Corporate Eye

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Websites, Branding and Splash Pages

Websites, Branding and Splash Pages

enter_site_buttonToday, I’d like to get your opinion on splash pages on websites.  Personally, I don’t like them.  While they certainly add value to pornographic websites or websites that advertise alcohol and there is a need to prequalify people before they enter the corresponding site, I can’t think of many other instances where I find them to be helpful. 

Frankly, I have very little time, and I’d imagine most consumers feel the same way.  I certainly don’t have time to watch a flash animated screen play a marketing message while I wait for the “Click Here to Enter” button to appear.  And I’m a marketer!  If I feel that way, what must non-marketer consumers think? [Read more…] about Websites, Branding and Splash Pages

Which Social Media Platform is Right For Your Business?

Is it Twitter? Facebook? What about MySpace or Plaxo? It’s hard to say that one, (if only one and if any ONE) is right to use for your business. Why? Because every business is different and every business owner is different. Deciding what works well with your business is relative, again, to the business.

Social media marketing is a hot topic these days for most all businesses. Showcasing your wares and services is pretty exciting on some sites, and if it is properly strategized, can go beyond what seems like “work” and can be a lot of fun. A lot of blogger journalists are finding that having a voice in the blog-o-sphere empowers them and can make an impact with readers.  Corporate businesses often hire bloggers to write in a marketing style voice that will attract readers to their site(s) by providing rich, relevant content.

Social sites help businesses and individuals get “discovered.” A lot of the conversations and groups that exist on these platforms are useless or in pursuit of spam action, however, quality leads are the goal of the serious user. Many of the platforms also have a somewhat detailed registration and maintenance landing page, often discouraging spammers from signing up. But, ignoring the spam clutter and useless requests, there are users and companies who take the sites very seriously and work hard to build solid networks.  

Twitter is by far one of my favorite networking sites and can be a powerful networking tool. It’s designed as a micro-blogging tool to give quick, dense updates on news and developments within your niche area, on anything. How can businesses benefit from the Twitter site? One idea is to post links to good, quality content on your site or other sites to share with your followers. If you provide good content and good links, half of your marketing job is done. Take great care to provide good links and good information since most of Twitter readers are limited on time (who isn’t?) and really don’t want to waste their time.

At one time, I really thought that Facebook was for social networking for friends and light acquaintances only. How wrong was I? Since I’ve been on Facebook, I’ve made some very good connections and am poised to present to a local business organization as a result of it. More than just “hi, how are you”, Facebook is a powerful platform for finding those that niche with you. In other words, you can network and build networks of people and companies who embrace the same things that you do, have the same business goals that you do and are in pursuit of the same types of business developments that you are.

LinkedIn is another professional platform tool that your business can use to really expand and make an impact in the online world. Connections are the term that LinkedIn uses to qualify their members, and members can request to be in a network or to request to have someone of interest join their network. LinkedIn has a process design that is quite sophisticated and removes most of the spam that can clog up a site. They require members to take the time to flesh out their profiles and to be a thorough as possible in order to make good connections. Herein is the key. Good connections are essential to the LinkedIn member’s success, and with careful implementation, can be quite profitable for the member.

So which platform is right for your business? How do you know if it’s right for your business? Mack Collier at SearchEngineGuide.com wrote this post about deciding just that. I didn’t really agree with everything that he had to say, but that is my point. Without the platforms to voice opinions and ideas, there would be many boring blog reads! However, knowing where and in which direction you’d like to take the media contacts is important in determining in which direction you will go.

The goal of any writer is to provide information to the reader. If you are an individual business owner or building a business, you would undoubtedly benefit from these three and from the numerous many more. If you are a corporate entity or manage one, again, they could all benefit you. There really is no magic or special formula when it comes to social media networking. It works when it worked right and it doesn’t work when it’s not worked right. Period. Use social media platforms in your business, no matter what the business is and what the platform is. A lot of people may not agree with me on this, but customers, readers, contributors or whatever they’re pegged do not classify themselves as one or the other. Treat them as buyers and act like they’re buyers. When you do this, you reap the rewards of having addressed buyers. Why should there be any less?

Which platform does your business use? Is one really better than the other or more effective than the other? What do you think?

Microsoft Asks Employees to Spam Friends and Family

internet-explorer-8It’s not a secret that employees can be some of a company’s most powerful brand advocates.  However, that brand advocacy can’t be forced.  In a move that hinges on unethical, Microsoft leaders asked each of the company’s employees to send email messages to at least 10 friends urging them to download the latest beta version of Internet Explorer 8 (and supposedly last before the official launch of IE8). 

But wait.  There’s more.  Microsoft didn’t just ask employees to annoy their friends with useless email.  For some bizarre reason, the leaders of Microsoft thought it would be a good idea to write the spam email message for employees, so they could simply cut and paste it into a new message then spam away!

The Register got to see the email in all its glory when a Microsoft employee did as he was told and spammed his friends with it.  Seems the recipient of the IE8 spam email message could tell his friend didn’t write it based on the writing style.  Wonder why?  Let’s take a look at a snippet from the email courtesy of The Register: [Read more…] about Microsoft Asks Employees to Spam Friends and Family

Improving Investor Relations Data Offerings with Excel

These days having the annual report somewhere on the Investor Relations website is all but a given.  While some companies publish just a PDF version of the printed document, others publish a web or HTML version.  This published data no doubt meets the expectations of the average investor.  Indeed, such easy access to annual reports is a great improvement over the days when the most the average IR site offered was an electronic way to request the standard snail mail delivery of the annual report.  However, there are some companies providing even more service to their valued investors.

Downloadable Spreadsheet Data

At Colgate’s Investor Relations website, they provide the usual Annual Report options.  There is a link for a PDF file for investors who like to download and view their reports offline, as well as a link to an online Annual Report.  But, there is one extra link.  It is for the Annual Report numbers as a Microsoft Excel document.  (I will refrain from making any comments about the garish color scheme – Oops.)

 Colgate.com - Annual Reports When it comes to investors there are all types.  Some investors care about technical analysis, or analyst recommendations, or even news reports.  Ask around long enough, and you’ll even find investors – some successful – who will admit to just using “their gut.”  But, one type of investor cares about numbers, and not just the headline numbers either.

The numbers investor wants to crunch data.  They want to calculate all those ratios that don’t come printed on the fact sheet.  They might even have a few ratios or formulas of their own that they use to help make their investment decisions.  Either way, before they can do anything else, they need those numbers in the annual report in some electronic format.

Generally, this involves subscribing to a service, or manually exporting values from an investing website or portal.  And, when all else fails, good old typing them into the computer from the page.

The Excel file on Colgate’s IR site eliminates the middleman and gives investors the raw hard numbers in a format that is easy to manipulate and export to whatever program or service they choose.

The Colgate Excel file contains nothing new or out of the ordinary, but it does make accessible the important numbers from the Annual Report.  Inside is the income statement, balance sheet, retained earnings, cash flows, and the 10-year financial summary.  Each of these is separated out as an spreadsheet page and most contain data multiple years of data (usually back to 2005). 

Benefits for IR

While this additional data may seem to be all about giving something more to company investors, it also provides a benefit for the IR Department and the company itself.

By providing its own Excel file, Colgate can ensure that ALL of the data goes with the numbers.  The 10-Year Financial Summary for example contains 6 footnotes on the numbers shown.  This ensures that investors looking at these raw numbers are getting that all important context.  Data provided by third-parties may or may not pass along such information once the raw data has been imported and standardized by whatever system they use.  Even if such information is carried through, its placement cannot be controlled by the company.  By supplying an in-house spreadsheet, the company can ensure that whatever information it deems necessary shows up in a way that they are comfortable with.

A Little Caution

Of course, releasing information in this way cannot be done on a whim, nor can the data be selectively highlighted or formatted.  Straight reproductions of already approved tables within the printed Annual Report are generally the safest way to go and ensure that there is no additional information released within the file. 

It is important to ensure that any variations from the exact numbers or formatting in the approved documents is not characterized as commentary on the data.  For example, something as simple as making certain lines or numbers bold for better visibility on the computer screen could be interpreted by some as the company drawing emphasis or attention to those numbers or fields.  (Or just as bad, as drawing attention away from other numbers or fields.)

Investor Relations Best Practices

While Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets are commonly used they are not the only format available for making electronic information accessible.  Comma-delimited files have the ability to be imported into almost any spreadsheet or analysis program.  However, the extra portability does come at the expense of readability and the increased chance of errors.

Whatever the format, now is the time to look into electronic distribution of data in this format.  Not only does it make the data more accessible to investors, it provides one more avenue of contact for IR.  Posted spreadsheets coupled with an email subscription to their updates ensures that investors regularly receive not only up to date data, but a subtle reminder about the company as well.

Ensuring that investors have correct timely data is one of the primary focuses of IR and making available electronic files like this is one more way to do just that.

Corporate’s First Impression – Is it Working?

We all know that the sum of what a person thinks about your company is developed within the first thirty seconds of viewing your website or blog. You therefore have a few seconds to a couple of minutes to impress your audience. How will you do it?

In taking a look at your blog or website design, is it user friendly? Easily navigable? Or, do you have a template on your site that you plan to “get to when you can?” When corporate sites take that extra minute to ensure that they have a comprehensible and engagable site, they do well. Very well.

Have you ever visited a blog site and found it to be quite impressive, perhaps laden with digital graphics, easy to navigate menus and interesting, compelling content? Do you find that our site here at Corporate-Eye fits that audit?  There are so many blogs and websites on the internet today that there is often an issue with finding quality presentations.

There are quite a few corporate blogs in the blog-o-sphere, and trying to review each of them is a task more deserving than just a few lines. But what I wanted to do also was to look at one of the blogs that I follow to see if they fit the first impression criteria and what readers are actually looking for. Delta and General Motors are two corporate blogs that I follow. Their site design is quite interesting, and made me curious to know if either of the two, or both, of the blogs appeal to a niche audience. Or, perhaps because they’re household names, they automatically gather a following. Tell me what you think about GM.

General Motors

 gm

 

What appeals to you about the site? Do you find it easy to read and understand? What would you suggest to the site owners to do to make their blog more appealing? Would you visit this site again and often? What stands out to you and makes a compelling impact?

In corporate blogging, it’s really quite simple. First impressions are lasting impressions. All we have to do is to ensure that we have fresh, compelling content and that we are appealing to our niche audience. What can your corporate blog do differently to ensure just that?

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at the Delta site.

Google’s Worst Brand Extension Bites the Dust – Goodbye Print Ads

google_print_ads_mistakeGoogle’s worst brand extension has finally met its demise.  Last week, Google announced that Print Ads is getting the ax.

In 2006, the brand that dominates the web launched its new Print Ads product.  Print Ads was Google’s attempt at making money in traditional media, Print Ads was marketed as the perfect way to bring a new revenue stream to newspaper publishers and to provide more relevant advertising for consumers.  Turns out, it didn’t work.  No surprise there.

What went wrong?  First and foremost, Google expanded into a business it had little experience with and lost focus of its core brand strength – dominating the online world.  The extension didn’t make sense from the beginning.  On the flip side, newspapers are in a fast decline.  Google Ads won’t revive them, no matter how great Google thinks they are.  [Read more…] about Google’s Worst Brand Extension Bites the Dust – Goodbye Print Ads