But is mobile usage of websites really that high? We took a look at a couple of client sites and the data suggested otherwise. This led a hypothesis that the published data is probably biased by usage of a small number of hugely popular sites and apps from the big publishers, retailers and brands as well as massive use by gamers. If so, what’s the reality for most businesses and organisations?

To test this we decided to analyse data from a range of websites. In partnership with HEERA we gained access to 21 academic and educational websites alongside 5 from the commercial sector. This gave us a decent sample – on average the sites receive over 350,000 unique visitors per month and 700,000+ visits. Total traffic ranged from 6 million unique visitors month to over 10 million.

So what do the results tell us? The results for both segments are shown in the chart below showing the percentage of visits coming via mobile devices:

Mobile is definitely growing. In August 2010 it accounted for less than 3% of all visits in both segments. In the education sector it had doubled by August 2011 to just over 5% before dipping back to 4% in September. For the smaller commercial segment growth was much faster passing 9% in September (and is now at 11%).

Within the HE segment there was significant variation. This can be seen on the chart below which shows mobile visits (as a % of all traffic) for eight of the respondents:

Mobile accounted for between 3% and 8% of visits to the educational sites. Usage is growing at a reasonable pace though less than for the commercial sites. This might in part be due to the younger audiences using the HE sites who are less likely to own a smartphone, or at least to have a package with extensive data/web bandwidth. This will be explored more fully in a follow up post looking at the actual devices used.

What does this mean for businesses? Well mobile is here, and here to stay. It’s growing but perhaps not quite as rapidly as we’ve been led to believe. Usage of the most popular apps, games and sites has skewed the data somewhat. The picture for most organisations is that mobile accounts for less than one in ten visits to their sites. In HE it’s much lower, for commercial sites slightly higher but still less than 1 in 8. At the very least, all site owners need to be looking at their analytics data before deciding what, if any, investments to make in mobile content, advertising or apps.

Foursquare has been offering vouchers and discounts for longer yet businesses had seemed reluctant to embrace the service to attract new customers. I’ve been enticed by several of the “Special Nearby” panels only to be presented with rewards that are for the venue’s “Mayor” (person who has checked in the most for those not familiar with the term). This seems to be a wasted opportunity to drive new footfall into outlets though its understandable given foursquare’s relatively low user base.

With the release of foursquare 3.0 users can prompt foursquare for recommendations when they’re going out. Venues are recommended based on factors such the as user’s behaviour, that of their friends, the popularity of venues, time/date and quality of tips. You can also search for specific venues such as food, coffee and nightlife.

One aspect to it that feels odd is that lack of venue ratings. The tips attached to venues vary both in quantity and quality. A ratings system similar to Tripadvisor might offer more scope for suggestions based not just on check-ins but the overall visitor experience. An initial play with the restaurant recommendations for tonight left me feeling less than impressed. To be fair, it might be the lack of data in Birmingham that makes the results seem underwhelming.

To help businesses get more from the service, foursquare have also enhanced their merchant services with a range of extra offers. The impact of Facebook Deals is evident with some similar offers and others that are trying to go further such as Flash specials.

Will this latest release help foursquare grow or stop Facebook gaining further momentum? It’s way too early to tell though the user numbers don’t bode well for foursquare. With 7.5 million users worldwide, it still feels like a service that is popular with early adopters despite being over 2 years old. Facebook’s is reported to have approximately 30 million users in the UK alone. This might work against foursquare with bars, restaurants and retailers increasingly targeting the larger audience available on Facebook.

Whilst it’s certainly a novel approach and shows how important digital has become as a response channel, it just felt like the agency was trying to be too clever.

QR codes are presented as providing a great channel for customer response to a press ad, on packaging or via POS to view content or access offers. Many of us will have seen these in magazines or on posters with various case studies of other methods of using them (e.g. in store windows). Earlier this year Facebook was rumoured to be adding them to people’s profile pages, a move that would certainly have raised consumer awareness.

So why do I think this example is too clever for its own good? Well for starters do consumers understand what QR codes are and how to activate them? Research by BBDO & Proximity provides some useful data. This shows much lower usage in the US compared to Japan where the technology has much higher acceptance. There’s little research that supports the usage in the UK though it is likely that the pattern will be similar to the US: high use of smartphones (and their cameras) but low awareness or usage of QR code readers. Equally, it seems unlikely that Waitrose’s target audience will be early adopters of this type of technology.

Aside from the relevance to consumers, is it an appropriate response mechanism for TV? QR codes are fine in magazines where the print quality and resolution ensures that they work. I couldn’t get it to work at all: either via pausing or trying to scan the last 2 seconds of the ad. Did anyone test this? And by test I mean run the ad the way most of us view TV, sat on a sofa at a variable distance from the set. This in itself is likely to have rendered it pointless: anyone who noticed it would have missed it by the time it registered.

This feels like an agency-led idea where the agency view is that QR codes are cutting edge (or more so than just having a URL). Either that, or it in some way brings a level of integration to a traditional TV campaign. The online elements of the campaign involved the obligatory microsite (with the URL promoted on the ads) and a Christmas iPhone app . The QR code was there to take visitors to the App Store to download it. Yet nowhere in the ad was any attempt made to actually inform audiences of the online content. Featuring the URL almost becomes a bolt-on as there’s no explicit incentive for non-customers to visit the site.

Waitrose aren’t the only brand to do this. M & S’ Christmas campaign uses various calls to action. Some ads festure the website URL whereas the 60 second version tells viewers to search online for “M & S Helper”. Top marks for use of a search phrase to direct consumers but less so for the failure to link the ad and content. We all get the ad theme “Don’t put a foot wrong this Christmas” but in a 60s ad, couldn’t the benefits of the online helper have been more explicitly pushed? Ditto for Waitrose, why not promote the app via the ad?

Are agencies still so addicted to the creative execution that the overall benefit to the brand gets diluted? Based on these campaigns, I’d say yes.

Our approach is simple. We work with clients to understand their objectives and their audiences. We then develop tailored online marketing programmes designed to deliver improved ROI. Clients appreciate our objective approach: we don’t design or build websites, sell online media space or create online content. As a result we’ve no vested interest in any area of digital.

So if you want to develop your digital marketing in 2011 get in touch!

This talk looks at the way retailers are using social media and how many of the benefits can work for SMEs who don’t need large budgets to develop dialogues with customers and prospects. The session also looks the the often overlooked processes that any business needs to consider before diving into the social space.

The presentation is in Nottingham. More info on the Nott Tuesday site.

Our small agency scene in the Midlands is certainly thriving with plenty of digital agencies across the region as well as the high profile concentration of businesses in Birmingham’s Digbeth and Jewellery Quarters. There’s also the stampede into digital from the region’s established advertising, PR and design agencies all looking to tap into the growth of the digital sector.

The result (regionally at least) is a highly competitive sector with clients able to shop around. This seems to be having the unfortunate effect of creating an increasing element of price competition. The competition from traditional agencies who are making clever use of remuneration proposals to secure digital business from the pure-play digital shops is contributing to this.

This price sensitivity is a concern in the context of the region’s digital ambitions. Leading any economic recovery requires (or at least implies) a range of contributory factors – sector leadership, a large pool of highly skilled people and most importantly, solutions that command a premium in the market place attracting the best clients to the region (which in turn attracts the skilled workforce).

I’m not convinced that our digital sector is there yet. New Media Age has just published its annual guide to the Top 100 digital agencies who will generate revenues of almost £1 billion in 2009.  As you’d expect, most of these businesses are London based. However, there are a number of regional players with highly successful, growing businesses that are attracting national and international clients. Sadly, the Midlands isn’t one of these regions with only one agency, Leamington’s Freestyle Interactive making the top 100.

Other regions fare considerably better. Manchester (including the wider Cheshire area) has several agencies in the list. The superb Code Computerlove continue their growth with McCann Erickson’s Manchester digital operation making the list. There are also the digital teams at Cheshire’s Amaze and the Manchester arms of several other big digital players, e.g. Reading Room. There are also plenty of other exciting digital businesses outside the list including MagneticNorth.

Bristol has an equally successful scene with E3 making the list along with DMG, owners of Brisol’s InboxDMG and HyperlaunchDMG. Both of these agencies would make the list on their own (the combined revenue of the group puts them at number 5 on the list). Similar success is evident in other cities/regions where there is a mix of businesses of varying sizes.

The first thing we need to realise is that digital is strong everywhere and Birmingham is behind the curve and not ahead of it. Of course, Birmingham has some great agencies led by Clusta and Made Media. If we go further afield we can add the aforementioned Freestyle into the mix, Leicester’s Fuse, Xibis and Effect as well as growing digital teams at ad agencies Cogent and McCann Birmingham. Step into Staffordshire and there are the viral agencies Tamba and Koko.

Perhaps we also need to look outside of the City limits at what works and why in other regions. Manchester’s success in digital shows no signs of abating yet the region isn’t resting on its laurels. A recent NESTA report highlighted the challenges in continuing the economic growth from digital/creative industries. For a City that see’s its competitors as Barcelona or Milan, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Manchester continues to harbour bold ambitions. It certainly shows an appreciation that economic success is an ongoing, moveable feast. Success yesterday is no guarantee of success tomorrow.

We also need to be looking at the best agencies in the market. Our ambitions should be to see Birmingham develop the next AKQA or Glue London (insert the agency you aspire to here). Digital is new and evolving so age is no barrier to success (and many in the top 100 are less than 10 years old). In the short term, the region needs to be attracting people from London and Manchester. That’s a tall order. To attract the talent, we need the clients, brands and work that attracts the workforce.

Shouting more loudly about our commercial successes is a prerequisite, an area the region fails miserably at compared to Manchester and others. This should be coupled with a greater commercial focus and that targets the premium end of the market. The recent Birmingham City Council website fiasco is a case in point. That the website was overpriced, under-developed and poorly executed has been widely debated elsewhere. The BCCDIY response despite scoring some technical points does our digital ambitions no favours either.

The answer to £2.8 million of badly spent digital investment isn’t a freebie knocked up by a group of mates in their spare time. Good intentions aside, it risks devaluing the commercial aspects of digital marketing. And these are absolutely vital if we’re to create a vibrant, successful, employment-generating digital marketing sector.

Of course, the BCCDIY has one positive – collaboration – and this will be critical to our chances of massively growing the region’s digital businesses. However, it needs to be commercially focussed collaboration where businesses partner up to fill gaps in skills or service to secure new contracts. There are plenty of skills and talents across the region’s digital agencies. Winning business from bigger competitors is possible by partnering with the right team. It’s irrelevant whose name is on the bills if it brings in the work. It’s also an approach that offers costs benefits (useful in the current climate) when pitching against these bigger agencies with larger headcounts.

Coupled with this is the need for a more competitive streak especially when pitching against our bigger Manchester, London and Bristol rivals. The recent news that Birmingham International Airport has appointed a Bristol agency absolutely rankles when there is abundant choice locally.  Maybe the first step is a  regional voice for digital that exists to drive awareness of the region’s capabilities. One reason for the success of Manchester and Bristol is their trade bodies. Bristol Media and Manchester Digital showcase the successes in and out of the region, help businesses find each other and speak as one voice over issues of importance to their respective regions. This is perhaps the area that we’re most lacking and something we should address if we’re serious about our digital future.

The site reputedly cost £2.8 million, four times its original budget. This is a staggering sum to pay for a website and what’s been launched represents incredibly poor value for taxpayers’ money. Exactly how the site budget escalated is a matter of conjecture and speculation. Comments on the Post’s site from agency heads echo this view and clearly the Council need to provide some answers especially as its partnership with Capita is supposed to save money.

There are several issues that I’ve got with the site. Firstly, how many contractors contributed to this mess? The phrase “too many cooks” springs to mind…More importantly who actually controlled this? What accountability is there for this disaster? Why the project creep and how much of this could have been avoided had the right partners been chosen in the first place?

The most frustrating part is that on the one had the City Council, AWM and others want to develop the regions’ creative offering. The City is encouraging digital and talking up the region’s ability to lead the economic recovery through a thriving, innovative digital industries. And then they release this nonsense that does nothing to help the credibility of these ambitions.

The Council’s response was that the site is for the residents and not the Twitterati. That comment alone shows the sheer lack of understanding of digital in general and social media in particular. Most of those commenting were residents, business owners or people working in the City. Twitter enabled us to discuss this, for people to air their views. Prior to the Internet, a story like this would have resulted in a pile of letters to the local newspaper. Now people can discuss and debate via a range of sites, blogs and of course Twitter.

Sorry BCC but you can’t have it both ways. You can’t embrace digital on the one hand and then complain when you don’t like what’s being said via digital channels. The site is poor and there’s no way it represents value for money. So rather than criticize people why not provide some answers to the concerns and comments? After all, many of us involved in the industry still can’t get our heads around the cost. Exactly where did the £2.8 million go?

What do I mean? Well many sites will be re-developed following the appointment of a new supplier. For our purposes, the key is that launching a new version of a site needs to take into consideration search engine visitors. Why? Well if you’re new site has a new CMS, more functionality or has just grown organically it’s likely that the structure will have changed and therefore many pages indexed by the search engines will no longer be pointing to valid pages on the new site.

The simple answer for many sites may be custom error pages with easy links back to the new home page. However, that might be fine in some instances but what about long-tail searches where the consumer is expecting to be deep-linked to a detailed product page? It’s unlikely that this visitor will be re-assured with an error page let alone make the effort to click on the home page link and then navigate their way around (or search) for the desired product.

The solution is to plan for the change and engage in search engine management. This is basically the process and steps put in place to ensure that visitors arriving via search engines are not hindered in the period following the launch of a new site.

The start point is to look at your analytics. This should tell you the importance of search (in general) and also ID the depth to which you need to act whilst the search engines catch up and index your new site. Key is to ensure that high volume searches AND high converting, long-tail searches are not prevented from finding the correct content. Simple redirects from the old pages to new sections and product pages are quick and easy to deploy.

The other side is to use the increasing functionality of the webmaster tools that Google, Yahoo and Bing offer. Again planning is key to make sure that the new sites can be submitted as soon as launched. A simple line of code from each engine gets you started. Each of the webmaster tools vary but the results are worth the effort.

A site which launched a week ago, submitted to all three engines via the webmaster tools (and with XML sitemap) is now well indexed by two of the three main search engines. Redirects ensure that visitors still clicking on old listings in the SERPS get to the new home page or the main section pages. Key to this was a close relationship between the two agencies which ensured that any needed amends were made as required.

Search engine management is a simple process and your developers and SEOs should work in partnership to ensure that everything that can be done is planned and implemented as soon as the site launches. There’s no excuse for the old agency get out of jail card that “it’ll take up to xx months” for the engines to see the site. If it’s a completely new site and URL then that may hold true but for a second, third, etc version of a site it’s rubbish.  More importantly, it’s not a process that’s costly just one that requires a solid understanding of the importance of search, some technical amends and some monitoring post-launch. In the current climate, every visitor counts so why willingly let traffic slip away?

We’re also down in London at the end of the month at The Marketers’ Forum. Clarity Digital owner Jason Navon will be giving a presentation on social media to a group of practioners. The talk will look at what the social media landscape means for brands, case studies of brands who are engaging with customers via social media and some of the pitfalls. More information can be found on The Marketers’ Forum site.