[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_video admin_label=”Video” src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/elcQ4rojGEM” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n
A couple weeks ago in San Francisco, I heard more information about mobile and Internet marketing, as well as social networking. It was more than my 64KB mind could absorb! And it wasn\u2019t redundant at all. There is so much happening today and retailers and marketers are moving much more quickly now to take advantage of the tremendous growth being experience both by the customers and by the companies staying ahead of the game.<\/p>\n
There was a great deal of revelation for me as I listened intently and then cast my evaluation of the speaker immediately via text message on my iPhone. Only thing that was challenging was spelling the presenter\u2019s name correctly. Some fascinating information on how fast it\u2019s growing. For example, the iPhone I have has more power than a seven year old Mac computer. So we have PC\u2019s in our pockets, not cell phones or cameras. On average today in the US, over 400 text messages per person are being sent from one pocket PC to another. We have surpassed the rest of the world, which we were trailing significantly just a couple years ago. It took 2 years for iTunes to download 300 million apps. They hit the 3 billion level only 3 months after hitting the 2 Billion mark.<\/p>\n
I could go on, but I think you get the point that this revolution in communication and marketing is moving faster than anything we\u2019ve ever seen and it\u2019s only going to accelerate as iPads and Kindles become commonplace. Yes, Peter Drucker was right about the importance of innovation several decades ago, but he is prophetic today.<\/p>\n
The companies making all this technology work for them are the ones who are innovating with the way they reach their customers in their new mobile lifestyle. But let\u2019s not forget the other key element\u2026marketing. As I said in an online interview (link to it) a few months ago, if we get so caught up in keeping up with the technology that we forget to get back to the basic principles of effective marketing and branding, then we aren\u2019t going to win. The most important thing is to remember that we are still talking (however, digitally we do it) to real people who still want to see, feel and touch the merchandise or experience the store after they do all their homework on their pocket PC. We can\u2019t leave traditional media out of the equation either. Apple didn\u2019t get to their skyrocketing numbers by just communicating online. It\u2019s traditional media campaigns (with not-so-traditional messages) that have set the pace for creativity and break through marketing. Microsoft does some of the best print and broadcast as well. However, it\u2019s the branding and the marketing strategy behind those messages that makes it all work. Best Buy understands that it\u2019s got to market as aggressively today using both traditional and new media\u2014but it\u2019s making them work together to reach today\u2019s savvy customer.<\/p>\n
Macy\u2019s is doing a lot to step up its online activity, yet it\u2019s being out performed by Stage Stores (link) who has made a major commitment recently to technology to support their 758 stores in 39 states. Stage maintains their brand positioning that made the original stores the preference of the local markets they serve. With a 4th Quarter increase in net income of nearly 10%, Stage has taken it\u2019s flagship store brands and made them even stronger within their markets. They\u2019ve used technology to work smarter and traditional marketing to keep close to their established customers.<\/p>\n
There continues to be a lot of news out there and the potential marketing benefits of the FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube et all, are yet to be seen despite their unbelievable growth. However, while trying to stay on top of new technology and capabilities, it\u2019s critical to also keep on challenging your organization to innovate with new ideas that will excite customers. We need to market them more effectively to keep the customers coming back after they press the power button on all those pocket pc\u2019s.<\/p>\n
DON\u2019T MISS THIS YEAR\u2019S GLOBAL RETAIL MARKETING SUMMIT IN ST. PETERSBURG, FL, AT THE DON CE SAR HOTEL ON APRIL 22-24. ROB CONWAY, THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSON IN TELECOM, WILL PRESENT AS WILL AUTHOR RAY KURZWEIL AS PART OF PROGRAM THAT WILL HELP YOU BECOME BETTER INNOVATORS AND MARKETERS. GO TO http:\/\/www.globalretailmarketing.com <\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_video admin_label=”Video” src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/elcQ4rojGEM” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] A couple weeks ago in San Francisco, I heard more information about mobile and Internet marketing, as well as social networking. It was more than my 64KB mind could absorb! And it wasn\u2019t redundant at all. There is so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions\/418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}