Top 5 Viral-Video Ads of 2007

These are the video advertisements that were most successful in attracting online viewers, as ranked by According to GoViral, the online marketing agency. 


Cadbury - Gorilla Drummer



Launched online: August 2007

Views on Youtube: 5m + lots of other user generated versions

Agency: Fallon


Smirnoff – Green Tea Partay



Launched online: August 2007

Views on Youtube: 3.4m

Agency: J Walter Thompson, New York


Ray-Ban - Catch Sunglasses



Launched online: May 2007

Views on Youtube: 3.2m + user generated content

Agency: Cutwater


Blendtec - Will it Blend?


Launched online: July 2007

Views on Youtube: The IPhone version has reached 2.7m since July, “Will it Blend?” virals have passed 20m views on Youtube in total since the beginning in November 2006.

Own Productions


Lynx/Axe – Bom chicka wah wah



Launched online: May 2007

Views on Youtube: 2.6m

Agency: BBH, Copenhagen 

Back from my Marketing Projects in Spain

Since last week I’m back from 11 intense days, consisting of 2 marketing / media projects and experiencing Spanish culture.

The first project took place in Barcelona where we (around 30 marketing and media students & practitioners) discussed the role of new media, marketing and public relations and how to integrate it into future projects and NGO work. Since the day temperature Barcelona was around 22 degrees, we had a quite good time there.

The second project had the name YANG Debate, was hosted by the Fundación Galicia Europa in Santiago de Compostella and had over 90 students and professionals as participants. I was mostly involved in discussing ideas and plans on how to improve the communication policies of the European Parliament and how to use “Mass Media” and other PR-Tools in order to spread subjects like European values and identities into different communities (no matter which field – Business or Politics, effective communication is the key if you want to reach people minds).

Here is the description of the Yang Project:

The YANG project is organized within the framework of the
European program "Europe for Citizens", in order to obtain the contribution of young Europeans on the nature and form that the European Union should adopt, in a moment in which Europe must redefine itself to confront the challenges of a more and more interconnected world.

The accomplishment of this project, that will be developed through a simulation of an European Parliament, precise of young motivated people interested in the European subjects and policies.

Guideline - Elements of successful Word of Mouth / Viral Marketing

In this entry I will describe some of the aspects and elements that are necessary for successful word of mouth marketing.

Market research: What kind of word of mouth already exists about my company and products? What do customers and consumers say about my products, services and brands?

Reactive Management: Which of my customers are spreading negative word of mouth / talk negative about my products and brands? Why? What do I have to do in order to surprise my clients and customers so they transform there negative word of mouth into positive word of mouth?

Product policy: Which of my products have potential for creating word of mouth by themselves? How can I support and enhance this potential?

Communication policy: Does my communication have viral potential – do my messages spread from customer to customer? Do I use certain elements my advertising and communication that customers like to forward to each other and talk about? Is it easy for customers to send my marketing materials to other customers? Can Customers easily download and forward my advertising (posters, videos, audios, games….)? Do I incorporate the psychological elements of successful communication into my PR and advertising?

Customer Relationship Management: Do I know my satisfied customers? Do I know my most influential customers? Do I know, which opinions influence my market? Do I try to reach and bind these customers to my company?

Controlling: How to I measure the success of my activities? How can I recognize if word of mouth is improving or not? Do I know the Net Promoter Score (very important figure) of my company, my products and services? How can I improve my Net Promoter Score?

The Top 40 Headlines ever written

Since the use of Direct Mail is still (or maybe even more) a vital part of today’s traditional marketing methods – the Headline of a (News) letter plays an vital part for the customers decision whether to read or to dismiss a sales letter.

For that purpose I researched the top 100 Headlines ever written in some popular marketing books and will share the top 40 with you.

1. THE SECRET OF MAKING PEOPLE LIKE YOU
2. A LITTLE MISTAKE THAT COST A FARMER $3,000 A YEAR
3. ADVICE TO WIVES WHOSE HUSBANDS DON'T SAVE MONEY BY A WIFE
4. THE CHILD WHO WON THE HEARTS OF ALL
5. ARE YOU EVER TONGUE-TIED AT A PARTY?
6. HOW A NEW DISCOVERY MADE A PLAIN GIRL BEAUTIFUL
7. HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE
8. THE LAST TWO HOURS ARE THE LONGEST AND THOSE ARE THE TWO HOURS YOU SAVE
9. WHO ELSE WANTS A SCREEN STAR FIGURE?
10. DO YOU MAKE THESE MISTAKES IN ENGLISH?
1 l.WHY SOME FOODS "EXPLODE" IN YOUR STOMACH
12. HANDS THAT LOOK LOVELIER IN 24 HOURS OR YOUR MONEY BACK
13. YOU CAN LAUGH AT MONEY WORRIES IF YOU FOLLOW THIS SIMPLE PLAN
14.WHY SOME PEOPLE ALMOST ALWAYS MAKE MONEY IN THE STOCK MARKET
15. WHEN DOCTORS "FEEL ROTTEN" THIS IS WHAT THEY DO
16.IT SEEMS INCREDIBLE THAT YOU CAN OFFER THESE SIGNED ORIGINAL
ETCHINGS FOR ONLY $5 EACH
17.FIVE FAMILIAR SKIN TROUBLES WHICH DO YOU WANT TO OVERCOME?
18.WHICH OF THESE $2.50 TO $5 BEST SELLERS DO YOU WANT
FOR ONLY $1 EACH?
19. WHO EVER HEARD OF A WOMAN LOSING WEIGHT AND ENJOYING 3
DELICIOUS MEALS AT THE SAME TIME?
20.HOW I IMPROVED MY MEMORY IN ONE EVENING
21 .DISCOVER THE FORTUNE THAT LIES HIDDEN IN YOUR SALARY
22. DOCTORS PROVE TWO OUT OF THREE WOMEN CAN HAVE MORE BEAUTIFUL
SKIN IN 14 DAYS.
23.HOW I MADE A FORTUNE WITH A "FOOL IDEA"
24.HOW OFTEN DO YOU HEAR YOURSELF SAYING: "NO, I HAVEN'T READ IT: I'VE
BEEN MEANING TO!"
25.THOUSANDS HAVE THIS PRICELESS GIFT BUT NEVER DISCOVER IT!
26. WHOSE FAULT WHEN CHILDREN DISOBEY?
27.HOW A "FOOL STUNT" MADE ME A STAR SALESMAN
28.HAVE YOU THESE SYMPTOMS OF NERVE EXHAUSTION?
29.GUARANTEED TO GO THROUGH ICE, MUD OR SNOW OR WE PAY THE TOW!
30.HAVE YOU A "WORRY" STOCK?
31. HOW A NEW KIND OF CLAY IMPROVED MY COMPLEXION IN 30 MINUTES.
32.161 NEW WAYS TO A MAN'S HEART IN THIS FASCINATING BOOK FOR COOKS.
33.PROFITS THAT LIE HIDDEN IN YOUR FARM.
34.IS THE LIFE OF A CHILD WORTH $1 TO YOU?
35.EVERYWHERE WOMEN ARE RAVING ABOUT THIS AMAZING NEW SHAMPOO.
36.DID YOU DO ANY OF THESE TEN EMBARRASSING THINGS?
37.SIX TYPES OF INVESTORS WHICH GROUP ARE YOU IN?
38.HOW TO TAKE OUT STAINS ... USE (PRODUCT NAME) AND FOLLOW THESE EASY
INSTRUCTIONS.
39.TODAY ... ADD $10,000 TO YOUR ESTATE FOR THE PRICE OF A NEW HAT
40.DOES YOUR CHILD EVER EMBARRASS YOU?

Online PR and Digital Reputation

Interesting Interview about Online PR and Digital Reputation with Klaus Eck from PRBlogger.



And because we are talking about digital reputation, here is a Blog and a short video that seem to threaten the digital reputation of Hillary Clinton, who will be running for US presidency in 2008. I’m curious about her response.

Advertising in Social Networks - Success or Failure??

Here is an interesting article about Social Networks and Advertising. Although many companies try very hard to use the different Social Networks like MySpace, Facebook or StudiVz (in Germany) for their advertising, only few of them really succeed with their approach.

"The truth about online ads is that precious few people actually click on them. And the percentage of people who respond to common "banner ads," the ubiquitous interactive posters that run in fixed places on sites, is shrinking steadily. The so-called click-through rate for those ads on major Web destinations such as Yahoo! (YHOO ), Microsoft (MSFT ), and AOL (TWX ) declined from 0.75% to 0.27% during 2006, according to Eyeblaster, a New York-based online ad serving and monitoring firm. It says that last March the average click rate on standard banner ads across the whole Web was 0.2%. This reflects a surge in new ads and Web pages, fueled by the rise in social networks."

In my opinion your success with these kinds of methods depends on your subtlety and your brand. If you only use aggressive advertising, you probably won't get very far (as hundreds of studies have shown us so far). If you combine your Strategy with professional PR, Stories that People want to talk about, a Brand that People want to be Part of and with your group of high involved Influentials - you will have probably better success in your marketing results.

Good Seminar on Business Success and Marketing

Here I want to add some videos about Business Success. The excerpts are taken from 10.000 Dollar Seminar hosted by the American Entrepreneur Eben Pagan (who build a Multimillion Business in 3 years).

In these videos (which he uses also as promotion for his seminar video series) he shares his views and insights about marketing, building business success, hiring people and personal development. I recommend you to view at least the video about marketing because it gives a lot of valuable insights about the Psychology of successful marketing and Online Marketing.

Eben Pagan on Marketing







Eben Pagan on Hiring People


Eben Pagan on Business Success

Nike and Burger King - Two good examples for Word of Mouth Campaignes

I just want to mention two interesting marketing campaigns, which I noticed during the last 2 weeks.

The first campaign is from Nike and is focused on the creation of a special shoe for native Americans.
“… the Air Native N7 is designed with a larger fit for the distinct foot shape of American Indians, and has a culturally specific look. It will be distributed solely to American Indians; tribal wellness programs and tribal schools nationwide will be able to purchase the shoe at wholesale price and then pass it along to individuals, often at no cost.”

The second campaign is from Burger King, which is currently promoting its new social networking community on the radio station NRJ. The interesting about this campaign is that Burger King combines offline Promotion (inside the Burger King Restaurants) with radio advertising (they got their own 4 hours show) and the Web 2.0 Social Networking Trend…

Both campaigns have some good word of mouth potential and could be used as cases studies for successful word of mouth / Viral marketing. I could go into the psychological and marketing details, but unfortunately I have no time ;->. I will go to Sofia / Bulgaria (from 21th till 28th) tomorrow and attend a another one of my intercultural trainings (I will also do some workshops there). If you want to reach me during this time, please write me an e-mail at: mathias-kraft@gmx.net. I will be back on the 29th.

Follow-Up Network Meeting Mainz

I just came back from the Network Meeting organized by AEGEE Mainz-Wiesbaden. This time we were around 40 people mostly from Germany, Austria and Switzerland – having a great time and discussing about the Future of AEGEE and how to make it more efficient.

During the Network Meeting our workshops covered topics like:

• Project Management for AEGEE Projects
• Developing and using an HR Strategy to recruit and motivate new (and old) members
• Improvement of PR and introducing new strategies to make AEGEE PR more efficient
• Fundraising for NGOs
• Doing and using publications for the Promotion of AEGEE (also using publications like Image Brochures for PR Purposes and Fundraising – this also a thing that every company should have)
• Hitchhiking through Europe ;->
• ….

All in All it was a very good event. Let’s see, what comes out in the Future.

Viral Marketing in Swabian

If you understand a bit of German then watch this little ad about Viral Marketing. Very funny and a good example for viral videos.

Social Networking

Here are 2  interesting german Articles about the Trend of Social Networking, Facebook and how you can use it for marketing. These examples also show, how you still can make big profits in the internet.

Here are some facts about Facebook - taken from Jeremia:

* Over 150,000 registrants daily. That’s 1 million a week since January.
* 35 million users today. Of course that number will be off a million one week from today.
* Half user are outside college. That number was zero in Sept. 2006.
* 0ver 40 billion page views in May 2007
* Average visitor stays 20 minutes
* Most growth is among people over age 25.
* 47,000 Facebook groups.
* #1 photo sharing app on the web. 2.7 billion photos on site.
* More than 2000 applications. The Top 10 are: Top Friends, Video, Graffiti, MyQuestions, iLike, FreeGifts, X Me, Superpoke!, Fortune Cookie & Horoscopes. The smallest of these has over 4.5 million users.

Powerful Marketing Strategies

Since I’m back from my last seminars and waiting for my 2 diplomas to arrive (I got some good results – finished Business Psychology with 1,66 and Business Informatics with 1,78), I have some time to study some excellent marketing materials of Jay Abraham. Jay Abraham is one of the best paid American Marketing Gurus (which is marketing in itself but it seems to be efficient, cause people pay a lot for his seminars and coaching classes) and he has some really good ideas, that can be very useful for many companies.

Here are some of his strategies:

1. The “Power Parthenon” Strategy
Jay says that it always better if your Business is based on a lot pillars then just one (like the Parthenon – the famous Greek building). These pillars could consist of your sales force, Direct marketing strategies, Internet and Viral Marketing, good PR, Branding…. – if you only have one instrument to communicate with your customers and clients you will not get very far. If you use a combination and you follow professional guidelines, then you will have a much better chance to satisfy your customers and market your product.

2. The Strategy of Preeminence
“Every communication… every newsletter… every presentation… every sales meeting should reinforce the concept of the client being served at the highest levels through
advocating your particular unique perspective and leadership.”

This concept fits also perfectly with the concept of the Net Promoter Score – if you can create loyal customers you will have a much better chance, that these customers buy more from you, endorse and refer you to their friends and promote your business. Here comes also the concept of Consumer Evangelists and Influentials into play.

3. Ways to increase your Business
You can either:
1.) Increase the number of customers.
2.) Increase the average transaction value.
3.) Increase the frequency of repurchase. Get more value out of each customer.

Effective and successful companies and marketers work on all 3 strategies.

4. Position yourself as an expert in your industry
I really liked this concept cause it fits perfectly with the basics of marketing psychology. If you position yourself as an authority in your area – people will find it much easier to belief what you and your company are saying (because your are the leader) and will be much more receptive to your marketing.

Here are some ways to position yourself as an expert:

1) Have a book published
2) Write a column in an industry journal or local magazine
3) Give speeches at associations and industry events
4) Get interviewed
5) Develop a newsletter or e-zine or website offering your information and perspective
6) To seminars

In my opinion every company should work on that field. If you got motivated and skilled employees – encourage them to write and promote your ideas. This is also a big point for the new marketing strategies.

Follow UP Diplomatic Seminar & Intercultural Dialogue

I’m just back from my 2 weeks Seminar Travel through Turkey (Ankara and Istanbul) and Romania / Sibiu (cultural capital 2007).

In Ankara I attended a very interesting 8 day Seminar about Diplomacy and Negotiation. Our speakers and trainers consisted of high rank international Diplomats (such as the Norwegian ambassador in turkey or the former Turkish ambassador in the United States), Government Speakers, Journalists and University Professors (we had a video conference in the US Embassy with Prof. Dr. Daniel Druckman who wrote several books on the topic of Negotiation and Mediation).

The topics covered the themes of:
- Psychology of Conflict and Negotiations
- Lobbying Strategies
- Manners and Elements of Protocol
- The role of the media and how to use it for Communication
- Public Communication in Diplomacy
- Transatlantic Relations and Networking

After the Diplomatic Seminar I went to a Seminar on Intercultural Communication in Sibiu / Romania. We had a very good time, did a lot of things for future Networking and worked on subjects like:

- New ways and means of Communication
- Intercultural Awareness
- Cultural and self cultural awareness

All in all very interesting and productive.

Diplomatic Seminar in Ankara

I will be in Ankara for the next week, participating at the Diplomatic Seminar hosted by AEGEE Ankara and the AEGEE International Politics Working Group.

The seminar will be very interesting – we will have excellent speaker and trainers, like:
- Faruk Loğoğlu - Member of Turkish Foreign Ministry
- Cecilie Landsverk - Norwegian Ambassador in Ankara or
- Egemen Bagış - Advisory Board Chairman, Istanbul

The seminar will include workshops and trainings about:
- Dynamics of Diplomacy
- Manners and Elements of Protocol
- Role of Media
- Psychology of Conflict and Negotiations
- ....

After the Diplomatic Seminar, I will go to Sibiu – which is the Cultural capital 2007 (at least they told us that ;->) and will attend a training on Intercultural communication, which also sounds very interesting and enhancing.

6th European Summer Academy on Bioethics 2007

For the next 2 weeks I will be at the 6th European Summer Academy on Bioethics in and around Ludwigshafen / Germany. Although Bioethics is not quite my topic – I’m very impressed by the level and quality of the speakers for this Summer Academy. There will be over 20 different high level professors and practitioners from 16 different countries (from Isreal, USA to UK) teaching us (50 participants from all over the world) all what is important to know about Bioethics, Biotechnology and the newest trends in this area.

From the Business perspective it is interesting to see how the question of ethics in our society and in companies is being discussed by big group of international people. From my perspective it is a necessary question. Since we have entered the age of globalisation, companies and the media play a very important role in most western societies. The search for ethics and the right standards for communication, doing business and building relationships play a vital part in our lives. This Academy contributes to it.

Back from Romania

I’m just back from my 2 weeks trip through Romania. This time it was more like leisure travel – we spent some days in Bucharest, which is really not a nice city (for those of you who dirty streets, traffic jams and 45 degrees in the shadow – it is the perfect city) and then went into some other areas of Romania. All in all we had a good time, cause the group was very good.

Romania 2007

I will be in Bucharest / Romania for the next 2 weeks - look forward to discover the country and see what special things it has to offer.

Neuromarketing - the new sience of advertising

In this presentation Dr. Martin Scheier talks about Neuromarketing and the new art of advertising. My position on this is - since there are so many brands and new products out there - a brand (no matter which one) has to do something to get the attention of its customers. One way of doing that, is advertising. Neuromarketing combines psychological principles with market research and best practise studies in order to help companies to make there advertising more effective.

Like Viral / Connected Marketing - Neuromarketing will be part of the future of marketing.


Link: sevenload.com

Memetics as basis for effective marketing

Dr. Paul Marsden explains in this video the importance of memetics and the Tipping point for modern marketing - this is also the basis for Viral Marketing.

Thesis is finished

I`m really happy to announce, that after good 6 months intense research, 50 books of study and a lot of practical application - I have finally finished my thesis on "Viral Marketing - Psychological Foundations and Application in Brand Management".

The topic is very interesting - since it is in my opinion the future of marketing, it will change the way people and companies will do Business with each other. Look forward for future projects in this and other fields.

Be better then your competition - Outthink them - don’t outspend them

Just wanted to recommend this book - Buzzmarketing by Mark Hughes. From all the Buzz-, Viral-, Connected Marketing books I read (around 30) this was one, that was really good.

Hughes explains how you can use word of mouth to build your brand and uses a lot of examples of brands that failed (for example VW cause their poor quality causes a lot of negative word of mouth or the site half.com that renamed an American town in order to create buzz).

Good book - also for the people that want to get into the topic

Study - what do Journalists expect from good PR

If you want to do good PR and Media Networking it is useful to know how journalists think,
what do they want and what you have to do in order to work with them in an efficient way.

This topic is the focus of the Journalism study. They interviewed over 270 journalists about their needs and values and presented some interesting results.

For example:

- what do journalists expect from a PR person in times of Web 2.0
- how to they want to have the press material (press releases, pictures...)
- how should you structure Online-PR

Connected Marketing Video Conference IV - German Multimedia Congress

This is the 4th Video conference on Web 2.0, Connected / Viral Marketing, Social-Networking, E-Commerce.... that I have found in the Internet. Again they have a lot of interesting video presentation from professional speakers.

Some of the topics are:
- viral communication on the web
- brand positioning in multimedia times
- mobile commerce
...

Most of the presentations are in German, but some are also in English, Enjoy.

Guy Kawasaki talks about "The Art of Innovation"

Interesting presentation from Guy Kawasaki, a well known marketing and word-of-mouth expert (used to be one of the chief marketing guys at Apple for a long time) - he shares in this presentation some of his ideas about company innovation and new ways of marketing.

NGO Advertising - Amnesty International

This could be an interesting field for the ones of you that are into NGOs (like AEGEE) and want to see, how the professionals do their NGO Advertising.

This is a clip of Amnesty international - fits also the context of the "Media and Citizenship Seminar" that I have been to last month.

The new Ford Ute - Viral Videoclip for Ford

I just found this video clip on Werbeblogger. This is supposed the new advertising campaign for a Ford car named Ute (I have some doubts that it will be succesful in Germany with this name). The clip itself is somewhat funny but the target group is quite strange. It seems like Ford wants to target Homer Simpson like man (drinking Beer all the time and making fun of Metrosexuells). While it is fun to see the Simpson (from time to time) - I don`t think it is attractive to be one of them.

Which means for the target group - that only few want to be associated with this image and will buy a car that fits that image...

Political Advertising in Web 2.0 - Obama Girl versus Hillary Clinton

I just found this entry on PRBlogger. It seems like the US Top Politicians discovered the Internet for their PR and advertising purposes. Both of the Candidates for the next US Election have posted a more or less viral video in the internet.

That one of Hillary Clinton is situated in a Restaurant where she discusses with Bill about their next plans and advertises her election song from Celine Dion - not very funny, but if it fits the target group and creates interest, it is ok.

The other one of Obama is more interesting - I posted it here. Actually it is not from the political himself, it is a advertising campaign for an internet portal in form of a fan video. This example shows again how you can frame the media and use the potential of the Internet to spread your message. It captured immediately the attention of the media – the Chicago Tribune's wrote:

"The music video [...] put the Obama camp in an odd position. True, the woman in the music video is clearly declaring Obama "the best candidate," arguably a message they'd like to see going viral on the Web.

Trouble is, she's half-naked while lip-syncing Obama's praises and she's also warmly kissing his photograph, yet another reminder that candidates have less and less control of their images and messages when everybody has bandwidth.

To be sure, the campaigns are happy to use venues like YouTube as low-cost alternatives to expensive television ads and mailings. But when the barrier to entry is as low as the click of a mouse, there's no way for them to control where their images go or how they are used."

Here is what the media says about the campaign



Here is the original video - has some good viral potential



Of course Obama Girl has also her own MySpace Account - maybe also a good PR Tool...

Founder of BzzAgent talks about Word of Mouth / Viral Marketing

Dave Balter - the founder of BzzAgent talks on this video podcast about word of mouth marketing, viral relationships and the concept of BzzAgent.

Interesting for those people who want to get more into Word of Mouth Marketing and use its powerful potential for their Business.



Link: sevenload.com

Political Marketing in Web 2.0 - Tony Blairs YouTube Broadcast

One thing I learned during the Media and Citizenship Seminar in Ireland is that Business Professionals can learn a lot from political professionals such as Tony Blair. During one of our Media Sessions, our trainer Lorenzo Nava used Tony Blair as an example, to explain how media professionals use their communication and media skills to frame news in the way they want and to market themselves and their ideas using this powerful method of communication.

It is also interesting to see, how Blair starts to use other means of communication such as YouTube to get his messages across and how he uses the potential of the Internet to talk to his "customers". Maybe we could adopt the same in Germany?

Follow Up Media and Citizenship Seminar Ireland

I am just back from my two week journey to Ireland. Again we were around 30 professionals from all over Europe, discussing about different matters of NGOs, Media, PR and Project Management.

The Seminar itself was quite interesting – here is the description:

Media and Citizenship is divided into three parts, the first part "Strategic Planning" will provide participants with the knowledge and know-how for creating effective and long-lasting communication actions. Participants will learn to implement successful communication and activities to improve their local realities.

The second part is mostly made up of simulation workshops where participants will be asked to work on one media project.

Participants will learn how to effectively plan press releases, communication campaigns, press conferences and attract the attention of the media on particular issues, and at the same time how to effectively and strategically plan both short and long term actions for the improvement of their local realities.

The training gave a lot of knowledge and information on how to use different tools and means of communication to spread your message to different target groups in very efficient ways. Also the Media part was very interesting, it teached me how biased and manipulative different ways of media communications can be and what an NGO or Company should do, to use this knowledge in an ethical way. Finally the group and the trainers were very professional and I look forward for future meetings and cooperation.

Media, PR and Citizenship Seminar in Ireland

I will go to a "Media, PR & Networking" Seminar in Ireland for 12 Days. I`m sure that this seminar will be very interesting - provide a lot of knowledge, fun and new experiences.
Since I have never been in Ireland so far - I’m very curious about the country, its people and look forward to the training.

What is Viral Marketing

This is a Report on Viral, Buzz and Word-of-mouth marketing on German television show nano, including statments from vm-people CEO Thomas Zorbach and Martin Oetting, consultant and researcher from ESCP-EAP.

Explains a little bit better what word of mouth is, my it is necessary and how you can use it for your Business.

Why Word of Mouth is important

Paul Marsden gives a short summary why Word of Mouth is important and why you should use it in your Business.

Creating Radical Relationsships

Link: sevenload.com

Very interesting presentation from the founder of Sinner Schrader about how Brands can Create Strong Relationsships with their Clients. He uses the example of Nike who are doing a great job in involving their customers - building communities and making the connection between entertainment and Brand Loyality...

Word of Mouth Video Conference - Number III - Next 07

Link: sevenload.com

The Next 07 is the second Word of Mouth Marketing & Web 2.0 conference of "Sinner Schrader" and it stands under the topic - "All Power to the customers?!".

On the Website there around 20 high level presentations about:
- Web 2.0 & its opportunities
- How to use Second Life, MySpace & Co
- Brand Wikization - should you give your Brand to your customers?
- Innovation Camp
- Viral Marketing
- Customer & Web Psychology - how to use it
- Quo Vadis Marketing & Mass Advertising
.....

In my opinion - a very good and professional Conference!

Word of Mouth Video Conference - Number II - Next Ten Years

The "Next 10 Years" is Web 2.0 & Viral Marketing Conference of the marketing company Sinner Schrader and it has around 10 good topics to cover:

- What is Web 2.0 & how to use its potential
- Psychology of the Web
- How to use & build communities
- Long Tail Business
- Tools & Opportunities in Web 2.0
- How to use Word of Mouth & Viral Marketing
....

The conference & presentations are in  german - if you speak the language and you have some time you should take the opportunity and watch some of the professional speakers.

Word of Mouth Video Conference - Number I - Dresden Future Forum

Yesterday I found 3 interesting Video Conferences about Web 2.0, Word of Mouth, Viral Marketing....

This is the first conference - The Dresden Future Forum

If you register on their site and click on webcast - you can watch the following presentatitons:

Prof. Richard Scase: Globalization of Markets - Global Re-Mix and the New Corporate Playlist

Dr. Curtis R. Carlson: Innovation - The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want

Announcement of the winners of the Web 2.0 competition and presentation of the laureate of the 10th International Media Art Festival CYNETart_06humane

Jaron Lanier: Future of the Internet - The New Definition of Personhood

Tim O'Reilly: Future of the Internet - What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software

I have to say - the speakers are quite high level and bring good knowledge in their presentations - everybody who is interested in the new ways of Marketing and Web 2.0 EBusiness should check them out.

This is the description of the conference
On the initiative of Dresden-based T-Systems Multimedia Solutions, scientists, experts, entrepreneurs and other interested parties discussed the future of Internet technology at the 2nd Dresden Future Forum on 16th November 2006.

Particular focus was on the development of the Internet, which will rely on its capacity to organize social exchange based on new technologies. In this context, the primary focus has not been on technology but on reasonable ways of using it. These new opportunities of exchange, shaped by maximum transparency, are likely to revolutionize the way the Internet is used.

Highly renowned experts representing various specialized fields, including Tim O’Reilly, who has played a vital role in filling the term “Web 2.0” with life and Prof. Richard Scase, influential business strategist from the UK, Dr. Curtis Carlson, innovation-driving CEO at SRI International, as well as the computer scientist and artist Jaron Lanier presented their specific viewpoints and impressive visions as a basis for discussion.

Person-to-Person Marketing – Time to use the Power of your customers

I was just reading a very interesting report of Dr. Sandeep Krishnamurthy. He has some really interesting insights about Open Source Marketing and Consumer Generated Media.

Although this report is from 2001, it has still a lot of valuable for the marketers of today (I think even more valuable then in 2001, because most of his hypothesis became true with the evolution of Web 2.0 and Consumer Generated Media).

For example - some of his facts are:

Fact 1: For most companies, the volume of customer-to-customer
interactions is greater than customer to employee interactions.
Fact 2: Consumers purchase decisions and shopping or service
experiences are routinely affected by other customers.
Fact 3: Consumers find the recommendation of a fellow consumer
more credible than the suggestion of a company employee.
Fact 4: Consumer-to-consumer relationships are ill-defined, hard
to control, constantly changing and organic.

If you look at the development of social networks like “Second Life”, MySpace or StudiVz or on the rise of technologies like video platforms, online games or Blogs you can find a lot of truth in his report.

Brand Management in the Year 2007 and the years to come

I`m just listened to one of the Werbeblogger Podcasts about Brand Management. Werbeblogger is a German Blogger Team that blogs frequently about Advertising, Brand Management, Web 2.0… - each week they also release some Podcasts, which cover different topics from “Marketing in Second Life” to “effective PR” and this time “Brand Management for the next Generation”.

The guest they interview in the Podcast is Bernd M. Michael, a famous German Brand Manager who has worked in the field for over 30 years and has build famous brands like “Mars” and “Visa”.

He has some good topics to cover:
- the future and emerging trends in Brand Management
- how to differentiate your brand from the other 50.000 brands on the market
- how can you combine “new” (like Blogs, Social Networks, Second Life, Ambient Media…) and “traditional” (TV, radio, posters…) media forms together – which means which channel to you have to use to target your customers most efficiently
- managing and building international brands – for example – what to you have know to build / expand your brand in China or Saudi Arabia (this is big topic but he has some good insights)
- the importance of associating your brand in the mind of the customer (in NLP we call that anchoring or liking feelings / associations / images to a certain stimulus) – he gives some insights into Soundbranding

All in all the Podcasts are quite interesting, sometimes a little to polarising, but they still give valuable insights. So if you speak German – take a look at Werbeblogger Podcast Site.

How small Customers can bring large Companies into big trouble

I just found this video in one of Sascha Langners articles about Viral Marketing, Web 2.0 and what companies have to do in order to stay and become more successful.

This is a video of two Apple customers that were really unsatisfied with Apple Customer Service. After the video was released and spread over the Internet Apple had to spent a lot of Millions to fix this problem...

The Future of Brand Management

Marketing Professinal and Ex Grey CEO Bernd M. Michael talks about Brand Wikization

- what happens to your brand when you involve customers and Consumer Generated Media
- how can use the potential of Web 2.0
- how to make people interested in what you have to offer

For me as Business Psychologist this a very interesting topic - you can see that maybe the wants of the customers change within every 5 years, but the needs stay more or less the same. If you have a strong Brand and you give people a good enough reason to buy your products and services - then they will follow up -  if you do it right....


Link: sevenload.com

The advertising misconception

I think this video illustrates quite well what is going on
in marketing and advertising right now - Enjoy.

Introduction to Neuro Linguistic Programming

Since I like NLP as a Model to understand how people think and how to make effective use of Psychlogy in Business, I post this small introduction to NLP by Clay Lowe on the Blog.

Clay was also my trainer in the Coaching and Teambuilding workshops at the Negotiation Days in Poznan and I liked his training very much.

Creating AEGEE Evangelists using the Hawthorne Effect

I was just thinking about how to transfer the knowledge from the book „Creating Customer Evangelists” into an NGO like AEGEE.

These are my ideas.

- the basic principle for companies is to find people that are interested in your product (High Involvement) and to involve / engage them into your marketing actions (Participation) to make them feel commitment and loyal towards your company
- the transfer to AEGEE would be to find people that are interested in:
o travelling & international exchange
o making friends all over Europe
o experiencing different cultures and getting to know other countries from inside
o getting organizing and socialising skills for their future life & career
o for people that are into business – to get some skills in the fields of PR, Leadership, Finance & Accounting, Fundraising / Networking, Public Speaking, IT…..
o getting involved in European politics & working on European Identity
o …..

and to give them the opportunity to get engaged in their favourite field – get some experience and to make them feel the AEGEE spirit. Once they are fully engaged they can tell their friends about the company / AEGEE and bring them in.

One of the underlying principles behind this process is the Hawthorne Effect. This is what Dr. Paul Marsden writes about it:

How to Influence People using the Hawthorne Effect

"If the psychology of the Hawthorne Effect all seems a bit abstract, try it for yourself and see how simple and powerful it is as an influence technique for getting what you want from someone. Just before asking someone for something, whether it’s a salary increase, a date or whatever, ask them their advice on something. It doesn’t matter what it is that you ask them their advice on; the important thing is to be seen to be listening to what they have to say, and to tell them you appreciate their opinion. Then, when they have finished giving you their advice, ask them for whatever it is you want from them. The chances are that your ‘research’ will have triggered the Hawthorne Effect and you will get what you want. By asking them for their opinion you will have not only created goodwill but also flattered their ego, and at a subconscious level they will feel indebted to you. This psychological indebtedness makes them significantly more likely to agree to whatever it is you are asking of them. By seeing the Hawthorne Effect in action as a very powerful influence technique, you will also know to watch out the next time someone asks you for your advice and then asks you for something! "

I also found two useful guides about "How to bind members to 
your Antenna"and  "How to promote AEGEE"- maybe this will help to understand the concept better.
 

AEGEE Advertising

Basic Advertising principles say – if you want to get the right people, you have to give them the right message and appeal to their values to get committed in whatever idea you are presenting to them.

For AEGEE this means – depending on which student groups you have as target groups, you have to use different messages to get them interested in joining and participating in this Student Organisation.

This means in practise:
- IT Students- appeal to their value of getting experience in the field of IT, having the opportunity to manage the IT Systems & Websites of the AEGEE local and meeting different people
- Business Students – opportunity to use and shape their skills in AEGEE projects, Networking with interesting people and preparing for their future career
- Politic Students – opportunity to experience European Identity, talk about politics, work on international relations
- Tourisms Studies – opportunity to travel, experience different cultures, getting to know different people from all over Europe
- Advanced students – opportunity to use their skills in practise (this is a general thing), teach other people – getting the skills as trainers, getting involved in seminars to get more experience and skills
- …

I think every AEGEE local should know about that fact to make their advertising more efficient and to appeal to the values of the students they are targeting.

Follow Up Negotiation Days in Poznan

I`m just back from my exiting trip through Poland. I visited the 4th edition of the Negoation Days, they provided me a lot of insights into myself and other people. For me it was especially interesting to combine my existing knowledge about NLP, Coaching and Negotiation with the knowledge of the trainers and participants and to work in international and diverse teams (as usual I was the only German / international participant at the workshops)

During the 3 days I attended the workshops about effective Teambuilding, Coaching and applied Negotiation Strategies, run by the trainers Clay Lowe, Peter Feeth and Chris Walker.
Also very interesting was the opening lecture which was run by the CEO of the Negotiation Academy Europe about “Strategies and Personality Types in Negotiation”.

There are also an interesting videos about the Leadership Seminar of Peter and Clay.

Negotiation Days in Poznan

I will go to the Negotiation Days in Poznan / Poland in 1 week. This training focuses upon bringing students and internation companies together to share some knowledge and provide effective coaching for the students.

The organizers of AEGEE Poznan told me, that their will be a variety of interesting companies and speakers, for example from Harvard Business School…

So if some of you are interested in these topics too – maybe we will see each other in Poznan.

To Blog or not to Blog: Key Questions for Marketers and Communications Professionals

Many companies have very simple questions: Should we have a blog? If so, what kind should it be? Who should maintain it? What should its purpose be? What will we use it for?

Before you start a blog and engage into Blog marketing – you should ask yourself these questions:

Are you willing to engage in a dialogue with your public?

What is your strategy for becoming an advocate with your consumers?

Does your company have a blog policy? If so, do your employees know about it?

Do your company’s employees contribute to blogs on your company’s Web site? On their own Web sites? Does your company have a policy about employees authoring their own blogs? Do employees know about such a policy?

Does your company’s communications agency have a blog strategy? Does the agency take blogs seriously? If it has a policy, do you know what it is? Has one been crafted for or presented to your company?

If your company has a blog, does anyone pay attention to how many hits it receives, who links to it and what kind of comments it receives?

Do you know how many times your company or brand was mentioned in blogs and in communication forums in the last year? Quarter? Month?

Does your company monitor blogs and online conversa­tions to determine what’s being said? Who handles the task, and how often? What kind of data is collected, and who receives it?

If your company monitors blogs and other online con­versations, does it also have a protocol for responding to negative information it finds? Who responds? What event(s) triggers such a response?

Does your company know whether existing consumers or critics—some of whom already might be in your customer database—are active bloggers or influential bloggers? (e.g., do you ask them questions about their blogging behavior when you interact with them in order to find out their level of blog activity?)

Do you understand the differences between the types of bloggers, e.g., credentialed media bloggers vs. consumer bloggers?

If financial analysts, media representatives and other outsiders are researching your company, do you know which blogs they consult?

When you launch a new product, event or campaign, does your company have a strategy for presenting the information to bloggers?

Because blogs are so easy to publish, has anyone determined whether certain elements of the blog-pub­lishing format should or could be easily adapted for your company Web site? • •

Are you willing to enter the world of blogging with honesty, frankness and humor? If you cannot get past “marketing speak” and defensiveness, then do not blog.

For more informations about these topics take a look at the Intelliseek site and the Keller Fay Group. I highly recommend their studies.

The Dont`s of Blogging in General

And here are the Don`ts - what not to do with Blogs or Bloggers...

Get drawn into a fight, especially if a blog contains information that makes you unhappy, nervous or angry. Do your best to respond with the truth, both on the blog and on your company’s Web site.

Alienate the blogging universe with unfounded criticism or slams.

Lie about who you are or post a “fake” blog that’s intended to serve as an advertising or marketing vehicle. You’ll be shot down almost as soon as you click on the “publish” or “post comment” link.

Be anonymous or pretend to be someone you’re not. They’ll find you out.

Use “seeding,” which is the practice where people who really don’t have a passion for your company, brand or issue are hired to promote it nonetheless. These seeding individuals and firms are paid to post comments or conversations on blogs and aren’t transparent about it.

Get wordy. Most blog posts are short on words and heavy with lots of links to other content.

Post a comment that sounds like an advertisement. If you’re engaging as a representative of your company or agency, identify yourself as such, offer to help or answer questions, and include links to Web sites, FAQ’s or other simple resources.

For more informations take a look at the Intelliseek / Nielsen Buzz Metrics site and their studies...

The Do`s of Blogging in General

I have taken this out of the Intelliseek study: Trust “Media” - How Real People Are Finally Being Heard. These are the "Does" - what a company should know about starting a Blog - thought it might be interesting ...

Be subtle, relevant and targeted when you engage with blogs and bloggers. Familiarize yourself with the writer’s subject, tone and style.

Keep a two-way relationship with the blogger…provide input, provide content, provide feedback.

Keep your blog postings and comments short and relevant.

Realize that whatever you post, or whatever comment you add to another’s blog, has the potential to be indexed by a search engine, such that it could become the first piece of content Internet users find when they search for your company, brand or the particular issue under discussion.

Tell the truth. It is best to get the truth out into the Blogosphere and keep attention focused on it if you think bloggers are unfairly spreading misinformation. Respond quickly, with the facts and with respect. Provide contact information for yourself or other people they can speak to or interview.

Understand that as “comment spam” increases, more blogs will place restrictions on commenting, either through required registration or filtering mechanisms that scan for spam before publishing comments.

Realize that timely purchases of keywords on Google AdWords Select or other paid search ad vehicles can be very effective very quickly (and sometimes are very inexpensive) if you get them at the moment of hatching.

Study shows – Blogs and Consumer Generated Media are the most trusted forms of word of mouth

Since I`m in the final stage of my thesis about Word of Mouth Marketing I wanted to share some interesting facts with you.

According to an recent Intelliseek study (and a lot of other studies too) Consumer Generated Media and Blogs are under the most trusted and influential forms of word of mouth.
On of the main reasons for this is, that people just trust other consumers more then companies…

For more informations – take a look at the Intelliseek site and look for the study:CGM 101

Follow UP Mediation Training and Conflict Management Seminar

What I really liked about this seminar was the diversity of the participants and trainers. We were again around 30 young Europeans from UK to Azerbaijan and had a really great and interesting time while learning about European Identity, Mediation in Conflict Situations and Negotiation Techniques.

The main topic of the seminar was „All different – all equal“ – which was perfect, cause if you have 30 people from different countries you expect some conflicts, headed discussions and an exchange of a lot of ideas. I really liked it and can recommend it to everybody who wants to learn more about applied psychology, intercultural communication and team building. Let`s use the skills for the future.

You can visit the website at: http://www.mt.u2.pl/

Here is a short description of the seminar:
In the past years people in Europe had to experience that also in Europe conflicts can escalate and that Human Rights are not equally treated in every country. This seminar aims at bringing together young Europeans with different perspectives on conflicts and to educate them in mediating conflicts in order to strengthen a “peace network” that crosses religious, ethnic, and geographic boundaries. Thus they shall be able to take an active stand in defending human rights and contributing to a Europe that fulfils the slogan “united in diversity”.

Consumer Generated Media for Apple

Just found this really cool example of Consumer Generated Media for the Apple I-Rak on YouTube.

Take a look and enjoy.

Follow Up AEGEE TV Media School in Eindhoven

As you may have read, I participated at the AEGEE Media School organized by AEGEE TV and AEGEE Eindhoven. I have to say it was a really great event – thanks to all the organizers, trainers and participants.

The setting of European Students Week (which had over 320 students from all the world as participants) was perfect, cause we had a great training ground to practise our new movie making skills. The movies we made (around 20) should be soon at http://www.aegee.tv/ - they are really worth watching, this I can promise ;->.

As a result of the Project sessions we also came up with some future project ideas for AEGEE TV. The ideas were about improving the PR of AEGEE with movies, about Video Journalism and about an
AEGEE TV Summer University (you can download the notes about the ideas here).

I liked especially the idea about making a “corporate” AEGEE movie, that we can show to students (for getting them interested in AEGEE and recruiting them) and to companies (to promote AEGEE, it’s values and to raise funds).

All we would need for that would be:
1. a script & storyboard
- what things should be in the movie
- who should be in the movie
- how long should it be (3minutes?)
- what core messages should be conveyed (AEGEE USP)
2. a budget
3. a motivated team with time and proper equipment

Lets see what happens in the future with this ideas…

Communication of AEGEE Benefits to company’s

I just found a useful guide at the AEGEE.org site (in german) about how to fit the demands & needs of companies with the values & qualities of AEGEE.

The guide compares the values Procter & Gamble with the things we do in AEGEE – like intercultural exchange, active citizenship, doing a lot of international projects together….

Maybe it will useful for your local if you write fundraising proposals or for yourself if you are looking for a job. If you want to know what AEGEE is, take a look at this site or read this Article about AEGEE Stuttgart.

Maybe we can also make a movie about it and start working on a future AEGEE Blog…

Connecting with Customers – What can companies do in order to drive business growth

Get a corporate Blog and do it professionally
 o Set up rules for Blogging in your company
 o Look at best practise Blogs, learn what is useful and would benefit your company – apply it

Measure & Manage your Net Promoter Score
 o what is your current Net Promoter Score
 o where are your strengths, where are your weaknesses
 o how is company positioned in comparison to your competitors
 o what strategies and tools can you apply in order to make it better

Get into the dialogue with your loyal customers
 o convert them into Brand Evangelists
 o Build a Database with their names & specific data
 o Communicate with them, build a relationship & give them benefits
 o use their potential

Integrate a customer feedback system (or a CRM) and make it easy for your customers to get in contact with you.

Focus your Service on customer satisfaction & customer Loyalty
 o studies have shown, that a god complain management can convert
    unsatisfied customers into  satisfied customers
 o Net Promoter Score says that the ratio of very satisfied customers vs.
     unsatisfied customers is a key metric  for your company’s growth –
     do you think this important?

Make use & encourage your Evangelists to create Consumer Generated Media (give them some Guidelines so they do it right)
 o help and encourage them (for example give them incentives,
     invite them into your company…)
     create a win– win situation for all parties

In short - Connect with your customers & build a community & use their potential

The Newbie Guide to Word of Mouth Marketing

Since I have started to write about Word of Mouth and its importance for Business Success, I get often asked – “So, you are the Business Psychologist, tell us what can we really do in order to make use out of this new developments in marketing and this word of mouth stuff?”

Here is the “Newbie Guide to Word of Mouth Marketing”:

1. get some of the popular books, studies and read some good Blogs about Word of Mouth, Viral Marketing,Web 2.0…
in order to get the basic understanding of the concepts and foundations of these areas (in the next weeks & months I will post something about the Word of Mouth Resources that were valuable for me)

2. find out the current situation in your company / NGO – how do you address word of mouth marketing:
    a. where is your potential – where are your strengths
    b. what is your USP – which tools and messages to you use to
         communicate it
    c. where are your weaknesses
    d. where do you want to be in 5 years / what do you want to reach
         at the strategic level
    e. what can you do increase your strengths and remove your
         weaknesses

3. next identify the things that you can do right now, the changes that have to be made in your company and the tools and strategies you want to use in order to drive growth

4. make these idea a priority in your top management (as with all important projects, the support & understanding of the top management is crucial)

Memes and their importance for Viral Marketing

Those of you who want to get into Word of Mouth / Viral Marketing and understand the Basics of it - I just found a interesting portal about memes and memetics.

This explains, why certain ideas and messages succeed and spread through networks and why others fail.

You can visit the Portal here.

Another book that I recommend for this subject is the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell - it explains why and how epidemics spread and what you have to do in order to reach that effect with your messages.

Unleashing an Ideavirus - Free Ebook on Viral Marketing

I have this book since almost half a year and I have to say it is great. It brought me a lot of interesting insights into the “next level of marketing” and what a company can do in order to really increase success.

The book is called Unleashing an Ideavirus, it is by Seth Goddin and is free.

Here is a short description:
...............................................
Treat a product or service like a human or computer virus, contends online promotion specialist Seth Godin, and it just might become one. In Unleashing the Ideavirus, Godin describes ways to set any viable commercial concept loose among those who are most likely to catch it--and then stand aside as these recipients become infected and pass it on to others who might do the same. "The future belongs to marketers who establish a foundation and process where interested people can market to each other," he writes. "Ignite consumer networks and then get out of the way and let them talk."
...............................................

Read it, it will be valuable.... - you can download it here.

Web 2.0 and Consumer Generated Media

Since Web 2.0 has started, it has become very easy for people to publish websites, write about their experiences with Brands, buzz about their opinions and promote their favourite products or to put up hate sites for companies they don’t like.

This so called Consumer Generated Media is becoming more and more powerful, since Google’s search algorithm makes it easy to find word of mouth at the top categories. The other fact is that people belief more in what other customers have to say about a brand, then what a brand has to say about itself with advertising (of course this is depended on how powerful your brand image is, but most of the time it is true). This makes it crucial for a brand to interact with its Influential Customers.

Just to give you a short list of Consumer Generated Media:
- Blogs enable everybody who can use the Internet to publish his / her own websites
- New mobile technology enables (mostly younger) customers to produce videos with almost no effort
- YouTube enables these people to publish their videos online
- Word of Mouth in Online Communities - before buying a product a lot of people look into the internet in order to see what users have to say about the product

Today Consumers are generating even more marketing messages then the companies itself. Companies have no other choice then to connect and communicate with their customers, otherwise the marketing will happen without them.

Ressources:
If you want to know more about CGM and how to manage it – take a look at the Blog.
Read about how Web 2.0 has changed Marketing.
There are some very interesting studies of the Keller Fay Group about Internet Word of Mouth and Consumer Generated Media - highly recommended.

The future of Marketing and how to manage it professionally

I just had a talk with some marketing experts about the future of marketing and what changes will probably happen. We agreed on some points that I will post in the Blog, these are things every company should know about and engage into (or at least each company should have some people that are good in these areas) in order for to become more successful and efficient:

Building and managing a strong brand
- Professional Brand Management is the Foundation for everything
-  Building a strong, emotional brand image that people remember and associate good feelings and images
-  Celebrating your brand, so people can experience it, connect it with emotions and talk about it
-  good positioning in your market
-   …. (this is a long but important list)

Management of Connected Marketing
- Word of Mouth Marketing
- Buzz Marketing
- Viral Marketing

Get people talking about your Product and make it virus worthy, so they spread your brand message into their social networks.

Generating and Managing Buzzworthy PR
Here are two definitions to make it more clear (taken from Connected Marketing):

A PR Consultant is “a applied social scientist who advises a client on the social attitudes and actions he or she must take in order to appeal to the public on which it is dependent”.

PR practice is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its public.

Managing Web 2.0 Marketing
Making professional use of:
-  Blogs / Blog marketing
-  Social Networks like MySpace, StudiVZ, Friendster….
-  Games like Second Life, Word of Warcraft (huge potential if applied correctly)
-  Video platforms like YouTube, MyVideo
-  Viral advertising
-  Online Communities
-  Tracking Tools
-  Website, Email, Newsletters.. (the traditional tools)

Neuromarketing / Marketingpsychology
Understanding how and why Marketing and advertising really work and how you can make your advertising and marketing messages really efficient

Evangelism / Opinion Leader Marketing
- the Art of building relationships with influential people and getting them to evangelise and provide good word of mouth about your product
-  since 10 % of the western population tell the other 90 % what to buy, it would be beneficial to get in contact with these opinion leaders, recruit them for your company – make them loyal and let them spread good word of mouth about your brand
-  Integrated Communication of Connected marketing, Blogs and Social Networking

Integrated Communication of all your marketing channels
-  have a core message and a strong brand with emotional values
- communicate this message with all your communication channels in order to create a clear picture in the
   mind of the consumer
- align all your marketing channels (Direct Mail, Sales Personal, Video Communication, Online Marketing…) so
   they all communicate the same powerful message and desirable emotional benefits of your brand

Making Use of Consumer Generated Media and Open Source Marketing
-> see my entry about CGM

Using the Long Tail Approach to sell more of your products and services
-> Read more about this in The Long Tail

List to be continued…