Real-time Marketing Strategy

One of the first presentations I found interesting was on Real-time Marketing Strategy. It said being good at marketing now doesn’t mean you need a big, concrete plan. Instead, companies need to have a playbook filled options of things to do. You can then adapt to any set of criteria instead of doing only a few specific things.

We learned we need to produce content at lightning speed and be completely nimble about getting it out there in all the different mediums. Of all the communication channels, email is STILL the most important and valuable wayto share information. Facebook is second and Twitter third.

Business Startups

Another session was on startups and it gave some valuable advice. The main message was to find a way to keep momentum, and always have something new and exciting to say, even if it’s small.  They said to isolate the minimum viable product and go to market with that; nobody ever became big by being comprehensive.

Figure out what it is people want, and create a story around that.  It will make it so much easier for customers and press to understand. The absolute highest priority should be customer
acquisition.  Find a way to get people passionate about your product and to build a community around it.

Metrics-Driven Design

Still another session focused on metrics-driven design. It talked about how the most important thing to measure is daily active users, followed by time on site and frequency. What is considered least important may surprise you since it used to be considered most important, and that is page views and visits.

It’s all about engagement, not just number of people looking at your site. Conversion isn’t just visitors to purchasers, but also tryers to buyers (if you have a product that will allow a trial).

Guy Kawasaki

And of course a fan favorite, Guy Kawasaki, did a great presentation on Enchantment: Becoming likeable and trustworthy.  While some of his pointers could be considered common-sense, like smiling and perfecting your handshake, others really gave us something to think about.  Our hope is to continue to show our customers that we are trustworthy and provide work above and beyond what they expect.

Contrary to this little guy's blue appearance, that was one tasty cake.  Half vanilla and half chocolate.  Don't mind if I do!

Chris even made a surprise appearance at our impromptue awards ceremony.  And a big congratulations to Jessica for winning the 2008 March Madness bracket challenge.  Your prize is DEFINITELY worth the wait.

Lauren enjoying her watermelon cookie.  Yum!

I don't care how smart this concept may be, this is so NOT okay.

Spotted:  Jeff Jarvis (Creator of Entertainment Weekly)

Doesn't this look so fun?!  Wish you were here.

Notes from Guy Kawaski's presentation.

Nothing beats a Saturday afternoon at Iron Cactus on 6th street.

Justin's favorite part of SXSW: party at the HP Mobile Park.

Everybody loves Chomp the Hipmunk. 

Flash Content vs the iPhone

With HTML 5 on the horizon, we were surprised to learn in an informal poll in a panel entitled “Flash is Dead! Long Live Flash!” that 90% of the attendees “like Flash” compared to only 10% in the audience who “hated Flash.” Although mobile devices are driving developers to strip out multimedia content, the satisfaction people get from a rich media experience isn’t going anywhere, and, if anything, we as developers have to gear ourselves toward developing targeted content for each platform.


Gaming is Healthy

World-renown author Jane McGonigal had some impressive stats that seemed to fly in the face of everything we think as developers, and even more so as parents: Playing video games is healthy! According to McGonigal, extensive studies show that people actually become more creative, more collaborative and more helpful to your own community when they play up to 28 hours of games per week! Of course, the caveats to this statistic are that you:

a) aren’t mean to other players within the games you play
b) don’t play with others who are mean
c) don’t play MORE than 28 hours per week.


Worst. Website. Ever.

In the most entertaining panel, we heard all about a made-up company that is building “apps” for the Brother Intellifax 2800. Mike Lacher entertained the crowd with a fake pitch to a venture capitalist for this incredibly stupid website idea. Our favorite quote from the presentation: “Get out your jean jackets, and prepare to be-dazzled!"


Critical Thinking About User Experience

We enjoyed a small activity in a panel this year that asked us to role-play answer questions of users as if we were a browser and a user was trying to use us to navigate a website. Each time the user encountered an error, we had to say out loud what the problem was, without offering any explanation if none was provided in the real online user experience. On the flip side, we learned that is was really hard to hold our tongues when users WERE doing the right things, like filling out forms correctly, etc. and it got us thinking about how we could do a better, more friendly job of providing friendly feedback to our customers for just about every interaction.


Which is Better When in Austin? BBQ or Mexican?

This year, we tried our best to settle the debate but the water remained muddy after a sunshiny visit to Rudy’s BBQ was one of the best team lunches we’ve ever had, and a Mexican dinner at Polvo’s delivered some of the most amazing fish fajitas we’ve ever tasted. Tough call. We’re pretty sure we’ll have to return to both just to be sure there isn’t a clear winner!

 
SXSW Attendance

We’re pretty sure attendance records were smashed this year. We’ve been attending for the past 5 or 6 years, and have seen the conference grow dramatically each and every year. This was no exception. Instead of running into many of the same people we’ve seen every year, we mostly met lots of new and interesting people with some great stories to tell. And maybe, just maybe next year, we’ll fork out the extra few bucks to keep Jeremy in town through the music portion of the conference! (It’s getting harder every year to be the “nerds” standing at the ticketing window at the airport on our way out, watching all the “rock stars” come in!)

iPad Design Headaches

In this session we discussed the widespread use of tablets such as the iPad and how we’re just now finding out how people are using them as they are becoming more mainstream and in the hands of “normal” users, not just early adopters. We discussed how designers, when faced with designing for this platform, have areas in which they have difficulty. Such as:

• Trying to use EVERY pixel of space instead of balancing their design with whitespace.
• Making their design too complex and overwhelming – The idea is to feature the content, not the design.
• Getting away from design metaphors.   For example: If the design looks like the page of a book, it needs to turn like the page of the book; if it doesn’t, change the wait it looks.
• Squishing content into tiny boxes called "Popovers".  If you can use the full screen, use it.
• Making buttons too small which require the user to concentrate on where to click and not on consuming the content.

Inclusive Design and Accessibility

In this session we talked about how you need to plan, execute and follow up on the design of a website to make it accessible for as many people as possibly. Websites need to be beautiful, but also give an end meaning to all users. Here are some things that all sites should be:

• Welcoming and not discriminative
• Flexible and give users options
• Simple, intuitive, and clear
• Informative, timely and descriptive
• Instructional and provide help
• Tolerant and supportive

Secrets of Mobile Applications

In this session we learned about how mobile is becoming the battleground of this decade. People look at their phones over 150 times a day!  The competition to create apps and games for mobile devices will become more and more intense. The emergence of mobile came about because consumers value one thing the most: time.   Mobile is also about providing users with a unique experience. It’s interesting to think about how some people will steal music, but pay $200 concert tickets for the experience it provides.

Metrics Driven Design

In this session, we learned about how design can be driven by site metrics. Designers often struggle with metrics because design isn’t a logic problem that can be solved by data. Designers often say “trusting your gut” rather than using data can encourage the best design.  We discussed the “41 shades of blue” test where Google, over the course of several weeks, testied 41 different shades of link colors to determine which one a majority of users preferred. Several benefits of metrics include:

• Measure the effectiveness of your site using simple numbers
• Reduce arguments based on opinion and design choices become testable
• Give you answers about what really works through testing
• Show where you’re strong (and weak) as a designer
• Clients LOVE metrics – you can show clients which design is effective not just the one you like best

If metrics are going to be useful you have to use the information you glean and make design designed decisions based on them.

This was my first chance to attend South by Southwest Interactive and I must say, I was NOT disappointed.

One of the highlights of the week for me was learning about the Unwritten Rules of Social Media.  The main point of this session was to discuss the differences between the rules that govern our social interactions in every day life and those should be translated online.  

As a company, it is important to "pull back the curtain" and let your audience see who you really are and what you're all about.  The fact is, an organization is a collection of individuals who bring unique things to the table and customers should get to see that.

My hope is that when you read our social media, you get a taste of the personality of Wright Strategies.  Because trust me, we have a lot!

Another standout for me was listening to the keynote speaker Blake Mycoskie, the founder of Toms Shoes.  His focus on incoporating social responsibility in the work place really struck a chord with our team.

He made the point that having your team believe they are making an impact for the greater good can go a long way in morale and marketing.

I can't wait to get a chance to check out even more of SXSWi in Spring 2012!

It's our favorite time of year!  SXSW Interactive is in ATX.

Our team has been busy at SXSWi the last few days and we can't WAIT to share with you all the latest and greatest things we've learned about, so stay tuned!

Still not sure what SXSW is exactly?  Check out this fun video from CNN.

It’s usually design, user experience and high tech breakthroughs that take the cake as hot topics at SXSWi. This year, I was surprised (and delighted) to notice a content revolution taking place. The push? Treat content as a living, changing element of your website and your company’s overall online presence.

When we talk content, we’re not just referring to text on a page. Everything from the error messages that pop up on the site to video/audio clips fit under the content umbrella. Each piece of content should work together with the design and other site elements to enhance the user’s experience and engagement with your brand.

This sounds like a big task, and it is, but it’s doable. It all starts with content strategy. It may entail auditing the current content on your website and working from there to improve your cohesive messaging throughout the site.

The Content Strategy Plan:

Audit. Look at your website, Twitter, Facebook, microsites, etc. Check for relevancy and consistency. Anything redundant, outdated or trivial goes.

Ask. Why do you have this content? Who is it for? Who’s writing it? How often does it get updated?

Analyze. Take a look at your current content and determine what you need to create.

Align. Content does evolve. Create a plan for its life cycle, and involve the appropriate parties.

Assume responsibility. You are a publisher. Take responsibility for your content.

Interested in brainstorming ways that a content strategy plan or editorial calendar could enhance your brand online? Let us know!

1. If you do not let users add content to your site (photos, videos, links, reviews, etc.), then you need to make that your primary goal for 2010.

2. Scanning barcodes with your smart phone for more information, pictures and videos is a trend  we need to all pay attention to. (Check out QMCodes.com and StickyBits.com.) 

3. Content is king! Engage your customers with rich copy & images that are updated often to keep them coming back for more.  

4. Traditional outbound marketing (print ads and mailers) is going the way of the dinosaur. The future is inbound marketing and pulling consumers into your brand via search engines, social media and blogs.

5. Don’t fear new ideas, especially on the Web.  Your website is organic, so if something isn’t working you can easily change it. But you won’t be able to discover that one special tool that makes your site stand out if you don’t try new tactics.

One of the kickoff panels for SXSWi this year was run by Paul Boag, Creative Director of Headscape, a web agency based in England. The objective of his panel was not, as many thought, to make the design phase of a project pain free for designers, but to make it an easy, pleasing process for clients.

Boag noted that as designers, we sometimes fall into the trap of being defensive during the design process. He suggested the following collaborative techniques for ensuring a pain free experience for clients, and developers alike. 

Six Tips for Pain Free Design Signoff

1. Ensure the client understands their role in the project. Starting with the kickoff meeting, reiterate that the client's job is to find problems, not solutions.
2. Have a strong methodology and instill confidence in the project by making sure your development process is clearly outlined to the client.
3. Include the client often and early so that they feel engaged in the progress and development of the project. 
4. Educate your client about design decisions. Explain and justify your final decisions so the client will be confident and able to explain changes to other stakeholders or superiors.
5. Ask for specific kinds of feedback from the client. Target your questions so that you and the client can finish strong. Focus on the end result: “Will users like this?” “Does this fulfill our original design objectives?”
6. Avoid saying “no” during the process. Be open to discussing and negotiating prospective changes.

Over the years we’ve learned to adopt many of the principles Boag discussed. Involving our clients as team members during the design phase has eliminated the element of “surprise” that often comes from designing an entire website internally, then releasing it to the client in one single chunk. We also see it as our duty to keep our clients involved, as a measure of good customer service, allowing team work and “buy in” at important design phases.

There was a lot of buzz this year at SXSWi about HTML5 and CSS3. HTML, HyperText Markup Language, has been the standard language of the Web since its beginning. Versions of HTML4 have been used since 1997, so it's been a long time since we've gotten a major update to basic web language. CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, allows developers to style elements on a web page, making pages standard and friendly for viewers. With the innovations of HTML5 and CSS3, developers can make websites faster to run, easier to develop and nicer to view.

HTML5 has several new elements for developers to use including semantic replacements for common elements on a page like headers, navigation and footer blocks. Gaining the most steam was HTML5's support for <video> and <audio> tags. When developers want video and audio to play on a website, they almost always turn to Adobe Flash Player. HTML5 could eliminate the need for Flash in some circumstances, allowing pages to perform faster and still look and interact the same way.

CSS3 has a whole host of new ways to style web pages including adding web fonts, rounded corners, shadows, shading, and much more. These attributes mean developers will be less reliant on images, decreasing the amount of time it takes for a page to load.

As is often the case in web development, cool new technologies take some time to be implemented. Currently, HTML5 and CSS3 have the support of four of the five major browsers, the exception being Internet Explorer. Expected to be released in 2011, Internet Explorer 9 will support HTML5 and CSS3, however, until large numbers of consumers upgrade to IE9 or other modern browsers, it'll be awhile before a lot of these techniques can be used.

Here's a great page for visualizing how browsers are supporting HTML5 and CSS3. You'll instantly notice how current Internet Explorer options don't measure up.