It has been a crazy busy couple of months in the Warren Huska Associates shop - new partnerships, new clients, and a great dose of challenges.
I had started a blog under separate cover about the glories of Keynote - the relatively new Apple software, now in Version 2, that really takes a run at PowerPoint for the presentation software crown. It does an exceedingly good job at dethroning Microsoft Office for a variety of uses. When you have data, and want to demonstrate insight, nothing helps like good, solid visuals.
Keynote typifies what I like about the Mac platform (I work in both Windows and Mac) - fewer clicks, and features that have you slap your forehead and say, "Well that's just genius - and so obvious a feature to have!"
Twitter has become part of our toolbox - it can and often is a surprise how connected people are on this network. It may not be highly adopted (perhaps 5% of online users), but it certainly comprises an audience of early movers and opinion-shapers.
A not entirely unrelated story about an e-Bay auction: Twitter was one of the channels I used to publicize an auction for an old crew jacket I had in the closet - the 1990's CGI animated series 'ReBoot'. Expecting about $60, I pulled up the finished auction and hit the 'refresh' button on my browser - that couldn't be right - $700 U.S.!
Experiments like these give us a whole new appreciation for - experiments! We've determined the clickthroughs and sources for this 'campaign' and are darned sure to be testing similar tactics for our customers!
Showing posts with label assumptions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assumptions. Show all posts
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Friday, September 26, 2008
Blogs are websites
The old-school way of thinking is that blogs are mickey-mouse versions of 'real' websites.
No more, and not in the future.
Blogs are displacing the classic website for a variety of compelling reasons.
The full-sized functionality of blog software, and the enormous uptake of the Open Source software movement opportunity, have made blogs directly compete with CMS - Content Management Software.
We've been using CMS to make easy-to-edit 'websites' for our clients. And guess what? Blogs ARE CMSes! They have many of the same features, and a lot of the underlying robustness required.
ContentRobot has some nice resources on this:
http://www.contentrobot.com/category/blogging/business-blogging
Mobility is one of the great technology themes of our time. Think about it - cellphones, laptops, the internets ... device location independence. Blogs equal mobility/independence of the authoring resource - it goes with you no matter where you are. A web browser, no proprietary software. Any time, any place.
Mobility - and democracy of use - are what will make blogs the indispensable replacement for the static web. Now your blog does what your business requires - not what the IT department has time for.
No more, and not in the future.
Blogs are displacing the classic website for a variety of compelling reasons.
The full-sized functionality of blog software, and the enormous uptake of the Open Source software movement opportunity, have made blogs directly compete with CMS - Content Management Software.
We've been using CMS to make easy-to-edit 'websites' for our clients. And guess what? Blogs ARE CMSes! They have many of the same features, and a lot of the underlying robustness required.
ContentRobot has some nice resources on this:
http://www.contentrobot.com/category/blogging/business-blogging
Mobility is one of the great technology themes of our time. Think about it - cellphones, laptops, the internets ... device location independence. Blogs equal mobility/independence of the authoring resource - it goes with you no matter where you are. A web browser, no proprietary software. Any time, any place.
Mobility - and democracy of use - are what will make blogs the indispensable replacement for the static web. Now your blog does what your business requires - not what the IT department has time for.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Keeping it simple - a manifesto
We've always been fans of keeping things simple.
In fact, we view complexity as a red-flag. Is there something we are not supposed to notice? Is there confusion about the central message?
We came across a tract written by our friends at 37signals - famous variously as being the developers of Ruby on Rails, a development environment, and such amazing products for business as Basecamp (project management) and HighRise (contact management).
Getting Real
...is a wonderful manifesto that can apply not only to software development, but any structured endeavor.
Declarations like 'Make it Smaller' and 'Be Relentlessly Truthful' give clues as to how these guys turn out crackerjack products - and still manage to write a book about the process!
Recommended reading.
In fact, we view complexity as a red-flag. Is there something we are not supposed to notice? Is there confusion about the central message?
We came across a tract written by our friends at 37signals - famous variously as being the developers of Ruby on Rails, a development environment, and such amazing products for business as Basecamp (project management) and HighRise (contact management).
Getting Real
...is a wonderful manifesto that can apply not only to software development, but any structured endeavor.
Declarations like 'Make it Smaller' and 'Be Relentlessly Truthful' give clues as to how these guys turn out crackerjack products - and still manage to write a book about the process!
Recommended reading.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Case Study: Traffic Segments
Use of Web Analytics to qualify traffic
Specialty clothing retailer
Challenged by our initial campaign results, the client was able to test, and then adjust their assumptions about ‘who’ the primary customers of their products were.
Mounting our web analytics on their existing website, we were able to demonstrate the sources of their most profitable traffic. By showing the relationship of keywords, search engines, and referrals, we were able to not only demonstrate where to focus resources, but identify previously unsuspected characteristics of a large segment of their visitors that 'converted' from visitors to customers.
The insight was that people that bought the specialty clothing were not, in fact, the people that used it. Who the purchase decider was - was in fact the caregiver or institution.
These new insights allowed them to re-deploy their marketing in a way that not only dramatically boosted their website inquiries and sales, but also meant they were able to eliminate wasteful spending.
Specialty clothing retailer
Challenged by our initial campaign results, the client was able to test, and then adjust their assumptions about ‘who’ the primary customers of their products were.
Mounting our web analytics on their existing website, we were able to demonstrate the sources of their most profitable traffic. By showing the relationship of keywords, search engines, and referrals, we were able to not only demonstrate where to focus resources, but identify previously unsuspected characteristics of a large segment of their visitors that 'converted' from visitors to customers.
The insight was that people that bought the specialty clothing were not, in fact, the people that used it. Who the purchase decider was - was in fact the caregiver or institution.
These new insights allowed them to re-deploy their marketing in a way that not only dramatically boosted their website inquiries and sales, but also meant they were able to eliminate wasteful spending.
The Drill-Down #3: What? / Why? (Conversions)
3) Conversion Analysis:
Only then can you work back to determine what sources of traffic are worth paying for: most relevant, most cost-effective, and able to generate continued growth.
Hold your online results to business standards.
That was fun – um, did we make any money?And this is the big secret. With traffic, with analysis, - it is all assumptions until you can measure against your business goals. Are you getting referrals, leads? Do these convert to sales? Or just increase your costs?
Only then can you work back to determine what sources of traffic are worth paying for: most relevant, most cost-effective, and able to generate continued growth.
Hold your online results to business standards.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)