What is Render Caching?
Have you ever found yourself asking the question “Why are my changes to my twig template not showing up?” or “Why do I have to clear my cache every time I make a change to a preprocess function?”. The answer is: Render Caching. Render caching is the process of storing post-rendered data so that Drupal does not needlessly rebuild and re-render arrays.

Why Render Cache?
The process of loading, rebuilding and re-rendering entities in Drupal is a very expensive task and much of the time, is unnecessary. Render caching allows us to bypass much of the unnecessary processing and dramatically improve the site performance.

So… What does the Render Cache look like?
The first step in your journey is to understand what makes up the Render Cache property:

  • Cache Keys – a representation of a set of code that you want to make cacheable, and is typically something that is too expensive to render on every page load.
  • Cache Contexts – variations of what I am rendering. Does my display change based on user role, language, time of day, location, etc?
  • Cache Tags – custom identifiers that this render array depends on to render properly, such as Referenced Entity ID’s
  • Cache max-age – determines how long the item I am rendering can be cached for.  This should always be set.

The render cache is a “#cache” property that is defined on your render arrays. You are able to add and/or customize this for any render element.

Plan for caching
Working with render caching is something that you should be thinking about from the beginning of your project.

Some questions that may help you in the early stages of your project would be:

  • How often are pages on my site updated?
  • Are there any highly dynamic sections of the website? (ie. Stock Ticker, Countdown Timer, etc…)
  • Is there any content that is context specific? (ie. Location based, user role based, etc…)
  • Is the website complex enough to require custom render processing?

The importance of cache tags
Cache tags are where the magic happens! Cache tags allow the system to identify dependencies to a render object and invalidate pages when there are changes made to the dependent page.

As mentioned above, cache tags are custom identifiers that this render array depends on to render properly, such as Referenced Entity ID’s.

Real World Scenario:
Lets walk through an example: We have a website that has a blog post node/123: “My Drupal 8 Render Test” which is referenced in the recent content section on the home page, featured on a few of our product landing pages and in the related content of other blog pages.

In the example above, assuming that we have followed best practices and rendered our cache property arrays, the cache tag of “node:123” should have been added to the render tags array of the homepage, product landing pages and relevant blog posts that reference this item.

Now, we want to change the title of that page to be “Drupal 8 Render Caching”. When I save my node to make this update, it will trigger a cache invalidation of all nodes that have “node:123” in their cache tag list, thus ensuring that my new title shows up on pages where it is referenced.

For more advanced cache purging (memcache, varnish, CDNs), you will need to utilize the purge module. Acquia has recently launched their Public Beta for Acquia Purge as well, so if you are hosting on Acquia, it simplifies the process significantly.

There are more useful tidbits in the presentation that John Doyle, our CTO, gave at the DC Meetup in October.

 

Some additional community information around render caching:

When most brands think of a public relations program, they focus on traditional activities, including press release and announcements, customer case studies and industry trends, and pitching to reporters for coverage in their next industry pieces. A lesser-used technique for building thought leadership and brand visibility is through submitted bylines with a top company executive as the author.

Many industry publications have shrunk their staff as they scramble to cut costs in the digital world, and as a result, they are hungry for good content from leading commercial company executives, provided that these bylines are interesting and not simply marketing or sales-oriented articles.

One of the advantages is that the brand gets to control every word that is published, and isn’t at the mercy of the reporter or editor to select what they choose to include in the story. Pursuing these types of submitted bylines allows the company to control how its perceived by both its competitors and consumers.

Here are 3 reasons to build your company’s thought leadership through bylines.

Position yourself as an expert.  Garner attention in the industry with media coverage of informed written pieces from your company’s leading experts in the field.  Educate the public on little known issues to gain their trust and simultaneously expose your company name to new groups of consumers.

Identify a problem and the solution.  Although publications typically aren’t interested in articles that read too much likes sales pitches, these thought leadership can be used to indirectly promote your company’s products or services.  Media coverage of your experts place your company as the solution to the identified problem.

Set the stage for a launch.  Leading up to the launch of a product or service, companies want to be in the limelight as much as possible.  Gaining coverage from notable publications in relevant industries places the company and news of its new upcoming launch in the minds of target consumer groups.

When utilized correctly, media coverage of thought leadership pieces can be an invaluable tool.  It becomes an integral component of a company’s content marketing strategy to influence how its seen in its industry and cement its position as a leader in the minds of its consumers.

Looking to boost your public relations results? Contact us.

A few weeks back, I posted a blog about over-used PR terms to avoid. Needless to say, that post generated lots of responses and even a clever email from an old colleague that tried to use all them in one friendly note to me. The list of pr terms to avoid seems to be endless. So many to choose from, so little time.

So, due to popular demand, here are seven more PR terms avoid – to debate, disagree with, eliminate from your online dictionary, but above all else, to please stop using. And as with my previous post, I too am guilty of using some of these terms and will take my own medicine. I also recognize that language is defined by common usage, so that even though some of these terms may not be allowed in the Queen’s English, dictionaries reflect how people actually use words, regardless of the Queen. Nevertheless, I am fighting a last stand to get these words out of the PR world, at least for now.

  • Leverage. This is a tricky one because as a noun, I think it’s perfectly fine. The problem is when it is so frequently used as a verb, its meaning becomes vague and just seems lazy.
  • Impact. I know I’m losing this battle, but the word “impact” is a noun, not a verb or a gerund (ending in “ing”), and certainly not “impactful.” That’s just removing whatever impact it had in the first place.
  • Their. As in, “Bluetext is a cutting-edge digital marketing agency – their work is amazing!” While the sentence may be accurate, it still doesn’t work. Agencies, companies and inanimate objects are “its”, not “theirs.” This is a pet peeve of mine, and I always correct this whenever I see it.
  • Unique, when preceded by “somewhat” or some similar modifier. The word “unique” is binary – something is either unique or it isn’t –  there is nothing in-between.
  • Disruptive. This is a big red flag in a PR pitch or press release. Unless when talking about a student’s behavior in kindergarten, let’s all agree that this is both over-used and not used correctly. We can only look backward to see if a new product or technology was in fact disruptive. Predicting this in advance is wishful thinking.
  • Authentic. I was once guilty of using this word far too often. The idea was that campaigns would resonate better with target audiences through content such as social media and blog posts if they were “authentic” as opposed to “artificial” in their voice.  In fact, everything we do for our clients should be authentic, and pointing this out just undermines its credibility.
  • State-of-the-Art. Doesn’t every client want to describe their product as “state-of-the-art”? Let the product speak for itself. The audience can decide whether it’s new and different or not.

Part 3 of PR terms to avoid will be forthcoming.

Looking for an agency to take your PR results to the next level?  Contact us.

A dynamic logo is a company mark that is malleable and constantly changing while maintaining its overall look and feel.  Logos were once thought of as a permanent visual representation of a company, but in the ever-changing digital world that is no longer the case.  Here is what you need to know about dynamic logos.

Logos are no longer static and evolve with the brand.  The company mark is now transformative and many companies, such as Google, have begun consistently changing the display of their mark.  The challenge is to maintain a consistent visual identity in the logo so the brand is still recognizable to consumers.  This involves certain visuals of the logo to remain locked, while other elements are consistently inconsistent.

Many well-known companies have enlisted the aid of top branding agencies to shift towards dynamic logos, include AOL, MTV, and Seagate.  A step further would be an animated logo that is responsive to the consumer.  One such logo is the mark of Brazilian communications company, Oi.  The company’s type is the fixed visual while splashs of color that shapeshift to the consumer’s voice is infinitely dynamic.  With such a dynamic logo taken to the next level, there are now endless versions of the company’s mark unique to its consumers.

A dynamic logo allows a company to shape the consumer’s experience with its brand.  By using these types of brand logos, companies have the fluidity to customize their mark for any occasion and engage their consumers.

Looking for best in class branding agency services or comprehensive and innovative digital marketing?  Contact us.

 

When redesigning your website, an important decision is choosing between WordPress or Drupal platforms to host your new site.  Both platforms are open source software with a variety of plugins and modules available to increase functionality, but each platform has its own strengths better suited for different needs.  Here are five questions to ask when considering the right platform:

What are my website functionality needs?  Drupal hosts more advanced and in-depth features, such as user permissions, taxonomies, categories, blocks, views, etc.  These features are powerful and comprehensive if you know how to use them but useless and a hindrance if you aren’t familiar with the system.  The backend of Drupal is more complex whereas WordPress is more user-friendly and straight forward.  The platform best suited for your website depends on the required functionality and the user’s comfort level with the CMS.

How much content will my website have?  WordPress was originally built as a blogging platform and is not as suited to handle large volumes of content.  On the other hand, Drupal can handle thousands of content pages as well as thousands of users.  Drupal’s caching feature also increases the load speed of web pages.  For large complex websites, Drupal is the better platform by far.

What level of security will my website need?  Besides functionality and content volume, security is one of the largest differentiators between Drupal and WordPress.  Drupal provides enterprise level of security as well as in-depth security reports for its users.  The platform is secure enough that many government websites use the Drupal platform.  WordPress is prone to hackers, and it has been speculated the platform’s plugins open the system to possible security issues.

How technical is my team?  Many prefer WordPress with access to a variety of free themes and pre-built plugins that are easy to manage and available for use.  Drupal is more suited for custom development and the installation of its modules, the platform’s version of plugins, often require a developer to install and update.  WordPress features are more set and function out-of-the-box whereas Drupal allows for modules to be customized to your needs and requires more technical experience.

What are your cost constraints?  Drupal is a powerful, customizable, and secure platform but will require a Drupal developer to manage.  Premium themes and modules are more expensive on the Drupal platform while there are many free options on WordPress.  Due to content constraints on WordPress, as a company grows and expands its server costs to support the site on WordPress will increase significantly.

Drupal and WordPress are both powerful and useful platforms.  The decision of which to use rests largely on one’s needs, the functionality required, and how the website will develop and grow down the road.

Looking for best in class digital marketing?  Contact us.

 

Successful digital campaigns need to connect to its audience while simultaneously getting the company’s message across.  Digital marketers spend a huge amount of time analyzing their target market and audience before building a campaign and crafting an implementation strategy for seamless execution.  Here are five tips to help your company create a successful digital campaign.

  1. Know your personas. Personas are fictional characters representing a company’s potential customers.  Each persona has its own role, goals, challenges, company, job, skills, preferences, and so forth.  Understanding your personas and building a detailed profile for each is a key step in creating an effective digital campaign.
  2. Analyze your competitors. Keep an eye on the public-facing marketing efforts of your competitors to understand how they are targeting their consumers.  By gaining a better understanding of your competition, it provides insight to how you should position yourself in the market to stay ahead of the competition.
  3. Optimize your SEO. Understand the keywords your personas are searching for on search engines and integrate those keywords in your digital campaign’s SEO strategy.  Optimize the meta data of your campaign by integrating your target keywords in your campaign’s title, content, meta description, URL, and image alt text.
  4. Set an offer strategy. Once your digital campaign has successfully captured a consumer’s attention, you need an offer strategy to draw them in.  A common approach is through the promotion of gated premium content.  Understanding the content that appeals to each of your personas will direct the premium content offer that should be tailored for each.  A complete profile for each persona will guide a company’s content creation and fill any gaps in its content offerings.
  5. Create a lead strategy. Although generating leads is the goal of a digital campaign, it is not the end goal.  An internal strategy needs to be in place to continuously inform and engage a lead, whether through email or other mediums, with the end goal of transition a lead to an eventual customer.

A successful digital campaign requires a significant amount of planning before it can be built, tested, and implemented.  Developing an adept understand of the market environment alongside a solid SEO and content strategy are the key factors to launching a successful digital campaign.

Looking for best in class digital marketing?  Contact us.

It has been a tremendous first half of the year for Bluetext across many fronts. We have won many exciting new projects, landed some very interesting clients, added some awesome staff, and taken on and won against some stiff competition.

In the last three weeks alone we were named public sector PR agency of record for two of the most recognized technology companies in the country, one on each coast.

For each of these two companies, the public sector is a critical market for their growth as each has technology that is in high demand across the Government. Interestingly, each company has a corporate agency which provided little support across the public sector, and each indicated that their agency did not focus on or “get” the public sector.

We get the public sector. We know how to effectively market and communicate in this market. And we know how to craft a PR campaign that is impactful to make noise and move the needle. Here are five recommendations to consider when thinking about your public sector PR program:
1. Get Creative. Product announcements don’t garner much coverage unless you are a massive company or it is a major breakthrough. But leveraging a trend in the market to talk about how your product can drive mission effectiveness can be a subtle but smart way to let your audience know about your new product or solution.

2. Government-ize the message. Take the product and solution announcements coming out of corporate and look at the messages that will resonate in this market. We know the public sector buyer is unique, therefore the message needs to be relevant and directed.

3. Make Your Content Consumable. Create listicles and snackables that can be shared easily across a wide variety of mediums.

4. Be Present and Relevant. Make sure your thought leaders are trained and ready to deliver a strong message. Many companies are competing for limited ink. The right PR team and the right message can go a long way.

5. Find the References. Sure, it is hard to get a Government customer to speak with a reporter about how they are using your technology. But if you approach them in a more subtle way to jointly pursue an award or speaking opportunity it can provide a great way to put your customers in the spotlight and begin the process of finding out how reference-able they really are.

If the public sector is an important market for your company and you are not garnering the right type of attention give us a call. We would love to talk about how we can deliver a campaign with impact…that is what we do best.

There are many factors top branding agencies focus on when rebranding a company.  Typically, companies rebrand every 7-10 years but what motivates them to do so?  Rebranding often involves choosing a new standardized color palette, a new logo, a new voice, and even a new name.  Company dynamics shift to embody the new image and it can be challenging for everyone involved.  Here are the 5 things top branding agencies to consider when rebranding your company:

How does your brand stack up to the competition? When placed next to your competitors, how does your company measure up?  Do you appear modern and cutting edge?  Or do you appear outdated and in need of an upgrade?  Visuals aren’t everything, but the first impression a potential customer has of your brand may be a lasting one and ultimately sway their decision in a saturated marketplace.

Are you reaching your target audience?  Companies utilize different strategies to appeal to different consumer groups.  What appeals to millennials may not capture the attention of older generations.  If your company’s goal is to reposition itself in the marketplace to win over a new consumer base, a brand refresh from a top branding agency may just be what your organization needs to reach its goals.

How are the markets changing?  Technological advancements have caused major shifts in many industries that have required companies to adapt quickly.  The rapid pace of digitizing society has meant companies need to keep up with the times or find themselves left behind.  Top branding agencies specialize in positioning their clients for success by implementing best practices in the digital space.

How has your company grown?  As companies evolve and increase the offerings of their goods and services in different sectors of the market, the original brand may no longer resonate with its diversified consumer base.  Such disconnect between the brand and its offerings may begin affecting the company’s marketing efforts of outlier products or services.  Top branding agencies work with clients in such growth dilemmas to find cohesiveness in their organizations and create a new corporate visual identity to tie everything under one brand.

Are there inconsistencies within your company?  Are there many different versions of consumer-facing assets used within the company?  Is the company voice disconnected from one product or service to another?  Are consumers unaware two of your products or services are offered by the same company?  If so, rebranding may be a necessary strategy to help both the consumer and company connect the dots of a fragmented brand.

A company rebrand from a top branding agency is more than just aesthetics.  A fresh new look and feel is noticed by consumers and works as a strategy to bring more cohesion to the company while simultaneously drawing attention from the market.

Looking for agency help?  Contact us

Top PR agencies know that words really do matter. That’s why crafting pitches that will grab a reporter’s attention but not disappoint, confuse or otherwise lose their interest is essential to a successful campaign. Unfortunately, concise writing that doesn’t rely on using the same old tired phrases but still gets noticed seems to be a lost art in the public relations realm. At Bluetext, we’re careful to make sure that we always keep our writing fresh, clever, accurate, and to the point – without resorting to jargon. Here are eight over-used PR terms that are so tired that it’s time to retire them.

  • “Unicorn.” A unicorn in tech PR parlance is the next billion-dollar start-up that’s just waiting to be discovered. Of course, every startup thinks it is the next unicorn. By throwing this term into the pitch mix, you’re sending a clear sign of unreal expectations or hyping a company far beyond its real story. True unicorns don’t need to be labeled as such.
  • “Synergy.” We never were really sure what this dog of a word meant. It seems just like more marketing babble rather that a true description of how organizations (or even individuals) can create more value when working together than on their own.
  • “So,…” This is a big faux pas and is not allowed out of the shop here at Bluetext. Starting a sentence with “So” is simply sloppy writing. Your argument should speak for itself, and your reader should be able to figure that out without being instructed to do so.
  • “Arguably,…” Following on the heels of “So,” this is another one of our forbidden words. As a writer and editor, I see the reason as part logic, part annoyance. Anything that can be argued is arguable, so using the term doesn’t add anything, except for annoying me.
  • “Circle Back.” Ok, I’m guilty of this one and pledge to police myself better. A reporter already gets that you are “circling back” because you do so in the email. Telling them again doesn’t make it more likely that they will respond. Let the pitch do the convincing rather than the extraneous words.
  • “Honestly.” One of my least favorites. Using this term is a signal that everything else you’ve written hasn’t been honest. Not good.
  • “Thrilled.” As in, “We’re thrilled to announce our client’s latest product/service/new hire/etc.” Really? That’s not an emotion I typically associate with client announcements. It gets less thrilling every time a reporter sees that word.
  • “Stakeholder.” I’m also guilty of overusing this term. Technically speaking, a stakeholder is someone who owns stock in a company. Today everyone is a stakeholder if they even have a minimal relationship to the company. Calling someone a stakeholder doesn’t really mean anything. Just use a more precise term, like the customer, employee, partner or vendor.

If PR professionals can dial back on these tired PR terms, they’ll be forced to write more concisely with less confusion, and have more success with their pitches.

Looking to boost your public relations results?  Contact us.

If your digital marketing agency team doesn’t have a SMAC roadmap, you may find your company drifting off-course in 2017 and beyond. Here’s brief refresher course on SMAC.

Social Media

Social Media continues to evolve.   Platforms rise and fall by the year vs the decades of old.   Some new trends we see emerging that we see potentially continuing to gain momentum.
1. Snap’s Evolution Will Result in Interesting New Opportunities.
2. Twitter Fatigue Will Worsen.
3. Users Will Crave More Vicarious Experiences.
4. New Areas of Communication Will Emerge.

Mobile

Mobile devices are the cornerstone of how new business is being built and legacy businesses are reinventing themselves. Mobile devices allow users to constantly update their profile, stay aware of deals and promotions, and track locations and buying habits by virtue of connecting to various wireless signals and near-field communication (NFC) devices.

Some new trends we see emerging that we see potentially continuing to gain momentum.
1. Consumers redefine purchase boundaries; mobile marketing, brand partnerships deepen
2. Department stores, mobile marketing partners tackle the ‘Amazon Effect’
3. Programmatic accelerates: brands, tech, marketing continue to invest
4. Next-generation creative, video redefine mobile engagements

Analytics

As databases have grown larger and processors and memory have become capable of chewing through hundreds of millions of records in a short time, we have begun to see how analytics can do more than just track clicks. Analytics can establish links between entities and make intelligent predictions about customer behavior based on knowledge a system has about a customer — knowledge that has been informed by social networking.

To keep up with the explosion in Big Data, companies and corporations are beginning to invest in BI projects and more and more sophisticated analytics infrastructure.  Some new trends we see emerging that we see potentially continuing to gain momentum.
1. Multi-channel Attribution
2. Focus on ‘Return on Analytics Investment
3. Monetization of Data
4. Exciting new players in the MarTech arena to complement the core analytic platforms

Cloud

The cloud element of SMAC refers to the capability a business has to spin up vast amounts of capacity that are paid for by the minute or hour. Businesses do not need to spend millions of dollars building another data warehouse – they simply rent it from a cloud provider, do their work and turn it off. When the business environment changes, they simply spin up another cluster in the cloud, pay another few hundred dollars and continue building insights.

Some new trends we see emerging that we see potentially continuing to gain momentum.

1. Artificial intelligence (AI) will make personalization a reality in 2017.
2. Self-service will be the new normal.
3. Enhancing the Buyer Journey
4. Google Tag Manager and other granular analytics modules being the norm
With buyer sophistication growing daily, marketers need to deliver increasingly smarter strategies and campaigns. Are you taking the time to measure how your efforts are working and think about how you might enhance your efforts, or do you find yourself quickly moving from one campaign to the next?

Need help with your SMAC TALK?  Contact the digital marketing gurus at Bluetext.