With the recent unveiling of one of the big banks new-style branches, it got me thinking about what other changes consumers can look forward to this year. Personally I’m struggling to get right brain and left brain happily working in tandem after the holidays – but I’m impressed by their focus on improving consumer experience and getting right down to business.

They’re removing security screens and being more open plan, installing digital displays, creating a kids corner, having iPads to hand and embracing aromatherapy (jasmine and grapefruit was the scent at the media preview).

And it’s not only the banking sector that is jumping up and down to improve consumer experience and, in return, their competitiveness. There has been a growing Australia-wide buzz around consumer experience and it looks like digital will be the channel businesses embrace to make a competitive difference in 2012.

According to telecoms.com the telco sector is also making lasting change and 2012 will be a real decider as to which players will dominate. They predict one major change area will be data sharing and getting more creative and generous with sharing data across multiple devices – as well as the death of the notebook and the continued rise of tablets. We are yet to have a date for the launch of iPad3 but it can’t be too far away.

Even the government are doing something actionable and standing behind the recommendation that all Australians would be online by 2020. This, according to a report at the end of 2011, would be to give all Australians a fair go in the digital era. Can we take it, then, that access to being online has become a vital requirement for all Australians, not just a 'nice to have'?

It’s exciting to see consumer experience improving as more and more businesses realise that in the growing world of digital technology and social networking, the consumer has never had so much power.

-Caroline Herrman

Reference: http://www.telecoms.com/38181/customer-experience-predictions-for-2012/

Deck the halls!

Step 1. Update your social media profile photos

Step 2. Polish your Facebook and Google+ business pages and your Linkedin profile

Step 3. Review where you up to with your social media strategy

Step 4. Make sure the reindeer can find your place. Update your listing in Google places

Are you naughty or nice?

Step 5. Familiarize yourself with Facebook’s new page insights

Step 6. Switch to the new version of Google Analytics and filter out internal traffic

Step 7. Review your other social media stats

Step 8. Review your site’s top visited content

Find your inner Santa...

Step 9. Start to plan 2012 by asking yourself honest questions around how you will improve customer relationships, innovation and collaboration

Step 10. Sketch out a 6-month calendar for your blog, newsletter, and social media content based on what’s been popular this year

Bring good tidings –

Step 11. Set up keyword searches in Tweet Deck or Hootsuite to monitor what people are talking about in your industry, and join the discussion

Step 12. Thank your supporters for a great year. Spend time reading their blogs and posting comments and retweeting.

And just to ensure you are totally ready for Christmas try one of these. Depending on your tastes, either a glass of mulled wine at http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/20197/mulled+wine

or for a traditional eggnog recipe visit http://www.eggnogrecipe.net/traditional-eggnog-recipe.html

Thank you to all our fabulous Bullseye supporters – have a great break and we look forward to another wonderful year together in 2012.

-Caroline Herrman

Bullseye will be closed from noon Friday 23 December, reopening Tuesday 3 January with bells on!

Reference: http://www.boxcarmarketing.com/blog/

 

A decade ago, if you were asked what defines decadence, you may have said the smell of a new car, popcorn at the movies in the middle of a sunny day, the anticipation of unwrapping a new perfume, snuggling under the doona on a rainy day.

Now it seems, just going online is one of our most innocent pleasures.

A new study from Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project found that of all adults over the month-long survey who use the internet, nearly three quarters say that they surf the web for no particular reason. On any given day, 53% of 18-29 year olds go online just to have fun or to pass the time.

So if half of us surf the internet just for fun, it’s not hard then to make a leap about what happens when we do have a reason.

Consider, for a moment, the possibilities for online shopping.

Online shopping merges two things we do for pure fun plus ticking things off the to-do list, saving time and possibly snaffling a bargain in the process. It feels good!

E-Bay vice-president, Deborah Sharkey, is reported to have said that Australian consumers had “stepped up a gear” in the past 12 months and had become an “army of savvy online deal hunters” trying to track down the best prices.

With reference to Christmas she said: “With more than 10 million Australians now shopping online, smart shoppers can get the best deals on gifts and save time and energy to spend on the most important ingredients of the festive period - friends and family.”

Regretfully, while Australia has experienced rapid growth in online shopping, there remains a lack of local big brand retailers selling online and enticing shoppers to stay local. It seems most of us end up buying from overseas. So perhaps what we do for fun is in fact a guilty pleasure after all.

-Caroline Herrman

 

References:

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Internet-as-diversion/Report.aspx

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/shoppers-to-go-online-in-a-f...

http://dejanseo.com.au/online-shopping-statistics-in-2011/

Released to the media 12 December, 2011. Today Bullseye and STW are announcing that STW has gained a 51% majority position in Bullseye, one of Australia’s leading independent integrated digital marketing and technology services businesses, with the largest integrated digital production facility in Indonesia.

Co-founded by Jim McKerlie and Jason Davey in 2000, Bullseye has a team today of more than 100 around Australia and in Indonesia. Clients include Austrade, Blackmores, Lend Lease, Goodman Fielder, Westpac, Bupa and Roche.

Bullseye’s Executive Chairman Jim McKerlie said, “We have been pursued for many years by large communications groups but STW was clearly the best for us. We will retain our unique ‘Bullseye Way’ of servicing clients and we plug into the wealth of expertise and experience of a diversified communication group. We saw the road to Asia several years ago and we plan to travel this journey with STW.

“Since we opened our doors we have taken pride in being independent but as digital is becoming mainstream, it is important that clients can access a full service offering where digital and traditional channels are managed in a fully coordinated way. This works two ways for us. We will be working closely with the numerous agencies in the STW group to leverage our digital expertise and capacity where it may be needed and our clients will get access to the depth of offerings from STW.”

Bullseye first opened a Bali office in 2006, and built it as an integral part of the Bullseye service delivery model. The facility today has a team of 60, housed in a modern, secure production facility and with an established market position as an employer of choice. A Jakarta office opened last year.

“Bullseye offers us the best of both worlds,” Mr Connaghan said. “First, a leading, highly competitive and fast-growing Australian-based digital marketing leader to add further firepower to the market leading STW stable of digital companies. Second, Bullseye brings a proven, large-scale integrated digital production hub in Indonesia.”

”We have always put our clients and our people first,” said Managing Director Jason Davey, “and STW provides a fantastic opportunity to offer a full service offering to clients and for our people to grow as part of Australia’s leading communications group.”

In Australia, Bullseye has a staff of 40 in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The Sydney office will relocate to STW’s St Leonard’s campus in January.

Jim McKerlie, Executive Chairman

Jason Davey, Managing Director

Let me take you back to the magical 1990s – the dawn of the age of information. Just after the cold war, yet before the War on Terror; we had the ‘browser wars’. Back then it seemed there was a new online start-up launching every 10 minutes – and some shot to stardom in just a matter of months (and then crashed in about the same time). The most visionary businesses such as Amazon and Google survived.

And here we are again. Another revival in digital technology. The vision of the 90s has become reality: new start-ups are springing up and challenging traditional business models. But TV is not dead. The ‘browser wars’ have become the ‘social media war’, and we now have glorious 32-bit colour – and on a smartphone. This time round though, there will be no bust and there is no turning back. What comes next will be the most exciting…

Bullseye’s Managing Director Jason Davey ...Today’s level of innovation and competition reminds me of the 90s when the first internet boom occurred – but this time there will be no bust.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is no doubt that Apple and iTunes have changed the way we consume music. But for me the experience hasn't been without frustration. 

The ability to only sync with one computer and the confusing nature of the process has left me with steam coming out of my ears at times. I have lost libraries of music, struggled to get back previous purchases, battled to get album covers and generally not enjoyed the experience. 

I have noticed however that they are making a concerted effort to take on board customer feedback, with more personalised email responses and the addition of the "purchased" section amongst other things.

But today as I read about new Google Music, I wonder how many punters there are like me who would happily move to a more open music experience.

Google announced that it is opening its Music service (essentially a Music Store to rival iTunes available in the Android Marketplace) to everyone (although it isn't available in Australia yet) for free for up to 20,000 songs. Tracks will be available on the Android marketplace, adding a catalogue of millions of songs.

Image source: https://music.google.com/music/listen

I was lucky enough to be a guest at a 2-day conference only about Social Media. Lucky because I didn’t have to turn off my mobile – in fact it was encouraged. You could hardly see faces save for the mobiles, tablets and laptops everywhere tweeting, emailing, facebooking. Lucky also because how often do you get to sit back, hear the best of (and worst of) case studies and consider your own brand. Now onto some learnings …

Learning no. 1: Have a plan.

Despite the temptation to fire up a corporate Facebook page, be all over Twitter, Google+ and have your own YouTube channel, those in the know say: stop and think. Work out the ‘why’ before you work out the ‘how’.

Learning no. 2: Having ideas is easy. Focus on doing.

The aim is to have a realistic plan for blogging, ebooks, video, social media, etc. This is not about putting in a huge effort for a couple of weeks then sitting back or moving on to something else. This is about chipping away, slowly, methodically, to regularly have conversations with your audience.

Learning no. 3: It’s called Social Media because it is Social.

The idea here is to encourage feedback and conversation. According to some big brands in the know, followers/fans are a great source of marketing, creating content themselves which marketers can then incorporate. One big name mobile business said they’ve totally turned around business processes internally and the social media team has become part of the customer world. They are now open some 15 hours a day for social media conversations and complaint management.

Learning no. 4: Share the love.

Social Media should represent more than just one person or one team in your organisation. While there is a need for consistency and some guidelines, the richness of different voices will appeal to a more diverse group of followers – likely to build even greater support for your brand.

Learning no. 5: Social Media Marketing must hold hands with marketing.

While we hear all about the great success of some social media campaigns, it’s not a panacea for marketing everything. It’s notoriously difficult to control what the (at times) big bad world says about you and can be complicated to measure the exact ROI. All marketing and advertising needs to go hand-in-hand with social media.

Lastly, remember that the technology is new for everyone so if you’re giving it a crack, no one else out there is more expert than you.

-Caroline Herrman

 

Adobe put the brakes on its iconic Flash Player yesterday, in a company-wide restructure which looks set to benefit iPhone and iPad users who struggle to view Flash-based sites.

Adobe has admitted HTML5 is now the favoured standard for building tools for mobile browsers. The deceased Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, would be smiling in his grave over the decision, which had been the focal point of a bloody battle since Apple’s launch into the mobile market.

Interestingly, HTML5 is not exactly “new” territory for Adobe, who boasted a 12-month engagement with US publisher Conde Nast to deliver the technology to its digital magazines.

Over and above its Dreamweaver and Illustrator software tools that already utilise the technology, Adobe plans to integrate HTML5 technology across its entire product line.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/adobe-surrenders-to-apple-in...

Photo credit: http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/notitas-de-noticias/details/just-in-g...

So you’ve sat down to write some online copy – maybe a blog, a tweet, or some web content. If you'd like some advice, the first trick is … it’s best not to think about it as the written word.

Caption: Captions have the highest recall rates plus more than 50% of people actually read them (you and me included it seems)

Step 1: It’s a conversation

Think about your own spoken voice and write it the way you would say it. Hands down, that is the best way to achieve cut-through and an authentic voice free from BS and the forced ‘being had’ feeling that can come with pushy sales copy or over-zealous advertising (think 'free steak knives' then run the other way).

And, yes, while we learn to talk before we learn to read and write, it’s not actually easy to write conversationally as an adult. We've been taught to write in a more formal way – but I’d suggest that online copy is about peeling back to being a real human being, digitally.

Step 2: Tell a story

It’s the same idea as at the pub on Friday night. We were once kids and the love of stories hasn’t left even though we are well past pimples and proms. Stories are entertaining and engaging. You’ll stay for a good story.

Now I’m not suggesting you can only tell actual stories because that would be kind of weird, but the idea is you take the reader through an idea in a story-telling kind of way where your online copy is a narrative.

Start with a compelling heading, move through the opening and set up, the main body which progresses the story, then the climax and conclusion. Story-telling will give your copy the framework it craves.

Step 3: Don’t forget the benefits

So you’ve got the first two steps down – you’re conversational, you’re using a narrative style. You’re now outlining the various features of what you’re selling … but stop a moment. The most important thing is ‘why’ your product/service is a stand-out and what it will do for your audience. Why do I need to read this? What do I need to know about this? Will someone buy ‘the latest in digital encryption’ or will they buy ‘peace of mind’ knowing they won’t be hacked.

Step 4: Remember how we read online

Most people scan. Chances are you’ve scanned some of this blog. In fact stats show that 79% of people on the web don’t read, they scan. You need to use ‘hooks’ to keep your ‘fish’ from swimming off the page. By hooks I mean:

·         graphical devices just like these bullets,

·         succinct and eye-grabbing sub-headings,

·         short paragraphs,

·         images or infographics.

Step 5: Be your own editor

So you’ve finished your first draft and … it feels good! Do not click ‘publish’ just yet. Anyone who has studied copywriting in detail will tell you that you need to spend almost the same amount of time editing your own work as writing it. Plus if you know at the start you’re going to scribe then edit, your ideas will flow better and you will naturally create a more creative piece.

-Caroline Herrman

As Nostradamus-like bloggers spew “Facebook’s peaked” rhetoric, and brand-marketing gurus sweat bullets en route to programming definitive code to unlock the digital secrets to Pandora’s lucrative box (Old Spice, anyone?), evidence supporting the might of social consumerism continues to mount.  

Research released this week by Beyond and M Booth paints a vastly different picture to the bleeding-edge soothsayers, fortifying the strength of catchy content targeted to the correct online channel is a vital link in the purchase chain.

Fifteen hundred US consumers took part in the recent study examining social-networking sharers. The report, titled “The Science of Sharing”, highlights how the power of sharing across online channels has propelled a paradigm shift toward the “social consumer”.

The term “social consumer” attempts to quantify how online channels, in particular social media has penetrated the buying-and-selling product pipeline.

Critical to the report’s finding is the fact high social sharers, “prove to be the most valuable to brands as they recommend products 3X more often and influence others’ purchases”. Furthermore almost one in three people are prompted to purchase a product after engaging in an online action such as interacting with a brand via Facebook.

So which online channels were the most influential?

Search Results, Brand Websites, Ratings and Review sites, News Articles and Online Ads were the king-pins. Interestingly, Twitter, Foursquare, Wikipedia, Blog Posts and Facebook Comments ranked further down the list.  

Facebook did win, however, the battle for being the most influential on baby brands and YouTube, not surprisingly, took the gong for being the most influential on music brands.

Lessons from the data underline the need for marketing sage’s to attach sharable content in popular digital locations, which act as swimming pools for high sharers. In turn this can cause a domino effect in the social consumer’s cycle of “recommendation, loyalty and purchase”.   

Graph/images courtesy of Beyond and M Booth.

Full report click here: http://mashable.com/2011/10/25/social-consumer-sharing-infographic/

-          Roghan