The 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing Blog

Internet Week, Day 2 June 9, 2011 – 12:06 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

I’m back at the Metropolitan Pavilion for Yahoo’s Internet Week Conference.  Traffic isn’t nearly as intense.  The Ford Focus still illuminates the main space, crowded next to endless sponsorship signs.  Yahoo Studios flashes programming from their several content stations.   

10:43:  Keynote Presentation by Robert Bowman

MLB Advanced Media CEO Robert Bowman is talking about the mobile experience enhancing interactivity for the fans.  In his mind, baseball remains the ultimate representation of theatre in sports.  They are also talking about the interactivity that spreads beyond the diamond with fantasy leagues and microsites like MLB FanCave.  The actual fan cave exists in the old Tower Records space in New York’s Greenwich Village, and it has offered exclusive program with baseball figures. Their Twitter feed has grown with followers by the day as content continues to gain traction.

11:10:  The Art Of The Side Project

Rick Webb of The Barbarian Group moderates a panel of serial entrepreneurs who talk about the balance between a full-time career and working with a side project.  Again, the crowd din makes it difficult to hear the panelists clearly. If they do it here next year, I’d recommend better audio equipment or hold panels in a separate auditorium. According to them, motivation is something that ebbs and flow with side projects.  Content must be regulated to attract unique visitors, advertisers, and so forth.  Once the side project rises in economic value, decisions must be made. The most common factor is enjoyment.  Is there a desire to leverage this into a career? You’d be surprised that sometimes, it is not.

11:20: Noah Brier talks about selling off Brand Tags for this particular reason. Brand Tag is deemed “a collective experiment in brand perception”.  He felt that the project grew into such a livelihood where other minds can carry it to a full potential. He also mentions that he never consciously refused to apply this side project in his traditional work setting. The time was just not available to direct focus in that space.

11:31:  Who Is Alex Blagg?

On the AOL stage, Alex Blagg of Bajillionhits.biz talks about how the Internet has statistically filled the Internet with endless content.  The effect on human discourse is brought out.  According to him, “A Grilled Cheese Sandwich Store just raised 10 million dollars in venture capital.” He also states that Internet hits are worth more than Dollars, Euros, and Yen combined. The dude is hilarious. He correlates content with basic internet principles, like SEO and online advertising scale. Only content exists, and there is a way where great content stratisfies the future. His keys: Not Too Many Words, Cheap, Disposable, Addictive, Effortesly, and mostly insanity. The mocking is classic. If only you could sit in front of him. He called MySpace “an apocalyptic wasteland where content zombies roam”.  My words don’t do it justice.

That’s the first half wrap. More to come in the afternoon.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
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Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing agency, internet week chelsea, internet week new york 2011, new york interactive marketing agency

Will Etsy Mature? April 11, 2011 – 5:32 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

Etsy is an e-commerce website which has generated a strong lineup of investors for a possible IPO. The website holds inventory of antique craft products. These products are furniture, accessories, and other consumer items.  The founder is a young man, Rob Kalin, whose business ethos mirrors the independent spirit of Fugazi. He detests the corporate business structure and promotes the work of featured craftspeople through the community blog. For those unfamiliar with Etsy, the online marketplace site differentiates itself by using little advertising on a management scale.  They rely on sellers and buyers using communication to reach the general public, in secret or by word-of-mouth.  

Doubts are surfacing whether Etsy can sustain itself without a traditional business structure. Online advertising would pay tremendous dividends if Kalin aligns the company with appropriate partners.  Listing fees would enable the site to build a proper set of meta tags to climb the search engine rankings. You would also take care of the vendors that he claims to fight for every day.  Proper SEO methodology would put sellers in front of consumers who want to buy products from more credible sources.  It would also build communities that can collaborate on geolocal advertising campaigns to raise traffic, not to mention revenue.  Keyword lists can be tailored to the needs of vendors to reach premium eyes.  As mobile marketing ventures into tablets that can load pictures with rich pixellation capability, Kalin must investigate for the benefit of his sellers.  Crafts need to been seen, not heard.

Kalin, as the Inc.com article mentions, is a liberal arts guru by education.  He now trades as a businessman.  The goal of any business is to maximize profit for the benefit of your vendors.  Even Fugazi understood this at the end of the day, creating incendiary music to accredit their business model.  Mavericks have come in and out of time to provide goods and services while remaining true to themselves.  The online marketplace is waiting for someone to challenge eBay. Is Kalin ready for it?

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
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Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing agency nyc, e-commerce news, etsy, internet marketing ny, new york e-commerce development agency

Wellness and Health Research With Technology April 5, 2011 – 3:58 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

A few weeks back in San Diego, health care executives gathered to talk about the potential for technology to impact lifestyle.  Technology is making a strong impact on wellness as the younger demographic loses access to health care.  The new package passed by Obama remains a mystery, so the individual must take greater initiative.    

Doctors have responded by versing themselves in new applications. They are also stepping up engagement through social media and CRM enterprises.  A personal visit from a sales campaign still pays the biggest dividends, at the tune of 61%, according to research group Knowledge Networks.  Compounded with the emergence of tablet devices, physicians have access to discover the newest developments in medicine at an unheard of pace.

The brisk pace of digital information also is important to consider for a couple of reasons.  Developers must be sure that their campaign promotions are entertaining before anything else. New people to wellness transformations are skeptics at first, lacking the proper confidence to follow through with the steps.  A memorable program with a backbone of interactivity and humor will go a long way towards fulfillment.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
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Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing agency nyc, health care marketing, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing, mobile marketing agency nyc, new york interactive marketing agency

A Social Media Infographic: From Your Friendster To Your Followers March 17, 2011 – 3:45 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

Edelman Digital Presents Social Media Milestones

While I was away from the typewriter, Edelman Digital created a visual timeline of social media‘s growth this past decade. I remember first hearing about Friendster in the Village Voice. It was mainly described as an online community for getting women without the fees and gimmicks of dating websites. Nowadays, if you don’t use Tumblr, you are suspect to some folks.

The model has taken off, to put it nicely. Nowadays, celebrities can build or destroy their images through the digital landscape. Some of these statistics are quite jarring. Do you remember your first encounter with social media? Leave thoughts below.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing, blog, Business News, green marketing, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Video Sharing, web 2.0, web development | No Comments »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing agency nyc, internet marketing ny, ragan pr daily, social media, Social Media Marketing, social media marketing agency

TED Opens To Developers AT SXSW March 15, 2011 – 4:09 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

South By Southwest has humble roots as a festival of alternative rock located in Austin, Texas.  Nowadays, the festival is arguably America’s leading portal of content, ranging from film to contemporary music and technological development. Today is the last one for the interactive sector, but highlights are rising from various news sources.

TED CEO June Cohen held a forum to discuss the social network’s philosophy of openness.  This theme pervades to the entrepreneurial community and program developers.  At the SXSW Interactive conference, Cohen discussed a new program titled TED Talks, which is an open API for developers to create applications that can be shared in various platforms.  According to the source article, she has worked with programmers on making the forum more accessible for users.  Some suggestions included skipping introductions and amplifying the content emotion. The goal is to get viewers energized about brainstorming, then putting it into tangible practice.  The API should be launched later on this year.

This development is extremely important for more than the visibility of TED’s brand.  It also is a call to those parts of the world where online video is inaccessible. The factors come from lack of funding and access to prime technological equipment.  Those who are capable of engaging with online video are seeing its power to impact audiences.  Video, by nature, engages several of our basic senses despite the language or imagery represented in the stream.  TED’s mission of openness places great priority to multilingual translations of video content.  Advertisers could leverage this into future endeavors to connect with new marketplaces. Policy and development agencies can develop a more humane understanding of field issues that separate our communities.  The impact of online video has boundless potential which in time will be cultivated.

Here are a couple links from last year’s SXSW Interactive Conference where Ms. Cohen discusses her travels.

June Cohen, part 1

June Cohen, part 2

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
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Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing agency nyc, new york interactive media agency, TED interactive, web marketing new york

Social Media Week Ends Tomorrow In New York! February 10, 2011 – 3:40 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

In case you haven’t heard, Social Media Week has been in New York since Monday.  Ironically, I saw a news feed from a friend on Facebook, but have seen little advertising otherwise in various channels.  Nokia is the leading sponsor, but that could be a telling indictment of the schedule’s haphazard event logistics.  The website suggests interested applicants to follow their tweet feeds for updated news and information.  I have not seen a lot of updates from the organization themselves, but from other registrants at events across town.  A co-worker and I expressed disappointment at the lack of fastidiousness in this operation.  I plan to attend a workshop on global distribution of multilingual videos tomorrow and post a quick review.  In the future, I’d prefer a centralized location not unlike Yahoo’s Internet Week, coming up in June.

Nokia is struggling as telecommunications have shifted to a smartphone market where applications and game interactivity rule the consumer’s digital appetite.  A new CEO with Microsoft looks forward to changing this dynamic, but the forecast is currently not promising.  Meanwhile,  for those interested in tomorrow’s festivities, click on the banner above to register.  Spaces are filling up!

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
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Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing agency nyc, new york social media marketing agency, nokia news, nokia smartphone, social media week, social media week new york, web marketing new york

A Chopstick Forest Grows In Beijing December 27, 2010 – 6:15 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

Greenpeace has developed a community that takes on threats to our ecosystem perpetrated by the social structure.  They are now taking their mission to the emerging markets.  This next decade could be the emergence of China as a nation with tentacles that influence all industries in our world order.  According to Advertising Age, Greenpeace has built a forest out of chopsticks in The Place, a popular shopping area of Beijing.  China’s rapid development into a nation with strong consumer purchasing power has razed forests nationwide.  The effect has left forest resources drying up rapidly.  The country ranks 139th worldwide in forest land per capita.  

Universities, Ogilvy & Mather PR, and local artist Xu Yinhai worked tirelessly to construct the forest.  Here is a link to some exclusive images.  As China transitions into a global behemoth, the necessity for conservation awareness is crucial.  This campaign is being done through various interactive marketing channels.  For those interested, Greenpeace has developed a website where potential donors can sign a petition.  Once a contribution is made, a green leaf appears. Click here for more details.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
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Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing agency nyc, forest conservation initiatives, greenpeace china, new york online advertising agency, new york social media agency, xu yinhai

The Green Marketing Rules December 22, 2010 – 2:44 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

The last few days I have been traveling around from Philadelphia to New York to Chicago.  I have noticed that retailers are offering very steep discounts on their items.  Marketers have had to pull out the stops on promotional tactics.  They have so much inventory on the shelves and behind the walls.

They are intensifying efforts on green products as well.  Consumers have been receiving a lot of information on sustainable goods and biodegradable items in recent years.  Foundations and online activity have also made it easier for citizens. They can communicate details on activist opportunities to ensure that political entities do not sweep the green lifestyle under the rug. The ethos of sustainability has been spearheaded by Whole Foods, the food retailer which has long tentacles in the green initiative.

Critics have been mixed in validating the green marketing strategy.  Some have claimed that its products are deeply expensive and offer false claims of credible environment sourcing.  Others champion the initiative as the present and future in managing future population growth for emerging markets.

Our federal government is looking to protect consumer demand with a series of revisions.  Don Carli outlines the opportunities and risks in more depth on GreenBiz.com.  Click here.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
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Yahoo Mail: Diversified For Your Email Marketing Pleasure December 7, 2010 – 5:33 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

I remember Yahoo Mail being my first personal account back in undergraduate studies at The University of Notre Dame. The transferral of typed messages online through a network system had been going on since the 1960s through the military, but for me, it made the world flat. I could communicate with anyone across the globe, provided they had an account and solid network connections. Nowadays, you can engage with viral demographics at so many levels and intentions. Direct e-mail marketing looks like the Pony Express today, despite its value to generate high response rates.

In this piece from Direct Marketing News, Tom Sather delivers some insight into how e-mail marketers can use web interfaces like Yahoo’s Beta Email to gain ROI on their service campaigns.  Yahoo! just released an interface dubbed “Minty”, which integrates text, a status update box for social media portals, video, and photo uploading boxes.  As we know, Facebook just launched their own revamped email service in their quest to be the first stop on the browsing experience.

Nevertheless, Yahoos’ roots as an e-mail service provider can provide a professional hub for philanthropic organizations who have employees with digital marketing acumen.  Agencies can also benefit by using the interface to experiment with new digital campaign strategies at no cost to their balance sheet. As Sather mentions, using web analytics that can segment the data will prove invaluable to measure campaign effectiveness.  Some basic examples could be special event invitations, staff news, executive announcements, and so on.  We haven’t even discussed much the possible benefits of updating your social media portals without leaving the interface. That is because some folks already understand and have maximized this advantage.  Variety is still the spice of life, and e-mail services can be the spoon for Yahoo.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing, blog, Email Marketing, green marketing, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Small Business, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, Blueliner NY, digital marketing agency nyc, new york email marketing agency, notre dame, pony express, silicon india, Yahoo, yahoo mail

Cisco’s Umi Says Interactive November 23, 2010 – 1:18 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

Cisco, the office technology giant that specializes in teleconferencing equipment for corporations, now aims for your home.  A few ads have circulated on television featuring Ellen Page of Juno fame.  The company is looking to capitalize on the burgeoning home interactive market, where consoles dictate physical activity along with video sharing.  According to this source from Ad Age Daily, Cisco is targeting potential customers through DirecTV, Cablevision and Verizon’s Fios.

The umi includes an HD camera while connecting with a broadband internet line.  Users can record their own videos and share them virally through social media networks.

The suggested retail price is $599 with a $24.99 monthly service fee.  Because of the hefty price tag, the promotional experience must convince customers about the value of this console.  As reported last week, cable corporations are losing subscriptions at high rates.  They are fighting it with basic packages that do not include the premium channels which charge a high carriage fee. The timing is a double-edged sword for Cisco because of this downward trend. At the same time, they want to capitalize on the holiday retail explosion. The air travel industry  still lags as well. In the case of certain families, purchasing an Umi is actually a bargain. The Umi is an imaginative way to share live experiences with loved ones in real-time.  Cisco has rolled out a nationwide tour with the Umi at various malls.  Microsoft is holding a similar campaign for the Kinect.  For those who live in Huntington (Long Island), White Plains, or Garden City, a live demonstration awaits you until December 7th. Ms. Page is already here.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in blog, Business News, green marketing, Interactive Marketing, Marketing | 1 Comment »
Tags: Blueliner, Blueliner Marketing, cisco systems, cisco umi, digital marketing agency nyc, ellen page, new york interactive marketing agency, podcast production agency new york, videoconferencing agency