Blogollob

Twitter Aggregation and Filters and Rev (oh my)

Well, it seems like only yesterday that most people were completely confused by the whole concept of micro-blogging.  Oh, wait, that WAS yesterday.

Now sites such as ExecTweets that was launched by the ad network folks at Federated Media where they display tweets from business executives across various industries shows that people see the value in tools to help sort through this stuff.  Oh, did I mention that Twitter will get a slice of that business?

Glam Media, another online-ad network and as they call it, lifestyle Web site, will be launching a site that will filter and bundle tweets according to their themes.  Advertising will be sold on these theme pages and they'll make revenue share deals with other sites who make the pages accessible on their sites.  A great example used in the Wall Street Journal this morning was placement of a J&J sponsored widget on Glam's site during the Academy Awards that featured tweets about the Oscars. 

This whole thing of leveraging interest (and a huge audience) in a live event to grab eyeballs all over the Web using a stream of tweets along with, say, some video certainly makes sense.  Curiosity, and a good measure of voyeurism clearly conspire to make this interesting. 

Converting these startegies/tactics/methods to dollars?  Well, that's another thing. But with over 9.8 million unique Twitter visitors in February alone, I'm betting there are more than a few very smart people working on it.

Psychographic Fade

Do you think, or maybe better stated, by how much do you think Psychographics in a given population change during times of variability and uncertainty around possible outcomes in marketing efforts (or any business process)?

I think there is a real propensity during challenging times for people to seek (and sometimes find) comfort through a little regressive thinking.  No, not crawling under your desk into a fetal position, but accessing the familiar can be comforting.  That is, sometimes the thought of doing some good old tried-and-true methods can provide a sense of virtual security.  Hey, who can't use a hug (hint, hint)?

So, for me this raises a question (note the avoidance of that oh-so-commonly misused term from the study of informal logic and fallacies, "begs the question" , but I pet peeve digress).  Does our propensity to seek and implement "high-tech" solutions and tools regress when times are tough?

I can tell you this...I now grind a perceived lesser brand of coffee bean every morning.  Almost as much for a touch of nostalgia as for lower cost.  Man does it taste great!

Does "trading down" trickle into our choices in marketing technology?

Mobile Marketing - An SMS Campaign Tool Makes it Easy

Using SMS text in marketing is still a little intimidating to many marketers. Not only the inherent permission issues involved, but underlying concern and question of whether or not popping-up on your prospect's mobile device could, regardless of message, somehow alienate this precious audience make many slow to move ahead.  However, with today's tools that make launching and managing an SMS campaign pretty straight-forward, it's now simple enough that more and more marketers will likely jump in and give it a try.

I recently came across Via, a very cool tool indeed.  With Via, like similar tools, you put keywords and shortcodes to good use.  Their SMS delivery platform is reported to be intuitive enough for even novice mobile marketers to manage their own campaigns.

It was an especially nice surprise to find that they are powered by 2ergo, a winner of the 2009 Upshot50 Awards.  So if you are interested in something more robust than a self-service, self-managed solution, 2ergo is right there for you. However, there is certainly more than a little to be said for the quick and easy in this crazy world of ours, eh?  As they will tell you on the Via website, "From carrier regulations to campaign development to a great end user experience, Via makes the complex simple."

So if you haven't jumped into the mix and giving an SMS campaign a chance...just text "Via" to the number on thier site and check it out.

Elementary Podcast Kids

So, there I was, entertaining a delightful little 5th grader with my shiny new MacbookPro.  Or better said, she was demonstrating the wonders of Garage Band for me...an app that I must admit has gone completely ignored for the entire 4 months that I have owned this box.

In any event, there we were...watching her deftly drag and drop various musical instrument bits into a template...when she said "This will be a cool song to add to my podcast".  Huh?  A podcast?  Well, yeah, as part of her normal curriculum this young lady (and her classmates) has an assignment in which she is to record a podcast, edit with music bookends, and post it to their intranet.  By the way, this is in a public school in a not especially affluent or trendy town.  How cool is that?

Now I have to ask myself, if 5th graders are cranking out and posting podcasts, why am I lagging so far behind in getting an occasional marketing technology expert's interview posted?  Maybe Lilah can get on that task for me, eh?

Doing too little is more risky than doing too much

Almost with the same energy that Lawrence Summers, the Director of the National Economic Council, recently expressed regarding the state of affairs in the global economy, senior marketing managers may view the tasks before them in much the same manner.  That is, pressure to do things that will create and maintain momentum is critical.

Marketing and sales organizations are stressed.  But as can be quickly observed when examining those companies that survived or even thrived during the bad times of the mid 1930’s (avoiding use of the “D” word), they placed a premium on staying in front of their customers.  They didn’t hide and lick their wounds, but instead refined messaging and intensely focused their marketing activity.

In my view, when marketing managers present their ideas for driving things forward, they should be bold and push for doing more, not less.  In fact, it is much more prudent to plan on doing what could be considered too much rather then make small moves and come-up short.  Fortunately, with the right programs that leverage the incredible power to be found in the right marketing technologies, organizations can indeed do more with less.

Whether it’s a new and improved landing page strategy, adoption of mobile marketing tactics, an upgrade of a tired email platform, or even implementation of a full scale marketing “super-platform”, new technologies can present a real opportunity for marketers to operate a lean, but powerful marketing structure.

Ogilvy, Pluris, and Unica create an interesting alliance

With the recently announced alliance between Ogilvy North America, interactive marketing software company Unica, and marketing database provider Pluris, we can expect powerful new solutions that will feature sophisticated digital marketing and customer data integration.

Even marketers with modest resource sets are painfully aware of the importance of collecting and managing the huge amounts of data available through today’s technology-driven digital marketing programs.  While this alliance may indeed be more suitable for those with larger budgets, their alliance is one that should grab the attention of all.

When savvy marketers align the right technology with the right programs, the learning and the overall performance of campaigns is exponentially improved over the methods of even a few short years ago.  The joining/bundling of these resources certainly makes great sense.  Marketing decisions are made quicker and lead to greater success by virtue of technology. 

Perhaps marketers of any scale and budget can cobble together (not in a bad way) similar services from disparate service providers and get, if not seamlessly, a similar solution set?  Just a thought for those who may not think they can afford to partner with these powerhouse organizations.  But it's worth a call to check...these days we never know!

About Ogilvy North America

Ogilvy North America, is the largest unit of The Ogilvy Group agency network, a subsidiary of WPP Group plc (Nasdaq: WPPGY). It has offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Durham, Minneapolis, Denver, and throughout Canada. Ogilvy North America brings together all the capabilities of the Ogilvy network to provide integrated marketing solutions to the agency's clients. It includes Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, OgilvyEntertainment, OgilvyOne, OgilvyInteractive, Neo@Ogilvy, Ogilvy Healthworld, Ogilvy Public Relations and OgilvyAction.  Visit www.ogilvy.com.

About Pluris

Pluris enables marketers to optimize the value of each consumer touch resulting in higher conversion on sales, marketing, and service interactions. Utilizing next-generation data and analytical platforms, Pluris helps marketers to better understand their customers, generate key insights from their behavior, and deliver the most appropriate offer across traditional and interactive messaging channels. From its offices in Framingham, MA and Greenwood Village, CO, Pluris has built a solid track record of improving marketing productivity for large organizations with hundreds of users across multiple locations and lines of business. For additional information, please contact Pluris at 508-663-1095 or visit www.plurisinc.com.

About Unica

Unica Corporation (Nasdaq: UNCA) is a leading global provider of enterprise marketing management (EMM) software and services. The most comprehensive EMM suite on the market today, Unica's Affinium(R) software streamlines the entire marketing process from analysis and planning to project management, execution and measurement. More than 800 companies worldwide depend on Unica for their enterprise marketing management solution. Unica is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts with offices around the globe. For more information, visit www.unica.com.

The Power of Doing Good

Seeing Bill Cosby talk about youth in America, not to mention our society in general, can be an inspiring thing.  His passion and say-it-like-it-is style has a way of sticking with you. 

The point that really struck me was his recounting the story of sitting with hardened inmates who had recently helped other inmates learn to read.  These men had something they could offer to those who would otherwise have no access.  Upon realization of the difference they had made in those individual’s lives, they were moved to tears.  You could pop a guy like that right in the schnozzle and not a tear would be shed (by him), yet the act of mentoring and educating had huge emotional impact.  Doing good feels right and has real power in it. 

Now, I don’t want to sound supercilious here, but my sincere hope is that we can help some marketers gain substantial insights into areas of marketing technology to which they may have previously not had access…or perhaps more likely, identify technologies about which they had no previous knowledge.

I don’t think I am being overly dramatic (well, maybe I am but, oh well) when I say that a marketer who suddenly “gets it” regarding a new tool or technology and realizes the impact that it can make in her work, can be very powerful.

As we continue to power through our 7-day work weeks as we drive toward the launch of our new website and exciting new offerings, it’s not hard to see the power in what we do…now and into the future.

Now, where’s that box of Kleenex?

Web Content and the Living Room

Does John Q. Public care about viewing web content on their snazzy new flat screen televisions?  I am not really sure they're up for it.

Sure, if it were a no-brainer, maybe…but it would need to be really simple. Oh, and proven (by the neighbors).  Today's consumer certainly understands that "something" is possible with regard to delivering web content to their TV set. However, one thought of dealing with configuration or the ever-popular BSOD, and they glaze over.  The issue, I suppose, is the mindset of the public themselves.  Hey there are still people out there with Rabbit Ears complete with the requisite foil balls (so to speak), for crying out loud.

Now envision trying to match those folks, who are also terrified they could lose their job or home, with the processes needed to finally drive endless content into their living room. Certainly the stakeholders in the online video space are working to figure this out.

Now, when I look at teenagers and 20-somethings...heck, even 30 and 40-somethings...who are plugged in and addicted to video game consoles, many web enabled for group web play, we see an obvious path to finally reach the living room.  At least the conditioning has begun.

As the research director for Digital Home, Michael Wolf said late last year, “With the continued adoption of network-connected video game consoles, the porting of popular online video services such as Hulu and Netflix onto third party consumer electronics devices, and network operators’ growing interest in over-the-top video, we see this market for TV-displayed online video continuing to grow".

I don’t know about you, but it feels strange…and I am not sure why…that we may end-up finally erasing that rapidly blurring line between broadcast and internet by way of Halo III and Kung Fu Panda.

Go figure…

What is Really “Basic” Today?

We’ve all become so accustomed to the pace at which technology advances; we are increasingly less and less impressed by improvements in existing technologies.  We just expect it, and we know there’s always more to come on the heels of the hottest new stuff.

In today’s slash and burn business environment, many (if not most) marketing organizations are under siege.   Thousands of marketing organization are being reduced, if not dismantled completely.  Leaving those still standing trying to get-by with perhaps just the minimum tools and technologies.  This made me start wondering what really could be considered as the “basics” when it comes to marketing technology?

Certainly strong website analytics, a search optimization strategy, and an email marketing platform are “must haves”…or are they?  Perhaps it’s just a single marketing super-platform?  Maybe it’s more about growing an online community and putting up shiny new video content every day.  Yup, it’s going to be different for everyone but I’d bet there are a few core technologies that most marketers would never consider dropping…especially in the face of dwindling human resources.  I’d be very interested in hearing from marketers what they consider to be indispensable marketing technologies.

Heck, maybe we should all just run a mail merge, print some labels, ship to Acme Fulfillment House, and carpet bomb a few dozen MSA’s with postcards?

Naaaaa…

Understanding the Play

As I half-watched one of the football games yesterday afternoon, a coach appeared on the screen holding a helmet up against the side of his head with his ear jammed inside the base opening like a 6 year-old with a seashell.  He was listening to one of the helmet communication systems that are embedded to allow the players to receive plays and the occasional “Oh ‘Dang’ (substitute expletive of choice)!”.

It really struck me how a technology like that has completely removed a formerly challenging and formerly accepted part of the game.  That is, players squinting toward the sideline to decipher a play called by a given coach who is forming hieroglyphics with his hands and arms.  Today, the helmet communication system is simply an expected technology that elevates (makes more efficient) the game.  You probably see where I am going here.

Marketing technology has been a real game changer.  Where once we’d have a team of skilled players all waiting for the next play to be called-in (and hoping they understand the signals), today we still have those skilled players, but with the help of technology they know and understand the plays instantly.  This makes them exponentially more effective thanks to the leverage these technologies provide.

Maybe one day, execution on the field of marketing play will only require a savvy coach with a small handful of players each tasked with leveraging the capabilities of a set of specialized technologies.   Bite my tongue.

Now where’s that Bronko Nagurski leather strap-on helmet?