Do ads exist in a vacuum? This case points out two YouTube videos that are an effective counterpoint to millions spent on an otherwise effective advertising campaign.
It's not just the ads that matter. It's the environment they're released into.
The long tail is getting longer, but not any fatter. And those who venture down the long tail are the heaviest consumers, and not the most satisfied by the experience.
According to an article by Harvard Business School Professor Anita Eberse, businesses that rely on the long tail are placing themselves at a competitive disadvantage to businesses that pursue a blockbuster strategy.
The importance of the long tail has grown to be a matter of faith among many businesses. Eberse's research suggests that this isn't a case of "the Web changing everything;" rather, the long tail is simply an idea that resonates with an audience that is predisposed to accept it.
Social forces continue to be the strongest influence on sales. We aren't a society of iconoclasts who seek out obscure gems that speak to our condition. Rather, Eberse holds that consumption is shaped by others, and we're generally satisfied with the media we consume. The more we consume, the more we wander down the long tail, and the less satisfied we are by what we find.
Netflix recently announced that the profiles feature which allows customers to maintain multiple queues within a single account was going to be retired.
Now they've changed their minds.
It would be easy to frame this as a simple matter of a company listening to its customers and reacting in an appropriate way. Every Netflix customer I know was unhappy with the plan to eliminate profiles. But Netflix's real mistake seemed to be how and what they announced about their plan.
To paraphrase Netflix, the change was for customers' benefit. Beyond that, they didn't explain how this would benefit customers. And that, I suspect, is what set off a strong reaction, particularly when customers discovered that email isn't part of the Netflix customer service experience (try finding a simple way to email the company).
Lesson: When announcing a service change that's likely to be controversial, offer a detailed explanation for the change, don't focus on vague future benefits, and don't assume that "trust us" is enough.
Yes, this could lead to more abuse of Flash, and who needs that? But on the whole I take Google's announcement that they are crawling Flash content as a positive.
Marketing Mystic weighed in on the connundrum of "free" social sites:
"Given the recent uproar over Twitter outages, the question begs to be asked (and answered), if you aren’t willing to pay for a service, should you be whining when it doesn’t deliver? What, if any, should your expectations be from a free service? Conversely, if you are a free site/platform, how do you justify additional investment in your company, if you don’t have any means of generating revenue?"My answers:
SMS and social networks are the preferred communication channels among younger demographics. But they aren't necessarily the most effective channels for marketers trying to reach those people. That's the finding of ExactTarget's 2008 Channel Preference Survey.
The channel that's most effective? Mail. Postal mail.
So direct mail isn't dead. No surprise there, if your mailbox stays as full as mine.
What about email? The study suggests it's still a highly effective marketing channel, but younger Internet users' attachment to SMS, IM and mobile phones suggest that change could be coming.
Technorati Tags: exacttarget, channel, email, sms, im
Goosh, "the unofficial google shell."
Here's something to ponder:
It's easier than ever to distribute content about your business using social networks and third-party sites. Smart use of these channels extends the reach of your business beyond what most destination sites could hope to achieve.
In that context, what's the value of your Web site? And what's the right allocation of resources to that site, third-party sites, search-driven media (think Google maps, among many others), online communities, and other channels?
Is the balance shifting, and if so, in what direction?
It's unlikely that these changes will affect email marketers who adhere to best practices. One item, however, does merit particular attention: Send to a friend emails will receive closer scrutiny, on a case by case basis. This shouldn't cause marketers any stress unless they offer recipients inducements to forward messages.
Technorati Tags: can-spam, emailmarketing
The Wall Street Journal reports that earlier this year Apple received a trademark for the three dimensional shape of the iPod. These kind of non-traditional trademarks are hard to get, but the Journal offers a handy, five-step plan for getting one of your own.
It's easy to think of these sort of exercises in defending intellectual property as solely the work of lawyers, but as the article neatly points out, design and marketing play huge roles. The value of a non-traditional trademark?
"Market research has shown that such trademarkeable design cues can promote brand recall and spur sales."
I’m Ian Joyce, the principal of august communication consultants, where I help clients in the logistics, financial services, health care, software and education sectors create good online experiences for customers, employees, partners and other stakeholders. I'm also a writer, and contribute a regular column to the Business Journal of the Triad.
You can see some of my photos on Flickr, thumb (metaphorically speaking) through my retired blog, Ian@work, or read my musings on bicycling.
Send me email.
