Time Article Link: Time Self Service Article
I thought that it was very interesting back in 2007 when NCR and Teradata split off that the young, aspirational, motivating CEO of NCR Bill Nuti was chosen to head up the new NCR versus move over to the Teradata division spin-off to drive the growth of enterprise intelligence. Seeing where he is now and the aggressive repositioning of the "National Cash Register" company into the self-service juggernaut, the move is making sense. Especially as this market is poised, based on most analyst reports, for incredible growth which NCR can take advantage of if it's positioned to uniquely meet the market needs.
Self-Service in commerce is prevalent and hits all aspects of our daily lives. Obviously, the first mainstream application was the ATM machine back in the '80's but with the growth of the Internet and Web 2.0, consumers are becoming much more comfortable with shopping and selecting services without the in-person assistance of a human being on the other side. This phenomenon is moving into the brick and mortar world as well as electronic kiosks and self-service checkout devices are becoming more common, with the trade off being between that personal service we love and convenience.
It's not always successful, but when it is (as companies like NCR, IBM, eBay, and Amazon.com would like it to be) the following criteria is usually met:
- Customer convenience is delivered
- The consumer trusts in the outcome of the transaction
- The consumer continues to feel an affinity to the merchant's brand
- The merchant is able to use the channel to offer value-added services that consumers value
- ... and even more interesting, if the devices include personalization, then companies can deliver unique offers through Relationship Management technology at a key selling opportunity
For instance, my favorite self-service application may be the Papa John's online ordering tool. Through it, I find out about specials without having to sift through my mail, order quickly, and usually get the pizza at my house quickly. It's worth checking out.
Showing posts with label Online Marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Online Marketing. Show all posts
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Barack Obama's Fundraising Coup
We still have 2 1/2 months until the US presidential election's outcome will be decided, and it is yet to be decided. However, one lasting change is going to resonate from this year's political season.
Traditionally, conservative Republicans and "establishment" candidates have dominated in the political fundraising wars, generating millions in donations from wealthy contributors and corporations through lavish fundraisers and photo opportunities. Of course, those aspects of fundraising continue to exist in today's political season, but the winner of the fundraising battles may surprise... as well as where a lot of his support is coming from.
Barack Obama is neither an establishment candidate nor is he a conservative Republican. His platforms are highly progressive and he definitely aligns ideologically with the Democratic party. However, he IS the runaway winner in political donations this year, far ahead of rival Republican John McCain and fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton (who would be considered as a Democrat to be the establishment candidate). While donations have come from traditional sources for Senator Obama, a significant portion of his support is coming in chunks of $50 by online donations through the BarakObama.com website... a cumulative total of donations that netted him over $50 million in June 2008 alone. This is not an altogether new phenomenon, however, but Howard Dean was unable to finish after a poor showing in Iowa in 2004.
I imagine that in 2010 and 2012, we will see a greater emphasis on populist web support, donations, and blogging take hold in Presidential elections, especially if Barack Obama is elected in November. If you look at Mike Huckabee's website, you'll see some similar strategies as he continues to position his populist conservative platform to the party base and possibly positioning himself for another run in 2012 or 2016. He's deploying the same mechanisms to reach dissatisfied limited government /populist conservatives as Barack Obama is going after citizens longing for change in our political environment.
Additionally, it will be interesting to watch how the Web 2.0 enabled strategy plays out for Obama in the general election, as neither Bush nor Kerry leveraged these tools much 4 years ago.
Traditionally, conservative Republicans and "establishment" candidates have dominated in the political fundraising wars, generating millions in donations from wealthy contributors and corporations through lavish fundraisers and photo opportunities. Of course, those aspects of fundraising continue to exist in today's political season, but the winner of the fundraising battles may surprise... as well as where a lot of his support is coming from.
Barack Obama is neither an establishment candidate nor is he a conservative Republican. His platforms are highly progressive and he definitely aligns ideologically with the Democratic party. However, he IS the runaway winner in political donations this year, far ahead of rival Republican John McCain and fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton (who would be considered as a Democrat to be the establishment candidate). While donations have come from traditional sources for Senator Obama, a significant portion of his support is coming in chunks of $50 by online donations through the BarakObama.com website... a cumulative total of donations that netted him over $50 million in June 2008 alone. This is not an altogether new phenomenon, however, but Howard Dean was unable to finish after a poor showing in Iowa in 2004.
I imagine that in 2010 and 2012, we will see a greater emphasis on populist web support, donations, and blogging take hold in Presidential elections, especially if Barack Obama is elected in November. If you look at Mike Huckabee's website, you'll see some similar strategies as he continues to position his populist conservative platform to the party base and possibly positioning himself for another run in 2012 or 2016. He's deploying the same mechanisms to reach dissatisfied limited government /populist conservatives as Barack Obama is going after citizens longing for change in our political environment.
Additionally, it will be interesting to watch how the Web 2.0 enabled strategy plays out for Obama in the general election, as neither Bush nor Kerry leveraged these tools much 4 years ago.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Facebook for iPhone application
This past weekend, a friend of mine showed me her new iPhone 3G device. This is the first time that I have seen the new 3G "in the wild" and I of course started to play with it. My friend showed me not only the functionality of the phone itself (which is extensive... GPS navigation, integration with email, high quality photo, etc. - oh yeah, and it can be used as a phone too!) but also the Facebook for iPhone application that she downloaded for it. I browsed around for a bit and saw what was going on in my virtual world and saw my own profile on the device.
If I'm a marketer looking at this, and I'll be many including myself are, they are probably thinking to themselves: "Wow, this takes the social networking space to an entirely new level... 24/7 access through an iPhone (or Blackberry, there's an app for Blackberry too)... How can I use this to get the word out to my fans?" Social networking is, but may not be for long, confined to instances where a user is "at the computer." However, with the iPhone handy (this isn't an iPhone ad... I swear!) their Facebook and social networking gossip is only a button's click away which makes the medium much more real-time for the user. This could spell out opportunity for marketers that are smart about it.
... and I say "smart about it" because the consumers (including myself) who use social networking sites like Facebook are not the types that want to be overtly marketed to. Even though, as a marketing aficionado I love listening to/watching commercials, they usually go through my analytical, "what message/positioning are they trying to convey?" mind, versus the moldable consumer mind that most advertisers want to sit and be influenced through these 30 minute spots. I want to be sold on my terms, as do many in Gen X, Gen Y, etc..
Consumers today are much more independent minded in terms of commercialization than previous generations and the backlash on early marketing push efforts by Facebook is evidence. They want to be informed about products and services that they care about, but at the end of the day (and research supports this), they want to be advertised to on their own terms by trusted people like them. This spells out an opportunity for Facebook, Myspace, and companies that would partner with them, especially as the technology moves beyond the web browser and into the everyday "iPhone" device. Those companies do need to be careful... but if they are it could be very successful.
Especially since... people only watch commercials during the Super Bowl nowadays. For all other occasions, there is TiVO.
If I'm a marketer looking at this, and I'll be many including myself are, they are probably thinking to themselves: "Wow, this takes the social networking space to an entirely new level... 24/7 access through an iPhone (or Blackberry, there's an app for Blackberry too)... How can I use this to get the word out to my fans?" Social networking is, but may not be for long, confined to instances where a user is "at the computer." However, with the iPhone handy (this isn't an iPhone ad... I swear!) their Facebook and social networking gossip is only a button's click away which makes the medium much more real-time for the user. This could spell out opportunity for marketers that are smart about it.
... and I say "smart about it" because the consumers (including myself) who use social networking sites like Facebook are not the types that want to be overtly marketed to. Even though, as a marketing aficionado I love listening to/watching commercials, they usually go through my analytical, "what message/positioning are they trying to convey?" mind, versus the moldable consumer mind that most advertisers want to sit and be influenced through these 30 minute spots. I want to be sold on my terms, as do many in Gen X, Gen Y, etc..
Consumers today are much more independent minded in terms of commercialization than previous generations and the backlash on early marketing push efforts by Facebook is evidence. They want to be informed about products and services that they care about, but at the end of the day (and research supports this), they want to be advertised to on their own terms by trusted people like them. This spells out an opportunity for Facebook, Myspace, and companies that would partner with them, especially as the technology moves beyond the web browser and into the everyday "iPhone" device. Those companies do need to be careful... but if they are it could be very successful.
Especially since... people only watch commercials during the Super Bowl nowadays. For all other occasions, there is TiVO.
Friday, August 1, 2008
The tangled web of marketing
Remember 30 years ago, when a brand manager would have the following (perhaps a few more, but these are the main) options available to him or her?
- Television ad spots
- Radio ad spots
- Newspaper and Magazine advertisements
- Trade promotion dollars for endcap displays
Fast forward to today: Retailers have more power in the negotiating process than ever before, slick technologies like TiVO, the web, etc. are reducing (or possibly eliminating) the influence of commercials and print advertisements, and there are more and more devices out in the market by which marketers have options to position their products today.
Add to that, the ever-increasing influence of the online space... which has been growing double digits for many years and is pulling more and more ad dollars away from traditional media. The good news is that the web offers advertisers and merchandisers new means to market to, especially younger, consumers. Better yet, the web offers what traditional ad spots have not really been able to definitively provide, quantifiable metric-gathering ability by which to measure the Return on Marketing Investment... which in a world where marketing (and all expenses for that matter) is being increasingly scrutinized is a really good thing.
However, the not-so-good news is that the web, and especially now the emergence of Web 2.0, provides an increasingly complex number and types of channels available to use in the marketing mix. Paid search, unpaid search, website impressions, click-through advertising, email, affiliate marketing, social commerce, social networking, SEM, cell phone couponing... you get the picture. And I'm sure that there are more options than that. With options, of course, comes the risk of analysis paralysis... "Which options should I use?" "What's the latest 'new' thing?" "What am I getting out of this ad, really?"
In reality, depending on your target segments and the types of behaviors/actions you want to influence, any one or a combination of these tools may be used. I will not go into any one of these right now (that would be for future blogs, of course), but here are my thoughts about evaluating your mix:
- Who are your customers? And how do they interact with you and others online?
- What is your desired outcome? Is it awareness? Visiting your website? Creating UCG to support your brand? Sales (obviously everyone's endgame)?
- What tools provide the most logical resource to accomplish your desired outcome and can the technologies/partners you use provide accurate and actionable measurements to help you assess your Return on Marketing Investment?
- How do these online channels interact with your current offline channels? Can you leverage cross-channel marketing?
- Do you have the right data on your customers (behavior, preferences, history, etc.) and sufficiently robust analytics available to make intelligent decisions about targeting with these channels?
- How rapidly can you adjust your messenging/strategy using this means if there is a need to course correct?
These are my initial thoughts. I will provide thought on specific tools later.
- Television ad spots
- Radio ad spots
- Newspaper and Magazine advertisements
- Trade promotion dollars for endcap displays
Fast forward to today: Retailers have more power in the negotiating process than ever before, slick technologies like TiVO, the web, etc. are reducing (or possibly eliminating) the influence of commercials and print advertisements, and there are more and more devices out in the market by which marketers have options to position their products today.
Add to that, the ever-increasing influence of the online space... which has been growing double digits for many years and is pulling more and more ad dollars away from traditional media. The good news is that the web offers advertisers and merchandisers new means to market to, especially younger, consumers. Better yet, the web offers what traditional ad spots have not really been able to definitively provide, quantifiable metric-gathering ability by which to measure the Return on Marketing Investment... which in a world where marketing (and all expenses for that matter) is being increasingly scrutinized is a really good thing.
However, the not-so-good news is that the web, and especially now the emergence of Web 2.0, provides an increasingly complex number and types of channels available to use in the marketing mix. Paid search, unpaid search, website impressions, click-through advertising, email, affiliate marketing, social commerce, social networking, SEM, cell phone couponing... you get the picture. And I'm sure that there are more options than that. With options, of course, comes the risk of analysis paralysis... "Which options should I use?" "What's the latest 'new' thing?" "What am I getting out of this ad, really?"
In reality, depending on your target segments and the types of behaviors/actions you want to influence, any one or a combination of these tools may be used. I will not go into any one of these right now (that would be for future blogs, of course), but here are my thoughts about evaluating your mix:
- Who are your customers? And how do they interact with you and others online?
- What is your desired outcome? Is it awareness? Visiting your website? Creating UCG to support your brand? Sales (obviously everyone's endgame)?
- What tools provide the most logical resource to accomplish your desired outcome and can the technologies/partners you use provide accurate and actionable measurements to help you assess your Return on Marketing Investment?
- How do these online channels interact with your current offline channels? Can you leverage cross-channel marketing?
- Do you have the right data on your customers (behavior, preferences, history, etc.) and sufficiently robust analytics available to make intelligent decisions about targeting with these channels?
- How rapidly can you adjust your messenging/strategy using this means if there is a need to course correct?
These are my initial thoughts. I will provide thought on specific tools later.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The good news about $4.00 gas
What? There's good news?
You really cannot turn on an economic or political news show today in the United States without the high gasoline prices being mentioned in some way. In many ways in this country, it represents a "crisis" of sorts because of our lifestyle choices over the past 50 years and our dependency on personal transportation (which consumes approximately 70% of our country's energy resources today).
The good news is two-fold. First, it could be worse. Gasoline remains relatively cheap in the U.S. compared to other industrialized countries. Having just been in Estonia for 10 days, gasoline there was 18 EEK (Kroons) per liter. At an approximate exchange rate of 10 EEK/$1 and considering 4 liters in a gallon, the cost of gas over there (and likely all over the European Union) would be $7.20 per gallon. Imagine the screaming on the television news shows if we were looking at $7 to $8 gas.
Second, the "crisis" is creating an opportunity for companies that are positioned to take advantage of the new environment. For example, discounters and club stores such as Wal-Mart and Costco are seeing sales increases during this time as consumers can buy in bulk at discounted prices; a benefit needed to reduce store trips and get a bigger bang out of consumers' reduced discretionary income with more of our hard earned dollars being spent at the pump. In fact, Wal-Mart is taking aggressive steps to build their brand during this economic season; highlighting the window of opportunity that the retail giant currently perceives to regain and retain customers.
The need to reduce gasoline usage can (and likely will) create huge opportunities for growth for eCommerce companies as shopping online becomes much more attractive. In fact, business models such as Peapod which were unsuccessful on a nation-wide scale during the "dot com boom" may potentially resurface if and when consumers realize that it is more economical to pull transportation resources through a service than to drive a 4,000 lb SUV 10 miles round trip to pick up $20 worth of groceries.
In addition, I believe every company that has a good eCommerce model and strategy has a chance to win in this new environment, as online shopping will gain traction if online merchants are successful in building as strong of a brand as their brick and mortar counterparts and incorporate the "save gas, shop at home" positioning into their brand. The better news for them is that the technologies and know-how necessary to execute on this strategy are in the marketplace and are improving. More to come on that.
That being said, time will tell about who will capitialize on the opportunities ahead and who will continue to struggle... potentially the real winners are the technology enablers that serve as catalysts for this eCommerce growth if it indeed occurs.
You really cannot turn on an economic or political news show today in the United States without the high gasoline prices being mentioned in some way. In many ways in this country, it represents a "crisis" of sorts because of our lifestyle choices over the past 50 years and our dependency on personal transportation (which consumes approximately 70% of our country's energy resources today).
The good news is two-fold. First, it could be worse. Gasoline remains relatively cheap in the U.S. compared to other industrialized countries. Having just been in Estonia for 10 days, gasoline there was 18 EEK (Kroons) per liter. At an approximate exchange rate of 10 EEK/$1 and considering 4 liters in a gallon, the cost of gas over there (and likely all over the European Union) would be $7.20 per gallon. Imagine the screaming on the television news shows if we were looking at $7 to $8 gas.
Second, the "crisis" is creating an opportunity for companies that are positioned to take advantage of the new environment. For example, discounters and club stores such as Wal-Mart and Costco are seeing sales increases during this time as consumers can buy in bulk at discounted prices; a benefit needed to reduce store trips and get a bigger bang out of consumers' reduced discretionary income with more of our hard earned dollars being spent at the pump. In fact, Wal-Mart is taking aggressive steps to build their brand during this economic season; highlighting the window of opportunity that the retail giant currently perceives to regain and retain customers.
The need to reduce gasoline usage can (and likely will) create huge opportunities for growth for eCommerce companies as shopping online becomes much more attractive. In fact, business models such as Peapod which were unsuccessful on a nation-wide scale during the "dot com boom" may potentially resurface if and when consumers realize that it is more economical to pull transportation resources through a service than to drive a 4,000 lb SUV 10 miles round trip to pick up $20 worth of groceries.
In addition, I believe every company that has a good eCommerce model and strategy has a chance to win in this new environment, as online shopping will gain traction if online merchants are successful in building as strong of a brand as their brick and mortar counterparts and incorporate the "save gas, shop at home" positioning into their brand. The better news for them is that the technologies and know-how necessary to execute on this strategy are in the marketplace and are improving. More to come on that.
That being said, time will tell about who will capitialize on the opportunities ahead and who will continue to struggle... potentially the real winners are the technology enablers that serve as catalysts for this eCommerce growth if it indeed occurs.
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