Blogs of the influential - leading thinkers write

There is an impression that blogs are just for entertainment or to "get your rants" out in public (so you will not need to go see a psychiatrist). If you look at sheer numbers, that could be true. But my search for for commercial and professional use of blogs started with three of the most influential people in technology. All three wrote books and gave keynote talks in conferences. So a blog from these authorities would be a good example of how someone with a theory could use blogs to support their traditional mainstream communication. The three people I am talking about are:

• Tim O'Reilly: computer technology publisher and Web2.0 trend coiner
• Jakob Nielsen: Usability expert - Alert Box newsletter.
• Clayton Christensen: Harvard business school and "Innovator's Dilemma" coiner

Individuals usually have less resources and are more focused on a specific message. Their core idea is usually articulated in their "main book" - in some cases you can even find it in an article. Blogs are simple and linear. They don't need complex navigation or structure so if you have one core message they work fine. The three people I mentioned above each have one very clear message. Basically an idea that explain something specific. For some reason all three people that I picked seem to analyze a behavioral phenomena on the Internet. (But I think this is just coincidental). All these examples show that one idea and a small team of domain experts can create a great resource. They also show that in depth work can be done gradually and does not need to be revealed at "one time" the way books or articles in professional magazines have been doing. These blogs seem to be addressing broad subject areas, but blogs do not have to be limited by their focus (broad or narrow). Let's look a little at each of the blogs.

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Tim O'Reilly with Richard Stallman the founder of "open source" (it was first called "free software".

Tim O'Reilly: He has been a book publisher, mostly for the "open source" community for a long time. Even before Linux became popular the O'Reilly books were known as good, accurate, and useful references for many programs and software technologies. As software evolved from open source to the web to what we call Web2.0, Tim O'Reilly has been observing, analyzing, and publishing trends. He is also still involved in the software technology itself, but has definitely noticed that someone has to write about the "big picture". Now that Web2.0 is somewhat of a core mainstream mantra, O'Reilly has created a much bigger blog of sorts with many contributors covering a wide range of topics. If you want to know this corner of the software / web world, his blog is a great place to keep up.

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Jakob Nielsen is well know inside the Internet world. He started out at Sun Microsystems (in the days where: "the network is the computer"). With one of the most read usability books for the web, he has been "evangelizing" usability for a long time. He started a newsletter 13 years ago, long before "blog" was even around. But I consider his Alrtbox newsletter to be somewhat of a blog. Sometimes I wish he did update the presentation to the more current blog format. But that is a small price to pay for such great information and knowledge.

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Rattling the technolgy "geeks" all the way from the Harvard Business School

Clayton Christiensen is not a technologist in the traditional sense. Actually, I don't think that he started out working on technology topics. As a Harvard Business School professor he tried to answer the old question "what is real innovation?" He has been doing this for a long time. His "Innovator's Dilemma" book has taken the technology world by storm. Not because it is controversial as much as it is well researched, analyzed, and presented. I chose him because he did not come from the core technology world. His blog started out as his own comments on companies and products which either innovate or fail to innovate. Now like O'Reilly and Nielsen he has a staff which write about many areas of expertise.

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Well, this is the introduction to the three blogs. Like anything else, I could write about this forever, but we need to get to many more things. It would be interesting to look at group, domain, media, and corporate blogs. At this point in time these are not as developed as other forms of media. Certainly not as other forms of Internet technologies. Next, I will look at grass root blogs like slash-dot and media blogs like New York Times. Both are interesting since they say something new in terms of communication.
 

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Tim O'Reilly: RADAR is his company blog center, other contributors. http://radar.oreilly.com/tim/

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Jakob Nielsen's: Alertbox - http://www.useit.com/alertbox/

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Clayton Christensen: The Innovator's Dilemma: http://www.innosight.com/blog/index.php

Planning and designing a production Web2.0 operation

One of the most important ingredient of starting a new Web2.0 marketing project is planning and research. I can't stress this enough when speaking with people who have not written steadily for a living. This is specially true with generalist marketers. Product managers and product marketers who write or edit casually, mostly for internal consumption. While writing a steady stream of articles is not for everyone, I believe that many managers can write and gain a real advantage with blogging, newsletters, wikis, social networking, and other Web2.0 applications. Not only because they are going to be popular in the future, but also as simple tools which can evolve into a good systems of communication. I have some ideas which will help you in planning and justifying resources and effort to start a production Web2.0 operation.

Gather Existing Information, Data, Ideas...

First of all, make an effort to gather all the information available. The available resources, stories, content, individuals with writing and editing abilities, industry and user contact people, etc. Gather all material which has been published in an attempt to create a stream of messages. NOT press releases, but real business and technical information. Even parts of customer presentations, data sheets, and success stories. If you have seen a good blog, even one that is not exactly on topic (to yours), store and print some of the stories and explain how they could be used on your blog. If you receive industry and competitor newsletters, feeds from portals or publications, use these as well. It is a common technique to add industry news to original stories in a newsletter. If you can put this in a nice package, print and bind it, and distribute to a few people, you can start getting an idea who will help and how to deliver the message(s). People do much better when they see something resembling the final product. Seeing a package of related stories, is easy to get them going. Remember that seeing a final product and working on it are different. You will need both aspects to show people if they are going to be convinced.

Justify: Resources, Attention, Tools, Skills...

Next, you better have a very strong justification for the project. Anything well justified will get attention and resources. If you are totally new to this, you will definitely need the resources (not just budget and people). This includes the driving need for a blogging or newsletter program IN YOUR SPECIFIC OPERATION! While it is easy to see a blog that has been running for a while, some managers and VPS of marketing may not appreciate a part time writer added to their headcount. If you clearly show what the company will say, who will be involved, where the information will come from, this will help in the justification. In most cases this would be the need to keep current and potential customers informed. There are qualities of message streams which are totally new and unique. Newspaper writers and editors know this well, but the rest of us are not as familiar and experienced to them. I will eventually dedicate a few full articles to the justification, budgeting, start-up, and other aspects of operating a Web2.0 application.

Define A Real Strategy and Tactics

This step will help both you and the people who are connected with your work. Strategy in this case can be simply to use a tool or a format to communicate certain information. It could also be a way of managing information which already exists. It could be the introduction of tools to the organization (acquisition, training, operation). The clarification and delineation of tactics is very important. This goes for the clear plan on software tools and hosting as well as management of the story writing and researching or buying information. Strategies and tactics need to guide writers and editors. It also helps readers and managers who use the blog as a communication channel. The marketing managers who comment and suggest how the blog develops need to understand what are the goals and the means of getting there. Don't skimp here, if you do not have a strategy in the early stage you will need one later. In the mean time, you will duplicate ad-hock strategy sessions over and over again.

A Story About A Blog

Five months ago I started working on a blog / newsletter project. It started out as an experiment for a small Internet security company. The company wanted to target a small number of potential readers (approx. 1,000). The target reader attributes were well defined, at least that is what we thought. The idea was to write a blog or a newsletter and keep the posting frequency to once a week. The marketing manager did not think she can do it. But there was pressure from both the CEO and the sales organization for "a blog". At first we started planning the design, overall GUI (Graphical User Interface), and graphics (mostly free images). Different people in the organization wanted different looks based on what they have seen. This is not hard when looking at a blog, you just need to find examples and search for a similar template. Prototyping a design and layout is a great way to start. When it came to planning the writing and the topics things got a little strange. One camp wanted to have fresh relevant topics. In security market that means scanning the news feeds and writing about what is exciting NOW. This is sometimes a big virus or spam attack, what Microsoft is doing with the new Windows Vista release for security, what Mcaffee or Symantec are doing technically or marketing wise, or even a story about the politics of security. But there is another camp which says that the writing should be timeless and more marketing and technical in nature. This way the 'content' can be used and referenced as regular web site content (some people call this Web1.0 redone). All these voices from the corporate world are nice to know, but an editor, designer, writer is going to approach the task the way she sees most appropriate. Which for the these new Web2.0 'consumers' was difficult to accept. One thing to remember is that doing things differently will be hard to impossible for some. But that is the nature of this change.

This brought me to a discussion on how to coach product managers and general executives about what to do with regard to taking the first step in running or developing a blog. This is quite different from an individual or a group who simply want to start blogging. Most blogs out there seem to be a stream of articles which are not necessarily related to and one specific topic. But products which need to be explained also need to have the steady stream of information, examples, explanations, and other type of writing a blog or a newsletter can support.

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solostream.com offers WordPress teams, there are many helpful technical services out there for blogging and newsletters
So I thought that it would be helpful to start searching for sources about writing for effective product marketing. There are good "old school" resources. There are mostly writing, editing, and publishing based. Without good writing, most readers are going to be turned off. But once a blog or newsletter writer has the formula for writing, the sources of information, either internal or external, and the flow of articles start to move, you have an operation.

My next step if to have some work books. I think that strategy, tactics, operation, planning, and other practical tasks can be put into a few pages of forms and examples. There are also great articles and resources for this work on the web, so send me your favorite and I will start posting it here.

more on Categorizing Marketing Content...

    or is it categorizing any content in "marketing" terms ? whatever the descriptive term, which eventually will make sense to us, there are a more "dimensions" or "properties" that are interesting and important to look at. Product marketing does not happen in a vacuum. A company's image, ability and history are key to a proper understanding of a marketing message and the target audience. The specific market situation at the time is also crucial to understand, if the market situation is changing and competitors or the environment is changing, the message may reflect these changes. Sometimes looking at competitor's message and at specific events in the market it is easier to understand and analyze the message. Another dimension is the "association" of the company or product. Some products are associated with a group or a certain image. These determine the message and if the marketing is done in a specific way. Some companies need to advertise to a broad range of audiences. Therefore, web content is more influenced by what the other media advertisements are like. Some companies can separate the messages and have a different message on the web than in advertisements.

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Intel's end consumer and technical mix marketing message
Let's take for example two large technology companies: Intel and Microsoft. Intel sells for the most part to computer manufacturers. A very technical sell which does not involve a large audience and for the most part does not need to have computer end user information. Microsoft also sells to essentially the same customers, specially operating systems (OSes) and office suites, but in this case the consumer is much more involved. Microsoft's products are what most people use everyday. Their features, packaging and use is something that Microsoft can "sell". With Intel these issues are less important to the user. But with Intel there is still the issue of new capabilities in terms of speed, graphic and network operation and the important message of a continuing improvement.
These two examples are simple, but the simple things are sometimes what makes for a believable and simple message where marketing can affect precept ion. In may cases you will see where this is not necessarily true. The marketing message is too biased toward a specific area and does not match what is expected by a reader or even a customer. Well, I have covered a large amount of area, specially in writing about definitions and "dimensions". So maybe we can get back at looking at different products, the landscape in which they exist and how we can use readily available information to do our own work. As you can see, there is a huge amount of information and we can get lost in looking at too many pages. But, we can also use available information to learn and analyze many aspects of a message and the content which constitute the message.

They human factor: if you imagine it, will they build?

As I write these stories and look at what is created, specially on the web. I tend to wonder off and think about who creates this. Who had the ideas? who wrote the content? who designed the page and edited the images? who runs the servers and maintains the software? who, who, who... there are lots of hands moving the product, marketing, customers... along. I don't know most of the people who work at Microsoft, Adobe or Netscape (or for that matter the 'open source' developers all over the world working for the most part anonymously). But I do know plenty of technology workers, some are friends, even close ones. As technology keeps on evolving and growing, it seems like more people "stay" where they are and a few move and evolve with the times. But the problem with changing technology, specially at a fast pace, is the people who are slowly dropped off and stay behind. But these people did not lose their skills or even their traits and abilities (creativity, hard work ethic, loyalty, social abilities...). For the most part they just "didn't learn that new language" (perl, java, xhtml) or "didn't use that new application" (photoshop, gimp, frontpage). So these people AND their specific specialization area, fall behind and slowly die off.

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Listings for software QA jobs in the Boston MA area (Nov. '07)
So the "outsiders" of the field simply say: "train them" they simply need to learn new skills. They know how to program in 'C' so what should be so hard in learning 'Java'? After all, the people who designed Java "told everyone that the language was made to follow 'C' and even use the same concepts of 'C++'", who what's the problem? Well, do you remember the beginning of the Japanese car invasion in the US? When people were buying Toyotas, Hondas and Datsuns (the Nissan company was even afraid to use their own name in America!) instead of Chevys and Dodge? When politicians, economists, trade union leaders and management gurus were telling the US car companies: "just make the better, can't you just do that?"

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Oh, if they could 'just do that!' wouldn't they? Well the same old "I will tell you how to fix your problem" pontificators are doing the same thing with 'US' (the techies, geeks, propeller heads, pick your label). All of a while, we go through the most wrenching "business cycle". So back to the things I see... at least five of my closest friends including me, have been under or unemployed. Mostly coming from serious real companies (Lucent, EMC, Digital, Avid Tech, Cypress Semi, Altera) with real careers (programmers, chip designers, software QA engineers, marketing managers). So what's going on here? Can't we figure it out and get on with it? Convince the new technology managers that we have skills, knowledge and desire to build the next 'Netscape browser'? or 'wireless router front end'? or appeal to corporate buyers to look at the new 'application'? Well, the transition to "new" is not as easy as it might seem. But on the other hand, even "new" businesses and technologies lose a huge deal when they don't use available "old" talented workers. Actually, when you take it all into account, pretty much the consensus will be on using more experienced workers than "fresh new ones".

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Well, as we move into new technologies of self publishing, everything "really" online, and dominance of content over programming and application development, things are again changing for everyone. I seems like this is not going to change, but maybe we are more able to change things with the tools we are developing. Even a blog and a wiki is a better way to do things than previously. We had newsgroups for a long time, but the interface, operation and availability is much better with blogs. So, it seems like the 'old' guys who have used newsgroups can migrate to blogs... but maybe they don't want to? or just want to keep on going the old way... even if it means sitting around the basement for a while and playing on the self build machine instead of going off to work in a lab at DEC... or maybe not... anyway, hope this gets people thinking, seriously, about more steadiness, continuity and loyalty in our business. Maybe we can learn something from GM of the 1980's, and not have National Semiconductor ask for a loan guarantee from the next president, the way Lee Iaccoca did... or maybe not.

Is blogging good for business? or is it too hard, expensive, time consuming...?

I just visited a potential client / employer for a short interview. This is a security company that supposedly has a great product. They also claim to have great technology which is very unique. The story is one you and I have heard a few dozen times, maybe even hundreds of times. Small to medium size company, moving along at a decent pace, hit a "bump on the road", fell "off the tracks" and slowed down, coming back from "a setback" but sure to "make it to the big times again" ... OK, OK, OK I am getting a little wordy, but this is a story that we all know. So getting back to the title of this story... this marketing VP was telling me that "we have been thinking about a blog for a year now. We started writing stories and finally realized that we can do it. Now we are not exactly sure if this is something we can "keep up on"..." or something like that. McDonalds sells Hamburgers and Fries and they have a blog. The Democratic Party sells ideas that we are not sure about, and changes it's mind, they have a blog. But this Internet security company ends up spending more money, time and effort on paper brochures to put in their lobby and mail out to customers than inform customers or potential buyers on their updates and new discoveries.

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A static web site for Internet security
So this is a ridiculous example? Not really! Actually, it's a very typical example. It takes a long -> long -> long -> time for technology AND the implication of it's use to BUSINESS (read make money) to be seen. This we all know, not just from Internet applications, but from steam shovels and hydraulic ones of 50+ years ago. But there is also something that may be bigger. Like the 'slower' evolution that is actually a bigger trend, there is something that the 'general business' writers and teachers don't talk about much. Is the communication among new technology community members. Tim O'Reilly has been blogging for a long time. Actually, his blog has turned into a newspaper column more than anything else. I say that because it is no longer a 'off the cuff' personal writing source as much as a well written and well PRESENTED site. But you still see "old school" marketers and business manages make excuses. So what to do? Well, it's a little like the 'who moved my cheese' story (book on Amazon). But it's also a little like moving a little faster to get thing done better.

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I use to make fun of the slow movers when I thought I was the 'early adopter'. Than I realize that just being an early adopter for the sake of trying things out and boxes full of gadgets and software boxes in the basement was not all it's cut out to be. Now I am back to pushing more adoption. Because in some fields we don't have any choice. In Internet technology field and in many business fields that depend on fast information transfer, the blogs, wikis and quick authoring pages are not necessary but they do SELL more. They also change the way customers work with us and the way we work inside the company. For some, new technology is like what was described almost 20 years ago by a co-worker: running down a hill, losing your breath, and the hill keep on getting steeper! Why? I think it's because lots of us all over the world are running on our own little hills, and when we see others having fun before they crash down at the bottom, they start running too. But also, it's the unleashing of a bunch of technologies all at once. Some of them trivial like faster communication and better transport. If computers hardware was not being made so economically in Asia, we would probably not be able to do even a fraction of the software we can do. Well... I can go on and on, but basically the message is: get moving with what you think is "new" sooner than later. Even if it seem hard to 'keep up' right now, it usually turns out that it is not. And if you are not sure, just start small and don't tell the whole world about it... quite yet... which in the end, will make you laugh and seem foolish... but that is the nature of running down a hill that won't stop... there is good news here too... so come back to the next post... good news from the leading edge...

Rating sites for experience, knowledge and gaining competitive advantage

After writing the Microsoft FrontPage and Adobe Dreamweaver product page analysis, I wanted to criticize negatively some marketing aspects of these sites. Than I realized that this is not going to be as helpful and explaining what I was disturbed about. So I stopped the negative thoughts and tried to see what was really behind the "not so good marketing" seen here. Like other realms of the business, marketing people think that they 'control' the web media. Well, not really control as much as 'need' it more than others. Well, this is not exactly what you see out there. Marketing has its place, and good marketing helps sales, engineering and even customer support. But the web is a media that is needed by all business aspects. Once that proposition is understood and accepted by all parties, things start getting useful to analyze and discuss.

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So the question of what a good page should be, is restated: What would a good marketing page should be? Ahaa, here we go...

First of all, we could probably simplify things by breaking them into categories. This is helpful because there are many resources out there analyzing, testing and advising you how to 'market' on the Internet. Also, there are non-marketing web and page design experts and more books than you can read in a lifetime. Essentially, we can start working on worksheets and guides to go through the design, creation and integration of a single page. Then move on to the phase of putting together a section or a full product section. Finally, worksheets on specific areas which are general and not necessarily marketing related would be nice to have. This is something I have been looking for in ages. Basically, something to organize our thoughts about how to 'look' and 'read' other people's work. This is specially useful in marketing organizations that continue to improve, innovate and grow their message, content and reach.

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MS Expression page
One of the first "dividing into categories" step seem to be defining some general page categories. In the software product space, I would categorize pages as:

• Information: product packaging, availability, version, license. etc.


• Sales: product price, order information, channel availability, packaging, etc.


• Technical: product operation, features, capability, use model / demos, etc.


• Support: user support, installation, workarounds, tutorial, specific feature operation, etc.


• Marketing: benefits, success stories, solution-packaging, capability, overview, etc.

These categories apply to what I would call "core content". There are other ways of evaluating product information based on organization, content quality, usability and other general web related subjects. At this point I would point you to the many resources available which address general web information subjects.
      In future posts I will go into the sub-categories of each of these, maybe even update or expand the categories. Eventually, product related information could be

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Lets start looking at what I reviewed previously and see if the categorization helps simplify analysis and yields better results. Later on we can look at the way others analyze sites and see how categories we use help in designing, writing content and assembling pages for product marketing. So next time... on deck:

• Adobe Dreamweaver


• Microsoft FrontPage


•  - Microsoft Sharepoint Designer


•  - Microsoft Expression Web


• NVu (Open source)


• Netscape Composer (also Mozilla)

Is this the "innovator's dillema" or just technology "evolution"?

I was listening to a conversation two young web developpers were having. They were talking about the 'advantages' of 'branding'. The Internet is creating a new crop of marketers, some are taking a 'page' from the old marketing hymn book - using old techniques in new ways. So these new business managers are going through a phase of branding which is now a hot new topic. But the good news is there is much more marketing, sales and management knowledge out there which can be recycled. In his now classic book "The innovator's dilemma" Christiansen described the phenomenon of great firms who fail because they do not innovate to the next "stage".

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Christiansen's book made the techies sit-up and take notice...

But there is something more dramatic happening now. Not only single large firms fail, industries actually fail. They fail because of a complete change in the way things are done. So why did I title this post '... or just technology "evolution"'? -- because maybe both cases apply. Lets look back to the current successes in the Internet world. Actually, the businesses that have replaced the 'old school' (I keep on hearing this term in daily use.) Amazon has replaced a great deal of small and medium size stores. The ones hit the hardest are the specialty and technical stores. But, the good news is that some of these stores have been able to 'join' Amazon as an 'affiliate' and sell their books online. The strange phenomena here is the absence of competing small sites. Technical book stores like FatBrain and Computer Literacy were going strong and highly useful, but that was in the 1980's and early 1990's (FatBrain started out as a regular store, I remember it on North 1st in San Jose when working in the area, people use to spend their lunch time browsing and eating). While the sales of computer books is going through the roof, it was not happening in the stores as much. Take a look at the blog entry on Oreillynet.com.

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So in some respects maybe this is an 'evolution' of bigger proportions. I call it an 'evolution' because the whole 'world' of book selling is changing (in the retail book business, has changed already!). Not just in certain areas, but in all aspects. The retail chains and specialty niches are just one aspect. The buyer behaviour is another. The overall structure of the business (you can't get Don Knuth to come out and speak on Amazon -- or maybe you could?) So what do we do to survive this bigger 'evolution'? Christiansen has followed up the 'problem' book with 'The innovator's solution'. But for some reason that has not been taken notice like the 'dilemma' book. The 'solution' issue is a whole lot more complicated than the 'problem statement' alone. It is also much more interesting. Just like the 'dilemma' book with its two examples (steam shovles and disk drives), there are a few good solution examples. Companies that have moved from one technology generation to the next (actually Barnes & Noble and the buying of FatBrain.com is somewhat of an example). Well, here is a nice little lesson in retailing, or is it in sales strategy? Whatever you call it, the 'new web techies' will surely learn something from it and will eventually go out and build another 'Amazon' ~ or will they take over Barnes & Noble? Let's wait out and see....

Thinking about writing - what's worth writing about?

        When I first started writing blogs, it seemed merely as a way to get my story out. Looking around at blogs and sites, we quickly realize that there is a potential to use this as a real professional communication tool. Some like Eckel and Greenspun put up full books with all the knowledge and professional experience. Actually, in a blog its much easier than taking on a full book project. Once I started thinking seriously about writing professionally related articles, I had to think of what to write. My experience is in semiconductor marketing and engineering. I also held field positions in storage networking (Fibre Channel) and EDA. As they advise you in creative writing: "write what you know". So this advice I am going to follow. I plan to research and write about the world of technology marketing. Starting from what to say (outbound marketing and product marketing) to what to actually do (product definition). I also have an opinion about work and business of technology. Which sadly not many people take as seriously as the "core" or "raw" technology itself. While these areas cover a great deal of territory, I will focus on a few specific fields.

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Phil Greenspun's - "Alex" book; first published 'on the Internet' as a revolutionary move!

The ideas I have for writing here span a few areas:


• Marketing in technology: product, strategy, experience, knowledge, etc.


• Opinions and analysis of current events in the technology business.


• Resources in marketing, product management and technology sector


• Personal stories on technology career and work.

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Eckel's - Thinking in Java; author says that the book was much better because of release on the web
Well, like all ambitious or trivial projects, "the proof is in the pudding", so let's get started. Eventually, the work will speak for itself. So enough with that.
      The next area of articles will deal with looking at product web sites. The last articles on Adobe Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage are a good start. They are general enough for most people to get the basic concepts. My experience is in Storage, EDA and semiconductor, which tend to be more complex marketing area. The world of technical marketing (i.e. for highly technical markets) tend to focus less on 'simple messages' and much more on competitive technology. I am not sure if this is a correct approach. That's is what is worth looking at. Do marketers and technologies "think seriously about what they say and how they say it?" Do companies put full emphasis on strategies and actual deliverable messages which potential users can use and act upon? Finally, it is interesting how companies and individuals position, direct and eventually deliver their marketing message.
        In general, I believe that marketing is taken seriously by technologists, but I believe that the resources to do match other areas in the mix (engineering, research, operation, manufacturing, etc.) This concept is not new. Others have written and advise on more resources and more professionalism in technology marketing. One of the people who makes this his 'raison d’être' is Ralph Grabowski. His basic tenant: invest in marketing, otherwise you are dead. Others tend to say it with their basic spin: do what I have done: P/R, product definition, positioning, sales strength, etc. Well, all these ideas and resources will come up as we get into the writing.

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Grabowski's diagram of marketing investment vs. product success (actually company success)
       My experience is that in most technology based companies marketing is indeed under appreciated and under funded. Also, it's been my experience that technologies in general do not know what to ask from marketers. Technologies know to ask for customers to "see" or "demonstrate" (try out) their product. But they do not know about the core marketing tasks and what to make of them in their context. This is an area that is also well worth writing and researching here.
        Well, this is a start in explaining the aim and interest of this blog. Hopefully you will find it useful and interesting. Reading other blogs and seeing how people write on the web, its obvious that subject, points of view and strong opinions shift as people comment and get involved. PLEASE leave a comment or e-Mail me. I do not to be controversial to the point of eliciting a comment, but in all these discussions its useful to see what other know and have experienced. Also, when it comes to resources, nobody is a 'master of the Internet' ~ there are always things to know and to find out. So please lend me a hand with resources, comments and information. T H A N K       Y O U !

Microsoft Frontpage - decision, confusion or clarity?

After the last article on Adobe's Dreamweaver's page, I decided to look at similar pages. In the software world there are many similar products and product that are sold to similar market base. The one advantage software marketing has is the ease of gathering competitive and useful information. The obvious page authoring and design competitors are: Microsoft Frontpage, Nvu (open source), Netscape Composer. From there the list goes down to really small programs. But in this line up, there is an interesting twist. Microsoft FrontPage is not really a contender. First of all, the program is being discontinued. But not really, it is actually being "split" into two programs: Share Point Designer and Expression Web. But here lies the twist, the main FrontPage page has this "decide what you need" graphics. This is something rarely seen on the web. Although it does explain that this product is actually becoming two. For the professional web designer not using Share Point, this is probably a confusing explanation.

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Microsoft FrontPage splitting into two
So let's get back to our original point. Clarity, Focus and Relevance is a little fuzzy at this point. Clarity I tried to define as message divided into smaller sections, using standard terms, relevant to each other, focus on a single idea, amplify in later sections. But here, there is a full article, in small sections on how the FrontPage product is divided. Overall, this is an OK way to show what happened to a tool that 'migrates'. But you have to think and explore. Theoretically, the message is clear. But it could have been more clear if there were more explanations on each product, or differentiation between the two. For an old page designer, it seemed to me that "Expression" was the "orphaned" product. Sometimes things seem a little like they really are. For some reason, just like what happened with Photoshop about 10 years ago, Adobe has focused very strongly on the professional designer. I think here they won over Microsoft. If you want to know why, take a look at the description of each product. If you need more info, both products are downloadable for a trial period. Maybe here we can also do a comparison. But for me, the message from Adobe is a little more convincing.

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There is another point here that needs expanding. For fairness sake, the Microsoft FrontPage page is a little dated. It has been there probably since mid 2006. This was a little early for AJAX with the tabs, collapsible 'accordion' ads and sections and other nice GUI tricks. (These make a page look like a PC program, and this is the message behind the new updates to these new tools). But clarity is not a matter of layout or graphics. In the FrontPage article there is a "Find more information on the new Microsoft Web authoring tools" section with links to the new products, that should have been at the top somewhere. Maybe even accessible from the graphics. The section on "Which tool is for you?" should have more on features. It looks to me like the Share Point Designer, or actually the Share Point product manager won out over the Expression product manager. Or more likely, neither one thought enough about the implication of a little more information for each product.
--- Well, it's time to move on. Live, observe and learn. I would like to look at the other pages, Nvu and Netscape Composer. These are simpler 'free' tools, but still draw a crowd and useful in designing pages which are more hand coded than WYSIWYG designed. Looking at them has another purpose: what do you do with something free that does not have a marketing budget? Do you just put it "out there" - 'if we build it they will come' style? That has been the "open source" marketing argument for a long time. Let's see if it works? Where is it done well? What can be learned? and finally, how we do it when we need it (don't laugh, even companies with cash in the bank don't run to advertise too quickly.)

Defining Calrity, Focus, Context, Relevance...

Last post I looked at Adobe's Dreamweaver page. I look at pages all the time, basically it's like a lab, tutor and critic all at once. The one nice thing about the web, information is always there, we just need to look and think. It also helps to learn from people who observe the we on a regular basis and maybe even these that actually make it a profession. Jakob Nielsen at wwww.useit.com has been an observer of web sites for a long time. He has focused on 'usability' which for most part turns out to be more concerned with style, architecture (navigation) and overall structure. The usability issue was a big problem when the web started. The new media format needed people to define how we use information in a new channel.
I found out over the last three years that for most people content is just as big of a problem. Message, focus, context, relevance, balance... the things we learn in college English classes. What makes a good novel, play or article in a newspaper is just as relevant to web authoring as it is on print. Actually, we all know that content which doesn't flow, keep our interest, informs, helps... does not make it to the eyes of anyone. The web has so much information, that poorly written and organize information, no matter how relevant, does not make it at all.
In writing about Adobe's Dreamweaver, I was wondering on how to review and 'rate' the content of sites. Actually, not only the content, but the 'feel', 'fit', 'flow' and the 'usability' but in terms of real useful and actionable information. So I set out to find a check list, guidelines or even a tutorial. I am still in the midst of gathering the information. But like learning to write English in college, I think that the whole idea of a simple check list is not a real solution. If writing a good article or a short story was so easy, life would be very easy for us marketers and product managers. We would sit down, write an entry every day and in two to three weeks have a small site to describe a product. Than we would spend a couple of weeks in marketing the information we developed and soon people would come, read and buy our products. As a good Hollywood western, and we would ride happily into the sunset.

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Bechtel Corporate Page: Simple message in a complex business
I think that each and every product manager and marketer need to figure out what she/he needs and go ahead and develop a plan and the content. Some of use do not write well, but we all need to plan, define and organize our ideas and goals toward the clarity and relevance of the message. But all this work is not very useful if you need an army of writers, editors and Nielsen caliber experts helping you design and deploy a site. Most of the writing and editing is done by small groups (up to 20) who need to get their products explained and used by a small number of users (hundreds). So anything like the US Health and Human Services: Researched-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines (292 pages in PDF) or Nielsen's Designing Web Usability and Homepage Usability: 50 Websites deconstructed plus a few other ones. Anyway, with all this talk, let's get to the core of the issue. How do we simply and quickly give "non-writers" / "non-editors" help in designing and implementing a clear message? I think the answers lies in the article about 'what is new media?' -- Like teaching every student to write English in college, so is the path to designing and writing a message that is clear and conveys what a product should do for a customer. A little different, but very much related in terms of process and results.

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Well, something to think about, if you are interested in this process or any of the ideas here, send a message. Hopefully I will have time to get started with guidelines, check lists and reference material for content clarity, focus, context and relevance. After all, what good is a nice site with all the latest technology, content management and graphics if the message does not make it to the reader? This is truly a question that has been asked before...
REQUEST: if anyone has a writing manual in PDF please let me know.
The Bechtel Corporate page is an nice introduction to a very large message. Notice that this $25B corporation can define and explain its core message on one page. It comes down to what you want to say.

What is your message?

Last post I wrote about 'clarity' of your message. Essentially, if your message is not clear to the 'audience' - the message is lost. To start in getting a clear message, it is crucial to decide what you want to say. Some companies want to emphasize a certain point. This is usually with companies with many products and solutions for different users. Even if you have one software product or service, usually it makes sense to highlight a few features or uses. Lets look at some software companies and their product. Adobe develops a few applications for content creation and management. One of their main web development product is Dreamweaver. The product does many things and can be used in many ways. Essentially its a toolbox for 'wysiwyg' designers (who do site design without content management). After you move down from the banner and a promotion for the new version, there are a few tabs: "what's new", "product overview", "feature tour", "product selector" and "news". It is obvious that this page screams "new version". Now, I don't think that Adobe marketing or the Dreamweaver product manager would turn down new-unfamiliar users. But they chose to go after people who essentially "know" the product. Not just people who know "about" the product. The message is that "we have CSS, XSLT and XHTML now!"

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Dreamweaver - October 2007
~ If a user is unfamiliar with web standards, this could be interpreted as a turn-off. But I don't think Adobe is worried about this problem. The few totally new potential customers for Dreamweaver would have to put up with a little discomfort. The new users are probably going to be confused about lots of things, so that would not be a problem.
Also notice that Adobe has kept the page simple and fairly clean. I am sure that there are opinions in the Adobe camp that would choose other messages. If there are changes in message from time to time, the page can change. For now it says, new product version, come get it.
If you have ideas on clarity of the message. If you want to tell the audience about product marketing in the software area, send me a message and I will post or write an article.

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Actually, the concept of making the main message simple and clear is something that can help marketing. The Internet has made us all "impatient readers". We tend to look at the screen and quickly search for the few words that will tell us "what is going on here?" This way, we know if to keep on reading, go further down, settle down for a 'slow read' ... lots of things can be done at this point. This gives marketers the opportunity to send a message in small capsules. It also gives the audience the chance to process one idea at a time. Sometimes you can put two messages in one place, but not much more. The good news is that the web allows us to change the priority of the messages very quickly. When Adobe Dreamweaver gets a little 'older' and this version is not such hot news. They can move to another 'message' and actually keep the ideas to the audience fresh. This is something that is hard to do with printed brochures and video DVDs. It is even hard with CD presentations that you used to hand out in trade shows a few years ago. Anyway, I will review a few more 'messages' from software products in the next few entries. I think this answers last entry's issue of "why doesn't marketing tell the customer what the product does?" (so the salesman will not have to travel twice to make the sale?) But than again, doing it on the web is a little easier and more elegant than a two page brochure (I think)

Is there "new media" in blogs and wikis?

I spoke with a friend in the advertising industry about "blogs and wikis" and his comment was something like: '... a few customers once in a while ask us to write content for blogs when they need a message and they ask them to "write content" ... but, doing blogs is a lot of work and it's expensive... ' In general the "established media" world sees the Internet as a "new media" - most think of it as not really ready for "prime time". To some extent they are right, print, electronic and even direct marketing is still running at full steam... and a train moving in its tracks at full steam is hard to stop and harder to turn.
I have been looking at blogs and wikis for examples of serious and useful marketing work. At this point I am not looking for a pattern or a "method" from anyone out there, I think it's too early for that kind of information to be readily available. But, there are many examples of people who do not see the "blogs and wikis" as "new media". Why do I think that "new media" is not a useful model for what people think the Internet can do? Because this seems like a what had happened in the past, the history of distant past and more recent history. It seems to me that most people who are not using the Internet as a primary form of marketing are not going to see the value in the "new media" until its too late (for them). So these people are not the ones to look for guidance. But for people who either can't afford "old media", or are starting to market a new product or with a new effort, it makes sense to start with the Internet. That is why I am looking at the blogs, wikis, newletters and quick edit pages (i.e. google pages, myspace, etc). The idea is to see how essentially direct marketing is used by marketing managers DIRECTLY. I think that we can find good examples so this is going to be my effort in the next few weeks. (I am looking for equivalent of "direct" marketing but other forms of marketing is also OK) If you have any examples or comments, please write to me. THANKS !

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Let's get to the next part, learning from history and seeing how the big guys used similar situations to create big products. To look at historical examples, I chose to look at an older shift in technology and marketing (40 - 50 years); I became aware of just now, the story of Playboy. Now, some of you will not like this example, but it will quickly illustrate my point. Hugh Hefner started Playboy as a fluke, not exactly sure that it would work and what it would turn out to be. There were all kind of objectionable remarks about the "new venture". Some said that Playboy will not be able to find girls to pose, that did not turned out to be a problem at all. Anyway, let's move beyond the Playboy "idea" - what Hugh Hefner did with magazines at the time is what the Internet is doing to "media". Hugh Hefner figured out that magazines is not a new way to get the "message" out, but a whole new way to get a "new message" out. Actually he created a new "product". The magazine was not a "shrunk" book or an monthly update in a specific area, it WAS THE PRODUCT. As magazines became cheaper to print and mail, as the acceptance of more risque content and as men demanded or 'accepted' more sexy and personal content. In hindsight this is easy to analyze, but I believe the the Playboy story is not about planning and "designing" as much as a gut feeling - jump into the waters without thinking too much. In today's more accepted Internet "self publishing" world, we have a very similar situation.
I hope that the Playboy example was not too vague or controversial, specially if you are offended by Hefner's content. But it's a lesson well learned. Next time I will write about Blogger.com and a few other more 'recent' examples. Using technology, shift in opinions or social norms and economic / product capability. I look at successful products and services because they usually have a good lesson to teach. I think that as we go about using current technologies in a changing environment learning from others is one way to think creatively. Also, it's a way of keeping a better perspective. It's always crucial to make sure we do not miss an opportunity to go after a market or capture a better competitive position. More about this aspect of newsletter/blog/wiki/web marketing in the coming stories.