Training humor: Safety video unveils winning Halloween costume idea

Because it’s Halloween, we would like to share with you one of the most entertaining safety training videos we’ve seen lately. Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo takes their safety training very seriously, so seriously that they will dress up in a rhino costume for the sake of employee education.

Many learn best by doing, but this experiential training may be offering more laughs than lessons learned. Wouldn’t it be great if all workplace emergency training was this much fun? Take a look for yourself …

Green marketing, are you missing the bandwagon?

With a struggling economy forcing businesses and consumers to cut back on spending, marketers are more hard pressed than ever to find new, innovative ways to pitch their product or service.

Enter the latest bandwagon – green marketing.

“Sustainability will emerge from this financial crisis as a global mega-trend offering business opportunities similar to those that arose during the information age,” said Bill Roth (Entrepreneur.com) in a recent MSNBC column.

On top of the current financial crisis, entrepreneurs and marketers are given the task to begin educating themselves and prepare for the latest sustainable, green opportunity, says Roth.

Green marketing is full of unique challenges including a lack of standards determining what it means to be a green product or company and cost of entry into the market.

Two of the top factors preventing organizations from taking a shot at green marketing are a lack of awareness and costs, according to a survey of marketing managers at Eloqua’s user conference.

Though market entry may be a challenge, nearly 60% of respondents said they believe green marketing can provide a competitive advantage and 90% think the marketing industry has a responsibility to become more environmentally friendly.

In the next 12 to 18 months, an estimated 60% of companies will move to digital marketing activities in order to be more environmentally friendly, according to survey predictions.

Marketers must be careful when touting green products even though there are no clear standards for a product’s environmental performance, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s “Green Guides.” To avoid deception and unfairness, companies must still avoid making unsubstantiated, environmentally-friendly claims (also called corporate greenwashing) in an attempt to improve sales.

Industries that were once under high levels of government regulation and public scrutiny in the past tend to have the most effective sustainability communications, according to a recent review of S&P 100 companies.

Providing as much information as possible is one of the best routes to effective communications when promoting green or sustainable products. The sustainability needs to be weaved into a company’s overall identity and connected to company messages, according to the S&P review.

The leading players in effective green marketing are mainly found in the automotive, forestry, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Industries starting to emerge onto the sustainability scene include mining, energy, transportation, shipping, technology, communications, consumer product and retail industries. Financial services, media and entertainment industries are still lagging.

“The bottom line is that from tough times comes opportunity. Make sure you’re protecting your cash so you’ll have the means to invest in green, thereby positioning yourself to appeal to consumers who are demanding–and selectively patronizing–the very greenest of businesses,” says Roth.

Give your business a head start and reduce your ecological footprint by investing in more sustainable technologies such as:

• Instantaneous water heaters
• Low-flow toilets
• Geothermal heat pumps
• Packaging
• Grey water irrigation
• Energy efficient computer hardware

LinkedIn, the new B2B market research resource

LinkedIn B2B Surveys

LinkedIn recently announced a new service, called LinkedIn Surveys, that enables business-to-business researchers and investors to gather market research from network users.

LinkedIn Surveys will allow market researchers to contact and question the network’s  30 million professionals across the globe, approximately half of whom are IT and  business decision makers.

“The expanded userbase can provide vital B2B information to marketers, who will also have the ability to categorize the responses by seniority in their company, age, function, country and company size,” according to Bill Holmes at Overdrive Interactive.

In return for participating in the surveys, users will be compensated with rewards including gift cards from Amazon, Starbucks, Best Buy, or users can make a donation to charities. LinkedIn profits from the undisclosed amount of money researchers will pay for access to users’ personal data.

“LinkedIn overcomes quality and authenticity issues that other sample providers face,” said Dan Shapero, Director of Business Services, LinkedIn in a company press release. “Because of the public and self-policing nature of LinkedIn, members provide deep and accurate profile information and they update that information constantly.”

The news should be a welcomed gift for most in the database marketing world since good B2B market research and lists can be hard to find. If it all goes according to plan, “this could be a significant step forward in using a social media platform to garner vital data from their userbase.”

Social media and Web 2.0, feeling overwhelmed?

Whether you’re just getting started in social media or a seasoned Web 2.0 user, all of the tools, widgets and platforms can be confusing and downright overwhelming to keep up with.

Darren Rowse recently tacked the issue over at ProBlogger when a blogger he had been following suddenly stopped posting with no explanation. His reason for throwing in the towel:

“I can’t keep up with the advances in technology. Every day there is a new tool, widget or social networking site to test out. I can’t keep up. I’m feeling overwhelmed by it. So I gave up.”

We’re lucky to have resources out there like Rowse and ProBlogger to lessen the pressure to keep up with the latest technology. He recently shared five tips on how to handle social media and Web 2.0 if you’re feeling overwhelmed:

1. You’re not alone. Even Rowse admits “there are days when I look at the things that I do and feel like I’m going backwards.”
2. Stay focused. Identify your core tasks and what matters most to your customers or readers. “While it can be helpful to know about the latest widgets and tools to become distracted by them could actually be taking me further away from my audience.”
3. Be smart, establish boundaries and focus your energies. “Unless you’re blogging about Technology or have a very Web Savvy audience you’d do well to pick and choose what you do and don’t focus your attention on and to put boundaries around these activities.”
4. Use tools to refocus upon your goals. Sometimes you’ll have to remind yourself to spend less time focused on tools and more time focused on your goals.
5. Have fun. “Social media is a space that is at it’s best when it is fun and playful. Let it bog you down and you’re kind of defeating the purpose of it all.”

Read the full ProBlogger post on how to overcome the overwhelming feelings that come along with social media and Web 2.0.

To simplify it even further, watch this video on social media in plain English:

Mmmm … ice cream.

B2B marketing in a bad economy, looking for a quick fix?

It’s no secret that the economy is in bad shape and it’s proving to be an enormous challenge for businesses of all sizes. B2B marketers are especially having a tough time with slashed marketing budgets. With an increasingly smaller budget, leads have become harder to come by and take much longer to close.

While there’s no one cure-all that will get our B2B marketing back to performance levels when times were good, experts have been sharing a wealth of information on how to lessen the impact of a bad economy on your business. Here’s some of the best B2B marketing advice we’ve come across lately:

Keep email alive. Don’t send email marketing to the chopping block, even when budgets are tight, according to Marketing Sherpa. Companies that invest in email and see it as a good tool have the highest open, click and conversion rates.

Evaluate your strategy and fix what’s wrong. Those at B2B Web Strategy advise marketers to do something “fairly uncommon” right now and take a critical analysis of your marketing program and fix deficiencies that may have been ignored during financially prosperous times.

Speak simply, clearly. Remember to keep speaking the customer’s language and avoid jargon in your marketing pieces. Don’t ruin a profitable business deal by confusing and irritating customers with inappropriate jargon.

Gather the most information quickly. Get quality feedback from website visitors with quick and easy to fill out forms. Research shows that the faster someone can fill out an online form, the more information they’re willing to share.

Promote your business with Facebook and other social networking sites. Using social networking sites is one of the best ways to get your company name out there. Most sites are free, easy to use and can generate hundreds of leads through viral promotion.

Whether at work or home, we’re all aware that times are tough. Now is the time to take a look at every piece to our marketing puzzle and ask: Is each piece pulling its own weight? What could help our programs run more efficiently?

Learning from the biggest mistakes in social media history

It’s true, even the most talented social media guru has made a mistake or two in the Web 2.0 world. Don’t feel bad if you think you don’t know what you’re doing every time you take part in social media, because even the most experienced have made their fair share of social networking blunders.

Thankfully, David Spark at Mashable compiled a full list of some “all star errors in judgment from some social media all stars,” for all of us to learn from. Here are just three of the biggest social media blunders in history:

Responding to all negative comments. Staying on top of what people are saying about you in social media is a good practice, but don’t lose too much sleep over the negative comments. From Spark’s personal experience, “I wasted a lot of time putting far too much effort into defending myself to these anonymous naysayers than they put into attacking me.”

Don’t engage with people who only push their own initiative. Personal and corporate agendas have a way of taking over online communications. Ross Mayfield from SocialText, first ignored these self promoters, but has now realized that they’re only trying to create an association with you and your business. “You really want to engage with every conversation that relates with your brand,” Mayfield advised, “Even if you don’t want to necessarily draw attention to the existence of a competitor.”

Assuming what your customers want without talking to them. Deb Schultz, social media strategist for P&G, made the mistake of assuming their audience wanted a site full of features and functionality. She now admits that she should have spent more time talking with customers instead of adding more content to the site.

Read the Mashable article for the full list of social media mistakes and take a note from the Web 2.0 history books on how to avoid these blunders in your own endeavors.

Email is a solid investment during downturn

Marketers say now is the time to invest in email – not put it on the chopping block.

The advice comes from MarketingSherpa’s latest and recently published Email Marketing Benchmark Guide. Research reveals the different attitudes marketers have regarding the ongoing effectiveness of email – mainly, those who believe email marketing is worth the effort and those who don’t.

According to the report:

Those that see the effectiveness of their email programs diminishing are much more likely to have short-sighted organizational attitudes toward the tactic. Nearly 50% of them consider email to be “free” or nearly so, compared to only one quarter of those who see email’s impact as increasing.

Organizations with investment-oriented views of email reap the rewards. They have higher open, click and conversion rates. In addition, they are much more likely to have a metrics-based grasp of how email works for them. Those with the “email is free” view, on the other hand, are more likely to fall into the group that doesn’t track conversion.

Invest in email marketing during downturn

The Sherpas believe that above all else, “email should be the last place to cut budget and the first place to increase it.” In today’s market, “when selling to existing customers will be a key to survival,” marketers should make modest investments in testing, email marketing best practices, and providing the customer with relevant and useful content to generate the greatest ROI.

Watch your words: Keep jargon out of marketing

In a recent post at All Things Workplace, Steve Roesler shared a personal experience where jargon-filled communication ruined a business deal.

Roesler was screening two software vendors with demos build with only screen shots and the voices of those involved. He immediately cut one vendor out of the transaction, not because of the software functionality, because of how the vendor presented the product.

He appropriately refers to the vendors as “recommended” and “vendor we nuked.” Here’s how the pitch went down:

Recommended: “Tell me more about what you want to do with it so I can give you an accurate answer.” We did. Then we heard (and saw), “Here’s how you would do that. (Demo). What are some other potential reports you might generate?” We described them, he demonstrated how to do it, we watched, and the conversation continued.

Vendor We Nuked: (In a very deep, officious, voice): “Our platform offers configurable functionality. The back-end capability is state-of-the-art and clients have access to data entry. Of course, it is also designed for maximum security so you never have to be concerned that those without the proper passwords can ever access the information.”

By the time he was finished I expected to hear, “For English, press 2.”

I’m sure that Nuke-boy thought he was impressing us. Actually, he depressed us to the point of boredom. His software could probably do the job. The client didn’t want to have a long-term relationship trying to communicate with someone who responded in buzzwords and platitudes. He wanted someone who would work with him to build a system that could be operated and tweaked by anyone.

It’s easy to slip into jargon-filled talk when explaining your products and services. The problem with using terms that are only understood within your business is that only people within your business understand what your talking about and you confuse customers in the process.

Customers are looking to you to fix their problem and lead them in the right direction. Unless you’re dealing with another professional in your industry, jargon will only work to alienate and irritate your customers.

Today’s Lesson: Speak the customers’ language and avoid jargon in marketing.

More small businesses “get” social media

Over half (55%) of small business owners think that social networking sites have a place in the business world, according to a study by SurePayroll.

Research revealed that one in five small business owners had already obtained trade as a result of using social media sites including Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

David Rohrer, SurePayroll’s online marketing manager, said that social networking has risen in popularity with small businesses, as the advertising is a cheap and effective way to connect with customers.

He added: “It is no longer just an outlet for personal use – it’s rapidly becoming a must for business success … What’s so great about the online world is you don’t need a million-dollar marketing budget.” according to a ClickThrough article.

The news that more small businesses “get” social media comes just as MySpace launches their new online marketing service called MyAds beta, which will allow small businesses to advertise on the site.

From BrandWeek:

With MyAds, advertisers don’t pay for each impression delivered to a user. Instead, they pay when a person is interested enough to click through an ad—the model favored by advertisers. The platform could help small and medium-sized businesses, which have been facing a “massive barrier to entry” because they don’t have access to creative and media-buying agencies, said Jeff Berman, president of sales and marketing at MySpace, which is a unit of Fox Interactive Media.

“This allows the pizza store owner in Brooklyn or the quilt designer in Des Moines to run an ad campaign for as little as 25 bucks,” said Berman. “The key is it also runs on a performance basis, so you get what you pay for and given what’s going on out there, that’s a pretty critical distinction.”

MyAds users will be able to create advertisements, target specific audiences, determine a budget and monitor the progress of their program, according to the MySpace MyAds site.

B2B marketing and RSS, making the connection

An estimated 70% of B2B technology marketers are missing key opportunities to directly influence sales decision makers by not incorporating Really Simple Syndication (RSS) into their company’s online marketing strategy, according to a report from MarCom Ink.

B2Bs fail to connect with RSS

RSS is a general term used to describe a group of web-based feeds used to publish frequently updated works including blog entries, news headlines, audio and video in a standardized format. Using an RSS reader, subscribers can stay up to date on timely events from their favorite websites.

After visiting 300 U.S. B2B technology-company websites, researchers found that about seven out of 10 are not using RSS. Researchers also found that while 30% of companies provide RSS, only 10% have multiple targeted feeds allowing subscribers to choose from a variety of topics.

These findings are important, Marcom Ink said, because while only 16% of the general public use RSS feeds, 71% of technology buyers find them valuable, according to a 2007 MarketingSherpa and KnowledgeStorm survey of more than 3,000 B2B technology-sales decision makers.

“RSS offers B2B technology marketing and PR professionals a golden opportunity to establish ongoing relationships with their target audiences and become a trusted source of valuable information on topics buyers care about most,” said Kim Cornwall Malseed, principal, MarCom Ink.

While evidence specifically geared toward B2B training product and service marketers is still missing, this recent study examines a missed opportunity for many organizations. RSS feeds can be used to alert customers of product specials, new articles, upcoming events, best selling products and much more.

Along with informing customers of the latest company news, the added benefits of using RSS feeds include:

• Increased traffic. Submit your RSS feed to places like Technorati, Google Blog Search and BlogCatalog (here are some more places to submit your RSS feed). Getting your RSS feed listed in RSS search engines and directories creates new ways for potential customers to discover your brand.
• Free advertising. With little effort, you can deliver timely and valuable information to a wide audience of subscribers. Once your RSS feed is set up, subscribers receive regular news and product information that could help them in purchasing decisions.
• Higher conversions. RSS product feeds allow customers to receive product information straight from the source. Customers are more inclined to buy products from familiar and trusted sources. RSS feeds keep your brand name at the top of the list when customers are ready to buy.
• Customer loyalty. With the constant communication and information they deliver, RSS feeds can act as a customer relationship management tool to maintain customer loyalty and provide customers with valuable content.

How does your company use RSS to generate leads and improve site traffic?