The Blog Marketing Explosion

Rich Ord
CEO, iEntry, Inc.
Published: 2004-10-05
There are literally thousands of blogs by eBusiness insiders.

This has changed the landscape of guerrilla marketing.
At first it was seen as just something cool to do ... but blogs are now being used to build personal and corporate credibility that will eventually attract customers (they hope!).



Almost Everyone Blogs. Do You?


Are Blogs a marketing goldmine? Discuss at the WebProWorld eBusiness Forum.

Blogs are a goldmine of formerly hard to get insight from CEO's, marketing guru's and others who never used to have a public forum. These business leaders are utilizing the internet to convey their personal thoughts on happenings in their industry and life. They are blogging for the same reasons they do public speaking, to build credibility for themselves and their company's. Blogging has become a new … less time consuming and less expensive way to reach potential and current customers.

Big Blog Company associate Jackie Danicki comments in The Times (London) on CEO blogs, "You basically have a lot of CEOs who are sitting there and writing about what they know. Also adding personal things in, talking off-topic, about their holidays. ...It gets readers to feel an affinity."

Danicki continues, "Executives start blogging for a number of reasons, They want to raise their personal profile. They want to reach out to customers and members of their own staff without going through official channels and PR departments. They want to be seen as a forward thinking company up to date with the latest trend."

The effect is powerful viral marketing with blogs linking to other blogs. "The real value is things that you don't expect," says Danicki. "I know from our perspective, the amount of people we've ended up talking to and doing business with just simply thanks to our blog is amazing. Producers in Hollywood. People from publishing companies in the States. People who in another time without this network we would never have made contact with."

So, what kind of information is in these blogs? I remember reading Jupitermedia CEO Alan Meckler's blog where he warns "all trade show operators about the perils of working with the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas". Real time concerns by big time CEO's, now that's what the internet was invented for!

Then there is Jonathan's Blog. Sounds innocuous doesn't it? Well, Jonathan is none other than President and Chief Operating Officer of Sun Microsystems. Sure, he has a pony tail, but at least he isn't wearing pajamas. Jonathan is usually pointed and philisophical in his frequent blog posts as in this recent excerpt, "Please do not listen to the bizarro numbskull anti-Sun conspiracy theorists. They were lunatics then, they are lunatics now, they will always be lunatics. We love the open source community, we spawned from it."

Billionaires have blogs too. Dot com billionaire Mark Cuban who is starring in "The Benefactor" reality show has been blogging since March. In one post he dumps on Trump, "I don't think its dawned on you just how hard Mark Burnett threw you under the bus. … Nice job on Leno last night Donald. At least you admitted that you hadn't seen The Benefactor. But saying that it will fail. That's a little much Donald, even from you."

The CEO of Tucows, a big domain seller, blogs us with his insider insights that future domain sales will be done via auctions. Elliot Noss states, "The market for expired names is changing. The old one (framework) wasn't working. Not for everyday registrants and that is who we should all be thinking about. Not for Verisign and not for ICANN. Those who say that either of them like the status quo really do not have a clue."

Robin Hopper, CEO & Founder of iUpload, talks about how major consumer marketing efforts are starting to utilize blogs. "Coke's online brand manager Mark Dooley reveals they've been keeping a close watch on consumer generated marketing including blogs and that they plan a social networking-oriented marketing effort soon. Bottom line, consumer generated marketing is going to be a must have tactic in your arsenal…"

The Jason Calacanis Weblog shows how blogs often reflect where one has traveled to. Jason is currently the Chairman of The Weblogs, Inc. and has previously started and sold several dot com ventures. In this post Jason is at the Gnomedex conference (on blogging) in California ...

"Speaking at Gnomedex right now.. I'm blogging this from the stage of Gnomedex." Well, its not always biting commentary, but it is fun … and in the end it's marketing. Possibly, the most powerful type of corporate marketing per dollar spent ever invented.

About the Author:
Rich Ord is the CEO of iEntry, Inc. which publishes over 200 websites and email newsletters. Rich also publishes his blog WebProBlog which focuses on internet business and marketing trends.

A Functional Bottled Water For Hydration Wellness

In nature, water (H20) molecules form complex patterns by grouping and clumping together into “clusters”. The challenge is that our bodies’ cells are incapable of absorbing these large clusters. To perform the function of cellular hydration our bodies produce electrolytes to break down the large clusters into an absorbable size. In reality our bodies have to work to stay properly hydrated. Because these large H2O clusters do not make the final journey into the cells our bodies eliminate them. Thus many people’s efforts to improve their hydration levels result in what they feel are too many trips to the restroom.

By controlling the size of H2O clusters we can affect the amount of absorption into the bodies’ cells. As we apply energy to water, the large water cluster groups reduce themselves into smaller groups. Thus by introducing energy to water in a controlled environment we can make it more hydrating. As we age the body progressively loses the ability to hydrate the cells effectively. This is evident in the fact that newborns are 85% water by weight whereas elderly people get down to 60% water by weight. This means that as we age the bio-mechanical system inside our bodies is losing its ability to hydrate, and anything that can be done to help the body hydrate will improve the symptoms of aging. The major challenge has been how to keep these clusters stable after the energy has been removed. Unfortunately, as soon as the energy fields are removed, water will immediately regroup into larger clusters.

H2Ultra has a revolutionary patented approach to this problem. We have a means for water to store the energy applied to it. This energy remains in the water once it is bottled, and more importantly, when it is consumed. By realizing this, we can control the water molecule cluster size and thus the waters hydrating ability. Double blind clinical studies show that H2Ultra micro clustered water vastly improves cellular hydration over regular bottled or distilled water products. This will allow people to actually feel and measure water’s energy, and take control of their bodies hydration needs.

Water and Hydration

Approximately 60% of your body weight is water. The best way to hydrate is to maintain body fluid levels by drinking plenty of fluids. Thirst is not an accurate indicator of how much fluid you have lost. If you wait until you are thirsty to replenish body fluids, then you are already dehydrated or on your way to being not hydrated.

According to Dr. Heinz Valtin, a hydration expert and professor emeritus at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., there is no evidence to support drinking eight glasses of water each day. According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, women should consume 91 ounces a day and men need 125 ounces a day – a good deal more than the 64 ounces (eight glasses) generally recommended. Approximately 45 to 50% of daily water intake comes from drinking fluids, with the rest coming mostly from the food one eats.

In the human body, there are two basic types of water (biowater): Bound Water and Clustered Water (specially prepared water which “clusters” six water molecules, held together by shared hydrogen atoms). Clustered Water (key to countless biological functions within the body) is able to move freely through the cell walls and is necessary to transport nutrients, remove waste and maintain proper communication between the cells. Bound Water, on the other hand, is water that becomes physically bound to other molecular structures and is unable to move freely through the cell walls.

When we are young, our bodies contain a high level of Clustered Water and very little Bound Water. However, as we age, bound water becomes more predominant and Clustered Water Levels decrease, hindering the effectiveness of literally thousands of metabolic functions and causing significant structural changes in our body’s tissues.

Clustered Water, developed by Dr. Lee Lorenzen, is highly purified water that has been raised to a high level of electromagnetic power through a patented process (US Patent #’s 5,711,950 and 6,033,678). Beginning with extremely pure distilled water and while it is exposed to special ceramics, it is treated with lasers and extremely strong magnetic fields to create water “clusters.” Most water is in organizations or clumps of 60 or more water molecules (H2O). Processing organizes the water molecules into clusters that are very mobile, therefore entering the cell system very rapidly and replenishing inter-cellular water.

In 1984, Dr Lorenzen's family was challenged with the illness of his wife, Penny. It was this challenge that became the genesis of clustered water theory, and since that time, hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world have benefited from this technology.

By controlling the size of H2O clusters we can affect the amount of absorption into the bodies’ cells. As we apply energy to water, the large water cluster groups reduce themselves into smaller groups. Thus by introducing energy to water in a controlled environment we can make it more hydrating.


Dr. Lee Lorenzen’s breakthrough allows H2 Ultra to actually help maintain clustered water levels in the body and thus protect the cellular integrity we had when we were young. Clustered Water truly assists the body’s natural processes in counteracting the cellular malfunctions that many health practitioners and researchers believe are responsible for degenerative health. Clustered Water is used in over 30 clinics in Japan. Ten books have been published in Japan documenting the incredible results of Clustered Water.

The MyBlogAgency ‘Challenge Marketing’ Strategy

A game is a challenge. It’s about playing the game, keeping score and winning. MyBlogAgent (the blog for MyBlogAgency.com clients) plays the Challenge Marketing Game. We make the rules, we know what it means to our clients. Why do we play? Because we like it, we feel good about doing it and it helps us be successful in our work ... meeting challenges with viable innovative positioning and sales solutions for our clients.

How do we play the Challenge Marketing Game? Every day, we search multiple media for the word ‘Challenge’ – in the headlines, taglines, content and advertisements. Our goal is to find at least 3 challenges in the news every day. Most days, we find more than three. We collect them, read them and highlight the references for meaning. We organize and file by category: News, Business, Sports, Politics, Health, etc. Once highlighted, I we search for the meaning of this application and look for insights that can be applied to current challenges we are dealing with. Understanding is the ability to explain.

For years, we have continually applied the essence of the meanings to marketing strategies and tactical implementation executions. By starting with a challenge awareness, we have a head start on being first with a solution, rather than another definition of the challenge.

What MyBlogAgency Likes Most About Blogging

The thing we like most about blogging is that when we have something to say, we can. Yes, freedom of communication. Just because we already wrote a blog today doesn’t mean we can’t write another one. We can.

Challenge Marketing In The News Today

Online Habits Differ By Sex
Males and Females are different. Women are now as likely to use the Internet as men. American men check the weather, the news, sports, political and financial information. Online women are bigger users of email and more likely to check religious information and support for health or personal problems.

Influence of TV Viewing on Perceptions
TV is storytelling, a cultural environment. “Who tells the stories of a culture really governs human behavior. It used to be the parent, the school, the church, the community. Now it’s a handful of global conglomerates that have nothing to tell, but a great deal to sell,” said George Gerbner, an educator and pioneer researcher into the influence of television on viewers’ perceptions of the world.

Advances in Technology Make Telecommuting More Feasible
This year, 82.5 million workers world-wide have done their jobs at home one day a month, more than double the figure from 2000, according to Gartner Inc., a technology research firm. It predicts the future will grow to more than 100 million workers by 2008. Telecommuting is the way we work today.

Attention to Detail Is Key Part of Strategy
Plan the work and work the plan. Solve tomorrow’s predicable problems today.

Connectionism
How the brain, performing trillions of operations per second, recognizes previous experience and relates it to the present.

Understanding User-Centered Design (UCD)
User-Centered Design is not a process, but a philosophy. UCD requires the inclusion of a product’s end-user throughout the process. The primary benefit is that it ensures the product is useful, usable and meaningful to the end-user.

Social Influence
Influence investigates the causes of human change, whether that change is a behavior, an attitude or a belief. Inducing change in behavior is called compliance. Inducing a change in attitude is called persuasion. Inducing a change in belief is called either education or propaganda – depending on your perspective. Social influence is said to be employed by an agent or practitioner upon a target. The agent’s message is called advocacy.

The Blog Marketing Explosion
Blogging has become a new, less time consuming and less expensive way to reach current and potential customers. Blogging has changed the landscape of guerrilla marketing. Blogs are now being used to build personal and corporate credibility that will attract customers. So, what kind of information is in these blogs? CEOs are writing about what they know, adding personal things and talking off-topic. They want to be seen as forward thinking and up to date with the latest trend.

The MyBlogAgency ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ Challenge For The New Year

For Christmas, one of my son’s presents was the book ‘Blue Ocean Strategy – How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrevelant’ by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne.

The presentation inspired me to finish reading the book in two sittings. For me, it was another perception and confirmation of what marketing is and how to be a good marketer. There were challenge references throughout the book; that is, the use of the word challenge in a statement. The very word challenges me to read-for-meaning. For me, the challenge is the development of a story that is absolutely based on the truth, the facts and the realities of the product and service, and is both believable to and accepted by the reader.

Following are marketing insights I highlighted while reading and personal reflections, presented as a basis of turning information into knowledge into meaning into awareness into incorporation and finally into application.

MyBlogAgency New Year’s Resolution

To do our best to inspire every reader to persuade themselves to Drink H2Ultra Fitness Water, use Future Spark Plugs and conduct an Individualized Search every day and tell all their friends to do the same.

Marketing Insights In ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’

Blue Ocean Strategy provides a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant.

Red oceans represent all the industries in existence today, known as market space. Blue oceans denote all the industries not in existence today, the unknown market space.

86% of launches are line extensions; that is, incremental improvements within the red ocean of existing market space. The remaining 14% of the launches were aimed at creating blue oceans.

A strategic move is the set of managerial actions and decisions involved in making a major market-creating business offering.

The companies caught in the red ocean followed a conventional approach, racing to beat the competition by building a defensible position, within the existing industry order. The creators of blue oceans, surprisingly, didn’t use the competition as their benchmark. Instead, they followed a different strategic logic that we call value innovation.

Value innovation focuses on making the competition irrelevant by creating a leap in value for buyers and your company, thereby opening up new and uncontested market space. It is a new way of thinking about and executing strategy.

To fundamentally shift the strategy canvas of an industry, you must begin by reorienting your strategic focus from competitors to alternatives and from customers to noncustomers of the industry.

Instead of offering wine as wine, Casella created a social drink accessible to everyone by creating three new factors in the US wine industry: easy drinking, easy to select and a fun adventure.

Create a new value curve. The strategy canvas enables companies to see the future in the present. Embedded in the value curves of an industry is a wealth of strategic knowledge on the current status and future of a business.

The kind of language used in the strategy canvas gives insight as to whether a company’s strategic vision is built on an “outside-in” perspective, driven by the demand side or an “inside-out” perspective that is operationally driven.

To break out of red oceans, companies must break out of the accpeted boundaries that define how they compete.

The key to creating a blue ocean is to break out of narrow tunnel vision by understanding which factors determine customer’s decisions to trade up or down.

Curves created a blue ocean fitness strategy for women.

... the strategic profile with high blue ocean potential has three complementary qualities: focus, divergence and a compelling tagline.

A company should never outsource its eyes. There is simply no substitute for seeing for yourself.

First tier noncustomers are in search of better solutions. Noncustomers tend to offer far more insight intow how to unlock and graow a blue ocean than do relatively content existing customers.

Leaders need to free up resources by searching out cold spots and redirecting resources to hot spots.

People’s minds and hearts must align with the new strategy. Where blue ocean strategy is concerned, this challenge is heightened.

The Three E-Principles of Fair Process: Engagement, explanation and clarity of expectation.

When individuals feel recognized for their intellectual worth, they are willing to share their knowledge.

A blue ocean strategy brings with it considerable barriers to imitation.

Corporate Blogs Inspire Persuasion Influence Sales of Products and Services

What does MyBlogAgency.com have to blog about? Answer: What our clients want us to market and position for sales. MyBlogAgent is a Corporate Blog that shares insights, experiences and marketing-for-sales public relations, so as our readers can learn more about our clients' new products and services and inspire our readers to "Buy-And-Try (BAT)" for themselves. We are committed to truth, clarity and integrity in the content, context and structure of the blog. MyBlogAgency.com is compensated with a PayPer Sale commission. If this form of Persausion Influence Marketing (PIM) – inspired knowledge-based purchasing; ie, the new form of Permission or Opt-In advertising) – does not feel ethical, moral or legal to the reader, please click away now.

MyBlogAgent Topics

1. The evolving Blog Industry; including vlogs (video blogs) and podcasts (audio and video).
   
2. News that impacts our clients' new products and services, with a focus on the following keywords:


1. For H2Ultra Hydration Bottled Water: Hydration, bottled water, personal fitness, Individualized Wellness and Emergency Preparedness.
   
2. For Future Spark Plugs FSP5000: Spark Plug, engine, emission, fuel economy and torque.
   
3. For ASTI Commercial: Search, brain, content, context, structure, knowledge, meaning, Digital Online Behavior (DOB), Personalized Data Signature (PDS) and Individualized Digital Histogram.
   
4. For Larry W. Latham CAI: REO, foreclosures and the Auction Method of Marketing Real Properties.
   

Insights For Readers

Hydration for Individualized Wellness

For over 5 months, I have been drinking H2Ultra Fitness Water – a functional bottled water that hydrates (really "waterizes") the cells within your body. Being hydrated is healthy, promotes personal fitness and builds the base for Individualized Wellness. I know I am hydrated, I feel hydrated and I feel good that my body is working so well. I currently drink at least one bottle every day. H2Ultra is now available for everyone online at www.h2ultra.com.

Personal H2Ultra Experiences

1. My wife has lupus and was not drinking enough water daily. She adds sweetner but now drinks a bottle every day. She still has lupus, but the "flare-ups" are less invasive and her stomach is much less upset, due to her daily medications.
   
2. I drink a whole bottle before getting on an airplane and have noted a big difference in the effect-of-the-flying-experience. I feel my body is more prepared for the entire airport, take-off, landing and airport experience.
   
3. A very close friend with cancer was having a problem with hydration and after drinking H2Ultra for a week was hydrated, according to his blood tests.
   
4. Everyone likes the way it goes down.
   
5. Four of my friends have lost weight.
   
6. I used to get up 2-to-4 times during the night to urinate, which broke my rest. Now, it's 1-to-2 times a night and I am sleeping better and waking up more rested.
   
   

Future Spark Plugs

Until a month ago, when I was introducwed to Future Spark Plugs and the FSP5000, I really didn't think about my spark plugs. Do you think about your spark plugs? This patent-pending technology helps increase fuel efficiency (more miles per gallon of gas); increase torque (up to 40% more power) and protect the environment (up to 80% less emission pollution depending on the make, model and year manufactured). A spark plug is no longer just a spark plug. The FSP5000 is the power train enhancement technology that the world has been waiting for. Legislation requires automakers to reduce tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases from cars and trucks nearly 30% by 2016. This rule, which is being challenged in court by most of the world's car companies, is being enforced in California and has been copied by numerous other states; including, New York and Washington. The FSP5000 is the solution and the answer the automakers are searching for. They are about to find out and get in line to make a deal.

Individualized Search

Individualized is the next generation of personalized services, where your online digital behavior identifies you and presents results and solutions that are what you want, rather than what the search engines (and their advertisers) want you to have. We all know that there is too much information and more (lots more) comes every day. The challenge is to be able to turn information into meaningful knowledge and manage (organize) that knowledge to enhance our individual needs, wants and desires. In other words, "A Your Brainer" Experience.

Foreclosure (REO) Auction Investing

Larry Latham is back and he is ready to join in the upcoming Foreclosure Boom of inventoried residential and commercial properties, as well as Financial Portfolios secured by real property. Larry defines REO as Real Estate Owned and Real Earning Opportunities. Larry Latham introduced the concept of The Auction Method of Marketing and was awarded every major government auction contract; including, VeteranÕs Administration, HUD, RTC and FDIC, as well as Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, FHA, DoD and FCC. Larry Latham Auctioneers sold more than 140,000 properties at auction, valued over $2.5 billion. Larry Latham helped make many investors millionaires and he is ready to blog about his experiences, insights and recommendations, so that it can be done again.

Look forward to reading more about these topics, new products and newsmakers working with MyBlogAgency.com and becoming so inspired that you decide to "Buy-And-Try" (BAT) for yourself.

www.MyBlogAgency.com

By: Nathan A. Wolfstein IV
Blog Challenge Director
www.MyBlogAgency.com


The primary mission of MyBlogAgency is to teach our clients how to use the Blogosphere to communicate with their existing and potential customers through blogs, vlogs, podcasts and websites. MBA clients agree to tell their truths about their companies, staff, patents, new products, experiences, testimonials, visions and goals.

MyBlogAgency specializes in Corporate Blogs that communicate directly with truth, clarity and integrity. The goal is to inspire further actions by the user, leading to a sale. MyBlogAgency is compensated on a PayPer Sale and if this is not objectionable to the reader, please continue reading.


Today’s Topics: The Future of the Internet and the AOL-Google Deal.

The Future of the Internet

The Internet is a model for personal freedom, in that it allows for Individualized lifestyle choices. In the ‘Always On Web’ world, the user can now choose the time and place of the interaction. Expansion of ‘Anywhere, Anytime’ delivery is definitely part of the future of the Internet.


Here’s what’s coming:

(A) Phone and cable companies want today’s Information Highway to be laden with tollgates, express lanes and traffic tie-ups, all designed to make money for the network companies. Telcos will become more powerful Internet service providers. AT&T, Verizon and others are already aiming expensive plans at consumers who send big files. The premium versions are four times as fast as the company’s most popular offering.

(B) Next year, Congress begins to redraft the telecom laws for the broadband era. But recent court and regulatory rulings have given the carriers more room to discriminate. In June, the US Supreme Court ruled that cable broadband services were almost fee of regulation. Two months later, the FCC granted the same liberty to the Bells’ broadband services. The FCC made two newly merged megaphone companies vow to keep their Internet lines open to all for the next two (2) years.

(C) Rural Living will gain access to High-Speed Internet Services. This will impact population trends, increase local services and property values. Telecommuters can stay home and work. It is also a means to help recover some of the thousands of manufacturing and industrial jobs that have been lost in the last 20 years with the closing of plants and factories.

(D) Nielsen is finally entering the TiVo age. People who have DVRs are watching more television and more network television. Starting Monday, the TV ratings service will expand its national sample of TV homes to include users of digital video recorders. Nielsen will simultaneously begin offering three separate sets of TV ratings for each program, reflecting: (1) Live, real-time viewing; (2) Live viewing plus ratings for programs recorded and played back the same day and (3) Live viewing plus playback of recorded programs within seven days of their initial airing. This is a big chance for the industry. The networks will seek to charge advertisers for all viewers.


The AOL-Google or GoogleAOL Deal

The purchase by Google is a brilliant defensive move and positions Google as The Competitor to Yahoo, with MSN now in a third position. Heads, Google wins; tails, Microsoft loses. Google beat out Microsoft.

Google had to pay to stop AOL from taking AOL’s Search business away from the Googleplex. The investment was made to hold on to old business. Google needs to be the leader in ‘Community-Based-and-Powered Search’. Yahoo is forging an early lead over Google in this fast-evolving technology.

Google will also need to compete with Amazon.com, who will re-emerge as one of the Web’s most powerful properties through Alexa. By partnering with Google, maybe some of the Google magic will rub off on AOL and ultimately, Time Warner.

AOL’s very large online audience allows AOL/Time Warner content to be more accessible to Google users. Microsoft wanted to bolster MSN’s Search share for its adCenter Pay Per Click advertising platform set to rollout in 2006. AOL just got a shot by Google as a long-term technology partner, additional traffic being driven to AOL.com and by improving the monetization of its current traffic through an improved sales effort.

A PROBLEM FOR GOOGLE: Google will give AOL favored placement throughout Google Search. Google’s business model could be called-on-the-carpet, as guaranteeing AOL ad position is in direct contradiction to the ad-rank system that helps level the playing field between deep-pocket marketers and small-business owners.

The GoogleAOL deal is mainly a deal about selling advertising. Publicity is the big payoff, read all about it ... every day.