A great tool for brainstorming
May 10, 2013 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
We’ve been looking for something like Trello for a long time. Trello Is promoted as a project management system. As a digital marketing agency we’ve got that down. What was really missing was a global collaborative space to share ideas and brainstorm. At the core of Trello are cards that are used to share and organize ideas. People can collaborate using tablets, smart phones and traditional browsers. This is ideal when trying to brainstorm with folks in different locations and time zones. People can also vote and share ideas outside of the group. As more of the best creative’s in the business ditch their commute and learn how to work from home apps like Trello become very valuable. Think of it as a digital whiteboard that doesn’t end up a scribbled mess, or have the words “do not erase”, scrawled above it. I’ll let you know how it goes.
More here https://trello.com/
Mobile web use among teens rises significantly
April 9, 2013 Mobile, News Leave a comment
Washington DC : A recent PEW Internet study among US teens regarding their preferred method of getting online found that 78% of US teens use a mobile phone. Around three quarters of that group accesses the Internet on smart phones and tablets. 25% of that group uses a mobile device as their primary access to the Internet.
This presents an opportunity for marketers to utilize the mobile web in unique and innovative ways. The latest HTML 5 technology allows marketers to deliver an app like experience on a variety of mobile devices not just iOS and Android. Teens are interested in the go anywhere mobile experience. Companies should be looking to provide a unique mobile experience for products and promotions. In many cases the mobile web is superior to utilizing apps as access has gotten easier, no app download required, no long waits for App Store approvals and most importantly no managing expensive multiplatform app updates and launches.
Think about utilizing the mobile web for branded contests and promotions that can be updated regularly, new product launches and experiential events that may not necessitate the cost of a full-blown mobile app. The goal should be to provide an app like experience for all smartphone and tablet users.
We can take this one step further utilizing responsive web design whereby the site automatically adapts to the screen size of the device. With new smaller and mid-size tablets capturing more market share this type of responsive design will continue to gain traction. Find out more - view our recent presentation on mobile web promotion opportunities
Digital media leads in emerging markets
March 6, 2013 News, Social Leave a comment
Looking to promote your product in emerging markets? A recent study shows that mobile and social media are far more influential in these markets than in North America or the UK.
LONDON: The digital channels are more important for marketers than traditional media when it comes to connecting with consumers in emerging markets, new analysis shows.
The Discovery Brand Index of GlobalWebIndex, is based on the results of more than 150,000 Internet users in 31 countries, creating a single measure of the ease with which consumers can find brand messages.
It found, for example, that social media are six times more important for brands in markets such as Indonesia and Thailand than in Japan or the UK.
To highlight the difference in attitudes, consumers in the Netherlands are seven times more likely to learn about new brands and products that social media ads.
Another important digital channel is mobile, and campaigns in countries like Thailand and Vietnam are about four times more efficient than in developed markets such as the UK and the Netherlands.
Developed Internet markets, however, have different characteristics. In Japan and the United Kingdom, for example, the search is twice as important for brands in consumer buying trip digital.
Established brands also exert more power in these markets. In Japan, the brand loyal consumers outnumber those “adventurous brand” by two to one: a bit of stick from 58% to a brand once they find one they like, while 27% always like to try new products.
By contrast, consumers in emerging markets are much less fixed in selecting brand: 73% of Filipino Internet users like to try new products.
“With brands increasingly investing in digital and social media, it is critical to understand how all channels to work together, with individual metrics that cover all communications, whether they are online or not,” said Tom Smith, GlobalWebIndex founder.
Among other findings of the study are that consumers in Hong Kong are more likely to trust the price comparison and consumer review sites in the search for online information products.
And Sweden produced the lowest score online BDI, indicating that the Swedes are the least likely of any nationality to use the Internet to interact with brands or product search.
The data comes from GlobalWebIndex, additional content by WARC staff, March 6, 2013
57% Facebook users go mobile. Now how to reach them.
January 21, 2013 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
Excellent info-graphic courtesy of QWAYA via Social Media Today.
Facebook’s growth on mobile devices is a good indicator of how rapidly smart phone subscriptions are growing globally. Out of Facebook’s nearly 1,000,000,000 active monthly users 57% are accessing via mobile phone. If you’ve developed a great mobile website or mobile promotion, The Facebook Newsfeed is a fantastic way to drive traffic there.
Note to Chief Marketers: Get in the social currency game.
December 7, 2012 Social Leave a comment
This survey shared by socialmediatoday is another in a long string of data pointing to the fact that among consumers interacting with brands it’s more about social currency then social media. The study points out the disconnect between brands and consumers. Here are a few of highlights.
- 65% of consumers connect with a brand for the games, contests and promotions
- 79% to take advantage of special offers and discounts
- People are connecting with brands via social media because they expect something in return
- Consumers see this as social currency
- When CMO’s or asked this same question they believed that these consumers were looking for content and only 27% of the same CMO’s believed that consumers were seeking special savings, experiences or rewards.
That’s a big disconnect. So the challenge for marketers is to engage consumers as the first step in starting a conversation. Pony up your social currency at the front door. This is especially true with new product introductions or brand extensions which 55% of consumers want to hear about.
From the looks of things not many CMOs and marketers are putting enough weight to the idea of social currency…
And one more chart just in case the message is not loud and clear. Read more about the study here http://goo.gl/rc3ev
Consumer Engagement and Instagram
October 23, 2012 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
When you think about it photos are a great way to engage consumers. Whether it’s through contests, experiential marketing or social media, photos are king. When a consumer includes your product in a great photo it’s the ultimate complement for your brand. Try this experiment, go to any products Facebook page and click on photos, then click on photos of……. and you will see the sometimes “very interesting” ways consumers are engaging with that product through photography. With the growth of Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest a photo can now have a much larger audience. It’s also gotten much easier for the consumer to add a quick hashtag or tag your product on Facebook. Check out this YouTube video of how shoe brand Aldo is using Instagram to vastly enhance the visibility of a street team promotion.
ApolloBravo offers branded photo sharing solutions for your contest, event or social media campaign. We create campaigns that maximize photo sharing across multiple platforms and encourage consumer check-ins with photos.
Mobile show-rooming spells trouble for unprepared retailers
October 22, 2012 Mobile Leave a comment
Show-rooming points to big troubles for brick-and-mortar stores. Recently while shopping for a new refrigerator I thought I would give showrooming a try. It’s pretty easy to do, you can use an app like Amazon or Red Laser and quickly scan barcodes on appliances other items in any store for a quick comparison. To capitalize on this trend many online retailers are offering free shipping and set up for large appliances. My results – I could’ve saved $250 online. However the retailer was prepared and offered free set up, haul-away and a gift card. Lesson learned if you’re going to showroom give the salesperson at least a shot at matching the price. For retailers think about embracing show rooming with your own scannable codes and price match offers. Make sure you remind consumers about services and guarantees you may not get from online retailers. More about growing show rooming trends.
VIA WARC
CouponCabin, the deals website, and Harris Interactive, the polling firm, surveyed2,361 adults, and reported that 43% of people owning a smartphone or tablet participated in this activity.
Upon being asked if they were worried that this might cause bricks and mortar stores to go out of business, some 44% of the panel proved “not at all concerned”.
A further 41% were “somewhat concerned”, while 12% were “very concerned” and 3% were “extremely concerned”, the study found.
By category, the uptake of such behaviour was highest when considering home electronics, hitting 50%. Entertainment products like books, DVDs and CDs logged 40% here.
These figures stood at 31% for the apparel segment, as well as 29% for footwear, and 24% for desktop PCs, the analysis revealed.
Overall, a 97% majority had ultimately bought an item researched in this way at a lower price than was available in stores.
Within this group, a 28% share of shoppers either “always or often” did so, and another 68% “sometimes” adopted the same strategy.
“Consumers are using technology to find as many ways to save as possible, and showrooming is a prime example of that,” said Jackie Warrick, president of CouponCabin.
“As showrooming becomes more widespread, some stores are concerned and are changing their strategies, offering new incentives and providing special offers to keep shoppers buying at their retail locations.”
Research from Deloitte has suggested that over 50% of consumers were likely to be carrying smartphones when Christmas shopping this year, compared with 40% last year.
“Those [chains] who adjust and are able to be nimble with their customers will have a great holiday,” said Alison Paul, retail and distribution sector leader at Deloitte. “Showrooming is a phenomenon, but it will not end retail as we know it.
“Retailers recognise that having the customer in the store is nine-tenths of the battle,” she added. “There’s nothing like the immediate gratification of walking out with what you came to get.”
Data sourced from CouponCabin/Chicago Tribune; additional content by Warc staff, 22 October 2012
67% of smartphone users say mobile friendly sites turn visitors into customers
September 26, 2012 Mobile, News Leave a comment
The following post originally appeared on the Google Mobile Ads Blog.
In this world of constant connectivity, consumers expect to find the information that they want, when they want it – especially when they’re on the go. We know that this applies to their web browsing experiences on mobile, so we took a deeper look at users’ expectations and reactions towards their site experiences on mobile. Most interestingly, 61% of people said that they’d quickly move onto another site if they didn’t find what they were looking for right away on a mobile site. The bottom line: Without a mobile-friendly site you’ll be driving users to your competition. In fact, 67% of users are more likely to buy from a mobile-friendly site, so if that site’s not yours, you’ll be missing out in a big way.
- When they visited a mobile-friendly site, 74% of people say they’re more likely to return to that site in the future
- 67% of mobile users say that when they visit a mobile-friendly site, they’re more likely to buy a site’s product or service
- 61% of users said that if they didn’t find what they were looking for right away on a mobile site, they’d quickly move on to another site
- 79% of people who don’t like what they find on one site will go back and search for another site
- 50% of people said that even if they like a business, they will use them less often if the website isn’t mobile-friendly
- 48% of users say they feel frustrated and annoyed when they get to a site that’s not mobile-friendly
- 36% said they felt like they’ve wasted their time by visiting those sites
- 52% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company
- 48% said that if a site didn’t work well on their smartphones, it made them feel like the company didn’t care about their business
Study : Marketers Underspending on Mobile Marketing
August 31, 2012 Mobile, News Leave a comment
This is something we see a lot and it is part of the reason there is such a big opportunity in mobile. With many companies devoting less than 1% of their total marketing budget to mobile the door is wide open to reach consumers in this category that has arrived.
NEW YORK: via WARC US marketers should increase their spend on mobile marketing by a factor of seven, according to a study commissioned by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).
The research by Marketing Evolution, a marketing measurement and analytics firm, concluded that the optimized level of spend on mobile advertising for US marketers in 2012 should be 7%, on average, compared to the current budget allocation of less than 1%.
“Finally, we are able to give marketers a level of empirical data that takes out the guesswork,” said Greg Stuart, CEO, MMA Global.
He added that the research “offers a baseline for further discussions on what a rebalanced marketing mix should look like to achieve a stronger ROI on every dollar they spend.”
The precise level of spend will of course depend on the marketing goal and industry category. The study also indicated that mobile’s share of the media mix will only increase in the future, to at least 10% by 2016 as more people use smartphones.
Rex Briggs, CEO of Marketing Evolution, said: “It’s clear that marketers, on average, are spending significantly less than they should on mobile and are losing out on sales and profits by settling for a sub-optimal media mix.”
The information was welcomed by B. Bonin Bough, vice president of Global Media and Consumer Engagement at Kraft Foods.
“We’re committed to making a difference in mobile innovation,” he said, “so I’m very pleased that the MMA is leading the industry with this valuable data.”
The MMA estimates that mobile marketing in the US is currently worth $26bn.
Data sourcd from MMA; additional content by Warc staff, 31 August 2012
Contact ApolloBravo for a free mobile + social readiness evaluation.
Three “Must do” marketing investments.
July 11, 2012 Mobile, News, Social Leave a comment
Excellent article on 3 must do marketing investments shared in Tech crunch. Before making the investment companies need to explore how mobile, social and content can be linked and delivered efficiently. With over 50% of search now conducted via apps and mobile devices is important to put mobile 1st in this trio.
Summer signals the beginning of budget season. Before making marketing investment decisions, analyze this year’s three marketing must-haves: social media, content marketing and mobile. While aspects of these marketing formats may not have direct costs, they all require budget and resources.
1. Social Media
Social media provides platforms, enabling marketers to interact with their target audience. Social media involves more than a Facebook page or Twitter account. It requires an integrated social media strategyincluding a social media persona to ensure it’s an integral part of your marketing.
- Assess current social media presence. Is your brand present on appropriate social media networks? Are you actively managing your presence? Are there emerging social media platforms relevant to your firm, focus, or target market where you must establish your presence?
- Evaluate your brand’s portrayal across social media platforms. Is your brand consistently presented? Do your branding guidelines need to be enhanced?
- Determine the engagement level you need on social media platforms. Remember, you can’t rely on three tweets a day written by your agency. You need a human face behind your social media presence. Ensure you’ve got appropriate in-house resources to respond to social media requests.
- Create relevant content to feed social media needs. Assess requirements across content formats and social media platforms. Include formal content marketing as well as social media interactions like Facebook comments and Twitter responses.
- Support your social media presence with targeted advertising. Do you need to enhance your social media presence with related paid advertising? Consider the use of social media ads.
2. Content Marketing
Content marketing is promotion-free information that fuels social media and overcomes purchase decision hurdles. (Here’s an outline of content marketing’s basic steps.)
- Analyze content marketing needs. Assess the existing content within your organization. Then determine where you have content marketing needs and where you have holes in your existing offering. Specifically examine the entire purchase process and social media interactions.
- Integrate content marketing into an editorial calendar. Determine where content is needed, the format and topic required, and the timing of its creation based on your assessment. Incorporate this information into a plan across platforms to ensure it’s synched with your promotional calendar. Plan for content reuseto extend the life of each element.
- Acquire appropriate resources for your content creation team. At a minimum, you need an editor and a copy editor. While you can encourage employees and customers to contribute content, determine where you need additional support. Don’t underestimate the need for designers, photographers, writers and technology support. These resources can be internal, freelance or agency-based.
- Expand content marketing reach. Make it easy for readers to share your information with social sharingbuttons. Where appropriate, use advertising to promote your content and build an audience.
- Ensure content marketing closes sales. Content marketing by itself can’t drive sales. It needs calls-to-action and related dedicated promotional codes. Further, create tailored landing pages and streamline the sales process to efficiently convert prospects to sales.
3. Mobile
Mobile is a must-have for every business with a retail presence or that competes with a business that has a retail presence since mobiles and tablets go shopping.
- Be present on mobile search. Mobile search is separate from web search. Local businesses that people seek on-the-go must be findable on mobile search.
- Build a mobile website. Don’t just assume people can read your web-optimized site on a mobile device. Create a streamlined mobile website focused on the information customers want on-the-go.
- Build a mobile phone number house file. If you don’t have a mobile phone list, start building one now.
- Optimize your emailings for mobile devices. Email is the primary content consumed on mobile devices. Ensure readers can easily read and take action on your emailings via a connected device.
- Assess need for a mobile app. In the past year, mobile app usage has surged ahead of mobile web, according to Flurry. Depending on your business, this shift may require investment in a mobile app.
According to IBM’s State of Marketing 2012, marketers face an array of challenges. Top on their lists are channel and device choice expansion and customer collaboration and influence. This is no surprise given social media’s exponential growth, increased smartphone usage, and the quick adoption of tablets. These elements require new ways of engaging and selling prospects and customers through content marketing and social media delivered via various mobile devices.
At a time when marketers need additional funds to test these emerging channels and platforms, more than a quarter of those surveyed believe their biggest challenge is financial constraints and ROI accountability. This is to be expected in light of weak economic growth. Many businesses using social media, content marketing and/or mobile are still testing these strategies and haven’t developed effective tracking yet.
