Marketing Edge » small business

What Will Change Social Media in 2012

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:48:24 +0000

Time 13:22

The year-end blog posts about marketing ideas for 2012 are endless. The one constant included in the majority of them is the importance of content. Now now, everyone and their brother has a book out about the latest consultant buzz word “content marketing”. Stop it; this should almost insult your intelligence, if you are a thinking person, for consultants to raise the content flag as what’s new in marketing.

The irony here is that digital and social media have created an environment similar to advertising. Here’s what I mean, in the last 20 years every space is open to place a logo for payment, from sidewalks to mobile apps. That same environment applies to content of all types, from “how to” videos to tweets about your blog post. The challenge is how many ways can you essentially say the same thing and how will it convince those who receive the information.

We get into a conversation about content with long time social media advocate Laura Fitton aka @Pistachio. She is one of the early adopters in the social community, an entrepreneur founder of OneForty, co-author of Twitter for Dummies, and is now an inbound marketing evangelist for Hubspot. I have no affiliation with Hubspot. Hubspot was all about content and digital crumbs long before today’s latest push for content marketing.

In this Marketing Edge podcast episode Laura and I discuss the shift from seeking customers to customers seeking. A difference that requires a shift in how you approach your own company and it’s role in the world of information. People have written books about this topic, I sum it up in one messily blog post Newsroom PR saving you time and money : ) .

Hubspot has a new twist on the way they analyze website content. Give marketing.grader.com a try, it will give you a report on whether the content on your website is attractive to readers and can help generate inbound marketing inquiries.

Maruggi’s Trends for Social in 2012

Mobile will drive foot and digital traffic so be there

Bloggers and customers want more to do your marketing

Companies will demand more feedback from consumers in exchange for something you value

Are You a Whining Consumer Who Doesn’t Pay Full Price? Join the Crowd

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:27:01 +0000

Time 24:59

The second part of this Marketing Edge podcast interview with author of the book The New Small, Phil Simon and Albert Maruggi talks about the type of consumer that the “New Small” economy may be creating. Picking up where Chris Anderson, the author of the book Free, a tome about the free economy.

In this free economy, supported in great part by the social web, consumers use platforms from Google to Hootsuite, from Twitter to Facebook for no cost (or a nominal fee) Simon’s book the New Small shows how businesses can tap into the free economy companies who are providing technology infrastructure at a fraction of the cost compared to the last decade. As a buyer at least, Simon contends the free economy is in your best interests.

More Whiners Than Buyers

Is this new small economy comprised of consumers who want something for nothing? Are they the same consumers that will share their criticisms to the world about a product they are using for nothing? Or perhaps this new small economy is about technology companies who calculate the more users the greater the revenue potential from other sources such as advertising, and in that model users are justified in their visible critiques?

Maruggi and Simon discuss ways to approach this highly vocal, highly opinionated consumer. The New Small doesn’t mean only small will win, it means there is a new perspective about creating businesses and new consumer perspectives that will impact businesses of all sizes.

Chance to Win The New Small

Enjoy this conversation with author Phil Simon, examine the book The New Small and enter a chance to win The New Small book used by Maruggi to conduct the interview with his notes by posting a comment or Tweeting about this podcast with the hashtag #mktedge Follow Simon on Twitter @philsimon on Twitter and Maruggi @albertmaruggi

Name Your Favorite “New Small” Technology

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:07:15 +0000

Time 20:29

Once you see Microsoft commercials talk about the “Cloud” you know it’s ok to talk about the topic in mixed company. By mixed I mean other than the geek set. Author Phil Simon surely makes enabling technologies easy to understand and more importantly practical for business decision makers. In his book The New Small, Simon makes the case for using what he called The Five Enablers

Cloud Computing
Software as a service (SaaS)
Free and open source software (FOSS)
Mobility
Social networks

These enablers allow business to participate in trends that are fast becoming essential to complete and to satisfy the new social consumer.

Flexibility and agility
Collaboration
Content creation and choice
Experimentation and acceptable risk
The social customer
The war for talent

In this podcast we discuss how law firms, restaurants, dental practices, and many other businesses are abandoning the idea of office infrastructure for the inexpensive enabling technologies available. For example, I created this text in Google Docs, posted on a Word Press blog, and you are playing the audio on this page with a free open source audio player. All I need is to be smart about asking the questions that you, the listener, want to ask.

That’s a major theme of Simon’s The New Small, businesses lean of staff and sharp of mind, can focus on their core value while reducing costs and expanding their reach with enabling technologies which include the social tactics and networks most appropriate for that business.

This is the first of a two part conversation. In this podcast you’ll hear how business is saving money and increasing ways to make their customer feel beyond satisfied.

The New Small is full of examples of free or low cost enabling technologies that businesses are using to be successful. Let’s start a list of the New Small technologies by Marketing Edge listeners in Google Docs and you can add to it.

2011 The Year of The Groupon

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 04:21:04 +0000

Time 25:03

Groupon is getting plenty of press regarding their growth, currently valued at $4.75 billion, or Groupon’s current round of funding raising, $950 million, or turning down a $6 billion offer from Google.

Groupon’s CEO Andrew Mason will tell you, and Charlie Rose in a recent interview, that those numbers are possible because of the company’s laser like focus on their customer’s experience. Groupon gives a stage to local businesses who offer daily deals of 50% or more. Reading the deal of the day Groupon email is now as much a routine for some as reading the daily newspaper for others. (That’s ironic) Mason, who started Groupon in November 2008 is passionate about individuals discovering something new about their city, and if they can share that experience with others, even better.

In late December, I interviewed Julie Mossler, a spokesperson with Groupon, about the benefits to businesses that use the group buying, deep discounting, pay for performance service. Groupon works like this. Businesses offer Groupon users significant discounts, for example a $50 dinner for two is offered at $25. The deal is on only when an agreed upon minimum number of people purchase the offer. Win – Win right? business gets people through the door at some minimum price point or else there is no cash expense by the business. It is a pay for performance advertising model.

Learn How Groupon Works! from The Point on Vimeo.

Groupon features a deal a day in an email to their local subscribers, in addition they have other deals on their local city websites. They recently started a self-service option for merchants and professional service providers. The key criteria for businesses considering Group are in the answers to these four questions:

1) Are you attempting to gain new customers for repeat business?
2) Are you attempting to gain customers who will more than likely purchase additional items during the Groupon redemption visit?
3) Are you reallocating advertising dollars toward the Groupon program?
4) How will you convert Groupon subscribers to your customers?

While you may see many restaurants, hotels, and spas, Groupon clearly is a model that can be beneficial for many types of businesses. It’s a question of creativity and thinking through the buying behaviors and advertising models to determine whether Groupon is a good fit for your product or service.

The Groupon site is a good resource for merchants to learn about this category of online marketing. I recommend Groupon’s web-based ROI calculator to help project estimated returns, costs, and repeat business potential. There are likely more detailed spreadsheets available as you engage with a Groupon representative to do deeper calculations that will help refine your costs and potential revenue the Groupon program may generate.

As a small business you should claim a presence on Groupon Stores, a new feature of Groupon’s page that allows businesses to essentially self-serve a Groupon offer even though they will not be the featured deal of the day.

2011 will see rapid change in business marketing. A strategy session on the long term impact on your business of Groupon and the general concept of social network buying and marketing may be a good use of resources.

We’ll have more coverage on this topic and feature other network buying platforms. Please suggest some that you have used or think are newsworthy.

Marketing Edge Listeners Win!

Ann McGinn is the winner of Julio Ojeda-Zapata’s book Ipad Means Business. Congratulations Ann and thanks to all the Marketing Edge listeners who submitted their name for the drawing. Stay tuned for our next book drawing and good luck.

Digging Into the Groupon Model

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:14:50 +0000

The merger of multi-level marketing, a buying cooperative and steep discounting is a successful mix for Groupon. In less than two years Groupon has 40 million global subscribers spread across 300 local markets. According to this Ad Age report What’s Next For Groupon, the Chicago-based company’s international growth by acquisition is a major reason for its rapid growth.

As a marketing advisor to business Groupon is a conundrum for me. Groupon has significant benefits of reaching potentially new buyers in a specific location, the question is how to leverage the Groupon tactic with growing the most profitable customer base for each business. One restaurant client, a steakhouse in a midsize city, calculates that his break even point is if 10 percent of the estimated Groupon buyers return without a promotion.

Groupon’s shared revenue model of a 50% discount split with the restaurant where Groupon takes half of that amount. Its payment structure to its customer businesses is a 1/3 upon sale of the Groupon, a 1/3 increments at 30 days and the remaining third at 60 days from time of sale. A recent study by Rice University professor Utpal M. Dholakia questioned whether Groupon is worth the $6 billion offered by Google for the company whose annual revenue is more than $1 billion based on the price sensitive nature of Groupon users.

I’m looking to see how consumers use Groupon. I’ve focused on a popular restaurant in the Twin Cities which has a Groupon going on today. The restaurant is French Meadow Bakery and Cafe. As you can see in this graphic, as of about 8:20 Monday, December 13 there are 429 sold well over the minimum required to initiate the deal. UPDATE – in the half hour it took me to proof this post from the time I took the image, the number of buyers is up to 1,933!

I’m interested in reaching the people who purchased this Groupon to ask the questions in the survey below. Basically I’m interested in whether they have been to French Meadow before and whether they are purchasing this Groupon as a gift for someone else. Yes I understand it may be a stretch trying to reach them on this post, but let’s give it a try, I’ll use Twitter, Facebook and some other Twin Cities communities to get the word out. If you have ideas on how to reach them, put it in the comments section.

French Meadow Bakery and Cafe Groupon Buyers

If you purchased Groupon for French Meadow Bakery and Cafe in the Twin Cities, can you answer these two questions? Thanks

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There are several articles on the issue of whether Groupon is a good fit for all small business. This New York Times piece for example I have several theories I’m working through on Groupon, one is from a simple dollars and cents standpoint, the other is from a conceptual perspective about whether Groupon’s concept is a way capitalist economics blends with social collective behavior.

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Boxers or Briefs? Manpacks Has The Answer

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 04:18:57 +0000

Time 31:38

You thought the TV remote was the greatest invention for men, check this out. You can order men’s underwear online from Manpacks. You can even get packs of the boxers, briefs, or boxer-briefs for the uncommitted delivered on a regular basis. That’s right, now men have more time to use the TV remote with the time he saves not walking the asiles of some local Target store.

This podcast with Manpacks co-founder, Ken Johnson, reveals that while the idea of automating the purchase of essentials may be the next wave in retail, there is considerable learning, Johnson has done since launching Manpacks in January. Among the take aways:

Twitter is a better relationship building platform for Manpacks than Facebook,
Listen intently to customers for danger signs that you’re not providing the right products or services,
analyze customer buying patterns to anticipate what they need in the future.

I’m joined in this interview by Justin Dessonville who gave Manpacks the idea of a cause marketing promotion, Buy One Give One. The sales of Manpack underwear in the month of October will be matched 1- to – 1 from Manpacks with donations to Saint Stephens homeless shelter. Web entrepreneurs like Johnson, have an unquenchable desire to execute their idea, and the successful ones are married to the learning, not chained to their ideas. Enjoy the podcast and leave your ideas on whether you think subscribing for essentials is a good idea.

Restaurant Opportunity Cost Hidden in Social Media

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:54:13 +0000

Time 23:58

This podcast is loud, but we were in a successful restaurant. In this case it was dinner with Christopher and Mary Lower of Sterling Cross Communications. I usually talk social media and PR with this couple and on this occasion we decided to record it. The setting was a Tuesday evening at the Loring Kitchen and Bar. It’s a bit noisy, ok it’s a lot noisy in parts, apologies ahead of time, but it was a neat opportunity to talk about why restaurants have such opportunities in social media and public relations.

The Changing Ways We Search

Searching for a restaurant yields a variety of results including restaurant websites, articles in local newspapers or from foodie bloggers, and comments from patrons on sites like Yelp. According to Chris even Foursquare is becoming a quasi search engine.

Foursquare along with several other geolocation services include gaming elements where individuals can obtain points and badges. Businesses are using this element to reward, recognize, and incent loyalty and other behaviors. When you read this you might get images of the rat in BF Skinners box, but to the skeptics the gaming is there for those that like that sort of thing and for those that don’t, look it as a way to obtain content that you do find useful.

In the image below you’ll notice that you can use Foursquare as a search engine to find things. In this case, Pad Thai in St. Paul, MN. No games, no badges, just the information I want from people who have experienced it, giving me some comfort that I’m not wasting my time, money or sacrificing my intestines on a whim.

The tie-in to social media and PR is a natural. Like most business owners, restauranteurs are too knee deep in details to see the story angles of their business. Or, if I may be so bold, have no idea how to tell a story and therefore they are in the right business of cooking food to make people happy and not in PR. Mary Lower is great at taking a fresh set of well trained eyes to uncover story gems. It can be the personality of a chef, the design of a dish or the unique wine selection, PR in the competitive field of food requires research, creativity and persistence.

We get into the discovery process of great story lines in this podcast. The ability to be both cheerleader and cynic, to question without interrogating, and to describe the story in a way that connects to the audience of the reporter or blogger.

Have you used or commented on restaurants online?

Enjoy this podcast. Coming up in future episodes is Joe Sorge of AJ Bombers, and Luther Lowe, Manager of Small Business Development for Yelp.

Is Your Company Social At Its Core?

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 00:02:32 +0000

Time 14:20

This was a fun piece to put together, let’s face it I went back to Izzy’s Ice Cream three times to research all the different flavors. Izzy’s Ice Cream is a premium, delicious ice cream with unique flavors, some of them available on a limited basis. Izzy’s co-owner Jeff Sommers realized the loyalty his customers had to certain flavors. He also puts great effort, ingredients, and love into the product. The combination of a quality product and loyal customers, gives a business owner great confidence to do what is best for the customer.

Izzys Ice Cream – Flavor UP from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

Sommers created a system where customers could subscribe to a flavor and be notified via email, on Twitter and Facebook It’s called Flavor Up – pretty interesting stuff. As the ice cream server replaces the flavor in the dipping case, they also replace the sign with the appropriate flavor name. The sign has an RFID tag on the back which communicates the new ice cream flavor name to a database which in turn updates, well everything. The system was a Sommers brainchild and the Nerdery did the development work along with contributions from other service providers from laser cutting signs to RFID tags.

Izzy’s is famous for “The Izzy” - a delightful little dollop of ice cream to taste on top of most any selection you choose. The concept of the Izzy’s scoop is to allow people to discover new flavors at minimal risk, to reward customers for remaining loyal to a premium product and to potentially engage the conversation about ideas for new flavors.

Sommers brilliantly comments in the podcast and video about the power of the social web crowd to come up with solutions that may not otherwise be achieved, and for individuals from that same crowd to advance an idea that is beneficial to the community at large. This concept and the way Izzy’s has grown a mom and pop shop into a taste playhouse of retail innovation is an example of a social culture in a business. Whatever social tactic Sommers uses will be a success because he begins and ends with the two most important ingredients. They are - a steadfast dedication to a quality product, and the belief a customer engaged with the Izzy’s experience will always look forward to their next time there.

The takeaway of this podcast for other companies is to determine whether your culture is social. After listening to Sommers’ comment on the Izzy mission statement, do you have a similar perspective about your customers. Social media can be used as a marketing tactic, but without a social culture my experience is it will have a short term impact of limited success.

Special thanks to David Erickson from Tunheim Partners for including me in the Flavor Up news conference. David is the author of the e-Strategy Blog.

Don’t Believe the Social Media Hype – It’s as Old as the Rotary Club

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:30:10 +0000

Time 23:42

It’s nutty, plenty of companies are running around trying to figure out social media. The answer and examples are right under your nose. It dawned on me while watching Jeff Pulver go through his networking techniques at a recent social media breakfast in Minneapolis.

This conversation shows companies how to approach social media from a perspective that many sales people have practiced in their professional communities for decades, one relationship at a time. I use sales only to get the attention here of many marketers, sales people and decision makers because these days there is a premium on getting sales, but as my colleagues know, social media goes well beyond a sale.

Pulver, employs interesting networking techniques during his sessions that would do any Rotary member proud. I use the Rotary example because this is an organization tied to both a business networking group that also has a history of giving back to its local community, a critical concept of social media.

Using social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and others to promote his events, and tapping that group to invite others who are not using social media. Pulver creates a meeting of the digital and physical worlds.

Jeff Pulver @ SMBMSP from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

Years ago Pulver wrote “the more digital we become the more need for face-to-face meetings.” His perspective is grounded in good old fashion interpersonal communications and you may say borrow from the work of sociologist Henri Tajfel who is noted for his work in social identity and minimal groups experiments.

It is the kind activity that is at the heart of every good salesperson, every productive chamber of commerce, and every professional association worth their salt to their members. It is about people and their willingness to participate with each other.

People who are neck deep in social media tend to get a little over the top about technology, and new applications, mashups etc, etc, etc, and can loose the essence of what all these tools are supposed to do, make it easier to meet other people, period. It is a foundation to share stories, pass on interesting information that will help people do something, like find the right product, get better healthcare, enjoy a new restaurant, improve their job performance, and the list is endless.

Pulver’s sessions are a must for both social media geek and the person that still carries around a Day Runner paper planner. Both have more in common than you might think.

Better search rankings and inbound marketing tactics can drive business

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 04:41:52 +0000

Time 31:36

Creative marketing takes time to, well, create, and time to execute. So when I saw a case study about Hubspot’s inbound marketing system on Marketing Sherpa I was intrigued by their approach. Instead of a typical “we are greater than sliced bread” marketing, the Hubspot internet marketingcreated a unique website that invited businesses to use a small part of the Hubspot system. That part of the system is called website grader and businesses by the thousands visited www.websitegrader.com to enter their website. The website is then graded on a series of attributes that search engines look for in ranking sites on a scale of 100. We start this conversation at about the 4:00 mark in this podcast.

Provident Partners, thank God, first pulled an 85, however, still room for improvement. That’s why we have on this podcast Mike Volpe, Vice President of Marketing for Hubspot. We get into the 5 key areas essential to getting a passing grade and increasing the odds you’ll achieve your search ranking goals. And yes, we use the www.providentpartners.net site as the “patient” in this visit to the search engine doctor. Volpe starts this commentary at about the 19:00 mark in the podcast.

5 Key Areas to Improve your website’s rankings are

1) Title on all pages can change
2) Keywords and descriptions meta tags of page content for each page
3) Put blog on a company URL and integrate into your website
4) Domain renewal – sign up for as many years as you can afford
5) Permanent redirect for yourcompanydoman.com and the other for www.yourcompanydomain.com

This Example Can Apply to Other Businesses

Volpe is an excellent marketer who realized Hubspot needed a way to break out in a crowded field of marketing platforms. I believe the tactics used in this campaign can be replicated by other marketers for a variety of product launches, professions and industries. The keys are as follows:

1) Create a web presence that allows prospects to experience part of your product or service.
2) Product needs to have remarkable elements
3) Take the time to understand the interests of the bloggers that write about your space
4) Include was to invite comparison between the status quo and life with your product or service

Some readers might say, well this works for a web-based software product, but how can it apply to other areas. Ok, let me take that one on.

A business consultancy can create an assessment tool in their area of expertise. Technomic Asia a consultant group has an China Readiness assessment tool to measure a company’s ability to compete in the China market.

A winery can have a dinner selection with multiple choice of wines to select, your choice will be compared against what a famous Sommelier recommend with that same meal.

A furniture store, design, or organization consultant can allow users to help themselves using your website. For example Ikea has done a great job with their space planner portion of their website. They depict your space and you manipulate their furniture in it. This is slick and it worked for me two years ago when we redesigned the Provident Partners office space.

If you have other tips on getting good search rankings, we invite you to share them here with other readers.

January 2008 Book Drawing Giveaway

This month we are holding a drawing to win the book The New Influencers by Paul Gillin. Here’s my review of the book posted on Media Bulleye . To be in the drawing, email me at marketingedge@providentpartners.net Good luck. For every entry, comment, and completed survey Provident Partners will donate a food item to a St. Paul, MN food shelter.

Out with the old, in with the new social media marketing paradigm

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:27:39 +0000

Time 7:58

Karen O’Brien, a partner with the Crimson Consulting Group constructs a new way for marketers to evaluate the customer landscape. O’Brien says the outdated description of acquiring customers is to acquire, retain and grow them. Web 2.0 technologies, social media and the abundance of conversations taking place on the Web about products and services have painted a new perspective of the market.

That perspective, according to O’Brien, is attract, engage and extend. Her work won the Marketing Thought Publishing contest sponsored by the Silicon Valley chapter of the American Marketing Association.

I agree with Karen — and with that change comes the uncomfortable reality for marketers, CEOs and sales people that they don’t have control of their brand, as was once thought. One can make the case that companies never controlled their brand. People talked about their negative and positive experiences just as much as they do now. The difference is the proverbial backyard fence is replaced the Web and today their opinions are received by more than the next door neighbor and Aunt Mildred. Nothing against Aunt Mildred.

In this podcast, we discuss the Forrester social media ladder and an excellent example of corporate blogging policy at Sun. O’Brien will be speaking at the Online Market World event at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on October 3.