Archive: October 2009

In direct marketing we’re big proponents of using customer testimonials to help close the sale. We’ve posted about best practices, the merits of using testimonials in print vs. on the web, and bloggers as product endorsers.

It seems only fitting then, to remind our readers that the FTC has issued new guidelines on using testimonials and endorsements in advertising. These new guidelines take effect on December 1st.

The fine folks over at MarketingSherpa have summarized the 6 key areas to be aware of with the new rules, as well as other useful links on this topic. If you’re a straight-up marketer who treats your prospects like they are intelligent beings, then these new regs won’t likely impact your marketing plan. If you’re not, well, you can view this as a chance to improve.

SolutionSet hosted its first symfony workshop last week on October 14-16th at our San Francisco office at 85 Second Street. Eight developers participated in the 3-day (9 to 5) training exercise targeted at beginner symfony users. People flew in from as far away as Michigan and Denmark! The following topics were covered:

1. Introduction to Symfony
2. From Flat File Application to MVC
3. Actions and Templates
4. Configuration and Model
5. Model and Doctrine
6. Conclusion and Environments
7. Installation
8. More with Doctrine
9. Routing and Forms
10. Admin Generator
11. Session and Credentials
12. Unit and Functional Testing

The material was well-matched to the experience level of the majority of attendees. In the future, we hope to develop an “advanced” curriculum that would benefit experienced symfony users. The next SolutionSet training will likely be held in San Francisco in early 2010. More details about future workshops will be posted at http://www.solutionset.com/symfony when they are finalized.

In yesterday’s Forrester newsletter, they referenced one of their research studies, “Profiling The Multichannel Consumer”. On its own, this sounds like a rich study, with one of the big conclusions is that some online shoppers are simply “window shopping”. Implication being: growth potential lies in converting these window shoppers using techniques and offers specifically aimed at lowering the barriers to purchasing amongst this segment.

But wait, there’s more!  Listed within the related research documents, there is another little gem: “Coordinated MultiChannel Campaigns”. The executive summary for this report states that less than half of online advertisers coordinate web design and search with their advertising creative. 

One of the reasons we brought all of our companies together under one umbrella called SolutionSet is to answer this challenge for Multichannel marketers. We’re calling for an end to silos, of disconnected marketing efforts, of disparate strategies and fragmented executions. These pitfalls only serve to confuse the intended recipient of your marketing, and ultimately supress sales. In this economic environment, we marketers must do everything we can to strip away barriers to purchase.  Sometimes that begins at the top  - with unification of strategy, messaging, creative, execution and measurement across all channels in order to cause a focused, consistent message that drives transactions.  

While we don’t often toot our own horn, here’s some news we think is worth sharing: we announced yesterday that we’ve combined our four business groups into one entity named SolutionSet. By combining our Direct, Retail, Digital and Data groups into one company, we’re executing on a strategic plan put into motion in 2005 to build an agency that delivers accountable marketing through cross-media solutions that trigger transactions and foster customer relationships over time for our clients. Read the entire press release here.

You’ll see this company direction and mission in our new website and of course on our blog.Tune in often for news, insights, tips and points-of-view on winning in the marketplace by causing more transactions!