H&I Web 2.0

Highlands and Islands Enterprise

International Marketing and Web 2.0

Author: Alan Stevenson and Dr. Jim Hamill

March, 2009

Welcome

This Highlands and Islands Enterprise seminar has been developed to help you take advantage of the opportunities for internationalisation presented by ICT and the Internet - from a ‘customer led’ perspective and taking into account the opportunities presented by Web 2.0

Your Presenters:

Alan Stevenson/ Jim Hamill

Internationalisation and the Internet

SMEs face a number of barriers or obstacles when going international

Used effectively, the Internet can help to over come these barriers

Used effectively, the internet provides a powerful, low cost ‘gateway’ to global markets

Exciting new opportunities are emerging with the growth of Web 2.0

Internationalisation and the Internet

• But success in a Web 2.0 environment requires new ‘mindsets’ and new approaches to business strategy development and international marketing

• Marketing as a conversation with your customers; as a conversation with your network

‘The times they are a changing’

Come gather 'round peopleWherever you roamAnd don’t criticise

What you can't understandYour sons and your daughters

Are beyond your commandYour old road is

Rapidly agin‘Then you better start swimmin’

Or you'll sink like a stoneFor the times they are a-changin’

Bob Dylan

Workshop Content

• An Overview of Web 2.0 – what is it?

• Web 2.0 in Action - examples

• Web 2.0 and Your Business - practical advice

• Next Steps: Web 2.0 strategy development and implementation

Questions and Comments

Don’t bother because we don’t really care if you have any questions, what your

opinion is or what you think; if you ask a question we will ignore you

Web 2.0: An Overview

What is it?

Business impact?

Opportunities and threats?

What Is It?

• A new buzz word coined by management consultants to encourage us to part with our hard earned cash

or

• A fundamental change in the way people use the Internet, their online expectations and experiences

What Is It?

• It’s a fundamental, revolutionary change……

• Major impact on consumer/B2B decision-making and behaviour across a broad spectrum of industries

• Major opportunities for businesses to engage with their customers/ with their network/ with their ‘tribe’

• Marketing as a ‘conversation’………..

What Is It?

• All revolutions have ‘winners’ and ‘losers’. ‘Winners’ will be businesses who fully utilise the interactive power of Web 2.0 technology for building strong ‘1-to-1’ customer and network relationships - especially with their ‘Most Valuable’ and ‘Most Growable’

• Those who fully leverage Web 2.0 for ‘Identifying, Acquiring, Retaining and Growing ‘Quality’ Customers

• Requires a new ‘mindset’ and new approaches to business strategy development and implementation

Web 2.0

• A fundamental change in the way people use the Internet ……. Rather than being passive recipients of ‘brand messages’, Web 2.0 is characterised by

– Information ‘pull’ rather than ‘push’– User generated content– Openness, sharing, collaboration, interaction, communities, and

social networking

• ‘Power to the people’ – Web 2.0 empowers people

• The revolutionary nature of these changes is having a profound impact on consumer/B2B decision-making and behaviour across a broad spectrum of industries

Web 2.0The end of the beginning of……..

• The read only Internet

• The ‘tell them how good’ we are Internet

• Traditional ‘push’ marketing strategies (declining effectiveness – nobody listens any more)

• The ‘Brand’ as we know it – People are becoming ‘cynical’ to brands and resistant to brand messages- -the ‘brand’ becomes the customer experience

• The end of the ‘About Us’ web site…..and the beginning of the ‘About You’ web site

Web 2.0: An Overview

Applications

Features

Implications

Applications

Social Network Sites

Social Content

Social Bookmarks

Blogs

Wikis

Virtual Realities

RSS Feeds

Podcasts

Social Applications

Mash Ups

Mobile Web; Internet Telephony

These applications can be ‘internal’ to your own web site or the use of

‘external’ 2.0 sites

Characteristics

Communities and Networks

Interactivity

Social Element

Openness

Peering

Hosted Services

Global

Sharing

Empowerment

Mass Collaboration

The Internet as the platform

Impact

Business Intelligence

Customer Interaction

Sales & Marketing

Customer Experience

Customer Insight

Processes and HRM

Mindset

Product Development

Reputation Management

Rich Internet Applications

IT Infrastructure

International Marketing 2.0

Web 2.0 Applications

Open sourceOnline Applications/ Web ServicesSocial Network SitesSocial Content – Social BookmarkingBlogs or WeblogsWikisPodcasts/ VodcastsVirtual RealitiesMash UpsRSS FeedsMobile Web; Internet TelephonyCharacteristics

Communities and NetworksOpennessSharingPeeringHosted Services – online applications; the Internet as the platformInteractivitySocial ElementMass CollaborationEmpowermentGlobal

Business Impact

MindsetBusiness IntelligenceCustomer Insight and UnderstandingCustomer InteractionEnhanced Customer Experience –

Rich Internet ApplicationsReputation ManagementSales and Marketing Product Development and R&D e.g.

engage and co-createIT/Software/ApplicationsOperations, Internal Processes and

HRM

Business Impact

• The need for new approaches to business strategy development and international marketing

– Traditional approach:• Product development – Differentiate – Market and

Promote - Sell

– New model based on: • Communities, networks, openness, peering, sharing,

collaboration, customer empowerment, ‘think and act’ globally

The Groundswell

Li and Bernoff (2008)

• A spontaneous movement of people using online tools to connect, take charge of their own experiences and get what they need from each other (information, support, ideas, products, bargaining power etc)

• The ‘groundswell’ is unstoppable – it’s a social revolution; a permanent, revolutionary shift in the way the world works

• You can try to fight it or join it – ‘energise the groundswell’

Some

Examples

The ‘Mindset’ of Web 2.0

Review and

Recommendation Sites

Review and Recommendation Sites

• Travel and tourism – www.tripadvisor.com and many others

• Consumer electronics - www.kelkoo.co.uk

• Money – www.moneysupermarket.com

• Universities - www.studentsreview.com

• General – www.reviewcentre.com

• etc

Others

• Lonely Planet Thorn Tree Travel Forum• Igougo• Holidaywatchdog• Review Centre• Holiday Check• Mytripbook• Gusto• Travelpost• Realtravel• Traveltogether• Yahoo trip planner

• Some with interactive planning tools

O wad some Power the giftie gie us

To see oursels as ithers see us!

It wad frae mony a blunder free us,

In a Web 2.0 era, the brand becomes the customer experience of the brand

Dubai hotel booking experience……

From the web site

• This 5-star hotel and residence offers European hospitality with an unmistakable French touch. The hotel consists of 318 beautifully appointed guest rooms/suites, while the residence offers 112 fully furnished and equipped deluxe Studios and 1-3 bedroom apartments.

• The ultimate in comfort, we offer 318 luxuriously elegant rooms and suites.

• Take a trip. Escape. Go and visit somewhere new and see if we are there… Give in to that irresistible wanderlust. Discovering and staying in the most exceptional hotels in the world has become the modern-day Graal, a game, a quest…

From Tripadvisor

• It's getting old, the rooms are unappealing and it will never be more than a business hotel

• Being a xxxxx hotel we expected something quite 'flashy' unfortunately we were let down. The rooms, although comfortable and clean, were not of the standard we expected and were definately not what we expected after looking at the photos on the hotel's website.

• Booking my stay via the xxxxx website after a pleasant experience at several other xxxxx locations over the past 2 years with my new job I was looking forward to a 5 star luxury stay after a stressful business trip. My expectations were reasonable, however certainly not met by this hotel

YouTube

Marketing Tourism

Don’t mess with the buffalos…..

41 million views

ROI to Kruger National Park

• Production/ marketing costs = 0

• Views = 41.4 million

Social/ Professional

Networking Sites

Building contacts, finding customers and partners

Finding customers

Safety Harness Company

– About Us: I am a manufacturer of safety harnesses

for industrial use. My belay system is an innovative

design It ensures that users (injured or not) are

returned to ground safely.

– My target customers: Health & Safety Equipment

Resellers; Health & Safety Consultants; Health &

Safety Representatives

– My target industries: Utilities, Construction; Other

industries that require height work

Safety Harness Company

Safety Harness Company

Real Ale Brewer

– About Us: I am a producer of fine ales based in the

North of Scotland

– My target customers:

• Independent pubs;

• Resellers (off-licence and supermarkets);

• Direct to consumer markets;

• Real Ale afficionados

Real Ale Brewer

Real Ale Brewer

Gay Hotel

• I run a small hotel in the Cairngorms National Park

• Target customers – gay hill walkers

• Where do I find them hanging out on the Internet?

Developing a Response

Web 2.0 and Your Business

Practical Advice

Practical Advice

• Getting started – personalise Google; set up Google alerts; create a Linkedin profile, connect and network, join groups; join other relevant social network sites; review and recommendation sites etc etc

• ‘Think big; act small’ – agree a Web 2.0 ‘Vision’ and a staged approach for getting there

• Agree strategic objectives (see MTB 2.0 example)

• Key initiatives and actions for getting there

• Performance review

Getting started

• Learn and get involved in the process…– Google Alerts

– Google Reader

– RSS feeds

– Blogs, Networks and other Sites

– My Information Consumption Stats

Getting started

• Google Alerts in Email

Getting started

• Google Reader

Getting started

• Site with RSS feed

Getting started

• Google Mobile Phone

Key Initiatives and Actions

• ‘Internal’ 2.0

• ‘External’ 2.0

• Business Process 2.0

‘Internal’ 2.0 – Your Web Site

• Redevelopment of your site using Open Source Software e.g. Wordpress, Joomla or a hosted application

• Which of the following sites use Open Source Software…

‘Internal’ 2.0 – Your Web Site

• Include the following features, where relevant:– Blog/wiki– User generated content– Build community– Add social bookmarking– Mash-ups e.g. google maps, youtube, flickr– Podcasts/vodcasts

‘Internal’ 2.0 – Your Web Site

• Think Big but take Small Steps…

‘Internal’ 2.0 – Your Web Site

• Proactive ‘marketing’ of your site using traditional Web 1.0 tools and ‘external’ Web 2.0

• Optimise your site and pages as before but also

• Contribute or simply profile your business through relevant blogs and networks, it builds:– Relationships– Network effect (“word of mouth”)– Community– Page rank

• Measure impact, some of the tools may change…

‘External’ 2.0

• Think Strategically

• Select Intelligently (Google Alerts, RSS Feeds, RSS Reader)

• Implement Effectively

– Video Community: YouTube

– Image Community: Flickr

– Blog Community: @Twitter, Your Blog

– Professional Networks: LinkedIn, Plaxo, YourNetwork.com

– Social Networks: Facebook, MySpace, Bebo

• http://www.youtube.com/user/starbucks

Web 2.0 and

Business Processes

Open Source

• Over 10,000 Open Source projects

• Real alternatives exist to licensed software

• The community uses, develops and improves

• Free hosted solutions to build community and critical mass

• New ways to interact with customers, suppliers and staff

• New ways to rationalise processes

Web 2.0 and Business Processes

• Web 2.0 solutions exist across the following:

CRM

• Commercial Hosted

• Salesforce.com

• Netsuite

• SageCRM

• Open Source and Light

• Zoho CRM

• SugarCRM

• vTiger

Office Productivity / Collaboration

• Consider the following as truly best in class:

• OpenOffice.org, Animoto, GIMP, Audacity

• Google Docs or Zoho – online document processing

• GCal or Doodle - calendaring

• OpenProj – gantt charts, project management

• Central Desktop, Basecamp, WikiMedia – collaboration

Communications

• Web 2.0 has had an enormous impact on communication

technologies:

• Gmail / GChat , Twitter – email, video chat, tweets

• Skype – VoIP, video chat

• Yugma or Powownow – desktop virtualisation

• Zimbra – Open Source version of MS Exchange

Web 2.0 Strategy

Development and Implementation

The Ten Key Questions Case Example: MTB 2.0

The Ten Key Questions

1. What impact is Web 2.0 having on my business, my sector? What are the opportunities and threats? Is it that important?

2. Undertake a Web 2.0 audit. Where am I? What progress has been made? What level of knowledge/understanding do I have? What is the ‘gap’ that exists between the current and ‘ideal’ scenarios?

3. What are the major barriers/obstacles that need to be overcome?

– Knowledge and understanding– Vision– Time– Resources– Mindset– Organisational– etc

The Ten Key Questions

4. How do I/we start to get involved and learn more?

5. Seminars and workshops yes but also a DIY approach – see previous slides

6. What are the main objectives to be achieved? How will we measure performance? (KPIs). Ensure that Web 2.0 strategy is fully aligned with and supportive of your core business strategy and objectives

7. Be customer led/ be network led. Think and act like a customer/ think and act like a network

– Who are our customers?– Where will we find them ‘hanging out’ on the Internet?– How can we best enter into dialogue with them?

The Ten Key Questions

8. Web 2.0 strategy development - What 2.0 actions and initiatives will

provide us with the best ROI? Internal and external use of 2.0

9. Implementation – what do we need to do to ensure efficient and

effective implementation? ‘On time, within budget delivery’

ensuring that core business objectives are achieved

10. On-going performance measurement? How do we measure the

success of our Web 2.0 initiatives?

The Cairngorms Mountain

Biking 2.0 Programme

Vision/Mission

• To develop and implement a successful Web 2.0 strategy, ensuring that the CNP MTB sector leverages the full potential of the Internet for building and supporting a quality customer base i.e. a strong base of loyal, high value, high growth potential customers providing the MTB sector with a strong foundation for achieving sustained growth and competitiveness

• The Programme will deliver real business benefits to the group, to individual participants and to the wider CNP tourism industry

• The overall aim is to maximise the full potential of Web 2.0 for Identifying, Acquiring, Retaining and Growing Quality Customers; for building a vibrant and sustainable MTB tourism sector

Strategic Objectives

• Provide coordinated, accurate and up-to-date information about MTB in the Cairngorms National Park, making it easy for potential MTB visitors to find what they are looking for - information that is customised to the specific needs of different types of customer

• Raise awareness and recognition of the MTB offering within the Park

• Promote the strengths and ‘special qualities’ of MTB in the area; to inspire and motivate potential visitors to engage with CNP MTB, to encourage a ‘call to action’ by potential visitors

• Market the Park as a ‘must visit’ destination for mountain bikers and a ‘must visit again’ destination for existing customers

• Deliver a quality online customer experience, making it easy for potential MTB visitors to find what they are looking for, to plan and book their visits

Strategic Objectives

• Add value and encourage a ‘call to action’ at each stage of the ‘Customer Journey’ with CNP MTB i.e. raise awareness, convert awareness into action, visit planning, booking, pre-visit, visit and post visit stages

• Increase the number of MTB visitors to the Park, the number of repeat visits and average spend per visit (exploit ‘up’ and ‘cross’ selling opportunities)

• Use of Web 2.0 for building insight, knowledge and understanding about our customers (actual and potential)

• Use of Web 2.0 for building customer dialogue and interaction (‘marketing as a conversation’); for encouraging customer feedback and comment

• Exploit CRM opportunities and online word of mouth effects; energise the ‘groundswell’ (i.e. the global MTB community)

Strategic Objectives

• Achieve improvements in ‘Marketing Effectiveness’ and ‘Marketing Efficiency’ i.e. ROI

• Build and support a quality customer base; Identify, Acquire, Retain and Grow Quality Customers

• Foster and provide a platform for MTB Group collaboration covering Programme and non-Programme activities e.g. product development, signage, pressure group activities, engagement with other stakeholders (landowners, public sector, other tourism businesses (e.g. accommodation providers) and sectors (e.g. adventure tourism etc)

• Support other marketing initiatives

• Learn from ‘best practice’; to educate and mentor the MTB community in ‘best practice’ use of Web 2.0

Financial Objectives

• Maximise both the ‘Effectiveness’ and ‘Efficiency’ of our sales and marketing efforts

• ‘Marketing Effectiveness’ - Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) covering the following:– Increase in visitor numbers– Increase repeat visits– Increase in visitor spend– Quality of our customer base– Strength of the relationship we have with ‘quality customers’

• Under ‘Marketing Efficiency’, KPIs will be agreed covering marketing/sales cost savings from the better utilisation of Web 2.0.

MTB 2.0

• The programme uses a simplified Balanced Scorecard approach to ensure that Web 2.0 actions and initiatives are fully aligned behind and supportive of agreed strategic/financial goals and objectives

• Eight key priorities……..

• Programme progress will be reported on a regular basis on www.tourism2-0.co.uk

Eight Priorities

• Wiki presence

• Image library/ flickr community

• Develop a YouTube channel

• Cairngroms MTB web site

• Leverage other web sites/ communities

• Customer information system

• Organisational issues

Thank You

• Next few slides may be useful too….

Step 4. Communication and Web 2.0

Implementation

Internal – your own web site/ the group’s web site

• UGC (User Generated Content) – text; images; video; and wikis

• User FOD (Feedback, Opinion and Discussion) – Blogs; Forums; Ratings; Favourites; and Online Chat

• RIA (Rich Internet Applications) - web apps; widgets; mash-ups; podcasts and vodcasts

• Folksonomies - social tagging; social bookmarking and tag clouds

• Content Feeds

• Social Networking Opportunities