Mobile Marketing Innovation
At a recent event organized by a local networking group where Balihoo presented, one of the questions that came from the audience was: ‘How do you keep innovation moving forward on your product/service’. Our response was fairly simple – we scan for innovations in the marketing industry and figure out how to how to integrate it into our platform and then simplify it for our target customer base - the local marketer. Simple response but an interesting challenge to execute on. Its not just a question of how we would do it, but deciding if and when to add a new tool to the local marketer’s tool belt. Integrating a new innovative tool too soon could result in confusion, lower adoption and/or wasted development effort. Doing it too late might have customers viewing the gap created by not having it as a detractor from your overall value proposition.
I think mobile marketing technology is a great example that illustrates this point very well. It is one of the spaces we are watching, analyzing and exploring very carefully. There are many different innovations in mobile marketing – all at various stages of technical maturity and customer adoption/utility. I recently received a new mobile marketing whitepaper from a digital marketing company called Knotice. The paper provides a great overview of the Mobile Marketing Space (Get the whitepaper here) and does an excellent job of breaking down the different types of mobile marketing options, and current audience makeup. It identified the following categories:
- SMS/MMS
- Mobile Web
- Mobile Apps
- Mobile Ads
- Other (mobile video, games, music, ringtones, wallpaper, downloads)
- Emerging (2-D codes, GPS, RFID, Bluetooth)
There is clearly no shortage of innovation in the mobile marketing sector! That is an amazingly diverse set of options and only going to grow as the space matures. Some of these will continue to gain adoption, others may wane, and new options will continue to be created. This brings us back to our interesting challenge of integrating and simplify marketing innovations to bring the highest overall value to our customer base at the right time. Which of these options will offer the highest value, at what time, and for how long? This is part of what makes product management both great fun, and a challenging puzzle that has no known solution. It comes down to making informed decisions with diverse data. Talking to clients, customers and the market helps us craft a product roadmap that will deliver the highest value to our customers and ultimately to our company.
Do we have everything figured out and aligned perfectly to attack the mobile space for our target customers? No - unfortunately the crystal ball is not working today, however with a broad spectrum of diverse inputs, it puts us in a great place to navigate the waters in way that allows us to test, and change course rapidly.
Chalk It Up to Experience
Last Friday, I was able to enjoy being pampered at the salon. Some may call it a “haircut”,but this was no ordinary haircut. Not only was I able to book my appointment on their website (a much appreciated convenience), but upon arrival I was offered my choice of coffee, tea or water. While I waited for my appointment I was given full access to the latest and greatest in pop culture trash (you know the basics; People, US Weekly and the like). They made me so comfortable in fact, that I didn’t even notice that I had waited 20 minutes already. Why would I care? I had all I needed to slip into relaxation mode.
These days most companies are aware of this experiential phenomenon and focusing more on making the customer experience a positive and memorable
one. There are subtle ways in which many businesses enhance the customer experience without the customer being aware of it. When you get your oil changed or car washed there is usually coffee and popcorn in the lobby for you while you wait. The same is true for most banks. Many clothing boutiques and department stores offer bottled water and other beverages while you shop, keeping you happy and spending money.
Another less obvious experiential tactic is the “husband chair” (my personal favorite). Ladies, I think you may know what I am talking about here. The chair or couch that you see so cleverly placed in the store lobby or dressing room area. While this magical chair provides solace for one’s mate, it allows a feeling of relief, freedom and ease for the shopper. Alleviating the pressure to hurry and get in and get out. No more having to ignore those slow, not so subtle sighs of frustration followed by “Ready? Let’s go. You said this was going to be quick”. When the “husband chair” is occupied there’s more time to shop and more money to be spent!
In the end, the customer makes their own decisions, but if you can make them as comfortable as possible you are much more likely to convert their visit or experience into a sale.The comfortable experience doesn’t always have to be an after-thought. At Balihoo, we offer quality solutions that are designed with ease of use in mind; providing comfort, and ultimately, piece of mind.
Apple Goes After Windows 7
With the fanfare yesterday around the Windows 7 launch, Apple took the opportunity to break a series of new ads in their “I’m a Mac” series directly attacking Windows 7. If you missed them, here they are:
Although I feel that the “I’m a Mac” schtick is getting a bit tired, I have to admit that I like these series of ads. It’s advertising 101 - if you’re #2 in the market, directly attack the #1 player. The spots are smart, quick, and focus in on creating FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) in the mind of the consumer considering buying a PC. Good stuff.
That being said - it’s interesting that the local component is missing here. Windows 7 has had a HUGE local presence, with launch parties being held locally across the country. However, I walked into my local Mac store this morning and there was nothing about Windows 7 or any tie to this advertising campaign at all. Where’s the continuity?
National brands NEED to embrace local - driving consistent, accurate, powerful communications through your local channels (whether resellers, distributors or franchisees) needs to be a focus of any national campaign. Local is where demand is both driven and fulfilled and should be a key component of your strategy.
Online Trumps Newspapers - Well, that all depends…
A new survey on media usage from the Opinion Research Corporation confirms what newspaper publishers have long feared: Americans are abandoning daily print newspapers in favor of 
online news. The OPC also found a slightly smaller decrease in the number of people turning to TV news. However, there were also some unexpected gains for traditional media, including a greater reliance on radio for news and information. The increase in online news consumption was led by disproportionately larger increases among a number of key demographics (including college-educated people (20%), Hispanics (21%) and people with household incomes over $100,000 a year (23.1%)). As might be expected, adults ages 18-34 are now reportedly getting more of their news from online sources (22.2% increase).
While newspaper readership is overall down and continues to fall as more people to turn to the internet, it is important to remember that are still many areas, markets and communities throughout the US where print newspaper is still a powerful medium. In many rural areas, local newspapers are still considered to be one of the best places to advertise. While in more urban areas it may make more sense to advertise on a newspapers’ website.
Ultimately, where you should be advertising completely depends on your local market. How your current, past and potential customers consume media is all that matters when determining your optimal marketing mix. So take a look around you and note what media sources you, your spouse, children, neighbor, barber, etc. commonly turn to.
