Posted by Ted Hopton on May 28, 2008
Nice insights on website re-design for customer’s perspective. OK, this is my last reference to the Conversation Agent blog tonight — three in a row and I’m out. But it’s good stuff.
The Web site of the future may be organized completely in thirds without needing to separate them in a blog, a forum, a customer idea space, and the corporate brochure-ware. Part editorial, part community, and part marketing weaved throughout the site.
Posted in Design, Marketing, Web 2.0 | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on May 28, 2008
I’ve got to be careful or Valeria is going to think I’m trying to channel her blog 
but I’m a big fan of Benjamin Zander and I wanted to direct readers to her post about him, which includes the above video clip of him, as well. I saw him deliver a keynote presentation several years ago that I still consider to be one of the best I have ever seen (and I’m in the conference business, so I have seen plenty of keynotes).
Orchestrating Collaboration is the title of a talk Ben Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, gave at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year [the video is 9 minutes]. I read the Zanders’ book when it came out, in 2000. It is timeless. Long after we will be done pounding the meaning out of the term conversation, this book will continue to inspire generations of students of The Art of Possibility.
Posted in Books, Human Interest, Leadership, Marketing, Video | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on May 16, 2008
More interesting stats about blogs’ growth from eMarketer. Nothing terribly new, but the news reinforces the perception that blogs are rapidly growing and should not be ignored in your marketing plans.
Posted in Blogs, Marketing, Media, Trends | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on May 12, 2008
Google AdWords Editor is a free tool that makes even sweeping changes to your Google Adwords campaigns snappy, and it can be used with Yahoo and Microsoft’s ads, too. Sweet!
Learn all about it in a great post by David Szetela, at Search Engine Watch. He’s got great tips on using Google Adwords in his blog’s archives, too, so take a look through them.
Posted in Marketing, Technology | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on May 8, 2008
Another interesting story from eMarketer, this time about the large numbers of people who are joining all kinds of online communities.
Nearly half of US Internet users surveyed for the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future’s “2008 Digital Future Project” report said they belonged to a hobby-oriented online community. A full 41% of respondents belonged to an online social community, and one-third belonged to an online professional community.
I liked this point, too, given my own experience with Multiple Profile Disorder: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Marketing, Networking, Trends, Web 2.0 | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 24, 2008
I’ve been listening to podcasts for years, although I admit my time spent with podcasts has declined since I started blogging (only so much time in the day, and it’s hard to concentrate on what someone is saying while thinking about what you are writing). If you’re looking for an effective advertising niche, research shows podcasts work.
“The studies showed a 73% increase in likelihood to use or buy an advertised product,” said Velvet Beard, vice president at Podtrac. “The studies showed that 69% of audience members have a more favorable view of in-show advertisers.”
Posted in Marketing, Research, Statistics, Web 2.0 | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 21, 2008
Australian branding and design guru Ken Cato is known for his deep-seated fondness for black-and-white monochrome minimalism. Yet he has a less than black-and-white approach to helping his clients build their own brands, advocating a focus on defining the objectives and being open-minded in achieving them.
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 21, 2008
“Today more than half of the total stock market value of corporations lies in intangible assets such as brands … The brand is the business.” This statement by Shelly Lazarus, chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide at the World Effie Festival 2008, sums up why brand building is important for companies.
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 21, 2008
Excellent advice in this eMarketer piece about a largely overlooked tactic worth adding to your marketing plans. Bloggers are influential (pause while I pat myself on the back), so reaching out to them in appropriate ways makes sense.
Posted in Marketing, Web 2.0 | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 21, 2008
There’s good news and bad news for email marketers in this short but fact-filled article from eMarketer.
Half of US adult e-mail users surveyed in April 2008 for Merkle’s “View from the Inbox” study, conducted with Harris Interactive, said they had made an online purchase in the previous year as a result of permission-based marketing.
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
