Monday, May 22, 2006
Blogs and reality TV
At the beginning there were journals. There were online dairies in which some people used to express their thoughts and facts from their everyday life. That was the beginning of blogging. Later, too many started blogging so that online journals are a very common phenomenon. The surveillance of one’s life was supposed to be somehow exciting; now it is quite boring at least for those that do not mention something special and memorable. There is a strong resemblance with reality TV. These blogs are similar with big brother reality shows. There was not a specific theme, an important or extraordinary cause of existence. When people had enough of big brothers (or online journals) something else had to come for people not feeling bored. Blogs, just like reality TV, evolved to have a particular and theme specific topic. Nowadays there are corporate, meme games blogs, political and cultural ones, audioblogs, photoblogs and many many other theme related blogs. In recent reality TV shows there are specific goals to be fulfilled, there are specific environments and stories that set the scenarios for each one (like talent shows, survivor games, etc.). Undoubtedly the resemblance is strong and the evolution is common for that wealth of user-created content. Lastly blogs are now starting being exploited for commercial use; through advertisements and product sales blogging is even more close to reality tv.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Personal touch and human presence for online success...
I read an article about how can the human presence build online sales and increase conversion. You can find the article here: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/9597.asp (in imedia connection; brought by The Marketing Experiments Journal). The article cites that just a few changes in our webpages (so that they bear a more personal touch and have a human presence) can have a major impact in sales. The experiment carried out, showed that the same page had a 40.7 percent increase in sales by just converting the text to first person, adding a photo of the writer and his/her signature. Well, next time you write something, you‘d better keep it personal and be direct...
Further reading about direct and indirect ad copy at a previous post: http://zip3.blogspot.com/2006/04/ad-copy.html
Further reading about direct and indirect ad copy at a previous post: http://zip3.blogspot.com/2006/04/ad-copy.html
Monday, May 15, 2006
Interview with Eileen Trainor
Eileen Trainor (CyberCelt) has two blogs about advertising (CoolAdzine & Advertising for Success) a website about advertising (CoolAdz.com) and a travel blog (Texas RV Travel Blog). In this post I am taking an interview from Eileen about her blogs, the internet and her experience in the advertising industry. Enjoy...
Q: Two of your blogs are about advertising. Why is that? What are the
differences between the two blogs?
CoolAdzine for Marketers is syndicated and bring visitors to the blog
and to the associated website, CoolAdz.com, which is resource site for
advertising, promotion and design.
Advertising for Success blog began as an experiment in search engine
marketing and page rank, during the launch of an online advertising
company. With this experience, I learned the power of the blog and the
incredible potential of feed marketing.
I guess you could say CoolAdzine is more old-school marketing and that
Advertising for Success is the future.
Q: Do you believe that advertising in blogs can effectively deliver any
additional income for bloggers? What about advertisers? Do they really
enjoy any benefits?
Blogs that are updated frequently and contain professional, topical
content suitable for publication in special interest areas (such as
travel, women's issues, technology, politics and local metro information) are
ripe for making money.
Advertisers are lining up to advertise on specialty feeds, podcasts,
blog networks and gaming sites. Their target market is the 18-34
year-old adults that do not watch traditional TV, listen to AM radio or read a
newspaper offline.
Q: Some predictions about the future of online advertising / marketing and
its techniques (email, rss, blogs, podcasting, etc.)
Feed advertising, non-existent until mid-2005, generated spending of
$650,000 in 2005 and will be the fastest growing segment over the next
five years. Blog advertising accounted for $16.6 million, of total
spending on blog, podcast and feed advertising in 2005. Podcast advertising
is projected to grow larger than blog advertising by 2010.
Q: Finally, anything else you want to mention?
Blogging and feed marketing are just the frontier of a brave new web of
advertising and marketing. User-generated content is fresh and
pertinent to the times in which we live. Accent your efforts at blogging and
syndication by tagging with Technorati, del.icio.us or your own tags,
writing and submitting useful articles, joining online communities like
Gather.com, and applying for publisher status on Blogburst.com.
Eileen Trainor is a writer, webmaster and marketer with over 20 years of experience. Visit CoolAdz.com, visit her blogs on Blogger, or subscribe to her feedburner feeds: CoolAdzine and AdvertisingForSuccess
Q: Two of your blogs are about advertising. Why is that? What are the
differences between the two blogs?
CoolAdzine for Marketers is syndicated and bring visitors to the blog
and to the associated website, CoolAdz.com, which is resource site for
advertising, promotion and design.
Advertising for Success blog began as an experiment in search engine
marketing and page rank, during the launch of an online advertising
company. With this experience, I learned the power of the blog and the
incredible potential of feed marketing.
I guess you could say CoolAdzine is more old-school marketing and that
Advertising for Success is the future.
Q: Do you believe that advertising in blogs can effectively deliver any
additional income for bloggers? What about advertisers? Do they really
enjoy any benefits?
Blogs that are updated frequently and contain professional, topical
content suitable for publication in special interest areas (such as
travel, women's issues, technology, politics and local metro information) are
ripe for making money.
Advertisers are lining up to advertise on specialty feeds, podcasts,
blog networks and gaming sites. Their target market is the 18-34
year-old adults that do not watch traditional TV, listen to AM radio or read a
newspaper offline.
Q: Some predictions about the future of online advertising / marketing and
its techniques (email, rss, blogs, podcasting, etc.)
Feed advertising, non-existent until mid-2005, generated spending of
$650,000 in 2005 and will be the fastest growing segment over the next
five years. Blog advertising accounted for $16.6 million, of total
spending on blog, podcast and feed advertising in 2005. Podcast advertising
is projected to grow larger than blog advertising by 2010.
Q: Finally, anything else you want to mention?
Blogging and feed marketing are just the frontier of a brave new web of
advertising and marketing. User-generated content is fresh and
pertinent to the times in which we live. Accent your efforts at blogging and
syndication by tagging with Technorati, del.icio.us or your own tags,
writing and submitting useful articles, joining online communities like
Gather.com, and applying for publisher status on Blogburst.com.
Eileen Trainor is a writer, webmaster and marketer with over 20 years of experience. Visit CoolAdz.com, visit her blogs on Blogger, or subscribe to her feedburner feeds: CoolAdzine and AdvertisingForSuccess
Monday, May 08, 2006
2 uses for blogs
Blogs are useful to a lot of people. I blog and I bet you blog too. Whether you have a business blog, a little mall (exploiting SEO friendly and rich content blog) or a personal diary one thing is for sure: your blog is useful. The fact is that blogs can be used literally for every use. There is no limit other than one’s imagination.
In this post I will cite the two professions that are most benefited from blogging. These are journalists and writers. Journalism through blogging is a very effective mean for establishing one’s reputation, fame, for doing one’s passion and also a must for beginners. Writers can also be great benefited: they can post small samples of their work. This is similar to offline merchandising: just think it like a bakery that uses scents to lure passersby to shop. Moreover, writers can also start their career from blogging as this can facilitate the process of being noticed and stand out from the crowd.
Because of journalists’ and writers’ products being intangible word arrays, blogging is the perfect carrier.
In this post I will cite the two professions that are most benefited from blogging. These are journalists and writers. Journalism through blogging is a very effective mean for establishing one’s reputation, fame, for doing one’s passion and also a must for beginners. Writers can also be great benefited: they can post small samples of their work. This is similar to offline merchandising: just think it like a bakery that uses scents to lure passersby to shop. Moreover, writers can also start their career from blogging as this can facilitate the process of being noticed and stand out from the crowd.
Because of journalists’ and writers’ products being intangible word arrays, blogging is the perfect carrier.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Tenant
Visit my new tenant (http://www.tworedpaperclips.com/). I was going to write a review about my new tenant but I won’t. I will not do it because this blog is very different and peculiar. It is about a project and it has a diary form. By reviewing it, I may spoil the concept so just pay a visit and you will understand what this is about. Oh… read the posts, they are interesting. The whole project although not innovative is really authentic so take some time.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Business Strategy Evolution: Part C
This is the third part of some thoughts about how business strategy will evolve in the future. Have a look below to see the previous part too. These were my thoughts at this time. Should I have more thoughts about this topic at a later time, I will post it.
Information Overflow
Businesses were always striving for more information to enable them decision-making and more accurate predictions. That led to advanced information systems, technological advancements, IT departments stuffed by experts, ERP, CRM and other software to handle all that information. That information race however led to information overflow. Moreover web 2.0 made information available to all consumers and facilitated its exchange and sharing thus resulting in companies having to manage that overflow both internally and externally. Nowadays companies will have to adopt sophisticated systems to easily and effectively manage information flow into the corporation, out of the corporation and furthermore track and take (some) control of the relevant information that exists out there. Imagine a dissatisfied blogger posting his/her grievances on his/her blog and even worse commenting on thousands of other about your bad customer service or product. How a company can track that information and find ways to answer back or apologize for a bad incidence?
Further Segmentation of Markets
Another characteristic of modern markets is its variety and diversity of products. A single need can now be satisfied with hundreds if not thousands of similar products. Companies have developed targeting and niche markets in order to succeed and survive in the long-term. However competition is now starting to even strike niche markets and highly targeted consumers have plenty of alternatives options. In the not to far future, businesses of all sizes will have to segment the market they deliver to, even more. They will have to develop more niches, target at even tighter groups and aim at keeping their clients loyal and satisfied. It will not be easy anymore to substitute a dissatisfied customer with a new one, so customer service and loyalty programs are number one success factors. Thus for business to find their niches, they will have to strive more: it will be difficult to track them, advertise at them and convert them to customers and later on to advocates (very loyal customers, free and quality advertisers). Businesses will have to offer a lot more to get far less that they used to. Common advertising will be highly ineffective of course.
Information Overflow
Businesses were always striving for more information to enable them decision-making and more accurate predictions. That led to advanced information systems, technological advancements, IT departments stuffed by experts, ERP, CRM and other software to handle all that information. That information race however led to information overflow. Moreover web 2.0 made information available to all consumers and facilitated its exchange and sharing thus resulting in companies having to manage that overflow both internally and externally. Nowadays companies will have to adopt sophisticated systems to easily and effectively manage information flow into the corporation, out of the corporation and furthermore track and take (some) control of the relevant information that exists out there. Imagine a dissatisfied blogger posting his/her grievances on his/her blog and even worse commenting on thousands of other about your bad customer service or product. How a company can track that information and find ways to answer back or apologize for a bad incidence?
Further Segmentation of Markets
Another characteristic of modern markets is its variety and diversity of products. A single need can now be satisfied with hundreds if not thousands of similar products. Companies have developed targeting and niche markets in order to succeed and survive in the long-term. However competition is now starting to even strike niche markets and highly targeted consumers have plenty of alternatives options. In the not to far future, businesses of all sizes will have to segment the market they deliver to, even more. They will have to develop more niches, target at even tighter groups and aim at keeping their clients loyal and satisfied. It will not be easy anymore to substitute a dissatisfied customer with a new one, so customer service and loyalty programs are number one success factors. Thus for business to find their niches, they will have to strive more: it will be difficult to track them, advertise at them and convert them to customers and later on to advocates (very loyal customers, free and quality advertisers). Businesses will have to offer a lot more to get far less that they used to. Common advertising will be highly ineffective of course.
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