Transparency is the new buzz word describing new marketing practices. It’s one of the quintessential aspects of successful brand building today and is the mantra of modern culture.

Transparency, honesty, sincerity or whatever you call it should govern the decision making process when creating any campaign or marketing exercise. Companies like Southwest Airlines, Apple and Ben & Jerry’s have been very successful with their portrayal of transparency, but the bar has been raised. It’s no longer good enough to seem to be personable or honest. One must prove it and continue to practice it to gain consumer trust and acceptance.

At BIG WHEEL, we constantly try to infuse our strategies with this concept. How can we soften the message to make it more palatable? What specific activities can be included to exemplify a company’s desire to communicate on a candid, one-to-one level with consumers? What features or content on a web site will facilitate this dialog, whether implied, virtual or otherwise.

Companies have tried to concoct transparency with disastrous results. It’s pretty easy for thousands, or millions of people, to spot a charlatan. If you think you can pull one over – think again. Just ask Sony or Wal-Mart.

Run with the new approach. Spend marketing dollars on adding value to your community (people you touch), not trying to steal from it. Share your stories, both good and bad. Reality isn’t perfect and it’s good to show some vulnerability. People can relate. Explore new avenues. For example, why pay for branded coffee mugs or other premiums when adding value to society is better use of your money. Maybe a TV spot isn’t the best way to reach your audience. A grassroots effort may be more cost effective and say something different about a business’ philosophy. Appeal to people’s likes and values. Help make life better. Didn’t someone once say something about giving like; you’ll get back far more than you give. And being transparent often involves the giving of something that is not traditionally considered in old school advertising.

I realize this sounds all warm and fuzzy, but when coupled with a strategic initiative based on real business goals, it can result in the creative execution of ideas and pretty surprising results.

Josh Spear of Undercurrent gives a good 20 minute talk on digital youth culture. He notes several IMPORTANT aspects of communicating with people and creating value on the web.

Notice the nice presentation visuals. Not your Daddy's PPT.

It’s what “now” marketing is all about: consumers talking to consumers about products and services. The web is the medium to facilitate this conversation and the importance of C2C, as the last un-abused channel, has never been more prominent.

C2C has always been a bonus or by-product of good B2B or B2C advertising, but it wasn’t the message’s vehicle. C2C has been known to be a powerful form of persuasion and now that advertising is rarely trusted, C2C has gained strength.

The web offers two-way, immediate communication with varying degrees of control. How online conversation is conducted and managed shapes its effectiveness. In its purest form, an unsolicited blog post or comment in a forum, the message seems real and honest. As control is exerted, the message gets tainted and meaning is lost or altered. Moderating comments or posts seems suspect and seeding topics is deemed unacceptable. Controlling or contriving communication is powerful and can have drastic affects. The previous example of a blog post is at one end of the spectrum and a flat out lie is at the other – no matter how it’s disguised.

Advertising has always been known to be adverting. It almost has a built-in disclaimer – “Beware, I’m an ad. I am carefully crafted to fool you.” But C2C does not have this wrapper, thus intensifying the reason for immediate reaction when the implied rules of conversation are broken. We’re seeing this in many instances with fake blogs, contrived viral videos and deceitful emails.

Can this abuse of C2C ruin it forever and bring the level of un-trust to that of the to-good-to-be-true ad? I think so. So agencies take note. Don’t go down the same road as you have with other media. The web is a young and vulnerable medium, but has more power than any other. Work to harness it, not abuse it. C2C is best nurtured and supported. Be the conduit or catalyst not the creator or the manipulator. If treated with respect and allowed to occur unimpeded C2C is the form of communication that will build a brand the most.

One of my favorite new marketing gurus is Joseph Jaffe. He recently published the Manifesto for Experimentation on ChangeThis. This paper reinforces the concept of "now media" and stresses the importance of changing how advertising is approached and looking forward not backward.

A colleague of mine, Jeff Stein, has coined a new term, “now media”. The web is often referred to as new media and I guess it’s new compared to how long print and broadcast have been in use, but it’s over ten years old and it ain’t that new anymore.

As with any new medium, adoption and use change rapidly in the early stages of its lifespan and the web has certainly been true to that premise. Practices that were effective five years ago are no longer viable. Presentation of information has changed drastically. Capability has grown tenfold. The most incredible fact is, how rapidly the web has been incorporated into everyday life, much faster than radio or television ever was.

The web is truly now media:

• Wireless broadband – there is even technology to turn your car into a moving hotspot
• Telephone technology is infused with web technology - Blackberry
• Print and TV graphics have been tremendously impacted
• Billions of dollars for other media budgets have been ported to the web
• Billions of dollars of commerce transact on the web
• Information is shared far more rapidly than ever before - virality
• The world has become a smaller place
• Kids are online before they can read
• Businesses use the web as their primary point of customer contact
• Enterprise application development is moving rapidly to a web-based infrastructure

Society’s use of the web changes monthly. Advertising and marketing agencies are slow to keep up and often find themselves fighting trends, not embracing and contributing to them.

Being a web professional requires “an ear to the ground.” We need to know what’s going on, what’s working and what’s not. This is why smaller, agile shops can react and reposition their practices to stay current and offer the best solutions to their clients. It’s too easy to be insulated from the “front lines” in a large agency or in a corporate environment.

“Now” IS now. It’s not Web 2.0. It’s not tried and true. No one person or company is leading the way – at least not for long. It’s not the same today as it will be tomorrow. There is little equity in past performance. Those that are looking to the past for answers will soon be lost. There is little reward without risk. Everyday is a new challenge.

It's difficult to be creative.

Every agency is trying to reach their client’s audience in a new way. One way is tapping into the organic communication that evolves from web communities and Zipatoni is no different.

Zipatoni tried and failed with their latest “viral” escapade, “All I want for Xmas is a PSP.” I credit them for trying to do something new. The risk was high and I hope they realized that, but the effort fell short.

Any agency experimenting with new marketing will fail more than succeed. However, one thing that is sure to fail, is being a fake. Honesty rules and advertising agencies must realize this is the only way to get through to today’s over-exposed, anti-ad culture. One has to give to get and a shill will be exposed and ostracized immediately from the sensitive, but powerful websphere and subsequent marketplace.

The rath of gamers and proponents of new marketing has been ugly. Just Google or search Technorati for countless rants against Zip and Sony.

Some say any publicity is good publicity, but if it costs Zip their client and Sony thousands of dollars in damage control this may not be the case. I guess the proof is PSP sales figures.

The PSP fake blog offline as of writing this, but here’s one example of the response from the public. Merry Christmas Mr. Creative Director.

"I believe that the Internet is the one true integrator because it links all brand and messaging touch points. Using the analogy of an atom, the Internet is both the nucleus (the core) of integrated marketing programs and an orbiting electron. To employ a different image, the Internet is like Grand Central station, where consumers arrive, depart, and are funneled from node to node on the consumer adoption curve, and it is simultaneously one of many mediums controlling the flow of traffic to the desired destination.

As the chameleon of modern-day marketing, functioning as a storefront, distribution channel, medium, communication device, entertainment interface, fulfillment center, customer service mechanism, and information resource or productivity tool, the Internet is the key to turning the failed promises of integration into reality."

The above is an excerpt from Life After the 30 Second Spot, a book by Joseph Jaffe. Chapter 10 is available for download. Well worth the read, as he examines the purpose the Internet serves tradional advertising media.

Unlike the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams, just because you’ve built a really cool, innovative web app doesn’t guarantee a lot of traffic. Furthermore, even if you get visitors, they may not become users.

There’s a lot going on when trying to gain acceptance by users. It usually requires work on the user’s behalf to learn how to use an application and to incorporate it into their normal behavior. It must be worth their while to make an effort to use it. Acceptance of a new application will be more successful if several steps are taken to communicate, inform and educate:

User input – Users are more likely to adopt your product if they are allowed to help decide, or create part of it. Beta testing has turned into marketing by getting end users involved in the final development stages.

Awareness & Interest – Users need to be made aware of the new app. This can be done a multitude of ways: traditional marketing and advertising, search engine marketing, blogging, word of mouth…

Evaluation & Trial – With web apps, trial is essential. It is far more likely someone will pay to use something if they can try it for free. Trial periods or trial memberships have become the norm.

Part of the project plan and budget for developing a web app should include techniques for attracting users. Afterall, why build it if no one is going to use it. It’s easy to get caught up in planning development, but it doesn’t end there. Get the word out early using on and offline tactics. Ask for opinions and suggestions from users. Offer free trials, or a free level of membership. Have a marketing plan and get help executing it.

An interesting one hour podcast by Seth Godin and Joseph Jaffe discussing new trends in marketing on and off line.

ATS #47 - The New Marketing Podcast Celebrity SethMatch

This is how a brand uses the Internet effectively.

http://www.cpbgroup.com/awards/vwgtiintegrated.html

This cracks me up – Web 2.0. It’s interesting how a catch phrase gets started. If anything, the burst of the dotcom bubble should signify the change of version, but it wasn’t until recently this term has become so ubiquitous. There are many things that folks equate to Web 2.0: Web Standards, blogs, broadband, and AJAX, but these have all been around for a while. I don’t like the distinction of versioning. The web wasn’t re-installed with upgrades overnight, but I digress. Let’s focus on web advertising, or better yet, the evolution of web advertising and I’ll use the 1.0, 2.0 vernacular.

Web 1.0 Ad Types

In the beginning there was the banner ad, one size, 468px by 60px, dictated by Yahoo!. Now there are a zillion sizes and little standardization. This really needs to be cleaned up a bit.  The banner ad is annoying, yet rather passive and easily ignored, but here to stay. Also in this category are interstitials, which are ads place in line with actual content rather in the header, footer, or margins of a page as banners usually are.

Then, in a moment of inspiration the pop-up ad was born - I believe from use in porn sites. This has spread like an STD and plagued the web for years, but I haven’t seen one in at least 2 years due to the ingenious pop-up blocker. I use the Google variety. It’s fun seeing how many ads you didn’t see. This form of advertisement is almost completely ineffective and very obtrusive.

The next generation of pop-ups was floating, or overlay ads. These monsters are contained in the same browser window as the page being viewed, but display on top of the content. To this day I cannot believe this is acceptable. It's bad web. 

2.0 Ad Types

The most interesting form of web 2.0 advertising is viral marketing. This wasn’t created; it just happened and was adopted by ad agencies. In its natural form it’s peer-to-peer, honest sharing of information, but what has happened companies create fake interest in a product or brand by using email, portals, ezines and blogs. Many times the advertiser’s efforts are wasted because they are exposed, or cannot emulate true interest that is generated by real people.

Advertisers are creating video and audio commercials specifically for the web or at least with the web in mind as a secondary medium. This is a recent phenomenon because of the effectiveness of viral marketing. These messages can reach a target audience for a fraction of the cost of conventional broadcast media. It also allows companies to produce outrageous ads that could never exist anywhere but the web. Sites like YouTube and Kontraband provide the forum to display this content.

Blogs and the blogsphere have become the fertile ground of viral marketing. Usually containing text, blogs can also include images, audio and video content. Bloggers publish to their sites daily supplying the web with a constant stream of collective consciousness. I call it reality web. People tend to believe what they read on blogs, although there’s no guarantee of authenticity on the web.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention podcasts. Podcasts are audio and sometimes video downloadable files that can be played on one’s computer, or portable mp3/video player like the iPod, from which they get their name. This content can be audio books, recorded presentations, or carefully produced pieces and each could have ads placed within the content.

It's hard to predict what ad types the Web 3.0 will bring us. I hope they will be clever and interesting. Maybe if we're lucky we'll stop getting spammed, but I’ll save email for another post.

There’s a new breed of site that fulfills most of what the web has to offer, at least today’s web.  They have video and sound, collect user information, display data based on run-time events and provide a rich experience. We have the folks at Macromedia Adobe to thank. But it’s not just the technology. It’s applying good old fashion advertising creativity to the “new” medium that makes it work: clever concept development, good writing, slick art direction, all powered by technology - a multi-dimensional effort.

Prime examples: www.thebar.com, www.shaveeverywhere.com

One of my biggest gripes about many web projects is they are done too cheaply to be successful. Maybe not cheap on funds, but cheap on resources. The web guy can't do it all. Good work requires the proper people with the proper skills doing what they do best. Everyone has their role in a team effort.

There is a lot of buzz about search engine optimization (SEO). A cottage industry has grown just to address this need. It is certainly important for some companies' web sites to rank high on search engines, but SEO is not as mysterious as some claim.

A fundamental truth is search engines rank sites on content and traffic. Think about it. The logical way to rank search results is to have the most popular site with the most relevant content be first. Over the past several years various techniques have been devised to take advantage of search engine algorithms, but as soon as a pattern becomes prevalent the search engines change their algorithms. Tricking search engines is like timing the stock market -- a gamble, or at best a short term win. I am a proponent of a long-term strategy.

Common Sense SEO

• The title of the page (text displayed in the top of the browser frame) should be descriptive and contain keywords.
  
  
• Use "keyword" and "description" metatags.
  
  
• Have good content on your homepage; content is copy contained in HTML mark-up. Copy displayed in images and Flash is not read by search engines. If you use images that contain important text such as navigation hyperlinks, page titles, and callouts, include the text in "alt" or "title" attributes for that tag. Having a Flashing into/splash page will have no readable content.
  
  
• Good, clean mark-up helps search engine spiders find the content. Using CSS and standards compliant techniques makes for good SEO.
  
  
• Use hyperlinks in the copy to other pages in your site. The easier it is for a human to find information the easier it is for search engines to do so too.
  
  
• Have well written copy that thoroughly describes the services or products. Make sure the copy contains keywords and avoid pronouns or references to terms in informal ways. If a term has an acronym, use that in addition to the full term.
  
  
• If you have copy in Flash, repeat the copy in div tags in the page mark-up and set the "visible" attribute to "hidden". This gets the copy accessible to search engines.
  
  
• Create a site map.
  
  
• Add a glossary of technical terms and general facts pages if applicable.
  
  
• Drive traffic to your site by marketing your site via traditional means: advertising, brochures, direct mail, press releases and e-mails.
  
  
• Link to industry sites and other sites that are managed by clients, vendors, affiliates and divisions.
  
  
• Time is on your side. The longer your site is on the web with the same domain name, pages and content, the more of a chance it has to be found and indexed by search engines.
  

These unsophisticated guidelines will go a long way to improve the search engine friendliness of your site.