Upsize Primer: Internet marketing

Craig Kruckeberg,
Minimizer:
800.248.3855
cr***@*******er.com
www.minimizer.com

Mark Hurlburt,
Sierra Bravo Corp.:
952.948.1211
mh*******@**********vo.com
www.sierra-bravo.com

Albert Maruggi,
Provident Partners:
651.695.0174
amaruggi
www.providentpartners.net

Christine Nelson,
Ingenuity Marketing Group:
651.690.3358
christine
www.ingenuitymarketing.com

Ryan Sweere,
National Mural Co.:
ry**@***********al.com
www.nationalmural.com

Message for millions
Small companies can look bigger with online strategies

WHEN IT COMES to Internet marketing, a sleek, sophisticated Web site used to be the primary ambition for companies, many of whom would spend thousands of dollars to achieve it.

Now companies have many more options. With the emergence in the last couple years of social networking Web sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, and user-contributed video-sharing Web sites such as YouTube, companies are discovering new online strategies for connecting with peers and prospects.

When used properly, these sites can become platforms for companies and their leaders to discuss topics related to their industry, or showcase their abilities.

But they demand a completely different style and manner of communication ? one that is much more casual, often putting the personality of the communicator front and center. Over time, communicators who are compelling ? or simply entertaining ? may build an audience, create buzz and possibly generate sales.

Commerce, however, should not be the driving force, some online marketing experts say. Companies tied to an old-guard marketing mentality won?t have much success.

?I would first put a stake through the heart? of the notion ?of companies getting the word out about their product or service,? says Albert Maruggi, who calls himself an early adopter of these Web sites, and is president of Provident Partners, a St. Paul-based marketing and communications company.

?If I allow myself to those words, then people are going to treat this just like another channel. And it?s not. People don?t want to be advertised to or marketed to. People want to learn about what?s going on.?

What?s on your mind?
The site that demands this etiquette more than any other is Twitter, where users answer the question ?What are you doing?? More often, it is used as a micro-blogging site or chat room, where people submit mini-posts on what?s on their mind.

Online users that generate the biggest following tend to be those who are simply being themselves, say observers. They?re willing to talk or write about anything ? about the conference they?re attending, or what restaurant they?re having lunch at. They also contribute frequently. Devotees post a comment every half hour or so.

Maruggi has a simple quiz for company leaders to determine their readiness for Twitter and other such sites, starting with, Do you have deep expertise in a field? (His other questions are in the tip box with this article.)

Some CEOs may be intimidated becait takes such a huge timecommitment, and the return on investment can?t be easily quantified,says Maruggi.

But a presence on Twitter can lead toincreased visibility and trust for the company brand, especially if theperson writes with an authentic voice, he says.

Twitter, in some instances, can serve more traditional marketingpurposes. Retailers, for example, can publicize new deals and discountsat a moment?s notice to a primed audience.

And companies curious about how they are regarded by individualconsumers may want to explore Search.Twitter.com, a Google-inspiredsearch engine for Twitter. Marketers simply plug in their company nameand other key words, and the site pulls up any and all references,positive or negative.

It?s an effective tool for keeping a finger on the pulse of themarketplace, say observers. Companies can quickly respond to concernsraised by consumers and readily address misinformation and rumorsbouncing around the Internet.

Reaching youth
In an effort to reach the desired youth demographic, some companies aremaking inroads with Facebook and MySpace, two popular social networkingsites.

?A lot of our partners are really interested in trying to help theirclients figure out how to bring their message to those millions ofpeople who are using that space in a very intimate way,? says MarkHurlburt, director of marketing for Sierra Bravo Corp., a Webdevelopment company in Bloomington.

Ingenuity Marketing Group, a St. Paul-based marketing company thatworks primarily with professional services firms, maintains its ownFacebook profile, mostly as an outreach tool for prospective employees.

?It?s good for recruitment, as well as for those younger leaders comingup through the ranks,? says Christine Nelson, communications consultantwith Ingenuity.

As for the construction of the page, ?We actually had one of ouryounger staff members help us with it,? says Nelson. ?They?re just sonative to it.?

Letting young employees champion such a project can boost their moraleand strengthen their connection to the company, she says.

In addition to the main company Facebook profile, principals WendyNemitz and Dawn Wagenaar maintain their own personal profiles. ButNelson advises clients mulling the same to be careful, and not to gettoo casual with the content. ?If someone is searching for you and theyfind a Facebook profile with pictures of your cats, the rock bandyou?re in ? it might be a bit of turnoff,? she says.

Sierra Bravo has gone a step beyond a simple profile, creating asoftware application for Seattle-based department store Nordstrom Inc.In recent months the application has spread virally among online users,while pulling traffic to Nordstrom.com.

In collaboration with Minneapolis-based marketing company Zeus Jones,Sierra Bravo developed Nordstrom Fashion Status, a ?fashion barometer?that can be easily downloaded to become a part of the public space of auser?s Facebook or MySpace profile.

Geared for a brand-name-conscious crowd, the application allows usersto tell others what they?re wearing that day, and to rate their fashion?mood? (one of the options, for example, is ?hot.?) The applicationcompiles data from users across the country, so users in one glance cansee what the trends are.

The application provides a link to Nordstrom?s e-commerce Web site, sousers can shop for the most talked-about brands. A steadily buildinginterest and then rapid fall-off is the typical cycle of such an onlineapplication, says Hurlburt.

Such an application can be designed for and by companies of any size,for any budget. The costs for Web development vary widely, based on thesophistication and interactivity of the desired application, he says.

?A lot of this social networking stuff is, in a lot of ways, a greatforce for democracy in business in that it does kind of eliminate someof the size gaps,? says Hurlburt. ?Companies that don?t have big namesare out there making big splashes by coming up with innovative ideas,and finding new ways to interact with their markets? online.

Posting video
Some small companies are using YouTube to post videos about theirproducts and services. Their creations range from quasi-commercials,featuring computer animation and elaborate camera angles, toeducational documentaries.

Minimizer, a Blooming Prairie-based manufacturer of polyethylenefenders for trucks, has produced two YouTube videos. The most recentone, created by Minneapolis-based Linnihan Foy Advertising, is acomputer-generated animated spot that humorously depicts a forkliftoperator slamming into a truck outfitted with Minimizer fenders.

Visibly concerned about the accident, the operator inspects theassaulted fenders, only to discover they are undamaged. Then with alook of mischievous curiosity, he mans the forklift again, this timedeliberately driving into the truck ? still with no effect. He soonresorts to a hammer, but the truck owner appears and gives him atreatment similar to the one wrought on his truck.

Craig Kruckeberg, CEO of Spray Control Systems and itsMinimizer brand, says the video accomplishes in pictures what may bedifficult to convey ? and convince ? through words: that polyethylenefenders are more durable than traditional metal or fiberglass ones.

?Our ROI is huge on it because, in our industry, what we manufacture happens to be visual,? he says.

While the first video ? a real-life demonstration of Minimizer fenders?toughness ? has been used at trade shows, Kruckeberg has a largerpurpose for the latest one.

?Our logo is our logo. It?s boring,? he says. ?We want to create a Michelin Man, a Lennox guy, a company icon or mascot.?

Though still in a rough cut form, the animated video was placed onYouTube for the express purpose of generating buzz. Kruckeberg says heenvisions his 2,500 independent distributors across the country andCanada swiveling around their computer monitors to show the video toprospective customers.

He also plans to burn the video onto CDs to send to his distributorsand his huge end-user database for the practical reality that some ?especially those in rural areas ? may not have access to the Internet.

Kruckeberg says neither video was cheap. The first one cost between$25,000 and $30,000, while the most recent cost $10,000.  ?Hopefullywe?ll generate more sales from it.?

Educational value
Ryan Sweere, founder of National Mural Co., based in St. Paul, says hehas less financial expectation for his company?s own YouTube video.

Shot in 2001, it features Sweere and his then 20- and 30-somethingbrothers Jon, Craig and Mike, shirtless in the summer sun, listening torock music, while painting a mural on a large wall of an Owantonnanursing home.

The video was originally produced as a mini-documentary of theirmural-creating process. Later it was trimmed from five hours to fiveminutes for Walker Art Center to in an online project featuring localartists.

Sweere decided at that time to throw it on YouTube. The video has sincegenerated more than 2,000 comments, the latest containing a remark onhow ?cute? the guys were.

Sweere says he regards the video not so much as a sales generator, butas an educational tool. With the economy taking a turn, many public orgovernment organizations have few or no funds to underwrite communityart projects such as the ones National Mural Co. specializes in.

Sweere hopes that during this slow period, people will happen upon thevideo and want to learn more about murals. It?s also a visualpresentation to which they can point interested parties. In fact, he?sremoved the long paragraph describing his company?s mural-makingprocess from National Mural Co.?s Web site, in favor of a hyperlink tothe video.

Even if competitors gain business from the video, that?s OK, he says.What?s most important is spreading the word and sparking interest inmurals.

The video has spurred other unexpected connections. One of Sweere?sbrothers was asked by a French amateur filmmaker if he could a snippetof the video in a larger movie he was making about mural-making. ?It?sdefinitely great to know it?s getting exposure beyond just Minnesota,?says Sweere.