We did this site for the Arc of Steuben, a not-for-profit organization in Steuben county of western New York state. They offer residential, habilitation, and vocational programs to support people with developmental disabilities and their families.

“The Vibrant Creative team took our ideas and made them soar!” says Ethel Strickarz, Development Director at the Arc of Steuben. “This new site is an essential communication tool for reaching out to inform our community and those who benefit from our services.”

To get your own leaping figures, or if you’d just like to discuss a redesign, send an e-mail to chris@vibrantcompany.com.

In addition to having a more streamlined look and a modern feel, the new website features expanded performance information, photos galore, a community page, an interactive calendar for upcoming shows, a newsletter sign-up, and rental space information.

“We wanted to create a website that would keep patrons completely up to date on the performances, educational resources, and other community programs available at Foothills. This new site offers exactly that — and more,” says Executive Director Huemac Garcia.

In addition, Garcia notes, “It was important to us that we worked with a creative agency within our own community to develop this new website. We are extremely grateful to Vibrant Creative for developing this wonderful design for us.”

It was our pleasure.

If you would like to discuss a redesign for your non-profit, send an e-mail to chris@vibrantcompany.com or call Bijoy at 516.581.7152.

Every time I see a QR (quick response) code on an advertisement or banner, I cringe. The first time I came across these squiggly codes was a few years ago, when a client asked us to put one on an ad he was doing. The client had no idea what they were, but wanted one because a competitor had one.

So I checked it out. Hugely popular in Japan, a QR code is basically a paper-based hyperlink that allows the end-user to scan it with a mobile phone and get higher-value information, connect to a website, or download a coupon, etc. Great idea, right?

We went ahead and had it printed it on the client’s promotional material anyway. However, since he didn’t want to invest any time or money to roll out a special offer or other reason for potential customers to scan the code, the whole idea was useless and had no real value. But the client went away feeling cool.

I started thinking: As a 30-something tech-savvy entrepreneur, shouldn’t I be the target demo for this great new technology? Why was I already so resistant? I started to ask around to see if any of my friends and colleagues had ever used a QR code. The answer was, at most, “I tried it once.”

At this point I could only assume the QR code trend was destined to die out. But no, years later and the codes are still here — and on more stuff then ever! To make things worse, almost every marketing article I read about them shows successful campaigns and high usage.

Well, something is fishy. And I have a sneaking suspicion that the data attained is skewed, presented by zealots and marketing companies. Why? Because if I know anything about marketing in this day and age I know that people don’t take extra steps to do anything unless #1, it’s cool (and that’s over for QR), or #2, there is an ultra-compelling reason such as winning something fantastic like a beach house in Hawaii.

So we started doing some research of our own and here’s what we found.

First of all, only a couple of studies on QR usage seem to exist. Here’s a link to one: http://mghus.com/blog/2011/03/23/breaking-qr-code-stats-revealed/

But here’s the problem: The survey was sent out to smart phone users, asking them to click to take part. People who would click on such a survey are more likely to pay attention to and act on QR codes. Self-selecting audiences never give you an accurate picture of what’s going on.

Secondly, do the math:

40% of the market has a smart phone.

65% saw a QR code.

49% clicked on that code.

70% would do it again. (About 33 % would do so rarely; about 6% would do so frequently.)

So the real number of people likely to see a QR code who would actually click on them more than once is 8.9% or less, because only those people able and willing to take the survey responded.

And from this survey — http://www.slideshare.net/AustinWilliams/qr-aware — the number who would click on a QR code monthly or more is just 9% of that. That’s about 0.8% of the total market, or — one person in 125 – would click on QR codes frequently.

To make it worse, even when people have gone ahead and scanned QR codes, the results have been less than perfect. Consider the following: JetBlue, Intel, Warner Bros. and the U.S. Marine Corps have all had major QR failures. If you do plan to implement a QR campaign make sure it is extremely compelling and plan carefully!

• The information behind the QR code needs to be valuable. Intel’s failure came because the code sent it to a video that simply promoted Intel. No added value to it at all. The Marines marketing failed because the value-added was just wallpaper and a video.
  • Better idea: Use a QR on a business card to download a brochure about the company or get other useful information easily.
• The value-added product needs to be really worthwhile. Warner Bros.’ failure came because it just sent people to movie trailers. Not bad, per se, but hardly a call to action.
  • Better idea: Free stuff — swag, coupons, instant wins, and special offers are all good.
• The QR code needs to be where people can access the Internet. JetBlue’s big failure came when it decided to put codes on posters in the NYC subway – which are wifi dead spots. Nobody clicked. Similar issues might occur in rural areas.
• The codes need to be prominent. Many campaigns fail because people miss the QR among all the other imagery. Design needs to incorporate the code in an unmistakable manner.
• The link needs to include a call to action. Otherwise it’s like sending an e-newsletter with no way for a reader to get more information or engage the sender.
• The website the QR code sends people to needs to be mobile. Seems logical, but it requires planning. If you can’t handle the link, the code is wasted effort.

In conclusion, can a QR campaign work? Has a QR promotion ever worked? Sure. But who cares. Lots of gimmicks work; that doesn’t make something a sustainable model. If you’re going to do it, make sure you have an ultra-compelling reason — otherwise you’re just wasting time and money.

Still don’t believe me about this? Still love QR codes? Do yourself a favor; find 10 people you know and ask them 1) “Have you ever used one?” and 2) “If so, would you use one again?” I don’t even care if all your friends are techy hipsters, go ahead and ask ’em. And if you really want a shocker ask 10 random people at your local Target.

Check out these sites for more details:

Article about QR Codes: http://www.tatango.com/blog/qr-code-advertising-fail/

Good tips: http://qrcodegenius.com/2011/04/real-world-examples-of-qr-code-fails/

More from QR Genius: http://qrcodegenius.com/2011/07/why-isnt-my-qr-code-campaign-working/

Make sure site is mobile: http://www.customqrcodes.com/story/65/How-to-Make-Your-QR-Code-Campaign-Fail

Intel and Warner Bros. failures: http://www.linkmemobile.com/buzzworthy/fail-accessing-barcode-based-advertising-using-a-mobile-phone/

More on Intel and WB: http://www.gomonews.com/intel-and-warner-mobile-barcode-campaigns-miss-the-mark/

Jet Blue failure: http://www.pangeic.com/marketing-failure-qr-code-jet-blue/

Marine Corps QR failure: http://mashable.com/2011/08/02/qr-code-mistakes/

The first time I experienced Google Remarketing was a couple of months ago when I was shopping online for an elliptical machine. I simply searched “ellipticals” on Google and started reading reviews and visiting websites of different brands. Then I paused my search and decided I would choose later.

The next day I noticed that an ad for one of the brands I had been shopping for was loading on my local newspaper website. “Wow, these guys are really advertising everywhere,” I thought to myself…. until I noticed the very same ads were on every other site I looked at, as well. This was too coincidental. So I started to dig, and discovered that all of this was part of a new program from Google.

Here’s how it works for the advertiser: Using Google Adwords, you set up graphic or text ads and link them to specific pages on your site. Google generates code that you insert on each applicable page. When a user visits the page, a “DoubleClick” or “DoubleDart” cookie is inserted. This cookie will automatically load ads on other pages around the internet that participate in the ad network (and that’s a whole lot of sites). The ads will only load for people who have already been to the specific page.

It’s all a little controversial right now because, technically, Google is storing information about sites you have visited. You can actually go into your browser or Google preferences and inhibit Google’s ability to advertise to you in this way, but most people would not care or even think to do this.

So why is this so amazing for everyone with a website? Consider how long you take to book your vacation or research a purchase online. In this day and age, people are over-saturated with buying decisions and the purchase process can take days, weeks, or even months. Being in the right place at the right time is more crucial then ever. With Google Remarketing you are able to keep your ads in front of prospective customers long after they have left your site. The reinforcement is incredible. I would guess that 90% of your site visitors have no idea what Google Remarketing is — so when your ads show up, your potential customer gets the impression that you are advertising all over the place.

But here’s the best part: The cost can be minimal because you are only advertising to people who have already been to your site. You’re only paying for their clicks, as opposed to everyone who is searching. And, if you combine Remarketing with Adwords where you have people clicking on your site and leaving quickly, ads will now load for days or months afterwards, thereby reinforcing your brand and your messaging.

P.S. You are probably going to start seeing Ads for our company show up all over the internet now.

Watch a movie that explains it here.

Here is an example of our AD loading in the NYT. (look bottom right)

According to the Telework Research Network, if employees spent just one day a week working remotely, employers could save around $6,500 per year, per employee. Wow.

And there are many more benefits to the employer:

• better employee retention
• access to a larger labor pool
• higher productivity
• lower absenteeism
• reduced real estate costs
• tax incentives
• compliance with the ADA and the FMLA

So let’s take these points one by one:

1. Better employee retention. Many people “job hop” because they want to move to a different town, or because they sell their house, or because they have a change in circumstance such as kids going off to college. This doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t like their job, it just means they can’t come into the office any more.

Enabling an employee to work remotely means you don’t lose his/her “institutional knowledge”, don’t suffer a loss in productivity while you search for and train a new employee, and can offer ongoing customer support from a long-standing employee who knows the business well.

2. Access to a larger labor pool. In rural areas, specialists in your field may be hard to come by. By hiring someone who works in another city, state, or even country, you are bringing their knowledge to the table without the expense of relocation.

3. Higher productivity. The Telework Research Network recently found that employees working from home increased their productivity by 27%. Tape that to your water cooler!

4. Lower absenteeism. Remote-based employees don’t have to call in for a snow day, tend to have fewer sick days, and generally can get their work done outside of traditional office hours in order to maintain their family commitments.

5. Reduced real estate costs. Office space is one of the largest business expenses. If you remove one-third of your employees from your main office, you have removed one-third of your expenses in rent, computer maintenance, janitorial services, and so on. Even better, rent out all that newly vacant space!

6. Tax incentives. Many states and cities offer tax incentives to companies who reduce their carbon footprint, which is easy to do if you have fewer on-site employees, doing less driving.

7. Compliance. By not requiring employees to come to you every day, you can employ a larger swath of the population – retirees, new mothers, and people with disabilities. This will allow you to claim federal tax rebates as well as ensure compliance with the ADA and the FMLA.

And, last but not least:

8. Everybody’s doing it. It’s not just the tech-savvy any more. Check out this list of the Top 100 companies to work for: 82 of the top 100 allow telecommuting, and at Deloitte, Cisco, Intel, and Accenture, more than 80% of their employees spend at least one day a month working from home. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/benefits/telecommuting.html

So, is it time to make the move?

A New Website for NYSARC, Inc.

Vibrant just completed a great new project — a fully integrated website for NYSARC, Inc., America’s largest non-profit organization supporting people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities.

NYSARC came to us with a clear agenda: make our website people-focused, easy-to-use, and full of information.

As the parent organization of Arcs in New York, providing guidance to 55 chapters around the state and legislative advocacy across the country, NYSARC wanted to be able to reach families, members, advocates, educators, and chapter staff in a direct yet easy-going way.

The result? Check it out at nysarc.org. A multi-layered site that creates an online community for NYSARC and is the go-to destination for information, resources, legislation, trust services, support, and guidance.

Ryan Goodenough, Director of Communication for NYSARC, Inc. hails Vibrant as having created “an incredible solution that allows us to function as an information clearinghouse. Instead of [Vibrant] saying that things weren’t possible or would cost more money, Vibrant executed some truly remarkable design decisions. Never have I worked with a company more willing to go the extra mile to ensure our satisfaction.”

And, because we’re certainly ones to toot our own horn… here’s what other Arcs we’ve worked with said about us during launch:

“Vibrant has a talented and terrific team, with a much better than usual understanding of our services” – Ethel Loh Strickarz, Development Director, Arc of Steuben.

“Vibrant is highly creative, responsive, and fun to work with. They were easily able to explain things to a non-technical person.” – Kellie Spychalski,  Assistant Executive Director, Arc of Orleans.

“Vibrant worked closely with us through the process… we ended up with a website that we are proud of… and that our members can still easily navigate.” – Catherine Tweedie, Director of Community Relations, Arc of Delaware County.

If you would like to discuss your non profit’s online strategy send me an e-mail at chris@vibrantcompany.com or call Bijoy at 516.581.7152.

On the surface Google ADwords is the coolest thing in advertising since the television. When ADwords first came on the scene and people started using it, competition was scarce and it was easy to be successful. Now there are more than 1 million advertisers using the service.

The 90% waste figure can be daunting or it can be a really great opportunity. With some small modifications to your campaign, you can have success with the service. Here are a few tips and the biggest spots where people go wrong with ADwords.

Compelling Ads
The name of your company and what you do are not what I would consider compelling. A compelling AD is a question or something that makes someone want more information. Remember you are competing against the natural search results and a bunch of other advertisers on the page. ie: Bobs Golf Shop, the best golf clubs ever is not as compelling as: Learn the secret of Tiger Woods Swing, The secret formula and products used by the pro. You have to entice them to want to find out more, especially if you are up against heavy competition.

Avoiding the bad clickers
Unfortunately one of the big reasons for the waste is the wrong people clicking on your Ads. If your AD was crafted properly it would tell the wrong people not to click ie: line 2 of the AD, Solutions starting at $3,000. This would get rid of all the bargain shoppers wasting your clicks.

Creating a Conversion
Hooray, the right person came to your website. Now what? we have to engage them; free white paper, e-newsletter subscription, sale of something, whatever. We have to tell them what to do next in order to get them into the pipeline of sales or relationship. Google can actually track if they take the next step and this is what we call a conversion. This conversion is the metric you will use for success. Without it you have no idea what’s going on.

Realistic Expectations
If you are selling a service or are a non profit, it’s important to remember that the people that are randomly finding you on the internet are different types of users than the people who are looking specifically for you or coming from a referral. The new clickers need special attention and direction and are usually not ready to make a big sale or write a big donation check, the real goal is to make the connection and keep communicating with them.

Continuous Campaign Testing
You think you know what words people are using to find you right? Well, you’re probably wrong and there are probably about a thousand words you have not thought of. You think you have the perfect AD? Wrong again. If you constantly test one ad against another and make adjustments to your keywords based on performance and conversions then you will be actively building an awesome campaign that moves the needle. Sound like a pain? if you spent an hour on it each week you can probably change your entire organization.

Recommended Reading
I have read and recommend the below book to give you a quick understanding of how to succeed on Google using Adwords. Click the image to see it on Amazon.

Most large corporations now have a dedicated CSR director, with an entire department dedicated to charitable activities, community work, and sustainability initiatives. Smaller companies are starting to become actively involved in their community; even start-ups and online-only outfits are promoting their CSR activities through their blogs, tweets, and social media updates.

So why is it important to be socially responsible?

Its benefits are manifold: to you, to your customers, to your employees, and to society:

For example, your commitment to sustainability and to the community at large will make your company more attractive to talented job seekers. College graduates are increasingly interested in working with a purpose, having pride in their company, and its civic or global reputation. With the best new talent demanding this — and current staff beginning to ask questions about it — you need to have a strategy in place.

Consumers generally prefer to deal with responsible, ethical companies. If you have invested time and effort in a genuine social cause, you are likely to attract a more loyal customer base. And many large companies are more attracted to suppliers with these types of policies, since it minimizes risk to their own reputation.

Your company stands to gain a competitive advantage by appealing to the increasing number of socially and environmentally oriented investors and shareholders. Put bluntly: Good vibes, good press, good positioning. And damage control is easier when you have a good track record.

And of course, assisting the community and becoming socially aware is beneficial to the people you have helped, not to mention very rewarding for the employees who get to see the faces of the people for whom they are making a difference. An internal email informing employees that you have donated $20,000 to a cancer hospital is nowhere near as effective as when your employees spend a day at the fair with pediatric cancer patients on your dime.

And last but not least, there is some evidence that socially aware companies end up turning a greater profit due to increased visibility, better competitiveness, happier employees, and satisfied investors.

So what are you waiting for?

Start by connecting with your audience. If you’re a lawyer, can you offer your services for free within the community? If you’re a builder, contact Habitat for Humanity. If you sell paint, go to a local school and help them redecorate. Check out your local chamber of commerce for ideas, or browse sites such as charitynavigator.com.

But it has to be authentic. Consumers can tell the difference between a legitimate corporate conscience and a cynical marketing ploy. Plain old philanthropy doesn’t work any more. Think about the guy selling one pair of shoes and giving another pair away. The computers for Africa. The three cups of tea.

And whether or not you profit financially from your new socially responsible status, you will have profited in many other ways. One thing is for sure, no one loses.

That’s nothing compared to Facebook’s 750 million users, of course; but it’s definitely a good start for a product that hasn’t even officially launched.

So what is Google+, and how will it change our lives?

Developed by the folks behind Google, Gmail, and uh, Google Buzz, this new “project”, as Google terms it, consists of four main elements: circles, sparks, hangouts, and huddles.

“Circles” are groups of close friends, professional contacts, fellow skateboarders, family members, etc. It’s no longer an “all or nothing” experience: Separate out your contacts into distinct circles, and never the twain shall meet.

The point here is that you only share information with friends who want that information: your fishing buddies aren’t interested in your techy work posts, and your boss doesn’t need to see photos of your new tattoo. With Google+ you don’t have to share it with them. Of course, this is pretty much what Facebook’s recent add-on, “Groups”, already allows you to do.

“Sparks” is essentially a checklist of hobbies or other things that ‘spark’ your interest. According to Google, it is “a feed of highly contagious content from across the internet, on any topic you want, in over 40 languages.” So… not much new here.

“Hangouts” is a webcam interface that enables on-screen interaction between two or more friends. Free video calls are, of course, internet gold, and likely to be a major attraction for Facebook convertees.

“Huddles” is basically a group text forum; a simple way for two or more people to agree on where to meet for dinner or what to buy their parents for their 50th wedding anniversary. No more “Reply All” email ping-pong.

There’s also a “Mobile” function that allows you to tag your location, and enables automatic uploading of photos from your smart phone to a private album online. This feature is handy for those of you who are too lazy to sort your photos and end up deleting the good stuff to make way for fuzzy July 4th parade photos.

Early adopters describe G+ as “well executed”, “logically constructed”, with a “simple and accessible” interface. Naysayers dismiss it as “uglier than a website from the early ’90s”, “overly complex”, and “just like Facebook.”

For us, one of the major bonuses of Google+ is that it offers a social network site that is free of spam, games, and teenagers (for now). It’s nice to have a more professional way of socializing without wading through Bieber fever and Farmville posts. We also like the fact that there are no “friend” requests, which means you can “follow” anyone at all — like industry professionals, or competitors, for example.

But, undoubtedly, one of the main attractions in G+ is its superior attention to privacy concerns. G+ has an abundance of privacy options that enables you to keep much tighter control over what and how you share. Mark Zuckerberg’s cavalier attitude towards our private information may just end up being the main reason people migrate over to Google+.

But it’s unlikely we’ve heard the last from Zuckerberg: He is currently the most followed person on Google+.