miércoles, 5 de octubre de 2011

Steve Jobs "How to live before you die"

 

La transcripcion del speech que dio Steve Jobs en la universidad de Stanford el 12 de junio del 2005.

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.

jueves, 15 de septiembre de 2011

The Smell of Money: Marketers Use Scent to Encourage Spending

When you shop, you are manipulated in myriad subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways. Everything from store layout to background music to package design is carefully planned to make you more likely to part with your hard-earned dollars. New Scientist reports that marketers are now learning to “recruit smell for the hard sell“:
Scent, marketeers say, is the final frontier in “sensory branding”. Of all our five senses, smell is thought to be the most closely linked to emotion because the brain’s olfactory bulb, which detects odours, fast-tracks signals to the limbic system, which links emotion to memories. Retailers hope that making this direct link to our emotions may seduce us into choosing their products over a competitor’s. “Branding is all about how a customer feels about a company or product — it’s an emotional connection with the customer,” says Randall Stone, a New York-based marketing expert.
Because smell is so strongly linked to emotion, and because individual responses to aromas differ widely, research has progressed slowly. Plus, corporations are afraid that their customers will be upset when they find out there’s yet another way to make them spend more money.
Much of retailers’ “hush-hush” attitude stems from fears that they will be accused of subliminal marketing… They don’t want to admit they are manipulating the store environment to trigger an almost Pavlovian response in customers.
Now, however, scent marketing has reached a level of sophistication and subtlety that makes it appealing to big-name companies like Samsung, Sony, and Verizon. Sure, the scents are designed to manipulate consumers, but they do so on such a low level that most people are never aware that it’s occurring.
Several studies have shown that pleasant scents encourage shoppers to linger over a product, increase the number of times they examine it and in some cases increase their willingness to pay higher prices too.
In one recent study, accepted for publication in the Journal of Business Research, Eric Spangenberg, a consumer psychologist and dean of the College of Business and Economics at Washington State University in Pullman, and his colleagues carried out an experiment in a local clothing store. They discovered that when “feminine scents”, like vanilla, were used, sales of women’s clothes doubled; as did men’s clothes when scents like rose maroc were diffused.
I’ve read about scent marketing before, and have tried to be watchful for it, but I rarely find myself where it might be used. (Comic book stores aren’t likely to use scent marketing, though perhaps they should.) Reading this article almost makes me want to drive to a mall to do research!


(by J.D. Roth)
Publicado originalmente en http://www.getrichslowly.org/

martes, 13 de septiembre de 2011

Que color es tu marca

Estas interesado ponerle un logo a tu empresa, crear tu propia marca y no sabes por dónde empezar, lo primero que debes escoger es el color de tu marca; y como haces esto sabiendo que colores comunican mas con los objetivos generales de tu empresa el color es sumamente importante ya que en ocasiones no es tan importante el logo o la imagen en si misma sino el color según los últimos estudios de neuromarketing, un ejemplo de esto es el de librerías Gandhi y los espectaculares amarillos que se apropian de nuestros espacios en la ciudad a pesar de que el logo realmente es purpura, la integración del amarillo nos hace asociarlo inmediatamente o la Big blue que es como llamamos a la gran IBM, o el Rojo de Coca-cola.

Es importante que tu marca y tu logo transmitan la esencia de lo que tu compañía hace y quiere lograr para sus clientes y los colores te ayudan a lograrlo.

Les compartimos este video con algunos ejemplos y los significados de los colores. Esperamos que los ayude a escoger bien los colores de su logo y generar marcas de impacto.



Por FIDEL CASTILLEJOS VARELA

Five Reasons Why Websites Still Matter

You know you must leverage Facebook, Twitter and word-of-mouth marketing to increase awareness of your brand. But the fact is, websites remain infinitely more popular with consumers than all of the business pages on social media sites combined.
Only 22 percent of those of us online in the U.S. visit a branded social networking page such as those found on Facebook, while 62 percent of us regularly visit branded websites, according to the latest Global Web Index report. If you were starting to let your site become outdated or haggard, consider a refresh. After all, as these figures note, websites still matter.

Here are five reasons why you shouldn't ignore yours:
  1. Branding: Since it's your site, you set the design, which affords you the flexibility to optimize the user experience in ways that directly support your business model and brand-related goals. There's no competition on your website, just a branded experience that you direct yourself.
  2. IT and Engineering Jurisdiction: When you control your own site, you have complete jurisdiction over its code, hosting environment, page count, content, plug-ins and more. Just as I mentioned above with regard to branding -- here too you have the elasticity required to make small or sweeping adjustments at will, an advantage you don't get with third-party websites. With sites like Facebook, you can change minor graphics and some content but not code, navigation scheme, server speed or the graphic user interface.
  3. Content: Speaking of content, more of it can be found on your own website than on a third-party utility or platform, and none of it competes side-by-side for your visitor's attention. Create compelling and useful content that speaks to why someone is visiting your site and you stand a higher chance of that visitor taking action with respect to your products or services. And since inventory (i.e., web pages) is virtually unlimited on a site under your control, you have ample opportunity to add additional content and calls-to-action in the format you deem most appropriate.
  4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): If garnering multiple, relevant and highly positioned placements in the SERPs (search engine result pages) is part of your sales and marketing strategy, a website is a must. When properly coded and managed, your site delivers natural and sustaining search results that drive qualified traffic to the exact pages on your site where you want visitors to be.
  5. Analytics: While many social utilities, platforms and networks provide access to data related to demographics associated with who accesses your profile and how often they do so, website analytic tools go much deeper. They can provide you with the type of business intelligence you need to determine in real-time how your online marketing performs and stacks up against the competition.
Don't think for a moment that I'm suggesting you drop social in favor of your own website. What I'm advocating is that you lead first with your website, followed by leveraging social, email marketing, point of purchase, mobile, apps and other forms of marketing and outreach to drive traffic to your website where you can generate qualified leads who convert to paying customers.

Articulo por 
Mikal E. Belicove is a market positioning, social media, and management consultant specializing in website usability and business blogging. His latest book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Facebook, is now available at bookstores. For more information, visit MikalBelicove.com.
Publicado en Entrepreneur.com

lunes, 25 de julio de 2011

Cómo usar los colores en marketing

Descubre un método para sacarle partido a los colores y aprovéchalo para atraer más clientes.

Los investigadores han desarrollado todo un campo de estudio dedicado a indagar acerca de los colores y la forma en que nos influyen. El marketing ha sacado gran provecho de esos estudios, utilizándolos para determinar qué tonalidades aplicar en productos, publicidad, sitios web y puntos de venta, entre otros, para influir en la decisión de compra de las personas y conseguir un incremento en las ventas.
Los colores que vemos en los puntos de venta o las calles, mientras caminamos, tienen una enorme repercusión en nuestra psicología y en nuestra decisión de compra. La gran mayoría de los productos y anuncios publicitarios tiene un fuerte componente de estrategia del color, diseñada por especialistas en esta disciplina.
Los investigadores de mercado han podido comprobar que el color afecta notoriamente los hábitos de compra de las personas. Mientras que los compradores impulsivos responden mejor al rojo, naranja, negro y azul, los compradores que planean más sus compras, responden mejor al rosado claro, celeste y azul marino.
El uso óptimo de la teoría de los colores te ayudará incrementar tus ventas. Sólo debes entender claramente los siguientes puntos:
1. Piensa en el mercado al cual apunta tu negocio.
Digamos que estás vendiendo libros para niños pequeños, pero que tus esfuerzos de marketing se dirigen a los abuelos (que son quienes comprarán los libros para sus nietos).
Probablemente diseñarás los libros con colores primarios brillantes, para que así les agraden a los niños que los usarán. Sin embargo, los materiales de marketing (sitio web, folletos, volantes, cartelería, etc.) deberán estar diseñados pensando en los abuelos. Es así que debes pensar en utilizar azules (que transmiten confianza), rosados (dulzura, seguridad) y amarillos (felicidad, diversión)
2. Los colores influyen.
Los colores están en relación directa con las aprensiones de la gente en cuanto a tomar decisiones por cuenta propia, ya que influyen con su presencia en el entorno del tomador de decisiones. Esto nos lleva al "efecto demostración" entre consumidores, dado que unos imitan a otros en su comportamiento de vida y de compra.
Las influencias y los colores son acumulativos; es decir, a más "seguimiento" de líderes sociales, más disfrute del color y por ende mayor proliferación de los más aceptados.
3. Clientes y Colores.
Algunas de las tendencias actuales en cuanto a colorimetría de productos e identidad corporativa, señalan lo siguiente:
Rojo
Los clientes que prefieren el rojo son por lo general extrovertidos y dinámicos. El color rojo tiene relación con aromas atractivos; un rojo escarlata denota preferencias sexuales de minorías y fuerte grado de dignidad y orgullo.
Amarillo
Los clientes que escogen el amarillo tienen tendencia a lo intelectual. También se reconoce que este color irradia calor e inspiración. Se recomienda para anunciar "novedades u ofertas".
Verde
Los clientes que seleccionan el color verde-azulado son analíticos y de carácter tranquilo, da prioridad al color verde es utilitario, amante de lo fresco y natural.
Azul
La gente que prefiere el azul en todas sus tonalidades, tiene buen control de sus emociones. Es, además, el color favorito de los niños y jóvenes. Refleja tranquilidad, no violencia y es muy recomendable para productos del hogar que tengan bastante duración. Conviene aplicarlo en pintura de paredes, ropa de cama, cortinas, etc. Algunos dicen que el éxito del portal de Internet Yahoo! se debe a la utilización del color azul.
Naranja
La gente que compra productos de color naranja es por lo general jovial. Es el color de la acción, la efusividad y la generosidad.
Morado - Violeta
Las personas con tendencia al color morado-violeta tienen gustos artísticos, místicos y religiosos. Este color tiene impacto en la industria de perfumería para mujeres. Se considera el color más sexual de todos.
Marrón o café
La mayoría de clientes que son ordenados y disciplinados, buscan el color marrón o café. Se relaciona además a este color con una vida estable y saludable.
Negro
Los clientes que prefieren el color negro son conservadores, les gusta la elegancia y la discreción.
Blanco
La gente que escoge el color blanco es refinada y con tendencia a ser cerrada en sus ideas.
Gris
Los clientes que escogen el gris, reflejan conformismo y pasividad.
Rosado
El cliente que escoge el rosa es suave, femenino, sofisticado, educado.
Dorado
Los compradores de pan, cereales, miel , se detienen más ante el color dorado que resalta en su envase.
Turquesa
Las mujeres han dado mucha fuerza últimamente al color turquesa, sobre todo si éste está combinado con tonos rosa y blancos. Este color se relaciona con productos de belleza y feminidad, y tiene mucho que ver con aromas de frescura y limpieza.

“Las 22 Leyes Inmutables del Marketing”

Al Ries y Jack Trout, escribieron este gran libro llamado “Las 22 Leyes Inmutables del Marketing”. El texto recorre las 22 leyes y da ejemplos muy concretos de las principales empresas y como los lograron aplicar y los efectos que tuvieron las que los violaron un libro que todo mercadologo debe leer una vez en la vida.

He aquí las 22 Leyes Inmutables del Marketing viólelas bajo su propio riesgo.

1. Es mejor ser el primero que ser el mejor.
2. Si no consigues ser el primero, crea una nueva categoría en la que puedas serlo.
3. Es mejor ser el primero en la mente del consumidor que el primero en el punto de venta.
4. El marketing no es una batalla de productos, es una batalla de percepciones.
5. El principio más poderoso en marketing es poseer una palabra en la mente de los clientes.
6. Dos empresas no pueden poseer la misma palabra en la mente del cliente.
7. La estrategia a utilizar depende del peldaño que se ocupe en la escalera.
8. A la larga, cada mercado se convierte en una carrera de dos participantes.
9. Si optas al segundo puesto, tu estrategia está determinada por el líder.
10. Con el tiempo, una categoría se dividirá para convertirse en dos o más categorías.
11. Los efectos del marketing son a largo plazo.
12. Hay una presión irresistible que lleva a la extensión de la marca.
13. Siempre hay que renunciar a algo para conseguir algo.
14. Para cada atributo hay otro opuesto igual de efectivo.
15. Cuando admitas algo negativo, el cliente potencial te concederá algo positivo.
16. En cada situación, sólo una jugada producirá resultados sustanciales.
17. Salvo que escribas los de tus competidores, no podrás predecir el futuro.
18. El éxito suele preceder a la arrogancia y la arrogancia al fracaso.
19. El fracaso debe ser esperado y aceptado
20. A menudo, la situación es lo contrario de cómo se publica en la prensa.
21. Los programas que triunfan no se construyen sobre novedades, sino sobre tendencias.
22. Sin los fondos adecuados, una idea no despegará del suelo.

miércoles, 9 de marzo de 2011

GUERRILLA MARKETING

Sabes que es el Guerrilla Marketing Jay Conrad Levinson fue quien creo el termino lo define como el marqueting "simple de entender, fácil de aplicar, y no requiere de grandes inversiones". y para que les quede más claro unos cuantos ejemplos.







domingo, 20 de febrero de 2011

Lo mas nuevo de la publicidad.

Les compartimos lo más nuevo de la publicidad grandes ideas creativas de todo el mundo
Esperamos los disfruten.









miércoles, 26 de enero de 2011

ROI en tus campañas de marketing te hace crecer

No cabe ninguna duda que uno de los aspectos fundamentales para medir la eficiencia de una estrategia de marketing es el ROI-retorno de la inversión- y uno de los últimos estudios se ha llevado a cabo a final de 2010 por más de 231 encuestados que utilizan estrategias de marketing online destinadas a lograr un aumento de las cifras de negocios y obviamente, mayor consolidación de la marca.

El estudio elaborado por Lenskold Group, dio como resultado un informe de más de 21 páginas en las que se incluyeron recomendaciones de relevancia para optimizar el ROI de las inversiones en marketing online.

La optimización de las campañas de marketing en relación a la exploración de prácticas habituales y la generación de nuevas oportunidades derivadas de una mayor eficiencia en las campañas de marketing, si bien fue el objetivo primordial, no ha sido el único ya que el estudio permitió identificar algunos aspectos de gran relevancia.

Los vendedores cuentan con una visión suficientemente amplia como para identificar el potencial que les queda por explotar. Se estima que el aumento posible en los beneficios estará en torno al 10%. Sin embargo, un 44% aún no ha identificado las áreas por las que podría incrementar sus beneficios.

El beneficio más elevado se circunscribe al ámbito nuevas alianzas y sinergias destinadas a la generación de nuevas oportunidades de negocios.

La utilización de campañas de marketing online genera oportunidades derivadas de la identificación de las acciones llevadas a cabo por la competencia, o que permite lograr un crecimiento que se sitúa en el 22% comparativamente con el 10% mencionado anteriormente.

Las empresas que incluyen el análisis del ROI en sus campañas de marketing experimentan rápidos y fuertes crecimientos, situándose en un 51% para aquellas que utilizan mediciones no sólo financieras y un 63% para quienes incluyen la calidad como variables que permite la conversión en cifras de negocio.

Finalmente, las empresas que utilizan herramientas y análisis de medición del ROI, determinan que las campañas online son mas eficientes que el marketing tradicional ya que permiten evaluar el nivel de consolidación de la marca y la fidelización de los clientes, variables cuyo ROI es tradicionalmente complejo de medir.

Articulo por PUROMARKETING

martes, 18 de enero de 2011

Los aparadores también venden

En el sector de venta al detalle o retail, nuestras queridas pymes tienen el reto de competir contra las arrolladoras cadenas comerciales, las cuáles con recursos y economías de escala inyectan interesantes valores de producción a sus aparadores, ambientación y mobiliario. Sin embargo esto representa también una debilidad para estas grandes empresas ya que estarán siempre más limitadas en creatividad y tardarán más en reaccionar ante nuevas condiciones del mercado.
El reto es diferenciarse con ingenio y con los recursos disponibles vs. marcas más reconocidas en el sector.

Los aparadores son a una tienda lo que un empaque a un producto. Deben comunicar lo mejor y lo más relevante para el cliente, con la finalidad de despertar su curiosidad e invitarlos a entrar. Un aparador que logra invitar al cliente cumple su misión, que debe complementarse con el ambiente interno, la capacidad persuasiva de sus vendedores, y por supuesto la mercancía y sus precios.
En algunos sectores de lujo, como joyería y ropa, en ocasiones el peso de la marca sustituye a los aparadores en la generación de expectativas. Recuerdo que durante mucho tiempo las tiendas MontBlanc tenían como estrategia mantener sus puertas cerradas aunque el local se encontrara abierto, como una forma de comunicar exclusividad.
La realidad es que los pequeños y medianos comerciantes deben vigilar lo que comunican a través de sus fachadas y de sus aparadores. Evidentemente deben vender pero sin saturar o prometer lo que no se puede cumplir. Aquí es donde dos variables se hacen presentes:
1.La Creatividad, que permite convertir un aparador en publicidad exterior, o que lograr impactar sobre todos los estímulos publicitarios a los que estamos sometidos diariamente. Aquí un ejemplo que capté en una reconocida boutique de Estados Unidos.
IMG00648-20110109-1750

2.Los valores de producción, que sin exceder presupuestos deben ser de buena calidad para proyectar lo que la marca o la tienda representa. Entiéndase por valores de producción la calidad y montaje escenográfico, que por más creativo que sea, puede comunicar en la dirección contraria al concepto. Les presento otro ejemplo que capté en una tienda de ropa española.
IMG00591-20101114-1019

CNNExpansión.com

Arituculo por Abraham Geifman

lunes, 17 de enero de 2011

Decálogo para relanzar su plan de marketing digital

Un plan de marketing es fundamental para las compañías y hay que aprovechar el comienzo del año para relanzarlo. A continuación le mostramos un decálogo para que pueda dar un gran impulso a su plan de marketing por muy poco dinero.

Fijarse objetivos realistas. Es importante ser realista con lo que esperas que tu negocio logre en 2011. Con recursos limitados, se necesita centrar la atención en las cosas que están en tu presupuesto. Hay que revisar el plan del marketing del año anterior,  para ver qué cosas han funcionado y cómo se han conseguido.

Hacer inventario de las herramientas de marketing.  No es necesario utilizar nuevas herramientas si no nos lo podemos permitir, simplemente hay que darle un toque diferente a las que tenemos, actualizándolas.

No poner todos sus huevos en el cesto de los medios sociales. Los medios tradicionales todavía funcionan. Los medios sociales son una parte importante del plan de marketing de los pequeños negocios y son clave para conectar con los usuarios. Pero no hay que centrarse únicamente en ellos si se tienen un plan de marketing con un mix de medio que incluya diferentes soportes.

Adoptar marketing de valor añadido. Encuentra formas creativas de ofrecer a tus clientes el mejor valor para su dinero con tu plan de marketing digital. Por ejemplo, regálales un ebook informativo gratuito o una  muestra de un nuevo producto.

Usar mutuamente los beneficios del marketing para maximizar recursos. Unirse con otras compañías es una buena forma de maximizar los recursos de marketing.

Centrarse en el feedback de los clientes. Con la llegada de los medios sociales, los consumidores tienen más poder que nunca para elevar su voz y hablar de una compañía en Internet. Hay que escucharles y aprovechar sus ideas.

Hacer guerrilla. Una de las formas más eficaces de promocionar un negocio es el marketing de guerrilla. Hay que buscar diferentes formas de conseguir que hablen de su pequeña compañía. En Internet existen infinidad de  páginas que sirven de inspiración.

Crear una aplicación para la marca. Hay que valorar si añadir una aplicación a las herramientas de marketing, analizando con cuidado si la necesitamos y qué vamos a ofrecerle a nuestros clientes.

Seguir los consejos de los expertos. En su presupuesto no contempla contratar a un gurú, pero eso no significa que no pueda aprovechar sus conocimientos. Suscríbase a newsletter, visite sus blogs o sígales en las redes sociales.

Usa algunos recursos del marketing de medios sociales. Se ha demostrado que las redes sociales son imprescindibles en los planes de marketing, sin embargo hay que tener objetivos realistas. Es mejor empezar por dedicar una hora al día a estar en Facebook, Twitter y otras redes similares.



ARTICULO POR PUROMARKETING.COM

miércoles, 12 de enero de 2011

Mentores apuestan por los emprendedores

Christian Meade, de Angel Ventures. Foto: Hugo Salazar./ elempresario.mx

Cada vez son más las empresas, organismos e instituciones que se preocupan por detonar el financiamiento para pequeños y medianos negocios, así como de emprendedores a través de las figura de los ángeles inversionistas. Tal es el caso de Angel Ventures, MexVC e Intel Capital, quienes buscan iniciativas innovadoras para explotar el potencial que tienen como negocio.

En casi tres años de haberse constituido, Angel Ventures ha estudiado 200 planes de negocio y apoyado a siete emprendedores para concretar un proyecto de negocio, explicó Cristián Meade, socio del club de inversionistas.
Añadió que entre los proyectos que se han concretado puede contarse una clínica de servicios para el tratamiento de la depresión, un fondo de cartera vencida, un proyecto en el área de medicina y otro para el tratamiento de la vista a través de métodos alternativos.
Hizo énfasis en que el club recibe proyectos en todas las áreas, pues cuenta con especialistas estratégicos en varios rubros para analizar la viabilidad de los proyectos en todos los sectores.
Hernán Fernández, quien también participa como socio Angel Ventures, explicó que a pesar de que parece una cantidad reducida el número de apoyos otorgados hasta ahora, se tiene que tomar en cuenta que las personas que invierten tienen un alto riesgo y necesitan tener un proyecto sólido en todos los sentidos.
Añadió que para persuadir a un inversionistas en la entrevista personal “el emprendedor tiene que hablarle de la experiencia que tiene, de qué se trata el negocio, la oportunidad que hay en el mercado, explicar quiénes son los competidores, cómo podemos tomar ventaja de ellos, explicar el modelo de negocio, así como dar detalle de las proyecciones de cuánto se necesita de fondos y cómo será el retorno de inversión”, explicó.
Más información: www.angelventuresmexico.com.

Proyectos de vanguardia

Pos su parte, Alem Muminovic, consultor financiero de México Ventures Capital (MexVC), explicó que el club está orientado a impulsar iniciativas en las tendencias mundiales de negocios.
“Estamos enfocados en apoyar a emprendedores en el ámbito de energías alternativas, alta tecnología y sector salud, ya que esas son las tendencias internacionales y tendrán mayor posibilidad de éxito para inversiones; también analizamos propuestas de negocio para la base de la pirámide como parte de nuestro compromiso con la sociedad”, expuso.
Añadió que MexVC se basa en un método de mucho contacto con el emprendedor, pues el inversionista necesita conocer no sólo el proyecto sino a la persona que lo dirige para acceder al financiamiento de una iniciativa.
“Antes de decidir dar fondos para el negocio, el inversionista necesita medir el potencial de la persona y la energía con la que cuenta para ver si es capaz de dirigir un emprendimiento”, comentó.

La tecnología cuenta con un ángel

Hay corporativos que pueden financiar proyectos de empresas o emprendedores que resulten atractivos en Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC), como es el caso de Intel Capital.
“Podemos apoyar a emprendedores que desarrollen software y hardware, y en general proyectos de TIC, ofreciendo la posibilidad de llevar los proyectos relevantes ante una red de proveedores y socios de la empresa alrededor del mundo, en donde ellos pueden adquirir roce internacional y acceso a muchos más mercados”, expuso Ricardo Arantes, director de Intel Capital Latinoamérica.
Añadió que para decidir la inversión, el fondo busca un buen equipo de trabajo, con experiencia, o que tenga una posición interesante en el mercado o una idea muy innovadora en cuestión de tecnología.
Expuso que tradicionalmente la empresa ha invertido en proyectos de desarrollo de hardware, software y tendencias relacionadas, sin embargo, hoy están muy interesados en las tecnología limpias y energías alternativas.
Más información: www.intel.com.

Las opiniones

"A las Pymes les funcionaría declararse como sociedades promotoras de inversión para atraer recursos", Jaime Parada, Director de I2T2.
"Cuando un emprendedor se presenta con nosotros debe hablar sobre su modelo de negocio, la oportunidad que tiene en el mercado, quién es su competencia, cuántos recursos necesita y cómo será el retorno de inversión", Hernán Fernández, Socio ángel Ventures.
"Somos una guía para los empresarios, los acercamos a una red de proveedores y socios de negocio alrededor del mundo. En particular, nos interesan empresas que desarrollen software y hardware", Ricardo Arantes, Director Intel Capital Latinoamérica.
"Apoyamos a emprendedores en el ámbito de energías alternativas, alta tecnología y sector salud, que ésas son las tendencias internacionales y las que resultan más rentables", Alem Muminovic, Consultor de MexVC.
amoreno@elempresario.mx
CRÉDITO: 
Escrito por Alberto Moreno el 12 Ene 2011

martes, 11 de enero de 2011

Las reglas para acceder al Fondo Pyme

El Fondo contará con un presupuesto de cerca de 7,000 mdp para apoyar a los empresarios; los pequeños y medianos negocios que soliciten recursos podrán recibir los subsidios y préstamos.

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO (CNNExpansión.com) — La Secretaría de Economía dio a conocer a través del Diario Oficial de la Federación (DOF) las reglas para acceder a los financiamientos del  Fondo de Apoyo para la Micro, Pequeña y Mediana Empresa (Fondo Pyme)  que contará con un presupuesto de 6,940 millones de pesos para el ejercicio fiscal de 2011.
Dicho monto se dividirá en 4,140 millones de pesos para el apoyo a proyectos productivos y 2,800 millones pesos para el Fondo de Garantías, por su parte el Programa para el Desarrollo de la Industria de Software (Prosoft), ejercerá 529 millones de pesos, según dio a conocer la Secretaría de Economía a través de un comunicado.
Las reglas para acceder a estos apoyos y que fueron publicadas el pasado 29 de diciembre de 2010 en el DOF ya están vigentes para aquellos emprendedores que estén interesados en crear su propia en empresa y están buscando la ayuda de la SE por medio del Fondo Pyme.  
Algunas de las reglas vigentes para acceder a los apoyos:
1.  Los apoyos del Fondo Pyme se otorgarán a la población objetivo (pequeñas y medianas empresas y mipymes) a través de organismos intermedios, que serán los encargados de canalizar las ayudas.
2.  El organismo intermedio deberá estar legalmente constituido y su representante o apoderado legal tendrá que contar con las facultades para actos de administración o, en su caso, con el documento donde se acrediten las facultades para suscribir convenios.
3.  Las Mipymes que deseen obtener un financiamiento deben estar legalmente constituidas de acuerdo a ley mexicana.
4. Los conceptos de apoyo solicitados deben coincidir y ser congruentes con el proyecto que se presente ante el Fondo Pyme.
5. El organismo intermedio está en la obligación de indicar y adjuntar de forma electrónica en la Cédula de Apoyo (documento oficial para la solicitud de financiamiento) la documentación que soporte el proyecto.
6. No podrán ser beneficiarios del Fondo Pyme aquellos que estén recibiendo subsidios de otros programas de la Administración Pública Federal para el mismo concepto.
Los financiamientos que se otorgan a las pequeñas y medianas empresas son: para equipamiento, fortalecimiento  y acondicionamiento de los puntos de venta o atención al público, capital humano, adquisición de licencias de uso, proyectos estratégicos que signifique el desarrollo del sector productivo donde opera la empresa y mejoras de procesos productivos, según indicó la SE por medio del documento.   
"Con este presupuesto se podrá tener mayor impacto en sectores estratégicos y dar cumplimiento a los proyectos en curso, sin importar que sean unidades económicas de reciente creación", dijo subsecretario para la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa, Miguel Marón Manzur, en el comunicado de prensa.
Además  se acelerará la entrega de recursos a las mipymes que sufran daños por la acción de un fenómeno natural, de esta forma cuando se registre un siniestro en algún estado de la República y haya daños en las micro empresas, éstas puedan recibir el apoyo desde que la Secretaría de Gobernación emita una declaratoria de emergencia, sin necesidad de que se publique la de desastre natural, aclaró la SE por medio del documento.
Para que conozcas un poco más acerca de cómo optener los apoyos da click aquí.

Promociones exitosas en puntos de venta

Una buena experiencia antes, durante y después de la compra, influye mucho más que cualquier otro elemento a la hora elegir.

En marketing y publicidad existe una premisa que la mayoría de quienes trabajan en el sector ignoran, incluso los profesionales: El cliente elige las marcas, productos y servicios de acuerdo a la experiencia que vive.

En otras palabras, mientras los seres humanos aprenden el 10% de lo que lee, el 20% de lo que oye y
el 30% de los que ve, aprende cerca del 80% de todo aquello que experimenta. La diferencia es amplia.

Sabiendo esto, el punto de venta se transforma en el lugar perfecto para que la empresa pueda influir “directamente” en la percepción de un cliente. Si tiene una buena experiencia, decide comprarte.

Los profesionales han denominado al sector como Marketing Experiencial. Éste juega un papel vital en llegar al consumidor y activar la marca en el momento justo y en el último tramo, el más crítico, que impulsa al consumidor a la compra de nuestra marca – el punto de venta.

 

¿Cómo lograr una buena experiencia?


Para que el cliente se sienta pleno con tu ofrecimiento, será necesario dotar al establecimiento de elementos y acciones distintivas, que atraigan su atención  y despierten su interés por los productos que ofertas. Éstos deben ser capaces de diferenciarte de la competencia.

Aunque no existe una receta para una promoción exitosa, se pueden considerar ciertos aspectos claves que persisten en la mayoría de las experiencias:

Planificación
Debes identificar con gran claridad a los diferentes protagonistas y a los públicos de la promoción, así como los puntos de ventas que seleccionaremos. Antes de crear cualquier idea, tienes que establecer los objetivos claros de la promoción. Los mismos deben de ser específicos, medibles, realistas y limitados en el tiempo.  Y a su vez que estén alineados con las metas de la marca.

Experiencia original
Estamos limitados solamente por nuestro pensamiento.

Es preciso aportar dosis de novedad a nuestras promociones, de lo contrario nos hará pasar totalmente desapercibidos. Debemos dejar que el cliente vea, huela, toque y sienta el producto. ¿Hay algo más potente que captar la atención del consumidor y darle algo que pueda recordar?

Tu gente, motor de la promoción
Debemos seleccionar y capacitar al personal con las habilidades correctas y asegurarnos de que todas las personas involucradas entiendan la promoción. Ellos/ellas serán los “embajadores” de tu marca y tendrán el contacto directo con el cliente.

Evaluación
Otra clave importante es evaluar los resultados en el tiempo acordado e identificar aprendizajes y puntos de vista para apoyar la mejora continua.
Siempre es posible mejorar la experiencia del cliente en tu punto de venta. Para saber qué necesita es necesario que apliques cuestionarios en dónde te den su opinión sobre lo que requieres para mejorar la calidad de tu servicio.
Anímate a experimentar y registra en blanco y negro qué te es más útil.

Escrito por: Altonivel

viernes, 7 de enero de 2011

Twitter!!! Tu estrategia de social media, conoce las aplicaciones de gestión de esta Red.

There are so many Twitter applications, I can’t keep track! So, I decided to start this list as a comprehensive place to list all the Twitter programs. I plan to keep this updated as I find out about new applications. If you have any to add, please leave a comment below, and I’ll add them. Or, if you feel I have described the applications incorrectly, please let me know as well! (ones in bold italics in the chart have been added since the last update)
Use Regularly
Use OccasionallyNot Currently Using*
Birdhouse [m]
BubbleTweet
ChatterBox
ClickableNow
ConversationList
DM Deleter
ExecTweets
Followformation
Followize
Freetwitterdesigner
Friendfeed
Friendorfollow
Greasemonkey
Grouptweet
ListWatcher
Monitter
MyCleenr
Mr. Tweet
My First Follow
My Tweeple
Newsgetter Objectivemarketer Peepnote
Peoplebrowsr
Qwitter
ReTweetability
Retweetist
Rate My Talk
ScoutLabs
Seesmic Desktop
Smub
Socialtoo

*Note – See below for a list of even more programs and non-iPhone mobile applications. Any mobile applications are denoted with [m].
140it – Shrink your tweets directly from Twitter, using this browser button.
BackTweets – This application will search Twitter for links to a certain website, even if they are shortened. I have an RSS feed set up for my website, and have seen many times where people tweeted about my post without me knowing it. It give me the opportunity to
Backupify – A free backup service for Twitter, and many other social media applications, including Facebook, WordPress, Flickr, Delicious.  You can choose daily or weekly backups, and get a pdf of the backup.  Very cool application.
Birdhouse [m] – Capture your ideas, save them for later and publish them when you’re ready. Quickly jot down your ideas, just like in Notes. Count down to 140 characters, just like in Twitter. Save as many as you want, revisit them later. Capture your ideas offline, even in Airplane mode. Rate drafts with stars and sort by best or by newest. Manage and publish from multiple Twitter accounts. Unpublish the bad ones just as easily. Back everything up through email. $3.99 on iPhone store.e
BlastFollow – This is a great tool to follow a bunch of people with a similar interest all at once based on a hashtag.  So, if you’re at an event or on a webinar, enter the hashtag, and you’ll automatically follow everyone using that hashtag.   Simple but very useful.
Brizzly – A web-based Twitter client that has multi-account (including Facebook) and list support.  It also has a “mute” feature where you can mute a particular person if they’re tweeting too much (!), but you need to be using their interface to actually have the mute work.

BubbleTweet BubbleTweet – Create a short video that pops up as a “bubble” over your Twitter profile page. Here’s an example. Cool service, but the bubble only shows up if you use the BubbleTweet URL given to you. So, anyone who just goes through Twitter.com won’t see your bubble.
ChatterBox – ChatterBox allowsho you to monitor Twitter conversations that matter to you. Whether it is a list of interesting keywords or specific user handles, ChatterBox can centralize that information into a common dashboard that individuals and teams can leverage to manage and respond to those conversations. Easily assign workflows, prioritize, tag and assign those interactions to team members ensuring that all tweets are responded to in a timely manner. Looks great for company use.
ClickableNow – Clickable Now is a plugin you’re your browser that allows you to add clickable images to your Twitter background, and allows you to see the clickable backgrounds of other tweeters.
ConversationList – A “conversationlist” is a Twitter list of the people that you talk to (and about) on Twitter. The list is automatically updated daily, so that it always reflects the people that you are paying attention to right now.  Cool application, but I don’t really see a use for it.  Also, if someone uses ListWatcher, it’s constantly telling them they have dropped from or have been added to your list.
Doesfollow – A simple program that does one thing… tells you if one user is following another user. It gives you a “yup” or a “nope” answer. I use it if for some reason I’m curious about if someone is following me (don’t use too often).
Doesfollow
DM Deleter – This application will delete all the DM’s in your account. Apparently this saves Twitter money, because you help them conserve server space.
ExecTweets – Helps you find and follow the top business executives on Twitter.
Filttr – A program that allows you to adjust the tweets you see. You can increase or decrease certain people, and increase or decrease what you see from certain keywords. Great idea! They should integrate this into Tweetdeck! But, I can definitely use this as-is.
Followformation – I have not tested this application, because it does not use Oauth. Followformation is a tool for novice Twitter users to get started with following the top people in their categories of interest. It’s like Twitter’s suggested users list, but uses a few sources, such as We Follow, Twitterholic, and GeoFollow. Up to 10% of the auto-followed lists from any category will be paid placements.
Followize – This app’s description is “It’s a powerful, streamlined interface to Twitter which makes following lots of people and conversations quicker and easier.” But, honestly, when I sign in, I have NO idea what it does, or what the benefit is.
Freetwitterdesigner – Allows you to create a customized Twitter background with text, shapes and images.
FriendDeck – Described as “Tweetdeck for Friendfeed“. Seems amazing for those who use Friendfeed.
Friendfeed – “Helps you discover and discuss interesting stuff that your friends and family find on the web.” Basically, it allows you to see what your friends are sharing (and share yours with them) on various websites across the internet, including web pages, videos, photos, and music. It’s used for sharing, idea generation, conversation, marketing, etc. It’s used for much more than just Twitter. Seems great, but it’s just too much information for me right now. I will probably be an addict at some point soon.
Friendorfollow – Shows you who you are following that’s not following you back? Who’s following you that you’re not following back. I don’t use this… too much information for me. Gives you 3 tabs:
  • Followers – those you are following who are not following you
  • Fans – those who are following you but you’re not following them back
  • Friends – Mutual follow
Greasemonkey – See bio text, following & follower count, and most recent Tweet for all friends and followers on the Twitter follow or friends list. Seems great! But, I use Topify to decide who to follow.
Grouptweet – Allows you to create a group to tweet with privately (i.e. bostontweeters). I haven’t found a need for this yet, but see that it could be useful for a work situation.
Hootsuite (formerly Brightkit) – HootSuite allows you to manage multiple Twitter profiles and pre-schedule tweets. Their newest feature allows you to link Hootsuite account with Google Adsense, so you can send links with banner ads. Here’s an example of what it looks like (see top banner). This is the only feature I’m using for now, although I am undecided as to how I feel about sending links with ads. (Thoughts? Let me know below!)
How SociableHowSociable – A free tracking/monitoring application that shows you how visible a brand is on the social web. 1,000 is the average brand, so higher or lower indicates something about your brand.  It can also send you a monthly email updating your score.
Klout – Klout allows you to track the impact of your opinions, links and recommendations across your social graph. They collect data about the content you create, how people interact with that content and the size and composition of your network. Then they analyze the data to find indicators of influence and then provide you with innovative tools to interact with and interpret the data. Very cool application!  This is quickly becoming a widely used tool by companies to determine key influencers.
Listorious – Listorious makes it easy to find the best lists of Twitter users on any given topic, and for list creator to publicize their lists.  You can also follow lists directly from the application.  This is a great way to find lists in a particular area of interest.
ListWatcher – A great application that works by just following @ListWatcher.  It sends you a DM when any of the following happens:
  • Someone adds you to a list
  • Someone deletes you from a list
  • A list with you is made private or deleted
  • A list containing you is renamed
This is a great application so you know what lists you are on.  My only complaint is that it doesn’t filter out the Conversationlist activity, which changes every day, so that makes for a lot of useless DM’s.


MailanaMonitter – Similar to Tweetdeck, it’s a twitter monitor, it lets you “monitter” the twitter world for a set of keywords and watch what people are saying.
Muuter – A GREAT tool that allows you to temporarily unfollow someone if they’re tweeting a lot. If they’re at an event, and are tweeting too much, just mute them!
My First Follow – This application will tell you who you first followed on Twitter. I’m not sure what this shows you, but people do seem to use it!
MyCleenr – MyCleenr is a unique way to sort

your friends by their last tweets. It allows you to get rid off all the inactive and useless accounts that youare following
Mr. Tweet – Does 3 things:
  1. Suggest good people and followers you are missing out on
  2. Recommend you to enthusiastic users relevant to you
  3. Regularly update useful stats of your Twitter usageI prefer to find people to follow myself, so I don’t use this application.

My Tweeple – Shows you who you’re following who is not following you back, and vise versa. It’s similar to Friendorfollow, but the display is more cumbersome.
Nearby Tweets – A geography–centric social tool for networking and a business tool for building customer relationships and monitoring real–time buzz. Creates a geographic layer on top of Twitter.
Newsgetter – Allows you to search for certain terms, and save your searches to return to later.
Objectivemarketer – A centralized campaign manager. Deliver a message to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.   Then track and analyze responses to messages.  Schedule posts, including recurring posts.  Create automatic posts from an RSS  feed.
Peoplebrowsr – Similar to Tweetdeck, but web based. I love Tweetdeck too much to consider anything else!
Peepnote – A contact manager for Twitter.  Tag and filter the people  you follow, add notes to remember who they are, and export custom lists to Twitter.
Pluggio – This is a web-based Twitter app that has  many of the features of other Twitter clients.   The one feature I used regularly is that you can set up certain keywords to get notified when they are used, and follow those people.  You can put even put parameters about the people to be notified about, such as their follower/following ratio, number of tweets, etc.
QwitterQwitter – Emails you when someone stops following you. I use Socialtoo for this purpose.
retweetrank – Retweet rank is a representative of the number of times a user have been retweeted by others recently. The application tells you our Retweet rank, and percentile. I like this service a lot, as I think that how much a person retweets, is a strong indicator of the value they are bringing to Twitter.
Retweet RadarFinds trends in the mountains of information ‘retweet’ed on Twitter. Shows you top retweeted people and links. Cool program.
Rate My Talk – Rate My Talk (@talkr on Twitter) is a service that allows conference attendees to provide immediate feedback on a conference via Twitter or through our web site. This data is collected and provided on the site in order to provide accurate feedback on valuable (or not) presentations. Seems like a great service… I’ll definitely check it out if I’m ever a speaker!
ReFollow – A GREAT app that lets you unfollow people who don’t tweet, follow people who tweet about you, etc.  A great way to clean up who you’re following.
Repeets – Counts how many retweets a tweet gets, and tweets about the most retweeted ones (wow, that’s a mouthful). Follow @repeets to get updates.
RetweetabilityReTweetability – The ReTweetability Index measures and ranks Twitter users based on the infectious power of their tweets. This number accounts for number of followers and Tweets overall, so it is a true indicator of infectiousness. Users with a high ReTweetability Index have a greater percentage of their content spread by a greater percentage of their followers, implying that when they do tweet, it’s worth reading. I really like this application, as I do believe that a person’s “retweetability” is a strong indicator of their perceived Twitter value.
ReTweetist – Tracks posts that are retweeted to see what the most valued topics are.
ScoutLabs – A paid tracking/monitoring web-based application that tracks social media and finds signals in the noise. The application  costs $250/month. “Scout Labs helps your team find signals in the noise — what to pay attention to, what customers are ranting and raving about, what’s new and emerging.”
Secretweet – SecretTweet was created to allow Twitter users to share secrets anonymously. Basically, you go to their website, and tweet your secret and they tweet it out to their 10,000 followers. People can even comment on it. Some of the tweets are hysterical/scary!
Shorttext – Shorttext allows you very quickly to write a longer tweet or note, and create a URL for it. When I have more to say than 140 characters (especially if I’m copying an email I’ve received or something similar), you paste it in Shorttext, and it instantly gives you a URL for the copy. It’s not just a program for Twitter, but is very useful as a companion application for Twitter.
Searchtastic – Search tweets from months ago (Twitter keeps only 7 days of tweets).  Download the results to Excel.
Seesmic Desktop – Desktop application similar to Tweetdeck, but with multiple account management. I find the application very confusing to use.
Smub – Shortens urls on a handheld and tweets them automatically. (also can be used for Facebook, Delicious, etc.)
SocialOomph (formerly known as Tweet Later)- You can do numerous things with this site. First, you can use it to set up alerts to track keywords you are interested in. You can also schedule tweets at certain scheduled times. And, you can auto follow or auto DM. I use the scheduled tweets feature.  Also newly added, is the ability to block auto-DM’s.
Splitweet – Similar to Tweetdeck, but it allows you to manage multiple accounts. I do need multiple account support, but I am too in love with Tweetdeck, so am waiting for them to come out with this functionality (coming soon).
SocialMention – A free tracking/monitoring application that has a social media search and analysis platform that aggregates user generated content from across the universe into a single stream of information. It allows you to easily track and measure what people are saying about you, your company, a new product, or any topic across the web’s social media landscape in real-time. Social Mention monitors 100+ social media properties directly including: Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg, Google etc. You can also receive daily alerts, or put a widget on your website.
Socialtoo – This program allows you to do multiple things:
  • Received an email telling you who followed you and who unfollowed you the day before, and what you tweeted before that happened
  • Autofollow people
  • Opt out of auto DM’s (they used to offer an auto-DM service, but no longer do)
  • Conduct surveys
The only part of the program I use is the first one… Socialtoo emails me every day with who followed me and unfollowed me yesterday. I usually scan quickly to see if there were tweets that are particularly popular or unpopular, so I can notice a trend. I also look to see who unfollowed me, so I know that they are no longer following.

Tagalus – Allows you to find out the “definition” of a particular hashtag.
Tagdef – Definition of Twitter tags, similar to Tagalus. You can also tweet @tagdef and say “Define #xxx” and it will define it for you.
TBUZZ – Makes it easy to tweet the page you’re on, or follow the buzz around it. Using a toolbar button, you can automatically tweet the shortened link and even copy and paste text easily.
Techrigy – This is a paid tracking/monitoring application that marketers can get a full view of their marketing landscape by listening to their consumers online. It enables organizations to:
  • Understand consumers’ reactions to all marketing campaigns irrespective of channel
  • Monitor brand reputation
  • Identify Influencers
  • Undertake proper competitive analysis and market research
  • Support loyalty initiatives and programs
  • Engage directly with customers online
Tinychat – Create your own chatroom and invite people through one simple link. Not just for Twitter use, but it is a useful tool for Twitter users. It’s pretty basic (no sound alerts, etc), but it does the trick.
TopFollowFriday – Shows you who is endorsing who and who is being endorsed on #followfriday. The results don’t look accurate to me.
Topify
Topify – This is one of my favorite applications! What this application does, is makes your email work much better for you with Twitter. When you receive an email about a new follower, instead of being without any information about the followee, it will include their bio and basic stats. And, directly from the email you can follow the person! It also allows you to reply to a DM directly from email.
Twalala – Twalala allows you to control what you see and don’t see in your twitterstream. You can filter tweets out of your stream by keywords and phrases or mute individuals who get a bit too chatty. Twitter with a mute button! Great concept, except you have to use their interface for it to work. It would be great, if the selections here, would be active no matter what Twitter client you used.
TwapperKeeper – Create a permanent archive of a hashtag, keyword or person.  Great app, given how quickly Twitter makes tweets unavailable.
Twazzup – I really like this application. It’s basically Twitter Search, but groups the results together in a more meaningful way. It shows you real time tweets, real time photos, most popular links, and top trendmakers. Very useful.
TweetpML – One of my favorite applications for Lists.  TweepML is a simple format to make it easy for people to share a list of Twitter users.  You can follow the list right from the application, and you can even automatically follow all members of the list, or just certain members.
Tweepsearch – Similar to Twellow, this program searches bios for a particular keyword. But, it can also search the bios of your followers only, which can be very useful.
Tweet Backup – Gives you the ability to export all your posts and friends (will be able to restore in a few weeks as well). After a recent issue with my account (my following count doubled overnight), I signed up for this, just for peace of mind.
Tweetake – Another way to backup your tweets.  The site was down when I was writing this, so I don’t have more to say!
Tweetbeep– Keep track of conversations that mention you, your products, your company, anything, with hourly updates. You can even keep track of who’s tweeting your website or blog, even if they use a shortened URL (like tinyurl.com). Great for online reputation management, catching all your @, finding job/networking opportunities, keeping up on your favorite hobby, and more!
Tweetburner – The program was down when I went to review it, but it looks like it’s a URL shortening and tracking program. It tracks how many clicks your tweet gets, and allows you to analyze which headlines work best, and at what time of day your tweets get the most clicks.
Tweetchat – This program aggregates all tweets for a certain hashtag into a chat room. The benefit of using this vs. Twitter Search for hashtags, is that when you write your tweet, you don’t have to add the hashtag, as it is added automatically — a HUGE timesaver and is so much easier. Also, you can tweet directly from Tweetchat, so there is no need to flip back to twitter to enter a tweet. I use this whenever I’m on a webinar or at an event… amazing!
TweetConvo– TweetConvo is a great application to view twitter conversations. Rather than going through of a tweet’s @ to get a grasp of the conversation you just enter the tweet’s URL, and it shows you the conversation for that tweet.
TweetdeckTweetdeck – I can’t say enough about this program. Basically, Tweetdeck shows your Twitter feed in columns of information based on your preferences, rather than one long stream. For example, I use the following columns: All tweets, bostonmarketer, direct messages, friends, thought leaders, companies, twitter stuff, and jobs. This allows me to keep a better eye on things that interest me. You can also see your Facebook friends’ updates right in the application. You can click to see anyone’s profile, and from there add them to a particular column. It has a URL shortener build in, which is invaluable. I find this useful for my job search as I keep columns of job search twitter id’s.
TweetGrid – Create a Twitter Search Dashboard. Looks similar to Tweetdeck, but you can also tweet from multiple accounts. I liked most everything about this program, except that the avatars are very small, so I found it difficult to use.
Tweetmanager – Does a variety of things:
  • follow and track Twitter users automatically based on certain keywords
  • send a message to 1,000 users or less
  • autoreply to @ (can be used like an out of office message)
  • auto-post tweets at predetermined times
  • auto-tweet when you update your blo
  • I’m not currently using this application, but think it has some amazing features.
tweetmicTweetmeme -This app aggregates all the popular links on twitter to determine which links are popular. It even puts the links into categories so you can view it by categories you’re intereseted in or just subscribe to the RSS for each. Popular items get tweeted automatically by the Tweetmeme Twitter account.
TweetMic [m] – Great app that allows you to make high-quality audio recordings and publish them directly to Twitter. There is no limit to the length of audio recording you can make! VERY easy app that allows you to create variety in your Twitter stream.
TweetMiner – Allows you to load RSS feeds into this Twitter Client, tag them to be tweeted, and schedule the time to tweet them. VERY cool application that could be very useful. However, there is no way to import your current RSS subscriptions, so you need to add each one individually.
Tweetmondo – Shows you other Twitter users close to you. Cool visual results.
Tweet O’Clock – Type in a Twitter username to find out when it’s best to tweet them.
TweetReach – Tells you how far a URL, hashtag or tweet reached on Twitter. Shows # tweets, # people, tweet types, impressions and contributors tweeters. Great for analyzing an event.
TweetReports – Monitor your brand and online reputation –  track customer sentiment, receive real-time search results, analytics, reports, or research SEO keywords to attract a larger audience. This is a paid service, from $9-299/mo for individuals to enterprise accounts.
Tweetspinner – Does a number of things, many of which are GREAT for businesses… overall, great app!
  • Create and schedule smart tweets – create tweet templates, and Tweetspinner will rotate what it tweets for you
  • Schedule rotation of profiles and designs
  • Smart friends and followers – keyword following (find users who tweet certain words and automatically follow them), purge non reciprocal folllowers, mimic following (follow the followers of another user), location filtering (awesome! but you need to upgrade to use)
Tweetstalk – A program that allows you to follow someone without having them know you are following them. Maybe it’s because I’m not a stalker, but I can’t imagine why this would be useful!
Tweetstats -This program graphs your Twitter stats for you, including tweets per hour, tweets per month, tweet timeline, reply statistics and more. Interesting to look at occasionally.
Tweetree – Tweetree puts your Twitter stream in a tree so you can see the posts people are replying to in context. It also pulls in lots of external content like twitpic photos, youtube videos and more, so that you can see them right in your stream without having to click through every link your friends post.
Tweetsmarter
Tweetsmarter – Adds special characters (like a star or an umbrella) or a retweet link to your post.
TweetStack [m] – Best described as Tweetdeck for mobile phones. Stacks are similar to columns in TweetDeck, and can even be imported directly from TweetDeck. You can also search, and use multiple account logins.
TweetValue – Tells you the monetary value of your Twitter account. Just for fun!
Tweetvisor – A web-based Twitter interface, that enables people to better manage multiple Twitter accounts, returns real-time updates about favorite topics, news and tweets, and supports groups, threaded conversations, tagging friends and inline video replies. Similar to Peoplebrowsr
Tweetworks – Does a lot, but the 2 most basic are: Twitter groups (similar to Group Tweet) and threaded discussions, which allow you to see tweets strung together in a conversation. I am a member of one group. But, because I use Tweetdeck, I don’t use the threaded conversation feature much.
Twellow – A search program that also searches bios, names and locations. It also has a graphical interface that enables localized searching. VERY useful, if you are trying to find someone, or target particular people.
Twhirl – Desktop program similar to Tweetdeck, but it allows you to manage multiple accounts. I do need multiple account support, but I am waiting for Tweetdeck to come out with this functionality.
Twibes – Application that allows you to join groups on Twitter
Twickie – Twickie is a free service that fetches Twitter replies for you (and gives you an easy way to view AND export them).
Twidget – A widget for OS X that allows you to update your Twitter status.
Twilert – An application that emails you regular updates of tweets containing your brand, product, service or any other keyword. Great program, but (as expected!), I use Tweetdeck for this.
Twimailer – Rather than receiving the plain emails from Twitter notifying you of a new follower (include just their name), Twimailer sends you their statistics and their last few tweets. Very cool! To me, the major limitation is that you still have to click through to their profile to follow them. Topify solves that issue, which is why I use that application instead.
Twinfluence – Another Twitter grading tool that measures the combined influence of twitterers and their followers.
Twintro – “Twitter Introductions” – Helps you discover the most interesting Twitter users. You follow @twintro, and every day, Twintro retweets a different user’s tweets to you. If you like that user, follow them!
TwitBizCard– Set up your business card on their website, and then add #twtbizcard to a @ to send your contact information to someone. Very easy!
TwitLonger – Twitlonger is a way to let you post to Twitter when 140 characters just isn’t enough. You can write what you need and a link to what you said will automatically be posted to your Twitter account. It’s similar to TwtLong. It’s like TwitPic for text.
TwtLong – Twitlonger is a way to let you post to Twitter when 140 characters just isn’t enough. You can write what you need and a link to what you said will automatically be posted to your Twitter account. It’s similar to TwitLonger.
Twit Truth – I LOVE this app! Shows you great analytics on your twitter account, for top Twitter users, and anyone else you want to look up. It shows you the stats below, and also characterizes your tweeting with a descriptor (i.e. I’m an “Engager”), average tweets per day, average response time and breaks down your tweets by type.
twittruth
Twitalyzer – Analyzes your Twitter performance based on 5 factors: impact, engagement, generosity, velocity and clout.That’s great for analyzing your performance over time.  In addition, Twitalyzer shows clickthrough rate, gives you recommendations to improve your scores, shows a sentiment analysis of your account, and many more features!  There’s also a Premium application that you can pay for.
Twitcam -Allows you to stream live on Twitter VERY easily. Just logon (no OAuth yet unfortunately) and start broadcasting. It tweets a message immediately on Twitter letting your followers know, so they can come watch you, and use text chat to talk to you or eachother. And, it archives your video for viewing later on (cool!)
Twithear – Lets you add your voice on twitter. Call a phone number or use your computer to record a message.
Twithority – Similar to Twitter Search, but it allows you to see the results by user “authority” (the more followers, the more “authority”).
Twitoria – Twitoria finds your friends that haven’t tweeted in a long time so you can give them the boot! Great application, but I just don’t have the time nor see the need to go through and clean out my followers (especially if they’re not tweeting).
Twitoshirt
TWItoSHIRT – Get a T-shirt made with your tweets!
TwitPic – Allows you to easily post a photo on Twitter. Just browse to the photo, and it creates a link. It’s built directly into Tweetdeck, so it’s easy to use from there!
Twitscoop – Through an automated algorithm, twitscoop crawls hundreds of tweets every minute and extracts the words which are mentionned more often than usual. The result is displayed in a Tag Cloud, using the following rule: the hotter, the bigger. This is also integrated with Tweetdeck, so is easy to check.
Twittas – As they say, “A new useless app every week.” Includes, when you’ll hit 1 million tweets, what your first tweet was, your first follower was, etc.
Twittelator Pro [m] – A paid Twitter application for the iPhone (cost is $3.99). Great application that has list support, auto-hashtags, multi-accounts, etc.  This is the application I’ve seen that has the most customization available.  It’s only downside is it’s long load time.
TwitterSheep – See a tag cloud from the ‘bios’ of your twitter flock.
Twitter Snipe – Helsp you find people to follow based on certain criteria. Paid application $77.
TwitterSnooze – Allows you to temporarily stop seeing someone’s tweets (i.e. if they are at a conference you just need a break). The downside is that it actually unfollows and then refollows that person. Note: This application has been out of service for a while now, but I keep hoping it will come back!
Twitrans – Translates your tweets into any language.
Twitter GraderTwitStamp – TwitStamp allows you to use your current Twitter status anywhere – in the form of an image so you can post it on blogs, forums, websites, etc.
Twitter Buttons – Create a button for your website that says “Follow Me”!
Twitter Grader – Tells you what your Twitter grade is — it’s based on the #of followers, #you follow, etc. You can also find out who the Twitter elite are in a certain area.
Twitter Karma – An application that fetches your friends and followers from Twitter when you click the “Whack!” button, then displays them for you, letting you paginate through them. By default, the list contains all your friends and followers and is sorted by last update, showing those who most recently updated first. You can sort and filter the list. Similar to Friendorfollow, but with better interface.
Twitter Local – Allows you to filter tweets by location. I’m not currently using this, but can definitely see a use for it, particularly if you travel a lot.
Twitter Safe – Backs up your followers, following and replies. I’m not using this… maybe I’m just too trusting that I will not lose everything.
Twitter Search (formerly Summize) – A mandatory for Twitter users. Type in any search term (including AND, OR, quotes) and see what’s happening on Twitter for that search. Also shows you trending topics. Clicking on “Advanced” lets you get more detailed in your search, including tweets from one person to another, date, attitude and place.
Twitter Toolbar – This short cut/quicklinks toolbar brings Twitter closer to you, so you can: visit Twitter, update your Twitter status directly, search Google, Twitter Search, Twellow, Twictionary, optimize your Twitter experience and research the world of Twitter.
Twittercounter – Give you TONS of stats about your profile, including a graph of your follower numbers, growth, rank, etc.
Twitterfall – Allows you to search on a particular term, and have the resuts fall in a real update. Cook when twets are moving quicly!
Twitterfeed – Automatically posts your blog RSS feed and post to Twitter for you. You can also use this with services other than Twitter.
Twitterfriends – With TwitterFriends you can …
  • find out the hidden network of Twitter contacts that are really relevant for you.
  • visualize the network of your relevant contacts and their contacts
  • see who of your Twitter friends are online this very moment
  • read some stats about your Twitter account
  • take a look at the most conversational Twitterers or those who are posting the most links
Wow, there’s a lot of great information here, but I found it to be too much!
TwitterHawk – Very interesting program, but a bit controversial. This program will automatically send pre-written tweets (that you have written) to people who tweet certain keywords. For example, if you have a coffee shop, the program can send tweets to everyone who mentions coffee. Controversial because it may seem like spam.
Twitterholic – Allows you to see rankings by #followers, #friends, #updates and date joined. You can also see these stats for a particular user over time. Good program, I just don’t have a need for it.
TwitterFox – A Firefox extension that notifies you of your friends’ tweets on Twitter. This extension adds a tiny icon on the status bar which notifies you when your friends update their tweets. Also it has a small text input field to update your tweets.
Twitterific [also m] – Similar to Twhirl in that it allows you to manage multiple accounts, but it doesn’t have multiple columns of information. (MAC only)
Twittez – Twittez is a simple Twitter application that lets you get your answers from fellow Twitters, all you have to do is tweet with “does anyone know?” with your question and they try to find your answer.
Twitpay – Allows you to send and receive money from someone else on Twitter. Very cool program, I just haven’t needed it yet.
Twitseeker – Finds people on Twitter based on what they’re talking about. Cool! I searched for Marketing, and it came up with a list of 20 people who have been tweeting about Marketing. Very useful, especially for my job search.
Twitter [m] (formerly Tweetie) [m] – iPhone application that handles multiple accounts, search, retweet, DM. Very user friendly and clear.  Recently Tweetie launched a new version called Tweetie2. While there is much more functionality, including lists, it has major problems with caching (you need to reload tweets you’ve already seen again), so I’m not using it anymore. Too bad, it used to be an amazing application.
TwittLink – They monitor almost every post on Twitter and extract all tweeted links. Using a statistical approach they figure out which subjects (based on extracted links) are most discussed on twitter. They use semantic analysis to group links that talk about the same subject. Similar to Twitscoop.
Twollo – This program finds people for you to follow based on your interests. Twollo will find them and automatically follow them for you.
Twtpoll – A very simple, easy to use program that helps you set up a poll. Type in your question and answers, and go!
TwtBizCard – Send a business card to someone by just adding #twtbizcard to any tweet! It’s great to use when meeting people at a Tweetup.
Twtcard – Send a greeting card, a surprise message, or an invitation on Twitter or via email.
Twtvite – Simple event manager twitter application… like Evite for people on Twitter. The application also gives you code to embed the invitation into your website.
UnTweeps – List and unfollow Tweeps you are following who have not updated their status in 7, 30, 60 or 90 days. Useful application to clean out spam and inactive people.
VacationTweets– It’s an out-of-office for Twitter!  You can either set it up to reply to your @ or DM’s.
ViralHeat – A paid social media monitoring/tracking and analytics application (starts at $9.99/mo for individuals and goes up to $139/mo for large corporations. Provides location based tracking, real-time monitoring and daily alerts. Looks like a great application.
We Follow – A user powered Twitter directory that categorizes people into groups, such as social media, marketing, celebrity, politics, etc.
What the Hashtag? – A wiki that tracks hashtags on Twitter. Great idea, as I so often see hashtags that I don’t know what they are being used for.
Who Should I Follow – Similar to Mr. Tweet, this program recommends people you should follow based on popularity and location. What I like about this program is that you can control those 2 features, if they are more or less important to you. The one problem I see is that it recommends people I’m already following.
Visible Tweets – A great application for events, to display the tweets relevant to that event based on a hashtag or a search. You can choose to display the tweets in letter by letter, tag cloud, or rotation.
YackTrack – I think this is a tracking/monitoring application, but there’s really no good explanation on their site, so I have no idea!

Applications no longer in service – TweetVolume
Even more applications – Here are even more applications that I haven’t detailed above, or looked into: BeTwittered, TweepML, TweetMyBlog, Tweetwhatyoueat, Twtpwr
Mobile applications not for iPhone – I use Twitter on an iPhone, but I thought I’d list a few of the applications I’ve heard of for non-iPhone mobile phones: Blackbird (and more to come… suggestions?)
Security note – I am not claiming any responsibility for the security of these programs. Please do your own due diligence to be sure you’re comfortable, especially when providing your Twitter password.