We’ve Got a Super Bowl Ad – Remembering the Dot Com Era

One of my fondest memories of the Dot Com era was the hype preceding Super Bowl 34 in 2000, which aired 10 years ago. I couldn’t tell you who won the game, or for that matter, even who played, but I will never forget the advertisements. Super Bowl 34 in January 2000 featured seventeen dot-com companies that each paid over two million dollars for a thirty-second spot. By contrast, in January 2001, just three dot-coms bought advertising spots during Super Bowl XXXV.

Why I like Yammer Ten Times Better than Twitter

Like many people I know I continue to struggle to find the value in Twitter (@smkeifer). But a few weeks ago I discovered another service called Yammer which has completely changed my perspective on the value of micro-blogging. Yammer describes itself as “a tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: ‘What are you working on?’” But I think a simpler explanation of Yammer is an enterprise microblogging platform or in other words a Twitter for your company.

Chris Anderson’s Book Free – Worth Every Penny!

Chris Anderson’s Free is a must read for anyone responsible for pricing, strategy or marketing in a corporation. I must admit that before reading the book I was skeptical of free. I have always viewed free as just a marketing gimmick that was transparent to most consumers. However, after reading Anderson’s explanations I have changed my perspective 180 degrees.

Where to Hire Industry Marketing Personnel From

Ideally, you should hire industry marketing personnel from other technology vendors. Alternative options include candidates from consulting firms, industry associations, standard organizations and market research houses. I think you will find that most of these candidates have strong qualifications avoiding the three challenges I outlined in my November post – Don’t Hire People from Industry for Industry Marketing Roles.

When Will Technology Analyst Market Research be Free?

There are numerous examples of free services offered in other digital goods markets such as books, movies, music, games and software. Is it plausible that such a change could occur in technology research? Chris Anderson states in his book called Free that “If it’s digital, sooner or later it’s going to be free.” Of course, most products that are “free” are subsidized by some other revenue stream that is dependent upon the item being given away. The model has worked for Google, Radiohead and Skype? But would it work for Gartner or Forrester?

The Big Switch is Not about Cloud Computing

The Big Switch is extremely well written, with lots of fascinating historical stories and analysis of potential changes to society resulting from technology. But I think that the description on the back cover – “The Definitive Guide to the Cloud Computing Revolution” – is misleading. Because, in my opinion the book is not really focused on Cloud Computing.

Google Your Marketing Group – Encourage your Thought Leaders to Spend 20% of their Time Developing Content

Google encourages its employees to spend 20% of their time on creative endeavors – a concept it calls “Innovation Time.” Many of Google’s most popular products including Gmail and Adsense originated from these independent projects. Google executives have stated that 50% of Google’s new product launches have originated from the 20% of free time employees have to pursue these discretionary activities. I think that marketing executives should embrace a similar principle for the key thought leaders.

When is the Best Time to Send Your Customers an E-Mail Newsletter?

One of the most heavily debated topics in the marketing communications segment today is when to send e-mail based newsletters, communications and promotions to customers. Nearly everyone you meet has a different opinion. Some experts believe sending on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday is best. Others take a the view that off-hours – nights and weekends are best. So what is the answer – I don’t know! Nor does anyone else.

Don’t Hire People from Industry for Industry Marketing Roles

I always tell people that you shouldn’t hire industry marketing people from industry. I usually get a confused look because this seems to conflict with the conventional wisdom for hiring these types of roles. I’ve heard many a technology CEO state that the answer to all the company’s sales challenges would be solved if they just had someone from industry who could speak the customer’s language. Then without fail twelve months later there is boardroom discussion about how the $300K/year “industry expert” that was hired isn’t making an impact. Most executives assume that the recruiting process was mismanaged and the wrong person was hired. However, the true root cause is that the wrong profile candidate was hired into the wrong role.

Optimize Image and File Names for Search Engines

Corporate marketing organizations are missing a significant opportunity to improve search engine placement by not thinking more strategically about image and file naming strategies. Search is continuing to evolve. End-users are no longer restricted to web search. Yahoo!, Bing and Google are each offering users more ways to search for specific types of content – news, blogs, books, images, videos and shopping catalogs, which means you need to think beyond HTML in content optimization. By taking a few simple steps in file and image names you can improve placement on these alternative search mechanisms easily.