TMC ThinkBowl

The Road to Prosperity

2011-02-23T11:04:00.000-05:00

The Force

2011-02-23T11:01:00.003-05:00

Hmmm...Eureka!!

2011-02-05T20:54:00.004-05:00

Does your Company Need a Chief Culture Officer?

2011-01-25T10:51:00.000-05:00

What is Good Design?

2010-09-28T11:01:00.008-04:00

Moods of Jamaica: A Facebook Bestseller?

2010-08-20T11:03:00.005-04:00

Ok. So we don't often plug books, or anything else for that matter on our blog. But this is an exception. Before I tell you why though, let me tell you what this book is about. Moods of Jamaica is a pictorial essay of the People and Culture of the beautiful and legendary island of Jamaica (shameless promotion). It captures in stunning and brilliant detail, the people, the dress, the rituals, and the symbols of this rich and colourful island that has given the world such names as Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff. Taken by some of the island's top photographers, it is both a collector's item, and a beginner's guide to Jamaica, and it's unique and diverse culture.

What makes this book an exception, is that it's only available for purchase on Facebook. Yes - that Facebook. Not known for it's e-commerce capabilities, until now, we thought it a great idea to use this new facebook e-commerce platform to give the world a bird's eye look at this beautiful island, we're proud to call home. There are only 400 copies of this book left, and they're going fast. So go get yours today on Facebook. Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Moods-of-Jamaica/143564195677784?ref=ts

Social Media Officer Anyone?

2010-07-20T08:28:00.002-04:00

There's no point denying the importance of Social Media. Not only is it everywhere, and everyone is using it, it is also where your customers spend most of their time. In fact, a recent survey showed that 87% of those online in Jamaica use Social Media, most of them , several times per day. So the question is, does your company need to hire a Social Media Officer? And if so, what should be their role? I found an interesting article on the subject in Business Week. Care to have a read?

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_30/b4188064364442.htm

In Comes Wolfram Alpha

2009-05-16T09:48:00.003-04:00

Yes, the name sounds like something from a science fiction novel, but this my friends, is no fiction. On Monday, British scientist Stephen Wolfram is going to go live with his Wolfram Alpha.

Wolfram Alpha is the world's first attempt to make all the world's knowledge computable and available online. 'Wolfram|Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. They aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. Thier goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries. If your'e into Market Research, or any type of data gathering for that matter, you'll love this. Take it for a spin and tell me what you think: http://www.wolframalpha.com

Age of Persuasion

2009-05-14T17:35:00.003-04:00

I found a very good podcast on Advertising done by CBC Radio in Canada. It's been on the radio for a few years I'm told, but only recently hit the net due to licensing requirements. It's often hilarious and always interesting as the host - Terry O'Reilly examines the cultural and sociological impact of advertising on modern life." Have a listen here: http://www.cbc.ca/ageofpersuasion/

State of Google: What it Means for you.

2009-05-08T11:56:00.003-04:00

Each year the founders of the most successful infomration portal, Google, release their annual State of Google letter. What does this mean for you? Well if you rely on the Internet as much as I do to access information, check email, watch videos, connect with new people all over the world, among other things, then you will find some eye-opening information. This year's letter is interesting for the sheer breadth of Google's current Internet interests. Find a copy on Google's Official Blog here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/2008-founders-letter.html

People who make Websites 2008 Survey.

2009-04-08T13:52:00.002-04:00

By far one of the best bits of reasearch I've come across about the world of the web, and those who help create it.

http://aneventapart.com/alasurvey2008/11.html

Consumer Psychology during a Recession

2009-03-27T00:06:00.001-04:00

Free Education For All..Finally

2009-03-26T15:18:00.010-04:00

By Paul Thompson.

In our line of business, we have to know a lot about a lot of things. The internet proves to be a great resource for this. In many instances I've found that some of those brilliant ideas(at least I think they are:) that pop into my head from time to time, have already been tried, tested and proven (or failed) by someone, somewhere else in the world. It is humbling at first, but once you become comfortable with the notion that everything is a copy of something, you begin to discover ways of putting a new twist to an old idea. Like this one I had a couple of years ago. A resource, a free online resource that allows the average person to attend pre-recorded University Lectures/ Seminars/Workshops. I've seen a couple of folks try it, but not how I had envisioned it. Until now. Youtube, yes that ubiquitous video sharing site, has introduced the world's largest Free Education Resource. They have compiled video lectures/seminars/workshops from some of the Top Universities in the world. Now anyone from anywhere, can at anytime go on to learn something about anything. I think this kind of education is useful, particularly for those of us who have to know a lot about a lot. While the site is still in its infancy, I think I like where it is headed. Check it out for yourself here http://youtube.com/edu

Social Media Marketing Industry Report

2009-03-24T17:34:00.001-04:00

I want you to take a look at: Social Media Marketing Industry Report

The Social Metropolis - Future or Fad?

2009-03-14T16:38:00.000-04:00

Blogs: What's the Big Deal?

2009-02-27T10:27:00.001-05:00

Asia Social Media Report 2008 (Can Brands Have A Social Life?)

2009-02-23T20:22:00.001-05:00

Social Media 101 - The Asian Case

Asia Social Media Report 2008 (Can Brands Have A Social Life?)

View more presentations from totallyguan. (tags: newmedia internet)

All about Google

2009-02-18T00:35:00.001-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

All about Google

View more presentations from Ouriel Ohayon. (tags: google strategy)

Social Media 101

2009-02-17T13:29:00.001-05:00

Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

TMC Online Lecture Series 1: Digital Culture

2009-01-27T13:05:00.008-05:00

By Paul Thompson

Over the next few months, I'll be sharing a series of lectures I have seen on my adventures across the web. This lecture is about how Youtube and Social Networking, have come to redefine the way people interact. I think it points a way in which we can direct our clients for taking advantage of New Media Opportunities.

A Small Survey

2009-01-11T19:55:00.000-05:00

Street Food - Kingston: An Al Jazeera Documentary

2008-12-29T19:02:00.000-05:00

Book Review: Groundswell

2008-12-29T13:45:00.004-05:00

Groundswell: A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.

Earlier this year the blog community was abuzz with the impending release of Groundswell - the "how to" book for all things social media. The book's purpose was to identify a system of planning and executing social media campaigns and tying them to measurable results, expectations were high.

Fast forward six months - has the Groundswell lived up to its promise?

Fundamentally, I enjoyed the book because it helps solidify social media as a valid and usable marketing/advertising strategy. The most useful portions of the book are the case studies detailing the trials and tribulations of various large companies attempting to enter the social media space (or being run over by it). Don't expect formal case study material - references are lacking and the studies themselves read as narratives as opposed to true analysis, however you may find some similarities between your experiences in social media and the foibles of those put under the microscope.

Authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff are veterans of Forrester Research, Inc. and it shows. They consistently lace the text with drivers to their website and blog, which is nice the first time but gets very old very fast. Additionally, the entire Groundswell strategy hinges on research, which although important, is certainly not the best solution for social media execution in every scenario.

Functionally, Groundswell delivers a very basic understanding of what social media is and how to use it in some very specific situations. In terms of providing a framework for planning, measuring, and executing a social media campaign Li and Bernoff simply suggest that through proper research and understanding of the target audience your strategy will usually succeed; a simplistic view of a very complicated process in my opinion.

In addition, Groundswell does not provide a true tool or metric for comparing campaigns against competitor initiatives, nor does it provide a quantifiable method for execution. The reader is simply told that each client is so unqiue you must make a significant investment in research up front or risk missing the mark and getting steamrolled by masses of dissatisfied or unconvinced customers.

If you are completely new to social media or need a good understanding of what a properly executed social media campaign looks like, this book may assist you in that endeavor. Take care to not get lost in the process of research, research, and more research.

Book Review by NICHOLAS E. KINPORTS

Stanley: The Ring-Maker

2008-12-23T10:22:00.010-05:00

By: Paul Thompson

We shook hands yesterday. The 80-something year old gripped my hand firmly as I wished him all the best on his retirement. Then with his trademark stance, he leaned his shoulders back, gave a soft reassuring smile, and hobbled away humming a song as he left me standing in the corridor, thinking. For over twenty years Stanley painstakingly and meticulously clipped our newspaper ads and then carefully glued them into the large books for our company library.

At last week's annual company chow-down, Stanley was recognized by our CEO for his 22 years of service to TMC. But as it turns out, both gentlemen have a relationship that spans more than a generation. As the boss recounted their story in his usual calm, silky tone, he alluded to the fact that Stanley at one point in his life was Jamaica's finest Ring-Maker. He lived close to the famous Dragon Gym, home to some of Jamaica's finest boxers. I think that as a young man, because of his small gait, he probably thought the best way to get close to the ring, was to build it, and so he did. Some of the major prize fights that happened in Jamaica had Stanley's input in building the ring.

In a curious way, the ring-maker and the ring-announcer have an unspoken relationship. When the ring-announcer goes out to open the main event, he does so with all confidence that the ring over which he presides is built well enough to withstand the rampage of the gladiators who will enter it. And so Stanley, as an archivist here at TMC played the role of a ring-maker. His duty was to ensure that the Ring-Announcer at all times had a record of the work produced. Stanley understood how important his role was in the main event.

As I watched him shuffle down the corridor it occurred to me that while my own role is an important one, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. In this circus called advertising each person, in every department is a ring-maker, because once the ring-announcer steps up to make the final pitch, he must be confident that the ring over which he presides is sturdy, and able to resist even the toughest battering. 2009 may well be one of those really tough match ups, but if I've learnt anything from Stanley, its that as long as everyone plays their role, nothing is insurmountable.

Thank you Maas Stanley...Walk Good.

Photography by Sabriya Simon

Jamaican Advertising via Web Video - Sell Off!

2008-12-14T10:40:00.004-05:00

Online: The future of Public Education?

2008-12-11T19:53:00.002-05:00

Students have option to gain inbox space

Section: NEWS
Originally published: 12/10/08 at 11:51 PM EST
Last update: 12/10/08 at 11:48 PM EST

University Computing Services is offering students more e-mail options with larger inboxes.Sarah LaChat, coordinator of technology documentation and support services said, UCS constructed a program during the summer which gave students the option to switch from the Ball State University e-mail service to the Google Apps and Microsoft Exchange Lab services.

The original Ball State e-mail service has 50 megabytes of inbox storage. Google Apps provides seven gigabytes and Microsoft Exchange Lab offers 10 gigabytes of inbox storage, she said.

The new programs offer other features including chat, mobile phone e-mail access and online document storage.

The new e-mail accounts are lifetime accounts which allow students to keep ties with the university after graduation and have a professional e-mail account for resumés, LaChat said.

Google and Windows provided the e-mail services for free, she said.

"This is something we are really excited about," LaChat said. "Students can get a ton more space and still have a Ball State account."

Students can sign up for new e-mail accounts by going to www.bsu.edu/ucs.

See original source: media.www.bsudailynews.com

Facebook - What's the Big Deal?

2008-12-09T07:57:00.002-05:00

These days more and more companies are using social media to build influence on the web. It's challenging. Many fail or give-up because social media sites possess a formidable barrier to entry, one designed to keep hawkish salespeople at bay. Web 2.0 or community sites reward genuineness just as they toss commercial behavior into the spam bin.

So how can a business build a successful non-commercial "commercial" presence in social media? By being active, genuine, creative and, most of all, keeping the business angles on the back-burner. Here is an example of Facebook strategy for businesses just starting out in social media.

A Facebook Social Media Strategy

Facebook is a closed membership community built for people, not businesses. If your account does not have a person's name as the user name or if they discover that you are not a real person, Facebook will delete your account.

Messages are the simplest and most common form of communication on Facebook. They occur in different formats and different places They can be one-to-many communications or one-to-one. Most messages come in the form of:

Personal updates
When you place a message on your profile it appears on all of your Facebook friends' Facebook | Friends pages (status updates, notices). If you write on somebody's wall it will appear on all of their friend's home pages.
Group messages
If you are the administrator of a group with 5,000 or fewer members you can send a message to all of the members. These are great because they go into people's personal inboxes.
Event invitations
Members can send RSVP style event invitations to their friends and to members of groups that they administer.

Hopefully by now you realize that :

The first key to successful push promotion on Facebook is to have lots of friends.

The second key to Facebook success is to create anticipation.

Facebook members, especially the popular and influential ones, receive a crushing stream of messages. If people do not look forward to your messages they will skip over them or quickly forget them. It's difficult to get around this by using frequency and multiple impressions because it will earn you a reputation as a spammer.

The best way for a business to build a following from scratch on Facebook

Identify groups that contain your prospect or customer base or targets

Match your industry
Match your niche
Focus on systems or technologies that are prominent in your own business or industry

Identify the leaders and key people in these groups and solicit them for friendship with custom crafted personal messages

Spend a week following your new Facebook friends' messages

Keep track of the people they engage with.
Note what they converse about.
Note their status messages.
Note which topics and styles of messages seem to drive the most interest and response.
Note the things they do NOT write about.

Join the conversation

Update your status before 9am, at noon and at 4pm each day.
Write noncommercial messages that fit within the tenor of the larger conversation. Begin with three or four each day and spaced apart. If a message thread picks-up popularity then respond with the same frequency as you would in a natural conversation. Otherwise hold back. You are building goodwill, not prominence.

Add friends

Draft a message to ask for friendships, one that sounds personable, and keep it handy.
Request friendship from other people who converse frequently with your Facebook friends. Don't try to add everyone all at once. Pace it out.
Approve all requests for friendship from others.

Become a leader

Leadership is within your grasp, just wait until after you become accepted as a regular.
Write articles on your own website's blog, articles that extend and expand on topics from Facebook. Then, message your Facebook friends with a link.
Celebrate other members' news. Congratulate them and retell their story to your own friends.
Stay out of arguments. Avoid taking sides.

Get creative

Take your Facebook conversation to other Web 2.0 platforms. For example, you could tell people that you'll be on twitter for an hour and welcome live messages.
Hold an event offline. If lots of people in your Facebook community are going to a conference or will be in the same place at the same time, host a dinner or a party or a game or an activity where everyone can get together.
Hold a contest. You could give an iPhone to a random person who adds you as a Facebook friend or subscribes to your blog during the next week.

Now You Can Market your message

Hype your business indirectly. Never tell people your product or service is great and that they should try it.
Tell people what you are working on and why you think it's so cool.
Let people know you are excited.
Drop updates and insights. Make it sound like you are telling people insider information.
Remember, Never sell directly!!! You're more savvy than that.
If you absolutely must sell then make it sound absolutely genuine and not resemble a sales pitch.

NOT YE OLDE BANNERS!

2008-12-03T11:27:00.003-05:00

Internet advertising will be relatively unscathed in the economic downturn

AT THE beginning of the year Jeff Zucker, the boss of NBC Universal, a big television and film company, told an audience of TV executives that their biggest challenge was to ensure "that we do not end up trading analogue dollars for digital pennies". He meant that audiences were moving online faster than advertisers, thus leaving media companies short-changed. Now, near the end of the year, the situation looks even worse, as the recession threatens to turn even the analogue dollars into pennies. Will this hasten the shift towards internet advertising, or will it decline too? more...

Not an Easy Road - But it was Fun!

2008-11-18T11:37:00.001-05:00

A Causal Link Between Creativity & Play?

2008-11-16T15:40:00.002-05:00

When the Going Gets Tough

2008-11-16T11:05:00.004-05:00

Given the looming Global economic crisis, it is highly probable that management is worried about sales forecasts and thinking about cutting Marketing budgets.

Marketers usually respond in three ways:

1. Shorten "the list" -- Eliminate selected marketing activities until spending does not exceed the new budget.

2. Go into "sales support mode" -- Do whatever it takes to help a few reps close a few deals.

3. Reassess the "marketing strategy"-- Ensure that the company is targeting the market segments that are most likely to buy its products during an economic downturn.

The first two responses appear safe and might buy enough time to survive a short-term reduction in business activity. But if the pundits are right about the severity of the current economic situation, marketers who choose to do what's asked rather than what is needed are putting their jobs and companies at risk.

We can cancel all of the marketing activities we want -- when times get tough internal stakeholders will still question the value of whatever remains. And when a marketer stops to focus on a single line, he is trading the value of that line against the work he could be doing to improve the performance of the entire range.

Marketers frequently ask how often they need to revise their insights into their buyers. The simple answer is that buyers' problems don't change that often. While you are obsessively focused on the potential of your latest new product, your buyer's big concerns haven't changed a bit. In fact, it takes a significant external event to change a buyer's priorities and challenges.

This economic crisis presents a new and far more potent example of a problem that marketing can solve. It will be nice when the details of this financial downturn can be retold as a story that happened once upon a time. But we're not there yet. Marketers have a choice to make about how this story impacts their own careers and companies. Those who are proactive internally and grounded in their buyers' realities have the best chance to create a happily-every-after ending.

What did I say about watching your Words!

2008-11-15T16:59:00.006-05:00

I came across a pretty interesting article about the future of the internet by Clifford Stoll who wrote the piece for Newsweek in 1995. I wonder what old Cliff is doing these days? Here are a few of his choice words:

“Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.

Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth is no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.”

“Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we’ll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Internet. Uh, sure.”

“We’re told that multimedia will make schoolwork easy and fun. Students will happily learn from animated characters while taught by expertly tailored software… These expensive toys are difficult to use in classrooms and require extensive teacher training.”
"Then there’s cyber business. We’re promised instant catalog shopping–just point and click for great deals. We’ll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obsolete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet–which there isn’t–the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople.”
How is that for putting your foot in your mouth?

How to Build Online Communities

2008-11-13T15:07:00.001-05:00

Watch your Words!

2008-10-09T13:56:00.004-04:00

Grab their Attention

The most important thing to remember about copywriting content for a website is that the reader is more scanning than reading when they first get to your website. Therefore, you must grab their attention so they do not leave your site and go to a competitor.

Once you have their attention your goal is to direct the reader’s behavior. You must realize they can leave your site with a click of the mouse. You are always writing with the purpose of directing their behavior to want to stay on your website and learn about your products and services.

Get the Reader to Take Action

In the same vein, you want them to take action. It could be to make a purchase online, fill out a form, and call you, whatever. If you are not keeping their attention and directing them to a call for action, they really have no reason to stay on your website.

Sell Benefits, Not Features

Sell benefits not features. People want to know what you can do for them not what you are trying to sell them. You must also write in short paragraphs of no more then two or three sentences because it is easier for people to assimilate small pieces of information at a time. The objective is to get them to drill down deeper and deeper into your website for more and more information until they realize you have what it is they need and/or want.

What people want to know

What do you do?

What benefit can you offer them?

Why should they choose your service or product?

What does it cost?

How can they contact you?

Where are you located?

Write for Search Engines

Most people think writing for search engines is just about keywords. Search engines are looking for relevant copy. Part of writing relevant copy is having keywords that help the search engines recognize relevant copy but a paragraph of keywords will not fool Google.

Content Management - First things First

2008-10-06T16:41:00.003-04:00

The first step to creating your site whether it be a personal home page, a business intranet site, or a website for your business, is planning. Many developers don't write down their ideas or don't plan for the future. Ever been to a large site and had a "We are currently down due to maintenance" page? That's because they didn't plan on their site becoming so big and they weren't equipped to deal with the increase in content.

Step One - Content Types

Write down the types of content you will have for your site. Remember just because you only have a few articles so far that doesn't mean that you can't expand to tutorials, news, image-galleries, forums and the whole shebang. The secret is to plan for the future!

Step Two - Content Within Types

Once you have a list of the kinds of content you'd like in your site, think of the sections for each content type, for example if you sell shoes, in Articles you might like to have articles about shoes or articles about what's happening in the shoe business at the moment. For each content type write out your ideas.

Step Three - Directory Structure

Now that you have a list of content you could quite easily create a structure from those. Many sites also include and Images directory and a Scripts directory or cgi-bin. Create your directory structure on your hard drive first, before you even think about making files.

Step Four: Getting To Work

Start writing those articles! Or if you'd prefer start writing down article ideas. Ideas are the most important thing in any site, no ideas=no content it's as simple as that. Now you have a structure to work from and if/when your content increases you can easily create more sub-categories to deal with it. Now you create your content and your site working within the structure and hope that your visitors will read your content. Need help planning and developing your content? Contact The Marketing Counselors admin@tmarkc.com

Converting Visitors into Customers - The Basics

2008-10-05T12:41:00.005-04:00

Whether you're selling products or services, there are several basic Web site conversion strategies you can employ to help boost sales and maximize profitability from your existing traffic:

Metrics and Analytics

Define your Web site's objectives. For instance, do you want to improve conversions? Increase your customer loyalty? Fine-tune your e-mail campaigns? Then focus on one element at a time.

Get the right tools in place so you can continuously measure results and gain insight into your visitors' behaviour. Google Analytics is a good starting point, and there's no cost to register.

Web Copywriting

Feature concise and compelling web copy that clearly outlines the benefits you have to offer customers. If your product or service will make customers richer or healthier, tell them so, and explain how. Benefit-driven, relevant sales copy is the quickest and most effective way to engage online visitors.

Follow up the benefits with strong calls to action. You might be conducting business in cyberspace, but some ‘old school' rules still apply, including the classic, "ask for the sale."

Eliminate any remaining doubts or concerns by showcasing testimonials, guarantees and privacy policies. Special note: many consumers view testimonials as suspect, especially on the Web, so be sure to include full names, titles and business information to establish credibility.

Usability and Design

Good design puts function before form. The most beautiful site on the Web might be nice on the eyes, but it's useless if it's not achieving its objectives. Ensure all your design elements promote usability to help users complete intended tasks. Frustrate your visitors and they'll take a trip to your competitors, in two clicks or less.

Your site's architecture and menus must be standardized and intuitive so users can easily find what they're looking for. Navigation should comprise categories that make sense, and not go too deep. If visitors need to take time to learn how to use your Web site, consider them gone.

Process

Clearly inform and instruct your visitors on desired actions and options every step of the way. Leave guesswork out of the equation.

Eliminate unnecessary steps in the checkout and payment processes. The fewer pages and clicks, the better. A recent Marketing Sherpa study revealed online shopping carts are abandoned almost 60 per cent of the time due to poor processes and designs. Meanwhile, web analytics service providers like Fireclick report cart abandonment rates as high as 82 per cent. That's a lot of lost sales for any business.

Offer customers as many payment options as possible, particularly those that are being offered by your competitors.

Conversion is Everything!

If you drive the right traffic to your site, convey and offer value, and make it easy for visitors to take the desired actions, your business should be enjoying a respectable conversion rate.

Convert prospects by eliminating resistance and roadblocks. Clearly tell visitors how they'll benefit from your product or service, ask for the sale and make it easy for them to take action.

Ask about our Web-Design and Copywriting Services here: admin@tmarkc.com

Getting Online - Where to Start

2008-09-30T17:56:00.000-04:00

So you need a website. Not a problem. Let’s start with certain basics. You may already know some or all of what follows but it doesn’t hurt to reinforce it. The internet is a huge network of computer networks that transmit data. Basically it is a network of networks. When you view a website or a web page, you are viewing information that resides on a computer (or server) that is part of that network. The owner of that computer is usually a web hosting company.

To have a website you will need a domain name and a web hosting account. Building a website is like building a house. The domain name is similar to your house number and street address. It's your unique address on the internet (i.e. www.mycompany.com, mycommunity.org, myschool.edu, etc.). To build a house you need a physical location. In other words, you need a plot of land to build your house. The web hosting account provides you with space or real estate for your website. For example when you upload pictures or videos or audio files to your website, you are uploading those files to a computer. The web hosting account will give you the necessary space needed to store your files and of course your website. Note that you can have domain name without having a website associated with it. The domain name simply gives you the right to that specific identifier. Many people buy domain names and don't use them. Here are key things to consider when building your website:

Secure a Domain Name
A domain name is your unique address on the Internet. You can register a domain name by going to www.networksolutions.com or www.register.com You can reserve a domain name even if you don't have a website. If you find a name that you really like you should consider reserving that name before someone else does.

Get a Website Hosting Account
The web hosting account provides you with space or real estate for your website. To publish your site to the Internet you will need physical space. You can also host your website on your computer at home if you have the necessary expertise. This is not recommended, however; website hosting should be done by professionals.

Choose a Website Design
Your website design is basically how your website looks and feels. The images, colors and layout are all key parts of your website design. The best looking websites are usually designed by professional website designers and or graphics artists. If you want your website to have a really nice design, you should have a professional website designer or graphics artist design it for you.

Setup Email Accounts
You should setup email accounts that have your domain name. Email accounts that have your domain name make your business look more professional and credible. For example info@yourcompany.com or jane@yourcompany.com looks more professional then jane@hotmail.com.

Development and Maintenance of Your Website
Many of today's websites are dynamic. This means that the content is generated by an application based on certain rules or requirements. Dynamic websites are typically updated regularly. To make your site dynamic you can hire or enlist the help of a computer programmer who specializes in website programming. You can also use Content Management Systems (CMS) to build and maintain your website. Many content management systems allow you to make helpful updates to your website without having to know HTML or any programming languages. You can also use smaller custom applications to enhance your website. For example, you can add a blog or a calendar to your website to make it more interactive. We encourage you to make your website interactive because this will encourage visitors to return.

Other Things to Consider

Search Engine Optimization
After you build your website, you want people to visit it. To boost traffic to your website you can try a search engine optimization tool. You can find information on search engine optimization by doing a Google search or by visiting sites such as Network Solutions (www.networksolutions.com)

Ecommerce / Merchant Accounts
To buy and sell things from your website you will need a merchant account. The merchant account allows you to process credit card transactions on your website. A cost effective merchant account solution for many people is PayPal (www.paypal.com). You can also find ecommerce and merchant account solutions on Network Solutions (www.networksolutions.com)

SSL Certificates
SSL (secure socket layer) certificates allow you to securely process transactions. Basically SSL encrypts the data that is transmitted to your website by the person visiting your website. Whenever you ask visitors to enter personal or sensitive data in a form you should make sure that your website uses SSL.

Simply Beautiful

2008-08-10T19:59:00.001-04:00

Google Media Planner Lauched

2008-08-02T14:44:00.001-04:00

Search engine giant Google has launched yet another tool for their advertisers to pick the right website to run their campaigns on.

The company introduced a new service named Google Ad Planner.

Google stated in a help document that this service can be used to:

Define audiences by demographics and interests.
Search for websites relevant to your audience.
Access aggregated statistics on the number of unique visitors, page views, and other data for millions of websites from over 40 countries.
Create lists of websites where you’d like to advertise and store them in a media plan.
Generate aggregated website statistics for your media plan.

The launch means that Google is now a direct rival to marketing firms like comScore, Nielsen Online, Hitwise and Quantcast. Checkout: Google Ad Planner

WAN 2008: People will pay for web content, says Google

2008-06-03T12:04:00.001-04:00

June 2, 2008 3:51 PM

Nikesh Arora, president Google for Europe, Middle East and Africa and vice president Google UK, believes that the web economy will evolve just like the print economy - and that means people will pay for content online, writes Stephen Brook.

"The business model on the web is going to be no different to the business model today," Arora tells the audience at the World Editors Forum at the World Association of Newspapers 2008 conference.

People pay for books, they receive free information, supported by advertising, they pay for premium content, such as Bloomberg terminals. "The web will be no different....There's going to be a spectrum," he said.

Arora hinted that the current situation of a mass news on the web could eventually change. "There's some degree of commoditisation on the web, when that happens, price falls." And in such an environment, Arora says, media organisations will need "more readers and more viewers" to bring in profits.

He didn't say it, but does this imply that there could be a great content cleanout in the future, with unprofitable news providers going to the wall?

Arora talks about the current abundance of blogs, and you get the feeling that this, too, will not last. He sees the process just like American Idol, with a small number attracting a large audience and rising to the top.

He predicts that newspapers will unbundle on the web because the platform suits specialists. The 1.3 billion people connected online in the world today will rise to perhaps 3 billion people in the next five years. This will be a great opportunity because content is easy to distribute online. But the great challenge facing newspapers is the "unbundling of the package". While a traditional newspaper contains news, sport, arts, features, that is not the future. "Today I find different specialist places to get that information." Newspaper will have to solve the problem of being a specialist to many on the web.

He throws out another challenge to newspaper brands who rely on their status of trust and credibility. "The challenge you have in internet world do you dilute your brand if you engage with readers?"

He then answers his own question: "This is not a generation that wants to be told, this is a generation that wants to participate in opinion forming."

Courtesy: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/greenslade/2008/06/wan_2008_google_says_people_wi.html

Will it Fly?

2008-06-02T16:42:00.004-04:00

By Paul Thompson.

The Advertising Agencies Association of Jamaica (AAAJ), in association with The Gleaner Company Ltd, put on a one-day creative advertising seminar titled 'Press Ads that Fly off the Page' at The Jamaica Pegasus.

The seminar was a great idea, and it did bring to the fore some of the ideas which have been floating around in our heads here for a while. Earl Wilkinson and Jacob 'Jake' Kelderman, the main presenters, gave similar gleanings into the new world of newspaper advertising, and at points marvelled us with some of the more off the wall executions coming out of Europe and Latin America.

Earl Wilkinson, in his memorable "You Can't do that" segment of the presentation gave some pretty novel executions he saw in places he's been to, and in effect challenged the audience to begin to think further beyond the traditional.

I guess that while I'm excited about the possibilities, I'm also concerned about the realities, particularly how receptive our media partners will be to the kinds of ideas that came out in the seminar. How will they be facilitated? What quality issues will arise? What of Billing issues, how will that be reconciled? But I guess more importantly, are we ready for that kind of revolution? I know for a fact that many of the younger professionals in the agencies are very receptive to these new notions, certainly, we Generation Y'ers are just itching to get going on these ideas.

Of course, our enthusiasm is often tempered by the economic realities that exist , and we have to appreciate that nothing comes before its time. However, I will venture to suggest that we are experiencing an unprecedented media revolution, and as our audiences become younger, our advertising must reflect the current of the age, which is dare I say, less conservative than we've become accustomed to. I applaud the Gleaner's official declaration of their willingness to pursue these new ad-ventures, and I think I speak on behalf of the majority of us, when I say - Bring on the revolution!

What is left to be seen is how quickly, and how well wer'e able to adapt. If nothing else, Mr Wilkinson's take on the 'new media revolution' confirms our own findings here at TMC and suggests that we are headed in the right direction. I think the timing of the presentation was excellent, and BIG ups to the good folks at the Gleaner and the AAAJ who made it possible. Great Job!

Book Review: The Ten Faces of Innovation

2008-05-29T15:50:00.003-04:00

"We've all been there. The pivotal meeting where you push forward a new idea or proposal you're passionate about. A fast-paced discussion leads to an upwelling of support that seems about to reach critical mass. And then, in one disastrous moment, your hopes are dashed when someone weighs in with those fateful words: "Let me just play Devil's Advocate for a minute..." (taken from The Ten Face of Innovation - Introduction)

The role of the devil's advocate is nearly universal in business today. It allows individuals to step outside themselves and raise questions and concerns that effectively kill new projects and ideas, while claiming no personal responsibility. Nothing is more potent in stifling innovation as Tom Kelley points out in The Ten Faces of Innovation. The book gives a thoughtful psycho-social reading on the the different characters that make up any organization, and how they contribute to innovation, given the nature of markets today, and the inter-connectedness which no doubt determines the success of any 21st century company. Which type do you most identify with?

The Learning Personas

The Anthropologist is rarely stationary. Rather, this is the person who ventures into the field to observe how people interact with products, services, and experiences in order to come up with new innovations. The Anthropologist is extremely good at reframing a problem in a new way, humanizing the scientific method to apply it to daily life. Anthropologists share such distinguishing characteristics as the wisdom to observe with a truly open mind; empathy; intuition; the ability to "see" things that have gone unnoticed; a tendency to keep running lists of innovative concepts worth emulating and problems that need solving; and a way of seeking inspiration in unusual places.

The Experimenter celebrates the process, not the tool, testing and retesting potential scenarios to make ideas tangible. A calculated risk-taker, this person models everything from products to services to proposals in order to efficiently reach a solution. To share the fun of discovery, the Experimenter invites others to collaborate, while making sure that the entire process is saving time and money.

The Cross-Pollinator draws associations and connections between seemingly unrelated ideas or concepts to break new ground. Armed with a wide set of interests, an avid curiosity, and an aptitude for learning and teaching, the Cross-Pollinator brings in big ideas from the outside world to enliven their organization. People in this role can often be identified by their open mindedness, diligent note-taking, tendency to think in metaphors, and ability to reap inspiration from constraints.

The Organizing Personas

The Hurdler is a tireless problem-solver who gets a charge out of tackling something that's never been done before. When confronted with a challenge, the Hurdler gracefully sidesteps the obstacle while maintaining a quiet, positive determination. This optimism and perseverance can help big ideas upend the status quo as well as turn setbacks into an organization's greatest successes—despite doomsday forecasting by shortsighted experts.

The Collaborator is the rare person who truly values the team over the individual. In the interest of getting things done, the Collaborator coaxes people out of their work silos to form multidisciplinary teams. In doing so, the person in this role dissolves traditional boundaries within organizations and creates opportunities for team members to assume new roles. More of a coach than a boss, the Collaborator instills their team with the confidence and skills needed to complete the shared journey.

The Director has an acute understanding of the bigger picture, with a firm grasp on the pulse of their organization. Subsequently, the Director is talented at setting the stage, targeting opportunities, bringing out the best in their players, and getting things done. Through empowerment and inspiration, the person in this role motivates those around them to take center stage and embrace the unexpected.

The Building Personas

The Experience Architect is that person relentlessly focused on creating remarkable individual experiences. This person facilitates positive encounters with your organization through products, services, digital interactions, spaces, or events. Whether an architect or a sushi chef, the Experience Architect maps out how to turn something ordinary into something distinctive—even delightful—every chance they get.

The Set Designer looks at every day as a chance to liven up their workspace. They promote energetic, inspired cultures by creating work environments that celebrate the individual and stimulate creativity. To keep up with shifting needs and foster continuous innovation, the Set Designer makes adjustments to a physical space to balance private and collaborative work opportunities. In doing so, this person makes space itself one of an organization's most versatile and powerful tools.

The Storyteller captures our imagination with compelling narratives of initiative, hard work, and innovation. This person goes beyond oral tradition to work in whatever medium best fits their skills and message: video, narrative, animation, even comic strips. By rooting their stories in authenticity, the Storyteller can spark emotion and action, transmit values and objectives, foster collaboration, create heroes, and lead people and organizations into the future.

The Caregiver is the foundation of human-powered innovation. Through empathy, they work to understand each individual customer and create a relationship. Whether a nurse in a hospital, a salesperson in a retail shop, or a teller at an international financial institution, the Caregiver guides the client through the process to provide them with a comfortable, human-centered experience.

The Ten Faces of Innovation offers a rigorous intellectual journey whose ultimate value will be determined, entirely, by the nature and extent of innovative thinking which each reader achieves...and who then uses the breakthrough insights to drive creativity throughout his or her own organization.

25 Styles of Blogging

2008-05-28T15:16:00.002-04:00

SlideShare Link

Is the Creative Internet Just About Dead?

2008-05-22T11:10:00.001-04:00

Oxford University researcher Jonathan Zittrain points out in his latest book, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It (Yale University Press). After spending several years investigating the social and political rules that govern the Internet -- and spearheading the Net censorship tracking project OpenNet Initiative -- Zittrain looks back on the Net's development and predicts a dystopian future. What's chilling is that his dystopia is already coming to pass. Read More...

The Differences Between Print and Web Design (Revisited)

2008-05-21T13:02:00.000-04:00

SmashingMagazine recently featured an article on award-winning print designs and reopened the age-old discussion of print versus web design. Of course, any designer knows that design is design whatever the format but transitioning between these two seemingly similar media is not as simple as it would seem.

Both print and web design are of course concerned with readability, hierarchy of information and other essential elements common to most kinds of design (even beyond print and web). SmashingMagazine also adds that grid-based design and a liberal use of white space are parallel trends in both contemporary print and web design.
Read More...

42 Awesome Business Card Designs (With Links to 100s More)

2008-05-21T13:00:00.000-04:00

In today’s tech-oriented world of short attention spans it is more important than ever to make a compelling first impression. A brilliant business card that speaks to your profession, serves some unusual function or that transforms into something else can be a great way to grab attention and inspire those you meet. Organized by category here are 42 extremely creative business card designs. Some of these are old, some new, but all are still amazing examples of out-of-the-box thinking in business card design.
Read More....

Internet Marketing 101 - Terms you should know.

2008-05-12T13:58:00.000-04:00

Very shortly, you are bound to come up on some so-called Internet Marketing expert who is likely to throw terms at you in an an attempt to render you speechless. Not anymore, with an understanding of the following terms, you can at least be conversant with their language and be able to ask some serious questions of your own. This is the first installment of a series of posts I will call Internet Marketing 101: The Basics.

Terms you Should Know:

ACL Average Conversion Latency â€“ The time it takes from initial click to converting sale. If a visitor to your website is logged at 12:00pm and purchases your product and 1:00pm, then the latency time of conversion was 1 hour. If you average out this time across all your sales, you will know how long it takes your site to convince someone to use your product or service.

AMM Affiliate Marketing Management â€“ A marketing manager who advertises for their client using commission junction, link share, or private in house network.

AOV Average Order Value â€“ The average net income of a numbers or sales over a given period of time. This number can then be used to determine the expected spend of each person who orders and allow you insight to average profit margins per sale.

B2B Business To Business â€“ If you or your client specifically targets commercial businesses as their clients, then you are selling in a B2B marketplace.

B2C Business To Consumer â€“ If you or your client specifically targets end users and home owners as clients, then you are selling in a B2C marketplace.

CPA Cost Per Acquisition â€“ How much money you have to spend to make 1 sale. If you have a CPA of $10, then this means for every $10 you invest into marketing you can expect to have 1 sale. This can now allow you insight as to how much you have to spend to make X amount of dollars.

CPC Cost Per Click â€“ How much you pay a venue, such as Google Adwords or Yahoo Panama, for each and every single click they send to your website. If your campaigns average CPC is $1.38, then this means if you get 100 clicks, you will pay the search engine company $138.00.

CPS Cost Per Sale â€“ The same as CPA, but Cost per sale is a more laymanâ€™s term.

CR Conversion Ratio â€“ How many conversions, sales, or acquisitions you can expect to receive based on a percentage of clicks to your site. If your CR for January was 1.25%, then this means if you had 10,000 clicks from a search venue, you would expect to have 125 sales.

COR Cost Over Revenue â€“ An analysis of how much revenue was made for how much money was spent on marketing. The Lower the COR the better. If you have a COR of 25% this means you would spend $25 for every $100 in gross revenue.

CSE Comparison Shopping Engine â€“ These are sites such as pricegrabber, Nextag, and Bizrate.

CSF Critical Success Factors â€“ This is the analytical performance review of a website and the minimums needed to keep an internet marketing campaign successful. Your benchmarked CSF might be a CTR of 1.25%, CPC of $2.35, CR of 1.35% with an AOV of $238.68. You now know exactly what it takes to stay profitable, and you can now find ways to manipulate these numbers in your favor to make higher profits.

CSS Cascade Style Sheet â€“ This is used in website design, and maintenance to reduce the file sizes of websites and reduce the amount of tag attributes, repetition and / or memorization.

CTR Click Through Ratio â€“ This is the percentage of impressions an ad gets before someone will click on it. If you have a CTR of 1.25% then for every 1,000 impressions your ad gets, you can expect 12.5 people to click on it.

CPM Cost Per Mille (Thousand) â€“ Some venues charge, or pay, for every thousand ad impressions that are shown. If you are paying, or charging, a CPM of $5, then you will pay, or charge your client, for every thousand impressions an ad gets. If an ad is displayed 10,000 times on a website, it is going to cost the advertiser $50.

eCPM Effective Cost Per Mille (Thousand) â€“ This figure is used to determine how much money you make for every 1,000 impressions an ad is displayed. If you sell a product and pocket $50 from each sale, and it took 50,000 impression to make that sale, then your eCPM is $1. You make $1 for every thousand impressions. ($50 / 50,000 * 1,000 = $eCPM)

EPC Earning Per Click - This figure is used to determine how much money you make for every click on your ads. If you received 100,000 clicks on your ads last month and you made $5,000 then your EPC is $0.05. ($5,000 / 100,000 = $EPC)

FFA Free For All Free For All is an old advertising technique that allowed you to place a link to your website on a page for free, usually listed with thousands of other websites, in hopes for both increased search rankings and traffic.

FTP File Transfer Protocol Many times you need to upload and download images, csv files, zip files or webpages to a website. Using an FTP program makes the transfer of the file really easy.

HTML Hyper Text Markup Language Webpage are developed using tags such as

, . HTML can be used to create really simple websites or it can be used in conjunction with PHP or ASP to develop really advanced websites such as wordpress.

HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol This is a communications protocol that allows you to transfer an html, asp, php or other file format from either an intranet or the World Wide Web, to a browser for reading.

HTTPS - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure â€“ The same as HTTP, but using encryption software so that nobody can intercept, and read what you just transferred from halfway across the world.

IM Instant Messaging This is any one of the chatting interfaces such as AOL, Yahoo or MSN. It allows for quicker communication than email. I highly recommend using it to keep in touch with your networking buddies.

KDA Keyword Density Analyzer This is a program that will scan a webpage and return the frequency of words used on a page. Many SEO people will use it to ensure a specific keyword, or set of keywords, has dominance over a webpage so that when a search engine spider visits, it will not be confused on the topic of the page.

KEI - Keyword Effectiveness Index This figure lets you know how competitive a keyword is. You take the number of searches a keyword gets per month, and divide that by how many pages show up for that keyword. If the keyword, â€œbloggerâ€, gets 10,000 searches per month, and 1 million pages show up in the search results, then you have a KEI of 0.01. The higher the KEI, the more popular your keywords are, and the less competition they have. That means that you might have a better chance of getting to the top position.

LSA Latent Semantic Analysis Search Engines are getting smarter, and using an analysis process known as LSI. This is how a search engine attempts to analyze a website to determine that the search for apple computer is correctly linked with a site about apple computers and not apples that you eat.

LSI Latent Semantic Indexing â€“ This is the process of collecting data and indexing it for LSA.

PFI Pay For Inclusion This is a flat fee that is charged to be placed into a directory such as Yahoo directory or others. Usually it is a one time or yearly fee.

PFP Pay For Performance This is a search marketing agency term that is used to charge a client based on performance, rather than charging based on hours spent on project, or the amount of media budget

PPA Pay Per Action This is a flat fee that is charged to an advertiser by a venue whenever an action is made on a website such as a lead or sale. Instead of paying per click or impression, you can pay only when a site visitor actually does something on your site.

PPC Pay Per Click Google Adwords, and Yahoo Panama, charge you based on a per click service fee. If someone searches for a keyword you want to be shown up for, and clicks on your ad, you will be billed accordingly.

PPL Pay Per Lead This is similar to pay per action but restricted only to leads, for those industries that are in the lead generation business, such as mortgage loans.

PPR Pay Per Rank - I'm not sure of a service that actually charges for rank, but the industry term is listed.

PPR Product Placement Report â€“ If you are doing contextual marketing with Google Adwords, they offer a PPR report that exposes all the websites your content ads are displayed on. This report can then be analyzed to exclude out poor performing websites.

PPS Pay Per Sale â€“ The opposite of pay per lead, this pricing model is for those who sell a direct product to an end consumer.

PPV Pay Per Visitor - Same as Pay Per Click, PPC, just used another way.

PR Page Rank - This is a number between 0 and 10 that Google assigns every webpage on the internet. PR is updated quarterly, as far as I know. It is used to measure a websites value across the entire internet. You would think the term â€œpageâ€ in page rank stands for a web page, but is actually named after Larry Page who designed the PR algorithm.

PV Page View - When a visitor to your website loads a webpage, your analytics software will count it as one new page view. Page View is much different than unique visitors, and is always a higher number. If you received 10 visitors who each viewed 2 pages on your website, your page view count would be 20.

ROAS Return On Ad Spend â€“ This is how much revenue you make for each dollar that is spent on advertising. If you spend $100 marketing your site and you make $1,000 your ROAS is $10 to $1. You make $10 for every dollar you spend.

ROI Return On Investment â€“ This is the ratio of money gained or lost on an investment that you make. If you invest $1,000 to market your new product, and you make $5,000 back, your ROI is 5 to 1.

SE Search Engine Search engines are sites like Google, Yahoo and MSN. Enough said¦

SEM Search Engine Marketing - This term is related to an agency or person that manages a marketing campaign targeted just to search engines.

SEO Search Engine Optimization - This is the process of getting traffic from major search engines, from natural or organic listings, of targeted keywords. If you want to get your website to show up on Google for the keyword â€œbloggingâ€ without having to pay cash for the spot, then you would go through the process of search engine optimization.

To be continued.

Book Review: Blue Ocean Strategy

2008-05-05T10:52:00.000-04:00

I read "Blue Ocean Strategy" by Kim & Mauborgne recently and thought it was compelling.

Rather than summarize, I thought I would give you a few quotes that lay out the theme in the authors' words: "The only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition. In red oceans, the industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. ...The companies caught in the red ocean followed a conventional approach, racing to beat the competition by building a defensible position within the existing industry order. The creators of blue oceans, surprisingly, didn't use the competition as their benchmark. ...Instead of focusing on beating the competition, they focus on making the competition irrelevant by creating a leap in value for buyers and your company, thereby opening up new and uncontested market space. …Value innovation is based on the view that market boundaries and industry structure are not 'given' and can be reconstructed by the actions and beliefs of industry players. …To fundamentally shift the strategy canvas of an industry, you must begin by reorienting your strategic focus from competitors to alternatives, and from customers to non-customers of an industry. As you shift your strategic focus from current competition to alternatives and non-consumers, you gain insight into how to redefine the problem the industry focuses on and thereby reconstruct buyer value elements that reside across industry boundaries"

The first example in "Blue Ocean Strategy" is Cirque de Soleil. The criteria/boundaries/rules for the circus industry that were "taken for granted" for decades included: animal shows, star/famous performers, multiple shows at the same time (i.e. 3 rings), and pushing concession sales. Rather than keeping a high emphasis on all the existing rules and then creating new ones, they either eliminated or reduced many of those rules and created a host of new ones. In the process, they increased value for their target market while lowering their own costs.

A key thing they did at Cirque de Soleil was that they looked across market boundaries to alternatives to the circus. It ended up being part circus and part theatre. Rather than focus on the market boundaries, they focused on the job the customer was hiring for -- in this case, it was adults looking for sophisticated entertainment. Another key thing they did was not targeting the existing market (i.e. children), rather they targeted non-consuming adults. Blue ocean strategy is all about creating and capturing net new demand by ignoring boundaries defined by traditional competitors.

The authors are big on stressing that new technology rarely turns into a great company. They state that unless the technology makes buyers lives dramatically simpler, more convenient, more productive, less risky, or more fun/fashionable, it will not attract the masses.

Blue Ocean Strategy Framework

The Blue Ocean Strategy authors propose a graphical framework for helping readers understand the book and for helping businesses create blue oceans of their own. Here's an example of the tool applied to Southwest Airlines, who are an interesting case. Southwest entered a terrible marketplace that a Porter five forces analysis would have said was a blood bath. The criteria/rules/boundaries of the airline industry are listed along the x-axis. Most of the major airlines played the same game with only the slightest of nuances. Southwest eliminated many of the rules/criteria in the industry, reduced focus on some of the rules below industry standard, raised focus on some of the rules above industry standard, and created a new rules of their own. The way they were able to do that was they targeted non-consumers (family/shorter trips v. business trips) and they looked across industry boundaries at alternatives (cars v. planes) as their competition v. looking at traditional airlines. Only by de-emphasizing some of the existing rules were they able to lower costs enough to compete in this new market.

They encourage the reader to come up with their industry's "standards." They then give the reader four questions to which you can start thinking about your company/market from a blue ocean perspective:

Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated?
Which factors should be reduced well below the industry's standard?
Which factors should be raised well above the industry's standard?
Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered?

The book suggests that an ideal strategy has 3 qualities: focus (not too many criteria), divergence (from the alternatives in the framework), and a compelling tagline.

The central argument I gather, may be a difficult one to adapt for many local companies. The rules of the game are pretty much defined by the way things have always been done. The notion however, presents an interesting angle on how to take approach the market, particularly for startups. I leave it up to you to decide whether a strategy like this may work for your organization, but I recommend this read.

It's Not Just Politics - It's Politics on the Social Web

2008-05-02T17:40:00.000-04:00

By now, most of you would have seen or at least heard of the controversy surrounding Barack Obama and his Pastor Jeremiah Wright. I think what has come as a surprise to many, is the central role the Internet played in igniting the controversy and in broader terms how the social media has come to influence political outcomes.

While this most recent controversy may have affected Obama politically, it must be said that Obama has the Internet to thank for his increasing popularity, particularly among young voters. From my assessment, Barack Obama has captured more than 60% of the online conversation during the period, while his competitors have only dominated the spotlight when responding to something Obama did or said(or in this case his Pastor). Obama's ads, music videos, speeches and special appearances have created a wave of support for the candidate not only in terms of goodwill but also cash. He has raised more money from the web that any of his competitors.

In 2007, the now famous "Obama Girl" video received more than 8 million views and was named biggest web video of 2007 by People Magazine, the AP, Newsweek and AOL. The "Yes we can!" video received more than 7 million views. When you add it up, the Jeremiah Wright videos received just about a million views and pales in comparison to the attention generated by the other Obama related videos.

As for Jamaica, you may or may not have been privy to the number of political ads that circulated via the web during the 2007 elections, and which may have had a hand in the PNP's electoral demise. The JLP was more successful among younger voters, a link perhaps?

Who can forget the now infamous 'don't draw my tongue' ad, it generated nearly 100,000 web views. Consider this, in the next five years when elections are due, many changes will have happened, chief among them the spread of the internet in Jamaica. Now that more than 60% of our population is below 35 years old, it is not inconceivable to think of the impact the web will have in influencing their political decisions.

The long and short of it is that Politics and Political Marketing in particular, will increasingly be affected by how well Political Parties are able to harness the power of the web for their benefit. And just as it is for Political Parties, so will it be for your friendly neighborhood corporation. You may well find that companies willing to use the Social Web will be those attracting younger clients and customers to their business.

Even as a professed Internet junkie, the bigness of it all is astounding when you consider the long term effect of the web on Politics. It seems that in the not so distant future political races could be decided over the Internet. What amazes me also is that we are witnessing the archiving of political history. Think about it, our children will be watching political history instead of reading about it as we had to do, how cool is that?

Parting Shot: Kindergarten Politics

Bad English or Authentic Jamaican?

2008-05-01T16:47:00.000-04:00

By. Weissass.

I don't know about you, but I get just a little peeved when our international counterparts create ads that use talent who mimic the Jamaican language. My first reaction usually is, "But si ya - afta wi nuh soun suh!"

Over the years we have seen overseas campaigns and even Hollywood movies try to capture the tonality, cadence and nuance of the local language. It is obvious that they see its merit, though the execution is often terrible.

I draw this particular reference to point to a larger issue that many local entities often shy away from using the local vernacular in their advertising, for fear that it sounds 'bawdy' and 'unrefined'.

The truth however is that the majority of Jamaicans understand the language and even for those of us who pride ourselves on our ability to 'speak properly', more often than not find ourselves speaking "Bad English ' instinctively in any number of situations.

Take for example: You are in traffic and all of a sudden someone (perhaps a taxi-man) 'bad drives' you. How do you instinctively respond? A) " Excuse me sir, I don't take kindly to persons who seem to think that the road only belongs to them, I am very offended and you should apologize" or B) Rhaatid! - Hey bwai, wha kine a drivin dat, a buy yu buy yu license? yu si how yu head fava monkey, how yu suh out a awda?

In the same way, advertising (depending on the brand of course) must in some way try to illicit an instinctive response from the target. Don't go out on the limb trying to sound ' refined' when sounding authentic will fuel more interest. In the end, if the style of the message does not suit the audience to which it is targeted, you waste resources that could be committed elsewhere.

If you check record, you may find that some of the most memorable ads used the Jamaican language device as the medium to spread the brand message, and created an experience in the consumer's mind to which they could easily relate.

The intention here is not to bore you by extolling the virtues of the local language, but simply to highlight the importance of developing a well thought out Marketing Strategy that supposes the instinctive response of the target before jumping to develop brilliant Creative which doesn't hit the mark. This is one of the first lessons I learned at The Marketing Counselors, and I think it is one worth sharing.

Do me a quick favour, check out the two ads below, one is an ad for Trident using someone mimicking the Jamaican language and the other an ad for Lucky Five that we did a few years ago. How do you rate both? Feel free to post your comments.

Ciao.

7 Habits of Highly Effective Blogs

2008-05-01T16:32:00.001-04:00

Effectively communicating ideas and building relationships takes some discipline. I have always liked Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The principles make sense and are applicable both in your personal and professional life.

A blog is a highly personal reflection of the people and/or companies writing it. These principles can be perfectly applied to blogging and other two-way communications.

1. Develop content based on principles and values. While a blog cannot deliver “key messages” in a canned and contrite manner (this isn’t a soundbite medium), it can be written from the values and principles of its writer or company. Knowing these values for yourself is the key to developing a “voice” for your communication. For example, we value honesty, building meaningful relationships, learning new things, and having fun.

2. Have a vision or purpose statement. Part of my personal mission statement includes these action items that I developed in under four minutes at the Covey Website:

I will always seek to improve the depth and quality of my relationships in my personal and professional life
I will never be afraid to stand up for what I believe is right
I will be committed to lifelong learning and self improvement
I will seek to treat others as I would wish to be treated
I will not take myself too seriously and will have a life filled with laughter and fun

3. Prioritize. Be sure to put first-things-first and don’t be driven by the agenda of forces around you. I notice that when I apply this principle regularly across-the-board I don’t have as much trouble with balance. My goal is to get one post out each week to “feed” this blog and extend the relationship with our readers.

4. Think win-win. Blogs and other social media are meant to be a two-way conversation and that conversation often includes vehement disagreement. However, thinking win-win requires that we disagree with ideas and not the people that generated them. This helps to facilitate the discussion about the idea and possible come up with a solution that is better than the ideas of one person alone (see habit 6). This is the “magic” of social media.

5. Seek first to understand…then to be understood. This principle is best lived out in the comments section. Many blogs have the best discussions in the comments section include a back and forth between blog author and visitors that refines understanding of the idea. This is likely because the blog author seeks to understand the comments about his or her idea and incorporate them in the final.

6. Synergize. By building a community of respect, problems can be solved in a way that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. The refining of an idea by many can lead to the “magic” of social communication where 1+1=3.

7. Renew yourself. You don’t have much to offer if all you do is sit in front of a computer. We all need to renew in the areas of physical health, social networks, spiritual renewal and mental improvement. When you do this you have something new and interesting to bring to the conversation.

Brand Obama?

2008-04-07T17:57:00.000-04:00

The US Democratic Primaries have excited many including myself. I hate to admit it but I need my daily dose of Obama-mania before starting my day, just can't seem to get enough the guy. He's kind a like that really cool older brother you wish you had when growing up. Of course this is not a political Blog, but I came across an article in the International Herald Tribune that speaks about "Brand Obama" and how a carefully crafted brand image has set him head and shoulders above the other candidates. Click on the headline for details.

TOP Ten Sites Visited in Jamaica - February 2008

2008-02-23T22:02:00.000-05:00

www.alexa.com provides a pretty accurate listing of the top sites visited in each country. Here goes the Top 10 sites for February.

1. Mediazoneja.com – A Message Board with 4,692; 18,836 Topics
2. Uwi.edu
3. Jahkno.com - Jamaica’s #1 Online Music Community Previously No.1)
4. VibesConnect.com - A social networking website for people of Caribbean and Afican Americans backgrounds.
5. JamaicaGleaner.com – daily newspaper site
6. JamaicaObserver.com – daily newspaper site
7. Digicelgroup.com – the group site of the number one mobile provider
8. Smutvibes.com – The name says it all
9. Digiceljamaica.com - the country site of the number one mobile provider
10. 876radio.com - A partyflavoured community site

The Truth: Champagne Taste and Beer Money (This Post is Paid for by Hillary Clinton)

2008-02-08T14:59:00.000-05:00

So we're in the digital age, Jamaican consumers are bombarded with advertising from North America and elsewhere, and have come to expect the same level of execution from local companies. There's nothing wrong with that of course, the problem occurs when folks approach us and say " Hey! can we get a crazy super off the wall ad like this one?" and we say "Of course, we'd love t0, we're always happy to caress our mouses and play with our pencils" then we hear "We only have two heads of cattle and a sheepskin full of wine..will that do?"

The truth is, ideas are not the problem, we have ideas coming out the (bleep) , ideas that will knock your socks off, make your mouth water and have customers forming long cues outside your door. But friends, if you want the kind of hi-tech executions you see on cable, you'll have to write us a cheque , a nice fat one.....if not, we'll continue to do as we've always done, "create excellent marketing driven advertising that satisfies budgets, meets priorities, and creates lasting presence in the market"

If you want more than that, you'll have to talk to Kern, maybe he's able to shed some light, or tears, whichever you prefer. Take this Ad for Example...Price Tag: £6 million.

Top 10 Marketing Predictions for 08 - According to the Prophet Phinn-S.

2008-02-01T17:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry for coming out so late with the predictions this year , the folks over at head office recommended caution after last year's election results.

So here's what we came up with:

TOP TEN MARKETING TRENDS IN JAMAICA FOR 2008

Viral Marketing will see exponential growth in Jamaica
Events Marketing will be the new lifeblood of many organizations (RTI here I come!)
Mobile Marketing will be introduced but won't reach critical mass until 2012 (Here's your chance C&W)
More Caribbean themed websites will come on stream.
Word of Mouth Marketing will take off in 2008.(Jamaicans done chat nuff already)
Cultural Marketing will be introduced to Jamaica. (That's what Bob was talking about)
Facebook and other Social Networks will continue to expand by as much as 300% in 08
Barack Obama will be the next President of the US.( He paid me to say that)
Digicel will launch Digicel WiFI
Youth Consultants will be brought on board by local marketers to get ideas on how to reach the 18-25s. (Retiring at 30 is still possible yeah!)

Parting Shot - The Better Way to Fish.

Revenue From Display Ads to Grow 20% by '09

2008-01-02T15:40:00.000-05:00

By Abbey Klaassen

Published: January 02, 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Don't overlook display advertising in 2008 -- this format, which is elderly in internet years, still has some growth left in it if one major analyst's prediction pans out.

J.P. Morgan is bullish on rates based on the cost-per-thousand viewers for graphical advertising, citing improved technology and monetization as reasons why display CPMs will accelerate by 4% in 2008. It also predicts CPM-based display ad revenue will rise 20% and reach $10 billion by 2009.

'Difficult year'
Last year was a "difficult year" for display advertising, said analyst Imran Khan on a call outlining his 2008 internet trends. "In 2007, we saw pretty significant influx of inventory coming from social networks sites like MySpace, Facbeook and e-Commerce sites started trying to monetize their page views. That drove tremendous amount of new inventory and as a result we saw fragmentation of audiences ... and a divergent shift from premium to remnant inventory."

Coupled with better monetization is more demand for online advertising. Mr. Khan suggested inventory should tighten because of events such as the presidential election. He also believes broadcast TV's struggling ratings, the writer's strike and a tighter cable scatter market should bolster online coffers as marketers seek additional venues for their marketing dollars.

Who benefits the most? Yahoo, which has spent more than $1 billion in 2007 buying an ad network and exchange. The company in 2008 has the opportunity to make more money per ad as it improves the monetization of its remnant ad inventory through exchanges, geographical and behavioral targeting.

"If you can improve the yield slightly there's a tremendous opportunity to increase overall revenue," Mr. Khan said.

He said he's bearish on mobile display ads for 2008 but likened it to video advertising. "There's a lot of talk, not a lot of dollar," he said.

The bad news
The bad news? Mr. Khan sees continuing difficulty for the beleaguered newspaper industry. He noted that newspaper ad revenue declined 8.6% in 2007, far faster than the declining rate of 1.7% rate in 2006.

"You're seeing newspaper-decline rate accelerating, and that's very positive for both search and display advertisement business," he said.

Similar to recent history, search is the brightest spot. Globally, the search market will reach $60 billion by 2011, the firm said. It noted that it initially underestimated at 39% global search growth in 2007; it has revised those estimates to 48%. In 2008, it again expects 39% growth to more than $30 billion.

If there's any damper to 2008's web predictions, it's that regulatory pressure is expected to heat up.

"You saw the M&A [merger and acquisition] activities under the magnifying glass, the Google-DoubleClick deal getting lots of attention," he said. "And privacy concerns will be a key thing, especially in the social networking space ... that will continue to come under scrutiny, along with search."

How Big is the Elephant?

2007-12-24T10:30:00.000-05:00

As 07 winds down and 08 cranks up, the advertising business in Jamaica is about to experience unprecedented change in the way we do business. In a word? - INTERNET.

This is a BIG opportunity with BIGGER challenges on the media, but especially on the creative side, and inevitably, our BIGGEST clients will want in on the action.

The Context.

As the "Mobile Wars" heat up, we are likely to see major players like Digicel creating new ways to build customer loyalty. Certainly one of the products that should to hit the market in 08 is Digicel WIFI, a mobile Internet solution that offers both individuals and businesses hi-speed access to the Internet from anywhere in Jamaica. Using their existing cell sites as Internet hubs, Digicel is about to re-define the ways in which businesses connect with their consumers, and how consumers connect with each other.

Of course there is C&W, far from defeated, this sleeping giant is likely to awaken in 2008, either by piggybacking on Digicel's innovations or creating some new product that will blow our socks off. We don't know what they have up their sleeves yet, but you can bet they won't be playing dead for much longer.

Then there are the new kids on the block America Movil (AMX). Responding to Digicel's invasion into Latin America, AMX has acquired local mobile company MiPhone in a deliberate move to cut into Digicel's market share. As the largest mobile services provider in the region with over 143 Million subscribers in Latin America and the Caribbean, AMX recently announced a new strategic global partnership providing a framework for making Yahoo!'s industry leading mobile services available to millions of consumers in 16 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a sure fact that these guys have the bucks to create the bang and they are are in it to win it.

Television

For the likes of our beloved TVJ, their re-positioning strategy is clearly a survival tactic in a growing market competing for eyeballs. TVJ is re-branding itself as a local content provider and what that means is that independent local content will be in very high demand in 08. The Free-to-Air model is being re-energized by the introduction of Internet Television, and TVJ's main rival CVM is already on that wagon.

And then comes FLOW. Their triple play offering allows consumers to "watch, talk, and click" in new and exciting ways. Theirs is a unique positioning as they cover not one but three frontiers, Internet and Television and Telephone. Interestingly, their most exciting offering is that they are in line to provide overseas television content for local advertisers. While the details on this are still sketchy, one thing is true, FLOW means business.

How big is the Elephant? - RIDE or DIE!

The opportunities or many.

Internet Promotions
Rich Media Advertising on Existing Sites (Video & Graphic Rich)
Search Advertising via Google and Yahoo
Branded Independent Content
Mobile Phone Advertising
Customized Online Publishing (Blogs)
Social Network Advertising
Search Engine Optimization

"The Internet is neither fad nor a phase, our very survival will depend on it"

The Internet is very unkind to persons who don't know the rules. One of the very simple rules is that the world is a click away,literally. Everyone from the teenager in India to the fat guy from the North Pole are our competitors. This fact is particularly true for the Advertising Agency of the future (i.e 2012).

New breed agencies are springing up every day with young, creative talent at the helm.This means we are competing against a new generation of creative thinkers and we need to be up to speed on every changing trend in the industry that can lead to greater value for our clients. Key to this will be constant upgrading of our skills as Professionals.Thankfully, the Internet is full of useful information. Enough said.

08 promises to be BIG...stay tuned.

How does the driver of a Snow Plough Get to Work?

2007-12-20T16:28:00.000-05:00

100 dollars to the person who can figure out what this ad was intended to communicate

.

Advertising - Leave Nothing.

2007-12-20T16:18:00.000-05:00

A little over a month ago, I thought, well why not start a blog? and that we did. But then we realized that blogging takes commitment. So...I hereby promise to post at least once a week. You can join us if you wish.

Now to the matter at hand... I found one of the coolest Nike ads ever, and it struck me, that this is what the Advertising game is all about. What do you think.?

Why TMC are Trendsetters.

2007-11-12T12:29:00.001-05:00

Creative Cooking has been running for as long as TV has been around..uhhmm.. well probably not. The show has spurned many spin-offs including this humourous video of a Jamaicam Gourmet Chef. This is a bit on the light side, but it just goes to show that when you do something right, you'll always have imitators...well sort of.

Online - The Future of Advertising Locally?

2007-11-12T10:56:00.000-05:00

The online ad business is revving up and don't be surprised if Jamaica is caught up in the mix. As a matter of fact, with all these Internet players Flow et al, taking centre stage, online advertising really is the next big thing - true true.

In the last few days, it’s been all about online advertising and announcements of new ad networks. Martha Stewart, Omnimedia, BuzzMetrics and ZoomInfo will start their own ad networks. Most significantly, Facebook launched their ad network turning friends into endorsers.

Additionally,AOL bought Quigo, which helps publishers sell advertising on their own sites. And Google, the biggest ad network by far, said its site targeting will become even more targeted. It’s been all about online advertising one of the two business models that’s been working and making publishers money and advertising happy(the other is ecommerce).

But did you know there are already 130 online ad networks globally along with the big ones Google, Yahoo, Myspace, Facebook, Microsoft, AOL, Advertising.com and Doubleclick?

Is it time for us to put our head in the game or should we wait?