I’ve had a few conversations recently about neo-marketing, an emerging way to communicate between businesses and people (or people and people, businesses and businesses, anyone really). I even twisted it to apply to emerging churches.
After one of these conversations I put together a list of useful neo-marketing online resources. Well, strictly they are really resources about a modern approach to business, as well as marketing, customer service and a lot of other things. I’m a generous sort of chap, so here it is.
Signal vs. Noise by 37signals: http://blogcabin.37signals.com/posts/
37signals were a website design and development company which brought out a couple of their own online applications which have caused a storm on the web due to their ease of use and power. In particular their Basecamp project management system (http://basecamphq.com/) has revolutionised the way many which are deeply involved in the web companies work.
They have a knack of writing good medium length articles about all sorts of things. Plenty of example from other businesses about good (and bad) ways to operate:
- The customer doesn’t care whose fault it is: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1058-the-customer-doesnt-care-whose-fault-it-is
- Will your next meeting pass the “blizzard goggles” test: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1056-will-your-next-meeting-pass-the-blizzard-goggles-test
- How do you say no? http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1050-ask-37signals-how-do-you-say-no
They also link to some great articles, videos and other resources:
- Why Zappos pays it’s new employees to leave: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1065-bill-taylor-visits-37signals
- Saving small: a company restoring old houses: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1049-saving-small
And they also have regular spots highlighting different things:
- “Screens around town”, screenshots of really great design in software: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1054-screens-around-town-apple-friendfeed-and-borders
- Product blog update, where they talk about the latest changes to their products: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1051-product-blog-update
All these examples are from just the (sometime in June) front page of their blog, and the archives are full of fantastic things.
Creating passionate users by Kathy Sierra: http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/
Kathy is a very well respected author and blogger with a huge range of great articles discussing many aspects of marketing, design, development and customer service. Here’s just a handful of the articles from her:
- How to be an expert: http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/03/how_to_be_an_ex.html
- You are a marketer: http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/08/you_are_a_marke.html
- How to build a user community: http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/12/how_to_build_a_.html
- Marketing should be like a good lover: http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/08/geek_marketing_.html
It’s important to note Kathy isn’t blogging any more, however she’s still active as a speaker and author.
Gapingvoid by Hugh Macleod: http://www.gapingvoid.com/
Hugh is a very well known Scottish cartoonish and marketer, with a particular style both of drawing and writing. Over the last year or so he’s been involved deeply in what has become known as the Blue Monster movement – based on this cartoon which he drew:
On the back of that he’s done work with Microsoft trying to break them out of their age-old marketing quagmire. He’s also involved in a wine company and a Savile Row tailors. But the best thing about Hugh is he’s got a fantastic understanding of what’s wrong with traditional PR, and how the tide is turning:
- What is this new marketing stuff: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/004377.html
- How to be creative: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000932.html
- Free cartoons as social objects: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/004543.html
- Finding meaning in marketing: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/004397.html
Church of the customer by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba: http://www.churchofthecustomer.com/
This isn’t one I read regularly, but there’s some good stuff on it anyway:
- Remodelling customer surveys: http://www.churchofthecustomer.com/blog/2008/05/keeping-surveys.html
- Women and word of mouth: http://www.churchofthecustomer.com/blog/2008/05/5-things-you-ne.html
- Weighty marketing: http://www.churchofthecustomer.com/blog/2008/01/weighty-marketi.html
Global neighbourhoods by Shel Israel: http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/ * please see the note below this entry
Shel is an old-school marketer who has really “got” the Internet. Together with Robert Scoble (probably the most famous blogger in the world) he wrote a book called Naked Conversations (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Naked-Conversations-Changing-Businesses-Customers/dp/047174719X) which charts how blogs are changing the face of business. “Global Neighbourhoods” is the name of their follow-up book. If you want some good offline reading you could do a lot worse than buy these.
Shel is fundamentally a business marketer, and he has written some fantastic articles:
- Love thy competitor: http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2007/04/love_thy_compet.html
- Viral vs. Conversational marketing: http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2006/09/yossi_vardi.html
Important note: some of the things in this section are factually incorrect. Shel has kindly pointed out the error of my ways in this comment, and for that I thank him. Sorry for not doing my research properly, or indeed paying as much attention as I should!
Shotgun marketing by Chris Houchens: http://shotgunconcepts.blogspot.com/
Chris is a widely known marketing expert with a particular focus on web interactions. Here are some useful recent articles:
- Results rather than message: http://shotgunconcepts.blogspot.com/2008/03/results-rather-than-messages.html
- Customer misservice: http://shotgunconcepts.blogspot.com/2008/02/customer-misservice.html
Horsepigcow by Tara Hunt: http://www.horsepigcow.com/
Horsepigcow is a blend of observations on online marketing, links to the “happening” things on the web and general observations about web business. Not every article will be of use for businesspeople, but she has written some great stuff:
- Tweeting for companies: http://www.horsepigcow.com/2008/04/21/tweeting-for-companies-101/ (Twitter is a website that lets you publish short messages, and allows people to get notified of those messages. Think of it like global text messaging.)
- Heroes don’t work alone: http://www.horsepigcow.com/2008/04/02/heroes-dont-work-alone/
- Social capital: http://www.horsepigcow.com/2008/02/23/social-capital-and-the-influence-of-social-networks/ (I responded to this on my website: https://www.stillbreathing.co.uk/blog/2008/04/06/web-capital-social-capital/)
Extra links:
Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds: http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/
Garr is a fantastic presenter, and on his blog he talks about how to make presentations better, and also has lots of example from some of the worlds foremost speakers.
Recommended reading by Hugh Macleod: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/002039.html
Hugh lists the blogs you should be reading.
