Opinions And Ramblings By Adam Kmiec On All Things Media

As marketers we have so much to be thankful for.  There are so many tools out there that make our lives easier.  I’ve been in the interactive space since before the dot-com boom and I can tell you that it’s so much easier today to do my job.  There was a time, around 1997, when someone would ask for a website and we’d counter with a request for a $1,000,000.  This wasn’t a case of over-charging; we just didn’t know any better.  Unlike TV, Print, and Direct we didn’t have the benefit of years of historical data/projects to rely on.  Things were so new.

Fast forward to today.  It’s such a different world.  We have the benefit of 10 –  15 years of history to rely on. We can look at and learn from all the mistakes and successes.  Ok, well with all these great tools and all this experience to rely on, why are websites still so expensive?  Don’t get me wrong, some websites are just so fundamentally complex that they require a significant investment to execute.  For example ElfYourself, Nike.com, and TheBar.com.  These are sites that break the mold and are focused on providing a rich immersive experience.  But, the number of sites that need to do that are few and far between (when you consider the millions of sites on the web).

In my opinion you can boil every site on the web down to the following 3 categories:

• Search: These sites help you find things.  Google, YellowBook, and Facebook are great examples.
• Commerce: These sites are focused on transactions.  Amazon, eBay, and Buy are great examples.
• Content: These are sites primarily focused on providing information.  ESPN, WikiPedia, and the NY Times would be found in this category.

At the core building any of these types of sites is relatively easy.  It’s when we add on the “experience” layer that the costs escalate.  Amazon’s Window Shop site is a great example of providing an entertainment experience on top of a commerce site.

I see there being a true 80/20 rule in web site development.  80% of sites don’t need the experience layer and if you were to take an inventory of all the web sites on the internet you’d find that 80% (or more) fall into those 3 categories.  It’s that 80% I’m focused on in this post.  Ok, I’ve preached long enough, you deserve the “goods.”  So here you go.

Research
This is one area where significant progress has been made over the last 15 years.  It seems like every day there’s a new tool or site focused on making you smarter.  This is just a list of my favorites.

• Quantcast
• Compete
• Alexa
• Google Insights
• Google Trends
• Vitrue
• How Sociable
• Twitter Search

With all the information you can glean from the above tools, you’ll have a great idea about who people are on the web, what they’re doing, and to some degree what they’re seeing.

Analytics
The backbone of your site is going to be the metrics.  Without them you’ll never know if you’re making progress or meeting objectives.  You also won’t be able to tell how many people are visiting, who they are, and what they are doing on the site.  There’s a litany of web analytics offerings.  Some cost $1,000s of dollars and require “software” to be installed, which of course means you’ll be involving IT.  Did you just shudder when you read that?  Yeah, me too.  Here’s a list of FREE web analytics options.

• Google Analytics
• Quantcast
• AW Stats
• Webalizer
• W3Perl
• Piwik

My personal cocktail is one part Google Analytics and one part Quantcast.  With those two you get all the information you need to be successful.

Content Management
Great, you’ve the got the analytics sorted out, but now you need to start thinking about managing all the content you’re going to have on the site.  Lucky for you, there’s a bunch of options.

• Google Sites
• WordPress
• Expression Engine
• Plone
• Slash
• Drupal
• Joomla

I personally like WordPress for sites that are going to be primarily text and image driven.  This site is built on WordPress.  The WordPress community is enormous, allowing you to benefit tremendously from the innovation of others.  Wordpress also has a library of design themes to pick from; all are customizable to your liking.

Site Design
Let be clear, there really is no substitute for designing your site with the help of people that understand your brand’s DNA.  This is one of the major reasons agencies are leveraged.  From the art director to the designer, you’ll have a team of people to think about your brand and come up with the right blend of design and experience for your needs.

Ok with that out of the way, there are ways to design your site on the cheap.  If you didn’t want to use a CMS that leveraged themes, like WordPress you’re going to need a design for your site.  Honestly, there isn’t a better option than Template Monster.  From less than $100 to several $1000, you’ll have a variety of creative options to pick from.

Misc. Features
There are things you’re going to need/want beyond the research, measurement, CMS, and site design.  Here’s a list of common site content add-ons that are all free or damn close to it.

• YouTube – Video Hosting
• Blogger, TypePad, and WordPress – Blog Engine
• PBWiki – Wiki Content Enabling
• Yuku and Pro Boards – Message/Bulletin Boards
• Ning – Create Your Own Social Network
• Flickr and Picasa – Photo Hosting and Streaming
• Free CRM and Sales Force – Customer Relationship Management/eMail List and Distribution
• Mofuse – Develop Mobile Version of Your Site

I hope this helped.  You can be smarter, you don’t need to outspend, you can out think.  If you have things you think are worth adding to the list, please let me know.

SPECIAL NOTE: I don’t normally use the term Web 2.0.  I find it silly, unnecessary, unsophisticated, and irresponsible.  However, given that so many people have helped make it common day language, I thought it appropriate to include the terms in the title since many of my recommended solutions fall within the “web 2.0″ umbrella.

Where The Suckers Moon should be at the top of your list if you work in marketing and advertising.  This quote is so remarkably appropriate given the troubles plaguing the U.S. auto industry.

Subaru of America had learned the lesson of advertising. Advertising did not work by entertaining or assaulting the intellect of its audience, as the company’s previous agencies had believed. Nor did it work through subliminal manipulation, as so many Americans, ever on the lookout for conspiracies, misguidedly thought. Instead, advertising, as the great ad man Bruce Barton had acknowledged decades before, was “something big, something splendid, something which goes deep down into an institution and gets hold of the soul of it.” To succeed, advertising cannot seek to invent a new soul. Instead, it must reinforce and redirect the existing image. It must serve as a form of mythology, providing the corporation’s various and often competing constituencies – of which consumers are only one of many – heroes, villains, principles, rules of conduct and stories with which they can rally the faithful to remain true to the cause. Only then, with luck and effort, can they win new converts.

I haven’t been this fired up in weeks.  There’s a little shit storm brewing online (it’ll spew over into the offline world this week) because of this Motrin ad that appeared on the new Motrin web site:

To keep this simple, so that I don’t waste any more time than needed on a silly subject, the following happened:

• Motrin posted the above ad on their site
• Jessica (correct on 11/17) Gottlieb, who’s twitter profile states she’s “Easily outraged, often wrong, seldom apologetic” was asked to check out the new Motrin.com, which features the ad
• She, as you might imagine, was offended and decided to take some action via twitter
• People following her on twitter, like a lynch mob, grabbed their virtual pitchforks and demanded retribution; these moms got royally buggered by the ad (for the record my wife and mother of our child didn’t)
• They were buggered because they believe that slings are not an in-vogue fashion accessory

Yes, I’m serious…no really I am.

All the “experts” and “thought leaders” have started weighing in.

• David Armano
• Sarah Evans
• Peter Shankman
• And many others in the twitter-sphere.

Motrin capitulated, took their site down,and apologized to the 1% of moms (estimating here) that were buggered.  You can engaged with Motrin directly, via twitter, if you want to ad in your $0.02.

OK, so those are the facts, albeit with a little bit of ‘tude in the there.  This is so completely ridiculous.  As a dad, marketer,and interactive “thought leader” (I’m quoting someone here) I’m appalled, saddened, frightened, vindicated, and excited.  Let me address them one-by-one.

• Appalled: People have already started speculating on who will get fired.  Will it be the brand manager?  The CMO?  The agency?  It’s disgusting.  People always want to point a finger and look for someone to blame.  How about instead of trying to get people fired, we look for ways to constructively communicate with Motrin?  They’re on twitter?  It’s not like you can’t talk with them.
• Saddened: Motrin’s good intentions have gone to waste.  The 1% of hyper-connected opinion makers have potentially killed an ad that might connect really well for the other 99% of people in their target.  Surely, they tested the ad with ASI-IPSOS or a similar format.  Clearly it tested well.  If it didn’t you can bet no CMO worth their 18-month average tenure would have signed off on it.
• Frightened: When things like this happen, it makes it 1,000s of times tougher for agencies to convince brands that they need to take chances, try to connect with their base/community, open up a dialogue, and the obligatory leverage social media/web 2.0.  I’ll bet you there were no less than a dozen projects killed this morning in light of this blow up.
• Vindicated: This certainly proves the power of the web and social media.  It proves that twitter can be a tremendous force.  For all the people, brands, and clients that sometimes thought it was all rhetoric, well here’s your proof. Unfortunately, it proves the concept, but doesn’t make clients feel any more comfortable about investing in this area.
• Excited: I don’t want to share too much just yet.  However, this whole situation really supports the POV I wrote for The Project 100.  We all have a role to play in the community.  We all have a voice.  What we decide to do with that voice will ultimately determine how company’s choose to invest in the future.  When things like this happen because of how we used our voice, it makes companies less willing to create tools like Nike+.  After all, why take on the risk?  No sense it creating a conversation, is there?

Ads are designed to connect with the majority.  They are designed to connect with a certain target.  No one expects them to connect with every single person.  We’d love them to, but it never happens.  When they don’t connect, no one is more disappointed than then brand, because it affects their bottom line directly.  But, we, as a community NEED ads.

Do you realize that if companies stopped spending money on ads we wouldn’t have TV shows to watch, radio stations to listen to, websites to visit, or magazines to read.  Sure, there might be a few that exist because they’re government or publicly funded through donations.  But, for the most part you’d be left with little to no programming.  Yes, that’s an extreme point of view and one not likely to happen in the near future.  However, I think it puts a nice little exclamation point on my perspective.

I love the passion of these people that so ticked with Motrin.  I’d love to see it used to drive real change on real problems, like:

• Battered/abused women
• Healthcare coverage
• Newborn screening
• More maternity and paternity time off

The point of my post today is: remember that while you have a voice, you need to use it responsibly.  It’s really no different than having free speech, but then electing to yell out fire in a movie theater, when one doesn’t exist  It’s not only irresponsible, it’s illegal.