In this issue...

These Days, Markets Are Conversations
Businesses large and small are being confronted with a new communications paradigm known most familiarly as the Web 2.0. It used to be individuals were primarily consumers of information. With the advent of new forms of media such as blogs, Internet video and social networks, that is no longer the case.

Featured Partner: Acree Creative
From a career in rock 'n' roll radio, to publicist for superstars like the legendary Wolfman Jack, Acree brings 35+ years experience to clients.

Top Ten Wish List for Agencies of the Future
Sapient recently sponsored a national online digital marketing and interactive advertising survey to gain insight into what marketers want from their advertising and marketing agencies in the next 12 months. Here is what they found.

Let Bizzuka Become Your Online Marketing Department
Marketing professionals and small business owners expect agencies to be very Web-savvy, and that includes the Web 2.0. However, expertise in areas such as analytics, SEO and social media are outside the purview of many agencies. Don't worry.... Bizzuka is here to serve you.

These Days, Markets Are Conversations

Businesses large and small are being confronted with a new communications paradigm known most familiarly as the Web 2.0. It used to be individuals were primarily consumers of information. With the advent of new forms of media such as blogs, Internet video and social networks, that is no longer the case.

A sea-change has taken place where anyone with access to a computer or mobile device and the Internet can become publishers of information, not just consumers.

Everyone, both amateur and professional alike, has the ability to produce content, share information, opinion and editorial commentary and make it available to the entire world with the click of a mouse.

What used to be known as the information super highway has become an interconnected maze of conversation with a global symphony of voices speaking at once. This has severe implications for business.

New terminology has even evolved to describe this phenomenon – the "participatory web," "social media" and, as previously mentioned, the "Web 2.0."

No longer can companies turn a deaf ear to the conversation taking place via these manifold channels. Businesses must develop an engagement strategy to:

1. Counter negative perceptions about their brands, people, products and services
2. Reward those who speak well of them
3. Utilize the same media used by consumers to generate brand awareness, create positive brand impressions and incite customer evangelism and word of mouth.

Further, the way businesses market themselves has changed. No longer do companies merely target audiences and broadcast messages in a unidirectional, mass media manner. In this new paradigm, "markets are conversations" and "participation is marketing."

As such, it demands of businesses that they learn how to utilize these new channels to engage their customers and prospects and penetrate newly-developed niche markets. The tools of conversational media are the means by which this is done.

To learn more about how to use the tools of social media such as blogs, podcasts or social networks like Facebook and Twitter, contact Bizzuka Internet Marketing Director, Paul Chaney.

Featured Partner: Acree Creative

Acree Creative is a full-service advertising, marketing and public relations firm based in Sherman, Texas.

Acre erepresents clients of all sizes, and categories. From helping local business owners double their sales to launching a new electronics product to the world Acree Creative brings tremendous experience, integrity, and value to every client project.

Want to learn more about becoming a Bizzuka reseller partner? Let us know. Want a good recipe for Crawfish Etouffee. We can help you there as well.

Top Ten Wish List for Agencies of the Future

Sapient, an international interactive marketing firm, recently sponsored a national online digital marketing and interactive advertising survey to gain insight into what marketers want from their advertising and marketing agencies in the next 12 months.

They polled over 200 chief marketing officers (CMOs) and senior marketing professionals and here is what they found.

1. Greater knowledge of the digital space - More than a third of the marketers surveyed expressed a lack of confidence that their current agency is well-positioned to take their brand through the unchartered waters of online digital marketing and interactive advertising. 79% rated "interactive/digital" functions as 'important/very important.'

2. More use of "pull interactions" - Marketers want more "pull" type interactions like social media rather than "push" campaigns such as email.

3. Leverage virtual communities - An overwhelming 94 percent of respondents expressed interest in leveraging virtual communities (public and private) to understand more about their target audience.

4. Agency executives using the technology they are recommending - In other words, agencies should "eat their own dogfood" when it comes to the use of tools they recommend to clients. To bring this home, an agency that recommends Bizzuka's Web content management system to a client but does not use the platform itself falls short of current expectations, according to the survey.

5. Chief Digital Officers make agencies more appealing - Forty-three percent of marketers surveyed said that agencies with chief digital officers are more appealing than those without.

6. Web 2.0 and social media savvy - Sixty three percent of marketers surveyed said that an agency’s Web 2.0 and social media capabilities are ‘important/very important’ when it comes to agency selection.

7. Agencies that understand consumer behavior - Seventy-six percent of respondents deemed this as an 'important/very important' aspect of their agency’s online digital marketing and interactive advertising area of expertise.

8. Demonstrate strategic thinking - Seventy-seven percent of marketers surveyed ranked strategy/brain trust capabilities at the top of their agency wish list.

9. Branding and creative capabilities - Sixty-seven percent of respondents ranked branding at the top of their agency wish list while seventy-six percent ranked creative capabilities as ‘important/very important.’

10. Ability to measure success - It’s no surprise that marketers want an agency that can report on where campaigns succeeded, fell short and where they should be fine-tuned. Sixty-five percent ranked analytics at the top of their agency wish list.

Let Bizzuka Become Your Online Marketing Department

As you read in the above article above, marketers (and let's add to that business owners) are expecting agencies to be very Web-savvy, and that includes the Web 2.0. However, expertise in areas such as analytics, SEO and social media are outside the purview of many agencies.

In response to this, Bizzuka now offers a wide range on online marketing services and solutions includng:

• Email marketing consulting and campaign management
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Pay-per-click marketing
• Social media marketing and consulting
• Online reputation monitoring
• Web analytics tracking

We offer these services in one of two ways:

• We train the agency in the use of these modalities via half-day and full-day on-site workshops and/or Webinars
• We function as the agency's outsourced "online marketing department" and work with clients on behalf of the agency.

Contact us to learn more about these services.

Best regards, the Bizzuka Team!

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