What matters most in 2008? Well, it’s both new and old technology and some fundamental marketing that we often forget when we’re busy. Here are 5 ideas to help plan your year.

1. Widgets
If you haven’t jumped on the widget bandwagon, get going. Widgets are a great way to distribute coupons/discounts, blogs, product data, and anything customers or prospects might want to know. You can get them free on Widgetbox and dozens of other places. Or, you could get creative and design something fun that might go viral. The Web today is more about others distributing your information and message and widgets are a great way to get that done.
2. Mobile
Google’s Android should be out in the spring, and along with spectrum that isn’t controlled by the major cellular carriers, I believe it will have a huge impact on what marketers can do on cellphones. Take a look at how your Web-based marketing activities can be remade and run on cellphones, or think up new ideas that make cellphones a key part of your marketing. After several years of hearing this is the year of mobile, 2008 might actually be it.
3. Facebook Business Pages
It’s clear Facebook has taken the lead in defining the evolution of social networking. You an set up a business page. You can create your own applications for others to download. There are groups you can define based on something important aspect in your industry. If you’re willing to pour some energy into developing relationships and building community online, Facebook is a cost-effective way to disseminate your ideas and get people to interact.
4. Value
Before you kick off that next program or product determine what the one core value is to customers. How will you surprise or delight them? What are you giving them that they don’t already have? Too often we opt for more programs and products that don’t stand out rather than focusing on the one thing we can do really well.
5. Interaction
This is the age of engage. If you haven’t found the time to blog or wiki, get started. Add profile pages, comments and tags to your Web site. Get your customers, prospects, and employees talking, interacting, and collaborating. Show me more »

In an article in the Harvard Business Review, Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, provides some timely insight.

Bezos comments that “It helps to base your strategy on things that won’t change.”

It took me a moment to consume that idea. I spent over 20 years in the computer industry where all you think about is change, what’s next, and what is everybody else doing. Instead of just asking his team to create the next breakthrough, Bezos asks “What’s not going to change in the next five to ten years?”

“At Amazon we’re always trying to figure that out because you can really spin up flywheels around those things. All the energy you invest in them today will still be paying you dividends ten years from now. Whereas if you base your strategy first and foremost on more transitory things — who your competitors are, what kind of technologies are available and so on — those things are going to change so rapidly that you’re going to change your strategy very rapidly, too.”

This is about getting back to core competencies, and focus. What advantage do you have in the marketplace? How can you keep building on it so that it will keep giving you returns for years instead of constantly spinning wheels to come up with something new?

You can get the summary of the complete article here (or purchase the article from HBR.org) Show me more »

What are the stickiest sites on the Web? Games.

FullTiltPoker.com: 1.4M users; 23.5 hours per session
PokerStars.com: 1.6M users; 18 hours per session
Electronic Arts Online: 10M users; 9 hours per session
FanFiction.net: 1M users; 7 hours per session

Wouldn’t it be great if people interacted with your brand at the same level?

Basics:

1. Getting into the game is free. Free account, free software. (No barriers to entry)
2. Create groups. Alerted when your friends are playing. Chat while playing. (Social)
3. Real money (cash), contest (competition), or free (don’t win or lose anything real).
4. Subject people really want to talk about, comment on (creativity, and self-expression).

Beyond basics: avatars playing in virtual worlds are a common element across the winning sites.

Online games solve the bridge problem my grandmother had. When a player passes (not uncommon at the retirement home), it can be impossible to find someone to take their place. (Because everyone already has their group of 4.) Or if you move, how do you join a new group? Playing bridge online broadens the spectrum of players and friends. If you’re wondering what bridge is, look here. By the way, she was a huge fiction fan, and would have loved fanfiction.net.

The tops sites are social, fun, and you can win something. You can express yourself (show off your gaming skills), yet belong to a group (develop relationships). And your avatar can represent you as you would like to be seen (maybe not how you really are).

Even if your audience is just 1000 people, you want them to stick around. Employ the basic principles that attract people and keep them clicking. Show me more »

Like all packaged consumer food products, Naked Juice Co. provides a list of ingredients for their juices. Aside from the standard ingredients list, they add the kind of information you really want to know — how much of each is in the package. And isn’t their tagline “Nothing to hide” a perfect fit with their product and company behaviors?

Pomegranate/Blueberry Juice:
8 pomegranates
32 blueberries
2 apples
white and red grapes for good measure

So simple — and it didn’t cost them anything to do it.

What interesting details can you provide that offer greater transparency to your product? Show me more »

Much has been written about the Apple store and its genius bar. The concept is superb, but you never really know how it will work out in person. All too often companies are willing to let customers down on service. It is generally a huge surprise when a company delights.

So I brought my iPhone into the Apple store. I couldn’t get email to work correctly. To my surprise, I could have set up an appointment with a tech at the genius bar before I left home. That would have meant no wait at all. When I arrived the store was busy (it was Saturday). One of the techs told me to go to one of the dozens of laptops at the front of the store and set up an appointment then come back to the genius bar or shop, and he would be able to get to me in 20-30 minutes. Not only do they call out your name when its your turn, there’s a huge computer display at the front indicating your turn in line — so no worrying you will get skipped over. Show me more »

Over a year ago, a few Microsoft employees produced this parody. It’s a great video and says more in 3 minutes than most 300-page marketing books. The video focuses on packaging, but it is a clear analogy of how different companies approach their target customers, markets, and marketing. It’s all a matter of choice. Microsoft seems to miss the point that most of its users are actually non-technical and would like easier choices and spectacular software interfaces.

Enjoy.

(from Rohit Bhargava)

By the way, I always like to see a corporate culture that allows employees to expression their frustrations creatively.
Show me more »

When you want to get a response on your Web site or from your newsletter, follow these best practices from MarketingSherpa Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide: Show me more »

Pier 1 Imports is shutting down its ecommerce Web site and Estee Lauder is shutting down Gloss.com, also an ecommerce site. In the era of online interactivity, branding and business interactions, these companies are bucking the trend. Could they know something we don’t? Show me more »

When targeting kids, you are almost always targeting parents, too. It’s difficult to tackle two audiences together and make them both happy. Kidfresh, a new company offering healthy food to kids, seems to manage this well.

The company has one retail site in Manhattan and they’re focus is clear, get kids to eat healthy and make it fun and easy for both kids and their parents. Show me more »

I never like finding out that a vendor I purchase from is hiding something. Especially when I learn that I’ve been paying more (for years) because there’s a secret for how to pay less. Amazingly one company waits until you plan to leave and go to a competitor before they tell you about the deal. Is that a strategy or a scam? Show me more »