Online Marketing Stuff – Diary of a web start-up – internet marketing

Some of you may of heard about a new networking group in Brisbane – the Social Media Club. The group is meeting up tomorrow so if you are interested the details are as follows:

5:30 pm on Jan 20, 2009
The Melbourne Hotel.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to make the event but it looks very interesting and if you are interested you can find out more about this group on Facebook.

You may have seen the recent SmartCompany article regarding iiNet being in trouble for letting customers illegally download TV shows and movies. I have to say this topic is something that really frustrates me.

Here in Australia it is virtually impossible to download a TV show legally, regardless of whether you pay for it or not. Some TV stations are starting to have videos on their websites, but often it is only a summary snippet and not the full episode. Last week I missed the season finale of a show I watch and now I have no possible way to see it. I would be happy to pay a few dollars to download it online but the networks are so backwards in allowing this.

So what is the answer here? I first blogged about this in April 2007 and no progression has been made by the powers that be. It’s illegal to download shows online and yet there is no legal way for Australians to access this content. I’m sure there are licensing issues at play here but is it really this hard? Any of your thoughts on this topic would be appreciated…

Apologies for the lack of articles for the last month or so. I do have a good excuse though! In late October I welcomed my first child, Oliver.

So whilst I have had lots of thoughts of content to blog about (and have had lots of reading time in the wee hours of the morning), I have been a little time poor to get it down.

I’ll endevour to keep the updates coming though!

Being a Digital Strategist comes with a certain amount of responsibility. In a fast moving industry there is a lot to keep up to date with. Every day new websites are being launched, new advertising methods are introduced, new trends evolve and there are plenty of new things to keep abreast of.

For me personally, the internet isnt just about work, it’s also a something I enjoy being part of. I’m interested in how things evolve, what the new sites, gadets and ideas are and how technology is being used. For me the lines between work and a hobby can sometimes become blurry.

A few years ago there weren’t many Digital Strategists around, but these days there seem to be a lot more people working in this area. When finding a strategist to work with, their experience level is one thing, but what ‘interest level’ do you want from the person working on your company’s digital direction?

How important is it for your strategist to have experience in some of the “newer” web elements. Things like blogging, promoting a blog, using microblogging, participating in user generated content, knowing what people do on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or SlideShare? And what about mobile? Do you want them to have a working knowledge of phone applications, bluetooth, WAP elements etc?

Or perhaps it is enough for them to know about the more “traditional” online marketing elements only. Things like online ads, email marketing and search. How to build a website and hopefully get traffic to it using these other techniques.

I know for me personally, my preference would be to work with someone who is passionate about all the different, new and old things online. Someone who can make informed decisions about which direction is best for my business. Or maybe I’m just biased.

Food for thought…

There are a number of upcoming digital events to keep your eye out for. It’s great to see so many events in and around Brisbane at the moment – make the most of it and support the ones you are interested in!

Queensland Digital Events

October 23-24: Evolve or Dissolve, New Media Conference
October 29: AMI – Moving Online with Google
November 6-7: Email Marketing Summit Australia
November 20: Interaction Design Training Course
November 27: Interactive Minds- Interactive Trends 2008 in Review + Predictions for 2009
November 27: Digital Futures, Building your online business

Other States Digital Events
October 29: TV 2.0
November 21: Digital Marketing and Media Summit
November 24-25: Online Social Networking & Business Collaboration (Sydney)

Let me know of any other events you’d like to see on this list…

I know I’m a bit of a web addict, but this morning I was eating my breakfast and reading my new Nett Magazine and I realised that I really wanted my computer on beside me so that I could follow through from the articles and check out the corresponding websites online too.

Given that a lot of the articles in this mag involve a website related story it seems only logical to be able to follow through and check out the website that Ive just invested a few minutes in reading about. I also noticed that I responded in a similar way to advertisements I was interested in which listed a URL.

So of course I went and got my laptop, checked out the links and decided to write about this topic while I am here too.

So how widespread is this habit? Do you combine media in this way? Studies have shown that people are multi-tasking much more across media and I think marketers are finally catching on,  allowing them to further leverage campaigns by having interlinking components across different mediums.

Check out Marketing Charts stats on multi-tasking across different media.

Now the trick for me is to explain to people like my husband that me turning on my computer during breakfast isn’t actually working, a key problem with being actually interested in the area I work in for a living!

I’ll let you into a secret. One of our upcoming Interactive Minds events is about Digital Trends and Predictions and I want to know what you think is going to occur in the digital and interactive industry in 2009?

• What effect with the market down turn have?
• What will be the next big thing?
• Which companies will buy who?
• Will online ad spend continue to grow?
• Will marketers allocate more budget to online?
• How will we progress beyond web 2.0?
• What will Google do next?

Let us know your thoughts and take part in this discussion!