podcast: show two - 23_03_05

This podcast is "Not Suitable For Work" - use headphones...

T H E S H O W N O T E S:

Much better technically (apart from the mobile phone noise about 23 mins in!!) - is it a bit dull? - let us know what you think...

• feedback
• fear of change
• smart London agencies... Saatchi and Saatchi
• best practice = average
• "Gasp-worthy" (that's the phrase I was looking for)
• those 2 bald guys - funky business
• Tom Peters and his women...
• PDG customer relationships
• "new men" - yeh right...
• ...here comes a catch phrase

show length - 26:49

Thanks for listening... please put any comments / requests for next podcast below...

...or leave a message on our blogfeedback line +44 [0] 115 951 7820

'Nottingham' under fire...

We've been amused by the recent press coverage of the identity for 'Nottingham', which is desperately trying to reposition itself away from its burgeoning reputation as the "gun crime capital" of England.

As ever the media love to batter the agency involved by belittling the work involved in designing the brand: "£180k for a wonky N..." ignoring the work involved in providing a total support package including ads, guidelines, copy and imagery. The local paper has waded in too, this article was front page news last week.

It's a shame to see the design profession, which accounts for a relatively large slice of UK plc turnover, being undermined again.

Smart Sales Tools

Our purpose built Smart Sales Tools web site goes from strength to strength, we have recently added our Sales Extranet product which we developed for Experian. It is a super smart web site which is used in purely sales context. All users are tracked whether internal sales staff or prospects and customers, there is also an email system built in, this allows Experian's sales staff to invite prospects to use the content rich site with a secure login that has an expiry date. The sales person can then monitor the activity and follow up with the prospect to identify and generate sales opportunities.

For more: www.smartsalestools.co.uk

A New F-Word for Google Search Results

This is a very interesting article featured on http://www.searchenginewatch.com by Chris Sherman.

A new study has added tangible evidence to the widely held view that top-ranking search results get the most attention from users, and that lower-ranking results are all but invisible to most people. The joint study conducted by search marketing firms Enquiro and Did-it and eye tracking firm Eyetools examined the eye movements of users viewing Google search result pages.

The study found that most viewers looked at results in an "F" shaped scan pattern, with the eye travelling vertically along the far left side of the results looking for visual cues (relevant words, brands, etc) and then scanning to the right, as if something caught the participant's attention. The researchers called this pattern a "golden triangle" at the top of result pages. The triangle extends across the top natural search result, then angles back to the left of the page down to the bottom-most "above the fold" result, typically in the third or fourth position on the page.

This area was viewed by 100% of the 50 participants in the study. With both organic and sponsored search results, higher ranking results were viewed more often.

A similar, though smaller triangle effect was also observed for the sponsored listings on the right side of Google search result pages. In aggregate, fewer people looked at the sponsored listings; the exception to this was then sponsored ads were served at the top of a search result page as well as on the right side of the page. Ads at the top of the page were viewed by 100% of study participants.

These results are preliminary; a full analysis of the results will be available soon.

The 4 New Ps for eMarketing

This is a good one which lines up with our themes for this year, it came from Jay Conrad Levinson [Guerilla Marketing chap http://www.clickndrop.com/linker.php?p=QU.MCNDS.BCA&l=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gmarketing.com%2F]

The Four Old P's
While traditional marketing has implanted in our minds the four Ps of standard marketing -- Price, Product, Promotion and Placement - online marketing brings us four totally new Ps.

The first is Penetration. As the online market has matured, online traffic migrates more and more towards smaller niche sites. Marketers must recognize this trend and allocate ad spending accordingly.

The second P is Permission. Permission-based marketing is more effective in increasing response rates because it qualifies consumers. Moreover, if permission does not become a requisite for advertising via the internet, marketers will suffer severe consumer backlash. Permission marketing, as opposed to mass marketing, will become the standard - or else.

The third P is Personalization. The internet is perhaps the most expansive marketing medium ever. To take full advantage of it, marketers must know their customers. As customers demand more customized experiences, they will only respond to ads they deem personally relevant.

The final P is for Profitability. Investors require that eMarketing companies show signs of becoming profitable. Tolerance for companies with perennial losses will begin to diminish.

In 2005, and beyond, Penetration, Permission, Personalization and Profitability are the essential elements of eMarketing.

podcast: show one - 15_03_05

This podcast is "Not Suitable For Work" - use headphones...

T H E S H O W N O T E S:

Please, please forgive the poor sound quality (levels were much too low) it's terrible - also we're way too loud in bits - sorry... it's all about the spontaneity - we'll get much better technically!!

• intros
• to edit or not to edit...
• strategic swearing - [Rich...!]
• engelbert humperdinck
• advertising as SPAM!
• Problems with IT departments!
• 4G websites - Seth Godin
• the really big finish...

show length - 21:30

Thanks for listening... please leave any comments / requests for next podcast below...

...or leave a message on our blogfeedback line +44 [0] 115 951 7820

podcast : show index

"Used to be Europe's Leading Business Podcast" (no seriously... we used to cheat at podcast alley.com)

Q - "So - sell me your podcast - why the fuck should I listen?"

A - "Because it's fresh, unscripted and unedited. Just two guys from Nottingham, UK chatting about design, marketing and other complete, utter, random - rubbish..."

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Podcasting show directory - you can link to all previous shows from here - check out the shownotes:

• show twenty one - 15_09_05
  
• show twenty - 23_08_05
  
• show nineteen - 19_08_05
  
• show eighteen - 10_08_05
  
• show seventeen - 02_08_05
  
• show sixteen - 22_07_05
  
• show fifteen - 15_07_05
  
• show fourteen - 06_07_05
  
• show thirteen - 28_06_05
  
• show twelve - 17_06_05
  
• show eleven - 10_06_05
  
• show ten - 06_06_05
  
• show nine - 24_05_05
  
• show eight - 18_05_05
  
• show seven - 10_05_05
  
• show six - 26_04_05
  
• show five - 19_04_05
  
• show four - 13_04_05
  
• show three - 04_04_05
  
• show two - 23_03_05
  
• show one - 15_03_05

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podlearning downloads...

• 4G website strategy
  
• Channel Marketing