The 543 Group

The Devil Is In The Details

We are able to build Websites usually faster than the content for them can be approved, and then sometimes clients wonder why a site can take a while in the later stages to be totally completed.  One really good reason?  Browser testing.  Every site we build is tested not only in all of the current predominant Web browsers and versions, but often emerging browsers such as Chrome is right now.  The real challenge is how far BACK to go with browser compatibility.  

As the chart above indicates, the market share for browsers shows that Version 6 of Internet Explorer actually has the largest percentage at present, even though most would not necessarily know or believe that.  Conversely, look at how fast adoption of IE Version 8 is happening even though it has only been out a short while (credit Windows 7 for that, in part).  And, once a new Website is completed and launched, there are usually  new versions or browsers out shortly thereafter that also should be tested to see if they result in any site anomalies. 

We work to make sites as 'future proof' as possible based on our code structure, but it is not usually viable to plan for a site to work perfectly in every version of every browser available.  There are scores of them going back many years, some of which will not support the latest types of engaging content desired very well.  So the next time someone asks why the last stage of launching a site takes a while, tell the devil really is in the details - browser testing, metadata, optimization for organic search, etc.  Lots of companies can build Websites.  Properly structured and coded sites tested to perfection takes a little longer, but it's worth it.
 

Buy-ology

In the iconic Broadway show, "The Music Man," Mayor Shinn keeps telling the youth to watch their 'phraseology' - that the words they use matter and that they should show respect for their elders.  In a market fraught with buzzwords and jargon many do not understand let alone leverage properly, this advice continues to be true.

 

Buyology - Truth and Lies About Why We Buyis the title of the bestselling book by Martin Lindstrom, in which he explores, among other topics, how to optimize one's brand based on neuroscience.  From his own Website, "This groundbreaking new science will revolutionize our understanding of our own buying behavior and send shock waves throughout the marketing and advertising industries and the business world as a whole. A subject they never taught you in school, you’re about to discover your own ‘buyology’."  I have not heard the marketing world come crashing down yet.  It is always good to explore new approaches, however, and discover, as I often do, that I learn something new every day, and today it may have been that what I learned yesterday was wrong.  That's useful, humble education. 

If you are ready to 'translate consumer brains into brand action,' that's great, and we can help you get inside those brains.  We still encourage you to develop sound online marketing strategies based on your core knowledge of customer and prospects needs, attitudes, and behaviors, and then translate that into engaging user experiences and practical solutions that exceed expectations.  We'll promise to use phrases and approaches all stakeholders will understand, and deliver measurable results.  That's our theory of buyology.

Stimulus Plan - Focus on Greater ROI

The 543 Group finished 2008 with significant triple digit increases in revenue and has experienced similar good fortune thus far in 2009, at a time when so many of our colleagues in the industry did not fare so well or went out of business entirely.  We are both gratified and humbled by the progress we have made with our business model.

How did we do it?  We can't divulge every competitive advantage here, but suffice to say we sharpened our focus even more on the needs of our clients, and how they can maximize return on investment for their marketing initiatives.  Smart marketing executives know they need to constantly look for ways to lower their costs and provide greater ROI, and we developed even better methods to deliver our services and solutions as cost-efficiently as possible, without sacrificing quality.  We even implemented a rather compelling outsourcing model that is finding significant traction in these challenging times.

This is a business where almost everything is measurable, and it is time to build better 'mousetraps' to maintain competitive advantage and capture, or re-capture, market share and share of mind.  We encourage you to do so for your own organization and invite you to call upon us if you need assistance.  We would love to share our ideas with you.

Building Stakeholder Consensus for Marketing Initiatives

In building any significantly new interactive or online brand experience, part of the challenge to ensure success of the initiative is to gain stakeholder consensus before anything is created.  This is not always easy, and is often overlooked during the strategic planning process. 

If we are conducting formal branding exercise or brand planning sessions, there is usually good participation from those with a significant stake in how their brand is perceived.  However, when it comes to participating in customer-focused research, stakeholders are often nowhere to be found, preferring to review the results in a nice PowerPoint presentation.  However, if you really want them to look past their departmental responsibilities and see how their customers really interact with their products or services, get them to be 'in the room' and observe that interaction first-hand.  There is no substitute.  Third-party findings can always be disputed, but if they see and hear what customers have to say first-hand, reaching consensus on recommended responses usually follows.  Suddenly the needed budgets free up, the value of customer research is no longer questioned and, if you are lucky, a stronger sense of urgency exists to respond with the right solutions.

This isn't brain surgery.  It is, however, creating the proper rationale and atmosphere for stakeholders to see the truth, and then act on it.  For some, those that regularly interact with their customers, results may not be breathtaking.  But for so many executives, who seldom have any direct contact with live customers, the revelations can lead to major shifts in brand marketing and advertising.

There are also many forms of such research.  Assessing all the options and choosing the right method is paramount to make sure that the research really fosters insights on true and unbiased needs, attitudes, and behaviors that lead to predictable purchase behavior.   

SEO Benefits From the Human Touch

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is a 'standard' service offering of the 543 Group, and encompasses components that have been delivered to scores of our clients over the past several years.

For those unfamiliar with SEO, it is part of the process of building or enhancing a Website such that it will attract traffic from major Web search engines and directories.  It is not, as many believe, just about metadata, the 'hidden' data behind the viewable pages of a Website that describe the page and all of its contents.  Properly implemented, it can raise the 'natural' position of your Website on major search engines, often to the important first page of results and 'above the fold' (requiring no user page scrolling to see it).

There are several 'best practices' to proper development and implementation of an SEO program for your Website, including the following:

• Domain Name Selection
• Site Copy Development
• Metadata Development - including keyword, page title, description, and image alt tags
• Site Linking and Site Map Methodology
• Directory and File Structures
• Robots.txt File Placement
• Search Engine Submission

Many providers of SEO services will tout their automated services to map your site and create proper metadata.  Don't be fooled into thinking it is that simple, because you really do get what you pay for.  SEO is not a commoditized, software-only driven process.  Part of the process can be somewhat automated, but often the difference in success or failure of a site's popularity with search engines is the human guidance provided to each step of the process.

It is also important to know that many of the steps necessary to a proper SEO program can be implemented by your own company staff.  At the 543 Group, we do not force you to pay for any SEO services you can easily do yourself.  Thus, our value is in delivering only the components you need at a reasonable fixed fee.  Properly implemented with the attention to detail required, we have experienced increases in search engine site results from as far down as the 10th page of results or lower (which means no one ever finds your site) to the top half of the first page.  The resulting increases in site traffic are quite measurable and can raise awareness for your competitively differentiated products and services.   

How Fast Do You Need It?

The 543 Group recently was asked to develop an engaging interactive 'splash' Website to support a press event for the launch a hot new consumer electronics product.  The requirements included design of the site layout, creating all of the HTML code, providing for contact information and e-mail capture to create a mailing list for future announcements, and designing and building a 30-second Flash movie to create energy around the new product's features and benefits.

The real challenge?  We had a weekend to put it all together.  We delivered on time, on budget, and to the client's satisfaction, and the press event went off without a hitch.  While not the desired routine for every project, it can be accomplished when everyone pulls together and planning includes exceeding expectations. 

In this business, it's not "What have you done for me lately?"  It's "What have you done since lunch?" Often, it's quite a lot.  What can we do for you today?

We Are The Very Model Of A Micro Multinational

We are often asked what it is about our business model that works better, that offers our clients more than other marketing agencies they may consider. 

We know it is our strategic methodologies, our attention to detail, our ability to deliver on time and on budget, with measurable ROI for our clients.  We invite you to explore this site to learn a bit more about how we accomplish that.

It is also our extensive experience, and the experience of others with whom we work, that make a difference from which our clients benefit.  The lessons learned from hundreds of successful interactive media projects, Websites, and digital marketing campaigns all get applied to each new challenge.  We also leverage a strong international team of experts that allows us to successfully tackle any level of initiative:

• Strategic planning resources with a combined experience base of over 150 years and experience with over 300 clients
• Award-winning creative design resources both internally, as well as in the Midwest and on the coast
• Application development resources capable of tackling any size challenge, with a methodology that can encompasses both open source and offshore to deliver technological solutions to business applications at the lowest cost possible
• Reach and engage experts that have successfully delivered on multi-million dollar campaigns with as much as 250% return
• Team building, coaching, and skills improvement experts to help ensure marketing and related programs are successfully delivered within your organization

The benefit is you are not tied to using an employed team that may not be the best resources for the job.  We have partners in several states, Canada, and overseas, and can locate and work with any other resources we might need.  This is the model for new businesses that wish to compete locally and globally - a micro multinational.

We are also learning from the experience of others, every day.  The pace of new developments and methodologies offers both opportunity and a never ending challenge.  We are your experts in the field, so you may concentrate on running your business. 

If you are looking for truly unique differentiation, as well as approaches that deliver measurable ROI every time, chances are our team has already been through something similar and can leverage that experience for your competitive benefit.

Drawing Upon Experience

My entire career has been largely focused on creating compelling online brand experiences, from my earliest days in public media development where I co-authored the first book published on interactive design.  That was followed by several years with the Disney organization where I was responsible for all interactive experiences at EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World.  We pioneered a number of interactive guest experience systems and also conducted the first research on related human factors engineering.

My twenty-seven year career includes consulting for over 150 different organizations in a wide variety of B2C and B2B vertical markets including health care, education, government, and numerous consumer products and services.   I have created more than 250 interactive and online marketing applications, published over 40 articles on interactive media, and presented at over 35 conferences on related subjects.  My interactive experiences at Walt Disney World have been seen by more than 500 million visitors.  What I am constantly and pleasantly surprised by is how much each new client experience adds to the base of knowledge for the next client, and the one after that. 

Among the key lessons I have learned working with so many different clients in so many different industries is the need to always be true to the brand, no matter what the customer experience touch point, no matter how big or small, no matter what medium or environment.  They all leave an impression, generally one that can be measured, and almost always one that eventually affects the top and/or bottom line of the organization.  This is why 'doing it right the first time' is so important. 

Ken

Web Strategy & Development Methodology

The foundation of the 543 Group methodology involves both an objective and subjective analysis of current Web site strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, in order to drive out the strategies and tactics that will reach and engage customers and prospects and motivate them to action.  The approach includes a hard look at business goals and objectives, including how success of Web site initiatives will be measured.  The methodology generally encompasses not only primary Web sites, but also other forms of interactive/online communications, and the related business processes affected.

The goal is to 'do the job right the first time' by providing the proper foundation and core elements of online marketing that will serve the organization for the foreseeable future.  It is, in effect, creation of a proper 'roadmap' to reach the desired results from online marketing efforts, and it provides the plan for the steps that follow.

Customized to meet individual client requirements, timeframes, and budgets, the 543 Group Web Strategy & Development Methodology is generally broken down as follows:

Strategy & Purpose

• Business Objectives - What Will Visitors Be Able To Do?  - Including research, buy, get support, opt-in, share, etc.
• Online Brand Strategy
• Competitive Positioning
• ROI Expectations

Measures of Success

• Objective Measures By Which Online Marketing Success Will Be Evaluated - Including Web Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

NAB Research (Optional)

• Conducting original research or analyzing current research to properly identify needs, attitudes, and behaviors for specific targeted users that can best be influenced through online marketing efforts

Content & Functionality

• Communications/Marketing
• Commerce
• Customer Support
• Process Enablement
• Personalization/Customization

User Experience & Design

• Branding
• Voice/Tone
• Navigation
• Color
• Typography
• Graphics
• Photography
• Rich Media
• Limitations - Form Factor, Browser Compatibility, etc.

Technical Performance & Support

• Testing
• Hosting
• Tracking
• Updates & Support Processes and Technologies

Marketing & Promotion - Including Reach & Engage Programs

• Naming & Metadata
• Search Engine Optimization
• Search Engine Marketing
• Banners and Other Online Insertion Advertising
• E-mail
• Viral
• Loyalty Programs
• Contests & Promotions

Content Map & Checklist Development

• All Primary & Secondary Components and Links
• Database Requirements
• Visual Site Map (if needed)
• Wireframe Models (if needed)

Functional Requirements

• Functions for Each Area
• Processing Requirements - for each object/action
• Integration Requirements - internal and external
• Content Syndication Requirements
• Reporting Requirements
• Assumptions
• Development Issues

Database Requirements

• Platforms
• Volumes
• Tables
• Integration
• Data Relationships & Mining
• Content Management System(s)

Security Requirements

• Rules
• Schemes
• Integration
• Administration

Project Plan Development - if proceeding to design, development, and implementation

Depending on client requirements, the following additional components may also be included:

Brand Creative Brief

Mood Boards

Regionalization/Globalization Requirements

Web Site Taxonomy