Tag: business strategy

Leveraging Online Media and Online Marketing

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The “Leveraging Online Media and Online Marketing” conference sponsored by the Marketing Science Institute just ended. The two-day conference brought together researchers from major universities and practitioners from MSI membership companies to discuss the emerging issues of online marketing. I summarize below three overarching sentiments that I observed from the conference:

(1) Facing lower switching barriers and declining consumer loyalty, companies are investing heavily into engaging their customers in the online channel. Different techniques were discussed, such as creating an environment for consumer-to-consumer interaction, incorporating consumer-generated content, and using multimedia contents such as video. Many of the ideas build on the increasing importance of social networking on the Internet, including some early exploration into the newest form of social networking in virtual worlds. No matter what form is used, however, the key is still to provide real value to consumers, whether that value comes from the firm or from other consumers.

(2) With the vast amount of brand-related commentaries and reviews online, companies are also watching closely what consumers are saying about their products and services. Specialized internal teams have been formed to plow through this valuable market information. For some companies, this information has powerful influences on their product mix and customer service decisions. With regard to negative comments and publicity, participants disagreed on how they should be handled. While some dismissed them as a natural part of life/business, others think they should be addressed more formally. Company blog seems to be the common approach, although other traditional PR channels are also mentioned.

(3) A major concern with many marketers is a lack of clear metrics for measuring online marketing, especially as it relates to social networking. This difficulty can be attributed to two sources: not understanding the true effect of some techniques (e.g., what is the value of positive or negative word-of-mouth); and an inability to track sales and conversion to the appropriate source (e.g., did this consumer buy because of that banner ad or because of a consumer-posted recipe). It is clear from the conference discussion that simple traffic building measures such as hits and visitors are not enough, as they do not necessarily lead to the critical step of conversion. But it is less clear what the right metric system should be. Without proper measurement, it becomes difficult to determine the right allocation of budget into different channels and campaigns.

A Love and Hate Relationship with Google

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In a classroom discussion of brand personalification, I asked students how they would describe Google if it were a person. The words my students came up with were all very positive, “helpful”, “efficient”, “reliable”, you name it. One student even said that if Google were a person, she would fall in love with him. Like my students, I am too in love with Google. Yet at the same time, I hate Google. Or more accurately, I hate the fact that I love Google so much. Most things I do daily — email, search, documents, news — all depend on Google. Even this blog is on Google. I cannot remember a day being online without using a Google feature at least once.

So what do I hate about Google? The fact that it knows too much about me as an individual. Imagine someone peeking into Google’s database (legally or illegally), he can find out a lot about me, what I do, and what is happening in my life. In this day and age, information is power. And having a lot of information means owning a lot of power, even if it is only potential power that has yet to be unleashed. That power makes me fearful.

Yes, I do have a choice. There is nothing coercive about Google’s services. I, as a consumer, chose to submit to it. Like many others, I started with its search engine. It produced far superior results and soon became the only search engine I would use. Then through a friend, I got into Gmail. I was instantly attracted to the way it allows you to organize information through tagging (or in its terms labeling). Every product I have tried from Google, it almost never failed to amaze me.

Yet as I added more and more Google usage into my online life, I became more and more concerned that I am becoming too reliant on the company as my online “everything” provider. Now comes the part why I hate myself for loving Google. Many a times, I wanted to disperse my activities across different websites instead. But eventually I would give up on the idea, because I could not find something else that can do what I need like Google does.

I am intrigued by the ethical implications of all this. Because there is no coercive component, theoretically it is ethical. But how do you deal with a situation like this, where a company’s product can be so superior that the company can potentially demand a lot out of consumers, and consumers will be OK with it? What if it is the choice between having crappy products/services vs. revealing your personal information and posing danger to your privacy? It is like a forbidden fruit that promises you immediate benefits but can cause potential dangers in the long term. It is only natural that most people value current gains more than future benefits. So although we can choose, in a way, we don’t have a choice.

I still want to do something about my love and hate relationship with Google. More and more, I want to stop my addiction to this potential danger. I am reading a book called “The Google Story”, which chronicles the history and development of Google. Although I have not gotten to it yet, the last chapter in the book was on how Google is experimenting with genetic science. Imagine Google also knowing my genetic codes. Now that is REALLY scary.