On November 7th, the IRS Design Office hosted the second Design in Government (DIG) meeting in the main IRS Auditorium, the only meeting gathering of federal graphic designers government-wide. The goal of the DIG meeting was to strengthen the federal graphic design community and to help build relationships across federal agencies to encourage networking and discuss innovation, design management and design complex issues in a collaborative way, during these difficult budget times. Partner Jason Siegel presented the following presentation with supporting videos.
Everywhere you turn, people are talking about responsive design. It is a critical website solution for providing your customers and prospects a seamless experience across all devices and making it easy for you to manage one web infrastructure.
With a responsive website, businesses can be in front of consumers at every step of their online journey. A user viewing a website on the go via a mobile device can have the same powerful experience as when sitting in their office.
Responsive websites provide continuity between different viewing contexts, remaining completely agnostic to the type of device used and the size of the screen it has.
Unfortunately, a mobile version of your website isn’t good enough anymore. Responsive websites simplify internet marketing and SEO. Instead of having to develop and manage content for multiple websites, businesses with responsive sites can take a unified approach to content management because they have only the one responsive site to manage. The same applies to analytics and strategy development and deployment. A responsive website means there is only one set of analytics to examine and a single strategy to develop and deploy.
Responsive websites are easier for consumers to find than traditional or mobile sites because they come up higher in search engines’ rankings. Google recommends responsive web design because having a single URL for desktop and mobile sites makes it easier for Google to discover content and for Google’s algorithms, which are constantly changing, to assign indexing properties to content.
Responsive Design in the Future
Responsive design is still in its infancy, and the future looks extremely bright. All of our websites are responsive today, and our developers are exploring emerging areas of responsive design by testing a multitude of integrations that are now available.
As the internet transforms further into a platform of services and user interfaces that tie those services together, leveraging responsive design principals will allow companies to integrate a plethora of back-end services, such as Facebook, Twitter, Salesforce.com and Amazon Web Services, and then present the integrated data to users in an integrated manner. Expensive back-end solutions are no longer a requirement to integrate legacy systems with business partners.
One thing is certain, you don’t want to fall behind and watch your competitors launch responsive websites while yours is still stuck in 2012. The time to get responsive with your web design is now.
APRIL 22 – WASHINGTON – Bluetext, one of the fastest growing digital marketing, branding and communications agencies in the country, and GreenTrees, the largest carbon reforestation company in North America, today launched a comprehensive corporate sustainability platform designed to enable enterprises to demonstrate and quantify environmental, financial and social benefit. Companies such as Duke Energy and Norfolk Southern Railways are experiencing the benefits of the GreenTrees program.
The GreenTrees program offers companies a way to invest in proven reforestation efforts that provide carbon offsets, water credits, biodiversity and other environmental benefits. Bluetext provides a turnkey communications platform that lets customers, partners, and investors know about a company’s participation and investment in GreenTrees reforestation.
“Large corporations often have difficulty demonstrating their commitment as environmental stewards and to sustainability,” said Chandler Van Voorhis, Managing Partner of C2I, the driving force behind the GreenTrees program. “The GreenTrees reforestation program offers a short path to environmental leadership and CSR goals. Partnering with an innovative company like Bluetext will help companies communicate effectively about the benefits of their participation in this program.”
GreenTrees grows world-class, healthy forests to heal a vital part of our country. The outcome produced is an ACRE (Advanced Carbon Restored Ecosystem). The monetization of this restoration is a conduit to connect private capital to private landowners for the public good.
This joint program includes both the development of the GreenTrees proven CSR program wrapped around an integrated CSR campaign development and implementation strategy.
“When the opportunity to launch something unique with GreenTrees arose, it perfectly aligned with our core principles of being a good company that helps our clients become good corporate citizens,” said Jason Siegel, partner at Bluetext. “Our team has worked on many exciting corporate social responsibility programs for global enterprises and we are confident that as more companies learn about the benefits of GreenTrees and our platform for getting their message out they will recognize the value of this innovative program.”
About Bluetext
Bluetext delivers comprehensive digital marketing, branding, and strategic communications services to our clients, who range from global leaders in their industries to emerging companies at the forefront of innovation and technology. Organizations turn to Bluetext because of our reputation for developing robust and highly scalable digital platforms designed to optimize brand performance in an increasingly digital environment. Our team has delivered some of the most creative and effective campaigns for organizations looking to increase their presence and brand in this market. We have successfully positioned lesser-known organizations as thought leaders, and taken better-known organizations to a new level, differentiating and delivering a brand promise that resonates with the market. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Our goal is to get a seat at the table with you, understand your goals, audit what you have done and what resonates with your audience, and deliver an integrated strategy that will give you a long-term platform for success. To learn more visit www.bluetext.com
About GreenTrees
GreenTrees delivers the Currency of Conservation. GreenTrees starts from a tree planting approach, grows the forest to produce carbon, and then lets the carbon become the base for a series of forest assets – biodiversity, air, and water – we call it ACRE (Advanced Carbon Restored Ecosystem). Forests are nature’s cathedrals, and we cement a legacy and turn out sustainability credits for investors seeking the best in credentials for their work. To date, GreenTrees has over 2 million tons of carbon credits under contract for Fortune 500 companies, making GreenTrees the leading reforestation carbon company in North America. To learn more visit www.green-trees or http://vimeopro.com/greentrees/planting
The Artful Dodger may be a beloved character, but feeling as if you’ve had your professional pocket picked isn’t quite as endearing. The numbers don’t lie. Chief Marketing Officers are having their pockets picked. They are being sold marketing activities that are little more than a bill of goods. The world of marketing spend is changing and you need to change with it.
The Bluetext team is regularly talking with CMOs at organizations ranging from mid-sized and emerging companies to some of the world’s largest global enterprises. They all struggle with how to allocate their budgets to most effectively achieve their marketing goals, including lead generation, thought leadership, sales enablement and brand awareness. CMOs who don’t analyze what is working and what is not fall victim to CMO Pickpockets, wasting money with no return for the investment. Here are just a few of ways that slippery fingers are reaching for their corporate wallets:
- The promise of in-your-face on-line banner ads is that they can’t be ignored. Yet, the downside can be substantial. 84 percent of 25-to-34-year-olds have left a favorite website because of intrusive or irrelevant banners ads.
- In a surprisingly large amount of cases, on-line ads are lost in the noise. 31 percent of ad impressions are delivered (and thus paid for) yet never seen by customers.
- Direct mail can be one of the most costly outreach tactics. Yet 44 percent is never opened.
- The only sure-fire broadcast ads that viewers don’t skip are those on sporting events (virtually all sports fans watch in real time). Non-sports represent a much different story. Overall, 86 percent of people skip television ads.
- Facebook’s new algorithm makes it very difficult for businesses to reach their fans. In one recent test, a story with a link reached just 3 percent of those who had opted to “Like” the brand. Instead, companies who pay to be seen hit Facebook users even if those users haven’t enlisted as fans.
- While Americans are moving to mobile devices in droves, marketing professionals have yet to devote a significant share of their spending to mobile marketing. Consumers spend roughly 10 percent of their media time on mobile devices, but advertisers commit only one percent of the ad budgets there.
- Conversely, print publications get only about 7 percent of media users’ time, but advertisers spend 25 percent of their ad budgets on print.
These numbers show a large disconnect between how marketing budgets are allocated and how target customers spend their time and where they get information that informs their decisions. At Bluetext we know that there is no “one size fits all” solution. The marketing pie needs to be sliced very carefully to get the best results. We analyze campaigns and budgets against the habits of target audiences to make sure they map up closely and return that bang for the buck.
Sources:http://contently.com/blog/2012/05/25/the-benefits-of-inbound-vs-outbound-marketing-infographic/; http://paidcontent.org/2012/01/19/419-comscore-study-a-third-of-ad-impressions-are-never-seen/; http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevecooper/2012/11/30/dealing-with-facebooks-unfriendly-new-algorithm/; http://www.minnpost.com/business/2013/02/goin-mobile-cloud-based-lifestyle-moving-fast
WASHINGTON – January 30, 2013 – Bluetext, one of the nation’s fastest growing digital marketing, branding, and strategic communications firms, today announced that it has been chosen by The Washington Times to rethink and redesign the media property’s digital platform.
The Washington Times, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary as an alternative voice in the nation’s capital, has earned a reputation as one of the premier sources of news and commentary for U.S. conservatives. Since its founding, The Times’ award-winning political, social, national security and intelligence reporting, along with insightful editorial and opinion pages, have attracted growing national and international audiences online. As part of its transition to a Digital First news Compatibility horoscope concedes the possibility of romance, but states that long lasting relations are not quite probable. orientation, The Washington Times has embarked on a top-to-bottom reorganization to provide its audience with more timely and comprehensive information, reporting, and perspective on the major stories of the day.
“We chose Bluetext not only for its experience with some of the largest national media brands including Adobe and Google, but also because of its creativity and insight on how to appeal to our audience with the news and information they are looking for,” said John Martin, Chief Operating Officer for The Washington Times. “Bluetext brings us both a great user experience and fresh ideas on growing our revenue opportunities.”
“We are excited to work with The Washington Times to challenge national market leaders as the most innovative media property covering the news and issues coming out of Washington,” said Jason Siegel, Creative Director for Bluetext.
Well, you’ve survived the Mayan Apocalypse, finished your last-minute holiday shopping (why shop if the world is ending?), and slept off the New Year’s Eve revelry. Today it’s back to work! What’s the first thing on your to-do list? Get smart on your digital marketing strategy!
Bluetext’s resident creative director and co-founding partner, Jason Siegel, has unveiled his 11 top digital marketing trends to watch in 2013. Take a look for a glimpse into the factors that will impact:
- Opportunities for cross-channel promotion
- Why your infographics aren’t getting the attention you think they deserve
- Maximizing paid online media
- Snackable content
- The evolution of live IP content
- How to best leverage geofencing
- And more!
We’re extremely excited for a big 2013 here at Bluetext! If you’d like to ask us any questions about these trends or how we can help with your digital marketing and strategic communications programs in the new year, please feel free to comment, contact us, or hit us up on Facebook and Twitter.
Google’s new Hummingbird search engine algorithm is sending shock waves throughout the digital marketing arena. What it means, and how marketers need to adjust their SEO thinking will be on the to-do list for the foreseeable future.
When Google released its latest changes this fall, it used a very clever strategy that took almost everyone involved in SEO by surprise. First, it ran the new algorithm for 30 days before telling anyone. No big announcement, no public launch, just a quiet change. Then it held a press conference to discuss what was quickly recognized as its most significant revision in more than a dozen years. And with a full 30 days’ worth of data under its belt, Google was able to say that the world had not ended by its revision. Not only did the industry feel no seismic disruptions, but by most accounts no one had even noticed.
Hummingbird is a massive change in the way in which the Google search engine returns search results, and it has major implications for the way that companies and organizations need to approach SEO.
First, a little search engine background. Search has always been a game of cat-and-mouse. The marketer’s goal is to use links, key words, and other tactics to ensure that their website comes up high during relevant searches. Google’s interest is in having the most relevant results that don’t favor a site just because it has tricked the search engine. So, for example, when inbound links were weighed heavily, tacticians could create “link farms” that gave the impression of links that weren’t real. When Google altered the algorithm to degrade unimportant links, new tricks were developed that included keyword stuffing, or the heavy use of searched terms throughout the site. Google responded by setting parameters on how many words could be used in a given paragraph. The back-and-forth continued.
Hummingbird marks a steep departure from this word-based game. It focuses on context and what are known as “long-tail” queries to deliver results that are more specific to the needs of an evolving Internet where mobile devices and voice commands are replacing simple word searches. Hummingbird is supposed to reflect that context when, to use an obvious example, we search for Chinese restaurants. What earlier search engines would deliver was a list of restaurants. But what we really want to learn is a good place to eat that is nearby. The intent of Hummingbird is to understand that context and deliver recommendations of good restaurants in our area. Remember that what is a “good” place to eat is a subjective notion and will become very important in how marketers will need to structure their SEO strategy going forward.
That context gets more difficult as people speak their questions rather than type. So for example, while a typed query might read, “nearby Chinese restaurant,” a spoken query might say “What’s the best place to get Chinese near my home.” Google needs to recognize the actual location of your home, understand that ‘place’ means you want a brick-and-mortar restaurant, and get that “Chinese” is a particular type of restaurant. Knowing all these meanings may help Google go beyond just finding pages with matching words.
Google has reoriented its search algorithm in three very important ways in Hummingbird, and two of those changes have to do with what it determines is “good.”
The first is that Google now rewards good content. That means that long, detailed and well-sourced articles are going to get better results than mere word mentions on a page. Do a search on “slavery” and you will find long articles from The New York Times as well as The Smithsonian magazine. Search for “best rain jackets” and you will get reviews from publications and “How to choose” articles from within the REI site, instead of links directly to items for sale.
The second is that Google is putting links to what it considers to be good content directly on the results page, and is including related articles and other information that it didn’t previously deliver. From a consumer’s point of view, this turns the search results page into a sort of encyclopedia with snippets of content pulled from others’ sites. From a marketers perspective, it could mean that viewers will see information from your site, but not need to click onto your site to get it. Skeptics have theorized that Google is actually trying to keep you on their page as long as possible in order to run more ads and realize more revenues. Whatever the motive, getting someone to leave the search page for your website is more challenging.
The third is that social media, and in particular Google+, will become a larger part of the search engine equation. Google’s goal is to tap into your network of friends to give you additional insight on your query. Go back to the question about a good nearby Chinese restaurant. If Google sees that friends within your Google+ circles like a particular restaurant, that might be included in the search results.
This is a lot to think about, and requires a different mindset when executing your SEO strategy. If this is starting to make your head spin, join the club. Much of what has been written about Hummingbird so far is difficult for anyone not steeped in algorithm technology to understand. So with that in mind…
This phrase widely attributed to Frederick R. Barnard, who published a piece commending the effectiveness of graphics in advertising with the title "One look is worth a thousand words", in Printer’s Ink, December 1921.
And while I am sure that ‘time’ was at a premium in 1921, its ‘attention’ that’s the new gold standard in today’s four screen world. And as a result, brand owners are turning to techniques that allow them to tell their story at a glance. Infographics , for example, help marketers make an immediate impact on their target audience using a much more progressive style of storytelling than traditional media can deliver.
Infographics are the graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge…manifested in a clear, simple, effective…and often times very beautiful…way to present complex information quickly. And with our attention spans being dwindled down to the tweet, having customers spend few minutes longer…and more engaged with your brand…than an ad or a white paper, it sounds like Mr. Barnard knew what he was talking about.
Predicting the future is tough, especially on the web. After all, from Friendster to MySpace to Facebook to Twitter to Pinterest, the game keeps changing. Will infographics replace press releases as the dominant form of communicating brand vision? Will trade show floors be consumed by interactive experiences that bridge the online and offline experience? In this presentation, I highlight 9 marketing trends for 2012 that are as exciting as they are important. Add any I missed in the comments.