Bloggers Outreach. My new blog and site to help connect bloggers to bloggers, and bloggers to brands

I have recently launched a news blog/ site/ community called Bloggers Outreach which can be found at http://www.BloggersOutreach.com


Why have I created this?


I have been an active blogger since 2005, and over the last few years I have seen the influence and power of blogs grow and grow. The good ones are getting more important, and more influential, every day.


I believe that this will continue as key and important blogs on topics become seen as the independent, unbiased and opinionated sources of advice, information and guidance.

We are seeing "user generated content" sites (like TripAdvisor) in my view becoming less effective and reliable, as users vent or rave in short sentences - while on the other side companies and agencies are trying to manage what is said and how they are rated. This means these sites, unless they find a new model, will become less important and less effective.The good blogger who has passion, expertise, understanding and stays independent  of mind and views will become very important. They can be experts in key niches and topics.


I find increasingly that I turn to and refer to blogs when trying to find out about places, purchases or issues. I find they end up being more detailed and more accurate and more reliable. This, when done well, will be the future of advice and recommendation.The BloggersOutreach blog and site is an attempt to help create a place to share, support and promote blogs and blogging. I think that so much interaction with bloggers is done badly, as brands and companies try and find out the best way to contact and interact.

An emerging trend and practice is for bloggers to start to create communities and forums to share, discuss and learn. They are fascinating as they also start to filter out and bring blogs on topics that they as a group feel are strong and complimemtary. These forums become a great opportunity for PR and Brand owners to connect in more efficient and effective ways - and learn the best way to do it.



BloggersOutreach.com is exploring how bloggers can connect with other bloggers and blogging communities, and with brands and companies.

Visit the site and sign up for the ride...


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Digital Fundamentals: 10 things you need to know to develop a great digital stratgey and plan

Check out my SlideShare Presentation covering 10 key funamentals to driving a successful digital marketing stratgey in a business.

Digital Fundamentals: 10 things you need to know to develop a great digital stratgey and plan

View more presentations from Gary Bembridge.

For more podcasts and talks subscribe on iTunes (click here) and my blog http://www.garybembridge.com

INTERACTION. TRANSACTION. RESEARCH. ENTERTAINMENT. The 4 key things to think about when it coems to digital?

This is an article I wrote in August 2003 to help people think about the internet and digital. It is mazing how valid and accurate it still is today....

The Internet and its use as a marketing tool can strike fear and trepidation in the hearts of marketers – or simply be dismissed by them.

The industry itself did not – and has not – helped at all. Firstly it sent everyone down the wrong path by focusing on the use of the Internet in particular as a direct response tool, where clickthrough is king. And more recently, the debate is over how big your ads should be.

Let’s get back to basics: here’s a simple approach to consider as you think about if, how and when to use new digital media and channels like the internet to build your brand or company. This straightforward way of looking at new digital media and channels is based on consumer insight – which should always be the basis of marketing initiatives.

A consumer has four main uses of digital media. Let’s look at each in turn – their roles, applications and the opportunities they present:


1. Interaction

People mostly go online to interact – with email being the most popular tool. Instant messaging, community sites (e.g. iVillage for women) and chat facilities are not far behind – and are growing fast.

So?

The implication of this is that your consumers are online, ready to interact, chat and engage with you in as close to real time as possible. Are you set up and able to take advantage of this?

2. Transactions

This doesn’t just mean shopping – although online retail is the area that gets the publicity. The real powerhouses are things like online banking (faster and more convenient than queuing at your high street branch) and most importantly, peer-to-peer activities. These are where consumers transact in goods (eBay), information (dooyoo) or money (PayPal) with each other.

eBay, the online auction site is the master at this and is not only the most-visited site in the UK, but is also the most profitable online business.

So?

Consumers love peer-to-peer activities and online services that enable and facilitate these make money. Is there a role your company or brand can play in this arena?

Another hook is to enable consumers to manage their relationship online with you by giving them access to their information and data – think personal address books and diaries attached to email facilities.


3. Research and education

The starting point for many people on the Internet is search engines. Google, Yahoo and MSN search tools are among the most-visited group of sites. Sites that consumers associate with education, research and learning are second in popularity only to online transaction sites.

So?

You need to ensure your sites or products are listed well and high up in search engines by making use of search engine optimisation and listings.

Can your site build in more educational content or services?


4. Entertainment

When thinking about digital media for entertainment, many people tend to think of the much-publicised music swapping and downloading. But the powerhouses of e-entertainment remains the big three portals: AOL, Yahoo and MSN.

These are the three most-visited sites globally and provide the gateway to news, business information, entertainment news, features and downloads – and much more.

Specialised target market portals like Babycentre.co.uk (new and expectant mothers) or Gay.com perform extremely well with their niche audiences.

Big money though is being made in the areas of vice, gaming, gambling and ‘adult’ entertainment.

So?

Forget the idea of building a portal yourself. Too many have burned piles of money trying to compete with the big players. Instead focus on having a presence and relationship with those portals where your target customers are going already.

Focus on the four main areas of digital media and channels that the consumer operates in: interaction, transactions, research and entertainment. Look at each in turn and see what the implications and opportunities are for your brand, product or company.

The power of context, as shown by facebook

I know there has been a lot of press, and some false starts, with Facebook's attempts to deliver ads based on a user's interests and what they get up to on the site (or even partner sites).

There was some learning for me recently.

First of all: something I found intrusive

I had posted a review of a hotel on one of my most favourite travel sites, Tripadvisor.com. A small pop-up appeared on the bottom right of my screen saying that a note that I had posted a review on Tripadvisor was going to be posted onto my facebook mini-feed on my profile.

I was surprised and then a bit annoyed. I guess I must have somewhere at sometime told either of the sites I used the other. But this felt a bit like snooping. And I wasn't really sure of the benefit to me.

Secondly: something I thought was pretty cool.

I had received an email from a friend on facebook asking if I knew someone that tracked and managed user generated content to be submitted onto brand or company websites. I started writing him a note back suggesting he speak to Dan Hawtrey who used to work with me who now had his own internet/ intranet content management company called Content Formula. When I typed in the name a small ad and link for the company appeared and I was asked if I wanted to include that in my reply.

I thought it was a really cool, helpful feature. It saved me looking up Dan's contact details and site and gave the person I was sending the suggestion to relevant information. I also did not find it intrusive as it was not personal but triggered by me typing within their site a brand / company name.


This was a good example of getting contextual advertising right. Information relevant when topic and need was there.

Any thoughts? Leave a comment on the blog using the comments button at the bottom of the posting or email me at gary@bembridge.co.uk

Content is king on and offline

An article in "The Guardian" on 15 April called "survey shows darker picture for the TV channel" caught my eye. Although the story, for me, stated the obvious - it did make we wonder if others saw the world differently.

The article by Katie Allen starts: "Television remains people's favorite mass communication format but viewers are more loyal to a program than a channel, according to a survey of TV viewing around the world" (The survey was done by Accenture among 7000 people).

Isn't this obvious? Content is always the king. That is what I have always thought. In fact, during the dotcom boom and bust days this was a hot issue and topic. The point being that the survivors would be and were not the ones with clever technology and functions - but the ones with great content (where content may be enabled and realized due to technology like the Amazon "you may also like" content feature). Boo.com, which blew some crazy amount of money ($100 million) being one of the most dramatic examples.

But I have always believed in any interface with consumers that content is the king. Even a presentation that is dry but has relevant and great content will beat the no content showy one.

I guess though that the rapid expansion of the multi-channel mass media has possibly made this more obvious. Any user of Sky Plus/ Tivo knows it is all about capturing the content you want to consume. Not about the channel.

The massive success of the BBC iPlayer that allows people to catch up online with shows they missed in the last week also shows how it is all about content. The study suggests that in the US 46 percent of 18-24 watched a show on something other than a traditional TV.

Content has to be king, and getting the best content has to be the goal. Be it if you are a TV station owner or a brand marketer talking in advertising, PR, booklets and on your website. It is not about how technological advanced your site is, but what the content is.

For more visit my blog Gary Bembridge's Unleashed on Marketing

The user revolution

I accepted very kindly the invitation to write on this blog and I’d like to suggest some topics come out from the massive analysis “The user revolution” recently posted from Piper Jaffray, one of the most famous american business banks. I’m sure that most of topics treated in this research will be very popular during the next IAB European Congress; meanwhile here are the 12 resuming points confirming without any doubt the changes on the way:

1. Global online advertising revenue to reach $81.1 billion by 2011.
2. Communitainment: Internet has increasingly become a principal medium for community, communication and entertainment -- three areas that have collided and are impacting each other's growth -- generating a new type of activity: communitainment. Communitainment is taking time away from other, traditional, types of content consumption on the Internet.
3. Usites - The increasing popular category of user generated sites, which we are calling Usites, are driving traffic away from other destinations and pose a challenge to the advertisers and publishers.
4. The Internet is now a mainstream medium: The web is the leading medium at work and the second leading medium at home behind television.
5. Internet usage patterns are changing, favoring Usites,communitainment sites, search, and away from traditional portals.
6. User Generated Brands. The consumers are taking control of content consumption and branding.
7. Media Fragmentation: Advertisers increasingly will need to buy more inventory, from nearly all types of media, especially the Internet, to have the desired impact.
8. The Golden Search: search has become the new portal.
9. Google's dominance is likely to expand, partly fueled by a wide variety of non-search related products that create a virtuous cycle of brand affinity for Google.
10. Video ads will be the driver of the next major growth in brand advertising and getting additional dollars shifted from traditional media to online.
11. Ad networks are experiencing increased demand due to increasing Internet fragmentation, desire for more targeted inventory, increasing usage of networks for branding and increased site visibility.
12. Agencies are rapidly evolving into more sophisticated, technology-savvy entities that combine best of breed offerings.

It has been several years since Piper Jaffray is involved in studying the online communication business. Their “Golden Search” (2003) has considered the turning point in search marketing analysis and quite all their forecasts have been confirmed.