Internet Marketing Strategy
Posting over at Insights Group today:
It’s not necesary to wait for fate to force you into a situation where you have to change. If you’re aware of negative aspects of your life or business, then you can take steps to turn towards the positive – by changing course. – Changing Course – Sarah Worsham – Insights Group
Please head over to the rest of the post at Insights Group to see how you can change course.
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While in the self-checkout lane at Meijers today I started thinking about rfid again. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could just walk right out the door and everything in our basket would be instantly scanned and charged? IBM made a commercial about the very possibility. Think about the time savings!
There’s no denying that what Tetherball is doing is interesting to marketers. But if people aren’t willing to use the device, it won’t be of any use to marketers. (there are lots of things that are interesting to marketers that no one else wants). So, what if instead of spending time on a device that seems cool, they could somehow actually make it useful to the people using it? Wouldn’t that matter more? Wouldn’t that help make the device more accepted and actually make it more useful to marketers?
What about what you’re doing? Does it matter? How can you make it matter more? Is there something you could be doing to accelerate your progress?
(photo by iChaz @ Flickr CC)
Technorati tags: tetherball, loyalty programs, mobile, marketing, mobile advertising, business, reward programs
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As you may be aware – I hate loyalty cards. I think they’re a pain in the butt and offer way more reward to the company than to me. I don’t mind loyalty programs, but I want the burden to be on the company to keep track of what I’ve purchased and my rewards. This may be what led to the development of Tetherball, which is a service that connects mobile advertising & marketing directly with individual consumers via a small rfid chip on their mobile devices. Marketers and advertisers seem to be estatic about the possibilities, but to me, it sounds a thousand times worse than loyalty cards.
Security Issues
While it sounds convenient to have a sticker on your mobile device that can interact with devices at a store, there’s usually very little security in current rfid technology. This means that anyone with the proper device can read the information that’s stored on the rfid chip. There’s no way for the owner of the mobile phone to turn off the rfid or control what information is on it or who can access it. There’s also nothing to stop the store that gave you the chip from tracking you in places you may not know about.
Awareness Issues
I wonder just how much people who are using these rfid devices understand how the company is using their information. Are they aware of the possible security and privacy risks? Are the companies devulging any of these possible issues?
Scaling Issues
Even if you like the idea of a rfid chip for a loyalty program, how is it going to work when all the loyalty programs start doing it? Is your mobile device going to be covered in stickers? Just think about how many loyalty cards many people carry – watch the next lady with a big purse shuffle through a card deck looking for the proper card. Will the companies be able to access the information on the other chips?
Transferability Issues
What happens when you get a new mobile device? Will you be able to transfer the sticker to the new device? Probably not. So you’ll have to go through some sort of new sticker transfer process. What if you have multiple devices? Depending on how the technology is implemented, there may be issues with controlling who is actually using the loyalty chip.
Less Invasive Technology
It seems like there would be less invasive ways to use mobile technology for loyalty programs. Many new phones are smartphones – or Internet enabled, which means they’re able to connect to an Internet website. Many also have the ability to connect to wireless hotspots. As the price for these devices comes down, more people will have them. A company could use their wireless network in-store to easily create the same sort of loyalty programs without having the issues presented above in an rfid chip.
What Would You Do?
Is there a company you trust enough to put a rfid chip on your phone? Are you concerned about your privacy and security of your information? What do you think?
(photo by grey pumpkin @ Flickr CC)
Technorati tags: tetherball, loyalty programs, mobile, marketing, mobile advertising, business, reward programs
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For my monthly post over on Practical eCommerce, I wrote about Ping.fm, which allows you to post to multiple social networks at once – from various different posting methods (email, sms, web). The beauty of Ping.fm is it allows you to easily implement a social media strategy without having to devote hours and hours each day.
Let’s say you’re at an industry conference which is covering some great information that your customers might be interested in. Using Ping.fm, you can send short updates to Twitter and Facebook about what’s going on (live blogging). You can also send photos to Flickr and Facebook of new products and speakers. When you have time to write a longer, more in-depth post, you can use Ping.fm to email it to your blog at WordPress. All of this can be done without having to be at a computer and without having to post individually to every network. - Ping.fm Makes Social Media Strategy Easy – Sarah Worsham – Practical eCommerce
If you’re looking for a way to shorten the time you spend posting to multiple social networks, head on over to Practical eCommerce for the full article.
And, if you’re already using Ping.fm, I always enjoy hearing about your experiences…
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There are a lot of free video services out there (although many don’t allow videos for commerical purposes if you read their TOS), but sometimes a business needs a very professional video solution with full control over the branding, content and advertising.
Viddler is an inexpensive way to create professional video content and advertising. Online video services including hosting, delivery and a customizable player start at $100/month plus a $150 one time training and integration fee. Viddler’s player can be customized with a color scheme, permalink and clickable logo, comments from viewers and publishers can maintain full control over their own advertising inventory. – Viddler for Full Control Over Online Video – Sarah Worsham – New Media Hub
If you’re looking for a video solution for your business with a bit more control, please head over to New Media Hub for the full review.
As always, if you’ve used Viddler, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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