Bored Right Brain

It seems that digital marketing is building new concepts everyday. We’ve gone from using digital to support our traditional campaigns to moving all our dollars to digital initiatives. And while I too believe digital is the here and now, I think we’re slowly starting to fall into what we “ought” to have instead of what we “need” to succeed.

Recent studies prove that more and more agencies are turning their media dollars away from traditional tactics and towards digital channels. The trouble is, you often find yourself moving on something without having a chance to evaluate whether or not it’s right for your particular brand/company/client. The aftermath? Failed campaigns, money lost by the wayside, leads turned cold…why? Because you weren’t thinking about whether or not your selected tactic was going to help you meet your goal. In the midst of marketing metamorphosis…you forgot to consider your goals before diving head first into the cool factor.

In today’s world, we as consumers live in a marketing playground. It’s up to the marketer to figure out if we prefer the swing or the slide and believe it or not you probably already have that data if you know who your customers are.

So let’s think about this again…do you really need a campaign to redesign all of your collateral to include QR codes if you’re looking to covert prospects to shoppers? Do you really have to be on facebook AND twitter if your audience isn’t influenced by these already? Maybe your money is better spent elsewhere, like on getting to know what truly drives your customers’ decision making process. ultimately, who cares if you’re not doing the same thing as the other guy? Remember it’s a pretty big playground…we don’t all have to go on the swing at once. Happy marketing!

From massages and waxes to car starters and vacations, everyone knows Groupon offers the best coupons…and let’s face it: one time exclusive offers are the perfect fishing poles to reel in impulse shoppers (guilty!). That being said, how often are you actually checking to make sure you’re getting the best deal? I recently came across a good article on Groupon’s decision to become an IPO rather than selling to corporate giant Google. The article asks if Groupon made the right choice. Me? I would strongly recommend going back and making sure I’m offering my customers the best deals because losing that blind trust is going to drive unsubscribes from a service such as this and no one wants to kick themselves for turning down Google…although that’s a cool thing to show on your resume. Check out the full article here: http://bit.ly/qwhaWn.

…nope not Folgers…but I am sticking to the coffee theme :) A Brazilian coffee brand, Pilao Coffee, is promoting new flavor offerings by making an alarm clock application for Apple and Android phones. Options are: Classic, Dark, Smooth, Decaf and Organic. The latter lets you wake up to sounds of nature…sounds peaceful, I’ll take two! 

Check out a demo of the app here and watch out for that dark flavor…whew! 
http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/2012/01/pilao-coffee-alarm-clock-app/

So I got that going for me…and now I’m back ;) and in serious need of caffeine. Now I love Starbucks as much as the next full-time-working-mommy-who-gets-no-sleep-but-absolutely-adores-my-baby-girl BUT this is a bit unsettling:

http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/starbucks-loyalty-fail.htm

The good news is the Dunkin Donuts near me is fantastic! Wonderful service and they get my order right every time…I think I’ll stick to them for a bit.

Check this out:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/03/16/biddulph.australia.sharks.itn

Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the every day world.
An everyday pattern that becomes absolutely repetitive and completely mundane.

There are certainly ups and there are certainly downs, but overall doesn’t it all feel exactly the same? 

So that’s precisely where I sometimes find myself, lost in the ‘sameness’ of it all. 
Then I remember the things I like, the things that are never mundane, always interesting, and always new.  Those are the things…the things that make me happy…that inspire me to make the mundane a bit more creative as well.