Archive for the ‘Best Practices’ Category
Expert Advice on How to Use Twitter
How often do you Tweet? Too much? Too little? Not at all? Is there even a way to define what is "too much" or "too little?" Guy Kawasaki with Alltop (an avid Tweeter) commented on his Twitter habits in a recent post on American Express' Open Forum website.
An Online Magazine Success Story: Unum One
Our last Parthenon Post (our enewsletter) featured an article about how best to present print magazine content in a web format. Our basic take is this: "What readers want from a print magazine is not the same as what they want from a digital experience. People enjoy the portability and tactile experience that magazines offer. No matter how jazzy the user interface, digital editions cannot replicate the experience of consuming a physical magazine. And, while computer screens are getting larger and more brilliant, the basic design — “the user interface” — of a magazine feature story is not ideal for consumption via a computer screen." Basically, we are not huge fans of typical "digital editions" of magazines. But what if a client wants to produce an online magazine?
Fast Company Blog: Social Media Tactics
Who would you rather do business with - an expert or a novice? Unless you are craving a challenge, working with an expert is usually the better choice. But, how do you position yourself as an expert in the world of social media.
B2B Website vs B2C Websites
Is crafting an engaging website targeting consumers very different from creating a website for a business-to-business client?
Visually Thinking: A Book Review
As a communicator, I find few things more painful than sitting through a poorly executed presentation where the presenter literally reads his word-overloaded slides to me. Too many people use PowerPoint and too few actually know how to use the tool well. Enter Dan Roam. Dan contends that anyone can be a great communicator by simply taking a more graphic approach to presenting. In his book, The Back of the Napkin, Dan outlines how a few visuals are often more powerful than pages and pages of text. He calls this idea “visual thinking.”
How (and why) to plan for interactive marketing
The exponential growth of internet adoption among businesses and consumers provides tremendous opportunity for marketers. According to Forrester Research, advertisers will spend $25.8b on interactive marketing in 2009, and that number is expected to rise over the next five years to $55b, representing 21 percent of all marketing expenditures. The primary reason for this massive growth is that interactive marketing provides more efficient ways to reach prospective customers than more traditional advertising vehicles. Challenges always accompany opportunities, however, and interactive marketing is no exception. Here are five steps to successfully plan your interactive marketing for 2010: 1. Understand. Before you develop and execute your interactive marketing plan, embark on a mission to understand who your target market is and how they behave online. Create a few prototypical customers and create a quick model about the
Insights from an Intern
I have had several internships over the years, and have realized they are excellent opportunities for various reasons: I have been able to explore a new career, gain experience and skills in the publication industry, and make important network connections I can utilize in the future. Overall, I feel as though I have been part of a unique situation in which I have contributed to an organization and walked away with valuable knowledge for the future. If I were to offer advice to any intern before he or she dives right into the position, I would say remember these key points for the first day:
Seven Steps to a Better Website
It is a good practice to step back from your company or association website every few months and take a good hard look. But who has the time? Enter the Parthenon Seven Steps to a Better Website checklist. Much like the checklists that promise flatter abs in just minutes a day, this checklist takes only minutes but can have a very big impact on what your audience sees and thinks about you and your brand.
The Making of a Great Article
The basics of storytelling don’t change much, no matter what you’re writing. Granted, celebrities may be more fun to write about than, say, the history of concrete — but there’s always a way to make a topic unique, engaging and helpful. And like any ability, writing well comes by practice and persistence. So what are the differences between a so-so article and a great article? Let’s see…
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