January 2009

I was speaking with a PR firm client last week who mentioned “Frugal is the new cool” and decided it was time to tone down the look of the site. I keep an eye out for trends (as one must do in social media and web marketing) and given the current state of the economy I’m taking his message to heart. 

I wore a less flashy watch to a meeting today and will be tweaking the site in the coming week or so to see if I can simplify it a bit (yes, it’s already quite simple and I can do better!).

With all the talk lately of recession, marketing in tough economic times etc etc, it makes sense for marketers to be a little less flashy and focus their messages more on the bottom line and how they can make and save their clients money.

For me, that means the site needs to be less about adding widgets and more about focusing on good, solid, valuable content that my clients will find applicable to their businesses.

On that note today’s tip is:  go back to basics.

Practical applications:

• Update and simplify your web site’s theme / design 
• Don’t be afraid to use or go back to plain text emails or simplified HTML
• If blogging or using Twitter, focus on practical tips and less theory (marketers are the most guilty of breaking this one)

I think going frugal is a trend we’re going to see catch on and stick for the next couple of years. As more ideas on this topic come to mind, I’ll post them here.

What steps are you taking to “go frugal”  in 2009″ 

Post thoughts to comments.

Update: Read about the New Frugal Google

Tweet This Post  Plurk This Post  Buzz This Post  Delicious This Post  Digg This Post  Ping This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post 

Last night I attended Ideas on Tap at the Yaletown Brewpub.

“Ideas on Tap is a light business networking event for hi-tech professionals in Vancouver plus internet advertisers, social media marketers, bloggers, video game developers and other fans of the tech community.”

The turnout was great (I’d say about 200+ easy) and people were friendly and willing to chat about all things tech. Twitter was of course the topic of many conversations on account of the fact that so many of us locally in the industry have met online first and then face to face at events like this. Funny how it works these days, you meet online first and then in person.

I met @shanegibson, a local speaker, sales trainer and author and @johnchow, a local blogger who has gained international renown for his money making ideas and tactics over at www.johnchow.com. I also spoke with @chrisbreikss and @cydb of 6s Marketing (who hosts the event) and a ton of other cool locals including friends from Wallup Creative and more.

The event was a blast – always great to put faces to names and to meet new and interesting people in the social media / web marketing sphere.

So what’s next up for the local social mediaratzi? Everyone’s heading to Word Camp Whistler for the weekend. Unfortuneately I won’t be attending but may meet up with the gang for beers as I’m heading out the door myself to hit Whistler to do some boarding this weekend.

If you’re up there get in touch: @adamkillam 

Cheers!

Tweet This Post  Plurk This Post  Buzz This Post  Delicious This Post  Digg This Post  Ping This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post 

Barack Obama became the United States’ 44th President today. At exactly 12:01 PM, which according to the U.S constitution is when the incoming President elect becomes President, the Whitehouse launched a new blog.

“Welcome to the new WhiteHouse.gov. I’m Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House and one of the people who will be contributing to the blog.” stated the first post.

“The New Whitehouse.gov” as they’re calling it will focus on communication, transparency, and participation.

Obama’s use of Twitter, Facebook and Salesforce.com Ideas has already proven his team’s ability to take advantage of the social web to reach out and gain support from and communicate with the people. The addition of the new blog to Whitehouse.gov is another great step in the right direction for the new President.

Congrats Obama. We’re all watching!

Related items:

• People’s thoughts on Twitter during the inaguration
• Obama’s facebook page
• #inaguration on Twitter
• Follow Barack Obama on Twitter

Tweet This Post  Plurk This Post  Buzz This Post  Delicious This Post  Digg This Post  Ping This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post 

It’s almost official and the word has gone out: I have stepped down from leading the Vancouver Salesforce.com User Group after founding it two years ago (follow the link above to view my message to the group). We started with 1 member and I am leaving with 191 on the list. While I didn’t go into my reasons for leaving in my letter to our members – I wanted to add a few thoughts here.First, it was a great experience. It amazed me how many people I met from all parts of the U.S and Canada and the opportunities that resulted from leading the group. I learned a ton. I learned about organizing and promoting events, about networking, about building relationships, my knowlegde of CRM vastly increased for obvious reasons and the list goes on.What a trip.For the past several months now I have been realizing that it was time for a change. It was obvious I was loosing steam and wanted to leave on a high note and see the group maintain momentum and continue to grow. I have also realized that in 2009 I am going to need to make some changes in order to pursue a couple of opportunities, one that has been offered to me and another that I will need to build myself. Often, in order to progress we must sacrifice something and the user group is the 1st in a series of things I will be giving up in the coming months.The user groups are a great idea and one of the many things Salesforce.com has done right as a company and I will be taking many lessons from my time working with them on to my own ventures down the road.So that’s that.Stay tuned for what’s next. 2009 promises to be a change filled and exciting year.

Tweet This Post  Plurk This Post  Buzz This Post  Delicious This Post  Digg This Post  Ping This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post