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Archive for the ‘Force 5’ Category
The Cost of Free
Thursday, June 16th, 2011 by Butch WhitmireI emailed a respected marketer and he made a statement that was quite profound. He said, “Free stuff we’ll take all day long. But I also don’t want to work with somebody who gives away their products or services too cheap – if they can’t sell their own stuff, how can they help me sell mine?”
I loved his perspective in a time when open source code, free downloads, Groupons, free newsletters, “kids eat free,” are running rampant. People seem to crave “free” and statistically, they move in big numbers when the see the word “free” attached to a marketing campaign. However, I have big concerns with “free” (or the ridiculously reduced.)
As I wrote in an earlier post about scarcity, for things to be valuable people must perceive them as both a) useful and b) scarce. So, when we say something is “free” (meaning zero monetary value) people intuit that the service or good is either not very useful to them or it is abundantly available to all. Free lowers perceived value.
Another reason I am concerned about free is that people intrinsically intuit that “nothing is free.” So, clients assume there are strings or other cost attached. For example, our developers utilize an amazing open-source CMS/CMF called Drupal. This PHP-based code is available to us and everyone for no cash outlay. However, learning Drupal has been anything but free to Force 5. Our team has invested scores and scores of unbillable R&D hours to learn this protocol. “Free” usually has a cost attached – somewhere.
So, why are so many sales people and marketers using “free” (or ridiculously under-priced) to gain business? For me, there are only four plausible explanations:
1) You are lowering the barrier to entry. Free trials can lead to sales but they must be made scarce; meaning they are limited. Free one time to get to know your product or service. After that, it’s time to charge – drug dealers have known this for years.
2) You are relying on the social norm of reciprocity. (You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.) This is a risky approach. As I mentioned, people usually assume “nothing is for free” so they will take and take from you with little compulsion to give you anything in return.
3) You don’t believe your product or service is really very valuable. If this is the case, it’s time for a gut check. It’s time to evaluate and change your product or service to meet the demands of a crazily competitive market.
4) You’re a little lazy or at least not very creative. Free is easy. Free is fast. Free is simple. Free creates a lot of activity. Free doesn’t require you to make a compelling case for your product. Maybe it’s time to work on your marketing or selling skills, at least a little.
So the question must be asked: Are you overusing “free” and at what cost?
The Value of Small + Smart
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 by Butch WhitmireWhenever I’m asked about Force 5, one of the things I say about our company is that we are“small and smart.” Most people understand immediately what half of that means. We have only a handful of people on our staff – so, we’re small – pretty easy. Small is good these days. That means we don’t carry a lot of overhead so we can be competitive. Being small also means that we can be pretty agile, too. There aren’t too many people or committees required to make decisions. We can quickly decide what to do and move – and that’s a good thing for our clients.
When I say “We’re smart,” I think I run the risk of sounding arrogant. Granted, there are some pretty sharp people I get to work with here (me - not so much.) The “smart” part is really about bringing in the right resources when we need them. This allows us to assemble the best possible talent for a specific need and remain laser-focused on the client. Being smart also keeps us fresh and creative.
From a personal standpoint, being “small and smart” forces me to be more rounded as a business person. It’s made me realize that client issues are most often multi-faceted and that one area of expertise is seldom the cure for a particular issue. This regularly pushes me outside the limits of my capacity and into the realms of more capable people in specialize areas. The results are: wins for the client, wins for Force 5, wins for freelancers, and wins for me. And who wouldn’t want that?
A Fresh, New Look
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011 by Butch Whitmire
The Twykenham Bridge is located just a half a block away from our offices at Force 5. We’ve been watching this old bridge being renovated with great anticipation. (Details can be found here in the South Bend Tribune.) It’s amazing to see what a remodel can do. With it’s new look, the bridge again inspires confidence in those who transverse it and a sense of wonder in those who view it from a distance. It’s simply beautiful.
“In this economy, now just isn’t a good time to redo my … (fill in the marketing tactic)”
I disagree. Now is exactly the time.
How long has it been since you’ve looked at your business? At your brand support materials? Is it time for a web site renovation? A fresh coat of paint on that tired brochure? Does your customer service need reinforcement so that people feel confident when they rely on you?
Are you ready to polish up your business, your dream, and give it the fresh, new look it needs to weather today and tomorrow? If so, what will be the first thing you renovate?
Google Panda
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011 by David Morgan
Google’s recent “Panda” update is getting plenty of notice and discussion on SEO and web marketing sites. This is an algorithm update, the formula Google uses to rank sites—using a variety of areas of your web site.It’s clear that one of the biggest goals for Google’s algorithm update is to provide higher page rankings for quality, rather than quantity, content. The biggest sites hurt in the change seem to be the “content farms”. A content farm (according to Wiki…) “employs large numbers of often freelance writers to generate textual content which is specifically designed to satisfy algorithms for maximal retrieval by automated search engines”. In other words, spammy content designed to fool Google into better results.
While your site may not be a content farm, you could be adversely affected by this update if your site contains:
* Relatively high amounts of advertising on the site
* Duplicate content (either on your own site or other domains)
* Page headlines that don’t match their contentYou can improve your site’s ranking with:
* Authoritative and useful content
* If your site is currently light on verbiage, more words per page may be an asset
* Content that provides value to your visitors
* Social network visibility via comments and sharingGoogle constantly looks at their search methods, and modify them to help you bring you the results you want. Good content—relative content—is always the proper way to build your site. Force 5 tries to stay abreast of the latest search methodologies – contact us if we can be of assistance as you update your site.
Another Superman in Metropolis
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 by Butch Whitmire
Look, up in the sky! Actually, it’s not a bird or a plane – it’s David Morgan, one of our principals here at Force 5. David is away this week in Metropolis, Illinois, the home of DC Comics hero, Superman.If you’ve ever met David Morgan, it won’t take long for you to figure out that he has developed some pretty amazing super powers: teacher, video producer, airport commissioner, and EMT. You’ll also learn quickly that he and his partner, Deb DeFreeuw are active and passionate advocates of animals.
This is King. He was found on top of a floating refrigerator.
Because of his passion for helping creatures that cannot help themselves, David recently added to his list of super powers by becoming certified in pet rescue through Noah’s Wish, an organization that helps recover lost animals in natural disasters. In the wake of the floods that are ripping through the Mississippi River corridor, Noah’s Wish has been called into action to build an animal rescue shelter in Metropolis for animals that have been displaced as a result of the disaster.
David is in Metropolis as I post this helping families and their lost pets become reunited. Way to go Superman! Pup, pup, and Away!
Information Overload
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 by Deb DeFreeuwI recently read an article from the Center for Media Research that had some very interesting statistics on digital consumption.
Information - Fast and Furious
76.7% read email and respond evenings and weekends
43.2% answer texts or emails on date/social occasion
57.4 % never turn off phone
33.0% check email middle of the night
35.2% answer work emails while with children
46.9% unable to answer all email
41.4% miss important news
39.9% ignore family and friends
16.9% miss appointments
62.5% wish they could filter out the flood of dataHonestly, I was not at all surprised by the last statistic. The tidal wave of information can be overwhelming. This article also stated, “64.2% said that the information coming at them today had grown by more than 50% compared with last year.”
Do the statistics above resonate with you? How do you filter out what is useful? Managing the tide of information has become a necessary part of our daily lives.
Because consumers are actively managing their digital lifestyle, it is more important than ever that you understand your audience, where and how they get their digital information and then provide them with useful content so you don’t get filtered out. If your company is struggling to be heard, Force 5 can help you reach your audience.
Is Your Mobile Website Ready for a Caveman to Use?
Monday, April 4th, 2011 by Butch Whitmire
Mobile browsing is here and now. With estimates that over 50% of all mobile phones sold this year will be smart, preparing your website to become an amazing internet experience on these devices can be challenging. As mobile technology continues to evolve into tomorrow, keeping it simple today is a must. How simple?
Think Cave Man simple.
Here some things Cave Men are thinking about when it comes to web site mobile optimization:
“Finger Big. Phone Small.”
Call if fat fingers, butt dial, or human factors engineering, there are physiological limitations that must be considered to ensure a great user experience. So, even if your Cave Man shaves his knuckles before visiting your site from his smartphone, making mobile web pages with BIG buttons and easy to discern icons, fonts and colors schemes will keep him from hitting you with a club.
“Want Fast. Phone Slow.”
Visitors to your site expect fast page downloads. From a desktop or laptop with a high-speed internet connection, a considerable percentage of users will abandon your site if a page fails to load in under 6 seconds. Mobile download speeds are most often significantly slower. So, keeping your mobile landing page lean and fast will keep your visitors from becoming extinct.
“Want Easy. Life Com … pli…cate …dud.”
Keeping it simple; this is a challenging exercise that will benefit marketers and their customers. I believe, as a general rule, most websites are too complicated: lots of links, lots of Flash, lots of buttons and popups. With limited real estate for the interface and a slower pipeline, marketers are going to have to focus. They’ll have to anticipate who will visit their mobile site and what are the 3 to 6 (that’s about as many buttons that will fit) most important things they’ll want to do when they get there. And that translates into understanding customers and their needs at a deep level. And when that happens, customer relationships start to evolve.
Tags Give Starcraft Marine a Place in the Sun…
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 by Christian MattixIn the dreary days of January and February, many of us find a boat show on the weekend—letting us dream of warmer days, sand and sun filled holidays, and hours on the nearest lake.
Sitting on a boat inside a convention center doesn’t quite fill the bill—does it? This year, Starcraft Marine decided to help boating enthusiast get to that “happy place” in their mind a little quicker… with the help smart phone technology and QR codes. When the Starcraft marine marketing staff planned their new product launch and winter show activities, Peter Barrett, Executive Vice President of Marketing wanted Starcraft customers to experience the joys of boating by showing them beautiful video footage of their boats on the water while highlighting the numerous Starcraft features that had received high marks in independent tests. To convey the most current videos and information to their customers, Starcraft decided to use smart tag codes in their promotional materials. Steve Huber, Marketing coordinator at Starcraft considered QR codes and Microsoft tags as potential ways to do this. Steve asked Force 5 to help investigate the viability of the code/tag process.
In our investigation, Force 5 web developers found that both QR codes and the Microsoft tag manager have their pros and cons. The tag manager has a very nice reporting feature built into its application that steered them towards using this system. However, any tag/code system is limited to doing only a few things—direct a viewer to a web site, dial a phone number, or send a text response. The interactivity with the viewer is limited beyond that. In order to fully engage the consumer and capture as much information as allowed, Force 5 decided to enhance the interaction by developing a small, web-based app that enables Starcraft to customize the customer options based on the application.
This interface allows for a very robust customer experience. With the help of Microsoft tags, Starcraft lets their boat show attendees, those viewing a brochure, or even reading an ad in a boating magazine watch fun and informative video about their favorite boat—then take action.
- Starcraft BoaTAG™ in Action
Force 5 directs the Microsoft tag to a URL which is customized per the requirements of that particular tag. As a part of general functionality, the viewer can watch a video, then share that with a friend, continue on to a web site, look up a marine dealer, or order a brochure. Additional interactions can be added as needed. Through Force 5’s administration, the viewer can be allowed to have any or all of the interactions. For example, someone scanning the tag from a magazine ad could see all the options—someone scanning the tag on a boat may only be given the video, brochure or web option – someone scanning the brochure will see the video, but will not need the link to the brochure, etc.
- Starcraft BoaTAG™ being Scanned
The analytics/metrics for the Force 5 combined system are phenomenal. Microsoft offers hits and geo tracking per tag, and because Force 5 serves the videos and the additional pages, they can track video views, directs to form pages, etc.—this acts as a verification of the Microsoft reporting accuracy, and provides Starcraft with excellent metrics for ad efficiency and conversions.
Here are the details:
System Architecture
The Smoker BoaTAG™ system is comprised of three primary parts on the server side (the 2d-barcode interface, the landing page manager, and the reporting and analytics engine) and the tag scanning software on the mobile device.
2-D Barcode Interface Engine
The team at Force 5 found that the Microsoft TAG system (http://tag.microsoft.com) proved to be the most robust and elegant solution for Starcraft The ability to administer this portion of the system by novice users; generate and print tags in multiple formats, change the URL of the target of a tag; coupled with the non-invasive tracking of mobile devices; and the excellent metrics and reporting were all key in Force 5’s decision to recommend it as the barcode management system.
Each BoaTAG™ is defined within the Microsoft TAG system. The Microsoft system is very easy to administer, providing the user with many options for generating both black and white as well as color Tags.
Rendered in Color
Rendered in Black and White
Microsoft has been very generous in the free functionality that the system provides. Anyone with a Microsoft LiveID can log into the Microsoft system and start creating TAGs.
- Microsoft TAG Admin
From the administrative interface, the user can select a variety of ways to render and download the TAG image. The options cover both color and greyscale renderings as well as a variety of raster and vector image formats.
The Microsoft system allows for a variety of TAG types. The most common are dialer (used to tell the phone to dial a certain number), vCard (used to store a contact entry to be used as a digital business card) and the URL. The URL tag provides the system builder with the most power. From within the Microsoft interface the user can assign the tag to target any URL. This allows for a large amount of customization for the system designer as well as the ability to make modifications as needed as the system evolves (without having to reprint the TAGs themselves). Within that URL Microsoft exposes a token that allows that particular device to be uniquely identified within this system.
Editing Microsoft TAG details
Microsoft has included privacy controls which allow the device to be uniquely identified only within a single Tag account. This means that different organizations cannot share or sell identifiable information to other organizations using the identifier defined within the TAG system. More information about the Microsoft TAG system can be found at their site at: http://tag.microsoft.com.
Landing Page Management System
Once the user scans a tag, and the Tag management system has registered it, the user needs to be directed to a location. This is where Force 5’s Landing Page Management system comes into play. In order for the tag to be interesting and interactive for the end user, there has to be good content on the “other end” of it. This can be a webpage, video, or any other type of media. Force 5 recommended that Starcraft offer a variety of options available to the customer. They also suggested that when a user scans the tag, that they be given the opportunity to view the media (a video hosted on the Smoker YouTube channel), share the media page (via email), click a link to be able to request more information, and click a link to request the location of the nearest dealer. In order to support this functionality, Force 5 created a dynamic, database driven, system to provide landing pages depending on the tag that was scanned, and the options selected to show the viewer for that tag.
BoaTAG™ Landing Page
When a TAG is set up within the barcode management system, the URL field of that tag points to a single landing page. That page URL contains the tag “ID” and the unique device ID, as query string parameters. From that information a landing page is built and rendered for the user on their mobile device.
The selected information provided to the user is easily understood. The user can view the video (optionally in full screen mode) as well as select the operations like sharing and requesting more information. Additional “buttons” are easily added from within the administrative interface, as they are simply database records tied to that tag “ID.”
The Landing Page Management system also includes more detailed analytic information that is not provided by the 2d barcode system. The unique identifier is stored and associated data can then be reported on based on the unique ID or in aggregate.
BoaTAG™ Heat Map
Reporting and Analytics
Now that customers have been scanning the tag and data has been collected, how do you know if your campaign has been a success and how much “traffic” has been generated? This is where the reporting side of the system shines. Both the 2d Barcode Management system from Microsoft as well as Force 5’s Landing Page Management system includes information that can be used to measure success. Microsoft has provided several reports with their TAG system. These reports include the scan “hit counts,” both by day and category defined within the system. It also includes a “Heat Map” that can report to the campaign administrator where, geographically, the most number of scans have been accessed.
BoaTAG™ Scan Chart
The Landing Page Management system includes other metrics as well. Since the customer is simply accessing a webpage, the full suite of web analytic tools is at the system designer’s disposal. This allows reports based on device types and unique identifier to be generated. For example, the administrator can see which users are the most active in the system, what devices they should target, as well as the click rates for the additional “buttons” on the landing page.
QR codes and other scan-able tags are here to stay- at least for a while. Better, faster types of interactive codes are on their way. Digital invisible watermarks for ads and digital audio tags are being developed as you read this. All of these will provide a rich media experience for the viewer and allow the advertiser to obtain better viewer metrics. Tags are enhancements to the experience. The key is to formulate workable marketing solutions using these tools. We at Force 5 would love to help you achieve your vision. For more information, visit www.discoverforce5.com, and fill out the contact form. We would love to hear from you.
The Boss Rules: Rule #3
Friday, March 4th, 2011 by Butch WhitmireI’ve worked for a lot of years, enjoyed a lot of roles in my career, and had a lot of supervisors who imparted their wisdom to me. I thought I would share some of their best stuff with you in this series of posts called, “The Boss Rules.”
Rule #3: Become an “Owner”
Sometimes the best things a boss can say to you hurt a little. I remember going into a review feeling pretty good – sales were above goal, profits were good, and there had been no mutinies. I was a newer sales manager so I was comfortable (and probably a little cocky) that all the metrics were where they needed to be as I walked into Joe’s office.
At the end of my review Joe said, “Butch, you’re becoming a fine manager and things are looking pretty good. But you know, what I really want you to do is focus on becoming an owner.”
I thought, “An owner! Am I being offered a stock option?” But then I remembered we were a privately held company.
“Butch, we serve a lot of restaurants,” he said. “Have you ever noticed the difference the owner of a restaurant behaves compared to the rest of his staff? “
“Yes,” I replied, “They stay late and come in early, they shovel the drive when it snows, and they fill in for the cook who calls in sick. They work really hard. And I think I’ve been doing those things.”
“You are doing those things, Butch, and that’s really good,” he said. “But there’s something else about ownership you should consider: owners put their family names on the signs outside. At the end of the day, not matter what calamity befalls them; owners know that they must take care of their customers because their business is a reflection not only of them, but of their entire family.”
“I’m proud of my work, Joe.”
“I know you are and you should be, but ownership is more than doing good work. Ownership is an attitude. When a customer at a restaurant has a complaint about a bad experience, a manager says, ‘Sorry, my cook called in sick’ or ‘we’re short of staff’ or ‘my delivery guy was late’ or ‘our internet connection went down.’ But the truth is: Customers don’t care about why they didn’t get a good meal; they just want a good meal. Owners are ultimately responsible and they have to behave accordingly.
Butch, during our last review you said you were going to get an appointment at the Burger Boy account. When I asked you about how that was going, you said ‘I sent three letters, four emails, a made three phone calls but they haven’t called me back yet.’ That’s an effort, Butch, and that’s exactly what a manager would do. But an owner would just get the appointment – some way, somehow – he’d figure it out. Does that make sense?”
“Joe, I was just trying to tell you I was making an effort.”
“I know Butch, but I want you to know that I trust you and I want to empower you. So, moving forward, when we decide to do something, I’m going to ask you just one question:
‘Do you own this?’
If you say ‘yes’ then I’ll assume it’s going to happen. I’ll assume you’ll give it every possible effort, and I won’t have to worry that it’s going to happen. And I’ll assume you will ask me for help if you can’t get it done on your own. And when I ask you about it, you can say to me, ‘I have this done’ or ‘I don’t.’ Cool?”
“Cool. I can own this.”
