Embeding brands in your brain

March 14th, 2010

All of us have a few brands embedded in our cerebral cortex.

Have a look at this video and I am sure that most of you will feel you are familiar with the neighbourhood (probably more that you would like to confess to and it may in fact be more familiar than your physical neighbourhood).

All these companies have managed to get an allocation of precious neurons in order to get an imprint in your cerebral cortex. The methods of achieving this have been well studied and the techniques are of interest to all companies that aim to build a lasting relationship with their customers.

Also, these companies are constantly thinking of new and innovative ways that will keep the allocation of neurons and not let another brand make stronger connections so that when the time comes and the brain needs to command our extremities into action they will be directed to the recognized product.

The traditional method that companies have used in the second half of the 20th century were mainly uni-directional, conveying a message from the sender (the company) to a receiver (the customer). These include advertising via commercials on TV, banners on the highways and on the websites we visit. This type of brand building was mainly based on repetition – the more exposure a customer had to the brand logo/product, the more likely the imprint would be made.

We are now starting to see a shift from the uni-directional model to a bi-directional marketing strategy. Using this strategy, brands wish to create an emotional response that will trigger a deeper emotional relationship that ties in with issues that are not necessarily directly related to the brand and the product but will still leave a neurological imprint.

These type of methods include social network pages where visitors interact with other visitors on topics that tend to drift but constantly have the branding in the background. Another method that brands use is to let their clients become “part of the company” by participating in policy decision making like the name of a product, the colour of the wrapping.

This has in fact turned the table on how marketeers run their campaigns. If in the uni-directional methodology customers were pumped with what the “marketing guru” thought would work to create the imprint, now the costumer is the guru and he will set the tone on how he likes to connect his neurons.

A film ‘The Joneses’ has taken the idea of bi-directional social marketing to an extreme in a very amusing way by simply putting a living advertising family in your neighbourhood.

Welcome to the bi-directional branded neighbourhood!

Posted in Marketing, Social Networking | No Comments »

The realization of a New Model

January 15th, 2010

Much has changed for DonateMate over the past few months. Since my last post I have been busy changing the software to accommodate the new business model that lends itself to the separation between content publishers on the one hand and brands on the other.

It has been an interesting evolutionary process from the initial concept of DonateMate to its current form. It seems to me that I could not have thought of the current model out of the blue. In fact, the original idea of compensating users for sharing content sprung from a problem in a completely different project I was working on a couple of years ago with my brother Oren. Therefore, it seems to me, that good ideas are created from a varying mix of problem solving and the process of evolution.

Much has changed for me personally and during the past couple of years, as DonateMate has taken more and more of my attention, I have come to realise that if you believe strongly enough in an “idea” and keep at it then chances are you will find the way to “make it happen”.

It was when I realized the potential this project has for generating funds for charity that I decided I “want to make this happen”. Since then it has been an a fascinating journey into the realms of marketing and advertising and internet technologies. It has also been a fabulous opportunity of meeting many people who share the same principals of giving (and have been a source of great knowledge and advice) that believe in DonateMate as well and have found their own way to help it become a success – thank you all!.

For DonateMate 2010 will be the year in which it achieve acceptance as a viable marketing method for brands that wish to become more involved in the Social Networking arena.

Posted in General, Social Responsibility | No Comments »

The worst thing you could do

September 15th, 2009

You have content that your user likes.

They like it so much that they are willing to take their precious time and press a few buttons, fill in a few fields and share with their friends.

So what would be the worst thing you could do – shove advertising in their face while they are doing so.

I have just seen this happen. Look at the share utility on The New York Times website.

They are claiming that the advertiser is sponsoring the ‘share tool’. What exactly are they sponsoring? If you want to share, you can do it for free. If you want to sponsor, at least sponsor something the user cares about and not yourself!

This is the equation:

User’s time marketing for the The New Your Times = A few extra bucks for the New York Times

I don’t think this equation works out (at least not for the readers of The New York Times).

Also, you have a user that is going to share and instead of keeping them focused on the task you throw them off by sending them to an advert – where is the sense in that?

Or rephrasing Simon and Garfunkel “Not a good idea, just a bad idea, just The New York Times”.

Posted in Innovation, Internet, Marketing, Sharing | No Comments »

Why we share

August 3rd, 2009

sharing

Most people will share in order to receive recognition.

Recognition is established when we:

  • Show knowledge that others do not possess.
  • Act in a benevolent manor.

Users of DonateMate achieve recognition for their knowledge and benevolence when they send recommendations to their friends and colleagues. Businesses using DonateMate receive a double helping of recognition both for their content and their donation to charity.

The following will give a brief overview of the important contribution to our society that sharing knowledge/content and a benevolent attitude can make.

Sharing Knowledge

It all started when humans developed the capability of communication via speech. By sharing our knowledge and experiences we made working in teams more efficient. Over the millenniums, we have fine-tuned our communication skills and have created institutional sharing organizations that thrive on team work and the sharing of knowledge between them.

Academic Sharing

Sharing knowledge is something that is most evident in the academic community. In fact, it is impossible to make advances without sharing information. Within this community you receive recognition for being the first to publish. In fact, Stata (1989, Organizational learning-the key to management innovation. Sloan Management Review. 30(3), 63-74) stressed the point that “the rate at which individuals and organizations learn may become the only sustainable competitive advantage”.

Commercial Sharing

In the commercial world, we have created methods for financially-driven firms to share their knowledge with copyrights and patents. By offering this protection and enabling them to monetize on their research and creativity, they receive recognition past the fruits of their creation while the rest can enjoy and improve on it.

Within the corporate world much research has been conducted into methods of inducing sharing between individuals and teams. Many factors come into play when we try to evaluate the reasons for sharing as outlined by Paul Hendriks in “Why Share Knowledge? – The Influence of ICT on the Motivation for Knowledge Sharing”. They include the wish to earn wages, to expend mental or physical energy, to contribute to the production of goods or services, the desire for social interaction and social status, the wish to survive, enjoy, belong, play, the desire for recognition and respect, the need for achievement, affiliation and power.

Benevolence

Most universities, museums and hospitals depend on the benevolence of wealthy individuals or large corporations for funding. One of the underlying reasons these benefactors make their contributions is the need to gain recognition. By making large philanthropic donations the contributor gains access to the elite class, thus differentiating themselves even more and creating recognition within their own class hierarchy (Why the Wealthy Give – Francie Ostrower).

For the common good

The constant instinctive search for recognition; via knowledge and benevolence, has enabled humanity to advance socially, scientifically and technologically. Therefore we should view the search for recognition as a positive trait.

Add DonateMate to your content and enable yourself and your users to receive this recognition!

Posted in CRM, Marketing, Sharing, Social Networking | No Comments »

Making marketing more socially responsible

July 13th, 2009

$14 billion in corporate charitable giving (Giving USA) – only 5% of charitable giving!

$550 billion in retail marketing spent during the same time period (Brandweek). Out of that, $23.6 Billion was spent on online advertising ($12.4 Billion spent on search engine marketing alone).

Not surprisingly, 63% of consumers say brands spend too much money on advertising or marketing and should put more into a good cause (Edelman goodpurpose study).

So, if only 2.5% of the marketing budgets could be shifted towards giving, the charitable budgets would DOUBLE!

The best way to create this shift is by offering businesses methods that will enable them to simultaneously market and donate.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) achieves brand loyalty by creating positive sentiment when a business makes a charitable contribution. If your business is trying to differentiate itself from the competition then CSR is a great way to do so. In fact, 86% of consumers switch from one brand to another brand if the other brand is associated with a charitable cause! However, even though the effect of CSR is acknowledged by marketers, it is not utilized to its full potential due to the fact that it is more difficult to quantify than say, search engine budgets.

CSR methods that could show the direct contribution to sales, at least to the level of other marketing alternatives, would have a greater chance of creating the budget shift and increasing corporate giving while maintaining marketing objectives.

DonateMate aims to do just that. It offers the same pricing techniques used in search engine marketing and performance can be tracked independently in Google Analytics. 90% of the funds paid by a business to DonateMate will go directly to charities . The users who recommend the business content select which charity. This generates both an incentive for word of mouth marketing and CSR at the same time.

Another great idea that creates word of mouth marketing advantages and CSR simultaneously is ReplyForAll. Here , users add a sponsored charitable message to their email signature. Every time they send an email, they are identified with charitable causes and the funds for charity originate from the marketing budget of the participating businesses.

And even if you are not a brand name you can still create more sales by using Cause Related Marketing. A clear example of this type of marketing is the eBay Giving Works. Here sellers allocate a percentage of the sell price to a charity of their choice. The buyers select sellers that support a charity they favour. This method has raised over $126 million for charities in the 6 years it has been running.

The movement has started; it is time to get on the bandwagon.

Posted in CRM, Charity, Donations, Marketing, Social Responsibility | No Comments »

The Pirates Dilemma

July 7th, 2009

How innovations in marketing can find their way from the pirate-sphere into the corporate-sphere.


Source: http://thepiratesdilemma.com

Posted in Innovation, Marketing, Social Networking, Social Responsibility | No Comments »

Be clear about asking users to share your content

July 6th, 2009

If you would like your users to share your content why not start out by telling them so?

It seems to me that all websites understand the importance of social sharing of their content. It is the way most websites display this option to users that I think should change.

Currently it seems that web content creators are shy when it comes to asking users to share their content while the whole social networking scene as far as users are concerned is about sharing!

How can I share this?

The list bellow shows how websites are answering this question:

  1. No Sharing options

    Some websites don’t offer any sharing option for their users. Main brand names such as the GAP, Starbucks and even the tech savvy Apple have not placed a sharing suggestion on their product web pages.

  2. Social network icons

    Some websites display an array of names and icons of social networks next to their content in the hope that users know that these are used for sharing:GameSpot.com:

    sharing-examples-gamespot

    This is probably the least effective way to get users to share content because it lacks a call to action.

  3. Aggregate sharing tools

    Tools from AddThis, Tell-A-Friend, ShareThis or DonateMate that offer the user a choice of almost all the popular social networks:The Gaurdian:
    sharing-examples-guardian

    These are more effective if you use a button that actually has the words ‘Share with friends or ‘Tell a Friend’ on it.

    When you press most of them they become very cluttered, offering lots of networks to share on.

  4. Combinations

    Some websites use incorrect terminology and create confusion.The BBC:
    sharing-examples-bbc

    Isn’t Facebook mainly about sharing with friends?

    Some try to get “the best of both worlds” by placing one of the aggregating share buttons and some popular social networking icons. This offers no clear advantage to users. In fact, this may actually confuse them.

The question that you should be asking yourself is:

Do users understand that you would like them to share your content with their friends or their followers? Will they take action?

Some do, but why not make sure that everyone understands what you would like them to do and take the word of mouth marketing action you are looking for.

A couple of changes that will get users sharing

  1. Keep it simple

    Just write (no icons needed):

    Share this with friends

    Or better still:

    Share this
    with friends and followers

    You (and probably most of your uses) can probably see the difference.

    Also, try not to confuse your users by using technical term or overwhelming them with too many options. Speak to them in their language and help them find the sharing option that they are looking for. Try including these stages:

    1. Share
    2. Share with …
    3. Share with … using …

    The DonateMate sharing tool has been fashioned so that you can customize the link to it and the user is very clearly prompted to decide with which group of people they wish to share before they select the platform they will use to do so:

    DonateMate share panel

  2. Location, Location, Location

    Users scan documents, they don’t always read all the content and almost never read all the way through to the end. This however does not mean that they don’t think the content is worth recommending.

    f_reading_pattern_eyetracking

    Source: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

    By placing a few small icons at the bottom of your content you are probably missing on most of the word of mouth marketing you are hopping to get. In fact, the most effective place to place this call for action is in the middle of the page. I don’t think it should be done in a crude way; you have your designers to see that it is done elegantly.

    Have a look at how The Huffington Post is doing it.

The main thing to remember is not to be shy about sharing – it’s simply too important.

Posted in Marketing, Sharing, Social Networking | No Comments »

Is marketing on the Internet for free?

June 29th, 2009

The very short answer: No

The short answer: Yes and No.

So now that you are confused I will go into some detail that should help clarify this ambiguity.

Let’s start with the clear understanding that the Internet is an infrastructure (like a road or air traffic control) and we use the many tools (cars and airplanes) that zoom around in it.

For example:

  • Skype– a tool for staying in touch with people we know.
  • Facebook – a tool for staying in touch with people we want to know.
  • eBay – a tool for selling items.
  • Digg – a tool for keeping up to date on current affairs .
  • Google – a tool for finding these  other tools

As users of the Internet we get to use all these tools for free, that is the main difference between the Internet and the real world. However businesses have to pay for creating and maintaining the tool. Then they need to get users to start using the tool. This is ALL part of what we call  Internet marketing.

It is a common belief that  because the Internet is free for users it is free for businesses. This may have been the case in the early years  of the Internet, when there were fewer users . However this is no longer true due to ever-increasing Internet marketing budgets that are reeling in ever more users.

So what is my point about free Internet marketing? Well, you may get lucky,  get noticed,  become the first link on Google and  attract someone to write a blog about your product or send your link on Twitter to 10,000 followers. However, if you don’t want to count on luck to create your online presence then keep on reading on the different marketing methods and how the marketing focus is shifting towards the utilization of social networks for marketing campaigns.

Catalogues [Search]

The intention is to be in the top 5 search results and not on page 5 of the results. You have two ways of doing so.

The first method to improve your ranking is by considering how the search engines view your content. This field is known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and is probably where you could spend a lot of money paying an expert to do the job that you could do yourself by reading a good book on the topic and doing some reading here, here and here.

No matter how good your content is written for SEO it will not rank high  if you don’t negotiate  links pointing to your website. I will get back to this shortly.

The other option is  to pay for it. Each search engine  offers you the chance to bid  for a position  in a separate section on the search results page. You only pay if someone visits your website -  also known as Pay Per Click.

Running such a campaign requires understanding and perseverance but offers high return rates. You need to understand how the bidding process works and  which search terms you should be bidding for. You need to track its  effectiveness and then go back and refine the campaign.  If  you are busy running your  business it may be sensible to hire a company that will get the best results for you.

Add networks [Online billboards]

You can place advertising on other websites and blogs by joining an add network such as AdSense and FederatedMedia. Advertisement is  content-based so you will be able to choose the website/blogs that will display your ad  based on their content. Again, this is usually run as PPC campaigns and the same guidelines as mentioned for Search applies here.

Conversation [Blogging]

This is where you can find  those valuable links to your content  that will push you up in the search results.

People blog about everything.  The  important thing to be aware of is that the conversation on the Internet is very much directed by the long tail of the distribution graph. The user on the Internet will find his interest well refined to his or her taste and will most likely stick to it.

Professional bloggers live off  the proceeds of the advertising placed next to their posts (using the above mentioned ad  networks ) but to receive links, you need the authors to write about your product or content.  If  you have an exceptional product, you may get lucky.

Fortunately (or not) this medium is also going through a major change and is allowing sponsored conversation on networks such as IZEA, PayPerPost, Magpie. You can now pay for your product to be mentioned on a popular blog.  This means you  are getting people interested in your product by a blogger they trust.

Word of Mouth [Sharing on Social networks, Social Bookmarking]

Yes, this does exist on the Internet, and probably the least used marketing method even though it is the most effective of them all. It’s all about trust levels. Just as we would trust our favourite blogger to advise us on products, we would also trust friends and family even more (well, at least most of them!).

Trust Levels

Source: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007144

However, when it comes to spending funds on word  of mouth working you still hope to  make it work  without any incentive. You may have placed ‘ShareThis’ or ‘AddThis’ buttons that offer users the possibility to share content in the hope your visitors will take action and share your content.  Well it may happen, if you are lucky, but if we follow the evolution of all the other mediums of online marketing this way of thinking is bound to change.

In a sense we have already found a method to induce WOMM by creating amusing videos that people spread virally to their friends or post on their social network.

DonateMate offers incentive-based WOMM. The cost structure is based on the same principals as  PPC, but we call it Donation Per Click so that you only pay for quality visitors. It also allows marketers to easily evaluate the effectiveness of their campaigns using the same statistical tools they already use.

It is not all bad news. We used to spend money on advertising in local magazines, national press, radio and television, which was  very wasteful. It targeted a large demographic where the majority were not interested in the product. The Internet enables us to target the right people for the product at a much more refined granularity achieving higher return on investment

Posted in Internet, Marketing, Sharing, Social Networking | No Comments »

Social interaction’s contribution to social responsibility

June 23rd, 2009

There is no question that we have become more socially active across networks that allow us to share our life, desires, likes and dislikes with our friends, followers and the world at large.

Marketing is also changing in tune with this social change to employ two-way social interaction between consumers. Shiv Singh lists the trends that marketers need to be aware of when marketing to the socially connected consumer.

We have also seen how consumers value a socially responsible business and how this cause related marketing also affects the purchase process and brand loyality.

I agree with Stuart Oliver – It is only when we as consumers offer to increase our social interaction with a business based on its social responsibility that we will start to see tangible social gains. We are currently in the early stages of this process and are only starting to develop the senses that are needed to detect a socially responsible business and how to interact with it.

With the breakdown of the ‘greed’ consumer mentality in the current financial downturn I believe this trend has an even stronger potential to emerge as a major consumer driving force that enables us to evaluate a company on how much it gives back to our society.

As a founder of DonateMate, I imagine it becoming a part of the machinery that brings about this change.

Posted in CRM, Marketing, Social Networking, Social Responsibility | No Comments »

Social networks help in freedom fighting

June 20th, 2009

The last week has seen a new use for social networks in Iran, where a strong force for social change and freedom has promoted the use of the Internet to coordinate protests and disseminate information between the supporters of the reformist and former president Mir Hossein Moussavi.

Report that social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, which was asked by the US State Department to reschedule maintenance sessions so as not to disrupt communication between the protesters, have become the new weapon for freedom. In fact, the Iranian government is using electronic warfare tactics against its own population that are usually used by nations when in a state of war. 

However, the residents of Iran and expatriates are starting to force the current regime into accepting that foal play was part of the elections and that something needs to be done and soon!

We all hope that the protestors are successful and that they manage to reach their goal and change their status from a nation run by an autocratic regime to a true democracy that cherishes freedom and equality. Such a change will enable president Obama (also savvy with the ways of the social net) to go further with his views of reconciliation with the muslim/arab world with greater ease.

The Internet has long been considered important for free trade and free press but now the Internet is also about freedom for the people – the people of Iran. Or, allow me to paraphrase on the words of Abraham Lincoln, another important symbol of freedom and equality:

That the Internet “of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”.

In šā Allāh

Posted in Internet, Social Networking | No Comments »

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