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Archive for January, 2010



Paul McKay

01/21/2010

Grocery Shopping On Your iPhone
04:50 pm by Paul McKay

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Each week like clock-work, a flimsy plastic bag full of supermarket circulars inevitably ends up at the front door. You know what I’m talking about. Those bags that pile up with coupons that you trip over Sunday morning. Our clients Vertis Communications and Nash Finch Co. were looking to reduce the psychological and environmental damage of the never-ending stream of shopping circulars when they hired us to create an iPhone application for the Family Fresh Market brand of stores in Wisconsin. *iTunes link

The IWS-developed app has several features — all of which are managed by a custom content management system that allows the market’s supplier to publish specials in real time. Customers who download the app can easily check what’s on offer in the Fresh Meat, Produce, Deli, Fresh Bakery, and Floral aisles whether they’re at home or pushing a shopping cart around the market. With a simple flick of the finger, you can even add these items to a shopping list along with anything else you need to pick up at Family Fresh.

Users also benefit from Well Balanced tips which aim to help make healthy decisions easy. For instance, buying low sodium varieties of canned vegetables and rinsing them thoroughly is a quick way to lower your salt intake.

Creating a branded app like this is an excellent way to offer customers something they can use while also streamlining communication to them. eMarketer claims close to 75 percent of consumers with iPhones use apps. With this trend clearly growing, it’s safe to say that a relevant or entertaining iPhone app could build a stronger connection with your customers.

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Jessica Carlson

01/12/2010

Raising #240tons of food during the holidays
01:18 pm by Jessica Carlson

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With unemployment and poverty at all time highs, IWS took to Twitter during the holidays to help raise awareness of the demand placed upon food banks during the past particularly trying year. The holiday campaign, dubbed “Tweets of Hope,” inspired Twitter users to retweet a simple message and $2 would be donated to the Association of Arizona Food Banks (AAFB) and Share Our Strength.

The campaign generated over 2,000 retweets, and has generated close to 200,000 impressions. Despite being slightly shy of reaching the goal of 2,500 tweets, IWS delivered a $5,000 check to both AAFB and Share Our Strength. The $10,000 donation to the two charities will help provide 240 tons of food, or 140,000 meals in Arizona and the Washington, D.C area.

At IWS, we’ve always strongly believed that we all have a responsibility to do more good. Max Fose, president, says he believes that, “…We all have a responsibility to give back. We’re fortunate enough to be in a position that we can, but even if we weren’t, we would do whatever we could.”

While social media is still somewhat in it’s infancy, is an excellent platform for charitable contribution campaigns. Social media, as a platform, is a lot more effective in generating widespread exposure and motivating the masses to participate, since activity is generally more visible. When people recognize that a large group is pushing an initiative forward, they become even more likely to participate. As opposed to ads and email marketing, it has the ability to showcase in a much more meaningful fashion just who is behind this cause and how many people are supporting it.

Want to be a part of future campaigns? Be sure to follow us on Twitter.

photo2Kelly Watson delivering another $5,000 check to Share Our Strength in Washington, D.C.

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Sarah Trees

01/08/2010

Mobile Devices – New Opportunities to Reach Your Customer
07:51 pm by Sarah Trees

A recent report from eMarketer shows that having content accessible from mobile devices/networks is becoming increasingly important to end users of these devices. Mobile device manufacturers are challenged with where, how and when their users want to consume content. With the creation of netbooks, e-readers, gaming devices and super intelligent smartphones – users are craving more and more fresh content. Users of smartphone devices surf the Internet 3 times as much as regular mobile phone users.

So what types of content and marketing messages are best suited for delivery on smartphone devices? We can look at what many of the fast-food chains like Qdoba Mexican Grill have done. They have started mobile loyalty programs. Qdoba says they have seen good results from their mobile campaign, they claim an average rate of redemption on their coupons at 16% and as high as 40% in some college locations. Locally, I have noticed this trend as well with Jack in the Box and the Phoenix Suns. Whenever the Phoenix Suns score 99 points or more users who have signed up with the Suns text club can receive 2 free tacos. You could take your ticket from that night’s game into any valley Jack in the Box and redeem them for the free tacos. This is genius. The Suns and JIB (Jack in the Box) have figured out how to not only get more business but to build their customer list. And who doesn’t like free tacos?

Photo: nardell

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Jessica Carlson

01/06/2010

With great risk comes great reward
12:28 pm by Jessica Carlson

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Starting off the new year on the right foot, our own Max Fose was featured on the cover of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce’s Impact Magazine. In the article about three successful valley entrepreneurs, Fose tells the story of how IWS was born.

After working with Senator John McCain throughout the 1990’s, Fose, who had inherited an entrepreneurial spirit from his father, took a gamble on entering the political arena, specifically creating and mobilizing advocates and supporters all within the online realm.

When asked what kept him motivated to forge his own path, he says, “I’ve always loved setting my own pace, betting on myself, investing in myself.” And, it’s definitely paid off. Marking the new year, IWS has hired five new employees and expanded into a new office. In his own words, he says that, “there’s a direct correlation between the harder you work, the greater your success.” And, anyone who knows him will tell you that he’s one of the hardest working people that he’s met. And as a true beacon for the right kind of entrepreneurship, he’s incredibly passionate about what he does and securing record-breaking results for clients. If you ask him, he’ll tell you that, “For the past 10 years I’ve never thought of going into the office as a job.”

To learn more about IWS and to read the full article, check out Impact Magazine.

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Maura DeBartoli

01/05/2010

A minimalist approach: Social Entrepreneurs
06:05 pm by Maura DeBartoli

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Those owning and working for small to medium sized businesses are predisposed to have a lot on their plate. The focus tends to be on keeping up with client work, internal to-dos, etc. and it can be difficult to develop and manage an active social media strategy. Discussed here are a few low key & low maintenance things to think about, and hopefully will spark a few ideas that really make sense for social media.

Does what you do tap into people’s passions? Remember that social media is a vehicle for sharing special interests! Encourage your audience to comment on or contribute to blogs, share photos of events, products in use, etc. People will inevitably converse about their leisurely pursuits… Bonus.

What can you show off? It’s OK to sometimes! If you’ve got a product that you can demonstrate or talk about in a video, do it on YouTube. If your company has a great portfolio (or potential), show that off with a dynamic website or a Flickr account and sit on it. If you specialize in services, get the audience involved and encourage that they share their experiences on the social media sites. There’s a niche somewhere.

With that, are there identifiable niche communities that regular customers or clients tend to naturally congregate? What advice can you offer in your area of expertise?

Small business owners and entrepreneurs have an advantage in that you can establish yourselves online, while listening in. You don’t want to completely overlook traditional ways to expand your business. Meaning, promote social media efforts both online and off – even something so small as putting your twitter handle on your business card can have great impact.

While you’re in the trial and error phase, track and measure – minimally. No need to be nitty-gritty about metrics if you’re starting small. But, keep track of sales. Have they increased? Set-up a Google Alert. Who’s talking? Above all, ask for feedback and have fun!

Image: jjsala

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Jason Lyons

01/05/2010

Who’s Winning the Browser War?
12:13 am by Jason Lyons

One trend that has continued through 2009 is that the browser wars have become increasingly competitive. According to this report of browser market share, Internet Explorer lost 7% of the market in the year ending in December. This probably isn’t a surprise as it’s been happening ever since Firefox – who celebrated it’s 5th anniversary in 2009 – hit the scene. What is surprising is that Google’s new brower, launched in 2008, now occupies third place, just recently surpassing the Mac-based Safari.

Nonetheless, Internet Explorer retains the lion’s share of the market with 63%, followed by Firefox with 25%. This has important implications when designing and developing a new Web site. However, the most telling sign of what browser your readers are using remains your analytics data.

Looking through the Google Analytics reports of several clients, the market share broke down a little differently. On average, our client Web site were view in Internet Explorer 74% of the time, Firefox 17% and Safari 6%. However, I noticed a wide disparity among browsers depending on target audiences. For instance, for a trade association client whose subscribers average between 40 and 55 years old, the breakdown is Internet Explorer 82%, Firefox 12% and Safari 5%; while a sports blog with a younger following had a breakdown of Internet Explorer 46%, Firefox 32%, Safari 17%.

One explanation for this discrepancy has to do with mobile phone usage and age. A poll by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion shows that more than one-fourth (26%) of those younger than age 45 own a PDA, compared with just 10% of those ages 45+. This means a lot of younger readers are using their mobile device to view Web sites. Generally these devices do not use Internet Explorer as their browser – with the ubiquitous iPhone using the Safari browser.

Therefore when it comes time to test your new Web site in various browsers and allocate resources to ensure compliance, it is crucial to understand your audience segments and recognize which browser they most likely use.

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