Mavance, LLC

Having worked at large companies in a previous life, I have come to expect a base level of service and usability for maintaining web sites. In the marketplace, I have been exposed to so far, I have found a different story. Some specific observations:

• Sites are not being updated regularly & not refreshed on any regular basis. It’s not uncommon to see a “Copyright 2004″ on the sites.
• Small companies are forced into “content contracts” that force them to use the developer to update content. If you did not want to pay then someone in your company must know Adobe Dreamweaver or Adobe Contribute.
• Small companies have no idea how their sites are making them money. A website is something they “have” and is seen as cost of doing business.
• Small companies have little or no analytics/metrics of site performance. If they do have some sort of analytics then it’s generally a “check it occasionally” or the opposite - an obsessive compulsive “how much bandwidth am I pulling?”
• Small companies have joined referral networks. These are generally niche but can cost upwards of $500/mo for a handful of contacts. Some have had good results and others have seen this as throwing money down the drain.

That’s what I’ve seen so far. What does it mean? It could mean that companies are not interested in maintaining their own content. Perhaps they want to focus on selling and servicing the customers. I think this is a fair point but it misses a major trend that has built since 2003/2004.

So, what’s happened since 2004? Well, namely, Web 2.0 has come into its own. The democratization of the Internet continues and Web 2.0 has entered the mainstream. It’s a user generated content world now. Content is king and if you don’t publish, or allow the ability for your users/customers to publish, then you’ll risk being left behind.

What does “left behind” mean? Namely, you’ll have to pay for you content to be served and opposed to customers discovering your content. It’s no secret that search engines love blogs. Blogs, or weblogs, are not new - they’ve been around since the late 90s. It’s only been in the last few years that they have entered the mainstream.

Some popular mainstream Web 2.0 sites:

• YouTube’s video sharing
• Flickr’s photo sharing
• Wikipedia - the online encyclopedia
• del.icio.us - Social Bookmarking (I’m more of diigo fan but it’s not as popular)
• last.fm - Social media/music
• LinkedIn, MySpace and facebook - Social Networking

There are countless other sites and the list above is only a taste. You can spend hours reading articles (and news feeds) from sites like Slashdot (/.) or TechCrunch to keep up, or, better yet, focus on your business. The problem with this approach is that lots of sites and tech just don’t pan out.

You may be thinking - that’s nice. I really don’t care about those sites. I think you may want to perk up before it’s really too late. Technology, like business, goes through cycles. A good illustration of technology cycles was documented in Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation (Amazon.com link) and modified by Geoffrey A. Moore in “Crossing the Chasm” (Amazon.com link). For the sake of this blog, I’ll keep it simple and use Rogers’ bell curve where the technology adoption cycle follows stages including:

1. Innovators (2.5% of population)
2. Early Adopters (13.5% of population)
3. Early Majority (34% of population)
4. Late Majority (34% of population)
5. Laggards (16% of population)

A graphic representation of this can be found on Wikipedia. Not sure about you, but I’m a bit more visual. Text is nice but pictures are better!

Technology cycles do not follow a prescribed 7 - 10 year cycle. It really depends on the technology, the usability of the technology and the benefits participants gain from consuming the technology. Case in point - computer took multiple decades before they ended up in your house. I’d say it was very uncommon to have a UNIVAC in the garage in the 60’s. Oh, and the Internet - well - it was created in the 70s and 80s by the US government only to be opened to college students in the 90’s for “Research Purposes.” That’s obviously changed a bit…

So for Web 2.0 - I’d guess we are somewhere between the Early Majority and the Late Majority. Blogs are probably a bit further and are in the Late Majority. Blogging has been around since the late 90’s so it’s pretty mature now.

Perhaps some additional proof will help. A respected publication, BusinessWeek, who in my opinion, catering to the Early Majority & the Late Majority has an article about Social Media in the June 2, 2008 edition called Beyond Blogs. This article is an update to a 2005 article on the importance of Blogs. It

So, what’s a small company to do? Wait it out? When have you gone from waiting to being passed by? Wel, according to bell weather, BusinessWeek, it’s

Everyone’s needs are different but I think small businesses should have:

• An easy way to update content
• An easy way to update different types of content (i.e. - blogs, simple articles, forums, etc)
• Receive appropriate contacts

Taking these issues into consideration, I think the best solution is to open up the content creation for small businesses. Considering I’m a big fan of Open Source and like some of the open source Content Management Systems out there, I’m interesting in promoting this directly to businesses in New Jersey.

• Deploy an Open Source Content Management System (CMS.) Jargon aside, a CMS simply is a car that you can drive yourself. You don’t always need to have your expensive chauffeur drive you around.
• The CMS should include some form of blogging or adding articles easily
• The CMS should provide tools to classify (tag) articles as well as categorize them to provide both readers and search engines relevant content.
• The CMS should pro

I am working with my partner to develop solutions based on an Open Source CMS called Joomla! Personally, I’m more of a Drupal snob when it comes to the Joomla! space but I can do more through partnerships than on my own so… Joomla! it is.

Joomla! may be too feature rich for the micro businesses/professionals. Wordpress is probably a better solution in this space and I am considering supporting this personally. I think there is a market that’s been forgotten about in this space. While the main focus is larger companies, I believe some professionals are being left behind. Sure, they can setup their own blog. It’s not that difficult but there’s something to be said about having a human there to help.

If you are a small business located in Central New Jersey and have been sitting on the sideline then reevaluate your position. Wait a second… if you are reading this then it’s likely you are not in this boat. Better yet, if you know someone whose business is sitting on the sideline then have them contact us.

If you work for a large company or want to manage the technology yourself then I’d recommend looking at these solutions:

• Clearspace (from Jive Software)
• SpikeSource’s products including it’s version of Drupal and the SuiteTwo Web 2.0 bundle
• Drupal 5.7
  
• Wordpress (.org - downloadable version)
• Joomla!

I’m very interested in views - both supporting and outright flames. What do you think?

Over the past three weeks, I have been reading five books. Yeah, I know it’s a no-no to read more than one non fiction book at a time… Anyhow, I finished the book this afternoon and really thought it was a top notch read. The author, Mike Moran, does a great job of helping the audience, present day marketers, understand how the direct marketing world has, and more importantly, is changing around them. The book is not a hands on howto book nor is it a book on theory. It provides a good mix of both extremes and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to gain a better understanding of Internet (Direct) Marketing.The rest of this review includes details of he book, a listing of the chapters and some takeaways from the book.

Book Information:

• Title: Do It Wrong Quickly: How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules (Amazon Link)
• Author: Mike Moran
• Publisher: IBM Press, 2007, Edition 1, 408 pages
• ISBNs: 0132255960 & 978-0132255967
• Overall Rating: 4.5/5

The Chapters

The book is broken down into three sections. The sections break down to: 1) theory 2) detailed information 3) how to implement and stay on top of things.

• Part 1 (’That New Fangled Marketing”) - Chapter 1 - “They’re Doing Wonderful Things with Computers.” This chapter discusses the old marketing paradigms and how they have shifted.
• Part 1 - Chapter 2 - “New Wine in Old Bottles.” This chapter rights the ship and explains how newer marketing methods are similar to older ones - the main difference is - everything moves much faster.
• Part 1 - Chapter 3 - “Marketing is a Conversation.” This chapter discusses how permission marketing (see Seth Godin for more info here..) and new media formats are changing how marketers discuss products/services with customers.
• Part 2 (”That New Fangled Direct Marketing”) - Chapter 4 - “Going Over to the Dark Side.” This chapter is all about the conversion of customers.
• Part 2 - Chapter 5 - “The New Customer Relations.” This chapter discusses how to engage in the initial, and follow on, conversations with your customers.
• Part 2 - Chapter 6 - “Customers Vote with Their Mice.” You have to continue to experiment and understand motivations change. This chapter highlights how you can never rest on your laurels when it comes to marketing to your customers.
• Part 3 (’That New Fangled You”) - Chapter 7 - “This Doesn’t Work For Me.” As the author puts it: this chapter borderlines on self help. The chapter is all about him trying to help you (and most importantly your mindset.)
• Part 3 - Chapter 8 - “This Won’t Work Where I Work.” A chapter dedicated to organizational behavior. Anyone who has worked in a political environment will relate to this chapter. For some, this could mostly be skipped. If you decide to skip then I’d recommend you pick back up at page 287..
• Part 3 - Chapter 9 - “This Stuff Changes Too Fast.” This chapter prepares the marketer for new mediums to consider including cell phones/mobile web, virtual worlds (like Second Life) and social networks (like MySpace). This area is still developing so you need to keep up with these maturing markets. The author provides his blog as the site to keep up with the changing times. This is the only plug within the book (that I caught atleast..) but there’s more resources than just his blog. I’ll put in an entry with some resources at a later date.

Points from the Book:

• The Internet has changed Direct Marketing forever. Previously, you wrote copy, printed it up and sent/gave it to the customer. Your message was fixed for days/weeks and changes to the message cost $$$. With the web, this has all changed. Variations to the initial ads on web sites, blogs, search engine and email marketing channels can be changed quickly.
• It’s far easier to measure the effectiveness of marketing messages on the web then in old days of billboards, flyers and commercials.
• The author stresses a trial and error - do and measure - approach to your direct marketing campaigns.
• Using New Media techniques such as blogs, wikis, podcasts and vidcasts to reach a larger audience than standard web pages.
• Major site redesigns may not be the answer. Some tweaks over time is what you may need. The author later correlates this to a trend in project management - the move from big bang waterfall approaches to agile/iterative approaches.
• Establish conversations with customers. The old style of marketing and advertising is fast dying. Customers are not interested in being given messages from a faceless corporation. You need to interact with your customers. Those who chose not to will suffer the consequences.
• Allow your employees to talk with customers directly via web technologies. Sure, they might screw up but the level of authenticity added is worth the short term pain. The author, like others, suggests you establish blogging & communication guidelines.

In Summary…

• The message is clear - do not be afraid to make changes and measure them. However, you must have resource available to make the changes or outsource to a search marketing firm. The value will be seen - you must give it a chance.
• Analytics, and in a more complex environment, full blown Business Intelligence, packages are worth their weight in gold for measuring results. You could go the route of Urchin, Omniture/Hitbox/WebSideStory, WebTrends. Personally, I do not have a need for data mining/full reporting so I’m sticking with Google Analytics for the time being. It’s a good package to start with!

“Do It Wrong Quickly” is available at your local book store or read more reviews on my favorite e-retailer: Amazon (Link for Do It Wrong Quickly)

I had a rough understanding of what I wanted to do and I knew going back to consulting for a company was not in my cards. I wanted to build my own company. My passion was in technology and I liked the idea of helping dynamic small and medium sized businesses solve their problems. Previous to working at a large corporation, I consulting with mostly middle market companies and their ability to get things done energized me in my past life.

I looked at opportunities including franchising, startups and partnerships. I knew my valuable technical experience should be utilized. While I was reading more business & marketing books from the likes of Brian Tracy (site, Amazon), Brad Sugars (site, Amazon) and Napoleon Hill (Amazon), I knew I did not want to go to far from the technology. Besides, I recalled how bored I was when I worked at a Wendy’s and a Subway nearly two decades ago.

So.. how could I exploit my experience while learning new skills and business systems? A technical franchise came to mind immediately. I will not get into the names of the companies I looked at, but they ranged from a “outsourced IT” approach to website design. The key issues I discovered were threefold:

1. Having worked for a company obsessed with its branding, I understand the importance of this. With franchises, you are building the company’s brand. Your brand is simply a holding company/semi-independent entity.
2. The fees the franchises were charging were a bit rich for what they provided. The range was between 10% and 18% of sales (read: not income). Again, I will not get into the names because I have NDAs in place with these companies.
3. Territories overlapped in one of the cases. The nearest franchise owner was, literally, 3 blocks away. The franchise explained this as “it’s like having another McDonald’s three blocks away”. Well, I think McDonald’s would think twice about putting another franchise within 3 streets of another unless you are in a densely populated place like New York City.

On the plus side, franchises generally offer working business systems. However, I was not convinced of the virtual/home based franchise models. I did not see the benefit of growing someone else’s brand while taking the risk on myself. So… what, oh what should I do?

With sites like PartnerUp and BizBuySell and friends with ideas and contacts, I questioned if I should go the safe franchise route. I was not comfortable with either approach after giving it more thought. I chose a hybrid approach. While the partnership with AIS Media is similar to a franchise it differs in the following ways:

• I will grow both their brand, AIS Media, along with mine Mavance, LLC
• I am not limited in what services I can provide. I have a certain affinity toward Open Source (well.. and Apple stuff too..) If I want to be an Open Source VAR/SI then all the more power.
• I have a partner who will fulfill orders. The ability to offload this allows me to focus on my clients.
• AIS Media prides itself in providing winning web design.
• AIS Media understands the nuances of marketing and I can learn strategy and tactics from them.

In summation, this approach allows me the opportunity to apply sales and marketing theory while having an established company to learn from. Additionally, it takes me out of the technical loop. While this is a strength, I already know how to do this. I need to learn new skills and continue to grow.

The next posts will go over the systems I have put into place. Yes, it’s fairly technical but systems are important. As Brad Sugars (and Michael Gerber, et. al.) will preach - you have to have business, people and technical systems in place to leverage your time. I have headed their advice and will share what I’m doing within the LLC.