Google Wave Invitation - Now What?

November 30, 2009 | 2 Comments

I was anxiously waiting for a Google Wave invitation.  It took a while but I finally got one and then invited several people I talk to regularly.  They joined quickly, and now we are just stuck.

It is not Google Wave’s fault.  Here is what I see as the problem.

They want to replace email, not integrate with it.  This is a very big goal and not unthinkable.  However, it is going to be s..l..o..w.. going.

If they did not want to replace email, they could have made the tool a collaboration tool and have an easy feature that sends an email that notifies you every day of the new updates, etc.  However, because they want to replace email, they are not going to put this in - or make it easy, at least.

Here is the best illustration of what I mean.  I keep email open all day and check it constantly.  I am used to doing this, and it does not seem to be odd in any way.  I doubt it is for you either.

However, I do not keep twitter and other things open as I do not want a bunch of interruptions all day long - trust me, email is enough.

Google wave only works (for a novice user at least) if you keep it open like email.  And you are not going to invest your attention in a new, open application on your computer if you only have a few people in your contact list and they are still emailing you mostly.

For Google Wave to catch on, there have to be more engagement for new users.  Sure, if you have friends that enjoy new technology you are going to get moving faster with it, but for the casual user it is going to take a long time to migrate from the comfort of current email to the Google Wave environment.

I do think it is better than email and I would be happy to use it in place of email.  But since everyone has email and few people have Google Wave (and many of those set up accounts but do not check them regularly) then there is an adoption issue.  This might be a simple, step by step guide to fully using Google Wave after sign up.

I can see a day where email will be for light touches and people I do not know, and Google Wave becomes the place I communicate with everyone I really know.  However, until more than a couple of those people start using it - I am just looking at a group of messages I wrote and that went unanswered.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzzoodle 

Free Sample Business Plan

November 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment

I really enjoy talking to people that are starting a business.  Whether they have written a business plan or not yet does not matter.

The first think that jumps out is the fact that new business owners or people putting together a business plan for the first time truly have no idea about sales.  There is a good chance that they are projecting sales that are completely unrealistic.  It would be better if they project a horrible struggle for every minor sale and they plan out ways to stretch out their meager capital to survive few sales for a long time.

You can download all kinds of free sample business plan templates from the web and they are very good for understanding your business.  However, if you look at PlanHQ (They have a free 30 day trial) you will see that they help you plan your business but really focus on sales projections and setting sales goals.  That is ultimately the only way you can stay in business and succeed.

In fact, when you get a free sample business plan you should remember what Guy Kawasaki said.  (I remember this but am paraphrasing) - Many businesses should be launched for under $5,000 and proven in the marketplace before more investment is made.

The fact is, in many cases you should try to make sales before you even write your business plan.  Later when you do the planning, it will be much more accurate.

Do you need money for product development in order to start up?  Then why not form partnerships or get sponsors for the project?  If you cannot do that, you probably cannot sell the product later either.

And don’t worry if it turns out your idea is a dud.  That happens to most of us but you can learn from it and come up with something that addresses real needs in the marketplace the next time around.  It is best not to fall in love with your business plan.

This brings me to the last point I would like to make in this post about business start ups and business plans.  Do not imagine you will raise a bunch of money, open offices, staff up big time and then start doing product development.  This just does not happen.  Instead, work nights and weekends and get help from others that will help for a low rate - try finding people on sites like oDesk.com - and keep your start up costs small and your start up business plan in perspective.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Cultural Customization: Making the Foreign Language Internet Pay

November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment

It is widely assumed that English is the lingua franca of the internet and that there is therefore no need to use any other language in the various forms of online advertising. However, although the majority of websites are written in English, over half of all Google searches are in languages other than English. Research has further shown that customers are four times more likely to buy from a website written in their own language. Such figures demonstrate the significance of localization in online marketing.

Whilst it may seem like an unnecessary expense to produce foreign language versions of your website, it’s actually relatively simple and cost-effective to do so. And it can give you instant access to a target audience consisting of many millions of people across the globe. As far as return on investment (ROI) goes, website translation is certainly among the most cost-effective methods of online marketing.

Having all your promotional material – including banner ads, display ads and e-brochures - available in the native language of the market you are targeting immediately makes your business favorable to local customers, giving you an advantage over companies that insist in working in English only.

The logic behind this is quite simple. Contrary to the notion of English as a global language, some three quarters of the world’s population have no working knowledge of English; 49% of EU citizens likewise do not speak English. This means there is a huge market to tap into, which only requires the small expense of advertising your services in the appropriate languages.

Which languages you work in naturally depends on which markets you intend to target, a decision based on the nature of your business and where you feel there is a gap in the market which your business can exploit. But consider that if your business were targeting a sector of the South American market, having your website available in Spanish opens your business up to a potential 350 million native speakers around the world; expanding further into the burgeoning Brazilian economy and a Portuguese website opens up an extra 200 million speakers. Of course, many of these speakers may have no interest in your business, but it indicates just how large foreign markets are beyond the limitations of working only in English.

Of course, it also pays to be wary of the linguistic differences that exist between, say, the Spanish in Spain and the Spanish in many Latin American countries. For example, the word carro in Spain is a cart that you push or pull to transport things, whereas in Latin America it is an actual car that you can drive around in. A car in Spain is a coche, whereas a coche in Latin America is a baby stroller.

Similarly, dejeuner is ‘lunch’ in France, but ‘breakfast’ in French-speaking Switzerland and Belgium. And whilst France often import Anglicisms directly into their language, French-speaking Canada tend to translate the English terms directly: e.g. ‘Weekend’ is le weekend in France, but fin de semaine in Canada (literally: ‘end of the week).

There are many dialectal differences within languages that help to highlight the importance of adopting a fully localized marketing strategy.

The use of language therefore becomes a major part of any marketing strategy. It makes markets much more accessible, and the appeal of your advertising much more immediate; it may even direct you into markets you had not previously considered. Most importantly, working in a country’s language helps you understand its market, making you able to direct your marketing strategy appropriately.

The world’s most spoken languages are used in the world’s biggest developing economies: Brazil (and other South American countries if they are able to follow Brazil’s lead), India, and China. A company cannot expect to break into these markets using English alone. The most straightforward route into these markets in the twenty-first century is through the internet: doing so in the country’s native language(s) will bring financial benefits that the use of English only, may prevent.

About the author
Christian Arno is founder and Managing Director of Lingo24, a global translation services provider that specializes in website localization.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Word of Mouth Marketing 

Buzz Marketing Speech

November 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Wednesday I am doing a Buzz Marketing presentation at the Cleveland AMA.  This is my second time speaking there, and it is an great, professional group to go talk to.

They are billing me as a Buzz Marketing speaker but I tend to think of myself as an Internet marketing speaker - or a lead generation speaker.  I am kind of tired of everyone jumping on the social media bandwagon and talking about the advantages of connecting with the audience with social networking sites.

Instead, I now talk about how to build sites and techniques to attract the right kind of people - potential buyers - and how to encourage them to take action.

The tricky thing about the AMA presentation is that I will be discussing Buzz Marketing because that is how they promoted me.  The good news is that customer generation is all about building a content and sales funnel, and Buzz Marketing still helps you attract more people into the beginning of your sales funnel.  So it is still relevant.

I just hope that people do not come expecting for more of a PR and Buzz spin.  They might be disappointed with the emphasis put on measuring and tracking ROI on content and Internet marketing strategies.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Phil Gerbyshak - The Management Expert & Social Media Coach

November 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment

A good friend of mine, Phil Gerbyshak, has been a rock star middle manager for a long time. He speaks at conferences, trains teams and runs a help desk for a huge company.

On the side he has become a social media coach and has developed a strong  body of work around better management.  Recently the blog network he was a part of decided to change their business model and all the hard work Phil did building up Slacker Management went up in smoke.  Yes, the blog network turned him off.  Luckily, they did it in a nice way and moved all of his work to a new blog that he now owns.

If you have ever moved a website of blog before, you know how devastating this can be.  You will not have the same audience and you will not have the same search engine credibility.  It sets you back years if you are changing domains and have built up a good amount of content.

Please go visit Phil at the management expert blog - and leave a comment and show him some love.

There is also a lesson in this.  Do not build your primary website or blog on something that can be taken away later.  Free blogs are fine for links and toying around, but not a place to build your real resource.

You want to register your own domain and work with a company that will help you host your own website or blog.  If you are trying something different, such as building a lead generation engine, do it on a sub domain of your main domain to preserve your main website.

Phil Gerbyshak had full confidence in that blog network being around - but now finds himself needing to move and start building his audience all over again.  You do not want to do the same thing.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog