I don't usually get a chance to talk about anything techie, but I hope this may help some of you, if you're having the same challenges as I had with getting tethering to work.
The bit they don't tell you is as follows:-
After you have purchased the Tethering Bolt On, and it's live on your account,
you need to reset your phone like this:-
Settings> General> Reset> Reset Network Settings> (Red Button) "Reset Network Settings"
When you do that, the phone reboots itself, taking a few minutes to get back to your Home screen.
If you then try:-
Settings> General> Network
"Internet Tethering" should now appear!
WARNING: WHEN YOU ARE NOT ACTUALLY USING IT, MAKE CERTAIN YOU TURN TETHERING OFF!!
o2 tell me it takes precedence over any wifi connection you may have available, so you may think you're on wifi, but you'll be using tethering!
Apple site explains here:-
http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/tethering.html
and here:-
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3574
iPhone Internet Tethering Bolt On required?
Go here on o2 site:-
http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/internet.html
Hope this helps your iPhone Mobile Internet Experience.
Happy Hunting!!
Howard J Moorey
March 20th, 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 & @debtDrGlos
Home is where the heart is: Cotswold Hills, UK
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Friday, 5 March 2010
Customer Relationship Management or Guest Experience? Whitbread #Fail
My friend Chris has led me to change my mindset from "Customer Relationship Management" to "Guest Experience", and yesterday I had the chance to savour the difference first hand.
It was a very common scenario, replayed many times a day around the globe - I had arranged to meet with a couple of my co-collaborators from a particular project for a sociable face-to-face instead of the usual Skype or Wave conversations - we all agree we still get something out of the physical meet up - that's good, that's human!
So date & area (Worcester -ish) organised, one of my colleagues picks the venue using Whitbread's Premier Inn website, where a very user-friendly tool allows you to "Email to a friend". He did that, and two of us went to one place (the one he sent details about), and he managed to go to another, and then insist that we go there!
This allowed me to "experience" two different Premier Inn sites within two hours and led me into sharing this comparison. At this point I stress that in no way am I connected with Whitbread, Premier Inn, Beefeater or any of their myriad brand names in the hospitality sector, other than, having been a road warrior for many years now, I have used them extensively across the UK, but purely as a "guest", and I don't even have a loyalty card!
On with the plot - first venue I found OK, simply through address and post code from the email - sat nav did a great job! Not far off the M5 Junction 5 - Bromsgrove South, The Swan Inn. Right beside the main road, good access, free parking.
We tend to search based on the "Premier Inn" brand, although these type of meetings usually take place in the adjacent restaurant, whatever brand that happens to be, pitched at 9.30-10.30 start, after the breakfast rush with time enough before lunch. In this scenario, we are likely to be perfect incremental, "targets" for Whitbread, since discretionary spend (cash or plastic) would inevitably mean coffee/drinks, plus distinct possibility of lunch too, often when the venue is not otherwise particularly busy.
One prime requirement - we need easily accessible power & free wifi!!
Back to The Swan - nice inside, offering just what we need, plus good looking "Chef's Specials" board & a range of real ales too. Pleasant welcome from the young lady setting up tables, together with "help yourself to coffee, I'll run you a tab". Wifi clearly available, with access code written on chalk board on the bar - fair enough.
First hiccup - access screen worked OK on the Mac laptop (except that it needed an email address too - Grrrrrrrr! Woe betide you if I get spam from you as a result!), BUT first #Fail: it didn't work so easily on the iPhone. So much so that I gave up! Gaining access from the laptop was definitely an "experience" because Firefox & Safari browsers both questioned the security certificate used by the"Public" wifi connection, to the extent that they both protected me & kept me out! Email access was less strenuous, so at least I had that.
Now, bearing in mind that this meeting was about various social media strategies, and therefore we would need web access to review our files & sites, this immediately limited the likelihood of progress. So much so that when I made the "where are you" call & was told "we're here, come join us", I was only mildly miffed about having to give up the Cottage Pie & Pint of Worcester Sorcerer, that I had mentally bookmarked for later!
On to venue number 2, one junction down - the Three Pears at Warndon. Totally different experience!! Firstly, Pay and Display Car Park, with the promise of a refund if you buy drinks or food inside! I understand the reason for this - the number of cars parked on the pavement of the access road showed that it's an area well used as a drop off point for meeting up and carrying on up or down the motorway. But, for me, a true "guest" for the morning, the system #Failed again - more of that later.
Didn't have change so had to go in to the venue; accosted the Manager, who simply said "it's not run by us, some third party handles all that".
Met up with said collaborators, who had already noted a lack of accessible wifi. Enquiry received the reply that "no we don't offer it, but the (separate) Premier Inn opposite do." Over to them, but, as I expected, gained the response "yes we have wifi, but only for "guests", and only in the bedrooms"
#Fail - we were intending to be "guests" of Whitbread, on this Whitbread site, but both sides (Premier Inn and Beefeater) were able to claim notional independence of the other and thus avoid responsibility, or, more importantly, any interest in the needs of the "guests".
Back to the Three Pears (despite our ordeal so far, time was dragging on) to sit & order coffees to start. Great meeting, but the "experience" thus far lost them the three potential lunches/drinks AND any chance of EVER getting a word of mouth (Twitter, et al) recommendation, OR a return visit! We just ordered another coffee. In due course "organiser" paid the drinks bill (thanks Paul!) and left for his next meeting, allowing Anna & I to carry on talking yet more strategies!
Then came the final #Fail, to add insult to injury, drinks bill had already been paid so they declined to provide us with a refund of the parking charges! If we had each individually paid for our own drinks, three separate bills, we could have had a refund, but Paul's generosity meant that did not happen.
Result: Total Fail on the part of Whitbread Premier Inn Beefeater, we will NEVER use that location again, or recommend anyone else use it either. Was it worth it for them? Do they care?
"Customer Relationship Management" is nowadays too grand, and overbearing, a title for what should have occurred here.
"Guest Experience" actually sums it up perfectly - Whitbread (and competitors) please live & learn! Follow @chrisbrogan to learn more!
Please, please don't make these mistakes with YOUR customers.
It was a very common scenario, replayed many times a day around the globe - I had arranged to meet with a couple of my co-collaborators from a particular project for a sociable face-to-face instead of the usual Skype or Wave conversations - we all agree we still get something out of the physical meet up - that's good, that's human!
So date & area (Worcester -ish) organised, one of my colleagues picks the venue using Whitbread's Premier Inn website, where a very user-friendly tool allows you to "Email to a friend". He did that, and two of us went to one place (the one he sent details about), and he managed to go to another, and then insist that we go there!
This allowed me to "experience" two different Premier Inn sites within two hours and led me into sharing this comparison. At this point I stress that in no way am I connected with Whitbread, Premier Inn, Beefeater or any of their myriad brand names in the hospitality sector, other than, having been a road warrior for many years now, I have used them extensively across the UK, but purely as a "guest", and I don't even have a loyalty card!
On with the plot - first venue I found OK, simply through address and post code from the email - sat nav did a great job! Not far off the M5 Junction 5 - Bromsgrove South, The Swan Inn. Right beside the main road, good access, free parking.
We tend to search based on the "Premier Inn" brand, although these type of meetings usually take place in the adjacent restaurant, whatever brand that happens to be, pitched at 9.30-10.30 start, after the breakfast rush with time enough before lunch. In this scenario, we are likely to be perfect incremental, "targets" for Whitbread, since discretionary spend (cash or plastic) would inevitably mean coffee/drinks, plus distinct possibility of lunch too, often when the venue is not otherwise particularly busy.
One prime requirement - we need easily accessible power & free wifi!!
Back to The Swan - nice inside, offering just what we need, plus good looking "Chef's Specials" board & a range of real ales too. Pleasant welcome from the young lady setting up tables, together with "help yourself to coffee, I'll run you a tab". Wifi clearly available, with access code written on chalk board on the bar - fair enough.
First hiccup - access screen worked OK on the Mac laptop (except that it needed an email address too - Grrrrrrrr! Woe betide you if I get spam from you as a result!), BUT first #Fail: it didn't work so easily on the iPhone. So much so that I gave up! Gaining access from the laptop was definitely an "experience" because Firefox & Safari browsers both questioned the security certificate used by the"Public" wifi connection, to the extent that they both protected me & kept me out! Email access was less strenuous, so at least I had that.
Now, bearing in mind that this meeting was about various social media strategies, and therefore we would need web access to review our files & sites, this immediately limited the likelihood of progress. So much so that when I made the "where are you" call & was told "we're here, come join us", I was only mildly miffed about having to give up the Cottage Pie & Pint of Worcester Sorcerer, that I had mentally bookmarked for later!
On to venue number 2, one junction down - the Three Pears at Warndon. Totally different experience!! Firstly, Pay and Display Car Park, with the promise of a refund if you buy drinks or food inside! I understand the reason for this - the number of cars parked on the pavement of the access road showed that it's an area well used as a drop off point for meeting up and carrying on up or down the motorway. But, for me, a true "guest" for the morning, the system #Failed again - more of that later.
Didn't have change so had to go in to the venue; accosted the Manager, who simply said "it's not run by us, some third party handles all that".
Met up with said collaborators, who had already noted a lack of accessible wifi. Enquiry received the reply that "no we don't offer it, but the (separate) Premier Inn opposite do." Over to them, but, as I expected, gained the response "yes we have wifi, but only for "guests", and only in the bedrooms"
#Fail - we were intending to be "guests" of Whitbread, on this Whitbread site, but both sides (Premier Inn and Beefeater) were able to claim notional independence of the other and thus avoid responsibility, or, more importantly, any interest in the needs of the "guests".
Back to the Three Pears (despite our ordeal so far, time was dragging on) to sit & order coffees to start. Great meeting, but the "experience" thus far lost them the three potential lunches/drinks AND any chance of EVER getting a word of mouth (Twitter, et al) recommendation, OR a return visit! We just ordered another coffee. In due course "organiser" paid the drinks bill (thanks Paul!) and left for his next meeting, allowing Anna & I to carry on talking yet more strategies!
Then came the final #Fail, to add insult to injury, drinks bill had already been paid so they declined to provide us with a refund of the parking charges! If we had each individually paid for our own drinks, three separate bills, we could have had a refund, but Paul's generosity meant that did not happen.
Result: Total Fail on the part of Whitbread Premier Inn Beefeater, we will NEVER use that location again, or recommend anyone else use it either. Was it worth it for them? Do they care?
"Customer Relationship Management" is nowadays too grand, and overbearing, a title for what should have occurred here.
"Guest Experience" actually sums it up perfectly - Whitbread (and competitors) please live & learn! Follow @chrisbrogan to learn more!
Please, please don't make these mistakes with YOUR customers.
Howard J Moorey
March 5th, 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 & @debtDrGlos
Home is where the heart is: Cotswold Hills, UK
http://twitter.com/cotswoldjelly
Sunday, 14 February 2010
THE DODO IS NOT DEAD!
This is the start of the Chinese New Year of the Metal Tiger, so let’s get at it – Fast, Strong & Resolute!
In pursuit of “Keep It Simple & Specific”, I like to use the following in navigating through a challenge towards a goal, it may help you too:-
Firstly, use the Chris Brogan model, where “Customer Service” has become “Guest Experience”!
DETERMINE OBJECTIVE
· More Regulars
· More Visitors
· More Warmth
· More Business!
DO WHAT IT TAKES TO ACHIEVE…..
· Connect & converse
· Be where your guests (existing AND future) are
· The magic is in the mix – DON’T put all your efforts in one direction only
· Get feedback, anywhere, anyway you can
· Chat! All sorts of things come to light!!
…..DESIRED OUTCOME
· Closer connections, both with AND between customers/clients is VERY social!
· Understanding the “guest experience” better helps you deliver better
· Be open to new ideas, especially if they arrive out of feedback
· Involve guests in new developments
· Become the hub of your community, physical or virtual
You may need to realign thoughts a little, but could that work for you?
Howard J Moorey
February 14th, 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 & @debtDrGlos
In pursuit of “Keep It Simple & Specific”, I like to use the following in navigating through a challenge towards a goal, it may help you too:-
Firstly, use the Chris Brogan model, where “Customer Service” has become “Guest Experience”!
DETERMINE OBJECTIVE
· More Regulars
· More Visitors
· More Warmth
· More Business!
DO WHAT IT TAKES TO ACHIEVE…..
· Connect & converse
· Be where your guests (existing AND future) are
· The magic is in the mix – DON’T put all your efforts in one direction only
· Get feedback, anywhere, anyway you can
· Chat! All sorts of things come to light!!
…..DESIRED OUTCOME
· Closer connections, both with AND between customers/clients is VERY social!
· Understanding the “guest experience” better helps you deliver better
· Be open to new ideas, especially if they arrive out of feedback
· Involve guests in new developments
· Become the hub of your community, physical or virtual
You may need to realign thoughts a little, but could that work for you?
Howard J Moorey
February 14th, 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 & @debtDrGlos
Saturday, 16 January 2010
SO WHAT HAS GOOGLE LEARNED THIS WEEK?...
Hopefully it's "Tech is great, but you still need to put people first!"
Social & Communications Networks begin & end with people, and so do the tools they rely on.
Rule#1: Whatever it is, you MUST make it User/Customer friendly! That includes the support.
If you launch a new service you must have a back-up plan, and people in place to support that service. Similarly, if you launch some new hardware, even if it looks, feels and works great, you still need PEOPLE to TALK to PEOPLE to sort out their difficulties.
With new systems & hardware, especially with both depending on working together, like a phone that only works with networks, and software, provided by a variety of 3rd parties, you are going to have difficulties.
Sorting those challenges must happen in what's now known as "real time" - people on Twitter, people on the phone, available to help NOW, not via email with a 3 day delay!
I have experienced this myself with my own network supplier, O2, here in the UK, just in the last few days, as my contract comes to an end. Reviewing the options is not easily done by email. Like most now, I like to do the research online, but I still want to buy local, or personal, if I want to sort something with the minimum of delay.
I love Google, even though Wave has let me down a bit thus far, and Chrome for Mac took a long time to arrive, and then needed an op system upgrade before you can use it!
It strikes me that the Big G has been catering a little too much towards techies in these launches, and not with real users, who need forethought, like "how are they going to use it" and "how are we going to support it". The debacle with Nexus One therefore seems just like a repeat of recent history.
I am one of the "potential buyers" they should be aiming at - I love my iPhone, but it's contract is about to end, so I'm open to options. I love HTC, and own a good many of their handsets, because they always seem to deliver on "Looks, Feels, and Needs", so I'd be very open to a handset sourced from them. And, having had the iPhone experience, I am very reluctant to return to Windows Mobile. Perfect combination, no?
Don't get me wrong - the iPhone is the best thing, ever, in my book, but that doesn't mean it can't be bested. Hardware reports suggest that Nexus One actually has bested the iPhone, but I am definitely NOT going to step over the barrier to something so new, for use as my primary personal communications tool (with a "get me anywhere, anytime" tag), when I see many reports of poor/non-existent support from an otherwise respected source.
I've been able to use the mobile phone - one of my own personal passions - as the example here, after reading an article from Glenn Chapman of Inquirer.net but how can YOU see this applying in YOUR business, where you are competing with many others, both online & offline?
Are you putting the User/Customer first? They can certainly tell the difference when you do!
PROVIDING they can find you, but that's for another blog.
What do you think?
Howard J Moorey
January 16th, 2010
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Social Media is SO last year!
Social Media has matured alot over the last 6 months, not least in the degree of measurability inherent in your online "presence"
With that measurability comes a level of credibility - you achieve that by ticking certain boxes, like filling in your social networking profiles properly, so people can "check you out" in their own terms.
If someone spends alot of time on Facebook, or it is simply their predominant route to their network of friends & acquaintances, then they will determine your "cred" by whether you post regularly, have a complete profile (some of which will overlap with their own life preferences), and basically show off the real you!
That measurability & credibility leads to Social Decorum, ie. "proper behaviour" online, such as interesting and/or helpful posts, not too much "me, me, me", responsive to approaches, conversational, basically a "participator". Everyone has their own standards that they judge you by - often boxed off and varying depending on the age sector you & they are in (as society goes, "twas ever thus"). If you tick their boxes, you "behave" to their standards, and they are then happy to include you in their world.
Key lesson to learn here is that we are talking about people, that's what “social” is all about!
People run, and work in, businesses, so we are simply talking about people approaching and connecting with one another, in a fashion that has never been available to us before. It's just networking, like we have done since the dawn of time, only today we use new tools - "Digital Media".
That networking is much more comfortable, on a human level, than "sales", "pitching" and "business development" but it still amounts to the same thing, if it is approached with a degree of Social Decorum.
As most of you will by now know, my primary thought leaders are Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Seth Godin & Jim Connolly, and one thing they all agree on is that business is just "people business". Connect with people properly - don't shout, talk down, or spread viruses - and they will respond properly. If you just try to sell at them in every opportunity you are given, they will simply give you the online equivalent of two fingers (digits?) and unfollow, unfriend, block or whatever else works for them.
Businesses are starting to learn the great advantage being offered to them on a plate through social networking, as evidenced by this superb post by @briansolis.
Just treating people as fellow human beings, and connecting with them properly, affords a level of "customer profiling" that has also never been available to them before. This enables them to serve us better AND develop the goods and services that we WANT (and often will pay for!) and we are happy for them to do that, and happy to offer our opinion to them to assist the process.
That surely is what a connected world should really be about, because, once you achieve Social Decorum, you are already well on the way to building Social Wealth, where everyone on the planet benefits, and gets a little closer together at the same time. FairTrade is but one example of this.
Am I making sense? What do you think?
Howard J Moorey
@hojomo
January 7th, 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
Home is where the heart is: Cotswold Hills, UK
With that measurability comes a level of credibility - you achieve that by ticking certain boxes, like filling in your social networking profiles properly, so people can "check you out" in their own terms.
If someone spends alot of time on Facebook, or it is simply their predominant route to their network of friends & acquaintances, then they will determine your "cred" by whether you post regularly, have a complete profile (some of which will overlap with their own life preferences), and basically show off the real you!
That measurability & credibility leads to Social Decorum, ie. "proper behaviour" online, such as interesting and/or helpful posts, not too much "me, me, me", responsive to approaches, conversational, basically a "participator". Everyone has their own standards that they judge you by - often boxed off and varying depending on the age sector you & they are in (as society goes, "twas ever thus"). If you tick their boxes, you "behave" to their standards, and they are then happy to include you in their world.
Key lesson to learn here is that we are talking about people, that's what “social” is all about!
People run, and work in, businesses, so we are simply talking about people approaching and connecting with one another, in a fashion that has never been available to us before. It's just networking, like we have done since the dawn of time, only today we use new tools - "Digital Media".
That networking is much more comfortable, on a human level, than "sales", "pitching" and "business development" but it still amounts to the same thing, if it is approached with a degree of Social Decorum.
As most of you will by now know, my primary thought leaders are Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Seth Godin & Jim Connolly, and one thing they all agree on is that business is just "people business". Connect with people properly - don't shout, talk down, or spread viruses - and they will respond properly. If you just try to sell at them in every opportunity you are given, they will simply give you the online equivalent of two fingers (digits?) and unfollow, unfriend, block or whatever else works for them.
Businesses are starting to learn the great advantage being offered to them on a plate through social networking, as evidenced by this superb post by @briansolis.
Just treating people as fellow human beings, and connecting with them properly, affords a level of "customer profiling" that has also never been available to them before. This enables them to serve us better AND develop the goods and services that we WANT (and often will pay for!) and we are happy for them to do that, and happy to offer our opinion to them to assist the process.
That surely is what a connected world should really be about, because, once you achieve Social Decorum, you are already well on the way to building Social Wealth, where everyone on the planet benefits, and gets a little closer together at the same time. FairTrade is but one example of this.
Am I making sense? What do you think?
Howard J Moorey
@hojomo
January 7th, 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
Home is where the heart is: Cotswold Hills, UK
Friday, 1 January 2010
The Blue Moon and the Hammer...
Change of Years, Change of Days, Change of Mindset...
That's what last night's Blue Moon means!
There have been three superb blogs in the last few days of the decade that served to focus my thoughts on B2B and why "large" companies have been struggling to "get it" in regards to digital media
Jim Connolly Jay Baer & Amber Nasland
(My other Master Thought Leaders are Chris Brogan Brian Solis & Seth Godin )
We have just finished a decade which brought us the tools & technology to connect people to people, business to people, and people to business around the planet (and beyond too, but that's for the next decade!)
We have just finished a year which defined the tools to use & the places to be found in order to refine & make best use of those connections.
But what good is a hammer, without a human being to hold it?
A computer can be programmed to both hold the hammer and make a defined set of movements with it, but it takes a person to hold that hammer and make a good job, or craft a work of art, with it.
The most fundamental consideration regarding the hammer is that it will always need human interaction to determine what need can be satisfied by using the hammer to create or craft a result.
In 2010, Communication finally comes of age!
The capacity for a Company to recognise that it must treat people as people - they are fellow human beings, not "Customers", "Users" or "Stakeholders" - will define it's ability to survive and thrive in the new debt-laden future.
That approach will require an element of humility, because no longer can business dictate & produce what it thinks people want - it must now consult, get feedback by asking people what they need, and deliver the solution to the best of it's ability.
To some, this already sounds like the norm - they are "doing it right" and growing year on year as a result of implementing this approach.
For many the time to change is now - take the first faltering steps on the new journey - the 1980's term "Business Process Re-engineering" seems particularly appropriate - lay down plans to talk with the people that buy from you, or that you intend will buy from you, when they are "out of the shop", ie. NOT in buying mode.
"Transaction size is no longer relevant"
How's that for a bold statement?
I say it to bang home the reality that the internet is now a place for all sizes of business to implement PRM - People Relationship Management. It does not matter whether you provide a cup of coffee, a brand new truck, or banking services around the world, people are what it's about, and they have become a lot more savvy in the last 12 months. Internet research has become the norm, even if you intend to buy locally.
The emphasis has shifted from Marketplace to Meeting & Talking Place, definitely NOT Pitching Place!
There's a Connected, Collaborative future out there for all of us.
What do you think? Have you made the move yet? Can you make it this year?
I look forward to meeting you,
Happy New Year!
Howard J Moorey
January 1st, 2010
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
THE MEDIA MARKETING JIGSAW
Direct mail, email, telephone, exhibitions, online, offline, networking, referrals, joint ventures.
Like any “Marketing Mix”, the pieces involved here can fit together in a variety of different orders depending on 2 key factors:-
1. The sector, i.e. the characters you are aiming to interact with, &
2. The attitude of the Principal – shy & retiring or brash & outgoing, and all the possibilities in between.
There is no question whatsoever that, since Lehman Brothers in 2008, the World has changed, and there’s no going back.
The Internet has been developing at a rapid pace since the turn of the Millennium, and now enables communication and commerce today in a fashion which could not have been anticipated 10 years ago.
The most vital factor to realise is that OUR attitude to transactions has changed irrevocably – in the past we were influenced by the “message”, so Advertising, and those that could directly or indirectly control it, was one of the lynch pins of society – he that could throw enough money at the market could call the shots, and bring in the bucks. Banks, Insurance & Advertising Companies were accepted as foundations of our way of life, largely because they TOLD us what to believe.
Since year 2000 that position has been shifting, and the events of 2008 gave it the final nudge.
The enabling effect of the Web means we are much more in control of “the message” than ever before, largely because we CAN & DO check it out, and challenge it if we want to.
This all means that the way goods and services are brought to market, and consumed, has changed as well. We research online before a purchase. We purchase online in many cases, BUT this is often only lower value items & services, because for larger goods / bigger spends we still prefer to “see the whites of their eyes” meaning that “Meet, Like, Know, Trust” is back as the dominant factor.
This is very much the age of “Digital Media Marketing”, and the approach to that is radically different, not least because it is so much more “Global” in delivery.
Over the last 10 years it has become the norm that, if you are bringing anything to market, you ”must have a website” – your stall in the global marketplace. Now, as that idea has become a reality, maybe even a “new foundation”, there are simply millions and millions of sites. So the question then becomes how do you differentiate yourself from, or “shout louder” in the market than, the others around you?
The answer has finally emerged, to the long lasting benefit of ALL of us, that you must connect & communicate, or “engage”, with your customers and prospects alike, and in doing so provide a higher class of customer service than ever before.
The major advantage that “first movers” are finding in this new territory is that that is NOT just the province of the “big boys”, the corporates, anymore.
Anyone who can master this particular art, and deliver their goods or services reliably and transparently, with the implied back up & support that goes with that delivery, can make a viable niche for themselves, for now & for the future.
So “Interaction leads to Transaction”.
“Twas ever thus” I hear you say – yes, we have come full circle!
Some, smaller, businesses, have operated this way, “offline”, for generations, and may not even need to change, if they’ve already “got it right” in their local community. But the vast majority, of all sizes, are having to adjust to the new times, by rising to the challenge and seeking out new routes to a transaction.
You may notice that I have steadfastly resisted the temptation to use the word “sale” – that still carries the connotation of a one way “thrust” at a “buyer”, so it will eventually become extinct.
The key to all of the new routes to market is that they revolve around “being found”. The words Google and Search Marketing may be virtually synonymous, but the only way to get found is to get involved in “Interactive Marketing” – providing what people are looking for, and engaging with them in the process. The tools to enable this are those that have become known as “Social Media”.
And “Social Media is a Communications process leveraged by Technology” according to Jay Deragon in his recent white paper on Social Media Directions.
How have you communicated with your customers in the past? How will you communicate in the future?
Howard J Moorey
8th December 2009
hojomo group provides coaching, training and insight into Interactive Digital Media Marketing – business development for the future.
Contact Us through directcontact@hojomo.com or phone +44 1865 600085 Here to Help
Like any “Marketing Mix”, the pieces involved here can fit together in a variety of different orders depending on 2 key factors:-
1. The sector, i.e. the characters you are aiming to interact with, &
2. The attitude of the Principal – shy & retiring or brash & outgoing, and all the possibilities in between.
There is no question whatsoever that, since Lehman Brothers in 2008, the World has changed, and there’s no going back.
The Internet has been developing at a rapid pace since the turn of the Millennium, and now enables communication and commerce today in a fashion which could not have been anticipated 10 years ago.
The most vital factor to realise is that OUR attitude to transactions has changed irrevocably – in the past we were influenced by the “message”, so Advertising, and those that could directly or indirectly control it, was one of the lynch pins of society – he that could throw enough money at the market could call the shots, and bring in the bucks. Banks, Insurance & Advertising Companies were accepted as foundations of our way of life, largely because they TOLD us what to believe.
Since year 2000 that position has been shifting, and the events of 2008 gave it the final nudge.
The enabling effect of the Web means we are much more in control of “the message” than ever before, largely because we CAN & DO check it out, and challenge it if we want to.
This all means that the way goods and services are brought to market, and consumed, has changed as well. We research online before a purchase. We purchase online in many cases, BUT this is often only lower value items & services, because for larger goods / bigger spends we still prefer to “see the whites of their eyes” meaning that “Meet, Like, Know, Trust” is back as the dominant factor.
This is very much the age of “Digital Media Marketing”, and the approach to that is radically different, not least because it is so much more “Global” in delivery.
Over the last 10 years it has become the norm that, if you are bringing anything to market, you ”must have a website” – your stall in the global marketplace. Now, as that idea has become a reality, maybe even a “new foundation”, there are simply millions and millions of sites. So the question then becomes how do you differentiate yourself from, or “shout louder” in the market than, the others around you?
The answer has finally emerged, to the long lasting benefit of ALL of us, that you must connect & communicate, or “engage”, with your customers and prospects alike, and in doing so provide a higher class of customer service than ever before.
The major advantage that “first movers” are finding in this new territory is that that is NOT just the province of the “big boys”, the corporates, anymore.
Anyone who can master this particular art, and deliver their goods or services reliably and transparently, with the implied back up & support that goes with that delivery, can make a viable niche for themselves, for now & for the future.
So “Interaction leads to Transaction”.
“Twas ever thus” I hear you say – yes, we have come full circle!
Some, smaller, businesses, have operated this way, “offline”, for generations, and may not even need to change, if they’ve already “got it right” in their local community. But the vast majority, of all sizes, are having to adjust to the new times, by rising to the challenge and seeking out new routes to a transaction.
You may notice that I have steadfastly resisted the temptation to use the word “sale” – that still carries the connotation of a one way “thrust” at a “buyer”, so it will eventually become extinct.
The key to all of the new routes to market is that they revolve around “being found”. The words Google and Search Marketing may be virtually synonymous, but the only way to get found is to get involved in “Interactive Marketing” – providing what people are looking for, and engaging with them in the process. The tools to enable this are those that have become known as “Social Media”.
And “Social Media is a Communications process leveraged by Technology” according to Jay Deragon in his recent white paper on Social Media Directions.
How have you communicated with your customers in the past? How will you communicate in the future?
Howard J Moorey
8th December 2009
hojomo group provides coaching, training and insight into Interactive Digital Media Marketing – business development for the future.
Contact Us through directcontact@hojomo.com or phone +44 1865 600085 Here to Help
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