Tailored Digital Media

Google Analytics: if everyone knows everything, how do you get to know the most?

tailoreddigitalmedia — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:09:05 +0000

Google Analytics: if everyone knows everything, how do you get to know the most?

There’s a really quite profound line in the Pixar movie, The Incredibles, when the son of the film’s main protagonist remarks, “Saying every one is special, is just a way of saying that no one is.” Similarly, the almost psychic powers imbued upon the e-marketer by Google’s admittedly very impressive analytics package, (GA) comes with its silver linings accompanied by a real risk of cloud.

For the uninitiated, GA allows website owners free access to a wealth of statistical information; not just on the web site for which they are responsible is being accessed and viewed, but also what the key searches are on Google that day. Essentially, it allows you to read the mind of the surfing world and adapt your content to reflect that. So, for instance, say that, on a given day, a moderately high percentage of Google users were searching for details on a breaking news story, online marketers could use that information to load their pages with enough related content to draw individual searches towards their site*.

At first sight, that’s an amazing trick. Indeed, you’d have to be very foolish not to make the most of the service. However, what we can’t get away from is the fact that, on the whole, e-marketers are not very foolish people and, it’s a reasonable assumption, to suppose that pick up on GA will, in time, be near universal. Consequently, as GA becomes the norm, the competitive advantage flatlines and the exception gradually becomes the standard.

For the e-marketer, there’s a very clear short-term advantage posed by GA and those that are amongst the first to make the use of GA a core aspect of their modus operandi are likely to emerge as the very clear winners. However, as usage of GA becomes the standard, curiously, we are left pretty much where we started. That is, with nearly all sites offering the same degree of targeted content, it’s likely to be the effectiveness of that content and the ease and imagination which it is presented that, as is currently the case, will separate the wheat from the chaff.

Users, it is imaginable, will find themselves experiencing yet further accuracy in the search results returned in relation to the query entered. However, when, over time, users find web pages advertising Discount Trainers being returned in response to a search for news on the Formula One Drivers Championship, it’s conceivable that resentment amongst this, the key audience, may start to simmer. For everyone, not least Google, this could end up with GA becoming a very mixed blessing indeed.

Beyond the few broad guesses made above, it really is hard to see, with any degree of accuracy, where the wealth of information provided by GA might take us. It’s not even certain that utlisation of the tool will become the norm. However, any insight into the minds of the surfing masses has to be of vital information to any marketer and, maybe, unlike the HG Wells story, Google Analytics might yet just see the one eyed man crowned king in the Country of the Blind.

* Tailored Digital Media can provide any organisation, private or public owned, tailored news feeds that will drive traffic to your site . For more on our tailored news feed service, look here.

Training: the difference between where your business is and where your business needs to be…

tailoreddigitalmedia — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:36:11 +0000

No successful manager would argue against the importance of training. Training and development are the single bridge that separates you from the company, or team, you presently are, and the company or team that you aspire to be. It’s training that helps establish the identity of your team, empowers them to achieve more and instills in them the will, and the confidence, to do so.

However, now that we’ve established the importance of training and development, it’s time to face up to some of the challenges that come with it. Firstly we need to recognise that, as well as educating our people towards a given end, there are other, ancillary, reasons for training our team. For instance, one type of training might lean towards social skills, such as public speaking, or some sales techniques, whereas other forms of training might be aimed at educating the trainee in a complicated, or business critical, area; such as on a legal development in your field.

There’s always going to be a time to bring your people together and have them participate in an activity away from their immediate day to day roles. However, that’s not to discount the importance of online training. In terms of economy; online training clearly offers the manager the greatest ROI. Not only does it negate the cost of employing a trainer, renting facilities and offers the least disruption to your business, it can also be arranged so that employees can undertake the training at non critical business times. Another key element in providing online training is that it allows the trainee to absorb information at a rate suitable for themselves. In this way, fast learners are able to absorb a greater quantity of data at a speed that will not leave them bored and distracted, whereas slower learners can work to a pace that will not leave them floundering and struggling to keep up.

However, perhaps the greatest advantage of online training is the accountability it offers managers. For instance, sending a team away for a day to learn of a new safety programme, is no guarantee that the same team will return with any true understanding of the new initiative. There may, for instance, be just too much information to absorb in a single day. Alternatively, for the reasons outlined above, some may just not pay attention, whilst others might struggle to understand. However, by breaking down the same information into a number of smaller modules, offering the same training online will ensure that your staff are able to take in all the information you need them to and, critically, their progress can be measured, monitored and recorded as they progress. In some industry sectors, or for specific roles within any organisation, recording this training data can be a critical factor towards business success. For instance, it’s one thing to say that your communications or marketing team has had training in, say, online analytics ; it’s another to have a proven demonstrable record of this being the case.

As we said above, there is a great social aspect to training and development that online training is unlikely to fulfill in the near future. However, for the modern manager, online training allows them a highly effective, demonstrable and cost effective means of providing their staff with the means to ensuring their own, and their businesses future success.

The difference between talking the talk and talking their talk…

tailoreddigitalmedia — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:03:33 +0000

Turn on your computer and you’re immediately part of the world’s biggest conversation; a hundred, million voices each trying to communicate their own unique message, each competing to create their own individual mark. Joining this conversation can be just as tough as joining any conversation. How are you going to make yourself heard? How are you going to maintain people’s interest? How are you going to create the right impression? The answer, as with all online media, is simple; content.

In an age where your corner shop can enjoy a web presence equal to the largest Plc, getting noticed isn’t so much about how loud you can shout, as much as what you have to say and how you choose to say it. Historical means of drawing people’s attention to your company, via advertising and the traditional media, no longer have the same relevance as of old. Rather, new media relies on creating solid content that people are going to be interested in involving themselves within and, critically, are going to want to tell others about. As James Farley, CMO of Ford (the only US Car company not to take a Federal loan last year) has it, “You can’t just say it. You have to get the people to say it to each other.”

Of course, all of this is just fine. However, if this really is the case, then the key question has to be ‘how’?

Critically, and as has always been the case, we need to kick start this process by asking ourselves some key questions about our product, or service, and why it might be of interest to our potential audience. For instance, a manufacturer of fashionable furniture’s first instinct might be to bombard a potential customer with details of the materials used in the manufacture of their product, when what the potential customer is really interested in is what the furniture will say about them and their lifestyle choices. By taking the time to determine our audience’s motivation, we stand a greatly increased chance of gaining their attention.

Of course, having gained their attention, the next challenge is going to be to hold it. Naturally, the means to doing this is largely determined by the nature of the message itself and in this, digital media offers us the diversity to provide a means of communication almost as unique as the message we’re communicating. Streaming Video, for instance, can be an ideal means of communicating a simple message in a powerful and effective manner. Conversely, the different pages available to webs site visitors, allows users increased control over the areas of information to which they’re exposed. Furthermore, by combining different types of media, it is possible to create a highly effective overall digital media strategy. For instance, Social Media, such as Facebook and Twitter, are an excellent tool for gaining attention and drawing people to your principal web site, and/or raising awareness of you and your product or service. However, returning to the point made earlier, the key to doing this successfully remains understanding the motivations of our audience and providing them with a message with which they are going to want to become engaged.

It’s a given that the foregoing is to paint a complicated picture in very broad strokes. However, the principal remains perfectly simple; that, with near equal access open to all, it’s what you choose to make your message and how you choose to communicate that message that will determine the success of your online media strategy.

Want to know more about how Tailored Digital Media can help your organisation develop an effective online media strategy?

How online video content can help your organisation.

tailoreddigitalmedia — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:31:50 +0000

So much has changed about the way we absorb online information in the past few years, and one of the biggest success stories has undoubtedly been online video content. Tailored Digital Media offers conversion, education and even creative viral videos to organisations that want to exploit the recent explosion of online video content.

Why video? Video clips can grab people’s attention instantly. Video can tell YOUR story in less time, bring ideas to life and make your website slicker and more attractive to viewers. The simple fact is: engaged visitors spend more time on websites. More time spent on websites means more opportunities to make money. And updating your site with different and visually-rich content can help with search engine rankings.

Tailored Digital Media can offer video content that’s embedded off site, on your homepage or within the site, depending on what your objectives are. Drop us a line or pick up the phone and we’ll be able to consult on how best video content can help meet your organisation’s needs.

Professional video content can be a real asset for your organisation against your competitors. If a visitor learns everything he or she needs from you, they’ll be more likely to come back. We employ a number of young, professional film-makers who can offer you tailored video content. So whether it’s a short ‘company profile’ you want, educational videos or viral videos, we can offer a service tailored to you.

How can tailored news feeds help your organisation?

tailoreddigitalmedia — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:26:52 +0000

Tailored news feeds

We offer a fully tailored online news content service for both private and public sector organisations throughout the UK. By writing crisp and professional copy according to your editorial brief, our tailored news feeds will promote brand identity as well as delivering the right content to your audience. And unlike RSS feeds, you’re in control of content.

We’ve a team of professionally trained journalists and editors who’ll work closely with you to keep your site updated with content that will retain visitors, increase your online presence and attract search engine web crawlers.

• Online presence: With our tailored news feeds, visitors to your site can find all the latest news across your industry. This will boost your online presence, making you be seen as a leading authority in your area. You can also use our feeds to point to other areas on your site such as discussion forums, promotional offers and blogs.

• Professionally written: With a team of industry-trained journalists and editors (many of which have worked on national magazines and respected newspapers), we blend a mixture of traditional news-gathering with the latest deliverability software to offer your visitors tailored news content that won’t be duplicated across the web – beneficial for search engine optimisation.

• Content brief: Instead of employing Account Managers like other news feed organisations (which serve no real purpose and adds cost usually picked up by you), you’ll be assigned a specific journalist who’ll stay in constant contact to make certain articles are relevant to your audience and your marketing and communication strategies. And by having your own journalist only a phone call away, any breaking news stories can be kept tabs on and updated. Our news feeds encourage visitors to remain on your site for longer and can be pointed to wherever on your site you want.

• Delivery: Our news feed can be delivered automatically to your site. You tell us how many articles you want and the frequency, and we’ll do the rest. And because our feed articles add pages to your site with bespoke content (unlike RSS feeds which divert users away), search engines are likely to explore and crawl your website more frequently due to your website being regularly updated.

Drop us a line to find out more.

Want to know more about what our tailored e-bulletins can do for your organisation?

tailoreddigitalmedia — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:21:50 +0000

Tailored e-bulletins

By combining crisp and professionally tailored editorial content with clean, well designed HTML or text-only email templates, we can offer e-bulletin/email marketing campaigns that can be tailored to the recipient.

As with all e-communication strategies, CONTENT and DELIVERABILITY are vital to a campaign’s success – and Tailored Digital Media can provide this, helping keep your customers/suppliers/members up to speed with what your organisation is doing on a regular basis.

Content: With our team of professionally trained journalists and editors, we can create engaging and creative copy that’s tailored not only to your needs, but to that of your targeted audience. For instance, we can segment your customers/suppliers/members database and create tailored e-bulletins/e-marketing campaigns based on their interests and needs. This means that your message can get across to the very people you want to target which, in turn, means they’ll be more likely to respond – and more likely to act on your emails.

We can either produce bespoke editorial content or point your targeted audience to whatever area of your website you want – whether it’s promotional offers/new product launches, forums, tailored news feeds, video content or blogs. We also design our e-bulletins/e-marketing campaigns that are easy to forward to other people. So your customers/suppliers/members, etc can give their friends – prospective customers for you – a free look at what your organisation is all about.

Deliverability: Because our e-bulletins/e-marketing campaigns are tailored to the recipient – in clean and professionally designed HTML or text-only templates – we can achieve nearly a 99 per cent deliverability rate. Spam filters will recognise and attempt to block mass email campaigns, so that’s why our approach to designing, delivering and tailoring e-communications will make sure your message will get straight to people’s inboxes.

We can also give you real-time reports based on individual campaigns, telling you who’s opened your e-communication and when. We can even schedule delivery for when your audience is most likely to check email, increasing the likelihood that they’ll read it and take action.

We can tell you who’s opened your emails, who’s forwarded them to friends, and even who you need to resend them to. We can also tell who’s clicked on which links in your emails, allowing you to understand what people are interested in reading about, and tailor your content to get the best response and most business.

And as more and more organisations become increasingly environmentally-conscious, e-communication campaigns can help reduce your carbon footprint by transferring direct mail shots or printed magazines or newsletters online.

So what are you waiting for?