Mark Kolier’s Blog

Archive for the ‘Marketing stuff’ Category

This week I drove the 750 miles down Interstate 95 from the New York City area into South Carolina. I like driving and don’t make 11 hour drives with any regularity. Since it’s long the scenery is not always riveting I seem to notice roadside advertising – and that’s the point right? OOH (out-of-home) continues to be an active marketing channel to help build brands.

As we drove beyond Washington DC deep into Virginia I noticed there were almost no signs for Starbucks. This was even more so the case in North Carolina. Prior to that it seemed every rest area had a Starbucks sign. In fact I was surprised to notice that it seems to me that there are not as many billboards as there used to be. This is not a bad thing in any way but for me was unexpected. Dunkin’ Donuts was only slightly more in evidence. That same thing could not be said for McDonald’s and Wendy’s (strangely I did not notice as many Burger King signs).

I did not see many electronic billboards on this drive overall but nearly none in after I passed Richmond. The section of the road from Richmond into South Carolina had extremely light traffic on this occasion during a midweek afternoon. What began to dawn on me was how similar things looked over an 11 hour drive except for the trees and vegetation. Connecticut looks something like North Carolina, at least along the side of the road. Ok maybe you cannot get to Waffle House in Connecticut so the brands may change but the song remains the same. I think I might have heard that somewhere before.

Is the United States is becoming so homogenous that it’s becoming kind of boring?

Good marketers understand the value of a well-timed and relevant reminder email. Reaching a prospect or customer with a value-oriented message when they are considering a purchase decision is crucial to campaign success.

I’ve purchased flower bouquets several times over the past few years from Proflowers.com. In general I have found the site easy to use and the overall shopping experience to be good. In fact after a recent purchase of flowers that began to look shabby after only 4 days I contacted Proflowers and they made good on their guarantee by sending a replacement bouquet within a reasonable time period. Good stuff.
But the email below while well-intentioned contains a fatal error that will be difficult for you to find.

Extra 20% Off
Mark, give Mom a gift she’ll want to show off to all her friends. Order today and get an Extra 20% off* gifts over $29.

Or send Mother’s Day Spectacular with a Garden Green Vase for just $23.99 – a total savings of 52% with your Extra 20% off!

Hint: it’s not the offer or pricing. Actually the offer is a good one and the pricing seems fair. The layout is also fine, clear and not overladen with graphic elements.
Give up? The fatal flaw is that I cannot send my mother flowers for Mother’s Day since she passed away nearly seven years ago. Let’s just say that when I read the offer it did not make me feel anything but sad. I still miss my Mom and think of her every day. I will never feel the same way about Proflowers.com again.

How could Proflowers make such a stupid mistake? It’s hard to fathom. Did they send this same email to all their current/recent customers? If so there are undoubtedly many people who had the same reaction that I did. The copy could easily have been modified to capture the feeling of giving flowers on Mother’s Day. But as soon as the copy read ‘Give Mom a gift she’ll want to show off to all her friends.’ there was no way out of an embarrassment Proflowers created all on its own. Had the copy read ‘Flowers and Mother’s Day were made for each other’ or anything along those lines I would not have been put off at all. Once the email is made personal by mentioning Mom and her friends you’ve entered the twilight zone of stupid marketing.

Is it possible that Proflowers could know if my mother was alive or not? The answer is yes it’s possible but if they knew and still sent the email that makes it even worse! Chances are Proflowers had no idea of my mother’s passing – or if she had any friends or not BTW (she did but still…).
Email marketing is a profitable and important business particularly on the retention side. I find it incredible that Proflowers.com could miss the mark so badly.

Am I oversensitive here? Do you have any good stories on how a marketer tried to get personal and made a big mistake?

This past Monday Facebook announced it will pay cash and stock totaling one billion dollars for a company that has no revenue model. Instagram has been around for less than 24 months. It has (reportedly) 30 million users who upload more than 5 million photos a day. The number will be even larger since Instagram last week released an Android version to complement its Apple version.

30 million non-paying users reminded me of music file-sharing service Napster way back in the early 2000’s. Napster too had 30 million users (and users they were since they paid nothing to access a wide variety of music tracks). In 2001 Thomas Middlehoff then chairman and chief executive of Bertelsmann convinced his associates to rescue Napster and turn it into a subscription based service. You can read what was written in the New York Times regarding the deal in 2001 – http://nyti.ms/HujxwZ.

History has shown how that plan worked out – it didn’t. I don’t begrudge Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger at all for their crafty holdout that ultimately ended up in them shaking loose a $1 billion payout from Facebook. What I cannot understand is why Mark Zuckerberg CEO of Facebook would pay such an exorbitant amount ahead of the Facebook IPO which is rumored to be in the neighborhood of $100 billion. In fact last week a new round of Instagram financing valued the company at $500 million.

Instagram has intimated that it could possibly derive revenue by allowing sponsored photos to be dropped into the stream on user screens. Or they could be paid by brands when users tap something to purchase. But at present that is all conjecture.

I read a number of unfavorable tweets regarding the deal yesterday including one that offered – ‘Today Facebook purchased Instagram. It’s also the day that I stopped using Instagram’. There appear to be many people who have a similar opinion. I also wonder that there will be copyright issues with photos ‘ownership’ and license agreement challenges. Maybe Napster founder Shawn Fanning could offer his opinion?

It’s a known fact that the majority of Facebook users are women. Instagram users also skew female but exact figures were unavailable. Is Facebook heading toward being a women’s social network? Has Facebook jumped the shark here? I guess it could all work out somehow. But for me, right now I am seeing Instagram in the same light as I saw Napster.

What do you think?

Since I went to see my doctor last week for my annual physical I thought about the interaction that I have with my doctor and how mobile communication could enhance that experience. If you are like most people you get to the doctor’s office on time for your appointment and more times than not are then informed that the doctor is running late.

Many physicians now have your mobile telephone number as a way to reach you with important news. However doctor’s offices could also use SMS texting to inform you that the doctor is running late by fifteen or however many minutes. This does not happen and there are probably several reasons for that, the primary one being the medical profession is not conditioned to communicate with patients in that manner.

An article in Media Post Wednesday by Reggie Bradford http://bit.ly/HHfmlw, highlights other ways in which mobile is being used to enhance the patient experience. Kaiser Permanente, the largest managed care organization in the United States, has launched an optimized mobile site. So now Kaiser-Permanente patients are able to access their own medical information, securely and from anywhere in the world, through any Web-enabled device.

Mr. Bradford writes ‘Kaiser Permanente hopes to greatly increase the customer experience by featuring 24/7 access to lab results and diagnostic information as well as providing direct and secure email services with their doctors via a site that has fast load time, automatically scaled to the device’s screen size and providing easy navigation and scroll features. By focusing on the services that matter most to their patients, the company expects mobile traffic “to increase significantly with the new mobile-optimized site.”

Walgreens and CVS are two examples of pharmacies that truly understand the priorities of customers that are accessing their storefronts via mobile. In both their smartphone apps and optimized mobile Web sites, customers are able to input and/or scan their prescription barcodes for quick and easy refill orders. Additionally, these two sites feature a consumer-friendly navigation system with efficient scrolling features as well as e-commerce capabilities. Upon accessing the site, customers have the option to immediately download their respective smartphone apps -– a feature that more loyal and frequent customers surely appreciate.’

Mr. Bradford makes a great case for how mobile communication can enhance the doctor-patient relationship. I find that there is an increasing use of mobile communications by my doctors and friends of mine in the medical profession. The former reticence to mobile and internet information by medical professionals seems to be on the wane as doctors have realized that informed patients are not always ‘infused with a little knowledge that can be termed as dangerous’ and can be actually easier to consult.

I wholly agree with Mr. Bradford that mobile should be built into marketing efforts. The healthcare industry is a perfect example of how it can benefit both patients and medical professions.

Have you offered your mobile phone number to your doctor? If not would you?

While I readily admit I am not overwhelmed with Tim Tebow’s prospects as an NFL starting quarterback, he is not without assets that could help my favorite NFL team – the New York Jets. In fact the sting of Tebow’s 95 yard late fourth quarter march to victory over the Jets as a member of the Denver Broncos still smarts. Now Tebowmania will be coming to New York and while his addition hardly makes the Jets an immediate Super Bowl contender, the attention and buzz created by the signing shows the Jets understand that football is entertainment and if nothing else Tebow and the Jets offers great prospects for ongoing entertainment. Entertainment + fan engagement = marketing success.

So what if the Jet signing of Tebow was as much for marketing reasons as it was for football. The Jets just extended starting quarterback Mark Sanchez’s contract to five years at a total of $58.25 million. The concern that Mr. Sanchez’s feelings might be bruised with the addition of Tebow is totally overblown. Nobody should feel sorry for Mark Sanchez – he would tell you that himself.

No doubt the first time Sanchez throws a late game interception or fumbles the boo-birds will be out in force calling for Mr. Tebow to ‘take over’. The Jets management team was well aware of that but the allure of bringing in such an interesting player like Tim Tebow was too strong. By NFL standards Mr. Tebow’s contract at roughly $1 million per year makes him a pretty inexpensive backup/wildcat quarterback.

Was the move to bring in Tebow a thinly veiled attempt by the Jets to take back some of newspaper back pages lost to the New York Giants in their unlikely Super Bowl run to the championship this past season? Jet management would tell you no, this was a football move that makes the team better. But don’t think for a moment that the ‘added-value’ of having a New York Jets version of ‘Linsanity’ in ‘Tebowmania’ didn’t play a role in the decision. And is there really wrong with that?

I want to believe that having Tim Tebow take ten snaps a game at quarterback will contribute to the Jets finally returning to the Super Bowl. After all it’s been more than 43 years. Jet owner Woody Johnson, GM Mike Tannenbaum and coach Rex Ryan have made the Jets a preferred destination for NFL players – let’s not forget that as recently as 5 years ago few players had desire to ‘be a Jet’.

If nothing else Tim Tebow’s tenure with the New York Jets will not be boring. However long it lasts.

Do you think marketing played a role in the Jets signing Tim Tebow?