Recently, while attending a fundraiser for one of our clients in Kansas City, I was asked if Tower29 had the “Silver Bullet” when it comes to Internet Marketing. I have to admit I was a little dumb-struck by the question. This gentleman seemed pretty knowledgeable about SEO and other online marketing tools, so surely he knew that there are as many different customers as there are websites – each with their own unique habits, wants and needs. So I found it odd that he would be so insistent that there could be a “magic, one-shot… silver bullet” solution to marketing online.

This isn’t to say that there is no “silver bullet”. However, we need to use the analogy correctly. Just as garlic and a stake-to-the-heart will work on vampires, silver bullets are specifically reserved for werewolves; zombies must be decapitated; ghosts - busted; etc. The idea is that each individual target requires it’s own unique approach. Hence, “target” marketing.

An effective targeted or “direct” marketing campaign uses one or more advertising media to generate a response that can be measured. This is often referred to as a “conversion”. Measuring these conversions will allow business owners to determine the effectiveness of their campaigns

For this very reason, Internet Marketing has become more and more important to a successful business marketing strategy. It’s not that the internet is where all of your particular customers are to the exclusion of traditional media. We will never claim that someone who stumbles on your website is definitely going to buy something from you right then and there. But, by paying attention to the results of your efforts, we can track, measure and significantly improve your marketing effectiveness.

So, we test ideas, analyze results and use these results to develop strategies. We expose your most profitable products and services to those whom are most likely to benefit from them. Monitor the results and make adjustments. If you don’t sell products online, your goal may be to capture viewer data, offer information, coupons, white papers, establish a connection, create a dialog [BLOG]. Even if you have no intentions of ever selling products or services online, you know the advantage of having more of the single most significant business resources at your disposal. Viewers.

If your target is werewolves, there IS a silver bullet. If your target is vampires, use garlic. Whatever the case, know your target and use the appropriate “weapon”. If you go in unarmed, without an effective internet marketing strategy, you have already lost.

HotLegsKC.org is a website that Tower29 had the pleasure of building and launching on August 14th in  support of a fundraiser for a very amazing organization in Kansas City, MO; the Touched by Cancer Foundation. Check it out and contribute to a great charity. Read what KC Community News had to say about this “leggy” fundraiser.

About Hot Legs of Kansas City

We cooked up a pretty cool contest and we’re calling it Hot Legs of Kansas City. Here’s how it works: We’ve recruited 16 notable Kansas Citians — doctors, dentists, athletes, broadcasters, students, entrepreneurs and business superstars — to compete to earn the title of “Hot Legs of KC.” Chances are, you know one or two of these amazing and committed people. They all want to win this fundraising challenge, and here’s how you can help them sprint across the finish line.

About the Touched by Cancer Foundation

The Foundation was formed to empower those touched by cancer — either through a personal diagnosis or the diagnosis of a family member or friend — to embrace life and not accept a cancer diagnosis as a death sentence.  Touched by Cancer helps provide hope by sharing understandable, useful education and funding treatment-related and wellness-related grants in our communities.  The Foundation’s educational programs focus on diagnosis; treatment; patient advocacy; nutrition; complementary therapies; coping strategies; and, most importantly, sharing what others touched by cancer have learned on their healing journeys.

After multiple attempts by the Post-Dispatch’s photographer to catch us in the act of doing work, he was lucky enough to snap this quick shot of Tower29’s creative director, Ken Zarecki.  My guess is he was either checking his email or reading about whatever Apple’s next life-changing application might be, but no one reading today’s newspaper will ever know.

Check out the Post’s story on our building, the Ludwig Lofts.

Well, the BBC got wind of a Microsoft project that’s been talked about for a while in some tech circles.

Codename: Midori (everything needs a codename, right?) is what looks to be the new direction in a post-Windows world. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Microsoft dominates PCs all over the world. All this legacy code and thinking has come with some significant baggage when it comes to the way that people now want to use technology. More and more I find myself wanting to be able to access everything from a central location instead of emailing myself reminders to do things on the computer when I get home. Virtualization, Terminal Services, Remote Desktop, GoToMyPC, VNC, Box, Orb, Google Docs, synchronization software (remember the ‘briefcase’ icon on old laptops?), online project and client management software, even online email access… The list goes on and on of software and services that are either centrally hosted or that provide ways to easily access systems that have the stuff you want.

Thin clients were a great idea for corporations in the past, but have been waning in popularity - until recently. It may not be too long before you can access anything you want from work, home, phone, or maybe even public-access internet kiosks.

So… do you think the death of the OS as we know it is inevitable? Is Google going to end up dominating the new computing world with an online version of an operating system? Are the computers of the future just going to be dumb terminals that can only access the internet?