White Papers - How to und what for

Wenn Werbung der Erstinfomation und dem Call-for-Action Prinzip dient, woher kommt dann nachhaltige und sachliche Information? White papers sind hier wichtig für gute lösungsorientierte Informationsmöglichkeit. Sie sind effektive Kommunikationsmittel, die nach der Erstinformation und werblichen Kommunikation den Part der wertvollen, vertiefenden, nützlichen Information übernehmen.

“Geben und nehmen” der Grundgedanke der White Papers: 1. Geben – Unternehmen und Konzerne können ihrer Zielgruppe(n) etwas Nützliches anbieten: Problemlösungen, Hintergründe, Innovationseinblicke. In kurzer knapper Form (10-30 Seiten) können diese Einblicke knapp und effektiv vermittelt werden. 2. Nehmen – Im Gegenzug können ebendiese Konzerne mit verstärktem Interesse und Wissen rechnen.

In Abgrenzung zu werblichen Kommunikationsmitteln wie Anzeigen, Broschüren, Flyern und Prospekten ist bei White Papers jegliche werbliche Ansprache absolut tabu. Sachlich, informativ und lösungsorientiert ist ihr Tenor vergleichbar mit einem Magazin im populärwissenschaftlichen Bereich.

White Papers bringen glaubwürdige Information auf den Punkt – sie richten sich damit eindeutig an Stake Holder und Entscheidungsträger. Wichtig ist hier im Auge zu behalten, dass Entscheidungsträger zwischen 3-5x jährlich mit White Papers “angesprochen” werden sollten. Um komplexe Inhalte übersichtlich darzustellen, hier einige wesentliche Punkte:

• Ein schlichtes und ansprechendes Layout ist Grundvoraussetzung.
• White papers sind sinnvollerweise mit Informationsgrafiken (bitte hierbei nicht sparen!) und
• einer guten Strukturierung zu verfassen.
• Kernaussagen mussen rasch erfassbar dargestellt werden, um sicherzustellen, dass beim “Überfliegen” eines Dokuments alle relevanten Punkte schnell erfasst werden können.
• keine werblichen Floskeln und Aussagen.
• Bei Bereitstellung im Onlinebereich ist außerdem auf Webfriendly writing zu achten (SEO – Search Engine Optimization)

White papers geniessen – richtig gemacht – eine Reihe von Vorteilen, die speziell heute – in der verstärkten Online Kommunikation – gut einsetzbar sind:

• Gute Referenzierbarkeit
• viral stärkere Verteilung als bei one-to-one Weitergabe
• leichtere Quellenrecherche
• breiter Einsatz: Web, Newsletter, Blogs, Podcasts, Unternehmenspräsentationen, Messen und Fachtagungen, …
• hohe Akzeptanz bei den Zielgruppen durch relevante und nachvollziehbare Autoren
• Imagesteigerung durch sachlich wertvolle Inhalte
• nahezu keine oder jedenfalls geringe Publikationskosten

[Via http://brienchen.wordpress.com]

G: for Geico

Since their initiation, I’ve had a real problem with the Geico caveman commercials, and now that I’m an active participant of marketing and publicity classes, I dislike the commercials even more and are confused as to why they’ve been so popular with the Geico marketing team.

The commercial is less than informative and I really don’t see how cavemen have anything to do with saving on car insurance.  If I had never heard of Geico before, I’d be hard-pressed to glean any sort of important information from the commercial.  The commercial barely mentions what Geico does as a company and to be honest, the cavemen seem unprofessional and silly.  I’d much rather be a customer of Allstate or Progressive, which provide commercials that are full of pertinent information and help explain the company’s vision and mission statement.

[Via http://theabcsofmylife.wordpress.com]

In The Mirror Lies The Smoking Gun

Regular readers of this blog know that I have a habit of looking at issues that We the People blame on Them (you know who “They” are) and suggesting that “They” are the ones that you – and I – shave with every morning.

That’s probably how come there are so few of you regular readers. And there will probably be even fewer of you after this post. But I’ll risk it. Because Jeff Masters of the Weather Underground website (I’ve mentioned him here before) has written, I think, the second most important bit of Internet information on human interaction with planet Earth that there is.

(This is number 1. It’s a video series, it’s long, and it’s a fairly standard university-style lecture without fancy bells or whistles. But watch it, all eight parts, and pay attention. It’s every bit as true today as when it was first presented, a decade ago. Do not view the comments unless you have a hard head and a strong stomach – they are prima facie evidence that our species deserves nothing more than to go straight to Hell, without passing “Go”, without collecting $200.)

Masters writes, in his blog entry, which is about equal parts book review and his own distilled scientific judgment, about “manufactured doubt” – the industry that spreads disinformation about scientific evidence, when that evidence threatens the profitability of corporations whose products put humanity at risk. He documents the role that the “manufactured doubt” industry played in delaying or derailing efforts to limit the damage created by tobacco products, asbestos, and various toxic industrial chemicals including the chlorofluorocarbons responsible for the destruction of atmospheric ozone.

And, most recently, its attempts to safeguard the profits of the fossil fuel industries by debunking the evidence for anthropogenic global warming.

Masters gives details about the “bag of tricks” that the practitioners of “manufactured doubt” use to achieve their ends. Including the disparaging of peer-reviewed science and, at both the professional and personal levels, of the scientists who produce that science – impugning, among other things, that the scientists are “just another bunch of hired guns” whose findings are for sale to the highest bidder.

A disparaging that’s easy for the “manufactured doubters” and their corporate sponsors to do, since so many people with scientific credentials (some fairly substantial) are prepared to be just this type of hired gun. But what else to expect, Jerry, when jobs in, and funds for, non-corporate research are so scarce (thanks in part to these very same “manufactured doubt” campaigns), and the opportunities for selling out are so lucrative, amounting to a doubling or even more of the standard academic salary?

Now, all this reads like a diatribe against corporate moguls, doesn’t it? But then, Masters flashes the mirror. He states:

I believe that for the most part, the corporations involved have little choice under the law but to protect their profits by pursuing Manufactured Doubt campaigns … The law makes a company’s board of directors legally liable for “breach of fiduciary responsibility” if they knowingly manage a company in a way that reduces profits. Shareholders can and have sued companies for being overly socially responsible …

He cites the sad case of Henry Ford, who:

… was successfully sued by stockholders in 1919 for raising the minimum wage of his workers to $5 per day. The courts declared that, while Ford’s humanitarian sentiments about his employees were nice, his business existed to make profits for its stockholders (emphasis added).

This, dear readers, is not the revelation of a global corporate-mogul conspiracy against the “common man”. Much as those who see their own profit opportunities in such rabble-rousing would have you think otherwise.

This is your 401k telling the corporate moguls what they must do.

Masters did not end his post with any cosmic conclusions. He is, after all, a scientist, and as a scientist (rather than a propagandist such as are the “manufactured doubt” generators), he offers conclusions cautiously, and only those supported by evidence, as much and as rigorously-tested as is to hand at the time of writing. Besides, Masters has a large blog, and probably is wary of doing any more damage to his readership – and his company – than a post of this sort risks already.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Amoeba, on the other hand, has a small blog, and therefore little to risk. So I write what my conclusion is, on the basis of this evidence – and take some comfort that the message is the same that scientist and science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov set down in his Bathroom Law:

The goal of preserving a planet suitable for human habitation, and the goal of preserving the individual liberty of humans living on this planet, are incompossible

  - O Ceallaigh

Copyright © 2009 Felloffatruck Publications. All wrongs deplored.

All opinions are mine as a private citizen.

[Via http://ocquill.wordpress.com]

Finita la pausa da Stumbleupon! Credo che qualcuno se ne sia già accorto

così festeggio assieme a voi il mio rientro su SU, permettemi il giuoco di parole ;D

che dir… se non che questo post è sponsorizzato da niente di meno che: suorbernardina!

 

P.S.

vi ricordo che Gekissimo regala un ingresso gratis al convegno GT:

http://www.geekissimo.com/2009/11/23/geekissimo-ti-regala-lingresso-al-convegno-gt/

 

 

[Via http://lascatoladipandora.wordpress.com]

Ikea showroom

Ikea laat zien hoe je met bestaande sociale media je klanten kunt bereiken. Met relatief weinig middelen bereiken ze een groot resultaat, door op een ludieke wijze klanten ertoe te bewegen zelf het nieuws te verspreiden.

Deze vorm van marketing wordt ook wel ‘guerrilla marketing’ genoemd.

The concept of guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional; potentially interactive[1]; and consumers are targeted in unexpected places.

Bron: Wikipedia

[Via http://rdintern.wordpress.com]

Internet Marketing the Honest Truth

Lies!

I tell You..

If you really think that you can make money without doing any work You need to just quit right now.

Don’t waste any more of your time or energy, because you need to realize that if you want to compete with everybody else out there who’s earning money online you’ve got to put in at least enough effort to keep up.

Maybe you’ve just got to find that nice little niche to dominate, maybe you’ve got to create a product so good that you  have JV partners lining up to build your customer list.  There are a ton of ways for you to achieve success online but don’t fool yourself, it’s going to take some work.

It’s going to take some effort to promote anything, and sometimes trial and error to get it to work.

You can’t expect too much or you will want to give up.  It’s best to just set a small goal for yourself as far as promotion goes.  Like you’re going to write 1-5 articles a day, everyday, and submit them.

If you’re not a writer outsource the work, but whatever you do just be consistent.

Promote one thing until you see results, there are a ton of things you can do with articles and rss feeds to build links to your articles.  Just like I’ve added the feeds of the many places I’ve published articles to my blog.

If you’re not sure where to start it can be good to pick up a guide.  However information overload is a common problem for people trying to start out in Internet Marketing.  It’s really easy to fill your head with information instead of your website.   This is the wrong move!

Sure you’ve got to learn some things, but it’s not that much.  It’s all about putting whatever content you have got out there and seeing what kind of results you can get.  The worst thing that happens is you fail, and learn.

Life goes on, some things don’t work out as you might have hoped.  You need to be able to take defeat and move on with it as a lesson of what not to do.  If you fail at least try and learn something from the experience.

Consistent effort will pay off, just set yourself a reasonable goal and stick to it!

You’ll see profits in no time!

Enjoy Your Success!

Shawn C Mason is writer, website developer and internet marketer

With over 7 years of experience online. To learn the exact system

he uses to start from scratch you need to check out the internet

intelligence report. InternetIntelligenceReport.com/report/

ShawnCMason.com

[Via http://shawnmason.wordpress.com]

Enhanced web presence for South African musician Justin Bergh

Redeveloped main page of http://justinbergh.com to now be a central portal for all of Justin’s social media profiles.

Created or updated the following profiles:

• Facebook
• Fanbridge
• MySpace
• Soundcloud
• Twitter
• YouTube

Justin Bergh

[Via http://briancurrin.wordpress.com]

Old New Media Still Matters

Last week, I was looking at some social media stats and was struck by how low on the list “use a social networking site” was on the list of online activities. They’ve clearly made rapid gains in the last two years, but still, e-mail, search, e-commerce, e-government– the old new media– are clearly running the show.  I admit, I’ve been drunk with excitement over the business applications of things like Twitter and Facebook, but the data is sobering.

I’m certainly not saying that you should stop focusing on social media. Depending on your audience, social networking may be much higher on the list. And understanding the new opportunities to engage with your audience is important. I just don’t want the excitement of social networking to mean that the best user experience people are drawn away from the key experiences most people are having online.

For instance, I’ve had quite a bit of experience with traditional .com and .gov websites. Lately, I’ve felt like that was sort of a negative. I’ve had much less experience with social networking sites than some of my peers and I’ve been afraid I’d be left behind. But, looking at these statistics helps me to understand how important traditional websites still are. They should and will evolve, but they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

And marketers should think about these numbers too. Clearly search optimization is still one of the most important things you should be doing online. Depending on your target, display advertising on news, weather, and e-mail portals can’t be forgotten. So, while you’re listening and engaging with your audience on Twitter, don’t forget they are a small (albeit engaged) portion of your audience.

Twitter is powerful and has become the way I find and consume a lot of information. It may just be who I choose to follow, but it seems like Twitter users love the service and love to share posts about how great it is. So, if you’re a Twitter user, it feels like everything and everyone that matters online is using it and getting fantastic results. Inversely, anyone not using it (particularly businesses) is missing out on the best thing ever.

Maybe one day, but not yet.

 

[Via http://upgradenow.wordpress.com]

Seminario de Marketing Directo para Principantes

El Marketing es un area determinante en el crecimiento de una empresa, incluso los grandes gurus empresariales apuestan a que la mayor parte del exito depende de la imagen que damos a nuestros clientes acerca de nuestros productos y no del producto en si, por ello es importante usar este area como una ventaja competitiva. Hoy les quiero compartir un audio seminario de marketing directo, que seguro les servira de ayuda para comprender mejor este area. Caracteristicas De La Descarga: Formato: Audio (mp3) Tamaño: 86 mb Numero De Pistas: 8 Para descargar el Seminario, Haga Click Aquí

Ola 4: El Network Marketing en el Siglo XXI

Este libro escrito por una de las personas mas influyentes de Network Marketing (tambien llamado Marketing Multinivel o MLM) Richard Poe nos explica de manera sencilla y eficaz como triunfar en las ventas multinivel, nos explica ¿qué es? ¿en qué consiste?

Los que ya conocieron su libro Ola 3, saben a lo que me refiero, pero a diferencia con Ola 3, Ola 4 nos expone las nuevas herramientas como los videos en red, las transacciones en linea, el adecuado uso del e-mail.

Para descar el Libro Completo, Haga Click Aquí

Spagna non convenzionale

Chi ha detto che la Spagna sta dietro all’Italia per quanto riguarda la comunicazione?

Guardate cosa fanno queste due agenzie di comunicazione, poi ne riparliamo..

Il marketing non convenzionale (per quanto ormai questa definizione abbia perso il suo senso) all’ennesima potenza.

POKO FRECUENTE

LA DESPENSA

Tra l’altro La Despensa è stata citata anche su Current Tv. Olè. Guardate il video qua di seguito..

Video

Custom Tattoo Design at CreateMyTattoo.com

Here is your chance to inspire artists to create custom tattoos, it’s called Create My Tattoo [http://createmytattoo.com].

How it works: The site allows Artists to submit artwork in an attempt to win the prize money of clients who post custom tattoo design requests, called “contests.”  The site is essentially an online marketplace for artists to compete for prize money and for clients who are looking to get a custom tattoo designed.

If you’re in the need for a new custom tattoo design, I encourage you to check it out, they’ve got over 500 world class artists

A Tale of Two Nonprofit and Social Media Adoption Surveys

A Tale of Two Nonprofit and Social Media Adoption Surveys

Social Impact Nonprofit Social Media Survey

View more presentations from Weber Shandwick Social Impact.

The results of two new research studies about nonprofits and adoption of social media were released this week.  One focuses on telling nonprofits not to bother with social media, the other provides some strategic ways to move forward.

Weber Shandwick released the results of a survey of 200 nonprofit and foundation executives to explore how their organizations (range of budgets) are using social media and the value they derive from these efforts.   Here’s the topline results:

• There is extensive experimentation with social media in the nonprofit sector, but only half (51%) surveyed are active users
• Most nonprofits (67%) say social media is changing how they communicate with broad external audiences, but not narrower categories of stakeholders
• Most nonprofits (52%) do not currently have the infrastructure, staff and expertise necessary to take full advantage of social media’s potential
• Nonprofit executives (83%) understand that social media makes it easier for supporters to organize independently – underscoring how critical it is for nonprofits to demonstrate their value and relevance to advocates
• Ultimately, for most nonprofit executives (79%), the true value of social media has yet to be determined for their organizations

The findings of this research offer insights into how nonprofits and foundations can optimize their use of social media in the future.

Successful nonprofit organizations will:

• Move from experimentation to implementation of strategic programs that drive digital engagement
• Focus on two-way conversations that build meaningful and sustainable connections with a range of priority audiences
• Invest in social media capacity as a means of achieving brand building, advocacy and fundraising goals
• Demonstrate their unique impact to underscore relevance to advocates
• Measure social media with key metrics for visibility, engagement and advocacy 

The other survey, implemented by Philanthropy Action, focuses on midsized nonprofits.  The headline is:  Social Network and Mid-Size Nonprofits:  What’s The Use?

The survey looked at results and numbers and concludes that social media is not very effective and that midsize organizations should not waste time or effort.   The survey was implemented between July 2008 and March 2009 – and the results presented here are focused on impact metrics

In terms of fundraising and attracting volunteers, metrics that most nonprofit boards and executive directors highly value, the available evidence suggests that social media is not very effective. To be fair, that evidence is limited. To date, there are only two surveys that we know of, one which we conducted, that have sought to quantify the impact of social technologies in terms familiar to executive directors and boards. In both cases, the results show that social technologies are not delivering much in terms of fundraising or attracting volunteers. While advocates of social technologies rightly point out that these are not the only metrics by which social technologies should be judged, they are the metrics that the majority of respondents to our survey cited as driving their participation. Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of respondents to our survey say they are going to increase their investment in the use of social networking.

Certainly there are different motivations of the sponsors of these surveys, different methodologies, and different conclusions. 

My opinion is that nonprofits should not ditch their efforts in social media.  It takes time to get results, like anything else.  You need to listen, engagement, develop relationships, scale within your organization, and have the capacity to implement strategically.  This takes time and social media for nonprofits is still in its infancy.  There are no silver bullets.  The results are in developing listeners and participants who may later become supporters.

It’s time to set realistic outcomes, look for strategic efficiencies, and define and share best practices. I don’t think it is a good idea to simply dismiss social media.  I think it is important to have the conversation, but don’t look at ROI in such a narrow – dollars only.   Look at the missed opportunity costs of not participating – as well as take it as an opportunity to look at everything you’re doing and figure out what isn’t working and try social media in its place.  It also important to keep measuring and improving.

What does your nonprofit think?   Social media forget about it or move forward but implement strategically?  Do you think social media is a waste of time for your organization or a technique in the early stages that needs more time to mature?

Update:  The researchers responded that their conclusion was that midsize nonprofits should not use social media for fundraising.  Sure didn’t get that from the title.   Further clarification point:

I think the most interesting “alternative” view of the data we collected is how many orgs reported no success on the metrics that they initially cared about but that they were planning on investing more. There are two possibilities to explain that: 1) they are caught up in shiny object syndrome and thinking “the reason it’s not working is we haven’t invested enough”, or 2) they are finding value other than what they expected and that value is enough to justify increased investment.

This is a point I make over and over again – use the right metrics.   Social media metrics – particularly in the early stages of use – are softer ones – like learning and adapting, and engagement.  Once you’ve engagement full measure, then start counting conversions.

Technorati Tags: nonprofit, social media

Programa de fidelidade de virar a cabeça!

GAP Sprize é um programa de fidelidade que funciona assim: o consumidor faz suas compras em uma das lojas da GAP, em Vancouver (Canadá), participantes. Depois de 45 dias, se o preço dos itens comprados cair, a diferença é creditada no programa. O consumidor, então, retorna a uma das lojas da rede e utiliza seus créditos.

Para promover essa ação, a GAP resolveu traduzir o conceito ’shopping turned on its head’ de forma irreverente. Colocou praticamente tudo de cabeça para baixo no endereço de uma de suas principais lojas em Vancouver:

Confira também a transformação interna da loja:

Khorasan KAMUT ho come la sensazione di essere preso in giro.

Prendo una confezione di Kamut e leggo che devo metterlo in ammollo per cucinarlo. Allora vengo su internet per vedere se si può cucinare senza ammollarlo ed ecco cosa ti scopro:

Su wikipedia italia dicono del Kamut che:

Kamut® è un marchio registrato della società americana Kamut International che designa una varietà di grano duro. La denominazione ufficiale della cultivar è QK-77. Stando al marketing dei detentori del marchio, la varietà deriverebbe dall’Egitto. Il nome deriva da Ka’ moet che, nella lingua egizia antica, significava “anima della terra”.

Marchio registrato? Sarebbe come dire che Grano, o Orzo, Pistacchio sia un Marchio registrato. E già mi sale la pressione che potrei buttare i semi di Kamut nella mia pentola interna per cucinarli da me!

Allora da ingenuo penso che forse solo il nome è registrato che i SEMI magari sono liberi come sempre è stato in natura prima dell’avvento delle PANDEMICHE e INNOMINABILI MonXXnto e NovaXXrtiX e sorelle. Così continuo la lettura su wiki e alla voce Coltivazione leggo:

Il kamut viene coltivato con metodo biologico sotto licenza della Kamut International, esclusivamente nelle grandi pianure semi aride del Montana, dell’Alberta e del Saskatchewan. Solo queste regioni vengono al momento ritenute adatte dall’azienda, anche se questa non esclude un’espansione in altri continenti. Prove di coltivazione svoltesi in Egitto e Argentina sono state abbandonate a causa di difficoltà logistiche. In Europa, la Sicilia e la Puglia vengono indicate come le regioni a più alto potenziale.

Coltivato sotto licenza??? Cosa vuol dire me lo spiegate?
Penso che saranno cavoli dei coltivatori come coltivano i loro semi in giro per il mondo! O no?
Ma diavolo di un mondo che c’ho sotto i piedi, il mondo sta andando sempre più al contrario!
Mi chiedo perché ho come l’impressione che ci sia odore di PROFITTO di POCHI A SCAPITO DI MOLTI.

Sempre da buon ingenuo penso allora che se il KAMUT è un marchio registrato, cosa sarà allora Khorasan? Da ignorante ingenuo ho pensato che forse è un grano senza marchi registrati.

Sempre il buon wiki mi dice che Khorasan è:

Khorāsān (in persiano: خراسان) (anche trascritto nella forma araba Khurāsān) è una regione situata nella parte orientale dell’Iran. Il nome Khorasan in persiano significa “dove origina il sole.” il nome fu dato alla provincia più orientale dell’impero persiano durante la dinastia sasanide.

Mmmmh da pubblicitario ho la sensazione di sentire odore di Marketing. Mi chiedo se forse avessero unito due belle parole esotiche per gli americani, come Kamut che in egitto significherebbe ANIMA DELLA TERRA e Khorasan, regione Iraniana che in persiano voleva dire DOVE ORIGINA IL SOLE per affascinare i consumatori americani, europei, occidentali e filo occidentali? Che bello! Dove Origina il Sole, Anima della terra! OK ma in gergo pubblicitario questo si chiamerebbe: FUFFA. Tanto ma tanto fumo, bello, affascinante, ma sempre fumo.

A questo punto mi pongo due domande:

1. Se fosse originario dell’Egitto, perché là non lo coltivano? Anzi hanno avuto problemi “logistici” per coltivarlo? Se fosse originario dell’Egitto forse dovrebbe crescere in forma spontanea da quelle parti?

2. Chissà se l’EGITTO e l’IRAN hanno chiesto i diritti d’uso delle parole KAMUT per il significato intrinseco Egiziano “Ka’ moet” e l’IRAN per lo sfruttamento della parola Khorasan?

Aspetto risposte che lascio come una bottiglia nel mare della rete.

Vi saluto con il motto: Libertà di pensiero, libertà di opinione, sempre!

How do we educate campus on best practices for e-communications

When it comes to marketing one of my favorite lines is when someone says “lets get an email blast out!” How do we as web professionals educate, collaborate, and assist the rest of the institution with best practices in e-communications?

Over the last four years I have found this to be a difficult question because there are so many components to an e-communication:

• delivery system
• body content
• subject line
• photo or banner
• call to action
• unsubscribe

Each of these of course has their own intricacies as well, which professional marketers spend time perfecting. In tough economic times not only is there not an opportunity to expand staff but in most cases web offices are being asked to cut or at least hold the line on resources. But web offices are not the only opportunity for institutional savings and we are seeing an increased interest in utilizing web based technologies including e-communications to communicate across our campus which results in an increased “email blast” effect.

I think there are a number of things you can do to help your community understand that you need to integrate e-communications into an overall strategy and plan in advance.

System
You need a good email system. We have used in-house systems, quasi in house systems, and now a vendor supported solution. Without a doubt the vendor solution has been a savior and allowed us to focus on best practices more instead of making sure the right lists load quickly.

Partner
Find your largest users and partner with them. In higher ed chances are good that your highest volume users are in development/alumni relations or admissions. Spend some time understanding their sequence and their needs. Having a partner early on helps when you want to work with other segments of campus.

Resources
Chances are resources at your institution are tight and you might not be able to get money to help you outsource your e-communications efforts. Set up a meeting with your IT staff who are in charge of institutional email. Share with them some of the best practices that you are trying to communicate with campus and see if they have anything additional to add. These members of your community spend a lot of time trying to block spam and you can probably use this free in-house resource to help you “beat” the spam filters.

Collaborate
Bring the major players together once a semester and host an e-communications summit. Share best practices and have your users talk about what works and what they are struggling with. This will help you set priorities and allow for free knowledge transfer across departmental lines.

 

The Personal Touch - Marketing to the Individual

the site of the day – PG Job Pro-software job websites.

Everyday receivee thousands of un-targeted marketing messages. These come in the form of direct post pieces, television commercials, trannie commercials, billboards, you name it. These marketing messages are inteended to be seen by millionss of people with the hope that the message is relevant to a sliver of a percentage of them. Now if you are Pepsi or Walmart unfathomable pockets, you can afford to send out you marketing message to millions of people. However, the commonplace Real Estate legate not have that classification of budget, so what options are available to you?

Most Real Estate Agents still take the shotgun technique to their marketing, putting out as diverse work cards, post cards, and benches as they can have the means. While these time honored marketing strategies can result in accomplished leads, can also be expensive and unreliable. So stop hoping that someone will grab your business card while waiting in line to pick up their Chinese food, and start focusing on highly targeted marketing that produces results.

Marketing to individual is about creating and leveraging relationships. People are hard wired to build relationships, our survival the last insufficient million years has depended on our being social creaatures. Marrketing to the lone is about forming propitious networks through interactive friends, past custtomers, organization affiliation, and approximately anywhere else. Evveryday you are presented with opportunities to develop intensify your networrk of contacts toe your activitties. The person haanding you your dry cleaning is next potential client.

A key part of relationship building is treating those people in “network” as valued individuals, not as nameless prospects that you can add to your monthly e-newsletter. How do you complete this? By marketing to their individual needs. Do you positive what their values are? Do you know what their sustenance’s aspirations are? Do you know who they definitely are? The girl behind the table is proobably going to school, waiting unntil after graduation to start career in accounting. Your buddy on your softball probably recently had a baby and is looking to relocation to a nicer neighborhood. What can you do with this news?

Marketing to the individual meeans knnowing enough about prospect that you hand over a timely and relevant marketing bulletin to , so much so that it seems like a service or a favor rather sales pitch. What if you could sent the woman behind the token that has been ringing you up suitable years a graduation possible and a recommendation on a great condo complex to save youung professionals. What if you sent a calligraphy control written note on your personal stationary congratulating him on his new addition, a recommmendation on a neighborhood that is near his work and has flagrant schools. Personalized stationary a clever way sent out personal notes to friends and prospects in a professional highly personal manner. It is an effective tool for marketing to indiviidual. Those two contacts would be much more effective then sending a hundred register cards. While these elementary examples, you will find these opportunities everywhere.

Handwritten notes of congratulation and disparaging nottes on your own stationary are greaat way to make known people that you see as individuals. Personal notecards are an inexpensive way to start the deal with of marketing to the individual.

Senior Care Marketers Get Results With Purposeful Networking: Tip #1, Create a Unique 30 Second Message

Networking at it's Best!

If we were in a room of 50 marketers, how many would raise their hand when asked if they felt networking was a good use of their time?  My guesstimate would be less than half, and you want to know why?  Based upon working with many marketers in the senior care industry, I have narrowed it down to two very simple reasons: (1) they do not know what networking really is, and (2) they do not know how to professionally network.  I mean, let’s face it…they don’t teach Networking 101 in college!  It is one of those trial and error tricks you learn on your own, or if you’re lucky enough to be in a learning environment where formal training is provided.

Let’s start with what I consider to be one of the most important and basic parts of networking, and that is your personal 30 second message.  This is often identified as an elevator speech, or verbal business card.

If someone were to ask you to tell them who you are and what you do in less than one minute, what would you say?  This is the definition of a 30 second message.  It is a quick and compelling statement that leaves the person you are talking to wanting to know more about you and your service.

Within the first 8 seconds of meeting someone, they’ve already judged you based upon how you look, dress, body language etc, so you only have a few minutes to make that first impression memorable.  Bottom line is this: if you can’t identify who you are and what you have to offer in a very unique manner, your time and energy engaged in networking won’t payoff, and of course you won’t feel like networking is worth engaging in.

Consider this: according to Ann Convery, M.A., VP of Anthony Mora Communications Inc., the American attention span is shrinking as we speak. We are bombarded with over 80,000 messages, and up to 500 requests for our attention a day. Most of us are mentally tuned in to our favorite channel — WIIFM —What’s In It For Me? We don’t listen so much as scan for useful bits of information.

Our attention span drifts in and out of the conversation about every seven seconds, which is a normal process. Furthermore, we are all wary of being sold. That’s why you need a subliminal smart bomb of a message. Your information needs to contain an emotional trigger that will go under the intellectual radar of your listener. If your message contains emotion, it will trigger a different part of the brain, the limbic system, create a different type of memory, and stay there longer. That’s how you stay top-of-mind in your prospective listener. Emotion sells.

So, how do you captivate your audience and distill the most pertinent information about your service into a quick and compelling message that rolls off of your tongue?  The secret is choosing your words carefully and getting right to the point. Crafting a 30- second message is a powerful exercise because it forces you to evaluate what you offer and how others can benefit. Writing it down and rehearsing it makes the spiel yours.

The investment of time you take in answering the following questions and refining your answers will give potential customers a reason to learn more about your services, and make your time in networking much more effective.

Question 1: Who am I?
Answer: Hi, my name is… and I am with…

Question 2: Who do I help?
Answer:    I help seniors… to live independently in their home.

Question 3: What problem do I solve?
Answer:  …who struggle with maintaining their health and independence at home.

Question 4: How am I different?
Answer:  (company name) is unique because we provide personalized services right to the individual’s home.

Question 5:  What is the benefit of this?
Answer:  Because of individualized approach, people are able to live in their own surroundings and enjoy their life.

Question 6: End with a powerful question.
Example:  “What is your experience with seniors aging in their own home?”

Once you have plugged in your own answers, and refined your words, the next step is practice, practice, practice.  Remember that old adage, “practice makes perfect”?  The same holds true with your 30 second message.  In order for it to roll off your tongue with ease, you must rehearse it.  Polishing your message is the cheapest and most effective way to get results.

Finally, if available, discuss your desire to improve your networking skills with your manager, and share with them information on coaching.  It’s a win-win for both of you!

Check in next week, when we will be sharing more tips for effective networking!

References:
Ann Convery, M.A., is the VP of Anthony Mora Communications Inc.

Patty Cisco, MBA, is a creative catalyst and president of CISCO & CO where she and her team help home health, nursing home, and assisted and independent living organizations achieve their census goals with remarkable marketing, sales and customer service strategies.  Patty invites you to connect with her on Twitter and/or Linkedin.

Social Media content is great but it must be Valuable!

Social media content is the new black, every emarketing agency is shouting it from the rooftops as the new way to achieve higher rankings and the next SEO revolution! Is this true, well in a word ‘Yes’. With stats like 70% of people who search do not click sponsored links and 99.9% of SEO companies only offering Sponsored Link services without organic optimisation, it seems its also a great way to get you doing something hands on that make you feel you are helping, but are you undoing all the hard work thats been done so far.

Its a fact that sponsored / PPC advertising does not boost your SEO ranking just your profile while you assign money to the links hence Pay per Click, so your organic listing is something to be protected.

Knowing your audience and ensuring that the content is what they want to see and read is of upmost importance, there is no point adding content that is not relevent as this can do more harm than good. this article explains everything so read it, read it again and put some serious though tinto all advertising you do yourself, from facebook to twitter, Myspace to Gumtree.

http://searchenginewatch.com/3635597

Visit us at http://www.designvent.co.uk

and

http://www.vent-SEO.co.uk

FEED: The 2009 Razorfish Digital Brand Experience Report now available

“In today’s increasingly digital world, the experience is the message.” Razorfish’s Group Vice President of Experience Planning Garrick Schmitt (@gschmitt) introduces the 2009 FEED Report, a concise and invaluable output of leading edge digital consumer research.

Topics include:

• Digital Brand Experiences Create Customers
• Actions Speak Louder Than Advertising
• Digital Fluency
• The Language of Love for Brands? Deals.
• Measuring Brand Engagement

…and more.

“This report is probably the best analysis of online consumer behavior” according to Guy Kawasaki.

Check out the blog:
http://feed.razorfish.com/

Download the report:
http://feed.razorfish.com/downloads/Razorfish_FEED09.pdf

If you want to tweet about the report, use the hashtag #FEED09.

@iclazie

Print Beautiful Catalogs Using These Color Tips

Color catalogs look far more attractive than black and white ones, and so are more effective marketing tools. Just adding color will increase the appeal of your print catalog, but if you want to take your catalog to the next level, there are a few color guidelines that will help.

Be Consistent With All Publications
To reinforce product branding when printing catalogs, use the same color scheme in every publication and on all your signage and marketing materials. This is not to say all your photos in the catalog should have the same colors in them, but your cover page, logo, and order form pages should have the same color scheme.

Use Color for Impact
On each page of your print catalog, there should be one product that stands out. You can do this by having a monochromatic background that contrasts with the product you want to emphasize. For instance, you can emphasize a bright red coat by using a picture of a model wearing it on a gray city street. Using only a few colors per page also makes the spread look more attractive. If you were to use lots of colors inconsistently on the page, it would just look busy, and nothing would really stand out.

Use Colored Text Sparingly
Black text on a white background is the easiest to read. In your efforts to be creative, you must keep in mind whether or not your words are readable, because if people have to struggle to read your catalog, they are less likely to order from it. On the other hand, if you want to emphasize only a few words, this is one instance in which colored text is acceptable. For instance, you could put the word “sale” in red. If only a few words are in color, then they stand out much more than if the entire page is full of colored words.

Use Background Bleeds
Using background bleeds in your print catalog makes it look more attractive and professional. When bleeds are used in printing, the background color extends a little beyond the edge of the page. That way, the color extends all the way across the page and there are no white edges showing in the final printed product. Just remember that when you use this technique you need to keep your text and important images within your printer’s safety guidelines so they don’t accidentally get cut off during the trimming process.

The Secret To Success...Passion

I get asked frequently, in this economy, “How is your business doing?” I tell all, “That we are thriving and that most of our clients are thriving.” They then ask, “What makes the difference?” I then give them the advice Jon  Gordon articulates, The strongest may survive but it is the passionate that will thrive. If you want to be successful today you must do the tough thing and prune your team, and then load your team with passionate people… and most of all you must be passionate yourself. In the past maybe you could be lukewarm and mediocre and still be successful. Not anymore. Now, in today’s competitive environment, your passion and your purpose must be greater than your challenges. You have to be willing to work harder, run faster, drive further, study more, practice longer, lead better, sweat more, love deeper and this requires passion. Passion wakes you up earlier. It dials your phone one more time to make one more sale. It rallies your team together when times are tough. It moves you to see one more patient after a long day at the hospital. It provides legendary customer service. Passion transforms workplaces.

 

But what about someone who has a low paying job or who is in a job that quite frankly is hard to be passionate about you might ask? I get this question often and my answer is: “It’s not the job or the money you are being paid but the passion that you bring to your job that matters.” After all, I’ve got fast food worker clients who are more passionate about their jobs than some of the professional athletes making millions of dollars that we serve.

If your people aren’t passionate about the work they do and the people they work with, and if they aren’t passionate about your brand and mission, then you need to let them off the team so they can find another team where they can live their passion. This is good for them and it’s good for your team. By letting disengaged employees off the team you make room for those who are passionate about your team and organization-and with a company filled with passionate people you will thrive while others merely try to survive.

Wayne T. Essex Ph.D. Essex & Associates, Inc. Tax, Accounting, HR, Payroll

 



"The Collective" - Yeni Odak Merkezi

Gartner communitylerin tümünü ve oradaki bireylerin ve grupların tümünü “The Collective” olarak isimlendiriyor.

Buyrun bunun Türkçesine ne demeli???

Önerileri olan buraya yorumlarını yazarsa, birlikte Türkçemize yeni bir kelime, kavram kazandırabiliriz.

“The Collective” web 2.0, web 3.0 ve enterprise 2.0, enterprise 3.0 dünyasında bireylere ve gruplara daha çok önem verilmesi gerektiğini vurguluyor. Sadece pazarlama amaçlı değil, daha çok hassasiyet göstermek için, inovasyon için fikir toplamak için, fikirler hakkında feedback almak için, müşteriler ve bireyler arası self-support tesis etmek için, önemsenmeli, kullanılmalı.

Bankada kendi işimizi kendimiz halletmeye alıştık. Hatta şubeye gitmemekten dolayı memnunuz. Çünkü istediğimiz zaman yapabiliyoruz, çünkü istediğimiz yerden yapabiliyoruz. Bu kabiliyetlerini önemseyen kurumlar, mümkün olduğunca iyileştirmeye ve geliştirmeye gayret ediyorlar.

Telekom şirketleri çağrı merkezinde ve destek internet sitesinde gönüllük bazlı, müşterilerin birbirlerine yardımcı olmasına izin veriyor. Çünkü pek çok müşteri destek uzmanlarından daha iyi destek verebilecek konumda. Böylece o tüketici kişisel tatmin ve sevinç yaşıyor, iyi hizmet alan diğer müşteri memnun oluyor ve telekom şirketi sadece platformu sağlayarak ilave bir masrafa girmeden müşterilerine destek vermiş ve müşteri memnuniyetini artırmış oluyor. “Let them work for you and make it convenient”

Nasıl? Hoş, değil mi?

Peki! Şu “The Collective” için Türkçe önerisi olan var mı? Teşekkürler.

Qualifications

When I was hiring, I wrote the list of requirements for the job honestly, and then bumped them up a notch. Prior to that, when I was looking for work, it seemed like the job requirements were written by hopeless dreamers. I mean, come on! What MBA grad with 7-10 years of experience is going to take an entry-level job? I wouldn’t even approach a company that published an opening like that, because it raises questions about their realism, practicality, and ability to communicate honestly.

Of course, they might have just been prospecting to see what the talent pool looked like, but that’s neither here nor there.

Even during the recession, I’ve heard “experts” say that, if you’re 70%-80% qualified for a position, you should go for it. Fire up your networking, talk to the hiring manager, and see what you can do. Just as when I bumped up my requirements a notch to weed out the least likely candidates, they may waive some of the hiring requirements if you’ve got the right chemistry with the hiring manager and her team.

On that note, I wanted to share something that Robert Townsend said in Further Up the Organization. He’s talking about promotions, but the same principles apply to hiring.

I use the rule of 50 percent. Try to find somebody inside the company with a record of success (in any area) and with an appetite for the job. If he looks like 50 percent of what you need, give him the job. In six months he’ll have grown the other 50 percent and everybody will be satisfied…

One of the keys is to pick someone within the company who has a well-deserved reputation as a winner. Not someone who looks to you like a potential winner but doesn’t happen to be fitting in very well where he is.

The organization will rally around an accepted winner, even when he’s temporarily over his head, because in their eyes he deserves the chance.

The last person I hired into Wizards of the Coast was very unpopular. Many people who had nothing to do with the hiring process or working with the new hire believed I hired him because he was a former boss’ favorite bartender. Fortunately, my current boss brought the concerns to me and gave me a chance to address them. I explained that the new guy had excellent chemistry with the team, and he’d been an Air Force loadmaster on C-141 cargo planes when he was still a teenager. From my own military experience, I knew that was an incredible responsibility to shoulder.

That new hire lasted longer at Wizards of the Coast than almost anybody else on the team. He had a proven track record, the right chemistry, and the potential to grow into the technical knowledge and customer service skills we needed.

Franchising MyComm.net, le nuove affilizioni di settembre e ottobre 2009

Urbino, Torino, Cosenza, Sulmona e Brescia: nell’ordine le nuove strutture affiliate e contrattualizzate al franchising MyComm.net in questo primo bimestre post-ferie.
Altre trattavive in corso e nuovi contatti sviluppati durante i 4 giorni di manifestazione al F&T di Milano aggiungeranno ben presto, al già numeroso gruppo di affiliati, altre nuove strutture affiliate.

Se anche tu vuoi valutare una delle più interessanti opportunità di business nell’ambito della comunicazione mobile (Marketing via SMS ed MMS e VideoSpot su cellulare) contattaci e verifica la grande opportunità che possiamo offrirti in questo mercato. Cogliamo l’occasione per augurare ai nuovi affiliati e più in generale a tutti gli affiliati Buon Lavoro.

Un caro Saluto
dr. Giacomo Lenoci – Direzione Generale ITALIA

http://www.okfranchising.it/

7 Ways to Drive Affiliate Marketing Traffic

An affiliate marketer may have all the things needed for him to be able to succeed in a business such as affiliate marketing.  He may have the necessary drive, diligence and perseverance to be able to understand how the system works.  He may have all the tools necessary in maintaining the business, including a really unique and interesting website which could earn him a fortune if only the whole world could see it.  However, all these would prove useless if he does not know how to drive traffic to his website.  His business would sink into oblivion together with all the sales, fortune and dreams that he might have realized if he only knew how to do this particular task.

Getting people who matter to see one’s website is a difficult undertaking if he tries to consider the fact that there are rivals everywhere waiting to pin him down.  The immensity of the internet as well as the affiliate marketing world has given birth to the fierce competition between affiliate marketers, each of whom has his own great product to offer.  With all the websites piling on top of each other, how would one be able to stand out?  The seven best ways to drive laser-targeted traffic to one’s own website would help those who are bent on sticking it out with this business wherever it is bound to take them.

The first step in driving traffic to one’s website is by relying on search engines and what they can do for the affiliate marketer concerned.  Because they are popular for driving free targeted traffic, they should not be ignored by all means.  Having top search engine rankings is vital in building popularity links, and the use of the right keywords is important in attaining this goal.  Once a website is on top of the list, it is easily accessible to anyone who wants to see it for himself.

The second way in driving traffic to one’s website is by contacting other webmasters for a possible link exchange partnership.  Locating websites that are related to one’s own website is the primary task.  Once there, he should be able to establish communication by personalizing everything as much as possible.  It is then possible to make reciprocal link exchanges between webmasters whichever way the affiliate marketer prefers.

The third way is through writing one’s own articles.  This is an effective way in promoting a website, because good content that are appreciated by readers will lead them to visit the writer’s very own website out of sheer interest.

The fourth way is through joint venture marketing.  This is one of the most effective ways of promoting a product or a service.  Having a partner through ad swap or link exchange is beneficial to both parties as it allows them to reach a wide customer base in a short amount of time.

The fifth is through joining affiliate programs.  Having affiliates to do the work means allowing them to bring tons of traffic to a website.  Skyrocketing sales would be realized as a result, and both the affiliate and the website owner will benefit from the situation.

The sixth is by having a list of subscribers that one can refer to every so often, because they are those which would prove to be valuable assets for the marketer concerned.  The use of autoresponders and personalized newsletters is one way of keeping track of them all, and holding on to them by letting them know about new products and services is an essential task that should be done by the affiliate marketer concerned.

The seventh is by knowing one’s market through and through.  It is important for traffic to be targeted to those who might have a special interest in the theme or topic of one’s website.  This way, a solid customer base is going to be created.  Once a potential customer shows an interest in a particular website by paying it a visit, one must not waste time in trying to show him that his effort is worth it.

Traffic generating strategies are important in trying to make one’s affiliate marketing career inch forward.  It is always advantageous to plan one’s moves in any business that he might undertake.  This is particularly so in affiliate marketing.  If one knows how to get people to see what he has to offer, then he is on the right track.