(This is a guest post by John Armstrong, Head of Marketing, Lead Force1)

Even attendees with years of experience as seasoned entrepreneurs and marketers learned something new about marketing in today’s networked world at the CXO Forum sponsored by the Silicon Valley Association of Start-up Entrepreneurs on February 10.   The meeting featured presentations by Yesh Subramanian of ASYS as well as our own Srihari Kumar, CEO of LeadForce1.  Yesh provided some valuable do’s and don’ts for B2B marketers, and illustrated how much the game has changed in just the past few years with the rise and influence of the now ubiquitous on-line social networking platforms such as LinkedIn.  Leveraging the new, non-traditional marketing channels can yield powerful results when properly executed and guided by the latest generation of marketing automation tools.

The other big change that marketers face is the growing demand for accountability and ROI justification for every marketing dollar that is spent.  This is particularly important when significant portions of marketing budgets are being invested in lead-generation programs to feed the insatiable demands of sales teams.  Without the discipline that automation brings to the marketing process, however, incredible waste of resources can occur, and Srihari shared some particularly painful examples of well-intentioned but badly misapplied marketing funds: Think $100K misspent over a period of four years on an ad words program (and completely unaccounted for) in a misguided attempt to generate leads.

Srihari’s well-received presentation demonstrated the value of marketing automation, and specifically the unique value of LeadForce1, as a way to create an efficient, replicable process which not only generates more valuable, qualified, and information-rich leads, but also enables marketing and sales to drive those leads more rapidly to customer contact and signed contract!  Based on the number of attendees exchanging business cards with Srihari at the end of the meeting, it would appear that B2B entrepreneurs will be integrating this effective new approach to marketing into their business strategy.

One of the things to watch out this year would be virtualization.

It has been popularly rumored, argued and dissected by technology experts that it is a huge cost-cutting technology. Single handedly it slashes the down the IT infrastructure cost management. Virtualization in layman terms can be explained thus : It is making just one computer do the job of a room full of computers by making it share its data across various operating environments.

On the positive side, virtualization helps organizations to have multiple applications running on multiple operating systems across multiple local and geographic locations. This means less dependency on hardware and more movement. What more is that, the virtual servers will help in saving the overhead expenses that might occur otherwise. Since everything is virtual, there would be better accessibility to all the resources, higher security(data encryption) and reduced downtime and better recovery in case of data failure.

While it is true that virtualization comes with a set of benefits, it also has a flip side. In fact, quite a few. To begin with not all IT companies are pro virtualization because they feel that there would be a lot of networking issues than what can be anticipated. The hardware sellers are also not so happy with this because their sales will come down and they now have to manufacture hardware that supports virtualization.

Virtualization means reduced costs benefit but the it’s implementation costs a lot of time and manpower. As virtualization is on an evolutionary up curve not all organizations can or have the necessary knowledge to manage it, especially if there an data failure at the service provider’s end. The result would of this could be a huge disaster that might make organizations go bankrupt. And as no one is asking organization to take a giant leap of faith into this transition without having a backup, they should have a good ROI plan before getting started.

Virtualization technology is a completely different ball game altogether, so the technology and the non technology end users need to be trained significantly.

Though, this has its own pitfalls, the total number of companies opting for virtualization across the world is steadily increasing. It is exactly how we felt when emails replaced snail mails.

Bottom line is that change is inevitable.

This post more in like a continuation of my earlier post. ‘Does social networking have relevance in Enterprise?’ As I dug further, I realized that the change is here to stay and the evolution of social web has already been mapped. So this post is more on the lines of how companies should cope with the metaphysis of web2.0.

In April 2009, Forrester analysts published their study on the future of the social web. They have divided it’s evolution and progression into 5 overlapping eras namely ;

1) Era of Social Relationships: People connect to others and share (Start – 1995 Maturity – 2003 to 2007)
2) Era of Social Functionality: Social networks become like operating system (Start – 2007 Maturity- 2010 to 2012)
3) Era of Social Colonization: Every experience can now be social (Start – 2009 Maturity – 2011)
4) Era of Social Context: Personalized and accurate content (Start – 2010 Maturity – 2012)
5) Era of Social Commerce: Communities define future products and services (Start – 2011 Maturity – 2013)

We are in a transitional state between Era of Social Colonization and the Era of Social Context. We know that almost everything is socially integrable . If we look closely, sites like Facebook and Twitter are no longer just social network sites. Instead, they are evolving into a more complex, yet simpler communications platforms. This year we are already witnessing the mighty powers of the social barrier breaking Identity 2.0 technologies such as OpenID and Facebook Connect. With the advent of these two, the pronounced dividers across all Internet sites are beginning to dissolve. By year 2010, Identity 2.0 would be the boss and online content would come on a customized platter to the users.

Companies must realize that their products or services will sell more based on WoM because the old concept of ‘Customer is King’ is back. Millions of people are going to be using the social networks and they will buy products based on what their friends have to say and not solely based on advertisements. It would be wise to nurture customer evangelists and patent online groups. Whatever be the company’s product or service, it must be showcased online so that it can be seen by customers and prospective clients, else they could be on the losing side. Some speculate that in the future, the customers would be determining what the company has to offer. In that case it is always better take product to the customers first before they bring it to company.

Therefore, I think that companies must adopt a total ‘transparent-to-public’ policy, even if they are not totally pro Web 2.0 to cope with the transition.

Having said all this, I must also say that one cannot predict the exact course of Web 2.0 because 60 years back Internet itself was a myth.

On the lighter side, here is Dilbert!

For what we know, there are quite a few organizations that go to the extremes to block out the social networking sites out of their offices, just to prevent their employees from getting distracted. Have they won the battle? Maybe! But even if they win, they could be at loss. .

Social network media is bound to seep into all walks of life and work in the next 2 years. We are in a transitional state were restricted working environments are giving way to more of a free social enterprise business culture. Like it or not, the change is here. Social media networking is a huge infantile market and Forrester analysts say that Enterprise 2.0 will become a US 4.6 billion dollar industry by 2013.. The companies that try to prevent the social media networks might have already lost their potential customers to their competitors who hold no taboo against them.

That brings us to a very important question, will there ever be a true bridge between social networking sites and enterprises?The answer lies in moderation and in the advent of Community management.

But first, what is Community management?

It has been there,right from the arrival of all forms online interpersonal communication (ie, online forums, chats rooms, newsgroups, etc) but had mostly stayed on the sidelines. It’s only now starting to get serious attention as a technique for managing social collaboration within organizations and outside. Community management would mean creating, expanding and moderating/managing online communities built that around the company’s product, service or the company itself. But that is not all, it would also include managing the vital social must-haves like networking, marketing, evangelism, human resource management, communication, corporate blurb, etc.

Enterprise social networking can be regulated process with community managers to oversee it. It would be best if companies embrace it and treat it like any other enterprise communication tool.

What are these much fabled Mash-ups anyway? Everyone is talking about them but how much do we really know about these Mashups?

Wikipedia defines a ‘mashup as a web page or application that combines data or functionality from two or more external sources to create a new service.’ In much more simpler terms, A mashup could be website or web based application that uses different content from various sources to create a completely new product. This product will be a new service, an hybrid, having the features of its parent resources.

Mashing up is incredible. The excitement about these mash-ups are about the end result. Its all about the innumerable mix and match end products. You could mashup Madonna and Yoda and you get Yodanna, Mayoda, MaYo, Yoma. Its a virtual goldmine. Mashups, after the API (a public interface) floodgates opened up for every one to use, the possibilities have become limitless. There is and there will be a creativity explosion.

What I think is that mashups are probably one of the greatest adages to web 2.0. You have several different types of mashups. The popular ones would include consumer mashups( the most common variety that targets the general masses), data mashups, and business process mashups.

So what else is hot? Mashup analysts – so 3008! everything else – so 2000 and late!

We have business analysts, content analysts, system analysts. What do they do? For the most part, they analyze and streamline all the information that is available to them. They see and analyze what fits where and what does not. With mash-up technology growing exponentially since 2008, I think that it is only logical to have mash-up analysts. Many companies are thriving on ‘2.0′ technologies (like RIA widgets,mashups, blogs) and they allow their clients/users to create and share their creations themselves. So I’m guessing that there will be more technically qualified people who would take up roles of ‘Mashup Analysts’ in the future.
PS. Check this site out. www.stormberry.tv. I found this website in on of the mash-up networks. This allows users search youtube using the youtube API. The user can view the video, or they can add subtitles to the video using a web interface provided. These subtitles can then be translated to another language using Babelfish engine. This gets my thumbs up signal.

With the continuous slowdown in the economy and rising percentage of unemployment, we are moving tentatively towards an unpredictable new year. Media firms, analysts and bloggers are all predicting a downward trend in the overall ad spend. Lets look at the status of the ad market along with some positive areas that we can count on.

Traditional media such as newspapers and magazines are seeing a definite decline with organizations cutting down on overall ad spending. Companies look towards digital media and online advertising for better benefits. The current economic situation is making things tough across all media, but newspaper revenues are falling more than in any other major medium, Even the former bulwark of newspaper revenues, classified advertising, is plummeting due to craigslist and other online alternatives, says Carol Krol, eMarketer senior analyst.

The recession in the U.S economy has hit the online ad world as well, but there are positive opportunities for the online publishers and ad networks. Marketers rely heavily on Internet ad formats such as search and e-mail. Even though markets predict a continuous but restrained growth of the Internet, online display ad pricing has declined in 2008 and has been predicted to decline further in 2009. Brand awareness and consumer connect of display ads are essential positive aspects that can’t be ignored. Marketers say that creative integration of search along with display ads will convert to good sales.

With consumers tightening their purse strings, the retail industry is forced to dole out attractive freebies and regular sales. It’s the same fate of e-commerce as well. The Internet is flooded with push deals and coupons. Many marketing professionals also feel that e-commerce will grow well despite recession. Forrester analyst Christopher Kelley says, “Consumers know that the Web is one of the places to get a good deal. It’s one of the top reasons people buy online. As people start to tighten their financial belts, they’re going to turn to the Web to find the best deals they can.

Efficient marketing during recession is the way to go. “It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times says marketing expert John Quelch.

Overall, our perspective is to go on a ’smart’ offensive, what this means is that competition is busy retreating, so going offensive will fetch high market share but the approach needs to be ’smart’ in terms of the focus areas, leveraging low hanging fruits, trying small and then scaling when proven and willing-ness to look away from the ‘herd’ effect. Right now there are lot of cheap ad buys available in good online properties, even search buys are cheaper than earlier but still a portfolio based prudent approach to media buy is required.

When there’s a proven tenet for success, very seldom does someone deviate from it. But you and I know that when a given formula stagnates and gives minimum returns, you’ve got to change it. It’s a similar saga that the marketing world is facing at the moment. With every industry parallel going into a major cutback spree, it’s really no surprise that marketing has not escaped the axe. Of all the processes of selling one’s goods to the consumer, marketing has been one of the most exciting, but expensive routes.

Hoardings, television space, a page in the magazine or newspaper; they’ve been surefire advertising channels. Hitting the audience on the face, they are really pretty hard not to notice. Companies obviously didn’t mind shelling out huge portions of the budget for advertising, since they were certain about its worth and returns. Things are slowly beginning to change now though. People are no more as receptive to direct marketing as before. I guess it probably irritates them and does quite the opposite of what it originally meant to do.

That has sent some obvious signals to marketers that they need to think of other alternatives of methods more subtle and effective. This has brought them to the doorstep of online marketing. So, in times when everything online means maximum audience visibility, what else but Internet marketing could be a better option. Most of us now believe that personal websites, blog sites, RSS feeds, are understated approaches to build loyalty among prospective consumers.

Happened to spot venture capitalist Doug Leone’s (of Sequoia Capital) quote that says, “Be aggressive with your messaging and be out there. In a downturn, aggressive PR and communications strategy is key.” Some companies have taken this really seriously and have done well with their online marketing tactics. Proctor and Gamble’s online community for adolescent girls BeingGirl.com, is considered four times as effective as a similarly priced marketing program in traditional media.

Check out what this Nielson Online study states “The good news is that we saw large gains from brand advertisers including Anheuser-Busch, Unilever, Toyota and General Motors, among others, which bodes well for the future.” Most big guns are joining the bandwagon of BTL marketing admirers. The preference shift from ATL to BTL could be reasoned out like this- consumers have the advantage of making on-the-spot purchases, and advertisers can target definite site visitors that suit their scheme of things. The most to benefit are apparently portals like Yahoo, Google, AOL and Microsoft, whose collective ad revenue growth measures up to 19%.

Surveys say that online media spending this year has increased by 63%, in comparison to traditional marketing, which has only increased by 13%. Before the financial fallout, online market research specialists had estimated that advertisers would spend $25.8 billion online this year. I’m sure the numbers would have definitely dropped by now, but it is still the preferred marketing mode. Even Steven Fredericks, president and CEO of TNS Media Intelligence thinks that increased use of the Internet is taking away dollars from traditional media.

A good case in point of Internet marketing popularity is the usage of blogs; they have become a media unto themselves. People who like a blogger’s content will very likely place their trust in his words and opinions. It’s more of a persuasive form of marketing than a forceful and promotional kind. Similarly, RSS news feeds about your company or sales offers have a great reach in the web world. You know, it’s like dangling the carrot and enticing readers to visit your website.

People have been very responsive to these new tactics, thereby strengthening company beliefs in online marketing. No wonder the cut that Internet marketing gets in allocated budgets is increasing despite the global economy plunge.

It is just amazing that a lot of photo web 2.0 sites have come into existence but Flickr is still going very strong. It has been successful in bringing creativity and talent from all over the world into a single destination where anyone can view and appreciate.

I want to point to one such artist- Shrikrishna Pundoor, whose photographs on Flickr are amazing. This particular photograph, which reflects the mood & energy of Diwali, a big festive occasion in India is amazing just for the amount of detail he has been able to capture. Shrikrishna is an Engineering Manager by profession and his hobby of ‘photography’ would have been hidden, if not for Flickr.

It also brings one more feature of Flickr into discussion, which has not been discussed much- “Public/Private” switch. Previous photo sites always had photographs uploaded as “Private”. Flickr brought this switch into focus and perhaps paved way for web 2.0 revolution.

The World is Flat because of sites like Flickr

Google confirmed Google Chrome, a new open source web browser which is going to hit us today (beta version of Google Chrome on September 2^nd 2008 in more than 100 countries). Though rumors have been around, we got a confirmation when a 38 page comic book, drawn by Scott McCloud, which detailed Google’s Chrome web browser was reported and could be accessed.

I am going to be one of the early adopters and even if it fulfills 60-70% of its objectives, then it is going to be quickly grabbing the browser market share. Where does this leave Firefox/Mozilla?

Google accounts for most of the revenue for Mozilla. Google pays to be the default search engine in the Firefox search box on the top of the browser. They also have Amazon in the search box, and other services, which provides affiliates fee as well but few do. As a result, Google accounts for 85 percent of Mozilla’s 2006 revenue of $66.8 million. Lot of people search for results using the Firefox search box as it is easily accessible and saves click/typing of the URL. This business model was very attractive and it’s no surprise that there were attempts to cash on this model – Flock.com has been trying to build user base by creating a “social browser”, basically a wrapper with value-added services (like bookmarking tools) on top of Firefox. They have not been able to create enough value to push mass adoption and hence have never threatened Firefox market share (also they share revenue with Firefox as well).

Hence, it is very crucial for Firefox to keep its market share to ensure continuity of revenue from Google. So, the success of Chrome Browser could be the first real threat to Firefox.

Majority of the enterprise companies would not have heard of Search Engine Optimization and even website optimization; especially optimization in terms of finding the relevant information quickly & representation of branding/products. Enterprise companies are more focused on direct lead generation marketing activities.

I would suggest that instead of Search Engine Optimization, they think of it as building their online credibility. Every enterprise needs to have a strong online credibility, as their potential buying decision makers are all online. Their decision cycle is long and not instantaneous as buying some product through checkout mechanism. Their decision process usually consists of researching the problem/pain point experience, various options available, product comparisons and benefits.

The decision makers’ research process includes a lot of searches on Google & other search engines, reading white papers, attending webinars, reading blogs, consuming analyst reports and others. Having a presence in all these potential research points represents a strong online credibility. Content plays an important role in credibility – regular blogging, publishing whitepapers once in 3 months, conducting at least 2 webinars per year by inviting industry subject experts are all good practices. Having more content on the website also provides good scope for Search Engine Optimization.

One easy test for online presence that I would recommend enterprise companies is to Google search on their own company/product. If you get back 3 pages of content from your website and external sites, which essentially have been created by your company, then time to pat your back and say “Job, well done!”.