The strategies behind branding efforts and building a real-life relationship are comparable.

Think about it: When you’re starting a relationship you try to prove to the other person that you’re trustworthy and good for them. You don’t do this in one particular way, but you express yourself across multiple platforms – calling, texting, dating, and yes, shockingly enough, you also make things “Facebook official” by becoming one of their social media friends. If you want the relationship to last and you’ve done something wrong, you inevitably have to fix the problem, but more importantly, gain back their trust.

Similarly in branding, marketers not only want to gain awareness, but also want to establish credibility and trust. In order to achieve these things a brand does not just market to their consumer over one platform — it engages in a variety of mediums.

A digital audit can determine metrics to measure against a larger marketing goal.

Keeping this in mind, it would seemingly make sense that, especially when things are not working out, marketing managers would conduct a comprehensive analysis of their efforts, right? Not always, and unfortunately this analysis is especially deficient across the digital platform!

As more and more companies discover the digital marketing universe, it seems less actually utilize the full scope that digital has to offer. This inability to optimize is partially due to the fact that most companies don’t actually know what they’re supposed to be doing or why they’re suppose to be doing it. It seems that many companies either believe that the more users they touch, the more the success, or that having a mere digital presence is enough.

Continue reading »

What Are They?

No need to worry, QR codes are not a government conspiracy to track your movements (…or are they!?!). Instead they’re what is known as a “Quick Response Code.” You might see them on everything from business cards to print ads to billboards (tough to capture when you’re whizzing by on the freeway.) For the most part, the marketing application of this code — which looks like a very complicated Rorshach test — is to make it easy through an app-enabled smart phone to scan it, and then be transported to a website.

It’s easy to scan a code with your smart phone: just hold the phone up, and the reader does the work. It’s important to get the details right when you are using a QR Code. Placement is critical, and it needs to be big enough for the reader to capture. That means that wherever you place it, you need white space, so plan your designs accordingly. It’s not a great idea to “slap on a QR code” as an afterthought. There are several “QR code reader apps” and every phone is different, so testing it across a wide variety of phones and apps is important.

The area of QR code planning that is most often overlooked isn’t the code, or placement of it, but rather, it’s what happens after your consumer scans it. Consider this: Your audience is using a smart phone to scan the Quick Response Code. Is your website mobile ready? And make sure the page that you are guiding them to actually has something to do with what the card, ad, billboard, etc. has offered. In the best scenario, you will have thought out the offering you want them to see, and isolated it. It could be an opt-in program, a coupon, valuable information (white papers, hard-to-get insights/reports), giveaways, or anything that is not your standard sales pitch. When they “Quick Respond,” you want to be ready to engage! If you have done all of the necessary planning for your QR Code Campaign, then find a QR Code generator, be sure to shorten your URL using bit.ly or ow.ly or another URL truncating site, and let the scanning begin!

When Should I Use a QR Code?

Continue reading »

Welt Talk is our new occasional feature where we interview people about their experiences marketing with  social media and e-commerce tools.

In May 2011 alone, Etsy.com had 996 million page views and some $40 million in goods sold there. Drew Steinbrecher, a graphic designer, joined in 2008 and went self-employed with his thriving vintage stores, Kitsch Café and Kitschwear, within a year. Though busy, he sat down to discuss his experiences marketing on Etsy.

Why choose Etsy instead of striking out on your own?

My aesthetic and inventory tend to attract stylish, educated women ages 22-34. I went where my customers already were.

What about Etsy appealed to you as a Graphic Designer?

Etsy has a clean look and it’s not “clunky.” Etsy is like Target and Ebay is like Walmart. The brand is hipper and the audience is more sophisticated. They cashed in on the resurgence of crafting and were at the right place at the right time. Think of it as a talented hipster’s online craft fair with some vintage knick-knacks and craft supplies thrown in.

How do you approach marketing Kitch Café? Continue reading »

Doctor Tweet? (Image courtesy of thenextweb.com)

It sounds like common sense. The British Medical Association recently warned doctors against befriending patients on social networking sites because it could potentially violate confidentiality.

Now a conscientious medical professional is unlikely to make a mistake of that caliber, but it does illuminate how difficult it can be to build relationships with your patients and still maintain that all-important clinical distance. Continue reading »

The data cloud is the future and where we’ll soon share our data, spread out in all that storage, and use our computers like access terminals. For many, using Google Docs was their first encounter with this virtual storage and everyone seems to be anticipating the “Cloud from Cupertino” with baited breath. But are you ready for your ISP to turn off the tap if you actually use all that the cloud has to offer?

It’s happened to one Seattle man. Andre Vrignaud seems a bit of a “Data Hog,” going over a massive 250GB of data traffic in a month, but service provider Comcast won’t even consider upgrading him to a business account. He’s a gamer who shares video, pictures, data, and music. Sure, he seems like an inordinately heavy user, but is he just ahead of the curve? Will we all be sharing over 250GB a month soon?

…for the rest of the entry, join us on Generation Nerd…