Mike de Block
-
Showing posts tagged marketing
-
I was asked by a marketeer from #Ahold Europe, to present some ideas how an #app could be of added value for one of their brands. The slideshare above is however a brief summary, as several slides has been left out due to confidentiality.
In the end, my message was that a brand has to blend into the daily life’s of their customers, if they want to be of any meaning. Brands who want to be of value should therefore embrace “pulled” actions. As pull is an unsolicited action by a consumer, whereas a “push” is a solicitation by a seller/producer. A branded app should thus earn the attention by being a community hub that facilitates a value-adding experience. In the end, the value of your brand is being determined by the degree of meaning you have for your customers. To conclude, its all about perception, so facilitating events that influence this process could align the consumers perception with your desired brand identity.
-
WOOW, the future of TV from @syzygy is truly amazing and even better, it’s not even that far away from us! This TV platform provides brands with the opportunity to shift from their (way old fashioned) push thoughts to a pull strategy via GOAB. As it’s about focussing on what is relevant to the viewer in a certain situation, and about giving the viewer the possibility to decide. Again social value via convenience, relevance or entertainment, even better, all together is the greatest challenge for brands these days. However, this sneak peak to the NEAR future should trigger some marketeers how their brand can blend into the ultimate TV experience.
-
@InamoRestaurant is a jawdropping digital dining experience in the centre of London. My girlfriend and I visited Inamo last July and definitely want to go back, as soon as we get the opportunity. Inamo embodies digital table projections, a digital sneak peek in the kitchen, cab ordering system while waiting for your tab and a table moodsetter. Moreover, since all orders are placed digitally, inamo’s waiters now got all the time to secure that every need is met.
Unfortunately, your dining experience is limited to 2 hours, since it’s in such a high demand. Nevertheless, Inamo has managed to turn their business into a pull mechanism, since they put their customers into control. In short, times are over that a waiter determines the pace of your evening, now the customer is in charge how the evening develops. A great example, how a niche can drive traffic on an international level. Fortunately, their is also a Dutch branch of Inamo, which you can find in Rotterdam, namely Izkaya. So, Izkaya despite of the fact that you’re closed on my birthday, August 22, you can expect a visit from us very shortly!
-
It’s not your imagination, marketing really has gotten harder, as the attention span is decreasing among consumers. It has changed our traditional way of buying from: stimulus-shelf-experience to what Google calls Zero Moment Of Truth (ZMOT), which you can see below. The result is that companies have to facilitate reasons to stimulate word-of-mouth in order to influence the second step in the ZMOT buying process.
Forth-flowing, traditional billboards will not work anymore, since people on the road are paying more attention to their mobile phones then on the road, not even mentioning the billboards along the highway. Brands therefore have to outcare their competition to get into the heard of their core group. Enable your customers to help your company get shape, but do not let them decide. Since, you only have to facilitate the carrot on the stick, which makes them talking and engaging. However, at some point you have to spread some carrots, but as you are not the salvation army, you only have a few carrots to give away. For this reason it’s vital that prior to giving out carrots you have to grow the engagement level with your core group of followers through interaction. Many brands go wrong at this point, since they assume they will get the attention anyhow. However, the attention economy is the new battleground, which makes it vital to first create an army (brand advocates) before you go to battle with your (yet) non-believers. The carrots will then please your army and convince the non-believers that they better join your side, since you care. In short, it’s the famous game of reciprocity, where people tend to return a favor. This is extremely vital in the process where brands should have a face or at least behave human. Therefore brands first has to show your customer a favor, before you can expect your customers do something in return. For this reason, the quote from Michael Poter is really hitting the nail on his head in what in essence is most important to gain succes. So for all CEO’s out there who might read this post (you cannot blame me for my ambition), remember that “Whatever is good for the community is good for business”. Fortunately, this is closely linked to my field of interest; social commerce which is essentially the concept of word of mouth in the context of sales. Surprising or not;)
-
Finally, my first column has been published in @Distrifood, which is a foodretail magazine for entrepreneurs. Let me know what you think, since ideas or feedback are always welcome.
-
Here it is, my second column in the Dutch supermarket magazine, @distrifood. This time, I discussed Pinterest, since the recent hype forced me to introduce this platform to my readers, supermarket entrepreneurs.
In short, I focused on the suitability of this platform for supermarkets and how Pinterest could help entrepreneurs to turn their supermarket into a meet-up place for peers. The how and the why questions, can be traced back into the column. In case, you are not fluent in Dutch (shame on you;) , please don’t hesitate to ask via Twitter @mikedeblock
-
Yes, my third column is out @distrifood, which focuses on “date included” marketing campaigns and privacy issues. Hopefully, my readers, (supermarket) entrepreneurs, found it useful and I am looking forward to your feedback. In the mean time, let’s get back to business and turn wannahaves 2.0 into reality.
Likes
-
Tom Marchant, co-founder of travel company Black Tomato about over-delivery and acts, not ads....
-
Grappig: de organogrammen van de grootste techbedrijven.
-
“you can’t let other people tell you who you are, you have to decide that for yourself”
-
ahhh… Carla Gugino
-
Britse humor + techniek gaat prima samen.
