A couple questions to keep in mind though: will your user like it, or find it distracting? Will you as a company benefit from it? Is there a real need for it, or are you putting Flash on your website just because you can?

Keep in mind that the web is a different place than the movie theater or television, and what works there does not always work here. On the web, users are looking for information, straight, direct, to-the-point. A little touch here and there—a sparkling diamond, an edge of paper flapping slightly—these things are eye-catching without being as intrusive as a Flash introduction that lasts 30 seconds and doesn’t allow the user to get on to the meat of your website. Some features of Flash add a subtle beauty to a web page, and some interactive forms and calculators can help the user get the information they are looking for in a pleasing way. But, overload your site in Flash, or create an all-Flash site, and users may leave a bit disappointed and/or annoyed.

Not to mention the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) problems with Flash. Since 2008, search engines like Google and Yahoo! have been working with Adobe and are able to index some parts of a Flash file. However, for search engines to crawl Flash files, it takes set-up by the Flash creator, and no pieces will be indexed automatically as in a regular html website. It’s not a perfect science, so it’s still a good idea to put non-Flash content on a page to pick up search engine traffic. For more info on this, see “How to SEO Flash in 2010.”

So, what is the best way to get the flash of Flash without paying the potential price? My best guess is to use Flash as a helper or aide on your site to brighten up areas, make parts of it catchy, and make useful interactive forms that are elegant and beautiful. I would definitely caution against having a Flash intro that doesn’t allow a user to access the content of your site. I know of several websites that irritate every time I have to go to them, and I can’t find the “Skip Intro” button fast enough to get past their useless Flash story. If you want a Flash intro, have it in a header area of your home page, playing there while the user can also read the content.

Bottom line: it isn’t in the spirit of the internet to control the entire experience of your visitors. They want to choose what to watch, read, or click on, and they will flock to sites that allow them that latitude.

Marketing programs for customers are totally different than those created to attract and convert new prospects. Many of our websites offer no content for existing customers. Our email programs usually focus on attracting new customers. Our messages are more focused on educating new prospects about how we can solve their problems.

We need to change the frame of the information we’re providing them to information that’s relevant to them as a customer, not as a prospect.  Think information that nurtures the relationship — information that helps them gain even more value from their purchase. Value beyond what they expected when they made the purchase.

We also need to change the themes of the content that we deliver to them. They need content that talks about what comes next — to reinforce and even extend the success they’ve already achieved using our products and services.  For B-to-B customers, content might focus on product features they might not be utilizing yet or how they can achieve higher end-user adoption.  For B-to-C customers, content might center around continually enhancing the customer’s product experience by developing  new offers that keep their engagement high with the company.

We know more about customers than our prospects.  At least we should.  So creating content that is relevant and appeals to their need for a continual stream of information should be easy. Even better, customers, because are generally more familiar with the company have a higher propensity to respond to communications than prospects.  Assuring sustainable company growth requires that we focus as much on keeping those birds in hand satisfied and engaged all the we’re beating the bushes for more birds.

Ornament is a Crime. Tighter budgets mean fewer concepts, but this also leads to a leaner, cleaner, more direct, less-is-more approach that is perfectly in-tune with the times.  Because there is less time on the clock, some of the fancy details and extremes of idea exploration remain only as ideas in the designer’s head, tucked away until the roaring 2020’s arrive and we’re back to “less is a bore.”  (Full credit to Adolf Loos, Ludvig Mies van der Rohe and Robert Venturi for borrowing their phrases.)

Sketch Artist. Clients who are cutting costs have become more accepting of sketchier, more conceptual ideas upfront, where they can help to shape the first drafts to help overcome internal hurdles at an early stage.

Many hats. Leaner times has also added a few hats to the graphic designer’s wardrobe.  In addition to the backwards beret, today’s designer must also do some copywriting, be more engaged in sales, and even put on the accountant’s green visor to keep projects on track and within budget.

Fewer paper cuts.  The designer has to do a little more heavy lifting, now that expensive uncoated papers and elaborate finishing techniques like die-cutting, foil-stamping, embossing/debossing are reserved for only those with the deepest pockets. Proceed with caution here — cutting back on some of these features can lead to more design hours to try and get back some of the lost perceived value that occurs when these papers and techniques are scaled back.

Live a little.  Cutting back too much on design, paper and techniques can send your customers the wrong message.  These marketing materials are a quick first impression of who you are and they need to make an impact.  There is a balance that should be met to give you the impact you want at the price you deserve.

Wow.

“How cool is that? Sustainable really means something to the younger generation. And they give new meaning to do-it-yourself,” I thought to myself. Unable to afford green, this boy made green. Boy, did that put some bounce into my stride — what a bright future we’ll have if sustainability continues to morph from “cause” to “way-of-life.”

Continuing along, my mind wandered from Ashton’s story to a study by Johnson Controls I’d recently read. According to the study, when Gen Y’ers consider potential employers, they weed out those who aren’t green. In fact, ninety-six percent of them insist on an “environmentally aware or friendly workplace” and another fifty-seven percent expect their employer to perform above and beyond standard regulatory compliance. This study was backed up by the Voice of Customer insights one of our clients shared with me — if you want the best people, you better be able to demonstrate some pretty green corporate genes.

Eureka!

I stopped in my tracks. Yes, I’ve written before about the importance of transparency and content marketing for your current and potential customers. But good content doesn’t just matter to those people looking to buy your products or use your services. When you (or I) connect the dots you see that good content is also about building the personal face of your brand by attracting a top-notch sales clerk, delivery person, technician, engineer, chef, marketing officer or CEO.

For Gen Y’ers, work is an extension of their personal life — they’re looking for a work environment and culture that fit who they are. That means before they buy your product, try your services, consider a job interview or accept your job offer — they’ll be looking at your web site, your Facebook page, your Tweets and your LinkedIn profile. They’ll take a good long look at your press page, your white papers and your case studies — and an even longer look at what others are saying about you.

So, let your mind wander once in a while. Let it connect some dots. You may be pleased to discover new audiences, new opportunities and new ways to use content.

I approach the writing of content the same way.  Like the Boy Scouts say, “Be Prepared.”  It doesn’t matter what the delivery platform is for your content – a TV commercial, newspaper ad, brochure or Web site – if you’re not practicing the process of VOC, you’re not developing content the way the pros do.  VOC is Voice of Customer and it’s where all good content begins, and ends, because your approach to VOC shouldn’t ever end.

Content that might be compelling to you isn’t necessarily compelling to your customers.  But how would you know one way or the other?  You wouldn’t unless you asked them.  How frequently do your customers want to receive your content and in what delivery form?  You won’t know until you ask them.  And how do you know what subject matter resonates the strongest so you can purpose your content accordingly?  You won’t know unless there’s a mechanism for your customers to respond to you — like a blog, a feedback loop or a social media portal or gateway.

All of this VOC work is done upfront when you’re launching a content marketing strategy, but it’s also done all along the way to make certain your content remains on target.  And there’s no shortage of acquisition strategies to compile and synthesize your VOC data.  Focus groups, less formal listening sessions, one-on-one interviews, on- and off-line surveys, trade show intercepts are just a few of the techniques for acquiring VOC.

So, now’s the time to stop selling and telling and start listening. Preparation is critical to great content marketing; in fact, it’s the only way to play it safe.  So is picking up sticks and other unwanted debris before you mow, which I’ll take any day over shoveling.

Lots has already been written about the genius of that social media strategy, which encouraged fans to send the Old Spice Guy comments and questions via Twitter and Facebook for a chance at having him respond (bare-chested and in a towel, of course) in a personalized video. The results—the company’s Twitter followers jumped from 3,000 to 46,000 in less than 48 hours and the videos have received more than 21 million YouTube viewings—constitute further evidence that social media works for businesses.

But there’s a more basic lesson advertisers can learn from the Old Spice phenomenon. It’s about staying the course and sticking with the plan. Giving your advertising a chance to find its voice and gain momentum.

You’ll hear a lot about how the Old Spice Guy is advertising’s “overnight sensation.” But that’s not true. The company and its advertising agency began evolving toward the concept in 2007 with a series of commercials featuring “B” movie actor Bruce Campbell parodying traditional 1960s maleness. Those commercials got some viewer attention, won some awards, and helped elevate the product to number one in its category. But they didn’t achieve the word-of-mouth status of Old Spice Guy. The commercial that introduced him ran for the first time on Super Bowl Sunday of this year. Even then, and despite the approximately $30 million investment, the Old Spice Guy did not instantly become a phenomenon. It took six more months and a brilliant social media campaign for the idea to reach critical mass.

It’s natural to run an ad and expect your phone to start ringing the next day. But that’s not how advertising works. You have to give an idea a chance and continuously explore ways to exploit and extend it. If you don’t believe me, listen to the Old Spice Guy. He’s on a horse.

Steve Coss is a Creative Director at TMA+Peritus: A Strategic Interaction Agency. Find them online at www.tmaperitus.com, offline in their offices in Wausau and Madison, or follow them on Twitter@ twitter.com/tmaperitus.

JC Penney retained six teen girls from across the nation to create their new back to school haul videos (jcp.com/teen). The haulers were given free transportation, lodging and JCP gift cards and let loose in a store near Penney’s headquarters in Plano, Texas. And now they’re showing — and telling about — what they purchased at JCP to gear up for the new term.

Any person with a webcam can become a haul video expert. Tennessee “haulers” Elle and Blair Fowler are the teen pioneers of hauling and have attracted such a following of their peers and the moms of their peers that they’re now in high demand by marketers of everything from fashion to cosmetics.

Haul videos can focus on the results of shopping at a specific retailer or for a specific product category. Imagine the opportunity to take the haul concept beyond the teen market.  Why shouldn’t a marketer or retailer of “all things baby” recruit a team of moms to talk about the latest product trends and actually demonstrate product features? Wouldn’t a grocery chain want a team of people-who-love-to-entertain to post videos that feature their supermarket shopping haul for a specific event they’re hosting – even sharing the recipes that necessitated the trip?  How about having some of the most avid DIYers haul about their last shopping spree at the hardware, building supply or paint store?

Since marketers are taking the original authentic YouTube phenomena to a more commercial consumer-generated concept, under Federal Trade Commission guidelines, paid haulers must disclose in the video if they got free products or other compensation from retailers.  So the real question is: Will commercializing consumer-generated content, like hauls, come to have the same trust as non-commercialized YouTube content or the same mistrust as traditional advertising?

What do you think?

What?

Sorry, but it’s soccer season and I (and my husband) are coaches — so I have soccer on the mind. And — believe it or not — what I’ve learned as a soccer coach has a lot to do with content marketing.

How so? Ask any coach and they’re likely to tell you they face two challenges: keeping parents happy and making sure kids have fun while learning. The best way to meet those challenges? Relevant, timely information. Delivering that information on the favored platform. And delivering the right information to the right audience.

Let’s start with the timely information. Parents, understandably, want to be “in the know.” Summer is busy, busy, busy so they need to know in advance when they can get their rosters and jerseys, when pre-season practices are and what the schedule looks like. Last minute communication does not get you started on the right foot. As for the players, they appreciate a practice or two before the first game — many of them haven’t played before and that first game can be overwhelming if they don’t feel prepared. As for those who have played before, they like to get to know their coach and teammates so they can get a good feel for how things work and who they work best with.

And the right platform? Well, that all depends. I’ve learned the hard way that just because a parent shares their email address with you doesn’t mean they necessarily use it. Ouch. So, I play it safe and reach out via phone and email. And the kids — well the soccer field is our best platform. One of my soccer handouts says it best: “What I hear I forget. What I see I remember. What I do I know.” So our best exchange of information involves a little talking, a lot of demonstration and even more doing.

The most critical element? The right information for the right audience. A soccer game between six-year olds is nothing like a soccer game between ten-year olds. Sound obvious? You’d be surprised. I find parents enjoy the games more if they have a better understanding of what the major accomplishments are for their child’s age group. So I share what Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association kindly posts to their site. More work? Yes, but then you don’t have parents’ second-guessing what you and the team are doing on the field — because they understand what’s happening on the field. More importantly, the information shared with our U6, U8 and U10 teams is highly customized to their ages. Imagine how frustrating it’d be for a six-year old to try playing zones — it’s all you can do to get them to look up from the ball and share.

And that’s what makes for success — giving everyone the tools they need to enjoy the game from the sidelines or center field. Do the same for your audiences and you’ll build a lot of good will that can score some strong brand loyalty.

It’s no surprise that we have encouraged our clients to leverage the world’s busiest social media channel, Facebook, as part of their social media mix. In fact, we set up our own page, as an example of how to use Facebook to distribute content and create real world, ‘analogue’ events.  Imagine our surprise when our Page disappeared. Let me repeat that, our TMA+Peritus Facebook Page disappeared.

At first, we thought it was some terrible mistake. Did one of our Admin’s simply unpublish the page? Was it accidentally deleted? Were we hacked?  We reached out to Facebook with a quick email that basically told them our Page had disappeared, would Facebook help us determine what happened?

Facebook replied with an automated statement that read:

“Your account was disabled because it was in violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Nudity, sexually explicit, and other graphic content is not permitted on Facebook, nor is any content that contains self harm, depicts violence, or attacks an individual or group. In addition, harassing others through unsolicited friend requests or messages is prohibited.

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to reactivate your account or respond to your email directly. This decision is final and cannot be appealed.”

What the heck are they talking about?   When it came to our Facebook page, we could only be described as conservative.  In fact, the vast majority of our posts were either reposts or original posts that were published by the likes of Gannett Newspapers, In Business Madison Magazine, Marketplace Magazine; and the videos and work samples that were shown have aired on television screens throughout the Midwest or are printed and distributed throughout corporate America.  Like I said, what the heck? Not even a cuss word found its way on to our page.  We are a business and used our Page as a tool to communicate with our clients, thus we were shocked at the implication that we had violated Facebook’s policies

We tried no less than four times to resolve this matter with Facebook, there were no further replies. Case closed. All our work, all our Fans (who now are called Likers) were gone.  Of course, we were shocked. Not only do we firmly believe that we did not violate Facebook’s terms and conditions, but we were alarmed at Facebook’s indifference and refusal to communicate with us regarding this situation.

Despite this event, we still believe that Facebook is a very useful tool, and we created a new Page (feel free to Like us on Facebook!). Although baffling, we suggest everyone take the time to regularly consider the following:

1. Read and understand the Terms and Conditions of Facebook. [Facebook Terms, Facebook Promotions Guidelines, Facebook Pages Terms]. There are a lot of rules on how you can use the page, how to create promotions, and the basic disclaimer that Facebook can and will delete any pages/posts it feels violates it’s policies.
2. When you don’t own a social media network, you are at the mercy of the provider. Providers come and go (remember Geo Cities, AOL pages?), thus it is important to understand that Facebook is part of your Social Media strategy, not your complete strategy. As with investing money, you need to have a balanced social media portfolio that includes several public social media services (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Four Square and the list goes on) as well as a company owned website/blog. By leveraging several services and owning your own site, you reduce the risk and increase social and search exposure.
3. Even though our Page was deleted, our employees continued to share information and network on behalf of TMA+Peritus by using their personal social networks. This is an important point; the ‘personal’ social networks of your employees can be a critical content distribution channel.

Take the time to review your social media plan. How would your business survive the event we experienced?

Retailers are facing a conundrum: consumers want a variety of brands to choose from so they can pick the ideal product to meet their needs, but they’re becoming increasingly frustrated by the overwhelming variety out there. A recent study showed that 70% of those surveyed find brands confusing.

Just think of your last visit to the shampoo aisle: on the one hand it’s nice to have choices; on the other hand, all the choices start to “look” the same. Unless you have a shampoo that really does right by you (and thus you are a brand-loyal fan), you probably end up selecting a shampoo based on price. And that’s not good for the supplier or retailer because lower prices mean lower margins.

Now you may not be the next Procter & Gamble, but chances are you face similar challenges. You need to differentiate your brand in a sea of competition so that price alone is not the deciding factor between you and the next guy.

In “Detox the Branding Business,” authors Christoph Burmann and Jan-Philipp Weers outline what consumers find so confusing about brands today. These points are important to consider when considering how effective your own brand is.

• Brand parity. Consumers can’t tell the difference between one brand and another. The end result? The product is seen as a “commodity” — and that leads to price-only based decisions.
• Brand differences are relevant. Brands don’t do a good job of illustrating why “what makes them different” is relevant to the consumer.
• Trust. Inconsistent or insincere messaging undermines a consumer’s trust in the brand.

So how can you make your brand stand out from the crowd? Be clear about what makes you different and why that matters to your consumers. That means clear messaging that isn’t filled with marketing speak, but that speaks the language of the consumer and directly addresses their needs and interests. And that may mean varied — not inconsistent — messaging that speaks to the different needs of your varied consumers.

Be consistent. Be transparent. And consider the channels on which you address your consumers — be it in print, on your website, TV, radio or social media. Just where do your consumers go to get their information? Figure that out and then get yourself on that channel. Broad brand marketing with one generic message broadcast on every available channel will surely miss the mark.

Confusion isn’t your friend. But brand variety can be — if you have the one brand that speaks directly to the needs of your consumers.