Funnel Tip Blog

The future of mobile advertising is as equally frightening as it is limitless. I won’t focus on the “holy crap advertisers know everything about me” angle, as that is best tackled in some Big Brother sci-fi novel.  Rather, I’ll focus on the mouth-watering data available to marketers, and how digesting this data can help capture your  most ready-to-purchase consumers (in the purest Funnel Tip sense).

Think about all the information and those apps on your mobile device.  The time of day, local weather and your location are pretty standard pieces of data that are instantly available and you probably don’t think much about.  You’re just glad this info is so handy.  Factor in the knowledge of all the apps on your device, your search history, your e-mails, etc. (disclaimer: not all of this info is currently able to be aggregated and available to marketers, but eventually it will be) and you’re able to gain an intimate understanding of consumers on an individual level, at a specific moment in time.  The key is “a moment in time.” Someone who perfectly fits your customer profile to purchase beer is worthless on a Sunday in Minnesota, since state law does not allow sales.  However, on Saturday this same person has great business potential.  That 24-hour window makes all the difference.

Let’s look at an example. Say it’s Friday in mid-July.  It’s a gorgeous 80 degrees, sunny and about 4:30 p.m.  My moblie devices knows all of this, and the fact that I’m in the downtown Minneapolis area.  Also, in the last month I’ve frequently searched for local bars/restaurants using Google maps.  If you’re the owner of a pub, perhaps an ad telling me about your happy hour specials for your place on the river .5 mi away would be a good idea.  But, let’s say it’s pouring outside, with all else the same in this example.  Now, the owner of a local movie theater may want to get in on the game, while the bar owner doesn’t.  My point is that you can use all of the data available to target messages to the most relevant and timely audience right NOW.  The fact that it is raining completely changes whether the outside bar owner wants to pay for his/her message to appear.

I argue that leveraging these types of data is the single greatest factor in an ad’s ability to capture business. Yes, creative elements are still important, but if it’s the wrong time of day, location, etc. I don’t give a damn how interesting your creative hook is – I’m not going to be a customer today.

This abundance of real-time data is causing a fundamental shift in targeting, and it’s going to allow marketers to stretch their dollars further than ever.  The cherry on top is that you’re able to see detailed analytics given the digital nature of these messages.  So in addition to more meaningful messages with a greater ROI , you’re also learning about the habits of your consumers.  This concept, in addition to the corresponding privacy concerns, will continue to play out in the coming years.  I’m curious to see how it unfolds…

Last week, I woke up to a very disturbing site.  The blinking, grey ”?” folder of death appeared on my MacBook where I’d normally see a startup screen.  After a couple hours of restarting, rebooting & re-installing attempts, I finally gave in and made an appointment with the Mac service people, aka, the Genius Bar.  I’d say their customer service was adequate, especially considering I left thanking them after I’d been told my hard drive was shot. 

This is not a post to slam Apple’s service, nor their products, as I’m a proponent of both.  What struck me as interesting about this whole exchange was the lack of that horrible feeling you get when you realize you hadn’t backed up your data.  I hadn’t for this computer, but that sinking feeling never came. 

After a couple days, my MacBook was back with a new hard drive.  The thing was as blank as it had been right out of the box.  As I giddily started her up, the importance of Cloud Computing became clear.

All my music was gone!  No matter, I haven’t downloaded a song in months.  Why would I with iMeem, Pandora & Last.fm readily available with free, on-demand, legal music?

All my photos were gone!  Not a problem, I’ve got facebook and flickr keeping my photos alive and well.

All my documents were gone!  Initially thought this one might be a problem, until I remembered that just about all of my personal documents were Google Docs.  (Note: this was a personal computer, for work docs this becomes hairier, but you know you should be saving that stuff to your company’s server anyway).

All my programs were gone!  Slightly annoying, yes, and technically I did have to re-install a few of them, while I’ll be switching to some open source offerings for others.

… and you get the point.  What’s amazing to me is, most of those behaviors I’ve mentioned are very commonplace for today’s internet user, and in sum they represent quite a drastic shift toward the Cloud.  Your computer isn’t important anymore (save for hard-core gamers / graphic designers), it’s the connection to the evolving-in-real-time, growing-at-mind-bending-rates pool of knowledge online that’s critical.  Ever had your internet connection go out?  It leaves your fancy laptop pretty lame doesn’t it?  I’ll bet it won’t be long before the computer goes the way of the cell phone, becoming more or less a commodity while the service takes over as the focal point.  Apple / IBM / Dell / Intel –>  none of these hold the keys to the internet’s future.  That may just belong to… gulp… Comcast.  We can already see this happening as our phones become no less than internet access points on par with my Macbook, and the sales of netbooks (laptops used pretty much exclusively for web functions) skyrocket.

Ultimately, then, the question becomes, what implications will the Cloud have on marketers and advertisers.  It seems unlikely that “interruptive” methods of getting attention will have much traction in this evolving digital landscape.  Instead, marketers will need to become citizens of the Cloud, by providing desired services when sought & by engaging people on their terms.  Really it comes down to empowerment.  Brands who recognize A) that the consumer is in the driver’s seat, and B) that the best way to reach them is to give them the tools needed to fulfill their needs and wants on their schedule… those are the brands that will succeed.

September 2nd, 2009

On July 29th, the search marketing community was abuzz about the newly announced Microsoft-Yahoo search deal where Yahoo’s search results will be powered by Microsoft’s search engine, Bing.  Provided the deal passes legal mustard, this search coalition would today account for 25-35% of the search market share (depending on who you ask), and potentially raise a legitimate no. 2 contender to Google’s head-and-shoulders dominance in search… but that’s all been covered.

Much more interesting, I think, will be the impact of this announcement on the behavior of search advertisers.  Big budget advertisers know that cost efficiencies can be found using Yahoo Search & AdCenter (not to mention tier 2 engines, content nets, and so on), but smaller budget search marketers will often limit themselves to Google’s Adwords product.  There could be any number of factors contributing to this phenomenon, from volume considerations to pure name-recognition, but I’d hypothesize that a big piece to that puzzle is the ease of use within the Adwords user interface.  

Therein lies the brilliance of Adwords.  Google has made it so easy for long-tail advertisers to set up accounts and watch the traffic come cheaply rolling in that there are virtually no pain points to doing so.  Whether this new partnership will result in a smoother interface for prospective advertisers will go a long way toward determining whether that critical long-tail will take the plunge.   For all the hype (and advertising investment) around the Bing launch and all the buzz about the consolidation; please, MicroHoo, keep the long-tail advertiser in mind.  Search share is not everything.

Check out Chris Anderson’s original article on the long-tail for more info on the concept of long-tail.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced a new feature for their Bing engine allowing searchers to share their results via social networks.  In a nod to the techie crowd (and Dr. Seuss to a certain extent), they have coined this feature “Ping.”  While Bing & Ping is not about to replace the idea of web searching & sharing in my lexicon anytime soon, this announcement seems to place Bing in the lead on socializing search.  

Now, the overall utility on Ping is debatable, but if there was any doubt left that Microsoft is betting on a search/social hybrid emerging as a mainstream platform for navigating the web, it’s pretty much gone.  Check out BingTweets.com for exhibit B.  No one will argue that Google isn’t keeping busy enough these days, but it seems a bit odd that big G has not opted to really attack this whitespace, considering Microsoft really appears to be.

From a marketer’s perspective, the Ping feature has the potential to deliver the social graph-type targeting that companies like media 6 are trying to crack.  Imagine Mike and I are pals, and I know that Mike really loves big, white, Ray-Ban sunglasses.  Really.  Now imagine that I’ve just hopped into my car, having left my pair of somewhat-less-obtrusive sunglasses on the seat, and now find myself in want of shades. 

After “Binging” the phrase “sunglasses special offer” on my iPhone, I’m given a search result informing me about a 25% off downloadable coupon on a new pair.  Nice, so I’m covered, and they’ve even got UV protection.  Sweet!  I notice the Ping feature and pass that result over to Mike, because I’m such a nice guy, and he’s equally overjoyed.  I get social cred for passing on a great deal, Ray-Bay gets a pair of sales out of what would have otherwise been one.  Seems to be win-win.

In truth, however, the biggest winner in this story might just be Bing itself.  Consider what the engine now knows about Mike and I.  Things Bing now knows: we were both at one point interested in sunglasses, we were both receptive to digital incentives, our location.  Perhaps most importantly, Bing knows that Mike had made a purchase or at least purchase consideration because of our social graph.  Privacy considerations set aside, Ping’s potential impact on behavioral targeting online could be game-changing.

Brandon

In the September 2009 issue of Wired Magazine, there is an article titled The good enuf rvlutn.  It essentially says that when it comes to technology for the masses, simpler is better.  The article has some great insights, but frankly the title is wrong. 

Now, I don’t necessarily disagree with the premise of the title.  Your average user of any gadget uses only a fraction of the features and capabilities.  Think about that sexy new plasma you bought.  You probably have 100 different settings for picture, audio, contrast, etc., but you haven’t changed the stereo or display settings since you plugged it in.  If you had to dink around with these every time you wanted to catch your crappy reality show, you’d opt for the lower-priced model with fewer options.   As long as the picture and sound sufficed, the ease of use made it “good enough”  (and in a sense better) for your needs.

The real point is that digital technology creates a fundamental change in what consumers value about a product.  MP3s have much less audio quality than CDs, but make sharing and portability possible.  Flip recorders have virtually no features compared to their camcorder counterparts, but the ease of use (e.g. attached USB for uploading) is exponentially higher.   

 I would actually argue the title stands in opposition to the sentiment of their article.  If digital is changing what is valued, then by definition these so called “good enough” products are actually better, as they deliver more fully on the qualities consumers now desire.  Your camera may be able to produce pictures at 10x the resolution of mine, but if the quality we value is wi-fi connectivity (which mine is better equipped with), then mine is inherently superior as we define it. 

This is a frightening future for everyone from marketing executives to product development engineers.  The speed at which technology is moving means consumer value perceptions will change just as quickly.  It’s those who will be able to scrap their notion of the perfect product and adjust accordingly that will survive.

So on to the point.  The reality is that this phenomenon isn’t unique to consumer goods – it goes for digital marketing as well.  Take Google pay-per-click ads for example.  They are simply text. No pictures, videos or a narrative to speak of.  Yet, they command click rates much higher than their display banner counterparts.  Why?  They are relevant and timely.  They’re fed based on a consumers search terms.  The message is unique to their needs and attention at that point in time.  Not to mention there’s a direct call to action (that so many offline elements lack). Again, the digital environment has transformed what a consumer values, in this case in advertising – from entertainment/glitz to hardcore relevance.   As more and more advances are made, the digital marketing game will change. 

Being cognizant of this phenomenon is one thing, accepting that you’ll have to change at warp-speed is another.  Should be a good ride…

Matt

The momentum behind the iPhone and its applications is undeniable, with far more than a billion apps downloaded.  Factor in the reality that by the end of 2009 the iPhone will be the most active phone in the U.S. (behind that pesky Razr – remember that little number?)  - Forbes reports estimates of 100 million iTouch and iPods a year from now – and you’ve got yourself juggernaut.  The success and array of apps is attributable largely to the fact that anyone with know-how can create the next great application – thank you, Steve Jobs, for changing your mind on that one. 

While there’s a mad rush to get in the iPhone app game, companies should be wary of simply having an app just to “have an app.”  From the vast number of users I’ve spoken with (and ranking in the App Store) there’s one theme constant among the most valued apps- utility.  People appreciate the applications that allow them to accomplish a task or provide information.  The days where glitz and glam dictate downloads and usage are fast coming to an end.  

A good example is the Zippo Lighter application.  My friends ohhhh’d and awwww’d about how the flame flickered and moved. Sure it’s great to bring up during a concert, but it ain’t good for much else.  Perhaps they could’ve included functionality to let me know where the closest Zippo retailer is located.  Maybe messaging around the holidays about what a great gift a nice lighter would make would’ve been prudent.  The hype of the glitz and glam aesthetic is common place. Think about the use of Flash on the web. It came storming out of the gate and quickly people clamored to update their sites with this incredibly sexy functionality.  Problem is, it required longer download times, couldn’t be read by engines, was expensive to implements, etc.  Now, many are retreating to more “basic” code, as consumers want content first and foremost.  I see the same evolution with iPhone applications (and all mobile apps for that matter) – function over form.  Don’t get me wrong, Flash has its place.  But much like flash, the over-the-top animation sequences will be used more judiciously giving way to task-oriented features.

Perhaps the largest opportunity for companies who want in on this phenomenon isn’t even ensuring utility – it’s using iPhone  applications and other mobile devices to drive sales or literally be the product. For example the Shazam application (my favorite) not only delivers on utility – what’s that song, oh wait, this will tell me – it provides a link to the iTunes store to purchase that little ditty you just heard.  That’s powerful.  

Even more mind-blowing is the Golf Shot: Golf GPS application.  It’s an application that has more than 15,000 golf courses mapped and provides distances using inherent iPhone technology.  These guys get it.  Rather than create an application to support or promote their product, they went further and used an iPhone application to create a new way to deliver their product.  Utility.  A subscription fee.  A more convenient product for their consumers.  The holy grail.

I won’t get into it here, but the emergence of mobile measurement companies and advanced analytics for mobile will even further solidify the power of mobile applications.

Mobile applications represent a huge opportunity for marketers, as long as it’s done in the correct manner – function over form. Don’t rush to get your app to market without really understanding how it drives the bottom line and provides utility to consumers.

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