|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Mobile Marketing a New Age Strategy
More and more companies seem to be looking for new and innovative ways to market their products. Overlooking most of the traditional marketing techniques, more companies are pioneering the relatively new mobile marketing campaign. Mobile event trailers and vehicle graphic wraps are bringing the products directly to the consumers. With an array of games, giveaways, contests and twenty-five foot product shots surrounding and engaging the consumer, it's hard to see why this form of marketing is not more widely used. Displays have evolved over the years from small trailers with portable pop-up tents, into 53' double expandable trailers with elaborate tents and almost endless customizable features. Most companies love the infinite possibilities and are striving to push the limits and raising the bar just a little bit higher. Some displays now are featuring stages, full size kitchens, restrooms, conference rooms and not to mention an influx of multimedia gadgets. Vehicle wraps have engulfed the United States with eye catching and memorable four-color digital brilliance. Receiving upwards of 40,000 impressions a day these modern marvels can give you more bang for your buck. Showcasing product shots and company slogans as moving billboards is a relatively inexpensive and aggressive way to market your companies image, and is certain to pay off in the end. With the amount of competition businesses are facing now a days no wonder there is so much emphasis placed on new and innovative ways to market their products. More money is being spent on marketing then ever before, blowing standard marketing techniques out of the water. Creating a ground-breaking strategy can catapult a company past its competitors. About The Author Derrick Johnson
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Adapting Blog Technologies To Corporate E-Newsletters Every January, trade publications put out a list of predictions for the coming year. They discuss products, services and trends that they think will change the way business is done, labeling these "disruptive technologies." The idea of disruptive technologies comes from Clayton Christensen's 1997 book, The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail. A disruptive technology is a method, procedure, skill, device, or material that redefines the competitive standards. Note that the technology doesn't have to be a physical item and that it often forces us to re-examine the way we work. InfoWorld's list of disruptive technologies for 2003 included open source, self-service CRM, digital identity, and my personal favorite, Weblogs. How can a simple, Web-based journal be disruptive? For starters, it's worth describing what a Weblog is. Basically, a Weblog or "blog" is a personally created, online, time-stamped web page that includes the thoughts, ideas, and comments of the "blogger." The musings are usually brief, but they are published frequently and consistently. People can subscribe to receive the blog updates via e-mail. Often, the blogger is an expert on the subject he/she is discussing. At first glance, it doesn't appear that blogs would be at all disruptive. So why all the hype? If we look closely at the structure and intent of blogs as a communications tool, we can see some powerful ideas at work. Blogs are a direct, one-to-many vehicle for communicating ideas. They expand an individual's ability to communicate. They are fresh and timely. The blogger, in order to maintain interest, must communicate often. Blogs enable a single person to share ideas, insights, and useful knowledge with an audience. Thanks to the Web, the audience can be a global one. Whenever a new tool or process-such as e-mail- expands communications, the effects are far-reaching and dramatic. Even though blogs have been around for 3-4 years, they could be the next big thing. Blogs Are The "Real Voice"Two important characteristics of blogs are that they are written by a person who is knowledgeable and passionate about the topic, and that they are written in a "real voice." This is a cosmic shift from the marketing and public relations materials that are the staple of business communications. Often, when information goes through a formal marketing or PR process, the end result is an attractive, expensive, stale, diluted document written in corporate speak. This result is generally due to the processes that evolved to accommodate the costs and standards of print technology, rather than to the incompetence or malevolence of corporate communicators. The edge, the authenticity, and the voice of the professional speaking to his fellow professionals is lost. Blogs offer the human voice that can be loud, controversial, and even wacky. But the realness of the blog inspires trust and piques people's curiosity. A blog can create a community and a dynamic discussion. If you are a product manager working in the chemical products industry, chances are that you would rather hear about the real experiences of other product managers in your industry than read a glossy marketing piece put out by the marcom department. Blogs fit this communications requirement perfectly. Blogs Are SimpleWeblogs are easy for people to publish, read and respond to. They can foster a community of like-minded individuals and be the catalyst for spirited discussions. Blogs are an inherently proactive form of communications. Weblog participants can subscribe to receive scheduled postings to the blog. Weblogs are inexpensive to produce and they can include a variety of multimedia content (audio, video, files, etc.) and hypertext links that add value to the discussion. Blogs Empower The IndividualThere are a host of tools on the Internet that make blogging a snap! Blogs empower a single person to capitalize on the reach and ubiquity of the Web. And they don't require the investment or recurring costs of print technologies. Blogs Empower The EnterpriseBlogs empower the knowledgeable people within a company to share their insights, know-how, and expertise. The value to a corporation is that this knowledge can be organized, distributed, and leveraged to increase the value of different product and service offerings to the customer. If a corporation is going to use a blog, however, it should understand that controlling the content of the discussion is difficult. If you want an authentic exchange, you have to be willing to accept the stone-throwing and critical comments that often occur in a blog. This requires extending trust and giving up some of the control a company would normally have when it publishes a press release or hosts its own online forum, for example. The upside is that people will listen to a real voice. Adapting Blog Concepts To Your Newsletters You can adapt blog technologies to your corporate electronic newsletters by taking advantage of the underlying concepts. You can, for example: * Publish a small amount of well-organized information frequently and regularly * Include content from individuals who are knowledgeable and passionate about their work* Make it easy for your employees to communicate directly in their own, human voice* Respect the reader by making sure your e-newsletter provides value and that he/she wants to receive it. E-newsletters geared towards educating a marketplace, rather than those focused on advertising or marketing, turn out to be particularly effective. E-newsletters offer an affordable, direct way for the experts in a company to communicate with an audience. This means that a product manager or an engineer can enhance the flow of information and make it more accessible to those who want it. Think of your channel and the information needs of your partners. Your company has a wealth of information that would help them sell your products more effectively. There is much insight within your partner community that could be leveraged throughout the channel. And your technical experts and engineers have critical knowledge and understanding that everyone could utilize. What's often missing is an easy way for the "know-how" keepers to capture their knowledge, organize it, and deliver it. The best e-newsletters are written in a real voice, not in corporate speak. Two years ago, the book The Cluetrain Manifesto shook up the business community (see http://www.cluetrain.com/book.html). The revelation? That business is about humans. As Wall Street Journal columnist Thomas Petzinger Jr. writes in the foreword: "I was dumbstruck. There in a few pages, I read a startlingly concise summary of everything I'd seen in twenty-one years as a reporter, editor, bureau chief and columnist for my newspaper. The idea that business, at bottom, is fundamentally human. That engineering remains second-rate without aesthetics. That natural, human conversation is the true language of commerce. That corporations work best when the people on the inside have the fullest contact possible with people on the outside." It turns out that the human "voice" is an underserved or ignored need. In a world of 6+ billion inhabitants, the individual craves to speak and to be heard. References Blogs As Disruptive Tech: How Weblogs Are Flying Under The Radar Of The Content Management Giants, By John Hiler, CEO, Webcrimson, http://www.webcrimson.com/ourstories/blogsdisruptivetech.Htm Making Room For Disruptive And Emergent Technologies, By Hugh Blackmer, Science Librarian, Washington & Lee University, http://home.wlu.edu/~blackmerh/sabb/nitle2.html* Blogs As Disruptive Innovation: What A Brave New World Blogging Is Building!, by Dr. James V. McGee, Professor, The Kellogg School Of Management, http://www.mcgeesmusings.net/2002/05/15.html Weblogs At Harvard Law, Bookmark List For ABCD Weblogs Meeting, By Dave Winer, http://Blogs.Law.Harvard.Edu/Stories/Storyreader$199 Postcard Direct Mail Marketing Tips And Ideas Postcards are perhaps the least expensive way of reaching a large number of people with your sales message. Although they have their drawbacks, they are cost-effective at attracting new customers. But only if you follow some simple rules that professional direct mail copywriters follow. The 5 Musts of Marketing For most of the small business owners I work with, marketing has become the equivalent of a four-letter word. Inevitably, when I ask the question, "Do you have a marketing plan?" or "What marketing activities do you engage in?" I get the full gamut of responses from the proverbial deer in the headlights stare, to a vociferous, "I hate marketing, it's the least favorite part of my business!" Step by Step Guide to an SMS Campaign SMS is good for: Do You Know Where Your Email Address is Today? Having people go to your website is not always easy: remind them with a special business card. There Are Benefits... And Then There Are Benefits Not all benefits are created equal. Knowing which ones to use when can make a big difference in the credibility -- and success -- of your marketing campaigns. Postcard Direct Mail Marketing: 15 Ways To Grab Attention If you use direct mail postcards to generate leads or sell a product or service, you need to create postcards that grab your prospect's attention. The place to do that is Side A, the side that doesn't have the stamp and address on it. Here are some creative ways to get the attention of your potential buyers, some of which have worked extremely for well for my clients. How to Promote your business website using free online resources. There are many ways to promote your website for free online. Here are 10 highly effective strategies you can use right now. The Seven Deadly Sins of Ineffective Nametags Your nametag can be your best friend. It can be a lifesaver in meetings, trade shows and events to start conversations when you meet groups of new people. It will also identify you as well as your company in the minds of others. As a result, you will become more approachable and transform strangers into valuable connections. Unfortunately, nametags can become useless and ineffective when they are designed and worn without careful consideration. Marketing A Misunderstood or Scary Product or Service What do you do if your business, product or service is something hardly anyone is aware of or understands? Or worse yet, if it is something they are afraid of or want to avoid? Sleigh Bells Ring...And Cash Registers, Too During the holidays, folks everywhere shop many long hours to buy gifts for the important people in their lives. Spending at this time of year is one of the driving forces of our economy, and retailers go to great lengths to make the frenetic experience a festive one. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the NeimanMarcus catalog, FAO Schwarz toy decorations and Saks Fifth Avenue window displays are all part of Christmas marketing lore. To All Internet Marketers - How To Get My Business? More and more people are realizing that the Internet offers great potential to set up a healthy business for pennies on the dollar. This is good news for internet marketers - but it also means that they need to lift their game. A Complaint? It?s a Compliment! - 7 Tips for Dealing with Complaints at Trade Shows A Complaint? It's a Compliment! Positioning For Success According to military historian David Chandler the campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte consistently rose above the expected. For more than 20 years Napoleon showed genius and skill as a general on the field of battle. Has the Free Report Had Its Day? For years now we have been inundated with offers of Free Reports. Most promise to tell you how, in a few hours per week, you can make incredibly huge sums of money or achieve some other benefit. And it's not only on the web you find these offers. I subscribe to an informative, inexpensive Increase Your Sales By Following-Up The difference between a successful business and one that just gets by is that the business that is just getting by thinks that the marketing is over when the sale has been made. Marketing: Are You Focused? In early 1992, President George H.W. Bush was riding high. He was sitting on an almost unprecedented 80% approval rating following the first Gulf War. Conventional wisdom pegged him as a shoe-in for a second term. Quiz: Where is Your Marketing Message? Wondering if your marketing message is dancing in the spotlight right in front of your target market or is busy cowering by the punch table nowhere near your customer base? Take this quiz and find out. Whats Your Marketing Weak Link? Your marketing weak link could be undermining the rest of your marketing. It is vital that each link in your marketing system supports and builds upon the previous link. Each link must bring your customer closer to the next sale. Any link that takes the customer further away from the sale, makes your marketing program inefficient and causes you to lose money. Business In 2010: A New Face of Marketing The term "internet marketing" was virtually non-existent a short 8 years ago, now it is a growing phenomenon that is raking millions every year. Because of this expanding industry, the internet landscape it changing. Where are the changes going to be? I fully expect a growth in interactive end-user experiences - an online environment catering to the individual preferences of a singular visitor. I also foresee a massive change in the way we market online. A change could include "personalized" advertisements embedded so deeply into the product that the user does not realize it as an ad.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
