From presentation to the Web (2.0) - Get RRREEEEAAADDDYYY

I only touched on presentations in the last few articles.* This was done to give a starting point to the core subject of the blog: marketing with Web2.0 techniques. One of the first steps is to take existing material, first I will start with a presentation, which will be cut and modified to fit Web2.0 format. Doing this in real life is probably the best way to get started. With Web2.0 most of the tools are easy to get started with. Blogs, wikis, social networking, personal pages, and resource linking is available in many shapes and flavors. The popular services and tools also have million of examples. If you are not familiar with these, I would suggest that you go and get familiar. The best way is to actually sign up for these services and get your own "page" or "listing" started. Writing a blog or developing a wiki takes lots of work. Writing the content may actually be the simplest of the parts. If you write and create presentations on a regular basis this is not going to be your hardest task. But even if you write regularly, you will find out quickly that Web2.0 is essentially an "infinite resource". You can write, draw, sing, play, link-to, communicate... as much as you want. This means that you need to focus on exactly what you need to communicate. Work out a strategy and tactics to develop an ongoing program. Than roll up your sleeves and make it happen.

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Whatever method works for you, my observation in people who started with Web2.0 tools can be successful in doing one of these:
• Just Do IT: simply go to an application and start it up.
• Learn and explore: pick one or more application, sign-up, but just look and learn.
• Buy the book, take a class, do the tutorial: this helps for some who need that first push.
• Get a tutor / guide: sit with someone and go through the basic steps: this always helps get over the "fear of starting"
• Get into a group: start commenting on a blog before you have one, add a page to a wiki in an area of your expertise, get invited into Linked-In by a friend, etc.

Web2.0 Tag Cloud - already too many tools and services...

Whatever your "style" I would suggest a few things to get you organized. Simply start thinking as if you are already in the groove and going.

• This means gather the material that you need, get your plan started, outline actual articles or even edit existing material to fit into the format you will need.
• If you work with schedules: deadlines and milestones, start sketching out your work.
• If you like organizing in a project format, make this an active project with all the related documentation and tasks involved.
• If you are in a corporate or government environment and you need to do more formal planning, write a proposal, and solicit agreement to secure resources (funding, headcount, equipment) than go ahead and start there. Whatever method works for you, get started.

Web2.0 is not just an experiment or a technology fad. Actually, it is a huge trend in the use of the Internet. Tim O'Reilly actually coined the term by observing how things were developing in the real world and than crafting a theory around the "outside world" of core computer development world. This type of observation is not a common way of doing things in the computer/Internet world. Until now, ideas, uses, products, essentially "technology" always came from the technologist world. The proverbial "young gun" / "hot shot" isolated "genius" crafting a new product in the form of a site. Essentially, Tim O'Reilly noticed that the "new web" enables users to be the real "content creators". Internet developers has hoped for this since the very beginning of the Web. But the applications and the technology did not develop as quickly as expected. But now, we - the marketing professionals as individuals and leaders of small organizations**, have the means to do what only large teams of programmers, editors, and web-masters.

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Thinking strategically about marketing with Web2.0

What that mean to technology marketers is the beginning of an opportunity to get in touch with a whole new market using new tools. First of all, since the technology and the behavior of the market is new we can track it and adjust our way of working as it is developed. Second, we can lead competitors and partners in innovating. Not the innovation that just comes from a new technology, but the innovation into areas which have stayed static. This includes: positioning, message, target market, packaging, and even pricing. Changing marketing strategy is not a strange concept when new form of marketing distribution channel. I call "marketing distribution channel" anything that is the method a marketing message connects a technologist to the market. The Internet has had at least two big innovations in "marketing distribution channels". The first came with e-Mail and early networking (pre-web era). This shift in general terms was not as visible as the next one, but in the technical world marketing with e-Mail, BBS, and News groups was nothing less than a revolution. Many companies gained a huge advantage over others with the early Internet technology. Just like the more popular Internet (i.e. web) technology change, the early technologies really separated the quick to adopt from the slow ones. The same happened with much bigger effect when the current Web technology hit. We all see how people buy books at Amazon, how Dell sells computers, and Yahoo provides e-Mail service. Web2.0 is just starting out, currently MySpace, Facebook, Linked-In, Blogger, WikiPedia, are getting lots of media attention. But in the business world, especially in technology marketing, these tools are not being used. But this will change, as these tools become more robust, reliable, and popular, their use will grow quickly. This is one good reason to think about Web2.0 as a strategic investment in marketing.

NEXT TIME: Industry examples from Web2.0 technology.

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*   If you need more information or training on creating and giving presentations take a look at blogs and books in this area. I believe that you can never give a "good enough" presentation. I also see that in the technical world, both technical and business people need more work in this area. This is specially true in creating presentation material. This area could use a whole blog series by itself.
** I call marketing small organizations because relatively to other corporate roles marketing is still mostly the smallest effort in MOST companies. Please excuse my generalization if this is not true for you or your organization.

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 !

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.

Basics: if there is "new media" / wikis / blogs...

than, what can we learn from "old media"? Printed brochures, advertising, trade shows, collateral for sales support, the work of many, still going on in most places. What about the other fields of marketing, market research, branding, positioning...? Should we emulate or improve on formats, lingo, style, approach, 'content', core & periphery subjects? Or should we go into this with a new approach? Well, this question is a lead-in for how to start transitioning traditional marketing to the "new media". There is a trend in new technology to develop new techniques and organization, and ignore the past. But there are still the core ideas, knowledge and uses that are simply fundamental communication of ideas. These are relevant to the 'new media' of the web.
I started looking at what there is of "old School" marketing and see what can be done, what makes sense to do, and finally, what people are already doing in terms of examples, success and just simple attempts (who seem to fall short). If you have any ideas or examples, please send them to me and I will incorporate them into the writing.

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In an article about product marketing in the Yet Another Software Blog Blog, Charles Zedlewski writes on enterprise software product marketing. He writes on the lack of organization, or better put "agreement" of what product marketers need to do for sales. This is not a new concern. The line between sales and marketing is continuously tested and moved. The roles are changing, you can see the changes by titles, some organizations have 'sales and marketing' departments and VPS. Some have only 'marketing', some only 'sales' and some both. Well, this does not help us, but it shows that there is confusion.
The issues that Zedlewski brings up are not at all new or unique. Deciding what marketing and sales will do is only the first step. Then an organization as a whole or in part (i.e. marketing) have to decide on the message and how to deliver it. That includes at least branding, positioning and training / delivery. In a whole, technical organizations seem to have an additional problem. For the most part, they do not hire professional or trained marketing staff. Because of the nature of the products, the marketing is usually done by technical people who have chosen to move from engineering disciplines into the business side. This makes the marketing weaker in terms of the fundamentals. Also, the management is usually very technologically or product driven, which means that the marketing side suffers. Well, enough with the gripes, lets look at each of these issues in turn and see if we can find examples of good results and attempts.

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To hunt, analyze and review marketing work from the software is not an easy task. I will start with setting a set of criteria based on what information is available. Then I will look at a few vendors and see what we have in terms of material. Then we will start the analysis. Until next time... /AmiV