Supplement to Tip of the Day

Great comparison between the Apple iPhone and the HTC Hero. Take it in and get ready for the future of mobile computing. Enjoy

More Than A Tip, It's A Suggestion of the Day

By 2010 mobile applications will hit 10 million “Apps will be as big if not bigger than the internet,” according to Ilja Laurs, chief executive of GetJar, a leading independent application store.

I just came across this article by Adrian Kingsley-Huges blogger for Hardware 2.0 on ZD Net.

Applications have boomed and will continue to boom was mobile tech grows. For our propose it is important to think about this when developing you Internet Marketing campaign,

Article continued…

“They will peak at around 100,000 by the end of the year. That will be a tipping point and after that there will be a gradual fall in the rate of development.”

I’m constantly being pitched apps by developers, for the iPhone, Symbian and Android. Personally, I have a few apps installed on my iPod touch and Nokia E71, but apart from the Google Maps app and Opera Mobile on my E71, I really haven’t come across anything that offers me much beyond temporary novelty value. I’ve some nice games installed on my iPod touch (Bejeweled and Doom Resurrection) sucking away my free time, but there’s nothing I couldn’t live without. What’s more, I’ve not seen anything that I’d part more than a few bucks on.

While I’m pretty unmoved by apps, I know others who have dozens installed and flip between them all day. These people seem to use apps to access info on the web more than they use the browser. To these folks, apps seem to be an important part of the mobile experience.

I’m pretty sure that Apple’s iPhone has allowed apps to jump Moore’s Chasm, but it’ll be interesting to see if they achieve long-term traction. I was put off apps for mobile devices back in the days of the HP iPAQ when upgrading the device meant having to spend more cash on apps, or finding that some apps weren’t available for a new OS. So far Apple has managed to prevent fragmentation of the iPhone platform, but this can’t last forever. Once a new device or OS update starts killing older apps it’ll be interesting to see if people will be willing to flex their credit cards for a second time around and re-purchase apps.

Going All Digital

If you don’t think that everything will go digital you’re still living in 1996. Brown-Forman’s Southern Comfort is going completely digital.

Previously, they couldn’t touch some of the television shows and demographics that sit in their target market 21-29. Now with Pitchfork, Hulu, Thrillist, Facebook, and Spin to name a few, spirt companies are now finding a window to aggressively advertise.

“The media-budget shift comes amid tough sales trends for the brand. It suffered a mid-single-digit sales decline during the fiscal year that ended April 30, Brown-Forman Chief Financial Officer Don Berg told Wall Street analysts on a June earnings call. "Southern Comfort has suffered from the consumer switch to the off-premise, where consumers are less inclined to make complicated drinks," he said.”

Digital, that’s it. I have an emotional tie with print and other traditional outlets but I have to say, if you’re not digital then you are digging yourself a hole that I am sure none of us can afford.
The whole article can be found on Adage.com

Internet Marketing Tip of the Day

Today, boys and girls we are going to talk web sites. The reasons a potential client/customer visits a website is to legitimate the business. Customers are looking at your web site to see if your business is a real business. False sites are flooding the web. In most cases they learned about your business indirectly through advertisement of some sort whether it be mail, internet or word of mouth. Therefore, they must examine the authenticity of your business more closely. Once the potential client visits your website and sees you are a business that really exists, there are several questions they will seek to answer on your About Us web page. The following information is brought to you by a designer of ten year’s worth of experience: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Camille_Dykes

1. Customer Service - Your potential customer wants to know that you will not just sell them a product, take their money and run. Or even worse, just take their money or credit card information and run. Perceived signs that your business give a certain level of customer service is:

· multiple forms of contact posted throughout the website,

· a paragraph or so addressing such topics as company mission/goals and customer service practices; and

· Customer Service policies (which is separately addressed.)

2. Professionalism - A well-designed website and well-presented company image (logo, uniform colors and text) are perceived signs of professionalism on a website. Potential clients also look at how well your website copy is written; whether correct grammar is a used and typographical error.

3. Personality - The About Us page should also have pictures of your place of business, of you and/or of your staff or members of your staff and information about you and your staff. These things will personalize your business and you will no longer be a nameless, faceless entity. It helps the customer feel at ease with you before getting down to business.

4. Policies - Policies lets the customer know that you have been in business long enough to be experienced to plan for future issues they may experience. It makes them feel at ease to know you have policies in place to address those issues. Some policies you should have in place are: privacy policy, refund policy, terms of use policy, and a customer service policy.

5. Content - On your About Us page, you should let the culture of your business or your personality be reflected in your web copy. It should include information like how you got started in the business and different aspects of your business. Writing about your business helps establish all of the points above.

Your website is a snapshot of yourself and it is important that your customers feel that a good relationship is possible. They want to know that they will receive a standard of service and quality of product. Remember that at a high level client will not go to a low level website to do business. Show yourself, your business, and your web site will pay for its self in lead generation.

Internet Marketing Tip of the Day

Today's tip comes from emarketingtalkshow.com this interview was conducted in 2007 but I feel like this short segment had good moments and could be helpful to small businesses. As a small disclaimer Web Full Circle and my self are not associated with anyone on the show. This is just a sound bite that talks about the different kinds of strategies and the pitfalls when it comes to Internet Marketing. Enjoy!

www.emarketingtalkshow.com

Internet Marketing Tip of the Day

Looking to put distance between you and your competitors? Vlog! Yes a Blog + Video = Different. Vlogs are booming. Blogs are subscribed to every day to get news, learn trends and/or look up interesting topics. Blogs are a quick and easy way to get information.

Vlogs take it to a much more personal level. By definition, vlogs are blogs that primarily feature video shorts instead of text.

There are many benefits to vlogging, even compared to the closely related blogs. Here are a few pearls:

1. They can show the viewer something instead of going through the trouble of explaining a point with text.

2. They can be made very quickly with a web cam or hand held, and usually run anywhere for 30 seconds to 3 minutes

3. Creativity is the Key! You can just simply speak your mind or produce shorts. The sky is the limit.

4. The author’s voice is heard, literally. With body language included, the viewer can really get a since of the author's true emotions.

That’s just a taste of what you can do with vlogs.

Marketing your company or product by showing your possible clients who you are would generate leads. Letting your client get a feel for you, and feeling an attachment to your company is a massive step towards a partnership.

Take this as just one suggestion to the many attributes need to have a successful marketing campaign. Sit… Marinate… and consider all options. Picking the right marketing methods for your company will make or break you in today’s market.

Here are some vlogs that I like:

http://www.youtube.com/user/NASAtelevision

http://www.youtube.com/user/wired

http://www.youtube.com/user/AssociatedPress

http://www.youtube.com/user/motortrend

Good Luck!