Kim Dushinski, founder of Mobile Marketing Profits and author of The Mobile Marketing Handbook, writes that, very soon, all businesses will have a mobile marketing presence. "Mobile" includes our cell phones, natch, but also refers to any sort of away-from-home device that can access the Internet through Wi-Fi: basic flip phone to smartphone to iPhone, PDAs, sub-laptop sized computers, even gaming units.
“It’s the new technology and it’s coming quickly,” she says, noting that in Asia it’s already omnipresent (check out Digital Korea). Over half the population of the planet has a mobile phone already and in some places mobile phone use is reportedly 100% (not sure how babies are using cell phones, at least not yet). In the U.S. only about 80% of us have cell. Overall, use is growing at 42% per year and is predicted to have a $7.6 billion impact by 2013.With its importance as the Seventh Mass Media (along with print, recording, cinema, radio, TV, and the Internet), marketers will be called upon now or sooner to fit mobile into the marketing strategy.
Success, of course, will depend on our finding something of value to provide customers via mobile. Target groups who are already mobile savvy include people under 30 (born with flying thumbs), business data plan users (who cares how much it costs?), and Latinos. Busy women top the up-and-coming market. Don’t try to sell stuff to mobile users, though. Younger groups especially are wary of advertising, marketing, and anything commercial, especially spammed text messages. In this market, we'll have to figure out how to make money when we're giving it (whatever "it" is) away.
To seduce mobile users, then, we'll need to offer something that will add value to whatever they're doing at the moment. For now, top mobile marketing strategies include location-specific information (addresses, driving directions, maps, storefront photos); timely information (pricing alerts, flight info); tips to make life easier (menu options, calorie counts); a financial incentive (coupons); entertainment (games, trivia, contests, recordings); and connection (social networking like OrbitzTLC).
B2C businesses have an edge in mobile marketing so far. Social media are the natural partner to mobile marketing, though, so here’s where service-based or information businesses have an edge. “Your focus will be about building a presence and staying connected to your customers,” Duschinski says.
Getting involved will be complicated. Mobile marketing is 100% opt-in, so we've got to find a way to persuade customers to ask for what we're offering, then make it easy for them to sign-on. Curiously, the move to mobile marketing may give more traditional strategies like direct mail a renewed raison d'etre.
When we get into serious mobile marketing, we'll need to partner with vendors who provide transcoding, 2D bar codes, connection aggregators, mobile platform providers, minature website design, abbreviated dialing codes, and a plethora of other mobile-specific technology. If you haven’t heard of “short codes,” you will.
Like social media, it's going to drive us crazy, but mobile marketing is sure to spawn new marketing strategies, which could be fun. For example, location-specific mobile marketing is already employing such old-fashioned tactics as billboards or people walking around in t-shirts that feature a message with a short code. Duschinski’s book, for example, imagines a t-shirt with “Want a FREE lunch?” on the front, and “Text LUNCH to 12345 [the short code]” on the back.
Finally, whatever else we do, our text messages will have to be 160 characters or less, so there’s sure to be even more work for copywriters who can say something significant in a few words.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
A 3x5 Lesson for Copywriters
bNet recently featured a piece by Sean Silverthorne, who loved the observations Alan Webber made about jotting notes on 3x5 cards. Webber says the practice made him a better listener because “When you keep 3 x 5 cards close at hand, you don’t just listen to what people are saying; you listen into their ideas.” Into their ideas: how powerful!
Webber goes on to say, “You pay close attention to the way the words work — or don’t work — to capture an idea or an argument. As an involved listener you help others frame or reframe an idea so it clicks into place: you become an idea chiropractor. You find yourself using your conversations strategically, listening to learn, and learning to make sense of the world. And each day, as you assemble that day’s collection of 3 x 5 cards, you discover new lessons that help you develop your own understanding of how the world really works, your own rules of thumb that comprise your guide to work and life in a time of unrelenting turbulence.”
Webber’s 3x5 is a fabulous tool for copywriters working on a succinct marketing message. Maybe a Blackberry works the same way. But maybe not.
Webber goes on to say, “You pay close attention to the way the words work — or don’t work — to capture an idea or an argument. As an involved listener you help others frame or reframe an idea so it clicks into place: you become an idea chiropractor. You find yourself using your conversations strategically, listening to learn, and learning to make sense of the world. And each day, as you assemble that day’s collection of 3 x 5 cards, you discover new lessons that help you develop your own understanding of how the world really works, your own rules of thumb that comprise your guide to work and life in a time of unrelenting turbulence.”
Webber’s 3x5 is a fabulous tool for copywriters working on a succinct marketing message. Maybe a Blackberry works the same way. But maybe not.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Marketing in the 2009 Zeitgeist
It occurred to me that everything that happens in this country (at least currently) is about commerce -- which means that marketing is not only a dimension of all that is going on, but also a measurement of the operational efficiency of commerce in the Zeitgeist.
Before the Web kicked into high gear (pre-Web 2.0?), marketing drove the commerce train and pretty much told consumers not only what to buy, but also what to think, believe, appreciate, yearn for, and be (remember The Joneses?).
Interestingly, marketing practices-- how we buy and sell product and service -- reflects the larger commercial picture -- and by extension, the Zeitgeist itself. In other words, if it's not selling, we stop marketing that way. I'm no historian, but I suspect our traditional bent to push the message to consumers hit high points with the Sears Catalog, evolved to the Mad Men, racheted up in the direct mail boom, and has been cranking along pretty much unchallenged for the last 60 years or so. But something is different now. The Internet has made next-door neighbors of us all. Consumers now have the power to exchange viewpoints and experiences easily.
Meanwhile, the current Zeitgeist incorporates mistrust of government and authority, fear and uncertainty, exposure to global realities, an explosion of media options, getting by with "less," eco-consciousness, and a general "hunkering down" [everybody's got an opinion, of course, but futurist Ross Dawson cites the following trends for 2009: uncertainty, ageing, global connectivity, anxiety, power shift eastwards.]
How will marketers cope with this Zeitgiest? By its nature, in an effort to influence commerce, marketing will adjust accordingly. What succeeds now will be different than what succeeded then (which may be why social media with the old push/pull marketing mentality probably won't work). Maybe the new marketing involves lots more listening, lots less talking. Forewarned is forearmed.
Before the Web kicked into high gear (pre-Web 2.0?), marketing drove the commerce train and pretty much told consumers not only what to buy, but also what to think, believe, appreciate, yearn for, and be (remember The Joneses?).
Interestingly, marketing practices-- how we buy and sell product and service -- reflects the larger commercial picture -- and by extension, the Zeitgeist itself. In other words, if it's not selling, we stop marketing that way. I'm no historian, but I suspect our traditional bent to push the message to consumers hit high points with the Sears Catalog, evolved to the Mad Men, racheted up in the direct mail boom, and has been cranking along pretty much unchallenged for the last 60 years or so. But something is different now. The Internet has made next-door neighbors of us all. Consumers now have the power to exchange viewpoints and experiences easily.
Meanwhile, the current Zeitgeist incorporates mistrust of government and authority, fear and uncertainty, exposure to global realities, an explosion of media options, getting by with "less," eco-consciousness, and a general "hunkering down" [everybody's got an opinion, of course, but futurist Ross Dawson cites the following trends for 2009: uncertainty, ageing, global connectivity, anxiety, power shift eastwards.]
How will marketers cope with this Zeitgiest? By its nature, in an effort to influence commerce, marketing will adjust accordingly. What succeeds now will be different than what succeeded then (which may be why social media with the old push/pull marketing mentality probably won't work). Maybe the new marketing involves lots more listening, lots less talking. Forewarned is forearmed.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Party Rules Apply To Social Networks
A social network study released in April by NTEN, Common Knowledge, and The Port Network, Inc., reports that nonprofits are making increasing use of “commercial social networks” [defined as "online communities owned and operated by a corporation"] and “house social networks” [networking communities built on a nonprofit’s own website]. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace are cited as examples of “commercial social networks.” Presumably, house social networks” would include more traditional discussion groups where folks chitty chat.
The study shows that 80% of nonprofits who engage in commercial social networks use them primarily for “marketing.” No wonder few participants join or stay around. Marketing is a big no-no, if you talk to social media experts like Jason Baer, who keep trying tell us that the purpose of social networks is to be human and build a community. Let us not forget that a lot of the older “house social networks” [list serves and similar discussion groups] have done that brilliantly. Most of these older networks were never intended to market anything -- and, apparently, the participants like it the way. Here's a case in point.
An organization I know well launched a “bells and whistles” website not long ago – a new password-protected information center through which all industry knowledge would henceforth flow. The organization hyped the new website’s value on its 8-year-old [and beloved] list serve. A relatively ho-hum reaction ensued, except for one thing: Numerous queries poured into the list serve, each saying, “Well, how nice.. but that doesn’t mean we have to go to the new information center to access the list serve, does it?"?
Wisely, the organization decided not to mess with the list serve (for now) -- which demonstrates, that, even with new media, the old virtues remain in place: Plan a party; invite compatible guests; keep the nourishment flowing; add some entertainment to move things along; leave the guests to themselves; and make mental notes on what worked and what didn't. But don't try to sell anything. That's a different kind of party [Tupperware, anyone?] and one to which a lot of people say, "Oh no.. I got an invitation!"
The study shows that 80% of nonprofits who engage in commercial social networks use them primarily for “marketing.” No wonder few participants join or stay around. Marketing is a big no-no, if you talk to social media experts like Jason Baer, who keep trying tell us that the purpose of social networks is to be human and build a community. Let us not forget that a lot of the older “house social networks” [list serves and similar discussion groups] have done that brilliantly. Most of these older networks were never intended to market anything -- and, apparently, the participants like it the way. Here's a case in point.
An organization I know well launched a “bells and whistles” website not long ago – a new password-protected information center through which all industry knowledge would henceforth flow. The organization hyped the new website’s value on its 8-year-old [and beloved] list serve. A relatively ho-hum reaction ensued, except for one thing: Numerous queries poured into the list serve, each saying, “Well, how nice.. but that doesn’t mean we have to go to the new information center to access the list serve, does it?"
Wisely, the organization decided not to mess with the list serve (for now) -- which demonstrates, that, even with new media, the old virtues remain in place: Plan a party; invite compatible guests; keep the nourishment flowing; add some entertainment to move things along; leave the guests to themselves; and make mental notes on what worked and what didn't. But don't try to sell anything. That's a different kind of party [Tupperware, anyone?] and one to which a lot of people say, "Oh no.. I got an invitation!"
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Smithfield Is About To Scamper. Watch Them Fall Down.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Surgeon Generic, went to La Gloria, Mexico, this morning to visit "Patient Zero," a five-year boy who is reportedly the first human being to contract H1N1 swine flu. Speculation has it that the child picked up the virus from Smithfield's nearby pig plant, which Gupta and his TV entourage tried to get into, but Smithfield said no. The swine flu could not have originated there, you see, because Smithfield gives their pigs flu vaccine regularly and tests them every month for the virus. They also crowd these smarter-than-dog-or-primate animals into pens, feed them crap, and let them stand to their knees in pig excrement their entire lives. But enough of that: The Internet is full of lurid details of industrial pig farming and “fecal lagoons”, which few of us have the stomach to contemplate. But if you do, you might start here, with PETA, to which this outrage is nothing new (full disclosure: I’m a 12-year vegetarian).
Lately, Smithfield has been busy closing U.S. plants and moving to places like Mexico, Poland, and Romania. Smithfield's overseas factory workers (aka “caretakers) surely have no more time or tendency to Pig Patience, poverty-stricken and downtrodden as they themselves are. But I'm sure Smithfield has long stories about how their presence in this rural town in Mexico has raised *every*body's economic level and made life really gay (see the natives dancing?). But this is the Internet, so that’s not likely to fly. What will Smithfield do?
Well, Smithfielders, what you may have caused (and we really don't know, do we?) is probably going to out-noise your own part in this pandemic for awhile. But, soon enough, there will be hell to pay because swine flu has brought the pigs home to roost and your need for damage control is about to explode – except there is no permanent damage control – or marketing – to explain away unconscionable acts. Yikes, problem. Still, overseas, where there is no PETA and much less environmental regulation .. but where there is, believe it or not, an Internet. Oops, again!
Let me hasten to say that I’ don’t pretend to have a formula for how we’re supposed to feed the world population without industrial farming like Smithfield's (others, like the eloquent John Ikerd do, and are talking about it, thank goodness). In the meantime, swine pandemic or not, we’re seeing that current industrial farming practices -- many of which, as we noted, have been conveniently exported to more desperate Third World countries -- are not safe for man nor beast. The lid has blown off the pot.
Apologies, but I must add a final word for Dr. Surgeon Generic: Shame on you! In your voice this morning, I have heard the earnest outrage of a Lou Dobbs, which is sure to sell more TV face time for you and CNN, but this is a FIVE-YEAR old you called on, for pity’s sake ... and you showed him on camera and you used his name and you called him "Patient Zero" and his charming innocence had no idea the use you were making of him. Quite frankly, it makes me sick and I hope my outrage is contagious.
Lately, Smithfield has been busy closing U.S. plants and moving to places like Mexico, Poland, and Romania. Smithfield's overseas factory workers (aka “caretakers) surely have no more time or tendency to Pig Patience, poverty-stricken and downtrodden as they themselves are. But I'm sure Smithfield has long stories about how their presence in this rural town in Mexico has raised *every*body's economic level and made life really gay (see the natives dancing?). But this is the Internet, so that’s not likely to fly. What will Smithfield do?
Well, Smithfielders, what you may have caused (and we really don't know, do we?) is probably going to out-noise your own part in this pandemic for awhile. But, soon enough, there will be hell to pay because swine flu has brought the pigs home to roost and your need for damage control is about to explode – except there is no permanent damage control – or marketing – to explain away unconscionable acts. Yikes, problem. Still, overseas, where there is no PETA and much less environmental regulation .. but where there is, believe it or not, an Internet. Oops, again!
Let me hasten to say that I’ don’t pretend to have a formula for how we’re supposed to feed the world population without industrial farming like Smithfield's (others, like the eloquent John Ikerd do, and are talking about it, thank goodness). In the meantime, swine pandemic or not, we’re seeing that current industrial farming practices -- many of which, as we noted, have been conveniently exported to more desperate Third World countries -- are not safe for man nor beast. The lid has blown off the pot.
Apologies, but I must add a final word for Dr. Surgeon Generic: Shame on you! In your voice this morning, I have heard the earnest outrage of a Lou Dobbs, which is sure to sell more TV face time for you and CNN, but this is a FIVE-YEAR old you called on, for pity’s sake ... and you showed him on camera and you used his name and you called him "Patient Zero" and his charming innocence had no idea the use you were making of him. Quite frankly, it makes me sick and I hope my outrage is contagious.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Old Marketing Got Scrubbed; It’s Not Infectious Anymore
Dan Smolen, my comrade in arms and blogger at Sturdy Roots, sent me a provocative article about how marketers are leaving eco-dollars on the counter. I told Dan that this article tapped into what I perceive as a major shift in consumer purchasing behavior, which must be accompanied by a major shift in marketing.
The trend affirms a serious lack of consumer trust. I think people are, quite simply as "Mad As Hell." After a decade of government deception, capped off by a crushing economic disaster, the ONLY thing that can cure this skepticism is transparency and truth .. which means that -- as long as consumers still have a choice -- there must be real eco-commitment and genuine value in product. When you have major brands "repackaging" or offering up their "green version" of an old brand, it builds contagious suspicion (and well it should.) Meanwhile, this also puts corporate attempts at social media on dangerous ground. Old marketing practices would conclude that blogging and Facebook are just another way to tell their story, but in a different, friendly kinda way. Wrong. Consumers don't want to hear the corporate story at all. They've heard the corporate story and they're mad as hell. They'd rather talk to a friend or a person (and now they can... oh yes, they can). It gets worse. In this soup of cynicism every teeny tiny new misstatement (no matter how artfully couched) smells rotten and has Malthusian odor contamination.
Consumers have changed since things went south. The recession has taught folks to scoff and simply not buy. This is not marketing as usual, my friends. This is something new and nobody is quite sure what it means, so long have we been the Mad Men. But, surely, the New Marketing can experiment with the truth and a real voice.. and measure the results, of course.
The trend affirms a serious lack of consumer trust. I think people are, quite simply as "Mad As Hell." After a decade of government deception, capped off by a crushing economic disaster, the ONLY thing that can cure this skepticism is transparency and truth .. which means that -- as long as consumers still have a choice -- there must be real eco-commitment and genuine value in product. When you have major brands "repackaging" or offering up their "green version" of an old brand, it builds contagious suspicion (and well it should.) Meanwhile, this also puts corporate attempts at social media on dangerous ground. Old marketing practices would conclude that blogging and Facebook are just another way to tell their story, but in a different, friendly kinda way. Wrong. Consumers don't want to hear the corporate story at all. They've heard the corporate story and they're mad as hell. They'd rather talk to a friend or a person (and now they can... oh yes, they can). It gets worse. In this soup of cynicism every teeny tiny new misstatement (no matter how artfully couched) smells rotten and has Malthusian odor contamination.
Consumers have changed since things went south. The recession has taught folks to scoff and simply not buy. This is not marketing as usual, my friends. This is something new and nobody is quite sure what it means, so long have we been the Mad Men. But, surely, the New Marketing can experiment with the truth and a real voice.. and measure the results, of course.
How Much More Than Enough Social Media Do We Need?
I just read Seth Godin’s great blog on “big enough is big enough.” I wanted to stand up and cheer! The tagline on my email says, “How much more than enough do we need?” a quote that reportedly emanated from Eldrige Cleaver, though I never could verify that.
Too big threatens to become a mainline weakness of the current social media (SM) stampede. On LinkedIn, I hooked into the “Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators” group. This particular SM mash-up reportedly has 40,000 people participating. At first that seemed pregnant with possibility ... until I tried to post a query to the group. My question got in front of the 40,000 for about one minute before it drowned out in the next flood of questions, advertisements, hawkings, and job postings. Not that that's a bad thing. It just doesn't help me.
Yesterday, I read Jason Baer’s insightful blog on the Six Dangerous Fallacies of Social Media, Maybe social media gurus everywhere already knew this, but Jason Baer is the first person I've heard say it, so Jason gets the credit: “Social media is not about Facebook or MySpace or Flickr or Twitter or blogs or YouTube. It’s about having a strategy for making your company or organization more like a person and less like a machine. It’s about humanization."
The old marketing was reliant on “brand,” a vision of reality that embodied the “us and them” point of view -- static, stilted, inhuman "push marketing." Social media was born human, and the challenge now is to keep it human because this, too, can become a numbers game. For now, maybe we keep it a bit tribal and a bit small.
Too big threatens to become a mainline weakness of the current social media (SM) stampede. On LinkedIn, I hooked into the “Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators” group. This particular SM mash-up reportedly has 40,000 people participating. At first that seemed pregnant with possibility ... until I tried to post a query to the group. My question got in front of the 40,000 for about one minute before it drowned out in the next flood of questions, advertisements, hawkings, and job postings. Not that that's a bad thing. It just doesn't help me.
Yesterday, I read Jason Baer’s insightful blog on the Six Dangerous Fallacies of Social Media, Maybe social media gurus everywhere already knew this, but Jason Baer is the first person I've heard say it, so Jason gets the credit: “Social media is not about Facebook or MySpace or Flickr or Twitter or blogs or YouTube. It’s about having a strategy for making your company or organization more like a person and less like a machine. It’s about humanization."
The old marketing was reliant on “brand,” a vision of reality that embodied the “us and them” point of view -- static, stilted, inhuman "push marketing." Social media was born human, and the challenge now is to keep it human because this, too, can become a numbers game. For now, maybe we keep it a bit tribal and a bit small.
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