Product Reviews
With the latest trend in social media forums, a strong social media strategy is a must in 2014. But in order to develop that strategy, you first have to start with the most widely used social network tools available to you. Techinforgraphics.com designed this awesome infographic highlighting the new and fresh approaches to how we consume content and engage in the digital space.
Those of us who live and breathe social networking like air are well aware of these new digital sharing tools. But just in case you aren’t, here’s the CliffsNotes on Snapchat, Pheed, Line and Vine.
Snapchat is a mobile photo and video sharing service available for both iOS and Android devices. Videos range from 1-10 seconds, and photos remain viewable for that same length of time. The cool thing is that before sharing, users have the option of annotating clips with text and marker tools to add fun and artistic design elements. One of the most disputed and widely known aspects that many teenagers like (and those looking to erase the breadcrumb trail to their deeds) is the self-destruct mechanism that can be set by the sender to erase the message contents within seconds of you viewing it. And as a result, there are big discussions happening about how Snapchat is used for and may contribute to unrestrained sexting and bullying.
Pheed is like your personal life channel that holds video, audio, live events and text “pheeds” to your undying following. It appears to be a robust version of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook all rolled into one. Since it’s roll-out, it’s become increasingly popular with musicians and celebrities. So if you love the fishbowl life, this is the social network for you.
Line is a new communication app for your cell phone that allows you to make free calls and send free text messages without restrictions. So you can talk to local and far away friends and family, and even hold business meetings. So it seems to be another version of Skype but perhaps a bit more refined.
Vine, created by the folks at Twitter, lets you record and share six-second of looping video clips. It works as a mobile app that captures and uploads your images to share with friends and family. Vine captures and shares brief content much like Twitter, but a little longer than Snapchat. It also has a scrollable feed of all your friends’ vines on the homescreen to keep up with what they’re posting. Although fun for kids, I’m not really sure of the benefits for adults using it.
Call to Action: What do you think about these social network tools?
Product Reviews, Web Design
We understand that in the business world, having a website enables your organization to reach a larger audience at a marginal cost and in 2014, it’s an absolute must. But what about God’s business? Many people don’t think the two are related (or maybe that they should be), but they are. We are a digital and mobile device generation! Most of our kids have them right along with us and sometimes even before us! We want and often need accessibility to ease our busy lives, hearts and minds as well. Since the goal of most church ministries is to evangelize the Word of God and promote biblical teaching and doctrine, a website is a wonderful and essential way to do just that. In this blog, I submit the Top 5 Reasons of why your church needs a website, as well as the ways it can contribute to the higher calling.
1st Stay in touch ~ For most churches, they limit their “marketing” to handing out Sunday bulletins or posting newsletters on the bulletin board to keep members informed of meetings and publicize events. However, many of your members may forget to pick up a bulletin or lose it sometime during service and miss out on key information. By having a website, you can post that information and so much more with just the click of a mouse day or night. Therefore, a website is a great interactive way to stay in touch with your members , whether they’re at home or on-the-go with a mobile device.
2nd Casting a larger net & being fishers of men ~ In 2014, it’s imperative to reach out and impact the the world for the kingdom of God in as many ways as you can. We see this in the diversity of music – contemporary, traditional and even Gospel Rap. If His Word is not intended to “return to him void,” then use this medium coupled with faith to accomplish the goal. A website can also provide you with a wonderful opportunity to let others know what your church is all about and what they can gain from attending your services or joining.
4th Championing the cause ~ If there is a particular area of focus for your church, let’s say in eradicating homelessness or missionary work in other countries, a website is a great way to let the world know and solicit others assistance. Many large organizations (such as World Vision) utilize their website to bring a greater awareness to the causes they champion, while offering ways to be a part of a mission or collect donations online to assist those efforts.
5th The lost sheep and those in need ~ If one of the primary purposes of the church is to help people, then a website is a fantastic tool to do so on a global scale. There are people in this world that are hurting, who may be at a point in their lives where they need encouragement or may be in real, desperate straits. What a great testimony of kingdom work you’ll create by extending yourself beyond your physical address to someone in another state or even a different country. You can offer inspiring messages, videos, music and other helpful products such as books and inspirational home accessories.
The Wrap Up: If the sky is the limit and the ultimately desired destination, why not embark on this journey of faith for your ministry and church? If you believe that the bible was written by man and inspired by God, is it possible that the internet can be used as a tool to reach out to the hedges and highways for His purpose?
Send me a comment and let me know your thoughts on this tool for growing your ministry.
Content & Copywriting, Infographics, Marketing, Product Reviews
Most marketers know that one of the best ways to convey pertinent information, especially statistical data, is through infographics. When potential or new clients ask me what they are, I often say “it is a visually pleasing and engaging way to consume medium to large quantities of information.” The purpose of the infographic is as multidimensional as the design. Over the years, I have seen infographics used for a variety of purposes – educational, political, business soliciting – you name it.
One that recently caught my attention, made me start thinking about companies and organizations purposes, agendas and the like, that are using this “visually pleasing and engaging” method of marketing to accomplish the their vision and goals. Join me as we journey though some of the most compelling and captivating infographics published to date.
Peta’s Life of a Cow infographic tops many emotion-evoking infographic lists. It educates consumers, encourages veganism, and intentionally elicits emotional pain over what baby calves go through to become dairy- and food-producing options. This infographic holds nothing back when it comes to mapping out the beginning with the fear-inflicted eyes of the baby calf to the ill-fated end of becoming dinner.
Domestic violence is a huge issue in our society, in the U.S. and abroad. It can be physical, sexual, emotional; and the least publicized, psychological. Millions of Americans, women AND men, have been victims of domestic violence and this infographic displays the ugly truths of these heinous acts. Developed by NowSourcing for Socialworkdegreeguide.com, Exposing What Happens Behind Closed Doors, is an educational infographic reflecting truth, demographics, and current statistics. From the first, engaging image through the un-ignorable statistics, this in-depth domestic violence awareness all-in-one definitely does what it should.
Sure to get a few guffaws, this infographic from Killer Infographics is sure to crack the corners of your mouth with statements that most people think but don’t have the guts to say. I’m Cooler Than You Because…was designed in 2013 to showcase “why certain people are cooler than other people” relying on “bold icons and funny copy to make this infographic super effective!” And that it does! So if you don’t have a bunch of nay-saying, humorless colleagues, post this in your cube to surely receive a few laughs and engaging conversation. And in case you didn’t know and are bold enough to rock it, you can get this on apparel by visiting here.
Eye-opening content is always welcome in my book, and as well, that which is shockingly truthful. In the 21 Shocking U.S. Food Waste Facts & Statistics, the designers at AZ Solutions, ensure you are well aware as to how much food wasting goes on and its riveting impact. So many of us do it in one way or another, but I had no idea that my disregarding, no left-overs mentality impacts the masses. It was compelling enough to change both my mind and my own behaviors.
So there you have it folks, just a few jaw-dropping, tear-welling and knee slapping infographics that are out there. Stay tuned as I may address this topic again in the future and once again reveal why well thought out, skillfully designed infographics are such captivating and compelling content around.
Product Reviews
Trust can be one of the hardest things to give and develop with a client. Trust in your business relationships is integral if you wish to see your clientele numbers and your own company’s revenues grow. The level of trust in your business relationships—especially client relationships—is a one of the greatest determinants of a business’ success. Therefore,building your book of business is intrinsically tied to the trustworthy relationship you have with your clients and developing the long term relationships with them.
The Personal Touch – Consistent communication with clients, and building mutual trust and respect, often leads to repeat business for your company. Try to find ways to show clients how much they are valued, which contradicts the typical deli line “NEXT,” limited attention given to clientele by many business. Equally as important to the attention you give them is setting reasonable and attainable goals centered on ways to solve their problems with your product or service. Most client’s want you to set specific goals to be attained, reflecting that you are as equally invested in their success as you are in the ROI. These personal touches create brand loyalty with your clients and will cause them to stay with your company even if a competitor offers what appears to be a “better” deal.
Get in Their Head – Knowing your clients is just as important as servicing them. Small talk during a business meeting is a great way to asses a business’s operational structure and culture, and this intel is critical to reflect your knowledge of their needs. Gain respect and trust by sincerely asking clients what’s important to them and listening intently makes clients feel heard. Try to elicit the critical issues that are most meaningful to the to them. If appropriate, take a little time and diligence to discover not just the clients’ needs for your product of service, but also their personal hobbies, family dynamics and even biggest pet peeves to develop a more personalized relationship. If they trust you with personal information, they will undoubtedly trust you with their business.
Make it Happen – Trust me, if you don’t return phone calls in a timely manner, are consistently late for appointments or miss deadlines, it will be disastrous for both the relationship and your bottom line. For example, when you give a client an expected date of completion – its simple, MEET IT! Nothing is worse for a budding business relationship or repeat business than failing to meet deadlines. To keep the fire smoldering and the business coming your way, give reasonable timetables for projects and deliverables. If something unexpected does come up, make sure to communicate that with the client before the actual deadline date. When it comes to this issue, it’s always better that you call them than they call you!
Earners Keepers/Lackeys Weepers – To keep your client’s trust and respect, it must be maintained over time by doing the things you did to earn it in the first place. You do not have to be perfect – just trustworthy in both words and actions ,and ensuring that they are complementary of one another. Trust can be easily earned by someone with upstanding character and integrity, but hard to dispense if you lack those critical qualities.
Crystal Clear – Transparency is critical to the provider/client relationship. In this day when contracts with fine print have replaced the nobleman’s handshake, there’s a tremendous need for honesty and not camouflaging crucial facts. If there’s some aspect of your product or service that a client wants, but you know you can’t provide, tell the truth. There’s nothing wrong with stating that you can’t do something or haven’t yet developed a particular service or product. You can still win them over or keep a current client happy by letting them know that you are innovative enough to work on a solution thereby reflecting your commitment to them and their business.
In Summary – Begin or continue earning your clients trust by giving them your best, proving your competency and following through with all commitments to show them you value their business and the relationship. Remember, word of mouth can be your best advertising or your worst adversary.
Content & Copywriting, Entertainment, Marketing, Product Reviews, Social Media
Ah, the beauty of a New England fall season…The crisp air, apple cider donuts and many trees display the multifaceted colors of fall. Content consumption trends this fall are just as varied as trees lining I-90 to the Berkshires. As a device dependent nation, the consumers of content have pushed both manufacturers and marketers to infinite boundaries – a flurry of multifaceted demands to have everything we want (or think we need) at our fingertips all hours of every day. So for mobile technology, Fall 2013 is blowing in with many winds of change for the content consumption marketplace.
Will the PC become obsolete? According to Digital Trends, “research firms have been informing us for some time now that sales of desktops and laptops are on the decline, with consumers turning increasingly to reasonably priced tablets and smartphones that do more than enough to keep them happy.” Even Morgan Stanley analysts have predicted that mobile web use will outgrow stationary device browsing by 2015. This is great news for mobile device makers while stationary PC’s and even laptops sales may continue to fall to below expectation when it comes to content utilization. With the impending November 29th, 2013 Black Friday and Cyber Monday on December 2nd just around the corner, its predicted that consumers’ choices are definitely shifting from PCs to handheld tablets for daily content consumption.
What’s everyone humming about? Yes it is finally arrived – Google Hummingbird. By replacing the old algorithm, Google has answered the call for easy search queries for people on-the-go. Hummingbird is essentially an entirely new ranking algorithm that understands the relationships and relevance of words and phrases, instead of just considering a bunch of individual words. Thus, making it more “human friendly” than ever. So it focuses on ranking information based on more intelligent and naturalistic search requests – providing more useful, intelligent and higher quality content in the digital world.
Seemingly Unlikely Bedfellows – Adobe & Data Analytics? Adobe Marketing Cloud is the latest user interface and in the new Adobe Analytics with an iOS operating system for mobile devices reports the baseline norm from historical user trends and then identifies data points that fall outside that norm. This super smart app offers real-time reporting capabilities to give marketers and copywriters/editors solid intel on readers content consumption, marketing campaign success and on-site conversion as it happens. An SDK mobile app will provide unparalleled opportunity analyze data collected from mobile apps in Adobe Analytics, giving marketers the ability to serve location-specific content to customers based on their location when they access a mobile app. I noticed this most recently while on Pandora. An audible ad, that was specific to my location, popped up to gain my buy-in on their services. This is perfect for true lead generation efforts and capturing the right demographic for a successful campaign.
Branding, Media Style
This fall, many companies are beginning to understand that they need to think more like publishers and not just marketers. Connecting brands with online audiences is essential for true consumer, marketing integration and growth. More brands will use sizeably more video and mobile-friendly content in response to the growing number of smartphones and tablets. Media integration helps businesses generates revenue and strengthens customer relationships by leveraging the latest technology and draw on a full range media marketing resources. Since content consumption is at an all time high, using social video resources like Vimeo, YouTube, Instagram, or Vine ads flavorful social content that reaches your audience in quick and impactful ways.
Content Curation Marketing
For those who don’t know, content curation goes way beyond just making sure website content is both up-to-date and SEO rich. Content curation is the process of connecting content creators, i.e. marketers, bloggers and writers, to easily and quickly target relevant content. Since content is king, content curators oversee and manage the entire landscape of content – from driving product development and marketing strategies to social networking integration, Notably, this is a fantastic tool to boost social media presence and true engagement for key target audiences.
So there you have it folks – all things content and dominant trends for the Fall season of 2013.
What do you think? Are there other content trends you see fading like the leaves of fall or flourishing in full bloom for 2014?
