Marketing Articles About Benefits

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Results for: benefits

46 items found:

The Ryder Cup of Word of Mouth. Sean Moffitt at Agent Wildfire, author of blog Buzz Canuck, just published a list of top 23 U.S. Word of Mouth bloggers. As described by Sean..."...these broad-minded bloggers and company heads have distinguished themselves by trying to understand how ideas spread, online and offline, through a range of different strategies and tactics. In my opinion, they are much closer to the purpose and benefits of web 2.0, co-creation, social networks and other web, cultural and social phenomenon."I tip my hat to him for adding me to the list. I'm honored to be among this group. And I need to work on fulfilling this honor by keeping up on this blog, though these days I do a lot of blogging on Social Commerce and WOM on Bazaarblog.Here's his list of the USA Team:1. Jackie Huba/Ben McConnell - Church of the Customer (Austin, Texas)2. Andy Sernovitz - Damn! I Wish I Thought of That! (Chicago, Illinois)3. Pete Blackshaw - CGM (4. Jim Nail - Cymfony5. Ed Keller - Keller Fay6. Jeremiah Owyang - Web Strategist7. Rohit Bhargarva - Influential Marketing8. Owen Mack - CoBrandIt9. Walter Karl - WOM Study10. Fred Reichheld - Net Promoter - Boston11. Max Kalehoff - Attention Max12. Oliver Blanchard - Brand Builder13. Charlene Li - Groundswell14. Sam Decker15. Joseph Jaffe16. John Moore - Brand Autopsy (Austin, Texas)17. Peter Kim, Being Peter Kim (Austin, Texas)18. Mack Collier - The Viral Garden19. Spike Jones - Brains on Fire20. Ron McDaniel - Buzzoodle21.John Jantsch - Duct Tape Marketing22. Kim Proctor -... (09/07/08 09:00 PM)

Do you know about the Affiliate E-book marketing?. Getting an affiliate Ebook is an excellent way to increase your affiliate sales. You can actually take benefit of this trend in affiliate marketing, but you still have to have a good quality marketing... (09/06/08 09:00 AM)

The Benefit of SEO Campaigns. Successful online business is impossible without an effective marketing strategy. 85% of online shoppers are guided by the results of the search engines. So as search engines dominate the market of ta... (09/06/08 09:00 AM)

Loans for People on Benefit: Easy Way to Chuck out the Financial Crunch. When a person is living on benefits but suddenly need extra cash for any emergency then he get Loans for people on benefits; it is very easy to get these loans through internet as an applicant can app... (09/04/08 09:00 PM)

Today's Tip: The Benefits of a Customer Survey.

(09/04/08 09:01 AM)

Should You Buy A Business Mailing List?. Direct mailing remains the best way to contact the decision makers at most businesses. It gives you the opportunity to expose them to the benefits of your products and services. That's why many peop... (09/03/08 09:00 PM)

Copywriting - sometimes it's better to stress features, not benefits. . In copywriting, it's a good rule of thumb to stress benefits over features. That is, what's in it for the punter rather than what your product or service consists of. I say a good rule of thumb, but f... (09/03/08 09:01 AM)

Benefits of 2D Data Matrix Codes over Conventional 1D Barcodes. Take a close look at any electronic devices, whether it is an automotive keyless entry system or home audio equipment, and you will come across a unique coding standard called Data Matrix which is use... (09/03/08 09:01 AM)

Article marketing has several key benefits. Article marketing is a type of advertising by writing short articles related to business' respective industry. Professionals for have used article marketing nearly as long as mass print has been avail... (08/31/08 09:00 AM)

Myths and Truths about Them Online Auctions. Online Auctions are unmistakably among the hottest e-Sourcing technologies on the Internet business today. But what exactly is an online auction anyway and what are its benefits? According to The ... (08/27/08 09:00 PM)

Smell Of Success. Pioneer Press: Ever since there have been family farms, there have been farm families with small side businesses. Whether it’s selling fresh eggs or honeycomb, sweet corn or seed, these microbusinesses provide a little extra income — and some other benefits besides. Today that tradition lives on, most visibly in roadside stands and farmers markets. But Kent Olson, [...]
(08/27/08 09:00 PM)

Sales Letter Training - Benefits And The Long-Handled Shovel. How do you insure that the thrust of your sales letter focuses on customer benefits? By learning the lesson of the shovel! So, where do we begin? Simple. You start by using what you alrea... (08/19/08 09:01 AM)

8 Ways To Find Your Prospect's Key Benefit. If there's anything you can count on, it's that things are always changing. Meaning you don't ever want to get left behind. With that in mind, here are 8 secrets you can use - right now -to discover ... (08/19/08 09:01 AM)

Mobile Phone Apps Finally Take Off, Thanks to Apple. iPhone apps are taking off. And the companies who program them are benefiting off consumers’ thirst for upgrades. Businessweek wrote about Illusion Labs, which invented the iPhone app version of the game Labyrinth: The first game Illusion Labs developed has become one of the most popular pieces of software for the iPhone. The game is called [...] (08/12/08 09:00 AM)

Proctor and Gamble Shows How a Weak Dollar Benefits US Multinationals. From Bloomberg: Procter & Gamble Co., the world’s largest consumer-products company, reported fourth-quarter profit that rose more than analysts estimated and said earnings may rise further as price increases and the dollar’s declines boost sales. Chief Executive Officer A.J. Lafley’s strategy of raising prices on Cascade dishwashing detergent, Iams pet food and Gillette razors helped counter record [...] (08/05/08 09:01 AM)

Copywriting Must Sell The Benefits. To inform your customers of what you can offer them, you want to communicate your intentions/goods/services etc. to them. The way to accomplish that is through emotional response writing. Emotional ... (07/27/08 09:01 AM)

500 Square Miles of Forest In Montana To Be Permanently Protected.

I'm a huge believer in land conservation. I believe one of the best ways to protect our environment is to take wide swaths of land permanently out of circulation. I was delighted to read an article Amy forwarded me from the New York Times today titled Deal Is Struck in Montana to Preserve Forest Areas.

The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land have put together a deal to pay $510 million to buy about 500 square miles of forest currently owned by Plum Creek Timber. Half of the money will come from private donations; the other half will come from a new tax-credit bond mechanism that was recently passed. I'm delighted our government is spending - via a tax-credit bond - $250 million on land conservation. I'd like to allocate 50% of my taxes next year to stuff like that.

I've been involved directly in some land conservation; we have a conservation easement on all of our land in Eldorado Canyon, I am a trustee for the Colorado Conservation Trust, I'm a huge fan (and beneficiary) of all the Boulder and Boulder County Open Space activity, and I've been involved in several very contentious land use issues. The political and economical dynamics of public property rights, land use and development rights, and conservation are incredibly complicated and often extremely polarized.

It's gets especially messy in areas that are fragmented (or "checkerboarded") like the land in Montana. In these situations, the amount of work to figure out how to get all the land in one contiguous area into an actual deal can be mindboggling. The Nature Conservancy and Trust for Public Land are pros at this and it looks like they've pulled off something amazing this time around that will have long term benefits for a beautiful part of our country.

(07/06/08 09:00 AM)

Devver is Looking for Feedback from Ruby Hackers.

One of this year's TechStar's companies - Devver - is building web-service tools for Ruby developers. They are taking the tools that Rudy developers already use and putting them into the cloud, adding benefits like faster execution, easy setup and configuration, and change management.

Devver is currently looking for feedback from Rubyists on the types of tools that would be most useful. You can help them out by filling out their survey.

They're also interested in talking to Ruby teams in the Denver/Boulder area. If you're willing to talk to them and interested in getting an early look at what they are working on, send them email to set up a meeting. The Devver guys are also going to be in the bay area on July 16th so if you are a bay area Ruby developer, they are interested in meeting you.

(06/25/08 09:01 PM)

Top, Bottom, Middle, or Who Cares?.

Having been an entrepreneur and VC for over 20 years, I've now seen plenty of economic cycles - both at a macro level and specifically in the areas I invest in. As a result, I smiled when I received three conflicting pieces of information today from two people I know and like and one person that I don't know but know is respected.

Matt McCall at DFJ Portage calls the current VC cycle "dead" as of Q2 2008 in Rough Ride Ahead: Buckle Up & Get Your Money Now (if you can). He says it with conviction, although he does acknowledge that he hopes he is Peter the Wolf.

Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures asks (and answers) the question Am I Bored With “Web 2.0”? Fred is heading off to Europe for a month with his family "to see how the web is changing the world and I want to see how entrepreneurs who are operating with a different worldview are thinking about the power and potential of the web. I could do the same thing in Asia or some other part of the world, but Europe is particularly easy place to do this because of the range of cultures and countries within a couple hours plane ride from each other."

Merrill Lynch's chief strategist Richard Bernstein in "Some thoughts on alternative investments (6/23/08)" says "The growth in alternative investments seems linked to the growth of the credit crisis" but then goes on to say "There may be two areas of alternative investments that seem relatively attractive in the current financial environment. In both cases, these are areas that might benefit from the tightening of global credit. The first is early-stage venture capital. ... If return-on-investment does indeed tend to be higher when capital is scarce, the significant tightening of traditional credit funding to smaller companies seems to make early-stage venture capital strategies more attractive."

While Bernstein's definition of "early stage venture capital" is mostly likely different than mine (given my interpretation of his assertion), knowing how sound bites work, the three tag lines are "VC is dead", "I'm bored of Web 2.0 and need more meaning in my investments", and "early-stage VC is attractive again."

Like Fred, I also am about to embark on a month outside of my normal context. Amy and I are about to head to our house in Homer, Alaska for the month of July. I'm looking forward to going to a place where the Supreme Court rules Homer voter initiative invalid and thinking big (but not big box) thoughts.

(06/23/08 09:00 PM)

Help Room to Read - Get mystery business books.

The team over at 800-CEO-READ have an awesome project in the works that benefits one of my favorite causes, Room to Read.

Here's the deal:

For $20.00 we are putting together a MYSTERY BOX of three business books. In this box you are guaranteed one title that either won, or made the shortlist for best book of 2007 in its category, and 2 other titles that were submitted for the awards. 100% of the purchase will go directly to Room to Read, and we'll cover the shipping on all orders. Get on board and help us make a difference!

To take part in this special offer, visit The 800-CEO-READ Mystery Box page: http://800ceoread.com/mysterybox

(06/09/08 09:00 AM)

Government Grants and Free Money.

With the economy in bad shape like it is these days, many people are experiencing financial hardships. As a result, the scammers are out in force, advertising their books and CDs that promise free money from the government for everything from paying your bills to getting out of debt, and more.

I'm getting a boatload of emails from people who want me to help them write a letter to apply for a government free money grant. Many others write to say that they need the right form to apply for a grant or that they have written a proposal but don't know which government agency to send it to.

If you need help, you may be eligible for various types of government benefit programs, which are often called grants. Most of these programs are administered at the state and local levels. You don't need a special book to find them, and you don't need to write a letter or a proposal to apply. But you will probably have to meet certain income or other types of requirements, and you'll need to be realistic -- despite what the scammers and books tell you, the government is not going to give you a handful of free money to pay off your credit card bills.

Below is a list of categories of benefits and assistance offered by the government. You'll find this listing along with links to specific programs in your state as well as federal agency programs and other resources. Just click on the link to go to the website.

clipped from www.govbenefits.gov

Select categories of interest.

Select categories of interest. (Check all that apply)

Career Development Assistance Child care/Child support

Counsel/Counseling Disability assistance

Disaster relief Education/Training

Energy Assistance Food/Nutrition

Grants/Scholarships/Fellowships Healthcare

Housing Insurance

Living Assistance Loan/Loan repayment

Medicaid/Medicare Social Security

Tax Assistance Veterans-Active Duty

Volunteer opportunities

(04/14/08 09:00 AM)

Liberate Your Marketing By Setting Boundaries.

This is the article that I wrote this month for adotas. The idea here is that so often, marketers are consumed with all of the media and hype around them that we neglect to setup proper boundaries and filters for ourselves and for our teams to ensure that we're truly able to focus on our marketing mission, only letting that which will truly benefit our organization onto the marketing plan.

â??Donâ??t fence me inâ?? is the mindset of most marketers and creative members of your team. The last thing we typically want is to have boundaries on our time, creativity and choices. Boundaries, however, are what keep you and I focused on the business of marketing and others focused on sales and still others focused on finance and operations. The ability to set, express, and maintain boundaries is an essential part of any healthy marketing department. Boundaries build â??win-winâ?? relationships by making clarifying needs and limits, while opening the field on what options are available for meeting marketing objectives. More specifically, setting marketing boundaries around both new and legacy marketing tactics allow you to focus on those things that matter and only pursue those ideas that pass through your well-established marketing boundaries, ensuring a higher degree of success.

What do marketing boundaries look like, and how can you know where and how to set them?

Peter Block, author of Flawless Consulting, says that â??If you canâ??t say â??no,â?? your â??yesesâ?? donâ??t mean a thing.â?? Thatâ??s so absolutely true. In marketing, if we canâ??t say â??NOâ?? to those things that seem to beg at our budgets and demand our time, weâ??re hamstrung in trying to accomplish those things that weâ??ve already said â??yesâ?? to. In order to keep our yes and no categories in check, there are five key boundary setting techniques that I recommend for all marketers.

Learn to say The Positive â??NOâ??: Yes, you can say â??noâ?? positively. Knowing that your â??noâ?? answer leads to increased energy and focus on the â??yesesâ?? youâ??ve already committed to. To get a feel for this, look at where you should say â??NOâ?? right now. Sit down right now and identify the emerging demands on your marketing team, plan and budget. Identify 5-10 â??NOâ??sâ?? you need to say. Then, for each, ask yourself, â??What would I be willing to say â??Yesâ?? to in this case?â?? Choose wisely - only what you are willing to do, and can do with the same energy and focus that youâ??ve committed to apply to your existing â??yeses.â??

Establish â??gate criteriaâ?? for new marketing vehicles and ideas: Thereâ??s a tool used in product development called the â??Stage-Gateâ?? method that includes a set of predetermined steps from idea to launch. By implementing a similar set of procedural steps in reviewing new marketing ideas, tools, tactics and technologies you will gain a clear understanding of what you should allow into your marketing mix and whatâ??s destined for the â??NOâ?? pile. Just as you have a systematic process for evaluating candidates that you hire onto your marketing team, you need to establish rigor in what ideas make it onto the marketing plan.

Equip your team with boundary setting tools: The best boundary setting tools are of little benefit to an organization if all of the information and minute decisions are still run though the head of marketing. When working through the exercise on the â??positive NOâ?? and setting up your gate criteria, walk you team through the process and gather their input. When you get to the next iteration, walk through it with your team again and point out where their input is included. Repeat until complete.

Transfer ownership of boundaries to your team: Working through step 3, â??equip your team,â?? will set the stage for ownership transfer. Once youâ??ve settled on an initial â??NOâ?? list and have your gate criteria and process established, it should become part of everyoneâ??s job to ensure that everything is vetted through the new process and â??NOâ?? test before it comes up for discussion. This way youâ??ll have a team thatâ??s always focused on the securing the win for each of your committed â??yesesâ?? but that also knows how to spot a genuine opportunity when it comes along.

Keep your freedom to choose: When youâ??re not clear on what you should say no to, itâ??s equally challenging on what to say yes to. By setting marketing boundaries, youâ??ll free up your thoughts and energy to focus on what matters most in achieving your objectives, while simultaneously freeing yourself to make smart choices using your new â??power of NOâ?? and ideas evaluation methods.

Once youâ??ve established boundaries, a system and criteria for new marketing idea review and delegate boundary management to your team, youâ??ll find yourself with more focus, energy and initiative behind those decisions that you have committed to and will have a fool-proof system for staying in step with the newest marketing trends without feeling like youâ??re being carried away on a tidal wave of runaway marketing ideas.

(04/04/08 09:00 PM)

Help Room to Read - Get mystery business books.

The team over at 800-CEO-READ have an awesome project in the works that benefits one of my favorite causes, Room to Read.

Here's the deal:

For $20.00 we are putting together a MYSTERY BOX of three business books. In this box you are guaranteed one title that either won, or made the shortlist for best book of 2007 in its category, and 2 other titles that were submitted for the awards. 100% of the purchase will go directly to Room to Read, and we'll cover the shipping on all orders. Get on board and help us make a difference!

To take part in this special offer, visit The 800-CEO-READ Mystery Box page: http://800ceoread.com/mysterybox

(04/04/08 09:00 PM)

Purchase the Marketech '08 Marketing Technology Guide!.

$19.99

Marketech 08: Using Emerging Media in Marketing - eBook - $19.99

Today's service industry organizations depend on deeper and more relevant customer connections to drive loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation within their coveted client base. These companies don't just need technology however, they need a systems perspective on how to integrate the ever changing world of social media, social networking and Web 2.0 into their core business infrastructure to meet their customers in their medium, now and in the future.

Purchase Now to Discover:

2008 Emerging Media Vehicles

How to Use New Media Vehicles to Your Advantage

The Latest Internet & Marketing Technologies that can Impact Your 2008 Marketing Plans

Your copy of the Marketech 08 Guide PDF will show you how to put these technologies to work for you.

This guide includes a service-organization perspective that will help you:

Utilize relevant marketing & customer service technologies that today's leading service organizations employ to connect with their customers. This includes an overview of tools from social networking via Facebook, organic corporate networks and customer community programs to communication vehicles like blogs, online video and podcasting.
Integrate with existing common customer loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation initiatives.
Identify benefits and risks associated with these techniques and technologies such as lower cost to service and increased referrals vs. loss of central control and the increasing customer control of your brand reputation.
Discover who's doing this already examples and how is it working for them. We'll look at a myriad of case examples with learning's and action items than any organization can apply.

This eBook is available as an Instant Download in Adobe PDF *** Full disclosure: I wrote the e-book as part of a project for the AMA in late 2007 and retained the rights to publish. The response to the guide in my TechnoMarketing sessions and other speaking engagements has been so positive that I've decided to offer the item for sale.
(04/04/08 09:00 PM)

Lovely E-Mail.

I get quite a few e-mails each day. Some are from people asking about my services, others want me to answer their questions, and still others write rather lengthy stories about various hardships that they want to overcome by getting grants that don't exist. Then there is the e-mail I received yesterday asking for a donation so that the sender could attend a conference in Las Vegas, which she can't pay for because she doesn't have any consulting work. Hmmm, I would like donations so that I too could go to Las Vegas.

But every so often I receive an e-mail that just plain makes me happy. I got one of those yesterday too. Here it is:

I am 30 yrs old with little to no experience in writing up
proposals. I am currently working in a middle management position in a
small company. I feel I have an idea that would greatly benefit the
company I am currently working for. After approaching one of the senior
management with it, he told me he liked it and to write up a proposal.

I have been searching the internet for the past week and a half
attempting to gain insight and advice into how to create a quality
proposal. I am not the type of person how expects, or even wants, to
have someone else do my work for me. Most of the sites I found offered
to create a proposal for a fee. It is my belief that unless
circumstances require otherwise that a person should learn to do things
for themselves. It was a nice surprise to find on your site a starter
list of sorts that I could use to begin to make a proposal on my own.
Your "Proposal Preparation Checklist" and Proposal Pointers and
Pitfalls" are wonderful tools and I wanted to take a moment to thank you
for freely distributing them. It is a welcome relief when someone sets
forward information to allow people to empower themselves. The links
you have provided to other websites are also wonderful. Just skimming
over the Checklist and Pointers, I have already noticed some points I
would never have considered.

So again, thank you so very much. I really appreciate the effort you
have put into your site and also the information you have offered freely.

What a beautifully-written thank-you note. And to boot, it expresses my own mantra -- "do your homework" -- just perfectly.

It's just so nice when something like this pops up in your mailbox!

(03/01/08 09:01 AM)

Lovely E-Mail.

But every so often I receive an e-mail that just plain makes me happy. I got one of those yesterday too. Here it is:

So again, thank you so very much. I really appreciate the effort you
have put into your site and also the information you have offered freely.

What a beautifully-written thank-you note. And to boot, it expresses my own mantra -- "do your homework" -- just perfectly.

It's just so nice when something like this pops up in your mailbox!

(02/21/08 09:01 PM)

Red Teams.

I never heard the term "red team" until several years after I began my proposal writing career. My employers never used them and it wasn't until I started working on my own that I encountered organizations that used red teams on certain proposal efforts.

Basically, a red team is a team of outside reviewers that a company brings in to review a proposal once the final draft is completed. Many organizations don't incorporate a red team review process because: (a) it can be expensive; (b) they can't spare the time; and (c) the idea has not occured to them. But if you are preparing a proposal that is very important to your firm, using a red team can be a valuable and worthwhile activity.

In a nutshell, the process works like this:

Your company identifies people (perhaps 4 or more) to serve as red team reviewers. These people should not have been involved in the proposal in any way, and in fact it's best if they are outside your organization. You will probably need to pay these reviewers a consulting fee for their time. Depending upon the size and complexity of the proposal, the red team review can take from one to several days.

Before the red team begins their work, you'll need to prepare for them. They will need a packet of materials, including the RFP, your final proposal draft, the proposal outline, checklists, instructions, and other relevant materials. These can be put in binders that are distributed to each reviewer. The red team will also need a conference room or other space where they can read and meet.

Once the red team assembles, the Proposal Manager or another member of your proposal team may give a verbal presentation on the proposal: what it is about, some background on the issues, what problems have been encountered in developing the proposal, etc. The Proposal Manager also goes over the instructions with the review team. These instructions should be as specific as possible -- they should tell the red team reviewers what you want them to look for. For example: Is the proposal theme clear and consistent? Are the benefits of your approach desirable and clearly stated? Does the proposal address all of the RFP requirements? Is it convicing? How can specific problem areas be fixed? How could the overall proposal be improved? Etc., etc.

The red team begins its review, first working individually to read the materials and document their comments and impressions. Once this is done, they meet as a group to discuss their findings and to prepare a set of recommendations. When the review is completed, the red team presents its comments and recommendations to the proposal team, which then incorporates the reviewers' suggested improvements.

Besides red team reviews, there are also pink team reviews. But that's a topic for another day.

(02/21/08 09:01 PM)

Lovely E-Mail.

But every so often I receive an e-mail that just plain makes me happy. I got one of those yesterday too. Here it is:

So again, thank you so very much. I really appreciate the effort you
have put into your site and also the information you have offered freely.

What a beautifully-written thank-you note. And to boot, it expresses my own mantra -- "do your homework" -- just perfectly.

It's just so nice when something like this pops up in your mailbox!

(02/20/08 09:01 AM)

Marketech 08: Using Emerging Media in Marketing.

Marketech 08: Using Emerging Media in Marketing - AMA Members-Only Webcast
Today's service industry organizations depend on deeper and more relevant customer connections to drive loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation within their coveted client base. These companies don't just need technology; however, they need a systems perspective on how to integrate the ever changing world of social media, social networking and Web 2.0 into their core business infrastructure to meet their customers in their medium, now and in the future.

Register now to discover:

2008 Emerging Media Vehicles
How to Use New Media Vehicles to Your Advantage
The Latest Internet & Marketing Technologies that can Impact Your 2008 Marketing Plans

You'll also receive a complimentary copy of the Marketech 08 Guide PDF that shows how to put these technologies to work for you.

This program includes a service-organization perspective that will help you:

Utilize relevant marketing & customer service technologies that today's leading service organizations employ to connect with their customers. This includes an overview of tools from social networking via Facebook, organic corporate networks and customer community programs to communication vehicles like blogs, online video and podcasting.
Integrate with existing common customer loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation initiatives.
Identify benefits and risks associated with these techniques and technologies such as lower cost to service and increased referrals vs. loss of central control and the increasing customer control of your brand reputation.
Discover who's doing this already (examples) and how is it working for them. We'll look at a myriad of case examples with learning's and action items than any organization can apply.

Date: December 6, 2007

Times: Session 1 - 10am PST/ 11am MST/ 12pm CST/1pm EST or Session 2 - 12pm PST/1pm MST/2pm CST/3pm EST

Host: The American Marketing Association and Dana VanDen Heuvel, a highly recognized expert on blogging, podcasting, RSS and other interactive marketing trends and a frequent guest speaker at many AMA live training programs, including the recent premier Training Series: Technomarketing event.

Register Here for the Marketech 08 Webcast.
(12/05/07 09:01 PM)

New Social Media Presentation Released.

I'm just putting the finishing touches on a new Social Media/TechnoMarketing presentation that I'm pretty excited about. For those organizations that make the distinction between a 'client' (long term relationship) and 'customer' (transactional relationship), I've developed a program that illustrates how to put the latest tools & technologies in play for your service organization.

Want more info? Drop me a line!

Social Media for the Service Industry Enterprise

Today's service industry organizations depend on deeper and more relevant customer connections to drive loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation within their coveted client base. These companies don't just need technology; however, they need a systems perspective on how to integrate the ever changing world of social media, social networking and Web 2.0 into their core business infrastructure to meet their customers in their medium, now and in the future.

This program will provide a focused, service-organization perspective on:

What are the relevant marketing & customer service technologies that today's leading service organizations employ to connect with their customers. This includes an overview of tools from social networking via Facebook, organic corporate networks, and customer community programs to communication vehicles like blogs, online video and podcasting.

How do these integrate with existing common customer loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation initiatives?

What are the benefits and risks associated with these techniques and technologies such as lower cost to service and increased referrals vs. loss of central control and the increasing customer control of your brand reputation.

Who's doing this already (examples) and how is it working for them. We'll look at a myriad of case examples with learning's and action items than any organization can apply.

Want more info? Drop me a line!

Check out my marketing speaker page more info on my other marketing related speaking engagements & programs.

(10/11/07 09:00 AM)

Pat Massart Cancer Benefit.

Hey, quick, what are you doing on May 20th? No plans. Cool. If you're in Green Bay, WI, how about dropping by to support a benefit that we're putting on for my wife's mother, Pat Massart.

Pat Massart was diagnosed in mid-February with stage IV pancreatic cancer, for which she is currently undergoing treatment We are raising money to help lessen this huge financial burden on her family and allow Pat to enjoy the rest of her life. The money raised will be used for medical expenses incurred and living expenses during this difficult time.

I've attached the formal flier and benefit solicitation letter below. If you're interested in contributing, just drop me a line!

Oh, and if you're keen to supporting with an online donation, the fabulous folks at Community Benefit Tree will help out - make an on online donation here. (Seriously, they are just amazing at helping put together benefits...give them a shout if you're doing one)

(10/03/07 09:00 PM)

Altruism Before Capitalism.

Over past couple of months delivering the AMA TechnoMarkting seminar on social media, web 2.0 and the evolution of marketing and commuincation on the Internet, there's a fun phrase that I've been throwing around and beating up with audiences which I think needs a bit more explanation.

Invariably, when I throw out the "Altruism Before Capitalism" concept, it elicits one of two response types. The first, and most desirable response, is the one where people nod in agreement with the "oh, of course, I see exactly what you're saying" look. The other look is, of course, the look that indicates a complete lack of understanding of the words "altruism" and "capitalism" or a full grasp of the vocabulary but an utter disbelief that the concept can be even close to real.

It is real.

What is Altruism Before Capitalism?

Altruism is defined by Webster as:

1 : unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others 2 : behavior by an animal that is not beneficial to or may be harmful to itself but that benefits others of its species

In short, this is simply an organization putting the needs of its constituents ahead of its own needs. Or, aligning itself with advancing the welfare of others before its own. Capitalism, on the other hand is defined as:

an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market

More coming on this topic...

(10/03/07 09:00 PM)

Notes on "The Likeability Factor" (Tim Sanders at Austin Texchange). Last week I became president of Texchange, a local association of Technology entrepreneurs and executives. At our June event we had Tim Sanders, formerly of Broadcast.com, Yahoo, author of Love: The Killer App, and more recently The Likeability Factor. He spoke to a June audience of 130 entrepreneurs and shared some sobering statistics, research, and recommendations. Thanks to Josh Toub at BluefishGroup and Secretary of Techange, I can share these notes for you. [Note: if you are an Austin-based technology entrepreneur or in a Austin-based startup, email me to join]. Biology behind increased importance of emotion in business and everyday life The amygdala (part of brain in charge of emotion) has grown ~1% in the lat 35 years Makes liking the people you do business with much more important than it once was EVP When Tim evaluates a company to invest in or do business with, he evaluates three things: What is the emotional value proposition What is the emotional cost of ownership What is the emotional compensation plan Did research at Yahoo about the essance of loyalty--it's all about emotional attraction In life, the likability factor is almost always the tie break Every presidential election since 1976 has been won by the likability factor. What is likability? Not about charimsa Not about being popular It's about reciprocity, not attraction Emotional Attraction (EA) Leadership An emotionally attractive salesperson will gross 40% more than a neutral person 3 benefits: Reduced risk Doctors who smile are much less likely to get sued... (06/18/07 09:03 PM)

Internal blogs not always blogs as we know them. My point exactly: BusinessWeek writes that corporate blogging is an internal rather than external communications channel. And not only that -- the "bloggers" don't even know they're blogging.

It may not seem like they're blogging. They're simply using software to send information. Sometimes they do it from remote Internet cafés. In time, they'll be able to file from cell phones. But each mailing, technically, is a blog post. And the program will expand to a host of Cannondale staffers and affiliates. "We're transferring our corporate content management system to blogs," Maurice says.

I believe this is a glimpse of the future. It's not necessarily the future many early bloggers long for. Blogging have until now been a very conscious act. We are deliberately (trying to be) open, we speak in a personal voice with an informal style because we see that as part of the format's great benefits. And because we want to, of course.

But if someone is just publishing, there is nothing to suggest that their style would be any different from whatever content people have produced for intranets for years. Content that is all but personal, informal, open-minded.

My conclusion? None, yet. But if the conversation and the informality is disconnected from the blog tool as such it might actually be a good thing. The important aspect is after all that we -- organisations in general -- become more humanised and that needs to go beyond a few active bloggers. We should speak with a human voice everywhere. (04/06/07 09:01 AM)

Do you give good PowerPoint?. Do you have a great PowerPoint presentation? Slideshare is hosting The World's Best Presentation contest. My father, Bert Decker, and friend, Guy Kawasaki, are two of the four judges. As such, I don't think I can enter...but you can! Just upload your best PowerPoint presentation and you could win an Alienware PC. Of course, for the Mac loyalists who know guy that aren't excited about Vista, you can hope for 2nd or 3rd prize...an Xbox. This contest does not give you the benefit of sharing your verbal presentation with the slides. IMO, a PowerPoint contest isn't a presentation contest, it's a slides contest. Notwithstanding, here are three suggestions that might help you win...and create better slides in the future... Read Guy's PowerPoint tips. Read Garr's tipsRead my father's tips (dispersed throughout his blog)... (03/20/07 09:00 AM)

How Measurement Can Impede Long Term Growth. Measurement and accountability crystallizes movement towards a goal, individual performance, and helps identify employees worthy of merit. Measurement is the language of any organization. The more measures we can hold employees accountable for the better, right? Hold on. There’s a cautionary tale to running a company with an extreme and unbalanced reliance on internal measures. Most corporate measures and employee goals are internally focused, financially-oriented, and functionally silohed. There’s an unfortunate consequence for companies that ONLY focus on these measures. While it’s healthy to manage business with a pragmatic view of financial health, over the long term, a primary focus on these internal lagging measures is not what builds a great company. Can you agree that a great company is one which builds products based on customer needs, strives to delight customers, and generates positive word of mouth as a result? Great companies reinvent and innovate. Now, how many internal measures and key performance indicators directly tie to accomplishing these objectives? Can you identify the internal measures that measure the required cross-functional cooperation to ensure the entire customer delights customers? Sustained-growth companies create great experiences and benefit from positive word of mouth. The Ultimate Question / Net Promoter questions supports this, where Fred Reicheld studied companies with sustained growth and found when customers were willing to tell friends about that company. What companies are you willing to tell friends about? Here are some ideas: Toyota / Lexus, USAA, Costco, Southwest Airlines, Craigslist, Apple, JetBlue, and Amazon. What do these companies... (02/19/07 08:59 AM)

What Color is Your Proposal?.

Yesterday I got this sort of panicky-sounding e-mail:

Subject: Technical proposal.
What does a score of yellow in this area mean?

DOD (and sometimes other agencies) sometimes use a color-coded system to evaluate proposals. I interpreted the above e-mail to mean that the writer had received a "yellow" score on her technical proposal and didn't know what it meant.She may have forgotten to look in her RFP, where the meaning of the colors are usually explained.

The color-coded system is usually something like this:

Blue - Excellent
Proposal demonstrates excellent understanding of requirements and approach that significantly exceeds performance or capability
standards. Has exceptional strengths that will significantly benefit the Government

Purple - Good
Proposal demonstrates good understanding of requirements and approach that exceeds performance or capability standards. Has one or more strengths that will benefit the Government.
Green - Satisfactory
Proposal demonstrates acceptable understanding of requirements and approach that meets performance or capability standards. Acceptable solution.

Yellow - Marginal
Proposal demonstrates shallow understanding of requirements and approach that only marginally meets performance or capability standards necessary for minimal but acceptable contract performance.

Red - Unacceptable
Fails to meet performance or capability standards. Requirements can only be met with major changes to the proposal.

When the government uses a color-coded system to evaluate proposals, the colors indicate the degree to which the proposal has met the standard for each factor that is being evaluated.

(12/12/06 08:42 AM)

Red Teams.

In a nutshell, the process works like this:

Your company identifies people (perhaps 4 or more) to serve as red team reviewers. These people should not have been involved in the proposal in any way, and in fact it's best if they are outside your organization. You will probably need to pay these reviewers a consulting fee for their time. Depending upon the size and complexity of the proposal, the red team review can take from one to several days.

Before the red team begins their work, you'll need to prepare for them. They will need a packet of materials, including the RFP, your final proposal draft, the proposal outline, checklists, instructions, and other relevant materials. These can be put in binders that are distributed to each reviewer. The red team will also need a conference room or other space where they can read and meet.

Once the red team assembles, the Proposal Manager or another member of your proposal team may give a verbal presentation on the proposal: what it is about, some background on the issues, what problems have been encountered in developing the proposal, etc. The Proposal Manager also goes over the instructions with the review team. These instructions should be as specific as possible -- they should tell the red team reviewers what you want them to look for. For example: Is the proposal theme clear and consistent? Are the benefits of your approach desirable and clearly stated? Does the proposal address all of the RFP requirements? Is it convicing? How can specific problem areas be fixed? How could the overall proposal be improved? Etc., etc.

The red team begins its review, first working individually to read the materials and document their comments and impressions. Once this is done, they meet as a group to discuss their findings and to prepare a set of recommendations. When the review is completed, the red team presents its comments and recommendations to the proposal team, which then incorporates the reviewers' suggested improvements.

Besides red team reviews, there are also pink team reviews. But that's a topic for another day.

(12/12/06 08:42 AM)

How to work from home. "The benefits of working from home are obvious. If you're a regular employee: you skip the commute and there are no office distractions for the day. If you're an entrepreneur: reduced overheads, no commuting and a congenial working environment." (12/12/06 08:04 AM)

Future Marketing Thoughts From Forrester's Consumer Form. A couple weeks ago I spoke on a Word of Mouth panel at Forrester's annual Consumer Forum in Chicago. Attendees were senior marketers, online/ecommerce executives, and CMOs. The theme was Humanizing the Digital Experience. The tracks were: Experience-based Differentiation Devices Everwhere Next Generation Branding Social Computing I don't really like Social Computing...but you can pretty much pick the term you like: Long Tail Folksonomy Word of Mouth Crowdsourcing Prosumerism P2P Marketing C2C Marketing Listenomics Social Media Social Computing Social Networking Citizen Marketing Open Source Marketing User Generated Content Customer Created Content Consumer Generated Media To me all these underscore the same theme: Consumers are in more control than ever (their voices are amplified) and they are taking a bigger role in creating the consumer experience and content. As part of Forrester's follow up they posted all of the presentations here, host a blog here (here's the summary of my panel), and are hosting an open Wiki here. Here are some of the themes from the conference, a la their wiki: YouTube things are going to happen. How do you set standards that define your brand as you want? The product must speak for itself. Listen to what’s out there and understanding the negative and positive. Research cost benefits, insight methods. Blogs as a tool for brand analysis. Chance to engage pissed off customers. Chevy Tahoe Apprentice—create your own ad. Environmentalists were creating bad ones. The world didn’t end.It blew over. Most of the discussion about the brand is actually positive... (11/06/06 09:00 AM)

10 Productivity Tips for Home-Based Businesses. Running a business from your home offers many benefits, but there are pitfalls as well. Distractions abound, and family and other responsibilities can intrude on business time. But the productivit ...

(08/28/06 09:02 PM)

Benefits and Cautions: What Does a PEO Do for Me?. A PEO is a company that specializes in taking care of all the responsibilities that come with employing people. By hiring a PEO, you are "getting out of the business of being an employer," says Bill M ...

(08/27/06 09:03 AM)

Sponsoring B2B email newsletters. Globalspec's newsletter, Marketing Maven, posts a e-marketing 101 article titled What to Know About Sponsoring e-Newsletters that caught my attention. I don't think the subject gets talked about very much. Ultimately, she is making a case for sponsoring Globalspec's industry-specific newsletters.

"A compelling case exists for suppliers and manufacturers to add sponsorship of e-newsletters to their marketing mix. The benefits of the right sponsorship include:"
Brand visibility
Frequency
Low barrier to entry
Audience
Ability to test"

Okay, the Maven is right on these (and she explains more for each bullet), but there are two other issues that come to my mind:

1. Cost. Of course.
Globalspec has always positioned itself as costing about as much for a one year listing as a single full page ad in a trade publication (around $15K). Their newsletter sponsorships (three different positions available) are about $2,500 per issue. This was true regardless of the audience size (30K or 70K), but is on par with pricing I've seen with trade publications.

This expense could be acceptable for an advertiser with a large budget trying to round out their exposure triangle. For a partial-page advertiser like myself, this is a big price to pay for a extremely fleeting exposure. But that leads to my second point.

2. Effectiveness
Just how fast do people scan e-newsletters? Fast. The quality of content and the format is going to effect how the user reads the newsletter, but the process is fast nonetheless. While there is a 'low barrier to entry' as the Maven says, and it sounds good to get your promotion in front of 70K folks at one shot, I don't think that you can just throw money and a simple ad/listing and expect results. Particular care needs to be placed on what your ad says and looks like, and how it fits in the newsletter. Essentially, the same due-diligence should be applied as to a print ad in order to be effective.

So, in summary, I think e-newsletter sponsorship works when:

It is a smaller part of an overall marketing program
The newsletter format makes the sponsorship likely to be noticed
The advertiser prepares content that gets noticed
Sponsors should take advantage of the points the Maven calls out

Longtime readers may remember I once posted about a newsletter sponsor that got me to click, only to lead to a white paper as a Word file. Hopefully we're all past that by now. (08/25/06 09:02 AM)

What Are the Benefits of LLCs and LLPs?. Limited liability corporations (LLC) and limited liability partnerships (LLP) are two new business entities created to mix some of the properties of corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships ...

(08/22/06 09:00 AM)

B2B content trapped in need for completeness?. The one thing I like about writing is that I get to address the topic as completely as I feel I need to. Over the years I've found that the one detail I leave out in a email or brochure or webpage is the one piece of information that folks call back looking for. When blogging, I write until I feel I've addressed the topic until it is resolved in my mind. Writing saves interuptions and makes revising easy. The end result is a complete document.

Reading an article in this month's Wired called What Kind of Genuis Are You (a facinating article about two types of creatives, nicely summarized here at Reveries), I find myself identifying with 'experimentalist' creatives like Cezanne who only signed 10% of his paintings because he was never sure if they were complete or not.

Regardless, the point is that one goal of B2B marketing is communicating information effectively, which means completeness. But perhaps we are overachievers. Engineers need certain data from our materials, but they aren't dumb. They can connect the dots. We don't need to spoon-feed them.

Yet we continue to produce 'features and benefits' lists that treat them as dumb. That's because we are told that benefits sell, not features. And it becomes complete that way. How many of you have written something like this...

"Our latest model features a smaller footprint to save your valuable lab space."

Perhaps we are lacking feedback on our writing, because on the other side, this is what is happening:

Engineer reading web page: "Duh!"

How much smarter is it to leave your marketing incomplete and let the reader do the heavy lifting? The conclusion may be obvious, but the conclusion is now theirs. They own the idea now. Even complex concepts may fair better, because explaining them takes more effort then just pointing the reader in the right direction. (This happens in art and B2C advertising, but they also have the benefit of multiple mediums to make this more effective.)

Or to quote a Chinese proverb I saw somewhere else this week:

"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."

I think I've reached the asymptote of completeness with this post, so I'll leave you to figure out what it means to you. (Of course I'm wondering if your reading this going 'duh', how obvious.)

UPDATE: Kathy Sierra latest post complements (adds to) this one: Hooverin' and the space between notes (07/29/06 02:28 PM)

Mondays Contract Management News and Comment (24th July 2006). Turtle Bay contract is ratified (Pacific Business News) The new labor agreement at Turtle Bay Resort gives retirees back their medical benefits, while validating existing outsourcing of work by management. Pelham joins county garbage contract (The Shelby County Reporter) The City of Pelham received approval from the Shelby County Commission on July 10 ... (07/29/06 02:28 PM)