Archive for December, 2007
The 2007 Marketing to Women Awards (Part 4)
Well, this is it. Now that 2008 happens tomorrow — or today already, if you’re reading this in Australia, New Zealand or Japan — it’s time to announce the final Marketing to Women Awards for 2007. (In case you haven’t seen Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, we’re giving shout-outs to some of this year’s best marketing to women efforts.)
Best Marketing to Women Blog — All of them. How’s that for whimping out!? I know, I know… but I’m so fortunate to be in a space with so many talented bloggers. I am also lucky enough to consider many of them friends. So here is, I’m sure, an incomplete list, but a list of some of the best of the best: Michele Miller, Wonderbranding; Toby Bloomberg, Diva Marketing Blog; Andrea Learned, Learned on Women; Yvonne DiVita, Lipsticking; Mary Schmidt, Mary’s Blog; Mary Hunt, In Women We Trust; all the fabulous folks at Blogher; Karen Barnes, Womentum; Wendy Maynard, Kinetic Ideas; Tami Anderson, How To Reach Women; Kelly Anderson, StartUp Princess.
For our final category, we’re going to do this a bit backwards (first, the winner, then, the nominees).
“Drum roll, please…
…and the Best Marketing to Women Website award goes to [dramatic pageant pause] . . . nobody!” Bummer. I scouted far and wide and couldn’t come up with a true winner. Many websites are doing a good job in some areas, but not all.
But as they say, “it’s an honor just being nominated.”
“And the nominees are… “
Better.tv — Good use of white space. Clean design. Great content.
Bejane.com — Lots of content and good job of not cluttering the homepage. Other pluses are audience ratings of projects and project videos that give great step-by-step instructions.
DesignerShoes.com — Categorization that goes beyond just boots, sandals, etc. Categories include “Bridal,” “Dyeable,” “Prom Style,” even “Vegan,” and you can sort by heel height.
Amazon.com — Great for recommendations thanks to their customer reviews, customer generated lists, and “customers who bought this” suggestions. All this makes it easier to find something if you’re looking for ideas on new books or music.
KimptonHotels.com — Kimpton is making a real effort to reach out to the female traveler. Their Women In Touch program is fantastic. See the other ways they reach out to women travelers.
With any luck, next year we’ll have a clear winner.
All winners will receive a copy of my new e-book, The 7 Biggest Mistakaes in Marketing to Women Online. If you’d like to see some other design tips for creating websites for women, pick up a copy for yourself.
Ok, enough with the shameless promotion. I applaud all of this years’ Marketing to Women Awards winners and nominees/runners-up. You’ve kept me doing the happy dance into the wee hours of the morning. Keep up the great work. I can’t wait to see what you come up with in 2008.
What are some of your favorites in these categories? Have I missed someone you feel is deserving? Leave a comment and let me know.
[Editor’s Note: Holly Buchanan is co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth: Today’s Female Customer - Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys, which comes out in early 2008. Holly will also be teaching our Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar on January 14th in sunny Orlando, Florida, where there will be plenty of time to discuss ways to improve your online copy and branding.]
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Written by:Holly Buchanan
Why Your Conversion Rate Matters More Tomorrow
Roy Williams, the Wizard of Ads, shares a brilliant insight from one of his fastest growing retail clients today in his Monday Morning Memo:
I asked, “How is traffic trending? Are we ahead of last year?”
“Roy, I don’t measure traffic.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Last week one of my salespeople made 63 sales presentations and closed only 24 of them. That tells me 39 people bought somewhere else. And right now they’re telling all their friends why they bought where they did. They’re showing off their purchases and explaining why they didn’t buy from us.”
“Good point.”
“That salesperson is no longer with us.”
“You’re really serious about this.”
“Today’s close rate is the most reliable indicator of tomorrow’s traffic. When close rate is high, traffic increases. When close rate begins to slide, traffic soon begins to slide as well.”
The same applies online.
When a visitor comes to your website prepared to buy — not everyone will buy right away, of course — and isn’t converted by your sales process, they are likely to buy from one of your competitors. When they brag to their friends about what they bought and who they bought it from, it won’t be you they rave about. It’s the customer experience that matters.
Can you tell me why they shouldn’t have bought it from you?
(Do you need help figuring out why they don’t buy from you? We can help you increase your conversion rates and understand your customers better.)
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Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
Top 3 Problems of Social Media
“The problem with social media is… there are more people writing it than reading it. That isn’t very social, huh?”
I laughed when I first heard it, but my friend explained:
At last count, there were some 75 million+ blogs out there, but very few of those blogs have many readers besides the writer, his mom and the family pet; and if it’s a cat, they just casually glance at it. If you care to argue that people use it as a personal journal, I’d suggest they use a more elegant and simpler technology, a moleskine notebook and a pen.
In fact, besides a few really popular blogs, most blogs don’t have enough readers for a pickup game of basketball. Please don’t lecture me about the long tail — I understand niche, even micro-niche. I think as marketers, though, we have bigger issues to overcome if we ever expect to see the acceptance of social media as a viable media channel.
1. Splogs, Scrapers and Money Making Fakers
Way too many of the blogs out there have been created because someone heard the search engines love blogs. And eventually, some low life figured they could get more traffic is grabbing garbage content from others to post and post and post. The frightening part is that Google and Technorati can’t filter out these content thieves and their sites often show up in listings so that in aggregate they deliver traffic. Both blog publishers and readers feel this pain.
Also, according to Google, of the 2 billion or so pages containing the word “blog,” only about 200,000,000 of them don’t contain the word “money” somewhere on the page.
Based on these statistics, close to 90% of the blogs you’ll find on the internet are the products of get rich quick schemes.
2. New Year’s Resolution Makers and Promise Breakers
Do you have your list of things you plan to do in the new year? Ready for a fresh start? Do you plan to lose weight, start exercising, find a better job and quit smoking? Like many people, you might sign up for the gym the first week of January; you’ll feel the burn of that first session you have with the personal trainer. You’ll thrill from buzz and bustle of the crowds. Waiting for your next machine may whisk you back to memories of standing in airport TSA lines during the holiday travel season. You’ll return, but, unfortunately, by March the gym will be so empty that you’ll hear an echo every time you swallow. Sure you’ll keep going, because you’re different.
Blogging, like any of these resolutions takes a real commitment. Out of the 75 million plus blogs started, in April Technorati reported that 15.5 million of them were “active.” What exactly does that mean?
Technorati claims about 1.5 million new posts a day. Take a look at popular blogs like, Boing Boing, Engadget, TechCrunch, Lifehacker, Scoblelizer, Search Engine Watch, and Search Engine Land, and you’ll notice many of these are publishing 5 or more posts a day. Meanwhile others — top marketing blogs like Seth Godin, SEOmoz, Duct Tape Marketing, Search Engine Journal, Marketing Pilgrim and us at GrokDotCom — try to publish a couple of posts a day. To really feel the benefits of blogging, or any of those other resolutions, you have to do it regularly and you have to do it well. How many actual blogs do you think are doing it and not just polluting the interwebs?
3. Link Baiters and Content Masturbators
If you don’t have easy access to Reddit’s leaked algorithm or know the secret formula to be Dugg, let me tell you how most people get to the front page of these sites.
- Create a list. Title it any of the following: The top 10…, a definitive guide…, 101 resources for…
- Pick a hot topic. These include: Apple, Ubuntu, Linux, Wii, Halo, Ron Paul, or choose something trendy from Google.
- Link to a whole bunch of other people’s posts.
- Voila, you have viral post.
Need an example? Just this week I saw a post on analyzing traffic and improving conversions rise through the social media networks. Not to take anything away from the effort made to create the post, but its first link is to a parked GoDaddy domain page with no content. Even still, people saw the list, didn’t read, didn’t click, but just bookmarked it. Is that the promise and purpose of social media?
Bring the Social Back to Social Media in 2008
Promise to create useful, updated, and unique content every day. I toast each and every one of you who make valuable contributions to this blogosphere every day. It’s hard work and I, for one, respect and appreciate it. Will you?
P.S. Happy New Year to you all.
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Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
The 2007 Marketing to Women Awards (Part 3)
(Don’t forget to check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 4 where we continue to give shout-outs to some of this year’s best marketing to women efforts.)
Best Reason to Start a Website — All Moms Go To Heaven. The purpose of All Moms Go To Heaven is to recognize and show appreciation for moms. You can nominate your favorite mom, register her to win prizes, and even order cool All Moms Go To Heaven clothing. Here’s a sample nomination from the site:
It has taken 30 years for me to write a nomination for my mom. Twenty eight years after my mom held on tight to my hand and carried me on her side through the decision to leave Vietnam during wartime. Through all the tough decisions and brave actions, she taught me how to work hard when she worked to get off of welfare rather than settling for handouts, to be humble when she held her head high while collecting cardboard in dark allies and trash cans late at night to sell to recycling centers to get a few extra dollars and how to not be afraid to raise your voice when someone doesn’t understand what you are saying-especially when you are speaking Chinese and they are speaking English. The most important reason for this nomination is that my mom has given me the gift to teach my daughter all that she has taught me.
You wouldn’t believe how much it means to these women to get an email saying “someone has nominated you” with the nominator’s message about why this mom is valued and loved. All Moms Go To Heaven also gets an honorable mention in the “Best Puppy-Wear” category for their stylish doggie T’s.
Best ‘About Us’ Page — NaturallyCurly.com. Their ‘About Us’ page starts with this copy:
We are two regular gals, who share, in addition to friendship, curly hair. We share a history of fighting curls and kinks. We’ve longed for ponytails that swished. We tried in vain to imitate the hair fashions of the day, which were usually designed with straight hair in mind.
The copy goes on to talk about these “two regular gals,” Gretchen & Michelle, and their trials, tribulations and triumphs with very curly hair. It does a wonderful job of letting you know who these women are, why they created the site, and how what they’ve learned can help you. I felt an instant kinship with these gals. Yes, I too have thick, curly hair that’s so unruly I don’t know what to do other than pull it back into a ponytail. As they were sharing their Farrah Fawcett moments (wanting that beautiful feathered hair), I had a flashback of my Dorothy Hamill envy, when all I wanted was that perfectly cut bob — but, alas, with my thick curls, it was not to be.
They also have a wonderful video on the ‘About Us’ page. If you’re marketing to women and you want them to relate to your brand, your company, and its vision, you should consider putting a video on your ‘About Us’ page. It’s the next best thing to meeting you in person and sharing a cup of coffee. (Well done, gals!)
Best Homepage — Google. “Huh?” I hear some of you saying, “That’s not a homepage, that’s a search engine dialog box.” I hear you. But I still argue that it’s the best homepage out there. Why? Simplicity. One of the things I’ve found in my marketing to women research is that the best designs are uncluttered, have good use of white space, and have clear calls to action with intuitive navigation. Google’s homepage does this beautifully. Despite the political battles for space on their homepage, they never caved. They’ve remain true to pure simplicity. It’s a beautiful thing.
All winners will receive a copy of my new e-book, The 7 Biggest Mistakaes in Marketing to Women Online. If you’d like to see some other design tips for creating websites for women, pick up a copy for yourself.
What are some of your favorites in these categories?
[Editor’s Note: Holly Buchanan is co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth: Today’s Female Customer - Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys, which comes out in early 2008. Holly will also be teaching our Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar on January 14th in sunny Orlando, Florida, where there will be plenty of time to discuss ways to improve your online copy and branding. (Image via RethinkPink.)]
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Written by:Holly Buchanan
(Free Download) Seth Godin & GrokDotCom Sync Into Meatball Sundae
Recently, Seth Godin joined us for an exclusive interview on WebmasterRadio.fm to discuss his latest book, Meatball Sundae.
“What’s a meatball sundae?” Good question. Basically, it’s what happens when everyday products are out of sync with new marketing tactics. For the full story, listen to the podcast (or download it for free!) below. But first, here are a few extra scoops from Seth & Bryan’s interview. Bon appetit!
Bryan Eisenberg: In the introduction, you admit that you’re breaking your own rules about book publishing. First of all, your last book, The Dip, only came out six months ago. Secondly, Meatball Sundae is, what, two or three times the size of The Dip? We see why Meatball Sundae is, well, meatier – but why does it have to come out now, while your last bestseller’s still busy marketing itself?
Seth Godin: The ideas don’t work for me… I work for the ideas. When the book was ready, it had to go out, because the market wanted/needed to hear them. So far, every time I make a silly non-strategic decision that benefits the ideas, it seems to work out okay. So I’ve learned not to get in the way of the ideas.
BE: People are very good at saying “I agree,” and you’re an easy guy to agree with. But what are the really tough questions – outside of the 14 trends you mention in the book – that marketers need to ask themselves so they know whether they’re marketing meatball products with sundae tactics.
SG: I’m not asking for agreement with this book. Not at all. From the title on in, I’m asking for a lot more than agreement. I want action. I want organizations to make fundamental choices and to follow through with them. So, “I agree” will really bum me out.
BE: What are some of the changes organizations will have to make? What are the stumbling blocks, and how will they know if they’re headed in the right direction?
SG: The biggest change is to decide to realign to get the wind at your back. To reorganize and re-strategize to get out of the last industrial revolution and move into the new one. That’s not easy, but you’ll either do it or struggle. Now’s the time, not five years from now.
BE: When you’re talking about the lure of running Super Bowl ads and the like, you say, “The web is astonishingly bad at reaching the unreachable . . . Mass is still seductive, but mass is so expensive that marketers balk at buying it,” and the example you use is that Time magazine is much thinner these days than Gourmet. How do we stop marketers from worrying about driving all this traffic — from reaching out to anyone and everyone — and get them to focus on creating a great experience for the ones who actually want to reach them?
SG: Who is so much more important than how many. And interactivity proves it. You can measure it. You can see what happens, not in months, but in days. Smart marketers are already smelling it, which is one reason they’re running away from magazines so fast.
BE: Trend #2 in Meatball Sundae is “Amplification of the Voice of the Consumer and Independent Authorities.” This made me think of the November 2005 cover of Forbes magazine (“Attack of the Blogs: They destroy brands and wreck lives. Is there any way to fight back?”). Back then, the idea seemed pretty over-the-top. What would you tell marketers today?
SG: Fighting back is such a bad idea. Join is a much better one. Make great stuff, be respectful, tell the truth. Not so hard to describe, pretty hard to do.
BE: How do you know when your organization is ready to serve a sundae? And once you do, how do you match the toppings to suit your customers’ needs? For instance, it seems pretty clear that not every business should be blogging. Is it possible to serve meatballs to some people and sundaes to others, or is it truly either/or?
SG: Oh, I think organizations can do both, just as GE was able to sell blenders and nuclear power plants for a while. The mistake is when one division or one brand tries to do both. When you’ve got need-based, factory-driven commodities colliding with the idea-driven, speed focused web, it’s a big problem.
BE: You talk about the shift from “How many?” to “Who?” (“Just as a store in a busy mall doesn’t have to worry about converting every browser into a customer, high-traffic Web sites and advertisers get sloppy about being efficient.”) As marketing optimization experts, our firm sees this all the time and we still don’t understand why anyone would want tons of traffic with few conversions. But how does a business know when its marketing is inefficient? Are there any telltale signs across industries?
SG: I would never try to tell the guys at Ford about crankshafts. I also won’t tell them about web conversions. They need to learn it, evolve it, test it, measure it. If this is the core of the business of the future (and it is) then a rule of thumb isn’t going to cut it. My point: get in early, spend the money, do the learning.
BE: How do you like your sundaes? (Inquiring minds want to know.)
SG: I’m such a weird eater. It would be Ciao Bella chocolate sorbet, with a teaspoon of Steve Herrell’s hot fudge, a tablespoon of Marshmallow Fluff and a Starbucks Biscotti, chocolate, please. Except that if I was making it, I’d leave off the hot fudge, cause I’m an ascetic.
For the rest of this exclusive interview, click here (or right-click to download).
Click here for Seth Godin and Bryan Eisenberg
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Written by:The Grok
The Whopper is dead. Long live the Whopper!
Want to see what happens to Americans when their favorite fast food is taken away?
Of course you do. But if you want to live dangerously, try telling a hungry customer who can’t wait to bite into 670 glorious calories that their favorite sandwich (over half of which is fat) has been retired. Capturing such a moment requires skilled actors, coordinated planning, hidden cameras, and preferably, a cardiologist standing by. But most of all, it takes confidence.
Burger King’s “Whopper Freakout” campaign does all of those things, showing a level of brand confidence that hasn’t been seen since “The Pepsi Challenge.” B.L. Ochman said it best: “It’s seven minutes long. It pisses off Burger King customers. It makes fun of competitors. In other words, it rocks!”
[If video doesn’t load, click here.]
A few things that qualify Whopper Freakout as one of the best TV + Web viral campaigns ever:
- The reactions.
- It’s “flame broiled,” not fried.
- The Whopper isn’t a new product or promotion.
- The King is a man of few words; he’s a prankster, but ultimately, he saves the day.
- A short TV commercial serves as a teaser, while the real payoff happens online.
- Their custom video player is grainy, making it feel voyeuristic and, somehow, more trustworthy.
- Even though they built their own site, they still put it on YouTube.
- It’s brilliantly filmed and choreographed.
- You can share it (email it, embed it).
- They didn’t have to do it.
- They did it.
- Unless you’re vegan, it kinda makes you crave a Whopper.
- “From what I understand, they were too popular.”
- It’s actually not a ridiculous stunt, unlike this.
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Written by:Robert Gorell
12 Marketers Pick Year’s Most Valuable Online Videos
The smart people at Twist Image have built a gorgeous video site to showcase 2007’s most valuable online videos, according to their “most influential friends.”
Paula Gignac, Seth Godin, Ken Wong, Joseph Jaffe, David Weinberger, David Usher, Jackie Huba, Shel Israel, John Gustavson, Christopher Loudon, Mary Maddever and our own Bryan Eisenberg were each asked to share their favorite video of the year.
Which videos were your favorites?
(To Mitch Joel, Mark Goodman, Mickael Kanfi, Aubrey Rosenhek and the entire team at Twist Image, joyeuses fêtes à vous tous! Thank you for helping to shape good ideas, as always.)
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Written by:The Grok
The 2007 Marketing to Women Awards (Part 2)
(Don’t forget to check out Part 1, Part 3 and Part 4 where we continue to give shout-outs to some of this year’s best marketing to women efforts.)
Best Marketing to Women Book — Firms of Endearment by David Wolfe, Raj Sisodia & Jag Sheth: Okay, so this book isn’t specifically about marketing to women, but it’s also about more than just marketing. The trends and traits discussed in this book so exactly mirror the trends I’ve studied in successful marketing to women it’s almost eerie. We’re moving in a new direction; from a “having” society to a “being” society. Successful companies are taking a more holistic approach, satisfying not just shareholders, but all stakeholders, including investors, customers, employees and society at large. Thanks to the Internet, customers have more information than ever about your company. Women in particular want to know about more than just your products. They want to know about the company who makes them. They want to know the company’s values and how it conducts itself. This book is invaluable if want to understand the trends that are changing the way successful companies do business and market themselves.
Runner-Up - Made to Stick by Dan & Chip Heath: This is also not a book specifically about marketing to women, but it is about how you, well, make ideas stick. Marketing to women is all about communication and Made to Stick is one of the best communication how-to books I’ve ever read. Period.
Best Customer Experience Story — Zappos (sending flowers to the woman who’s mother died) — She had ordered shoes for her mother from Zappos and was going to return the ones that didn’t fit. In the meantime, her mother passed away. Zappos sent an email asking about the return. When the customer shared her story, they arranged for UPS to come pick up the shoes. But the real heart-string tugger was this: They sent beautiful sympathy flowers to the woman, creating a deeply surprised and touched customer. Read the full story…
Best Green Website – Big Green Purse: I love this site because they make it easy to take simple, concrete actions to make a difference. With such a huge global problem, it’s hard to feel like “little old you” can have any sort of an impact. Big Green Purse gives you specifics on small things you can do that can make a real difference. (Hint: You can start with your own purse.)
Best Name for a Website — Don’tDateHimGirl.com: “Don’t Date Him Girl, until you’ve checked him out first! DDHG is a social networking site where women from around the world can share their dating experiences with each other. Share your story of inspiration, hope and determination with other women around the world. Learn about how you can date safer and smarter, build your self-esteem, find true love and empower. ” Nuff said.
Any names you want to add to the list?
All winners receive a free copy of my new e-book The 7 Biggest Mistakes in Marketing to Women Online. If you’d like to see more examples on how to market to women, pick up a copy for yourself. Using real life examples, I examine the mistakes marketers are making and how to fix them.
[Editor’s Note: Holly Buchanan is co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth: Today’s Female Customer - Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys, which comes out in early 2008. Holly will also be teaching our Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar on January 14th in sunny Orlando, Florida, where there will be plenty of time to discuss ways to improve your online copy and branding.]
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Written by:Holly Buchanan
Top 10 Online Retailers by Conversion Rate: 10/2007
ProFlowers - 27.02%
1800flowers.com - 21.26%
Roamans - 18.87%
Blair.com - 18.68%
Bath & Body Works - 17.06%
Office Depot - 17.03%
Lane Bryant Catalog - 14.84%
eToys.com - 14.07%
QVC.com - 13.52%
Real.com - 13.32%
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings
Check these results with those from September and July.
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Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
Spooked by Spock?
Logically, just a few days ago, I received an email from the Spock Team:
“So and so Jones” has added you as a trusted contact on Spock. By accepting trust, you will be able to search each others’ network, share contact information, and get news.”
It continued…
“Since you are a person I trust, I would like you to join my network on Spock so we can always stay up to date on how to contact each other.”
Now it’s like a Klingon invasion! First, on impulse power, came another invite, and then another, until now, when they are approaching warp speed. In the name of tribbles, what gives?
First it was LinkedIn and Facebook, and now we all feel compelled to “socialize” using the latest shiny new object. Any ideas what will start appearing on my tricorder in the near future?
Spock said, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one,” so consider that, lest you photon torpedo contacts from your address book with similar invites — your friends may not have their phaser on stun. Besides, we wouldn’t want you to wind up a casualty of the Social Network Wars of the early 21st century.
I’m in a no-win situation. I would have sent you to StarTrek.com to help you fetch a universal translator to decipher this post, but it’s shutting down. 
The solution to my own Kobiyashi Maru test is to go where all the fans have gone before.
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Written by:Jeffrey Eisenberg
