What's Next In Marketing

What's Next Next Week: Guest Bloggers

Out on vacation next week, so I've invited a few of my friends to post their thoughts about What's Next.

Very cool stuff. Enjoy.

What's Next With Twitter: Who Knows?

I was speaking the other day with a friend of mine about Twitter. Seems everyone is reading/talking/playing with Twitter, but really have no idea what it's all about and how it might impact the marketing world.

SO first,  a bit of background on Twitter via a Fast Company magazine interview with the founder, Evan Williams:

http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2008/03/interview-williams.html

Second, a bit of background on some of the new ways people and companies are using Twitter that are a part of What's next:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080514_269697.htm

Some of the companies mentioned in the above article use Twitter for customer service issues. Some for other reasons, like to close out excess inventory, like Dell.

http://twitter.com/delloutlet

The options are kind of endless.

So, as part of my usual rant, if you are not paying attention to Twitter you are not keeping up with what's likely to be a part of What's Next.

As an agency or client side person, you should also be playing with Twitter a bit. Sign up for an account (it's free). Pick a few people or companies to follow. See what the experience is like. Then the next time a client or colleague inside your company asks you what you think of Twitter you won't sound like a twit.

I haven't made up my mind yet about the platform. At first I thought it was all a bit of a pain in the ass. All of those little notices filling up mu in-box. Then I saw what Dell was doing and a little light went on. The marketing opportunities Twitter presents could be interesting. But again, it will come back to how two things are addressed: the true utility of the platform (how useful it is to the user), and the user experience. Is the experience only those little updates? Or should they lead to a larger brand experience. I think the latter.

We'll see.

What's Next: Obama

What's Next: According To Sequoia Capital...Buckle Up

Sequoia Capital is one of the largest and best venture capital firms in the world. They have funded some of the most successful companies in the world. So they know their shit.

This is a presentation they made to their company partners about how bad the next few years are going to be. What's of interest to advertising and marketing folks can be found on pgs 46 and 47 (although the entire deck is informative).

First, they state that companies need to preserve capital, while at the same time grabbing market share. This means in many cases staying the course with your marketing dollars (without any increase or perhaps a slight decrease). But pt two on pg 47 is the key: marketers need to determine what activities are working for them and what aren't. Measure, then cut. ROI (as I've said before) is king...you just need to know where the "I" is coming from.

Sequoia Venture Capital Warning to CEOs - Get more Business Plans

What's Next: Conventional vs. Unconventional Marketing

Just discovered a great new blog by David Armano, who is VP of Experience Design with Critical Mass.

Here's one of his posts that I found particularly interesting. If you are trying to re-shape how your company or agency goes about developing brands strategy and program design, this will be helpful to you.

http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2008/10/unconventional.html

Blogging: Dead Or Alive?

So I was going to write a brilliant post about an article I read in Wired magazine by Paul Boutin in which he argues that you should "Kill Your Blog".

While I read the article I kept thinking how out of touch Paul is in regard to what blogging is all about to most of those who have a blog: the ability to write about, vent about, share about things that they are passionate about.

Whether that be my own passive aggressive rants about the advertising business on this blog, or someone else's POV on a certain subject, blogs are a medium which allows for the expression of values and opinions important to the author. No matter whether 100 or 100,000 people read what's written.

They are also are significant piece of the social web when it comes to how consumers are now judging brands. Today, word of mouth is critical to the success of any effort, and a good or bad word from an influencial blogger can have a great effect on a brands success.

That said, Gordon Macmillan over at Brand Republic has an even better retort:

http://community.brandrepublic.com/blogs/gordons_republic/archive/2008/10/22/why-blogging-is-far-from-dead.aspx

Brands And Social Media: Who's In According To Peter Kim

Peter Kim has a great blog post that lists all the brands involved in some way shape or form in social media.

While I'm sure there are more, this is a pretty comprehensive list. Peter's always on top of What's Next in the digital space. If you don't follow his blog or Twitter posts you should.

http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2008/09/ive-been-thinki.html

Sarah Palin Is Not What's Next

Sorry for the diversion, but this is one election we can't screw up.

This video says it all in regard to why Ms. Palin is a storyline you just can't make up.

Apple Takes Another (Brilliant) Shot At Microsoft

Brand Bubble: The Video

I wrote a few weeks ago about a new book called "The Brand Bubble",  written by my colleague John Gerzema.

http://whatsnext.typepad.com/whats_next_in_marketing/2008/10/whats-next-the-brand-bubble.html

There is now a terrific video that John has posted that outlines the theory behind the book. Have a look and become a "Fan":

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Brand-Bubble/24168956937#/video/video.php?v=567482159042