Read this blog on your mobile
Ok, following closely in the footsteps of fellow Australian blogger Stan Lee from BrandDNA, you can now read this blog a little easier on your mobile: http://marketingandbranding.mofuse.mobi
Browse there from your mobile and save it as a favourite. Tell me if it is working for you!
Now you can search your Google Reader
I use Google Reader as my RSS reader. Up to now, Google didn't have a search function in Google Reader. Bizarre, really, but suddenly overnight, one has appeared.
Like many of you, I have lots of RSS feeds, feeding me hundreds of posts a day.
Some I read religiously, some I skim past. Apart from keeping me informed, they are also a source for ideas for my own posts, so when I find something I like I "star" it for later.
But sometimes I just have an idea and wonder who's written about it. Being able to search my feeds is a fantastic additional feature and long overdue. They were probably too busy working on the Gphone:)
How Microsoft will drive another major marketing change
With the vast majority of people using Microsoft Internet Explorer as their browser, any new communications features they introduce should get a marketers attention. The next version of IE, IE7 will have a signficant communications tool built in; RSS.
I've just read on Steve Rubel's blog that Microsoft intend to automatically upgrade Internet Explorer 6 to 7. Here is a little bit from Steve's blog:
The Internet Explorer upgrade includes an integrated feed reader. Yes, for many of us this is old news. We have been reading feeds for months or even years. However, do no under estimate the impact of millions of desktops worldwide getting not only a new browser, but a magical little orange button. Not everyone will click on it, but those who are curious will and then the fun starts.
As more people around the world start reading RSS feeds, big things will happen. It will force everyone to begin to integrating feed communication initiatives in their marketing and PR programs. News and blog posts are just the beginning. Couponing and all kinds of other communiques will go into feeds, as well ads and more. That little orange button might look small, but boy is it big.
Here is my take:
- A small portion of people will start pushing the button out of curiosity. Most won't even notice it.
- Smart marketers/communicators are going to give people a reason to push that button and directing them to it. That's when it gets interesting.
- If people are offered valuable information, they will push the orange button.
- If they are offered a unique, valuable special offer, they will push the orange button.
- If they can get something of value for free, they will push the orange button.
- If they find out that they can stay up to date with YouTube and MySpace, they will push the orange button.
Great ideas in using RSS
(source: "The Business Case for RSS", R Hrastnik)
If you are reading this, it is probably safe to assume that you have a basic understanding of RSS, or at least know what it is.
Since discovering Newsgator and the use of RSS I have been fascinated with the potential applications of RSS for marketing.
One of the things I did was create a "client" feed using the clipping feature in Newsgator. The problem is of course that most of my clients don't have RSS readers. So I used the "headlines" feature and published the headlines on the dedicated customer page where I store their work. But that's abou as sophisticated I get.
I recently re-read an introduction to Rok Hrastnik's book "Unleash the marketing power of RSS in PDF format (about 30 pages) and it has been a great read.
He starts with making the business case for RSS, i.e. penetration, opt-in nature etc, which is fine but I'm already sold. The best part of the article are his examples of how to apply it.
Considering the often longterm relationships of Business to business marketing RSS seems to be particularly appropriate to deliver relevant information in a format that is opt-in and non-intrusive. Some of the applications would be:
- Product updates - its relevant to the audience and often time critical
- Software updates - ditto
- Catalogue publishing
- Special offers and events
- "Thought leadership" articles - write them or find feeds and re-publish
One of the key issues for business websites is meaningful and fresh content. They just don't have the people/focus to publish regularly. So the potential to publish content from a partner, distributor etc without having to do anything must be very persuasive.
PS: just realised that I posted on this in October last year. Ah well, if it is good it deserves another go.
What podcasting means to marketers
Steve Rubel posted a link to this fantastic online presentation on what podcasting is all about. It seems a bit lazy for me to refer to other blogs like this for my content, but it happens to be something that covers a couple of really current subjects:
- How is the interaction between marketers and their markets changing?
- How can marketers practically use new communications opportunities like podcasting?
This presentation does a good job in explaining both. As a B2B marketer, the format of this presentation in itself is also really interesting. Considering that in B2B virtually all your customers will have a broadband internet connection this type of simple presentation could very easily be done for many businesses.
- How many business owners/ceo's/sales managers struggle to explain their value proposition on paper but are dynamite in person?
- How powerful is it to do a virtual boardroom presentation, using whatever props you like, rather than a flat piece of paper or an html page?
The key will be how well this can be executed at a cost that allows for businesses to have a crack at this. As it is online, measuring the success at least should be relatively easy. It's pretty exciting stuff.
It may not be a great business tool yet, but…
When you see stats like this every marketer should pay attention:
These figures show the growth of blogging sites, and it's phenomenal. I am interested to see how the local aspect of blogging will take shape, especially from a business perspective. Because let's face it, for a business in Melbourne Australia there is not a lot of value in being wel-known in Seattle unless you actually turn your blog into an advertising site, which I'm not interested in.
The non-local nature of the Internet has always been a key weakness. In Australia the largest telco, (51% Government owned) launched an Australian specific search engine searching the web, the yellow and white pages, etc. Not sure how successful it is, but the concept of being able to use the Internet to specifically communicate locally makes as much sense as it does to communicate globally, depending on what your goals are.
One picture telling a thousand words
Understanding how you can use new technologies in your marketing efforts is really hard, especially if marketing is just one of many responsibilities.
From my experience, most SME's are still miles away from even using web technology that has been around for years to its potential. (Even better than that, there are still a whole lot of business people who will tell you they don't need a website, because their clients wouldn't look for them online.)
So let's get to the point: Steve Rubel from micropersuasion.com (a respected writer on this subject)posted this really good map outlining not only what these new technologies are, but more importantly to what effect they are used.
Handy reference.
Where you spend your time and money
It always happens. You get excited about new stuff in marketing and you want to get right into it. Over the past few months I have been completely absorbed in the brave new world of blogging, RSS, “tagging”, “Word of Mouth”, search engine marketing and anything else that is online and vaguely marketing related.
I love the potential these technologies, ideas and strategies offer for small and medium business to add real value to their customer relationships and improve the ROI on their advertising dollar.
There are stacks of opportunities right there, and in the long term they will become a standard part of marketing mix.
But in the short term? I don’t think so. Not for the vast majority of companies who tend to struggle to get marketing initiatives of the ground using known channels and tools.
It’s not because these ideas, tools, strategies etc wouldn’t work, but because of the same reason SME’s struggle with marketing now; a lack of internal skills and resources to develop the marketing strategy, the combination of activities that should be undertaken and the project management to make sure it happens.
What tends to happen is that search marketing, blogging, email marketing, viral becomes the latest “latest silver bullet” solution sold to them with a promise to fix all marketing woes...and so we go around and around.
What is the greatest weakness in small business marketing? I think lack of focus and project management are up there, but I’d like some comments.
RSS – Yahoo statistics say it is taking off. Really.
RSS is looking like it is developing in a major new channel. Here are some statistics from the Yahoo, posted on an interesting blog called "Pheedo".
50% are 18-34 (36% non-user)
36% college graduate (27% non-user)
31% have some post-graduate degree (22% non-user)
$74,116 average household income ($63,095 average user) "
Some more benefits RSS can offer:
Clean, crystal clear channel
100% opt-in
Micro-level targeted
Persistent, always-on communication
No Spam or bounced email issues
The business case for RSS marketing
If you are interested in Internet and email marketing, have a read. - A concise summing up of the challenges in email marketing, as well as a really useful explanation of where things are going. Even if you are not a tech person, you'll find this whitepaper a really clear outline of the problems internet and email marketing face. 28 pages is a bit much, but even if you just read the first couple of pages; you'll get something out of it.
"RSS marketing - the business case"
http://www.johnlawlor.com/rok-report/rss_marketing_the_business_case.pdf
Syndicate
Subscribe to this site's RSS feed.