A good friend of mine Bob Spour (http://cli.gs/WWWdPB)  recently invited me to a Facebook group which promoted the ...   more »

ClickZ has recently published an article where it says the 10 Most Popular Expert's Columns.  Now I'm a little confused ...   more »

Now I'm sure that there are a lot of people know about two of the biggest shows on British television ...   more »

December is always the time of the party's and as I missed last year's eConsultancy party I was not going to miss this years.  Ashley and the team always put on a really good show.  They also managed to intertwine this with their Innovation awards. 

Paul Cook and PositiveFeedback were awarded the innovation award for new product development for their TagMan solution.  Now this is a solution which effectively by-passes the need to formal IT change management (we all know how long that can take and I think that from talking to colleagues in the WAA and around the UK - financial services are certainly not the best at that).  From using javascript you can edit the section where the tag is placed and change the page parameters instantly. 

Obviously, with a tool like this you need to be able to measure the page itself and note when they were changed and whether there was an increase in conversion - especially if you are changing the page title and the url structure for search engine optimisation purposes.

TargetStone Limited is proud to be a TagMan / PositiveFeedback partner.

---

There was a very interesting conversation with Mark Patron (CEO for RedEye), Mike (BSkyB), Ashley (eConsultancy) and myself and we were discussing the benefits of segmentation and integrating non-web analytics data e.g. CRM.  Now this is something which was also mentioned at great length at the Customer Analytics conference arranged by Henry Stewart Events back in April.  Here we had a representative from Game talking how they were doing segmentation on their customer base (using their reward card as the customer identifier).  Using this methodology they were also able measure online and offline behaviour.

---

Mobile Marketing 

I did have another very interesting conversation with a few mobile marketing experts (Dave Riley, Jana Ulaite and Anne Storeide).  Now lets look at the situation in UK - we've got cheap mobile broadband available from all providers (no longer just available to business), we've got mobile broadband with push email technology, we've got the iPhone (which I'm currently getting used to - shame o2 didn't tell me that its not compatible with Office 2000 nor tell me about some of the finer prints of the terms and conditions but, I'll blog about that later). 

So we're now in a situation where we can get instant internet anywhere and everywhere (well maybe not when on the London underground).  However, how many of us check our banking balances online or make payments via their mobile?  Despite the banks providing mobile services how many of us consumers take advantage of them?  Have a look at www.barclays.mobi .

Now I must emphasise that this is not a new concept.  I remember back in 1997/8 I had a friend called Jon D'Cruz and he was able to check his balance via text message (colour, WAP and XHTML compatible phones weren't around then). 

Anyway, getting back to the conversation.  Dave, Jana and Anne were all talking about the innovations in mobile marketing / entertainment however, they predict that this is something that won't take off till around 2010.  I wonder what you all think of that statement?  Please comment to this blog.

 

Finally,

 

Just want to say a thank-you to Ashley and the e-Consultancy team. 

Merry Christmas everyone.

 

All,

Well little has been known about the Yahoo Web Analytics tool (ne Indextools).  I'm sure a good portion of ...   more »

Direct Marketing Commission is the new independant regulator for direct marketing in the UK.  The definition of direct marketing has historically meant telephony and "snail-mail" advertisements.  No Longer!!!

"Direct Marketing Channels can be defined as:

Direct Mail: personally addressed mail posted direct to you

Emails: personal emails sent to you

Telemarketing: calls from a company offering products or services

Leaflets, circulars and free publications: unaddressed communications and items delivered house to house by hand, including brochures, catalogues, local directories, money-off coupons and product samples (including items delivered with free local newspapers and unaddressed items delivered by Royal Mail)

Inserts: leaflets and catalogues inserted into paid for magazines, newspapers and supplements plus third party communications inserted within addressed communications such as statements and bills

People Marketing/Demonstrations: people giving out samples or promoting a product or service in the street or in a shopping centre

Customer Magazines: written for customers offering advice and information on the company’s products and services (e.g. Sky, Sainsbury’s, the AA)

Television and Radio Advertising: that gives a contact number, website address or that invites some action such as ‘see in store for details’

Newspapers and Magazine Display Advertising: (NOT customer magazines or inserts) that give a contact number, website address, or that invite you to ‘see in store for details’

Mobile Messaging: communications via your mobile phone inviting you to respond to a text message or use your mobile to respond to a communication received via another method

Interactive TV: using the red button on your TV to respond to or buy from advertisements or offers

Internet/Online Banner Advertising: a form of online display advertising where an advertisement appears on a web page; this is usually a graphic image containing advertising content. It is intended to attract visitors to a website by linking them to the website of the advertiser.

Place-based media: any invitation to participate in direct marketing ‘outside the home’ that appears on posters or inside/in close proximity to offices, stores, airports, educational and other activity centres."

 

Clearly this is something that we all need to be aware of and I'd recommend you read their code of practise.  Unfortunately, I cannot provide the PDF as this is for members only. 

Anyway, the main reason for writing this blog (two in two days....!!! a record for me) is because my friend Danny Meadows-Klue sent me an email updating me on his activities.  He's now being appointed to the Board of Commissioners of the DMC.  

CONGRATULATIONS DANNY!

Disclaimer:  I have no affiliation or membership of the DMA and this article is my comments and opinion only.  I provide the links in this article for your information only and have no responsibility for the content of the DMA site.  The work that I did for the DMA back in 1997 was on a contract basis.

 

Applied Insights are to join forces with Foviance and Neil Mason is going to become their Director of Analytics Consulting.  ...   more »

The 24th April was a very busy day for me. Firstly I was speaking at Henry Stewart Evans' Marketing Analytics event. Unfortunately, I missed most the presentations but, I did see a very interesting one from GAME and the work that they are doing with 5one on segmenting their customers to 1. get a better understanding and 2. market to them as individuals.   more »

Yahoo! Announces Agreement to Acquire IndexTools' Analytics Business

Acquisition intended to enhance platform for comprehensive Web
analytics and extend offerings ...   more »

 “This is a very late move by Yahoo! into providing a web analytics offering to its customers which Google ...   more »