What do you think of the new Google Buzz? Will you use it? Don’t know about you but I am getting tired of having to change all my habits every month or so. It may be great but there is comfort in the old way of doing things – my fingers just automatically find their way to certain keys and as was famously explained in the book “Don’t Make Me Think” – this is the way I want it.

But if you are up for constant change here is the scoop on Google Buzz

This is what Twitter thought of Buzz

I wrote this in February but somehow did not get it posted. It seems that Buzz is old hat now and today we have even more new stuff to read about and learn about. I am exhausted…

Nashville has experienced torrential rains and flooding beyond any 500 year expectation. We are flooded, drenched, damaged and dead. Yet no one told Al.  The biggest news story about weather change with deaths of two elderly people who were swept away by rains just 1/2 mile from Al Gore’s house and he has not said a word…

That’s ok – we will find a way to help ourselves up – Tennessee did not support him anyway. (Election 2000).

This video is well worth the watch Music City Floods .  Amazingly, there are areas that are significantly affected and areas that are completely normal, lush and green. But we have all experienced these rains of biblical proportions and will suffer for months to come.

Images from My Brother’s House – in the ‘unaffected areas’ …

The Last Car Wash

We could use your help – Donate to the Red Cross: Help Nashville: Text ‘REDCROSS‘ to 90999 to donate $10 to disaster relief.  And then find out why your national news affiliates do not find this newsworthy. Thanks.

Thank you

The weather is wonderful.  The trees are in bloom.  The birds are happy.  The umbrella’s are out on the Pasta Vino Patio. Yeah! I am looking forward to dinner tonight and possibly lunch tomorrow. What shall I have..

Dinner is fabulous whether it is Eggplant Parmigiana – the best in town, Veal Piccata or Lobster Ravioli you can’t go wrong. Pair that with glass of nice Vino and good friends makes it a perfect evening. We will be there tonight.

For Lunch a Pannini and Salad or Goat Cheese Ravioli or Georgia Rainbow trout with light lemon butter sauce & capers. Mmmm

Don’t usually blog about dining but I am so looking forward to good times on the Patio I have to share. Great food, Good wine, Fun Friends – what could be better?

WSI WebSense…It just makes Sense!

Companies that are able to see and then take the steps to make the strategic, organizational, and operational shifts required to become effective digital marketers can become productive and accelerate revenue growth.

When the Internet began the great marketers in the sky looked down upon it and thought it was a vast playground or experimental laboratory. It was a game to become involved in but not yet one to put trust in.  They began launching experiment after experiment to crack the code that generates sales and customer loyalty. Not surprising, most have failed.

Because, consumers adopted digital technology as they themselves saw fit, and in the process fundamentally altered the way they make decisions.  Companies that understand this evolution are now carefully moving digital interactivity toward the center of their marketing strategies, rethinking their priorities and budgets, and substantially reshaping their processes and skills.

McKinsey and associates has found that the most successful digital marketers focus on four core elements as they increase the percentage of marketing and channel spending that is directed to digital activities.

1. Coordinate activities to engage the consumer throughout an increasingly digital purchase journey.
2. Harness interest in their brands by syndicating content that empowers the consumer to build his or her own decision matrix
3. Think like a large-scale multimedia publisher and manage a staggering amount of content to support products, segments, channels, and promotions.
4. Strategically plot how to gather and use the abundance of digital data now available.

The digital-marketing difference

At the simplest level, we’ve always known that consumers tend to take a unique, yet predictable journey as they make purchasing decisions. But most companies concentrate marketing resources on only two stages: brand marketing up front to get consumers to recognize their brand when they first consider buying, and promotions at the final point of sale to sway them as they are about to make a purchase. The four P’s of marketing – Product, Place, Price (up front) and Promotion (end) – provided a total picture for the marketers decision making.

Digital technology is changing all that. Consumers used to seek out family and friends for word-of-mouth product recommendations but now they can read online reviews, compare features and prices on Web sites, and discuss options via social-networking sites. Consider the person seeking an attorney for a divorce or a lawsuit or perhaps a business merger. Previously, a consumer had to know someone to get a recommendation.  Today, however, this process is much easier and much more transparent.  They Google it, they tweet about it, they search Facebook and Linkedin.  They EXPECT to find information they can use in their purchase process.  And they trust the information they receive from strangers as much, if not more, than companies.  Both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) purchasers want someone to help them make smart decisions. They just don’t want to feel subjected to the hard sell they expect marketers to engage them, not dictate to them.

Watch what they say at FastForward: B2B and Digital Marketing

Moving from a one-way, company-driven sales mentality to a two-way relationship with consumers requires core changes in the way businesses operate. Companies are adjusting but change is difficult especially when the ship is in choppy waters. While they have tried everything from video ads, sponsored content, and online promotions, new forms of targeted online ad delivery have emerged.

Web sites have been overhauled, microsites for specific products or promotions have multiplied, buying thousands of search terms, and new agencies keep popping up to serve businesses increasingly high demand for innovative content, user tools, or social experimentation. While these initiatives usually make sense, their implementation often doesn’t: most companies merely add them to their other operations and thus stretch their organizations financially and operationally. Companies must thoughtfully integrate such initiatives by focusing on core sources of value.

To be effective, these new strategies must be implemented with the consumer needs as paramount and that is a very difficult shift for most marketers. Stay tuned as we explore some of these in the weeks ahead.

WSI WebSense…It just makes Sense!

Funny how some things don’t mean the same thing to everyone.

Take the word Location – To a realator location is about the physical place and how prices vary based on desirability of the property. Generally it is about the financial viability of the location for a business to get customers – busy street, visible place etc. . To a new media guru location is about the new Location based services. Or the word Foursquare – To someone who is of a certain age, foursquare was a game played with a ball, chalk and, of course, four squares.

Today Foursquare and Location based services such as these can make your head spin!  Location based services work like this: People sign into 4square showing  their location and a list of nearby bars and restaurants appears, along with a list of people you know who are there. Sounds crazy doesn’t it.  But suppose you are Sally and you just had a terrible break up with Johnny because he is seeing Suzy. And before you walk into the local hangout you check in and find they are both there.  Save yourself an embarrassing moment or prepare yourself for the confrontation.  In other words, know before you go.

The restaurants and bars like these apps because it helps them recruit clients, reward loyal clients and generally develop their fan base. Foursquare had an application that ranked locations by number of check-ins, so social ‘heat’ was defined as lists were populated. And nerdy digital merit badges were handed out for checking in at various locations.

Digitally, Location Is Where It’s At By DAVID CARR in today’s New York Times tells how this worked at the conference recently in Austin.

There is also a great deal of information on Mashable and the article HOW TO: Make Your Small Business Geolocation-Read. It is clear that moving forward, businesses will not only have to be search engine optimized, social media optimized, but now also geographically optimized.

Slow down world!!!!

WSI WebSense – It just makes sense!

I received this from a friend who has started a nonprofit and is looking for votes today – Please take a minute and help!

I’m sincerely asking for your help! Make It Beautiful, the non-profit that I started, is eligible for a Pepsi Refresh Grant worth $250,000. With the grant we will give 800 families & individuals the opportunity to start over, to dream again and witness themselves and those they love reaching their potential. The key is, the recipient is determined by the number of votes across the US. So I really need your help. I need thousands of votes today… we are currently in 36th place and we need to move up to the top 5 today. Please vote for us at this link: www.refresheverything.com/30days

Here is brief video Make it Beautiful Introduction

Also please, forward this to all your contacts. I really appreciate your support!

Thank you so much!

–

It is my understanding that the Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational once again invited readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are the winners:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus: A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxicaton: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high

8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11. Karmageddon: It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.

12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

13.. Glibido: All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.

16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17. Caterpallor ( n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you’re eating.

Use these in a sentence and surprise your friends.  Wonder what Al Gore would say about the Bozone layer? Thundar

Have you ever experienced the overwhelming joy and absolute power of new life?  If so, then you will know what I am going to talk about.

A new baby is a blessing, a gift,  love personified and completely mesmerizing. I am not sure why but a new little babe has the power to connect and entice pretty much anyone to spend hours watching their faces, movements and responding to their needs. Perhaps this power come from the ‘fact’ that the new life of a baby is closer to God, having just been in His presence. Perhaps people have some innate memory of being babies ourselves.  Perhaps it is something else – but it is a wonderful, warming and fulfilling feeling.  I know this because I have just experienced the joy of becoming a grandmother to the most beautiful new baby girl in the entire world (no bias at all)!

Long lashes, fat cheeks and dimples!

Having a healthy baby requires the parents to dedicate themselves to the needs of the baby before, during and after birth.  To be attentive to its every need and to provide for its growth and development.

How does this relate to business or specifically to the internet?  My grandbaby was born the week that Apple released their new baby – the ipad.  I am certain that the people of Apple also experienced the overwhelming feelings of anticipation, incredible efforts and sacrifices, struggles and pains to produce this product.  I am sure they also have expectations and visions of its future success just like new parents do.

In a past life I worked on new product development teams and actually have 4 patents to my name so I know a little about the trials and tribulations of conceiving, developing, nurturing and launching a new product.  I have also given birth to three children and know the trials and tribulations of conceiving, developing, nurturing and ‘launching’ a new baby’s life.   The comparison may be a stretch- and granted, my new product paled in comparison to the ipad but still I have some unique insights.

There is a lot of controversy and a lot of opinions on the brilliance of the ipad. I personally think there is a market for the product that many of the techies and nay sayers do not think of when looking for the next great thing.  Boomers – iphones are wonderful when you can see them but the size limits its usefulness for those over 50 who need reading glasses.  Not everyone wants a camera attached to their every device – how many do you need?  Holding a tablet makes a lot of sense for comfort and provides a truly versatile extension when compared to the laptop. I think the ipad will find success as long as Apple listens and is attentive to its every need, takes care of the demands and nurtures its growth and development. But only time will tell!

New life is mesmerizing.  WSI Websense – It just makes sense

This morning I woke to a beautiful white world

Snow on trees

with just an inch or two of powdery snow covering the ground.  It was not a winter wonderland but it was lovely.  Looking out the back window the most prominent thing I could see was a bright red puffy Cardinal.  He hopped around looking for seeds and flew from one location to another.  I marveled at what made him so industrious and all the other birds willing to sit out the cold.  Not until I looked closer did I notice that there were lots of birds but he was the only one visible.  He stuck out.  He was quite visible, different and proud of it.

As I pondered on the reasons why he was not only so visible but also very compelling it made me think of the old Japanese proverb…“a Nail sticking up gets hammered down”. Quite the opposite sentiment. One that I am typically more comfortable with, being a wallflower from way back, but one that does not always serve well.

The Japanese thrive on harmony and do not want individual differences to disrupt.  So if a nail (person) is sticking up (out of line) the Japanese believe in hammering them down and creating mass conformance.  The Americans thrive on individuality actually promoting and rewarding those who are ‘outside the box’.  Both have value.  But I think the trick is knowing when to be a cardinal and when to be a nail.

What about you?  Are you a Cardinal or a Nail? When has it worked for you and when has it failed?

WSI WebSense

It just makes Sense!

Ready or not – Here we come!  The cry from the childhood game of ‘Hide and Seek’ takes on a new meaning when we apply it to the world of internet trends, bends, brands and brags. Here is what I think will happen in 2010.

1. Twitter grows…Twitter helps define what is important using what Clay Shirky calls algorithmic authority, meaning that if all kinds of people are pointing at the same thing at the same instant, it must be a pretty big deal.  Since Twitter gets better as more people use it, it will grow. Brands are using it, institutions are using it, and it is becoming a place where a lot of important conversations are being held.

2. The term Social media will go the way of the “internet superhighway”. Yes it is social and it is media. But going forward the interactivity of social media will not be something separate and apart, but simply what is.  For businesses having a social presence, a conversation with customers, is simply a part of doing business. For consumers, there is growing expectation that the conversation is available and real.

3. Facebook will continue to be relevant but there will be many other networks to spring up which are more specialized and more targeted.

4. Who hasn’t felt the thrill of being the first to know important news?  If you tweet today, perhaps you have learned from fellow tweeters of some newsworthy info before the media outlets are reporting.  For example, I live in Nashville and learned of Steve McNair’s death at least an hour before the news story broke just by following Twitter.  In 2010 we will no longer be satisfied with waiting for results and our need for instant gratification will consume us.  The computer and iphone etc will become extensions of our brain in a greater scale than we have experienced and we will need to be in touch instantly.  The term that will become more important than “social media” – “real time”.

5. Now here is where it gets interesting - Augmented reality.  Think of it, reality only better or worse whatever the case may be. Can’t wait!

What do you predict?

WSI WebSense – It just makes Sense!