Mr Metz gave a great talk on Cisco's marketing strategy. This is a quick overview from the notes I took during his presentation.

He started out by expressing that he was amazed by work that we're (the nonprofit community) doing. This was in reflection that he is just becoming aware of Web 2.0.

The world of marketing is changing rapidly and becoming more of an engagement rather than trying to influence prospects with traditional marketing message. 137 million households in the US have said no to being marketed to placing themselves on no-call lists. Forester found that 6% of customers don't believe companies. 80% or tech purchasers say the found the vendor. Purchasers don't want to be marketed to.

So Cisco has tried something different--Engagment. IM on the Cisco site has proven to be more effective than traditional marketing. They have adopted the philosophy of "Don't bother people, just let them know that you are around". They will come to you. When they do, engage with them immediately.

Short informal videos have become gold. Add to that, allowing customers to write product reviews. Cisco is encouraging User Generated Content because folks listen to other users more than to Cisco itself. Finally, you can click to chat directly with Cisco reps.

Cisco has started following users on the Cisco site to target specific products to a Web user. They created an "Idea Center" for customers to give feedback on how to make products better.

These four points really cover the strategy outlined:

• Architect your site for participation, engagement interaction
• Engage anytime on any platform the customer chooses
• Ensure there is personaliztion, conversation, and collaboration
• Data + interactions=engagements