I just read an article in this month’s Harvard Business Review that reviewed a study done with college students to measure reading retention.  As the study found, the more difficult the font was to read, the better the retention of the topic was among the students!  Yup, that’s right…the more difficult it was for the students to read, the better they understood and retained the information.  In fact the students that read information printed with difficult fonts had a lift of 14% in their retention rate.

Now we know that this probably wouldn’t work within the online channel as the attention span is exceptionally short and the user isn’t governed by a professor, however, it does make you wonder if utilizing difficult fonts for specific content that we want to ‘jolt’ the user with would have a positive impact.

What do you think, anyone interested in doing some A/B testing on their site to try this out?

No! Seriously!  You can learn a lot by being a ‘lurker’ on the social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.    Lurkers, just to calm everyone’s fears is someone that is passively sitting on the sidelines just listening to the conversations that are going on.  By being a lurker you can gain a lot of insights as to what people are thinking, online.

Now apply this concept to finding information that would benefit your company.  What if you were a ‘lurker’ to the conversations that were taking place in the social media channel that are related to your company or your product or the products that you carry?  Could you use that information to provide better customer service?  Could you use this information to gain a leg up on your competition?  Sure you could.  Anytime you can gather valuable unbiased information from people about your company, products/services, or your competition you will benefit from that information.

So how to you start down the path to being a ‘lurker’?

• Setup searches on Twitter for your company name or your product names
• Try variations on the spelling for your company or your product names
• Join groups that you typical customer would probably be a member of

There are three types of people when it comes to new online marketing concepts

• Early adaptors – these are the brave people leading the charge
• Early majority – these people are willing to take a risk but it is a calculated risk
• Laggards – these people are longing for the ‘old days’ and they are critical of anything new.

It’s happening!  Internet Marketing, Online Marketing, Digital Marketing, whatever you want to call it, it’s no longer an experiment, it’s now part of the marketing mix.  This may be old news to many of you but did you know that advertising revenue for online grew to $20billion faster than any other media?  Yup, it took online marketing only 13 years to attain 20 billion is ad revenue.  In comparison, the next closest is Cable TV which took 25 years to attain the same revenue goals!

And, it’s not just the interactive industry that is noticing this, even the big guys are realizing the importance that technology is having on the marketing sector.  Were you aware that Deloitte recently acquired the mobil marketing agency Ubermind?  What about Accenture creating Accenture Interactive a marketing services division.  Using this new division and by partnering with agencies they are racing into the digital marketing channel.  The Gap between marketing and technology is blurring…and blurring fast!  Everyone is racing to find the optimum model of marketing, creative and technology.

As we see the big boys moving in the direction of eliminating the gap between marketing and technology, you have to know that it is good for business and the sooner that we as small to mid-sized business start to look at the online marketing channel with a seriousness that hasn’t been offered to this channel, the better your business will perform.

A recent survey by Chief Marketer revealed the following strategic goals (in order from top to bottom) I’ve only listed the top 5

1. Build brand awareness
2. Drive consumers to website
3. Generate sales
4. Generate leads
5. Build loyalty
6. Build opt-in email list
7. Build online community
8. Gain viral spread
9. Drive attendance at live events
10. Launch products

When we start talking about search engine optimization frequently the conversation turns to the tech end of optimization.  Things like meta tags, programming, back-links, etc.  Unfortunately, what is left out of that equation is the human aspect of search engine optimization.  I’ve gone on record in the past saying that any agency can get your website top billing for generic key-phrases, the trick is to get top billing on key-phrases that humans are using to find your products or services.  We have to ‘think’ about the strategy of search engine marketing; what are your customers going to use as a phrase to find what you do or what you sell?  What are their goals when they use a search engine? Are they just beginning their research or are they ready to buy?  The answers can only come from thinking about your customers (humans) and building a strategy around those humans.

The second aspect to the search engine marketing conversation is where does the user want to go when then enter a key-phrase into the search engine?  Chances are great that they are not interested in landing on your home page, just to be forced to find the information they are in search of, on their own.  Let’s think this one through, if your potential customer is looking to educate them selves on your company, it’s longevity in the industry and the value proposition that you offer, is there a page that would be more relevant than the home page for them to get that information?  I’m betting that there is.  Make sure that key-phrases related to your value proposition are leading your potential customers to that page.

In the end search engine marketing is not about the technology, it is about the people that use search engines.  This can have a very big impact on how you develop your search marketing strategy.

Every time we start to talk about the need for usability I can immediately start to see people’s eyes glaze over, their heads start racing about how difficult this will make a project, oh, and then the infamous “how much does all that cost” comes up and the conversation about usability goes right out the window.  The point is that usability is the single most important issue with any online initiative, if you want results.  If your going to do an online project (i.e. website, blog, ppc campaign, social, etc) just because you have the money to do it, then save yourself a lot of work and donate your money to a worthwhile cause!  The simple fact is that if your not putting your customer at the center of the process you will fail!

I ran across a very good video that shows the development of an iPad application that was done in the heart of a department store with nothing but user input to move the development of the application forward.  This video demonstrates the need for usability, user-centricity and what can really be done when you listen to the voice of the customer.

Are you?  A recent survey that was published by Marketing Profs showed marked increases in budgets for marketing activities in 2012 with 29% of the respondents stating this increase.  Based on these increases in investment, as you would imagine, the vendors of these marketers that are providing the services are becoming increasingly important to the marketers companies.

So, given this outlook, what are your plans for 2012 and is your marketing agency going to be more important to you and your company in 2012?  Maybe the better question to ask is: will your current marketing agency provide you with the appropriate council and services to take your company past your competition in 2012.

Dive into this topic and let us know your thoughts.