During a meeting today, we were discussing the different strategies that companies use in working with their sales and marketing teams.  More often than not, companies provide sales staff with a roadmap for selling and a menu of solutions to sell, and then charge the team to go out there and produce.  That got me thinking that there is a new way of selling that is forming.

After training them on thinking outside of the norm and using new tools and techniques to reach customers that previously were hard to reach and hard to communicate with, challenge those sales people to be innovators for the company.  It used to be that people would talk about "solution selling" as a technique to teach sales people to sell solutions that speak to customer issues and customer returns.  But "innovative selling" is different.  The task is to have the sales staff work with customers and potential customers to identify advances in the current products and/or solutions that are being offered, and to come back with information that will lead the company to the next generation offerings. 

The sales staff, when they truly understand the concept, react in an amazing way because they feel, often for the first time, that their mission it to really lead the direction of the company and to chart the course for the future.  But even more important, from this, the innovations and feedback received directly from the prospects or customers provide an amazing set of insight to company leadership and the product teams that will be charged with development. 

As the digital marketplace continues to grow, the connection between customer and product grows closer as the "middleman" continues to disappear.  This level of innovation-based sales will become a driving force for the next generation of business.

What are your thoughts on this?  Agree?  Disagree?  Let's chat about it.

Photo Credit: Jeremy Brooks

Marcel LeBrun, CEO of Radian6, has a philosophy for businesses, organizations, causes and even individuals - "Listen and Engage At the Point of Need."  And the immediate need facing the people of Haiti is being heard.   Since the earthquake tragedy that has devastated the country - people across the globe have rallied and coordinated efforts to engage and support where they can.
 
From international relief efforts led by the Red Cross to last Friday's "Hope for Haiti Now" live telethon - coordinated and shown simultaneously by leading broadcast and cable stations along with CNN's Anderson Cooper live from Haiti - support for the People of Haiti and families across the world is emerging.

Also, as part of the Haiti relief efforts, a host of initiatives in digital fundraising have emerged. This 60-second podcast showcases examples of mobile giving, social network philanthropy, online gaming for charity, and canvassing through text messaging.


These new trends are solidifying their role onto the world stage to aid those in need.  Microgiving through mobile devices and harnessing the talent and passion of technologists to help address fundamental communications needs for supporters to reach and help family members affected by the earthquake tragedy.
    
In response to the tragedy in Haiti, microgiving via texting has resulted in more than $30 million in donations for Haiti relief efforts.  Microgiving has emerged as the most immediate form of personal giving during this tragedy because it is easy for many people to donate a small amount, such as $5 or $10 at a time.  Last week, American Red Cross spokeswoman Abi Weaver noted that Americans have tapped out rapid-fire donation messages to the relief agency at the rate of about $100,000 an hour.

However, its important to remember, monetary transactions via mobile were originally developed as a way of paying for content and downloads.  Short code payments were never designed as a means for immediate donations.  Typically operators bill their customers for the transaction at the end of the month, and once bills are paid, the funds are then paid out to the recipient, whether charity or developer.  There is an encouraging movement to help address this delay issue.

Due to the immediate need for the relief dollars though, Verizon Wireless and other operators have begun advancing the funds directly to the Red Cross.  There is also a movement among Wireless carriers Verizon, ATT, Sprint and T-Mobile to waive any fees for earthquake relief donations.

I believe Jim Manis, CEO with Mobile Giving Foundation, summed the mobile movement up best: "Consumers know they have a new channel available to them to help immediately after a disaster occurs, one that allows to them to act on their immediate emotion."  

Mobile-based Haiti relief efforts may have become a tipping point where the repercussions and applications will be felt long afterwards.  The same heart felt draw that led the millions to immediately pledge their support to Haiti support could be tapped in non-disaster situations.  Other pubic service announcements and even advertisements may start to point people directly to short codes rather than have them call hotlines or enter a URL in a web browser for the simplicity, immediacy and ease of the transaction could promote a huge spike in charitable giving.

Photo Credit: International Federation of Red Cross

For years our family saved to visit the Magic Kingdom and last year we finally got a chance to visit.  It was a wonderful experience for all of us.  In addition to being a wonderful place to visit, Disney provides social media marketers powerful lessons:

Sometimes, I tell people we do digital marketing. Other times, I tell them we do social media marketing. Still other times, I talk about digital channel development. In the end, when I think of marketing, it's all about one or two things: engagement and sales. If we get the first, we hope that translates into the second. If we bypass the first, then the second is still a nice outcome.

Every few days, a blog post comes along to define the space, to explain the terms, to tell people how to look at it all. In some ways, these translations are useful. We're all learning a new language that doesn't yet exist, and yet, is as old as people shaking hands. But while others want to make definitions, I want to make our client partners happy. I want to help them see results for their money. I want their leadership to say, "Wow. This is amazing. Why didn't we do this before?"

Marketing is defined as selling goods or services. Once abstracted, it's defined as making products or services desirable for purchase. Abstract it a bit more than that, add a few digital terms in there, and we fall away from the basics: we're here to sell something.

What's different with how we use social media? Depending on WHO uses it, what's different is that we care about engagement, and we care about relationships that yield more than we care about raw numbers. In old marketing, we asked how big your database was. In new marketing, we talk about how many "very active" people are in your database. We work from that angle, that aspect, and we shine up the opportunity to promote and develop even more "very active" people.

Is it PR? Is it Marketing? Is it sales support? Is it customer service? Yes. Move on.

It's okay to explain, but at the end of the day, I'm getting paid to deliver more customers, more active participants, more rings of that register, and that's what I spend my time thinking about.

You?

Photo Credit: Giant Ginko

With the ever-increasing popularity of social networking sites, there are many companies working fervently to get a social media campaign in place before the trend has passed. Unfortunately, many companies rush out to create a Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace accounts without a clear understanding of the tools, not to mention any sort of strategy or plan. This practice does not lead to a successful social media campaign, and can hurt a company more than it can help.

In order to truly succeed with social media, companies need to focus more on the wants and needs of their audience, and less on the individual tools. Here is a strategy to help determine what social media can do for you:

Forget the Tools

The first step to figuring out what to do with social media is to forget everything you know about social media. Stop thinking about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Delicious, Digg, and start thinking about WHY people are using these tools. People use Twitter to communicate ideas and share links, Facebook for connecting with Friends and sharing media, etc....

Understanding the concepts behind the tools will help guide you in the right direction.

Start Listening

Next, take a look around the web and see where your audience is living online, by listening, searching through blogs, community sites, and other places where you may find people interested in your product. Pay special attention when you find people complaining about your website or lack of social interaction, and use these criticisms to enhance your overall visitor experience. In a sense, we can think of the social web as the world's largest (and least expensive) focus group.
 

Set Goals

At this point you should have a general sense of what your audience is looking for in the social media space, and you can start to build out some simple goals for your efforts. Goals should clearly state what you hope to gain from social media interactions:

•    Increase conversations within community
•    Increase traffic to landing pages
•    Increase in blog subscribers
•    Decrease custom service complaints
•    (You get the idea)

Then you must decide on how you're going to measure your social media efforts.

Select Tools

Now that we have talked through the audience needs and your goals, we can finally begin to think about the tools again. However, before you start planning the color scheme for your Twitter page, you still need to think about how to get the most out of these tools. One company may find value in an internal community platform, while another may utilize YouTube and Twitter -- it all depends on what you are trying to accomplish, and who you are trying to reach.

So, before you embark on your next social media campaign I would urge you to toss out the tools, and start thinking about how and why your audience will engage with your brand online.

Thoughts?

Photo Credit: Eric Gjerde
 

When it came to sports, I grew up with Jim McKay and ABC's Wide World of Sports.   The stories, the action, different cultures and the world it brought into my living room through our small color Zenith TV.   

When not picking up a game of street hockey, neighborhood football down at the old park or summer little league, sports came into my life through the television.   I was never drawn into listening to classic announcer Johnny Most calling a Celtics game on the radio - or reading the Sports section of the Boston Globe or even read one article in Sports Illustrated.  To me, sports was hands on and a visual media to be experienced - not via print or radio.

Traditional print content producers are starting to realize this as well.  Some are a little too late to the game, not evolving quickly enough, but others are embracing development of different digital channels and content formats to reach a wider audience.   Providing different choices for choice audiences to experience and immerse themselves in great content through different media options.

This is why I love the recent Time Inc. vision of the future magazine using a tablet device.  If you can't view the video below, you can also check it out on YouTube. 



It seems that every major magazine publisher has an idea of how their magazines should look on the upcoming tablet of newspaper salvation.  The demo showcases interactivity, video, and several different ways of browsing through the content.   

Outside of the disturbingly inhuman looking, slow moving hand that flips through the pages - I find myself for the first time wanting to immerse myself within Sports Illustrated content.  In time, I may find myself loving the style of writing that they've been recognized for and get to know some of the sub-brands within SI which would encourage me to spend more time with their journalists and reporters and pick up an issue (read: more money for Sports Illustrated).  

When the content is great, it lives to be freed.   And with the variety of creative ways content can be developed, engaged and distributed through digital and social channels, the future of great publishing could be and should bright.    The new generation of eBook readers showcased at CES earlier this month is another step in the right direction - creating a virtual newsstand in your hand.  

The Future of Publishing Should Localize, Specialize and Socialize

Consumer and B2B magazines may have been on the ropes this year, but custom content had a record-setting 2009.

According to a Custom Publishing Council study, more than $1.8 million was spent on branded content this year per company surveyed. Of that budget, print still ruled, garnering 51% of the spend, with Internet content accounting for 27%.  Another 22% went to developing audio and video assets on a company's behalf.  The share of marketing budgets going to custom media was at 32% in 2009, the highest share ever, beating the previous bar set at 27% in 2007.

Customize your voice, promote your niche, and engage more personally with great content while adding local relevancy.   And of course - provide multiple choice, creative, rich content and multiple media formats for a growing customer base to rejuvenate brands and grow an audience, revenues and business.

What are your thoughts?

Chris Brogan has been talking about the human element of B2B for some time - as he says, there is another person on the end of that line regardless of whether your customer is a SMB, a large corporation or an individual consumer.

At New Marketing Labs, our partner base is comprised approximately a third each to B2B, B2C and those that are hybrids.  We are asked, however, disproportionately often by potential B2B partners how digital media can be useful for them.  Fortunately, we have demonstrated long term success with our B2B partners, so describing case study details makes this a relatively short conversation.  That said, the more we work with both B2B and B2C partners, the more it occurs to me that our approach doesn't differ according to whether a partner falls into either camp.  Instead once we do our deep dive, the approach is based on the objectives of the partner, and many of the methodologies are the same.  In fact, across social networks and the digital channel, I am not sure there needs to be a distinction along the lines of consumer or business customer focus.  The social network might change, but there will still be a social network, and knowledge of how to engage in that network's community is key.

Given this, it seems we really are focused more on a business to peer model, rather than one which differentiates between consumer and business facing brands.  What differentiates a digital initiative is not whether you are B2B or B2C, it is what you are looking to achieve, e.g. thought leadership, sales, traffic, branding, and so on.

Once you clearly identify your business objectives, it is up to partners like us (shameless NML plug) to put together and implement the plan for you.  We basically do this by finding where your target audience is on the web, and engaging them.  The type and nature of the engagement will depend on the audience, platform and the objective.

For a traditional B2C partner, we seek and find the target audience, focusing on the peer leaders.  It is more effective to engage peer leaders, as there is a ripple or multiplier effect when this is done well.  We have had 100% success in our outreach programs to these peer leaders.  That success is not a given, as there are protocols that have evolved already across the digital channel, and they are different than traditional media outreach protocols.  Hence, across digital, B2C has become a business to peer or B2P model.

For a traditional B2B company, we similarly seek and find the target audience through what amounts to an extensive platform analysis and listening effort.  We find where the CTO, CIT, CSO or other relevant company representatives are 'living' on line, and we engage them.  Ultimately, we find - shock - that said representative is a real, live person, who just happens to share our partner's interest in a specialized product or service.  If there is no such environment - which can happen given the specialized niche nature of some products or services - we just create the environment which allows them to talk about issues relevant to an industry.  Most times, this environment is a very lightly branded one, where direct sales attempts are not made, but where the community members make an association.  The environment is driven by continually fresh content, and the topics ultimately drive enough traffic and interest that leads are inevitably generated and the sales funnel starts to fill.  Many times, this is a bonus, as most branding and marketing folks are happy with the eye balls and the mantle of thought leadership.  In these communities and networks, our partners are engaging their business peers who share very specific expertise and interest.  Because business representatives are finding their peers, in the digital channel, B2B has also become a B2P play.

How to find, create and engage within communities is one of our secret sauces, but across the digital channel we are seeing a fundamental blurring of the line which has separated B2B and B2C business models - yet another demonstrable way that digital media has stimulated real peer to peer conversations and humanized businesses.

Do you see a relationship between B2P and digital media?

Photo Credit: enriqueburgosgarcia

Miriam Kutcher, VP of Marketing at IDC Insights was kind enough to sit down with me earlier this week to discuss the IDC Insights community.  Our discussion covered the community's goals, process, milestones, as well as success metrics for the community.  Miriam does of a fantastic job of talking about how she is linking the community to real sales at IDC! A video of our conversation is below:

To see the IDC Insights community in action, just visit: http://idc-insights-community.com or follow them on Twitter at: @IDCInsights.  You can find the blogging tips presentation that Miriam refers in an earlier post of mine: 10 Tips for Better Business Blogging.

I love the way Miriam measures her community's ROI through the SalesForce integration.  I would love for others to comment on how they are measuring their community ROI (if they are measuring it)?  

Earlier this week I had an interesting meeting with a partner (remember, we prefer partnering) who was being approached by a "web site and social media consultancy" about how he should be marketing his organization via social media.  The client organization focuses on selling specialized services to a high end B2B market.  The consultancy suggested to him that his organization needed a Facebook Page and a YouTube channel along with a Twitter strategy and blogging strategy.  The client said to me "It did not feel right to me, but each time I asked a question they seemed to have an answer and response."

I wish this was the first time I had heard of a partner being sold like this.  There is no question - NOT EVERY SOLUTION WORKS FOR EVERY COMPANY.  Moreover, trust your instincts as only YOU know your business.  You know your clients.  You know your prospective clients.  You may not know or may be learning the world of social media and digital marketing, but this learning should not overshadow your knowledge and instincts.

For this partner, not only were these solutions the wrong solutions, but in fact a Facebook Page and a YouTube channel might have actually hurt the brand that was created.  In the end, we agreed that he needed to position the organization as thought leaders and initiate a newsletter with them as curator (a newsletter that is an aggregation of interesting industry articles with commentary and observations from the organization) and ultimately look at creating a coinciding blog.  Once the momentum from that has been created, a Twitter strategy would follow suit immediately and from there other social and digital marketing techniques could be implemented. 

The point of this story - there is no magic bullet, no panacea.  There are solutions and opportunities out there to do things differently, smartly, and intelligently using the latest tools and techniques.  But, if you think it does not make sense - it probably does not.  If you think it is interesting, it probably is.  Open your mind.  Listen to ideas.  And then implement the solutions that will work.

Photo Credit: Matthew Burpee

In 2009, many companies began to integrate cloud computing into their daily operations (whether they know it or not). The main concept behind cloud computing is the delivery of computing resources over the Internet, as opposed to a physical machine.

Several aspects of the cloud are extremely appealing to the enterprise, especially smaller companies who can be more adaptable in their choice of technology.

We Don't Need No Stinking Hardware

Software as a Service (SaaS) is the use of a system (generally a web application) within a managed environment, rather than installed on local servers. This allows you to get up and running immediately without having to worry about the underlying technology.

Last year, while working for CrossTech Partners, we developed a SaaS-based content management system called ExgenexCMS. Using the SaaS approach, we were able to get the client database provisioned and the basic website up and running within hours.

For clients that do not have a server environment or internal IT resources, this is an ideal situation.

The Way of the Google



Over the last few years Google Apps has evolved to mimic the functionality of the Microsoft Office suite. We use several of their tools for collaboration, including the Docs and Spreadsheets. (If you haven't edited a Google Spreadsheet at the same time as someone else and seen their changes in real time, it is pretty cool). Since we are often traveling, it is important that we have tools that all users can interact with, regardless of location or platform.

Interestingly enough, this week Google made an announcement this week that they will working with several partners to straddle the desktop-cloud divide. While I'm sure Google developed these applications to compete with (read "replace") Microsoft Office, they are smart enough to realize that large companies aren't going to ditch their legacy systems...unless they bridge the gap.

It will be interesting to see which how long it takes for companies to stop straddling and to dive headfirst into the cloud.

Let's Get Virtual



For me, one of the best parts of the entire cloud movement has been virtual machines. A virtual machine is exactly like a normal computer (with processor, memory, storage, and operating system), but is doesn't live in a physical box. Several virtual machines can live within a single box, or could spread across a server farm.

We have been using virtual machines in our server room for a few years now, and I cannot praise it enough. Before virtualization, it would take us hours to get a new server ready for production. Now, we can simply clone one of our existing machines and have a fully functional web or database server up and running within minutes.

Whether it is building a web-based application or virtualizing your server room, there are many ways in which you can use cloud computing to improve and supplement your existing technology environment.

Photo Credit: ancawonka

I've always believed that tapping into passions and open communications are the corner stones of success for digital engagement, community building and social media.   We hear about these successes within consumer focused and B2C social programs all to often.  P&G, Home Depot, Sharpie and H&R Block are all examples as well as New Marketing Labs' own B2C successes with Sony's DigiDads program and Citrix Online's WorkShifting.com.   Yet the same unique strategy of listening, storytelling and sharing that make B2C digital engagement programs a success hold true for B2B, perhaps even more.   They tend to be less well known for the unique nature of B2B which tend to be focused on addressing niche vertical market needs.  
 
Not every household needs an IBM Mainframe or a German engineered, industrial level, self-cleaning toilet system.  But you will find ideas and eventual success within B2B business by encouraging personal and professional interests from within the company's employee base who have a keen drive and unique knowledge to share.  A sense of humor, personal touch and authenticity help as well.

These invaluable resources have no unique title, hold no particular degree, years of training or experience and most often are not part of the communications or executive teams.  They are within your R&D, Customer Service, Product Development, Human Relations, IT, Sales, Training, Financial, Operations, Marketing, Branding and even Legal departments.

Emerging social teams within B2B companies today need to ensure they tap into all resources, divisions, departments and business units to educate and harness these invaluable gems.  Social media is not another department within a company.  No more silos.  Social media can become the digital bridge that runs through every touch point of a company and then out to your customers, partners, market influencers and industry.  This happens just like the energy of one of natures most powerful elements - water.  Tap into and harness it.   Identify those rich giving resources within your employee base - encourage, support them.

How do you tap into the your teams' potential and harness it?

Photo Credit: Post Scriptum

There are many ways to consult. Many people offering services around social media and online marketing are flat out running companies' programs as an outsourced hired gun. Other social media marketing agencies are writing high level strategy docs and handing them over to an agency of record for execution. These models are just fine. We tend to prefer a partner approach, and here's why.

At New Marketing Labs, we work with our clients to understand their goals, where they are at present with their online efforts, and which needles we can help them move in the business environment. Once we've assessed, we draw the landscape that surrounds our partner's goals. Once we do that, we educate. After education comes execution, with experimentation and then course correction.

It's those last two parts that are hard to do when you just hand off the reins or work from a static document.

In writing this, I'm hoping to show you what we think about when we think about doing social media, so that you have a sense of how we operate as a prospective partner for your organization. Colin Bower, my principal at New Marketing Labs said it best: "You like to tell people we teach them to fish, but really, we're more like a chartered fishing expedition company. We find the best fishing holes, help you get the poles in the water, show you some of our techniques, and then we let go only when you say let go. Even then, we're nearby to help you, if you get into a bind."

I loved this. I've been talking about it with people for weeks and weeks and weeks. Because he's right. In our worldview, the value we can add comes from the fact that we're deep in the space, we're a living laboratory of what's going on, what's working, what's not all that hot, and what will really set your goals on fire. And we stay right close to the experience so that we can be helpful the whole way through.

That might not fit every company's corporate culture. But when we recently picked up SAS as a new partner, we received quite the compliment, insofar as they told us that they tend to do most of their work in-house, and rarely work with consultants.

It's our goal in 2010 to make our clients into partners at New Marketing Labs, and to work even closer on projects that execute well and show tangible results. We've got lots to share, and I hope to keep up that conversation.

How about you? Does this kind of partnership make sense? Do you see your company working more loosely with your online marketing consultants? How are you building your business relationships when it comes to social media and online marketing?

Photo Credit: joiseyshowaa 

It is clear that companies should be listening to social media conversations, but what exactly should you be listening to?  Over the past two years I have developed the following approach that has really helped the companies that I have worked with think about listening at three broad levels:

• Brand Level listening - Chris and others have blogged about this often.  Organizations need to be listening to what is being said about their brands in the social marketplace and to listen in on competitive conversations.  Powerful listening platforms such as Radian6, Techrigy SM2, and at last count I found over 80 of these social analytics tools... all can help your organization digest the huge amounts of conversations into more meaningful data that you can react to in a timely manner.
  
  
• Targeted Influencer - But battles are not won by reacting, but instead by being proactive and engaging.  Developing a targeted list of relevant influencers that you listen to and engage with via Twitter, blog comments and FriendFeed is essential to demonstrate not only that you are listening, but that you are proactively engaged and want to comment on their conversations.  By creating that dialog with key industry influencers, they will start to engage and notice you as well. 
  
  
• Project Centric Listening - Project level listening is frequently overlooked, but can have a huge impact on the overall return of a project.  An easy example to consider, if your company is participating at an event such as CES, listen for the relevant tweets, blog posts, YouTube videos, Flickr images and more. By leveraging this information through your company's blog and Twitter account, your company is further engaged with your targeted audience and you will increase your overall ROI from the event.

For the past few years, members of the New Marketing Labs team have been attending CES in Las Vegas, even before our inception, to network with visionaries, bloggers and help some of the largest brands understand the influence of social media to build and expand their community and digital presence.   

This year is no different as Colin Bower, Chris Brogan, Justin Levy, and Nick Saber head to the annual winter festival in the desert.  There is some buzz within the blogger and online community about the big announcements and happenings this year - but it was only recently that bloggers first came en masse to CES. 

Before 2006, there were a few editorial bloggers, consisting mostly as parts of larger traditional media outlets.  Then came the Blogger Lounge & Blog Haus and suddenly being a blogger was cooler than working with Walt Mossberg & the New York Times.


In 2007, the game changed with social networks becoming more mainstream and with Twitter recently launched.  Bloggers were given front row seats to major keynotes and full show access with backstage passes.   Consumers and marketers didn't have to wait for breaking news updates from CNN, Ziff-Davis publications or broadcast news.   Access was immediate and so was the live transmission of what and who was of interest from the CES convention halls and streets of Sin City.   The people became the story and it has evolved today to where the storytellers are as much of the news as the latest tech gadgets & gizmos being promoted.   

There was concern, as with many major conferences, that live streaming and virtual coverage would diminish the value of such mega events.   Nothing could be further from the truth.  As with TED, SXSW, E3 and so many other major shows - the greater the visibility, the show evolved with greater cross awareness, more stories and impact.  The shows, the content and the connections grew along with the news.

This year, if you want to keep up with news, trends and stories coming out of CES check out the following outlets to see how the social media community is discovering and sharing the experience.

• For real time conversations follow #CES on Twitter
• Recent CES photos posted to Flickr
  


There will inevitably be A LOT of buzz in the technology world over the next several days.  Keep up with the blog posts as they fly in around these key expected themes for CES 2010:

• The expected announcement of the Google Phone - though this is not taking place at CES there will be incredible buzz about it there.
  
• Home Theater goes 3D at CES 
• Notebooks and Tablet News at CES
• Car technology gets smarter at CES
• Consumer tech going green at CES
  
  

 And if you are making the trek to CES this year be sure to check out Jeff Pulver's Social Media Jungle - a full event devoted to social media.  Justin will be speaking at this event so if you're there, make sure you stop by and say hi to him.

If looking for any of the official CES parties during the week in Vegas, check out the constantly updated CES Party List. 

Whatever your interests surrounding CES this year, whether in Vegas or experiencing it virtually, be sure to join share your thoughts, create content (#CES) and keep the conversation going.  No doubt, you'll be helping direct the focus and influence of not only this week's CES but future years to come as well.

Photo Credit: Justin Levy

Our partners start as potential clients, just like yours. We've stopped calling them "clients" as often as possible, because the kind of business relationships we hope to form are more realistically a partnership, because instead of seeking to sell someone a strategy document and walk away, we want to get our hands dirty, educate as we execute, and build something that the combined team of New Marketing Labs and our partner will feel proud of when we're done.

When we work on social media projects for companies, we still start with the basics:

1. How do you make money?
2. Who buys?
3. Where are they?
4. What do they respond to (as far as you know)?
5. What's working right now?
6. What do you need MORE of?
   
   

We work out how we can set into place the following:

Dashboard - how will we measure everything?
Methods - which approaches do we think will work?
Materials - what can we create and what's already in place?
Database - how will we capture and make business from the information we gather?
Effort - who will play roles in the process, both at NML as well as our partner organization?
Education - what do our colleagues need ahead of time to be successful in using social media in their business communications and digital marketing mix?
Interfaces - what parts of our partner's organization have to be ready to receive new information from our social media efforts?
Crisis - what do we do when something goes wrong?
Deep Wiring - do we want to make this more than marketing, and make it business communications?

It's fun working these questions out. It gets us to some very interesting points in our process, and we don't end up just talking about Twitter. When we work from this methodology, we find really interesting opportunities.

When I think about these questions and how they've evolved as part of our New Marketing Labs methodology, I get more and more excited about what we have coming up in the months to come. See, we learn from every project. As we build something of interest for one partner, we go back and see whether we could have served our other partners in a better way. The evolution means that we can share our lab experiments and bring things even further faster. Because we're not just talking and writing, we have hands-on experience with what works and what can be improved.

Rolling into 2010, we're all about the needle movement, and how we can help partners improve their channels. We'll keep you posted as things move ahead. I'm excited to get pushing into 2010. We've got some new partners that have come on in the last several weeks, and still more that I want to build relationships with. Each opportunity is another chance to find something that drives the space as a whole forward.

What's your first big idea for 2010? (There I go with another question again!)

Photo Credit: Transguyjay

The spark for innovation comes in many different ways and in many different delivery mechanisms.  I did a major upgrade to my home automation system last night with the guys over at Audio Video Intelligence and it occurred to me that home automation is the next GPS.  I remember when I first bought my Jeep 7 years ago and had the radio changed.  The sales person told me, "you've got to add GPS/NAV, soon everyone will have it and it will be a must."  I thought they were crazy but being the early adopter that I am I bought it anyways.  Here we are 7 years later and GPS is everywhere and in everything from the iPhone, Android and Blackberry platforms, to built into cars from luxury to economy models.  Most people will say, as I once did, "Why do I need home automation?"  It seems like with all innovation, this is the fundamental question. 

At New Marketing Labs, we get that question when we work with companies to implement new media strategies.  "Why do I need that innovation?"  "Why new media versus traditional media?"  I submit that these questions about innovation all share a common thread.  Look at how GPS changed the world using maps.  It is my belief that home automation will change your home life in the same way GPS changed how we get to where we need to go.  New forms of marketing such as social media tools are having the same impact on how we market and communicate with our prospects and customers.  Below I share how I'm using automation to enhance my home life experience as well as provide you with some examples on how this technology can be used.

My home automation system is powered by the Control4 HC-500, which has brought plug and play to home automation.  Part of the magic is that it works with the devices over a wireless network known as ZigBee.  The nice thing about this protocol is that the devices all act as repeaters within the network allowing you to expand the size of the network with virtually no limits, and especially no running wires. 

So how do I use it?  Since I had my first remote controlled dimmer, I knew one day this type of product would be a must.  From any web browser or from the slick iPhone app, I can:

• Place my outdoor lights on a timing sequence.
• Randomize my indoor lights to make it appear that someone is home when I am away.
  
• Adjust or program my thermostats.
• Control my TV's.
• If you travel as much as I do, it's always happens at the worst time.  You are in an important meeting with a client, and your mother-in-law is with your kids and can't put on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Now you can play a movie for my kids, change the channel, change the volume and see what they are watching.
• Arm or disarm my alarm system.
• View my IP cameras. 
  
  

The interesting about the upgrade is they have upgraded to the ZigBee Pro standard which allows you to use third party devices in you network.  The third party devices give you incredible flexibility.  Examples are:
 

• Ever have one of your kids wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  You hear that loud smash.
• Now imagine, a small battery operated motion detector under their bed.  If it senses movement from 9 pm to 4 am, it will automatically put the lights on it their room, the hall and the bathroom at 50%.  Then after 5 minutes shut them all off.
  
• Place a water sensor in your basement by your water tank.  If it leaks, you can have the Control4 system send you an SMS text, and call the fire department. 
• Your trip gets extended: Adjust your thermostats to keep the heat down until you get home. 
  
• Create a lighting pattern, so when your family members come home it turns the lights on in the driveway, the garage, the mud room and turns on their favorite music. 
  
  

Innovation seems to creep out of the strangest places.  Then one day everyone is changing the way they work or live and they wonder "where did that come from?" 

Over the next year, I believe we will see a spike in the delivery of what was once third circle technology (that for early adopters only), to the consumer.  A great example is Comcast's Fancast site (client) which has taken the idea SlingBox made popular of watching your TV anywhere, and expanded it to now allow you access to all of your paid content anywhere via a browser.  You don't even need any new hardware! 

Stay tuned. Greater bandwidth, video over the net, automation, and constant connectivity will be big influencers in 2010. 

What innovations are surprising to you and do you think will influence us in 2010?

Often at New Marketing Labs we discuss the concept of innovation and its impact on clients and their businesses.  What is interesting to note is that often people are looking at innovation as fundamental changes to the way things are done.  For instance, the introduction of the internet was innovation. As was the car, the plane, the boat, the telephone, the light bulb, and many other inventions that created change in the way we function as individuals or businesses.  People often look at these types of innovative ideas and think - to be innovative we really need to BREAK THE MOLD and fundamentally change things. 

At New Marketing Labs, we realize that while exciting, the fundamental change ideas that create innovation are few and far between and more fail than succeed over the long term.  In contrast, we look at innovation as an incremental change that may seem small in its implementation but is huge in its impact.

For instance, when we launched our event technologies business many years ago, we decided we needed to be innovative to have an impact and be noticed.  To accomplish this, we decided to turn the computers at our registration desks around and allow people to register themselves.  We called it "Self-Registration" and won huge acclaim and accolades and ultimately a significant amount of business because of this "innovative idea" when in fact it was an amazingly simple one - literally just turning the computer around.

When companies are looking to be innovative, they need to look at their current processes and offerings and determine which incremental adjustments would have the largest impact.  To do this, companies need to look from the outside in, not the inside out.  Often, people are looking at being innovative by trying to figure out "What can we do" or "what can we do different".  Instead, ask yourself these questions:

1. What are our clients / customers looking for us that we are currently not providing?
2. Where are our clients / customers spending the most time that is NOT providing the most value and how can I change it?
3. What 3 things that we are currently clients / customers doing as a part of our offering are the most "frustrating" or "annoying" or "inconvenient" for our customer?
   

Once you see the answers to these questions, you will then see where an incremental innovation will have the most impact and provide the most value.  From there, you have the roadmap and the opportunity will be clear.

Photo by: Clearly Ambiguous