Monthly Archives: May 2012
Implied Consent could be all you need for Cookie Compliance
With the 26 May deadline for compliance now behind us, the latest guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has raised a few eyebrows. The requirement for explicit consent before a site can store cookies on another user’s device has been relaxed with the assumption of “implied consent” now being accepted as a valid means to comply with the law.
What does this mean? At the simplest level, a user who makes a conscious choice to visit your site could be deemed to have given their implied consent to receive cookies, removing the need for you to collect their explicit consent. For this implied consent to be sufficient a site owner still needs to ensure that their privacy policy is easily discoverable and clearly lays out the ways that cookies are used on your site. However, the ICO also warns:
Implied consent is certainly a valid form of consent but those who seek to rely on it should not see it as an easy way out or use the term as a euphemism for “doing nothing”.
That said, the likelihood of the ICO imposing financial penalties on any organisation for failing to comply with this law is, by the ICO’s own admission, close to zero. Some may read this as an invitation to do nothing, and therein lies the most absurd aspect of this unenforceable new law.
If you haven’t already, watch Dave Evans’ video below to familiarise yourself with the steps you may still need to take to stay on the right side of the law. As long as you understand how cookies are used on your site, don’t use cookies in a bad way, have a clear privacy policy, and take some basic steps to ensure that visitors know that cookies are in use and why, you should be safe.
Mind you, I’m not a lawyer so seek legal advice if in doubt. Good luck!
Further reading:
Why too much choice paralyses your business
There’s an old adage, “you can never have too much choice”. Like most old sayings it’s starting to sound absurd, but many marketers still believe that giving customers more choice is always a good thing.
The truth is very different. Too much choice can paralyse your customers, slowing or preventing their purchase. Choice often engenders fear; the fear that you’ll make the wrong choice and regret your decision. Choice injects confusion, that nagging concern that you really ought to be weighing up all the options more carefully.
Does this coffee machine really need so many options? (and what lunacy tells us people need both Freshbrew and Fresh Coffee anyway?!):
Does 1&1 really need to offer so many different web hosting packages that customers are left dazed, confused and longing to have a little simplicity back in their lives?
Another web hoster, Squarespace, gets it right. They know that customers don’t want infinite choice, just a great product presented in the simplest possible way:
Choice: it’s a tricky little blighter. Too little and you narrow your market appeal. Too much and you completely destroy it.
Focus on your core strengths, on what really matters to your customers. Invariably, with concerted effort, too much choice can quickly be distilled down to the essentials, leaving you to focus on giving your customers a fantastic experience with your a narrower range of products.
And that’s where business success lies; not in giving so much choice that you appeal to every Tom, Dick and Harriet, but in zeroing in on what you’re truly great at and making sure you attract the type of people who will fall in love with what you do.
All publicity is not good publicity
When broadcast media channels still ruled the roost, we used to say that all publicity is good publicity.
Simply put, by getting your name in front of a mass audience, no matter whether this was for good or bad reasons, you could often generate more business on the back of the free publicity than you were likely to lose.
Today we have a surplus of spectrum and a deficit of attention. Mass audiences rarely congregate together as they routinely did in the past and any mentions we receive in the media will likely attract less collective attention than they did in the past.
But, crucially, the news agenda is no longer controlled, edited and broadcast from a few all powerful media magnates. Today’s news is just as likely to be compiled by Dorothy who works as an accountant by day and enjoys discussing the latest trends on online discussion forums by night. And Dorothy, like the millions of others like her, is free to present your story however she feels fit.
What does all this mean? Today, that free publicity you and your PR team fight to create, is almost guaranteed to reach fewer eyeballs than ever before. And those who do see it will experience your message through the eyes of an army of independent editors like Dorothy, all of whom will create their own spin on the message. So that’s less reach for more randomised messages; not the greatest recipe for the good publicity your business craves.
If you still think all publicity is good publicity, maybe it’s time to think again. That’s just one of many out-dated business rules that the social web has changed forever.
How to infographicise your Twitter profile
Is this useful or not? Probably not, but it’s harmless, good fun.
A tool from Visual.ly allows you to “Twitterize Yourself!”, essentially creating a near-instant infographic of your Twitter persona.
Quite what you’ll do with the resulting diagram I’m not sure. Maybe impress your mum or print it out to stick above your desk to convince any naysayers of your awesome social media powers.
Or you could do like me and ponder what you’ve done to only achieve “17.82% interestingness” before concluding that even answering that question is unlikely to improve my score!
What do you make of this tool? Any practical uses you can uncover?
(And here, for my mum, is my full profile)
Big Brands Always Win, Get Over It
SEOMoz has built a well-earned reputation as the source of expert advice for anyone looking to improve their search engine marketing. While its focus has always laid primarily with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), the team has never shied away from offering broader advice about using paid ads in search or exploiting other digital channels.
But I particularly enjoyed reading this article, brought to my attention by Bruce Lynn, in which President of User Effect, Pete Meyers, implores SEOMoz’s members to get over the demise of SEO and to “start acting like a brand.” And, if a high search engine ranking is important to you, the single best way to achieve this is through establishing a credible social presence for your brand online.
It’s not quite time to declare the end of black hat SEO; there will always be people and companies that are prepared to use underhand techniques to gain a slim competitive advantage. But the time has come for every business to recognise the immutable truth that an active social presence online is a far stronger indicator of brand vitality than can be garnered from any amount of behind-the-scenes tweakery.
So go on, get social. Your business could depend on it.
Add a little drama to your day
This is viral video genius. Little more explanation needed other than to say this stunt was created to promote the launch of a new TV Channel in Belgium. What a great way to bring to life the experience of this new station!
[Hat tip to @Waltonman for sending me this]
