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We are busy people.  Our business and personal days are filled with activities.  The activities we engage in usually are designed to help us accomplish either a business or personal goal.  For example, I get up early and go to the gym and engage in the activities of exercising.  Not because I just want to – but because I have a goal of losing weight!

Often times, marketing and sales folks have no idea about the activities our customers and buyers perform on a daily basis.  Yet understanding these can yield rich and robust insights into goals, which drive buying decisions.

A Day in the Life

Since childhood, we have probably heard this quote a thousand times:

“You never truly know someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes.” –American Adage, Source Unknown

This applies in the development of buyer personas.  Using an activity-based research approach allows us to walk in the shoes of our customers and prospective buyers.  What it gives us is something very important.  Context.

Context provides us with a day in the life perspective.  We want to see what customers are confronted with in their natural – not artificial – environment.

On-Site

When you have visitors to your home, you take pride in your home.  You gladly give a tour, telling your story about how you bought or decorated the house.  This comes natural to us.  Much in the same way, activity-based buyer personas, to yield rich buyer insight, require day-in-the-life perspectives.  When you get a call at home for a survey, your patience gets tested.  Let alone, trying to recall your activities can be a frustrating experience.  There are inherent limitations with phone only research.

These same principles apply here.  Customers and buyers enjoy not only talking about their place of work, but enjoy “show and tell”.  And, that is what you want.

See the Not So Obvious

Without getting too technical, a day-in-the life perspective is a combination of ethnography, business anthropology, and in the new digital age – digital anthropology.  These social sciences give us the techniques and tools needed to uncover what I like to call the not-so-obvious.  In other words, cannot be yielded by phone interviews only.

Let me illustrate:

I was engaged in a buyer persona development effort for one of the largest logistics and delivery firms in the world.  Through a series of on-site qualitative buyer interviews, I began to notice a unique not-so-obvious insight happening.  While the focus had been on getting national contracts - and the “buyer” was in the front office for these - I learned decisions were actually made in the back office.  Decisions on which carrier to use were being made through the push of a button at working stations in the loading and shipping areas.  Usually these decisions were happening around the same time everyday.  Also, a personal goal rather than a business goal proved to be the main driver of which carrier was chosen.  This led to an improved ordering system as well as a shift in marketing towards “back office” buyer personas.

Phone-based buyer persona research alone would not have yielded such insight for these reason:

• First, you would be confined to the status quo conversations with perceived notions of who the buyer is.
• Second, it would have been too focused on traditional sales "win-loss" research.
• Third, the focus would be on obvious insights
• Lastly, you would miss the big not-so-obvious insight

In this particular situation, on-site allowed for ethnographic insight (day-in-the-life), business anthropology (witnessing the culture of shipping and back office), and digital anthropology (discover the impact of how digital systems impacted decisions).

Insight-to Foresight

The former Chairman of Proctor and Gamble, A.G. Lafley, was a big believer in gaining qualitative insight, via ethnographic research, and had this to say about what it leads to:

“lead to richer insights which helps identify innovation opportunities that are often missed by traditional research”

Granted, we are talking about one of the largest B2C entities in the world.  We may be unable to afford or scale research like P&G.  However, there are lessons for B2B Marketing in every story.  I like this quote because it embodies where B2B needs to go.  And, what it misses in buyer foresight if it does not.

Activity-based buyer persona development can lead to obtaining rich (not-so-obvious) buyer insight.  This level of buyer insight can lead to tremendous buyer foresight.  Allowing us to uncover “what if” opportunities to innovate for customers as well as with customers.  Leading to the coveted prize of more revenue opportunities.

My advice to B2B Marketing and Sales leaders is this: if you believe buyer persona development is an activity for just content and messaging, expand your belief to bigger opportunities with customers and buyers.  Move beyond obvious insight to not-so-obvious insight.

More critically, do not miss out on big insight-to-foresight opportunities as A.G. Lafley aptly conveys.

Related articles

• What is a Buyer Persona? Why the Original Definition Still Matters to B2B (tonyzambito.com)
• What is a Buyer Persona? Why the Original Definition Still Matters to B2B (business2community.com)
• How Activity-Based Buyer Persona Development Generates Opportunities (tonyzambito.com)
• Do You Get A "So What" To Your Buyer Personas? (business2community.com)

It seems like as soon as I wrap my head around Google's latest algorithm update, there's another release that changes the game.

While SEO experts should live in the weeds of these updates to understand the nuances in how Google ranks content, marketers should recognize a few high level SEO trends that drive successful content marketing initiatives.

1. SEO used to be an exercise in optimizing content for spiders. Today, SEO is about optimizing content for the user.

This is an important distinction that should drive every piece of content produced, from how you choose the topic to the words you use to express the idea. Search engines think like people, but for some reason most brands don't speak like people. This is causing a disconnect between the brand and the consumer on every level - in relating to them obviously, but also in just being discoverable. No one searches in corporate speak.

So, how do you do this? Research.

A combination of both keyword research and social listening will show you what words and phrases consumers use. Once the content is written and optimized appropriately for search, the language used in social media should reflect the language used in the content.

The same keywords should be used in a similar tone since search engines are now considering social interactions in search ranking. You not only want to be shareable, you want the language used when sharing your content to be the language that will serve you best.

2. Links still matter, but the game has changed.

Without getting into the weeds, it is important to know that linking to quality websites and being linked to by quality websites is still important.

In fact, when a website links to your site and also links to another website of higher authority on the same page, your site will benefit from the authority of the other linked site.

Another important factor in outbound links is, just as above, the language you use. The anchor text should clearly indicate what you're linking to and the text around the link should be carefully considered too.

3. The power is in the long tail.

This isn't news, but it is so important that it should be emphasized.

There are 500 million active domains competing for the attention of consumers. Unless you have a huge budget, you aren't going win big, broad buzzwords.

Optimize your content for the long tail keywords that niche audiences are looking for and publish often. Not only will you rank higher for less competitive topics, but Google will assign you higher authority for publishing regularly.

4. Traditional marketing tactics will boost digital marketing initiatives.

Google likes to tell us that if we build a quality website and publish quality content, users will come. While that might be true to some extent, it is important that marketers realize that traditional tactics can actually help boost content efforts.

Press releases, for example, provide branded mentions and links that will increase the authority of your website while also increasing exposure. Despite what some might say, email is still extremely effective in creating opportunities for awareness and sharing.

Penguin 2.0 was just released and everyone is in a frenzy to figure out the next button to push to get out ahead of the competition. That is important and every serious brand should have someone doing that for them.

But it is equally important that everyone involved in digital marketing understands basic SEO trends in order to ensure content is being produced in a way that will drive success.

Use this list as criteria to check off on each time content is added to your website:

1. Am I using the language of my target consumer?
2. Am I linking to authoritative websites?
3. Am I optimizing this content for a specific user by targeting a few long tail keywords?
4. Am I promoting this content using more traditional marketing tactics?

*as posted by Noah Echols on IQ's blog

One thing we can count on is by the time you have finished reading this buying behavior may have been altered one again.  Changes in buyer behaviors continue unabated.  This is making it difficult for marketing and sales leaders to plan the right mix of strategies and tactics resulting in a winning formula.

5 Buyer Behaviors B2B Marketing Must Keep An Eye On

New buying behaviors means B2B marketers have to become more responsive today.  Creating nimble organizations and improving knowledge in buyer understanding.  Here are ways buyer behavior will continue to reshape marketing:

Buyers Embrace Collaboration

Social and digital technologies has allowed for progress in the area of collaboration.  Meaning the sphere of influence and interaction not only has widened but increased.  Old ideas about roles on buying teams are being shattered as we speak.  The era of collaborative buyer networks has arrived.  We now have to consider internal as well as external members of collaborative networks impacting decision-making.

Buyers Want Co-Creation

Collaborative networks are fostering a new environment for co-creating products, services, and for solving problems.  This new development will put pressure on B2B organizations to get in line with flexible products and services which allow buyers to play an active role in co-creating.  Buyers and their collaborative networks will demand it.  For B2B marketers, this means a broader view on how you deliver messaging.

Buyers Want Less Content

I am sure some will do a double take on the above sub-header.  The fact is buyers are overwhelmed with content.  Here is how one buyer put it to me: “Look, I think twice now about putting my name in a form - not because I am not willing - but I know this just means I am going to get a flood of emails to download more information.” Buyers want less content – yet desire smart content.

Buyers Want 1-to-1

A funny thing happened on the way to marketing automation.  Marketing may be inadvertently dripping back into the mode of 1-to-many as opposed to the coveted 1-to-1.  I came upon this thought after conducting two reviews of lead generation and nurturing campaigns.  Buyers can see right through this screen.  They can smell automation.  A buyer’s voice on an email she received: “What is this?  I really don’t know because it doesn't say anything to me.”

Buyers Want More Than Insight

There is the old adage “too much of a good thing.”  I think we may have such a situation happening.  We have embraced the idea of the Challenger Sale and you see organizations racing to offer insight.  An issue here is too many items are being classified as insight.  This can actually counter-balance the act of contributing insight.   What this means for B2B marketing and sales is they will have to be more judicious in what they label insight.  Why dilute a good thing?

Adaptive and Agile Marketing

With rapidly changing buying behaviors, B2B marketing will need to be more adaptive and agile.  I foresee buyer behaviors shifting in waves.  This means marketing must be able to see these waves and make adaptive shifts in how they connect with buyers.  This will certainly not be easy to do.

Predictability will become even more important as we look ahead.  While Big Data holds promise, it will equally take developing the qualitative ability to anticipate where the new buyers of today are heading.

(Become part of the dialogue.  Connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus as well as subscribe to the Buyer Persona Blog on the tonyzambito.com website.)

Related articles

• 5 Buying Behaviors of the Persona Buying Cycle
• 5 Buying Behaviors of the Persona Buying Cycle
• The Art of Buying
• 7 Big Questions for B2B Marketers in 2013

Marketers have started to tackle their social media needs, similar to how they have historically approached every other marketing tactic - by isolating and siloing their strategic parameters, success metrics, and analytics. We’ve seen this time and time again. This is how marketers dealt with banner advertising in the ‘90s, SEM and email in the early ‘00s, and mobile and in-game advertising in the late ‘00s. Over a decade later and the same mistakes are being made. Next it will be real-time-bidding and then most likely video; especially as digital convergence really takes form and everything (i.e. TV, radio, print, etc.) is technically “digital”. Agencies and media providers are always ready to reposition themselves based on the flavor of the month. Social is the new black. Or is it the new pink? Most trends are just that – “trendy”.

Don’t get me wrong, social marketing is extremely important. In fact, it is too important to think you can just silo it out and hire a specialized social media agency to manage it on your company’s behalf. The most successful marketers are not experts in analog media, digital media, social media, search marketing, or real-time-bidding; they are efficient in communication and understanding how to serve people’s needs. Once you understand what your audience/customers’ needs are and their communication requirements, you can determine the most effective channels and tactics to satisfy those needs - just like establishing any human relationship.

I realize most marketing disciplines these days require specialists to deploy and manage specific tactics. However, we must not confuse strategy with execution. You must have an integrated communication strategy that puts your customers and target prospects at the core. Through the communication planning process you should determine how much social marketing support is required and how it should be managed. Additionally, we should stop referring to social as a tactic and think of it more as the fabric that weaves throughout your entire marketing program. There’s no such thing as a social media campaign. You don’t make friends with someone and then decide to abruptly end that friendship because he/she had plans on the same night you wanted to go out.

A strong relationship is cultivated over time and this means you need to be willing to allocate the necessary resources to building those high value relationships and plan on managing them indefinitely. The only way to assure this can be done is by centralizing your customer relationship management internally. Yes, social is a component of CRM. Only now, it is a multi-dimensional dialogue and your refer-a-friend programs have exponential potential. Those that are positioning themselves as “social media experts” are less concerned about the long term value of the relationships between you and your customers, and really trying to capitalize on the ignorance that exists in the marketplace to, once again, provide false value – kind of like that “friend” who is always there to console you during a really bad time. They appear to be genuine, but we all know there is an ulterior motive which is driven by taking advantage of your vulnerability.

Be less concerned about the new, bright, shiny objects and focus on better understanding your audience and customers. The more you learn about what people want, the better you can serve their needs. Marketing channels and tactics are just the delivery mechanisms to serving those needs. With all that being said, I do recommend partnering with those that are proficient at managing the execution of each tactic. Many tactics are extremely labor-intensive and require a deep understanding of the market and the various technology platforms used to effectively manage these programs. However, when it comes to building your strategy, focus on the communication needs of your audience, then determine the channels and tactics that will help facilitate how you address those needs.

Remember this, there is no such thing as a category called “social media”. All media is social. It always has been and always will be. Only now, you can actually see what people are saying behind your back. You just need to determine what value you can contribute to the conversation – more importantly, make sure it is a reciprocal dialogue. Leave your “push, push” mentality back in the 20th century. And if you plan on playing in the social sandbox, make sure you are welcoming, respectful, appreciative, and provide value. Treat those the way you would like to be treated.

Sometimes I think marketers forget what it means to be human. In the words of Robert Fulghum, “all you really need to know, you learned in kindergarten”. Play fair. Share everything. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Don’t hit people. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Clean up your own mess. Now, stop your wining and go make some friends!

Twitter’s new capability is a well needed platform move and is similar to Google’s ability to target in “real-time” whoever searches for “buy shoes.” One could argue that searches have clearly better intent than tweets. For example, “Justin Bieber’s new song is awesome!” (and getting served an ad for his album). Keyword targeting doesn’t provide any timing advantage on any other platform, without understanding the sentiment and context of the entire tweet.

Twitter is right, timing means nothing if you are unable to react to things that happen right now. The big opportunity for advertisers is how to engage users in moments that matter to them. Advertising is about being in the right place and in the right time, yet finding the right users who have explicitly expressed interest isn’t scalable, it requires an intelligent approach to finding new users who also may be interested but haven’t expressed it via tweets. Exactly like Google search advertising or of Facebook interest targeting.

For example, an airline wants to sell tickets for a flight to London, they already know that they should buy “Flights to London” on Google search and now you can also buy the same term on Twitter. But the real challenge is how to find even more people who care about London. But, let’s just say, that all of a sudden there is news regarding Princess Kate’s pregnancy, people who talk about that might have great affinity to England and might be interested in a ticket to London in the future. Advertising to them is a key benefit. However, the news may be in the headlines for a few hours only. Timing is about being agile enough to monetize this moment, making sure you are buying the keywords around Princess Kate, and no one said they are even talking about London.

My previous example is simple if you’re in the performance space, and have specific goods to sell. The challenge is even greater if you’re a packaged goods company or running a branding campaign. What would Coca Cola buy on Google search or Twitter’s keywords? “Coke”? How is this beneficial to them? What would GE, Unilever, P&G will buy? They are all about being there for their audience in the right place and in the right time to create a connection between the brand and what their audience cares for.

Twitter’s keywords targeting is a great feature on Twitter’s platform, but it doesn’t solve the big problem of making your timing works.

When marketers post a campaign to Facebook they may ask, how many likes will this drive or how many users will view this? Those aren’t necessarily the right questions as it relates to social media. These forums are different than other forms of communication and marketers need to start looking at the big picture. Social media is part of the consumers’ daily life, with over 1 billion Facebook users, reaching a vast amount of consumers through a forum they use nearly every day has a special value.

A recent survey found that 62 percent of marketers are leveraging social media profile data (e.g., profile ID, likes, and, interests). Yet, many marketers need to effectively leverage this profile data across other channels. Right now, marketers are speaking to customers on channels such as Facebook and Twitter, but most are failing to spark the needed engagement of two-way, cross-channel conversations and really listen to customers to drive the desired brand loyalty.  As marketers begin to realize the real value from these channels, expect to see increased social media engagement with consumers.

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are not islands and shouldn’t be treated like ones.  By bringing social media marketing and communications into the cross-channel mix, brands can execute more targeted and more effective campaigns and truly reach the customers.

Marketers can recognize the real value of social media marketing by:

• Realizing the importance of gaining access to updated data: Consumers are opting into social media apps, allowing marketers to obtain accurate and valuable customer data. This is likely to be high-quality data too – for instance, an email address from a Facebook account is probably more accurate than one a marketer would gain elsewhere. Having this data is very powerful, as it then allows the marketer to converse with the customer or prospect on other channels (email, mobile, etc.), enabling true cross-channel conversational marketing.

• Leveraging new social media technology - Social media has also allowed marketers to leverage the use of social check-ins (especially when using Facebook’s Open Graph data) where a social user marks his or her location via social apps.  When check-ins are stored, marketers then have an opportunity to deliver real-time location-based offers as well as analyze the data for future campaigns.  For instance, a check-in at a coffee shop could trigger a mobile push notification offering an incentive to visit a nearby retailer.

• Cultivating brand ambassadors: Customers are now willing to take action and share viewpoints on social media forums. They can act as influencers or ambassadors for a brand and sway their friends – who are also potential buyers.

A recent Forrester report, “How To Build Your Brand With Branded Content,” asked consumers which types of advertising/ promotions they trusted most; brand or product recommendation from friend or family ranked first in both U.S. and Europe (71 percent and 61 percent, respectively). Marketers should recognize that not all recommendations are straight from the mouth, but many come through online endorsements—through a positive Tweet or liking a photo on Facebook. Marketers should put a greater emphasis on building a pool of ambassadors through social media. Once the relationship with fans is established, one-to-one, cross-channel dialogues should then be initiated with consumers.  Social media can help marketers to communicate, listen, and drive brand loyalty.

If marketers can put on a new pair of glasses and see social media through a new lens, they will realize the value of communicating through these channels. Social media provides access to near perfect data, provides real-time information, and is a breeding ground for invaluable brand ambassadors. These benefits go beyond the number of likes on a Facebook page and can ultimately drive a brand’s visibility and revenues.

1 year? 6 months? 3 months?  How low can you go?

Join us as a top HR Director, Recruiter, VP of Sales and Agency Group Director debate just how short a job stint can be before it affects your career in Digital Media.

The Dos and Don’ts of Entertaining

Take a walk on the wild side with some of the best-known sales professionals on the digital party circuit as they give their “rules of the game.” Sellers of both sexes give their tried and true mantras for thriving and surviving during a long night out entertaining. Do flirt, don’t sleep; Do sip, don’t gulp; talk shop only if “shop” means late night karaoke. This panel could get crazy! We certainly hope so...

Entitlement is a God Given Right!

Sure to be an eye-opening conversation with four Millennials in their first job out of school.  See what a day in the life of the industry’s future is like first-hand as they navigate lunch and learns, pivot tables, CPMs and beer pong.  Is life like a Girls episode?  We will see.

Crowd-sourcing the Next Company.ly

Ever wonder where the witty and uniquely spelled digital company names come from?  So do we! In a Digital Media Conference first we’re going to use the crowd to come up with a name for a new Social Analytics / Entertainment company being started by three ex-Googlers and Facebookers. Bring your puns and feel free to use the following ideas to prime the pump:  Uber-likes -- “Order more likes than your competition.” SoVidMo (MoVidSo?) – “What’s next in Social Mobile Video.”

Buzzword Bingo

Shhhhhh – Keep this one to yourself as we get three of the industry’s biggest gadflies to pontificate on “What’s Next for Digital Media” while everyone in attendance gets a bingo card with the buzzwords du jour, unbeknownst to the panelists. The first person who gets “BINGO” will win an iPhone 6 (preordered, of course). Transparency? Big Data? Ninja? Freemium?  Bring it.

Of course these are a little over the top, but every good satire starts with a kernel of truth (or something to that effect).  If this does nothing but get a programming director to drop something a little out of the ordinary into their next conference then it’s a win in my book.

We live in a digital age, the age of communication and instant information. What once took hours, even days to reach people across the globe now only takes a few quick keystrokes and a matter of seconds. But don’t let me bore you with what you already know. What I’m really trying to get at is the fact that, when approached correctly, social networks are viable channels for sales and endless opportunities are within arm’s reach. All sales and business development professionals should consider leveraging this global social trend to broaden their sales funnel or you may one day, find yourself obsolete.

Back In The Day

In our grandparent’s time, business was conducted on a very personal level. The local baker knew what type of bread each family preferred, the butcher began cutting your favorite cuts as soon as he saw you walk through the door, everyone and I mean everyone, knew each other. This was relationship building at its best. Businesses across the globe lost this personal touch as time went on and our world grew a little bigger and busier. Until now.

7 Billion Strong

Yes, our world is no mere village, with over 7 billion inhabitants of planet Earth we are larger and more spread out than ever. Yet, with the advent of social media and its popularity, we have built a global network in which we are all connected; social communities like Facebook , Linkedin and Twitter unite millions of active citizens from all corners of the globe. In addition, smartphones are becoming commonplace in people’s lives allowing interconnectivity with the world whenever and wherever you are. This remarkable and ever-changing technology leads to one thing: communication. And as a business owner, salesperson or marketing executive this is key to reaching a broader audience and more importantly, building a closer relationship with your existing clients and prospects.

Laying The Groundwork

Get to know your social network, it’s great to have 2,000 followers but it’s best to have 200 that you truly know and engage with. Find out about their life, their work and their hobbies. Talk to them as you would a colleague or close friend; let them know you’re listening and that you care about what they have to say. After all, people just want to be heard. This is all part of that “relationship building” I was talking about earlier. So once you build that foundation of trust and friendship, you’ll be more credible when you pitch your business and its services. I say pitch with light reserve as you shouldn’t be pitching your business on social networks- it’s spammy. However, leads don’t always just fall in your lap so use your social network wisely to target specific companies or individuals who could benefit from your product or service. In addition, a humble tooting of your horn from time to time is highly recommended. Design an awesome project that just got posted in the city’s newspaper? Sealed a deal with a major distributor? Your new hire is kicking butt left and right? Toot that horn, baby! You’ll find that not only are people more likely to ‘Like’ and share your post but it also may strike a chord with a reader causing them to pick up a phone and call you directly.

Regardless of what channel you use, never forget that personable, peer-to-peer communication is key. Remember, it’s not about you, your business or your products; it’s about your followers, their life and their interests.

There are a variety of factors that contribute to being socially challenged. Take highly regulated industries like pharma, finance, and healthcare for instance. Maintaining compliant yet engaging language can be tough. What’s more, reaching out to followers after listening to their tweets and posts can be even trickier. Tricky but not impossible. Compliance driven brands can develop and sustain meaningful relationships with customers by doing something they are not entirely familiar with – sharing thoughts and updates that have nothing to do with them. Companies in these sectors, especially in recent years, really need to work at appearing trustworthy and human. So this holiday season, social media departments in these industries should share content relevant to the interests of their audience without being heavy-handed. Share content on pop culture, favorite holiday recipes, tips for saving on travel, and some of the most cherished black and white seasonal flicks. You might be surprised by the level of engagement you spur and amount of trust you build.

Again, compliance-related industries have an understandable hurdle to climb. But not every brand is a drug company, insurance agency, or healthcare organization. It might come as a surprise to learn that some of the worst social media customer service offenders are in digital. Online advertisers, marketers, and brands have much more freedom to be expressive and engaging. Yet, many follow the “freedom isn’t free” premise. I have known some pretty cool companies with really lame Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and, well, forget LinkedIn. When it comes to building a social presence, sometime brands with hip corporate cultures choke on their own awesomeness. They suddenly forget who they are and instead try to sell their coolness to followers when they should be letting it show naturally and organically, SEO pun intended. Listen to what your customers are saying about you on social and respond in a voice they will recognize and appreciate. Anything less should put you on the naughty list.

Whether you’re trying to perfect your rugelach recipe, struggling with your tree lights, or preparing to light the Mishumaa Saba, make a pledge this holiday season to commit yourself to social customer service. By next December, you might find that engagement, sales, and customer love, actually (another shameless holiday movie mention) are all around.

• Fine-tune your copy: Carefully staging the appropriate SEO keyword phrases throughout your advertisements and blog postings will help draw targeted consumers to your website. For example, as your neighborhood’s resident yoga studio, you could create blog postings expounding upon “7 Heart-Healthy Yoga Positions” or “Yoga Options in Trinity, Florida.” You can better serve the interests of your niche market by researching phrases that your target consumers are searching on Google.
• Utilize lifestyle marketing techniques: Seek your consumers in the places they frequent, and advertise to them there. Some imaginative thinking will come in handy here. When I worked as an intern at a music marketing firm, we placed strategic stacks of CD samplers and indie rock band stickers in trendy boutiques, head shops and music venues. People who buy trendy indie music also shop for trendy indie clothes, after all.
• Partner up: Consider working closely with companies that provide services within your realm of expertise but that aren't directly competing with you. These “sister companies” will help your business spread its good name throughout the community, exposing it to clients who may not have discovered it otherwise. Great combinations include makeup artists and event photographers, freelance graphic designers and copywriters, and fitness trainers and nutritionists.
• Dispense freebies: The thought of giving anything away for free may feel like a crushing blow to the small business owner, but doing so will create a reliable path to lead niche customers right to your shop. If your company happens to sell high-end jars of Beluga caviar, contact a select few upscale culinary bloggers and offer to partner up for a reader giveaway. When the blogger writes up a post about your freebies, he just may provide your company with some of the greatest PR it has ever experienced.
• Court the tastemakers: You know these influential people. They’re the ones in key positions to influence a body of your potential clients or customers. If you run a restaurant, reach out to your city’s local food bloggers and attempt to form a professional liaison. Having someone with an arsenal of consumer outreach at their fingertips creates such advantages that many businesses actually sponsor events to bring tastemakers together in one place.
• Sell yourself: Take the face of your company out into the community and meet members of your actual niche market. Targeting potential consumers is never easier than when you’re selling yourself – join local groups, attend meetings or conventions, and set up booths at celebratory events like parades and festivals. Here is where you’ll be able to personally meet with those you seek.

Have other ideas for reaching a niche market? The best part about online marketing is that you have many options for how to target a specific audience.  For more suggestions, check out the blog at Vantage Local, where we focus on tactics for local advertisers using targeted display advertising.

As we look toward 2013, a number of themes jump out as key trends: social media, mobile technology, location-based marketing, and gamification. Here’s a roundup on what we think will happen in these areas and their impact on the digital space.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing gained an exceptional amount of steam in 2012, as parties ranging in size from international brands to local businesses jockeyed to start (or grow) their efforts and presence here.  As 2013 looms, social media marketing is set to become a top priority marketing tactic. No longer a nominal experiment, businesses recognize that social networks are where their targeted customers are spending huge amounts of time.  With this knowledge, prepare to see marketers shift their dollars to the social arena. A key point for businesses will be to rise above the clutter, and savvy marketers will use a mix of content, engagement, and promotions to grab the attention of consumers and extend the reach of their communities.

Marketing Shift to Consumers

With rise of social media and the changes in search engine ranking algorithms, the shift from link building to content marketing will grow. Digital marketers have said that "content is king" for what seems like ages, but a new trend is emerging where both king and queen tango — and the queen is consumer engagement multiplication.  Great content is always necessary, but the need and potential of engaging consumer messengers moves to the forefront in the year ahead. Consumer messengers are influencers who have the ability through their social sharing to take content messages to their own networks and to the masses, greatly extending and multiplying the reach of brand marketing efforts. Consumers who share great content will be a defining marketing conduit in 2013.

Gamification

The rise of gamification will expand as consumers respond to promotions that reward them for participation and sharing. Gaming isn’t new, of course, and it’s been an end in itself where in-game purchases are made of marketed products.  In 2013, though, game strategies will extend further into the mainstream marketing sector as a significant strategy within social marketing, not just within the game industry. Tools for social networks that have a game component - and that incentivize social sharing as part of the promotions - have proven successful, and we’ll see more growth in that field.  Related as it is to the shift toward content marketing through consumers, gamification is another valuable way to kick-start the sharing process and extends to find new customers.

Cross-Social Network Promotions

Social marketing promotions will reach across platforms, bringing two or more social networks into play during a promotion. Instead of relying just on Facebook, promotions will grow by incorporating additional social networks intertwined in a promotion.  We’re already seeing promotions that are based on a Facebook page, but require a Pinterest, Twitter, or Instagram-integrated component as part of the entry and participation process.  Businesses will continue to leverage their strength on one social platform to extend their reach on others.

Rise of SoLoMo

SoLoMo, the intersection of social, local, and mobile marketing efforts, will hit the mainstream.  Marketers recognize the time spent on social networks, and they’ll reach out through these platforms to mobile users to engage them with location-based specials.  Additionally, local stores will offer incentives to nearby mobile users to draw them into the store.  While in-store, businesses can utilize QR codes and signage to drive users to their social sites for further connection. SoLoMo will capitalize on the rise of smartphone use to pull together social and local initiatives, offering a more personalized and localized experience that can build greater customer loyalty.

The evolution of digital marketing is a clearly defined path, and the savviest marketers have already benefited from recognizing consumers’ eagerness to share content on social media; interact with their preferred brands; and receive rewards for sharing marketing messages. The trends we’ve outlined here are no longer experimental — they have proven and positive results when implemented well. Marketers should embrace these growing trends… in 2012 they were suggestions, but in 2013, they’ll be requirements for the savvy digital marketer.

_____________________________________________

Mike Gingerich is a co-founder of TabSite.com, the industry leader in Facebook fan page management. TabSite offers brands the power to boost Facebook engagement while leveraging the ability to simultaneously extend reach on Platforms such as Pinterest.  Their innovative Pin Deal application for Facebook Pages that integrates a Facebook promotion with Pinterest sharing is one example of this social synergy. For more information on Tabsite, please visit www.tabsite.com.

Through electronic word of mouth and online reviews, consumers will market to other consumers.  Because marketers cannot control this, they will need to reward consumers for positive marketing reviews, offering incentives.  To reach individual consumers, marketers will need to use micro-targeting techniques that offer personalized messages.

The traditional marketing concept of "push and pull" will lose effectiveness as a result of the power that consumers gain through the two-way dialog of social media.  The social interactions provided by social media platforms will turn marketing techniques upside down, placing consumers in the role of marketers.

As you are planning for 2013, your business will find itself facing questions concerning the social impact of your business and brand.  Winnie Hart and Lorrie Lee from TwinEngine share 13 in 2013 – Social Media Marketing trends that will take flight.

#2 Marketing turns upside down

- We are all marketers now

- Evolution from 'all about us' to 'all about them'

- Two-way marketing strategies support social shift - monolog to dialog marketing

- Agencies are challenged to develop new models

- Campaigns are no longer flat - need for integrated strategy and plan

- More targeted, more relevant, more effective

For more trending in 2013, follow our blog.

Download the complete infographic here.

Online, Digital and Social Media Marketing will be key initiatives for companies in 2013. The importance of building long term brand equity and ROI will be key focuses. Social Strategies to develop targeted campaigns, leverage data and implement emerging technologies and tools will be the drivers for success.

As you are planning for 2013, your business will find itself facing questions concerning the social impact of your business and brand.  Winnie Hart and Lorrie Lee from TwinEngine share 13 in 2013 – Social Media Marketing trends that will take flight.

1. Social Media Marketing gains impact as key marketing tactic
- Companies see the importance of building brand equity through social media
- Engagement grows and companies seek ways to leverage data
- Evolution of engagement is accelerated by empowered consumers
- Social platforms consumers use to interact with companies continues to multiply
- Need for social media marketing strategy and systems are key

2. Marketing turns upside down
- We are all marketers now
- Evolution from ‘all about us’ to ‘all about them’
- Two-way marketing strategies support social shift – monolog to dialog marketing
- Agencies are challenged to develop new models
- Campaigns are no longer flat – need for integrated strategy and plan
- More targeted, more relevant, more effective

3. Social influence moves beyond ‘like’ to incentive driven recommendations
- Consumers will market to consumers
- Marketers reward consumers for marketing
- Move beyond ‘Like’ to incentives
- Micro-targeting gains impact

4. Marketing grows enterprise wide and can no longer sustain being a ‘department’
- Marketing is no longer a department
- Social strategies will be utilized internally to maximize productivity and communication
- Social Media Manager role will emerge

5. Discounts and giveaways will incentivize social sharing of branding content
- Brands will build sharable marketing strategies
- Shift from viral marketing to sharable marketing strategies

6. Social media impacts business infrastructures – siloed communication systems are challenged
- Transformational changes – social impacts business infrastructures
- Siloed communication systems are challenged
- Knowledge-sharing cultures will emerge

7. Social channels integrate and align
- Social channels align and new channels emerge
- Top five channels remain – Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube
- Blogs – targeted, keyword focused searchable content feeds into social channels
- Facebook – Gifts will transform Facebook. Paid ads shift to paid content. Facebook moves into social search
- LinkedIn – evolves and grows from HR focus to brand building for companies
- Twitter – the newsroom of the future
- YouTube – gains reputation as key search tool
- Pinterest – will lead in social shopping
- Social gaming – will go mainstream and begin to be cross-platform
- Google+ – sharing to targeted lists is on the rise
- Monitoring tools, ROI measurement and analytic solutions will improve
- Google supports content hierarchy. Premium links remain key performers

8. Rise of Augmented Reality – visualization over data
- Untapped potential
- Brings static pages to life
- Google’s AR glasses
- Interactive instructions, training, windshield AR navigation

9. Media spend shifts from display to paid and sponsored content
- Continued move from traditional to digital
- Google remains majority spend
- Targeted and personalized
- Shift to sponsored content instead of display ads

10. Social Reputation Management drives ‘Do Good’ campaign strategies
- Reputation management
- Corporate focus on messaging strategies

11. The dawn of social TV – where viewers comment and share during air time
- Consumers and clients engage with content
- TV becomes a hybrid of TV, Social, Video

12. Social commerce driven by recommendations – rapid growth in digital wallets
- Recommendations become key driver in online commerce
- Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies
- Emerging Google Wallet and Microsoft social platform

13. SEO shifts – less focus on tricks and more on good online marketing
- Authenticity and understanding needs of target audience drive engagement
- Brands build from quality content, interactions with influencers
- Google rewards good marketing

For more trending in 2013, follow our blog.

Download the complete infographic here.

You knew instinctively that the breakout popularity of social networks meant that ads were close behind. Advertisers go where the crowds are. But even those of you who have been following social for years might be surprised at how quickly social advertising has grown and flourished.

Some social networks, like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube, had advertising built-in virtually at the time they launched. Some, like Twitter, resisted the pull to monetize and moved slowly (their progress led by other players like 140 Proof). Others, like Google+, still haven't plugged in the advertising machine. 

What's the point of being "included" in a process where "inclusion" has no price or meaning?I've written in this space before about the hollowness of our industry's Request-for-Proposal (RFP) process (see "The Fiesta Nobody Loves") and how damaging it can be to sales teams and publisher organizations. Yet across thousands of sellers I meet during workshops and industry events, the human-powered agency RFP is still the cornerstone on which they build their sales strategies. “I just started here two months ago,” one young seller told me. “So my goal is to get on as many RFPs as I can so that I can get a toehold with some of my accounts.”Unfortunately, this rep (and thousands of others) equates “inclusion” in the RFP process as a step-victory. Because unlike the TV marketplace (with its fixed number of sellers and limited inventory) or the historical print buying process (submit your RFP and we’ll meet), digital RFPs carry no “cost of inclusion” for the buyer: to add another publisher or network to an RFP means nothing more than “Control V” – pasting another e-mail into...

Social Ads: a Timeline of Events

	September 2003: MYSPACE LAUNCHES.   MySpace reached the 1 million user mark within a month of its official launch. It was founded by employees from eUniverse, a marketing company. Basic display ads followed soon after launch.
	February 2004: FACEBOOK LAUNCHES.  Ads were an early addition to the platform, without real targeting or quality to speak of. As Facebook's user base grew, so did advertising demand. Facebook didn't really turn on the revenue firehose until COO Cheryl Sandberg joined in 2007.
	August 2007: YOUTUBE LAUNCHES VIDEO OVERLAY ADS.     YouTube chose to try out banners over its videos first, asserting that users wouldn't like pre-roll media. YouTube later added pre-roll videos in 2010.
	November 2007: FACEBOOK LAUNCHES ADS POWERED BY BEACON. Facebook had integrated Microsoft's adCenter banners in 2006, but Beacon was Facebook's first major attempt at building social features into its advertising. Beacon aimed to bring users' browsing data from other sites into Facebook to improve ad targeting. However, the program attracted such a volume of user backlash that Facebook ultimately revised its social ad strategy.
	February 2008: GOOGLE LAUNCHES ADSENSE for YOUTUBE.  The only social platform to give content producers a cut of ad revenue, Google integrated its popular AdSense program into YouTube to incentivize video publishers to stick around.
	August 2008: FACEBOOK TESTS "ENGAGEMENT ADVERTISING."  In the great debate between the open platforms and the walled gardens, Facebook has always preferred to keep its users within Facebook. That's why it began testing Engagement Ads, which offered advertisers anything but a click for their calls to action. Comments, virtual gifts, and likes were the first calls to action tested, with event RSVPs and other formats soon to follow.
	January 2010: 140 PROOF LAUNCHES TARGETED SOCIAL ADVERTISING 140 Proof was the first interest graph based social ad platform, with sharing built-in to every ad. It initially started with a self-serve advertising platform and then pivoted its offering to focus on the needs of big brands.
	February 2010: 140 PROOF LAUNCHES  ADVERTISING A.P.I.   Developers of social apps great and small began plugging into 140 Proof's social ads API, which uses interest graph data to match social users with brand messages that are relevant for them.
	March 2010: TWITTER CEO EV WILLIAMS DELAYS AD LAUNCH @ SXSW. Most pundits had their fingers crossed before SXSW that @ev would announce Twitter's long-awaited ad strategy in his keynote interview. But millions of watchers were disappointed when, instead of an ad platform, Ev announced Twitter's so-called “at platform”, which sought to bring Twitter functionality to more users. (It had nothing to do with ads.)
	April 2010: 140 PROOF LAUNCHES SHAREABLE ADS.  Social means connections. Why shouldn't a social ad be social? 140 Proof's ads launched sharing + retweet-ability in 2010 for Twitter and Facebook-powered apps. How often do people share relevant recommendations and content? A lot, it turns out.
	July 2010: FORD REVEALS THE NEW EXPLORER EXCLUSIVELY ON FACEBOOK.   Ford was one of the first big brands to invest heavily in social, and it showed in 2010 when they eschewed all traditional channels and turned to Facebook as the exclusive medium for their big reveal of the new 2011 Ford Explorer.
	December 2010: TWITTER FINALLY LAUNCHES UNTARGETED ADS.  After a long period of PR and limited testing, Twitter eventually coaxed a few customers into trying its ad product, roughly one year after other players in the social ecosystem had started monetizing Twitter streams with paid media.
	January 2011: FACEBOOK LAUNCHES SPONSORED STORIES.   Considered by the press to be version 2 of the ill-fated Beacon, Sponsored Stories feature user photos in each ad, which Facebook claims brings a 60% boost in performance.
	May 2011: 140 PROOF LAUNCHES VIDEO ADS IN SOCIAL.     Boosted by the widespread popularity of video and huge user activity around live televised events like the Super Bowl, 140 Proof began offering video ads to brand advertisers who wanted to extend their TV and pre-roll campaigns to social.
	June 2011: GOOGLE LAUNCHES GOOGLE+      Google+ is Google's fourth attempt at a social network (after Orkut, Wave, and Buzz). Intent on getting the experience right, Google+ didn't have ads at launch — and it still doesn't. Though none of us really expects the world's biggest online ad company to hold off on Google+ ads forever.
	May 2012: G.M. PULLS ITS AD SPEND FROM FACEBOOK.     Just days before the Facebook IPO, the press discovered that GM was pulling its entire Facebook ad spend — about $10 million. While some opined that GM was just trying to get a better deal out of Facebook, the scars still haven't fully healed. In spite of the GM pullout, Facebook is on track for another billion dollar year in social ads.
	July 2012: FOURSQUARE LAUNCHES PROMOTED UPDATES.     Three years after launch, Foursquare brings paid placement to its user feeds in the Explore tab with Promoted Updates, brand recommendations based on user searches.

What was your favorite moment in the rise of social advertising? Did we miss any big achievements, milestones, or missteps? Let us know in the comments.

It’s about time that digital marketers learn how to be more real.  Well, more real-time. Just like Darwin said, it’s not about being the biggest, or the smartest, it’s about responding fast.

Digital marketers are clamoring to leverage social media data and real-time marketing technologies to understand consumer attitudes and interests, but listening and responding on a traditional media cycle is too slow. A four-week reaction time is too late to leverage anything that happens. Listening and media buying need to happen together, in real time.

How many times have you noticed the same exact video or funny picture (most likely of a cat or wedding proposal) being shared by a few of your friends on Facebook? Then at dinner when you wanted to share this funny piece of content, alas, you realize that everyone around the table already saw it? That’s how fast content moves around the web, Pinterest “pins” are being shared on Facebook, Tumblr posts are being retweeted on Twitter and many pieces of content get their 15 minutes of fame. Internet fame is temporary; people flock from one meme or trend to another within hours and from one social network to another within minutes.

But it’s not only memes that spread like wildfire across the web; it’s also news, opinions, and other worldly topics and discussions. Everyone has their own micro-community they live in – tech, sports, cars, cooking, motherhood. News spreads. And fast. 24/7. Those who care about it will know about it. In this environment, brands need to be agile. How can they connect with their audience in the moment they care the most (or at least just care)?

To understand just how fast a topic can emerge and recede online, take the recent example of the release of a new trailer for the hit game Call of Duty [see graph below].  The Trailer's announcement on May 1st was greeted with an immediate surge of interest and discussion on Twitter.  Within less than 24 hours, the conversation shifted from Twitter to a high level of comment activity on YouTube.  In real time, users shifted their behavior from a discovery platform in Twitter, to a viewing and discussion platform in YouTube.  Even more compelling is the fact that the topic almost entirely receded in less than 48 hours.  In a total arc of just 72 hours, a compelling piece of content was discovered, consumed, and discarded.

So what tools are available to help marketers crack the real-time nut?  Technology companies like Baynote and SocialFlow, for example, help marketers make decisions about what content to release and when based on their followers’ real-time conversations.  Companies like Motista and WiseWindow gather social media data to analyze real-time trends around brands and products.

Although, often, it takes more than available tools and technologies, digital marketers need to shift their way of thinking and campaign strategies to reflect how quickly interests shift online. They need to listen and move in real-time.

To paraphrase Darwin, it’s about being responsive. And fast. Really, really fast.

So what’s happened since the emergence of social? Well, let’s see…

1. Smartphones now make up more than half of all U.S. cell phones
2. Americans now spend more time on Facebook mobile than its website
3. One in five smartphone owners use geosocial or “check-in” services, up 50%

It’s a mobile world – and brands are just living in it?

Yes, the mobile paradigm is here for brands to embrace. And when it comes to social marketing, the game is now changing. Mobile is already on its way towards becoming the dominant channel, and this trend will not be reversing.

The biggest challenge marketers face in this new era is customer fragmentation across social-mobile platforms. Just a couple of years ago things were quite different. In August 2010, for instance, Facebook was supposedly killing Foursquare with the launch of Places. And a year later, almost the opposite was suggested when Facebook killed Places. But what really happened was that Facebook doubled down on location by making it platform-wide. And with Foursquare’s continued growth, it’s certainly no longer a question of which of the two platforms brands should embrace. It’s about leveraging both – and more.

More than ever before, brands now need to take a holistic approach to social-mobile marketing. Because social engagement happens on the go to such a great degree and across multiple platforms, connecting the social-mobile ecosystem is critical. The reality is that these platforms are not silos at the local level; they are part of an ecosystem, where the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

Each platform offers unique features and qualities. For instance, Foursquare and Instagram are superb sources of location-specific content, so publishing geo-tagged photos and tips to the corresponding Facebook place pages is a perfect way to make the platforms work together. That’s free content created by local brand advocates that is then shared with local fans. And the brand advocate who originally took the photo or left the tip can get a tweet saying thanks for posting and check it out on the local Facebook page.  Brands can initiate this “game of tetherball” with their customers and create a virtuous cycle of earned and owned media. (Full disclaimer: This type of content curation and publishing is a specific feature-set in the MomentFeed platform.)

At MomentFeed we recently launched tools for centralized management of Facebook Offers and Foursquare Check-In Specials. With or without MomentFeed though, smart marketers realize the importance of “managing the whole” when it comes to social-mobile campaigns as well as understanding campaign performance in the broader context of overall customer engagement at the local level. Check-ins, likes, photos, tips and geo-tagged tweets all need to be looked at together – along with any social-mobile campaign data – for brands to get the most out of social in the mobile paradigm.

Rob Reed is Founder and CEO of MomentFeed, the first social marketing platform built for mobile. MomentFeed brings together Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, and Instagram as a unified solution for connecting brands and consumers at the point of sale.

Looks like, ‘Going Viral’ ambition is becoming more contagious among practitioners than the campaigns themselves. But is it really to do with our respective digital fluency, strategies, game plans, tools deployed &  execution techniques, or simply the brazen truth, that we don’t own the ‘Brands’ in the Social world. Real People do.

As Kevin Alloca, Trends Manager at Youtube points out that “the videos that go really viral [over 1 Million views] are surprisingly the ones that were never posted with that intent.” However he is quick to add that “what made them really go viral was the element of ‘unexpectedness’ about them which caught the attention of ‘tastemakers’ and online communities who accelerated the social sharing process [and not the originators of these videos].”

What Lady Gaga knows about Social Media that we don’t:

While buzz concepts of Crowd-Sourcing, People to People Marketing, Testimonials, & User reviews, Nurturing Communities and Social Engagement all sound nice and proper, what brands really need to do is show up without make-up.

Welcome to the Online Culture, over here ‘content’ is the only celebrity, ‘brand deeds’ the only competitive edge, ‘making the conversations flow’ the only strategy and ‘accepting & admitting to flaws’ your trump card to applause. Lady Gaga would agree, real people hangout here, so show-up with make-up and act yourself, they might just find you interesting.

Being Human about a Brand:

The magic word I guess for all of us in this virtual-real world as aptly pointed out by Trendwatching.com is Mature+ Naturalism = Maturalism or what I call ‘Being Human about a Brand’. Interestingly enough, increasingly brands are getting mature about their online worlds and embracing the no make-up policy when it comes to breathing online.

Few inspirational cases that walked the talk on acting Mature & Real:

#1 Johnson & Johnson’s Personal Power ballad apology video

This is the story of how Johnson & Johnson won back its outraged women customers protesting against the news of their popular O.B. Ultra tampon product discontinuation. Instead of acting smart, cheeky or conventionally clever, they decided to be human. They did what any man would do to win back his love who was upset with him. They choose the power of romance and dedicated a ballad apology video exclusively to her, where-in each lady could fill in their name and see her personalized power ballad apology video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

#2 Domino Pizza’s Turnaround Transparency

Conventionally any brand would have defended its position when faced with widespread dissent about its product quality that got triggered by an inappropriate employee conduct video that went viral. But Domino Pizza chose to be brave about the whole episode by turning the situation on its head. They used it to delight customers with a ‘Transparent journey into product re-invention’ shared openly with customer across social media platforms. In fact they went ahead and took New York’s Times Square for a month to live-stream all (good and bad) customer feedback tweets onto the digital hoarding, in the process winning the customers back.

Click here to view the embedded video.

#3 Miracle Whip ‘We are not for everyone’ stance

Here’s the story of another brand who took an extremely bold stance of everyone can’t become a fan of your brand. Kraft Foods’ Miracle Whip brand launched a campaign in February 2011 with the slogan, ‘We’re not for everyone. Are you Miracle Whip?’ The brand’s YouTube channel featured celebrities expressing their love (or disgust) for the mayonnaise-like condiment, while viewers could vote for whether they loved or hated the sauce. By February 2012, 60,000 people had ‘loved’ the brand while only 4,000 had ‘hated’ it. In process they build admiration among both users and non-users for off-course different reasons.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sure Social Media world can go Gaga over our brands too, provided:

a)     We embrace maturity of purpose: Being Human about brands

b)     Ditch the make-up and show the real, vulnerable self

c)      Don’t aspire to be flawless, rather embrace limitations

d)     Take a stance, the social world would respect us for it

e)     Just cool technology stunts would not propel our brands

f)      Don’t aspire to go ‘Viral’ but go ‘Unexpected’

And gladly our Scotty would ‘beam us up’.

[First appeared in Marketing Magazine Malaysia-June 2012 Issue]

Certainly this is not a new phenomenon, but there does seem to be an urgency that wasn’t there even a year ago. To be quite candid, our effort to get our organization up to snuff has been a struggle for many years—even with a successful digital practice that has been critical to our growth for more than 15 years now.

A very senior-level colleague of mine, who grew up in the traditional agency world as a creative, recently said, “I’ve come to the realization that it’s time to evolve or die.” Essentially he’s applying the “Digital Darwinism” principle to our talent. The statement struck me—no longer is training enough. No longer is hiring new digitally savvy talent enough. And, no longer is it enough to talk about evolving your culture to a more digital mindset. It’s now time for all of us—even those of us who grew up in the technology sector—to evolve quickly or watch our careers die quick deaths.

Is it a harsh reality or overreaction?

The idea that people should lose their jobs because they haven’t holistically embraced digital is harsh. Does that mean that they have to give up their other skills as planners, brand managers, PR specialists, or writers? Of course not. But if brand teams and agencies don’t have this “fight to the death” approach, there is a realistic chance that entire agencies will go out of business, and once-mighty brands will cease to exist. There are numerous recent examples, but just take a look at Best Buy, RIM, Barnes & Noble and Radio Shack to name a few. Digital Darwinism—according to the many writings of Brian Solis—essentially says that many companies have gone out of business (or will soon) because they have not figured out how to adapt as quickly as consumers’ use of new technology. I would contend that the only way to combat that is with your most valuable asset—your people.

As a leader in your organization, what should you do to win in this ever-evolving digital arena?

1) Throw everyone in the game. But, give them a short leash.

In the book The Hunger Games, there are those who are known as “Careers”—those who have trained and prepared all of their lives for a battle to the death. In our industry, there are Careers as well—those digital natives who have a digital title and have spent the past 15 or more years honing their digital skills. But just because they have “digital” in their title doesn’t mean they are equipped for today’s front line. They have a head start, but they certainly can’t rest on their laurels. They need to evolve just like everyone else. On the flip side, we need to give everyone the chance to shine to make sure we don’t overlook some real talent.

2) Selection day... Make it count.

Smart recruiting is critical! Build a digital index to help guide your hiring process... and insist on 100 percent adherence. People who adamantly request training at the first interview is a red flag for the wrong type of talent. We are in a “just figure it out era.” If an employee hasn’t done some preliminary exploration before asking their question, find someone else. It is one thing to do your homework and then talk “digital.” It is another to know how to DO digital in a way that moves the needle for your brand or your clients.

3) Reward the self-starters.

Here’s the tough part. Some employees—even the “Careers”—aren’t going to make it. Not every brand manager, CMO, or agency employee who needs to “learn digital” will have the ability or motivation to do it—even if you build it into their performance plans. In each case, some will rise to the top and show a spark. In the Hunger Games “arena,” those who show promise, and show a spark, are rewarded by “sponsors” with tangible items that keep them going strong. These items build confidence and prepare them further for battle. In our world this could be extra budget for training, landing the better projects or even personal mentoring time. By ferreting out, and then rewarding, those who have the most potential, you’ll give your team the best chance to not only survive, but thrive.

4) Allow there to be more than one winner.

This is critical. We all need to feed off each other. No one can be an “expert” in all things digital. If you meet someone who claims to be, be very skeptical. It’s impossible, and we all need each other to survive. The best digital strategists will freely admit that they don’t know everything. But, it’s been my experience that when they don’t know something, they work very hard very quickly to learn it. And, your digital experts also need to be willing to be teachers. The “I have power because I know something you don’t” approach needs to end. If you have employees who have that approach, they need to change quickly—or they need to go.

Really? Evolve or die?

If you haven’t noticed it is cutthroat out there. The best digital employees have more choices than ever before. The competition for talent goes well beyond other marketers and agencies.

As I test this notion out on many of my peers it seems that everyone feels the same way. Enough talk. Over the next 12 months your plan should include ferreting out those who try to get by as digital experts by showing that they have a great Twitter follower base. Recognize that sending a bevy of employees to SXSW or some other conference does not constitute as “training” or preparation to lead. Accountability for doing, practicing, failing quickly but learning along the way is the only way. My guess is that most agency and brand teams will be up for that challenge.

©All rights Reserved Peter Schofield

This is part 2 of a series on the challenge of targeting SMB markets and how the use of buyer modeling and buyer-based marketing help organizations to grow their SMB customer base.

In the first article of this series, we visited two new realities. One, that many Fortune 1000 and Global 2000 organizations are turning a focused eye towards growing their SMB customer and revenue base. With revenue growth potential shrinking in larger strategic accounts due to budget and pricing pressures, many are dedicating attention and resources with more determination than in the past. The second reality is that they are finding a very different buyer this time around than in the past. Simply put, SMB buyers are more social, more sophisticated, more connected, and are transforming their buying behaviors at an accelerated pace. New technologies opening their world to advantages only once afforded to large enterprises.

Waking up to these new realities has set up another challenge for executive leaders. That is of how to get to know the new SMB buyer. Here’s how one sales executive put this to me recently:

“One of the things we realized is that we have got to get to know our SMB customers. If you keep in mind that we haven’t really dedicated much resource to this area, then we are lacking in knowledge per se’. We’ve got to find out what is important to them versus just giving them some generic sales pitch.”

This is a very salient point for many organizations tend to view the SMB as a whole segment in of itself. The reality is that the SMB is highly fragmented and consists of many layers of sub-market segments. Getting to know what makes SMB buyers tick is, by no means, as easy as saying this is your SMB buyer. Layer on top of this the enormous changes in buyer behavior, the invisibility of SMB buyers in their sourcing for information, and new empowering technologies makes this endeavor a higher mountain to climb. It is no wonder many executives are walking out of their meetings where SMB growth is identified as a top priority saying – now what?

Getting To Know The New SMB Buyer

The first tough challenge is realizing that viewing the SMB as a single market and that rudimentary means of segmenting by employee size and revenue figures are not going to result in the understanding needed. While vertical segmentation is of significant help, what is paramount is knowledge of how these sub-markets and buyers within behave. What are steps that executives can take to understand the new SMB buyer?

Buyer Research: This has to be a clear mission. Getting to know the new SMB buyer is going to take some level of buyer research. It is going to take the integrated approach of committing to both quantitative and qualitative approaches to understand the full 360 degrees of the new SMB buyer.

Buyer Modeling: Depending on the degree of fragmentation in sub-markets, powerful buyer modeling can be an extensive exercise. However, one well-worth the upfront investment to get to know the new SMB buyer in ways that transforms efforts into an order of magnitude competitive advantage. There are several areas of modeling that by understanding them deeply, can make your organization relevant to buyers and core to their problem-solving:

Buyer Persona Modeling: What is important here is not to model the single archetypal buyer but to model the new levels of interactions buyers are having with newly formed ecosystems and networks. They may be SMB but they are growing exponentially and organically by creating new ecosystems. Buyer persona modeling represents composite archetypes based on behavioral research with a focus on identifying critical goals that drive buyer behaviors.

Buyer Scenario Modeling: To get a handle on the problems SMB buyers face and what confronts them, modeling buying scenarios can give your marketing and sales teams insight into how to be relevant. Additionally, this gives you the ability to address fragmentation and identify sub-market segments that have the best optimal scenarios to be part of the SMB buyer’s solution.

Buyer Decision Modeling: How SMB buyers are making purchase decisions today is changing so fast and by sub-markets that not monitoring this aspect of a SMB strategy can put an organization behind the curve. While looking at the buyer decision journey can be fruitful, in my qualitative research I’ve noted how the new SMB buyers are adept at more ad-hoc decision-making. Furthermore, with the rise of ecosystems and networks, collaborative efforts in making purchase decisions are not so neatly streamlined. Newer technologies are also making purchase decisions more decentralized than ever – making fragmentation on this issue even more complex.

Buyer Value Modeling: SMB buyers’ value varies widely by sub-market segments. Gaining insight and modeling how these values operate in their day-to-day world can help you to tailor offerings and communications to fit specific sub-market segments. Depending on the industry and markets, values in the SMB take on a deeper emotive texture and can be a deciding factor in purchase decisions.

Avoid Big Data Trap

With the rise of big data, there will be a tendency to try and “cut the numbers” every which way to make sense of the SMB market challenge. When dealing with 5,000 SMB accounts to 150,000 SMB accounts, the tasks of getting to know these SMB buyers at a deeper level can look downright daunting. Analytics will play an important role towards reaching understanding. I also contend and advocate that qualitative and predictive buyer modeling is essential to integrate into the mix of discovering the new SMB buyer of today. Buyer behavior within the SMB world is rapidly changing. A reasonable assumption can be made that in some SMB sub-market segments it is changing at a faster pace than that of larger organizations.

The combined use of analytics and predictive buyer modeling can yield an insightful picture into how these new behaviors translate into uncovering why buyers make purchase decisions. And, get closer to the holy grail of uncovering the reasons why they would change.

Next Up: The Importance of Buyer-Based Marketing in SMB

Follow @TonyZambito

Related articles

• Your Top Priority Is Growing The SMB Revenue Base - Now What? (buyerology.com)
• How B2B Leaders Are Understanding Buyers Better With Behavioral Buyergraphics (buyerology.com)
• The Single Buyer Model: A Dangerous Road Towards Competitive B2B Marketing (buyerology.com)
• 4 Ways the Power of Buyer Choice Will Transform Business Marketing (buyerology.com)
• Slow Death of the Funnel: Why Buyer Choice Matters to Revenue (buyerology.com)
• Predictive Buyer Modeling Is Changing the Future of B2B (buyerology.com)

I found sessions like “Social CRM Means Business” and “Case Study: Leveraging Social CRM to Drive Customer Satisfaction, Retention and Advocacy” particularly relevant given how digitally focused our world has become. In fact, a February 2012 poll of CMOs conducted by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business reveal that a significant portion of future marketing spending will be directed to online efforts, which is expected to climb 12.8% over the next year. What’s more, social media marketing spend is predicting to nearly triple over five years. 

Increasing social media marketing spend is further indication that marketing is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Now, more than ever, the objective is to put the consumer at the center of marketing efforts while empowering marketers to take control of the relationship. While many brands have succeeded in building large communities of fans and followers on social networks, very few are maximizing the revenue potential of these captive audiences.  This creates a significant opportunity for social marketing  technology.

One of the compelling presentations at the event was from keynote speaker and renowned author, entrepreneur and marketing strategist Seth Godin.  I quote, “It is not about inside the box or outside the box, but defining and living on the edge of the box.” So, in the spirit of helping marketers get comfortable “on the edge,” I thought I’d share some of the best tweets coming out of the event, as well as a few of my own that I thought were worth repeating.

@kmhambelton: 2012 is the year to take action via SocialCRM - adapt or die choice in many industries

@meditubc: My Starbucks Idea" http://t.co/4NUndVjG noted as an outstanding example of a successful customer community #gartnerCRM

@kmhambelton: integrating social insight into CRM & knowing how to use the insights will always be the Achilles heel in socialCRM #gartnercrm

@valaafshar: Gartner 2012: Top 3 #CMO priorities: data explosion, social media, and growth of channel and devices. #GartnerCRM #socbiz

@kmhambelton: if customer acquisition is the goal, clicks can't be the only KPI - sound obvious, but good advice - #gartnercrm

@kmhambelton: Due to socialCRM strategy, Macmillan publishing increased db size by 67% and sent 50% more email after years of flat growth= WOW #gartnercrm

@mazlior: Gartner Predicts: By 2013 companies using social CRM apps will represent 25% of projects worldwide - an increase from 10% in 2011 #GartnerCRM

@kmhambelton: Kraft Foods found those that belong to their community outspend by double digits vs. those that don't belong= Social ROI #gartnercrm

@kmhambelton: By 2014, 35% of all B2B and B2B2C e-commerce sites will integrate with lead mgt to optimize sales opps @ChrisFletcher #gartnercrm

@teenord: The new 4 P's of marketing. People, processes, performance, and profit. #gartnercrm

@kmhambelton: By 2015, 30% of global2000 companies that focus on improving lead mgt processes will increase rev's by 5-10%- @ChrisFletcher

@kmhambelton: marketers need to shift their lead metric from volume to value - talk to your CEO about lead to cash @ChrisFletcher #gartnercrm

@cmforum: At #GartnerCRM, speaker Kimberly Collins advises that spikes in social channels most often caused by event in another channel.

For a more in-depth event summary, Chuck Schaeffer from CRM Search does a great job providing a detailed overview of the conference. In addition, Carol Rozwell from Gartner shares her own perspectives on the event (as well as other Summits).

Were you able to attend this year’s event? What topics or discussions did you find most interesting? Feel free to share any feedback or comments below.