June 26, 2008
John Gallant, Network World, Inc. – The Trouble with Green
Paul Gillin, Paul Gillin Communications – Social Media Tools Don't Matter
Michael Cooper and Alan Brisbon, LeverEdge, Inc. – Staying Competitive in a Down Market
Elyse Tager, Elymedia, LLC – Back to the Future of Behavioral Targeting: Interview with
Chad Little
Jean Romeo, Research Concepts, LLC – The Role of Product Tests in the Technology
Buying Process
The Trouble with Green
John Gallant, CEO, Network World, Inc.
"For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver." — Martin Luther
You want to sell "green" to IT Executives. Those IT Executives want to buy "green."
So what's the problem?
You're not speaking a common language.
That’s the message from two recent roundtables I’ve chaired with IT buyers: One, a discussion with top IT pros comprising the customer council for a major network infrastructure vendor; the second a group of IT leaders attending Network World’s IT Roadmap event in Boston. (That event was another big success for ITR, I might add, with well over 500 attendees getting up early despite a late Celtics World Championship win the night before. Talk about Green!)
What’s the root of this language problem? Well, there are two aspects of miscommunication that prevent buyers from making “green” a bigger factor in their choice of IT gear. Both these issues blunt the impact of your green marketing messages, but they can be overcome.
The first is that, for the majority of buyers, green isn’t about the environment. This isn’t “save the polar bears” green. Rather, it’s “save the bucks” green (and bucks mean dollars not deer here). Messaging about altruism or Mother Nature is likely to fall on deaf ears. What buyers want to know is how your equipment will save them space in the data center, reduce cooling costs and cut power demands.
And herein lies the bigger obstacle to communications. While these IT buyers would like to buy your $green$ story, they don’t know whether to believe you or not. Why? It’s simple: There’s no good way to compare what one vendor is claiming versus another. When it comes to data center and network equipment, it all depends on who tests the gear and how it’s tested.
For many consumer products – including PCs – buyers can refer to the federal government’s Energy Star guidelines, which provide consistent data on energy usage. But no such standards exist for enterprise-level products. As a result, it’s difficult to gauge the green-ness of any product. Do you believe the manufacturer or its rival?
Case in point: Several IT Executives in my roundtables cited Nortel’s recent attacks on the energy efficiency – or lack thereof – of Cisco gear. While the campaign certainly caught buyers’ attention, they questioned how the results were attained and what they would have been if the testing protocol, or the testing house, were different.
Does all this mean that, in the absence of standard energy guidelines for the enterprise, tech marketers should lay off the green messaging? No. Buyers have made clear that they’ll make “green” a big factor in their product decisions if they believe the claims being made. That means providing specific data on how the products were rated, by whom and under what conditions, so IT pros can compare the tested scenarios with their work environments. There has to be a clear link from high-level green messaging to the detailed analysis underlying it.
There are real differences in energy efficiency and marketers who can prove those differences to skeptical IT Executives will reap the “green” benefits.
JG
Social Media Tools Don't Matter
Paul Gillin, Social Media Consultant and Author of The New Influencers
Here’s a question I hear from marketers all the time: “We want to launch a corporate blog, but we don’t know how to go about it. Where should we start?”
My answer is that you should start a couple of steps back from where you are. Social media tools – whether they’re blogs, online communities, instructional videos or something else – don’t solve anything unless they address a specific business need. Don’t use social media for its own sake. Use it to accomplish an objective.
Unfortunately, the temptation is difficult to resist. Lots of businesses are experimenting with social media tools these days. It’s natural to think that they know something the rest of us don’t, but the reality is that most people are still kicking tires right now. There are some very successful companies like Apple Computer that are doing nothing with social media because they don’t have to. If the tools aren’t right for your culture or your business, don’t use them.
Whatever you do, don’t start the decision process with technology. The choice of a social media tool is no more relevant to the success of a campaign than is the choice of paint to the structural integrity of a house. Many tools are flexible enough to be used for multiple purposes and some strategic goals require you to leverage many tools in concert.
Stop and consider the problem or opportunity you’re trying to address. Here are a few possible business objectives, with the best tool options listed in parentheses.
- Build customer community (blog, video, social network, private community, virtual world)
- Counter negative publicity (blog, podcast, video, customer reviews)
- Crisis management (blog, video, social network, virtual world)
- Customer conversation (blog, social network, private community, virtual world)
- Generate website traffic (blog, video, customer reviews)
Many more examples will be explored in my forthcoming book, Secrets of Social Media Marketing. It will be available this fall and you can pre-order it on Amazon right now. I also recommend reading Groundswell, the new book by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research. It has some excellent advice on how to take a disciplined approach to social media selection.
Note that blogs appear next to every bullet point listed above. That doesn’t mean blogs are a panacea. They are the easiest form of social media to implement, but far greater leverage may derive from more complex tools like customer communities. You should choose media based upon your budget, staff resources and commitment. It’s often best to start small and grow your social media footprint as you become more fluent with the tools. Blogs are a good starting point, but you may need stronger medicine after a while.
Keep in mind the importance of balancing between ease of use, simplicity of deployment and functionality. Many social media tools can be used for multiple purposes. You may be better off starting with a tool that you understand well rather than deploying a somewhat richer solution that carries a steep learning curve.
If you keep the tools secondary and work outward from the business goal, you’re far more likely to reap the rewards of your efforts.
Paul Gillin is a writer, speaker and content marketing consultant specializing in technology and new media. He has been a technology journalist for 25 years. His next book, Secrets of Social Media Marketing, will be published in the fall of 2008.
Staying Competitive in a Down Market
Michael Cooper, Chief Experience Architect, and Alan Brisbon, Chief Solutions Architect, LeverEdge, Inc.
How you “show up” in the world affects outcomes in your life and in the workplace. To remain competitive in a down market, professionals need to find ways to reframe their business personas and practices to let their authentic purpose and leadership shine through. Professionals who can identify and live their true purpose can determine their experience in any circumstance and create a significant presence and impact—at home, at work, and in the community.
First, you need to check your mindset. Is the economy really affecting you and your job, or is it a distraction that is draining energy from accomplishing your goals and solving problems for your organization? If you think it might affect you, you still need to go to work and do your best to shine – your next employer will be interested in how you handled yourself on the job you’re in now.
As part of your mindset, take stock of your core strengths, talents, and passions. You should leverage each of these for better opportunities to express and explore them in new positions. In most regions, plenty of jobs are still available; however, competition for those jobs is tough. Knowing how to package what you do best and what interests you most will make your application and resume shine.
Don’t allow slow economic times to force you into roles that underutilize you – you will end up burned out and disengaged, and your work performance will suffer.
If you think the downturn will affect you, take a close look at developing your capabilities. There are lots of opportunities to strengthen your skill sets and competencies that, once mastered, make you more attractive to employers. Take courses on leadership, develop “metaskills” – competencies that allow you to learn other skills quickly, such as framing, critical thinking, delegation, resiliency, and more. Other areas to develop include emotional intelligence and your ability to relate well with others.
In addition, your capacity to behave flexibly – to use the skills you gained in your past roles and apply them in different areas – is critical in a down market. Work with a coach to help you assess your skills and package them for other roles that interest you.
Finally, companies want to hire people who are problem solvers and have a high degree of resourcefulness. If you aren’t being resourceful now, more resourceful people will out-compete you for the jobs you are qualified for. Make a list of every person you know and every skill you have. Be sure to ask friends for referrals, and leverage every opportunity you have to explore your options. The key here is to stay in action, rather than succumb to depression or inactivity. Remaining competitive requires self-leadership and constantly upgrading your skill set – in any economic condition. If you need to develop your ability to lead yourself, hire a coach or find a mentor.
About LEVER/edge
LEVER/edge, Inc., is a premier boutique human-systems consulting and coaching agency empowering businesspeople to transform their oganizations, relationships, and lives. For more information, visit www.lever-edge.com.
Back to the Future of Behavioral Targeting: Interview with Chad Little
Elyse Tager, Founder and Principal, Elymedia, LLC
In the science fiction movie, Minority Report, the anti-hero played by Tom Cruise is a police officer forced to flee after being falsely accused of murder he has yet to commit, and he has to find out why he is being set up. There is a part in the movie where Tom Cruise’s character is walking through a mall and he’s personally greeted by electronic billboards and displays ads like the Gap ad commenting about the shirts he last bought. The movie is set in the year 2054, and it would be interesting to look back to the future and see how behavioral targeting can evolve and how the seeds of it were planted in the present. To provide more insight into this topic is Chad Little, Chief Retriever for FetchBack, a “retargeting” company that has set forth an innovative technology in behavioral targeting towards consumers.
1. Explain more in-depth about your patent-technology and how it can evolve behavioral targeting for the future?
FetchBack has developed technology from the ground up by industry veterans who had developed several other ad serving solutions over the years. The idea was to combine our knowledge of the industry having developed several other ad serving solutions and develop the ideal technology solution for delivering Retargeted ads. It’s our vision that Retargeting becomes a line-item budget for marketers. Advertisers will need the most robust solution available to meet their CPA objectives and at the same time allow for the small mom and pop shop the ability to have access to this type of advertising.
The portion of the technology that will be most beneficial to marketing professionals is the comprehensive ROI reports that can be generated. It allows them to track where every advertising penny is being spent over a given time period.
The heart of our technology is to simplify the process of implementation so that everyone can use it and at the same time provide more conversions for any given advertiser better than any other product on the market, provide the most comprehensive analytics specific to retargeting and deliver the most conversions by delivering substantially more reach than any competitive network. The term that’s being used that describes us best is a Technology Network.
Other than paid search and affiliate marketing this is the only form of advertising that can work for any advertiser, regardless of size. We believe our technology and vision substantially evolves the behavioral advertising marketplace as other forms of BT will not work for everyone. Essentially, this is a way to democratize behavioral Retargeting and level the playing field.
2. How can e-tail sites who fail their customers with their recommendation functions refine them to better address what their customers want?
Ultimately, though, it boils down to data and learning how to interpret that data. Categorized BT, Retargeting and recommendation engines are all trying to give users more relevant information that can ultimately enhance their experience online.
Criteo is a company doing interesting things in the space. As they refine their algorithms and expand the breadth of factors included in those algorithms, recommendation engines will become more accurate in predicting what actually is relevant to a given customer. The more experience a company has, the more data they have and the more accurate they can be in their predictions.
Watch for companies taking relevant recommendations outside their website. It rained in Phoenix a couple weeks ago, and that day a friend of mine got an email from Amazon about a new pair of windshield wipers. I told him he was a fool if he thought that was mere coincidence.
3. What is the current status of BT technology and its uses from an e-tail perspective, and how far can we take BT in the next generation?
Behavioral targeting can be put into two segments; Categorized Behavioral and Retargeting. We believe that Retargeting is significant enough to have its own focus outside of Categorized Behavioral targeting. We believe strongly that most etailers can double the effectiveness of their current ad spends by Retargeting alone, with plenty of room to grow.
The only thing hindering this idea from skyrocketing is privacy concerns. We collect absolutely no personally identifiable data, but the subject is very much in the forefront of the media at the moment. If this topic can be overcome and communicated, then we really are just looking at the very beginning of the possibilities associated with BT.
Future growth will come from a deeper understanding of what each individual consumer is interested in on your site, something provided by current BT companies, and a greater understanding of how they landed on your site will help to better target individuals based on every single action taken to get to your site, and once there.
4. Do you expect the type of retargeting that you do can translate well into the offline world like being “reminded” of shirts you bought at the Gap?
The key to making something like this work offline is the ability to deliver messages that are timely and dynamic. The commercial printing industry has been trying to make direct mail campaigns more relevant for a while now. I could easily see an intelligent etailer taking the customer data they gather on the web and integrating that into, not only retargeting and email campaigns, but a variable data direct mail piece as well.
Based on what we can see from our data, we see an increase in total conversion rates for our advertisers that are coming especially from those who were simply exposed to the ad. There’s no question that retargeted ads influence purchasing behavior, even if it’s on a subconscious level, it would just be a matter of tying together the offline and online worlds that would be the tricky part.
About Elyse Tager
Elyse Tager is founder and principal of Elymedia, an online and traditional media agency that has worked with many of the world's most recognizable brands, from Microsoft to PowerBar. With 20 years of executive marketing experience in direct response and 10 years of Internet marketing experience, Elyse has gained a thorough understanding of both types of media and how they interact. This depth of experience and knowledge has benefited her clients as they strategize marketing objectives in both on- and offline worlds. Contact her at info@elymedia.com.
The Role of Product Tests in the Technology Buying Process
Jean Romeo, Partner, Research Concepts, LLC
Network World wanted an understanding of how its product tests are used in the buying process. Specifically, when in the buying process are product tests used and what type of impact do they have? In order to provide insight into these questions, Research Concepts, LLC administered a survey to members of Network World’s Technology Opinion Panel. Respondents were screened for their familiarity with Network World’s testing program, Clear Choice Tests. The Clear Choice Test (CCT) Program includes both single and comparative product tests and reviews based on hands-on assessments of the capabilities of hardware and software products. Reviewers test products in both real-world and lab environments.
This article highlights how the 152 respondents who participated in the survey on Clear Choice Tests use the tests across three stages of the buying process: 1) Initial identification of potential vendors and products, 2) Vendor short list and 3) Final vendor selection.
Product Tests Increase Awareness
A total of 93% of the respondents either “Strongly agree” or “Agree” that they get valuable information from the Clear Choice Tests and 74% agree the tests provide an unbiased assessment of products. Thus, it is not surprising to find that the tests impact awareness and attitudes.
In terms of awareness, the tests point out vendors or solutions that buyers were previously unaware of and drive them to do further research. Just over 8 out of 10 respondents (81%) said they use the Clear Choice Tests to identify products and vendors at the beginning of the buying process. As a direct result of reading a Clear Choice Test 78% said they visited a vendor’s Web site and 76% did more research on a product.
- "It will encourage me to look at a product I might not have considered otherwise."
— Network Management, Education - "I take more time to look at the product even if the price is high or it is not a brand we currently deploy."
— Network Management, Carrier
The Clear Choice Tests shape attitudes towards products. Over 6 out of 10 respondents (62%) said they had a more favorable opinion of a product as a direct result of reading a Clear Choice Test. Buyers take notice when a product performs well or is selected as a winner. A total of 82% indicated they have more positive impressions of a product when it is selected as a winner in a CCT.
- "It improves my opinion immediately."
— IT Management, Government - "It will usually cause me to re-evaluate my current thinking of it."
— IT Management, Business Services
Product Tests Guide the Creation of the Short List
The product tests get buyers to evaluate a vendor if it was not already on their radar screen. A total of 83% of the respondents have considered a product as a direct result of reading a Clear Choice Test and 67% have added a product to their short list after noticing it was a test winner.
- "If I wasn’t considering that product on my short list, it would be added."
— IT Management, Carrier Services. - "Assures that product will at least be on my short list."
— Executive IT, Financial Services
Product Tests Influence the Final Purchase Decision
The influence of the Clear Choice Tests carries throughout the buying process into the final purchase decision. A total of 64% of the respondents indicated that the information in a CCT was used when making a product purchase decision and 63% are more likely to purchase the product when they see it is a winner of a test.
- "If my decision is close to two or more products the tests definitely influence my decision."
— Network Management, Utilities - "If the test protocol is sound – which is usually the case – it’s a very important factor in making a decision."
— Executive Level IT, Process Industries
Summary
Clear Choice Tests play a role in the beginning, middle and final stages of the buying process. At the start of the process, the tests are helpful with identifying the vendors and products. Vendors should realize that positive test results are influential in creating a positive attitude right off the bat. During the middle stages of the process, the tests influence the actual creation of the short list. If a vendor was not included on a short list and it does well on a test, it will be added. Finally, at the end of the process, the tests influence final decision making. The tests can be a tipping point when buyers are torn between two or more solutions.
Find out more
For the complete study results, contact Sandra Kupiec at skupiec@nww.com or at 415-267-4510. Jean Romeo can be reached at jromeo@research-concepts.com or at 978-443-9042.