Travel, retail and brand examples of marketing with the new virtual reality headset
You will know that the Oculus Rift is one of the hot technologies for 2015. It came to prominence in March this year when Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook's acquisition of the VR platform explaining that, as he sees it, it is much more than a new gaming platform.
'This is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures'.
While no consumer launch date has been set yet, Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2, a developer version with headset has recently started shipping and it is expected to be released in 2015 with a price in the range of $200 to $300. At this price it seems inevitable…
What are the marketing opportunities, implications and actions for brands, businesses and marketers?
Tech watchers have become used to the regular September announcements from Apple. After a couple of years without major updates to the product line we were expecting a genuinely new Apple product and it’s here in the shape of the Apple Watch.
Of course, Apple announcements are huge news across mainstream and tech channels, so what can be said that hasn’t already be said!? So I’ll keep our alert brief focusing on the names, timelines and marketing implications for businesses and brand. There were hours of announcements across the Apple Live event, but there are 3 main releases to be aware of.
1. Apple Watch
Release date: Early 2015
Cost: $349 (£216)
Resolution: Not disclosed!
Battery life: Hours not days!
You will have heard that the Apple Watch will be touch screen, feature Siri voice interactions…
Our alerts and advice on the "must-know" developments in digital marketing
In August our two most significant alerts were about changes to the Facebook and Google algorithm - check these out in the sections on search and social media marketing below.
Now we’re into September we’re into the final build-up to our Digital Impact conference which is in central London on the 17th September.
We’re looking forward to meeting members at the event where we'll show how to make a bigger impact with your digital marketing with in-depth case studies and workshops covering all the digital marketing techniques we cover in our monthly updates, that’s Digital Transformation, SEO, AdWords, Content, Social and Email marketing plus improving desktop and mobile experiences using CRO and analytics.
Strategy and planning
What influences purchase of your product or service? - Our new infographic showing how your marketing communications should match your customer’s…
Do We Need a Digital Department At All?
When I began working on the Smart Insights Digital Transformation guide, I believed that the days of the digital department were numbered. After all, if digital integration was a true goal of a business, shouldn’t this department simply be merged into marketing and other ‘non-digital’ departments? I felt that we’d only created digital departments as a bolt on reaction to the changing landscape, and that over time different skills would simply be ‘absorbed’ into the rest of the business.
While this sentiment may run true amongst some readers, I soon found that this ideal has seldom been reached, and may never occur in many verticals. After all, it often seems that there will always be requirements for specific skills that need to sit within a specialist team. Rather than saying whether we ‘should’ or ‘should not’ have a digital department, there are varying ‘phases’…
6 examples of businesses building new systems to innovate their marketing using digital technology
Against the backdrop of CMO’s spending more on technology than CIO’s there has been a lot of debate about where digital strategy should exist within an organisation. Is this missing the point though? Perhaps the question we should be asking is when will corporate and marketing strategy simply become part of an overarching digital strategy that is responsible for the direction of business as a whole.
Since I work in a digital agency you could say I’m bound to see things this way but let’s take a look at the facts. At present many of the conversations that we at Blueleaf have as an agency will start with a brief for a new website but increasingly such discussions go on to encompass marketing issues that are fundamental to the organisation as a whole.
G.R.I.N. and bear it
This is because digital technology…
How to save time and reduce waste through better operational planning
As the digital marketing environment continues to evolve, introducing efficient marketing practices is more important than ever. Coordinating multiple channels, running integrated campaigns and relying on external partners make modern marketing processes complex and difficult to manage. Teams are often reluctant to update their day-to-day management tools and processes as change isn't always easy though always needed! This challenge is faced by every marketing team and can be tackled by making important changes to the way things are planned and managed. By thinking through and then implementing some of these following six steps, you can save time, reduce waste and improve operational marketing management.
Get everyone pulling in the same direction. Defining business and marketing objectives first is crucial, your most powerful leadership tool is clear and specific objectives. Define your battleground, understand where your efforts are likely to…
Some practical tips based on 10+ years of marking exams
I was first involved in setting and marking exams in digital marketing around 2000 for the pioneers taking the Chartered Institute of Marketing E-marketing certificate or award as it was known then. Since then I have marked many exams and assignments and a few years ago I posted this note on my personal blog in response to requests.
Recently, I have had some more requests for tips on taking exams although I'm no longer directly involved with marking since I'm focusing on developing resources for Smart Insights with our team of writers.
You will see that these tips are based on obvious, but nonetheless common failings in approach, it's natural that a logical approach will "go out of the window" under exam pressure, but hopefully these tips may enable you to have some "grace under pressure".
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Our monthly summary of the biggest ‘need to know’ developments in digital marketing
In this month’s round-up, the two main alerts are in the sections about search marketing (notifying about a major Google algorithm update) and social media marketing (an alert about the impending Facebook brand page change).
We start by looking at advice on applying two classic marketing planning techniques.
Strategy and planning
Applying Pareto’s 80:20 rule to marketing - this post proved one of the most popular of the month - many find Pareto’s rule familiar!
Examples of TOWS analysis. Everyone in business knows about SWOT analysis, but I find when training that, relatively few know the much more powerful TOWS analysis that helps you plan forwards rather than look backwards. In this post I take another look at the technique.
Mistakes to avoid when creating…
How e-marketing talent can be improved with digital marketing training simulations
Business owners and agency executives are looking to provide marketing and sales staff with access to the latest technologies for reaching out to potential customers while creative leaders are looking to enable lean teams which use online tools to plan and execute complex action items with predictable results. The cloud is now enabling a new range of simulation services which can help improve the operational skills and decision-making abilities of marketers through training.
For businesses reliant on digital marketing which experience turnover of personnel that holds different levels of expertise we see two areas that will be transformed by simulation: first, on-the-job training and sourcing candidates for project assignments.
Since the advent of readily available computing resources, simulation has been used in training military staff, in medical schools and in the nuclear energy sector. Simulations provide considerable learning value where there is high-risk…
What’s New in Marketing? Our summary of digital marketing advice and developments in April 2014
Three of the main social networks updated their profile pages in April. Have you updated yours to fit in with the new designs? See the social media marketing section for details.
Strategy and planning
Key digital marketing priorities for 2014?. In this article Dan reviewed new research from Deloitte/Exact Target which discusses priorities - how do yours compare?Take our digital marketing healthcheck. Have you taken our free healthcheck? We’ve updated this to include our latest research and recommendations. It’s designed to be quick to take with just 5 questions across each of our RACE Planning framework.
Improving results with the aggregation of marginal gains philosophy. In this article I took a look at applying Dave Brailsford’s philosophy of excellence to improve results from digital marketing.…
