Ex3 Café

Facebook Not All Things For All Businesses?

Like many businesses today, I too have a Facebook Page.  I must admit though, I primarily have the page to demonstrate that I’m "in the know" about the latest and greatest marketing tools.  I also have the page to distribute the latest posts from my blog to those who actively use Facebook.  In this case, whenever I publish a new blog post, the title, date and first paragraph are automatically posted to my Facebook fan page.  This publishing/syndication strategy enables me to reach the largest possible audience with the least amount of time and effort expended.

I never realized the true value of having a Facebook business account though until I helped some friends set up Facebook account for their new retail toy store in my local downtown.  The store focuses primarily on the art of performing and left brain type activities.  In addition to selling high quality toys, the store also has a stage where regular, live performances are made including:  music performances, magic, puppet shows, story telling..etc.

What struck me most about helping my friends set up their Facebook account was how relevant and integral many of the Facebook features were to their business.  Some of these features include:

• Event information, notification and registration
• Special offer alerts
  
• Discussion boards
• Photo and video sharing of key events
• Related groups (including associated downtown business groups, local community groups...etc.)
  

Now granted, I'm not currently sponsoring any marketing events nor am I facilitating any discussion topics on my Facebook page, but after setting up the Facebook site for my friends' business and seeing the success of their site (versus my site) I wonder if Facebook is simply more effective for some businesses versus others.  Thoughts/Comments?

Dying a Slow, Slow Death (or Not)?

This recent article from CNBC caught my eye.  In short, the article describes how replacing older technologies with newer technologies often takes longer than most innovators expect.  For example, according to the CNBC article “When Sony announced its Mavica electronic camera in 1981, headlines trumpeted that “Film Is Dead.” But it took 28 more years for Kodachrome, the film immortalized by Paul Simon, to finally die this past June."

This article made me stop and think about similar predictions I’ve heard, throughout the years, about new marketing technologies.  Below are just a few.

Stop The Printing Presses!

I remember in early 1995 the CEO at one of my previous companies made a prediction that the company would (in the very near future) no longer print marketing collateral but would instead create electronic versions of the collateral and distribute it via e-mail and the web.  Well to this day, most companies are producing the same (if not more) printed collateral.  The only difference is they are creating electronic versions of the same collateral as well.  In this case, one medium wasn't replaced by another but rather an additional medium was added.  Similarly, when the microwave oven was launched, many thought it would replace the traditional oven.  To this day, most households have both!

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Catalogs

When eBay and Dell launched their respective websites in the mid 1990's, many thought the catalog's days were numbered.  After all, who needs a printed catalog if everything about a product can be described on-line?  It turns out a lot of people sill like the experience of holding and flipping through a printed catalog.  In fact, my 10 year old (tween) daughter still gets ecstatic when the latest edition of The American Girl Catalog arrives in the mail.  And interestingly enough, both eBay and Dell produce thousands (if not millions) of printed catalogs and magazines to this day.

Throw Out Your House List Because Outbound Marketing is DOA

In one of my previous blog posts, I described how many marketers believed that traditional outbound marketing (i.e. phone, direct mail, e-mail...etc.) would soon be replaced by inbound marketing (i.e. search marketing, blogs, social networking...etc.).  It's my belief though that these two mediums address different marketing scenarios and thus one wouldn’t necessarily cannibalize the other.  In fact, I believe that the smartest marketers will figure out how to integrate both inbound and outbound marketing into their overall marketing strategy.

In writing this article, I'm most certainly not bagging on new marketing innovations.  I'd be the last person to do this!  Like the CNBC article though, I believe that new technologies take a lot longer that most people think to gain mass adoption (if at all).  That said, one shouldn't ignore new marketing innovations, but rather take a balanced, calculated and well thought out approach to phasing these new innovations into their overall marketing mix over time.

SMS + Campaign Mgmt. Demo. Check it out!

 

One of the more exciting aspects of my job is tinkering around with new technologies.  The latest technology that I've been experimenting with is text messaging and SMS short codes.  These are the codes that are increasingly being used for mobile direct response marketing (i.e. Text: "OFFER", To: 12345).  I recently blogged about SMS short codes.

In my experiment, I signed up with a service that can receive incoming short code text messages (from all of the primary US carriers) and convert these messages into web URL's.  I then pointed the URL's at a campaign management application I've been working with (Brick Street eMA) that accepts web URL's as input.  Brick Street Software recently acquired eMA from Kana Software and is currently upgrading eMA's platform and is adding a number of new features.

The beauty of this campaign management to SMS integration (bi directional by the way) is the cell phone can now be used as an input device into the campaign management system.  And because Brick Street eMA has an extremely robust work flow engine, along with a direct connection to the Internet, the possibilities of what can be done are almost limitless.  Below are a just a few examples of what's possible.  Please note, these are fully functional demos, so take out your cell phone and give them all a try!

Event Registration

In this demo, there are 5 different event venues to sign up for at a fictitious financial services conference.  These venues could be posted on signage (digital or non digital) throughout the conference.  The 5 event venue codes are EPSEM, FPSEM, IPSEM, RPSEM and TPSEM. 

For example, let's say you want to sign up for the upcoming Financial Planning Seminar.  Here, you would simply TEXT: "REG FPSEM" TO: 41411.  In this case "REG" is the keyword that indicates that this text is for event registration and the "FPSEM" code tells the system that the registration is for the Financial Planning Seminar.  41411 is the SMS short code. 
**NOTE: Make sure to leave out the double quotes ("") in the text message.

When you get the response back read the instructions, as there is more you can do.

Get Offers

This demo showcases a use case where users can register, via their cell phone, to receive offers from a company.

To try this demo out, TEXT: "GETOFFERS" TO: 41411.  When you get the text message, make sure to reply to the message with the word "GO".  This will send a second text message back to you with "today's offer."

Get Song Information and Buy

To try this demo out, TEXT: "GETSONG SG1" TO: 41411.  Possible song codes are SG1, SG2 and SG3.
***NOTE: In this example, I pointed eMA at Amazon.com's music ecommerce site.

Join Social Networking Group or Fan Page

This demo showcases the capability to get info. and/or join a social networking group or fan page.

To try this demo out, TEXT: "FCBK" TO: 41411 (for SMS alerts) or TEXT: "FCBK (plus your email address)" TO 41411 (for email list).

Enter a Contest

This demo illustrates how one can enroll into a contest via SMS text.

To try this demo out, TEXT: "SKYBOX A234" TO: 41411.  In this case "SKYBOX" is the keyword to register to win free skybox seats at the next game (i.e. football, hockey,  baseball...etc.) and "A234" is the seat number of the contestant.

I could go on and on with the demos, but think you get the general idea.  The key take away here is SMS integrated with campaign management is a very powerful combination.  This combination extends campaign tracking and interactivity to off-line marketing channels (i.e. prints ads, digital signage, radio ads..etc) and remote locations (i.e. locations away from a PC) where direct tracking and interactivity were previously not possible.

I'll definitely have more to say on this topic so stay tuned.  In the mean time, have fun with the demos and let me know what you think.

P.S.
Feel free to share this blog post with anyone you feel would be interested.