This article appears in the September Issue of InBiz Magazine.

By Abe Kasbo 

Even as high-tech has put networking into cyberspace—and into hyper-drive—it still boils down to one simple fact: people buy from people. The more people you know, the more business you’ll get.  So a networking plan has to play an integral part of your overall marketing and public relations plans.

So what’s new that can push your business to the next level fast? Growth of business networks, both on- and off -line, offers great opportunities—if you know how to play the game. A Google search for “Business Networks in New Jersey” yielded about 4 million results. How could you possibly decide which ones are worth your marketing time and money?

Networking venues benefit small and mid-sized companies far more than large corporations, according to James Barrood, Executive Director of Fairleigh Dickenson University’s Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies. “  The right business network will help a business flourish,” he adds. First, however, you need to know exactly how the network will help your business. In other words, is it relevant?

Here’s how to navigate the networking world—and get results:

1. Do Your Homework: Learn about the network, its membership and business sectors before deciding whether it’s worth your time.

2. Develop a Plan: Before you attend an event, set goals—such as how many people you’d like to meet, what you’ll say, and how you’ll follow up. Drop the “businesseze” and forget about the 30-second elevator pitch. Focus instead on developing common ground and a personal connection.

3. You’re LinkedIn, But Are You Local? Having an online presence, no matter how popular the site, won’t help much if your work relies on local business and the people in that group are scattered from Maine to New Mexico. Listing 300 “Facebook” friends is great, but what if only 10 of them live close enough to meet in person? Banking, healthcare, law, financial services, hospitality, restaurants, and construction are just a few of the areas that rely on local connections.

4. Relevance Is Key: Invest in networks that work hard or your business that deliver highly relevant business matches on- and off -line, and bring you together with people most likely to need your services.

5. What will work? A local network that provides connections on multiple levels, online, in person and in print will deliver the flexibility you need to network on your terms.

6. Wave of the Future: Networking guru Ivan Misner of Entrepreneur Magazine sees the most growth in “private professional training organizations”. So ask about your network’s educational opportunities and how you can best leverage them.

Networking doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Ultimately, the most effective business networks engage their members by delivering highly relevant business matches, offering a variety of venues; for example, in-person events educational and online opportunities, and offline publications.  Thee nature of this unique model allows members to make more relevant connections online, offline and in print media, thereby delivering more potential growth opportunities for businesses.

Here’s an article by Mike Henry about internet video that I thought was pretty interesting. I got it today in my email subscription to The Video Insider – Pretty good stuff, if I had the link I would have posted here…the article is below: 

DURING A COCKTAIL PARTY A few weeks ago, a newly single friend of mine gulped down his third Scotch, slammed down his glass and announced, “Okay, I give up. What the heck do women want? I used to think I understood them, but these days, I’m completely stumped.”Being the supportive friend that I am, I offered him a few words of wisdom (“Beats me, but let me know when you find out”) handed him another drink and promptly changed the subject. But later that night as my thoughts turned to work, I remembered his words and realized that the business of marketing in an online video environment is going through a similar life stage. As marketers, we are starting to get to know online video viewers — what they want and how they want to be treated. Sometimes we connect well and other times we find ourselves, well, stumped.Here are three rules of the relationship I think marketers should keep in mind to ensure that their video advertising efforts win the hearts of consumers:

1) Length matters. It’s no secret that the 30-second pre-roll is both reviled and at the same time delivers more in-video weight than any other ad unit. But just how much do viewers dislike their length? At Veoh, we’ve found that viewers are 40% more likely to abandon the video experience during a 30-second pre-roll ad than a 15-second pre-roll ad. And contrary to popular opinion, we’ve found that viewers are just as turned off by 30-second pre-rolls before long-form video as they are by pre-rolls before short clips. In other words, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a 3-minute clip or a 30-minute episode: viewers have narrowed their windows of ad acceptance. 

2) Your best prospects are already engaged. When choosing video sites for your media buy, it’s important to make sure the site partners have highly loyal and engaged audiences. Why? Because viewers who are not yet familiar with or engaged in a site are much less accepting of ads during their viewing experience. We found that heavy video viewers (viewers who visit the site and watch a video at least six times per month) are 50% more likely to continue watching a video after a pre-roll than are light and new viewers. In addition, heavy viewers are more than 10 times more likely than light or new viewers to accept a pre-roll ad within the first video they watch in a session without abandoning the experience.So in an online video environment, if the majority of the viewers are already “taken,” you’ll actually have a muchbetter chance of making a strong connection.

3) It’s always better with an audience. Yes, network TV shows are great, but the only way to take full advantage of Web video is by targeting audiences rather than following a traditional TV model of buying around content. The same valuable viewers who watch full-length network sitcoms are also watching independent studio productions and popular video clips – so why not reach them throughout their entire viewing experience? In addition to increasing the number of opportunities for marketers to reach consumers, ads that target audiences based on their behaviors and interests are much more relevant to and therefore well-received by online video viewers. For example, during a recent national family restaurant campaign, we saw that ads that were behaviorally targeted to the family-focused audience performed 20 times better than basic contextually targeted companion ads – and yielded a higher number of impressions than they would have received if targeting a single show. Make sure to work with your video site partners to identify viewer behavior segments that fit with your brand’s target audience – it’s the best way to start a positive conversation with a video viewer (and much cheaper than buying them a cocktail).

In any budding relationship, it’s very easy to overlook the basics when you’re trying to make a good impression.As marketers, if we listen to what our viewers want and pay more attention to their unique interests, we can build more exciting and lasting relationships in online video environments.- Pretty good eh…

Below is my interview with Joan Verdon of The Record. 

PR firm places its chips on the Web
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
BY JOAN VERDONSTAFF WRITER

Abe Kasbo doesn’t worry about having a modest workplace. In 2008, he says, businesses should be a lot more worried about the impression they create in cyberspace than in their workplace.

Kasbo, 38, runs Verasoni Worldwide, a marketing strategy and public relations firm, out of a small second-floor walkup office on Main Street in Little Falls.His company has seen big growth in the four years since it was created, reaching $1.8 million in billings this year, with more than 60 clients.

His background helps him deal with many types of clients, and provides cutting-edge advice on Internet strategies.He’s worked on Wall Street, as well as been an Internet communications consultant, the marketing director at St. Joseph’s and Mountainside hospitals, and a part-time basketball coach at three North Jersey colleges.He also is financing and producing “The Arab-American Experience,” a film featuring famous Arab-Americans such as Ralph Nader and Helen Thomas.

Kasbo spoke with The Record about marketing for the new millennium, social networking, and how being his own boss lets him skip shaving on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (Interview edited and condensed for space.)

Q. You grew up in Paterson?

I was born in Aleppo, Syria. We came here in 1980, when I was 10.

Q. Did you speak any English?I spoke French and Arabic. I had to learn English in three months, because people thought I was from Iran, so I got beat up almost every day. As soon as I started hitting some jump shots and hitting some home runs, kids thought I was cool. And so I used sports as kind of a currency to get in with everyone.

Q. Had you played sports in Syria?

In Syria, they wouldn’t let me play basketball, for some reason. I was a pingpong prodigy. So when I came here, I was determined to play basketball. And I had the opportunity to play basketball and baseball and do whatever the hell I wanted, which is really a metaphor for coming to America.

Q. You started Verasoni in 2004. Right after your twins were born?

Yes. It was a great time to quit a secure, well-paying job to start a business, right after your twins were born.

Q. Do you remember who your first client was?

Sure. New Jersey Plastic Surgery really needed to brand the practice, increase its public relations and drive down its marketing budget. And we were very successful in that project. So from that one medical practice, we’ve done work for Fortune 500 companies, we’ve done work for Canadian companies, and from this modest office, we’ve got clients all over the country.

Q. Where did the name Verasoni come from?

My wife is Italian, and vero in Italian means “true,” so that is a word we use between us. And then Sofia and Nicolas are the twins, so I’ve basically incorporated my whole family in the business.

Q. From your Web site, it looks like a lot of the work you do is Web development.

A lot of the work we do is Internet-based, but it is not totally Web development. We basically are your marketing and strategy provocateurs. Because there is a lot of money wasted on various media. That’s why I wanted to start the business. Integration of marketing and public relations is huge. And if it’s done right, businesses can increase their marketing footprint and drive down their marketing cost. We believe we’re a pretty good player in that space.

Q. How do you help your clients develop a marketing strategy?

We’re always going to start with the Web, because the Web is the only dynamic medium on this planet that continues to change, and is driven by the people who are actually controlling the search. Then we figure out what other media you need to be on – for example, do you need to be on TV? But if you do the TV before you do the Web, you’ve got a behavioral problem. If someone sees you on TV, they’ll look for your Web site. So your Web world better be straight. Everything else is always going to come back to it or bounce off of it.

Q. Most of the people running your client companies probably are in the baby-boomer generation. Do you find they still want more traditional PR, like magazine articles, than Web hits?

Yes. And it’s actually my pleasure to help convert them. Because the power of the Web is amazing.Think about it: I’m sitting in my house or at work, and I think about a subject and I type it in and I get what I want. What we tell our clients is, you are no longer in control of your brand. The consumer for the most part is the player, so you have to speak directly to the consumer, or whoever you are trying to reach. What I like to say is, if the Internet is a game changer, then we are the game changer. You’ve got somebody who’s a game changer on your side.

Q. How do you do social networking for a client?

We have a major hotel as a client, The Madison Hotel, and they also own Rod’s, the restaurant. We re-launched a brand new beautiful Web site for them, and we set up a profile for them on Facebook. Then we started setting up events for them. For Valentine’s Day, we put up a package that included dinner and a hotel stay, and everybody in our group then saw the event. And there are about 450 members in our group.

Q. People who gave them their e-mail address?

No. Once you set up on Facebook, I will invite you to become a friend.

Q. So how did you get the 450 friends for Rod’s?

Ah – that’s the trick. If I tell you, I have to kill you.

Q. Can you see ahead what the next Facebook will be? Because that’s the problem with the Internet. How do you know what the next Facebook is?Internet development is at its infancy. So what I can foresee in the future is perhaps a combination of Facebook, eBay, Google and Second Life all coming together, so your entire world is coming through either on a big screen at home or on your mobile home.

Q. I’m not even sure what Second Life is. Is it a game?

It’s not a game; it is real and it is dollars. BMW, for example, has set up space. You can actually go see a virtual car dealership on Second Life. NPR just built 16,000 square feet of space on Second Life.

Q. Are any of your clients building space on Second Life?

Right now we are working on building our Verasoni space. We are trying to figure out how to best position us.But we have done some unofficial things with a local university about positioning them on Second Life.

Exec Access appears Wednesdays in The Record. E-mail: verdon@northjersey.com

By Abe Kasbo

Well this post has been a long time coming.  While the internet has sent the marketing communications world in one direction, it seems businesses are still looking around, wondering what to make of it and how to leverage it?  I’m not talking Coke, Sony, Pfizer, McDonald’s, AFLAC, or Fidelity.  I’m talking about businesses whose revenues may range from $5 million to let’s say a couple of billion in annual revenues, from banks, financial advisors, to small publishing houses, retail, manufacturers, and especially healthcare providers like hospitals and medical practices.  You may be thinking, “you’re joking…in this day and age?” I am very serious.

Just look around you, look online, look off line and anyone with an analytic eye (only one eye will do) can see the challenges for businesses around marketing and the web.Here’s the problem – it’s a behavior issue.  It seems that businesses who have had success with certain media tend to stay with  it regardless of the state of that media in the market place.  Staying with what works is fine, but you could be overpaying in one medium and loosing strategic opportunities in an another.  For example, we all know that newspaper advertising is down, and rates keep going up. Looking at history, we know that when radio became popular in the early 20th century, everyone called for the downfall of newspapers. Didn’t happen. TV came along, and the death of radio was loud.  Didn’t happen. And the internet is here and everyone is calling for the heads of newspapers, radio and TV. Probably – and yes I am hedging here – not going to happen. If believe that your business has been getting great results from your existing media mix, review and verify.  Look at the cost per effective impression and results.  Try to get a better gage on what your media is delivering.  Are you in a medium because that’s where most of your target audience is now?  Or are you there because you may think it makes sense because it’s worked in the past?  The old financial services statement, “past performance is not indicative of future results” applies here.  Run the numbers. 

This is not the time to put your marketing plan on cruise control, it’s too important for your competitive advantage.  We’ve got a week consumer market, a downward spiral of business to business sales and in this case, my belief is that the smartest, most strategic businesses will do OK now, and come out ahead when it’s all over.  All of this means that businesses must continuously understand the media market and it’s influence – positive or negative. Sounds fundamental, but there is so much turmoil in the media markets that is worth while taking time to understand them or engaging outside counsel with expertise…don’t hire people who are going to sell you stuff, hire a firm who will explain the current rocky media landscape and your business can best leverage it for the next 18 months.  Build your communications plan on that, and incorporate it into your marketing plan.