Yesterday I attended the latest edition of Crain’s long-running forum, and listened to an expert panel share their insights with a room full of business people about how to approach digital marketing and social media.  One of those speakers was Matt Moog, founder of the Viewpoints Network, and a serial entrepreneur  (he was previously CEO at CoolSavings/Q Interactive, an interactive marketing services company). Matt decided to use the Crain’s event to demonstrate how quickly buzz can be built. Before he arrived, he posted some of his planned remarks on his blog, using the name of the event in the title. The idea being that within a day or so, anyone searching for information about the event would also find his post.

I’ve extended the experiment by doing the same thing in my own title here. Let’s see how that goes.

What I liked about this panel was that they showcased a pragmatic approach to the topic, even as they made suggestions about how to think creatively to generate an army of fans. Moog’s first point was  the continuing importance of email – he still sends out monthly updates (essentially a newsletter) to a list he has built over a number of years.  And Nancy Munro of KnowledgeShift stressed the importance of press releases, using one or more of the low-cost online distribution options that now exist.  

So if email and PR are still in the top five, what has changed in digital marketing from 10 years ago, when these Crain’s forums got under way amidst the “irrational exuberance” of the dot-come era? Part of that answer is the explosion of online tools, including social media that help us communicate, connect, and analyze. And yes, many of these innovations are free, or close to it. By the end of today, for example, I could publish a blog or create a simple website.  Yikes – as an Internet solutions professional, am I staring obsolescence in the face? Well, no. As Julie Roth Novack of Razorfish, another panel member, made clear, some things haven’t changed: the online solutions that do most for your business begin with definition of business objectives, listening to customers, and paying attention to the competition. There are still no instant solutions for that.

Just to round out this post, here’s some interesting data published this week by Marketing Sherpa about how marketers see the impact of social media over time:

Do You Agree or Disagree That Social Media Will…

It isn’t often that we can directly link the business communications we create to hard metrics that benefit our clients. Often the best measurement we can get is the client’s qualitative assessment about the success of a meeting or an interactive component. And we feel appreciated when the holiday basket arrives in December, along with the client’s warm wishes.

But here’s one outcome that is objectively a win. RSC Equipment Rental, for whom we created an interactive safety training program (The Road to Safety) last year, has recorded a 34-percent reduction in its OSHA Incident Rate (OIR) after running the program for a year.

RSC works in the construction, industrial/petrochemical and manufacturing sectors, and it maintains numerous safety initiatives as part of a strong safety culture. So one program can hardly lay claim to all the credit for this result. However, the company’s Safety Director has no doubt that the contribution has been significant.

Every employee in the company, about 5,500 people, has completed this Flash-based interactive training. It’s mandatory for all new hires at the 470-plus locations in the U.S. and Canada. So the opportunity was there for this rich-media elearning program to have a real impact.

These are preliminary results. We’ll be watching with interest as more come in.

Websites today are no longer simply decorative. For organizations of all kinds, they are increasingly regarded as working assets – an essential element of successful marketing. And the harder they work, the greater the need to manage site content economically and flexibly.

A Web Content Management System (CMS) doesn’t have the buzz innovations like Twitter or Facebook. But it’s just as important – a smart tool that leverages your existing web investments to deliver a variety of marketing benefits:

Market responsiveness
Fresh content is important for site visitors and provides motivation for them to return. Fresh content also improves visibility with search engines.

Tracking promotions
Content management extends to banner ads, and includes reporting on click-through traffic for any type of link.

Contact management
Through CMS you can capture visitor contact information, direct their online inquiries to the right department, and build email lists.

Efficient maintenance
Edit and update page content from anywhere, at any time. Change a call to action, post an event, add a news release, upload a PDF, or publish a photograph or video, all without technical knowledge or IT support.

Support for SEO
Marketers who manage their own search engine optimization programs can control page titles, page descriptions and keywords without having to touch source code or know HTML.

Quicksilver’s CMS solution, QuickFlex.NET, includes the following features:

· Unlimited Users

· Role-based security

· Simple administrative interface

· Easy to learn

· Visitor contact management

· Control of meta data for SEO

· Add modules as needs change

· Hosted solution with 24/7 support

Download this PDF to learn more.

QS_ContentMgmt.pdf (685.00 kb)

Andrew Webb (ironic, isn’t it) has been involved with Internet projects since 1995, including experience with strategy and site structure, user experience and creative direction. As director of Quicksilver’s Internet solutions group, he manages delivery of integrated services ranging from site concept to construction, hosting and application development.