 |
 |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
|
Statistics |
| Unique Visitors: 0 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 0 |
| Visitors Out: 149 |
| Total Visitors Out: 149 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| Monitor your brand |
| 2008-07-22 14:43:35 |
If you think you own your brand then your are sadly mistaken. Companies have never owned their brand though they create it, market it and sell it.
Before the internet really took off, your brand existed through word of mouth and influence through traditional advertising mediums.
Now we are in an age where 1 person can reach [...]...
|
| |
|
| It is time for the 1st Strategic Marketing Beach Bash...July 11th |
| 2008-07-04 11:49:32 |
So, here?s the details for the event, as we know them today.
1st Strategic Marketing Beach Bash
The date is Final: Friday, July 11, 2008
Begins at High Noon and lasts until?there is no reason to stay anymore.
Salisbury Beach in Salisbury, MA (at the beach below the intersection of Ocean and Railroad Streets...Beach Path #2)
Bring all that you need to enjoy a day at the beach. You should include beach chair, blankets, food, drink, and SUN SCREEN, at the very least.
Don?t forget your ?Burning? Question" or ?Great? story to share with the group.
Whatever is a ?Strategic Marketing Beach Bash? you may ask. Magicomm came up with this idea and is organizing this event for three reasons: (1) The second quarter was extremely busy for us and we got the opportunity to work in some new areas and learn new things. It was fun, but many questions were raised as we drove ahead with developing interactive components and strategies of a direct marketing campaign using viral techniques, variable data pr...
|
| |
|
| NOW is the Time for the Marketing Push! |
| 2008-06-29 07:39:09 |
I?ve talked with many people recently that are down in the dumps because the economy is struggling and their business is in a down swing. They ask me what I think and I tell them??GET OVER IT! You can?t control the economy, BUT you can control how you respond to it. So, get up off your butt and do something.?
Now is the time to crank up your marketing efforts. The ONLY way to work (which is the key word here) our way out of a down cycle is to increase marketing efforts for your business This will help threefold: (1) You will get more leads into your sales pipeline, (2) You will enhance your relationship with your existing clients, and (3) You will refocus on defining your ?REAL? value-add and develop ways to maximize their value in the minds of your audience. Therefore, you will have the opportunity to expand your business into new accounts/.markets or you get more business (share of wallet) from you existing clients. I know that this is all easier said than done, but we all have to tr...
|
| |
|
| Been to Drupa and back... |
| 2008-06-04 22:06:08 |
After arriving in Dusseldorf without my checked bags, I knew that this trip was maybe not going to be the easiest. We got the cross media demo running with the Canon booth at Drupa, but it wasn't a cake walk. Challenges have to be expected in a show environment and the team pulled together to make it happen. Canon Europe, Pageflex, and DirectSmile personnel worked together to install and test a complex cross media communications system (including customized email, personalized web, dynamic graphics in print and web, on-demand varible data print, and interactive video messaging) within a changing environment which is typical during set up of a major industry trade show (Drupa is CLEARLY that!).
The biggest issue that we ran into during installation was the compaibility with the audio chip (which we needed for the interactive video message) on the mother board and Windows Server 2003 (which is a requirement for installation of a Pageflex Server). After much discussion, research, and...
|
| |
|
| Canon Cross Media Demo is RUNNING at Drupa...IT IS ALIVE! |
| 2008-05-30 01:56:46 |
The trip over to Dusseldorf was uneventful?.EXCEPT for my luggage being lost for a day and a half and the seat on the airplane being too small for me. That was a pain, but the luggage showed up and the colleagues that I was working with in the Canon booth were very pleased that I could change into some clean clothes.
Spent most the first two days setting the cross media demo up and practicing with the team assigned to the area. There were a few bumps and bruises along the way and it is finally running like a top this morning. The biggest pain was getting the audio running on the server (which we never did). Had something to do with Windows Server 2003 and the audio chip. Eventually, we brought in a XP machine and used it as the client to run the demo and NOW we can hear the sound of the interactive video message that was included in the demo. That got everyone?s attention. And the VDP posters that we printed from the demo looked great. They all love the demo!
Coming to shows like this ...
|
| |
|
| Finalizing a Cross Media Demo for Drupa |
| 2008-05-24 06:23:25 |
Every time we get to this point with a project (putting the final parts together for release), it becomes a ?frenzy?. Magicomm was hired by Canon Europe to design and program an interactive cross media demo for their booth at Drupa, which opens May 29th in Dusseldorf, Germany. We included VDP print, customized emails, Personalized URL (PURL), and an interactive video. The interesting thing about this one is that there is NO database to start with. Part of the objective for the project is to gather prospect info as they get their demo in the Canon booth.
With this many moving parts and different media that is being used, it is challenging to move fast as the revisions to the components are implemented and reviewed with the customer. We have done a pretty good job on this one so far, considering we are working with four companies, including Canon, at four different locations (three countries, and two states in the US) with approximately 15 individuals working on the project...
|
| |
|
| Blogging for Business - Monetizing my Blog |
| 2008-05-15 11:51:20 |
So you've made the leap from web 1.0 to web 2.0 with your new blog. You've picked a layout that your readers will go wild over and content that rivals "The New Yorker". So now I address the question in the back of a lot of your minds of which my boss so eloquently asked after my last post Blogging For Business, "But the key question becomes...How can a business make money by spending precious resources on a blog...Inquiring minds want to know".
Well first I'd like to note that if you're in the business of blogging to make money then your probably in the wrong business. I only say this because I believe blogging is more about helping other people than helping yourself. If your blogging strictly for money, the quality of your content will go down over time and you will begin a counterproductive spiral ultimately resulting in your blog being labeled as spam. So rather than think about the money, think about all the lost souls you will save with your life changing content".
Okay, so now on...
|
| |
|
| Marketing Job Growth in this Economic Environment???? |
| 2008-04-05 10:26:07 |
There was an interesting article in the March issue of "Marketing News". It discussed a report from Advertising Age about the growth of jobs in the marketing services sector (approximately 22,000) in the US in 2007. There was decline in media jobs, primarily in newspapers (-16,900) and TV (-4,800). Digital strategies are growing and the mix of media is increasing the choices that we have to communicate. What does this mean, Mr. Wizard?
My cut on this GREAT bit of information confirms that we are in a galactic shift where growth is in the new media and away from the traditional mass media. We all have to think differently when developing a strategy to help a company grow. No big surprise there, when you consider that we have been told for several years now, that the messaging which marketing services companies and ad agencies are developing for their clients? needs to be more relevant and targeted. Using databases driving the messaging has become the new craft in our industry. Com...
|
| |
|
| Blogging for Business |
| 2008-03-28 12:50:24 |
A lot of businesses have made the initial move online with some sort of company website however few have made the leap into the blogosphere. Hopefully by the end of this post you will see the benefit of maintaining a blog for your company.
First let me introduce you to the elephant in the room that is Social Media. The internet has changed the way we communicate from emails to IMs but within that last couple of years we've started to see communities of people emerge from the interweb. These communities encourage a whole new train of thought as to how we interact and ultimately trust each other. Social Media marketing involves giving back to the community in hopes that people will ultimately look to you for answers to industry specific questions. Now there are a couple of ways to accomplish this.
First there are Social Networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo where anyone can join an online community and immediately connect to thousands if not millions of other users. Wi...
|
| |
|
| You Talk Too Much! |
| 2008-03-26 09:35:22 |
Well, not just you. We all do. Advertisers, copywriters, maybe even bloggers (Like Rick, my boss!). Keeping our messages short and sweet is what will get the attention of our customers. Experts agree that you have to get your message across in the first three seconds. That?s not a lot of words. There is so much information overload in the world today that people will just simply tune you out if you can?t get your message across succinctly.
We?re told that people don?t read anymore. Not just marketing messages but emails, newsletters, brochures, even books. And while I think it?s a shame we don?t take the time to read books anymore, I don?t think there?s anything lost by cutting out some of the words in the rest of printed material. For one thing it will make us use our imagination more. We have to use graphics, color, and textual placement to draw the eye and the interest of the people we want to attract. Each word has to be carefully thought out to eke out the most meaning. We?ll have...
|
| |
|
| Cross Media is now our life! |
| 2008-03-25 12:06:09 |
Within the last couple months, I have noticed numerous articles that lead me to believe the world of marketing is rapidly changing with the use of various media that are integrated together for a common corporate cause. Using a multi-touch, cross media approach will be the dominant strategy used and integrating social networks into the mix will add a dynamic that can't be matched by other media. The evidence is everywhere?
January 14th issue of BtoB Magazine: ?Social Networks starting to click? This article discusses the growth of Web 2.0 usage among marketers and how they are becoming more focused and relevant to a targeted group. With this comes a loss of control over content by the traditional publishers and advertisers. The individual can now comment on a topic/company/product and that thought will be broadcast worldwide in nanoseconds. This scares many, but there is no way to put that ?horse back in the barn?. This will force us all to reflect more on how we present ourselves t...
|
| |
|
| Personalized Landing Page 2.0 |
| 2008-03-11 13:47:32 |
So it's no news that a personalized landing page as a response portal to any kind of direct marketing campaign can increase response rates dramatically, but where's the next step up?
Well it seems as if there are multiple cross-media technologies emerging from the web to help engage, interact and even entertain the user, therefore increasing conversions. We've seen how XMPie can personalize images with its powerful VDP engine, but what if the user could change their name at runtime? Furthermore, what if the users name wasn't in an image, but in a short movie? This is the future of PURLs and will be a hit in the social media world.
I received a link through Twitter for a website about a TV Show on FX and I was amazed at what they had done. Here is the PURL someone made for me. This type of PURL has both a viral marketing factor to it and a huge fun component. Everyone wants to be the star of their own movie and show it off to all of their friends. Personalized video could very well be ...
|
| |
|
| Cross Media vs. Print Media... |
| 2008-02-10 08:47:21 |
NOT! But first I have to lay the groundwork for this conclusion.
When thinking about want do I do for my first blog, I wandered into reviewing my career (or is it my life?) experiences and how I got to this place and time. I think that I am going to share some of it with you, so that you can have a better understanding of how my thoughts have been influenced and developed over these many years. Let me start with high school and that you through my initial years of getting my education and starting my first job in the industry. Then I will get to my point...Which I am sure that you will be ready for!
When I graduated high school in the summer of '70, I "knew" that I wanted to be an engineer like my grandfather. Seemed like it was the family thing to do and it would be fun designing and building "stuff". And I decided going away to college would be an even better thing. So, I decided to go to engineering school at Southern Methodist University. I was way over my head very quickly a...
|
| |
|
| What is VDP, anyway? |
| 2008-02-06 12:54:11 |
Remember form letters? How about mail merges? So what have they got to do with Variable Data Printing? Well, Variable Data Printing (VDP) is a form letter on steroids. Anyone who's done a mail merge in Word will understand the basic concept. Variable Data Printing links a database with a message, an offer or maybe an invitation.
The most basic Variable Data Printing is just putting a different name on each piece. But it can get really exciting when you start adding images and text that change depending on the market segments and building the text right into the images. The customer becomes part of the message.
And when you use Variable Data Printing as part of a multi-touch campaign then you have a look and feel that crosses from snail mail to email to the web - all personalized. The customer sees the consistency and feels they're being guided step-by-step through the process to getting something they need.
Lets say I get a new dog. I go to Town Hall...
|
| |
|
| Future of Flash |
| 2008-02-04 13:13:17 |
People are starting to steer away from using flash in their websites and I think this is STUPID. We're in the middle of an information revolution and Flash is one of our more advanced tools for making this happen. I think websites should use flash, as long as they do it right.
First off, people believe that flash is SEO unfriendly. Let me clarify, it's flash developers who make their flash SEO unfriendly. Their are multiple ways to make entire websites in flash and Search engines can and will index them accordingly. One way of doing this is by using Geoff Stearns' swfObject javascript. You just link to the main javascript file in the page head, and then call the function at the point on the page where you want your Flash movie to replace the default content. It makes it so users who don't have Flash never even have to know that they're missing something. Of course you have to make sure you have the content both on your site and in the flash movie.
Another method is by just loading the ...
|
| |
|
| |
 |
|
| |
| |
|
 |
