The Value of a Domain Name

Interesting note on how G&J Holdings bought candy.com for US$3M.

G&J Holdings play would be sell candy online.

Basic idea really.

The official press release states that there are over 800,000 monthly searches for the word “candy” this, the US$3M price tag.

Powering up Analytics

At Ad:Tech, I attended a great Google session on Web Analytics presented by Avinash Kaushik. Avinash has written a book called Web Analytics - An Hour a Day, which I highly recommend as it demystifies and breaks down the key concepts on Analytics that will make you better Marketing 2.0 marketer.

One key point was to share the data with all the key people in your business - however make sure that you forward the right reports to the right people, thus engaging people in your cause, while eliminating the reports that cause complex decision making - allowing you to experiment with improving the performance.

Another key point was that you should spend 90% in changing and improving and 10% on reviewing the past data - apparently most people do the opposite. Here is a link a previous video presso of Avinash.

For more insights, buy the book and subscribe to Avinash's Blog.

Happy Marketing.

MadMeness

Mad Men what a great a Series on how the Ad industry used to be like.

Nothing much as changed, though, except we talk about wireframes, usability, ROI, Adwords and Social Media.

No matter what decade or industry, the customer rules and we must all try to capture the attention of an even more and more fragmented average customer - with one ball and one breast.

The Platform is the Medium

Fortune has a great video interview on what an Accel VC considers as a good investment - Jim Breyer discusses on "new platforms" and How and Why they are they work as the best frameworks in selecting the next big thing.

Incidentally, Jim Breyer, as a Social Media advocate has a bare bones LinkedIn Profile - Zero contacts??

Oh well, I guess he and his firm don't need LinkedIn since they invested in Facebook...

Preaching to the Converted - Ad:Tech Sydney

Ad:Tech is due in Sydney this week - Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th.

It should be interesting to see what the delegate numbers will be and the amount of sponsors exhibiting, since Australia's Online Ad spending has surpassed the AU$1Billion per annum (based on last quarter's spend in digital).

I will take my camera and upload some pictures on my Flickr account either on Wednesday or Thursday.

Looking at the sessions it's a shame that the content is still preaching to the converted. As a marketer I would like the opportunity to learn more interesting topics on metrics to plan and optimize campaigns for my clients. Then again, perhaps the content is not targeted for me.

Perhaps next year we will get more substance - that's how long we have to wait for Ad:Tech :-(

US Down, AU Up

This morning on Bloomberg the newsreader announced that US Internet consumer spending has dropped by 18% for the Christmas period of 2007.

While back here in Australia, The Financial Review had a story about the ACMA's recent research on how Aussie kids spend as much time online as they do watching free to air TV.

While they are very different market indicators, they are none the less important trends to keep a eye on.

The US market is being affected by the Sub Prime meltdown and in economics, consumer's confidence can further drive a market down. The US Internet market should be able to bounce back.

While here in Australia, consumer confidence is on the up and up and the cost of having an internet connection is relatively affordable. Good news for the Digital media industry in Australia and the flow on to other sectors.

Mobile Web Applications

When I founded my 1st Internet Start-up circa 2001, I vividly remember reading a story in the Financial Review about Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

Gerstner, who was CEO and Chairman of the board of IBM from April, 1993 until December, 2002, made the following statement in the article; "Picture a day when a billion people will interact with a million e-businesses via a trillion interconnected, intelligent devices."

While that vision is not yet complete at the time of this entry in December 2007, with the announcement of the of 3 Skype mobile device, we are certainly a lot closer.

What makes the device quite unique and closer to Gerstner's vision is that consumer will be expecting more and more device to be ubiquitously integrated into digital devices that we use on a daily basis.

Mobile devices should have a seamless YouTube application that allows you to upload a video file directly. It won't be long till we we have high end SLR and consumer cameras with an embedded Flickr upload application.

Design Touch Points

Jonathan Ive, Claudia Kotchka, Yves Behar and David Butler.What do they have in common?

They are masters of design.

Jonathan Ive is Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Inc. He is the man behind the mp3 player called the iPod as well as MacBook Pro, the machine that I am using to write this entry.

Claudia Kotchka is Vice-President for Design Innovation and Strategy at Procter and Gamble and has evolved the P&G company to become more focused on design and innovation and thus become more profitable.

Yves Behar is the founder of Fuseproject, a design firm that has won countless design awards in Silicon Valley and now is working with Coca Cola among many Fortune 50 companies.

David Butler, is Vice President of Visual Identity Design for the Coca Cola Company and has hired Behar to reposition Coca Cola's brand.

These individuals believe that Design is more important than Engineering or Marketing. They convincingly argue that if your organisation leads by design the rest will fall into place.

"Design is not a short term fix, it's a long term engagement that requires you to think about how design affects everything that touches the consumer - from product to packaging to marketing to retail to the take home experience." - Yves Behar.

Results speak for them selves.

Co-Creating Amateurs

For an excellent article on how to leverage your customer base for an effective viral campaign, read the Fast Company article Amateur Hour, Web Style.

It highlights that the key ingredient in every successful viral campaign is the recognition from marketers that for an effective campaign, consumers will be wanting to advance their own interest, be it showcasing their video production skills, acting skills, or some other unique skills that they wish to put on display. Case in point being the Diet Coke and Mentos guys.

So for marketers wanting to effectively use User Generated Content co-creation viral campaigns, they must be willing to understand, motivate and reward consumers narcissistic behaviour.

After all the word Amateur is French for "lover of." Defined in Wikipedia as: The word comes from French, and can be translated as "lover of", reflecting the amateur's motivation to work as a result of a love or passion for a particular activity.

Lock in the experience

It's been a week since I arrived from Manhattan, NYC and while is was there I had the opportunity to meet some interesting people, both that work in digital and as well as other industries.

We got talking about online and their expectations, what stood out is that no matter what application that they use, one thing that they all expect from their app is a robust and ever evolving platform with sophisticated back-end tools.

If you look at Blogger, you can see that more and more work is being done on the back end of the application - including the purchase of FeedBurner by Google.

It got me thinking that if you have an application that you are offering to users, more and more of your development investment needs to be directed on developing "e-tools" that will lock in your customers to your online app.

What other better way than truly add value to your customers than assisting them to achieve their overall business goal by building and integrating into other back-end platforms.

Developing robust back-end tools will be one way to differentiate your core offering while reducing churn.

Web 2.0 Online Webcast Disruptor

Web 2.0 companies bring both joy and fear, depending on who you are.

Joy if you are a business that can suddenly can tap into web applications that where way to expensive or complicated to use.

Fear if you are a web 1.0 company that after many years of overcharging your companies a new start-up releases a Beta version of a web application for free.

One disruptor that recently I came across is Zentation, whose application is pitched against On24, whose local distributor is Viocorp.

In the past, for a firm to webcast an event it was an expensive exercise, about $4-$5k.

Locally in Australia, $1-$2k went to Viocorp and $3-$4k straight to On24. The actual cameraman would only get paid between $300-$500 to shoot, edit and upload the footage. Viocorp would invoice the client locally.

On24 is a private company that has been operating since 1998 and has built a solid business. More historical data here.

With Zentation launching clients will be in a position to webcast events around the $2k mark, the cameraman will be able to earn more money and liaise directly with the client.

Zentation's has not disclosed what it's revenue model will be, but more than likely will be through integrating with Google's AdSense.

Zentation is partnering with Google Video as the streaming partner citing that it is the only video provider that allows user to jump to video chapters. Perhaps pathing the way to a sale to Google Video in the future.

Zentation also offers a cool sharing tool, allowing users to embed video/slide webcasts;



As sample Guy Kawasaki working his magic.

It will be interesting to see how things develop. I will certainly be recommending the service to clients as an alternative.

Alternate Reality Marketing

I picked up the latest offline version of Wired June 2007 Magazine and came across a cool article; "Unlock Hidden TV Show Plots with Alternate Reality Game" about 42 Entertainment and the concept of ARG (Alternate Reality Games).

ARGs are a powerful concept as fans of a TV show will engage with the show by calling telephone numbers and visiting websites that are linked in the plot that are presented on show.

Fans interact with other fans that have also come across games and puzzles that are presented through the websites.

42 Entertainment has a brilliant Framework available online for their creative approach.

It's a brilliant concept, but how can business use the same framework for their web 2.0 marketing?

IP Telephony Event in Sydney

Macquarie Telecom are hosting a sit down lunch this coming Friday 1st June 2007 at 1.45am till 12 noon at the Sir Stamford Hotel, Circular Quay, Price Albert Room, 93 Macquarie Street, Sydney with Guest Speaker; Shara Evans, CEO, Market Clarity.

For more details on the event please click here.

If you would like to attend please email: marketing@macquarietelecom.com

Interview with Andrew Pascoe

I have been reading Andrew Pascoe's Blog for quite sometime now. I admire his discipline to be able to blog consistently offering a daily mash-up up digital news reporting.

Just about every other Aussies that I know in the digital space reads his blog at least once a week.

I emailed him last week for an interview and he kindly obliged, engaging on a keen discussion on the web and how Australian companies embracing Web 2.0.

-

BAM: How long have you been blogging for?
AP: Since November 2004 - I started when I was still in Brisbane because I couldn't find any Australian digital media regular sources so figured I may as well start my own.

It's funny looking back on my very first posts, how archaic some of them seem now.

BAM: How did you get started in the digital industry?
AP: Like a lot of people in media agencies, I just stumbled across 'media' - my path was via work experience way back in high school. I'd always been around computers, helped by my older brother being in IT, so media & computers intersected at digital media.

I'd shown ability in the area, so the media agency in Brisbane I started at was happy to make me the online media person.

BAM: As the Interactive Media Manager at Sputnik, what does your role entail?
AP: Two main facets: The first is overseeing all the 'typical' media functions (being a sounding board for the media team when developing media plans, media negotiations, bitching & moaning about lack of consistency between publisher specs).

Second, is helping seed a greater understanding across the whole agency - we're full service so have creative, tech dev, and account management - of digital media from the penetration/consumption perspective.

A large part of that second facet can sometimes be playing devil's advocate also - sexy new technologies and sites aren't worth pursuing if they're not being used by the appropriate audience.

BAM: Sometimes Sexy New Technologies need to be experimented with, after all this whole Banner thing once was Sexy New Technology. So do you tell clients not to consider SNT?
AP: Definitely agree, and because of that, we most certainly tell clients to consider SNT. (I like the acronym - although it needs a vowel - maybe SNeT?) Where the SNeT fits the desired target and objective, we recommend it - either as a core or supplementary activity depending on the campaign (and yeah, its usually supplementary to allow for testing).

Where the SNeT doesn't necessarily fit the target or objective, we might make the client aware of it to keep them informed but recommend not using it.

Regardless of clients usage, we try to test internally, or at the least become familiar & comfortable with them, all the SNeT.

BAM: What is a hot idea with your clients at the moment?
AP: It hasn't been necessarily raised by clients, but an opportunity that is going begging at the moment is selling Australian eyeballs of blog ad networks.

Companies like Federated Media and BlogAds in the US present a nice opportunity for an Australian sales house to start selling the blogs in their networks to Australian readers.

Twitter is the latest new technology/fad we are seeing having some appealing campaign applications, when mashed up with mapping (think any verticals where location is either essential or an enhancer).

Also, few clients were keen to discuss affiliate marketing again (both for and against) after seeing the trade press coverage of the recent RSVP/Commission Monster activity.

BAM: Are you able to share the details of the Twitter/Mashed example?
AP: It's a bit too early at this stage I'm afraid. There are some products/services though that are more broadly about location and places, and activity at places, than something generic like a store locators. I'll let you know when its live though : )

BAM: How receptive are Australian Companies to new ideas?
AP: This combined with my response about what's coming up in the next 6 months is going to make me sound like one big negative nellie. Seth Godin sums it pretty well: there's two reasons people say no to your idea - "it's been done before", or "it's never been done before."

When we are talking about new media ideas, the translation is that no one ever got fired for buying a certain number of (TV) TARPs, or buying the (outdoor) supersite that's on the managing director's route to work.

This points to something though: as a digital industry, we need to be selling our story more thoroughly, and educating far, far more thoroughly.

BAM: Most Australians do things, once they have been proven to work, however at that stage everybody is jumping on the bandwagon, diluting the effectiveness. Additionally, it's hard to educate if clients if they are not willing to experiment a little, create new frontiers. How do you manage that paradox?
AP: I think the answer to that lies in on two fronts:

The first is developing the skill to locate from overseas examples in the right verticals or using the same technologies etc and pulling out the parts that can be applied to this market.

The second is finding the types of clients here that realise if they do not test things now they will struggle 3,4,5 years down the track when the current traditional media solutions are even more fruitless (the sorts of marketers I'm talking about here are what Max Kalehoff calls "the happy loser" - from those organisations that are building in higher levels of unpredictability and periodic loss into their models)

BAM: Where do you see the Australian industry heading in the next 6 months?
AP: 6 months is a pretty short space of time - one that is very easy to see stasis. Online spend is growing by default at such a rate that for many parties - from both/all sides of the equation - there is no need to do much different from right now - a rising tide floats all boats as the saying goes.

I'd in fact settle for all Aust publishers to finally be using the proper names of the IAB standard ad sizes in their communication, sometimes in the next 6 months. Seems we can only expect baby steps in this, and similar, regards.

BAM: A while back in a blog entry you stated that no Digital firms should hire an individual that does not blog or have a del.icio.us account, why is that?
AP: Haha - yes, I recall that post. Looking back on it perhaps I was being a little too literal. If you think about offline media (& creative) agencies everyone there has grown up with all of the media they are planning and buying and creating for and talking about.

This also applies to the standard online banner media now. Anything beyond that though is all the newest of the new digital media, so planners simply can't have spent 10 or 15 or 30 years with these mediums.

If they can't have picked up on the characteristics of these new mediums by years of general exposure as with offline/traditional mediums, then to begin to understand their strengths and weaknesses, you have to be absorbed by it, which includes having practical hands-on experience.

The best example of this is looking at the tone of an approach to a blogger by a non-blogger, but the same holds true for other activities such as the metaverses of Second Life, or Twitter.

END

The Commodotization of Democratisation - The Digital Tsunami

Today at the Australian Technology Park's World IP Day I had a chat to Beata Kade, the head of a company called The Art of Multimedia.

We where chatting about the work I do, and I mentioned that I can produce vodcast and webcasts for as little as 1k (30 minute shoot), she was concerned that it was so cheap and that it devalues what companies like her can charge.

She pleaded that I shouldn't charge so cheap as it conditions clients to pay as little as possible. The net effect on her firm is that clients want low budget work and she can't deliver as she has a cost base she needs to cover.

I beg to differ, for starters there will always be a market for High End Blockbuster productions, however a small market - that's work for corporate DVD's and other boring stuff.

I work with firms that want to build a large community by casting events via the Internet and vodcasts, be it for the Youth or other markets - they have small budgets and don't see any value in paying a minimum of 10k for every cast.

No matter what I do or what Beata's company does, it will not stop or slow the Commodotization of partically everything; be it video, photography, graphic art or web design, hosting and other related services.

Google's biggest effect on the industry has been the Commodotization of web advertising.

The effect of digital within the video production industry, has been that it has commdotized just about everything; ranging from Cameras, lighting, media (Tapes, Hard Drives, etc), editing software and video hosting (YouTube, etc) and other distribution methods (RSS feeds, iTunes, etc) - including production!

I think that's a good thing.

Companies refusing to service a sector of the market, i.e. the small budget in this example, will not stop or slow this trend - regardless of their cost structure.

Before digital, there was no such thing as Vodcasting or Webcasting. However now days, it is a very profitable way for all firms to use the web to build a community with out having a huge budget.

It's called Democratisation of Digital Services.

If a Firm's cost structure is not geared to leverage the Digital Tsunami, they will miss a huge opportunity.

To leverage this new order, Firms need to do either:
1. Adjust their cost structure
2. Adjust their strategy
3. Wither away

Billy

New Worlds - Avatar Marketing Strategy

Last night (Tuesday, 17th April 2007) on SBS at 8:30 there was an excellent documentary on the phenomena of virtual worlds, such as Second Life, Entropia Universe and World of Warcraft, among others.

The doco focused on all the new enterprises that virtual worlds have spawned - Beyond the game developers. Enterprises such as Gold trading, Levelling and buying Virtual Real Estate, all undertaken with real cash.

The SMH has compiled a detailed brief review. If you missed it, I encourage you try to source it.

Some people may wonder what the fuss is all about, but consider this; by 2010 there will be over 12 million active Avatars!

At the moment there are about 6 million Avatars, which makes you think; if you are a Pepsi, Gillette, Absolut, Pizza Hut, etc, that perhaps you need to be developing an Avatar Marketing Strategy.

Coca-Cola thinks so.

For a list of the Virtual Worlds visit: http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/

MTV 2.0 - Embedding Brands

MTV has had it's heyday.

Founded in 1981 by Bob Pittman, MTV now days is an old tired Viacom asset. It's target audience, is consuming digital media rather than siting in front of a programmed TV channel - which was noted on Guy Kawasaki's young person panels "Young Generation Innovation 2006" video.

In Wired's article; "A Second Life for MTV", Matt Bostwick, Senior Vice President of MTV's Leapfrog initiative - an experimental skunk works for MTV - is trying to reinvent the MTV brand for it's young consumers - by leapfrogging the current NetGen online behaviour, therefore re-positioning the MTV brand as leader in the near future.

Traditionally, MTV has earned it's keep by owning a hard-to-reach young demographic audience by supplying cool video clips hosted by cool and sexy VJ's coupled with original youth orientated programming - then selling premium Ad airtime to it's advertisers.

Now day's MTV's programming is full of cheap reality shows as NetGens are browsing online on MySpace for music and undiscovered bands/dj's/artists in a self discovery way.

The Leapfrog initiative has imagined a future beyond the MySpace's or other Social Networking sites that youths pimp-up with customised profiles.

The future that Leapfrog sees is a 3D virtual world; similar to Second Life - where NetGen's have a funky Avatar and interact with other NetGens in a 3D world, forging friendships with peers that can be across the globe and share music, trends and fashion ideas all online in a virtual world.

In this 3D world, Net Gen's would hang out at a Coca-Cola theatre where the latest bands/DJ's would perform in exclusive screenings or they would chill out at the Gillette Virtual extreme sports challenge among many other sponsored events.

Some of the scenes may well then be aired on MTV; engaging users with it's brands and sponsors as they are real participants in the freshly created shows - embedding brands into the target community.

The first initiative has been aired on MTV and has been based on the Laguna Beach (the real OC) MTV show - and it is available for NetGen's to sign up now at Viritual Laguna Beach - taking Web 2.0 Marketing way beyond the 30 second spot or a Flash driven sub site.

The Greatest Community Marketer

I was reading the current Fortune Magazine, while at Gloria Jeans in Bondi Junction, and there was a small article in the First section on Richard Branson's new initiative on his part in keeping the world green (sorry the article is not online: Question Authority: "Preaching Green with the Zeal of a Convert").

Regardless, of his good points and bad points, as per his unauthorised biography - "Branson" by Tom Bower; Branson by nature is a highly effective Community Marketer.

His most recent move:- he has pleadged all Virgin Atlantic's and Virgin Trains profits to research on renewable energies.

Brilliant! Next time your choosing your between a Virgin product and other, and you have a conscience of the environment, you will more than likely choose a Virgin product or service - not necessarily Virgin Atlantic or Trains - the Halo Effect in full steam.

The brilliant thinking here, is that if you read the fine print, he is committing, not donating the profits to alternative energies.

That is to say, he will more than likely be a major shareholder of the new Virgin Energy business/investments and get a return on investment from the new venture(s).

My hat off to him for thinking out of the box.

Web 1.0 Thinking Vs Web 2.0 Thinking

As per my last post, I recently read an excellent article on Wired's February 2007 article titled How Yahoo! Blew It where it documents how Yahoo!'s Terry Semel missed the greatest opportunity in Net History to date - Not purchasing Google.

In summary - I strongly recommend that you read the article - Yahoo! made several mistakes as the Search War's were waged.

Mistake 1 - Low balling.
In 2002 Yahoo! attempted to buy Google for US$3 Billion dollars, even though Terry Semel's Lieutenants recommended a US$5 Billion offer. Terry Semel thought that this offer was excessive considering that initially Yahoo! had invested in Google.

Mistake 2 - Ego.
Due to the high price; Google had revenues of US$240 million a year while Yahoo!'s was about $837 million, the purchase would have been more of a merger than a purchase; the company would have in effect become Yahoogle. Terry Semel decided against it.

Mistake 3 - Poor execution.
Terry Semel's back-up plan was poorly executed. The plan consisted of buying Inktomi, considered to have an excellent search engine algorithm. As well as Bill Gross' Overture, known at that stage as GoTo.com.

Albeit a brilliant plan, Yahoo! vacillated in integrating the two into Yahoo! as well as investing in beefing up the key work relevance as well as automating the technology to allow advertisers to self administer their campaigns.

Mistake 4 - No Sense of Urgency
Due to the fact that Yahoo! derived revenue from multiple streams, such as banners and co-promotions, it was not as focused on Pay per Click as was Google - for Google it was the sole revenue stream.

Mistake 5 - Web 1.0 Thinking
When the talks with Google commenced, Yahoo! had just hired its new CEO, Terry Semel in April 2001 and Tim Koogle had resigned the month before due to the Tech Wreck of March 2000-October 2000. Therefore the shares where trading at US$7 and the overall Internet company CEO and investors thinking was to be cautious and not to spend money unwisely.

In conclusion, multiple mistakes where made, however the common denominator was that Yahoo! had Web 1.0 thinking and Google had Web 2.0 thinking.

Which begs you to think - is your current CEO Web 1.0 or CEO Web 2.0?

One way to gauge is; was if your firm started in before 2002?

If so, more then likely the executive team has Web 1.0 baggage - if you are part of the executive team, you need to start thinking fresh as every current Web firm will have a Web 2.0 threat delivering a much richer web experience to your customer base.

Time off line

I spent the past few days in the hospital - had an acute asthma episode.

Over the time I was recovering in hospital I had plenty of time to think as well as to catch-up on some reading.

One good read was the Feb 2007 edition of Wired. One great article of interest was "How Yahoo! Blew It" and it documents how Yahoo! lost the search race against Google.

I will be posting a fair bit the next few days covering Yahoo! and new trends and ideas.

Stay tune.

Billy

Sony's Community Marketing

Yesterday after ordering my mid morning Latte I picked up The Australian's Media & Marketing section and read with great interest on Sony's new Community Marketing for the Sony PlayStation 3.

The article titled "Foxtel channels PlayStation ads" covers how Sony will be launching a temporary Pay-TV channel on the recently launched (Feb 8th 2007) On Demand suite of programs on Foxtel's IQ digital set-top box.

The PlayStation 3 channel will be available for a period of 6 weeks and will feature six short films promoting the console.

Foxtel IQ subscribers will be able to watch the six shorts on demand at no charge during that period.

What a fantastic idea! - You can also be doing this for your brands using YouTube or an iPod.

-

PlaaayyyStationnnnn............

Volunteer Recruiting Tactic – Web 2.0 style

Through my day job at Elcom I recently commenced work with a major brand, which is relaunching their online presence.

This iconic brand (at this stage I can’t disclose the brand) has been around for 15 years and has done an excellent job in building a hugely successful brand – yet their online presence was a mish-mash of pages with no clear direction.

Since they are a charity and in order to achieve their major fund raising objectives they engage an army of volunteers to participate in their appeal.

Out of all my recommendations – and believe me, I don’t shy from recommending, they happily embraced the idea of creating a MySpace presence in order to attract more volunteers.

I will keep you posted on the how this strategy progresses.

Till later,

Billy

The Latin American Market 2.0

I was reading a blog on the Mexican Internet market posted by Joseph Jaffe on Crayonville's blog.

He wrote:-

"20% of the population is online and a staggering 70% of this group are broadband enabled.

Furthermore, Latin American leads broadband subscriber growth in 2005 vs 2004 with a whopping 70.7%. Next highest is Western Europe with 42.2% (source: eMarketer)"

It reminded me of a report I put together late last year on the Latin American Market (not to be confused by the US Hispanic Market) and my findings support the blog:-

"Latin American market is the fastest growing market of Internet users comprising a total population of 553,908,632 and an Internet Penetration of 76,437,188 users, which has been largely neglected by many English speaking Internet firms.

While only 14.40% of the Central and Latin American population has access to the Internet in comparison to Oceania/Australia which has 52.06% penetration, this figure represents 8.50% of the global Internet Population versus the 0.50% for Oceania/Australia." (Source: Web 2.0, The Central and Latin America Market Opportunity, Chile – The Latin Tiger)

email me for a free copy of the report: billy at metrixdigital.com

Every day is a new Web 2.0 day

One of the many things that i love about the web 2.0 days is that every day as I'm browsing, I come across some new start-up or application - does wonders to my conditioned multi-tasking short attention span! - but I love it.

So many new ideas are popping up enhancing the online experience.

An application that I came across tonight is Snap. Snap bills itself as an evolution of search and linking.

It is founded by Bill Gross and backed by Gross' idealab, the incubator that founded Overture among other successes and some dogs - but thats another story...

Regardless of the outcome of Snap, it's exciting to see so many fresh ideas bubbling.

Why Community Marketing Works

In the Web 2.0 world many established industries are being radically changed.

One in particular is the music industry. Before the Internet, music labels chose the artist and selected a target consumer group and engaged in some clever marketing to sell their music.

Up until recently, one of the key marketing activities was Payola - a practice now made illegal, yet still being abused via a third party loophole.

But Net Gen (Generation Y) consumers are very skeptical of marketing and faith in advertising and the business of marketing has evaporated. Radio and MTV do not have the power they did pre Web 2.0.

In fact the only way to effectively market to Net Gens is via Peer to Peer Marketing - Why? Because Peers trust Peers.

Check out this cool Web 2.0 company; Slideshare for some key ideas on Peer to Peer marketing.

Community Marketing

How does Web 2.0 Marketing differ from other forms of digital marketing?

Traditional marketing relies on Push-Pull Strategies that when planned and executed effectively allows an enterprise to achieve its strategic objective. However, in my experience; Australian company's generally always embrace a half-cooked Push or Pull strategy - but very rarely both.

With high Internet penetration of 1,958,914 in Australia, more of your target customers are spending more time online.

Web 2.0 allows users to tap into social, cool and funky applications & tools to enrich their lives. As a Marketer you need to start thinking on how you can build communities around your brands - and perhaps how can you tap into established communities and create content that will Halo Effect across to your brands.

This approach goes way beyond creating Flash Banners - and extends into creating tools and content that will connect;

-Customers with prospects

-Prospects with prospects

-Your brands with your customers and prospects

-Customers with Customers

Companies that are effectively employing Community Marketing are generally digital firms - creating an amazing opportunity for atom based firms to differentiate themselves by embracing Community Marketing before everyone else does.

Till later,

Billy

Web 2.0 Marketing

I have been talking to a lot of companies on Web 2.0; what it is and what is the business impact.

One thing that comes out of the discussions, is that Web 2.0 is here to stay and your business better embrace it.

If you are a digital firm, it will mean that you are (if you are not you better be), incorporating Ajax into your services. If you are a traditional business, you will need to review what services can be delivered via a Web 2.0 application/tool to enrich your customer's experience.

However, the biggest opportunity is to start thinking Web 2.0 Marketing. What is Marketing Web 2.0?

In a paragraph it means; extending your digital marketing beyond the website, beyond Search Engine Marketing, beyond Banner Ad, beyond Viral; it means knowing where your target customers are spending online and why. As well as knowing what portable media they are consuming; such as Vodcasting and YouTube and if they are participating in User Generated Content. Then developing and delivering an offering that communicates your message and reinforces your value proposition.

For more information check out what Microsoft has to say about Web 2.0 Marketing.

Till later,

Billy

BarCampSydney 2007

Wow - what an event!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I committed my services to film the BarCampSydney event.

Russ Weakly (Sydney's CSS Guru & manages to rank Russ top 2 in google) met up with me prior to event to advise me on the format, known as Open Space, where delegates nominate the speakers and topics.

At any given moment there where 4 discussions/presentations/workshops on a variety of topics. I manged to film some great sessions, however at the next one I will take four camera crews to capture the whole event.

Lana Jane Beck managed to take some great photos. More photos here from other photographers.

Over the coming weeks I will be editing, encoding and uploading the sessions on YouTube and in MPEG4 format for downloading.

Make sure you don't miss out on the next BarCampSydney by registering now scheduled for June 2007.

Till later,

Billy