Bcadgroup's Weblog » ENGAGE

Online Spending Continues to Rise – A Graphic Worth a Million Words!

nicolem — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:30:57 +0000

There are many retailers that are still not online. Many claim they are not ready. Some are dabbling—but even the dabblers are unsure of how to truly leverage the success that can be attained. A few weeks ago I attended a launch at a major retailer. They have done a 360 degree turn in their brand offering and are certainly looking to expand their old reputation for a new contemporary one in order to attract a broader more modern customer. At the launch, they had some laptops sitting out with the idea that people could go and tweet from the event at the computer stations. Great intentions but from my perspective here are some ideas about how they could have kicked it out of the park.

Firstly, they had models there that were wearing the clothes, who were mingling with guests and dancing to the cool dj beats. Those models could have had smartphones or PDA’s and circulated through the crowd—taking photos with the guests and uploading those photos with tweets from their phones. No one was standing next to the laptops to explain (to those that may have been unsure) how Twitter works or to ask people to come over and tweet. They could have engaged their twitter followers to come to the event and created a “tweet up” for those that came to the event via the tweet invite. They could have had a contest, with the entry being a mention and hash tag of the event for those that were attending, and selected the winner via their tweet profile name. Simple and easy ways to get started, engage and connect with your customers online and integrate the great offline and in-store milestones—using a simple but 21st digital strategy—to begin to build the community you want to engage, as these customers are online shoppers. Both for research as well as purchasing.

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.

Virtual Domination Does Not Equal Millions of Fans

nicolem — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:26:52 +0000

I think for many now jumping on the social media bandwagon, one area of measurement is based on the number of fans that one has. In some cases, it’s great to have hundreds of thousands of fans—IF you can lead them to click throughs on your site or directly track them to retweets of products and services or sharing via Facebook (from all of your friends to their friends and so on…). But many are, as in life, “fair-weather friends”: they come, look around, sign up…but don’t really engage or connect. Especially when you don’t have a strategy that is going to ensure that you connect with them for a direct call to action. Yes. You want a call to action. One that includes a mutual passion for the give and take that is going to be SHARED by your business and the friends/customers you are going to friend and follow.

Seth Godin wrote a post on Monday Feb. 15/10, that speaks to just this very topic. He says, “A lot of these fans and followers are faux. Sunny day friends. In one experiment I did, 200,000 followers led to 25 clickthroughs. Ouch.” Eeeeeek and ouch is RIGHT! Some businesses and people are so busy trying to build an army of fans that they forget—or don’t even think about—the strategy for a call to action that would ensure more then the 25 clickthroughs that Seth received in is experiment.

The moral of his great story and of this post: make sure you spend the time on the great ideas and actions, rather than the army of followers. Let those great ideas do the SHARING!

Best Nicole

Viral growth trumps lots of faux followers

Many brands and idea promoters are in a hurry to rack up as many Facebook fans and Twitter followers as they possibly can. Hundreds of thousands if possible.

A lot of these fans and followers are faux. Sunny day friends. In one experiment I did, 200,000 followers led to 25 clickthroughs. Ouch.

Check out the graph on the left. The curves represent different ideas and different starting points. If you start with 10,000 fans and have an idea that on average nets .8 new people per generation, that means that 10,000 people will pass it on to 8000 people, and then 6400 people, etc. That’s yellow on the graph. Pretty soon, it dies out.

On the other hand, if you start with 100 people (99% less!) and the idea is twice as good (1.5 net passalong) it doesn’t take long before you overtake the other plan. (the green). That’s not even including the compounding of new people getting you people.

But wait! If your idea is just a little more viral, a 1.7 passalong, wow, huge results. Infinity, here we come. That’s the purple (of course.)

A slightly better idea defeats a much bigger but disconnected user base every time.

The lesson: spend your time coming up with better ideas, not with more (faux) followers.

With Social Media Engagement – You Will Not Need to Go Undercover!

nicolem — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:20:28 +0000

A friend called me today and asked me to watch the Oprah show—something that I don’t do during the day. The topic was about an up coming CBS show where Presidents/Owners of companies go undercover to see what it is like to work out in the field.

I think it is important to understand what everyone does in your business and to have a sense of the great work that your employees do—the challenges that lay before them in their day to day job and the ways that they are dedicated to doing their best to ensure that the business, products and the brand are a success. Of course, in grand Oprah style, there were some outstanding employees doing amazing things, and they themselves had come from some challenging circumstances. Some of the employees were high-lighted and offered some great rewards for their dedication and content of extraordinary character.

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

Have You Started a Conversation With Your Customers?

nicolem — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:13:10 +0000

It’s a new year and I want to know how you plan to do things differently in 2010. As I write this, I am sure many of you are now well educated on the benefits of social media in your marketing efforts and are using some of the tools to further engage, connect or begin to connect with your customer. Have you thought about how you are going to start that conversation?

For the past year, I have written about how important it is to have that conversation. Customers are so eager to tell you what their ideas are, share their challenges with you and tell you what they like and or love about your products and services. They want you to know how they have spread the news about your brand—just what you need and want to hear. Are you listening? Are you taking action to engage in that conversation by offering them rewards for their dedication, interest, passion and time? Are you providing roles for them to partner with you in a marketing effort that will help spread the word about the personal experiences they have had with you? Are the other members of your team engaging with these key customers—who can help provide a perspective of experience from your company—that you and your team may not be able to see from the inside?

It all begins with finding ways to start that conversation. Media Post Insider, one of the trade publications I read daily, has written a post with 3 great ideas that outline how you can get that conversation started— today. Darrah MacLean, the author of the post, suggests that “in our status-update-obsessed culture, people want to have their opinions heard and valued. By being a good listener, you plant the seeds of loyalty.”

Don’t put off today what you need to do for tomorrow. There is no time like the present!

Best Nicole

When was the last time you asked your subscriber base to share their thoughts? Three months ago? Six months ago? 12 months ago? Never? (Say it isn’t so.) Staying current with your audience keeps you grounded in reality. It helps you know what’s really going on, not just what you “think” is going on.

In our status-update-obsessed culture, people want to have their opinions heard and valued. By being a good listener, you plant the seeds of loyalty. As you take a look at your plans for 2010, you might want to add in one (or all three) of the strategies below to help get the conversation started.

1) Survey Says. 2009 resolutions are history, but 2010 resolutions are just getting started. So, how will you do things differently this year? Better yet, how do your subscribers want you to do things differently? There’s no way to know for certain unless you ask. With your customers fresh off their holiday shopping sprees, now is the perfect time to tap into their online and in-store shopping experiences. To encourage participation, consider throwing in an incentive for taking a survey, as Moosejaw did. Another idea would be to tap into your Facebook fanbase and Twitter followers. Simply post a link to your hosted version of the survey email

2) Product Reviews. More and more consumers are turning to product reviews to help them make their purchasing decisions. Why not make a 2010 resolution to show your site’s product reviews some love. Zappos and Sephora get fancy by dynamically populating their review requests with photos of recently purchased products. An even fancier bonus would be the ability to post my recent product review and product shot to my Facebook page! To launch their product review push, Lululemon introduced a “we heart feedback” campaign in the middle of December. While we could debate the timing of the messaging, the branding of it is really inspiring.

(Sidebar: Adding a little copy like “Purchase this item for someone else? Forward this email so we can get their feedback.” is a great solve for when the product review email goes to the purchaser vs. the gift recipient.)

3) Preferences Please. As we move more towards personalizing content and creating meaningful social experiences, we’re going to have to put our preference centers and profile modules to work. Take Sephora, for example. I’ve heard from many sources that they truly use their preference center to help customize emails for subscribers. After receiving this Beauty Insider Update email, I now realize why I get the generic versions” I never filled out my beauty profile! I’ll be excited to see how my email experience changes now that I’ve given them all kinds of details to work with. Taking the update request a step further, Piperlime includes a preference center message in each and every email. Now that’s dedication.

What is Your Story and How is it Being Told?

nicolem — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:44:46 +0000

One of the keys to sharing information is telling a story. A story about who you are; a story about a product or brand; a story about a country or a culture. I write in our own blog that in defining a brand—everyone has a story—people use those stories to identify not only with one another but also in reference to the products and services they choose to use. In our “About Us” section of this blog, I ask “is your story being told“?

This post today was triggered by a magnificent talk I listened to on one of my favourite websites, TED Talks. I think the speakers that participate—who happen to come from all walks of life, cultures, areas of expertise and experience—open up thoughts and ideas within ourselves. They energize me in ways that words cannot describe. I try to listen to a talk once a week—as a way to lead me to experience vastly different ideas from an enormous range of perspectives that I do not encounter on a day-to-day basis. Tonight, my week began with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, an author and writer from Nigeria. Her talk was about the power of a story and the danger of a single particular story. She discusses the impact that a single story can create for the reader or readers on mass.

It made me relate that back to the story I tell our clients, both current and future, and the question I ask them: What is your story and is it being told? In her talk, Chimamanda’s cites that if we hear just a single story, we run the risk of critical misunderstanding. As a result, the perspective of that story can narrow and bias the view of the recipient—preventing them from experiencing the rainbow of ideas, offerings and opportunities that that may make up a product, place or thing.

I thought this to be facinating and interesting, especially in light of the debut of Sarah Palin’s book via her Oprah interview, and the media frenzy post interview. Sarah Palin is now out to define who she is by the story that is in her book and the story shared during her Vice Presidential run last year. I took time out today to watch the interview. From my perspective, she spent much of her time defending her story with the reasoning that her handlers and managers of the campaign kept her from her true self.

I think the wonderful thing about this perspective, and the parallel of technology, is that now we have the ability to engage and connect in a global sense—so that we experience a wide range of thoughts and ideas that relate to one story. You get to share your perspective of that story with another directly, as they read it, and they get to discuss and define that story with you as it relates to them. The dangers of the past, as described by Chimamanda’s recounting of her experiences growing up in Nigeria—reading foreign stories about snow, apples and ginger beer, while she lived in endless sun shine, eating mangos—point out how she thought that all stories had to be about the places she read of in those books. But now: they’ve become something that can be instantly shared and translated in a way that allows everyone the opportunity to see the varied perspectives that make the story viable to them—allowing them to connect with others who may read the same story but have another perspective that they can bring to life, in real time, on the global platform called “the internet”.

A magnificent historical adventure from the earliest days of man to the rapid fire movement of the information highway in the 21st century. Have you created your story? How is it being told?

Best Nicole

Are You Using Facebook or Twitter to Tout Your Favorite Brands?

nicolem — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:27:40 +0000

One of the big questions out there for many marketers is—what kind of advertising and marketing could be and should be leveraged from social media sites? How are our customers using these sites and how does it relate to our brand? I have spoken before about the maven circle we all have in our lives. I do believe that social media really allows brands the opportunity to reach those mavens and use them to tout their experiences to their perspective circles. We all have those “go to” people that we seek out for specific things in our lives. Now that circle is beginning to expand with blogs, twitter and Facebook all providing opportunities for people to talk about the products and services they like—or dislike.

Brands can win with this new formula, as they now become the friends of the people who are tweeting their freebie, promotions, deals and good or bad virtues. I personally have found that there are now lots of ways to get varied recommendations on things that I am looking for and, better yet, lots of tips on things that were not specifically on my radar. From products and services to items that relate to my business as well. News, articles, stats, you name it—I use tweet deck to access it all. And inside of tweet deck I can have feeds on numerous topics of interest which can also be managed by lists (a new feature on twitter). In addition, I also have my facebook feed there as well, so I have access to all of this information in one place.

On November 6, 09, Adweek posted the results of a study by Alex Palmer called, Social Media Users Tout Brands. “The study conducted by the marketing arm of Publicis Groupe’s VivaKi Nerve Center, and analytics firm ROI Research found that 46 percent of social media users have recommended or talked about a product or brand on Facebook, and 44 percent have done the same on Twitter.”

As the article states, you can now go out there and engage your customers: offer them freebees, information, promotions etc. and leverage your ability to connect directly with them and get them to buy your brand. This is real time engagement where you can get real time results! The holidays are approaching so start engaging!

Best Nicole

Social media sites are on their way to becoming a brand’s best advertising medium, according to a new study.

“The Impact of Social Media,” a report from Performics, the marketing arm of Publicis Groupe’s VivaKi Nerve Center, and analytics firm ROI Research found that 46 percent of social media users have recommended or talked about a product or brand on Facebook, and 44 percent have done the same on Twitter.

The report, which drew on over 3,000 responses to an online survey from social network users, was presented at the Ad:tech conference today. The research found that almost a third of respondents (31 percent) felt social networking sites are great for seeking company and product information.

Thirty percent said they have learned about a new product, service or brand from a social networking site, and 25 percent have gone directly to an online retailer or ecommerce site after learning about a new product or brand.

Additionally, a quarter of participants have recommended a product or brand to friends through social networking sites, while 20 percent have discussed them on social sites after seeing an ad elsewhere.

The analysts behind the research said they were surprised at how high the numbers were. “Brands have a bigger opportunity than people would think-consumers are open to receiving promotions and offers from brands that they’ve connected with through social networks,” said Scott Haiges, president of ROI Research.

He added: “Social networking between a consumer and a brand has created this interesting dynamic where you’re making a brand your friend and you’re treating like a friend.”

Indeed, 27 percent reported being receptive to invitations to events, special offers or promotions received through social networking sites.

As far as which brand messages connect with consumers, freebies and deals dominate. Printable coupons are at the top, with 32 percent of consumers saying it resonates with them. Sales and special deals (28 percent) and offers to win points for some type of online currency (23 percent) follow.

“What’s happened in the social space is an extension of search,” said Michael Kahn, svp of marketing for Performics. “They may have had a great experience with you or they may post something on Twitter about having an horrendous opportunity with you, but turn that into an opportunity to connect with someone and build a relationship with them.”

Kahn said this shows that consumers are willing to be approached in the digital and social networking space with promotions and information about brands. “Find where your audience is and go out there and engage with them to give them things that will get them to buy with you.”

Is Customer Loyalty Still Alive and Well?

nicolem — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:59:07 +0000

We want to hear your thoughts on how you feel about customer loyalty.

What are you doing to keep your current customers and let your dedication to customer service shine through when you gain new ones?

I saw this link, with the heading Is Customer Loyalty Dead, through one of the groups I belong to on Linkedin. It came from Ted L. Simon. The autor of the article is Mike Linton. I think the ever expanding opportunities for consumers to connect and engage with one another and share their thoughts on everything—including your brand—has made it necessary for your company to develop a new dynamic and approach. Not only to keep your loyal customers, but to gain others that will become loyal to your brand, products and services.

This article from Forbes.com, written by Mike Linton, can be the basis for a great conversation on how you are going to plan to maintain and, better yet, build your customer loyalty.

Best Nicole

Are you more loyal to brands than you were 10 years ago? Are there any businesses that provide such a great product or service that you would never price-shop, and you’ll declare your brand loyalty across your social networks? My guess is that you and your customers are much less loyal than you were in the ’90s.

Procter & Gamble taught me that it’s easier to sell more to people who are already using your brand than it is to convert them from a competitor. I still believe that theory. However, consumers are more demanding than ever and earning their loyalty gets more difficult every day.

The basics for loyalty used to be a good product or service, delivered reliably at a fair price with some advertising mixed in to remind consumers why they should choose your brand. Exceptional customer service and a good loyalty program could seal the deal by rewarding users with miles, cash back, special rewards or VIP treatment.

All of that is still important, just less so. Companies must do everything they used to do and also ensure that their value proposition remains attractive to a more cost-conscious population. Expedia, Travelocity and Kayak now show travel pricing that used to take hours to track down. If you’re dissatisfied with your in-home phone service, you can choose from a number of providers. Many industries–like autos, airlines and banks–built their models on the consolidation of products, services and information. They could use hidden profit margins from that chain to fund exceptional service and other loyalty efforts. But now consumers are disaggregating those bundles. Companies that funded loyalty via hidden prices or from post sale service have to change. What should you do?

First, acknowledge that this is the new world order. An auto salesperson recently explained that he had lost a sale after three meetings and numerous calls, because the customer used the Internet to find the same car for $100 less ten miles away. Was the selling expertise worth $100? Was the customer unreasonable? Either way, the customer’s ability to split his car buying into three phases (information, search and purchase) is clear.

Maybe you used to be able to carry a 15% premium to generic brands, but now generics are better and ingredients are on the package for every consumer to see and compare. If you don’t have the value proposition to back up your pricing, your marketing and loyalty programs had better be exceptional. Short those and you have nothing left but your reputation. And that won’t last forever. Get your value proposition right or prepare to compete as a commodity.

Iran’s cyber-revolution gets a hand from Canada

nicolem — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:34:53 +0000

One of the most spectacular things about the web, mobile technology and social media is the global reach and impact that it has. Right now in Iran, with the recent election uproar, the most precious commodity the Iranian people currently have is information. We take for granted our freedom of speech—the freedom to engage and the freedom to connect. It is ironic that I’m still trying to help customers, current and potential, understand the importance of connecting (something which many still look upon with trepidation). Yet for millions of people around the world, the struggle and difficulty to find a way to be heard makes this most basic right nearly impossible.

But there are those who are coming to the rescue: the “Canadian researchers behind Psiphon, an online censorship avoidance tool, have begun a massive grassroots campaign to give Iranians access to sites that the Iranian government has gone to great lengths to ban – including Facebook, Iranian opposition sites and international news networks. Psiphon has been “pushing” that content to Iranians, giving them a glimpse of the outside world that has been largely blocked since the elections began.” This exerpt comes from an article I am going to post from The Globe and Mail–Canada’s National Newspaper, posted by Omar El Akkad and Matt Hartley.

Sites like Twitter and Facebook allow real time freedom to message what is happening from the writers perspective and experience. For many news agencies, this is now part of how they share their information. The essence of the story is that not even the government sensors will be able to stop people from using technology to connect with the outside world. It is here to stay and has become a beacon of freedom for everyone—providing them with the chance to be finally be heard.

Best Nicole

At the heart of the disputed Iranian elections, a group of Canadians is helping Iranian activists gain access to what has become the most precious and tightly controlled commodity in Iran: information.

The Canadian researchers behind Psiphon, an online censorship avoidance tool, have begun a massive grassroots campaign to give Iranians access to sites that the Iranian government has gone to great lengths to ban – including Facebook, Iranian opposition sites and international news networks. Psiphon has been “pushing” that content to Iranians, giving them a glimpse of the outside world that has been largely blocked since the elections began.

But Psiphon’s founders are walking a tightrope in their attempts to empower Iranians, as they try to simultaneously offer activists unfettered access to the Internet and dissuade those same activists from launching cyberattacks on the government institutions that took that access away in the first place.

“Thousands of people are arguing for [cyberattacks against government infrastructure],” said Greg Walton, editor of the Information Warfare Monitor and a research fellow at the Citizen Lab in the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre, where Psiphon was first developed. “We’re concerned that if people launch [denial of service attacks] – the Iranian government is already throttling [down] bandwidth – this may take up the remaining bandwidth.”

Mr. Walton said some government sites have been defaced, including the site for a government-run radio station, and that others had gone down, possibly as a result of cyberattacks.

Iran’s biggest mass protest since the 1979 Islamic revolution – sparked by what is seen by many Iranians as a sham election – has become a full-fledged global movement, fought on and fuelled by the World Wide Web.

The cyberrevolution’s epicentre is the microblogging site Twitter. Often disparaged as trivial because of its 140-character limit on posts, the site has proved to be an extremely effective way for activists to post rapid-fire updates on the situation on the ground in Iran.

Among the thousands of posts popping up by the hour are descriptions of government raids and the date and location of planned protests.

Indeed, Twitter was supposed to go offline on Monday for prescheduled maintenance. However, the site’s founders delayed that shutdown because of “the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran.” Washington officials reportedly also asked Twitter to postpone the maintenance.

Without tools such as Psiphon, most Iranians would still be unable to gain access to sites such as Twitter. The censorship avoidance tool essentially links “trusted members” together with members who have access to content, sending it to those who don’t, all under the authorities’ noses.

“When a people has no access to a free press, of course they have to get their words out there,” said Jaffer Sheyholislami, an Iranian-born assistant professor of linguistics at Carleton University who has been monitoring the election closely. “As soon as the election results were announced in Tehran, you could tell something was not right from the beginning and you could tell by the fact that the Internet services such as Facebook and many websites were shut down – especially … opposition-group websites.”

One Tweet in particular caught Mr. Sheyholislami’s attention. It was sent from Twitter account mousavi1388 (1388 is the year in the Persian calendar), and it read: “We have no national press coverage in Iran, everyone should help spread [Mir-Hossein] Mousavi’s message. One Person = One Broadcaster.”

Without tools such as Twitter and cellular technology, it would be much more difficult for Iranians to get information out of the country, said Jeff Jarvis, associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism.

“Once you have access to the Internet, information will flow around the despots,” he said. “It is now inevitable. It will be more and less efficient and they’ll be more and less smart about trying to stop it, but it will flow around tyranny and that is new and that is an absolute impact.”

Perspective – Opportunity in this New Economy

nicolem — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:43:22 +0000

I have had an interesting discussion with one of my group members from Linkedin. Yesterday, I posted a blog article regarding IBM’s upcoming social network—as a way to Share what I have to say with a professional audience and provide better exposure for our business bcad Group and our agency Share. For those that do not know Linkedin, it is a social networking community for professionals—where you can connect with business people and through those connections have access to their connections. It is a great way to create exposure for your business and your services. Gain new insights, network for knowledge and learn about other peoples experiences.

Our discussion revolved around social media and the fact that we in the marketing community need to ensure that we do not abandon traditional methods for a sole social media campaign. It is the integration of what you have done with these new methods, along with ongoing measurements and tracking of what works for you, that will ensure that you get the best results. I think that what social media provides you is a forum to listen to what peoples needs are in a way that traditional media just can’t do. A focus group is still great and important, but it’s success often relies upon the ability of the leader to get the participants to open up and be honest—without group bias. The new technology doesn’t control the environment so people can be free and honest.

In another discussion with a close friend of mine, who happens to be an executive with one of Canada’s largest firms, he said to me that their president stated at one of their annual meetings, that the economy is forever changed and will never go back to the way things were a few years ago. Though the comment relates to sales, it also implies other issues re: cutbacks in hours, staffing etc. This is a new economy. I believe that around the globe, the way that decisions will be made will be forever different. Value and bargin shopping are now important as everyone begins to live more authentically as it relates to who they are.

For myself as a consumer, I am going to be more cognisant of companies that clearly show me that they not only want to build a relationship with me because they value my business, but that they seriously and honestly consider the things that I need and want and how they will benefit me. Those choices are going to reflect the new way I approach all purchases. I notice that my friends are more eager to share info about where they purchase and why they appreciate some companies who have initiated new outlooks in comparison to others who have chosen to retreat or stopped engaging or changing the way they connect—whether it is through social media or traditional methods.

I have mentioned in past articles that everyone lives by the maven principle: that circle of influence made up of a close knit group of people to whom you rely on for advice, approval, ratings and reviews, deals, bargains and personal experiences. We all have this circle. The ability to access that circle and then move on to the next circle and so on will allow you to grow your business through viral means. No amount of “traditional push style advertising” wields this power.

I am thoroughly convinced that in every product and service sector there are people that want and need what you have. It is up to those businesses to tap into new ways to connect. This reflects the change that the global economy now has accepted. This will give access not only to re-gaining lost sales but, better yet, to increasing and adding new sales. Developing relationships that will help build relationships that will provide access to a huge circle of influence—thanks to the customers who are commited to your efforts.

There is wealth out there. Not only monetary—but wealth of information. The opportunity is to share, engage and connect with people clammering for what you have. Embrace this change and new world—get your SHARE!

Best Nicole

Mommy Bloggers are Your Target Market. Are You Tapped in and Listening?

bcadgroup — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:15:03 +0000

Share says on it’s home page that women are unique; we have have many voices and we want you to listen to us. Our goal and mission as a business is to engage everyone. And to make others realize the importance of focusing on, and incorporating into their marketing plans and strategy, ways to connect and engage one of the most important and lucrative target markets in this current economy. Women.

How are you incorporating women into your marketing plan? Are you connecting with them to find out how you can gain access to more of that .83¢ of every dollar that they now control?

Ad Age Digital has a video that is titled “Inside the Mommy Blogger Business”. This video shows you how some of North America’s largest retailers have got the picture and are leveraging relationships with women in conjunction with key products and services. They see how tapping into this target market will help them access the huge amount of buying power and sales opportunties that can be made.

In addition to the video, Ad Age Digital also states “Retailers, Publishers and Agencies Adjust to this new reality. Despite their light weight moniker, mommy bloggers have become heavyweight marketing business heavyweights. Now said to number in the millions these online women have cobbled together online networks that rival some mainstream media companies. And, they’re clearly a force that retailers under estimate at their own peril. In this “About Digital” report we talk to a retail giant, an analyst, major publisher and a pr agency to better understand how various segments of the industry are adjusting to this phenomenon.

Need I say more?

Best Nicole

Inside the Mommy Blogger Business

Retailers, Publishers and Agencies Adjust to a New Reality