Looking for direct marketers
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Welcome to my website. On my blog I write about marketing, public relations and digital communications. To keep up-to-date with my posts you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or sign-up to receive blog posts by email.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy my site.
We’ve just completed a restructure of Medway Council’s communications team to help us focus on the marketing and PR challenges that we have.
One area we’re really committed to improving is our direct marketing. We want to understand the council’s customers better - while some of our services, like waste collection and recycling, are universal, many require a more targetted approach to marketing.
Our leisure centres, golf courses, theatres, festivals and events are just some of the areas that will benefit from better direct marketing and customer data analysis.
We’ve created two new jobs to help do this, and are now recruiting for a Direct and Digital Marketing Manager and a Marketing Data Analyst.
The manager job will be responsible for a small team that will deliver direct marketing, email and SMS marketing, data analysis, as well as being responsible for managing and developing the council’s portfolio of websites.
The data analyst will be heavily involved in developing a customer segmentation and profiling system as well as overseeing marketing data quality and producing analysis reports to support the work of the marketing team.
More details are available on the council’s website:
Closing date for applications for both roles is Friday, 11 July.
Tags: analysis, data, direct+marketing, Marketing
Categories: Direct marketing, Marketing, Public sector
Smell as a marketing tool
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Sometimes a really simple marketing idea works.
While I was out and about recently I walked past a fruit and vegetable shop. I was really struck by the strong smell of oranges coming from the display pictured above.
It reminded me about how powerful our senses are in marketing. Without the use of smell I wouldn’t have given the oranges display a second glance, but the cut oranges were giving off a great orangey smell that stopped me in my tracks and made me get out my cameraphone (ok, so the last bit is because I’m just a little bit sad about marketing, but there you go).
All too often marketers fall into the trap of appealing to the eyes, for example through printed materials, when using sound and smell can really add to the effectiveness of marketing.
Tags: Marketing, senses, smell
Categories: Marketing
Don’t Panic Guide to Social Media - presentation
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Bit late posting about this, but last Friday I presented at the Don’t Panic Guide to Social Media conference in London.
The day was a broad-ranging canter through social media in a variety of guises. My slot was talking about the use of social media in local government (and other public sector organisations), including some initial findings from my CIPR Diploma and case studies from Medway Council.
I enjoyed catching up with fellow speakers and event organisers that I’d met before, including Neville, Andy, Nicky and Stephen, as well as meeting other speakers and delegates for the first time including Kerry Bridge (Dell), Marshall Manson (Edelman) and Meg Pickard (Guardian).
My presentation slides are now available to download from www.simonwakeman.com/dpgsm.
Check out a delegate review from Sherrilynne here.
Plans are underway for a similar conference in Manchester later on this year. Watch this space for more information.
Tags: conference, dont+panic, Events, medway+council, social+media
Categories: Blogging, CIPR Diploma, Events, Marketing, Podcasting, Public relations, RSS, Social media, Twitter, Video podcasting
Statistics, research and analysis
Sunday, May 25th, 2008 at 8:00 am
LeverWealth: The statistics that say you must take social media seriously
A great round-up of statistics from David Phillips
Global Youth Survey: Media Consumption & Advertising
Global youth survey exploring the various media outlets young people around the globe get their entertainment.
Find more statistics, research and analysis here.
Tags:
Categories: Uncategorized
Don’t Panic Guide to Social Media - May 2008
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Friday, 23 May is the day that the Don’t Panic Guide to Social Media rolls into London.
The conference, aimed at senior communicators in the private and public sectors, will examine the rapid growth of online PR and the social media tools that are driving the revolution in communications.
The line-up features a great range of speakers:
- Sam Barratt, Head of Media - Oxfam
- Kerry Bridge, Head of Digital Media & Comms - Dell
- Stephen Davies, Social Media Manager - Webitpr
- Robin Goad, Director of Research - Hitwise
- Graham Goodkind, Chairman - Frank PR
- Neville Hobson, communicator, blogger, podcaster and Second Life
explorer - nevillehobson.com - Marshall Manson, Director of Digital Strategy - Edelman UK
- Meg Pickard, Head of Communities and User Experience - Guardian Unlimited
- and some bloke called Simon Wakeman, Head of Marketing and PR - Medway Council
I’m going to be talking about the extent of social media usage in local government with examples of those authorities who have used social media channels to reach their audiences. I’ll also be looking at
the reasons why some authorities may still be reticent to create truly open dialogues with those they serve.
Assuming my CIPR Diploma research runs to plan, I’m hoping to be able to talk about some original research findings in my presentation too.
The full conference brochure is available to download here.
Tickets are on sale now for £295 + VAT or £250 + VAT for charities and early booking before 30 April 2008. For event booking or further information please contact Nicky or Andrew at Donʼt Panic on 01706 828855 or alternatively places can be securely booked online at www.dontpanicprojects.com/booking.htm.
Tags: conferences, presentations, social+media
Categories: Blogging, CIPR Diploma, Events, Podcasting, Public relations, Public sector, RSS, Social media, Twitter, Video podcasting
Looking for UK local government communicators
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I’m looking at the role of social media in local government communications as part of my CIPR Diploma research project. More information about my project and work-in-progress is on my wiki.
One of the research methods I’m using is a questionnaire that is aimed at communicators working in local government in the UK. If this is you I’d be very grateful if you took five minutes to complete my questionnaire - you can find it here.
If you know anyone who fits the bill, please do point them in the direction of the questionnaire.
I’ll be making the research findings available to all participants so they get something useful back from their input, plus of course I’ll publish the project findings on my blog once the final report has been marked.
Tags: CIPR, CIPR Diploma, local+government, research, social+media
Categories: CIPR Diploma, Podcasting, Public relations, Public sector, Social media, Twitter, Video podcasting
Statistics, research and analysis
Sunday, April 13th, 2008 at 8:00 am
Social networking in the UK - Ofcom
Ofcom’s quantitative and qualitative research report into attitudes, behaviours and use of social networks in the UK.
2008 Digital Entertainment Survey - UK
A comprehensive audit of entertainment and digital activity in the UK today, investigating
behaviour, trends, preferences and attitudes across all forms of entertainment activity. Findings from representative online survey of 1,608 UK respondents.
Find more statistics, research and analysis here.
Tags:
Categories: Uncategorized
Roadtesting mobile broadband from 3
Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
A few weeks back we had some problems with our home broadband connection, leaving us without any internet access for a couple of days. 
The whole episode made me realise how many of our day-to-day activities rely on being connected. I have internet access through my mobile phone on 3, but I’d been thinking about whether to invest in a proper mobile broadband dongle to give proper connectivity when out and about, and a reserve broadband connection when at home.
The arrival of an email from the team at 3mobilebuzz offering a trial of the latest HSDPA mobile broadband USB stick from 3 was perfect timing.
I’ve been using the stick for around a week now, and thought it was about time to blog about my experiences so far.
Installation
Getting the broadband set up on my Windows laptop was a doddle. I just had to put the SIM into the stick, insert the stick in a spare USB port and then Windows did the rest. The software required to control the connection is installed on the stick so there are no CDs or software downloads required.
Speeds
This is where it gets tricky, as the speeds I get on my landline and mobile broadband connections depend on where I am, how I’m connected etc. So my experiences won’t be the same as someone somewhere else, but all the same I think the speed tests I’ve done are worth posting.
For the record I’m in Whitstable on the Kent coast - so not an urban area but not out in the sticks either. I have good 3G coverage at home and for the landline broadband we’re about three miles from the exchange.
I’ve done three speed tests around the same time of day:
The first is on my landline broadband through a wired connection from my router to my laptop:
The second is using my landline broadband through a wireless connection from the router:
The third is the same test using my 3 mobile broadband connection:
So on speed grounds the mobile broadband is giving me download speeds just over a third of the speed of my home broadband, and upload speeds at around 15% of my home broadband uploads. Those figures surprise me as having worked with the mobile broadband, it doesn’t seem slow in everyday internet and email use. I guess that’s because the value of faster speeds is only really felt on heftier data volume uses like downloading software or music files.
Looking at 3’s map of their turbo network coverage I see that Whitstable doesn’t have the turbo network yet. When it does I should be able to achieve 2.8MB/s download speeds which will be comparable with my landline broadband.
Costs
The next thing worth looking at is how much mobile broadband costs. The 3 dongle is available on contracts and pay as you go. On 18 month contracts it costs £10pm (1GB data per month), £15pm (3GB data per month) or £25pm (7GB data per month). Every 1MB over those levels costs you 10p. For most of the contract plans the dongle doesn’t cost anything.
If you want to pay as you go, the dongle is £69.99 and each 1MB will cost you £1 (or it’s cheaper if you go for an internet add-on).
It’s taken me a good 20 minutes to unpick the pricing, and to be honest I’m not sure I’ve got it absolutely right now as the 3 site’s not exactly clear on what, if any, line rental you’d pay for your data connection.
While this is more expensive that you’d pay for most landline broadband connections, the benefit with mobile broadband is of course it’s just that - mobile. I’ve used it successfully on the train and when I’ve been out and about.
The only other thing worth noting is that when the dongle is in use it gets really hot. When you’re using it on a laptop without mains connection it does drain the battery faster - in my experience it reduces my laptop’s battery life by around 40%.
Having ubiquitous internet connectivity is probably the logical next step for me - so much of my work depends on connectivity that it will help make my work more efficient and responsive to client needs. The 3 dongle looks like a good solution for this, although I haven’t checked out the competition yet.
Disclosure: free dongle and unlimited data for three months from www.3mobilebuzz.com
Tags: 3, broadband, internet, mobile broadband
Categories: Reviews
Launching Behind the Spin online
Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Last week I pushed the button to set live a new website I’ve been working on since January this year.
Behind the Spin (www.behindthespin.com) is the online version of the CIPR’s magazine for public relations students and young practitioners.
The magazine has been around for a few years in its offline format, but recently Richard Bailey from Leeds Metropolitan University has taken over the reins and led the creation of the new website.
Richard asked me to run the technical side of the website, so I can take no credit for any of the high quality content on the site.
The site has been created using Wordpress and uses a heavily modified version of the commercially available Revolution theme. It’s a great example of how an open source blog content management system can be used to create a website that isn’t a blog (I almost said “traditional”, but you know what I mean).
With features like commenting and RSS feeds, the site does have some features in common with a blog, but it’s not a blog. Richard calls it a “blogazine”, which probably sums it up pretty well.
I’d commend the site to prospective and current public relations students and people new to the profession too. Sign up for content by RSS or email and read some of the freshest thinking from PR students in the UK (and soon overseas too).
Tags: behind the spin, CIPR, PR, Public relations, richard bailey, Wordpress
Categories: CIPR Diploma, Public relations, Web development
Why coding email marketing properly is important
Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
I received a promotional email today from sportsshoes.com.
It’s a great example of why lazy email marketing by just using a load of images is a bad idea. Good email marketing uses well formed HTML code, inline styles and descriptive alt tags on images for when those images are not displayed in the recipient’s browser.
This is all important because many webmail sites (like my GMail account shown below) and desktop browsers block images by default.
That means if you’re lazy and just use images in your email marketing, it looks like this:
Even though when you send it, you think it looks like this:
Given the number of clients that use image blocking by default, there’s a good business rationale for coding your marketing emails carefully.
Tags: coding, Email marketing, Marketing
Categories: Email marketing, Marketing
CIPR Diploma - Planning Assignment
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 11:08 pm
One of the reasons I’ve been so quiet on the blogging front recently has been the fact I’m studying for the CIPR Diploma.
I started studying back in June 2007, and was delighted to pass the first hurdle, the critical reasoning test, last Autumn.
The second formal assessment on the diploma course is the planning assignment which was handed in just after Christmas (no prizes for guessing what I spent my holidays doing!). The assignment aims to encourage students to demonstrate their ability by applying planning theory to a practical public relations situation.
This time the scenario was about crisis communications and issues management - two areas I have had limited exposure to in my career so far, so I found the assignment a challenge. The objectives were to produce an action plan and rationale for a major organisation facing a crisis addressing key issues and developing a strategy for restoring reputation for the longer term.
One aspect of the assignment I found tricky was writing a workplace strategy, but then at the end of it having to write an academic rationale for the business decisions and approaches I had taken. This certainly forced a degree of rigour into my thinking that wasn’t there before.
The results for the planning assignment were published just before Easter. I was quite apprehensive as I wasn’t sure how well I’d done, so I was delighted to be awarded a “distinction” grade.
I’m publishing the assignment and my answers here to help other PR students, particularly those studying for the diploma. I found a number of web resources useful when researching my assignment, so it seems the right thing to do to put my work into the public domain to help others.
There are three PDF files in this assignment:
- The background and scenario
- The tasks for the assignment
- My submitted assignment (in three parts: crisis comms plan, issues management proposal and supporting rationale)
Now my attention turns to the final stage in the diploma - the personal project - where I’m researching the role of social media in local government communications, but more on this as things progress.
Tags: chartered+institute+of+public+relations, CIPR, diploma, distinction, research
Categories: CIPR Diploma, Public relations
Statistics, research and analysis
Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 8:00 am
Changing Influence of New Media
The role of traditional media on the purchase decision of consumers may well be dwindling, but the industry is still the top ranking influencer according to a study by consumer intelligence company, BIGresearch.
Internet Grabs Kids’, Teens’ Attention, Affects TV-Watching - MarketingVOX
Kids’ undivided attention is no longer focused on TV. 64 percent go online while watching it, and 49 percent of US teens do so frequently: anywhere from three times a week to several times a day.
Find more statistics, research and analysis here.
Tags:
Categories: Uncategorized
Searching for PR professionals in Australia
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Checking the front page of my website I see it’s been almost a month since I last posted. During that time there seem to have been so many times when I’ve thought “I must post about that” but then haven’t had the time to follow it through.
One of the projects that I’ve been working on is an interesting search for a media relations or PR professional in Australia on behalf of a client. They’ve asked me to see how social media could be used to identify a set of potential candidates for setting up their Australian business.
I’ve not tackled a project like this before, but it’s been really interesting seeing how social media and the networks it encourages can be used in a different way to the ways I usually use them. I’ve spent a lot of time trawling through profiles on professional networks like LinkedIn, MyRagan and Melcrum, as well as even dusting off my old username and password for Ecademy (I see I first registered there in 2003). I’ve also been searching using more mainstream social networks, but as I’d expected, the ratio of suitable to unsuitable candidates isn’t great compared to the specialist networks.
The next stage in my search is to look for suitable professionals in Australia who are engaged in social media beyond the specialist networks I mentioned. I’m thinking about bloggers, podcasters etc who are probably freelance or contract consultants and have the experience my client is looking for.
It struck me this evening that I’ve missed a trick so far though. I know I have a few Australian readers on this blog, so why didn’t I post here about the kind of person that my client is looking for too? The beauty of social networks is you never quite know who is connected to who.
So, here’s the lowdown: my client is an established UK business providing online media relations management tools, with a particular strength in the public and not-for-profit sectors. They are looking to establish a PR/sales/training operation to expand sales of their flagship tool in Australia, particularly targetting local government and not-for-profit organisations.
The person they’re looking to employ will be the lead in establishing this presence - learning how to use the tool, introducing it to leads and doing basic training/advice for potential clients. They’re a small, friendly business and believe their product sells itself once it’s used so definitely don’t want a “hard sell” sales person. They’re quite open to different types of people with different skills and experience, so the spec for their ideal employee is simple:
- have some exposure to councils/not-for-profits in Australia, ideally in PR/media relations
- technologically savvy enough to explain and show the online tool (it’s powerful, but not very complicated)
- be a relationship builder not a pressure sales person
Do you know anyone who could fit the bill? Any names, leads or ideas would be gratefully received.
For the right person this could be a great opportunity to develop an Australian business almost from scratch. Plus they’re a great bunch of people to work with, and I’m not just saying that because they’re a client of mine. 
Tags: australia, business+ventures, employment, jobs, media+relations
Categories: Business development, Public relations, Public sector, Social media
Choosing a public relations dissertation topic
Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
I’ve reached the final hurdle in my CIPR Diploma studies - researching and writing the 6000 word personal project.
The personal project looks like a great opportunity to put everything I’ve learnt so far into action, and do some real in-depth research into a topic that’s interesting and useful for me as a student and practitioner.
I’m keen to research a subject that’s relevant to my day job, so I’ve been thinking of the following as a title:
“What is the role of social media in local government communications?”
There’s real potential for the use of social media for local government to communicate and consult more effectively with local audiences. However to date the sector’s adoption of social media has been slow and patchy.
In my research I hope to draw on UK and international case studies to understand how social media can play a role in helping local government communicate, particularly with audiences that it does not traditionally communicate effectively with.
I need to start thinking about my research methodology, but what do you think about this topic? Are there any must-see resources for public sector use of social media that you can point me towards? Do you have any examples of how your local council has used social media?
Tags: chartered+institute+of+public+relations, CIPR, diploma, research
Categories: CIPR Diploma, Public relations
Using plain English in local government communications
Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Last week the Local Government Association treated us to its list of banned words - jargon used by local authorities that means very little to residents and businesses. The full list is here.
Neville Hobson has picked up this on his blog, sparking an interesting debate in the comments to his post about whether plain English is actually a dumbing down of language. The alternative view is that written and verbal communication is meaningless (and pointless) if both parties don’t share a common understanding of what’s being communicated.
As a communicator working in local government this really interests me. As part of our written styleguide we have a list of banned words, along the same lines as the LGA’s. The principles behind it are important - being able to communicate with our audiences relies on us using words and phrases they understand.
The same applies in both public and private sectors; this article picking up on an Accenture internal memo certainly proves that point. And for communicators the challenge is the same: remembering that external audiences don’t speak your internal language.
It’s fine for planners within a local authority to talk about curtilages to each other - indeed the use of specialist technical language is important as it often carries complicated meanings within concise phrases. But when planners need to talk to members of the public, they need to speak the public’s language, which means changing language to suit the audience. I’m not picking on the planners in particular here - it’s a trait that exists in most specialist disciplines within organisations (including marketing and public relations, I have to admit).
The challenge for those who work in communications in local government is that most communications don’t come through the professional communicators. The bulk of council-resident interactions happen between officers and members of the public, through letters, emails, phone calls and face to face conversations.
As a communicator an important role is educating and equipping others to communicate more effectively. It’s a relatively straightforward task to ensure materials coming from the professional communicators are up to scratch, but getting standards to the same level across the organisation needs a different set of skills and the ability to network effectively - to get non-communicators to communicate more effectively and act as a champion of plain English.
My preferred alternative to plain English is appropriate English - the language that’s right for one audience isn’t right for another. For example if we were producing a leaflet about building regulations for architects, the language may well be different to a leaflet on the same subject for residents - it’s about choosing appropriate words and phrases for your intended audience.
A brief footnote - interesting to see the LGA list has the banned word “coterminous” with the suggested alternative as “all singing from the same hymn sheet” - swapping one bit of business jargon for another equally bad one surely!
Tags: communications, effective+writing, local+government, plain+English, public+relations
Categories: Public relations, Public sector
Statistics, research and analysis
Sunday, January 27th, 2008 at 9:00 am
There?s never been so much media-multitasking
The only way for people to keep up with the deluge of media options is to multitask - and that?s just what has happened, according to BIGresearch?s 11th Simultaneous Media Survey.
Social media will ?make or break brands?
Highly influential, outspoken, with a loyal following and the power to make or break brands at will are identified in Experian’s new report "The Impact of Social Networking in the UK"
Edelman Trust Barometer 2008 - key findings
The highlights from Edelman’s annual trust research available to download.
Customer Focus: Decade of Data
Resarch looking at US entertainment preferences and media usage patterns since 1998.
Find more statistics, research and analysis here.
Tags:
Categories: Uncategorized
Is there such a thing as advanced?
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Liam Fitzpatrick has an interesting post about advanced internal communications, although the principle would seem to apply to most marketing and public relations disciplines.
On his courses he finds that there is a group of people who are looking for the holy grail of internal communications - based on a perceived insecurity within the internal communications community that means it’s always searching for something new and better to improve on current practices.
Yet Liam’s come to the conclusion that there’s no such thing:
The truth is that in IC, like most branches of human activity, nothing much actually changes that dramatically. If you think that somewhere someone is doing “really advanced” ninja-level IC you’re probably going to be disappointed.
I think he’s right, and the same applies to most marketing and public relations areas.
From my experience practitioners know more than they apply. Those with a sound theoretical grounding don’t always get to put it all into practice all the time. Putting knowledge into action is an inevitable compromise between what “should” be done, based on the theory, and what “can” be done given the practical constraints of the operational situation.
Yes, professions do advance in their body of knowledge, but only relatively slowly with a combination of academics and early-adopters driving the pace. For most practitioners the advanced practice comes from being able to put into play more of what they know than usual.
So instead of focussing on trying to achieve that advanced level, try thinking about what you know already and how you could improve putting it into action better next time around.
Tags: liam+fitzpatrick, professional+development
Categories: Internal communications, Marketing, Personal development, Public relations
Elements of branding
Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 9:02 am
For those who studied chemistry back in their school days the periodic table will be a dim and distant memory.
For a bit of a Monday morning distraction, here’s a marketing version from the folks at Kolbrener:
Check it out at http://www.kolbrenerusa.com/elements.htm.
Tags: kolbrener
Categories: Branding, Marketing
Statistics, research and analysis round-up
Sunday, January 20th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Customer Focus: Decade of Data
Resarch looking at US entertainment preferences and media usage patterns since 1998.
Socio-economic barriers to web access narrow
Factors such as education, income, age, gender, and place of access have typically influenced web usage and broadband access worldwide.
Find more statistics, research and analysis here.
Tags:
Categories: Statistics, research and analysis
Keeping commuters informed
Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Ellee Seymour’s post about her train journey from London to Cambridge earlier this week really struck a chord with me.
I used to commute from Whitstable up into London every day when I worked at Open…, Egg and Enterprise IG. The two and a quarter hour door to door trip was often extended by up to two hours by train cancellations, delays and general transport chaos.
Ellee’s experience is a familiar one. All too often I would arrive at London Cannon Street to find it overflowing with frustrated commuters, thanks to delayed or cancelled trains. For commuters on the Kent Coast Line the only alternative was to hotfoot it on the tube over to London Victoria to see if trains were running from there.
Sometimes staff at Cannon Street told you trains were running from Victoria, and when you got there they weren’t. And sometimes staff said they weren’t running, but when you got there they were.
If you decided to stay where you were and wait, information was patchy and inconsistent. The whole experience seemed to comprise a lot of standing around on cold platforms, a lot of people all shouting down their phones about the delay and its causes (triggering off even more people to phone home to relay the version of the story that they’ve just heard from the person next to them), and the odd cattle stampede to a platform where a train, any train, was arriving, just in case it was actually going where you were headed.
Just thinking about it makes me glad I made the decision to work outside London. I now work a thirty minute drive from home. The three and a half hours of every day that I’ve saved are spent doing much nicer things like being with the family and keeping fit.
Back to Ellee’s post, she’s absolutely right that what’s missing in those commuter nightmare situations is accurate and timely information. Travellers accept things go wrong and they accept that situations change. But accurate, consistent and reliable information would make the whole experience much more bearable, and would help public perception of the operator and travelling by train generally.
I wonder what role public relations can play in those kind of situations. I’d venture a guess that it’s mostly seen as an operational situation that needs dealing with, rather than a public relations challenge. Yet taking a PR-based approach would lead to more attention being paid to managing messaging in those situations and managing relationships between the train company and a significant public - its travelling passengers.
Tags: commuting, ellee+seymour, london, southeastern+railway
Categories: Public relations
Top ten mobile applications
Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Since I upgraded my mobile phone to a Nokia 6210 classic on the UK’s 3 network late last year I’ve been using some great mobile applications.
The combination of a decent handset and an unlimited data plan have really changed the way I access internet content and services. Checking through my last phone bill it struck me that I’d used it to access the internet every day - when I’m at home, in the office and on the move.
Here are the top ten applications that I’m using day in day out on my phone:
1. Skype
Only for 3 customers this one (if you’re in the UK), although there are some generic mobile VOIP clients that will give you Skype access on non-3 handsets. Free calls to Skype at home and other Skype users. Free.
2. Amaze GPS
Combining my handset with an external GPS receiver turns my mobile into a decent GPS navigation system. I used this to get from Calais to an address in Paris without any problems. Works by downloading the route at the start of navigation, so a data connection is required, but great for someone who only needs an occasional sat nav system. Free.
3. MapMyTracks
In beta at the moment, this lets me use an external GPS receiver to use my mobile to live track my runs and bike rides. When I get home I can replay tracks, check split times and much more. I’m working on the launch of this service through my work with Tinderhouse. Free to beta testers, free and monthly chargeable plans available after launch.
4. Shozu
Great for handling pictures and videos I take on my mobile. Simple one or two click uploads to Flickr, email accounts, YouTube and plenty of other services. Free.
5. Opera Mini
For times when the phone’s inbuilt browser falls over on some websites, Opera Mini is a great fallback. Free.
6. GMail
Access to my entire GMail account, including full search and tags. Makes sending and receiving email on the move a doddle, although I still can’t for the life of me work out how to get a line break in messages I write on the move. Free.
7. Google Maps
Maps and satellite images from Google Maps using this mobile application. The new “my location” feature often doesn’t work or places me several miles from where I know I am, but assuming I know where I am it’s great for working out how to get to places. No more need for an A to Z anymore. Free.
8. Map24 Mobile
My fallback map service in case Google Maps doesn’t have decent coverage of where I am. Free.
RSS client for on the move. Best of all it synchs seamlessly with Newsgator Online and my desktop Feeddemon reader. Even better it’s now free, along with Newsgator Online and Feeddemon.
10. Yell.com
Handy little application giving access to the Yell telephone directory while on the move. Well integrated with the voice capabilities of the handset and maps. Free.
Tags: GPS, java, nokia, nokia+apps
Categories: Mobile, Software
Another definition of marketing
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Back in September 2007, the UK’s Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) launched a discussion about a new definition of marketing. I wasn’t too taken with it at the time.
Now our colleagues in the US are at it too. The American Marketing Association (AMA) has just announced its new definition for marketing:
Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
They used to define it as:
Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.
Unlike the CIM’s definition this new one is reasonably succinct. I like it for two main reasons:
- it views marketing as about more than just something part of an organisation does - it’s breadth encompasses the wide range of activities that people undertake and approaches people use within the broad church that is marketing
- like the CIM definition it articulates very clearly an outcome for what marketing does - create value. Plus this outcome covers the areas of marketing that aren’t concerned with profit, which used to be the focus of many previous definitions.
The other aspect that makes the AMA definition better than the CIM is the way it defines how marketing delivers the value outcome. The CIM definition argues marketing creates value by “stimulating, facilitating and fulfilling customer demand” while the AMA definition broadens things out by saying marketing is responsible for “creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings”.
I’m more comfortable with the latter approach as it recognises that marketing extends beyond the business of demand creation into broader outcomes for organisations beyond pure demand creation.
Interestingly the AMA reviews its definition every four years, recognising that marketing is evolving rapidly and so definitions need to keep pace.
Tags: AMA, american+marketing+association, chartered+institute-of-marketing, cim, definitions, Marketing
Categories: Marketing
Statistics, research and analysis round-up
Sunday, January 13th, 2008 at 9:00 am
New Media, New Influencers and Implications for the PR Profession
As more companies adopt social media, they struggle to find effective metrics for deciding who are the most influential players, according to a survey of nearly 300 PR and marketing people who have experience in social media.
Find more statistics, research and analysis here.
[tags]statistics, research, analysis[/tags]
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Categories: Statistics, research and analysis
Do political blogs influence broadsheet newspapers?
Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Fellow blogger and CIPR Diploma student Simon Collister has just completed his diploma dissertation…a moment I look forward to with some anticipation.
He’s looked at how political bloggers in the UK have influenced agenda development in broadsheet newspapers.
In due course Simon’s going to publish the full text of his paper (presumably once it’s been assessed and he’s finished the diploma), but his outline findings make interesting reading.
He notes
..in all the case studies influential, high-traffic blogs – or networks of lower-traffic ones – acted as framing devices around the story, pulling together key information and interpreting/analysing issues. This was reinforced by one journalists who admitted in an interview that he used blogs as sources of “comment” and “insight” for stories..
But this needs to be considered alongside his findings that while there is
theoretical evidence for media agenda-setting by UK political blogs, results from the newsdesk indicate that for the majority, blogs are not a trusted source of news.
So the headline is journalists seem to use blogs as sources but aren’t comfortable with admitting it. But then very few journalists do reveal story sources, so maybe the apparent reluctance to admit blog reading among Simon’s sample reflects on a general reluctance to reveal sources?
Interesting stuff, and worth subscribing to Simon’s feed for when he publishes the full paper.
Tags: Blogging, journalism, research, simon+collister
Categories: Blogging, CIPR Diploma, Public relations
Marketing videos on the web
Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 8:47 am
It’s not like the internet’s short of video content nowadays, but there’s not all that much quality marketing video news and analysis that’s available free.
One site I spotted recently was marketingsuccess.tv. It describes itself as “a dedicated broadband tv channel for the marketing industry” and aims to “inspire, instruct and advise marketing professionals and students alike with a series of succinct, easily digestible video presentations from leading experts in the marketing industry.”
Having had a quick browse through and having watched a few videos, there’s a good range of recognisable marketing “names” on the site talking about some of the big issues affecting marketing today.
The site content is produced by a company called Global Broadband TV and seems to be backed by the Direct Marketing Association, the Institute of Sales Promotion and the British Promotional Merchandise Association as well as other commercial sponsors. The site seems to be part of a network of success.tv sites, including ManagementSuccess.tv and EventSuccess.tv.
The videos are free to watch online. Monetisation on the site seems to comprise banner adverts with the option to buy the videos on DVD or download as podcasts coming soon.
Tags: marketing videos, videos, web tv
Categories: Advertising, Branding, Direct marketing, Marketing, Mobile, Sales, Video podcasting
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