The goal of any client’s web solution should always be to align strategy and tactics with specific business goals and needs.

For example, while blogs are cool and great for all the reasons I’m sure you either know or can assume, I don’t know how smart it would be for, say, an auto shop to put money and energy into a blog, when they could put that cash into an online customer database and simple contact form solution that streamlines their lead generation process and improves their customer relationship management. Not to mention that with a blog, comes the responsibility to produce content on a regular basis, as I have come to learn, so you’d have to ask, how much worthwhile content could an auto shop put out to people visiting the site.

There are many marketing services available to any client – print materials, tv and radio broadcast, public relations, etc. etc. All of these services are great at creating awareness, changing opinion (if need be) and not letting people forget that you exist as an option for them. I don’t think any of these services can work as hard for you as a smart web solution. If set correctly, a logical web-based approach is the equivalent to having your top employees working for you 24/7.

With this in mind, Barack Obama recently put forth a new Iphone application that must be the smartest web-based solutions I am aware of.

First and foremost, it’s free to download. It seems clear Obama has plenty of cash to run his campaign, and I don’t think campaign laws would prevent sticking a price on the app. as presidential campaigns traditionally offer all sorts of candidate branded items for sale. The average price of Iphone apps appear to be somewhere around $5 dollars, and there could have been an opportunity to assign a small price for the application and let Obama-mania push people over the edge to purchase and use. With the opportunity to price the app. available, they cleverly elected to make the app. free. With no charge associated, I am especailly curious to know how much time was put toward development of this application. Ok, enough of the slow talk.

So first we have a free app., that is supported by Obama-maniacs who download a campaign tool to keep in their pocket at all times.

This tool is like the Swiss Army knife of campaign tools. Its capabilities are far-reaching and absurdly powerful.

Through the app.:

Your phonebook is arranged via area code, and then prioritized by key battleground states. So if Florida emerges as THE state Obama needs to win the presidency, then all of your Florida phone numbersfloat to the top of your phone book. With the thinking already done for you, you can now call friends and family in your phonebook and start a conversation about the campaign. So now, instead of being called by some strange campaign person, citizens are reached out to by those they kno, trust and will listen to.

As you make progress through your phonebook, you can keep track of who you’ve called and where they stand – decided/undecided. These stats are also totalled for you to see the overall impact the application is having on the campaign.

Using Iphone’s GPS capabilities, the phone is able to plop on Google maps your location and point you to your nearest Obama for America campaign headquarters AND (an intended big AND) show you where, whien and which local Obama events are occuring in your area.

Other features, which more or less speak for themselves include: receive updates (you can sign up your e-mail address as well – a very smart campaign move to continue their dialogue with you via e-mail), view recent news, view campaign video and photo, and see a complete breakdown of every campaign issue imaginable and read about where Obama and Biden stand.

The icing on the cake – you are offered the opportunity to donate money to the campaign in the bottom left corner of the app’s main page. The donate button’s location on the app. is almost the nicest touch, almost to say, yes, you can donate money to the campaign, but if you want to make a real impact, get involved in these other ways first. Funny note: the donate button is green and set atop a thin blue strip, making the design look like a WIndows “Start” bar from far away.

In sum, this application is important because it seamlessly coalesces design, information architecture and mobile media with social empowerment. The strategy and tactics behind this application align perfectly with the goals and needs of the Obama Biden campaign.

The future for the app. is even more exciting. What will happen to the app. if Obama wins? How will it evolve? Will it become a more powerful tool to keep in touch with the new administration? WIll it rewrite (perhaps create and maintain) a dialog between the American public and the President? What new featured could arise? How about – Call the President. Ha.

If you don’t have an Iphone and you’d like to seen the application, here is a video of the app in action.

Random extra thoughts formed while writing this and watching the Suns vs. Nuggets game, which is being played outdoors – very cool:

• TNT’s graphic treatment during NBA games is looking a little more Web 2.0-ish
• NBA’s marketing department must not have lifted a finger during the off-season; that piano “Where…happens” commercial is running again this season. How innovative…
• When will the movie theater become extinct? The amount of time between the date a movie is released in theaters and the date a movie is released on DVD is shrinking at an absurd rate.
• I’m finding the older I get, the more I have to say, so my frequency of posts should start to increase.
• I think I saw Stacey Augmon in the background during the game.
• All this talk of Iphone’s and I don’t have one. If you’ve made it this far in my post, I should probably value your opinion and loyalty. What do you think? Should I get one?