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creative briefs |
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Digital photography is growing by leaps and bounds, as are the online photo sharing sites like Flickr and SmugMug.
Have you thought about how to take advantage of this current fascination with photos for your online marketing program? Amanda Watlington writes on the subject.
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Once you are ready to dig seriously into social media, you'll want to read this article from SEOmoz.
It takes an in-depth look at some of the top Web 2.0 sites, reviews their reason for being, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.
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Email is smoking, baby. At least that is the contention of G. Simms Jenkins in his article 3 Reasons Why Email Is Hotter Than Ever.
One interesting fact from the article: "email delivers the highest ROI: $57.25 for every dollar spent on it in 2005, compared against $7.08 for every dollar spent on print catalogs, and $22.52 for every dollar spent on non-email internet marketing."
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Since the word "creative" is in our name, we like to stay connected with current creativity resources. The Creative Thinking Network offers a bevy of creativity links to help exercise your little gray cells. |
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I'm guilty of pumping up social media despite the fact that most American web users haven't yet embraced it. A Pew Center study finds that "while 73% of Americans are online and well over half own a cell phone and a computer, only 8% are deep users of Web 2.0 features."
RSS, on the other hand, has been around - at least in theory - since 1995. It has been slow to catch on, as well. However, it seems to be picking up speed, particularly now that Google has bought Feedburner, an RSS distribution service.
Anita Campbell has an interesting article on the mainstreaming of RSS.
RSS readers, also called news aggregators, abound. My favorite is Sharp Reader. You can download it here.
Subscribe to Think, our newsletter's companion RSS blog feed.
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Hello. I don't know about you but I'm tired of people doing what I call "to whom it may concern marketing." More on that below.
Now, while I'm cranky about those lazy or just plain dumb marketers this month, Brant Waldeck is animated. Read his article to find out why.
Let's get going. |
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Creatively yours,
Harry Hoover
harry@my-creativeteam.com |
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To Whom It May Concern  |
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By Harry Hoover
Apparently there are some people out there who haven't gotten the word that the days of mass marketing are over. These troglodytes are still randomly pushing an untargeted, self-serving message on people.
I call this To Whom It May Concern Marketing. I don't know about you, but receiving something addressed "To Whom It May Concern" sure gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.
This type of marketing just makes people mad. They have enough on their minds without someone trying to elbow their way in with an offer that is of no interest. Typically, the offers are all about the product or service and not about the benefit to the prospect.
Today, whether you are selling yourself with a cover letter and resume or selling a product, it is a one-to-one world.
I frequently receive notes to my email address that are addressed "To Whom It May Concern", or "Hiring Manager", or even "Please pass this along to the appropriate person." These PR job seekers exemplify this bad "marketing" behavior.
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Get Animated  |
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By Brant Waldeck
Animation - in moderation and used appropriately - can add a real life to your presentations, videos, banner ads and websites, as well as take your message to the next level.
You see animation almost everywhere you look these days because it has become much more affordable. But just using animation for animation's sake or because everyone else uses it is not a great idea. Animation needs a reason for being.
Let's explore the many reasons to get animated:
- To entertain
- To demonstrate
- To simplify
- To attract attention
- To aid in navigation
Games or animated characters can be very entertaining and can help bring your brand, website, DVD or presentation to life. However, you need to choose your venue carefully and consider who the target audience is.
Just because you and the creatives back at the agency think something is entertaining doesn't mean your audience will respond in kind. If your audience isn't looking for entertainment, animation can backfire on you.
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