WordPress is fresh software, but its roots and development go back to 2001. It is a mature and stable product. We hope by focusing on web standards and user experience we can create a tool different from anything else out there.”

WordPress is publishing software with a focus on ease of use, speed and a great user experience. WordPress is blessed with an active community, which is the heart of open source software.

WordPress is a powerful personal publishing platform, and it comes with a great set of features designed to make your experience as a publisher on the Internet as easy, pleasant and appealing as possible.

It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages.

The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to identify individuals with high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create Viral Messages that appeal to this segment of the population and have a high probability of being taken by another competitor.

The term “viral marketing” has also been used pejoratively to refer to stealth marketing campaigns—the unscrupulous use of astroturfing on-line combined with under market advertising in shopping centres to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm.

To find out how Inspire Creative Media can help with your viral marketing campaign contact us today.

Inspire Creative Media believes technology doesn’t have to be technical and that the customer should be in control. This means being able to update their website, business blog, intranet, shopping cart, as and when you please.

In all instances Inspire Creative Media starts with this premise, leaving our customers happier than when they’ve arrived. One great advance has been, website/blogging platforms which allows end users to get more for their money.

With the popularity of blogging software such as Blogger, Vox, Live Journal, Movable Type, many companies and private individuals are able to connect with their customer base in an interactive way.

Popularity of this sort, always brings change and now the more sophisticated platforms can help website designs.

Using an intuitive back end system which gives you the freedom to update, change and amend your content on the fly.

We make no apologies for using these platforms as we believe in:

1. keeping it short and simple (kiss).
2. a clear divide between design and content.
3. keeping the customer in control of updates.
4. excellent support from Inspire Creative Media.
5. our customers experience being a good one.

This transparent formula has won Inspire Creative Media new business in the SME market place, helping individuals, private sector businesses and public sector organisations to acquire a robust, well designed web presence at a fraction of the normal cost.

The most requested requirements are:

1. we want to make updates ourselves .
2. we need support if things go wrong.
3. we need a design that won’t cost the earth.

If your interested in upgrading your intranet, website, business blog then your in the right place, so get in touch.

Marketing Communications

Marketing communications is defined by actions a firm takes to communicate with end-users, consumers and external parties.

A simple definition of marketing communication is “the means by which a supplier of goods, services, values and/or ideas represent themselves to their target audience with the goal of stimulating dialogue leading to better commercial or other relationships”.

Marcoms is a frequently used short-form for marketing communications.

Marketing communications can be seen as a part of the promotional mix,  as the exact nature of how to apply marketing communications depends on the nature of the product in question.

Accordingly, a given product would require a unique communications mix, in order to convey successfully information to consumers.

Some products may require a stronger emphasis on personal sales, while others may need more focus on advertising.

The process in which the differing modes of marketing communications are complemented and synthesised is called integrated marketing communications (IMC).

It is used in order to create a single and coherent marketing communications process. As an example, a firm can advertise the existence of a sales promotion, via a newspaper, magazine, TV, radio, etc.

The same promotion can also be communicated via direct marketing, or personal selling. The aim of IMC is to lessen confusion among a product’s target market, and to lessen cost for the firm.

Several different subsets of marketing communications can be distinguished.

Personal Selling
Oral presentation given by a salesperson who approaches individuals or a group of potential customers.

Personal selling is often used in business to business (B2B”) settings, in addition to business to consumer (B2C) scenarios in which a personal and face to face medium is required for the communication of the product.

In B2B situations, personal selling is preferred if the product is technical in nature. Personal selling can compose of the use of presentations, in order to convey the benefits of a firm’s good/service.

In B2C settings, personal selling is utilised if the product requires to be tailored to the unique needs of an individual.

Examples of this include car (and other vehicle) sales, financial services (such as insurance or investment), etc.

Personal selling involves the following points:

* Live, interactive relationship
* Personal interest
* Attention and response
* Interesting presentation
* Clear and thorough.

Sales Promotion
Short-term incentives to encourage buying of products.

* Instant appeal
* Anxiety to sell

An example is coupons or a sale. People are given an incentive to buy, but this does not build customer loyalty or encourage future repeat buys.

A major drawback of sales promotion is that it is easily copied by competition. It cannot be used as a sustainable source of differentiation.

Sales promotions are typically used to heighten sales/revenue, especially if a firm holds dead/excess stock, or if the market for a product has matured.

Public Relations
Public Relations (or PR, as an acronym) is the use of media tools by a firm in order to promote goodwill from an organization to a target market segment, or other consumers of a firm’s good/service.

PR stems from the fact that a firm cannot seek to antagonize or inflame its market base, due to incurring a lessened demand for its good/service.

Organizations undertake PR in order to assure consumers, and to forestall negative perceptions towards it. PR can span:

* Interviews
* Speeches/Presentations
* Corporate literature, such as financial statements, brochures, etc.

Publicity
Publicity involves attaining space in media, without having to pay directly for such coverage. As an example, an organization may have the launch of a new product covered by a newspaper or TV news segment.

This benefits the firm in question since it is making consumers aware of its product, without necessarily paying a newspaper or television station to cover the event.

Advertising Advertising occurs when a firmdirectly pays a media channel to publicize its product.

Common examples of this include TV and radio adverts, billboards, branding, sponsorship, etc.

Direct Marketing
Direct marketing is a process where a firm uses communication channels to attain and retain consumers for its product.

It is a comparatively new mode of marketing communications (when compared with forms such as advertising, sales promotions, personal selling, etc.)

Direct marketing involves carefully seeking out persons within a target market, and communicating to them about the nature of a product.

This process is signified by brochures sent via the mail, e-mails from companies, etc. It can also constitute the use of telemarketing, in order to communicate with a target market.

Inspire Creative Media gives you the opportunity to expand your business at a fraction of the cost by offering bespoke solutions based on your needs and not based on your budget alone.

Get closer to your target audience by contacting Inspire Creative Media and see the difference communicating with your end-users and customers make.

If you have spoken to Inspire Creative Media in the past, its no secret we hanker towards opensource software as there are fewer limitations (not entirely true but far less than proprietarysoftware). Having to conform to various protocols, procedures and methods is not a great place to start when your trying to create.

Can you imagine NASA trying to build a new rocket but they can only use tin. Inspire Creative Media will be watching that launch on television, it’ll be far safer before the fireworks begin! So to answer the question, different platforms have different attributes and here are just a few.

If your a worldwide corporate with huge amounts of data, then considering Drupal would be a great place to start. Although Joomla will inevitably give Drupal a run for its money. Are you a MTV, Fedex, Playstation, Yahoo or Fox International type of company. Examples of Drupal sites are:

www.mtv.co.uk
www.news.fedex.com
www.asia.playstation.com
www.research.yahoo.com
www.foxsearchlight.com

Medium size organisations who need flexibility, agility and some great design. Then Joomla is a firm favourite who have an avid following. Are you a United Nations, Harvard University, Senso or Halo International type of company? Examples of Joomla sites are:

www.unric.org
www.gsas.harvard.edu
www.sensointeriors.co.za
www.halo-international.com

For those not in the know, SME stands for ‘small to medium size enterprises! In my experience the majority of websites (over 70%), business websites, business blogs, business intranet, hospitals, schools, magazines, restaurants, clubs, bars etc. all fall within this category.

Are you a: Quasar, Huck Magazine, Autoshows Ford or Gaijun International? A great platform in this space is wordpress examples of wordpress sites are:

www.quasarsoft.net
www.huckmagazine.com
www.autoshows.ford.com
www.gaijininternational.com

Which platform you use for your new website, intranet, blog, micro blog, customer relationship management system or customer management system will depend on many factors.

One sure thing is that you’ll be spoilt for choice. If you need help deciding which platform to use, contact contact Inspire Creative Media for more information.

In fact, that world has been on a diet for about the last 18 months. Everywhere you look sectors are trimming up and sizing down in order to stay fit for purpose through these tough times.

I remember using the term fit for purpose in an interview once for Head of Brand in higher education. It was like mentioning that Hitler had some good ideas.

You know, a real ‘tumble weed through the office’ moment. But really; what is the problem in talking about businesses, teams, people, being lean, fit, efficient and ready to operate in the tough world around us.

Sounds like good old fashioned common sense to me. Needless to say, they didn’t invite me back…

Anyway, I digress. To be honest, in my experience, the marketing world (which I have been navigating for over 10 years now) has never been any sort of picnic. People always expect everything from marketing.

No matter where I’ve worked, (corporate world, small business, public sector to name a few) you always come across…

“ Yeah, I know its not all about making the phone ring – but where are my leads?”

“Yeah, I appreciate we’ve got to take the time to build awareness and that takes some investment but to be honest, don’t bore me with it. I need a sale today.”

And now, we’ve got to add into the mix that no-one’s got any money to spend on it! Bit of a toughie.

So where do you focus? Where do you start with your marketing in this challenging unforgiving economy?

It’s a no brainer, but always look after the bottom line first.

If your budget is small and business health waning (which of course means you can’t justify any increased budget) look to short term, low budget direct response ideas; promotions, incentives, offers that make people act.

But never do this without 100% clarity on who you want. Who makes you money? Where are they and how do they buy your product? Pay a bit for this information if you need to. We’re not talking thousands.

A decent insight report or research project should cost a few hundred and could stand you in good stead to focus in the right area for business growth.

Of course as well as looking to the outside world, there is often the richest ground to be reaped within your own customer databases.

This will tell you everything you need to know about the customer who is buying from you and should inform how to get more value from them.

If this doesn’t deliver what you need, a thorough interrogate of things can certainly lead to some obvious actions or changes that could enhance, retain or better the customer information that you’re holding.

Who knows? You might be writing your own insight report by the end of it.

(And I do believe there could be a certain consultant on this very website that could throw a few pointers in?)

Finally, back to the trimming down point; interrogate everything that expels your selling points, your image, ultimately – your brand.

Web is key. It is 100% accountable (and pretty immediate to see how its performing) and low cost. It’s one area that will be given more focus on this column as the social media storm continues to revolutionise this decade.

For now, know what it is you want to deliver, to whom and look to low cost solutions with high value return. Never forget, it’s often what’s on the inside that can really deliver change.

Shape up. Ship up. Here’s to 2010!

Like our fellow developers out there, we have discounted projects, done favours, delivered above and beyond the original remit. As we all know, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

In all honesty were a fair minded bunch at Inspire Creative Media  and we believe in quoting a fair price for a fair days work.

This means:

1. we won’t rip you off by charging you for every change you request as we’ll deliver on our promises to you as a customer.
2. if we make a mistake we’ll own up to it and do whatever is necessary to put it right quickly.
3. and finally we believe 100% that our customers appreciate our direct and honest approach. Which incidentally has won new business going forward.

It has many features including a user-friendly workflow, a rich plugin architecture, and an advanced templating system.

It was first released in May 2003 by Matt Mullenweg as a fork of b2/cafelog. As of September 2009, it is being used by 202 million websites worldwide.

History

b2/cafelog, more commonly known as simply b2 or cafelog, was the precursor to WordPress.  b2/cafelog was estimated to have been employed on approximately 2,000 blogs as of May 2003.

It was written in PHP for use with MySQL by Michel Valdrighi, who is now a contributing developer to WordPress. Although WordPress is the official successor, another project, b2evolution, is also in active development.

WordPress first appeared in 2003 as a joint effort between Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little to create a fork of b2.  The name WordPress was suggested by Christine Selleck, a friend of Mullenweg.

In 2004 the licensing terms for the competing Movable Type package were changed by Six Apart, and many of its users migrated to WordPress – causing a marked and continuing growth in WordPress’s popularity.

By October, 2009, the 2009 Open Source CMS Market Share Report reached the conclusion that WordPress enjoys the greatest brand strength of any open source content management systems.

That conclusion was based on an extensive analysis of rate of adoption patterns and brand strength and was backed by a survey of users.

Awards
In 2007 WordPress won a Packt Open Source CMS Award.
In 2009 WordPress won the best Open Source CMS Award.

Marketing is the process associated with promotion for sale goods or services.

It is considered a “social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and values with others.”

It is an integrated process through which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.

Marketing is used to create the customer, to keep the customer and to satisfy the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, it can be concluded that marketing management is one of the major components of business management.

The evolution of marketing was caused due to mature markets and over capacities in the last decades. Companies then shifted the focus from production more to the customer in order to stay profitable.

The term marketing concept holds that achieving organisational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions.

It proposes that in order to satisfy its organizational objectives, an organization should anticipate the needs and wants of consumers and satisfy these more effectively than competitors.

A Content Management System (CMS) is a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment.

These procedures can be manual or computer-based.

• Reduce repetitive duplicate  input.
• Improve the ease of report writing.
• Improve communication between users.
• Aid in easy storage and retrieval of data.
• Control access to data based on user roles.
• Allow people to contribute to and share stored data.

In a CMS, data can be defined as almost anything – documents, movies, pictures, phone numbers, scientific data, etc.

CMSs are frequently used for storing, controlling, revising, semantically enriching, and publishing documentation. Content that is controlled is industry-specific.

For example, entertainment content differs from the design documents for a fighter jet. There are various terms for systems (related processes) that do this.

Examples include: Web Content Management, Digital Asset Management, Digital Records Management, Electronic Content Management (and others).

Synchronization of intermediate steps, and collation into a final product are common goals of each.

Enterprise content management systems

An Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system is concerned with content, documents, details, and records related to the organizational processes of an enterprise.

The purpose is to manage the organization’s unstructured information content, with all its diversity of format and location.

Web content management systems

A ‘Web Content Management’ (WCM) system is a CMS designed to simplify the publication of Web content to Web sites and mobile devices, in particular, allowing content creators to submit content without requiring technical knowledge of HTML or the uploading of files.

WordPress Digital Workshop

Priced at £120.00 per person, use the early bird discount code below and save 10%.  With the discount code, the WordPress digital workshop is £108 but hurry places are limited so book today.

Early Bird Discount  Code: ICM3Y

Use the early bird discount code: ICM3Y and receive a 10% discount on the normal price.

Free Information Pack Worth £30

When you attend this informal digital media workshop, collect your free information pack worth £30 so you can work in the privacy and comfort of your own home or office.

About the workshop

Use WordPress for your next website, blog or intranet? This is the perfect introductory course for small to medium size businesses, not-for-profit organisations, independents and freelancers. You will learn:

• WordPress basics
• Blogging best practices
• Adding photos and video
• Types of sites you can create with WordPress
• Best plugins to manage content and your site
• Appropriate themes for your website

This powerful Content Management System can be used to create more than just blogs. Feel free to bring your laptop and WiFi to maximise your learning experience.

This beginners digital media workshop teaches you how to use WordPress to create an easy to use website for your organization. You will learn how to post content, add pictures and add video.

About Inspire Creative Media

Inspire Creative Media is dedicated to providing digital media for businesses, not-for-profit organisations, freelancers and those who want to get the most from using Digital Media to its full extent.

Inspire Creative Media, was formed to provide learning in a friendly conducive environment, at reasonable costs to a wide audience.

About the Teacher

Ian is a WordPress enthusiast who has been using the WordPress Content Management System in it’s various forms since 2004. Ian has developed blogs and websites in the following businesses: The Arts, Film Production, Mixed Media, Real Estate, Interior Design, Charity Organisations and many more.

With over 10 years experience in Information Technology, Ian has worked with some of the largest household names in industry, such as: Tropicana (PepsiCo), Kellogg’s and DHL.

With a breadth of consulting experience which includes The Oracle Corporation, Cap Gemini and Infinet Consulting, he then went on to hold senior positions servicing the NHS, Local Government and The Arts. His personal blog about WordPress, design, and technology can be found at Inspire Creative Media.

Who should attend?

• Individuals wanting to learn WordPress best practices.
• Individuals considering WordPress for their next project.
• Business owners or employees responsible for their organisations website and/or Intranet.
• Freelancers and Independents looking to expand their services by providing WordPress skills.
• Not-for-profit organisations wishing to save time and money by learning from WordPress experts.

By attending the WordPress beginners Digital Media Workshop Course you will:

• Know WordPress best practices.
• Know how to install WordPress and get started.
• Know how to create pages and post to your site.
• Know how to use plugins to enhance your sites usability.
• Know how to plan for your next website, blog or Intranet.

In addition :

• You will have an understanding how to measure your web strategy’s success.
• You will have the confidence to implement web strategy for your business or organisation.
• You will have received concrete advice on one of the most platform which gives you the best return for your business or organisation.

Number of Places

To ensure you get the most out of the workshop, places are limited to 8 participants. To ensure your place is secure, book today. All bookings are managed by Event Elephant therefore a new window/tab will open.

WordPress Digital Workshop

Priced at £120.00 per person, use the early bird discount code below and save 10%.  With the discount code, the WordPress digital workshop is £108 but hurry places are limited so book today.

Early Bird Discount  Code: ICM3Y

Use the early bird discount code: ICM3Y and receive a 10% discount on the normal price.

Free Information Pack Worth £30

When you attend this informal digital media workshop, collect your free information pack worth £30 so you can work in the privacy and comfort of your own home or office.

About the workshop

Use WordPress for your next website, blog or intranet? This is the perfect introductory course for small to medium size businesses, not-for-profit organisations, independents and freelancers. You will learn:

• WordPress basics
• Blogging best practices
• Adding photos and video
• Types of sites you can create with WordPress
• Best plugins to manage content and your site
• Appropriate themes for your website

This powerful Content Management System can be used to create more than just blogs. Feel free to bring your laptop and WiFi to maximise your learning experience.

This beginners digital media workshop teaches you how to use WordPress to create an easy to use website for your organization. You will learn how to post content, add pictures and add video.

About Inspire Creative Media

Inspire Creative Media is dedicated to providing digital media for businesses, not-for-profit organisations, freelancers and those who want to get the most from using Digital Media to its full extent.

Inspire Creative Media, was formed to provide learning in a friendly conducive environment, at reasonable costs to a wide audience.

About the Teacher

Ian is a WordPress enthusiast who has been using the WordPress Content Management System in it’s various forms since 2004. Ian has developed blogs and websites in the following businesses: The Arts, Film Production, Mixed Media, Real Estate, Interior Design, Charity Organisations and many more.

With over 10 years experience in Information Technology, Ian has worked with some of the largest household names in industry, such as: Tropicana (PepsiCo), Kellogg’s and DHL.

With a breadth of consulting experience which includes The Oracle Corporation, Cap Gemini and Infinet Consulting, he then went on to hold senior positions servicing the NHS, Local Government and The Arts. His personal blog about WordPress, design, and technology can be found at Inspire Creative Media.

Who should attend?

• Individuals wanting to learn WordPress best practices.
• Individuals considering WordPress for their next project.
• Business owners or employees responsible for their organisations website and/or Intranet.
• Freelancers and Independents looking to expand their services by providing WordPress skills.
• Not-for-profit organisations wishing to save time and money by learning from WordPress experts.

By attending the WordPress beginners Digital Media Workshop Course you will:

• Know WordPress best practices.
• Know how to install WordPress and get started.
• Know how to create pages and post to your site.
• Know how to use plugins to enhance your sites usability.
• Know how to plan for your next website, blog or Intranet.

In addition :

• You will have an understanding how to measure your web strategy’s success.
• You will have the confidence to implement web strategy for your business or organisation.
• You will have received concrete advice on one of the most platform which gives you the best return for your business or organisation.

Number of Places

To ensure you get the most out of the workshop, places are limited to 8 participants. To ensure your place is secure, book today. All bookings are managed by Event Elephant therefore a new window/tab will open.