Experience Matters 28 Years of Solving Nearly Every Kind of Communications Challenge
I read a solid post from the folks at Impact titled, What is Quality Content? It was predicated on the idea, “Quality content is evergreen; it stands the test of time and keeps people coming back for more.” The post provides a useful set of rules, that when followed, enable one to fulfill this description of “quality content.”
If we concur that in today’s business climate, change is the only constant, then we can understand why, to some degree, branding & marketing need to become fluid practices. For product companies, this is not as amorphous as it sounds, because a product is something tangible and even as the world changes, these companies always have the product to anchor and focus their branding and marketing efforts.
But for consultants and, in general, Professional Services organizations, which don’t have products, how do you incorporate change and a flexible approach in your own branding and marketing efforts, in order to stand apart?
Are you struggling with your company’s content strategy and social media strategy? Video is an effective way to elevate your social media plan and hook your viewers. Several of our clients are asking us to integrate video into their websites and social media and here’s why we recommend doing it.
A short video (up to two minutes) is an opportunity to tell your company’s story. We recently updated our website and by embedding a video on the “About RainCastle” page, we were able to tell our story in a new way. Within seconds, prospective clients and employees gain insight into our culture and team, even some of our technologists who often work behind the scene.
Video shows how your product or service works. In less than a minute, by showing a demo, a video can explain how a new technology or product works. Our client, AirStrip Technologies, creates medical software that allows healthcare providers to monitor patient data on their mobile devices. They use video to demo and promote the exciting new technology they’ve developed – technology that enables clinicians to interact with and respond rapidly to clinically relevant patient health information.
We’ve talked about Market Strategy, Brand Strategy and Content Strategy, so why do we need a Web Design Strategy? Because, of all of these strategies, only your Website Design Strategy is externally facing. Let’s put Website Desgn Strategy into context to clarify how these strategies work in tandem.
Using a funnel metaphor, your Market Strategy is your highest level strategic decision, in which you define the markets for your products and/or services and determine whether your market approach is industry specific, solutions or applications-focused or some combination.
Once this is determined, your Brand Strategy encompasses the way you describe what you do, for what audiences with a compettive value statement, which sets you apart from your competition. You socialize this brand internally, and externally at every customer and employee touchpoint.
The power of a relevant Content Strategy — based on sound Market and Brand Strategies — is to create a program to disseminate and exchange your valuable content across all media and over time, which leads us to your Website Design Strategy.
Businesspeople understand the need for a market strategy, some understand the need for a brand strategy but relatively new on the marketing landscape is the need for a “content strategy.” So, what is a content strategy, why do you need it and how do you create one?
Having a content strategy is at the heart of what makes a website a lead generation tool vs. a static brochure-ware experience. Initially, the driving force behind corporate websites was that the technology existed to create them and that all of one’s competitors had one. The recipe for creating a website became standardized: Read more
For much of the life of the commercial web, websites were one dimensional, essentially online brochures that over time became large and often unruly repositories of tactical content. But, in just a few short years after the recession, websites have catapulted to the 4th dimension.
Just last year we won a terrific job by showing the client 10 competitor sites, which all looked almost exactly like theirs. The need for differentiation was alive and well.
With the growth of responsive design, inbound marketing, personalization and web analytics, websites have become more complex, time-intensive and often expensive. While most clients require these services, often budgets do not keep up with technology, so agencies like RainCastle need to work smart to provide our clients the best and most current services at a reasonable cost.
If one believes that in life nothing is permanent, then the constant changes in the science of SEO are just a fact of life. But for those who tend to get uncomfortable with things arcane, it’s good to refresh yourself now and then. Managing your website’s SEO in 2014 looks a little different than it did in 2004.
I’ve never been one to announce my New Year’s resolutions, but this year is different. This year I resolve to abolish the whole idea of New Year’s Resolution in favor of “Seeking a Higher Algorithm.” Let’s face it, there is an algorithm for everybody and everything, making us all increasingly predictable. As a marketer I am a contributor to this revolution via the data-driven marketing practice known as “Personalization.” In this week’s Sunday Business section of The New York Times, I was reminded of personalization that targets… me, which I have to admit I found a little irksome.
