Peter Fisk, author of Marketing Genius on marketers changing role

As marketers, we are the growth drivers like never before – but in a way that requires more than great communication, increased sales and incremental innovation. We need to reframe what our brands do for people, make unusual connections to redefine categories, enable people to do more, and engage them in more genuine ways.

Unfortunately, most marketers will need the support of the Board to achieve this, and in my experience, particularly in hard times, this permission not be forthcoming. Do CEO's or MD's understand the world has changed?

Focus on qualitative outcomes for social media

Jeff Molander article on econsultancy.com

Ever wonder if emerging tools like Twitter and Facebook are just glorified ways to distribute coupons or links to white papers?  If you want better results from emerging digital tools it's time to change your expectations, and the way you practice web marketing. 
Here's how to start improving results, tomorrow, in three easy steps.
Experimenting with digital media for the sake of doing it, and using yesterday's mass communications yardstick to measure results, makes less sense when you say it out loud. Yet it's precisely what many of us are doing. 
Fear of "not doing social marketing" is immense, I admit. But experimenting as a primary means to apply emerging digital tools consistently yields mediocrity. It's time for a new approach. 
It's time to plan. It's time to...
1) Expect social media to deliver measurable, qualitative outcomes, not quantitative novelty.
2) Trust your instincts, question your consultants and ask yourself, "am I a tool of the tools?"
3) Ask better questions that don't seek universal standards.
The experimental approach is one that fails many of us. Many of the social marketing success stories we read about are successes in "possible persuasion" i.e. not measured and provable demand creation. We're falling back on quantitative mass media outcomes and calling them goals. 
Buzz, conversation, follower or friend count. Are these business goals? More importantly, are we using these technical innovations in ways that are equally innovative?  Are we using these tools to serve our needs or are we a slave to these tools?  Are we just "blasting" email or Tweeting into the ether as we do with broadcast messages? 
Yet emerging digital media tools are producing qualitative business outcomes among mostly tight-lipped, trailblazing organizations. 
Here are three tips to help you become more successful in making digital marketing pay you back.

Expect qualitative, provable outcomes

If there really is "more in it for us" (than handing out coupons and links) we should treat emerging digital media like 'social' with some respect. Expect more of it. Take it out of the hands of the intern or recent college graduate and into the hands of a capable shepherd.  You, Mr./Ms. CMO or even CEO.
And as Rebecca Lieb suggests, be honest about what investments in emerging media actually cost you. Why?  Because your CFO likely isn't believing your "it's free" rationalization. 
Expect your digital media team to deliver results and prove them, prove causality. If they cannot prove that X and/or Y campaign caused Z outcome then they cannot claim victory and head out for cocktails. 
You can sometimes see this wasteful practice happening inside companies. Watch for when someone says something like, "well, at least we got some branding out of it" and gets away with it.
Social media is the latest advance in web marketing to be laying claim to all kinds of victories. But this phenomenon extends to email and affiliate marketing too. 
Digital strategies should be expected to produce high quality leads on new accounts, new-to-file customers or measurable improvements in customer service. They ARE expected to among exceptionally resilient, thriving organizations. 
Sure, expecting this from your team takes some guts, but these are the meaningful behaviors that matter to your company, beyond buzzing, positive sentiment, "friending" or fandom... or downloading a coupon for that matter. Right?
Our expectations subconsciously drive our actions. We're human, after all. But this is one reason why many marketers are extracting little if any value from emerging digital marketing tools like Facebook. Our teams are rushing to use them, but without applying marketing tools in context of our needed business outcomes. 
Bert DuMars of Newell Rubbermaid is seeing a 21% rise in active product recommendations for two reasons. 
1) Mr. Dumars' team is committed to organizing around customer behaviour, creating prompts that continually push customers in a direction toward taking actions (not just "feeling positive" about the brand).
He has created behavior-focused infrastructure among his staff that involves listening-analyzing-acting on product review information. The US Air Force has also published similar guidelines;  blogging "rules of engagement" that give everyone a road map and rule book to follow in creating improved outcomes for US Armed Forces recruiters.
2) Newell's a success because its expectation of social media is qualitative, and higher than average. It expects qualitative outcomes (active product recommendations) not quantitative novelty (ie. friend count on Facebook).
Next up I'll be back to take a candid look at doing more with emerging tools like Twitter, more than just distributing coupons or links to white papers. I'll explore why and how to trust your own instincts more often, question your consultants and avoid becoming "a tool of the tools."  Not to mention create more sales and leads. Until then, what do you think?

Article from mad.co.uk: 06 April 2010

What is the future of Twitter?

Having attended two prominent marketing events in the past month, TFM&A 2010 and the Online Marketing Summit, I found attendees had only one subject on their mind: Twitter. Paul Bates, UK managing director at StrongMail reveals more.

The question of everyone’s lips was consistent; is the hype around Twitter a passing trend, as many predict, or does it have a purpose beyond celebrity voyeurism and throwing your 140-character musings out into the void? What is clear is that many people are questioning the future of Twitter, its uses, and if it’s here to stay.

A decade ago, the term social media didn’t mean much to consumers, let alone marketers and corporate executives.

Today, none of us can get away from the term – it’s everywhere. Companies are jumping on the social bandwagon, erecting fan pages on Facebook, developing corporate Twitter accounts, creating groups on LinkedIn and producing channels on YouTube –all in the name of reaching, engaging and influencing customers on a more personal level.

Granted, Twitter may not be as compellingly obvious a platform as Facebook or YouTube, but like all social media platforms, Twitter is evolving fast. I believe the real question is not whether it will still be around next year; the question is what it will be next year, and the year after and so on.

While the game has certainly changed, it feels as if the social media pendulum has swung a bit too far in one direction. But by taking a closer look, it becomes clear that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Social media isn’t new; neither is the idea of sharing short updates with people you are connected to online. Email is considered by many to be the first social network, word-of-mouth marketing has been around for decades and viral marketing isn’t a fresh idea (arguably the pyramid scheme, which dates back to Charles Ponzi, was fueled by viral marketing).

Yes, the mediums have changed, but the underlying fundamentals and human motivators have not. People know how to share information. Companies that recognise this are not pushing content, but are promoting engagement, looking at their customers as skilled knowledge brokers who are adept at reaching the right audiences with the right messages at the right time.

To be an effective marketer today, you need to leverage and monetise both traditional online channels and emerging online channels to reach and influence your audience. This requires not only technology for creating, delivering and monitoring your campaigns, more than ever it requires expertise and understanding in how to use emerging channels appropriately and in cooperation with traditional channels.

Those companies that are willing to step back and take a more philosophical approach to social customer engagement will benefit from stronger customer relationships, more trusted, recognisable brands and incremental revenues.

So, does Twitter have a future? Do social media channels really offer marketers extended reach and enhanced program conversion? I believe that Twitter will continue to exist and serve us largely as it does today, but HOW it does that will evolve organically driven by the user base pushing it beyond its current shortcomings.

In particular, the signal-to-noise ratio is off-balance, with noise (pointless content) often outweighing signal (useful content). The Twitter user community will inevitably find a solution to this, allowing users to (easily and selectively) reduce/eliminate the noise and allow the valuable content to be come through. This will reduce the current attrition that Twitter experiences, and pave the way for innovative new uses cases for Twitter beyond personal updates (location, encounters, experiences, etc), and providing a valued source of content in specific subject areas.

What remains to be seen is whether Twitter becomes as popular as email or if it will be some other platform; it’s only a matter of time before one of them does. Twitter poses unique attributes relative to email, SMS and IM, therefore it will find it’s place once the shortcomings are addressed.

Recent article from econsultancy on 1st April 2010

Marijuana goes geo-targeted and hyperlocal

So you need to advertise to pot smokers locally. How are you going to (ahem) "weed" out broader audiences from your target demographic?

MyMarijuana.Community.com just may be the hyper-local, hyper-targeted, vertical ad network for your media dollars.

California Proposition 215 legalized marijuana use for medical purposes, turning marijuana into the number-one cash crop for California. A similar bill just passed in New Jersey, and another initiative that would legalize marijuana in California has received enough signatures to appear on the state's November ballot.

And behold - a new ad network is born! USWeb Advertising has launched MyMarijuanaCommunity.com, with the largest marketing campaign of its kind. The site (which the company says is a veteran- and disabled-owned business) claims it maintains the largest online database of medical marijuana dispensaries, doctors, legal services and hydroponics. Listings include interactive maps, consumer reviews and a verification system.

"Businesses in this specialized industry have very limited advertising options, ones generally found in media that mainstream audiences perceive as 'drug counterculture,'" said David Simpson, president of San Diego based USWeb Advertising. "Nearly every other industry has the ability to touch their desired market segment via demographically targeted advertising except this one. An estimated 600,000 legitimate medical marijuana patients need free access to information, doctors and dispensaries. Doctors and dispensaries need an effective and professional advertising medium. We're bridging that gap."

The site promises that advertisers' messages will reach 60,000 trade publications, 1.5 million websites, and an audience of 5 million American consumers.

Driving sales from social networks and mobile commerce platforms will remain a major challenge for marketers

Webloyalty summit declares social media sales a challenge

Alongside retail and travel brands including bmiBaby, TheTrainLine.com and Asda were research firms Verdict Research and Experian Hitwise, discussing strategies for post-recession e-tail success, with multichannel e-tailing emerging as a dominant theme. abuckle1 This article is copyright 2010 TheWiseMarketer.com).

According to Martin Child of Webloyalty, "With the e-tail market becoming more mature - and shoppers more savvy - there is a demand for more sophisticated e-tail marketing strategies. It is important to recognise the value that the online channel plays in multichannel marketing, too; it needs to work hard to maximise revenue and play a driving role in supporting the other channels."

At the event, Experian Hitwise presented its statistics on 2009 trends and predictions for 2010. A major finding, and an opportunity for online retailers, is driving traffic from social media. With only 7.51% of all traffic to transactional sites currently coming from social networking web sites and forums (compared to 40.87% of all traffic coming from search engines), there appears to be a significant opportunity for increasing traffic.

Robin Goad, research director for Experian Hitwise, explained: "While search engines are still the key driver of traffic for transactional sites, a clear opportunity for retailers lies in increasing traffic from social media sites. A handful of retailers are ahead of the curve with this, particularly in the fashion and entertainment sectors, but many others are missing a trick and therefore potential untapped revenue."

Indeed, the company's statistics show that both Music e-tailers and Video and Games e-tailers receive some 8.9%, and Apparel and Accessories e-tailers receive 8% of their traffic from social networks. These sectors are the leaders compared to House & Garden e-tailers, for example, who receive only 3.5% of their traffic from social networks.

The online travel sector is also beginning to recognise the potential for growth through the social media channel. According to Ian Stewart, head of e-commerce for bmiBaby, currently 4% of the airline's web traffic is driven by social media, and the company sees "huge potential" for this figure to increase in the near future.

Some e-tailers are also actively researching m-commerce as an additional channel. One of the e-tailers that has taken advantage of the mobile commerce channel is TheTrainLine.com, which launched a free iPhone app in October 2009. Since then, the app has been downloaded more than 400,000 times. Although the app is currently only informational (not transactional), the company reported that it has become a key driver of both sales and customer loyalty.

Apart from retailers, customers are increasingly becoming more "multichannel minded" too, according to Goad: "One of the finest recent examples of multichannel retailing was the 2009 post-Christmas sales peak. There was a very obvious spike in searches for sales and bargains online, with people using the online channel to inform their decisions about high street purchases."

Experian Hitwise found that, on 26th December 2009, 14.54% of all online searches containing the word "sale" were for the retailer Next, and 3.69% for Debenhams. However, online-only retailers saw a significant drop in web site visits a few days before Christmas, continuing well beyond Christmas.

At the summit, Verdict Research also presented ten key trends governing e-tail success in 2010, with key findings including the conclusion that retailers "will have to work much harder just to stand still". In terms of online spending, Verdict predicted an annual growth of ony 11% from 2010 onward, compared to almost 30% before 2009.
Neil Saunders, consulting director for Verdict Research, explained: "With the growth of new customers levelling off, it becomes increasingly important to change marketing strategies to focus on growing loyalty and increasing repeat visits rather than acquiring new customers."

Verdict predicts that one of the remaining growth opportunities will lie with what it calls "channel blind customers" (who use traditional channels such as online, stores, catalogues and phone, and then combine them with emerging channels such as social media, affiliates, kiosks and mobiles).

More Info:

http://www.webloyalty.co.uk

Sources: Webloyalty; Experian Hitwise; Verdict Research

Is Twitter any use for retailers? | Blog | Econsultancy

Is Twitter any use for retailers? Blog Econsultancy

Interesting article on econsultancy web site regards Twitter.

"The ‘wrong kind’ of followers, low follower numbers and a general disinterest in e-commerce sites on Twitter has meant that so far Twitter is far from proven as an effective tool for business".

What is your experience? Is Twitter or social media a proven sales channel for your brand?