AdSoak - A Digital Marketing Blog by Scott Rowe

The Tomato-Tomahto of Communication

Scott Rowe — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:52:17 +0000

A few weeks ago I attended a party put on by a couple. Their relationship is interesting in that they each have their own distinct group of friends. They are different from an upbringing, professional and social perspectives.

It became obvious very rapidly that there was tension between these two groups. While the goal of both groups was to have fun and be entertained, their means by which to achieve it were greatly different. It was a very awkward situation that only ended when one group departed from the event.

This really got me thinking about companies who are trying to communicate with customers and prospects. While you may have a product that is a strong solution for different groups you really need to do you homework and make sure your message and communication style correctly target your audience based on their personality and expectations. If you don’t get this right, while your intentions may be good, could blow up in your face and produce the opposite results.

Internet users are smarter than you think

Scott Rowe — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:39:43 +0000

I quite often hear clients talk about how non-tech savvy their customers and prospects are. While I agree there are individuals that simply have a hard time comprehending a web interface or are just too scared to try, they make up the very small minority. If we let this small group dictate how we communicate with the larger audience we are doing the majority a great disservice. If you ran a restaurant would you stop accepting credit cards because you have a couple of customers that only pay with cash?

We also need to look at the rapid growth and adoption of Internet technologies in our every day lives. While a few years ago it could have been considered a trendy and youthful medium that is no longer the case. Most Americans are connected and use the web on a daily basis for communication, research and purchasing. If everyone were as ignorant as some like to portray this would not be the case.

Lets give our users a little more credit. After all, 74% of the U.S. population currently has Internet and uses it regularly. Instead of dropping our efforts to the lowest common denominator let’s help move everyone forward and create solutions that not only work today but also help drive business into the future.

The Digital Zombie Apocalypse

Scott Rowe — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:05:51 +0000

I love zombie movies. There is something that has always excited me about the danger of an oncoming zombie apocalypse. How would I react and is it possible to be prepared? How can you stop the single minded, autopilot zombie when it approaches you?

During my train of deep thought I realized that in a way I have become a zombie myself. Not the brain eating, shuffling kind, but the brain-numb digital kind. I whole-heartedly admit that I surf the web almost continuously. Whether I am at work, on my laptop at home or my iPhone, I am hardly ever disconnected for more than 30 minutes at a time. As a person with an insatiable thirst for knowledge I am always reading. The problem is that I often find myself just looking at drivel.

I frequent numerous, news, industry and entertainment sites looking for content. However, when there is not a specific topic I am looking for I tend to digitally graze. This can bring about some interesting topics and tidbits of knowledge but more often than not I waste an hour or more of my life and truly get nothing out of it. Imagine reading a book while thinking about numerous tasks you need to accomplish at home and at work. You simply won’t retain any of the information you consume. While you may have a general emotional sensation regarding the contents of the book the actual meat will be left on the pages.

With the continued proliferation of new online content providers and aggregators and the new devices being sold to enhance our consumption of them, at what point do we just become brain-numb digital zombies? If we really aren’t paying attention while we surf, no ad or marketing message will get through to us. Have we already hit the apocalypse and just not noticed it?

Is Apple developing its own mobile ad network?

Scott Rowe — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:39:38 +0000

As reported on AppleInsider.com, the company is in the process of hiring developers to extent the current iPhone/iPod developer framework to include advertising. It appears that Apple will be creating additional functionality to allow application developers to easily add paid advertising into their applications. This new feature will allow publishers to add a new simplified revenue stream into their published applications with minimal effort.

Apple hasn’t yet delved into the ad network arena so it will be interesting to see how they sell the new mobile ad inventory that will of course become available to advertisers. I also want to see how will they target users with relevant marketing messages? Will they pull usage information from each application the user currently runs or will they leverage information about their iTunes purchasing and browsing habits. It will be very interesting to see this unfold over the next year or so.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Scott Rowe — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:48:19 +0000

While putting my son to bed tonight I read him the story of the Tortise and the Hare. This is a story I have read many times as both a child and an adult. The moral to the story is simple. Take your time to ensure that things you do are done well. Don’t rush around from thing to thing just because you can.

As marketers we can tend to focus on the latest trends looking for the next silver bullet. Well, while we may get lucky from time to time, we probably waste more time than we should on unproven tactics.

I’m not implying we shouldn’t try new things but let’s be sure to temper our ambitions and make sure we work hard on a few things to bring them to fruition. Remember slow and steady wins the race.

Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7

Scott Rowe — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:43:20 +0000

In the past couple of years Microsoft has lost their way on the mobile platform. With the iPhone, Blackberry, Pre and Android phones getting all the headlines Microsoft has been trailing the pack in innovation and attention. Microsoft is putting their best foot forward to try and regain some market share with Windows Phone 7. As an iPhone owner who absolutely loves his device I can’t see myself switching but I have to admit that Microsoft seems to have hit the mark pretty well with their new offering.

How can you use Technorati to learn more about your industry and customers?

Scott Rowe — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:34:31 +0000

If you are not familiar with Technorati, it is search engine specializing in the indexing of blogs. It’s true that Google also indexes blog content, but it’s results are not nearly as timely as those of Technorati. Due to the nature of blog software and the technology of ping services, Technorati is notified automatically when a blog adds a new article. This entry is then quickly indexed and made available for search.

So how can this help you? Easy, have you ever wanted to know what people are currently talking about regarding your industry or any given topic? Technorati gives you a powerful search tool for any topic. Not only that but you can search by the authority level of the blog. The authority is basically a measurement to whether the blog has high readership, commenting & inbound web links. So you basically know whether the blog in question has pull or not.

On top of that the search will also display how many mentions the term you used has been mentioned over a period of time. This gives you instant feedback to know if the topic is trending up or down.

If you haven’t used Technorati, check it out.

Following the influential

Scott Rowe — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:40:53 +0000

I follow a large number of blogs and social news services daily. There are some I have followed for years and others I lose interest in quickly. In an industry that changes so rapidly you simply have to. I have also wondered what some of the most influential people in the industry follow and read. Luckily Google Reader has reached out to some of these people and is now publicly sharing their subscriptions. I’ve just added another five news sources to my collection and we’ll see where it leads me.

Google’s Featured Reading Lists

Wordpress Plugin for posting to Twitter

Scott Rowe — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:30:26 +0000

I am going to test out Twitter Tools for Adsoak. If all goes as planned, this should allow for me to automatically update my Twitter account with posts from Adsoak.com. Thanks to Will Flavell at Everybodysagenius’s Weblog for the idea.

Multitasking is a frustrating task in itself.

Scott Rowe — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:15:26 +0000

It seems I can’t go ten minutes during the day when I am not multitasking. Whether it be email, phone, instant messaging, text messaging, face to face conversation, I have a hard time focusing on a single task. As I write this article my son is trying to climb up on me to see what I am doing. I quite often have to work away from my office in order to get any real work done. I quickly realize that while there is a tremendous amount of stimulation and content whirling around me, I can’t truly digest and retain most of it. This just causes me frustration and forces me to repeat tasks that I shouldn’t have to. Some recent research shows that it may be possible to train you brain to be a better at multitasking. Like most things however it requires discipline and training. Read more about Training your brain to multitask at the Neuromarketing blog.