I recently attended the International Builders Show to handle media relations work for a client. Prior to the trip, I was more than a little suspect about the turnout and the mood of the builders and exhibitors in attendance.

What I found was a lot of optimism. The industry figures it has already hit bottom and is ready to begin a slow, steady climb. There’s also a growing belief that it will be a different homebuilding industry when the rebound begins. The days of massive spec building are over. Instead, you’ll see an industry led by differentiation. Builders will seek out and serve specific audiences — active seniors, technology cravers, first-time buyers, etc. And green building will become mainstream.

As home builders change, so, too, must the manufacturers who supply them. Those who can produce and market a tangible benefit to the builder’s target can help assure the stability in homebuilding that everyone agrees is long overdue.

Titles tell you what people do and they tell you what people don’t do.

For instance, the title web developer tells you that the person develops applications for the web, most commonly web sites. Many companies employ them or contract with them to develop a web site. And they successfully develop a web site. The web developer goes on to the next web site. Then what?

What if there was someone with the title “brochure developer?” Would any company develop a brochure without a plan to get that brochure in the hands of potential buyers? In a word, NO. Yet that’s what many companies do with their web sites. They expect some magical thing to happen where people will find their site in droves and then love their company forever.

Oh, but web developers put in Metatags so that search engines can find you. That is great and very beneficial that is if anybody is searching for your widget. Check out search word volume sometime on the more mundane products and see how little they are searched.

The truth is that if your web site is important to your business success, you need an interactive plan that will drive, lure, and entice visitors to your web site. And while we love them, that’s what web developers seldom do.

If your web site is really important to your success, or could be, put it in the middle of your marketing plan. Wrap interactive activities around it. Wrap old school marketing activities around it. That’s how you develop business.

Any one who has ever read a review of a product, band, play, movie or anything else is proof that we seek out peer pressure.  Peer pressure has been blamed for everything from drug use to smoking, but how about purchasing habits?

The digital world has made peer pressure an art.  DIGG rates news stories. iTunes rates music, audio books and everything else that’s available.  You can find ratings for golf clubs, headphones, investments, restaurants, burritos even interactive agencies.

Marketers should pay attention to the desire for peer pressure from their customers and they should include activities to take advantage of it in their interactive strategy.  You see some marketers giving it the college try with testimonials that are signed off as “John, Detroit, MI.”  Do you believe that?  Or do you believe ten comments about a movie that are both positive and not so positive.  The answer’s pretty obvious.

Here’s something to try.  Go to YouTube.  Search for SlipKnot.  Read the comments.  Read how many of the comments express passion for their music.  Now put yourself in the mind set of a 17 year-old boy looking to make a statement about himself with music.  Do you think he could identify with the commenters?

Now fast forward 20 years and go to a wine rating site like Wine Spectator.  How does that site help you define the 37 year-old you’ve become.

Peer pressure is something we don’t outgrow and the digital world gives us the opportunity for us to find it and marketers to use it.

A local business publication conducted a panel discussion about the economy last night.  They assembled a panel of economic experts to give the attendees a perspective on the economy.

Here’s the news flash.  It didn’t sound as bad as the newspapers make it out to be.  The experts expect the recovery to start in the third quarter of 2009 and continue into 2010.  They went on to say that the Midwest is in far better shape than either of the coasts.  Iowa’s unemployment is 4.3%.  Certainly we’ve lost some jobs, but the housing boom didn’t hit us and the housing bust hasn’t really hit us.

So why do the newspapers, and all media for that matter report such dire news on a continuing basis?  Well, if you think about it, the Des Moines Register has laid off people, the Minneapolis Tribune has filed for bankruptcy, the Chicago Tribune is in big trouble as is the New York Times.  Maybe subconsciously they don’t want to feel alone in their misery.

And it’s working.  I spoke with an architect friend who said that he had a couple of major projects on hold because his client said they thought going forward would look bad.  Look bad?  A successful company being successful looks bad?  Wouldn’t their customers be more confident in the stability of the company to see them building and expanding?  Wouldn’t their customers feel better about doing business with them because they were successful?

There is good news in the economy.  IBM’s earnings are up 12% without resorting to layoffs, downsizing or government bailouts.  Just running a company well.  And they are not apologizing for their success.

Warren Buffet says this is a “fear based economic climate.”  Who created the fear?  The media? The politicians?  Who?

My advice to the media to increase ad revenues is simple, publish the positive economic news too.  If confidence increases, maybe marketers will see clear to invest in their companies and advertise in your medium.

My advice to marketers is don’t believe all the hype.  Do business.  Invest.  Grab share.  And don’t under any circumstances be embarrassed about your success and  worry about what people will think.  They’ll think you have outsmarted everybody else.

There’s a balance between functionality on the web and creativity on the web.  You can bore a visitor with no creativity but plenty of functionality, or you can annoy a visitor with plenty of creativity but not much functionality.  The magic of the web doesn’t come from magic tricks, it comes from fulfilling the needs of the visitor.

We are a branding firm that does interactive, not an interactive firm that does branding.  Our business in the interactive area has grown rapidly over the past few years.  Here are a few things we’ve learned along the way.

1.  Start with a clear objective–What do you want the site to do for your business.  Sell, inform, entertain, create a following, all of the above?

2.  Be realistic about expectations–We would all like to have a web site that has millions of visitors a day.  Business would be good.  But that’s not reality for most businesses.  If you’re selling bearings from China, you’re likely not going to make the top twenty five.  The important thing is that the right people visit your site.

3.  What does the visitor want from the visit--They have taken the time to search you out.  They obviously want something from you.  Do they want quick information, or a total product demonstration?  Do they look to you for the latest information in your category?  Do they want a price and if they do are you going to make them call to get it?  I hate that.

4.  Make the website brand rich–Your web site should be the best representative of your brand in your organization.  You control it. Think of it as the center of your marketing programs.  Make everything point to it.

5.  Promote it–Buy AdWords.  Maximize SEO.  Include the URL prominently in everything you do promotionally and otherwise.

6.  Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should–Web sites become information dumping grounds.  Less is more.  The other point to this learning is just because you can do magic, make things appear, disappear, move, dance and sing, doesn’t mean you should.  But if you determine you should and your visitors will love it, swing for the fences.

7.  Don’t be awed by the technology–If you can think it, you can do it and you can find somebody that knows how.  We have yet to meet anyone who knows everything about the web and programming.  But we’ve developed a deep network of people who know how to make our sometimes crazy ideas work.

8.  Monitor results frequently–Your web site is real time marketing.  You can see when promotions are working, and when they’re not working.  You can use visitor habits to finely tune your site to reap the biges rewards.