Posts Tagged linkedin
Digital Marketing Thoughts
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, SEM on June 29, 2010
Ok, I admit it. On Sunday afternoon, just before the game, I had one of those moments. I thought I had to write a blog post about Digital Marketing and why and how it works. Here are those thoughts:
I spoke about Inbound Marketing on my blog before. The idea of inbound marketing is that, particularly online, you as a company or individual make enough noise to be seen and getting interest. This interest is then converted into sales. I know that is over simplified, but that is basically it.
To do that, e.g. making enough noise, a lot of companies use Social Media these days. Twitter to form an opinion or to build a brand, maybe a Facebook page, some Facebook discussions, a group on LinkedIn or just a good blog that gets quoted within the industry. Speaking at events is usually welcomed, or sponsorship at events to associate a brand with a sport, e.g. Rolex and Golf as an example.
Now, there is another way of creating awareness. I recently, as you know, entered the online display arena with a company that executes media plans across ad exchanges. That means we can buy inventory more cost effective and get a greater reach for less money than using ad networks for instance. This brand performance can be used solely for branding or it could be used for branding in association with direct response to actually measure the ROI straight away, similar to search marketing.
Another way is to use TV of course. Maybe less targeted (until IPTV comes into play) and of course more expensive. However, the costs of producing a good display ad (creative) or TV advert might differ, but both shouldn’t be neglected.
To my mind, and thanks to Kotler, the 4Ps are still valid. Product, place, price, promotion. People buy because they know a product or a brand and they saw it in a place or associate it with a certain status. Then the price….that is tricky but general speaking if one really likes something, one will be able to afford it. So now, the promotion, is really what I am talking about.
Looking at a Digital Marketing Strategy, there are only a few ways to think, and these ways are 90% online and 10% offline (or all online) and to have the right mix between inbound and outbound Direct Response. What do I mean with that?
1st:
As a brand you need to create a lot of awareness. Brand performance is the newest word I use for that. To do that you can use a mixture of TV and Display Advertising with a measurable KPI, e.g. sign-ups or voucher code use. This way you don’t only spend money on a big brand reach and awareness campaign but you start from the beginning to focus on your ROI for every penny you spend.
2nd:
User Engagement. Again: competition or user codes, discussions in forums or blogs, feedback and research rounds, social media like Facebook and Twitter. Having all that combined and using the feedback you are getting from your customers to improve your service and products is key.
3rd:
The trick is to utilise the user engagement (2) and turn that into sales. Using DR (direct response) channels like Display (DR & brand awareness = brand performance), PPC (DR but also brand awareness), social media, and Email campaigns. That means you are turning your brand performance into DR and get a list of hot leads.
4th:
Use good sales people and close those hot leads. Using their feedback and good account management skills for client engagement to make sure clients are happy.
5th:
Feed all those information back into your system – CRM Software. That means you have a feedback loop and know exactly which channel worked best, where to spend more money, where to spend less money and which channel gives you the greatest ROI. Measuring, comparing, adjusting.
It sounds simple but there are a lot of things where brands do go wrong. And, don’t forget, not every user is the same, and not every brand either 
I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on my Digital Marketing Ideas.
Volker
GTD & Productivity
Posted by Volker in cb consulting on June 15, 2010
Patience or Impatience….
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, personal on May 11, 2010
As some of you know, I can be quite impatient. Mainly, I want to get things done. I like to cross things off my to-do list and get on with the next task. I hate waiting and hate to let others wait. Hence, I am constantly stressing what might happen, or what might be. So naturally, I feel like the grass is always greener somewhere else, and always seeking best opportunities. I hate to stick around places just for the sake of being somewhere……
Anyway, this is not all bad news, and being impatient can have some advantages. However, it can have disadvantages too.
Do you know the feeling? You just need to get something done to cross it off the list, although it could be done tomorrow. Prioritising?! Or is it just organising? Or is it impatience. Depends on the circumstances I suppose.
I was never really good in sticking to a problem, trying to figure it out. It is mainly about “let’s try A, if that fails, try B”. I am hands on. I didn’t get a first class engineering degree by thinking too much about a problem but trying several possible solutions.
However, I have changed a bit, and I work less stressful nowadays. I live more in the now and with the help of mediation and relaxation techniques, I developed a good sense of patience. I still worry about the future, and I like to see what is on the other side, but I am actively practising how to perform better in the here and now without worrying too much about tomorrow or next year.
On Wiki-how I found an excellent article on “How to be patient“. A good start to look at things differently – what do you think?
Please note, the 10 rules have been shortened and you find a full review on the Wiki-how site.
1 Try to figure out why you are in such a hurry. We tend to lose our patience when we’re multi-tasking or when we’re on a tight schedule.
2 Pinpoint the triggers that often make you lose your patience.
3 Overcome bouts of impatience.
4 Look for patterns.
5 Let go if you can’t do anything about the impatience trigger.
6 Remind yourself that things take time. People who are impatient are people who insist on getting things done now and don’t like to waste time. However, some things just can’t be rushed.
7 Expect the unexpected. Yes, you have plans, but things don’t always work out as planned. Accept the twist and turns in life gracefully. Keep your expectations realistic.
8 Give yourself a break. The meaning of this is twofold. First, take a few minutes to do absolutely nothing. Just sit quietly and think. [...] Second, stop holding yourself and the world around you to unreachable standards.
9 Remember what matters. Not focusing on what matters most in this life fuels impatience.
10 Always remember that you will eventually get what you want
2010 – goals and objectives
At the beginning of this year, I was refocusing. And, as it happens, once a year, you sit down and reflect on what has happened and what you think might happen. New Year Resolutions!
2009 has certainly brought a lot of changes into my life. However, as I just said to my wife, we didn’t move and no one from our immediate family died. So it could have been much worse.
So for 2010, what are my expectations? My goals? My objectives?
I believe that health is on the forefront of all. Hence I am trying to stick to a more balanced diet, less overeating, not eating meat and cutting down on the lovely grape juice.
Certainty is another one, settling into a new job and doing the best I can to succeed in my new job and still being with the same company in a few years time. I am very excited about the prospects of starting something new and being able to direct and build a satellite office here in the UK. So growth is definitely on my agenda also.
And, of course, my family. Feeling loved and connected. Growing the family maybe, having a nice holiday and good times together. The icing on the cake would be to contribute to a charity more as I have done in 2009, e.g. instead of donating money, I would love to donate time and knowledge to a charity working with kids or the Guide Dogs Charity for example.
As you can see, all I want in 2010 is to satisfy my basic human needs. That is all. Additionally, it would be great to expand my personal development by practising more Buddhism and continue to write on all my blogs.
In a good NLP manner, I imagine sitting here in 12 months time, reflecting on 2010. Wouldn’t it be nice to say that I successfully launched a new company in the UK market, that my wife gave birth to a second child, that all of my family is healthy and that I managed to work on my personal development, also had time to give something back by supporting a charity. Maybe these are modest goals, but that is all I wish for.
To all of you, all the best for 2010. May all your dreams come true.
If there is a dream – there is reality!
Volker
Review of 2009
Dear Diary, Family and Friends,
Whilst I had many thoughts this year and published many ideas and deep thought pieces, it is always a pleasure to sit down just before Christmas and have a yearly review. Just a review of things that happened, things that should have happened and dreams I had, and of course dreams that came through.
Let’s start with work, not because it was the most important part in 2009, but to get it covered 
The year started with a big pitch and lots of work, many long nights and a great learning experience. However, it ended with my work not managing to secure the business. We had to make people redundant too, including one of my staff. It was a sad time at work. Privately, the times got more and more exciting, looking forward to my wife giving birth to our son in June.
I started writing weekly reviews as of March, just after the “big London snow” in February. The weekly columns helps me to keep track and sometimes I go and read them again. Our male cat Hansel for instance got his balls chopped off in February and we went to a Baby Show. Thinking about it, I still remember every minute of it, particularly the Baby Show We also changed our mortgage, thinking that interest rates had hit rock bottom. They hadn’t but we are still happy we have done it. A crystal ball could have helped with a lot of decisions this year. Santa, please put one under the tree this year
Also in March I went to a conference in Oslo and had a very busy schedule leading up to another big pitch. On the private side of things, leading up to mid April, we had another scan and went to concert of Kate Rusby. Two weeks later I found out that my work closed the London office and since I couldn’t relocate to York, I had to find a new job.
Between anticipation of the arrival of Colin Heinrich Ballueder on June 12th, I went for interviews and could secure a new job which I started as of July this year. I was glad to not have to wait around for too long to find a new position and was very excited about the opportunity. However, as you know, things didn’t work out at the end.
I had never thought how Colin would have changed my life. Not only did you see my 8 weeks review, there was another one later on. He is great and we cannot wait to have another one soon. But when would be a good time? It was a steep learning curve for me to have a boy, and my focus shifted only slowly from “this is my wife’s job” to “I want to get engaged with my son”. I don’t want you to misunderstand this, but I think for someone who is very focused on his job and work, it is not the easiest to adopt to a baby. But, particularly with my time off in December and the great support of my wife Jenny – and of course the cutest smiles and laughs as of month four – I absolutely enjoy fatherhood.
In October I decided to get myself a career coach which helped me a lot towards goal definitions and motivations for my job and private life. Thanks to him, personal contacts, a lot of networking and long ongoing discussions, I decided to start a new exciting job as of January 2010. I think that the next year, from a work perspective, will be the most challenging and most exciting yet. And, whilst being a little bit scared of it, I am very much looking forward to making things happen. I will be starting a new technology service company for display advertising in the UK. The company already exists in Germany and I know the founder for many years. I appreciate his trust and I trust in him and his team’s expertise to conquer and grow in the UK market. Updates will follow next year but I can tell you that I am very much looking forward to it.
So, before we knew it, Christmas is here. I cannot believe that the recession might be over, I changed jobs twice and that my wife gave me the greatest of all gifts: a healthy boy. And, that I was blessed with a lot of family time this year too. (PS: of course we will still feel the recession for years to come unfortunately, but things will get better!)
Below are two pictures we took in the recent snow. My parents have been over to visit recently, and we are looking forward to seeing my mother in law for Christmas and finishing the year with a reflective detox. With us maybe having the last ever Christmas turkey as we might go 100% vegetarian (or Pescetarianism) next year, this Christmas, and with it being Colin’s first Christmas, it will be a very special one.
Wherever you are, we hope you have a peaceful Christmas. This year, more than any year before, made me appreciate what I have, that I am healthy and how well we are doing.
We wish you love and kindness from our home in Kent, just outside London.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
With Love from Volker, Jenny & Colin
Inbound Marketing for SMEs
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, SEM, social media on November 27, 2009
I wrote a lot about inbound marketingg before. Mainly for start ups and SMEs in London.
Most of the stuff is applied from the gurus in the field: the guys from Hubspot!
As part of my consulting offer, I offer advice for SMEs on how to effectively use social media, search marketing and “inbound marketing” as a tool to succeed in their business ventures. A strategy I am using at work too. Whilst I won’t take this mainstream and will always look into being full time employed with my main job.
Here is the latest slideshare presentation on inbound marketing I put together:
Have a great weekend.
Volker
Local Social Summit London
Posted by Volker in SEM, social media on November 4, 2009
Hello,
Yesterday I spent all day at the Local Social Summit 2009 in London. What a fantastic event with good input and many new thoughts.
One of the mayor discussions around local social was how you can integrate local and social in real time. Real time because everyone is speaking about Twitter and its real time search at the moment. However, we concluded that most SMEs don’t necessarily tap into the potential of social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook. Mobile Marketing would have been a good solution for local businesses as I mentioned in my business idea posts a few weeks ago.
However, the problem I see is the attempt of integrating three factors into one for local search:
a) Local Search – this is important and there are a few very good portals that allow for local advertisers to be found and promote their services online. I believe a figure that was mentioned is around £5bn advertisement budget amongst all SMEs. Hence definitely a huge untapped potential. Google could encourage the use of Adwords but so far little local shops have tried to integrate paid search.
b) Social Media – the use of Twitter, Facebook, blogs or forums for local businesses is not as common, and most business owners do not think digital yet in order to promote their services. Hence it is a slow process to get your local butcher to tweet about the latest fresh sausages that are made or having a fan page on Facebook. But it will come. I see the use of Mobile Marketing much stronger, to advertise for instance the latest offers directly to the consumer whilst s/he is in town. How good would it be to get a short message or a tweet to your phone saying “offers at pub end of High Street, 2 for 1″?
c) Real Time – trying to integrate real time into local search is complicated and comes back to the factors of availability and whether it makes sense. Whilst it might be available due to Twitter and other social sites, I don’t really see a need in putting real time search on the high street. The only network I would like to tap into in real time are my friends who I am connected to via my Facebook or Tweets anyway. Or I can install a location based service on my phone that tells me where my friends currently are. But do I really need a real time search locally? I don’t think so.
So wrapping up, I think the focus for local companies should be around local search, being found in the directories, search engines and also to make noise on local business portals and in various digital channels, foremost mobile and then maybe a local Facebook site. But the key really is to engage with the locals when they are out and about. That is where local mobile search is coming in.
My two cents Let me know what you think!
Multilingual Search Marketing
Posted by Volker in SEM, social media on November 2, 2009
As most of you know I have a background in multilingual or international search marketing with speaking engagements at mayor conferences, e.g. SMX, SES and Internetworld. However, since changing jobs I noticed that multilingual search doesn’t seem to be much of a rocket science as most countries in the Western World are dominated by Google and its algorithm, and the Eastern World has a few search engines you need to watch out for, e.g. Yandex in Russia, Baidu in China, and Naver in Korea.
However, the key to make international search marketing successful is the use of native speakers for the tasks of SEO and PPC, such as keyword research, link building, campaign set up, landing page optimisation etc. Of course it is debatable whether doing that in-house or with satellite office is more successful, but that is a question of business models and objectives and should not be discussed.
Being bi-lingual one of my interests is how to deal with cultural differences and language differences. Teaching my son German whilst speaking to my wife in English is a challenge on its own. Even Eric Schmidt from Google said that in five years time the majority of the web will be “non English”, the web will be dominated by Chinese-language and social media content. That just shows the significance of international and multilingual search marketing.
One of the new developments are the International Domain Names. This does not refer to names in Western characters we are used to but the revelation is that you find domain names in Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, and dozens of other non-Latin languages.
The BBC had an opinion on the multilingual side of the web too, particularly with the Internet having its 40th anniversary. They say that the international domain structure has been worked on since the mid 90s.
What implications would that have for us in the UK or us in search? I believe this will not make a huge difference, however the run for the keyword rich domains in other languages and characters will start now. People will apply the knowledge to different languages, as they have in the past, with more freedom to integrate their language in the URL structure, domain names etc. I believe it is a huge step forward, giving the web an international presence as it should have.
Not only will the web be more complex in five years, taking in consideration the growth it is going through at the moment, but with the adoption to languages, and that includes the instant translation on Google Wave, or translation of websites, we will get closer to our human neighbours in the East, West, North and South. So the Internet becomes a connection tool, and with being a connection tool, one big social network…..
The world wide web is your oyster, or something like that.
Blackberry Bold Review
Posted by Volker in personal, time management on August 27, 2009
I now had my Blackberry Bold for just over 2 weeks. Thanks to Vodafone, things got sorted and I absolutely love the Blackberry Bold. I had a Blackberry Curve for the past 18 months and without WiFi and proper 3G connection (I was with T-Mobile), it just wasn’t the same.
What I like about the Blackberry Bold is not only the slick design but the new outline of programmes, e.g. the way the desktop is presented. It comes with Vodafone SatNav free for 18 months. We tried it out and the first time it sent us in circles but the 2nd time it worked very well. So overall, that is great and save us getting a TomTom.
My first Blackberry Bold that got delivered didn’t work properly over the weekend and crashed a couple of times. I had to reset it and re-install the software several times. I then exchanged it and the new one hasn’t had any problems yet. Fingers crossed.
One drawback is the 128 MB limitation for applications. Blackberry Application downloader makes it easy for you to pick and chose applications for your Bold, but after I installed
- Gmail
- Facebook
- Bloomberg Mobile
- SatNav
- Blackberry Maps
- Weather Eye
I am now running at the limit already. And those programmes are what I consider the basics of what you need additionally to the applications that came preinstalled: the document readers so you can work on Office files on the go. However, they are not compatible with the new OfficeXP version. But another step up from the curve.
So my first facit is that the Bold could improve the capabilities of being a bit quicker, but then again any phone could be Then a bit more memory for applications. I was even asked to delete some preinstalled language support items to create more space. It is a shame that I cannot install as many applications as my colleagues can on their I-Phone. Surely, this is something Research in Motion (RIM, the maker of the Blackberry) will improve over time.
They really are stepping up the game, and have to, to take on Apple. However, I am a Blackberry Enthusiast and from the looks of it, will stay it for at least another 24 months.
complex life
Posted by Volker in personal, social media on August 20, 2009
Now I hope you will enjoy this post. I want to talk about complex life. We have less time, more information and more things going on – all the time. This makes life very complex in my view.
For years I have been one of those people that needed a Blackberry, a mobile device, needed to extend their followers on Linkedin, Twitter, Xing, Facebook and make sure that all contact details I had from people were up to date. I was always on top of things. But then, life got even more complex.
I noticed 3 years ago that I cannot just add every person I met in my life into a database that already had over 1,000 people on it. Every time I synchronised my phone it took almost an hour, and some people never made it to my list of “friends”. Even 5 years ago when I bought my last laptop, I thought I needed to evaluate every single option of the laptop and every feature to make sure I always have the most up to date equipment. Someone I know just admitted to research weeks (!) what kind of new TV to buy.
Over the years, not only thanks to my wife, I have realised it is not always important to actually have the best and knowing everything. I suppose with Google being available all the time (thanks to my Blackberry that is), you can look things up all the time. Actually LinkedIn and Twitter make things easier in a ways as you have your friends contact details on there and if not, you can send them a DM in order to find out. Or you just update your Twitter or Blog and everyone knows what you are up to. It makes it easier not to phone or talk to people.
I suppose Facebook is the same. You upload your pictures, you update your status that you are at home watching after the baby, get a comment or two and your “social life” is done. And, up to a few months ago, I absolutely loved it. Easy, isn’t it. Blackberry, on the road, updating Facebook, Twitter, coming home, day and job done. You can even poke your wife whilst being on the train and she is at home. Or just throw a sheep at her!
Actually I realised when changing phone contracts how little I use my phone. I haven’t called up my friend in Aberdeen for a while, although we exchanged numerous emails and read each other’s blog. We haven’t been down to Winchester to visit our friends and always found good excuses not to meet up. However, I would really like to but have I not seen their holiday pictures already on Facebook, and their new flat and….
I think social media is great. I live for it, I work for it and I enjoy it. However, and that is where I am a bit struggeling at the moment (hope that is not too honest), how many of those Facebooks we need? How much more time do we need to spend online to update our status and talk to our neighbours? Why not pop over for a cup of tea and have a chat?
Really, because it is easier. But it is actually less social. Instead of trying to keep up to date with 500 followers on Twitter, I decided to reduce the amount of people I follow. I am sorry but I rather start keeping up with less people and do it properly than with more and not really at all. And, if you are part of the ones I un-followed, please accept my apologies and feel free to add me on Facebook instead.
Or, add me on LinkedIn. I think I need to reduce my involvement online just a bit and concentrate more on other projects. My Buddhism and Management project has been neglected, I have to spend more time with the family and want to read more books. 
I will use the commute, as I have done in the past, to wrap up work at night and answer emails that I didn’t manage to get to during the day – personal as well as work ones. And, in the morning, I will read a book on the train. But, when I am home at night and the weekends, do I really need to constantly update my Twitterfeed, talk about that I “cut my grass” on Twitter? I don’t believe so anymore. Of course that might change
And, of course, I am still a big advocate of Social Media, and there are more things to it than the above networks. Watch this space and let me know what you think about the complexity of life?
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