The 543 Group

Disaboom

When I was a kid playing in Little League, everyone who saw me that really knew baseball said I had a swing like Lou Gehrig's.  Given my limited talents on the ball field, I took the compliment in stride (remember they said that I looked like Mr. Gehrig; I didn't hit like him!).

In doing a little research on Gehrig recently for a new novel I am writing, I naturally came across several references to Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS.  That led me to a very interesting site, Disaboom, a new online information clearinghouse and community 'connecting the millions touched by disability.'

There's no great insight in this blog entry.  Just a plug for a site that provides lots of good resources and information, and a place for any of the disabled and those that care for and about them to come together, to share stories, and perhaps gain new insight. 

What constantly amazes me is that those that are disabled are often some of the most able people in the planet, not letting what they have been 'touched' by slowing them down.  For so many of us with so few real challenges, they continue to be an inspiration.

Does 2.0 Enhance Your Brand Experience?

I recently was involved in two research efforts that looked at the effectiveness of specific Web 2.0 features various brands include in their online experiences.  While many of these types of content and functionality do not, in my opinion, really fall into the Web 2.0 category, it is worth considering how many of the following might reach and engage prospects and customers better and should perhaps be a part of your own online marketing strategy:

• 360 degree spins and alternate views
• Blogs
• Color swatching/colorizing
• Designing your own 'product' or look and mixing and matching components
• Interactive catalogs
• Mobile commerce
• Monogramming or engraving tools
• Microsites
• Personalized messages embedded in the Website based on embedded cookies
• Product tours - interactive or linear playback
• Quick looks and rollover views or fast zoom in, etc.
• RSS feeds
• Shop by category - type of room, outfit, look, etc.
• Stored personalization through areas like My Account, My Profile, or site favorites
• URL and Widget sharing - also embedded on other sites
• User rankings and ratings and comments and feedback
• User-generated visual content - photos/video/audio/graphics
• Videos - used for demonstration, advertising, merchandising, or other promotion
• Videos based on user remixed content
• Visual filtering and advanced search on product features or actual visual product configurators - often referred to now collectively as RIA or Rich Internet Applications
• Web to print
• Wikis

The key is not that any of the above site enhancements are generally more effective than others, but how effective any in particular may be to reach and engage your visitors to compel them to make a purchase or otherwise take the actions you desire as a result of your investment in online marketing.  And the key to that determination is how you measure their effectiveness.

I have said many times that almost every action online can and should be measured.  And how you measure is just as important, so your business can know as precisely as possible that specific new content or functionality enhancements, or online advertising or search or database efforts, or any online marketing initiative, led to direct increases in purchases, average order size, upsell incidence, site traffic, time spent on site, or other key metrics that provide upper management with the ROI they likely require for all marketing.  Did visitors click through from that e-mail campaign? Did they go to the new rich media demo that was promoted on the home page?  Did they watch all of it and then click to learn more, or leave after ten seconds?  Did they send a referral to their friends, or leave positive feedback on their customer service experience?  These and many like them are the right questions to ask.

When you have a strategy supporting every online brand experience and marketing component, and a plan for measuring, analyzing, and learning from the ROI from each, then you can know what Web 1.0 components are working well, which are not, and what new or Web 2.0 features should be considered.

A Simple Vision

It sounds like a simple idea - Organize and digitize all of the core accumulated wisdom of the world, and place it online for everyone to use, in multiple languages.

That's the aim of the founders of the World Digital Library.  Their specific plan?  To "make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, architectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials. The objectives of the World Digital Library are to promote international and inter-cultural understanding and awareness, provide resources to educators, expand non-English and non-Western content on the Internet, and to contribute to scholarly research."

Although it will begin n late 2008 or early 2009 with only a 'few hundred thousand items,' the plan is to ramp rapidly as more countries and libraries offer up their archives.  Cool.  One more site with great content to counter balance the thousands of forgettable ones.

HP On Target

HP's new printer campaign takes their already aggressive marketing to a new level, with new celebrity alliances like singer Gwen Stefani:

HP - What Do You Want To Say?

The campaign is certainly on target in one respect:  it gives consumers more reasons to print something from their computer.  The degree to which it spurs a measurable increase in sales is certainly important.  But, even if it does not, it uses ink, and lots of it.  The ink they are getting in the trade press isn't hurting them either.

Wunderbar for Guys

You have to hand it to the folks at VolksWagen for leveraging high-bandwidth Web access to deliver a compelling online experience to motivate males to purchase a GT Mk 5. 

After exploring the many features of the high-powered car, visitors to this feature on the VW site are allowed to actually take a first person point of view ride in their completed vehicle, complete with a rather motivating passenger/guide.

GTI Mk V

What makes this ride more than a passive movie is that the interactive video is actually tailored to decisions made when the visitor spec'd out their vehicle, down to the color and options indicated.  The ride 'hostess' also offers a couple of upsell and sales closure techniques along the way.

Lesson is to understand how interactive video can be leveraged to tell your own brand story online, veiled somewhat in the form of entertainment.

2.0 is the new 1.0

The first major wave of the World Wide Web is over.  No better evidence exists to understand this than it is no longer called 'world wide' anymore.  That's a given. The Web is anywhere and everywhere you want to access it and leverage its power - on a PC, laptop, PDA, phone, or watch  It's wireless, and it is a world of everything one might want as well as not ever want to even see.

The days of the 'me, too' Web site where everyone had to have some online presence have been replaced with (mostly) serious endeavors to understand how the Web and all facets of an online brand can affect your businesses.  This is a good thing as it may actually cut down on the millions of worthless pages of Web junk out there. 

Companies that 'get it' understand that the power of the Web is in the end user's hands, not theirs, and getting to the heart of what makes them tick - their beliefs, opinions, needs, attitudes, behaviors, and other thoughts they may have about what you offer.  It is an important key to online success. 

As evidence of the changing face of the Web, the volume of actual Web content now being generated by end users is growing at such a rate that over 50% of ALL Web content is predicted to be generated by end users within four years.  And everyone else who isn't creating that content is going to be looking and listening to those who did.  This phenomenon of consumer generated media is one of the definitions for Web 2.0.  Another is social media networks. 

Whatever it is called is not the point.  What matters is that the Web, as futurist Paul Saffo wrote, is "moving from a place where people access information to a place where people access other people in an information-rich environment."  Some of the user-generated content has already resulted in the establishment of online media 'stars' that have thousands and, in some cases, millions of viewers.

The lesson is that everything your company does online, and off, can now easily be extended, enhanced, debated and disputed by others online.  These types of influencers can show up on blogs, in an Amazon review, or a comment to a Yahoo! news story, and even videos on YouTube.  Any company with a serious online presence should pay attention to what others are saying and doing as a result of their relationship or even a recent brand touchpoint with that company. 

It is worth saying again.  The end user is in control of the messages they receive, how they receive them and now, from whom they receive them.

It's More Than A Cycle

When it comes to a good example of online content and functionality, the Harley Davidson site demonstrates how well-branded site with a strong information design and highly developed features invites visitors to interact with the site as an active spectator.  Its features include a scrollable slide show on the home page and single-click access to Harley models through a drop-down menu structure. 

Harley Heaven

Once on the product pages, visitors may obtain different product views, including 360 degree 'walk-arounds.'  Persuasive content includes 'What's holding you back?' and non-threatening sections for planning a purchase and customizing a chosen bike.  There is a superb short film entitled, 'Live by it' that makes the Harley open road experience compelling for even those least interested in ownership.

Content on numerous events and planning your own trip convey the company's brand essence that a Harley is not just a vehicle, it's a lifestyle.