How we make websites
The interactive marketing juggernaut
The research says it all…interactive marketing is the new flavor to savor.
Forrester Research reports that by 2014, interactive marketing will make up 21% of our marketing spend (totaling $55 billion). That means less money on traditional media channels.
Technology is driving the bus here. New gadgets, gizmos and do-dads mean new ways to find the customer, and most importantly, the “influencers.”
…Different things to different enterprises, but keeping an eye on technology trends is where the “money’s at.”
Good tute on setting up a test server
http://www.adobe.com/newsletters/edge/december2009/articles/article2/index.html?trackingid=FBTRR
Some FREE basic CSS layout files…
I’ve posted some free, basic CSS layout files for anyone to download. Visit http://www.kevintheese.com/css
Microsoft will get a “social” life
I’ve heard whispers on the ‘net lately. If true, it’ll put a stamp on social media. If anyone questioned it before (though I can’t imagine too many people were), the social networks are ready to make their way in everyday, mainstream business.
Microsoft 2010 will integrate components of some social media into its Office package. I’ll write more on this later, but am curious what everyone thinks this’ll mean for communications.
Bill gets social
Bill decides to use new social site, Jellybean, to market his widget business.
“Hey, I heard about this great…!”
I often wonder how a marketer extends the reach of the phenomenon known as “word of mouth” communications. It’s universal and ubiquitous, and we all take part in it. It is such a free-spirit, hard to control. But, there are ways to extend its power.
Finding the “influencer” in a crowd can be like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Let’s briefly think about three kinds of influencers.
1. “Connectors” – they talk to many different people. They’re the folks with lots and lots of Facebook friends.
2. “Mavens” – they can provide lots of different information…for better or worse.
3. “Salespeople” – they have a knack for being good at convincing others.
Next time, I’ll look at how to grab hold of the “Connector” type.
Avoiding the perils of re-buffering
Online, streaming video is becoming a significant part of most organizations, from universities to corporations, and non-profits to health care. It’s important to make online video as smooth for the user as possible, and yet, optimize bandwidth.
Variable bandwidth can be a good solution. It means “feeding” the right video, depending on the user’s connection (dial-up, DSL, T1, T3…). Someone on a slower connection would be fed 128kbps versus someone on a faster connection, who might get the same content, but perhaps at 512kbps. This can be one solution for the ever-present issue of re-buffering.
Google Analytics tracks site search
If you have site search built into your web site, you probably want to know what your customers are swearching for. Google’s Analytics tool can be configured to track those searches by tracking your query. Horizon can help you set that up.
