Archive | November 2011
November 21, 2011  

Facebook: Website killer? – iMediaConnection.com

If Facebook really is “killing” the corporate website, what does that mean for the future of the Internet? for business?
I can hardly believe that corporate websites will disappear entirely but who knows what the future holds or what bigger and better way to communicate with customers and clients will be available in the next 5, 10 even 20 years… in the meantime I wouldn’t shut down that website just yet.
When you read the article and look at the research presented from the study, what do you think?
Dave Chaffey, bestselling author explains 2011 research data regarding Facebook and website usage.
November 2, 2011  

Marketing to the New Target- the Weird

T@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0in; }ul { margin-bottom: 0in; }

The time of mass marketing has come to an end and the emergence of a new market for opportunity is upon us. Seth Godin, author of We Are All Weird, advocates an uprising of a new audience, weird people. That’s right, Seth preaches consumers are no longer conforming to the “normal” and are beginning to shape their own dreams. He urges marketers to take note of this transition, for it has the possibility for business owners to shape their own dreams.
The weird can be anything from fantastic to bizarre and everything in between. Weird people do not conform to the normal, but instead lead an individual lifestyle.

 

How to break into the barrier of the weird market?

That question has one answer, two words: the Internet. Seth goes further in depth by expressing the possibility of reaching these individuals through their “tribes” online.

 

Former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, provides some insight in support of Seth’s argument, estimating that every two days, we produce as much information as was created for all mankind in the 20,000 years leading up to 2003.  People in a general sense have greater capabilities of reaching, learning, and transferring information than ever before.

 

What does this result to? Well bottom line, the increase of individuality in society. The outlets of brainwashing society have increased immensely. The times when families huddled around the radio to listen to the nightly news, or congregating around the television to watch the weekly entertainment show are long gone. We are living in the era of technology, where consumers tastes are developed through computers, mobile phones, and portable tablets.

 

According to Harvard professor Eric Beinhocker, there are 10 billion items for sale, a staggering increase from 250 items 500 years ago.  This explosion of products has increased the opportunity of choices for each consumer.  It is safe to conclude, all of these items on the lift are weird.

 

Seth highlights the four Forces of the Weird:

  1. Creation is amplified– the creation of the internet grants users to reach and learn anything and everything in the world we live in today.
  2. Rich allowing us to do what we want– he defines a rich person as someone who “can afford to make choices and who has enough resources to do more than merely survive” Once people are out of the race of money, they can create more ideas.
  3. Marketing if far more efficient at reaching the weird– He expresses it is easier to connect with a particular tribe, then to market of the world in hope of reaching their target.
  4. Tribes are better connected– “weird is perversely becoming the new normal.” In other words, people associate themselves with others who share the same obsessions, which creates these tribes.

 

Weird, isn’t it?