Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
We knew information overload would become a deterrent to the online world, just maybe not so fast. After all, the concept of being able to talk to (and hear from) almost everybody in our universe has been so exciting the past few years that the number of friends, followers, likes, retweets, blog comments, etc. created a lot of egomaniacs trying to win popularity contests. No more. Statistics show many people are now spending more time unfriending others on Facebook than they are sending friend requests. Another report says there is as much unfollowing as following going on in the Twittersphere. Not to mention emails, RSS feeds and blog posts that are being ignored more than ever. Let’s face it. It only took a few years for us to be over the excitement of this new technology that connects everyone, everywhere, 24 hours a day.
That’s why the new buzz terms are desired relevance and quality engagement. Larry Page always said his dream was to develop the “perfect search”, meaning someone would type in a couple of keywords and only one Google search result would appear because it was exactly what that person was looking for. That’s a great example of relevance and quality engagement, isn’t it? Hopefully that’s what they’re trying to accomplish with Google+, the 10,000 pound gorilla’s latest attempt to overpower Facebook. Watch a demo and see how one of Google+’s core benefits is focusing in on quality over quantity engagement. Google understands how quickly we have become fed up with TMI (too much information), and it appears they’re trying to offer an alternative that at least moves information overload into smaller buckets. We say good luck with that Google, but hey, at least they’re trying.
Yet the biggest challenge with achieving quality over quantity experiences is how the powers of the online world will most likely get there. We want relevance, so they need to know more about us. This is why search engines and websites are developing even creepier Big Brother tools to watch and respond to our every move. The more apparent this becomes, the more we complain. The powers that be say we’re spoiled; that we want to have our cake and eat it to. We say there’s got to be a better way. While that battle will take some time before it’s resolved, the average individual’s impatience with information overload is ready to explode. Which is why we at Brandtailers foresee the next group of genius geeks will be those who can take a person’s way-too-big to be useful anymore world, and hone it back down into something meaningful, useful and, most of all, enjoyable.
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”.
Compared to the 152 million Americans who use Facebook daily, statistics show only 13% of Americans actively engage on Twitter. Oh sure, there are 175 million registered Twitter accounts, but only about half of them follow 2 or more people. About 90 million Twitter accounts with zero followers and 56 million accounts following no other accounts.¹
And yet Twitter seems to get the most social media attention second to Facebook, right? Why?
Surprisingly it’s not because Lady Gaga tweets about her sex life, or because Coby posts pre-game comments. It’s because of what happened during the election in Iran, the earthquake in Haiti, the Tsunami in Japan, the killing of Bin Laden and, most recently, the many tornado warnings tweeted across the south. It’s because Twitter’s powerful ability to instantly deliver important information anywhere in the world is undeniable. And people are catching on. In fact, Twitter celebrated its fifth birthday on March 21 and announced that “While it took about 18 months to sign up the first 500,000 accounts, we now see close to 500,000 accounts created every day.”
How many of these new accounts will be made up of active users? Here are some recent new statistics:
1. Most new active Twitter users are 25-49, well educated, affluent, early adopters and tech savvy.
2. Most new active users engage in the environment daily, and are considered influential within their online world.
3. Most new active users follow companies and brands to learn about products and services and to offer advice, input and recommendations regarding them.
4. Most new active users (79% to be exact) are more likely to recommend brands they follow.
5. More new active users are conducting B2B business than B2C business.
Let’s focus on that last one. Why is B2B so popular in this environment? Maybe because tweets can be very targeted and relevant, creating reputations of knowledge and influence. Think of a tweet as a potentially powerful blog in 140 characters or less. Then think of how easily it can be spread (aka re-tweeted) as a recommendation. Worthwhile messages can go from one influential person’s following of 500 people to 500,000+ potential customers in a matter of minutes. Try getting those engagement numbers from a direct mail piece! And to top off Twitter’s B2B strength, remember that the more relevant the 140 characters are to a potential customer’s keyword searches, the higher the tweet post will show up in organic search results. This message content can enhance a business’ overall SEO. Not bad for a free communication tool, eh?
Twitter will most likely continue to morph into something no other social media resource can offer. It’s live search capabilities, along with its increasing credibility as something more than celebrity stalking, will no doubt add millions of new active users over the next year or so. With massive numbers of active Twitter users, you find untapped potential.
Time will tell. What do you think?
¹Stats from Hypebot
Co-organizing the upcoming TEDxOrangeCoast event on May 19th has led me to believe Orange County needs a kick in the rear to become a little more TED savvy. We TED fans are just about as crazy for TED as Apple fans are for their iPads. If you’re not familiar with TED, spend 16 minutes watching anything on TED.com and you’ll see what I mean. Over 2 million people visit the site every month. TED talks are now being translated into 18 different languages. Oh, and the cost of attending TED’s annual conference in Long Beach? A mere $6,000 for tickets that sell out faster than a Lady Gaga concert. (FYI, TEDxOrangeCoast, thanks to our sponsors, is only $95)
But TED’s founder, Chris Anderson, never meant for TED to become an elitist venue. That’s one of the biggest reasons why he developed TEDx. Created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading,” the TEDx program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.
As the CEO and owner of an agency that has the highest regard for good branding, I also appreciate the strict brand guidelines TEDx organizers must adhere to. Everything we have created for our venue must pass TED’s brand police approval process. This way every TEDx event around the world will maintain the spirit, appeal and rich content TED is so well known for. I really appreciate this.
But what’s up with Orange County? Most of us think of OC as something a bit more than reality TV, right? Perhaps it is So Cal’s little Silicon Valley? I would bet, if you ask the average person in Silicon Valley about TED, they would launch into their favorite TED talk. Yet what I’ve discovered in Orange County is quite different. In fact, I’m down right surprised at TED’s much smaller brand awareness here. My reason for co-organizing TEDxOrangeCoast is to change this.
Orange County is the perfect breeding ground for “ideas worth spreading”. There is so much brilliance and innovation occurring around us every day, but it’s too quiet. We’re a little too laid back. We need a jolt. That’s also the reason for our TEDxOrangeCoast theme, “Innovation Without Borders”. Our local area is bursting at the seams with powerful stories of local people who are not only innovative, but inspirational in the ways they’ve broken through cultural, physical, economical, geographical and political borders to achieve their goals.
Our speaker line-up is off the charts. 24 innovators from all walks of life, some whose names you already know, and some who – once you hear them – you’ll never forget. But the speakers are only part of what TEDx events are about. They participate (pro bono, by the way) to initiate and stimulate conversations within the audience. Most TED and TEDx venue attendees say they learned the most from conversations with fellow attendees during the breaks and afterward. That’s our plan, too.
If you still don’t quite understand what TED is, I encourage you to spend just a few minutes on their site. Look at the topics of the talks, the quality of the speakers and the massive interaction occurring worldwide thanks to this organization. Then look around you. You’ll probably see what I see. A wonderful opportunity for Orange County to embrace TED and share our own ideas worth spreading. I hope you’ll join me.
YouTube is quietly gearing up for a major site revamp that will dramatically increase its ability to compete with broadcast and network television, including a number of channels with professional content. Oh come on, did you really think television ads as we know it would be around forever? It barely makes sense anymore. Especially paying for commercial space that now gets ignored more than most other media, yet still leads in media expense. (OK, we know, there’s still the Superbowl. But then there’s the rest of the year)
Think about it. Why would you pay to advertise in a medium that allows the viewer (aka potential customer) to skip past your television ad with one simple click? Or to have your product shown to a semi-targeted demographic audience that’s been defined by way of archaic technology (can you say Diaries?) Why would you, the advertiser, invest in this form of media when you could pay for only your exact target audience’s guaranteed viewership? That’s the difference that will become increasingly obvious over the next 12 months as online video really takes over the internet.
Why hasn’t it happened yet?
Until recently, online streaming was limited by bandwidth challenges, interrupting viewers enjoyment of what they were watching online to buffer the next chunk of media. Those days are almost gone, which is the last big challenge the online world had to conquer in order to become the source of choice for viewership.
So, imagine this…
You’re an advertiser. You can now pick and choose where your television ads run based on finite behavioral consumer characteristics, one viewer at a time. You can pay a premium to have your ad run in a venue that does not allow viewers to fast forward past it, or you can pay a lower fee and take your chances they’ll still watch your ad. Either way, you know the viewer is a perfect target for your message. Or maybe you’re willing to pay a higher fee, but only when they click on the ad that lands them on your web page. The common denominator – no waste. Compare that to today’s average television advertising options. There’s no comparison.
The powerhouses currently in charge of accepting media and advertisements in the online world are aware of the flaws broadcast television has when it comes to offering advertisers the best choices. You can bet they will not be cutting and pasting a strategy that no longer works into a new media ripe for gleaning billions of ad dollars. And YouTube (aka Google TV) will lead the way.
What will consumers expect from the increasing number of ads that will find their place in front of their eyes? A lot. First, it had better be relevant. Next it had better be refreshing (and trustworthy). Then, if it’s persuasive enough, it had better allow them to click through to something equally relevant and useful. Otherwise they will click on the button that reports back to YouTube (or whoever) that they found the ad a waste of their time.
The days of media placement costs sucking up 80% of an advertising budget while creative costs about 20% are quickly coming to an end. Certainly the immediate future of online advertising video placement costs will be nowhere near the cost of traditional television ad space. (Don’t hold your breath that this will stick) But the requirement for the very best, smartest and most trustworthy message will increase greatly. It would come as no surprise to us if, in the next few years, the “idea”, along with its creative execution, switches places in the 80/20 scenario. Time will tell. What do you think?
The problem with being cheap is that once you start, your competitor will likely play the same game. 90-days later you’ll find yourself as a profitless commodity.
Cheap is a lazy way out of the battle for consumer awareness.
Why do some customers focus so much on price? Because you’re not giving them anything else to think about.
With 84% of U.S. consumers using the internet to determine what they’re going to buy and who they’re going to buy from, having a brand is more important than ever.
Isn’t it true that in every market measured, the leading brand, the one with the highest positive name recognition, has a huge advantage over the others? Whether it’s Honda, Nike or Tide Laundry Detergent, a lot of benefits go to the brand that wins.
Branding is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition, it is about getting consumers to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problem. The great success stories are not the companies that did what others did, but a little cheaper. They are companies that decided to do things a whole lot differently. Don’t just think better. Think different and establish your brand.
Written By: Kristen Roberts
