web 2.0 marketing transformation ebook

Copyright 2010 MetricsBoard

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Web 2.0 Marketing Transformation What is Your Maturity Level?

ePaper:

Traditional ways of promoting your brand are quickly changing, as the benefits of Web 2.0 & Social Media one-to-one permission-based marketing is surpassing the effectiveness of one-to-many marketing chan-nels. This shift is redirecting where dollars are being spent, changing the composition of the marketing mix and having an impact on the way marketing and corporate communications departments approach the market This report will give you insight on the latest Web 2.0 & Social Media Marketing best practices and intro-duce you to a new assessment tool that can determine your Web 2.0 marketing maturity level. By better understanding your ―current state‖ and developing a roadmap to move to the next level of sophistication, you will be able to improve your marketing effectiveness, increase your ROI and drive greater value for your company. Embracing marketing transformation and mastering the use of Web 2.0 & Social Media strategies will be critical to your company’s future go-to-market success.

Web 2.0 &

Social Media

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Web 2.0 Marketing Transformation

Table of Contents____________________

Executive Overview

Introduction

Web 2.0 & Social Media Marketing

Eleven Best Practice Areas

Beware of Medicine Men

Embracing Transformation

What is Your Maturity Level?

Closing the Loop

Conclusion

Examples

Introduction________________________

Businesses, both B2B & B2C, continue to allocate more dollars away from traditional media toward search engine optimization, search engine marketing, conversion optimization, email marketing, online display advertising, mobile marketing, and social media marketing and other Web 2.0-based tactics. This transformation is occurring for several reasons:

Rapidly growing market of Web users that socialize, share multimedia, provide feedback and

use the Internet as their primary source for purchase decisions

Advancements in Web analytics and digital dashboards enables marketers to more effectively

track and measure online programs

Web marketing, in many cases, is less expensive to implement than traditional media

Forrester Research projects that by 2014, more than $55 billion will be spent on Web 2.0 marketing strategies representing 21% of overall marketing spend (1). This trend will continue into the future as a greater percentage of the population starts to use these new channels for social interaction and ecommerce. For example in 2009:

More than 400 million users watched video clips online

More than 350 million users read blogs

55% of online youths (tweens and teens) and 42% of online adults identified that they want to

engage with their favorite brands through social applications (2)

85% of online consumers search on their desktops at least weekly, and 11% have searched via

mobile phones in the past three months

Apple reports that more than 35,000 iPhone apps are now available for downloading

While many early adopters of this new media have been big brand B2C companies, many B2B companies are also seeing benefits from their participation. If you are only just starting to consider the use of these new channels, don’t be too concerned. Depending on your industry, your business model and your go-to-market goals, companies will be at differing levels of adoption and maturity levels. It’s better to take your time and understand the nuances of Web 2.0 media first before jumping in. It may require you to change how people, processes and technologies interact across your company in order to accomplish your goals and achieve your desired results.

Web 2.0 & Social Media Marketing________ ―Web 2.0 Marketing‖ is used to refer to a broad range of Web-based technologies, new media channels and the use of mobile devices. The term is intended to cover more than just social media, and it encompasses ―everything digital‖ which makes for a clear delineation from traditional marketing, e.g., TV, radio, print, direct mail, events, and other offline vehicles that have been around for many decades.





Wikipedia, the free crowd-sourced encyclopedia on the Web, provides the following definition for the term Web 2.0:

“The term Web 2.0 is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mash-ups and folksonomies. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users or to change website content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them.” (3) Web 2.0 is closely associated with Tim O'Reilly due to the use of the term at the O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. Even though the words suggest a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but rather to a broad range of cumulative changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the Web. Whether Web 2.0 is qualitatively different from prior Web technologies has been challenged by World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, who called the term a "piece of jargon" — because he originally intended the Web to embody these values in the first place.

Eleven Best Practice Areas_____________ The make-up of the push/pull marketing mix has changed due to the addition of Web 2.0. This expansion has also made the job of marketing and corporate communications professionals a lot more complicated and complex. Today a multitude of tactics should be considered - each provides a slightly different benefit, each is executed in a different manner and each has its own influence on the customer. Traditional media is still a very important part of the mix, but with the addition of Web 2.0 channels there is a broader range of online and offline strategies to evaluate, consider and include as part of your plans. There are eleven different best practice areas you should consider when developing your plans. You may already be familiar with many of them, but if not, please take time to familiarize yourself with each grouping. Web 2.0 is so much more than just the technology. Each area covers a different aspect of new media including the need to address the importance of people and processes as part of your overall strategy. If you do not consider these factors, you will fall short of your expectations.

Best practice areas:

1. Blogosphere

2. Communities, Forums, Wikis, Message Boards 3. Corporate Communications & Social Relations 4. eMarketing: Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Interactive Marketing and Customer

Relationship Marketing (CRM) 5. Website: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Website Optimization (WSO) and Conversion

Optimization (CO) 6. Social Media: MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Squidoo, other sites 7. Multimedia Sharing: Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, other sites 8. Reputation Management 9. Socialization, Governance and Integration 10. Virtual Worlds: Second Life and other sites 11. Voice of The Customer

Beware of Medicine Men______________ There is usually a hype-cycle that occurs during the early adoption phase of anything new. You will find a broad range of vendors; consultants and suppliers who have rushed in to take advantage of the ―next big thing‖. While most are honorable in their intentions, there is a subset of vendors who will:

Make it sound so much more difficult than it is

“Web 2.0 marketing

should be viewed as a

process and managed like

a product. Similar to a

Six Sigma process, con-

stant measurement and

fine tuning of tactics us-

ing a closed-loop market-

ing system can deliver

increasing levels of busi-

ness value.”

Jim Arnold, Co-Founder

of MetricsBoard





Promise unrealistic and over inflated results

This occurred during the early years of search engine optimization and this hype is now occurring with social media. Don’t be fooled by what can be called the ―Medicine Men‖. There is a lot of snake oil being sold today. If you are going to use an outside agency or vendor to help you please make sure you fully vet their qualifications carefully and ask for customer testimonials. As with any form of communications, if you follow sound marketing fundamentals, use good judgment and take the time to learn best practices, the use of Web 2.0 marketing does not take a rocket scientist to implement. Experienced marketing and corporate communications professionals can easily obtain the skills and knowledge to effectively take advantage of the benefits. Please keep in mind however, that while there is significant upside to this new media if done right, there are also documented case studies of companies doing it wrong that has hurt their brand reputation. It’s important to approach this new media in the right way.

Embracing Transformation____________ For the last five to ten years, the Web was largely an informational channel. However in the past few years, the Internet has become increasingly interactive and social in nature. New forms of community-based channels, driven by a change in customer behavior, are starting to evolve the landscape of the Internet. A new discipline called Social Media Marketing (SMM), has now been added to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and other marketing practices that comprise Web 2.0 Marketing. While social media can be viewed as an extension or a component of Search Engine Marketing, it really is

quite different. In many respects, it fits under the broader category of word-of-mouth marketing – which can either be online or offline driven. The key difference is that it relies on the collective nature of social groups that have similar interests, like to share information and who want to establish relationships. When integrated into your marketing plans, it can be a powerful new strategy. Objectives achievable through Web 2.0 marketing:

Drive increased Web traffic

Create relevant links to your Website

Increase brand awareness

Improve conversions

Stimulate conversations

Establish relationships and create brand affinity

If you plan to aggressively sell your products and services using social media, you are starting off on the wrong foot and you have the wrong mentality. While this might be your ultimate goal, if you visibly promote yourself without first bringing value to the community you will fail. Being successful with new media means

being an influencer, adding content value to the community and opening yourself up to customer reviews, comments and feedback. As a whole, Web 2.0 marketing is different than traditional marketing and it requires a different approach and mindset. Key differences from traditional marketing:

Full control to influencer role

Customer transparency

Voice of the customer

Emphasis on value provided

Focus on content generation

Speed of execution

With new Web 3.0 technologies just on the horizon (viewed as the next wave), and as more companies gain more experience with new media, many companies may find that the way traditional marketing and

“Social communities will

not respond if your inten-

tions are based on selling

and are selfish in nature.

Communities will only

embrace your participa-

tion and involvement if

you are providing some-

thing valuable that they

benefit from.”

Rob Schilperoort, Co-

founder MetricsBoard





corporate communications departments are organized is obsolete. Embracing transformation means taking a closer look at how people, processes and technology interact to create the greatest value for your company. In the future, this could bring further changes in how companies are structured; the type of people skills that are valued and the way go-to-market strategies are developed and managed.

What is Your Maturity Level?___________ If you are interested in expanding your Web 2.0 efforts, it’s important to first have a good understanding of what your current execution level is, be able to compare yourself with your competition and develop a roadmap that can move you to the next level of performance. MetricsBoard, an online benchmark company, has recently introduced a new Web 2.0 Marketing Maturity assessment tool that you should take advantage of. The Web 2.0 Marketing Maturity assessment tool was developed to give marketing and corporate communications professionals the ability to measure an organization’s maturity level associated with the use of Web 2.0 technologies, processes and techniques. It is a FREE application that automatically evaluates answers provided to a series of 100 questions related to 11 different Web 2.0 marketing best practice areas (addressed earlier in this paper). The survey takes only about 10 minutes to complete and the results will give you a maturity rating for:

Overall maturity level

Website optimization effectiveness eMarketing execution

Social media participation

People, processes and technology integration

Maturity levels are based on a 1 to 4 ranking scale - Diagram #2. The answers you give to each of the questions in the tool provide a leading indicator of your company’s sophistication and maturity level. By taking the assessment you will benefit in several ways.

Diagram #1: Push/Pull Marketing Mix

The New Push/Pull Marketing Mix


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Benefits gained: Educates you on Web 2.0 marketing strategies, tactics and best practices

Gives you execution information that enables you to develop a marketing roadmap to pursue tactical

and process improvements Allows you to compare your position with your peers by company size, geographic coverage and

business model

Further drill-down and analysis of the results from each best practice area can help you develop a more detailed roadmap and execution plan. Recommendations provided can move your company to the next level of sophistication and maturity level which can have a positive impact on your effectiveness and

ability to drive greater value for your company. A sample report is depicted in diagram #3.

Web 2.0 Marketing Maturity Levels

Diagram #2: Marketing Maturity Levels

Diagram #3: Sample Assessment Results Report





Closing the Loop_____________________ Web 2.0 represents a whole new set of channels to consider and each vehicle should be viewed as another element of the push/pull marketing mix. Determining which ones to use as part of an overall integrated campaign should be based on your own specific objectives, strategies and target audience.

Each type of marketing activity will vary in terms of cost, the amount of effort required and the potential ROI delivered. See Diagram #4 for a comparison. Before deciding on what best fits your business model, you need to do your homework first. This should always start with gaining a deeper understanding of your customers’ needs, wants, issues, passions, concerns, communities in which they participate in, and so on. Here is an easy step-by-step process to follow:

1. People: Understand your customers’ needs (target audience), where they like to congregate and what tools/social sites they participate in 2. Objectives: Determine what you need to accomplish, what is the timeframe and how you will measure success

3. Strategies: Select the programs, activities and channels that

best fit your objectives, fit your budget and creates the right touch points with your customers 4. Technology: Evaluate what type of online technology, tools and Web 2.0 delivery formats that will most efficiently and effectively drive results 5. Processes: Establish a corporate policy, educate employees and develop a formalized feed-back process to provide voice of the customer data to departments involved in product selection/development, delivery and customer support 6. Measurement: Put in place an end-to-end tracking system/digital dashboard to monitor, manage and measure program effectiveness. When possible, take time to test programs first to better understand community interest and acceptance levels before launching large scale implementations 7. Refinement: Monitor your online reputation closely and have

assigned personnel responsible for each major Web 2.0 initiative. Follow a closed-loop process, analyze metrics regularly and fine tune tactics as needed.

“In addition to writing fo-

cused, compelling tweets, an-

other important key to success

in building a strong commu-

nity on Twitter is to create spe-

cial content that will be of in-

terest to your followers. One

of the most effective types of

content enables the members

of your community to easily

find and interact with each

other”. (4)

Kent Huffman, CMO at

BearCom Wireless

Diagram #4: Web 2.0 Marketing Relative Impact





To achieve the greatest results, you should view marketing as a process, manage it like a product and follow a closed-loop influencer process. At each potential touch point, you should have activities in place to create awareness, develop a positive brand experience and urge customers to take action. Influencing your target audience does not end with the purchase of a product. In the world of Web 2.0, you should focus on building long-term relationships that result in repeat purchases, a great review, an important referral, and a positive brand perception throughout your targeted community. As shown in Diagram #5, you should look at each customer touch point to determine the best combination of online and offline marketing tactics to deploy. When developed in the right way, you will find you can have a measureable impact on creating greater brand affinity, improving conversion rates and lowering your overall cost of customer acquisition.

Conclusion_________________________ Mastering the use of Web 2.0 marketing is critical to a company’s future go-to-market success. Knowing when and where to best use these new tactics requires you to first determine where you are today in your maturity level, define where you want to go and develop a roadmap to guide your transformation. The newly released Web 2.0 marketing maturity assessment tool can help you with your journey. Moving from one Web 2.0 maturity level to the next can have a positive impact on the success of your marketing plans. By following a closed-loop process to integrate the latest Web 2.0 strategies and determine the right combination of online and offline programs you’ll be able to increase your marketing effectiveness, drive greater value for your business and improve your ROI. Let us know how we can help with your journey.

Diagram #5: Close-Looped Customer Touch Points

Putting it Together – Closed-Loop Process





Examples__________________________

Digital Website Innovation KnickerPicker.com: Web site uses real-life models to allow users to virtually see how underwear fits in an online dressing room. The user can select an item from the catalog and

command the model to turn around, come closer, or take a walk on the catwalk. The site makes clever use of Flash video and rich media, and allows users to virtually manipulate the models. The site is very engaging, fun and makes it easier for both women to buy clothing and for men to choose an appropriate gift for their wife or partner.

Micro-blogging on Twitter Dell: The Dell Twitter.com/DellOutlet program achieved more than $3 million in cumulative sales in 2009.Dell has over 600,000 followers and tweets 1-4 times daily. Their success is attributed to being there on Twitter for people who are looking for refurbished PC deals/discounts, providing timely information on new products and daily interacting with people to answer questions. Dell measures the benefits of being on Twitter by monitoring overall sentiment towards Dell online, listening carefully to user feedback to use as an early alert system to quickly address new product issues and product sales tracked from the site.

Mobile Marketing

Nike: The Company released in 2009 an iPhone utility app for Nike Training Club, its third and most advanced app. The app lets users design workout plans from videos on NikeWomen.com, which are then transferred to the iPhone. The idea is for women to have a customized workout plan, which is combined with a calendar function. Users get points for completing workouts, part of an effort to motivate them to continue.

Multichannel Web Marketing CompuCom Systems: The company in 2008 embarked on an aggressive marketing transformation plan to rebuild Website, develop Web-based marketing management system using Eloqua/salesforce.com and deploy a multichannel Web 2.0 lead generation program using a combination of email campaigns, Webinar series, Google Adwords, videos, social media sites and other new media vehicles. Initiative also included the use of selective offline brand building programs. Company increased unique Website visits by 323%, grew prospect contacts by 465% and generated $124 million in new sales pipeline opportunities.

Social Media

General Motors: To promote its alternative fuel vehicles, General Motors’ Chevrolet worked with MySpace.com to create a virtual tree widget that would ―grow‖ when watered online through visits and downloads. After reaching a threshold of downloads from Chevy’s MySpace.com page, Chevy planted up to 225,000 real trees.

Video Sharing on YouTube BlendTec: The company launched a viral video campaign consisting of a series of infomercials demonstrating the BlendTec line of blenders. In the show, Tom Dickson, the BlendTec founder,

attempts to blend various items in order to show off the power of his blender. One of the more popular videos shows the blending of an iPhone - 7,633,620 views and over 12, 000 comments

on YouTube. “Will It Blend‖ campaign is an example of a highly successful viral video program

that makes blenders interesting and it has achieved significant brand recognition for BlendTec.

Website Optimization B&H Retailer: Located in New York City, B&H has become one the largest online professional photo and video equipment retailers in the world. Their web site is robust, dynamic and makes it incredibly easy to do business – highly optimized utility site with no frills. Product information is no more than two clicks away; powerful search tool allows you to compare models, prices, features, etc. and includes voice of the customer reviews/ratings. The company tracks Website viewing patterns and customer purchase history to provide customized follow up to suggest accessory items, ―like style‖ products and special discounts.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infomercial

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_(device)




Biographies________________________

Jim Arnold is President and Founding Partner of MetricsBoard. He is a forward-thinking strategist and

marketing executive who is passionate about developing innovative ideas, driving new go-to-market strategies and leveraging the latest Web 2.0 technologies to drive increased levels of business value. With more than 25 years of experience, he has held leadership positions with FORTUNE 100 companies, start-ups and national advertising agencies. In 2006 he joined CompuCom as Vice President of Marketing where he embarked on an aggressive program to rebuild their marketing function, introduce Web 2.0 best practices, and develop an end-to-end pipeline measurement system integrating capabilities of Eloqua and Salesforce.com. His efforts doubled brand recognition and increased marketing-driven sales leads by more than 300%. Prior to CompuCom, Jim was the Director of ITO product marketing for EDS where he led go-to-market strategy development and marketing for hosting, storage and desktop management services. In addition, Jim has held Vice President level marketing positions with IBM, Sabre/Travelocity and American Airlines with responsibilities for brand management, advertising, Web, PR, research, business development and other strategic functions. Early on in his career, he spent many years with Compaq Computer Corporation where he was responsible for several notable product launches and channel development programs. Jim has been featured as a speaker and a publisher of several articles for the American Marketing Association (AMA) and Business Marketing Association (BMA). In 2008, he was the winner of the ITSMA Gold Excellence ―Sharpening Brand & Competitive Differentiation‖ marketing award.

Rob Schilperoort is Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner of MetricsBoard. He is a fast

moving product and marketing strategist and executive focused on developing the optimal mix of long term value and immediate results utilizing the latest technologies, markets and customer experiences. With more than 20 years of experience, he has held executive positions with FORTUNE 100 companies, and start-ups in North America and Europe. In 2007 Rob joined Summa Technology Group, a small focused consulting group where Rob specialized in helping companies with product and marketing strategies as well as insights into the information technology outsourcing market. Prior to Summa Technology Group, Rob was Vice President of Product Management at EDS (now HP Enterprise Services) where he championed an aggressive program to streamline their product portfolio. While there he implemented formal product management and marketing practices integrating several disparate organizations and functions into a focused global organization. His efforts resulted in improved margins, customer and industry recognition, and reduced cost of sales. Earlier in his career, Rob worked at Perot Systems (now Dell Services) in several positions including founder and manager of a consulting practice and founder of the product marketing and management organization. Rob is an accomplished speaker and has been featured in several articles for Baylor

University, Gartner Research, Meta Group, Sales and Marketing International amongst others. Rob has

been a member of various industry product strategy and advisory groups for Intel, Microsoft and University of Texas at Dallas. Visit our Website: www.metricsboard.com Follow our blog: Business Performance Sources:

1) Forrester Research report titled ―US Interactive Marketing Forecast, 2009 to 2014

2) Forrester Research report April 16, 2009, ―The Social Tools Consumers Want From Their Favorite Brands‖ report.

3) Wikipedia.com

4) Kent Huffman, CMO at BearCom Wireless. You can follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/KentHuffman.

Copyright 2010 MetricsBoard. This document contains confidential and proprietary information, and is the property of Jim Arnold/Rob

Schilperoort. Any reproduction or transmission of this document (in whole or in part) is strictly prohibited. This document is provided for

informational purposes only and the contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free,

nor subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law.


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web 2.0 marketing transformation ebook

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