Velleity is a word that has dropped out of the general vocabulary, unfortunately. I am attempting to bring it back, as it has more relevance now than ever.
Velleity is a desire to see something done, but not enough desire to make it happen. Wow!
Reporting v Analyzing
In my analytics training classes I ask the attendees about their analytics reporting routine. Sometimes I make fun of the in-house analytics that has to report numbers like unique visitors, hits and sessions. Then, they spend the rest of the month justifying why that number was higher or lower than the prior month. Unfortunately, as I make that statement I see too many heads nodding in agreement. I feel for those people who are locked in a never ending cycle of velleity. Companies that understand that analytics can be valuable, but not enough to change their culture, provide the analyst with the tools they need, or provide them with the freedom to make changes that will improve the profits of the company itself.
These are what I call “Caveman Analytics.”
Unfortunately, too many businesses are trapped into thinking that big numbers are impressive. Big numbers = big business, right? But what do you do with those numbers? How does that affect your strategy?
Questioning the Strategy
As soon as someone starts asking questions, the house of straw blows away. Simply reporting numbers is not an analytics strategy, and it certainly will not lead to any amount of website improvement. And yes, I do know of some companies that include “Hits” in their monthly reporting. (If that is you, reporting hits, stop. Hits are not a count of any relevance for your marketing. It’s just a big number.)
Questioning As a Strategy
Questions are the foundation for our learning. They expose motivations and require explanations. Many corporations and businesses are famous for encouraging the heads-down, lock-step agreement survival tactics. Asking questions is not popular, nor is it encouraged. Asking questions is perceived as rebellion, rather than progress. In the 60’s the radicals told us to question authority. Now that they are in authority, the last thing they want is to be questioned.
Neil Postman speaks about the importance of questioning, saying “question-asking is the most significant tool human beings have.” Even more important that software, servers and summaries, questions are an analysts’ primary tool. Postman even suggested that the reason why we don’t teach the ability to question in schools, is because eventually the students will question the teacher. Questions are subversive, but they result in people finding answers.
Questions - The Cure for Velleity
Velleity is what keeps companies locked in this mindset of reporting useless numbers. Desiring, even expecting to someday have an epiphany of change, but not willing to change the mindset or the culture of locked-in reporting to achieve it. Nor are they willing to ask the hard questions in order to uncover what must be done.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
I attended the Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference at the beginning of this week fully expecting to learn a whole lot of good internet marketing information from a great group of speakers. And I did. However, I wasn’t expecting to become part of a warm, welcoming, and helpful community that extends beyond the two-day conference. But I did.
The Unleashed conference was all about community both in the sessions and the networking.
I was able to network with almost all of the other attendees and build lasting relationships with many of them.
The speakers emphasized building and marketing websites focused on the visitor, rather than the search engines.
Real-live handshakes, face-to-face conversations, and more than a few tweets
One of the pros of the internet is that we can easily connect with people all over the world. On the flip side, the con is that we spend more and more time online with virtual friends—and less time face to face. Working in the internet marketing industry naturally allows for a widely distributed client and colleague base, many of whom we never see. So I loved Unleashed because I finally got to meet many virtual friends and colleagues in person.
The crew behind Small Business Marketing Unleashed—Jennifer Laycock, Robert Clough, Rachel Phillips, and Vickie Evans of Search Engine Guide and Small Business Brief—were brilliant in starting off the conference with a speed networking and charity event. (Think speed dating with three minutes and business cards and no evaluations.) By “forcing” all of us to talk to each other, any speaker/attendee cliques that could have potentially formed were broken up from the start. Pushing us out of our comfort zones to meet new people on that first night made it a whole lot easier to do so throughout the rest of the conference.
Internet marketers shared knowledge with business owners.
Speakers befriended attendees.
Neighbors asked and answered each other’s questions during sessions.
Previously total strangers hung out talking about the industry and life in general until the wee hours of the morning.
My Twitter tweet rate quadrupled at least as we are continuing the conversations now that we’ve returned to our homes all over the country.
As a result, I came away from the conference with a head full of knowledge and a contact list full of friends and resources willing to share ideas and input. And a whole lot of new friends.
Information-packed sessions with a focus on people I was looking forward to Unleashed because it was a smaller conference (purposely) yet offered some of the best professionals in the industry as speakers. I knew the sessions would go into each topic in-depth and send me home armed with practical applications. And I wasn’t disappointed.
Sessions that stood out included:
Intro: SEO Success Pyramid by Matt McGee
During the overview session, Jennifer Laycock, Wendy Piersall, Matt Bailey, and Matt McGee set the tone for the rest of the conference. Jennifer made the excellent point that “search engines are like Pinocchio. They just want to be a real boy.” She meant that search engines continually try to think more and more like real people. Build and market websites geared focused on your visitors, and you will be successful in the search engines. This theme was carried on throughout the conference.
Matt McGee shared his SEO Success Pyramid, a great concept he recently developed to guide the SEO process. The pyramid has five levels:
The foundation: has nothing do with your website. The foundation is about preparing yourself for success by ensuring that you have a unique product, good customer service, etc.
The first steps: preparing your website for success. This includes design, usability, analytics, etc.
Nuts and Bolts: improving on your website with content, crawlability, and contextual links.
Reaching out: getting involved on other sites.
What its all about: gaining trust.
I loved this concept because it’s the same thing we preach at SiteLogic: SEO is about so much more than putting keywords in appropriate places. It’s about selling something people want, building a website that is easy to use, focusing your visitor on your goal, and building a good reputation that will have longevity. Download Matt McGee’s SEO Success Pyramid for free.
Website Architecture with Stoney deGeyter
Stoney broke his presentation into three main topics:
Domain and URL structure
Page and document structure
Link structure.
Stoney emphasized that the most important thing to keep in mind when building or maintaining a website is “Don’t make them think.” Make navigating and using your site as obvious and as easy as possible. If visitors can’t figure it out, they’ll just leave.
The session was filled with good technical information without being confusing to those who come from a marketing background. This laundry list of items of which to be aware is essential for any marketer or business owner who wants their website to be effective for visitors and search engines.
Building a Community with Wendy Piersall Wendy shared methods for successfully building a community around your website. She said the most important thing to remember is WIIFM, or “What’s In It For Me?” This is the question visitors will ask themselves when they come to your website. If you answer that question well, they’ll stick around. Always remember to focus first on your visitor, and last on your own ideas.
Blogging For Business with Mack Collier
Mack, a regular contributor to Search Engine Guide and blogging expert, provided some great information in his speaking debut. As did many of the other speakers, he emphasized the importance of focusing on your visitors above all else. Mack’s elements of a great blog include:
content
posting schedule
comments
sidebar elements
Mack strongly recommends including a picture of you and a brief bio of you on your blog. Allowing visitors to really know who you are adds to your credibility and personality and encourages them to stick around.
He also noted that blogs are great for targeting long-tail keywords.
Keywords and Content with Heather Lloyd-Martin
Seeing as Heather practically invented the concept and has a witty, energetic speaking style, she was a no-brainer to lead this session and workshop. I appreciated her focus on writing copy that focuses on the visitor and helps them to understand and navigate your site. Heather strongly emphasized that people’s decision to purchase stems from an emotional connection. She also explained that shoppers are willing to pay more if they relate to your company. Building that relationship and trust is where small businesses can really shine. Thus, it’s essential to create that emotion through your website’s copy.
Heather’s power placements for primary keywords are:
Headlines
Subheads
Benefits statement based on keyphrases
Links and anchor text
Link Building with Debra Mastaler
Debra is the queen of link building, and I was really looking forward to the opportunity to learn the secrets of the trade from her. Between the day one session and day two workshop, she blew through a ton of great information. While my brain felt a little fried at the end, I walked away with a solid understanding of how to run a link building campaign and knew exactly how to get started. At the workshop, Debra provided a “blueprint” for link building with the best methods for getting started. They include:
searching for authority sites
directory submissions
article directories and content sites
press and media links
utility linking
social buzz
Viral Marketing with Jennifer Laycock I attended the viral marketing and link building workshops back to back, and came away completely inundated with great information. If you needed to know what viral marketing is, how to plan and run a campaign, and how to choose the tactics that are best for your organization, you would have been completely prepared after Jennifer’s workshop. She talked about:
the benefits and pitfalls of viral marketing
creating the idea
tips for creating and running a campaign
types of campaigns with pros, cons, and examples
identifying influencers
and pitching bloggers
She so well prepared us in her presentation, no one even had to ask questions!
Off and running across the internet
We are all now back home and off and running with new and improved internet marketing campaigns and tactics. Needless to say, if you weren’t at Small Business Marketing Unleashed this week, you will not want to miss out on it next year! You can expect to come away with a plan for how to best market your website online and greatly improve your organization.
Jackie Baker is an internet marketing analyst at SiteLogic with concentrations in usability, information architecture, SEO, social media, and online PR.
I am a child of the 80’s. Play some New Order, Yes, or Van Halen and you’ve got my attention. And yes, I’ll even admit that I like the power ballads, especially from Journey. I mean, really, who didn’t grow up in the 80’s and slow dance to “Open Arms?” That song was standard homecoming and prom material. Well, couple my love of 80’s music and internet marketing and this has to be one of the best stories to come out of the age of YouTube. Hattip to ClassicVinylRecord.com
The Story
The Zoo was a rock band in the Philippines that liked to upload video of their performances to YouTube. They have a solid following in the Philippines and most of their videos are from their performances at the Hard rock café in Makati. They are very well known for their covers of well-known rock songs from the 80’s and 90’s. Their lead singer, Arnel Pineda garnered a lot of the attention because of his clear tone and amazing voice.
Here is Arnel and The Zoo performing one of my favorite Journey songs, “Faithfully.” Give it a listen, you’ll see what I mean,
Did you know Journey was hiring?
Now, here is the amazing part of the story. Halfway around the world original Journey founder, Neil Schon, was trolling videos of bands on YouTube one night and finds this video. He contacted the band through YouTube, convinced them he was for real, and in short time auditioned to become the front man for Journey. It didn’t take much convincing, and he was announced on December 5th 2007.
Now Journey fans, and even those that with a passing familiarity, know Steve Perry was “the voice.” Replacing him bordered on sacrilege. However, after hearing Arnel, I am fully convinced this guy can handle the job.
So, here is your new Journey frontman, Arnel Pineda. From cover band to frontman, all via YouTube, plus some amazing vocal talent.
Is YouTube the new Broadway?
The marketing aspect of this has to be respected. YouTube has been the conduit to many contacts, contracts and discoveries. Apple’s use of a fan’s self-created commercial for the iPod Touch was one of the first YouTube sucess stories. Instead of suing the fan base, Apple realized that the user base were becoming passionate evangelists for the product and it was better to promote the evangelists than shut them down with lawyers. What better way to help people go to the next level of being a fan of the company?
Marketing via YouTube
YouTube has enabled a whole new form of discovery for artists. Singers, filmmakers, actors, designers, animators, and on and on. The new pathway to becoming discovered is much shorter and much more broad. The abilities to reach more people and distuguish yourself is easier than ever. However, the stakes are also much higher. Because the access is so easy for anyone to upload themselves, the competition has increased. There are more people uploading than ever before and creating consumer-generated video.
This is the difference that this story highlights. Even among the thousands of videos of people singing Journey songs, this is the one that got noticed. Why? because the kid has scary talent and a voice that is almost (dare I say) better than Steve Perry. He had a product that got noticed. It was better, stronger, and “stickier” than the competition.
The secret to success
Even though the access is greater, the competition will also be greater, and no amount of additional visibility on the web helps an average product. Products that kick ass and are the ones that get noticed.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
Being intimately familiar with WebKinz World, I have been fascinated with the development of this network, mainly for the standpoint of the marketing. My familiarity? Our household is directly in the target market and I searched everywhere for a pink pony WebKinz for Christmas.
In all of the hoopla that surrounds social media marketing, the virtual world of Webkinz has quietly slipped into being the fastest growing social network online. The reason why it’s been so quiet? The target audience is 7-12 year olds. Ask most parents, and they are probably familiar with the virtual pet phenomenon, at least they will be familiar with being asked to buy the Webkinz.
In the past year, visitors to Webkinz have increased by 342% to more than six million unique visitors in November 2007 (ComScore). eMarketer estimates that 20 million children will be members of a virtual world by 2011, up from 8.2 million in 2007.
Social Network Marketing
Other social networks targeted at adults have been formed mainly out of hobbies and shared interests. Social networks are formed with the intent of gathering people; Marketing in these networks is an afterthought until the drive for a buy-out creates the need for monetization.
However, when it comes to the younger audiences, the social network and virtual worlds are created by brilliant marketers as a way to further the passion for the product. The primary purpose is marketing, which is concerning to me, as a parent and a marketer.
How Webkinz Works
Webkinz plays to the idea of an exclusive club – only those who purchase the plush toy will be granted access. In fact, it is called an “adoption” rather than a purchase. Webkinz is sort of like the old cabbage patch doll phenomenon. When you bought the doll you received a birth certificate for the doll, which initiated you into a club (so to speak).
Webkinz operates on a similar principle, but the code on the Webkinz, is also the code that allows you to adopt your pet online and have access into the virtual world. Once a child has that access, they are now responsible to care for their animal that has “come to life” in this virtual world. This caters to and develops the nurturing play of children.
Interestingly, you simply cannot wander Webkinz World, you eventually have to purchase a house and furnish it for your Webkinz pet. You do this by playing games and earning money. With the money you earn, you can buy more items for your Webkinz, such a bigger house, a pool, a bed, furniture, TV, etc.
KinzChat
Social interaction in WebKinz World is limited, thank God. When my daughter told me that she made a friend and was chatting with them online – I freaked. This is what got me into learning more about Webkinz. Chatting in Webkinz World is a series of pre-programmed statements. Children choose which statement their pet will say to the other pet, and they can choose to friend each other from there. They can also choose to share recipes, such as a waffle, strawberry, and spicy pizza combination called “mizzleberry jacks.” There is no direct one-to one interaction at this point. Children feel as though they actually have real conversations and talks about them as if they were real and these new friends are real. As a parent – I like that, but it does make me wonder about the new definition of the word “friend”.
There is an additional paid service that will allow direct chat in Webkinz World, but parents have to pay for the service and choose to permit the direct chat, called KinzChat Plus. Even in the KinsChat Plus, the chat is limited, as the words must match a restricted dictionary. This prevents addresses, phone numbers, and words from entering the conversations.
Webkinz Marketing
Every marketer (and parent) knows that a child begging for a toy is one of the most powerful persuasive tactics to sell a product. Thus, the key to successfully targeting children to be your product evangelist. They have very few filters when it comes to toys, cereals, and speaking their mind. That’s a powerful combination for a marketer who would like to get their product into a household. Webkinz has been able to grab a hold of this market and reinforce itself in the process.
The interface is very easy for children to access and understand. Preschoolers are able to use Webkinz, especially if they have older siblings that can teach them. What is most concerning; however, is the advertising that is proliferates the site. Advertisements for movies and toys are constant throughout the website, and many marketers are licking their chops for the exposure to this young audience.
Webkinz has revolutionized the offline-online interaction and measurement gap and created a safe virtual playground for children. It allows them to socialize (albeit, restricted) online and have experiences that adults have never imagined or experienced. They are growing up with a virtual world, whereas most adults have never heard of or even entered Second Life.
While most social networks are looking for ways to merge on-line and off-line marketing, WebKinz took both head-on and has developed an amazing network of plush toys, trading cards, charms, body spritz, bookmarks, lip gloss, clothing, mouse pads, backpacks and purses. All purchases come with valuable codes that provide “gifts” for your adopted pet. For any analyst, the ability to track the online-to-offline purchasing and behavior would be a dream come true.
Virtual Worlds Marketing to Children
Disney is already in full swing, creating multiple virtual worlds for young audiences. Disney’s Club Penguin attracts seven more times the traffic of Second Life (NYTimes.com). Nickelodeon is spending $100 million to develop virtual worlds targeted to children.
I am fascinated, as a marketer, of the creativity that is on display for children. Most children’s sites (PBSKids.org, Noggin.com, and NickJr.com) have offered a wide range of creative, interesting and safe websites. The draw of these games and websites has reached a new, younger generation of children that are more familiar with a computer than a TV.
As both a parent and a marketer, there is a dark side to all of this. I remember growing up and seeing commercials during Saturday morning cartoons. We watched them as the portal to see all that was new and exciting. Now, children have advertising surrounding them, but very little of the rational skills that are necessary for evaluating those messages.
Consider that social networks that adults are involved with have nowhere near the advertising that these worlds have developed for children. Adult social networks are not built for marketing, but children’s social networks are being built for that express purpose.
When Facebook’s Beacon program was found to be too invasive, privacy advocates screamed. Privacy advocates are screaming for children, but not as many want to hear their concerns. Toy companies and marketers are lining up to be part of these networks aimed at kids.
Take this how you will . . .
This is where my parental role trumps that of the marketer. It is my responsibility to raise my child, not a website’s. It is ultimately the parents that need to take an active role in knowing what your child is doing online and how it can help or hurt them. Educating children about marketing and how to evaluate marketing messages will be critical as more and more marketers see children as a “gold mine” for marketing-entertainment.
Parents need to ask themselves, who is looking out for the health, welfare and best interest of their children? While virtual worlds can be entertaining and educational, parents need to be aware of the real motivations behind these networks.
“All the stars are aligning for virtual worlds to become a mass-market form of entertainment, especially for kids . . . .”
Paul Yanover, executive vice president and managing director of Disney Online.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
Jupiter Research reports that only 15% of viral campaigns get passed along. The reason viral marketing rates are so low? Poor Content. (What a surprise)
Jennifer Laycock and I do many viral planning campaigns throughout the year, and we’ve heard more than our share of lame pitches. We have companies tell us that they want to do a viral campaign, but have no idea how or why it should happen. The worst thing, according to Jennifer, is when companies tell us, “”I have this (fill in the blank) I just built and I need you to make it go viral”.
Make it go viral. Really? You know how viral works, right?
Can You Make Viral?
Viral marketing is a strange thing. While a viral campaign can be planned and launched, the best viral campaigns are usually accidental. In fact, viral movements are often sparked by pop-culture events rather than funded advertising campaigns. While it’s possible to engineer a viral campaign, companies need to work to carefully research their target audience. Trying to push standard advertising or site offerings into going viral generally results in backlash. Customers have to WANT to promote something, and not feel pushed into doing so.
The Dove campaign is a perfect illustration of this. By showing what goes into a model shoot, Dove was able to communicate a very revealing message about our perceptions of beauty. This message got people’s attention, and they forwarded it to friends by the thousands.
The Pitch
You can usually spot a poorly planned viral campaign in the pitch. Bloggers are usually the targets of viral campaigns, as they provide the perfect means to influence a niche audience. The pitch to a blogger is a draw for them to talk about your company or campaign. You can’t be lazy when pitching a blogger – you have to maker the blogger the center of your universe. Otherwise, you aren’t worth their time.
Some of the best viral campaigns are the ones that you will never hear about. They target a specific niche, they grow naturally, and they won’t make headlines. They are quietly successful, and very specific.
Do Thy Research
One very smart business retained us to study their website and their “hook.” After a few group tests and user observation sessions, we were able to conclude that the website was not targeted to the intended audience. The intended audience disliked the site and some even found it offensive. Rather than pressing ahead, they used the research and decided to re-brand the website for a younger audience. They knew they had to change the message in order to meet the older audience they wanted.
This is one case where the expense of pre-campaign research probably saved the company more money than pushing through with a misdirected viral campaign. Campaigns go viral because they resonate with people, not because they appeal to marketing execs or creative directors. The consumers are the ultimate judges of content.
Most viral campaigns are well-planned for execution, but fail miserably on follow-up or Word-of-mouth tracking. There is not a thorough knowledge of how to track the buzz on or off a target site. Without metrics for the campaign established from the planning stage, there is no definition of success. However, even with some metrics established, there is no clear benchmarking data, formal measurement, or standardized methodology.
Mostly, what we have to rely on is the word of the marketer, who proclaims the campaign a smashing success, but has little data to back up the claim.
What’s it take?
For viral to be successful, it has to give up control to the user. It has to be a message, an application, a widget, a video; anything; but is has to resonate with a social participant at some level. Viral marketing is only as successful as you are willing to take the steps necessary to know your audience and speak their language.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
Yes, I know, posting has been light. I think everyone is busy right now, and with Spring upon us, the Bailey homestead is starting to enjoy the sunshine and springtime flowers.
I’ve been keeping a bust schedule for the past few months with seminars, conferences, and consulting. But when the team at ClickTracks asked Jennifer Laycock from Search Engine Guide and me to give a webinar on social media, I couldn’t refuse. Two of my favorite subjects, social media and analytics - so happy together.
So, if you are in a mood to find out more about social media and how you can use your analytics to get the most out of your marketing, make palns to attend. We’ll be giving the seminar twice. The first live broadcast will be on Monday, March 26th at 1:00 PM EST, and the second live broadcast is on Tuesday, March 27th at 10:00 AM EST.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
Are they doing enough to protect “the other white meat” phrase? I don’t think so. First things first - an apology was issued.
I had some thoughts from observing the blogstorm that resulted from the National Pork Board, represented by Faegre and Benson, sending a threatening Cease and Desist letter to Jennifer Laycock of The Lactivist and Search Engine Guide. Jennifer and I have had a number of discussions about the nature of blogging and corporate responsibility.
The National Pork Board contacted Jennifer and gave her a very sincere apology, and they are talking to her about rectifying the situation. Knowing Jennifer, she’s not out for herself. She’s mainly upset at the derogatory remarks made about breastfeeding made by Faegre and Benson lawyer, Jennifer Daniel Collins. Interestingly, there has been no word from Faegre and Benson, about this issue. It makes me wonder if this C&D letter was written with knowledge from the Pork Board, or if this was the result of the firms’ actions. Regardless, someone made the call, and the incorrect judgments, inflammatory statements and fuzzy legal interpretations came with Ms. Collins name attached.
The Power Shift
Here’s my take on this Blogstorm and from observing many others. Corporate attorneys are not popular. (Say it isn’t so!) But really, in the past, corporate attorneys, especially Intellectual Property lawyers were able to send out threatening C&D letters to anyone and intimidate them into complicity. What we have been witnessing lately is a complete reversal of that power, and I can name many situations in the past year to support this assessment.
The power is now in the hands of the citizen marketer, especially one with a personal blog. Anyone who has a dispute with a corporation or a corporate attorney can now bring their case to the court of public opinion and have it heard by thousands of their peers. As any attorney knows, the court of public opinion is critical, and almost more important than anything that happens in a courtroom. The citizens are able to bring their case online and have it analyzed by other practicing attorneys, apply to the Digital Rights Foundation, or bring attention to their matter with a few posts, emails, and contacts with the right people.
This means that we are closing the era of unleashed corporate attorneys who intimidate small businesses and individuals with confusing legalese and strong-arm tactics. The blogosphere crackles to life when these situations happen because it feeds the frenzy. The crowd mentality develops its own sense of justice.
The culture is changing, and bloggers are building a louder voice and capturing more of the public opinion. Their word spreads faster and with more momentum. A press release is like a cymbal in the storm when bloggers are in full swing. I am interested to see where this goes in the future, and how many more cases will be tried in the blogosphere. Bloggers don’t speak legalese; we have conversations with each other. When another person, usually a corporation or an advertiser, enters the conversation with a sense of entitlement to be heard, it will be rejected. One-way messages don’t work here.
Now, a personal judgment.
I did a simple search on Google for the “trademarked” phrase, “The other white meat.” What I found in the first four pages of results had me scratching my head. I found amazingly blatant examples of trademark infringement on the EXACT phrase. Why go after a breastfeeding mom with a “small” blog, who isn’t even using the same words, when there are blatant examples so easily found?
Here are some of the Google results for “The other white meat”
PrankPlace.com, selling T-Shirts with the slogan “Cat: The Other White Meat”
YouTube, Mars Volta concert footage of the song “Abortion: the other white meat”
You have to be kidding me
Is this enough to make you sick to your stomach about the choice of target for Faegre and Benson lawyers? They go after a mother who is raising money for the cause of helping premature babies, and ignoring the blatant, tasteless and even offensive trademark infringement that is within well within their ability to find. Yet breastfeeding has tarnished their client’s good image? How about the association with abortion, the adult film industry, and whale hunting?
One blogger noticed 56 copyright violations on Cafe Press of THE ACTUAL PHRASE! Now, why target one CafePress user, who has a shirt that is a play on the phrase rather than the actual phrase itself? And why did CafePress quickly remove Jennifer’s shirt and not any of these other, more obvious infringements? What kind of legal tactic is this, where they ignore the elephant in the room?
My deduction is that Jennifer looked like an easy target. However, if they would have taken the time to read her blog they would have quickly realized that Jennifer was fresh off organizing a protest against Delta Airlines for their “boob” job.
Looking to the future
I hope this is a shot across the bow, as blogs are changing the way and the speed that people communicate. It doesn’t take long to communicate to like-minded people, and most of them will do what they can to do bring light to a situation they feel is unjust.
However, it doesn’t have to be all bad. Good news travels too, not as fast, but many bloggers are just as willing to compliment business for their professionalism and god works as well.
Thanks to the Pork Board, for apologizing and doing what is right, though I suspect they were a third part in all of this, they are still doing the right thing with the apology and working things out with Jennifer.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
In a situation that is very close to me, as a friend of mine, Jennifer Laycock, runs a pro-breastfeeding blog. As part of raising awareness of breastfeeding and promoting milk banks for premature babies, she sells shirts the proceeds are donated to these causes.
Well, one of her pro-breastfeeding shirts reads, “The Other White Milk.”
She received a Cease and Desist letter from the National Pork Board claiming copyright infringement on their slogan (Milk!?!) and threatened to sue her if she did not remove the offending shirt.
On the “have to see to believe” part, they claimed that she advocates breastfeeding after infancy, like she was promoting some sort of breastfeeding fetish site or something, which shows that the National Pork Board’s lawyers neglected to even see who is was they were ready to sue, or even what they stood for.
Check out Jennifer’s blog for updates and email addresses for the National pork Board, their lawyers and PR department, which I suspect loves the attention they are receiving from this situation. My friends, you are well on your way to being the pork-butt of many jokes.
The beauty, you see, is that Jennifer is a well-respected member of the search engine optimization community, she is the editor of Search Engine Guide and we work together developing viral marketing and word-of-mouth campaigns online.
This should be fun to watch . . .
Update:
12 hours after Jennifer’s original post, we have lost count of the blogs that have picked up her story. It has run through the SEO and online marketing industy, the Breastfeeding groups, and is now making it to law blogs. A Google News search for “pork” shows articles about this ranking #1, #4, and #7.
Awesome.
Update: Feb 02, 6:05 PM
There have been well over 250 blogs that we have been able to track linking to the original article. The audience has covered militant breasteeding moms, nudists, law students, tech blogs, and myspace blogs.
A blog search on Technorati for the term “The Lactvist” shows over 70 results in the last 24 hours.
Jennifer released a statement to KCCI-TV in Des Moines, Iowa (the home base of the National Pork Board). The broadcast will be available after 5 PM CST.
The National Pork Board, and more importantly, the law firm of Faegre & Benson have been completely mum on the subject, despite the overwhelming tide of negative publicity that is covering the ‘net. Obviously, they haven’t read many books on blogging and dealing with bloggers (hint - get a copy of The ClueTrain Manifesto - NOW).
The first rule is to deal with it honestly and personally - not to “ride it out.” Just ask Trent Lott, Dan Rather & CBS, and The NYT & Jayson Blair what bloggers can do if left without comment.
Update: Feb 3, 2007 30 hours after the original post was made, some articles and blog entires have made it into the top 20 Google results for “National Pork Board”. In less than 2 full days, the story has made it to Information Week.
Interestingly, why should the National Pork Board pay for the mistakes of the anti-breastfeeding, crack legal staff at Faegre and Benson? Wasn’t it the lawyer there that started this? I wonder if these things have to be approved at any level, especially with the choice language, contradictory terms, and fuzzy legal standing?
Update: 3:17 PM, February 3, 3007
72 Hours after the initial post, The National Pork Board is in contact with Jennifer. They have issued a very sincere apology and are working towards a resolution. Fantastic. Their first move seems to be a very positive one, and they are taking steps to rectify the situation. No word from the legal team at Faegre and Benson, though . . . .
Update Feb 7, 2007:
In a very nice gesture on the part of the National Pork Board, they are taking up a VOLUNTARY collection to donate to the Columbus, Ohio milkbank that Jennifer supports. It’s a long, legal story about why they can’t officially do it as an organization, but in my opinion, this smacks of real honesty and true heartfelt feelings towards making an unpleasant situtation better.
All the more, I still don’t think they were aware of this until the backfire started. I think they are at the mercy of this lone lawyers’ actions in the matter, and they are doing the right thing to make up for that.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
This week, Coca Cola is “formally embracing” the online video phenomenon of the exploding geyser created from mixing Mentos with Diet Coke. This statement is from the same company whose formal position a few months ago was:
“We would hope people want to drink [Diet Coke] more than try experiments with it,” says Coke spokeswoman Susan McDermott. She adds that the “craziness with Mentos … doesn’t fit with the brand personality” of Diet Coke.” From the Wall Street Journal June 12, 2006.
Well, now we have an official acceptance from Coke that people will now be publicly embraced for dropping Mentos into their product, rather than being shunned by the corporate giant for not consuming their product the “correct” way.
Mentos on the other hand, had been feeding the frenzy, as they spend less than $20 million on U.S. advertising annually, but have estimated the value of the online buzz to be “over $10 million.”
The Mentos homepage has been changed to feature three links: The original video on Eepybird, a video showing the science behind the reaction, the video “geyser” contest.
They have created an official online video contest, by partnering with YouTube, for people to submit their own DietCoke and Mentos video. The winner of which was announced the on October 13, 2006.
150 videos were submitted for the Mentos - YouTube contest.
A search for Mentos and Coke on YouTube yields over 5,300 videos.
The video phenomenon drove the attention of the mainstream media with the original video by Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz appearing on “Late Night with David Letterman” and Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters.”
By the way, do you think Mentos minds that people are using their jingle, logo, and typical “Mentos thumbs-up” ending? I wonder why people are using the Mentos commercial elements rather than the Diet Coke jingle? Could it be that Mentos is more fun and memorable?
The announcement in MediaPost that Coke has “joined the exploding soda craze” is joined with skepticism and yawns. Coke has run a content for user-submitted videos on its site since July 2006, (this is late October 2006) but with very little attention.
Rant Alert!
Called “The Coke Show”, the entire klugy interface almost tells people to “go away” and does little to endear the site to the user. The CocaCola website is built entirely out of Flash and initially driven by JavaScript. Why is it so important to select a country? Everytime?
The Coke site is a blast from the past with it’s ignorance of usability, technical savvy and interaction. The typical corporate design of making people select their region, country and language is patently irritating. There is no other entrance to the site, and no cookies are dropped into your browser to remember your preference. You are subjected to the location menu - everytime.
Of course, the Flash takes place in a pop-up window and the background changes constantly during transitions.
While this can be an entertaining diversion, “for the kids.” It seems funny that corporate websites designed for the younger audiences rely on Flash effects and over-the-top graphics, the sites that are most popular among their target audience noticeably lack those intensive graphical designs (YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo).
Why do I keep thinking of “Yellow Submarine” and Blue Meanies when I see this interface?
By the way – because it is all in Flash, no bookmarking the page or sending a URL to your friends – you can’t.
Ok- done ranting.
Since July, when “The Coke Show” was announced, there are eight entries as of today on the Coke site. Count’em. That’s right, eight. By the way, the contest ends in a few days – does anyone hear that tree falling?
Simply by observation, the production values in the submitted videos are much more impressive than the thousands of YouTube videos. The lighting and sound are much more professional. Draw your own conclusions, but the videos on the coke site lack the raw user passion that you find on YouTube.
According to BL Ochman: “Watching big ad agencies trying to master new media is a lot like watching people who are having mid-life crises trying to look hip, cool and young by adopting the toys, tools, and language of youth….It’s rather pathetic.” Right on target. The coke videos are excruciatingly boring when compared to wildly uncontrolled nature of the user-created videos elsewhere.
Church of the Customer Blog has been tracking the phenomenon and has been making regular updates on the difference between Coke and Mentos in running with the market. Mentos jumped in early, capitalizing on the wave of copycat videos and joining with YouTube for their content.
Anyhow, the actual subject of the press release is less of a big deal than Coke “formally embracing” social media – Coke has asked the original creators of the Diet Coke and Mentos video to create a new one that will debut on October 30th, 2006.
Do you think Coke realizes that more people will view the video AFTER the debut than during the debut?
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
Google buys YouTube, the popular video sharing site, for a paltry $1.65 billion. This surprised many industry watchers as Google has typically bought start-ups before they became popular. YouTube has far surpassed expectations of popularity, which is also why the deal seems so large for Google.
Buying YouTube will also bring with it a few interesting problems. The first of which is to figure out how to monetize YouTube in ways other than ad revenue. The video site has grown significantly since is debut last year, largely by word of mouth, but did not have a monetization strategy.
The second issue will be potential copyright lawsuits. Many videos on YouTube can claim a copyright violation; however suing a start-up Internet company may not land a profitable settlement. The settlement from a large, rich search engine may be attractive now. Universal has already threatened to sue YouTube for millions, but was willing to allow videos to be available in exchange for a cut of the ad revenue.
This is the largest acquisition by Google, and it will certainly be interesting to see how YouTube will fit into Google’s larger picture.
Added: Another issue looming over both Google Video and YouTube is that of the “Slippery Slope of Censorship“. Both Google and YouTube have made news by removing “right-wing” videos based on content, yet there are many complaints about radical videos available on both video sites, such as an Iraqi video of snipers shooting at American soldiers. It’s not hard to find a video that would offend anyone; there are plenty of videos based on lampooning religion, ethnicity, political views, and so on. There is a growing organization targeting YouTube because of the political leanings of the censored videos.
However, in an open society where we do have freedom of speech, censoring only a few ideas is worse than censoring all, especially in a “free forum” such as YouTube. Once videos start to be pulled based on political and religious content, there will be no end to the open interpretion of what makes an “offensive” video. Once that happens, the popularity and quality of both video sites will diminish, as users go elsewhere to submit and find videos without censorship.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
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Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
Jackie Baker is an internet marketing analyst at SiteLogic with concentrations in usability, information architecture, SEO, social media, and online PR.
