http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Marketing A listing of the most recently indexed works about Marketing in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Marketing http://tc.eserver.org/35807.html http://tc.eserver.org/35807.html Do you know if you're promoting features or benefits in your marketing materials? The answer to this question plays a significant role in the effectiveness of your marketing message. While features are facts benefits explain why facts are important. Its these benefits that target your prospects emotions a key factor in selling situations. http://tc.eserver.org/35727.html http://tc.eserver.org/35727.html How can you build the right following? The question is important because like it or not, as communicators, we’re expected to lead the way in our organizations’ use of social media. http://tc.eserver.org/35728.html http://tc.eserver.org/35728.html Treat others the way you would want to be treated. It seems ridiculous to think that one of the most common rules taught to children somehow hinders effective business communication when these children become adults. But it’s true. To be effective at communicating with customers (for example, internal audiences who buy into ideas or messages, or external audiences who buy products or services), one must turn away from this standard rule and focus instead on treating others the way they want to be treated. http://tc.eserver.org/35609.html http://tc.eserver.org/35609.html Our plan was to market Project Dragonfly virally. Going out now meant that we were a little early and many details were still on the to-do list. As a user centered design practitioner working with an Agile Development process, I was comfortable working in an iterative manner to engage users quickly so that we think through details and bring solutions forward. Yet something about this situation seemed different to me. We wanted the world to broadcast about the benefits of Project Dragonfly while our marketing efforts simply facilitated the conversation. http://tc.eserver.org/35515.html http://tc.eserver.org/35515.html Google has a bidding methodology called Budget Optimizer that attempts to maximize the traffic you receive for the keywords in a campaign. This is useful for early buying cycle keywords. However, every keyword should be reaching some goal regardless of where it falls into the buying cycle. It was difficult to track the effectiveness of these campaigns until recently when Google made some changes to Google Analytics. Now you can more effectively bid on early buying cycle keywords, or keywords that you want exposure for, but do not have direct returns by combining the new Google Analytics goals with a budget optimizer campaign. http://tc.eserver.org/35253.html http://tc.eserver.org/35253.html The article considers the concept of marketing in the light of library and information services and mentions the necessity of marketing techniques in library and information centres. It outlines the principles of information products/services marketing and discusses the key steps of marketing for library and information centres. The article indicates the methods of applying marketing techniques to library and information centres and marketing difficulties to library and information services in developing countries are also discussed, with particular reference to those in Bangladesh. http://tc.eserver.org/35102.html http://tc.eserver.org/35102.html In this article, I’ll discuss the cognitive elements at the intersection of advertising and human behavior. By taking an approach to advertising that looks at the impact psychological factors have on customer behavior, I’ve learned that customers respond directly to online advertisements, as we can see from their emotions, behavior, and interactions on the Web. http://tc.eserver.org/35055.html http://tc.eserver.org/35055.html Here are two main methods you can use to launch off your article marketing campaign. http://tc.eserver.org/34995.html http://tc.eserver.org/34995.html Point-of-purchase advertising (POP) is responsible for half of the purchase decisions made in the store. Because of: 1) the influence of POP on the sale of technical consumer products and the economy; 2) our need to understand trends that shape technical and business communication; 3) the intermedial nature of POP (where spoken and written words work with place, visual image, physical structures, and multimedia integrated marketing campaigns); and 4) its theatrical and local nature, we need both a situated and theoretical exploration of POP. Drawing upon three months' participant observation in advertising, I describe a POP composing process in an integrated marketing campaign. Cognitive responses to layout and the interrelation of rhetorical canons are considered for preparing communication for a marketplace that is three-dimensional variegated, noisy, and peripatetic. http://tc.eserver.org/34979.html http://tc.eserver.org/34979.html Marketing materials are always important, and in these difficult times, they are critical to the success of the organization, and there are huge pressures to do more with less and for less money. Enter XML. XML is often perceived as complex, rigid and horrible to work with (geeky, technical) — anathema to the average marketing communications author. But this is no longer true. XML and the tools that support them have matured to the point where the XML is hidden, much in the same way RTF is hidden from the average Microsoft® Word author. Using XML for marketing materials provides considerable benefits, including consistent messaging, reduced time to create content, reduced costs to maintain content, reduced translation costs, and powerful multichannel conversion capabilities. XML is creating a profound shift in the way we create, manage, deliver and control marketing materials. It is a shift that is resulting in significant ROI and increased levels of success. http://tc.eserver.org/34939.html http://tc.eserver.org/34939.html Wiggly, distracting, or poorly placed ads irritate users. Worse, they teach site visitors to ignore whole sections of layout. Yet some online ads work. They capture visitors visually, and present an engaging hook. They get visitors to click. Even, at times, from the home page. So what's the difference? http://tc.eserver.org/34957.html http://tc.eserver.org/34957.html Web advertisers resort to many unethical approaches (in my personal opinion) under the pretext of creativity. Let us learn about it. http://tc.eserver.org/34777.html http://tc.eserver.org/34777.html In order to understand the way marketing people see the world, it’s worth reading Blogs on marketing (by people such as Seth Godin), the Cluetrain Manifesto, and reading a few books on marketing. http://tc.eserver.org/34748.html http://tc.eserver.org/34748.html Content-based sales means using high-quality content to generate traffic, which you then use to earn money (but not necessarily on the web-site). http://tc.eserver.org/34738.html http://tc.eserver.org/34738.html How you write your copy really makes a huge difference to your online sales. And even if you don't sell products directly, good sales copy will help you persuade the user to make a donation, subscribe to your newsletter or complete an application form. Here's how you do it. http://tc.eserver.org/34661.html http://tc.eserver.org/34661.html Do you have a new idea, business model, product or service? Do you want to get noticed by using a marketing method that might only cost you time? Try writing a white paper to attract people to your door. http://tc.eserver.org/34662.html http://tc.eserver.org/34662.html For too long we've been suffering the tyranny of lowest-common-denominator fare, subjected to brain-dead summer blockbusters and manufactured pop. Why? Economics. Many of our assumptions about popular taste are actually artifacts of poor supply-and-demand matching - a market response to inefficient distribution. The main problem, if that's the word, is that we live in the physical world and, until recently, most of our entertainment media did, too. http://tc.eserver.org/34482.html http://tc.eserver.org/34482.html I've been asked several times to give presentations on the basics of social media marketing, and have now refined my 15 minute introductory tour to the point where I think it's fairly good (and I'm really damn picky about my presentations). The following presentation (in visual and text form) should be helpful for anyone trying to convince their bosses, team or cohorts that investing in SMM is a worthwhile pursuit. http://tc.eserver.org/34484.html http://tc.eserver.org/34484.html The number of excellent resources that have come out since the beginning of the year on attracting links and building traffic has really mushroomed. Plus there are some timeless classics that are still very relevant today. I think it makes sense to compile the very best in one handy location and share it, so here’s my entire collection. If I missed your link and traffic resource let me know and I’ll take a look. http://tc.eserver.org/34414.html http://tc.eserver.org/34414.html Online through mobile will be, is, WAS the future. Ori Carmel from Ambergreen says that The Future of Mobile Marketing crept up on us while we were looking the other way and is already here. http://tc.eserver.org/34400.html http://tc.eserver.org/34400.html Is it better to have 500,000 followers on Twitter? Or is it better to have 100 followers who are engaged and targeted? Is it better to have a website with 5000 pages of content, or a website with 50 pages of well thought out, valuable material? I am not trying to dictate an answer by using value terms in my questions, despite the fact that I am very much of the opinion that less is more and quality trumps quantity, but recent events are arising which may be proving me wrong. http://tc.eserver.org/34389.html http://tc.eserver.org/34389.html Social media is so powerful and diverse that just about the only thing that can get in the way of an organization making the most of it is the idea that social media cannot be exploited without a "strategy." That makes about as much sense as stopping you as you slide your key into the ignition and insisting you first develop a strategy that encompasses your automobile needs for tonight, tomorrow, and every day in the future. http://tc.eserver.org/34298.html http://tc.eserver.org/34298.html Marketers are increasingly engaging with consumers on social media platforms and Twitter, in particular, has received, and continues to gain, attention. From shock tactics, to useful value propositions like @amazonmp3 content feed, brands are revealing themselves on Twitter. We are starting to hear of stories about top executives calling meetings about how they should "get on Twitter" and saying, "We need a social media profile." But should they? Do they? http://tc.eserver.org/34287.html http://tc.eserver.org/34287.html With a bad economy, more pressure at work and overwhelming competition, investing in yourself and your future is crucial. There are a lot of new trends and tricks that you can take advantage of now. Below are five easy and initial steps you can take to start building your brand today. These will help you control your online identity, protect your future, centralize your digital assets, safeguard your brand from threats and more. http://tc.eserver.org/34196.html http://tc.eserver.org/34196.html Defines basic sales terms. Explores ways to use text and illustrations to create engineering marketing slides. Examines six methods of strengthening the persuasiveness of engineering marketing slides. http://tc.eserver.org/34202.html http://tc.eserver.org/34202.html For writer, photographer, and video producer David Chandler-Gick, Facebook is a practical tool. "On a recent cross-country excursion to work with Cathy Steffan of Parallel Media Productions, Facebook served as a central hub to keep me in contact with friends and colleagues," he writes. "Accessing Facebook kept me in touch with what was going on, last-minute changes, and more." http://tc.eserver.org/34175.html http://tc.eserver.org/34175.html Utilizing reliable market research on an ongoing basis is the most effective way to ensure a successful marketing campaign. Nevertheless, for many companies, the benefits of conducting marketing research and the costs of conducting marketing research always seem to be at odds. Marketing research can be expensive. Not knowing your customer's needs can be costly. http://tc.eserver.org/34090.html http://tc.eserver.org/34090.html If you aren't yet, get really digital, really fast. Don't just hire some kid out of college that knows .NET or PHP and talks of something called Cold Fusion. No, go find one of those really expensive geeks that has been in the biz for a while. Then get out of their way. http://tc.eserver.org/33928.html http://tc.eserver.org/33928.html Here's a 7 step strategic plan that should fit most small businesses. Naturally a good deal of hustle will be needed to implement this kind of plan while doing everything else you need to do to keep your business afloat. There are businesses that can help you implement this plan as well- wink, wink. But if you can dedicate the time and resources I have no doubt that you will see serious ROI. I have seen it in my business and with many of our clients. http://tc.eserver.org/33929.html http://tc.eserver.org/33929.html Most users believe that MySpace started as some kind of fluke—a happy accident that began in Anderson's bedroom or garage—and many still don't wonder, know, or care about the site's real business history and model. Heralded as a haven of DIY self-expression, MySpace was actually created by executives whose backgrounds are anchored in spam and mass marketing. The real genius of MySpace lies in its re-imagining and repackaging of spam. While most internet users expend time and energy attempting to keep it out, MySpace is spam that they actually invite in. http://tc.eserver.org/33812.html http://tc.eserver.org/33812.html So, you’ve hung out your virtual shingle and even have a couple of contract gigs under your belt. You’ve decided that the freelance life is for you. Now what? Obviously, expand your business to gain more and varied clients. The way to do that is by marketing. http://tc.eserver.org/33774.html http://tc.eserver.org/33774.html While technical documentation has traditionally been the domain for structured authoring, there is increasing interest in using XML for more “creative” materials such as sales brochures and marketing collateral. Such pre-sales materials often have even more compelling opportunities for single-sourcing and reuse than technical documents. Up to now, these materials have been produced one at a time in page-oriented publishing systems like Adobe InDesign and Quark. While this provides maximum flexibility in controlling exact page layouts, it can create a nightmare when small changes must be replicated across all the independent pages and documents. Why can’t we use XML to more flexibly handle this kind of content? In fact, we can! Using page formats from real marketing content, this whitepaper demonstrates how XML tools can be used to maintain highly graphical sales collateral, web pages, and product catalogs from a single source of XML information. http://tc.eserver.org/33583.html http://tc.eserver.org/33583.html Every large corporation has a marketing strategy that outlines what it wants to say to customers, but many of them still aren’t using their homepages effectively to highlight that message. http://tc.eserver.org/33431.html http://tc.eserver.org/33431.html Five proven techniques for powerful and effective marketing design. http://tc.eserver.org/33406.html http://tc.eserver.org/33406.html Both AdWords and YSM are much more complicated beasts than the old banner networks ever were, and coming to grips with them can be a bit of a headache. http://tc.eserver.org/33409.html http://tc.eserver.org/33409.html Unlike corporate websites, b-blogs are cheap to launch and easy to maintain, thanks to powerful, easy-to-use tools. Unlike spam, or junk e-mail, b-blogs aren't intrusive; users must click to them. Done well, b-blogs provide a fast, informal way to share information -- project updates, research or test results, product-release news, industry headlines -- inside and outside your company. http://tc.eserver.org/33332.html http://tc.eserver.org/33332.html Technical writers (technical authors) produce technical literature such as standard operating procedures (SOP), user guides, reference manuals and white papers. Copywriters produce advertising copy and publicity copy (also known as marketing communications or marcomms). Typically, that means product brochures, poster advertisements, advertorials, leaflets, and mailshots. http://tc.eserver.org/33316.html http://tc.eserver.org/33316.html Twitter, often referred to as the water cooler of the Internet, teaches us the art of brevity by limiting communication to 140 characters or less. But unless you can compress instructional content in ingenious ways, you’ll find Twitter limiting as a method for delivering documentation. Instead, Twitter is better used for the following: eavesdropping on customer conversations; putting a personal face on your company; and increasing the reach of your announcements. http://tc.eserver.org/33297.html http://tc.eserver.org/33297.html Discusses how working closely with marketing can improve usability. http://tc.eserver.org/33184.html http://tc.eserver.org/33184.html Whether your company intends to decrease spending or not, before you slash and burn across the board, you may want to consider preserving your web marketing budget or even moving more money into it. http://tc.eserver.org/33051.html http://tc.eserver.org/33051.html The intranet needs to have a strong brand, a sense of identity that, at a basic level, distinguishes it from the public website and other information sources within the organisation. Beyond this, the intranet brand should be designed to build staff trust, and to convey a clear sense of what the intranet can offer and when it should be used. This briefing explores the role of the intranet's brand identity, as well as outlining how to put it into practice. http://tc.eserver.org/32900.html http://tc.eserver.org/32900.html It has long been acknowledged in the study of usability, that the usability of a product affects the associated brand identity. While study of usability is universal to any product design, it has sprung up with the advent of the world wide web. It is becoming more important of individuals and institutions to establish a strong on-line identity for themselves or their products. http://tc.eserver.org/32827.html http://tc.eserver.org/32827.html "Self-Googling" -- searching for your own name on the popular Google search engine -- may seem like an innocuous act of vanity, but a University at Buffalo communications professor recommends it as a shrewd form of "personal brand management" in the digital age. http://tc.eserver.org/32754.html http://tc.eserver.org/32754.html One of the best ways to spread the word about your website is to let your audience do it for you. http://tc.eserver.org/32566.html http://tc.eserver.org/32566.html The average Facebook user doesn’t want content pushed to them, particularly contests or other promotional programs that don’t speak to their overall enthusiasm for a brand. These types of promotions can be supported on the Facebook Fan Page, but should not be the primary focus and should be housed in other digital arenas. Successful communities on Facebook offer an attitude of openness, transparency and enthusiasm - not a technology platform for advertising. http://tc.eserver.org/32164.html http://tc.eserver.org/32164.html This study examines how a very light jet start-up, Eclipse Aviation, changed its ethos appeals in order to survive the loss of its principally declared innovation, a jet aircraft engine. Eclipse Aviation’s corporate transformation from a spin-off company to a convergence-of-innovation company hinged on modifying an early marketing strategy. To overcome the loss of the jet engine, employees had to radically modify earlier expert representations and adopt rhetorical appeals that more closely parallel what Miller described as "cyborg discourse." To understand how Eclipse Aviation survived the typically fatal loss of a stated primary innovation and to explore the implications that this particular start-up’s rupture has for technology transfer and technical marketing, this study centers its analysis on a Web site that marketers used to "ventilate" the company and prevent financial collapse. The transformation in the company’s marketing strategy illustrates how cyborg ethos appeals aggregate and discipline distributed stakeholder roles. http://tc.eserver.org/32195.html http://tc.eserver.org/32195.html Spend enough time among the ranks of corporate culture and you are likely to hear many common catch-phrases like 'branding' and 'market differentiation.' These conceptual ideas can seem like mere marketing dogma reserved for abstract thinkers alone. Yet the savvy career-minded professional should turn a keen eye on these notions with a plan to incorporate a few basic principals into their annual objectives. Employing a few strategies for personal branding can help managers foster greater enthusiasm from their teams and provide the basic framework to help promote a positive self-image within an organization. http://tc.eserver.org/32221.html http://tc.eserver.org/32221.html When you first ventured into the tech writing ranks, marketing the department was likely the furthest thing from your mind. You already had work to do, so marketing was somebody else’s job. http://tc.eserver.org/32222.html http://tc.eserver.org/32222.html When you think of marketing, do press releases, brochures, presentations, direct mail, and web sites come to mind? Those pieces are certainly parts of the puzzle.But a lot must go on behind the curtain to make those on-stage pieces worthwhile. These often hidden goings-on are the leadership techniques of a successful documentation manager. The result is a documentation department that warrants the effort expended on marketing. After all, marketing succeeds only if services are reliable, communication channels are open, and products meet expectations. http://tc.eserver.org/32223.html http://tc.eserver.org/32223.html At first glance, technical communication (techcom) and technical marketing communication (marcom) appear to be very different genres. Where traditional techcom strives to help people use products, marcom seeks to make people realize they need products. Techcom instructs, while marcom persuades, and this distinction affects everything from the genre’s focus, to its content, and medium. http://tc.eserver.org/32020.html http://tc.eserver.org/32020.html In this article, the authors compare the corporate social responsibility reporting (CSRR) of companies" environment, human relations, community, human rights, and diversity dimensions"in the emerging market economy of South Africa with that of companies in the leading economies represented by the Fortune Global 100. The descriptive analysis extends earlier empirical work on the CSRR of emerging market economies, and the impact of culture on CSRR, by examining annual report data from the top 100 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Index and the Fortune Global 100. Generally, the frequency and level of CSRR in South African companies was significantly higher than that of the Fortune Global 100, which indicates a greater willingness to convey social responsibility in their disclosure practices. This lends credence to the notion that emerging market economies may be more receptive to stakeholder concerns and social responsibility than peer institutions in leading economies. http://tc.eserver.org/31965.html http://tc.eserver.org/31965.html Most contractors can't afford the time or money to advertise. If they can, there probably aren't many places where an ad would reach potential clients anyway. By default, then, your reputation as a contractor rests on your behavior at each job. Leave a happy client behind at the end of each job, and you'll soon start a word-of-mouth campaign that will keep you employed the rest of your working life. http://tc.eserver.org/31918.html http://tc.eserver.org/31918.html With companies moving business online, the Internet has become a source of profit for them. We all know how this works. You establish an online presence, sell your brand well—and you make money. Let’s rewind. We are selling our brands online, but doing it well is the challenge. To do it well, keep the following in mind: customer research is an important factor in generating business revenues, so it must be done right—that is, at the right place and at the right time; the online medium should not be the only way of gathering customer information; recognizing emerging trends—behavioral, demographic and emotional—helps companies move forward strategically. http://tc.eserver.org/31701.html http://tc.eserver.org/31701.html Whether you're a tech writer, documentation manager or training professional, after reading this article you may consider incorporating some marketing techniques into your annual objectives to maximize your career development. http://tc.eserver.org/31714.html http://tc.eserver.org/31714.html When you first ventured into the tech writing ranks, marketing the department was likely the furthest thing from your mind. You already had work to do, so marketing was somebody else's job. http://tc.eserver.org/31716.html http://tc.eserver.org/31716.html At first glance, technical communication (techcom) and technical marketing communication (marcom) appear to be very different genres. Where traditional techcom strives to help people use products, marcom seeks to make people realize they need products. http://tc.eserver.org/31599.html http://tc.eserver.org/31599.html I often find that client companies keep two disciplines locked up in separate silos—usability research within IT and marketing research within the Marketing Services department. This can have a serious impact on the sharing of information relating to customer experience. http://tc.eserver.org/31559.html http://tc.eserver.org/31559.html Once viewed more as art than science, marketers are increasingly interested in measuring performance. Like it or not, there is a new wave of accountability in the world of marketing, and if you're not prepared, you could get swept under it. Companies are becoming increasingly concerned with ensuring that all activities are profitable. As a result, each dollar invested in marketing is being challenged to demonstrate bottom line performance. New forms of marketing, escalating ad costs and tools that purport to measure marketing effectiveness have all contributed to the pressure traditional media is facing to "prove its worth." http://tc.eserver.org/31529.html http://tc.eserver.org/31529.html Corporate brands are built by countless interactions between people - customers and clients, suppliers and distributors, shareholders and communities, and one another. If your brand does not reflect your people in a way that makes them proud and passionate, they will not deliver the brand experience in the marketplace. Some do's and don'ts for corporate branding. http://tc.eserver.org/31564.html http://tc.eserver.org/31564.html The brand experts and advertising gurus tell us that "caring is commercial," but this has not changed the behavior or profile of many chief executives. One new chief immediately canceled the daily VIP lunch delivered to his office and instead went down to the staff canteen, sitting among his workforce. In another case, a tough CEO confronts an aggressive media at an annual meeting and declares, "Our task it to manage the business to provide maximum return for our shareholders -- end of story." In these cases, communicators provide support and advice, yet in many instances, the decision about profile is made before they are called in. http://tc.eserver.org/31558.html http://tc.eserver.org/31558.html Many companies have taken a limited view of the impact that marketing communication can have on overall corporate objectives, reducing their understanding of the value of marketing communication. One reason for this resistance is that the value of IMC can be complex to measure in a world where marketing usually moves at a dynamic pace and is driven by a changing competitive landscape and seemingly unpredictable shifts in customer attitudes. The potential revenue and customer satisfaction benefits of implementing an IMC program can be so dramatic that companies shouldn't ignore the movement any longer. http://tc.eserver.org/31560.html http://tc.eserver.org/31560.html Spending on search engine marketing (SEM) is rising dramatically, yet surprisingly few companies are measuring the effectiveness of their campaigns. In a short survey conducted by web analytics vendor NetIQ, more than 800 participants responded to questions about their search engine marketing efforts and their attempts to measure success. The survey responses provide interesting insights into the state of search engine marketing ROI. http://tc.eserver.org/31528.html http://tc.eserver.org/31528.html Australasia's leading forest product company, Carter Holt Harvey (CHH), transformed itself in under three years from slumbering giant into a high-performing, innovative business leader based on values of performance, leadership and innovation - and won an IABC Gold Quill award in the process. Here's CHH's story in brief and rules learned along the way. http://tc.eserver.org/31539.html http://tc.eserver.org/31539.html People and organizations generally understand the concept of the Internet's global reach. However, few see their Web presence as international, and even fewer have sites appropriate for audiences beyond their borders. As global competition grows and new markets emerge, building an effective international Web presence is becoming ever more critical. http://tc.eserver.org/31499.html http://tc.eserver.org/31499.html Ask communication professionals why measurement is important, and their answers are likely to involve accountability, measures of effectiveness, ROI and planning support. Ask market researchers what makes for good measurement, and they are likely to respond that it involves reproducible results, adherence to rigorous standards and objective impartiality. Within the communication process, however—especially within PR and media relations—there is a tendency to look more closely at the output of their programmes than at the methodology yielding the data charts and reports. While market research has a well-established body of theory to support its claims of delivering objective and authoritative data, media analysis as a commercial discipline is only just beginning to grasp the importance of these standards. http://tc.eserver.org/31520.html http://tc.eserver.org/31520.html According to a 1997 survey entitled “The Quality of Working Life” by Professors Les Worrall and Cary Cooper of the Institute of Management, of the 5,000 U.K. managers polled, a majority revealed that they had been affected by organisational change in the last year and failed to see business benefits. When asked about possible improvements, the largest response reflected the need for greater involvement, more listening by senior managers and more honest, two-way communication. http://tc.eserver.org/31503.html http://tc.eserver.org/31503.html At the heart of a successful brand strategy is a clear understanding of the customers you serve and what’s important to them. Employees need direction on what the customer expects and the actions they must take to deliver on those expectations. To gain this understanding, employees must identify the interactions from the customer’s point of view to determine whether or not the company is living up to its customer “promise.” While companies can easily measure marketing dollars spent on brand-building initiatives, understanding how the brand drives customers’ purchasing decisions has often proven to be more elusive. http://tc.eserver.org/31506.html http://tc.eserver.org/31506.html There are few things in life more subjective than graphic design and color. You like blue, but the client likes green. You want to use illustration, but the client prefers photography. You like a serif typeface, the client doesn’t. As the designer, you believe the choice should be yours because that’s why you went to college and have spent years working on design and branding projects for other clients. The client feels because it’s their money, it’s their call. However, the truth lies somewhere in between. In spite of client/vendor differences, you are both trying to achieve the same goal: to create design and branding elements that make the strongest, most memorable impression to generate maximum visibility and produce the most sales possible. http://tc.eserver.org/31508.html http://tc.eserver.org/31508.html We urgently need a quick crash course on web site management; otherwise, connecting with potential customers will become a very tough challenge. Lucky are those who have a unique domain name without the additional baggage of extraneous language, numbers, dashes or slashes. Studies have shown that 90 percent of business names are problematic. These problems are serious issues for achieving higher visibility. http://tc.eserver.org/31504.html http://tc.eserver.org/31504.html Why are some companies regularly recognized as the nation’s most admired even when their across-the-board performance is inconsistent? Why are other companies that demonstrate solid, consistent performance often ignored? In two words, the answer is awareness and performance. Wal-Mart ranked at the top in a number of corporate reputation lists, yet the company was dogged by the discovery of undocumented workers in their stores. How does a company such as Wal-Mart succeed in light of such news? http://tc.eserver.org/31519.html http://tc.eserver.org/31519.html In the waning weeks of 2004, discussion of integrated communication is, to paraphrase my teenage daughter, “so yesterday.” Like cascading communication, any talk today about integrating organizational communication is on par with contemplating one’s navel. Integrated communication should be a given for any organization. What is integrated communication and why is it so passé? To have a chance at being heard in today’s cluttered environment, all facets of the organization’s story need to be coordinated and consistent. No matter where you touch that organization, the story must be the same. http://tc.eserver.org/31493.html http://tc.eserver.org/31493.html Microsoft’s marketing of Windows Vista and the Zune have failed in large part due to the fact that Microsoft has not learned how to effectively sell consumer products. Consumers buy Windows and Office, but that’s because they have no choice, not because of the company’s marketing savvy. Microsoft only effectively markets its products to businesses, which represents a very different type of sales relationship. http://tc.eserver.org/31470.html http://tc.eserver.org/31470.html It took only a few years for the Internet to fundamentally change the way we communicate. Marketers have learned to take advantage of this new medium by creating innovative ways to reach their audiences. But what about business communicators? Have we really taken advantage of everything the ’Net has to offer? With all the choices for news and information, how do we cut through the noise of the competition, keep our audiences engaged and influence them to move in the right direction? We need to think of the Internet as a dynamic communication tool that gives us the ability to target, focus and change our messages constantly in order to influence diverse sets of audiences. http://tc.eserver.org/31445.html http://tc.eserver.org/31445.html Many years ago I was asked to develop a marketing package for the environmental practice group of a large, Washington-based law firm. When I submitted the draft I got exclamations of delight and a promise to provide quick feedback from all the principals. It never came, and my phone queries went unanswered. So I waited, and waited, and waited—and then waited some more. http://tc.eserver.org/31425.html http://tc.eserver.org/31425.html This month's column doesn't focus on business strategy per se, but rather on how independents market themselves once they identify their markets and know what it is they want to convey. http://tc.eserver.org/31411.html http://tc.eserver.org/31411.html A good reputation, particularly in an increasingly competitive world, is a must for all companies and organizations. Reputation is a company asset and should always be taken seriously—lose your reputation and you often lose a lot more besides. A good reputation is essential in crisis situations and can help to reduce the impact of negative events and press. http://tc.eserver.org/31390.html http://tc.eserver.org/31390.html The announcement ads are everywhere-in magazines, in newspapers and on television. Hundreds of companies, large and small, change their names every year. The Wall Street Journal reports that some 400 to 800 annually make a name change, and these numbers don't include the thousands more that only consider such a move. Why is it that so many corporations are reassessing their names? What spurs them to undertake a procedure that is often painfully emotional, and, in all cases, is time consuming? http://tc.eserver.org/31386.html http://tc.eserver.org/31386.html Linda, an American living abroad in a country with limited merchandise, orders online for books, contact lenses, and smoked ham. Her Dutch husband buys from www.amazon.com and www.ebay.com because U.S.-based retail web sites offer a wide range of goods at a cheaper price than their adopted country, including lower import duties and lower shipping costs from U.S.-based cargo carriers. http://tc.eserver.org/31384.html http://tc.eserver.org/31384.html The Internet is a free medium, just like roads and highways. There are those who walk and those who run, some who drive taxis, some Ferraris, and others tractor-trailers. To each his own-the roads are all free. Thank heaven. With such a powerful tool at our command, why is so much of the Internet so underutilized, and why is so much of Internet marketing so increasingly ineffective? http://tc.eserver.org/31391.html http://tc.eserver.org/31391.html In the customer's mind, your brand is forever being weighed, measured, compared and tested. To ensure its continued vitality and effectiveness, refresh and reaffirm your brand on a routine basis. The question is: How can you breathe new life into your old brand without reinventing the wheel or busting your budget? Think tagline. http://tc.eserver.org/31389.html http://tc.eserver.org/31389.html Too often companies perceive rebranding as a shallow cosmetic exercise. New PMS colour here, tweak of the logo there and throw in some nice TV ads. Done deal. Not so. In order to compete, be differentiated and sustain a competitive advantage, organisations need to push the brand much deeper to their internal core: their people. http://tc.eserver.org/31385.html http://tc.eserver.org/31385.html While webmasters have long been able to study how site visitors interact with a web site, e-mail has been more elusive. No more. With the latest generation of smart e-mail software, marketers can now essentially look over the shoulders of their readers, seeing first-hand what works, what needs improvement and what is simply falling on deaf ears. http://tc.eserver.org/31366.html http://tc.eserver.org/31366.html “We need to get global awareness fast,” says your CEO. “Make it happen.” When faced with the need to rapidly increase your organization’s visibility around the world, there are some daunting and expensive challenges, particularly if your company does not have a local presence in the countries it is targeting. Hiring local public relations and marketing communication talent, translating collateral into local languages and identifying and getting into both formal and informal business networks are just a few of these challenges. http://tc.eserver.org/31361.html http://tc.eserver.org/31361.html Branding dates back to ancient times and can be an aspect of every field. Not only does branding provide clients with a sense of professionalism and reliability, it can also help define your company. http://tc.eserver.org/31336.html http://tc.eserver.org/31336.html Internal branding is alive and well, and continues to evolve as more people realize how powerful it is as a business tool. You may hear it called by different names, such as employer branding, employee branding or employee value propositioning, but whatever the term, it is an important and useful concept. http://tc.eserver.org/31334.html http://tc.eserver.org/31334.html A recent Gallup poll showed that 69 percent of employees are disengaged at work. A survey of human resources managers by PricewaterhouseCoopers in the U.K. found that only 26 percent of employees demonstrated brand values in their day-to-day behavior. These figures suggest that internal branding efforts are perhaps not producing the desired effect. "Living the brand" initiatives cannot work when the majority of employees are not tuned in at work. Great brands are built by consistently delivering on the brand promise, which requires employee engagement with that brand. http://tc.eserver.org/31335.html http://tc.eserver.org/31335.html Employee engagement, getting employees to "live the brand," gaining employee buy-in—today's managers are trying to wrap their minds around these critical practices through internal marketing and internal branding. But not everyone understands these concepts. You even hear people use the terms interchangeably, even though there are a number of differences between these concepts. http://tc.eserver.org/31292.html http://tc.eserver.org/31292.html Today's audiences are jaded about marketing and savvy about messaging, making it harder than ever for marketers to earn an audience's undivided attention and create a meaningful bond between brand and individual. Whether you're talking about a 10,000-person corporate sales meeting or a multi-city mobile marketing program for consumers, you are more likely to hear words like integration, engagement and participation as criteria for marketing success than terms like impressions and eyeballs. http://tc.eserver.org/31259.html http://tc.eserver.org/31259.html We've all heard (perhaps too many times) that we live in a global economy, where change has become constant, that we are bombarded by a multitude of messages and, as a result, suffer from a common ailment: information overload. While advances in technology have had a major role in bringing us to this point, they also provide us with the tools to fight back. No longer passive victims, we are now in charge. We search for the information we want and—with the flick of the remote control, a click of the mouse or by just tuning out—we delete what we don't want. For consumers of information, this works. For communicators, this doesn't. http://tc.eserver.org/31243.html http://tc.eserver.org/31243.html There has been a lot of buzz lately about the dynamic created by having four generations in the workforce at once. Dozens of experts, myself included, have spent hours with businesses worldwide to help management better understand how to connect with employees by learning how a generational perspective can color the world and affect business relationships. http://tc.eserver.org/31258.html http://tc.eserver.org/31258.html Consumers no longer have to rely only on mass media for information. More often than not, they are turning to colleagues, friends and other people they trust for advice on what products and services to buy, generally trying to avoid sales people altogether. Understandably, this is what makes social media so effective, and one of the reasons why it can have such a positive impact on your bottom line. http://tc.eserver.org/31065.html http://tc.eserver.org/31065.html 98 percent of Internet shoppers leave ecommerce sites without buying. That is why Internet-savvy marketers are starting to use retargeting technology to pursuing customers who have left their website and recapture lost sales. http://tc.eserver.org/31064.html http://tc.eserver.org/31064.html The prevalence of online banners and text ads have made all but the most annoying online ads nearly transparent to online users. To stand out from the crowd, some marketers are turning to a simple, relevant and transparent advertising format: the text link. http://tc.eserver.org/30594.html http://tc.eserver.org/30594.html Increasingly, technical communicators are being asked by their companies to participate in marketing efforts. While most of us have long considered user's manuals and other documentation an important ingredient in maintaining customer loyalty, we have accepted that generally our primary function is to instruct people on the use or repair of products. Our job is to make complex information understandable; if in doing so we also make friends of customers and prospective customers, then we are pleasantly surprised. http://tc.eserver.org/30599.html http://tc.eserver.org/30599.html Writers of marketing materials seem to be stepchildren at best in the family of technical communication. Yet one cannot engage in writing effective marketing materials about technical products or services without being a technical communicator. And the more "typical" technical writer--such as an author of documentation--will perform better when she understand-s the marketing component of her work. We will serve the marketing communicator and his technical writer counterpart well by breaking down the barrier that seems to exist between the disciplines. http://tc.eserver.org/30522.html http://tc.eserver.org/30522.html This workshop will examine the types of marketing materials that can give you creative experience. You'll learn how to adapt your skills and subject matter knowledge to these projects, how to plan and develop different types of materials, and how to identify opportunities for new types of communication. http://tc.eserver.org/30322.html http://tc.eserver.org/30322.html Today's business climate is kinder to those who understand and act on the fact that there are numerous ways to communicate positive attributes. http://tc.eserver.org/30277.html http://tc.eserver.org/30277.html A good relationship with internal clients, accompanied by well-defined procedures, makes the creative process of developing marketing materials as smooth as possible. http://tc.eserver.org/30264.html http://tc.eserver.org/30264.html Grab readers. Make them want to read about your product. No, not by writing sparkling prose in a brochure or flier, but by showing your product or service solving a problem -- as told by a real user. A unique blend of journalism and promotion, "case history" articles offer benefits for everyone. The user gets to look like an important expert. Your company or client gets its product or service shown in a good light. And the publication where the case history is published gets an article that will appeal to its readers. http://tc.eserver.org/30186.html http://tc.eserver.org/30186.html Think you're not into marketing? Think again. As UX professionals, we share much in common with our close cousins, the marketers. We all seek to understand customers--needs, preferences, behaviors, attitudes, and more. We all seek to create positive touchpoints with customers and, in turn, a positive affiliation with our product or company brand. We all know the importance of communicating effectively with customers and evaluating the performance of our work. http://tc.eserver.org/30087.html http://tc.eserver.org/30087.html Direct marketing in the form of direct mail is used by almost every company whether it is the local service station or shoe repair shop or a Fortune 500 company. Unlike documentation that instructs or describes a process, marketing materials must persuade as well as inform. Increasingly, technical communicators’ responsibilities are being expanded to include marketing materials such as advertisements and direct mail. Writing successful direct marketing letters or advertisements can be easier by using a 10-point guide that uses the principles of attracting attention, arousing interest. creating desire and asking for action. http://tc.eserver.org/29743.html http://tc.eserver.org/29743.html For many practitioners, technical communication can--and should--be the springboard for a different career. Many technical writers and editors have made transitions to related disciplines from which they can influence industry and academia. They now have titles such as marketing and web content writer, usability lab manager, product marketing manager, business operations strategist, and more. This paper summarizes the career evolutions of the author and several colleagues in technical communication, and provides advice to help readers broaden their career horizons. http://tc.eserver.org/29749.html http://tc.eserver.org/29749.html This article explores the functional elegance of direct mail as it constructs its target audience. More specifically, it examines direct mailings included in a nationally publicized court case involving Publishers' Clearing House and articulates how the use of particular genre-based, rhetorical and linguistic strategies in these mailings construct reader identity. It argues that the documents use you-attitude to construct the identity of the reader as winner, implied reader devices to reinforce the reader's identity as winner and to establish the reader's identity as the writer's friend, and linguistic politeness strategies to build feelings of solidarity of the reader toward the writer. It concludes with the observation that the direct mail in our study, rather than being "junk," is really a skillfully written set of documents, successfully interweaving various discourse strategies and raising both ethical and professional issues in the process. http://tc.eserver.org/29180.html http://tc.eserver.org/29180.html A rationale for joining as many social networking sites as possible, if you are a marketing professional. http://tc.eserver.org/29016.html http://tc.eserver.org/29016.html Two separate studies, conducted among a total sample of 147 adults, explored the communicative effectiveness of imprecise frequency descriptors within the context of direct to consumer prescription drug advertising. Study One used imprecise frequency descriptors to describe level of side effect occurrence and then asked consumers to numerically estimate the frequency of side effect occurrence. A comparison of consumers estimated to actual level of incidence indicated that they are unable to accurately estimate level of side effect occurrence when those levels are described by an imprecise frequency descriptor. Study Two presented consumers with a list of side effects preceded by an imprecise frequency descriptor. Consumers were then asked to estimate the relative likelihood of side effect occurrence. The results indicated that consumers are unable to accurately estimate the relative likelihood of side effect occurrence when a list of side effects are preceded by an imprecise frequency descriptor. The pattern of consumer response across both studies indicates that when imprecise frequency descriptors are used to describe the incidence of side effects within the context of direct to consumer prescription drug advertising, consumers estimate likelihood of side effect occurrence on the basis of an intuitive judgment of the side effect s commonness/severity within the general population. http://tc.eserver.org/28860.html http://tc.eserver.org/28860.html This introduction to search engine optimization will outline some of the basic principles of SEO and explain how they can be used to improve your web pages' performance in search results. http://tc.eserver.org/28833.html http://tc.eserver.org/28833.html Try rewriting your pages with just the benefits or offer amplified. Then try a draft with a much better price or guarantee. http://tc.eserver.org/28842.html http://tc.eserver.org/28842.html Ask print direct response copywriters if they are held accountable, and they'll say yes. That was my own life for 15 years. I wrote direct mail packages and was judged not on my past reputation, but on the performance of each piece I wrote, one mailing at a time. http://tc.eserver.org/28747.html http://tc.eserver.org/28747.html Usarchy is een weblog met eigen artikelen over usability (gebruikersvriendelijkheid) en online marketing. Usarchy gaat vaak over gemiste online marketing kansen. Dit is waar usability de degens kruist met online marketing projecten. En dat is waar maar al te vaak usability verliest, de gebruiker verliest, en daardoor de efficiëntie van online marketing verliest. http://tc.eserver.org/28688.html http://tc.eserver.org/28688.html As user experience professionals, we have the opportunity to work more closely with brand and marketing specialists to clearly articulate the brand perception we want to elicit from our customers. Brand perception is, in part, an expectation on the part of a customer regarding future interactions with a company and its products and services. To achieve our desired brand perception, we must consistently represent and deliver the brand values we have led customers to expect. http://tc.eserver.org/28373.html http://tc.eserver.org/28373.html Writing for technology companies has its own unique set of challenges. Here's how to work around some of them. http://tc.eserver.org/28296.html http://tc.eserver.org/28296.html Find out how to avoid sneaky marketing practices that users can see through. Instead, provide honest and useful content and watch the number of repeat site visitors soar. http://tc.eserver.org/28286.html http://tc.eserver.org/28286.html You can hear the sighs of relief as the website localization project comes to a close or enters maintenance mode. However organized the client and however professional the localization vendor, website localization is a painful process. Now it's over--at least we can tick the box that says 'have multilingual website.' After all, is that not the reason we localized in the first place? http://tc.eserver.org/28269.html http://tc.eserver.org/28269.html Tracks the importance of usability and market research by following a typical project through each stage of development. http://tc.eserver.org/28198.html http://tc.eserver.org/28198.html According to a June 2006 study conducted on behalf of the Online Publishers Association (OPA) by the Center for Media Design at Ball State University, advertising dollars aren't keeping up with skyrocketing consumer web demand. http://tc.eserver.org/28150.html http://tc.eserver.org/28150.html I think that the people who give the testimonials do so for the additional exposure they receive for their own names, sites and businesses. I also think they do some mutual back-scratching, and hype each other's products and services. In other words, the testimonials are just additional sales text. They have no credibility as outside, third-party endorsements. http://tc.eserver.org/28073.html http://tc.eserver.org/28073.html During a recent move, the author not only acquired and sold many items via Craigslist (www.craigslist.com), but gained insights about herself as well as running her business. http://tc.eserver.org/28054.html http://tc.eserver.org/28054.html Lack of personalization made an email newsletter completely useless to the recipient, damaging long-term customer relationship efforts. http://tc.eserver.org/28011.html http://tc.eserver.org/28011.html Can prediction markets be used successfully in a corporate environment? Kirtland forecasts that making them easier to use just might be the key. Through simple guidelines, he shares strategies for benefiting the wise crowds. http://tc.eserver.org/27843.html http://tc.eserver.org/27843.html Marketing yourself is an attitude, not an activity. It is learning to think of yourself and your skills as a product that someone can use. http://tc.eserver.org/27813.html http://tc.eserver.org/27813.html Newsletter usability has increased since our last study, but the competition for users' attention has also grown with the ever-increasing glut of information. http://tc.eserver.org/27778.html http://tc.eserver.org/27778.html Unfortunately it seems that more and more companies are choosing the lowest price in deciding which white paper writer to engage. Why would a business that would never bat an eyelash paying for a high-quality website, choose the low price provider for a white paper? http://tc.eserver.org/27735.html http://tc.eserver.org/27735.html This research is aimed at analysing the mass media information campaigns carried out for the introduction of the Euro. http://tc.eserver.org/27045.html http://tc.eserver.org/27045.html Despite an 11+ year history in the marketplace, CMS technology remains poorly understood by many prospective buyers. In the meantime, the field of available suppliers has never been broader or noisier. Most CMS salespeople I know are good educators, but they also have quotas to meet. Under these circumstances, vendors will sometimes short-cut important discussions about functionality and pricing with simple -- but not always completely truthful -- answers. So here's a list of 10 common myths you might hear during the sales process. http://tc.eserver.org/26628.html http://tc.eserver.org/26628.html Lack of personalization made an email newsletter completely useless to the recipient, damaging long-term customer relationship efforts. http://tc.eserver.org/26146.html http://tc.eserver.org/26146.html My worst experiences with hospitality sites have been to do with vague location, online timetables, poor follow-up communication, and out of date information. I have wasted days as a result, which I hate. http://tc.eserver.org/26126.html http://tc.eserver.org/26126.html Good technical communication is critical to the success of products and ultimately to the success of companies. But even the most perfect manuals may go unread, and the most elegant help systems may go unnoticed unless you take the time to promote the quality and necessity of your work. You need to showcase your talents and to encourage people throughout your company--and the community--to value and understand the work that you do. This will ideally lead to more respect, better pay, and more interesting work. http://tc.eserver.org/25933.html http://tc.eserver.org/25933.html Brochures are good for some things but not others. The key to not wasting your money is to understand what brochures do well, and what they don't do well.