If mobile is the future of marketing, then the future is now. Consumers are buying shiny smartphones in their droves, which is driving a revolution in the way we engage with them. The mobile internet on smartphones and other mobile devices has set the web free from the desktop and it won’t be long until it overtakes.

When we develop for the web today, we need to consider how best to serve all devices and understand what users want from each experience. Those shiny smartphones in the pockets and handbags of consumers are gateways to new types of interaction and we’re only scratching the surface of what can be achieved.

Brands large and small need to think hard about how to use the opportunities mobile offers to engage in innovative ways.

QR Codes and Tags offer simple and seemless links between the physical and digital world, but unless we give users compelling reasons and positive experiences, they’ll be dismissed as another marketing fad.

Retail is being shaken-up by mobile marketing, but not enough retailers are really taking advantage of mobile coupons, location and payment services. How long will it be until savvy consumers start voting with their feet (and their fingers)?

Check out the infographic below. Although it’s produced by Microsoft to plug their Tag system, it does give an insight into the growing world of mobile marketing:

I text, you text, we all text. Although most of my communication happens through Facebook and Twitter, I don’t foresee the day when I won’t text. Texting, no matter how primitive, instills a greater sense of importance than an e-mail, but in a way that isn’t as intrusive as a phone call. You don’t need to have a smart phone to participate equally in social texting, and when the recipient looks at his or her device, the awaiting text is the first thing that they see (see the hierarchy of digital distractions, but that’s for another blog).

More than once I have been rudely awoken at 7am on a Saturday morning by Orange to remind me about something that I certainly don’t care at all about. We all have received unwanted text messages the same elements of text that make it so attractive have the potential to make it as equally annoying. That sense of casualness mixed with a sense of urgency is addictive and overpowering.

GroupMe (not to be confused with GroupOn) are developing a new form of texting, in a 1998 chatroom-esque kind of way. It allows group conversation in exactly that, one conversation on your mobile.

It sounds like a genius idea, especially for pre teens planning an evening out on the town. Does it sound a little like Google Wave though? Will group chat be compelling to users who are accustomed to communicating with one person at once?

Just wait a minute… can’t you already do this in Skype, BBIM and iChat on your smartphone? It is only in the US for now, so relax, you can continue to have group conversations without it.

Considering the negative points, GroupMe is providing a unique service. You can register for a unique group number on their website, and voila you have a conversation group. If I were located in the US I would try it…

How can companies use this feature in the future? One of the main potential revenue streams identified is from advertising, but this chat app could also be used in a massive way like a giant Facebook wall. That’s a lot of web 2.0 conversations. An organization could be found by their unique handle, whether by name or number as an additional medium of connection.

It looks like they might have found a unique selling point after all, but do we need another medium of connection?

Yes, the Queen is on Facebook. It was inevitable and we should have seen it coming ever since she addressed the world on Youtube. If only I had been smart enough to snatch up www.facebook.com/thebritishmonarchy I could have made a small sum, or even owned an unofficial monarchy page.

Engagement you ask? Not the Prince William type (and we actually did write this just before Prince William announced his engagement to Kate Middleton today), the other kind of engagement. The British Monarchy engaging their audiences who spend their time in Facebook, and whom are getting a very warm welcome.

It’s been about two weeks and at a last count there have been hundreds of thousands of followers that have “liked” them. Depending on how Prince William and Kate use this new medium to communicate with Royal fans, the potential for followers is exponential.

Although expected, I was caught by surprise by a small, tiny comment on the homepage in the haiku-like “about me” box. “Please note that any offensive comments will be deleted”.

A question asked by many companies and organisations when setting up a Facebook page, is whether or not to delete negative comments. Now interestingly enough, the posting to wall functionality has been disabled, however what the general public can do, is comment on a royal post.

Perhaps in one of the most engaging mediums of all time, the general public has a desire to comment on these pictures, most likely posted by someone in a position of relatively high responsibility at an advertising agency or a digital media agency.

As you can see from the posting, these fans are engaging in a genuine and utmost authentic way. “What a thrill” to see my favorite actresses receiving MBE’s as noted by Stuart Parkinson for the world to see.

“I wonder what the joke was” asks Sean Schilke. Is the ability to comment on pictures and activities of the Royal family strengthening people’s brand association with the Monarchy?

At least the new Royal wind farm developments can fund the room full of people who will spend every waking hour reviewing each and every last comment, deleting the offensive comments. It will be very interesting to see the how many people will grow to “like” the royal family, and whether or not it will contribute to national and international “liking” of the Monarchy.

Teams Apollo and Synergy were sent to Heathrow’s Terminal 5 in the beginning of episode 2, not to go on vacation but to design an original beach accessory that holidaymakers would want to take on a beach vacation. The goal of the challenge is to create this original beach accessory and then sell the product to large chains.

Although pressed for time, it seems that the teams didn’t consider strategy much at all throughout their latest challenge. Instead of considering the various markets, or even the target audiences of the high street chains, it seems as though the teams considered the audience only after a product idea was suggested.

Although the challenge was business oriented, the teams used little strategy, forethought or even common sense in tackling this challenge. Team Synergy ultimately was able to create a product that could potentially sell, with one buyer placing an order for 100 items while team Apollo’s internal communications completely destroyed any chance of consensus, despite the team leader’s early attempt to control the group discussion.

Some of the weaknesses of the teams identified in this episode were the lack of constructive group communication and the lack of foresight in thinking the product through. In team Apollo, the chosen product was determined by the individual who shouted the loudest, which was ultimately discovered in the boardroom.

This was the first episode that we participated in the live discussion on Twitter. Using the #theapprentice hashtag, we contributed to conversations which every week can be followed by searching #theapprentice on Twitter.

As you can see in this diagram, there were many people tweeting about the episode while watching the show who included a hashtag (used for tracking discussions and trending topics) in their post.

This graph is also useful in determining which hashtag to use moving forward. We chose to use #theapprentice last night in our conversations because that is the hashtag used by the official Twitter account of BBC’s The Apprentice. According to the diagram above however, more of the audience were contributing by using #apprentice rather than #theapprentice, so from now on we’ll have to engage in the larger #apprentice conversation.

Unfortunately we could not give great comparison between the methods and process followed by either Apprentice team, because there simply seemed to be none whatsoever. Instead of choosing a target market, the teams created a product that could potentially serve a wide range of audiences and in the end had no interest from the buyers at all.

Team MTD at the very least would have given more thought and consideration to the target market and commerciality of the products rather than moving forward with the loudest idea. Hopefully the teams of the Apprentice will show more consideration to strategy moving forward, so then we could have more to write about!

1. The Power of Narrative

When you tell a story, it’s like the audience can’t help but inject themselves into what is being described. Think about some really meaningful presentations that you’ve attended or even watched online. The ones that you remember, the ones that stick in your brain most likely told a story. Our brains store information in narratives, which is why if you think back to something you did last week or last month, you will remember the experience, what you did, how you felt, not just one specific detail.

Your life adventures become stories in your mind, which is why you can remember what you were doing, what the weather was like, or other contextual seemingly insignificant details of the day when something important happens. I personally remember every last detail of my day on September 11, 2001 and I also remember what I was doing when I found out that the late Princess Diana was in a car accident. I was younger and living in Canada and I wasn’t quite sure who she was. I remember telling my mum that this person had been in a car accident, and I can still see the expression on her face as she ran into the room and watched the television with me.

What did I just do? In trying to communicate my point and to demonstrate the power of narrative, I just told a story. While you were reading my story, you also went back in your mind and pulled out some stories that you remember vividly from important days in your life.

2. Emotion

In the same way that emotion propels people to share videos that become very popular, storytelling allows companies to reach their audiences emotionally.  I remember reading about some research that had been conducted about storytelling in fundraising. A group of research subjects had been paid £20 pounds each to participate in a research study. There were some questionnaires that the participants filled out, then after they were finished, they were handed a package, and asked to open it before they left.

Each person involved in the study received their £20 payment in pound coins in an envelope, and were given a letter. Half of the participants received a letter from a charity, describing need. They provided facts and statistics to document how great the need was and were asking participants to contribute some of their newly earned participant money to the charity. The other half of the participants received a letter from the charity telling the story of a boy. The story of the boy recounted a brief summary of his life, how he got into the situation and how he would get out of the situation. This letter also asked participants to use an envelope provided to make a donation to the charity with their earnings.

The end result of the experiment was that the test group that had received and read the story of the boy, instead of receiving the letter containing facts that described how urgent the demand for need was, donated 50% more of their newfound earnings to the charity than the group that received facts.

3. Brand Personality

What better way to communicate your brand personality than through a story? You can create the ideal atmosphere, dialogue and tone. One fun and notable example of brand personality in a television commercial includes the Apple vs. PC ads. Apple literally picked a person, as if they represented the entire company and also picked a person to play the opposing character, someone who embodied a stereotype and who could contrast with the main character. The series of these commercials told a story so that eventually, we all knew that there was prior conflict and disagreement, allowing the style and content of the commercials to change as audiences became more familiar.

4. Blogs and Microblogs

Although the most popular blogs today are information driven (such as this one), blogs began as a medium for people to communicate their stories. Blogs communicate people’s daily lives, and now no example is more relevant than microblogging in Twitter and Facebook. People have turned their entire lives into stories, and in turn, these same people love to consume and be entertained by other people’s stories, even if they may be limited to 140 characters at a time.

5. The Storyteller

The storyteller that you choose is both the message and the medium. Are you communicating a story online? Is it a radio ad? The medium is critical to the message as we all know, and using a creative means to communicate the story will have a powerful impact on the message.

6. Experiences

Storytelling becomes especially effective when the audience and their friends or peer group are involved. Shared experiences will be recounted many times and can provide even more life to your idea. Instead of telling an audience a story, it can be even more effective if they experience or live your story. Maybe you have a very specific target audience who have some similar challenges and successes. Involving them and their experiences in the story will further reinforce this.

7. Conviction

If you hear something, you may or may not believe it to be true. If someone tells you a story about it, it’s much more believable. The same works for information received through the moral of a story. For conviction, it is also imperative that the medium doing the storytelling, whether a person’s voice, text or through movements and actions, that it is appropriate for the medium. Mediums used effectively for storytelling will increase the conviction and the authenticity of the message.

8. Testimonials

Why are testimonials used so frequently? People find comfort in stories and look for stories from others in order to create a context for a potential business opportunity or potential purchase. With a testimonial you not only get a seal of approval that reduces your perceived risk, but you also get a story about the company or product. The story, introducing characters and having a setting will increase the value of the testimonial to the audience. The customer will remember the story long after they remember the kudos, and along with the story will remember the message that comes with it, maintaining top of mind awareness.

9. The Story Evolves- The Brand Story

What do we mean by brand story? Your brand story is the story that makes your brand come to life. How you would describe your brand in 60 seconds if you were talking to a potential investor for example. Do you know what you would say? It’s competitive advantage and it’s something that you’ve identified to be unique and relevant to your organisation, product or service. It’s putting into words or images why exactly you are an amazing company and why you have a unique offering. There is no limit to how you tell your brand story, but it’s imperative that you do. If you are unable to tell us the story in 60 seconds, you should take some time to think about it.

Once you have the brand story, it should be communicated and lived throughout your organisation. Every customer, employee and client should know what your brand story is, so that they see you in narrative form, not just as a brick and mortar shop, or as a website. Your brand needs to be friends with your community, and the best and most effective way of doing that is to tell your brand story. As varied, magical and unique as stories can be, so can be the story of your company.

Your brand story should have the personality of your brand, be indescribably convincing and persuasive, and be creative, original and authentic.

10. Lasting Impression

As mentioned in the beginning, one of the most important benefits of using storytelling in your marketing efforts is the lasting impression it leaves with your audience.

The purpose of this entry was to provide some insight on storytelling, and to hopefully spark an idea in your head of a way that you can incorporate storytelling into your marketing efforts. Of course storytelling is not the only way to communicate and depending on the context, it may not be the most effective for the medium or audience. Just a thought! We would love to continue the discussion on Facebook.
Marketing Team Direct

Promote Your Page Too

Welcome to planet Jargon. I know you’ve always been taught that we live on Earth, but that in fact is no longer the case. The almighty Oxford Dictionary has opened up, and some influential terms have been added. What do jargon and the Oxford Dictionary have to do with each other?

Lexicography. Although I intended to write a ridiculous sounding word, and then tell you it’s not a word, after a quick Google search, I was wrong (The Oxford Dictionary describes lexicography as “the activity or occupation of compiling dictionaries”).

The language that we use, that companies use whether in communicating to clients or in naming their products or services can have a significant impact on how persuasive we are, or how your clients speak about your products.

This summer between your staycations, you may have missed jargon generators in the news. I have two favorites, The Bullshit Generator and the Web-Economy Generator, which is extra juicy. In case you missed it, these simple tools take a verb, an adjective and a noun randomly from each column and put them together to create a so-called marketing phrase. The generators are a clever idea, and a good way to vent your past marketing bitterness.

Some of my favorite buzz-sayings from the Web-Economy Generator:

• Reinvent e-business convergence
• Strategise virtual relationships
• Exploit interactive users
• Synergise one-to-one ROI

These websites are perhaps holding a mirror up to society and saying a few things:

1. You’re using words that we don’t understand to describe processes and concepts that we really don’t care about.
2. Because we don’t understand what you’re saying, it must mean that you don’t know what you’re talking about.

I’m sure a few comics got a great deal of fresh summer material on the wave of the press attention that these phrase generators have been getting this summer. I also think that they do serve a purpose, maybe even to make us think about some of the terms we are using with our clients, and with people who didn’t study business from a textbook.

The following list is a selection of the words recently added to the third edition of the Oxford Dictionary, let’s take a look at some of the words recently added.

• Staycation
• Microblogging
• Social Media
• Netbook
• Dictionary Attack
• Paywall
• Tweetup
• LBD (This means Little Black Dress!)

Even from this selection, our level of familiarity and comfort with these words and terms varies greatly. Where do these words come from? A word like staycation was most likely either first used by someone in the travel, marketing or media industries. There are digital related words like paywall, microblogging and tweetup that if you said in series “a paywall microblogging tweetup”? could confuse even the most astute tuned-in digital guru.

Although the jargon generators are making comedic what happens every day, and are being extremely harsh, if you don’t understand a word or a meaning, the words no longer matter. As someone not very technical, I would be as equally confused with a techno speak generator, as I’m sure many people would be.

The words that we create and that then stick become real words. From a business or competitive advantage perspective, having your product name become the noun for the product or product category is quite an achievement. The Oxford Dictionary has added Netbook to mean a small computer, when this word is in fact derived from the product name Netbook, which is a small computer by Psion.

Twitter related words are now a part of our every day language (I am attending a tweetup this Thursday evening), and what a feat it is for Twitter, who is actually a company just like lots of others, whose terms have been so widely spread and generalized that are now officially words in the dictionary, literally.

Although by no means do I mean to compare the meaningless phrases that come out of the jargon generators to the pop-culture corporate terms that have now been added to the dictionary, but I do want to stress the importance of remembering your audience, whomever you are communicating to. What is their level of comfort with the language you are using? How effective is your presentation going to be, no matter how impressive-sounding it is, if no one in the audience really understands what you’re saying?