Those of us in online media are on the cutting edge of reinventing a critical channel for human communication. It's exciting, historic, and perplexing. Often we're so focused on problem-solving that we lose sight of our role as pioneers. Today's offhand decisions become tomorrow's precedents and benchmarks. This blog aims to contemplate progress and strategize next steps in the process of reinventing media for the digital age.
One question a lot of people are asking is how to use Web 2.0, social marketing, and the elusive phenomenon of viral growth to enhance conventional online marketing and brand-building strategies such as SEO/SEM and email marketing. I recently came across a blog post that details how one improbable brand's Web 2.0 efforts helped build a groundswell of awareness and trial that led to getting scarce shelf space in crowded retail chains. The brand is Bacon Salt, a humble food product with the seductive premise that "everything should taste like bacon."
It turns out that Bacon Salt was the brainchild of a couple of internet guys whose marketing instincts naturally gravitated to the web. They set up a web site and blog for their product, put it on YouTube, created Bacon Salt groups in MySpace and Facebook, promoted it on Twitter, and of course, sold it online. They didn't have much money, which dovetailed well with the web-based approach; online, many of the best strategies are free.
Within three months Bacon Salt was gaining significant buzz, including a mention in The New Yorker. Users began requesting it in local supermarkets; soon it claimed coveted shelfspace in major grocery chains.
The Bacon Salt story is a Web 2.0 marketing primer. If you're eager to rev up your online marketing efforts, start with the Bacon Salt checklist. Watch your analytics closely to see what works best in your market; that's where to focus followon efforts.
Want to learn more? Read details on the genesis of the Bacon Salt brand here; check out the Bacon Salt website; and follow the official Bacon Salt blog.
I'm often asked how to integrate Web 2.0 opportunities such as YouTube into marketing programs. YouTube is a tantalizing distribution channel, reaching millions around the world. But it's also an unruly universe of user-generated content that's hard to steer in a specific direction, and the highly diverse audience requires further segmentation to deliver much value. Making the most of YouTube and its Web 2.0 peers is a tough challenge, but one that marketers must solve to capitalize on the opportunities offered by today's technology.
I recently came across a great advertising campaign that camps onto the YouTube phenomenon in some smart ways. It's a good case history in marketing via web 2.0.
Last year Freixenet, the Spanish sparkling wine manufacturer, working with mega ad agency JWT, hired renowned film director Martin Scorsese to make a nine-minute commercial couched as a film within a film. Titled "The Key to Reserva," it's an homage to/spoof of Alfred Hitchcock movies. Scorsese worked with friends on the project and seems to be having fun...plus he was no doubt well paid. In any case, one of the things that makes the concept work so well on YouTube is an exclusivity that closely maps to Freixenet's target demographic. People who would gravitate toward a Scorsese/Hitchcock video are an urbane lot who may well enjoy sparkling wine. It's a lot easier to extract needles from the haystack with a powerful magnet.
Note that Freixenet could have make the same investment in another top director, say Steven Spielberg, who might have drawn an even larger YouTube following. But quantity could come at the price of quality, with viewers who were unlikely to buy Freixenet while potential customers stayed on the sidelines, not sufficiently motivated to watch the film. A tight match between content and audience is essential to uncovering value in the YouTube distribution channel.
Freixenet and JWT did some other things right. Viewers remain engaged with the brand for more than nine minutes, a huge amount of time compared to conventional 30- or 60-second spots. The choice of a suspenseful Hitchcock-like format almost guarantees the audience will remain glued to their monitors for the full run time. The film doesn't feel like a commercial; the Freixenet brand is mentioned but downplayed until the end. The "Hitchcock" portions are full of rich details that satisfy even the most avid Hitchcock buff. And YouTube's social focus makes it easy to share the video with friends who have similar tastes, driving the "virality" so highly prized by online marketers.
Bottom line, it's easy to label a splashy marketing effort like "The Key to Reserva" as a stunt, but in this case it's an example online marketers can learn from. New media require new methods. As Alex Martinez, an executive at JWT Spain who worked on the project, put it: "We wanted to produce something that would be pure entertainment, something that was true to our philosophy that it's not enough now to 'buy' audience time--we need to create advertising that the audience chooses to spend time with."
Kudos to Freixenet and JWT for some creative ideas that expand our thinking about new ways to reach audiences and build brands in the world of Web 2.0. And now, have a look at "The Key to Reserva":
Those of us in the web 2.0 universe are eager to write history, but not the sort that's currently going down (yes, take that literally) in the financial markets. What's an early stage/high growth business to do? If you haven't yet seen the slides proliferating around the web, check out Sequoia Capital's analysis of the panic and advice to portfolio companies. Slide 49 sums it up: the VCs believe this is the time to slash expenses. Since they're often the ones funding the spending, there will likely be less cash in the pipeline for some time to come.
Most of the companies I've been working with have been tightening their belts all year, but now is the time to get really serious about fundamentals. Be extra selective about hires. There's lots of talent on the market now, and the smartest, most creative and proactive among them can fill the shoes of two or three ordinary employees. There couldn't be a better time to add a top-notch online marketer to the team. This needs to be someone who has specifically leveraged the online medium and metrics to increase awareness, traffic, engagement, and revenue, and build a brand. Someone with a top online marketing skillset will have a bag full of low cost ways to help your business grow, just when you need it most.
Now is also the time to sharpen the focus on ROI. In the current environment, ROI must be a litmus test for any proposal that requires resources. From the executive perspective, there's never been a more important time to set clear priorities for the company and communicate them throughout the organization. Ideas, perks, pet projects, etc., that don't survive the triage exercise can't chip away at the scarce resources needed to keep the business afloat.
In the end it's about getting back to basics: know why your idea warrants the overhead of its own company, how your product(s) differ from the competition, who your audience/customers are, how you will create enough value for them that they will fund your operations with a robust revenue stream, and how to manage the company in a way that minimizes costs and maximizes profit. They're Business 101-type questions, but sometimes it takes a jolt to bring them back top-of-mind. October 2008 has provided one of Wall Street's periodic wakeup calls.
PS - Speaking of online marketing, note Sequoia Capital's use of the web 2.0 site Slideshare to distribute their information. It's just one of many sites that facilitates tapping into the networking and viral power of the web for the heavy lifting to get the word out about your company, services, brand, etc.
Just back from China, a place I love to visit because the quotient of innovation and social and cultural change is so high. Even as the US is having one of our periodic economic meltdowns, the average Chinese man in the street seems more prosperous, confident, and optimistic than when I visited only last year. There are many clouds to this silver lining; still, it's a fascinating laboratory for moving the needle on a massive scale.
Whenever I'm in China I enjoy making photos wherever I go. Maybe it's my attempt to freeze a few moments in a land where so many things these days are shockingly ephemeral. In any case, a favorite picture from this trip is a woman entrepreneur in Kunming (click photo to enlarge). She's a classic study in what it takes to build a winning brand, including innovation, confidence, a unique sense of style, creative problem solving, differentiation from the competition, and a product that raises the bar. All of us working to build value for companies could take a few lessons from this savvy lady.
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