobile phone.” John Todor brought an example from spending pattern of Starbuck customers “ Unemployment is up, the stock market is down, and people are worried about their financial future", but Starbucks customers are spending 36% more than they were a year ago. What’s more, if you look at the month to month trends, there was no systematic decline associated with the deepening recession”.

Hence the examples somewhat highlight the importance of positioning your company, and how effectively you are able to comfort your existing or new customer(s).

When in peace prepare for war. And that is what we ought to do. Utilize the time to strategize and innovate new marketing techniques | resources to Weather the Storm and even reap benefits in medium to long term.

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Seeing the True Nature of American Freedom

Sharing a great article by my dear friend and teacher Louis Columbus

The 4th of July's many festivities from parades, to fireworks displays, from entire blocks getting together to decorate in red, white and blue to even one story I heard of a daughters' friend painting the family beagle red, white and blue while he slept on the back porch this afternoon all make this such a genuine American experience.

Over the last several years I've taught more students in international business and strategy courses than any other time.  Like anyone, they love a good party that is nationwide, and the 4th is a reason from them to celebrate their freedoms here in America too. 

I am Learning From My Students What The Reality of Freedom Is

It is quite moving to be running a class in international business and have a young student under 30 tell you about how there were wars raging in her home nation of Bosnia and one wrong street selection on the way home from school could have gotten her killed. She is Serbian. 

There are students from China, some from Hong Kong, others from Beijing, who are remarkable in their writing abilities yet still afraid to speak.  Their tales of harmonization in Beijing and the tight lid the government has on businesses there, many of which are run by their parents and families, are moving. 

Or the students from the Middle East who faced persecution because of their religion and their families' beliefs and businesses.

I've had more than a dozen Vietnamese students, who as toddlers and even infants, escaped that nation on boats, drifting in the South China Sea waiting for the U.S. Navy to show up and rescue them.  Clearly, the Navy did a great job, they saved tens of thousands of lives in that region and I am sure they still do.

There are those students from Russia too. Some from parents who were members of the party and others barely scraping enough together to get out. Talk of how even party members must abide by rationing is fascinating.

Seeing Freedom In A New Way

Just out of curiosity, I took each significant speech in America in the last 217 years and quickly ran them through Wordle this morning.

Here's what I found out.  In the most troubling and most difficult of times in this nations' history, freedom is the catalyst so many of our leaders have turned to as our core strength, our catalyst.  It is what many have come back to as the reverberating strength of America.

From Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speech The Four Freedoms given on January 6, 1941 to the many speeches that John Fitzgerald Kennedy gave, including Ich bin ein Berliner ("I am a 'Berliner'") delivered on June 26, 1963 in West Berlin, freedom reverberates through these speeches.  Faced with an increasingly aggressive Russia who appears intent on war, President Kennedy chooses this speech to come back to America's greatest strength and contribution to the world, freedom.  Below is the Wordle of this speech.

The speech with the greatest mention of freedom in the history of the United States from this analysis isn't an elected politician, President, military leader, or a powerful cabinet member.  It is a southern minister who in 1954, became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Far from the media centers of the time, Dr. Martin Luther King showed in his life just how truly different this American brand of freedom is.  Below is Wordle from his I Have A Dream Speech. 

In the story of a minister from Montgomery, Alabama whose impact in America is still being felt today is the story of what American freedom is really all about.  Reaching out, inclusive, celebrating diversity and looking to strengthen others by building bridges out to them, this is America at its best.

Bottom line: No nation is without fault, but if you want to see the true nature of American freedom, meet eyes with someone today who had to fight to get here, or who is putting their life on hold to serve, or who has served earlier.  In that moment, you will know the true nature of American freedom.

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When Business went Social….

“Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up…or catch you later”. This is how the article at Business Week on how Social Media Will Change Your Business describe the evolution of Social Media Marketing. We are at the downward spiral economy, and following few economists, the bottom and the aftermath cannot be determined.

Businesses dependent on traditional marketing to reach to its customer may need to rethink their strategy, due to the globalization and of course the budget cuts all across (including marketing) has forced to venture into the social media charted or uncharted territory(s). Having opined that, by no mean I am saying that it is a cheap way to reach your target audience, but surely is a cost effective and efficient one.

The increasingly savvy buying public will quickly shun marketers. Internet readers want information from the Internet. They don't want advertising, marketing, or a "pitch." Social networking tools such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and others offer not only the SMBs but now large organizations are venturing into the social media space to venture into new ways to build communities and your brand. Jay Deragon argues in his article “Social Media continues to create lots of conversations relative to when and how businesses will engage in the conversations”.

Marketers are continually hopping onto social media marketing as a perfectly productive means of reaching out to more and more people. Even if they are not able to measure the numbers yet, they are keen on using this tool as an effective means of creating the right buzz about themselves.

Thanks to Web 2.0 you can use this master of a marketer to attract more links to your website or the company. The idea is to create a posting or an advertisement that connects to the user on the website you are choosing to harness. Added to this is the cost efficient & effective advantage that all of us are eventually happy to employ. Search engines also pick up websites that receive natural links from known domain names. These are some first hand advantages of social media marketing that many of us are meaning to ignore so very far into its development. So I believe are we talking another term – The SMM (Social Media Marketing). From my prospective, a definite YES. 

The facebook campaign has quadruples; showing an explicit example for emergence of an imperative social media marketing techniques.  Contrary to it Statistics on advertising during a recession are not promising, and market(s) | economy (s) | company(s) worldwide are either facing a dramatic downturn or virtually collapsing. So is the recession a boost for social media spending? The answer is a simple yes.

We cannot let our brand to commit suicide by not applying the new rules of marketing. While we can be judgmental to evaluate that why social applications will thrive in a recession but the truth remains still as naïve that we need to keep branding during a recession to reap benefits in stronger or fruitful times.

So the Social Learning is here. Are you ready?

Think about it !

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The New Age PR

In today’s “new” age marketing everything is basically everything accept being traditional. Aren’t we marketers are hoping (and working) towards developing strategy(s) and channel(s) to reach our target audience more effectively, and in the age of marketing budget cuts definitely more efficiently. Of course I debate of the fundamentals of marketing every time and believe the fundamentals of marketing has not changed. I would agree that it has been evolving and in certain case due to the emergence of strong digital medium it has been revolutionized, however the core of the marketing is still to attract the target audience.

The term new age marketing is being extensively being used and today I would like to share an exemplary article by Heidi Cohen on how we can make our PR more effective and don’t forget more efficient using the new age tactics of marketing. The article further accentuate some importance of various sources, including news-oriented sites, such as Yahoo, Google News, the Drudge Report, CNN, and "The New York Times"; and social media, such as blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.

It also links to how to use Social Media Press Releases to expand the forms of information provided to enhance your potential for being covered. Another interesting aspect that this article talks about it, however not emphasized much is “conversation”.  The importance of Social Media and its effective usage is directly linked to the ability of making a press release or for that matter any talking point into the mode of conversation. In the age of social sharing we are touching upon yet another fundamentals of human psychology, which is of being social animals. We as social animals love to interact and share. This was earlier done in one family, one pincode, one city or one state but not due the evolution of the digital space it is done on worldwide basis. So much so that we now share that we like or dislike with people that we don’t even know. Bookmark sharing like Stumble upon and new age conversation tool like Twitter are few example of such interaction. 

Hence from a press release to taking new product to the market the importance of conversation around it cannot be undermined or discounted. The most effective campaign could clearly covert it self into a snowball effect. However, just to throw a word of caution, if it is done with adequate research or clearly defining your objective the same vehicle could have ramifications.

Further recommended read :-

• In the Shadow of Twitter
• 3 Themes Social Media and Social Marketing Can Learn From
• Social Media Thoughts from Todd Friesen
• Twitter and Celebrities
• The Social OS, The Battle Between Facebook and Twitter is the New Mac vs. PC
• The Social Media Manifesto – Integrating Social Media into Marketing Communications

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Customer Service Secrets from Zappos

In the latest Customer Creation podcast, Blake Landau interviews Maura Sullivan and Rob Siefker from the Zappos call center management team.

Maura and Rob have both worked for Zappos since the early days when there were only a few dozen people in the call center.  Due to the company’s phenomenal growth, today Zappos has more than 350 people in the department.

"Zappos is all about service," says Siefker. "Everything we do is based upon customer experience."

The company and its call center operate differently than most — they ignore traditional call center measurements.  Customer service representatives don’t use scripts, have quotas, or try to get customers off the phone.  In fact, Zappos actually encourages customers to call the contact center.

The formula seems to work.  While many retailers have struggled this year, Zappos continues to grow in 2009.

When asked about the secret ingredient behind Zappos’ success, Sullivan replies, "I don’t think there are many secrets to it — it’s about empowerment and being friendly and helpful."

"At Zappos we really want everyone to be themselves and be able to put their personality into their work," Sullivan continues. "We don’t think that can be achieved if we give them a script to read or if we told them they can only have two minutes with each customer.  If we really want to provide the best service, then we need to allow people to be helpful and friendly over the phone, email or chat."

That’s just a few of the many Zappos lessons you’ll hear in this podcast.  So make sure you listen to this fascinating interview at http://www.customermanagementiq.com/podcenter.cfm?externalid=136.

Courtesy – Randy Saunders at Perfect CEM

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Let Me Sell You a Nickel for a Dime

What Does Your Company Value More: Trust or Transactions?

The Truth about Value-Based Pricing

Impatient with stalled sales cycles, protracted lead generation programs, and competitors who bundle services or related products, companies are throwing down pricing too quickly to clinch deals and leaving money on the table as a result.

This may get a few deals closed yet it doesn't really fix the more fundamental problems that lead to maverick pricing overtaking sales cycles in the first place.

At the center of pricing becoming the competitive weapon of choice is the fact that businesses seem to have lost touch with what really makes value-based pricing work. Being able to anticipate their customers' needs and develop solutions for them quickly – earning a higher value-based price as a result is what matters most. Not just putting prices into freefall but anticipating and responding with exceptional value is the solution.

What Does Your Company Value More: Trust or Transactions?

Keeping deals going forward and selling is of course the life blood of any company – yet there are way too many companies sacrificing their innate value to just get the next sale. It's time to stop and think: "Are your pricing strategies setting the expectation you will always bend on price?" or "Will your pricing strategies redefine your channel management programs due to price protection and co-op changes?" These are important questions to confront when price becomes the weapon of choice.

The Truth about Value-Based Pricing: Art Form in Enterprise Software

The enterprise software industry has had the inside track on value-based pricing for some time. Some would argue this industry has turned it into an art form.

I recall discussing value-based pricing with one pricing vendor and their unique contracts with a major PC manufacturer that re-set the value levels every fiscal year. In other words, this PC manufacturer would re-evaluate the contribution of the software vendor yearly and cut them a royalty check based on the value delivered.

The software vendor was indexing online sales and upsells through the customers' global websites and had been able to index down to each channel they sold through. Value-based pricing measured to the multi-channel level. It was impressive and they could clearly quantify and communicate their value.

A business intelligence (BI) vendor heard about this practice and attempted to migrate their customers off of maintenance pricing to value-based pricing. You can imagine this caused a revolt with customers adopting competitor's apps that had migration support for this vendor's data models.

So between these extremes – the foresight of the pricing vendor and their ability to anticipate value delivered over time through multichannel strategies on the one hand – and the BI vendor who tried to play hard ball with its customers and failed. The answer lies in the depth of insight these two companies had into their customers and how they were changing.

Bottom line: Value-based pricing has more to do with knowing your customers' unmet needs so well you can anticipate them and be right the majority of the time – earning the value they are willing to pay. A sure sign a competitor is out of step with the needs of customers is to see their pricing go into freefall.

Courtesy – Louis Columbus at Expert Access

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