October 14, 2008
General musings, Internet Marketing
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I am putting the final touches to my new Marketing Review/Metric and was very open to a distraction. Why is it that the closer you get to the end of a goal, the further away it seems?…or is that just me?!
Anyway, I left my inbox open - I know! I know! All you time management experts are climbing the walls with me. But I left it open and obviously, I was open to distraction.
But what should enter my inbox only a viral email from a neighbour. It went as follows, you’ve probably seen it:
— > Hi everyone,
> Thought this might be useful
> Marks & Spencer, in conjunction with Persimmon Homes, are giving away free vouchers. Marks & Spencer’s are trying word-of-mouth advertising to introduce its products and the reward you receive for advertising for them is free non-refundable vouchers to be used in any M &S store.
> To receive your free vouchers by e-mail all you have to do is send this e-mail out to 8 people (for £100 of free vouchers) or 20 people (for £500 of free vouchers). Within 2 weeks you will receive an e-mail with your vouchers attached.
> They will contact you through your e-mail address.
> Please mark a copy to:>
> xxxx@persimmonshomes.com
>
> Anna
I was momentarily elated - could this be the new viral marketing scheme of 2008? I had visions of this being the newest thing since Hotmail appeared in our inboxes years and years ago. With the harshest budget of all time occurring today, surely a bit of good news in the form of an email could only be a good thing!
Alas, you can sense my dispair when I did a google search and found out that it a scam.
The email system should be a feeding ground for legitimate viral marketing campaigns. How easy is it to pass along a mail to a couple of your friends and the jobs done. A good message should lend itself to be sent around. If so, then the message is sent to more and more people. It’s a simple way of marketing.
But aside from Hotmail in the early 90s, what campaigns purely work on the email system? Viral marketing has been described as word of mouth or word of mouse - it can be compared to a relay team…a baton is passed along and passed along and passed along until one day the message reaches mass market….through no other marketing methods.
Can a viral campaign today work soley through email or does it need brotherly marketing support of a placement on Youtube or any social networking site to create the interest?
Has email on its own (a la Hotmail) become redundant as a viral marketing tool?
Answers on a postcard!
October 8, 2008
Internet Marketing
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Last week, I was with a client and we were discussing the graphical user interface of one of their products. As with all discussions, we brainstormed about what colours are easy on the eye and what colours make us flinch when we see them.
I got to thinking about it a little further - just how important is the use of the colour? Or what about noticing someone in a brightly coloured suit when all around them are in dark suits?
How many of us notice a red car before they’d notice a black one in the same model?
It’s the strong deep red that attracts the eye…whether it makes a person purchase is a completely different matter and certainly one to consider at another time.
If you put red as the background on your website, what would it do for potential clients? Make them flinch? Put them in the mood for romance?
Similarly, if you used a green background, would a visitor think that you’re very aware of the environment? If you use blue, does it mean that you are overly corporate and bank-ish!?
When we communicate with others, over 80% of what we communicate is through our body language. It’s not the actual words or the tone in which we speak, but the body language or signs that we give off - some intentionally, some not so!
If this same logic was applied to websites, presentations, user interfaces or marketing documents, could it be that colour is the unspoken 80%? The 80% that makes or breaks a deal or an awareness campaign, without us even knowing?
If you’re not getting the results that you want from your website, flyers, presentations, perhaps its time to revisit the importance of colour and how it reflects your corporate brand, identity and personality.
October 3, 2008
General musings
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This week my domain name - achievemarketing.ie - went down. Lost, almost forever! There was a problem with notifications etc but I was lost without my achievemarketing website and email. And no ability to blog, now that I’m just getting into it! 
It just reminded me of that age old question - are we a slave to technology or is technology serving us?. I was expecting an email on Monday and it didn’t arrive so what did I do? I had to pick up the phone and dial the numbers…not text, not blackberry email, not Instant message but talk. I’m a talker but I’ve noticed that I’ve let technology determine communication rather than simply talking on the phone.
I was at a fantastic seminar on Tuesday run by the Fingal Women in Business Network and lead by the wonderful Krishna De. She asked the audience (Family Fortunes style) - “In a recent survey, what did people say that would take with them from a burning building?”
It wasn’t their photo albums, their CD collection, their iPods or Wiis or their Jimmy Choos - it was their mobile phones. I’m not quite sure that I’m at that stage yet but I have been known to turn the car back five miles into a journey because I forgot the phone. But I love my photos and my Jimmy Choos!
Our phones - whether they’re basic or incredibly featuresome - will be a huge marketing tool in the future. As it is, SMS marketing is growing in popularity. I get regular SMSs from restaurants, shops having sales and my gym reminding me to go!
I wonder what Alexander Graham Bell would think now of all the add ons we can do with the telephone. I’ve realised this past week that while texting and emailing is a rich way of communicating, speaking using the telephone is something that I should use more…so I’m adding it into my marketing plan.
Expect to hear my dulcet tones more in the future!