Intelligent research is the first step to launching (or not launching) any new business venture. Thinking like the individuals you are most hoping to influence is the key to developing a successful business model.

I’ve saved clients millions of dollars over the years by identifying critical threats (competitive, legal, moral, etc.) to their proposed new venture, simply by putting myself in the shoes of their target audience, and behaving as they would when presented with the new option being offered. In some cases, I’ve identified far better business models to pursue and directed my clients accordingly. But in many case, I’ve advised existing or prospective clients not to pursue the new venture at all, for reasons discovered through my intensive due diligence process.

Around Y2K, a top cruise industry executive asked my opinion regarding how I might rebrand their primary cruise line to better articulate their marketing message. The first thing I did was search the web to see how all other brands were attempting to sell me on the idea of a cruise, and how they claimed to be different from every other option available of the eighteen or so to select from. I quickly discovered that virtually every brand was claiming to be just perfect for me, without knowing anything about me or other people like me.

Every brand was speaking to me from their own perspective (selling me on their brand), while my own personal concerns centered around whether I would even enjoy cruising at all, regardless of brand. I decided that I might be compelled to cruise if it were with a ship full of other people like me, who I might most enjoy partying with for a week. I also quickly noticed that no cruise line gave me the option to search for cruises based on the types of people I might like to cruise with enough to tip me off the fence to pull the trigger and actually book a cruise.

While every brand in the industry was touting their destinations, size of ship, amenities, service, price, etc., the one thing I was most interested in – cruising with a bunch of other people that I would actually enjoy spending a week with – was not a searchable option. When every brand in an industry tells you they are just perfect for everyone, the entire industry is actually telling you that they don’t know you or care about your wants and desires.

So there it was – the reason why more people weren’t cruising was staring me right in the face, and the ramifications of this revelation were not only significant for the single brand for whom I was consulting, but for the entire cruise industry. An industry that was accustom to broadcasting their marketing message in one direction was about to be confronted with a new paradigm, the requirement for a cultural shift toward two-way dialogue as a marketing necessity.

Under my guidance, the results of these early revelations led to a cultural transformation not only at this Fortune 500 cruise line, but across the entire industry as their competitors responded to our online initiatives. Consumers had found their voice through online social media, and began configuring their own cruises not around brands or itineraries per se, but around groups formed online by others like themselves. We eavesdropped on their conversations as the groups were forming online, anticipated their wants and desires, and delighted them once on board, by honoring their group with a party and memorializing their time together in pictures.

My theory went as follows: Once groups form, and vacations are enjoyed, they plan another cruise, together, with even more of their friends. As the trend develops over the years, groups will double in size each year, and eventually grow large enough to charter entire ships (saving the cruise line 15% on travel agent fees and 100% on marketing costs), and they won’t even care what brand name is on their ship.

As group leaders emerge and find their voice, they may select a different ship or different itinerary for the group’s next cruise, but it was highly unlikely they would opt to switch brands – as such a move is too disruptive to the group. Brand loyalty is a happy byproduct in this case – not as a result of the superior service delivered, but because the switching cost (disruption and angst within the group) is simply too high. As “the group becomes the brand,” the industry can spend less on brand marketing (reduce or eliminate television advertising), and more on delivering the experience at a better value to these devoted groups.

The world of information is at your fingertips, provided you bother to commit the time and effort, and ask the right questions. Before I embark on any new concept, whether for myself or my clients, I’ve been known to spend several days with as many as 15 Google tabs open at one time, in search of total information awareness on all aspects related to the target concept. Every Google search can open a door to new elements that may not previously have occurred to you, many of which are critical to understanding whether your new venture is actually going to be perceived by the market in the way that you think it will be.

Unless and until you are willing to step out of your own shoes and into those of the people you are most trying to influence (at every level of the value chain), you can’t really know whether your product/service, messaging, price point, delivery method, etc. is truly going to result in the only thing that matters, profit.

http://newventurestrategies.com

Social Media Video Marketing For Small Business

There’s no denying the amount of eyeballs watching online videos today, and you’ve heard all the chatter about social media sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, heck your competitor is probably already on most of these sites. Your intuition tells you that there are lots of visitors to these sites.

With over 400,000,000 members, Facebook is a giant that cannot be ignored. Social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have changed the way people research and make buying decisions. When leveraged in your favor you’ll have the opportunity to build more trust, respect, and credibility with your customers than ever before.

But how does this apply to your local business when it seems like everyone online is watching Michael Jackson, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce or Lady Gaga Videos?

There Are Other Online Videos to Watch!

Well, believe it or not there is a hungry market out there seeking out videos like â€Ŕhow to fix a leaky faucet videoâ€Â, food catering videos, teeth whitening, landscaping design videos, how to fix your plumbing, prepare your taxes, cooking, health, dieting, exercise and dating tips … etc. You get the picture, the important question is â€ŔAre you here in front of all these potential customers?â€Â. If not, Why?

Currently there are over 26 BILLION videos viewed per month in the United States alone. YouTube has become the #4 search engine on the internet, recently surpassing Google’s own search engine in total views, and it’s only a portal to user-created videos.

No doubt about it – This is the most profound paradigm shift in media distribution, advertising and online lead generation in the history of the internet.

Imagine if you had the budget to run infomercials 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, do you think you’d be able to dominate your market?

Leveraging Social Media Traffic

By submitting the right types of videos to many video sites, social networks, blogs and podcasts, you’ll be able to get top rankings in a very short time, while generating traffic to your online lead capture page, phone number or website.

Local customers searching for your products and services are drawn to videos distributed to social media sites. It’s a very powerful strategy that the Local Yellow Pages, Coupon Flyers or Newspapers can’t replicate.

By Leveraging the largest online social media communities like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter you’ll be able to get top page rankings in the search engines and drive targeted traffic to your website.

Social Media Marketing for Local Search

Local search visibility ensures that you are the top choice in your local market, getting you exposure in ALL search engines. But how can you dominate local search visibility?

In order to show up all over the search results page you need to utilize social media marketing techniques. You need to actively market videos, blogs, podcasts, social status sites, websites, local directories and profile pages.

The more content you get distributed into the social network community, the more listings you will have in the search engines, more visibility and a better chance that someone will find and click on your content and not your competitors.

So, How Do You Get Started?

The key to video marketing is establishing a lead generation strategy that targets your customers with videos that contain highly relevant content with targeted keywords in your Title, Tags and Descriptions.

1. First, you need to research the keywords you are targeting, you want to make sure that these keywords are really being searched by your customers, (i.e. â€ŔChicago Used Car Dealerâ€Â, â€ŔNaperville Chiropractorâ€Â, â€ŔItalian Restaurant in Lombardâ€Â, â€ŔPlumbers in New Yorkâ€Â)

2. Next, put these keywords in your video Title, Tags, Description and on your Profile Pages. Then, create your video with that theme and link the video to a properly crafted landing page, your website or profile page.

3. Finally, track the visitors and clicks on your landing page, this way you will know if the keywords and videos need some tweeking to get the conversion rate and ROI you desire.

4. Continue the above steps for as many keywords that apply to your business or market. Remember, always keep on theme, you don’t want to use keywords that are not relevant to your video content or business.

Social networks like Facebook and Twitter have changed the way people research and make buying decisions. When leveraged in your favor you’ll have the opportunity to build more trust, respect, and credibility with your customers than ever before.

Learning today has gone beyond just learning at school, for both teachers and students. Learning online has gone further than the classroom, it has gone on to being a way and means for teachers to discuss lesson plans with other teachers, and for students to talk about their classes and even discuss their favorite teachers or classes at their particular school with other student. This extension of school and the classic classroom- has shifted to online social networks, so that teachers can help teacher, and students can help students, and even make friends while in the process.

Today with the boom of online social networks, it has given people to meet other people of diverse cultures and from other parts of the world. It has also given way for people to meet friends and learn about different viewpoints on different topics around the social educational and information world. It also gives people a chance to get help with certain school subjects they might not be so slick on. Such as: Chinese, Spanish, German, and other language expanding classes, as well as advanced science and math courses. Online communities gives an opportunity to meet other people who can help you, and in return maybe you can help them with subjects they might not be so efficient on. Online social networks gives people a chance to speak their minds and to discuss anything their heart desires or wishes to learn more about in the educational realms or even political realms.

Ready to join an online community today to

meet other students or teachers? Just visit http://www.chinesegreat.com today! and start building relationships with other teachers and students!

MySpace is a popular social networking website offering an interactive, user submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos for people worldwide. MySpace has been one of the most wildly successful sites in recent years, amassing over 120 million profiles while transforming social networking online.

It has created a central community comprised of people across the globe. It is one of the most visited sites in the world and it’s introducing a huge number of people to content syndication through news feeds and it allows millions of people around the world to publish on the web for the first time.

MySpace is also used by people to display their talents and it’s about keeping in touch with friends and making new friends. It’s all about interactivity and the ability of people to participate actively in your MySpace community.

It is an amazing community building tool and is starting to become an amazing marketing tool by giving internet marketers the power to drive large numbers of potential clients to a Website. MySpace allows users to customize their user profile pages by entering HTML, no Javascript, into such areas as “About Me,” “I’d Like to Meet,” and “Interests.”

It has a Groups feature which allows a group of users to share a common page and message board. MySpaceTV is now in beta mode, and will probably be launched as a separate site in either 2008 or early 2009. The MySpace Polls is a feature that was brought back in 2008 to enable users to post polls on their profile and share them with other users.

MySpace is the world’s largest Social Networking website and maintains a dominant position as a media site, primarily aimed at youth, giving them the opportunity to express their feelings on a variety of topics.

Facebook, on the other hand, has the largest number of registered users among college-focused networking sites, according to Wikipedia. Facebook’s culture, appearance and principles have become the envy of the social networking business. It has moved in exactly the opposite direction, from MySpace, going for a more sophisticated and increasingly older audience.

Social media online is extending our real world networks so that we can carry on conversations internationally as well as locally. Facebook is a tool to keep in touch with friends and family around the globe and is the most popular social networking site in several English-speaking countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom.

Facebook is often compared to MySpace but there is one significant difference between the two sites and this is the visual appearance. Facebook is cleanly designed and has a sophisticated, upscale sense about it.

Facebook is a private company and doesn’t disclose sales figures but the Financial Times reported it made 150 million dollars worth of sales last year. Facebook is already supporting several languages and they successfully launched their Spanish speaking version recently.

Statistically speaking as of January, 2008, according to TechRadar, Facebook has more than 60 million active users worldwide compared with MySpace’s over 120 million. On average 300,000 new registrant’s sign up to MySpace everyday versus Facebook’s 250,000. For Facebook the fastest growing demographic are those 25 years old and older while 85% of MySpace users are of voting age 18 or older.

No matter how you slice it, these are two very successful and very influential players in the Social Media online arena today and should be for a very long time to come. And there is no telling how big a resource they can become for Internet Marketers worldwide.

With the divorce rate consistently high, and a dwindling economy putting financial limits on the American public, options remain slim for unhappy couples. More and more cheating wives and husbands have discovered an economical way to relieve the void, by means of the Internet.

Websites with names like Affairmatch.com are making its mark in online social media, attracting naughty wives and philandering husbands with married personals. What was once a haven for typical “horney housewives”, has now become common meeting grounds for bored husbands, and real-life Desperate Wives who have common needs and interests.

Online communities that offer married personals frequently offer free memberships for members to browse and peruse the service. Affairmatch.com is no exception. Because married personals usually define a level of discretion needed, cheating wives and husbands can candidly express their needs and desires to one another.

Christina Kelley, a spokesperson for Affairmatch.com comments that “Naughty wives and husbands now have an outlet to express their need to keep their options open, without having to disturb the routine of their empty, loveless home situations. Desperate wives are no longer found solely on television shows anymore.”

Has popular media made it socially acceptable to be “Desperate Wives?” Members will likely say not, but skeptics believe otherwise. Those who believe in nuclear family values, warn that married personals websites work against creating wholesome households. But, even prior to online social communities that specialize in married personals such as Affairmatch.com, the separation and divorce rate in America was steadily on the rise.

Kelley adds, “It sounds crazy, but a lot of times, many cheating wives and husbands end up going back to their spouse. Affairmatch.com satisfies a level of curiosity for some. They realize that casual dating and married personals is not their thing, and that they were not as unhappy in their marriage as they thought. Strangely, Affairmatch.com has helped tame naughty wives.” Of course, the opposition would beg to differ.

Be it socially acceptable or not, the troubling factor is the ease that cheating wives and lonely husbands have when using online social media as a means for finding new, discreet companionship. One side of the argument will berate the “unfaithful husbands and naughty wives” for using technology to step out of the social norm. The other side will argue that married personals have restored an element of sanity, allowing them to communicate will fellow bored husbands and desperate wives who understand their home situations better than anyone else.