Infozure

2008-07-31T17:13:00.014+01:00

Despite the heat, we've been busy with the usual website shenanigans, so here are some of our latest launches.

KattenElljay are a new recruitment company that specialise in renewal energy industries. They required a site that stood out from the typical recruitment sites available while being able to update jobs in the renewable energy market. It was launched as part of an exhibition in which we provided pop-up displays, corporate stationery and design that drove new potential customers to the site and generated a significant number of leads.

Davina Boutique is a new venture for the highly successful and well respected shoe company Davina Shoes. Specialising in high-end ladies and children's shoes from designers such as Pura Lopez, Davina Boutique needed stunning photography, an accessible site with ease-of-use and smart design at its core. Davina took the opportunity to upgrade two other websites using the same template to maximise the effectiveness of the design while keeping it highly cost-efficient. A logo identity, corporate stationery, packaging and brand design was also involved the development.

Mapleton Homes made the most of the Infozure Property packages available since March. Mapleton use the highly bespoke Complete Package to showcase their property developments through a central management system in which they can fully customise properties and photography to keep customers informed and up to date. To see more property or estate agent websites please visit www.infozureproperty.com.

Ashdale Flat Maintenance are experts in residential flat maintenance, including gardening, window cleaning, deep cleaning, and ongoing cleaning and maintenance. The website uses elements of flash to bring out the quality of service provided. There is also a form available to download that details the elements of the full service available to customers. Infozure provided search engine optimisation as part of the website development. Try typing "flat maintenance" into Google UK and see what comes up top!

Fortuna Search are a young yet highly regarded recruitment company focusing on corporate finance recruitment and recruitment in others areas of the financial industry. Fortuna Search & Selection required a corporate site to express the professionalism and quality of corporate finance recruitment available through the company, as well as being able to update jobs and news on the live site.

Nexus are an exclusive property company that specialise in all aspects of management and negotiation in the property industry. Nexus required a site with an impressive design that could draw audiences to them. Infozure also provided a company logo, corporate stationery, and marketing consulting. Nexus have already received a large number of hits and potential leads.

Manufacturing in the UK

2008-04-23T15:33:00.001+01:00

There is an article in today's FT written by Rolls Royce Chief Executive Sir John Rose. In it he explains that 'Britain needs an industrial route map' and that 'a broadly based economy that includes high-value manufacturing is likely to be more resilient than a narrowly based one'. His article includes:

Warren buffet has drawn attention to he risk that the economy's structure may make it vulnerable to any US led recession.
Strongly branded, export orientated manufacturing companies with a focus on technology and productivity can succeed in world markets
That a UK economy that has a 'route map' for high value manufacturing will be better able to weather the ups and downs of the global economy.

Having an element of high value manufacturing in the UK is of course a commendable asset. The UK's manufacturing sector does contribute a significant and impressive amount to the country's economy, summed up brilliantly here by Ian Pearson of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills:

'I don't need to tell anyone in this room that Manufacturing is the lifeblood of our economy, providing around 3 million good quality jobs and comprising over half of all exports.
The UK is the world's 6th largest manufacturer and the manufacturing industries combined (including construction, oil and gas) make up more than a quarter (27%) of our entire GDP.'

However, A 'route map' to increase the level of manufacturing in the UK economy to over a third seems to me to make it more vulnerable to the modern global economy than less. Where do we expect most of our manufacturing orders to come from? The West or the East? What is consumer spending like at the moment for UK goods? What is the exchange rate of the pound in comparison to the Dollar? What is the availability of capital for large firms to procure high value goods?

Wages in the UK are considerably higher than those in the developing world. The minimum wage is currently £5.52 an hour. The average wage for 'High value manufacturing' staff in the UK would surely be higher still. Although I couldn't obtain accurate figures for high value manufacturing wages in general in China, here is a link to substantial data that points to rising but still significantly lower manufacturing wage rates. However, is the quality of manufacturing in the developing world not available? Not if you ask Sir John Himself surely; as Rolls Royce themselves have out-sourced some of their manufacturing to Singapore as he himself tells the BBC . I don't think any part of the manufacture of an exceptional Rolls Royce engine is not 'high value'

'we must develop a framework or 'route map' to set priorities for both public and private sector investment' Does this mean that the Government needs to subsidise Research and Development, sow the seeds of innovation in Technology parks and subsidise Foreign Companies looking to establish manufacturing in the UK?

Exchange rates are not currently beneficial to UK exports. With the Chinese Government controlling their exchange rate and the weakness of the Dollar we are not best placed to be chasing export led growth. Sir John laments the service based industry that provides '1m well paid jobs, large corporation tax revenues and a positive balance of payments of about £20bn' compared to manufacturing's 'loss of 1m jobs over the past 10 years'. There was a good reason for these job losses. We are not well placed to be manufacturing focused in the world economy.

In conclusion Sir john says that 'My conclusion is a positive one. Provided that we do not engage in the usual protracted political debate, we have a real opportunity to develop a national consensus on the way ahead for the UK economy that is capable of having a generational impact.' What on earth? He wants to change the focus of the whole UK economy without protracted political debate? John, mate, stick to making planes and stop writing in the exceptional and award winning FT. Tom Friedman wrote a book called the World is Flat. In it he describes a pilot project by McDonalds in the USA where the guy who talks to the customers at a drive through is actaully in a call centre sending the orders to the kitchen via the internet. The call centre could be anywhere, but the point is that is a flat global economy Land, Labour and Capital rates are not only all important but extremely portable. Companies will use the best and cheapest wherever it may be to improve its profit and loss everywhere possible. Yes we do need technical people graduating in the sciences, Technology parks and R&D incentives etc, just there is no reason why UK companies can't be listed here, pay tax here, employ management and skilled staff here and get the manufacturing done elsewhere. What hope have we for manufacturing to be raised to 30% of GDP or even higher here? Should we focus on something that Sir John himself admits is in rapid decline or try to further improve what we do very well already and focus on our service industry and an intellectually based comparative advantage.

The author is of average intellect and has little to no experience in manual labour let alone manufacturing.

You can't only believe in the markets when they are going up!

2008-04-15T17:39:00.003+01:00

At present a large number of people are concerned and negative regarding the current global economic outlook. These include Bankers, surveyors, estate agents and economists. The consensus of opinions points to a feared economic slowdown and a housing market slump. Gordon Brown has thus come out defending his economic record and has promised to do something about the situation. (Lets all forget that he was Chancellor in the previous periods and is now Prime Minister…who is Alastair Darling? The current Chancellor's meeting with banks has become a footnote)

Gordon Brown had less of a hand in the good times than he believes or would have you believe and now has little ability to stop the downturn. The ‘narrative fallacy’ as extolled by Nassim Taleb is portrayed in Gordon Brown believing he is responsible for economic growth over the past decade. Looking back it may be possible for him to ‘fit’ his economic policies using a confirmation bias into the recent economic record of the UK. However, when considering the economic conditions of the past decade and the fundamentals he inherited it would have been very strange had the UK not experienced economic growth similar to that seen throughout Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. Gordon Brown can surely not claim his decisions to be of equal impact as cheap goods from China etc? Would he have taken the credit for creating an environment that allowed for complicated derivatives to generate profit and liquidity before the credit crunch?

The ‘virtual senate’ of investors and lenders that Chomsky discusses here effects economic policy, and that same ‘virtual senate’ has now more impact on monetary policy than Governments and maybe Central Banks. Monetary policy as eschewed by Milton Friedman et al may work ceteris paribus but when this ‘virtual senate’ do not allow for efficiency in the money markets by adjusting Libor or passing on rate cuts this results in monetary policy not applying in full. Therefore it will not be as effective in stimulating economic growth in a slowdown. In this situation, cuts to the base rate by the Bank of England are ineffective at everything but creating inflation vulnerability; which, is counter to their main objective. The Bank of England Act 1998 states that ‘maintaining price stability’ is the monetary policy committee’s first objective and supporting the Governments policies for growth and employment are subject to controlling inflation. (This differs from the objectives of the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank.)

Lets not forget that momentum is extremely powerful in markets. Confidence in the housing markets has turned and now a great deal of negative momentum is being generated. Once this momentum starts I think stabalising resistance will be at around 10%, 15% or even 20% year on year falls in the housing market. Upwards momentum in inflation could be just as if not more serious than slow economic growth. With global commodity prices what they are stagflation is a real danger.

If monetary policy is ineffective and there is no room in the budget for fiscal policy, (Taking Northern Rock into account the Government has already broken its own golden rules on borrowing let alone putting PFI on to the balance sheet!) Gordon Brown’s only remaining option is to politely ask the 'virtual senate' to help him out! That might be exactly what this is! However, game theory would suggest that the self-interested institutions will be cautious of moving first and therefore as a group will not provide Brown with the magic bullet his ratings so desperately need.

My conclusion is that the business cycle has not yet been completely conquered by modern politics or the economics of Central Bankers and that Black Swan events can create the same swings in momentum that have characterised economic history for generations. This is not a bad thing for those who believe in the markets. A more accurate pricing of risk and the dissolving of poor business practices can be a maturing benefit to the global economy. This is encapsulated in the statement 'You can't only believe in the markets when they are going up'.

Website Launches

2008-04-03T14:28:00.010+01:00

As the key point of our blogs is to keep you informed, we thought we should also include some recent site launches in order to let you know what we have been up to. So, here are the last six that we launched in March.

Just Debt Services are a new financial company that specialise in reducing debt for their clients. They required a site that looked great, clearly depicting what it is that they do, and needed it developed very quickly in order to be part of the marketing used for the start of their sales drive. It was launched with a dynamic email campaign that drove new customers to the site and generated a significant number of leads.

Octopus Communications are a highly regarded events management company that required a fresh design upgrade to their site. Having had a website for many years, they were excited to put their new modern image across on a new site, making the most of powerful imagery.

PT2U are a health and fitness company that needed to advertise their services to a new audience. They benefited from a great new site, and a Infozure managed search campaign that pushed new business to their doors.

Gardiner Fencing are experts in fencing, paving and landscaping and required a site that they could show potential customers to show previous work and reveal the professionalism of their service. The site uses two separate galleries displaying both fencing and paving work carried out in the past.

Pine Cleaning Services are a large successful cleaning company that required a website that matched the quality of their brand name and gave key information regarding various promotions and offers.

Altitude Talent Agency are an exclusive company that specialise in all aspects of professional career management and recruitment in the entertainment business. Altitude required a site with an impressive design that could draw audiences to them. Infozure are in the process of developing their modeling specific site and will be ready for launch for the end of April.

We will keep you updated on new site launches in the future so you can see what exciting work we are involved in, and it may give you some useful ideas as to new marketing approaches that could work for your company.

Online Emergency Services

2008-04-03T09:14:00.002+01:00

I am not naïve to the potential problems of the Internet, and specifically social networks. Our children could be at risk from ‘stalkers’, and in fact everyone is at risk from something or someone to an extent. Large quantities of information are readily available seemingly to anyone.

The problem of security and the freedom of information has always been an issue on the Internet, but do we really need a button that links us straight to the police on every social network? Admittedly I do not have any children, and perhaps my view might change when I do, but as always with government policy, there is an easier way round. Social networks such as Facebook often have ‘security settings’ or ‘privacy features’ that allow you to limit what information Joe Public can get their hands on. However, you need to turn these on, and it should ideally be a feature you have to specifically turn off, protecting the young, and the clueless. Much like the influence that the Data Protection Act had on signing up for marketing materials, this would put the power and safety back in the hands of the user.

To surmise, I think the idea of a ‘panic 999’ button on social networks is absurd. I am not entirely sure how the government could enforce such policies, and they obviously do not realise the potential for pranking or accidental contact. Making additions to the Data Protection Act would probably be enough to ensure a certain level of safety, and the reality is no one is ever completely free from others. Social networks will only grow over time (try prising a 12 year old away from Bebo) and although children often do not think about the consequences of their online information profile, they should not need to. The responsibility should always be with the developer.

Credit Crunch & Property

2008-04-02T14:44:00.005+01:00

Mention the words ‘credit crunch’ and people will tell you various things, often which are only partially true, or sometimes gross misunderstandings that are the result of fear mongering. The fact is that the UK is at at a crucial point that does mean money is more expensive to borrow and harder to get, with mortgages increasing at a greater rate than the Bank of England’s base rate, last set on the 6th of March at 5.25%. I am also sure that the term ‘subprime meltdown’ has been thrown around recently, but what is it, and how does it effect us? Subprime loans, sometimes referred to as ‘second chance loans’, allow people who have been rejected for a market rate loan the chance to borrow. Lenders take on the risk of these borrowers and offset the danger by charging high interest rates. The problem is that, not only are an increasingly large number of people defaulting on payments, but that the hedge funds, pension funds and institutions that often buy these mortgage backed securities and loans from the banks are now loosing money as a result, generating more fear and economic problems. The spin-off effect is that money is harder to borrow, mortgages are more expensive, and mixed with the fear of a downturn in house prices, has led to a slow down in residential house purchases in the UK.

The reality is though that house prices have in fact, on average, been on the rise. Short-term indicators have revealed a slight improvement in capital values as a whole, although a fall has been seen in retail and industrial properties. Residential properties, while seeing a slow down of the rise in capital values, have only today been declared as at the verge of a downturn. Of course we are all expecting a drop, and possibly quite a sudden one as demand fails to meet supply. Disparities have become more prominent, with the highest house values still seen in London and the South East, and while investment in property has slowed considerably, the rental market has grown and estate agents need to make the most of this market while purchasing is down.

So, despite evidence to the contrary, homeowners have obviously fearful of a sudden house price crash, or perhaps they are waiting for a crash in which to invest heavily in new properties. There is a large availability of housing on the market and sellers wish to offload properties before the inevitable, which as reported today, has arrived. Either way, the competition for the housing and commercial property market has significantly increased, and estate agents and property companies need to re-evaluate old sales tools and look for new methods of generating leads and advertising properties. Having spent a considerable amount of time researching and developing a property website that can be tailored to any specific needs, Infozure can now offer a fast, usable means to inform customers of new properties quickly and cleanly. Competition for available properties is going to dramatically increase as fear grips homeowners and the number of properties available to buy on the market fall. A rapid response strategy, targeting new customers is vital to maintain sales levels and innovative and cost-effective marketing techniques need to be implemented.

AIM Compliance

2008-01-31T17:32:00.000Z

Working in a corporate law firm I noticed that little attention was initially paid to AIM Rule 26. It was widely perceived as an afterthought - something that the NOMAD could do. It was just never really discussed.

Then the AIM Team started issuing warnings to the advisers. All of a sudden website compliance was a big deal. NOMADs and Lawyers all had to do something to comply with this previously overlooked rule. Yet it still seemed that no one was quite sure who was responsible. Companies looked to the NOMADs who in turn looked to the lawyers. Unfortunately, nothing much has changed since and compliance remains at a distressingly low level.

There are innumerable AIM listed companies which still don't have even the most fundamental info available on their website. I am sure that it is only a matter of time until someone is hit with a hefty fine. This is why it is so important that someone takes responsibility for this process and ensures that the websites have everything they need. It will save a lot of pain and money in the long run....

Aim Rule 26

2008-01-31T17:20:00.000Z

The recent introduction of AIM Rule 26 has, for the last 6 months, been the bain of my existence. You see, as an ex-analyst at a London-based “boutique” investment bank that acts as Nominated Adviser (“Nomad” for the more banking astute among you) for AIM-listed companies, I’ve spent the best proportion of my working life bringing companies up-to-speed with this particular rule introduction. AIM Rule 26 required any company listed on AIM and, as of 20 August 2007, any company proposing to list on AIM to have particular information published on their website.

“At last” I hear you cry from behind your seven trading screens, “I’ve always wanted to know the age of the Vice Chairman of the remuneration committee of the backwards firm my granny has unwittingly invested my inheritance in”.

Well, I say cobblers.

Useful information is one thing but it’s beginning to look more and more like a box checking exercise as companies scramble to incorporate everything from the latest annual report (useful) to the company’s change of name certificate from its recent reverse acquisition (useless!). And the punishment for non-compliance; a hefty fine, public censure or suspension (or all of the above!).

But joking aside, a one-stop shop for (predominantly) pertinent information is helpful indeed, and it’s a wonder why such measures haven’t been taken to provide such content before now. However, whether we like it or not, AIM Rule 26 is here to stay and now corporate financiers, financial pr advisers and web designers will have to add a few more hours to the ever increasing tally to get companies fully up to speed before admission….

How to advertise in an increasingly competitive market.

2008-01-29T14:34:00.000Z

With such a large number of companies advertising often very similar products, it begs the question, where should I focus my marketing spend? There is no easy answer to this, and in fact the reality is that it will vary considerably as per company. This year could be crucial for many companies, especially in the areas of technological advancement and the struggle between products such as Leopard and Vista. Now more than ever, a company’s marketing campaign can shape their future. With the economy tightening up due to recent drops in the FTSE and fears of further falls to come, the importance of advertising in the most efficient manner is paramount. In my opinion, there are three areas of cost-effective, measurable mediums that will make all the difference; viral, mobile, and paid search. More than an opinion, market trends reveal the increasing belief in relatively new forms of marketing.

The real issue is not simply how much money you can afford to pour into advertising, but simply how effective your marketing is. How many sales conversions were won and how much brand awareness was created? For example, the Nike viral with Ronaldinhio was viewed an estimated 50 million times worldwide, showing how successful viral marketing can be while remaining very cost-effective. The Cadbury's advert that ran over the rugby world cup became the England good luck charm and in fact created an increase in share prices, yet cost £6.2 million. The gorilla drummer became truly successful in viral form with over 7 million views and 100 spoofs on YouTube, which of course cost them £0. It is no surprise therefore that Cadbury have announced a shift in advertising budget next year to viral campaigns, revealing a market realisation in the power of a good viral.

Television network advertising revenue fell by 5% in 2006, and some reports support the theory that internet advertising spend could overtake television by 2011, or even as early as 2009, though this may be a little optimistic. Large companies are increasingly looking towards digital to generate new sales. Research reveals that those who rate products online, usually a young male audience, have a disproportionately high influence on consumers. Virals, campaign sites, and CRM’s offer a cost efficient measurable means of advertising to these users, and there is growing demand for these services.

Mobile marketing has seen tremendous growth over the last few years. There are 2.2 billion mobile handsets worldwide, with more mobile phones in the UK than people. The UK leads the way in mobile web access with over 80% being WAP enabled, and 54% of users connecting to the web through their mobile regularly. In 2005, the number of users connected to the web via their mobile phone overtook the number of people connected to the web via a home computer. Bluetooth technology has also been trialled by many large companies including HSBC. Though this was relatively unsuccessful, there is an opportunity for a more effective use of mobile technology that can generate better results and provide a much larger return on investment.

Paid search growth was 44% up year-on-year to £762.3 million which highlights the fact that of the £32 billion spent by consumers online in 2006, around half were due to paid search engine campaigns. In July alone, over 1.4 billion search queries resulted in an 80% click-through rate. Marketing budgets are increasingly shifting towards online advertising, and Google Campaign Management offered at a very competitive rate offers the opportunity to make the most out of digital branding.

Despite these mediums having the potential of delivering successful campaigns, the fact is that without the right content, they will still not necessarily work. The HSBC mobile campaign is an example. All forms of digital and mobile marketing should be content driven and tied in with other forms of advertising, much like Cadbury. We may see a dramatic reduction in advertising budgets as a result of an uncertain economic climate, and so the need to come up with original innovative ideas is key.

Predictions 2008

2008-01-08T10:26:00.000Z

With the Microsoft keynote just gone and receiving mixed reactions and the Macworld 2008 expo just around the corner, I thought I would make some predictions about what I see coming up in 2008. So here are some specifics and some trends that I think we will be seeing in the coming year:

Apple to release a New iPhone.

Apple’s strategy in revenue maximising has been displayed in its iPod range for a number of years now. Products are impressive but are also continually upgraded with extra features on a step by step basis. The iPhone will probably not increase one feature at a time because it is a more significant purchase than an iPod and therefore any upgrade will need to be significant to differentiate itself from the previous model. The extra features the new iPhone may have are listed below:

3G Chip
GPS Chip
Sky TV on O2
More Memory

5 Mega Pixel Camera

Wifi Areas Expanding

Malaga has recently started a town wide wifi network. Will larger towns and cities follow suit and how robust will these networks be? There are a number of security issues concerning the way that the network has been achieved in Malaga but more robust networks may be achievable in the UK, especially is mobile operators embark on a joint scheme. Mobiles that take advantage of making calls over a wifi network are going to increase with the mobile networks having to work hard in order to maintain and generate revenue. There is already a large number of places offering wifi, Starbucks and Wetherspoons to name but two and the penetration residential wifi will continue to expand. A more specific area for the expansion of wifi is on the commute.

A number of trains currently provide their passengers with a wifi offering. Expect the number of these services to increase. This will help raise the uptake of content being viewed on mobile and other wifi capable devices on the move. YouTube on your ipod Touch for example. This could also be a catalyst for more media to be consumed on the move digital like news. The Times current online offering and the BBC’s mobile site are well prepared for this. However, some brands, especially those in the magazine sector have been slow to adapt and could find themselves sliding faster than they had expected, especially in areas such as classified sales.

Blu-ray to beat HD DVD.

Over the last week there has been some significant developments in the battle between Sony and Toshiba. I predict the battle will be finished by the end of the year with Sony being the clear winner. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Blu-ray was then rapidly beaten by an iTunes download service that allowed users to download movies for a limited period of time. This may have to wait until download speeds are fast enough to download movies in a comparable definition to Blu-ray but the convenience of the service will be hard to match by retailers and traditional rental companies.

I hope these three things all come true and I am heralded as the new, modern day and better looking Nostradamus.

A Short Guide to Advertising Spend

2008-01-08T09:28:00.000Z

I am often asked how much a company should spend on advertising annually. Obviously my immediate answer is lots! However, to try and actually be helpful, I have written a short guide to advertising spend.

There are three means of establishing the right advertising budget for you, and that greatly depends on a number aspects.

A typical response is to work out your companies latest annual profit and times it by the average industry spend on advertising. These rates are as varied as the multitude of products and services available in the modern market, and generally come down to the nature and competition of the industry. The confectionary industry is known to have one of the highest spends on advertising at around 18.1%, with industrial manufacturing companies often at the bottom with rates as low as 0.2%. This form of advertising, though easy to work out, should only really be taken as a guide. Often simply breaking the mould can result in a greater market share or increased profits.

The key factors to consider are the size of your company, its age, the competition and whether it sells to businesses or consumers. Consumer based industries will often need a higher ad spend than business to business. They are influenced more by shifts in consumer culture and can be strongly influenced by fads and seasonal fluctuations and therefore need additional spend to retain customers and generate new ones. If your company is new, you may wish to spend more money on generating initial interest and creating a brand presence that will be invaluable later on in your company’s future. You may wish to generate more advertising presence than your competitors, which could certainly be a costly affair, but may make you the market leader. Once all these factors have been considered, a percentage of revenue can be put aside and used for advertising spend. This is a much more in-depth means of calculating a figure for spend and you may wish to take advise from a consultant or speak at length with your advertising agency.

The final means, and perhaps most relevant, is to ask yourself a few questions.

1 – Who are you targeting?
2 – What is the most effective means of targeting this audience?
3 – How much will it cost?

If the answer to 3 is too large a sum, then you will need to re-evaluate 2 or even 1. One of the advantages of digital advertising is that you get more for your money. Television and national paper advertising is not necessarily the most cost effective method of promoting your brand or products. Some of the most successful marketing campaigns have been viral, such as the Trojan contraceptive adverts. It is important not to fall into the trap of viewing advertising as additional spend. It can be lost income if not carefully planned. Having said that, it is also equally important not to simply grab a figure and run with it. Work out various strategies and the potential revenue generation from running with them. Also look closely season to season to evaluate whether increases or decreases in spend are mirrored in sales. In the end the right amount is bespoke to each company, though many consultants would certainly advise between 10 and 15 percent for SME’s. It is always worth talking to someone with an outside perspective, 10 to 15% of your revenue sounds like a lot, but loosing the additional and repeat business advertising can bring more than makes it a worth while investment.

Finally, be aware of the size of your company. SME’s may not benefit from simply plugging your brand. An effective brand image is key to your companies success, but initially focus on direct response forms of advertising such as CRM’s and Search Engine Campaigns. They are cost effective and deliver financial results.

In Pursuit of the Largest

2007-12-12T16:11:00.000Z

Firstly how does a full time Graphic Designer find the time to go fishing? Surely the myth that any spare time a designer gets, is spent wandering the back streets of Soho, attending underground art exhibitions with ‘special handshakes’ and ‘over sized canvases’.

Well in theory some do, but in this case it is quite the opposite. In contrast, I am sitting in my Bivvy (technical term for a fancy tent) with condensation dripping onto my apple laptop, in the middle of the countryside with a frost on the ground. If I want to burn the candle at both ends something has got to give, and if I want to get my hands on ‘that’ trophy, the laptop comes with me for quieter spells in the fishing.

“That” trophy is in fact the ‘Drennan Cup’ Specimen Fishing’s most prestigious award, run by the nationwide weekly publication ‘The Angling Times’. Previous winners are normally associated with anglers with indispensable time on the bank, self employment, retirement etc etc so its no mean feat to succeed, especially for a creative like myself. To stand a chance against these other anglers, monstrous fish of enormous proportions need to be caught, week in week out. Meritable catches are rewarded weekly, then at the end of the season all the weekly winners vote for the individual that has achieved the most over the year.

In reality I am in strong contention for this ‘Drennan Cup’ and if I am lucky enough to win it, next years weekends may well be spent in Soho… at the galleries of course. So where does this all come into Design, well my colleagues have had to put up with my enthusiasm for a start. But more importantly, there is a big hole in Angling for creative, conceptual and successful Marketing. There is competition out there, but from what I have seen, it can be improved on greatly. That’s a result for Infozure, and probably the next best thing to Fishing, is working with it as a living. We have created a exceptional website and marketing campaign for Angling Intelligence, worked with a bait company, and if all goes to plan, pitch to some of the biggest and best Fishing Related Companies out there.

Happy Days for Infozure, and Tight Lines for Me, and don’t forget to keep an eye in the Angling Times to see how I get on.

Microsoft SME Website Announcement

2007-11-12T11:30:00.000Z

What we have long believed has been put into more specific terms by Microsoft. The link below outlines how Microsoft believe that SME’s (Small and Medium size Enterprises) are wasting around $3billion a year on their websites because they do not sufficiently promote them.

This does however make me think; is there enough room for all of these companies to advertise using keywords on Google, Yahoo! and MSN? Would the increased advertising just push the keyword prices up? Are the best keywords not already out of reach for most SME marketing budgets?

link to article (Marketing Week)

Free Newspapers

2007-11-02T12:51:00.000Z

Free newspapers used to annoy the hell out of me. The constant ramming of the actual paper in my face and my view that the content was second rate meant I held a deep disdain for ‘those rubbish free papers’. However, I have come to appreciate a number of features that they provide. Firstly they are very convenient. After you have got used to the paper touts they become quite handy when you are in a rush, trying to get home or moving through stations like London Bridge. Secondly and obviously, they are free. This means you don’t have to queue up or scrape your pocket for the required change. Thirdly and quite importantly is the content. As aggregators they do a good job of bringing together all of the thorough journalism of a number of the more traditional papers. This may mean that the headlines are not as recent, but with the availability of news on the internet, papers are no longer a medium to provide up to date information anyway. When you add to this some actually interesting lighter and more social content, you are presented with a bitesize product that fits well into all of my train journeys. So, I must admit, I’m a bit of a fan.

Pumpkin Carving Dangers

2007-11-02T11:58:00.000Z

Pumpkin carving is dangerous! With tools including a 7 inch sharpened knife, a 4 inch serrated blade and the ever-lethal spoon, the practice of pumpkin carving for Halloween is something that seriously requires adult supervision. Not to mention the addition of lighters, matches and candles. Fire is dangerous. Also a lesser known danger is the excess pumpkin innards that can be hazardous if trodden on or left uncovered for a bit. So next year please remember to be safe and not sorry when carving yours.

Facebook - the ultimate distraction?

2007-11-01T16:13:00.000Z

I read an article not long ago regarding the evil vice that is Facebook and the problems associated with it in the work place. It is more than common these days to have sanctions placed on workplace computers and more specifically on social networks and slightly less savoury sites. But are they really necessary, and do people actually waste their time on it all day every day as we have been led to believe.

The short answer is... well, maybe. The fact of the matter is that some people do, and they seem to ruin the fun for everyone else. According to the recently published Ipsos Mori's The Engage Report, only 5% of people access Facebook from their place of work, the majority using their home broadband. On average Facebook users spend around an hour and ten minutes per day on the site, but have been forced to spend this time at home while their bosses block access to the site. What they fail to realise is that many people, including myself, use Facebook for work, to contact people who they believe may wish to do business or work with. In fact, the report reveals that many people who use Facebook use it to replace conventional email processes. Therefore using Facebook is not necessarily the biggest problem businesses face, and I doubt whether they will be saving any considerable time by placing sanctions on it in the work place. Still, employers like to have these small power struggles with employees, as has been the way from the beginning of time!

The report in fact revealed some very interesting figures. It appears that loyalty has become an issue with social networking sites, with only 29% of people who signed up to it using it on a continuing basis. Despite this, social networks remain a powerful tool for advertisers and users alike, though for quite different reasons. This would no doubt explain the recently announced acquisition of 5% equity stake in Facebook by Microsoft. An interesting move especially when Google, who lost out on the deal, shortly after announced their partnerships with several other social networks including MySpace. The future of social networking is a hazy one and I think social network providers need to realise that they get carried away with all the features they provide. Having spoken to several friends who used to use Facebook, it seems that the additions of applications and endless pointless group invites have caused them to move away and ignore the clutter in their inbox from various notifications.

The future, which I think Google might be heading towards, is a global social network that ties into Facebook, MySpace and the various other most popular sites, providing one, easy to use (and very much uncluttered) system that draws data from the others and does not try anything too fancy. It will be interesting to observe the developments.

Mobile Marketing is here! Really?!

2007-09-12T12:41:00.000+01:00

Every year I seem to hear the same comments, ‘This year, mobile marketing will take off!’ But yet again it has only had a limited take up rate, yet could be the most powerful form of advertising. This begs the question, why is there such a problem with it? Having researched mobile marketing for many years, I realised early on that the largest issue leading to a rather limited take up was that only technical companies were attempting it. As a cutting edge technology a few years back, various companies attempted, and somewhat failed, to produce successful mobile marketing campaigns. Therefore, in the end, most companies who found a great deal of success with the medium, were using basic SMS, and ignoring the possibilities of wireless web technologies. The reason? Simple… content.

It is all very well developing the means to send WAP push messages to Joe Public, and being able to develop sites that are specific for mobiles, but if the content driven to the public is highly unimpressive, then what’s the point? That’s not to say that these uses of mobile wireless technology have not been successful in the past. Content sold via mobile phones, for mobile phones, has brought in vast sums of money over the last few years to the economy. In fact, this is one of the greatest uses of mobile web, as people can download music and games as and when they like, with the cost simply being added to their monthly statement. This however is not marketing in its strictest sense as the actual advertising for these services more often than not occurs on television or in the back of magazines. All this boils down to is a simple yet effective use of the internet.

So the problem comes back to content. Mobile marketing companies seem to all offer the same services, tiny web banners that are displayed at the top of mobile websites, static graphics with little thought or creativity behind them. Why does everyone insist on wasting the opportunities mobile marketing has to offer. The fact is that rich video advertisements have not only the quality of content to creatively portray concisely the desired message, but also the ability to really captivate an audience in a very personal and direct manner.

While not all phones can receive WAP push messages, 76% can and do browse the web on a regular basis. This allows them to receive video content on their mobile devices. The implications of being able to do this are massive. Imagine being able to send an advert directly to someone’s phone for them to watch. Unlike television, this allows people to be contacted at all times and even if they choose not to watch the video, they will know full well from whom they received it. This, to me, has to be the future of mobile technologies. Increasingly, large companies such as HSBC and Ann Summers are ‘trialling’ the use of mobile videos, though admittedly HSBC are using Bluetooth at the premises of their banks in London, but even these lack some of the best video content that is available.

Mobile marketing firms need to begin making the most out of rich content and forget that some people still cannot receive them. After all if three quarters of people can, and you can almost guarantee they will watch the video, then the number of people physically watching the movie will be much higher than if it was placed on a billboard or even television.

This has to be a great excuse for the development of cross mobile compatible files such as 3gp. It has certainly been frustrating for those within the industry, and I would like to think that mobile companies would like compatibility, so that it promotes competition further and improves the products for end users. Let’s see where this goes.

Google's taking over the world

2007-08-17T15:06:00.000+01:00

We are all aware of the meteoric rise of the Google brand over the past decade. Since its conception it has become the most widely used search engine in the world and is worth a reputed $23 billion - not bad for a company which started in 1996 in a friend's garage.

In recent years they are literally starting to take over the world with the introduction of Google Maps. Through its release in early 2005, and the subsequent update with the version 2 API a year later, thousands of developers have been able to add their own functionality to maps for inclusion on other websites. These additions (known as 'mashups') provide the ability to add clear, stylish and accurate maps along with aerial imagery to a site, and developer's can overlay additional information using javascript.

Combining feeds from third parties and overlaying this information onto a Google map, has resulted in some ingenious mashups. Useful information such as current traffic problems on your way home and virtual sightseeing were among some of the original creations. Many of use feeds provided by other websites to visualise to the data such as Overplot, showing where photo's on Flickr were taken or up-to-date Earthquake information.

Now Google maps are used for a wide range of different applications such as a live sunset/sunrise tracker, a distance measurer and even racing games. According to Google, 50,000 mashups have now been produced by web developers and many of the best ones can be found here.

Google are rumoured to be introducing the option of embedding map's, making the process of adding a map to your site much easier. At the moment you are required to know a certain amount of javascript in order to implement a map. Should these rumours be true then I'm sure the uptake of Google map will be exponential in growth.

Maps are being introduced in many different countries where the relevant survey data is available but even in places where this information doesn't exist, Google are introducing new methods to gather data. In a similar way to Open Street Map, Google are using GPS to enable local's in India to gather data at a higher level on roads. This technology can then be used in countries where data is unavailable to map area's quickly and accurately.

Google is certainly well on its way to fulfilling another aspect of its mission statement to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" through Google maps and I'm sure that it will continue to be one of foremost products in Google's range.

It started with a click

2007-08-17T14:59:00.000+01:00

The phenomena of pay per click Google listings is far from new, but it begs the question that has been on the tip of my tongue for some time now, where do we go from here? It is understandable why pay per click systems have been so effective, and continue to be so. It is a very real, quantifiable means of getting results, and for small local businesses, especially with the development of Google's (Regional and Local Targeting) system, it is a very exact financial way of targeting specific clients.

You may ask therefore where I see a problem, and the answer is two fold. Firstly, as more small companies are getting online, the competition for industry specific words and phrases is rising. This obviously allows Google to push the prices up, allowing less 'clicks' for your budget. Moreover, many small businesses, due to limited marketing funds, have websites based on templates and these are often sub-standard. Templated sites have their uses, but they need to be used as a base only, and allow for a more bespoke design to be implemented whilst maintaining low costs. This has the effect of pushing potential clients away. When Google AdWords brings up a list with both large and small companies a problem arises, John Smith's electrical goods store on the local high street comes up next to Currys website worth tens of thousands of pounds. As usual, the independent shop loses out. It also begs the question, who is clicking on your link? No matter which industry your company serves, competitors are always looking for ways to improve their market share. It is very probable that they often keep a firm grasp on the products and services offered by their competitors, companies they find through Google. So the real question is are the people clicking on your link potential customers, or indeed your competitors?

So what is the future for small businesses? In my opinion, there are three key elements to consider. Firstly, small businesses need to realise the benefits of investing in a good website. So, big surprise, a web developer arguing for better websites. The reality is though that every year more money is spent online. According to stats, 86% of web users browse for goods and services, with 61% of homes having access to the web. Around 53% of all adults within the UK have bought something online within the last year. The evidence speaks for itself! Small businesses do not have to spend thousands of pounds on websites. They are becoming increasingly affordable, and as such should be used to their maximum potential.

The next stage is to make the most out of search engines. Adword specialists have the ability to manage campaigns effectively and reduce wasted money and time trying to beat the 'big boys' by just boosting the amount of money bid for key words. Adword professionals constantly update and evaluate a campaign to get the most out of each budget. It does not necessarily need to take a lot of money to get to the top, simply the use of a professional who knows how to get the best results for you.

Another alternative is to use Local Directories such as Yell.com and Touchlocal. For a minimal set amount, local directory services guarantee a number of contacts through their site to you every month to the extent that if you do not get the hits, you do not pay the fees. While similar to AdWords, this service is restricted to local businesses in the sense that each area would need to be paid for individually. Smaller companies can benefit from local customers who are genuinely interested in their services. And if they really wished to push the budget for a maximum return on their investment, a smartly designed flash banner can be bought under any keyword for the entire year. Though the risk of not getting any hits is there, if the keyword is cleverly thought out, there is no reason why many clients cannot be directed to a website over the course of the year, a worthy investment.

Effectively, the benefits to small companies of pay per click services are decreasing over time as demand for AdWords increases, and the supply stays constant (there are only so many ways of saying 'electrical supplies'). The only way of truely benefiting is to let Google Professionals manage your campaigns and achieve the reults that the rest of us would struggle to get close to.The only other alternative is a Local directory service, which has a potential future in an increasingly overcrowded market.