The LAB Blog

The Benefits of a Content Management System

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:32:00 -0500

When building a website, a lot of attention is necessarily given to the user experience. Page layouts and content can define the success of a site. The content of a website is not static, however. Clients need a way to be able to easily manage the content of their site over time; that's where a CMS comes in.

Why use a CMS?

A CMS, or Content Management System, is a web-based way for a site administrator to handle what's displayed on their site. Based on the capabilities of the particular CMS used, the administrator can add new pages, edit existing pages, change the site map, create new web forms, polls, and surveys, and even manage file uploads on their site, all without needing to know the code behind their system.

It's certainly possible for a developer to create a custom system whereby a client can manage all of the aspects of their site that they need to. A custom solution might even seem to be ideal for most sites, since they can get exactly the capabilities and features they need, but using a pre-built CMS has several advantages. One of the biggest advantages of using an existing CMS is that it is much less error-prone than custom code. As said by Edsger Dijkstra, who made great contributions to programming throughout his life, "If debugging is the process of removing bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in." By avoiding a lot of custom code, a developer also avoids creating a lot of new bugs.

The pre-built CMS solutions, of course, are not bug-free. They have, however, already solved most of the issues that a custom solution would need to hurdle over its development. Many of them also implement solutions to web security threats, including cross-site scripting, SQL injection, session hijacking, and cross-site request forgery, among others. These security loopholes can be incredibly time-consuming to close after code is already developed - using an existing solution not only provides peace-of-mind for knowing that these issues are solved; it saves a lot of time, too. The time saved by using an existing CMS can translate into money saved for both our developers and our clients. If our client does need some custom capabilities, most of the popular systems are still heavily customizable. In fact, for popular open-source systems, a lot of custom modules are already created and freely available for use, again saving time and money.

Which CMS should I use?

After deciding to use a CMS, the next obvious question becomes "which one?" There are a myriad of choices available, including Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, Silverstripe, Expression Engine, and dozens of others. At Garfield Group, we remain "CMS neutral," choosing the right CMS based on our clients' needs, but recently we have been concentrating on two quite a lot: Silverstripe and Drupal. Both of these systems are open source with a PHP backend built on a MySQL database (among other possible options). They both make heavy use of page templates to define content layout, and both are customizable by the addition of modules that can either be downloaded from their respective communities or developed from scratch.

Drupal is one of the most popular content management systems in use today. It has a huge development community, so chances are if you need to do something on your website, it's already been built, tested, and used by hundreds of other people. Drupal was created to be extended, so a developer has the ability to create incredibly powerful custom modules, or even modify the behavior of existing modules, all in an organized manner. The backend interface in Drupal allows modules to be upgraded and managed seamlessly without requiring extra code or downloads - a big plus for clients managing their own sites. Content management in Drupal is based on views, blocks, and pages. Views and blocks are small bits of content that can be put into any page and reused over the whole site. They make it easy to generate and manage familiar layouts throughout a website to make the site more usable. On the other hand, finding the source of any particular piece of content can be difficult for someone who isn't already familiar with the site, since a single page can be made from many views and blocks alongside custom content.

Silverstripe is a fairly new CMS that comes from a group in New Zealand. Being new, it has a much smaller online community than Drupal does. One interesting bit about Silverstripe, though, is that in addition to the CMS, Silverstripe includes a code framework for the site development itself. With the framework, code for a Silverstripe site tends to be highly modular, easily maintained, and very consistent. The administration of Silverstripe is based on the site structure itself, with administrators putting new pages directly into the site tree and adding content to them as needed. The content management interface is also highly customizable, making Silverstripe a good tool to use when the client needs become more complex than just filling in part of a predefined layout. In addition to the displayed content, Silverstripe also includes an integrated file manager, making it easy to upload and organize any files that need to be included on your site, from images to pdfs and media files. Once a file is uploaded, it can be linked into any page just by selecting it in a GUI interface.

Having used both Silverstripe and Drupal, I'm often asked which I recommend. The short answer is it depends. Drupal is incredibly customizable, has a huge community and thousands of pre-built modules to make many common and not-so-common needs easy. Silverstripe, on the other hand, is not as popular or established, leading to the need to do more custom work as a developer. However, I find that most clients find the site-tree-based administration very easy to understand. With its ability to customize the administrative interface to exactly match client needs, I'll often default to Silverstripe unless the client wants some really advanced functionality or I already know of an existing solution in Drupal.

Whether you choose Drupal, Silverstripe, or another CMS, implementing a content management system can make it easy for you to manage your site, and can save time and money for everyone involved.

What are some of your own experiences with Content Management Systems?

Matthew Butt is a Junior Web Developer at Garfield Group. Connect with Matt on LinkedIn. Garfield Group is an agency focused on delivering measurable business results to a client roster ranging from small startups to industry powerhouses. Positioning brands for maximum growth, Garfield Group applies innovative, strategies to drive objectives and surpass expectations through branding initiatives, digital campaigns and targeted offline tactics. For more insights from Garfield Group, visit The Lab and follow up on Twitter @garfieldgroup

Positioning a Clinical Trial Brand for Growth: 4 Simple Steps to Defining a Website Strategy

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:32:00 -0500

The goal - create a "gold standard" website, not just for the clinical trial industry, but comparable to the best websites you see every day. A site that looks great, and still manages to drive business growth. Certainly that's what ERT was looking for when we started this initiative. Often, this turns into a classic form vs. function battle - but why do you have to choose? If you follow this age-old recipe for developing strong marketing strategies, you can have an elegant site that actually helps move your business forward.

1. Establish business goals

2. Define tactical marketing goals (in this case, website goals)

3. Create a messaging strategy

4. Measure performance with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Step 1: Establish Business Goals

Piece of cake - ERT knew exactly what they wanted to accomplish with their overall business. Growing revenue with specific targets/dates, expanding particular categories, defining new service offerings. All with concrete numbers behind them. Perfect! Note that when clients struggle with this, we often start by asking them how they make money, how much they make in a year, sales in a given year, etc. Then we talk about what number they'd like to get to this year, 3 and 5 years from now.

Step 2: Define Tactical Marketing Goals (or in this case, website goals)

This is where the aesthetic piece comes in. If we say that we are going for "gold standard" what does that mean? And how does that result in more leads and sales? To resolve this, we considered the website's role in the business and the purchase process. Goals were established that mapped to the job the site needed to do, while still being considerate of visual interests.

Extend the site's appeal by establishing ERT as a trusted clinical trial resource (get more people to the site, more often)
Deepen the engagement of site visitors (keep people on the site and keep them coming back)
Demonstrate ERT's value relative to the competition (starting to bridge into sales here)
Elevate the brand (the catch all - make it pretty and compelling and play nice with the other materials out there)

Step 3: Create a Messaging Strategy

That "value" goal really became the key to unlocking the missing part of the story. We needed to communicate all the great things that make ERT different from their competitors, which explains why they may be higher in price at first glance, but more cost-effective in the long run. This story needed to be added to the content mix along with product/service offerings, thought leadership materials, etc. We then defined and prioritized all the different target groups they were looking to address, considered mindsets, information interests, and matched the content to the interested audience. This is the approach we take to all of our site builds - define what we have to say, look at who we're talking to and then create a user experience that delivers the content to those individuals who are looking for it. Visit ert.com to see the result.

Step 4: Measure Performance with KPIs

Boiling down the infinite number of metrics into a few specific KPIs is always an important exercise. Once you've laid the groundwork with Steps 1 and 2 it's not too difficult. The approach to keep in mind is to make them simple and ensure they're telling a clear story against your site goals. With ERT, we settled on 6.

Online content influence rating: Defines how much content is getting shared out in the digital ether
Percentage of content downloads per 100 visitors, by subject matter: Assesses engagement with thought leadership content
Percentage of event attendee sign-ups per 100 visitors, by subject matter: Assesses engagement achieved with events and informs where to do more events
Contact form completions per month, by source (organic search, advertising, email, etc.): defines which activities drive the greatest velocity of contact form completions
Cost per form completion, by source: Establishes which activities are most cost-effective
Closed sale percentage: This is really a sales metric, but if the site is doing its job, we'd expect it to improve lead quality

So, how's the new ERT site doing? Well, we just launched it on February 13^th, but hopefully you'll see lots of good news from ERT in the months and years to come. Tell us what you think....

Dan Sirk is Vice President of Account Services at Garfield Group. Connect with Dan on LinkedIn and follow him on twitter @dsirk1. Garfield Group is an agency focused on delivering measurable business results to a client roster ranging from small startups to industry powerhouses. Positioning brands for maximum growth, Garfield Group applies innovative, strategies to drive objectives and surpass expectations through branding initiatives, digital campaigns and targeted offline tactics. For more insights from Garfield Group, visit The Lab and follow up on Twitter @garfieldgroup

UX for B2B Brands: What happens next?

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:32:00 -0500

At the core of the best user experiences is a mindset, an approach to problem solving that thinks holistically about the entire experience. The best experiences, regardless of how technically advanced or simple they are, consistently and accurately answer one question; "what happens next?"

So what does all that really mean?

A client recently asked about incorporating mobile into a marketing campaign.

During our discovery process, we learned that a recent eMarketer study of the U.S. business population showed that roughly 28% of C-suite execs used mobile devices and 21% used tablets to gather purchase information. That trend has continued to increase over the past few years, resulting in an increasing number of mobile optimized web properties.

In actuality, our client's email and brand.com statistics were reporting mobile viewing around 10% of the total audience, far less than the aggregate industry trends, placing the need for a full fledged mobile program in question.

Is our audience really there? How much do we need to optimize for? Is our marketing spend going to justify the return?

Smart Integration

Our recommendation opted for "smart" integration. The core elements of the campaign would be optimized for mobile; making use of standards-based design and development methodologies, ensuring consistent delivery across multiple devices, leaner production costs for the project and an overall tighter budget and spend of marketing dollars.

The approach consisted of email and direct mail marketing working in concert with a registration (lead capture) form on their corporate website. The email and registration page would also be optimized for the mobile web and he direct mail would also incorporate the use of a QR (quick response) code to enable rapid, in-hand, sign up for the program.

The addition of mobile optimization evolved our approach to planning the campaign. The recipients of the marketing materials now had multiple options for engaging the new program. Users could view an email on their desktop, tablet or mobile device, scan a QR code with their smart phone, or enter a URL within a browser. The new approach allowed users to engage the content in several ways; but multiple touch points, on multiple devices, meant more room for error in the seamless delivery of the campaign.

As we entered the planning stage of the project, diagramming the entire brand experience became paramount to ensure we optimized for every angle.

This method integrated the use of mobile directly into the user experience of the entire campaign. Not only from a digital perspective, but from a holistic brand perspective as well; maintaining the visual integrity of the brand across print, digital channels and devices while delivering a clean, intuitive and pleasant brand experience.

Special attention was paid to the creation of mobile-optimized versions of both the email and the registration page. The visual design and fluid development approach delivered a more pleasant reading experience of the content; as well as an optimized, intuitive experience as the user moves through the registration process regardless of how they access the content (mobile or desktop).

So how can I apply this knowledge to my B2B brand?

1. Know who's looking. Perform due diligence to learn where and how your audience is digesting your content to ensure that the time, energy and cost associated with the additional work is worth the investment.

2. Think it through. Put yourself in the driver's seat and walk though the steps. Where are the pitfalls? What doesn't make sense? Where could you find frustration?

3. Sketch it out. Drawing, sketching or diagramming user experiences can reveal problems and opportunities that writing simply can't. Diagramming the experience can assist in communicating the solution's complexity, scale and details.

4. Answer the question. "What happens next?"

Andrew Schultz is an Associate Creative Director at Garfield Group. Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn. Garfield Group is an agency focused on delivering measurable business results to a client roster ranging from small startups to industry powerhouses. Positioning brands for maximum growth, Garfield Group applies innovative, strategies to drive objectives and surpass expectations through branding initiatives, digital campaigns and targeted offline tactics. For more insights from Garfield Group, visit The Lab and follow up on Twitter @garfieldgroup

How can we avoid Groundhog Day?

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:32:00 -0500

Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies of all time. Besides being a huge Bill Murray fan (I grew up watching Saturday Night Live), I love the underlying message:

LIVE EVERY DAY WITH A SENSE OF WONDER.

When the film opens, Bill's character, Phil Collins, is as cynical as they come. Angry. Self-centered. Selfish. He's a miserable guy. He likes no one and no one likes him. He complains about the hotel. He thinks the people around him are stupid hicks.

He becomes trapped in Groundhog Day. Doomed to live it over and over and over again. At first, he uses this as the chance to live out his own selfish schemes. Until, finally, he realizes that if he takes the time to notice and care about the small things around him, the world opens up to him. He takes piano lessons. Saves lives. Falls in love. He learns a lesson that changes his life.

OK, SO WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH MARKETING?

I am fortunate to love what I do for a living, and work with a very talented and fun team. After nearly 30 years, it would be easy to become cynical or bored. Which is why we try to look at every new assignment as the opportunity to do something truly great. Not to just win awards. But to bring real passion to our clients - and make our work the best it can possibly be.

Just imagine how much better our websites, ads, brands can be. How much more innovation we could build into our plans. How much more fun we'd have.

Let's not sleepwalk through our days. Let's get infectious with our enthusiasm. Here are a few ways we like to shake off the cobwebs and build in a sense of wonder.

1. Ask "why" Why will anyone care about what you have to say?
2. Think bigger. Enough with the small ideas already.
3. Get inspired. Read Steve Jobs' biography. Go to a museum. Pick up Communications Arts.
4. Sneer at anyone who says "But we've always done it like that."
5. Love the work.

How do you avoid Groundhog Day? We'd love to hear your ideas.

We have new GARFIELD GROUPies. Announcing our newest hires.

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:23:00 -0500

Garfield Group is growing and we are excited to announce the addition of some amazingly talented new employees: Andrew Schultz, Alexis Sawyer, and Tony Romig.

Hitting the ground running, each has been contributing their talents to everything from big idea campaign concepting and pithy headline writing to geeky, but totally cool, web development. Check out their bios below and feel free to reach out to welcome them to our team!

Andrew Schultz :: Associate Creative Director, Philadelphia

Andrew's career has taken him on a journey from small boutiques to global brand agencies; all with one unwavering focus, designing interactive experiences and ensuring the consistent delivery of beautiful, purposeful, and highly functional design across a range of mediums and platforms. Working within the health-care, pharmaceutical and consumer product spaces, Andrew's designs allow customers to interact with brands in a deeper, more engaging way. Some of his favorite clients have been: Merck, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, Abbott Nutrition, Brystol Myers-Squibb, Novo Nordisk, Valio, Lansinoh Laboratories, and Everlast Worldwide.

"I'm continually motivated by the possibilities that design, and design thinking,

offer to generate new ideas and solutions. I'm driven to make things better,

simpler more intuitive and more enjoyable for people to experience."

-Andrew Schultz

Alexis Sawyer :: Senior Copywriter, Philadelphia

Having worked in both the corporate and agency environments, Alexis has gained a unique perspective toward brand and voice development. She understands how to work within an existing corporate structure while also remaining creative in her thinking. She strives to deliver the most compelling messages within established brands and develop strategic branded voices for emerging companies. Some of Alexis' favorite clients have been: Zany Brainy, FAO Schwarz, The Right Start, SciMedica Group, Praxis Capital, S&H Interiorscapes and Quaker Coffee Company.

"The best part of my job is the teamwork. The chance to work with clients, as

well as the designers, to bring brands to life with crisp language and impactful

design is so rewarding." -Alexis Sawyer

Tony Romig :: Web Developer, Boston

Tony's career path has wound its way through video production and Flash animation to design and LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) Development. Having worked for both agencies and enterprise applications, he has developed exceptional insights into the digital process but is always focused on his unwavering mantra of focus, simplicity and ease of use. Some of Tony's favorite clients have been: Jordan's Furniture, SolidWorks, Progressive Insurance, Dell Computers, Samsonite, Tufts Healthcare, Stryker Biomed.

"I enjoy the prospect of creative problem solving that presents itself with each

and every new project." -Tony Romig

The Power of Opportunity

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:19:00 -0500

The mission of Opportunity Finance Network, the national voice of 170 CDFIs (Community Development Financial Institutions) is to align capital with social justice. Learn why they were an exceptional choice to help lead the Create Jobs for USA initiative.

The American Dream. Opportunity. These are core values of our country — politically, socially and economically. The promise: any individual who works hard can improve their quality of life, improve their communities, and as a result, improve our country. The missing link: access to capital.

Unfortunately, traditional banks are often not able to provide loans to those in underserved communities. As a result, minorities and women cannot find the capital to fund their own American Dream — and the dream dies.

For nearly 30 years, CDFIs have focused on creating and funding opportunities that others miss.

CDFIs finance community businesses that often find it challenging to secure financing from conventional lending institutions. Combining innovation and determination, CDFIs are performance-oriented, responsible, and affordable lenders that spark job growth in the areas where it is needed most.

Thus far, Opportunity Finance Network reports that CDFIs have made over $30 Billion in loans. And because they are experts in what opportunities to fund, they enjoy less than 2% in loan loss rates — keeping investors happy, and creating a virtuous cycle that creates more capital for them to lend. The results are impressive:

60,261 businesses
635,528 housing units
6,465 community facility projects
298,511 new or continuing jobs

Learn how CDFIs multiply opportunity for all.

This summer, Howard Schultz, Chairman of Starbucks, frustrated by government gridlock, sought out ways the private sector could find solutions to the unemployment problem. Once he learned about CDFIs, Create Jobs for USA was born.

By purchasing an "Indivisible" wristband at over 7,000 Starbucks nationwide or online at CreateJobsforUSA.org, you are helping to create and sustain jobs in the USA. Donations go directly to Opportunity Finance Network, which then turn them into loans directed to worthy small businesses through CDFIs.

A donation to Create Jobs for USA is a great holiday gift for you, your friends and family, and, more importantly, it's a gift that can help the economy start growing again.

Stronger communities. More economic opportunity for all. Better lives for all. We are Indivisible.

Learn more about the great work done by CDFIs and Create Jobs for USA by visiting our holiday page garfieldgroup.com/holiday2011.

The Engine of Job Creation.

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:10:00 -0500

U.S. small businesses are the engine of job creation. The premise for Create Jobs for USA is that we can help Americans get back to work by providing small businesses in underserved communities greater access to capital.

According to Fortune Magazine (Nov 1, 2011), "Even though widely cited surveys suggest they continue having a gloomy picture of the economy, small businesses are actually hiring considerably more than big companies. Since last March, firms with 500 or fewer employees have added 60,000 jobs a month to private payroll employment ‘while large businesses have added nothing,' says Paul Dales, an economist with Capital Economics, citing ADP employment surveys."

The challenge for small business is access to capital. One in three small businesses say they can't get adequate financing to fuel their enterprises. And the financing squeeze is stifling their potential for growth. This is even more of an issue for businesses in underserved communities - where unemployment, recently measured at 9.1% for the entire U.S labor force, spikes to 11.3% within the Hispanic community, and 16.7% within the African-American community.

This was this inspiration for Create Jobs for USA, an ambitious program jointly created by Starbucks and our client, Opportunity Finance Network.

By purchasing an "Indivisible" wristband, you can make a real difference -contributing to the goal of creating and sustaining jobs in the USA. Donations go directly to Opportunity Finance Network, where their members, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), turn these donations into loans for worthy small businesses.

CDFIs finance community businesses that often find it challenging to secure financing from conventional financing institutions. Combining innovation and determination, these hand-selected CDFIs are performance-oriented, responsible, and affordable lenders that spark job growth in the areas where it is needed most.

A donation to Create Jobs for USA is a great holiday gift for you, your friends and family, and, more importantly, it's a gift that can help the economy start growing again.

Stronger communities. More economic opportunity for all. Better lives for all. We are indivisible.

Learn more about Create Jobs for USA by visiting our holiday page garfieldgroup.com/holiday2011, or CreateJobsforUSA.org.

Doing Our Part to help America get back to work

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:23:00 -0500

Every holiday season, Garfield Group tries to give something back. This year, we are excited to support Create Jobs for USA - a national initiative created by Starbucks and our client, Opportunity Finance Network.

For every $5 donation - at over 7,000 Starbucks stores or online at CreateJobsforUSA.org, you receive an "indivisible" wristband that shows your support. Donations go to Opportunity Finance Network and are then invested in small business - the true job engine of our economy. Opportunity Finance Network estimates that every $3,000 donated can be leveraged into $21,000 in loans to small businesses.

Americans helping Americans - in a big way.

Lynn Smith encourages Starbucks customers to make a donation by wearing her "Indivisible" wristband and explaining the program at every checkout.

Laura Maxwell, a Starbucks patron, shows her support of Create Jobs for USA.

Inspired by Create Jobs for USA, we purchased wristbands and hit the streets asking people what they thought.

Lynn Smith, a Starbucks barista, has felt the effects of the struggling economy firsthand and is a big supporter of Create Jobs for USA.

"As a college graduate who's had trouble finding a salaried job, I think it's really moving that a program has been created that brings people together to create and sustain jobs," Lynn said. "I think everyone has been impacted by the recession, or at least knows someone who has, so I think it makes them feel good to do their part."

A Starbucks patron, John Campbell, shared his view, "I bought a wristband and wear it proudly. It's a great conversation starter, and an easy way to spread the message of such a worthy cause. Job creation is crucial to building our communities and I'm happy to be empowered to do my small part."

We all have the opportunity to get involved and effect change! Visit your neighborhood Starbucks. Check out CreateJobsforUSA.org. Make a donation that helps get America back to work.

Create Jobs for USA

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:39:00 -0400

Today, November 1st, Starbucks is teaming up with our client, Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) to launch Create Jobs for USA. This ambitious program was designed to focus on one essential thing: create jobs. Something congress -and big business - has not been able to do.

What is so meaningful about this program?

It provides a private enterprise solution to one of the biggest challenges facing our country today.

Why do we need to wait on government? We the people have far greater power-and resources-to effect positive change. If you're like me, you've seen that individuals-working toward a common goal-can move mountains. If Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO, is willing to lead the charge-you know that this is not an empty politicians' promise. It's going to get done.
It leverages a network of incredibly innovative and effective financial organizations.

Opportunity Finance Network is a national network of CDFIs-Community Development Financial Institutions. CDFIs are Community Financial Institutions who make loans to improve low-income, low-wealth and disadvantaged communities. They make investments in small businesses, affordable housing, community centers, supermarkets, healthy foods, charter schools. Their loans are 100% dedicated to creating jobs, building communities, and helping hard-working Americans improve their quality of life.

Mark Pinsky, the CEO of OFN, and his team, do an exceptional job of developing creative ways of creating and leveraging capital sources to maximize their impact. Every $5 donated to Create Jobs for USA will be leveraged into $35 of capital to be invested in small businesses who will use it to create jobs. Because CDFIs are expert in finding and financing these types of opportunities, they experience a less than 2% default rate-which is miniscule compared to traditional lenders. This is not charity. These are loans to be put to work. And a sustainable model for creating more capital over time.
It focuses attention on small business and community development as the keys to success. It's an investment in the American Dream.

It recognizes that small business is the true job engine of the American economy. And that job creation is essential to helping to revive our economy. And that creating economic opportunity helps to sustain communities-the backbone of the middle class-and the backbone of our country.

The program includes some exceptional creative ideas as well. For every $5 contributed, donors will receive a wristband inscribed with the word "indivisible." Wearing this demonstrates a personal commitment to helping to improve our country-and is a great way to talk about the program with friends, family and co-workers. The use of infographics, and real success stories does a great job of communicating complex ideas in a friendly, human way that can appeal to everyone.

We encourage everyone to participate and make whatever donation you can afford, either at your neighborhood Starbucks, or online at CreateJobsforUSA.org.

To learn more about Opportunity Finance Network, and the great work done by CDFIs, visit opportunityfinance.net.

Larry Garfield is the President of Garfield Group an agency focused on delivering measurable business results for its clients, and a contributing blogger to The Lab. Learn more about him, connect with him on Linkedin and follow him on Twitter @LarryGarfield

Approaching Mobile Web and Mobile Apps

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:41:00 -0400

We live in an on-demand world that moves at the speed of light both personally and professionally, and our daily activities - both offline and online - are quickly merging together.

Case in point: I actually wrote this blog using my iPad while waiting to board a plane. I look around and only a few newspapers are open during the pre-boarding. Instead, tablets, iPads and smartphones connect my fellow passengers to current events. Once boarded, we reach our cruising altitude and all wait for the "DING! You are now free to use your personal approved electronic devices." Out come the airplane mode Smartphone and tablets connecting to the airplane's in-flight WIFI.

Marketing communications have been trending digitally for a while now, but is this just the beginning of the mobile boom? In the two examples below, I'll share some observations on both the mobile web and mobile app approach, as well as share how Garfield Group has found success for our clients and partners in deploying mobile solutions.

Mobile Web vs. Apps

This by far raises the most questions - should I build a mobile site or just an app? If I create an app, should it be for the iPhone or Android? Any good planner knows that decision-making in building any strategy is informed by knowledge, facts and data.

Mobile Web

In determining the need for a mobile version of your site, start with looking at your mobile traffic within your analytics software. Hopefully you are running Google Analytics at the very least. Looking at the trend of mobile visitors month over month, you will likely see mobile-based traffic trending upward. Among Garfield Group's B2B clients, we've been seeing between 3-5% of their overall web traffic originating from mobile client browsers. This may sound insignificant but actually it's just the opposite. Visitor time on-site and page engagement is typically twice as high as desktop web browsing, and that's not related to different connection speeds. It's because more often, when a user is engaging with the web on a mobile device, they have a specific task or need to fulfill. Whether it is something as simple as retrieving a phone number and directions, or reading up on your services and upcoming webinar events, mobile web users tend to have an objective in mind when they are browsing your site, they are looking for something.

Here's a quick exercise: pull up your company's website on your iPhone, Driod or Blackberry. Does it load, work as intended and allow you to complete basic tasks like find info or fill out a contact form? Are your key value propositions and marketing messages making it through within the smaller aperture of a mobile web browser? The mobile web experience should not be a duplicated version of your current site - the mobile web users are much more task-specific on their devices. Once you learn their habits, you can tailor a more optimal user experience, which allows the top pages to be made available with a single touch. Maybe it's a main screen that displays an integrated feed of news, blog posts and tweets coupled with a strong call to action and supporting company information.

So that's mobile web. Taking the most relevant content of your main company website and optimizing it for display and ease of use on mobile devices and Smartphone. After reading this, if you find your website may be in need of a mobile optimized tune-up, contact us or give us a ring. Please check out one of our latest mobile-optimizations by visiting http://bioclinica.com on your desktop browser and then http://m.bioclinica.com from your Smartphone to see how navigation, content and user needs have been optimized for the mobile platform.

There's an app for that

In addition to Mobile Web development, over the last year we have seen tremendous growth in app development, at least in part because of wider adoption of these devices within businesses along with overall improvements in what these devices are capable of. There are now more mobile devices than computers and hundreds of thousands of apps to go with them. Apps are a great way to package up all of your messaging, tools and company values into a unique customer experience - all while making most of this content available offline without a WIFI or 3G connection. Despite having content available offline, over 60% of apps still use or require an Internet connection. So don't be afraid put a mix of content that users can take on-the-go without WIFI and additional features that may need to fetch content via the web.

We are often asked the question: What are the first steps in creating an App? Where do I Begin? At the Garfield Group, our approach to mobile strategy is informed by four imperatives:

Know your audience (How much of it is mobile, what are they accessing now, what platforms are they using?).

Define what content you're going to deliver. (Is there a unique story that needs to be told through interaction that cannot be done with a mobile version of your website? Do you need to create a tool or utility that helps your audience arrive at a decision or educate them in an engaging way? Do you need to develop an App that helps your sales force communicate the value proposition of your products and services?)

Determine what devices you will use to distribute the experience. (Does the audience you've targeted standardize on a specific device platform or are they spread across a number of different platforms?)

Define how you will measure success. (What business objectives are associated with this investment? How will this app drive business growth or make other business processes more efficient or effective?)

Carefully addressing each of these conditions will enable you to develop a comprehensive strategy and identify the tactical requirements for a successful app development project that meets your audience needs as well as your business goals.

You might also check our a recent blog post about an App we'd built for Vocollect to power their new business efforts and drive business growth.

That's the approach for App Development for business. Identifying the opportunity to create engagement and a unique customer experience and constructing a sound strategy that incorporates what will be of the greatest benefit to the user and what would be the best business outcomes from that experience. If you are considering an App to help deliver business growth, drive greater efficiency in the sales cycle or serve as an effective tool for your sales force please contact us or give us a ring. We'd love to talk to you about your next project. And if you'd like to check out the App we developed for Vocollect's sales force, you can download a lite version on the Apple App store.

Dave Snyder is the Interactive Account Director at Garfield Group. Connect with Dave on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter @dbspeed. Garfield Group is an agency focused on delivering measurable business results to a client roster ranging from small startups to industry powerhouses. Positioning brands for maximum growth, Garfield Group applies innovative, strategies to drive objectives and surpass expectations through branding initiatives, digital campaigns and targeted offline tactics. For more insights from Garfield Group, visit The Lab and follow up on Twitter @garfieldgroup

Strategies for Effective Online Brand Management

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Many B2B companies may believe the only path to success is to focus on generating leads and making the sale. A commitment to online branding is an often overlooked or underfunded initiative, deemed not essential to marketers who live and die by their sales performance. But this approach can be shortsighted. Brand building plays a critical role in your business strategy, ensuring the business remains brand-focused and customer-focused to achieve profitability.

Building your brand in the online space can boost awareness of your brand, your company and it's products or services. The greater brand awareness you can create, the greater the chances that your audience will actively seek your brand out and remain loyal to you.

While putting your company in front of an audience is not too difficult with the right tactics and expenditure, it must be done in concert with developing a solid brand reputation and a strong online presence, backed by an effective media strategy, in order to sustain the desired flow of business leads.

Online Branding Basics

Key tactics or components that form the basis of an online brand strategy are typically SEO (search engine optimization), SEM (search engine marketing), PPC (online display advertising), Social Media marketing, online brand reputation management, online Public Relations and thought leadership. While each of these techniques can serve as a lever in boosting brand equity online, when used together they become a powerful and effective strategy for brand management. While your specific online strategy for branding may differ from other businesses with regard to the specific tactics employed, the core elements of a strategic online brand strategy should be a combination of advertising, social media, SEO and online PR or thought leadership activities.

The following additional guidelines will help you articulate your online brand promise, define the marketing opportunity and objectives, and extend your targeted audience.

Know the audience you are trying to reach

Learn as much as you can about your target audiences, not only how they relate to the products or services you sell, but who they are as individuals. Where do they live? How old are they? How do they behave towards media? How do they make purchase decisions and how do they research their purchases before buying? Do they engage with social media channels? If so, which ones and in what way?

Understanding your audience segments is crucial to your business strategy ¬- are you serving a profitable niche of prospective customers? Are you effective in spotting opportunities in additional customer segments and extending your strategy to reach them? How do you describe your customers and how do they describe themselves?

Work through multiple channels

Build your brand by extending it out to where your audience is, don't just count on them to come to you and your website. Leverage behavioral targeting, site specific targeting and re-marketing in display and content networks to raise awareness and create the repetition necessary to spur action. Conduct these activities systematically and with key measurement criteria built-in so that you can evaluate and fine-tune performance over time. With SEO (search engine optimization), remain consistent with brand messaging guidelines in creating your title tags and other Meta data. Ensure your offline marketing activities are in sync with your online activities. Ensure your emails, landing pages, and other digital expressions of your brand share a similar look and feel, and relate to your brand identity and target audiences. Consistency and reinforcement of your brand messaging throughout the buying cycle helps your audience recognize and recall your brand. When those audiences are then "ready to buy," you will ensure your brand is among the consideration set.

Develop a social media strategy

As I've mentioned previous blog posts, the visibility of your brand can quickly determine a company's success or failure. A comprehensive SEO plan alone is no longer enough to maintain proper brand visibility. The rise in popularity of social media networks have made it necessary for businesses to consider and to define a strategy on how they will incorporate social media into their brand management process. A part of this strategy will be in determining what you want your brand to say or do in the social media space, how you want your target audiences via social media to engage with your brand, and what platforms or networks are most appropriate to achieve those objectives. Start by investigating and listening, find out who is talking about your brand and where they are talking. If nobody is talking, start the conversation yourself, but remember that the social media space is about interaction, not sales. Don't force your message on your prospects. Engage with them in a more human way and demonstrate your value through action and behavior

Thought Leadership

Building an online brand reputation is achieved through the delivery of exceptional value to your audience in an unselfish and altruistic way. Start at the beginning by making a list to identify your areas of expertise, where your brand really has credible expertise. Next, identify the company assets, intelligence and experience you have at your disposal to demonstrate that expertise. You may find that you will have to create some of these assets to achieve this goal. Use your brand and marketing strategy as a guide to ensure the assets you develop speak to the intended audience and are consistent with your brand expression. Finally, define a clear strategy for delivering that expertise to your audience. Once you've identified what you have to say and how you can best say it, the next step is to develop a set of tactics that will ensure the thought leadership content and thinking reaches the audience successfully.

Keep in mind that this content and must have intrinsic value, this is essential to create the ripple effect you are seeking, it must be valuable and shareable, so that your audience appreciates your brand's viewpoint or experience on the subject and is willing to share that content with their peers. Your thought leadership activities can incorporate both online and offline tactics (whitepapers and speaking engagements), and incorporate PR as well as social media participation (3rd party publications and active online community participation). The important thing is to identify the audience question or need, then set about fulfilling that need and answering those questions, in an altruistic, no-strings-attached way.

Russ Gallant is the Managing Director of Garfield Group. Connect with Russ on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter at @rawlus. Garfield Group is an agency focused on delivering measurable business results to a client roster ranging from small startups to industry powerhouses. Positioning brands for maximum growth, Garfield Group applies innovative strategies to drive objectives and surpass expectations through branding initiatives, digital campaigns and targeted offline tactics. For more insights from Garfield Group, visit The Lab.

Case Study: Unleashing the Vertex Enterprise Campaign

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:16:00 -0400

When Vertex, the tax technology leader, wanted to take their conversation with customers and prospects to a higher-level, it was time to rethink everything.

The objective: introduce a game-changing technology platform — Vertex Enterprise — that would truly connect with audiences, and describe how Vertex is presenting a long-term solution that could address some of the most complex industry challenges.

The speed and complexity of global Finance and Tax has brought the industry to a tipping-point. Old solutions based on siloed information and desktop portal solutions are just not enough to help companies compete in a new era of hyper-regulation.

“We wanted to introduce a revolutionary solution to a industry-wide problem. Together, Vertex and Garfield Group created a campaign that sparked the imagination of the market and propelled us into a whole new direction,” said Alex Smith, Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs at Vertex, Inc.

Vertex Enterprise uses a revolutionary approach to data management that breaks down the long-standing barriers between Finance and Tax to “unleash the strategic potential of corporate tax.”

Launched in October 2010, the multi-tiered campaign included a central vision and message from the senior Vertex team, web video and thought leadership content, print advertising, and direct mail and email promoting an innovative “Future of Tax Operations” webinar series. As a whole, the campaign drove interest and awareness of Vertex Enterprise, engaging VPs of Tax and Finance into a new conversation around the next generation of tax solutions.

Five Biggest Mistakes in Branding

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:30:00 -0400

By now, nearly everyone agrees that a brand is much more than a logo or tag line. A Brand is a promise-- something that a customer can trust or expect from a relationship with your organization. The promise could be as simple as a consistent restaurant, hotel or product experience (McDonalds, Marriott Hotel, Tide Detergent), or as complex as safety and security (Volvo, Allstate), status (BMW), or creativity (Apple).

Defining your promise is a complicated matter-- especially in B2B marketing. Nearly every B2B brand starts with a promise like "save time, money or hassle" and builds ROI models to justify the argument. Consider that a starting point. But then be sure to avoid these five common branding mistakes--

Not investing enough time on strategy. Who are your audiences? What do they care about most? What do you have to offer that is truly different or better than your competition? How do your salespeople usually win? Good strategy-based on an objective view of your own strengths and weaknesses-is essential.

Simple, compelling messaging. What's your promise? Is it relevant and understandable? Is it simple, easy to communicate and easy for your team and your customers and prospects to remember? If internal and external people don't understand it instantly, it's of no use to you-it won't be strong enough to support the brand.

Creating an emotional connection. What underlying human need does your brand fulfill? How will you make your customers' lives better? How do your company's values help you keep your promise?

Perpetuating bad or outdated ideas. If your logo, name or product positioning are no longer serving you, why carry on with them? Launching an exciting new website that is still hobbled by an outdated set of colors, logo, etc is like buying a new suit and wearing an old shirt and tie that don't match.

Thinking small. Branding should be an exciting, invigorating process. A chance to refresh, rethink, renew and relaunch your organization. And position yourself in a new way against your competition. Why think small-- with a narrow set of ambitions or limited tactics. Instead, give your organization the chance to imagine what you might become. Something more interesting. More fun.

If you follow the examples of great brands—and avoid these mistakes-- you can create a strong foundation that lifts up every part of your company --- marketing, sales, recruiting, partnerships, and more. Find a core promise that generates energy and excitement. And have fun bringing it to life.

Marketing Automation: How to Avoid Disappointment with your Implementation

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:30:00 -0400

It hasn't been too long since the business model for generating sales leads was to begin with a name, an address and a phone number and then start sending marketing messages to them. This approach counted on interrupting the prospect so you could deliver your compelling and captivating message and stop them in their tracks. But this time-tested approach has proven less successful in the web 2.0 world.

Audience behavior is self-directed now, we seek out the information we need rather than waiting for it to arrive as an interruption. Marketing and sales techniques have evolved accordingly, and today's lead generation is at least partially based upon inbound marketing techniques. Wikipedia defines inbound marketing as "a marketing strategy that focuses on getting found by customers."

As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry Marketing automation platforms are becoming a requirement for B2Bs who have a long sales funnel or complex story to tell. These software platforms can extend the effectiveness of your inbound marketing activities by providing software platforms designed to take the most repetitive and time-consuming tasks in the sales process and automate them. As the various platform vendors will claim, marketing automation helps qualify, score and nurture leads on an individual basis until each becomes "purchase ready"

A marketing automation platform won't do anything that can't be done by a great marketing team backed by the right strategy and tactics, but for B2B companies with strained resources, marketing automation platforms can help fill the gaps in personnel and resources for the more routine, repetitive elements involved in nurturing a lead, and can allow companies to focus on content development to support the sales function.

For executives who are either evaluating potential marketing automation platforms or getting ready to implement a chosen one, below are some useful tips to keep in mind to ensure you get the most out of the solution you've chosen.

Ensure the source of fresh leads. Remember, your marketing automation platform does not manufacture the initial sales leads for you; it merely makes the process of handling them all, and funneling the most important ones to sales people, much easier. You will still need to pursue activities that drive inquiries to your sales funnel and these may often be a mix of online activities like search engine marketing and offline activities like tradeshow appearances. Since you have automated the most time-consuming aspects of qualifying sales prospects with your software platform, there's no disadvantage to casting a wider net for your opportunities.

Don't run out of gas. The fuel that powers a successful inbound program is content. Your marketing department has to make a serious and sustained effort to create exceptional content that presents a real value to your target audience. It should be positioned to help them achieve their own goals, not your own. Make it valuable and something worth passing on. Short pieces like checklists, executive briefs and industry viewpoints can be balanced against longer content, video, whitepapers, ROI case studies and third party research. Go easy on the sales pitch and concentrate on delivering value and quality.

Categorize the Audience. Audience segmentation is the process of dividing people or companies into homogenous subgroups based on a number of defined parameters. For B2B marketers, granularity in audience segmentation combined with the automation these platforms can deliver will allow you to exceed the traditional lead acquisition and response rates typically associated with traditional marketing campaigns. Content targeted to each segment with the unique value propositions that hit their hot buttons whether they are a CIO, CFO, VP of Sales results in a one-to-one conversation that is going to be more successful than the traditional one-size-fits-all approach.

Learn how to score. Prospect scoring, understanding the relationship between prospect behavior and their "buying signals" is a central element to the marketing automation platform. Sales and marketing need to work together in determining the right buying signals for your business and what online behaviors map to those signals. Improving the way you score these prospects will get better leads into the sales follow-up process at the right time.

Define before buying. Consider the business goals you have when selecting your marketing automation system and make sure the reporting capabilities of that system are going to map to those business goals. Obtain input from your major stakeholders: marketing, sales, product and executive team to ensure that the right platform is selected and avoid the pitfalls of having to adapt a workaround solution later on to get the actionable information you need. These platforms can be a big investment when you consider content requirements and the experts who need to participate, make sure each stakeholder has been heard before selecting the platform to implement.

Rinse and Repeat. Be realistic about the results you expect to see in the short term. If you do not already have an extensive library of exceptional content to deliver to your audiences it can take several quarters to gain the momentum necessary to see the results you're expecting. You will undoubtedly continue to refine your scoring model over time. Find the time to understand your customer behavior at a much deeper level and leverage resources to make adjustments to your approach. Examine your results, refine your approach and repeat.

Russ Gallant is the Managing Director of Garfield Group. Connect with Russ on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter at @rawlus. Garfield Group is an agency focused on delivering measurable business results to a client roster ranging from small startups to industry powerhouses. Positioning brands for maximun growth, Garfield Group applies innovative, strategies to drive objectives and surpass expectations through branding initiatives, digital campaigns and targeted offline tactics. For more insights from Garfield Group, visit The Lab.

Case Study: A Content-Driven Success for IMS Health

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:16:00 -0400

IMS Health is the leading provider of market intelligence to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries — aggregating prescription data from all fronts to uncover insights and strategies to improve brand and sales strategies.

With the pharmaceutical industry undergoing a dramatic transformation, IMS Health wanted to develop a communications campaign to increase awareness and preference for IMS Consulting Services, with a focus on performance analytics — and how the Pharma industry can improve the way they collect, analyze and use key performance data.

"We needed to engage a hard-to-reach target to get a conversation started, and ultimately lead to a sales meeting," said Michele Lichtenfield, Director, Marketing & Communications, IMS Health. Garfield Group helped us focus our message and promotional approach and proved that significant results can be measured from a content-driven campaign."

Teaming with IMS, Garfield Group launched "IMS Know How" — a content-rich landing page http://www.imsknowhow.com featuring IMS Consulting Expertise, including thought leadership videos, and a valuable eBook on Performance Analytics — a key to business transformation.

The program was promoted with direct mail, emails, and search engine marketing. The eBook presented complex topics in a visually stimulating way, with programmed links to the videos embedded within it.

Using our Measure & Action evaluation approach, we were able to identify the best performing vehicles of the campaign — the email generated the strongest traffic, and banner ads brought the most qualified visitors to the site - averaging an impressive 5:52 minutes on the site.

Measuring Marketing Results – Start with these 3 Key Steps

Tue, 17 May 2011 14:41:00 -0400

There's no bigger issue today in marketing communications than Measuring Performance. Understanding the tangible value of marketing — and how it is driving results — can make or break a marketing program, and the potential growth of a brand.

Too many times, however, measuring performance is left to the very end of the process, when it's time to evaluate what happened. This dynamic of "looking in the rear view mirror" misses the mark. Measurement isn't something that happens after a program is out the door. It begins at its inception.

1. Ask the challenging measurement questions up front.

From the very first planning meeting, it's important to define what, exactly, needs to be measured. Broad discussions such as "how will we know that we've been successful? What will we measure? How will our business have changed?" can uncover valuable insights in terms of how the program should be evaluated. From there, it's possible to hone in on the actual metrics and expectations that the program needs to meet.

2. Focus, focus, focus.

Let's say you're starting with a rather generic but common objective... like "we want to build awareness and preference." A series or probing questions that can bring clarity and focus:

How familiar are decision makers with your brand?
How familiar are they with your specific products and services?
Are they more likely to talk about or evaluate a competitor?
Are you at some kind of competitive disadvantage?
Is your sales and marketing mix out of balance and not optimized?
Are you finding it more difficult to engage and educate your key audiences?

Once you've defined objectives in a more concrete way-measuring performance becomes clearer as well:

Measuring Influence: how much time are decision-makers spending on your site--- and what content are they consuming most? How much are they sharing your content with others in their company? Or sharing through Social Media channels?
Measuring Engagement: which channels-- online and offline-- are driving the most prospect interactions in the most cost-efficient way? Which are leading to the best prospects? Which are actually turning into revenues?

Armed with new digital measurement tools, and marketing automation platforms like Eloqua, it's easier than ever before to count clicks, opens, registrations, shares, likes, and so forth. However, understanding what you really need to measure--- is what leads to programs that perform.

3. Don't dismiss the softer side

Measuring performance also has a softer, more intangible side. How did this program or communication make your audience "feel" about the brand or service? Did it make them like the brand more? Was it respectful of their intelligence and deliver value to them? These are things that aren't always easy to measure, but can be quite powerful.

Make sure the communication not only drove clicks, leads or time on site, but also left a positive and lasting impression that could deliver ROI down the road when a prospect is ready to buy.

Today, there are many, many ways to measure performance of your marketing communications programs. Selecting exactly what you want to measure - and doing a proper job of analyzing results in the context of real marketing and sales objectives, not only reveals valuable insights, but also leads to more actionable, accountable programs and greater likelihood that you will drive true marketing ROI. Clarity, focus and prioritization from Day 1 gives you a better chance of meeting, or exceeding expectations after the investment has been made.

What do you think? How do you define success for your programs-- and determine how to measure your results?

Larry Garfield is the President of Garfield Group, an agency focused on delivering measurable business results for its clients, and a contributing blogger to The Lab. Learn more about him here, connect with him on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter at @LarryGarfield.

10 Online Video Marketing Tips every B2B Marketer should know – Part Two

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:53:00 -0400

In Part One of the 10 Online Video Marketing Tips every B2B Marketer Should Know we focused on the content and strategy choices you need to make to ensure your B2B video marketing efforts are as successful as possible. In this segment we're focusing on production and post-production considerations that will ensure your videos reach and engage the right audience.

10 Online Video Marketing Tips every B2B Marketer should know - Part Two

6. Include a Text Summary for your Videos - this may seem pretty obvious, but search engines don't index video content very well. Outline key points made in the video with great summaries. This detailed summary lets viewers know what content will be presented in the video (and provide the essence of your message to users who might be firewalled from viewing video content), it allows the search engines to discover and rank the content favorably for you, and it can provide additional velocity for your inbound marketing programs. Many viewers will read the description while watching the video, so make sure the description tells as compelling a story as the video does. You'll have about 1,000 characters to work with; around 166 words so choose them wisely. The first 120 characters are displayed in YouTube search results so make these really count. Choose the category for your video carefully too, the more relevant the category to your content, the better results you'll see from viewers.

7. Add Optimized Tags - Tags help you label your videos so that they can be found more easily. YouTube tags are based on single words rather than phrases; keep that in mind as you form your list. Try to leverage your website SEO and SEM keyword research to include single words and word combinations that map both to the content of the video and to the terms your target audience uses when looking for that content. You'll be able to use about 20 tags here so make them count.

8. Size Matters - Your video needs to end, and it should probably end sooner than you think it needs to. If you have to, break your video content up into shorter sections, 2.5 minutes or less, to ensure the video is accessible and focused. Experiment with lengths if you're not convinced and see what the right length is for your content and audience. Keep in mind, people have short attention spans and it is unlikely they'll sit through 10 minutes of video to get to the meat of your content, organize your message into smaller video segments so that each segment delivers value. This should also ensure that the video titles, text summaries and tags associated with each video are more focused and aligned with your objectives.

9. Include unique URLs in the Video Description - This URL could be for a landing page, or a content area on your site, or even your homepage. The objective here is to minimize any obstacles which might prevent leads from being driven back to your website. In B2B marketing, generating leads is typically an important content objective. Links back to your site facilitate this lead generation process while simultaneously improving various page-ranking metrics with search engines.

10. Choose the On Screen Talent Wisely - Creating interesting and engaging video content isn't about featuring the smartest person in the company, it is about tone and manner. When selecting the talent to appear on-screen, consider who would be the best at presenting content and explaining things clearly and in a compelling way. This may not always be the smartest person on the subject matter. You'll want a dynamic personality that can connect to the viewer audience; this is the face of your brand, the person charged with making that human connection and translating it into action. Give some good thought to this.

You can extend the value of these 10 tips by incorporating your web address, social media handles and company contact information into the video content, text descriptions and platform profiles. Try to avoid proprietary players if you can, while YouTube is not the most refined player, it is the most popular, capturing up to 90% of all video usage. If you have some additional tips to share that will make B2B Marketing with Online Video even more successful, drop us a note in the comments box below. If you'd like to talk to us about using video for your own B2B marketing purposes, Get in touch with us, we'd love to talk to you.

10 Online Video Marketing Tips every B2B Marketer should know – Part One

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 15:00:00 -0400

You're probably reading this now because you've decided to extend your B2B marketing and thought-leadership activities into the video arena. Smart move. Online video marketing is a super effective medium for B2B marketing because of the role it can play in educating your audience while simultaneously creating interest in your products and services. Great online video is engaging and persuasive, and brings your benefit-driven stories to life. Part One focuses on the content and strategy choices you need to make to ensure your B2B video marketing efforts are as successful as possible. Part Two will focus on production and post-production considerations that will ensure your videos reach and engage the right audience.

10 Online Video Marketing Tips every B2B Marketer should know - Part One

1. Don't Forget Branding - Besides blogs, YouTube and your own website, video can be embedded and shared almost anywhere. As you plan and produce your video, be sure to incorporate your brand identity and key messaging into the video content so that a clear and consistent brand message shines through regardless of the video platform you use. You can also watermark the video with your brand and website address, or you can go a step further and include intro and exit segments that ensure branding is clearly delivered alongside your website URL and other key messaging. Don't assume the audience will get all the need to know from the info pane or the video description, create branding in both places to ensure important messaging doesn't get lost.

2. Know your Brand Voice - This is really important, are you aiming for the video to be an instructional or educational resource for your audience? Is the video a product demonstration? Are you leveraging video to build thought leadership in your industry? Identifying your marketing and business goals alongside the voice of your brand will help you determine how your brand behavior in the video space. Your brand voice extends beyond just the video production; you'll need to deliver the same tone and manner in the video descriptions, meta tags, titles and in the discussion that happens in the comments area too.

3. Storytelling vs. Telling - People love stories. Oftentimes we learn best through stories. Stories create the opportunity for a human connection; an emotional connection. When you're able to have this sort of impact, your audience is going to be more inclined to do business with you. Your Brand Voice shapes the type of story you tell and how you tell it. Does your video evoke emotion from the viewer? Does it touch and move the audience? This is really important to get right. If you get it right, you'll be successful.

4. Activate your Viewers - as is the case with your other marketing activities, you want the viewer to take make a choice at the end of the video. What is the next step for your viewers? Do you want them to schedule a demo? Do you want them to download content from your website? Build this desired action into your video content planning.

5. Freshness Counts - This is a cluttered marketing environment, there are more than 13 Billion videos on YouTube so you'll have to work hard to stand out amongst the competition. Even when you think your content might be too dry to be exciting, there are always new and creative ways to add life and a "fun factor" to your story and make a really strong impact. See how Hans Rosling used a combination of video techniques to take a presentation about health care statistics and turn it into an engaging, educational and fun video segment.

In Part Two of this series we'll discuss the production and distribution considerations to ensure your video is a success. In the meantime, if you have additional tips to share that will make B2B Marketing with Online Video even more successful, leave a comment in the box below. If you'd like to talk to us about using video for your own B2B marketing purposes, get in touch with us, we'd love to talk to you.

Five Ways to Deploy QR Codes for Your Marketing Program

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:59:00 -0400

Over the past few weeks, we have received an increase of questions from our clients and partners regarding the use of QR codes. We also have seen an increase in their use both online and offline, so we wanted to share our viewpoint and what we have been seeing in the space.

First let's start out with what is a QR code?
From Wikipedia:
A QR code (short for Quick Response) is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.

Common in Japan, where it was created by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. QR is the abbreviation for Quick Response, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

The technology has seen a large uptake in Japan and South Korea. However, in the West there has been a considerably slower adoption of QR Codes.

Now that you know what a QR code is let's take a look at the benefits:
QR codes can be read anytime, anywhere with mobile phones. Once you have a QR reader installed via an app, they are easy to decode and convenient since special scanners are not required and the camera of mobile phones can scan and present the information contained in the codes. Multiple uses of these codes - Simplify access and without having to type anything. With QR codes it is possible to:

Visit websites, landing page
See text and images
Send emails and messages
Dial telephone numbers
Provide offer or coupon

Think you may be interested in using a QR code now? Here are our top five ways to apply a QR code to your current B2B marketing communication tools:

1. In your email signature - using free online QR generators, you can easily take all of your contact information and put it into a QR code, increasing the ease of being added to a contact database.

2. On your business card - again what better way to digitize your contact information than putting it on your card. We've even seen examples that are limited to the company logo, person's name and just the QR code.

3. In print ads - this is probably the biggest opportunity to test run a QR code. Simply add to the corner of the layout and link to a landing page, YouTube video, facebook or Twitter account.

4. Tradeshows - a great way to have your booth attendees walk up and enter to win a prize, while giving you the advantage of capturing marketing data simultaneously.

5. Link to your mobile app - think about it: you access a QR code using your mobile phone. Typing in a long iPhone app link can take time. Why not include the QR code next to the link, sending the user directly to the app store for the download.

QR Codes Enhance the Mobile Experience
Recent data from IDC states that smartphone manufacturers expect to ship over 450 million units in 2011, a more than 50% increase from the amount shipped in 2010.

As smartphones are becoming more popular and infused with our daily life both professionally and personally, marketers must being to take advantage of a new way to communicate with the consumer or target audience.

QR codes represent a simple and affordable opportunity for businesses to connect smartphone users with branded digital content allowing to connect more easily and measurable which can increase web traffic, conversion, increase revenue. Integrating the QR strategy can provide a seamless transition from offline to online.

Sources: businessinsider.com, eMarketer.com

Summary
Although QR codes have been around for while, it seems they come and go like flying green bugs every seven years. With smartphone development and usage increasing by the minute, more and more businesses are relying on phones to conduct business. As new tablets are released weekly (it is the year of the iPad2 according to Steve Jobs), we now have another device to scan QRs. Marketers are being challenged to innovate and stretch the dollar. QR codes are easy to create and implement, and empower companies to gain measurable results from offline campaigns. We live and work in a culture of "I want it now," which leads us to believe that the QR code is a tool that's here to stay.

If you would like to learn more drop us a line at info@garfieldgroup.com.

Thinking Outside the PowerPoint: The Vocollect iPad App

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:14:00 -0400

When Vocollect-the leading developer of voice solutions for mobile workers worldwide-needed new ways to engage prospects, Garfield Group thought outside the PowerPoint.

The goal was to elevate the level of engagement with prospects, and maintain an ongoing relationship. And now, there's an app for that.

The new Vocollect app houses valuable case studies, videos, white papers, brochures, eBooks-in one convenient place, giving the sales team a true "wow" factor when engaging potential clients. In fact, it increased new sales engagements by nearly 60%.

Published by Apple® at the App Store, the Vocollect app received 244 downloads in its first week. Download it here.

Check out our latest case study to read more.