It’s smart to do some testing before you send your e-mail campaign to your entire subscriber list. Most e-mail marketing services let you send tests to yourself, but do you know what to look for?

Here are some handy tips for testing your e-mail marketing campaigns:

• Don’t just rely on a pop-up preview. That’s a rough approximation of how your e-mail would look in the best of circumstances. You need to actually deliver your campaign to real e-mail addresses to see how it works “in the wild.”

• Setup e-mail accounts with as many e-mail services as possible (it’s usually free). Use the most common services, like MSN, Hotmail, Yahoo! and Gmail. You might also setup an account with AOL.

• Don’t change any of the default settings for the test accounts. Don’t add yourself to the address book either. You’ll want to test whether or not your e-mail campaigns get spam-filtered to a typical e-mail account.

• Set up a “test list” via the e-mail marketing service you’re using (you can do this in one click by replicating your “real” list) and import these test addresses.

• Try to recruit co-workers, friends and/or family members who use different e-mail services to become testers for you. That way, they can tell you how your e-mail looks in various types of e-mail programs. If you have the resources, setup a testing computer in the office with multiple operating systems and e-mail programs.

• On your sign-up form, are you giving users the option to receive the plain-text version or mobile version of your emails? If so, be sure to sign-up one of your test emails to receive plain-text only and one to receive the Mobile version.

• Send as many e-mails as you can to your test addresses. Knowledge is power and this will help you anticipate mistakes and fine-tune the look of your e-mails.

• Did your campaign end up in the junk folder for any of the email accounts? If so, you might want to include a one-sentence note at the bottom of each e-mail to remind your subscribers to add your e-mail address to their address book. This will help prevent your e-mails from automatically being marked as “spam.”

• Most e-mail programs leave images turned off by default (you have to click a link or button to display images). How does your email look with images turned off? That’s the first impression people will have.

• Do you have “Alt-text” coded for your images to entice recipients to click the “show images” button (Alt-text is the “alternative text” that’s displayed when an image can’t be seen in a web browser or e-mail program)? When we say “entice” we don’t mean you should resort to sales-like rhetoric such as, “CHECK THIS OUT!” Sometimes, a really descriptive alt-text is enticing enough. For example, “Screenshot of the new feature we just launched” is short and sweet.

• When you click “show images” for your e-mail, do all the images work? Do they download fairly quickly or do you need to go back and optimize them?

• Just in case people choose not to display your the images in your e-mails, do you have a link at the top of your e-mail, allowing them to view your message online (i.e. through their browser)?

• Click on as many links as possible (yes, this is mind-numbing, but necessary). Do they all work? Are there any broken links?

• Did you enable click or open tracking? If so, click and open some of your e-mails. Log in and check your campaign stats. Double and triple check that everything is working properly.

Was this helpful? Let us know if you followed these tips in your own e-mail marketing campaigns and had any success in growing your business!

You can also check out HRB’s Marketing blog or Internet Technology blog for more tips and news about utilizing e-mail marketing campaigns.

Presented by two of today’s leading public relations professionals—Heidi Sullivan (@hksully), Vice President of Media Research for Cision, and Sarah Evans (@prsarahevans) of Sevans Strategy—the Webinar discussed social media strategies, tips and resources that companies should consider when promoting a brand or service.

In an effort to summarize what I’ve been learning from HRB, Webinars and other educational resources on the Web, I’ve created my own master list of the “Top 20 Best Practices for Creating and Popularizing Content on the Social Web.” The list includes social media strategies, tips and recommended resources for companies to consider when creating online content. Check it out and let me know your thoughts in the comments section or via my Twitter handle, @IowaHawkeyeMeg.

Top 20 Best Practices for Creating and Popularizing Content on the Social Web:

1 ) Every social media strategy needs to be well-planned. Ask these 4 questions before that first meeting with your coworkers and your clients:

- What’s your goal?

- Who will represent your brand on social media sites?

- When will you find time to produce content?

- How will you measure success?

2 ) Blog consistently and on a variety of topics. According to Cision’s research, there is a 2% to 4% increase in business for those companies that blog 2 to 4 times per week. The trick to write relevant and interesting  posts and promote your content on a regular basis to grow your following.

3 ) When determining who should blog for your brand, choose employees that are passionate about your brand and industry. It’s counter-productive to make your employees blog if they’re not passionate about blogging, don’t keep up with news or can’t offer a fresh perspective.

4 ) Read, read, read! Knowledge is power and it’s to your advantage to stay on top of industry trends and news. Follow other bloggers’ RSS feeds in a Google Reader account and set aside 15 minutes a day to read your email subscriptions.

5 ) Be thoughtful when outsourcing your blog content. In some cases your employees are going to know your brand better than an outsider might. If you’re looking for a fresh perspective on a specific topic or Web trend, consider outsourcing the work to professionals or set up a guest blogging section on your Website to seek out knowledgeable professionals that can contribute to it. Check out the “Young Minds” guest blogging series that Lauren Fernandez of Radian6 created on her portfolio Website.

6 ) Think like a journalist! Journalists are always looking for new angles and stories to share with the world. Create headlines that are “catchy” and unique. Do your research ahead of time and make sure your blogs have no grammatical errors to avoid negative backlash in your blog’s comment section or on your page’s news feed.

7 ) Assess your goals and progress every week with Google Analytics or other social media measurement tools. Creating content for the social Web is useless if you’re not monitoring your engagement with your readers. Create a weekly Excel spreadsheet or report to present to your boss and clients to show how many fans/followers you add each week/month/year and which blogs are getting the most hits.

8 ) Create a blogroll in a sidebar list on your company or client’s main blog page. A blogroll is a list of other blogs that a blogger might recommend by providing links  to them. Create a headline for the blogroll such as “Recommended Reading” and use keywords and other SEO tactics to separate and promote your blog categories.

9 ) Encourage the CEO, CMO and/or President of your company or your client’s company to contribute to blogs and engage with their audiences via social media. Learning about a company from their perspective is both critical and interesting to interns and established professionals alike. It reminds people that they’re engaging with other people (not a logo) and often provides audiences with relevant personal stories and anecdotes. To get inside the mind of HRB’s executives check out the blog pages of our CEO, Jim Thebeau and our President, Steve Erickson.

10 ) It isn’t just about blogs. Create a Twitter and Facebook account for your company and client and link to your employees’ personal accounts on these networks. Show your audience that every team member is vital to the success of your brand or campaign.

11 ) Be transparent. If you don’t hide anything from your audience they’ll be more likely to subscribe to your newsletter and follow you on social networks because they trust and appreciate your “words of wisdom.” Publish your social media policy and white papers on your Website and publicize company news and internal policy changes on your social media networks.

12 ) Listen and engage with your audience on a regular basis. If someone comments on your blog, tweet or post, respond to them right away. If other Web users see that you’re paying attention to your followers they’ll be more inclined to get involved in the conversation as well.

13 ) Acknowledge your audience. Every once in a while post a shout out to your followers, newsletter subscribers and potential customers by acknowledging how their support inspires your company and its employees to continue producing amazing content. They’ll appreciate the love and might even recommend your services to a business partner or networking contact.

14 ) The social media release (SMR) is the new press release. It’s no secret that traditional news methods are quickly being replaced by alternative news methods. The goal with the social media press release is to write for your audience AND the average Web user. Pitch to bloggers via a “Twitter pitch” or create a list of blog contacts that have been helpful in promoting a service or campaign for you in the past. As Heidi Sullivan and Sarah Evans mentioned in their presentation, “Inbound links are the currency of the blogosphere,” so make sure you’re building mutually-beneficial relationships. If a blogger picks up your social media release and repurposes the content on their blog, be sure to return the favor and mention their blog in your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn updates.

15 ) Create an “Interactive Newsroom” on your company Website. Include daily or weekly featured news, videos, blogs and photo images about your company. The example provided in the Cision Webinar was Toyota’s interactive newsroom. It features each of these things in addition to a section titled “Our Point of View” that’s written exclusively by Toyota employees and explores current issues in the automotive industry.

16 ) Keep up-to-date on educational news, language lessons, films, audio books, campus tours and more via Apple’s iTunes U. This service has been around since 2007 but I’ve never heard about it before this Webinar. Since checking it out I have to say that I’m very impressed by the content that Stanford University has put out there for use by students and average Web users. According to Wikipedia, iTunes U was “created to manage, distribute and control access to educational audio and video content and PDF files.” I agree with the Webinar hosts that this is a great resource for interns (and education industry clients) because it’s a free service that includes over 75,000 files for users’ upload or download purposes.

17 ) The rule of thirds: It’s not all about YOU. As my internship supervisor likes to remind me, nobody wakes up in the morning expecting to get an email from you. It’s important to realize the value in creating online content but equally necessary to know your limits. If you have a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account, spend about 1/3 of your time posting information about your company, 1/3 of the time posting information about your clients and the remaining third of your time acknowledging others on the social Web (what the friendly Cision hosts referred to as “social karma”). Don’t walk around handing out your business card—instead, find out what your audiences’ and followers’ interests and jobs are. You should be entertaining your audiences but also engaging with your followers as these groups are collectively responsible for the success of your social media handle.

18 ) Aggregate! Create a “top 10 list” every once in a while to show your readers you’re paying attending to other writers in the blogosphere. After all, you’re not a robot!

19 ) Got a case of the “blogger blues?” Don’t fret! There will be days that you’re stuck and can’t find the words to write what’s really on your mind. (It happens to me all the time!) If you’re on deadline consult with your supervisor for new ideas or ask a coworker to switch blog days with you. It’s always better to wait and produce inspiring content rather than bore your readers.

20 ) Remember: Social media is a marathon, not a sprint! If you’re not seeing results in weekly analytic reports, try something new. There is no “correct way” to create and popularize content on the social Web but there are definitely promotional strategies that have grown companies and brands in huge ways. Dare to experiment!

Although this was only the second Webinar I’ve ever attended, I’m quickly learning that virtual tutorials are extremely useful resources. As an intern I always have questions and sometimes I find that my lack of knowledge about the media, the brand I’m representing or the audience(s) I’m reaching out to slows me down and prevents me from meeting deadlines. While this can sometimes be inevitable, I’ve realized that having solid research skills is critical in this industry—especially with the non-stop changes in progressive enhancement and the diversity of Web services offered today. I’m comforted by the fact that there are real people behind those usernames. I know if I continue to be proactive and seek out resources that help me master my shortcomings I can stay ahead of technology trends and promote HRB and its clients in unique and purposeful ways.

Photo Credit: IGN.com

There has been a surge of new devices coming out with a wide variety of form factors and intended functionality. There was the boom of the netbook form factor and GPS/in-car systems, followed by the iPhone and other touchscreen mobile devices. Now companies are looking into providing more options for the touchscreen tablet-sized device and the HDTV screens that people already own (with the help of GoogleTV, AppleTV, and Boxee). These all are accompanying desktop computers, laptops and modern game consoles in the fact that they are all capable of being (if not already) Internet-enabled.

When people realize that the device that they’re using is Internet-enabled, they don’t want to have arbitrary limitations on what they can access considering that all of these devices have the screens and input methods that are necessary to access and navigate around a website or Web application that they can use on their computer. They’re all using the one-and-only Internet (or at least that’s how we’d like to keep it), so they should (in theory) be able to access the same content.

Many devices follow this rule of thumb by giving users access to a Web browser of some kind and this trend is becoming more prevalent among device manufacturers. This leaves Website designers with a new issue since most of the websites on the Internet were designed for computers with screen sizes ranging from around 13 to 24 inches with a mouse and keyboard. For example, needing to zoom and pan across a website that was designed for a desktop computer while using a mobile device is not the optimal experience.

It’s possible to take the same content on the site, detect the screen size of the device being used and display it in a way that best fits the device. The screen size detection is near instantaneous so it really comes down to the developers dedicating their time toward designing the new way that the content is displayed on the varying screen sizes. They can use a standard set of “Mobile,” “Computer” and “Projector/TV” options to limit the number of designs that need to be created (they might also choose to include a “Tablet” design). This still remains within the standardized capabilities of a website so the user is still simply accessing it via their Web browser of choice without needing to download an application or plug-in. (Although the developers might choose to offer an app simply due to the fact that it’s easier to access an application than to memorize and type in the URL on most devices.)

jQuery Mobile's Testing Lab

There’s a bunch of user interface libraries that developers can implement on their websites that help speed up the process of designing, as well as standardize an expected look and interactivity between websites that were developed by people who hold no relation (other than the fact that they used the same user interface library). Here’s a few that have sparked some interest in the developer community:

• Sencha Touch
• jQuery Mobile
• SproutCore (demo)

I would have included Cappuccino on that list, but 280 North (developers of Cappuccino) was recently acquired by Motorola so that they can continue their efforts for Motorola devices and software.

Still, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened—Palm was also recently acquired by HP and their efforts with WebOS (Web Operating System) will live on in HP’s future offerings. HP has already confirmed that their touchscreen tablet device coming “early in 2011” will be using WebOS instead of Windows 7 Tablet. Apple and Google (numerous hardware manufacturers are using Google’s software) already have a strong standing in this area and it’s reassuring to see that Motorola and HP are also making their commitment. The end result is being able to provide a centralized, yet completely open and free of corporate interests, access-point with content that’s custom-tailored to best fit the device that you are using.

It is important that we fight for this, because we don’t want our efforts of forming a centralized communication network to become overrun by large corporations that then will be able to influence what is sent over the network.

Here are the top 5 lessons HRB has taught me:

1. Communication is key. Our conference room has glass walls. Nothing is hidden behind closed doors and the entire company participates in every staff meeting. Everyone has a voice.

2. An office atmosphere can make or break productivity. Laughter and camaraderie are some of the best tools for creativity.

3. Teamwork should be automatic.  It shouldn’t be a forced “group project.” Collaboration should simply happen because of coworkers’ varying expertise.

4. Advertising is about people and feelings and finding what is truly above and beyond about a product. It isn’t about manipulating facts.

5. Blog ideas are unlimited and ubiquitous. All you have to know is how to come at that can of Mountain Dew or a squirming baby.

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The thing about HRB that’s so different from other companies is the aura of flexibility and responsibility. As an intern, I am entrusted with tasks of importance to the company and expected to blog about my experiences on the company Website. With this responsibility comes freedom to explore and create what I envision. It also, however, comes with a duty to perform and be willing to change my vision based on others’ input. I am encouraged to develop my ideas and to consistently use creativity to better my portfolio.

As advertisers, we know that limited time offers bring in better sales. As humans, we know that not having enough time can sweeten the time we’re given.

To put it simply: I’ve been lucky.

I wrote an article in May called “What’s the Right Way to Update?” that covered the updating procedure for various software and how it can be improved so that users have the latest version. Having the latest version of software can be very important due to the fact that technology is updated at a fairly fast rate. Using a copy of software from six or so years ago can mean a lot in terms of what it can do and how you interact with it. For Website developers, the target audience could very well be using a range of Web browsers that were last updated as far back as 9 years ago or as recently as an hour ago. This is where the concepts of “graceful degradation” and “progressive enhancement” come in.

What is “Graceful Degradation?”

Graceful degradation is a development term that means a site is built to the latest standards, yet it still works for anyone using an old Web browser. Not everything will work exactly the same in the old Web browser, but nothing will be broken. This means that those users with the latest Web browsers will get to utilize all of the Website’s features, whereas those using a less capable browser will see a simplified version.

What is “Progressive Enhancement?”

Progressive enhancement is essentially the same as graceful degradation, but the developer starts by creating the base-level functionality that works in every browser. Then they add features to provide a little more for anyone using a modern Web browser. Graceful degradation and progressive enhancement provide the same benefits, but it’s just a matter of the developer’s preference as to what they want to use as their starting point.

Now that I understand the lingo, why do these terms matter?

I invite you to compare what Websites looked like in 2001 to what they look like now. Keep in mind that the Websites from 2001 were being viewed in Web browsers that were released just 5 years after the concept of displaying an image in line with other content on a Website was first implemented.

The modern idea of providing a better Website for users with capable browsers is in hopes that people using old Web browsers see some benefit in updating them, which would allow innovation to commence in the mainstream user base. I mean, a group of Web developers actually held a funeral for Internet Explorer 6 when Google announced that they no longer supported it (Microsoft even sent flowers)!

In the meantime, there still needs to be some ambition by developers that leads the way to the latest and greatest features and functionality .

Of course, this information isn’t stowed away in some Business Biology book, nor is it completely recorded anywhere. Part of being an intern is being able to observe a new environment and learn as much as possible from its employees, its clients and its rituals before the internship draws to a close.

Sadly, I find myself writing this blog while in the very position I’ve just described. Yes, it’s that time of year again…the summer is winding down and in a couple of days, I’ll be returning to Drake University for one last lap around its magnificent blue track. Then it’s goodbye, college and hello, real world! But before I lose myself in the persistent pandemonium that is student life, I’d like to share what I’ve learned within the last few months as the HRB Creative Intern.

At HRB, I’ve realized that details matter. Everything that happens within the course of the day—from projects to meetings, critiques and witty banter—shapes an intern’s experience. As an intern, it’s been really helpful to see as much of this business as possible because I’ve gained a better understanding and appreciation of just how multifaceted a company can be.

It’s also worthwhile to get in on the action. For example, the times when I tagged along to an audio recording and editing session, toured a local museum for a project, attended HRB seminars, participated in client meetings, or received constructive feedback from coworkers were some of my most memorable experiences. Furthermore, these opportunities were instrumental in my development as an intern and as a new team member, because they showed me how professionals work together, even if their lines of work starkly contrast.

I’ve also discovered that, more often than not, projects are pretty complicated. It’s rarely a matter of Creative #1 designing for Client X and calling it a day. Rather, there are many emails, phone calls and meetings that have a funny way of shifting a project forward, backward, sideways…well, you get the idea. A tremendous amount of time, creativity, thinking, and planning is invested in everything done here at HRB. Sometimes it’s enough to make a person’s head spin, but the end results are fantastic.

HRB’s ability to generate a rationale that unites a project with a client’s vision and identity has also blown me away. Our work ethic, both on an individual and a collaborative basis, has provided a great model for me to emulate. It’s been neat to be part of brainstorming sessions and team meetings, and especially to work on real projects. PLUS I wasn’t even asked to fetch coffee once (which is probably a really good thing for everyone), but that’s not why I’m going to miss working here.

My time at HRB has been very worthwhile in providing me with the tools and necessary understanding of how to survive and thrive in the workplace. It’s certainly comforting to know that I’ve still got a year before entering the job market, but when that time comes, I know I’ll feel much more prepared because of my internship experience with HRB—and for that, I am forever appreciative.

FTC Looks at Opt Out Option for Behavioral Targeting

If you have not been following the discussions surrounding online behavioral targeting and the resulting data gathering on individuals, you may want to start. Whether you are using behavioral targeting as a marketing technique or you are a consumer, you could be affected.

According to MediaPost, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering a “do not track” list to address Internet advertising privacy concerns, similar to the Do Not Call Registry pertaining to telephone solicitations. To learn more about behavioral targeting visit the FTC’s Wikipedia page.

What Are America’s Favorite News Sources?

As a former journalist, I find the rapid changes in news consumption habits fascinating. Of course, age, technology and access all play a role in how we get our news.

According to a new study by Gather, Inc., individuals are increasingly turning to the Internet to find, receive, share and discuss news. The report reveals trends in how people are receiving and interacting with various Internet news outlets and starting millions of conversations across America.

For instance, a whopping 53% of people still cite newspapers as their main source of news, although 65% of respondents younger than 25 years old described their news habits as interest-based, only reading about breaking news stories or stories of interest. 70% of respondents in this age group turn to the Internet to learn more about a breaking news story and share information with others via social networks.

Marketers Increasingly Seeking Online Tracking Metrics

Marketers are slowly but consistently moving more of their marketing budgets from traditional to online sources. And, the more they spend on SEO and social media marketing, the more they want to measure ROI.

The Forbes Insights and software and analytics firm MarketShare Partners reveal that marketers and agencies continue to struggle with finding the metrics to justify dollars spent on online campaigns.

Strategic Growth Planning for Business and Marketing Success

Ever wonder why some companies turn everything they touch into gold while others struggle to capture great market share? Why marketing doesn’t work with sales?

These questions keep CEOs from sleeping at night. It takes guts and experience to bring accurate, honest analysis and advice to today’s company executives. When it comes to growing a business, most companies struggle to find just the right balance of all the right growth ingredients.

Download the HRB GROWTH brochure and perhaps you’ll see how the “domino effect” can work for your brand.

Can the iPad Slow Newspaper and Magazine Readership?

Earlier this year, just as the iPad was being launched, BtoB Magazine carried a front page story about the possible effects the Apple iPad could have on reviving the ailing print media industry. For one thing, with its vertically-oriented color screen that mimics the size of a single magazine page, the iPad is seen in some circles as an ideal device for reading digital versions of print publications.

“We feel it’s an exciting, new, major media platform, and it can’t be ignored,” said Jason Snell, Editor of IDG’s Macworld, which is currently developing an iPad application.

A healthy balance of outstanding professional work and maintaining good relationships are vital to the success of a company. Now more than ever, people from my past keep springing up through client work and business partnerships. When I accepted this internship position, I never thought that I’d be in client meetings with friends’ parents or fellow church members—I expected to work with people like “Client 04779” or something! The idea of such impersonal client interaction is a bit laughable now, to be honest—but when you’re growing up, you kind of forget that Sally Sue’s mom has a job outside of parenting or that the guy who sits two rows ahead of you at Sunday Mass could also be in business with your company one day.

We are conditioned from a rather elementary age to play nice with the other kids on the playground and be considerate and patient, even when it’s really, really difficult. The same concept applies to professionals working in a shared environment. In a city the size of Cedar Rapids, professionals are bound to run in similar circles. Certain clients might be more challenging than others and there will undoubtedly be times when no one can agree upon a branding tactic, what portfolio clip to include in a proposal, whether a client could benefit from social media marketing or which team members should attend a download meeting or seminar.

It’s important to remember that these situations arise in all companies. While it’s easy to lose your temper and fly off the handle, it’s equally easy to be respectful of other people’s opinions and ideas. Try to remain honest, sincere and open-minded. Remember that first impressions last a lifetime.  Learn to build bridges rather than burn them and strive to maintain the attitude that there’s a high probability you’ll work with people you know from other places on a fairly regular basis.  It takes a certain degree of professional maturity and experience to adopt and uphold this attitude, but from what I’ve observed, the practice yields a solid success rate.

The advertising model has now been brought into free apps, and it’s like a traditional Website that is mostly, if not entirely, supported by advertising. Apple’s iAd platform isn’t the first to offer developers the opportunity to include ads in their apps, but they do it a little differently.

The traditional electronic ad is either text, an image or a brief animation that, when clicked, will take you directly to the advertiser’s Website. iAd recognizes that most mobile devices either don’t support Flash or have a limited mobile edition of Flash so the common animated Flash ad isn’t possible. People often quote the statistic provided by Adobe that 96% of Web browsers have Flash installed, but that figure is actually representative of the percentage of Web browsers that are capable of running Flash and have it installed. That means it’s excluding millions of devices that have a Web browser that can’t run Flash, even if the device owner wanted to (this includes Apple’s mobile devices among many others).

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iAd instead focuses on the fact that 100% of all Web browsers have HTML support. Plus, all of the devices that iAd will be shown on also have CSS and JavaScript support for animation and interactivity. This method allows advertisers to show the full ad experience via CSS and JavaScript on all devices by default and shows the static version of the ad if they set JavaScript to be disabled. Using Flash will instead be shown as a blank block and will require the Flash plugin to show anything at all or requires the developer to also build the HTML version. This begs the question of, “Why not build the HTML version in the first place?” Ads haven’t been using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript until now due to the fact that CSS and JavaScript-based animations were introduced recently so Flash was the only option available to advertising / Website designers.

Click to view full size. Created by blog.monty.de

iAd’s extended ad view does include some new functionality that other ad services don’t offer. The ads expand within the current application when they’re tapped on instead of opening a Website in your Web browser. The ads are self-contained so that everything the advertiser wants to be shown can be included within the interactive ad, and can be closed at any time using a close button that is located in the same place for every ad. The expanded ad also has the ability to:

• Allow the user to submit a form (register for a giveaway / sign up to a newsletter)
• Download or purchase something from the App Store (purchase the full product / download a companion app)
• Save media to the device (wallpapers / videos)
• Access the camera (scan a barcode in a store / take a picture of yourself using the product)
• Integrate into other web services (social media / the product’s website)
• and more…

There’s the potential for a malicious advertiser to exploit some of these features or be a security risk but Apple is requiring each ad to be inspected and approved before being displayed. When iAd was announced, Apple brought up that finding a way to keep the advertising interactive while maintaining an emotional tone was very important to making this form of advertising engaging and effective. This is just another option that’s available to advertisers and developers alike and seems like a promising idea if used properly.

“When the Red Bull team started using the MobileDemand tablet PCs, it started saving hours of time preparing for each race,” said HRB CEO Jim Thebeau. “And, the team found that it could capture and exchange critical race-related data in real-time, a move that enhanced race day decision making that could potentially help determine the outcome of a race.”

HRB logged hours of tape shot by MobileDemand owner Matt Miller and a technology industry partner to write print and video case study scripts. HRB partnered with MVP Visual Media Solutions of Cedar Rapids to edit the footage to make an engaging and fast-moving video case study on how the MobileDemand technology helped the Red Bull racing team. The goal was to tell a story by building buzz and third-party credibility about the xTablet Tablet PC.

MobileDemand’s rugged xTablet® T7000 PC is a mobile computer that replaces outdated data collection methods and speeds up decision-making processes for racing crews. It uses bar code scanning to help spotters, tire specialists and gasmen predict, record and automate data in real-time. The xTablet PC is also built to survive track temperatures reaching 138 degrees and being left out in the rain.

As the first NASCAR team to adopt this technology, Red Bull Racing believes it has inherited a unique competitive edge. “We’ve sped up the data flow probably more than a hundred fold,” said John Probst, Technical Director, Red Bull Racing. “The tire guys said the first weekend we had the tablets at the track it saved them 90 minutes just in sorting tires.”

The xTablet can:

• Run Windows 7 in a fully mobile PC environment
• Save 60 to 90 minutes before each race in putting tire sets together with its built-in barcode scanner
• Allow racing teams to set up their own secure wireless network with built-in WiFi
• Send data anywhere at any time with built-in cell phone receivers
• Turn notes into real-time data with handwriting recognition
• Stand up to the intense heat, dust, rain and other race condition hazards
• Withstand repeated abuse, such as multiple drops to concrete or asphalt
• And, most importantly, enable sharing critical, real-time data that speeds race-day decision making—potentially keeping vehicles & drivers out of harm’s way

As with most newly released technology, MobileDemand’s xTablet PC is already getting some serious attention from NASCAR officials. “You would not believe the interest we’ve had from the other teams wondering what we have, what we do with it,” said Chris Lambert, Spotter, Red Bull Racing. “NASCAR itself has looked at it with us. There is no keeping this a secret around the track.”

You can view the print and video case studies created by HRB on the MobileDemand Website.

Websites, too, “grow up.” They start as nothing more than a simple idea, but before long they’ve undergone hundreds of changes and blossomed into new versions under the guidance of their programmer’s hand. Is there a checklist to follow before you’re able to launch your Website for the “real world” to see and judge? How can you ever be sure that when you surrender your code to a client they’ll nurture and protect it to the best of their ability, that they’ll teach it new things and update it alongside the relentless tide of technological change?

The people that utilize the Websites I create aren’t always up-to-date on programming requirements, browser updates, how to fix a bug or even how to protect them from unwanted data. They hire HRB for our ability to teach them new skills and programs. This fall I’ll also venture into an unknown territory as a college freshman, but the difference is that I won’t know which source to turn to for guidance, let alone trust with my future well-being.

As a Web designer, I “parent” sites from birth to release. I’m always anxious about whether others will like my design, whether the site will find its niche on the Web and whether its content will be appreciated and celebrated by online users. It’s always scary to give it that final push, but when I do, I’m always confident that I endowed it with the tools it needs to succeed. I know that outside opinions and influences will inevitably shape each Website over time, but the foundation will remain the same.

I take pride in creating the foundations I’ve build for myself and the company during my time here, but I’m confident that HRB’s team members will continue to successfully “parent” our clients’ sites long after I’m gone. I trust that they’ll treat each programming task as if it’s the most important item on their daily checklist and that our clients will appreciate the end results of their work and dedication.

Like the Websites I create and release, I too am ready to enter the “real world.” Let the countdown begin!

The whole thing was quite humorous, what with the arm gymnastics and instant “aha!” moment that ensued, but it made me realize that language barriers can occur anywhere, at any time. They create one more professional hoop to jump through when communicating with coworkers and clients.

I used to think that language barriers mostly only occurred while traveling, probably because I’ve had my fair share of communication fails—like last February in Barcelona when I accidentally ordered something freakishly similar to a sea monster for lunch; my food had eyes, was covered in scales and maintained an uncanny ability to smile up at me despite its deceased state. It was so terrifying that one of my friends broke out in hives at the sight of it. The waiter noticed and was appalled by our reaction to his masterpiece. So, as a valid attempt to not further offend his restaurant, I ate the whole thing with a forced smile. Thankfully, the meal was served with wine.

Looking back on the experience it was rather amusing; but at the time it was totally mortifying. While I’d learned a few Spanish phrases before traveling there, I knew I wouldn’t really be able to navigate for myself and that I’d have to rely on Spanglish, miming or others for help when I needed to communicate.

Design jargon—even for those who share an office with Web designers—is comparable to a foreign language. It can sound unfathomably technical, complicated and even intimidating—especially if you’ve never had a need or a desire to learn it. It’s one thing for the designer to understand what’s what in design language, but it’s a bit unrealistic for the designer to speak it around non-designers and expect them to feel completely comfortable with the project parameters that you’ve collaboratively set.

I’ve noticed that when HRB Creatives present a design concept to clients, they drop the really technical design jargon unless it’s absolutely necessary. Instead, they stick to a more universal language that everyone can feel comfortable conversing in. I’m not talking about “dumbing it down”; I actually consider it a mark of humility when professionals don’t labor under the assumption that all parties involved fully understand design jargon.

Professionals encounter language barriers every day and it’s their job to communicate clear objectives to their coworkers and clients, not to impress upon them every bit of field-specific knowledge they’ve ever possessed. Think of it this way: it would be rather condescending to toss out a string of highfalutin terms, then stop and remark, “Oh, you don’t know what that means? Ah, well…” every few seconds while meeting with a client.  Wouldn’t you feel irritated if your doctor only addressed your questions with a bunch of medical terminology during an appointment? Or if you received an earful of computery gobbledygook during a visit from your Internet provider?

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You should never feel like you need a dictionary by your side to have a simple conversation with a professional; it’s also not enjoyable for professionals to have to translate every little detail into layman’s terms. As an intern, I’m picking up on this bilingual necessity. I’m learning that it’s important to strike a balance between professional and non-professional jargon and I’m getting a good feel for how each language is best suited for each situation. I’ve come to the conclusion that, though it’s strange to regard language barriers in this way, it never hurts to know how to overcome them in a professional setting.

The timeline above shows milestones in the mobile market and it’s clear this industry has come a long way since 1946. If the common trend in devices continues, the next mobile phone will be smaller, faster, more durable and more aesthetically appealing. It will also be more affordable and have a longer battery life. Advancements like these are predictable and don’t really add anything new to the average mobile phone’s repertoire, but they do make for a device that is more universally appealing to consumers.

Researchers have been trying things that might seem ridiculous at first. For example, there are prototype phones being developed that feature an embedded video projector. This would be valuable for businesses or general users who want to share presentations, photos and videos without having to huddle around a small screen. Another approach is to create a mobile device that can “push” content to any TV with this functionality (such as Google TV).

Still other researchers have been exploring augmented reality:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Services like these provide location-aware information such as points of interest (ie. restaurants) and social interactions (ie. Tweets & status updates). This video doesn’t really show that the augmented reality concept has branched off into other areas including photo sharing, games, and more. The only thing that the user needs to do is point their camera at what they’re interested in to see the information. Consider that the alternative is going to Google and getting results that may or may not be what you’re looking for. Augmented reality isn’t a new idea, but it has become much more feasible with devices that now have high quality cameras, fast processors, compasses, gyroscopes and highly-accurate GPS.

New ways of accessing/sharing entertainment & information will continue to be developed so that people will always be able to choose the method that they prefer the most. Documents were first written on stone until paper was invented, and now technology has made it so that our ideas can be accessed, shared, and collaborated on with anyone, anywhere, and at any time. The concept of storing & distributing information remains the same but the possibilities have been extrapolated so consumers are no longer restrained by arbitrary limitations.

At one point, the most common way of getting information about someone involved looking them up in a phone book. Now you can find information in half that time by using Google search and find out more about them via a social media marketing site like Facebook. Both website designers and hardware/software developers have been busy making sure that what they make works harder, faster, smarter and easier for the user so that they have the best experience possible.

Who knows? At today’s rate of innovation, something like this will probably be coming to your household sooner than you might think!

Here are five practices that I rely on whenever I find myself in a creative rut:

Quit Waiting Around

Don’t wait to be creative until the last minute. Rushed work in any form rarely achieves its most polished, complete state and it’s frustrating to freeze up when deadlines are tight. Besides, it never hurts to budget for an “off” day. Curb the creativity crisis by keeping a running list of ideas and research resources for inspiration—even if they are unrelated to the task at hand. Tear out magazine pages or find an organized way to archive Website pages, perhaps by using a bookmarks folder or a Website like Delicious. This type of filing system is great to fall back on when your creativity needs a jump-start.

Play Games

Thumb through a magazine and find a few designs that catch your eye, then conduct a brief, informal analysis of each piece. Ask yourself some questions to focus on the design concept: what initially captured your attention? What visual elements really accentuate the design and what would you have done differently? Consider what words come to mind when you see a particular image or image sequence and how they connect with the overarching message or campaign.

Go Online

Blog surf or seek out other Creatives on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Take the time to discover what other professionals in the creative industry are coming up with. Many artists showcase forms of inspiration via different Web services for both their personal and audiences’ benefit. Why not take a gander and see if some creativity results? Better yet, join the conversation! Designers are a very active online group and many use social media to market their products and raise brand awareness. Additionally, there are numerous blogs that teach, provide resources and offer inspiration. Get involved in a professional network to stay in tune with industry trends.

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Get Moving

Take a break from your workspace if desirable solutions aren’t coming fast enough. Get some exercise if you’re able to escape for a bit. Exercise improves cognition and gives you an energy boost that lasts for a couple of hours afterward. If you aren’t in the position to get away or simply do not have enough time, take a lap around the office or step outside for some fresh air.

Dare to Doodle

In the computer age, it’s often a million times easier and more aesthetically pleasing to draft ideas in Illustrator, Photoshop or InDesign rather than sketch things out by hand. But if you’re like me and often find yourself abusing the “apple + z” keyboard shortcut over minute imperfections, it might be a good move to switch things up. Unglue your eyes from your monitor and revert to the good old-fashioned way of working with a pen and some paper (See Steve Erickson’s blog post, “The Power of ‘Old Tech Knowledge“). Allow yourself to sketch whatever comes to mind and see what happens when you visually map out your ideas. You might just surprise yourself. 

We have some pretty sharp people who are helping our clients do more online with their budgets, and the added bonus is that these proposed tactics are measurable. Check out my previous blog post, “The Secret Power of Public Relations,” to see how your company’s employees can combine traditional and alternative marketing tactics to gain that competitive edge. Mashable has also compiled an excellent resource that’s worth checking out: “75+ Upcoming Social Media & Tech Events.”

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Sales training is another new service we’ve introduced. One of our clients recently asked for our help during their national sales conference and we sent our senior sales trainer to help their team overcome the objections that arise during their discussions with customers. You can review the five unique strategic advantages of HRB’s new GROWTH division in our GROWTH brochure.

Just a reminder: Our next FREE, live seminar—“Social Media Success Stories – Do You See Yourself Here?”—is next Wednesday, August 4. It will be presented by Jeff McEachron, HRB’s Senior Vice President and Director of Internet Operations, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Skywalk Group (205 2nd Avenue SE) in Cedar Rapids. We hope to see you there!

HRB is a full-service full-service advertising and Internet marketing agency in its 37^th year of business. The company, which has offices in Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities, builds brands and generates business through strategic planning for its clients.

The poll recognizes the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor’s “best of the best” and results are based on an extensive survey of the journal’s paid subscribers. The awards include categories for Best Insurance Agency, Best Golf Course, Best Place for a Business Lunch, Best Cultural Attraction and Best PR and Advertising Agency.

HRB President Steve Erickson said the changes HRB has made in the last year are focused on bringing greater value and return on investment to its clients.

“In 2009 we purchased a remarkable Web design, online marketing and social media firm that has brought real added value to our clients,” said Erickson. “And in February of this year we started our GROWTH Division, which offers clients five distinct values that our competitors do not offer, including a pay-for-performance option.”

My observation was that his experience became his most notable handicap. He eliminated vision and relied on historical practices. “Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke?” He never knew it was breaking. The engine still looked good from the driver’s seat.

I’ve been in this industry for 35 years. At the maturing age of 56, I’ve built a firm and successfully sold it for a tidy profit. But, judging by the death of my friend’s company and the shared struggles that drift in from other friends, it’s time for today’s operating agencies to take the hardest look in the mirror that they’ve ever taken.

Monster marketing trends are impacting our industry and it’s extremely important that we pay attention to them. And like most businesses I’ve worked with, the more successful an agency’s history, the more likely they are to ignore the need to rebundle themselves as their marketplace moves right out from underneath them.

Today’s marketing megatrends include the following:

a) An increasing devaluation of an agency’s creative and Web design roles as internal staff members assume some of those responsibilities;

b) An increasing demand from clients for agencies to participate in increasingly complex strategic growth plans;

c) A communication revolution of technology, message sending and message digestion that lends itself to a confusing array of what Web services and traditional marketing tactics might still work;

d) A global marketing expansion that brings new external and internal environments to client companies, each accompanied by new challenges in people, product, pricing, packaging, positioning and most notably, performance;

e) A substantial movement in the marketplace of buyers and prospects as shifting populations, economies and technologies continue to change who a client’s customers might be;

f) A growing demand for more accountability of agencies’ work; and

g) A huge move from mass marketing controlled by message sender to relationship-based marketing controlled by message recipient.

As such, agencies’ roles are rapidly changing. Traditional and creative values—while still a very high expectation—are no longer the only aspects included in today’s successful communication campaigns. Our clients are asking for MORE, not less. They’re asking for complex proposals that include a delicate mix of traditional media, emerging media and creative design elements.

Realizing these needs, we’ve decided to “rebundle” our own brand to not only set an example for our clients but also showcase our awareness of such trends. To lead the charge into change, HRB recently leaned up our core historical staff to reflect marketplace trends. We’ve hired a number of younger, hands-on innovators who can utilize Facebook, Twitter, SEO, Internet marketing, e-mail marketing, blogs, mobile marketing and all other “new” and “emerging” communications channels into an effective marketing campaign. We’ve also started a division called Growth, wherein new client relationships are born by establishing a measurable growth goal, conducting exhaustive research and contemplative analysis and concluding with a written strategic growth plan that entails all things “sales” and all things “marketing.”

The frosting on the cake is that HRB now offers its clients a pay-for-performance reimbursement relationship should they choose to participate in goal-based, long-term strategic planning. This is NOT just another service; it’s a complete rebundling of who HRB is and what it offers its clientele. It doesn’t get any bolder than that.

Feedback from the clients who have jumped at the opportunity to develop a comprehensive sales and marketing growth plan are heralding the new approach. “We were once just a middle-of-the-road player in our industry,” said one HRB client. “Writing and following a strategic growth plan has steadily moved us to a leadership position within our industry. The directness, the honesty and the outside perspective that HRB has bundled into a methodical plan has tremendous value.”

The most noted value, according to clients, is the powerful understanding of agency principals that allow their business to grow and profit. They have products to sell and they are now utilizing an impressive array of sales and marketing forces that can make them a powerful client ally. And remember, where value trades hands, so should money.

There’s no better reason to reflect on what your agency is offering and what difference those offerings are making to your bottom line.

But what if we could break down the process to just four recurring steps?

Years ago, Edward Deming considered this challenge and popularized the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle (incidentally, he was also the creator of the Red Bead Experiment, a topic I covered in my last blog post). Its principle is simple: break every process into four simple steps that can be repeated until the goal is achieved.

Plan: Survey your objective. How will you achieve it? What will you do to get closer to it?
Do: Act on your plan.
Check: What happened when you acted? Did you achieve the right results? If not, how close were you and how can you improve your action to get closer?
Act: Act on your checking. Correct any steps that are pulling you away from your goal and refine those which are bringing you closer.

This cycle seems like common sense, but all too often we forget the simple steps because we’re so focused on the bottom line. Since joining the advertising industry, I’ve quickly realized that if I can simplify any programming process I’ll not only save my company and our clients time and money, but secure peace of mind for myself.

Recently I wrote a very large, very complex program for a client and upon doing so I found myself struggling with a code bug. I went back through my work and commented out various sections of the client’s Website to assess their effect. I quickly became frustrated because nothing I was commenting out changed the output.

Then I started commenting out whole files at a time, trying to find the one which caused the error. When I did find it, I realized I still had a 300-line file to work with, which references other files and calls external functions. Yet again, I began to comment out various sections…

Consider the above example in terms of the PDCA cycle. I was using it—planning (searching for the error), doing (commenting the errors out), checking (did I get rid of the error?) and acting (commenting out other sections of the Website code). Why didn’t I consider the PDCA cycle in the first place when I wrote this code?

Instead of writing this complex program all at once and then testing it as a whole, I should have began with small segments of code and tested them individually to see if they worked before I proceeded. Instead, I left myself with a huge program to debug, several segments of which were troublesome and led to other problems that took precious business hours to pinpoint.

The PDCA cycle’s benefit really shows when it’s used at every level of the Website development process—not just the beginning few stages. It definitely doesn’t look as threatening when put in terms of this cycle. The site needs to be laid out. As part of the layout, different designs must be drawn up for selection by the client. Within those sites, a color scheme should be chosen. Images should be selected and a general navigation hierarchy established. Down to the nuts and bolts of the formatting process, each one of these steps can be broken up and the same can be said of the content writing, keyword research and search engine optimization tasks.

This cycle is applicable to all parts of a marketing operation and, in fact, to life in general. Lots of fixable, small bugs are in fact much better than one large, perplexing one. Break things down. Don’t get lost in the confusion. Real bugs are enough to worry about.

The world's first commercially available mobile phone. The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X cost $3,995 when it was released in 1983.

Mobile devices have been around for quite awhile now, but they’ve become incrementally more advanced and affordable since they were first introduced in 1983. From heavy Motorola models to today’s lightweight smart phones, how has the customer base changed over the years and what are their expectations for future mobile devices?

Innovators were willing to pay the expensive price for the service in big cities so that they could be reached at all times. Everyone wanted these devices to be more portable in addition to being affordable and have reception anywhere they may be. So the next decade was spent addressing those primary areas. Being able to contact someone anywhere at anytime was such a powerful idea that today we still see phones being sold where the features include nothing more than being able to call and/or text someone.

IBM brought us the first commercially available “smart phone” in 1994 called the “Simon,” which cost $899. This device paired the traditional cellphone with applications so that people would also have their calendar, address book, world clock, calculator, notes, email and a few games accessible anywhere at anytime. The Simon had a limited feature set, was slow and wasn’t easy or quick to use, so people knew that this was only the jumping-off point for things to come.

Look at the list of applications available for the Simon, and think of any additional capabilities you’d want a phone to have (other than make you a sandwich…that falls under robotics). Now, consider that the modern smart phone has had sixteen years of development time since the Simon. Many people don’t see the modern smart phone being any more capable than the IBM Simon, or at least they might not utilize it to it’s full potential.

Before the release of Motorola’s Blackberry brand, the hype over most technology advancements mattered only to businessmen and technology enthusiasts. The term “smart phone” became synonymous with BlackBerry, even though the only added benefit of this model was the Wi-fi email access at all times. Then Apple released the iPhone.

Recently a group of students were asked, “How many of your parents use a smart phone?” Nobody raised their hand. Then they were asked, “How many of your parents have an iPhone?” and two-thirds of the students raise their hands. The iPhone broke out of the the limited feature set/target audience that people have come to know “smart phones” by.

The iPhone was on to something. They combined the smart phone with the iPod, and the popularity of the iPod at the time brought over it’s userbase by the thousands. What differentiated the iPhone was that it did nearly everything that the BlackBerry could do but in a way that was quicker, easier to use and more aesthetically-pleasing.

The design might resemble the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but we're the ones filling it with information.

This wasn’t enough, though, because the first iPhone was initially limited to the applications that came with it. Apple launched the App Store two years ago and since that time it has served up over 3 billion downloads. The capability of the smart phone then became matter of the developer’s imagination. The iPhone 4 now includes a gyroscope that none of Apple’s apps actually take advantage of, and was added purely to provide more capabilities to app developers. This booming active user base and strong manufacturer support means that if users want it, Web developers will make and monetize it. It’s great to see that this isn’t a one-horse race either, because Android-based phone sales have been quite lucrative and also have an active app store.

Over the span of 27 years, we have seen mobile phones become more affordable, more reliable and more enjoyable to use. Most people, myself included, now find themselves with all their notes, email, contacts, voicemail, unread/saved news articles, etc. available from a phone, computer and any Web browser that then pushes any change made on one device out to everything else. The smart phone went from being able to contact someone anywhere at anytime with a cell phone to being able to do anything anywhere at anytime with any device. It has created an always-connected world for those with these devices.

Of course, it always helps to surround yourself with inspirational assortments like books, magazines and nifty mailers (I’ve caught onto the trend set by my fellow Creatives, marked by a sizable stack of these things on my desk). Sometimes, though, a fun diversion in the workplace is a necessary way to boost morale and productivity. Now that I’ve worked in creative internships throughout Iowa and Europe I’ve realized a noticeable difference between the pace of work in the states versus abroad. But despite the differences in culture and time zones, I noticed that all the companies I worked for shared an important fundamental quality: the ability to balance work and play.

In England and many places throughout Europe tasks are completed in a more relaxed, leisurely manner.  There are breaks for tea or coffee several times throughout the day, lunch isn’t consumed while hunched over a keyboard and a noticeable amount of effort is put into socializing with clients and colleagues during business hours. Work is a top priority among Europeans but it’s certainly not regarded as a “be-all, end-all” indication of a person’s success in life.

On the contrary, office culture in America is more spontaneous, industrious and deadline-driven. Emails are answered promptly—usually within 15 minutes if not a couple of hours after landing in someone’s inbox. It’s common and encouraged for employees to work 40+ hours per week  (especially in today’s economy) and most people don’t take more than a couple weeks of vacation time per year. The dull moments are numbered because you’re immersed in multiple projects. The days breeze by and you generally leave work feeling rather accomplished.

Still, I wonder: Are Americans driven by their own personal business goals? And how do they continuously manage to invest so much time and energy into their careers without growing exhausted?

I’m not sure I have an answer to that question, but I do know the HRB staff is one hardworking group of professionals. Every day they participate in countless meetings and relentlessly pick each others’ brains for fresh approaches to advertising, media and public relations concepts. They’re not always happy with a final design, timeline or budget but they always put their best foot forward and do it with a smile. Between those conference calls and long hours stationed in front of the computer screen witty banter is almost a necessity. On most days witty banter can be heard across the office, and on occasion, a speeding race car or life-size palm tree can be seen weaving in and out of cubicles—usually tailed by the honorary office dog, Alex (courtesy of Steve Erickson).

Aside from the superb experience that I’m getting as an intern, I look forward to coming into work largely because of my company’s good-natured people and fun creative environment. There’s no telling what diversion might zoom into my cubicle next, but when it does, it’s sure to be greeted with a hearty laugh and lifted mood.

YouTube’s New Video Editor

With the launch of YouTube’s Web-based video editor, are we about to witness a hyper acceleration in consumer-generated media? Perhaps, but we’re not making any promises. As part of a broader push to empower even more online content creators, YouTube’s lead engineer Rushabh Doshi and product manager Josh Siegel created a video editor that will eventually include transitions, effects, title screens and audio layers. “It’s going to be a huge deal for anyone who uploads to YouTube on a semi-regular basis,” said Techcrunch.

Cinema Advertising Industry Revenues Increase by 2%

For anyone considering buying spots on cinema screens, you may be in good company. According to The Cinema Advertising Council (CAC), total advertising revenues for CAC members—which account for more than 82% of the 38,794 people who purchase U.S. movie screens—grew by nearly 2% to $584,067,000 in 2009 as compared to a total of $571,421,000 in 2008. This is despite a year that saw spending in other traditional media decrease significantly. The growth seems to be directly attributable to the number of blockbuster films released in the past year. Read about Cinema Advertising revenues.

Paid Search Leads Global Online Advertising

According to a study by MAGNAGLOBAL, a division of IPG’s Mediabrands, paid search has quickly become the most important component of online advertising. In 2010 this segment will account for $29.8 billion of total revenue, a substantial increase of 16.5% over 2009 totals on a constant currency basis. Although Google is the current global leader in paid search, all other online advertising—which is much more diffused with a handful of global portals, such as Yahoo and Microsoft—will account for $31.2 billion of total revenue. Read the full story on paid search by Jack Loechner of MediaPost Publications.

E-mail Marketing Still the Workhorse

We marketers are living in a revolutionary age where technology, customer expectations and an explosion of new communication channels are transforming virtually everything—from the way we do our job to our roles in our company’s success. While some employees tout e-mail as one of the more “boring” methods of communication, it has actually served as an important tool for today’s new marketing model. Here are two marketing trend examples from MediaPost that justify the relevance and vitality of e-mail marketing campaigns.

Speedier Calls to Leads Means More Conversions

When I read this study conducted by lead management company, Leads360, all I could think was WOW. According to BtoB magazine online, the study—which assessed some 20 million Internet-generated leads among its clients—reported that sales leads called within 60 seconds of being first generated online showed a fourfold (391%) advantage over average conversion rates. Leads called within 24 hours were still 17% more likely to convert than those that were not called, and 88% of leads that eventually convert were called within the first 24 hours. Impressive, to say the least.

This may be attributed to society’s growing reliance on mobile text messaging, automatic spell check and short-handed emails…but are these tools serving less as guides and more as crutches?

The other night I was in a heated Scrabble match with my dad and younger sister when I snatched up a triple word score with the word ‘feign’…except I accidently spelled it “fein,” and was given a tremendous amount of grief for it.  Embarrassed, I blamed it on the fact that this summer I’m not taking college classes,thus I haven’t had any weekly paper assignments to help me practice my spelling skills.  My dad attributed my mistake to my constant use of programs with automatic spelling. I think he was right.

Our yew shore you’re spell check is write?

Have you ever noticed that spell check pinpoints incorrect words and sentences, but misses more pertinent mistakes like the difference between “insure” and “ensure,” “flew” and “flu” or “to” and “too”? Yes, even spell check can be wrong—really, really wrong.

Can you imagine being this tattoo artist? It’s a careless mistake—one that spell check could easily make—but this time it can’t be deleted at the press of a button. Furthermore, put yourself in the client’s shoes: tattoos are decently painful, sometimes pricey and essentially permanent. Now Ms. Sweet Pee has your idiocy inked on her back and 800 of her closest Facebook friends and Twitter followers are about to hear all about it. Big whoops.

Ink responsibly: Watch your back

Whether you are a journalist, designer, public relations executive or somewhere in between, the ability to write well and communicate clearly to others is a valued skill in almost every profession. You are so much more credible, marketable and interesting if you can write in addition to your usual line of work.

Writing also serves as a great way to share your expertise, gain brand exposure and build a professional or personal community, but it has to be done right. In other words, don’t bother sending that quick e-mail or posting that blog update without proofreading your work. Considering the tremendous amount of time, energy and expertise invested in your title and your business, taking the time to review your work is a crucial step that shouldn’t be ignored.

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In this day and age, everyone is an author of some sort and it is usually by means of various Web services. It’s becoming more and more popular for professionals and businesses from all sorts of backgrounds to blog, generate regular newsletters and host seminars as they constantly search for new ways to engage their audiences. Regardless of your professional role, the importance of knowing which witch is which is likely to spring up at some point in time.

Always watch your back, otherwise your brand’s credibility could be at stake…or worse, wrongly tattooed.

The Red Bead Experiment

A large box was filled with 80% red and 20% white beads, with the red beads representing defects. Each “worker” dipped a paddle with fifty bead-sized depressions into the box and carried his or her day’s “work” to the “supervisors,” who would count and record it. The fewer “defects” produced, the “better’” the worker.

Of course, the number of white beads collected varied from worker to worker in the experiment simply due to blind chance. Nonetheless, this number was the basis on which “workers” were rated.

The Red Bead Experiment is showcased as a prime example of bad management, or management which holds workers responsible for variables they have no control over while using these variables to rank them. Advertising agencies, public relations specialists and Web design firms have employees like any other Deming-age business. Though the guidelines of success are not as clear-cut as those of Deming’s experiment, results can still be observed: added clients, happy clients, increased Website traffic, higher employee satisfaction, etc.

Agencies, however, have something that those box-scooping employees didn’t: teamwork. Results are based on the power of entire agency or group collaboration and not simply a single person doing a single task. The dynamics of human relationships come into play much more. The lesson of better can therefore be more effectively applied to the judgment of products and services.  After all, isn’t the Deming lesson exactly what we tell businesses regarding their products? It’s difficult to simply place an ad in the paper stating that a product is better or newer and be successful. People tire of seeing these overused phrases and are likely to breeze right by them.

Since there was only one factor used to rank the workers in Deming’s experiment, the term “better” could really only be defined in one way for them. HRB, on the other hand, asks its clients to pinpoint what makes their brand, product and/or service unique among their competitors. We ask them to find what separates their offerings from their competitors’ offerings in a way that their target audience or customer base will not only want to research their brand, product or services, but they will actually use and value them over a long span of time. (Check out HRB’s diverse portfolio or our client testimonials page to see what we’re talking about here.)

This is what is enticing to HRB’s potential customers. “Better” is an arbitrary distinction which has essentially no meaning unless coupled with more specific information. Statistics–such as so-and-so employee having “10 fewer red beads than the leading collector”–will also quickly prove themselves unreliable. Chances are, the next time the paddles scoop the defects will even out.

This is useful when making decisions about what other agencies or products to trust in, as well as making your own company more credible. In Deming’s experiment, just because there were more red beads collected did not make the collector any worse; it simply meant he had the unfortunate luck of gathering more on that particular scoop. In the same vein, agencies and products cannot be trusted based on a single statistic or a reference to better. Great marketing and branding decisions result from an investigation into the factors your business finds significant.

Take a moment and examine your ’system’: does it highlight what is unique about your product with solid reasoning? Do you examine carefully claims made by those you may trust in the future? If not, you may be living in a Deming-age model. Take the necessary steps to make sure that you aren’t representing your brand with arbitrary factor and that you don’t rely on them to make your marketing decisions. Otherwise, your “better” scooper may turn out to be just an average, lucky guy.

There’s also WebGL support included in the beta, but it isn’t enabled by default due to the fact that it’s still the development stage. WebGL provides Web designers access to utilize users’ graphics cards, which show an advanced graphic presentation (3d, intricate animations, displaying and managing a large number of images at once, etc). It is also a sister-project to OpenGL, one of the most widely used technologies for game graphics.

What’s more, a group of people at Google came together and actually ported Quake 2 to WebGL so that it can be run within your Web browser. This is a nice touch, considering the multi-player focus of the game. Users can now go to a Website (even if it’s their first time there), click play and start competing with other players over the Internet.

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Mozilla’s biggest concern is whether the public will appreciate its new user interface, which is comparable to the current interface of its competitor, Google Chrome. Realizing that some users may favor Firefox’s traditional interface, they’ve included preferences that allow people to change the layout back to the way it was before the update. This is a smart decision because it shows they’ve done their research ahead of time and value the needs of both their present and future users.

Mock-ups for the new user interface were shown back in September of last year. So how could something that seems so simple take over half a year to tweak? They’ve spent some serious time preparing answers to such questions, as the following video will show:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Firefox 4 beta is publicly available for download at their Website. Remember that it’s a beta version when you try it out, because the new user interface is the most fully-realized for Windows users. For all you Mac and Linux users, you’ll have to wait a little longer until the team gets feedback from the Windows beta testers.

Google Voice is a free phone service with the exception of international calls. It allows customers to register one number to ring them anywhere and get transcribed messages to their email inbox. Plus, the sign-up process is surprisingly simple considering the complexity of what’s going on behind the scenes.

Based on my own experience, I’ve outlined a  simple 5-step guide to follow for account setup:

1) Visit google.com/voice

2) Sign in with your Google account log-in and password

3) Choose a single phone number to have your calls forwarded to (you can use your existing phone number if you prefer)

4) Enter your current phone number so Google can call that phone and send you a 2-digit verification code

5) Enter the 2-digit verification code you receive to verify it’s the correct number

This might seem like a lot of steps to take but it took me less than ten minutes to set up my Google Voice account for my home and mobile phone numbers. Google guides you through the process so you understand why they’re having you do any particular step. I spent an additional half hour or so going through the various features and settings and getting things working to my specifications.

What benefits does Google Voice actually offer?

Check out their answers  in the brief video below. If you’re still curious, you can also view individual videos for the most popular Google Voice Features.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Google Voice can help someone that works directly with clients by giving out one phone number and assign various contacts to different groups. For example, you might have a group of contacts for your co-workers, clients, friends and/or family. Each group would be able to have a different set of phones to ring at various times, a different voicemail message and the option for a call to go directly to voicemail (which is a nice feature to have for a “blacklist” group).

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There was a moment of controversy when Google tried to submit their Google Voice app to Apple so that iPhone users could use the service. Apple ended up rejecting the application’s submission to its App Store. This led people to believe that AT&T had some part in making that decision, while others claimed that Apple was trying to impede on Google’s growing user base. Nobody is certain as to who made the final decision to approve the application or not, but Google knew that they needed to make this service available to iPhone users.

Google ended up writing the phone application so it could be accessed through a Web browser. iPhone users can now access their web service by going to google.com/voice and they are given access to all of the features that they’d expect from the native application that Apple rejected. There’s no way to block access to this due to the fact that it’s just a website and Apple can’t block Internet content under their existing terms of service (there would be an absolutely massive opposition if they were to start filtering users’ Internet access). What makes this so great is that Google programmed their Website design to make it look and act like a native iPhone application would.

My suggestion? Check this out. Even if you decide not to use this service, you’ll be ahead of the trend.

The other day  my co-workers and I were walking to Jimmy John’s when we happened to catch a glimpse of a strange scene inside the neighboring Cold Stone Creamery

While he flailed and wailed, the baby’s grandmother met our gaze with one of those looks only a Grandma gives. It went something like, ‘Are you staring at my grandson? Nope, didn’t THINK so.’ We laughed ourselves silly at her serious demeanor and decided this encounter would make a great blog subject.

What, however, can one compare a squirming baby to in an office atmosphere? Is camaraderie essential to workplace productivity or does it prevent employees from getting the job done?

Consider the following analogies…

Office Analogy 1: Squirming babies are like programming bugs. They’re annoying, but you can’t ignore them because doing so will initiate a domino effect of problems later on—for your client, your brand and your reputation.

How Camaraderie Can Solve This Challenge: Address any programming issues as soon as they come to your attention. This will alleviate unnecessary stress and show your clients your employees are capable of resolving even the most minor Website issues quickly and efficiently.

Office Analogy 2: Squirming babies are like clients. They’re curious, they always have questions and they like to try new things. Treat every client with respect and make their concerns your #1 priority. Keep an open mind and approach research and branding challenges with an open mind.

How Camaraderie Can Solve This Challenge: Ask your coworkers for help if you can’t address a client concern immediately, don’t know an answer to a question or can’t finish a task by deadline. Working as team members rather than as “coworkers” will demonstrate your company’s ability to engage all employees working on an account. It will also help inspire greater ideas and greater results.

Office Analogy 3: Squirming babies are like contracts. Clients often like to negotiate. They’re looking for the best deal for the best results and they the relationship is usually on their terms. They’re certainly not afraid to seek out your enemies to get that extra attention.

How Camaraderie Can Solve This Challenge: If clients want to negotiate a contract, work with them to meet their budget or project needs. Confer with all parties who will be working on the client’s campaign and make sure all employees are “on the same page” before presenting a proposal or contract amendment. Show them a little SEO love by writing a news release about them and posting it on your company’s Website. Every client has different needs but they all require special attention.

Office Analogy 4: Squirming babies are like coworkers. Sharing a cubicle or office with a loud coworker might be uncomfortable. It’s unrealistic to think you’re going to like every person at your company (or in life).

How Camaraderie Can Solve This Challenge: Instead of complaining about your coworker, build a relationship with them by inviting them out to lunch. Life at the office will be much more enjoyable if you try to get to know your coworkers on a personal level as well as on a professional level. As Carl Jung once said, “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” Work towards understanding your coworkers so you can better understand your own habits and attitudes and ultimately create an atmosphere that you enjoy being a part of on a daily basis.

Well…you get the point!

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I think the best lesson to be learned from the squirming baby analogy is that camaraderie can produce some lasting results in terms of your creativity, work ethic and productivity on the job. It’s essential when you’re working on a long proposal, stuck in a two-hour phone conference or debugging a thousand-line program. It’s truly all about approach and attitude.

HRB is living proof of the power of camaraderie. In my opinion, the seemingly insignificant daily bonding activities—like observing a squirming baby on a lunch break—don’t detract from workplace productivity. They actually enhance it because they enable me to relax and focus when I return to the office. Not only do I enjoy coming to work every day, but I am constantly inspired by interactions with my coworkers—both in an outside our humble building in Cedar Rapids. If it weren’t for them, my blog post this week would definitely have been a lot more boring!

When I started as a Creative Intern at HRB, I never dreamed I’d be conveying my ideas about projects in client meetings. Lately I have spent much of my time working alongside our Creative Director, Steve Erickson, to plan the re-branding campaigns for a few local businesses’ Websites. It’s been an exciting and challenging opportunity to contribute to these projects and I appreciate and respect our clients’ demand for attention to details.

In my college graphic design classes we’re almost always acting as our own clients—the design is arbitrary, there aren’t existing brand images to maintain or grow and our project themes generally can’t stand on their own. We’re constantly learning about typography, identity systems and the ins-and-outs of the Adobe Creative Suite. There’s not much in the syllabus about how to run a client meeting, convert a company’s vision into an umbrella campaign or craftily package Chex Mix in Pilsner glasses.

At HRB I’m lucky enough to work under some very talented professionals and learn a great deal about all of these things. Perhaps the most important concept I’ve taken away from the client meetings I’ve been involved in is that we want our clients to be proud of the way we’ve helped them grow their brands. We want them to trust our ideas and become excited about what the future may bring—new customers, higher sales, greater brand recognition or even the ability to hire more employees as the company grows. No two brands are alike and it’s extremely important that the ideas we present to our clients are personal and memorable.

Having the opportunity to take a crack at Website design has been especially rewarding. For one, it’s great portfolio material and experience outside of the classroom. It also enables me to be involved with an advertising project throughout the majority of its phases, including the challenge of learning how to think like our clients’ clients. Some questions to consider in the design process might be: Who is this company’s primary audience?  What’s the best way to call visitors to action? What are people looking for when they visit this Website? In what ways would this company want to be reached?  What types of social media will be enabled and how will these page designs stay fresh and keep up with Internet Marketing trends?

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This is where the “form follows function” concept comes into play. A Website design doesn’t have to be dull, ugly or harsh—but it does have to test the flexibility of your creative muscles. Your designs might not always be exactly what the client anticipated—they could love them at first sight, or they may go through numerous rounds of revision. But at the end of the day they need to accomplish your clients’ goals. Encouraging your clients to “think outside the box” and stray from their own visions and opinions may not only push them out of their comfort zones—helping them achieve an unexpected and outstanding result—but also solidify your own company as a competent and unique force among local and national competitors.

A couple of hours later, the same situation presented itself again. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. The ducks flew within range and my dad said, “Now!” I quickly point the gun, flipped the safety off, and pulled the trigger. I missed. I pointed again, and pulled the trigger again. I missed a second time. The ducks flew out of range.

Frustrated, I looked over at my dad who sat there smiling once again. He said, “Son, in order to shoot a duck you have to aim ahead of them. If you aim directly at them, you’ll always miss because your BB’s will end up where the duck WAS rather than where it IS. You have to lead the duck.”

There were no more chances that day, but I learned three lessons I’ll never forget.

1. To be successful, you have to turn off the safety before you pull the trigger.

2. You have to lead the duck. You can’t shoot for where your target is today, you have to aim where they are going.

3. My dad couldn’t do it for me. In order to be successful, I had to learn the mechanics and pull the trigger myself.

Hopefully, you’ve spent the last few years leading the duck. If you have, then here’s where you should be:

• You should have an effective website design that turns a percentage of visitors into new business opportunities or sales.
• You should have a blog or news section that keeps your audience informed and positions you as an expert in your industry.
• You should have a social media marketing presence that delivers your message where and how your audience wants to receive it.
• You should have an email marketing process and system in place that is very easy to maintain and predictable for your audience.

In a recent speech, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said, “Mobile is the hottest area of computer technology…The smartest developers now are writing apps for mobile devices before they write for Windows or Apple Mac desktop operating systems.”

Have you started to think about how you can make the best use of mobile technology to offer a new service or to better communicate with your audience, or are you still sitting with your safety on and pointing your gun at the duck?

My dad was an amazing duck hunter. I can’t remember a time he pulled the trigger and didn’t hit his target. He had the mechanics down pat. He was patient, but he was also very decisive and accurate when the time came. I would encourage everyone to be a little more like my dad. Be patient, but know when and how to be decisive and accurate. Make sure you have the pieces in place, and start thinking about pulling the trigger on your mobile marketing plan.

But what about advertising agencies?

Agencies are bombarded by articles and emails proclaiming that 21% more women now use Facebook, that Social Media Site A is 2% more effective than Social Media Site B or that 57.68 out of 100 of our customers think Twitter is relevant in this day and age.

It’s not fair to say that these statistics are biased because of funding or the pushing of a product. However, it is fair to say that each marketing situation is different and deserves different considerations. Social Media Site A is not always better than Social Media Site B, or vice versa, and more of our target audience does not always use it. General statistics are not applicable in every situation. Agencies must be careful in what they, too, rely on.

Too many businesses think that data gathering and collection is as simple as handing out surveys. In actuality, a lot of work goes into deciding who to survey in a way that will be representative of their target audience. Agency executives have a lot of questions to consider. Some of these questions include:

- Will the phrasing of the questions prompt a certain answer?

- Do the people who don’t respond to the survey share something in common (such as the lack of an e-mail address) which would cause the results to be biased?

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Knowing the target audience is paramount to success. There is no room for major bias in data collection when an entire marketing plan may depend on survey results.

Data representation is also critical. It’s really about showing the customer something they can count on. Healthy companies do not manipulate their data, because their pure results stand by themselves. At the same time, its use can be tricky enough that unintentional manipulation can occur. Say a company whose product produced results that were twice as good as another product decides to represent this in 3D. Therefore, the picture is twice as wide as well – valid perhaps, but creating the illusion that the company’s product gives a result which is four times better than its competitors. What happens, then, when buyers expect more than they get? In the end it’s the customer who is disappointed.

As an advertising agency, our clients may rely on us as data providers as well. We are responsible for accurately gathering and representing our clients’ statistics. We must share them in ways that are informative and not misleading. We must provide accurate samples of demographics, usage statistics and customer opinion to eliminate bias.

The end goal is to not misrepresent your company and to not let your company be misrepresented. It can be difficult for businesses to know what to trust, especially when they do not have professional data collection and interpretation services. After all, 73.58% of statistics are invented.