Sunday, November 22, 2009

And Now an "Ad" from One We Trust and Follow!

I think most people will agree that Influence is maintained with trust. Chris Brogan and Julien Smith's new book "Trust Agents" blueprints the impact of "Trust Agents" and is a great primer. A fairly large conversation is developing around platforms that will enable those of Influence, celebrities, and bloggers, for example, to attract marketers willing to compensate those of Influence for "tweeting" their messages to followers, fans, viewers, and customers. Influence holds value for "messaging" and is worthy of being compensated for, if the "messaging" is relevant to the followers, and not disguised. One of the platforms that look very promising is Likes.com which launches in December. and claims that a "revolution" is coming to online advertising. Lots of people will react adversely to the concept of advertising messages being "tweeted. Tweeting Ads" makes me queasy, and certainly does not connote success. That being said, I believe we will see a version of endorsement, where influence will attract compensation, and those of us who are following will be receptive if the product and service fits our shared values, and it is not spoken loudly. "Tweeting Endorsements" suggests a deeper connection, and requires an investment by the "influencer" to qualify that the the product or services being promoted are relevant. Followers will respect that.

Stay tuned. This topic will be gather momentum in 2010.

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Sunday, November 15, 2009

Worldchanging: Bright Green: The Revolution Will Not Be Hand-Made: A Quick Sunday-Morning Rant

This is one of the better blogs on sustainability trends. I want to put a shout-out here as
this is one of the recent articles, and shows off the quality of the writing by their team.


Worldchanging: Bright Green: The Revolution Will Not Be Hand-Made: A Quick Sunday-Morning Rant

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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Are Social Media Federations a Good Thing?

Are Social Media Federations a Good Thing?

Posted using ShareThis

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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The Art of Online Merchandising

Merchandising is emotional. Online e-commerce is not.

As measurement tools have advanced, web analysts report on a wide range of metrics that influence the ultimate goal:

Conversion!

Conversion rules.

Online marketers are paid to design strategies and execute campaigns to attract visitors to a website or landing page.

Online merchandisers are paid to motivate, to inform, entertain, and stimulate the visitor.


Conversion One: How Visitors become Shoppers

Once the visitor has arrived, the responsibility shifts from the role of marketing to the role of merchandising. Marketing campaigns are designed to provide incentives for visitors to shop, while artful merchandising seeks a bond, a desire for engagement. Artful online merchandising is focused on how to convert the visitor into a reliable prospect, often driven to become a shopper by site design, product offering, ease of navigation, visual and textural copy.

Think like a Shopper, Act Like a Buyer, Become a Better Seller

Conversion Two: Shopper becomes a Buyer

Shoppers browse, Buyers transact.

What are the core objectives for online merchandising?

Engagement, Value, and Loyalty

What are primary support goals required from web engineers and programmers?

Convenience, Efficiency, and Safety.


Successful Online Merchandising is a dance where both are in balance.

Principles of the Art

· Stimulate Curiosity
· Use Incentives for Customers to Engage with Staff
· The Calendar Repeats
· Free Shipping is Universal. It works.

Other Tips:

Dynamic Landing Pages
o Provide a focused, customized shopping experience around the product or subcategory of products
o Provide a great mix of product messaging that is too good to pass up
Product Merchandising Tips

· Lifestyle Images.

o Use photographs of people using your products
o Clean Silhouettes Rule.

· Expanded Product Information.

o Write concise and detailed product descriptions.
o Include product attributes – function, form, labeling, source,

· Multiple Photographs.

o Present the image of your product from several angles, as well as the product being used.

· Product Collections.

· Group several products into a collection that can be used together to create a complete solution to the customer's needs.

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