If you are a company having a blog where potential or current customers visit, Greg Verdino has some great advice on how to make it interesting and compelling:
"..we put together this simple graphic that presents the 7 Strands of Blog DNA - the key elements that, when combined in a unique way, make any given blog what it is. Original, compelling and unlike anything else on the web."
I read this interesting piece by Lee Oddeen on content for business blogs and how corporations can leverage knowledge residing with employees as an important starting point. He writes:
"One of the best resources for blog content comes out of interactions with prospects and customers. If an organization can tap into the flow of dialog that happens between front line employees such as sales people and customer support there is an abundance of valuable content available. If customers and potential customers have questions about certain topics, then it’s pretty likely that many others will too."
Taking-off from this thought, I felt one of the most important areas where such knowledge resides is in the call centre conversations for companies. Many customer service queries get handled during such interactions. Would it not be a good idea to have a section in a company website called FDCs - Frequently Discussed Conversations or even put them in their business blogs?
This could be customer conversations on product, service, usage issues, new solutions discovered by customers etc. I think podcasts of the same can be made available on the blog, websites etc. so that customers/prospects can listen to them and bring them closer to the brand & the company.
The future of great customer experience is all about converting interactions into information.
NY Times has a very interesting article on how enterprises are making Social Networking as a platform to get companies closer to their customers.
I really love the extension of the idea to business because social networking was seen more as a "peripheral community" among industry leaders. These sites were seen as a hub of young consumers getting together more as a hobby and sharing amongst themselves common issues and interests. Imagine, if this can become mainstream for enterprises - making it the hub for its customers! I think this is a big idea and inflection point for social networking this year and the future too.
When large companies & visionaries like Cisco Systems, Ning(the latest venture of the Netscape co-creator Marc Andreessen) put their might behind it, this idea has the capacity to really fly. Look at some examples of how it can be used:
I think this is a great opportunity but companies need to be just the catalyst for such forums. They need to enable, listen, share, collaborate, engage with these customers and prospects if enterprise social networking has to come of age.
Recently, I had a written a post about new media getting the attention of marketers. In fact, I had mentioned there that I hated the use of the word non-traditional media and called it convergent media.
Looks like radio stations are fast adopting convergent media strategies. NY Times has an interesting article on how radio stations are using their websites to have videos that literally 'extend' the listening experience.
I personally think this is an extremely sticky & brilliant idea for radio stations. It just moves seamlessly from offline 'listening' to online 'viewing and listening' very well. Take a look at the opportunities it provides when you view radio media with a convergent mindset:
Radio Stations can become a visual medium if you have the right imagination!
Forrester has released a research report “The ROI Of Blogging: The “Why” And “How” Of External Blog Accountability”.
It's got some very insights on the kind of metrics brands should use, when it comes to evaluating their corporate blogging initiatives:
I just saw an interesting promotion on Coke Rewards. There's a nice touch to this promo. If you go back to my post on Faith Popcorn's 2007 trends, it's quite close to the trend and insight -"The globally conscious consumer regards altruistic activities as a necessary part of self- improvement." Coke has truly taken advantage of this trend with this promotion.
Here's how it goes:
If you drink Coke you need to start donating those coke codes under the cap to the Donate Your Coke Rewards blog. The site has collected over 1,500 codes and is donating all the prizes from the rewards to a needy St. Jude Children's Research Hospital kid.
Much has been written about the power of blogs and its power to shape customer opinion. Measuring the business impact of blogs is an area of great interest to me. Some key questions I often ask myself are:
Well, there seems to be some answers for these questions. Here's a research done by IPSOS in Europe - a leading marketing research firm. I think this research clearly gives directions for other markets too, on how customers perceive this new medium and its impact on brands. Here's the presentation:
Gartner analysts predict there will be a large-scale shift in technology influence toward consumers and away from central corporate IT departments.
In a keynote speech on Monday, Gartner's director of global research, Peter Sondergaard, warned conference attendees that consumerization will be the most significant trend to have an impact on IT over the next 10 years. "We stand at the foot of a new high tide," Sondergaard said. "There is a shift in technology ownership." Sondergaard argued that consumers already have a great deal of power over how services and technologies are configured and used.
"Consumers are rapidly creating personal IT architectures capable of running corporate-style IT architectures," he said. "They have faster processors, more storage and more bandwidth."
He advised corporate IT executives to adapt to the changes and prepare for what he called "digital natives," or people so fully immersed in digital culture that they are unconcerned about the effects of their technology choices on the organizations that employ them.
The encroachment of Web 2.0 into the business world, sometimes referred to as "Enterprise 2.0," was a common theme running.
Mashup apps
In a paper prepared by Gene Phifer, David Mitchell Smith and Ray Valdes, Gartner researchers noted that corporate IT departments historically have lagged behind popular technology waves, such as the arrival of graphical user interfaces and the Internet in business.
They argued that the biggest impacts of Web 2.0 within enterprises are collaboration technologies--notably blogs, wikis and social networking sites--and programmable Web sites that allow business users to create mashup applications.
"Mashups are beginning to see corporate deployment, especially in companies that need to relay geographic information to their users (for example, store locations to customers)," according to the report.
Read more
Mike Sansone of Converstations has included my blog in his list of blog rolls.
As you can see, I am in the august company of some of the best blogs in the world.
Thanks Mike for your reference and link.
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| New Rules | vs. | Old Rules | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agile is best; being big can bite you. | Big dogs own the street. | |
| 2 | Find a niche, create something new. | Be No. 1 or No. 2 in your market. | |
| 3 | The customer is king. | Shareholders rule. | |
| 4 | Look out, not in. | Be lean and mean. | |
| 5 | Hire passionate people. | Rank your players; go with the A's. | |
| 6 | Hire a courageous CEO. | Hire a charismatic CEO. | |
| 7 | Admire my soul. | Admire my might. |
Read more
I think customer conversations or chatter or buzz will increasingly have a great impact on brand preference, brand awareness and marketshare. I did a trend analysis of some Indian brands in different categories - Retail, Telecom, Technology, Banks etc. You can do it here for the following brands.
Interestingly, the customer chatter for some of these brands - Shoppers' Stop, Pantaloon, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Indicom, Reliance Infocomm, Wipro, Infosys and they show a direct correlation to how these brands have innovated or performed in the marketplace. Increasingly brands need to pay attention to customer conversations and ensure they are "top-of-chat" in addition to being "top-of-mind". This will in the future reflect customer involvement, customer engagement and customer ownership trends for many of these brands.
I did the same for Google & Microsoft, Apple & Dell and the results do reflect the success of Google and Apple in the recent past!
Decanter has this interesting story of South African wine brand Stormhoek.
What is in no doubt is that vast numbers of people post and read blogs, and Stormhoek decided to exploit this by offering bloggers a personalised free bottle to taste and comment on.
Around 100 bottles of the Stormhoek Shiraz 2004 and Sauvignon Blanc 2005 – which both retail at the £5-£6 mark – were sent out via blogger Hugh Macleod and his website gapingvoid.com in May 2005, in Europe only.
The result, says Stormhoek spokesman Nick Dymoke Marr, is that the wine now has a 19% share of the over-£5 South African wine market, and sales went from 50,000 cases in 2004 to 100,000 last year.
The popularity of the brand has also earned it listings in Sainsburys, Asda, Oddbins, Majestic, Waitrose and Somerfield.
The campaign has now moved on, with Stormhoek canvassing the views of bloggers on everything from bottle colour to label design. 'We have had over 100 suggestions,' Dymoke Marr said.
Here's the full notes of the interview (thro' Johnnie moore)
ING Vysya Life in India has built an online presence to its top insurance advisors called pickuradvisor, which is a blogging portal . Using this service, customers can interact with insurance advisors online.
It is quite a novel concept where you can select your city and the insurance advisor in that city. As a customer, you can post your query which will be answered by an advisor of your choice. Over time, one can add a lot to this , by getting customers to rank advisors by the kind of advice that they give, which will add a huge amount of trust & integrity to the blog.
thro' thehindu
Andrew B. Smith has this full memo of Ray Ozzie, CTO of Microsoft on the future of software and how it will impact consumers.
Here are some interesting points from the memo on how he sees the future of software as a service:
Key Tenets
Today there are three key tenets that are driving fundamental shifts in the landscape – all of which are related in some way to services. It's key to embrace these tenets within the context of our products and services.
1.The power of the advertising-supported economic model.
Online advertising has emerged as a significant new means by which to directly and indirectly fund the creation and delivery of software and services. In some cases, it may be possible for one to obtain more revenue through the advertising model than through a traditional licensing model.
2.The effectiveness of a new delivery and adoption model.
A grassroots technology adoption pattern has emerged on the internet largely in parallel to the classic methods of selling software to the enterprise. Products are now discovered through a combination of blogs, search keyword-based advertising, online product marketing and word-of-mouth. It's now expected that anything discovered can be sampled and experienced through self-service exploration and download.
3.The demand for compelling, integrated user experiences that "just work".
The PC has morphed into new form factors and new roles, and we increasingly have more than one in our lives – at work, at home, laptops, tablets, even in the living room. Cell phones have become ubiquitous. There are a myriad of handheld devices. Set-top boxes, PVRs and game consoles are changing what and how we watch television. Photos, music and voice communications are all rapidly going digital and being driven by software. Automobiles are on a path to become smart and connected. The emergence of the digital lifestyle that utilizes all these technologies is changing how we learn, play games, watch TV, communicate with friends and family, listen to music and share memories.
...seamless experiences to customers, enabled by services and service-enhanced software:
Read more
Interesting thoughts are discussed here on how to define great leadership. What I find exciting are the points that are being made in this discussion/article which are not often heard stuff like - being a visionary, communicator, strategic thinker etc. which everybody confuses as the only important traits leaders need.
The article says outstanding leadership has its effect on followers.
Key pointers to outstanding leadership
I completely agree with this view. Many a times, I find grand vision(s) being set or announced and then everything in a company falls flat as it cannot be seen through by people at the front-end. It starts with the upper/middle management who just don't understand, can't comprehend, are unable to align or don't see it in the same spirit. It has a ripple effect on people under them. It leaves the front-end confused.
The customers, of course, move to another company to buy what they need!
Do a reality check on your followers and what customers or their colleagues think about them. It has a direct reflection on you as a leader.
Read Daniel Pink's interview today on this subject. Inspiring to read. Here's my take on the same topic.
| Pagerank |
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