Web X.0 – What to Do When Your Product Doesn’t Fit the Hype by Kevin Dwinnell

With the term “Web 2.0” declared dead, and “Web 3.0” yet to be defined, where does that leave the marketers still trying to become “part of the conversation”? The same place it has always left us – making sure our value proposition connects with our target audience, and making sure our message reaches that audience.

Hype is a wave. If you’re there and you catch it, awesome. Not every one is in position to do that. But the Internet continues to be a birthplace of cool and spawns a river of things that generate hype. Eventually, our time will come.

In pitching our branded browsers (Booms) as a great affinity product for CPG, we hear “that wouldn’t work for toilet paper.” Correct, but it would work for diapers. Both products serve the same purpose, but one has a more robust avenue for connecting with the consumer than the other. Pampers and Huggies both produce a lot of web content tailored specifically toward Moms and create affinity to the brand – that’s an ideal place for one our Booms. Have you looked at your product and that cool new web site and determined if there’s a fit? Are you sure?

Not seeing a fit for marketing or integration into that hyped application doesn’t relieve you of your responsibility to understand it. I’ve been fortunate to work in the Internet space for a long time. That, however, has built some complacency and I’ve missed my share of opportunities because I didn’t “get it.”

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m still trying to “get” Twitter and continue to work at my understanding. I see the positive affect it can have for a company on several levels. I’ve extracted value, hopefully shared some, and when I meet a social media expert, I try to learn more. I believe it’s paying off for our start up as it does for many other companies. But I would have missed this if I’d left it alone without trying to first understand it.

Your product may not be right for every hyped Internet site, but with more of your customers online, some of these sites will work for you. To stay competitive, whether a start up or not, it’s in your interest to know which ones.

Posted in Commentary | Tags: Branded Browser, business, custom browser, Customer value proposition, marketing, Social network, Target audience, Twitter, web 2.0, Website | No Comments »

The Internet Echo – Social Media as Marketing by Kevin Dwinnell

Maybe in space no one can hear you scream, but if you’re well connected – everyone on the Internet can. Just ask Jason Calacanis. (Sorry Jason, that made me laugh.)

We’re not as well connected as Jason, but we remain impressed by the incidental reach social media provides some of the standard marketing initiatives for our branded browsers (Booms). That’s critical for a startup that’s doesn’t have an extensive marketing budget. If you’re willing to put in the energy, effort, and play by the rules of social media – it can be rewarding.

So, if you’re not using social media for your business, we encourage you to try it and see what the ripple effect is for your business.

The following is a snapshot of just the Twittering that resulted from the announcement of Brand Thunder’s funding by Ohio TechAngels:

• The press release dropped Tues, Jan 27.
• I tweeted about it later that day
• By morning, Jan 28, CNET picked up the story
• By afternoon of Jan 28 many more tweets occurred
• International coverage occurred within a day or two
• Corresponding tweets followed.

Twitter Timeline:

Note: Twitter aggregation pulled from TweetBeep’s free email Alerts.

kdwinnell: Funding announcement for Brand Thunder. Woohoo! http://tinyurl.com/d63s4e
Wednesday, January 28th at 00:54:37 · Reply · View Tweet

bblanquera: RT @kdwinnell: Funding announcement for Brand Thunder. Woohoo! http://tinyurl.com/d63s4e
Wednesday, January 28th at 00:56:33 · Reply · View Tweet

bigkumadog: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, which reskins Firefox and.. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 16:46:56 · Reply · View Tweet

NewsOnTwitter: CNET NEWS – Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, wh.. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 16:49:17 · Reply · View Tweet

logical_caro: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding – Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, which reskins Firefox and s… http://bit.ly/PqCc
Wednesday, January 28th at 16:50:15 · Reply · View Tweet

Duma: [Web2.0] Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that customizes Firefox with.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 16:56:28 · Reply · View Tweet

TechRSS: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, which reskins Firefox and.. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:03:28 · Reply · View Tweet

puleen: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that customizes Firefox with customers’ brand.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:09:34 · Reply · View Tweet

TwitLinksRSS: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding | Digital Media – CNET News: Brand Thunder , a company that customizes Fi.. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:09:43 · Reply · View Tweet

junlabao: CNET: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, which reskins .. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:12:04 · Reply · View Tweet

Webware: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that customizes Firefox with customers’ brand.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:12:26 · Reply · View Tweet

macatron: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that customizes Firefox with customers’ brands.. http://tinyurl.com/cgd2ur
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:24:20 · Reply · View Tweet

logical_caro: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding – Angel investors are putting money into Brand Thunder, which re-skins Firef… http://bit.ly/PqCc
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:30:20 · Reply · View Tweet

TIAS: Brand Thunder, a company that lets people customize Firefox with brands, inked deal with MLS: http://tinyurl.com/cranhb
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:35:55 · Reply · View Tweet

writerhunt: Web 2.0 Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that lets people customize Fir.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:42:18 · Reply · View Tweet

haripakorss: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that lets people customize Firefox with brands.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:50:12 · Reply · View Tweet

brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:52:22 · Reply · View Tweet

MichaelBowers: Retweeting @brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:53:03 · Reply · View Tweet

PhyllisNichols: RT @MichaelBowers Retweeting @brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:58:37 · Reply · View Tweet

tomhaney: RT: brandthunder Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:09:01 · Reply · View Tweet

chiefgadd: @brandthunder great job getting some more good press! Brand Thunder is one of our Rock Star Central Ohio IT Startups!!! Way to go!!!
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:18:05 · Reply · View Tweet

RickCoplin: RT @chiefgadd: @brandthunder great job getting more good press! Brand Thunder is one of our Rock Star Central Ohio IT Startups! Way to go!
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:24:00 · Reply · View Tweet

RickCoplin: RT @brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:25:32 · Reply · View Tweet

bblanquera: RT @RickCoplin: RT @brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:34:08 · Reply · View Tweet

anteek: #News : Firefox-branding start-up gets funding Brand Thunder, a company that lets people customize Firefox with.. http://TwitPWR.com/37X/
Thursday, January 29th at 16:48:50 · Reply · View Tweet

giacomodotta: Brand Thunder: Firefox per valorizzare il brand http://ff.im/-P7uK
Friday, January 30th at 13:29:56 · Reply · View Tweet

masey: Quite a decent Canucks Firefox theme (http://twitpic.com/19b67), amongst others to be found at Brand Thunder now – http://is.gd/hRia
Friday, January 30th at 22:58:36 · Reply · View Tweet

dudtn: “Brand Thunder – FireFox 커스터마이징을 통한 수익모델” http://tinyurl.com/atwybh firefox 테마 참 이쁘네요^^ 돈받고 &
Saturday, January 31st at 13:17:10 · Reply · View Tweet

RickCoplin: Brand Thunder rocks the other side of the planet! http://poprl.com/GQ Who can read/speak Italian?
Monday, February 2nd at 13:22:06 · Reply · View Tweet

Posted in Commentary | Tags: Branded Browser, CNET Networks, custom browser, firefox, Jason Calacanis, marketing, Mozilla Firefox, startup, tweetbeep, Twitter, web 2.0 | 2 Comments »