Relationship Transformation

Long-time friend, colleague, client and author Kevin A. Clark graciously provided the following article, also available in pdf format: Relationship Transformation   RELATIONSHIP TRANSFORMATION by Kevin Clark President and Federation Leader, Content Evolution LLC Director, Emeritus, Brand and Values Experience, IBM Corporation   Creating and maintaining relationships. Relationships are increasingly at the core of marketing and communications practice. Push strategies …

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Web Design Factors That Influence User Behavior (Part 4)

This following is an excerpt from my final paper for IMC-635 Visual Information Design. You can read the entire paper here.   Eye tracking is a great tool that provides more insight into consumer behavior. Online marketing guru Neil Patel in “8 Powerful Takeaways from Eye Tracking Studies” summarizes the findings for website design. First …

Web Design Factors That Influence User Behavior (Part 3)

This following is an excerpt from my final paper for IMC-635 Visual Information Design. You can read the entire paper here.   Let’s talk about all those available pixels. In “Homepage Real Estate Allocation”, Jakob Nielsen says that “websites spend too little homepage screen space on content of interest to users and fail to utilize …

The Freedom Clip Breaks Coffee Pod DRM Because Java Wants To Be Free, Man

I ran across this article describing how a coffee pod manufacturer has called out Keurig for rigging their coffee makers to only work with Keurig brand K-cups. The point clearly made that "The K-Cup patent expired in 2012, leaving Keurig in a bind. Rather than embracing manufacturers and offering lower-priced licenses, the company decided to …

Web Design Factors That Influence User Behavior (Part 2)

This following is an excerpt from my final paper for IMC-635 Visual Information Design. You can read the entire paper here. Employing design styles that make text easily scannable will also assist users in finding relevant information, hopefully helping them decide to stay longer on the website. Examples are highlighting keywords, using meaningful sub-headings and …

Reblogged from [ken] do it: Cut the #buzzwords. Be sincere and authentic instead.

I like Ken’s thought here. I just posted a similar note to a class discussion board last night:

“For a Future-Friendly Web” by Brad Frost highlights the problems we face with an ever-changing digital landscape, and how to make wise choices in planning ahead. “No one knows what the landscape will look like even just two years down the road, so it would be foolish to say that we can create anything that is truly future proof. But while there aren’t cut-and-dried prescriptive solutions for dealing with this increasing diversity, there are things we can do as web creators to better prepare for what’s in store”.

Frost describes how “relevance” is critical as consumers are slammed with information from every direction on a daily basis. “There’s simply not enough time, bandwidth, or screen real estate to trouble ourselves with extraneous noise”.

The article suggests that the most important thing we can do to be “future-friendly” is to FOCUS. We have to be very clear what matters to our users and our businesses. “Every product feature, every line of copy, every included script needs to have purpose and needs to be relevant to a growing number of contexts. We need to be ruthless in stripping away cruft to deliver strong, focused user experiences”.

Frost compares our dilemma to that of Lee Iacocca when faced with determining what automotive features, products and initiatives to stick with or scrap. He asked, “Where is it working?” — this is the question we need to ask ourselves when reviewing our content.

Having been in web design and development since the early days, I’ve used the “less is more” concept for many years. We must get to the point. Websites need to be focused on their purpose, and inspiring the desired action. Multiple websites are preferable where there are multiple purposes. In applying Frost’s suggestions to a company website, I think he and I would agree. One of my favorite quotes seems fitting here:

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~Leonardo daVinci

[ken] do it

Cut the #buzzwords. Be sincere and authentic instead. Superior products and services break through the clutter more than words & noise do.

#marketing #PR

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Web Design Factors That Influence User Behavior (Part 1)

This following is an excerpt from my final paper for IMC-635 Visual Information Design. You can read the entire paper here. Influencing user behavior is of primary interest to marketers and advertisers, and visual information design holds the keys to do just that. How users respond to the information presented on their computer screens is …

Marketing to Kids: Ethics, Effectiveness and New Concerns

Here is a case study that discusses The Dannon Company's Danimals® website and product line to evaluate its approach to marketing and advertising to children. The Danimals website showcases Dannon’s line of yogurt snacks aimed at kids. The website uses bright, primary colors, large typography and fun images featuring “Bongo” the monkey. Danimals products include Smoothies, Squeezables, …

Speaking to a multicultural audience via our websites.

This week’s topic in IMC-619 was “Understanding Consumers: Emerging Media Users and Markets”. We explored how companies are gearing their websites towards the multicultural market. Each of us chose a different company or brand to evaluate. I thought I’d summarize a few of our findings for comment. The companies/brands selected by students as doing a …

What is IMC?

What is IMC? It seems to me that many people don't really know, or that there are multiple definitions dependent upon your background. To me, it's the NEW marketing and communications world that includes all the latest, greatest thinking, emerging media, new strategies and tactics.  It aligns with the NEW way consumers think and live.  To others, …