If you’re planning for a holiday campaign (email or onsite), remember that not everyone like to shop during holidays.

Put yourself in the place of consumer — would you rather shop online or on an out of town trip on Memorial Day weekend? Online retailers have a misconception that long weekends mean higher sales. Apparently, there are many more factors to consider.

In the final tally, same-store sales rose 4.8 percent in the March-April period, below the 5.4 percent average expected by Wall Street. Some retailers, including Limited and Macy’s Inc (M.N), warned that a late Memorial Day could depress May sales while boosting June results.

View whole article here.

Always take into consideration current market conditions when coming up with any campaign. Were sales uncharacteristically strong during a usually weak season? Did something happen recently that should push consumers to spend or hold on to their money? These are just some of the questions you have to ask yourself and your team.

Sure, it makes sense to hold big sales during the usual holidays such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. American culture has already dictated consumer behavior this way. Why don’t you jump the gun against your competitors and hold a sale a day, a week, or even a month early?

Always remember that YOU know the behavior of your consumer best.

These Esquire people. Leaves me speechless sometimes.

There are about 10-12 sites I visit regularly in the morning. One is Facebook. There are about 5 resource sites I need to go through to get updated with what I do at work. I go through about 3-4 personal blogs as well. I visit Pep.ph everyday too. That pretty much leaves Inquirer.net as the only local site that I visit everyday (I can live without a TV now because of this). Where does Spot.ph fall?

For me at least, the frequency has gone up from zero to weekly, and that is saying a lot. Though Lourd de Veyra is awesome, he is not the main reason Spot is what it is now.

1. Here’s your Top 10 -  Nothing spells recipe for success more than numbered lists. If I were to point out just one reason for coming back to Spot, it would have to be Spot’s regular Top 10 features. They’re hilariously entertaining, and socially relevant. The visuals they use remind me of the collage that Esquire uses in its table of contents. What’s not to love about that.
2. Give it to me fast - Anything and everything on Spot takes no more than a few minutes to read. To put it in magazine terms, this is any site’s cover test. Short and concise articles are the way to go.
3. I’ve got eyes and ears everywhere - Within a few hours of ANY comment-worthy issue, Spot is able to post something about it. It gives me the impression that if I want to be updated, I don’t always have to go to Inquirer.net first.
4. Share me! – I know it has become standard to put share buttons on any site, but going back to my first point, an article or feature isn’t worth sharing if it’s going to take me half an hour to read through it. If you think about it, this is the only social media strategy they needed. I love the large comment counts on every post too.

Going back to my original review of the Spot.ph, all I ever wished for was for the site to make sense (those humongous ads, although compliant to online ad standards, destroyed the whole browsing experience). All they needed to make sure of was for an 8-9 year old to be able to navigate through the site.

Spot.ph has done this, and so much more.

I’m no fan of city guides. For one, I think social networking sites are more than enough to keep me informed about events that I should be attending or restaurants I should be trying. If you had to assign me to a persona, I would fall into the I-only-visit-the-site-for-movie-schedules category. I’m not saying that city guides are useless, I’m just saying that I do not need them.

About two years ago, I wrote a short piece on Spot.ph, one of Summit Media’s first forays into the city guide landscape. Two things drove me to write about it. One was because I used to work there, and since I left, I’ve always believed that they would never ever release a lackluster product. Second, and even more notable, the site was a collaboration between Summit and the new media division of GMA 7.

The second point is more interesting because content has always been a key driver when launching a media product. And anytime one of the largest TV networks in the country has your back, you know content is something you will never have a shortage of. Because of the tie-up, Summit gained better access to the news worthiest of personalities, events, and of course, multimedia content.

These benefits however, were more apt for Spot’s sister site, PEP. The Spot.ph of 2008 was too reliant on user generated information, that it forgot about the basics of simple usability. You can no longer see the old Spot on Wayback Machine, but believe me, it was a mess.

In the two years since I wrote about the site, a lot of my own perceptions about city guides have changed, along with the dynamics that make a site “sociable”. So too have the people in Spot.ph changed. In my succeeding post, you will see how these people have proven that you don’t have to talk about celebrities in order to engage your audience.

What a transformation it has been.

Even until today, it’s an uphill challenge trying to sell an idea that has nothing to do with traditional media. Once you’re done with all the convincing, you’ll be facing an even bigger challenge — finally deciding what you want to do. During this whole process, have you ever asked yourself if your target market is ready for whatever you’re going to dish out?

I was on my way to the office today when I heard a radio plug about Medicol’s “Winning Board” campaign.

One thing I like about this, is that they go through a very detailed data collection process. One common mistake companies make when trying to run an Internet Marketing initiative, is they always use a shotgun approach (Putting as many of their banners on other high traffic sites in hopes of generating visitors). Though the value to it may not be felt now, companies should start collecting data from their consumers.

Now we can go to the negatives.

• The campaign’s value proposition is not compelling enough – Medicol tied up with JobsDB to advertise “The most winning job of the day”. If I were looking for a job, I would go straight to Jobstreet or JobsDB instead.
• The campaign’s attempt to become social is half-baked – Aspiring entrepreneurs would rather share their ideas in more established forums such as Pinoyexchange or Entrepeneur Philippines. The E-buddy and MyAyala integration are also weak. As for the user interface, let’s just say I’d rather use Sandbox.
• Last, and certainly not the least, the Wordpress interface will not be for everyone – After having spent 10 minutes browsing the site, I still do not understand why I would need Wordpress to browse through the site posts and comments. It feels like a case of let’s put this in there just so we can keep up with the times.

While the attempt at running an online campaign to promote the brand is admirable, I feel like the campaign just has too many elements that the Filipino consumer isn’t ready for. In all honesty Medicol should have just come up with a killer Facebook fan page. At least people would know how to use that.

]]> http://www.alvinjimenez.info/2010/04/18/is-your-target-market-web-savvy-enough/feed/ 0 http://www.alvinjimenez.info/2010/04/11/the-first-real-signs-of-e-commerce-in-the-philippines/ http://www.alvinjimenez.info/2010/04/11/the-first-real-signs-of-e-commerce-in-the-philippines/#comments Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:12:06 +0000 admin http://www.alvinjimenez.info/?p=352 Filipinos are slowly and surely embracing the concept of E-commerce. More than random Multiply product pages, packed Facebook Fan Pages or localized versions of the bigger online retailers in the US, what we haven’t seen are local sites with the whole package. While there are other sites that have potential, Island Rose has been fairly successful in proving that an online business can survive. What about local offline businesses that have decided to transition part of their business online?

You’d be surprised at what Toby’s Sports has been able to do in the past few months.

I’m talking about SEO friendly pages, a working product review system, a recommendation engine, a full-blown email marketing program, and social media presence. Though the pages are far from perfect, there isn’t anything on the Toby’s site that can’t be improved on experience. Kudos to the management of Toby’s Sports for taking the jump.

A more detailed review soon to follow.

I logged into my Plurk profile today and said to myself, looks like I’m going to have to let this go. In roughly a month, my “karma” has gone down from a high 92 to a measly 72. The sad thing about it, is that I really don’t care.

Plurk became popular at the workplace in 2008 primarily for planning the occasional dinner or night out. A simple “Drinks tonight?” Plurk can collect as many comments as necessary, right down to how many tables the group should be reserving. In other instances, I was able to reconnect with former colleagues, and at the same time unknowingly become updated with whatever else was happening. I’ve even used Plurk to determine who I should be working with. More presence on Plurk meant less time for actual work.

Personal experiences aside, those are not the reasons why I think Plurk will not survive the social networking wars.

1. Badge System – A quick inspection of Plurk’s badge system will reveal that a user can acquire a total of 30 badges. These range from X number of “Plurks”, right down to how long you have been a user of the service. The biggest flaw here is that there’s really no substantial incentive to acquire the badges in the first place.
2. Notification system – As of this writing, I have a total of 6 badges on my profile, NONE OF WHICH I WAS AWARE OF. The Plurk team should have done a better job in taking care of user engagement.
3. Karma System – I never reached 100 karma points on Plurk, but was there any reason to? Plurk’s karma system, which is based on “Plurks”, replies, or reply volume to any of your plurks, was never really enough incentive to keep your account going. I know a few people who have already quit using Plurk after achieving 100 karma points.
4. User History – Browsing through your Plurk profile will prove to be frustrating at best. The timeline orientation, along with the different planes format of each individual Plurk, make it a frustrating experience.

The usual argument when letting a social network go, is usually, “What does Social Network A have the Social Network B doesn’t?” Or, “Most of my friends and family are on Social Network A, so why should I give Social Network B a shot?” It’s not about which social network was first, or which social network is bigger. It’s all about which social network was able to provide the most fulfilling user experience.

Plurk was very promising, more engaging than Twitter even. Sadly, my stint with Plurk has turned into nothing more than a social network novelty.

If you own an Iphone, Blackberry, or Nexus, you can readily download the app at here. This is basically how the process goes.

First of all, you need to understand how the technology works. Generally, people use lo-so apps on their phones to “check in” whenever they go places. Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) locate the users and determine what “venue” they might be at, giving them options to select a location or create a new listing. These “check ins” allow their friends to know where they are now, or where they frequently go. Some services allow users to leave location-based tips for friends to discover later, and several involve social competitions, or the ability to unlock digital badges, stickers, and prizes. Businesses can announce specials or promotions through these apps, so when users “check in,” they receive notifications of nearby deals.

Source: Mashable

In layman’s terms, you can say this is a bit like Twitter on steroids, though you can’t post any links, and it just tells everyone where you are. If that still doesn’t mean anything to you, imagine yourself taking a trip out of town (it doesn’t matter if the location is foreign or domestic). All you have is your backpack and your mobile phone. All you have to do is check into foursquare and see where other people have been going. Imagine having 10 restaurants to choose from, and then reading a tip from someone who was previously in the same area.

“Try out the Turkish Beef Shawarma at Jacob’s, and ask for extra lemon sauce. It’s beside the local clinic, so you might miss it.”

Foursquare Facebook Integration

Some existing practical applications? A lot of known brands have already started to take advantage of Foursquare. I don’t think I’d want to be a Starbuck’s Barista though.

What I’d like to see are foursquare specials in the Philippines, because currently, there are none. In foursquare, a user is granted a “mayor” badge once he or she becomes the most frequent visitor of that location. Here are just some of my ideas:

• Fitness First – Free membership for a month at any Fitness First branch (Disclaimer: I am the current mayor at Fitness First ABS-CBN). I say only for a month because it’s going to be hard for anyone to claim mayorship from someone else. Once a mayor has claimed his free membership, the following month’s incentive should go to someone else.
• Mc Donalds or any other fast food chain – First time check-ins shall receive a free upsize on their next visit (with a minimum purchase of course). I say only give the incentive to first time visitors since you don’t need to upsell to regular customers.
• Starbucks – Maybe make a special blend available for people who belong to the top 50 who check into a specific branch? It could be for a free cookie once a month too.
• Bench - Just read this article and get find another way to give tickets to the Bench Underwear fashion show.

After having used foursquare for about two months however, there are still a lot of loopholes to be taken advantage of. People can check into a specific coffee shop or restaurant without having to buy anything. What’s going to prevent anyone from checking into each of the 50 establishments they pass on the way to work everyday. It’s also possible to check into the same place more than once in a day. Somewhere down the line, I hope developers of similar apps such as Loopt and Gowalla can do something about it.

Right now, location marketing is still in its infancy stages, and while promising, still requires a high degree of engagement from consumers (not to mention data charges from telcos). But hey, people didn’t think Twitter would take off either. The possibilities between online and offline marketing are endless.

Do you know of any establishments in the Philippines that are already taking advantage of 4square?

I think we’re all used to it now. The whole Steve-Jobs-is-out-of-his-mind line. And yet here we are, each owning at least one of his farfetched products. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all of this, it’s that I’ll never listen to anything Michael Dell says ever again.

I was browsing through Facebook when I came across a link that was posted by a former officemate. It read “WSJ on iPad for $17.99 a month, magazines to be at or near newsstand prices?”. The former publisher in me had to stop what I was doing and read.

Conversely, magazines appear set to offer weekly or monthly editions out of the gate, not annual subscriptions. Sources told the WSJ that the April issue of Hearst’s Esquire magazine (no stranger to new media) will arrive in downloadable format without advertisements for $2.99, $2 less than the newsstand price, and will include five music videos (each containing the phrase “somewhere in Mississippi,” oddly enough) to take advantage of the device’s multimedia capabilities. On the other hand, a full iPad issue of Men’s Health with match the glossy’s $4.99 price. Of course, as we heard earlier, publishers will be experimenting with advertising and pricing models to see what works so expect things to be fluid for quite some time after the April 3rd launch.

Source

Now what do I think about all of this? Bullshit.

Before I get into why I say that, I first want to enumerate why I would consider getting an Ipad.

1. I want more multimedia content. If I come across a newspaper site, I don’t want to just read about it. I want to hear and watch audio and video clips.
2. Instead of lugging around a laptop on coffee shop run, it makes sense to have something as thin and light to lug around. Imagine meeting a potential client with something like the Ipad in tow. Like they say, sometimes it’s the first impression that counts the most.
3. Though it wasn’t built primarily for this purpose, I’d like to see electronic versions classic board games. Monopoly, Cluedo, you name it, it should be there.
4. Coolness Factor is definitely a 10. Nuff’ said.

Going back to my rant earlier, since we now live in the age of not having to purchase CDs and DVDs, isn’t everything supposed to be cheaper? Look at Steam and how they’re able to sell legit software for loose change. Though it was clear from the very beginning that the Ipad was meant to go against the Kindle indirectly, unreasonably priced downloadable content isn’t going to help the former.

Sure, there are much more daily costs involved in putting out a daily or monthly medium, but putting the burden on the consumer? That’s the worst mistake a business can ever make.

To kick off the year for this blog (wedding preparations not withstanding), I have decided to make a conscious effort to embrace social media. We’re not talking about collecting “friends”on Friendster, Plurk, Twitter, or Facebook here. I am talking about building one’s online reputation. Being an Internet marketer after all means putting your name out there.

Here are two obvious basics you can start with.

1. Own your domain - Even if you don’t know anything about building a website, nail that <firstname><lastname>.com domain down. All it takes is a credit card and $9.99. You can take your time learning everything there is to know, but your domain name might be gone in the next hour.
2. Find uniformity – All of us have tried searching for our names online at least once or twice, and what are the first results that come up? Social networking. I have acquired the usernames alvinj on Linkedin, alvinjimenez on Facebook, and alvinj on Plurk. I wish all of them were alvinjimenez, but someone beat me to it on Linkedin and Plurk.

Doing the above will take more than 10 minutes, and will guarantee yourself a lifetime of controlled findability.