Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

I’ve been awake in a strange bed since 4:30 a.m., obsessing over story telling.

I’m in Eugene, Oregon, attending the Oregon Wine Industry Symposium, and speaking on a panel on “How to Make Your Web Site Work Harder For You” in a couple of hours. At our panel’s practice session and the annual wine industry dinner last night, I was impressed by simplicity and effectiveness of the storytelling going on… every award had a story, every acceptance speech had a story, and every vineyard, vintner and enthusiast had a story.

It seems the wine industry itself is a compilation of stories, and the people in it are natural story tellers, which is a great attribute for making the web work harder for you…

So the theme that’s going to be called out this morning, as I speak to my section of the panel - Engagement - is the art of online story telling.

It’s simple: people are captured and compelled to action by great stories.

As prospects and shoppers go online, they might be researching people, products, healthcare decisions or (like millions of us) posting our random thoughts, photos, videos, for friends, family and perfect strangers to see.

(”You’re either on the screen, or watching the screen, baby!” my friend Paul shouts in my ear…)

Simple, engaging stories serve to: 1) attract our attention; and b) provide the power of persuasion, once we’ve offered it. And so, in an effort to capture my thoughts about storytelling before I share them with attendees, I find myself here… in the quiet of my hotel room, at my desk, looking at a laptop, telling a story.

Our room is going to be the smaller of the two large rooms at the Hilton Hotel, which was built sometime in the 70’s and hasn’t been updated since. Three things that could have an effect on our attendance:

1. We’re the first session of the dreaded “Morning After…” You know the drill, the big dinner (with lots of wine) was last night, and everyone had a good time. The last thing they want to do is get up and go anywhere but The Big River Grille, and order up an “exceptional northwest cuisine-themed” breakfast.
2. We’re up against a session called “Impact of Grape Maturity on Wine Flavor” and I’m hoping people will say, “Yep, it does!” and come listen to our session instead of the learned folks from Oregon State and UC Davis. And another session called “This Just In: Extension Research Updates,” with speakers from Oregon State, Cal Poly and USDA Prosser, where ‘Short Shoot Syndrome’ and ‘cover crops’ will likely attract a healthy audience.
3. We’re in the “not geeky” track for oeneophiles. What a hoot.

I expect (fingers crossed) 100 or so people to brave their way in to listen to us. We’re focusing on simple, effective, FREE tools you can use to improve your web presence for attendees.

Our Panel’s Story:

Digital Footprints Don’t Lie - Debora Geary from Fireweed Analytics, will show us that using Google Analytics, which is a free analytics tool (and Google is the only one you’ll ever need, no matter what your ISP says, according to Debora), anyone can see the ‘digital footprints’ their customers will leave as they walk around a web site. What captures their attention, and what you can tell about their paths and meanderings are quite telling.

She studied the Sokol Blosser site in preparation for the panel, and found one of the top pages people visited on the site has been the “meet us” page - a simple compilation of photos of the people behind the wines. (JLJ: People love to buy stuff from people they like. Especially foods and wines.)

Capture Prospects with Content - Katherine Gray, content strategist, will speak to the importance of content on a site that will both support your brand and deliver the message you think most important. She’ll speak to authenticity of voice, and how to use words (first and foremost) and design to effectively tell your brand’s story. But it doesn’t stop there.

She’ll point out the critical links to a site’s shopping cart (JLJ: when they have them… most wineries take their orders by fax, and the abandonment rate off of “buy now - send us a fax!” pages are huge.) that could be vastly improved by simply adding a bit of contextual content here and there.

Think Like a Spider - Ben Lloyd of Amplify Interactive will tell attendees to go online, turn off the graphics in their browser, and look at how search engine spiders “see” their sites. (JLJ: go to your browser’s Preferences… Content… Uncheck the “Load Images Automatically” button. You’ll be amazed at what you see or don’t see…) Then sprinkle relevant keywords (pinot noir, pinot gris, pinot blanc…) in your title tags (most importantly!) body copy and headlines to give the spiders a notion of what your site is about. That will give you the opportunity to come up in search results when people are looking for a lovely pinot to take to the party Friday night.

Get Into the Magic F - I will wrap the panel by talking about how easy it is to use blogging, sharing, tagging and social networks to engage readers, tell great stories about your wines (and the people behind them), and improve your chances of showing up at the top of a Google search results page (”the Magic F”). And how to easily manage and monitor your online reputation using free RSS readers (like those from my client Attensa), so you’ll know exactly who’s talking about you, when they do, delivered right to your inbox if you like.

Dennis Hahn, ID Branding CEO and our panel moderator did a wonderful job of pulling all of our presentations together into a story… and he’ll lead our lucky attendees through the session in a memorable, compelling manner.

I’m off for coffee - fuel for the stories I’m about to share.

Today I’m heading to Eugene, Oregon to participate in a panel on “Making Your Web Site Work Harder for You” for the Oregon Wine Industry’s annual symposium. I’m thrilled to be in the company of some very smart marketing minds, speaking in front of some very passionate people in an industry who’s products I love.

My panel mates are:

• Dennis Hahn, ID Branding - moderator
• Katherine Gray, Tweak Interactive
• Ben Lloyd, Amplify Interactive
• Debora Geary, Fireweed Analytics

Life is good.

My friend Claudia sent me an excerpt from Seth Godin’s latest marketing tome, Meatball Sundae.

She wanted my thoughts - I thought it’d make a good blog post. So here you go, CJ:

Seth: “Corporations, political parties, nonprofits, job-seekers, and yes, even people looking for love are all scrambling around, trying to exploit the power of these new tools. People treat the New Marketing like a kid with a twenty-dollar bill at an ice cream parlor. They keep wanting to add more stuff-more candy bits and sprinkles and cream and cherries. The dream is simple: “If we can just add enough of [today's hot topping], everything will take care of itself.”"

JLJ: I couldn’t agree more - just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I can’t tell you how much money (and time) I’ve seen organizations waste on trying to make a “viral marketing program.” Viral happens. There are some known qualities of a viral campaign, and most organizations are too conservative (often rightfully so) to construct a campaign that would let viral happen. Once the PR folks and the legal teams are involved in the inevitable opinion pile-on [their versions of today's hot topping], you might as well kiss the hope of pass-along goodbye.

Seth: “Most of the time, despite all the hype, organizations fail when they try to use this scattershot approach. They fail to get buzz or traffic or noise or sales. Organizations don’t fail because the Web and the New Marketing don’t work. They fail because the Web and the New Marketing work only when applied to the right organization. New Media makes a promise to the consumer. If the organization is unable to keep that promise, then it fails.”

JLJ: Again, most organizations have no idea what it takes to keep the promise - much less keep up with the pace of “New Marketing.” How many “corporate blogs” hanging off the corporate web site [www.bigbusiness.com/blog] haven’t been updated in three weeks or three months? It takes [more than meat]balls to keep blogging when no one comments on your posts. It takes intestinal fortitude to sit at a blank screen and write your thoughts. It takes commitment, time, energy and a focus on the brand to do it right.

Seth: “New Marketing-whipped cream and a cherry on top-isn’t magical. What’s magical is what happens when an organization uses the New Marketing to become something it didn’t used to be-it’s not just the marketing that’s transformed, but the entire organization. Just as technology propelled certain organizations through the Industrial Revolution, this new kind of marketing is driving the right organizations through the digital revolution.”

JLJ: I’ve been transformed through the process of “New Marketing.” Completely. Although I reach back into the fundamental roots of direct marketing, positioning, branding and certainly integrated marketing concepts that I’ve learned over the years, I think about communicating them in a very different way.

In fact, the very idea of sharing my thoughts on this book in email with only one person seems an abhorrence to me.

I was reading Maureen Dowd’s column on the NY Times site this morning - struck by three things:

1. We used to say “I read in the NY Times,” and such a simple preposition is now altered significantly as I write and live it today…
2. I ran across the word chiaroscuro - which I’d never seen before. Prepared to look it up, I highlighted the word, and in clicking on it to copy it to a dictionary site, up popped the definition, powered by Answers.com. Simply brilliant.
3. My first thought was to email it to my love, who adores words… my second thought was to blog it.

It’s fascinating to (literally) hear the buzz on the radio and television news about the role social media is playing in politics these days. On Super Tuesday it’s as if the people in charge are finally waking up to fact that the highways on the internet have gotten more plentiful. Surprise!

Cases in point:

• NY Times’ most emailed story on Feb. 4: Is Obama a Mac and Clinton a PC? where the battle rages over web site design and appeal to socioeconomic groups and younger voters.
• NPR’s podcast on Feb 4: Presidential Candidates Get Profile Boost Online where we’re amazed at the power of people to create ringtones and tweets for their favorite candidates - spreading the gospel cheaply and extensively themselves.
  
• The Annenburg School of Journalism’s prophetic panel coverage from October, 2007: Viral Politics 2008 where we wonder whether the candidates will let go of top-down control in favor of bottoms up buzz?

(JJ’s hint: Democrats will, Republicans not so much.)

Now that at least half the aisle is paying attention, I see some obvious benefits to further awareness of social media marketing in business.

Why?

Partly it’s the buzz of an election that’s engaging people at a much earlier stage than usual. It seems everyone is working for a change these days, and getting active in the early decision-making process. What a thrill to have the possibilities of three “Firsts” being elected president - African-American, Mormon and Woman. If those aren’t motivating to both supporters and fearful detractors, I don’t know what would be.

Partly it’s the buzz about social media that’s being mirrored in other business-based communications. Finally, I’m hearing and reading real use cases of RSS being leveraged in enterprise organizations to boost collaboration and team productivity, in email and posts over on Attensa and elsewhere online. And I actually read a case here of how Twitter might be used by a pharmaceutical company. Forrester and Basex have actually declared 2008 to be the year that Web 2.0 hits the enterprise and the year of information overload respectively (not that they’re related in any way!)…

(Attensa is a client of mine - here’s a shot of how they contextually map conversations to relevant folders for me… cutting down on my information overload - and helping my attention flow more naturally on my own terms.)

Partly it’s the economy, stupid. With so many free (blogging software; 1-5 user server licenses, readers, widgets, etc.) tools available and at the hands of so many users, who wouldn’t want to do what they can to leverage them? (Did anyone else notice the calls to go to MySpace and watch the commercials during the Super Bowl? Nice extensions of those very expensive media buys, guys!)

And partly it’s the writer’s strike, and people are turning in droves to the web over the boob tube. You can find drivel in both places, but with completely relevant (even persistent) search available, you’re bound to find something fairly intelligent to feed your mind online.

Which is why I personally have hope for the future - in politics, and in business.