Mobile marketing – The Internet just got personal

Posted on December 21, 2011 by wadedesign

I have been around the block a few times with websites, email, marketing solutions and branding services. My background “started” in graphics and communications. I remember the day when I would get buzzed from my design markers and super 77 spray glue (that glue would make my hair unruly for days). I would start my day by gathering my design tools of layout bond, rulers, exacto knives, and that little orange cone-shaped can filled with solvent, that removed any blemish or mistake.

Fast forward to today….Now I am living in digital world where all of the tools I once had at my disposal are still in existence, only virtual and available to me with one click. Having remained on the cutting edge over the years and transitioning from a marker and paper artist to a digital artist specializing in website design, to more recently a digital marketing strategist, I have to say that the latest trend towards capturing an audience, which totally blows my hair back is mobile applications and smart phones. These little programs can scan a credit card, purchase merchandise from my favorite store, keep my kids busy while we are traveling on vacation, find my favorite radio station, search for my favorite recipes and much more. Now I don’t have to wait until I get home to have access to the most amazing technology of our time.

The big push now is to take all of the data that’s coming in from web, search, CRM, ecommerce, mobile and email while making sense of it all. An effective marketer in today’s business will be able to take all of the digital footprints and touchpoints and make intelligent decisions in leading a company forward. He will be worth his weight in gold and able to answer the questions of the day: How am I able to capture leads, what is the most effective way to generate those leads, and how can I nurture my leads and turn them in to customers? What about brand loyalty, what makes my company unique?

CEO’s are still grappling with the ROI on this new little diddy and I have to say that it’s time to get on board or you will remain behind the curve and miss your opportunity to stand out from the competition. The numbers don’t lie, on Tuesday, Google‘s Senior VP of mobile devices Andy Rubin revealed that the Internet search giant presently activates close to three-quarters of one-million Android mobile phones daily. iPhone activity is even higher beating Android 2-1 on app downloads. Even though more users are on Android, iPhone users seem to love the ease of use to gain access via the smart phone so they download twice as much.

Social media is transforming communities (and even toppling regimes). This story from Nashville, is a good example of how access to smart phones helped a community get information when timing was critical:

During last Sunday’s storm, 44,000 Nashvillians were without power (myself included). The only way I was able to receive critical information about the severe weather advisories and the growing flood problem was through Twitter and Facebook on my phone.

If having a smart phone makes you smarter than I would say having a smart app to promote your business and stay connected with your audience is the smartest decision to reaching a generation “on the go”. Social media integration, sharing information to those that you influence, avoiding long lines in a check out, saving money on gas, personalizing my shopping experience, these are positive signs towards mobile business in a mobile friendly world.

For more research on this topic, check out the following links:

Android apps more popular than IOS – Huffington Post

Google activates 700,000 devices everyday – Mobile Marketing Watch

The Online Customer – Daily Infographic

Tried and True but not Tired – Search Engine Land

Marketers…Do you lack “business credibility” with your CEO?

Posted on November 30, 2011 by wadedesign

73% of CEOs Think Marketers Lack Business Credibility: They Can’t Prove They Generate Business Growth

They are not effectiveness-focused enough, leading to CEO-Marketer disconnect

LONDON, 15 June 2011 – 73% of CEOs think Marketers lack business credibility and are not the business growth generators they should be: they are still too far from being able to demonstrate how the cross-channel marketing strategies and campaigns they deploy grow their organisations’ top line in terms of more customer demand, more sales, more prospects, more conversions or more market share.

That’s one of the key findings The Fournaise Marketing Group, one of the global leaders in Marketing Performance Science to Generate More Customer Demand, identified through its 2011 Global Marketing Effectiveness Program in which it interviewed more than 600 Large corporation and SMB CEOs and decision-makers in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The top issues CEOs have with their Marketers are:

They keep on talking about brand, brand values, brand equity and other similar parameters that their top management has great difficulties linking back to results that really matter: revenue, sales, EBIT or even market valuation (77%)
They focus too much on the latest marketing trends such as social media, because they believe they represent the new marketing frontiers – but can rarely demonstrate how these trends will help them generate more business for the company (74%)
When asked to increase their Marketing ROI, they tend to understand it as cost cutting through better economies of scale or negotiations with their third-party partners and agencies, instead of top-line growth generation: more revenue, more sales, more prospects, more buyers (73%)
They are always asking for more money, but can rarely explain how much incremental business this money will generate (72%)
They bombard their stakeholders with marketing data that hardly relate to or mean anything for the company’s P&L (70%)
Unlike CFOs and Sales Forces, they don’t think enough like businesspeople: they focus too much on the creative, “arty” and “fluffy” side of marketing and not enough on its business science, and rely too much on their ad agencies to come up with the next big idea (67%)

The worrying part: while 73% of CEOs think Marketers lack business credibility and are not effectiveness-focused enough to generate incremental customer demand, 69% of the Marketers Fournaise talked to feel their strategies and campaigns do make an impact on the company’s business, even though they can’t precisely quantify or prove it – confirming the great CEO-Marketers disconnect.

“Until Marketers start speaking the P&L language of their CEOs and stakeholders, and until they start tracking the business effectiveness of all their strategies and campaigns to prove they generate incremental customer demand, they will continue to lack credibility in the eyes of their CEOs and will continue to be seen more as a cost centre than an asset” said Jerome Fontaine, CEO & Chief Tracker of Fournaise.

For more FournaiseTrack – Media Releases

The World of Social Media 2011

Posted on November 30, 2011 by wadedesign

Social media is changing our lives and growing in record numbers. It’s not only a communication tool between friends but the corporate world has embraced it for connecting with it’s current and potential customers. Do you want to create a great “lead nurturing” campaign? If you are not using social media to connect, then you are missing out on tremendous short and long term opportunities using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube. This video/infographic will explain more…

Rise of the Marketing Technologist

Posted on November 28, 2011 by wadedesign

This presentation posted by Scott Brinker states the current state of e-business and digital marketing. The advertising industry is being reformed with all of the new media options available: web, social, analytics, ecommerce, email and traditional direct marketing services. The challenge that most advertising agencies face is finding the right people with the right expertise to handle the job of marketing to a global marketplace. I welcome your comments and thanks Scott for a great job of pulling this info together!

Rise of the Marketing Technologist (And What It Means For Agencies)

View more presentations from Scott Brinker

Links to grow business

Posted on March 27, 2011 by wadedesign

I am constantly being asked what are my top “favorite” sites for web, marketing and graphics, there are many sites out there that provide free services in helping you attain good positioning and graphic support, here’s my top site links:

Graphic Design:

colorschemedesigner.com

shutterstock.com

istockphoto.com

Training and Education:

adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop

tv.adobe.com

illustrationclass.com

creativesyndicate.org

Web Design and Development:

simple.be/web/color/codes

webdesignledger.com

bestfreetemplates.info

shopping cart research

HTML5 video player

Layout Grids

Media Conversion

Search Engine Marketing:

xml-sitemaps.com

advancedwebranking.com

Google keyword research

seomoz.org

google webmaster checklist

the web list

google analytics

websitegrader.com

Business:

startupnation.com

fastcompany.com

businessplanarchive.org

entrepreneur.com

jaredlunde.com

trendwatching.com

Top Ten Google SEO Ranking Factors

Posted on April 20, 2010 by wadedesign

Over the past years by reading Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, Google SEO Starter Guide, many other industry blogs and by actually doing professional SEO and internet marketing since the late 1990’s, I have gathered data and come to a boiled down short list of the most important Google search engine ranking factors.

Here is the list of my top 10 of important Google SEO ranking factors to consider:

1. Age of Domain: Age of URL is very important. If you just bought your domain a few weeks or even months ago you have a long road ahead of you. The reality is the age of your website helps build trust. If your website has been online for several years, chances are you have an established business.

2. Domain Hosting: Where is your site hosted? Find out through your hosting company what continent or country your site is hosted in. This can often times play a large role in search rankings. Always use a reputable hosting company. If your company is US based then use a hosting company in the United States. Also, I always recommend a dedicated IP when you can. There are virtual dedicated and cloud hosting solutions that are more affordable. Never use the cheapest hosting. The reality is, if you cannot afford hosting you should re-consider the business…I know this is harsh but very true.

3. Your Neighbors: If you have a virtual server, which sites like Godaddy usually are have been known to house hundreds of websites on one server. Make sure that your neighbors on your server are not classified as spam.

4. URL Structure: Make sure your URL structures are very clean. There should not be any random strings of characters at the end of your URL’s. This is part of the onsite search engine optimization process as well.

5. Content: Content is very important. To start make sure you have text on all your important pages, then make sure it is good text consisting of your targeted keywords spread throughout naturally. Simply put, ALWAYS write your content for humans, your website visitors first and NEVER write content for the solo purpose to achieve Google search engine rankings. Chances are the content will not be user focused or provide value to your visitors.

6. Internal Link Structure: Make sure your inner pages are linked correctly. Visitors should have easy made pathways connecting to your other pages from every page of your website. Make sure the code of your website is verified and keep flash and JavaScript to a minimum, if you can. Essentially make sure the site is clean, easy to use and interlinked to help the user experience.

7. Trust: Do you at least have a mailing address listed on your website? You should if you don’t. Google likes to see trust factors on websites so anything you can add that could help build trust for your audience will benefit your rankings. I always recommend having a phone number on each page of your website. Make it easy for people to do business with you, it all starts with establishing trust and that starts with contact information on your website.

8. Keywords: Make sure your website is optimized using your keywords. This means any alt tags for images, meta page information and existing content at the very least of things. Remember to naturally optimize your website based on the content of each page of your website.

9. Bounce Rate: Although bounce rate might not seem important if Google sees that nobody hangs out on your website for more than a few seconds before they leave this could be a ranking problem over time. Make changes to get visitors engaged with your website. Simple things, like video, newsletter sign up, call to actions, etc will help improve your bounce rate over time. Make sure you have proper tracking on your website, such as Google analytics.

10. Outbound links: Make sure the websites that you link to are 100% relevant to your business and industry. If you sell animals toys but you are linking to a site that sells shoes that is not very relevant and over time could really impact your rankings. Bottom line is if it makes sense to link to another site, then do so, but remember you could be sending your visitors away from your site.

11. Inbound Links: I know this was a list of my top 10, but I felt I had to mention inbound links. The key here (speaking as a white hat SEO person), don’t buy or exchange links. Market and promote your business online to build visitors to your website over time. If you do, then the relevant links will follow!

**Note: As the Google (and yes there are 2 other major search engines!) algorithm changes there are always new ranking factors that come into play, such as the page load time and many others. I am sure when I re-do this list a year from now, there may be another one or two additional factors.

There are many extensive factors that Google uses when determining website rankings. Very important to get these factors correct otherwise you could find yourself just spinning your wheels. The bottom line is it is all about relevancy and earning your visitors (and yes Google’s) search engine trust over time.

Google’s Marissa Mayer with the top questions as selected and voted upon by the Digg community

Posted on January 21, 2010 by wadedesign

Top Ten Financial Resolutions to keep in 2011

Posted on December 31, 2009 by wadedesign

For many, the magic of the holiday season begins to fade as soon as they realize how much they spent over the holidays and calculate how big their credit card bills are going to be. On the bright side, the New Year offers the perfect opportunity to set attainable financial goals. Following are some examples of financial New Year’s resolutions worth keeping:

1. I will make informed financial decisions, understanding the difference between wants and needs.
2. I will communicate with my family about money matters so that we are all working toward the same goals.
3. I will be aware of the effects of advertising on the financial decisions I make, and resolve not to be influenced by them.
4. I will take care of my finances today by tracking expenses and creating a budget that is flexible and realistic.
5. I will take care of my finances tomorrow by saving for my future.
6. I will meet the credit obligations I have made on time and as agreed.
7. I will continue my personal education about financial health, budgeting, credit, and personal debt.
8. I will plan for periodic expenses, including the next holiday season.
9. By setting a good example, I will teach my children the importance of budgeting, saving, and the wise use of credit.
10. Finally, if I am over-obligated, I will take the necessary steps to seek assistance.

Cybercrime Prevention in 2011

Posted on December 28, 2009 by wadedesign

Cybercrime Prevention
– Have antivirus software, anti-spyware and firewall
– Never respond to spam
– Don’t open suspicious emails or attachments
– Never provide passwords or personal information to unsolicited emails or Web sites
– When asked to ‘allow’ or ‘deny’ an application access to the Internet, choose deny unless you are confident in the safety of the site you are accessing
– When shopping or banking online, make sure website contains an “s” after http (as in https) . Look for the ‘lock’ icon in lower right corner
Sources: Symantec and Trend Micro

The Secret To Success…Passion

Posted on November 6, 2009 by wadedesign

I get asked frequently, in this economy, “How is your business doing?” I tell all, “That we are thriving and that most of our clients are thriving.” They then ask, “What makes the difference?” I then give them the advice Jon Gordon articulates, The strongest may survive but it is the passionate that will thrive. If you want to be successful today you must do the tough thing and prune your team, and then load your team with passionate people… and most of all you must be passionate yourself. In the past maybe you could be lukewarm and mediocre and still be successful. Not anymore. Now, in today’s competitive environment, your passion and your purpose must be greater than your challenges. You have to be willing to work harder, run faster, drive further, study more, practice longer, lead better, sweat more, love deeper and this requires passion. Passion wakes you up earlier. It dials your phone one more time to make one more sale. It rallies your team together when times are tough. It moves you to see one more patient after a long day at the hospital. It provides legendary customer service. Passion transforms workplaces.

But what about someone who has a low paying job or who is in a job that quite frankly is hard to be passionate about you might ask? I get this question often and my answer is: “It’s not the job or the money you are being paid but the passion that you bring to your job that matters.” After all, I’ve got fast food worker clients who are more passionate about their jobs than some of the professional athletes making millions of dollars that we serve.

If your people aren’t passionate about the work they do and the people they work with, and if they aren’t passionate about your brand and mission, then you need to let them off the team so they can find another team where they can live their passion. This is good for them and it’s good for your team.

By letting disengaged employees off the team you make room for those who are passionate about your team and organization-and with a company filled with passionate people you will thrive while others merely try to survive.

This article was posted by Wayne Essex, you can contact him for more information

Wayne T. Essex PhD. – Essex & Associates

wade design

insights from a creative marketing technologist

Category Archives: Business

Google’s Marissa Mayer with the top questions as selected and voted upon by the Digg community

Top Ten Financial Resolutions to keep in 2011

Cybercrime Prevention in 2011

The Secret To Success…Passion