The Beacon Marketing Playbook by Swirl: How to Use Beacons Efficiently

Swirl is a company specialized in mobile marketing. It has recently hit the headlines as Twitter invested in the company, in an effort to develop its mobile marketing activities.

They have published a White book you may download here, where it gives some tips on how to use Ibeacons. Ibeacons is for sure one of the most hyped word in retailing right now and the potential is great. Now I like the advices and the detail they give on how Ibeacons work.

How to use Ibeacons? What for?

This is one of the key to an Ibeacon implementation success. Ibeacons could be very intrusive, and the added value must be clear to shoppers. Moreover, depending on your business modell, your store concept, you may use more one or another technique. To me, there are two main visions of Ibeacons

Increase sales figures via couponing

• Increase overall purchase rate 
• Increase average basket size
• Increase department-specific traffic
• Increase category purchase rates
• Cross-sell products/services 
• Drive repeat store traffic 
• Increase sell-through of specific products

Enhance the customer experience

• Increase mobile engagement
• Increase brand loyalty
• Enhance shopping experience & customer satisfaction
• Introduce new products/categories behaviors. 

Experiment

There is no need to launch a beacon initiative throughout a whole store. There are very little examples of mass success, and it is important to test on a small scale to benefit from the experience. 

Always Think About The Customers

Beacons can be very intrusive. This is the weakness and the reason why geolocalization mobile marketing techniques have never emerged in the past. Therefore, you need to be cautious about how your shoppers perceive your usage of the technology.

1. Be transparent
2. Be relevant
3. Create value for shoppers

Educate Customers About Beacons And Your Shopping Experience
Beacons are not meant to be designed for geeks. There success will be effective if the most of people can use it. Therefore, it is important to explain how your beacons work, and the added value it creates. Don't hesitate to give examples in your store, and explain to the salesforce how to educate customers about it.

M-Commerce: Domino’s Pizza Iphone App Generates $1.3 million In Sales

M commerce remains a land that needs to be conquered. Now that smartphone sales are rocketing and the usage of mobile Internet is adopted by the mass market, now people are seeking for new ways to take advantage of this new main business trend. And one of the most promising one is the payment potential of mobile.

Not a lot of cases studies exist in mobile commerce sites which are actually profitable. But couple of days ago, I found this very interesting article. Domino's Pizza Iphone application generated $1.3 millions in sales!

The application, which was launched in September 2010 for the UK market, has been promoted on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and reached 400 000 downloads.

“The challenge was to create an app which made it easy and fast to order a pizza, but at the same time offered something more to engage users and reinforce the personality and key attributes of the Domino’s brand,” said James Millett, multimedia manager at Domino’s Pizza.

“Our Web site is already optimized for mobiles but we wanted to make it even quicker and easier for customers to get a piping hot pizza, wherever they are,” he said.

The applications lets users find the closest Domino’s locations and pizzas can be customized by pinching to resize the size of the pie and choosing from a variety of toppings.

Additionally, iPhone users can enter to win money off of their next order by popping their pizza in the oven and swiping or blowing away the steam to reveal a code.

While Domino’s is preparing the actual pizza, customers can keep tabs on its progress with the real-time pizza tracker (OK, in my opinion, this part might be a little bit too much...).

The application also includes a pizza slot machine that lets customers shake their phone and randomly choose from Domino’s 75 million combinations of base, sauce and toppings (it is a cool feature, but wouldn't it be awesome also if you could check what people are ordering at the same time on Twitter? Could turn the app a little bit more social!).

Here is a video showing you how the application actually works.

It is actually pretty new that Pizza makers are using the Internet to take orders. But Domino's Pizza went one step further with this new tool. And indeed, let's think about it, most of the time you order a pizza on your phone, and it would be pretty convenient to be able to pay the pizza right away, as you won't need to get crazy by seeking for money to give tips to the pizza guy...

It is also great for the company, which may now improve staff productivity as it does not need to deal with payments any longer, combined with the fact that the order is also automatically typed into the system.

Now this shows well how a m commerce website may work: It is improving the customer experience by improving the payment process. And what gives also value to the m commerce platform is that you may customize your product thanks to the same application. It reinforce my opinion that mobile marketing will help generate foot visits in store, and hence generate more business to traditional retail.

What do you think about it?

UK Study Puts Mobile Coupons Usage On Hold

Geolocalization will be for the next few years one of the main discussion of marketing and

customer relationship management managers. The idea to influence shoppers’ behaviors

thanks to appropriate promotions while in the point of sale is for sure interesting.

Nevertheless, Mobile marketing is a very touchy issue. For sure, pull mobile marketing

strategies have shown their efficiency, as the Iphone app store shows. When companies

propose some applications to download with interesting features, it is ok as long as the user

decide to get it. But push mobile marketing actions are quite difficult.

Hence, a recent study (UK) shown that. Only 8% of grocery shoppers wanted to receive

location based coupons. Indeed, privacy issues are key for this kind of usage. Therefore, it is

very disruptive for customers to get advertising on its mobile while shopping.

More information here.

It is important to not transform mobile advertizing into an intrusive medium. Push mobile marketing campaigns are very difficult to design, and to me, it should really not be consider, because of how disruptive it is.

What do you think about it?

Mobile Marketing Outperforming In Europe

I have found an awesome study about mobile marketing. Indeed, if properly managed, mobile marketing is going to be a high efficiency marketing tool, with great return on investment rate. New media like social media and mobile Internet are by nature great customer relationship management tools. Social media empower the customer to be active in the conversation with a brand, whereas mobile allows companies to be personal with customers.

Mobile communication is the closest it may get from the marketing one to one concept.

­Research, commissioned by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) shows that, on average, 45% of European consumers noticed mobile advertising and of these, 29% responded to it. The research also showed that once people have responded to a mobile advert over a third (39%) continued on to make a purchase. These stats show well how interesting mobile advertizing will get.


German consumers who responded to mobile adverts emerged as the most likely to go on to make a purchase, at 49%, compared to 47% of UK and 22% of French consumers. Of the consumers that purchased products or services, 39% (47% UK, 49% Germany and 30% France) spent between 5 and 20 Euros or British Pounds.

The study asked respondents about their awareness, response and purchasing habits as a result of advertising delivered on mobile devices.

The report also found that in the UK and France, opted-in SMS advertising proved most effective at soliciting consumer response at 40% and 21% respectively. These figures are pretty high, even for opt in media. In Germany on the other hand, an advert delivered on a website accessed on a mobile device proved to be the most effective, with 27% of respondents stating banner adverts as preferable.

Mobile advertising that included time sensitive special offers or discounts was cited as the most important factor leading to a purchase (35% UK, 31% Germany and 27% France). Mobile coupons accessible from phones also proved to be highly popular (34% UK, 29% Germany and 24% France).

In terms of the types of products or services likely to lead to a purchase, content for mobile devices such as applications, music and games emerged as the most popular (23% UK, 28% France and 19% Germany).

Unsurprisingly, younger people emerged as the most likely to notice, respond and purchase content or products as a result of mobile advertising.

"The findings are extremely significant as they indicate a high awareness and efficacy of mobile advertising among European consumers," said Peter A. Johnson, vice president of market intelligence, MMA, and author of the study. "This latest research demonstrates that Europe's mobile consumers have transformed mobile advertising from last year's marketing prophecy into this year's required marketing practice. But getting mobile advertising right requires researching the unique opportunity offered by the different mobile media. For example, an advert delivered via the under-hyped opted-in SMS turns out to be the most likely to open a consumer's wallet."

"These findings are made even more interesting when viewed in conjunction with our previous research demonstrating that a quarter of Europeans were likely to respond to advertising if a mobile response mechanism was included," stated Ralph Risk, Lightspeed Research Marketing Director EMEA. "By delivering advertising directly into the hand of consumers, brands can engage consumers on the go, increasing the likelihood of interaction. The challenge for brands is to ensure that their adverts are relevant and allows consumers to easily respond"

Mobile Banking

Mobile banking has a bright future ahead of it. As Internet has already revolutionized the bank market, by allowing customers to access their bank account and to make action at anytime, it has changed the way customers use their money. Now that Internet is going mobile, and that cell phones are getting smarter and smarter, empowered by Internet and applications, mobile banking is going to create a new revolution.

- The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) (www.mmaglobal.com) and its official research partner, Luth Research (www.luthresearch.com), today released highlights from the latest US Consumer Briefing, a monthly survey of U.S. adult consumers about their mobile marketing behaviors and opinions. Available exclusively to MMA members, the new survey shows that 17 percent of all adults currently use mobile banking, with interest levels suggesting that usage will grow to 22 percent within the next year.

The usage of mobile banking uses three media:

• mobile Web browser (11 percent of respondents),
• SMS (8 percent),
• Applications (5.5 percent)

I believe mobile banking could substentially grow by developing applications adapted to customers's needs. When I see what mint in the US has been able to accomplish with personnal banking and the Internet technology, I believe that the mint concept could be great on mobile devices. Hence according to the survey, half of the respondents are interested in such solutions.

Also, mobile banking might be a great way to earn marketshares for pure players, like boursorama in France, or ING, which doesn't own retails, but could be by this tool constantly in touch with customers.

Time To Market Mobile Advertising

The mobile revolution is on the way. It has been a while experts have pictured a bright future for mobile advertising, but different aspects made it difficult to rocket:

• Mobile formats are very different, upon the operating system the device use (Blackberry, Windows Pocket, Symbian, Android, among others)
• The size and type of the screen
• The way to see the information (application, website, mobile site, and so on).
• The navigation system: keyboard, ball like Blackberry, tactile technology...
• The numerous number of actors willing to benefit from the new market, between agencies, advertisers, mobile network companies and so on.

But this year, it seems it will be good. The New York Times believes that the growth of Apple and Google, with its power to create applications and innovation in the market, will give a boost to a minor industry.

Now one of the reason it remains difficult to advertise on cell phones is the disruption risk. Cell phones are a very personnal device, and each advertising program could reach a threshold fast.

Also, I believe that the application ideas, enhancing customer experience and customer relationship management (CRM) potential is a great way to use it. Now, of course, editorial content like online news site and blogs could be leverage, by providing advertising at a specific format.

We can expect a lot of innovation within next months on this market. And I really believe it will be a great year for mobile advertising.

Offres d'emplois dans le marketing mobile

Le marketing mobile est en pleine expansion et ses métiers sont passionants. Nicolas Clairembault est un bloggeur connu qui vient de lancer sa nouvelle société, ikomobi, cherche de jeunes talents pour l'aider à développer sa société. Voici l'annonce:

Pour accompagner son développement rapide, iKomobi recherche plusieurs profils pour renforcer le pôle marketing dans le cadre d’un stage.
Missions :
Sous la responsabilité du Directeur Marketing, vous serez amené à travailler sur les sujets suivants :
- Veille concurrentielle du marché des applications mobiles et de l’achat d’espace mobile en France et à l’international
- Mise en forme de recommandations sur-mesure pour les prospects et clients de la société
- Brainstorming et formalisation d’idées d’applications et de fonctions innovantes dans un but marketing
- Formalisation de plans médias mobile/web pour les annonceurs
- Gestion/reporting/optimisation des campagnes de marketing online et sur mobile
Les missions proposées sont susceptibles d’évolution en fonction de vos compétences et de votre implication.
Profil recherché :
De formation Ecole de commerce, Maîtrise spécialisée dans le Marketing Online, e-commerce, nouvelles technologies…
Vous aimez surfer sur Internet et avez un réel sens du marketing sur les supports web et mobile.
Vous êtes curieux(se) de nature, et aimez trouver des idées nouvelles.
Vous pratiquez la veille online et êtes à l’aise avec les flux RSS, blogs et médias sociaux
Vous êtes familier des Smartphones nouvelle génération (iPhone, Blackberry, Android), et en êtes idéalement utilisateur.
Vous avez une bonne maîtrise de l´anglais opérationnel.
Vous aimez l’autonomie, la prise de responsabilités et avez envie d’intégrer une structure innovante.
Cette expérience peut déboucher sur une embauche.
Si l’aventure vous tente, merci d´adresser votre candidature et CV à l´adresse e-mail : recrutement@ikomobi.com en précisant «Stage Marketing» dans l´objet de votre message.

Date de début : A pourvoir immédiatement
Durée : 3 mois minimum
Type de contrat : Stage conventionné
Rémunération : Selon profil
Lieu de travail : Parc de la Haute Borne, Villeneuve d’Ascq

Dunkin Donuts Set Up An Iphone App For New Marketing Campaign

Dunikin Donuts set up a new marketing campaign. As the competition is getting tougher, with Starbucks being hit by the crisis and Mc Donald's entering the market with Mc Cafe, Dunkin Donuts created a new campaign, which invites customers to create Dunkin's next Donut.
This $10 million campaign has brought in the opinions of 130 000 participants.

Also part of the strategy the company launched a new Iphone app, enabling users to create shopping list with different co workers. That is actually very smart as it fits to customer's decision making process, since most of the times co workers of a company will share their orders.
To find out more, check here.

Mobile marketing Could Be Use For Any Kind Of B to C Business

Are you a frequent reader of my blog? If you are, you probably know how faithful I am in mobile marketing. I believe mobile are soon to become the greatest way to bond with your consumers. Most of customers own one, and it is well known it is the preferred tool people have on them 24/7. Now, some people are not so fan of mobile marketing, because they estimate it is so far used by a certain type of people, and hence, it is difficult to target people.

Of course, early adopters and technology savvy people use it and this is a great marketing segment. But I found this very interesting article on how to use mobile marketing in an overal marketing mix.

This article exposes many different examples on uses of mobile marketing, and by very different kind of actors:

• Audi in the car business, with its succesful campaign which reached 3.5 million downloads. for the Audi A4 Driving Challenge game.
• A Mexican Beer producer I have never heard of before, called Pacifico which introduced a rooster alarm clock app that crows.
• Even Kraft in the food business launched an app on Ipone:

What does It show? Mobile marketing shouldn't be considered as an elite marketing tool. Any kind of business could think about using those kind of marketing actions, because in fact, customers are already using these technologies.

Mobile To Transform Emailing campaigns

We have talked a lot about the new social media for marketing campaigns, but emailing still exist! Emailing marketing has faced some challenges.

Because emailing is a fairly unexpensive medium and easy to implement, a lot of advertisers used it, creating an overload of emails and spams. Therefore return on investment rates went down recently because of it.

Emailing isn't that cheap as it requires data base management in order to limit the crunch rate and spamming.

I believe emailing has a new chance to reinvent itself thanks to mobile devices. The mass market starts to be equiped with internet empowered handheld, and email consumption has hence been transformed. Emails can be used on the go, consulted at all time, and new functionality linked to the emails have sprung up.

Email marketing should therefore leverage these innovations and new behavior, to link Internet strategy and retail or customer experience.

E-couponing is on the rise, and I am sure there are tons of ideas to be found to get the best of these new possibilities.

Great Outlook About Interactive Marketing

Found on Jacques Froissant's blog, Here is a great presentation about interactive marketing. It explains the great shift happening right now in the media landscape, with the Internet medium growing fast while TV and radios get less audience.

There are some great data and stats about the use of social media, and examples on how to use it. Also, I am totally agree with the 3.0 vision, the future of interactive marketing, with the use of mobile devices. I have talked a lot lately about that topic, but mobile media will become huge especially while using the web 2.0 capabilities.

Promotions 2.0 - The Future of Interactive Marketing

View more presentations from David Griffith.

Le m-paiement en France pour fin 2009

Le paiement par mobile va-t-il enfin arriver en France? En effet, ce procédé permettant d'utiliser la puce d'un téléphone portable comme moyen de paiement est très répandue au Japon, mais n'existe pas encore en France. Bien sûr, ce système existe de carte à puce sans contact pour les abonnements de métro depuis des années, mais le système a rencontré des luttes d'influence pour se propager comme mode de paiement pour la grande consommation.

En effet, le marché est exceptionnel, la technologie déjà maîtrisée, reste à savoir qui en tireront parties: les opérateurs mobiles (SFR, Orange etc...), ou bien les banques, ou encore les entreprises de cartes de crédit comme visa?

L'article commence à dater (décembre 2008), mais on nous annonce l'arrivée du m-paiement pour fin 2009.

Orange SFR et Bouygues Télécom signent aujourd’hui un partenariat avec les principales enseignes de la grande distribution (Auchan, Carrefour, Castorama, la Fnac, Intermarché, Leroy Merlin, Laser) et des intermédiaires de paiements (Finaref, Cofidis, Banque Accord).

Enjeu : rendre possible le paiement par téléphone mobile. Le principe, annoncé par Le Figaro, sera simple puisqu’il reviendra à approcher son téléphone d'une borne de paiement. Le mobile devient ainsi porte-monnaie électronique, poussant un peu plus vers la virtualisation de la monnaie. Ce paiement sans contact exigera cependant de nouveaux modèles. Ainsi, Nokia, Samsung et LG planchent dès à présent sur des appareils prêts pour l’automne 2009. Des tests sont d’ores et déjà prévus pour Noël 2009.

À terme, il sera aussi possible de connaître les caractéristiques essentielles des produits en approchant son mobile ou de collectionner les points de fidélité pour profiter de rabais ponctuels.

On se souviendra qu'au Mexique, les restaurants ou les taxis peuvent aussi se régler simplement avec son téléphone portable.

Le m-paiement permettra de découvrir de nouvelles possibilités en terme de marketing mobile (ou m-marketing). Reste à savoir si les français, encore frileux parfois pour les achats sur Internet, auront confiance dans cette technologie.

Thoughts About Mobile Marketing

Work is still under progress about mobile marketing. Even though everybody is agree on the fact that marketing on mobile devices will probably one of the hottest trend in a near future, there is still room for innovation. Christopher Carfi exposes his view on the subject in this article.

Christopher is an expert in customer relationship management (CRM), and is pointing out interesting things. First of all, he's discussing about how marketers approach mobile marketing.

Here are couple of great examples of mobile marketing given by the article:
Lake Tahoe’s Heavenly Mountain resort is using mobile to provide its customers research information with up-to-the-minute webcams and video from the mountain, as well as condition, traffic, and pricing information (http://www.skiheavenly.com/mobile).

Domain registrar Network Solutions created a mobile shopping guide for holiday season “Black Friday” sales (http://www.bffeed.com).

Cable giant Comcast is using services such as Twitter, which has an inherent mobile component, to support customers using its “@comcastcares” presence (http://twitter.com/comcastcares).

Online community giant BlogHer has created mobile pocket guides for both connection and conversation for everything from politics to parenting to personal finance (http://tinyurl.com/bhpolitics).

Mobile marketing is still new and fresh, and there is a lot to be done with it. Great article.