Marketer's Lab

Everything's Better In The Cloud

I have to admit my first reaction to the email featuring the Marketing Cloud had me wondering why it took so long for anyone in marketing to get on the Cloud hype bandwagon.  I mean come on, Cloud is the big idea in technology and arguably in its buzzword prime.  Beyond my natural curmudgeonly initial thoughts, the Marketing Cloud did get my attention.    

The Marketing Cloud is an alliance of vendors that includes Alfresco, demandbase, Hoovers, Jigsaw, Marketo, ON24 and pivotlink.  The Marketing Cloud website is intended to be a community where marketers can "learn about the Marketing Cloud partners, contribute to the definition of the Marketing Cloud and participate in lively discussions with experts about breakthrough marketing strategies and best practices. Members can register for updates, test drive the solutions, access the knowledgebase and attend virtual events." 

While I've been dying to contribute to the definition of Marketing Cloud, I thought I'd focus on diving into the various resources and information the site offers.  The site provides access to a small collection of white papers and other resources from the participating vendors (registration required) along with some good general information on what the group is defining as the marketing cloud.  A couple interesting scenarios are included that not surprisingly integrate the vendor solutions, but nonetheless provide some valuable ideas.   

It's easy to scoff a little at this project on one level because it seems so transparent as a lead generation vehicle, but I think it's a nice example of elements we could be doing more with as marketers.  For starters it appears to be a nice collaboration amongst a handful of complementary vendors rallying behind a common idea.  These types of collaborations can be tricky to put together and often fall apart in the execution.  This one seems to have partners that fit well together and that all clearly tie back to the overall idea.   

Beyond the collaboration, it also strikes me as a solid example of content marketing, using interesting content as the gravitational pull, drawing that content from multiple sources and integrating the appropriate social media mechnisms.

To those associated with the Marketing Cloud, nice job.  A smart marketing concept, well executed and built around core marketing concepts we should all be familiar with.  Now about that Marketing Cloud definition...

Innovation, Marketing And Imitation

Innovation is motherhood and apple pie in business.  Who doesn't want to be the next Steve Jobs, Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg?  When we think about innovation we tend to think about revolutionary new products and big, world-changing ideas that define or redefine entire industries.  A quick Amazon.com search for books on innovation returns a modest 336,485 results; clearly a lot has been written about innovation.  Predicting innovation is the focus of this great piece on AdAge.com by Phil Roos, where he provides some excellent, and slightly surprising insights. 

One of the first big insights is that innovation is largely incremental rather than big bang.  Innovations come more often through continued enhancement and evolution than through moments where the skies part and an epiphany occurs.  Phil's piece goes on to elaborate on how innovation patterns exist and how those patterns can be deconstructed into discrete elements.  Those elements are roughly broken into two categories; mainstream and new.  The key to innovation in this model is to read the patterns, and attempt to provide value to the "whitespace".  Phil also rightly acknowledges that even within this methodology, a little creative genius doesn't hurt.      

What are the marketing implications of these insights on innovation?  For me the implication is that our energies should be focused not on trying to identify or latch onto the next trendy marketing thing, but on improving current initiatives.  One of the best methods of improvement is looking at what others are doing and copying it.  Emulate, mirror, leverage, build upon.... use another word if you can't bring yourself to use the word copy, but learning from the experiences and successes of others is simply savvy business. Imitation then, becomes the foundation for innovation.

Best practices as a jumping off point, innovation begins as those foundations are explored, adapted and built upon.  Bottom line is this means we should all spend less time chasing after the next big idea and spend more time working to evolve what we already have. 

A parting thought on this comes from an unlikely source.  Part of the Fast Company 30 Second MBA Series, Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame offers his thoughts on innovation/imitation.  Enjoy.

Do As I Say...

Is your doctor fat?  Is that same doctor espousing the virtues and benefits of a healthy lifestyle?  Is your agency pitching the values of social media but not actively utilizing social media to build their own businesses?  Apparently, that's exactly what's going on according to a recent RSW/US survey referenced in this AdWeek piece.  It seems agencies are in the same mode as many other businesses, falling into the common pattern of setting up presence on key social media platforms, but not actively participating on a consistent basis.

Social media is relentless, an always-on, 24/7/365 campaign.  It requires a steady stream of content and a level of participation that demonstrates you're an active part of the community.  Given all that, it's not surprising almost every business is struggling to figure out exactly how to tap into the benefits of social media without getting pulled into a resource-sucking social media black hole.  What was surprising to me was how many agencies are still struggling to fully embrace social media channels and tactics. 

"RSW/US (sponsors of the survey) president Mark Sneider attributed the respondents' limited engagement in social media to laziness and a lack of time."  I think Mark is probably right on the money with his assessment, which I would venture can also be applied to most businesses beyond the agency world.  If the ROI for use of social media was obviously equal to or greater than other channels, social media would be much more actively used by agencies.  At this point it seems clear even the "experts" are still tinkering with social media and working to figure out how to make it work. 

This research drives home a couple key points for me.  First, whether they've figured it out or not, agencies offering any social media services themselves need to be leading by example.  Like the fat doctor, I'm a little suspect of anyone who doesn't take their own advice.  Lastly, the exciting part of all this is it demonstrates social media is still a new, vibrant and emerging space.  Who wants to work in a medium where every tactic is known and everything has been broken down into a formula?  Social media is where the action is, personally I'm glad we all still have a lot to figure out. 

It's Not About Engagement

Engagement.  I can barely hear the word engagement spoken by any marketing/PR/agency type without rolling my eyes.  "It's all about engagement, dialog, interacting in new ways with consumers."  (generic composite quote from Social Media experts, stated with a slightly condescending tone).  We all "get" what the gurus are saying, of course Social Media provides new opportunities to engage interact with clients, prospects and peers.  The thing is, engagement isn't the end-game, it's the raw material from which meaningful business outcomes can be developed.

One of the most useful little nuggets of wisdom that has stuck in my mind over the years is the phrase "Begin with the end in mind". This idea is especially helpful when it comes to developing a concise Social Media strategy.  Social Media (SM) is capable of generating leads, improving customer experiences, enhancing brand visibility and creating or deepening relationships.  Certainly not an all-inclusive list of what SM can be used for, but a handful of the major categories most organizations are focused on. 

While all the above mentioned items are equally worthy, and not mutually exclusive BTW, they each require a different array of tools, resources and approaches.  What I see frequently is marketers who have thrown their hat into the SM ring, but are not focused on specific outcomes or clearly defined priorities.  I need to be careful not to speak in absolutes here, there are plenty of Social Media-savvy marketers out there doing wonderful and amazing things.  That said, my thoughts are validated by the recent Social Media Benchmark Report from Business.com which confirms many marketers are "dabbling" in Social Media, in the game but still working to figure things out.

I am a huge fan of dabbling, but dabbling with purpose.  Think of engagement as fire, it can be used for heat, light or internal combustion to propel your SUV, but without any forethought on purpose you're likely to end up with nothing more than smoke.      

 

Twitter-scape, Twitter-sphere, Twitter-verse, Twitter-iffic

My last post, quite a while ago (ahem), covered my entree to the world of Twitter.  I was, and continue to be, appropriately suspect of the hype around Twitter and all the Social Media "stuff" out there promising great and wonderful things for marketers.  Overall, I'm much more of a believer in Twitter now.  I thought it might be helpful to share some of my early thoughts and experiences.   

Practice "monogamiscuity" - No, this is not a Bush-ism for a youth health program, but a word that captures the essence of what has worked well so far for me in the Twitter-sphere.  (Stephen Colbert, you're free to run with this one).  The idea is to follow selectively, but follow many.  By casting a wider, but still discerning net, you access a lot of valuable information without having to wade through a ton of junk. 

Relax and lurk - Content shortages are yet to be an issue in the world of Twitter, so don't feel pressured to contribute for the sake of contributing.  Making quality contributions clearly makes you more attractive to potential followers, so it's important at some level, but I know a lot of marketers stressed out about fueling the Twitter machine.  Active listening through Twitter can be super-valuable.

Contributions = value to followers - Not flying in the face of the previous point, but if building a following is important you do need to provide value to your followers.  Seems obvious enough, a pretty basic Social Media principle, but worth mentioning if you intend to develop a meaningful audience.  There's a bit of snobbery out there on the value of re-tweeting and simply aggregating the content of others, I say if you find resources you like and think would be of value by all means share them. Make your followers happy and they'll spread the word.

Urchins are everywhere - While I'm not currently being followed, that I know of, by any deposed Nigerian royalty, it's clear many of the email SPAM contingent have moved over to Twitter.  It's too bad, but I suppose inevitable that these folks would find their way to Twitter.

Twitter as a marketing amplifier - In addition to being a great stand-alone platform, I see Twitter as an amazing marketing amplifier.  Used as an extension of other core marketing programs, Twitter can extend the reach and engagement of virtually any initiative.  I feel like this integration will evolve to be the sweet spot for Twitter. 

Still lots to learn about Twitter, I'm actively searching for good Twitter marketing resources which I will of course share here.  For now it's safe to say I've moved from skeptic to skeptical fan of Twitter.