digital xchange // strategy

Mobile Apps Are in! On your Mark…Get Set…Stop!

Outline a Mobile Gameplan before Jumping the Gun on Apps

Welcome to the 2012 Tour de Change!

As we enter a new stage in the race to innovate, the routes have again changed. And unlike the courses of marketing Grand Prix ending just a little over a decade ago, this new race features routes that change on the fly, and continue to expand - giving no time to rest between stages or even build a lead at any point.

Now that many of the “lollygaggers” and “middle-of-the-pack” riders can finally see the route, they are about to once again find themselves losing ground if they repeat the bad habits that haunted them in tours past.

Once again, this challenge will require a user focus to triumph.

Introducing the latest obstacle…Mobile

And by mobile, I mean the smartphones and tablets that will soon eliminate the origin of the word.

Many brands currently want to break into the mobile space via applications, but not every marketer needs one. With experts debating whether an application or mobile browser is more ideal for clients, the application is a curse for those who fail to manage carefully user and client expectations.

In some commerce venues, apps are still just a shortcut. Their use should always should be a case-by-case example – when you consider the average consumer, they’re still not on a smartphone.

Mobile versus apps

For companies who are thinking of going into mobile, some experts suggest starting with SMS or a short code campaign.

Gene Keenan, vice president of mobile at Isobar, San Francisco, disagrees.

“A lot of advertising in general is a move towards utility advertising,” Mr. Kennan said. “That’s why apps are so popular – they provide utility to the end user in a way that advertising can’t sometimes.

“At the end of the day, you have to look at your client.”

Regardless of tactical implementation, brands first make sure that they have a defined strategy. Take a step back and look at your audience. Focus on who you want to target.

Kmart, for example, mixes it up with voice search and SMS. It’s not just about the iPhone and apps, it really depends on how the target audience uses their phone.

Once you figure that out, you can create a strategy.

Location, location, location
Location-based technology is a great tool to help clients reach consumers. Localization services can deliver the right message at the right time and place.

“Location-based services is the center of the main trends in the next few months,” said Alexandre Mars, CEO of Phonevalley and head of mobile at Publicis Groupe, New York.

Mr. Mars believes that before companies start looking into incorporating location-based services in their mobile initiatives, businesses need to have their core mobile sites up and running.

Brands have to build their mobile site strategy and then they can spend money, per Mars.

“At the end of the day, you need to embrace mobile with digital agencies,” Mars said. “You have to first build a mobile strategy and then money will flow – not the opposite.”

Measurement
Like most digital platforms, analytics are also key to a company’s mobile strategy.

“Analytics is not like it is online, it’s a little bit different,” OMD’s Mr. Machado said. “The problem right now is scale.

“You have to manage it properly,” he said. “It’s still a small group, but there’s a whole lot of value there.”

Demand-side platforms may put mobile ad networks in danger.

A big enabler is the tracker. Agencies are interested in DSPs because they can decide whether they want to buy the impression and for how much.

There are certain tracking abilities within mobile. But with feature phones - things can often differ.

In the end, you simply have to find the variants (like any other digital strategem).

Posted 7 months ago

Content - the New King of B2B Commerce

B2B marketing has recently crowned a new king - far surpassing paid search, PR, and mass media as the preferred weapon of today’s B2B entrepreneur.
In the 2011 B2B Marketing Trends Survey Report, marketing software company HiveFire surveyed nearly 400 marketing professionals about the state of the B2B market.
According to the report, B2B marketers are retreating from conventional tactics like SEM and have made content marketing the most-used tool in the box. In fact, twice as many B2B marketers now employ content marketing as they do print, TV, and radio advertising.
What is Content Marketing?

“The creation and publication of original content — including blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos, and photos - for the purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand’s visibility, and putting the company’s subject matter expertise on display.”

An impressive 82 percent of B2B marketers now employ content marketing as a strategy, in comparison to:

Search engine marketing at 70%
Event promotion at 68%
Public relations at 64%
Mass media advertising (TV, radio, print) at 32%

The primary marketing goals of each B2B organization included:

Driving sales and leads - 78%
Boosting brand awareness and establishing - 35%
Maintaining thought leadership - 35%
Increase web traffic - 28%
Improve search results - 24%

Key to the popularity of content marketing is its ability to generate qualified leads while engaging prospects - ALL without busting the budget. Nearly half of the content marketers interviewed said they dedicate less than a third of their budgets to such expenditures. B2B marketers also believe most of their customers and prospects are online, which is why they’re focusing their marketing efforts in the digital space.Finally, the survey shows that content curation - the process of finding, organizing and sharing content - continues to gain strength, up 17 percent from six months ago. Often seen as fuel for marketing programs, curation does have its kinks.

Lack of time - Nearly 70%
A lack of original and quality content - 66%
Difficulty in measuring results - 38%
Lack of staff to do the work- 37%

In every reign, there are imperfections. But there’s no disputing the ruler of the new B2B era. As Bill Gates originally stated in the 1996 article, “Content is King”…

“Those who succeed will propel the Internet forward as a marketplace of ideas, experiences, and products - a marketplace of content.”

Posted 7 months ago

What Steve Jobs taught me about Marketing

Over the past century, every generation has experienced a revolution in the cosmos of business. And each awakening in technology has stemmed from a new innovation.

In that respect, Steve Jobs is a legend.

To me (and many other business professionals in a variety of disciplines), his genius was noteworthy not only because it changed the way people live, learn, and behave, but also because of the fact that he did it multiple times across more than one decade, and particularly at the turn of a century.

His drive to innovate was constant.

As a digital marketer, there are many critical lessons that Apple (namely, Jobs) taught me over the years about how to be a successful brand in any industry. Here are just a few of them…

Embrace Change, and Build a Culture Around it.

Yes, the Apple commercials across decades, along with other brand experiences, were nothing short of breathtaking. But more important was the remarkably sustainable “us-versus-them” messaging. The result was the “culting” of a brand.

People didn’t buy Apple products - they bought into the brand’s ethos. As the rival evolved from IBM to Microsoft and now, increasingly, to Google, Apple consistently remained something more than just a company or a brand. It was a movement.

Marketing is No Longer Message or Media

Sure, these factors are certainly still key to most brands in today’s economy. But even more important today is to make your product or service so innovative that it markets itself.

With each product launch, Apple changed the game. And in doing so, captured increased loyalty and boosted their brand’s revenue. The message was great - “Think Different.” And his products did exactly that, which only made the message stronger.

Be Genuine.

As consultant Bob Garfield recently stated in an Ad Age feature article:

“I have written endlessly on the subject and explained it to countless audiences for decades. But here’s the strange thing: Until recently, I had failed to notice the central genius behind the Apple ethic.

It was true.

Not just shrewd, not just potent, but literally true. So admirable was the advertising for understanding the iconoclastic psychology of the audience and for flattering random graphic designers as heroic subversives, I never noticed that the positioning was rooted in reality. Steve Jobs was a bona fide liberator. A revolutionary. A visionary leader.“

Now that I’ve shared the acumen given to me, feel free to chime in. What are some of the things this digital genius taught you?

(Source: branditlikebarker.com)