FirstTracks Marketing

Amazon: On Line Outta Line. Where is the Brand Plan Control?

Greg Connolly — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:51:56 +0000

Is this where the Brand Plan says we should be?

Amazon is planning on going all brick and mortar on us in a west coast test market. I think an oh so overused word applies here, REALLY!? As a brand planner I’d like to think that someone at this master of the online universe might be screaming. When I start to type into my browser, “amazon”, it immediately switches to “amazon-online.” There, that’s it. That’s what they are and that’s what they do. I get it and so does everyone else.

They built this model, they live, eat and breath this model and everyone has been playing catch up for how many years? The consumer knows what they do and so why on earth would they want to reach out to the brick and mortar they have been hammering for years. What do they think they can possibly bring to the table that is MEANINGFUL to the shoppers, better merchandising, better brands, better sales people, better in store muzak? Why would I go? What’s in it for me? Because at the end of the day it is all about the ME and the me knows that Amazon is great deals on the products I want ONLINE.

Get your focus on for your Brand Plan

Having a brand plan and then letting it guide your business is, well, it’s really important. Be it a service, an emporium, or hospital, it’s the stick, the beacon, the guide pointing the way. Beware of those that diss the guide. They end up falling off that cliff into lost profit and confused customers. The brand planning process is hard work and the heavy lifting of marketing your business. We really love this stuff. Heave Ho.

If you would like to talk with us more about how we can help you enhance, control, improve or even create a whole new brand for your organization give us a call at 603-924-1978 or fill out our short contact form.

Top 10 Reasons Why I Use Fireworks for Website Design instead of Photoshop

MatthewTNelson — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:21:40 +0000

This week I (Interactive Director – Matthew Nelson) gave a quick 30 minute presentation up at this month’s New England Adobe User’s Group about why I use Fireworks for the majority of my website design and mock up work. Now we all know that Photoshop is the the industry standard, and I use it almost every day, but not as much as I use Fireworks. Fireworks has been around for a long time and I have been using it for years. From time to time I find myself getting into the Photoshop vs. Fireworks debate I felt it was finally time to put it out there and explain why I still think that Fireworks is still a web designers best friend even today in 2012.

Top 10 Reasons Why Fireworks Rules

Export Area Tool - allows you to simply export pieces of your design extremely quickly
Setting up guides on layouts by pixel - setting up your design guides by simply entering in their location by pixel is a huge time saver
Super quick color on/off tools - when creating layouts simply turning color on and off of layout items is very helpful to make the transition from Wireframes to final design that much quicker and more affordable
Quick Access Gradient and Texture Tools (properties inspector) - I personally like how Fireworks makes it very quick and simple to create and edit your gradients
Simple Masking Tools (paste inside) - not having to deal with clumsy making layers keeps mock up files clean and easy to work with
Quick simple web tool mock up items - not having to mock up standard web elements like drop down boxes are a big time saver for mock ups
Icon tool library - not having to create standard functionality items like search magnifying glasses, shopping cart icons is a big time time saver for me when it comes to the wireframe part of the process
Quick access to common special characters - I hate having to try and remember all the codes for things like “trademark” and “copyright” Fireworks give you a simple quick access panel for all of them
Lots of stock button styles to choose from - pure convenience, make it easy for me to create a nice rounded button with a decent gradient texture and let me customize from there.
Ability to mock up multiple pages within one file

Watch a Quick Video Demo

Are you ready to have your website design improved?

If your online property is ready for a visual and functional overhaul you should definitely give us a call ASAP (check out our portfolio of website samples if you like). We have been designing and implementing website solutions for businesses of all shapes and sizes for over 8 years now. If you are looking to do a better job communicating with your customers online and converting more of your online traffic into leads and sales then give us a call today at 603-924-1978 or fill out our website development request form. We look forward to speaking with you soon about your project.

Brand Plan Consultation

Greg Connolly — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:04:13 +0000

Getting the Brand Plan together

A client who is developing a new company came to FirstTracks Marketing’s President Greg Connolly to get their brand plan in shape. Why? Isn’t it OK to hit the ground running with all the great tools like clever ads, social media buzz, spiffy new website and a catalog or two to hand out at the next trade show? All tactics that FirstTracks can supply?

A BIG LOUD “STOP” echoed across the phone line into the client’s ear. Let’s get your VP of Sales and any other key people in here and let’s really figure out who and what your company is what you’re going to do. Let’s do that first. What a great opportunity for them. A new company in a high growth market ready to take off.

Here’s the first 3 things on my list that any company needs:

A solid product or service
A strong market for that product/service
A willingness to take advantage of that market

It’s amazing to guide business people through the process of really boiling down what it is they really are and what it is they really do. My role is to create an environment for this company’s executives to truly identify their product, market and will. This is not mission statement, vision statement fluff (run away when someone starts in on that stuff). This is the heavy lifting of the brand planning business. It’s hard. It’s long and when done right you wake up from the fog of the million things to do and a clear course is set. NOW it’s time to get to work. From my side of the room I see clear focused heads nodding “I get it. Let’s go” And the really cool part they got here themselves. As the Wizard of OZ said, “you had it in you all the time”.

Now all the tactics have a guide, a linking mechanism and a reason to exist. There is order in the marketing world. Budgets will be managed properly, consistency will reign and most importantly SALES WILL COME. Customers will buy and the willingness of the purse string managers will soar.

Phew! Want to be in this world too? Want to work hard? I do. Give me a call, 603-924-1978. Fill out our contact form if that’s easier and I’ll call you. Remember, nothing should start until you have a plan. Let’s get planning together.

Mass Market Distribution, Gettin in the Door

Greg Connolly — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:59:02 +0000

So you want to put that great new product on the shelves of Wal-Mart.

Sitting in the Wal-Mart buying office lobby is the Star Wars Bar scene of mass market distribution. You can’t believe the array of products and hopeful Willie/Willimina Lomans. Smiles and shoe shines all around and the most powerful of all…the receptionists. If you’re not on their screen you’re not gettin in. No way No how. This is the inner sanctum of EDLP (every day low prices). Most will never experience this but for those product schlepers, yes, those haulers of samples, those weary airport refugees, those lusters after the giant PO, this is the mass market product distribution big time. Better have your game face on, your pitch refined, your packaging perfect and a don’t waste a minute because they’re all precious and you don’t get many. You’ve got a 8′ x 10′ room with no door and a buyer that has heard it all. Speak their language and respect their time.

Pre-Meeting Mass Market Distribution Check List:

Make sure you can make a decision
Product(s) done and ready to go
Packaging Perfect
Know your competition
Know your numbers
Know your logistics

Like a lot of things, not all the best make it to the show and the real heavy lifting is prior to the actual meet. I’ve been there many times and every time things worked out well it was good preparation that made the difference.

Need help?

At FTMG we know preparation. We know retail. We know design and we know packaging. Let’s get together and plan your next visit to Bentonville. Dial 603-924-1978 or fill out this form. We can help.

WordCamp Boston 2011 Review

MatthewTNelson — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:04:56 +0000

This past weekend I (MatthewTNelson) spent my time with technology professionals from all over the New England region to meet, discuss and learn more about one of our favorite pieces Website technology, WordPress. The simple control and elegant ways we can manage and leverage data online make it a great content management solution (CMS) for just about any size/scope website project.

Today WordPress is used by 54.6% of all the websites whose content management system we know. This is 14.5% of all websites on the internet, the next closest content management system platform is Joomla at a paltry 10.1% (thanks @ryanprogramming) of all websites. The proof as they say is in the pudding, which you can find in this article if you are interested. What I have prepared here is a brief review of the sessions that I attended at the conference, what my impressions were and what I learned from each session and what I thought about the presentations themselves. I hope you enjoy my point of view and also offer you a small glimpse into the vast amount of incredible information I obtained at WordCamp Boston 2011 this weekend, if you are on twitter and are looking for comments from the event simply search the hashtag #wcbos. Enjoy!

Creating Plugins: Kelly Dawn (Grade Incomplete)

Got in pretty late to start…there was a lot of rain and it was tough to get in on time with traffic so to be honest we missed just about all of this talk but here is the link to full presentation if you are interested in learning about creating and developing plugins for WordPress. You can download her presentation slides here. And you can follow Kelly on Twitter here.

Stepping into Custom Post Types: K. Adam White (Grade 9 out of 10)

Custom post types in WordPress are very much like DuctTape, in that it allows you to better tie all your information types together. Great presentation by @KAdamwhite, first time speaking did an amazing job. Some real gems of information that are directly affect some projects we are working on right now. Made the day completely worth it already and we are only 1 session in! You can download his presentation slides here.

WordPress Security - Facts and Fiction: D.K. Smith (Grade 7 out of 10)

15 – 20% of WordPress hacks are drive-bys. The cracker already has the username and password! Overall D.K.’s WordPress Security presentation was very lighthearted, and was kept very casual and fun. I got a few useful bits of information about what I need to do to be more secure but left feeling more panicked than I did prepared to deal with the challenges I have in front of me. But in the end there are definitely some new security processes that I will be instituting not only for myself but also for all my future client projects that will help me sleep better at night. If you want more links and information on securing your WordPress website follow D.K. Smith on Twitter.

Customizing the Admin Interface: Jake Rainis, Niki Brown (Grade 7 out of 10)

This session was all about how can we improve the usability experience for our users by customizing the Admin Interface by using Custom Post Types, Custom Fields and admin user tool design. Good presentation….the tag team approach felt a bit disjointed but the value of the content greatly outweighed that. Some AWESOME plugins and techniques given in this presentation that will drastically impact the quality of the interaction and the branding of all of our client site admin areas. Very exciting. You can follow Jake Rainis and Niki Brown on Twitter and you can view notes of their presentation here.

Theming with Sidebars: Ellie Roepken (Grade 5 out of 10)

Wow, I felt really bad for our presenter in this session, she was very nervous and uncomfortable. Our presenter made all the classic mistakes…saying it was her first time, saying she didn’t understand things, appeared completely unprepared, and answered a bunch of questions with simply “I don’t know.” it was uncomfortable. However there was a silver lining here, interestingly enough this session somehow morphed into a giant Q&A session between all the attendees, a bit awkward for the attendees but somehow it all worked. Odd and unconventional but what the heck I give her a 5 out of 10 for at least staying up there the whole time. Presenting to a group of peers is NEVER easy, and I hope that this experience doesn’t completely discourage Ellie from trying this again. She is a very smart person, just needs more practice at public speaking that’s all. If you can follow Ellie on Twitter and you can also check out her blog.

Theming & Mobile: Optimizing WordPress Site: Sara Cannon (Grade 8 out of 10)

Responsive Webdesign is a crazy awesome and somewhat complex way to approach designing modern websites. Hicksdesign is a great example and so is the 2011 theme for WordPress (open them up and then make your browser window less wide to see what I mean. See how it changes? Pretty cool right?). Responsive website design IS the future of website design NOW. @saracannon did a great job with her presentation on responsive website design. Really got my brain firing on new ways to not only look at the overall design aspects of my websites but consider how we might be able to augment them to provide even better content based on different monitor sizes and devices and orientation. The bottom line is that the options and ideas are extensive but the process of actually making this work for all combinations and situations can get expensive fast because of the amount of time needed to tweak and get it all just right. Definitely things to discuss for future projects and feel good about knowing more about how all this works. You can download her presentation slides here.

Abusing Your WordPress Theme with CSS3: Boaz Sender (Grade 8 out of 10)

Excellent presentation and excellent job speaking by @BoazSender. Got a great first hand look at some really advanced and cool functions that CSS3 can add to your website designs. Great link and practical demo applications of all techniques that I am definitely going to keep on tap to use in current and future projects right now. You can see examples and links of what I am talking about here just too much to go through in this quick review….animations, transitions, shadows, insets, hover effects and a whole bunch more. This session was another one that really got my brain spinning with excitement.

Advanced Theme Performance Techniques: Frederick Townes (Grade 8 out of 10)

The creator of W3 Cache…and CTO of Mashable.com (that runs in WordPress by the way). One quick tip I can share is to always use native file naming conventions when ceasing themes. This was a very advanced presentation that definitely was a tad over my head (which is why I work with super smart people like @jdstudios). It was interesting to hear the prospective and opinion of a developer who works with some very busy and large properties like Mashable.com which I had no idea that ran on WordPress. Regardless of the actual content being beyond my grasp initially it was still good to hear all of this and make me realize I have a lot more to learn.

I will definitely be back to WordCamp Boston in 2012

WordCamp 2011 is exactly what I was hoping it would be and even better than WordCamp 2010! It was a jam-packed day with a ton of useful information, tips and ideas that challenged my creativity and inspired me and got me excited to do more with the current projects I am building and the past projects I have currently live with my customers. My biggest take aways from this years conference were the custom post types tools and flexibility options, new ways to secure and protect our client sites better than we already are and finally new and exciting ways that we can customize our clients admin dashboards to make them easier and more seamless for them to use. It’s going to be a very exciting next few months as we wrap up and start a few more WordPress projects for our clients. I hope you enjoyed my overview and impressions of the conference and have supplied you with some great information that you will find interesting and useful. If you did enjoy this please leave a comment below and or share this post however you like, open source is all about sharing after all.

If you are interested in talking to us about building you a WordPress Website you can give us a call at 603-325-2429 or you can fill out our website development request form. We look forward to speaking with you soon.