from Digett

As the resident Lionel Hutz here at Digett, I occasionally get asked about trademark and copyright issues—or, to be specific, the use of the symbols representing those concepts in design and copy elements. What I've found is that the questions remain the same from party to party, so I thought it might be helpful to cover some basic ground on the why, when, and how of using trademark and copyright symbols.<!--break-->

First, some important disclosures One: I am not a lawyer.

Let me get that little detail out of the way, lest the state bar comes knocking at my door. I grew up around them and I'm comfortable navigating that world, but if you want real legal advice, pony up and pay for an attorney. It's not necessary for a discussion of this topic, however, which leads me to my next point.

Two: This is only about the symbols—®, ™,℠, ©, and the like.

It's not about the value of trademarks or copyright registration, since I don't want it thought that I'm discouraging the protection of one's intellectual property. Nor am I attempting to address how someone goes about the process of registering. Moreover, I'm covering only situations faced here in the U.S.; this may not apply in other jurisdictions.

Why you should use trademark and copyright symbols

Contrary to popular belief, it's not required; you do not have to use trademark and copyright symbols in your design or copy to guarantee or safeguard your legal rights. Additionally, there are good reasons to not use them, particularly if you want to avoid having your publications look like crop circles or an untitled Led Zeppelin album. Granted, some may argue with me over this, especially if they fear trademark abandonment or infringement. However, while trademark rights are based on use, that means use of the mark, not the symbol.

But even if it's not legally required, using the symbols may have benefits. For one, should you ever find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to defend against unauthorized use of your mark or copy, it may help to show that you've established a record of putting people on notice. In addition, some people might view mark registration as a sign of professionalism or stability.

Another important point: you may only use the registered trademark symbol (®) if your trademark is, indeed, registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. There are no restrictions, however, on the use of ™ and ℠, which indicate an intention to seek trademark/servicemark status. There are no limitations or restrictions on using the copyright symbol (©).

When and how you should use them

If you (or your lawyers) insist on using trademark and copyright symbols, the key is moderation. To illustrate:

"At Digett®: Interactive Media & Marketing™, we believe in protecting intellectual property℠ (© 2010 Digett®: Interactive Media & Marketing™, all rights reserved)."

Yes, that's an exaggerated scenario, but it's equally annoying when an organization uses the registered trademark symbol every time they print their name. Folks, it's unnecessary, not to mention illegible. Here are a few suggestions for judicious use:

In print

Consider using trademark symbols (registered or otherwise) one time in your copy, preferably in a header or toward introductory content. Leave it out an all subsequent references to the mark. Copyright symbols should not be used, in my view.

In logos/identity

This is a case-by-case call, for me. Most logos I come across look stilted, even marred, by the inclusion of a trademark symbol. However, if it's considered during the planning process and not tacked on afterward, it can be done with grace. Just make sure it doesn't distract or confuse.

Online

On websites, I'm a fan of using a global footer for both copyright and trademark notices. It's usually unintrusive, and for those who are truly concerned about enforcement, it ensures inclusion on every page of the site. In other online communications, particularly those that involve personal engagement, I tend to err on the side of exclusion. Nobody wants to talk with Digett®: Interactive Media & Marketing™.

Someone else's mark

Here's a potentially sticky situation. If you're using a trademark registered by another person or organization, you're not required to use the symbol unless specified by agreement. However, many people choose to include it anyway just to avoid potential hassle. I think that's the safe play, but avoid multiple references/uses, if at all possible.

Mobile is big and getting bigger. Unfortunately, there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach for mobilizing Drupal. Today, a plethora of modules and services exist to help developers create new iterations of traditional site interfaces. We chose Drupal’s Mobile Tools to help us mobilize McMillin Homes and create a custom user experience for their mobile visitors. Here's an overview of our process:<!--break-->

Mobilizing, at a Glance

1. Set up a mobile subdomain and configure its virtual hosts.
2. Adapt the site’s current theme for mobile devices.
3. Move from a single-site to a multi-site installation.
4. Configure redirections, session cookies, and theme switching.

Subdomains and Virtual Hosts

By convention, typical subdomains for a mobile site are "i" and "m." After adding m.mcmillinhomes.com to our DNS entries, we needed to verify the virtual host for our main domain (mcmillinhomes.com) would accept requests at m.mcmillinhomes.com as well. This configuration ensures both content and data are shared across the two sites and is necessary if you want to reuse the existing Drupal installation.

Theming for Mobile

The whole purpose of creating a mobile version of a website is to enhance the user experience for visitors accessing a site from a mobile device. A site like McMillin Homes may be perfectly effective on a modern monitor, but after it's scaled by a high percentage to fit on a smart phone, it becomes significantly less usable.

McMillin requested a mobile-based version of their site to streamline the process of finding a home from a mobile device. With this goal in mind, we designed a stripped-down version of the site's existing theme. There's little difference between coding a mobile and a desktop theme.

When you begin to build a mobile theme, however, be aware of your use of jQuery. Some mobile browsers are incapable of running javascript. To alleviate this situation, offer an alternative, non-scripting solution if the user agent is not supported. Here's an example of iPhone-specific detection:

template.php <?php
  class template {
    public static function supported() {
        $user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];
      if(preg_match('iphone',$user_agent)) {
         return 'supported';
      } else {
         return FALSE;
      }    
    }
  }
?>
Transitioning to a Multi-Site Installation

When we first redesigned and deployed the new McMillin Homes site in 2009, we didn’t have the foresight to structure our sites directory to accommodate for a multi-site installation. Our original folder structure was that of a typical Drupal installation: sites → default → files, sites → all → themes, sites → all → modules, etc.

Usually, subdomains don't require a multi-site configuration, but in our case, m.mcmillinhomes.com needed to share files and a database with the main domain, mcmillinhomes.com. They also needed to cache simultaneously, as one.

We transitioned to a multi-site installation by adding two new directories inside our sites directory: sites → mcmillinhomes.com and sites → m.mcmillinhomes.com. After creating those, we moved the original themes folder, housing one contributed and two custom themes, into the themes folder in the new mcmillinhomes.com directory. Here's an example of how things look now, after the modifications:

New, Multi-Site Folder Structure

• sites → all → modules
• sites → default
  • sites → default → files
  • sites → default → settings.php
• sites → mcmillinhomes.com
  • sites → mcmillinhomes.com → settings.php
  • sites → mcmillinhomes.com → themes
    • sites → mcmillinhomes.com → themes → mcmillin
    • sites → mcmillinhomes.com → themes → mcmillin_green
    • sites → mcmillinhomes.com → themes → mcmillin_mobile
    • sites → mcmillinhomes.com → themes → zen
• sites → m.mcmillinhomes.com
  • sites → m.mcmillinhomes.com → settings.php

Because our files and modules weren't moved, the integrity of the site wasn't compromised. Functionality remained intact and uploaded images to the files directory continued to be correctly called.

Configuring Mobile Tools

Once the steps above are completed, configuring Mobile Tools is a breeze. The module is highly configurable and the UI is straightforward.

We enabled automatic redirection of the mobile user to m.mcmillinhomes.com when navigating to mcmillinhomes.com on a mobile device. The theme switches based on the URL. We included a link to the non-mobile version of the site at the bottom of the mobile theme so visitors can still access the desktop version of a site from their mobile device, if they wish. To achieve this result, append ?nomobile=true to the URL.

Helpful Resources

• Mobile Tools - supplies Drupal developers with tools to assist in making a site mobile
  • Make your site mobile with Mobile Tools - Mobile Tools documentation
  • Switching between Desktop and Mobile - forum thread in Mobile Tools support queue
• BrowsCap - provides a replacement for PHP's get_browser() function
• iPhoney - a free iPhone web simulator for designers & developers

It has been said that the best ideas come when you’ve run out of them. While this has generally been true for me, I would like to add one more truism that has proved correct in my life: the best opportunities appear just when you’ve stopped looking. I came to Digett through a very circuitous route; a friend of a friend knew someone who, if unable to give me a job, would at least be a great contact in the Boerne area.

Mark Figart was kind enough to help me with a practice interview and give of his time, even when there was likely nothing to be gained from it. Before I got the chance to meet the Digett team, however, I decided to do a little research.<!--break--> So like any Internet-savvy young adult, I snooped around Google, seeing what I could see.

The colors! The slick designs! A blog that is actually up to date! I knew immediately that this was where I wanted to be.

The Learning Curve

Fast forward several months. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks learning that behind those slick designs is a well-oiled machine, run by creative people who love what they do. As a person who is not anything close to an expert on Internet marketing (or marketing ... or even really the Internet), I am constantly amazed at the wonderful things going on at Digett. Open and friendly communication between employees and clients—as well as the use of an endlessly flexible content management system—allows clients to squeeze every drop of use out of their websites.

Coffee, Anyone?

Internships are rarely glamorous, but it does not follow that they are a waste of time. Au contraire, they are probably the best way to get involved in a company and learn from what its members do. I’m the newbie around here, so I’m often used as a fresh pair of eyes when it comes to adjusting older projects that everyone else has been staring at for hours on end.

I also get the chance to help check off items on Digett’s wish list—things they’ve wanted, but have been unable to scrape the time together to do. Tasks so far include creating scripts for client tutorial videos (Become a Drupal pro, one minute at a time!) and indexing the monstrosity that is Digett’s handbook.

I love problem-solving and streamlining, so jobs like indexing and SEO are right up my alley; I sit in a room all day and soak up information like a nerdy sponge. All of the creative energy, talent, and willingness to work that is found at Digett transfers into big success for clients—and a way-excited intern.

Customer service is the process of taking care of a customer before, during, and after the sale. While the level of service may differ with the value or cost of the goods or service, the outcome should be the same: a pleasant customer experience that reinforces perceptions gathered through marketing materials, referrals, etc. That's the theory, at least.<!--break-->

The Marketing Department can do a stellar job of broadcasting "core values" and "company culture," but it is in the details, no matter how small, that a company improves on customer service and creates a pleasant customer experience. That's the reality.

Recently, I had the opportunity to experience the harsher side of that reality; one of our vehicles started making a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, noise (yes, that is a technical term) somewhere around the rear wheels. The diagnosis: the repair would require a proprietary piece of equipment to fix the ailment. Now I had to venture out of my comfort zone of local experts.

I asked around and received referrals to the local dealership. This particular dealership has a good reputation in the community and was my next stop. The only person not talking on the phone assured me he was a service tech and could handle my request. From his somewhat reclining position, he gave the appearance he was listening, but returned a blank stare. After a few taps on the keyboard and a long awkward cell phone call, the service tech nonchalantly informed me it would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $700 for labor and several hundred dollars for parts because they really didn't know what it would take until they got in to it ... but ... if I would give him my name and the Vehicle ID number he would schedule my repairs for first thing in the morning.

Needless to say, I was not feeling all warm and fuzzy about leaving my vehicle with this tech or this dealership. I decided to search for dealership that would be a little more forthcoming with estimates and at least give the appearance they wanted my business. This was not a stellar experience.

Next, I phoned a dealership in San Antonio and was greeted with an automated phone system. After pressing several entries, I was routed to a live person who informed me that I reached the wrong department ... click! Persistence paid off; I successfully reached the service department. The tech was prompt, courteous, attentive, and was able to give me an estimate range within minutes. After a bumpy start, this encounter ended positively.

As we started for San Antonio, it was decided that another call to the local dealership service department might—just might—yield a better outcome and save transportation time. This time, the service technician was attentive, courteous, prompt, and thorough. In a matter of minutes I had a repair estimate and knew the time needed to complete the job and that the necessary parts were in stock. I was assured the he would let me know the actual costs before any work would be performed.

Wow, was this the same dealership that I had visited a few weeks earlier? I had said nothing of my previous experience. After leaving the vehicle, I received the promised call and confirmation of the original estimate. Several hours later, I was able to pick up my repaired vehicle and paid the exact costs I had been quoted. To my surprise, the vehicle was delivered washed. After much frustration, the dealership was able to redeem itself and provide a pleasant customer experience. Still ...

Several days later I had the opportunity to have an in-depth conversation with with the service manager and relate my experience (the good, the bad, and the ugly). Thing is, that conversation—the bad and ugly parts, at least—shouldn't have been necessary. This is a reminder to all of us that have interaction with customers and clients. We must pay attention to the details.

 

In case you haven't noticed—and judging by the attendance, you haven't*—we made a few changes the other day over at our portfolio. We're not talking major renovations; I simply added three items and removed two. However, the experience left me with a touch of melancholy.

The two items I cut from the list—the Boerne CVB and the Cibolo Nature Center—were jobs performed for local clients with whom we've had long-standing relationships. Those relationships aren't in jeopardy, incidentally. For one, we simply wanted to show off some of our recent work; additionally, one of those websites was built on a platform we no longer use or emphasize.

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Part of me should rejoice in having to remove those two sites, as it means (1) we've been around a while and (2) we've grown up. That said, looking back is, in many cases, a useful exercise before moving forward. Having done so in the course of our content audit and in simply being here for almost two years, a few things have struck me.

We are indebted, and committed, to our community

Since our 2001 founding, Digett has taken an active role in the Boerne community whenever possible. Indeed, the two sites I removed are hardly the only local projects in which we've had a hand; we've built sites for local organizations and businesses like the Boerne Chamber of Commerce, Boerne Rotary, ADKF, Mint, and Flying Circle Bags. That's not to mention several others in the Hill Country or San Antonio areas.

A great deal of our initial and ongoing success has come from our involvement with these clients, and we are thankful to have relationships with them. The sphere in which we work allows us to have a clientele that is thousands of miles away, but we relish the chance to meet face-to-face with our local partners.

Our client roster is pretty impressive

I say that in reverential, not haughty, tones. In fact, part of what initially drew me to Digett was the list of heavy hitters for whom the company has worked. That list includes Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby, entertainment superstars like Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young and Jackson Browne, H-E-B, Schlumberger, Arizona State University, and more.

Those are good names to have on a resume, though we maintain that each client is equally important and impactful. If anything, our work with those above reinforces our belief that people and organizations of almost any size may benefit from our expertise and insights.

Digett's portfolio is just the tip of the iceberg

We only list a small handful of our work on that page, and that's for a number of reasons. For one, you come up against diminishing returns pretty quickly; nobody's going to page through hundreds of projects. Additionally, as I mentioned above, we've grown. Some of our previous work doesn't reflect our current capabilities. Digett continues to evolve, and our focus on producing measurable insights rather than as a service provider is becoming clearer.

That said, we still recognize and appreciate every project we've tackled since 2001. We have great hopes and expectations for the next decade.

* The first part of that sentence is, indeed, a tribute to Harry Doyle.

In A Guide to Stock Photography, Part 1, which I'll rename The Easy Part, I talked about where to find good stock photography. It becomes a little more difficult when it comes time to choose that perfect photo for your website. So what makes a good stock photo? How do you know which photo to choose? Perhaps I can shed some light.

If you wander into the camera store and ask the guy behind the counter which is the best camera, he's likely to say (well, he should say), "It depends what you're using for." And that's the same answer you'll likely get when asking about TVs, computers, cars—and now stock photography. Choosing the right photo depends on what you're using it for, which brings me to my first, and most important, point.

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Make it Relevant

Choose photos that are relevant to your industry. Just because you have a affinity for cats doesn't mean you should paste one on the home page of your real estate site. It's okay to think outside the box and get creative with your choices, but in order for your site to seem legitimate, the reader has to be able to make a reasonable connection between the copy and the imagery.

Make it Unique

Avoid cliché imagery. If the photo you choose looks like stock photography, then it's probably cliché and should be tossed out. Look for unique perspectives, interesting lighting, selective focus, and unexpected cropping.

Pictures of people who come across authentic are the hardest to find, but they're out there. Try to find people that don't look like models and don't look posed. You may have to wade through 100 models to find that unique person who will do a better job of connecting with your user.

Make it Fit

As you begin your search for the right image, know where you're going to put it. If you're looking for an image to go in your header, don't choose an image that's taller than it is wide. If you find an image that you like, but you know it will take a lot of Photoshop to make it work (flipping, cropping, rotating, etc), don't use it. Don't force it; keep looking.

In addition to orientation, try to choose images that fit the color palette of the site. If you've got a really light, white site, avoid big, bold, dark photographs. The photography should enhance the content on the page, not distract the reader.

Tip: Many stock photography websites have really nice advanced search features that will allow you to search by orientation, color, and many other useful criteria. Look for the advanced search feature to narrow your results and save some time.

Quick Tips Keep looking, don't settle

At times, it may seem like a daunting task, but until you're completely satisfied with your choice, keep looking. I always like to think that the perfect image is on that next page.

Watch your time

On the flip side of "keep looking" is the real world, where we've got timelines and budgets. It's easy to lose track of time when sifting through thousands of photos. You might consider setting a time limit and, when it's up, choose the best of the ones you've seen.

Use a comp

If you're not sure about a particular image, try before you buy. Many sites will allow you to download a comp, which is a watermarked version of the photo in question. Use it in your mock-up and then decide if it's worth spending the money.

Buy only what you need

Stock photo sites offer more than one version of a particular photo. Larger, high-res files are available for more money, but don't spend the big bucks if you're just using it on the web. Pay attention to pixel count and resolution.

In Conclusion

Like I said, photography plays an important role in the make-up of your website. Choosing the right image can make all the difference. Knowing where to look and what to look for can help expedite the tedious task of finding that perfect image.

One of the more challenging aspects of content governance is maintaining a blog, particularly if it's well-established and contains years worth of posts. Trust me on this one; as part of my role as guardian of Digett's content, I've been auditing and maintaining a half-decade's worth of blog posts from more than 10 authors. Invariably, the emotional response to this activity tends to range from:

• Wow, that post was insightful, straightforward, and written in something approximating proper English.
• Sweet Caroline, what were we thinking?!?

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It's in the latter situations that I find the ROT (Redundant, Outdated, Trivial) or OUCH (Outdated, Unnecessary, Correct, Have to write) content scoring techniques only do so much. After all, you still have to do something about troubled content. Unfortunately, there are a couple of potentially sticky blog governance situations that have me scratching my noodle:

Updating incorrect, outdate, or unneeded posts

From what I've seen, the content community is still split on whether old blog posts should be subject to edit or should just stand untouched. Frankly, I see the pros and cons of both positions. On one hand, you don't want incorrect or grossly outdated posts polluting your positioning; on the other, you don't want to look like you're trying to mislead or rewrite history. You also face SEO and taxonomy considerations.

But when it comes down to it, I can't help but think that rewriting a blog post is a blow to authenticity. Instead, my suggestion is to append updated or corrected information. If you were wrong, admit it; if times have rendered a previous tactic or opinion useless, let people know. You'll likely gain more from your honesty than you would from just taking a big, pink eraser to your content.

However, I'm still confounded by posts like this. To me, removing it is a zero-sum game—but I haven't pulled the trigger, obviously. What's stopping me?

Dealing with an ex-employee's blog

We had an employee leave recently, so I've been forced to wonder what should be done—if anything—about his blog posts. I'm not concerned about ownership issues or propriety; rather, I wonder if there might be any perceived loss of knowledge or depth from the Digett team. Besides, having one blog post after another from former staffers is akin to hosting a virtual morgue.

Still, some of those old posts are remarkably popular and well-indexed, and serving up redirects to visitors looking for very specific content isn't a wise idea. Plus, they serve as that all-important record of achievement that helps establish us as subject-matter experts, even if the author no longer works here. Ultimately, I score this as an awkward situation caused by our commitment to being open about who we are.

Controlling exploding taxonomy

At present, we have 19 terms that categorize our blog posts—though only 5-6 are used on a regular basis. That's neither here nor there, and I'm certainly not trying to ignite a debate in the Drupal community about the proper incubation and use of taxonomy terms.

I'm just looking at this from a user experience standpoint. For one, being faced with so many taxonomy terms is confusing and causes hesitation, even doubt, when navigating a site. Moreover, seeing content weighted toward a few items in the midst of a wide-ranging taxonomy tends to make me think we might appear impulsive or unfocused in our publishing efforts. However, there can be drawbacks to removing taxonomy terms, though I can't cover them all here.

I imagine I'll be dealing with these three issues for a while; technologies/techniques change, as does our firm, and I just don't see myself posting to the Wine and Dine category. I don't want y'all knowing what I eat.

Do you have any sticky blog situations of your own? Share 'em.

A few weeks ago, Mike Wolfsohn of Ad Age wrote about what lessons agency directors could learn from Project Runway. Yes, the fashion design, reality TV show, Project Runway.

He argued that Tim Gunn, the wisdom-imparting godfather of the show, can be a role model for agency creative directors, as he encourages each designer to find solutions that reflect personal style, but are still appropriate for their target audience.

In our office, we frequently invoke another treasure of Tim Gunn advice from Project Runway: beware the monkey house.

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Why the Monkey House?

As Tim Gunn once described to a straying fashion designer, when you first enter the monkey house at the zoo, it’s an assault to the olfactory senses.

If you stay there a bit, you only notice the smell occasionally. A whiff here, a whiff there.

Hang out in the monkey house for a while? You stop noticing the stench at all. In fact, the monkey house might start to smell just fine.

Does your marketing stink? Simply ask.

Could your marketing be buried in monkey house funk and you don’t even realize it?

Make sure to take account of your marketing’s effectiveness frequently. Step back and objectively analyze ways you can improve or change.

• Does my website design reflect what my company has become? Does it serve my audience’s needs?

• Have web design trends evolved so much that my site now looks dated? Or worse, is my site dated compared to my competitors’?

• Am I taking advantage of all the marketing channels available? Is social media right for me? Could I improve my performance in search results?

Use the resources available to continue your evaluation. How do others perceive your brand and efforts? Beyond discussions with friends and family at the dinner table, consider surveying customers for their feedback.

Last year, Digett client Mint received more than 400 survey responses from their enthusiastic customer base, which provided valuable feedback about what their customers wanted going forward, the value their customers felt they already receive, and suggestions for potential usability improvements to their website.

Customer assessments can provide precious peeks into consumer behavior, plus, customers will have few qualms about telling you when something stinks.

Remember that quality marketing insight can come from many places. Even Project Runway.

Today I imported a small sample of one of Digett’s subscriber lists housed at CampaignMonitor into Flowtown for the first time. Flowtown is a brand-spanking-new social media mining tool that takes my company’s email subscriber lists and tells me way more than I thought possible about my subscribers. The results are pretty stunning—almost scary, really.<!--break--> What once was a very generic list of generally faceless and unknown newsletter subscribers suddenly talkes on a multi-dimensional and “living” character, as Flowtown matches a significant percentage of imported email addresses with one or more of their owners’ social media profiles.

A Whole New World

Anecdotally put, in the time it took to enjoy a single sip of coffee, “john@johndoe.com” became Jonathon Douglas Doe, Jr., and Flowtown gave me links to John’s Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn profiles, as well as his photostream on Flickr, his music list on Pandora, and his wishlist on Amazon. I went from knowing John’s email address to knowing what he had for breakfast (from his last tweet), who he hangs out with (from his Facebook profile), where he works, and what he does for a living (from his LinkedIn profile). I also happen to know now that John likes fishing and running. Whoa.

Because I imported my list into Flowtown directly from CampaignMonitor, Flowtown inserted custom fields into my CampaignMonitor subscriber list and injected values for fields it labeled networks (the social networks the subscriber is associated with), city, state, country, gender, and age group. Suddenly, the gross inattention I’ve shown toward segmenting our own house list seems slightly less consequential, as I now have a remarkable amount of data associated with my subscribers, all at minimal cost in time, effort, and dollars.

Klout Integration

One other piece worth mentioning is Flowtown’s integration with Klout, which allows Flowtown to display an “influence rating” for each of your subscribers—or at least those for whom Flowtown finds an associated Twitter profile. I’ve not used Klout before, so I had to experiment with it a little for myself. Klout “scores” a person’s influence on Twitter as determined through consideration of five criteria:

• Reach—person is gaining a strong following and message is being heard
• Demand—person is sure to engage with others and not just follow to be followed
• Engagement—person works on building relationships through conversation
• Velocity—content has been interesting enough for others to spread
• Activity—person is able to generate conversations with very influential people

By knowing the Klout score of your subscribers, you theoretically have a prioritized list of people that you may want to engage with more often if you want your own messages to be spread.

Email Campaign Generation

Turns out that Flowtown has a rudimentary email campaign capability built right in. So if you’re not using CampaignMonitor, MailChimp, or one of the many other platforms, you could conceivably use Flowtown’s built-in email platform. However, my own inspection of this facility—admittedly a bit hurried—revealed an interface too simplistic to indicate a well-developed tool. I did notice, however, an auto-responder capability, something that’s been missing from CampaignMonitor for way too long, in my opinion.

Since the campaign tool is probably not extremely useful, then Flowtown’s ability to provide code allowing one to embed a subscription signup form on one’s website may not be practical, either. But keep in mind, Flowtown is brand new, and my guess is that many of the seemingly immature features will continue to develop over time. Given, however, their choice to integrate with popular and rock-solid email services like CampaignMonitor and MailChimp, I’m thinking that developing another alternative to existing email platforms may be more of a distraction for Flowtown right now than its value would warrant.

Is it Useful?

So we have this frightening amount of information about our subscribers at our fingertips. Now what do we do with it? Simply knowing something about a subscriber does not necessarily improve my marketing tactics if I fail to make use of it. And just because I suddenly know where to find you on four or five separate social networks doesn’t make me your online friend. I'm wondering whether I wouldn’t personally be creeped out a little if someone approached me through Facebook, for example, and said “Hey, I see you subscribed to my company’s email newsletter! Can we be friends?” Uh, that would be a “no.”

Don’t get me wrong. While I might struggle to envision a practical scenario for leveraging this information in a meaningful way, I can’t help but think someone, somewhere will find great value in it. Truth be told, after exploring the social media profiles of only a few subscribers on my newly augmented subscriber list for just a few minutes, I reached out to one of them on LinkedIn, gaining a new connection in the process.

I used a pickup line similar to the one above, mentioning that I noticed they subscribed to our newsletter. I wanted to see the reaction I would get and figured LinkedIn users might be less annoyed with this type of approach than would users of a more intimate and personal network. For what it’s worth, my new connection seemed totally unaffected by my mining of his information, whether out of ignorance or indifference. Maybe I’ll recognize more opportunities to leverage Flowtown now that I’m aware of this amazing capability.

I’ll end on a cautionary note. This post might serve as a wake-up call for those of you who were not aware that by just providing an email address you potentially open up details of your life to be seen by people whom you may not have known existed. It’s fine if you’re okay with that. But if not, you might want to point your browser to Flowtown for yourself. Try it out for free to see what they might be revealing about you.