Category app

The Geography of Marketing: Staying Connected

2 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in app, apps, business, market research, mobile, podcast, podcasts, retail, technology, trends Tagged with app, apps, business, market research, mobile, podcast, podcasts, retail, technology, trends February 25th, 2013 @ 3:00 pm

The number of people who own smartphones worldwide continues to rise. Therefore, mobile marketing is becoming more important for businesses around the globe.

While the technology that is used in mobile devices has improved markedly in recent years, there are still issues that marketers need to be aware of that can influence the overall effectiveness of their mobile marketing campaigns.

In episode #436 of UNTETHER.tv, Rob Woodbridge interviewed Jasmeet Sethi, Regional Head of Consumer Insights for Ericsson ConsumerLab in India.

In a blog post introducing the episode, Woodbridge explains that Sethi believes the greatest challenge he faces is understanding the user experience for consumers in emerging markets.

“Forget your perceptions of UI/UX if you are thinking of swipes or “pull to refresh” or tap and hold, user experience to Jasmeet means something altogether more fundamental,” writes Woodbridge. “We take for granted the almost pervasive access to high speed wireless data we have at our fingertips but, as you know, in certain parts of emerging countries that doesn’t exist. This is a critical first step in understanding how to build for these markets – if your app or mobile service requires an always-on connection to the stream, it will not work in much of India. This, and many other basic usability requirements, could do irreparable damage to great brands and limit success in these huge markets.”

Back in the United States of America

While having limited access to an always-on data connection and slow download speeds are definitely going to be problems in emerging markets, these issues are also problems for marketers here in the United States. Therefore, the lessons that Woodbridge and Sethi are trying to teach marketers around the world are also valuable to those marketers who are trying to reach U.S. consumers.

According to a report that was released last year by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, 77% of adult mobile Internet users in the United States said that they experience “slow download speeds that prevent things from loading as quickly as you would like them to” at least occasionally. In fact, nearly half (46%) of adult U.S. mobile Internet users reported that they experience this problem at least once a week. (Note: Data from this study was also reported in an article written by Amy Gahran on CNN.com in August of 2012.)

An even simpler way to illustrate this problem is to go to the maps that show the 3G and 4G coverage areas for any mobile network operator in the United States.

According the current coverage map for Verizon Wireless, Verizon 4G LTE is available in 480 cities and covers 87% of the U.S. population. However, there are still many areas of the country that still don’t have access to Verizon’s 4G network. In fact, there are major areas on the map where 3G coverage isn’t available. While these areas aren’t places where many people live, they might be places where people travel to. Either way, they are locations where mobile marketing might not be the best option at this point in time.

It should be noted that there are many places around the country, including in the metro areas of Atlanta and Minneapolis/St. Paul, where I have experienced regular data connection problems when I used my 3G smartphone. This includes outdoor spaces, as well as in malls and major retail stores.

In episode 6 of the Digital Dive Podcast, co-hosts Emily Binder and Melanie Touchstone talk about connection issues that they encountered in the metro Atlanta area when vendors used their mobile devices to accept mobile payments with apps like Square or LevelUp. In episode 7, they arrive at the conclusion that the problem is fixed when vendors are connected to a 4G network. Therefore, 4G might be the solution that marketers and entrepreneurs are looking for.

However, keep in mind, that although 4G LTE is available in most urban areas, not everyone has upgraded to a 4G-enabled mobile device.

Therefore, if your mobile marketing campaign requires an always-on data connection, it is highly recommended that you test to make sure that consumers can connect using various types of mobile devices in the geographical areas where the campaign will be running, and definitely test to make sure that they can connect using a 3G network. In fact, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to test at different times of the day using different mobile devices before implementing your mobile marketing campaign. Then, continue to test the data connection availability and download speeds from time to time while the mobile marketing campaign is running.

Final Thoughts

As Woodbridge and Sethi point out in the post introducing episode #436 of UNTETHER.tv, data connection issues and slow download speeds can limit the success of mobile marketing campaigns and possibly cause irreparable damage to great brands.

Although they were talking about marketing to consumers in India and other emerging markets, similar issues are still problems in many parts of the United States.

While having a 4G connection might solve many of these problems, 4G is not available everywhere. And, even in places where it is available, many consumers won’t be able to access it because they haven’t upgraded to a 4G-enabled mobile device.

Therefore, before your business implements a mobile marketing campaign that requires an always-on data connection, it would be a good idea to test the data connection availability and download speeds in the geographical areas where the campaign will be running using a variety of mobile devices during different times of the day. And, definitely make sure that consumers can connect using a mobile device on a 3G network. Furthermore, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to test the data connection availability and download speeds from time to time while the mobile marketing campaign is running.

Finally, if your business plans to offer mobile payment options using Square, LevelUp or some other similar service, it is probably a good idea to make sure that your business is connected to a 4G network. It is also a good idea to test to make sure that everything is running smoothly before you use the service to process transactions during peak sales hours.

Photo credits: LGEPR and ETC@USC on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Marketing analyst and strategist, freelance writer, content curator, applied sociologist, and a proud UW-Madison alumnus. My goal is to help businesses achieve their marketing objectives and business goals while gaining additional experience in the exciting world of digital marketing. I'm currently looking for my next career challenge. Please feel free to contact me anytime at: chadjthiele@gmail.com.

A Look at the Aging of America From a Retail Perspective

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, app, case study, market research, mobile, Package, Packaging, retail, shopping, target marketing, technology, trends Tagged with advertising, app, case study, market research, mobile, package, packaging, retail, shopping, target marketing, technology, trends January 31st, 2013 @ 3:00 pm

Andy Rooney once said, “It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.”

This could be partially due to the fact that either through design or disregard, the products and services that brands offer tend to cater to younger consumers.

However, as times goes on, older consumers are going to be harder and harder to ignore.

As the baby boomers reach retirement age, the number of older consumers continues to grow. (It is worth noting that there will be more older consumers in the near future because there were higher birth rates from 1946 to 1964 and because older consumers who reach the age of 65 are projected to live longer lives in the future.)

While brands do intentionally target different consumers when they advertise their products or services, there are also some decisions that brands are making that may unintentionally exclude older consumers from making a purchase.

If You Can Read This You’re Too Young

In his book, “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping—Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond,” (affiliate link) Paco Underhill explains how retail will be transformed in the near future as a result of the aging of the population of the United States. In fact, he devotes a whole chapter to this topic.

According to Underhill, by 2025, we are going to need a whole new world when it comes to retail.

“What’s wrong with this world? For starters, all the words are too damn small,” says Underhill. “See this sentence? How could you? Too damn small. How about the morning paper? Forget it. Too damn small. The directions on your jar of organic herbal laxative? Too. Damn. Small. And you’re not even going to try squinting. (It causes wrinkles.) If you can’t read it, by gum, you just won’t buy it. And if you don’t buy organic herbal laxative, nobody will. And if nobody buys it… well, you see where this is going.”

“Human eyes begin to falter at about age forty, and even healthy ones are usually impaired by their sixties,” Underhill continues. “With age, three main ocular events take place: The lens becomes more rigid and the muscles holding it weaken, meaning you can’t focus on small type; the cornea yellows, which changes how you perceive color; and less light reaches your retina, meaning the world looks a little dimmer than it once did. The issue of visual acuity, already a major one in the marketplace, will become even more critical—not just in some far-off future, but from this moment on.”

Is he making too big of a deal about the eyesight of older consumers? You can decide that for yourself, but first you might want to read some of the examples that Underhill provides as evidence.

“One of our fast-food clients realized that diners over fifty-five were their fastest-growing demographic, despite the fact that the menu boards used type that was almost impossible for older people to see well,” reports Underhill. “The company redesigned the menus using large photos of the food, and even though it meant listing fewer items, sales rose.”

Underhill also points out that, “The main market today for drugstores is older people, and that dependence will only increase. Certainly, of all the words we are required to read in the course of our lives, few are more important than the labels, directions and warnings on drugs, both prescription and over the counter. For instance, we have found that 91 percent of all skin care customers buy only after they’ve read the front label of the box, bottle or jar. Forty-two percent of buyers also read the back of the package. Clearly, reading is crucial to selling skin care and other health and beauty items.”

It is also interesting to note that the type on products that are frequently used by senior citizens (e.g., aspirin, a host of other common analgesics, cold capsules and vitamins) is often smaller than the type on products that are targeted to teenagers.

Can the Problem Be Fixed?

This sounds like an easy enough problem to fix. Just make the type bigger and the problem is solved, right? Not so fast.

You see, part of the problem is that many consumers rely on information in order to make purchase decisions. Therefore, brands need to provide a sufficient amount of information on their packages.

However, on a small box or bottle, there is a limited amount of real estate. Therefore, the choice is to either make the package bigger, provide less information or make the type smaller. It appears that many brands are choosing the third option—to the dismay of older consumers.

In the book, Underhill offers some possible suggestions that might help fix the problem, including package redesigns, better signage in retail stores, increased use of graphics on the labels, and tech solutions including sending additional information to our mobile devices.

In the end, he suggests the correct solution might be a combination of these and other possible fixes.

Final Thoughts

As Paco Underhill points out in his book, the aging of the population of consumers in the United States is going to provide numerous challenges to brands and retailers in the very near future. (These challenges include issues that I haven’t mentioned in this post.)

However, as with any challenge that is presented to the business world, they also provide an opportunity for businesses to profit by stepping up and finding ways to meet the needs of this important demographic.

As Paco Underhill sums it up, “Older shoppers are more important than ever, if only because there are more of them, and they have a lot of money to spend and time to spend it. Their presence will transform how products are sold in the twenty-first century.”

With this in mind, the question is: Is your business ready?

Photo credits: nicubunu.photo and bartsz on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

A Lesson Worth Remembering: Correlation Doesn’t Imply Causation

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in app, business, market research, retail, shopping, technology Tagged with app, business, market research, retail, shopping, technology January 21st, 2013 @ 8:00 am

Most marketers were taught that correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation in their introduction to statistics courses. However, I think that this is a lesson that we all forget from time to time.

I must confess, I have ignored this lesson in the past.

In a blog post that I wrote about shopkick in July of 2011, I cited an article that was posted on xconomy.com in order to explain how shopkick benefits retailers.

One of the arguments that was made in the post could have been challenged by pointing out that correlation doesn’t imply causation. (However, as I will explain, even with its faults, I believe that the argument that was made does have merit.)

The Example—an Excerpt From My Blog Post

With the current economic downturn, anything that can bring consumers into their stores is a blessing for most retailers.

According to the article, “Shopkick Uses the Sound of Rewards to Bring Smartphone Owners into Bricks-and-Mortar Stores,” on xconomy.com, shopkick’s CEO, Cyriac Roeding, says that retail stores will do almost anything to get people into their stores because conversion rates at bricks-and-mortar stores are very high.

Roeding says that about 20 percent of shoppers end up buying something when they visit bricks-and-mortar clothing stores. The conversion rate at bricks-and-mortar grocery stores is even higher; he says that about 95 percent of shoppers who visit bricks-and-mortar grocery stores make a purchase. In comparison, he says that the conversion rates for most e-commerce sites range from between 0.5 percent to 3 percent.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that retailers would welcome any technology that can help get consumers away from their computers and into their stores. That’s where shopkick can help.

The Point: There is a Correlation, But…

Roeding’s stats are extremely convincing. However, let’s look at the facts again.

He states that about 20 percent of shoppers end up buying something when they visit bricks-and-mortar clothing stores, and 95 percent of shoppers who visit bricks-and-mortar grocery stores make a purchase. Furthermore, these numbers are much higher than the conversion rates for most e-commerce sites.

The correlation between going to a bricks-and-mortar store and making a purchase is undeniable. Therefore, all we have to do is get people to visit bricks-and-mortar stores more often and we will continue to get conversion rates similar to those that Roeding cited, right? Not necessarily.

You see, it is most likely the case that people often visit bricks-and-mortar stores when they are ready to make an actual purchase—this is particularly true of grocery stores. (How many people do you know who go window shopping at a grocery store?)

Therefore, the purchase is more than likely driven by some other cause (i.e., the need for an item, extra disposable income, a gift card, etc.) And, the fact that they go to the bricks-and-mortar store and make a purchase are both often a result of these outside factors.

Therefore, I’d speculate that the conversion rates among people who go to bricks-and-mortar stores as a direct result of the shopkick app are going to be somewhat lower than the current conversion rates cited above.

Supporting Evidence From the Local Mall

In his book, “Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping by the Author of Why We Buy,” (affiliate link) Paco Underhill points out that mall owners have tried to increase the time that people spend in malls by offering diversions that have nothing to do with shopping (e.g., food courts, movie theatres, bars and nightclubs, amusement parks, arcades, etc.)

As Underhill points out, “It’s been proven that the more time someone spends in a mall, the more stores they visit and the more things they buy. Again, there’s an inescapable logic to that formula. Every mall owner in the world knows all this. It’s just that they respond differently to it. Some like the idea of putting in a big, glitzy, raucous entertainment sector. It’s the expensive way to go, but it’s easy, too—you just install it and turn on the lights.”

“But the connection between such amusements and increased spending isn’t ironclad,” Underhill continues a little later on in the book. “People may now come to the mall without intending to buy a single thing. In a recent study, slightly more than half of what people did in malls was unrelated to actual shopping—eating, movies, games, hanging out, socializing, and so on. Those who said the primary reason they came to the mall was “to have fun” spent less money than those who said they came to visit a department store—to shop. The survey also found that the overall perceived entertainment value of a mall is unrelated to the amount of time people devote to shopping or the number of items they buy. So shoppers can be exceedingly fond of their mall and still not spend much money or time in stores. It’s a risk.”

The Counterpoint

I used this example to make a point that correlation doesn’t imply causation.

In this case, just because you get more people to visit your bricks-and-mortar stores because they are using the shopkick app doesn’t necessarily mean that the increased traffic is going to result in the same conversion rates that are now being recorded.

On the other hand, you probably will have some increases in sales.

If people are visiting bricks-and-mortar stores for reasons other than shopping (in this case to use the shopkick app) and have a pleasurable experience when they do, they will become comfortable with the store and will more than likely feel an affinity to it. Therefore, the next time they do need an item that the store sells, there is a good chance that they will think of that store and will shop there instead of visiting a competitor’s store. (In fact, they might choose to visit the store to make the purchase, because it will give them another chance to use the shopkick app.)

Furthermore, while the conversion rates among consumers who visit bricks-and-mortar stores to use the shopkick app might not be as high as they are among consumers who go to bricks-and-mortar stores to shop, there still is a chance that the visit will result in an impulse buy of some sort. In comparison, what is the chance that a person will make an impulse buy if they don’t go into a bricks-and-mortar store at all? Zippo, nada, zilch. (That is, unless they visit the store online. However, as already mentioned, online conversion rates aren’t very high.)

Final Thoughts

I think that, every once in a while, we all forget that correlation doesn’t imply causation.

In reality, I think it is easier to overlook this fact when we want the causal relationship to be true.

However, the facts remain the facts.

While ignoring the fact that correlation doesn’t imply causation isn’t a cardinal sin, it could end up having a negative effect on your business’s bottom line if you make important business decisions based on relationships that don’t necessarily exist.

Photo credit: Kurt Magoon on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Finding Influenceable Consumers: Is There an App for That?

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in app, Facebook, Influence Marketing, social media Tagged with app, Facebook, Influence Marketing, social media January 12th, 2013 @ 8:00 am

As I mentioned in a previous post, there are many problems that people encounter when they attempt to measure social influence.

Since writing that post, I’ve been thinking that maybe the method that people are using to find influencers is all wrong.

Or, maybe, I don’t completely understand how Klout is measuring social influence. (But, then again, it doesn’t sound like many people do.)

There is also the possibility that what I am thinking about really isn’t Influencer Marketing at all.

To get to the bottom of it, please give me a moment to explain my thought process, and then you can decide what option is correct, if any.

Influencer Marketing Defined

Wikipedia currently defines Influencer Marketing as, “…a form of marketing that has emerged from a variety of recent practices and studies, in which focus is placed on specific key individuals (or types of individual) rather than the target market as a whole. It identifies the individuals that have influence over potential buyers, and orients marketing activities around these influencers.”

What If You Can’t Change Their Mind?

It occurred to me that some people are set in their ways, and no matter what an influential person told them, there is no way that they are going to change their mind. Let’s call these people the “Unreceptives.”

On the other end of the spectrum, there are people who are willing to try anything. Therefore, they will be easily influenced by almost anyone who has a reasonable product or service to try. For the purpose of this post, let’s call these people the “Receptives.”

I’m guessing that most people fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

Is It Really Influence?

Just because a person who has a lot of connections to people who take a specific action after being encouraged to do so by said person, doesn’t necessarily make that person influential. He or she might just have a lot of followers who fall into the “Receptives” end of the spectrum.

The App That I’m Looking For

From what I understand, the current measures of influence start with the person and then measure how many people take specific actions online in response to the information that said person posts on the Internet (even if that person did not ask his or her followers to do so.)

From there the person is evaluated and given a score that can be used for many different purposes, including, in theory, Influencer Marketing.

What I’m thinking about is flipping the process around and starting with users, in general.

In other words, measuring how many times a person takes a specific action and rating them based on where they fall on the “Receptive” vs. “Unreceptive” spectrum that I talked about earlier. (Note: For social influence, it would only be whether or not they share a lot of information online, but it could hypothetically be used for other conversions, no matter how they are defined—the person using the app could decide that.)

This data could be combined with other demographic data available to create a lead score, of sorts. (For the purpose of this post, let’s call it a Receptivity Score.)

From there, the app would be able to identify groups of users who are most likely to be receptive to a brand’s product or service and generate a list of people who these people follow.

Users of the app would be able to aggregate the data to find people who have the most followers who meet the desired Receptivity Score threshold.

The Pros and Cons of This Method

As mentioned, an app of this sort would allow people to identify people (let’s call them “Influencers”, although that terminology would now be arguable) who have the most followers who meet the desired Receptivity Score threshold. It would also allow people to target “Influencers” who have many followers who are meeting this Receptivity Score threshold and are not being reached by the other “Influencers” who were previously identified, thus allowing users to fill in the gaps and reach more “Receptives” without too much redundancy.

This method would also help brands target “Influencers” based on the topic, because it would take into account specific characteristics of the target audience, not just the characteristics of the “Influencer.”

The downside is that this type of app would take a lot of computational power. (I think that this would still be the case even if the “Influencers” were identified using a sample of users.)

There is also the problem of getting demographic data. However, this problem can partially be solved by using Facebook data. (Note: This assumes that most people are giving valid demographic data to Facebook, in the first place. But, that is an issue to be looked at some other time.)

And, of course, there are always privacy issues and ethics to consider.

Finally, users of the app would still need to consider whether or not the “Influencer” that the app identified is a good fit for the brand, the product or service, and the message.

Final Thoughts

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this might be a better way to find the “Influencers” that brands target when they include Influencer Marketing in their marketing mix.

It is possible that there is an app out there that already does this.

It might also be the case that this app is still impossible to create.

And, finally, this also brings up the question as to whether or not it would still be called Influencer Marketing if this methodology for finding “Influencers” is used.

Either way, I’m still wondering if it is possible. And, if so, is there currently an app for that?

Photo credit: 401(K) 2013 on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Only Half the Story: Instagram Now Has More Daily Active Users on Mobile Than Twitter

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, app, apps, BLSG, Inbound marketing, Instagram, mobile, public relations, social media, technology, trends, Twitter Tagged with advertising, app, apps, BLSG, Inbound marketing, Instagram, mobile, public relations, social media, technology, trends, Twitter September 30th, 2012 @ 7:00 pm

You may have read the Mashable article that reported that Instagram now has more daily active users on mobile than Twitter.

Yes, it’s true, according to comScore Instagram had 7.3 million daily mobile users in August, compared to 6.9 million for Twitter.

However, Twitter enthusiasts need not worry at all. After all, the numbers that were reported by comScore are only based on mobile users and many of Twitter’s users access the site via its website on their PC.

In fact, according to eBizMBA Inc., as of September 2012, Twitter is the 9^th most popular website.

Furthermore, I think it’s misleading to compare Twitter and Instagram, because they are two very different types of social networking sites. In fact, even though Facebook now owns Instagram, Instagram and Twitter currently have a very symbiotic relationship. That is, many Instagram users use Twitter to share their photos with other people in their network—particularly those who aren’t using Instagram. This benefits both Twitter, as its users can share additional content, and Instagram, as its users can have their photos reach a larger audience.

Therefore, the fact that Instagram has more daily active users on mobile than Twitter is only half the story.

In fact, I don’t think that it’s a story at all.

In the end, Twitter is still a great place to for advertisers to focus when trying to generate buzz about their products or services. As I plan to point out in the next post, this is particularly true when used in conjunction with some other event or as a part of a larger marketing or public relations campaign.

Photo credit: eldh on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Facial Recognition Technology and Privacy: Is a Deal Really Worth It?

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, app, apps, Facebook, Foursquare, Location-based social networking sites, mobile, retail, shopping, social media, technology, Yelp, YouTube Tagged with advertising, app, apps, Facebook, Foursquare, Location-based social networking sites, mobile, retail, shopping, social media, technology, Yelp, YouTube September 22nd, 2012 @ 8:00 am

When you mention facial recognition technology, many people cringe and think of an invasion of privacy that will lead to the government tracking their every move and taking away their civil liberties.

On the other hand, when facial recognition technology is mentioned to other people, they get excited about all the possible cool things that can be done, from improved security systems to marketing opportunities.

Where you stand on this issue is probably going to determine how you feel about a new high-tech loyalty program that is being tested by redpepper, an advertising agency with offices in Atlanta and Nashville.

But, before we get into that further, I want to refresh your memory about another use of facial recognition technology that I talked about in a post last month.

In the post, I mentioned digital signage that is using facial recognition technology that helps identify basic demographics (gender, approximate age, body type, etc.) of the consumers who are looking at the digital sign and then uses that information to deliver relevant ads to them.

Personally, I think that this use of facial recognition technology is harmless because it is only identifying the characteristics of the person, not who the person is. In other words, the consumer’s face is not being matched to a large database to identify their exact identity.

It’s a good thing that I didn’t argue that such a database doesn’t even exist, because only a few days later, I learned that there is a database that I didn’t even think about—Facebook.

Here’s where redpepper enters the story.

Facedeals

As an article on the Los Angeles Times website reports, “A new app is being tested in Nashville, Tenn., that can check in people on Facebook and send them offers using facial-recognition cameras.”

“Called Facedeals, the new service uses cameras installed at businesses’ front doors to read people’s faces as they enter,” the article continues. “If the people who come in are users of the app, they will be checked in, and based on their “like” history, they would receive a customized offer.”

Keep in mind, the idea of getting a deal based on checking in is not new. Businesses around the country are doing the same thing using Foursquare and other location-based social networking sites. In fact, last year I wrote a blog post about Concentrics Restaurants in Atlanta, Georgia. With the help of PlacePunch, Concentrics Restaurants was doing a really great job of offering deals to loyal customers who checked in on Foursquare, Facebook, Gowalla or Yelp.

It appears that the main difference is that Facedeals uses facial recognition technology to check a consumer in every time they enter an establishment that participates in the program. In addition, Facedeals also customizes the deal offered based on the participants “likes” on Facebook.

You can find additional information about Facedeals on the redpepper website.

Privacy Issues

If you search YouTube, you will find that there are people who are letting their opinions be known, both for and against Facedeals.

As you would expect, the normal privacy issues are being brought to the forefront.

Personally, I’m not against using facial recognition technology in this manner. The main reason for my stance is that it is opt in.

However, other people could argue that Facedeals could still track you based on your Facebook profile information even if you don’t opt in and just not tell you. But, let’s face it, the government might already be doing this.

The only problem that I have with Facedeals is that by automatically checking you in on Facebook, all the people who you are connected to on Facebook would know where you are every time you enter a participating establishment. (Without the facial recognition component, you get to choose when to check in and where to share the information.) This could be fixed by having a setting that allows the user to decide not share the check-ins on their Facebook page.

Conclusion

In the future, more technologies are going to be introduced that will push the envelope and challenge both our imagination and how we define our expectations of privacy.

Everyone is aware that facial recognition technologies exist.

However, some people are going to fight to limit its use.

Businesses that plan to use facial recognition technology need to be aware that they serve customers who embrace this type of technology and those who are vehemently against it. Therefore, they need to decide whether or not using a service similar to Facedeals is worth the effort.

Ultimately, though, it is the consumer who gets to decide. If enough people who are against this type of technology voice their opinion to the business owner, the business owner will be forced to listen. On the other hand, if a majority of customers embrace the technology, then its use will become a more common occurrence in businesses all over the world.

Therefore, it is going to be interesting to see how the people of Nashville welcome Facedeals.

My question to you is: If you were given the opportunity to participate in this type of service, would you choose to opt in?

Photo credit: david drexler on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Where Consumers Live Can Influence the Efficacy of Your Marketing Efforts

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, app, apps, mobile, target marketing, technology Tagged with advertising, app, apps, mobile, target marketing, technology August 23rd, 2012 @ 8:00 am

Where people live influences many of their behaviors.

Even in the United States, there are subtle differences based on region and the size of the city that consumers live in.

I really began to notice this as a teenager.

For most of the year, I lived in a small to medium-sized city in Central Wisconsin. However, I spent my summers with my father in a city about 15 minutes from Ann Arbor and about 40 minutes from Detroit.

In the summer, I would be exposed to clothing styles that were somewhat different from the ones that I was accustomed to seeing in Central Wisconsin. However, where I really noticed a difference was in the music that I heard on the radio, as I would get to hear radio stations from Detroit that would play music that sometimes didn’t become popular in Central Wisconsin until months later, if at all.

Later on in life, I also spent some time living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Atlanta, Georgia.

In each location, there are many things that are the same. However, there are subtle differences that make each city unique.

Technology and Target Marketing

In the last few years, social media and mobile phones have changed the way that consumers all over the United States live.

However, people living in big cities like Atlanta, Chicago or Minneapolis are getting exposed to the latest and greatest in technological innovation. These major metropolitan areas are the testing ground for some of the new apps and social networking sites.

In contrast, people living in rural areas and even those who live small to medium-sized cities are only being exposed to the major players in the social media world.

Sure, these people might be aware that some of the new apps or other social networking sites exist, but they don’t have the chance to use them or they try them and lose interest because there are fewer people in the area who use them, and thus, these users don’t experience the immediate benefits that their counterparts in larger cities do.

I would speculate that people in large metropolitan areas are going to be more receptive to new technologies of all sorts as they are developed because they are being exposed to more of the technological advancements that are currently available.

This is something that marketers need to keep in mind as they decide whether or not to use the latest advancements in technology to get the word out about their products or services.

For example, I recently wrote a post about digital signage that can deliver different ads based on the physical characteristics of the person who is looking at the sign. This type of technology might be welcomed by the folks living in New York City, Los Angeles or Seattle. However, if the same signs were placed in smaller towns, the people might get freaked out about it because they are not getting exposed to the other technological advancements that are out there. (I don’t have data to support this hypothesis. The only way to know for sure is to test it.)

What I can say, though, is that marketers who are targeting consumers living in large metropolitan areas have a lot more cool new toys at their disposal when they are trying to reach their target audience. Using these same tools in a smaller city probably won’t produce the same results.

Conclusion

Consumers living in large metropolitan areas are being exposed to a lot of different things that their counterparts living in smaller communities may not experience for months or years, if ever.

As a result, people who live in smaller communities are not getting to experience the gradual change in technology as it is developed. Therefore, these consumers might not be as receptive to the major advances in technology that can revolutionize the way that marketers communicate with their customers and prospects.

Furthermore, because usage of various social networks varies based on the community, campaigns that work in one place might not be as effective in a different part of the country.

Therefore, marketers who live in large metropolitan areas need to research how receptive consumers in other areas of the country are to new technologies before using them to market their products or services. If they don’t, they might end up wasting a lot of money on ineffective marketing campaigns. Or even worse, they might create a backlash that the public relations department will need to fix.

Photo credit: Navin75 on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Have You IWalked?

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in app, apps, blogs, In the Spotlight, social media Tagged with app, apps, Blogs, In the Spotlight, social media August 15th, 2012 @ 8:00 am

Have you ever walked through a historic part of a city and saw a building and wondered if anyone famous ever lived or worked there?

Well, if you live in or plan to travel to Boston, New York City, or Washington D.C. in the near future, IWalked Audio Tours has you covered.

IWalked Audio Tours is a Boston-based audio tour production company that was founded in 2010 by Scott Woznicki.

In a June 11, 2012 press release, Woznicki explains that the company was born out of a passion to learn more about his new home in Boston, Massachusetts.

“I was inspired from living in London. I found a fantastic series of live audio walking tours that really opened my eyes to the city. I wanted to recreate that experience here,” states Woznicki.

According to the press release, “Each audio tour produced is recorded in real-time and provides step-by-step guidance for its listeners. You can actually hear the traffic passing by, adding to the ambience and experience. In addition, listeners are treated to a comprehensive portrait of sites along their traveled path. This isn’t your ordinary museum audio tour that leaves you hanging between destinations, as listeners are engaged throughout the full-length 1.5 to 3 hour tour.”

For those of you who don’t plan to be in the Boston, New York, or Washington D.C. areas, you can still benefit from Woznicki’s expertise, as he is very active on most social networking sites. If you have a question about the history of a historic building or landmark anywhere in the United States, he’d be a good guy to ask.

For full disclosure, I’ve been friends with Woznicki for about twenty years now, as we both attended the University of Wisconsin-Marathon County (UWMC) our first two years in college.

In the future, I plan to interview him about how effective each of the social networking sites has been in driving people to his business.

In this post, I want to encourage readers to connect with IWalked Audio Tours on Facebook, Foursquare, Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, or YouTube. IWalked Audio Tours also has a very interesting history/travel blog.

And, of course, if you are going to be in Boston, New York, or Washington D.C., be sure to take an IWalked Audio Tour.

If you are a history buff, you won’t regret it. Trust me.

Chad Thiele

From Mobile Phones to Minority Report: The Future of Advertising Begins Now

2 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, app, apps, mobile, retail, shopping, technology Tagged with advertising, app, apps, mobile, retail, shopping, technology August 12th, 2012 @ 8:00 am

Technology is changing the way that consumers shop. It is also changing the way that brands and retailers advertise the products and services that they have for sale.

In a post that I wrote earlier this month, I pointed out how mobile phones are becoming a bigger factor as more consumers reach for their smartphones to research and purchase products.

Retailers have taken note and are providing opportunities for tech savvy customers to find additional information about products and services, find available discounts, and make their shopping experience more enjoyable.

For example, IBM Research is testing augmented reality technology in its IBM mobile app.

According to an article on trendhunter.com, “The app acts like a personal shopper, using augmented reality technology to provide shoppers with more personalized product information as they’re browsing through store shelves.”

However, many shoppers won’t want to take the time to pull their mobile phones out when they shop.

This is where digital signage can help.

The First Step to Minority Report Advertising

If you watched the 2002 movie “Minority Report” that starred Tom Cruise and Colin Farrell, you probably remember the scene in the movie where Chief John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is walking down a hallway in a subway station and the advertising is being targeted specifically to him as a result of retinal scanners identifying which people are in the area.

To some people, the idea of this type of ad targeting is creepy. To others, it’s exciting.

In this post, I’m going to ignore the privacy concerns and other issues related to this type of targeting, because we’re not quite there, yet.

What is currently being experimented with is facial recognition technology that helps identify basic demographics (gender, approximate age, body type, etc.) of the consumers who are looking at a digital sign. With this data, the digital signs are able to deliver ads that are relevant to the consumer. For example, a digital sign in the men’s department of a clothing store might deliver an ad for Levi’s jeans to men, while women might get ads for the dresses on the other side of the store or maybe even ads with a gift-giving theme.

Just think about it, many stores are already using video displays to advertise the products that they sell. Why not leverage them to deliver more relevant content that can increase sales. And, as an added bonus, retailers can also track basic ad performance and make changes to the content displayed. For more information, check out the Immersive Labs website. They are one of the companies that is taking the lead in this type of technology.

Final Thoughts

Mobile phones are going to play a huge factor in connecting retailers and brands to their customers and potential customers.

However, for consumers who don’t feel the need to reach for their mobile phones while shopping, other technologies are out there to help get their attention when they are in a store’s “brick-and-mortar” location or any other place in the terrestrial world.

By using digital signage similar to what was featured in the movie “Minority Report,” retailers and brands can deliver relevant ads to consumers that can help increase sales of the products and services that they are selling.

The future of advertising begins now. And, to me, that’s exciting.

Photo credit: eyeliam on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Smartphones Are Changing the Way We Shop

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in app, apps, Foursquare, Inbound marketing, Location-based social networking sites, mobile, retail, shopping, social media, technology Tagged with app, apps, Foursquare, Inbound marketing, Location-based social networking sites, mobile, retail, shopping, social media, technology August 1st, 2012 @ 1:00 pm

One of the biggest challenges that retailers face once they get consumers into their stores is finding ways to get customers to see the products that they have for sale.

For this reason, many store owners go to great lengths to make sure that the design and layout of their store is optimized for the way that consumers shop and that the merchandise is properly displayed.

However, even with the use of endcaps and optimized sightlines, the fact that humans need to look ahead when they walk through a store makes it difficult for some products to get noticed.

In his book, “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping—Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond,” (affiliate link) Paco Underhill mentioned a study that he did to see how much of what is on display at supermarkets is actually seen by customers–the so-called capture rate.

According to Underhill, “About one fifth of all shoppers actually see the average product on a supermarket shelf.”

Smartphones Can Help Consumers Find Products

Mobile phones have given consumers the ability to research and purchase products from their mobile phones.

Smart retailers have taken note and are making an effort to make sure that their store is front and center when these consumers use their mobile phones to search for product information.

But, the power of mobile phones doesn’t need to end there.

Many retailers are partnering with apps like shopkick not only to get consumers into their stores, but also to interact with specific products.

I wouldn’t be surprised if in the near future some major retailer partners with a tech startup to use the sound technology similar to what shopkick uses for walk-in rewards to notify consumers about product specials or discounts as they walk down the grocery store aisle. This would help solve some of the issues that I talked about earlier. (However, I would hope that this technology would be opt-in and used very sparingly, as it could get annoying really fast.)

Other technologies that retailers could use to let consumers know about specific products or services include geofencing, near field communications (NFC), RFID, QR codes, augmented reality, and location-based apps similar to Foursquare.

Furthermore, as Ivy Chang pointed out in a blog post last year, retailers can bring their stores to the consumer by using technology to create remote store-fronts at subway stations (or any other location for that matter) that allow people to scan QR codes with their smartphones and have the products delivered right to their homes.

Final Thoughts

Technology is constantly changing the way that we live our lives.

Smartphones are one example of this, as they are giving retailers additional ways to connect their customers to the products and services that they have for sale.

While store design and merchandising are always going to be important factors in increasing sales, smartphones are going to play an increasing role in helping make consumers aware of discounts or specials and connecting them with additional product information that will help them make purchase decisions.

With this in mind, retailers and the brands that make the products and services that they sell need to be forward thinking and find ways to use smartphones to connect with customers before the competition does.

Photo credit: jeremydeades on Flickr.