media mix

Beacon Marketing: Bringing Personalized Marketing To Retail Outlets

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One of your customers is browsing your store and gets an alert on her phone. She glances at the screen and her face lights up. She looks up at the nearest employee with a huge smile on her face. The customer just received a customized alert on her phone offering a 20% discount, if she makes a purchase in your store today.

Was that a big coincidence? Nope. It was beacon marketing.

What is Beacon Marketing?

More and more consumers rely on their mobile devices to search for products and to do price comparisons. They often download their favorite brands’ apps to get special offers and other incentives. This kind of marketing takes personalized marketing to another level.

The beacons are small, battery-powered devices, that can be installed throughout any physical location. The beacons emit a special Bluetooth signal known as a BLE. Within a certain range, mobile devices can pick up the BLE signal and receive push notifications. Those notifications allow you to interact with your customers in new and different ways.

Some beacon setups currently require consumers to have the brand/store app installed to receive these notifications. However, Twitter has paired with beacon start-up, Swirl. They are developing ways of bypassing the app requirement and using Twitter instead. Instead of requiring a consumer to install an app, all that person needs to do is follow the brand on Twitter.

Does It Really Work?

Yes.

More than 50% of the top 100 brands already use beacons within their physical stores, with great success. Macy’s implemented these signaling devices throughout their chain after conducting a hugely successful trial run over a Christmas season.

The beauty of these devices is that they can be used in businesses of various sizes and in different industries. For example, casinos can engage their guests from the moment they walk through the door. If a VIP walks through the door, the casino can send a welcome and have a staff member waiting in the VIP room with the customer’s favorite drink in hand. Someone in the slots area can receive a special offer to come visit the roulette tables. Other guests can receive discount offers for dining and entertainment.

Now, the success a business has with beacon marketing depends on what value you offer to the customer. This form of marketing enhances the way your business can interact and engage with your customers. Offering tips, perks, and discounts are all effective ways to provide value to consumers.

What Does This Mean for Your Business?

Brick-and-mortar stores continue to fight the pressure of online competitors. Competing on price is difficult with the overhead costs of running a physical location. To remain competitive, stores have to find new ways to differentiate themselves from the online competition.

Using beacons to interact with customers opens up new opportunities to engage consumers and entice them to make in-store purchases. That makes beacon marketing a promising channel for the long-term success of brick-and-mortar stores.

Download Our White Paper Guide To Learn How To Perfect Buyer Personas For Your Business

McDonald’s Revolution in Retail Marketing

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As I was traveling recently through St. Joseph, Mo last week, I stopped to get some gas and near the station was a McDonalds. I haven’t been in a McDonalds for about a year and decided to order my lunch. I wanted to stretch my legs, so I walked into, what I would consider to be the future. 

I was greeted with a digital Kiosk board. Actually three of them. And all it said was “Create your taste”. I could create my own burger, with ten additional sauces, avocado, tortilla strips, three cheeses, grilled or raw onion and the list goes on-even lettuce wraps. You see, I walked into the very first 6,500 square feet McDonalds offering you to create your own burger. Also looking around I saw televisions, armchairs and couches.

As I moved my hand around, I created my own burger. Once paid on the kiosk, I was asked by someone standing by me to take a seat. Huh? McDonalds is going to deliver to my table? I was given an electronic device that linked my order to my table.

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Make An Impact With A Pop Of Color

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I’m a sucker for anything pink. I bought my first iMac because Apple offered it in fuchsia. I got a brand-new KitchenAid in pink, even though my old one still worked. I even bought a car in red raspberry, which is as close to pink as cars come.

So imagine my delight when I walked the floor of the International Home and Housewares Show (IHHS) last week at McCormick Place in Chicago. Down every aisle pastel pinks, blues and purples captivated me while bright red, green and yellow items captured my attention. Everything from kitchen utensils to luggage…small appliances to pet supplies colorfully screamed “notice me.”
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branding and marketing

For Those Who Do Not Believe In Branding and Marketing

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So… you are one of those people that don’t believe that branding and marketing works…

Well…

Why do so many companies spend millions of dollars for just a few seconds of air-time on the Superbowl each year?

Why do millions of people flock to Starbucks every morning?

Why has Apple taken over the phone industry?

Why has Nike signed more athletes than any other brand?

These answers are way too obvious. Read more

#WorldsToughestJob Media Strategy

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American Greetings Cardstore decided in the Fall of 2013 that it would take its traditional marketing budget and go online instead. This was the beginning of the cards company’s journey in digital media. For Mother’s Day it offered a unique job opportunity to over 15 million viewers and 12 people applied to the job posting.

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disney effective marketing strategies

Effective Marketing Strategies We Can Learn From Disney

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Did you know that Walt Disney spends 600 million on media marketing each year? This is NOT Walt Disney but the motion picture studio. However, it has garnered them 1.84M Twitter Followers and 13M Facebook Likes which kills everyone including Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Studios, 20th Century, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Lions gate. Disney beats out everyone so bad that the closest group is Universal studios at 2.7M Facebook Likes. Read more

Targeting The Target While They Are A Target

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Here are the numbers just released: 86% of adult Americans who DO NOT want political ads tailored to their interest. The total number of display ads delivered to U.S. internet users in the first quarter of 2011-$1.11 Trillion.

Today the amount of display ads are $10.9 billion. That is a staggering number to understand for a media outlet that didn’t exist 15 years ago. That’s right on October 27th will be the 15th anniversary of the industry’s first banner display ads which appeared in Hotwired.com. The Interactive Marketing Forecast from Forrester Research states that number will be $28 billion in 2016. So, seriously, you still don’t believe it’s a powerful tool? What could be stopping your product, brand or company from diving in head first? Read more

Do You Truly Know Your Competitive Advantage in B2B Advertising?

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In business-to-business advertising, it’s essential your messaging distinguishes your company, products and/or services from the competition. That’s because when advertising in trade publications or on industry-specific business websites, your ad is likely to be seen next to or around the ads of your competitors. When targeting the same audience, what will make your ad—and therefore your company—memorable?

The best way to differentiate your business-to-business advertising is to focus your messaging on what truly sets your company apart…your competitive advantage. It seems simple enough, but surprisingly, many companies don’t really understand their competitive advantage or don’t exploit it. Read more

Attraction Marketing II: The Marketing March

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Attraction Marketing is the process of making your company, its products, services and culture more attractive to prospects by driving marketing initiatives with the people you already employ. How to process this activity to steadily move your marketing forward, using data to guide you, is called “The Marketing March.”

The strategies outlined in Attraction Marketing are numerous and interdependent. Keeping each strategy moving forward is critical. Getting things all moving in the same direction has been referred to as herding cats and making decisions on where to focus resources and where to cut is the key to success. Read more

Attraction Marketing I: Drawing Prospects To You

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Often marketing is something only focused on once or twice a year. You may be buying media today, running online listings on Web sites your prospects frequent. You may even be using Google AdWords and some limited print.

But so is your competition.

How are you going to stand apart? Increasing your spending may not be an option with tightening margins and flat or lower sales. So how can you get prospects to notice you? Here is where Attraction Marketing comes in.
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