The Out-Smarts Blog and Podcast

I decided a while back that do things the new media way and by that I mean that I wanted to take advantage of technologies available over the web and use applications hosted by companies such as Google and Salesforce instead of buying and installing software. I chose this route for a number of reasons:

1. It has less impact on the environment;
2. Saves me the hassle of going to a store and/or downloading and installing and maintaining software;
3. Its easier to use technologies available online that to try to share Apple docs and spreadsheet applications which are (despite what the ads might) say still unreadable if the receiver has anything other than a MAC;
4. I love the collaborative capabilities Web 2.0 brings and I am want to put them to good use;
5. Its a less expensive option.

These are sound reasons indeed but I forgot one vital thing: when you’re reliant on the Internet to access applications, its imperative that you have a consistent and reliable connection. I use ADSL from Telus and I have to say that my Internet access regularly goes down and I have no access at all. Talk about frustrating. Because these applications run over the Internet there is no way I can work off line until the connection comes back up. Its such a drag. I’ve also experienced some difficulties using Google apps and have found that they regularly “hang” whilst trying to update, could be because they are still in beta so I am hoping that these get resolved. And finally, I worry about what happens if the companies hosting these technologies fold. No - not Google but some of the newer wiki suppliers are a concern. What happens to my documents then? Do I lose all?

Its always great to have good intentions but there will always be hurdles to get around and problems to solve on the path to fulfilling them. For now I am practicing patience and hoping that things get better - I am sure they will.

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.

There are many reasons to be cheerful right now, it’s summer in Vancouver the sun is out and all is well with this part of the world (we’ll it is if you don’t count the municipal strike). Reasons to be cheerful indeed but these aren’t enough to justify a serious blog article are they? My warm fuzzies are thanks to developments in technology and I see these improving business processes in the near future and making my life better in general:

1. There’s finally a real alternative to cable TV in the form of Joost. Joost is a new application that allows you to watch TV shows over the Internet (sign up to try out the beta if you can). Hopefully in the near future I will be able to watch what I want when I want without being bombarded with unwanted ads.

2. My pbwiki environment just got better - they’re incorporating spreadsheet capabilities not to mention voice and IM. We use wiki technology to map out and share processes internally and to track services provided so the easier it is to communicate in different media in one application, the more streamlined our business becomes, the better the service we provide.

3. For a while now its been driving me crazy that I have multiple different logins for every social network I track. Thankfully the Facebook people have recognised my pain and incorporated Twitter so that I can have a Twitter with my Facebook friends. Its nice to see the convergence of these Web 2.0 technologies and I am hoping there will be more integration in the coming months.

Reasons to be cheerful indeed - what a wonderful world!

I don’t know about you but I am constantly bombarded by unwanted information and intrusions into my privacy in the form of TV ads, promotional inserts in magazines and newspapers as well as unsolicited mail. I’ve had quite enough of old ineffective marketing techniques thank you!

It would appear that I am not the only one. Lisa Barone writes an interesting article voicing her own frustrations with traditional marketing techniques and their inadequacies in Why Social Media Belongs In your Internet marketing campaign. She hones in on her favourite social media examples and raises the question “Your competition has already begun testing social media optimisation, have you?”.

Thankfuly Web 2.0 and the evolution of the Internet in general is putting control back in the hands of the audience. Collaborative Internet technologies are allowing consumers to become active in the marketing process rather than passive. We finally have a choice. Companies must take note of this and develop strategies to take advantage of social networks, blogging and blog forums, video and podcast campaigns so as to effectively market to a new tech savvy audience that has been jaded by old marketing techniques and wants control over the marketing it is subjected to.

Every-time I read a newspaper these days there seems to be an article in there about Social Networking. Most of these talk about MySpace or Facebook in the personal context (keeping in touch with family, catching up with old friends etc) but few touch on the business implications of these new media technologies. I was pleased then to read last weeks post by One Degree - Move Over, Corporate Blogs – Make Way for Corporate Social Networks. The article discusses the collaborative aspects of these technologies and their business potential giving a great example from Specialised whose MySpace/Facebookesque page allows bikers to share stories/photos etc whilst further entrenching Specialised customer loyalty.

Social networking applications not only provide the opportunity for businesses to build loyalty, they also offer a great forum to attract new customers as witnessed in my recent lunch at Inifinity Dining here in Vancouver. I went to Infinity because the owner, Alex Rotherham, befriended me on MySpace and I was interested to find out more about their on-line efforts to develop business.

Alex told me that a whopping 75% of new business coming to the restaurant results from their on-line efforts and that they are using the MySpace application to really develop a true network of clients that they can promote events and new menus to. He found that Facebook didn’t offer the same functionality to truly reach the right network. Given that Alex, like any new proprietor, is operating on a shoestring - social networking has allowed him to easily spread the word with very little cash outlay.

“The key to MySpace marketing is having as many friends (in your targeted segment) as possible and that takes time”, said Alex in between greeting guests.

Every business new or established should seriously consider the value of social network and new media marketing not only because its more likely to hit the mark than traditional mass marketing efforts but it also costs less - way less.

One of the objections to blogging that I regularly hear is that “it’s for a younger crowd”. Well, it turns out that the demographic landscape of the blogosphere is changing and companies should take note before the get left behind.

A recent survey conducted by TSN Canadian Facts into blogging, social networking and gaming trends found that 50% of Canadians on the Internet use blogs. Granted, most of those who have their own blogs are teenagers but I was happy to see that 38% of the over 50 wired crowd were actively reading or commenting on blogs (a percentage that grows steadily through the younger age brackets) and that only 9% of Canadians in Western Canada surveyed hadn’t heard of blogs.

These statistics suggest to me that blogging is quickly being accepted by the masses as a vital source of independent information. Companies take note the burgeoning demand across all age groups: if you don’t feed the need by blogging and prove your worth in this medium, you risk becoming dinosaurs - relics of an earlier age.

And what better a way to facilitate this than to take advantage of the fact that the majority (78%) of the incoming workforce are already using blogging technology socially and expect to use these professionally too - according to a recent article by Information week entitled Younger Workers Demanding Web 2.0 Tech on the Job.

I recently had the opportunity to spend some very valuable time with friends of mine from client PeopleMaps on their recent trip to North America. PeopleMaps provides personality profiling for employers and jobseekers around the world. During our strategising and ruminating sessions it became very apparent to me that PeopleMaps is a company that has really embraced the new media technology wave and has put the Internet to work for them to facilitate everything from marketing and customer service to the daily communication and processes of the organisation internally and they are really reaping the rewards. I asked them to write an article for this blog to share with you some of these benefits of utilising new media technologies to the max. Here is the article kindly contributed by Julie Anderson, Head of Marketing and Martin Gibbons CEO, at PeopleMaps:

New World Technologies In Action

Bringing on new members of staff is a big thing for a small company: there’s the briefing; the introduction of company culture; and of course, the product training to consider. You even have to tell them where the coffee is kept! Normally a new start sees a senior member of staff, usually the CEO, and spends the best part of a week being hand-held.

It is not usually the best time for the CEO and Head of Marketing head to the other side of the world - but that’s how it had to be at PeopleMaps last month. And you know what? - it wasn’t a problem, with the aid of new media technology.

PeopleMaps is a disparate company, with no ambitions to be anything else. All our employees work from home, not because they are forced to - but because they choose to. Geographical independence was always a dream of mine and I spent a long time trying to engineer a company that was completely independent of geography.

We managed to introduce two new staff members and have them up and running from the other side of the world using some basic tools.

PeopleMaps uses an online CRM system to manage all client and partner contact - so no data is held locally, making it easy for us to dip in and out of our systems from any PC anywhere. We use Skype and SkypeIn telephone numbers to give a local presence - and complete flexibility on managing incoming calls.

But the biggest revolution has been the introduction of wiki (we use PBwiki.com) technology a few months ago. (more…)

The Office Journal recently published a question of mine posed to Brian Scudamore in their 1-800-Got-Question? column. Brian, Founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? has grown the company to one world’s largest junk removal service companies since its inception in 1989. Much of this success has been due to word of mouth marketing so I asked for his advice in this area. His answer warmed my cockles as it were because it confirmed some of the benefits of new media marketing I have extolled myself in this very blog such as the fact that its costs less and is much easier than you think.

Here’s the question and Brian’s answer in full:

I have recently rejigged my sales and marketing consulting practice to help clients take advantage of new media marketing solutions such as blogging to help them extend their reach. Viral marketing has obviously played a big role in helping 1-800-GOT-JUNK? establish its brand and grow its customer base.

How much of that do you credit to technology and what would your advice be to a small organisation like mine that is looking to harness viral marketing to spread the good word?

Answer:

Hi Mhairi,

For the last few years, technology has certainly been 1-800-GOT-JUNK?’s best friend to get the word out about our company and our services. The primary reason is that technology has drastically increased the speed at which we are now able to spread our message. The appealing factor of viral marketing through technology for a small business is that once you have a computer, the remaining costs of creating a viral campaign are minimal.

We have utilized several media to accomplish viral marketing, including youtube.com, where anyone can post videos. For us, we filmed a low budget commercial that was actually only run a few times on television. The success of our commercial was actually generated from The video, infamously known as our Rat Advertising Trial (R.A.T.), featured on TBS as one of the world’s funniest commercials and attracting more than one million computer viewers.

Another technological medium that we have found successful is our Business Smarts podcast that we are able to post on iTunes. Podcasting is not only low-cost, but very simple to do. The essential ingredient for a successful viral podcast, which your target audience will listen to, is creating a dynamic topic people will find interesting.

Thanks to Brian for your insights and to Office Journal for publishing the question.

To save me time and effort I like to subscribe to information on the web and have it come to me so that I can read and enjoy when I have a moment. Doing so helps me avoid the frustration of sifting through the internet wilderness trying to re-find cool feeds I have enjoyed in the past. My tool of choice to do this is Google Reader.

I recently wrote a blog piece that describes how to easily set up and use this to your advantage. Read The Scoop on Google Reader for a Google Reader How To….

I’ve been exploring Second Life recently to find out if it really has any potential as a marketing vehicle and I have to say, I can’t fathom what all the fuss is about.

Firstly, it took a new computer to actually have the capacity required to run the damn thing and secondly even with a souped up super computer I still find it slow, sporadic and painful to manoeuvre through.

I managed to graduate from the orientation island quite easily and was set free in the Second Life world. The look and feel is pretty cool but so far there seems to be no one out there. Nobody at the church I came upon (even although it was Sunday!), no-one at Club Wildebeast the crazy dance place and no-one at the Second Life Telus store (where are you Sparkle Dale? - where’s the phone for my avatar?).

The most disappointing Second Life aspect of all is that beyond the cool images and environment, Second Life is senseless and by that I mean: you can’t feel, smell, hear etc. Each time I visit I come away with the feeling I have just been wasting my time……

I’ll be keeping a close eye on Second Life but right now the barriers to entry and the time wasted lead me to deduce that it will be a while before Second Life can be considered as a viable medium for effective marketing. And by then the fad crowds may have moved on to the next big thing - or maybe they have already.

It seems I am not the only one with this sentiment read this post from Darren Barefoot for more.