Private Equity Firms To Buy Ecuador...

Private Equity firm Blackston Group has partnered with Apoloo Investments in a bid to purchase the country of Ecuador--the first of what many analysts expect to be a new focus for private equity firms with hordes of cash and significant access to credit markets. According to sources that asked not to be identified, Merill Lunch and Credit Swiss will serve as bankers on the deal.....

Noted one Wall Street researcher "This is just the beginning...a country like Ecuador has signifcant untapped natural resources, a cheap labor force, and a strategic location. No doubt current management of the country will be in a much better position to execute its business plan, without having the World Bank breathing down its neck. It's anybody' guess when the the country will be taken public via an IPO...but its no doubt part of the private equity game plan."

Gotta love it...If GWB had thought of this approach in dealing with Iraq--simply buying the country and paying its citizens to go along with the program, no doubt we'd have saved billions, would have controlled the oil fields, and most importantly, we would have avoided losing so many of our own that have been put in harm's way....Is anybody listening?????

Marketing Widgets: You Saw it Here First : Addiem

The nice thing about the internet is that it time stamps brilliant observations...one that resident guru Jay Berkman made several months ago after tripping over Synovativ Technology's and their Addiem "widget"

Today's article in Wall Street Journal profiles the burgeoning trend in web-based applications that are designed to deliver uncluttered messages to captive audiences. Can you spell Permission-Based Marketing. OK...definitely not a new concept..but its always refreshing to know that we can spot 'em! Article is below:

Web-Page Clocks and Other 'Widgets'
Anchor New Internet Strategy

Gadgets Give Marketers
Access to Personal Sites
Unreachable by Banner Ads

By EMILY STEEL
November 21, 2006; Page B4

To generate buzz for this winter's launch of the film "Freedom Writers," Paramount Pictures decided it needed a cutting-edge Internet advertising strategy. Blitzing the Web with banner ads wasn't good enough.

So Amy Powell, senior vice president of interactive marketing at the Viacom-owned movie studio, turned to something that she and other major marketers see as the next generation of advertising on the Web: widgets. Easily accessible from various Web sites, widgets are tiny computer programs that allow everyday people to incorporate professional-looking content into their personal Web pages or computer desktops.

Typical desktop widgets, also referred to as "gadgets," include self-updating news feeds, clocks, calculators and weather information -- usually framed by or positioned next to a brand name or promotional consideration of some kind. Yahoo and Google provide such desktop widgets as stock tickers and airline schedules. Widgets that users publish on their Web sites or MySpace profiles are generally more advanced, including things such as chat boxes, videogames, polls and video.

Ms. Powell and many other marketers see sponsoring widgets as a promising route to consumers because they integrate advertising onto the Web page. It is a more-relevant approach than banner advertising, she says, and less annoying than video ads that take over the screen. Widgets are also one of the only ways marketers can get inside MySpace pages because the popular News Corp. social-networking site doesn't sell advertising on individual members' pages.

Most types of widgets also offer the marketers the chance to monitor eyeballs, because a user's click on one of these live features can be counted as easily as a click on a banner ad.

"I don't believe in banner advertising," Ms. Powell says. "It's important to create content that speaks to different audience segments where they are."

For the January release of "Freedom Writers," which stars Hilary Swank as a teacher who inspires students affected by violence, poverty and racism to change their lives through keeping journals, Paramount is working with Freewebs, a closely held company in Silver Spring, Md., that provides free tools for consumers to build Web sites.

Visitors to the Freewebs site can upload programs from the movie-themed "toolkit for self-expression" -- including a photo album, video injector and chat box -- all of which can be used on an individual's profile page. The widgets incorporate references to the film, such as a "Be Heard" Web template.

Advertisers can piggyback on Web-page content tools known as 'widgets.'

Set for a December launch, the widgets will build on a YouTube campaign already in motion. On a video posted on a Paramount-created YouTube group, a "Freedom Writers" actor, Jason Finn, talks about growing up in a tough Los Angeles neighborhood. "The way I deal with my anger or the way I deal with my pain is I express it. Instead of bottling it up, I hurry up and write it down," he says in the video, which has been viewed more than 275,000 times since it was posted last week.

Paramount is one of the first companies to embrace what some are calling the "widgetization of the Web," but others are not far behind. Reebok is creating a widget that allows users to display customized pairs of RBK shoes for others to critique. Time Inc. is creating gadgets for magazines such as People, Sports Illustrated and Time to provide live updates. Once dragged onto Microsoft's new operating system, the gadgets will automatically update themselves on a user's desktop PC with news from the various titles.

San Francisco-based interactive agency AKQA just created a weather widget to promote Microsoft Flight Simulator X for Xbox. The widget allows users to virtually fly and find out the weather at any airport through a live feed from the National Weather Service -- giving PC users a taste of what the videogame offers. In the past two months, users have downloaded the widget more than 150,000 times, spending an average of 23 minutes with the flight simulator, the agency says.

OJ Simpson--What is FOX Thinking????

Sure, we can all debate the ethical and moral issues of Rupert Murdoch's allowing his various media platforms (book publishing and TV) to promote OJ Simpson's latest chapter.

But the fact remains, the TV interview(s) scheduled on FOX is likely to bring in an audience that will blow away any other TV event...whether comparing to Super Bowl stats, the Who Shot J.R. episode of Dallas---or the first astronauts landing on the moon. It'll be a media coup. And if Fox hasn't lined up advertisers, no doubt some French brand marketer will seize the opportunity if all others find the subject too appalling.

As for the book...its sort of unbelievable to think that anyone would pay money to read it--especially knowing that the proceeds are going into OJ's back pocket.

But lots of people (NOT ME) are into ghoulish subjects---and based on advance snippets of the TV interview, OJ won't be disappointing anyone that likes ghouls.

CMO Meets CIO..Marketing and Technology

Title link is an inspiring profile of Hyatt's Tom O'Toole-perhaps the only Chief Marketing Executive that also wears the title Chief Information Officer...and is responsible for overseeing Hyatt's technology initiatives

Since I've had to wear both hats on many occassions (albeit for companies a bit smaller than Hyatt)---its a great illustration of how important it is for marketers to have a complete appreciation and understanding of technology applications, as this is the backbone of just about every business other than pizzerias and lemondate stands. More importantly---Marketers and technology execs, if not wearing the same hat---should be required to have adjacent workspaces, or otherwise be completely in tune with each other's projects and requirements. Period

How to Make Your Web Site Sing

Marketing means many things to many people--but the fact remains that the web has transformed every business--from the home-office consultant to global brands. And that means that your website is your front door, your business card, your customer service center, and for those embracing e-commerce, your check- out counter and the front end to your fulfillment center.
Please excuse the length of the article below, (perhaps not very blog-centric)--but today's article from the NY Times Small Business section provides very basic, but critical insight to marketers of all shapes and sizes. You big shots out there overseeing corporate sites and catering to millions of customers can read this too--I'm betting that at least one of the "common mistakes" mentioned below is an issue that you've failed to address...

Equally important--more than 50% of small businesses (we're talking hundreds of thousands in the US alone)--still have NO web presence.. How silly is that? As resident guru Jay Berkman points out "if you're in business, but don't have a web-site, even if its a one-page site, than your competition has a big advantage over you..."

How to Make Your Web Site Sing for You

By ERIC A. TAUB

THE idea that if you build it, they will come, might have worked for Kevin Costner in the movie “Field of Dreams,” but it certainly does not hold true for Web sites.

Build a bad-looking small-business site filled with poorly written text, and your potential customers will go away. Build one that is attractive, compelling and clever, but crucial design mistakes will still guarantee that few people will know that the site exists.

Your Web site is like a digital business card, designers say, the first online look at your company that a customer gets. With luck, it will not be the last.

A site must have addictive content, said Vincent Flanders, a Web design consultant in the Seattle area who is the creator of Webpagesthatsuck.com, a site that analyzes why some pages do not work. “People must be willing to crawl through a sewer for it.”

It is not just small operations that make a mishmash of their sites. Large companies can be just as prone to major design mistakes.

One global company states on its home page that “Indigenous and proven career management tools coupled with a comprehensive series of integrated initiatives have been evolved, to ensure that employees continue to sustain a high performance culture, while recruitment and selection is based on necessary competencies.”

That is “just gobbledygook,” Mr. Flanders said. “The words are not understandable by humans.”

According to Jakob Nielsen, a Web site consultant and author of the book “Prioritizing Web Usability,” it is essential that a Web page get a company’s message across quickly, because visitors are a fickle bunch. Most people do not go beyond what is in front of their faces.

Studies by Mr. Nielsen’s company, the Nielsen Norman Group, an Internet design firm in Fremont, Calif., show that only 50 percent of Web visitors scroll down the screen to see what lies below the visible part on their PC monitor.

“Users spend 30 seconds reviewing a home page,” Mr. Nielsen said. “A business must encapsulate what they do in very few words.”

With findings like those, it is no wonder that Web pages must visually hit a visitor right between the eyes. If a site does not answer a user’s questions about a business, then you have scored one for the competition. For example, the first thing customers visiting any restaurant’s Web site want to know is when it is open. But often that information can be found only by digging through multiple pages. As a result, “the site fails,” Mr. Nielsen said.

“It’s all about the basics,” said Baris Cetinok, Microsoft’s director of product management for Office Live, a site that offers free Web hosting and design tools for small businesses.

Visitors must immediately find out “who you are, what you do and how people can reach you,” Mr. Cetinok said.

Besides good grammar, Mr. Nielsen suggests that companies list a physical address, include a photograph of the building and not ask potential clients to fill out a form simply to ask a question. “That immediately communicates danger,” he said.

Making a site look good is complicated by the fact that no two monitors will necessarily present the Web in the same way. Users can set their browser’s default font size to be bigger or smaller, so it is impossible to know exactly how text will appear to any one person.

And how much of a Web site’s home page can actually be seen by users varies, based on the screen’s resolution.

The problems are made worse by designers being in Los Angeles or New York, and not, say, Texas, so “they think everyone has a large monitor and a fast D.S.L. connection,” said Neil Hettinger, co-owner of Lead Pencil Ad Design, a marketing and design company in Manhattan Beach, Calif. He suggests mixing text and graphics on a Web site, with dark type set against a light background for easy reading.

If you are selling a product, use thumbnail photos that can be enlarged when clicked on, Mr. Nielsen said, not a graphic that can be rotated in every direction. Otherwise “you see products at weird angles.”

“The most important rule in Web page design is to eliminate unnecessary design,” Mr. Flanders said. He recommends not adding large, spinning graphics that take a long time to download.

He also advises business owners not to add introductory splash pages that force a viewer to watch a video or animation.

“Splash pages are only needed for pornography, gambling and multinational Web sites that need to direct users to a particular country’s page,” Mr. Flanders said.

Graphics also do nothing to help a site get discovered by search engines like Google or Yahoo. Those sites troll the Internet for key words, as well as the frequency and quality of one site that links to another.

Text embedded in a graphic, like the name of a shop in a photograph, cannot be seen by search engines. And the old practice of embedding key words in white-on-white type will not increase a site’s page ranking; in fact it will do the opposite.

“The first time a word is used on a site, it’s significant,” said Matt Cutts, a Google software engineer. “If that word is used 50 times, there is a diminishing return.”

“If you put hidden tags on your page, you’re a total moron,” Mr. Flanders said. “You will get caught by search engines, or others will turn you in.”

If your business is local, make sure that the entire geographic area you serve is mentioned in text on the site. To increase the number of sites that link to yours, list your business in online trade directories, and mention it on various blogs.

Google offers free Web master tools that automatically analyze a site to determine if it is being optimized by search engines.

In the end, getting a prominent placement in a search engine is the only way to ensure that your site will be seen by those who can increase your business.

“If your site is not listed on the first page of search results, you might as well not exist,” Mr. Nielsen said.

Creating a Marketing Plan--For Dynamos and Dummies

Courtesy of Richard Hessler--a very prolific guy!

If you are going to create a marketing plan or campaign on a limited budget, the size of your target market should be limited. In determining the size of your target market, consider your ability to fund and manage a minimum of five simultaneous marketing channels. Five to eight marketing channels focused repetitively on the same target market group will yield the greatest results from your time and money investment.

Generally, there are 21 marketing channels from which to choose:

1. Advertising: (indirect) display advertising, classified advertising, yellow pages, inserts/circulars.
2. Buzz Marketing: (direct) paying people to say good things about your product or service to others.
3. Canvassing: (direct) Physically going door-to-door to solicit leads.
4. Cinema Advertising: (indirect) movie trailer ads, pre-movie advertising slides.
5. Client referrals: (direct)
6. Direct Mail: (indirect)
7. Indoor Advertising: (indirect) airport signage, marquee advertising
8. Networking: (direct) charity, community organizations, volunteering, formal networking groups.
9. Outdoor advertising: (indirect) billboards, building signage, bus benches/boards, lawn signs, sky writing/airplane banners, blimps, posters & playbills, stickers/bumper stickers, flyers, banners.
10. Point-of-Purchase Display: (indirect) banners, counter displays, mobiles, multi-media CD-ROM.
11. Professional Referrals: (direct)
12. Public Relations: (indirect) print articles, radio & TV commentary, print feature stories, print quotes.
13. Publishing: (indirect) books, newsletter.
14. Radio Advertising: (indirect) host-paid radio show, commercials, infomercials.
15. Seminars: (direct) public, private.
16. Telemarketing: (direct/indirect) outbound, on-hold narration, conference calls, tele-seminars, fax blasting.
17. Television Advertising: (indirect) host-paid TV show, pay-for-guest TV show, commercials, infomercials, product/service placement.
18. Trade shows: (direct)
19. Special Events: (direct) birthday parties, retirement parties, event parties, celebrity events, charity fundraisers, sport professionals, open houses, client appreciation.
20. Sponsorships: (indirect)
21. World Wide Web: (indirect) website, direct email, eNewsletter, SPAM, blogging, pod casting.

The impression you want to leave with your target market is that you appear to be everywhere; when in fact, you are just in front of your target audience.

Emphasize direct marketing channels over indirect. Direct marketing channels put you or a spokesperson face-to-face or voice-to-voice with your target audience. Direct marketing channels should be implemented first. Indirect marketing channels are used to reinforce your direct marketing efforts and create brand awareness.

Overall, the 21 marketing channel categories listed are effective. Some may not be as applicable to promote your specific product or service. Your results will depend on your creativity and making adjustments based on your results over time.

An Example:

Let’s say you want to sell a specific professional service to a specific group of people in a community. Choosing the following marketing channels may help you enroll attendees to a seminar that will generate sales meetings.

1. Client referrals: (direct) ask your existing clients, friends and family to invite people to the event.
2. Advertising: (indirect) run a low-cost circular in the newspaper, rent a billboard in a conspicuous location.
3. Direct mail: (indirect) purchase a mailing list for your demographic in the community.
4. Networking: (direct) promote the seminar at networking groups you frequent.
5. Professional Referrals: (direct) ask other professionals you work with to invite their clients to your event.
6. Telemarketing: (direct) call warm prospects and cold prospects to invite them to the event (businesses only unless you have a prior relationship).
7. Trade Shows: (direct) promote the seminar at a tradeshow.
8. World Wide Web: (indirect) promote the seminar on your website or eNewsletter.
9. Seminars: (direct) conduct the seminar with the goal being to schedule sales meetings at a later date.

The goal of marketing is to get someone to want to meet with you to learn more about your product or service. Marketing is NOT about educating everyone about your entire menu of services, save the details for the sales presentation. Market with an eye towards what the target market believes they need. We all use the same marketing channels, it’s your unique creativity and concerted efforts to communicate your value tailored to the prospect that will produce results.