All across the internet today websites are taking a stand against censorship. Resources such as Wikipedia, Google,  Reddit.com, and Craigslist are all blacking out  content in protest against the SOPA and PIPA  acts. Washington, DC has already begun to buckle this week towards the public outcry, but that hasn’t stopped a whole lot of people from making a voice for themselves today.

As holiday decorations in stores change and the first snowfall passes, I can’t help but think about the busiest retail season of the year that is right around the corner.  As an email marketer, this means increased frequency, and a higher tolerance to frequency from your subscribers, as well as promotions kicking into high gear.  However, as an email recipient, the next few months represent the most clutter I get from brands all year long!

I’ve put together my top 6 tips to hold your holiday (and all campaigns in general) together as you finalize your messaging and creative and start sending messages.

1. Reinforce that you know me and get personal. – Use the profile information you gather and personalize your messages to me.  Include my name, information about store hours or shipping windows based on my location, reference prior purchases and cross-sell relevant items to complement what I already own.

2. Understand my buying patterns and deliver timely and relevant messages that match up to them. – If you analyze your data and apply some common sense and a little marketing savvy then it will be easy to segment your subscribers and understand where each group is in the bigger picture.  Let’s simplify this: I bought a warm winter coat within the last year (that should last longer than that.)  This tells you that I need warmth but probably won’t want the same kind of coat.  How do you then sell me winter wear when you have great deals? Market a coat in a different category to me (dress, sport, or something I don’t own), Market other winter items to me – gloves, pants, shoes, etc. if they’re part of your offering.  ** The big key here is don’t tell me that the item I bought last year is now cheaper or technology is significantly lagging because you’ll just frustrate me!

3. Give me something exclusive for being a subscriber: value, content, discounts, etc. – Be unique and tie the exclusive content in your email to the action you want me to take (see below.) Don’t have a 20% off coupon in print, social media, email, and on my website.  If I don’t get anything special why would I remain a subscriber when there are much more passive ways I can get the same deal.

4. Make me want to open your email and load images with interesting visual design that renders well on my client. – Understand if I’m more likely to read my email on my smart phone, tablet, or computer and design so it looks the absolute best there and be different. Imagine what kind of success you could have if your email was personal, focused, and not cluttered!

5. Share similar peoples comments and feedback that are like me (because I trust them more than you)  – Pull in feedback on related items from other channels (social, reviews) into your creative.  This is a great way to let your customers be your voice and also grow following and participation in other channels.  It also makes the copy more interesting if it’s from a “regular” person.

6. Inspire me to take action and reward me for it! – Use a clear call to action (never more than two though, especially this time of year), make it easy for me to convert, pre-fill my information, and reinforce the fact that you know how I got into your conversion funnel and reward me as I move through the steps (hopefully 3-4 max).

You may think that it’s too late to implement these steps into your holiday campaigns but as with everything there are varying levels of implementation so start somewhere and pull out a test segment. Let performance guide you to continual optimization and really solid insights move your campaigns into 2012 as you are planning that email marketing strategy and calendar.

Recently, I had the pleasure to attend the ExactTarget Connections 2011 Conference in Indianapolis, IN.  One of the sessions I attended was for insights on designing email marketing to be actionable.  I learned a few ways to get subscribers to engage more with email marketing rather than just read it.

What’s in a number? If we’re talking about a bank account then quite a bit. But when it comes to email marketing, there are a lot of differing opinions. Some might say that the sheer size of the subscriber list is the driving force behind a successful campaign. The more subscribers they have, the better the campaign. I’m sure this has worked for many companies at one point but now it’s really time to rethink the shotgun email approach because frankly, I can’t take it anymore.  Recently I attended ExactTarget’s email marketing conference, Connections 2011, and the theme for this year’s event was “The Power of One.” One thought, one action, one individual. If each has the power to change the world just think about what it means to your company. It’s no longer acceptable to market to the masses with one message.
 

• Segmentation and Relevancy: Your customers are unique and the interests of one may not be the same as the interest of another. When you group your subscribers based on similar traits and characteristics, your message becomes more relevant. A relevant message will keep them coming back to their inbox again and again. One thing to remember is that what someone tells you they’re interested in may be very different from what they’re actually interested in. You’ll have to find the right balance between quantitative and qualitative analysis and optimize on an ongoing basis. Subscribers will never stay in the same segment forever so you have to be agile and keep up with their ever changing demands and give them what they want. 

• Trim the Fat: There could be many different reasons why people suddenly stop opening your emails. Maybe their interest has changed and your message no longer pertains to them, or maybe they’re just not that into you anymore. Whatever the reason, try to target them with a re-opt in campaign before you let them go. Give them the opportunity to tell you why they’ve been so distant lately. It could be hard to accept but if they unsubscribe, they’re no longer a liability to your reputation. If they’re still not responding then it’s time to let them go.  Update their status to “unsubscribed” and call it a day. Stay focused on those that really want to engage with your company because that’s where you’ll see the most return on your investment. 

Last week I attended a great interactive marketing conference in Indianapolis (and yes, got a side dish of Katy Perry while there!) Of all the things I learned about unified marketing, one of the most interesting sessions I attended was about Email Design in the Mobile Inbox Age.  The presenter was Chris Studabaker from ExactTarget.

The Definition 6 team at the Katy Perry concert from ExactTarget Connections 2011.

Chris answered the question “What is mobile email?” with the following explanation: Email + mobile.

So, you've been downsized or made redundant. But you're certainly not ready to throw in the towel.

You've been paid lots of money over the years by some big company where you learned and refined the exact skills they needed you to have in order to make their business work.

Now it's your turn to do it for yourself. But where do you start? You've always had the company to give you business cards, cell phones, laptops, desktops, probably an office or a cubicle, and maybe an assistant and an expense account.

Now it's all gone!

But it's really not if you know what to do.

The most important thing to remember is...Your Name is your Brand!

Your skills are still there and your experience has taught you how to hone them.

Here are 5 practical starting points to get your personal brand going.

1.  Register yourself as a company or a partnership (first name last name company) This is easy to do, but you may have to wait in line at City Hall for a while.

2. Get your own URL. (You can lock that down at any number of place like name.com. Own your name if you can with your first name & last name.com (joeschmoe.com). Make a basic web page (you can do that a places like use.com).  Make it simple and use your new URL as the title (JoeSchmoe.com)

3.Get your own e-Mail address appropriate to your URL. firstname@firstnamelastname.com (you can do this for your business at google Apps) (Joe@joeschmoe.com)

4.  Print business cards that are very simple. Your name, your URL, your e-mail address, and your mobile phone number

5.  Start a Facebook fan page and a Twitter Page for your company. Show links to them on your website. Make a Linkedin page and get someone to do a Wikipedia page for you.

After you have populated your sites and pages with your expertise, experiences and some examples of your work (make sure you use video), get out there and network.  

Hand out your cards, talk up what you can do for a potential client.  Get their card....and then...Follow-Up.

A great example of personal branding is the recent campaign by Matt Epstein called "Google Please Hire Me" where he created a website and a video all focused on landing a job at Google.  He even worked his personal brand into the URL playing up the double entendre of "ME" to reference his initials.



TalentZoo also released an article last week entitled, "10 Strategies to Reinvent Your Personal Brand" which outlines many of the topics I touched on above.  In fact, it even further discusses ways in which you can improve your personal brand by being a catalyst or being a source of great knowledge.  In this day and age, you need to market yourself even more to differentiate yourself from the ever-growing talent pool.

Of course you need a strategy and you must understand how to use all of these tactics...but you've got to start somewhere.

Now let's get this party started.

Apparently Zappos is striping down for its new marketing campaign... and we mean all the way down. In an effort to raise awareness of their expanded product offering beyond just shoes, their new ads feature people just wearing, shoes. That's it. The ads feature naked models jogging, riding a scooter, hailing a cab and playing Frisbee in public. In a recent New York Times article, Ryan Holiday, the director of online marketing at American Apparel, who has gotten in trouble before for racy ads, had a good take on what Zappos is doing. He asked, “Are they doing it because they want to get attention from blogs and Web sites that will write about it or are they doing it because it’s the ad campaign that speaks most truly to who they are and what they want to sell?” What do you think? Do you like the naked Zappos ads? Does "sex sell"? Please leave a comment below.

The phrase "the more things change, the more they stay the same" has been on my mind lately. Computers have become such a part of our lives that we can’t imagine life without them. Just a few years ago it wasn’t uncommon to hear that Blackberrys called "Crack-berrys," referring to the addictive nature of having email readily accessible. Today we even have a thing called "Computer Addiction" that people can get treatment for.  The children coming of age in this era they are the most informational connected generation we have seen.  Considering the architecture changes, the changing expectations, and rate of adoption the future definitely has a more interactive and mobile look to it from a computing perspective.

I recently read where mobile devices have outsold traditional computers for the first time in the 4^th quarter of 2010. Apple has been reporting sales growth while companies like Microsoft, Intel, and other companies are reporting lower than expected returns for the same period. With certain product releases coming in 2011 the anticipation is the sales trend will only continue to grow the gap.  As we see the sales trends change and more companies trying to capitalize we look to anticipate its direction and build products viable for today’s market and tomorrows.

To anticipate the direction we can start by focusing on a brief history of the mobile devices. Consider that Microsoft was an early player in this market. Compaq iPaq’s, HP Jornada’s, and others were touted as Pocket PC’s. Toshiba had one of the first tablet PC’s I remember. It even had a built in camera but the unit was very heavy. Microsoft envisioned "smart devices" and for a while had produced marketing as such. I remember they envisioned the device could be replaced and your configuration auto-magically restored. They had great vision and they dominated the early market. But while they were an early endorser and participant in the mobile field a couple of miss-steps and lack of innovation later they were behind.

It’s arguable that widespread adoption started to change with the acceptance of the Blackberry. Users were getting email connecting in ways they really hadn’t before. It wasn’t long before next up were the expectation to be able to review attachments to email. Having the internet on a mobile device wasn’t far behind that and the expectations began to speed up.  Why? because the adoption rate improved. Users saw immediate value in the functionality of these devices. But devices had different purposes. Blackberry’s did email while pocket pc’s handled calendars and other basic functionality.  I remember at one point having so many devices I felt like a techno-nerd version of Batman. While this was going on Apple envisioned the iPhone. Apple developed the iPhone in quiet and when they released it changed the market.  The change was significant enough that the carrier they worked with to support the device was overwhelmed for a time with new customers. It seemed like overnight they met and exceeded user expectations, and made a giant leap forward. Others began to follow the trend.  

User interface expectations are certainly being affected by changing expectations. How long did companies toy with keyboards until the iPhone changed the game with the popularity of its touch interface? A touch interface for a mobile phone had not been accepted until then.  Apple tried to compensate for users comfort by adding "clicking" sounds to the iPhone. But the hardware wasn’t the only innovative aspect. They innovated software are delivery as well.

The layout of the Apps wasn’t entirely new. Icon short cuts on a desktop have been around in the Mac and Windows worlds for years but the operation or implementation around the apps was. Users were able to use the devices to quickly check what they deemed the most important things.   Another expectation is the speed that these devices are expected to operate at. Long load times are not acceptable.  In addition to load times connectivity has become a key factor as well, a key contributor to the onslaught of the battling ‘G’ advertisements and related devices.  

Delivery handled through iTunes and working directly with the Apple company remains the only way to deploy applications. With the combination of hardware, software and deployment the entire platform was innovative and users liked it.

With a great rate of adoption and renewed interest in the market other players have been working to be more competitive in this market. For example, the Droid and Microsoft’s Metro concepts are two emerging or re-emerging market competitors.  With all the various players history in some ways begins to repeat itself. As they have gained more market share and their sales increased as well technical complexities re-emerge.

We still have a familiar challenge though, remember the old Mac vs PC days? Well we are there with mobile. We see different operating systems, different carriers, lack of interoperability and different devices. Consider that Adobe’s flash won’t run on iPhones. These types of complexity have a strong feeling of déjà vu for some of us. Only now we have added the extra complexity of Different networks carry different devices and different operating systems.

The innovations in both the hardware and software will continue in the space Apple has defined for a while. We are also seeing a repeat of some of the same hardware and operating system issues that have plagued IT for years.  What is different is that the adoption rate is continuing to grow. Watching over the last several months I see more executives and other carrying tablet PCs to meetings instead of the traditional notepad.  

Innovative development on the mobile platform will remain costly in some respects. Developing for multiple operating systems and different devices presents many challenges. What’s different today is that there is more of a drive than in years past to build these solutions. There are and will be tools that enable development for devices as well as across multiple platforms. However, those tools will have limitations and it will be a challenge to truly innovate through them. While working in the native system means developing different code for the same app to work on the different systems. Architecting a solution in mobile has to take into account the various considerations. Companies have to decide if they want the expense of creating an innovative app for the mobile platform or just have an app for the platform. This has a significant cost difference especially if the app has to be deployed to multiple devices.  

As customers decide their goals and directions in the mobile space it will be important for architects to use the tools available to them. The use of design patterns and object oriented techniques will be of paramount importance going forward for the software side of solution.  Creating a scalable solution for the growing functionality needs of mobile users will be critical. Considering that the hardware of the PC has evolved at a much slower pace scalability will have additional challenges in the mobile platform.

Creating a scalable solution is more challenging with the frequent release of devices and the secrecy surrounding them. Many of the tools on a mobile device have been tools available on a traditional PC. Going forward the hardware is starting to move into truly new areas.  For example, talk of the iPhone 5 and the capability of it having Near Field Communication capabilities have been going on for months. Talk has already started about functionality of the iPhone 6. Architects will be able to help customers prepare for not only the next deployment but the one after that.

The mobile environment is a market that companies cannot continue to avoid as it has passed the tipping point of adoption. But those same companies have to realize where mobile is in it maturity. Companies will not be able to build an app, deploy it, and then forget it. These apps are living in an every changing world and will need maintenance to continue operating effectively.  The architectures supporting the apps and contained within the apps must be able to scale to meet these needs.

The mobile environment is changing frequently and stepping forward in leaps we haven’t seen in a while. Developing solutions for customers means considering all the factors and leading them to understand the environment. Bobby Knight is probably as polarizing a figure in college basketball as there is. For all the negative about him later in his career, he is regarded as a great teacher of the game. It’s one of those lessons that really apply here. He said, I am paraphrasing, "we have to focus, by focusing it allows us to notice trends, recognizing trends allows us to anticipate, and that leads to action."

 

Has something like this ever happened to you?

"Imagine waking up and hearing an ad on TV for a $.99 Chicken Strip Meal, then checking your iPhone on the way to grab some coffee and seeing an e-mail for a $.99 Chicken Strip Meal. Then, when you fire up Pandora for your workout, you hear ads for a $.99 Chicken Strip Meal, while on your Yahoo! mail, you are served a banner ad for a $.99 Chicken Strip Meal, and then on the subway, signage for a $.99 Chicken Strip Meal, and on the billboard outside your office, and in online video ads, and then, as you check-in into the Shake Shack – Bam! You get a Foursquare Deal Near-By with - you guessed it - a $.99 Chicken Strip Meal."

For years this integrated marketing approach of delivering the same message across multiple platforms was considered a best practice, however in the "always on" device-driven world we live in today, consumers tend to respond better to advertising that is tailored to the platform and recipient - in essence, delivering a unified experience versus a consistent message.

To learn more about my thoughts on unified marketing, visit my recent post on MediaBizBloggers.
 

A few times per month an email called “Know New Ideas” with some of the top news stories that have captured our attention over the past few weeks gets circulated around Definition 6. The stories (no matter what they are or where they come from) make us ponder, somehow inspire us, or perhaps make us wince.  These are some of the stories that piqued our attention in the latter half of January.

Industry:

This is about a year old, but may be new to some.  If you haven’t seen the Logorama movie by H5, it’s worth a watch.  Check it out here.  Apparently it took six years to make.  Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics.

Hello Ladies... CBS News apparently finds Isaiah Mustafa’s return to TV newsworthy.  Do you?

The New York Times on why claiming “taste” is best for the Crunchy Nut brand.

No Right Brain Left Behind...who wants to participate?

Technology:

Engadget on Kristian Ulrich Larsen’s reimagining of the touch screen phone. In the meantime, John's Phone also made us think, there's not a whole lot of mobile marketing applications here.

Mashable on the changing face of word of mouth marketing. Wasn’t that what made WOM so great, the actual lack of brand presence?

Culture:

The New Yorker as inspiration to write incredibly deep target audience descriptions.

The Village Voice demonstrates how, once again, nobody can give nick names like Italian mobsters.

Daily Dawdle with 10 examples of brilliant shadow art.  Shadows as media...hmmm?

You can follow @ChrisWojda on Twitter.

Conversations are happening at record pace all around us across all channels. How do you determine which conversations to listen to? When should you pay attention? How should you respond? How can you start your own?

As a unified marketer, the art of establishing the framework to allow customers, prospects, and employees to have a conversation about your brand is increasingly challenging. When successful, the rewards can be great for all parties involved. So the question is, how do you fuel the conversation?

Here are a few core items to get you started: Stop thinking single media.

People don’t consume messages in a single channel anymore. A personal example of the number of media I consumed (several simultaneously) this morning. On the way to the airport, I was listening to the radio, viewing billboards, reading personal and work email, texting, checking in on 4Square, and checking my Facebook newsfeed.  If I stop and break down my goals by channel, what were my goals? This is what I have to understand as a marketer in order to deliver the right message at the right time.

• Radio: Morning traffic/weather updates enroute to airport (How late was my flight or I going to be??)

• Outdoor: Boredom in the traffic I was hearing about on the radio and sitting in on the interstate

• Personal Email: Plans with friends for the week and planning Halloween activities for the coming weekend

• Work Email: Trying to stay on top of the normal Monday flurry of emails as clients are back in the office so that I wouldn’t be too far behind after a few hours of ‘being unconected’

• Texting: Normal conversations with my inner most circle of friends

• 4Square: Seeing who else was at the airport? Any specials that look good? Getting those early week points on the leaderboard (and trying to earn my Mile High Badge in-flight).

• Facebook: Sharing frustrations about flight delays and seeing what the larger group of virtual friends have been up to since 11:30 last night

The reality is that I was open to receive marketing message during very few of these activities but I was absorbing brands every step of the way.

If you don’t know your target intimately you will be hard pressed to truly engage them.

A unified approach to messaging is essential!

Quit Talking To Me

I don’t trust you and I’m going to ignore what you have to say about your own brand. As a consumer, all I want you to do is have the best product or service possible and allow me to find the information I want, when I want it EASILY.

Let your customers tell me about what you do and why it’s superior.  I will automatically trust them more even if I don’t have a relationship with them because I see them being infinitely more genuine and unbiased.

As a brand, provide the framework for me to silently observe the conversation, obtain facts, and choose if I want to hear from you.

Be Different and Human

The one thing I consistently feel like I’m not getting enough of is human connection. 90% of the time I become loyal to a brand because of its personality or the connection I have and I guarantee you I’m not alone.  Brands are humanized differently based on the channel they are speaking in but the persona must be consistent to reach me, get my attention, and keep delivering.

All of this being said, here are the key takeaways to achieve success in my opinion:

If you’re a marketer – quit planning by channel.  Decide which conversations you want to fuel, where they occur, and build the framework:

• If you’re a brand – know your customers and who you want to be your customers.  You have to go way beyond demographics in today’s world – you need to get intimate. Pull it all together, Behavioural, Psychographic, Attitudinal. Put a name and face on these personas – it will help.  Secondly, if your product or service sucks, fix it!  You can’t afford to waste any more time.

• If you're a consumer – keep expressing your opinion and thoughts. Good, bad, confused, etc., because your peers care what you have to say. And you (collectively) continue to shape the world I work in and we all live in.  The conversation I’m trying to fuel comes from you (and it makes work challenging and fun)!

These are my thoughts on fueling the conversation. As you begin migrating to a unified marketing approach, the conversation becomes more critical to building experiences that unite brands and people.

What do you think?

(Image Credit: Pratts Fuel by conorwithonen)

I woke up this morning to a pretty interesting e-mail that was sent to me by way of my Google profile from someone named David Anderson:

I am making a blog for an online writing class I'm taking through UF, and for a module on search techniques I needed to find a non-mainstream website about my topic (sports bars).  I found your old site, the East Lansing Bar Review, and I loved it so I've written my post for this assignment about it.  I've only made five posts so far, but here is a link anyway: http://sportsbarjunkie.blogspot.com/

This is really crazy in so many ways. The site he is referring to is something I created back around 1995. I was attending Michigan State University and worked part-time in the MSU Network Center to make some extra cash. My official title there was Mainframe Consultant and mostly I helped professors and students to use things like Gopher, Banyan VINES, FTP, configure dial-up PPP access, and learn how to use our Unix-based ELM e-mail client. This was a time when most corporations hadn’t even heard of the web, it had fledgling use by Universities, it was being referred to as a fad, and I had just helped to get Michigan State’s own first web sites up.

I wanted to play around more with this new-fangled world wide web so using a vi editor in Unix, working in HTML 1.0 and armed with a copy of the predominant browser of the time NCSA Mosaic, I decided to create a site that offered a personal review of all the local bars and pubs in the East Lansing, Michigan area. I had a lot of fun creating the site. I had even more fun doing the critical research required to provide the reviews. But it really was bare bones ugly, used hand coded tables, some basic formatting tags, and the most advanced thing it included (which was hot at the time) was an image map that used a monstrosity I created with a copy of Photoshop 1.0.

But so it was born: the East Lansing Bar Review. For a couple of years I kept updating it and occasionally I got really interesting feedback or comments. It even got me a few free beers from local bar owners. When I left MSU my younger brother Mike took over the site and moved it (all 4 or 5 HTML files and all 5-6 images) from my student web account to his. He kept it updated for a couple of more years before he graduated. A couple of years later we got tired of being contacted about it from people asking for updates so Mike posted a note on the site explaining this and since then it’s gathered electronic dust but apparently it’s still there.

15 years from when I created the site, I’m now the CTO of Definition 6 where we create massive high-end brand experiences that include transactional sites with extensive back-end systems integration, hundreds of thousands of pages of content in enterprise-class Content Management Systems, on-line video experiences, mobile web sites, mobile applications and more in addition to spending a ton of time doing Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, On-line Display Media, and Analytics.

In an effort for this blog post to have a point and not just be nostalgic rambling or reflection on how far we’ve come in terms of the web and on-line advancements, what really stands out to me is considering how high this site shows up in results for major search engines. If you search for East Lansing Bars it still comes up as one of the top several results on Google. And if you search as David describes he did in his blog post it’s number one. Keep in mind the site was originally written and posted before Google even existed and at a time when Yahoo! had just come onto the scene as a start-up. The very concept of organic search engine optimization didn’t even really exist let alone was it the means of livelihood for the legions of people that practice its art today. I’m sure there are some things to be said for how today’s algorithms treat a site with such a long tenure favorably as well as the tenure of links to that site. And I’m all but certain that the same site published today would not be treated so favorably. But it is probably worth noting that a site hosted at relatively bad URL by today’s SEO standards with no meta-data, no thought to Information Architecture, and bad file naming practices still shows up high for certain not uncommon searches when the content was meaningfully written and relevant to the subject matter of interest. I’ll leave the rest of the analysis to the real SEO experts out there (and my apologies to our Creative Department for even publishing a link to this relic of a site on our blog).

Thanks, David, for the trip down memory lane and for giving me some interesting things to think about this morning.

While moderating a panel on “New Media” (I hate that phrase btw) at the Williamsburg Film Festival (Willifest) earlier this month, one of the panelists, Larry Banks, Chairman of Film/Media Arts Department at Long Island University, said “Context, not content, is king.”



Context? Hasn't content always been king? What happened?

Is Dr. Banks the only person to identify this shift? No, he’s not. Let’s take a look at what some notable people in the industry are saying about content versus context:

• In a recent NY Post article (the real paper of record in this town), Scott Kessler, Tech Analyst for Standard & Poor’s said about the music industry, “Companies are focusing more on user experience and distribution rather than content itself, and that is an overarching theme, it’s probably not something compelling for content providers.” Ya think?

• Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, guest writer for “TechCrunch” said, “The context—Facebook, Twitter, email—in which people are introduced to media and consume it is becoming more important than the content itself.”  As this chart shows, 81% of discovered video content comes from the blogs that people arguably already visit.

• “Context makes content relevant,” says Jeff Korhan of the blog NEW MEDIA & SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING. “If I give you information that is valuable, you will appreciate it, but possibly never use it.  If I help you appreciate the value of that information by showing you how it works for me or someone like you, then the context makes it invaluable.”

Alrighty then! These folks have a definite point of view. It’s about relevance, placement and a set of circumstances that surrounds the content. But I have a different take on it.

On TV context can help spell success. News, sports and specials have built in context. Comedy can be topical and relevant (From “Cosby" and "Seinfeld” in the 80’s and 90’s, to the more recent “Modern Family.”). Dramas can show real “ripped from the headlines” relevance with programs like “Law & Order.”

In advertising, both traditional and non-traditional, context is very important. That’s what targeting is all about.

Film is experience-oriented, but context is always at play in any given compelling scene. But after a movie plays out in a theater, viewing trends show that on line viewing is often the place for the following runs. Now there is a second layer of context…the place you go to when you want another experience and the way-in is more-and-more, an App. That is a condition that is relevant to the event.

Whether you’re listening to talk radio in your car, reading a billboard in Times Square, looking at a blog that takes you to a piece of video, watching the “Today” show in the morning or “Letterman” at night, you are doing so in “context,”

But at the end of the day (I hate that phrase too), there is no reason to engage with any content regardless of the context if the storytelling isn’t strong.

So what does that say?

Maybe content, not context, is king!

As the CMO of a unified marketing agency, I attend a lot of marketing conferences (more than you would believe). You get to a point with marketing conferences where they all start to look the same - and it takes a lot to surprise me. I was surprised twice last week.

First, I attended the best marketing conference I've ever been to... and it was in Indianapolis. Second, it was hosted by a software company. The ExactTarget User Conference, Connections 2010, was an outstanding educational, inspirational and impressive experience. I was blown away.

Then again, it's hard not to be moved when you have conference speakers like Sir Richard Branson. He is an amazing guy. He really believes he cannot fail at anything - and therefore rarely does. He spoke of commercial flights to space NEXT YEAR on Virigin Galactic. 

I mean, I still am impressed I can to the Internet when I am on a plane.  He also gets it.  My favorite quote was “Conversations can change the world, one person at a time, one moment at a time.” Branson has built his success by bringing the right message at the right time to the right people. Which is fascinating, because historically brands have felt consistency and repetition were keys to success. But Virgin’s founder has built a brand based on collective and dimensional experiences.

There were several other fascinating speakers who contributed as well…Andy Sernovitz, author of “Word of Mouth Marketing  was spot on in his thinking when he said, “Advertising is the cost of being boring ” - and that earned media was gained by creating things worth talking about. Jeffrey Hayzlett, former CMO of Kodak, is always entertaining and did great on his panel. 

From an educational standpoint, the guys from ExactTarget did great showing us not only where they are taking the platform as a centralized location to manage the conversation, but also backed it up with some wonderful research on email and social media…reminding us yet again, that social media only increases emails importance vs. kills it. 

I also enjoyed some great insight from Michael Donnelly of The Coca-Cola Company (disclaimer: they're a client). He reminded us of the power of Metcalfe’s Law: “Fans aren’t necessarily there to share with us, fans are there to share with each other.” He also made it evidently clear to one audience member that you should not misquote him on Twitter. 

Overall, Connections 2010 did a great job of really demonstrating this brave new world of marketing…one defined not just by the message, but the intersection of message, context, and persona.  Conversations with your customers are what matter.  Real-time relationships are how you move the bottom line.  Are you ready to change your approach?  Your customers are moving with or without you.  In the immortal words of Richard Branson, “Screw it…let’s just do it.”

How does Definition 6 create stronger banner ads? We start by thinking smart. We use a compelling design and target smart placement - these are the two important things that we need to make banner advertisement succeed.

For quite some time, banner advertisements have been getting bad reviews because online marketers have shifted to pay-per-click strategies and other seemingly more attractive, higher return methods of increasing web traffic and sales.
Marketers and advertisers alike have been griping about how frustrated users tend to ignore all their marketing efforts completely. Searching for the close button on the banners as soon as they show up.

Thanks to the advancement of technology, the problems about loading and viewing ads have all but disappeared while new targeting technology is now within reach. The flexibility that PPC programs along with the brand of recognition building and the power of attention has been grabbing visual display recently.

If you are looking for some strategies on how to create and place your banner ads in strategic places that will help you save time and money as you build your brand and grow your business, here is a short list to cut your quest short. Here are some of the most effective ways that you can use to make your banner ads a sure win.

• Design customized banner advertisements for every website: If all your banner ads on all the websites that you put them on seem too identitcal, they will not stand out and will simply blend in to the background. You need differentiation in your media mix to catch a visitor's attention. If your design is too distracting or too loud, it will encourage a careless attitude from the viewer.
   
• Make sure that the colors, images and fonts are consistent - your designs should complement your site to maintain a consistent brand impression through the action. You don't need a flashy banner ad to make an impression - but sometimes rich media can be more effective for engagement.
   
• Make use of compelling designs and texts - Banner copywriting is actually a very daunting and time consuming task. Since it involves putting an entire company message into a few words or one very short sentence that will oblige the viewers to click, you should make sure that you choose the images carefully in such a way that they will be a logical match to the copy as much as possible.

Finding the optimal banner ad strategy for your campaign varies for each client. To learn more about media strategy and execution and how you can leverage it as part of your unified marketing strategy, please contact us.

You’ve probably heard about location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla, but have you tried Pegshot yet? Instead of answering the question “Where are you?”, Pegshot tells your friends “What’s happening where you are?” by enabling users to quickly share videos and photos with their social networks.  The application allows users to “peg” a shot from their location and post it to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, Digg and Posterous in real-time.  

There are many ways in which brands can take advantage of Pegshot to increase awareness and engagement with their organization. Pegshot is especially well-suited for promoting events as it facilitates quick and easy sharing of photos and videos in real-time, allowing immediate visibility on the social web.  This means your audience can interact with your events while they are happening even if they cannot be there. 

Real-time sharing also increases pass along rates since, attendees are usually active on social networks at events and can quickly view your content and re-tweet it, “Like” or comment on it.  Not only can content be published on your social media accounts, but Pegshot even allows you to post photos and videos directly to your company’s website.  In most cases, companies allow only their employees to publish content to their website to ensure that all material is appropriate.   

To take advantage of Pegshot at your next event, follow these easy steps:

1. Create your event.

Add your event by filling out the details of your event including the name, date, your Twitter hashtag, and location.  Your event will appear on any user’s mobile device in the surrounding area.

2.  Create a branded landing page for your event.

You can create a custom branded landing page for you event or choose your Twitter background.




3. Promote your event and add contributors.

Pegshot offers a custom registration page so you can collect as many contributors as possible. You can use this custom landing page to promote your event across social networks as well as your website, email and print marketing initiatives. 






4. Capture your event as it’s happening. 

Now you’re ready to begin pegging photos and videos of your event in real-time.  Your contributors as well as any Pegshot users in the vicinity can share content of your event which will be displayed on your custom landing page in addition to social networks and your website (if permission is granted.)


 

What do you want? Those of you that are CMOs, Brand Managers, VPs of Advertising or Marketing, what do you really want?
 
Whenever and wherever this question is asked, the answer is always the same: Results! You want results and you want them now (it’s the same thing you wanted yesterday, and the same thing you’ll want tomorrow).

If you are in the agency business, you should never lose sight of this basic marketing need. If you are in-house and spend your money on advertising and marketing, I hope this helps you think about how to find people who can improve those results faster.
 
This topic has been on my mind since I got together with a group of marketing professionals earlier this month. We started off talking about how to produce ROI reports for their CFOs and finance counter parts. Ultimately, what everyone really wants to see is results.

How you define results and what value they deliver for your business may vary, but here are some sample measurements based on our discussion:

•    Brand health metrics
•    Units Sold
•    Leads Generated
•    Awareness and Recall levels
•    ROAS
•    E-mail marketing conversion
•    Increased Foot Traffic
 
How can agencies produce results more consistently when results are so varied by each client? Here are six suggestions for ways I think agencies can be prepared to provide a variety of results for a variety of clients and also for the same customer who has evolving needs over a long period of time.

1.    Understand your client's business. If you are not as much a management consultant as an ad person, then I think you will fail in the future. Today's marketing and advertising challenges, impact customer service, public relations, product develop & procurement as well as IT, finance and channel relations. Now, they always have, but now that the world is digitized and visibility is possible; the demand to work on more than just demand is higher.

2.    Understand customer behavior. One of the things I think Agency can do better than most client-side marketers is getting to know the end customer and the customers along the way.  We can and should provide outsider insight into the purchase drivers that lead consumers or businesses to buy from clients. By being involved in the insight business, we can help our customers produce the results they need.

3.    Be more social. So much has been said about this over the last 18 months, so I'll share why I think agencies need to become more social. We are in the business of communications and in connecting companies and customers. The landscape has evolved where the cost of distributing messages is virtually zero and the demand for connection is 100%.  When demand is this high and the cost is so low, there is an unlimited amount of success you can have for you and your customers if you tap into this skill set.

4.    Learn math and how to analyze data. I became a Speech Communications major because it had no math requirement. I bet a lot of people who are in our field did the same thing, I know it.  Math has never been a problem for me, I just didn't care to do any more formulas or equations. Then I got into advertising, and as I did Nielsen store data, GRPs, category management, research, coupon redemption and media plans, it became clear that math was going to be a big part of my life. When I started our Integrated Interactive Agency in the 90s it become clear that math, engineering and analysis would be at the center of much of what we would do to help clients. A strong analytics capability and good math people, programmers, engineers and analysts are essential if you are serious about producing results and proving those results.

5.    Learn how to produce.  Content, code, sounds, event. From branding to social, to broadcast to micro-cast. From visual to technical, and in-home to the 6th screen. A good partner doesn't outsource the doing to sub-contractors, it is no longer acceptable to do the boards, the concept, the design, the plan and then hand it off. In these days and times, buyers expect ongoing interactions and learned messaging overtime. The mediums must be an integrated seamless experience or you will lose sales and revenue for your clients. That is not the result they want.

6.    Ask your clients what they need to thrive. So I end with this, what do you need to thrive in your current marketing and advertising role? We are listening……….
 

While the race for ‘ownership’ of the LBS market (Location Based Services) rages on, and naysayers’ debate its viability, I am sold on the concept.

If you are not familiar, LBS are the latest craze in the ever growing social media marketing landscape.  The general principle is that an end user uses their smart phone and its GPS abilities to ‘check in’ to their current location. 

Like its social media older cousins Facebook and Twitter, there are many out there that think this is just a passing phenomena - a game if you will.  Like Facebook and its now 400 million plus users, and Twitter and it’s large following I believe in the LBS strategy.  Out of the pack has emerged two ‘major’ players in the field, FourSquare and Gowalla.  Google, Facebook, Yahoo! and even Apple are also looking at entering the playing field but I believe they will have to make an acquisition to truly play. 

Along with the hype of these types of services there is also a lot of criticism.  Since I am a ‘fan’ and a user I might be a bit jaded but I think I can at least address the critics; here are the gripes I have heard, some legit, some just silly:

1. If you tell everyone where you are then you are leaving your house open to be robbed.  I originally thought that this was a ‘non-issue’ I have to admit but after a conversation with people smarter than I over drinks I have amended my opinion.  This is one that you DO have to pay attention to.  Use common sense, if you are ‘checking in’ on vacation, turn off the setting that posts to Facebook and Twitter, so ONLY your friends on that LBS Tool of your choice get it.  Second, and this goes whether you use and LBS or not, CHECK YOUR PRIVACY SETTINGS IN FACEBOOK!  Facebook has gone through a number of changes and many people have forgotten to go into their settings and make sure they have the level of privacy that they want.  For me, I only want FRIENDS seeing information; others may have different standards and that’s cool, just make sure you are comfortable with yours.  As for Twitter, you can ‘protect your tweets’ as well so only your followers can see them.

2. You can get stalked by a crazy ex and have to deal with all that.  True, but is that really a concern?  If it was, you wouldn’t be on FB, Twitter or LinkedIn.  Can it be a problem?  Sure.  However, you don’t have to tell EVERYONE where you are.  Your standard LBS lets you self select who the information goes to.  Side note – crazy ex probably knows all your haunts and when you like to be there anyway…

3. Why would you want to be doing free marketing/advertising for a place or a brand?  Are we seriously talking about this one in 2010?  Look down at your feet people (go ahead, I’ll wait) --- is that a ‘swoosh’?  Did NIKE pay you to wear their shoes or did you drop $100+?  How about that laptop I carry around?  You know the really sleek, chrome looking thing with the fruit in the middle very well lit?  Let’s face it people, WE have become walking billboards!  Take the silly Ed Hardy T-shirts (yes, I am just over 40 and don’t get it).  You have people clamoring to be seen in an Ed Hardy, and what is besides some crazy print with the biggest part of it being his SIGNATURE!!!  I’ll talk more about personal brands in another blog.So there are some of the negatives, which may be legitimate, but aren’t exactly deal breakers.

What are the positives you might ask?

1. It’s fun and it’s social.  One of my favorite shows as a kid was CHEERS, the bar where everyone knows your name.  Basically, with a tool like FourSquare you can become your own walking CHEERS.  Check in at a friendly place and the bartender says, “Welcome, how about a beer Mr. Peterson”, OR how about you get to a place that is running an amazing special, you could take the time and call or your friends, or break your fingers and text them OR check in with an LBS, type in a comment, it automatically gets to everyone through whatever social tools you are using and who knows what can happen when everyone shows up.  Simply put, in its most elemental form, it’s a way to extend the party.

2. As I have heard from Social Media Guru, Gary Vaynerchuck, “why would someone check in at a bar?”  Give’em a free beer and watch them check in all day!  What a cool way to earn stuff and allow a small business truly establish a win-win customer loyalty program.  At one of the Whole Foods in Austin, TX you get a very valuable coupon on your 5th visit.  What does this do?  It drives loyalty, rewards it, makes it fun and even mysterious…what will I get on my 10th check in, etc…Not enough small businesses are using these tools to see a huge uptick here but I believe by this time next year it will be off the charts.

3. That last part of #2 is part of the biggest positive from a business application and it’s the direct corollary to the third criticism.  I’m not sure when MARKETING became a four letter word but when it comes to LBS that is seems to be the #1 complaint and it goes something like this, “that stuff is just one big marketing ploy to get you to go somewhere or buy something”.  My response is somewhere along the famous Socrates reply of “duh!”  Isn’t that the whole reason for newspapers, magazines, TV shows, etc…sure they have their entertainment and news value BUT no one is shocked to know that advertisers are paying to place their content in front of your eyeballs to get you to buy stuff!  Not sure why the uproar when it comes to LBS, it seems to me like a natural fit.

4. Last but not least and this is by far where I see the big win for LBS and that is creating partnerships to pull off some really cool stuff.  I was discussing the value of FourSquare with an Executive at one of the major record labels.  She is responsible for new acts and we were discussing the value of LBS for her and she said; give me one way it works in my world.  So I said, do you have an all girl band you want to promote?  The answer was yes.  How about an in store ‘tour’ across America teamed with an outlet like Express?  You have all the traditional ways to support it but now add an LBS layer for very little cost.  It is also a completed integrated approach across all the social media tools; from Facebook, to Twitter, blogs, Flickr and a full activation using LBS.  Her eyes lit up and she said, write it up and let’s take a look at it.  That’s just the tip of the iceberg.So, mock it if you want.  Five years ago you never thought you’d be on Facebook. 

If you can remember back to 1991, if someone asked if you wanted to be accessible 24/7 via the phone, some new thing called email and a feature called text that in our old lexicon meant a book at school you would have said, “no freaking way”…and how many of you don’t have a cell phone today?

I recently read that the White House has chosen an Open Source CMS (Content Management System) to develop their government Web site. This announcement caught my attention for several reasons--not only are many agencies moving their clients to open source and praising it's virtues, I also started using Drupal this past year and found it remarkably fast and easy to setup and maintain my own Web sites with quality results. Despite some criticism of open source over the years--more and more commercial (and government) developers are choosing it.

It's hard to argue against the benefits of free software, especially when results show that the software does what we expect, often exceeds expectations, and provides more opportunities for expansion than many proprietary products. While relative newcomers Drupal and Wordpress lead the pack for CMS offerings, open source mainstays such as Linux and Perl have been around for many years--not only surviving, but thriving over time. In a study by Amit Deshpande and Dirk Riehle of SAP Labs, LLC, Total Growth of Open Source results have shown that "the total amount of source code and the total number of projects double about every 14 months." Open source enables freedom for both users and developers to move & change quickly when needed, as well as providing more flexibility with software decisions such as to upgrade or not to upgrade. It's really no surprise that businesses and individuals are moving to open source at exponential rates.

Of course, Open Source has always been very much associated with Free, although there are other solid reasons to choose it beyond its cost. The pool of development resources is not limited to a specific company or provider, but instead is seemingly unlimited. As a specific open source project becomes popular, more and more developers start contributing, growing and adding to the code. Not only do they enhance the software to make it better for everyone, but they also create markets for their own support services. The better the code is--more people will use it-- and the more support is needed. Large developer communities have evolved around each software project, contributing to its growth, and administering its support. These open source communities are continually coming up with new innovations, powerful add-ons, extensions, and effective tools.

With so many open source choices available, even the ubiquitous LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Perl) has come to be accepted as generic term for any completely open source application stack--substituting interchangeable parts from other sources that include "PostgreSQL, SQLLite, Apache Derby," as well as "PHP, Python, Ruby, Groovy and JavaScript." Even behemoth Microsoft has entered the game with their own Open Source CMS Platform.

Additionally, interactive ad agencies are able to offer their managed computer services at lower rates when developers take advantage of Open Source technologies. This enables clients to do more within their budgets. Every size company can now take advantage of Website integration, online advertising, and interactive media development due to the emergence of open source and accumulation of knowledge brought to us by the developer community. Businesses across industries are now embracing these technologies, taking advantage of interactive media, and using a more integrated approach to marketing with the vast number of new tools that are now available from these creative, innovative communities of developers.

Intuition can guide you to the place of innovation, and analysis guides you to the method of innovation.

Driving down costs is the goal of every business in every industry. Identifying and nailing down Cost Drivers in a Interactive Media Agency is one of the most challenging aspects of Innovation due to the service model and diversity of projects. The more diverse the services and the more capabilities an organization has, the harder the cost drivers are to innovate. This is the challenge.

Create Measurability

In order to analyze data, you need to collect data. The first step is to establish a normalized set of information, and discover commonalities that you measure over time. It's difficult in service business models to identify measurable practices since commonality between projects may not exist. In contrast, it is much easier to find measurable actvities within consistent services. For example, in the realm of public service such as law enforcement, response times can be measured which can lead to innovation in terms of communication technologies, route mapping, and routine patrolling route generation to optimize the response times and measure improvements. In the same light, commonality and metrics need to be put in place so that you can innovate. Without this baseline set of metrics, most improvements are subjective and can be hit and miss.

Measurability and Interactive Marketing

Interactive marketing strategies and improved search engine optimization follow the same metaphorical principle. Because optimization is always a moving target, you have to establish a control on your marketing practices and only change a few independent variables at a time, such as keyword density, or keyword targeting in ads, in order to see their effect. In the case of organic search results, the effect of changes may take weeks or even months before they actually show results. To top it off, search algorithms and prioritization change "without notice." To discover these changes requires a scientific mindset for the search engine optimization consultants.

The cost drivers in Search Engine Marketing involve keyword market prices. Camping a commonly used keyword for PPC can cost you a fortune. Using longtail strategies and finding ways to effectively identify your product, service or company is the innovation point, and only good analysis and keyword research will get you there. Consistency is the rule of the game to establish and maintain hold of brand loyalty, market share, market segment, and also online in terms of keyword ownership, and search engine rankings.

Internet Application Development

With Internet Services, the identification of cost drivers needs to be built into the process by abstracting out parts of the process that show commonality and measurability. This should be the starting gate through which your innovation charges. Like online marketing, application development is a moving target. New technologies explode onto the marketplace on a regular basis, tempting you to change how you do business. Again by using a scientific approach, by controlling your process and making sure you change a few things at a time, you can drive changes from the right point of view rather than hype, and effectively make improvements on your cost drivers.