Phenix Rising: Steven Phenix's Blog

Fools Rush in to Social Media Campaigns

Where Angels Fear to Tread

By Steven Phenix

Meet Linda, a PR account director for several large companies. One day, one of her clients called her in for a meeting and said his company wanted to delve into social media. "You know," said the client, "we want some of that Web 2.0 stuff. How fast can you launch a campaign?"

Poor Linda had never published her own blog and couldn't even tell the difference between a wiki and forum.  But she had read a recent white paper from the Council of PR Firms that said in the next five years, "social media must become part of the way public relations practitioners do business or they will become obsolete." (From "Relating to the Public: The Evolving Role of Public Relations in the Age of Social Media," available as a PDF here.) So fearing obsolescence, Linda and her team jumped in to this brave new world. Their intent was to "join the conversation" but instead it quickly turned into a street brawl.

Writes B.L. Ochman in What Kills a Social Media Campaign:

"Increasingly, Fortune 500 companies like Ford, Wal-Mart, Sony and Dell are embarking on social media marketing campaigns and blundering, big time.

"At best, they wasted a lot of money on ill-conceived campaigns involving blogs, video-sharing sites like YouTube, social networks like MySpace and other new media where users (horrors!) can actually create content.

"At worst, their futile attempts at old-style message control (masquerading as new media) did permanent damage to their brands in the very markets that will determine their future fortunes."

When your client calls you into a meeting and asks you to help move the company in a Web 2.0 direction, don’t panic. Melvin Yuan has put together a PR 2.0 University with a great list of required reading. He’s included all the classics like The Cluetrain Manifesto, Naked Conversations, The Long Tail, The Wisdom of Crowds, Wikinomics, plus various articles, ebooks and PDFs.

If your client expects you to have a program in place immediately — before you have time to digest all this course work — well, it might be time to panic if you haven’t been a long-time student of social media in your spare time. And if you’re just beginning to dip your toes into all this Web 2.0 goodness, would you be comfortable putting your client’s reputation on the line while you learn on the job?

My advice: As tempting as new channels like blogs and massively-multiplayer environments may be for marketing, you should make sure you understand the needs, opinions and language of the audience before throwing your messages at them. If you don’t know this new world as well as your Rolodex of reporters, it’s best to hire a consultant.

Our Digital PR Service is a turnkey solution that gives traditional public relations firms the ability to open an online channel of communication with their client's targeted universe of customers, influencers and prospects. With our help, you can effectively communicate messaging without journalists standing between the message and consumers.

Anchored by a business blog, our campaigns use a variety of Web 2.0 and social media tools to create extraordinarily effective marketing strategies. Also, out team will take responsibility for as much, or as little of the online content development and infrastructure as you require.

For more information about our Digital PR  Service, click here.

For a free consultation, send me an email or call now at 512-963-4649.

Survey on social media says...

...stop listening to surveys on social media/Web 2.0.

By Steven Phenix

AUSTIN, TX--Business owners, if you need to wait till acceptance rates hit a certain plateau before adopting your own social media strategy, then I promise you you're efforts will be doomed. Fact is, social media is growing so fast and morphing so rapidly, that if you're company takes a "wait till next year" approach, you'll be left behind and never be able to catch up.

Take for example a new survey by Jupiter released this last July that warns retailers away from social media campaigns. eCommerce Times quotes Jupiter's report

"The majority of online shoppers who have used social and community sites while researching and purchasing do not believe that such sites affected their purchase decisions, and few online shoppers said they spend incrementally more due to their use of social and community sites."

Also quoted is Jupiter's the lead analyst for the report, Patty Freeman Evans, as saying

"Retailer[s] should take a pause from all the hype they've heard about social networking and social media because those sites are not something that's going to immediately drive incremental sales for them."

If you take Jupiter as Gospel and forgo a social media campaign, what will happen to your business if just say consumers begin to flock to social media and your largest competitor has a year's jump on you with their wikis, forums, blogs and user-generated content (UGC)?

While you consider that, here's another study called IT Execs: Social Media Most Trusted Source for Purchasing Decisions to chew on by the good folks at ITtoolbox and PJA Advertising + Marketing. Take these findings from the study into consideration:

• IT professionals cite social media as the most trustworthy online source of information when making purchasing decisions

• Executive-level decision-makers spend nearly 3.5 hours per week consuming or participating in social media - the highest usage profile of any IT audience

• Nearly two-thirds of IT professionals surveyed say social media content and user-generated tools have made for a more informed purchasing decision; nearly three-quarters say such content and tools have made their lives more efficient.

• IT audiences now spend as much or more time consuming or participating in social media as they do consuming editorial media or vendor content.

What do the purchasing habits of IT geeks mean to you if say you're a maker of premium dog food? (Attention Jim Kelly!) Consider that these geeks owned PCs while you were still banging out forms in triplicate on an electric typewriter. They were online as you bought your first Commodore 64. And now that you're ordering just about everything on Amazon while listening to your iPod, take a moment to consider who was there first. The geeks shall inherit the earth not simply through usurping the popular kids. The ultimate Revenge of the Nerds is that you and your customers grow a little more geekier every day.

Are you going to sit on your hands while your competitors adopt the Tao of the Geek and steal away your market share?

Here's some more findings about UGC that Jordan McCollum culled from a new survey from PR Week and Manning, Selvage & Lee:

• 43.4% of marketers will use UGC in the next year

• 42.3% have definitely allocated some portion of their budget to UGC

• 92.5% would consider turning to an Internet/new media specialist for a “new media campaign,” and 47.7% would turn to them first (that’s more than 2.5 times greater than the next choice, a PR agency).

• 46.6% think Internet/new media agencies do a very good or excellent job measuring their effectiveness (second only to direct marketing agencies).

Did you catch this figure -- 43.4% of marketers will use UGC in the next year? What percentage of these marketers are retailers, the survey didn't say. My advice is not to wait till next year to find out.

I'd also advise you to stop listening to surveys and start ramping up your social media campaign now.

Need more convincing? Check out Why Your Business Needs a Blog.

Austin Businesses: Reach More Customers with a Blog

By Steven Phenix

AUSTIN, TX--When Austinites are searching Google for the products you sell, where does your business show up?

Whether you're a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker, every business owner knows that the survival of your company depends on your ability to compete with other butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. But then things got a lot more complicated with the Internet -- now 58% of shoppers, according to Accenture, are going online first to do their research before stepping foot in a store.

Over the last several years, Phenix Public Relations has cracked the Google algorithm with its corporate clients and subsequently pushed their blogs up in the Google rankings to the number two position next to large enterprises like IBM. Lately, we've been tweaking our campaigns so they could be affordable to small business owners. And now we've launched our new Digitial PR Service for Small to Medium-Sized Businesses. (For more information about this program, click here.)

Our Digital PR Service enables clients to open an online channel of communication with their targeted universe of customers, influencers and prospects. With our help, you can compete not just locally but also against international companies that have spent millions of dollars to reach that coveted number one position on Google.

Anchored by a business blog, our campaigns use a variety of Web 2.0 and social media tools to create an extraordinarily effective marketing tool. Also, out team will take responsibility for as much, or as little of the online content development and infrastructure as the client requires. Why does your business need a blog?

Considering that 62% of searchers click on a 1st page link and only 10% goes beyond the 3rd page, let's go back to my original question:  When a consumer types "best (fill in the blank) Austin" into Google do you show up on the front page?

If you'd like to get more out of your marketing efforts and do it with a much smaller spend than traditional advertising or PR, let's set up a meeting.

Send me an email or call me now at 512-963-4649.

Let Customers Come to You. Don't Reach Out to Them.

AUSTIN, TX--This news via the Marketing and Strategy Innovation blog: 80 percent of B2B technology customers believe they found their vendors, rather than the vendors finding them. So what does this mean? Should vendors be upset that their branding and outreach efforts have fallen on deaf ears, and that all their earnest attempts to “engage” customers have failed?

Absolutely not.

From spam filters to do-not-call lists, the buying public has made it very clear that they don’t want to be marketed to. If they want a particular product or service, well, they’d prefer to go out and find it themselves. Fortunately for vendors, the customers who come to you are much more predisposed to buy than the customers you have to approach.

The best strategy for vendors is twofold. First, make it as easy as possible for people to find you. And then second, once they’ve found you, make it as easy as possible for them to buy.

We’ve talked here before about how blogs can help improve your search engine rankings and web presence, thus leading more customers to you. Additionally, you can populate your blog with all the information about your product and company that just wouldn’t fit into a formal brochure or web site. Deep technical information. Commentary from product designers. Opinions from your executive staff that just might persuade somebody about to make a purchasing decision that yours is the sort of company they’d like to do business with.

In other words, a blog is a great place to sell without making a hard sell.

Once you’ve gotten customers to your site, whether by blog, ad, white paper, hook or crook, you then have to make it easy for them to say “yes.” That means not embedding product information within branch upon branch of confusing product trees. (This article by Internet Word Magic’s Michelle Howe covers some of the basics of improving site navigation.) Additionally, I’d advise leaving Flash animation out of it—there’s nothing more annoying than being unable to bookmark or send a colleague a URL to relevant product information.

Depending on what you’re selling, you may or may not want an e-commerce element to your site. If you forego the e-commerce, you need some other means to advance the sale. And that means getting information about your prospects so that you can follow up with them. Remember: if they came to you, they’re going to be a lot more willing to part with their contact info.

Originally published on June 18, 2007 at 10,000 Marshmallows.

Why does your business need a blog?

Why Your Business Needs a Blog

By Steven Phenix

AUSTIN, TX--Why does your business need a blog?

Because almost every affluent shopper goes to the Internet first before buying offline -- 75 percent says a recent study -- so every business, no matter what size, needs to have a presence on the Web. (Click here for more related reading on consumer buying habits.)

Whether looking for a nose job, a car or a lawyer, consumers first do their homework online. And when a consumer types "Best _________ Austin, TX" into Google does your company show up on the front page? If a customer sees all your competitors on the front page of Google, then you're losing money because of what Phenix Public Relations calls the "Google Rule of 3's."

The Google Rule of 3's

1. Almost every searcher clicks on one of the first 3 links on Google because they've been conditioned to consider the first 3 links as the most accurate
2. Most people who use Google never go beyond the first 3 pages
3. If your company makes it to the top 3 links, you can expect 300 times more traffic and at least a 3rd more business

(Read corroborating articles.)

"But I've got a web site," you say, "isn't that enough?"

If your web site is not on the front page of Google, you already know the answer to that question.

Here's why:

Both websites and blogs are rewarded by Google with placement on the valuable front page of a search when either property has the highest degree of relevance or popularity.

But smaller, less popular blogs often get higher placement than larger websites because the Google algorithm gives disproportionate weight to sites that update the most and have the highest level of human interaction. Over the last several years, Phenix Public Relations cracked this code with its corporate clients and subsequently pushed its corporate blogs up in the Google rankings to the number two position next to large enterprises like IBM and Hewlett Packard. With our help, your blog can compete against international companies that have spent millions of dollars to reach that coveted number one position on Google.

So when Austinites are searching for the products you sell, where does your business show up on Google?

If you'd like to grow your business, sell more product and get more out of your online marketing efforts, please send me an email for a demo and consultation.

MORE:

To learn more about our Digital PR Service for Small to Medium-Sized Businesses, click here.

Phenix Public Relations' Digital PR Service enables clients to open an online channel of communication with their targeted universe of customers, influencers and prospects.  Anchored by a corporate Blog, Phenix Public Relations uses a variety of Web 2.0 tools to create an extraordinarily effective corporate PR, awareness and marketing tool.  Unlike traditional PR, Small Business Digital PR also incorporates a proven means of search engine optimization, lead generation and opportunity capture.

The Google Rule of 3's

By Steven Phenix

AUSTIN, TX--Over the years, I've witnessed a certain universal truth regarding Google that I call The Google Rule of 3's.

Basically, it's this simple:

1. Almost every searcher clicks on one of the first 3 links on Google because they've been conditioned to consider the first 3 links as the most accurate
2. Most people who use Google never go beyond the first 3 pages
3. If your company makes it to the top 3 links, you can expect 300 times more traffic and at least a 3rd more business

With all the web sites and blogs that I manage, I've been afforded a broad view of both Internet searchers and Google in action -- despite constant changes to Google's tightly-held secret algorithm. 

Where you aware that only 10 percent of searchers go beyond the first three pages in Google?

Regarding the first two points of The Google Rule of 3's, don't take it from me. Instead, here's relevant research from others.

However, for point number three, I really should issue this caveat: YMMV.

To learn more about our Digital PR Service for Small to Medium-Sized Businesses, click here.

Austin Businesses Must Learn to Compete Online

By Steven Phenix

AUSTIN, TX--In Austin, small to medium-sized business face a particularly daunting challenge. Whether you're a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker you know that the growth, not to mention the survival of your company depends on your ability to compete with other butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. But then along came the Internet and things got a lot more complicated now that shoppers are going online first to do their research before stepping foot in a store.

If your business doesn't show up on the front page of Google, this quote from SearchEngineWatch should make your worry:

"A new report from Accenture reveals that the majority of product research happens online, while the majority of purchases resulting from that research happen offline in local physical store locations. [...] the report notes that 67 percent of survey respondents prefer to make purchases in physical stores while 69 percent research product features online and 68 percent compare prices online. Combining these variables, 58 percent said they locate items online before going to a store to purchase, while only 13 percent said the Internet plays no part in their offline shopping.

I'd be willing to bet that with Austin being one of the most wired cities in the U.S., a much larger percentage Austinities rely on the Internet more than any other city of comparable size. Even more daunting is the fact that Austin consumers are using all kinds of technology to make them immune to your advertising efforts. When you place an ad on TV, your targeted buyers are TIVO-ing right through your expensive ad buy. Does radio advertising work? Not since all the Tarrytown and Westlake moms got iPods that plug into their car dashboards.  Print advertising? Forget about it, no one reads the newspaper anymore.

So that leaves online advertising, right? Unfortunately, wily, tech-savvy consumers now customize Google to avoid all advertising. They also read only what they want when they subscribe to RSS feeds [defined]. And to avoid the bane of the Internet -- pop-up ads -- everyone uses pop-up blockers.

To quote the Wall Street Journal's Kevin J. Delaney, "The importance of appearing at the top of the results is undisputed." Delaney's article (found here) points to JupiterResearch/iProspect study that "concluded last year that 62% of search-engine users generally clicked on a link to a site on the first page of results."

So what's the butcher to do when all his customers go online to compare his prices to Sam's Club? How is the baker to survive when she has to compete not just against her cross-town rivals, but also the entire Internet? Will a "Keep Austin Weird" candlestick maker be undone by the 25% lower price on Amazon? (Not to mention the free shipping that keeps people from having to suffer through Austin traffic.)

My advice, start a blog and run with the big dogs. When I help my corporate clients with their blogs, they've been able to compete and sometimes dominate their much larger and more well-funded competitors online.

Here's Mr. Delaney again:

"Companies always have the option of paying for the search advertisements that usually appear above and alongside the search-engine results, but non-advertising results can be more significant. JupiterResearch estimates that when consumers are looking for products and services, they click on non-advertising results almost 80% of the time."

With a blog, the butcher, baker and candlestick maker can work their way up to the front page of Google and get those clicks on their products and the bodies into their stores.

How? Come back soon and I'll let you in on a little theory I've been working on over the last several years called "The Google Rule of 3's."

To learn more about our Digital PR Service for Small to Medium-Sized Businesses, click here.

Why does your business need a blog?

Related Reading on Consumer Buying Habits

SearchEngineWatch: From Online Research to Offline Shopping

"A new report from Accenture reveals that the majority of product research happens online, while the majority of purchases resulting from that research happen offline in local physical store locations. [...] the report notes that 67 percent of survey respondents prefer to make purchases in physical stores while 69 percent research product features online and 68 percent compare prices online. Combining these variables, 58 percent said they locate items online before going to a store to purchase, while only 13 percent said the Internet plays no part in their offline shopping."

Research Brief: Consumers Spend More on Electronics if Studied First on Web

"Seventy five percent who researched their purchases before visiting a retail location used the Internet as their primary source of information. The leading online resources were retail Web sites (73 percent), manufacturer websites (68 percent) and search engines (49 percent)."

CEA: Majority of Consumers Research Online before Buying

"The study 'Understanding How Consumers Use the Internet to Research and Shop for CE (consumer electronics) Products' consisted of a 25-minute survey of a sample consumer group who bought or were planning on purchasing electronics, including mobile phones, computers, digital media players, televisions, and digital cameras. In the study, CEA and Yahoo! tracked $32.5 billion worth of purchases and found that $25.1 billion, 77 percent, of those purchases were made after Internet research."

MarketingSherpa: New Research Reveals Consumers Delay 34+ Hours Between the Click and the Purchase

"Over the past two years, that delay time has risen by 80%. So, more consumer comfort in shopping online equals *longer* conversion cycles. That's something I don't think any of us ever predicted would happen."

Search Engine Marketing Research: iProspect Social Networking User Behavior Study

"The chart under Question #3 shows that across all the social networking sites reviewed for this study, 34% of the Internet user population has had a purchase influenced (one way or another) by one of these sites. All the editorial content that’s been generated within the last year about how the consumer is now in charge and that the marketer is merely along for the ride becomes more understandable given that one in three Internet users has had a purchase decision influenced by content generated by another Internet user."

SearchEngineWatch: Are IT Buyers and Marketers Search-Aligned?

"According to a recent survey of 3,000 IT buyers and marketers, some 83% of buyers actively use Google to find tech information. About 65% of marketers participate in paid search programs to find these buyers. Maybe the other marketers are missing out."

Articles Corroborating The Google Rule of 3's

iProspect Search Engine User Behavior Study [PDF]

"Key among the findings relating to the current search engine user community is that 62% of search engine users click on a search result within the first page of results, and a full 90% of search engine users click on a result within the first three pages of search results. [...] Fewer search engine users are willing to click on results past the third page now (10%)."

WSJ: How Search-Engine Rules

"The importance of appearing at the top of the results is undisputed. A JupiterResearch study sponsored by search marketing firm iProspect concluded last year that 62% of search-engine users generally clicked on a link to a site on the first page of results. That has fueled the emergence of an industry of search-engine "optimization" specialists who help businesses try to find ways for their sites to rise in the rankings, such as using more-explanitory page titles. Companies always have the option of paying for the search advertisements that usually appear above and alongside the search-engine results, but non-advertising results can be more significant. JupiterResearch estimates that when consumers are looking for products and services, they click on non-advertising results almost 80% of the time."

CNN: How to scale Mt. Google

"Getting your site on the first page can turn a hobby into a thriving business."

So Sayeth Google

"The software behind Google's search technology conducts a series of simultaneous calculations requiring only a fraction of a second. Traditional search engines rely heavily on how often a word appears on a web page. Google uses numerous factors including its patented PageRank™ algorithm to examine the entire link structure of the web and determine which pages are most important. It then conducts hypertext-matching analysis to determine which pages are relevant to the specific search being conducted. By combining overall importance and query-specific relevance, Google is able to put the most relevant and reliable results first."

Search Engine Land: 13 Tips For Getting Page One Search Rankings

"How do you get what you want on page one for your brand phrases? When facing negative content at the top of the SERPs [definition], it’s a challenge many companies want to conquer very quickly. The good news is that it is doable; it’s just that not many people talk about how to do it."

Forbes: Google-Proof PR?

"'Google is not God,' he says. 'It's a machine, a superb machine that benefits millions, but it's still just a machine. And what it turns up can have remarkably deleterious impact on hardworking people and businesses.'"

Forbes: Condemned To Google Hell

"Beginning in September 2006, Skyfacet no longer showed up on the first few pages of Google's results when users typed in search terms like 'diamonds' and 'engagement ring.' The site's traffic vanished, and Sanar says his sales dropped $500,000 in three months."