Here's the place to post them. Is there something you did not understand? Is there a new point you would like to make? Are there any new issues that you have discovered now you are applying your knowledge? Use this space to make your comments and to ask your questions.

Try to include the title of the topic disussed during the keynote that your question relates to (if there is one). Putting this at the start will help other participants find the topics they are interested in.

The classroom is open for one month and materials will stay here as a reference point for you for a further year.

Welcome to your Digital Training Academy: a great way to boost your knowledge and skills, helping you and your team get the most from digital marketing, publishing and communications.

All of us here at Digital hope you'll enjoy your Digital Training Academy, but we also hope you'll instantly be able to achieve more in your firm.

Find out how Digital Training Academy works

Whatever your involvement is in internet marketing, it’s useful to have a few great facts at your fingertips, so here are a few we put together based on the UK online media industry. Read through them and share them with colleagues. If you are taking part in a Digital Training Academy then we might have a few more for you as well. Read through them and think about additional cool facts that reflect the growth of internet media or marketing in your sector.

Read further...

Introducing a simple framework for best practice in online advertising and media planning. We use this model to explain the relationship between online advertising, traffic and sales. The advertising process in digital channels mirrors what marketers know from classic channels, and by unpacking the advertising effect into a funnel that describes the steps from ad attention, through advertising persuasion to sales results, marketers can better see the role advertising and the web plays in generating increased business.

Download the lesson handouts | Upcoming public training events you can join | Digital Media Planning Academy | Ask Danny a question about his talk | Ask about in-company training

TFM&A Technology for marketing and advertising 2008
Keynote lecture summary notes for participants

The rules of the marketing game have changed. The command and control television era where big brands delivered heavyweight messaging every night to the nation, has finally melted away. In its place a radically new structure has emerged that will dominate the next twenty years of marketing. Cultural evolution, catalysed by technology and typified by the web, has empowered media-savvy consumers with the tools to filter and select in a way never before possible. Customer expectations are huge and brands are failing. Trust has switched from institutions to friends, and the barriers to the flow of information have melted. The smallest of customers can have the loudest of voices. Society will never go back.

Read and download the lecture handouts | Upcoming public training events you can join | Ask Danny a question about his talk | Ask about in-company training

Danny will discuss the shift in thinking about communications with customers and what’s needed to get results for businesses, explore how audiences have tuned out of many traditional advertising channels and show why brands have to re-earn the love of their customers, engaging in real two way dialogue. He will show how smart brands – large and small - are connecting themselves to the Facebook generation through social media, social networks and a range of new digital channels.
PLUS attendees will receive free copies of new research about the future of ‘blended’ marketing from Danny’s team at Digital and the session will be supported by an online Q&A afterwards for all delegates.

Bookings: To apply for a place email our events team. | Visit Technology for Marketing and Advertising website | Latest news from TFM&A blog

Continue reading "13th February 2008: Falling in love 2.0: relationship marketing for the Facebook generation" »

Social media has changed the rules of publishing. These days any publisher who isn't connecting their readers together is missing out on the biggest driver of traffic and revenue. Involving the audience in the content of a site may still feel like a big leap, but as the web has grown up, the models of publishing have too. In this session Digital's team explore the principles behind effective social networking and ask why most publishers get it wrong. They provide plain spoken commentary about what magazines large and small need to be doing, and look at simple steps for getting started. Senior Associate Consultant Tom Bureau leads this session for us. As the former UK Managing Director of multi awardwinning CNET Networks, Tom built their range of online magazines, portals and networks based on the power of social networking. As part of this Digital Training Academy, Tom will be taking general questions about social media and Digital's Team will be feeding these into a live online classroom for event participants.

Submit your questions at http://www.digitaltrainingacademy.com/publishingstrategyclassroom/

The rapid pace of change in both the publishing industry and within the NHS has created an uncertain time for pharmaceutical marketing.Are these developments a threat or an opportunity? How will you react?

Digital’s workshop will get you up to speed with online communities and show you how pharma industry can benefit from social online media.

Visit the Healthcare Publishing Forum website for programme and details | Download the new Digital Insight Report about blended marketing published at the conference | Ask questions to our trainers in the Digital Classroom

Digital Web 2.0 Academy @ The Bookseller

Understand the models of blogs and the social context that fuels them. Explore what’s needed to get them working for you, and how they can be supported. Understand what makes writing work hard online, and the role of links and networks. Find out the mistakes you need to avoid. Discover how to build traffic to your blogs. See examples and models you can apply.

Download_event_prospectus | Bookings: To apply for a place email Sally Greetham or call her on 020 7420 6028 | More Bookseller events | More training events @ Digital | Viral Marketing Academy | Digital Case Studies Library

Digital Web 2.0 Academy @ The Bookseller

How does viral marketing really work? Why do some messages achieve the viral effect and most never get passed on? How can you harness its power? What are the risks and success factors? Which models can convert buzz to sales? What’s the right model for you? How can book launches be delivered through viral marketing? What are the tricks to viral success? How can you build database for the future?

Download_event_prospectus | Bookings: To apply for a place email Sally Greetham or call her on 020 7420 6028 | More Bookseller events | More training events @ Digital | Viral Marketing Academy | Digital Case Studies Library

Thanks to the folks at NetImperative and Weboptimiser, we had a great dinner tonight, with a big serving of Web 2.0 as a side order. It was a chance for a few of us back in London to chat about the new publishing models of communities and online audiences. As conversation expanded from how marketers can use online communities to how you harvest the wisdom of crowds, I figured that writing up a few notes might be handy to help some of the folks who were here tonight, as well as some who weren’t.
www.facebook.com | www.MySpace.com | Google tracks the growth of Web 2.0 searches | Second Life search volumes quick to follow

Continue reading "22 August 2007: Web 2.0 in the West End, and the tale of two Tims @NetImperative evening" »

Digital Web 2.0 Academy @ The Bookseller

How do social networks and communities on the web work in sales and marketing? What’s the relationship to your sites? How can you engage groups of readers? What content works online to nurture communities and how can you effectively architect their development? What’s the most effective model for you? How do you measure success?

Download_event_prospectus | Bookings: To apply for a place email Sally Greetham or call her on 020 7420 6028 | More Bookseller events | More training events @ Digital | Viral Marketing Academy | Digital Case Studies Library

Danny Meadows-Klue's keynote to the Polish marketing industry explores how online marketing has changed, again. The technologies of the ‘Web 2.0’ generation of applications and services have big implications for internet advertising and how internet marketers work. They have triggered a massive wave of participative communities, online social networks, user generated content and social media that have changed the landscape marketers work in. To succeed in internet marketing there are challenges in thinking, structure and marketing processes that have to be overcome. What are the challenges? What are the key elements of Web 2.0 that matter most? What are the tips from our team here at Digital for marketers to approach Web 2.0 services the right way?

Download What does Web 2.0 mean for modern, personalized marketing? Danny Meadows-Klue at Golden Arrow/SMB congress in Poland

Download the summary of Danny's keynote at the Internet World annual conference in London. This session - in partnership with the IDM - explored some of the issues around best practice in harnessing the brand effect in online marketing. It's taken from our series on advanced digital marketing in the Web 2.0 era.

PDF Download

If you have any questions please post them within the discussion space - Danny will aim to reply in the next few weeks.

Our Web 2.0 Academy for Marketers is a great way to get to grips with the potential of social networking and online communities. There are a collection of new approaches, communication channels and marketing philosophies to get to grips with and they're having as much effect offline as they are on the web. Marketing is suddenly about to change and if you're responsible for marketing then you need to be leading your firm's response.

Download digital_community_academy_short_course_outlines_3.2.pdf

Our next public one-day Academy is in London on 4th April. Contact us (TheTeam@DigitalStrategyConsulting.com) if you are interested in a place (£295 - discount for eBusiness Expo participants) and we'll send you the detail or visit our Term Time website to book online.

Danny's keynote at the eBusiness Expo conference tackles marketing in a Web 2.0 world. Drawing on lessons and findings from the Digital's Web 2.0 and Social Networking Academy, he explored key things you can do and key challenges you'll face. The idea behind Web 2.0 was born out of analysing the similarities between companies that had survived the internet bust of 2001. In this Academy we'll explore the common understanding of Web 2.0, and look at the software developments that underlie these trends. We'll also highlight core competencies of Web 2.0 companies, and how they harness their relationship with users to deliver even greater value.

If you have any questions please post them in the Classroom below.

Danny's keynote at the Technology for Marketing in February 2007 conference attracted over 400 people. His speech tackled Advertising 2.0, and what marketing in a Web 2.0 world meant for brands and the marketing teams behind them. He looked at
some of the most vibrant communities and explained the rules and structures for
creating successful communities. He presented a combination of hands on practice with the underlying theory which puts everybody in the right place for developing their own online communities over the year.

18 October 2007

Congrats today to all of the participants in this three month orientation level Digital Social Media Academy: Lizzy Ewer, Erica Pease, Judy Piatkus, Caroline Lenton, Pauline Rowson, Mithu Mukherjee, Nicola Beauman, Katie Johnson, Helen Griffiths, Alec Gregory, Simon Clegg, Emma Dowling, Thomas Caldwell, Sam Enthoven, Leda Sammarco. This Digital Social Media Academy includes an intensive romp through the beautiful, baffling world of blogging, creating online communities, harnessing social networks and a big dose of viral marketing. Graduates left armed with three sets of digital marketing plans for their own businesses, and all confirmed that they now feel much more confident and skilled in tackling digital marketing. The Digital Social Media Academy was first devised in 2003 and includes the practical use of blogs, Facebook, YouTube, and MySpace in consumer and business marketing for both large and small firms

Digital Insight Report - October 2007

It’s time for a change in marketing. We’ve seen periods of change before, but never on the scale now needed. The legacy of the first digital decade includes placing the absolute control of media in the hands of the audience, the removal of frictions in the access to knowledge, the capturing of conversations, a step-change in the scale of media fragmentation, and the arrival of whole new paradigms in communication. The pace remains daunting, and yet any brand failing to adapt, is assured to fail. Many classic marketing channels continue, but a new type of blended, connected marketing is called for. The arrival of social media, online social networks and the Web 2.0 era demands marketers rethink their approach even more.

Download report

The growth of internet access has greater implications than just an additional channel in the communications mix. As people explore the new platforms, they reappraise their use of the old ones, and as audiences swell the market becomes large enough to attract investment in content, entertainment and commerce. This virtuous circle has been fuelling the Digital Networked Society (DNS) and from this research snapshot for the UK market at the end of 2007, it’s clear that Europe’s leading digital economy has entered a new phase is the dynamics of use.

Download the UK market report

STA Travel create an online community and harness a social network. Learn how to get closer to your clients. As consumers are more exposed to different forms of advertising and in increasing amounts, it's time to listen to what they want and provide a strong customer experience that is valuable. This case study from STA Travel shows how to harness the power of creative and the web to do just that.

Download_STA_Travel_case_study

Hats off to the NetRatings team in London for some really savvy insights into how to crunch audience data. These graphs show new ways to measure the elusive form of 'engagement' based on a blend of the time spent with a site, the number of pages viewed and the involvement of the viewer. As the online industry struggles for smarter ways to think through these issues, this is a real leap forward in understanding.

Web Analytics Academy | Some of the challenges in web measurement for publishers and marketers

Continue reading "New metrics for a new era" »

Online or virtual communities, in their various guises, are fast becoming a andquot;me tooandquot; component of many corporate online strategies, in some cases their whole business model is centred around an online community - eBay, Match and Habbo Hotel. The increase in online communities continues to grow as the internet becomes more deep seated in our day-to-day lives and through the development of technology. What is an online community? Which communities are working? Who is benefiting from them today? How do they support your marketing strategy?
Find out more on Digital Insight Reports website

If you came to our seminar on Web 2.0 and advanced marketing practices, then these tips will remind you of some of the key takeaways. Whether you work for a global consumer brand, or run the smallest of micro businesses, there are ways you can weave Web 2.0 approaches into your website and your online marketing.

Continue reading "Digital's top five tips for Web 2.0" »

We've edited down our introduction to Web 2.0 marketing into something you can use as a recap of the key points from our lectures. We normally spend a whole day teaching Web 2.0 publishing and marketing, but these notes will introduce you to some of the concepts and get you thinking about how you can apply it to your own business. Go into the classroom and post your questions...

Download dsc_training_web_2.0 for advertising 4.0.pdf

The nature of the business objectives an advertiser has doesn’t change if they are advertising online vs offline. The web is just part of the media mix, and although it can satisfy more marketing needs than any other media, it’s still important to be precise about what the needs are.

The closer that media sales and media planning teams can get to the true marketing objectives, the more effectively they can do their job of designing the right campaign strategy, crafting the right media schedule and selecting the right formats.

Types of objectives
To recap, marketing objectives typically fall into three categories
• Brand objectives
• Acquisition objectives
• Retention objectives

Continue reading "Exercise: Setting marketing objectives" »

Joel de Rosnay is the rare visionary who uncloaks the future with the richest of insights. He describes the internet as a relationship technology and is fascinated by the new structures of relationships that are emerging. His books chart the history and the future of our relationships with technology and the Agor Vox online newspaper he helped build in France has pioneered the publishing models of citizen journalism. While the media industry is focussed on Web 2.0, he’s unravelling Web 3.0.

Continue reading "Time for Web 3.0" »

Every web publisher suddenly wants to be Web 2.0. Many are still to understand its meaning and implications. Only a few have the resources and the structures to let them try. This is about the web as platform.

While the behaviour of the media industry represents myriad ways of approaching the problem, everyone we spoke to shared one common stumbling block - the challenge of access to talent and the challenge of keeping good people.

Read more: Web 2.0 - The Platform Web

Online advertising is changing the face of marketing across Europe. Since 2000 the web has become established as a mainstream consumer media channel, and across the continent marketing budgets have now followed audiences – although the pace and scale varies greatly between countries. This seventh edition of the Digital Europe tracking study collates fresh research to give a snapshot of where the industry is today.

Download dsc_dir_digital_europe_200606_d31.pdf

As hundreds of thousands of small British firms start to harness the power of the web to get customers, maintain relationships and sell direct, this simple guide provides a checklist of practical steps many have found useful. Every firm can benefit from online marketing, and as the techniques have matured, they've become simple to use.

Download dsc_dir_web_marketing_for_smaller_firms_4.4.pdf

Alongside our Web 2.0 & Social Networking Academy we run more than 40 other Academies to help marketers of all levels of experience get the most from the internet and the new marketing tools.Download dta_prospectus_short_off_to_digital_school_dec_2006_6.2.pdf that lists what we're running this term, and email us (TheTeam@DigitalStrategyConsulting.com) with the sorts of topics you feel your team could benefit from more help with.

Also visit our Term Time website with the latest details on the public access course we're running this spring.

If you've logged on to this blog then the chances are that you're interested in our Web 2.0 Academy, so I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Danny, and I'll be your trainer. It was back in 1994 that I got involved in Internet media and by 1996 I'd started helping other people - especially media sales guys - make the transition into digital media and digital marketing. I'm really looking forward to seeing you during our training Academies. If you'd like some more background about some of the things I've done in the internet marketing and publishing industries then there's a biography in our press centre.