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Marketers Toolkit: Animated Explanatory Videos

What we think,

Online Videos can play a critical ingredient in successful marketing activities. Digital Rehab has always maintained that interactive content when coupled by a powerful message and pitch will always trump any other form of content.

In recent months, I have worked hand in hand with a super digital communications agency focused on creating explainer videos – The Explainers. Having worked closely with them, and seeing the success of a series of their explainer style videos, it has only served to strengthen our conviction that online videos are a key success factor in the digital marketing mix.

Given that videos themselves are so wildly mainstream, with estimates of 78% of internet users watch a video once a week and 55% watch videos daily, it is now more important than ever to embrace and leverage the opportunities of video.

Facts about the power of online video

  • Branded video content reaches nearly half (46%) of all internet users in the UK. More than half of these people (54%) go on to click though to the brand’s website (Econsultancy)
  • 80% of Internet users recall watching a video ad on a website they visited in the past 30 days; 46% took some action after viewing the ad (Online Publishers Association)
  • Video promotion is over 6 times more effective than print and online (b2bmarketing.net)
  • Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research says a minute of video is worth 1.8 million words
  • 81% of senior marketing executives now use online video content in their marketing programs, up from 70% in 2011 (MarketingProfs)
  • Cisco expects video to account for 57% of consumer internet traffic by 2015, nearly four times as much as regular web browsing and email
  • 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed x60,000 faster in the brain than text (3M Corporation & Zabisco)
  • Over 1 billion unique users visit YouTube every month (YouTube)
  • 500 years of YouTube video are watched every day on Facebook, and over 700 YouTube videos are shared on Twitter each minute (YouTube)
  • The average YouTube visitor watches 388.3 minutes of video each month (Comscore)
  • Video is the most shared brand content on Facebook (Zuum)
  • Two-thirds of Twitter users feel it worth watching videos tweeted by brands (Hubspot)

The Pain of Portals

What we think, ,

Portals be they B2C and or B2B are risk laden projects by virtue of requiring data to be presented in a way customers/partners want. Often the data is an after thought.

Portal projects can be broken down into two component parts – interface & data.

The risk and complexity with portal projects lies in a business revealing, often for the first time just HOW MUCH and WHAT the quality of their data is on their customers/partners etc.

For this data to be exposed in a clean, logical and structured manner, there are obvious data architecture questions which need to be considered – particularly if the portal itself is also to support ‘transactional’ activities. CDM – ‘canonical data model’ or ‘MDM’ – ‘master data model’ are often required to pave the way for how data is to be handled/treated/nominalised and managed across any number of business systems by a diverse set of users.

In almost every portal project that Digital Rehab has been involved in, over 40 projects, data has been the greatest stumbling block for the fluid delivery of portal projects.

Either businesses are satisfied and accept that their data is ‘not great but satisfactory’ or they instead look to overhaul the whole data layer which often gives rise to questions around suitability of their enterprise solution landscape and this gives rise to massive expansion in scope of portal projects and cost base.

Striking a balance between functionality and timeliness of delivery of capability to customers/partners is a tough business decision but from experience, we would always recommend taking a phased approach to portals where core functionality is prioritised in the initial release. The key, which is often ignored is to allow for a period of customer/partner feedback and input into what data and transactional functionality is required by the portal. This way, you can ensure functionality is aligned with end users expectations. In so doing, the project will stand the best chance of success.

Insource or outsource?

What we think

In a globalised labour market where businesses actively compete, talent acquisition and retention is increasingly becoming the new battlefield. If managed well either by business owners or by strong, well resourced and competent HR teams, the recognition of talent and the value of labour is well understood and reinforced in their work culture. For most, talent isn’t well managed or nurtured. With the erosion of the ‘job-for-life’ / ‘job security’ ethos that most businesses up until the 1980’s possessed, the labour market now works on a completely different paradigm. Labour or ‘talent’ as I call it, are far more mobile, have stronger bargaining power and smarts to be far more selective and discerning when it comes to what work they do and under what conditions.

An increasing shift in power favouring ‘talent’ has meant that businesses now are faced with a conundrum being, whether to insource or outsource certain functions within their business.

The insource versus outsource dilemma can be vastly different across individual businesses, industries and core businesses fundamentals. Accordingly, rather than fall into the trap of over generalisation, for the purposes of this article, let us limit our commentary to the area of ‘IT’ and more specifically ‘Digital Projects’. Given that most businesses usually have at any one time a series of projects in parallel, the question must be asked as to HOW best (and most efficiently) should a business resource up to ensure talent is available to commit to the successful delivery of project work. The answer to HOW will be predicated on a range of factors. Availability and utilisation of existing resources being a key driver. So too budget and priority of the project against all other projects. Digital Rehab takes the view that a fine balance between insourcing and outsourcing should be the aim where core activities, support etc should be internalised while most of a projects risks should be managed and mitigated by outsourced vendors. This balance is an art. Our observation has been in recent times, in Australia in particular, most businesses elect to outsource entire bodies of work. While this most commonly does improve deliverability, it compromises a businesses ability to stay on top of and across all the intricacies of projects – particularly if they be transformative IT / digital in nature. Instead, we (Digital Rehab) forms the view that outsourcing should be used for key milestones and ‘sprints’ of a project while insourcing should endure throughout a project to provide continuity and minimise Intellectual Property drain/leakage.

Continuous Improvement Project Cycle Digital Rehab

Tips on a Successful Project Delivery

What we think,

Projects are becoming increasingly complex – be it driven from technical requirements or expectations.

Scope of projects can often be mis-interpreted, misunderstood or not altogether well defined. Given the demands on-time and on-budget project delivery, it has now become more important than ever to manage scope and scope changes to ensure successful project delivery.

For smooth and successful project scope delivery, I believe there are three core ingredients:

  1. Documentation
  2. Process
  3. People

Let me explain…

Documentation

This covers all documents produced using the Initiation or definition and specification phase of project, including documents such as: business case & requirements, timeframes, budgets, solution design, wireframes, user scenarios/stories etc.  See recent article titled ‘Technical & Business Project Management Methods’ for a comprehensive listing.

Process

It is important to put structure around the project documentation to help guide how all project participants are to work together. Whether a classic, agile or hybrid project approach be adopted, it is important that your project processes be in tune with the project approach taken.

People

Documentation and Process will provide the foundations for a good project delivery however, without People, projects don’t get delivered.  The key to project delivery is to ensure all stakeholders and PEOPLE are properly engaged, consulted and invited to provide feedback is needed or decisions are required to be made. This will serve to ensure buy-in and commitment is maintained from start to finish of the project.

Technical & Business Project Delivery Methods

What we think, ,

The key to the delivery of a good project lies in the methodology adopted by the project manager.  If the method is sound, the risks for the project are well known and thus can be properly managed.

A good PMO (project management office) will lean on either internal resources or more commonly expert, specialist consultants like Digital Rehab to provide agile project management services. The methodology however should be instigated and policed by the PMO so as to ensure consistency in project status reporting and documentation.

From over 18 years experience running hundreds of medium to large scale projects, here are some of my tips and recommendations on how best to deliver web projects (be they websites or applications).

Documentation is a critical success factor behind a good project

From the outset make sure that all relevant documents are in place.  In my opinion these documents should include:

  1. business case – this document is used to legitimise the reasoning for the project and usually includes cost benefit analysis, market pressures, summary of objectives, high level scope, financials (investment required, pay-back, other factors), resource utilisation, risks, success criteria/measures etc
  2. business requirements – this document is to be used to underpin all decisions around scope and functionality. It also serves to articulate a businesses objectives.
  3. project plan – outlining the key milestones or phases of the project, individual “micro” work tasks, responsibilities, risk level, and dependencies.
  4. project timeline – Time is one of the critical factors often in a project. Your ability to deliver to the timeline originally outlined, committed to will be one the key yardsticks used to judge the overall competency of a project manager. It therefore is critical that this be a document that breaks all work tasks down and complements what has been included in the project plan.
  5. project budget – a project budget however big or small will need to be closely managed by the project coordinator/manager. I have found that a good budget should look to include the following work sheets: Project Budget Snapshot (outlining total budget or budget phasing versus actuals committed/PO’ed against remaining budget), Approved Budget (listing the phasing, budget approved), Budget versus Actuals (showing a monthly breakdown of how the approved budget is tracking against actuals, where actuals are the costs either committed to or invoiced, identify the delta or difference between budget versus actuals and contigencies)
  6. risk register – this document plots all known risks that may be incurred/experienced over the course of the delivery of the project.
  7. decision register – this document serves to log all key decisions that have impacted the project often including such things as decision owner, decision taken, decision date, decision consequences etc.
  8. solution design – this document maps out the solution architecture for the project.  How this project fits within the broader IT landscape and architectural vision of a business.  It looks at issues including but not limited to security, access, infrastructure, integration points, database configuration, performance, scalability, re-usability etc.
  9. wireframes – these are schematics for how the solution should be structured from a layout / configuration and visual standpoint.  It is at this time that your solution comes to life and can be socialised for internal / external review.
  10. front and backend designs (GUI) – these are the final visuals to be used during the build to provide both a front end and back end for the solution.
  11. scope specification – this is often performed by a vendor with close controls and input from internal IT. The purpose of this document is to accompany the wireframes and designs and talk at how they should be built, with what interlinkages and how they should be controlled/managed.  From this the ‘build’ or development / execution can be informed.
  12. launch strategy / deployment guides – these documents should be crafted to plan out the launch of a new solution – who shall be responsible, for what, when.  It should also include a communications plan for how the new solution will be marketed / embraced / delivered to its intended audiences.  A deployment guide should always accompany the launch strategy which serves to help with IT’s ability to understand how to deploy the application/solution again in the future without the need for a vendor to again be engaged to perform the task.


Ensure project delivery methodology and milestones broadly conform with a proven approach 

I would recommend that the following delivery methodology be used:

  1. DEFINE & SCOPE (occasionally referred to as ‘Initiation’)
  2. SPECIFY & DESIGN (also called ‘Planning’)
  3. DEVELOP (also known as ‘Execution’)
  4. TEST & LAUNCH (called ‘Delivery’)
  5. EVALUATE, REFINE & REFRESH

This methodology and project phasing is important so as to ensure a business/client/key stakeholders have had sufficient levels of consultation, input, controls and approval gates so as to ensure the project satisfies its intended purpose and objectives.  Breaking the project into these milestones enables the project to be thoroughly managed and for clear checkpoints to be in place to help guide work tasks.

There is ofcourse other prevailing and dominant project methodologies – referred to as ‘waterfall’ or ‘agile’ – see below:

waterfall vs agile diagram by Digital Rehab

I personally prefer a hybrid of these two rather than being a purist to any one method.

This article was written by Alisdair Blackman.

San Francisco Digital Media Summit plays hosts Digital Rehab's Owner Alisdair Blackman

Digital Rehab Presents at Digital Media Summit 2014 in San Francisco

What we think,

San Francisco: January 2014 starts with a bang for Digital Rehab with Owner and and Principal Consultant Alisdair Blackman taking the podium at the global Digital Media Summit.

Hosted at the Westin on Market Street, this three week long conference boasts over 300 speakers each given 45 minutes to deliver an international perspective and opinion on trends in digital in their respective market.

Alisdair Blackman spoke on the state of Australia’s digital media landscape, emerging trends and took an opportunity to re-orient focus off general market conditions to instead focus on eHealth and the need for a balance to be struck between universalisation in patient data management practices while yet preserving market competitive forces, unfettered by government intervention.

Business Intelligence projects defined

Business Intelligence projects explained

What we think

Over the past decade, Business intelligence (‘BI’) is rapidly becoming a critical success ingredient in business which is largely due to the fact that CIOs and IT leaders are increasingly recognising the value of insight when making important decisions. The increase focus on digital has impacted on the way data is collected, which has facilitated and spurred on the need for and value of business intelligence.

Business intelligence looks to improve efficiencies, productivity and leverage data to provide insights to its employees, customers, suppliers, partners, cost and profit centers etc. BI tools exist to serve up the right information, in a timely fashion, in a range of formats to assist in strategic and tactical planning and growth of a business.

Major enterprise solutions in BI include Oracle Enterprise Performance Management and Business Intelligence as well as Microsoft Business Intelligence. There are also a range of open source BI solutions.

Business intelligence can have a solid impact on company profitability and growth. Coupling predictive analytics within business application that use next generation user experience is key as it allows a company to measure and reassess based on information collected. It is also important for businesses to keep in mind that it is more than likely that their competitors are utilizing business intelligence tools.

For those businesses reluctant to change and embrace BI, they run the risk of declining competitive advantage by not leveraging data mining technologies.

If a business is seeking to grow, cut costs, or gain further company insight, business intelligence is an essential business tool for gaining granularity in regards to measuring and understanding different dimensions of any business. Being able to extract meaningful data using existing business processes is an important part of what makes business intelligence work and represent such value.

Businesses that draw on and use BI have a greater chance to seize on new or increase profitability, smarter decision-making, and lowering of operating costs through improved administrative management.

What and how can you incorporate business intelligence to your business?

The key importance with BI is to look for realistic areas where real measurement will make a difference. Most businesses have a lot of areas that can and should be measured they are not aware of. In these cases, signing up for a Business Intelligence Analysis is the best bet to find out where BI can be applied using a holistic approach.

Avoiding Vendor Lock-in

What we think

Vendor lock-in occurs when a customer becomes dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs.

In digital, we witness this time and time again.

Vendor lock-in can occur anywhere throughout your business. It might be your choice of cloud storage or Software as a Service provider. It might be the choice of a key IT system, such as your accounting, e-commerce, customer relationship management or content management platform. It might be the hardware you use to run your inventory management and point of sale systems. It might even be the handheld gadgets you issue to your mobile workforce

There are a number of ways you can avoid getting yourself into this pickle. Here is what we would suggest:

  1. read the fine print in the vendor contracts or terms of business
  2. ask the provider whether they offer data migration tools or services to facilitate the movement of large amounts of data. Don’t take their word for it, do your own research. The more mission-critical that vendor is to your business, the more important it is to make the right choice. Will your business processes be totally reliant on proprietary hardware or services?
  3. Will your data be locked away in proprietary formats? What are the options for exporting that data in a format which can be easily imported into a rival service?

In a perfect world your business would be completely vendor, platform and device agnostic, but realistically you’re likely to trade some freedom in return for advanced functionality and other benefits.

Gamification & marketing

What we think

For many years, marketers and advertisers have used many techniques to inform, guide and even coerce us into action. Their influence has led us into purchases of things big and small, expensive and affordable.

Gamification is gathering momentum purely due to the take up and trends in usage and behaviours of digital savvy consumers.

Gamification in simplest terms is to reward ‘players’ for successfully completing certain tasks/actions. Good game theory when applied well will illicit a follow up / action and even promote repetition. Just like with computer gaming, it was observed that gamers would go to great lengths to complete preassigned tasks/actions if it would enable them to progress to the next level, gain rewards, or beat others. Gamification looks to capitalise on these same rational behaviours but applies them into our everyday transactional lives.

Companies that apply gamification well into their marketing, have been widely successful eg. Google, Nike, Sony, Starbucks, Lion Nathan etc. Most Australian businesses are slow to embrace this type of marketing approach – those that do incorporate treasure hunts in their department stores or looking for mistakes in an authors manuscript in return for prizes and rewards offer up something unique and different may experience short to medium benefits not least of which in share of voice and buzz.  If executed well, the new methods will enrich the consumer experience and enable those daring businesses a chance to stand out from the pack!

CBHS Health Fund marketing restructure & new strategy

Customer Stories

CBHS Health Fund is an exclusive private health insurance for Commonwealth Bank, BankWest and Colonial First State past and present employees. It’s exclusivity has meant it offers some of the best benefits of any health fund in Australia – in 2012 paying 92 cents in every dollar toward better benefits to its members.

For a health fund with more than 80,000 households, it has grown traditionally aligned with the recruitment and staffing across the Commonwealth Bank Group of companies. With the appointment of a new corporate strategist, decision was made to reinvigorate the marketing activities of the 60 year old fund.

Digital Rehab was appointed to overhaul the marketing function and provide assistance in the implementation of a new acquisition marketing strategy.

For the last 6 months, we have accomplished the following:

  1. Digested and understood the Board agreed strategy
  2. Assessed/evaluated marketing composition (in-house & outsource)
  3. Appraise team strengths and experience against resource estimates
  4. Tendered out what capability gaps and expertise is needed to fulfill needs and demands of marketing and provide impartial advisory on vendor selection
  5. Consult widely across the business with key stakeholders
  6. Work to help also with: procurement of vendors, budgets for 2013 & 2014, rich media explanatory video, media plan with spend of over $600k and devise a social media & content strategy