I was thinking about our small boutique agency. As we continue to grow and create successful campaigns for our clients, we work to carve out a space for those companies who greatly desire our skill, expertise, creative tech skills & bandwidth -while meeting and exceeding their objectives. Yes and keeping the money in their pockets with low cost innovation and implementation and high returns. Some believe the more “likers” and followers you have the better success you will be – yet they forget that it is quality not quantity you want via information and engagement. There is today no accident that your neighbor, former high school teacher, doctor, dentist and boss former & current are all on Facebook. (Yes we may all want to take an extra minute to review our privacy settings) It means that all the brands you can think of, businesses, products and services know we are all there too and they are looking for new marcom partners and business advisers to help them reach all of us. Both online and offline. It will be those such as ourselves with a wealth of award winning traditional talent and  savvy experiential technical talent – who clearly understand and can translate that user experience – on an array of platforms, that will help you knock it out of the park- in reaching that customer in the place you desire to have them go.

In the past – the key to audience targeting was focused on assigning people to demographics such as age, gender and location. While this info. is still vital – with so much data available to us now and the idea that understanding that data first- before going forward with that “knock it out of the park campaign” means much success in the campaigns you create.

“Targeting can be and is much more dynamic and can gauge your interests and preferences.” Ever notice that the ads on Facebook and Twitter, the suggested people to follow and things that relate to what you like and care about are truly on par just for you? It is this behavioral targeting that is now the future of where the internet and your marketing and communications is going both offline and online.

Mashable.com has a great article from a week ago that speaks to this very topic. Lauren Drell writes about 4 Ways That Behavioral Targeting is Changing the Web. It is a brilliant article that I encourage all of you who are looking to better understand and target your customers to read.

Drell gives a great explanation of how this works for those that are not yet familiar -“Here’s how behavioral targeting works: Targeting companies establish an agreement with a publisher, who puts a piece of code on his website. (That publisher must have a clearly stated policy for the consumer to opt out from having data collected.) Then, when you’re browsing the web, the site will put a cookie on your browser, which populates as you surf. (Though one interviewee, ContextWeb, targets based on content and not cookies.) Now that your browser has a cookie, the targeting begins. Data points amass as you click your way from site to site, taking note of what you buy, what you read and what you search for. The more time goes on, the more data is collected.”

Companies that are paying attention to this understanding and moving towards  behavioral targeting with their data – through their advertising- can’t help but to expect more success and engagement by people who have indicated on the web what their preferences are and that they would be interested in YOUR product and or service. Of course this detailed data collection can be more costly, but the sales conversion rate of targeting to the correct buyer is sure to offset this cost. The viral advantage grows as well – as those accurately targeted customers- then SHARE those products , your products – with prequalified friends, family and colleagues.

Viva the future.

Best Nicole

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.

There are some of the big brands that have mobile apps both in the retail world at large – but also in the fashion world which is directly related to our attached article. Where I think that retailers can really start to think big- is by utilizing all the ways they can leverage different types of mobile commerce including mobile websites and texting to enhance the customer experience.  Currently most retailers are still not interfacing with customers via their mobile phones in bricks and mortar locations. Most sales people are not using in-store mobile phones to share info. with customers, or using their computers to help customer take photos or share via text which is one of the largest uses for everyone.

Nordstrom’s has enhanced their customer ability to find product online and know where  and whether it is in stock .  Net a Porter the designer online fashion site allows you to purchase product from your mobile phone. Joe Fresh the stylish and economical fashion line featured in Canada’s grocery chain Loblaw’s uses their application to feature product, prices and style options in a fun way attached to store locations where looks can be found. Yet in-store experiences have still not been leveraged. As mentioned in our article free wi-fi is still not offered and many sales people are not thinking about the ways that they can leverage sharing, product colours or options that may not be offered at one location or available at another. What about helping a customer text products  to friends  -that can help them make a choice or decision to purchase? We are starting to see rewards for geo-location via mobile from companies like the Gap – who launched a contest for a free pair of jeans if you are one of the first 10,000 to check into Facebook Places on Friday.

As more people use their phone to manage all of their daily tasks – it be vital for retailers to think creatively on a variety of phone platforms – ways to communicate with customers in-store and out by the device that goes with them everywhere – allowing access to customers instantly and regularly. BNET features an article “How Fashion Brands Can Make the Most of M Commerce” authored by Lydia Dishman. The key for all retailers is not to just think in the world of apps  -but to think of how mobile commerce can best be used in the way their  target customer – is most likely to use their mobile device, integration of m commerce in-store and online and the engagement of employees that manage the sales in both of those venues.

Best Nicole

It took them a while to embrace e-commerce so it’s easy to forgive fashion brands and retailers for taking so long to use leverage smartphone technology to reach customers. But they won’t get a free pass for much longer. At a panel during WWD’s CEO Summit, savvy apparel retailers are having no trouble wrapping their heads (and dollars) around mobile-friendly sites and apps as a way to boost revenue and connect with consumers.

James Gardner, CEO and co-founder of CREATETHE GROUP, an interactive agency whose clients include Burberry, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Neiman Marcus (NM) and others told me:

Spending is higher on the web, but the mobile apps help brands reach the consumer wherever they are with their mobile device, and offer another engaging way to interact with the brands, strengthen brand loyalty and to offer a creative way for shoppers on the go to browse a brand at their own convenience via an iPhone, iPad or another connected device. This ultimately helps drive sales. While a consumer may spend a few minutes window shopping via a mobile app but may not make a purchase, that action helps convert more sales online and in-store.

Though the preponderance of purchases happen on the Web, Gardner asserts that two of CREATETHE GROUP’s largest luxury retailers average eight to nine percent of their total sales through mobile. Flash sale site Rue La La projects even bigger results with 20 percent of its sales expected to come through mobile by next year.

The most successful brands to convert will offer customers an array of ways to connect and shop. But you don’t necessarily need to rely on an app. Gardner tells me that mobile commerce enabled sites are more important.

While apps were a craze and a focus for 2008 and 2009, what quickly became important to CREATETHE GROUP’s clients is mobile commerce – and really making their sites accessible and shopable on all mobile devices including the iPhone and iPad that do not support Flash, because anyone can access a retailer’s site on their mobile device whether a branded app is available yet or not. The focus shifted away from apps to mobile commerce, and our most recent examples of mobile commerce enabled sites include Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, DKNY, and Juicy Couture. With these clients and others, we are in progress of the next level of optimizing mobile design and the checkout process.

If a brand has the resources to do it, developing an app can offer the potential customer a more robust way to shop remotely. David Yurman’s iPhone app for its timepiece collection allows users to browse collections, view detailed descriptions, make purchases through a personal shopper, and view product images in their actual size to see what the piece would look like on their wrist.

Smart brand managers would do well to begin incorporating location based services that go beyond a store locator. Nordstrom’s (JWN) recent inventory integration between stores and warehouse allowed shoppers to see what was available in nearby stores or shop online and pick up in the store. The initiative has made Nordstrom’s inventory turn at record-setting speeds (to 5.41 in 2009 from 4.84 in 2005) and improved margins on merchandise that would have languished on racks until marked below 50 percent.

There’s still plenty of room for improvement. Piers Fawkes, founder of trend research firm PSFK, believes retailers should encourage mobile phones in stores and provide free wi-fi for shoppers to enhance the browsing experience. Fawkes also suggests retailers to take control of their inventory cycles by synchronizing special discounts for groups.

You can encourage people to purchase when you want to move stock. You can also focus on your loyal consumers and reward them with group purchases. And you can test the popularity of new concepts or product ranges or brands before you make them.

One thing’s clear: if a multichannel shopper spends four times, on average, what a one-source shopper spends, fashion retailers who haven’t started developing mobile-friendly sites yet better get busy.

Our guest blogger Blair Currie who we introduced to you last week and is working with BCAD Group on some new projects, has written a post to answer one of those questions. What will be the future for search. We feel there are some very important points to consider here – as this is one of the sure fire ways -  your can ensure your business will make money, garner new customers, improve your page ranking on search engines which in turn will help you sell more products and services.

How you are you leveraging search engine marketing in your business?

Best Nicole

There is no crystal ball to tell what the future holds; however, in the area of search engine marketing, there are a number of developments in the areas of audio search, location-based technology and personalization, that one can paint a pretty good picture of what is to come. Here are a few signs of where search appears to be headed:

1.Audio

Search by voice command will become increasingly common, especially for mobile devices. This will help speed up search and making it more personal.

In Stanley Kubrik’s classic film “2001: A Space Odyssey”, we were introduced to HAL, an intelligent computer that talked with the protagonists in the film. Speaking directly to HAL seemed much more natural and much faster than using a keyboard, trackball and/or mouse. This movie, albeit released in 1968, provides a glimpse at the future of search.

2.  Augmented

Search will continue to be augmented by both past behavior of you and “others like you” to speed up the process of delivering results. This is what Google Instant does when it shaves seconds off the search process letting you see results before you finish tying your search query.

The second form of augmented is “Augmented reality” (AR) where a real image is enhanced or augmented by digital imagery. An image captured on a mobile device can be identified with GPS technology and this image can be augmented or over-laid with search data, such as history of a building in the picture or availability and pricing of rooms in a particular hotel.  Companies that do this include Layar.

A third form of augmented is what can be referred to as  “Augmented humanity”. In this case an engine will search for things without being asked to. For example if you are walking down a street Google will use GPS data to search for history of the area as an example. This requires that your computing device continuously search and anticipate your questions – augmenting humanity in a way.

3.) Broader – will include the Internet of Things.

Everyday objects in the physical world will become searchable with the help of radio frequency identifications chips (RFID). Physical objects are being increasingly embedded with tiny identifying chips with valuable data including country of origin, component parts, manufacturing dates etc.. These chips are decreasing in prices so that more and more objects can be “connected” to the Internet.  Alternately put, there will be an “Internet of things”.

With the ability to search, identify and track physical goods, companies and individuals can manage inventories more effectively and consumers or customers can find and products more readily and compare prices at different vendors.  Individuals can also find lost objects – to mention a couple of functions related to the Internet of things, which is sometimes referred to as “Ambient intelligence”.

4.) Customizable

Search companies will include more tools to allow users to set priorities in what they are looking for and what they want to screen from their searches.

For example an individual may want to exclude social media or video searches and concentrate only on blogs. This will be possible because the search engines will allow us to set these filters.

5.) Future oriented

Major search trends will increasingly be used as “Future data now” that will be used to create new products and services. As such, Search will be used more proactively than reactively and become a more important tool for companies.

While in the past companies produced products and services and then figured out the best way to market them, search will accelerate the use of insights to develop products.

6.) Global

Language barriers to finding search results will decrease, as translation software will permit multiple language searches. The world’s data is not all recorded in one common language making it difficult to find Arabic results using a Japanese search engine. To help overcome this problem technology is being developed that will allow search in many languages.

7.) Location based applications

Location and mobile are really the “Third Wave” of the Internet following “Pages and Search” in the First Wave and “Social and Interactive” in the Second Wave. As mobile e-commerce develops, location based search will become more important.

When consumers are mobile they are generally interested in location based search. By combining search with GPS technology many services are developing that facilitate local navigation and marketing.

8.) Mobile

Mobile search will take an increasing share over the overall search market as mobile penetration overtakes PC penetration and as mobile devices – smart phones, computers in automobiles and wearable devices gain acceptance. .

This is a key reason why all the major search companies Google (including YouTube), Microsoft, Yahoo! and Facebook are all competing in the mobile space many of them developing operating systems and/or telephones of their own.

Audio search will greatly help out the spread of mobile search because of the difficulty of using keyboards and touch-screens for sending text.

9.) Personalized

Search will become more personalized and tailored to the individual as the search engine learns and knows more about an individual’s tastes and preferences. For example a search engine should be able to determine whether an individual  is looking for Seal the Musical performer vs. Seal the mammal based on his or her history.

As search gets more personalized search engines will need to increasingly need to better deal with privacy issues through opt-in agreements, full disclosure etc..

10.) Private

The Search Engines will ultimately need to develop a Bill of Rights to deal with the privacy of information and legal access rights by government bodies and the length of time information can be retained.

11.) Specialized

While some search engines will remain focused on mass search there will be niche search engines. For example, Wolfram Alpha, which is a fact based search engine. The user interfaces of specialized search engines may be better equipped to display the results of searched items, just as YouTube has evolved to best present video search results.

12.) Universal and more

Search will become increasing “Universal” in that it will continue to expand in scope moving from websites, books, news, images and videos to video and television as are now being introduced by Google and Apple.

All sizes of companies big and small have lost their leverage with purchasing customers – because the public in many cases has lost trust in brands. These customers who have had information pushed to them for years and years – now have the opportunity and are armed with the information they need about products and services -without the assistance of the companies that produce and offer those products and services.

This new world for most businesses is scary and unfamiliar territory. The world of open leadership has arrived and it is forcing this change of hands from the company being in control – to that of the consumer now assuming their power and using social media tools to scream from the rooftops – or keyboards- and share their complaints and disappointments for all the world to see. The navigation of this shift is going to be a complex and difficult one to balance for many companies – that for decades have been accustomed – to being in control of the messages and responses. Better yet many have  been able to keep that customer at arms length and quiet in the unhappy eye of a customer complaining storm.

The answer from my perspective is that a relationship must now be created and developed. As with the power of brand evangelism and customers loving a brand so much that they are using social media to SHARE it with others – customer service is no different. For those who have not focused on customer service complaints in particular – there are tools such as Twitter that can provide immediate responses. In the discussion from Mitch Joel’s question – the positioning becomes   how much should be answered and what about all those that don’t have legitimate complaints, but are rather using the platform to build their own profile or cause. What about the people who have few followers and may not be active against those that have many?  What about all the people who prefer to keep their complaints quiet and are not interested in ranting aloud? All legitimate thoughts and questions.

My take is that companies must show leadership in listening, being clear in their responses ( while following and adhering to previously established policies) and use these opportunities – to let customers know that they do want to solve their problems and customers in turn want to be heard. The strength in all of this – is the relationships that can be built and the opportunity to turn those angry unhappy clients into surprised but happy promoters – of how their challenges were addressed and resolved. In many cases people are ok – with understanding that they may have not followed or read the policy associated with their complaint – yet insisted on trying anyway. An immediate response with an open opportunity to find a solution is usually what they are looking for. To those who are looking to leverage their power for what appears as “no good to the business” add value as it allows the companies to create a comfortable habit of making that effort to reach out and engage. One customer at a time.

As with everything that is good there are always a few that want to spoil it for others – but the happy ending is – when building relationships – you must give everyone a chance and show your good will – to create trust worthy long lasting relationships – something that is lacking for many brands. Now is the time to take the opportunity to turn the tables and lead with that open relationship with customers. The holidays are right around the corner.. no better time to start then now! Te read more of the discussion – go to Mitch Joels blog http://www.twistimage.com/blog/

We would love to hear from you! Have you had experiences using social media as a way to respond to customer service complaints and met with success? SHARE your stories with us and we will post them!

Best Nicole

As we all know I not only began my career in fashion – but to this day love it as much as my days as a 3 year old – sporting my mothers jewelery, bags and shoes. I just listened to a lecture by Joanna Blakeley that I am going to post – that uses the free culture of fashion and copying to show how many businesses – including the business I work in now – that the freedom leveraged from fashion from not having legal right to copy rights and trademarks – can be a very lucrative business for all. Both designer and mass market. The ideas she SHARES and the analogies she uses from one of my most favorite things – give great pause for thought – for many industries. By the way “we all need to cover our naked bodies as she says” and as you will see in the presentation the ROI is nothing to sneeze at!

Open source for the digital world has certainly taken on this idea of not only SHARING ideas but copying those that were great and putting a new twist on them……how are you free in your industry to SHARE your ideas? IF not – maybe it is time to look at this wonderful video that talks about how creative industries can learn from fashion’s free culture.

Enjoy.

Best Nicole

I think for those that are still hedging – you need to take a look at this attached post from Mashable.com.  Author Rick Burnes features five businesses who definitely do not fit the everyday consumer facing, mainstream profile and they are all leveraging social media. An Equine Dentist ( yes a dentist for horses) The Equine Practice Inc., steel building manufacturer – SteelMaster Buildings, paint company Idea Paint, a manufacturer of high-quality paper products Neenahpaper and online aviation maintenance Duncan Aviation. All of these businesses have leveraged different social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and video.

Social media is about engagement – as we always write about in our blog SHARE. Everyone - no matter the business, person, place, product or service wants to find like minded people they can connect. create and cultivate with.

Not using social media yet? After reading this you have no excuses! Keep us posted on how you do!

Best Nicole

Chances are, most of the businesses you interact with as a consumer are on social media. Your local restaurant is blogging, your grocery store is on Twitter () — even your favorite candy is on Facebook (). Companies in mainstream, consumer-facing industries are all over social media.

But how about other businesses? Manufacturers? B2B service providers? Equine dentists? Are they experimenting with social media?

You bet. Here are five examples, all at different stages of their experiments, and all indicating the breadth of business use of social media.

1. Equine Dentist Builds Relationships With Facebook

How do you turn a regional service business into an international destination for industry thought leadership?

Facebook.

At least that’s what worked for Geoff Tucker, an equine dentist based in Palm City, FL.

In a business driven by relationships, Geoff says that Facebook allows him to build new ones. “People do business with people who they’re friends with. Period,” he says. “And Facebook is a great way to get to know people. It allows people to see that I’m a person.”

As he builds these relationships using social media, Geoff is also expanding his company’s reach. He says it was his blog (), his Twitter feed, and his Facebook account that helped him win appearances on Horse Talk Radio and HorseGirl.tv.

So what’s this done for his business? Geoff says that over the last year, Facebook alone has generated about 100 leads and 10-to-15 customers.

2. Steel Building Manufacturer Taps New Verticals

As a manufacturer of prefabricated steel buildings, SteelMaster was initially hesitant to get involved in social media.

“It’s steel buildings,” explains Michelle Wickum, director of marketing for the Norfolk, VA company. “How is that going to tie to Facebook? It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but when we looked at the growth in Facebook and social media, we felt we had to get our arms around it.”

About a year ago, SteelMaster put its first toe into the social media water. The company discovered two important applications for their business. First, they found that Facebook is an excellent way to post pictures of customers’ steel buildings. Not only do the pictures engage existing customers — they also demonstrate to prospective customers the range of uses for SteelMaster buildings. “Photography for us is the hook,” Michelle explains.

Perhaps more importantly, SteelMaster found that social networks like Twitter and Facebook gives it exposure to and create demand in specific verticals where it previously had little traction. Chicken farmers and woodworkers don’t typically think to use steel buildings, but when friends and colleagues share pictures of their SteelMaster buildings on Twitter and Facebook, the farmers and woodworkers become interested.

3. Full Social Media Integration for Marketing Paint

Idea Paint is a Boston-area startup that sells paint that turns surfaces into dry-erase boards. The company uses social media throughout its sales and marketing process.

The company blog, where employees publish videos, images and stories of product installations, is the hub of Idea Paint’s social media activity. The company uses Twitter and Facebook to share content published on the blog — then to listen to, respond to, and interact with the community that content engages.

Marcus Wilson, Idea Paint’s head of marketing, says this system gives the company a level of customer intimacy and global reach and that was unheard of 10 years ago.

What’s this mean in terms of business results? Social media is now one of Idea Paint’s largest sources of leads and traffic — and it is growing steadily. Meanwhile, the company’s Twitter and Facebook reach grew 70% in Q1 2010, and is expected to grow an order of magnitude in Q2.

Idea Paint produced this video on their social media strategy, exclusively for Mashable () readers:

4. Integrating Twitter Into the Paper Selling Process

One year ago, the marketing team at Neenah Paper, a manufacturer of high-quality paper products, confronted a growing problem: It was becoming harder and harder to reach new potential customers. Their traditional channels — phone conversations and in-person meetings — were not working as well. Prospects were tuning them out.

Jamie Saunders, Neenah’s marketing communications manager, noted that most of the company’s potential customers — designers, graphic artists and printers — were spending their time in front of their computers, and that social media could be a way to better engage them.

So Neenah took a step into the social media world. While the experiment started with Neenah’s marketing team, its sales team was one of the biggest beneficiaries. They discovered they could do prospecting and nurturing via Twitter. Today the company has 10 sales representatives across the country using their personal Twitter accounts on behalf of Neenah to close new business.

Jamie says these sales reps are finding that social media is simply a more effective way of engaging with their prospects. “It’s an invitation to have a conversation. You’re getting permission to have a conversation — a conversation that used to happen in person.”

5. Leading the Online Aviation Maintenance Discussion

In November 2008, a handful of auto executives flew their private planes to Washington, DC to testify before Congress in support of federal aid for their industry. This perception of corporate excess created an outcry, and the private aviation industry’s image was damaged.

At that time, aircraft maintenance and support company Duncan Aviation had just started using social media. The company discovered that the new medium could be a way to positively shape the conversation — to add its perspective and improve the industry’s damaged reputation.

Beth Humble, now Duncan’s social media lead, explains that while social media is an important part of Duncan’s strategy, the company doesn’t aspire to create a Comcast- or Coke-like presence on the social web. Instead, the goal is simply to influence the right people.

“There are a lot of industry people that we network with that are on Twitter: Journalists, other aviation bloggers, and industry and media outlets,” Beth explains. “If you connect with the right few people, you can really get in there and connect with thousands of people.”

–Rich Brooks, president of Flyte New Media

I came across and article today where a diagram is worth a million words. It comes from Fast Company and is written by Maccabee Montandon. It says that online sales continue to soar—and those that are looking to refresh, rebuild or expand their brand should be aiming their efforts to this eager and willing customer base that is looking to their favorite retailers to be engaging them to shop online!

Quoted from the article and most eye opening is the following: “Perhaps the most eye-opening figure of all is the average amount that an Internet shopper spent last year: $1,006.50. Sure buys a lot of Lady Gaga downloads.” Wowza! That’s worth getting in the game!

Best Nicole

Click, Buy, Repeat: Consumers Flocking to Virtual Shopping More Than Ever

BY Maccabee MontandonThu Mar 11, 2010

It’s been the retailing story for years–and new research says it still is! Yes, online sales continue to soar, recession be damned. We were all probably at least vaguely aware of this phenomenon but to see it in such stark numbers astounds anew. Perhaps the most eye-opening figure of all is the average amount that an Internet shopper spent last year: $1,006.50. Sure buys a lot of Lady Gaga downloads. Or these.

As I watched, it made me think about how great social media is for companies such as the ones that were high-lighted and for those that have not yet engaged. When you have all sorts of content rich information tools, you have  an opportunity to not only engage with the people that work for you (especially in large companies and corporations) but with the people that shop with you too. You can find out how and when you are exceeding expectations and when they, or your business, disappoint. Where there are disappointments, you have the opportunity as a business to say, “I am sorry” and take immediate steps to make it right. Today!

Imagine if you could highlight the great people that are dedicated to your business—who you want to reward—by letting them know that YOU know how great they are? By showing how much you appreciate what they do. And giving the customers they interact with an opportunity to share their favourites nation—or city—wide. It would certainly encourage me to be the best I can be and PASS it on—both as a customer and as an employee.

One-to-one engagement focusing on a human element that allows all of us to be heard, respected and acknowledged—is one of the easiest ways to bring a positive flow of give and take . To address the challenges and celebrate the successes that take your business from good to great. To create enthusiasm for your brand and enlist new customers—which helps create more sales and, yes, more money.

Who wouldn’t want to get started tomorrow? What are you waiting for?

Best Nicole