Monthly Archives: October 2011
Infographic: Things That Happen On Internet Every 60 Seconds, via @davidmerzel’s BLOG
Click on the image to enlarge
The end of Business as Usual ……. via @davidmerzel’s BLOG
I’m passionated about the impact of new technologies on consumer behavior.
In that framework, I’ve developed a new approach called close contact marketing that I’m presentating in a confertence called “are you a white belt or black belt marketer”
The spirit in Close Contact Marketing is basic: Treating your consumer with respect is the best way to win their heart.
The close contact Marketing is based on the following belief: once you convince the consumer, he becomes your best ambassador.
Close contact marketing has its roots in eastern values of the martial arts such as karate that I practice: respect and direct involvement are part of it.
Its six rules are symbolized by belts of the sport that I practice so much.
More on close contact marketing HERE
I’m happy to see that Brian Solis, released a new book called The End of Business As Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution.
In the book, he talks about the importance of brand and brand essence during an era of what he calls Digital Darwinism, the evolution of consumer behavior when society and technology evolve faster than the ability to adapt.
With businesses chasing the great “friend” grab in social networks, brand and brand essence are more important than ever before. A brand is recognized as the unique identity of a product, service or company. Brand essence, however, is felt.
I’m happy to see some similarities with my approach as :
- Create personal engagement.
- Create Experience.
- Create Enchantment.
Here-below, the approach from Brian Solis : To help make brands socially relevant, he created the following steps for brand managers to review.
- Focus: Attention is a precious commodity and to earn it, the brand must make an immediate impression in order to capture attention and convert it into curiosity. Identify a list no more than five words that contribute to the brand, especially in a social setting. Your job is to deliver a unique experience and document what it is you want to evoke through engagement.
- Feeling: Social networks are emotional landscapes that are populated by human beings, not consumers. Describe in two or three sentences what it is you want a consumer to feel when she comes into contact with your brand and how she would communicate that feeling through her actions and words to her friends.
- Individuality: In these communities, brands are people, too, and they require a persona, character, mannerisms and everything necessary to stand out. Illustrate the persona of your brand. Who is it? What does it stand for? What are its characteristics and mannerisms? The key here is to create a unique and desirable impression. As my good friend Guy Kawasaki says, we must be “enchanting!”
- Experiential: When a consumer experiences a product or service, what is that each encounter eliciting? Articulate in a sentence or two the experience you wish your consumers to feel or associate with the brand.
- Consistency: Consistency is what a brand conveys every day across all networks, social presences, content, apps, and engagement. List three attributes that must be communicated through all things social.
- Personal: Brand essence must carry meaning, something personal that people aspire to become, embrace, and be part of, something that resonates with them. List the top three emotional hooks that will convey why and how people will be drawn to you in social media.
- Portable: Networks cultivate unique cultures and how people connect with brands is different within each. Brand essence requires scalability and portability to extend brand value and resonance across each network while still creating a holistic experience. Clearly define in two sentences how brand essence will be communicated or expressed at the top level and within each network.
- Longevity: Is the essence designed to last? Is it something that can stand the test of time and patience regardless of medium? At some point a brand must become an extension of the culture of the organization, and now’s the time to put into words how the culture will transfer from the real world into each network. In one sentence, two at the most, capture your culture and describe how it will be enlivened in new media. Define what people are aligning with and representing to their networks.
- Credibility: People walk away with an impression based on how a brand is portrayed and enlivened. There must be an alignment between these nine steps and the experience people actually do have. Understand where the disconnect may exist today, list the gaps, and take actions to fill them. Without this step, the brand will lose credibility through engagement and that’s not an option in today’s digital economy.
Everything that we do including the words we choose and the imagery we use is instrumental in the definition of brand essence. Thus, our words, and actions, contribute to the last mile of customer engagement.
5 Steps to measure results of Social Media [infographic], via @davidmerzel’s BLOG
I must say that I’ve never met an agency presenting an approach regarding the way to measure results & ROI of Social Media.
This infographic is a good summary of 5 steps to measure results of your Social Media strategy.
What’s the Future of Marketing ? [Lecture - 9th Nov - 8 PM - Gaggarin Brussels]
Next 9th of Nov, I will give a lecture regarding the Future of Marketing in Brussels (7 PM at Gaggarin – see detail here-below)
During this lecturer, I will come back on The “Close Contact Marketing” that I’ve developped.
Close Contact Marketing is based on the following belief: once you convince the consumer, he becomes your best ambassador.
Close contact marketing has its roots in eastern values of the martial arts such as karate : respect and direct involvement are part of it.
Its six rules are symbolized by belts of the sport that I practice so much.
More on close contact marketing HERE
Click here-below for more details and subcription, for this lecture.
Vote for David Merzel as Marketer of the Year (more info)
Vote for Me on
Here is what we have achieved thanks to this creative approach.
• Successful launch of Kinect / Xbox 360 thru a very innovative marketing approach.
• Our division has doubled its turnover in less than three years.
• Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, rewarded my Team as the most successful division worldwide.
Link to Voting Site Trends
NL: http://trends.knack.be/economie/game-1194827758183.htm
FR: http://trends.levif.be/economie/game-1194827758419.htm
Voor NL versie, click hier / Pour le post en français, clicker ICI
Stem voor David Merzel als Marketeer van het Jaar 2011
Stem voor mij op
Ik ben verantwoordelijk voor marketing en sales van consumentenproducten bij Microsoft, zoals de spelconsole Xbox 360-Kinect, Windows en Office. En ik ben bij de selectie van de laatste vier om marketeer van het jaar 2011 te worden.
Binnen de Entertainment and Devices Division van Microsoft (Xbox 360, Kinect, …) was ons doel om de spelconsole Kinect in België te lanceren. De lancering was een groot succes. Steve Ballmer, CEO van Microsoft, heeft België daarvoor beloond als het best presterende land wereldwijd.
België was zo succesvol dankzij de Close Contact Marketing aanpak. Ik wil graag deze strategie met jullie delen. Het is gebaseerd op het volgende principe: als u uw consument hebt overtuigd, wordt hij uw beste ambassadeur.
Pour le post en français, clicker ICI
Votez pour David Merzel comme Marketer de l’année !
Je suis responsable Marketing et Vente pour les produits destinés au grand public chez Microsoft, tels que la console de jeux Xbox 360-Kinect, Windows et Office. Et je viens d’être sélectionné, avec quatre de nos confrères, comme marketeer de l’année 2011.
Au sein de la division Entertainment & Devices de Microsoft (Xbox 360, Kinect, …), notre objectif était de lancer la console de jeu Kinect en Belgique. Ce lancement a emporté un énorme succès . Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft, avait déjà récompensé la Belgique comme pays le plus performant au niveau mondial.
Vous voulez en savoir sur le lancement de KINECT, click HERE
Voor NL versie, click hier
Voter pour moi en cliquant ICI via
Are you a white or Black Belt Marketer ? If you want to know more, join Digital Marketing First @ BXL, 11th of Oct …., via @davidmerzel’s BLOG
Tomorrow 11th of Oct @Digital Marketing First Tour & Taxi Brussels (4.30 PM – Room 3), I present “Are you a white or Black Belt Marketer?”
- Take a look at fool program HERE
So, are you a White belt or Black belt Marketer ?
Discover tomorrow a new approach, we’ve developped with my Team within Microsoft Belgium,
Inspiration came from my experience as marketer and in martial art.
I give you already some taste before tomorrow …
The spirit in Close Contact Marketing is basic: Treating your consumer with respect is the best way to win their heart.
Applying the Close Contact Marketing technical I have developed within my team has been very succesful, for the launch of Kinect in Belgium.
I want to share with you the approach that leads Belgium to be that successful.
The close contact Marketing is based on the following belief: once you convince the consumer, he becomes your best ambassador.
Close contact marketing has its roots in eastern values of the martial arts such as karate: respect and direct involvement are part of it.
Its six rules are symbolized by belts of the sport that I practice so much.
Let me introduce these to you:
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Rule #1 : Engage Personally
Involve yourself personally as a Marketeer. Make your hands dirty, talk, surf, have a dialogue with journalists, retailers, consumers and colleagues. This rule seems obvious. Those who experienced it know it’s not.
For the launch of Kinect, we decided to invite journalists, retailers, consumers and bloggers to come and test this new stuff in a friendly atmosphere. The Kinect Loft has been created to enhance the networking with influencers.
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Rule #2 : Trying is Believing.
Set up an authentic, winsome experience on your products.
More than seven thousand people tried out the Kinect, including the Kinect Loft (see below in the slide share the LOFT) in Brussels, as the device was not launched yet.
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Rule #3 : Invite Influencers Generously
Take the time to discuss with influencers as they carry on your message.
Journalists, bloggers, retails partners deliver your message to an audience. The Kinect Loft has been on its way, in a mobile version, within the retail field and events for consumers. The commitment level was so high; the content was shared on Facebook, Twitter and over 350 blogs in Belgium.
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Rule #4 : Enchant the Masses
Find the best way to enchant the audience, focusing on spending that much money on advertising .
In Belgium, Kinect has spread its words in more than 36 newspapers and magazines, 6 radio show s, 18 TV shows .
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Rule #5 : Share Close Contact Marketing
I share my passion for marketing, social media , new technologies
I’m having a leadership position throughout a blog who made more than one hundred thousand visits over the past year. Thanks to the comments on the blog and on social networks, I’m aware of the reactions of the target audience. The key audience at the Kinect launching was families and the most important move was to keep a strong image towards the communities of players within our core audiences. I have shared my passion and vision of marketing in universities (ULB, VUB, IHECS, KDG Antwerp, KH Leuven) and professional organizations (BMMA, IAB, BetaGroup). I met by then more than two thousand people that year and I really enjoyed that !
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Rule #6 : Improve Society
The boundaries of your job are not settled by your products, as a Marketeer you obviously have a role to play in society.
With the help of Fishing Cactus, a Belgian company based in Mons, and the Erasme Hospital, Microsoft has developed revalidation softwares for the Kinect platform for people suffering from brain damage. Kinect gives the patients the ability of visualize daily tasks, and teaches them how to improve their lives . As a candidate of Marketeer of the year, I know that less is more.
For people who can’t come tomorrow, you can learn more on the slide share here-below :
You Feedback is Welcome and See you tomorrow.
5 Twitter Tips to Give Your Content More Exposure, @davidmerzel’s BLOG
Use the following 5 tips to help give your content more exposure on Twitter
1. Schedule Tweets
- Scheduling tweets and updates is a fantastic way to make sure you are getting valuable content out to your audience around the clock — even when you’re sleeping!
- Using third-party tools like MarketMeSuite allows you to schedule your tweets for specific dates and times.
- This can help you stay on top of your social media content promotion.
- Scheduling tweets can also be helpful if your business extends to a global audience.
- Bufferapp.com recently published a study that showed carefully selected times for scheduling tweets increased click rates by 200%.
- Use TweetWhen.com to help you determine the best times to tweet.
2. Analyze Your Data
- There is no better way of knowing whether your tweets are being read than by analyzing your data.
- Use a third-party application to monitor your Twitter presence and understand how people are engaging with your tweets.
- You can determine if your tweets are getting seen and provoking conversations and discussions.
- Is one type of tweet getting retweeted or generating more clicks and discussion than others?
- To track a particular marketing campaign you’re running, create and promote a particular hashtag. Using hashtags allows tweets about a particular subject to be more searchable by users.
- After the campaign is over, marketers can search for the hashtag and identify how effective it was in promoting the campaign and generating more tweets.
- Monitoring your retweets is also a very effective way to see not only who has read your tweets, but also who found them interesting enough to retweet them.
3. Connect Your Blog to Your Twitter Account
- Connecting your blog’s RSS feed to your Twitter account will allow your Twitter followers to receive tweets about your newest blog content automatically.
- These feeds encourage maximum exposure and save you the time of manually promoting your blog content to your Twitter followers.
- Just be sure your Twitter feed doesn’t turn into an automated stream with no Twitter interaction.
- Participate in the conversation that evolves from the content you’re tweeting, and always make sure your Twitter account is about more than just content promotion.
4. Tweet Questions
- By tweeting questions, you’ll be inviting followers and other Twitter users to interact, converse, and engage with you and your brand.
- The more engaging and valuable you make your Twitter stream, the more followers you’ll generate.
- Something as simple and easy as asking “What do you think of ABC?” or adding, “We would love to know your thoughts about XYZ” at the end of an update will encourage responses.
- Conversely, remember that if someone asks you a question in real life, you tend to respond it automatically. Think like a human being when you tweet, and be responsive, too.
5. Be Personal, React, and Engage!
- It’s extremely important to make sure your followers know there is a real human behind your tweet.
- If you tweet like a robot with no level of personal engagement with your audience, your Twitter account will look like spam, and your followers will get bored with your messages.
- Use personal touches in your tweets now and then.
- As long as you keep your Twitter stream relevant and valuable over all, there’s nothing wrong with tweeting things like, “What a lovely day here in the office!” or “Happy Friday — hope you’re all well!”
- The more you engage with your followers on a personal level, the more they’ll understand you care about, and the more willing they’ll be to connect with you and build a relationship.
- As a result, they’ll grow to trust you, listen to what you have to say, and be more receptive to your marketing messages.
The original post is written by Nikki Peters, community manager of MarketMeSuite.
Message from Bill Gates and Barack Obama to Steve Jobs, via @davidmerzel’s BLOG
Message from Bill Gates and Barack Obama to Steve Jobs,
I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work. Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives. The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely. Bill.
See original Message on The Facebook Page from Bill gates.
