NORMBONDMARKETS.COM

Social Media is a Boon to Startups Who Do It Right

normbond — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:47:52 +0000

By MartinZwilling, StartupProfessionals

If your startup can’t be bothered with social media, or has no plan to take advantage of it, then you are definitely at risk these days. But simply jumping in is not enough. Before you start spending money and time being a user, you need to understand how it can help you and your business. Using it randomly or incorrectly is a waste of your precious time.

Sherrie Madia and Paul Borgese have addressed the positives of this challenge in their book, “The Social Media Survival Guide,” on “everything you need to know to grow your business exponentially with social media.” They also identify clearly the five key social media mistakes that I often see, along the following lines:

Diving in without a strategic plan. Don’t start podcasting, blogging, tweeting, “friending” on Facebook, and posting YouTube videos until you know what your messages are, who will manage them, who your audience is, and how they and you are going to benefit from the content and relationship.
Not having a social media policy. Your social media policy needs to outline how team members behave in the online universe during and outside of work. It should include education on style preferences and confidentiality. All messaging coming from employees should be aligned with your company’s values and brand.
Failing to tailor the plan to your target audience. Hone in on sites, tools, and applications your target audience is using. Is your audience out walking in the park without technology or are they technology lovers who never parted with their BlackBerry or iPhone? Research your target market to find out who they are and how to reach them.
Producing weak, unfocused, or unhelpful content. The same messaging rules that apply to classic public relations and branding apply to social media. Create strong, smart, well-thought-out content. Don’t waste their time with self-serving promotion. Give them something they can use – tips, incentives, new ideas, fun, and inspiration.
Allowing your social media efforts to stagnate. Gone are the days when companies could put up a website that sat on the screen like an electronic business card. Social media is about maintaining a dynamic conversation between you and your customers. Done right, it’s not a one-off campaign by a handful of staff; it’s a long-term commitment.

To avoid these mistakes and create compelling and relevant content, you need to focus your startup on the following initiatives:

Develop a social media plan that targets audience and your business objectives.
Combine social media seamlessly within your traditional marketing plan.
Use social media to engage customers in new ways and sharpen your brand.
Find the right people to staff your campaign and curate its content and evolution.
Manage your “e-putation” and avoid the most common mistakes of social media novices.
Measure the effectiveness of your efforts and expenditures – as well as competitors.
Turn your social media efforts into profit, rather than just another expense.

According to the “Small Business Marketing Forecast 2012” from Ad-ology, Social media for small business marketing has reached its tipping point. Just ten percent say they will not use social media in 2012, down from 24 percent for 2011 and 39 percent for 2010. Lead generation continues to be the biggest benefit of social networking for U.S. small businesses. Other popular benefits were keeping up with the industry, monitoring online conversations, and finding vendors/suppliers.

Many companies believe that getting involved in social media is easy. They mistakenly assume that anyone who uses Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter for personal networking can do it for business. But personal versus business use requires two dramatically different skill sets. I recommend that you “test the waters” before you jump, but setting on the sidelines won’t get you there. Use the many resources available, like the Internet and this book, but now is the time to start.

Sponsorship Loses Steam, But Continues To Outpace Ad Growth

normbond — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:02:04 +0000

via MediaDailyNews by Joe Mandese

Describing the effect of the global economic crisis on sponsorship spending as a “wet blanket,” GroupM’s IEG unit released results of its annual year-end review and forecast, nonetheless calling for spending on sponsorships to expand 4.1% in 2012 to $18.87 billion in North America. IEG calls that rate of growth underwhelming because it is not as much as the industry had originally projected.

For 2011, the survey estimates that North American sponsorship spending rose 5.5%, down 0.4 points from the 5.9% that was originally expected for last year’s growth.

“Corporate marketers appear to be holding off on bigger votes of confidence pending the outcome of solutions to national debt problems and the U.S. presidential election,” the research and publishing firm said, adding that the “global spending picture is slightly brighter” than in North America.

IEG estimated that spending in emerging markets such as Brazil and India are offsetting tighter markets in Europe, and projected that global spending grew 5.1% to $48.60 billion in 2011, just below IEG’s original forecast of 5.2%.

For 2012, worldwide spending is projected to expand 4.9% to $51.00 billion.

On the bright side, sponsorship spending in North America will expand slightly faster than “traditional advertising,” according to estimates from GroupM’s media spending forecasts.

Among North American sponsorship categories, IEG projects that sports and entertainment has and will continue to grow faster than other forms of event sponsorship, noting that this “is typical when marketers turn conservative during economic turmoil.”

For 2012, IEG said “risk-averse sponsors” are likely to be drawn to “packages that bundle media exposure and offer activation platforms including retail, digital and on-site marketing.“

Sports sponsorship spending grew 6.2% in 2011, and is projected to expand 4.6% percent in 2011 — making it the fastest-growing sector, just ahead of entertainment.

Entertainment, which includes concert tours, theme parks, and branded entertainment sponsorships, grew 6.0% in 2011 and is projected to expand 4.0% in 2012.

“Overall, the sports sector will account for 69% of North American sponsorship spending this year, a one point increase from 2011,” the IEG report estimates. “The festivals, fairs and annual events sector will see its share of spending dip from five to four percent in 2012, while all other sectors retain the same share they had in 2011.”

7 signs you’re not ready for entrepreneurship

normbond — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:48:00 +0000

via CBS Money Watch By Jeff Haden

Say you’ve read the books, taken heed of the cautionary tales, filled out some standard checklists, and had many long conversations with friends and family. You’ve done your homework and feel owning your own business is right for you.

That’s great, but let’s be sure. If you recognize yourself in any of the following, reconsider before taking the entrepreneurial plunge:

You spend a lot of time personalizing your office. Sure, you dreamed of a bigger office; you’re proud of your bigger office; you deserved that bigger office; and naturally you want it to reflect your personality. But say you plan to open a restaurant; since diners will never see your office. the only thing it should reflect is “cheap.” Money should never be spent on anything that won’t touch the customer. You will be too busy chasing customers to worry about whether your office befits your stature or aligns with your personality.

You manage your fantasy teams at work. When revenues and profits are a distant dream, trash-talking the other owners in your fantasy league the last thing you’ll have time for. Starting a business is overwhelming. Exit your fantasy leagues now. Spend that time thinking about how you’ll make profits.

You never empty your own trash. “Someone” takes care of that, you say? Your job is to focus on more important tasks? Not anymore. Entrepreneurs wear every hat. Besides, efficiency is everything: No movement should be wasted, no time savings are too small, and no expenses too minor to eliminate. If doing whatever needs to be done isn’t something that comes naturally, stay where you are.

You are sure you could be a lot more productive if you only had a new (insert hot new tech tool). Think about the last computer, smart phone, software, etc. you purchased. Did it really make you more efficient? Can you quantify the gains? Or was it just fun to have? In your own business you’ll be lucky to get the “must have” stuff. Even if you have the funds, “nice to have” is money wasted.

You can’t get over the fact your department got shorted during the last budget cycle. Unless a VC comes calling or your dad funds your start-up, you won’t really have a budget. Money spent doesn’t come from an invisible corporate pot. It comes from your pocket. If you hate struggling with limited resources, hate seeing your great initiatives unjustly compromised by budgetary concerns and can’t wait until you’re in charge … when you find out how limited resources are in a start-up, you’ll hate running your own business.

You passionately discuss work-life balance issues. I feel the concept of work-life balance is an artificial construct, but let’s pretend one does exist. If you think a lot about the conflict between work and life and you feel work is winning the battle, just wait until you start a business. Work will eat life for breakfast.

You sometimes say, “Wait, I’ve paid my dues.” When you run your own business, you pay your dues every day. (The same should be true if you work for someone else: The only real measure of your value is the tangible contribution you make, each and every day.) Today, tomorrow, the next day: You earn the right to stay in business. No one cares about your experience or years of hard work. Dues are paid in revenue.

Skype is killing long distance, one minute at a time

normbond — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:54:17 +0000

By Om Malik

The Internet is a great deflator, squeezing out the middlemen and lowering prices. The shifting fortunes of Wall Street brokers and travel agents are good examples. However, the Internet’s deflationary impact is on full display in the international long-distance market, where Skype has started to take away any and all growth from the phone companies.

Skype (now a division of Microsoft), which at its very basic level is a people-to-people connectivity service, has become everything the phone companies feared it for. The latest data from research firm TeleGeography shows that international voice traffic — typically the most lucrative part of a phone company’s business — is declining sharply. The declines are coming at a time when the prices of long-distance calls are heading south. From the TeleGeography press release (emphasis added):

International long-distance traffic growth is slowing rapidly. According to new data from TeleGeography, international long-distance traffic grew four percent in 2011, to 438 billion minutes. This growth rate was less than one-third of the industry’s long-run historical average of 13 percent annual growth.

In contrast to international phone traffic, Skype’s cross-border traffic has continued to soar. TeleGeography estimates that cross-border Skype-to-Skype calls (including video calls) grew 48 percent in 2011, to 145 billion minutes. Although the volume of international traffic routed via telephone companies remains more than three times greater than Skype’s cross-border volumes, their growth rates differ dramatically.

TeleGeography estimates that Skype added 47 billion minutes of international traffic in 2011 — more than twice as much as all the telephone companies in the world, combined.

TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert said: “If all of Skype’s on-net traffic had been routed via phone companies, global cross-border telephone traffic would have grown 13 percent in 2011, remaining in line with historical growth rates.”

Phone companies need to grow traffic in order to compensate for the falling prices of long-distance minutes, but Skype isn’t helping matters. And it is not just Skype. There are several others. Take me, for instance: Back in the early 1990s, when I had to call my family in India, I would sign up for plans from AT&T or MCI and pay as much as 99 cents per minute to make those calls.

That pattern of overpaying continued till Skype came around in the middle of the last decade. At the same time, companies like Vonage popped up and lowered my phone bills. Today most of my international calls are made via Skype, Apple’s FaceTime, and when those two don’t work, Nimbuzz, which I use for calls to landlines. Of course, the shift in phone calling behavior means that what used to be a megabillion-dollar business is being reduced to a fraction of that.

Xavier Niel of French broadband and mobile services provider Free.fr thinks the idea of charging per minute for voice calls is preposterous and crazy. Such thinking is not new to us or to our readers. In our smartphone world, voice is an app. Skype just happens to be the most popular one: It is on our computers, our phones, our television screens and soon other devices. There will hardly be a need for someone to call long-distance!

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Ships 10 Million Copies: Fastest Ever

normbond — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 06:18:37 +0000

Bethesda’s role-playing game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim continues to sell well. The parent company ZeniMax Media revealed that they’ve shipped 10 million units of the game, approximately $650 million in retail sales, since its launch.

“We are gratified that Skyrim continues to garner high review scores and accolades around the world,” said Robert Altman, ZeniMax Media’s Chairman and CEO. “We are most grateful to our fans for their support and enthusiasm for the game, and their love of the hundreds of hours of gameplay it offers.”

It was released on November 11, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Skyrim‘s main story revolves around the player character’s efforts to defeat Alduin, the firstborn of Tamriel’s primary deity Akatosh. Alduin is prophesied to destroy the world.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Notorious CEO: Ten Startup Commandments from Biggie Smalls

normbond — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 04:31:03 +0000

originally posted by Jake Stein at RJMetrics on Mon, Aug 10, 2009

As you may have noticed from our video anthem Business Intelligence, we enjoy our fair share of rap music here at RJMetrics. It’s not a coincidence that many rap stars are also successful entrepreneurs, and lyrics about business and entrepreneurial ambition are rampant in the genre.

Yesterday, my iTunes shuffled its way to “ The Ten Crack Commandments,” a classic and often-referenced track from The Notorious BIG’s 1997 double-album ”Life After Death.” The track is meant to be a crash-course for would-be crack dealers, but Biggie’s ten commandments actually add up to some pretty sound business advice for any industry.

I list each of the Ten Crack Commandments below, along with its underlying message for modern business operators.

“Rule nombre uno: never let no one know how much dough you hold”

For most companies, there isn’t a tremendous amount of upside to disclosing financials. As such, few privately held companies choose to do so. As Biggie says, broadcasting your financial performance can “breed jealousy,” increasing operational risks and arming your competitors with a more informed sense of your company’s weaknesses.

“Number two: never let ‘em know your next move”

Innovation drives long-term business value. If your company prematurely discloses its strategic plans, it gives your competitors a head-start on emulating or surpassing your innovative strides. It may be tempting to post your 12-month plan on the company blog, but beware the strategic edge it provides to your competitors once it’s out there.

“Number three: never trust nobody”

A healthy sense of paranoia is a valuable asset for business operators. Businesses should take steps to protect their intellectual property, including protection through patents or well-protected trade secrets.

“Number four: never get high on your own supply”

Even if you are the only shareholder in your business, you should separate what’s best for you personally from what’s best for your company. If you make suboptimal business decisions for the sake of bettering your personal life, your company will be less likely to succeed.

Another interpretation of this rule is to resist developing a strong emotional commitment to your own ideas. If you’re too wrapped up or emotionally invested in any aspect of your business, it won’t be easy to modify that idea when it leads you to a better opportunity or strategy. Sunk costs are sunk, and strategic decisions should be made as such.

“Number five: never sell no crack where you rest at”

Biggie is right: your family members are not real customers, and serving them can often do more harm than good. They will provide an unrealistic sales experience and their feedback will often be skewed by the preexisting relationship. Also, if you have a desirable product they may feel a sense of entitlement to a discount or freebies. Granting such requests can hurt your bottom line, but denying them can strain your personal relationships.

“Number six: that credit… forget it”

Biggie is warning about the risks of issuing credit to customers before you have enough scale to hedge the associated default risk. The broader lesson here is to place a strong focus on cash revenue generation while your business is working toward sustained profitability. Getting cash in the door is extremely important, and anything that delays cash flow will slow down your forward progress.

“Seven: keep your family and business completely seperated”

This one doesn’t need much translation: work and family don’t always mix well. While there are many successful family businesses out there, the cost of things going sour becomes far greater when family is involved. Don’t work with your family simply out of convenience– only do it if the increased upside truly outweighs the true costs of failure.

“Number eight: never keep no weight on you”

Here, Biggie is driving home the importance of physical security. Sensitive passwords, documents, products, and prototypes should never be stored or transported (either digitally or physically) in a format that could be compromised.

“Number nine: if you ain’t gettin bags stay [away] from police”

The company you keep can be misinterpreted by your customers and competitors, and sending the wrong message can put these relationships at risk. Keep strategic conversations as silent as possible until things are set in stone and it is optimal to make an announcement (if ever).

“Number ten: consignment [is] not for freshmen”

Accumulating debt prematurely is a bad move for any business. Both debt and equity financings consume company time and may drive startups to overspend before their plans are fully-baked. They also put a greater pressure on financial performance, which is only a good thing when a company is confident in their product’s maturiy and ability to generate returns. Biggie says it best: “if you aint got the clientele say ‘hell no’ — ’cause they gon want they money rain, sleet, hail, snow.”

“Follow these rules, you’ll have mad bread to break up”

This song predates mainstream internet usage but still translates well into the language of today’s web economy. I hope at least some of these commandments strike a chord with other entrepreneurs out there. Until next time, keep it real.

Walmart’s Tony Rogers: ‘Blow Up’ Your Multicultural Budget

normbond — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 05:01:00 +0000

Retailer to Funnel Funds Into Individual Business Units

By: Laurel Wentz Ad Age

Walmart Stores is going to “blow up” its multicultural marketing budget and move the money into the company’s individual business units, said Tony Rogers, senior VP-brand marketing and advertising, at the ANA’s Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference today in Miami. “I’ve come to the conclusion that if you really want to be serious about multicultural, one way to do it is just blow up the multicultural budget,” Mr. Rogers said. “Take the multicultural budget out of a silo and push it out into the business units. [And] you’ve got to protect the budget and make sure it doesn’t just dissolve away.”

At Walmart, for instance, if a marketer works in a category group like food, “I’m now handing you a budget that includes a very strong multicultural component,” he said. “That makes it more difficult for that marketer to ignore any part of it. If those budgets are sitting in a silo, there’s an assumption that someone else [is taking care of it].”

Mr. Rogers said this change is happening “in real time.” The new system will include linking compensation to multicultural performance, he implied. “You’ve got to make sure this marketer has four or five objectives for the year,” he said. “One of those objectives has to be how did you do against multicultural.” Walmart’s main multicultural agencies are Lopez Negrete Communications, one of the biggest independent Hispanic agencies, GlobalHue for African American work, and Interpublic Group of Co.’s Asian agency IW Group.

Procter & Gamble, the biggest multicultural marketer, made a similar move about a year ago to push multicultural budgets into individual product categories and brands from a more centralized multicultural unit and tie managers’ bonuses to multicultural performance. Ethnic agency assignments were also realigned. And as a precaution, P&G guaranteed its multicultural agencies’ revenue for three years to help smooth the transition.

Mr. Rogers spoke today to a record 700-person crowd at the ANA’s annual multicultural gathering. In a fireside chat with Jacqueline Hernandez, chief operating officer of Telemundo Communications Group, Mr. Rogers said he had just come from running the New York marathon on Sunday and drew applause for delivering Walmart’s slogan in Spanish: “Ahorra mas, viva mejor.” (“Save more, live better”).

He described his own journey as a marketer over the last decade and said there are three levels of “getting” multicultural marketing. The first level of “getting it,” he said, “is not doing anything.” The second level is recognizing its importance, but keeping efforts pretty siloed, like spending some money during Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month and considering the multicultural box to be ticked off. “The next step is where we are — making multicultural part of everything we do,” he said.

He cited Walmart’s recently rolled out layaway program, saying it’s incredibly popular among multicultural customers and that “not leading with a multicultural message, that’d be crazy.” He also said Walmart found that the interaction with recent digital ad for the layaway program, done in both Spanish and English, was three times higher for the Spanish-language version.

For Walmart’s current Christmas price-guarantee program, each multicultural ad is based on a relevant insight, Mr. Rogers said. The humorous African-American spot revolves around food and extended family. The camera zeroes in on individual food items like pie, and adds a price tag to show how affordable it is. One missing pie is tracked down to an errant uncle sneakily devouring it in another room, so he’s relegated to the kids’ table at the feast.

The Hispanic spot is based on abundance, with a huge stack of gifts at the store, which Mr. Rogers said has prompted store managers to ask if they can build a similar stack in their own premises. A third TV ad, in Chinese, reflects a Chinese saying about comparing prices three times before buying.

Free Webinar on Social Media and Its Importance to Online Marketing

normbond — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:49:33 +0000

You can register today for the free webinar entitled “Social Media & Its Importance to Online Marketing“.

The powerful event shares a presentation given at @event Caribbean 2011 held in Bridgetown, Barbados. There entrepreneur Norm Bond served as a panelist on the discussion of “The Importance of Social Media in a Changing Information World”. The panel was moderated by Anthony Yearwood, Director ICT Sales, Illuminat. Additional panelists included Corey Graham 2.0, CEO Drenalin Productions and Bill French, Founder IpadCTO, Senior Editor IphoneCTO.

If you were unable to attend the event, or would like to see the dynamic presentation again, this webinar presents an excellent opportunity to gain access to the valuable information that was discussed. There are a limited number of spaces so be sure to reserve your seat now by clicking here.

@Event Caribbean 2011 Barbados: The Catalyst for Economic Development

normbond — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 01:25:01 +0000

Bridgetown, BARBADOS — October 9, 2011

Marketing authority Norm Bond will be speaking at @Event Caribbean 2011, the third international conference sponsored by the Information Society of Barbados (ISB) happening from October 24-26, 2011 in Barbados.

This year’s theme is “ICT: The Catalyst for Economic Development”. The event will be held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Conference Centre in Barbados.

Bond will deliver a presentation entitled “Social Media and Its Importance to Online Marketing“.

@event Caribbean 2011 will explore how the people of the region can best use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to advance the economic and social development of their nations. It presents a unique opportunity for Barbadians and their Caribbean neighbours to interact with international speakers of global reputation.

The powerful array of presenters will provide thought-provoking insights on how ICT can be leveraged to become the catalyst for economic development. The conference will also feature an exhibition of cutting-edge technologies and services by Barbadian, Caribbean and international companies.

For further details about the event, please visit the official website.

If you would like to arrange to meet Norm Bond at this event, please contact us directly by clicking here

Hennessy campaign garners 1.3M QR code interactions

normbond — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:59:05 +0000

By Giselle Tsirulnik

LVMH-owned Hennessy’s promotion of its collaboration with the artist Kaws for a limited-edition bottle resulted in 1.3 million scans of the QR code that was created as part of the campaign.

One50one designed a custom-branded QR code to appear on all press releases announcing the collaboration between Kaws and Hennessy. The firm also built Hennessy a Kaws-branded mobile Web experience as the back-end of the QR code.

“We wanted to focus our communication in the spaces that both our consumers and Kaws’ fans cohabitate,” said Billy Paretti, vice president of marketing at Hennessy, New York. “Digital and mobile were key.”

LVMH is a French multinational luxury goods conglomerate headquartered in Paris, Île-de-France, France. Besides Hennessy, other brands under the LVMH umbrella include Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, Moët et Chandon and Fendi.

For Hennessy’s promotion of its limited-edition bottle, QR codes were placed on the bottle itself and also on the press release for the wire, which is a first for a spirits brand.

“From a mobile perspective, including the QR code on all of their press releases allowed Hennessy to take people to another experience, so that it is more consumer-friendly,” said Troy Brown, president of one50one, Boston. “It allowed Hennessy to create an interactive experience around the launch of this new bottle.”

The fact that the QR code for the press release was custom created, using colors from the bottle and an image of the actual product as well is also notable.

The landing page that the QR code brought consumers to was http://hennessykaws.mobi. It works on all mobile devices.

Visitors can learn more about Kaws once on the site via a short video clip.

The video tells the story of how the Hennessy/ Kaws collaboration came about and what inspired the artist when he designed the bottle for the cognac company.

The mobile landing page lets visitors download the new Hennessy bottle’s label as a wallpaper for their phone. Additionally, consumers can learn about the different cocktails that can be made using Hennessy.

The bottle label has been downloaded 101,000 times since the start of the campaign.

The Facebook “Like” functionality is front and center on the mobile site and is a means for building up Hennessy’s social media status.

A VIP Club tab lets users register for email communications from Hennessy.

Another section of the mobile site lets users choose a region from a map to find out where the Kaws Hennessy Limited Edition bottles are sold.

“Why mobile?” Mr. Paretti said. “It is a medium that has proven very effective for us in other programming for the brand and it is overall a great way to build a network around a project like the Hennessy/Kaws collaboration.”

LVMH is not new to the mobile space.

In 2009 Hennessy integrated various mobile initiatives into its Hennessy Artistry music campaign to engage consumers and build a loyal community of fans.

The mobile component was a multi-tiered plan also developed by one50one.

There was an online and mobile widget and a separate in-venue SMS strategy and execution during each concert, which allowed consumers to upgrade to VIP status within the venue, win exclusive signed prizes from music artists, as well as exclusive back stage meet and greets with artists (see story).

Additionally, LVMH brand Belvedere developed a mobile-social program to drive purchases of its Belvedere Pure, Pink Grapefruit and U80 beverages in major cities nationwide.

The campaign ran in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington and Los Angeles in April (see story).

At 96 percent wireless penetration in the United States, it is no wonder that LVMH has jumped aboard the mobile bandwagon.

For Hennessy’s most recent initiative with Kaws, the campaign did so well that The Maison has now decided to take the initiative to a global level.

“Our consumers love visual content and love to be engaged with detailed information about partnerships,” Mr. Paretti said.

Final Take
Giselle Tsirulnik is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York