Pure Thinking

Integrating Your Website With Your Social Media

With the creation of the website came the desire to drive all marketing messages to go to the website to learn about your brand and product, and in many instances to buy. Ads in magazines, direct mail pieces, hand outs at trade shows, then email newsletters all had (or should have) "go to our web site for more information and buy now". Websites are wonderful as they are your virtual brochure and can be updated at anytime for the purpose you first designed them; to sell your brand and your product.

Smart marketers also use websites to keep existing customers happy and have them spread the word about you to others.

Some people believe that the advent of social media sites like Facebook and twitter has taken away the importance of a company's website. I totally disagree and feel the social media sites have made it even more important to keep your website the best it can be to sell and support your brand. The integration of the two can be a huge win when managed properly.

I recently started following Jeremiah Owyang's blog WEB STRATEGY. His recent article about "Corporate Websites and Social Networks Begin Integration" is a must read for anyone interested in leveraging the power of combining the best of both worlds of websites and social media. He calls it "Social Sign On". I call it the bulls-eye to get more prospects to your website to buy.

You can read his article here. Let me know what you think. How integrated are your website and social media strategies?

John Meyer  [email protected]  @johndmeyer

Colorado, Technology, and Marketing

Colorado, Technology, and Marketing. Three of my favorite topics and quite exciting that there are so many intertwined relationships with them right now. I'm a Colorado native in love with where I live. I have a great career growing alongside marketing and technology. It's fun working with the team at Pure Brand Communications on all aspects of digital marketing, centering on Pure Listening.

One of the things I like about Pure Brand Communications is how we give back to the community, personally as well as great agency work with non profits like Boys and Girls Clubs, Special Olympics, and Children's Hospital. I volunteer with CSIA, Colorado's Technology Association. On October 7th CSIA is hosting DEMOgala - an event showcasing technology companies and thought leaders in Colorado.

It's wonderful to see how many technology companies have started in Colorado that provide really fantastic marketing solutions. SimpleGeo offers solutions to enable location based services in mobile, web and desktop applications. We've got web conferencing company ReadyTalk, email marketing firm SwiftPage, social media marketing company FiltrBox that is now part of Jive Software. Associated Content's online publishing platform (now part of Yahoo). A really creative CodeBaby that helps you with web site optimization by leveraging the nature of human behavior online and scientific study. There are also applications for mobile marketing like SnapTag from SpyderLynk.

In most blogs each of these companies would have a hot link to their website to learn more about them. In this case I'm going to promote the event where the companies, many others, and their founders and executives will be. On October 7th the companies I mentioned, many more, and over 25 thought leaders will be speaking at CSIA's DEMOgala at the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center. Now there's the link that's important. There will be over 1000 people attending.

It will be a great day. I'm looking forward to learning more about all the companies, especially those that are taking marketing to a new level.

John Meyer - [email protected] - @johndmeyer

The changing face of media consumption

About a week ago, Kate made a really great post here on the Pure blog dealing with the changing face of news consumption.  At the end she goes on to briefly mention the intern (that's me) and a differing view of this growing social media connection to news.

I completely agree that if I relied solely on Twitter and Facebook as my daily source of news and issues, I would know entirely too much about video games, movies, punk rock and UFC fights (err, maybe I already do...).  That being said, I do think that the social sharing of news and current events has quite a bit of potential for increasing awareness and knowledge for many users.

Social sharing, to me, feels like a natural progression of digital news.  Using tools like the Flipboard app on the iPad or even something as simple as Google Reader, we are in some way taking back our power as editor and gatekeeper of our own news feed.  The immersive nature of technology allows me to read an article, and within minutes, link to several other articles about the issue, a wikipedia entry, or a video report documenting those same topics.

Groups like Breaking News, The New York Times, CNN and the Wall Street Journal are seeing sizable success through apps and accounts on Android, the iPhone, Facebook and Twitter.  But ultimately, it falls on users of social media to help prove my point.  That's why I'm issuing this challenge to social media users everywhere: Take an active role in the spread of knowledge, news and ideas that impact our world.  Go beyond the latest news story about Antennagate or the new Call of Duty game.

We have seen glimpses into the power that social media has to impact news and society.  Think of all the tweets, video and still images the world was privy to during upheaval in Iran or an earthquake in Haiti.  We have the ability to gain insight and perspective from millions of people all over the globe.  Now, more than ever we have the ability to educate ourselves on important issues facing our lives.

Go forth and share!

--

Geoff

@savestheclash

Magazines Take a Stand

 

A decline in magazine newsstand sales is a common headline this year. Buzz about decline in newspaper subscribers and increase in digital technologies that are argued to be taking the place as the tool for media consumption, such as the iPad or Nook.

As one may suspect, there is always another side to the story.

Recent data released from GfK MRI reveal that consumer magazines showed a print readership growing by one percent from spring 2009-spring 2010. A MediaPost analysis took a longer view at a decade's worth of MRI data that showed the total audience for 81 top titles increased eight percent from 2000-2009. 

Interestingly, as consumers continue to read magazines, advertisers continue to walk away. From 114,910 ad pages in the first half of 2006, the industry total dropped 32 percent to 78,218 in the first half of 2010, according to the latest figures from the Publishers Information Bureau.

This may be the result of agencies successful sell on the growing trend of digital media and popular social platforms. Advertisers intrigue with sophisticated data collection captured on digital channels that are often difficult to measure, may also be a factor of persuasion. Cost-effective (can I say cheap?) digital budgets are no doubt also a dangling carrot for smaller marketing budgets in comparison to the larger traditional media buy options.

The bottom line: It does not matter what agencies are selling or what advertisers want - It's about where are customers are. And my guess is more often than not, it's probably a little bit of both. 

To blog or not to blog...

...that is the question. Personally, I'm not much of a blogger. I've tried and it's just not my thing. I have my own blog and it hasn't had an entry in probably six months. And that was more of a rant then anything else, and I think the therapeutic endeavor paid off once I spilled the angst that was building up over the years. Not only that, it was number one on a Google search and had maybe three comments over the course of six months or more. Kinda makes you feel like you're talking to a wall.

So this morning I was approached to write a blog today and was kinda caught off guard, hence, the subject matter of Forced Blogging. I never heard that term before I Googled it today, but there it was in plain english. Maybe I'm going out on a limb bringing up this subject in an inappropriate forum, but it would be interesting to get other comments on this subject from people who feel the same as I do. I know when I was active on my own blog I definitely had to force myself to blog.

At work, I feel I can spend my time doing something more productive with down time, like brushing up on or learning all this new technology and programs I'm now expected to master in one or two sittings to stay current in this overwhelming digital age. I'm not a designer and I'm not a copywriter, nor do I purport to be either. I do production. And I'm sure anyone reading this doesn't want to hear about how I was having technical issues uploading those images to our email marketing server and how I was able to come up with a workaround.

The truth is, in a heavily PR influenced environment I think that you should have some blogging skills if that is your area of expertise. These folks are used to keeping their finger on the pulse and typing up news releases, reports, new business proposals, tweeting, and whatever else it is that they do (apparently blogging is one). But for some of us it's more like going back to school and having to write an essay for your homework assignment. Sorry, but that's how I feel and this is my blog post, right?

Now, if it were my sole job to blog I would have many secret resources I could use. I would always have my feelers out for the next coolest thing, I would be a hipster. Or if I were trying to drive folks to a website with meta-data and keywords to get higher on the search engines that would be one thing. But the truth is, to be totally original in a blog post you have to be passionate about a subject which, for me, might be more of a log about say, my fly-fishing experiences or snowboarding trips, of which I would say there are probably waaaay to many of to begin with. 

That being said, I still think in the future I can hopefully post one or two interesting topics from time to time since it's something that I now know is expected of me. My only other real question is, how many hats can one employee wear anyway? But that may be a topic for another post, if they let me...

Email and Social Media, Competitors or Integration Partners?

I wrote about the future of email newsletter marketing earlier this year when all of the puritans wrote about their predictions for the coming year. I wrote that I thought even with the influx of social media email newsletters would still be king.

On Wednesday I'll be attending the Online Marketing Summit here in Denver. Several topics including the integration of email newsletters with social media. My next post will most likely include my thoughts from this day long conference.

In the meantime here are some highlights from an interesting article I read from emarketer.com entitled "The Future of Social/E-Mail Integration".

A Top Benefit of Integrating Social Media and email: Allow users to sign up for email newsletters directly from social media sites like Facebook. This tactic allows email marketers to grow their lists - cited as the top benefit of integrating social media and email -  by allowing consumers to use their channel of choice and sign up on their own terms.

The same article points out an increase of click through rates from 7.2% to 8.7% when including a social sharing option. And including as many as three different sharing options boosted the rate to 11.2%. That's a fantastic click through rate!

Are you integrating your email newsletters and social media?

My next blog post will have a recap of the Online Marketing Summit.

John Meyer @johndmeyer

2010: The Year of the Overshare

Ever heard of the term, TMI? It has become the known abbreviation for a commonly used term, ‘too much information’. This year, people have too gotten comfortable with social media and now feel the need to frequently update us on their thoughts and activities.

I was going to start this post out by saying, "pretty soon people will be tweeting from the shower and the toilet, because they just need to let everyone know what they are doing and thinking".

Funny thing is that this morning, when I looked into today’s trending topics, I realized, "wow, people already are sharing what they are thinking while they are on the toilet". One of today’s trending topics is, #thoughtsonthetoilet.

  

  

Please note: I had to censor these tweets in the image above. I actually should not have eaten before looking into others #thoughtsonthetoilet. I figured I would save you all a trip to the bathroom.

GQ points those individuals who are known to over share their life story through Facebook, whether it be happy, sad, useless, or just inappropriate.

My advice to those tweeting in 2010: please do not share TMI.

-Gillian

It's a mad, mad, mobile world

My 79 year-old Mother asked for my business card yesterday.  “Oh no, honey, this isn’t good enough,” she said, inspecting it.  What she objected to was, in Pure fashion, our cards carry minimal information.  No titles.  No color logo.  No picture.  Just a name and brief contact information.   She wanted a Chinese menu to wave in the faces of her bridge club.  Wait till I tell her my vision for our new cards:  Eliminate everything except for a 2D bar code.  More on that in a moment.

This year will mark the intersection of mobile and embedded media in America, in a big way. The penetration of iPhones (and introduction of Android phones) is reaching critical mass.  So, in our company, I have suggested we eliminate everything on our 2010 cards except for a crossword puzzle-looking little mark with embedded information.  Anyone who snaps a picture of it with their camera phone will get ALL my contact information downloaded to their address book, a link to our website (and this blog) and even a personal video.
Much like in Japan, you will be amazed at how your phone will connect you to the physical world.  Want to pay for coffee with your phone?  Starbucks has already rolled out a way to do it.  Want information from that flat Volkswagen print ad?  Wave your phone over the code and a video pops up on your mobile. 

Already, iPhoners are “bumping” contact information, searching restaurants though augmented reality (Yelp) and dropping a trail of breadcrumbs wherever they go (FourSquare and Gowalla).  Mobile phones will be collecting and disseminating more and more information  that exists only in the digital world.  And it’s only starting to gain traction.  My Mom is going to hate this.

-Gregg

Art & Copy

ART & COPY is a powerful new film about advertising and inspiration. Directed by Doug Pray (SURFWISE, SCRATCH, HYPE!), it reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time -- people who've profoundly impacted our culture, yet are virtually unknown outside their industry. George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow, Hal Riney and others featured in ART & COPY were responsible for "Just Do It," "I Love NY," "Where's the Beef?," "Got Milk," "Think Different," and brilliant campaigns for everything from cars to presidents.

Exclusive Engagement at the Starz Filmcenter from August 21-27. In cooperation from the Art Director's Club of Denver. Check it out.

Eco-friendly font

By now you have probably heard that recycled paper and soy inks contribute to greener graphic design, but it turns out that in the realm of sustainability, not all fonts are created equal. With that being said, Dutch communications company Spranq have jumped on the environmentally friendly bandwagon, with a font that looks like this:

Ecofont is the name of the typeface and it is available for free at this company's website. The idea is that these little holes will save on average 20% more ink, contributing to a cleaner environment.

The catch 22 here is that it really only works well for a font in the 10 pt size range. At this size and smaller the holes go unnoticed. But, as the font gets bigger the holes will obviously become larger, and at a smaller size the amount of the savings goes down, mostly because the holes will close up and become ineffective due to ink spread, etc.

This seems to be one of those inventive ideas that is a great tool to introduce the world to the services and ingenuity of this company in a roundabout viral episode, while playing on the environmental theme so prevalent in today's society. Whether or not it will help contribute to a cleaner earth seems unlikely, although with a little creativity from the end user, you may be able to trick yourself into sleeping easier at night knowing you're saving the world. Or maybe it will become all the rage like Courier did in the 90's.

- Todd