This is my third series of the year in which I address a very general and sometimes misunderstood term. The first series was on design, the one before this one was on branding and now I wish to address the subject of marketing and it’s many aspects. Marketing can conjure up some interesting, sometimes negative or at the least misunderstood feeling or impressions.

I started to touch on the subject in the branding series because the two can be intertwined in many ways. Our clients want to use the most innovative and effective ways to showcase their business and products and this is done through integrated marketing communications.

Marketing however is not a one size fits all solution. Different companies have different marketing needs and we will address them in this series. The following is a list of what I plan on covering in the days ahead;

1. Your Marketing Plan
2. Public Relations
3. Advertising
4. Branding
5. Customer Relationship Management
6. Direct Marketing
7. Internet Marketing
8. Search Engine Optimization
9. Buzz Marketing
10. Evangelism Marketing

This series will give you a firmer understanding of marketing and how it can help your company succeed in both great and difficult economic times. In the series I may give example targeted to our local markets, Greenville, SC or Upstate, SC in general but you should be able to apply these principles anyway with minor adjustments.

Ever now and then something finally clicks. For quite some time I have been thinking about the term, innovation as it seems to be one of the big buzzwords going around in the business world. At the same time I have also been extremely bothered by the the lack of commitment to optimization in the areas of design, programming and media in general. The term optimization doesn’t sound very exciting but when you are talking about true innovation it’s my opinion that it’s all about optimization instead of change for the sake of change.  In the world of sports and in particular, racing it’s about optimization, how the engine can be fine tuned, how much weight can be removed, etc.

Why do we seek innovation? We seek innovation to make our lives and business more productive. A bigger bang for the buck if you will. One of my companies products is web site design and often I hear the phrase from potential customers, “We need to redesign our web site.” That may be true but if your desire for a new or redesigned web site is to just look cool then I recommend you take a little more time to think about the reason for the change. Obviously a site should be considered for redesign if;

• It need a way for content creators to add new information to the site
• Update security
• Usability issues (are people have a hard time navigating your site, etc?)
• Optimizing images - (I see way too many sites created with “cookie-cutter” programs that don’t optimize the images for faster downloads, etc.
• Search engine optimization
• Consistent branding - does your web site match your companies or organizations other marketing materials?

If you are going to get your site redesigned I would definitely talk to you about the above topics as well.
This post was targeted to web site design but I could probably name just about any other product line or service. Can you share some examples of products or services that have changed but didn’t really optimize and thus were truly innovative even though it was marketed as “New and Improved”? I’m a little tired of hear innovation as a buzzword for “new stuff” but rarely is the conversation mentioning how products and services can be optimized. What’s your take?

For some reason my original post disappeared into the “ether” so apologies to subscribers to my RSS feed.

During the past year portable media has become more and more mainstream. More people are using digital cameras, smart phones and internet tablets as well as the somewhat portable but not pocketable, laptop computer.

And while not officially consider “portable media” I still consider small print items like business cards, bookmarks and some brochures to be a form of portable media.

Late in 2007 also saw the introduction of the Kindle, a portable digital book reader that also has Internet connectivity for limited purposes.

I bought my iPhone to combine telephone and iPod listening but interestingly enough I use it a lot for sharing digital photos with friends and family as well as quickly accessing information on the Internet like weather, news, e-mail and facts not known by people in a conversation. I’ve even been know to use it in church for the large text options and multiple translations available online via iBiblespace.org but don’t tell anyone.

I hope to purchase and work with other portable media devices for business purposes in the year ahead. What do you value the most when it comes to portable media and what would like to see improved in 2008 to make portable media of more value?