After the class about mobile marketing, I began thinking about my own electronic device usage.  It came to the conclusion that I had my phone with me more than 90% of the time, while my laptop was only active for less than 10 hours a day.  The reality is, my phone has become a part of my life, my sense of security. I can’t live without it, that is what is feels like. Although the idea of mobile marketing is still quite fresh to many businesses, the opportunities are endless.  The small portable device capture consumers in all three aspects of the triangle—time, place, and need.  This accessibility can potentially fill the gap of consumers’ behaviour to abandon shopping charts during their online shopping experience due to time constraints or other barriers that hinder consumers from completing their purchase.

I see the use of mobile marketing used in two ways: (1) Expand marketing campaigns, such as a new product launch or a spontaneous promotion (2) Generate brand awareness by creating a simple, yet informational mobile interface that educates consumers on brand products and services.

Expanding marketing campaigns will entail seamless integration of the same marketing campaign that is user friendly on different interfaces.  This will allow consumers to be in-the-know at all times about new product promotions, events, and contests hosted by companies. This will require more time in efforts to monitor and update multiple interfaces simultaneously.

Since mobile devices are screens are so micro compared to desktops, it is best to keep a clean and simple interface for mobile users.  By creating a general brand mobile interface, it’ll allow consumers to explore products, product features, and learn more about what the company offers.  A&W fast food restaurant does exactly this.  They have created a simple, yet informative mobile interface for consumers to browse, explore, and gain better insight into their menu items and locations.  While the A&W’s desktop website is dedicated to further product promotions.  This approach requires less frequent updates to their mobile website, while still allowing consumers the option to easily navigate through their company website on mobile devices.

Depending on company needs and goals, both mobile marketing incentives can help leverage brand name with the optimism of increased purchases.

The gap from being a millionaire to a billionaire, what differentiates the success of billionaire companies? Of course, the obvious would be an outstanding and knowledgeable management, which is the backbone of all successful companies.  However, the root of the cause lies in its marketing strategies.  A company that produces that most spectacular product or provides top-notch service is a company left in the back of shelves without recognition or promotion.  Marketing efforts began on traditional billboard and television ads. Companies’ ability to create catchy and flashy slogans to lure in their consumers is only half of a good marketing strategy. Essentially, they are their own brand’s advocates.  In hopes of triggering consumers’ desire to act, leading to a purchase. Along with company advertisements, user generated content has proven to be more effective in generating sales than traditional marketing efforts. The power of consumer words, either spoken directly to an individual or involvement in a company’s advertising campaign is found to be extremely credible to viewers.

For example, before the Super Bowl season, Doritos engaged consumers in a commercial contest to be featured at the games.  This encouraged many consumers to submit creative videos, which allowed a two-way communication and increase in brand awareness. Consumers love to be loved, to feel special, and receive attention.  There are many ways that companies can use this to their advantage.  By monitoring social platforms, company treasures can be lifted to the surface.  For instance, re-posting a picture or a comment that a users post is an effective way to promote products.  If there’s difficulty retrieving positive content from consumers, offer incentives for consumers to tweet, post, and share.  The marketing revolution is ever-changing, new ideas spur each day, you might never be ahead of the latest strategies, but always run along side it.  Right now it is the user generated content era; keep those loyal consumers nearby! (They might just be the bridge to the billion-dollar company).

Have you ever wondered how advertisements that appear on your computer screen are always relevant to you?  

“Think twice before you speak” were the wise words of our parents.  Anything that comes out of our mouths cannot be taken back.  Now, most of our communication happens through some sort of social media platform, like Twitter or Facebook, the wise words should be “Think twice before you [Tweet].”  In the same way, the content that gets published on social media cannot be taken back.

Along with that, companies have access to all the information that we post on platforms, one such as Facebook.  Users privacy is violated.  This violation of privacy can be due to various factors.  (i)Users are aware of what businesses can do with their information and don’t care, (ii) users are unaware of the power of social media platforms, or (iii) they are aware, but are simply helpless.  I believe that many people are aware that content, either in text or photos exposed on social media platforms are useful data that help generate revenue for companies.  It makes it easier for companies to understand their target market, thus, catering their marketing strategies in ways that appeals to them.  The data that is generated from social media platforms are powerful and if left in the hands of potentially unethical companies can be dangerous to some extent.  The consent and privacy of consumers are not taken into account.  Today, the only solution is to control what we, as users post, share, and like on social media platforms to protect ourselves and the ones around us.  Even more, what websites we visit, each click we make are all tracked and remembered. So, they can come back and get at you later, the ads and promotions that cater just to you.

The Tweeting Bra is an excellent example of the extent that companies have gone to take advantage of the power of social media and invade the privacy of individuals.  A company in Germany designed this pink bra to supposedly generate awareness of breast cancer, reminding women to get breast examinations.   However, the idea of an automatic tweet every time a woman takes off her bra is not a practical way to remind women to see a doctor.

Social media platforms are like friends you wish you never met. They know so much about you and take advantage of it.  Sometimes just wishing you could knock them to coma and start over on a blank slate (and think twice before [tweeting]).

Businesses are all trying to persuade consumers to do something. This something is generally an action.  For decades companies have tried to use various marketing tactics and/or strategies to get consumers to perform favourable actions.  Some have tired to provoke the feeling of fear or guilt to persuade viewers to donate to different causes.  For example, using starving children images to trigger those unpleasant feelings in viewers.  This depends on what a company is trying to market.   An airline has taken their safety orientation to new heights. The mandatory safety orientations that airlines have to give to passengers are standard and safe to say, boring. To opt out from the norm, Virgin America Airline has transformed their safety video into a source of entertainment, a music video.

There has been mixed feedbacks regarding their approach to differentiate its way of delivering airplane safety precautions.   The playfulness and humour used in the video catches the attention of viewers. However, does this approach lessen the seriousness of air safety issues?  Many companies have embraced entertainment as a new marketing strategy to capture the attention of their consumers.  There needs to be a boundary between entertainment and getting the right kind of message across.  Companies should be careful of overdoing the entertainment aspect in their advertising efforts and to not dilute the meaning of their message they are trying to get across. Poorly executed marketing campaigns compensate the meaning of the message to obtain the entertainment quality. It is easy to get carried away by online platforms such as YouTube to upload fast and cheap videos. It might gain consumer attention, but is it really the reputation a company wants to create for its brand?

I was taken back by this UN campaign. The issue of women’s right is still a lingering problem in our society whether we believe it or not.  With the help of Google’s hot search terms, it revealed the frightening reality of people’s perspective on women today.  This powerful and eye-opening campaign brings awareness of this issue, continuing to fight for women’s rights.  Aside from the serious message that this campaign ignites, the core of it all relied on Google trends.  Google trends can be applicable to all businesses.  The more a term is searched, the more likelihood that the term will appear on the automatic drop down list to evoke consumers to choose one of the following.   As we learned in class, the better content a web page has will likely result in organic search results. The organic searches are a result due to the relevancy of the search terms. Many companies strive to appear on the organic search engine opposed to non-organic search results, such as pay-per-click.   However, many companies fall short in their attempt to do so.  The following are tips to improve organic rankings:

• Research to see how competitive your keyword is
• Site content should be relevant
• Site should be easy to navigate
• Each page should have a specific focus

The higher the ranking of search terms will also translate to Google hot search terms, which will help drive traffic to sites.  Remember, the more relevant the content of your website is, the more pure (organic) your search results will be. Get out the advertisements and in with expert advice that users will go gugugaga about.