Welcome to The NextStage Irregular #1
(published 22 Feb 08).
Howdy,
Yes, here it is, The NextStage Irregular #1 (published 22 Feb 08). It got delayed because MarketingSherpa wanted some exclusivity on the content.
First, thanks for subscribing or thanks to whomever sent this on to you.
Second, this issue deals with why I started a newsletter, some answers to subscriber questions, Ms. Manli Chen and why people wanting to do US-China marketing may want to talk to her, FindMeFaster CEO Matt Van Wagner's Blog Bullpoop Meter (Matt has a different name for it), questions I have for subscribers, what I'll be looking at next and way at the end of this newsletter where I'll be when.
Housekeeping: Unsubscribe here or Subscribe here
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Why I started this newsletter: Oh, you wanted to start with the ramble first? Okay, fair enough...
There are lots of reasons. It's an experiment (what isn't with me, yes?). It's an opportunity to establish dialogues (I hope) with people whom I've met (many have Linked to me) and haven't been able to stay in as close contact with as I'd like.
<Ramble>
I was talking to a subscriber recently, an avid FaceBook user. The number of things I use to get from this person via FaceBook was amazing. I commented that I hadn't been FaceBooked in a while and they offered that they stopped using it. Too cumbersome, too much of a time suck. I had to chuckle. This change in social platform came within a few days of their job responsibilities changing, ala Social media & consumer preference.
</Ramble>
Pinning it down to the minutest sphere possible at this point in time, I'm going through lots of changes right now, professionally and personally. I'm questing. I find the research I do incredibly fascinating and I've learned that others are fascinated by it, as well. Why not document it through an email newsletter?
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Subscriber Questions: Several subscribers wanted to know why this rather than a blog. Fascinating question, that. How many of you know I have a blog (BizMediaScience)? I don't do a very good job of marketing that blog or myself, I know. Amusingly, I don't think of this newsletter as a marketing channel. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think what I have to share is worth sharing. Even more amusing (to me, anyway) is how well I fit the Holmesian archetype I describe in several papers based on our research (Bloggers, influence and your brand is probably the most relevant to this discussion); I have deep knowledge of a narrow field and prefer social interactions that are "at a much richer, more personal level" (Mr. Engineer? Facebook is on line 1). So I chose this because I believe it to be more personal and richer. At least on my side.
Another set of questions dealt with whether or not I'd be providing some insights into newsletter design in regards to analytics. Not sure if I will or not and only because "analytics" means many different things to many different people.
My study of email newsletters goes back to the start of NextStage (2001) and spread out to receiving (at one point) about 1,400 newsletters per quarter. We created iconographic masks of these and watched how people responded to them in a variety of tests. From there we isolated six basic designs that worked very well at causing subscribers to respond as the newsletter author desired. We then correlated this data against what we were learning about social networks to determine if any basic rules applied across paradigms (there are some that do, yes).
Not sure if that's "analytics" or not, though.
 This newsletter, for example, closely follows iconographic mask #5 shown on the right. It doesn't employ all the M5 elements as documented in our research, only those that are specific to "TouchPoint" style newsletters, the closest type of newsletter we studied to this newsletter's purpose (staying in touch with people). You can also read a little about the research on AllBusiness.com. There's a link at the bottom of this newsletter if you want to purchase the whole report (48 pages, 42 images, 96 references, 14 Major Take-Aways and 5 Specific Findings dealing with the number and placement of links, distribution frequency, urgency, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, authority and influence).
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Manli Chen, a young woman I've been talking with, is looking for a marketing/consulting position in business development that fully leverages her 10+ years of successful experience in marketing, research and management in both the U.S. and China. You can learn more about Ms. Chen on JobFox or LinkedIn.
As an added enticement, Ms. Chen knows the best golf courses in China and has government connections. Never asked her if she played. Golf.
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FindMeFaster CEO Matt Van Wagner has asked me to build him a Blog Bull...poop... Meter. I'll leave it to you to figure out Matt's exact verbiage. Those who know me are probably wondering why I didn't use Matt's exact verbiage.
Matt's Blog Bullpoop Meter will use NextStage's Evolution Technology to determine if a given blog entry is full of...umm...poop or not. Specifically, Matt will be using NextStage technology to determine if the author of a given post believes in what they've written, if the author trusts their own material or is uncomfortable with it. In short, does the author (at a deep psychological level) think they're...you get the idea.
 At least that's what I'm thinking for right now. We're already monitoring some blogs to determine if the readers believe the blog author is trustworthy and knowledgeable or not and helping the authors modify their communication styles accordingly. People reading my BizMediaScience blog, for example, trust what I've written by over 2:1. I think the rest prefer newsletters (laugh, darnit!).
Matt invites you to contact him directly (603 557-7504) if you want your or another's blog evaluated by his Bullpoop Meter.
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Questions to Subscribers: Two of them, anyway.
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Research: Now that I'm semi-retired I'm finding time to go through old research we haven't written up yet, consider new research, the usual things one does when there's not enough wind to fly my kites and I'm bored.
Some of you know about our blogging research and how well that's been received. This newsletter comes from some of our email newsletter research (also well received). I'm considering several areas of research for 2008 and would love feedback on where to focus my efforts. Mind you, I'm looking for companies or people to partner with me on these things. I've had it with self-funding for a while.
Areas under consideration:
- Can you design content so that an individual responds as if they've been physically touched? It seems there might be a way to do it. Not only is Big Brother watching, he's tapping you on the shoulder while you're browsing the web.
- Is there a maximum social distance two people can be from each other to have minimal social contact? Is there a minimal social distance required to establish contact?
- How to layout action items on a screen to maximize clickthrough on websites that will be used by both asian and american visitors.
- How to optimize marketing material for visual searches. In case you're not sure, this means figuring out how to put things on a screen so they'll definitely be seen and acted upon.
- Is it possible to predict a company's success based on certain specific "environmental" factors? (When econometrics first came out people thought it was a joke. Now it's being taken more seriously...as it always should have been...neener neener neener).
- How to get people to donate more online (as in charitable contributions, like to political campaigns)
- How to convey trustworthiness in virtual worlds.
- Designing marketing material to avoid response/action confusion - You know what you want people to do when they interact with your marketing material. How do you a) get them to know what you want them to do and b) to do it? One method may be designing material so that response/action confusion is minimized.
- How far can the wisdom of crowds/social networks be trusted?
- Qualitative and Quantitative differences between those that act and those that don't (a multisite study to determine meta-factors)
- Causing people to remember positive even when their memory is negative in marketing (in other words, un-debranding them)
I'm also open to taking on research you or your company needs done. Email or call (603 577 4575) if there's something you need tested, researched or explored.
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Where Will I Be When?
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