New Media
Manage Your Online Content with SilverStripe
Posted by Jason Keene in New Media, Technology, Web on October 20th, 2009
With new technologies like wave, pubsubhubbub, and rss cloud being developed and adopted the real-time web is becoming more and more a reality. If you thought Twitter was overwhelming now, imagine when there is zero delay between your status updates and your follower’s peepers. Or when you receive a push notification on your mobile the second a transaction is posted to your account. It won’t be long before the real-time experience will be expected by users and this puts a lot of pressure on content providers who would historically hide behind the technical limitations of the medium as an excuse for providing stale content.
The demand for fresh content will force everything else on the web into the background. So why is your website’s content only being updated once every three months, if that? Why is it still being maintained by the resident of your agency’s cold damp basement? Someone with the communication skills of a caveman and just so happens to refer to himself as “Web Master” or “Master of the Webiverse” in some desperate attempt to live out his He-Man fantasies, “I have the power!” This just won’t do. The time has long passed for individual businesses to take control over their own online presence, this includes your website’s content! You’d think we would be well past this by now but I’m continually surprised by how many companies I advise that don’t.
The solution, get your hands on a decent open-source CMS to manage your content such as SilverStripe, Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla, etc, or insist that the web company or agency you work with provides you with one.
Why open-source and not a proprietary or home-brewed solution?
- There are no licensing fees.
- You are not subjected to vendor lock-in. In the event you have a falling out with your web company you have the right to both your data and the underlying system since it is an open platform.
- There is a huge community of developers from all over the globe continually adding new functionality to the system, and you get the result of their labor for free.
- Any additional functionality you’d typically need is available via a plugin or module and doesn’t have to be custom developed. If you want your site to integrate with your twitter feed, no problem!
- Since the source code is available for you to view and modify you can hire any developers with the appropriate skills to add in custom functionality without worrying about licensing issues or code obfuscation.
- Did I mention there are no licensing fees?
I recently have started to adopted SilverStripe as our primary platform for managing content. It is highly extensible and provides nearly all the functionality our clients typically need. If you find yourself in the above situation and want a system like this setup to manage your website’s content, we got you covered!
Advertising: Keeping the Storm at Bay
Posted by Kelly Bosetti in Advertising, Business, Marketing, New Media, Public Relations, Social media, Web on April 21st, 2009
The biggest mistake most companies make during a financial storm is freezing all marketing dollars instead of finding a way to dance in the rain. In a recent survey conducted by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), 77 percent of marketers say they plan on reducing their advertising budgets. These budget cuts usually include every niche of marketing except web-based.
Is this the best strategy to weather through the storm? The simple answer is no. In the current economic environment building name recognition and brand loyalty is crucial to empowering consumers to buy. Maybe its time to do some flood control with our marketing efforts by investing in a multi-channel advertising approach as opposed to fishing for the cheapest bait and hoping to get some bites.
A multi-channel advertising approach is the best strategy to reach consumers. It’s important to spend money on traditional advertising like billboards, radio, television and print to drive consumers to a web site. Once a company has saturated themselves in the market than social media is a viable option to continue promoting the business and attracting new business. Social media takes time to build relationships encouraging people to check out the company’s new Facebook, blog and Twitter accounts. The Internet has made unbelievable amounts of information accessible, but it also has contributed to the information overload consumers complain about, so it’s important to provide relevant information.
Now is the time to put a strategic advertising campaign in place. With so many businesses cutting their advertising budgets, think about the market share available. Also several media outlets are running specials or have discounted rates. Consumers are eager to hang up their rain coats and begin spending during sunnier days. Already, they have begun paying closer attention to their mailboxes and inboxes looking and researching for the best deals. A successful marketing campaign does not mean you have to purchase the Rolls Royce limited edition. Smart companies are advertising with al carte options that appeal to their mission.
So before allowing the rising water to swallow up advertising dollars, think about investing in a marketing plan that will have financial survivors shopping again.
EVENTS ON A DIME
Posted by Deborah Pauley in Advertising, Events, Marketing, New Media, Social Networking on March 4th, 2009
With marketing budgets shrinking, many companies are electing to hold off on events. However, you can have a fun and effective event and keep it within your budget. Here are just a few suggestions:
1- Use social networking. By utilizing your Twitter, Facebook and other media to promote your event, it gives the recipients an opportunity to pass along the invite. Kind of like that old Clairol commercial, “I told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on, and so on…”
2- Grab your partner – Using your connections, invite your suppliers or dealers to help with the cost of food/drinks in exchange for a booth space to promote their product.
3- Use a Cause – This is great PR for any company! By showing that your company supports a local charity, the word will get out quickly. Offer space for the group and be sure to have any items they seek included in your event information. (Be sure to keep it economical)
4- A Theme is just a theme – NOT! People want to have fun now so why not promote your event with a theme. Look at the calendar or what local events are coming up and tie into those. People usually remember the fun ones for a long time!
5- Smile! – While people don’t really like have a candid camera in their face while scarfing down on an appetizer, be sure to get plenty of group shots and post them to your social networking sites. When people see the fun event their friends went to, they’ll be sure to try and make the next event you have!
The Web, Evolved (and You)
Posted by David Alexander in Advertising, Business, Marketing, New Media, Technology, Web on March 2nd, 2009
“Hello, my name is Dave.”
“Hello Dave, nice to meet you… so what do you do, anyway?”
“I work as a Web Developer over at CEA Marketing.”
“Oh, cool.”
This is inevitably followed by a blank stare. It’s at this point which I’m always torn, do I go off on some suitable explanation of “web developer”, or do I just move on. Sometimes I use the word “programmer”, which seems to give non-techies a better picture, but I try to avoid the (unfortunate) nerd stigma as often as possible. Fact is, I help make the web work, writing custom-made software that runs on the web. As you may know, the web is a network of computers that has rapidly matured into a platform for providing all kinds of services. You probably use many of them: shopping at Amazon, auctioning at eBay, checking your email on GMail or Yahoo, searching the web with Google, IMing friends or networking on Facebook, checking your bank balance and paying bills online; they’re all applications that run on the web, built by web developers.
Sun Microsystems, most prominently known for their development of Java, says “The Network is the Computer”, and it’s true. What good is your computer if the internet is out? I don’t even bother to sit down at mine if my internet service happens to be out. The web was originally built as a method of sharing textual information, a task at which it still excels, but is has grown to be far more than that. The web has advanced so much in fact, that in the near future it is even poised to replace giants like cable television, print newspaper, broadcast radio and landline telephones for a very large portion of the consumer base.
The modern web is a highly visual medium, and is fertile ground for advertising and sales. Marketing agencies and the businesses they serve have quickly embraced this new platform as an incredibly powerful, interactive, and cost effective 24/7 outlet for reaching customers. Due to its interactive nature, marketing agencies need programmers to make the web work, to make it do things besides display unchanging text and pictures.
Life moves quickly, arguably faster in technology that anywhere else. The web is at the cutting edge of this tide. It’s therefore advantageous for companies to understand and consider the possibilities of web applications when they approach a marketing company that offers them. Just like traditional software, web applications can be built to offer almost any sort of functionality you can imagine. From processing sales, tracking conversation rates, and promoting customer feedback to managing customer databases and more. Web applications are the most cost effective way of increasing efficiency for any business.
Web development is a custom-tailored solution, so be sure to include questions about development in your dialog with a marketing agency. Consider it more than just a website, more than a brochure online; it is a tool, an organism, a machine that works for your company, it has no limits as it is naturally an extension of the abilities and functions of those who create it (by way of us, that’s you!). Programming is about solving problems, so when you consider a website or web application for your business, consider the problems that you have, inefficiencies that slow you down, or abilities that you don’t yet have at all, and see if they can’t be solved with a web-based application.
Builder sells 51 homes from cutting edge, personalized, multi-channel campaign.
Posted by Kelly Bosetti in Business, New Media, Technology on February 27th, 2009
Hey Everyone,
I’ve been getting lots of calls and emails from people wondering what is working in this tough market for new home sales. Several of my clients have done very well with their campaigns by utilizing our PURL technology. I have a recent case study I would like to share with you and explain the benefits of using PURLs. In addition to the instantaneous lead follow-up and outstanding tracking capabilities, this is the highest performing cost effective marketing technique available today. I’ll be giving a webinar later next week so if you care to check it out, just click on the link below.
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/550382608
Left Brain vs. Right
Posted by Jamie Dodd in Advertising, Business, Copywriting, Marketing, New Media on February 18th, 2009
In the agency world, I’m an oddball. Many would say that I’m an oddball in general, but that’s beside the point. Ever since that first assignment in my sophomore year copywriting class at Florida Southern College, I wanted to be a copywriter. I knew I had a gift—at least people told me I did. All I dreamed about was seeing something I wrote in print or on the air. I finally got my chance when I joined the creative team at the Lipphardt Agency in Tampa.
Within a month, I had written my first national TV spot for SunJet Airlines (which shortly thereafter filed for bankruptcy—no fault of mine, I might add). Over the next four years, my fellow right brainers and I brainstormed and concepted our way to win over one hundred awards for creative excellence. We basked in our quirkiness. We celebrated our zaniness. We turned “the pit” into anything but the pits.
But then one day, all of that changed.
You see while my right brain was busy being all creative and stuff, my left brain secretly somehow had been playing its own little game. During client pitches, my left brain was paying attention to the research and the numbers and the statistics—all those things that made my right brain want to turn in to Jell-O. My left brain somehow taught itself how to connect those numbers to reason. My right lobe discovered my left lobe’s betrayal and they’ve been at war ever since.
My former creative partners insist that I have gone to the dark side.
But how can they? How can they not see the beauty in what true research tells you? Whether it’s a focus group or a mall intercept or a trend article or a fully blown-out quantitative target segment analysis or segmentation study (OMG, I’m drooling!), research tells a marketer so much. Not just about who your target is, but also about their media consumption, their interests, behavioral patterns—even the messaging that they’re most likely to respond to.
The right side of the brain, aside from tuning out all things numeric or analytic, doesn’t like that. Research brings out its defensive side, and the two sides argue.
RB: Well that takes all the creativity away.
LB: How so?
RB: I wanted to use a talking baby.
LB: The research shows that most women in our target demo expect to start a family within the next two years. Why can’t you use a baby?
RB: Well… because… because… well, it’s just not as much fun if it makes sense!
LB: Besides I think a TV spot like that would be great based on our media schedule. Our research tells us that we should be placing spots on networks like WE, Oxygen, HGTV, Food Network, Lifetime. They’ll LOVE your talking baby.
RB: Well that media plan isn’t very creative.
LB: Whattya mean?
RB: Well you didn’t really create it, did you? That ‘research’ of yours did all the work for you.
LB: I did plenty of work! I mean all those data fields didn’t cross-tabulate on their own!
RB: Ooh! Big word man!
LB: Look, why don’t we float the idea past a focus group to see if you’re on the right track?
RB: NO!
LB: Why not?
RB: Remember that last focus group when that one lady said she didn’t like the creative?
LB: Yes.
RB: I didn’t like her.
LB: Yeah, well, we ran the campaign anyway because you wouldn’t stop whining and it was a flop.
RB: When did you become… such a… such a… boobie-head?
LB: Boobie-head? Is that the best you can do, word boy?
And so on.
So anyway, when you’re trying to figure out your next campaign, take some time and do some research. It can make everything from your creative to your media planning and public relations strategies much more successful and on-target. Doing it right isn’t free—but if you take the time to work with someone who understands how to structure a research project effectively, the return on investment can be staggering.