The accessibility of smartphones, made widespread with the grueling battle between Verizon and AT&T, is at an all-time high with their increasing popularity and affordability. Along with the wireless industry’s explosive growth in 3G coverage and technology comes the necessity for marketers to get involved in a big way. A recent 2009 Retail Holiday Season Shopper Study, conducted by Motorola, confirmed this by stating, “More than half of consumers utilized mobile phones for in-store holiday shopping activities,” including “multi-channel comparison shopping, peer feedback, product info and couponing.” That means marketers who used mobile marketing as an additional brand touch point this past holiday season were more successful in reaching over half of all holiday shoppers than those that didn’t. In this economy, can you afford not to reach for that piece of the pie? Read the rest →
Posts Tagged ‘advertising’
Mobile Marketing: Get Into Your Target’s Mind by Getting Into Their Back Pocket
Book Review… Free: The Future of a Radical Price
I’ve been recommending Chris Anderson’s book Free: The Future of a Radical Price, to friends and colleagues since I read it. Whether or not you agree or disagree with his conclusions, the book is filled with interesting historical and anecdotal accounts of online business model evolutions and the economic, technical and sociological changes that have precipitated an unarguable shift in how we conduct business. Anderson, the editor of Wired Magazine, an active blogger, and the author of the highly regarded The Long Tail, is an entertaining and engaging writer.
My desire to promote Anderson’s book to those interested in understanding more fully the sea change that we’ve been living through the past 10 years came over coffee this morning. Garmin and Tomkin, companies who develop and sell GPS navigational products watched their stock prices plunge by 16.4% and 20.8% in one day – erasing billions of dollars of market capitalization. Yesterday, Google announced a free voice navigation application.
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Thinking about Inc.
Jeff Cohn receives Inc. 5000 award.
I just finished attending the 2009 Inc. (as in Inc. Magazine) Conference, celebrating the Inc.500/5000 list of the nations’ fastest growing companies. To be on this list, a company must show a minimum level of revenue ($1m) and submit certified financials to prove revenue growth. The top 5000 companies are ranked. This year, Cohn Marketing marked our second consecutive year on the list at the rank of 1279. Those companies on the list as well as “alumni” of the list are invited to the conference, now held annually in D.C. Part award and recognition, part motivation, part education and part just fun, the conference brings together entrepreneurs from all walks of life that have made the list. It’s a great experience each year, meeting these incredible people that have started businesses with a good idea, a few dollars and a lot of hope and prayers.
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Keeping It REAL
During a recent speaking engagement focused on real estate marketing, I was asked a question about the role of advertising in the real estate development industry. Had it gone away? What really mattered? Many of the audience’s questions had been focused on marketing effectiveness and driving customers from the ad to the showroom. I think the room shuddered when I said that I thought there was still a real need for brand building in real estate marketing. Everyone is so focused on direct ROI on their marketing investment that they cannot see the need to build their brand with the appropriate target markets for their product (property). The result? Less distinction. Less product knowledge. Less sizzle and buzz for the property. One cannot live on direct marketing metrics alone.
