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

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

The Viral Underground

Posted on May 23, 2009 by wadedesign

Do you think that you will be able to survive the new economy?. Would you like to get “more with less” money to spend? Businesses and individuals are suffering right now and nobody seems to have the answers.

Internet Statistics

I want to spell it out for you. If you are 15 or 50 years old, you are most likely experiencing the world of the internet. It weaves it’s way into every fiber of our culture these days. Why is it so important and having so much significance in our lives? Because it’s an organic tool to make your voice heard. It’s a viral community of people sharing and distributing information. It allows us to interact with our favorite TV shows, play games and email each other. Most of it pointless, but a lot of information that is relevant to where you are right now.

Life has not been the same since 911. Capitalism as we knew it, is gone. Big business and small business alike are all experiencing the same dilemma, how to get “more for less”. The money is tight, and not worth the paper it’s printed on, credit is maxed, loans are sparse, but you know that you need to take your product or service to market fast.
The internet offers hundreds of solutions to help you grow and maintain your reach. You don’t have to spend a million dollars on the next superbowl ad to communicate your message. The internet has a smorgasbord of options, consider the following:

1. Corporate video (if you don’t have one – shoot one) and post it under Youtube.com – the account is free, don’t forget to link people back to your website, www.sendwork.com

2. Podcasting – iTunes will let you sign up for free, just post your audio or video to the site and start reaching a new audience

3. Blogging – start sharing what you know, people are starving for good information, and link them back to your website, www.theguru.com

4. Online newsletters - got a mail list? You need to keep people informed, don’t let them forget about you, frequency is very important

5. Texting - did you realize most phone services will provide you with texting options that allow you to broadcast to everyone on your email list. You can fire this out from your website in just seconds

6. Distance learning – do you have to travel and spend countless hours and money to make presentations? You can do this via the internet, you can access video, slideshows, whiteboards and more with state-of-the-art webcasting tools

7. Desktop support – do you drive all over the city trying to solve the most mundane computer problems? Webex.com allows you to remote desktop right into your customers PC and fix the problems without leaving your desk

These are just a few of the ways you can weather the storm and the “new plan” of 2009. Please send me a note if you need any assistance in tackling your marketing giant this year, I would welcome the opportunity to serve you.

Graphic design as a career

Posted on May 23, 2009 by wadedesign

What Do Graphic Designers Do?

graphic-design-solutions-00

Graphic design is everywhere. When it’s good, it has a way of feeling organic—like a natural part of our environment. However, if you stop to notice the lines and colors in ordinary objects, you can see that someone put thought into making them both functional and appealing. A quick survey of almost any room, city block or town square will yield several examples of graphic designers’ work. Graphic designers influence how we view the world using colors, illustrations, photos and fonts. Look at a book or magazine, go to a coffee shop, or take a drive. When you do, you’ll encounter graphic design. From company logos, to road signs, to product packaging, design is part of our everyday lives.

What Graphic Design Tasks are required?

In a graphic design job, you may be responsible for the following kinds of tasks:

Brainstorming and mocking up design ideas
Presenting ideas to clients
Meeting with clients and adjusting designs to fit their needs or taste
Projecting budgets and schedules
Using computer software to execute designs
Working with others, such as printers, programmers, developers or other technicians, to complete the final product

What skills are needed?

Artistic Sensibility - In the last few decades, computer software and technology have revolutionized the graphic design industry. Even so, there is no substitute for artistic sensibility. Knowledge about design elements, such as color and composition, is vital for graphic designers. Artistic ability and creativity are essential.

Technical Skill – A graphic design job requires the technical skills to use design software programs such as Adobe CS or web development tools like Joomla Content Management (CMS). You may learn other specific software in graphic design school; however, a general interest in computers and an aptitude for learning new technology will be beneficial. As technology continues to develop, graphic designers hoping for longevity in the field need to be able to adapt.

Communication Ability – Sometimes known as visual communication, graphic design requires the ability to effectively present ideas—both verbally and visually. You’ll need to be able to sell your ideas to clients and work with them to achieve the end product they want.

Organization – Graphic designers need to be organized in order to meet deadlines and stay within a budget. General business skills will come in handy, since many graphic designers work on a freelance or contract basis.

Problem Solving Ability – Graphic design is a brainteaser. Choosing just the right fonts, colors and lines to create a balanced composition, while simultaneously conveying meaning, is complicated. In order to succeed in a graphic design job, you’ll need to have strong problem solving skills and love a good challenge.

Is a graphic design job right for me?

If you have a good eye for color and composition, a love of technology, and skill in communicating ideas, a graphic design job will allow you to combine all of these elements in your work. A career in this field may be just right for you.

Web links for local schools:

Sinclair Community College
School of Advertising Art
Columbus College of Art & Design
Art Academy of Cincinnati

Types of jobs to apply for:

Web Designer
Web Developer
Internet Specialist-Internet Marketer
Presentation artist
Video production
Commercial artist
Print designer (brochures, stationery, logos, posters, signs)
Film production
Ad agency
Marketing communications

for more information

wade design

insights from a creative marketing technologist

Tag Archives: communications

The Viral Underground

Graphic design as a career