E-Marketers Beware: Product Performance Claims, Pricing & Consumer Buying Process

E-Marketing has changed the way consumers interact, communicate and most importantly make purchasing decisions of a brand’s product or service. Brand marketers and advertisers now have a wide array of mediums through which to reach its target audience. For instance, product ad placement has never been easier and more precise than with search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. Never have advertisers been able to obtain such detailed information about its consumer’s likes and dislikes than through Facebook connect or “likes.” Advertisers can also ride the waves of success of others through ad placement on popular YouTube videos. Even highly informative and intuitive interactive ads can be readily accessible to iPhone smartphone users since implementation of iAd to the iOS platform.

On the flipside of the same coin, never have product advertising claims been up for such widespread scrutiny and comparison. With thousands of product review sites, published consumer reports, and social media buzz, brands must make sure that their product claims are true. Doing a fact check for a product/service ad is as simple doing a Google search for a product review or discussing with friends or groups on Facebook that have already used the product/service. According to a study conducted by GroupM search and comScore called, “The Virtuous Circle: the Role of Search and Social Media in the Purchase Pathway,” before purchasing a product, 58% of respondents turned to search engines such as Google and Bing, 24% visited a company website, and 18% went on social media sites.

Another arena where consumers are grabbing a foothold and leveling the playing field in their advantage is through the use of comparison-shopping application on smartphones such as Red Laser. Finding competitive pricing in nearby retail venues is as simple as entering a store scanning a desired product’s barcode and finding the pricing and location of the same product at a retail venue near you. The article by Time, “How Smartphones Level the Playing Field for Shoppers,” gives amazing insight as to how consumers can now have price transparency.

For marketers this means that though they have gained huge audiences through e-marketing, they also much consumer confidence to lose if their products don't match up to their ad claims. For retailer it means that competitive pricing is readily available and thus their pricing must be able to compete. This is just another reality of living in the digital “marketing” age.

Sources:

http://advertising.apple.com/

http://redlaser.com/

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/social_network/showArticle.jhtml? articleID=229219363

http://money.blogs.time.com/2010/12/16/how-smartphones-level-the-playing-field-for-shoppers/

Social Media Marketing: Not as Easy as Socializing

Social media and marketing is not an engagement to be taken lightly by any means when it comes to building promotional campaigns and brand awareness. First and foremost, the social media platforms demand constant updating, interaction and communication to its recipients. Without this constant interaction a product or brand campaign is sure to die in the flurry of wall post and updates that already invade users Facebook and Twitter pages. Secondly it has to engage its by responding comments or intriguing the user to interact with questions or games.

Just recently my good friend Jorge Jaimes started a Facebook campaign to launch his 3D animation Nutty Heads. With over 60 unique character animations to introduce to the market, Jorge is constantly creating and posting new comic style newsletters with his animations engaging in funny situations and commentary. He even goes as far as leaving occasional comments on his most frequent visitors pictures and posts as well as responding to posts with one of his main characters Moe Green. This constant tailoring of messages and graphic design, though tiresome, has paid off as he has already gained over 2,000 friends on Facebook in less than 3 months. He has also found that many people are posting different Nutty Head characters according to their mood or liking.

Another fun and engaging social media campaign was the one launched by Burger King back in 2009 when they made the “Whopper Sacrifice” Facebook app. The concept of the app essentially was that if users deleted or “sacrificed” 10 of their Facebook friends then they would get a free whopper. The point of this campaign was to strike up controversy and publicity, which it did and thus got the message out. The fact that more than 50,000 friends were deleted during the time the app was up and running certainly points out how engaging the campaign was; as well as how we can use Facebook friends as currency.

Starbucks " Pay-By-Phone" app... Genuis!

I believe that Starbucks "Pay-By-Phone" app is a brilliant step in the right direction for a couple of reasons. First, in todays digital age and technology entrenched society, it is more unlikely that you will forget your wallet in the car than your phone. Today, users are in such a constant interaction with their smartphones that they might as well classify it as a bodily limb. Whether it’s Facebook, Google search, e-mailing, texting, playing games or making a call, smartphones are indispensible to the end users who own them. An expression that I often use is that I feel naked without my phone. A notion that I find many share considering how much utility my iPhone has on my day-to-day life.

Second, users being able to check their reward points or account balance gives users more intent of participation than a simple debit card. Think about it, "Out of sight out of mind." The fact that consumers can now check how many more lattes they need in order to get the next one free or whether they can afford that mocha-frappachiato drink without having to check at the register is priceless. Not to mention the app also tells you where the nearest Starbucks is to you. Convenience is everything and so the app delivers just that. People today are way to busy to be worrying about checking their reward points online or at a physical register. Why not have all that crucial information to this trivial aspect of your life a short button push away?

Lastly, Starbucks has stated that up to a third of its costumers have smartphones and that those numbers are bound to grow due to the increasing growth of smartphone sales every year. In an intelligent move to address demands of this growing market, Starbucks switched to free Wi-Fi rather than paid thus giving all those data hungry smartphones a place to unload from those saturated 3G networks that everyone is complaining about. It’s even gone as far as teaming up with Yahoo to launch its own Digital Network with exclusive content that can only be accessed at store locations. Starbucks is well aware of the growing tech consumer population and it is doing its very best to retain and grow that base accordingly.

In essence the app offers convenience, builds consumer intent of participation in reward programs and is grasping onto the growing trend of smartphone users in the market.

http://technorati.com/technology/article/new-starbucks-pay-by-phone-will/

http://iphone.firstblogfirst.com/2011/01/24/mobile-payment-debuts-nationally-at-starbucks/