Cymfony's Influence 2.0

Blog Bits - Week of July 25th

Adland points to an interesting series addressing blogs and copyright written by Anne Holland at Marketingsherpa.  In the two part series, Blog Copyright Theft On The Rise and Blog Copyright Theft on the Rise Part II, Holland focuses on bloggers taking entire articles, posting to another site, and then giving little or no credit.  In the first series, Holland says these so-called “thieves” can be broken into two categories:  genuine fans and profit driven bloggers.  In the second series Holland gives some useful advice and hotlinks. 

For those who have just discovered the “Blog World," understanding what blogs are and how they work can be confusing.  Wayne Hurlbert addresses FAQ of non-bloggers on Blog Business World.  Hurlbert goes through 22 questions such as: What are blogs anyway? Are there different types of blogs? What value does a blog have for a business? And what value are blog comments?

About a week ago, on the blog Contentious, Amy Gahran posted the question “What if press releases where outlawed?” “What other types of documents, channels, etc. would you use to get your communication job done?”  Strategic Public Relations took on her challenge and came up with 12 News Release Alternatives.  Some of the alternatives include using infographics, creative writing such as a Haiku, text messaging and fact sheets. Steve Rubel of Micro Persuasion, B.L Ochman’s What’s Next Online and Jeremy Pepper of POP! PR all commented on the topic as well. 

Emerilware: An entirely anecdotal demonstration of why market researchers need to analyze CGM.

A few months ago I moved into a new place and decided to get a proper set of cookware. Venturing over to the trusty local Linens ‘N Things, where I had already spent a ridiculous amount of money, I examined my options. I knew I wanted stainless steel, and that they pots/pans should be of a fairly high grade and thick. Thus was roughly the extent of my knowledge.

Being a good American consumer, and a food snob, I knew the two most famous brands are All-Clad and Calphalon, which I found and started studying when I arrived at the store. But then, right next to the All-Clad, I saw something called Emerilware, which looked almost exactly the same, was made by All-Clad, but was less than half the price for an equivalent set. The boxes were read, the hand-outs perused, but I couldn’t tell the difference, so I bought the Emerilware with the thought that either I: a. made the right decision, and I’d save myself a trip back, or b. I made the wrong decision, and would have to come back, but that was the same outcome as buying nothing.

When I returned home, turned to the beloved interweb to find out if I’d made the right decision. The first thing I come across is this, a posting on the highly popular conservative politically blog Instapundit (clearly deviating a bit from his usual topics), and one of the top links in Google for my search terms. As it happens, in late 2003, Glenn Reynolds, the author of Instapundit fell victim to the same confusion I did. So he asked the public, and the public spoke. The Emerilware, it was revealed, only had a thick bottom, but was not three-ply up the sides, which would lead to poorer head conduction and potential warping, particularly on a gas stove.

If I had known this at the time, I probably would have bought the original All-Clad line, but decided that since I had an electric stove (which would heat only the bottom of the pan), and didn’t really feel like returning anything, that I’d stick with the Emerilware.

End result, I made a $200 purchase, and not a $500 one. Nothing massive on an individual scale, but clearly I wasn’t the only one confused, and I can guarantee I wasn’t the only one that would buy the far less expensive option if given products they thought were comparable.

So what’s the lesson? From a marketing perspective, All-Clad is cannibalizing their sales through insufficient product differentiation. They need to improve the packaging and marketing such that people are able to distinguish their product lines, without dissuading consumers from buying the less expensive line if they’re not otherwise going to convert them. The self-serving (or rather, company serving) lesson, however, is that the post on Instapundit was written on in late December, 2003. I went shopping in the second quarter of 2005. Nothing had changed in more than a year, which suggests to me All-Clad isn’t looking at CGM, and their lapse is costing them money.

If Marketers Shift to Customer-Centric Focus Will They Gain Greater ROI?

Over at CMO Magazine's "Analyst View" research analysts Claudio Marcus and Kimberly Collins of Gartner offer the Top 10 Marketing Processes for the 21st Century.  The article says that by 2007, marketers that devote at least 50% of their time to advanced customer-centric marketing processes and capabilities will achieve marketing return on investment that is at least 30 percent greater than that of their peers, who lack such emphasis.  Yet, also by 2007, fewer than 20 percent of marketing organizations among Global 1000 companies will have evolved enough to successfully leverage customer-centric, value-added processes and capabilities.  This strikes me as odd since almost everywhere we look these days the focus on the "consumer" is more apparent than ever.  Look at the way advertising is changing - viral and online ads are popping up everywhere. And the blogosphere is playing a major role in the way companies interact and gain knowledge from consumers. I wanted to take a closer look at what Gartner had to say about the low percentage of companies shifting focus. 

Gartner believes marketing organizations must move away from a tactical focus on day-to-day activities and place more emphasis on high-value business processes that add value to customers, enhance brand equity and produce stronger, more-predictable return on investment (ROI).  So how do companies make this change?  Although it will vary by industry and size of the company, here is the suggested list:

1. Marketing operations management: Due to increased competitiveness, product and channel proliferation, and greater market, media and interactive channel fragmentation, the complexity of marketing operations has increased. As such, the marketing function must strive for higher degrees of process standardization and automation to drive greater efficiency and productivity, as well as better alignment of resources and activities with corporate objectives. TRANSLATION - if you haven't already - need to tie marketing into the rest of the organization.
2. Marketing visibility, accountability and value measurement: As the sheer number and complexity of marketing efforts have increased, the ongoing visibility of marketing activities across the entire enterprise and all its distribution channels has become a significant challenge. TRANSLATION - Companies must have a measurement or metrics program and it must be tied to the rest of the organization.
3. Customer and market insight generation: Beyond traditional competitive analysis, market research and customer surveys, enterprises must be able to capture and leverage vast amounts of customer and market information.  OPINION - I would suspect all marketing departments are starting to realize this now - and those who are not will soon.  The key piece marketers should look at is the ability to integrate this "new realm of digital influence" by understanding and analyzing online consumer AND business discussion.
4. Customer-value-based segmentation: The practice of segmentation is not uncommon, but among many enterprises, it remains mostly product-centric, focusing on demographic or "firmographic" (that is, demographics related to business statistics) characteristics that align products to market segments.  OPINION - Here is another area that marketing can gain a vast degree of knowledge by looking at unfiltered consumer-generated media. 

The other "processes" are available on CMO Magazine's site.  If these numbers are correct, marketers are going to have to play catch up, and fast.  It might be more reasonable to say that many companies do recognize they have to make this shift - its just matter of time before they take action.

In fact (but also on a side note), an article in today's New York Times offered a preview of a survey released at the Association of National Advertisers "2005 Marketing Accountability Forum".  The survey reveals that 61.5 percent of respondents said it was important to them to define, measure and take concrete steps in the area of advertising accountability. But only 19 percent said they were satisfied with their ability to take those steps. (The survey was conducted by the advertiser association and two partners, Marketing Management Analytics, part of the Aegis Group, and Forrester Research.)  In an excerpt from the NYT's article:

Back in the day, "marketing had a rock-star mentality, able to do what it wanted," said Ed See, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Marketing Management, which is based in Wilton, Conn. "But we're not living in a rock 'n' roll world anymore," he added. "Elvis has left the building."

John Nardone, executive vice president and chief client officer at Marketing Management, said the survey showed that it was more important than ever for advertisers to give their marketing departments the types of controls, models and "repeatable processes" they use in areas like supply-chain management and human resources.

Ironically, there are research companies and marketing services companies that already offer these types of services and can help marketers overcome hurdles and adapt to these processes.

Blogs for All; Forbes.com "Best of the Web"

You say there's a blog for everyone?  So how do you find the best of the best Automotive, Shopping or Technology blogs?  Well Forbes.com has just released it's 2005 "Best of the Web"  list to include blogs and has assembled a directory of what they describe as the "most interesting and useful sites in scores of well-defined categories."  To expand, Forbes.com has identified 100 of the best blogs in 20 categories ranging from Art and Economic blogs, to Marketing, Music, City (where are the Boston city blogs? - note to self, need to find them) and Media blogs.  Check it out, it's a quick and easy "list" to review general blog sites and categories. 

Corporate Blogging Tips

It's been out for a week but since our clients occasionally ask how to get started with their own corporate blog I thought I would share a great list of corporate blogging tips by Shel Israel and Robert Scoble from Naked Conversations (soon to be Chapter 11 in a book of the same name).

Why Companies Need to Monitor and Analyze Blogs and More

The top story on the PR and Marketing Network from the publishers of PRNews is an article by Andrew Bernstein entitled  "The Blogosphere: Separating the Hype from the Reality".  As the lead in to the story suggests, the rage about the blogosphere that was in full force earlier this year has died down a bit - that is, until the next blogger calls out a major company about its products, services or messages.  It's become clear that bloggers are not going away.  This piece takes a closer look at how companies can get their arms around the blogosphere without "getting burned."  But why monitor and analyze? It's a simple question that continues to come up.  Its always important for marketers and PR professionals to gain a deeper understanding of what customers or prospects think about their clients, their prospects and their competitors. 

Even if customers and prospects are not saying negative things about your products or services, they could be recommending alternatives.  Customer retention is extremely expensive, so companies cannot afford to ignore bloggers and thier power to influence buying behavior.

The article offers some goals that a company should consider when interacting with the flood of postings and information in online discussion:

• Identify changes and new trends in customer perceptions of your company and its brands - and those of competitors.
• Capture more detailed and unbiased consumer requirements for product design and execution.
• Determine what influential leaders are saying or not saying about your products and brands.
• Discover threats to your company, employees and other stakeholders.
• Develop strategies to shift negative perceptions about your company into positive customer sentiment. 

Overall, it's important for companies to implement a complete blog monitoring and analysis program to help them stay ahead of top issues across many customer segments, to gain rich competitive intelligence and understand how best to communicate with their target audiences. 

public relations blog monitoring blog tracking marketing

Blog Bits - Week of July 18th

First came public relations and media relations – now there are blog relations.  Jeremy Wright discusses on New Communications Blogzine “the skinny on blog relations.”  Wright talks about how before blogs, PR would communicate to journalists, journalists would communicate to the client and the message would spread.  With bloggers in the picture, what use to be a straight message from companies to clients now has a massive group of people in the middle.  This makes it more difficult for PR professionals to pitch their messages.  Wright gives some suggestions on how to succeed at pitching bloggers while avoiding public mockery that include - make it personal, make it applicable and make it short and sweet. 

Tech PR Gems posted “Tips for approaching the press after tragedies” from the Bulldog Reporter’s newsletter “Journalists Speak Out on PR.” Highlighted are several pointers from BusinessWeek’s Lauren Young on pitching ideas in the wake of a tragic story such as the London bombing.  Her pointers include: If your idea isn’t pegged to the news – don’t send it yet, be sensitive – acknowledge that things have changed, manage the client – push back and reschedule if you can and revisits plans and execution. 

At the July 20^th conference sponsored by the Association of National Advertising a survey was released that focuses on advertising accountability.  According to Marketing Vox, 61.5 percent of the survey respondents said it was important to them to define, measure and take concrete steps in regards to advertising accountability.  73 percent of respondents were not confident that they understood the effects that an advertising or marketing campaign could have on sales. 

First Supreme Court confirmation in the "Age of the Blogger"

In a recent op-ed column for the New York Times, David Brooks refers to the upcoming political battle over Judge John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court as "the first Supreme Court confirmation battle of the age of the blogger".

Some would argue that blogs really started getting noticed by the mainstream public during the 2004 Presidential election when blogs gave special interests groups and self-proclaimed political pundits a voice and platform they hadn't had in the past.

An important question that needs to be answered when politicians read these blogs and try to figure out how to best represent their constituents (especially now, as senators are busy developing their strategies for how to tackle the upcoming confirmation hearings) is "Who are these bloggers?" Are they really the voice of their average constituent or are they just the voices of the extremists and special interest groups? If bloggers are mostly people on the extreme ends of the spectrum and the politicians give them too much credence, there is a danger of alienating the "average" constituent and setting themselves up for disaster when trying to gain re-election. Blog monitoring cannot simply be limited to keeping track of what people are saying; people also must have a strong understanding of exactly who these bloggers are. The success in which they are able to do so may have a significant role in making or breaking the careers of today's politicians.

Safeguarding Your PR Measurement Budget

What is the value of measurement? Kerri Martinek, Cymfony's marketing manager addresses this question head on in the July issue of PR Tactics.  "In a perfect world, everyone would have at least 10 percent of their PR budget earmarked for research.  However, the reality is that it's closer to 5 percent, if there is even a budget for it t all."

Kerri reminds us that safeguarding a PR measurement budget is always possible - even if it has been cut to a miserly amount in the past.  For the PR department, the value of measurement is defined as the ability to link the effects of intangible assets (building awareness, changing attitudes, consumer opinion, preferences) to tangible assets (revenue, market share, sales) and demonstrate a casual relationship as a result of that linkage.  Yet, how many companies have budgeted enough for measurement or are prepared to defend this expense? 

There are three important factors that contribute to the ability to protect a measurement budget - all directly relate to how effective PR professionals are at showing its value: 

• Setting PR objectives that you can measure and correlate to corporate objectives. 

According to the Council of Public Relations Firms "The more that a PR function is designed, practiced and evaluated in close alignment with an organization's strategic business goals, the greater its support from top management in terms of budget size, and the greater its perceived contribution to the organization's success."

• Supplement media-related measures, such as impressions and number of clipping, with outcome-based measures, such as influence on corporate reputation, influence on shareholder prices, etc. 

The Gap II Study, published by the USC Anneberg Strategic Public Relations Center (SPRC) found that the most admired Fortune 500 companies ranked their top five metrics for measuring ROI for PR programs as:

• influence on corporate reputation
• influence on share of voice
• influence on stakeholder attitudes
• influence on stakeholder awareness
• influence on employee morale

None of these metrics are directly media-related so the challenge for PR professionals is that it's much harder to measure influence than it is to measurement impressions or number of clippings.  One way is to break up outcome-based metrics into manageable pieces and prove the need for measurement one metric at a time.  For instance, focus on shareholder price, map a specific communications campaign against changes in the price of company stock.  Or look at corporate reputation by focusing on a certain time frame, say 3months, then examine all media coverage generated over that time frame.  Next rank tonality of each article and correlate that to sales trends over the same period. 

• Advocate measurement and communicate results on a periodic basis.

The more public relations can advocate and communicate the value of measurement programs, the more likely the PR function will win the support of the entire organization, including senior management.  As PRTactics highlights in Kerri's article,  "The entire PR team should champion measurement and let its enthusiasm become contagious."

Thanks for the great content Kerri.  I hope you and baby Abby are doing well.  We miss you!

Blogging Tools and Jargon 101: Let's Get Started

Bloggers like John Cass and Wayne Hurlbert have pointed to Susannah Gardner's article for USC Annenberg on blogging software tools and blogging jargon.  I also want to suggest this article since it is a helpful summary for anyone getting started in blogging, whether for personal or big business use.  Be sure to check out the blog software comparison chart as well which is a companion to the article "Time to check: Are you using the right blogging tool?".  Susannah suggests using this as a primer only.  I would also suggest reading the comments section since many people are offering other options, opinions and tools.

More Advice on Measuring the Blogosphere

DMNews published an article on measuring the blogosphere by Idil Cakim of Burson-Marsteller.  Cakim, director of knowledge development reported that 31% of online public opinion leaders have blogs.  It would have been beneficial to provide a link to the research in the article.  I went digging on Burson-Marsteller's Web site for the study but I am not entirely sure I found it. I believe the reference is to a March 29th report on "tech-fluentials" described as:

Tech-fluentials are a new breed of influential, technology-driven opinion leaders who seamlessly connect their work and personal lives while transmitting information about companies, brands and products. All-powerful chat rooms, web sites, digital cameras, discussion boards and blogs are the tools of the trade for these influencers who can create or change opinions, establish trends, build buzz for a brand and sway stakeholders

The press release from Burson-Marsteller on its ability to identifying the next generation of influentials is an interesting piece.  But I think the key here is the fact that the “latest communication technologies allow these public opinion leaders to switch gears from observing corporate initiatives to publishing their views within seconds, ” according to Cakim in the press release.  With that she offers advice in her article  on what futuristic PR professionals can do engage in the blogosphere including:

1. Keep your hand on the pulse: Partner with online research firms that mine and analyze user-generated media to determine if and how bloggers are buzzing about issues related to your business.
2. Map your blogosphere: Survey your audience and identify those who actively write and/or read blogs.
3. Weight your target blogs: Develop quantitative and qualitative metrics to rank the most influential bloggers for your industry. When determining a blog’s influence, evaluate the types of links on the blog, frequency of content updates and the credibility of the blog author. Track key stakeholders’ awareness and reactions to the blogger’s entries.
4. Solicit blogger feedback: Consider establishing an online network of autonomous bloggers who can review new products and services as guardians of public interest. Participating in blogosphere conversations would underscore your company’s transparency.
5. Build an online information hub: Bloggers build a substantial portion of their content by linking to official sources. Keep them in the loop by providing easy-to-find, current information on your company Web site. Include transcripts of important offline news coverage about your business. Refer your Web site visitors to third-party sites where they can download additional information.

Check out the article for a few more suggestions - well worth it.  Expanding on the first point a bit, while monitoring and analyzing what is being said about a company is the first step when starting to look at the blogosphere, it is also important from a business perspective to track and benchmark brands, spokespeople, messages and competitors (among others). Additionally, gathering intelligence from blogs is only one source of content marketers should consider when analyzing user-generated media - usenet groups, live journals, message boards and even traditional media provide a wealth of information when included in the mix. Thanks for the great advice...

The 3 U's of Word of Mouth Discussion: Unfiltered, Unsolicited and Unaided

Yesterday's Boston Herald ran a story on how companies like Cymfony track blog postings and other consumer generated content for marketing intelligence. I spoke with reporter Jay Fitzgerald last week about this topic and explained, as Jay put it, how "companies have been tracking information available over the Internet, such as monitoring message boards or discussion sites, to gauge consumer sentiments toward products, from computers to new cars to toothpaste." The article provides a good introduction on how companies are using technologies and services to understand the perspectives of online consumer discussion as unfiltered focus groups (although the title "Dogging Bloggers" is not how we would put it).

However, in recent discussions with customers, I think the universe of content that companies can use to gather this type of intelligence is not aptly described. It is much more than consumer generated media. It involves industry discussion groups, B2B forums. This content is really a combination of three key factors: Unfiltered, unsolicited and unaided on-line word of mouth discussion.

Together, these three u’s provide an interesting mix that is different than focus groups. When one joins a focus group, you are normally doing this because you are getting some sort of incentive. Online, you often do this on your own time because you are passionate and want to share your views with others to help them avoid mistakes or make better decisions. Is this an easy source of content to understand and analyze? Of course not, but because of variegated nature, we are finding critical information to help companies quickly understand new trends, service problems and other issues that have significant impact on their businesses.

Additionally, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the role of marketing and communications in developing a proactive program for interaction with the blogosphere. In order to best understand this new media channel, we believe companies must actively monitor the blogosphere, but also understand trends and opportunities through analysis. Some companies know how to do this, some don't. Online consumer discussion is having a direct impact on all facets of the corporation -- from reputation and sales to product marketing and market research.

Blog Bits - Week of July 11th

Corporate Engagement’s Keith Jackson comments on the paper put out by the Institute for Public Relations regarding “How Top PR Professionals Handle Hot Air” by Nicholas DiFonzo, Ph.D. and Prashant Bordia, Ph.D.  The paper discusses types of corporate rumors, their effects, and how to deal with them.  Jackson summarizes that some of the most effective strategies are: 1) State the rationale behind and processes by which upcoming changes will be made, 2) Set a timetable for the release of detailed information, 3) Specifically attempting to increase trust and 4) Confirm the rumor. 

Jeremy Pepper of POP!PR shared that VC2PR will host an occasional series of venture capital interviews offering their take on public relations and the start-up The first in the series is Howard Hartenbaum, of Draper Richards. Pepper posted the highlights of the first interview including questions such as: Do VCs look to the existing PR structure - the early buzz - as a reason for investing in a company? What do you believe is the best use of PR - are there worries that a funded company might launch too early, using up their cache of PR good will? And many VCs have launched formal and informal blogging initiatives to personalize the system, and to put forth their own ideas. Have you thought of launching a blog for yourself or for Draper Richards? Do you think the VC blogs are a good idea?

Micro Persuasion’s Rubel references a blog by Kevin O’Keefe that points to some interesting blogging tips from Susan Solomon at MarketingPros.  Some of the tips include don’t make your blog look boring, break from the pack, and know your audience. 

Measuring Word of Mouth Marketing - Conference Notes

As my colleague Julie Woods mentioned in her last post, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association hosted a conference yesterday focused on measuring word of mouth.  I was fortunate to attend this sold out event with over 200 people packed into a room at the Chicago Sheraton. WOMMA president Andy Sernovitz greeted the crowd and immediately informed us that he had to close registration 20 days before the conference (an unprecedented event in his eyes).  I must say, Andy and his staff (including Communications Director Michael Rubin and a couple of star interns) did a terrific job pulling the conference together in a short amount of time.

As Andy (full of energy and anticipation) addressed the crowd he reminded us of a conference he held in July of 1994 entitled "Measuring Interactive Marketing". Skip ahead 11 years to the month and we are holding the first-ever conference on measurement and metrics in word of mouth marketing. 

WOMMA was founded on the premise that word of mouth should be part of the mainstream marketing mix.  And although it was clear from the presenters that word of mouth is nothing new, WOMMA and its members introduced a new field they called "Word of Mouth Measurement".  The hope is that both the conference and WOMMA inspire further discussion and debate throughout the rest of the industry.

The measurement conference was first organized to release the WOMMA Terminology framework- a standard method for discussing the measuring of word of mouth marketing.  To summarize Andy and backtrack a bit, members of WOMMA realized early on that everyone was talking about he same thing, but using different words and contexts.  Additionally, everyone was saying that certain people and companies invented these terms and already trademarked many of the best terms.  The association decided to address this and formed the Research and Metrics Council.  The goals of the council include:

1. To develop a common language of word of mouth-related terms and definitions
2. Figure out how to measure and track word of mouth
3. Learn how to integrate word of mouth with other forms of marketing media

You can read more on the terminology framework here. 

Sessions at the conference tackled issues such as The ROI of WOM:  Measuring the Impact of Word of Mouth in Your Marketing.  Laurent Flores of CRM Metix offered a "10 Point Road Map to Planning and Measuring ROI"

1. Measure to Manage
2. Involve "the right people"
3. Develop the "right message" for the right people
4. "The right process" - involve your opinion leaders in the "name of research"
5. Actively measure the short term effects on sales that your WOM program generates
6. "Passively listen" to the buzz that your WOM program generates"
7. "Actively listen" to your opinion leaders online community - suggesting a Consumer-to-Consumer model
8. Measure and value the long term impact of WOM on your company brand growth and bottom line
9. Measure provides the knowledge that is critical to improve and refine
10. Be confident, you did your homework...but make sure you are listening

Ann Green of Millward Brown suggested that companies measure WOM by first using (software) tools, then by

• looking at WOMunits (according to the terminology framework - a WOMUnit is a single unit of marketing-relevant information.  The term describes the message passed from one consumer to another)
• Number of advocates
• brand recommendations
• strength of recommendation
• perceptions
• depth

Ann did a great job in her response to the question "why do big brands and companies launch WOM campaigns in the first place?" basically since they are already so well known? She said that companies want to appear different or express themselves differently, they want to grow in popularity and want to appear innovative.  I would also suggest that they want to stay fresh and relevant.

Overall, a big congratulations goes out to all involved with this first of its kind conference.  As WOMMA reminds us, word of mouth marketing is increasingly viewed as an important complement to traditional media and is an essential part of the marketing mix. 

Word of Mouth Marketing & Metrics

There have been several good marketing strategy articles recently discussing Word of Mouth Marketing including one in this month’s issue of CMO Magazine focused on P&G’s internal efforts to understand and stimulate word of mouth discussions. While the idea of using technology and research to generate supposedly ‘natural’ word of mouth discussions is controversial, the more marketers can do to understand how and why word of mouth works the better they will be able to communicate with finely segmented audiences in meaningful ways.

WOM is not experimental marketing that should only be tested by outlier companies. WOM should be a part of the marketing mix for most marketing organizations. Many surveys and research reports have shown that recommendations from users of products or services have tremendous influence on other buyers. At the first WOMMA Conference (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) NOP Worldwide’s Ed Keller, CEO of NOP World Consumer, presented some interesting datapoints including the fact that in 1977, Americans relied on word of mouth 67% for their best sources of information and ideas to make decisions. Today that number has risen to 92%.

Ed’s presentation and many others from the first WOMMA Summit in March are available for download at http://womma.org/summit/agenda.htm. The second summit is being held in Chicago tomorrow focused more specifically on measurement and metrics.

Cymfony is a member of WOMMA and a sponsor of this event. We believe that understanding what customers and prospects perceive and desire, today, through benchmarking and analysis enables companies to create better products and communicate their benefits more effectively. Blogs, message boards, discussion sites and forums provide a wealth of input to marketers that shouldn’t be ignored.  Metrics and ongoing analysis of campaigns provide marketing with immediate feedback on what people like and dislike, competitive or complementary campaigns and who and what the influencers are that help viral campaigns take off.

Blog Bits - Week of July 4th

Market Sentinel produced a white paper stating that search results can hurt companies and blogs are helping them fight back.  According to B.L. Ochman’s weblog, the white paper recommends that corporations should use blogging techniques to temper the negative impact of consumer-generated content on search results. B.L. Ochman uses the example of putting Dell Tech Support into Google and the six of the first 10 results are blog posts about how bad the service “sucks.”  The white paper continues to discuss why blog posts are dangerous and the techniques companies can use. 

PR Machine comments on Jonah Bloom’s AdAge article “How Inside the Box Thinking Wastes Billions of Ad Dollars” {registration required} saying it is quite an eye opener to the ad and communications industry.  Bloom points out that “inside the Box thinking” has led to billions of ad dollars wasted, a differentiation between being creative vs. making ads and depressing agency meetings.  Bloom continues with it’s time to banish the “Box” and reword how we think and operate. 

Do you ever wonder how to pitch bloggers?  Anil Dash offers on some good advice on his blog for PR folks who want his attention.  Some of his pointers are get his name right, make sure that he’d at least want the product, “don’t talk like a data-base” and lead with a link.

London Bombing Stories Shared Widely Through Blogs, RSS, Flickr

My heart goes out to everyone in the UK and around the world victimized by today’s cowardly bombings. Scenes and reactions to the events in London were captured and shared quickly by shocked Londoners and spread throughout the global community via blogs, RSS feeds, flickr photos and wikis. Hopefully blogging will help more and more people around the world from all faiths and political perspectives connect to the people killed and injured by these useless violent acts, putting a face on the real impact of terrorism and war and giving a voice to more people to debate our differences in public rather than acting out in sneaky, cowardly ways. People aren’t numbers that should be tallied up in a global scorecard to assess which side is winning the battle.

Jeff Jarvis, Andy Lark and Steve Rubel provide useful links to sources of information on the tragedy in London.

Blog Monitoring is the Tip of the Iceberg

Cymfony's CEO Andrew Bernstein was recently interviewed by Craig Douglas of the Boston Business Journal to discuss the company's latest round of funding.  Read the article here.

"Certainly monitoring blogs is important if someone is saying something positive or negative, but that's just the tip of the iceberg," Bernstein said. "Customers are really interested in mining info to proactively manage their brands."

Blog Bits - Week of June 27th

John Cass, Director of Internet Marketing Strategies at Backbone Media, Inc. has been conducting research on corporate blogs and their value to companies over the past year.  According to his latest post on PR Communications, hundreds of companies were interviewed including Macromedia, Dell, IBM and Maytag. The results were published on June 30^th and one of the biggest lessons learned from this survey is that blogging is helping companies to really fulfill the promise of the marketing concept.  Cass continues to comment that in order for companies to build the best products in the industry, a company needs to survey their customers constantly.  When a customer comes to believe that you want their input in developing a product, they start to believe they have a very tangible stake in the product. 

Micro Persuasion’s Steve Rubel states that according to this report, the survey discovered that for the majority of the survey sample, corporate blogs are living up to all the hype.

Elizabeth Albrycht has kicked off a new online venture as part of the Corante stable. Future Tense is a collaborative blog, which looks at the future of our working lives, now that's something we’re all interested in...

BL Ochman's weblog comments on Eric Eggertson's hilarious post which suggests there be a master list of 100 wise things to say on a blog and if someone wants to make a comment on a topic already covered, they would need to link it to the original statement.