Dave Balter, founder of BzzAgent, is spreading the word about his new book, Word of Mouth Manual Volume II by giving away free copies as PDFs.

I like it. This cat knows a ton about generating buzz and the book is a great read.

I'm interested in hearing how it drives sales of the printed book where he'll make coin. I'm sure he'll follow-up at some point.

Anyway, it's a great read. You can download it by clicking the [Download] button below, for free. Spread the word.

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article announcing the results of Yahoo's trial-run of Google's ad platform. The results? "Positive."

Despite Google's ad network having a smaller reach than Yahoo, Google's ads bring in "significantly" more money. Should a Google-Yahoo partnership shape up, that additional revenue could add up to $1 billion a year to Yahoo's coffers.

Granted, a partnership between the two search giants (Google's market share: 67%; Yahoo's market share: 20%; source: Hitwise) would likely be difficult impossible to get by regulators, it gives Yahoo more leverage against Microsoft's hostile takeover attempts. Redmond's April 7th ultimatum might hold a little less weight now that Google may be sniffing around. And even if they're not, Yahoo would probably be wise to play that card ;)

If a Google-Yahoo partnership were to emerge from this, what would that mean for your SEO/SEM campaigns? Would a singular entity in the market make it easier and cheaper to reach your audience? Would the new search behemoth be able to mold internet marketing practices to it's own terms, at the expense of current SEO techniques? Or is any merger/acquisition/partnership destined to fail simply because "GooHoo" is a ridiculous name?

Give me your thoughts in the comments.

I have long considered Ask.com to be the little search engine that could. They didn't have the legacy audience of Yahoo, the endless budget of MSN (or Live if you prefer), nor did they have the technology and overall popularity of Google. What they did have was an urge to innovate. Ask incorporated an all-in-one search format, binoculars to preview websites, a map system that in my opinion surpasses even Google Maps in terms of usability and neat features, and special current events callout boxes on results pages. All of this should have lead to an expanding user base. But there was a problem.

Ask's marketing strategy has been questionable for quite a while now. Ask used to be called Ask Jeeves. In early 2006 the Jeeves character "retired" perhaps in an attempt to shed the goofy cartoon image of a butler serving you search results. I thought the butler was a nice touch, but in any case. "The Algorithm" became the new marketing focus for Ask, which touted a new and intelligent system to produce search results for users. Billboards went up around the country, some of which drew the wrong kind of attention.

Invoking the name of someone like the Unabomber is perhaps not the best idea when advertising a website. Ask then put a series of TV commercials out, the most notorious two being focused on Kato Kaelin and "chicks with swords". The attempt to be wacky and memorable backfired as search discussion blogs exploded with negative reactions and Ask apologists were left "searching" for answers. For a search engine with less than 5% market share Ask seemed to be making bizarre decisions.

The most recent misstep was an Associated Press Announcement that Ask was firing 8% of their staff and was re-tooling to be a site tailored specifically to married women in the Southeast and Midwest. The next day Ask apparently refuted the claim and said they would not sacrifice general users to appeal to a specific subset. The main problem is that in this internet age news spreads like wildfire. I read the story of Ask's restructuring on more than 10 websites, but only found the supposed retraction on one. With all the buzz and discussion of the validity of these stories, Ask has produced no official position on their blog or in a press release. Even if the story was a mistake, the impact of a splashy headline all over the internet has done its damage.

If we can learn anything from the rocky marketing history of Ask it is that reputation management is of paramount importance on the net. With the constant rush of information users are presented with you might only get one chance to change someone's mind. Make it count.

Here's an interesting article by Brian Morrissey of Adweek about a recent TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony survey suggesting that clients don't feel agencies quite get social media.

A particularly interesting snippet:

"Clients complained that their agencies -- creative, media, public relations, design and others -- typically treat social channels like blogs as traditional media."

 My quick two cents, literally:

1. True communication and true relationships are as much about listening as speaking. The voice social media gives consumers is exactly what separates it from "tradtional media."
2. At the end of the day, the power of social media lies in the same constant champion of marketing: word of mouth. Social media allows word of mouth to spread farther and quicker than ever before. Of course, negative word of mouth enjoys the same benefits.

By 10:00 tonight the survey and corresponding articles had made their rounds through the blogosphere. I couldn't help but wonder who was listening, and who was missing the conversation.

On May 12, the new 42-cent rate for first class mail will go into effect (up a penny from our current 41 cent rate). Last year the USPS introduced the "Forever Stamp" - a clever little idea that lets you lock in the value of the stamp for a lifetime. Let's say you have an annual mailing scheduled in June - you could invest in your postage now, at the 41 cent rate, and save the 1 cent per stamp when you mail later in June. And ten years from now, when postage has gone up even more, your 41 cent investment will still get your letter mailed - a great idea for direct marketers who can enjoy cost savings by planning ahead.

But what about the rest of us who don't necessarily know when our next mail drop will be, what quantities we'll be mailing too, or if we have room in the budget to purchase mass amounts of postage in advance? Why not consider incorporating web-based marketing into the mix, if you haven't already.

There are a number of advantages to using email as your medium of choice for getting your message out - cost being one of them.  Your message can go out for as little as a penny per person, saving you postage and printing costs...both of which can be quite substantial. In addition to cost savings, you can leverage the immediacy of the web and get your messages out almost instantly. And with the right tools in place, you can view open rates, bounce rates, unsubscribe rates, etc. in virtual time.

But keep in mind; just as we face the problem of being deemed "junk" mail in the world of direct mail, we face the problem of being deemed SPAM in the world of email. The difference is that we're working in a medium that is interactive and allows us to obtain almost instant feedback from potential and current customers. We can find out exactly what it is that interests our prospects and customers, and then send them information and messages related only to their wants and needs. Opt-in and permission based marketing enable you to get the right message to the right audience...so you can take the term "targeted marketing" to the next level.

So the next time you go to print a 4 page newsletter, fold it, insert it into an envelope and apply postage, consider the alternative. It could save you time, money and a whole lotta heartache.

Brad is a human barometer for what is hip and happening in the social sphere of the net. I’ve waded through a slew of theories on where he draws this knowledge, and after careful analysis have discovered the source of his wisdom: a perpetually swaying, solar-powered, plastic plant residing on his desk. (It’s cool Brad, your secret’s safe with me.) I believe he acquired this mystical object from a highly advanced robot, who traces its genealogy to Voltron, during Brad’s time in Japan, but I digress…

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve routinely watched in amazement as a small grey box popped up on his computer screen notifying him of a new email in his Gmail box; each time he’s patiently re-explained to me the concept of Gmail notifier. Well this week I finally installed Gmail Notifier, and being the overachiever I am, went a step further and explored another Brad recommendation: Google Reader.

(For those keeping track, yes I just jumped from Gmail to Google Reader, and yes, there’s little correlation. I draw my inspiration from years of watching the Simpsons.)

I’ve been familiar with RSS feeds for awhile, mostly through customizing my homepage with feeds from favorite news sites. Reader, however, opened my eyes to the possibilities of RSS. Let me give you one example:

So there’s this guy named Craig, and he runs a series of digital community message boards; for some reasons he calls them his “lists.” Anyways, I often check the “computer gigs” section for potential projects, and I’d check in Baltimore list, the DC list, the Philly list and sometimes even the Peru list. (Hey, wouldn’t you like to sell a website to Machu Picchu?) I’d check each city’s list and scour through the posted project requests, trying to recall which ones I’d already read. And when I was done, a whole world posted new projects that I wouldn’t find until I repeated my routine the following day.

But with Reader, I could subscribe to each city’s “computer gigs” section and every new posted project came directly to me! No more need to jump from city list to city list. No more confusion over what was new. No more missing posts overnight. After plugging in a Firefox add-on, my browser would even automatically keep an eye on Reader for me. So I went from setting a daily reminder to check 10+ sites, to a tiny icon in the corner of my browser window telling me how many posts awaited me. In real-time.

Reader also opened my eyes to a challenge though. Feeds can be read directly in Reader, freeing one from having to actually go to the author’s website; more importantly, freeing one from having to actually read the product, pitch or advertisement on the author’s website. Some feeds only show the headline of a post, and some teaser lines, requiring one to go to the actual site to read the rest. Even so, it’s still allowing the masses in search of instant gratification to scan a site’s content without having to actually jump in.

What if Google mimics the business model of Apps and Gmail, and starts posting its own ads on Reader's interface. [spooky music] Would Google then be profiting off of others content? No I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat, why do you ask?

A few feeds attach advertisements within the feeds themselves, and thus the internet evolves. (Pssssst….we can do that for you!)

My mind being completely overwhelmed with the long term ramifications and endless new found possibilities of RSS feeds (yes I know this is so 2005), I’ve spent the week pacing by Brad’s desk stammering about how my world is forever changed.

Sorry for the interruptions Brad. There is a solution though: you could just give me the plant.

Interactive Marketing Trends

We’re seeing shift from simple lead generation to lead scoring and nurturing through automated touch points and analytics.

Basic lead generation has been around for years where websites ask visitors to complete a form to get something – whether it be an estimate or a white paper or free widget. As marketing teams have become more effective at these techniques and have generated, in some cases, floods of leads for their sales forces, a need for better qualification has been identified. Enter Lead Scoring and Nurturing.

With a planned strategy of multiple touch points and scoring based on user response, leading marketing teams are now providing automated nurturing through “drip campaigns.” These types of campaigns offer periodic follow-ups such as email offers to keep the prospect engaged and to further them along on the sales cycle, all the while tracking their every email open and website click. All of these actions are scored until a threshold is reached where a lead assignment rule kicks-in and sends that prospect’s relevant information to the appropriate sales team member. This reduces the number of tire kickers who make it to a busy sales team member.

For example, if Mary is in the market for a home theater system she may Google [home theater system] and click on one of the search results taking her to a home entertainment franchise website. On that site is a white paper comparing that year’s brands and models and to get it, Mary supplies her email address to have it mailed to her. She’s officially a prospect at that point with a score of -- let’s say 10. Mary gets the PDF and reads through most of it, only to be interrupted by her dog who wants to play in the park.

One week later an automated email is sent to Mary offering an online review of a new great system. She opens the email (Add 10 points: Total 20), she visits the site (Add 15 points: Total 35) and reads the review. After reading that review, she decides she wants to hear some of these systems in person, so Mary does a Store Finder search for her area (add 25 points for store finder: 60 points total now) and gets the addresses of the stores closest to her. She also received an online offer for a 10% of coupon that she could download, which she took advantage of by providing her name and address (add 50 points for coupon download: 110 points total now + more complete prospect information).

That last action, where she downloaded the ecoupon, updated her prospect information to include her address and also triggered a lead assignment rule by surpassing a 100 point threshold that assigned her as a lead to the individual franchise location’s sales manager. That manager can then follow-up with more personalized messaging, such as store-specific offers, that are warranted due to Mary’s online interactions.

This type of lead scoring and nurturing is an automated way to help identify the best prospects based on their online activities while keeping people that are not far enough along in sales process from taking valuable sales team member time.

There is an unlimited number of options for programs like that, but more and more smart marketers are taking advantage of these techniques in both B2B and B2C environments.