It seems like just about everyone is jumping onto the mobile app (iPhone, Droid, Blackberry) wagon these days. Most apps fall into one of four categories:
They’re functional/useful (they help you do something you want to do)
They’re about access/ease (they help you get stuff/information you need)
They’re entertaining (they amuse us, keep us busy, are funny)
They’re lame (they couldn’t think how to fit into one of the above, so they’re sort of dumb)
For many brands, they’re rushing to be there but have no idea why. (which leads to lame apps like Coke’s* — where you you tip it back and it’s like your drinking a Coke – sound effects and all)
It’s much easier to create a functional or get me access type app. You’re Walgreen’s and you let me renew my prescriptions. You’re DropBox and you let me access my files. But to be genuinely entertaining AND drive home your brand message? Now that’s impressive.
See the difference? Coke’s app is about them and how refreshing they are. Walgreen’s and DropBox are about the user and what they want/need.
That’s why I am applauding Sealy’s app called the In Bed Tagger. (Keep in mind that their tagline is: Whatever you do in bed, Sealy supports it.) Watch this brief video to see their app in action.
They got it. An app isn’t a sales gimmick or supposed to be a digital brochure. And it’s not about them. Their app is all about the user and having some fun with the old fortune cookie game. By focusing their app on us… it tells us a great deal about them.
*In fairness, I will say Coke’s other apps, like their snowglobe app, are much more about the user and therefore…more fun and more like the brand I know and love.
It makes some sense. How do you appeal the the 75+ million baby boomers? You help them take a trip down memory lane by giving your product a retro make-over.
I saw this Mountain Dew can on the shelf a month ago and immediately noticed how blatant they were in their efforts. They’re calling it a throwback and making no apologies.
An added bonus — teens think retro is cool too. With one packaging shift, this trend has captured the two buying groups with the most disposable income. Teens and boomers. Pretty smart.
It’s not just food products who are jumping on this retro bandwagon. Nike launched the Air Jordan retro sneakers in February, Disney put huge dollars behind their Tron sequel and look at how many VW beetles you see on the road.
In your online store — you want to show a photo of a family room, filled with your products. You want people to be able to click on each of the items (maybe a lamp or blu-ray player) to purchase them or read reviews. With ThingLink, you can.
On your static website, you want to include some customer testimonials. So you post their photos…but you want people to be able to click on them to hear exactly what they have to say. With ThingLink, you can.
You’re a musician and you want to create a website where beautiful imagery is connected to specific songs or you want to create an online flyer for a concert, offering song samples that people can post on their Facebook page. With ThingLink, you can.
What’s Thinglink? It’s brand new technology launched today by ThingLink and SoundCloud. For the first time, it is possible to link a SoundCloud waveform player to any photo or picture, thereby connecting the subject to sounds, music and effects, voice annotations and narrations.
Users can also include links to social networks, blogs, news and commerce web sites, as well as email. You can also add up to 250 characters to a hover over so you can describe elements of a photo or a product.
This is brand new stuff so there aren’t a lot of examples yet. But check out these photos from the Stockholm Furniture Fair (click here) or musician Shambhu’s site. (click here)
What’s even cooler is that the links/sounds travel with the images, as they’re passed along. So imagine the reach that testimonial or band’s flyer can have on Facebook or Twitter!
As is the way of this era, you can grab a free account at www.ThingLink.com.
I’m curious — how can you see marketing folks using this technology?
About 12 months ago, people thought I was crazy for launching the Drew McLellan app for both the iPhone and the Droid (download it for free by clicking on the link in the sidebar) but I was just jumping on a trend's tsunami of a wave — all to get my ideas and recommendations out to you.
If you prefer to access information with your smart phone, I want to be there too. It's that simple. Is your company thinking along the same lines?
The trend's wave, if anything, is getting larger. The usage numbers are staggering and I think we're at the tip of the iceberg here. Watch this short video and imagine the numbers in 2 or 5 years. (e-mail subscribers, click here to view the video)
If you haven't asked yourself and your team these questions — you'd better get to it:
How are we going to reach our customers, prospects and/or employees via mobile?
How quickly can we get started?
Are our competitors already using mobile? How far behind are we?
If we'd be first — how far ahead would we be?
Experts predict that by 2020, most of us will be using our mobile device as our primary tool for accessing the web.
MailerMailer released their 10th study about 6 months ago on e-mail open rates and some of the findings are worth thinking about.
As you can see in the chart below, the average unique open rate is dropping. Image blocking, the increased use of mobile devices for e-mail and list fatigue were listed as key reasons for the drop.
One of the more ponder worthy facts was that the day with the highest open and click rates is Sunday. (with Tuesday in 2nd) I found myself wondering if that's the day business people clean out their inbox to get ready for the week.
When they looked at open rates by industry, no surprise — medical was at the bottom of the barrel at 7.3%. Sadly for me and my brethren — marketing was right there with the magic pills at 7.4%. Ag had the highest at 25.3%.
E-mails with shorter subject lines were opened 52% more than the long-winded versions.
So…how might you tweak your e-mail strategy to take advantage of these results? Here's what we're going to do with our weekly e-newsletter:
Stick with Tuesday deliveries
Shorten the subject lines
Keep sharing value and not being self promotional
Maybe mention a tractor or crop now and then! (not really!)
Last year I told you about JWT's (J Walter Thompson) Top 12 Trends Report for 2010. It's by far the most comprehensive and helpful of any of the trend pieces we see this time of year.
I had a chance to ask Ann Mack, JWT's Director of Trendspotting a few questions about the report. As you can imagine, I'm sure she was crazy busy as the report has just been released. So I am grateful that she took the time. Here's what she had to say:
Q1. What trend is the most surprising to you/your team?
If there are two trends that stand out to me this year, it’s our Eat, Pray, Tech trend and our De-Teching trend—they both address our increasing dependency on technology but from opposite angles.
Eat, Pray, Tech speaks to the fact that high-tech devices and services (and the skills to use them) are fast becoming as integral to people as food and clothing. In an interconnected, tech-driven and -enabled marketplace, the latest technology is becoming more than just a luxury or a guilty pleasure.
At the same time, as our dependency on technology rises, so too will our desire to dial it down. De-Teching speaks to the idea that more people will log off—at least temporarily—or engage in one tech activity at a time in an effort to re-engage in the offline present and/or to rewire their brains to be more effective.
Q2. What trend do you think has the most significance for small business owners?
One of the trends that is significant to small business owners is Non-Commitment Culture—the idea that people are increasingly opting for choices that require a less permanent commitment because they are reluctant to commit to discretionary or big-ticket purchases. Consumers will be more likely to rent goods, buy them one year and sell them the next, or share them with friends.
Small business owners can take advantage of this trend by working within this non-commitment culture—helping to enable the sharing/borrowing of their products or lowering the commitment required to buy into their products and services.
Otherwise, they will need to provide incentives to counteract these consumer leanings—by offering added value (such as cutting-edge technology, a more green product, customization options, etc.), by helping to allay the risk around long-term commitments or by showing why long-term commitments can be worthy investments.
Q3. What trend do you think has the most B-to-B relevance?
Worlds Colliding has a lot of B-to-B relevance. It speaks to the borders between the online world and the physical world becoming increasingly fuzzy. Mobile gadgets are bridging the two worlds (the Web accompanies you and helps you navigate the physical realm), and all kinds of objects/devices are becoming Internet-enabled.
So not only will we have a multitude of connected gadgets (from e-readers to phones to televisions), but objects like fridges or even dog collars will connect to the Internet (alerting us that we need certain groceries, for example).
The latter is often referred to as the Internet of Things. Businesses will need to forge relevant partnerships with providers of applications, tools or devices to enable this merger of the online and physical worlds.
Q4. If you owned a business and had read the entire report — what two or three questions would you be asking yourself?
How can my business better reflect the lifestyle of the digital native so that it seamlessly bridges the virtual and real worlds (with little distinction in my communications, products, tools, etc.)?
What products or services can I offer to help people step away from technology (at least temporarily), focus on the offline present, mono-task or connect with others in the real world?
How can I endorse the non-commitment mind-set without hurting new, fresh sales?
Their full report is 88 pages and it's packed with not only the 10 trends, but they take each trend and dig into the following:
The trend itself
Drivers of the trend
How the trend manifests itself
Case studies and examples
Significance/relevance
Potential
Questions to get you thinking about the trend and your own product/service/business
It really is an incredibly insightful tool that will have you thinking differently about not only how you market your business but how you run your business.
I suspect that many of you received iPads as holiday gifts this December. Now, you’re trying to justify to family and friends exactly why you need this absolutely awesome toy.
I have the solution for you. Here’s how you turn your iPad into the business tool you won’t be able to live without. Here are the apps worthy of your home screen.
As a mac laptop, iPhone carrying, iPad user — I give extra props to apps that synch between all of my devices in an effort to keep me organized.
I have not tried all the apps that exist. These are the ones that work for me. No doubt, your mileage will vary,
I’m not a tech support guy, so if I use the wrong terminology or can’t tell you how to get your iPad to do something — I’m sorry.
Most of these apps cost a few bucks.
Yup, lots of other incredible apps but I focused just on what’s on my home screen. In other words — work tools. I have 6 other screens of games, books, puzzles, movies etc.
This is the longest blog post I have ever written. Sorry about that.
With those disclaimers firmly in place — let’s dig in.
The dock is the little shelf at the bottom of your home screen. As you scroll through your screens, the dock stay in place. So this is the place for the apps you are constantly using. The iPad comes with Safari, Mail, Photos and iPod as the defaults on your dock. You can switch out the apps on the dock…and you can have up to 6 apps there.
So, on my dock:
Settings: (allows me to control all settings on the iPad) Comes pre-loaded.
App Store: (search, find and download apps) Comes pre-loaded
Safari: (web browser — you can synch your bookmarks on all devices through iTunes) (instructions) Comes pre-loaded.
Mail: (synchs with Mail app on my phone and laptop as well) Comes pre-loaded.
Things: (Task Management/To Do list) This is an incredible app. It synchs my To Do list on all devices AND iCal. Now this one was pricey at $50 but I don’t regret spending the money. I am not going to describe everything it does (check out their website) but it keeps me on task, on time and looking a bit less forgetful.
Reeder: – my feed reader. It synchs with Google Reader and lets me browse by feed, folders, starred items etc. It also sends posts to Instapaper, can instantly post to my Twitter or Facebook accounts. It was $4.99 (Reeder website)
Now, onto my home screen:
Dropbox: This is my universal file cabinet. (visit website) I can access any file in my Dropbox account (or upload a new file) from my iPad, iPhone or laptop. I can share files with other people (by invitation only) while keeping all the other files private. I literally upload my entire WORK folder from my laptop when I travel, so the laptop can stay at the office! (Free)
Simplenote: This is a virtual notebook — but keeps every note organized and tracks revisions to every note. (visit website) I use it to take notes in meetings, I keep my “Pack List” so I never forget anything while packing and it synchs between all devices. I can also e-mail any note to anyone in my contact list. Notes can be tagged and categorized as well. (Free)
Evernote: This is my brain’s junk drawer. It synchs on all devices. Anything I might want to collect/save (photos, text, audio files, audio notes that I can record on the fly, typed notes, screen captures etc.) It’s where I keep half-baked ideas, blog post thoughts, research tidbits etc. I love the audio feature. I can clip something on a website and then leave myself an audio note of why I am keeping it. I splurged for the premium ($45/annual) for the larger file upload size but I am guessing I could have gotten by with the free version. (check out their website)
FlightTrack: As the name suggests, this allows me to keep tabs on my (or family members) flights. It tells me what gate I need to go to, if we’re scheduled to leave on time, the on time percentage of my flight, trip time, gives me seat maps and terminal maps. If I am on a flight and wondering what gate we’re going to pull up to — or what gate I need to get to — it’s all right there. I went with the Pro version ($10) because it synchs with TripIt automatically, (FlightTrack website)
Log Me In: This allows me to access my laptop (or my Mom’s computer) no matter where I am. I can take remote control of the computer, transfer files between computers, print remote files to my printers at home or work, etc. I really got this to be my Mom’s tech support but it serves my purposes for work as well. They have plenty of free options and a wide range of paid options as well. (Review options here)
Keynote: Vastly superior to PowerPoint, this is the Mac’s presentation software. It allows you (with an adapter) to use your iPad and a projector to give presentations without laptop or other device. You can also create presentations on the fly. You can also save any Keynote presentation as a PPT if you want to. Drop and drag graphics, re-size elements with the squeeze of your fingertips — creating a presentation is actually fun! You can e-mail presentations from the app, print etc. (Read more and watch a video) ($10)
Pages: This is a beautiful word processing app. You can do much more than create plain documents though. With the tap of a finger, you can add images, charts, resize fonts, change fonts, etc. (Read more and see some samples) My only frustration had been that I couldn’t link Pages (or Keynote) directly to Dropbox but now I can. (read how you can too!) ($10)
Note: If you’re a PC user — I’d highly recommend Office-2 HD fro 7.99. It allows you to create, open and edit MS Word and Excel and save directly to Dropbox.
Flipboard: This is a very cool app. It basically takes all your Google reader folders, your Twitter feed, Facebook news updates, magazine subscriptions, TedTalks videos, blog feeds, etc and presents them to you in a magazine format. This is a fantastic curator if you want to browse through all that matters to you, from an info POV. (check out their website) (Free)
HootSuite: This app allows me to update Twitter, Facebook and FourSquare on the fly. I can also schedule updates for minutes, hours or days in advance. it also synchs on all devices! (Hootsuite website) (Free)
Instapaper: This allows me to grab any page/s on the Internet and save them to read later. If there are links in the story — I can tap on them and connect to them via my browser or save it as a new document in Instapaper. This too synchs my devices and on the web. (Check it out) (Free)
GoodReader: The best app for reading PDFs on iPad, this tool also handles MS Office files as well as many audio and visual files. (Read more) ($3)
Print Central: One problem with the iPad is that once you have photos or documents stored on it, you can’t print anything unless you transfer the file to your main computer. Print Central lets you either plug in (with charging cord) to your computer and print directly from the iPad or hook up with any wifi printer without cords. (Check out the site) ($10)
BoxCar: This app pulls all your notifications (Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, and many others) and aggregates them all in one place. You won’t ever miss another direct message, notification or new e-mail. This is a huge time and embarrassment saver! (Read more about it) (Free)
iThoughtsHD: If you like to brainstorm or think in mindmaps, this is the app for you. It’s easy to use, integrates with Dropbox and gives you many options in terms of how you like to design and organize your maps. (Watch the video) ($10)
Time Master + Billing: In the agency world, we need to keep track of how we spend our time. This app lets me do that, no matter where I am. And it synchs with my iPhone, so I can keep records on both and they work together. This has lots of features I don’t use (like billing) but would make it even more valuable for a solo consultant or entrepreneur. (More info) ($10)
Calendars – Google Calendar Client: I’ve got calendars on Google Apps, iCal, my iPhone and my iPad. I need a program that synchs with them all, has alarms that work on all of them and let’s me view my entire team’s calendars individually. Yikes. That’s why this calendar app does the trick for me. It has a drag and drop events features, set repeating tasks, and invite people to events. This is a life critical app for me. (Read more about the app) ($7)
Netflix: It’s a very cool thing to have movies and TV shows on demand. The quality is excellent and you can either rely on iPad’s built in speakers or plug one in. Either way — it’s excellent in a hotel room, an office or airport. (You need a netflix account) (Free)
Square: Accept credit cards without having a merchant’s account or paying ridiculously high service charges. The account is free and they’ll even send you the credit card reader (plugs into the headphones jack) or you can key in the credit card number. Square even generates an instant receipt for you and the client. (see if Square is for you) (Free except for service fees)
Air Sharing: This app turns your iPad into a hard drive that allows you to connect with your computer, swap files, print, and much more. Think of it as a huge flash drive, thanks to Air Sharing. (Check it out) ($3)
At Bat (MLB 2010): Okay, you can’t work all the time. During pre-season, regular season and post-season, this app let me watch any major league baseball game being played — live. The app itself is free and gives you plenty of great baseball stats, updates, scores etc. The “watch any game” is an annual subscription. (Read more)
There you have it…now you can justify that iPad to anyone — it’s a business tool like no other!
Maybe it's the time of year and the fact that we're having a beautiful evening snowfall, but as i watched it snow, I got thinking about the uniqueness of snowflakes. They say there are no two the same because they're all asymmetrical in their own way.
And yet, when we draw them or use them for decorations — we can't help but draw them incorrectly, fixing the asymmetry and making them "perfect."
In our pursuit of perfection, we actually take something unique and make it common and ordinary.
And yet — what do we want from companies who market to us? Do we want fake perfection or do we want to see them for who they really are, warts and all? Personally, I want those rough edges. They're reassuring.
Mette Mitchell wrote about a fascinating trend called Wabi-sabi (from the Japanese aesthetics concept) that is the celebration of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete.
Check out her post (by clicking on the link) and see how Wabi-sabi is impacting packaging, retail spaces and brands.
This isn't a trend about sloppiness or not caring enough to clean up imperfections. It's actually about being brave enough to be a little lopsided.
Because lopsided is real, one of a kind, honest and puts a consumer at ease.
Okay, we are rounding the bend on our look at trendwatching.com's top 11 consumer trends for 2011. If you missed the first three installments, just click on these links: Part one, part two and of course, part three.
9.Planned Spontaneity: With lifestyles having become fragmented, with dense urban environments offering consumers any number of instantly available options, and with cell /smartphones having created a generation who have little experience of making (or sticking to) rigid plans, 2011 will see what trendwatching.com calls full-on “planned spontaneity.”
Brands can expect to see consumers in 2011 rushing to sign up to services (the planned part) that allow for endless and almost effortless mass mingling with friends, family, colleagues or strangers (the spontaneity part). A developing segment of this trend is consumers signing up for mobile services that passively and constantly broadcast their location.
Question re: trend #9: We've seen the breadcrumbs of this trend with all of the geo-locating services out there like Foursquare and Gowalla. I think you can also point to TweetUps and other "let's just hang" but planned events. Even the Laid Back Networking Event that McLellan Marketing Group hosts every quarter.
Could you create this sort of planned spontaneity that would attract potential customers? Or perhaps an exclusive gathering for your clients? Then, once you have them together — could you give the event some sort of twist that would make it feel spontaneous and a little crazy. (makes me think of a flashmob kind of energy.)
10.Eco-Superior: When it comes to ‘green consumption’, brands should expect a rise in “eco-superior” products; products that are not only eco-friendly, but superior to polluting incumbents in every possible way. Trendwatching.com says brands should think of a combination of eco-friendly yet superior functionality, superior design, and/or superior savings.
Question re: trend #10: This feels like old news to me. We've been talking green for the last several years. So my question is this — how do you make this tired old trend feel new to your customers and prospects? When you combine the "old news" aspect of this trend with the economic pinch that many people and companies are experiencing — I think you have to make this about the pocketbook. So how do you do that?
11:Owner-less: Fractional ownership and lifestyle leasing business models have re-emerged, with services such as car-sharing and public bike programs enjoying success around the globe. For many consumers, access is better than ownership.
Question re: trend #11: This demands a completely new way of thinking about sales. Especially if you are a big ticket purchase — how could you group potential buyers who are reluctant to pull the trigger on the entire amount? Could you lease, rent or somehow break up your offering?
Okay…those are the 11 trends that trendswatching.com says we should be prepping for. How are you going to take this information and capitalize on it in 2011?
We're exploring them in small sets so we can dig in a little deeper. Today, we'll look at trends 7 & 8 (bet you can guess what's coming tomorrow!)
7.‘Twin-sumers’ and ‘Social-lites:’ Both of these types of online consumers identified by trendwatching.com are critical to spreading positive word-of-mouth recommendations.
Twin-sumers are consumers with similar consumer patterns, likes and dislikes, and who are hence valuable sources for recommendations on what to buy and experience, while social-lites are consumers who consistently broadcast information to a wide range of associates online.
Question re: trend #7: This trend is acknowledging the rising importance of what is now being called P2P (person to person) marketing. It's a fancy way of saying word of mouth. But as consumers grow both more frugal and more skeptical — finding influencers like the Twin-sumers and Social-lites will become even more vital to our marketing efforts.
Of course…social media is the amplifier in the equation. One co-worker telling another co-worker about a new restaurant and the terrible service they got has now become a Facebook update, with 500+ friends seeing the same story.
So the question of course is this — who among your current customers who have broad circles of friends/social media contacts? What would get them to talk about your offerings? It's certainly not going to happen if you simply meet their expectations. What could you do, say, offer, ask, share that would be remarkable enough to tell others?
8.Emerging Generosity: This trend is about brands and wealthy individuals from emerging markets (especially China) who will increasingly be expected to give, donate, care and sympathize, as opposed to just sell and take.
It’s a profound cultural change and a consumer demand that their counterparts in mature markets have had a few years to getting used to.
Question re: trend #8: This trend ties to their first trend — the random acts of kindness. But now the generosity isn't aimed at your consumers, it's offered to the world. Or at least your part of the world.
This is really a three-fold question. First — what cause is the perfect fit for your brand? Second — how can you engage your employees and customers in the cause? And third — how do you tell the world about your efforts without bragging or coming off like you're patting yourself on the back?
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