blending the mix

Kathy Sierra created (when she was blogging), what I believe to be an essential bit of reading for any wannabe Web 2.0 marketer and sums it up very nicely in just one illustration below:

As a new-age or social media marketeer, you want to let the community guide you. You want to earn your community’s trust and respect by (at least!) look as if you are listening to them.

But then you realise that there are 10,000 opinions and suggestions about what to do with your product, how to improve it, what colour to make it etc., you suddenly realise why conventional marketing dictated to the customer!

Kathy suggests some great ways of handling these comments by categorising as many groups as possible and suggesting ways in which they could be treated.

Essential reading for anyone pondering letting go of your brand to your customers.

Courtesy of Paul Walsh and the BIMA, I won tickets to New York at the recent Facebook Debate.

Since then, I have been utterly giddy as a kipper to go and have now received my flight confirmation - but that is by-the-by.

Today I received an email offering FREE silver-plated tickets (by Links of London) of my flight details, boxed and wrapped in time for Christmas.

Now, give me anything free and I am on-board, but this offer really struck my as getting to the heart of the customer. It isn’t a superficial attempt at driving traffic or a cheap gimmick - it taps into the motivation for many people’s reasons for travelling with silverjet - a dream trip).

As such, offering your ticket as a valuable keepsake is a really nice touch.

Being in the bathroom business I am always on the look out for signs of life online from other like-companies to see what they are up to. Similarly, tradesemen would benefit enormously from using the internet.

English Cut grew enormously when Thomas Mahon (a craftsman, rather than a tradesman!) decided to blog about his tailoring. The passion he put across in his blog, for the cut, the materials and the styles helped grow his brand enormously.

Why wouldn’t this work for ANY business, even tradesman?

Along comes Plumbingmarketing a blog designed to aid tradesmen understand and market their businesses better than ever.

That said, in the UK a plumber looking for work is like trying to find rocking horse…(you know the rest) so I would struggle to understand just how useful this would be.

BUT, nobody can earn TOO MUCH money so why not all you plumbers and ‘leccies out there give it a go?

Let people share your passion for what you do, help them with regular tips and updates on fitting skills, pointers in what to look for when buying a bathroom, contact details, retailers (who in turn may pay you for a referral!), home improvement tips, advice from electriciaqn friends, plumber friends, builder friends etc.

Get involved wiht local community groups, find online home improvement/diy groups - bcome the indisipensable voice of your profession.
Before long, people get to know you, trust you (more than a number in a book anyway) and you have suddenly got yourself a customer base who knows you even BEFORE they take you on!

I have been reading Jordan’s blog, Tell Ten Friends for a while now. Apart from the fact that he is a sage and makes some really good, astute points, there are two other things which regularly draw me to the blog:

1) The blog design is awesome! It has to be one of the most “Web 2.0″ designs I have seen yet. Nice round boxes, clear layout, neat and not at all fussy. If budget allows I am going to get myself one of them there great looking blogs!
2) The name - Tell Ten Friends. Never has one description rolled of the tongue like a piece of Wordsworth alliteration and yet meant so much!

Tell Ten Friends is, in itself, a term which epitomsies what Jordan, me and no doubt many hundreds of others are working towards. Word of Mouth and Community being the cornerstone of marketing success.

Long may he continue!

Technorati Tags: Tell Ten Friends

My Sony laptop is on the verge of packing in, after years and years of (ab)use it is at death’s door.

The CD drive does not allow me to burn back-up discs anymore and it is pot luck as to whether or not it will work from one day to the next.

So, I am offering a unique opportunity to sponsor ME.

Apple, Microsoft, Dell, or indeed any company willing to provide me with a half-decent laptop will have their name mentioned as part of my email signature.

In ALL communications in which I participate and which requires me to use the laptop (pretty much all the time!), I will apply the following signature text for a full 12 months (and I WILL provide weekly evidence of this):

Paul Fabretti

Director

Written on an Apple Macbook Pro by Company X.

Or

"Written using the latest Dell Precision M90"

or whatever suits the company providing it! You get the picture!

I may even think about something that sounds good too!

I am a minimum 3-times a day, 3-blog blogger with a (growing) average 800 unique visitors per month (ok, not a lot but growing all the time!). I am an active member of linked-in, openbc, ecademy as well as the pinkomarketing wiki and google group.

I am also an eBay (UK) Gold Power seller. A link to the company providing my laptop will also be included in ALL my eBay auctions.

Some will no doubt snigger at the visitor numbers (and advertisers may balk at the numbers!) but I am an extremely active member of the communities in which I mix, and present you with an opportunity to touch business professionals deeper than any banner ad would.

If this is of interest to you and you would be able to provide me with a laptop, I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Tags: ebay, Dell, Apple, Macbook Pro, laptop, pinko marketing

Steve Rubel reports on the blurring of boundaries and concludes that:

the Cluetrain Manifesto is now coming true. Markets are now conversations and marketing is evolving into a two-way discipline. This means that advertising must go beyond its borders too. However, many of the most talented individuals who have such conversational skills work inside PR shops. That’s because the public relations industry has long traded in dialogue.

Get your ideas at the ready Pinko’s…we WILL be needed.

And this is ONE talented individual who does not work in a PR shop, so get in touch with me!

First its Scoble, then it’s Tara, now it’s Bill.

Who’s next?

What’s interesting is that Robert Scoble and Tara Hunt (despite having been part of innovative face-recognition start-up Riya) are pursuing interests in new areas on the internet rather than simply moving on to do the same thing at another company.

Robert has joined an exciting new company called podtech.net (a Silicon Valley-based tech. news podcasting channel) and Tara is expanding her Pinko Marketing concept (which just rocks!), as well as her own Citizen Agency!

What is interesting that these two long-established blogosphere personalities are both moving (despite coming from different directions!) towards companies and projects engaging in new (to most people!) methods of internet use.

CGC - Podcasting, vlogging, wiki’s, blogs, forums are all now essential tools to succeed on the internet and the fact that 2 such well-known personalities have left safe jobs to get more directly involved is a sign for all of us.

Technorati Tags: Robert Scoble, Tara Hunt, Riya, podtech.net, Pinko Marketing, Citizen Agency, CGC, Podcasting, vlogging, wiki’s, blogs

The BBC reports that OFCOM, the official telecommunications watcdog in the UK, is seeking a review and possible amendment to the regulations regarding the banning of the iPod gadget iTrips that can transmit the iPod content using FM radio signals.

The device was banned in the UK because it is argued that it is possible to interfere with commercial broadcasts already on that bandwidth.

The biggest dilemma seems to be how best to manage the acceptance given that the device is available all over the internet and there is a booming black market anyway.

If there is a change in the rules and we CAN use the iPod and iTrip in unison, we are facing some interesting times!

I think this opens up some exciting opportunities to create consumer-generated content radio stations as personal as the people put them out.
Live events like MESH 2006 could have instant MESH 2006 Radio, broadcasting (from the iPod) keynote speaches or event announcements. The Blogging 101 session from Tris Hussey could have been broadcast to all those who couldn’t make the seminar or someone may have missed Tara Hunt’s Keynote on Pinko Marketing, played again at 2100H on Radio MESH 2006 - all from an iPod!

On a more local level, parties and corporate events can be broadcast to friends or colleagues, either downloadable off company intranets or broadcast over “iPod FM”.

Each of these events could be sponsored with audio ads…the possibilities are endless.

Advertisers - are you keen to get into schools? Give a kid an iPod with some cool audio content on it to be broadcast at break time and lunchtime!
Does anyone remember Hi-de-Hi and its wonderful events broadcaster Ruth Maddocks? It’s here and it’s in the hands of Ofcom - advertisers, be ready!

Technorati Tags: iPod, iTrip, MESH 2006, Tris Hussey