One nation – the world of cyberspace.

Some people find the Web 2.0 confusing, some people dismiss it as irrelevant and some people want to be ‘online’ 24 x 7. For me, the great thing about the Web is that it’s there if I want to it and not if I don’t. I can just switch it off and on like my other electrical appliances.

Having spent large amounts of my life online, I have learned to pick and choose what I do on the Web, where I shop, where I go for conversation, where I go for information and what kind of news I read. At work, the value of the Internet cannot be overstated, being able to access new information and technology quickly is extremely important.

However, I understand that my view of the Web is not shared by everyone and there are still people out there who are afraid to believe anything they read online. But to those people, I would say read ‘The New Rules of Marketing and PR’ by David Meerman Scott. Scott’s brilliant view of the Internet paints a picture of a place that I truly recognise.

He dismisses the view of many people that the Web is like a large sprawling newspaper and rather describes it as a huge city teaming with individuals. “Craigslist is like the bulletin board at the entrance of the corner store; eBay, a garage sale; Amazon, a bookstore replete with patrons anxious to give you their book tips. You’ve even got the proverbial wrong-side-of-the-tracks spots via the Web’s adult-entertainment underbelly.”

In this online world blogs are the sound of independent voices, just like those of your friends telling you about the latest book they have read. When you find a reliable friend you will keep on going back to them for advice and knowledge. It’s the same with blogs, when you enjoy the content and it’s reliable you will keep going back for more.

We all pick and choose where we go and who we socialise with – the Web is just an extension of this. It is another ‘city’ that we can visit, learn from, contribute to, socialise in and enjoy.

Waving or drowning? The online lifejacket.

The British Retail Consortium is predicting that December’s retail figures will not be pretty. And as other retailers – USC and Adams - bite the dust, and Woolworths prepares to shut its doors for the last time later this week, commentators are jostling for position to see who can predict the next high street failure. Debenhams, DFS, WHSmiths even….. oh the drama of it all.

In an otherwise bleak landscape, online spending continues to be a bright spot - Hitwise reported an average traffic increase to retailer sites of 2.275% YoY in the days leading up to Christmas. This increase on its own doesn’t prove that online is more resilient. As an indication of the carnage on the high street, desperate retailers broke with retailing traditions by kick-starting their sales before Christmas - a significant driver behind buyer behaviour. However the evidence does mount up, for example on the busiest online shopping day of the year - ‘Mega Monday’ (8th December) - UK online sales volumes were 18% up on YoY.

However, with the continual march of broadband and WiFi into people’s homes, and proliferation of PCs as the focus for domestic multi-media consumption (radio, social networks, TV) the migration to the web is being seen across all industries. A significant sector that acts as a clear indicator is the newspaper industry. Traditional ‘ink’ newspaper outlets are struggling to maintain revenues, consequently advertising revenues are dwindling, which is resulting in jobs being brutally cut. According to Pew Research Centre, in 2008 for the first time ever the number of consumers using the web as a main news source jumped from 24% to 40% in a year, overtaking the 35% who rely on newspapers.

So back to the world of retailing, online is certainly a channel to be embraced. In our recent Borderless report which examined the opportunities for retailers wanting to expand their operations into Europe, when used effectively this channel is a significant place and space to exploit. And without the need for pricey bricks and mortar locations, with fixed opening hours and the need for friendly staff, online is cheap, 24 hours a day, with the potential to reach every global consumer who is online, and with the additional holy grail plus point of being MEASURABLE!!

A recent news piece in The Sunday Times told of an ambitious scheme to create an online London shopping experience. It reported on a planned online scheme where retailers will be able to take virtual real estate space in an interactive computer model of London’s West End. If this gets off the ground, such a co-operative approach might just be the way that smaller retail operations can experiment with online and experience for themselves the opportunities and benefits that the channel offers. (Although I would caution against any comparisons with Second Life: for the majority of consumers, the more mainstream and accessible the technology and concept the better!)

So as the pundits continue to predict a very dismal 2009 for retailing, perhaps the wealth of online opportunities will inspire more retailers (mainstream and niche) to dip their toe in the water and see… just see what might happen. It might just be the right lifejacket at the right time.

Twitter – to tweet or not to tweet that is the question

If India Knight’s article in The Sunday Times last weekend is anything to go by, the reason people tweet is due to being psychologically needy and having a deep rooted desire to stalk celebrities.

I have recently got more involved with Twitter and I think I can safely say that I am neither of the above. I do follow a ‘celebrity’ – Stephen Fry who seems to have Twitter running through his veins and is an active, informative member of the Twitter-verse. However, the majority of the people I follow are industry colleagues, including clients, competitors and innovative thinkers. It’s a great way to share ideas, best practice and keep up to date on industry news.

Twitter does take a while to get used to and certainly needs time to appreciate any value it has in your world. But you have to use it in order to understand it. Making use of key tools such as TweetDeck and Twhirl, being selective about who you follow and why, as well as ensuring you contribute to the dialogue, you’ll soon see the benefits. And when I say contribute, those that use it to blatantly self-promote are soon gently - or not so gently - publically outed.

I use Twitter because as MD to thebluedoor (a PR agency) having an immediate grasp of today’s and tomorrow’s news agendas is vital for our work. In previous agencies I was always stunned at how lazy some of our industry can be at staying up to date. Being on top of current events is the foundation of what we do. Twitter enables me to immediately be aware of what conversations are happening and where. One of the most helpful features of TweetDeck is TweetScoop – using a scaled tag cloud of words it very clearly shows the user in real time what the hot topics currently are on Twitter.

If only the brand managers at Motrin had been active on Twitter. They would have been monitoring and then engaging in the discussion with what was effectively a large online focus group. Taking part in a dialogue can only help to understand what your target audience needs and gives you the chance to respond proactively and effectively.

News sources are also changing. Citizen journalists are a reality – a great example being this week’s incident at Denver international airport when a flight came off the runway. Thanks to the tweets made by a passenger on his iPhone, his friends, family and subsequently a wider audience knew all the passengers had survived and even saw pictures of the crash site. All well before traditional news channels were able to report on it.

So the answer? My advice, sign up for a Twitter account and start listening to the conversations that interest you and impact your world. You’ll be amazed at the insight available to you – and all in less than 140 characters!

TechCrunch talks PR – but what does PR mean to you?

The role of service providers, especially PR consultants, was the panel discussion topic at yesterday’s excellent TechCrunch Talk in London, hosted by Mike Butcher.

PR was a hot topic – many start-ups having had bad experiences. Fears were shared of PRs overpromising and underperforming. Others believing anyone can do PR. Well yes, that’s true – but not always well or delivering ROI.

If you’re an entrepreneur on a tight budget, with a clear message, strong communication skills and the confidence to engage with your target external audience, then go for it alone.

But what’s next? How do you take your business to the next level? PR is like any other specialist service – if done well by professionals, it can be extremely effective and bring high return on investment.

So what is good PR? Here are our top tips:

1/ Good PRs understand the media, technology and the approach. They should give clear, realistic and honest advice and say when a company won’t benefit from PR support - if the product is not ready, the budget not available, the company has no spokespeople – all good reasons to hold PR fire.

2/ PRs should add value – looking for positive opportunities, monitoring your brand presence across media, developing your profile. Above all, helping achieve your business objectives and taking it beyond a press release pitch project.

3/ Be an extension of your team – your success is their success. No favouritism, no fluff, just smart strategies, hard work, and results.

At TechCrunch entrepreneurs were advised to plan for the worst in 2009 – to “bootstrap” - in order to be successful. The same applies to PR. If going it alone, what happens when it goes wrong? Look at what happened to Motrin in November – now an infamous digital PR case study for all the wrong reasons. PR is about planning, monitoring feedback, engaging, as well as responding before, during, and after. A proactive approach is required - not reactive when it is simply too late to avoid reputation damage. After all, your reputation is everything, especially as a start-up. So look beyond the PR caricatures, and consider discussing your plans with professionals.

You know your company better than anyone. PR consultants should be just that – professional advisors whose understanding of the media adds value. Together, it can be a powerfully successful mix.

Corporate Blogging – Forrester’s latest research gives pause for thought.

Only one in six consumers trust company blogs, according to Forrester Research’s “Time to Rethink Your Corporate Blogging Ideas” released on Tuesday. This report echoes Forrester’s earlier research released in June which showed corporate bloggers failing to get results from their activities.

This research might seem surprising to those who have seen their natural search rankings increase, customer retention improved and more business coming through the sales funnel through their corporate blog. However, we are not totally surprised by the overall findings.

Before we get too carried away with the research, it is worth noting a couple of demographics that Forrester has pulled up which set this research in context:

• The average age of those surveyed was 42 years, within both pro and anti-blogging groups. Perhaps using a younger survey group would have given us different results; those in the ‘40 something’ age group are not usually early adopters of new technology.

• Out of the U.S. online adults that Forrester surveyed only 48 percent trusted the Yellow Pages (not online), perhaps indicating a fairly cautious survey population.

The question is when and how to blog for business? Forrester suggest several reasons for a company to blog, from customer service to employee involvement. What’s clear to us is that a company should identify the objectives for a blog before they start posting and that blogging should form part of an overall communications strategy. Corporate blogging is not a quick fix.

As part of a sustained PR and marketing strategy a blog can complement and highlight existing corporate goals and messaging. It provides an open forum for issues that cannot be addressed on a static website and through traditional media.

E-Writing

I was pleased to attend a "Freshly Squeezed" breakfast briefing at the CIPR this morning. Given by Sarah Evans-Toyne, Head of Digital at Broadgate, the session on E-Writing was super imformative. E-Writing covers such a wide variety of areas from blogging to press releases and social media and Sarah's perspective was really insightful to those of us involved in writing effective copy for the web.

Online sales remain strong

Online sales in November continued to be a bright spot in the current retail wasteland. According to the British Retail Consortium’s latest gloomy figures, retail sales in November were down for the second month in a row. This marks the start of a worrying trend: it is the first time that figures have fallen since the UK Retail Sales Monitor survey began in 1995. However, in the midst of this bleak landscape, online retail continued to increase, growing almost 10% year on year in November.
There are a number of valid reasons for this growth, not least a marked increase in consumer confidence online. People are not browsing on the high-street and making impulse purchases - they haven’t got the time or the money. According to recent figures from Google, over 85% of all procurement starts on line, and with increased domestic and PC uptake rates there are more shoppers out there.
So consumers habits have changed and this now-established connectivity has emancipated consumers. They have already researched the options online, found the cheapest deals on price comparison sites, read user-reviews on forums, and gathered recommendations from contacts on social networking sites. In addition retailers have played their part too in improving consumer confidence: security issues have been sharpened up, consumers’ rights have been established and clarified, and website usability improved. And online real-estate prices knock the price tags of expensive locations needed by bricks and mortar establishments into a cocked-hat.
The current economic climate, plus the dramatic online evolution is the perfect storm for retail – but instead of being seen as a destructive threat to the high-street, retailers should embrace this opportunity, diversify and embrace the world-wide online market-place.

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Busiest day for online shopping

Today is set to be the busiest online shopping day during the Christmas period, with more than two million purchases forcasted (Telegraph). Online customers are keen to receive their purchases in time for Christmas, and today’s last minute online sales could well top £320 million says IMRG (the leading industry body for global e-retailing).

According to IMRG, Monday 1^st December was the busiest day of the year for the UK’s online retailers so far – but today will be busier. For more information take a look at the news article at Internet Retailing.

Europe opens for ecommerce business

Ecommerce is a bright spot in the current retail environment, continuing its double digit year-on-year growth rate. With this in mind we thought you might like to read the new “Borderless” report launched today. The report details the key consumer and retail issues, as well as prospects currently facing the European cross border ecommerce sector.

Key findings of the report include details of: highest cross border spending per country, statistical measurement of cross border purchases and ecommerce business growth strategies for SMEs.

Commissioned by thebluedoor and written by Colum Joyce, the Borderless report aims to help businesses wanting to expand into new geographical markets to develop best-practice strategies and tactics to maximise potential success.

The Borderless report is freely available for download here.