A few months ago we got our hands on a new Augmented Reality (AR) marketing tool for smart phones that could prove useful for our commercial real estate clients. Rofo, a commercial real estate search tool, and Junaio, an augmented reality browser, joined together to create the first commercial real estate augmented reality mobile application. You can view a one minute video of it here, but basically it allows anyone to point their smart phone at a building and see any real estate space available, including photos, space size, costs and more. In one click you can also email the listing broker or landlord. Bye-bye real estate signage, hello peering through walls.
But is this really a new technology? Not really. Not by the new definition of new, aka developed within the last 6 months. Augmented Reality (AR) has been around for several years, you just may not think of it as that. How about that Yelp app on your smart phone that finds and reviews restaurants you’re close to via your phone’s GPS. Or how about Layar, a popular app that shows you what is around you by displaying real time digital information (layers) on top of reality. Augmented reality (AR) has been growing rapidly since 2009, but what’s exciting (and a bit creepy) about this tool of late is the way marketers are starting to use it. Here are just a few:
POS augmented reality application: LEGO augmented reality kiosk shows what’s inside the box.
iPhone RFID: object-based media – location-based urls with your phone – wave your phone by an object and it tells you something about it, drives you to a URL.
Tissot watches – sit in front of your computer and virtually “try on” the different styles.
These are most likely just teasers for what media and communication experiences will look like in the near future. According to Juniper research, the current global revenue for augmented reality (AR) is currently less than $2 million, but is projected to be around $1.5 billion globally by 2015. At this past spring’s SXSW conference, a panel of augmented reality developers said the future of AR is working it into the everyday, via glasses/goggles or even AR contact lenses. They said once these tools are available to the masses, marketing and advertising as we know them now will once again be a thing of the past.
Hold on. It’s coming fast. And it will give all new meaning to the term “reality check”.
What’s the best way to win advocates for your brand? TRUST. What’s the best way to win trust? Be helpful. What’s the best way to be helpful? Give consumers useful information they wouldn’t expect to get free. Information that will save them time, save them money, make them smarter, make them happier, make them feel better about themselves – and you.
Since its inception, the Nordstrom brand has centered around being helpful, right? Like a phone call telling you they remembered you were looking for shoes to go with the suit you bought last month, and they just got the perfect pair in. Or how about the American Express openforum.com, a free website with tons of information that claims huge success in helping business owners succeed. Oh, and its content contributors are donating their brains and talent at no charge to American Express.
It’s easy to talk about big brands like these, but how about the success some smaller brands are enjoying due to their helpfulness? Like Kellogg Garden Products, with a website full of gardening tips from soil calculators to fun kid gardening activities. Their website Analytics show a huge percentage of visitors time being spent on the pages they’ve built simply to be helpful, and their brand recognition confirms this.
Big or small, these brands understand they must give in order to receive. Paying it forward may end up being the most successful marketing mantra for the 21st Century. The question is, is your brand ready?
Many companies avoid Internet marketing because of the horror stories they’ve heard: customers posting hundreds of negative comments on Facebook pages, rogue employees taking over twitter accounts, and ex-employees blogging lies about the company.
We’ll level with you: these are all definite risks. But the rewards far outweigh the risks. In fact, many of these risks are possible without you even becoming involved in Internet marketing (for instance: an ex-employee can start blogging about you even if you aren’t online).
Luckily, we can learn from the mistakes many other companies have made online. Here are three marketing “fails” we’ve seen and what you can learn from them.
1. L’Oreal’s Fake Blog
A few years ago, when blogging was still relatively new, many consumers started blogs about the companies they loved. One of these blogs was for L’Oreal, and it extolled what consumers loved about the company. The problem was that it was not a customer blog: it was created by L’Oreal. As soon as consumers discovered this, L’Oreal faced a huge backlash from their customers.
The Lesson: Everything you do online should be genuine and real, or customers will call you on it.
2. Personal Tweets on the Company’s Account
There are so many social networks available today that it is difficult to manage all of your company’s social media accounts. And let’s be honest: you probably have a couple personal social media accounts you update as well. It can be difficult to keep track of all your accounts…and sometimes you may even mix them up. That’s what happened when a Red Cross social media intern posted the following message to the Red Cross twitter account:
“Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs of Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch beer…. when we drink we do it right #gettingslizzerd” [Source]
The Lesson: Before posting anything to a social media account reread what you are posting and make sure it’s going to the correct account.
3. Domino’s Employees Post Disgusting Video
Two Domino’s employees decided to do something that would make any restaurant eater cringe: they posted a video to YouTube showing them doing disgusting things to the food they were preparing for actual customers. As would be expected, the video went viral and customers were up in arms. Many companies would have handled this situation by either keeping quiet and hoping the situation would go away, or finding someone to blame. Domino’s President Patrick Doyle however released his own video on YouTube taking full responsibility for the issue. With this move, Domino’s avoided an issue that could have significantly hurt the company.
The Lesson: If you do experience an Internet marketing blunder, accept full responsibility.
If you’d like to read about more Internet marketing “fails” and what you can learn, take a look at this article. If you are interested in how we can help with your Internet Marketing, be sure to contact us.
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If you’re a car dealership and interested in learning how Internet marketing can bring you more customers and sell more cars, then this article is for you. We at Brandtailers have worked with a number of car dealerships, in both traditional and digital marketing. With 22 years of experience, we know what works. We’ve gathered all our knowledge and placed it into this article. We are confident that reading through this article will give you some new techniques on how to attract customers. If you have any questions, we are always here to help.
As you know, a buyer goes through a set of steps when purchasing a new car. At each step, there is a huge opportunity for you to use Internet marketing tactics. We’ve laid out each step in the car buyer’s journey and included the Internet marketing we’ve found successful.
1. Gathering Information
Once a consumer decides they want to buy a car, their first step is researching cars. They know their desire (to buy a car), but they don’t know which car they want to buy. Therefore, they’ll look up any and all information they can find on cars. Today, most of that research is done online.
There is a huge opportunity here that only successful car dealerships take advantage of: provide useful information on the cars they offer. Top car dealerships not only provide the specs on all the cars they sell, but also produce videos showcasing each car. The main objective with Internet marketing is to be helpful. In this step of the car buyer’s journey, potential customers are looking for information. If you provide it, you are more likely to be their choice when purchasing a car.
2. The Dealership Search
The next step in a car buyer’s journey is the search for potential dealerships to purchase from. The consumer has an idea what car they want, and now wants to find who can sell them that car. A few years ago, this step in the car buyer’s journey involved visiting car dealerships and speaking with salespeople. Today, most consumers complete this step online.
Therefore, it’s imperative to have a powerful website for your car dealership. First off, you want to have an easily navigable listing of the cars on your lot. This is the equivalent of a car buyer coming to your car dealership and walking around the lot. Second, you want to make it easy for consumers to request more information about each model. This “call to action” will allow you to gather more potential leads (more about this in the next step). Lastly, you want to have contact information that is easily found on your website. You want to have, at the minimum, a phone number, email address, and contact form.
If you’d like more information on producing amazing car dealership websites, please read our article here.
3. Selecting a Dealership
Once a car buyer has a list of potential car dealerships they want to purchase from, a period of time passes before they actually make the purchase. As you already know, this period can make or break your sale. The potential buyer might have a list of 3 or 4 car dealerships they are considering. That’s why it’s important to keep in contact with your potential buyer. Most car dealerships keep in contact with potential buyers through phone calls, but Internet marketing can help here.
In the last step, you made it easy for potential buyers to contact you about a specific model. Using an email marketing strategy, you can automate your “touch points”. A strong tactic here is to again provide useful, informative content. Remember, the car buyer is trying to decide which dealership to choose from. Possible content you can provide would be a comparison of your dealership with others. Or maybe you want to prove that you can be more helpful by providing a guide to buying cars. Or, you can even ask your potential buyer how you can be helpful.
4. Loyalty
Your car buyer has now bought from you and is a new customer. Most car dealerships consider the car buying journey finished and stop marketing. However, these dealerships are missing a huge opportunity. Past customers are prime candidates for future business, both as a referral source and repeat customer.
Internet marketing can help you here by keeping you in contact with your customer. Remember, Internet marketing is about finding ways to be helpful. A customer who has purchased from you would like information on car maintenance. You already have them on your email marketing list so provide them with guides informing them how to keep their car in great shape. You can also remind customers when it’s time to bring their cars in for routine maintenance. Also, be sure to show your appreciation. Doing this will show your customers you care, making them more likely to refer new customers and do business with you again.
Now you see how you can use Internet marketing at different stages in the car buyer’s journey. Take a look at your current marketing plan. What areas of your strategy are strong? What areas could use improvement? Which of the above Internet marketing tactics can help you improve those weaknesses? If you have time, we’d love to discuss this with you in more detail. You can contact us here.
Image Credit: Some rights reserved by dok1
“When it comes to business success, it is all about people, people people,” says Richard Branson. Many businesses are using the Internet and social media to become less human: they find any and every way to replace their people with technology and no longer interact with their customers. But as Richard Branson says, for a business to succeed, make it about the people…both your employees and your customers. So while some businesses use technology to make themselves less human, the successful businesses are using technology to make themselves more human. Here are two businesses who’ve excelled at this.
Buying a car is all about people. A consumer walks into a car dealership and is instantly greeted by a salesperson who will guide them through the whole car buying process. Therefore, many consumers choose where to buy a car based on their feelings towards the employees: if they like the salespeople or servicemen, they buy from that car dealership. Perrys, a car dealership in the UK, produced an amazing video to showcase their people:
Not only do they introduce you to their employees, but they also invited their customers to be on the video. The result: a more “human” business that more consumers want to do business with.
For us, Zappos is the king of making a business more “human.” The extremely successful online shoe retailer has centered their entire business on people. Take a look at just one of the videos they produced:
In this short video, you get a feeling for the fun and exciting employees. And more importantly, you see they actually enjoy working for Zappos. All of this translates over to their brand message: Deliver WOW Through Service. In addition, Zappos has an archive of videos giving you a behind the scenes look and invite people to come to their headquarters for tours.
In today’s world, the people are most important when it comes to business. Remember what Richard Branson said, “When it comes to business success, it is all about people, people people.” If you want to attract customers, you need to make your business more human.
Take a look at how we’ve made our business more human. Click here to learn about all the team members who make Brandtailers what it is.
Image Credit: Some rights reserved by Robert Scoble
