Running with Social Media Scissors

When we're little, we hear all sorts of warnings and advice about caution.  We're told to look both ways before we cross the street.  We hear that we don't dive in the shallow end of the pool.  We're taught the proper way to carry scissors and we're told to not run with scissors in our hands.  We'll trip if we don't tie our shoelaces.  The list is endless.

In my last post, I bemoaned the seeming lack of strategy and the sheer panic that many of us are feeling about not doing the right social media thing much like a 20 something reading Cosmo and hoping that if she cut her hair "just so" or got a boob job, the cute boy across the way will give her a wink and a smile.  It sometimes feels like we have to dive in the shallow end of the pool just to catch up.

It's not the first time that I've brought up the existential question of why we're on these platforms.  As I said last time, I love Mitch Joel's call for calm, call for us to take a deep breath, call for us to look around and try to understand where we are and how to navigate.  It's okay for us to assess the platforms and decide that there are some that just aren't relevant.  Mitch Joel was telling us to look both ways before we cross the Social Media street.

Really, it's okay to map out a strategy.  And yet we fail to do so.  Jim Matorin left a comment in that last post and shared this article.  I'll cull out some of the numbers from the Digital Marketing Expressions:

• Of the 78% who said they were using social media, only 41% had a social media strategic plan.  
• Of the 41% who do have a strategy, 94% said marketing was a part of the plan, 71% said public relations and 55% said sales.  
• Of those with a plan, 29% had communication protocols (when, where, how, etc.). 
• Only 69% of those with a social media plan have metrics or some sort of tracking set up and 71% plan for tracking brand reputation online.  

All of these numbers tell me that we're doing a lot of acting without a lot of thinking.  The pressure of being the hottest person in the room has made us forget ourselves and what makes us tick  It's made us forget how and why our products/services meet the needs of our customers better than that of our competitors.

I find all of this whirlwind of activity confusing.  We rush to be first, best, prettiest, etc., without a roadmap and without an end state in mind.  And, at the same time, we complain that we don't know what the ROI is of all of these Social Media activities.  There are a million whitepapers and webinars out there about ROI but few about strategy.  We can't have our proverbial cake and eat it too.  If you are jumping in without thinking and strategizing then you can't get upset that you don't know how to measure it effectively if at all.

The ROI problem is largely our own making because we feel we don't have the time to build the infrastructure.  We feel we'll be left behind.  This takes me back to this post I wrote 5 months ago.  Here's the quote I mentioned then:

"Maybe what's missing in our marketing transformation is the really boring and basic stuff. Maybe dull drives digital. Maybe fundamentals face us forward. Maybe boring is breakthrough.

I call this out for good reason. Social media and digital marketing will only succeed -- and sell through the organizational layers -- if we ground it in deeper, more established marketing truths, not ephemeral campaigns, one-trick pony moments, or hypocritical oaths or proclamations."

Creating strategy can be an arduous and dull process sometimes.  You don't have to tell me because that's preaching to the choir.  But, not having a strategy and rushing forth is running with scissors.  If we know to exercise that caution to protect ourselves in real life, why don't we have that level of care for our businesses?  Why do we throw caution to the wind?

Best,

Parissa Behnia

Idea Chef

678Partners@gmail.com

678Partners.com

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Best Buy's Physical and Virtual Customer Immersion - Part Two

Hello!


I hope you're well and (emotionally) preparing for a pre Spring weekend.  We finally had some sun yesterday and the city is starting to wake up from its slumber and stretch.


Speaking of stretch, yesterday we talked about Best Buy's expansion into developing a mobile platform for its customers -- really a Best Buy branded service portal.  We also looked at a video from a recent National Retail Federation conference.  I've embedded it again as a refresher.

So let's chat about the implications for a spell.  I think we should be in agreement that this is a massive opportunity for Best Buy, the customer and, truly, all of retail.  I've come up with a few more that I think are basic conversation starters in no particular order (and not at all exhaustive):


Pic and Pay: As I mentioned previously (here), ScanLife allows you to snap a photo of an item and complete the transaction - all on your phone.  It's a conceivable application for Best Buy: take pictures of the TV you want, get information sent to your phone, complete your purchase, receive a bar code confirmation on your phone which can be scanned on your way out -- all the while bypassing lines.


Gentle Nudge: An interesting extension would be suggestions for the customer while completing a mobile purchase.  So, if you're buying a TV, you could be gently nudged to purchase new cable or a new game for your Wii.  Best Buy could also sign affiliate partners.  To stick with the TV example, either during or just after the transaction, perhaps the customer can be presented with a Crate & Barrel offer to purchase a new TV stand.  Or if it's around dinner time, maybe local restaurants can offer discount with Best Buy mobile purchase.


Subliminal Messages: There was a hint at the end about how they could package their technology suite and sell it as a product/service to other models or possibly other retail partners thereby creating an additional revenue stream.  Best Buy B2B!


Segmented Smartphones: Because this is Best Buy, it's conceivable they can overlay their retail segmentation we discussed yesterday to tailor the offers better.  So, if you're a Mr. Storefront, you could be offered Geek Squad business services bundled with the purchase of a new laptop.  If you're a Buzz, maybe you'd be offered wireless devices to accompany that same laptop.  It's all in the spirit of personalized service to cement the relationship between the customer and Best Buy.  Bundled with "Subliminal Messages" and this becomes a very powerful tool for affiliate retail marketing partnerships.


Location Based: That same post I mentioned in "Pic and Play" also covered Socialight and Foursquare, which are nifty little location based apps.  One wonders if you can "unlock" Best Buy loyalty badges and "just because" offers (maybe by segment, even) for frequent visits just like Foursquare rewards someone for frequent check ins.  That would be a great "surprise and delight" tactic.  Focus Group of One: Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised by my Super User badge that came with a frozen yogurt offer.   And, again, their application would be exportable.


GPS: Similarly, Cisco Systems has Mobile Concierge.  As well designed and well lit the stores are, I do admit sometimes getting a bit turned around and it would be great for my phone to help.  Hey, I'm human.  If I'm walking by an affinity category, "Gentle Nudge" could apply here, too!


Location Based - Part Deux: I listened to a webinar today presented by Nicole Nunn Walker, VP of Marketing at Metrosplash.  A neat feature of FuelLinks, their fuel loyalty program, is a "heads up" to the customer that he/she is near a favorite gas station and spells out the savings per gallon (based on their loyalty level).  This could be customizable for Best Buy's purposes.  Based on location, a customer can get a text with offers based on transaction history with a pointer to the closest Best Buy store.


Buyer Rejoice: Since Best Buy wants to be a branded product/service portal, a potential application is consumers creating a global wish list housed on the Best Buy portal but open to any product out there.  Better put, some sort of centralized RedLaser concept that tracks all prices all the time would be kind of neat.  Send a message and let me complete the transaction on my phone based on stored credit card data.

Again, this list isn't exhaustible and frankly, I don't know if any of these are good ideas.  The point in putting this list here for your review is to show you that the four minute video stimulates the imagination which is exactly the direction in which Best Buy is open and willing to go.  It is embracing a role beyond traditional retailer in its drive to always stay relevant regardless of the sales channel the customer chooses. 

That's it for me...  I hope you have a great rest of the day!  Send me your thoughts when you've a moment!


Until Next Time,


Parissa Behnia
parissa321@gmail.com
www.linkedin.com/in/behnia

Location Based Shopping: How Norma Kamali Will Help You Get What You Want When You Want It

Happy Monday!


I've a confession to make.  I'm no sophisticated techie and don't have more than a basic knowledge of SEM/SEO best practices among other things that are "must haves" these days if you want to be a good Marketer.  I don't even own an iPhone.  So that's the bad news.  The good news is that I'm learning at a decent clip and I'm eager to keep learning which is why I want to chat about some really cool things I read about yesterday.  I don't even know where to begin!


Well, okay, I do.  Recently, I started noodling around with foursquare.  It's a service which allows you to "check in" at your location and, based on where you are, you can receive tips or find out about other cool places to go that are in the vicinity.  If you want, you can keep your location secret or share it with your foursquare friends as well as on Facebook or Twitter.  You earn points with each "check in" or when you tell foursquare about a new place not in its list and can earn badges the more you "check in"...  I used to be a Newbie but just the other day, I became an Adventurer!  If you become a Mayor of your favorite spot, you can get some freebies so it pays to play, so to speak.  Foursquare has partnered with major cities like Chicago, too, so I'm having loads of fun earning Chicago specific badges.


As I said, it's still new for me and I'm still trying to remember to "check in" no matter where I am so I can take advantage of the information that may be interesting or useful to me.  So, of course my eyes caught this really intriguing article about mobile shopping tools by Stephanie Rosenbloom in Friday's NY Times.  Want that cute outfit from Norma Kamali but the store's closed?  No matter - thanks to ScanLife, you can snap a photo of the item and purchase it via your phone.  There's also technology whereby you can scan the barcode while in store and info about the garment will magically appear on your phone.  I'm getting the sense that it's like RedLaser, another barcode scanning app, but you intelligent readers can probably steer me in the right direction on that.


And then there's stuff like IBM's Presence which is like foursquare for grocery stores.  If you sign up and walk into a participating store, you can be offered mobile coupons based on where you are in the store that may be relevant to you based on previous shopping history - almost like Catalina but way more targeted and well before checkout - and, like foursquare tips, Presence will make product recommendations or great go togethers based on what you've selected.  So, if you've picked up a steak, maybe you'd love to have fries with that hence tipping you off about the russet potatoes on sale that week.  Similarly, Cisco Systems has developed Mobile Concierge which will help you find the seemingly (deliberately) hidden item in the store - something we can all relate to especially at Costco!


To be sure, mobile coupons are already in use but what makes this intriguing is the "real time" aspect of all of this - almost like an instant gratification factor at play.  It kind of feels like a shopping game.  The article also noted that Motorola has developed an app that will completely replace loyalty programs cards and will place program specific offers and coupons on the mobile device.  What's really neat is that you're not presented with coupons that aren't relevant because you don't walk down the aisles that aren't relevant to you.  


My beef with grocery mailers and Catalina coupons (and sometimes loyalty programs) is that the offers are for products I would never consider buying and I've got to believe I'm not the only person who feels that way.  I understand marketing to encourage sample and cross shopping but, if I've never bought dog food before, chances are I won't be buying it at least in the near term.  This efficiency and precision of offer eliminates the "waste of time" factor and, because it's mobile, saves a few trees, too.  What's more, the store has just racked up a little bit more shopper loyalty which will help pay for that expensive new system.


Speaking of loyalty programs and location based services like foursquare, I stumbled upon another interesting article in Ad Age.  The article talked about Socialight which allows brands to create their own geo based communities with customized relevant messaging for its niche/target market.  The implications here are interesting...  Let's play with an example: e.l.f. cosmetics uses multiple social media tools for its marketing - it never uses traditional channels (I previously mentioned e.l.f. here).  If e.l.f. were to have its own branded geo based loyalty app, you could instantly find out the closest place to find your favorite product and perhaps be surprised with a special e.l.f. coupon offer "just because" you're a part of their loyalty program.  Since e.l.f. is sold at big box retailers, there can be cross shopping tie-ins offered to the customer (e.g., buy e.l.f. and get 10% off private brand XYZ item).  There are a bunch of other ways to play this that I'm sure you will come up with, too.


So we've not talked about the 1,000 pound privacy gorilla just yet.  On some level, this is kind of creepy - let's be honest.  The creepy factor of foursquare is that everyone knows exactly where you are if you publicize your "check in" and similarly, the grocery store manager knows where you are when you stop by to get your milk and frozen pizza.  If you're trying on clothes at a department store, that makes it even more odd.  I'm not certain of the remedy but perhaps individuals can adjust settings on these apps to receive coupons based on past trips upon entering the store only as opposed to specific aisle location.  Of course, it makes for less precise offers but at least no one will know you're spending time looking at the tabloids in the books/magazine section of the store.


As I said, there are many flavors to these new applications.  Truly, the sky is the limit and I've decided to "expect the unexpected" when it comes to the mobile apps coming out over the next few years.  What's your take on all of this?  Send an email and let me know!


Until Next Time,


Parissa Behnia
parissa321@gmail.com
www.linkedin.com/in/behnia