Social Media Marketing- Where’s the Control Gone?

In the darkness of Earth Hour, I started to ponder the nature of Social Media Marketing and the role Brands and Digital Marketing Agencies play in controlling their messages. But I found myself coming back to the same issue; Brand and Marketing Agencies no longer control the message. They need to understand and acknowledge that in this brave new world it is near impossible to control the message. Social media marketing will (and is) having the Brands and Ad Agencies sit up and revisit their 101 subjects on models of centralization vs decentralization media control.

centalizedSocial media is shifting the power to define and control a brand from the Brand itself and Ad Agency to the individual or community. As each day goes by, the ownership of all brands are gradually becoming the domain of the user. Essentially, social media is providing freedoms and decentralized control for people to read, validate, comment, influence, engage and participate in and within online community’s. So from the perspective of a Brand or Ad Agency’s continuing to work with their traditional marketing approach within a dynamic online community, they find it chaotic and unmistakably inefficient as a channel for ‘pushing’ PR strategies and traditional ‘packaged’ messages.

There has been a number of very visible failures where the community being engaged by a Brand or Ad Agency has actually revolted and created an unexpected backlash. Not a good result when trying to ‘promote’ a more positive response but I think this comes from the execution of the campaign … using the ‘old way’ of centralized control where Brands and Ad Agencies have been able to control the message (via a well thought out PR and comm strategy) and in most part predict the outcomes.

But for the Brands and Agencies working with social marketing, they must understand the medium in which they want to work. This channel contains dynamic communities with members with the freedom’s to question and influence others with their posts and comments. A double edge sword for marketers. So does that mean we can’t use use social media as marketers? Of course not… it simply means that we must adapt and be aware of the dynamics of the community we wish to engage.

This is a new world for marketers and one that is still evolving. Currently, I believe many Brands and their Ad Agency’s struggle to understand this domain …. Maybe I should now consider the impact of ‘culture’ and ‘freedom’…. This has contributed to the Chinese Internet user having the highest average time for online engagement and game playing…. OK, will hold this idea over for another post….

Online Viral Marketing

is regarded as one of the most effective marketing tools that can substantially promote your products in the online scenario. Unique viral marketing procedures can bring more customers to your website, and effect considerable enhancement of sales and incoming revenue.

• Convenient and Affordable Promotion Technique

Online viral advertising is considered a quick and practical way of marketing your products and services to the targeted audience. In order to be successful in using online viral promotion procedures, it is essential to develop viral messages that are capable of multiplying on their own. Besides, the marketing messages must be appealing, so as to highlight your brand name.

The major advantage of using this technique is that it helps to increase your website rankings in search engines and thereby increase its popularity. It also helps in improving online traffic, sales leads and revenue. When compared to other marketing strategies, online viral marketing is an inexpensive promotion technique, as the major part of the promotion is executed by your customers.

To promote your messages, existing social networks as well as other available services are ideal. To encourage the customers to spread your marketing message, your business website must be properly organized. For creating a lasting impression on your customers about your products and services, viral techniques such as images, file sharing options, online games, video clippings, email messages, online contests and more can be used.

• Services Offered by Viral Marketing Companies

A number of professional companies offer online viral marketing services. These companies utilize the services of experts who offer you outstanding services based on your requirements and budget. Online promotion services offered by these companies include:

' Article ' blog promotion
' Online marketing campaigns
' Forum marketing
' Email promotion
' Blog promotion
' Online tracking
' Creation of newsletters

• Online viral marketing is by all means a powerful tool that helps to reach out to the targeted audience in a simple and economic manner.

The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing

1. 

I admit it. The term "viral marketing" is offensive. Call yourself a Viral Marketer and people will take two steps back. I would. "Do they have a vaccine for that yet?" you wonder. A sinister thing, the simple virus is fraught with doom, not quite dead yet not fully alive, it exists in that nether genre somewhere between disaster movies and horror flicks.

But you have to admire the virus. He has a way of living in secrecy until he is so numerous that he wins by sheer weight of numbers. He piggybacks on other hosts and uses their resources to increase his tribe. And in the right environment, he grows exponentially. A virus don't even have to mate -- he just replicates, again and again with geometrically increasing power, doubling with each iteration:

1
11
1111
11111111
1111111111111111
11111111111111111111111111111111
1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

In a few short generations, a virus population can explode.

Viral Marketing Defined

What does a virus have to do with marketing? Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands, to millions.

Off the Internet, viral marketing has been referred to as "word-of-mouth," "creating a buzz," "leveraging the media," "network marketing." But on the Internet, for better or worse, it's called "viral marketing." While others smarter than I have attempted to rename it, to somehow domesticate and tame it, I won't try. The term "viral marketing" has stuck.

The Classic Hotmail.com Example

The classic example of viral marketing is Hotmail.com, one of the first free Web-based e-mail services. The strategy is simple:

1. Give away free e-mail addresses and services,
2. Attach a simple tag at the bottom of every free message sent out: "Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com" and,
3. Then stand back while people e-mail to their own network of friends and associates,
4. Who see the message,
5. Sign up for their own free e-mail service, and then
6. Propel the message still wider to their own ever-increasing circles of friends and associates.

Like tiny waves spreading ever farther from a single pebble dropped into a pond, a carefully designed viral marketing strategy ripples outward extremely rapidly.

Elements of a Viral Marketing Strategy

Accept this fact. Some viral marketing strategies work better than others, and few work as well as the simple Hotmail.com strategy. But below are the six basic elements you hope to include in your strategy. A viral marketing strategy need not contain ALL these elements, but the more elements it embraces, the more powerful the results are likely to be. An effective viral marketing strategy:

1. Gives away products or services
2. Provides for effortless transfer to others
3. Scales easily from small to very large
4. Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5. Utilizes existing communication networks
6. Takes advantage of others' resources

Let's examine at each of these elements briefly.

1. Gives away valuable products or services

"Free" is the most powerful word in a marketer's vocabulary. Most viral marketing programs give away valuable products or services to attract attention. Free e-mail services, free information, free "cool" buttons, free software programs that perform powerful functions but not as much as you get in the "pro" version. Wilson's Second Law of Web Marketing is "The Law of Giving and Selling" (http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmta/basic-principles.htm). "Cheap" or "inexpensive" may generate a wave of interest, but "free" will usually do it much faster. Viral marketers practice delayed gratification. They may not profit today, or tomorrow, but if they can generate a groundswell of interest from something free, they know they will profit "soon and for the rest of their lives" (with apologies to "Casablanca"). Patience, my friends. Free attracts eyeballs. Eyeballs then see other desirable things that you are selling, and, presto! you earn money. Eyeballs bring valuable e-mail addresses, advertising revenue, and e-commerce sales opportunities. Give away something, sell something.

2. Provides for effortless transfer to others

Public health nurses offer sage advice at flu season: stay away from people who cough, wash your hands often, and don't touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. Viruses only spread when they're easy to transmit. The medium that carries your marketing message must be easy to transfer and replicate: e-mail, website, graphic, software download. Viral marketing works famously on the Internet because instant communication has become so easy and inexpensive. Digital format make copying simple. From a marketing standpoint, you must simplify your marketing message so it can be transmitted easily and without degradation. Short is better. The classic is: "Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com." The message is compelling, compressed, and copied at the bottom of every free e-mail message.

3. Scales easily from small to very large

To spread like wildfire the transmission method must be rapidly scalable from small to very large. The weakness of the Hotmail model is that a free e-mail service requires its own mailservers to transmit the message. If the strategy is wildly successful, mailservers must be added very quickly or the rapid growth will bog down and die. If the virus multiplies only to kill the host before spreading, nothing is accomplished. So long as you have planned ahead of time how you can add mailservers rapidly you're okay. You must build in scalability to your viral model.

4. Exploits common motivations and behaviors

Clever viral marketing plans take advantage of common human motivations. What proliferated "Netscape Now" buttons in the early days of the Web? The desire to be cool. Greed drives people. So does the hunger to be popular, loved, and understood. The resulting urge to communicate produces millions of websites and billions of e-mail messages. Design a marketing strategy that builds on common motivations and behaviors for its transmission, and you have a winner.

5. Utilizes existing communication networks

Most people are social. Nerdy, basement-dwelling computer science grad students are the exception. Social scientists tell us that each person has a network of 8 to 12 people in their close network of friends, family, and associates. A person's broader network may consist of scores, hundreds, or thousands of people, depending upon her position in society. A waitress, for example, may communicate regularly with hundreds of customers in a given week. Network marketers have long understood the power of these human networks, both the strong, close networks as well as the weaker networked relationships. People on the Internet develop networks of relationships, too. They collect e-mail addresses and favorite website URLs. Affiliate programs exploit such networks, as do permission e-mail lists. Learn to place your message into existing communications between people, and you rapidly multiply its dispersion.

6. Takes advantage of others' resources

The most creative viral marketing plans use others' resources to get the word out. Affiliate programs, for example, place text or graphic links on others' websites. Authors who give away free articles, seek to position their articles on others' webpages. A news release can be picked up by hundreds of periodicals and form the basis of articles seen by hundreds of thousands of readers. Now someone else's newsprint or webpage is relaying your marketing message. Someone else's resources are depleted rather than your own.

Put into practice

"I want to speak to the King of Viral Marketing!"

"Well, I'm not the King," I demurred. "I wrote an article about viral marketing a few months ago, but that's all."

"I've searched all over the Internet about viral marketing," he said, "and your name keeps showing up. You must be the King!."

It worked! Even five years later this webpage is ranked #1 for "viral marketing."

My Technology Predictions for 2009

1. 1. Content is king, contacts are queen.
2. 2. Media will all be focusing more on monetization of (sometimes: hidden) digital assets.
3. 3. Subscription models for premium features and services will blossom.
4. 4. Filesharing will, in all kinds of disguises, remain a main driver of social media’s success.
5. 5. The most successful communities and social media that don’t have a sustainable revenue model can be acquired relatively cheaply.
6. 6. Big American communities will focus on monetizing non U.S. traffic.
7. 7. Identity portability (as in single sign-on) and profile portability will be war grounds.
8. 8. More traditional media will all have to implement strategies on how to aggregate content from social softwares and social media.
9. 9. Therefore traditional media have to build partnership strategies for the technologies and services they can’t or dare not develop themselves.
10. 10. Aggregation services require (better) filtering technologies.
11. 11. Almost all media can increase traffic and stickiness by integrating (better) communication tools.
12. 12. Content, features and services will become more and more location aware.
13. 13. More things we do over IP must fit “all screens”.
14. 14. Media that help advertisers to target better, and to optimise results, will thrive.
15. 15. RSS will play a more important role in all kinds of content distribution and aggregation.
16. 16. RSS will e.g. be seamlessly integrated in all kinds of aggregation models for social media and in (multimedia) advertising models.
17. 17. Personal (live) video (mainly through mobile2web) will gain popularity.
18. 18. Social networking goes mobile.
19. 19. M-commerce will soar.
20. 20. App stores will soar.
21. 21. Display advertising will further decrease, except for ads targeted smartly to the affluent.
22. 22. Brands will focus more on non-traditional exposure, as in sponsoring, content creation and community building, tool facilitation.
23. 23. Advertisers will force media to accept CPA and CPT models above CPM and CPC.
24. 24. Business intelligence and analytics will get much more attention.
25. 25. Social impact and commitment will become research parameters.
26. 26. Technologies that help to optimise online marketing will thrive.
27. 27. Me-commerce, social shopping and collaborative buying will grow considerably.
28. 28. Online video advertising will gain considerable market share.
29. 29. Concerns about online privacy will frustrate full deployment of smart targeting technologies.
30. 30. Consumers will demand greener IT from their online information and service providers.

A Case Study on Strategy :Yandex Resist Google's World Domination

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Outline of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions

। It's a fascinating look into the surprisingly predictable psychology that powers human actions and reactions, and I think there are some definitive lessons we can take away from the piece and apply to web marketing. Let's run through the list:

I: The Truth About Relativity

When Williams-Sonoma introduced bread machines, sales were slow. When they added a "deluxe" version that was 50% more expensive, they started flying off the shelves; the first bread machine now appeared to be a bargain

When contemplating the purchase of a $25 pen, the majority of subjects would drive to another store 15 minutes away to save $7. When contemplating the purchase of a $455 suit, the majority of subjects would not drive to another store 15 minutes away to save $7. The amount saved and time involved are the same, but people make very different choices. Watch out for relative thinking; it comes naturally to all of us.

Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:

• Offer a premium version of your product/service and make it easy to compare
• Charging more has the added benefit of reducing the "bargain shopper" mentality

II: The Fallacy of Supply & Demand

Savador Assael, the Pearl King, single-handedly created the market for black pearls, which were unknown in the industry before 1973. His first attempt to market the pearls was an utter failure; he didn't sell a single pearl. So he went to his friend, Harry Winston, and had Winston put them in the window of his 5th Avenue store with an outrageous price tag attached. Then he ran full page ads in glossy magazines with black pearls next to diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. Soon, black pearls were considered precious.

Simonsohn and Loewenstein found that people who move to a new city remain anchored to the prices they paid in their previous city. People who move from Lubbock to Pittsburgh squeeze their families into smaller houses to pay the same amount. People who move from LA to Pittsburgh don't save money, they just move into mansions.

Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:

• Want to be a premium product and charge a premium price? Set yourself against "premium" competitors in premium markets. Positioning is critical to the perception of value.
• Anchoring happens - plan for it in your sales models and be prepared that old customers will be resistant to new pricing, even when the circumstances are very different.

III: The Cost of Zero Cost

In the real world, this effect was demonstrated by Amazon's free shipping. After Super Saver shipping was introduced, Amazon saw sales increases everywhere except for France. It turned out that the French division offered 1 franc ($0.20) pricing instead of free pricing. When this was changed to free, France saw the same sales increases as elsewhere. Another real-world example: People will wait in line for absurdly long times to get something for free. Free is one of the most powerful ways to trigger behavior.

Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:

• Offer free stuff, but make sure you get ROI from it (traffic/ad views/email addresses/etc)
• Be prepared for the fact that people will ENJOY free stuff more than normal, simply because it is free. Use this to your advantage and give away to those whose love & affection you need (reporters, bloggers, pundits, haters, etc.)
• Making people work to get something for free is a great way to trigger behaviors that might otherwise cost a fortune (think web surveys, information classification, data entry, etc.)

IV: The Cost of Social Norms

Vohs, Mead, and Goode: Participants were asked to unscramble sentences that were either neutral ("It's cold outside") or related to money ("High-paying salary"). Then they were asked to solve a puzzle. The experimenter left the room, and the subjects were allowed to go to him for help.

• "Salary" participants waited 5.5 minutes to ask for help; "neutral" participants waited only 3 minutes
  • Thinking about money made people more self-reliant and less willing to ask for help.
  • On the other hand, they were less willing to help others.
• The conclusion is that thinking about money puts one in a market frame of mind. Subjects were:
  • More selfish and self-reliant
  • Wanted to spend more time alone
  • Were more likely to select individual tasks rather than those that required teamwork
  • Chose to sit farther away from others

A real-life example: The AARP asked lawyers to participate in a program where they would offer their services to needy employees for a discounted price of $30/hour. No dice. When the program manager instead asked if they'd offer their services for free, the lawyers overwhelmingly said they would participate.

Conclusion: Market norms drive out social norms.

Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:

• Those who freely contribute to your site/business with recommendations, referrals, content (think blog comments or UGC articles), etc. might not be willing to do so if paid. Think twice before paying for what you might be able to get for free.
• The mindset of volunteers vs. employees is very different - consider which behavior set you want before deciding on the type of labor to attract.

V: The Influence of Arousal

Ariely and Loewenstein conducted an experiment on Berkeley undergrads (Ariely tried to do this at MIT, but couldn't get the necessary permissions). They asked them a series of questions. Then they had the undergraduates stimulate themselves to a state of sexual arousal, and asked them to answer the same set of questions. The results show that people simply don't realize how different their decision-making is during a state of arousal.

Implications - Someone may promise to just say no, but that promise is less likely to hold up during a state of arousal.

Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing

• There's a reason why AdultFriendFinder made an IPO last week, despite terrible economic conditions
• Arouse your audience and their behavior changes drastically (note: this is probably not universally applicable)

VI: The Problem of Procrastination and Self Control

Ariely conducted an experiment on his class. Students were required to write three papers. Ariely asked the first group to commit to dates by which they would turn in each paper. Late papers would be penalized 1% per day. There was no penalty for turning papers in early. The logical response is to commit to turning all three papers in on the last day of class. The second group was given no deadlines; all three papers were due in the last day of class. The third group was directed to turn their papers in on the 4th, 8th, and 12th weeks.

The results? Group 3 (imposed deadlines) got the best grades. Group 2 (no deadlines) got the worst grades, and Group 1 (self-selected deadlines) finished in the middle. Allowing students to pre-commit to deadlines improved performance. Students who spaced out their commitments did well; students who did the logical thing and gave no commitments did badly.

"These results suggest that although almost everyone has problems with procrastination, those who recognize and admit their weakness are in a better position to utilize available tools for precommitment and by doing so, help themselves overcome it."

Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:

• Procrastination is an extremely common human behavior - plan for it in your business and take advantage of it where it can help (trial offers that turn into paid services, for example).
• By setting up early controls and making people recognize this weakness, we can reduce its negative impact. You can apply this to contractors, employees, vendors, etc.

VII: The High Price of Ownership

The "endowment effect" means that when we own something, we begin to value it more than other people do.

Ariely and Carmon conducted an experiment on Duke students, who sleep out for weeks to get basketball tickets; even those who sleep out are still subjected to a lottery at the end. Some students get tickets, some don't. The students who didn't get tickets told Ariely that they'd be willing to pay up to $170 for tickets. The students who did get the tickets told Ariely that they wouldn't accept less than $2,400 for their tickets.

There are three fundamental quirks of human nature. We fall in love with what we already have. We focus on what we might lose, rather than what we might gain. We assume that other people will see the transaction from the same perspective as we do.

Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:

• In contrast to the recommendations for offering something for free, be aware that users who get your product/service for "free" will place less value on it than those who've worked for it or bought it themselves.
• It's easier to get more money from your existing customers than it is to attract new ones (this marketing wisdom has been around forever, but applies particularly well given this psychology).

VIII: Keeping Doors Open

In 210 BC, Xiang Yu led an army against the Ch'in Dynasty. While his troops slept, he burned his ships and smashed all the cooking pots. He explained to his troops that they had to either fight their way to victory or die. His troops won 9 consecutive battles. Eliminating options improved the focus of his troops.

We feel compelled to preserve options, even at great expense, even when it doesn't make sense.

Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:

• Narrow your customers' choices and they'll be more likely to commit.
• Narrow navigation options to the most important/desired behaviors - it may seem counter-intuitive, but if you want users to click, reducing pathways may actually increase interaction (page views, sales, etc).

IX: The Effect of Expectations

Ariely, Lee, and Frederick conducted yet another experiment on MIT students. They let students taste two different beers, and then choose to get a free pint of one of the brews. Brew A was Budweiser. Brew B was Budweiser, plus 2 drops of balsamic vinegar per ounce.

When students were not told about the nature of the beers, they overwhelmingly chose the balsamic beer. When students were told about the true nature of the beers, they overwhelmingly chose the Budweiser. If you tell people up front that something might be distasteful, the odds are good they'll end up agreeing with you--because of their expectations.

Not only do we react differently based on stereotypes of others, we react differently based on stereotypes about ourselves. Shin, Pittinsky, and Ambady conducted an experiment on Asian-American women. A first group was asked questions related to their gender, then given a math test. A second group was asked questions related to their race, then given a math test.

The second group did better on the math test than the first. "Blind" presentation of the facts (presenting the facts, but not revealing which party took which actions) might help people better recognize the truth.

Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:

• Take advantage of expectations - if you're selling a product or service and can enhance the perception of value/enjoyment, your market is likely to follow along and actually get more value/enjoyment.
• Branding is a powerfully ally in value creation - position your brand so that users expect great things, and they'll get them.

X: The Power of Price

Ariely, Waber, Shiv, and Carmon made up a fake painkiller, Veladone-Rx. An attractive woman in a business suit (with a faint Russian accent) told subjects that 92% of patients receiving VR reported significant pain relief in 10 minutes, with relief lasting up to 8 hours.

When told that the drug cost $2.50 per dose, nearly all of the subjects reported pain relief. When told that the drug cost $0.10 per dose, only half of the subjects reported pain relief. The more pain a person experienced, the more pronounced the effect. A similar study at U Iowa showed that students who paid list price for cold medications reported better medical outcomes than those who bought discount (but clinically identical) drugs.

Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:

• Higher pricing means higher expectations, but also more fulfillment, even if the product isn't actually more fulfilling! Raise your consulting prices, people.
• The Placebo effect is strong - don't abuse it, but leverage this knowledge to be smart about your own purchases and investments and as a potentially valuable tool to use in comparisons with competitive products/services/companies.

Your turn - go read the full piece and see if there are any terrific snippets of advice/knowledge that you'd apply to marketing online. I've only covered the surface level, so I suspect there's a great deal more value to be gleaned.

Is Search Engine Marketing cost effective enough to increase profits for B2B marketers?

Is Search Engine Marketing cost effective enough to increase profits for B2B marketers? You bet, and here’s why. It’s always been conventional wisdom that the fastest and most efficient way to research products and pricing is on the Web. Now Enquiro has documented survey research on the role of search engines in B2B transactions.

As you know, B2B transactions differ from most consumer transactions because these decisions require coordination between a number of different personnel before the final transaction is made. Therefore, the process requires a period of time between researching the product and placing the order. It’s an ongoing rather than snap decision.

“The Role of Search in Business to Business Buying Decisions” is a well-designed study of approximately 1500 participants responding to a 40-question survey that was validated with pre-testing before implementation. You can download the entire report for free, and here are a few highlights:

* When participants were asked to indicate how they would go about making a B2B purchase, 93.2 percent said they would research the purchase online.

* When asked if they would use a search engine at some point in this task, 95.5 percent of participants indicated that they would.

* When asked where they would start their search for information, 63.9 percent of participants chose a search engine over consumer review sites, e-commerce sites, manufacturer’s sites, and industry portals.

* When taking budget into consideration, manufacturer’s sites and industry portals were the chosen starting place as budgets increased. However, 86.9 percent of participants said they would visit a search engine after visiting those sites.

The study is rich with too many details to cover in this article, but following are some important conclusions:

*Search engines play a dominant role in B2B purchases.

*Search engines are used in the early or mid research phase in the buying cycle.

*Google is favored over other search engines.

*Search engine research takes place at least one to two months before the buying decision.

*Good balance between organic and paid search is necessary. Organic SEO gets over 70 percent of the clicks.

*Position is a factor, with over 60 percent clicking on the top 3 listings.

*Most users decide which listing to click on in seconds upon scanning the page.

With all this qualified traffic originating from search engines, it is more important than ever for B2B marketers, wholesalers, and B2B exchanges to ensure their Web sites are correctly optimized for good positioning in search results. There is also great value in SEO/SEM as a user-friendly marketing tool.

The Uniqueness of Search Engine Marketing

Search engine traffic is highly targeted. That's because potential buyers who find your B2B offerings through search engines are looking for your products and services on their own, so they are predisposed to hear your marketing message. You can’t find a more qualified prospect than that. Here’s what distinguishes search engine marketing from other types of advertising:

1. Non-Intrusive: Search marketing is a non-intrusive marketing tool. Most advertising, both online and offline, interrupts consumer behavior. If a user goes to a web site for info, up pops an intrusive ad. Reading a newspaper? Ads dominate and force articles to be continued on another page. With search engine marketing, the user is actively seeking your products, services, and information. They are delighted to be driven to your site.

2. Voluntary: Search marketing is the result of user-originated behavior. Your visitors from search engines and directories have voluntarily clicked on your listing rather than any competitors, thus they are motivated to explore your offerings.

How good is the ROI? How effective is search engine marketing and optimization for B2B? What are the key-points to consider regarding a B2B search engine optimization and marketing plan? Please join me next month for Part 2 when we examine the answers to these questions.

For marketers planning is an essential task

For marketers planning is an essential task that must be continually undertaken. As we will see, shifting market conditions, including changing customer needs and competitive threats, almost always insure that what worked in the past will not work in the future, thus requiring revisions in how a product is marketed.

Marketing planning is also important since it is often a prerequisite for obtaining funding whether one is a marketer in a large corporation seeking additional money for his or her department or is part of a small startup company looking for initial funding.

To aid in our understanding of planning we introduce a key concept in marketing: the Product Life Cycle. We will see the Product Life Cycle offers valuable insight and guidance for marketing decisions. In this tutorial we also discuss different types of marketing strategy that can be followed to meet marketing objectives. Additionally, we look at how innovative products are adopted within a market and how this impacts marketing planning

Writing for the Web: SEO for News Content

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