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Reserve your place at Techovate!
This is a unique opportunity for the Irish business community to come together to hear the world’s leading technology companies such as Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Cisco and Linkedin talk about how they can help businesses in Ireland across all sectors achieve growth in the most dynamic and competitive of markets. Added to this stellar international line up are Ireland’s hottest entrepreneurs; these are our brightest business leaders who have led technology and non-technology companies from start up right through to billion-dollar acquisition. IIA’s own chairman, Keith Bohanna, is chairing session 3 on how to leverage technology to add competitive edge.
IIA members discount which will receive €50 off the cost of a two day ticket.
Click here to book your place today.
Uncategorized
Irish Internet Association statement on Copyright Review Consultation Paper Process
The IIA welcomes the Minister for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock’s recognition that the existing method of gathering stakeholder feedback for consultation is not sufficiently interactive and is not reflective or representative of the medium used by internet stakeholders.
The IIA is happy to provide a mechanism for online submissions on the Copyright Review Consultation Paper to gather feedback on this paper. The IIA is currently preparing an online survey which includes each of the 86 questions posed in the Copyright Consultation Review Paper. All members and indeed non-members can enter their comments on the issues, ideas and opportunities raised therein. This will allow the IIA to collate the views of its members and enable us to comprehensively represent their concerns and ideas to Government and input into this important legislation. An IIA working group will be assigned to review member feedback and assemble a position paper for submission to the department. The link to this survey will be available in the coming days.
Non-members are welcome to submit their comments using this survey tool. However, comments by non-members will be passed un-collated and un-filtered to the department as it would not be in the best interests of our members to use IIA resources in working for non-members. I believe this methodology strikes the right balance of being inclusive and facilitative whilst prioritising our member’s needs as we are charged to do. Allowing the widest stakeholder feedback is quite simply in the spirit of the community. Stakeholders are not limited to using this tool but it is open to everyone.
This is a great opportunity for the IIA to provide a mechanism for members to engage in policy formation and to be integral to internet policy in Ireland by representing the best interests of its members.
The Minister, in response to questions by the media yesterday said that people could contact the IIA who were going to facilitate feedback via an online forum. This survey is that forum.
Click here to take part in Survey
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Joan Mulvihill, Irish Internet Association: 01 5424154 / 086 389 7552 joan@iia.ie
Click here to take part in Survey
Uncategorized, events, email marketing, Diploma, eCommerce
IIA Launches New Diploma in e-Commerce Management
The IIA in partnership with Irish Times Training are delighted to launch a brand new Diploma course in e-Commerce Management.
This Course covers everything you need to know to run a successful ecommerce business. Click here for more information.
Module 1: Planning your e-Commerce Customer Proposition
Lecturer: Ronan O’Brien of Zatori – The Costume Shop
Module 2: Business Planning
Lecturer: Fionan Dunne of CFO Services
Module 3: Effective Website Design
Lecturer: Gareth Dunlop of Fathom
Module 4: Driving Customer Traffic – PPC, SEO, Affiliate Marketing and E-Mail Marketing, Deals Management
Lecturer: Ronan O’Brien of Zatori
Module 5: Transaction Management
Lecturer: Bob Curran of Buy4Now
Module 6: eCommerce Customer Services: CRM – Relationships and Returns
Lecturer: Bob Curran of Buy4Now
Module 7: eCommerce Customer Services: Deliveries and Deadlines
Lecturer: Rory O’Connor of Scurri.com
Module 8: International e-Commerce: Translations & Transactions
Lecturer: Mark Rodgers of Cipherion Translations
Module 9: Metrics / Analytics
Lecturer : David Murphy of Amplify
Module 10: Content – Images and Copy
Lecturer: Fiona Ashe of FlasheForward Communications
Module 11: Mobile Commerce
Lecturer: Sian Gray, Mobile Marketing specialist (Nokia)
FREE Module : Breakfast Briefing Managing Customer Information: Your Legal Obligations as an eCommerce Manager from Gary Davies, Assistant Data Protection Commissioner
If you’ve got customer information on file you will need to know in what form and for how long you can store it. You will also need to know for what you may use it. You will need to be fully aware of your obligations as a retailer vis a vis Trading Standards etc.. This module is painful but necessary!
Uncategorized, Guest Blogger, email marketing
EMAIL MARKETING: WELCOME SERIES EMAILS
This is a guest blog post contributed by Chris Byrne of Newsletter.ie.
So youʼve used email marketing tools to send email, are comfortable with designing effective newsletters and you track email open rates for your campaigns. So whatʼs next? This article on welcome series will show how you can produce more effective and meaningful results than just knowing who opened your email or clicked on a link.
Whilst a single welcome or activation email is useful, a welcome series is a more effective strategy to continually engage, connect and up-sell with your subscriber over time. Let’s admit it, we’ve often purchased something online, then months later cannot recall where we bought it, right? This lack of recall could, and very often does, drive your hard-won customer to the competition. A Welcome series can help avoid that. Let’s look at an example of how this might work:
Amy buys a pair of running shoes online on Monday. Great, she gets an activation email with the usual shipping and returns info. All good so far. Now let’s look at how a Welcome series differs to sending repetitive promotional emails that could drive Amy away from your product.
On Wednesday Amy getʼs the running-shoes and goes for her first 10k in them; all is good. The next day she gets an email asking “How was your run?” and reminds her of the basic steps to share her running experience online. 3 weeks later Amy gets an email survey asking for feedback “How are the running shoes working for you?” and “Here’s some great stories from other runners just like you” . A special offer for a sports bra is included; f this were Keith, heʼd have an offer on running socks. 6 months later Amy getʼs an email with an offer on the latest running shoe and because sheʼs purchased before, a coupon code is included that she can redeem online or bring in-store. So how do we do that, without sending the same email to every subscriber or worse, in the wrong order? With Autoresponders, you can set these messages up ahead of time and create the rules that will only send the relevant email at the right time and importantly, in the right sequence. And knowing gender with integrated apps like Rapleaf saves some embarrassment too; Keith would not be too impressed with a Sportsbra email !
These welcome series emails can be completely automated if your email platform supports this and can be easily integrated with your transaction systems. Communications which are relevant to your subscribersʼ preference and behaviours are more likely to result in repeat purchases from you -not your competition.
CHRIS BYRNE
NEWSLETTER.IE
Uncategorized
IRISH EXPORTERS FORECAST STRONG DEMAND FOR MULTILINGUAL WEBSITE TRANSLATION AND SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
Dublin, Thursday, 24th November 2011: Multilingual website translation and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are forecast to be in strong demand by Irish organisations operating overseas, according to research released today by leading global communications provider, Cipherion Translations. The research, conducted amongst Cipherion’s client base in tourism, hospitality, life sciences, exporting, technology and multinational sectors, reveals that 58 per cent of companies will require website translation services in the next year and 35 per cent will be rolling out international Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaigns.
The research also indicates that French, German, Spanish and Italian will remain the focus for exporters and multinationals, with over 70 per cent of respondents indicating a future requirement for these languages.
According to theUK’s Centre for Retail Research over 85 per cent of European online retailing spend of €202.9 billion will be made by non-English speaking consumers in 2011.Commenting on these figures, Mark Rodgers founder and CEO of Cipherion said: “Despite the current economic turbulence, online spend in these markets is growing by double digits, with French and German consumers already spending approximately €80 billion online, so there is plenty of room for new market entrants.” He added: “In the Press there is some hype about the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries. However in reality the four largest European markets (France, German, Spain and Italy) still represent the greatest opportunity for most Irish exporters.”
Rodgers, who also heads up the Irish Internet Association’s (IIA) International Strategy Working Group believes that many Irish organisations, large and small, are missing out on lucrative, international business opportunities by failing to have their websites and critical marketing collateral available in different languages. “Many Irish business owners have yet to fully grasp the concept that their website is the gateway to a vast global market and provides one of the most powerful tools to help them communicate and sell to this non English-speaking marketplace,” he said.
Joan Mulvihill, CEO of the Irish Internet Association agrees. “We see a great appetite for internationalisation amongst our members. Over the summer, we ran a sold out “8 Ways to Sell Internationally” seminar for e-commerce businesses looking to expand to new markets. It’s definitely challenging but the rewards are worth it and we have some great Irish case-studies such as Zatori (who run TheCostumeShop.ie),MicksGarages and Chain Reaction Cycles. More and more requests are coming from our online retailers on how to target the UK and other European markets.”
As organisations grow internationally, an ability to overcome language and communication barriers becomes a critical success factor. More than just basic translation, it is vital to focus on communicating tone and marketing messages. And more than just translating a website, exporters need to focus on how to market these translated websites to international customers using SEO and SEM.
The Cipherion survey revealed 76 per cent of international organisations indicated that translation quality was the single most important criterion when selecting a translation services provider. Mark Rodgers explains: “When communicating to a German or French audience, Irish exporters need to take the same level of care with their translations as they do with their English communication. Too many first-time exporters are left with poor online conversion rates, directly attributable to translation mistakes. If the quality of the German translation is not what the customer expects, they react with a click to another website. The same seven second test to engage the customer applies – so the quality of your translations and messaging need to be perfect.”
Cipherion, a leading Irish translation and global communications company, today celebrated its fifth year in business by announcing a 98.3 per cent customer satisfaction in its annual quality review. Founded in 2006, Cipherion has a wide range of clients across tourism, hospitality, life sciences, exporting, technology and multinational sectors.
Uncategorized
The Irish Times and InterTradeIreland Inovation Awards 2012
The Irish Times and InterTradeIreland invite indigenous and international companies, small, medium or large, and who are operating throughout the island of Ireland, to promote their service, product or operational innovations by entering The Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards, which will be held in March 2012.
Winners in each category will be chosen by an independent panel of judges from a shortlist of 3 finalists. Special recognition will be given to the company with the best North/South collaboration project. In addition, an overall ‘Innovation of the Year’ winner will be drawn from the category winners.
Category Winners will receive:
- A €10,000 communications package in Innovation Magazine
- An iPad with a one year subscription to The Irish Times
The ‘Innovation of the Year’ will win a unique and high profile communications package worth in excess of €150,000 comprising of advertising promotion in the Innovation Magazine and The Irish Times, plus:
• UCD Smurfit School will provide a scholarship for an Executive Education programme commencing in 2012*
• Business legal advice from Byrne Wallace
• A state of the art laptop with a one year subscription to The Irish Times ePaper
(*T&Cs apply – visit www.irishtimes.com/innovation)
Uncategorized
“Serious Games Potential & Opportunities” seminar
“Serious Games Potential & Opportunities” seminar.
Date: Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Time: 10:00-12:15
Venue: Guinness Enterprise Centre, Taylor’s Lane, Dublin 8
To book your place, e-mail events@dbic.ie or phone 6713111.
This event is part of Innovation Dublin 2011.
10:00 Intro – Tim Luft, The Serious Games Institute, Coventry University
– Background to The Serious Games Institute
Tim is the Operations Director for the Serious Games Institute
(Coventry University)
– The Potential and Opportunities for Serious Games
– Potential Partnerships and Collaborations with SGI
10.45 Case Study – Front Square, Geoff Beggs
– Creating Serious Games
– The Value Proposition
11.15 V-Rising, Gary Leyden
– Creating Virtual Experiences
– Business in Virtual Worlds
11.45 A Programmer’s Perspective
– James Whelton, Coder dojo
12.00-12.15 Q&A and Wrap-up
Uncategorized
Press Release: Jerry Kennelly announced as Overall Net Visionary 2011 by Irish Internet Association
Friday, 30th of September, 2011: The Irish Internet Association (“IIA”) this evening announced Jerry Kennelly of Tweak.com as the Overall Net Visionary Winner in the Dot ie Net Visionary Awards. Also announced this evening were the winners in 14 individual categories, all of whom were decided by public vote. The Awards, now in their 13th year took place in the prestigious Wintergarden at the National Gallery of Ireland – perfectly befitting a celebration of the creativity and genius of the industry.
Joan Mulvihill, CEO of the Irish Internet Association commented: “This has been a great year for the IIA’s Dot ie Net Visionary Awards. Five new award categories allowed us to showcase fantastic new businesses and fresh talent in the industry. All of the winning businesses have proven their commitment to excellence in this fast-paced and dynamic sector. Unlike any other awards, all those shortlisted were voted winners by their peers showing the best spirit of competition, community and collaboration.”
She added:“In choosing The National Gallery we found the perfect backdrop to showcase the kind of creativity and ingenuity that our industry inspires. And of course it was the ideal place to award Jerry Kennelly of Tweak.com the Overall Net Visionary title. I’m sure the artists behind the masterpieces hanging here would be happy that the title has gone to a man who has anchored his career to the marriage of the visual arts and technology."
David Curtin, CEO of IE Domain Registry Limited commented: “The IE Domain Registry is delighted to be the headline sponsor for this year’s Dot ie Net Visionary Awards. Now in its 13th year, the standard of the shortlisted websites for the Awards continues to increase year-on-year. The level of innovation, originality and creativity, not to mention the power and functionality of the underlying website applications, continues to impress. For the winners, it is a wonderful accolade to be recognised by their peers in the Internet community, as being the ‘best of the best’. These websites will provide a quality benchmark for others to rank and improve their own online offerings.”
Maeve Kneafsey, Chair of the Irish Internet Association commented: “A NetVisionary has to have had a record of business success, vision and the belief to see it through. Jerry Kennelly is set to realise his vision for the second time.”
The IIA have been setting the agenda all year – addressing the digital skills issue, opening the OpenData debate and launching our own policies. The IIA have carefully reflected these issues in the new categories which include Best Open Data Initiative and Best Rookie. New also to the line-up is best recognition of all those non-techies who have made their brave steps to a business life online with Breakthrough Brick to Click. With headline sponsor in IE Domain Registry Limited (“IEDR”), new categories, a stunning and original venue and a record number of entries, these awards are annually the ones to watch.
– Ends –
Dot ie Net Visionary Winners 2011
Overall Net Visionary Winner sponsored by IEDR
2011 winner: Jerry Kennelly, Tweak.com
Best Breakthrough Brick to Click, sponsored by PayPal
2011 winner: McCabes Pharmacy
Best Cloud Service, sponsored by TelecityGroup
2011 winner: SortMyBooks Online Accounting Software
Best in Digital Marketing, sponsored by Go Ireland
2011 winner: Bua Marketing
Best Mobile App Developer, sponsored by NOKIA
2011 winner: Furious Tribe
Best Online Trader, sponsored by Realex Payments
2011 winner: Rainbusters
Best Rookie, sponsored by accreate
2011 winner: Coder Dojo/Disruptive Developments Limited
Best Open Data Initiative, MICROSOFT
2011 winner: NDRC, Inventorium
Best Use of Social Media, sponsored by Blacknight
2011 winner SocialMedia.ie
Best Web Design, Sponsored by Elucidate
2011 winner: Arekibo Digital
Best Web Developer, Grant Thornton
2011 winner: Dovetail
eGovernment Award, sponsored by Mason Hayes+Curran
2011 winner: The Arts Council/ An Chomhairle Ealaíon
Innovation Award, sponsored by RSM Farrell Grant Sparks
2011 winner: FEXCO Tax Free Limited
Internet Start-up, sponsored by The Digital Hub
2011 winner: Learnpipe
Social Contribution, sponsored by Matheson Ormsby Prentice
2011 winner: ReachOut.com
###
Uncategorized
Press Release: Accreate Rocks the Rookies
Wednesday, 31sr of August, 2011: Following the announcement of the Irish Internet Association’s (“IIA”) shortlist for this year’s Dot ie Net Visionary Awards, the IIA is delighted to announce a unique sponsorship deal with Accreate Executive Search (“Accreate”), Irelands leading executive search specialists for business leaders. Accreate were so taken by the high standard in the Best Rookiecategory, Ronan Colleran, Managing Director of Accreate, has come on board to sponsor the Best Rookie category, and has invited all of the Rookies shortlisted to attend theAwards as guests of Accreate.
Accreate specialise in business leadership positions and they have recognised in this shortlisted group, high potential talent for future industry leaders and entrepreneurs. Recognition of the significance of this category has been particularly gratifying for the IIA who launched this as a new award category for 2011.
Joan Mulvihill, CEO of the Irish Internet Association in expressing her thanks to Accreate believes “It’s important to recognise the emerging talent within the sector. While the Dot ie Net Visionary Awards recognise established industry players, its future is secured by the wealth of talent coming through. The Rookie category was designed to showcase the newcomers to the sector, some of whom are experienced managers but new to the industry and some at the very start of their careers and all showing great promise.”
She added, “We have contacted each of the shortlisted nominees with this exciting news and their response has been a resounding and recurring “This is absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much to Accreate for this!”.
Ronan Colleran, Managing Director of Accreate from Accreate commented: “We are delighted to get the opportunity to help support home-grown entrepreneurs in the fast-moving online space. In recent years, Ireland has produced a high number per capita of entrepreneurs in the online sector and it is important that we continue to nurture early stage talent in this area”.
– Ends –
