Tim Elliott » conversational marketing http://timelliott.us Marketing Technopologist Wed, 12 May 2010 00:36:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Now Is The Time For Big Ideas http://timelliott.us/2008/12/05/now-is-the-time-for-big-ideas/ http://timelliott.us/2008/12/05/now-is-the-time-for-big-ideas/#comments Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:01:32 +0000 Tim http://timelliott.us/?p=350
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I’ve been working on a project for the past couple weeks that has forced me to refocus my view from small, fixed scope guerrilla engagements to deals beyond anything I’ve considered since I left corporate life nearly 3 years ago. It’s been an interesting transition which highlights the evolution of conversational marketing from some rag-tag experiments to cutting-edge strategy to almost mainstream practice.

But issues remain.

When you go big, you have to talk ROI. And social marketing is as difficult to track as traditional PR. Sure, there are some great examples of success, but it’s sales impact that will win the day in this economy. On our side is the fact that conversational marketing costs a lot less than other channels like print and broadcast advertising so more brands will enter this space in 2009.

So I’m optimistic that the current economic crisis will shift more marketing to the social web and we’ll hone our measurement of ROI. Now’s the time to go big…

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]]> http://timelliott.us/2008/12/05/now-is-the-time-for-big-ideas/feed/ 0 Is 2008 The 1992 of Conversational Marketing? http://timelliott.us/2007/10/19/is-2008-the-1992-of-conversational-marketing/ http://timelliott.us/2007/10/19/is-2008-the-1992-of-conversational-marketing/#comments Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:02:08 +0000 Tim http://timelliott.us/2007/10/19/is-2008-the-1992-of-conversational-marketing/ If the Internet went mainstream in 1996, then we are at around the same place in the adoption cycle right now with conversational marketing that the Internet was in 1992 according to a new survey published this week. Although awareness seems to be getting to some sort of tipping point, it seems that most marketers are still in the experimentation stage today. But by 2012 most respondents think conversational marketing will be mainstream.

My favorite takeaway:

The top obstacles to increased spending on conversational marketing, according to survey respondents:

  • Manpower restraints: 51.1 percent
  • Fear of loss of control: 46.9 percent
  • Inadequate metrics: 45.4 percent
  • Culture of their organizations: 43.5 percent

I’m not exactly sure what “Manpower restraints” means but perhaps it’s just getting more marketers up to speed with new marketing concepts. But the other three hit close to home with some of the work I’m involved with: culture and control of message are the key sticking points and metrics can always be improved.

Interesting reading; check it out here.

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