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It seems to be all about Twitter and Social Marketing

2009-03-18T17:47:00.000-07:00

It would seem in these depressive days that the only exciting development are in the area of Twitter and Social Marketing. This is the observation of Hopeful Al, editor of the Hopeful Als Direct Marketing Weekly Blurb.

This weeks Hopeful Al Weekly has once again features how small creative businesses and large brand names are deploying Twitter to drive Traffic, in an article by Chris Crum in WebProNews.

Is innovation and creativity dying in this recession, we asked Al. "Hopefully not, he says, "Necessity is always the mother of invention....there probably are tons of people out there developing creative solutions for survival...it just that they may have no time to publicize them...or they have not proven itself in a big way"

There are certainly much available space for businesses to improve their situation through adoption of new strategies. Al says "Online Videos have been such a boon for Bto B marketers especially those that need 3D to present their productz effectively, or those that need to add more emotional content to enhance their brand...yet adoption by BtoB companies have been slow...especially in Asia"

In this week's publication, Hopeful Al Direct Marketing Blurb features Free Whitepaper about adding online-videos for B to B marketing from BrightCove a pioneer in online video marketer.

"It is a brilliant paper...we certainly hope it will impress businesses that it easy and cost effective to deploy online videos into their promotional mix" says Hopeful Al.

Amazon's new Kindle reads like real paper..and even reads to you.

2009-02-10T06:02:00.000-08:00

Amazon New Kindle 2, handy like a magazine, reads like real paper. With 16 shades of gray it has crisp images and text and reads well in bright sunlight ....even reads to you. Text-to-Speech feature means Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud.

Wow..when will the improvements and innovations stop? Kindle's other best features includes:

1. Enjoy streams of savings with just one affordable investment. No monthly wireless bills, data plans, or commitments. Amazon pays for Kindle’s wireless connectivity so you won’t see a monthly wireless bill.

2. Slim & Lightweight: Just over 1/3 inch and 10.2 ounces

3. Get Books in under 60 seconds: No PC required

4. Longer Battery Life: 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging

5. More Storage: Take your library with you; holds over 1,500 books

6. Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns that the existing Kindle

7. Large Reading Selection: Over 230,000 books, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines and blogs available

8. Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise.

FIND OUT MORE AND GET YOUR KINDLE 2 AT AMAZON NOW.

DIY Renewable Energy At Home

2009-01-28T05:53:00.000-08:00

Talk about exploiting high Impact Marketing Trends, Tim McDonald together with his wife Trudy, both green energy enthusiasts and love talking about renewable energy has bought together a whole array of innovative and ingenius tips about Renewable Energy At Home.

Green Trends has been hot in marketing for some years now...but with the current emphasis on domestic savings Tim and Trudy has created content and ideas that will appeal, and be appreciated by a wide.

Visit their Blog, DIY Renewable Energy at Home. There are several useful and informative books (one shown here) made available to subscribers

Twitter is Hot ...thanks to Obama

2009-01-21T23:29:00.000-08:00

It probably does have something to with the publicized success of Twitter deployment in Obama's presidential campaign, I am making more contacts through Twitter than any other social media these days.

I remember receiving so many messages from delighted people during the campaign saying that Obama was following them!

Like most business we are still a little wary. How does a business manage the proliferation of personal medium amongst its employees intermixing personal and business messages? How do we measure the impact of different media used in campaigns?

But I guess we need to change our attitude, adopt new perspectives, and learn to strategically incorporate into our communication mix.

Here is one of the latest report on Twitter I have found useful in helping me make the change over. Its free to download.

I have also just installed Adobe's TweetDeck which allows me to manage my increasing twitter messages from my desktop.

Twellow is another useful tool. Twellow will allow you to use keywords to find people on Twitter. Search for keywords that are related to your business and then follow people who are connected to that keyword. This certainly has helped me in my meeting new prospects.

Digital Innovations from India

2009-01-20T04:02:00.000-08:00

Digimouth by Ashwin Dutt is a quirky and interesting take on the Digital Industry in India. Latest internet and mobile industry news, articles and analysis

It regularly features new and innovative digital products.

In the latest issue it featured an identity and credential authentication tool, Crederity, created with the Indian market in mind.

The product was incubated in the Wharton School of Business by Rakesh Antala and Alex Mittal and was a Wharton Business Plan Competition semi-finalist in

It is plug-and-play identity and credential authentication tools designed to integrate into current online and offline environments.

Crederity helps prevent identity and credential fraud through an online verification and certification program, enabling individuals and businesses for integrity to stand apart while safeguarding them against fraud. When quizzed about the name of the product Co-Founder and CEO Rakesh said, “Crederity is derived from “credentials” and “verity”.

This product is right for the Indian market where people are generally yet comfortable with the automatic identify verifications which peopl in more internet matured countries like the USA are used to.

Marketing Trends...Who Cares?

2009-01-14T03:13:00.000-08:00

I sent out a mailer to my customers end of last year offering a free report on "10 Innovative Marketing Trends in 2009" or "How to Get 10% More Sales with 20% less Expenses".

Based on the response to date the latter won, by 7:1.

A customer, and SMB owner even called me to say,
"Tell me about what's new in six month time. For now I just want to buckled down and do better at what I do"

Its arguable, but I believe he has the right attitude. These days SMBs that are seriously affected by business cycles die off quickly....choosing to pack up rather than linger on fight for their creditors and shareholders!
Those that survive have businesses that are not seriously affected with good fighting chance right where they are... and they are not going to piss around with too much change and new ideas for the time being.

So the new marketing trends are probably good only for businesses or people looking for new ventures...those that may have ceased their business, gave up their jobs.

Once we adopt this somewhat "jaundiced view" many of the predictions about the "Hot Trends" by many authoritative sources (See Related Links) would seem highly improbable

2009 does not seem from our own survey as a year for change. New innovations that succeed would have be create savings without significant investments. Cleverness and ingenuity in exploiting existing resources would be appreciated much more than innovation and new technology.

10 New Alternative Marketing Trends 2009

2009-01-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

Kim T. Gordon, "Marketing" coach at Entrepreneur.com has named 2009 as a Year for One to One Marketing. Whilst the concept of "one to one marketing" is at least 20 years old, it's still an alternative approach...as most business don't do it preferring the mass marketing approach.

Kim is probably right. With the recession, most companies would be focusing on talking and reselling customers. That's one to one for you.

Unfortunately most of them will not be able to reach out to prospects one to one as they wont have these list resource not will they be able to afford investing in such research.

But then, with so many people out of jobs, there a great opportunity for the good old direct selling, MLM and the newer affiliate marketing strategies to help business reach out one to one.

So a hot alternative trend may be for companies to engage directly in one to one marketing to past customers and relying on direct selling, MLM and Affiliate Marketing to reach out to new customers

So that's Trend#1 nailed down.... hope to see 9 more surfacing in the coming week. Do share your thoughts

Alternative Marketing.. Is It For You

2009-01-07T03:43:00.000-08:00

Marketing Vox Defines Alternative Marketing as "offbeat and cutting-edge marketing practices,also known as guerrilla or street marketing"

I like that description. As a direct marketer, I would like to add that that wild and creative as these activities are, there should be conducted within a campaign discipline with measurable goals, processes and objectives.

Marketing Vox carries a regular column Alternative Marketing Case Studies in their bulletin

More case studies on Alternative and Innovative Marketing may be found at
The Marketing Strategy Innovation Blog

Academic Paper??
If you want a some academic paper on Alternate Marketing, you can download one from Scribd, Alternative Marketing Techniques for Entrepreneurs.

Alternative vs Innovative Marketing
I guess if you want to be "alternative" you must be innovative, but perhaps not vis-versa. That's just a thought.

If you are into definitions, here's a heavy one from the OECD UN organization for Economic and Cooperation and Development

"A marketing innovation is the implementation of a new marketing method involving significant changes in product design or packaging, product placement, product promotion or pricing.

Marketing innovations are aimed at better addressing customer needs, opening up new markets, or newly positioning a firm’s product on the market, with the objective of increasing the firm’s sales.

The distinguishing feature of a marketing innovation compared to other changes in a firm's marketing instruments is the implementation of a marketing method not previously used by the firm. It must be part of a new marketing concept or strategy that represents a significant departure from the firm’s existing marketing methods. The new marketing method can either be developed by the innovating firm or adopted from other firms or organisations. New marketing methods can be implemented for both new and existing products."

Share your thoughts
At this time of the year, many of us look forward some authoritative report from someone like AC Nielson, Advertising Ages, etc on the "10 Alternative Strategies to look Out for in 2009"

Instead of waiting I thought I would rather hear from everyone. What do you think 10 alternatives trends could be?

Meantime I leave you with some thoughts from an article "There is No Alternative to Alternative Marketing"