Is Mean Popular in the Blogesphere?

I actually feel a little bad about ripping on Target yesterday. I know that they have to defend themselves in court – I just find the whole thing a little insane. The principles behind it all.

Why do I feel bad then?

Well, I try to teach my kids to use positive words, say things that “build others up,” and then I turn around and rip into a large corporation. It’s hypocritical. (Even if my kids aren’t reading my blog – it still matters to me.)

And my page reads go way up.

People like attitude, people like to see conflict.

It seems people like mean – or at least disagreement. Maybe it’s just debate?

Well, either way, I could have probably made my case with a little more tact.

My wife tells me I have none. And, often, she’s right.

But at least I notice it now.

Baby steps.

Gartner offers quick wisdom on approaching the SMB, SME (whatever you call small to mid-size enterprises)

eWeek connected me with a nice read Understanding the SMB Opportunity by Tiffani Bova from Gartner.

She offered a nice summary of the market and some good advice.

SMB Market Summary

• There are 80 million SMBs worldwide.
• SMBs are spending an estimated $400 billion this year.
• IT spending by SMBs will outpace that of larger enterprises through 2007.
• SMB IT spending is growing at a 7 percent rate this year.

Her Advice

SMB decision makers are notoriously difficult to persuade. That means solution providers must do their homework and convey their relevance in terms this market can understand before they can even come close to achieving success.

Give the article a read. She offers some nice bullet points that clearly lay out a general approach.

There are plenty of assumptions you may have right now that are simply wrong. One assumption she busts is

. . .their processes in many cases aren’t any less complex than those of larger enterprises.

Read the article to find out more.

Target’s Second Attempt at Looking Really Stupid to the World

Wow. First Target (large American retailer) banned The Salvation Army from it’s storefronts at Christmas time and now this – Target is fighting a legal battle to discriminate against consumers with visual disabilities. Brilliant.

Check out Evan Schuman’s full story in eWeek, On Handicapped Access, Target Fights the Wrong Fight for the Wrong Reason.

Basically, here’s the story:

The lawsuit essentially argues that Target’s online operation violated the American with Disabilities Act because it is not designed to be easily accessible to blind users.

Target’s defense has been that the ADA does not explicitly talk about Web sites, so, Target reasons, it’s not covered.

This has got to be one of the most insane arguments any large corporation could publically make. Evan rips them apart in this article and rightly so.

(BTW, for those of you who don’t know, it’s not an impossible task to make your site usable to people with disabilities. Guidelines and methods to do this have been around for years.)

Unbelievable. Nice move Target. Any other groups you’d care to alienate today?

Target is quickly becoming a case study in what not to do.

Generation Y, Generation X, Baby Boomers – Age Groups

I’m just going to post this as a quick bit of information. Some of you looking at segmentation might find it useful.

A Wall Street Journal article from Sept 27 called Pitching 401(k)s To Genration Y Is a Tough Sell by Jennifer Levitz broke down the groups as follows:

• Gen Y (18-27 years old)
• Gen X (27-43)
• Baby Boomer (44-61)
• Silent Gen (above 61)

I’d never heard of that last one. Maybe you hadn’t either?

New Media Eliminates PR for Small Businesses?

The Wall Street Journal had a good article this morning that highlights how powerful new media such as blogging, podcasting, and other word of mouth marketing techniques may allow scrappy small businesses to make their mark without the traditional (expensive) resources of PR firms. (Article is called How to Get Attention in a New-Media World by Gwendolyn Bounds.)

As a guy with the curse of “ideation*” — a strength (?) of mine that causes me to constantly be thinking of new company ideas, niches in which to provide new products, or wild ideas for changing the world – I like what the article is saying – mostly because it confirms what I’ve been thinking.

Combining a number of inexpensive online techniques can turn the most simple of small businesses into players.

One example is a taxi company in Minneapolis. By a simple online presence and some AdWords from Google, they owner went from Welfare to a booming business.

Another small fashion designer used her blog to create buzz and increase sales dramatically (read the article to find out how dramatically).

What’s the Catch?
You’ve got to do it well – and take your time to actually build community in a patient, methodical manner. The article makes some excellent points on blogging and how NOT to do it. How to begin by simply listening to the community you want to enter, then slowly add comments and eventually contact other bloggers directly. You cannot simply start dropping your product/service name in comments out of the blue and expect the world to start paying attention to you. Take some time, participate in the discussion, and build your reputation.

I posted the other day about the differences between my blog and Charlotte’s Web – one of the big differences is that Charlotte has taken the time to read others’ blogs, comment thoughtfully on others’ blogs, and link to them. My blog here has NOT done that. I haven’t participated. I’ve taken a “half-baked” approach to this.

So, do as I say, not as I do. In this case, it will help you!

PS on Word of Mouth Marketing
The article also presented some extremely interesting research on word of mouth marketing – claiming that something like 90% happens OFFLINE. Whoa. Now what do you do with that piece of information? Chew on it. (don’t ask me the details of the research, context, etc.)

* Ideation is one of about 34 general strengths that Marcus Buckingham outlines in his book Now Discover Your Strengths. I highly recommend you read this book, take the online test, etc. to learn more about what makes you tick and where you might better place your energy. I call it a curse above because I birth tons of ideas but then get distracted with new ideas before I can implement the first ideas. I love the way Nova continually exemplifies this problem as it relates to her fiction writing at distraction no. 99.

SAP Projects Provide a Strange Comfort

I’ve been a bit grumpy about the marketing world lately. Well, my marketing world anyway.

One thing that has lifted my spirits a bit is a couple of new projects from SAP. It’s kind of ironic. I’ve worked on really creative and inspirational work for brands like The Salvation Army, Moog Music, Kawai Piano, and even a thriving church. Those projects were extremely fulfilling. I embraced their purpose and the creative was top notch. (I should mention that the Salvation Army’s website is the only one we designed – just to be clear.)

But in a different way, SAP projects comfort me.

There are familiar elements to the projects – lots of complex buzzwords, technologies, and points of view. And one other thing – a desire to have Morsekode help them create a clear compelling story that their customers can relate to.

I blogged about Charlotte’s Web yesterday. A blog people can relate to.

Companies need that same passion for relating to their customers and prospects. That’s what I love about my contacts at SAP – they seem to “get it.” They know they need to present products and services that their audience can relate to.

They even realize it enough to trust a third party to shape that compelling story – to take it above and beyond any internal debates or differences in point of view. They sacrifice their own egos and silos a bit in exchange for knowing that they’ll better serve the customer by having a group of non-biased-customer-focused-tech-geek-creative-types on their team.

Who would have thought work for a large global technology player could be as interesting and motivating as working for non-profits trying to change the world?

As comforting as it is…I forgot to mention they always have tight deadlines, so the chances of me blogging much in the near future are going down as you read this.

bis dann. . .

A Blog People Can Relate To – Charlotte’s Web

I’ve been keeping in touch with Charlotte, a friend of mine in Germany, via her blog. In fact, when something I read in the paper reminded me of her today, I went back to a post she had written on that subject a while back and posted a comment. I know she’ll get an email about it.

I paused after I posted. I was trying to get my finger on what it was about blogging that is so interesting.

My whole experience in blogging has been with a business focus. And, yet, on my site, I don’t have the same experience that I feel she and her visitors do.

My blog is. . .well. . .about marketing stuff. I suppose some people stumble across it via Web searches, or key words, but I don’t feel like I’ve developed the community that my friend has. Granted, I don’t go to much effort to see what everyone else online is saying (my fault, I guess). And, I’m not prolific.

In Charlotte’s blog, she has created quite a following among a group of, I think, mostly women from around the world. It seems that they play off of each other – read each other’s posts, and encourage each other. They can relate to each other.

Her husband has a business blog. He works hard to keep it fresh and interesting and is rewarded with more hits (than I get, for sure). He also spends time visiting others and commenting. And yet, he receives much less traffic than his wife.

I wonder. . .

Are we business bloggers trying too hard to offer “business value,” have “interesting debates” and “sound intelligent” while the real value may simply be in being someone others can relate to?

Most of the business blogs I stumble upon seem to be mere self-promotion. Even their comments are nothing more than thinly veiled attempts to draw attention to their own blog. (No, Thomas, I don’t think that of you.)

But Charlotte’s blog is just good, expressive writing. She loves to write. She has no strange motives (to my knowledge). She writes about things that people enjoy reading. Things that others can relate to.

Hmmm. I guess that’s what meeting the needs of an audience is all about. And that’s why her audience is growing!

I was going to try and end with some clever marketing or branding take away, but I’d rather just point you to Charlotte’s Web and let you figure out what makes the difference between something you find once in a Google search and something you go back to every day and miss when it’s gone.

Good work, Charlotte!

Holy Business Blog Results Batman!

Yup – another MarketingSherpa study:

How to Get Bloggers to Evangelize Your Product

This case study shows how a company raised blog links to its web site to around 70 percent of all referrals!

What’s the secret? Give bloggers what they want. What do they want? Fresh, unique content (and, among other things, a little kickback).

What Andre Agassi Can Teach Your Brand

Watching Andre play this weekend and listening to his farewell speech at the US Open was simply amazing. But even more amazing and impact-loaded was what his peers said about him. They talked about his contribution to tennis, the space he would leave, and the lessons he taught them all.

Outputs of Greatness
Jim Collins talks about great brands and greatness in general. One of the “outputs of greatness” Collins discusses is

Makes a Distinctive Impact
The organization makes such a unique contribution to the communities it touches and does its work with such unadulterated excellence that if it were to disappear, it would leave a hole that could not be easily filled by any other institution on the planet.

By that definition, Agassi has achieved a level of greatness that I admire.

Is Your Brand Making an Impact?
or is it just making a buck or two?

I want to work with people and organizations that seek to achieve this characteristic of greatness.

After listening to players, peers, press, etc. talk about Agassi, I said to my wife, “I could only hope that people would say things like that about me someday.”

She turned, straight-faced, and said, “Well, you better work on your tennis game.” And then busted out laughing.

Reaching High Net Worth Individuals (aka – The Rich Peeps)

If you’ve read this blog for anytime at all, you know I like MarketingSherpa. This report is another excellent resource.

Special Report: How to Market to the Super Rich — 4 Challenges and 8 Must-Know Strategies

I have to say this, though, and it isn’t just about MarketingSherpa, but any of the people that try to help you market. When ever I see comments like these below, I simply say “duh.”

. . .This tells us broadcast offers might work, but it had better be about something they want to buy.

Anything we communicate better be about something our target audience is interested in!

Again, I love MarketingSherpa, but phrases like those shouldn’t really count as research findings, should they?