(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.

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!

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.

For a few years now, the idea of Microsoft acquiring Yahoo has intermittently made news. For the first time in May 2006, the then Yahoo CEO Terry Semel denied reports of any probable acquisitions. His unflattering comments about Microsoft during the interview made an alliance between them seem unlikely. However, in Feb 2008, just after the Yahoo CEO Terry Semel stepped down as Chairman of the board, Microsoft made a bid to purchase the company, a deal potentially worth $45 billion. This news rocked the internet world and then the tug of war on the price/share between the two companies kept both the companies on headlines for a long time.

Industry experts poured their opinions about this great potential deal.

David Garrity, director of research with Dinosaur Securities in New York, said that a deal would be beneficial for both the companies to take on a common enemy, Google.

Marianne Wolk, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial said that a combination of Microsoft and Yahoo would give them a good chance against Google in the branded advertising business.

“Google likes to be arrogant but if this deal happened, they would have to sit up and take notice. Microsoft hasn’t shown much so far in online advertising but an acquisition of Yahoo would be a very good combination,” said Samir Patel, founder and CEO of SearchForce, a privately held software firm that lets advertisers manage keyword purchases on Google, Yahoo and MSN.

But contrary to all the experts opinions and thoughts Yahoo did not blink, as it felt they were worth much more than what Microsoft was offering. Dashing all further hopes of Microsoft, Yahoo on June 12, 2008, announced a nonexclusive partnership with Google, in which, Google will supply it with some search ads, a move that could increase Yahoo search revenue. The very next day, the companies went ahead and announced the agreement allowing Google to sell search ads on Yahoo’s Web site, making this Yahoo-Google saga. Microsoft expressed discontentment and contacted advocacy groups saying that the deal would limit choices for advertisers and publishers and destroy a competitive alternative.

On June 24, 2008, again there were reports of Microsoft exploring a possible deal with Yahoo, by increasing the price offer. This on-going saga leaves us pondering over what it would be like if they merged and not. We don’t like bullies, only one strong player in any field. We want competition. There is a good chance for competition to flourish if MSN & Yahoo merge to take on Google. But over the years there have been several acquisitions such as Borland acquiring Ashton-Tate, HP taking over Compaq. These acquisitions can hardly be described as successful. If Microsoft does acquire Yahoo, will this be another such failing acquisition? Should Microsoft rather spend that huge amount of money in bettering their services than buying a sinking company? It’s for time to tell.

We thought we had the trademark on ‘Buzz’ word . Valleywag got some exclusive screenshots of Yahoo Buzz, which is could be Digg’s next competitor. Yahoo Buzz is supposed to be launching beta on the 26^th of February with an initial 100 sites.

Yahoo Buzz’s Top Stories will be updated hourly as seen in the screenshots. The stories will be ranked based on popular search results and user voting. After the beta period, the sites accepted in Yahoo Publisher Network will appear in Buzz which means that if you allow Yahoo to sell ads on your site, Buzz will allow your stories.

Interesting, Yahoo again is trying Google’s game of linking every product with their Ad Network and incentivizing the ecosystem. The question is that with voting button becoming as common as social networks, can they get enough user base to ‘Buzz it’? We had launched our own niche voting on user generated content site- LifeSolved - based on life and productivity solutions & tips. Our thought was that each one of us have been solving problems we face, in our unique way and it is time to share them with the community.

Jaxtr is a free service that brings voice to social networks and blogs. It focuses on consumers with online profiles. Users can link their phones with their online network to hear from callers worldwide while keeping their existing phone numbers private and giving them control with the people they meet online.

Jaxtr reported 5 million registered users in 5 months since July 07. This makes Jaxtr the fastest growing Internet communications service in history ahead of Skype, Hotmail and ICQ. Out of the huge user base 85% are international users and only 15% are North American.

What’s Jaxtr’s Viral Strategy: It’s an email signature calling links (send messages to all your address book contacts). Something like
I am using Jaxtr, and if you also sign up, we can talk for free on the phone at any time.
-Sender

P.S. Here is the link to sign up:
http://www.jaxtr.com/user/ticket?n=T10ftmmlt9×5oc&type=joininvite&eb=87

My Assessment:

• The large number of international users Vs US users shows that growth is driven by Free Call messaging which has a huge appeal outside US
• Jaxtr sends emails to all the contact listed in the address book

I am not convinced about the existence of demand for Jaxtr’s service and this can be seen by fewer uptakes on their Facebook app.

Yahoo has acquired woot, which shows that Yahoo has started taking shopping seriously. We have been using Yahoo Shopping as another sales channel for our etailer clients but Yahoo Shopping functionality has not impressed us. Their conversion tracking and ROI is pretty low when compared to other shopping comparison engines. This acquisition would increase the traffic to Yahoo Shopping and might provide impetus to improve functionality. Woot has been one of my favorite shopping sites to find amazing deals.

We have done a lot of research in etailer space to define a methodology to increase sales on a continual basis for our clients. We have carefully studied the consumer behavior of researching, finding, discovering, comparing, reviewing, buying, bargain hunting, and considering recommendations and mapped OuterJoin’s etailer methodology to these specific behaviors. We have built a repository of sites (online destinations) which represent some share of each of these specific behaviors. Of course, now Yahoo Shopping and Woot would merge as one destination. Go woot go!