1831 Fractal in Japan: GREAT WAVE OFF KANAGAWA

THE GREAT WAVE OFF KANAGAWA

Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 1831

.Scenario2 employs fractal perspectives for business model innovation.

This famous woodblock print is fractal in nature and brilliantly illustrates that looking at the great wave provides simultaneous insight to all parts for the wave, great or small.  Understanding  relationships between neighbouring parts in the great wave provides simultaneous insight to all relationships in and accross the wave, great or small.

Scenario2 employs fractal perspectives for business model innovation, to create advanced corporate business and competitive intelligence analysis and to enrich Neuropersona perspectives used to broker and align expertise, content, products and customers in dynamic or competitive markets.

Cheers,

Nick www.scenario2.com www.neuropersona.com www.speedsynch.com

We’ve decided to highlight the latest web 2.0 tools on a regular basis on this company blog.

The following is a much needed application (Qwisk) that makes sharing and receiving links, and other forms of communication across different platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc) less time intensive.

Here’s their pitch…we haven’t tested the app but think it is a great idea:

It’s no secret that branding geniuses have always sought to associate their product or service with a certain positive emotion.

For instance, Donald Trump’s name is synonymous with luxury and exclusivity.

American Express likewise, gives people an aura of exclusivity.

If you want to blow your business out of the water, you want to pick the right emotion you’d like your clients to feel when thinking about your product or service.

One of the secrets to advertising is that you want people to recognize themselves in the image you project.

These internal feelings are as dormant as a volcano in the general populace–you just need the right image, idea or ads to represent those inherent human drives in physical form.

One of the great things about the internet is that it allows you to test these images and ideas at a very low cost.

Imagine founding the next American Express or Amazon through a measly couple grand. Think Ebay, think Paypal.

Here’s one example of a successful brand that started with just $5,000: Squidoo.com.

This website is wildly popular and it was built (according to its founder) with just five grand of which most of that, he says, was wasted on a trade show.

You can build an enduring brand by giving expression to drives that lay dormant in a vast pool of potential clients.

And you can build it a lot cheaper than you thought!

Happy hunting.

Ever wonder how you can get so much stuff for free online?

And I’m not talking about illegal music downloads.

You can legally get every type of tech service or product free online–everything from document conversion software to typing lessons to a free encyclopedia more accurate than the standard Britannica brand.

How is this possible?

Generally, there are a few reasons why the bounty of online tools and services are supplied to everyone pro bono.

Reason One: To interact with potential new customers.

One of the surest ways to expand a business is to allow people to sample your work.

It takes the risk out for consumers. Industrial research has shown that buyers have a tremendous fear of making a mistake.

So by offering a sample you get over the biggest obstacle in making a sale.

Reason Two: Ad Dollars

In exchange for viewing a website’s ads, we ”free’ services. It’s merely a trade.

Reason Three: Product testing.

Lots of developers require user feedback in order to bring products or services to marketability standards.

Nothing is ever completely free. But, regardless of that fact, the internet brings us the best of all possible commerce worlds.

I’m a big fan.

]]> http://socialmania.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/the-miracle-of-a-free-market-in-an-age-of-information/ Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:45:39 +0000 akinaw http://socialmania.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/the-miracle-of-a-free-market-in-an-age-of-information/

One of the fundamental changes businesses need to embrace is that customers now have the ability to talk to each other through feedback, forums, notes, and even by arguing with one another.

If you have a good business, there is something wonderful about what’s called the New Marketing–the interactive model.

Let’s imagine that you have a great book and it gets 5 stars on Amazon.com. This is a HUGE plus.

When your readers leave you 5 stars, they are recommending your product to thousands of other people interested in the same topic.

Now with Amazon, that number can jump to hundreds of thousands because of the way the site’s search query works.

For instance, you can search books according to user rating. That means that it is possible for a highly rated book by a little known author with just 5 or 10 five star reviews to be seen by tens, if not hundreds of thousands of viewers.

This is just one example of how the free market in an age of information can catapult anything worth mentioning into the stratosphere.

This is one of the prime reasons we don’t take on just any marketing clients. We pick and choose which potential clients have great ideas to sell.

The web was made for great ideas.

For those who are not yet ready, we give them honest feedback and advise them through the product development phase.

We ask them to change their product or service in certain ways in order to make it something remarkable–worthy of note.

If you can give em something to talk about, you’ll make it to the top much faster than thought possible!

Vous trouverez dans ce billet, comme chaque Vendredi, notre sélection d’articles de blogs pour la semaine 48.

Citation de la semaine : “Right or wrong, the internet is a cruel historian”. Citation tiré du bouquin “The Future of  Reputation” de Daniel J.  Solove.

Bonne lecture

E-Reputation / Personal Branding / Corporate Branding/ Buzz

Les nettoyeurs du Net : article du Monde.fr qui étudie les enjeux de l’image en ligne sur la vie quotidienne des individus.

Qu’est-ce que l’influence d’une source ? : article didactique, riche en précisions et moyens de mesure sur le thème de l’influence.

Freddy Mini, Netvibes : « Nous offrons un résumé de la vie digitale » : entretien avec le PDG De Netvibes. Thèmes abordés : l’offre commerciale de Netvibes aux professionnels, la fiabilité des sources.

Negative Online Reviews : le billet présente les 8 émotions à l’origine des commentaires négatifs postés en ligne.

Tips for Responding to Negative Comments Online : 8 astuces pour répondre aux avis négatifs.

Comment mesurer le buzz sur Internet ? : question à la quelle répond l’outil BuzzWatcher de la société AT Internet.

Médias et réseaux sociaux / Marketing

Internet : média n°1 dans la décision d’achat : Internet, aux yeux des français, est la source la plus crédible pour les décisions d’achat.

Facebook : un fichier mondial de données personnelles, à ciel ouvert : l’intimité et la vie privée se rétrécit comme une peau chagrin au sein des réseaux sociaux.

Utiliser les médias sociaux dans les campagnes de communication : l’article détaille les enjeux de la communication d’entreprise au sein des médias socoiaux.

Attentio raises €525,000 for social media monitoring and analysis software suite : les entreprises de surveillance de médias sociaux lèvent plus facilement des fonds et attirent davantage des investisseurs.

SAS présente des innovations technologiques majeures : un leader de l’informatique décisionnelle entre dans le domaine de la surveillance des médias sociaux.

Building Social Web Experience : une présentation sur les fondements et les apports du web social.

Toys”R”Us Explodes on Facebook : de plus en plus d’entreprises font appel aux entreprise pour promouvoir leurs produits. Autre exemple : Les chaines de cafés.

Google Turning Times Square Into A Giant Voice Search Experiment : campagne marketing de Google Droid, la recherche se fera par la voix et sera affiché sur les écrans de Time Square à NewYork.

Canada, Australia Give OK To Microsoft-Yahoo Deal : L’alliance Bing-Yahoo est approuvée par les autorités canadiennes et australiennes qui estiment que le partenariat entre les 2 moteurs de recherche ne va pas à l’encontre des règles de concurrence et aura des retombés positives sur les internautes, les publicitaires et les éditeurs de contenus.

10 Tips to Integrating Social Media with Marketing :  Un billet qui aborde les moyens à mettre en oeuvre pour intégrer les médias sociaux dans les tratégies Marketing. L’article est composé d’une présentation et un texte explicatif.

Outils

Analyse de tonalité sut Twitter : deux outils twendz et twitrratr.

Kikin :  plugin Firefox adapté à Google pour la recherche dans les médias sociaux.

GazoPa : Moteur de recherche d’images.

Rippol : Recherche de vidéos en ligne.

Tweet : Outil pour mesurer l’influence sur Twitter. Les comptes ne doivent pas être privés.

Vidéos

IKEA: Facebook Showroom Campaign Strategy : campagne marketing IKEA sur FaceBook.

YouTube Instrument Annotations Experiment

ForwardThink Solutions is running a test on an internet marketing model that we want to implement. If you have a phone verified Craigslist account, email me to join a small group of just 10 business owners and get this for free.

Likelihood that you will increase your business at least 40%. Only qualifications are that:

1). You MUST have at least one Craigslist phone verified account.

2) You MUST email us your industry, product and service.

3) You MUST be a group player.

If that sounds like you email me here: akinawb@gmail.com

You know it’s generally beyond dispute that social media is not a fad. Most certainly, if you are reading these words, it obviously isn’t since this website is interactive.

But beyond that, for the purposes of guesstimating what and how to use social media to your greatest benefit, I want to draw an analogy here.

If I were to ask you whether you consider picking up a phone and talking to your customers, vendors or employees a fad, you’d most certainly scoff at the mere suggestion.

Talking to other people in the marketplace is as essential to commerce and indeed is itself the very thing. The new innovations of the past such as the inventions of the telephone, the automobile, telegraph and railroads have one thing in common.

They all connect people.

Social media is simply a richer, better way to connect.

What we are witnessing is merely the evolution of an indispensable market commodity (communication) from a rougher, slower version to a much faster, richer one.

In essence, social media is as essential to the marketplace as is actual interaction between merchants in a city square.

So, I was shocked to learn that Ariana Huffington’s first book club pick was “In praise of slowness.” For one thing, there was never anything slow about a traditional media outfit’s news cycle, let alone an internet newspaper like the Huffington Post.

It just seems odd to me that one of the most popular internet sites full of retweets, diggs, and every conceivable method of sharing information at a very fast pace would ever praise slowness.

The fact is that your real MO, if you are a webpreneur, is to continually evolve to be on the cutting edge of using tools to expand your reach amongst customers while at the same time taking care of slowly and meticulously preparing your product.

It is wise to take your time, to nurture your product and cradle it until the right time. Once the stew is cooked, however, and there’s an appetite for it, arm yourself to the teeth in blasting it out into ‘the internets’ with all the haste you can muster.

If you’ve heard of a crazy business idea that just won’t go anywhere, don’t let it go online!

Poor souls believe that they can take something on the runway that can’t handle the cat walk.

If your model doesn’t fit, get it off the runway–don’t extend it.

But that’s typically what entrepreneurs do when they bring a mediocre product online. Sure, news and information can travel at the speed of light online but do you really want a bad review of both you and your product to travel that fast?

This is one of the reasons why a thoughtful social media/web marketing consultant should figure out the PPTR (positive product traction rate).

Through continual packaging, tweaking and spinning a product or service, you are more likely to insure the positive traction rate. Publicity for publicity’s sake isn’t a great thing…you want your mojo to proceed you.

–Akinaw.

Toute entreprise se doit de penser sa stratégie de présence et de communication sur Internet. Car sans cela, elle ne pourra pas anticiper en cas de communication négative ou de bad buzz. L’intérêt même d’une telle stratégie est d’établir une réelle identité numérique autour de la marque et des produits de l’entreprise.

A travers mes expériences professionnelles, j’ai été confrontée à différents cas clients et différents modes de communication d’entreprise. Ce qui m’a inspiré le schéma ci-dessous qui, à mon sens, représente le chemin que l’entreprise emprunterai pour établir une orientation réfléchie de sa présence sur Internet.

Revenons plus en détail sur chaque point:

1. Une entreprise doit avant tout protéger sa marque: l’essentiel de cette première phase est de mettre en place un dispositif de veille (à l’aide d’un outil de veille stratégique ou de système d’alertes) qui remontera des informations en temps réel sur l’entreprise: son nom, ses marques, ses produits, ses collaborateurs… Savoir ce qui se dit sur l’entreprise sur le net donnera un premier aperçu sur l’image de l’entreprise et de son environnement sur Internet et dressera un état des lieux qui facilitera l’élaboration de sa stratégie.

Il est important aussi de fournir les compétences humaines nécessaires pour bien accomplir cette tâche. Les veilleurs et les chargés d’études  sont les profils adaptés. Maintenir un système de veille efficace autour de l’entreprise et son environnement externe est le noyau dur du processus. Cela permettra à l’entreprise de rester en éveil par rapport à tout ce qui l’entoure.

2. Une entreprise doit ensuite définir une stratégie de présence et de communication sur Internet: en interne, mettre en place une équipe dédiée à cet effet : des experts RP online, Community managers (CM) et producteurs de contenus sont nécessaires pour assoir, en fonction de la stratégie globale de l’entreprise, une réelle stratégie de présence en ligne et la décliner en actions concrètes auprès du grand public, audience ou communauté cibles. La stratégie est le fruit d’un travail collaboratif colossal de tous les services de l’entreprise car si “La compétence est individuelle, l’intelligence est collective”. Exemple d’une stratégie réussie sur les médias sociaux de FORD ou DELL.

3. Une entreprise se doit d’étudier et de simuler les scenarii de risques éventuels inhérents à l’image de ses produits et marques afin d’anticiper en cas de publication de contenu négatifs, en cas de rumeur ou encore de bad buzz. Pour ce faire : étudier les expériences passées de l’entreprise et les solutions apportées, étudier les entreprises concurrentes et leurs modes de réaction et bien évidemment ne pas passer outre les cas d’école : Voir ci dessous les cas concrets de bad buzz.

4. Définir les canaux de communication en ligne à travers lesquels l’entreprise veut accroître son influence et promouvoir son offre de vente en ligne. Pour chaque canal, l’entreprise doit produire et véhiculer le contenu adéquat. D’où, la nécessité de disposer en interne de profils dédiés ou faire appel à des prestataires spécialisés, notamment pour les campagnes de Buzz.

5. L’entreprise se voit acquérir une notoriété et une réputation qu’il va falloir gérer en temps réel et de manière réactive et prospective. Dans les meilleurs cas, si la stratégie de présence en ligne est bien intégrée dans les orientations globales de l’entreprise et des tendances du web et que les actions qui en découlent ont été bien menées, un retour sur investissement (ROI) détrônera le tout.

Focus : produire du Buzz VS contrer un Bad buzz
Le buzz est une technique marketing utilisée afin de promouvoir la vente d’un produit donné. La prolifération des médias sociaux et la réussite de Twitter et Facebook qui restent les meilleurs vecteurs de buzz en ligne ont augmenté la mise pour les entreprises désireuses de faire parler de leurs marques sur Internet.

Quand le contenu (vidéo, message…) émane d’une stratégie mûrie de l’entreprise, que l’idée est originale, assez créative et offre, de surplus, la possibilité au consommateur de devenir acteur dans la propagation du message on parle d’un buzz réussi.  Par contre, quand le contenu est vide, répétitif et de surcroît imposant par un format lourd,  il fait le tour de la toile en un temps record et la marque se trouve face à un bad buzz (mais qui reste néanmoins du buzz).

Voici un schéma (cliquez dessus pour agrandir) dans lequel j’explique les éléments nécessaires , selon moi, pour produire un buzz positif autour d’une marque ou d’un produit ainsi que les moyens pour contrer un bad buzz. Des exemples concrets étayeront ces deux points en bas du billet.

Quelques exemples concrets :

=> Produire un buzz: T-mobile (et la participation massive des gens)- Citroën (campagne de teasing pour les 90 ans du constructeur) – COCA-COLA (et sa campagne du bonheur)  – Wolkswagen (et sa fun theory) – EICHBORN (et les 200 mouches endossées de flyers)

=> Contrer un Bad buzz: Domino’s Pizza (et la vidéo du CEO s’adressant aux internautes de manière transparente)- POWEO (et la réponse du directeur de communication face au bad buzz généré par une publicité) – HONDA (et sa réaction face à des commentaires négatifs sur Facebook)- MICROSOFT (et leur réaction face à un bad buzz).

Internet marketing has the great advantage of low barriers / cost for entry. For as little as $50 and about 15 minutes you can be serving up pay per click (PPC) ads, with very little effort. This makes it very attractive for companies to try it out.

But you can’t really just try it out — not if you want to make it work. You’ve got to make a commitment; Internet marketing is similar to traditional marketing in that it is difficult to predict what will work in your target markets and what won’t. As with anything else in business, there are no guarantees of success.

Read the rest of this article at http://nbbusinessjournal.canadaeast.com/transcript/article/863877

* Murray Etheridge is with ISL ( www.isl.ca ), the largest Atlantic Canadian web marketing and development firm. Entry Point can be read every Friday in the New Brunswick Business Journal. You can reach Murray at metheridge@isl.ca or by phone at 506-855-0754.*

Sono felice di leggere, dal Sole 24 Ore Sanità del 2/11/2009, un articolo a firma di Luca Buccoliero e colleghi che anticipa alcune news del Rapporto Oasi 2009 dell’Università Bocconi di Milano, approfondendo un tema a me molto caro: empowerment del paziente e web strategy !

Sulla base di un setup di interessanti indicatori sono stati analizzati 340 siti web in molte regioni italiane, vi anticipo che i risultati non sembrano esattamenti incoraggianti: nelle aziende sanitarie manca una visione strategica, esiste una resistenza culturale ad “apririsi” online ed una parziale consapevolezza dell potenzialità di Internet.

Potremmo essere tentati di deprimerci a questo punto …. ma intanto annoto due news per me fondamentali:

1) una delle più autorevoli scuola di economia e management in Sanità ha finalmente approfondito con metodo il rapporto tra web (2.0) ed empowerment, anche se per onestà ricordo che non è l’unica iniziativa in tal senso (vedi ricerche simili di Cattolica e Politecnico di Milano).

2) si pone con chiarezza il problema fondamentale, cioè creare strategia e cultura per migliorare sostanzialmente l’approccio al tema.

Rimando al Rapporto Oasi 2009 integrale, di prossima pubblicazione, per approfondimenti del caso.

http://portale.unibocconi.it/wps/wcm/connect/Centro_CERGASit/Sanit%C3%A0+in+Italia%3A+dati+e+analisi/OASI+-+Rapporto+annuale+sul+SSN/

Last week, our friends at Ag Leader launched their new web site. This was a great collobarative effort between Lessing-Flynn and the marketing department at Ag Leader for a number of reasons.

Over the last few months, Lessing-Flynn worked closely with Ag Leader to develop the strategy, site map, creative, and some of the copy as Ag Leader worked to put this together by Nov 3.

And Nov. 3 wasn’t some arbitrary date. Ag Leader not only launched their Web site on Nov. 3rd, they also announced a new partnership and six new products.

If you aren’t familiar with Ag Leader, they are the driving force behind precision agriculture innovation. They make farming more efficient and profitable. Farm equipment that steers itself.  Sprayers and planters that spray and plant more or less based on where you are in the field.  Sensors that apply fertilizer based on the color of the plants.  This is the stuff of sci-fi books!

Our job was to make these complex products easy to understand. As a guy who hails from Miami, FL, my definition of “combine” is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I guess that’s why AgLeader had me driving around Hilton Collesium in an Astro van using their GPS Light Bar products so I could learn first-hand on how this stuff works.  The experience gained was invaluable as I could actually understand how to differentiate the products for users while helping Ag Leader tell their brand story at the same time.

I invite you to explore the new Ag Leader Web site, and specifically take a look at the product sections. As with any Web site I have the chance to work on, it’s like having a baby. You have created something from nothing, built it up, made it useful, made it productive. While additional phases and additions to the site are forthcoming, we’re pretty pleased at the new foundation in place for Ag Leader.

Author: Josh Fleming
www.lessingflynn.com
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Vous trouverez dans ce billet, comme chaque Vendredi, notre sélection d’articles de blogs pour la semaine 45.

Citation de la semaine : “Winners are simply willing to do what losers won’t”. Du Film “Million Dollar Baby”.

Bonne lecture

E-Reputation / Personal Branding / Corporate Branding

Débat sur la réputation en ligne sur Europe 1 : échange intéressant sur Europe1 à propos de l’e-réputation.

Démystifions l’e-réputation: Une synthèse sur le concept de l’e-réputation avec des exemples pratiques qui reflètent des situations aux quelles peuvent se confronter les entreprises et les individus.

Du Personal Branding à la Micro-Célébrité : introduction à la célébrité sur les réseaux sociaux.

Médias Sociaux

Médias sociaux et ROI (US) : comment mesurer le ROI des médias sociaux. Compilation de 6 articles.

E-Commerce vs Facebook (US) : les enjeux du E-Commerce sur Facebook.

La guerre sans pitié des médias sociaux:  Billet qui met l’accent sur l’évolution des tendances des principaux médias sociaux (Facebook, Myspace, Tagged, Twitter, My yearbook).

Réseaux sociaux : vers de nouveaux indicateurs de performance ? : listes de KPI liés aux campagnes marketing sur les médias sociaux.

Lancer une campagne en médias sociaux (US): comment définir une stratégie web et les étapes nécessaires à suivre.

Les casual games à l’assaut des réseaux sociaux : prolifération des “casual games” au sein des réseaux sociaux.

Monétiser les réseaux sociaux : modèles économiques dominants dans les réseaux sociaux. L’article présente les différentes de monétiser les réseaux à travers plusieurs exemples intéressants.

Les tendances économiques de l’Internet 2009 : présentation de Morgan Stanley sur les tendances futurs du Web, surtout du Web Mobile.

L’avenir de twitter en 30 prédictions :  l’auteur reprend la vidéo de Loïc LE MEUR sur l’avenir de Twitter et traduit chacune des prédictions citées dans la vidéo.

Médias Sociaux & KPI (US) : 35 indicateurs pour évaluer la performance des médias sociaux.

De l’argent comme s’il en pleuvait : quand la promotion/bbuzz d’un site se fait en voie publique.

Facebook revoit sa politique en matière de confidentialité : Facebook revoit sa politique de gestion des données personnelles particulièrement pour les comptes désactivés ou comptes de personnes décédées.

Outils et plateformes sociales

Penzu : nouvelle plateforme pour créer des blogs, des journaux de Bord privés.

FileSocial / Twitfile : site pour partager des fichiers sur Twitter.

WikiMindMap : outil très pratique pour visualiser les résultats de Wikipedia sous forme de cartes heuristiques.

Fake Mail Generator : générateur d’adresse mails.

Twitter Tim.es : outil de veille Twitter sur Internet.

Yubby.com : site de recherche de vidéos.

widgetbooster.com : un bon moyen d’entraide entre les blogeurs pour augmenter leur traffic.

Vidéos

Les 10 vidéos les plus virales d’Octobre

Position Title: Director Multichannel Strategy

Hey everybody, here is a new position with a client favorite of mine! Pharma marketing experience, experience in delivering enterprise integrated marketing solutions, and social and mobile technologies, strong knowledge of web strategy, design, development, and programming technologies are the big ones here!

Job Details:
The Director, Multichannel Strategy is responsible for consulting on strategic best practices and contributing to senior management, operations and business development activities. The emphasis is driving innovation across existing clients and the companies business units. The role focuses on leading the design of multichannel healthcare professional and consumer experiences, the development of best practices, and the ongoing ownership of professional trends and insights. The DMS works within the strategic center of excellence to guide engagement teams in the delivery of high impact multichannel programs. Develop engaging customer experience programs that deliver on client business objectives and program goals. Ensure delivered programs adhere to multichannel best practices and provide for an integrated experience. Act as an internal thought leader on emerging technology and multichannel trends.

Objectives:
Develop and evangelize new methodologies and best practices for multichannel marketing engagement

Lead innovation around emerging marketing, sales, and technology channels

Lead the application of our relationship marketing approach for engaging health care professionals

Participate in and contribute to the development of new business presentations, RFPs, and RFIs for professional engagements and programs

Consult current and ongoing engagements and their engagement teams on developing multichannel solutions and programs

Essential Functions:

Provide best practice consultancy services to our business units and dedicated client teams

Develop and deliver strategic multichannel relationship program recommendations

Develop professional relationship best practices and engagement methodologies

Educate internal team members on multichannel digital, media, and behavioral trends

Consult with clients on solutions to professional business challenges

Proactively monitor and identify emerging health care professional marketing trends

Participate in business development presentations and proposal responses

Work with technology team to identify business requirements for new emerging multichannel solutions

Identify and collaborate with program partners and alliances to design and deliver comprehensive professional experiences

Partner with analytics team to develop goals for professional programs

Identify and evaluate strategic and technology partnerships and opportunities

Expand the base of our intellectual property and proprietary best practices

Participate in the development and guidance of future business solutions

Guide the development of industry leading market research related to emerging integrated marketing trends and best practices for professionals and consumers

Represent us at industry events and within industry trade publications

Monitor industry trends and identify relevant marketing approaches outside of the pharmaceutical industry

Establish company point of view around emerging trends such as global marketing, sales force integration, professional customer service, modular marketing

Maintain and grow a pipeline of strategic advancements that lead to methodologies, consulting services, and recommended educational topics

Further the companies ability to identify business innovations and to build multichannel solutions

MINIMUM Requirements:

Pharmaceutical industry knowledge required (8+ years)

Depth of experience in delivering enterprise integrated marketing solutions

Supervisory skills to manage strategic teams and consultancy engagements

Strong knowledge of web strategy, design, development, and programming technologies (industry speaking engagement experience – recognized expertise)

Excellent oral, organizational, and written communication skills including strong presentation skills

Ability to complete multiple tasks and manage multiple engagements within deadline

Strong knowledge and engagement with social and mobile technologies

MINIMUM Education and Experience:

BS/BA in Marketing or related field required

8 plus years experience pharmaceutical marketing required

Depth of experience in delivering enterprise integrated marketing solutions

Supervisory experience required to manage strategic teams and consultancy engagements

If you are interested in this position, please send your resume to Hal, h.shapiro@thebossgroup.com

Growing a business for any budding entrapreneur can be a very daunting task so here at BusinessAdvantage we have come up with a basic guide on what steps you could take when growing your business.

No matter how cliche’d the business axiom about standing still will make you fall behind might be there is an element of truth to it.

Let’s take a look at how you can stop your business falling behind:

1. Think Long-Term strategy. Without this in place there is a very strong likelihood that your business will either struggle or (worst case scenario) fail completely.

2. Understand your market-place. Without a good knowledge of the industry and your competitors your business operates it is almost impossible for your business to perform at an optimum level.

3. Analyse your competition and how they target the market-place. I strongly suggest spending some time browsing the internet for competitors or take a walk down the high-street and talk to them - you don’t need to tell them who you are or your intentions. You could say that this is indirect industrial espionage – why not? Everyone else is doing it!

4. Examine competitor’s marketing strategy and use it against them, for example, if their primary method to market the product is via Google Pay-Per-Click but Social Media such as Facebook or Twitter is being ignored is there a way you can capitalise on this opportunity? What are you offering the customer that your competitor isn’t? There are 1001 questions you could ask about your competition but rather than asking them why not get out there and see for yourself?!

5. Understanding your target-market. Who are your customers and what do they want? For example, if your company sells IPods your customer demographic might look like this:

Age – 18-30
Sex – 55% male, 45% female
UK market
Income – £15K – £35K per year
Interest in movies, music and video games

With this kind of data you can then decide whether you want to expand into other areas such
as selling video games and DVDs as you’re targetting a market that already has an interest in
these areas.

6. Offer incentives and rewards to the customer when they buy your product. For example, buy an IPod and get a half-price ITunes voucher.

7. Do you have an internet presence and are you making the most of the technology available to you? This is a question any Chief Executive or Managing Director needs to ask themselves. Almost all of the most innovative companies in the World have a web-presence of some description – whether it’s a simple E-Commerce website or a large corporate website. In addition to this your company MUST have a web-marketing strategy. It’s all very well having a fantastic e-commerce website that does everything except sneeze but if you are not marketing the site effectively then visitors to your site will be very low. Any good Web-marketing strategy tends to include the 4 essentials:

Pay-Per-Click
Email Marketing
Search Engine Optimisation
Social Media

To find out more about these and Internet Marketing in general then please visit Market Resource

For additional information and resources for business growth then please check out:

Business Guides – Taking a larger bite out of the marketplace

Business Link

BBC Small Business Section

Working Lunch Q&A

British Chambers Of Commerce

If you read my previous post (What is Socialnomics?), then you know I had the chance to review the book Socialnomics, in which author Erik Qualman offers a number of insights and observations on social media.

One of those insights I’d like to share is his counsel for individuals and businesses to accept negative comments originating from social media and, in fact, to “relish the critical feedback.”

Qualman feels the way he does for various reasons, which he articulates in both the book and on his blog. See Negative Feedback Is Not So Bad. In sum, he says we have much more to gain from embracing the negatives.

But in full view of everyone? Try convincing most business leaders that they should embrace negative comments on the corporate blog or Web site. Most of them have only ever followed the rule of accentuating the positive as much as possible and avoiding any reinforcement of the negative. After all, why upset customers and create perception issues by displaying negative and potentially damaging comments? It just doesn’t make sense, or does it?

I do appreciate Qualman’s argument that embracing the negatives gives your brand a chance to shine in a public forum. By putting everything out there for all to see, you have the opportunity to show your mettle. You have the chance to demonstrate what you’re made of, to demonstrate how well you listen and respond.

You messed up on an order and you’re going to make it right? Prove it. Show just how good you are at resolving problems.

You believe in two-way dialogue. Prove it. Show just how willing you are to listen and accept input.

This all comes down to authenticity and transparency, key attributes in a socialnomic world. As Qualman says, it’s okay to be seen as less than perfect because consumers and buyers already know that’s the case! Nobody’s perfect. You don’t need to pretend. All you need to do is strive to excel in staying true to your brand promise and values. When you fall short, admit it and take action to get back on track. The people you care about will respect you for it.

If you’re looking for an additional read on this subject, look no further than Jeremiah Owyang’s Web Strategy blog where he tackles the question: What if they leave negative comments on my site/blog/forum?

In his view, negative comments come with the social media territory. If you want to be seen as open, you must fully open up… to the good, the bad and the ugly. And if you want to be seen as confident, with nothing to hide, you’ll embrace the negatives with the positives.

I’m sure some of you have addressed this topic before. Could you please share your views and perspectives or point us to similar discussions in the blogosphere? I’d love to dig deeper on this one.

would you display your roadmap to everyone freely? or jsut to members of your partner portal? jedox.com/mypartnerpalo

It is the 26th of october and fino communications is starting to take Shape. We are currently planning First projects in the Area of online Marketing and other ideas. Soon we will have Most of the content for our Website Ready! So staying tuned! Lpm

Dans un précédent billet de ce blog, E-Reputation: Mode d’emploi, nous avons abordé l’e-réputation comme un processus qui s’articule en deux dispositifs  : Promotion de l’image et Surveillance de la réputation. Pour véhiculer une image positive de nous sur Internet, il est nécessaire à la fois de s’appliquer aux techniques de branding (contenu de qualité, référencement, networking efficace) et contrôler toute référence à notre nom, notre entreprise ou à notre marque.

Heureusement ou malheureusement, notre “notoriété web” passe par Google, le moteur de recherche le plus utilisé en France avec 88, 3% des recherches en Septembre 2009. Ainsi, on veillera à ce que les premières pages des résultats de recherches reflètent l’image qu’on souhaite révéler sur Internet. Un article intéressant paru sur le blog de Google (traduction en français) nous recommande les actions suivantes :

• Réfléchir à deux fois avant d’éditer un contenu sur Internet
• Si un contenu dérangeant est disponible sur Internet, veiller à le supprimer ou le faire supprimer. Le cas échéant, contacter l’administrateur du site qui référence le contenu
• Si vous n’arrivez pas à supprimer le contenu qui vous dérange, “noyez le poisson” en postant du contenu positif en quantité et en qualité ce qui cachera en partie le contenu négatif dans les résultats de recherche.

Autre moyen dont on pourra se doter, le Online Identity Calculator. Cet outil en ligne permet, en répondant à quelques questions, d’avoir un diagnostic de son positionnement sur les résultats de recherche de Google comme indiqué dans le schéma ci-dessous. L’outil permet aussi, à mon avis, de prendre du recul et d’initier une réflexion personnelle sur sa présence en ligne.

Digitally Distinct : vous êtes bien positionné dans les premières pages Google et les résultats de recherche reflètent bien l’image que vous souhaitez donner de vous. Digitally Disastrous : les résultats sont abondants à la recherche de votre nom mais peu pertinents. Cela peut être dû au fait que vous avez un nom commun ou que vous ne mettez pas assez en avant votre contenu. Digitally Dabbling : il y’a peu de résultats sur vous mais qui se trouvent pertinents. Pour améliorer votre positionnement, continuer à produire du contenu de qualité. Digitally Dissed : peu de résultats et peu pertinents. Tâchez de revoir à la fois votre façon de produire/promouvoir votre contenu et à quelle fréquence.

Tout ce qui a été abordé ci-dessus est majoritairement appliqué aux autres moteurs de recherches : Yahoo, Bing, Exalead, Ask, Kartoo, etc. Pour suivre l’évolution de ces moteurs et leur perception auprès des internautes, consulter la rubrique chiffres du portail Abondance.com.

Our client is THE recognized brand in their industry.  Consider joining their team as they begin their mission to increase their web presence.  A stable brick and mortor company needs YOU to help them build their WEB marketplace.  Salary is targeted at 90-100K.  Full relocation to Northeast Indiana provided.

FUNCTION

Reporting to the VP of Retail Operations the Director will have responsibility for the clients website, the affiliate marketing programs that link consumers to the Website, and other direct to consumer future selling outlets that are not brick and mortar retail stores.

 ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES (Note: Other duties may be assigned)

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Plans and Budgets

• Develop Budgets for the areas described in the job function listed above
• Develop annual, monthly and daily sales plans with input from the retail merchant for the website
• Plan and budget Internet-related projects and translate into effective tactical plans

 Customer Acquisition and Experience

• Manage Web Operations to deliver exceptional customer shopping experience
• Develop and manage all customer acquisition campaigns in the areas of responsibility listed in the Job Function Description
• Manage Affiliate Internet Marketing relationships.  Develop affiliate sales plans and promotional offerings that are intended to drive new traffic to the website

 Social Networking

• With Marketing Services, develop and manage the relationships and strategy for the client with Social Networks (e.g., Facebook)

 Technology

• Collaborate with IT on the technology required to support the website and the integration touch points that are required to effectively run the website
• Collaborate with Marketing and IT in the creation of specialty assets required for the Internet channel, including web graphics, Flash animation and related photography
• Manage and assist with the selection of outside vendors, technical resources and creative professionals to facilitate the ongoing maintenance and further development of web-based materials
• Collaborate with IT department, outside vendors and technical resources to ensure optimal runtime and efficiency of corporate/web data centers that host web data and applications
• Research new Internet technologies that will benefit sales and marketing communication and collaboration, and drive the corporate vision to fully leverage appropriate technology trends that will impact sales effectiveness
• Serve as liaison between IT and Marketing for all Internet-related and web-based programs

 Marketing

• Collect and compile business analytical data from website usage to develop future targeted programs to end consumers.
• Assist with managing ongoing revisions and page additions to web materials, including creative assets and editorial content.  Responsible for content management training among the staff.
• Coordinate marketing activities for the Internet channel consistent with the client’s brand positioning/marketing campaigns
• Collaborate with marketing to develop all Internet marketing including websites, online promotional campaigns, digital assets, email newsletters and multimedia tools
• Develop and implement new targeting campaigns to ongoing customers 

 Product and Pricing

• Collaborate with the Retail Merchant to determine pricing strategies for the website. The retail merchant will be responsible for what is being promoted and the Director of Web Operations will ensure that it is executed to the right target audience
• Collaborate with the Retail merchant in developing ecommerce product outlet strategies
• Collaborate with Retail Merchant on weekly promotional campaigns that are tied to the sales plan
• Oversee the merchandising of the website so that new product releases, best sellers, slow sellers are merchandised and marketed effectively

 Coordination with other ecommerce retailers that sell the Clients products

• Manage the graphic usage and brand standards adherence among online retailers and advertisers
• Manage the production of all consumer-based branding materials for the Internet channel
• Assist with the direction and production of multimedia and web-based presentations for corporate branded materials including trade shows, kiosks and special events

 Collaboration with other Company functional areas

• Closely works with Finance, Distribution and Logistics, Customer Service, Retail Merchant, Marketing to deliver an exceptional end to end internet experience for the customers who either want to purchase products or learn about our product offering. 

 EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE

• Bachelors degree in marketing, business, e-business, communications, design, journalism or equivalent
• 5-10 years working experience working with web management; e-business; permission marketing or related field
• Sales and/or marketing experience preferred
• 5+ years directing or managing/supervising experience

 KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Knowledge of web development process with advanced knowledge and functional use of primary business tools (Notes/Exchange, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, MS Project, Onyx, etc.)
• Advanced knowledge of specialty e-business tools (web publishing, content management, knowledge management, commerce, etc).  Knowledge of Microsoft Contribute software a plus.
• Strong knowledge of current issues in interactive marketing, technology and business 
• Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills
• Possess comprehensive knowledge of marketing strategies and business planning for the manufacturing industry and related distribution models
• Able to work with multi-departmental teams to organize and develop new opportunities and secure management approval
• Able to write and communicate strategic e-business plans and related development guidelines
• Detail oriented with the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously
• Excellent organization and follow through skills
• Ability to build and maintain good rapport with internal and external customers and handle situations with confidence, tact and resourcefulness
• Flexible, adaptable with the ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines in a fast paced office environment
• Strong team player