Predictions or Knowing the Trend
All Time 10s is a video shorts series that can be accessed through YouTube. One upload is entitled "10 Amazing Predictions That Actually Came True". The predictions revolve around electronic innovations. These predictions don't surprise me. Evidently, these men--Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Roger Ebert, John Watkins---were familiar with the existing precursors. It was a matter of understanding the sequence of events or natural course of action to which the general public isn't privy. In other words, it's a matter of insider privileges.
I find the introduction of "electronic innovations" appear to flow backwards into the consumer market. For example, if televisions and radio preceded computers, it would make more sense to have introduced arm-held devices with phone, video, and office applications, thereafter. Instead, to make more money, the big floor-model TV, was replaced with a miniature nightstand-size TV. Decades later, the widescreen TV is brought to the market. Similarly, the beeper is introduced after people had grown accustomed to telephones. The beeper is overtaken by the small cellphone, which was overtaken by the cellphone with web access, to be overtaken by tablets. I suggest the answer is sustaining the gravy train via Big-Box or e-commerce.
Why were tablets introduced in the late 90s, knowing people had been accustomed to large screens from viewing movies in theaters and from floor model televisions since the 20s? It's quite a cognitive jolt to go from widescreens to viewing 3-inch screens. Again, it's the gravy train.
Keeping the gravy train running is at the expense of people, though. The issue that slow adapters may have to innovation is that much innovation is physically uncomfortable. For example, a worker has a desktop at the job where she's used to a large screen and a reliable keyboard but her boss wants her to switch to a Blackberry, an iPhone or other handheld device so she's "mobily" accessible. Had the worker been given a tablet or Netbook device the transition would have been less jarring.
Labels: consumer behavior, electronics, hype, innovation, marketing, YouTube
The Eyes on Cyber Life
By now, web and
mobile users know there’s no escaping advertising. With advertising comes consumer/market
research to ensure the right message gets to the desired customer. There is a sea of online market researchers
studying the blogs, tweets, clicks, and texts of online users.
Some agencies are
familiar faces to media consumers, while others, consumers will be surprised
that they are in the game. Take
Neilson.com--the agency known for making an average household a “Neilsen
Family” by installing a monitoring box to the television—is still keeping a
pulse on consumer behavior—now in cyber space.
Neilsen boasts
having “approximately 10 million consumers in 100 countries participating in
their research”. Neilsen.com website
claims the organization “studies the use of 181 million blogs, social networks,
and other media”. That other media
includes brick and mortar retail, TV, mobile, and web. The organization’s ace card is NeuroFocus™. It is a worn device that “measures brainwave
activity and eye tracking”, so their clients know what wording, colors, and
designs stimulate particular brain regions and result in making purchases.
Experian, one of
the three largest credit reporting bureaus, leveraged its global store of
consumer and business information to offer marketing services or “consumer
insights” to their clients. These
insights are accessed through Hitwise™ Hitwise Mobile™, Hitwise Audience Viewsm,
Simmons LOCAL sm and Simmons National Consumer Studiessm.. All three Hitwise branded services are fueled
on “the daily activity of 10 million consumers located in over 50 countries
across six continents on one million websites.”
Talk about statistical excess.
United Sample or
uSamp was an online research firm from its inception. The founders Gregg Lavin and Matt Dusig tag
uSamp “The Answer Network” specializing in online market research panels. The firm has 12 million survey respondents
residing in such countries as Egypt, Kenya, Trinidad, Jamaica, Mexico, and of
course, the United States. The panelists
give online and mobile feedback.
Since the global
panel is their gold, recruiting has high standards. The company recruits through “social media,
their global partners, and website publishers”.
uSamp prides itself in locating “the hard-to-find respondent” and
achieving “panel purity”. What is panel
purity? That is ensuring there are no
duplications in email addresses and mobile numbers nor people maintaining
multiple identities. Imagine! The things
people do to earn pre-loaded debit cards, sales discounts, and merchandise
samples.
Labels: advertising, marketing, media monitoring, social media, social networking
Recent occurrences have me share a personal story rather than my usual news stories. Know that the six degrees of separation exist in your life. Everything you need and want will come through people you know or suddenly become acquainted with. This occurs for me time and time again. My fault has been not to act on what is presented.
A case in point, I developed a food preparation workshop series and I'm currently marketing it to senior centers in New York City. During the development stage, I called one center director Debra Holland and two program coordinators Mr. Chew and Mr. Boyd. My intent was to determine interest and see what needed to be part of the workshop. My conversation with Ms. Holland was turned around. She wanted me to have the answers and a fully fleshed program because this is what she's done before for her membership and planned to do in the next round of funding. She gave me a deadline to submit a document to her. I submitted earlier. She liked what she saw and said she'd tell other center directors about Tasty Food is Our Healthy Medicine workshops series. I followed the workshop description with a flyer.
This wasn't six degrees; it was one degree of separation. My conversation with the program coordinators uncovered that Mr. Boyd's director was collaborating with Ms. Holland to complete their respective refunding applications. Mr. Chew accepted the flyer and description. He said we could schedule after February.
Due to learning about the refunding application, I went to the Dept. for the Aging website to read the RFP. It revealed that health promotions is an essential service at senior centers wherein programs have to detail how they will actualize health education, physical education and nutrition.
The RFP was partially available, providing the first ten pages through download. The budget proposal and its instructions weren't available. That gave me the opportunity to contact the ACCO to ask questions and promote the workshop series.
Other similar situations have occurred for me. They all start by me thinking about a project and writing a framework. Within days, I receive an email or have a conversation that brings me much closer to realizing the idea. Please keep visioning, writing your ideas and be in a state of mindfulness in your walk through life habits. And, of course, share with others.
Labels: business, collaboration, intuition, marketing
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Is it Marketing, Promotion or Advertising?
In the years I've been in business I realize that people are using words without understanding what they mean. In some instances, it's not understanding what they need. Case in point is what are marketing, promotion and advertising? If you're a business, it's different ways to communicate that you have something to sell. If you're a nonprofit, it's the means to let people know you offer a social service.
Advertising is a message placed in the media that you paid for. You know that people listen, read or watch a particular TV show, blog, radio station or website. So you pay to air an infomercial or buy the front inside page of a magazine. You say eveyone knows that but not true. Some people confuse advertsing with marketing. This may happen because there are elements of marketing in the bought space. Marketing is anything used to induce a sale or reward a sale.
Marketing is keeping your office clean; it's offering refreshments to your customer while she decides on a hairstyle and it's giving a rebate for buying a big-ticket item now rather than later. Marketing communication is the skillful use of words to conjure images and bring out emotions. Some marketing communication is worn from overuse. For example, "I'm not trying to rush you; it's just that I'm walking to the closet now and can bring the shoes back with me." I tried this trick at a bazaar. I kept asking this woman, "Put the dress in the bag?" She was pleased that the dresses were only twenty dollars. I had placed three dresses in the bag after the chief vendor had bagged the first dress.
Promotion, or public relations, is visibility and brand recognition through FREE message placement in the media. The key to placement is news worthiness or notoriety. Nonprofits have an easier time with placement than businesses because they are offering a free or low cost needed service. The trouble is many nonprofits don't submit press releases. Businesses are sweating for PR; it's free advertising. I was approached by a diamond jeweler to get a story in a newspaper about his beautiful rings. After some questioning to find a plausible news angle, I had to tell him that the newspaper in question would want the jeweler to buy advertising space. The jeweler was frustrated by this because he knew of another business that had a story in the newspaper. I pointed out that the other business did community service and held a free business class. These activities were seen as newsworthy. After all, the media stays in existence through advertising. Advertising is bought because many people like a type of story.
The ideal situation is finding the right balance between advertising, marketing and promotion to keep the sales coming. Advertising is necessary. There's no getting around it. If you can develop good will from marketing--offering a discount, doing free delivery--do it.
There are people who still say that what I've written is stale. I say that there are too many people who don't know or haven't got the terms straight in their minds.
Labels: advertising, marcom, marketing, media, promotion, radio, Web 2.0
