Get a tech in the boardroom asap

Working in an agency that has a digital offering can be a strange experience sometimes. Often you’ll get web project proposals presented as one bullet point in a list of 15 advertising and marketing objectives in a client’s advertising brief. It’s very rare that you’d be talking to a marketing manager who has any sort of comprehensive IT knowledge. The website seems to have just been put on the list like it’s just another channel – which is your fault because that’s what you’ve been telling everyone it is! But it’s not is it. We just say that to win the business! So what do we do now that it’s on the agenda?

Next time you’re sitting with your client and they are going through their projected ad spend, and they mention a website, stop them there. Leave the room and go and get your Technical Director (or similar role – some sort of propellerhead anyway). I know they are usually cardigan-wearing Star Trek fans who kind of scare the client and ruin your whole company image of being cool, but it’s vital that you get the techies involved at the very start of any web project. The sooner the better. Even if they don’t say anything in the first instance (this is often preferable) it’s good to have them thinking about implications of the project right from the onset.

The reason I say this is because with the way business practices are being moved online, what used to be a brief for a simple brochure-ware site can now be developed/evolved into a powerful business tool. The client may not even realise the functionality available to them now. So although they might think they are asking for one thing, they might be actually touching on something a lot more powerful and functional than they realise. When sites come in as part of an ad spend they are often not as well thought out as a stand-alone project where you might be sent an rfp or tech spec. Cover your arse and get the geeks in from day one.

however, not all site briefs will need a techie sitting in on the meeting. A good rule of thumb is that the company website is more often that not a business tool, and a microsite is usually only required to be a branding tool. For a branding microsite I’d consider myself capable of taking a good enough brief for the boffins to get a good grasp on the requirements of the project. For a company site, I’d get the techie in, and also suggest that we just have a quick talk about it and come back to it when we have more time. Also, lately I’ve found myself writing creative briefs for sites for our clients, and presenting them back to make sure we’re all on the same page. It’s just been easier than trying to get the client to do it when often they are not capable of getting their head around what is required. I can then pass that onto the techies to do the tech spec and scope. Often it’s a lot better option than trying to make your client do it.

Online advertising in the credit-crunch

OK so things are looking pretty scary out there, and as people tighten their belts and put their heads down, pretty much all sectors are going to take a hit. That includes advertising – even on-line advertising. When I look at our client list I can’t see too many who aren’t going to be effected by the credit-crunch, and that in turn is going to effect us, their agency. I am sure most agencies are in the same boat. Customers are still going to be on-line, maybe just not spending any more or definitely not as much. But companies still have to cast their net!

So, this could be a golden age for digital. With the targeting and measurability benefits it offers on-line advertising could see a boom where others are experiencing cut backs. We could also see some great some great innovation as digital advertisers squeeze as much value out of their advertising dollar as possible. Companies are going to be monitoring their diminished advertising budgets vigilantly and the ROI data that on-line advertising offers could allow it to actually mature into seriously dependable and functional media channel. As digital advertising professionals it’s up to us to facilitate this development by stepping up to the mark and over delivering.

The flip side of this is that this is not the time to be taking risks. The “yeah let’s give it a crack” mentality some companies might have needed to make the foray into using on-line advertising channels possible is more than likely to be put on hold. The recent boom area of ad-supported social networks can’t help but be hit by this. I also have to say I am a bit worried about the number of Google Ads being run really skyrocketing, with the quality of these ads being appalling as more and more people try to take them on in an attempt to get a cheap foothold in the on-line advertising space.

The best way for anyone to survive in this market downturn is by repeatedly and constantly delivering a quality product and outstanding customer service, and that goes for everyone.

This goes double for online advertising. Get proactive. Now is a good time to put together a “relief plan” for your clients on how they might be able to trade their way through the recession with the aid of on-line advertising. I don’t mean just flick them a new media schedule either. I mean go to them with some new revitalised brand messages, and suggest how they might be able to position themselves to succeed (or survive in this case). This might involve recommending pulling back in some market sectors and consolidating in more major ones. It might mean recycling old banner ads, finding some reciprocal banner swaps or introducing some new PPC ads targeting the long tail. Look at why your clients were even advertising in the first place. If, for example, they usually advertise to promote a new product, then how can they still release a new product and not advertise it. Don’t let them cut their budget as a knee jerk reaction to diminished revenue – they still need to maintain a relationship with their clients.

Things are going to improve in the marketplace so we need to hang in there. As far as this market downturn goes for our clients – I think established brands should be able to batten down the hatches and trade through it as long as they adjust their advertising rationale to the current market. And new companies – well, like a friend of mine said to me recently, a recession is a good time to learn how to run your company lean and mean. If you survive, then when the market recovers and you have that new set of miserly and innovative business skills… let the bubbles flow!

Using Google Alerts to track online buzz

You’re not using Google Alerts? Well actually you’re not the only one – there’s so many new developments it’s not easy to keep up with them. The tool is not new but there’s a lot of people who haven’t taken up the offering through not realising how powerful it really is. If you are not using Google Alerts you are missing out on a huge opportunity to keep track of what people are saying out there on the web.

Google Alerts is a free service offered by Google which will ‘alert’ you to the latest relevant Google results on a search terms specified by you. It’s extremely easy to set up, with your alerts coming into your email, or via rss feed to the likes of iGoogle and Google Reader. The types of Google results you can search are; News, Blogs, Web, Comprehensive, Video, or Groups. You can also choose how often you want to receive the alerts, although i would recommend doing it daily when you are starting out until to get an idea of what will work best for you.

Google Alerts is so easy to set up!

Obviously in the advertising space the benefits of this tool are instantly apparent. You can track who is talking about you, your clients, and also your competition. By listening in on these various channels you can monitor developing campaigns and what is being said about them. You can listen in on comments about brands and what people think of them. The uses are numerous. You can set up alerts for as you like, with the only limit really being how many alerts you can realistically be bothered keeping track of.

I can’t think of anyone in advertising, marketing or PR who would not want to use this tool. So if you’re not using Google Alerts, what’s stopping you?

Blyk – free mobile network funded by advertising

One year after it’s launch Blyk seems to be going strong. Blyk is a free mobile network for young people in the the pay-as-you-go market (16-24) and is funded by advertising. Blyk is the creation of Pekka Ala-Pietilä (the former president of Nokia) and Antti Öhrling (chairman of the Contra advertising group). Which makes sense when you see what it is. Here’s how it works.

After being invited to join the network, you fill out your profile and are sent a SIM card (no handsets though!). There’s no contract, and you get an allowance of texts and airtime in return for receiving up to six advertising communications a day, but no data allowance. If you run over your text limit or minutes, you just pay like a normal pre-pay phone. When you are filling out your profile you choose your interests so that the communications can be targeted to you. Furthermore, should you respond to a communication (which is not deducted in your free allocation of texts) this will help refine the preferences for you, the user.

Blyk is the free mobile network for 16-24s that connects young people with the brands they like – Blyk website

I am of course rather excited by the business model, but what I find really compelling is that Blyk claim a staggering 29% average campaign response rate, across 200,000 users opted-in to the service. That is damn good cut through. Case studies illustrate Brands such as L’Oreal, Boots, the Kooks, JJB and many more have already made use of the Blyk platform.

Having a look at some of the campaigns on their website I have to admit I am a little under whelmed at the creative but the deals seems to be very appealing and best of all, the platform is there. Having said that, one of the key insights that Blyk mention are that “Simple text messages receive a higher response rate – adding pictures, animation and sound results in increased recall and impact.” So maybe I should give the advertisers the benefit of the doubt. Adding value to your brand is more the just providing pretty pictures, no matter how much that hurts me to say that.

I truly believe that mobile internet is going to play a huge role in digital advertising and advertising in general, and Blyk is definitely be a company I will be watching very carefully. Afterall, wouldn’t you like free mobile connection in return for receiving a few targeted ads?

Best Ads on TV – the podcast

Best Ads Podcast on iTunes

Best Ads of the week! You’ve never seen them because you don’t really watch much TV any more? Ha! Well, that doesn’t matter! They are online (you know you need to be there if you want people to see your stuff). Even better, the good people at the Best Ads website are letting you download them. Now every week you can get the 6 best TV spots from iTunes as a podcast, and it’s free! Load them onto your iWhatever and watch, or keep them in your pocket for a bit of mobile inspiration! Brilliant.

To go to the Best Ads on TV podcast, click here

online video, meet digital tv!

I remember first getting to play with a video camera in high school some 20 odd years ago. We made a 5 minute school video and it took a week. The editing console looked like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Now I can shoot broadcast quality video on my HD camera, edit it in iMovie or whatever, and have it on Vimeo or YouTube in a couple of hours. According to Google, 13 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and is growing daily. That’s outrageous!

People are watching video online. What’s more everyday people are using it to get heard. Just last night The ONE News YouTube Election Debate was televised nationwide in New Zealand, where you had a chance to ask the 2 main party leaders questions that were important to you by creating a short YouTube video. The best questions uploaded to this site were broadcasted live during the debate and the leaders had to answer them. If that’s not an advertisement for how online video can make you be heard I don’t know what is.

TVNZ ondemand - some of the shows are free to view via the embedded player on the website.

This convergence of online video and conventional TV is only going to become more prevalent. TV will become ultimately more like online video – it will become targeted and it will be measurable. TVNZ has already released it’s new online-video service, TVNZ ondemand – providing on demand television to New Zealanders via their computers. There’s a good mixture of content on the site, from shows that have just been shown to older popular shows.

Combine this with the recently launched “Freeview” Digital TV and radio in New Zealand which is served via satellite or UHF aerial, and TV as we know it is definitely changing. Now regular television shows (when available), instead of being broadcast in only an analogue transmission, are offered in DVD quality and sound delivered in a widescreen format. Get that pumped in to your future wireless enabled handset – phone or ipod or whatever, and now you’re really talking!

“The growth of long-form video online—defined as TV episodes, Web-only shows, complete sports events and full-length movies—will create a wide range of inventory” – David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer

So what does all this mean for my home videos? Well, unless the quality of my content improves significantly, not a lot. Having the technology, and having the talent to produce compelling and entertaining content are two entirely different beasts. It’s an over-used saying, but content really is king. However, with all of these delivery mechanisms constantly improving, it’s pretty damn exciting isn’t it?

5 quick tips on advertising banner design

Steve's top 5 web banner tips

Bit short on time today but I just had to rush out a banner for a client. While doing it I thought I’d jot down 5 quick tips that might help you with your banner designs.

Give a reason to click using targeted messages.
If you are trying to drive traffic to your site, don’t stick all the information the user needs to know in the banner. Why would you click on a banner if you know all there is to know. You need to entice the users to click. Many designers say that a great design will get people clicking, but it’s not really true. A great message will get more people clicking. Think about the site you are advertising on. Determine why people are on that site, what are they interested in and how can your brand fulfil their needs. Then determine what message will make want to them click to come to your site. You need to give the user a reason to click on the banner!

Flashing content
Don’t have anything that you want people to read flashing. You can have content flashing to get people’s attention that is fine. But trying to read flashing text is going to give users an epileptic fit. Get their attention by all and any means, and then hit them with a clear, readable brand message or call to action.

Landing page
Make sure the page that your banner is linking to a landing page that reflects the message that was in your banner. If you have a computer deal for $899, then make sure that deal is the first thing you see when the page opens up. Don’t just dump people on your home page. You can further optimise this page as well for more targeted search results.

Include your URL
This is a battle I have with a lot of customers. DoubleClick have surveyed that many users like to ”view through” ads, meaning they will take note of the banner, but instead of clicking the banner, will manually visit the site in question after viewing an ad at a more convenient time. This can cause a bit of havoc with your metrics and is another reason where a specific landing page is very helpful.  If your URL is not on your ad, how can people view through at a later date?

Brand Continuity
Your banner design should reflect the page it is directed to. It helps reaffirm your brand message, and doesn’t confuse the user by throwing up a completely different set of visual cues. I’ve been the user in a few such scenarios myself. I’ve had several browser windows open (as always), clicked on a banner, been distracted (as always), and later came back to the page that had no resemblance to the banner I had clicked. I didn’t recognise the page so I just closed the window. It only occurred to me later on what the page was. Too late – I was onto something else (as always). Once again, this is another endorsement for a custom landing page.

Stakeholders, goals, and covering your arse

I just got sent this brilliant little parody of the creative and development process involved in redesigning the Stop sign. It made me laugh, but it also rang so true that it made me a little uncomfortable. I think it does an excellent job at pointing out the dangers of not nailing down your project plan, and more to the point, your project goals, before you start your build.

I would stop at this?

A project is usually considered a success if the requirements of the stakeholders are fulfilled. It’s true. Who else is going to give you grief over it? When starting a new project, you need to determine who these stakeholders are before you do anything else. A stakeholder is anyone who has a vested interested in the end product. Along with the project sponsors, the project team, content contributors, end-users, managers, and financial controllers can all be stakeholders. Nothing derails a project like a stakeholder being included late in the piece – they almost always want to stick their oar in and bugger it all up.

It’s happened to me a few times, or should I say, I have let it happen to me a few times. I have worked on a stop sign! (…metaphorically speaking). People who for one reason or another weren’t originally considered important in terms of defining the goals of the site, are included into the mix at a later date, and understandably they usually try to make some impact on the project. And as your profit margin diminishes, you are left sitting there whimpering, “I am a good person – why is this happening to me?” Step one of any new project is to make a full list of the stakeholders, and get it signed off by the sponsor.

When you are making your project plan it is important to make sure your stakeholders have as much input as possible to get clear list of goals to form the basis of your plan.

Ensuring the goals of the stakeholders are defined, realistic, documented, and then managed, will help you avoid leaving yourself open to… scope creep (*shudder*). Also, in making this list you will have to resolve any conflicting goals amongst these stakeholders. Better to do it now that half way into your build. You’ll also gain a decent idea of what criteria will be used to judge the success of the project. Once these goals outlining what is expected at the end of the project have been finalised, then get that signed off too.

Now that you’ve got the goals for the project nailed down, you can push on and write your deliverables, and development timeline, sort out your project team, and all that other fun stuff, knowing that as far as requirements go, your arse is covered.

5 reasons to choose digital advertising in a market downturn

In a market downturn (I am reluctant to use the word recession just yet) the advertising and marketing budget is normally the first casualty of company cutbacks. Next it’s the chocolate biscuits. I’ve always thought that when times are tough that’s when you should be pushing your brand more than ever, but I guess that is why I’m not a CEO. That, and the fact I don’t play golf… must take that up. Anyway, you have to trade your way through the hard times, and this does mean maintaining a level of market visibility.

Here’s 5 reasons why digital advertising is the place to spend your modest budget:

It can be a lot cheaper
An on-line campaign can be significantly cheaper than more traditional advertising channels. If you are watching your pennies but still need to promote your business, why not spend a few dollars one some less popular keywords to ramp up your PPC advertising to chase that long tail. Re-run some old banner ads, or maybe organise some banner swaps. Electronic newsletters can be very cost effect as well. Or how about just increasing your company visibility by working on some social touchpoints, start a company facebook group, a youtube channel or a flickr account.

Metrics & ROI
Now more than ever companies will want to know where their money is going and what return they are getting for it. Being able to view the click through conversion of a banner ad campaign, or see how many people have opened your email newsletter and then clicked through to a landing page, provides information for better customer-centric decision-making. Digital advertising provides fast and accurate tracking and measurement reporting compared to traditional advertising channels. Print out a nice spread sheet to show your boss – put it in a clear plastic cover. Magic.

Fast turnaround
You can often put together and deliver the likes of a banner ad campaign or email marketing campaign with a comparatively short turn around. Even doing promotional vodcasts for your company website can be done quickly and helps keep you visible. This fast turnaround will let you rapidly respond to opportunities that are triggered by market downturn.

Targeted
Things are getting tight right across the board – you will be feeling the pinch, and so will your customers. However, people still need to run their businesses, and push their brands. Sending out a targeted marketing message to customers that talks directly to their specific situation is going to get a lot better response than a general appeal.

It’s cool
Yeah you heard me – digital is the Fonz of advertising. The opportunities for creativity and the visual impact you can achieve with digital advertising can help you create that point of difference in the marketplace that could help you get or stay ahead. Just look at the likes of Minis brilliant Follow the White Rabbit banner ad campaign or Burger King’s hugely popular Subservient Chicken. Like the Fonz would say – “Aaaaay”.

Digital advertising – achieving your new integrated offering

With the triumphant resurgence of the web and its ability to talk directly to your customer, it seems every advertising agency around is wanting to provide digital services alongside their traditional methods. Not only this, but having realised that outsourcing is just not returning the level of brand control required, coupled with the shift in the way the web is being used in advertising, agencies are now looking to bring it in-house. With Internet catching up and in some places overtaking traditional media consumption they are quickly realising if they are not in this space they are going to be left behind.

The main hurdle I see in this development of the modern advertising agency is the convergence of cultures as companies merge and disciplines start to intertwine. Much has already been written on the effect a merger has on corporate culture. Whether the agency grows its digital offering organically or through a merger or acquisition, there is going to be an impact on the culture of the company.

Advertising 2.0

Growing your digital department organically means you can choose the right people for the positions you want to fill and control your growth, but on the downside there may not be the level of support and understanding these techy people require in order to operate effectively – in other words, their culture. The problem with the level of technical expertise needed to fill a digital role often means that, unlike conventional advertising roles where one employee can often wear many hats, your digital employee will normally be a specialist in one area and not have the expertise to cover several roles. You may need to hire several people just to provide the service properly.

If this is the case then maybe a merger with an exisitng digital company is a better idea. Although digital offers far more than just web design, for the sake of this article, I am going to theorise for argument’s sake that your agency and a web company have joined in what is envisaged to be a mutually beneficial merger. You want their technology, they need your client base. The difference in the way an agency operates and a web development company operates is problematic in itself, but the very professional mentality that each sector has is significantly different. Ad agencies have a culture based on creativity and flair, and taking risks. Web companies have a culture based on developing and implementing technology, and minimsing risks. Those are two vastly different headspaces. Getting these two cultures to gel and form a harmonious super-agency is going to take a considerable amount of work and management.

You will need to be inclusive and educate all your staff about what is happening, who the new people are, what their roles are, and what work they will be doing.

OK so you are talking the talk – you need to walk the walk. Digital is important to the future of the agency, and you need to back that up with action. This means having digital representatives in your upper management. Digital is not just an add-on service – it is an important resource, providing highly measurable marketing and media channels that deliver your brand message straight to the customer. Today it might be mainly websites and social media offerings you require, but tomorrow you might need to be offering in-game advertising and product placement, or supplying creative for bluetooth triggered dynamic digital billboards. Whatever you are positioned to offer, the complexity and often lengthy production times of digital projects dictate that a Digital Manager should be present from the very first sit-down with your client on any new campaign. Strategy and planning should be made a priority. Assign good digital managers who can interface between your exisiting agency staff, your new digital staff, and of course your clients. People who understand both the traditional advertising campaign process and the IT project development process. And whatever path you choose to take to achieve your new integrated approach, make sure that once you have put these key people in key positions, you then empower them to do the job for you.