Companies using multichannel marketing to increase their brand power

Multichannel marketing is really taking off with companies looking to increase their profits by communicating their brand across multiple channels and platforms.

QR Codes

The use of QR codes in multi-channel marketing is having a great impact upon how companies are engaging with customers. Starbucks are using QR codes to streamline the way they interact with customers. Instead of waiting in a long line to pay, customers can input pre-loaded card details onto their Starbucks iPhone app to pay more quickly. BestBuy is another company that is effectively using QR codes. Customers can scan product tags in store to see further information about the product that they are interested in. This includes reviews to help customers affirm that the product is right for them and can help drive sales.

Charities are increasingly using QR codes in their online and mobile campaigns. According to a study by Edge Research, 26% of respondents raised more than 25% of funds online. Their research also found that non-for-profit organizations generally agreed that the key benefit for multi-channel marketing was the unification of messages across channels, strengthening their brand and promoting their cause.

During Christmas, Leeds creative based agency ‘Propaganda’ helped homeless charity ‘Simon on the Streets’ with a QR code campaign for those sleeping rough. The agency laid out QR codes printed on cardboard amongst blankets and belongings to replicate homeless conditions. Once scanned by a smartphone or tablet QR reader, users were taken to the Just Giving page to donate money directly to the charity.

For more examples of companies using multi-channel marketing strategies to increase their brand power, click here.

Amazon communicates with clients across multiple channels and platforms.

Amazon in your pocket

The Amazon ‘Price Check’ app can have a great impact upon a user’s shopping experience. Using the barcode scanner allows the user to shop in-store and compare prices directly with Amazon. Commonly, when customers have checked prices and tried out products, they go home and load up their laptops to find better deals. Amazon’s price check lets you do this from their competitors’ shop floor, turning it into an outlet for the company. The ability to save products to your wish list whilst browsing through stores turns virtual shopping into a reality.

The app allows the user to spread the message about the great deals they have just discovered via email, text, Twitter or Facebook. This is a good example of multichannel communication and how Amazon allows the user to easily and quickly spread the word. The online retail giant tightly integrates the web, mobile and social media to provide an effective and purposeful app, providing brand and end user benefit.

According to Internet World Stats, there were approximately 51.5 million internet users in the UK (82% of the population) as of August 2011 with 45% of them accessing the net via their mobile phone (Office for National Statistics). Hawk-like Amazon has seized the opportunity to gain market advantage with their customers having rich devices in their pockets.

Tablet PC vs. PC

With tablet PC sales soaring worldwide and the iPad 3 on its way, I will be looking at whether  tablet pc’s will take over PC’s.

Tablet PC Growth

When Apple announced plans to launch the iPad a couple of years ago, there were those who were unsure of how successful the device would be. Some critics thought that it was neither a PC nor Smartphone and that it had no real use within the market. However, sales for the iPad soared, proving to be a success with the release of the iPad 2 last year and the iPad 3 to be released soon. On the back of the success of the iPad, many companies including Samsung and Toshiba have released their own Tablet PC’s to enter the lucrative market.

 Why is the Tablet PC so successful?

There are a number of reasons for why the iPad is so successful; its main appeal is its approachable touchscreen interface that people universally find easy to use. A study by the NPD Group last year showed that the top three things that consumers have been doing with iPads are surfing the web, writing and checking e-mails and playing games. NPD also found that iPad owners regularly use their devices for social networking, watching videos and reading e-books with their light weight portability making it a real crowd pleaser. This shows that the iPad is a very versatile platform and an ideal means of ‘consuming’ information.

NPD wrote, “While lots of choices and compromises go into the development of any product, especially something as different as the iPad, these results indicate that most consumers are satisfied with their purchase and are increasingly finding ways to interact with their iPad.”

 

Projected Tablet Growth to 2015

 

Gartner researched that Tablet PC’s will be selling 60% as many units as PC’s by 2015. Furthermore, they predict that Apple’s iPad will still have almost half the market by then. Below is a table of Gartner’s sales forecasts from 2010 to 2015:

 

PC Decline

 

Whilst the PC is suffering a decline in sales, tablet PC’s, smartphones and e-readers continue to increase in popularity. It’s a tough marketplace for the PC at this moment of time and they no longer have a monopoly over the marketplace like they used to.  The UK PC market suffered its worst decline is sales for five years in the last quarter of 2011 according to Gartner, a 19.6% decline upon last year. The last quarter of 2011 also saw a decrease in sales by 13. 5% in the professional sector.

 

Other than the increase in the popularity of alternative PC devices, the current economic climate has had just as big an impact on PC sale figures along with the lack of innovation.  Ranjit Atwal, Research Director at Gartner, said:

"The PC has not changed as consumers and users have changed their habits,"

"One thing the PC makers have not done over the last few years is make products that are innovative in terms of compelling features and novel form factors."

 

"There's the need for a fundamental re-think of how we make these gadgets compelling,"

 For more of Ranjit Atwal’s views on PC growth visit, click here.

 PC manufacturers have already tried slashing prices to no avail. The PC market requires innovation more than anything in order to attract consumer interest and to push growth. The only PC platform to have increased its sales figures compared to last year is the Apple Mac, perhaps the most innovative out of all the manufacturers in the table above.

New Hope

There is hope ahead for the PC market with even Gartner predicting that things can only get better, and it’s hoped that major new games with heavily enriched graphics will help to drive upgrades. Ultrabooks released from the end of the last year is also expected to help reignite PC sales figures. The term Ultrabook was provided by Intel for a new generation of portable PC’s featuring their technology, however, it is now being used as a catch-all term for light, thin and ultraportable laptops.

Intel has reported that Ultrabooks have “ultra-capabilities” including greater battery power, instant-on, quick standby and enhanced security features. They also believe that the Ultrabook will be a lighter alternative to tablet devices for those who prefer to work with a full QWERTY keyboard.  To find out about Ultrabooks to be released in 2012 you can click here.

Summary

It’s expected that sales will continue to increase for tablet PC’s in the near future but not at the expense of the PC.  Tablet PC’s are still relatively new and fresh, appealing to the masses.  It’s true to say that the PC has had a tough time of it over the last few years competing with new innovative devices, however there is no doubt that the PC will bounce back in the near future and once again find a place in consumers hearts.It’s expected that sales will continue to increase for tablet PC’s in the near future but not at the expense of the PC.  Tablet PC’s are still relatively new and fresh, appealing to the masses.  It’s true to say that the PC has had a tough time of it over the last few years competing with new innovative devices, however there is no doubt that the PC will bounce back in the near future and once again find a place in consumers hearts.

Burberry Prorsum

Came across this video showing how Burberry has incorporated wonderful and innovative digital methods into the heart of its brand...Cara Delevigne is also extremely hot in this video!!

Using social media to optimise your online marketing performance

Social Media is a great way for companies to drive their marketing activities and to optimise their online performance.

It’s all gone social

Social media has led to a fundamental shift in communication, reshaping the way that companies interact with companies. It’s having a great impact on everyday life and companies are continuing to embrace it in order to increase their online presence, engage with customers and to build business.

It’s a mistaken belief that you can simply setup a Facebook and Twitter account, post a few status updates and then bobs your uncle, customers are flocking to your site to purchase your products/services. Only if it was that easy, the fact of the matter is that it can be very difficult to see though a social media strategy with many underestimating the time and effort required to succeed in the digital space.

We believe that all companies should know the fundamentals when building their social network and that’s why we are going to offer you essential tips for running your prime social channels:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Blog
• YouTube

Facebook

Companies should setup a welcome section for its fan page. This will let people know what they can expect from following your brand. It helps to increase signups, your conversion ratings and your ROI. A great landing page with a clear call to action can help your company to save money on advertising costs.

The more likes and diverse comments that the company gets on an update, the more people’s walls and homepages they are shown on, which in turn gives greater exposure to your company. Facebook is a great way to engage with your audience by posting questions, contests, sharing photos or videos and sharing content that will make someone want to keep coming back to the page. It is a great way to drive interactions with your audience.

Google Plus

Using similar tactics to that of Facebook for Google Plus would be an effective way of increasing your presence on that platform. Google Plus was launched last year to compete with Facebook and remains a relatively new social platform with no set guidelines on how to best optimise your marketing performance using this channel. A few quick tips to get you started are:

• To share your blog info on your profile.
• To use strategic keywords and phrases in your status updates, as Google Plus is more open to searching and will allow you to rank higher in traditional Google searches.
• To write unique engaging content for status updates.
• To upload relevant and captivating pictures/videos.
• To make sure that your profile is open to search.
• To use circles to communicate with potential clients, media and prospects. For example you can create a circle for prospective clients and then provide them with industry news, media, and case studies and so on to suit them.
• To use Google Plus hangouts, where you can chat live on video from your computer or mobile device with up to 10 people.

Twitter

When using Twitter, companies should look to share insightful content around their industry and to engage with smart people on subjects that are most meaningful to the company. It is important to build relationships first and then to promote your content.

Spread links that can be retweeted by your audience, whilst retweeting yourself. If you are wondering how to shorten links so that you have more space to comment, simply visit www.bitly.com enter the URL and your link will be shortened to copy and paste. When tweeting it’s good to include the company’s blog post links but it’s more important to comment on other peoples’ tweets. By promoting others over yourself, the company’s twitter following will grow and there is the chance to engage people whilst driving them back to your blog.

The @ feauture is a good way to reply to your audience when you can. In addition, links should not always be about the organisation’s business topic, it’s good to mix it up by having fun every so often and as a result steady traffic should role in.

Blogging

For many companies blogs are their focal point of their online marketing operation. It is an opportunity for them to establish its identity and directly communicate with those interested in the company’s services. However it’s no longer enough just to write content on a consistent basis. There is so much competition in every niche online nowadays that you have to stand out from the crowd and be unique. To do this it is essential to write compelling content, be an authentic representation within your field and interact with your community as much as possible. Everything you do has to be about the reader in order to serve their needs. Adding media such as pictures and videos can help increase interest in your blog.

It is essential to build up relationships with other bloggers, ways to do this include:

• Content promotion off the blog.
• Commenting on other blogs.
• Quickly responding to comments made on the company’s blog.
• Automatic distribution and syndication.
• Repurposing of content.
• Encouraging social popularity.

These are all ways of building relationships. In the long term after building relationships, there is an opportunity to ask other bloggers to write in return for writing about their products and services.

YouTube

YouTube can be a great way to be entertaining whilst also being informative about your company’s products/services. It’s an effective method of marketing, using your visual creative input rather than relying primarily on written content. Videos on your YouTube channel could include:

• Advice guides for products/services.
• Client testimonials.
• A company background.
• Past, present and future projects.
• Product overview.

After Google, YouTube is the second most popular search engine. It is a useful platform to help build your brand.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn can be a valuable source to network with others in your industry. Essentially, it’s an effective way for working professionals to explore business opportunities with each other. However, LinkedIn can also be a useful source for enticing traffic. Adding links on your LinkedIn profile and email footer can prove to be very effective in building traffic. It would also be positive to post links to social media and blog sites.

To find out how companies are using social media to spearhead their multichannel marketing strategies, visit my multichannel marketing blog.

Here is a great post from the social media top dogs themselves at Mashable, explaining the key behaviours required to succeed in your strategy.

The power of social media

Social media can be a powerful marketing tool for all companies (big and small) and I have the stats to prove it!

I think it’s fair to say that we all know by now that social media is having a major impact on the global marketplace. The social phenomenon is still relatively new with no set marketing rules on how to best optimise your online social performance. Many companies are unsure of what path to take in order to reach consumers. Well, I have some interesting stats that could help to align your social strategy.

Social brand power

Social media is great for companies looking to sell their products/services and for those looking to increase their brand awareness. In the US, it was reported by Edison Research and Arbitron that 80% of social network users preferred to engage with brand on Facebook. Only 6% of users connected to brands using Twitter.

Social mobile power

The number of users accessing social media on their smartphones is growing at a rapid rate. According to comScore analysis, over half of US smartphone owners (50.9%) and 31.7% of European smartphone users accessed Facebook on their device in the three –month period ending June, 2011. Twitter had a smartphone audience of 12.5% in the US and 7.4% in Europe.

Social advice

On average 29% of consumers flock to social networks to seek buying advice according to ROI Research and Performics.

Social budget

SocialMedia Examiner found that seven in ten (71%) of marketers planned to increase their use of search engine optimisation (SEO) in the near future.

46% of social marketers were planning to increase their online efforts.

Social ad spend growth

The number of companies spending on Facebook ads is increasing at an astounding rate. According to IgnitionOne, Facebook ad spend of all clients grew 281% from Q2 2010 to Q2 2011. Impressively, ad impressions for all clients grew 200%.

Steve Jobs has passed away

Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple has passed away at the age of 56. The industry icon who recently resigned from his position as Chief Executive at the company, announced he was suffering from pancreatic cancer in 2004.

He was the face of Apple and the world was a better place because of Mr Jobs. Apple released the following tribute on their website:

Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who’ve been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve lost a dear friend and inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook released the following statement:

“No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honour his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Laurene and his children during this difficult time.”

US President Barrack Obama said that the world had “lost a visionary”. Mr Obama added:

"Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it."

Former CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates said that he was “truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’s death”. Mr Gates added:

“The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honour. I will miss Steve immensely.”

Check out the video below to view the magical moment when Steve Jobs introduced the original Macintosh.

Is the iPhone 4S a letdown?

Apple yesterday announced the launch of their latest smartphone device, the iPhone 4S. After the months of rumours and anticipation for the iPhone 5, it’s fair to say that everyone was rather disappointed.

The iPhone 4S looks just like the iPhone 4 on the outside but with improvements on the inside. It has to be remembered that Apple has a track record of releasing products in a similar fashion in the past. After the iPhone 3G, the 3GS was released, which similarly evolved around changes to the inside of the phone. Similar behaviours can be seen in Apple’s updates to their laptops and tablet computers. Earlier on this year, the launch of iPad 2 met a similar air of disenchantment, nevertheless it ‘s how Apple operates strategically by releasing tidy regular updates before a major overhaul of the product to burst it back into life. While many feel letdown that it was an iPhone 4S released and not an iPhone 5, it does not mean that we should necessarily write the product off. Not at all, the 4S in fact has a swifter processor, an improved camera, more built-in storage and faster cellular data networking that works in a greater number of places with now both CDMA and GSM hardware built-in.

In addition the iPhone 4S-specific Siri voice recognition has added much needed spice to the launch of the iPhone 4S. It is the feature that will set tongues wagging with the ability to accurately interpret instructions and turn them into actions. Apple for now has surpassed Google with its Siri voice recognition software, taking it to the next level. The iPhone 4S seems an ideal replacement for those with 3GS models looking for an update, but not so much for those who have an iPhone 4.

Apple has been losing considerable smartphone market share over the past year. The problem is that the rest of its smartphone competitors appear to be moving at a faster rate, reaping the benefits of offering frequent new models that are running on operating systems made by other companies. Whereas Apple has to wait for an OS update before it can make any major changes to their products.

Apple’s goal is to essentially gain a greater share in not only the smartphone market but the handset market as a whole. Apple CEO Tim Cook pointed towards this at the iPhone 4S unveiling yesterday:

"Despite all of this success and all of this momentum, the iPhone has a 5 percent share of the worldwide market of handsets. I could have shown you a much larger number if I just showed you smartphones, but that's not how we look at it," Cook said. "We look at the entire market of handsets because we believe that over time, all handsets become smartphones. This market is 1.5 billion units annually. It's an enormous opportunity for Apple."

Apple’s plan of attack appears to be in full swing. In addition to the 4S, Apple will continue selling the iPhone 4 and 3GS. The firm has always been renowned for continuing to offer their previous year’s handset, but the 3GS will also be available free of charge. This is the first time that the company will be offering a device with no charge up front on a carrier contract. Apple has been suffering a decline in iPod sales over the past few years, selling 20% fewer in its third quarter than in the same period last year. Although Apple effectively dominates the MP3 market, the prominent rise of the smartphone market has led to the iPod nearing the end of its life cycle. The move to make the 3GS free of charge could potentially eat up iPod sales, but in context it appears that CEO Tim Cook has picked the right time in order to reach a wider audience.

Many took to the web to express their feelings on the iPhone 4S. Overall there appeared a mixed reaction, but there was an underlying sense of disapproval that it was not an iPhone 5, which begs the question is the iPhone 4S a letdown?...No, not in the slightest, the reason why is that people will still be queuing up around the block for it and without doubt it will go onto outsell last year’s model!