by John Cataldi | Jun 17, 2011 | Advertising Channels, Mobile Applications (Apps), Mobile Couponing, Social Couponing, Social Media, Social Mobilization, The Real Mad Men
How should retailers react to the Socially Comparison and Savings Apps?!
High unemployment, higher fuel costs, drops in credit, tumbling home prices, job market insecurity are amongst the several economic factors has translated into less than stellar sales for most retailers as they enter into their third quarter. Now retailers have a new “friendenemy” in the realms of consumer intelligence, “Social Savings Applications”, which could help consumers save billions of dollars in aggregate. But is consumer savings a good thing for retailers? Moreover, how should retailers respond to social and mobile coupons?
Though less than 5% of consumers use social and mobile shopping applications to compare small ticket items, as opposed to 30%+ that utilize internet search to price big ticket items, retailers must be made aware that this small percentage has a very high influence within their localized social communities. As an example, Margret, a stay at home mom, communicates daily with other moms within her community. Unlike the average social sphere butterfly having 50-75 social connections that updates their social statues 1-2 times a week, Margret has 135 friends, all active, and socially posts 1-4 times daily. Moreover, her social community has approximately the same following, activity, and shopping habits. So in when Margret shares here shopping experience, she is sharing with her 135 friends times 134 friends of friends, equating to 18,000 socially conscience shoppers. So in essence, a 5% usage, could essentially equate to a 20%+ net brand effect in consumer spending on a localized level.
Outside of the socially conscience, hardcore saver, there are folks like myself that are connivance shoppers. We are in the right place, at the right time, and if I can find a good deal somewhere, I will most likely be back again. A quick and dirty example of such a retail outing, I went to Kmart yesterday, not because I am an avid Kmart shopper, but moreover, I ran out of my favorite workout nutraceutical, Whey Protein, and happened to be passing a Kmart. First of all, as a guy I am genetically wired to ignore most coupons and if I want something, I have an innate need to satisfy my cravings. So I journeyed to Kmart to quench my craving. I found my item, though it seemed a little pricey at $27.99.
I’m not one to round pennies, but I don’t want to fell I am getting a bad deal either. So, I pulled out my phone and scanned the bar code using a price comparison application called “Shop Savvy”, though there are literally hundreds of these apps currently online. What I discovered is that Kmart was about 60% more expensive than approximately 15 other local retailers.
Ok, I was a little miffed, but I figured Kmart’s customer service would match the price, right?! To my dismay customer service could do absolutely nothing, and in the words of Kmart’s customer service manager, “I wish I could do something, but management doesn’t listen to us, it’s out of my hands, the price is the price.” Yet, to my surprise, she then picked up her phone and texted her gym friend and asked where she found the best deals for the brand of protein that I desired to purchase”. In a matter of seconds a response came back that was even cheaper than what I found using my social app, though my shopping app did set the bar for savings.
The end result, I saved 75% off of Kmart’s price. I got my Whey Protein; I scanned the bar code and updated the price so other local shoppers can find the same great deal I did.
The lesson for retailers everywhere:
1) Know what you consumers want. Know the hot items per category.
2) LISTEN to the social sphere, what are people saying about your brand and engage both good and bad experiences. Especially do this prior to bad experiences gain a social following. I’ll write a few posts on social listing and engagement next week.
3) If you don’t have the items and your competitor does, either get the items, or know who does so you can refer your customer. It’s not the ideal scenario, but it does show that you are karmatically working in their best interests.
4) Price your competition’s popular products or services items weekly. You don’t need to always have the best price, just a comparable one.
5) Don’t cut costs in customer service or sales support. Nothing makes me want to shop the competition more than a bad experience.
6) Update social shopping applications with the items and prices that are best or most comparable in the market place. Influencer shoppers like Margret will bring her friends and friends or friends.
In conclusion, immersion in social savings applications early could grow your brand and consumer loyalty quickly. Just as many retailers ignored the internet and social media in the beginning, social savings applications as the former are here to stay. Retailers that ignore social shopping apps do so at their demise.
If you want more information on how you can socially engage your customers via couponing, shopping loyalty programs, and social media, feel free to contact me.
by John Cataldi | May 24, 2011 | Religion / Faith Marketing, The Real Mad Men
Rapture-nomics – Profiting on Prophecy, who cashed in on the doomsday hype?
So, as you may have noticed the end of the failed to materialize according to the predications of one Harold Camping. This stunned, actually no one except, Harold Camping and a few thousand believers. As for myself, I believe I can speak for most that I’m happy that the apocalypse did not come to pass, especially since I spent May 21st 2011, rapture eve, completing my honey do list. Though in retrospect, by bucket list for my last day on may most likely preclude me from a happy entry to the great beyond without a lot of explanation. Not surprisingly, a few judgment day marketers did cash in.
So here is my top ten list of Judgment Day Marketers, who cashed in on pre-rapture dollars, May 21st on “End of the World” hype?
- Sumerian Records marketing department, with the timely release of “The End of World Party”
- Best Buy End of World Sale on 3D, HD TVs – because what is the end of the world, without seeing the rapture with the depth and clarity that can only come from a Samsung 3D TV!
- Living Social – with a more than a usual amount of 2 for one food and drink specials at 50% off. If you’re going to meet your maker, do it with a full belly and the unearthly rapture of the Apple Martini at the fabulous LA Fourchette, Atlanta, GA.
- External Earth Bound Pets – Damn, according to FatherJoe.com and the Bible, your dog Sparky has no soul. So, there is no doghose in the sky waiting, but whose going to take care of him between rapture and doomsday? Fear not, Earth Bound Pets are there to take care of pets, whose owners are no longer earth bound!
- Vista Print – for advertising on Google Adwords under “need an apocalypse marketing sign”, and giving all pre-rapture participants 50% off, as long as you pay in advance.
- Amazon.com – Get 25% off the Rapture Survival Guide, for those left behind. It answers the big question, what do you do if you miss the rapture? Answer, duh, watch the end of days on your new, Best Buy, 3D Tv!
- The Post-Rapture Post – An atheist writing staff will continue to write your loved ones left behind from rapture to doomsday. Additional charges for calligraphy and replica ancient parchment.
- Major Media Networks – For continuous coverage of the 89 year old transit worker, who derived secret code from the bible, then created a mathematical algorithm that predicted the exact day, hour, and minute of the rapture. I can compare your coverage to that of my youth when I watched Beavis and Butthead , it’s time I’ll never get back.
- To the advertiser on those Major Media Networks – You spent approximately $70 million dollars in advertising that bumped into the end of world coverage. The only real losers here I guess would be Life Insurance and Financial Service Advertisers, since you can’t take your wealth you and come doomesday there would be no one left to spend your inheritance.
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1. Camping’s Family Radio Network and associated media networks – for raising an estimated $100 million dollars in donations from true believers, as the unofficial agency of record, in promoting judgment day. Here’s an idea, pick another date… say October 21st 2011, and bank another few million.
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by John Cataldi | Oct 6, 2010 | Agriculture, Cooperatives and PACs, Industries, Politics, PR Crisis, Social Media, The Real Mad Men
I am amazed that there are groups of people in a variety of industries that have been sold a bag of false hope in spending a substantial percentage of group hard earned dollars, in the form of feed tariffs, to establish change that ultimately could mean the life of death of their livelihoods.
Just last week, I was asked to investigate marketing a farming co-op to look at ways they could use our technology to act as a catalyst to measure and grow the effectiveness of the tens of millions spent to date. I was excited, given one of the perks of my job is to learn about new industries and business models almost every day. So in preparation, I downloaded an armament of industry reports, digitally listened to social conversations within the industry, investigated their competition, market, etc. I eagerly joined the conference call with the anticipation of walking away as a trivial expert on this type of farming, possessing just enough information and industry lingo to impress my colleagues and hold a technical conversation with my soon, would be clients. I gave my world to the head of the co-op I was just an observer and assured him that I was just hear to observe. I assume my reputation of speaking my mind and screaming at injustices across a board room has preceded my arrival. I believe this to be true as my assistant gave me a 3 minute on the proper usage of our phone mute button.
This was really a bad time for me to make a promise! What I soon discovered that the co-op potentially took millions, without creating any measurable change other than repetitive monthly news papers to the group, showing their work in process at luxury hotels and conventions, and a rebate that was given to the farmers because their profits were eaten away by offshore competition. My personal opinion on the second deliverable is that while it’s always nice to receive a rebate, the shininess of the accomplishment wears off when the rebate is given when the co-op, DID NOT DO THEIR JOB! Moreover, I stayed up all night doing my diligence in preparation for this conference, so that the co-op moderators spent the first 10 minutes talking about weather, followed by a sales pitch, of why the farmers needed to spend more money on planning on how to combat the unification of flavor and lowering the cost of processing their food that may help them shave pennies off of the COGS but will cost them millions to implement, at the cost of an increased market erosion from offshore organizations. DID NOT ANYONE READ THE REASEARCH ON THE COMPETITIVE FORCES RUINNING THEM OUT OF THEIR OWN MARKET, AFTER STEALING THEIR BREED STOCK!
I felt my blood pressure ever increasing and my finger moving ever more towards the mute button. When the call ended, I recapped with some of the co-op members which brought me to my most startling discovery of all! The marketing vendor / lobbyist group were controlling the entire program, which the head of the co-op had a duel ownership stake within. This was further compounded by a second discovery that I could find no record of either organization ever being registered as a lobbyist or donating to any political campaigns of organizations. So flustered, I contacted a few of my lobbyist friends in Washington the other day just to be sure I am not completely off base.
So as a RULE, if you are CREATING A CO-OP, TRADE ASSOCIATION, or even a POLITICAL ACTION COMITTEE committee (PAC), I would REALLY recommend the following.
- Create a mission statement which includes why you were created!
- Co-op management should come from within the co-op, not outsiders
- If you really want an outsider, call him a board advisor. I have several board advisors that are scary brilliant, but I would not let them run my company, plus it’s not their job, it’s yours.
- ALWAYS keep control and accountability of the co-op’s money. NEVER allow your media, marketing, lobbyist have complete oversight on all spending. Isn’t it your money?
- In any industry co-op, ALWAYS… ALWAYS… ALWAYS define purpose that is in aligning with short term deliverables. Trying to row to the new world in a row boat, just isn’t going to cut it. But building a ship yard, prior to slapping a boat together is always a better idea. So start small. Small also means small budget, with an ever growing budget built on measured success.
- THIS IS BIG….. FEAR NOTHING! If thinking outside of the box will save your ass, then call UPS immediately to ship the box to Base Zulu, Antarctica.
- Keep it Simple (KISS). Don’t over think strategy or overreact to environmental pressures. If you are in a market that commoditized your industry by 80% from offshore suppliers, then your mission is pretty simple…. RIP THE BALLS OFF OF THE COMPETITION! It literally took me 3 days to lay out a go to market strategy, at no cost to the co-op, which is measureable, scalable, and has freaking teeth.
- FIRE THE AGENCY, including us if we cannot meet deliverable timelines is not aligned with the co-ops interest. If your industry is at the brink of destruction, I promise not to schedule any vacation time until the co-op’s master strategy is put into motion.
- ACT AS A COHESIVE UNIT – Co-ops for some reason place the agency, board members, vendors, politicians, etc. on a pedestal, if an organization hinders your process that hinders profitability the course of action is simple… (Please see Point #7 – KISS and Rip Balls).
Just food for thought… and a final question… does competitive balls go well with some flava beans and a nice bottle of Chianti? Just a question… all this talk about farming has made me hungry.
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by John Cataldi | Sep 23, 2010 | Brand Strategy, Marketing Mishaps, Media / Sales Mishaps, Politics, The Real Mad Men, Traditional Advertising
There seems to be about 3 Billion Reasons to Leave Coal in the Stocking of Several Political Media Buyers for Wasteful Media Spending
Political advertising may potentially outperform holiday advertisers in hyper spending by November. Mediaweek reports that over, three-quarters of the $3 billion expected windfall will be spent in the final seven weeks leading up to November’s elections. Kantar Media released an expenditure showing that political ad spending is up over $160 million over the 2006 elections.
Kantar Media’s interpretation is that core advertising is pacing better than expected for television and radio. They believe that this is a result of special interests in the retail, telco and financial sectors driving media spending. With the foreknowledge that Kantar is a division of WPP, and sister to marketing agency Ogilvy & Mather, who handles the media campaigns for several elected officials, including candidates in New York, I would submit a different theory, which is based loosely on my last blog post.
For those that do not know, media is purchased on a political rate which is higher than most other media rates, averaging about 20%+ in my experience, but could go potentially higher. Plus, all political campaigns have to pay the media networks upfront. This is compounded by several media networks dedicate only a certain percentage of airplay to political media plays, though there have been times that a politician’s message can be bumped by a higher paying candidate depending upon the network. Currently many of the political campaigns that I have had exposure to and in some cases the pleasure to work with have hit a tipping point in their persistence to spend heavily on only one or two media channels, with the biggest offenders being TV and Radio. I use the term "tipping point" as the point of inflection that the ability to gain any more voter support from this particular media channel is diminished exponentially, given you have already overly saturated the media channel to capacity.
My advice to politicians….
- Use social analytics to create more effective messaging, but only to registered voters!
- Track your political media, by using traditional media analytics to see what media is creating voter action.
- Use multichannel marketing strategies to spread dollars where it is cheaper and more effective, across all media types that are relevant to your voters.
- Get rid of, or spend less on political media that is not working.
- Use convergence media tactics to get the most out of every dollar spent (IE if a potential voter calls in to make a donation, their phone number can be exported to an SMS alert list, they can be socialized into Facebook and Twitter, etc)
- And if all else fails and your back is against the wall, with six weeks left in the campaign there is always Pay Per Voter Marketing!
by John Cataldi | Sep 22, 2010 | Brand Strategy, Internet Marketing, Media Convergence, Politics, Technology Innovations, The Real Mad Men
Will Paying for Voter Action Rather than Gross Media Spending Be the New Measuring Stick for Political Campaigns?
With less than 20 days left until the gubernatorial election, tens of millions of political campaign dollars will be spent in last minute media purchases. The hope is to sway voter favor to the political candidate of choice by flooding the market with the most media. Ironically, over 65-80% of political spending is ineffective and will not reach most voters or drive polling results, as a consensus among top brand managers. Political campaigns are now embracing pay per voter action also referred to as pay per performance marketing as an effective means to reach and engage registered voters, prior to their campaign dollars running out. According to McKinsey Research, “Multi-channel marketing can increase effective consumer reach by 200-400%”.
Given the growing trend in tracking voter actions in relation to a campaign’s media spend, Adreka announced today the launch of their Pay for Voter Action Platform. “This is the first pay for performance media platform designed for the political space,” says project manager Alicia Armstrong. Adreka measures voter engagement by tracking voter actions directly related to a campaign’s traditional and social media interactions which include phone calls of donors and volunteers. Moreover, Adreka’s platform also engages online influencers (those having a large online following), from Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and localized political blogs. The goal is to create voter action that is predictable and measurable in our clients favor, says John Cataldi, Media ROI Evangelist for Adreka Advertising.
Adreka’s, Pay Per Action Political Platform works by 1) understanding what is really important to the majority of the voting populous through social analytics; 2) creating and syndicating relevant media across TV, Radio, Internet, Social Media, and Mobile Media; and 3) measuring what media channels are effectively affecting voter options. The end result is a political media campaign that only allocates media spending on the media that sways polls into the candidate’s favor. As an added benefit, many voters responding to Adreka’s political adverts can be legally tracked and marketed to via their mobile device and social media network. Depending on the campaign, costs can run from $10-$250 per voter action. “I have seen Adreka in action; this type of political and media convergence is a game changer for any election”, says leading political consultant, Gabe Winslow.
Not understanding how the media conversions can be directly correlated to voter response is prevalent even in campaign watchdog groups. Ross Johnson, Chairman of the Fair Political Practices Commission of California stated, “More campaign spending means greater influence. To believe otherwise, is to presume that candidates for public office live in a cave”. According to Cataldi, “If political campaigns were compared to corporations with similar media spends; the end result would be the destruction of most top brands. Ross Johnson is correct in that more spend equates to more media, but an effective spend can outperform an opposing campaign by a factor of 10x. I believe that the future of not only political, but all media spending will be measured on performance and end result, anything less is a waste of dollars and time.”
About Adreka, Inc.
Adreka provides the leading media monitoring and engagement platform for marketing, communications and customer support professionals. The company's new digital listing technologies allows the monitoring of all forms of social media, mobile, and traditional media, with a heavy emphasis on analytics, predictability, and media effectiveness. Visit www.Adreka.com, call 678-804-7144, or email sales@adreka.com for more information.
About John Cataldi
An avid technophile, serial entrepreneur, and media spokesperson, John Cataldi is the CEO of Adreka, an open media exchange to allow agencies and advertisers to target, create, syndicate, and track their traditional and interactive advertising. Visit www.JohnCataldi.com for more information.
by John Cataldi | Sep 16, 2010 | Marketing Mishaps, Mobile Technologies, Social Mobilization, The Real Mad Men
Damn You Twitter SMS for Getting My Hopes Up!
I was experimenting with twitter’s tweet to mobile platform, and what started out as a great user experience, quickly turned into a reenactment of Laurel and Hardy famous 1927, Who’s on First. Like ICQ, Apple, Friendster, YouTube, and even Google, started with a simple user experience and heavy beta testing prior to releasing their “non-beta” version of their products.
In a world so socially connected, incredibly impatient, and highly competitive, there is rarely a second change for those that perform poorly of a better alternative. Luckily for twitter, very few companies are in the position to compete well, with the exception of the notables in the social space, Facebook, Google Buzz, etc.
So, this was my great Tweet to Short Message Service (SMS) experience…..
Me (John Cataldi): I texted “JohnCataldi to 40404”
Twitter: Johncataldi Welcome to Twitter! Reply with SIGNUP to begin. Already on Twitter? Reply with your USERNAME. (Std msg rates apply. Reply with HELP for more)
Me: SignUp
Twitter: Great! You just need a username. This is how you’ll be known on Twitter. Reply w/ the username you want to use. (max 15 characters, no spaces, like Tweetie113)
Me: Johncataldi
Twitter: Johncataldi is taken ( Is it yours? Reply w/ ITS MINE How about Johncataldi1? Reply w/ YES if that works, or a different username you want to use.
Me: It’s mine
(This is where my personal Twitter/ SMS train wreck was about to begin…. my Iphone, Iscrewed the text by auto correcting the spelling, and added the ‘s to “it’s”, instead if “Its”)
Twitter: It’s mine is taken ( Is it yours? Reply w/ ITS MINE How about Mine327? Reply w/ YES if that works, or a different username you want to use.
Twitter: Hi, @Mine. Reply w/ your password to register this phone to your Twitter account. (Password is case sensitive! Phone may capitalize the 1st letter)
Me: Ahhhhhhhh no
Twitter: Oops! That password is not correct, try again. Reply w/ your password. Forgot your password? Go to twitter.com to recover it.
Me: No not mine… JohnCataldi
Twitter: Oops! That password is not correct, try again. Reply w/ your password. Forgot your password? Go to twitter.com to recover it.
Me: JohnCataldi
Twitter: Oops! That password is not correct, try again. Reply w/ your password. Forgot your password? Go to twitter.com to recover it.
Me: JohnCataldi
Me: JohnCataldi
Twitter: (And then the Twitter Whale Grew Silent, never to txt me again)
In a perfect world the application would have worked flawlessly! However in my world, I am guilty of texting while driving, during on a conference, with sticky thumbs from my latte, in the midst of changing lanes, and pondering if I can reach my notebook in the back seat. So I am sure, a tiny bit of the error may have been with me….. BUT, “The Twitter”… LOL, should have given me a reset button… a newbie mobile mistake… which bring me to John’s 10 rules of mobile development.
John’s 10 Rules for Mobile Marketing and Application Development
1) Most phone platforms have specific testing tools included in the (System Developer’s Kits), which makes it easy to install, run, and TEST your applications.
2) Always test your application on top carriers and mobile platforms. Does that mean you have to go out and by a crap ton of phones on multiple carriers, No! You can use mobile emulators to get you 99% of the way there, though I would highly suggest heavy beta testing using the android, iphone, and blackberry devices. The auto text correcting MAY cause a large % or your users to curse your name, but this would have been missed by an emulator.
3) AVOID ANY SYSTEM RESPONSES THAT IS MORE THAN ONE WORD <<<OR>>> THAT TRIGGERS MY FREAKEN AUTO-SPELLER TO ADD IN AN APOSTROPHE!
4) Never go over 160 characters, at least not in 2010. First, if you have more to say, use the phone…. Hmmm, I don’t know…AS A PHONE! Secondly, some phones can do extended text but this is achieved by stringing 3 normal messages together giving you a total of 480 charcters, what you may not know is that the recipients carrier (your customer) and your mobile gateway (your mobile service provider) will charge both of you as if they were 3 messages, which is good for AT&T, bad for anyone not on a unlimited texting plan. Moreover, If you push your client over their mobile limit, your customer could be charges $0.20 per text message, which may not seem like much… but it adds up quick.
5) Everyone needs a “GET OUT OF APPLICATION HELL CARD”, so as part of the system auto-response, I would have said…
Twitter: Oops! That password not correct, try again. Reply w/your password. Forgot your password? Go to twitter.com to recover it. Reply w/RESTART to restart the session”
As exampled above, we are still at the standard SMS is 160 characters, and it gives your consumer the coveted out.
6) Don’t do MMS (multimedia messages), as a mass marketing tool, at least not yet. Yes, MMS is cute, and I love getting them… ok, not really, but I love sending them by the tens of thousands, so no MMS’s please, but unlike SMS, there is no standard for MMS cross carrier, which means that a majority of your MMS messages may not be delivered, cut off, distorted, or sent to the user as a downloadable link. This means if they do not have a smart phone, with web browsing capabilities, they may have to wait until they get home to download via the carrier’s website. But if you’re set on MMSing the masses, do it by carrier, and in this case, purchase a phone from each carrier for testing.
7) Always make it EASY to opt-out of the database. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION KGB.com, once I opt-out of your database your dead to me, there is no reason to be a clingy, creepy, text stalking, ex-girl friend.
8 ) NEVER, EVER SELL YOUR DATABASE! I don’t care what your terms of conditions say, your consumer will always agree with them, because they NEVER read them. Anyway with that said, the mobile phone is sacred, if you upset your consumer and they find out it’s you, it does not take a rocket scientist to know regardless if your legally right, you’re going to kill your brand name and most likely your revenues from your consumer base virally spreading your bad reputation via their mobile device. Moreover, it’s going to harm those that do mobile marketing illegitimately.
9) Have at least 5 people read your test message before you send it out. Depending on age, gender, and a few other factors, your message could get a giggle at your expense.
“OMG, M8 u 1, a drwing 2mro 4, 4 tix 2 Ldy Gaga, b 10th 2 call…..”
Did someone go to the wiki SMS short code directory and attempt to text SMSease? The scary thing is that this message was actually sent to over 3,500 listeners!
10) Lastly, less is more. There is no need to text your customer base 3x a day, not only will they get upset, but your message loses its effectiveness and sincerity.
There are many other things that can be done to grow your mobile database exponentially, but we’ll leave that for another day. If you liked the article, please feel free to comment, use, and share the knowledge.
All the best, John
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