The Future Of Marketing …. The Basics Stay The Same

As marketers, we are utilizing online & digital advertising/marketing more than ever before — and it’s great!  It’s easy, however, for businesses to get too caught up in the digital world and forget the basics of marketing: to be where your customers are.

While it is important to have an online presence, a key aspect of our job as advertising professionals is to keep our clients focused on the use of an integrated marketing mix — because, let’s face it, our customers don’t live online. The use of both traditional and social media is the key to a successful campaign.

An example of an integrated marketing mix may include the use of television and radio advertising supported by print and online ads, public relations, and social media.  While radio and television ads will reference your website and social media involvement, anything online will link to each other, providing your customers with a real sense of who you are and the benefits of your product or service.

Speaking of traditional advertising, there really is nothing traditional about TV advertising these days. Many consumers now watch commercials on YouTube, while others buzz through them on their DVR. The ads that are really making a comeback and are the future of advertising are the product placements, the sponsorship ads, and the 2-4 minute ads that truly entertain while delivering a soft sell.

Whether you are advertising in the yellow pages, the local paper, or on your local radio, all media now has online advertising to complement your traditional advertising. So, while speaking with your media representative, ask about any PR or online advertising opportunities that can work hand-in-hand with your traditional media buy.

As we look to the future, some still feel that social media is just a fad. We don’t agree. Will things change? Of course! They always do. The scales of social media have tipped strongly to high usage. It’s only normal that they will tip back and forth for a while. But social media is here to stay.

Mobile technology also provides unique opportunities for advertising. When you download an app, you are asked if you would like to allow push notifications. More often than not, we enable this because after all, what would happen if we missed the latest comment on our Facebook status? Ever been lost and pulled up your map app to find local businesses are labeled right on your map? These “conveniences” are new ways to market your business. If you are not taking advantage of them, your competitor has the advantage.  

McDonald’s is already utilizing social media to push notifications to users based upon their location and their preferences. It’s only a matter of time before others jump on the bandwagon and even more innovative uses of social media will be found.

As social media and mobile technology advance, it won’t be long before a “typical” ad campaign may look more like this:

Television advertising including product usage and placement, radio ads with sponsorship community service tie-ins, online advertising and public relations through your traditional media sources, social media specific to your target market, mobile apps with push notifications, and geo-based mobile advertising.

Gone are the days of going home to watch some TV at the end of the day.  Consumers are now utilizing 2-5 devices at once now — television screens, computer screens, tablets, smart phones …. The list goes on.

Have two minutes to kill in the middle of the day? There’s an app for that!

If you don’t believe us, just ask Siri.

Holiday Shopping Already?!?!?

With back to school shopping wrapping up, retailers are starting to get in gear for the holidays.  Seems early?  When you’re trying to get the upper hand on your competition, it only makes sense.  Malls are dying out and everyone is grasping for the pieces of straw before the retail giants turn into fossils.

If you are like me, then you love to go to the mall just to walk around out of the pure enjoyment of shopping.  But with the economy in its current state, it is not the frequent pleasure trip that it used to be for many.  This is why retailers have turned to the web to drive sales.

This year more than ever, I believe you will see a huge increase in digital advertising among retailers.  It takes a matter of minutes to get into the minds of your audience at an extremely cost-effective price.  Sales are down for the week?  Give consumers a reason to come in with an extra 15% off their purchase.  What’s even better about this?  You don’t even need to print the coupon anymore; you can just show your Smartphone!

Though sales across the board were up in 2011 from 2010, online sales touted a record-breaking 15% increase in November and December, totaling 37.2 billion in revenue.

Why do I think this number is going to rise?  Well, there are a few reasons.  First, we all know the best advertising is word of mouth.  All I heard last year was about how much money everyone saved online.  Why the better discount online?  For starters, it costs less money to run a website than it does to run a store.  It cuts down overhead and payroll expenses.  This is why we see “web exclusive” deals.  Retailers can offer discounted prices online compared to what they would have to charge you in a retail location.

Though the price of the products is lower, there is actually higher markup for retailers to sell their products online.  Not only that, but they are no longer limited to a geographic area.  Reach becomes virtually endless through online, mobile and tablet advertising, and the cost per customer becomes much less.

Guest Blogger: Rich Kurisko

 

The good news for shoppers — Black Friday lines should be shorter for all the early-rising, thrill-seeking bargain hunters.

Creative, resourceful and simply ingenious!

Those are only a few adjectives to describe the mobile campaign that McDonald’s has put in place and we have discussed this week.

The mobile website and app are direct and straightforward which makes it very appropriate for mobile devices and busy consumers. They provide a unique and creative way to distribute and redeem coupons, as well as entice consumers into McDonald’s restaurants, gaining them more burger sales.
 
While we move forward into an era of high technology and consumers who want more, mobile is the way to attract new customers, as well as retain and reward old ones.

Kudos to McDonald’s. It’s always fun to watch the big brands do a bang-up job of promoting their brand!

McDonald’s Winning Mobile Ad Strategy

Smartphone use is rapidly growing and 9 out of 10 people say they notice mobile ads.

McDonald’s is promoting the new triple cheeseburger on the Rolling Stone mobile website. The ad reads “Spend Less. Taste More” and features the McDonald’s logo as well as an image of its triple cheeseburger. It is simple and eye-catching and when selected, consumers are redirected to a location finder to feed their indulgences.

What I find to be a clever addition to the mobile ad is the Twitter icon that leads to the McDonald’s Twitter landing page. By adding this social network element into the ad, McDonald’s is giving consumers an opportunity to continue a relationship with them.

Another McDonald’s mobile ad that caught my eye was for the Blueberry Banana Nut Oatmeal, a new breakfast product. What’s makes this ad a ‘winner’ is that it is being promoted mainly on Us Magazine’s mobile website. Research shows that people are most likely to read this magazine during the morning hours. Promoting the new breakfast item within a magazine mobile website that has the most traffic in the AM hours is considered a good marketing strategy in my book.

By clicking on the breakfast ad, the smartphone user is able to locate the nearest McDonald’s and obtain mapped directions from their current location. Consumers can do all this without even leaving the mobile website they were initially on. Now that’s trouble-free!

GARDENING WITH PAPA SMURF

Augmented Reality adds computerized graphics and sounds to the natural world as it exists. It matches what you are actually viewing in the real world with a virtual, computer generated scene, adding extra information to what your eyes actually see. It has been around for a while but recently it is being used to give consumers a unique personal experience.

Last year McDonald’s launched an augmented reality campaign that aimed to increase Happy Meal sales by engaging consumers via a Smurfs promotion. McDonald’s created a mobile Smurf game that, when inside a McDonald’s location, came to life. Smurf avatars decorated the restaurant and unlocked additional Smurf fun for consumers.

Kids were able to turn themselves into Smurfs and take part in the game to help garden with Papa Smurf. Kids learned what plants need to grow and practiced this knowledge by taking care of the digital plants on the screen.

Why did this work? In-restaurant signage brought the individuals’ game to life. That is pretty incredible. Kids were able to ‘Smurf-ize’ themselves and see themselves on screen. The whole Smurfs campaign, from the mobile game, to signage, to the Smurf Happy Meal toys were flawlessly integrated, therefore creating growth and higher sales of Happy Meals.

Gaming in the Marketing World

Implementing game-centric design techniques into a marketing campaign is proven to work if incorporated fittingly. Gamification allows brands to deeply engage with its users within an entertaining platform — building participation and trust.

McDonald’s recently ran a mobile ad for a word scramble game that incorporated dollar menu items. In addition to learning about the dollar menu items while playing, users can also find the nearest McDonald’s location. The ad for the game was promoted on popular iPhone apps.

The ad encouraged users to test their McDonald’s knowledge; “You make smart choices every day. Like thinking before you speak and buying the McDouble. Show off your smarts at McDonald’s.” After unscrambling a word, users can share their score on Facebook, which facilitates spreading the word about the McDouble promotion. Users can also browse the dollar menu to see the different items with a picture and description.

What worked about this game? McDonald’s challenged people by asking them to test their knowledge. Not only were people playing the game, they were also learning about products. By capturing people’s attention with this amusing game, consumers were inadvertently thinking about the products. When the consumer later thinks about grabbing a bite to eat, McDonald’s is top of mind.