Thinking by Peter Davidson

Many of you know I write the BeConnected blog focused on developing your customer intuition. I have some nice posts about getting to know your customers as well as tips and tools you can use to know what your customers are interested in.

Now I' am pleased to announce that Sarah Eaton one of the fine writers at BeTuitive Marketing has joined the blog family. With BeTuitive Sarah is focusing on Actionable Results around email newsletter marketing. Sarah is neck deep in opt-in email marketing everyday so expect to read some great information.

Feel free to grab the feed right here. BeTuitive Blog feed

John Moore from the great Brand Autopsy has helped his local public radio station with their fund drive. I am a little late to the dance but this is great. John even moderated a great blog for them where listeners and supporters could provide feedback to the station about the drive. John has some great ideas about making the fund drive more tolerable and entertaining. It must be working as the station reached their goal. Hopefully all public radio stations are watching and learning. Yet another excellent use for blogs.

via Church of the Customer

If you think Reality TV has been big wait until Reality Blogs go mainstream. There are an increasing number of fascinating real life experiences being blogged.

A few examples from my collection:

To Philly, From Alska, w/Love - The experiences of a 26yo teacher who has moved to a remote village in Alaska after teaching for four years in Philadelphia.

Signs Never Sleep - The blog of a sign company in New Hampshire. Great stories and pictures of the process of making high quality signs for local businesses. Also includes fun snipets of life in New Hampshire.

Prison Pete - The experiences an inmate in a Federal Prison. Written by mail with the help of a friend this blog is a very interesting window into the small world of a federal inmate.

Random Acts of Reality - This is the blog of an EMT working for the London Ambulance Service. It's an interesting look into the emergency healthcare system of London. It's well written and quite compelling.

The 19th Floor - This is the blog of a disability advocate lawyer in Minneapolis who happens to be significantly disabled himself. Tales of daily life including 24/7 nursing care, working for the state, traveling, political views and events, and SF fandom abound.

There are many interesting stories out there in the blogsphere. These should get you started.

If anybody has any really good personal experience blogs let me know in the comments. Thanks.

Katherine Stone over at Decent Marketing has a nice opinion on what Toys R Us should do. She views it from an customer experience point of view. She talks about Toys R Us in terms of an experience her family enjoys on a weekly basis. Why isn't Toys R Us more like the Barns 'n Noble experience? It's a great question and a great analysis.

Toys R Us doesn't even want to be Toys R Us anymore. They have announced plans to sell the toy business and focus on their successful Babies R Us stores.

It's a new day new retailers come old retailers go and everywhere there are good ideas to help the new learn from the old.

[read]

In studying the Skybox Blog for my Thinking About Product Blogs posts here and here I looked at the stats page. I saw the chart at left. After bouncing alone below 100 for most of the month suddenly a huge spike. Wow, what happened on the day of the spike?

I asked Skybox blogger Gary. He reports that ubber gadget site Gizmodo had linked to the post announcing the introduction of their new product. The Skybox Rookie Fridge. That single mention drove over 1,000 visits to the blog in one day. Not just any visits but visits from gadget and technology enthusiasts who are likely to be potential customers.

Sure Maytag could have seen this traffic from a static site but those visits would be lost. By announcing a new product on a blog you are creating an invitation to a discussion about your product. On-line press releases don't allow readers to post comments to provide feedback or to ask questions. As more and more blog readers use newsreaders, people are very apt to grab an RSS feed for a blog they find interesting. That creates an opportunity for the blog to continue the discussion that starts with a new product announcement. Tip: Use Feedburner to measure and track you RSS feed activity.

Bottom Line: You're going to want bloggers talking about your product. Blogging is going to get bigger and bigger. The next generation are native bloggers. If you want to reach them you better understand and use blogs. If you want bloggers to talk about your product you best have a blog for them to read and link to.

Gary the mastermind behind the SkyBox by Maytag product blog pointed out that in yesterday's post I forgot to include the upside of what the Skybox blog is doing. So here are some quick points.

Great Memorable URL - ka-thunk.com Easy to remember, to publicize and most importantly tell others. Extra points for being evocative of the product itself. It's the sound of a can dropping out of a vending machine.
Some Great Content - Some of the posts are home runs. A recent post answers a good question from a new Skybox owner. Another post calls for user submissions. "Show us your ManCave" is a great idea that needs follow up. Several posts introduce cool new front panels for the product. Sports fans can customize their Skybox by adding a backlit panel depicting their favorite sports team. There should be a master index list of panel options on the sidebar. Relevant packaging and beverage news is the topic of some posts. Cool new aluminum bottles which would be cooler coming out of a Skybox are posted. There is some good content but my previous comments stand.
Blog Goodies - Comments are turned on. RSS feed is on. The site could use trackbacks but that may be a technical limitation of the publishing platform. These features facilitate participation in conversations and community.
They are doing it! - perhaps the greatest upside is simply the fact that Maytag is doing a blog in the first place. I suspect it's Gary's personal enthusiasm for blogging but I hope management is watching because the tipping point is coming. Additional funding and support and this could be a huge resource for Maytag

Product blogs can be challenging to set up and run right but the potential return in igniting buzz and supporting customer evangelists is huge. Think about it. When people Google your product do you want the opportunity to shape the community and the messages they find? A good product blog is the way to do just that.

Read "Thinking About Product Blogs"

Update: Read Why Have A Product Blog

Thinking About Product Blogs

Some time ago I asked for recommendations for really good tangible product blogs. Blogs for and about real world products other than the iPod. Turns out these a few and far between.

Many people including Scoble seem to like the Skybox by Maytag blog. The Skybox is a cool home beverage vending machine. That features customizable backlit panels. Just this week they have introduced a cool new minifridge.

This is an "old school" appliance company doing a very new thing - a blog.

While this like all good blogs is an evolving creation, the Skybox blog represents some of the downsides I see with product blogs and some of the incredible opportunities that a blog presents for a product.

First the downside. Many product blogs(PB) and small biz blogs(SBB) fail to define narrowly enough their audience and what they want to accomplish with their blog. Are you writing for existing customers or prospective customers? Both is the common answer. I would say this is a problem since the interests and information needs of these two groups are very different. For example: many SBBs and PBs post every media or prominent blogger mention they get. While this may be useful to people seeking additional information about your product it is not very useful to existing product owners. Do I really want to read all the press clippings about a product I already own. Press mentions should be compiled in a sidebar or miniblog.

There is no reason you can't have two blogs one for prospective customers and one for existing customers. These two blogs go hand in hand.

Blog for Prospective Customers- This is where you want to create a community of users of your product. This is a blog that's all about customers and their interest's and needs.

-Arm your customer evangelists with information, tips, experiences they can use to enhance their own experience with your product and convey the value of the product to others.
-Tell the inside story of your product team(photos, bios) and your creation process.
-Show and tell how your products are made.
-Tell stories and post interviews and photos of customers using your product.
-Create valuable cross marketing relationships with related products and offer them to your customer base.
-Feature articles about advanced uses of your product
-Show and tell how your product fits into your customers lifestyle.
-Do polls and quizzes like crazy to engage your customers and gain valuable insight.
-Do related product prizes, promotions and giveaways. (i.e. A football season worth of Pepsi products)
-Link to related product sites(Skybox should link to the sites for beer and soft drink makers)
-Link to related news sites. Don't try to be a news source. Comment on relevant news. With limited time and resources you won't be able to be the best source of news.

Blog for Prospective Customers - This is a blog that is an invitation to purchase your product and join the community that you have built around your product.

-Provide crazy amounts of product information. Pictures, diagrams, manuals, FAQs, spec sheets, etc.
-Ask for and answer prospective customer questions.
-Explain the features and benefits of your product.
-Profile existing customers.
-Provide links to reviews, news and blog mentions for your product.
-Offer discounts and promotions.
-Use the blog as a landing page for online ads and adword programs.
-Use the blog to drive search engine traffic to your business.

Yes, there is overlap between the two types of blogs and, yes, some content can be used in both places but the focus of both should remain clear. The prospective customer blog is all about your product and your business. The existing customer blog is all about your customers and building a community that serves their needs while providing both a Free Prize to customers and a valuable source of marketing and design intelligence for your product development team.

Markets are now conversations. Shouldn't the job of marketers be to create places for those conversations to take place? Skybox is off to a good start but their is so much more potential here.

Interested in more ideas and Thinking about Product Blogs? Email me or leave a comment.

Update: Read more Thinking on Product Blogs.

OK, time for us to go to school. This was unsolicited and seeking publicity so I have no problems using as an example of what NOT to do when trying to pitch bloggers to post about you, your blog, your book, etc. On Sunday I get this email:

Peter.

I love your blog. Refer to it all the time and appreciate the stuff you find, observe and opine on peterthink.

As you might have noticed from our blog www.marketingplaybook.com, we are publishing a book, surprise, surprise, it's called "The Marketing Playbook." Well, it's done and it's coming out at the end of October.

In it we took a bunch of the lessons we learned as marketing execs at Microsoft along with what we've learned from a ton of start ups and other companies as VCs. And then we tried to turn all this into something that could help take the mystery out of marketing strategy and tactics for regular business people and`marketing people alike.

Anyway, I've attached a preview (not fully edited). Would love to know what you think. And if you like it (or even if you hate it) we might like to hit you up for a mention/review on your site.

Best. Thanks, John

Let's take this point by point:

Personalize Your Message - Come on, at least try and pretend that you have actually read my blog. When I read a line like "I love your blog. Refer to it all the time and appreciate the stuff you find, observe and opine on..." I think "well you say that to all the bloggers." It's sucking up by cut and paste.

If you want to suck up...er...get a bloggers attention you need to take a few minutes and actually read the last week or month of posts on their blog. Mention some real content that you found interesting or helpful. Be specific.

Of course the second clue to the fact that Josuha's message is less than personal and sincere is the fact that he doesn't even get the name of my blog right!

Get to the Point - If I'm still reading, you're lucky since you've already tripped my human spam filter, you need to tell me why you are sending me this unsolicited message. He mentions his blog and his new book. He says it's done and coming out the end of next month. Well I would hope it's done if he wants publicity. Then comes this gem of a paragraph:

In it we took a bunch of the lessons we learned as marketing execs at Microsoft along with what we've learned from a ton of start ups and other companies as VCs. And then we tried to turn all this into something that could help take the mystery out of marketing strategy and tactics for regular business people and`marketing people alike.

First question, if you have so much experience in marketing then why are you essentially spamming me for publicity? Second question, since you are taking the mystery out of marketing for "regular" business people does that mean that marketing people are constipated? I thought everyone was involved in marketing these days.

Do I really have to explain the Attachment Thing - This is perhaps the best part! The preview that Jason attached to this unsolicited spam like email is OVER 1MB Remember it's unsolicited so I'm in no hurry to open this huge file that wastes my time and bandwidth. That's before I even think about viruses, trojan horses and the lot. Since this former Microsoft marketing exec is so savvy in his use of the blogsphere to promote his message I am hesitant to touch this huge file. If you want a blogger to look at something send them a link to it! Tell me briefly why this is worth my click. Don't we all know this already. If I like what I read then I might use that same link to point to it on my blog. If you don't want your document posted on the net then don't send it out at all. What's to keep anyone from posting what you send out anyway.

Is it Finished or Not? - He said the book is finished but whatever this preview is it isn't fully edited. Why are you telling me that the preview isn't fully edited. Is that to excuse any mistakes you have made? Do you think it's somehow more special and "inside" to send out an unfinished product? Thanks, I'll wait until you are finished.

Asking Without Asking - At the end Jim says that if I like it(or even if I don't) he might hit me up for a review/mention on my site. There's a typical broadcast type message. Again, I bet you say that to all the bloggers. You would do better to find some connection between your ideas and those of mine on my site and use that as a way to make your pitch relevant to me. Try "Peter, I know you are interested in xyz. In the book we talk about a,b and c as it relates to xyz. Please give it a read and email me your thoughts." Step one - engage the blogger in a relevant discussion of your ideas. Step two - once in a conversation request the blogger comment on their blog.

Anybody else get this email? Anybody else have tips for pitching to bloggers?

Oh, I almost forgot. Bet you are wondering what amazing, compelling, intriguing, engaging subject line got me to open the email in the first place. It read simply - "a preview" ..........Sigh!

John, I would be interested in reading your preview but like many other people I don't open attachments to email. If you want to send me a link to a web page version I'll have a look.

Steve Rubel over at Micro Persuasion has noticed, a bit late, that Panera Bread Company offers free Wi-Fi access at selected restaurants. He ends his post by recommending that the restaurants supply ample electrical outlets.

He has hit upon the hidden governor that "frees up seats" in venues that offer Wi-Fi access. With telecommuting, blogging and blog reading on the meteoric rise businesses are offering Wi-Fi access to get customers in the door. Limiting the number of power outlets subtly assures that all day Wi-Fi campers won't monopolize the seating. Without a power outlet laptop users will be limited to about three hours max.

"Yes, we have Wi-Fi. Come on in spend some money. Surf a while. Blog a while and then free up a seat."

[Link]

One of the greatest things blogs can do is let people in on the creation and ongoing story of interesting small businesses. When a small biz blog is done right it paints a compelling and engaging story of a small business. Carefully mixing business and personal life creates a reality picture for readers not just corporate PR spin. Writing openly and honestly about the challenges and struggles of a small business operation creates a bond that moves customers and prospects from parties in a transaction to fans to evangelists. A well written and produced blog gives people the story(s) to spread the word about your small biz.

One of the best examples I have seen recently is Signs Never Sleep (Atom feed) from the Lincoln Sign Company of Lincoln, New Hampshire.

JD Iles is the owner of the family business and producer of the blog. He has a great natural writing style that comes across with passion for great signs and a dad's life in New Hampshire. Rich with great pictures of their sign shop, signs in process and finished installed signs the blog does a great job of giving you a feel for the workings of a sign business. JD has begun chronicling the sign making process from start to finish for a carved wood sign for a local bank. I'd like to see more of these kinds of reports including some insight into his sales and marketing practices and perhaps even comments from the customers for these signs. Why did they select Lincoln Sign and how do they feel about the end product. I also want to put a picture with the name. JD, how about a picture of yourself?

JD wisely keeps the focus on the business and the family. Even when he does link to something unrelated to the sign business he does a great job of presenting how it is relevant to his family. Yes he linked to the darling of the blogsphere "Talk like a Pirate Day" but because he did it in the context of his family's fun experience with it it doesn't break the focus or the flow of the blog.

If you like the reality stories of entrepreneurs and small business owners go ahead a add Signs Never Sleep (Atom feed) to your daily reading habits.

Keep up the great work JD.