Creative Agency Secrets

Update on yesterday's post about using Facebook to promote your agency …..

I got an immediate auto reply crom ClickyMedia …

Dear Rebecca,

Many thanks for your enquiry! 

A member of our internet marketing consultancy team will be in touch with you
shortly to see how we can help you.

In the mean time we have attached a Case Study for you to read.

We look forward to speaking with you shortly.

Kind Regards,

Sending a case study was a nice touch!

And then 40 minutes later, a reply from the Managing Director - Oliver Yeates

 Thanks for your email.

We do indeed generate business from Facebook advertising and it is entirely down to the levels of targeting we use.  We have specifically selected individuals whose job title includes the keywords "marketing" - this is why you will have seen our ad.

Here at Clicky Media we like to practise what we preach and our ads have certainly introduced our services to a number of Marketing professionals.

As with many on-line marketing opportunities which are arising after the huge success of Google Ads, click prices are relatively cheap and as such a very attractive return on investment is available.  Afterall we only pay for clicks ad the brand awareness and association is something we cannot afford to miss.Feel free to use this email on your blog.

Doubly nice.  And permission given without being asked! (well it is in my email signature….).

And so there's a really simple brief if you want to use FB - target job titles.  And from the logos on their site, FB is clearly one of the target areas they specialise in.

Well done. 

Rachel Clarke introduced me to Christian Payne who had the idea of hosting the first Geek festival.  I have been running the Vann Summer Fest in a field behind my mum's house for the past 7 years with Grant Craies, William Heath, Ruth Kennedy, Al Kennedy and Aliya Saleem.  We have agreed to bolt Geeknbury onto the fest - starting one day earlier and then seamlessly blending inbto the family fun.

Come down - bring your geek / biz dev / web 2.0 ideas and let's have some fun!

Details on Christian's blog  

I am hosting my third breakfast event.  "Should Brands be Broadcasters?" on Wednesday 18th June, 2008 at One Alfred Place 

I run these breakfasts in order to showcase new ideas and innovative marketing thinking.  Past speakers include Adriana Lukas on Social Media and Mark McGuinnes s on the Enneagram. 

Three speakers will give their unique points of view on this issue:

Charlie Robertson, Red Spider speaking on extending brand strategy to the online world

Sign up here to come along!

PS if anyone is willing to blog the gig for me, please get in touch! 

Media Futures Conference 2008
20/06/2008

The Media Futures Conference is a one day exploration of the dynamics and trends shaping the future of media. As well as an opportunity for lively debate, the conference will feature presentations showcasing innovative projects. Presenters and chairs include Dr Brian Winston, University of Lincoln; Charlie Beckett, POLIS; Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur; Robert Cailliau; Dr Norman Lewis, Wireless Grids Corporation; Sean Phelan, Multimap; Peter Day, BBC; Bill Thompson; and Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC. This is a BBC event, programmed and produced by Nico Macdonald.

There is no cost to attend.

Venue: Alexandra Palace, London

I am going…. please circulate!

Dick Stroud of consultancy 20Plus30

5 things all digital agencies should know about aging
1 - when working for a client consider whether their product is age- neutral or not.  Sites tend to get optimised for a younger age group.
2 - Age is not a good proxy for behaviour.  The default is we are all age-neutral until proven otherwise.
3 - Physiological aging really does matter.  Useability is only the beginning.  Consider navigation, complexity, handling this si more deifficult with age.  The heat maps for older people are very different.
4 - Lifestyle is important - education and background are very importa determinants of web usage
5 - Social Networking issues - if the only unifying feature of the website is age this is a problem.  Interest-driven is more mportant.  

Steve Morgan MD of SQuiz
They have written a publishing plaform which hosts the 50Connect site.
- if a majority of traffic comes from search, nobody searches on "over 50 travel / finance / insurance".  Brand loyalty and a core user base is the only way to build traffic
- Dividing the market by age groups is pointless.  Event-driven is much better e.g. kids leaving home, illness
- Useability research show s related offers and products mucst be very clear and direct.  The audience i easy to lead. - networking creates teh sense of ownership / community strength.  If you change anhythying there is a backlash- Cap[tcha is too small - gridded background, colours and no contrast lost 70-80% by having it- Text based advertising works better than image-based. Don't use banners and skyscrapers.  Nostalgic images don't work.
- calls to action must be strong, bold and well-placed.  Consistent standards in article structure metter e.g. all same colour / place.  Raises CTR.

David Noble MD Wanobe
- the size of the market is a trap
- most older people never think of themselves of being the age they are
- show me by dreams not my mirror image.  Dreams are not age, health and wealth.  Treat them according to their potential for dreaming

Sarah Robinson, Research and planning director Millennium
There are 30-40 years of life left after 50.  Experiences of technology and itnernet vary.  Some are users equivalenbt to a 30 year old
Comfort with technology is important.  They are used to long copy and written letters.  Brought up in a non-visula age.
People think of themselves as being 10 years younger than they are
Search is not a problem but buying is.  Many want to check you are really there and to be sure your call centre is not in INdia.  Phone number = reassurance.

"The problem is with the under30s"  Desire instant gratifiction; judge based on popularity not reputation, longer attenation span when you are older'; value longer relationships; lsess peripheral vision affect page layouts

Alex Champan - Campbell Hooper - most B2B decision makers are over 50.  consider corproate sties with heavy language and simple naviation - gives indication that the mind state is corporate not consumer.

Sites
50notOut - this appears to be a cricket site…?

50connect

Wanobe

mychumsclub

How to use your marketing budget effectively? users over 50 make 50% more errors on the site and take 50% longer to navigate.
Consider the USA car sites for Lexus and VW.  One is boringly efficient and the ohter designed for accolades but hard to take a decision based on the content.

This is not a niche market it is 1/3 of the population. 

The marvelous British Olympic Association has launched its Beijing website….. and boy oh boy, it has ALL the features that were cool in 2006 and NONE of the community uptake.

A list of handy functionality and features:

    * Home page with latest news - very up to date but every 'news' item is published by the BOA's press office
    * Podcasts - 10 uploaded.  THe most recent being 30th April (Taekwondo).  Also present - beach volleyball, diving, BMX, modern pentathlon, hockey, sailing, cycling.  Three uploaded from 29 - 30 April and then the previous ones all date from 2007
    * Videos - Leon Taylor form the synchronised diving team is pretty active having uploaded 6 videos since 29th April and Barry Middleton (hockey) has done one.
    * Athlete Diaries - grand list of 3 athletes: Euan Burton, Amy Terriere, and Denise Johns.  Who manage 4 entries between them.
    * Messages of support (5 displayed - but probably huge numbers in archive!)

Then there's the background info: racing schedule, qualification, currently selected athletes, stuff about the Games, about the sports (accurate, short and scraped from another website I've previously seen), a Gallery of photos by Getty Images from past Olympiads - there are five rowing photos displayed.

And so what is the opportunity that has been lost / missed?
Well, there could be

    * A link to a twitter feed (if No10 manages it, surely the BOA can???)
    * Upload your own photos from flickr while at the Games
    * links to athletes' own sites
    * Share travel plans with others
    * Desktop viewer for instant updates customised to your sporting interests
    * News feeds from other sources for your sports
    * Plan your viewing schedule tool linking to the TV guides for the UK terrestrial and satellite broadcasters
    * Live video streaming athlete interviews
    * Forum for real discussions

And what are they doing to promote the site?  I got an email about the 'launch' because I'm on a journalist list.  Has anyone else seen it advertised, linked to from ANYWHERE?  e.g. ARA website or FISA or your local newspaper….

How on earth do they expect the general public to build the excitement behind the team (and of course get taxpayers ready to buy lottery tickets to fund the next Olympics) if they can't promote the HELL out of this event.  We want to become a world showcase in four years time.

Who is advising these monkeys and can they please get an informed digital strategist/planner onto the team, fast.

Oh, did I forget to mention the handy "countdown" tool on the header bar which says how long we have to wait until the Games open?  Neat, but old technology!

Steve Moore has launched a new breakfast event, called One Morning, the launch was yesterday at the glamorous One Alfred Place business club.

Steve asked me to help out by chairing the three fabulous presentations - each one answering the question "What Happens Next?" for TV, book publishing and newspaper publishing.  I love doing this stuff… and being in the front row for three articulate and very persuasive presenters was a blast. 

I will summarise their arguments below - but for the New Biz Development readers of this blog, here are some short sharp actions

1 - Have you got any clients in publishing or broadcasting… send them here to read about what key organisations think will be happening in the future

2 - Do you ever put out campaigns on TV, newspaper or book publishing?  Send your account teams and planners here to think about what you will do in the future when those campaign methods no longer work. 

3 - come to the next event.  They are due monthly.  The sign up for this one is here … presume it will be updated.

Jeremy Ettinghausen is Head of
Digital Publishing at Penguin

The publishing world is polarising, books online and videos are leading the charge for technology versus traditional methods.  The scientific/technical/academic press is further along than consumer fiction. 

E-books started in 2001 and they still haven't really taken off 7 years later… but it may happen this year that they join the mainstream.

Books in print are not redundant yet.  But paid for digital content is increasing - the question is how much people will pay.  What is clear is that if your content is entertaining, valuable and drives a good user experience, there is an audience who will pay for it. 

However, reading habits are changing and how we view web pages affects our reading habits.  This is a non-linear process.

Looking forward, what is a publisher? Are they book makers and marketers and book distributors?  No more they are disseminators of entertainment and ideas.

A quote from Chris Heuer of the Conversation Group (at SXSW) "the Best stories will win". 

The vision is for the "integrated" book delivering image, sound, vision in multiple media.  I read, I get into my car and continue the story in audio….

Kevin Anderson is the Blogs Editor
at The Guardian

We are taking the tools that are disrupting our business model and applying them to our business.

New media does not support the traditional business model for newspapers because the young do not read newspapers.  We are not replacing old readers.

A news company needs a new vision and positioning and new audiences - not just for newspapers.

Industries need to identify their core market and focus on new markets in order to survive,  Open source tools enable editorial experimentation.  This is really important because at present it takes us 6 - 12 months for new product development.  We need to lower the cost and time of innovation. 

The business model is eroding advertising and uses outdated distribution and delivery methods.  WE need to innovate frequently and fast and 'fail forward' when the innovation cost is £0. 

Delivering into a community with connection is possible future for newspapers.

Matt Locke is a Commissioning Editor at Channel 4 

Befreo the mobile phone device we had more divisions between our public and private spaces.  Compare a phone box (private) with a mobile phone conversation (private or public?).

ATMs are the ultimate - a private transaction within a public space.  We develop body language to communicate our intention to be private while outside at an ATM.

The personal and social have replaced the private and public.  These are more fluid and the gestures and etiquette is different.  We need to understand this in broadcasting.,

What young teens find hard to understand about the world in 1990 is not the paucity of channel choice, it is the fact that in order to speak out publicly in 1990 you needed permission.  This is not needed today.  Talking in public is easy now.  

Key issues:

Data - being misused or mis-released.

Playfulness - find how technology can help your life and find play within it

Vernacular - what is the new language of who our relationships are with?

The goal for technologies that allow us to make the shift to personal and social.  And do it simply.l 

If you are interested or curious about what the Current Big Thing called Social Media is, who does it and what they are working on / talking about.  There are a wide range of great groups mainly based inLondon (sorry outatowners) that happen most weeks / months.

If you ahve a reason to come to town.  Try and drop into one or other of these.

Listen, Learn, Talk….

Chinwag event  NMK’s Beers & Innovation, Minibar, London Geek Dinners, MoMo London, Social Media Club, Creative Geeks, She Says, Swedish Beers, Open Coffee, Tuttle Club / Social Media Cafe, Girl Geek Dinners, Wiki Wednesdays, Next Wednesdays 

 And of course the BIMA events

Thanks to Dierdre of Chinwag for the summary list. 

Links to some sessions that I wanted to attend but couldn't / didn't.

10 Ways to Piss off a Blogger  Follow the other links from the piece for different attendees' take on it

The Art of Self-Branding and another one here    Wesabe is an interesting site because it's ostensibly a personal finance management tool but it has great VRM possibilities.  And slides here

Stories Games and Your Brand which Rachel Clarke was speaking at (she invited me to come over here) 

(or five huge egos at one table….)

Chris Heuer   Partner,   The Conversation Group
Tara Hunt   Co-Founder,   Citizen Agency
Jeremiah Owyang  Forrester
Deborah Schultz   Founder/Chief Catalyst,   deborahschultz.com
David Parmet   Owner,   Marketing Begins At Home LLC
Hugh MacLeod   Grand Pooh-Bah,   gapingvoid.com

How to market into community without appearing totally overbearing?
How do you build the community around what you are doing for your company?

TH - the more I gave away my expertise the more expertise I seemed to get.   this giving away stuff led me to give my time to creating new communities (barcamp and co-working). People open up their offices and lives to me when I do this.  Social capital - the value of the relationships and your reputation. We are raising our own social capital with what we are doing. online it is about how much you can give away - the best way to get your own stuff you should give more away to help others.  You need a patronage model of people in large companies who are prepared to pay for it.

CH - you need a way to sustain your life as well as giving things away free.  Tools creating for Web 2.0 is democratising and enabling good to be given back. 

HM - STormhoek - sent out 200 bottles of wine to bloggers who asked for it from Hugh's website.  And then they sponsored the geek dinners.I never thought of the drinkers as 'the stormhoek community' it was just wine drinkers - but the conversations happening around the wine were interesting.  Social gestures beget social objects and these beget social markers.  The new N95 and IPhone are territorial demarcations in the phone geek community.

DS - spend your marketing budget by getting out and meeting customers e.g. go to conferences and see what's happening at the fringe.  Find the customers who love you and talk to them.  In start-ups you have a low ratio of employees: customers don't put up an FAQ, use humans to answer questions.  This is smart marketing and customer support.  FAQs are for big organisations. (more…)