From Simple. Organized. Life.

MUST READ FOR THE WEEKEND

“We will stop printing the New York Times sometime in the future…” says the NYT publisher.

STUFF TO READ

Look at the “stone age” of digital signage. Very interesting.

Ken Goldberg from NEOCAST is at it again, continuing to show why he’s so darn smart.  Looking at last year’s predictions & making some new ones.

Some perspective on combining mobile with digital signage.

5 Lessons From the Social Media frontline.

Drive slowly, or you’ll hit the little holographic girl.

Summary of Forrester’s “State Of Customer Experience 2010″ Report.

Billboards That Can See You. From Japan.

STUFF TO AMUSE

Best interactive experience of the week: Turn off all your computer apps. Load this and enjoy.

Inception Trailer – Audio completely a capella. Hilarious.

The YouTube Time Machine. Enter a year, and it brings up video from that year.

Ebert’s 100 Great Moments in Cinema. How many of these have you seen?

Arthur C. Clarke nails the year 2000…in 1964.

Share/Bookmark

Besides, you know, just staying open for business...

My answer: Winning the customer. No, this is not “find six ways to engage the customer so that she’ll say nice things about you.” I mean, “WIN THE CUSTOMER.” Do everything you can possibly imagine to get that customer to give their irrational loyalty to you and no other competitor so long as you both shall live, ’til death do you part!

Or 'til you need to find a new partner...whichever comes first.

Okay, so this is the most important challenge for any retailer at any time. But the economy has created a paella of retail experiments and initiatives designed to keep the customer in the store and the store in the black. Here are some ways to do that:

Know Thy Customer. There is no excuse for not knowing your customer. You must know them, and everything about them. Give them what they want, and you have a customer for life.

See, how she leans her hand upon the product! (sic. sort of.)

Simply The Best. Do one thing better than anyone else, and target the customers that want that particular thing. No retailer can compete with the likes of Walmart on price, or Amazon on inventory, so the retailer needs a unique proposition. I recently read Jeanne Bliss’s new book “I Love You More Than My Dog.” In it, she writes about Memory Creation:

It means knowing what memory you want customers to have and making the decisions to prepare your people and your operation to deliver it. Memory creation – creating indelible remembrances of the customer experience – is the currency of your brand.*

Whether it’s customer service, an amazing product, or the way it’s sold, there is opportunity out there to be better than anyone else. Find it, and exploit it. And create loyal customers with it.

Make Your Brand a Reflection of Your Customer. Don’t just put a logo on a window and call it your brand. Embrace your customers, satisfy their needs, then shout that from the rooftops. And don’t stray. Just because some new bright, shiny object or services comes along doesn’t mean you need to own it. Jack of all trades, master of none – so very true.

Make Your Employees Your True CEOs. Make them the real operating officers. Give them anything and everything they need to deliver. Brian Dunn, Best Buy’s CEO, once said, “What we do to motivate the blue shirts will be far more important than any advertising we ever do.” And he’s right. Advertising only gets the customer in the door. The employee is the reason they stay or leave. The more flexibility, tools, and authority you give the employee, the greater chance he has of getting and retaining a customer. Believe it or not, the single biggest factor on shareholder price is the employee. And it today’s connected world, people LOVE to write about the good, the bad, and the ugly. Which category do you want to be in?

Seriously, how much fun would it be to see THIS GUY at a genius bar?

Is this list exhaustive? Hardly, but fall and holiday marketing budgets and campaigns are being built right now. And before the end of the year, we’ll see  more retailers pushing daisies. Ask yourself if you’re doing what it takes to win that customer. If not, you have some work to do.

*I’ll review this book in an upcoming post.

Share/Bookmark

NOM NOM NOM...Carrots? What the...

For your Friday, a few nooks and crannies of the interweb that I found.

MUST READ FOR THE WEEKEND

Washington, We Have A Problem. A day in the life of the president reveals that Barack Obama’s job would be almost unrecognizable to most of his predecessors—thanks to the enormous bureaucracy, congressional paralysis, systemic corruption, and disintegrating media. Inside the West Wing, the author talks toObama’s top advisers about the challenge of playing the Washington game, ugly as it has become, even while their boss insists they find a way to transcend it. Go.

TO READ

5 Huge Trends in Social Media Right Now. Go.

Skip the check-out lines with your iPhone. Go.

How Do You Win Users with Gadgets? Go.

QR Codes Help Consumers Shop for Wines. Go.

82% of shoppers use their phone in the store. Go.

McDonald’s Netherlands ceases operations on its digital signage network. Go.

Will rebranding baby carrots get kids to eat them like junk food? Go.

TO ENJOY

Stamps of Disapproval Go.

Greatest Invention of The Week: Song stuck in your head? Unstickify it. Go.

The cell phone camera stroboscopic effect, or, a glitch in The Matrix. Go.

Google fun of the day: Google Realtime Go.

Google Fun of the Day part 2: Go to Google, type in elgoog, and hit “I’m feeling lucky.” Go.

The Solar System. To Scale on your browser. Go.

Emotionally intelligent invoice. Go.

Share/Bookmark

Listening to NPR’s This American Life, Ira Glass and the gang were chronicling the experience of summer camp. About halfway through the program, Glass provided this perspective (Italics are my emphasis):

“Most of this simply has to do with tradition. The special songs and ceremonies are a part of so many American camps, and not just because they’re fun. A camp director in Wisconsin told us. . .that financially, you cannot run a camp without lots of repeat customers. These traditions bring kids back, year after year. You have the kids singing constantly about their loyalty to their cabin-mates and their camp, you let them know about all the extra rites and priveleges and honors they’re going to get if they return as older campers. It is part of making the business run. And, in addition, it is part of what makes camp thrilling. It is using all of the stagecraft that all of the world’s religions have always used, the ceremonies, the chanting, the repeated words, the official honors and offices, but for an entirely secular purpose: to thrill children, to make them feel part of something big and special.”

Three female campers chimed in:

“I think it’s really an important part of camp. . .I like the traditions. . .you know what’s going to happen. You can trust things.”

“It’s expected.”

“I come back for the traditions. I expect everything to be here the way it was last year because that’s the reason I come back. If everything changed, I don’t think I would like it anymore.”

Does your brand do that? Would your customers say this about you?

Episode: “Notes From Camp,” July 4, 2010.

Share/Bookmark

Me.

Well, I have been “on the speaking circuit” for a while now, but this is a new opportunity to help those who want to succeed with digital signage, digital media, and customer or viewer engagement.

I have created a series of seminars and presentation subjects based on my experiences in digital signage, and can lead half-day or full-day education sessions.

The core of my seminars and speaking is on the strategy, marketing, branding, and advertising side of digital signage, digital interactivity, and viewer engagement. With respect to technology (which I also speak about), once we all have a network, we need to do great things with it. How do you create real impact with digital media? How can you leverage the power of mobile devices with your venue?

That’s where I come in.

I spent 10 years running three networks. I have spent the last year consulting companies from every corner of digital signage on best practices for network management and execution. I have built a network, managed every aspect of its operation, produced content, collaborated with brands, agencies, production houses, and media planners and buyers, developed budgets (and met them!), and measured the network’s effectiveness.

Basically, I have been there and done that.

And that’s what I bring to my seminars and presentations – real-world insight that I believe is needed to help move this ecosystem of multi-channel communication in the right direction.

My practice is to tailor my presentations and seminars to your needs. I have yet to do the same presentation or session twice because no two audiences and needs are the same. While I use foundational topics, I know your time is valuable, so I’ll work with you to outline the important subjects. In the end, you get a targeted and unique session with takeaways that send you forward with your initiatives.

Please navigate over to my new section of this site, or click on the “About Paul” button on the right. You can learn all about my speaking and seminar services. You can also see some of my experience and testimonials from event and seminar planners, and industry leaders who have heard me speak.

I’m really thrilled to offer this. If you’re interested to learn more about how I can help you, please contact me.

Thank you so much.

(We’ll get back to our regularly scheduled blogging next week.)

Share/Bookmark