News:

The proliferation of social media and smart phones is changing the way business and marketing is done. Here’s information on software and add-ins to help with your marketing efforts.

www.businesspundit.com/using-apps-in-web-3-0-marketing/

With the proliferation of online media, it’s often stated that print is dead. However, Elaine Fogel of MarketingProfs says such an assumption is premature, if not incorrect and here’s why:

Access to and use of the Internet is not universal.

About a quarter of Americans don’t have Internet access. A 2008 study done by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the University of Illinois found those with limited or no Internet access tend to be older, less affluent and less educated. In addition about 20% of Americans have never viewed a web site or sent/received emails.

In Europe, about half the population doesn’t use the Internet at all. In Asia while some countries (Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan) record high Internet usage, overall the number of Asians not using the Internet is close to 85%.

Takeaway: a company or organization targeting European or Asian markets or less affluent, less educated Americans should consider print collateral.

Spam accounts for 90-95% of emails

A 2008 Forrester Research study found spam accounts for 90-95% of all sent email. Because of such a high volume of spam, complaint rates higher than one tenth of one percent can cause your messages to be blocked at the major ISPs.

Some of the population prefers print marketing to digital

A 2007 Vertis Communications study showed that 85% of women between 25 and 44 years old read direct marketing materials, while 53% read email marketing messages. Hispanic consumers are also responding to direct mail increasing numbers, rising from 38% in 2003 to 54% in 2007.

Takeaway: if you’re targeting women aged 25-44 or Hispanics, print collateral may be more effective at reaching this audience than online options.

We process print information better

A 2007 International Communication Association study focusing on visual information and how it’s processed in the brain concluded that media choice affects attention patterns for reading text.

When we access information over the Internet, many people print out long or complex material. This is due to the “flicker’ effect in computer screens that make it more difficult for the brain to process information compared to printed material. People also read online text 25% slower than on paper.

For people with disabilities, reading a website can be difficult, sometimes impossible if the site is not W3C Compliant. (The World Wide Web Consortium is an international body that develops Web standards to improve the online experiences of around the globe. Sites not adhering to W3C guidelines require people with certain disabilities to use adaptive technology to access screen information.)

Takeaway: if your marketing messages require detailed explanation, are educational or technical or target people with certain disabilities, print collateral may be more effective at reaching this audience.

While online marketing is expanding at a remarkable rate, print materials are still a viable part of your communications toolbox.

How IBM, Hallmark & Apple get innovation right–but not for the reasons you might think.

www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2010/id2010028_823268.htm

What are the design highlights of the past ten years? Click here to find out.

In his book, “Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life and Maybe Even the World”, Warren Berger argues that design applicable to just about any challenge and its principles accessible to anyone.

Read more.

Beth Comstock, CMO and Senior VP at General Electric explains how marketers can help rebuild the economy. Check it out here.

In an interview with BusinessWeek, Phillip Kotler - marketing guru at Northwestern University - talks about marketing in today’s turbulent environment.

Among the highlights:

• Marketing has been over-identified with marketing communications - to its detriment.
• Great marketing operations find opportunities, then develop and launch successful solutions, which if properly used can be a company’s growth engine.
• Understand your target customers and solve their problems in a better way than your competitors
• Brand promise should be delivered by everyone in your business network (employees, distributors, suppliers)
• Innovate constantly in your products, services and supply chain

Click here for the entire interview.

Twitter, it seems we hear about it everywhere now. With all its exposure, you’d think it was one of greatest tech offerings ever - an essential part of millions of peoples’ lives the world over.

However, a recent study by Purewire (a Web security firm that operates TweetGrade) suggests that while millions visit Twitter.com, the number of active users may be much less.

According to the study:
- 80% of Twitter users have fewer than 10 followers
- 30% have no followers at all
- 40% have never sent a Tweet 

Furthermore, a Harvard Business School study points out that 10% of Twitter users produce 90% of all Tweets.

For more information, check out href=“http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/06/on-twitter-most-people-are-sheep-80-percent-of-accounts-have-fewer-than-10-follower/”>

The ins and outs of social media, as well as new takes on conventional networking were on tap at our first annual wine tasting event held the evening of April 29th at WineStyles.

Matt Rosenhaft of Grand Central Solutions stressed the importance of having a marketing strategy with clearly defined goals before diving into social media. Simply throwing technology at a problem is an invitation to failure.

Properly done, social media:

• provides a more interactive website with repeat visitors, dialogue, personalization and human touch that creates a large amount of user-generated content
• provides a single point to manage inbound lead management, qualification and referrals
• supports a new buying model with buyers doing internet research before engagement
• creates a central repository or all customer interaction; documentation, collateral, video, demos, testimonials, referrals, qualification, solutions, partners and support

The finer points of establishing relationships through face-to-face contact were discussed by Wendy Kinney of Powercore. Attendees were given tips and taken through a series of exercises they can use to help establish a rapport with someone they’ve just met at a business function:

• Begin by offering a confidant handshake - not limp but not too strong.
• When meeting a new prospect, give them a clue to help remember your name such as “Shawn Stroud—rhymes with Proud”
• See if you can find something in common such as places you’ve visited, interests, etc.
• Offer an example of what you do well business-wise and be able to cite a specific example.

The bottom line is people like doing business with people they like. By first establishing a personal connection, you’re more likely to be able to establish a business connection.

Since its inception, there as been disagreement and/or confusion as to exactly what constitutes “Web 2.0″. Regardless of what Web 2.0 is or isn’t, by and large it has failed to become a financial success. In fact, there are those who see 2.0 as history and 3.0 as having already arrived. Check out this post on Fortune’s website: http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/07/technology/hempel_threepointo.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009010815