Archive for Business Promotion
Clienteling Not “Client Telling” !
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The latest buzz word in retail is “Clienteling“. This is where stores are getting their sales associates to proactively communicate with previous customers to inform them of news. From a customer’s perspective, this means that you will soon be getting “cold calls” from MANY stores in the very near future !! I’m sure that some stores will do clienteling correctly, but most stores will do client telling.
Here is my definition of the two terms:
Clienteling: The act of contacting a customer for the purpose of mutual benefit. (two way)
Client Telling: The act of contacting customers to TELL them about irrelevant and trivial info. (one way)
So how should REAL retail clienteling be done correctly ?
1) An honest introduction to the concept – Sales associates need to be honest and inform the customer that their role is being expanded so that they can contact customers directly (if the customer agrees).
2) An introduction to the sales associate - The sales associate needs to communicate exactly who they are and why they are worthy of being a “point of contact”. A picture, a short career bio, and some insight into the sales associate’s expertise and personality will make a huge difference when building a relationship.
3) A written statement of benefits – Give the customer an itemized list of the benefits that they would get by participating. If they are NOT convinced of these benefits in the early stages of communications, they will always view these contacts as annoying.
4) A formal opt-in process – The customer should fill in a form with their preferred method of contact (email, text, phone), and their personal interests (sales, new product introductions, events, etc), and any other requests regarding the associate-customer relationship.
In conclusion, I recommend that EVERY sales associate needs to have their own personal flyer that contains the four elements above. This is how one starts a professional two-way relationship.
New Ad Technologies: The Fine Line Between Creepy and Cool…
Posted by: | CommentsI saw an article about individualized targeting of ads and thought to myself… it sure is a fine line between creepy and cool ! But I guess we experience this every day in movies and even rock bands (KISS !)
Is GPS location tracking creepy or cool ? Is tracking of where you are, what you click on, or what you buy creepy or cool ? That depends…
A professional consumer survey created by public policy and law experts from Univ. of Penn, and UC Berkeley found that consumers are very concerned about these issues. Some of the conclusions of this survey were: 1) companies must take their privacy policies seriously, 2) consumers must be given the right to object, delete or withdraw information collected, and 3) companies need to show respect for their customers. The entire report can be read here.
So… lets say that location and behavior knowledge technologies are going to be a fact of life. How can it be done correctly ? What if you could receive the advantages of “location-based services” while keeping FULL CONTROL of your location data ? Maybe companies will pay you for this info (giving points or discounts) ? What if you had the ability to communicate your interests and needs to your favorite brands so they send you relevant information and incentives ? Can you imagine a potential WIN-WIN scenario ?
GeoHelp is forging a path through this field with real alternatives. Our GeoHelp Platform lets customers be anonymous. We do not share personal data with businesses. We identify all info as being public or private. We let customers delete their own community posts at any time, and much more !
GEOHELP: Private “follow” of Local Brick-and-Mortar Businesses
Posted by: | CommentsThe GeoHelp web site is where customers can safely follow local brick & mortar businesses. Unlike ALL traditional social / advertising platforms, GeoHelp lets you control your communications, and we do not share your private information.
1) RELEVANT NEWS: What if you could get information about a new product delivery, or an upcoming sale, or an event discount ? Or become familiar with the REAL PEOPLE behind the brands that you enjoy.
2) QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: The GeoHelp app lets you get answers to your questions using your mobile phone. Businesses can answer questions such as “Do you carry Gucci sunglasses?” or “Are Goodyear tires better than Firestone?”. These real-time questions (and more) from ALL of their customers are visible for you to read. So a type of business specific “chat session” gives you much more information about that business.
For example: When you are hungry, you can look at the business’s GeoHelp Community as see questions and answers from many customers. To ask your own question, just write a text message (or use our voice entry).
To follow a favorite business, just use the Business FOLLOW checkbox !
The GeoHelp by 2du® platform lets you choose EXACTLY what companies you are interested in communicating with (or receiving info and specials from). The directory is international and can be sorted by name, distance, city, and more.
Mobile Marketing’S Guidelines – Respect Your Customers
Posted by: | CommentsIf you are a retailer considering a move into mobile marketing, or you’re a marketer trying to nudge that retailer, you may be battling a perception that MM is the equivalent of that obnoxious telemarketing call that happens precisely when your family sits down to dinner. Won’t people get tired of your message program…like, quickly?
The answer is yes…if you’re obnoxious about it. But, what does that mean, exactly? How much is too much? Are there any standards to go by? Actually, there are, as provided by the Mobile Marketing Association.
The six “C”s of an Ethical Mobile Marketing Program
These correct way to do mobile marketing is to offer customers:
- Choice - Your consumer has a right to privacy, and must first “opt-in” to a mobile marketing program.
- Control - Consumers should have control of when and how they receive your message, and be able to easily terminate or “opt-out” when they choose.
- Customization - You should tailor your message to reflect the data and preferences supplied by your consumer. This results in more useful messages and less spam!
- Consideration – You should offer your consumer something of perceived value in return for receiving your message.
- Constraint – You must manage and limit mobile messaging to a reasonable number of programs.
- Confidentiality – You shouldn’t share consumer information with non-affiliated third parties.
In the end, these six “C”s boil down to one thing… treating your customers with respect. It takes talent to strike the balance between a prominent, effective message…and obnoxiousness. At 2du, there were a LOT of design decisions that went into trying to protect the concept of the six “C”s… we are trying our best.
Entrepreneurs – Opportunities and Executing Your Vision
Posted by: | CommentsHow does one turn good ideas into successful corporations ? A large number of entrepreneurs start this path every year and become a significant percentage of the world economy. The existence of entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Richard Branson are known, but do people really understand what they accomplished ? Does the “man on the street” really realize what it takes to go from working 20 hour days in a garage (surrounded by old pizza boxes) to being the richest man in the world ? Their riches were not due to ancestry, they were not due to conquest, they were not because they owned natural resources. This great wealth was due to the creation and execution of a GOOD IDEA !
Note the sentence above… creation and EXECUTION. Executing on an idea requires that you first create a vision of the future. What is your goal ? How big will your company be ? What markets will you be in ? What problem categories will you be solving ? What environmental factors will be affecting your business in the future? This vision should not be a straight-jacket though… this is based on information that you have right now… as you get more information, your vision can change… but at ALL TIMES, you must know what the end game is or you don’t know what steps are needed to get there.
With my 2du company, I have a pretty aggressive “vision”. The reason that I think this is attainable is primarily due to my opinions concerning the future of new media technologies. I think we are in the first phase of a “perfect storm” where a combination of events are going to dramatically change the way that businesses communicate and create value for their customers. Radical changes are happening all around us… sales, marketing, and support techniques, the ways that we pay for goods and services, the visibility and power of individual opinion, and more… all of these are being enabled by NEW MEDIA technologies. I think this is a business tsunami that will effect ALL business (world-wide) ! This is NOT a niche, this is ALL business (world-wide). Think about it… I can’t even say what that dollar value is or people will just roll their eyes ! I really do believe that new media technologies will be purchased and integrated into EVERY business in the coming years. The NEW MEDIA opportunity is one of those situations like the early days of electricity… very few people have it and EVERYONE needs to be connected !
As long as we execute our WIN-WIN ideas… well…. I better get back to work !!
Will Your Next Tweet Be a WSJ Headline ? (There Are Alternatives!)
Posted by: | CommentsBrowsing through the RSS feeds today and I see an article about a “press court” ruling in UK… it seems that an employee of the Department of Transport made some comments about “not liking her job” and she was “nursing a hangover” at work… well… it is not unusual to hear these things in face-to-face conversations but when they are on twitter it just might be tomorrow’s headline !
“Worker Confession – Trains are unsafe !” could have been the headline from those “minor comments” in a public social medium. Well, that doesn’t sound fair, isn’t there some way to stop journalists from using your tweets in their stories ? “I was just tweeting to my followers” sounds like a good defense in court, but this “press court” in UK made the following ruling:
“In reaching its decision on the case, the Commission judged that the publicly accessible nature of the information was a “key consideration”. It was quite clear that the potential audience for the information was actually much larger than the 700 people who followed the complainant directly, not least because any message could easily be retweeted to a wider audience.”
To her credit, she had included a clear disclaimer on her Twitter feed that the views expressed there were personal, and were not representative of her employer but the court still ruled that one can reasonably assume that this information will become public ! Ahhh… reminds me of the wiki-leaks case as well !
So in conclusion, if you are in a PUBLIC FORUM then you are speaking PUBLICLY. Your only alternative is to participate in a forum that both implements technical security measures and states that the purpose of your account is to conduct PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS with followers. These exist !
Click here to read the entire PCC ruling article.
Business Microblogging = “Most Effective With Least Effort”
Posted by: | CommentsI was reading a study by “Marketing Sherpa“ which gives a lot of details about how Businesses are using new media technologies such as blogs, social networks, multimedia, and more. Since GeoHelp uses a Real-time Business/Customer microblog, it jumped out at me that they found that microblogging was judged as “most effective for the least effort” new media technology for businesses… very interesting !
Benefits of Business Engagement
Posted by: | CommentsWhat are the Benefits of Social Engagement for Customer Service ?
- BRANDING – establish expertise and build awareness of what your business does.
- EXPOSURE – communicate with existing customers and expand your customer base
- SPREAD NEWS - Tell about new product deliveries, new sales initiatives, etc using less time and less money than traditional media.
- PROMOTE ALL TOUCH POINTS – drive traffic to all media initiatives (newspaper ads, blogs, web site, flyers, etc).
- PROVIDE FAST SUPPORT – answer customers questions instantly
- MARKET RESEARCH – get instant feedback from your customers.
- EMPLOYEE or TEAM COMMUNICATIONS – enable communications between employees or between project teams.
- BUILD LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS – both learn from and teach your fellow business owners. Identify co-op opportunities.
2du’s GeoHelp Platform lets you use leverage these benefits, and these apply to ALL TYPES of businesses including manufacturers, retailers, non-profits, religious organizations, and many more !
Please click here to see an example.
Click here to read more about our GeoHelp Platform.
Business Engagement – You Have to “Answer the phone” !
Posted by: | CommentsThe 2du team has concluded that we need to not just offer online new media tools, but we should also offer a FULL-SERVICE option to our GeoHelp Platform (i.e. REAL people who help you !). The challenge here is that when Microblogging is used as a Sales & Support tool, it is similar to the telephone from the standpoint of immediacy… if a customer asks a question on your microblog and no one answers… then that is a BAD THING for your business !
So who is going to be answering these messages ? Some companies will have “new media savvy” employees, but most will not… so 2du has decided to offer a relatively inexpensive service where people with customer relationship skills act as your “Social Help Specialists”. Now, typically… your Help Community will not be getting a huge number of posts all of the time, so this specialist will be “on call” to answer your microblog in the same way a 3rd party “answering service” helps with your phone calls. This Microblog Answering Service will be offered at a price level where it is less expensive than hiring your own employee AND we will be training your specialist to be a DISCUSSION person and not just an ANSWER person !
Discussions about your products and services adds interest and value to your business, and brings customers to your store or venue ! So here are some of the skills or characteristics that a Social Help Specialist should have:
- Answer in a timely manner
- Welcoming and friendly
- Conversational personality (here to “help” and not “sell”)
- Honesty about their role and knowledge level
- Ability to broaden topics which initiate discussion
- Respect customers as important neighbors
- Communicate the WIN-WIN relationship
- Clearly define any issues and the path to a solution
- Identify and contact appropriate colleagues when necessary
- Manage and follow up on the status of longer term issues
- Accurately report new media status to upper management
If you are interested in more info, please go to our web site ( GeoHelp Admin ). NOTE: contact us at specialist@2du.com if you are an independant contractor who would like to be one of our microblogging specialists.
Worldwide Mobile Ad Projections – Lets Ride the Wave Together !
Posted by: | CommentsI don’t think of myself as terribly materialistic, but I enjoy being where the ACTION is and would also like to make enough money so I can do what I want for the rest of my life. I think I found a subject that might fit the bill…
This graph is a little out-dated, but I’m sure the shape is still similar !
So where is this $$ coming from?
• Text ads to opt-in customers (VIP Clubs)
• Display ads on mobile web sites (scaled down to work on your phone)
• Display ads on mobile search results
• Display ads in mobile games or in TV-like guides
• Video ads that come with streaming video, or mobile TV
I know… that sounds like a LOT of ads on my little phone display. 2du is doing something to address that issue… we have created GeoHelp (web + SMS + email messaging) that lets every member manage their own messaging. You get your own account where you select exactly what local businesses can send information and discounts to you. You decide who can send messages, how many, and how often ! We are just getting started, so “pardon our dust”… I hope you agree that this is the most powerful messaging system you have EVER SEEN ! Click here to see GeoHelp
