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<h6>3 MIN READ.</h6>
<p>That choice. Hire a specialist marketing agency or build your in-house team?</p>
<p>In this piece, I talk about the benefits of the two options and how you can have the best of both. We&#8217;ll also look at some recent stats for context.</p>
<h3>In-Housing</h3>
<p>Here are some of the advantages of having your own full-time in-house marketing team.</p>
<p><strong>Organisational know-how</strong></p>
<p>In-house marketing teams are dedicated exclusively to your brand or business, so naturally, they will know your products, services, and audience. Having this full-time knowledge and focus is key.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/trust-in-business-survey.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 survey by PwC</a> found that 77% of European consumers consider trust in a brand as a buying factor, highlighting the importance of maintaining consistency of message and communication. In-house marketing talent is key to this.</p>
<p><strong>Speed</strong></p>
<p>In-house teams are always available, allowing for immediate responses to changing market conditions or unexpected challenges. This can be particularly important in fast-paced industries where timely decision-making and execution are critical.</p>
<p><strong>Control and Alignment</strong></p>
<p>Having an in-house team gives you complete control over your marketing activities. You can directly oversee projects, ensuring they align with your company&#8217;s vision and values.</p>
<p>This control can be especially crucial when your marketing efforts involve sensitive information or require a high degree of customisation.</p>
<p><strong>Cost</strong></p>
<p>Cost is a factor, but it swings both ways and there is value with different options depending on your circumstances.</p>
<p>Unilever announced back in 2017 that it saved approximately 30% on its agency fees by taking some of its advertising in-house and reducing the remit of its agency teams.</p>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-6941 size-large" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/13-700x374.jpg" alt="In-Housing vs Agency" width="700" height="374" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/13-700x374.jpg 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/13-250x134.jpg 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/13-768x410.jpg 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/13-120x64.jpg 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/13-80x43.jpg 80w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/13.jpg 1900w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
<h3>Agency Benefits</h3>
<p>Here, are some of the main advantages of partnering with an agency team.</p>
<p><strong>Expertise and Ideas</strong></p>
<p>Marketing agencies are often home to a team of specialised professionals with diverse skills. This breadth of expertise lets them stay updated with the latest marketing trends, strategies, and technologies.</p>
<p>For instance, in the European context, a survey conducted by the Digital Marketing Institute in 2021 found that 70% of marketers believed that keeping up with digital marketing trends was the biggest challenge they faced.</p>
<p>Marketing agencies can alleviate this concern by providing a pool of experts who specialise in various aspects of marketing, from SEO and content marketing to social media advertising.</p>
<p><strong>Cost Efficiency</strong></p>
<p>Hiring and training an in-house marketing team can be a significant investment, especially for small to medium-sized businesses.</p>
<p>In contrast, partnering with a marketing agency allows you to access a team of experts without the expense of hiring and retaining full-time employees.</p>
<p>This can be particularly advantageous for businesses with limited budgets.</p>
<p><strong>Scalability and Flexibility</strong></p>
<p>One of the key benefits of using a marketing agency is scalability. Agencies can easily adjust their resources to meet your changing needs.</p>
<p>Whether you&#8217;re launching a new product, entering a new market, or need to ramp up activity during a specific period, agencies offer flexibility without the commitment and risk of hiring.</p>
<p><strong>HR</strong></p>
<p>If you are a small company with a small team, there’s a limit to what you can accomplish because of the limited skill sets. For this reason, in-housing can be quite challenging.</p>
<p>Big businesses, on the other hand, have the human resource capacity to handle significant marketing activities.</p>
<p>However, after reviewing various agency prices, some large companies may prefer to cut costs by hiring an agency to handle their marketing.</p>
<p>Should they decide to stick with an in-house marketing team, managing a large team can become a challenge of its own.</p>
<p>With a huge internal marketing team, company leaders have to break silos for easy management. This could slow down communication.</p>
<h3><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-8355 size-large" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Ab17-700x374.jpg" alt="marketing stairs" width="700" height="374" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Ab17-700x374.jpg 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Ab17-250x134.jpg 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Ab17-768x410.jpg 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Ab17-120x64.jpg 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Ab17-80x43.jpg 80w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Ab17.jpg 1900w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /></h3>
<p>Ultimately, the decision between using an agency and building an in-house team depends on your specific needs and circumstances.</p>
<p>We would say it, but the expertise, cost-efficiency, and scalability offered by agencies are important to the success of your <a href="https://www.friday.ie/expertise/strategy/">marketing strategy</a>. However, the in-depth knowledge, immediate availability, and control you get from your in-house team are equally important.</p>
<h3>The Hybrid Approach</h3>
<p>The hybrid approach, where in-house talent and agency support combine, strikes a perfect balance.</p>
<p>By leveraging the strengths of both teams, you can maximise impact.</p>
<p><strong>Advantages of a Hybrid approach</strong></p>
<p>In Bannerflow&#8217;s most recent published in-housing report, <a href="https://www.bannerflow.com/the-state-of-in-housing-2021-report">30% of respondents said that they had chosen a hybrid model</a>.</p>
<p>Building a strong partnership between an agency and a company&#8217;s in-house marketing team gives the best of both worlds and has the potential to transform an organisation into a marketing powerhouse.</p>
<p>Hybrid benefits include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Data-driven decision-making without providing external parties access to a company&#8217;s sensitive consumer data.</li>
<li>Access to industry experts without the need to persuade them to become permanent employees of your company.</li>
<li>Benefiting from top-tier agency marketing tools and insights that might not otherwise be in reach.</li>
<li>With both in-house and external perspectives the collaboration processes make for a better strategy.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Thanks for reading.</p>
<p>If you are unsure about how to build your digital marketing or UX design team, <a href="https://www.friday.ie/contact/">get in touch with Friday</a>. We won&#8217;t bite you. I swear.</p>
<p><em>Also, we are currently working on a short survey for brand and marketing leads, product owners and senior people involved in marketing. If you would like to be involved in the survey, get in touch with me before the end of October 2023.</em></p>


Marketing Teams – In-House, Agency and the power of Hybrid

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<p><em>When demand slows, many digital leaders instinctively increase or tighten marketing spend, or ramp up activity. While this may be necessary, it&#8217;s important to look at your particular situation carefully before making radical changes to your strategy.</em></p>
<p>Market conditions are very different to those we all operated in 12 months ago.</p>
<p>Yet despite global uncertainty, the Irish economy is expected to grow by 3.8% in 2023 and 3.9% in 2024.</p>
<p>On the back of a 20% increase in digital advertising spend in 2021, digital channels (video, display) represented almost 70% of all Irish digital advertising spend in 2022, so our view remains positive.</p>
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<p>Consumer behaviour changes faster than businesses can keep up. If you need to make a change to your marketing strategy, before you do something mental, you should consider some of these questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Are there assumptions behind your offering to customers that should be adjusted or validated?</li>
<li>Do you have an up-to-date understanding of customer intent?</li>
<li>Are there gaps or new opportunities that you could take advantage of?</li>
<li>Are there actions that you could take in the short term to improve conversion?</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h5><strong><em>&#8220;Just because economic winds may be uncertain, it does not mean you cannot grow business.&#8221;</em></strong></h5>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>Where should you focus?</strong></h3>
<p>Your focus will depend on what you sell and the markets you operate in, but the first step is to benchmark and assess your current situation.</p>
<p>Here are three areas I recommend looking at:</p>
<h4><strong>Your Customers</strong></h4>
<p>What is it in your toolbox that you do best and gives you a <em><strong>competitive advantage</strong></em>?</p>
<p>If you understand who your best customers are and their needs, you can focus this advantage on them to increase their loyalty to retain and grow their business.</p>
<p>Tip: <em><em>Try usability testing on your website or app. Simple surveys with intelligent questions focussed on customer needs. You will always learn something new that you can use to improve your strategy. </em></em></p>
<h4><strong>Data</strong></h4>
<p>Adopt a data-driven mindset, and actively work with quantitative and qualitative behavioural data about your customers and audiences. When you do this, you can test and adjust the approach to your user experience and content.</p>
<p>Tip: <em><em>Universal Google Analytics will stop tracking data on 1 July 2023. You should install and configure the new Google Analytics 4 now on all of your digital platforms.</em></em></p>
<h4><strong>Marketing</strong></h4>
<p>Focus on your highest-value acquisition channels.</p>
<p>Some marketing channels will have a higher return, and when you focus here and improve your conversion rate it will have a compounding effect on your numbers.</p>
<p>You should at all times have a clear picture of the impact all your marketing efforts have on your performance. We call this simply ‘money in, money out’. Know where spend is having the greatest impact and why.</p>
<p>Tip: <em><em>ChatGPT is exciting but it is unlikely to ever create content suitable for SEO.</em></em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_14333" style="width: 984px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-14333" class=" wp-image-14333" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/look-at-the-data-250x151.jpg" alt="Look at the data" width="974" height="588" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/look-at-the-data-250x151.jpg 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/look-at-the-data-700x422.jpg 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/look-at-the-data-768x463.jpg 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/look-at-the-data-120x72.jpg 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/look-at-the-data.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 974px) 100vw, 974px" /><p id="caption-attachment-14333" class="wp-caption-text"><strong><em>&#8220;What if, and I know this sounds a bit kooky, we looked closer at our data?!&#8221;</em></strong></p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<p>There are two activities I recommend that will help to focus and optimise your digital strategy for growth:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Digital Benchmark </strong><br />
Benchmark reporting is one of our most powerful tools. It uses a combination of audience research, deep-dive analytics and competitor analysis to give a clear data-driven view of where you sit amongst your competitors in terms of visibility, market position, social and content. You will understand areas to improve, new opportunities to target and the places you should focus on to retain and grow business.</li>
<li><strong>User Experience Audit </strong><br />
A UX audit or review of your website or app will identify performance, conversion and technical issues. It will uncover issues that can be addressed in the short and medium term. By making small adjustments we have seen conversion rate increases of up to 40%.</li>
</ul>
<h3><strong><br />
The Friday Method</strong></h3>
<p>It should be obvious, but as an agency, we follow the advice we share, particularly when it comes to understanding our customers’ needs.</p>
<p>Of course, they want to see we have the skills, experience, and creativity to deliver growth. And our rare ability to deliver results across demand generation to user experience and conversion gives our customers a distinct advantage.</p>
<p>But more than this, we have learned that on a human level, our own customers also want to be understood, to be supported, and to get a level of service that shows we are invested and committed to their success.</p>
<p>So, just because economic winds may be uncertain, with some smarter focus on your customers, you can maximise your growth.</p>
</div>
<p>Thanks for reading.</p>
</div>
<p>Sources:</p>
<ul>
<li>The <a href="https://www.esri.ie/publications/quarterly-economic-commentary-spring-2023">ESRI Quarterly Economic Commentary</a>, March 29th 2023.</li>
<li><a href="https://iapi.ie/blog/default/magna-advertising-forecasts-december-2022-update">Magna Advertising Forecast (IAPI)</a>, December 2022.</li>
</ul>
<p>Also, McKinsey&#8217;s <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-ten-rules-of-growth">The 10 Rules on Growth</a> is very good. August 2022 (read or listen).</p>
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Maximising Growth in Uncertain Times

<h4>Whether you run a business that has an app or website that is either core to, or part of the sales process you will want to keep a close eye on the conversion rate on an ongoing basis. Is the software, content and interface doing its job? Can users find the content and functions they need and are they converting? How can it be improved?</h4>
<p>It may be that you don’t know if your website or app needs minor updates or a major redesign, best not to make assumptions around this as it can be costly. There’s no such thing as a perfect user experience, there’s always room for improvement and discovering where the improvements can be made is where a UX audit can be invaluable.</p>
<p>Research carried out by Forester in 2017 shows that, on average, every €1 invested in UX brings €100 in return. They also found that a well-designed user interface could raise your website’s conversion rate by up to a 200%, and better UX design could increase conversion rates up to 400%.</p>
<h3>The Process of a UX Audit</h3>
<p>A UX audit will go through a series of steps that will help uncover any usability issues. This will provide actionable recommendations that will help eliminate any issues and improve the overall user experience and conversion rate. The process of a UX audit will vary depending on the goals, budget and time allotted. This could range from a day or two to several weeks. During a UX audit, the auditor uses a variety of tools, research methods and metrics to find out where the software is or is not working. The most effective UX audit would include quantitative and qualitative research that involves users, this would include usability testing, interviews or surveys.</p>
<p>As part of a UX audit, a UX professional would usually carry out what is known as a heuristic evaluation of the software. User experience pioneers Jakob Nielsen and Rolf Molich published an article in the early 1990’s which contained a set of principles, or heuristics, that industry specialists soon began to adopt as a benchmark to systematically determine the usability of an interface. In the absence of enough time or budget for user research, a heuristic evaluation may be central to the audit process.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design</h3>
<p>As experts, we go through a checklist of criteria to find flaws and areas that can be improved based on the following principles.</p>
<h4>#1: Visibility of system status</h4>
<p>The design should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within a reasonable amount of time.</p>
<div id="attachment_12374" style="width: 799px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12374" class="wp-image-12374 size-full" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image.png" alt="" width="789" height="272" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image.png 789w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-250x86.png 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-700x241.png 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-768x265.png 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-120x41.png 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-80x28.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 789px) 100vw, 789px" /><p id="caption-attachment-12374" class="wp-caption-text">A progress bar tells the user something is happening and indicates how long it might take. This builds trust and patients.</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>#2: Match between system and the real world</h4>
<p>The design should speak the users’ language. Use words, phrases, and concepts familiar to the user, rather than internal jargon. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.</p>
<div id="attachment_12381" style="width: 1404px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12381" class="wp-image-12381 size-full" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/cal.png" alt="" width="1394" height="896" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/cal.png 1394w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/cal-250x161.png 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/cal-700x450.png 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/cal-768x494.png 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/cal-120x77.png 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/cal-80x51.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1394px) 100vw, 1394px" /><p id="caption-attachment-12381" class="wp-caption-text">Familiarity with something in the real world, the Mac calculator is not too far from the old Casio model we all used in school.</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>#3: User control and freedom</h4>
<p>Users often perform actions by mistake. They need a clearly marked “emergency exit” to leave the unwanted action without having to go through an extended process, a bit like the undo command that is common on a PC.</p>
<div id="attachment_12387" style="width: 1312px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12387" class="wp-image-12387 size-full" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/undo.png" alt="" width="1302" height="699" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/undo.png 1302w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/undo-250x134.png 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/undo-700x376.png 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/undo-768x412.png 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/undo-120x64.png 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/undo-80x43.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1302px) 100vw, 1302px" /><p id="caption-attachment-12387" class="wp-caption-text">The undo feature Google added in Gmail gives the user 5 seconds to stop an email from sending (after they press send), might come in handy!</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>#4: Consistency and standards</h4>
<p>Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform and industry conventions and reduce learning.</p>
<div id="attachment_12382" style="width: 1209px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12382" class="wp-image-12382 size-full" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/jakobs-law-utility-nav.jpg" alt="" width="1199" height="525" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/jakobs-law-utility-nav.jpg 1199w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/jakobs-law-utility-nav-250x109.jpg 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/jakobs-law-utility-nav-700x307.jpg 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/jakobs-law-utility-nav-768x336.jpg 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/jakobs-law-utility-nav-120x53.jpg 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/jakobs-law-utility-nav-80x35.jpg 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1199px) 100vw, 1199px" /><p id="caption-attachment-12382" class="wp-caption-text">Don’t reinvent the wheel, users will find familiar interfaces that follow convention much easier to use.</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>#5: Error prevention</h4>
<p>Good error messages are important, but the best designs carefully prevent problems from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions, or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.</p>
<div id="attachment_12378" style="width: 3407px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12378" class="wp-image-12378 size-full" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5ccb5076df86e7441a9f761b_modal.png" alt="" width="3397" height="1704" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5ccb5076df86e7441a9f761b_modal.png 3397w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5ccb5076df86e7441a9f761b_modal-250x125.png 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5ccb5076df86e7441a9f761b_modal-700x351.png 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5ccb5076df86e7441a9f761b_modal-768x385.png 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5ccb5076df86e7441a9f761b_modal-1536x770.png 1536w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5ccb5076df86e7441a9f761b_modal-2048x1027.png 2048w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5ccb5076df86e7441a9f761b_modal-120x60.png 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5ccb5076df86e7441a9f761b_modal-80x40.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 3397px) 100vw, 3397px" /><p id="caption-attachment-12378" class="wp-caption-text">Users need to fully understand the outcome of their actions.</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>#6: Recognition rather than recall</h4>
<p>Minimise the user’s memory load by making elements, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the interface to another. Information required to use the design (e.g. field labels or menu items) should be visible or easily retrievable when needed.</p>
<div id="attachment_12384" style="width: 2654px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12384" class="wp-image-12384 size-full" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot-2021-07-28-at-09.37.08.png" alt="" width="2644" height="1468" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot-2021-07-28-at-09.37.08.png 2644w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot-2021-07-28-at-09.37.08-250x139.png 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot-2021-07-28-at-09.37.08-700x389.png 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot-2021-07-28-at-09.37.08-768x426.png 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot-2021-07-28-at-09.37.08-1536x853.png 1536w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot-2021-07-28-at-09.37.08-2048x1137.png 2048w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot-2021-07-28-at-09.37.08-120x67.png 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot-2021-07-28-at-09.37.08-80x44.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 2644px) 100vw, 2644px" /><p id="caption-attachment-12384" class="wp-caption-text">In Phtoshop, Adobe present the users with a list of recently worked on files, this helps the user from having to go rooting for them.</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>#7: Flexibility and efficiency of use</h4>
<p>Shortcuts — hidden from novice users — may speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the design can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.</p>
<div id="attachment_12379" style="width: 1210px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12379" class="wp-image-12379 size-full" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/130870-phones-feature-what-is-apple-pay-and-how-does-it-work-image1-qjaxkx6zrb.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/130870-phones-feature-what-is-apple-pay-and-how-does-it-work-image1-qjaxkx6zrb.jpg 1200w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/130870-phones-feature-what-is-apple-pay-and-how-does-it-work-image1-qjaxkx6zrb-250x167.jpg 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/130870-phones-feature-what-is-apple-pay-and-how-does-it-work-image1-qjaxkx6zrb-700x467.jpg 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/130870-phones-feature-what-is-apple-pay-and-how-does-it-work-image1-qjaxkx6zrb-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/130870-phones-feature-what-is-apple-pay-and-how-does-it-work-image1-qjaxkx6zrb-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/130870-phones-feature-what-is-apple-pay-and-how-does-it-work-image1-qjaxkx6zrb-80x53.jpg 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><p id="caption-attachment-12379" class="wp-caption-text">Payment applications like ApplePay and Google Pay help users quickly pay for something online without having to enter their payment and personal details again and again.</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>#8: Aesthetic and minimalist design</h4>
<p>Interfaces should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in an interface competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.</p>
<div id="attachment_12380" style="width: 2040px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12380" class="wp-image-12380 size-full" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Busy.png" alt="" width="2030" height="1035" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Busy.png 2030w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Busy-250x127.png 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Busy-700x357.png 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Busy-768x392.png 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Busy-1536x783.png 1536w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Busy-120x61.png 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Busy-80x41.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 2030px) 100vw, 2030px" /><p id="caption-attachment-12380" class="wp-caption-text">Less is more. Users like consuming information at a glance. Clean design minimalist design helps with this.</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>#9: Help users recognise, diagnose, and recover from errors</h4>
<p>Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no error codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.</p>
<div id="attachment_12386" style="width: 1210px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12386" class="wp-image-12386 size-full" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/twitter_Eg3hXdQWoAI0Dgq.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="675" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/twitter_Eg3hXdQWoAI0Dgq.jpg 1200w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/twitter_Eg3hXdQWoAI0Dgq-250x141.jpg 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/twitter_Eg3hXdQWoAI0Dgq-700x394.jpg 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/twitter_Eg3hXdQWoAI0Dgq-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/twitter_Eg3hXdQWoAI0Dgq-120x68.jpg 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/twitter_Eg3hXdQWoAI0Dgq-80x45.jpg 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><p id="caption-attachment-12386" class="wp-caption-text">Help users solve a problem, give them as much informartion as posisble without technical jargon.</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>#10: Help and documentation</h4>
<p>It’s best if the system doesn’t need any additional explanation. However, it may be necessary to provide documentation to help users understand how to complete their tasks.</p>
<div id="attachment_12383" style="width: 1608px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12383" class="wp-image-12383 size-full" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/monday.png" alt="" width="1598" height="989" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/monday.png 1598w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/monday-250x155.png 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/monday-700x433.png 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/monday-768x475.png 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/monday-1536x951.png 1536w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/monday-120x74.png 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/monday-80x50.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1598px) 100vw, 1598px" /><p id="caption-attachment-12383" class="wp-caption-text">A smart, predictive search can help users find answers to their questions quickly.</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>The Output of a UX Audit</h3>
<p>A UX audit should also take into account the content, layout and the user flow through the interface and uncover any blocks or hurdles that users may have to get past in order to complete a task.<br />
There is no universal format for a UX audit report, each one is tailored to the process employed for the project. It may consists of some or all of the following.</p>
<ul>
<li>Usability review / heuristic evaluation</li>
<li>Information architecture review</li>
<li>Data analytics</li>
<li>Revised User flows</li>
<li>Review of language, clarity, and Calls to action</li>
<li>Conversion optimisation</li>
<li>Content review</li>
<li>Visual design review</li>
<li>Suggested updates mapped out in a priority matrix</li>
</ul>
<p>At the end of a UX audit, you should receive a comprehensive report with clear and actionable recommendations and advice. The key suggestions from this audit can be mapped out in a priority matrix that will identify the quick wins or low hanging fruit that will have the highest impact on UX with lowest amount of design or development effort — we start from there and work our way through the findings to maximise ROI as quickly as possible.</p>
<div id="attachment_12391" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12391" class="wp-image-12391 size-full" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1.png" alt="" width="1000" height="800" srcset="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1.png 1000w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1-250x200.png 250w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1-700x560.png 700w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1-768x614.png 768w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1-120x96.png 120w, https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1-80x64.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><p id="caption-attachment-12391" class="wp-caption-text">Priority Matrix</p></div>
<p>A UX audit is an essential process for any software product, app or website. A well-executed review will help businesses fix problems quickly, improve retention and boost conversions.</p>
<h4><strong>Interested in running a UX audit on your app or website?</strong></h4>
<p>Please, get in touch to see how we can help.</p>


What is a User Experience Audit and how is it Useful?

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<h4 id="66c8" class="graf graf--h4 graf-after--figure">Without research, there is no UX</h4>
<p class="graf graf--h4 graf-after--figure">Design is a solution based around an interpretation of a problem. Before design work begins we must identify, define and validate the problems that need to be solved. Problems that are highlighted to a designer are often from the clients own perspective and may not always reflect the end users views.</p>
<p class="graf graf--h4 graf-after--figure">In other cases, the designer will interpret a problem, but this is only their own point of view and may not match the users&#8217; feelings. Clients and designers, regardless of their viewpoint or experience do not have assumed empathy with users.</p>
<h4 id="59ed" class="graf graf--h4 graf-after--p">Who are the UX experts?</h4>
<p id="bef6" class="graf graf--p graf-after--h4">We have studied and been working in UX design for many years. Recently there has been an increase in the awareness of the benefits good UX can bring to a product or service. As UX professionals we find the biggest pushback regarding UX research is usually down to time and/or budget constraints. Quite often there can be presumptions that as UX experts we can perfect the UX of their interface while working in a vacuum. If only this was the case.</p>
<p id="2e78" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p">There is no such thing as a UX expert. If anything the only UX expert is the user of a particular product or service, they know what works for them and what they want. A good UX professional will be an expert on the process, techniques and research required in order to find out what the user wants from a particular UI. They will have mastered how to gain user empathy and the key to this is research, it is the foundation of any good UX lifecycle.</p>
<h4 id="c8d6" class="graf graf--h4 graf-after--p">Assumptions can be the enemy of good UX</h4>
<p id="7888" class="graf graf--p graf-after--h4">An assumption is an informed guess. It might be biased and is definitively unproven. We all make assumptions every day, we have to. Assumptions are based on our own experience of the world and the more experience of the world we have the more accurate our assumptions might be. Most ideas for a business start life as a solution to a problem, this business idea stems out of the assumption that others will have the same problem.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p graf-after--h4">Assumptions are good and are often the birthplace of creativity. Where an assumption can be bad is when it is not properly challenged or validated, not everyone perceives the world in the same way.</p>
<blockquote><p>“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”<br />
― <strong class="markup--strong markup--blockquote-strong">Isaac Asimov</strong></p></blockquote>
<p>A client may come to us with the assumption that they need us to create a new website with an improved design to drive more online sales. Through research, we might discover that the brand messaging is misleading or that the client has been targeting the wrong market demographics. All projects need to start with an open mind. Our design goal is to create a solution that is truly relevant to its users.</p>
<p>A mantra that we use within the Friday Agency and with our clients is <em><strong>“we don’t care what you think!”</strong></em>. All input is valuable, but the only assumption made throughout the UX research stage of a project is that nobody on the project team including the client is the end user.</p>
<h4 id="c43e" class="graf graf--h4 graf-after--p">UX Research</h4>
<p id="2a27" class="graf graf--p graf-after--h4">There is no one size fits all UX research process. Every project requires a different approach and set of tools that are tailored around the product/service and overall project goals. In all cases, we need to gain empathy for the client and more importantly their user base. Research doesn’t have to be extensive or expensive but should never be avoided.</p>
<p id="84c0" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Client empathy:</strong> First off we need to understand the business behind the product or service, who the team is behind it and what their motivations are. We need to understand the brief we have been given and what the clients&#8217; expectation is. We need to understand the product or service ‘as-is’. The problems it is designed to solve, how it works and how effective it is.</p>
<p id="9426" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">User empathy: </strong>User empathy is the key to creating a good user experience. In order to gain empathy, we must understand our target audience intimately; what makes them tick, their goals, motivations and frustrations. It’s time to forget everything we know and listen. UX research encompasses a variety of qualitative and quantitate research methods to identify issues, requirements and add context, focus and insight into the design process.</p>
<blockquote id="1bb7" class="graf graf--blockquote graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p"><p>“Research is formalised curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.”<br />
― <strong class="markup--strong markup--blockquote-strong">Zora Neale Hurston</strong></p></blockquote>
<p id="1434" class="graf graf--p graf-after--blockquote">Here are some of the research techniques we use at the Friday Agency throughout the UX lifecycle. They are a mix of attitudinal and behavioural as well as qualitative and quantitative research methods. These are crossed checked against each other for better validation.</p>
<ol class="postList">
<li id="7fc8" class="graf graf--li graf-after--p">Heuristic Evaluation</li>
<li id="1b51" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Stakeholder Interviews</li>
<li id="8785" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Competitor Analysis</li>
<li id="2085" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">User Interviews</li>
<li id="f772" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Focus groups</li>
<li id="4bb3" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Analysis of analytics</li>
<li id="0ef0" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Analysis of reviews</li>
<li id="50a2" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Online Surveys</li>
<li id="8c2d" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Usability testing</li>
<li id="ffdb" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">A/B Testing</li>
<li id="4c27" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Personas &amp; scenarios</li>
<li id="12cb" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Card sorting &amp; affinity diagrams</li>
</ol>
<h4 id="2f14" class="graf graf--h4 graf-after--li">Tales of the unexpected</h4>
<p id="2ee5" class="graf graf--p graf-after--h4">It’s well documented that in medicine, some of the biggest discoveries have been made while monitoring the unexpected side effects of the testing of new drugs. Viagra surfaced during clinical trials of a cardiovascular drug in the early 1990s. Looking for a solution to one problem can uncover an unexpected solution to another.</p>
<p id="ba6d" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p">One of the greatest things that can come out of UX research is the unexpected, what we were not looking for. This can sometimes be terrifying to clients but is always both enlightening and positive. We have been involved in projects where a clients entire business strategy has changed as a result of UX research, something came to light that may have been overlooked or assumed and the new knowledge helped transform their business for the better.</p>
<p id="c02d" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p graf--trailing">We’ve all heard that knowledge is power but don’t forget that research is an investment in knowledge.</p>


Why research is essential to the UX lifecycle

<p class="graf graf--p">I‘ve written a few posts in the past with advice for businesses who are taking on web design and development projects. I have <a href="https://friday.ie/blog/web-design-process/">outlined our processes</a>, <a href="https://friday.ie/blog/the-essential-website-development-checklist/">advised on planning</a> and given tips on <a href="https://friday.ie/blog/how-to-give-good-feedback-to-your-creative-agency/">how to give good feedback to your creative agency</a>.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">I have to admit, my reasons for writing these posts are somewhat self serving. Clients who understand and buy into our process will ultimately end up with a more successful project and it will allow us to do our best work. Expectations, responsibilities, communication, clarity and timings will be aligned in a way that the client and agency can collaborate in a very effective and efficient way. The end result will be a body of work with higher standards of quality and effectiveness.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">I could write a medium sized book about this but I don’t have the writing skills and you don’t have the time or the will to read it. So to save us both pain, here are my 10 tips for businesses creating a new website.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Know your goals and objectives</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">Any good agency will help you with this, you will have your own ideas but its worth spending a bit of time exploring your goals and objectives with your agency for independent insight and advise. Why are you building this website. What are the KPI’s (key performance indicators). Who is the target market? What value does it have and how will you achieve a ROI? More often than not this process can change the focus of the project by the questions it raises and answers. Working on goals and objectives may end up being about more than just building a new website but how the company presents itself, how you talk to people and who your market is, keep an open mind and see where this goes. Its as much about the journey than the destination.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Work with an agency</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">Of course I would say this but how else could you build a website? We have seen a lot of home made websites out there created by company MD’s who have a passing interest in HTML or a in house print designer who wanted to try their hand at designing a website. There is information architecture, UX, understanding the CMS and the limitations of HTML and CSS to consider not to mention the need for a comprehensive knowledge of responsive web design and mobile breakpoints. In most cases a print designer designing a website is like an architect designing a jumbo jet. You are a professional business, you need a professional online presence.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Create a brief</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">Over the years we have seen briefs of all shapes and sizes. Even the most vague brief written on the back of a napkin gives us more insight than no brief at all. We are often commissioned to create briefs for businesses so they can put projects out to tender to agencies like us. Our approach is always to take a clients brief and work with them through our discovery process to uncover the detail, contribute our thoughts and ideas to add value to the project. We help shape the clients goals and objectives into a website spec or statement of work covering all the detail and requirements.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Understand the process</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">We have spent years working on our ever evolving process, we customise it for every client based on their needs to give the best results. Process promotes efficiency, understanding, clear lines of responsibility and a more collaborative project flow. Take time to understand the agency process, make sure it is comprehensive and compatible with how you like to work, one size does not fit all so work with the agency to tailor the process around your requirements.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Give content priority</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">We’ve all heard that “content is king” and I can only agree. Content will shape the structure of your website and its purpose. Users are not coming to your website for its nice design, intuitive UX or its solid code base. Copywriting and imagery need to be prioritised. Your agency can help with this, don’t try and write your own copy unless you are a professional copywriter with experience in writing for the web, the same goes for photography, that shot you took on the beach with your iPhone last summer looks great but should it be used for your company website? Time and effort are needed in this area and it will show in the end results.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Set realistic timings</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">Great work takes time. Don’t rush the process. Let the agency set out the timings and while they should be adhered to, make sure that you are comfortable with the pace as feedback and collaboration will need to take place within the process, the agency are not the only ones doing the work. A typical website for us would have a 12 week process (3 weeks planning, 3 weeks UX and design, 3 weeks development, 3 weeks testing and deployment). In most cases we can work faster than this, but we find clients can’t even if they think they can. Ideas need time to develop and collaboration with key stakeholders can cause delays. Give the project room to breathe.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Appoint a decision maker</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">The agency will obviously have a project manager working closely with you but you will also need a clear point of contact on your side for the project. We have all been involved in projects with too many cooks and it leads to frustration and poor output. When it comes to &#8216;design by committee&#8217; usually the person in the room with the loudest voice gets their points across but they are not always making the best decisions. In most cases a website project should be managed on the client side by a small group of people, all of whom should be stakeholders and decision makers, I’d suggest 1–3 people depending on the size of the project. If the boss has the final say then the boss should be collaborating directly with the agency and attending the meetings and workshops.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Listen to your agency and your users</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">You have hired an agency because of their experience, approach, reputation and past work. Listen to them as much as they will be listening to you, they will have a lot more expertise than you do in this area. In general you wouldn’t tell surgeons how to perform an operation. Design and UX can be subjective but a good agency will know what works and what doesn’t. When it comes to your website and marketing it doesn’t always matter what you think, its all about your target audience, a good agency will be user focused and will have the confidence to push back on ideas they think will not work. In cases where you are not agreeing with your agency have the agency put the question out to your users and see what they think. User testing is essential and any good agency will work with testing as a central part of the process.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Collaborate</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">Form a good working relationship with your agency. The best work we have done has been and always will be the work where the client gets stuck into the project with us. Feed the agency as much relevant information as you can about your business and spend time understanding the process they are using. Sense check everything with them, ask questions, have debates and share your honest thoughts and ideas all the way through the project.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Set a realistic budget</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">The cost of a website can vary from agency to agency, its hard to compare one quote with another. Most of the time a quote will be created based on the interpretation of the brief and the process the agency is proposing. Its possible that a more comprehensive process will have higher costs but will often yield better results. My advise here is to go back to the brief, maybe hire someone qualified to help you write the brief so you can inform the agencies pitching exactly what your requirements are. This way nobody is in the dark about what the ask is, the quotes will be realistic and there will be no problems down the line with the agency looking for more money because a essential feature wasn&#8217;t mentioned in the brief. We tend to be upfront about money and ask clients for a budget if they have one, transparency about this can save both the client and agency a lot of time. From experience we tend to give lower quotes to potential clients who have a good brief, its shows they have spent time and effort putting the brief together which means they are informed and involved. This usually means the project will be well run from the client side and will make for smoother collaboration. Lastly, don’t forget to factor ongoing running costs into your budget, a website is not just for Christmas! There will be hosting, domain and SSL cert fees. The websites software will need to be updated regularly, backed up and scanned for malware or vulnerabilities plus you may need on going support and development.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">As you can tell, my feelings are that a well run project is all about planning, good communication and transparency between client and agency.  I could keep going but these 10 points are key for me. Let me know what you think and what else you would add (or remove) in the comments section below.</p>


10 tips for businesses creating a new website

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<p id="04a4" class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure">Design is going through a resurgence of appreciation and as a design focused agency, this makes us very happy! We are finally reaching a time where the value of design is starting to be realised by the business mainstream and this allow us to work using a smarter process that clients now buy into.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure">Businesses from law firms and restaurants to grocery stores and banks are employing design in a way they never did before. The public are starting to demand it and business owners are starting to take notice.</p>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-2423 size-full" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/0f0e3bd33a8d0f69eeddc793e61ef1b3.jpg" alt="design led companies " width="1280" height="800" />
<p>In the past, design had been undervalued. It was seen by some as a luxury, and was usually reserved for the few who understood its business potential. Businesses focused on their product or service and not so much on their brand or customer experience. They still made a profit and probably didn’t realise the potential of employing design through the user journey both offline or online.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--h2 graf-after--p">When design becomes a priority</h3>
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<p id="0652" class="graf graf--p graf-after--h3">Imagine there was a burst pipe in the head office of your business. This is an emergency, right? You call a plumber immediately, don’t question them and pay whatever it takes to fix the issue as quickly as possible. This is a no brainer.</p>
<p id="cd35" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p">So, if a business has poor branding, design and in turn a substandard customer experience, why is this not seen as an such a pressing issue? Why do some businesses cut corners on design, leave their websites out of date and lack attention to detail in all corners of their business activity?</p>
<blockquote id="0298" class="graf graf--blockquote graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p"><p><strong class="markup--strong markup--blockquote-strong">“If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the costs of bad design.”<br />
</strong> —  Dr Ralf Dieter Speth</p></blockquote>
<p id="2d9f" class="graf graf--p graf-after--blockquote">A business may still run and even make a profit without good design, if a business has never employed design thinking they will never know the added value it can bring.</p>
<p id="09e8" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p">I&#8217;m not saying you should throw money at design without questioning it, you need to be smart about what what your goals and objectives. Unlike a burst water pipe needing to be fixed, good design can be subjective. What may look ugly to one person, may look adequate to another or great to someone else. What is not as subjective is consistency of design application and this is where a lot of companies fall down.</p>
<p id="7f79" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p">A business can employ watered down design, maybe create a good brand/logo with brand guidelines and let the admin people apply the new branding across the company while probably ignoring the guidelines. Application of good design should always be managed by someone who has experience in and understands design. This is where a good agency comes into the mix.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--h2 graf-after--p">Design led companies</h3>
<p id="56ff" class="graf graf--p graf-after--h3">In recent years design led companies have shown the world how design can enhance their brand, create loyalty and extract maximum potential from a product. Sometimes the product may not even be the best in terms of features but if its well designed with a focus on the detail of customer and user experience it can stand out from the competition. <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.wired.com/2015/01/airbnbs-new-head-design-believes-design-led-companies-dont-work/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" data-href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wired.com%2F2015%2F01%2Fairbnbs-new-head-design-believes-design-led-companies-dont-work%2F">AirB&amp;B is a good example</a>, they sell experiences and have perfected the customer experience as much as they can along the way through design and careful attention to detail.</p>
<p id="936e" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p">Since the 1970’s <a href="http://www.apple.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Apple</a> has always been design-led, and this has come from the top down. Its a huge part of the company culture. From the days of Steve Jobs arrogant insistence on his vision being executed to the tiniest detail to today where Jonny Ive pretty much oversees all visual aspects of every Apple product in both software and hardware. Apple is now the biggest company in the world. You can be pretty sure there are few people working in Apple that do not have at least a basic appreciation of design.</p>
<p id="2951" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p">Due to the remarkable success of design-led companies, design has evolved beyond products. Design thinking is at the core of effective company strategy. Companies are learning how to think like designers, and apply design principles to all areas of their business and its workings. The only way this can happen is if it comes from the top. If a MD or CEO does not use design thinking it will be very hard to create a design led company culture.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--h2 graf-after--p">Research led User Experience</h3>
<p id="adfc" class="graf graf--p graf-after--h3">While user experience (UX) has been around since the dawn of time its only in recent years that it has come to the forefront of digital design and a new process is still evolving. We are a research driven agency and its part of our culture to have all design decisions qualified through research. Large companies are now insisting on research driven user experience work to be carried out on their websites, Apps and UI’s before final visual design starts.</p>
<blockquote id="04c9" class="graf graf--blockquote graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p"><p><strong class="markup--strong markup--blockquote-strong">“Like all forms of design, visual design is about problem solving, not about personal preference or unsupported opinion.”<br />
</strong><em class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">— Bob Baxley</em></p></blockquote>
<p id="e1ff" class="graf graf--p graf-after--blockquote">When it comes to design everyone has an opinion, who is to say which opinion is the right one? In some cases it can often seem to be the person in the room with the loudest voice or the person paying the bill. As rude as it may sound we have often had to tell clients that it doesn’t matter what they think. The only people that matter are the users, the customers. They are the ones using the product so they are the only voice that really matters. Its not us as the design agency or the client, we are not the target market. Ignoring user feedback is a huge mistake but listening to their views and needs can give valuable insights.</p>
<figure id="1d42" class="graf graf--figure graf--layoutOutsetLeft graf-after--p">
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<p id="927f" class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure">UX doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming. With research there is nothing to debate, it creates proof and makes for quick decisions, meetings don’t turn into debates and the end product will always perform better.</p>
<blockquote id="c0bc" class="graf graf--blockquote graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p"><p><strong class="markup--strong markup--blockquote-strong">“Design based on data brings us back to the essence of design and will leave out all unnecessary decoration.”<br />
</strong><em class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">— Jeanne de Bont</em></p></blockquote>
<p id="e074" class="graf graf--p graf-after--blockquote">This culture is slowly starting to trickle down to SME’s and budgets are slowly increasing to allow the design work to be done the right way using a comprehensive process.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--h2 graf-after--p">Iterative design</h3>
<p id="db97" class="graf graf--p graf-after--h3">Another great change in how the design process is changing is the iterative approach. We are coming to the end of the days where a product is created, the design work is done, its released everybody walks away and its left unchanged.</p>
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<p id="9195" class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure">The process of <strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">‘Research — Design — Test — Build’</strong> should be a repeating cycle of continuous development. You’ll never get it 100% right the first time. Even if you do how will you know unless you do the research and testing.</p>
<p id="6782" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p">Iterative design is in some respects starting to replace planning documentation. Iterative prototyping is a good route if you want your project to hit the ground running. Prototyping allows designers and developers to quickly transform their creative vision into a reality, and then perfect it through iterations. This approach can be a hard sell especially to clients who are used to the traditional waterfall way of working but it works and we have found that people quickly adjust and like working in this way. This approach can save clients time, money and resources. The process makes exploring what the user needs and how to get it to them generally much quicker than documentation.</p>
<p id="df97" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p">The future is bright and good design is starting to get the recognition it deserves. Its refreshing to see clients demanding that design done the right way, using right the process. Designers have spent years trying to push this process and its starting to become expected. Long may it last, at the moment it does feel like there is no turning back.</p>
<p id="f94a" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.</strong></p>
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Why design led companies are winning

<h4 class="graf graf--h3">Over the last 3 years, we have had the luxury of working from an amazing studio space on the north side of Dublin’s Ha’penny Bridge. The time has come for us to move onwards and upwards to a bigger studio so we recently made the decision to start looking for a new Dublin office space we can grow into.</h4>
<p class="graf graf--h3">We work in what used to be an old mill, its an open space full of character, atmosphere and history. This plays a huge part in encouraging creativity and collaboration for both us and our clients. Its a place people love coming to visit, we love working here and have had a lot of fun doing great work in this studio. If you have seen our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-DQrz4antM">Friday People</a> video you will get a sense of our studio and what a special place it is. We&#8217;ve been spoiled to date and we realise we may have to compromise but we didn’t realise to what extent.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--h3">Starting out</h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">With a positive spring in our step, we took on the exciting job of finding a new Dublin office space. We put the word out, contacted dozens of estate agents and hit the usual suspects online hoping to get together a shortlist of places we could view and fall in love with, who wouldn’t want to be our landlord?</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">We&#8217;re not a big agency, our needs are basic enough and we would probably prefer to style a space ourselves then get our hands on a turnkey office with beige walls, suspended ceilings and blue carpets. What we are looking for is a space around 800–1,200 ft sq to put our stamp on and create a new home for ourselves.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p">The reality</h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">To our horror, we quickly found out that Dublin City has almost zero to offer in terms of office space for small businesses. There is literally almost nothing available. Even if you wanted beige walls, suspended ceilings and blue carpets. Over the last few weeks we have been patiently awaiting Daft.ie email alerts that fit our wide criteria to arrive but our inboxes remain empty. The few places we have viewed are either overpriced or unsuitable.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p">Serviced offices and co-working spaces</h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">We have looked at a number of serviced offices but what they see as a 6–8 person office most would consider a 3–4 person office. Some of them are really beautiful but the small spaces and build up of overpriced extra charges make them extraordinarily expensive. In one serviced office I was quoted €10,000 a year for 24 MB broadband. Currently, we get 10 times that speed for 10% of the price!</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">We also looked at co-working spaces and there are some great options out there based around open plan hot-desks like Dog Patch Labs, Do Space and Digital Depot but most of these would only be temporary solutions, we really need our own space to move around in without annoying others.</p>
<h3 class="graf graf--p">Top 10 Tips</h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">We have learned many valuable lessons in the process so I decided to share the love and put together my top 10 tips for anyone looking for Dublin office space under 200 m sq in and around Dublin City. Anyone reading this before they set out to look for a space owes me a drink!</p>
<ol>
<li>Give yourself as much time as possible, weeks turn into months quickly. Be proactive, tell everyone regardless of whether you think they might know a space or not, you never know.</li>
<li>Don’t expect all estate agents to call you back when you leave a message. Unfortunately, they don’t need you as much as you need them. You need to chase.</li>
<li>The commercial property industry is not as transparent as I would like. You will be expected to ask questions, nobody will offer all the information you need. You have to work for it and know what to ask or you may get nasty surprises.</li>
<li>Few mention prices in online ads and if they do you need to get your calculator out to get a final figure. Everyone prices real estate differently, there is no standard and you have to learn to ask the right questions. Or you may get a nasty surprise of extra charges you forgot to ask about. When rent is quoted it can be a mix of per week, per month per year or per sq foot. There are no standards.</li>
<li>In online ads, save time by learning how to spot the difference between serviced offices and lease based offices. Serviced offices in Dublin are run by a handful of companies that show up again and again. Unfortunately, Daft.ie do not separate them from the leased based offices.</li>
<li>You’ll find many spaces listed online have already been let. Estate agents are slow to remove old listings.</li>
<li>Not all agents have gone metric, its a confusing mix of square meters and square feet.</li>
<li>Ask about heating. Is there heating? What type of heating? Avoid storage heating or it will hurt your wallet.</li>
<li>If you have a company, don’t personally guarantee the lease. If another recession came along and your business went to the wall you would be personally responsible for paying the rent for the remainder of the lease, you don’t want that.</li>
<li>Learn how to calculate the final price. In most cases, you will be given a rental figure based per sq ft per year. So you take this and multiply it by the total area to get the annual rent. Hang on, service charges may also be quoted per ft sq so that needs to be added on. Not there yet, you will also need to add on council rates which is also calculated per ft sq so ask what the rates were last year. Now see if you need to add insurance and any other extras and you should have your final figure. An example would be a 1,100 sq ft office could be quoted at around €35,000. But with rates and extras it added another €10,000. Bringing the total up to €45,000 per year before you get any bills.</li>
</ol>
<p class="graf graf--p">I know we‘ll find something eventually but we are preparing ourselves to make huge compromises. Maybe we’ll get lucky like we did 3 years ago when we started out. But the way things are looking I wouldn’t advise anyone to set up a small business in Dublin if you need to be in and around the city centre, unless you already have a premises ready to go.</p>
<h2 class="graf graf--p">The wider problem</h2>
<p class="graf graf--p">This has gotten me thinking about the wider problem for Dublin, how can new SME’s do business here? How can the economy grow? SMEs account for 99.7 per cent of all active businesses in Ireland. Significantly, over 90 per cent of these SMEs were classified as “micro-enterprises” with less than 10 employees. The government need to start thinking about where are all the so-called children of the Brexit going to work when they move their businesses to Dublin. Apparently, there is a similar problem with larger scale commercial property? And lets not forget the shortage of residential accommodation.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Leave a comment below if you have anything to add or want to share your experiences.</p>


The trouble that is finding Dublin office space

<p>As they say in Hollywood “its awards season” and we are delighted to announce what we hope are the first of many nominations for our work in the best Irish and International award shows.</p>
<h3><b>IIA Dot IE Net Visionary Awards</b></h3>
<p>3 of our projects have been shortlisted in this year’s IIA Dot IE Net Visionary Awards and we need your help as 2 out of the 3 categories partly take into account the public vote on top of the judging panel.</p>
<h4><b>Best Website – Most joyous to look at and splendid to use</b></h4>
<p><strong><a href="http://stpatrickscathedral.ie">stpatrickscathedral.ie</a></strong></p>
<p>This visually stunning website was designed for St.Patricks Cathedral in Dublin with careful, thorough planning and UX design along with great content and photography. The multilingual website features event calendars, rich content and online ticketing.</p>
<h4><b>Best Social Media Campaign</b></h4>
<p><strong><a href="http://tder.ie">TDer.ie</a></strong></p>
<p>We are very proud of everyone here at Friday for coming up with the concept and developing this campaign of Tinder for TD’s within a week around election time earlier this year. It was all a bit of fun and shameless self promotion, a win win for everyone.</p>
<h4><b>Best eCommerce Execution by a Retailer</b></h4>
<p><strong><a href="http://iclothing.com">iClothing.com</a></strong></p>
<p>We worked closely with Abbas in <a href="http://iclothing.com">iClothing.com</a> to create a new interface and UX where users could really get immersed in the products.</p>
<h3><b>Awwwards.com</b></h3>
<p>Our own web site <a href="https://friday.ie/">friday.ie</a> has been shortlisted for the high profile Site of the Day on <a href="http://www.awwwards.com/">awwwards.com</a>. Our site is currently being voted on by the judges. <b>Awwwards</b> aims to recognise and promote the best of innovative web design and showcases some of the best web and UX design in the world and is a place of inspiration for designers across the world.</p>
<p>Fingers, arms and toes crossed, getting a Site of the Day nod would be huge for us on a international level. Here is our public score so far, the public only counts for 12% of the overall vote with the judges: <a href="http://www.awwwards.com/sites/the-friday-agency">http://www.awwwards.com/sites/the-friday-agency</a></p>
<h3><b>The Irish Web Awards</b></h3>
<p>We have 4 projects shortlisted in this years Irish Web Awards. Our own web site friday.ie is in the Most Beautiful Site category and is up against <a href="https://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie">St.Patricks Cathedral</a>, pity both can&#8217;t win! Our 3D Halloween promotional website <a href="https://friday.ie/3d/">The 7 Deadly sins of Digital Marketing</a> is up for Best Microsite and <a href="https://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie">St.Patricks Cathedral</a> is also up for Best Arts &amp; Culture.</p>


Friday shortlisted for Awards

<blockquote><p><em>We&#8217;re all users. And the experience we have when we interact with products, devices, and screens plays a vital role in their success. </em></p></blockquote>
<p>For me writing about User Experience is both exciting and slightly unnerving.</p>
<p>It’s exciting because, more than ever, the user experience process is critical to effective digital execution across the full gamut of devices and screens.</p>
<p>There’s also a growing expectation from clients to solve their marketing problems through design and user experience.</p>
<p>It’s slightly unnerving because although Friday is fast establishing a reputation as a specialist UX marketing agency, there are no definitive industry standards yet to which I can claim us to be experts.</p>
<h3>The Apple Effect</h3>
<p>In many ways, Apple has set the standard in user experience.</p>
<p>There is often debate around whether Apple’s business model is hardware or software but for me, their entire business centres around user experience.</p>
<p>From their products, software, their stores and their packaging &#8211; looking good and working well has helped to create an unrivalled trust and desire for their brand.</p>
<p>And it has propelled Apple’s rise to becoming one of the biggest companies in the world.</p>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="p-image-1560" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/UX3.jpg" alt="user experience" width="767" height="318" /><br />
<em>According to our analytics, there&#8217;s a 42% chance that you&#8217;re reading this post on an Apple device</em>
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<h3>Why is UX so important?</h3>
<p>As an agency, much of our work history comes from designing and building websites and digital experiences for the screen.</p>
<p>While we have always been always passionate about user experience, in the past quite often things like costs, deadlines, and a lack of understanding client-side meant we often had to compromise on the UX process.</p>
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<p>All projects should allow for at the very least a basic level of real-world user testing as part of the process. Although not ideal, where deadlines or budget does not allow us to follow a comprehensive process, we use our experience to validate planning and design decisions.</p>
<div>
<p>At our core, we want to deliver a usability that works for users and delivers on our clients&#8217; marketing goals, that&#8217;s clear. But having a good user experience is no longer a choice: users demand it and the success of your business can hinge on it.</p>
<p>There is more to UX design than it generally sounding like a good idea and creating some wireframes. People are &#8216;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_miser" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cognitive misers</a>&#8216; &#8211; they become accustomed to things working to the point that they don&#8217;t really need to think about it. Driving a car, riding a bike, and using a smartphone app or a website.</p>
<p>In the digital world, when standards have been set so high for technology and content; users, customers, and stakeholders expect that standard every day.</p>
<p>Take booking an airline flight. Whatever the airline, you have expectations that their website will load quickly, that it&#8217;s visual style, content and layout will look and feel right, and that you can easily find and book a flight destination without too much effort.</p>
<p>And provided the price is right a not unreasonable expectation. Right?</p>
<p>But it&#8217;s when something goes wrong with the experience, trust breaks down (or is never established). We have all been there and been frustrated by it. Slow to load, poor navigation, errors&#8230; grrr!</p>
<p>Our expectations are set high and when they&#8217;re not met, we can take ourselves elsewhere in a matter of seconds.</p>
<h3>The UX Process</h3>
<blockquote><p><em>“People’s behaviour makes sense if you think about it in terms of their goals, needs, and motives.”</em></p></blockquote>
<p>—Thomas Mann</p>
<p>This is not a post detailing UX process (this will follow soon) but a brief look at key steps in a typical design project that are used to deliver a successful user experience. It is important that clients not only understand the process but then play an active part in it and sign off at each stage.</p>
<p>The following details the process that Friday uses to deliver a digital solution: for example a website, or a smartphone app.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Planning &amp; Strategy</strong><br />
Planning is key and provides the rationale for the approach taken throughout the rest of the process. It will include a series of workshops to understand business requirements, user and technology needs. This stage can include a range of steps including research, user surveys, focus groups, mood boards, analytics, content review &amp; competitive analysis.</li>
<li><strong>Wireframing</strong><br />
Visual work starts by taking the planning output and using information architecture, sketches to build wireframe layouts. In some cases, user testing can start here by creating interactive high-level UX prototypes.</li>
<li><strong>Design</strong><br />
At the design stage artwork is created for all key users scenarios in all relevant placements, devices or screens.</li>
<li><strong>Build</strong><br />
During the build stage, a beta or prototype is developed based on the visuals and functionality of the design.</li>
<li><strong>QA</strong><br />
When the build process is complete, the project moves to quality assurance and testing where it is tested to ensure it&#8217;s visual is sound and it works as planned. User testing will often occur here.</li>
<li><strong>Feedback / UAT</strong><br />
Before launch, the project is opened up to the client for user acceptance testing where it is again tested and any issues addressed before release.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Trust</h3>
<p>As users, the trust we have in our ability to use something has a critical role in whether or not we make a decision to continue using it, engage or buy it.</p>
<p>Trust must be established quickly, or users will quickly abandon your product, service or content. As businesses, it&#8217;s important to understand trust and the role trustworthiness plays in user experience and particularly when it comes to conversion rates.</p>
<p>And we&#8217;ve seen a clear shift in the demand for UX planning and design from clients as they now understand it&#8217;s advantage and it&#8217;s value.</p>
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User Experience – Designing for Trust

<blockquote>
<h4 class="graf--h3"><em>Black Friday 2015 is upon us and the annual post Thanksgiving retail charge is set to stay across the water.</em></h4>
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<p class="graf--p">So what does Black Friday look like this year and how are retailers reacting to consumer trends?</p>
<h3 class="graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Trends</strong></h3>
<p class="graf--p">Traditionally a one day in-store event, Black Friday has quickly evolved into an online festival. Irish consumers are set to drop up to €100 million today and Irish retailers are expecting a big Christmas this year in terms of sales.</p>
<p class="graf--p">Interestingly 1 in 3 of us plans to buy online on Cyber Monday. This shift to online activity is also reflected in advertising spend. Earlier this year <strong><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://iabireland.ie/digital-adspend-grows-by-34-in-2014/" data-href="http://iabireland.ie/digital-adspend-grows-by-34-in-2014/">IAB</a></strong> released some figures showing that digital ad spending had increased by 34% over last year and that mobile had jumped 134%.</p>
<p class="graf--p">This is only set to increase and you may have noticed some Black Friday display ads following you around the internet.</p>
<p class="graf--p">Our neighbours in the UK are seeing even more startling numbers. Experian are predicting that the UK will see their first ever £1 billion shopping day. Amazingly E-commerce spend could double over last year with mobile transactions increasing by 12% (which now amounts to 1 in 3 transactions).</p>
<p class="graf--p">RetailMeNot conducted some research into online retailers tactics for this year. More than half of retailers are scrapping time-bound deals this year to discourage the “lurkers” who are refreshing pages to anticipate certain deals.</p>
<p class="graf--p">84% of retailers have dedicated Black Friday pages and 9 out of 10 are promoting click and collect services as well extending delivery day ranges to ease pressure on delivery companies (you can imagine a busy week ahead for them).</p>
<h3 class="graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Taking Part</strong></h3>
<p class="graf--p">So who is taking part this year? Many of the big retailers such as Argos, Arnotts, Debenhams, DID and Harvey Norman are heavily promoting their Black Friday deals many having discounts of over 30%.</p>
<p class="graf--p">Big brands are also recognising the fact that we like to buy online and are running simultaneous promotions on their online stores.</p>
<p class="graf--p">SME’s, however, are slightly behind the curve on this, only 35% of Irish SME’s can process payments online and only 1 in 6 use digital advertising (nearly half don’t advertise at all).</p>
<h3 class="graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Our Clients</strong></h3>
<p class="graf--p">Our clients are certainly getting into the spirit of Black Friday. Here’s a quick look at what some of them are up to.</p>
<p class="graf--p"><strong><a href="http://www.dublintown.ie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dublin Town</a>:</strong> the guys over in Dublin Town have got you sorted if you happen to go a bit mad with the credit card today. They are running a “Shop &amp; Drop” service on Grafton Street and Henry Street where <strong><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.dublinatchristmas.ie/whats-on-events/shop-drop-grafon-street" data-href="http://www.dublinatchristmas.ie/whats-on-events/shop-drop-grafon-street">Dublin city centre shoppers</a> </strong>can avail of free bag minding. This is running through the weekend in case you&#8217;re not in town today.</p>
<p class="graf--p">They have also put together this handy infographic to help you plan your attack:</p>
<p class="graf--p"><a href="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/black-friday.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-1521 aligncenter" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/black-friday.png" alt="black-friday" width="340" height="1199" /></a></p>
<p class="graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong"><a href="http://www.carlscarpa.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carl Scarpa</a>: </strong>Clients like Carl Scarpa are taking a slightly different approach by merging Black Friday and Cyber Monday into a weekend long promotion as opposed to the smash and grab affair of many traditional retailers, particularly electronic goods. They are offering 20% off all their <strong><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.carlscarpa.com/" data-href="http://www.carlscarpa.com/">women’s shoe lines</a></strong> on their online store.</p>
<p class="graf--p"><strong><a href="http://www.marathonsportstravel.ie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marathon Travel</a>:</strong> Travel is not one you would usually associate with Black Friday but the sports travel specialists have a range of sporting trips on offer for the weekend at <strong><a href="http://www.marathonsportstravel.ie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.marathonsportstravel.ie</a>.</strong></p>
<h3 class="graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Black Friday Tips</strong></h3>
<p class="graf--p">It’s easy to get carried away on Black Friday (and Cyber Monday). Everyone loves a bargain &#8211; a steam pressure cooker at half-price looks a great deal even though you will only actually use it once. So here are a couple of tips and questions to ask yourself to avoid the traps:</p>
<ol class="postList">
<li class="graf--li"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Is it really half price? </strong>— don’t be fooled by these amazing half price (or more) offers, check out the original price and compare it. Is it realistic? Some retailers buy in “expensive’ stock and slash the price just for Black Friday.</li>
<li class="graf--li"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Do I need it?</strong> Be honest, you don’t need a second tablet.</li>
<li class="graf--li"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Let the internet do the work</strong> — don’t spend hours searching for deals when you have the internet to do it for you. Sites like <strong><a class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" href="http://www.techradar.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Techradar</a></strong> are very good for snooping out the best deals from the depths of the internet and Boards.ie&#8217;s <strong><a href="http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=346" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bargain Alerts</a></strong> forum is good for Irish deals.</li>
<li class="graf--li"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Use Google alerts — </strong>if you have something very specific you are looking for you can set up a Google alert which will notify you of any new web page related to the keywords you specify.</li>
<li class="graf--li"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Email — </strong>set up an account and subscribe to your favourite brands or retailers mailing lists. Email is a preferred channel for companies to share their discount codes and offers, plus you’ll be the first to know.</li>
<li class="graf--li"><strong>Social</strong>: Twitter trends and hashtags can give you info on what is happening right now (good and bad).</li>
</ol>
<p>Finally, check out this video for some Black Friday chaos.</p>
<div class="video-container">
<p><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vjTGmirfaR8" width="854" height="480" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>I hope you found this post interesting. For more digital marketing insights sign up to our Newsletter in the footer.</p>
</div>


Black Friday Tips & Trends

<p><em>It’s about knowing your audience and building trust.</em></p>
<p>For anyone who’s not quite sure about what Content Marketing really is, I like how the Content Marketing Institute <a title="Content Marketing" href="http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">put it</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>“Content marketing is a marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience &#8211; and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”</em></p></blockquote>
<p>But it’s not as simple as just creating content for our customers and waiting for the results. Before you start a Content Marketing Strategy you have to ask (and be able to answer) 3 basic questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Target Audience: who will benefit most from my content?</li>
<li>What types of content will be delivered?</li>
<li>Goals: what will the outcome be for both my audience, and separately for me / my organisation?</li>
</ul>
<p>With Content, people often focus on the most obvious part (creating it) and don’t quite realise that there’s a bit more to getting the mix right.</p>
<p>Like baking a cake, a good Content Marketing Strategy is made up of different ingredients. Each one is important in it’s own right but they are all interdependent and all necessary to make your content marketing work right for you.</p>
<p>The four main ingredients are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Content Ideas</li>
<li>People</li>
<li>Distribution</li>
<li>Analytics</li>
</ol>
<p>So as Walter White would put it, let&#8217;s cook&#8230;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Content Ideas: Planning &amp; Research</h3>
<p>If you already have a website, there are a few things to consider. Remember that the goal is not just to create awareness, but to also create trust.</p>
<ul>
<li>What are we selling, product or service? Write it down.</li>
<li>If we’re selling a range of products or services, pick the ones you want to market and make a list.</li>
<li>What type of content will appeal to my target audience &#8211; tips, tutorials, video, etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>Research: Based on your list of key products or services use tools to find information on popular content topics related to your business. Such tools include: <a href="http://www.reddit.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reddit</a>, <a href="http://trendsmap.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter trends</a>, <a href="https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Keyword Planner</a>, <a href="http://www.spyfu.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SpyFu</a> and <a href="http://moz.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MOZ</a>.</p>
<p>From this research you can find what your potential audience is discussing, sharing and engaging in relevant to your goals. Decide how long you want to plan your content schedule &#8211; 12 months is an obvious duration.</p>
<p>Seasons, holidays or any kind of recurring events are an opportunity to plan a content calendar well in advance. For each service or product type or benefit write down titles for different post ideas. Don&#8217;t be afraid to share your knowledge &#8211; sharing brings honesty and builds trust.</p>
<p>Note: Headlines account for up to 85% of engagement rates in written content.</p>
<p>For each content idea, ask the following questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Is this content relevant to what we do as a business or organisation?</li>
<li>Will it be useful to our target audience?</li>
<li>Will it help us to achieve our goals?</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Stock &amp; Flow</strong></p>
<p>Flow is the feed. It’s the posts and the tweets. It’s a stream of regular updates that let people know that you exist. Your news, your industry news, regular information that is of value to your audience.</p>
<p>Stock is the stronger content. It’s the type that is as interesting in 6 months as it is right now. It’s what people find through search building trust and your audience. Try to think of content that has a lasting or ‘evergreen’ value &#8211; that could bring your website good search traffic over a sustained period.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">People</h3>
<p>A good content strategy needs people to power it. In our Dublin office, all Friday staff are encouraged to write about their roles and the services around the work they do.</p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be Pulitzer worthy, but everyone submits subject ideas and writes a good post at least once a month. These posts are then edited and optimised for SEO before publishing on our Journal.</p>
<p>Writing content comes easy to some while others (including myself) agonise over it at times. We often hear a good plan or see one written down and think ‘yep, this looks and sounds great… can’t wait to get started!’ Our plan often starts well, and then peters out&#8230;</p>
<p>Because writing and publishing content doesn’t have a direct or immediate pay off, the plan too easily falls apart. To avoid this, we need a good content plan, we need to write it down, and we must have people to take ownership of the plan to ensure that it is delivered. This is essential.</p>
<p>Build a combination of stock and flow content in your plan, and assign it to different people in a your content calendar with clear and realistic deadlines.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Distribution</h3>
<p>The first rule of content distribution is having enough quality content in the first place. In most situations you will be releasing content as news items or blog posts, video or infographics and very often from your website.</p>
<p>If you publish content on your website that’s a start, you then want to shout about it to drive traffic through. Here are two key channels:</p>
<p><strong>Email</strong></p>
<p>A lot like social media, people often make their newsletters generic &#8211; a range of different content types that generally promotes their offering.</p>
<p>Give your newsletter more purpose by defining what stage of the customer buying cycle they should be used for. Up to 60% of email is read on smartphones now and when opened it is skimmed over quickly. Avoid ramming in all of your content into one email and instead elect your best pieces highlighted with engaging titles.</p>
<p><strong>Social Media</strong></p>
<p>Most marketers use their social channels to market their content just by posting it and dusting their hands. But it can more than this.</p>
<p>There has been significant growth of some big feeds which focus on doing one thing really well. History in Pics is a good example of this. For example, depending on your market, you might be able to create a few different accounts which focus on doing one thing well, and slowly release your content at the same time.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Analytics</h3>
<p><strong>Website Analytics</strong></p>
<p>What content is building the most traffic and engagement? It’s important to see link and social share data for each content piece and to analyse how it performs over time.</p>
<p>Google Analytics is the best free analytics tool available for website / app analytics. Moz Pro is a great tool for reporting on your everything from your keyword search rank positions, your domain authority to your social media interactions.</p>
<p><strong>Organic Traffic</strong></p>
<p>Which keywords and what content items are driving traffic to your website?</p>
<p>I would usually look back at least 12 months to get a basis for comparison on top level searches to get an idea of which keywords are performing best relevant to your content.</p>
<p><strong>Keyword Research</strong></p>
<p>While I don&#8217;t completely trust all of the numbers keyword data results from Google’s Keyword Planner, it is a nice tool for generating new keyword and key phrase ideas. The data does give an indication of where opportunities are, especially for traffic that doesn&#8217;t carry high competition.</p>
<p>Google Webmaster Tools will also give some solid data on new keyword ranking or rank position opportunities.</p>
<p><strong>SEO Analysis</strong></p>
<p>Having mapped out your content, you should analyse how strong your competitors are at ranking their content A good way to do this for SEO is to use Moz tools to find out domain authority and inbound links. Competitor analysis is a paid feature for Moz Pro.</p>
<p>For social media, check of how many fans or followers your competitors have and how often they are posting and engaging.</p>
<hr />
<p><strong>Summing up</strong></p>
<p>As part of a solid <a title="The Digital Strategy Battlefield" href="https://friday.ie/blog/the-digital-strategy-battlefield/">Digital Strategy</a>, good content is marketing&#8217;s best opportunity to be truly creative. It does this by being <em>valuable</em> and <em>relevant</em> to your target audiences, it creates trust in your brand, and it builds the permission you need to do business.</p>


Mixing a great Content Marketing Strategy

<p>We all want to be more productive, anything that claims to make our lives easier is worth exploring. In 2015 we will spend a lot of time using tools and methods to improve productivity and efficiency and will increase our capacity to get things done. I wanted to share some of the tools and methods we use here in The Friday Agency that we feel are worth a look.</p>
<p>Software has become a utility, a lot of the good services out there have recurring fees and monthly bills can mount up if you don’t keep an eye on it. Make sure everything you pay for is adding value, do an audit every few months to make sure you are not wasting your cash.</p>
<p>As a digital agency, we have an ever-evolving process for how we develop websites and manage digital marketing campaigns, we are always reviewing our processes and there are a number of software tools that help us on our way. We have a checklist of criteria before we take a look think about employing a new tool or method.</p>
<ol>
<li>The net result between time spent managing the tool and the time it saves needs to be positive.</li>
<li>Any software should be cloud-based. We try and stay away from anything that is only present on a single device as we all work from a number of devices depending on where we are at the time.</li>
<li>Collaboration is key, if the tool will allow you to share data and knowledge then it’s a big plus.</li>
<li>Limit the amount of GTD apps (Getting Things Done) you use, how many lists do you really need?</li>
</ol>
<h3>Basecamp</h3>
<p>Basecamp is a web-based project management tool where team members and clients can collaborate. It’s a single place to share files, have discussions, assign &amp; track tasks, and keep up to speed on deadlines. We have been using Basecamp for a number of years and we find it great for projects big and small. If used correctly it can be a really powerful tool for any type of project. Costs start at about €17 a month but we use the package that&#8217;s €42 as it allows us to manage more projects.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.basecamp.com">www.basecamp.com</a></p>
<h3>Zero Inbox Policy</h3>
<p>This one isn’t about a specific product but more a way to manage email. We all spend too much time with our heads in our email, my feeling is that people are too quick to hide behind it and a lot of typing time could be saved with a quick call or face to face (remember that?), you don’t save time or build real relationships by only communicating by email.</p>
<p>I use a zero inbox policy, this means that my ongoing goal is to have an empty email inbox, I archive every email that I have read or actioned. This way I know that anything that is still in my inbox needs action. My inbox becomes my to-do list. I have been using this policy for about 6 months and I couldn’t recommend it more. Emails don’t get missed, I never forget to reply to an email and the satisfaction of getting to the end of the day with a clear inbox is great.</p>
<p>Dropbox have a mobile and desktop App called Mailbox (update Dec &#8217;15, now <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/help/mailbox-shut-down">defunct</a>) which will help with this, it has some great features but the search in the desktop Beta I tested was very poor so I quickly went back to Apple Mail until they fix the bugs.</p>
<p>If you do nothing else this year, take on a zero inbox policy, it gets things done and relieves email fatigue.</p>
<h3>Base CRM</h3>
<p>We recently took on Base CRM as a tool for tracking leads and our sales pipeline, its a little too early to give a full review of this web-based service but based on a few months usage it seems to be working for us and is worth the €13 a month. It has great real-time reporting, sends reminders and organises leads based on stages. The UI is clean, intuitive and easy to move around — being visual people this is key to any of the tools we use.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.zendesk.com/sell/">www.getbase.com</a></p>
<h3>Bullet</h3>
<p>There are no fulltime accountants working in Friday just yet but we like to be very organised and keep on top of our finances. Bullet is a cloud-based accounting web app that claims to automate your accounting and payroll. Bullet has all the features we need and makes everything from billing, payroll, VAT returns and estimates easy to manage. The Bullet team is always there to help and have even implemented some of the UI and feature suggestions we have shared with them. It has a nice UI and the best part is that Bullet is an Irish company.</p>
<p>Your accountant won’t like Bullet, you will rely on accountants less and less as you get used to the system. The other reason your accountant will not like Bullet is that it is not as flexible as some of the more complicated tools such as Sage, simplicity always requires compromise of features and Bullet are working to get this balance right based on customer feedback.</p>
<p>Bullet is not a not for everyone but it has made running our business much easier. We get great reporting, credit control has improved and payroll is a breeze. Pricing for Bullet starts at €4 a month and builds depending on the features you need.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bullethq.com">www.bullethq.com</a></p>
<h3>Reminders</h3>
<p>Apple have a very simple and usable Reminders App that comes pre-loaded on all iOS and OS X devices. It&#8217;s a To-do list app where reminders can be set based on time or location. So let&#8217;s say I walk out of the office it can remind me not to forget my keys. Lists can be shared and reminders can be set with Siri. I use this every day. Reminders sync beautifully between devices using iCloud and its free to all Mac and iOS users.</p>
<h3>Browserstack</h3>
<p>Testing is a huge part of our day, everything we create has to be tested, retested and tested again on multiple devices, platforms, and browser versions.</p>
<p>Browserstack.com provides a paid service where we can test our work on all the main platforms, browsers and relevant verisons using a single browser. This is a huge time saver. In the old days, we had to jump from PC to Mac to tablet loading up different OS and browser versions. At €30 a month its not cheap but cheaper and faster than having multiple testing stations.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.browserstack.com">www.browserstack.com</a></p>
<p>We’d love to hear your views on this and if you know any other tools that do a better job than the ones we covered. Please leave your comments below.</p>
<h3>Update September 2015</h3>
<p>Since writing this post we have started using a whole new batch of productivity services and Apps and I wanted to share them with you. Thanks to <a href="https://disqus.com/by/disqus_QS93RzVyQp/" data-action="profile" data-username="disqus_QS93RzVyQp" data-role="username">Melanie Gardner</a> who posted a comment below we have discovered <a href="http://www.invisionapp.com">InVision App</a>, this is a game changer for presenting and collecting feedback on UI and UX artwork to clients remotely. This really has changed how we collaborate with our clients, well worth the money, check it out.</p>
<p>We have also started using a time tracking App called <a href="https://timelyapp.com">Timely</a> which allows us to see how much time the team here in the studio are spending on a project and it gives us great reporting that shows us if our pricing is working for us and our clients as well as where we can become more efficient in how we use our time on projects. Works great via your browser as well as the mobile app and if you are lucky enough to have an Apple Watch there is an App for that too.</p>
<p>The last is <a href="https://slack.com">Slack</a>, this is a widely used messaging app for team collaboration. This is used by us all every day to collaborate and share thoughts, links, and visuals on what we are working on internally. It&#8217;s like Skype or any other IM client but on steroids with the features you always wanted such as organising chat topics into subjects or projects, Drag and drop file sharing, private groups and it&#8217;s all highly searchable.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


The top 6 productivity tools for a digital agency in 2015

<p>Welcome to our round-up of top digital marketing trends for 2015. As ever there are many digital channels to consider but we&#8217;re going to take a quick look at the top trends we think will matter most over the next 12 months.</p>
<p>We’re not just looking at trends, we look at things marketers are doing more of and that you can take advantage of and use right now. Let’s start with Mobile.</p>
<h3><strong>Mobile </strong></h3>
<p>Looking at this year’s growth in smartphone penetration and mobile traffic, having a Mobile Marketing strategy is in fact now compulsory. If your digital marketing is not optimised for mobile you are losing. In the Republic of Ireland, Comreg reports that for the 2nd quarter of 2014 smartphone use rose to 59%, a 14.7% increase in the previous period. Source: <a title="ComReg Market Report" href="http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComRegPR11092014.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ComReg Market Report September 2014 (PDF)</a>.</p>
<p>Google has put a new focus on website mobile-friendly functionality. Mobile usability is now “relevant for optimal search results.” This emphasis is underpinned by the release of a new tool in Google Webmaster Tools called &#8216;Mobile Usability’.</p>
<p><strong>Mobile Payments<br />
</strong><br />
Global Mobile payments will rise to $142bn by 2019, but which provider will be the dominant force in payment services?</p>
<p>Retale&#8217;s new mobile report offers some insight:</p>
<ul>
<li>36% have used mobile payments before, over double the 2012 figure.</li>
<li>Almost 3 out of 5 (56%) are interested in using mobile payments when shopping for holidays.</li>
<li>24% say mobile payments are inconvenient relative to cash, credit and debit cards.</li>
<li>Nearly 30% cited privacy concerns as a potential obstacle to them using mobile payments.</li>
<li>53% of ‘young people born between 1980 and 2000’ (there was another term here but I redacted it) have used mobile pay in-store (17% higher than average)</li>
<li>When asked to choose a mobile payment solution they would prefer to use in-store, 51% said PayPal with Apple Pay in third place with 10%.</li>
</ul>
<p>Despite the surge in traffic, mobile website transactions account for single-digit percentages. So while customers do research goods and services with their smartphones they are less likely to use their device to pay for them.</p>
<h3><strong>Content</strong></h3>
<p>Good, relevant content is still a must-have for any <a title="The Digital Strategy Battlefield" href="https://friday.ie/blog/the-digital-strategy-battlefield/">digital marketing strategy</a>. For content to work online, it typically needs to be one or more of 3 things for users to engage and share it: interesting, informative or funny.</p>
<p>As smartphone use continues to grow customers are consuming much more content and at a faster speed.</p>
<h4><strong>What does this mean for marketers?</strong></h4>
<p>The way that users engage content on smaller screens has shifted to a more visual, graphics led way. The rise in popularity of social apps such as Instagram, Pinterest and Flipboard and the ubiquity of YouTube.</p>
<p>For businesses and brands, this means a shift in focus for using photography and in particular video. With the availability of 4G services on smartphones, users are consuming video content while on the go.</p>
<p>In 2015, we will see more marketers planning and releasing highly visual content for mobile. More than this, because of the sheer pace of news these days, it&#8217;s important that marketers own not just the management and release of their content but also as much of the production process as possible. For example, that means taking simple photographs, making video tutorials or filming workshops.</p>
<p>Most people can absorb information faster and easier through video as opposed to by reading. A well-executed video of 60 &#8211; 90 seconds can do a lot more to communicate the value of a product or service than just words on a page. The technology is here now in terms of devices and mobile broadband, the opportunity is to bring that content in that can get to work quickly.</p>
<h3><strong>Customer Experience</strong></h3>
<p>Customer experience has never been more critical to online success. With the marketing shift from the old customer ‘awareness’ to awareness and also ‘advocacy&#8217;, customer experience is key to building loyalty, retention and sales.</p>
<p>It is hugely important to have great content and technology of course, but how we develop, measure and optimise the customer journey on top of this is key to success.</p>
<p>eConsultancy have recently published a new report on the <a title="Voice of the Customer" href="https://econsultancy.com/three-takeaways-from-the-voice-of-the-customer-roundtable/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Voice of the Customer</a>. There are 3 key main steps the report talks about as best practice approach to customer experience.</p>
<p><strong>Listen</strong><br />
Online surveys are helpful to get honest ratings and feedback on your products or services.</p>
<p><strong>Measure</strong><br />
Use tools to help track and record information about your customers. Google Analytics, Mouseflow, Trends. Data that you get on bounce rates, devices and drop-offs can help you to optimise the CX on your website.</p>
<p><strong>Act</strong><br />
Data and feedback are of little use if they are not used and acted on. It is important to plan and review and assess customer experience on an ongoing basis and take action to both address issues and enhance and improve.</p>
<p>Key reference points for understanding customer experience include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Understanding how mobile users research / buy products</li>
<li>Understanding when and where customers use different devices</li>
<li>Using offline data to optimise the online experience</li>
<li>Using online data to optimise the offline experience</li>
<li>Ensuring consistency of message across channels</li>
<li>Having a clear understanding of customer journeys across channels</li>
<li>Training teams in new techniques, channels and disciplines</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>Wearables</strong></h3>
<p>Wearables have been a hot topic this year and 2015 will see some big new technology launches. Opportunities are still just available to those at the software/application development stage but it is important to be aware of changes. The big players are in the mix with Google Glass, Apple Watch and Oculus Rift which Facebook recently acquired.</p>
<h4><strong>Oculus Rift</strong>.</h4>
<p>In good shape after Facebook’s take over, <a title="Oculus Rift" href="http://www.oculus.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oculus Rift</a> hopes to launch “in months” according to CEO Brendan Iribe. Hardware is currently available for developers and there is big potential here for virtual meetings and healthcare as well as video gaming.</p>
<p>Oculus Rift CEO Brendan Iribe talks with Peter Rubin at the Web Summit, November 2014.</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Web Summit Day One - Brendan Iribe in conversation with Peter Rubin" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9tz6gai51Mo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<h4><strong><br />
Apple Watch</strong></h4>
<p>The jury is out on whether Apple’s <a title="Apple Watch" href="https://www.apple.com/watch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new device</a> will fly. Its release date is set for early 2015 and prices are from around €300 and there is <a title="Forbes iPhone speculation" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2014/12/03/apple-iphone-6s-release-date-speculation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some uncertainty</a> of the benefits of owning the watch and iPhone being big enough to justify having one. The potential with fitness apps is interesting and car location devices and electric power level readers such as BMW’s planned car app. Watch this space.</p>
<h4><strong>Google Glass</strong></h4>
<p>Google Glass is a piece of augmented reality technical genius right out of Minority Report. The possibilities are endless. Its biggest challenge is how to get it to work well for people who wear normal glasses. The device essentially works by projecting a semi-transparent prism directly on to the wearer&#8217;s retina.</p>
<p>Check out this brilliant how it works infographic from <a title="Martin Missfeldt" href="http://www.brillen-sehhilfen.de/en/googleglass/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Martin Missfeldt</a>.</p>
<p>Update 15/01/2015: Google is discontinuing the first version of Google Glass with a new version due later in 2015. <a title="Google Glass discontinued" href="http://mashable.com/2015/01/15/google-ends-tony-faldell-nest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More at Mashable</a>.</p>
<h4><strong>In Summary</strong></h4>
<p>The big trend for us in 2015 is mobile content. The evidence is there:</p>
<ul>
<li>Double-digit increases in device usage and specifically website traffic.</li>
<li>Content should be optimised for mobile first, and have a steady balance between visuals (photography, video, graphics) and copy.</li>
<li>Marketers should have as much control as possible of content strategy, management and release and engage experienced creative partners where needed.</li>
</ul>
<p>For more facts and figures on Mobile Trends specifically, check out this interesting post on <a title="the Future of Mobile" href="https://mobile1st.com/ready-for-mobile-cro-marketings-new-optimization-science/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Future of Mobile CRO</a> by Dan Engel.</p>


Digital Marketing Trends in 2015

<p>Final nominations for the 2014 Web Awards have just been announced and 7 of our websites are still in the running with Friday.ie making it into the Best Agency category. The Irish Web Awards take place on October 22nd in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4,  so see who we are against <strong><a href="http://webawards.ie">here</a></strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Online Only Publication</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.dublintown.ie/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">dublintown.ie</a></p>
<p><strong>Most Innovative website</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.dublintown.ie/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">dublintown.ie</a></p>
<p><strong>Best SME website (Medium)</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.koh.ie/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">koh.ie</a></p>
<p><strong>Best SME <strong>website (Small</strong>)</strong><br />
<a href="https://friday.ie/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">friday.ie</a></p>
<p><strong>Best eCommerce Medium</strong><a href="http://carlscarpa.com/"><br />
</a><a href="http://irishlandmark.com/">irishlandmark.com</a></p>
<p><strong>Best Microsite<br />
</strong><a href="http://www.dff.ie/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">dff.ie</a></p>
<p><strong>Best Agency</strong><br />
<a href="https://friday.ie/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">friday.ie</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Cross your fingers for us! We&#8217;ll keep you posted&#8230;</p>


The WEB AWARDS: 7 Finalists

<p><em>A lot of businesses look at strategy and planning in an ad-hoc way. They make reactionary calls as they go when the latest businesses needs and new technologies surface.</em></p>
<p>Have you ever worked on a project and the scope of requirements are adjusted half way in? For example, someone decides that the business needs a new Smartphone app with geo location and dynamic content&#8230;. just because.</p>
<p>If you’ve shared this experience you’ll be aware how reactionary businesses can be, but there’s an opportunity for some long-term thinking. A plan.</p>
<h2 class="p1">The Digital Strategy</h2>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">If you plan to be successful online, it’s vital that you focus on what you want to communicate, who you want to communicate to and how you’re going to communicate it. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The digital marketing strategy is the plan that ensures your digital marketing efforts are tailored to your target audience, in a way that maximises return on investment. </span>It can take a lot of work and effort to put your plan in place. But like many things in life worth doing, they can be a battle.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><i>“As you’ve probably discovered, great work makes us uncomfortable…”</i> <a title="Doing the best I can - Seth Godin" href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/08/doing-the-best-i-can-.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seth Godin</a>.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p class="p2">There are different approaches to engaging a digital strategy. I like to think of it as planning an assault on a digital battlefield. At the core, your strategy should include four steps:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong><span class="s1">Research: survey your battlefield</span></strong></li>
<li><strong>Goals: Set the Targets and Objectives</strong></li>
<li><strong>Plan your assault: Tools &amp; Tactics</strong></li>
<li><strong>Review &amp; Optimise</strong></li>
</ol>
<p class="p2">Within each of these stages, a number of techniques and digital channels can be used, from search marketing to web design &amp; user experience to social marketing.</p>
<h3 class="p1"><b>1. Research</b></h3>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">You can never have too much research. Know your target audience inside-out, find out how, when, why and what they are looking for online. Try these:</span></p>
<ul>
<li>Surveys / Interviews</li>
<li>Client Workshop</li>
<li>Keyword research</li>
<li>Competitor Analysis</li>
</ul>
<p class="p2">Staying on the competition; Competitor Analysis often includes steps found in traditional marketing such as products, prices, etc. There are a couple of important factors to consider:</p>
<ul>
<li>User experience: Gauge the usability or customer service of your business and contrasted it with your competitors and potential substitutes. What are their websites like, how is the buying or engagement experience?</li>
<li>Features/functionality analysis: An evaluation of the features and functionality provided by your business or service compare with the competition.</li>
<li>Reach: how do your competitors rank in search results, for social media loyalty and engagement?</li>
</ul>
<h3 class="p2"><strong>2. Goals: Set your Targets</strong></h3>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Where are your marketing problems? Where are the opportunities and how can digital marketing help?</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">It’s difficult to measure your success if you haven’t set specific goals and targets. </span>It’s not enough to simply “build website sales”. How much do you want to grow and over what time frame?</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">All goals should be realistic and achievable. Everything you do must be relevant to your customer behaviour. Decide what you want to achieve: </span>Keep current customers? Get new customers, up your average purchase value, or increase leads?</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) will help to structure your goals and create measurable goals. For example:</span></p>
<ul>
<li>Increase click through rates.</li>
<li>Increase conversion rates.</li>
<li>Reduce bounce rate.</li>
<li>Reduce cart abandonment.</li>
</ul>
<h3 class="p2"><strong>3. Plan your assault: Tools &amp; Tactics</strong></h3>
<p class="p2">At the planning stage you should be aware of:</p>
<ul>
<li>What you are doing well and where you can improve across digital channels.</li>
<li>Your Target Audience</li>
<li>Your Competition</li>
</ul>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1">If you know who your competitors are, you have some idea of how to differentiate yourself in your industry. But it&#8217;s your target customers that should be the strongest influence on your brand or business. Having <a title="The Birth of Friday a well developed brand" href="https://friday.ie/blog/brand-identity-and-the-birth-of-friday/">a well developed brand</a> is important because: </span></p>
<ul>
<li>Your business must engage your target audience to drive sales.</li>
<li><span class="s1">Your target customers demographics and buying habits will determine who </span><span class="s1">you are, and therefore what your brand is.</span></li>
<li>Your brand affects how well you sell or talk to your target audiences.</li>
</ul>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Tools &amp; Tactics</b></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Based on our research and planning, which digital channels are best suited to engage our target audiences? We can break them down into 3 areas: Reach, Convert and Engage.</span></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Reach</strong>: These are typically off-site channels that build awareness and drive traffic on to your website or web properties: Search Optimisation, PPC, Affiliate Marketing and Social Media.</li>
<li><strong>Conversion</strong>: What takes place on your website or app. What features should your website have? What content will appeal to your target audiences? Key tasks include: website optimisation, good user experience, device friendly content, sale conversion, lead generation, testing.</li>
<li><strong>Engagement</strong>: Building customers and followers to drive repeat visits and sales. Key tasks: Content marketing e.g. Blog, promotional email marketing, customer support, social media engagement.</li>
</ul>
<p class="p1"><a href="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/the-funnel-digital-marketing.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-592" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/the-funnel-digital-marketing.jpg" alt="the-funnel-digital-marketing" width="580" height="825" /></a></p>
<h3 class="p1"><b>4. Review and Optimise</b></h3>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The final and essential piece of the Digital Strategy jigsaw is to monitor performance and KPI’s.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Google Analytics, Ranking reports, Sales and Conversion tracking. The following graphic uses data from a recent eConsultancy survey which asks what are the top digital channel priorities for companies in 2014.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><a href="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/key-digital-strategy-channels.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-591 size-large" src="https://www.api.friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/key-digital-strategy-channels-1024x601.png" alt="key-digital-strategy-channels" width="1024" height="601" /></a></p>
<p class="p2"><em>&#8220;Digital thinking should be embedded in marketing strategies as a matter of course. Digital may not be relevant to every marketing effort, but organisations need to properly consider digital and change their culture and processes to become more digitally oriented.&#8221; </em>from eConsultancy&#8217;s <a title="The Modern Marketing Manifesto" href="https://econsultancy.com/blog/62668-our-modern-marketing-manifesto-will-you-sign" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Modern Marketing Manifesto</a>.</p>
<p class="p2">At Friday, as an agency we have to be commercially focussed and know where &amp; why money is being made online. We have to understand how to measure and optimise key commercial metrics to be able to help solve marketing problems for our clients. If you need help planning or executing your digital marketing strategy, <a title="Contact us" href="https://friday.ie/contact/" rel="noopener">give us a shout</a>, we can help.</p>


The Digital Strategy Battlefield

<p>You have an idea for a new business, it&#8217;s exciting and you just want to jump in and get going before someone else steals the idea. You think you are 100% clear about your goals and strategy, the business plan is all in your head. “Stop holding me back!!”</p>
<p>I’ve been involved in many startups over the years and every time it&#8217;s a completely different experience. No two businesses are the same but all have a lot in common in terms of the process of setup. Here are a few words of wisdom that I would give someone about to start this process.</p>
<ol>
<li><b>Create a business plan</b><br />
At number one, because its probably the most important. A business plan helps you make decisions you have not thought of yet. It forces you to ask yourself valuable questions and may even change the direction of your business. The process gives you the opportunity to take a close look at what the business will be; who it will be targeting; how you will manage your finances, establish goals, responsibilities and strategy. This will save you from making rash decisions when things get crazy. You may even find that writing the business plan will make you abandon the idea.. better now then 6 months after the business is set up.</p>
<p>There are plenty of business plan templates out there, find a good one and try to complete as much as you can. You will need this if you are looking for investment but even if nobody reads it apart from yourself, it&#8217;s an invaluable exercise and something you should read back over every few months to make sure you are on the right track when things get going.</li>
<li><b>Know your market</b><br />
This is obvious but you’d be surprised how many jump in without doing the research. Look at who you are selling to, ask the questions:<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&#8211; Who needs this product/service?<br />
</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&#8211; What are they willing to pay for it?<br />
</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&#8211; What is the overall market worth for this product/service?<br />
</span>&#8211; What share of the market are you after?<br />
&#8211; Who else is offering this, how are they getting on?The best thing The Friday Agency did as part of our business plan was ask our clients about what they wanted. Use Survey Monkey and get as many one to one chats with people in the know as you can. People will be happy to help if you ask them, don’t be shy.<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></p>
<p></span></li>
<li><b style="line-height: 1.5em;">Have a USP<br />
</b><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">You either have a completely original idea (very rare) or there is already someone else doing want you want to do. You need to stand out from the competition, what&#8217;s the point in being the same? It doesn’t have to be ground breaking &#8211; it could be price, process, how you communicate or the after service you offer. Look for gaps in the market in terms of how people are doing what you want to do. One of the USP’s of The Friday Agency is knowledge and experience. Everyone has that, right? You’d be surprised. Having worked in the digital marketing industry for a combined 60 years we have met a lot of people who hold high positions and may have good management or people skills, but what&#8217;s missing in a lot of cases is real knowledge and passion for how they create what their client wants.</p>
<p></span></li>
<li><b>Be realistic about timing<br />
</b><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Patience is a virtue. Don’t rush into it, think it through. This brings me back to my first point about creating a business plan. What we learned from the process of developing our business plan was that it took about 3 times longer than we thought. We are glad it did because it helped us lay a solid foundation that will continue to hold value for us in the future.</p>
<p></span></li>
<li><b style="line-height: 1.5em;">Choose your partners wisely<br />
</b><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">In this day and age most people in serious relationships move in together before they get married (unless of course like me you are Catholic, that would be living in sin!). It gives couples a chance to get to know each other in a more intimate way and find out if they can live together without someone being murdered. The same principles should apply for business partners. Before you set up a business with someone, you should have experience of working closely with them. The Friday Agency came to be by 2 digital marketing companies coming together with a similar vision. We shared an office for almost a year before we launched the agency and worked on several client projects together. This allowed us to establish roles based on the knowledge of each other&#8217;s strengths and because of this we have a great company structure, transparency and solid relationships.</p>
<p></span></li>
<li><b style="line-height: 1.5em;">Get a good solicitor and accountant<br />
</b><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Don’t just go for someone you know, talk to a few accountants and solicitors before taking one on. This should be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Every company needs an accountant but you should do as much of the company accounting as you can yourself at the start. Don’t rely on an accountant to do everything for you, stay on top of it and not only will you save money on fees but you will have a clear picture of where the company is going financially. I have heard stories from accountants about their clients being genuinely shocked when they are told that their businesses were in financial trouble. Until they had their end of year accounts done, they had no idea how their own businesses were doing financially.</p>
<p>Solicitors are a necessary evil, nobody likes paying them but if you are going into business with anyone you need contracts and agreements in place. Conflict resolution processes need to be hammered out, prepare for the worst. We found ourselves in strange conversations discussing things like, what might happen if one of us died &#8211; morbid I know but it&#8217;s likely that if we agree these points in writing now there will be no problems if something bad happens, nobody wants to end up in court, where solicitors are the only winners.</p>
<p></span></li>
<li><b style="line-height: 1.5em;">Brand is everything<br />
</b><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">We are a design focused marketing agency, so we are obviously going to spend time on our brand and we can do it ourselves without much cost. No matter what you are doing this is one of the most important parts of the set up process. Your brand tells people who you are, what you do, your personality type and the quality of your work. You could be highly skilled in what you do, a master of your craft, but if your brand is telling the wrong story it could undervalue what you do to a point where it may reduce your business&#8217;s real potential. Invest in your brand.</p>
<p></span></li>
<li><b style="line-height: 1.5em;">Keep costs down<br />
</b><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">You have to spend before you earn. Sense check every bit of spending you do. Ask yourself if what you are paying for is going to add real value and help increase turnover in the short to medium term. Don’t splash out to look flash, you don’t need a hot tub in the office! Only hire the talent you really need, each staff member should be earning their salary, expenses plus profit. They should be busy otherwise you are wasting your money. Running a tight ship will ensure you will maximise your potential to grow as a company.</p>
<p></span></li>
<li><b style="line-height: 1.5em;">Recognise your strengths and do what you love<br />
</b><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">I have been self employed for 13 years so I have had to work on every aspect of my businesses whether I liked it or not and whether I was good at it or not. This had to change in order give this new business the best possible start, as well as keeping me in a good supply of fun and enjoyment. I wanted to focus on doing the things that I enjoyed, and of the things I liked doing I wanted to focus on only doing what I was good at. There are plenty of things I am good at but I don’t enjoy and visa versa. I forced myself to recognise these areas and my goal where possible was to hand the responsibility to someone who both enjoyed and was good at carrying out these tasks. This basic principle will allow you to have fun at work while working efficiently and also minimise messing things up.</p>
<p></span></li>
<li><b style="line-height: 1.5em;">Have fun<br />
</b><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Ok, number 10 may be repeating what I said in number 9 but its important and who wants to read a Top 9! You have to have fun at work, it&#8217;s not going to be a lol-fest all day everyday but it should be enjoyable, you shouldn’t dread going into work. The only way to have fun at work is to take control of your own destiny and steer yourself in a direction that gives you real satisfaction. Passion is a good place to start: if you don’t have passion for what you do, STOP and do something else if you can.</span></li>
</ol>
