As an art director I’ve long suspected it. People just don’t want to read much copy.

Online they feel excused from even pretending to read it. No one has the time or inclination to more than skim read. This is why writing web copy is such a skill: you need to narrow down your content to just the most juicy bits and place them into the areas we know people do run their eyes across.

To my mind good web design is as much about understanding how humans think, get bored and can be re-engaged as it is about making things look nice. You need to work knowing about proven eye tracking patterns - like the F-pattern (along, down a bit, along again behavior). And understand that your page has inherent blind spots and hot spots and that ‘hero’ messages shouldn’t behave like every thing else (you need to mix it up a little). And ultimately, while content is king, you need to accept that the environment the content is in is vital because it appeals subconsciously.
Understanding how people think, the reassurances they need, when they need to see them…this is the framework of good design. And online, getting it right might just keep them away from heading back to the search results long enough for you to get the first two paragraphs read.

F-pattern for starters: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

Tags: effective web design, my top tips on great web design

Here’s some news: conversations in social media are like any others - tell a good story badly, a bad story in a boring way, the same story over and over and over again, or almost as bad, say nothing at all and you’ll not only switch people off, but they’re never likely to want to hunt you out again, let alone buy you a drink.

So it’s all well and good using Facebook or twitter to get closer to your customers – or supporters, but you have to give them something that excites them. So it’s not enough to have a social media strategy, it has to be a well thought out social media content strategy. Rich content, original content, varied content, content they’d want, and want to share. Leave people to their own devices and they’re just as likely to fall asleep. Setting up your facebook page and not planning the content you are going to drip feed into it to keep things moving, well, you may as well not bother, and it’ll only make your organisation look like Dad’s turned up at the disco. Again.

See our new viral Facebook App for SOS Children’s Villages

Tags: social media, facebook marketing, twitter marketing, social media strategy, content, content

Many charities are finding that the traditional one sided dialogue with supporters might not be enough. Sure, supporters come in all shapes and sizes, reasons for giving are complex, some want to be more involved than others, and everyone has a different take on what involvement means. But if an organisation is going to reach out to new audiences, gain the all important recommendation, create a buzz…without spending loads of money on Direct Mail (money that could be better spent on projects or converting donors into committed givers) then they have to embrace what is actually a technological gift, the natural home to any charity (especially those who are seeing their donor base ageing and narrowing). Social Media.

And to do that they have to understand the rules. It’s about being in it together, not overtly selling. It’s about being open and equitable, having a genuine conversation, the transparent sharing of information, an honest discussion of views, values, goals, good things as well as bad. And also, that the charity only exist, the work will only get done, if others can be bothered to engage.

And it takes a different tone of voice. But, and I think this is the crux of it, not a new tone of voice. It’s a welcome step back from the over polished ‘Charity Brand’ we’ve seen proliferate in recent years. Social Media is the opportunity for charities to be seen, once again, to be run by committed, passionate, totally engaged individuals. These are the driving force of any charity ( one of their greatest assets) and they’ve been hidden behind brand identities, design styles and colour ways. All very good, but slightly homogenising, dispassionate, don’t you think? Which is ironic.

Ignoring social media isn’t an option. Most of the tools are available free of charge, anyway, so there’s going to be a time when donors are going to ask, ‘why on earth are you spending so much of my money on paid media?’ And they’ll be right.

The trick is to have a good idea. A great idea. An idea that is relevant, that is ‘on message’, ‘on brand’ but also online. And it’s got to be an idea that captures their imagination, an original creative idea that engages them, that puts them in control of the information you want them to have.

Tags: social media, charity

Several blogs ago I bemoaned the use of Twitter by many organisations, arguing that they seemed to think that just by issuing tweets they were ‘down with the social media crowd’. When clearly they weren’t.
That got me thinking about creative ways to use social media sites to spread commercial messages to users who are, remember, predominantly there to share news, views and have fun.
This is where the big problem lies with ‘monetising’ a social media presence. It’s difficult for companies not to appear like a Dad at the disco if they try to be ‘hip’, whereas their straight sales messages will be unwelcome and reflect badly on them.
To me the solution may be to think laterally and have a completely different social media presence than might be expected. In other words, companies should look at creating an alter ego who, while linked to them, is not a straight spokesperson for their brand.
This allows you to have some real fun, whether by being satirical, controversial or just plain silly. This means you can entertain other people on the platform who are there for that very reason, and in doing so do far more to raise the profile of your brand.
The more you think about it, the more sense it makes. Yet few companies seem to be doing this. The best example of one I have found is comparethemarket.com. Their Alexandr Orlov meerkat is on twitter and tweets regularly in his distinctive style. Alexandr mostly replies to questions from his near 40,000 followers, showing both that the company know how to extend their brand into social media, and are prepared to take the time to talk to people who are prepared to listen to them. Simples.

Tags: tweet, brand personality

Life in a small agency can be hectic. Briefs come in, you have your head down, busy, busy busy. Existing projects need your attention, clients need to be met, new business needs to be thought about, blogs written. So how do you ensure you keep the ideas fresh, especially when your product is fresh ideas?   In Daisy’s case, that’s where Harry and Rhubarb come in. They sit quietly under our desks most of the day (Rhubarb – on the right - is getting on a bit now so he likes his naps), but come midday they need out. And that’s when most of our best thinking happens.

Hot housing is ok, but the really great ideas tend to grab you when you’re in a relaxed frame of mind. So we take them for a walk, talk some nonsense and watch them chase rabbits in the Surrey Hills. And of course, the conversation swings round to the brief and that’s when the best concepts come, the best strategic angle nailed. Because new ideas need space to grow and light to nourish them, even when this comes at the cost of some unwanted fertiliser.
Want to meet Harry and Rhubarb?
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Tags: creative, dogsbodies, ideas

At the risk of being called a heretic, I think most of what I read through Twitter is rubbish. Banal statements linking to tedious photographs. And it’s even worse when companies and organisations get in on the act. Their worthy utterances just make them look like they are jumping on the social media bandwagon especially when it seems they think it’s enough just to be there, as if mere presence is some kind of magic bullet.   What I am tweeted from companies and organisations is often just the first line of a ‘on message’ blog or the opening sentence of  a press release. Rarely has any thought been put into creating a targeted headline, something that might intrigue me, grab me, excite me…like a headline should. The thing about Twitter is that you have 140 characters to express yourself and capture someone’s attention. And just as you can’t bore me into reading your ad, nor can you bore me into reading on from your tweet.     And while I’m in full moan mood, where’s the coherent CRM strategy for Twitter? Far too often I see no discernable creative plan to the style of messages put out, and to any thought of encouraging my interaction? I thought tweets were the start of a conversation, and I like conversations with intelligence and a change of pace to the way things are expressed. But if every ball in your over is a slow long hop, then where’s the game in that?   From a business perspective, Twitter is the tool that the old grandees of direct marketing would have wet their pants about, but I’m sure they’d tut-tut at how so many companies are using, or rather misusing it.
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Tags: twitter, boring, online crm

Have you noticed how similar email marketing is becoming? Why does it appear that everyone is working off the same template of image box, copy box, image box, copy box. My personal suspicion is that we are letting the techies rule the roost, scared of encountering a wrinkled furrow should one dare to suggest a design that might be heresy to their HTML bible.
Be warned though. If we continue to abandon the principle of thinking of ideas not formats then it will be the brands we promote that ultimately suffer. Programming is one thing, effective creative work quite another. After all, when was the last time an ad agency asked a printer to come up with a big idea?
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Tags: email, creative

At a trade event a few weeks back I was chatting to a partner of a pensions consultancy and mentioned (or slipped into the conversation, if I’m totally honest) a reference to direct marketing. ‘Oh we used to do mail packs,’ she said, ‘But that all seems so old-fashioned these days’.
Needless to say, the pensions director then went on to talk about her firm’s investment in ‘digital marketing’. What she had clearly failed to realise was that digital marketing is direct marketing. And in surely its purest form so far. After all, what other media channel allows better opportunity for an individual to respond directly to a marketing message and immediately make a purchase? It’s direct mail, only better, because there’s no longer any need for that annoying BRE.
I wonder, then, if that’s why we now say information has been ‘posted’ on the net.
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Tags: direct marketing