The Out-Smarts Blog and Podcast

Back in the last century the web was seen as a great way to create an on-line brochure. The idea was that if you had a web presence you could be attracting new business 24/7 while you were sleeping. Alas the days of the static website have come to an end. Its simply not good enough these days to slap up a web site and leave it to stagnate for months. There’s nothing worse from an audience perspective than returning to a website that hasn’t changed since your last visit or worse a site that has dated “news”. I don’t know about you but when I go to a site like that I assume the company is kaput and go elsewhere.

A website is no different from having a phone, if no one knows your number then no one is going to call, if you don’t answer or return your calls then having the phone is pointless. Interaction is key. Likewise a website is simply a tool to facilitate business but if there’s no interaction you may as well not bother.

Fortunately technology has also come a long way in the last decade or so and its becoming easier and easier to create dynamic user experiences that will keep visitors coming back. A blog, for example is the perfect way to ensure that your site is updated regularly and it encourages users to interact. RSS feeds are another way to make your site fresh by linking to applicable news feeds or posts from iconic blogs in your industry. Using photo and video technologies to showcase your offering and allow for an enhanced user epxerience is made simple by the likes of Flickr and You Tube. None of these techniques cost much to implement but the impact of these on the effectiveness of your web site can be huge.

Brr Brr Brr Brr - is there anybody out there?

One of the best ways to drive more traffic to your blog is to have as many incoming links as possible. I found this great post at Hubspot that provides a list of blog directories you can easily submit your blog to as well as useful links to other related information and resources.

Julie Anderson, VP of Marketing at PeopleMaps was kind enough to share their experiences with corporate blogging on our Facebook discussion forum. PeopleMaps puts blog technology to good use for different purposes in their organisation:

“PeopleMaps has been blogging for a while - and we do it in a few different ways:

We use our main company blog as our news channel out to all our audiences. We ask new customers to subscribe to email updates to be sure they’re kept up to date with our activities. We don’t blog all the time on this channel - people are too busy to read our news every day!

We use 2 other blogs to speak to two separate audiences - our consumer audience and our corporate audience. This allows us to be specific in our topics - and builds up our traffic independently from our website SEO and online advertising activities.

Internally we blog to keep various other groups informed of our activities - e.g. our shareholders. These blogs are private as we don’t want just anyone to read that info - the blog technology is just really easy to use and a great way to push out information informally, without relying on email.

Oh, and we use Typepad currently as it was the easiest platform to get started with. We’re messing around with WordPress for some other activities though.”

Splashed across the front of today’s Vancouver Sun is the so called “future of books” - the Amazon Kindle: an electronic reading device that allows readers to enjoy up to 200 books at once. Retailing at $399 the Kindle also supports blogs, magazines and newspapers allowing the busy exec to access some good reading whenever the chance pops up.

Using a model similar to Apple’s iPod and iTunes, users simply connect to Amazon from wherever they may be (using advanced cellphone modem technology built in to the Kindle) and buy books or subscribe to dailies and mags. Amazon keeps a back up so you don’t have to worry if your Kindle is stolen and connection fees are built in to the price of the content you buy so your cell phone provider needn’t even know. According to the promotional video the battery lasts for hours and the screen is easy to view (its monotone granted, but it does look quite simple and the font size is changeable).

The Kindle concept is great but given the fact I am already weighed down with devices (cellphone, iPod, laptop…..) I am not sure if the value ad and cost entice me to buy just yet (especially considering I already get some of the blogs they provide free of charge) - just as well really since the service is not available in Canada anyway.

I am awaiting feedback from Amazon as to how to submit a blog (I’ll keep you posted on that one!).

When I meet with executives in the finance sector and talk about new media adoption I usually get the response that investors are typically old school and like to do business the “traditional” way. I always have to ask about the next generation of investors - those for whom new media adoption is the norm: have these financial organisations considered how they will attract these new investors in the future without using new media?

Steadyhand, a local financial organisation that provides mutual funds does just that. It bucks the trend both in terms of the mutual funds services it provides and its approach to new media adoption which is leading edge to say the least. The company has adopted a blogging policy that encourages all employees to contribute as well as Internet advertising and social marketing strategies that effectively reach and involve their target audience.

Traditional finance companies should take note - this is the way of the future.

Your corporate blog is up and running. You’re off to the races with lots of witty anecdotes and already traffic to your website has increased. In order to build on this initial success, don’t forget the three C’s of blogging.

Consistency - write consistently. Many bloggers write posts daily. For corporate blogs the recognized minimum is 2 blogs per week so get on with it will you! If you can’t write consistently or if you set up a blog get others involved and you ultimately lose interest then bring it down: there’s nothing more frustrating than finding a blog that hasn’t been updated since 2005 or worse, has three posts and then nothing.

Clarity - it should always be clear to readers what your posts are about. Write short sentences and keep articles brief to maximize effect. Get your message across in the most straight forward way. People don’t have the time to read page upon page of your ruminations.

Collaboration - blogging is all about collaboration so stimulate your audience and encourage them to join in. Ask for questions and opinions in an effort to elicit comments and always remember to follow up with those who comment to encourage them to come back.

Do you have any C’s to add to the list?

Corporate blogging is a regular topic here with the focus often on the positive promotional benefits a good corporate blog can bring. I was reminded lately of the impact of blogs as a tool to facilitate market research when I read an article in this month’s CPSA’s Contact Magazine called “The Battle Over Blogs” by Ally Motz. A random study conducted by SiriusDecisions of the media mentions of 10 large software companies discovered that consumer product or service experience posts were, for the most part, not positive in nature.

The article looked at this prevalence of negativity in blog postings and pointed out that this feedback provided a valuable opportunity. If companies monitor what’s being said about them they can respond more effectively to negative PR and can improve their offering based on real customer insights.

Monitoring blog comments and posts relating to your product is a must and will help you keep your finger on the pulse of your business. Criticism is never easy to take and a thick skin is an asset. Look on the blogosphere as an opportunity for your company to track user sentiment and by doing so you will uncover a mine of information to improve your product offering, enhance your service standards and promote your offering more effectively. The best part is that all this key data can be unearthed at a much lower cost than via traditional market research studies such as surveys and its all right there today waiting to be tapped.

1. Customer Service - your company could provide a blog aimed at improving customer service. Users can share their experiences of using the your company’s product or services but beware, not everyone will be positive about their experience giving you the perfect opportunity to resolve their issues and prove your customer service excellence in the blogosphere. Not only that but it provides the perfect forum to monitor customer preferences.
2. Which leads me to market research - your blog, the comments it gets and the blog of others in your community are vital resources that you should be using to conduct market research.
3. Humanising - a blog can be used to put a face on your company familiarising customers and prospects with the people behind the brand and building trust. Company board members and staff members can contribute and in so doing make them seem more real - more approachable. See the effect company wide blogging had on Microsoft as referenced in Naked Conversations.
4. Internal communication portal - a blog is a great way to communicate personnel changes, policy updates, CEO commentary and company events.
5. Establish expertise - this is the main focus of this blog i.e. to show people like you that we know what we’re talking about so that perhaps you’ll think of us us when considering your Internet marketing strategy.
6. Expand Network - a blog is a great way to expand your network. Its always good blog practice to respond to those who comment on your web page and in so doing you are establishing contact and networking.
7. Leads - I am not too enthused about using a blog to generate leads but it can be done. Remember if you do this though that outright selling and self promotion are considered taboo in the blogosphere and will only piss people off.
8. Brand - a blog is a great way to further entrench your brand.
9. Generate revenue - many successful blogs put their traffic to good advantage by promoting related products and affiliate services to them through ads that are tailored to the intended audience and earn affiliate revenues in doing so.
10. Grow your base - a blog is a great way to extend your companies reach beyond its traditional geographical base. This blog gets comments and traffic from people as far and wide as India and the UK.

Outsmart Sales and Marking is going through a transition to focus on new marketing methods rather than traditional ones and during this time of change we’ve had 2 websites mirroring each other www.outsmartsales.com and www.out-smarts.com. We did this to give us the chance to tweak the new site until its right for launching (it’s still a work in progress - watch for a new look really soon). We thought that if we didn’t register the site with the search engines, didn’t promote links or use ads then no one would find it. How wrong this assumption has proven to be. I can safely say that the new Out-Smarts site is getting almost 75% of the traffic that the Outsmartsales one gets with no promotion at all, none, nada.

The reason for all this traffic is the blog itself. By blogging regularly and adding value the site is being noticed and gaining loyalty in the blogosphere which means increased traffic. Not only that but the Google juice is really flowing - when Googled the site has strong positioning and regularly appears high in the rankings.  Not quite what you’d expect from a site that’s supposed to be flying under the radar until the launch in September. Just goes to prove that blogging regularly has true tangible benefits and measurable impact on the traffic to your site.

Worried that your good work could be plagiarised or that someone’s going to steal your thunder on the Internet and not reference your writing appropriately? There’s a solution to every problem and this one comes in the form of Creative Commons. An offshoot of a US non profit organisation , Creative Commons was founded in 2003 with the help of the University of Ottawa Law and Technology Program and the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic.

The service allows you to license your work easily and at no cost. With various different license offerings based on how much freedom you want to give people to use your writing and in which forums, Creative Commons steps you through an easy process to find the right license and then you simply download some HTML to your web-site and your covered like so:

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License

People using the works are then morally and legally obliged to use them accordingly (or not at all if you so choose). Whether or not people act appropriately remains to be seen and there’s also the issue of the global reach of the Internet with different laws governing different jurisdictions but if this plagiarism is a concern for you then Creative Commons is definately a step in the right direction to protecting your work.