IMA 502

EverythingLongIsland.com
(working name)

Abstract

I have lived on Long Island my entire life.  I am aware of its diverse communities, attractions, history and what it offers in the way of culture being so close to New York City. I like to think that in this sense there are few places that offer what can found on Long Island.  Yet, it’s almost incredible how difficult it is to find accurate, up-to-date, relevant or useful content on the Web, when doing a search in Google or Yahoo.   Try to search for something simple like a good Thai restaurant or a clean nail salon and you are inundated with bad websites that rarely give you what you are looking for.

Current websites available for finding information regarding entertainment, attractions, shopping, education and continuing education, hobbies, personal interests and such are scarce and have low-quality content.  These are plagued by poor useabilty, functionality and overall design- highlighting the lack of thought put into to the end user experience.  It is easy to see with the eye-sore placement of sadly produced advertisements, that the sites were made with profit first in mind and that planning and mapping an architecture that would ensure a quality user experience, came second.

Of course all projects like this involve some type of monetary profit– but the profits will not accrue if the product and content do not deliver.  My goal is to create a site that is user driven.  More in-line with a social media driven user experience.  Users will offer suggestions for places to review and some will actually be the ones to add content to the site in way of a blog.  All items referred to in the site will have been visited, verified or checked by someone affiliated but users will also be profiled as content contributors who comment on all things they want to comment on.

Comparison to other products/projects

Here is list and pros and cons of some sites that are currently available:

Long Island.com

• Full Url: http://www.longisland.com/
• Description: This site starts out and continues throughout as a bulletin board of information about services and business on Long Island.
• Pros: The only thing that may be of any significance is the search functionality in each category that allows the user to search by many criteria and seems to bring up relevant (if not complete) search results.  No reviews by real people.
• Cons: Too many to name but the main one is poor navigation and hodgepodge looking pages that are overwhelming and confusing. It is very difficult to navigate due to its expanding navigation that is particularly irritating and not to mention all of the flashing postage stamp size squares of advertisements.

DiscoveryLongIsland.com

• Full URL:  http://www.discoverlongisland.com
• Description: A website that offers information about Long Island for those planning a visit, trip, or business event.
• Pros: Not a bad site and very well stocked with information with few or no advertisements, great imagery and a decent nav (except for dropdown menus again).
• Cons: There just may be too much stuff on this site.  A lot of good info but it is targeted to non-long islanders, I think.  The search function is too simple and does not really provide good results.  The user has to drill down through the pages to really find what they want.

LongIsalndTourism.com

• Full Url: http://www.longislandtourism.com/default.asp
• Description: Another site that poses to offer site seeing and attraction events on Long Island.
• Pros: none
• Cons: This site is probably the worst of all that I searched and leaves nothing to like, bad design, poor nav, inaccurate, incomplete out dated content.  The search is so bad it is useless.

Artist’s Statement (AKA: Introduction)

To create a site that is user-driven one has to start to think like the user.  More often than not, it is obvious that the enduser- the individual who you want to drive to the site- is the last link in the design chain.  For me the enduser is first step in the process creating.  First, I have to pose a few basic questions in order to start my journey to create and design this business website.  The most important question being “what is my target audience?”  By combining important facts and demographics about the intended target audience I will construct an internal flow of information architecture that is user-specific. The design and aesthetics of the website will follow accordingly.  User group testing will need to be conducted at all stages of production in order to insure functionality and product integrity.  By placing the enduser’s experience/outcome in the center of the plan and making this quantifier integral to all parts of the whole it then becomes the qualifier for a successful product.

Plan and Analysis

Objective

To create a website that will cover three basic areas of consumerism– beauty, dining and nightlife entertainment.  The website will focus on the Long Island region and will be driven by user-generated content.  Users will visit the site to find out information about desired places of interest and read real, user-based, reviews of each business.

Overview & Description

The website will consist of three distinct areas of interest– beauty, dining, nightlife.  The site will allow users to do the following tasks:

• Search for a specific business of interest
  View details of each business
  Read reviews of each businesses
  Provide feedback about a business
  Download or find out about discounts, sales, coupons, etc.

Each area of focus will include the following features:

Blog
A person who fits the main characteristics and demographics of the target audience will author the blog for each section.  Her profile will be available for viewing and users will be able to comment on it just as other blogs offer and users will also be able to apply to be a blogger.  The ongoing entries will provide a weekly highlight a new business under the respective category.  The main purpose of the bog will be to provide a broader picture of a specific business other than a short review, with more insight and detail.  Overall the content should be engaging, humorous with a witty tone.

Search Function
A search of businesses for each category will be provided that will allow the user to do a search by geographic area, keyword, address, business name and other specifics such as services offered or types of food, etc.  Additionally the businesses may also be searched simply by an alphabetical listing function that can be sorted by certain specifics such as star ratings, geographic location and available discounts.

Discounts/Market Place
This area will provide for the user the ability to download coupons and find things like discount codes or where sales may be going on.  Although if a user searches for a business that does have a special discount or offer going on there will be a link to it, but this are will provide for that user who only wants to know about where the deals are.  Here deals of the week will be featured for each focus area and visitors may also offer up knowledge of discounts or coupons.  This section will be fed by both user-generated content and eventually businesses that wish to offer as well.

Production Components & Outline

• Legal Analysis. Overview of legal implications and liability study regarding:
  • licensing/permits requirements;
  • insurance/liability
  • special regulations;
  • trademarks, copyrights and patents;
  • collecting and retaining visitor data;
  • selling data that is retained from visitors;
  • blogging and reviewing local businesses;
  • advertising mechanisms; and
  • revenue flow

• Data Collection/Identify Target Audience. This will involve purchasing actual data about the target audience of the region in focus (Long Island) and  create a Niche analysis for the product, basically who are the ultimate customers. 
  • Data to include
    • Income levels
    • Spending habits
    • Residential (specifically towns)
    • Email addresses

• Content Inventory. Detailed analysis and destination assignment of site content to populate databases.  Information initially will be taken form current sites that include local business data, region index information sites such as the yellow pages and Verizon business information lookup.  Data also to be paired with data from sites that supply consumer discounts and offerings such as Groupon.com and Retailmenot.com.  Content will eventually will be supplemented and enhanced by users- although verification and validation methods of suggestions and content must be integrated as well.

• Content Development/Search Engine Optimization. This phase is entwined with the previous Content Inventory phase.  Content inventory will include that of search engine optimization to assure that keywords, metadata and rankings are taken into account when writing and developing the actual content.

• Wireframe/Architecture. Detailed layout of the site’s planned internal architecture that will include plans for the global, second and third tier navigation structure.

• Frontend Design. Graphic design of the actual aesthetic.  To be adjusted after initial focus group testing and as needed.

• User/focus group testing. Initial testing of the idea of the project with design samples and proposed content so as to assure the product is going in the right direction.  This portion may be bid to a third party marketing facilitator.

• Backend Development. This stage will include the development, design and installation of such components such as the
  • search tool structure;
  • consumer and business portal system;
  • administrative tool; and
  • database administration/server-side setup.

• Testing/Quality and Assurance.  The site must meet rigorous testing requirements so as to assure a superior user experience.  Most instances of error should be resolved at this juncture.

• Implementation and Deployment. This stage will include a “soft” launch with full implementation of all components staged one-by-one and full deployment as the final step.  This stage to overlap heavily with Q & A testing.

• Marketing Plan. The marketing plan must include a competition analysis and marketing strategy that calls for the implementation of robust promotions to assure exposure, search engine rankings and overall interest.

• Operations. The product itself will need staff and consultants to insure
  • ongoing developer maintenance and feature enhancement;
  • server-side/IT support;
  • legal advisement; and
  • marketing and branding efforts.

Phase/Description	Month 1	Month 2	Month 3	Month 4	Month 5	Month 6	Month 7	Month 8	Month 9	Month 10	Month 11	Month 12
Legal Analysis
Data Collection/Identify Target Audience
Content Inventory
Content Development/SEO
Wireframe/Architecture
Frontend Design
User/focus group testing
Backend Development
Testing/Quality and Assurance
Implementation and Deployment
Marketing Plan

Budget

Proposed Startup Budget $150,000

Startup up Budget Breakdown:
Legal	$10,000
Marketing & Media	$30,000
Data/List	$10,000
Web Designer and Information Architect	$25,000
Web Developer	$25,000
Database Administrator	$25,000
Server/Domain	$10,000
Various Administrative Costs	$5,000
Total	$140,00

Design Comp-Home Page

Below is a preliminary sketch of what the home page may look like, but much of the design will be done after a full content inventory of the site.  The theme is a cross between feminine and male colors and aesthetics, although predominantly feminine.  The site begins with the search positioned prominently where the user can easily find it.  The word “interests” would lead to a short drop-down of a clickable list of items to include the search in like restaurants, beauty etc.  Below that the main image would be a rotating slide show of highlighted items with the small bullets on the left leading the user to each story, but if nothing was chosen then the slides would move with the teaser copy changing to fit the story.  The rest of the site is filled with log in options to the upper left; a blog that is updated weekly; beauty deals and other highlights, making the site very interchangeable with a lot of room to customize as it grows.

IMA 501-Project Thesis

Abstract

Small Business–Integrated Strategic Marketing Firm

My dream project is to start a Long Island based, integrated strategic marketing firm that is designed to meet the needs of small business.  A firm that is focused on generating customer profits on a monthly and weekly basis by combining traditional marketing services with the development of multimedia marketing tools.

As a professional graphic designer on Long Island I find that I am constantly approached about doing work for small businesses.  Most of the time the clients are looking for what they think is a simple business card, letterhead, direct mail advertisement or even a simple website with just a few pages of information and content.  As soon as you get started with the project everything starts mushrooming into “what can we do bigger and better?”  As soon as there is a fresh prospective given on a small business’ advertising, web presence or even just printed collaterals, all of a sudden they want more– but how?  How does a small business integrate the marketing tools of branding, Web advertising, search engine optimization, targeted direct marketing collaterals, mobile applications, e-commerce, public relations and get it all done on the budget of a small business?  Even with a budget, how does a small business get this done on their budget, that can’t compete with mid-sized to large business, and get the right help from a marketing firm to lead them in the right direction?

A small business owner can definitely visit the NY Times section on “Small Business” and find all sorts of great stuff.  Why not?  Visit the link “The Help Is Free, and It’s a Click Away,” under the section “Tool Kit.”  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/business/smallbusiness/09toolkit.html?_r=1&ref=smallbusiness)

How easy is this?  A huge list of sites that offer more sites that offer all sorts of free advice on managing a small business, using free forms, how to create a business plan (by copying another company’s—great idea!) and detailed research and data on the US Government’s Small Business Administration Web site, http://sba.gov.  Good luck with that one.  All the while, the muffins are burning, the new waitress walked out the front door, your seamstress needs a new sewing machine since she caught the spool one more time and there’s no fixing it now, the payroll management company confused the social security numbers again of the new employees you hired, the health department just walked in, the airline you booked a group of 50 seniors with on a trip to Madagascar has gone on strike…anything else?

With all the talk of small business right now I think that this service is more needed than ever before—especially on Long Island.   Small business is what fuels our economy at the core.  Yes, big-box companies are here to stay and global conglomerates are growing ever more powerful as well, but in the end it is the small business that creates jobs, move goods, and creates true opportunity for competition.  The way small business is counted in our economy is complex and who is a small business is argued all the time and what exactly they offer to the economy is hard to quantify, but small business cannot be ignored.  In addition small business has been hit so hard by financing obstacles in the recession that even without a business plan that is better than perfect, many are being refused capital investing at every door.

Unfortunately right now in our area there are very few if none at all, boutique-like, all-inclusive, “advertising firms,” that can deliver what a small business needs in the way of integrated marketing so the client can get the most value for her dollar.  On a  Google search of “integrated strategic  marketing, ‘long island’”  a few examples did pop up:

• Luce creative: http://www.lucecreative.com/home.htm —
• JSM Concepts: http://www.mozmal.com/index.html
• PMG Group: http://www.pmgstrategic.net/news.php?news_id=72
• AMH&E: http://www.amhe.com/

I leave you to your own opinion about these service providers and the quality of their websites and their self-promotion.

What if one was created—a firm that was a small business specialist?  We have firms that are specialists for all sorts of clients but really only big budget institutional clients, $5 million plus.  Lets talk advertising and marketing budgets of anywhere from $5 thousand to $2 million.   American Express has done a great job in cornering this market with small business financial credit and cash flow management.  I want to do the same with an on-line and still personal, strategic marketing firm for small business.  A firm that still offers the hand holding guidance and expertise that a large firm would offer.

A keyword search on Google retrieves companies selling small businesses books to do-it-yourself, take a seminar to learn to write your own strategic plan and many more tools that the small business owner is expected to learn and master to compete strategically.  There is basically a lot of stuff to buy, a lot of blogs to follow, a lot of seven step books to read, but no real personal touch.   Take this article titled “10 Things You Should Have Done to Make Your Google Business Listing Great” (http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/12/10-things-you-should-have-done-to-make-your-google-business-listing-great.html).  Another article of what the small business owner did wrong and of course how they should do it better.

Most strategic marketing companies serve only as consultants, providing expensive research based data of what should be done and then, of course for a large fee, provide the plan to do so.  Rarely does a consultant firm offer all the services to get it done.  Ultimately plans fall to the wayside by small business owners for the simple reason that they are too busy managing their business on an everyday level.  My argument is that the research is there.  Its been done a thousand times in most cases.  The idea is to use a business’ budget that will best serve itself.  Does research exist for the business?  If so then use it.  Is the business truly unique (very rare), if so maybe research is necessary but how can we maximize the budget by interpreting data that is pertinent to each individual company?  The basics of marketing will always apply, now it is time to use technology to competitively be involved in marketing.

---

Artist Statement

 

My Thesis will consist of a business plan to build an integrated strategic marketing firm that caters to the needs of small business.  The firm would provide research based planning, visualization, communications, integration of all marketing media and in the end make sure all points are deployed to completion.

A few sites that I would like to model from include:

R2i: http://www.r2integrated.com

Love R21 copy writing and they have great imagery.  This is a Manhattan based firm that has some pretty big clients but their language and feel may be too uninviting or off-putting for the a small business owner.  They just look too expensive and their terminology is marketing–professional oriented.  Not to say this is at all a bad thing. I want to do just this, on a level that small business owners can take in, digest and see the application potential in their own small business.

Boston College: http://www.bu.edu

I just love their Web site.  It is so clean and the use of motion is fluid and fun.  The site does not have anything too extreme but just enough to provide for some interest and the information areas are clearly defined.

Open: http://www.open-comms.com

Great Design, very clean and focused but the copy writing may be too vague for the small business owner.  You almost don’t really know what this company can do for you as their copy is very ambiguous and their actual services appear to be unclear.

Oyster Design: http://www.oysterdesign.co.uk

This a beautiful Web site—interactive but easy and not too much fuss.  In addition they use great copywriting, very friendly and to the point.  The company offers web and print design, no real marketing but regardless they offer their services in an easy to understand manner with a full description of services.

Webspeak Design Studio: http://www.webspeakmedia.com

A really nice Web site that shows the company’s work up front as rotating images that are clickable.  I like the idea of laying it on the line like that and not asking the user to look to find your clients or portfolio or case study.  But what they do is separate print from web from SEO.  Why not combine the options as packages?

---

Flowchart/Site Architecture

 

Download the PDF: FLORATOS_501_architecture

---

Web site comps

 

Index Page:  This is the “home” page of the site for Four Corners Marketing.  The page would give a brief description of what the company offers  The page has many calls to action for the user.  Rather than lengthy text there are actual interactive modules and the words chosen induce activity by their mere meaning: “get started,” “explore,” “find out.”  I have also added a client profile, to give the whole concept a human touch.  In business, people respond best to other people—and a client profile is the best way to showcase what has happened and what could happen for the user.

The main image on the page is another interactive feature where the radial dials change when clicked on to give some more marketing insight and info about the company, but just small snippets of info, not long papers.

Services:

This page of the site will give background on the services offered and of course the rational for each.  The idea here is not the use of one service but how the services would be combined to make an overall strategy.  In addition there is an opportunity to start educating the user about marketing terminology and how it affects the smallest of businesses.

---

Production statement
What technologies will you use and why?

 

• HTML/XML based Web design: For production of the Web site for Fourcorners.com the most obvious would be HTML/XML based Web design, along with the use of Java scripting rather than flash (better SEO).  CSS as well to ensure continuity.
• Social Media: The use of social media tools to keep in touch with prospective and current clients will be integral.  RSS would be used to feed across to all platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
• CMS: There would be a CMS developed for this site so it may be updated from anywhere at anytime by any players of the company who are approved to do so.
• Portal/Document Management System: I like oracle based products but may prove too costly.  I do envision a system that allows clients to log in and see the status of projects, post messages and download documents.  Not sure what product wold be used or if this would be custom based.
• Mobil App: The use of a mobile app may proof very efficient for clients to be able to access their portal and find their documents and messaging in a customized manner.

---

Production Timeline— fourcorners.com Web site (does not include CMS or Portal Development)

 

---

Production Budget

 

---

Development Team Duties (this is my dream project right?)

 

• Project Manager—Administrator who oversees the project in its entirety and keeps the players on target, message, and most importantly on budget.
• Web/Graphic Designer—Responsible for the design concepts and overall feel and look.
• Web Developer—Responsibilities will include all Web applications, forms, database calls, .php programming, etc.
• Strategist/Information Architect—Administrator responsible to manage research data and create site/company navigation and internal information architecture.
• Writer—Copywritng, copyediting
• Interactive/Internet Media Technologist—Development of interactive media and also
• IT/Programming Specialist—Hands on office person who handles the computing and also some programming.
• Social Media Specialist—Responsible for starting and maintaining social media strategy.

---

Marketing Plan

 

The plan of course would be strategic.  As the company itself is a small business the principles would apply—print, web, social media, e-mail and interactive.

---

IMA 501 Paper#1

Recently Daniel Lyons, currently a senior editor and columnist for Newsweek magazine and previously a columnist for Forbes magazine, posted a blog titled, “Don’t Bail Out Newspapers–Let Them Die and Get Out of the Way”, wishing traditional newspapers a swift and expeditious death.  Lyons comments that newspapers in general are poor sources of information where journalism no longer lives.  He argues that we need to let the process take its course and honor the DNR that the industry has unknowingly yet ultimately signed by not keeping up with technology and trends in the field.  With all that has been in the news of late regarding the fate of the newspaper industry, what Lyons suggests in the post is not entirely unthinkable.  We know its true, the demise has been well documented, but what was most amazing was the reaction of those who posted comments in response to Lyons’ blog.  Some told him to go the same way; that he was wrong; his facts were not true; that most would prefer a real paper in their hands so they could throw out his junk article and poor reporting themselves.

Perhaps this preoccupation with the archaic newspaper is best characterized in the New York Times Magazine article in August 2009, “What’s a Big City Without a Newspaper?.”  The article tells of the death march that the city of Philadelphia’s newspapers are currently treading along on.  We hear the stories that are reverberated in most cities that are feeling the same, whether its Boston, San Francisco or Denver.  We hear of how corruption was exposed on its covers, mobster crime rings revealed in its pages and political indiscretions uncloaked in its headlines.  The hometown newspaper.  Regardless of what city one is from, or what newspaper one associates as your hometown newspaper, most anyone can quote headlines from specific days that marked world changing events from pearl harbor to 9/11 and even more recently (a personal favorite from the NY Post, “Ike Beats Tina to Death”).  Perhaps the newspaper represents the last tie we have to the world without the Internet.  But ah, there is that proverbial four-letter word, the Internet.

Where did the newspaper industry go wrong?  What could have been different that would have altered the path it went down?  In a telling Washington Post column titled “The Death of Print”, May 2009, the writer points out how newspaper media simply missed the boat.   Revenue is down due to sites like Craig’s list and competition is fierce in the electronic world of news media, blogs, social networking and not to mention search engines like Google that find you everything you need form newspapers all over the world for free.  Despite all this, the circulation of newspapers in electronic web form is at its highest ever.  So there is some hope.  A mere glimmer maybe, but still a possibility of resuscitation.  Get the paddles…

Enter new technology.  Flexible, durable, electronic paper. Is this the answer? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0znv3V-GsNk

With flexible, light weight displays, e-paper and readers like Plastic Logic is developing as seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaQHDxOxVhs,

there are many possibilities for the newspaper.  Perhaps a rolled up electronic paper version through which a new issue is distributed everyday or every hour or every minute, what ever your preference is.  Where archives can be sorted through and full access can be given for a small fee, no advertisements needed.

manufacturing has already begun.  Between Plastic Logic and other companies like Phillips making “E-Paper” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeaT62OMi8M,

or the research being done at Arizona State University at their Flexible Display Center: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yrNhRnp0Dk

But above all else, shame on the newspaper industry.  This may seem like new technology but in actuality its old.  Wired magazine reported almost ten years ago that “Flexible E-Paper is on its Way” (May 203).

The newspaper has only gone the way it has due to fear, ignorance and egotism.  Instead of recognizing where we could have gone with technology, we sit lamenting how yet another piece of culture is being ripped a part by the wolves and left for the vultures to feast on.  With growing technology news can be fashioned to meet everyone’s desires in the future and better yet, a price can be put on it.  This might even sell the Warrens Buffets of the world.  Intriguing enough is our human obsession with the tangible.  Despite all that is new and intangible, the most advanced ideas still hold a tangible mixed in.  Take for instance the video of a Nokia demo product for the future.  It involves Nokia’s current work with nanotechnology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdZ_VOdojsM

The demo product is another version of the “Morph”.  A malleable electronic product that can morph into different shapes, is touch sensitive, and delivers information to the user through the use of nanotechnology.  Despite all this, the character in the video is heading to a bookshop and is later seen reading a real, hardcover book.  What would one need one of those for?

Death of News Print Media (real or not)

I am specifically interested in the future of newspapers and most printed publications.  Additionally I am intrigued that television and most media  giants are not doing as well as we think they are.  Why?

What does the future hold for newspapers and magazines? How can alternate sources of revenue be found and still provide the basic service of news reporting?  How can we assure that investigative reporting will still thrive (although some argue its already gone).  How do emerging technologies in the multimedia arts fit in.  Below are a few articles I have read so far that I think pertain to the subject matter so far and comments on each.

Is the death of traditional reporting and news dissemination really dead or is it just in a holding pattern (perhaps for too long) and maybe this is just the retrograde motion we see until its comes out of the illusionary spin and find its new orbit?

What’s a Big City Without a Newspaper?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/magazine/09Newspaper-t.html?ref=magazine

This article discusses the imminent doom of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News.  The article reviews points made by the newspapers’ new owner that there are ways to Philly’s papers and newsprint media in general.

The Death of Print?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/11/AR2009051100782.html

The author of this blog/editorial argues some great points about why newsprint is in the situation its in, how it missed the boat on things like twitter and google.  Has that quote from warren Buffet, although he does own a lot of stock. Really interesting, Google and Post Co. partnering in discussions now…

Clay Shirky is Right: Newspapers’ Death is Journalism’s Loss

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-watson/clay-shirky-is-right-news_b_176260.html

10 Ugly truths about modern journalism

http://www.10000words.net/2009/09/10-ugly-truths-about-modern-journalism.html

Why everyone’s invited to the tenth birthday bash for Blogger

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/sep/13/tenth-birthday-blogger

Press freedom violations recounted in real time
http://www.rsf.org/Press-freedom-violations-recounted.html

Top Ten Underreported News Stories of 2008

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1690170_1692291,00.html