Reading is a favorite past time, and along the way I've learned a lot from books. "SPIN Selling" taught me to look at the world from the customer's perspective and try to solve problems. "Crossing the Chasm" taught me that many products die not because they aren't good, but because they don't "cross the chasm" from early adopters who have a different fear threshold than the mainstream market.
This week I found a new book that is amazing, and just as earth shaking as those books were. The title is "What Would Google Do?", by Jeff Jarvis. You can read a snippet of the book at Jeff's site, link.
Jeff's ideas definitely turn the traditional world of selling and getting paid on its ear. He writes of the model of the product being free, andt he payment ancillary. Google, he opines, doesn't make money from its search engine but from embedded Google ads and applications. It is a fascinating read, and it makes all the sense in the world.
If you haven't read "What Would Google Do" run out now and grab a copy. Just as the personal computer turned the world on its head, just as Microsoft and software over turned the hardware model of leadership, so too is the internet changing the entire world. If you don't want to wind up being a buggy whip manufacturer you'd better understand the new paradigm.
What would Google do?
Showing posts with label SEO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SEO. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Internet Marketing -- at home at work and on your cell phone
July 2007 McKinsey published a report on how companies are marketing online.
The results are intriguing.
Although most savvy companies are using some form of online marketing (about 2/3rd per the report) online and offline marketing are often separate and non-communicative. Doesn't that seem odd in light of the whole "clicks and mortar" concept of combining the power of the internet with good old fashioned outlets?
A major reason for the disconnect is the old "silos of information" problem we're so familiar with. The systems that run traditional businesses don't have the necessary capabilities for Wiki, Blogs, viral marketing, etc. Even with today's sophisticated CRM software solutions that allow a prospective customer entry via the Internet, "click to chat", call center, email, fax, etc. most companies haven't implemented that technology -- let alone the next step that ties the Internet itself to their back end ERP or industry specific applications (such as HIS in health-care, BSS in Telecom, etc.).
So many companies have sophisticated "front end" marketing for their Internet presence -- SMS coupons to the cell phone for example -- but the back end is a little chaotic and highly manual.
Today when most people think of Internet marketing (if they think of it at all) they picture email SPAM and banner adds that may be linked to previous sites they've visited.
Thought leaders have long been blogging (hey, you're one of them -- you are reading this!) and using SEO (search engine optimization) to try and get their websites higher up on the coveted search engines like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live Search, etc.
We've moved from purely informational websites and B2C or B2B (business to consumer and business to business) to massively multi-player game sites (like World of Warcraft or Disney's ToonTown) and social networks (like FaceBook and MySpace).
Virtual worlds are the next phase past social networks. The are multi-dimensional sites where users can interact with each other in a cross between IM (instant messaging) and social networking.
Podcasts and ad hoc Webinars are another new marketing venue where the information is multimedia and folks can watch them online or download them. These can take the form of demos and infomercials and can be a very effective form of online advertising.
We've barely scratched the surface -- how about Wikis (like Wikipedia where anyone can contribute content) or Widgets (if you have Vista you probably have widgets showing the time or the stock market) and web services that do the work of making it all seem like magic. . .
Everyone seems to agree that online marketing is important and here to stay. 83% (per the McKinsey report) are using it for service management and 44% for pricing. The real trick here is to decide which form of online marketing makes the most sense for your company. To do that you must decide what your goal is (driving sales, improved customer satisfaction, leads, etc.) and then examining not only the various forms we've discussed here but which best suits your business model.
The results are intriguing.
Although most savvy companies are using some form of online marketing (about 2/3rd per the report) online and offline marketing are often separate and non-communicative. Doesn't that seem odd in light of the whole "clicks and mortar" concept of combining the power of the internet with good old fashioned outlets?
A major reason for the disconnect is the old "silos of information" problem we're so familiar with. The systems that run traditional businesses don't have the necessary capabilities for Wiki, Blogs, viral marketing, etc. Even with today's sophisticated CRM software solutions that allow a prospective customer entry via the Internet, "click to chat", call center, email, fax, etc. most companies haven't implemented that technology -- let alone the next step that ties the Internet itself to their back end ERP or industry specific applications (such as HIS in health-care, BSS in Telecom, etc.).
So many companies have sophisticated "front end" marketing for their Internet presence -- SMS coupons to the cell phone for example -- but the back end is a little chaotic and highly manual.
Today when most people think of Internet marketing (if they think of it at all) they picture email SPAM and banner adds that may be linked to previous sites they've visited.
Thought leaders have long been blogging (hey, you're one of them -- you are reading this!) and using SEO (search engine optimization) to try and get their websites higher up on the coveted search engines like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live Search, etc.
We've moved from purely informational websites and B2C or B2B (business to consumer and business to business) to massively multi-player game sites (like World of Warcraft or Disney's ToonTown) and social networks (like FaceBook and MySpace).
Virtual worlds are the next phase past social networks. The are multi-dimensional sites where users can interact with each other in a cross between IM (instant messaging) and social networking.
Podcasts and ad hoc Webinars are another new marketing venue where the information is multimedia and folks can watch them online or download them. These can take the form of demos and infomercials and can be a very effective form of online advertising.
We've barely scratched the surface -- how about Wikis (like Wikipedia where anyone can contribute content) or Widgets (if you have Vista you probably have widgets showing the time or the stock market) and web services that do the work of making it all seem like magic. . .
Everyone seems to agree that online marketing is important and here to stay. 83% (per the McKinsey report) are using it for service management and 44% for pricing. The real trick here is to decide which form of online marketing makes the most sense for your company. To do that you must decide what your goal is (driving sales, improved customer satisfaction, leads, etc.) and then examining not only the various forms we've discussed here but which best suits your business model.
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