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Will New iPhone Drama Gives Apple’s Reputation A Test?

Written on June 30, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

If you look at the history of Apple you will see a roller coaster ride of starts and stops, triumphs and tragedies and virtually everything in between. As it is in life, you are really only as good as your last at bat and in the past few years Apple has just been hitting a ton of home runs. Good products have a tendency to help people forget the troubles of the past.

The question today though is just how far has Apple entered the pantheon of companies that come off as bulletproof with regard to reputation. Everyone expects Steve Jobs to be opinionated and to toss grenades over many fences (just ask Adobe). While it can come off as a bit arrogant and aggressive it doesn’t hurt sales any. In fact, it may just add to the company’s and his own personal iconic stature as well as the bottom line. It depends on your point of view.

Now, there is the new iPhone 4 great antenna debate. So you are aware, I don’t own an iPhone. If they ever come to the Verizon network (check out the latest rumors here) I would probably scoop one up as soon as possible. At home, I use an iPod Touch to get my e-mail etc because my current phone is just lame (sorry BlackBerry … your Storm is just a drizzle at best).

I have read and been told both sides of this story. There is the “OMG! I can’t believe Apple would release something with this major flaw! Next stop, Armageddon!” to the “I haven’t had any problems.” set. All I can say is there is already a lawyer cooking up a class action suit so this must be real .

Now, there is a report that Steve Jobs’ assessment of this ‘trouble’ which is to say “There is nothing wrong just hold the phone correctly” is possibly the official stance of the company. I say possibly because of a report coming from the Boy Genius Report. He has ‘obtained’ a memo that shows how Apple CSR’s are supposed to handle these complaints and servicing the phone is not part of the equation. Please note there have been false reports in the past of memos with regard to the original iPhone so you have to ALWAYS allow for that possibility. Here is the content of that memo to Apple employees.

1. Keep all of the positioning statements in the BN handy – your tone when delivering this information is important.

a. The iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. Our testing shows that iPhone 4’s overall antenna performance is better than iPhone 3GS.

b. Gripping almost any mobile phone in certain places will reduce its reception. This is true of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and many other phones we have tested. It is a fact of life in the wireless world.

c. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 3GS, avoid covering the bottom-right side with your hand.

d. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 4, avoid covering the black strip in the lower-left corner of the metal band.

e. The use of a case or Bumper that is made out of rubber or plastic may improve wireless performance by keeping your hand from directly covering these areas.

2. Do not perform warranty service. Use the positioning above for any customer questions or concerns.

3. Don’t forget YOU STILL NEED to probe and troubleshoot. If a customer calls about their reception while the phone is sitting on a table (not being held) it is not the metal band.

4. ONLY escalate if the issue exists when the phone is not held AND you cannot resolve it.

5. We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON’T promise a free bumper to customers.

This is not exactly a customer friendly approach but will that even matter? It is kind of ironic that Apple is looking for antenna engineers for the iPad and iPhone but maybe that’s just a coincidence ?

Which gets back to the original question of whether Apple is doing such a great job with their products that they can play the “act as if it’s not a problem” game and come away unscathed? I don’t know. Whenever you talk about Apple products there is such intensity on both sides of the fence that it may just mean that around this issue the haters hate more and the fanboys love more. As for me and my house, I don’t really care other than watching it play out from a business perspective.

So what are your thoughts? By not offering an official statement and letting the market run riot with this concern are they creating more trouble than its worth? How should they address this situation? Is what they are doing the best way?

So many questions and so many opinions. Is your online reputation management and monitoring antenna up over this whole thing?

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Will New iPhone Drama Gives Apple’s Reputation A Test?

Ad Spend Growth Slow But It’s There

Written on June 15, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Advertising, marketing

Everyone in the advertising and marketing world would love to see everything get back to the halcyon days of ad spending like there was no tomorrow which seemed to exist prior to our current economic climate. Well, it’s OK to dream but if that dream interferes with the reality of a situation then you have trouble. A recent report on ad spending into the future produced by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and reported by the New York Times Media Decoder blog gives some insight into what may be the real situation.

Advertising spending in the United States will not begin to grow again until next year, according to an annual forecast from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The 11th annual entertainment and media outlook report, to be released on Tuesday morning, predicts that ad spending will fall 0.5 percent this year compared with last year.

That is a marked improvement from 2009, when ad spending fell 15.2 percent from 2008, according to the report, but the trend would still going in the wrong direction from the perspective of Madison Avenue.

Although ad spending will increase in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, the report forecasts, the total in 2014 will still be 9 percent less than it was in 2007.

This report is for overall ad spending so the silver lining for the Internet marketing crowd comes in the prediction that by 2014 the spending levels will exceed that of 2009. This prediction includes Internet, television and radio. While it is not much to be excited about considering the years or seemingly limitless growth (it was a new medium after all which we tend to ignore), it is still better than newspapers, magazines and directories which are not predicted to get back to 2009 spending levels even by 2014.

So while this is not exactly the kind of news you really can get excited about maybe it’s the kind of news we should expect more often. Gone are the days of hyped up numbers that lead to irrational expectations by the industry as a whole. Maybe being firmly based in reality will be a welcome change. Of course, we can’t let the social media crowd know that because then that would rain on their current parade of hype that continues to spread.

So while it is interesting for a group as powerful and respected as PWC to look into their crystal ball it by no means is definitely going to play out this way. In fact, we find here at Marketing Pilgrim that some of the best measures of what is really going on can be given by our readers who are in the trenches and doing this work day in and day out.

So what are you seeing? Is there a “rebound” in overall advertising spend? Do you think the Internet sector will rebound more quickly? If so, what will drive the growth?

Let us hear your take on this.

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Ad Spend Growth Slow But It’s There

Skype Founders Re-Found in Settlement

Written on November 6, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

The drama surrounding Skype as of late played out like a business soap opera. The accusations flew from both sides of the fence with founders and owners going at it tooth and nail. Check out Kara Swisher’s account over at All Things Digital for the blow by blow description.

Now it looks like the ‘all clear’ can be sounded as an agreement has been reached. Here’s a synopsis for you from TechCrunch

Earlier this morning, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis settled their lawsuits with eBay and a syndicate of investors in return for a 14 percent stake in the company they founded. The lawsuits were complicating the spin-off of Skype from eBay because the Skype founders still controlled the service’s underlying peer-to-peer technology.

So now the world can rest easy that Skype should move forward without the imminent threat of being taken out of the market. Of course, just because this part of the story is concluded that is no guarantee that something else might not crop up. That goes for anything though.

So what’s one of the proposed new owners Skype think? TechCrunch spoke to Marc Andreesen about the settlement.

“The deal was never held up. The money was in escrow and was going to close” even if the lawsuits weren’t settled. The transaction is on track to close later this quarter. The other investors are Silver Lake Partners and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Index Ventures and Mike Volpi are out of the deal. Josh Silverman will continue to be CEO.

Andreessen is glad that the lawsuits are settled and that the “Joltid IP is now owned by Skype,” but was prepared to litigate if it didn’t work out. He explains: “This was a completely known situation going into it. It was one of the reasons the deal was available, because of the situation. We assumed it would be a good idea to bring the founders on board and resolve all the issues, we are very pro-founder. There was some drama along the way, but we came out with everybody in the same boat rowing in the same direction.”

So now everyone is in the same boat and rowing in the same direction. Skype is tracking for $740 million in revenue so all is good with the world. Yippee!

Unfortunately, all you need to do is check out the real news and know that this is as far from the truth as it can possibly be. Have a good weekend and stay safe.

Originally posted here:
Skype Founders Re-Found in Settlement

How Social Media & Email Marketing Boost Customer Reach

Written on October 14, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing, seo

For years, rumors that email marketing is dying and teenagers the world over have proclaimed email as, “something old people do”.  

Whether you agree or disagree that email has one foot in the grave, many online marketers are finding effective ways to leverage email as part of a social media marketing mix. Integrating email and social media was the topic of discussion at a session during the MIMA Summit last week with Loren McDonald, VP of Industry Releations, SilverPop and Brian Brown, Director of Modern Marketing, ideapark.

Social sharing options embedded in online content have helped increase distribution and reach for thousands of web sites. One of the most common ways email has been used in a social context is “Forward to a Friend”.  However, the tried and true ‘Forward to a Friend’ link has less than .1% CTR, so many marketers have taken it upon themselves to find a new way to circulate content amongst networks.

Alternatively, there is  the ‘Share to Social’ (S2S) link. While  S2S is relatively new, a .5% CTR gives early reason to be optimistic according to a Silverpop study.

The Silverpop Share-to-Social study also reported that S2S is likely to result in sharing of content with 150 to 200 people on average. In contrast, a “forward to a friend” link may reach an additional 1 to 2 people. Share to social use results in a 24% increase in reach on average.

How does Share-To-Social (S2S) Work?  S2S is a call to action such as ‘Share this Newsletter’ followed by graphical links to various social network or content sharing sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, StumbleUpon and so forth. all within the email message.

If you look at most blogs and online publishers, social sharing buttons are not anything new.  In fact, TopRank created one of the first tools for blogs to embed social bookmarking buttons over 3 years ago. Posting them within email messages, however, is catching on and there are a few guidelines to follow for successful integration:

Understand what motivates subscribers to share
People share for different reasons including:

• Self Interest: People share because they think they will be rewarded. i.e. sweepstakes
• Altruism: sharing makes them feel good
• Validation: sharing feeds the ego
• Affinity: sharing makes people feel more a part of the community
• Prurience: sharing makes people feel less guilty for gawking

Target the right social networks and media
Is the use of 4 or 5 networks the right number? If not, how many is?

Be sure to do your homework and identify on which social sites your target audience is spending time. Of those, on which sites are they interacting or sharing content the most?

Once you have this identified, don’t shut down the research. Continue to follow the target audiences to make sure they aren’t migrating to a new site leaving you unaware.

Keys to targeting the right networks:

• Utilize 3^rd party research
• Survey subscribers/monitor network activity
• Test and analyze click/share activity
• Identify subtrends i.e. high value sharers
• Kill the losers

Educate subscribers on how/why to share
Despite the growth, ‘sharing’ is still early among some audiences.

Alongside the ‘share this’ buttons, consider adding a ‘what’s this’ button and give them instructions on how and why to use the feature.

Encourage people to share. Placing the links on the page/email may not be enough. Just like with anything marketing, you need to include call to actions to get people interacting.

Once you have integrated S2S, the next step is to identify high value sharers. Who are the ‘few’ people that often share your content and have a larger than average network?

Optimize email sharing design and link location
Where to put the links?

Test different placement of the ‘share this’ links. Top, Middle, Bottom, Sidebar etc.

At the very least, by moving it around you can avoid users getting used to seeing it and therefore ignoring it.

Eight ways to create shareworthy content:

1. Trustworthy - Brand and source of content or offer is widely known and trusted
2. Tap into Tribes - Message content speaks to tribal groups within subscriber base
3. Obvious - Essence of the email content to be shared is obvious, simple to grasp
4. Easy to Share - Sharing links are easy to find and use
5. Social Acumen - Targets the right social networks and social acumen of subscribers
6. Creates Value - Must provide value or recipients will not share
7. Rewards/Incentives
8. Great Content

What B2B emails are shareworthy? Articles and statistics.

What’s not shareworthy? Long newsletters, negative news and highly personalized emails.

Analyze, test and refine for increased sharing

Test – what’s working and what’s not including:

• Copy
• Link style
• Link location
• Broad vs narrow focus messages
• Viral-only messages
• High-value sharers

Key Takeaways for integrating social networks and email:

• Narrow your network focus
• Make it easy to share
• Determine what your subscribers find most ‘shareworthy’
• Identify and reward your key influencers
• Test everything and don’t be afraid to fail

At our agency TopRank, we’ve been implementing email marketing programs in conjunction with other online marketing and lead generation efforts including social media for 5 years. A good starting point to improving email effectiveness is to read some of the better email marketing tactics online and this recent post from WebProNews on why social media isn’t replacing email.

Are you implementing email marketing with social networking? (outside of the emails that occur within the social network) What have you found to be the best/worst practices?