All posts by Editor

brand, Marketing

Real Time Advert Statistics

Without a doubt there is one area that the internet thrashes all competition hands down and that is statistics and user information. On the advertising campaign you can see everything. From when they first visited to which page they went to, when did they comeback? How long did they stay? What sort of computer do they have? Which country are they are from? Is that country planning to invade yours etc. Some people have a great deal of fear about so much information being available and how to use it. The rest of us just get on and use the information to cater for our products and understand our markets.

 

There was a time a few years ago, a little bit less now where you came across a poll on a website. Websites would ask questions like who would you vote for in an election campaign? Should Policemen be paid more? What is your favourite colour? etc. Now days that is not strictly necessary because you can track the user when he enters your site and see where it is that he clicks (goes). For example if I do a blog post about money I can see that it has attracted more page views then a post about writing letters. I am sure that it happens that marketing campaigns go live before they are tested on the market. It would be the only explanation for such miserable campaigns like modo , or Iceland’s freezer food . If they had taken five minutes to put a few trial pages on the internet they could have seen if anybody was really interested in their marketing message. We at Work Connexions provide statistics for adverts and blogging. So you can see if you are onto a winner before you go and print up five thousand copies and publicise the press release.

brand, business, development, E-Commerce, work connexions

Content is Timeless

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As with the last couple weeks I have been blogging about why communities and online social media groups are going to grow significantly more and will change all forms of media in the next 18 months. Is this really interesting? Well the change could be, as advertisers are going to have so much choice to reach their target market that marketing departments are going to be expanding and working overtime to understand and use this technology.

There is nothing essentially new in blogging, in the old days you had magazines and papers where people submitted or where commissioned to write news pieces about relevant issues. The readers than replied to that by sending in a letter to say what they thought about any relevant topic. After about a month that whole particular topic would pass and the readers would move on to discuss a new hot issue. In the online media if you can write one good article in theory that article can be discussed for 6 months, a year, two years. So from one piece of advertising/writing you can get so much more advertising milege. As the article sits on the internet it can become internet real estate growing in value over the months as traffic comes to the site and comments increase. If you are going to say something on the internet, it is good to remember that although it may be a fast form of communication, your writing contribution will be there possibly for a long time.

I could write about the new year now as I am typing this on the last day of year but that would limit its market. So to gain the maximum affect, It is good to take the long term view. Whoever would have thought that about online media?

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What should a learned society be doing?

This was the title of a debate that was held recently by the British Computer Society. The first topic that was discussed was software development in comparison  to building a house. The presentation was given by Clive Freedman, a barrister with 3 Verulam Buildings. In his presentation he talked about how the building trade have measures to deal with problems arising. The same measures could be implemented into the IT industry. The second presentation was given by Trevor Cook from Bird & Bird. He chose to talk about software patents. While it was agreed that there should be some software patents. Some felt certain that there was an over use of the patents system. The full article can be read here.

http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.10902

business, development, E-Commerce, Marketing

Communicating What it is Your Company does

How many times do you get asked; what is it that your company does? The thing that most people who work have in common, is that they have worked for several companies.

Practically every time you are introduced to somebody, the first inevitable question asked , whether in a private or a professional setting, will be: What is that you do or what line of business are you in? For me the answer to this question would vary as I would try out different explanations to fit in the situation, suit the enquirer or similar.

There is no one answer that fits all. For example a recruitment company may say we recruit executives with a proven track record. Another company may say we recruit and train office staff. For each segment of the market you have to adapt your message.

Sometimes a deep explanation may be necessary for the enquirer to understand what it is that you do an you may (or not as the case maybe) have to give more back ground information. A lot of people ask me what Wcx does. We tried a number of different explanations such as “Social networking for businesses” “One stop development shop” In the end we have chosen this one “Work Connexions does your Advertising, Marketing, Recruitment and Blogging. Online and offline” Of course this is only the start of effective communication “a short one liner”. It will be every companies top concern to prove the buyer that uses their products and services it does just what it says.

On balance one of the reasons why I like blogging is that it gives everyone involved in the company, project, etc the chance to understand how a company or organisation communicates with its employees and customers.

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When companies pull out…..

BA Isle of Man story (very simple really)

A piece of local news here on the Island. British Airways has sold its regional flight routes and maintenance base. They have been lambasted in the local press as the Islands least favourite airline. I am personally inflamed that we allow such articles to be written. The local government representative John Houghton made the claims and then went on to add good riddance. I am shocked at the lack of reporting and thought in the comments and here is why:

What do they expect? The company was not making money on the route and service, do they think that businesses should provide a service that is not economically viable.

What sort of message does this give to companies coming here…..?

While BA were here they provided a very good service on the island.

Situations change and I am sure that this was seen coming for several years, either the government was not able to make a deal, or they did not want to.

What really annoys me about the comments is that it puts all the blame on BA. Why didn’t someone try to get to the heart of the matter and find out what went wrong. With this blaming of BA we fail to recognise our own faults and the chance to focus on what we can do about it. If people really think that a business should lose money than they should come out and say it , not blame the company

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Is the Isle of Man for e-commerce in the UK?

A number of people have been asking why we have listed the Isle of Man in the UK on the Work Connexions site. The reason for this is simple. If we would put it into its own country category, say for example the British Isles, the listing of information  and the search functions would not show up any material when a user selects the UK. This would significantly reduce the exposure of Manx Business’s on the web site, as most people would select the UK. I am open to suggestions though…

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The unread e-mail

One of the common difficulties that individuals or companies will have to face is e-mail. E-mail is a wonderful tool that allows us to communicate cheaply, easily and across all barriers. But there is a downside.

How many companies have an info@companyetc.com? Most of the businesses that I have come across do. Why do they have it? Because they want to be reachable and able to do business. Only 10 years ago one company that I worked for in Holland use to record every letter that came and went out by snail post. This way the company could ensure that if somebody sent a letter to them that they would get a response. With modern communication that fine art of reply has shifted. But it is still as valuable now as it was then.

 

I send a lot of e-mails in sales and I can divide each one into categories of interest and how the company is organised. This does not count for every e-mail but certainly for the important ones where a receipt is asked for:

Receipt received; the e-mail has been read: The company or individual is interested.

No receipt for e-mail: They have read the e-mail

E-mail was deleted without being read: The company or individual has not read the e-mail

What can one do with this information. There are no hard and fast rules. Obviously if they send a yes receipt they are interested and so forth. Recently a couple of companies sent a very dignified reply before I had even called them. Saying yes, we are interested but not now. This last group of companies will in my opinion be the most successful. Why is that? Because they have a process to deal with e-mails. They were able to answer a simple email and to express their opinion. For me it meant that I did not waste time pursuing it, they did not waste time in realising that what their current situation is. Result, everybody is happy. In the last situation, although I have not got the business from the company yet, I will recommend them to anybody that asks because if they can answer an e-mail that is addressed to info@companyetc.com. In today’s environment then they are way above the average the company.