Yesterday as I was waiting at the crosswalk for the walk signal, I pulled out my mobile phone to look something up on the internet.  Afterall, I had a few seconds to spare. The funny thing is, as I looked around me, I noticed how many other people were doing the exact same thing.

We are becoming attached to our phones and this increased reliance on our smart devices is driving growth in mobile internet usage. According to eMarketer, by 2013, 142.1 million users (53.9% of the US mobile user population) will access the internet using mobile browsers or applications.

For marketers, this creates opportunities for increased engagement and outreach to potential customers via mobile. However, the mobile marketplace is fast paced and marketers will need to keep up with the changes as well as consumers expectations.

A great place to begin in assuring your company is ready to accommodate mobile users is making sure your company website is mobile friendly.  But what makes a website “friendly” to a mobile user? What do they expect when it comes to their mobile web experience?

Gomez, a web performance monitoring firm, recently released the results of a survey “What Users Want From the Mobile Web Experience” that takes a look at what is most important and what frustrates consumers the most when accessing the internet via their mobile device.

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I had the opportunity this past week to introduce my four year old daughter to the magic of Disneyland. After a week long trip, we came home exhausted but very happy. Disneyland truly is one of the happiest places on earth, but what is it that really makes it so amazing?

Of course the creative and fun rides, cute decorations, costumed characters, and buckets of cotton candy are part of the equation, but the entire trip I couldn’t help but notice that it’s so much more than that.

My daughter summed up exactly what I was thinking when she said, “Everyone here is calling me princess. They’re all so nice to me mommy, I want to live here forever!”.

From the time I first called the reservation lines through our entire trip encounters with park customer service, ride operators, food sales and everyone in between, the way we were treated and the happy, helpful attitudes made me want to stay forever.

It was such a good reminder in the basics of great customer service and how important it really is in creating happy customers who feel valued and come back again and again.

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The talented people in our agency have been hard at work planning and preparing for an event this coming Friday – KGO Radio 810 Girls’ Night Out.  We had the privilege of working with KGO again this year to develop the event website, print and banner ads and printed program.  What a great time we are all having!

The event consists of a night of mingling with the KGO Radio personalities, informative classes, food and wine tasting, health and beauty demo’s, music and dancing.

As one of the sponsors we supplied the businesses exhibiting with these fun marketing ideas and tips to help them get the most from the event and make it a success.

I’d like to share these tips with you as well for use at your next event, tradeshow or exhibit:

1.  Leave a lasting impression with giveaways—business cards, brochures, pens, magnets, and other items that has your name, website, phone number and logo on it.  Everyone there expects to take home some goodies.

2.  Have literature on your product or service?  Use display racks or plastic holders to show your flyers, handouts, coupons, brochures, etc.

3.  How about Gift Certificates? If you can offer them, there’s nothing better than getting a deal when they “cash in” their certificate.  And it brings them in your store or in contact with you.  Hopefully they’ll come back again.

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As iPad sales have soared and people have come to rely on them daily, new research is emerging as to how they are really being used. There has been much talk about the advertising opportunities the iPad will create.  As marketers, this research is important in capturing those new opportunities and making sure our marketing messages are reaching the hands of the iPad users.

A recent study,“A Play Date with the iPad, by Ball State University examined how attitudes toward iPads changed after owning one for 24 hours.  Participants reported that content creation was difficult, but the iPad was ideal for content consumption, more of an entertainment device.

In the UK, a survey by copywriting firm Cooper Murphy Webb found that iPad owners also felt the same, the iPad was great for entertainment purposes.  Two in five said they used the tablet at least 10 hours weekly, and almost a quarter said it had become their primary entertainment device, ahead of TV and trailing PCs by just 9 percent.

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There are a number of different opinions surrounding outbound and inbound marketing and the roles these play in developing a marketing plan.

There are those who believe outbound marketing is passé and suggest focusing only on inbound tactics. Others have done a great job of building up their outbound channels, but have neglected to develop any inbound marketing strategies.

Can you have one without the other?

Sure.  But you’ll get a heck of a lot better results if you incorporate the two.  Together they deliver a one-two punch, pushing out your marketing message, sparking consumer interest, and then drawing them in to learn more as they go online to research more about your product or service.

Outbound marketing consists of the more traditional tactics we as marketers have implemented for years.  And although the internet is now a part of our everyday lives, these off-line avenues are still very important.  Print, radio and television ads, direct mail, email and tradeshows capture attention and spark interest.  These tactics provide a broad reach and offer far more brand impressions than inbound marketing alone.  Outbound campaigns help drive potential customers online to find out more and engage in your inbound avenues.

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I just bought a new camera.  But what’s interesting, is the process I went through in making the decision to purchase one and which to buy.  A sales flyer I received in the mail featuring the newest pocket sized cameras sparked my interest.  I have a very large heavy camera, but with an upcoming trip to Disneyland planned, a small camera seemed like just the thing.

I took the next step, turning to the internet to read reviews, search social media sites and read about the different cameras on the company websites.  After several days of conducting my own research, I settled on the perfect one.  I just received it in the mail in fact and so far, I’m a happy camper.

If I were to ask, most of you would probably say you make a lot of your purchase decisions in much the same way. Something sparks your interest in a product or service, maybe an ad in a magazine or an email you received, and then you head online to research it a bit further.

Outbound and inbound marketing.  Both of these marketing tactics played a significant roll in my camera purchasing decision.  Let’s take a look at the difference between the two.

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Unless you’ve been hiding away on a deserted tropical island, you have probably heard some talk recently about the “new” Old Spice Man.  The nightly television newscasters are talking about him, women are calling in to their local radio stations to find out how to meet him and he has been the topic of the day across many internet sites.  Why all this buzz about a brand, that until recently was, well… old?

Talk about the power of utilizing social media to drive word of mouth and help reinvent a brand.

Acting on an off-the-wall idea of creating instant buzz by responding in real time to consumers questions/comments with short videos, Procter & Gamble produced funny YouTube videos about Old Spice.  The team leveraged Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and blogs sending out invitations to ask questions of The Old Spice Man.

As people responded, their comments were pulled in and tracked and those who had interesting questions or were high-profile users on social networks were responded to directly in real time with a personalized short video featuring the dashing shirtless actor and former football player Isaiah Mustafa.  Over 200 videos were posted to YouTube over the course of two days and featured everything from a marriage proposal to messages to celebrities.

Check out this one which includes the real-life marriage proposal:

You can see all of the videos here.

It turned out to be a huge success.  Old Spice received over 83 million YouTube video views and grew their Facebook fan base by 616K all in the the course of two days.

I love it when a campaign goes viral.   But what, besides a touch of good luck, makes a campaign like this so successful?  When a campaign becomes an overnight sensation, it’s always beneficial to look back at what worked and why.  Here are a few take-aways and tips from this campaign that can be applied in making other social media campaigns a success:

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If you’re lucky enough to be a friend of mine on Facebook, keep an eye out, I just might buy you a drink!  I’m not talking about a virtual drink, but one that you can sip (or chug) and enjoy.

Most of you, I’m sure, are familiar with the Facebook Gift Shop where you can purchase and send virtual gifts to your friends for their birthday’s or… just because.  And although the idea of sending a virtual gift is pretty silly in itself,  it was great fun and who didn’t feel special and cared about when receiving one?

Well, times are a-changin’.  Facebook is ready to move on and recently announced that on August 1st they are closing the doors to the virtual gift shop.  The question is… why?  Although there have been no official announcements, it could quite possibly be to open the door to a new era of e-commerce.  Where instead of purchasing and sending virtual gifts, you will be able to send bigger and better real-life items.

There has already been some movement in that direction as a few companies are developing e-gift apps which let’s users purchase real-life items for friends.  Cold Stone Creamery’s e-gift app sends a code for an actual product to one or more friends, which can then be redeemed at one of the chain’s 1,300 locations.  And Webtab’s Bartab app, which uses both Facebook Connect and mobile technology let’s users buy tickets for drinks to send to friends.  Then he or she goes to the bar, which must be part of the network, and redeems the digital ticket.

With the number of Facebook users topping 250+ million, as marketers, this opens up a whole new avenue for placing products or services in front of one of the largest communities on the web.  If you’re not already, now is the time to start thinking and planning for the development of an app for your company.  New opportunities are on the way and by planning for them now you will be fully prepared to take advantage of them when they arise.

So let’s bid farewell to all those virtual bears and cupcakes and say HELLO to new opportunities.

Cheers!

Is email marketing on its way out?  This is a question I hear posed often. With the rise in social media and marketers beginning to dedicate more of their budget to social media programs and with the onslaught of unsolicited email, is email becoming a less effective way of reaching customers?  Absolutely not. In fact, it’s more important than ever.

Consumers are pickier now about which email lists they subscribe to and what they spend time reading, but when a customer opens your email, for that moment, you have their personal attention.  And in a world where marketing messages are thrown in front of your customer from every direction, that moment of undivided attention is priceless.

Social media doesn’t eliminate the use of email for marketing, but what it does give you is a powerful opportunity to integrate the two and cross promote while interacting with your customer on multiple levels. With the use of your email list you can jump-start your following on your social media sites, then use these sites to invite more people to sign up for your email list.

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Imagine walking into a restaurant, creating and naming your own meal using an online application, ordering it on an iPad and then sharing it with your entire social network.  I came across this story in the Wall Street Journal about a new restaurant chain that plans to do just that and had to share.

On July 6th, the New York City burger chain, 4food, will open its first of 11 planned locations where they will leverage the use of social media and web-based technologies to engage customers on a whole new level.  The restaurant describes themselves as the new socially networked counter culture.  And I think the idea is ingenious!

Customers have the option to receive personalized meal recommendations based on lifestyle and health goals entered into an online application. Or they can create custom meals, name and brand their creation and market it to their friends on Facebook and Twitter, right from the restaurant. When ordering from home, customers can create commercials on YouTube as well.

The custom meal creations and commercials will then be featured on a 240-square-foot media wall at the restaurant that will also stream Foursquare check-ins and tweets.  Every time someone else orders one of the custom made creations, the creator receives a 25-cent store credit in their 4food account to be use toward future purchases.

The restaurant itself looks quite a bit like an Apple store and seating resembles bleachers and communal tables, emphasizing the idea of social networks and staff will take orders on iPads. Below are a couple of renderings to give you a look inside:

4Food is banking on the idea that by engaging customers through social media and getting them involved in the product development process, they will be inclined to spread positive word of mouth about the restaurant and about their own creations as they market them to friends in their social networks.  The concept is a great one and if their food tastes as good, I believe they will have a winning combination.