http://www.dynamicexport.com.au/news/icann-votes-for-international-domains00771/

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-11/16/content_8979647.htm

http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3846401

http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/

• Drop box - I really like this to share between my 3 computers
• Mozy - online back up
• Google Docs – I use this word docs and excel so that peopl that I work with in Canada and Australia can access the same files ( and its free)
• Zoho has a heap of online collaboration tools thatyou may find useful

• Small – $4.80
• Regular – $5.80
• EXTRA – $7.20

The small was the most value add option. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely, author of best seller Predictably Irrational, delivered a talk at the TED Conference in 2008 on how we make decisions, and how these decisions are not necessarily the logical choice.

I

We increasingly see brands offering this level of customisation as consumers become more informed about products and are willing to pay a little bit extra for a choice in product. Whether it be customising sneakers, to tailored clothes, and custom built Laptops and computers, and even Domino’s highly complex Pizza builder. The generic product, the one size fits all model doesn’t cut it any more and as marketing demographics continue to splinter by more than just age, sex, and socio economic group and we realise that the word majority is actually made up of a series of minorities. Trying to create a overarching product is high risk without a solid R&D phase behind it.

So the benefit of having in- built choice in products means you can access a larger market share and with an online database behind it you can gain valuable insights into who your buyers are; are they mainly chewy or crispy texture people, or do they like nuts more than lollies? From there you can roll out popular flavour to recoup some economies of scale for your business.

The product research learning curve and testing phase can occur while Element Bars are generating sales and those real learnings can be applied to build “popular flavours”.

There is of course the flip side in this model as humans can only really focus on five to seven things on a page at once and so limiting choice can actually help users arrive at the desired end goal quicker. There is a point when a plethora of choice can become a deterrent to convert and the user experience required to manage the process must become more complex. For the Element bars site the level of choice and customisation is high but well managed through the progress bar and the dynamic nutritional information label.

Then check out the domino

The details around payment options were vague suggesting a mix of online subscriptions, charging fees to read single stories and selling content on new platforms such as mobile reading devices.

However be prepared for these measures to come in soon; ”We’re thinking in terms of this financial year,” Mr Murdoch said.

Two years ago, with Ad Dollars still flowing strongly through News Corp, Murdoch maintained that online content would remain free for users; a sustainable model given the steady flow of Advertising revenue. Since then however the Global Recession has seen advertising budgets halve and clients demanded performance media buys, online inventory has devalued into Click and Acquisition based pricing models. All media publishers including News Corp have been unable to withstand the financial repercussions and last week they posted a USD 3.4 billion loss to 2008.

The Wall Street Journal, one of Murdoch’s most prized publications, is currently running on a subscription basis. It

So what does this have to do with Marketing.

1. I converted twice in the span of an hour with out any prior brand contact

2. I’m listening to it on repeat

3. I’ve just posted a rave review with a link to the album

These three things are exactly what any product marketing team is hoping their traffic will do, and these three things are exactly what make a brand successful.

This band nor their record label ‘Honest Jon’s Records”, have the funds or industry influence to get much commercial radio play or do the PR, Talk Show circuit and so must rely on their fan base; from individuals telling their friends directly and bloggers/ music reviewers writing pieces on the group – as their primary acquisition channel, which is fairly daunting. However for many smaller companies, bands, designers, artist, NGO, etc – this is the only option they have to work with. But if you can get this to work not only will it provided the strongest ROI, it will also provide you with a long lasting and genuine relationship with your customers.

If you are planning on going for a more grass roots style pull strategy the most important requirement to get you high off the launching pad is amazing product and good timing (find the right people at the right time).

Apple have done this time and time again, from the first PC to iPod’s and iPhones. Mozilla are another example of a no budget advertising campaign that have today achieved them over 1 billion downloads. These organisations not only have quality product to offer they more importantly have a loyal fan base that will taut their tunes for them.

“While much has been written questioning the value of social media, this landmark study has found that the most valuable brands in the world are experiencing a direct correlation between top financial performance and deep social media engagement. The relationship is apparent and significant: socially engaged companies are in fact more financially successful.”(Engagement db Report 2009)

The study evaluated each brand by not only the number of channels they engaged with but how deeply they were able to interact with their audience through them. Each brand was classified into four engagement profiles:

Mavens: Brands that engage with seven or more social networking channels and show high depth scores

Butterflies: Brands that similarly run on a high number of social media networks but their audience engagement is shallow.

Selectives: Brands running on fewer social media channels but show greater depth on their key focus channels.

Wallflowers: Brands that show both lower presence and depth in their engagement with Social Media.

Of the rankings Mavens Starbucks, Dell and eBay achieved the highest scores followed by Google because of the way there were able to tie in Social Media initiatives with their larger scale marketing strategies.

Overall Mavens showed the most growth in the last twelve months in Revenue and Gross Margin compared to the other engagement profiles. The study also provides Best Practices Case Studies on Starbucks, Toyota, Dell and SAP.

Webpaint and Altimeter Group have also launched an accompanying website that lets companies index their own social media use for further research. You can read the full report here.