6 ways your city is missing the boat by not adopting comprehensive Internet strategies

Tip O’Neill has been quoted as saying “All politics is local.”  He said that to remind politicians to pay attention to what is happening in their back yard if they want to stay in office.  Today government leaders are starting to pay attention to how they can use the Internet to improve services and better serve citizens.

Like most institutions their focus right now is how to use the Internet to give citizens access to information they normally have to stop in offices to get. Online registrations for dog tags, to accessing information about property is becoming the norm for many communities and counties.

But what about using social media and online community tools?

Government 2.0 recently published an article that looked at how local cities are using online community and social media to communicate and engage.  A variety of ideas are being explored by city government leaders but few are taking a comprehensive look at how they could use the Internet to increase:

• Transparency
• Communication
• Services

And reduce costs!

But let’s take a look at the early pioneers and what they are doing to put their toe in the water!   Denver’s CIO, Molly Rauzi created a YouTube channel and uploaded various commercials, public service announcements and other videos. (…More…)

Market your business using social media tools like podcasting

It really wasn’t that long ago when you got all of your news and information through a few selected channels.  The majority of the news and information we got came from the broadcast, print or word of mouth channels.

And then the Internet happened and new channels opened up.

As an example, in the past the New York Times and Architectural Digest might have been among the top ten sources for information on architecture.  However, today thanks to the Internet, dozens of knowledgeable enthusiasts who started blogging about architecture created a credible source of news and information for other souls that shared their passion.  And unlike the previous channels of information, bloggers did not have to hire pressmen, cameramen, paper boys or engineers to deliver the news to you.   All the blogger had to do is post their blog and let search engines bring people to it!

Most of us are still trying to catch on to that concept as we’ve lived for decades PUSHING information to people in order to instill an interest and desire in whatever we wanted to sell to them.   But in today’s Internet world all one has to do is - write and let the world find you!

LEARN how podcaster Anna Farmery became as popular as Bloomsberg, Deloitte and The Economist! (…More…)

If a Facebook user is valued at $400 what would a WSJ online user be valued at?

With the announcement that second quarter print advertising revenue has dropped again, it’s good to see newspapers reaching out to embrace social media in an attempt to figure out how to monetize their online communities.

I like to remind those in traditional media industries that by developing an online community, they are in effect developing a new media franchise. Think about it. When Facebook received the $265 million dollars investment from Microsoft for .6 percent of the company, the value per user of the 60 million users (now over 100 million) was nearly $400 per user. That’s far below the value of a newspaper or cable subscriber, but it provides a benchmark for any organization interesting in creating an online community.

It appears that the Wall Street Journal is now starting to understand their Internet strategy could result in a whole new business unit with significant value. They recently upgraded their website and adopted some of the more successful interactive and engaging tools and services that other sites have been using for years to not only attract new users, gain data and information about them, but to keep the coming back.

The WSJ has added

1. Discussion areas for each article
2. Profiles individuals can use to brand themselves
3. Tools to ask questions and answer questions that will lift the users social authority
4. They even give subscribers the ability to email each other     (…More…)
   Share: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

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Stock brokers, real estate agents, sales people, physicians, service and retail industries can use twitter to reach and engage customers!

Many consultants, authors and individuals are using Twitter as a personal branding tool.   By following others and commenting on what is happening in their lives they hope to build their own following  hoping it will increase their social media stature and brand.

So how are businesses like yours using it?

I was developing a marketing strategy recently and ran across the website namethis.com It’s a tool that includes online community and social networking tools to access the wisdom of the crowds to help you name products and services.  Their motto is quite simple, “three world-validated names for your thingamajib in 48 hours.

When someone like you or I need help in naming a product, we simply pay 99 bucks and wait 48 for the top three names as determined by the participants in the online community. The creative community sits back and waits for you or someone else to throw out a naming opportunity.   It’s really an amazing process to watch as people from all over the world come forward to give you their input and suggestions.   (…More…)

6 things to keep in mind when building an integrated marketing strategy

Huggies, a Kimberly Clark Company knocked the ball out of the park with a   well thought out and orchestrated B2C online and offline marketing campaign to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their Huggies brand.

Targeted at the first generation of moms that probably wore Huggies as babies, the campaign was designed much like the TV program Seinfeld and to capture a video statement about moms everyday experiences as a mom.

Back in the old days, The Queen for The Day TV program (1956-1964) featuring 4 down on their luck moms who’s story would be “rated” by the audience “applause meter”. The winner, or better said, mom with the biggest loser story would be rewarded with a washing machine and new fangled appliance that would make their lives easier. It was a great marketing channel for brands to reach their target audience. The program ran for a total of 20 years on both radio and TV.

Today brand advertisers like Kimberly Clark are learning how they can reach a similar audience using traditional event marketing and online social media.   (…More…)

8 ways to protect your distribution channel in a down economy!

The once in a lifetime events occurring on Wall Street are making companies think about contingency plans for things they never thought could happen. The focus of this blog article is to talk about a situation where the channels you used to sell your products disappear. For example, what if:

• Magazines, radio, TV and newspapers circulations were drastically reduced.  How would you reach customers
• Your distributors (stores, small businesses, corporations) were driven out of business due to the recession
• Energy prices rose so high you couldn’t afford to send your sales force on out of state trips

To deal with these questions I wanted to share with you how a company run by my brother Tom is facing some of these issues.

Tom is a world renowned glass artist and business man in Tucson, Arizona. Tom wandered into the desert way back in 1975 and found his home. Since that time he’s built a business (Philabaum Glass) around designing giant glass installations like the “Another Way To Fly” magic carpet installations at the Tucson International Airport, creating 50 pound hand built art vases that literally will break your back when you lift then and traditional consumer products like paper weights and company awards. His product range from tens of thousands of dollars to as little as one hundred dollars.   (…More…)

Social media, online community, Web 2.0 confuses business executives!

You want an Internet strategy but…..

One of the reasons I sold a company I founded in 1995 to create online communities for alumni associations, non profits and companies was to concentrate on helping organizations understand how they could use the Internet to acquire, communicate, retain and engage customers.  Most people we spoke with, likened the Internet as a puzzle they didn’t know where to get started with.

In the 12 years we were building online communities, (Internet Strategies Group) my sales force spent most of their time educating prospective customers why they needed to adopt online communities and social media. To help, I wrote white papers, held conferences, Webinars and books.  We looked at this as the cost of doing business and selling a product that people didn’t understand and didn’t know how it would provide an ROI.

So it’s was no surprise when I read a McKinsey Global Survey (fall 2007) that surveyed how businesses were using Web 2.0 tools and services showed business executives were struggling to figure out how these tools  will help them reach their goals.

The report found:

     • 42% thought they should have invested more
     • 24% thought they should have invested sooner
     • 40% of these companies are not using social networking, RSS, Podcasts, Wikis and blogs.

There are two reasons business leaders are not investing more in Web 2.0, social media and online communities:

     • Confusion
     • Internal focus    (…More…)

How will you reach customers if 1 in 5 don’t have home phones?

A recent study by the Nielsen Company says that more than 20 million U.S. telephone households, (17 percent) are wireless substitutors (homes without landlines). Their study also uncovered another 5% of those surveyed as likely to drop their land line in the next 12 months.

This changing behavior is probably catching your organization off guard as the increase has occurred in just the past 4 years. While the study first reported in December, 2003 indicated just 4.2 percent had abandoned a home phone and replaced it with their cell phone, the study has shown a steady 3-4 percent increase year. Researchers are anticipating it to reach a tipping point and grow faster in the next couple of years. By the end of 2008, at current growth rates, that would put 1 out of 5 people out of touch from your customer service, sales reps, technicians’, surveyors, political campaigners and others.

A recent Jupiter Research also found that 12 percent of Internet users do not subscribe to land line phone service and nearly 2/3rds of them are 18-34 year olds. Worse, the same report suggests that another 12 percent of those surveyed indicated an intent to drop their home phone service. (That would represent 24% of this age group!)   (…More…)

The American image around the world has just about reached the lowest point we can get. The war in Iraq and now the incredible mismanagement of Wall Street, banks and ethic issues created by businesses like Enron has tarnished our reputation, respectability and trust.

In the midst of the mind numbing deficit numbers (now 11+ trillion debt) that we are being forced to absorb I was thrilled to run across a story on the Daily Camera, a newspaper in Boulder, Colorado. Apparently 10 years ago, residents of DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, a sister city of Boulder, gave the city the Dushanbe Teahouse as a gift from their city. (I’m assuming their town is known for tea!) After a decade of discussion and fundraising the city of Boulder reciprocated with funding ($1,000,000) to develop a Cyber café in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

The Café will feature food from both countries, books and information. If they do it right, it will become a powerful International relations tool. Kudo’s to the City of Boulder , it’s Mayor Shaun McGrath and it’s people for showing us how to use the Internet to bring people of different countries and cultures together!

Online Communities to bring Iraqi and American Families together

Reading their story, reminded me about an idea I floated to Congressman Dennis Kuncinich, from Ohio on April 8th 2003 soon after we started the war in Iraq. It was a concept I called, Adopt a War Effected Person or Family.    (…More…)

Social Media and Online Community are your future marketing channels!

I started writing blog posting today, focusing on another issue, but after reading about the incredible events over the weekend of Merrill Lynch being bought for 50b by Bank of America in order to avoid an uncertain future (they’ve lost 8 billion this year), Lehman Brothers filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection - that on top of last weekend’s U.S government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,  - I’m kind of in a despondent, doomsday mood!   We are potentially facing a financial MELTDOWN if not today, very soon!

(industry experts are suggesting that the past two weekend board room decisions represent the most extraordinary period in Wall Street since the 1929 crash).

So let me take this moment to start freaking you out MORE by suggesting that traditional mass marketing channels are also in a meltdown phase! The newspaper, radio, TV, magazine and other mass marketing channels are witnessing a steady decline that is rapidly reaching a tipping point that will result in mass exodus of customers - which will give you access to less customers, which will result in higher customer acquisition costs and lower profits.  Interested?  Read on!

Changing behaviors

Why O’ why are we suggesting that mass marketing channels are heading for a meltdown?    It all starts with changing consumer behaviors, broadband reaching 70 percent o American homes, some 350 million plus people participating in online community and more adopting one or more social media tools (blogs, photo sharing sites, etc)    (…More…)