Fizz from ConsumerPop

Services To Watch: Orgoo Integrated Communications Dashboard

There were a number of companies who demonstrated their products and services at the TechCrunch 40 conference last year which I found interesting.  One of which was Orgoo so when TechCrunch offered 500 beta invites today to try the service as they move closer to a full launch, I grabbed one so I can check out how it has evolved from what CEO Michael Kantor demonstrated for me last September.

Orgoo allows you to integrate email and IM services into a single web-based dashboard.  Additionally there are cool features such as the ability to create group chats and video chat all within the same space.

There are some issues to work out.  Notably, in the comment thread on today's TechCrunch post, several expressed concern about providing passwords in order to incorporate accounts when there is no obvious security protection such as switching to a https URL.  One of the co-founders jumped in to explain security features but it needs to be more transparent.  Also, some services such as Yahoo! mail currently can only be incorporated if you are using the pay "plus" version and not the free version.

However, I am looking forward to trying the service out more as I really liked what I saw in the demonstration.  The TechCrunch invites were snapped up in minutes but I have 6 to give.  Please leave a comment and use a valid email address (which does not display, only I see will see it) and I'll send them out.

Smart Marketers: Shut Up and Listen

From "Socialized Media" by Tim Manners at Fast Company.  Manners gives excellent examples of what's not working and what might.  I think two key points he makes are valuable to any marketer - 1. listen and 2. add value.  You cannot go wrong by doing those two things.  I encourage you to read the whole article.

As one respondent put it: "If you sell (unless you are a very cool web app), you lose. Don't sell. As a marketer: network. Help people. Advise. Create value and add to the conversation."

Nobody has really figured out how to do that yet. But it's worth considering the possibility that smart marketers won't even attempt to be part of the conversation, much less interrupt it. It could be that the real marketing potential of online social networks is listening, not talking.

The point is, if we're not helping people live better lives, we are not helping ourselves. If all we are doing is interrupting people who don't have time for interruptions, we can't expect their attention. If all we are doing is annoying people who have zero tolerance for annoyance, we can't earn their trust.

If all we are doing is pelting people with endlessly irrelevant messages, we can't claim their loyalty. And if we can't claim their loyalty, we don't have a prayer of a positive return-on-investment.

We can run whatever media-mix model we like, but all we're likely to achieve is a marginal improvement on what is otherwise an unmistakable downward spiral of failure.

The Psycographic Approach

Analysts say software companies like NetBooks and ConnectWise play to the diversity of small businesses by avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach.

Michael Speyer of Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass., who focuses on information technology issues affecting small businesses, said that many high-tech companies segment potential customers by the number of employees they have, overlooking the concerns of entrepreneurs versus those of corporate managers.

By contrast, NetBooks considers factors like how active the owner is as a manager, how much daily control he or she requires, the owner’s attitude toward using technology and whether a venture capital company has invested money in the business.

“I like the fact that NetBooks has taken a psychographic approach to finding out who their customers are and what they really want,” Mr. Speyer said. “This is really what counts. I think the way they characterize the market is spot-on. Stages of development are really what counts.”

Sonal Gandhi, an analyst with JupiterResearch in New York, said that small businesses were more open to using an application developed by one of their own. “There is certain functionality they crave,” she said.

This New York Times article describes business accounting software developed by small business entrepreneurs for small business entrepreneurs.  It's a classic example of someone solving their own problem and finding out that lots of other folks can use their solution. 

But even if you aren't your own best customer doesn't mean that you can't develop products that start with psychographics of consumers rather than demographics or what your engineers can create.  It can be more difficult, more time consuming and more expensive to take this approach but I believe the potential rewards and long term prospects for your product or service are much, much greater.

Because it Cannot be Said Enough

This article for RCR Wireless News by Laura Marriott, President of the Mobile Marketing Association, comes three ways to implement mobile advertising.  Sample line about why mobile advertising is fun and relevant?

What types of advertisers are using the text-based advertising approach? Credit-card companies, travel agents, florists, automotive manufacturers—the brands that want to be in front of the consumer all of the time.

Note that it's the brand that wants to be in front of the consumer, not the consumer who wants the brand in front of them all the time. 

Ms. Marriott is mindful of what consumers want when she mentions at the very end of her article

We must work together to build a sustainable channel, but let’s not forget about the consumer. 4INFO’s Thet tells me “our first and primary focus is on the consumer and putting the consumer experience first. Consumers are not opting in to have ads pushed to them.” Let’s collectively keep that in mind.  (emphasis mine)

Here is an idea - why not start with the fact that consumers are not opting in before devising all sorts of technologies to place advertising when...

the backlash I immediately received from consumers was extreme: “I don’t want that on MY device, my highly personal device, my mobile phone.”

(hat tip: likateria)

Review of the Blackberry Pearl

I was reminded this evening that blog posts are forever and you never know when someone will come across an old one through the magic of the Google and the internets and find some information that is useful.  When I was trying to decide what new phone to buy I kept hoping I would find a blog post that would answer my main question about the functionality of the phones I was looking at but I could never find it.  Ultimately I took a leap of faith and as it turns out my Blackberry Pearl does what I need it to do.  But after that I promised myself I would post a review so hopefully someone in my shoes in the future could find an answer.

So the key thing I need a new smart phone to do is allow me to easily get my email while I travel without lugging my laptop.  I can't afford to jaunt off on vacation for two weeks and ignore my email the whole time but nor do I want to deal with the weight and the concern of carrying my laptop while island hopping in Hawaii.

My friend Elisa Camahort was less than thrilled with her Treo and had constant problems (and is happier with her new iPhone).  Another friend, Lynne d. Johnson is very knowledgeable, tech savvy and I consider her a guru, raved about her previous Sidekick and T-Mobile service.  Problem though is she lives in New York City where T-Mobile service is much better than here in the Bay Area (T-Mobile's site has a cool function where you can check the strength of coverage down to street level).  But I need the phone to work where I travel and I travel often to New York so that was one answer to my dilemma.  The email functionality however made me hesitate at pulling the trigger on a Blackberry.  I scoured online forums and checked with both Verizon and T-Mobile stores but nobody could tell me if I could easily set it up to work with email through my own domain and not through an enterprise server.

As it turns out it was extremely simple to set my email up and it works flawlessly.  T-Mobile's service which I chose because their data plan is most cost effective has been good.  Coverage isn't as extensive in my experience as Verizon but it hasn't posed any significant problems so far.

I've gotten used to the double letter keys.  I can't type as fast as on a Blackberry with a full keyboard (I've had them at previous corporate jobs so I knew I liked them but didn't know if they'd work well outside the enterprise) but fast enough and well enough that I used it as a stand in for my computer when mine died and I didn't have one for a couple of weeks.

I think I still like the wheel on the side better than the pearl but the pearl is just fine (well, except for the annoying habit of causing frequent purse dialing and emailing - I've had to learn to turn it off or lock the keyboard which is a pain to unlock).  The main thing I have found annoying so far is that when you add a number to the address book it places it by default to a work number.  All the numbers I've added to my mobile address book are mobile numbers.  Why would you build an address book of work numbers rather than mobile numbers in your mobile phone especially in a phone pitched more as a fashion accessory than as a serious tool for road warriors? 

Which brings me to my marketing complaint... why would you target non corporate users with this phone and then not make it abundantly clear that no enterprise server is required to get email and not set the  address book default to mobile numbers? 

But these complaints are relatively small.  As a way to check my email and surf the net without having to carry my laptop, the Blackberry Pearl works beautifully.  If I were buying today I'd probably get the new Curve which has a full keyboard but otherwise is very similar to the Pearl. 

More Girly Efforts to Sell Televisions

I wrote a bit on BlogHer a while back about the mostly silly and sometimes offensive efforts to sell television sets to women by assuming that women are interested only in televisions as fashion and decorating accessories rather that functional pieces of technology.  The New York Times seems to egregiously harp on this idea.

Their latest notice is of Philips creating short films featuring luxury fashion brands to sell their televisions to women:

In early August, for instance, the Aurea campaign got under way with a seven-page insert in Vogue in Britain. The print ads, shot by a fashion photographer, Vincent Peters, show a model cozying up to a brightly lighted Aurea screen that mirrors her image. Instead of technobabble about HDTV, L.C.D. or plasma screens, the ads include only the Philips and Aurea names and the tag line: “Simplicity is a light that seduces the soul.”

“There is a lot of female coding in this advertising,” said Laura Jones, global client managing director at the advertising agency DDB, a unit of Omnicom Group, which worked on the Aurea campaign along with the media planning agency Carat. “Before, televisions have always been sold based on pixels or that sort of thing.”

Again, I'll use myself as an example.  I have a large, wide screen, high definition plasma set that is front and center in my living room and that I make no effort to conceal in an armoire.  It happens to be a Philips which I purchased after reading rave reviews in places like circuitcity.com and AVS forum.  Subsequently quite a few negative comments regarding product quality and poor customer service experiences have surfaced.  If I were buying a set now I would probably avoid Philips because when you want to watch a show you need a set that functions so ultimately the "technobabble" matters and associations with fancy clothes and jewelry do not.  Even to us girls.

CPG at BlogHer

I was very happy to see that there were several CPG companies at BlogHer.  Given my past in the sector it is gratifying to witness the growing understanding of and use of social media to communicate with consumers.

I noticed Kraft (Singles), Con Agra (Butterball Turkey) and Del Monte in the exhibition hall.  I had a chance to chat with some of the brand team members from Del Monte's new Fruit Chillers frozen fruit sorbet and was further impressed that the brand team was there learning and not PR reps or hired booth hands.

Dove with one of their newest products, Ultimate Clear, was a major sponsor presence and got it mostly right with their activities and promotions.  Other than a couple of missteps with t-shirt sizing (note to PR peeps from big cities who work in fashion and beauty - although I'm sure you are all lovely tiny wispy girl sized things - most of us women are not and most certainly your consumers are not running around in Marc Jacobs and Choos - offer sizes accordingly and stop making this mistake year after year) they did a great job of building buzz around their product and I'm sure they'll get some strong blog buzz as a result.

Blogher07: The Art of Writing Reviews Live Blog

I had the opportunity to moderate a panel at this year's BlogHer Conference called "The Art of Writing Reviews" with Barb Dybwad (filling in for Mia Kim who was unable to join us), Claire Zulkey and Eugenia Williamson

Anne-Marie Nichols (fantastically) live-blogged our panel at her blog The Write Spot.  I encourage anyone who couldn't attend to read her live blog and anyone who did attend and wanted to provide a link to their review blog, please do so there.

A Personal Note

Some readers might have met my dog Zoe at previous BlogHer Conferences and some have been looking forward to seeing her at the upcoming gathering in Chicago.  Sadly, Zoe passed away on Monday.  My tribute to her life can be found here:  Rest Peacefully My Dear Sweet Girl

Learning the Language of Your Consumers

Are you speaking your consumer's language?  Are you looking through their eyes?

A client recently thanked me for clearly articulating how to explain to customers how the client's services would meet the customers needs.  I thought to myself that it was easy for me to do because as a former insider I can speak the customers language fluently. 

I am always shocked by the number of marketers who advertise and who sell products to consumers unlike them who brag about their lack of familiarity with the language of the consumers to whom they advertise. "I don't know any ads because I don't watch television" they boast.  Or they sell grocery products and never set foot in a grocery store unless the sales team sets up a special field trip for them.

It is imperative that as a marketer you make an effort to listen to and understand and learn to speak the language of the people whose needs you are supposedly meeting.

Sometimes there is a huge disconnect between the people who make a product and the people who use it.

If what this New York Times article points out is true for you and/or your company and you can't learn the language then hire a translator. It will be money very well spent.