So around the coffee machine we’ve looked into the crystal ball, shaken the tealeaves and reminded ourselves when the birds left for winter. And all these portentous signs have given us the confidence to predict every development throughout 2012. Well, not quite, but we can be sure about one thing, digital marketing is going to come to the fore over 2012 and following years.

It’s amazing how many companies, especially SMEs, still don’t get digital marketing and still see it as a mystical subject which is more akin to witchcraft than proper marketing.

The big companies have embraced digital marketing with a fervour, because they understand the huge audiences out there. We’re not necessarily saying they always get it right, many don’t, but they do see and understand the massive potential out there.

And we think more companies are going to be dragged, some screaming, into the arena as the digital marketing discipline comes of age.

Maybe it’s a generation thing – many marketing teams have been brought up using the same tactics and methods that have been around for decades, with lots of brochures, leaflets and display advertising. What they don’t see is that it’s still the same, nothing has really changed apart from the environment: it’s now the internet, not the high street.

It’s a new platform, not really a new way of doing things and the more people that see that, the more will be able to exploit the superb opportunities out there.

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Now, this is a huge embarrassment to Google, because firstly, they don’t like paid links which they reckon is an unfair way of manipulating back links and secondly, they hate what’s known as ‘thin’ content. A promotional video, such as the one talking about their own browser, is not usually viewed in the best light by Google and they have slapped the wrists of many companies employing such tactics.

So, a little awkward to say the least that they should find themselves in the firing line, but also somewhat hollow to penalise themselves with a downgrading which is meant to impress the folks in the digital marketing agency world. The words, “oh yeah”, resonated around the industry like a recent British storm.

In Google’s defence of course, they have fingered someone else to take the hit, a third party marketing agency called Essence Digital. Google have said, listen guv, we never asked these guys to approach any bloggers and place sponsored links.

Essence Digital obligingly fell on their sword in spectacular fashion, gushing via its own statement:
“Google never approved a sponsored-post campaign. They only agreed to buy online video ads. Google have consistently avoided paid postings to promote their products, because in their view these kind of promotions are not transparent or in the best interests of users.”

And just in case we didn’t get the message loud and clear:
“We apologise to Google who clearly didn’t authorise this.”

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Firstly, the internet is not set to plateau – the first half of this century will be marked by a rapid growth in digital commerce and social networking. Secondly, an alarmingly small number of the existing marketing, advertising and PR companies really understand how digital marketing works.

And that’s a sad fact. There’s no scientific basis for this claim of course, but when talking to the large London media agencies, you get a sense of there being slowly left behind by a changing world. They hold onto the old strategies and concepts, and pay lip service to things like SEO and PPC.

Okay, they tend to create new digital departments, or maybe buy a digital marketing agency to supplement their skill sets, but it’s almost done as a necessary add-on. Something they have to have because their clients have heard of SEO and PPC and want their agencies to be abreast of the latest developments.

But there’s the rub. They almost sit outside of the traditional agency; the young pretenders who’ve been invited to the party, but have to suit outside and watch the bigger children enjoy the fun.

And that, for many of the old established agencies, will prove their downfall. Unless they fully embrace the new digital strategies, they will be doomed; left behind in a race to take marketing to new horizons.

Attribute to: Neil Martin, Cayenne Red.

Neil Martin is a UK SEO Consultant at Digital Marketing Agency Cayenne Red and is a regular contributor to the media on how companies market themselves in the digital age.

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Most of us are now aware of those emails which inform us that King Gary has died in some far off nation and left a fortune of money that is ours for the taking. All we need to do of course is send them some money for the paperwork. The idiocy of such emails is immediately apparent: why would anyone want to hand someone else millions and why the upfront payment? When there’s a fortune involved; someone will always cough up the down payment. You don’t have to email a billion people who you’ve never met.

So, okay, the crude emails asking for help may be old hat these days, but the phishers are a clever bunch and even the most experienced operators have to be constantly on their guard not to get tripped up.

Gmail is now starting to display more information about the sender of the email. Those not in your contact list are flagged as such and it even tells you when a message originates from an email service. Cleverly, it also tries to warn you when a spoofed Gmail email is being used.

So, phishing trips should now be a little harder for all those hackers out there, determined to cause mischief.

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Previously, when you received such a file, you had to go to all the effort of downloading the attachment and then viewing the contents. The time it takes when viewing multiple files can be considerable and frustrating, especially when you’re trying to keep track of what you’ve viewed.

But now it’s a lot simpler process. You can now view the contents of the RAR and ZIP files in your browser, saving bags of time.

And not only is that faster, but is far safer. If the viewing object stays in the browser, then you’re not actually loading its contents, meaning harmful viruses stay where they are, and not on your computer.

Come to think of it, this increased speed is great, but the added advantage of not having to actually open the file and therefore potentially download a malicious file, is perhaps as important.

Many viruses are delivered via emails with infected files and once you open the attachment, the damage is done. The file opens and embeds itself into the targeted computer, before the user is even aware of what is going on.

And depending on the complexity of the virus, it can either copy personal information and send it back to the originator of the virus, or it can literally take control and turn it into a ‘zombie’ machine, or make your machine do odd things.

So, a welcome enhancement for all users of Google Email attachments.

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Google has added a cheat sheet for keyboard shortcuts so that working in Google Docs becomes far more efficient.

It means you can work quicker within spreadsheets and speed up your productivity.

To access the shortcuts, on a PC just press Ctrl+/ and a Mac, press Cmd+/, and away you go.

Google has also launched another very handy feature which now means a user can transfer their PowerPoint files from their desktop, or laptop, directly into Google Docs. Once there, they can be shared with colleagues, or acquaintances, and edited from the browser. A great step forward for Google Docs.

The whole point of these changes of course is to make Google Docs more attractive to a wider audience. Cloud computing solutions like this are the way forward, but many computer users are still reluctant to really embrace the developments, as they lack the sophistication found within the machine based applications.

Google and other companies will only win over users if their own applications match existing products out in the market and when the true convenience of cloud computing becomes apparent to a greater number of users.

And that will be a gradual process, unless hardware manufacturers take the initiative and start building stripped down machines for a fraction of the cost of today’s full featured models. But that, on a large scale, might be some way off yet.

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The challenge for the commercial world, is to take the social marketing phenomenon and use is to communicate with existing and new customers.

But for many companies, trying to get it together on social media websites is a bit like watching your Dad dance at the disco, embarrassing and potentially traumatic in later life.

So many companies just do not understand the whole basis of social marketing and end up trying hard to please, but failing in every respect. Others actually damage their brand by making crude land grabs for groups that they think would naturally want to be bombarded by their marketing message.

And then there’s those companies that think that an open forum would be a great idea, then instantly regret it. One of the country’s largest retailers found that to their cost (in image terms at least), an open forum was an invitation to all manner of comments about their products and way of doing business.

Now this is mildly amusing, but for those that see the internet as a great social media marketing tool, it is a serious source of worry, because the internet is currently based on free and open comment, at least for the majority of people posting their opinions. So any company encouraging an open forum, is prone to a range of uncontrollable and sometimes outrageous comments which remain basically unanswerable.

So, yes, social marketing is great, but you have to keep your wits about you!

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Google say they want a common look across their wide range of products and they also want their interfaces to have more valuable user features. Above all, they want them to be effortless, more elastic and better focused in use.

And yes, you might say it’s about time, as even though Google is the biggest player on the search engine scene, it has often been criticised for the design and layout of many of its user interfaces.

Indeed, the Gmail interface has looked pretty dull for years and the thinking behind the functionality had perplexed many. If Cloud computing is to take off in the way that Google plans, then the user experience needs to be addressed.

And, on the whole, these are welcome changes and should be welcomed by Gmail users.

The new layout is fresh and clean, and appears to have learnt much from many of its competitors. It certainly has a less geeky appearance about it and goes ‘big’ on the Chat features which Google is keen to push to its user base.

Neat features include the ability to choose your favourite inbox style, which means you can opt for a Priority Inbox which allows you to sort out the importance of your incoming emails. In the increasingly crowded ether, this should be a very popular feature, which allows you to sort out, at source, just whose emails you need to read first.

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