- Dan Chick brings 17-plus years of technology experience to Rocky Mountain office –

Featured in the Denver Business Journal Newsmakers

Denver – Red Door Interactive, a strategic partner dedicated to ensuring businesses engage their customers wherever they are, announced today the addition of Dan Chick, Web Developer, to its Rocky Mountain office.

Chick brings more than 17 years of experience to the agency and will devise intuitive solutions for various clients leveraging Internet technologies as well as help bring innovative ideas to fruition.

“Dan has helped prominent brands develop enterprise-level database applications and possesses knowledge-building solutions that are focused on user experience and goal conversion,” said Amy Carr, Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Red Door Interactive. “He will play an instrumental role aligning technology with our clients’ goals and we’re excited to have him onboard in Denver.”

Prior to joining Red Door, Chick worked as a consultant through his business, WebKit, and helped numerous companies achieve their goals. Most recently, he designed and built a custom touchscreen cash register on top of a point-of-sale system API for an emerging retail franchise. In addition, Chick designed a modular MVC PHP framework with CMS, blogs, photo galleries, user management, messaging, chat, ecommerce and forums for Mercury Framework. Other experience includes building a multi-school social and content portal for school bands on the Mercury Framework for iSchoolBand.com. Before starting his business, Chick was employed at other companies, including WolfNet Technologies where he was the data architect for the rewrite of MLSFinder.com, the largest IDX real estate data aggregator in the country. Chick studied Engineering Physics and Computer Science at Queen’s University in Canada. In addition, Chick spent twelve years as an active member of the ColdFusion community and is the author of a published ColdFusion methodology.  He is currently active in the Denver PHP user group and the Visitorcentric conversion-optimization user group.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of the Red Door team. Not only do they have a company culture that’s highly desirable, but they have a team that works together on complex, innovative projects,” said Chick. “I’m looking forward to taking the experience I’ve acquired in the past to create web solutions for their Fortune 500 clients.”

ColoradoBiz
Brett Johnson, Senior Strategist, Red Door Interactive

Most companies that are taking even the most basic steps in market research have formulated some sort of segments.  From rudimentary demographic profiles based on ages, incomes and geographic location to complex representative classifications based on algorithms that also include product use and life outlook, segmentation gives sales and marketing teams a blueprint of the customer and helps them identify key targets.

While this quantitative research is very valuable and commonly used, personas are also very important because they focus more on qualitative and differ from the former in many ways:

Character
Personas take on a different character.  Though they may be coined with catchy names like segments, ‘Savvy Saver’ or ‘Meticulous Mavens,’ personas also have specific names such as Carlos Ramon or Marnie Cogswell. When implemented properly, they are referenced as real people in meetings, particularly brainstorm or planning session.  Personas have defined needs, problems and behaviors that work for or against them. They can tell you in an intimate way how they feel and approach certain situations.  In addition, personas also communicate on specific channels about specific topics.  They each use the web and their mobile phone in a unique manner, and are capable of sharing – or not sharing – the things they discover; sometimes with an OMG and a few extra exclamation points “!!!!”.   

Methodology
Personas possess such strong personalities because of the ways in which they are created.  Segmentation is typically a more clinical approach; draft a survey and/or comb a database to get responses to specific questions about age, location, income, who is in the family, what products they use or buy, how they are used, etc.  While there are great segmentation studies that can be conducted, they are simplistic question and answer responses, or even a rear view mirror look at the audience. It does not entail a conversation with individual people.  

If done correctly, personas should answer the “why” behind behaviors and attitudes.  During a recent persona project for the California Avocado Commission, the lion’s share of segments sought healthy, nutritious foods.  But it was during in-depth, one-hour interviews using a discussion guide that the answers the marketing team didn’t have questions for began to reveal themselves.  It became clear that dietary restrictions were a primary motivator driving choices.  Ultimately, those inclinations led to the formulation of a complete persona, Carol Morrow, who has clear needs, budgetary parameters, shopping habits and product expectations. 

Channels
During persona questions, marketers can talk about the channels people use to communicate for different types of information.  Are they using Facebook?  If so, for what?  Do they check status updates on their smart phone?  Who do they follow on Twitter and why?  What do they tweet?  Interviewees can freely tell you the sources they use for gathering information or entertainment.  Not that this isn’t done with segments, but spontaneous questions and insights can’t be explored in the same way.  Now take this into a marketer’s approach.  If you’re not aware that your target is a vegetarian, your advertising could go horribly wrong.  Clarifying your message across specific channels and discovering new ways to improve your products and services are the two best reasons to do personas. 

Connection
So how can segments line up with personas?  They probably won’t.  When you’re working on discovering the habits, attitudes and behaviors as they pertain to specific communication channels, the ingredients are often left out of segmentation, so answers may not always align.  You may find you have a 65-year old female that uses her cell phone like a 15-year old, or two 30-year old males with similar incomes from the same city that are drastically at odds when it comes to using social media.   However, having recently experienced an almost direct correlation between segments and personas, it really depends on the depth of your segments.  If they have life outlook, behaviors and attitudes, there may be a match.  If your segments are primarily based on demographic profiles, you’ll probably need to rethink your approach at the end of the study.

In most cases, personas make the perfect supplement to a segmentation study.  If you know the demographics of your audience, you can screen the persona interviewees making sure you have a balanced quota.  The more you know about your audience, the more likely it is that you’ll uncover key trends across age groups and financial ranges.  Segmentation is a necessity for any company trying to better understand their audience because they provide a very clinical look at the fabric of an audience.  However, personas take on a human approach and are more personalized, animated and allow your audience to share their needs and problems.  All you have to do is be there to provide the solution.  No sweat.

Read article on cobizmag.com>>>

We’re hiring! Looking for a Project Manager to join our Denver office.

Is This You?  From project kick-off to lessons learned, we’re looking for a dynamic team player to execute projects to meet client project goals. You can handle the minutia while keeping the big picture top-of-mind. You will be comfortable having the authority to make quick decisions on the fly as well as know when it’s appropriate to lean on subject matter experts for their insights. You will be able to clearly communicate status, actions and risks to clients while keeping teams engaged and motivated and forward-thinking. You have a dedication to quality and know how to provide value without compromising project goals.

Learning & Growth: You are organized, detail-oriented, and have the ability to learn quickly in a fast-paced environment. You are adept at learning and able leverage new technologies and project management best practices throughout the project life cycle. You will have opportunities to gain mastery in and execute Lean and Agile best practices within the project life cycle. You will engage in career/professional growth opportunities through supervision, mentoring and on-going training.

Our projects: You have the opportunity to manage both external and internal teams throughout complex, multiphase projects. You execute on a variety of project types such as engine optimization (SEO) strategy, online media and web site and application development. You welcome the opportunity to provide solutions and improvements to our project process through regular in-project retrospectives and post-project reviews.

Our team: Working under the larger umbrella of the Project and Process Management team you will join a strong team of project managers. You work with our Senior Estimator and Quality Architect to provide continuous improvements to projects. You provide mentorship to junior members of our team and serve in a leadership role within the PM and project teams.

Is this you? If so, APPLY NOW!

Current Open Positions:

• Director of Business Development, Denver with a proven track record of developing and growing meaningful relationships.
• Senior Web Developer with strong back-end development experience with LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) technologies.
• Search Marketing Manager who can gracefully manage SEO and paid search objectives and develop people.
• Senior Strategist with expertise in turning research into insights and delivering compelling presentations that resonate with executive audiences.
• Project Manager who is a dynamic team player with excellent judgment to execute projects to meet client goals. 

About Red Door Interactive
With offices in San Diego, Carlsbad and Denver, Red Door Interactive, Inc. is a strategic partner dedicated to helping businesses continually evolve by offering a broad array of services. We help brands including Cricket Communications, Eagle Creek, Quiksilver, Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill, and Petco connect seamlessly with customers across all touch points.

It’s official: Red Door  opens the doors to our new downtown Denver office on February 6^th! Now we need your help to bring our office to life with fun, inspirational, I-want-to-work-in-here-everyday conference room names.

By now you know that we’re not in the habit of using names like “Board Room” or “Executive Suite.” Rather, we try to contribute to the unique identity of each office: We’ve got our homey HQ in downtown San Diego, our beach house in Carlsbad, and now… our state-of-the-art modern lodge in Denver. 

This week, the Denver crew got together and held a brain-hurricane (10x more powerful than a brainstorm) to pick out names for the new conference rooms. Here’s how the ideas spun out. First, we wanted to tie the names into our modern lodge theme, and into Colorado. So, we picked our favorite mountains. From there, we picked our favorite ski/hike runs (one from each favorite mountain). Then we paired each run with the room it fit best.

Here’s what we came up with so far:

1. Imperial Bowl – from Breckenridge – for the large circular common area.
2. Blue Sky Basin – from Vail – for the larger conference room with more formal table/chairs.
3. Powder Keg – from Arapahoe Basin – for the smaller, more ‘casual’ conference room.
4. Dew Drop – from Telluride – for one of the call rooms.
5. Giggle Gulch (or maybe just The Gulch) – from Steamboat – for the other call room.

What do you think? Post your feedback and ideas, and we’ll send them out to our employees for a final vote!

Exterior of new office in downtown Denver

 And for some extra inspiration, check out more photos of our new Denver home coming to life here.

The new office will be located at 1001 17th Street, Suite PL150, Denver, Colo., 80202.

– Agency acknowledged by Denver Business Journal as No. 1 revenue producer –

DENVER – January 4, 2012 – Red Door Interactive, a strategic partner dedicated to ensuring businesses engage their customers wherever they are, announced it ranked number one in revenue on the Denver Business Journal’s Web Developer/Designer list.   

Placed at the top for the second consecutive year, the agency was also recognized as one of the largest area web designers in terms of the number of client websites built.

“What’s unique about Red Door is that we do far more than just build websites. Consumer are interacting with brands across numerous touch points – through print, TV and radio as well as on search engines, mobile devices, social media and in store.  We believe every piece of consumer interaction, no matter the media, has to deliver results with real measurement and successes.  We help clients understand their customers’ paths and build engagement and influence at each touch point to help acquire, convert and retain loyal customers,” said Jaime Heather Intile, Vice President of Business Services and Managing Director of Red Door’s Denver office. “This honor reiterates how we act more like a customer engagement partner by delivering a wide range of services to business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients and we look forward to helping more companies in the Rocky Mountain region profit from their online and offline initiatives.”

In addition, Red Door Interactive was listed as number 1811 on Inc. Magazine’s annual Inc. 5,000 list of the Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America and recently received its second Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Marble Award.

“As we work with more clients in Colorado, we’re continuously looking to expand our team of experts so we can provide them with the best online solutions. We encourage anyone with experience in this field to look at opportunities we have available,” said Intile.

Red Door is currently seeking a Senior Web Developer. To learn more about the position, visit http://www.reddoor.biz/were-hiring-sr-web-developer-web-dev-iii. 

About Red Door Interactive, Inc.
With offices in San Diego, Carlsbad and Denver, Red Door Interactive, Inc. is a strategic partner dedicated to ensuring businesses acquire, convert, retain and engage their customers wherever they are. The firm holds more than a decade of expertise in successfully developing and executing communications initiatives across all touch points to deliver real, measureable results. Clients include Quiksilver, Sutter Home Winery, Cricket Communications, PETCO, Rubio’s, Charlotte Russe and Eagle Creek. Find out more about Red Door Interactive at http://www.reddoor.biz.

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© 2012 by Red Door Interactive, Inc. All rights reserved.

Want a chance to intern at a “Best Place to Work“? If so, you’re in luck! Red Door Interactive is kicking off recruitment for PAID 2012 summer internships at both our Denver and San Diego locations.

Interested college students or recent graduates should apply for our internships online by Monday, February 20th. We will reach out to qualified individuals by the first week in March.  

Focus areas available for Red Door’s 2012 summer internships:

Denver office location:

• Business Services
  You’re a people person ready for hands-on account management experience. Apply now.
• Research & Strategy
  You love the idea of influencing how brands connect with digital audiences. Apply now.
• Online Advertising
  You want to develop, execute, manage and report on campaigns for top brands. Apply now.
• Marketing Communications
  You want to do PR, copywriting, website management, social media and so much more. Apply now.

San Diego office location:

• Creative Copywriting
  You love ads. Or you hate them and want to make them better. Apply now.
• Art Direction
  You’re creative, conceptual and capable. You’re ready to develop cutting-edge campaigns. Apply now.
• Marketing Communications
  You want to do PR, copywriting, website management, social media and so much more. Apply now.
• Project Management
  You can take a project from start to finish. And it makes you happy. Apply now.
• Social Media
  You love social media and you know how to use it. Apply now.
• Web Development
  You’ve found your calling—developing innovative websites for desktop, mobile and tablets. Apply now.
• Web/Graphic Design
  You make magic with Photoshop and Illustrator. Apply now.

As an intern at Red Door you will get hands on experience, exposure to the inner workings of an interactive agency, and have the opportunity to work with people who inspire, share, evolve, exceed, and are 100% jerk-free.  

Apply now! We look forward to seeing your application.

- Experienced ecommerce manager to guide digital campaigns for clients -

Denver – August 22, 2011 – Red Door Interactive, a premier strategic Internet Presence Management firm, announced today the addition of Becky Bitzenhofer Tornes as its newest Business Manager to the Denver office.

In this role, Tornes will work with a team of multi-disciplinary experts and help translate business objectives into value-producing digital campaigns, projects and full programs for its clients.

“Becky has a successful track record of not only managing projects, but she’s also consistently played a crucial role in growing client relationships at her previous company,” said Denny Pezic, Business Supervisor at Red Door Interactive. “In addition, Becky possesses a keen analytics background which allows her to not only produce online campaigns, but then quantify the results. She’s going to play a key role in our office and we couldn’t be more excited to have her added to the mix!”

Prior to joining Red Door Interactive, Tornes spent five years with Compete, Inc. where she started as an Analyst for the Technology and Entertainment group and eventually moved into a Senior Associate role. In this capacity, she spearheaded significant business growth for clients by improving website performance and optimizing web marketing strategies. Tornes also worked on a task force developing the first client relationship to utilize Compete’s new Mobile Analytic capabilities. She received her Bachelor of Science in Statistics from the University of Vermont, earning Summa Cum Laude honors, and was given the school’s Department of Statistics Undergraduate Achievement Award.

“Red Door has built a reputation for developing and executing online strategies for clients so it’s easy to see why they were named one of the top agencies on the West Coast,” said Tornes. “Their team environment is something that I’m really looking forward to being a part of!”

About Red Door Interactive, Inc.
With offices in San Diego and Denver, Red Door Interactive, Inc. manages clients’ online presence by analyzing their unique challenges, advising them on Internet-based solutions and implementing online marketing strategies to help them profit from their Web initiatives. Clients include Overstock.com, Cricket Communications, PETCO, Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill, Charlotte Russe and Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes Restaurants. Find out more about Red Door Interactive at http://www.reddoor.biz.

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© 2011 by Red Door Interactive, Inc. All rights reserved.

August 19, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

Android Owners Use Apps Twice as Much as Mobile Web - Mashable
“The average Android user spends 56 minutes per day using his or her device to surf the web and use apps. But the latter takes up two-thirds of that time. The top 10 apps account for 43% of all the time Android users spend on mobile apps. The top 50 apps account for 61% of all time spent. There are a total of about 250,000 Android apps in the market at this time.”
Read More

What does your social media voice say about your brand? - SmartBlog on Social Media
“What kind of voice you use for your social communications can say a lot about your brand. How you frame your social media communications depends largely on the industry you are in, your social media goals and the kinds of information you’re trying to convey. Each voice has its own strengths and weaknesses. There are times when each voice is the most appropriate.”
Read More

5 ways to use mobile barcodes (before they’re obsolete)- iMedia
“Mobile barcodes are everywhere. From bus benches to the shelves of major retailers, the chunky codes have become integrated into nearly all media. At the same time, many pundits and trend-watchers rally that mobile barcodes are already on the way out, obsolescing by advances in image recognition and near-field communications (NFC).”
Read More

7 Back-to-School Must-Reads for the Business Bookworms- Marketing Profs
“September always seems to be a month of new starts, new learning and new challenges—and probably more so than the New Year. Here’s a pile of books, to share in hopes that you’ll find them interesting, motivating, and inspiring!” 
Read More

A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.

June 10th, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

HOW TO: Start Marketing on SCVNGR - Mashable
“What do Neiman Marcus, HP and Buffalo Wild Wings have in common? Not a lot, except that they’ve all created marketing campaigns on SCVNGR. The breadth of industries above showcases exactly why SCVNGR might be a good tool for your business. Mashable spoke with Chris Mahl, SVP of marketing at SVNGR to find out how businesses can get involved with the platform and start cashing in.” 
Read More

Google Buys PostRank to Boost Social Analytics - Search Engine Watch 
“Last week, Google bought PostRank, a social analytics service that tracks and measures social posts. With this acquisition, Google has gained a resource to better understand the social web, and that resource can be applied to great impact in several of Google’s key social arenas. What Is (or Was) PostRank? PostRank, in their own words, “is the largest aggregator of social engagement data in the industry.” The service allowed users to get real-time data on trending topics, high-volume conversations around the web, and their own posts.”
Read More

Mobile Display Ads More Than Doubled in Last 2 Years - AdWeek
“According to a study from comScore, display advertising on mobile devices has more than doubled over the past two years. The study found that in April 2011, 689 advertisers used mobile display ads to reach consumers on their smartphones—an increase of 128 percent from two years earlier. According to the report, 50 percent of all ads were for mobile content and publishing, while 26 percent of ads were for consumer discretionary goods, 7 percent for information technology companies, and 6 percent for financial services ads.”
Read More

Why Email Marketers Need To Pay Attention to Mobile  - MediaPost
“Ignoring mobile may have real consequences. If your subscribers are mobile-savvy, and your email isn’t optimized for these environments, you run more than just the risk of missing out on communication. By not reaching customers the way they prefer, your emails will go unread, marked as spam and your messages will be ignored – all greatly impacting your reputation and deliverability.”
Read More

Facebook Face-Recognition Tool Under Fire - MediaPost  
“Guess we were wrong to assume that Facebook had grown too powerful for privacy-related criticism. No, the social giant is now being forced to apologize for the way it rolled out its face-recognition system. “A group of privacy watchdogs drawn from the EU’s 27 nations will study the measure for possible rules violations,” Bloomberg reports. “Tags of people on pictures should only happen based on people’s prior consent and it can’t be activated by default,” the group tells Bloomberg, before promising to “clarify to Facebook that this can’t happen like this.”
Read More

A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://delicous.com/RedDoorInteractive. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts http://twitter.com/reddoor

 
Keystone Solutions
Rudi Shumpert, Sr. Director – Technology Solutions Group