THE PARALLEL BETWEEN ONLINE BANKING AND THE MOBILE DEVICE
About 8 years ago I came up with what I called "Today's Marketing Model". The model essentially defined the website as the core of any organization's marketing strategy. All other media, newspaper, television, radio, direct mail, microsites, etc. drove traffic to a company's main website where there was a great opportunity to deliver rich content visitors.

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How can an IT service provider achieve FFIEC compliance? I was recently asked this question and my initial response was "the FFIEC is not a regulatory body therefore there is no such thing as FFIEC compliance." I was told there are companies marketing their products and services as FFIEC compliant so I decided to investigate the definition of FFIEC compliance.

 

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Several years ago, I had a concept to create a flash content management system that would allow the editing of dynamic Flash and Flex web content. At the time this was groundbreaking. No one had ever done it before; it was a golden opportunity. End users were still exploring the Internet. So, I founded a company that built these flash websites for the financial industry. We created viral websites with movement, subtle (and not so subtle) animations, and experiences uniquely branded to the clients we were serving.  The approach served our clients well for a time. But like all technology, things evolved.

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By 2012 it is projected that all cell phones on the market will be internet ready, and by 2015, the internet will be accessed more by smart phones than by traditional computers.

Mobile marketing is largely used to target Millennials and the technically savvy.

It is funny how we always look to age or household income to divide up our audience, but we can add a new segmentation: technology usage.

Both groups are looking for convenience and centralized communication. They value their mobile devices and use them religiously. These consumers text message frequently, browse the web, use mobile apps, and check their email through their coveted smartphone.

Brand is important to these users and those who appear technically sophisticated will be viewed as superior.

We get stuck when it comes too mobile marketing because we don’t know how to get started. We may think it is too expensive or that people will not use it.

First, realize that like social networking and the internet, mobile marketing is here to stay.

Perception is everything. Whether 50% of your members use it or 5%, what matters is that they know you offer it. Why? Because you want them to see you as being smart with technology. You want to attract new members looking for someone who fits their lifestyle and you want to say to the existing members that you understand their needs.

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A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The “QR” is derived from “Quick Response”, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. –Wikipedia

OK, so why use them?

Well that is simple – because it makes you look cool. Look, mobile banking, an iPhone compatible website, live chat may not be used by throngs of your customers but that is not always the point. Same thing with social media. What makes consumers feel comfortable with their service providers, especial in the financial industry, is the knowledge that you understand them.

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The VP of marketing at a credit union in Arizona recently posted this question on my Facebook page: "Is it normal to have a 90% bounce rate because everyone is going to online banking? I know you said 50% or lower, but I don't think there's a chance in hell. Do you have any tricks to lower it?"

Well, financial websites have a tough time. Not only do they typically break the rules of good website design, but most financial consumers don't trust their bankers. Couple that with the misguided approach of putting product before information, and you have a bounce rate much greater than the average for most websites.

To start, let's look at Wikipedia's definition of bounce rate: A bounce occurs when a web site visitor only views a single page on a website, that is, the visitor leaves a site without visiting any other pages before a specified session-timeout occurs. There is no industry-standard minimum or maximum time by which a visitor must leave in order for a bounce to occur. Rather, this is determined by the session timeout of the analytics tracking software.

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Recently, I had a potential client tell me that another website provider offered to "give" them their website on a disk if they ever decided to cancel their contract. Really? Give?

Sorry, but this is misleading. Unless they are providing a non proprietary, open source solution like we do the disk is worthless.

I am familiar with the company who made the empty offer. They use Flash and Flex content management system (CMS), both proprietary technologies. The CMS is the foundation websites are built on top of. In layman's terms the website and CMS are one. You can't have one without the other.

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If you do not understand what proprietary technology is, it is important for you to read this article.
First, let’s start with a simple definition courtesy of Wikipedia: The word "proprietary" indicates that a party, or proprietor, exercises private ownership, control or use over an item of property, usually to the exclusion of other parties.

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You can brand your organization in different ways. It is believed that in a consumer centric environment - if you take care of the member with products that best help them, and focus on quality service, the profit will follow. Precisely why so many businesses fail is they place profit ahead of the consumer's best interest.

 

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Digital Signage is all the craze. But, like most things, they only live up to the hype when properly executed.

Correct execution is part science and part common sense. Below is the guide to get you going in the right direction.

COMMUNICATE TO THE RIGHT AUDIENCE
Make sure the messaging on your internal signage communicates to the customer in the building. Getting caught-up in your global messages is easy to do but effective marketing is all about targeting a specific audience. If the average age of your visiting customer is 65+, then messaging about your iTunes checking account may not be the best use of the few seconds of attention they may give your LCD display.

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Many technology experts will tell you HTML5 may make plug-in-based rich Internet application (RIA) technologies such as Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and Sun JavaFX obsolete.

Why invest in technology such as Flash that even Steve Jobs' "i" products will never support.

I started a Flash development company nearly 6 years ago when the technology offered a unique user experience. For that time it was a solid rational. But the last project I sold for that company was a hybrid website. This is a website in which the core technology is HTML with flash graphics when animation is desired. Why did I recommend an approach counter to the technology the company started with - because times change. User behaviors and desires changed and it was the best solution for the client.

I am not saying that you should NEVER use Flash. Just don't base your entire web experience on it. Use it in moderation. And use it in ways that don't relay on that technology to function.

Technologies such as Flash and Silverlight as Hickson a Google employee will say are, "single-vendor solutions [and] they don't really fit well into the Web platform," Hickson in his comments went on to say, "It's always a problem when you're stuck with a single software provider -- what if they decide to abandon the product you're using? What if they decide to start charging? With an open platform, there's no such risk, since we have true competition, many vendors, and an open standard that anyone can implement."

if your provider comes to you and says they are going to start charging $4,000.00 annually for licensing and support. You are stuck with a decision: invest in a new website or pay the ransom. Imagine paying for something that you will never own. Imagine the vendor is not performing and no one other than them can support it. I could go on and on.

Have you noticed the technological trend away from proprietary technologies? The trend has been adopted by GOOGLE, Apple, IBM and many other technological trend setters. Linux is a hosting platform that is widely used and many say is more secure than the comparable licensed Microsoft products. Firefox is an open source browser and is the second most used in the world. HTML, JavaScript, XML and other programming languages are open source.

And if you are wondering why getting away from proprietary technologies is important, read my article, "Non-Proprietary Technology."

But is not just about open source technology. It is also about performance, flexibility and features.

HTML5 is being developed as the next major revision of HTML (HyperText Markup Language), the core language of the World Wide Web. HTML5 is the proposed next standard. It aims to reduce the need for proprietary plug-in-based technologies.

Now there is not a technologist out there who will dispute that HTML is the cornerstone technology of the internet. With the internet as the core delivery mechanism of today's marketing model - why not use it!

There is no better technology for Search Engine Optimization. There is no other web technology more supported by developers throughout the world.

"HTML5 features like Canvas, local storage, and Web Workers let us do more in the browser than ever before," says Ben Galbraith, also co-founder of the Ajaxian Web site and co-director of developer tools at Mozilla.

Ian Fette, project manager at Google for the Chrome browser says Web applications will become more fun, "They're going to be faster and they're just going to provide overall a better user experience and make the distinction between online apps and desktop apps blurred."

TheWEBcentric, is implementing the use of HTML5 as one way to deliver a consistent user experience to all the mobile devices that do not support Flash. Want an example: You Tube.

And the skeptics? Proprietary technologies whose success is based on licensing are afraid. "HTML5 is still a standard in progress and the makers of it say it will be five to ten years at least before it's done, so it's too early to make any comparisons at this time," a Microsoft spokesperson said in 2009. "Silverlight will still be necessary as it provides more advanced features -- such as a richer and faster programming model (C#), 3-D, and out-of-browser capabilities. With those features, Silverlight will ultimately provide a richer Internet experience."

Well, Microsoft caved. In the next version of Internet Explorer, IE9, will support HTML5.

HTML5 is already being widely used by major browsers today with the exception of IE. Nearly all web enabled mobile devices such as Apple products, the Blackberry, and the Droid support the new leading technology.

Through the increasing adoption of HTML5 and the increasing market share of Apple products among others who do not support Flash, the market trend for proprietary technologies is dwindling.

My bet is on the technology trend. Invest long term. Use technologies that are the foundation of the Internet. Don't invest in a technology that is no longer in vogue. Are you going to plan to be prepared? Invest wisely.

Quotes provided by Paul Krill for InfoWorld from the article HTML5: Could it kill Flash and Silverlight? The budding Web spec just might remove the need for proprietary rich Internet app add-ins

As marketers we are constantly striving to find ways to make the old tried and true marketing mediums of direct mail, advertising, and telemarketing more effective and to provide concrete evidence that they are truly effective. The Website has earned its place as the most powerful tool the marketer has it his disposal. Stop treating it like the ugly step child. Create one big blended marketing family. Commit to the total integration of the Web in your marketing strategy. Start with these simple steps.

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Web users are on a specific mission: to find answers or complete a task fast. Your content must quickly answer the same questions your elementary English teacher posted on the black board; how, where, when, why and who. But Web users do not like suspense or picking out information from cleverly written prose. Most will read only 18% of your content if they read it at all.

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