I will come out and say it, I hate dashboards! Today’s business Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are changing so rapidly that dashboards become obsolete very quickly. Dashboards provide end users with summary metrics that are supposed to lead to accurate decisions. However, miscommunication between the dashboard creator and end user could cause inaccurate decisions. Dashboards miss the communication that is so critical between the analyst and the decision maker.

Web analytics platforms come with easy to configure dashboards that are created in seconds (example above). So what? An amateur looking at a dashboard without full knowledge of how data is collected and summarized is more dangerous to an organization than a monkey with a grenade.  Dashboard end users are getting a summary of data; they are unable to see the statistical significance behind the numbers needed to make business decisions. In most cases, you need multiple views of data to conclude a decision you are making that will affect your business.

As an example, the image on the left shows that conversion rates are going down. Anyone looking at the image will state that February conversions are lower than January. However, users do not realize that it takes 3 months to make a trend. In March, conversions increased and are now trending upwards. Analysts understand that data has seasonality, caveats, and needs to reach statistical significance before it can be used in analysis.

Data You Can Use
Organizations need to work with analysts who can turn data into action. Analysts make reports easy to understand, visualize, and provide clear outcomes for decision makers. If you leave decision makers trying to guess, they will steer towards not making any decisions. Thus, lots of wasted time and effort in the organization. Analytic insights are about knowledge that leads to fact-based decisions.
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If you follow our Facebook page, you may have noticed that early last week, we quietly marked the 10-year anniversary of envisionit media, inc. We’ll be celebrating properly as the year goes on (so be sure to keep up with us here and on Facebook and Twitter for updates). Meanwhile, I thought I’d take a look back at a few notable differences between the digital marketing landscape a decade ago and today.

It wouldn’t be a very quick read if I included every single difference, so these are just my faves. Enjoy the walk down memory lane and provide your own memories in the comments!

OMG, what did we do without Facebook?
That’s right…10 years ago, Facebook didn’t. even. exist. Gasp! Social media was barely even a phrase. Yes, the idea of social media has been alive for some time—think instant messenger and message boards. But the marketing world’s favorite buzzword of the last few years didn’t quite yet have today’s popularity and meaning back in 2002.

And how quickly the space has grown! In 2002, Friendster was introduced. Myspace followed in 2003. Flickr and Digg hit in 2004, and that same year the college scene was introduced to The Facebook. Twitter was born in 2006. StumbleUpon, FourSquare, Google+, Tumblr, Pinterest…all these social networks later, and companies now commonly have dedicated social media marketing roles and entire departments.

Phone is ringin’…
I happened to graduate from college in December 2001 (which is why I know to follow up this section’s subtitle with “…oh my god.” Name the reference in the comments if you know it!) and got my first cell phone a few months later in 2002. It was the standard Nokia phone that everyone else had. It made calls, it received calls, that was about it. Some fancy people had PDAs at the time, but it would be a few years before Blackberrys found popularity and exactly 5 years until the first iPhone was introduced. And now? There’s an app for that! And QR codes, geo-fencing, mobile-friendly websites, mobile SEO…and the word on the street for a few years now has been that the future is mobile marketing.
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Similar to adding the words “in bed” to the end of a fortune found in a cookie and chuckling, try placing “in bed” at the end of a phrase you would use to describe your experience at work. If the resulting phrase doesn’t make you chuckle and isn’t something you’re looking forward to, then you’re probably not doing something you want to do.

I’m willing to risk spoiling Victoria’s secret that there’s a difference in the experience received and delivered when a person wants to do something as opposed to having to do something.  I would also wager my dog’s lunch that most would agree when you’re engaged in something that you “want to do,” the experience is heightened and you become much more involved.  As a result,  amazing things happen and more creative moments are realized.

I believe if we can transition and replicate the “in bed” experience into an “at work” experience as well, we’ll begin to create an environment that many will enjoy and look forward to.

Too often, companies become so focused on operating and growing a successful business that they lose sight of the talents, strengths, and passions that exist within their company.  The result of this oversight is the missed opportunity to align passions and interests with client goals, to drive meaningful results.  Not to mention the positive physical and mental impact the common thread would have on the team.

Many companies would agree that a client’s experience is a cornerstone of their business, and would probably do what it takes to continue making that experience better and better.  Well, here’s a suggestion for taking steps to evolve your client’s great experience into an exceptional one.
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Now that the new Facebook Timeline has officially rolled out to all personal profiles, guess what’s up next? That’s right, brand Pages are now the next on the list for a Timeline makeover!

The new Timeline for brands has officially rolled out today (Wednesday, February, 29^th 2012), and some of the big brands like Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Livestrong are already taking advantage of the new features of the Timeline. With that said, there’s no need to rush right in and hit the publish button. Facebook isn’t making the Timeline for your brand page mandatory until March 30^th, 2012, and with the new preview functionality for Page admins you can fully adjust your brand Timeline before you push it live.

Let me fill you in on some of the new features of the brand Timeline, and some steps you can take to launch your new brand Page on the right foot.

Say Goodbye to your Welcome Tab, and Hello to the “Sticky” Feature.

Before the new Timeline, brand Pages would develop custom tabs that the user would land on when they first visit the page (Before they like it).

Well, with the new Timeline, the welcome tab is now obsolete. It’s O.K., don’t freak out just yet! All tabs are still active on the page (but relocated), and the new Timeline for pages have a brand new “Sticky Feature”, which I believe is even more effective than the old welcome tab.

The Sticky feature allows you to select a piece of content to display on the top of your page feed for 7 days, giving you the opportunity to feature any marketing message you would like in that area. You can direct people to one of your tabs, showcase an event, new product, or basically anything your little heart can think of.
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Good pairings help make for a complete, thoughtful experience. The icing on the cake, if you will. Though cakes, with the exception of coffee cake, need icing. They just do.

Now that you’re thinking about cake, let’s jump to dinner. Dinner is fun! Especially when you’re able to consider a wine to drink with your dinner (perhaps pairing acidity to heaviness), or a beer to drink with another dinner (bitter and hoppy plays well with heavier dishes). Pairing can elevate a meal. Similarly, well paired fonts can make a good design.

The purpose of pairing fonts is to improve readability and establish hierarchy. The classic serif-with-a-sans-serif combination is used on print and web, often with the headline as the sans-serif font. It works because it grabs attention, but more importantly, it’s easy to read.

The ease-of-reading factor is key in font pairing. (And ideally, in choosing a font in general.) When readability becomes an issue, communication becomes an issue. This is to be avoided. Using fonts that are legible on screen or when printed is always a good place to start. If you find a font combination that works both online and in print, you have made magic and deserve cake.

But note! Two fonts looking good together does not equal good design. There are images and layouts and format to consider. Consult your local graphic designer for more information.

Pinterest is the fastest ever growing social media website. It was the fastest site ever to surpass the 10 million user mark. Of those users, 80% are women and 55% of those women are aged 25-44. Pinterest users are spending on average 14+ minutes a day and 98 minutes a month on the site, which is only lower than Facebook and Tumblr (ComScore). These are the numbers.

Does your brand’s target audience fit into the above mentioned demographic? If it does, you should definitely consider opening a Pinterest account. Women are flocking to Pinterest and using it to create recipe books, inspiration boards, plan trips, search for clothes, plan their weddings, and find and share fitness tips.

Getting Your Brand On Pinterest
When setting up your brand on Pinterest, you will want to make it personalized. Create your own inspirational pin boards that don’t include your products, but can go along with your theme.  Show the consumers that you’re more than just a brand and that you get inspiration from elsewhere.  Pinterest is not about self promotion, it is about sharing what you love or are interested in.

Now, you’re a business, so its important to present your products on Pinterest in a light that users will repin. Use creative photos of your products, recipes, documents, etc. Don’t just use stock images that are boring, Pinterest is meant to help in the creative process so Be Creative! You will want to consistently be posting (we recommend 50% brand, 50% community outreach). Don’t just post once a week, post every day. “Like” other people’s pins; it’s a community, so be active. The more you post quality items on Pinterest, the more likely your items will be repinned.
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What is the best report in Google Analytics? This is the million dollar question with a very simple answer: It’s the report or reports that tie back to your bottom line. Google Analytics, when instrumented properly on your site, collects valuable information about your site visitors. However, the reports are not pre-equipped to measure your business goals. That is why it is important to have a web analytics partner.

A web analytics partner will help your team translate your business goals into Google Analytics KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). They will set up the system not only to capture your goals but valuable information around your goals. Web analytics insight comes from a full 360 degree view of what is happening around your goals. For example, if you are a large online retailer you need to understand how many pages people view, and if they review specs and features of products before they proceed to the shopping cart and check out. Having reports that help your business decision makers understand the steps users take in order to purchase, provides your team with better decisions.

Great Google Analytics reports provide your team with information about how well you’re doing. These reports help your team gain knowledge about your customers. You are spending money to get people to your website, why not get the most information about them while they are there? The best Google Analytics reports tell you how well you’re doing and provide knowledge that you can use to test or optimize your site!

Retargeting or Remarketing–you may have heard these buzz words before, but do you know what they really mean? You should! Below I will describe to you seven typical retargeting tactics and how to best use them to reach your low hanging fruit: customers and prospects most likely to convert or take an action on your website.

First off, there are two main types of Retargeting: On-Site and Off-Site. On-site is typically used as a retention tool, to keep your prospects engaged, coming back to your site, or even to upsell/cross-sell them; the target is people who have already visited your website. Off-site retargeting, on the other hand, is used as a prospecting tool and adding new customers to your sales funnel that have not already engaged with your website. Below are the several tactical components that fall under each type of Retargeting.
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On-site

1. Site Retargeting – This specifically targets individuals who have visited certain pages of your website. By placing a tracking cookie on their browser, you can later serve them ads on other websites based on the content they consumed on your site. Ever see an ad pop up that has the exact shoe you were looking at online yesterday? With a coupon to come back to the site and purchase it? Yep, that’s site retargeting. Common uses are to entice a user to come back to your website with a special promotion, a reminder that they abandoned their shopping cart, or just to keep the brand top of mind.
2. SEO/SEM – Here, if a user arrives on your site via a certain keyword through search engines, you can later serve them an ad when they are again browsing in the network. Knowing exactly what they were searching on when they came to your site allows you to be able to target them with appropriate messaging later on.

Chatype: A Typeface for Chattanooga! from D + J on Vimeo.

Another Super Bowl is in the books. In the end, it was a tale of two catches – the hero catch belongs to Mario Manningham of the Giants, and the goat was Wes Welker of the Patriots, for his missed catch. Both changed the game dramatically. We extend congratulations to Eli Manning, while Tom Brady will have to settle for a beautiful shoulder to cry on.

As marketers, the Super Bowl is much more than a game, but it’s still a fierce competition with millions of dollars (and probably some jobs) at stake. Let’s take a look together at Commercial Bowl 2012.

First, we surveyed the envisionit team to find what we thought was the best overall commercial of 2012 – who did the best job of connecting with viewers, and getting their message across? Then, we also want your thoughts on the 2012 Super Bowl commercials, so below that you’ll find a few questions for you to weigh in on.

envisionit’s best commercial of 2012 was…

A tie – between VW’s “The Dog Strikes Back” and Bud Light’s “Weego.” Both, not by coincidence, did an excellent job of breathing new life into previous campaigns. VW capitalized on the Darth Vader commercial of last year, while Bud Light cleverly reinforced the “Here we go” campaign that’s been running during the past NFL season. We also liked Bud Light’s pet adoption message and tie-in with Facebook, compelling viewers’ further interaction with the brand.

Now, it’s your turn!

We want to hear from you, so please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
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1. What brand do you remember most (perhaps different than the ‘best’ or most entertaining commercial)?
2. Did you interact with any brands as a result of their commercials, either by visiting a website or a social media channel? If so, which one(s)?