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#MarketingTitbits – ‘Line’ the next big messaging App, Google launch marketing course & 10 bizarre businesses

1. Messaging app ‘Line’ takes on WhatsApp & Viber with 200million + usersIf you want to make free phone calls and send free messages to your friends then Line could be the app for you. What makes Line different from the plethora of other communication apps out there is its ability to allow users to send free unique stickers and emoticons.

Since Line launched two years ago it now has in excess of 200million users and is the most downloaded app in over 40 countries, putting it alongside WhatsApp and Viber. Line’s success with stickers has prompted the likes of Facebook and Path to add similar functions to their services.

If you want to know more about the next big thing – Line, then click here.

2. Do a course in Google marketing for £1000

Google has announced that it will launch an internet course to help people to get into the marketing and advertising industries. The course, which is based at the Squared office on Tottenham Court Road, has already been trialled in the ‘real world’ in the form of 6 week full time courses with graduate workers from London’s marketing and advertising agencies.

As of August 22nd the course will be available online so that anyone can access it from home.

If you are interested in Google’s new course and want to learn more then click here.

3. 10 bizarre businesses that you didn’t know existed

You probably never knew any of these strange businesses existed. But all over the world people are finding weird and wonderful ways to meet the needs of their clients and make some money while they’re at it. Perhaps it’s the tough economic climate that inspired these entrepreneurs to do what they love and perhaps their weird business ideas will inspire you to do something you love – no matter how obscure it is!

Who would have thought there was a demand for cheese sculpting?

10 Bizarre Businesses.

 

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#MarketingTitbits – Hootsuite, shopping and Science World

1. Hootsuite – for begginers
If you haven’t heard of Hootsuite already then it is about time that you did. The social media management site now has 7 million users in over 175 countries around the world. It is basically a website that allows users to integrate all their social media channels and control posts across them; particularly handy for businesses.

This week, we’ve found a great article on Mashable entitled ‘A beginner’s guide to Hootsuite’. If you don’t already have Hootsuite or a struggling with it then we suggest you check it out. To read the article click here.

2. How is shopping changing in the future?

The way that we do our shopping is changing rapidly. More people shop online now than they ever have before, especially the generation of 14-19 year olds. This week we came across a very interesting article in Marketing Week that explores how the face of shopping is changing and how brands can and need to keep up with it. To have a look at the article click here.

3. Wonderfully creative adverts from Science World Vancouver

The Science World Museum in Vancouver is notorious for its slightly controversial exhibits –Body Worlds and The Science of Sexuality exhibitions being just two examples that courted controversy. This risqué and alternative attitude extends into their marketing. They are now known across Vancouver for their innovative and attention grabbing campaigns. They have amassed a vast array of eye-catching and intelligent adverts that have been used around the city to raise awareness. We think they are brilliant, so thought we’d share some with you. To have a look at some of them and get inspired click here.

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#MarketingTitbits – paper, augmented reality, Google

  1. FINAL-ONE-SMALLERHow a 75 year old piece ofpaper started modern communicationIn October 1938, an American physicist, inventor and patent attorney, Chester Carlson spent a Saturday morning with his assistant creating the world’s very first dry copy. The world’s first xerographic image read “10.-22.-38 ASTORIA”. It took another 4 years before Carlson was issued a patent on his new process, which was eventually renamed xerography, a name which was later appropriated by the multinational printing company Xerox. Carlson’s invention heralded the beginning of modern computing and prompted the invention of the photocopier, which changed the way that people work in offices forever.

    2. Augmented reality

    Augmented reality is a view of the real world which has been edited or augmented by technology in some way. The idea of augmented reality has been around since 1901 when L. Frank Baum, the author best known for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, spoke about the idea of an electronic display overlaying data onto real life. Despite this, nothing was put into practice until 1962, when cinematographer Morton Heilig invented and patented Sensorama, a simulator with visuals, sound, vibration, and smell. Between 1901 and 2013 a lot has changed, technology has moved from a simple idea to Google announcing the beta phase of Google Glass, turning the idea into reality.

However, it is not just those lucky few Google Glass users that can get to experience augmented reality. Increasingly, there are a wide variety of mobile apps that use augmented reality to enhance your real life experience. This year, Ikea and Audi have released augmented reality apps that are not just for fun. Ikea’s app lets users ‘try out’ furniture and artwork in their home before they buy it and Audi have developed an augmented reality handbook app for their newest Audi A1 model.

3. Shared endorsements from Google

This week, Google updated its terms and conditions and the changes might give you cause to think carefully about the comments or ratings you give to anything on Google’s services like Google+ and YouTube. Google can now use adult users’ comments and ratings and provide them to companies to use as endorsements for internet advertising. These are accompanied with the endorsers’ names and photos.

To have a look at the full article click here.

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What your SME can learn from social media

Last month, we introduced the first instalment of our three part blog, ‘What SMEs can learn from big businesses’. Part 1 highlighted ‘Guerrilla marketing’ and how larger organisations are adopting innovative campaigns in order to raise brand awareness and create that vital social buzz.  This month, part 2 focuses on social media and how more and more companies are including the likes of Facebook and Twitter into their marketing mix to help grow their business and attract potential customers.

Out of the total 7 billion people living on the planet, 1.5 billion use social media. From Twitter and Facebook to Google+ and Pinterest, social media has now become ingrained into our contemporary lifestyles, making it easier to engage and share content with individuals online, no matter what the social and geographical boundaries. But social media is no longer just influencing our personal lives; one in three businesses now use social media, with 58% of consumers ‘liking’ at least one brand on Facebook.

Companies are now harnessing the power of social media to build their brands within the landscape of status updates, pins and tweets. To create successful social media campaigns, an investment of time is essential. However, this alone is not enough. A note of caution – it is easy to rush into tweeting and posting pictures, without really understanding why you are doing it and what you hope to achieve. Like any marketing activity, researching, planning and implementing strategies are critical to turning a great idea into great results.

Here are some good and bad examples how some well known companies have used social media to engage with their audience.

1. In October 2012, Cisco, the multinational networking equipment giant, wanted to make sure that they were listening to their customers and responding to questions and queries in ways that were relevant and accurate. With this in mind, Cisco launched their Social Media Listening Centre. On a daily basis, the centre monitors around 5,000 social mentions across 70 company-related platforms, from Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, LinkedIn and YouTube, to company blogs and forums. According to a recent independent evaluation of these listening activities, Cisco achieved a 281% return on their investment over a 5-month period, amounting to an annual cost benefit of over just over £991 million. This was calculated by comparing what Cisco spent on implementing and training staff to use social marketing tool with the benefits received, the avoidance of marketing and customer service costs to achieve the same results, along with indirect benefits, such as increased staff productivity. The results indicated that the new centre helped Cisco employees deal with more enquiries at a faster rate.

2. To celebrate their 100th anniversary, Oreo posted 100 adverts on their Facebook page over 100 days. During the campaign, Oreo’s Facebook friends went up from 26million to 27million and its Facebook interactions increased by 195%. The posts included relevant topics, quotes about Oreos, humorous cartoons and even Oreo themed recipes. The time invested in developing their Facebook campaign paid off as Oreo won the top Studio Award prize from Facebook.

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3. However, interacting closely with consumers online can backfire if you have not planned your campaign successfully.  Earlier this year, Tesco posted on their Facebook page “Click LIKE if you love getting your groceries delivered.” Alongside people liking the post, there were numerous comments from customers explaining their bad experiences with Tesco’s home delivery service. Tesco did not ignore or delete the comments, instead they responded to every single user, asking for details so they could look into each case and try and solve the problem.

4. Unfortunately, Waitrose’s attempt at #hashtags wasn’t exactly what they had planned either. In 2012, Waitrose invited customers to complete the sentence ‘I shop at Waitrose because… #WaitroseReasons’.  What Waitrose thought was a great way to showcase the affordability of the brand backfired, with Twitter users mocking the brands position within the market and their target audience. For example, ‘I shop at Waitrose because it makes me feel important and I absolutely detest being around poor people #WaitroseReasons. ‘I shop at Waitrose because I was once in the Holloway Rd branch and heard a dad say ‘Put the papaya down, Orlando!’

For a company embarking on using social media as part of their marketing, the seemingly endless choice and possibilities can see daunting. However, adopting the right platforms to represent your brand is important.  Twitter and Facebook are good for creating conversations with customers and responding to queries, complaints or praise. For the brands that are more visual, sites like Pinterest and Instagram provide an array of creative opportunities. The key to successful social media isn’t just about how many fans, followers or mentions you have, instead the secret to building your brand is the interaction between your business and your online community. For your campaigns to run smoothly, creating a social media strategy is essential. It will help your brand stay in the right direction, generate a return on investment, as well as increase your visibility online.

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#MarketingTitbits – marketing, ASDA, Google

asda-google-marketing-smaller21. What can we expect from the next decade of marketing?Marketing in some form, impacts upon virtually every individual and business on the planet. That’s why we think it’s really important for you to have a look at this article from Forbes. Not only do they outline what we can expect from the next ten years in terms of marketing, they illustrate how marketing has developed over the last 50 years. Everything mentioned can easily be applied to your business – not matter how big or small. To read more, click here.

2. ASDA lets shoppers create models of themselves using 3D printing

Have you ever wanted a model of yourself? No – us neither, but for those that that have, ASDA is the place for you right now. Just in time for Christmas, ASDA is launching its newest product. Using 3D printing, customers can now buy models of anything they like. You, your pet or even your car, the list is endless. Shoppers can even chose the finish of their model – coloured, white or bronze. You can scale the model to any size. Prices start at £40 and go up to £250. To read the full article, click here.

3. Google says users are clicking on more ads

As you know, Google is world’s biggest search engine, handling over an estimated 100 billion searches every month. On a daily basis, 500 million of those searches have never been seen by Google before. As users searching habits change, Google has to respond. One trend Google has also observed this year is that the total amount of paid clicks has gone up by 26% – this is thought to be caused by users accessing Google via mobile devices. To read more,click here.

 

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#MarketingTitbits – Google+, Instavid, Guinness

Google+-Instagram-Guinness-smaller1. The beginners guide to Google+
When Google+ first launched in 2011 they had 10s of millions of users sign up within the first few months. Despite constant scepticism since, the platform has been growing steadily and now boasts in excess of 235 million users. Because of the lack of understanding of what Google + actually is, many people and businesses have refrained from becoming a Google+ user. However, we have always felt that if you want to succeed with SEO on Google you need to play by Google’s rules. It is likely that Google + is central to one of these rules. If you are not already active on Google +, we think it would be a good idea for you to have a look at this beginners guide to Google+. To read the article, click here.

2. 10 of the most shared brands on Instagram

About three months ago, in an attempt to keep up with Vine, Instagram released an update that allows users to upload videos as well as photos. The majority of videos uploaded are from regular Instgram users, but 40% of the 1,000 most shared Instagram videos (Instavids) last month came from brands. The videos uploaded are a maximum of 15 seconds long and are already giving the 6 second long video app, Vine, competition. This week, we saw an article from econsultancy highlighting 10 of the most shared brands on Instavid, to have a look click here.

3. Guinness / Jonathan Ross advert #RoundUpYourMates backfires

On Saturday October 26th, Guinness aired three adverts during the break between The Jonathan Ross Show. The advert asked viewers to join in on Twitter with the hashtag #RoundUpYourMates. Unfortunately for Guinness, the campaign backfired and was heavily criticised, being called “painful” and “sexist” amongst other things.  Some of the #RoundUpYourMates tweets included:

Lee McEwan ‏@leemcewan 27 Oct
Interrupting a TV show with a worse version of the same TV show devalued the TV show itself #roundupyourmates

Paul Connolly ‏@PaulConnolly10 26 Oct
#RoundUpYourMates the grand tradition of great Guinness adverts died tonight

Mark Gordon ‏@markjgordon 26 Oct
The @GuinnessGB marketing team must be praying for that hurricane on Monday to take the spotlight off them. #roundupyourmates

To read more from Marketing Week click here.

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#MarketingTitbits – John Lewis, squats, Google

JL-Squats-Google-smaller1. John Lewis’ Christmas advert set to break its own records!

John Lewis have been gracing our screens with captivating Christmas adverts since 2007. The first one, in 2007, “Shadows”, showed a range of different Christmas gifts set up so that when a light was shined on them they created a shadow shaped like a woman with her dog. However, it wasn’t until 2011 that John Lewis made history.“The Long Wait” showed a little boy impatiently waiting for Christmas day and when it finally came he ran straight past the presents piled up at the end of his bed to give his mum and dad a present, the caption was “For gifts you can’t wait to give”.

The following year we saw “The Journey”, which illustrated a snowman travelling far, through woods and over rivers and mountains to get his Snowlady a scarf, hat and gloves, the caption was “Give a little more love this Christmas”.

And so to 2013 and “The Bear and the Hare” – a story about a hare whose best friend, the bear, hibernates every Christmas. After much deliberation the hare comes up with the perfect gift for his friend, an alarm clock to wake him up on Christmas day. The caption this year reads “Give someone a Christmas they’ll never forget”.

Despite huge popularity around John Lewis’ Christmas adverts over the past 3 years, this year’s ad is set to break its own records – in social media terms anyway. Within the first 24 hours after it was launched “The Bear and the Hare” was mentioned in 49,152 tweets which is more than double the 21,027 it got last year.

To read the full article, click here.

2. 30 squats = 1 train ticket (if you live in Moscow)

The price of train tickets have been rising for many years and are now at an all-time high. Unless you live in Moscow…

Forget the ruble, a Russian train station in Moscow now accepts 30 squats as payment for a train ticket. The exercise is a gimmick to promote the Sochi Winter Olympics, which are coming up in 2014. We think this is a great idea to promote exercise and at the same time getting a free train ticket!

3. The hidden features of Google

Roald Dahl once said “And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.” And here is one of those unlikely places. They may not be the best kept secrets but Google have created some secret features that we’d like to share with you. To have a look at the hidden features of Google, click here.

 

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Top Marketing Tips This November

  1. Moneyengine – a great new app, which for the next couple of days is free. Could be customised for your business.
  2. Gumnotes – if you are like us, you may have come across note management software before but never persisted with it. Then we came across Gumnotes. This free software allows you to make notes about documents, websites, spreadsheets, in fact just about anything, then attaches the note to the document or file so it pops up.
  3. Want to keep on top of your Google Analytics – try this great desktop reporting tool calledPolaris. A great way of keeping your website stats visible.

 

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