Before 2000, there was no such thing as an iPod, let alone a Blackberry, iPhone, or Android. Most people paid with cash or check at least half the time, and credit and debit cards were still relatively new.

Technology came at us at full-speed, and businesses almost weren’t able to catch up. But over the past few years, we have started to see a pattern, and whether it be an iPad or TouchPad, there are not too many “brand new” technologies recently. This has given us the chance to play catch-up.

So, how do you develop a marketing strategy for a market that is changing so rapidly and using so many different technologies? First of all, don’t just get on the bandwagon. Many social media companies preach getting active profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We are guilty too. However, while LinkedIn as a good alternative to monster.com, it is not somewhere that your customers are looking.

If you aren’t on Facebook and Twitter and potential customers are looking there, you have just lost a major marketing opportunity. But if people in your region, or if your target market doesn’t use Facebook or Twitter, then it is a waste of time to have a strong social media presence.

Don’t look at Facebook, iOS, or PayPal as customers. Your customers are people. Technology is just a tool. You wouldn’t use a screwdriver to hit a nail, so why would you start posting videos on YouTube if none of your customers or potential customers are on YouTube. However, if your customers are begging to be able to pay online, you better find a way for them to be able to.

The basics still apply; research your target market, then develop a strategy that defines your Product, Price, Promotions, and Place. If you need some help developing your strategy, or just someone to bounce ideas off of, we would love to help. Email us at services@starverte.com, call us at 970.765.VERT, or leave a comment below. I also hope to write more articles on this later.

Let me start by saying that security is not a tangible product. Though some try, it cannot be sold to you. Security is a mindset. It is a sense of comfort. It is an emotional feeling. It can easily be paired with the word “safe.” So before unpacking this, let me discuss briefly some of the products and services that have been sold that are trying to make you feel “safe.”

• Public Safety (through police, military, etc. Paid through your generous taxes.)
• Home and Business Security Systems
• Antivirus Protection
• Antimalware Protection
• Web Browsing Filters
• Homeowner’s/Property Insurance (to an extent)
• Health Insurance (to an extent)
• Liability Insurance (to an extent)

(The insurance discussion will be saved for another post.) All of these products and services try to make you feel safe, but the fact of the matter is, they are not a catch-all. No matter how many police you have, no matter what their methods, crime will still happen. No matter how much intelligence you have, ware will still happen.

No matter how many security systems you have in place, there is always a chance that they can be breached. And by the way, the media’s job is invoke an emotional response to people, because that is what helps them sell. Promoting complacency in people would not help their cause, reporting that “all things are good” does not get as much of a response as “economy is in turmoil.”

I pair these two ideas because I want to emphasize that security and safety are mindsets, similar to optimism and pessimism. By laying out there that there is always a chance for a breach, I am not saying that we should be paranoid. Actually, I am saying quite the opposite. The benefits of these technologies far outweigh the abuses, and no matter what there is going to be abuse.

Unless you stop using the internet, stop receiving mail, stop making purchases, stop getting paid, you are still going to be “on the grid.” So if you are on the grid, why not benefit from the great things technology can do. Even in the video, they say that if you turned off all location services it would affect mapping functions.

Guess what, that information is being compiled somewhere and could be hacked into as well. Does that stop me from using the geotracking functions of services? H*** no.

Essentially, everyone must reach that point where they are comfortable, and I strongly recommend against allowing paranoid media to determine how comfortable you are. I am all for Facebook and Google+ giving users the ability to have more control over their “Privacy Settings,” in fact I want to empower users to do so. However, I will never use them. If I don’t want everyone to be able to see it, I just won’t post it on the internet.

Still, I am interested to hear your thoughts, so please leave them below. You could even check out our Privacy Policy if you want.

What the EU is saying, essentially, is that getting users to agree to a long-winded user contract does not let companies off the hook for informing users. 

In other words, it’s now assumed that nobody reads terms of service agreements (which is true).

What does this mean for the whole industry of software EULAs and online terms of service user agreements?

The question is interesting. We all have seen the “I accept these terms” buttons, and many of us just click on it and move on. Very few of us read the entire terms of an agreement. You might even say that some companies count on it. This can be seen as deceptive.

However, we must note that Creative Commons has implemented a great strategy to offset this. For its licenses, it has a “Big ideas” page which lets people know the most important information about the license, and then if they want to peruse further, they can look at the actual text. For example, if Facebook implemented something similar, one of the bullets on the “big ideas” page would be “All information collected on this site is ours, and we may sell it to a third-party” and then a link to read the legal jargon that explains specifics.

We are not attorneys, nor do we pretend to be, so take the following as friendly business advice and consult an attorney first.

We recommend implementing something similar. When working with customers and clients and you want them to sign an agreement, either a hard copy or digitally, have a “summary of main points” page. Remember, transparency is key. Put everything you had hoped they wouldn’t read on this front page. If this means revising the agreement or helping the customer to better understand why you want certain terms in the agreement, so be it. Summary page or not, it is your job to ensure that you completely understand the terms and that the other party completely understands the terms before signing. Stop being deceptive by not explaining superfluous wording that only benefits you.

Any other thoughts on licenses and terms of use or how this affects your business? Leave them in the comments below.

Before content management systems, people designed pages using HTML, and then when CSS came along, they started using that as well. Each page had its own file, and sometimes its own directory (or folder). They were saved as “index.html” for home pages, or “sample.html” for other pages. A ton of time was spent in developing sites, because a unique file had to be created for each page. This is why many website designers charge for their services based on how many pages you have. If wanting to copy an element of text, an image, etc. the code needed to be copied to each page. If you wanted to change an element that was the same throughout the site, you had to make that change on each individual page.

On the other hand, content management systems, like WordPress, take a whole different approach. Content management systems separate the content from the code, keeping the code consistent throughout the site and then pulling the content from a database using PHP. That way, you design a menu, a footer, and certain elements once, not for every individual page. Rather than dealing with mostly HTML, most of the design is based on CSS.

When designing a site for WordPress, one should look at the site as a whole rather than individual pages. In the end, the designer probably doesn’t care too much about the content, but how the content looks. So without jumping into WordPress Theme Development, here are some basic elements to consider and how to reference them in CSS.

Each page grabs dynamic code for sections of the page: the header (which includes the head, and the start of the body tag), the loop, the sidebar(s), and then the footer (the end of the body tag). The header, sidebars, and footer usually stay consistent throughout the site, it’s the content that appears in the loop that changes. So let’s break down the loop a bit more as well.

The loop will query for either a list of posts or a single post. A post may simply be a Post (like a blog entry), it may be a Page (like About Us), or WordPress even allows custom post types (like Events, Products, etc.). Within the post(s), there is the title and then the body text. When querying a single post, a comments section may also be queried.

Like I said, it can get complicated very quickly. I hope to write another entry on this soon, but that’s it for starters. Enjoy!

Occupy Flash Logo. Original Source: http://occupyflash.org

As you are looking through our services offered and even our blog you will find that it is lacking one major technology, Flash. Here’s why.

Image courtesy of: occupyflash.org

We have never and will never support Flash. One huge reason is that we want to make our sites available across multiple platforms, and Flash is not supported on iOS devices, among other platforms. However, even if iOS started supporting Flash, we still would not, for many of the same reasons Apple currently doesn’t.

First of all, we believe in open source technology. It can do amazing things. WordPress, Drupal, OpenOffice, Firefox, Chrome, Audacity, GIMP, Blender, and Ubuntu are just a few of the many open source projects out there… and they have proved great success. Our beef with open source technology is that by in large it doesn’t look good. However, this is where we come in. Of course it doesn’t look good; the open source community focuses on the code, the design community focuses on making it look good. If you want to work with these technologies on your own, power be to you, and we support you fully. Need some help with the design and graphics? We are happy to help.

If open source technology did not allow for the same functionality as proprietary software we may think differently. We will admit that instead of GIMP, we utilize Adobe Creative Suite 5 including Adobe Photoshop Extended. However, with HTML, Javascript, PHP, mySQL, and jQuery, there is absolutely no need for Flash. We will never ask you to download the latest Flash player in order to view our website or any of our clients’ websites. (We will admit that we despise Internet Explorer, but that is because they never keep up with web standards. Due to this, we may ask you to use an alternate browser such as Chrome or Firefox.)

Simply put, Adobe Flash is a thing of the past, and proprietary software has to be on an extremely competitive edge to keep up with open source technologies that are in rapid development. We offer our clients emerging technologies that are sustainable. If Adobe pulled the plug on Flash, we would be in a world of hurt if we were using Flash. In contrast, if Automattic pulled the plug on WordPress (which seems very unlikely), there would be a large community of developers to still support it.

We are supporters of the Occupy Flash movement, and would love for you to check it out at www.occupyflash.org

Wrong. All you have to do is go to http://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=applications and scroll to the application you would like to change the settings for. Click on “Edit” and then click on “Remove” for any permissions you would not like the application to have. If it is grayed out and says “Required” those features unfortunately cannot be touched. If you see any of the required settings as an issue, we recommend removing the application completely by clicking on “Remove app.”

We recommend you visit this page periodically to see all the applications you may not even realize you have subscribed to, as well as make sure there are not any unwanted permissions that your apps have gained.

Google+ is all over the news right now, so it only seemed fitting for us to discuss our thoughts on the new service. Keep in mind that Google+ is still in a “field test” and is not yet widely available. Still, let’s discuss what is already there.

Yesterday, I discussed how Google Plus is not the first social media project that Google has launched. However, the question remains… Does Google Plus stand a chance for success in a field that is already dominated by giants such as Facebook and Twitter?

First, one must realize that social media competition is different from other competitive fields. The service cannot be the same as competitors and just offered at a lower price, because these services are already free of charge. The social media field is expanding every day, and each new tool has a niche that it fills.

Star Verte LLC recommends that its clients explore which social networks would fit their business best. If a client were reaching out to gamers, it would not be helpful for them to initiate a presence on CafeMom. Rather, they might look into GamerDNA.

Still, Star Verte LLC recommends everyone start with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Each of these networks has a slightly different niche, yet still has a large base of exposure for any business. The question is if Google Plus plans to replace users’ needs for a current social network, similar to when Facebook replaced MySpace, or if Google Plus would find it advantageous to just be added to the line-up.

Looking at the layout, the “stream,” and basic functions as well as its advertising Google Plus does not seem to be trying to fulfill a different niche, but rather compete with the niche currently filled largely by Facebook.

So what does Google Plus have that Facebook is lacking? Let’s first look at Google Circles, more or less the “contacts” or “friends” feature of Google Plus. While Facebook allows users to create groups of friends, Circles solves the problem of wanting to post something in your stream that appears to some people but not everyone. The options of screening posts are virtually limitless using Circles, whereas Facebook only allows for “Friends,” “Friends of Friends,” and “Everyone” options of screening.

Next is Google Hangouts, which allows for friends to video chat instantly with more than just two people. An entire “Circle” can video chat at one time, and spontaneously. The closest thing Facebook has to offer is Facebook Chat, which does not offer a video option, a group option, and is often experiencing technical issues and is often in the way of browsing.

Google Plus also includes features such as Instant Upload and Huddle that take Google Plus to the mobile arena instantly. Once setup, with Instant Upload any picture taken on a user’s device is instantly uploaded to Google Plus, complete with settings to adjust which Circles can view the photo. And Huddle brings a completely new idea to texting… group texting. These features seem to have great potential, and with Google Plus starting in the mobile arena, it is already steps ahead of other social media tools that are struggling with integrating mobile devices into their platform.

With Google Sparks, Google Plus also brings itself into the social bookmarking arena as well.

But Google Plus also has some major features that it currently lacks. For more on this, see tomorrow’s post Will We Make the Switch to Google+

Google+ is all over the news right now, so it only seemed fitting for us to discuss our thoughts on the new service. Keep in mind that Google+ is still in a “field test” and is not yet widely available. Still, let’s discuss what is already there.

This was preceded by Google Wave, which was designed to be a brainstorming tool for teams working on various projects. It seemed like it was really going to catch on, with invitations to the service being sold on eBay due to high demand. This service is currently being phased out.

Google Voice was introduced back in 2009 and is still largely in use today. While not a social network, the service allows users to select a phone number that can display phone messages and text messages right in Gmail. Also, the service allows the user to forward the number to an already existing phone with additional screening features.

Google Latitude, released in 2009 to replace the previous service Dodgeball, was Google’s mobile geo-tracking service, which did not really develop a large following; however, it did push other companies into producing similar software. Facebook launched a “Places” feature, Twitter launched the ability to display the location from where the user is tweeting, and Yelp and Foursquare developed check-in features.

Google acquired YouTube in 2006, which has become the largest video-sharing site. Its success can be measured by the fact that it competes with companies such as Netflix and Hulu, as well as its release as a core app for iPods and iPhones alike. In late 2005, Google released Google Talk, an instant messaging platform developed for Gmail users and as a stand-alone desktop client.

Orkut was released in 2004, and is a profile-based service that still has millions of users, however still does not stand up to giants such as Facebook and Twitter.

Each time, Google has attempted to rebrand some technology someone else developed or tweaked a competing service to fulfill Google’s plethora of services. It appears that they either are really successful, or fail horribly. Google Plus is not really an exception, other than the fact that Google Plus is actually the release of several services at once. If Google Plus is successful, it will be due to this.

Google Plus consists of Circles, Huddles, Hangouts, and Sparks, which will be described in more detail in a later post. If any one of these were released as a service in itself, they may or may not catch on. However, with them being released under the umbrella of Google Plus, there might be hope for Google after all. Still, Google Plus needs to offer something that users do not already have in Facebook, Twitter or some other social network. To see if they offer this or not, see tomorrow’s post, How Google + Stands up to Competitors

Social Media is no different. There is a certain etiquette when communicating via social media, just like there is a certain etiquette when writing a letter to an elder of the church. There is also a different vernacular, a different vocabulary used by those on the various social media platforms… and guess what, each platform has a little bit different set of rules.

So today my tip is this; do not start talking right away. But don’t abandon the sites either. Be an active listener and pay attention to the proper etiquette, vocabulary, and be inspired by the way others are posting about themselves. See what works, what doesn’t and then, and only then, apply what you learn to your own practices. But once you’ve done that, go get ‘em tiger!

Any business plan or strategy needs goals in order to be effective. When developing goals for a marketing strategy, it is important to create a SMART goal which includes all of the following elements:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Action-oriented
• Realistic
• Timed (has a deadline)

If a goal meets all of these elements, it is going to be more effective and has a better chance of being specific. However, one thing people forget is the “measurable” part, particularly when applying it to relational or not-for-profit goals.

Relational marketing and not-for-profit business practices focus on building relationships with the community, particularly with previous, current, and potential clients. The focus is not on sales, or how many people walk through the door, but rather on establishing connections and growing networks of resources.

It is more difficult, but not impossible to develop measurable goals when sales nor statistics are the focus. Some “measurements” might be using the http://twitter.grader.com or http://facebook.grader.com to evaluate social media strategies; determining how many contacts have been added to a contact list and how many of those contacts have led to a second or third meeting; or even assessing how efficient the follow-up process is.

Action-oriented is also often forgotten; most goals have a vision or a “big picture” but do not discuss specifics or the processes and tools needed to reach this goal. Outlining this will automatically set up the goal for more success.

What has worked well for you in developing your marketing strategy? What sort of goals have you developed that have succeeded?