Economic Uncertainty? Grow Out Of It!

Depressed along with the markets? Don’t be—it’s time to grow out of this crisis and into your next opportunity.

At a recent conference in Seoul, Richard Branson said, “There are enormous opportunities when there is a crisis. In a situation like this, it’s absolutely essential to conserve cash. I think companies that do have cash owe it to their country and the people in the company to actually invest that cash in order to grow out of the crisis.”

Obviously our entrepreneurial solutions of the past 8 years got us to this point, so why wouldn’t the same tricks turn things around? The cowardly response is to cut: cut staff, cut training, cut marketing or anything else that would allow only the bare bones of an operation to continue.

The creative mind looks for opportunity.

Internet marketing offers a creative way to thrive in a crisis: 

Search engine marketing allows you to say exactly what you want to say to whom you would like. You reach a highly motivated person looking for your solution. and can additionally measure every result and change mid-stream if it fails to show results. If they don’t play, you don’t pay.

Invest in your website’s content management system (CMS): By creating a CMS you take control of your content. No delay at the marketing department, the designer, the printer or publisher. You say what you need to say immediately. The cost? Only your time.

Online video has become the tool of the masses. Created with any variety of technology—a cell phone, a pocket camera or, if you like, a high definition camcorder with studio lights— and edited on the fly. Continue the brand conversation with your audience in the social web-o-sphere – on your website, YouTube, Facebook, Google Video. The opportunities are endless.

If you're worried about rivals poaching your clientele, you have an advantage: you already know your customer. Continue the conversation online through e-marketing. You control this distribution channel and the cost is minimal.

All these online marketing endeavours are measurable, they are flexible, lean and nimble.

Still asking ‘why?’ Maybe you should try asking ‘Why not?’

In tough economic times, you’ll see some of your competition disappear. That’s only natural: in Branson’s words, the best always survive in a crisis. It is time to find the ‘E’ in creative, and outlast them all.

Three Interrelated Pillars of Web Development

Structure
Structure is (x)html - we use html, a structural mark-up language, to add semantically correct structure to our documents. A page heading, a sub heading, a paragraph, a list, a hyper link are all defined structurally by html.

CSS
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) - we use CSS to implement all the attractive design aspects that our designers create. We use CSS to bring in color, images, typography and layout.

Behaviour
Behaviour (dynamic stuff) - we use the appropriate programming language and database language to store data and to bring in dynamic and interactive aspects of a web page. For example, changing content, forms, actions rotating images and much more. We use django, JavaScript, .net and more to bring behaviour to our websites. Keeping these three pillars strong and separate means we have a balanced, future compatible product that is attractive, accessible and standards- compliant at the end of the web development life cycle.

Writing in Upside Down Pyramids

Write for a Quick Grab
The best way to write for the web is to understand how your readers read. Most web users don’t want to be blasted with information, facts and figures. Chances are, they want to quickly grab their information and keep moving.

Lead with Most Important
A great trick to start doing this—learned from schools of journalism—is the inverted pyramid style. Using this, you lead with the most important information, and only then do you increase the level of detail and history. The rationale behind this is that the largest percentage of readership is in the top of the article; the smallest is in the bottom. This way, your readers can decide exactly how much information they want to take in.

This is easily adaptable to web writing, as it makes sure your reader takes away what YOU feel is most important—which is the whole point of web writing to begin with.

Only the tip of the Iceberg

Three weeks ago I was lucky enough to have my camera rolling when a giant iceberg disintegrated right in front of my eyes in a spectacle of nature that words fail to describe.

This digital display was to initiate me into the gospel of viral. From Twillingate to YouTube - and the rest is history...

Within the next week I received an email from local TV station NTV to establish its authenticity. Next, the evening news and from here the morning show on Canada's CTV.

Now, three weeks and more than 1400 unsolicited views later I understand: Viral just happens (if you are in the right place at the right time).

The lame blog post

It is June 1 and today my May blog posts shrink themselves into a single link and provide me with an expectant blank canvas for June. Oh dear!

That brings me to the pivotal question: What makes a good blogger?

Blogger is now an accepted career or hobby label and I am starting to understand why. As I am packing for a 2 week European trip, I realize I fall in the category of lame bloggers.

Why?

A good blogger would have:

• had two weeks' posts prepared and post-dated for release
• found something relevant to blog about the state of Internet marketing in Europe
• had mobile blogging down pat
• a blogging buddy begging for the honour of substitute blogging during my absence.
  

My conclusion:
I am an aspiring-to-be-good blogger. But for very much the same reason that I don't get to the gym, this blog will likely remain untouched for two weeks: bad planning, lack of discipline and waning enthusiasm!

To all you stellar bloggers: Here is a toast to you!

When is Social Marketing Wrong for You?

From Doug's list, the following:

• You have something to hide
• You are a control freak and need to control your message
• Your product or service sucks
• Your product or service requires a hard sell and pressure
• You can dish it out but cannot take it
• You are not willing to improve

If you answered yes to one or more of the above, then social marketing is DEFINITELY not for you!

I Refuse to Blog

This is what a client said to me today.

"If I start a blog, I have no control over what they write about me in my blog."

Yes, that is correct, but why should you care? If they like what you do or if they are upset by your business, they'll write anyway. And they'll write anywhere. Like you'll ever control it!

User-generated content belongs to no one and cannot be controlled. But in your blog, you have control over what you write and can use it to speak to your potential customers in their language.

When you get negative comments - what an opportunity to learn! (Cheaper than market research!) And if you show that you are listening and respond, imagine the response you'll get.

You can use your blog to:

• Ask for feedback
• Compliment your competitors (where it is due), and
• Admit when you are wrong.

And then, if you listen and show that you make it better, what are the chances that you'll now have a loyal follower? No guarantees, but what can you lose?