Our client’s challenge:

StepWare, which offers a line of desktop computer software that helps people of all ages become better readers, wanted to create a web version of AceReader, its premier product. The online version would provide a subscription-based service to schools and allow educators and students to use the software at any computer in the school’s computer lab.

The Scott Design solution:

Scott Design created an online application that is almost identical to the desktop version of AceReader. The web version even uses configuration files and settings from the desktop version. Teachers can monitor students’ progress by viewing speed and comprehension graphs from any computer on the network.

The Summit EMA competition is based on the foundation that advertising is consistently at the forefront of the technological evolution of communication. It was created to identify the world’s marketing communication pioneers – those pushing the bounds of the communication badlands.

The Adobe/Amazon.com Product Selector is an online application on Amazon.com that removes the guesswork for Adobe customers selecting products to buy. Instead of a static banner ad, the selector is an interactive application powered by Adobe ColdFusion and AJAX technology with a back-end database that recommends products and brings the user right to the Amazon.com purchasing page to shorten the sales cycle.

“Those involved in today’s emerging media technologies are the leaders who are establishing tomorrow’s avenues of advertising communications.” Said Jocelyn Luciano, Executive Director for the Summit International Awards (SIA). “Most communication professionals recognize that established avenues of communication can be reliable and safe. However, audiences are becoming increasingly fragmented and difficult to engage, inform, and affect.  Developing, applying, and combining emerging media with creative messaging and market awareness is challenging.  Achieving this synthesis is what makes earning a Summit EMA a significant achievement.”

Since 1994, the Summit International Awards (SIA) organization has been dedicated to furthering excellence in the communications industry. It administers three distinguished award competitions throughout the year with the goal of raising the awareness of companies and individuals who have the creative and marketing talent to go beyond the ordinary.

This SIA organization stands apart by offering a true competitive environment where entries are judged alongside those of their peers, and makes its competitions affordable and accessible to the industry by offering multiple entry discounts, streamlined internet submissions, and a friendly, knowledgeable customer service staff. Companies and individuals from more than 50 countries and across five continents participate in its awards programs and choose to invest their promotional dollars for the opportunity to be recognized as an SIA winner. The SIA organization conducts three awards competitions each year: Summit Creative Awards, Summit Emerging Media Awards, and Summit Marketing Effectiveness Awards.

For the latest information on recent awards, visit the Design Awards page.

Our client’s challenge:

Adobe wanted to promote special upgrade pricing for photo- and video-editing software products. The goals of the “tours” were to allow users to quickly and easily understand the value of the products, become inspired by the top features, and actively engage with the products by exploring all the features.

The Scott Design solution:

Scott Design produced online Flash “tours” that display new features in action and highlight price-slashing offers right in the welcome screen of trial and full-version products. The team combined animation, compelling imagery, and streaming videos in a series of online presentations that display the software’s top features. Each of the presentations included prominent, strategically placed calls to buy the product. Scott Design also created special “Black Friday” versions of the tours to promote a limited-time upgrade offer.

Our client’s challenge:

To show online sellers how to use a new listing process, eBay sought animated online demos that would explain the new flow. The goal was to provide mid– to high-volume sellers with clear, step-by-step instructions for using eBay tools to add and revise listings in the eBay online catalog.

The Scott Design solution:

Scott Design partnered with HDI to design and produce a series of easy-to-follow Flash demos—with corresponding PDF versions—that make it simple for anyone to add their products to the eBay online catalog. These step-by-step tutorials include animated screen views and narration that remove the guesswork. The end result is a fast and easy learning experience for sellers.

Forrester recommends that technology marketers concentrate on the sources that yield the most influence and use social media to expand their reach, with the understanding that time spent on social media efforts probably will not yield great value in the short term.

1. Use QR codes on printed pieces:  “Quick Response Codes” do just what they say. A user views the QR code on an ad, poster, or the back of your business card using a smartphone app and the smart phone’s browser takes them quickly to a page on the web. Provide a relevant, meaningful, beneficial experience when a mobile user gets to your landing page through a QR code:

• Direct the viewer to a mobile-optimized version of your website.
• Show a digital business card including a photo and bio.
• Let the user RSVP to an event.
• Show a video or play audio.
• Show a case study or portfolio.
• Give an instant discount.
• Let the visitor sign up for a loyalty club.

Whatever you present should be a worthwhile and robust experience. Too many QR codes lead to a home page on a website with no special “bonus” for the QR viewer. And, track results by using custom QR codes for different programs to easily analyze the effectiveness of your QR codes.

2. Personalize it: Including a personalized URL (PURL) on a printed direct mail piece (or email) is a great way to get users to visit a site optimized just for them. Make sure when recipients take the time to type in the PURLs, that you have personalized their landing page. If you’re asking them to sign up for something, pre-populate the fields with their information and tailor images and your offer to their needs. This type of direct mail is highly trackable, and using PURLs can double your response rate on direct mail.

3. Do one-on-one social media marketing: With the cost of short-run digital printing falling, it’s possible to create highly personalized, hyper-targeted pieces to interact with your fans/followers on your social media sites in the real world. Consider asking for addresses from your loyal fans, and mail something valuable with a request for a follow-up. An example of a successful piece by Jeff Becker of ClientsFirst.com was a box customized with a PURL and personalized graphics containing iPod headphones and offering an iPod if the recipient would sign up for a one-on-one meeting with a company representative. The piece drew a 22% response rate and the business generated more than paid for the cost of the program.  In a Baylor study, marketers got a 75% increase in response rate by mailing something that was bulky or in a box.

Although print is not as big a marketing tactic anymore, make the most of printed pieces to integrate your offline and online marketing. Creating a campaign that incorporates both print and digital design can improve response rates and offer engaging online user experiences.

The goal of an effective banner ad is to get a qualified click on your ad. Creating banner ads that get results is easy using a formula developed by MarketingExperiments.com:

ea = 2at + i + as

This formula for creating an effective ad (ea) is based on three objectives: attracting attention (at), generating interest (i), and asking for the click (as).

Attract attention:

In order to attract attention, your ad should stand out from the page and other ads on the page. This can be achieved through a difference in one or more of the following:

• Size: Larger ads have more visibility.
• Shape: A unique shape or irregular edge can help your banner ad stand out.
• Color: Make sure the colors used in your banner ad are different from other banners and the overall page color.
• Motion: Consider animating an image (not text) in your banner ad.
• Position: Be sure your ad is in a prominent spot on the page to get better results.

Getting attention is the most important part of successful banner ad design, so it’s multiplied by two in the equation above. But use these attention-getting tactics judiciously: If you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing.

Generate interest:

Once you have someone’s attention, you need to build interest to make your customer decide to click on your ad. Your ad needs to answer the question for your ideal customer, “Why should I click on your ad instead of doing something else?” Your value proposition and the interest it generates depend on the following:

• Appeal: Your offer should be attractive to your customers.
• Exclusivity: You should offer something no one else offers or for a limited time.
• Credibility: Any claims you make and images you include should be understandable and believable.
• Clarity: Be clear and concise so your customers can understand your offer.

Ask for the click:

Make sure that it’s clear what you want your ideal customer to do when they see your ad, and match the “ask” to optimize the number of qualified clicks:

• Implied or direct ask: Decide whether your customer would respond better to a direct ask, such as “Order Now,” or to a more subtle ask, such as “Learn more.”
• Decision stage of viewer: Match your offer to where the customer is in the sales cycle. Someone just starting to learn about your offer might be more interested in a brief introduction to your product, while a late-stage buyer might be willing to watch a 15-minute product demo.
• Tone: Match the tone of your request to your audience and what you’re asking them to do once they click.
• Level of authentic urgency: Your statement of urgency should be honest. Say “While supplies last” if you have a limited supply, or add a deadline if the offer will run out after a certain date, but don’t include misleading or dishonest information about your offer.

You can learn more about this easy formula by watching the MarketingExperiments.com webinar on Banner Ad Design.

Scott Design earned a Gold Davey Award for its work on an Amazon.com application that helps Adobe customers select the best products for their needs. The Adobe-Amazon.com Product Selector is hosted on Amazon.com in the Adobe Store.

Scott Design received a Silver Davey Award for the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce website. The redesigned site has become the trusted source for information on local Santa Cruz businesses, services, news, and resources.

The Davey Awards competition is sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from media, advertising, and marketing firms.

For instance, community college students and non-students use the Internet less, are less likely to have broadband access, and use wireless less than undergrads and grads in four-year programs. If you have an online-only marketing plan to reach these young adults, you’ll be missing some of your audience.

Non-students use social media more than any one of the college groups—undergrads, grad students, community college students—so a social-media-only program will again miss some of your target student customers.

Finally, college students are more likely to access the Internet on their cell phones than the national adult population, so including a mobile version of your online marketing materials is a good idea.

To learn more, check out the full Pew Internet College Students and Technology Report.

One of the reasons for including more online content is that the consumption of printed white papers, case studies, and product brochures/datasheets has declined. Podcast and video consumption has stayed steady, but respondents have increased their use of company web pages, e-books, social media sites, blog posts, and Flash or PowerPoint presentations when buying technology.

Corporate websites remain the primary location from which technology purchasers get information. One hundred percent of respondents to the survey reported reading company web content to evaluate a technology purchase. They arrived at the company website by searching (77%), through a link from a vendor email (46%), through a link from a colleague (34%), or via social media (19%).

Since search is so important to getting customers to this most influential channel, companies should make sure their websites are optimized for search, refreshed regularly, and linked to from all their other assets and communications.

To learn more about the study, register to download the free Eccolo Media 2011 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report.