Implementing the latest marketing initiatives

Shopper marketing has traditionally been about developing a marketing relationship with consumers in the store. It involves the strategy and tactics that are employed within the framework of a retail environment in order to attain a specific business objective, not the least of which is driving top-line revenue for brands.

Shopper marketing is now evolving at a very quick pace and is becoming much more involved in what is called "the digitally fueled path to purchase".

Brand marketers and retail clients should view the digital path to purchase as a three-step process:

1. understanding the brand, its positioning, target and overarching essence.
2. create an engagement strategy.
   
3. activate across relevant touch points.
   

Understand the brand positioning, then dive into shopper segmentation to derive shopper insights. Those shopper insights are increasingly being driven by digital inputs.

In deriving shopper insights, develop an engagement strategy that is contextually relevant to the actual shopper. It’s not just purely about putting a product on the shelf and offering a coupon or some form of a discount anymore. Shopper marketing is much more about the process of connecting with shoppers when, where and how they would like to engage. Most often, it’s through a digitally oriented methodology.

There are some standard elements in the shopping experience—pre-shopping, while shopping and post-shopping. Those factors focus on the “when” and the “where” aspects but the “how” is becoming increasingly more important. It’s being driven more by individual product categories. For example, how shoppers engage with a commodity like paper towels is significantly different than how they would engage with a durable good or entertainment-based item. The path to purchase varies across categories.

The next generation of shopper marketing is no longer defined by traditional brick-and-mortar stores or ecommerce for that matter. Consumers don’t really have to search for information in the pre-shopping phase. They can have it delivered to them wherever they are and on their own terms based on their predisposition toward different types of communication and technology.

Moving forward, we should see more two-way dialogues taking place between brands and shoppers. We see more preferential treatment for brand loyalists, influencers and those who are actively engaged with brands. Brands will reward loyalty in a more impactful way as it relates to digitally fueled shopper marketing.

Physical retail stores are still important but more and more, we see that how retailers and brands interact with someone digitally, on their terms and through the device by which they want to interact, is becoming much more important. We’re becoming more channel-agnostic and contextually relevant.

Marketers need to understand shopper segmentation based upon purchasing behavior, while also focusing on consumers’ digital lives. They must create digital shopper segmentation models in order to arrive at contextually relevant and holistic shopper marketing opportunities.

Marketers should evaluate the strategic needs of the brand, particularly at the pre-shopping phase. We see that shopping is taking place constantly. The lines are blurring between the pre-, in-store and post-shopping phases. It all counts as shopping, even as you’re consuming and using a product. These lines are blurring, particularly as the path to purchase is more digitally influenced. We should try to understand how a shopper behaves along the entire continuum.

There’s an insight-driven digital component for almost all engagement marketing programs that includes metrics and measurement from an ROI perspective. It’s really important to understand not only the future needs for the brand’s growth, but also the needs of the shopper segments as they evolve and change over time. For example, conduct a research into understanding younger consumers, diverse ethnicities and baby boomers in order to better understand their digital lives.

For more information on how to digitally fuel your business, please contact MODI$club.

Five Fatal Communication Errors–and How to Avoid Them

Below are the five most common errors that businesses commit in using mobile platforms for their marketing communications, along with ways to solve the problems that result (or to avoid those problems altogether).

Error 1: Failing to consider the audience first
Jumping on the latest, greatest communication bandwagon without first asking, "Who is my audience and is [insert new media platform here] the best way to reach them?" is the leading cause of ineffective marketing communications. That certain media lacks an entry barrier (i.e., it's easy and cheap) magnifies the problem; even marketers who should know better are led astray.

Without understanding your audience's needs, expectations, and preferences, you can make only guesses about how best to reach them.

Solutions: Sometimes, profiling your target audience based on knowledge that exists inside your company can be enough to determine whether a particular communication path is worth pursuing. Audiences can also be interviewed, surveyed, or polled to determine their communication preferences. But the most effective strategy will be a combination of solutions, including those provided below.

Error 2: Assigning ownership of messages
Companies will often make individuals owners of important key messages. Thus, numerous people throughout the company are given incentive to do whatever they can to "get their message out," and they will tend to measure their results in terms of volume. The result is a great deal of noise for those on the receiving end of these dispersed communications, because no one has an incentive to make the needs and preferences of the target audience a primary concern.

Solution: Assign ownership of audiences, not messages. For example, "business partners" may be one target audience with whom your business needs to communicate. "Attendees of event X" may be another. Assign an individual or department to own each audience for your company; it's then the owner's job to represent the needs of the audience and to ensure that the messages delivered to the audience match what the audience really needs. This approach also helps to reduce noise because one entity has complete visibility into the messages that audience is receiving.

Error 3: Offering too much or too little choice
Offering audiences too much choice for communicating with them creates noise. For example, if they receive the same information via Twitter, LinkedIn, emails, online groups, and your newsletter, at some point they will tune out and potentially miss important new information.

Offering too little choice is just as problematic. For example, many organizers now use Facebook to advertise events and contests to the exclusion of traditional websites and advertising. However, the assumption that "everybody" is on Facebook—or that everyone who is on Facebook and needs the information will receive it—is flawed.

Solutions: Choose the best mix of communication vehicles for your audience and purpose. Enable audiences to filter your information and messages by topic. Enable opt-in communication and allow audiences to choose their preferred format to receive information (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly email; SMS; social media group or fan page). Above all, provide a single place that audiences can go to get all available information on one topic and use certain media (eg. SMS) to highlight or direct them to the information.

Error 4: Failing to consolidate messages and information
A key problem with relying on quick-and-dirty methods to disseminate information (e.g., Tweets, Facebook, and LinkedIn updates) is that no one ever gets the complete picture at once—if ever at all.

You also lose control of the message through "re-tweeting" and status sharing, so it's important to have a method in place that allows you to own the whole picture even while the message is being disseminated by others.

Solutions: Assigning ownership of audiences (No. 2 above) can eliminate this problem. Here's another strategy:

First consider how many messages the audience really needs about the topic, and how often they need to receive updates.
Next, follow the advice in No. 3 above.
Then, for each topic or event, provide a single place where audiences can go to get all the information they need. These days, this is most likely to be a Web page—but it may also be a toll-free number or a physical location like an information kiosk.
Finally, in every message you send out on the topic, tell people where they can go to get complete information.

Error 5: Falling prey to "easy" and "cheap"
The primary problem with easy and cheap is that it's easy and cheap. With no premium or barrier to entry, user-driven communication vehicles like Twitter and Facebook arrive on the market already commoditized. By becoming distracted by easy-access commodities, companies erode the value of tried-and true foundations of communication.

Examples of how this can happen include:
Creating too much noise for truly important messages to be effectively heard.
Inadvertently training your audiences to ignore messages from you because there are too many messages of low value.
Succumbing to 11th-hour communication (because it's so easy to do) rather than planning out well-timed information delivery.

Solution: Consider new communication channels (eg. SMS mobile) within the context of the bigger picture: your business and marketing goals, your audience's needs and preferences, your marketing communications mix. The marcoms mix should always be open for tweaking, but make changes only after you have a solid business case for it. Once the need for change is determined, take the time to map out your audiences, the messages they need, and the best channels of delivery for each audience-message combination.

An Aside: My Favorites
Two marketing communication vehicles are my tried-and-true favorites. Here's how I like to fit them into an overall marcoms mix:

SMS alerts/updates. Ideal for consolidating information into one location. Summarize important information and provide links to Web pages where complete information can be found. Stick to a reliable distribution schedule that people can come to expect and appreciate as part of their daily or weekly routine.

Dedicated Web pages. Ideal for collecting all the information and answers to frequently asked questions about single topic. Easy to link to when communicating updates on the topic and easy for others to link to when forwarding or recommending the topic to friends. It may be a traditional HTML page, a blog entry, or a LinkedIn or Facebook Group page. Just remember that not everyone can access applications like LinkedIn. Your audience should never feel forced to sign up for third-party applications to get the information they want from you.

Partial Source: MarketingProfs

Wanted: Not More Communication, but More Effective Communication

August, 2010

Your target audiences almost certainly don't want more communication. What they surely do want is more effective communication, which is to say communication that delivers the information they want or need, at the time they need it and in the formats they prefer.

To create an effective marketing communications program, you need to decide which media platforms will work best with other ingredients in the marketing mix to help you reach your marketing communications objectives.

Choosing platforms and ingredients strategically, with an eye to how they will complement one another, will create much better results than using them simply because they have become available. Pursuing the latter course—communicating via any and all platforms just because they're there—merely creates noise.

For more information or help on the best media platform for your campaigns, visit our marketing, design and technology company, nexusV or our mobile marketing platform, MODI$club.

Targeting Parents with Mobile Alerts

AUGUST 19, 2010

Busy parents of young children seek to simplify with SMS.

Marketers looking to convince mobile subscribers to opt in to SMS marketing campaigns should look to target parents, especially those with young children, based on research conducted by Harris Interactive for mobile marketing platform Placecast.

The May 2010 survey found that among US mobile users with children, 33% were at least somewhat interested in receiving mobile alerts from their favorite merchants. Among those without children, just 26% were equally interested. The age of children in the household also had an effect on user interest levels; the presence of children under 6 boosted interest levels most, while those with teenagers in the house acted somewhat more like couples with no kids.

Parents considered several mobile activities at least somewhat important at higher rates than mobile users without children, including searching for retail locations (57% vs. 42%), making purchases (40% vs. 26%) and accessing the internet in general (63% vs. 48%).

Most of parents’ desire for mobile text alerts points to time-strapped families looking to save money. Grocery coupons and promotions were the most popular text alert among all parents, including among the subgroups with older children and teens. The biggest interest of parents of the youngest kids was in products like movie tickets. The only promotions that appealed more to the child-free were deals for coffee and travel.

The typical early adopter of consumer electronics may be male, but its families who have the most potential to drive mobile marketing efforts based on opt-in text alerts.

Keep your business ahead of the digital curve. Learn more about becoming a MODI$club client today.

Article Source: eMarketer

Why Many Teens Are Moving on from Facebook and What they are saying about mobile phones and texting

JULY 12, 2010

The main reason? They just lost interest

There’s no question of Facebook’s position at the top of the social networking space, and one thing that makes the site so powerful is that when it comes to social networking, a user’s friends must be users too. But among some teens, Facebook may be losing its stickiness.

According to a study from OTX and virtual fashion site Roiworld, nearly one in five teens with a Facebook profile had decreased or discontinued their use of the site as of April 2010.

What’s more, the decreases seemed to speed up in recent months, with two-thirds of the lapsed users having turned away from the site in the past six months.

In addition, 9% of teen internet users said they had a Facebook profile but had completely abandoned it.

This turnover does not approach the level of MySpace, where 22% of teens had completely stopped using a profile. YouTube and Twitter both sported relatively high 15% abandonment rates.

In Facebook’s case, decreased usage does not appear to be related to the privacy issues raised in spring 2010, or even to the influx of older users on the site. Instead, the plurality of lapsed users simply find the site boring.

Reasons for using Facebook less, Apr 2010 (% of US teen lapese Facebook users)

• Lose interest/it's boring 45%
• More interested in visiting other websites instead 28%
• Too many notifications 27%
• Most/all of my friends do not use Facebook 21%
  
• Got tired of typing to keep up with all the activities 21%
  
• Too many ads 20%
  
• Had trouble finding people I know 18%
• Most of my friends are using other social networking sites 16%
• Other social network sites are better now 16%
• Facebook does not offer the features I want 16%
• Because my parents joined 16%
• Facebook has lost its novelty 14%
• Too many adults/older people 14%
• Uncomfortable people seeing my personal stuff 13%
• Do not like the change Facebook has implemented 12%
• Did not like the people I met on Facebook 11%
• Other 5%

Source Roiworld and OTX "Teens & social networks study" June 30, 2010

Keeping fickle teens’ interest will be important both for Facebook and the marketers who want to connect with them where they are - their mobile phones.

Nearly half (47%) of US teens say their social life would end or be worsened without their cell phone, and nearly six in 10 (57%) credit their mobile device with improving their life, according to a national survey from CTIA and Harris Interactive.

Four out of five teens (17 million) carry a wireless device (a 40% increase since 2004), finds the study titled “Teenagers: A Generation Unplugged,” which probes how the growing teen wireless segment is using wireless products and how they want to use them in the future.

Impact on Teen Life

• A majority (57%) of teens view their cell phone as the key to their social life.
• Second only to clothing, teens say, a person’s cell phone tells the most about their social status or popularity, outranking jewelry, watches and shoes.

Providing Entertainment and Security

• More than half of the respondents (52%) agree that the cell phone has become a new form of entertainment.
• One-third of teens play games on their phone.
• 80% say their cell phone provides a sense of security while on the go, confirming that the cell phone has become their mobile safety net when needing a ride (79%), getting important information (51%), or just helping out someone in trouble (35%).
• Teens carry cell phones to have access to friends, family and current events.
• Though only one in five (18%) teens care to pinpoint the location of their family and friends via their cell phone, 36% hate the idea of a cell phone feature that allows others to know their exact location.

Texting Replacing Talking

The study also confirmed that texting is replacing talking among teens. Teens admitted spending nearly an equal amount of time talking as they do texting each month. The feature is so important to them that if texting were no longer an option 47% of teens say their social life would end or be worsened - that’s especially so among females (54% vs. 40%).

Teens say texting has advantages over talking because it offers more options, including multitasking, speed, the option to avoid verbal communication, and because it is fun - in that order, according to the study.

With more than 1 billion text messages sent each day, it is no surprise that 42% of teens say they can text blindfolded, the study found.

“Teens have created a new form of communication. We call it texting, but in essence it is a reflection of how teens want to communicate to match their lifestyles. It is all about multitasking, speed, privacy and control,” said Joseph Porus, VP & chief architect, Technology Group, Harris Interactive. “Teens in this study are crying for personalization and control of exactly what a wireless device or plan can do for them.”

Devices of the Future

The survey asked teens what future changes they’d like to see in wireless services and devices and found that respondents want cell phones that break boundaries and are personalized to fit their lifestyles.

Teens remain excited and open minded about the wireless possibilities and their ideal future mobile devices would feature five applications - phone, MP3 player, GPS, laptop computer and video player, according to Harris.

Mobile Users Ready for Location-Based Text Marketing

JULY 6, 2010

Mobile marketing is not just for smartphones

Though smartphone shipments are rising and expected to surpass shipments of feature phones in 2011, according to Morgan Stanley, feature phones are still the devices in the hands of most mobile users. An April 2010 ExactTarget study found 58% of all US internet users ages 15 and older had one, compared with 31% who had a smartphone.

That means a large swathe of mobile users cannot be reached by more sophisticated mobile marketing efforts like sponsored apps, in-app ads or campaigns on the mobile web. According to location-based advertising network 1020 Placecast, opt-in text alerts are the smart way to target a fuller mobile audience.

A May 2010 survey conducted for Placecast by Harris Interactive found that while most mobile users still have not signed up for any text alerts, there was a small rise in interest since a similar poll in 2009: 28% were at least somewhat interested in the alerts, up 2 percentage points, and 8% were extremely or very interested, up 3 percentage points. For under-35s, interest was significantly higher.

Those who wanted the alerts were most interested in coupons and promotions from grocery stores and restaurants. Respondents who had signed up for text alerts said it made them more likely to visit the company’s website (34%), visit the store (33%) and purchase the product being promoted, either in online (28%) or in the store (27%).

Many agreed that making those text alerts location-based, so that recipients would get the right offer at the right time, could make the channel more useful or interesting.

While awareness of location-based text alerts is still building, there is the potential to reach a broader audience than with check-in apps such as foursquare or Gowalla, which are designed with smartphone owners in mind. And despite negative attitudes of many mobile users toward SMS marketing, Placecast reports low opt-out rates among recipients.

SMS alerts in marketing is viewed by the brand faithful as a service, not just marketing or an intrusion, according to Placecast. To learn more about SMS marketing, please contact MODI$club.

Source: eMarketer