When a company has been around for a while, inevitably someone says, “We should do a timeline.” And before you know it, one has been thrown together and tossed up on the corporate website — often without imagery or relevant content or any type of interactive functionality.
This, of course, begs the question “what is the real purpose of a timeline?”
When creating a strategic marketing campaign to celebrate a brand’s milestone, the power of the anniversary’s meaning is what matters most. It shouldn’t be just a reason to celebrate.
What are the steps to developing a successful campaign? Is it enough to add a “Celebrating 25 years” silver embossed label to everything distributed to customers during that 12-month time period?
I say no. Well, yes, go ahead and make the logo, but don’t let it be your entire campaign strategy. Celebrating a meaningful milestone must start with a strategy that encompasses a brand’s external and internal audiences.
First, a pop quiz for you: which of these events generated the most buzz?
a. The Macintosh iPhone launch
b. The Nintendo Wii Launch
c. The Windows Vista Launch
d. The final Sopranos episode
According to recent Nielsen BuzzMetrics, if you chose the iPhone launch, you are correct.
I’m interested in this factlet because I’ve lately been pondering a phrase oft heard these days: “Mobile marketing is the hot new way to communicate with your customers!”
What does that mean? Well, I know what mobile marketing is, but are consumers really ready for it? Are marketers ready to dive into uncharted waters? Or do they still need to be convinced of its relevancy to their brand? And, by the way, is mobile marketing really uncharted waters?
I am a member of the generation that learned to keyboard on a typewriter and didn’t necessarily have computers in high school, so I think technology is fascinating. I mean, MP3 players – that’s WAY better than carrying around a 10-pound “boom box” on my shoulder. (OK, I didn’t really do that, but I know a lot of people who did!).
So, when “they” started talking about mobile marketing, I wanted to find out more. I googled it, of course, and discovered that information is easy to find because people are talking about mobile marketing and, if they’re not already doing it, they really want to be doing it. In particular, I found a great paper by Jim Nichols on Brandchannel.com that sited this eMarketer poll:
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Social networking is a huge phenomenon and most American adults are doing more than talking on their cell phones, everything from texting and gaming to email and banking.
In fact, a survey of 35,000 people revealed that consumer interest in purchasing a cell phone with streaming video or MP3 capabilities doubled between 2006 and 2007.
If you’re like me, you’re thinking that statistic represents a bunch of kids — only a teenager can figure out how to work the new phones and only a teenager truly embraces the new technologies. Lo and behold, research shows that isn’t the case.
Case in point: Jim Nichols sites a recent study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project illustrating that, while texting messaging demographics are skewed towards teenagers, there a significant number of 30 to 64-year-olds who are also using this service.
What does that have to do with mobile marketing? Well, it’s possible to deliver promotional messages and news via text messages, and even to gather valuable customer information.
But, you say, won’t that annoy my customers? Nielsen also reported recently that 23 percent of mobile users saw a mobile advertisement in March 2008, and that mobile users are willing to receive ads in exchange for lower phone rates …
So, if businesses want to do it and consumers are ready to receive it –- what’s the hold up? Is it fear, caution, or simply that folks have yet to figure out how to leverage the technology?
It’s bad enough when your brother-in-law sends you an email in all capital letters with no punctuation and it reads as if he were having a conversation with himself during which he changed his mind a few times; but such an email in the office can cause a headache, not to mention a delayed response or, worse, no response at all.
It amazes me how many emails I receive in my day-to-day activities that don’t employ basic written communication strategies. I mean, don’t people realize that their “to” list will respond more quickly if the email clearly states their needs (and we don’t have to scroll down through days and days of thread to figure it out)?
Loose-fingered emailers have been a frustration of mine for years. I mean, who thinks it’s a good idea to send out notes that ramble on and on with spelling errors and no sentence or paragraph breaks? Come on. Can I be the only frustrated recipient? I googled email etiquette and was not too surprised to discover that poor email communicators have been around since the dawn of email. Did you know that they can cause businesses to lose revenue?
Of course, there are the common tips for email: don’t use all capital letters, don’t overuse the CC or Reply All features, limit your use of emoticons and exclamation points, etc. But I don’t think they hit the basic communication strategies. Remedial communication training costs companies more than $3 billion per year! And here I am, offering you some simple advice for free!
