Why reinvent the wheel? When you accept the restrictions of a medium and do your best to get the most out of it, you sometimes end up with great results. Just like this neat little Twitter campaign for Smart.

The campaign embraced the 140-character limit and used those restrictions to make a stop-motion animation in good ol’ ascii-code. Scrolling down @smartarg’s Twitter stream by hitting the j-key made the ascii-Smart drive along its timeline. Payoff: Smart fits anywhere, even in 140 characters.

Simple, creative and totally smart.

LinkedIn has managed to establish itself as a strong network with a remarkable constant growth worldwide as well as in Belgium.

While Facebook remains the largest social media network in Belgium (4.5 million members), LinkedIn has expanded to a network of more than 1.1 million Belgian profiles and remains the fastest-growing social network in Belgium, representing a yearly growth rate of 38% (bvlg).

Over the years, LinkedIn has successfully evolved from a pure hiring & recruiting platform to a vast information hub. Since 2011, it has opened up and has been introducing new features to improve communication opportunities between brands and consumers.

Looking to develop more effective opportunities for companies, LinkedIn is launching two new features. While currently only available to early release partners in the US, Targeted Updates and Follower Statistics, offer company page administrators access to greater targeting capabilities.

Businesses use social media for a variety of reasons, but when it comes down to conversion, LinkedIn seems to be a great source for both B2B and B2C lead generation. A recent study conducted by Hubspot, found that LinkedIn generated a direct visitor-to-lead conversion rate (2,74%) almost 3 times higher than both Facebook (0,77%) and Twitter (0,69%).

So next time you review your company’s social media strategy, do not just ignore this professional-focused networking site. Make sure to consider LinkedIn and evaluate its marketing opportunities for your business.

Every year, the people from The Next Web invite some of the best speakers in the tech world over to their conference in Amsterdam. It’s the place to be to attend inspiring sessions, talk to interesting people from all over the world, and generally have a good time. No wonder that LUON this year, for the fourth year in a row, packed its bags to join the party.

Because it’s hard to really capture the inspiration, ideas and atmosphere you find at The Next Web conference in a blog post, I thought I’d share with you some of the quotes that grabbed my attention at this year’s edition.

“Change is the only certainty. Today is the slowest rate of change we will ever experience. And those who are the most adaptive to change stand the greatest chance to survival.”
- Jonathan Macdonald

Professional speaker and thought-leader Jonathan Macdonald only had 1 prediction for the future, and this was it. It’s kind of a mixture between Moore’s Law and Darwins’ ‘survival of the fittest’. For us marketers it once again shows the importance of learning how to deal with continuous change in technology, knowing that –in the end- people still will be people. And that passion, as a foundation for doing business, will never be outpaced. Or as Macdonald put it: “It's not what in your hands: Da Vinci didn't have Photoshop, Einstein didn't have Google, Che Chevara didn't have mobile, Mandela didn't have Twitter. It's the passion.”

“[I have this idea of] Privacy as a Currency (PaaC), where we could own the right to our information and trade with that right for the information.”
- Jonathan Macdonald

Another quote from Macdonald’s speech. But he certainly wasn’t the only one touching the hot subject of privacy. Professional tech-sceptic Andrew Keen, Reddits’ Alexis Ohanian, Hilary Mason from Bit.ly… they all pointed us to the seemingly fading concept of privacy and how to deal with that. And Macdonalds’ idea does make sense: people’s personal data are becoming utterly valuable for companies. So why not use it as a currency? Macdonald gave the example of buying a hotel room for $0.00 + privacy. You would get cameras in your room broadcasting your every action as a reality TV-show. If that’s too creepy for you, how about this: Facebook remains free for everyone ‘donating’ their personal data. If you pay, you’re anonymous. Could be a solid business model if you ask me.

“The things people share on social networks are vastly different from what they read [...] It makes sense: you certainly do not share all the stuff you click.”
- Hilary Mason

Hilary Mason is Chief Data Scientist at URL shortening service bit.ly. She described data scientists as “[people who] blend computer science, engineering, a deep mathematical understanding with an appreciation for the human condition. That is empathy, curiosity, some sort of social science awareness. [...] We know who they are: they are nerds." Those are the people she (and I) believes we will need to make sense out of all this Big Data we marketers struggle with every day. They’re the ones who can tell you that -contrary to popular believe- more pictures of dogs are being shared than cats. But perhaps more useful, Mason discovered that people –despite of fading privacy- still just try to make themselves look good online. People will share information that fits the profile of how they’d like to be perceived, but read all other kind of stuff. And that, dear Facebook, is exactly why frictionless sharing scares the hell out of people.

“People like to buy, but they don't like being sold to.”
- Phil Libin

Phil Libin, founder and CEO of Evernote, gave an interesting view behind the scenes of marketing at Evernote. He stated that traditional (paid media) acquisition tactics nowadays are being replaced by app stores, smart devices, open source systems, social media and freemium economics. It’s all about building relationships with users. Or as he put it: “it’s more important that you stay than that you pay” (people who attended our WassUp Lunch sessions will remember this as ‘retention is the new acquisition’). The combination of all those new acquisition tactics leads Libin to the conclusion that we’re now living in a ‘Geek Meritocracy’.  Nowadays, every marketer needs to unleash his inner geek!

“We all have software that we run to be creative. A lot of people don’t spend time to check for updates on their creativity algorithms so we go back to the ones that have worked for us. We rely too much on trends when things recombine in unexpected ways.”
- Mark Randall

Strategists are known for using trends. They take what happened in the past and extrapolate it into the future. But to be really creative, according to Randall, we need to break out of the trend-pattern. For this, Randall put together a framework to figure out new possible combinations. Because what tends to happen and what makes the trends go wrong is that things get recombined in unexpected ways. He calls it the ‘Table of Strategic Elements’:

Some examples: combine social and mobile, and you get Twitter. Combine advertising with transactions and local and you get Groupon. Local together with location and gamification gets you Foursquare. Mobile combined with transaction and proximity gets you NFC technology for commerce…

Bonus quote: “Where’s my flying car?”
- Steve Keil

Next to privacy, business mentality was one of the key issues addressed in this year’s edition of The Next Web conference. In his keynote, Keil took a stand against large, impersonal businesses and for innovation through business culture and slow, steady growth. Well worth 30 minutes of your time.

Did you attend The Next Web Conference as well, or did you follow it via the live stream or Twitter? Feel free to add your own favorite quotes to the comments!

March 31st 2012, talk about a deadline. If you manage conversations for brands on Facebook just like us, you’ll surely know what we’re talking about.  If you don’t: Facebook switched from that day on permanently to its new timeline layout. Which meant we had to adapt and renew the Facebook designs for our brands on Facebook.

Curious about the result? Here are some of the designs we’ve made the past month.

The growing market penetration of smartphones and tablets continues to influence the surfing behavior of internet users.

According to recent research by InSites Consulting, 47% of smartphone holders in Europe connect to the internet daily using their phone.

However, uptake of mobile internet remains lower in Belgium compared to other European countries. Nevertheless, it has experienced rapid growth throughout 2011: website traffic originating from mobile devices almost tripled between January and December 2011, exceeding overall website traffic by 3%.

While those results are far from extraordinary, mobile internet is set to achieve new heights in 2012 fueled by new-generation devices, the launch of the iPad3 and iPhone5 as well as a double-digit purchase intention.

So, how important is this target group to your business? What is the impact of mobile internet users on your digital marketing activities? Pay close attention to the mobile traffic reporting in your Google Analytics account (or any other web analytics tool) and prepare to be surprised by the numbers! In the meantime, the following readings will provide you greater insights into mobile marketing:

Mobile Presence: What’s your flavor?
Elastic web design and content strategy

Every new edition of the Caples Awards traditionally stirs up an avalanche of creativity. Amidst this creative tsunami, it was the Pedigree Doggelgänger campaign that caught our eye this year.

This nifty online campaign makes dog adoption very tangible by finding your personal “Doggelgänger”. The application matches your facial features with those of dogs from the shelter and selects the one that best fits your looks. The result: the site welcomed 2.6 million visits and generated roughly 1.1 million matches. And what’s more: dog adoptions increased with 112%.

And even if you’re not really a dog-person, we’re sure you’ll go soft when the tool generates your Doggelgänger. Wanna bet? Try it out yourself on http://www.doggelganger.co.nz.

We all like a good crime series on TV. NCIS, Criminal Minds, CSI NY,… you name it: when it’s on, we’ll watch (except for CSI Miami that is – could one of these criminals please take out David Caruso next time?).

So we also know the 3 main elements needed to accuse someone, right?: Means, opportunity and motive. ‘Means’ refers to the practical ability of the defendant to commit the crime. ‘Opportunity’ looks into the set of circumstances needed to commit that crime. ‘Motive’ answers why the defendant would have done it. Answer all 3 questions and you’ve got yourself a solid accusation.

Now what does this have to do with marketing? Well just try this for a while: change ‘crime’ into ‘marketing action’ and ‘defendant’ into ‘consumer’, and you’ll get something like this: “‘Means’ refers to the practical ability of the consumer to take part in the marketing action. ‘Opportunity’ looks into the set of circumstances needed to enter the action. ‘Motive’ answers why the consumer would do it.” Or in other words: the key elements needed to make our marketing stick!

Let’s look at this in a little more detail.

Means

‘Means’ is what you create, the practical tools you provide the consumer with in order to interact with your marketing action. This could be a DM, a website, a mobile app, … Now any more or less decent criminal will take great care in selecting the crime weapon. No use in selecting a knife for a long-distance assassination. Or bringing an unloaded gun. The weapon should fit the job and be utterly reliable. As should your marketing assets. Ask yourself the question “Would I trust these tools if the stakes were really high?” Like ‘make-or-break’-high?

Opportunity

‘Opportunity’ can be split up into ‘place’ (“Could the defendant have been at the location of the crime?”) and ‘time’ (“Could the defendant have been there at that specific point in time?”). In marketing terms, ‘place’ is your marketing channel and ‘time’ is the timing of your marketing message. If you want consumers to take notice of your marketing efforts, you have to approach them using the right channels, at the right time. Anything else is waste. So select your channels carefully starting from your marketing objectives, by matching the different channel characteristics to your consumers’ profiles (did you know you can get a lot of consumer channel data out of web analytics and social media monitoring?). Once you can tie the defendant to the crime scene, make sure you can put him there at the right time. Take into account best practices on timing for sending out marketing messages via e-mail, on Facebook, on Twitter, …

Motive

Finally, ‘motive’ is the reason, the ‘why’: ‘Why would the defendant have committed the crime?” “Why would anyone involve in our marketing action?”. This is probably the hardest element to control, but also the most crucial. If you don’t give them a solid reason to care, they won’t. Of course this is about relevancy, about creating branded utilities and acting as a ‘brand butler’ to serve your customers. But it’s also about telling stories that trigger people, about standing out and being memorable.

So there you have it: make your marketing work by unleashing the detective in you. Search for true means, opportunity and motive and it will be a success. Guaranteed.

A study reveals that 37% of Belgian internet users feel positive about targeted advertising. However, 10% of the respondents only needed to have the concept of targeted advertising explained to them first.

Privacy protection of online users remains a “hot” topic and technologies such as spyware and online behavioural advertising were among the big “winners” (although loser sounds more appropriate) of the Belgian edition of the Big Brother Awards 2012 (www.bigbrotherawards.be).

Nevertheless, a recent study by MEC reveals that 37% of Belgian internet users feel positive towards targeted advertising. Results also reveal the importance of educating consumers: 10% of respondents were open to this form of advertising only after the concept of targeted advertising was explained to them.

Nowadays, most companies have embraced the internet as a relevant and essential channel in their media mix. But targeted digital advertising is more than just online marketing. It allows online advertisers to improve the effectiveness of their campaigns by showing ads to relevant consumers based on characteristics such as user demographics or online behaviour. Do you pay much attention when you, as a woman, are presented with a beer ad? Or is a man really interested in receiving advertising for make-up?

In a world where consumers are bombarded with hundreds (if not thousands) of advertising messages every day, marketing relevancy has become key! If something is not relevant, consumers will immediately reject the information. So, it is of prime importance that marketers keep consumer behaviour & preferences in mind when planning their marketing campaigns.

Thanks to these relatively newer online targeting options, such as re-targeting, contextual or behavioural advertising, spending on targeted advertising is expected to continue growing in the coming years. Based on research by eMarketer, behavioural targeted advertising alone will account for $2,6 billion by 2014, up from $775 million in 2008 (US data). However, for targeted advertising to reach its full potential, marketers will need to continue their efforts in educating the public on the significance and value of ad targeting.

Sources:
belgiancowboys.be
emarketer.com

The essence of true customer marketing? Listening to customers, understanding them and interacting with them in an honest and relevant way. The client relationship is the goal, not sales. Those are a (very) welcome long-term result.

A lesson well understood by Sainsbury’s. This UK-based supermarket chain received a letter from three-year-old Lily Robinson asking them why tiger bread was actually called ‘tiger bread’. Because, in her opinion — and she did have a point — the texture looked more like giraffe spots. Point taken by Sainsbury’s: customer manager Chris King answered the girl, offered her a gift card and took the necessary steps to change the name into ‘giraffe bread’.

Result: more than 48,000 shares and 150,000 likes on Facebook. And thousands of euros worth of free publicity. You can imagine what that could do for sales.

> Read the whole story here

What is elastic web design?

To accomplish this, responsive design uses a feature of the latest version of CSS (CSS3), called ‘media queries’. That’s a method to query which kind of media is connecting to your site in order to offer the most suitable interface possible.

But an elastic design isn’t limited to layout changes. Media queries allow the implementation of some very precise fine-tuning as pages reshape themselves.  Some examples? You can increase the target area on links for smaller screens, which makes them comply better with touch devices. You can selectively show or hide elements that might enhance a page’s navigation. You can even practice responsive typesetting to gradually alter the size and leading of your text, optimizing the reading experience in accordance with the display.

So, why is all this important? If you’ve ever been involved in the process of creating separate sites for desktop, mobile phone, tablet, etc.,… you’ll know it can be a drag. It’s no fun developing and maintaining multiple websites that are basically offering the same content. But if you only have to design and develop for one site, things suddenly become a lot more efficient.

Have a look at the new EmailGarage site we recently designed and developed according to responsive design principles. Check out how good it looks on a laptop, tablet, and mobile phone. Notice that, although the design and layout look different on each device, the content and the url are identical.

How responsive design impacts content

Right now, the conversation about responsive design is mainly fed by designers and developers. And those discussions are primarily about technical and aesthetic matters. But lets not forget it relates to content, too.

The point of using an adaptive layout approach is to allow the same content to work across multiple devices. This can make our job easier, because we don’t have to update content in multiple places.

Lets have a closer look at the most common three pitfalls of web content as we go from a desktop to a small device:

The content shifts - This the most obvious change in content when we look at a responsive design. As the screen gets smaller, columns become narrower, allowing text to become larger and more readable. Sidebars and other secondary content blocks move from the side to below the main column(s). Rows shift from three images to two or, in extreme cases, even just one. The main advantage is that visitors don’t have to expand and move around a site on a smaller device. When done properly, it can make the reading experience much more enjoyable and efficient.

The content gets hidden - Content that would otherwise take too long to skim by scrolling or just doesn’t fit well in the layout might get hidden. It is however shown when a visitor performs a specific action, like clicking a button or activating a drop-down.

The content gets removed - Although the general consensus is that removing content is a no-go, you often see this happen when specific mobile sites are built (and it’s very tempting for the sake of graphics, reduced scrolling, lowered page load time, etc). But this can’t be a designer’s and/or developer’s decision, especially not when creating one website for all screens. Enter the content strategist.

Don’t underestimate the role of your content strategist

As we developed the EmailGarage website and created different layouts for different screen sizes, a lot of decisions needed to be made about what should happen to the content across different screen sizes. Should this piece of content shift? Become hidden? Disappear altogether? Should this portion go above or below that one? It all became clear that this is not a decision to leave to designers or developers.

Responsive design, Progressive enrichment, Mobile first, … these and other technical orientations, where content can take different forms across media and devices, are a new challenge to content strategists. The content you create needs to be flexible too. The traditional one-size-fits-all content document will not be good enough anymore.

The web, and how consumers use it, will continue to evolve significantly. Meaning web designers and content strategists will have to work closely together in order to anticipate these changes and offer the best user experience possible.

Also read:

• The whitepaper we published last year “Mobile presence: what’s your flavor”. In this document, we outline 5 different flavors of mobile presence.
• Everbody wins with CSS3's progressive enrichment

The CTA or Call To Action. When I take a look at the communication I find in my snail-mailbox, it often looks more like a scream than a call. It looks like a cry of despair, from someone who's lost. From someone who's crying out on the wrong medium. Because you can't really hear a painting, can you?

We're too late to help Edvard Munch, but you might still benefit from it. Below are 7 tips to make sure your CTA is being heard.

1. You don't have to yell to be heard.
You know them too: people who, when they're not immediately heard, start yelling. Just so you won't ignore them. That might still work at a family reunion or in a concert hall. But when it comes to the volume of your message, less is often more. The power of subtlety was nicely illustrated by Smart. The visual of a Smart car rotates around the axis of a cement mill. The copy reads: 'the smallest turning radius.' Signoff: the URL. Can a simple URL be enough for a CTA? Sure, if it makes people visit the website. Can you measure that? Absolutely, if you make the URL unique.

2. Why don't you just ask for it?
That's of course the trouble with tormented artists. "Look at me being miserable. All weltschmerz is mine to carry!" But clearly saying what's wrong? Nah, that's beyond them. Just ask me what you want from me: I just might do it. But that's asking too much of an artist. They’d rather cut off their own ear to make their point.
Luckily, in Dubai they didn't shy away from simply asking what they wanted of you: "Donate money here".

And if you reward me immediately by showing me the effect of my contribution, I just might donate again.



3. And where is the QR code?
Back in 1893 there were no QR codes. In 2012 they are all over the place. Are you considering to use one? Then ask yourself: what percentage of your target group has a smartphone? How many of them know what to do with the weird black and white pattern? And will a lot of them be willing to install the app, scan the code and visit the website - on their mobile? You now have a target population as large as the number of people on the painting. If you want to reach 3 people, QR codes might just be it. In other cases, you might consider simply adding the URL. Unless you decide to do it the Guinness way… then it becomes clever.



4. Boobs sell.
Did anyone ever tell Munch that sex sells? Did they ever tell him about the infallible trinity of the 3 B's in advertising: babies, boobs and beasts? Not necessarily in that order (and preferably not combined in one idea). Trouble with sex is that it mainly sells itself, not necessarily your product. Same goes for the other B's too.
However, if you're talking breast cancer prevention, there's no better way to make impact than the Boob Hijack from CoppaFeel. They called a hotline and asked the lady live to touch her breasts. Then you ask her if she feels nodules. You record the reaction and send the result to the partners of the target group: their male partners. Voluptuous response guaranteed.



5. Context To Action
Imagine: she (your one and only) said yes! Or that dream job you wanted? It has just fallen in your lap. And the teacher confirmed: your daughter really is the new Einstein. You are euphoric. In comes this black scarecrow-like figure. To tell you the world is bad and rotten to the core, and nobody wants to hear his message. Well guess what: there’s a good chance his message will be ignored. Much in the same way, you don't try to sell skiing gear on a tropical beach. Skiing vouchers under the windshield wipers of snowy cars, with a coupon for people who decide fast: that works. Because the context is just as important as the call.



6. Learn to read minds
Empathy is key. Don’t focus on yourself too much. Instead, try to show genuine interest in the other party. That makes communication so much more interesting than one-way shouting. Learning what your target group thinks, how they feel, what makes them tick, so you can rub them where they need it most. Try to read their minds, so you have the right offer for them at the right time. Using thoughts as a CTA: yes, it can be done. As an agency in Toronto proved: if you generated enough brainwaves, you’re treated to free drinks after the Tedx Talks.




7. The big red button
The art of simplicity. A big red button with a simple CTA: 'Save.' The mechanic is brilliant: every time you're on the verge of giving in to an impulse to buy something, you push the button. A predefined amount of money is then immediately transferred to your savings account. A button and a word. Sometimes that's all it takes, for crying out loud.



Interested in discussing Calls To Action that make a difference in your next digital or direct marketing campaign? Contact me today.

"WassUp" is the news in a nutshell. New technologies, emerging trends, inspiring cases ... everything a marketer needs to be "in the know".

Below are the slides from our WassUp presentation of February 2. Enjoy!

Tired of being stuck in first gear on your way to work? And sick of queuing all the way back again in the evening? Then the Aurelium ClubHouse will come as a relief. These brand new Aurelium headquarters will open their doors shortly to everyone who wants to work remotely, unbound by the limits of time and space. The new building will be a blessing for all who want to work in a state of the art workspace, with direct access to the latest technological accommodations.

To lift a tip of the veil, we designed a billboard to arouse the curiosity of passers-by. Taking the fast lane to all necessary info on the project is easy: all you have to do is text your email address to the indicated short code or take the short cut to this landing page. How’s that for traffic generation?

Want to check it out yourself?

> Have a peek on www.overtuigjezelfvanlipton.nl

It's not that we want to brag or anything. Or wait, yes, actually, we do. Endulge us. For we've been proven right way sooner than we expected. Remember what I wrote on December 30, on this very blog? No? Let me refresh your memory with the exact quote.

Notice with me that in the above examples, the value of your friends really is increasing. I predict that to be thé trend of 2012 and beyond. Think bigger now. Imagine co-buying really taking off. Start thinking co-housing as a real life solution. Imagine a 1000 friends negociating prices with Electrabel. If they don't meet our demands, we'll be taking our business to NUON and ENECO. For real. Stick together, like real friends do, and you might get amazing results.

Now what do we read in the papers, less than one week later? Nearly 40 000 households pay up to 30% less on their energy bills. The article states that the province of Antwerp has held an auction for energy suppliers. The one with the lowest bid, can make his offering to nearly 40 000 households. Winner of the auction was Essent, with a 16,1% reduction on the current market price. If you combine electricity and gaz, it's 29,5%.

30%. Uhuh!

Not only did we get the trend right, even the example was bang-on. And no, we didn't have a scoop on the newspapers, the example just made sense. In all fairness: the article also states that it was the second year in a row. Also in all fairness: it's the government negociating for you, ànd it's a non-committal deal in both directions. Not really what we had in mind, since we believe it only makes sense if you can commit to a certain number of clients towards the supplier and towards a certain price towards the client.

However, it proves the trend of co-buying is here to stay. It proves the group is stronger than the sum of its parts. So here's opportunity for you: who will be the first one to negociate massive reductions for carleases on behalf of some dozen PMEs? Who will build the platforms to connect them? Opportunities enough once you start to think about it.

And it also proves this: you better watch this blog carefully. Because one week later, your competitor knows it too. By that time, he will have read about it in the papers.

Ever dreamt of owning an apartment in the heart of Antwerp? Then hitch a ride on tram number 11 and dream away between the Eksterlaar and Melkmarkt stops. You’ll find it feels just like peering out of the window your newly acquired first-class apartment.

Thanks to the affordable condos Immpact offers, that dream may even be closer than you think…

And because any reason is good enough to squeeze in a Jiskefet sketch, here’s one of their famous jokes starting with “I was standing at the tram stop…”

There's never been more fuzz in Belgian media about Twitter and its users than last week. One hashtag ignited such explosive debates that it started to trend worldwide soon after its launch. In terms of exposure and impact, #30J was definitely a hit. However, for its creator, it probably felt like the explosion of a hand grenade, just after you realised you threw the pin at the enemy.

January 24. Socialist trade union ABVV wants to rally supporters for their national strike amongst students. And because they're fed up with their corny image, they decide to use social media to get their message out. They boldly go where no union in Belgium has gone before. They set out to start a conversation on Twitter and launch the now infamous #30J.

The hashtag doesn't immediately catch on. It isn't untill the morning after, when @ErwinDeDeyn from the ABVV complains why the debate in the media is narrowed down to a poll: are you pro or con the strike? He uses the #30J hashtag in this status. It doesn't strike me as a particularly controversial status, yet it seems to have triggered an avalanche of messages. It is immediately followed by a rater agressive reply from a certain @oliware who warns the trade union that he will run over whoever hinders him on his way to work, "even if they only try to hand out a pamphlet." He too ads #30J to it.

The topic starts trending soon afterwards and the trade union gets way more than what they bargained for. Strong opponents hijack the hashtag to air their dismay with the unions in general and the strike in particular. The hashtag becomes a bashtag for the union. The vast majority of opinion makers, both on traditional media and blogs, designate the trade unions as losers of the fight.

The fight will continue untill the day of the strike 5 days later. On Twitter, the trade union is outgunned and outnumbered. Employers organizations VOKA and UNIZO openly question the legitimacy of the strike "when clearly, the majority of the people is strongly opposed to it." Polls are held in national newspapers: do you think trade unions are still relevant today? Surely, this is not what ABVV president Rudy De Leeuw had hoped for when they launched #30J.

Errare humanum est.
First off, even the die-hard non-believers begin to realise it's hard to overestimate the power of social media. And everybody will agree that that power is capricious and it may backfire when you try to put it to your use. As the saying goes: if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. But if you want to start cooking, you better learn how to deal with the heat.

Errare humanum est (pardon my Latin, but I'm told it's a thing to do if you're discussing politics these days). Errors were made. By the union, sure, but also by the newsmakers. Journalists have jumped to conclusions and forced the trade union in the defence at a time when there was no need for that. On Terzake, the twitter initiative was called a failure before it was. At that time, most of the tweets mentioning the hashtag were neutral, so the journalists were in fact plain wrong. My guess is they made a common mistake. Bear with me, because here, it becomes ugly, yet interesting.

The mistake? My guess: the journalists trusted their peer groups to be representative at that time. Because that's what happens on Twitter: you surround yourself with peers. People you relate to. And you follow people who inspire you, people you look up to. Journalists add to that: policymakers of all sorts. Instead of analyzing all tweets with #30J, they see what their peers and some so-called influential tweeps are saying about it. Most of them are pretty negative. They think that is representative and it's a headline on prime time TV news. In hindsight, we know the journalists were wrong, because now we have had time to analyze them.

Analyzing sentiments can't be done in a couple of hours on a trending topic. It's simply too much unstructured data. The facts presented at Terzake were nothing but a gut feeling that proved false.

The Trade Union didn't know that: they probably thought the journalists had properly investigated it and they got into the defensive. Their defence went something like "We have nearly a million and a half members, and you are saying a couple of thousand overeducated managers on Twitter are representative?"

Auch. That hurt. Not so much the people on Twitter, as it hurt the trade unions. What had started as a noble initiative towards new media, what was meant to be an attempt to reach out to students, was swept away with this one answer. Because, if you were educated, you were suspicious. If you didn't agree with the union, you were clearly a manager or some kind of boss, whose very goal in life is the suppression of the proletariat.

Guess what that answer did for the #30J.

It did however, have a very interesting side-effect. Both pro and contra strike ventilated their opinions under the same umbrella. Because of all the media attention, people were very consistent in the use of #30J. But what could have been the start of a great conversation, was nothing short of an ordinary mudfight, with one party reamining deaf to the other ones' arguments.

And that is a pity. Because you'd hope for more on so-called social media. Consider the hash itself: it's actually a crossroad. Why so rarely for thoughts?

Because something pretty rare happens: very different people start talking to eachother on Twitter. Yes, that is rare. Because people tend to surround themselves with peers on Twitter. And they follow people they look up to.

Loads of artists singing some corny song together. Or deejays locking themselves up for a week with nothing to eat but a smoothie a day. Showbiz does the craziest things for charity. But this campaign is different. It manages to get the same kind of attention with nothing more than eight seconds of silence.

How does it work? Simple: the Moment Of Silence inc. launched an audio track on iTunes with eight seconds of silence, symbolizing the eight years Steve Jobs fought cancer. By purchasing this track, you donate 99 cents to organizations that support pancreatic cancer organizations. A ridiculously simple way to get people thinking about the subject.

Can’t wait to see the track rocketing to the top of the pop charts. Or the charts of the Cannes Lions, for that matter.

But it’s at these times, when things might seem hopeless at first sight and our hands and feet seem bound, that new opportunities arise. These are times that –more than ever before- call upon our experience and creativity. These are times that ask for new ways of thinking and new ways of acting. For a smarter form of marketing that is both inspiring and accountable.

We believe that technology can be a solid driver for this change. Over the last years new platforms and tools have matured of which we can now reap the fruits. Mobile, social media, cloud computing, … they each have a role to play in this new form of marketing. But we even so believe these to be only the instrument to serve the greater good: supporting sales, building stronger brands and growing more happy customers.

We believe the true way to reach these higher goals is through a close partnership with our clients and a deep understanding of their businesses and the markets they operate in. This -if any- is not the time to carelessly shove out marketing campaigns. This is not the time to adapt the latest one-size-fits-all practice. This is the time marketers must take their responsibility and provide the best solutions for both businesses and consumers.

Furthermore, we believe that marketing should not only be responsible, but should even more so be accountable. We believe that efficient and effective marketing drives upon data and the continuous insights it delivers. Only by starting from the facts will we be able to optimize our marketing efforts effectively. Only by measuring will we know the impact of our marketing actions. Only by prove will we convince businesses of our use.

We also believe the true prove of marketing effectiveness goes beyond short-term financial gains. We believe that true business value lies in creating long-term, profitable relationships. We believe in the joint power of businesses and consumers, in the obligation of brands to focus on consumer relevance and the potential of consumers to grow a business. We believe in continuous, engaging dialogues as the foundation of this new alliance.

But this can only work if outlined, planned and executed flawlessly. We will only succeed in creating this new form of marketing through assembling multidisciplinary teams of skilled specialists. Then, and only then, we will get smart new marketing ideas to deliver real results for everyone involved.

We believe these beliefs to hold the key to successful marketing now and in the future.

It’s that time of the year again when you wish friends, family and loved ones a good health and godspeed. But what should we wish for in business? If I am to believe – and how can I not – the economic press, we are facing a recession. Seems to me it makes sense to wish for an abundance of new leads. New business that can hopefully compensate for the decrease in expenditure with existing clients, that will most likely happen during a recession.

The year 1220

In the old days things were simple. Marketing and selling products was the result of craftsmanship and genuine word-of-mouth. Craftsmen with ambition with the intention to sell a lot went to the market to find a bigger audience.

In doing so, they experienced that being there was one thing. Making a living out of it was something else. It depended on the market you chose (type of products, location, people attending), the competition (fierce or not, nearby or not, and the quality of their products) and your talent for storytelling (drawing attention, demonstrating, tasting, convincing). It is where the term ‘marketers’ was born and where business was done.

The year 2012

“The world has changed” … it’s probably the most frequently written sentence in today’s sales and marketing literature. Unrightfully so, because in terms of sales and marketing, it really hasn’t. In essence, if you want to sell a lot you still have to go to the market. Today the marketplace is called Google – and its peers. It’s where you’ll find the biggest audience looking to buy things. And much like in 1220 success still depends on your type of product, the people attending – or targeted, the competition and your ability to draw attention, drive consideration, convince and make a sale. Moreover, when done right  ‘going to the market’ is the most effective and efficient way for lead generation in 2012. That’s just what the doctor prescribes for your business during a recession.

I wish you the biggest and most effective lead generation channel

In Belgium, people looking for commercial information or people looking to buy stuff search for it online. More than 50% use search engines on a daily basis and 9 out of 10 use them on a weekly basis.

So, the biggest market you could ever imagine can be found online. Meaning 97% of consumers out there is finding what they are lookingfor. An effectiveness score that will further increase the use of search engines in 2012 and beyond, as rewarded behavior tends to grow into a habit.



I wish you SEA results for effective lead generation

When you invest in search engine marketing you have two complementary options. The first is called Search Engine Advertising or SEA. Those are the small text ads you find above or at the right-hand side of your search results. Granted, they do not look very appealing and we don’t always pay attention to them. But when you bother, as a marketer, to look into it a whole new world opens up, filled with endless possibilities for smart targeting.

Then again, why should you bother when - on average - less than 10% click on it? I’ll give you two good reasons. Firstly: if they don’t click on it, you don’t have to pay anything. So you have nothing to lose. Secondly, you decide for whom you want to pay, and even how much they are worth to you. Come again?

With SEA you have the possibility to target a precise target group and analyze the effect on traffic and conversion of specific keywords or search strings during each phase of the consumers purchase decision phase. (Attention – Interest – Desire – Action) – You can even analyze what your competitors are doing and determine what you are willing to pay to attract new customers. By now, advertising has stopped being a black box and has evolved into a form of science. It deserves your attention, especially if you are looking for immediate effect.

An extreme example.

Pretend you are a 60-year old dentist living in Overijse. Come 2012, you decide to open up your practice exclusively on Tuesday and Thursday. His ideal patient would be someone with a toothache who lives or works in the neighbourhood, but only on a Tuesdays or a Thursdays.

SEA lets you target him/her specifically. Your ad is not shown to people who live too far away to make the trip to Overijse. It isn’t shown to people looking for toothpaste, … Only to people who use the word(s) ‘toothache’ and/or ‘dentist’, that are than a 15 minute drive away, on a Tuesday or a Thursday. And if you want to finish up early, you can even decide not to display your ad after 2 PM that specific day. How’s that for media planning? And remember: if they don’t click, you don’t pay.

I wish you SEO results for efficient lead generation

When you invest in search engine marketing you have a second option, it’s called Search Engine Optimization or SEO. When people look for commercial information using search engines the first natural search results on the first page get the most clicks. The lower you find yourself in these results, the less attention or clicks you’ll get. Not on the first page? Get your act together!

So how do you make sure you get up where you belong?

Findability. First of all, make sure search engines can find your online content easily. It’s not difficult, it doesn’t cost you more, and it’s an absolute conditio sine qua non in getting you a top ranking. To do this, carefully map out your site structure, apply clear rules in your coding and make sure that you use technology that can easily communicate with the different search engines out there.

Relevancy. When people can find all of your content, and when you’ve structured it in a SEO-friendly way, search engines will be able to locate and index it. Then the game really starts, much like it does with SEA. You’ve mapped out the consumers purchase decision phase, matched it with the most relevant keywords people are using and factored in what your competitors are doing. Now’s the time to decide on which search strings you want your content to appear. Those keywords need to be incorporated into your website and other digital content. As a meta tag on a certain webpage for instance, but make sure that the most important keywords are also found in your navigation structure, sitemap, images, … as these are considered more important by Google.  Good keyword analysis is the second biggest leverage for success. Some keywords could drive a lot of traffic to your website, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will all convert into the next step of the sales cycle, let alone buy your product. Some keywords might draw less traffic, but convert to higher sales more easily.

Remember our dentist?

‘Toothpaste’ is a relevant keyword with a higher search potential than ‘toothache’ and will draw more traffic to the dentist’s website. But only the latter will have the man sat in his chair before the end of the day.

Authority & trust. Once your digital content is found easily, and you’ve decided upon which keywords you want it to be found, you can use a number of strategies to make it more important than other similar content and thus influence the ranking in the overall results. The last leverage for success is called link building. In short, the more web pages that link to your content, the higher you’ll turn up in search results. Digging a little deeper would reveal that it is not only the amount of links, but also the quality (page rank), whether or not keywords are used in the url (anchor text) and the overall relevancy of the referral pages.

SEO complements the previously discussed SEA. With the latter you’ll notice an immediate effect on site traffic and conversion, but you’ll have to pay for it. With SEO you’re building for the future. It doesn’t cost anything (but time) but takes a while before it kicks in and is thus very suited to develop a base traffic on your core keywords.

I wish you a SEM strategy for lead generation in 2012. You’ll need it.

It seems we might be facing a recession. But even during a recession some companies perform better than others. Some companies might even beat the recession on their own P&L. I’m convinced that those companies will have focused on lead generation in a cost-efficient way, among other things. Hope you do to.

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I wish you LUON (*)

LUON provides a free of charge SEO site analysis along with complementary recommendations to get you started or keep you going with Search Engine Marketing. It may be your first step towards successful lead generation throughout 2012.

(*) Pardon my bluntness, but if you’re facing a recession chances are we are too.