COMMUNICADVERTISING

COMMUNICADVERTISING

The purpose of advertising has always been to emphasise what today we call “presence”.

To shout loud, so people know who, what & where we are, and what product or service we offer.

Shouting louder than our competitors was also another objective.

In today’s very social world, advertising has become tacky & “so last decade” - now we must offer nuggets of useful information, to emphasise not only our knowledge & experience, but also our passion, personality & approachability, hence the need for a managed presence across all appropriate social networks - our “presence” is far more than just a website.

We must facilitate easy access to our support teams, and to as much information about our products and services as possible, as well as enabling that access through any channel our existing, or potential, customer may choose - it is a buyer’s world now NOT a seller’s!

What we need to engage in is “Communicadvertising” - demonstrating our presence, regularly and continually, WITHOUT the “advertising” of the past, but, ultimately, achieving the same end result - commerce.

In the same way as we can now record TV programmes, and fast forward through the adverts, our minds are becoming attuned to constant online “advertising” and blocking it out, ignoring it or rejecting it.

Attracting people’s attention in the mobile, laptop & tablet age, requires a different, far more human, approach - be knowledgeable, communicate that knowledge, include a call to action such as “find out more here” with link to your site, and never stop informing & making it, subtly, easy to buy or contact you.

Show who your Team are - pictures, mobiles & email addresses as a bare minimum - let them blog & tweet on your behalf, as part of your overall strategy, but most of all, make it easy to connect.

Collect email addresses - you still need a list - but DO NOT blast those connections with relentless adverts - give them something useful, as a reason to remember you & come back to you. Don’t stop giving - make it part of the Value of You - if you have bricks & mortar premises, reward “check-ins” - they are free, AND they “communicadvertise” you to your customers’ friends & followers!

Howard J Moorey
Chief SMAATAAAS
Hojomo Group
Social Media As A Tool And As A Service

A Simple Tale of Local #Stroud Economics

How a Stroud Parking Fine costs a local cafe business. 


In-town parking charges have been a subject of much discussion for many a long year. They have hit the headlines again in recent months as Mary Portas highlighted them as one of the serious deterrents for potential visitors to local High Streets up and down the UK. 


None more so than in my local town of Stroud in Gloucestershire, where local market traders have reported noticeably less sales this year than last.


Here’s an explanation of that deterrent in plain language, so even Stroud District Council can understand how local people are affected by the economic conditions in 2012. 


I have been running local “Jelly” co-working events in Gloucester, Cheltenham, and Stroud for the benefit of local small business people for most of the last 3 years. All at my own expense, of time and effort (if nothing else, but often including parking fees), with no expected, or offered, recompense whatsoever. No problem, have been happy to do it. 


These various events, often held at local commercial venues such as Pubs and Cafes bring people into the local business, some of whom had not visited the venue before. These folks (including me) then often spend their own hard-earned cash on coffee and/or beer and/or food. 


Today, having parked in a local car park for the usual 4 hours (for £1.80 - how does that compare with yours?), I was delayed, and overstayed by 25 minutes. 6 minutes before I returned to my car I was awarded a parking fine of £50 if paid within 28 days, or 50% discount if paid within 14 days, from the nice man at Stroud District Council. 


Since the parking, and the food and drink come out of my “discretionary spend”, I will now be cancelling my attendance at the venue, where I spend an average of at least £10-15 per week, for 3 weeks in order to recoup the fine, PLUS boycotting my Saturday visits to Stroud for at least the same period, so more of that discretionary spend will also be missing from the local economy - I have a number of other local towns I can visit instead if I prefer. 


That’s my example. I’d like to bet there are others. Please let me know your stories.


Mr or Mrs Stroud District Council, we are not rich nowadays, so where do you expect the money to come from? Yes, that’s right, the local economy! You treat us like that, we vote with our feet. 


Thanks for reading!

hojomoblog has moved.....

..... to my website at http://hojomo.com

Then halfway down on the left handside!

Latest post:-

APPLE SET TO BREAK AWAY FROM

GOOGLE ON MAPPING.....

Our #GeoSocial view is that online mapping & apps should be for the "common man"(us!); Apple likes to maintain exclusivity, and that is bound to prevail. This means, inevitably, in it’s spat with Google, it will move towards “works with iPhone/iPad/iWhatever; doesn’t work so well with Android”.

Commercial chasms will exist, because Nokia has it’s own mapping & now Apple is heading that way too, but does that make it right, or in the common good? Probably not.

We do not need a repeat of the Flash Player debacle, where many websites using Flash have a problem catering for access from mobiles. That is the prospect, even though Google & Facebook are becoming the dominant reasons for users accessing the mobile internet: Econsultancy.

If I choose to use an iPhone, I want & expect full unrestricted access to the growing Google platform, because it is likely to outrun Microsoft & Office in due time. I do NOT want to be forced to run an Android handset as well just to get “proper access”!

What do YOU use? Google, Bing or someone else’s Maps?

Will it hamper businesses adoption of online marketing if there is too much choice, or if access is less than perfectly simple?

Join me on my WebHub at http://hojomo.com then catch up with me on any of my GeoSocial Media links there - I look forward to meeting you!

H

Banks abuse Offliners….Online Savers earn 37% more than doing it offline...

One more example of the nation's 4Million unconnected population losing out when they can least afford it, as BBC News revealed a new Which? report today.

Fight back with our new #ElderJelly Programme - who do you know that's not online yet? Whilst this is often the older generation, digital exclusion can be the result of poor rural broadband availability or simply lack of resource.

Hojomo Group's "CotswoldJelly" coworking meet-ups in Gloucestershire have greeted this challenge head-on by building on the message from last week's "iTea & Biscuits" Week run by Age UK and starting "own pace" ICT support at a local Community Cafe every Wednesday.

The forerunner of a soon-to-be-announced Digital Mentoring programme for the county, ElderJelly aims to provide local one-to-one assistance to help anyone who has not yet had the opportunity to get online, and benefit from the savings that often result.

Based in Stroud - a Transition Town - in the Cotswolds, Hojomo is seeking to extend the concept, first throughout rural Gloucestershire & then across the South West

"We don't think asking the banks to put terminals in their branches is a viable solution - that still requires access to transport & understanding of computers in the first place, both of these represent a major challenge for any of the 4Million who live in rural areas" said Howard Moorey, founder of Hojomo Group.

"We are working towards reducing rural isolation and social exclusion by providing localised access for anyone who wants to learn about computers and how they can save you money."

Hojomo Group's interest in internet marketing led to identifying the plight of small businesses in rural communities where growth & expansion are often hampered by poor broadband provision. This in itself means families & individuals who are not yet connected have been unable to make that leap in acquiring the basic skills that are so essential to finding work in today's strained economic environment.

GEOSOCIAL – THE WAY, THE FUTURE...

...why?

“Because online geosocial networking sites target locally familiar content, participation tends inherently to encourage face to face interaction of users in or around local places.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosocial_networking )

The fusing of Social Media and Location-based information is destined to become one of the most significant developments in commercial communications technology of the 21^st Century.

Early adopters in North America have developed applications such as Foursquare, Brightkite & Gowalla to revolve around the need, on a personal level, to keep in passive touch with friends whilst keeping open the option of an impromptu meet up. Each of these has a certain fun element built in – becoming a “Mayor”, collecting badges, posting geotagged photos.

GPS has been widely available for many years & has more recently migrated to mobile phones. The social swell is already beginning, with the likes of Facebook, Google & Twitter beginning to optimise their services for location & geo-tagging.

All these & more offer considerable commercial marketing opportunities in the immediate future. The only barrier at this moment is low take-up, which, as awareness grows, is destined to turn into a new tide, and a wave not to be missed.

Transport, Communications, Tools & People

SUN20JUN10…..

…..DAY DAWNS & THE LIGHT GOES ON!!!!!…..

…..quite appropriate for the Summer Solstice + Fathers Day really (and it's my parents' wedding anniversary too, goddess bless them both)!…..

…..because I've just L1RND the source of my deep seated frustration, and possibly what has made me so angry inside, for so many years…..

I realised a few years ago that my "career path" had been forged from my parents guidance of "get a good steady job & progress through that", much as my father had done.

It turns out that my true passion has always been for Transport & Communications…..but in a variety of guises, right up to the present day.

Engine oil has always been in my blood - my father was an motor mechanic & AA man, I loved motor racing & rallying from a young age, and joined Ford 5 years after leaving school.

Motors, of varying sizes, have been an essential part of my life ever since - cars changing to trucks in 1987. Always involving "Business Development", and talking to people.

"square peg & round hole"

Day has now dawned because I've found that what I thought was a passion for motors - things on wheels - cars, trains, trucks - was actually a passion for what they could do - help you travel (I have always loved to travel, I still love maps, albeit more Google Earth nowadays, and reading the exploits of others discovering far away places).

Those wheels are really just tools to get you from A2B, 2C,2D, etc, to meet people, to converse & communicate, to MEET, LIKE, KNOW, TRUST, people!

My final frustration, for the last few years (with all due apologies to those around me who have caught the brunt of this in any way), has arisen from a fascination with all things "Social Media", from before it was even called that, leading to forcing (fooling?) myself into thinking I had to learn, live & breath the technicalities of how it all works, when, in fact, I DON'T need to know & master that, because they are only tools. They are just methods & instruments for achieving an end result - the Final Third is what I REALLY want & need to be involved in, NOT the Middle Third!

I don't need to know how the car/truck works in order to get in & drive it. Sometimes it helps you to be sympathetic, more in tune, with your chosen mode of transport, but it's not essential.

What I am best at is interpreting/translating/driving: taking something outwardly complicated (esoteric even) and presenting it in a digestible format, one that people can understand & relate to how it can benefit them, individually & collectively. No, that's NOT the same as salesmanship (another source of deep frustration!)

Throughout my time past I have suffered from being "emotionally inarticulate" - I have been unable to grasp, and hence convey, WHY I have been so frustrated, and angry, with myself.

That, in itself, has meant I haven't been a particularly good father, or, especially, a particularly good husband, because I was angry inside, but didn't know why.

I have vowed never to push my own sons towards a career that I think might be right for them - they must follow their own PassionPath - but Adam is set to master Maths & Physics, and lay down the plans for the first real Warp Drive, so that Zefrem Cochrane & Henry Archer have something to work on!

Back to Social Media …..

I spent far too much time trying to understand how it works - to become something of an "expert" - instead of focussing on the true goal of what it can do for people, to make their lives easier, or their businesses more prosperous.

"Nobody gives a shit about YOU!" (So thank you for reading this far!)

"They only care about what you can do for THEM!"

The same goes for the motor - no-one cares about how it works (apart from the commercial niche that has grown up around selling & servicing it) - they just want it to do it's job: get us (or deliver the goods) from A2B.

Social Media is just another phase of Transport & Communications…..

…..That's part of the "Revolution!"

The week that led up to this "Day of Enlightenment" started when, in a conversation with Rhona Jack, MD of Blue Click PR Ltd, I likened Social Media to being more of a Bicycle than a Car: with the latter, you get into a protected environment, start up, point & go, with most of the "effort" being automated (it's "under the hood"), passing, & ignoring, many good things on the way!

With a Bicycle, you have to Pedal & Steer, YOU have to make the EFFORT - it gets you where you're going, yes, somewhat slower, but the Journey is so much more rewarding because you see/learn more on the way - you can smile, wave, say hello, stop & chat, grow closer, RELATE & ENGAGE, far more than ever you would in a Motor.

Perhaps that means that AUTOMATION is actually the curse of our age, when we all were led to believe it was the saviour/blessing!

Don't get me wrong, we need to have Motors/Automation - our world in it's present form could not exist/develop/grow without - BUT, if we lose sight/sound/smell of the countryside on the Journey, we are LOST!

Use of Social Media, as a method of people communicating with people, is it's biggest value (RoI?) and it CANNOT be automated!!

Please help someone you know to get on social media with the minimum of fuss & effort - let's make it a much smaller world!

Thanks for reading the Sunday ramble - how are YOU feeling about your past & your future? Decisions made?

Happy Solstice 2010 to one & all!

Updates, Profiles & Jelly!

Keeping your presence up to date and fresh is an important part of being out here in the great digital universe.

As surfers, we are spending less time on a website than ever we did before, so it needs to be clean & crisp and it must provide the information a visitor is seeking in a very easy to find, easy on the eye, fashion.

I have spent a great deal of time on various social media platforms, and the websites they lead to, over the last six months, and have found that too many are just not updated enough, or don't contain sufficient details to determine who runs the business I am looking at through the "window" they have offered me. That is deeply frustrating.

My own website has remained a holding page for far too long, whilst I awaited delivery of my new space-ship - it is a "Profile Hub" - with links to all the important places where I hope to engage with you, and meet new friends in the months & years to come. My friends at ProfileBuilder have really done the business!

Find it here: hojomo group

Please connect with me & let me know what you think, and find out more about Jelly and the Cafe on my recent guest blog here:-

Local Cafe

I look forward to meeting you!

H

May 2nd, 2010

Bio
Howard Moorey advises businesses, organisations, and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value.

You can reach him at: howard at hojomo.com
or catch up on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
as @hojomo @4Pubs @cotswoldjelly & @debtDrGlos

Home is where the heart is: Gloucester & the Cotswold Hills, UK