ZMOT in financial services

When I heard about Zero Moment of Truth, I had to go back and read what are other moments of truth that any marketer or product owner would consider. As I found out that first moment of truth is when customer looks at the product on the shelf and digests all the information including price, brand, utility, description etc from the label and makes the decision to buy or not. The second moment of truth is when customer buy the product, goes back home and make a decision whether he/she likes it or not. Any company needs to win both moments to win the customer.

In today's world, customer comes online and searches for a product and makes a decision online on what are the next steps. Pricing, description, reviews, places to buy and others can be researched within less than a second ( as Google shows the total time it takes to find the relevant information). With one search instance, user has most of the information to make next step. Direct price listing, and product reviews influence any customer to a great extent. This is Zero Moment of Truth which now any product owner needs to win in order to get sales.

In financial services, companies are reluctant to provide incomplete guide to investing and are scared of regulatory policies and compliance, making it difficult for them to use all new marketing channels. Most of the customers of any financial company are on social networks. Now, companies can combine CRM system to connect their social behavior to provide better recommendation to buy next product. Email has been most neglected form of marketing whereas it can be power marketing tool to provide recent market and social media based recommendation. Also, company owned search has to expand and include market data, current social messages, reviews and performance of recent transactions in order to influence customers' trading/buying behavior. So, let's begin to incorporate ZMOT into big corporates.

The death of Facebook?

The reports of the death of Facebook have been greatly exaggerated, and just plain wrong.
With the stock' recently doubling after hitting $19/share, many of the naysayers have been conspicuously quiet.
I don't claim to be a business expert, but I always felt that something with over 1 Billion users and growing couldn't help but be successful. It has become part of the fabric of our lives, just like Amazon and the online shopping trend that it pioneered!

The Key to Any Business Easy Access

The Key to Any Business Easy Access

  I recently read an article in TechCrunch regarding LocalOn.  LocalOn is a startup focusing on helping small business advertise their goods and services.  Apparently, there are 20 other startups just like it in the Silicon Valley.  However, most of these startups are implementing your traditional door-to-door sales strategy.  Small businesses are bombarded by these startups and speaking techie jargon to try and close business.  The problem is this model is hard to scale.  There must be a better way.

  Oddly enough we just had a guest speaker in class who started a very similar business.  However there approach and one that LocalOn just adopted us targeting small business through local newspapers and merchant associations.

  You have to find out where the majority of your customers are located, do business, or network and target these resources.  If you don't you will have a very difficult time scaling.  What LocalOn was able to do was provide and easy digital service for small businesses where they have a hub and spoke advertising solution.  They input ad information on LocalOn's platform and LocalOn distributes the information to the appropriate publications.  Pretty simple.

  If you can find areas to scale your business and give your customers easy tools to implement ad plans themselves you have the ability to do well.  We'll see how well LocalOn does.

  Do you think LocalOn's approach will work?

The Dollar Shave Club II- the Journey Continues!

So after signing up for the Dollar Shave Club, I was very excited to see if the blades would measure up. Two days after signing up, I received my package with new blade cartridges, a new handle, Dr. Carver's Shave Butter, and One Wipe Charlies. Blades are great, and not expensive. The shave butter is the best shave cream that I have ever used. Let me reiterate that, ever. Furthermore, the One Wipe Charlie's are fabulous, and as a gentleman I will say no more than try for yourself. This club has been able to eliminate the cost of brick and mortar retail distribution and can send you what you need, when you need it, at a lower overall cost. I would not have tried it if did not have a low cost(what if it is not awesome?), and an amazing add campaign(best adds I have seen in a long while). A really great business model. It makes you think about what else could be done . . . 

Tencent's plan to go international

For the last decade, Tencent has grown to become an internet giant in Chinese market seeking to expand its presence in a global market.  It recently acquired two American Gaming Companies, Riot Games and Epic Games, in 2011 and 2012 respectively to break into the U.S. market.  While both companies have high number of subscribed users, it is too early to determine whether these acquisitions were successful.  It is also questionable whether the past acquisitions and alliances in China would bring satisfactory results as domestic and international competition is rising.  Furthermore, the international censorship remains as an unresolved homework in western countries. While Tencent’s big portion of revenue is concentrated in one business sector, it continues to make healthy investment in R&D for new software development.  The WeChat has been extremely successful in Asian market.  We believe that company’s sustainable success lies on its continued investment in R&D and its ability to attract entrepreneurial talents from both domestic and abroad for further innovation.  Future innovation and unique offerings supported by strong R&D and robust Chinese market would allow Tencent to surpass Google and Amazon in a near future.  

Google Shopping’s Transition to Pay-For-Play

Google Shopping’s Transition to Pay-For-Play

In last week’s class we learned that Google’s Product Search made the transition from a free search vertical, which ranked results by relevance only, to a paid listings service. I was appalled, and felt a little bit taken advantage of – I frequently used Google Shopping to search for purses, bathing suits, shirts, jewelry, etc.  Well a little bit of digging and it turns out that Google has been doing this for over a year. And while Google argues that the change will improve the search experience, and that it is about delivering the best answers for people searching for products and helping connect merchants with the right customers, I for one am highly skeptical. How can small, local merchants that specialize in specific products and target niche markets compete with the Targets and Macys of the world when selling bracelets, for instance? Unfortunately, they probably can’t…..

Why Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post

As I'm sure most of you have heard - or maybe not - Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, bought the Washington Post - with his personal funds, not Amazon's. Lots of theories are floating around as to why he would do this given the newspaper industry is dying. However, I think this may be a brilliant move. The publishing industry in general needs a burst of innovation to turn things around. Bezos has a track record for getting this done and well! If he does this right, he may be the pioneer that steers around publishing. All Eyes are watching!

Here's an article with other theories - made me laugh:
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130806220121-24171-why-jeff-bezos-bought-the-washington-post-six-theories

Google Reports that 90's Fashion is Coming Back

According to this article, Google Searches Show '90s Fashion is Back in Style, 90s fashion is making a comeback.  Google is basing this report on year over year analysis, comparing searches from July 2012 to July 2013.  Here are some examples the article notes.

• Searches for [crop tops] were more than 110 percent higher.
• Searches for [high waisted jeans] were more than 120 percent higher.
• Searches for [acid wash shorts] were more than 50 percent higher.
• Searches for [grunge clothing] were more than 80 percent higher (and climbing rapidly so far in August).
• Searches for [bucket hats] were more than 120 percent higher.

The article credits the upcoming school year and a new generation that did not live through this trend.

Maybe we should all invest in Gap!

How to go viral

1. Get NFL quarterback superstar brothers to get their swagger on while wearing funny wigs.
2. Throw in three smokin and scantily clad back up dancers.
3. Write an Andy Samberg style rap extolling the virtues of getting "football on your phone."
4. Throw in a cameo by dear old Dad, former NFL quarterback Archie Manning.
5. Mix ingredients, shake well, and serve to the public.

Two days later watch your YouTube views surpass 5,000,000 while morning news shows, ESPN, local broadcast, and John Does the world over indulge...

Gmail tabbed inboxes has email marketers reeling

Personally, I love the new Gmail inboxes with the new tabs for organization. In fact, I don't know how I lived without it for so long. It auto-slots each of my emails into broad categories (Primary, Social, Promotions, etc.) This new feature has made my job of sorting through my emails much easier.

However, I came across this post the other day that describes how email marketers are scrambling to find out how to "survive" and continue to get their customers to open emails. Google's algorithm on how they are filtering the emails is very robust, but I'm sure in the coming weeks, there will be many clever programmers and marketers trying to figure out a way around it so they can make sure their emails show up in customer's Primary mailbox.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/07/how_email_marketers_can_survive_gmails_tabbed_inbox.html

Instagram goes video....and the middle man continues to shrink

It has been discussed for the past several months but it is finally a reality......instagram allows user to record and edit their own video submissions on the instragram app. This is just another step in the elimination of the middle man in our digital lives. Music, movies, news, communication all have fallen prey to the digital consumer and this is just the beginning of the fall of the producer/distributor of video content. Remember when there used to be brick and mortar book stores and libraries....seems crazy now that we have the google. Remember when we had newspaper deliver people and people read magazines? Now it is all downloadable and on your tablet. Remember when we had hollywood studios and recording companies......well they are still around but instgram and other technologies are creeping into their space.....the future should be exciting.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/07/prepare-to-be-outdone-by-artists-and-brands-instagram-just-enabled-video-uploading/

Should You Build a Responsive Site or a Native Mobile App?

The basic question any business owner needs to ask himself is, "Do I need an app at all?" If you're a law firm who primarily interacts via in-person consultations or over the phone, then no, you probably do not need a mobile app. The same is true for a restaurant owner with one or two locations.

In 2013 there are several business owners struggling to answer this question. eCommerce is tricky for mobile as it has not caught up. Is it less expensive to create a responsive site than a mobile app ? Which tool can drive more revenues for my business ?

Interesting concept that businesses wrestle with !

http://mashable.com/2013/08/06/responsive-vs-native-app/

First 3D-Printed Rifle Successfully Fires 14 Shots

3D printing is going to revolutionize the manufacturing industry. Consumer products like vases, home decor, kitchen cookware, etc are ok to print. What about weapons ? Should a common man have access to the blue print of a weapon.

This guy Matthew managed to fire 14 shots before the plastic around the barrel cracked. When first testing the rifle, Matthew can be seen using a string to pull the trigger from a distance. Now, he seems confident enough to pull the trigger by hand.

I think there should be laws on availability of blue prints !

http://mashable.com/2013/08/06/update-3d-printed-rifle/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mashable%2Ftech+%28Mashable+%C2%BB+Tech%29&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-Tech-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner

Facebook to break TV dominance.......

Facebook has larger young audience even in the prime time hours compared to four major television channels. Their local marketing department is working on this new video ad service. Their major concern is that the user experience of Facebook is not spoiled because of ads popping up on user news feed every now and then. Thus, the plan is to limit the amount of ads to one for every 20 updates. This means that the commercials would take up 5% of a user’s news feed and members would not see an ad more than three times in a day.

Facebook is going for TV style advertising. Businesses and their marketers now have access to 1.15 billion members of Facebook.

Will this new ad service distinguish Facebook from its online rivals and help in generating more revenue?

“http://beta.fool.com/muhammadabdullah/2013/08/05/the-new-revenue-stream-for-facebook/42505/?source=eogyholnk0000001”

eBook Pricing and the DOJ

There have been significant changes in eBook pricing since 2007 when Amazon first launched its Kindle. Initially, Amazon sold many bestsellers for a loss at a $9.99 price point. After agency pricing went into effect in 2010, pricing adjusted and many bestsellers were now priced at $12.99 or $14.99, 50% of the hardcover list price. In 2012, the Department of Justice filed a collusion lawsuit against Apple and 5 of the big 6 publishers. While the publishers settled and agreed to put a certain amount of pricing power back in retailers' hands, Apple choose to fight, and in a 2013 trial, they lost.

Now, the DOJ is recommending several items to fix the harm that Apple caused consumers through collusion. One key thing the DOJ wants is to force Apple to allow other retailers to link to content through their iOS app, something Apple only allows for a 30% cut of all sales currently. If this does happen, it could mean significant market share shifts in the digital book market.

I fully expected the judgement to end with a large fine for Apple, but forcing them to link to other retailers book catalogs seems like overreach by the government since they don't have to approve all app developers products to be allowed for download in their store. We'll see how this plays out in the next few weeks, but I don't think Apple will wind up having to allow links to other company's products for free. Of course, with all the appeals, we may not know for a while.


http://gigaom.com/2013/08/02/feds-say-apple-must-give-access-to-amazon-and-barnes-noble-e-bookstores/

Apple must also for two years allow other ebook retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble to provide links from their ebook apps to their e-bookstores, allowing consumers who purchase and read ebooks on their iPads and iPhones easily to compare Apple’s prices with those of its competitors.

Privacy

     When you see some portal sites, like Yahoo, you can see the advertisement suited for your preference. Why? This is because they gather information about what kind of website you click. There are some arguments about this marketing way in some countries. Some don’t want to utilize their personal search history because of privacy issue. I think this marketing way should be careful.

    I didn’t care until last week but now I don’t like this way now. Last week, I tried to buy some magazine on Amazon.com and was searching it. By clicking the evaluation for product of other people again and again, I happened to reach swim suite magazine. This is focused on women’s swimsuits and there are a lot of women in swimsuits. I was curious about this magazine and just checked some for a while. Next day, when I  enjoyed searching website, my wife asked me to use internet. I let her use my laptop and she tried to buy diaper on Amazon. However, the top page on Amazon showed the previous history and recommendation based on my previous click. She found that I looked at those magazines and seemed to look down on me…. This way may be effective but sometimes it deprives me of freedom.

Faking a Social Media Presence

An article in the Guardian is alleging that "Like" farms have popped up in Bangladesh to support to many companies visibility on social media platforms.  These farms apparently pay their employee's $15 for each 1,000 "likes."

Before choosing to make a purchase, "31% will check ratings and reviews, including likes and Twitter followers," showing the importance and impact these "like farms" can have.

Unlike computer programs that created fake Friendster accounts to spam people, these accounts are created "legitimately" by people, and all that is being exploited is cheap labor and the global connectivity of the Internet.

Facebook's entire reputation and business model is built on its ability to deliver users and sell advertisements to those who follow. If the accuracy and viability of Facebook's users is questioned or inaccurate or full of ghosts that will hurt pricing both from advertisers for companies trying to gain followers. 

Facebook's business model professes to allow advertisers, who are able sift through all the freely volunteered information of the user to perfectly target their most desired customers.  The growth of fake accounts, could seriously impact that model.  The growth of "Like Farms," while likely not creating full fake accounts that would impact this business model, can still pose a threat to Facebook.  If consumers learn they can't trust a business, because half of its followers are from Bangladesh fake accounts, it will impact Facebook's credibility among all participants.

Chromecast

As we were talking about evolving business models on the Internet and the disruption that digital technology has unleashed on media markets like music, books, and TV, I could not help but think about Google's new Chromecast product.  Personally, I have not had cable for over five years, but I understand that I am very much in the minority and that people by and large remain plugged in. Nevertheless, increasing broadband penetration, improvements in access to services like Netflix and Hulu, and original online content have made 'slinging' video content from the Internet to TV more viable. Until now, however, this has continued to be outside of the mainstream. I would content the two major reasons are
1) Cost - The devices (Roku, XBox, Apple TV) have been expensive and cost too much to "give it a shot."
2) Availability of Content - These systems, most notably Apple TV, have been relatively closed and have not offered widespread content.

Google Chromecast, priced at $35, and with an API published and open to the world, addresses both of these challenges. First, anything viewable in the Chrome browser can be viewed through the TV (though suboptimally). Secondly, even with the faster and better native streaming (directly from the device; with Chrome, your PC needs to send the data over your wifi), a number of services are already available and the API has been opened up to anybody who wants to connect their service. No doubt with heavy sales, all the major content providers will get onboard eventually.

Purpose Driven Brands

Just wanted to share this article about EY rebranding as it relates to our last discussion in class:

http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Newsroom/News-releases/Mark-Weinberger-becomes-EY-Global-Chairman-and-CEO

My firm has realized an importance of having a purpose behind the brand and spent significant amount of time to change the old logo to a new one with a simple purpose / tagline now associated with it: Building a better working world! We are currently the only Big Four company that has a purpose driven brand/logo which, as we learned, is very important in customer acquisition. Customers usually prefer to purchase products/services from brands that are more than just a logo, i.e. they have a meaning behind what they do and why they do it.

Facebook Video Ads asks for $1-2.5 Million/Day

Based on a recent Nielson study, for consumers aged 25-35 during day time facebook has a reach comparable up to 4x networks measured. Consumer product goods marketers (P&G, Unilever, Coke, facebook ) are interested to target this audience. Having said that, Bloomberg reported this week that facebook will launch 15sec TV commercial for $1M-$2.5M/day. Below I will briefly discuss the pros and cons. On the positive side, there are three factors. First, this is a feature to show significant monetization, (FB price eclipse its IPO price this week). Second the offer will create a new revenue stream and will compete for TV network ad spend ($60B market). Third, the data rich platform is perfect hyper-targeted marketing. On the down side, there are three factors. First, ad can invade user experience, interrupted with unwanted ad. Second, the advertisement could alienate user and erode user base. Third, no metric performance on facebook TV ad, marketers are taking a gamble. Only time will tell whether fb TV ad or television network ad will play out in the market. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/reports/2013/running-digital-audiences--walking-advertising-dollars.html