Bing bang?

Few people turned to me concerning Bing so you may want to hear something from myself to this new engine.

Okay so what is the primary reason why were are still working to be Nr 1 on providing easier access to informations on internet (objective)?

In spite of undeniable progress up to 40% of searches still remains without relevant response. Almost half of attempts to find information lasts up to 20 minutes. And that is why there is clear motivation for a company like Microsoft.

And what is the secondary (my subjective) reason?
As 5 years ago the catalogue search was the way we looked information on the internet, with the Google´s entrance into internet new era begun, the fulltext search. But as the internet is fastly developing, there will be something new again, soon. It might be visual, verbal search for instance but Microsoft doesn´t want to wait and we made the first half step and introduced the decision engine.

When will it be available for Central Europe´s languages?
Bing as a search tool is provided in all Microsoft present country. The full functionality decision tool is not only about search, but provides sophisticated answers based on language, first major market are already covered (English, Spanish and German). After the bugs will be corrected, more countries will come but for CE we don´t expect Bing as a decision tool before end 2010.

What are the results so far?

Bing already achieved 1% percent on the market (one month result) and based on New York Posts article from June 14th Google´s co-founder Segey Brin assembled a team of top engineers to conduct Bing study and try to upgrade their service.

If you think, this is subjective reasoning, of course, it is. But to do you own consideration, try Blind search and decide, which is the most relevant for you. There is not big difference, is there?

People trust consumer product reviews

According Forrester research survey published in one of my earlier post most people (77%) trust an information received in email from someone they know and on the second place (60%) consumer product rating/review. So let´s look at this review thing, as I have found an interesting slide:

Let´s mention at least the two websites using this method BestBuy or Amazon:

And some of them build their business on it as Consumersearch:

or epinions:

Bottom line? When making an TV ad for your company keep in mind, that prospectives will far more believe in what is written on these sites by another users. So use your cretive energy for something else. Article originally published on my Slovak Word-of-mouth blog.

Company online strategy finally important?

e-consultancy have recently released their 2009 online engagement report. Here are some highlights from the Exec Summary carried out amongst 1,300 marketers (2/3 of which are UK based):

• only 45% have a defined online customer engagement strategy
• 51% say that a deteriorating economy has led to a greater emphasis on customer engagement
• 38% say they are focused on increasing value from the customer, whilst 34% say it is about creating value for their customers

The survey also asked them which channels they will focus on:

• 59% say e-newsletters,
• 41% user ratings & feedback,
• 37% user generated content,
• 36% blogging & 36% branding in social networks like facebook.

What is the situation in Central Europe?

I think we are lagging one or two years behing the UK. Online strategy is more a rarity today and also user rating and feedback and generated content are important only to small number of companies. However I often hear companies´ representatives to express a desire to build customer engagement online, but many of them have little idea how to do this, which channels they should use or what they should measure.

In addition, to achive results online you have to have well synchronized relationship of a skilled company marketer and an experienced advertising agency or direct marketing agency with digital departement. It takes time to play well together but there are already some CE examples - let´s take a look at successful czech WOM campaigns.