Successful Blog

Targeting the Offline Customer: Do You Blog For Non-Bloggers?

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by Scott McIntyre

Scott McIntyre — The Avid Blog Reader Without a Blog

In the first part of this series, when I shared my perspective on connecting with offline customers, it was clear from your comments that this is an area of business activity which many of you are keen to develop.

I was also very interested to learn that some of you have already adopted this as a business goal, and are taking steps to focus in on attracting this particular audience – a group that is, I would suggest, waiting for you to find them and to address their consumer needs.

Helping you to grow your online business by reaching out to non-bloggers, is a subject close to Liz’s heart. She previously hosted a lively session on blogging outside the blogosphere with Wendy Piersall which opened up the debate.

Today, I would like to explore a little further the issues behind whether your online business could be profitably served by aiming for customers outside the blogosphere.

The Nature of Your Business: Is Your Audience Bloggers?

Let me ask you whether there are people within your own network of current, or potential, contacts who either (a) don’t read blogs or (b) are not bloggers themselves?

I would hazard a guess that there are.

At first glance, the vast majority of blog readers would appear to be other bloggers. Or, at least, that is the impression I get when I read the comments sections on almost every blog I have visited. The vast majority of commentators have links to their own blogs in their signature.

Either other blog readers without a blog are few and far between or else, as I suspect, they are reluctant to get involved in the conversation.

It’s a missed opportunity whichever way you look at it.

Are other bloggers your ideal target audience?

The nature of your online business will strongly influence any decisions you make as to whether you might usefully channel resources into targeting offline customers as your primary marketing strategy.

If your product or service is aimed specifically at bloggers, it seems entirely appropriate for your business to be aiming for customers within the blogosphere.

If your market offering, however, is non-blogging based then it might be best to look for potential customers offline.

To focus only on bloggers as your target audience is to miss out on an army of potential customers — people with money to spend — who are not aware of blogs (yes, they do exist!) or who do not blog themselves.

Next week, I will be looking at some of the practical methods and communication channels you can use to spread your message to this potentially lucrative, offline market segment.

If you’re a blogger, leave a comment to let me know your views on whether it’s right for your business to target offline customers. If you’re a blogger already targeting customers outside the blogosphere, what are your experiences in trying to attract this audience to your online business?

If you’re a non-blogger, let them know what they need to do to get your attention.
–Scott

Scott McIntyre is a freelance writer based in Scotland, who only recently discovered the wonders of the blogosphere. He’s a writer on a personal mission to live a colorful life, and to write about it along the way. You can find out more at LinkedIn, or be one of the first to follow Scott on Twitter.

Connecting with Customers: More Talk with Mack Collier

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A SERIES in the quest to know more about the offline world

Part 2 in A 2-Part Interview with Mack Collier

Monday, I shared the beginning of a conversation with Mack Collier about connecting with new customers. This is part two of that interview with Mack.

What do you do when your potential client needs to sell him or her company on the idea of social media?

Make sure they understand how social media can improve their businesses. Many cos/organizations want the ‘monetization’ part built from the start. Social media is often viewed as a potential monetization channel, instead of being a communication channel. What I try to do is make sure the potential client understands that money can be made with social media, but that it comes as a byproduct of using the tools to facilitate connections with current and potential customers, and build those connections into relationships.

It’s very counterintuitive at first because many cos don’t want to enter into a space unless they can see direct monetary benefits. It takes time and much hand-holding in some cases to help businesses realize that successful social media initiatives are based on creating value for others. As you create more value, an INDIRECT benefit is that you can see sales increase, positive equity/awareness grow, etc.

What do most new clients ask for your help with? What misconceptions do they bring?

When the questions start to shift from ‘what do I get out of this?’ to ‘what do my readers/friends/customers get out of this?’ And I think that’s a normal progression for anyone that’s using social media, I was the same way with my blogging and Twittering at first. But after a while I began to understand that the more value I created for others, the more value came back to me. We need to remember that companies need time to learn these same lessons.

. . . It seems that we — you and I — have more questions, and I’ve confirmed that Mack has more answers. So Mack and I have agreed to extend the interview. Watch for parts three and four next week!

Thanks, Mack!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Social Media and Promotion: How to Get Your Network Pulling for You

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Think Teamwork, Not Self-Promotion

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A friend emailed me asking if I would pass along information about a product just coming out. The email was a sale pitch I could pick up and pass on. The rest of the message was over the top for me — kind of pushy and kind of “wink, wink, nudge, nudge — you help me and I’ll help you later.”

I didn’t find that compelling. What I found was a way to say, “I’m sorry, not this one.”

It takes time to build a network. No one wants to abuse theirs, but wasn’t investment partly for support when we need it? What’s the right way to enlist the support of the people we call our colleagues?

I asked a few friends . . . they led me to these steps.

In his blog post, War Paint and Promotion, Todd Jordan offers these words of wisdom . . .

It’s partially about having something great to say, but it’s equally about sharing your story and making them a part of it.

Keep them as you read through these.

    0. Seed the garden. As Dave Navarro said, ” . . . Spend time either a) getting *their* name out or b) helping them move forward on their site goals … well before you need promo.” via Twitter.

    1. Offer something worth sharing. Sure I love you, but if your product is bad or boring. I’m going to find it hard to pass it on to the other friends in my network. < 2. Show confidence and courtesy. If you get nervous, self-conscious, or overly humorous, It makes it seem like your products can’t stand on its own.

    3. Let me opt in! Tell me about what you have in a way that leaves me lots of room to choose for myself. If you hang your promotion on our relationship, you might find that our relationship wasn’t strong enough to carry it.

    4. Make it easy to talk about you — have a simple message. You can offer me the way to say what your point is, but don’t give me a speech.

    5. Give me a way to feel proud. I’m going to be sharing your message with other folks I care about.

And Don’t forget . . .

what. Martin Neumann said.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Seth, Scarcity, and How to Value Your Fans

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Thanks, Brian!

The Living Web

Got up early. Got my coffee. Switched on Twhirl (twitter app). Brian Kress had tweeted Seth’s post this morning on Scarity. I went over.

One day, you may be lucky enough to have a scarcity problem. . . . We can learn a lot from the abysmal performance of Apple this weekend. They took a hot product and totally botched the launch because of a misunderstanding of the benefits and uses of scarcity.

What Seth lays out is a solid definition of scarcity and how to use it to build and value the people who value your business. Seth points out that Apple might have used the scarcity to reward and value it’s iPhone 3G evangelists had it used a core customer strategy and the Internet to remove the risks and downside of the real-time release process. He puts the strategy forth in five principles. I say them in my own way here.

  • Use a virtual queue. Waiting in line isn’t an honor or a badge. People can order online and still “get there first.” It can still “sell out” in minutes.
  • Reward early adopters in visible ways. Imagine if the first 100K 3G phones had a gold back rather than the black or white . . . 3G first adopters edition. Sports cars do that all of the time.
  • Treat VIP customers as VIPs. Invest most in the folks who invest most in you and your products.
  • Use the Internet to lower real-time burdens and risks. You can manage and respond to what happens online easier than in real-time geographic locations.
  • Give customers the stage. Plan the release as a way for your customers to share the experience. Showcase their knowledge rather than your products. Isn’t that what we keep saying it’s about?

Thanks, Seth. I hope more than Apple are listening.

The idea of valuing key customers isn’t new. That’s why they’re called “key.”

Only think about your core fans . . .

Only care about your core fans. They are the only ones who give a damn about you–if anyone at all does. They are the ones who will drive 100 miles to see you and then tell [their] friends why they should [c]ome along the very next night when it happens again.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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The Beam Global Cultural Switch Interviews: Meet Rory Finlay

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A SERIES in the quest to know more about the offline world

An Interview with Beam Global’s Rory Finlay

After SOBCon08, I asked Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer, to check in with with Beam Global. The question was whether we might share their social media relationship with their customers. Could we show how it started and tell the story as it grows? I’m delighted to say that the idea got an immediate approval — this is one of those interviews.

Meet Rory Finlay. He is the senior vice president and global chief marketing officer of Beam Global Wine & Sprits, Inc. Rory is leading the charge in this cultural shift.

Hi Rory! The first question probably won’t surprise you. Corporations turn as slowly as aircraft carriers. Why did Beam Global invest in a Social Media Initiative?

Beam Global is committed to its Vision of “Building brands people want to talk about.” We pride ourselves in developing bold, innovative, creative and unique campaigns that engage our consumers in meaningful ways. With the evolution of social media, we’re finding that people are talking less around the water coolers at work and more through blogs and social media outlets such as Facebook.

As our consumers engage in conversations in the social media world, it seemed only natural that we should as well. Through social media tools, we are able to move beyond merely talking about our brands, but actually showing consumers what our brands stand for and how our consumers connect with those brands.

What worries, concerns, and hurdles did you have? How did you make them dissolve?

One issue we focused on solving was how to accurately measure “talkablity” and the tone of the conversations generated in the social media world. We worked with Jason Falls, social media explorer, who helped us implement metrics and tools to do just that. We are able to capture our consumers’ comments (good and bad) and use the feedback to improve our work in the social media arena and our brands’ place within those conversations.

We have also tasked our marketers with the goal of creating new and innovative ways to utilize social media. For example, Jim Beam® has turned conventional marketing on its head by linking the quality of what’s inside the bottle to the positive qualities and attributes of selected individuals and organizations that personify “The Stuff Inside.” As Jason mentioned to you earlier this month, Jim Beam is using 100% of its advertising budget to support individuals and organizations with “The Stuff Inside,” and help them reach the next level of success by amplifying the story of their true character to a broader audience. We have issued a social media release on this movement and developed a micro site (www.thestuffinside.com) that invites consumers to talk with each other about what “The Stuff Inside” means to them and provide real-life examples. The implementation of ideas and commitment to concepts like this is will continue to set Beam Global and its brands apart.

Rory, what did it take for your team to see what Jason meant when he says you have to “live social media”?

In order to understand social media, we truly had to engage in it. Merely talking about things like webcasts, Twittering and blogging really do not mean much until you actually connect with the medium. Marketing to consumers through social media allows us to experiment and test different ideas and concepts, which eventually helps us to evolve and adapt the presence of our brands in this arena. “Living” social media ultimately helps us “live” our Vision; getting people talking about our brands in social media is one of the key ways we strive to achieve “Building brands people want to talk about.”

What surprises did you hear of from JJ Betts (Jim Beam brand manager) and Scott Kolbe (relationship marketing manager) when they immersed themselves with social media bloggers at SOBcon?

JJ and Scott were able to speak with veteran bloggers about “The Stuff Inside” and showcase the movement for critique and feedback. My main takeaway from SOBcon was that the “The Stuff Inside” effort is among the first major social media efforts for the spirits industry. It validates Beam Global’s goal of executing bold ideas and actions that inspire conversations about our brands.

What are your hopes for “The Stuff Inside” (http:/www.thestuffinside.com/) and how can the bloggers who love you help?

Through “The Stuff Inside” we want to celebrate and support integrity and character. Superficial images inundate us all the time and when we came across individuals and organizations that personified quality and integrity, we want to do whatever we can to champion these anchors of genuineness. By supporting real-life subjects in non-traditional ways, Jim Beam is putting the brand’s timeless values into a context that makes them contemporary and relevant to today’s consumer. We ask not only bloggers, but all legal drinking age consumers to join in the conversation with us.

Thanks, Rory, and thanks, Beam!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Get your best voice in the conversation!

You can read the other Beam Global Cultural Shift Interviews here:
The Beam Global Cultural Switch to Social Media: How It Began
The Beam Global Interview with Jason Falls Continues

Data Says Forget the “Long Tail” — Will We Still Be Chasing Blockbusters in 2050?

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Anita Elberse Did the Research

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Anita Elberse studied sales in the media and entertainment industries to test the Blockbuster strategy — putting most resources behind a small number of products — against the Long Tail strategy — selling fewer units of a far-wider range of items (a lists too long for brick-and-mortar channels to inventory.)

To find out, I investigated sales patterns in the music and home-video industries—two markets that Anderson and others frequently hold up as examples of the long-tail theory in action. Specifically, I reviewed sales data obtained from Nielsen VideoScan and Nielsen SoundScan, which monitor weekly purchases of videos and music through online and off-line retailers; from Quickflix, an Australian DVD-by-mail rental service; and from Rhapsody, an online music service that allows subscribers to choose from a large database of songs for a fixed monthly fee (and which Anderson cites often in The Long Tail).

Elberse’s findings were no surprise that the 10% across the markets did close to 80% of sales and represented more units than most stores could inventory. They also showed the long tail that Chris Anderson wrote about in his blockbuster book of that name. The results there showed that as sales move online, niche titles that sold a few units almost doubled for any given week during 2000-2005. However, Elberse also found that the number of niche titles that didn’t sell at all or quadrupled.

Thus the tail represents a rapidly increasing number of titles that sell very rarely or never. Rather than bulking up, the tail is becoming much longer and flatter.

Elberse’s advice to product developers was

  1. Stick to blockbuster strategies of resource allocation.
  2. If you serve the long tail, keep costs low and know that success is unlikely.
  3. To gain visibility and reach, focus on your most popular offerings.
  4. Leverage a strong product mix across your online presence.

She offered similar advice to retailers.

Chris Anderson’s Response

In a response to Anita’s article, Chris Anderson responds and mentions that he collaborated with Anita Elberse on some of his research. He explains how and why he reaches a different conclusion reading her most current data.

Let me start by saying that the paper looks rock solid and I’m sure her analysis is accurate. But there is a subtle difference in the way we define the Long Tail, especially in the definitions of “head” and “tail”, that leads to very different results.

My point is not to suggest that Elberse is wrong and that I’m right, it’s only to point out that different definitions of what the Long Tail is, from “head” to “tail”, will generate wildly different results.

A question of semantics?

One thing is certain, Chris Anderson book The Long Tail was auctioned and supported in the traditional blockbuster strategy.

Which strategy will own Internet commerce in 2050?

-ME “Liz” Strauss
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