Blog Posts About: marketing

Marketing and Promoting Your Intranet

I think James at Column Two was right to quote this as a teaser for this article:

An Intranet is not a marketing vehicle for a product; it is the product. Without proper system promotion, users won't know about the existence of an Intranet or the true value of the content contained within it. And the time, money, and effort expended to build an Intranet is far too great to hope users will simply happen upon it by chance.

This is true, and I think Intranet promotion can take many forms- and widespread internal marketing campaigns can be dangerous because of the perception that... "it's just another attempt to force something down our throats".

The makes good points about "loud" vs. "quite" Intranet roll-outs. I'm personally a fan of the quiet or soft roll-out. I believe that people are skeptical of marketing these days and when it comes from inside the company, it's even more east to dismiss.

But, if a worker hears about a cool new feature on the Intranet from a co-worker, it suddenly has an attractiveness that cannot be related in a poster or brochure.

People want to feel like they are in-the-know and part of a privileged group that has "found" something others don't know about. This word-of-mouth approach can quickly build a core of devoted users who can expand the network without spreading skepticism.

Scobleizer: Ten evangelism and IT lessons from one of America's biggest churches

Scoble talks to the CTO and Internet tech manager of one of the largest churches in the US about how they've got so big, so fast.

I think Scoble does a good job of learning about their strategies and distilling them into 10 non-religious lessons that can be applied very widely:

Lesson one: make it easy for everyone to learn about you -- on their terms.

Lesson two: make it easy to experience your product's special attributes.

Lesson three: to get word-of-mouth advertising you need to be remarkable.

Lesson four: use IT to efficiently get close to your customers and take care of their needs.

Lesson five: if you want to be better, make sure you're better from the first minutes of someone's experience.

Lesson six: if you want to be seen as bleeding edge, invest to be bleeding edge and do so throughout your company.

Lesson seven: extend the usefulness of your plant.

Lesson eight: design your systems so they never go down and can expand for future growth.

Lesson nine: don't be religious about technology, choose what gets the job done best for the least amount of money and staff time.

Lesson 10: when you become successful, bottle up what got you there and sell it to others.

How to Manage Your Corporate Reputation Online

Online discussion forums�??commonly referred to as consumer generated media (CGM)�??are increasingly being used by consumers to ratify or criticize products and brands. Because consumers use these online discussion forums to check out other consumers’ opinions and experiences�??for pre- or post-shopping advice�??they are shaping the perspectives of millions of consumers globally.

Good perspectives, and the author provides good advice for companies to be aware of the power of these online discussions in shaping the market. But what about reacting to them? What can a company do to preserve an online reputation?

What is missing is the value of being *involved* in the online discussions. Being aware is only part of the picture- the real issue is being able influence the online discussions and provide resources that enable the company to have a real voice that shapes opinions.

Companies who are concerned about their online reputation need to look for ways to participate in the discussions with a personal and honest voice.

Involvement may mean creating an online community of customers or starting a weblog. Only by being a part of the discussion can a company truly stick up for itself when it's being trashed online.

You can't respond to a weblogger with a press release.

Link Via: Reach Customers Online's RSS Feed

Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Loyalty

This Marketing Profs article is entertaining and makes some good points. It makes clear something that I believe- that traditional marketing is dying.

We can no longer impress, cajole or delude our audience into remaining loyal. Today, our audience assumes we have great features and benefits and quality. And they assume that we have a positive image, competitive salary and benefits and a positive working environment… and lions and tigers and bears… oh my!

So now what? How do we get our audience to return to our show? How do we foster loyalty in a world full of product and price parity, and full of skeptics, cynics and other “freethinkers�??

In answering these questions, the author also illustrates the value of the customer feeling as if they are member of a community (online or off):

This feeling of “affiliation�? has been mastered by companies such as Harley-Davidson, Oprah, Starbucks and Apple, not to mention many emerging online communities. When I snap up the leather, hop on my Harley, and click my boots three times, I am transformed. I feel like a member of a special tribe. It’s not about horsepower and gas mileage; it’s about… feelings! A Harley executive was quoted as saying, “What we sell is the ability for a 43-year-old accountant to dress in black leather, ride through small towns and have people be afraid of him.�? Forget altruism, forget deals, forget fear. This is about identity. There is no stronger bond.

So true.

Via: Business Pundit

As I posted before, Andy Bourland is starting a new company called Up2Speed.com. I really like this press release regarding the launch of the new company- it's fun and has a ton of personality. I'm looking forward to seeing more interesting and cool stuff from these folks.

This is a press release about an entrepreneur named Andy Bourland. He's a guy who can spot a trend. In the 1970s, he sold Earth Shoes and waterbeds. In the 1990s, he sold web media. In 1996, he started Andover.net, which ultimately included several leading technology sites, including Slashdot (see!). It later IPOed and went platinum.

 

He thought, "That was cool." So in 1997 he started another company called ClickZ. It was also a big hit, becoming among the most popular web media companies about Internet marketing. In 2000, he sold it to Internet.com for millions. He laughed all the way to the bank, like this: "Mwaa-haa-haa!" until he met the taxman, who gave him a spanking. Ouch.

Via: Rick Bruner