Google Canada continued to tweet that, cost, simplicity and time were stopping small businesses and big business to I might add from leveraging online initiatives. They answered with “Canada Get Your Business Online” initiative. With this initiative Google will hand out websites and domain names to at least 100,000 small and medium sized Canadian businesses, with the bill being footed by Google.” Great way to get businesses started in the online space.

I believe though – that although many of these business owners and marketing managers are familiar with the internet and use it in their everyday life,  many have Facebook pages, smart phones and use those too daily. There is still a lack of understanding and evidence as to the link for these online tools and the success of their business. For most – success means seeing data, and monetary growth in their particular business that – is derived specifically via online channels.  To make an online investment it may mean – taking away current successful dollars from the offline marketing campaigns to invest in that “unknown, unproven space“. At the end of the day – any investment and cost that involves marketing – needs a big return on the investment made – to make sense and be of value no matter the size or success of the business.

In Canada alone -it is ironic that “Canada may be known as the most plugged-in population in the world (spending 43.5 hours per month online, nearly double the global average)” yet there are 1 million companies that do not have  presence online, let alone an e-commerce component. The power of total communications means, a business can leverage their current success offline to build quick success online. That dollar can be shared and used to benefit both aspects of your marketing to enhance your customer reach, broaden opportunity for brand exposure and sales. You also ensure that you reach each and every customer where they are most comfortable.

This new world is about  relationships. Understanding who they are, getting to know where  they are, how they want and like to communicate and the respectful act of slowly developing a meaningful relationship – that benefits both of the parties objectives, values and goals . As an example; creating a campaign on Facebook for a business that has  a retail location, will most certainly be more powerful – if you promote and share your online campaign in your in-store signage, your print materials, receipts that you provide at cash registers and other offline modes of communication that you currently use. What about the sales people in your store – that get to talk about the partnership that has been created with your online business. They want customers to continue to visit their stores. Some of those visitors can be the ones that find you online and have yet to come to your bricks and mortar locations. Others that have not visited you online may be unfamiliar with the idea that they could research certain products or services at home, before visiting your bricks and mortar locations. Now all parts of your business team are working together for mutual success rather than as separate entities. This gives your business more ways to make money and it makes it more meaningful- for your team members to be included in the various ways your business can grow.

It is that total communications mentality that can help grow your business and add to the current success you have had online or offline. You do not have to sacrifice one to benefit the other. There are so many ways to bridge that gap online – in ways that are far more cost effective than many of the offline marketing tools. With a clear understanding, effective and simple measurement and tracking tools – you can effectively find success that far exceeds your current planning and previous monetary success. Being digitally ahead, leveraging your total communications marketing tools = more customer reach, establishing meaningful customer relationships and more opportunity to meet your business objectives.

Time to get online and SHARE your offline communications dollars and success for a digitally ahead, total communications campaign!

Best Nicole

When you begin to engage your community it will be come clear within the community – the ways to which your” likers” or community members  love to share information. It may even be in ways that will go outside or beyond the products and services that – you focused your community building on. Finding creative ways to allow these most important customers – to be able to engage others, share their lives, ideas, opinions and interests  -will allow and encourage others to share back. You create a real human association as well – when you are now allowing those who use and love your products most – to be your marketing spokes people. Lets not forget the opportunity to increase sales with people who are so eager to share themselves with others and learn new things in a place that you opened up to them. You also get to learn by listening to this burgeoning community you are building and find out what people love, dislike and are truly interested in – as it relates to your products and services, as well as the customers who are passionate about what you do and want to connect with others with similar interests.

It is no surprise that many companies are now using Facebook as a platform to build communities and engage their customers. 250 million people go on Facebook everyday! There is a wonderful post I came across today – that led to this article from my favorite social media site Mashable.com. It features 5 valuable online community marketing lessons from Kraft’s Philadelphia Cream Cheese. This article is written by Sarah Kessler. The community called “The Real Women of Philadelphia” is led by Paula Deen, as their celebrity brand ambassador. Results have exceeded expectation in community size goals, community engagement and sales. Better yet by letting this community build and form on its own – a whole group of women have found ways to engage and support one another far beyond cream cheese!

All good relationships are about listening, sharing and working together to build value to each person in that relationship. By letting your community take charge – you open the doors to some magical opportunities for both the community and your brand!

Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers.

Best Nicole

Asking kitchen-savvy women to not only invent their own dishes, but also shoot, edit and upload videos to a contest website seems like a recipe for disaster. But when Kraft invited women to do just that in its latest online promotional campaign for Philadelphia Cream Cheese, it got about 5,600 more responses than the 400 it set as its goal. With Paula Deen at its helm, what was intended to be a one-year campaign blossomed into a thriving social network of more than 30,000 women.

“When it was all laid on the table, I couldn’t believe the opportunity. I had to pass on an ‘attagirl’ or a boost to more women out there,” explained Paula Deen at a recent promotional luncheon.

When someone seated at a nearby table reminded Deen that the campaign has also been successful in selling more cream cheese, she looked sarcastically surprised. “It did? I hadn’t even thought of that!” she said.

The truth is that the The Real Women of Philadelphia helped sell quite a bit more cream cheese — 5% more, as of August. As a branded social network, The Real Women of Philadelphia is about as successful as the cream-cheese-infused French Apple Cake that swept the dessert video competition. These four aspects contributed to the campaign’s sweet success:

1. Leverage an Existing Community

There are arguably few personalities who could represent cream cheese with more gusto, and Paula Deen’s large fan base was likely to already be cooking with cream cheese. By advertising the Real Women of Philadelphia campaign on Paula Deen’s website and having Paula Deen star in ads on other media, Kraft was able to reach an existing community of the women it wanted to speak to. EQAL, the company that beat out companies like ABC and Yahoo for the opportunity to produce the campaign in partnership with Digitas, referred to Paula Deen’s role as the “igniter.”

2. Create a Reason for Users to Create Content

Even with Paula Deen as an ambassador, it’s hard to imagine that the campaign would have had much success as, let’s say, a social network feature on the Philadelphia Cream Cheese website. The competitive aspect was and is crucial to the success. For the first iteration of the contest, women submitted instructional videos about their invented cream cheese recipes. Sixteen finalists were chosen and flown to Savannah for a live webcast competition, hosted by Paula Deen, that determined the four women who would become “hosts” for the next iteration of the competition and win $25,000. Currently these four hosts are accepting submissions for the cookbook that Kraft will create using 80 of the best recipes from the community, recipes from the four hosts, and Paula Deen recipes. Every day the hosts choose a winning recipe from the community, which earns its author $500.

Because women have invested themselves in creating content for these contests, they feel more ownership of the site and are more likely to visit frequently. Greg Goodfried, the co-founder and COO of EQAL, says that it’s important to have some motive for people to create content on a branded social network. This motive doesn’t necessarily need to be a competition, but it needs to be strong enough to spark the community.

3. Focus on Community Content, Not Your Content

Between videos of Paula Deen and vidoes starring the four hosts, the EQAL team has produced more than 50 videos for the site. But they are careful to keep the spotlight on the user-generated content. During the initial competition, for instance, the homepage featured select submissions. One main feature of the site is a gallery of community recipe submissions, and the team will post especially impressive contributions from the community on the LoveMyPhilly Facebook and Twitter accounts.

“There was a really great sense that the content people were sending in was the main attraction and made them feel like stars, and it made people thoroughly engaged,” Goodfried says.

4. Step Aside

When Kraft launched the campaign, the company wasn’t sure what to expect.

“I think originally we thought that they would talk a lot about food, a lot about the competition,” Goodfried says. “[We thought] there might be a little bit of competitive component to it, and they would just all be excited about the opportunity to win.”

When the women started talking about their personal lives, it surprised the community’s architects. At one point, a woman mentioned that she couldn’t afford a dress for her daughter’s school dance. Other women in the community offered to ship their own grown daughters’ dresses to her. One woman offered to make a dress. Another woman who wasn’t sure how to use a video editing program mailed her raw video submission to another member of the community who had volunteered to edit it.

Instead of trying to divert these discussions back toward cream cheese, EQAL decided to let the community shape the site. When the managers saw the conversations shaping around individuals lives, they added a weekly “spotlight” post in which they profile a community member that has been nominated or shared something interesting on the site. When forum topics popped up that were unrelated to Kraft, cheese, or food, they let them be. The tools on the site allowed women to create a robust profile, privately message each other, and participate in whatever way they wanted. By letting the members shape the community, Kraft was able to build a stronger one.

“These incredible personal connections that extended beyond food, beyond cooking, beyond anything related to the competition just occurred,” Goodfried says. “There are substantial numbers of women that we have talked to that have way more friends on Real Women of Philadelphia than they have on Facebook.”

5. Play a Supportive Role, Not a Director’s Role

If the creators of the social network can make it richer by getting out of the way, what are they supposed to do once the site launches?

In this case, they spent a lot of time helping women participate by fielding questions about editing and uploading videos. After a couple of weeks, other women in the community started answering these kinds of questions in the forums. But the role of the managers remained supportive.

“The only reason we build these sites is to encourage people to come to them to make content and submit content,” Goodfried says. “It’s not one-way where we’re just publishing things and people are coming and consuming it. We’re trying to start this spark of a conversation, this spark of community, and then encourage the community to be engaged.”

Complaining and unhappy customers from our perspective our gifts for you and your business. They allow you to look closely as those aspects of your business or brand that have come into question, review how you are managing your customer service responses, allow you to engage with your customers one on one and build a relationship and make the great things you currently do better! Ironically  feedback and criticism promotes fear for many businesses – especially in today’s world of social media- where word of mouth spreads like a wild virus, yet what they forget is that by hiding or not responding this unhappiness spreads anyway. Why not take the initiative to face that unhappy person or group and use the good will and caring you demonstrate – as another way to promote the many great reasons – why they should continue to do business with you and SHARE their good relationship and experiences with others. Now that sounds like good publicity…taking lemons and making some delicious lemonade!

On Mashable.com I came across an article that speaks directly about this very issue today. Susan Payton posted an article that provides some good examples, expanding upon my thoughts in this post – to leverage that unhappy or unsatisfied customer – not only to help solve their discontent, but to take advantage of the ways you can learn more about how to make your business better and promote the way you face head on – the negative things you do or have done.

The outcome is that your customers win and at the same time so does your business and your brand. You learn about the way you can make your business better and in turn can promote the great way you engage with your customers. Think Zappos – they focused on customer service and it became their best skill because they realized when they began it was something they lacked. We always promote the positive things – but isn’t it a positive thing to know – that if I have a problem with your products or business you will be there immediately – to make sure that it gets fixed immediately?

How are you embracing complaining customers in your business? We would love to hear how you have managed some of your customer service challenges.

Best Nicole

Companies love positive feedback. They share it on Twitter (), post it on their website and use it as marketing fodder. But what about when feedback is, well, less than pleasant? What can you do with a handful (or more) of irate customers? Do you ignore them? Bury them out back? Not in today’s social atmosphere.

Rather than try to sweep these unhappy customers under the rug, look at them as a challenge and an opportunity to improve your brand and leverage them for some publicity.

Why You Want Angry Customers

There are several ways to connect with unhappy customers in a meaningful way:

• Hold a panel or forum in person; give them a tour of your facility and hold a venting session
• Work virtually; host an online panel to get feedback from them
• Work one-on-one to understand their concerns and address them individually

In-Person Events

Dell recently held its first Customer Advisory Panel event at their headquarters in Round Rock, TX. They invited two groups of 15 bloggers and social media gurus. One group was full of people who had negative experiences with the company and who were vocal about their displeasure. The second group was made up of people that Dell considered brand evangelists; people who loved Dell and told others.

The attendees started the morning with their gripes; customer service issues came up again and again. The heads of customer service and marketing were present and actively engaged. As they listened, they took notes, then asked questions and they promised they would make changes.

That type of customer empowerment is important. Now, whether they’ll go through with the promised changes is another story, but it was clear that Dell understood it was time to start paying attention to the public’s perception of its brand, and make some changes to keep their customers.

Nestlé is another company that has been successful at holding an event to let people engage with its brand directly. After a resurgence in interest in the Nestle Boycott a few years ago, Nestlé decided to invite a group of bloggers to what it called its “Happy, Healthy Gathering” in 2009. Mommy bloggers, who’d been tweeting up a storm about the company’s stance on breastfeeding in third world countries, were invited to tour the facilities and give their input on the company.

Whether the event truly changed perceptions remains to be seen, but it did a great deal to show that Nestlé was putting in the effort to reach its audience.

Disclosure: I was one of the bloggers invited to participate Dell’s Customer Advisory Panel.

Virtual Panels

Virtual panels are decidedly less effective than in-person ones. But they can be good replacements for focus groups. Pssst is General Mills’ online testing ground for new products. The company sends participants coupons and free products to try, and in return they are asked to fill out surveys. The program is so successful that bloggers who write about saving money are gladly turning others onto joining Pssst.

Similarly, the Starbucks Passion Panel was designed to get customer feedback — for better or worse. The community of Starbucks drinkers gives their input via surveys and forums.

Passion Panel member Jennifer Boyd said, “Being on the Passion Panel means that I have access to direct input and discussion with other members. It enables me to give my opinion on Starbucks’ current and future products through surveys. The panel is a great way to engage with their loyal customers and solidifies a relationship with a consumer to a brand.”

Wal-Mart’s Elevenmoms platform is another example of how a mix of online community, shopper experience and in-person visits can work together to help the company gather new insights. John Andrews, former Senior Manager of Emerging Media for Wal-Mart and founder of the Elevenmoms, said the community succeeded in getting Wal-Mart’s attention in a few areas where it was lacking.

When the iPhone was launched in Wal-Mart stores, the Elevenmoms were invited to go through the purchase process. Some had no problems, but others did. It took one blogger two hours to buy a phone. Each blogger published her experience, and Wal-Mart took the feedback to its operations staff, who took notes and improved the purchase process.

“The Elevenmoms used direct social media interaction to improve the shopping process,” said Andrews.

Other feedback caused Wal-Mart to reconsider its layaway strategy. Having canceled the layaway plan due to costs, Wal-Mart got some flack from the Elevenmoms, who felt it made it easier to make big purchases. As a result, Wal-Mart developed its Site to Store platform, which provided the benefit of layaway online, so that local stores didn’t incur extra costs.

Disclosure: John Andrews now works with Collective Bias, a company with which I have collaborated on projects.

One-on-One

Solving a customer’s problems and changing their perception individually is the least cost-effective method, but a little work goes a long way. And it starts with customer service personnel being properly trained to solve problems, and not to simply stick to “the script” at all costs. Look at Zappos or Disney for great examples of how service reps are empowered to solve problems.

Disney empowers each of its “cast members” (staff) to solve a guest’s problem. From the street sweeper to the reservation specialist, everyone has the ability to turn a negative situation into a good one. That might mean replacing a fallen ice cream cone, upgrading a guest’s hotel room, or simply answering politely the most commonly asked question on Disney property: what time is the three o’clock parade?

Disney is so good at customer service, they’ve opened the Disney Institute, a customer service training program helps other corporations use the same techniques that has made Disney such a success.

Likewise, Zappos is also famous for its customer service tactics. The reps don’t use scripts, and seem to genuinely care about solving problems. Many customers are pleasantly surprised when their shipping gets upgraded and they get their shoes even faster – at no additional charge.

By providing instant happiness to the customer, these brands can prevent a lot of the bad karma that comes down the road when an unhappy customer becomes an enraged customer who tells everyone he knows about how bad the company is (no one wants their own version of DellHell).

Conclusion

What really touched me is to see when someone from the traditional world realizing the opportunities of the digital world and is transitioning his career from the old world of media and sportscasting where he worked for 40 years – to the new world of Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. That would be sports caster Len Berman.  This morning I came across this video from my favorite site Mashable.com. Author Adam Ostrow, posted a beautiful piece which includes video from Len Berman himself who talks about his transition to social media and how he is finding success – that he may not have had – with some of his current business endeavors.

There are two videos included in this post and I encourage you to watch both of them and be inspired. As he says “whats an old fart like me doing on Twitter”?! To me he is a leader in the world of change and a great example of someone who saw success in the world of old media but was savvy and courageous enough to embrace the new media and is reaping the rewards of success in new ways. Bravo to Len Berman!

For all those business people and companies that sit caught in the old world media and still hedging on leaping into the new world – I say watch these videos and join in! Hope you will pass this on!

Best Nicole

One of my personal favorite moments of this week’s Mashable Media Summit was when long-time sportscaster Len Berman took the stage to talk about his transition from a nightly TV reporter in New York to a new media persona — a presentation he prefaced with the question “what’s an old fart like me doing on Twitter?”

Aside from the fact that I watched Berman growing up, his tale is an interesting one that points to the ongoing trend of old media personalities reinventing themselves in the social media world.

In Mashable’s backstage interview, we talked to Berman about the move, how he thinks social media helped him get a book on The New York Times Best Seller List, and which of the Fantastic Four’s powers he’d want. Check it out in the video above.

Also, watchBerman, an Emmy Award-winning sportscaster and New York Times bestselling author, talk about the transition from old media to new media during his speech in this livestream video:

I think that many miss that huge part. That brand evangelism stems from the relationship you build with a person, product, service or company. That relationship can only be grown one step at a time. We say in our strategic planning proposals – that you need to crawl, walk run. A hard thing to do for most of us (yes me especially), as we want to dash off and win the race – leaving dust behind – as we stretch for the trophy. Sometimes your heart has to lead you first  – and in that simple and honest gesture – in many cases you  find – that it leads you where you may of intended to go – with no intention being used as the motivation to get there.

Think there may be something to that Santa Math – definitely worth the consideration. Let me know how it works.

Enjoy Seth’s article! I sure did.

Best Nicole

Walk up to the falafel stand and hand the guy $3. He hands you a falafel, no onions.

This for that.

Something for something.

The time between surrendering the money and getting the sandwich is tiny. You gave him something, you got something. It’s simple.

Now, stretch it out a bit. You order dinner in a restaurant. They treat you nicely, the room is beautiful, you enjoy the evening, then you pay the bill. This, pause, pause, pause, that.

Go to law school. Pay a lot of money. Spend a lot of time. Be taught a bunch of things you don’t particularly want to know, things you probably don’t need. Get a degree with a modicum of scarcity. Pay for a bar review course. Pass the bar. Then you get a job that pays a lot of money.

This, then a multi-year pause, then, in return, that for the next forty years. We call it return on investment.

Online, though, I’m not sure the math is so obvious. You don’t write a blog to get gigs. You don’t help people out in a forum to build a freelance business. Sure, that might happen, but that’s not why you do it. If you are busy calculating quid pro quo, that means your heart isn’t in it, and the math won’t work out anyway.

Online, the something, the quid, the this, doesn’t cost cash. It takes heart and energy and caring, which are scarce but renewable resources. As a result, many people are able to spend them without seeking anything external in return. Even better, the act of generosity, of giving without expectation, makes it easier to do art, to create work that matters on its own.

I think it’s more like Santa math. Santa flies around the world, giving stuff away, and for what? He earns gratitude, trust and friendship, that’s what. Sure, one day he might decide to license his image or try to sell you something. But right here, right now, gratitude, trust and friendship are plenty. Especially if you enjoy doing what you’re doing. Quid, no quo.

Most people want to just dive in and side step this strategic planning – as it is so much easier and much cheaper to just put up your own pages and get started. Which by the way I advocate – if you do not dive in – you cannot understand how this social media, networking community building, engagement and collaboration works. This must not take away from the importance of the strategy to understand who those influencers are and how to connect directly with them.  Relationships can mean profiling them and having them speak about your products, providing them with special offers or product trials prior to launch. Being true with the ways that you engage them and allowing them to provide their thoughts opinions and challenges – rather than “selling” them is an honest way to say – you appreciate their support.

Mashable.com provides some great examples which is why I feature their articles so often. Author Ben Straley gives some great ideas on how to connect with your top 1%. As I said in my speech understanding where they go and how they connect is vital – but it is also important to understand how they want to connect with you. Are the on Facebook, that now commands 41% of the social media traffic as reported by comscore media or are they on Twitter, Myspace or Linkedin? Are they spectators where they read blogs and newsletters or are they posting comments and engaging with the things they like to read?

This vital information will clearly allow you to tap into sourcing the influencer you are looking for. Your commitment to them will  encourage them to galvanize their  followers to your community and the followers -to whom follow them – do the same. This traffic boost can only lead to growth in sales for your business and better yet a vibrant community to which you can engage and connect with the people who love what you offer.

Have you identified your influencers and the ways that you are  targeting them?

Best Nicole

our brand has 10,000 Twitter () followers and 2,000 fans on Facebook (). Does that mean your social media marketing efforts are paying off? Maybe not. As the old adage goes, it’s quality, not quantity, that counts.

Recent data that Meteor Solutions collected from across more than 20 brand marketer clients shows that the type of friends, fans and followers a brand amasses on social media sites matters more than the number. On average, approximately 1% of a site’s audience generates 20% of all its traffic through sharing of the brand’s content or site links with others. And these “influencers” drive an even higher share of conversion. These very important Internet users can directly influence 30% or more of overall end actions on brand websites by recommending the brand’s site, products or promotions to friends.

As this data shows, successful social media marketing isn’t simply about amassing thousands of followers, but instead precisely identifying the most influential members of your audience and recognizing them for their value. By directly engaging one influencer with exclusive opportunities, special offers, and unique content, you are indirectly engaging thousands of other people who are part of this influencer’s social sphere.

Sounds pretty enticing, right? But the challenge in crafting a successful marketing program that activates influencers is two-fold. First, you have to use the right data and traffic analysis tools to find out who your most influential followers are. Second, you have to connect with these people in an authentic, “non-salesy” way, and truly build a relationship with them –- because if you overly “sell” to your influencers, you’ll burn a bridge and potentially turn your biggest fans into your worst detractors.

Here are a few concrete tips brands can use to get started marketing with influencers.

Find Out Who Is In Your 1%

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Find Out What Your 1% Likes to Share

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After you’ve identified these individuals, use your social media analytics platform to dig down into the content they like to share most often. Do they tend to share deals and discounts? Or do they prefer to share links to your branded entertainment content, like YouTube () videos, social games and contests, or informational articles? At this stage, you can separate your 1% into groups, such as “shopping mavens” who love to pass along deals and discounts; “experts” who love to share new research, top-10 lists, how-to articles, and other educational content; “gaming gurus” who like to share information about contests and games; or “entertainers” who like to share movie trailers, YouTube clips, and social media apps.

Find Out Where Your 1% Goes to Connect and Share

Now you need to identify which social networks, blogs, forums, and websites your 1% hangs out on, and which methods they use to share your content (e-mail, social updates, tweets, etc.). One thing you’re likely to find out is that while Facebook and Twitter undoubtedly play major roles in the spread of your brand’s content, major social networking sites are not where you’re likely to find and reach your 1%.

Think about it — if you are someone extremely passionate about cars, are you really going to bore and alienate your family and friends on Facebook? Some of them might (and lose friends and followers in the process), but for the rest, they have a blog, post comments on other blogs, and interact with niche communities of like-minded influencers, advocates, and fans.

Finding these sites and communities on the web requires some sleuthing. Aside from digging deep into the traffic data provided by your social media analytics platform, another way to find these niche sites is to follow a number of active “experts” on Twitter in your topic of choice. Ask them where they go to learn about and share the content that matters most to them.

Find Out What Motivates Your 1%

Do your influencers share content about your brand in pursuit of fame, fortune, or a bit of both? Understanding what motivates your 1% to share is key to finding out what makes them tick, and what types of content they will respond to favorably.

For most people that spend time creating and sharing content, it’s not about fortune, it’s about fame. They share links with friends and their wider social network because it makes them feel important, special, and useful. That doesn’t mean influential people don’t like deals as a rule — they’re just like the rest of us in that regard. But they respond most positively to the attention and recognition they get from sharing useful content and valuable information with others.

For example, we’ve seen on several marketing programs that the percent of incremental unique visitors to a site from shared links more than doubled when the names of the top sharers where posted on an online leader board, and top-sharers were given access to exclusive content.

Make ‘Em Famous

Use your company’s Twitter and Facebook pages to call out public achievements, like funny or useful YouTube videos on relevant topics posted by your top 1%. Blog () about an interesting article, post, or tweet an influential member of your customer base has written, and let them know what you’ve done. And make sure to extend special offers or direct access to top company executives to your influential users. A big part of making these people feel special involves granting insider access to people, deals, or information that is limited to a select few.

Conclusion

It got me thinking. I didn’t notice any signage in the store announcing this promo or event – but I learned about it on both Facebook and Twitter. I am a fan and follower of Starbucks – both because I like the coffee but also because they are one of the brands I want to learn from. While I was there I  made a new connection with a girl – who noticed I had brought my cup and applauded me for supporting the earth. It lead to a key conversation about how people just are lazy and don’t want to put the effort in.  She said “while they are doing their dishes – washing out that extra reusable cup can seem like a big chore”. My new connection went on to tell me that she didn’t bring her cup – but was saving the one she purchased for refills throughout the day. She even told me of how she saw someone throwing litter out -in her upscale neighbourhood and followed the person – until she could stop him – to let him know she saw him throw litter out his window and asked him to go back and pick it up. She claimed the earth is important!

Upon my return back to my desk I saw an article that spoke to my exact experience. Marketing Green posted and article by Genna Mazor, that says “consumers really do want to be green but that they are too lazy”. She says even though businesses are pouring a ton of money into green products and services – people don’t want to change that much. She suggests before you launch your next green product you ask “, “Can the consumer who doesn’t unplug appliances before vacations, who throws out moldy plastic containers instead of washing them and who uses paper towels like they’re going out of style fit this into his/her lazy green lifestyle?”

We are a long way from saving the environment but each small individual action counts. Bravo to Starbucks who is encouraging each visitor – to take one small step in the right direction without too much inconvenience of course! Don’t forget the promo lasts all day! What can be better than a free cup of java and a toast to our planet earth!

Best Nicole

Most people want to do good, be healthy or be green, but there is one thing standing in their way: laziness. Throwing out (heck, even recycling) a plastic bottle is a lot easier than washing out that stainless steel water bottle each day. “Paper or plastic?” is easier to answer than remembering the super-stylish, eco-friendly tote that you’ve left in your car trunk (again). And running a half-empty dishwasher, while guilt-inducing, lets you sit on the couch just a little bit longer than you could if you were hand-washing the dishes.

Even though they’re pouring a lot of money into the green industry by purchasing gadgets, cleaners and energy-saving appliances, most people don’t want to change that much. So if you’re planning on launching or marketing a green product in the coming months, be sure to know your audience.

A relatively new bamboo serveware company has been increasing its market share with its sustainable and 100% organic bamboo bowls, serving pieces, trays and cutting boards. The company has been making in-roads with national retailers and boutiques alike and has caught the attention of the sort of magazines and publications you’d give your right arm to be in.

But something was amiss. Despite the “green” angle, the “pretty” angle and the “social responsibility” angle, there was not yet a “convenience” angle. The bowls, cutting boards and trays didn’t translate beyond the home table, and consumers were still resorting to paper and plastic goods for their parties, picnics and outdoor meals.

So the company got wise. Rather than accepting a smaller market share than it felt it deserved, it found new ways to use the bamboo and the byproducts with which it was already working. It used two of bamboo’s best qualities — its knack for regeneration and its speedy natural growth cycle — to create a durable and disposable line of dishes and utensils (including a spork) that could be washed for reuse or tossed without guilt.

The line will be out in time for Earth Day segments, summer barbeque stories and even the occasional outdoor wedding, but more important than the fortuitous launch timing is that the bamboo company has tapped into a whole new market. There are legions of soon-to-be (or wannabe) green consumers out there, but they’re not armed with the knowledge or wherewithal to make the change.

By manufacturing and marketing a bamboo version of a product consumers already know, the company is making it easier for the average person to make the leap to a greener alternative — without requiring them to change their habits, something else they also already know but definitely aren’t ready to change.

Next time you unleash a new product — one that glimmers with eco-friendliness and sustainability — on the market, ask yourself, “Can the consumer who doesn’t unplug appliances before vacations, who throws out moldy plastic containers instead of washing them and who uses paper towels like they’re going out of style fit this into his/her lazy green lifestyle?”

It might not be the environmentalist’s dream, but it’s a way to tap into the average consumer’s desire to do good — without too much inconvenience, of course — and one more step in the right direction.

“Last year the Fiesta Movement started with our 100 Chapter 1 agents. In the ultimate foreign exchange program, our 100 agents each spent six months behind the wheel of a European Fiesta. They shared their experiences and completed monthly missions to show you what the Ford Fiesta was all about (months and months before it would be available in the U.S.). Visit the Chapter 1 site to find out more about our original 100 agents and what they did on their missions.”

This year they have taken the movement to the next level by engaging the team’s friends and fans to participate. In essence they are asking the fans to do the marketing and advertising by celebrating local creativity and demonstrating - how each team can build a profile for this soon to be launched product. Below is an outline of this years addition to the product launch and campaign.

“For the next chapter of the Fiesta Movement – and in anticipation of Fiesta arriving in the U.S. – we’re letting our fans take a crack at the advertising. They’ll use their creativity to promote the new 2011 Fiesta. And you get to be the judge.” “The Fiesta Movement is bringing ideas and art to life in your backyard. Our teams of agents bring the passion. We bring the public spaces. Support one of the teams near you as they work with the best creative talent they can find in the area to promote the car, host local events and compete for the keys to their own Ford Fiesta. Agents participating in Chapter 2 will get to use a Ford Fiesta over the program period. We’ll pay for the gas. Team members will compete for prizes (of varying dollar amounts) and will have an equal chance to win a Ford Fiesta.

There are so many reasons to love this campaign. It allows the customers to use the product and SHARE their experiences on a daily basis  with their respected community- Facebook, Twitter, Flickr etc. This campaign combines both offline and online  marketing channels - so people can physically go to events, get involved directly and contribute to a team - while learning about a new product and see first hand how that product could add value to their life. The company in this case - Ford presents the product in a way that builds respect, trust and a real human touch to this soon to be launched product. WHY? Because the voice for the product is no longer a one way dialogue from the parent company - but rather a collective voice from all the customers, their friends and fans that can speak to real experiences -which can then be leveraged through various advertising and marketing channels - to help build the momentum and excitement.

It is fun for the teams, supports competition, creativity and passion and for the community  and allows the community be a part of and support a movement with their “tribe” of like -minded community members - while learning about the value of this new product and how it might enhance their lives. Absolutely brilliant.

Every company should be looking at this brilliant marketing and advertising campaign and creating their own versions for 2010 – 2011. It is a true collaboration between social media, the customer, the brand/corporation and the various marketing and advertising channels that can create brand evangelists. In turn corporations get to receive the dedication and passion of those customers who in turn spread the new product love! How easy can it be.

Best Nicole

The moral of his great story and of this post: make sure you spend the time on the great ideas and actions, rather than the army of followers. Let those great ideas do the SHARING!

Best Nicole

Viral growth trumps lots of faux followers

Many brands and idea promoters are in a hurry to rack up as many Facebook fans and Twitter followers as they possibly can. Hundreds of thousands if possible.

A lot of these fans and followers are faux. Sunny day friends. In one experiment I did, 200,000 followers led to 25 clickthroughs. Ouch.

Check out the graph on the left. The curves represent different ideas and different starting points. If you start with 10,000 fans and have an idea that on average nets .8 new people per generation, that means that 10,000 people will pass it on to 8000 people, and then 6400 people, etc. That’s yellow on the graph. Pretty soon, it dies out.

On the other hand, if you start with 100 people (99% less!) and the idea is twice as good (1.5 net passalong) it doesn’t take long before you overtake the other plan.  (the green). That’s not even including the compounding of new people getting you people.

But wait! If your idea is just a little more viral, a 1.7 passalong, wow, huge results. Infinity, here we come. That’s the purple (of course.)

A slightly better idea defeats a much bigger but disconnected user base every time.

The lesson: spend your time coming up with better ideas, not with more (faux) followers.

Every year TED gives a prize to someone—that they select—who can use a wish to make change. The winner is Jamie Oliver! His passion and commitment to fighting obesity in children and their families is to be admired. Michelle Obama has also committed herself to this cause as well. We all owe it to our community, family and friends to take a stand. Take what is in your heart and spread it around to support others. Make this world a better place. With role models like Jamie, we have a magnificent beacon to light the way!

Go for it. There is nothing like taking advantage of today. SHARE.connect.create.cultivate

Best Nicole