This is the week that was: A slice of the BlackBerry crumble
There was a lot going on out there last week. Sadly up to a third of you may have missed many of the best articles as your smartphone became about as useful as a banana and you had to revert back to that strange machine sitting on your desk to check your emails and communicate with all and sundry.
So whether you suffered BlackBerry Interruptus or not, here’s Earnest’s take on the top stories of the week in the world of B2B marketing…
Brand damage of the week:
One poor soul in Slough didn’t have a very good week at all as the great BlackBerry blackout swept the planet. Once a trusty and secure business favourite, BlackBerry has had a hard time of it lately. First the brand got a knocking by becoming the phone of choice for London rioters, then came the PlayBook tablet flop, not to mention the continued ground lost to Apple in the device wars. Still, RIM and BlackBerry have always had the reliability card to play: no dropped calls, fully secure email, robust handsets – that was until the whole service went kaput after a system update. As organisations have become more reliant on mobile, large corporations are already looking to wave goodbye to the problem plagued phone, with RBS the latest corporate giant to trial the use of iPhones and iPads. Is this the end of the road for RIM or will the CrackBerry addiction be too hard to shake for a hardcore amongst the business community? Expect the vultures to start circulating soon – our bet is that RIM will be in new hands by this time next year. WinBerry anyone?
SEO tip of the week:
Here at Earnest we are big advocates of content marketing. There is no doubt that the most successful social media strategies and lead nurturing campaigns are ones that give away useful content to the target audience. Whether it’s a paper from an independent analyst, a whitepaper or just a simple blog post it will get you noticed. Seeding this content is important – and search should be a big consideration. The guys at Paul Writer, India’s only B2B marketing hub, this week shared some advice on when and where your keywords really matter for content marketing, from title tags to page and post URL ‘slugs’. Your content will never be lost again.
Useful tools of the week:
Twitter continues to dominate as one of the most useful tools for sharing content in the B2B marketing space. The majority of organisations have some sort of presence on Twitter today, even if it is just a token nod towards the social side of marketing. Often though the tool is not being used to its full potential – following the wrong people, tweeting at the wrong times and not interacting in the right way. This list of the top Twitter tools should help resolve this problem. Look out for our upcoming blog post on our top 5 and how they can benefit you and your organisation.
Presentation of the week:
With so many mobile stats flying around, we took a look at how the rise of mobile is changing marketing now and in the future. This presentation, developed as part of the Earnest internal training academy, shows our views on where the world is moving and how both marketers and brands need to adapt to make sure that they are not left out in the cold.
App of the week:
While on the mobile theme, we found one app this week perfect for those who are both always on the move but also on the hunt for interesting articles online. The instapaper app allows you to take an article from any website and turn it into an easy to read document while you are offline. Tube journeys need never to be a wasted, sweaty hour again.
Creative website of the week:
You know the score – go to a website, read a bit about the company, check out the work, go to the contact us section (or sometimes just leave). They may all look different but the journey and experience is largely the same. It is refreshing, then, to come across the likes of ‘By various artists’ who are taking a new slant on how they describe who they are and what they do. All we can say is take a look and make sure the headphones are plugged in.
Newest board member of the week:
From the recent goings on at Yahoo to the public spats between HP and Automony, we often get a sneak peek into life at the top in large organisations. These boards, however successful or terrible they may seem to be, are made up of the usual ingredients – CIO, CFO, CEO (and CMO if they are lucky). Lucy Kellaway this week argued in the Financial Times that there should be one person who is never left off the board – the ‘S@#!s on Boards’ (SOBs). These ruthless players prevent things from getting too cosy around the table and keep a steady ship. One thing, Lucy argues, is for sure – there will never be a shortage of SOBs in the economy.
Infographic of the week:
There were plenty of infographics to choose from, but in light of the recent economy and the highest levels of unemployment for decades we thought we would share quite how arduous it is to get a job at Google, but once you get there the rewards are a plenty (not to mention the free food).
Good news of the week:
Since starting up just over 2 years ago, here at Earnest we have spent our days chasing out the humdrum in B2B marketing. Gaining some great clients over the years we were very happy last week to be announced the fastest growing B2B agency in the country. Onwards and upwards.
So that was the week that was. We hope you had a good one.
