Video blogging is another of the social media tools we get questions about.  “Does it really work?” clients ask.  “Can it make a difference to our corporate bottom line?” And so on.

As I am fond of saying, one good example is worth a thousand blog posts. Before reading on, open up a second browser and point it to www.winelibrary.tv.  Once there, be prepared for what Jeff Jarvis (author of What Would Google Do?) calls “a jet engine in your face”. “This blast of personality is Gary Vaynerchuk. He is a 32 year-old merchant who has made more than 800 daily wine-tasting shows online – just him, his glass and a spit bucket,” says Jarvis. These are all simply made, easily uploaded, video blog posts.

In doing so, Gary took his New Jersey-based family liquor business from $4 million in revenues just a few years ago to over $60 million a year today.  I guess that answers the question I started the post with. These regular video blogs that cost next to nothing to create enjoy a daily audience of 80,000.  As Jeff Jarvis points out, this has not only created explosive growth but is also “transforming retail and making it social”.  Gary calls himself the “the social media sommelier”. Social business, he says, is the future of our society.

 How can you make your business social? How can you leverage all these amazing tools we have at our fingertips to engage your customers and prospects?  Please share your comments, thoughts or questions right here.

One of the ways we make our clients’ lives easier is by reading and studying the latest marketing trends and then synthesizing them into actionable strategies and tactics. This way, we can help our clients keep up with the massive amount of information flying their way.  In fairness to my partners at AR, they often do come up with original thinking and ideas.  For me,  it only happens once in a very long while.  Most of the time I gather the best practices and strategies out there and tweak them so our clients can apply them to their businesses and industries.  It’s a win/win – they get a medley of the best that is available and I don’t have to over-tax my brain.

To this end, over the next few months I will be sharing some insights I’ve been gleaning from some leading thinkers and writers on marketing and social media/networking.

The first book I want to talk about is What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis, which I read (actually listened to, courtesy of Audible.com) over the holidays.  It will definitely influence some of our marketing strategies for clients in 2010.  To make life really easy (which is what the Internet is all about), before starting to discuss it, here is an excellent summary you can peruse to familiarize yourself with it.

Please share your thoughts once you’ve had a chance to check out the summary.

As entertaining as some marketing communications are, what it all comes down to is whether or not they compel the reader, viewer, or listener to take action.

People take action as a way of meeting their most basic emotional needs. People decide with their feelings and then rationalize their decisions with the facts. If you can match your offer with their needs, you’ll get better results. For example:

People want to belong – Show them that other people, just like them, have taken the same action that you’re asking them to take. Use testimonials, case studies, or stories.

People want to escape pain – Put them in touch with the pain that will continue and worsen if they fail to take action.

People want to experience pleasure – Paint a colourful picture of the benefits and positive feelings waiting for them once they take action.

People want to feel financially secure – Offer a financial incentive to act now, such as a time-limited discount or bonus offer.

Depending on your product or service, you may also want to align your message with people’s needs for fame and fortune, increased wealth, or health and happiness. The inducement will differ with each offer you present, but the result should always be the same: Measurable response with every communication.

The most important success factor when deploying online marketing tactics is to make sure they’re optimized to meet your business objectives. To do that, you need to employ industry best practices. It was in search of these best practices that we recently went to California to complete one of the online world’s leading certification programs, put on by the renowned team at Marketing Experiments (www.marketingexperiments.com).

Guess what? We passed! That means we’re now certified to help you increase the conversions related to the full range of your Web tactics and translate that into measurable response (whether you’re trying to fill your prospecting pipeline, expand your online lists, or make sales).

To get a flavour of the depth of research available through Marketing Experiments, and the leading brands they work with, we suggest you visit their site at www.marketingexperiments.com. We know budgets are tight right now, but you’d be surprised at how cost-effective these tactics are. Consider this: the New York Times used the Marketing Experiments methodology to increase sale conversion by 1,052%. Seriously.

If you weren’t able to join us for our teleseminar earlier today, we’ve got great news for you: We recorded it and have made it available online. To listen in, click here.

In this teleseminar, we cover the convergence point of technology, communications and marketing. But there’s only so much you can discuss in one teleseminar, of course! So we’ll be picking up our microphone again soon - and regularly thereafter - to talk about the topics that matter to you and your business.

Your turn: So what topics do you want to hear us discuss in future teleseminars and podcasts? You ask…we’ll deliver.

We are often approached to share our thoughts on leading edge technology and its impact on business. The results appear fairly regularly in mainstream media and trade publications, as well as electronic and online media across Canada. (See our Insight & Commentary page for a few past links.)

The Globe and Mail is running an article we wrote that shares additional insight into the top technology trends for small and mid-sized businesses in 2008:

Business technology trends to watch in 2008

Oh, while you’re learning all there is to know about the technologies to watch, click on over here to reserve your spot for even more insight and wisdom. We’re excited about our new Technology Market Advisory offering and we hope you will be, too. We’re kicking things off with a complimentary teleseminar on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. Drop by, virtually, and you might win a decidedly real iPod. Click here for more.