SmartSymbols^tm

May 4, 2010, 02:06 PM — Google Inc. plans to begin selling digital books in late June or July, a company official said Tuesday, throwing the search giant into a battle that already involves Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc. Retail is not Google’s business model, but Google plans to support many devices and have book downloads available directly from online ads. The new service will also include Google Book, a book search service along with the usual host of enabling add-ins and widgets. It will be interesting to see how the new retail venture effects Google’s long standing perception dominance as a search engine company.

Read the full story from Wall Street Journal story on Google’s coming bookstore.

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Jothy Rosenberg underwent an above knee amputation due to osteosarcoma, is a cancerous (malignant) bone tumor, in 1973. Then, three years later, the cancer metastasized in his lung and forty percent of the lung had to be removed. Jothy is with us to day probably due to the 1976 chemotherapy courses, which were only recently made available. That’s a very rough start and one that would have profound effect on most. However, Jothy went on to get a PhD in computer science, author two technical books and become founder of six high tech companies. Ok, so Jothy’s a smart guy, but there are lots of smart people with that have overcome adversity. That’s true until you consider the rest of Jothy’s achievements.

Jothy also rode in the Pan-Masscahusetts Challenge bike-a-thon supporting the Dana-Farber cancer institute seven times, swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco supporting Boston Healthcare for the Homeless sixteen times and participated in other sports and fundraising activities. Not bad for a one legged athlete with diminished lung capacity! Jothy’s latest endeavor is a book and associated blog entitled “Who Says I Can’t”, where Jothy shares his life experiences. The book and blog are a great source of inspiration and hope. Use the SmartSymbols™ within this post to learn more about the Jothy Rosenberg and his book “Who Says I Can’t”, options for sharing and purchasing a copy of the book.

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Customers have an ever increase desire to know more and more about the products they use or want to purchase. That means a shift in the average consumer’s tipping point for conversion.  Customers requiring more and more product information, research and testimonials before committing to purchase.  Unfortunately, researching a product is a little like participating in an Easter egg hunt; for the product specifications, go search the main website, for videos, go search YouTube, for review, go search the blog, for real-time postings, go search Twitter or Facebook. This takes time, usually results in a lost sale and worst yet, no chocolate bunny.  Fortunately, the use of a marketing platform can end the Easter egg hunt while still delivering a basket of goodies at the same time.  This is accomplished by aggregating social media and traditional marketing materials and delivering product research to the customer, where they want it, when they want it.  It also results in a better social media ROI, higher conversion rates and strengthened brand loyalty. So use a marketing platform and save the Easter egg hunt for the kids and colored eggs.

The Easter icon means customers of the the book Celebrate Green! do not have to hunt for information (see sidebar for details).  This icon is one of Celebrate Green!’s SmartSymbols holiday icons that delivers fresh content to customers.  It replaces the previous holiday shamrock icon used to deliver St. Patrick’s Day content.

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According to a study by Outsell, to be released Monday, web ads will increase by 10% in 2010. If true, it will be the first time that U.S. advertisers will spend more on digital, rather than print. It is not surprising given the decline in printed books, magazines and the explosion of online social networks, blogs and mobile platforms. Just a few years ago this surge in online advertising meant more spam; spam emails, spam pop-up and pop-under, spam banner ads and spam Ad Word campaigns.

Fortunately, the large amount of product information and research available online as well as the social media explosion is reshaping the online advertising landscape. A new generation of savvy consumers who want to hear and be heard is emerging. They demand to know about the product, how it is made, is it good for them, their children and the environment. Essentially, they want a relationship with product manufacturers. That means more content, rich content that will engage customers, aggregates product research and increase product interaction. This will lead to higher conversion rates and strengthening brand loyalty.

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Matt Fellows from BostInnovation wrote a great article about SmartSymbols.

It really is a nice summary about SmartSymbols (thank you Matt), but what is interesting is that it is nice summary from a different perspective.

Take the article’s tag line for example: “Finally, all of your product research in one place”. Well, yes, thank you! That is exactly the problem SmartSymbols was designed to solve for the shopper.
From the “sales guy” perspective, Matt points out that “the sales team gets to cram all of the positive content about your product in one easy-to-digest place, complete with a “buy” button for instant conversion. ” The is also, as they say, gets straight to the crux of the issue.


Of course, it is great to have a positive review written by someone who grasps the magnitude of the problem and the importance of the solution. The side benefit, however, is another perspective that may make us look at our own product from a different angle. Perhaps a clearer one.

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1. Put SmartSymbols into all your online properties
It’s very easy to do (click “Share”, select the format you want, then copy & paste the snippet on the right) and there are two reasons for that: buzz and analytics.
Buzz: every time a symbol set is added to a web property (a web page or a blog) it generates more buzz: people will explore the symbol set and will share it with others.
Analytics: every instance of SmartSymbols will produce a set of analytics (see more here). By comparing traffic from different installations of SmartSymbols sets you will be able to create your next step in the marketing campaign.

Aggregate and Distribute - Click to Enlarge

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2. Share symbol sets consistently with others
Let people - blogger, journalists, your fans and followers - embed your SmartSymbols into their web pages and blog entries. This will benefit them as well - readers and visitors are more likely to explore something interactive and visual, which is a clear advantage of plain text. Every time you talk to a blogger or a reporter - offer your symbol set. It’s very easy to do - just copy & paste a code snippet under the “Share” button.
Click on the diagram below to see code snippet locations.

Sharing SmartSymbols - Click to Enlarge

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3. Use SmartSymbols Analytics
Analytics will tell you (more here) what people are actually interested in a straight-forward and blunt way : what readers actually spend time on - what they read, which video clips they watch (you have video clips, right?) and so on. This is more than just analytics - this is marketing data that can be used in many ways, such as creating campaigns.

Icon Usage Chart - Click to Enlarge

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4. Try different campaigns
For example - put “Social Networking” icon in the first place, then a week later swap places with “Reviews” icon, or try different content within the icons. Also, consider what other icons you would like to try - maybe different aspects of the product connect with your customers better than others. All these combinations will help you figure what works best.

Different Icon Combinations - Click to Enlarge

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5. Use icons creatively
Sky is the limit here - you will run out of content before SmartSymbols runs out of space. Things you did not have space to tell before - you can now. And it will not take much space! For example - show pictures of places where your book is taking place, show some illustrations that a book has, or show a map of where your product is being used. (See more here: Secret of the Compass Icon)

Show Where Product is Used - Click to Enlarge

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