The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of
Electronic Communications
Download Slides at: www.danavan.net/wspra

Dana VanDen Heuvel
Dana is the founder of The
MarketingSavant Group and a
widely recognized specialist in
emerging marketing technologies such
as blogging, social media, RSS,
Internet communities and interactive
marketing trends and best practices
and speaks regularly on these topics
at industry events. Dana is the creator
of the American Marketing
Association ―TechnoMarketing‖
training series and the author of the
AMA‘s Marketech ‘08 Guide To
Marketing Technology and the recent
e-book, Social Networking: MySpace,
YourSpace and TheirSpace.

After-Event Slides & Resources
 The slides and resource links are available
electronically after the event:
www.danavan.net/wspra

The traditional marketing model is being challenged, and (CMOs)
can foresee a day when it will no longer work.
McKinsey Quarterly, 2005, Number 2

Source: Justin Kirby & Paul Marsden (2006). Connected marketing. Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann. xix
Crisis In Mass Marketing
 18%: Proportion of TV advertising campaigns generating positive ROI
 54 cents: Average return in sales for every $1 spent on advertising
 256%: The increase in TV advertising costs (CPM) in the past decade
 84%: Proportion of B2B marketing campaigns resulting in falling sales
 100%: The increase needed in advertising spend to add 1-2% in sales
 14%: Proportion of people who trust advertising information
 90%: Proportion of people who can skip TV ads who do skip TV ads
 80%: Market share of video recorders with ad skipping technology in 2008
 95%: The failure rate for new product introductions
 117: The number of prime time TV spots in 2002 needed to reach 80% of
adult population – up from just 3 in 1965
 3000: Number of advertising messages people are exposed to per day
 56%: Proportion of people who avoid buying products from companies who
they think advertise too much
 65%: Proportion of people who believe that they are constantly
bombarded with too much advertising
 69%: Proportion of people interested in technology or devices that enable
them to skip or block advertising

Information Proliferation
 Media Fragmentation - Then, and Now
1960 Now
6 TV channels/home 130
8,400 Magazines 17,300
4,400 Radio stations 13,500
None Internet stations 35,000 +
None Pages on Google 12 B +
None Blogs 200 M +

Source: Marketing Leadership Council - www.mlc.executiveboard.com

Where Everything Is Headed
Today
Digital
Non-Digital
1996 2008 Source: Google 2050?

360 Digital Marketing World
Online eNewsletters Email Real Simple
Media eMail eCards
Syndication (RSS)
Content Partnerships
News
Community
sites Syndication
Special Blog Search Engines Manifestos
Interest Conversations
Blogs Blog Aggregators
Chat
Rooms/Events Search Engine
Optimization Citizen
Photo Blogs Action
Listservs Keyword
Marketing eAlerts
Message Boards
Search Meetups
Text-messaging
Press Rooms
Web Sites Viral Games & Online
IM w/RSS
Wikis Content Contests Advertising
Folksonomy Digital Radio
Social VBlogs
Bookmarking Podcasting
Digital Webcasting
Devices Phones DVR PDAs Game Microcasting
(Tivo) Consoles
Source: Ogilvy

Source: Brian Solis via Flickr

Social Media: Defined!
SOCIAL MEDIA IS AN UMBRELLA TERM
THAT DEFINES THE VARIOUS ACTIVITIES
THAT INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY,
SOCIAL INTERACTION, AND THE
CONSTRUCTION OF WORDS,
PICTURES,VIDEOS AND AUDIO.
http://www.wikipedia.org

More Simply Put:
―Social Media is
people having
conversations
online.‖

The conversations are powered by…
 Blogs
 Widgets
 Micro Blogs
 Online Chat
 RSS
 Social Networks
 Social Bookmarks
 Message Boards
 Podcasts
 Video Sharing Sites
 Photo Sharing Sites
 Virtual Worlds
 Wikis
(…just to name a few)

Who‘s Out There?
 More than half of all online American teenagers use
social networking sites.
 64% of online teenagers created content
*

Who Participates in Social Media?
*

How do YOU
participate
online?

10 Questions For You
1) Do you read blogs? Which ones?
2) Do you have a personal blog? What's it about?
3) Do you participate in at least one social network? Which one?
4) Have you ever uploaded a video online? What did you use to do
it?
5) What's your favorite search engine. Why?
6) Have you ever used an online classified service like craigslist?
7) Besides making phone calls—how else do you use your mobile
phone?
8) Have you ever registered a domain name?
9) Do you use social bookmarks or tagging?
10) Do you use a feed reader of some sort? Which one? Why?

“The Good”

Jones Soda – Youth Blogs
Company: Jones Soda Blogging Model:
Industry: Consumer Packaged Goods •Loose connection of independent youth &
Blog URL: http://www.jonessoda.com/blogs/ athlete bloggers
Launch Date: Multiple (individual bloggers) •Event driven marketing/blogging
•Community building as a corporate strategy
David vs. Goliath:
•Grassroots marketing efforts
•Well targeted to Gen-Y consumer base
•Blogs align with underground image and the
brand stewards, (non-traditional athletes) notably
skateboarders,
Brand Community
[Blogs]:
•Built on context and
relevance of content
•Consciousness of
kind
•Create a community
around yourself

Facebook Success: Apple Students
 Embracing existing community
 Free product sample
 eCommerce
 Cross Promotion
 Results
 420,000 users
 12,000 topics

Indium Social Media Strategy
 25% reduction in marketing spend
 Major account wins
 Entire organization involved
in the ‗community‘

Stonyfield Farm Blog Objectives:
•Capitalize on their \"personality\" in the world--they
care about the environment
Company: Stonyfield Farm •Maintain touch with loyal, long-standing customer
Industry: Organic dairy base
Blog URL: http://www.stonyfieldfarms.com/weblog/ •CEO, Gary Hirshberg, wants to \"be real\" and saw
Blogs: 4 the blogs as a way to do that--inspired in part by
the success of blogs within the Howard Dean
presidential bid of early 2004.
Recent Per Month Visits
Results: •Strong Women Daily News: 15,603
•Direct comments from readers, engaging in •The Daily Scoop: 4,049
conversation •Creating Healthy Kids: 9,659
•Generate ‘good will’ •The Bovine Bugle: 28,237
•Growth in email newsletter subscribers Source: http://www.businessblogconsulting.com/2004/12/business_blog_c.html

Power of Twitter
 Beth Kanter 2008: Can conference room of connected
people get 250 people to donate $10 by the end of the
conference?
 $2,657 from 112 donors in 90 minutes

Twitter Community Lends Support
Widget
.
$3500 Collected In The First 15-hours!

Voltz & Grobe (Diet Coke + Mentos)
 20M video downloads
 $10M in free publicity for Mentos
½ its annual marketing budget
 1.5B ad impressions for Coca-Cola

Southwest is Winning with Widgets
 2 Million Downloads
 Generated $150M
 45% of customers book
again
 July ‘07, blog attracted
100k visits, 40M
uniques
 Past 12 months, blog
has received 6,200
comments (20 per day)

Integrated Social Media Strategy
Goodwill Repositioning
Blog
YouTube
MySpace
ebay Store

A Few Stats http://dcgoodwillfashions.blogspot.com/
 Over 11,500 unique visitors to the virtual fashion show 9/12 launch
 Over 42,000 page views
 16% of fashion show visitors have been converted into online
Goodwill shoppers
 Fashion Show Visitors from 31 countries and 48 states plus DC
 48% of fashion show visitors are from the DC, MD, VA region (the
area we serve)
 Blog is averaging between 600 & 700 visitors a week
 5.6% of blog visitors are being converted into online Goodwill
shoppers
 Blog visitors from 77 countries and all 50 states
Brick & mortar stores during the two weeks following
the launch of the fashion show:
 Customer count + 6.6%
 Rack sales (clothing) + 16.5%
 Total sales + 8.275%

Pontiac Example

Cadbury Wispa Comeback
 80‘s candy bar brought
back to life
 Facebook group, online
petitions, social media
buzz
 Cadbury was listening!
“The Birmingham-based chocolate firm said
the comeback was a response to online
petitions and campaigns on social
networking sites such as Facebook and
Bebo..”
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-News-
Archive/Article/20082851280368

Jeep‘s ―Jeep 2.0‖ Strategy
1. Portals (using contextual/Google and behavioral/AOL targeting)
2. An IM avatar development program
3. Online video - A new campaign site which was redesigned to host
rich-media offerings like video vignettes
4. Virtual \"test drives―
5. Ads on free music download sites with viral marketing (pass this
song on to your friends capability)
6. Microsites
7. Traditional TV with product placement
8. Events and bowl games - An online fantasy football sponsorship
w/print component
9. Print ads

Jeep –
The way beyond trail
 A choose your own adventure
interactive film
 User integrates him/herself directly
into the video and story reflects
their personal registration selections
 Program provides clues in exchange
for ―tell a friend‖
 Product directly integrated and
demonstrated through plot line of
film

Jeep Hosts Fans in Facebook

…and Courts Fans from Any
Communtity

InDecision 2008
Both campaigns provided amazing lessons
This is what social media is all about. This campaign is the product
of superior multi-channel audio, video and text content distribution
using new and traditional media platforms.
 Getting the message out.
 Keeping the message fresh.
 Sticking to the story.
 Tracking and staying in touch with the interested visitor.
 Developing a worthwhile engaging relationship with those who
can support you and your concerns.

How They Stacked Up
Source: Jeremiah Owyang

Who wins…
Source: http://www.barack20.com/

“The Bad”

Digital & Social Media Conversations
“There’s a real cost to
ignoring the
conversation.”

No Love for Iams
What if half the store shelf
said, “Don’t Touch This?”

Word Of Mouth Is A Powerful Force
Word of Mouth Among Airlines (evangelists)
Source: Harvard Business Review

Wal-Mart:
Disclose, Disclose, Disclose!

Chevy Tahoe / The Apprentice

Comcast Learns Social Media…
 Comcast tech filmed
sleeping…waiting for his own
customer service team.
 A viral video & blog sensation (of
course!)
 Popular blogger ‗Tweets‘ his
Comcast woes
 Comcast calls him 20 min later
and resolves his issues!

“The Ugly”

Kryptonite: No Match for Blogs!

―Rahodeb‖
 Unethical, covert blogging by Whole
Foods CEO John Mackey
 According to FTC documents, Mackey
had been posting comments for the
past eight years until last August.
 Accused of hyping his
own company's stock
and running down rivals.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118454129429667079.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks

Other Notable Disasters

“Content is the new democracy
and we the people, are ensuring
that our voices are heard.”
Brian Solis, “The Social Media Manifesto”

The Relentless Pursuit…of the NBT
Addiction To Bright + Shiny Objects

―Web 2.0‖ Is The Mother of all Bright +
Shiny Objects

Symptoms Of B.S.O.S. (Bright + Shiny
Object Syndrome)
 A soft spot for buzzwords
 A disposition to regurgitate the latest buzzwords you just
overheard
 An insatiable desire to sell ―the latest thing‖ to clients
 A tendency to believe the hype, without investigating for
yourself
 A tendency to dismiss without investigating for yourself
 Excess use of the word ―viral‖ viral…viral…viral.. viral…
 Lack of interest in research or first hand experience
 Total disregard for customer, brand or business needs

So, Now What?

9 BIG THEMES

9 Big Themes
1. We‘re in the BETA economy
 No other medium allows you to launch, test, re-
launch, test, measure, tweak, re-tweak, evolve, re-
launch, quite like the Web
 Folks like Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin preach
about this all the time. Guy launched his Truemors
service on a shoestring budget and uses Twitter to
promote it.
 When budgets get cut – marketers look to digital
for new ways of testing out ideas vs. big bang and
big budget initiatives (think Bud.TV)

9 Big Themes
2. Marketers use existing platforms
Why build from scratch
when you can use NING as
a social network, Wordpress
as a CMS, Basecamp as a
Collaboration tool and
Concept Share as a way to
co-create.
Now is a great time to dig
into the already existing
platforms (in addition to
existing social networks).

9 Big Themes
3. Marketers are just switching tubes
Consider skipping mass TV all
together.
It worked for BMW films and
with YouTube firmly in place — it
can even work with less
production values and high
priced talent.
Consider ways to make the
participant the star!

9 Big Themes
4. It‘s all about the tubes…
 BRANDS  CONSUMERS
 In 1965, 80% of 18-49 year-olds in  Big Six study (US): People with PVR‘s
the US could be reached with three watch 12% more TV, yet 90% of them
60-second TV spots. In 2002, it adskip (Germany : 88.2%)
required 117 prime-time
commercials to do the same.‖ (Jim
Stengel, Global Marketing Officer,  54% of US consumers avoids products
P&G) & services which ―overwhelm‖ with
advertising (Yankelovich Partners)
 A US hour of prime time TV carried
21 minutes of advertising, Late Night  85% of Chinese stop watching TV
network shows like Leno or during commercial breaks. More than
Letterman carry 31:27 (TNS Media half change the channel, while the rest
Intelligence, Q1 2006) do housework, eat, chat or use the
bathroom. (McKinsey & Co.)

9 Big Themes
5. Marketing: To touch point infinity, and
beyond!
 Don‘t put all your digital eggs in one
basket like a site or banner
campaign—look at smart ways to
distribute the experience across as
many touch points as possible.
 Be smart about it. Think about how your
user thinks and acts digitally and meet
them in them medium.
 Of course this doesn‘t have to be
digital, but you might get more bang
for your buck.

9 Big Themes
6. Marketers trade focus groups for
Digital Ethnography
 Research dollars converted to social media
currency (Victoria‘s Secret)
 Look to the internet & social media for
insights.
 Social Networks and search engines can be
rich ethnography tools. I‘m not advocating to
abandon field research—but before you
slash that discovery phase, think about how
digital can be used to find things about the
behavior of your target.

9 Big Themes
7. Marketers think outside the banner
 Think about traditional media buys such as
banners differently.
 They should no longer be the first line of
offense in a digital initiative.
 Quality may replace quantity—Apple’s
recent entry into the online banner space
taught us that banners can still work—but the
ROI improves with creativity.
 Social ads, blog outreach and other
‗participation‘ based media spends could
prove more effective.

9 Big Themes Yankelowich
76%
of consumers don’t believe that
companies tell the truth in
advertisements

9 Big Themes Yankelowich
8. Marketers embrace ‗delight by function‘
 The digital media/ tools/
network/ widget becomes the
product…and the marketing
 When tempted to cut budgets in
digital product functionality—think
again.
 Adding or improving existing
functionality may lead to product
preference which increases
revenue, sales and even saves
money. (think widgets)

9 Big Themes Yankelowich
9. Marketers listen to New Media
 Digital gives you many ways to listen to customers
– from direct engagement like Dell‘s IdeaStorm
or My Starbucks Idea to simple surveys or even
A:B testing.
 All are excellent examples of using digital to
turn up the volume on customer desires.
 Those brands that do the best job listening will
weather any downturn.

How to control
millions of inaccurate
and divergent
conversations ?
YOU DON’T
Consumers are beginning in a very real sense to own our brands and participate
in their creation … We need to begin to learn to let go.
A.G. Lafley, CEO and Chairman of P&G, October 2006
(cc) Lynette Webb, 2006

“Every brand needs to be relevant and part
of a community. They need to open a
dialogue with their consumers, but they also
need to be prepared for what could be
negative feedback and I don’t think all
marketers are ready for that.”
- Bob Ivins, EVP, comScore

“L.A.M.P”

LISTEN
Where are your customers online/offline?
 Blogs, Social media tools (e.g. LinkedIn Answers), Discussion Forums,
Twitter, etc…/Events
Monitor these conversations:
 Find your brand using Google Alerts, Keotag.com, Boardreader.com and
Technorati.com
 Use a central tool to track the different conversations happening around
your company. Most online conversations are RSS enabled, barring a few
Yahoo! groups that don’t support RSS. Use a RSS reader (e.g.
Bloglines.com) to gather all these conversations into a central repository
and create a folder that you check on a daily basis.

AWARENESS
Calculate Brand perception within these conversations
 News & Blogs (Google search, Google Blog search, technorati search)
 Keyword mentions & incoming links
 Corporate Blog (Unique users, hits, trackbacks, comments)
 Brand Scoring system (how much buzz are you getting vs. competition)
 Assign a marketer to staying aware and alert to what’s going on in social
networks and social media
 Around your organization
 Around your competitors
 Around your industry

MEASURE
The value of social media presence can be calculated by simple methods:
 Reach
How many people are influenced by our social networking efforts?
 Acquisition
How much of their attention have we acquired through connections,
website visits, and time spent engaging with us?
 Conversion
How many have we ‘converted’ toward the ultimate goal (subscription,
sales, leads, registrations, evangelists, etc.)?
 Retention
Are we reducing customer churn, lowering our overall cost to serve,
increasing the purchase value/volume/frequency, and growing the lifetime
value of our customer base?

MEASURE
Another take on the process of measuring social media value
Source: Forrester Research

PARTICIPATE
Create a strategy around how you wish to participate!
You have the following options:
 Be where the users are
 Facilitate easier means of communication with them
 Create brand evangelists
 Be a source of information on the organization
 Respond swiftly and honestly
 Start publishing content
 Stir internal company conversations
 Improve product and user experience

Top ten obstacles to new media
1) Inadequate resources (time and/or money)
2) Disconnected employees
3) Resistance to change
4) Desire to control communication/fear of unknown
5) Not convinced of benefits
6) Perceived lack of IT capabilities
7) Resistant culture
8) Senior management won‘t allow it
9) Legal/governance/regulation issues
10) Would require too much training

Five Keys to Success
 Be Generous With Your Knowledge
 Share beyond the marketing speak
 Be Consistent
 Calendar your activities – daily, weekly, monthly
routine
 Always Deliver Value
 Listen, think, revise, teach, repeat
 Take A Stand
 Take your strong positions to market
 Focus On The Long-term Benefits
 Track your results in months & years

New Media Homework!
 Find blogs in your area of interest using Technorati
 Seek out podcasts for marketers (or whatever you
fancy) in iTunes or Podcast Alley
 Sign up for a free RSS reader (Bloglines, Google
Reader) and consume feeds
 Join LinkedIn
 Anyone not visited YouTube yet? Look for your
favorite things there too

New Media Extra Credit
 Become a regular commenter on blogs that interest
you
 Join Facebook & ask a question on LinkedIn
 Start a blog of your own on a topic of your choice
 Create a podcast
 Switch over some of your newsletter subscriptions to
RSS feeds
 Get a Flickr account to share photos

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Electronic Communications
Q&A
Download slides at: http://www.danavan.net/wspra
Need help after the presentation? Email dana@marketingsavant.com