“The very essence of instinct is that it’s followed independently of reason.”

Well, Mr. Darwin, that’s quite the conflicting view of how we have to think. In our business, every move we make has to have a purpose. Even our reflexes have to be justified. It’s our job to create an experience the consumer will get. And not just any experience, the right one. To accomplish this, it must be based on cause leaving no doubt on why something was conjured up.

A great example of this happened when my friends and I walked into Down House on Yale and 18th St. in the Houston Heights. Quickly, it was clear to us how this business wanted us to experience the next hour and half together—coffee with Charles Darwin himself.

We were seated in a corner brightly lit by natural light that passed through colonial style windows. We shared a seat on a dark leather tufted sofa half circling a marbled-topped iron table. Our french-pressed coffee was poured into mis-matched cups and water came in a re-used wine bottle.

The concrete walls around us were painted a marine blue and decked with vintage bicycles, periodic tables, diagrams of different flower species and blueprints of the HMS Beagle—the ship that Darwin sailed around the world on. Industrial pendant lighting, dimly lit, hung low over a bar which was stocked with ingredients that would be used later that evening for handmade cocktails.

Just behind it were bartenders that moved so swiftly, they had to tuck their ties into their shirts—a fading etiquette among dining establishments. A few minutes passed and we half-expected the famous English naturalist to join us at any moment.

The brand was effective. We felt, spoke and thought differently. We thoroughly enjoyed our delicious, savory pork hash and fried eggs (which I highly recommend) while being transported to a place where our conversations and ideas seemed limitless.

Our experience spoke to the brand’s truth. All of its parts made sense. And you know what part made perfect sense? The check was handed to you between the pages of a book written by the famous evolutionary theorist.

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Every year, AAF-Houston hosts a student competition. The event invites local and regional college students to assemble in Houston for an opportunity to experience the real world of Houston advertising, working to create a comprehensive communications campaign for a pre-determined client. Students are delivered to a Houston advertising or design agency to feverishly pitch their best ideas to a group made of their peers in order to create a unique solution to the assignment. The competition is fierce – the rewards great.

BrandExtract was asked to create a theme and collateral materials for the event. We wanted to accurately convey the raw nature of the competition, the intensity of the competition and the magnitude of the reward in the form of real-life experience.

So, with all apologies to recruiters everywhere, we plunged – head-first – into the design. That’s where we met Sally, our shrunken-head mascot for the challenge. She’s the reminder of the risks and the rewards of the competition as well as motivation for students to bring their best. No prisoners!

BrandExtract is proud to be a sponsor of the Rice Business Plan Competition (http://rbpc.rice.edu/), an annual gathering of entrepreneurs eager to gain exposure for their emerging companies. As part of our sponsorship, BrandExtract donates its brand development services in the form of a logo for the winner of the competition.

The 2011 RBPC winner was TNG Pharmaceuticals, a group based in Kentucky, who was seeking to launch a revolutionary vaccine for cattle. One of the biggest pests cattle ranchers face is the horn fly. Horn flies infest individual herds of cattle, extracting blood from the cattle, resulting in greatly reduced milk and beef yields. Current methods of battling the pest include repellent ear tags.

TNG’s new vaccination – FlyVax – alters the blood chemistry of cattle, preventing the horn fly from gaining sustenance. The flies effectively starve to death and ultimately the infestation will disappear.

BrandExtract was tasked to create a mark that not only explained what the vaccine was, but also accurately conveyed what a scientific breakthrough it truly is. Working with TNG Pharmaceuticals, we settled on a mark that conveyed the ultimate benefit of the vaccine – flies go away.

As a user, there’s nothing less inviting than seeing “Contact Us” as the only or primary way of requesting more information from a company. It’s not a strong call to action, meaning it’s vague, unpersuasive and offers no real value.

Make Your Website Work for You

If you think of your website as the start of a conversation, and your call to action as a way to extend it, then “Contact Us” isn’t all that appealing, is it?

In order to convert visitors into leads, you need to provide multiple opportunities for them connect with you that follow three guidelines:

Clear – Don’t overcomplicate it. Tell the user exactly what you would like them to do next in simple, actionable phrases. If you want them to register for a quarterly newsletter “Subscribe Now” is perfectly appropriate, as is “Join the Conversation” if you want their feedback on a recent article you’ve posted.

Visible – Don’t bury your call to action or have several competing ones. If visitors can’t find it, they won’t act. And, if you’ve confused them as to whether they’re supposed to register for an e-book, download a brochure or schedule an appointment, they won’t act.

Appealing – You shouldn’t be gathering information; you should be exchanging it. If you’re asking visitors to share their contact information with you, be willing to give them something of value in return, such as access to case studies and whitepapers or presentations and webinars. This allows them to instantly learn more about your services and how you can benefit them and, it costs you nothing.

Citation:

http://www.hubspot.com/internet-marketing-tips/lead-conversion/

 You’re so excited at this momentous accomplishment of yours because, you know, you’re easily amused. On your way to show whoever is in the closest proximity to you your success as a human being, you accidentally trip on a rock or, I don’t know, a poodle or something

Bam! Just like that, your masterpiece is ruined. That abomination you’re currently looking at…that’s a QR code. Kinda looks like the Matrix’s lesser-known dyslexic cousin, doesn’t it?

You see these things everywhere. In magazines. On food containers. Even on the sides of buildings. Everywhere. QR codes, short for quick response, are a type of matrix bar code (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. Toyota subsidiary, Denso Wave, created them back in 1994 to track vehicles during the manufacturing process. The great thing about them is their design allows for content to be decoded rapidly. QR codes are expected to act as a link from the physical to the digital world giving us more information on a product. The idea is simple: you see a code, you pop out your smartphone and scan it and it directs you to that specific product or telephone number advertised – new diet pills, feminine products, save the whales, learn Portuguese in under 3 hours. Simple, right?

Wrong. The problem with these codes is that no one is interested. They’re unattractive no matter how well you dress them up. And even when they’re designed well, the average person just doesn’t know what to do with them. Lab42, a market research firm focusing on consumer insights from social networks, in a recent survey, found that nearly 60% of users say they aren’t even familiar with QR codes at all. So what about the other 40%? Well, they just don’t care. It’s an issue of user-friendliness. As John Lopes of Adobe’s Solution Consulting Team put it, “The reason why some technologies are more successful or get used more than others are not necessarily based on how well they solve a problem from a technical perspective, but related to the fact that the implementation or solution misses one very important point – they are not always as user-centric as they should be and they do not fit into our everyday lives as smoothly as they should.”

In today’s fast-paced society, taking the time to download a code reader and having to access that reader every time you want to scan a code is just too cumbersome. There are too many steps. As marketers, we’re always excited about the possibility of pioneering the latest and greatest thing because we want to be seen as innovative and revolutionary.

No one wants to be left behind. I get that. But we should use caution. QR codes are just a stepping stone to something greater. Like a place holder until we finally get it right. Google is currently heading in the right direction of image searching with their Goggles. And if that doesn’t tickle your fancy, Near Field Communication (NFC) will surely posterize QR codes before that 60% from earlier even knows what they are. Take a look.

This message has been brought to you by the letters B and E.

1. It’s lightweight – The memory footprint for a node instance is relatively minuscule vs. a traditional php or asp application. Web servers like Apache or IIS spool up a separate OS thread for each connection made to the server, consuming much more memory. Node.js uses a shared thread so it can handle a small number of concurrent connections with much less memory than Apache and the like (note: for large scale concurrency that fact goes out the window).
2. It’s optimized – Since your node application handles http requests itself you can build a no-frills web server that is built specifically for your needs instead of running a full featured instance of Apache or IIS. Things you don’t need aren’t there.
3. It’s fast – For lean, non-cpu intensive tasks it’s ohmigawd fast! It can handle tens of thousands of concurrent connections and the response times are fantastic.
4. It’s javascript – We like javascript.

So, about that conference… The organizer for the conference was Joyent. That was no surprise since Joyent is a principal backer for the Node.js open source project. Ryan Dahl, the creator of Node.js works at Joyent. What was a bit surprising was that the catalyst for bringing the conference together was the venture capital firm El Dorado Ventures (Yes, Joyent is in El Dorado’s portfolio). In fact, the VC’s seemed to get about as much stage time as the computer nerds here.

Many of the presentations were from large businesses showing how they were using Node.js in production. Representatives from eBay, Walmart, Yahoo, EMC, LinkedIn, Rackspace and Voxer were all on stage at one point or another and spoke on how they are using Node.js in their business operations. It was reassuring to see that these large organizations were taking the plunge.

I don’t know your company. Your company has something I want, but I need to know if you can deliver, if your trustworthy and what others say about you. Sound familiar? If not, replace the word “website” with “prospective employee” and you may get my drift. But I like to take things one step further. I think a website visit should be more like a date. That means you have to impress your date, buy flowers, show wit, share knowledge, be charming and gain trust.

I know what you should NOT do. Being pushy usually turns a date off. Dressing down is a no-no. A marriage proposal on a first date is generally not appreciated. A marriage proposal during each and every conversation is only tolerated if it’s meant as a joke. If there’s no trust, forget it. Being all talk and no substance might get you a one night stand, which is ok, if that’s what you’re after. But if you’re in the business of relationship building you have to ask yourself the following question:

Do you want to build a lasting relationship with your customers or have a flighty encounter?

If you answered “a flighty encounter” I suggest you stop reading now and go read some other articles. Sure, building a relationship with your customer is much, much harder than making a quick buck, but wouldn’t it be so much better when your customers keep coming back for more?

So what techniques can we employ to create returning visitors? How can we increase user satisfaction and make them come back? Stephen R. Anderson just wrote an excellent book called “Seductive Interaction Design” in which he describes 4 methods of winning your customers over. In short it comes down to:

Aesthetics – Dress up nicely

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but organization and finesse will not go unnoticed. Make sure your appearance is down to a tee. Quality control is essential. Donald Norman’s book, “Emotional Design,” makes the case that users are very forgiving for flawed functionality if the interface looks attractive. Ergo, if you want to stand out in the crowd, look your best.

Make it fun to be on the website, give it a personality. Even a daunting task like filling out a mortgage application online can be made fun if designers use their imagination. True, it’s serious business and you shouldn’t make it into a joke, but hey if users can have fun while doing it, great! At the same time you do want to be somewhat mysterious in your approach to your user. Give them a little teaser of what you have to offer but make sure you fulfill your promise of providing the goods later on.

Be Subtle – Don’t push too hard

Ever get annoyed by a pushy salesman? I know I do. Granted, when I am ready to buy, I want the cash register nearby. When I first enter your shop and don’t know anything about you, chances are I’m not ready to buy. Stop breathing down my neck and let me get to know you.

Gameification – Play hard to get but offer rewards

Thousands, probably millions of websites hardly get any traffic. Out of those there are probably a substantial number that were a really cool idea at the time when they were build. Some of these even got good marks during user testing. So what happened? Why don’t they get any traffic? Because they are no fun! Wonder why LinkedIn has such a high percentage of profile completeness under it’s users? Why does foursquare does such a good job in user retention? Because they make it fun – yet they make you sweat for it.

In his book “Designing for Emotion” Aaron Walter takes up the case that we are evolving from usable interfaces to pleasurable experiences. As an example, he shows us Mailchimp, an application for sending email marketing campaigns. For some users, setting up a campaign in Mailchimp is a real pain. We know from psychology that users will perform better on a difficult task when they are in a good mood. Ergo, by giving the interface some personality – in this case a chimp that shares witty one-liners upon logging in – you take away part of the pain by instantly generating a feel good moment.

We now know that a design has to be usable and content has to be trustworthy and reliable. Why not take it a step further and create emotional designs that really connect with users? After all, we are designing for humans, right?

The factors to measuring brand ROI include:

1. Increasing the quantity of leads
2. Increasing the quality of leads
3. Increasing the size of the deal or basket (number of units sold)
4. Increasing the price point (the perceived value of the product or service)
5. Increasing the close/win ratio
6. Increasing repeat customer business

while at the same time

1. Reducing the cost per acquisition and close
2. Reducing the sales cycle
3. Reducing customer attrition
4. And reducing employee attrition (bet you weren’t expecting that one)

Branding, when done properly, impacts each of these factors.  Advertising and marketing tactics on the other hand often only focus just a few of these factors. Focusing on just a few of these factors does not generate a geometric return on investment and company growth.

Lets discuss a few of these factors starting with increasing the quantity of leads. Simply filling a sales pipeline with more leads does not guarantee more sales. In fact, this factor by can have a negative effect on the bottom line.  Sales departments may be distracted chasing unqualified leads, which can increase sales cycles on qualified candidates, and typically drives up the over all cost of acquisition.

Conversely, screening leads can have a negative impact on the number of leads. Raising the quality of leads can be accomplished by improving the target universes, focusing the message points, narrowing the marketing channels, and improving the brand proposition, to name a few tactics.

Qualified buyers tend to buy more services and products, which increases the deal size and or basket when properly motivated with the right incentives. Bundled offerings, bulk unit offerings, valued-added service packages, cross-selling services, all work to up sell the prospect.

Driving price is achieved through increasing perceived differentiators: faster product delivery, enhanced reputation, product design and visual appeal, and a host of other methods. Countless market tests have proven strong brands command higher price points, which can be influenced by increased demand and wait list or back orders. Naturally, wait list and delayed starts can cost you sales as well, but generally speaking the hottest products or services can command more patience from the market and people will often pay more to move to the front of the line while supply is limited. The integrated approach and relational influences are the power behind branding.

At this point in the conversation you have probably grasp the relationship between many of these factors, and have begun to understand why focusing on just a few can yield less than optimal results.  Focusing on an integrated brand strategy will develop geometric returns, even with only modest lifts in any individual factor.

Far to often we are asked to provide a silver bullet: something that will turn around the bottom line. Something that will drive sales quickly. We find that while there are short-term fixes, a carefully planned and strategic position to brand management is the only one, true solution to achieve maximum impact. So if you’re looking for a strong return on your investment, consider a program focused on your brand leveraging the Power of 10.

Comments are welcome, especially if you’d like me to expand on any of the points in the Power of 10 and their impact on the bottom line.

Translation: companies like Microsoft, eBay and Walmart are using node.js to implement Web applications that support an enormous number of simultaneous users, and that leverage open source code to create better products faster. Despite the platform’s youth, it’s obviously becoming code du jour and is Enterprise ready.

Be on the watch for Part Two with an inside scoop with the eyewitness accounts.

With all this in mind, are you a little green with envy? I know I am … just a little bit. When I start thinking about reading my book at Starbucks but on a device less than 3/8″, or of course, playing Angry Birds, I just get jealous of some of the people closest to me. My parents. They both got each other iPad2′s for Christmas, but forgot me.

So what’s the big deal about both these Pew statistics and my little anecdote of jealousy? The power of the tablet and e-reader is growing. Quickly. Is your brand ready for it? At a minimum, you should check your email marketing and website on a tablet or e-reader to make sure they display exactly as you’d want and have an appropriate message / call to action for their device’s capabilities.

Email Communications

1) Does your email display correctly in both landscape (horizontal) and portrait (vertical) modes? Look for inconsistencies with how it looks in other email clients, and see if it’s significant. In my experience, if it looks okay in Apple Mail on your Mac, then your it should be okay on an iPad/iPhone. No guarantees on a Nook or Android tablet though, so do your homework!

2) Can the user take the action you want them to? If you want them to schedule an appointment, does the page the user gets directed to work on a tablet or mobile phone? Does it error out, or just offer a really terrible user experience? If you hate using it, your customers do too.

Your Website

1) Does it work? If it doesn’t work at all, or large chunks of it are missing, you may have some work ahead of you to do. Components designed in Flash aren’t a safe bet, especially considering the penetration of the iPad in the overall tablet market. If your website was designed years ago or using a free / low-value service, it may still be compatible, but it may be time for it to be freshened up. And don’t forget, if you do choose to update your design/functionality, you can specifically target tablet and mobile phone users with specific layouts that are useful to your customers, and have them load automagically.

2) If I can navigate, can I complete all the actions? Do you have an online store or database of information? If so, can it be accessed on a tablet? Getting to your website may not do your user much good if they came to complete a specific task. It’s time to question your customers and users, and look at your Web analytics, to see if there are enough users to justify separate skins for applications, or maybe a stand-alone app that is installed directly on the tablet or e-reader.

Pew Study: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/E-readers-and-tablets.aspx