Link to Outside Blog: http://beyond-the-newbie.com/what-is-viral-marketing/

Do you know about viral marketing? It is one of the most applied methods in online marketing because it not only very inexpensive, but also extremely effective. Viral marketing has similarities with word-of-mouth and referral marketing, but is not quite the same. With viral marketing the focus lies more on wide spreading.

For example, Hotmail give away free e-mail addresses and services which attach a simple message that people can get their own free email by signing up at http://www.hotmail.com to each email sent out. People who see the message and sign up are advertising for Hotmail just like tiny waves spreading ever farther from a single pebble dropped into a pond.

As a matter of fact, some viral marketing strategies work better than others, and few works as well as the simple Hotmail.com strategy. What’s important when consider if a viral marketing is successful? I think the company should give away valuable products or services such as free information, free software programs, and free email-services to attract customers’ attention, and their massage should be easy to transfer to others because viruses only spread when they’re easy to transmit.  Moreover, Clever viral marketing plans take advantage of common human motivations. Last but not least, creative viral marketing plans also use others’ resources to get the word out.

Just like customers are allowed to see the layout of cabin when choosing seats for airplane or ship, it should also be available when choosing a hotel room. If you ever stayed in a great hotel but got stuck in a room with a lousy view or near a noisy elevator, there’s now a way to avoid those dud digs. Unlike sites like TripAdvisor that focus on the hotel in general, new website Room 77, offers a hotel room database and search engine for three-star-and-up properties.

So far, the website has more than 425,000 hotels in 16 U.S. cities and London, but the plan is to go global. It’s easy to use: Type in the hotel name, set your room preferences—floor height, view, elevator proximity and connecting/non-connecting. Then it spits out matches fitting your hotel-crashing needs. Click on a suggested room, and the site generates a virtual room-window view using Google Earth and a Google Maps layout of the hotel floor.

A free iPhone app is available as well. It’ll come in handy when you’re at check-in and get a room assignment.

Although you can’t book directly on the site, Room 77 links to the hotel’s reservations engine and has a “request a room” button that offers tips on how to score a specific room. It also will be interactive, eventually allowing guests to rate rooms and submit photography of the spaces.

Clear Channel Airports (CCA), a marketer of airport advertising, has teamed with Mirrus, creator of the Digital Advertising Mirror and the Mirror Image Digital Network, to implement the mirror-based digital signage in select airports across the United States.

When you walk into a washroom in Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, you might be surprised by the high-tech mirror and its innovative idea. Just imagine that when you look into the mirror, what you see is not your smiling face but a large advertising post. After a few seconds, the post will become a small image stay in the corner of the mirror, however, adman have accomplished their purpose that the traveler have received massage from them.

“These displays create unique opportunities for marketers to deliver targeted messages that are highly impactful and relevant to consumers. They’re already driving interest from consistent airport advertisers, as well as opening new categories like pharmaceutical, consumer products, and food and beverage,” commented Toby J. Sturek, President, Clear Channel Airports.

In my opinion, this is an excellent way for marketers to get in touch with their target customers. As a matter of fact, female and male washrooms have automatically separated their target groups. Moreover, the effectiveness of Mirror Image as an advertising medium is superior according to a market research generated by media research agency Millward Brown. The research suggests that consumers remember brands advertised in Mirror Image at a rate of 5X greater than other advertising.

Link to Outside Blog: http://techrice.com/2011/03/08/chinas-top-15-social-networks/

Today, I read an article about the social networking development in China, it shows me the diverse internet user groups and various social networks which have target different customer in China. There is no single social network can be dominant in the market as Facebook in the U.S. This must due to the large population in China and its great dispersion of wealth, as well as people have different purposes.

Renren.com leads China’s surging social-networking market with more than 160 million registered users, according to Analysys International in Beijing. Competitor Kaixin001.com has more than 93 million. Their edge over billionaire Mark Zuckerberg’s service: a government that blocks Facebook access. “Our service is basically the same as Facebook’s, in terms of functions and features,” said Donna Li, a general manager at Renren. “We are more tailored to the China market.”Kaixin001.com’s core user base is white-collar workers, which is viewed favorably by advertisers.

For social networks from outside the country to capitalize on the network market in China, it is not easy. Take Facebook as an example, Facebook has a terrible track record with key Asian countries. They haven’t made much of a dent in India, South Korea or Japan, where their share of the local social network audience are in the low single digits. I truly believe that even if China opened its doors to Facebook, or Twitter, they still cannot occupy the biggest portion in China’s network market because Chinese are vested and pretty loyal to their existing social network site, and getting to switch to another social network site is very difficult.

link to: http://article.yeeyan.org/view/204697/175966

Recently I found an article about the advertisement history of Coca-Cola which is is one of the most iconic brands in American history. The story is actually very interesting and inspiring, especially when we are studying the art of marketing. We can see the style of times change from the Coca-Cola post, from Norman Rockwell style paintings, to the simple “It’s the real thing.” in Helvetica, to 3D animated polar bears and holiday scenes. It’s no doubt that the success of this company is closely related to its effective use of advertising.

The first Coca-Cola was sold in 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia, but the company’s first advertisement wasn’t released until 1895. The company’s first print advertisement featured an illustration of a young actress named Hilda Clark, who was also the brand’s spokeswoman. That first advertisement featured Clark in extravagant clothing drinking a Coke next to a sign advertising Coca-Cola for five cents.

The next series of advertisements were targeted at women and depicted how Coca-Cola could help them with everyday life tasks by making them feel more refreshed. Such tag lines as “shop refreshed” and “lunch refreshed” were used to draw in consumers and show how this brand was needed to increase the joy felt when performing daily tasks.

As the brand continued to develop and generate more customers, the advertisements also become more alluring and lengthy. During the 1950s and 1960s, the original advertisement illustrations gave way to photographs of men and women smiling as they enjoyed their Coca-Cola.

During this time of American growth and business competition, this brand’s advertisements depicted how drinking Coca-Cola could provide the breaks that people needed in their day. The ads also urged consumers to brink a Coke to gain the energy needed to push through long day at the office. This is also the time when women’s clothing in Coca-Cola’s advertisements transformed from full-length, elegant gowns to lower cut dresses and even bathing suits.

From the middle days of the brand’s life cycle up until present day, Coca-Cola has addressed a variety of environmental and health issues that speak directly to the concerns of each generation. Themes such as recycling and family time were prominent. Additionally, as consumers became more conscientious about what they consumed, Coca-Cola met this trend with lighter versions of the original beverage and effectively advertised their commitment to health.

As Coca-Cola continues to develop as a brand and creates more products under its iconic name, it will undoubtedly continue finding new ways of speaking to the hearts of American consumers through its advertising. What Coca-Cola has learned through its various marketing campaigns is that companies must understand what is most important to consumers at a particular point in history and then speak to those desires through effective advertising. Other start-up companies can learn a great deal from the advertising history of this brand and re-use their strategies to hopefully increase the popularity of their own businesses.

Link to:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/joshuawu/

http://whatsapp.wordpress.com/

Smartphone applications represent the new land rush for mobile technology vendors, and the new gold rush for software developers. Apple’s App Store model has achieved great commercial success, imitators have emerged, the great business model to become the new mainstream trend in the terminal. But for ordinary users and developers, condone this model may not be growing is a good thing. The consumer had to accept restrictions on consumer freedom attached to some of the things on this platform, Take the iPhone, and soon the user must endure in their own cell phone ads brought iAd. Moreover, sometimes it was kidnapping developers have to accept some of the original developers seem unbearable things, such as profit sharing. Now, Apple does have full control of the platform. Compared to this control, the Microsoft monopoly is simply not worth mentioning. The reason is that Apple has too much of their platform, right, or even prohibit landing an application platform as well as restrictions on their programming tools.

 However, the key point of the matter is that if Apple and other companies, determined to fight smart phones and tablet PCs create the future of personal terminal, and replace the personal computer mainstream. Then the App Store as its associated products, will accompany that stage of their development.

Moreover, good app still makes life easier for people. For Example, WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. It’s more convenient than SMS because you can not only share photos and sound recording with your friends, but also your geographical location. This very popular app has been widely used around me and my frinds.

Link To: https://blogs.ubc.ca/mengshu/

This is a very interesting and popular topic in recent years since China not only has an extremely large market but also have its own traditions and culture. Chinese name each year with an animal, which is the animal sigh system. Shengxiao is also the source of many traditional customs and newer trends, and the animals are popular images that are seen everywhere. An increasing number of people have realized the importance of culture in the market place. For this bunny year, companies have constructed many different kinds of bunny product to meet theme of the year 2011 because people consider that bunny is the lucky animal in this year. We can even feel the Chinese New Year atmosphere and the bunny fever in Vancouver. For example, Holt Renfrew is offering Chinese tea and lucky cookies, and Chanel is give away rabbit chocolate. In countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States, although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations and Australia Post, Canada Post, and the US Postal Service issue New Year’s themed stamps. Another interesting thing related to the Chinese New Year traditions is the Chinese night marketing during Chinese festival every year. This is a commercial opportunity as well.

When you walk in the New York City, you may be attracted by a special “Apple Store”. However, 4Food is a fast food restaurant with substantial servings of locally grown food, socially conscious attitudes, and modern technology. The owner of 4Food combines his passions for good food and social media technologies. 4Food provides many different types of burgers and fillings, and it allows customers to figure out new combinations. Customers can put together creative burgers, name their burgers and tell their family and friends through social media tools such as twitter and facebook. Another special part is that to make an order, people can use the traditional way at a counter, but people who prefer to handle it themselves can order from a bench that has six Apple iPads tied into 4Food’s online ordering system. These uses of mobile and social technologies already mark 4Food as a different sort of restaurant.

Nowadays, most traditional restaurants rely on word of mouth about quality food to bring in new customers. But 4Food looks at social media as a new twist on an old story. Customers fill out profiles and maintain accounts with 4Food. After creating and naming a burger, they receive 25 cents in their accounts every time somebody else orders that burger. This encourages customers to market their creations by promoting them through Facebook and Twitter and other social outlets. The use of social media is fun and new, but sustaining it over time requires more than just a quick good time. That’s why 4Food offers such substantial rewards to customers. That’s a lesson all small businesses can take to heart when looking at how social media fits into their marketing plans.

ANAHEIM, Calif., Jan. 25, 2011 – He’s best known for being a multi-platinum music artist, producer and front man for The Black Eyed Peas, but will.i.am is also an innovator, technology fan, entrepreneur and philanthropist. With today’s announcement at the Anaheim Convention Center, the seven-time Grammy winner has added another title to his multi-faceted resume: “director of creative innovation.”

As an extension of his insatiable fascination with technology, which plays a significant role in his professional and personal lives, will.i.am will engage in a multi-year, hands-on creative and technology collaboration with Intel Corporation. He already sports an Intel ID badge, which he proudly showed off at a news conference in Anaheim, where Intel is holding an internal sales and marketing conference.

“Nearly everything I do involves processors and computers, and when I see an Intel chip I think of all the creative minds involved that help to amplify my own creativity,” said will.i.am. “Teaming up with the scientists, researchers and computer programmers at Intel to collaborate and co-develop new ways to communicate, create, inform and entertain is going to be amazing.”

Nowadays, we are not surprise that many companies and brands spend thousands and millions dollar on inviting popular actors, musicians, and sport stars to represent their firms. This is the ordinary method for a corporation to raise their public image and extend their social power. However, engaging stars to attend the daily work, become a shareholder, even step in the directorate is still very unusual

It looks like Intel is taking a page out of Polaroid’s book. The instant-print camera company brought Lady Gaga on as creative director last year, and now chip manufacturer Intel has hired will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas for the same purpose. Critics were quick to pan Lady Gaga’s involvement with Polaroid as nothing more than a PR move, but by all accounts she’s been an active and productive cog in the Polaroid machine. Intel is focused on connectivity in its devices, and the artist’s influence is also intended to infuse entertainment into the brand and its forthcoming products. Moreover, getting a younger generation to identify with Intel is also a smart move.

What else does this move mean? It means the trend is that to make stars closely related to the company and have a deeper partnership which not only makes the star have higher confidence on the company but also willing to spare no effort for it. It follows by the better influence of the halo effect of stars, thus increase customers’ confidence. Since stars have participated in the development of the firms, they will have the sense of ownership and put more attention to the companies.

To predict the marketing trends for 2011, we must recognize that the global economy is correcting itself, and social-media marketing turn to be a strategic necessary, it probably gives small businesses some stirring opportunities to spread out. The need for trust, value and brand transparency, among other trends from last year, is just as important today. But the current shift to mobile marketing and online reputation management require that small businesses modify their plans to surpass competitors.

The idea which we used to believe, that we should gather tens of thousands of Twitter followers, LinkedIn connections, blog subscribers and, Facebook friends to build our business via social media, is dead. As a matter of fact, connections of quality and followers with loyalty to the brand or business are far more useful and valuable to spread the message than large groups of connections who disappear after the first interaction. Thus, building reliable brand advocates will be necessary for business to achieve higher market standards.

Different from getting into the broad field, focusing on one area might be more deliberate because this year companies should concentrate on their own market conditions to identify their unique Marketing positioning.

As the internet is a mixed-up place with much useful or useless information. Relevant and interesting content is essential to break through the noise. Therefore, businesses should create useful content that adds value to the online conversation and to people’s lives. Creating quality content will be a viable marketing tool in this year. Moreover, small business should moving more marketing dollars to social media to have a presence on the social networks since consumers are spending more time online than ever. Simply having a Twitter account or Facebook page is not enough this year. Businesses increase in branded online experiences to meet diverse consumer needs. Consumers can then pick and choose how they want to interact with your brand.