The Introduction of Web 3.0

Just when B2B marketers felt they had mastered Web 2.0, along comes talk of Web 3.0. Tjo, tjo, tjo!
So what's the talk all about? And must you listen to it?

In a recent post at the B2B Insights Blog, J. Leigh Brown offers a brief overview of Web 1, 2 and 3 to clarify their differences. If you're reassessing your website for 2010, this breakdown might come in handy.

Some highlights:
Web 1.0: One-way information flow. Web 1.0 was the Web as an information portal. Content was owned. … Publishing was static with no interaction.
Web 2.0: From publishing to participation. Then along came the savvy, demanding user. Web 2.0 (coined in '99, made popular in '04) revolves around information-sharing and collaboration," It's about user-generated content … and the power of the community to create and validate information.
Typical examples, now include blogs, forums, communities, social networking, video & image sharing, wikis, mashups, tagging, and content syndication." Whew.
Isn't that enough to keep prospects and clients happy for months to come? Maybe.
Web 3.0: Marketing buzzword, or unrealized vision? Web 3.0 (made popular in '06) is a large work in progress, and it crosses into several different areas: semantic Web, personalization, intelligent search, and mobility."

So why must marketers consider going there?
You could say that Web 3.0 is an intelligent Web 2.0. The vision is that the Web understands how to personalize your experience and recommend what you are looking for—and lets you take it with you.
Question is: Might 3.0 help form a better version of your B2B site? Not necessarily. The best version, is the one that is … the best solution for your site visitors. Whether it's 1.5 or 3.0, it has to be right for your audience."
The Po!nt: No need to change just for the sake of change. Upgrading a B2B website works best when it matches the latest applications to prospect and client needs.

Marketing to < 18's

It takes a lot more than Harry Potter's brand of wizardry for marketers to understand the spending habits of what is commonly referred to as the youth market—those between age 6 to 18. In fact, it requires a flexible understanding of the subcategories within this vast network of youth. And success ultimately will require a combination of spells and strategies that allow for those young shoppers to identify and connect with your brand.

Today's youth market includes kids (6-9 years old), tweens (10-13 years old), and teens (14-18 years old), and their interests, attitudes, tastes, and buying habits vary nearly as much as those of the residents of Gryffindor and their Slytherin counterparts. But those young consumers are, often, much more sophisticated than many marketers recognize.
It's tough because buying decisions among these groups can vary by both age and gender. For example, boys within a specific age group make very different decisions about purchases than girls within the same age group. Determining who will spend precious disposable income on toys versus clothes versus music requires marketers to summon a combination of clever techniques borne from experience, trend-spotting, and hard data.

The overall youth market these days is savvy and well-informed. Kids are becoming shopping "experts" by the time they reach high school, and they continue to wield a lot of influence on what their parents buy.
As they get older, those budding consumers get even better at recognizing inauthentic attempts to market products to their group. Kids are influenced not only by TV commercials but also by the things that they see other kids using at school or at malls ect.
Tweens and kids rely on their parents to buy them the things they covet. By the time they become teenagers, they are able to research, browse, and exhibit impulse-buying behavior that adults demonstrate.

Marketers should consider the following when approaching this diverse, ever-fungible demographic called youth:

They have money, despite the economy

Recent research indicates that youth are being affected by the recent economic storms but have not been as hindered in their spending as their parents.
According to C&R Research's syndicated YouthBeat report:

• More than 40% of teens say they have more money to spend this year; only 16% say they have less.
  


• Nearly 40% of teens say they are spending more than last year, while 33% say they are spending less.
  


• Nearly 90% are aware of the economic situation, and 77% indicate that their parents have spoken to them about the economy.
  


• As for what's in their wallets, by the time they hit their tween years more than 78% of them have nearly $50 to spend.
  


• Almost all the survey participants earn money by doing routine chores around the house, such as feeding pets, cleaning their rooms, and helping in the kitchen and even plain old allowances.
  


• As they get older, youth are more likely to make money by caring for younger siblings and preparing meals—and even running errands once they have earned the right to drive the family car, some would even dare to get a holiday/weekend job.

Customer and in-store experiences matter
Peer influence is important when youth shoppers are considering where to buy products in person, but how they are treated when they actually shop is also critical to developing brand loyalty. If the experience involves youthful shoppers' being treated with respect, they are more likely to develop an affinity for that particular store or brand. If that's missing, they will shun that store and pass along the negative experience to their friends as often as possible.
In online shopping, more boys (63%) shop at pure "online-only" stores than at the online sites of brick-and-mortar stores (51%), According to the YouthBeat report. Girls have no real preference between the two, although the Internet-only shoppers (57%) outpace those who shop at store Web sites by a slight margin (54%).

Life-stage purchase tracking is key
Marketers need to use the research that's out there to make sure they stay in tune with the needs of the three major youth segments.
For example, boys under the age of 10 list video games, candy, and snacks as the top three things they want to buy, while girls in the same age group list clothes\shoes, candy, and snacks.
Teens, on the other hand, list clothes, eating out, and going to movies as their top 3 selections, a distinct shift when it comes to disposable income. Recognizing and responding to those differences can give marketers an edge in developing effective campaigns aimed at a desired segment of the youth market.

So marketers really don't need Harry's wand to successfully reach out to this valuable demographic. By making sure they can track the buying patterns of the youth market within the specific segments and along gender lines, marketers can craft promotions and campaigns that allow for success in cultivating a buzz for products aimed at those consumers.
Mixing a little artistic flair with the science of accurate market research can save even the most befuddled marketer a trip to Hogwarts and provide the returns those campaigns can generate.

Marketing works, you just have to do it right

John Wanamaker, inventor of the department store concept in the early 1900s, is perhaps best known for his famous quote, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” Trouble also is, not much has changed over the last hundred years.

There are perplexed looks on the faces of business men and women across the land these days. Responsible for the steady growth of revenue for their companies, these intrepid marketers ponder how best to move the sales needle. The conundrum is that even when sales go through the roof and the company is breaking budget expectations left and right, marketers still aren’t sure about the true role their programs may have actually played in the company’s success. More importantly, neither are their CEOs.
Study after study has pointed out the difficulty marketers have in measuring the ultimate impact of their programs on sales results. Yet the ability to accurately assess marketing’s return-on-investment is increasingly critical to corporate success. Accountability has become the watchword in offices around the globe. Marketers are under increasing pressure to deliver measurable results and clearly demonstrate the value they provide. Yet for too long and in too many organizations, marketing activities have been led more from the gut than the brain. In fact, 38 percent of marketers say new marketing campaigns are rushed to market based on the limited intuition of a few people. Unfortunately, it is the nature of many marketers and nearly all of the agency account representatives who work on their behalf to prefer the creative, right-brain type of marketing activities over the decidedly less sexy, left-brain analytics needed to prove marketing ROI. Rather than pore over numbers and spreadsheets, most marketers would prefer to fine-tune the creative brief for the next ad campaign. Instead of diving into a lead-source cost analysis, they would better enjoy supervising the photo-shoot for the next ad campaign. And while many marketers don’t particularly want to dive deep into the analytical end of marketing, most don’t have the data to make it worth their while in the first place. In fact, a study reported by MarketingProfs.com found that measuring the financial impact of marketing campaigns is a substantial challenge for most marketers. Forty-two percent say their company’s ability to measure financial returns from marketing programs is “a long way from where it could be.”

Improving the ability to accurately track and measure marketing’s impact on sales is critical to improving revenue. It’s not just to ensure hefty year-end bonuses and improved job stability for the CMO. Measuring marketing ROI helps to ensure that a successful program continues to out-perform competitors, and that an unsuccessful one is able to find the right mix of marketing activities that can lead to improved sales.

It’s not an issue of supplanting the art of marketing with a bean-counter mentality. Rather than viewing it as an either/or situation, successful marketers see the need for high levels of innovation and creativity set on a solid foundation of careful analysis and testing. Both creativity and analysis are necessary to sell more, and to sell more quickly and efficiently. An effective combination of the art and science of marketing delivers strong ROI.

The Evolution of Brand Positioning

An emerging brand strategy that capitalizes on the benefits of ubiquity and uniformity while encouraging flexibility to ensure relevance and differentiation without eroding long-term credibility and trust. Simply put - A simple idea applied with ruthless consistancy.

Next to differentiation, consistency has been the second most important tenet of branding. Most methodologies or theories of brand creation and management include consistency as a major component of the process. Brands are criticized or lauded based on the uniform and consistent experiencethey deliver. Yet, as branding has become an increasingly respected and critical corporate strategy and function,we remain stuck with the original definition of brand consistency when it has changed so dramatically in practice. This is a change largely prompted by the customer who wants both reliability and customization. The world of brand communications and delivery has evolved from centrally produced and enforced guidelines demanding 100% compliance. The new approach allows and respects appropriate doses of freedom within form. The sooner brand owners and managers change their definition of and approach to consistency, the sooner they will profit from increased relevance, differentiation, and influence.This is a mind-set requiring adaptation and change. As Ralph Waldo Emersonwrote: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

The constraints of consistency for consistencies sake continue when one examines creativity, innovation and evolution in branding. Every day a brand is interacted with countless times. Each of these interactions represents valuable intelligence as to whether the brand iscompetitively differentiated, highly relevant, and appropriately consistent. If properly assessed and acted upon, brand owners and managers can continuously ensure renewal over the brand for competitive advantage. This supports Oscar Wilde’s observation that “consistencyis the last refuge of the unimaginative.”
We know that customer preferences, competitive frameworks, and market conditions are
incredibly dynamic. Renewing and refreshing the brand is the most strategic of responsibilities and incredibly consuming tactically, given the attention required to manage the myriad of details. The brand professional must determine what cannot change and what must change. This constant struggle allows for clearer articulation, more creative presentation, and delivery of differential value. This is the essence of great branding. All of which are being steadily recognized.

Unchecked consistency cannot help in these days of audience fragmentation, new media and technology, new measurement, and new methods of using traditional media. This is a time of unlimited creative opportunities that increasingly demand brand flexibility because oft he “Rubik’s Cube” of choices in channel management. The simple fact is, though business communications are becoming more complex, they are also becoming more efficient and effective when done right. Besides, nearly anyone can enforce guidelines but only truly strategic and creative professionals drive evolution and innovation.


In this world where customer preference in receipt of brand communication and experience is growing more complex and rapid, absolute consistency often translates to loss of relevance. The impact is quickly felt in financial performance. This does not require developing and fostering a shortterm mentality to long-term brand building.

Branding still requires consistency over time. The key is to employ brand as a central organizing principle while remaining open to adjustment and renewal. Constancy of purpose is an emerging
brand strategy that capitalizes on the benefits of ubiquity and uniformity while encouraging flexibility to ensure relevance and differentiation without eroding longterm credibility and trust.

The 70/30 rule advocated is an attempt to provide tangible guidance and management to achieve constancy of purpose. Both support Nancy Astor’s assertion that “the main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything or nothing.”

My 2cents worth

Otherwise known as the idea train, an entrepreneurs' way if thinking is his/her biggest strength and, if not carefully managed, could be her biggest curse.I probably have a new idea every day. And at the time I have it, I usually get so excited that I think it's the next best thing. In mind, at that time, I have just made Steve Jobs look like an amateur.

Whatever Tumi - ...

But, at the same time, some of my ideas are pretty good. I wouldn't be where I am today if they weren't. And of course, some of my ideas are....let's say are put on hold. If I actually acted on all my ideas, my company would have imploded a long time ago. One can stretch a company too thin where it begins to lose focus. I have however had to open my mind a bit wider to fight this bloody recession but i won't lie, I do often wonder if the business is growing like a shrub instead of a tree. SO tread lightly Tumi, tread lightly.

So when I have ideas, I present them to my partner and managers first to flesh them out. This can be a frustrating experience because entrepreneurs and managers think differently, thank God. Most entrepreneurs don't like their ideas to be grilled and possibly put on hold or nixed for the benefit of the company. So, he will give his managers the right to set him straight if the idea is not the best for the company at that time; or needs to be altered/killed.Of course, I can do whatever I want within my own company. But in my mind, it's not my own company. If I don't have the buy in from my senior team, the idea will never take shape.

So here is my 10 step plan on how to entrepreneurs can deal with their ideas:

1) Marry/Date well. Your spouse should be the first one to tell you if the idea has merit or if you're smoking something. You can save your team a lot of time if your spouse can nix the idea first.

2) Hire well. It's obvious, but some ego maniacs surround themselves with minion-like people. I have empowered my team to challenge me and let me know when I am getting off course.

3) Develop a process to discuss ideas with your management team. Form a R&D committee or just have a discussion at your weekly manager meeting

4) Explain the opportunity or problem to solve and see what they come up with first.

5) Present your thoughts at a very high level. Don't get tactical yet.

6) Be calm. Don't try to "sell" your idea. Stick to discussing the opportunity in a calm, rational way and let the conversation flow. If your managers feel they are being sold an idea, their bullshit meter may go off.

7) Ask them to pitch the idea back to you. Then ask, "What does it look like when we, as a company, execute this idea really well and so that it doesn't strain the company?"

8) On a white board, brainstorm all the reasons why you shouldn't move forward with the idea. Then, list all the reason why it's a good idea.

9) Listen half as much as you talk.

10) Be ready to walk away from the idea, or alter it.

Many entrepreneurs might be reading this and saying, "Bull! The reason I started a business is to do whatever I want, whenever I want!" That may work if you are a one man show. But if you have people working for you, you'd be smart to rely on their intelligence to guide you. Hopefully, that's a big reason why you hired them. Another big reason to go through this process is the actual execution of the idea. Traditionally, entrepreneurs are builders of ideas but not always great at seeing them through. You'll need your team to embrace the idea if you expect them to execute it well.Bottom line; make sure you allow really great passengers on your idea train who can help you drive.

Where Has All The Good Marketing Gone?

I don’t know about you, but I feel like there is a scarcity of good marketing today. What do I mean “good marketing?” You know the kind of marketing that sticks with you and drives you to take action. The only marketing that has really moved me in the last couple of years has been from Nandos, Apple & BlackBerry. BlackBerry being my best since I own a BlackBerry, know at least 20 people with one and still I am yet to see a BlackBerry ad. In my circle of friends, they (BB) have managed this purely on word of mouth - the best kind of marketing there is.

You might be thinking to yourself that it’s more the product that drives behavior than the marketing, and when it comes to the ipod for example, I don’t necessarily disagree. However, I would argue that in some ways, the marketing has to be even better than it does with your run of the mill product.

Apple has maintained a certain level of success with their marketing and now that marketing must not only tie together with previous marketing campaigns, but convince current customers that their current products are no longer sufficient.

It appears that this is done, not through slight of hand, but by showing you what you can’t do with your current device. By illustrating this in a manner that is contradictory to your current satisfaction, it does make you feel like your ipod – which was fine until a moment ago has suddenly become inadequate. To me, that’s really good marketing.
So what can be learned from the tens of millions that Apple spends on advertising every year? I think the answer to that question is to work in lock step with your product development team to showcase developments and tap the emotions of those using your products. When I first bought my iPod, I felt empowered, cool, and complete. I wouldn’t have reached that conclusion without the help of marketing to get me there.

The lesson that I’ve learned is that marketing, if done correctly, helps us to define how we feel about a product. Once you have prospects and customers attaching emotions to your products, you develop loyal customers. The next time that you’re thinking about a marketing campaign, consider how you want your customers to feel about your product.
Manage the entire purchase decision process in order to consistently manage the experience to reinforce or produce these desired feelings. Once you’ve been able to do that successfully, your creative, marketing messages and promotions should be relatively easy to produce. Now that’s what I call good marketing.

The McKinsey Report

Mckinsey have released their quarterly report regarding the business use of Web 2.0. For those of you who have no idea who or what Mckinsey are all about : Mckinsey & Company are a collection of consultants that monitor global trends in various business sectors and report their findings via their quarterly reports and various web articles and posts. Being the smartest of the smart means that we should be paying attention to their findings.
So, what does the report say about Web 2.0? It seems as if there are two very distinct things happening. Firstly, companies that are finding their implementation of Web 2.0 successful are investing more time and effort into these technologies, using them to change the way they interact with their clients, and with the constituents of their businesses.
There are companies that have had negative experiences with Web 2.0. The truth is that Web 2.0 can still be considered a relatively new technology, so there are bound to be situations where there will be poor implementations (usually due to concrete business practices that the powers that be refuse to change), indifference, and of course resistance to change. As the report states, the companies that have seen the most success with Web 2.0 actively encourage its use, use manager mentoring programs, and integrate Web 2.0 into existing workflows. So does the future of Web 2.0 hinge more on education than the actual power of the technology itself?
Using Web 2.0 tools and platforms, companies are finding that they have better interaction with suppliers, customers, and outside experts. Quite clearly these companies are beginning to understand what Web 2.0 is all about. Communication. The more you have it, the better prepared you are to do business in the modern world.
With these points in mind, the future of Web 2.0 looks exceptionally rosy. There are challenges and hurdles to overcome, but such is the way when pioneering anything

Web 2.0 - The Machine Is Using Us

Michael Wesch, an anthropology professor, put this outstanding video together to explain how technological advancements have changed human behaviour at the most fundamental levels. Watch it many times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE