A New Brand Shift – From Paper to Digital Coupons
August 25, 2009
According to a study by Scarborough Research, consumers still rely on their Sunday newspapers to get most of their coupons. That trend might change faster than you think as brands begin to get on the digital bandwagon. Sure, we’ve all seen coupons online, but according to Scarborough’s study, only 7% of U.S. households surveyed actually get coupons from online sites. Don’t believe me? Check out the stats from the Scarborough Research study below:
The percentage of U.S. Households that obtain coupons from the following sources:
- Sunday newspaper = 51%
- In-store coupons = 35%
- Mail = 31%
- Preferred customer card/loyalty card = 21%
- In-store circulars = 20%
- Weekday newspaper = 17%
- Product packages = 16%
- Magazines = 15%
- Text Messages and/or Email = 8%
- Internet Sites = 7%
Looking at these statistics, I feel like I’ve stepped back in time, but apparently, they’re representative of U.S. household’s behaviors related to coupons. Clearly, the digital opportunity for coupons is huge, and companies are starting to notice. Just this month, Sam’s Club announced that it would stop distributing printed coupons entirely and instead announced its new eValues program that offers personalized coupons to shoppers digitally through their iPhones, Blackberrys, in-store kiosks, and so on.
Looks like this trend is about to pick up some serious steam as more companies look to distribute coupons through email, text messages, and online than ever before. At a time in history when more people are looking to the Internet and their smart phones for information and content than traditional sources, the shift makes sense. I suppose the only question really should be, “what took everyone so long?”
Your thoughts?
Image: Flickr
Fair Play for Facebook
August 24, 2009
Recent posts have included several on Twitter, and a couple on social media in general. So in the interests of equal exposure, it’s time for a focus on Facebook.
One of the secrets to social media success for businesses is understanding the different functionalities and “personalities” of the various platforms. By now, tribes in the remote Amazon know that the special nature of Twitter is the 140-character limit that creates discrete messages (aka tweets). So what’s the corollary super-simplification for Facebook?
People have Friends, companies/products have Fans.
Beyond that . . . I’ve looked (and looked and looked) for a good introduction to the magical powers of Facebook for business, but I’ve come up empty. The “basics” of Facebook resolve down to get an account and poke around. Which could be worth the time if you want to get a feel for the experience.
And/or for a refresher on social media in general, here’s a primer from HR consultant Kevin Wheeler. (And it’s worth a stop at the home page of Wheeler’s company to see the excellent virtual version of Kevin.)
Now we’ll go on to some more specific material about Facebook:
First, what’s new with Facebook. That’s a very current topic, due to the fairly recent acquisition of FriendFeed by Facebook. If that statement doesn’t have meaning for you, don’t worry about it–just jump in with Jeremy Owyang’s excellent post on The Future of Facebook. Short version: More like Twitter. (While at Jeremy’s Web Strategy site, check out this post on Facebook traffic, and listen to a podcast on Facebook Connect for Business.)
And just as I’m writing, there’s another bit of breaking news: The Huffington Post has implemented Facebook Connect in a new service called HuffPost Social News, which “aggregates Huffington Post stories that a given user’s Facebook friends have recommended or commented on, and shares the user’s Huffington Post activity on their Facebook profiles in turn.” It will probably take a while to judge the significance of this move.
Meanwhile, on a more practical note, browse these two round-ups: 5 Tips for Getting More from Facebook and 32 Ways to Use Facebook for Business. Both are targeted (like most of what’s available about Facebook) for small businesses and entrepreneurs rather than big companies, but they offer a general flavor plus some handy information.
And finally, follow up on Facebook for recruiting. Two good posts from ere.net: some candid remarks on Facebook for business and a quick overview of recruiting apps for Facebook.
But nothing beats real life, so drop by www.facebook.com/ernstandyoungcareers to see how things are working out for Ernst & Young. They got a lot of publicity when they ventured out on the Facebook ledge to court college students a couple of years ago, and interestingly enough, it looks like they have 30,731 fans as of today . . .
For a really zippy look at the E & Y approach, watch How Ernst & Young and Starbucks Use Social Media, from 60SecondMarketer. One minute well spent, actually!
There certainly isn’t as much how-to (or even why-bother) lore for Facebook as for Twitter, but that gap may start to close soon. To get a more substantive grasp of this particular match-up, read Twitter Vs. Facebook. A thorough analysis–and ten minutes well spent, definitely.
(Thanks to benstein for the excellent “f”.)
Niche Brands are Hot
August 21, 2009
I’ve written before here on Corporate Eye about the need to focus your brand strategy, particularly these days when the eoncomy and world around us are tenuous and consumers are looking for a sense of security. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, the smart brands are contracting and focusing their efforts on their unique value propositions more than ever.
With focus comes a little thing called niche, and it’s hotter than ever. A niche brand is one that is extremely focused and often fills a gap that larger, broader brands don’t view as a threat or big enough opportunity to waste their time on. A niche brand is likely to appeal to a highly targeted audience, which means two things:
- The potential consumer audience is much smaller.
- The economies of scale are greater.
In other words, naturally a niche brand is going to appeal to a smaller audience than a broad brand does. However, within that concentrated target audience who wants and needs the niche brand, sales penetration should be higher, repeat purchases should be higher, and brand loyalty should be even higher.
The marketing world is all about niches these days. The economy isn’t the only reason for this shift though. The social Web also played a part in redefining brand strategy by providing a way for people to connect with others about the topics, products, and so on that matter to them most. While there are millions of Web sites and blogs dedicated to broad topics, there are fewer devoted to specific niches, benefiting from long tail search engine optimization, and building relationships with consumers who are likely to have already expressed an interest in the brand’s message and promise based on their wants and needs.
History also dictates that brands will broaden and then contract, broaden and then retract, and so on — over and over again. That’s because history is cyclical. Think about the mergers and acquisitions of the 1990s, creating giant companies that found it nearly impossible to get out of their own way in the 21st century and therefore, cannot get anything done. Unfortunately, there are far too many corporations that still fit that definition, but many have become victims of their own size and been forced to sell off businesses, declare bankruptcy, accept government bailouts, etc.
The bottom line is that the hot trend right now is niche branding and marketing. Are you prepared to refocus your brand? Have you already done so? Leave a comment and share your story.
Pay to Play–Intern Style
August 21, 2009
Again, I’m a little bit shocked. First I found out that aspiring government employees pay to have other people write their KSAs, and no one seems to notice. Now I’ve learned that prospective/recent college grads (or their parents) are paying to obtain desirable internships.
According to a story in the New York Times, there’s a mini-industry growing up around the unpaid internship market. The options available to aspiring interns range from matching services to auctions (yes, really), but the big boat in this regatta will take the student from resume to interview to offer to apartment, with tourist amenities thrown in. All for under $10,000!
Companies say they regard this as a useful service, providing them with better interns while reducing the effort required to acquire them. Parents say they regard it as a worthwhile investment. And one assumes that the interns consider it a splendid opportunity–and/or a way to get something of value without a lot of effort.
Is this okay? On the one hand, market opportunities are always going to be exploited by somebody, and apparently the demand for internships has been sky-rocketing. In terms of the fairness question–arguably, only better-off students can afford to spend their summers accruing unpaid experience instead of flipping burgers to fund the next semester anyway. So perhaps it doesn’t make any real difference if the well-funded compete amongst themselves?
But on the other hand . . . students who can afford to pay for play in the internship market probably already have a lot more connections than their less-fortunate peers. Should they also get the resume boost of a high-value internship–without an asterisk that says “placed by a paid broker”?
Another thought: The student who gets ushered into an internship (and doesn’t even need to find an apartment or figure out the city map) may not be getting the full benefit of this step toward professional and personal maturity.
To get the placement side of the story, visit this website for a leading provider. Then, if your company utilizes interns, you might consider these questions:
- What is the point of the intern program? Free workers, potential employees, community service, or . . . . ?
- Is the intern program clearly and effectively presented on the corporate website?
- Do you know when intern candidates are being “packaged”? Does it matter?
- Would it be more cost-effective for your company to work with an intern broker? Would that be consistent with your program goals?
In truth, I’m not sure whether this is a big deal or I’m just being cranky. The program I looked at seemed to promise something like summer camp (take your pick–New York, L.A., Las Vegas, Barcelona, Sidney, Shanghai!) with a bonus of “real world” credit for doing unspecified tasks involved with marketing, fashion, television, finance, etc.
So maybe I just want to be an intern! Or maybe I just want to think bright, hard-working, un-rich young people have an equal chance to do unpaid work in exchange for undiluted experience.
(Thanks to Daniel/borman818 for the “money shot”!)
Carnival: Send the Lawyers on a Long Cruise
August 20, 2009
Having just returned from holiday, I thought I would continue my tour of FTSE 100 investor relations home pages by dropping in on Carnival Corporation. I find it’s always best to ease back into the work world after a holiday, and what better way than by visiting the site of a company that makes its living by providing cruises for people. What I found, while presentable, had one jarring inconsistency that set my teeth on edge.
The investor home page itself is set up in standard fashion, with all the expected links running down the left hand side of the page. It was laid out in such a standard fashion that it caused me to look up at the web address, and sure enough, I was over on a third party provider site. No great sin there, as many companies use third party providers to run their investor web pages these days, but when the site looks just like a lot of other company sites you’ve seen and a number of the links, such as the Event Calendar and the Webcasts/Presentations section, are empty, it causes you to question the commitment the company has to their Investors site.
These were minor indiscretions however, compared to the opening greeting Carnival gives to prospective investors.
You would think that a company that operates in the hospitality industry would know how to give people a friendly greeting. You would be wrong.
Here is the actual verbiage used by Carnival: “Carnival Corporation & plc operates under a dual listed company structure whereby Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc function as a single economic entity through contractual agreements between separate legal entities. Shareholders of both Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc have the same economic and voting interest but their shares are listed on different stock exchanges and not fungible.”
Does that make you feel welcome? Those two sentences were written by lawyers, for lawyers. I will grant you that the information needs to be on the site somewhere, but not as the opening greeting to investors. And what’s with the use of the word fungible? Only lawyers use (or like) that word. My suggestion is that Carnival send the lawyers off on a long cruise somewhere such as the Antarctic and get someone who can write plain English to write a nice warm greeting to investors.
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