State of the Net
State of the Net Issue 15 available
State of the Net Issue 15 is now available to download from the Resources Section of IIA.ie. This publication, produced in association with IIA Member Company Amas, and indeed all those from 2009 provide invaluable business intelligence for decision makers in Irish business today. The Winter 2009 issue covers:
- An overview of the results of the Amas/ Marketing Institute of Ireland 2009 Irish Online Marketing Sentiment Survey,
- Top 10 iPhone Apps for Ireland (I have 2 of them and I’m embarrassed to admit that one of them is Sonic the Hedgehog!)
- Broadband growth figures for all platforms and mobile specifically from ComReg
- An overview of research from the EU commission on cross border product abvailability
- Year end details on top news searches from Google
- Usage of price comparison sites by product/ service from Amárach Research for the National Consumer Agency
- A cost/ benefit analysis of Social Media usage by Irish SMEs.
If your company has produced research that you feel might be suitable for publication in the next or other upcoming issues of State of the Net, please feel free to get in touch with me, Roseanne, to discuss.
marketing
Slides from Hotel Website Marketing Conference online
Have I ever mentioned to you that I love my job here in the IIA? One of the things that I love about it is that I often get to some great events. We recently sponsored IIA Member Company Meetingbooker.com’s Hotel Website Marketing Conference and I would definitely count this as among the best that I attended this year. The speakers were all good and varied but mostly I thought it was very clear that they had done their research about the audience and were aware of the issues and processes effecting the hotel industry’s day to day work.
I live tweeted the event and hope that I shared some of the nuggets. However MeetingsBooker.com have made the slides not only from this conference but their other conferences in 2009 available via Slideshare.
International Strategy Working Group
Get the facts fast
Did I totally rob that title from somewhere else?
The International Strategy Working Group had a very successful event last week about Winning International Business with the Web last week. You can find the event presentations in Resources section of IIA.ie and great post from Una Coleman here on the brill new Bloggertone about the key lessons from the day.
To support and continue advising businesses planning to go global the International Strategy Working Group (ISWG) are preparing a series of fact sheets, kicking off with the IIA Quick Fact Finder: Channel Partner Management For International Markets which is now available in the ISWG section of IIA Resources. This will be available to all for two weeks only and then will become a members resource.
Guest Blogger, statistics, new technology
Guest post: CIO survey – What does 2010 hold for CIO’s and IT Managers?
Harry Goddard, a Partner in IIA Member Company Deloitte, has submitted a guest post below. Deloitte have relesed the results of their recent Chief Information Officer Survey and are interested to hear your thoughts on it. You can leave comments below or on their own site.
We’ve just released the results of our first survey of CIOs and IT managers in Ireland in what we hope is the first in a new series of annual surveys dedicated exclusively to the state of Irish IT. The survey provides some good insights and indicates that, at best, a return to ‘business as usual’ for CIOs and IT departments is still some way off or, more likely, that business as usual is changed for good.
A couple of key findings emerged from the survey – enabling business cost reduction is the number one priority for IT departments through 2010; however, for many organisations, this will be done against a backdrop of falling budgets. It seems also that IT cost reduction has not gone away and the challenge for CIOs and IT managers will be achieving incremental and sustainable IT cost savings beyond what they have achieved in 2009. What also came across loud and clear is that IT needs to deliver value to the business – IT is still not seen as a strategic partner.
We have created a dedicated results Deloitte.
Guest Blogger, events
Review: Driving Self-Service Online
A big thanks to Laura Kelly from IIA Member Company AXA who submitted the following review of our recent event “Driving Self-Service Online”. A special thanks for her patience as I grappled with the recent blog issues while her concise review languished in my inbox. Her review shows that this event did not stop at examining online customer service. Of course this is exactly how any customer service should be: multi-faceted. I also attended an event similar to this by IIA Member Company iQContent at their Bootcamp last summer and agree with all her points. (But I would, of course, so it’s nice to get an unbiased opinion!)
As a firm believer in customer choice in servicing, I went along to the “Driving Self Service Online” seminar to understand how I could better improve AXA’s current online self service functionality.
Colin Bentley of iQContent proved to be a worthy guide on the journey through the topic, warning us all from the outset that it’s not as easy as we like to think!
Starting with the link between self service and customer experience, Colin gave us some great examples of online customer experiences that worked, and more importantly and often remembered those that don’t (all companies shall remain nameless here!)
Key Steps in the Online Self Service Journey
- Convince your CEO that online self service is right for you,
- Really listen to what your customers have to say, and understand the areas in which they seek help
- Be clever about the medium you use to answer your customers questions. Examples include forums, avatars (e.g. Anna for Ikea) and Twitter
- Understand more about the type of tasks you want to provide online, and how appropriate it is for the user and you. Tasks can range from useful, to usable, to lovable where companies really go the extra mile.
Finally Colin finished up a very informative half day by discussing the promotion of online self service, including educating staff and customers, as well as less subtle strategies such as financial incentives for transacting online.
A very informative and well presented seminar – my thanks to Colin Bentley from IQ Content and Irene from IIA.
– Laura Kelly, AXA.ie
(And the appropriateness of a CAR insurer writing a review of DRIVING Self-Service Online has just dawned on me. Ever the quick one on the uptake, Roseanne!)
Uncategorized
Joan Mulvihill appointed as IIA CEO
Mulvihill took up her position this week. Speaking about her appointment she said, “I’m delighted to be joining the IIA at this critical time. As Ireland aspires to a Smart Economy, it’s vital that the necessary supports are available to business owners, in terms of infrastructure, investment and expertise. Already, we have some fantastic Irish success stories of internet businesses across a range of sectors; financial services, leisure and travel, retail and media. The internet brings so much opportunity for cost saving, process efficiency and customer care – way beyond simply having a website. As a Smart Economy, Irish businesses can and will be at the forefront of innovation and optimisation of internet usage. The IIA is a member based association and so my vision for the IIA is to see our members, Irish businesses, leading the way in the development and application of internet capability and in doing so growing new markets in Ireland and abroad”.
“The Irish Internet Association is unique among Irish business associations in that it offers all companies the opportunity to network beyond and across sectors and scale. Membership of any association must bring value for money, value to the bottom line. IIA members benefit from excellent networking and business development opportunities. seminars, training and our Net Visionary Awards programme. Members also have the opportunity to participate in our working groups which provide a platform for policy and best practice development”.
Mulvihill has a strong background within the Irish SME sector having previously held the position as Senior Manager for Family Business Advisory Services at BDO Simpson Xavier. Mulvihill also has extensive retail experience having spent eight years in London and Amsterdam with the Kingfisher Group. She was at the forefront of managing one of the first transitions of a major UK retailer from high street to online and has also worked as a consultant to a number of new business start-ups.
technical issue
Poor old blog posts
It just goes to show you it can happen to anyone! Our blog was amongst those that got deleted during the recent attack on a Blacknight Server. Happily I have all the posts archived. Sadly my fairy godmother is off this week so there’s no magic wand to wave to post all our items since August again. Patience, my lovelies, and I’ll have the site looking as right as rain again!
Uncategorized
Deadline for Digital Media Awards Friday 6th Nov
Launched in 2003, The Digital Media Awards were engineered to raise awareness of the emerging digital media sector in Ireland and more importantly to act as a showcase for the varied dynamic works being created by companies and third level institutions across the broad spectrum of categories in Digital Media.
On Thursday 25th of February 2010 the industry will assemble at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry to honour this year’s winners. The annual Digital Media Awards will present awards in 22 categories, to the companies, people and organisations producing the most stylish, creative and pioneering work in their field.
The Digital Media Awards continuously seek to recognise and reward excellence in the Digital Media Sector by introducing new categories, involving more people and generating more press interest with each event. Sponsors include IIA Member Companies The Irish Times, Enterprise Ireland, The Digital Hub and Blueface.
With the Blogging category back for 2010 five new categories have also been introduced to the awards this year to reflect the changes and advances in the Digital Media Industry; Best Web Design/Development Agency, Best in Media, Best in Mobile Internet Innovation, the Viral Event category and the Best innovative start up through Digital Enterprise. Regus, the sponsor of this latter category are offering the winner a fully equipped office in their Cork or Dublin offices.
Click here for a full list of categories and criteria. All entries can all be submitted online and will be open until the 6th of November.
Guest Blogger, events, email marketing
Event review: Get straight to your customer with Email Marketing
I always try to encourage event attendees to write reviews of our events for the IIA Blog. Niall Mc Henry of IIA Member Company SaveAFewBob.ie lept at the chance and wrote the following review of a recent event. If you would like to write an honest review, check out our guest blogger guidelines and have at ye!
In the meantime a big thanks to Niall!
The event Niall is reviewing was titled “Get Straight to your customers with Email Marketing” and included presentations from denise cox of newsweaver, Irene Gahan of IIA Member Company Rehab Bingo and Gary Davis, Deputy Data Protection Commissioner. The slides from the presentations are available in the Resources section of IIA.ie If you attended the event and have anything further to add please leave a comment or trackback below – thanks! If you would like to hear about future events please either sign up for our free newsletter and events alerts or subscribe to our Events Feed.
Over to Niall:
As a novice e-mail marketer about to embark on an e-mail marketing campaign, I recently attended the seminar on email marketing organised by the IIA. There were some excellent learning points to take from the session which I hope to build into our own company’s newsletters. For those who were unable to attend, here are some of my thoughts which you may find helpful.
Of all the online marketing tools available to businesses, email marketing is the only mechanism which affords marketers full control whereby we can push information to our customers. With all other online marketing tools, the user/customer is in the driving seat, dictating what information they are looking for and where and when they will search for it.
Email marketing allows us to get in front of our customers with our message at the time of our own choosing. This is a golden opportunity to communicate with people who are genuinely interested in our product/service. We should be grateful for this and respect the fact that we have permission to contact them. (Yes, you do need their permission!) It is imperative that we consider the parameters within which we are operating when planning our Email Marketing Strategy.
Denise spoke of the 7 Critical Steps to Email Marketing Success. Below I highlight the key points which we hope to integrate into our own newsletters.
- Set clear objectives and goals
- Build brand loyalty
- Encourage readers to visit our site
- Reward members with prizes/giveaways
- Offer alternative promotional channel to advertisers
- Invite readers to sign up to follow us on Twitter/Facebook
- Look your best
- Design should be consistent with existing branding
- Clean design: a few short paragraphs with prominent headlines
- Not too wordy, easy to scan
- Light and engaging in tone
- Visuals can be effective
- Include great content
- Content is king (and it builds your reputation)
- Relevant and timely
- Quality as opposed to quantity
- WIFM: What do your customers want to read? What’s in it for them?
- Short snappy paragraphs – readers are time poor
- Have strong calls to action
- Email Us
- Download this
- Click here (include hyperlinks to specific landing pages)
- Follow us on Twitter
- Avail of this exclusive offer
- Get into the Inbox
- Best to use a professional email service provider
- Check compatibility with different browsers
- Test prior to sending
- Keep your database clean and up to date
- Stand out in the Inbox
- A good heading can ensure higher open rate
- How can you stand out from the crowd(ed) Inbox?
- Can you create instant recognition?
- A personalised email creates trust. Avoid sent from info@, no reply@
- Measure and test for best results
- E-mail marketing is an iterative process
- Learn about your audience. What are their preferences?
- Segment your database if appropriate
- Study metrics, what was opened, which calls to action were answered?
- What can be improved the next time?
Hope this helps. Happy Email Marketing!
Uncategorized
Maggie Bowen, RIP
Fergal O’Byrne, former IIA CEO, on hearing the sad news said, "Maggie was a wonderful ambassador for the internet in Ireland. She was a regular contributor to the IIA; writing articles and speaking at events. Her enthusiasm was remarkable and the internet industry will sadly miss her."
Most recently, Maggie has been a strong voice for the use of the internet among tourism SMEs working on the webcheck program with Fáilte Ireland in the Dublin & South East Region.
The IIA extends its sincere condolences to her family, friends and colleagues.