MinneDemo

Though MinneDemo was targeted to technology enthusiasts, it had a few attractive nuggets for marketers too (beside meeting with friends and a delicious snack).

My observations:

• Most projects  were targeted to niche markets (colleges reviewing young musicians, property managers posting jobs for contractors to bid, or politicians desperate to connect with voters over iPhone).
• Most projects concentrated around connecting people or collaboration rather than performing a specific task.
• If mobile platform was involved, iPhone was the platform of choice… This could be related to the audience;  iPhone users are more likely to be a desired customers for many businesses comparing to feature-phone users.

The most interesting demo (from a marketer’s perspective?    ):

MileMarker – an online tool that helps organizations to log news projects,  evaluate their usefulness and feasibility, get feedback from customers or employees, and prioritize projects based on objective criteria.   Quite interesting tool!  The tool seem to be available on freemeum basis and should not be out of reach for small teams.

What I found the most impressive:  automatically created visual chart of projects based on their usefulness/feasibility.

Another curious tool: WebSlide – another online tool designed to show clients creative work (web design particularly) in an easily understandable format. This tool can be useful for agencies and internal web design groups of large organizations.

List of all demo URLs (from the latest presentation and previous events)

Trying Google Social Search – Monday Update

Oh, yes, iPad jokes were hilarious, and reading the sentiment analysis of Apple announcement compared to public reaction to the State of the Union Address was perplexing (State of the Union address received less buzz, but the buzz was proportionally more positive).

However, Google social search was probably a more immediate change in the interactive marketing universe. This development  might put more emphasis on “the three Fs of interactive marketing” again: number of friends, fans, and followers.

The social search became available for everybody who was willing to create a Google Profile with links to social networks. Now, searching Google would return not only the most relevant results available, but also the most relevant results from the searcher’s network.  As a result, a new blog post by the company that has more connections will be more likely found  by… those connections…

Google announced the change on its blog and Website Magazine mentioned the search marketing implications.

Of course, I had to see how it was working.  Unfortunately, searching on any marketing topic gave me no results (wasn’t all my friends talking about their industry??   )…  However, searching for “party” gave me a result from my social circle… (aha, this is what everybody has in mind…  ).

We cannot expect immediate adoption of Google Profiles, but the future of search looks more social and “the three Fs of interactive marketing” will probably become more important – soon.

MIMA – Embracing Mobile Marketing: Generating ROI with the Integrated Approach

As usually, very informative event,  wonderful resource for future  educational opportunities,  excellent chance to meet old and new friends, and… have I mentioned the food? 

A few notes from Michael Becker’s presentation that were especially interesting, new to me, or so much loved that I can not refrain from reiterating them again:

• Developing countries are achieving very high (up to 100%) penetration of mobile – much higher penetration than  PCs
• Because mobile reqires permission, other channels need to be involved (a web site or DM to collect opt-ins, etc.)
• Mobile has a role in every stage of the customer’s life cycle
• We are managing not brands, but “brand clouds” created with customers’ participation
• Why are we talking about mobile marketing now? Because it works… 39% in US no longer have land line phone (this percentage is higher in other countries)
• Mobile penetration excides Internet
• Mobile is not just a phone:  text 60%, e-mail 21%, video 3%, web 21% (but 90% for iPhone)
• Age affect use of the mobile device
• Only 17% have smartphones, iPhone is 3.5% of the market
• Ethnicity is important: Hispanics often have high-end mobile devices, blacks don’t have this tendency. This is a very interesting (and new for me) point, though I also heard that blacks have more interest to ring tones than whites.
• Some subsections of the market are completely addicted to mobile

Three approaches to mobile marketing:

1. Mobile as direct (Mobile is a personal media and “we all are becoming direct marketers”)
2. Mobile-enabled cross-media marketing (most likely our beloved integrated campaigns ~Vanessa)
3. Mobile as a product or service (mobile banking, mobile apps, etc.)

What is working in mobile marketing:

• Getting information from your customers on their mobile use and adjust marketing programs accordingly
• Text messaging-based loyalty programs
• Mobile coupons (redemption of paper capons increases if there is a reference to mobile)
• If no mobile shopping method is available for the business “click to call” can be successfully used
• Augmented reality integration (superimposing bars to the camera image)
• Generally: voice, SMS, Mobile Web – the rest is niche market
• Important: companies that get ROI from mobile integrate mobile efforts into general marketing strategy
• B-to-B is not as active as B-to-C; all known efforts concentrated on communication during conferences
• Mobile is developing quickly in health care; good resources to investigate are mHealth  Alliance and mHealth Initiative

Resources:

iLoop Mobile – Mr. Becker is VP Mobile Strategies for iLoop Mobile, the industry’s leading mobile marketing solutions provider and winner of the 2007 MMA Innovation of the Year Award.  The company also sponsors College of Mobile Marketing

College of Mobile Marketing – great resources of free resources, classes, and other information useful for mobile marketers; sponsored by iLoop Mobile

Mobile Marketer – I have been subscribing for Mobile Marketing Daily – the newsletter associated with Mobile Marketer and found it quite useful.  The newsletter has rather detailed descriptions of some mobile campaigns invaluable for marketers new to the medium.

MMA – Mobile Marketing Association – I must admit I found this association about three years ago and was receiving a newsletter for a while. Unfortunately, the organization does not have a local group, and membership seem to be targeted to companies rather than individuals.

Mobile Twin Cities – a free to attend local group dedicated to mobile. I am still planning to attend an event in person, but hope this group will grow into a place where mobile marketers can come together.  The group welcomes non-technical attendees.

mHealth Alliance –  UN Foundation  ”The Alliance will act as an umbrella organization to complement, draw together and expand upon the mHealth initiatives of multiple organizations around the world. “

mHealth Initiative –  mHealth Initiative Inc (mHI), a not-for-profit organization incorporated in Massachusetts, USA, envisions the emerging mHealth Revolution.

Recommended book:  Mobile as 7th of the Mass Media: Cellphone, cameraphone, iPhone, smartphone by Tomi Ahonen If you are not familiar with the book’s author, his presentation Mobile Phones: The Next 4 Billion with Tomi Ahonen is available for review – very insightful and engaging!  The presentation highlights mobile differences and explains why the rate of adoption of mobile devices will be wider and faster than the rate of adoption of computers. I probably already twitted too much about it

And have I mentioned the food?  Excellent event and a delicious snack!

Did I forget any mobile marketing resources while taking full advantage of this fruit extravaganza?

Excellent Mobile Marketing Presentation and Mobile Marketer of the Year Campaigns – Monday Update

The next week will be a mobile marketing week   I am hoping to attend two mobile events:  Mobile Twin cities (it might be closer to mobile development – we will see) and MIMA’s   Embracing Mobile Marketing: Generating ROI with the Integrated Approach.

As an unplanned preparation for these too events, I came across a couple of interesting sources last week:

Mobile Phones: The Next 4 Billion with Tomi Ahonen

An eye-opening presentation, where  Tomi Ahonen  highlights mobile differences and explains why the rate of adoption of mobile devices will be wider and faster than the rate of adoption of computers.

Tomi Ahonen has a very interesting argument about the screen size: if screen size would matter, a movie theater would be preferable to TV.  I highly recommend listening to this presentation (and probably already twitted too much about it  ).

Ralph Lauren is 2009 Mobile Marketer of the Year

This is a Mobile Marketer article with wonderfully described examples of integrated marketing including web, mobile, retail, QR and probably everything imaginable.

Yes, you can scan QR code right from the screen and be redirected right to Ralph Lauren mobile site. 

2D codes: QR code, Datamatrix code, Microsoft Tag, Bee Tag, JagTag, and resources

How 2D codes can be useful for marketing?

2D codes can be placed on any printed materials, buildings, soda cans, etc.  and provide additional information about offers, coupons, or any company promotions.  Most mobile devices with a camera can take a picture of the code and quickly access the info.  Some of 2D codes are completely free to use. 2D codes benefit both a consumer and a marketer: consumers can reach the information quickly and marketers can measure success of their campaigns.

History of 2D codes

The most popular code – QR code – was invented in Japan; during 90’s all Japanese mobile carriers agreed to include QR reading software into their phones. QR codes can be created by anyone license free and most readers can be downloaded to any camera enabled smart phone for free – http://www.cognation.net/qr/ QR codes are widely used in Japan and start to appear in western countries, including US. There is a range of proprietary systems, which have similar function but require payment.

A few types of 2D codes (US)

QR Code

How to generate: http://2d-code.co.uk/qr-code-generators

How to download a reader: http://percentmobile.com/getqr (or search for QR reader on your mobile device)

QR code is completely free for use. Success of the promotions can be measured by the traffic generated to the URL, what is easy to do through Web Analytics software.

More information on QR code from Bee Tag.

Datamatrix Code

Please note, this Datamatrix code was generated with Bee Tag software  However, there are other options. Similar to QR code, Datamatrix can be tracked through the traffic it generates to the encoded URL, by using Web Analytics software.

More information on Datamatrix code from Bee Tag.

Microsoft Tag

How to generate a tag:  http://www.microsoft.com/tag/

How to download a reader: http://gettag.mobi/

Microsoft Tag is a proprietary tag which just celebrated its first anniversary and is currently free to use.  Microsoft might decide to charge for the use of the tag in the future, however, everybody who started a free trial will be able to use existing tags free for next two years.

Microsoft tag can be published in a colorful format, black/white, and also in a custom format allowing more creativity for the designers. Microsoft Tag provides an interface for management of all generated tags and tracking consumer activity.

I think Microsoft Tag is pretty (personal opinion   ) and it also works surprisingly fast.  Microsoft Tag works well in small size. If you are interested, this is a concise technical comparison of Microsoft Tag and QR code.

More information: http://www.microsoft.com/tag/

Bee Tag

How to generate: http://generator.beetagg.com/

How to download a reader: http://www.beetagg.com/downloadreader/

Bee Tag is another proprietary system allowing businesses to embed their logo into the code.  Bee tag has a free version of the software which might show ads before redirecting consumers to the destination of the tag. Bee Tag also has built-in metrics and tag management interface, similar to Microsoft Tag. Bee Tag allows creating and managing Bee Tags, QR code, and Datamatrix in one interface.

More information: http://www.beetagg.com/BeeTaggSystem/BeeTagg.aspx

ScanLife

How to generate: http://www.scanlife.com/us/services.html

How to download a reader:  http://www.scanlife.com/us/appdownload.html

ScanLife offers free service for personal use (limit 1000 codes – quite enough),  and paid business solution.

ScanLife site has a great library of examples – very useful for campaign ideas.  All examples have a code that can be canned from the computer screen;  some of the campaigns and mobile destination sites are still active.  You can find different industries and applications – a wonderful resource to review.

More information: http://www.scanlife.com/us/

JagTag

(The demo is copied from http://www.jagtag.com/jagtag-demo)

How to generate: http://www.jagtag.com/ (no free service for generation of functioning code is available)

No reader is needed

JagTag is the only 2D code which does not requires the reader. However, the process of using the code is not as streamlined as applying a reader already present on the mobile device. The consumer needs to take a picture of the 2D code, and then text it or e-mail it to a  provided number or an e-mail address. It is rather cumbersome comparing to QR readers (and other 2D code readers), but – true – no initial download is needed.

If we are lucky to see cooperation of mobile companies similar to the cooperation that happened in Japan’s history, all mobile devices will have a standard reader… eventually. Now, JagTag claims to be the only 2D code suitable for US, because no reader is needed.

JagTag site has a good collection of Market Applications with examples of its 2D code. This collection can be used as an inspiration for marketing ideas suitable for QR, Microsoft Tag, Bee Tag, ScanLife and other codes. 

What 2D codes can do (more)

• Display text
• Open a web site on the mobile phone
• Initiate e-mail, SMS, phone call
• Start video/audio stream

Recommended rules  of 2D code marketing (source with examples)

• Make sure the code leads to a mobile web site (not a regular web site) – consumers will be viewing the site on mobile devices
• Keep the URL short (for QR codes) – the code is simpler and more likely to be read accurately if the URL is short (use URL shortening if needed)
• Provide valuable content beyond the information on the printed material itself (seems obvious   )
• Do not be “too creative” with the code or tag image – the code or tag still needs to be found and recognized by the consumer

2D code resources

http://2d-code.co.uk/qr-code-generators – QR code generators

http://2d-code.co.uk/ – blog concentrated on 2D codes with campaign examples and resources

http://blogs.msdn.com/tag/- Examples of  Microsoft Tag (Microsoft Tag blog)

http://www.microsoft.com/tag/ – Top right of the page (under the search box) – list of articles about Microsoft Tag use.

http://www.beetagg.com/beetaggsystem/default.aspx – Bee Tag – good explanation of different codes

http://www.scanlife.com/us/examples.html - ScanLife – excellent library of examples

http://www.jagtag.com/market-applications – Jag Tag – Market Application – another collection of examples

Code Worriers – Facebook group for people around the globe interested in 2D codes (includes examples)

Mobile Resources, iPhone Mockup, Usabila, and More – Monday Update

Without mentioning a myriad New Year Resolution helpers and a scientific explanation why we, humans, have limited opportunities in succeeding with grandiose New Year Resolutions,  I found a few interesting interactive marketing tools last week.

Educational resources in Mobile:

Mobile is in general starting to take larger part of interactive marketing news; maybe the “year of mobile” is finally here?

Top 10 Reasons Your Website Should Go Mobile

Excellent resource with quite a few data sources that can be used in the future. The most interesting (or compelling?) reasons from my perspective were:

1. Google has a separate index for mobile content.

4. Mobile web will overtake the desktop within 5 years.

Mobile Advertising: 5 Things You Need to Know to Succeed in 2010

This article gives a good overview of different mobile devices and explains difference between mobile apps and mobile sites.  The idea of this article is similar – your marketing efforts should include plans for mobile.

Both approaches, a web site a separate entity and marketing as a whole, are advised to pay attention on mobile… it is probably about time

iPhone Mockup tool can probably help with needed mobile plans. The tool is in alpha, but it might save time and energy and be useful for anybody who listened to the advice of two previous articles.

Other interesting tools of the week:

Usabila – A quick and easy to use web site usability testing tool. The tool has a free trial and looks very attractive.

Mashable Guide to Facebook –  The guide includes personal and brand resources; however, considering that Facebook is still more used to connect with “friends” than with brands, combining the resources seem quite appropriate.

Google Trends for web sites – A tool that I somehow overlooked in the past.

The tools were added to work NetVibes site and to my personal NetVibes site.

Word Clouds, Dashboard Example, SEO for Video, and More – Monday Update

A few interesting interactive marketing resources that caught my attention last week:

www.wordle.net

This fun tool allows creating beautiful Word Clouds from any text (does product description emphasize right benefits?) or any blog or site with an appropriate feed. The tool can be useful for analyzing competing companies information quickly, or keeping an eye on our own

The image below is the Word Cloud of Interactive Snack. Hm…  I did not realize that most of the events I recently attended were concentrating on Social Media…

Interesting example of a dashboard (from trusted source)

The dashboard is excellent – it is concise, it demonstrates “state of the state” and links to more information if needed, and it represents trend in the most meaningful sense…  Up and down might be sometimes misleading, considering that “up” is perceived as always good, while left and right might be interpreted easier.

It is so clear that mortgage delinquencies is a major issue… and not yet getting better.

A resource for SEO for Video - Video SEO will be more and more important;  this link should become increasingly valuable.

Other interesting tools:

http://analyticsvisualizations.appspot.com (allows visualizations of keywords bringing traffic to a site set with Google Analytics – I tried one site at work – very interesting)

http://bar.meebo.com/ It now should be possible to add Meebo bar to a site (http://mashable.com/ has it now if you are interested)

http://www.openbrands.org/ an effort that is probably has similar idea as Brands in Public http://www.squidoo.com/brandsinpublic/hq , however, Open Brand can create an “unclaimed” location for our brands… which should be monitored, and maybe even claimed.

http://www.sensidea.com/socialseek/ an app allowing to search social content based on location (yes, I still cannot explain why I have not used it earlier… [guilty face goes here]).

Most of the resources were added to work NetVibes site and to my personal NetVibes site.

Why Monday Update?

For some time I was sending e-mails to my co-workers with a few absolutely irresistible tools I found during previous week. Sending e-mails every time I found something would… create too many e-mails.  I knew that a few of my co-workers did read Monday Update occasionally and found some information useful. However, the biggest fan of the Monday Update was its author – I loved reviewing interesting tools at the end of the week and play with them over the weekend. Eventually, I caught myself looking through “Recycling Bin” trying to locate my notes from two weeks ago…

There is a more convenient option!  Monday Update moved to Interactive Snack.

Now I will have an easy to find record of tools that caught my attention, and my co-workers will not see an extra e-mail Monday morning (while anybody can subscribe to Interactive Snack   ).

Health Care and Social Media – Social Media Breakfast

Social Media Breakfast was very insightful again and brought together a panel representing interesting approaches to social media in health care.

@AlbertMaruggi posed a few questions and outlined a challenge of health care as an industry. As any industry health care can see a downside of transparency, but the upside is accountability, and ability to prevent negative events from happening. However, @AlbertMaruggi pointed to a gap that industry is facing: general public wants more and now, but evidence-based medicine does not consider this approach effective.

Larissa Rodriquez (HealthPartners and Regions Hospital)

HealthPartners sought differentiation and mascots became a very innovative and fun solution. Social media became a natural extension – mascots don’t talk… social media gave them a voice.

Mascots participated in over 200 events over last year; they allow consumers to experience the brand. Social media is not optional.  Important:

• minimize the risk
• maximize the value

The company is constantly evolving its approach and overcoming challenges:

• experimentation
• recognition of time commitment

Controlling your brand in social media is difficult, however,  Larissa is trying to avoid the first impulse to delete an uncomfortable comment and get the mascot to respond in a clever way.

What is next?  Figuring out how to connect social media to patient care (HIPAA sensitive issue).

How mascots help to promote company’s agenda? Mascots usually have marketing materials.

How the concept was sold internally? Leadership bought in from the beginning and employees were excited about a concept of making a specimen cup a mascot.

HealthPartners would like to be ahead of the other players in the industry and do spend time thinking about strategy.

Jesse Stremcha (Children’s Hospitals)

General recommendation on the social media policy – do not reinvent the wheel; adjust and adopt existing policies. Law lags behind the disruptive technologies.

Interesting example: patients’ communication with each other helps them to cope with the situation better using the experience of others. A physician can say that a child should not eat before the surgery and parents would not serve breakfast, but a tip of covering the food in the house would be very valuable for a parent. A two-year-old would not understand why he cannot eat.

One of the existing sites is Patients Like Me.

Online communication between a physician and a patient also complicated by the question where is doctor-patient relationship starts…

Cindy Fruitrail (Fairview)

@AlbertMaruggi started this part of the conversation by suggesting that “one way to implement social media is not to call it social media.”

All Fairview social media efforts are safely behind company’s firewall.  The problem was that “bright minds did not see each other.”  People were creating places “out there” to communicate, and company did not find it comfortable or productive. The “Facebook” at work was created behind firewall, where clinics could discuss real issues. The name of the tool is i-Connect. It was introduced in a soft launch to strategic areas, which would gain the most from collaboration. Fairview has 12,000 core staff, and 5,000 logged on to the system.

A question from the audience expressed a concern that most likely younger physicians use social networks. At that point the older gentlemen, a physician, who were on the panel, half-jokingly responded: “Look at me!”

Fairview i-Connect has limited tracking capabilities at this point and demographic data is not available.
Some clinics reduced their e-mail time.

Kent Bottles (ICSI) concentrated on disruptive technologies and recommended three books:

Here Comes Everybody – Suddenly everybody has access to professional technology allowing aggregation of people.  One of interesting example is Diabetes Mine – a blog of a person living with diabetes.

The Innovator’s Prescription – “Provocative staff” – what changes are needed and how everything in the industry is changing.

Free: The Future of a Radical Price - another good book to read for health care professionals.

Are doctors “don’t get it” or “get it and don’t like it”?

Kent gave another recommendation (what is common in the industry): don’t expect physicians to write a blog – interview them on camera and post. It could be simple and effective approach.

From another side, physicians do want to communicate online and use social networks; popularity of Sermo proved that physician networks can be very valuable.

Examples of disruptive technologies: a pediatrician eliminated her office an significant part of the overhead by moving her practice into her car. She visits patients in their homes and keeps records on her computer. Most of needed pediatric procedures can be done in patient’s home with minimal equipment.

This Social Media Breakfast was a treasure of interesting examples and also a fun event. Petey P. Cup himself stopped by…

MIMA – the Constant Challenge to Acquire and Convert

The presenters (John Barton and Tom Masterman) skillfully shared the stage and the presentation to highlight main marketing challenges: drive traffic incorrectly and measure success incorrectly.  They went to the basics of the conversion funnel (awareness, interest, and preference) and applied both objectives and measurement to each stage of the funnel.

Hopefully the presentation will be available in the event page – it would be useful to review.

Research and measurement are important at each stage of the conversion process.  All marketing funnels include:

1. Targeting: what we know about the people
2. Brand: what they know about us

Awareness

Objective: knowledge about the company, product, or service

Measurement: page views… brand recall (if budget allows), fans, followers, number of video  comments

Interesting point: at this stage of the buying process companies might create content sections on their sites with information and resources attractive for certain segment of customers.

SEO as awareness…

Do not accept unfocussed targets or immeasurable social media

Interest

Objective: increase involvement

Research: learn more about your customers

Measurement: click through, submitted information

Interesting note: “response tail” for marketing to physicians is long (physicians could respond to the offer months after receiving the original communication – the offer page should still be available after a few months and relevant, if possible).

CRM dream: marketing should have not only prospect/customer information, but also to which messages the prospect/customer responded. Plan for data-driven relationship.

Preference

Objective: form relationship

Research: in-death knowledge about individuals

Measurement: intent to buy, purchases, repeat purchases

Other actionable ideas for marketers:

1. Take customer service manager for lunch – learn about customers
2. Take sales manager for drinks – learn about customers

(I must admit that accompanying sales rep on sales calls was one of most eye-opening experiences for me and helped understanding customers better)

One of the answers to the question from the audience recommended to spend time helping clients to understand what their goals are.. . oh that everlasting goal question ;- )

Social Media and Journalism – Social Media Breakfast

Another excellent Social Media Breakfast  – the event  offered an insightful panel Facilitated by Julio Ojeda-Zapata ; the panel included Jason DeRusha, David Brauer, Gene Rebeck, Julia Schrenkler, and Dirk DeYoung.   

Twitter is a source of stories for journalists. Journalists are also using Twitter to form relationships with interesting people… what complicates criticizing these people in the future   However, the end result is still higher quality material.  

Other channels were also mentioned, but Twitter was the most prominent during the discussion. My guess – the nature of journalism is “get the story first” and Twitter as “real time” news source and search possibility fills this need perfectly.  

People not connected with reporting start “committing acts of journalism” when they try to describe interesting events for others… because “people are curious.”  

Bridge collapse was the event often mentioned during the discussion – many journalists “discovered” power of social media at that point. Social media allowed journalists follow the “story” through the images and descriptions that were posted by non-journalists. 

What can be done with social media:

• engage
• crowd source (including listening, getting ideas, etc.)
• promote

Do journalists have to be involved into social media? Not necessarily. If a person has an established following, sources, and network (does not need to engage, crowd source, or promote) social media may not bring enough benefit. However, anybody new to a particular market (geographic or vertical) can benefit from the opportunity.  “Any new journalist should be there.”

One of the panelists mentioned that social media is changing the business model and forcing design, marketing, and business closer together. This development is very interesting to watch…

Question: “Is using Twitter as news source similar to using Wikipedia as a research tool?”  

Answer: yes, the information can not be totally trusted, but both sources are excellent in identifying topics for further investigation. “Is it really different from an old ‘tip line’?”

Typical approach: posting a question to social media resources… waiting for answers… writing the story about the topic using the answers. (I personally watched this scenarios evolved several times and participated in some of them trying to answer the question.)

Monetization… The panel did not quite believe that social media presented monetization opportunity… However, the presentation below (thanks to Mashable article ) gives wonderful overview of social media ROI for a business (though not a publication).

The question about the future:

The news business model is not clear now. However, “somebody would always need to ‘dig the news’ for those who will pay for them.”

Whatever happens… Social media works… if it works, it will evolve.  We can not predict the future and the question “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” no longer makes sense. Not many companies will survive long enough, everything is constantly changing – we need to embrace the change.

“If this question was asked five years ago, nobody would be able to predict that we would be at Social Media Breakfast now… “