There's a lot of talk about the all-important fold. Simply put, above-fold ads cost more. Marketers obsess over cramming everything they can into that narrow window. And designers tear their hair out trying to maintain an ever-teetering balance between brand aesthetics and direct-response calls to action.
Fortunately, more agencies have discovered (through user performance data) something many in the interactive discipline have suspected all along: The importance of above-the-fold placement is largely a myth, and that users are smarter than everyone thinks. Heatmaps don't lie – people will scroll all the way to the end of the page if – and only if – the page has value.
It's a crucial and obvious point, one that the "Web Requirement Formerly Known as The Fold" does a good job of reminding us: Without real value, you might as well be building squatter sites (or tossing printed brochures out of a car window and hoping for the best).
Given that the web is less about "sell" and more about premeditated tasks, ask yourself: Is my site giving people what they need and want, with the best user experience possible? If you can't answer that riddle of marketing strategy, then not even users with 42-inch UXGA monitors can help you.
Happy scrolling!
How is it that journalists get those juicy quotes or sound bites that the interviewee didn't intend to reveal? Here's one way:
Just because a journalist has put away his or her notebook and perhaps begins to rise, doesn't mean the interview is over. They will often continue talking on the subject, hoping you'll let your guard down and speak more openly than you did in the formal interview.
We've heard tales of camera operators even taping over the light on the camera, so that you can't tell when it's on. They'll leave the camera running after the formal interview concludes, and the reporter keeps you chatting, hoping to pick up a nice sound-bite. If your PR rep is with you, they can jump in at the end of the interview, talking to the reporter about such things as sending photos or follow up stats and usher them out. If you're doing the interview without a rep, remember, the interview isn't over until you see them driving away.
For more tips on handling a media interview, click here.
Sometimes it's easier to define what you are as a brand by comparing yourself to what you're not. I call this "The Rub Factor." You pick a familiar entity - one that's spent years defining what it stands for - and rub the other way to position yourself as the desirable opposite. The Mini did it when they ran a billboard that said, "The SUV backlash has officially begun." In that one bold statement, they communicated that the big, old, gas-guzzling era was passé and the hip, small, powerful driver's motorcar - The Mini - had arrived. 7UP did it years ago when they called themselves the "Uncola." Since everybody knew what a cola was - a dark, heavy, syrupy, sweet soda - they could quickly understand that 7UP was a lighter, brighter, more refreshing citrus drink. The "Supermarkets are for people, PETCO is for pets" campaign is a provocative way to remind our pet pampering customers that their favorite supermarket was built for them, not their pets, and does not have the quality food and supplies that PETCO does. To define a brand can take years and many millions of dollars. But by using "The Rub Factor," we can position a brand practically overnight.