Improve your marketing this year by following this plan of action outlined by Renegade's director of strategic planning.
I typically start the new year with ideas to improve myself. This year I'm applying that critical lens to my life as an internet marketer. Here are some resolutions I intend to keep; you might want to add them to your list as well:
Embrace the negative review
I won't be so darn sensitive and controlling when people say bad things about me. After all, negative feedback is better than none; it means someone wants to help.
The web is a great place to practice because hundreds of consumers will willingly tell you what's wrong with your product, what's off-base in your communication, and how to improve.
Take Gamespot critic Jeff Gertsmann, who was fired because of his negative review of Kane & Lynch, an advertiser. The gaming community got wind, ranted about Gamespot's lack of integrity, made it a top story on Digg and viewed it 300,000 times on YouTube. So this year I will not silence my critics, but will listen to their constructive feedback, and admit my mistakes graciously.
Stretch beyond paid search
It's easy to be lazy and keep doing what has worked before, and there's no doubt that search works, especially for big brands with the money to get their message center stage on Google. That's great for reaching consumers who know exactly what they want, but not everyone takes the direct route.
Web 2.0 has changed the dynamics of online search. Peer recommendations direct consumers toward second tier, smaller brands that people love enough to tag, or recommend on review sites like CNET, Epinions and BizRate. Googling "cool gifts" produces suggestions that are not as personal as those that trusted peers have tagged on Stylehive or blogged on Gizmodo.
Social SEO is a new approach to picking keywords based on language consumers use when they talk about your brand in social networks, blogs, forums and social media outlets. This year, I will go beyond paid and natural search efforts and tune into the intimate conversation between consumers.
Collaborate with consumers beyond user-generated ads
Sometimes relationships get stale and you have to infuse them with new life. Not long ago it was fresh to ask consumers to conceive ads; the Converse Gallery, MasterCard's Write a Priceless Ad contest and Current TV leveraged consumers' brand passion and creativity, but that was then.
In 2008, I will take a hint from Facebook and Google (and Marx) and supply my audience with tools and features to build next generation web applications. I will expose the product-development process to consumers who are invested in participating in my brand. I will not succumb to the comfortable lure of old-fashioned "campaigns" but will stretch to create interactive brand experiences that leave a tangible and indelible impression. Foremost, I will be inventive and open-minded when imagining the future of consumer collaboration.
Hire a social media director
I'm sick of hearing "you never listen to me" from my consumers, so this year I'm going to pay someone to listen for me -- a social media director. While listening tools are still rather primitive, consumers are accessible online voicing their needs and frustrations in real-time -- the web is one huge user group and opinion lab. Okay, maybe several user groups and decentralized opinion sources, but they are out there 365/24/7.
An influential, thoughtful few are all you need to impact your business. For instance, listening taught us that consumers are confused by technology and leery of products they have to learn how to use. HP made a mint off that insight with its Easy Share photo solutions, so the photos you were so excited about taking make it out of your camera and onto paper in two easy steps. Apple brought us the iPod/iTunes combo so that, even though you can buy music elsewhere for less, you don't because iTunes is so easy.
Always deliver utility
At Thanksgiving I was struck anew by a familiar refrain issuing from the kitchen: "If you're going to be in here, make yourself useful." This is also wisdom for other aspects of my career as an internet marketer.
The time has come to "make ourselves useful" by building marketing programs around what brands can do for consumers. Instead of talking at people, I'm going to work on enhancing their day, filling a need, or being in the right place at the right time.
WeightWatchers.com Points Tracker keeps tabs on the value of food one consumes, even converting restaurant dishes into points to let users monitor their intake. Boost Up, a non-profit program that keeps students from dropping out of school, has a mobile application that sends uplifting "boost" notes to friends' cell phones.
Even online ads can be useful -- BearingPoint management consultancy ran banner ads that let you download white papers, saving users the extra step. Like the Thanksgiving guest who peels potatoes or scrubs pots, brands that make themselves useful will always be welcome.