In the past, it was pretty clear who you went to for developing and implementing a cross-media marketing campaign — the ad agency. You went to an interactive firm when you only needed web work, or you had to integrate complex web applications that traditional agencies could not effectively manage.
Today, the web-based projects are a critical component for major marketing initiatives. The lines between ad agency, interactive agency, and web development firms overlap. So when it comes to online marketing efforts, who do you go to? Do you go directly to the ad agency? Or do you find a company specializes in custom web development, design, and consulting? Do you separate out the web portion of your project and hand-pick a specialized web company? Or do you let your agency find their own vendor?
Good questions. Here’s a few indicators you may want to consider working directly with a company that specializes in web development:
You need more than a public marketing site. If your project involves anything more than a public-facing website, there’s a good chance the traditional agency is going to be lost.
You want to streamline your business processes through web applications. Ad agencies won’t help you build web-based software to manage your members, for example. ArcStone, on the other hand, can build you a member management system with online dues payment, member communications, and more, all integrated into a public facing website. (That’s just one example - the possibilities are pretty much endless.)
You want to implement search engine marketing. Agencies don’t typically build SEO into their campaigns. SEO campaigns are their own special beast — they can be very time-consuming, the rules are constantly changing, and they require specialized skills that ad agencies typically don’t cover.
You need a full-service solution. Using five different agencies for your design, programming, SEO, email, and hosting can be a logistical nightmare. If you find an agency that accomplish all of your online objectives, you’re going to save yourself a heck of a lot of time, money, and headaches.
You need heavy interactivity and broad support. Agencies are great at designing the generalities of the user experience but struggle with the details. A development company is going to follow interface best practices and bring years of experience to the table. A typical web development shop has done hundreds of different user interfaces and has a good idea of what works and what doesn’t. Another example of a sticky interface issue is multi-browser compatibility. The intricacies of modern browsers makes it very difficult to make a consistent user experience across all the major browsers. Web developers have special expertise in scripting and style sheet languages that agencies don’t.
ArcStone is a great fit for clients who need custom web solutions or a full-service technology solution provider. We do web consulting, development, design, hosting, email, search engine marketing, file management, email marketing, and more. We’re interactive, we’re programming-heavy, and we excel at building custom web solutions to help streamline business processes.
Ad agencies recognize that most mid-sized to large organizations have some form of online most often need to sub-contract out web development work. It’s a good system, as long as the web portions of the project are pure marketing. Introduce anything else and the traditional agency is out of its element.
The web is a complicated enough beast these days; don’t trust your marketing guru with your web technology. It behooves businesses and organizations to recognize the strengths and weaknesses in both types of firms.
I had the pleasure of hearing a talk by Jillian Perez recently. The subject was “thinking wrong”, a thought process that forces the mind out of cookie-cutter style problem solving and unlocks your creative potential.
Surprising, Innovative, And Down Right Brilliant Solutions
Although Jillian discussed thinking wrong mostly in the terms of graphic design, the techniques can be applied to many situations. Most projects tackled at work or home will require a problem solving thought process. When this process is gone about the “wrong” way, it can yield surprising, innovative, and down right brilliant solutions.
Keep reading for more insight on thinking wrong and my personal take on thinking wrong techniques.
A few months ago, during some miscellaneous design research, I came across a new and very attractive look for Craigslist. I think one of the keys to the popularity and success of Craigslist is in it’s simplicity. It’s easy. It’s no-bells-and-whistles. It doesn’t make you think.
Ryan Sims and Design Eye for the List Guy had some fun with a redesign of the site. I think this could be quite a refreshing look while preserving the essence of the Craigslist we all know and love.
I spent a good portion of my holiday weekend sifting through the documentation for Papervision3D (let this load, it’s worth the wait!). Papervision3D is robust, open source ActionScript class library that aims to simplify the process of creating and animating 3D objects and effects in Flash.
Your house, like mine, probably consists of entries, rooms, hallways, closets, and miscellaneous items to help us run our daily lives. When you open the bathroom door, you expect a toilet, not a wandering herd of donkeys in gorilla costumes.
I’d say a good 99% of us like our homes to be laid out in such a way as to enhance our everyday living – we expect and/or require them to have some modicum of functionality.
Web sites should be the same way. Even a visitor who’s never been to the site before should immediately get a feel for where they are, where they can go, and what information will be waiting for them when they navigate away from their current spot.
My question is: Why do so many architects have dysfunctional websites?
I am not even sure what this is. Gizmodo rarely breaks away from their usual fare of programmable toasters and Apple news. So when they blog about a mysterious, non-English shopping site you have to look.
Take note: if you are on psychedelic drugs when viewing the site you may not notice anything special.
Working late at night on a project, all alone, your cubicle can seem so much larger and more lonely. I suggest filling it with little paper friends from ReadyMech. They have many designs, catering to all sorts of tastes. All you need is a printer, scissors, and some tape to whip up a companion.
If you are skilled with the scissors, and have some time on your hands, I suggest making them all. Take a picture and send it to me; I will reward you with my personal kudos and a hearty round of applause.
I’ve posted a little snippet of Austin demo-ing ArcSite. ArcSite enables our clients to browse to any page on their web site, click a button and edit text, images and links. It is infinitely customizable and will work in any design.
If you’re in a technology market, or even if you’re not - I highly recommend you check out Flashbelt 2007 - June 18-20. Three days of education and inspiration. I met Dave Schroeder a few years back when we collaborated on a project and have been friends ever since. He had this great idea to promote Midwest flash experts and local technologists. Each year its been bigger and better than the last and this year has some BIG names.
The topics vary and cater to anyone form beginner to serious nerd - something for everybody. Check the official site for details and sign up to attend, you’ll be glad you did.
ArcStone is a sponsor of the event providing the online registration and last year our own Nick Longtin presented his implementation of a multiplayer flash tank game.
A pretty interesting view of of our culture and environmental issues through art. Artist Chris Jordan is working on a series called “Running the Numbers : An American self portrait” - where statistics are converted to images in the form of large format art works. As the description states, I can imagine they are even more impressive when seen in person but these works are pretty astonishing (and startling) at any scale.
