Shazam: Offering more than just music

Shazam is the popular mobile app which allows users to play a song and the app will give the song title, artist, album, and lyrics. Currently the app has over 100 million users, and why is it so popular?  Because it works, seamlessly.  Shazam realized an issue: consumers listening to the radio wondering who sings this great song, and resolved the issue: press the Shazam button and boom you have your answer.  Leave it to Apple to recognize this apps power and partner up to increase their iBeacon service.

The Apple iBeacon sends offers to your smartphones from stores, retailers, hotels, etc. when the consumer is within a certain proximity.  This offer drives the consumer to the store and increases the consumer’s purchasing power.  Apple understood that they needed to partner with a universally used app already downloaded onto a consumers phone, and voila! Shazam!  “Now this technology is just in its infancy, but it is tremendously interesting and important, because it will allow us to access relevant mobile offers without having to go through the hassle of getting this whole array and collection of apps on our phone (Baer, 2015).”

-Mary

Resources:

Baer, J. (2015). Is Shazam the future of mobile marketing? Retrieved from http://www.convinceandconvert.com/podcasts/episodes/is-shazam-the-future-of-mobile-marketing/

NBA All-Star Weekend: Marketing Opportunities

The NBA All-Star Game was this weekend and I couldn’t help but notice how the three day long event was filled with opportunities to implement creative marketing for brands like State Farm, Samsung, and KIA. With this being Kobe Bryant’s last All-Star appearance the stakes were high for TNT and NBA to create an experience that was memorable and fitting for a basketball legend. Big brands realized this and followed suit.

State Farm was the big winner for this weekend’s marketing frenzy with their Meet The Hoopers commercials, logo placement on backboards, Assist Counters during the game, trophy sponsorship, etc. They also created a hashtag #StateFarmSaturday which created a live thread of tweets correlating with the All-Star skills challenge, three point contest, and slam dunk contest. While State Farm is already an NBA sponsor, these numbers from last year’s All-Star Weekend might explain why they amped up their overall marketing content this year.

Last year State Farm realized that the utilization of Chris Paul, a staple of All-Star Weekend, could use his National Bureau of Assist character to create a message heard throughout the whole weekend. While they used the #StateFarmSaturday last year as well they also used the #AllStarAssist and set up a team of over 100 State Farm employees to assist fans all weekend long.

 

“How did it go? There have been over 3,632 mentions #AllStarAssist, with hundreds of people getting ‘assisted’ both digitally and physically. Many influencers joined the conversation, from Chris Bosh and Anthony Davis, to the Golden State Warrior. ESPN sports business analyst Darren Rovell even commended State Farm’s integration (Shively, 2015).”

So what is the key takeaway? Tying campaigns to personalities and events can create a more integrated feel that doesn’t come across as obtrusive to viewers and fans.

-Mary

Resources:

Shively, K. (February 17, 2015). How two brands turned All-Star weekend into social media magic. Retrieved from http://simplymeasured.com/blog/how-two-brands-turned-all-star-weekend-into-social-media-magic/#sm.00000mr83zlsagcvdwqufg6l2au7h

The Year to Come

Since the year is still early I wanted to assess which marketing trends are expected to have the biggest impact in the upcoming months. I’ll feign shock that content marketing is what most marketers are focusing their strategies around.

The poll above was results from the question: Which digital marketing technique will give you the most uplift or incremental benefits?

It’s clear that content marketing is continuously the most dynamic and exciting sector in the marketing industry. So how can a brand implement successful content that will prove beneficial?  “Most brands resist telling a truly differentiated story; and even those that do aren’t consistent or patient enough to build loyal audiences over time (Pulizzi, 2015).”  They key is giving a brand’s editorial product time to breath before expecting positive results.

We have Big Data coming in second to content marketing according to the poll. Big data is a tool marketers use to engage with consumers on a heightened level compared to traditional advertising. With the increasing accumulation of consumer data, companies have developed new ways to synthesize the information which allows marketers to process it and apply it to their brand’s campaigns.

-Mary

Resources

Chaffey, D. (February 8, 2016). Marketing trends for 2016 – will we be in a post digital era? Retrieved from http://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/marketing-innovation/marketing-trends-2016/

Pulizzi, J. (June 29, 2015). The one ingredient your content marketing program is missing. Retrieved from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/06/content-marketing-program-missing/

Location Marketing: Geo-fencing

Location marketing isn’t a new way for brands to increase their consumer base but it is becoming an increasing trend to get those consumers through the door!  Companies are continuing to build records that will match the mobile device consumers use with browsers they open and sites they log into.  The combination of mobile applications with proximity-based strategies extend the relationship between customers and retailers and is beneficial to both parties.

An example of a company using geo-fencing to increase consumer base is Vouchercloud.  Consumers who have the Vouchercloud app on their phone receive coupons when they are within 200 meters of participating stores.  The mobile app has reported clickthrough rates of 45% and not only increases their mobile usage but also sales for their partnering companies.

 

Mutually beneficial relationships between mobile applications and retailers will increase as well as retailers implementing their own geo-fencing techniques through their own apps and websites.  Customers who act on the deals presented are likely to spend more time in-stores which also increases the likeliness of purchasing more than what is initially offered in the deal.  Win, win for retailers.

 

Resources:

Davis, B. (July 28, 2014). Eight more examples of geofencing you should know about. Retrieved from
https://econsultancy.com/blog/65223-eight-more-examples-of-geofencing-you-should-know-about/

Karr, D. (June 10, 2015). Geo-targeting, geo-fencing and beaconing: Location marketing Retrieved from
https://www.marketingtechblog.com/geo-targeting-geo-fencing-and-beaconing-location-marketing-explained/?utm_source=ReviveOldPost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost