Since we began this blog we have been writing continuously about brand ambassadors and the power behind the people that love and support your brand. In creating an online community – it can be great to find someone with a following and profile related to your product and service – that you can leverage. Someone that can lend some passion, credibility through their following and knowledge of your products or services – that can share with the community you want to build. Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a large amount of buzz, articles and info. on businesses getting into mobile. In the last couple of weeks I have personally attended two conferences that had mobile as one of their key topics of discussion. My thoughts come from an article that I just read and will include with this post – about the fashion business and how that industry can make the most of mobile commerce. Coming from the fashion business as my first career it triggered some thoughts.

Most of us, even those of us who still do not have smart phones own phones that provide cameras, texting and email. We take those phones with us everywhere and use them as a beacon to stay connected, informed and give us the answers to the info. we need immediately. This simple deduction makes mobile a key player in how we live our lives day to day. For those that have a smart phone such as myself – apps are a key way to get information from brands, products and services we use and evangelize and keep customers  informed. In some cases these apps allow the purchase of products from a mobile device, other apps provide updates about sales, events, promotions and new product launches. It makes sense in the retail world that finding ways to leverage mobile commerce should be high on the marketing budget and strategy list. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning I attended an event hosted by IBM. The topic of the half day conference was The Future of Interactive Technologies. I decided to title today’s post as The Future of Interactive Technologies is NOW. Why? As I sat beside many businesses – both retailers and suppliers such as myself – many of these business on the retail side or B-C sector, are just starting to implement their social media strategy. For me the future is now. Every business needs to be involved in finding ways to engage and build their tribe/community – as so aptly written – by one of my marketing guru’s Seth Godin. There were some great stats about the trends of social media, the emergence and importance of mobile and of course the value and power that is now wielded by your customer. Over the last 3 years we have written about all of these topics. The power of the brand ambassador, the idea that they are talking about you whether you are there or not, understanding how your target market wants to communicate and then focusing on those digital tools to engage them and featuring businesses that have been doing social media right. Read the rest of this entry »