Web Design and Development in Greenville, SC | Merge

About five or six years ago, I rang the death knell on Rock n' Roll.  Anything on local radio was pretty much trash in my estimation, and finding anything new by any other means just wasn't easy enough to draw me away from my CD collection.  Things didn't change overnight, but it almost seems that way. 

A long, long time ago, say 1999, if you wanted new music, you went to the music store.  Either an Earshot or a big box, buy the CD, and pop it in your car on the way home.  You probably bought the CD because you heard the band on the radio at some point, or saw them on MTV, when they used to play videos.  Essentially you had two (three if you read Rolling Stone or Spin) channels from which to hear about new music.  Things are a little different today.

I love The Black Keys.  You know how I heard about them?  An EA Sports game via Playstation 2 about 4 years ago.  A little embarrassed to admit that, but glad I found them.  How 'bout a band you've probably never heard of, Dirty Sweet.  They are from San Diego and get zero radio play. I found them through the iTunes store looking for new Black Keys stuff and stumbled upon them through the "Listeners also bought..."  One of my favorite bands now.  What about a band I'd never heard of until literally 2 minutes ago, Railroad Earth.  They just popped onto my Pandora station.

The web is making it increasingly easier for bands to get their music to the masses. Long gone are the days of buying a $30 "import" to hear your favorite band live.  Pearl Jam released 72 live CD's about eight years ago after a tour, all available online.  Even that seems tedious now.  I saw them in Columbia in 2008 and downloaded the show three days later.  The band that refused to use Ticketmaster a few years back now has an iPhone App. 

Artists have long been the best marketers, and bands like OK Go aren't waiting on their labels to help sell records these days.  Check out their recent op-ed on the topic.  Ben Harper (along with countless others) has his own YouTube channel.  Many an artist use Facebook to share songs and video with their fans, who in turn share it with their friends.

Bottom Line:  The web has made it very easy for music and artists to find you.  No more do you need to get in your car and drive to buy music, now you can just buy music while you happen to be in your car.

For our non-profit friends out there, here is a quick success story of a grassroots organization and their use of the web and social media to make a big splash from day one. 

Fall 2009 - The Red Shoe Society (RSS) Board is formed, comprised of eleven volunteers.  The goal from the outset is to be the sought after young professionals philanthropic organization in the Upstate while creating awareness and raising funds for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Carolinas.

November/December 2009 - Planning begins for the year, with the first introduction to the public to be held on February 10, 2010, the "Open Your Hearts for the Ronald McDonald House."

December 2009/January 2010 - The board secures Good Life Catering, the Next Innovation Center, Highland Brewing Company and West End Wine and Spirits to provide the space, food and drink for the event.  All of which donate in kind (a good portion of their costs, if not all their costs in most cases) for the event.  

January 2010 - The invitation process begins.  The goal is to get 150 people to the event, and be happy to get ten new paying members that night. 

• Invites are done via email and Facebook.  An event is created and then shared by the board members. 
• Based solely on Facebook friends of the board members, the Open Your Hearts event was seen by a minimum of 3,800 people.  This is assuming  it was only sent out once by each board member.  It was also pushed on twitter.

The event ends up raising $1,980 for the Ronald McDonald House in roughly 2 hours. 

• This covers the cost for just over 22 families to stay at the house for one night each. 
• Close to 200 people attend. 
• The total cost of the event is $77.74.
• The year end goal for membership is 100.  As it stands today, after only one event, membership is over 30 young professionals, not including the board. 

Bottom Line:  Good strategy + dedicated volunteers and/or staff + plus the power of the web can lead to great things for your organization. 

We've met with a good number of companies over the last few months. Two weeks ago was the first I had heard anyone say that a major reason for the decision to revamp their web efforts was because it would do a lot for company morale.  They were coming out of what was not their best year, like most, and they really wanted to turn the corner and reinvigorate the company.  They went so far as to say the new website launch would be a major part of the upcoming annual meeting.

Looking back, this was a recurring theme for many companies, just no one ever said exactly what this company said.  Makes sense, it is the first thing anyone looks at when they are making a decision to work with you.  I've heard a lot of employees, from sales reps to CEO's to IT folks, say they are embarrassed to send potential clients to their website.  The important thing here is that the web is, at the very least, an extension of your brand.   I'm also a firm believer that your brand starts with your people, and if they feel like their branding and marketing efforts are not being supported by the website, then you actually do have a morale problem.  The bigger problem begins when this sentiment leaks to outsiders and potential clients. 

Bottom Line:    Company morale has long been about relationships between people; colleague to colleague, boss to employee, etc...  Don't neglect the relationship between employees and your web presence, it is becoming more important than ever.

Pipelines. Every sales guy has them and every sales guy probably hates them (when they're low that is).

At the time of this writing, Merge has a pretty good sales pipeline. It's amazing the confidence a good pipeline will give you. You can easily pass on prospects that don't fit your model. It's easier to stay true to what you do best and that in turn provides that much more value to your clients.

What does a bad pipeline get you? You take on work you know you shouldn't; you take on work that ends up being a lose/lose just to generate cash flow; you end up saying yes to prospects you should clearly say no to. And the biggest problem? You usually pay for it much later.

For many companies, a web site can be a pipeline filler. Also known as lead generation, a web site can play the role of putting one or two great prospects in your pipeline at any one time. Web sites offer so many intangible values such as this they are hard to measure. But for the company that has that extra boost of pipeline filler, they will tend to make better decisions.

Bottom Line: So often we look to the direct impact a web site can have on a business, but there are so many indirect benefits--like positively affecting a pipeline--that are of great value as well.

As we talked about on Tuesday, sometimes organizations make leaps in order to achieve transformational change.  Most times this happens without much fanfare.  It happens internally, and sometimes your clients or constituents don't really know about or understand the change.  Clearly, Domino's took a different approach, they are not only letting the world know, they are taking advantage of the web and letting the world respond.  Good idea or bad, only about two weeks or so in, they can already gauge their customers reaction.  And so can we. 

With almost 220,000 youtube views of the 4 minute documercial, they have probably accomplished goal number 1.  It will be interesting to see their first quarter returns to see if the plan has really worked, but until then, you'll have to judge the social media response.  The response has been interesting, especially when you compare it across different sites.  Facebook and Twitter seem mainly positive (and really comical at times), while folks posting on youtube are taking it as more of a marketing ploy.  If nothing else, it can be used as a good case study or measuring stick for what platforms to use for a campaign and what type of response you may get.   

Cynically we could say this was just a marketing ploy.  I would tell you that this probably has a lot to do with it.  I would also say who cares.  Their goal is to sell pizzas.  For years their focus was on service, being able to get you a pie in 30 minutes or less.  They never promised the greatest pizza on Earth.  So now their focus and business model has changed.  If they can keep a high level of service, and deliver a better pizza while they are at it, then the gamble pays off. 

Overall, I think the strategy has been smart, generally good-natured (I think they actually took to heart their customers comments) and most of all, timely.  New Years Eve and New Years Day are two of their five busiest days of the year.  Domino's estimated selling 2.3 million pizzas during these two days, up from their 1.8 million forecast from last year during the same time.  I would look for the push to last through the Super Bowl, heavy on the weekends with the NFL playoffs beginning, and then I believe it will tail off. 

Bottom Line:  The true measure of whether this was just a marketing ploy or a real
shift in their fundamental business will come when the hype is dead, pricing normalizes and their normal marketing strategy picks back up.  We'll have to wait and see.