Technorati Subscription

Technorati is a blog search engine, one of the newest inventions due to the blog expansion. Technorati is a great tool where one can look up a certain term, whether it be the name of a product/company/person. This concept allows you to search the entire blogosphere to find out what everyone is saying about anything. I did a Technorati search with Caremark because I am interested about the different opinions people have about the company, and about their upcoming merger with CVS. I subscribed to this search on my bloglines, which will notify me updates when anyone, anywhere is saying something about Caremark. This is a link to my bloglines; the technorati search is all the way at the bottom: Bloglines-Caremark

Comments on Colette's Post

I recently read one of Colette's posts on an article she found about mainstream media. She talks about a woman named Penelope Trunk, and how she was holding an upcoming conference in New York City about the importance of blogging in the business world. I agree with Colette that conferences such as these are extremely important because blogging is becoming an almost neccesary business practice. Colette also notes about how Penelope is focusing on women bloggers. Not only are women gaining more high-level exectuive positions in the workplace, I believe the fact that women tend to be more emotional creatures and can easily express their feelings only helps the quality of their blogs.

If there is anything this class has taught me, its that the world of marketing changes so quickly, and it is important to stay on top of your game. I think blogging is an excellent way for companies and their employees to stay on top of their game and market themselves to the consumers. Having the ability to control what you say and not leave it up to misinterpretation by a bunch of journalists is a great advantage that must be taken seriously.
Here is a link to the post: Colette's Post

Interesting Article from Required List

I recently read an article I found off my Bloglines Scobleizer. The article is about what has became a widely proclaimed practice of advertising on the different search engines. It is obvious that all companies exist with the interest of making money,and advertising seems to be one of the best ways to rake in the money.

However this article takes a new spin on things, and talks about Google's new position to actually decrease the amount of advertising it displays. At first glance this idea would seem completely contrary to normal business practices, but there is some reason behind this idea. Google has the idea that although diminshing ads would reduce short term revenue, the existence of less ads will intrigue the viewing audience and actually lead to more ad revenue in the future.

I actually 100% agree with Google's belief. I definitely think that when a company (search engine in particular) has ads just covering every inch, everything looks cluttered and I certainly do not pay attention to any of it. This result is obviously not the one that advertisers are looking to see. But if there are less ads, one would think that is because these are the "better ads" coming from "better companies". One point brought up in the article is the relevance of the advertisement to the content of the search, and personally I think this is just as, if not more, important than the number of ads that appear. Personally I think the ideal advertising situation would be between 1 and 4 advertisements appearing, all which have relevance to the searched topic. I do believe this is the wave of the future. If anyone would like to go check out the article: Adv Article

In class this week, we talked about the different ways of identifying good consumer markets. There are many different forms of web analytics that companies can use to segment markets and identify who they're target should be, and how to appeal to their particular target market. One very useful tool mentioned was the VALS survey, which stands for the Values And Lifestyles Survey. By identifying people based on their values and lifestyles a seller of a product/service can get a good idea on what different people look for in life in general, and translate that to a different product/service. For example, one of the categories is an innovator - this information would be very useful to companies that provide a completely new product or idea because "innovators" would be more likely to purchase this product because it goes along with their way of thinking.

I took the VALS survey given by SRI Consulting Business Intelligence - VALS survey. The survey consisted of about 20-25 questions that had scaled answers such as mostly disagree, somewhat disagree, somewhat agree, and mostly agree. After completing the survey I found out my primary value was that I am an Experiencer, and my secondary is that I am an Innovator. I searched a little further for a more in-depth definition of what these term means. I found out that Experiencers are motivated by self-expression, and desire social or physical activity, variety and risk. They say their energy finds an outlet in exercise, sports, outdoor recreation, and social activities. Experiencers are avid consumers and spend a comparatively high proportion of their income on fashion, entertainment, and socializing.

I would say that this interpretation is fairly accurate. I do enjoy new, exciting, and somewhat risky new things. This information would be useful to a company trying to sell a new exciting experience, because I would most likely be interested, even if I do not end up purchasing their service. One important thing to keep in mind is that these are generalizations, and although they make it easier for sellers to classify people and have a better chance at making a sale, nothing is a guarantee. Overall I would say the VALS survey is a very good way of differentiating consumers.

My Wikipedia Creation

Today I went to Wikipedia in hopes of creating a new profile for Biolage. Biolage is a haircare company that was not previously stored in the Wikipedia database. I was definitely nervous about how difficult it might be to create a whole new page, but it was relatively easy. After your search does not have any results, Wikipedia provides you with the option of creating an article for this topic yourself. After a few short steps, I had created my first article.

I believed it was important for their to be an article about Biolage. For those who do not know what Biolage is, its an extension line off of Matrix, which is a better known and historical company. Biolage is a newer brand, and being a personal Biolage user, I know that this is a great product. Biolage has made themselves stand out among the fierce haircare market that includes numerous competitors by providing a new way to view haircare; biolage stresses the spa-like therapeutic aspect of haircare unlike its competitors. For those of you who would like to view my creation: Biolage
I look forward to adding more to my article in the future.

Reaction to ClickZ Article

I recently read an article on the ClickZ blog that discussed the increasing trend of marketers using social networking sites. In the recent years the Internet has become an integral part of marketing since it allows enumerable different opportunities. Focusing more closely on this topic, one can find the widespread use of blogs and their success in marketing campaigns. In fact if this is not the central topic of my BUAD 477 class, it is at least the permeating theme. Social networks in particular are fountains of information to different brands/companies about consumer's feelings and attitudes towards their product or service.

The interesting thing the article focused on is the shift from companies not only accessing these social networks to retrieve useful information, but actually establishing a profile for the company itself. This new technique looks to have even greater potential because companies do not have to worry about searching for opinions on certain topics that may not even be available. Instead the company itself can pose a question, and can have its build-in audience of social networking users answer their pinpointed question. The example of Hillary Clinton and her question about healthcare is an excellent example of the beauty of this concept. She got in excess of 30,000 responses to her inquiry.

I have also heard of different "companies" such as up and coming music bands getting their name out there by using a social network such as MySpace. These sites can provide great exposure with wide customer bases due to the popularity of social networks, and they can ensure a company control over the information they put out there and directed responses from their own inquiries. I think this concept will turn into a new trend used by companies who are continuously tweaking their marketing efforts to get the best possible results.

Un' altra Wikipedia Edit

Another edit I did was for my article on Febreeze. There is a section on new product line expansion, however there is nothing about one of their newest ideas which is Febreeze Antimicrobial. This product I have seen take off within the air freshener arena and has had more popularity than the regular Febreeze product. For these reasons I thought it was essential to include this little tidbit in the product line section. It was an extremely successful marketing venture. Again here is a link to my edit: Febreeze edit

Another Wikipedia Edit

I recently edited one of the articles I am watching on wikipedia. This article was one about Study Abroad. Study Abroad is one of the most interesting topics, especially for college students. They are becoming ever more popular, especially in recent years. The Wikipedia article does contain information on the origins of Study Abroad at the University of Delaware - one reason I believe it is of even more interest to me. However one fact I thought would signify the substantial growth of Study Abroad was including the recent number of study abroad programs currently underway at the University that started it all. If anyone would like to go check it out: Study Abroad

Class Aftermath

This past Wednesday, February 28th, we had class and talked about some of the deleterious aspects of the internet, and the difficulty in trying to control these behaviors. Two main industries we discussed were the porn industry and the gambling industry, which both have thrived and propsered ever since the popularity of the Internet increased. We also discussed many different types of Internet fraud such as click fraud, the Nigerian scam, and phishing. Unfortunately, these harmful aspects of the Internet prove to be a strong deterrent for people who claim they don't trust the Internet, and do not allow them to experience the joys the Internet has to offer as well. I think we are in need of some stronger regulatory force that offers a clear-cut version on what the law is and enforces this law against these illegal/immoral activites. The fact that there is a question of jurisdiction - whether it be to the customer, business, servers - shows a lack of accountability for any wrongdoing and leads to everyone getting off "scott-free". I know there has been research into what type of body or set of laws is necessary, but I definitely believe there needs to be a bigger push for it. I found this article which talks about GPI, a software company that is coming out with new software to combat the growing problem of phishing: Anti-phishing article