QR Codes and Geurilla Marketing For Small Businesses

 

 Everybody has had the painful experience of showing up to a friend's apartment and asking for the WIFI password, sitting there as your friend tries to describe which letter is capitalized in the factory password. But the use of QR codes makes sharing WIFI passwords easier and becoming more widely adopted by small business owners. The evidence can be seen by looking at the streets of New York or across any small business during the pandemic.

One good thing the pandemic did for everybody was help with the widespread adoption of QR codes. It is now very typical to be ignored by your waiter until you are finished ordering from your menu on your phone. QR codes offer a new and unique type of marketing that has been harnessed throughout New York. Now on Subway rides or a walk down any street, it is easy to find QR codes acting as a portal into the digital world. These stickers can share menus to your browser, auto-draft a text message, check-in for appointments, and much more. 

 For the cost of a sticker, the average business owner can now promote their business with QR codes around the city (only in a legal manner).  Discount stickers or event promotions can be placed in unique locations, and the owner even can update the action for QR codes, saving money in the reuse of stickers. Overall, QR codes are not what is going to save every small business in New York. But more companies should consider the launch of a small guerilla marketing campaign utilizing QR codes. The cost is low, and the potential increase in traffic is worth the small manufacturing costs of a sticker.

 

https://thatwebsiteis.me/archives/value-qr-codes/

Digitalization + Extremely Accommodative Financial Conditions = A Powerful Cocktail

The iOS App Store launched in 2008 with 500 apps. Today, 1.85 million different apps are available for users to download. Android users have an expanded list; up to 2.56 million apps are available via the Google Play Store. 

Data is being produced at an exponential rate. After all, we are now handed an iPad when checking in to doctors' offices (at least, we were before COVID hit), we purchase most of our home-related products on our phones, and we stream entertainment on our phones. 

While the current state of play may seem very advanced considering where we stood just five years ago, many businesses remain behind the digitalization curve in the U.S. and miss out on the network effects and analysis potential that comes along with centralized data. Companies like Snowflake, DataRobot, and Palantir have emerged as businesses that manage and process data on behalf of firms new to the digitalization process. As this shift to digital becomes more robust, these companies, and others that have yet to appear, are poised to benefit and, in some cases, exploit our tendencies as consumers. 

It's not about the profits, however, it's about the power that comes with massive amounts of data on consumers, clients, and patients. China understands this very well, as does its government. 

The most recent squelching of the Ant Financial IPO suggests that the speed of digitalization may have been moving too quickly for the Chinese government. After all, the fintech platforms are separate from the government and can represent systematic risk to financial stability. Given the plethora of data being collected by these platforms, it is safe to say that the government would like more influence over the database. 

Notably, thanks to many fintech platforms, Chinese consumer credit has jumped over the past few years from 20% of GDP to nearly 40% of GDP. In e-commerce, China accounted for less than 1% of the value of worldwide transactions a decade ago; that share is now more than 40%. With consumers using your banking app and purchasing products on your platform daily, you can judge their loan repayment credibility fairly easily with a simple algorithm. 

While Chinese consumer credit as a percentage of GDP is a far cry from that of the U.S., which stands closer to 80% of GDP, it may be an important harbinger of what is to come in the U.S. 

U.S. monetary and fiscal policy are encouraging more credit-related activity -- consumers have more cash thanks to government stimulus while interest rates remain pinned at record lows, which is opening up waves of mortgage refinancing and attractive auto loans. When adjusted for inflation, (real) interest rates are negative; holding cash in a bank account is no longer attractive due to the negative yield it generates. Scarce assets are benefitting from this powerful cocktail -- consider the acceleration in the prices of Bitcoin, gold, classic cars, and homes over the past year. 

Bitcoin Daily Price Chart, 5y History

Companies such as Coinbase, Bringatrailer, and Zillow are a few examples of businesses that are benefitting from this combination of policy and digitalization. Fintech apps are in the very early innings of development in the U.S., but traditional banks are likely to continue to lose share over time. After all, are you enjoying your 0.10% interest rate on savings at JP Morgan? 

Over the long-run, fintech regulation will have to increase, but the shape the regulation might take remains very unclear. As we will likely see down the road, digitalization when combined with extremely accommodative policy can make for a very dangerous mix. 

Marketing Through Sponsored Editorial Content

This is nothing new as we had "advertorials" in magazines and nowadays in the form of "influencers" in the social media. But I do sometimes think partnering with a respected influencer or media agency can build credibility and "market" your products in a more subtle way. I guess that's the whole point...

As a father, you have no clue whatsoever on what you're supposed to be doing even if your wife or significant other gives you detailed instructions and explains to you why. You do the instructions with the least amount of thought, almost as if you're doing chores. If anything deters from the direction your brain starts to malfunction. So for people like me, it's good to see new parenting websites such as Fatherly (www.fatherly.com) that speaks more to people like me than your usual higher intelligent females.

These sites have a fairly specific audience and brands are more and more partnering with these types of media to target the highly gullible potential customers, rather than going to your usual TV and magazine mediums. It's relevant to me, and it's coming from people who are in similar situations, and albeit they were paid to feature these brands at least it's something that I might be more interested now than I was without my little master. 

You can read an example: https://www.fatherly.com/play/what-makes-the-perfect-bbq/

COVID-19 Accelerates Digital Transformation in the Fashion Industry

It is no secret that many fashion companies have been slower to adopt certain digital practices than companies in other industries, but the COVID-19 pandemic has forced retailers to take a hard look at their digital strategies and to re-imagine them.

Retailers have been devastated by the pandemic; initially, with the closure of brick-and-mortar stores and then with less overall foot-traffic in-store given capacity restrictions and customer concerns about shopping in public spaces.  As a result, online shopping has increased during the pandemic, a trend that is expected to continue in the future.  It is anticipated that e-commerce may rise from 35% to 55% with customers shifting towards digital channels and social media platforms and purchasing most often on their mobile devices.  Consequently, fashion brands need to ensure a seamless digital experience for their customers.  They need to customize content on their digital channels and ensure that digital functionality provides a consistent experience across devices from desktop to tablet to mobile.  

Fashion brands have an opportunity to leverage consumer data to beat out the competition and ensure that customers, who are more selective than ever in uncertain times, choose to shop with their brand over other options.  The use of data analytics and AI will allow some brands to outshine others as they monitor real-time customer tastes and preferences to develop digital marketing content and campaigns that are delivered to the right target audience at the right time to drive brand awareness, traffic, and overall conversion.

 

Article referenced: https://norna.ai/news/?p=294

Vinco Ventures Announces Deal to Merge with Zash

Vinco Ventures, a company focused on M&A in digital media and e-commerce, has announced that it will merge with Zash, a digital media, entertainment, and content-focused technology company.

Zash is led by media disruptor and financier, Ted Farnsworth, User Generated Content Expert, Jaeson Ma, and social monetization expert, Vincent Butta. Zash aims to build a "virtual Hollywood" with its proprietary platform where it can help influencers and content creators expand their brands. The company utilizes data, metadata, and the IoT to meet the demands of content developers, consumers, and creators. The proprietary influencer platform that Zash offers boasts a wide range of viewership as there are currently over 350 million followers. Brian McFadden, Chief Strategy Officer of Zash, said, "The Company's proprietary Influencer Platform led to over 2 billion video views within a 30-day period." Video viewership of this magnitude in such a short timeframe is clearly valuable to any Influencer who is looking to increase his or her brand awareness.

This news is not only exciting for the two companies involved, but to investors as well, as Vinco Ventures stock skyrocketed over 300% today. Investors believe that this merger will help bring scale to Zash's creative services and distribution, something that is incredibly important as demand for premium digital content continues to grow.

Source: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/vinco-ventures-stock-skyrockets-after-inking-merger-deal-with-zash-2021-1-1029991603

The Risk of Banner Ads

As we know, paid search and banner ads make up the majority of digital marketing spend. When you’re paying for your brand to be placed in front of online consumers, there’s a certain amount of risk you have to take into account based on where that ad is placed and what content it appears beside. While you can block your ad from appearing on webpages featuring certain words by using keyword block lists along with your ad, what do you do when something like an insurrection on the capitol happens and everywhere is flooded with bad news? Many brands simply pulled their ads from appearing anywhere. Which makes sense, but is costly to both the brands advertising (because of the manpower to cancel the ads) and the brands for which depend on the advertising money. In addition to being costly, the reactionary culture that is being created is detrimental to strategy and planning. While I agree you shouldn’t promote your ad for saving money with Honey when the Times is reporting on a national emergency, there must be a better way to create stopgaps to prevent this from happening. 

In her article “Brand Safety Shouldn’t Be Reactionary – Advertisers Need To Do Better,” Allison Schiff discusses this phenomenon and refers to a report from IAB in saying that “consumers are 45% more likely to visit a brand’s website if that brand advertises on their favorite news outlets and that advertising in the news can actually increase consumer trust by 6%.” This shows that banner ads, specifically, do what they’re supposed to. How then, can we alleviate the risk involved? In her article, she goes on to discuss the idea of viewing your brand safety as “shades of gray rather than through the lens of a blocklist” and utilizing “brand suitability” when considering the placement of ads. Considering brand suitability in ad placements is a good first step, but what can come next? Are we just forced to continue watching and updating keyword lists in a reactionary fashion? What do you think?

Future of Skiing: Integrated Experiences

 

When people think of skiing, they think of mountains, fresh air, beautiful views, and snow-covered landscapes. Recently, though, some ski resorts have been improving their technology to allow skiers to have a connected experience. Vail Resorts is the prime example with their app Epic Mix. Epic Mix allows skiers and snowboarders to connect to the greater community of skiers while getting to enjoy the freedom and refreshment of being outside in the mountains. Some of the available features are public music playlists, elevation and GPS tracking, professional photo sharing from mountain hosts, and lift line and terrain conditions updates. However, initial feedback on this app was mediocre since people would rather not have a reason to be glued to their phone during an activity that usually provides a welcome respite from devices.

As with many other industries, however, Covid-19 has changed the landscape for businesses that need to meet changing consumer demands. Now, more than ever, skiers are relying on technology to seamlessly integrate with their experience on the hill. From online lift ticket purchasing, to pass verification and liability waivers, to advanced rental bookings, Covid-19 has changed how people expect to interact with a ski resort. Instead of showing up and taking care of everything once they arrive at the ski area, consumers, and business owners, are looking to get as many steps completed ahead of time and online as possible. This change comes as a huge undertaking for many smaller ski resorts that don’t have the scale or breadth of resources available to Vail Resorts. However, creating an app that can serve as a first-timers’ guide, a central source for accessing ski, rental, and on-site lodging reservations, a food ordering service, and even a local area guide could help lower customer service costs to the business and improve the overall experience for guests. Even when effects from Covid-19 start to decrease and we get back to a more normal state, guests will be looking for a ski experience that is not only convenient and efficient but enables them to seamlessly integrate their experiences on and off the hill. 

https://www.v9digital.com/insights/ski-resort-content-marketing-strategies/

https://www.snowpak.com/advice/apps-and-skiing

New Marketing Trend - Instagram Collaboration

 

New Marketing Trend - Instagram Collaboration

January 20, 2021

Article 1: https://onezero.medium.com/what-happens-when-you-actually-dm-a-dm-to-collab-instagram-scammer-76feaddbe4b5

Article 2: https://www.thedesigntwins.com/how-to-master-instagram-collaboration/

I have been interested in Instagram collaboration since I started being reached out to become part of this trend. I am a regular Instagram user with only 750 followers. 

When it started last summer, I did not understand what it was all about and I decided to get informed. I started reading and I learned about this new trend, the various scams, and the infinite possibilities to do brand collaboration in Instagram.

I started off by rejecting every message, then I accepted a few based on the guideline to only approve if the items being sent were for FREE. I learned, by experience, that many of these companies are scams, their products are cheap, and mostly, what they send is potentially not something you'd like to show on your feed. However, I don't regret trying it out. I learnt about this new trend, about the way companies approach you, and I also learnt that I would in fact be interested if the company would be one of my interest. In some cases, I even received nice products that I was able to use.

These articles in particular paints a good guide towards what/how/when to do and don't fall for this trend this. It describes different means in which companies try to approach Instagram users, and how most of them are actually fake companies. I believe it's important to understand about these digital marketing tactics not to fall into lies and potentially lose money, or lose engagement, but also to learn how to do use this tool and turn your IG passion from a hobby into something bigger.

10 Social Media Trends That Every Marketer Should Know in 2021

Living in this time of Covid has accelerated our "increased reliance on digital connectivity" for all aspects of life, including: work, family, social, shopping, play, distraction, school, and healthcare. If companies are not paying attention to the growth and dependence on social for discovery, commerce, and client relationships, they are going to be left behind. Highlights from the article that caught my eye include: 

Social Commerce is the Future (Who in our class discovered a holiday must have via targeted advertising on Instagram?)

Social Media is now a go to Discovery Engine (Close to 50% of people use social for product research)

Authenticity Matters (How do you make your brand ring true to your consumer via digital?)

Digital Disinformation is on the Rise (No surprise here, but doesn't it seem dangerous to trust algorithms to determine what is true and false or to determine what we can and cannot see?)

500 Million Daily Active Stories Users Across Platforms (people and brands really want to broadcast their lives but who cares that you are eating avocado toast?)

You can find the full list here with their collection of data sources:

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/10-social-media-trends-that-every-marketer-should-know-in-2021-infographic/593528/

Familiar with Dating Apps? They Are Launching New Products & Embracing Digital Marketing Strategies

In the era of COVID, dating apps and online dating are now new-normal to meet new people. Despite the challenges of social distancing brought in 2020, several major dating apps saw a significant growth in users and revenues. It is interesting to see that how dating apps are positioning and marketing themselves into this new era. 

Dating apps are very active among young female users rather than male users given that females are tend to be responsive than males. Overall, new users and subscriptions are stronger among female than male. This can be followed up through the innovation of app and using digital marketing strategies. 

On top of that, major dating apps are now launching new product and services through their apps. For example, Bumble (one of the online dating apps) has teamed up with Airbnb (vacation online rental services) to provide virtual first date. Tinder (this is also an online dating app) has also introduced video chat features in their apps for virtual dates.

https://insights.digitalmediasolutions.com/articles/dating-apps-update

New Reality a Mixed One?

During the Saints vs Bears Wild Card Game on January 10th, CBS Sports unveiled its partnership with Nickelodeon through a number of creative, augmented, and mixed reality activations. Augmented Reality is particularly interesting to me as a digital marketing concept, especially during an era of social distancing and quarantine. It allows brands to engage with their audience through creative ways - mainly driving novel visualizations and an overall departure from a normal viewing experience. I think we're going to see augmented reality as a digital marketing strategy become one of the leading trends in 2021, especially since it hosts the potential for application on a global scale with more ease than completely virtual environments that require special apps or expensive hardware.

https://next.reality.news/news/nickelodeon-injects-broadcast-ar-fun-into-saints-vs-bears-nfl-playoff-game-0384224/

Flipping from advertising to commerce revenue is difficult

Hodinkee’s Ben Clymer: Flipping from advertising to commerce revenue is difficult

 As a watch enthusiast, I have always been amazed at how a small site like Hodinkee became the leading voice of the luxury watch segment. Hodinkee started from humble beginnings as a watch review site. Still, between building a strategic digital marketing strategy and focusing on brand-building, they are now firmly positioned to push into the e-comm space. This is an article from 2018 but still very relevant to building a brand and understanding your audience before pivoting to newer opportunities.

https://digiday.com/media/hodinkees-ben-clymer-flipping-from-advertising-to-commerce-revenue-is-difficult/

Will Etsy sign on to a Social Media Partnership Next?

 

Will Etsy be the next e-commerce marketplace to partner with a major social media giant?

Shopify signed a major partnership with TikTok in late October 2020. A natural relationship as the e-commerce platform expands services to enable its customers to attract more shoppers in light of increasing customer acquisition costs.  The partnership offers several tools that will allow Shopify customers to advertise on TikTok.  

A similar partnership is arguably more important for Etsy, where sellers heavily rely on listings, search, and showcasing on the marketplace.  The limited visibility has increasingly been a complaint by many that use the platform to sell handmade and personalized items. Perhaps a partnership similar to Shopify-TikTok will allow Etsy to target and segment audiences based on social media preferences, habits, and followings.   

Shoutout to Angela Zhang for inspiring the post. 

Reference: https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/27/tiktok-invests-in-social-commerce-via-new-shopify-partnership/

Despots Everywhere Should Lose Social Media Accounts

FT editorial fan boy here... I always enjoy their different take on U.S. issues. In this editorial focused on social media policy, a Latin American political reporter suggests that the precedent set by Twitter and Facebook in "deplatforming" President Trump should be used for much worse political figures who use their Social Media presence to enhance their political power within dictatorial regimes. Maduro, Ayatollah Khomeini and Putin were all highlighted as notable exceptions to Twitter and Facebook's recent selective choices about who - and who not - to censor. 

 https://on.ft.com/39CHkA4

How Much Do Influencers Cost?

 The rates charged by social media influencers can vary widely, and are primarily dictated by 8 factors. Some of them are obvious like the number of followers and the type of content, but some are more nuanced, like how much engagement an influencer creates and if they specialize in an industry.

The 8 factors that can be used to roughly determine where influencer rates should be are as follows:

1.       Which social platforms are used

2.       Influencer Reach (how many followers)

3.       Follower engagement (do followers actually convert?)

4.       Industry or Specialization

5.       Type of content (photo, video, etc)

6.       Influencer Demand

7.       Usage Rights (can you reuse the content at will?)

8.       Exclusivity (can the influencer promote other businesses/products?

At a high level, influencers are categorized by their number of followers.

·         Nano-influencers: 1,000–10,000 followers

·         Micro-influencers: 10,000–50,000 followers

·         Mid-tier influencers: 50,000–500,000 followers

·         Macro-influencers: 500,000–1,000,000 followers

·         Mega-influencers: 1,000,000+ followers

Below are the top 5 platforms used by influencers and what percentage of them are using each platform.

·         Instagram (82%)

·         YouTube (41%)

·         TikTok (23%)

·         Twitter (23%)

·         Facebook (5%)

Below are the rough estimates of rates based on platform and number of followers:

Instagram

·         Nano-influencers: $10–$100 per post

·         Micro-influencers: $100–$500 per post

·         Mid-tier influencers: $500–$5,000 per post

·         Macro-influencers: $5,000–$10,000 per post

·         Mega-influencers: $10,000+ per post

·         Celebrities: Varies, but $1+ million isn’t unheard of

YouTube

·         Nano-influencers: $20–$200 per video

·         Micro-influencers: $200–$1,000 per video

·         Mid-tier influencers: $1,000–$10,000 per video

·         Macro-influencers: $10,000–$20,000 per post

·         Mega-influencers: $20,000+ per post

TikTok

·         Nano-influencers: $5–$25 per post

·         Micro-influencers: $25–$125 per post

·         Mid-tier influencers: $125–$1,250 per post

·         Macro-influencers: $1,250–$2,500 per post

·         Mega-influencers: $2,500+ per post 

Twitter

·         Nano-influencers: $2–$20 per post

·         Micro-influencers: $20–$100 per post

·         Mid-tier influencers: $100–$1,000 per post

·         Macro-influencers: $1,000–$2,000 per post

·         Mega-influencers: $2,000+ per post

 

Marketers should can make their budgets stretch by focusing on using influencers whose followers are most likely in their target market. Another key is finding influencers who don't just have lots of followers, but who have actual influence over their followers' buying behaviors. Social media can be a great way to reach current customers and new prospects.

 

https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-rates/