We’ve heard some news about Serena Collage today – and I wanted to share with you what I’ve heard:
Serena is looking to sell the product – so they have put the word out and have discussed internally the product “end of life” because it is no longer part of their long term strategy.
What does this mean for you?
- Unofficially, Serena will be supporting the product for at least one, and probably two more years
- There is no official “end of life” date for this product
- Serena is still going to fix critical issues (severity 1&2) during this time
- Serena will sell no new licenses except to current licensees until Feb 2009
- Serena will not develop any new features or major changes for collage
- Serena will honor existing maintenance contracts
I would assume that they will find a buyer and maybe this product will get the support and continued investment it deserves. More when I know it!
Web Content 2008, June 17 & 18 in Chicago, brings together nationally recognized technology, content, and marketing authorities involved with creating, organizing, maintaining, and delivering web content. Save $200 off the regular ($895) price of admission when you register before March 31, 2008. To register, call 312-529-3000. Use discount code: TCW-200. This discount offer is only available via telephone.
Presenters will share best practices, new approaches, lessons learned, and provide real-world examples. The two-day conference is divided into two tracks:
- Web Content Strategies, Practices, and Standards
- Web Content Tools and Technologies
Each track offers attendees a selection of workshops, case studies, and presentations lead by recognized Internet authorities. Attend all sessions in one track or mix-and-match sessions in any track to create a customized program. Held in an intimate setting in Downtown Chicago, participation is limited. Visit the Web Content 2008 website for more detailed information.
Now and then companies feel compelled to send a blanket untargeted email to everyone whose email address they have ever acquired. Well, control that urge. But if you’re going to do that, here’s a hint: Don’t share your email list with all of your recipients. If you put everyone’s address in the “To:” line, you’ve just given your list away – and possibly worse!
I received an email from a Chicago public relations firm announcing their office move. In this email, they gifted me with over 130 email addresses of clients, prospects and friends. Thank you. Pretty stupid I thought. And from a PR firm yet. Wow.
Not more than 2 hours passed on the same day when I received an email from Lewis Lin at Google. Lewis addressed his email to me and over 300 of my Google marketing peers. This time, war broke out as opportunists among the 300 began to solicit the list they’d just received. Aside from the emails going back to Lewis telling him what an idiot he is, this one message among the skirmishers captured the general sentiment: “Contact me again and I will make sure that our lawyers contact you…Failing this … will result in me adding your domain to black lists.”
The best practice, of course, is to send targeted emails to opt-in subscribers who both expect and value your email. Preferably, you will send these emails using an email service provider that provides the technology to properly deliver and track the delivery results. But if you feel the need to blast your trusted business partners with an email, do yourself a favor and conceal the recipients. To do otherwise puts your organization, its reputation and your proprietary client email list in peril.
We published a Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference event on Facebook. The goal is to provide a forum for discussion, opinions, connections, photos, videos and whatever regarding the Conference. There may be other or even better forums for this. But we thought we’d run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes. And they have.
We notified 400+ pre-registered attendees about the Facebook page via email. Of the 130 people who bothered to open the email, 20 responded to the embedded survey on social networking and 8 took the next step to engage on Facebook.
I’m not judging numbers. And I’m not even sure what to measure. But what I know is this: People want to connect. And from connections comes social interaction and business. I’m all for promoting that.
March 12 - 14 we’re exhibiting in LA at the 22nd Annual Conference of LMA. We’re going to whip this puppy (figuratively, of course) and see what happens. The party is open to everyone. Come on down. (A Facebook account (free) is required to access this page).
We were sharing our excitement about the launch of the new
Chicago Public Library website with some business partners when one noted that
he was amazed that, in this digital age, libraries seemed to be expanding. It was
then that Jeanne Toohey, the project manager who has lead the CPL website
project from conception to birth noted that the Chicago Public Library actually
viewed their online presence as their 80th branch. And it is. (CPL
has 79 physical locations).
Short of signing off of your online session with the new CPL
website with a book in hand, you can now conduct many of the functions that you
had to be physically at a branch to do. Learn of author events, research tools, renew
and reserve books, access reading lists and more. Do we think this will diminish visits to the libraries. Are you kidding? Only for the unnecessary trips – like renewing
a library book. In fact we’re predicting continued growth in library demand and
visits to the branches that are even more productive for patrons and staff
alike.
