The Great Recession may be over, but this era of high joblessness is probably just beginning. Before it ends, it will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults. It will leave an indelible imprint on many blue-collar men. It could cripple marriage as an institution in many communities. It may already be plunging many inner cities into a despair not seen for decades. Ultimately, it is likely to warp our politics, our culture, and the character of our society for years to come.
by Don Peck The Atlantic March 2010
How should we characterize the economic period we have now entered? After nearly two brutal years, the Great Recession appears to be over, at least technically. Yet a return to normalcy seems far off. By some measures, each recession since the 1980s has retreated more slowly than the one before it. In one sense, we never fully recovered from the last one, in 2001: the share of the civilian population with a job never returned to its previous peak before this downturn began, and incomes were stagnant throughout the decade. Still, the weakness that lingered through much of the 2000s shouldn’t be confused with the trauma of the past two years, a trauma that will remain heavy for quite some time.
The unemployment rate hit 10 percent in October, and there are good reasons to believe that by 2011, 2012, even 2014, it will have declined only a little. Late last year, the average duration of unemployment surpassed six months, the first time that has happened since 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking that number. As of this writing, for every open job in the U.S., six people are actively looking for work.
All of these figures understate the magnitude of the jobs crisis. The broadest measure of unemployment and underemployment (which includes people who want to work but have stopped actively searching for a job, along with those who want full-time jobs but can find only part-time work) reached 17.4 percent in October, which appears to be the highest figure since the 1930s. And for large swaths of society—young adults, men, minorities—that figure was much higher (among teenagers, for instance, even the narrowest measure of unemployment stood at roughly 27 percent). One recent survey showed that 44 percent of families had experienced a job loss, a reduction in hours, or a pay cut in the past year.
There is unemployment, a brief and relatively routine transitional state that results from the rise and fall of companies in any economy, and there is unemployment—chronic, all-consuming. The former is a necessary lubricant in any engine of economic growth. The latter is a pestilence that slowly eats away at people, families, and, if it spreads widely enough, the fabric of society. Indeed, history suggests that it is perhaps society’s most noxious ill.
The worst effects of pervasive joblessness—on family, politics, society—take time to incubate, and they show themselves only slowly. But ultimately, they leave deep marks that endure long after boom times have returned. Some of these marks are just now becoming visible, and even if the economy magically and fully recovers tomorrow, new ones will continue to appear. The longer our economic slump lasts, the deeper they’ll be.
If it persists much longer, this era of high joblessness will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults—and quite possibly those of the children behind them as well. It will leave an indelible imprint on many blue-collar white men—and on white culture. It could change the nature of modern marriage, and also cripple marriage as an institution in many communities. It may already be plunging many inner cities into a kind of despair and dysfunction not seen for decades. Ultimately, it is likely to warp our politics, our culture, and the character of our society for years.
The Long Road Ahead
Since last spring, when fears of economic apocalypse began to ebb, we’ve been treated to an alphabet soup of predictions about the recovery. Various economists have suggested that it might look like a V (a strong and rapid rebound), a U (slower), a W (reflecting the possibility of a double-dip recession), or, most alarming, an L (no recovery in demand or jobs for years: a lost decade). This summer, with all the good letters already taken, the former labor secretary Robert Reich wrote on his blog that the recovery might actually be shaped like an X (the imagery is elusive, but Reich’s argument was that there can be no recovery until we find an entirely new model of economic growth).
No one knows what shape the recovery will take. The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the third quarter of last year, the first increase since the second quarter of 2008. If economic growth continues to pick up, substantial job growth will eventually follow. But there are many reasons to doubt the durability of the economic turnaround, and the speed with which jobs will return.
Historically, financial crises have spawned long periods of economic malaise, and this crisis, so far, has been true to form. Despite the bailouts, many banks’ balance sheets remain weak; more than 140 banks failed in 2009. As a result, banks have kept lending standards tight, frustrating the efforts of small businesses—which have accounted for almost half of all job losses—to invest or rehire. Exports seem unlikely to provide much of a boost; although China, India, Brazil, and some other emerging markets are growing quickly again, Europe and Japan—both major markets for U.S. exports—remain weak. And in any case, exports make up only about 13 percent of total U.S. production; even if they were to grow quickly, the impact would be muted.
Most recessions end when people start spending again, but for the foreseeable future, U.S. consumer demand is unlikely to propel strong economic growth. As of November, one in seven mortgages was delinquent, up from one in 10 a year earlier. As many as one in four houses may now be underwater, and the ratio of household debt to GDP, about 65 percent in the mid-1990s, is roughly 100 percent today. It is not merely animal spirits that are keeping people from spending freely (though those spirits are dour). Heavy debt and large losses of wealth have forced spending onto a lower path.
So what is the engine that will pull the U.S. back onto a strong growth path? That turns out to be a hard question. The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who fears a lost decade, said in a lecture at the London School of Economics last summer that he has “no idea” how the economy could quickly return to strong, sustainable growth. Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, told the Associated Press last fall, “I think the unemployment rate will be permanently higher, or at least higher for the foreseeable future. The collective psyche has changed as a result of what we’ve been through. And we’re going to be different as a result.”
One big reason that the economy stabilized last summer and fall is the stimulus; the Congressional Budget Office estimates that without the stimulus, growth would have been anywhere from 1.2 to 3.2 percentage points lower in the third quarter of 2009. The stimulus will continue to trickle into the economy for the next couple of years, but as a concentrated force, it’s largely spent. Christina Romer, the chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, said last fall, “By mid-2010, fiscal stimulus will likely be contributing little to further growth,” adding that she didn’t expect unemployment to fall significantly until 2011. That prediction has since been echoed, more or less, by the Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs.
The economy now sits in a hole more than 10 million jobs deep—that’s the number required to get back to 5 percent unemployment, the rate we had before the recession started, and one that’s been more or less typical for a generation. And because the population is growing and new people are continually coming onto the job market, we need to produce roughly 1.5 million new jobs a year—about 125,000 a month—just to keep from sinking deeper.
Even if the economy were to immediately begin producing 600,000 jobs a month—more than double the pace of the mid-to-late 1990s, when job growth was strong—it would take roughly two years to dig ourselves out of the hole we’re in. The economy could add jobs that fast, or even faster—job growth is theoretically limited only by labor supply, and a lot more labor is sitting idle today than usual. But the U.S. hasn’t seen that pace of sustained employment growth in more than 30 years. And given the particulars of this recession, matching idle workers with new jobs—even once economic growth picks up—seems likely to be a particularly slow and challenging process.
The construction and finance industries, bloated by a decade-long housing bubble, are unlikely to regain their former share of the economy, and as a result many out-of-work finance professionals and construction workers won’t be able to simply pick up where they left off when growth returns—they’ll need to retrain and find new careers. (For different reasons, the same might be said of many media professionals and auto workers.) And even within industries that are likely to bounce back smartly, temporary layoffs have generally given way to the permanent elimination of jobs, the result of workplace restructuring. Manufacturing jobs have of course been moving overseas for decades, and still are; but recently, the outsourcing of much white-collar work has become possible. Companies that have cut domestic payrolls to the bone in this recession may choose to rebuild them in Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Bangalore, accelerating off-shoring decisions that otherwise might have occurred over many years.
New jobs will come open in the U.S. But many will have different skill requirements than the old ones. “In a sense,” says Gary Burtless, a labor economist at the Brookings Institution, “every time someone’s laid off now, they need to start all over. They don’t even know what industry they’ll be in next.” And as a spell of unemployment lengthens, skills erode and behavior tends to change, leaving some people unqualified even for work they once did well.
Ultimately, innovation is what allows an economy to grow quickly and create new jobs as old ones obsolesce and disappear. Typically, one salutary side effect of recessions is that they eventually spur booms in innovation. Some laid-off employees become entrepreneurs, working on ideas that have been ignored by corporate bureaucracies, while sclerotic firms in declining industries fail, making way for nimbler enterprises. But according to the economist Edmund Phelps, the innovative potential of the U.S. economy looks limited today. In a recent Harvard Business Review article, he and his co-author, Leo Tilman, argue that dynamism in the U.S. has actually been in decline for a decade; with the housing bubble fueling easy (but unsustainable) growth for much of that time, we just didn’t notice. Phelps and Tilman finger several culprits: a patent system that’s become stifling; an increasingly myopic focus among public companies on quarterly results, rather than long-term value creation; and, not least, a financial industry that for a generation has focused its talent and resources not on funding business innovation, but on proprietary trading, regulatory arbitrage, and arcane financial engineering. None of these problems is likely to disappear quickly. Phelps, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on the “natural” rate of unemployment, believes that until they do disappear, the new floor for unemployment is likely to be between 6.5 percent and 7.5 percent, even once “recovery” is complete.
It’s likely, then, that for the next several years or more, the jobs environment will more closely resemble today’s environment than that of 2006 or 2007—or for that matter, the environment to which we were accustomed for a generation. Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, notes that if the recovery follows the same basic path as the last two (in 1991 and 2001), unemployment will stand at roughly 8 percent in 2014.
“We haven’t seen anything like this before: a really deep recession combined with a really extended period, maybe as much as eight years, all told, of highly elevated unemployment,” Shierholz told me. “We’re about to see a big national experiment on stress.”
I will out for medical reasons for a few days beginning February 23rd. A little spine surgery is good for restoring great mobility. See ya soon.
Philip Jay...To see the rest of this article...get March's copy of The Atlantic and take a good stiff drink after you read it.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Hyundai Slots Record Launch Ad Budget
OK...don't let the comp steal your $$$...Get on this and tie local dealers into the national action Philip Jay...
Hyundai on Thursday took to the Web Thursday to talk to the press about the company's most important new product in years, perhaps ever -- the 2011 Sonata sedan. It will spend $160 million to promote the car, more than on any other vehicle it has ever introduced in the U.S.
Hyundai on Thursday took to the Web Thursday to talk to the press about the company's most important new product in years, perhaps ever -- the 2011 Sonata sedan. It will spend $160 million to promote the car, more than on any other vehicle it has ever introduced in the U.S.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Firm: People Use Mobile Web Nearly 3 Hours/Day
by Karl Greenberg, Yesterday, 3:51 PM
A new study of mobile Internet use by PR firm Ruder Finn finds, among other things, that Americans spend about 2.7 hours on the mobile Internet per day. Ninety-one percent of mobile phone users go online to socialize versus 79% of desktop computer users.
Also, mobile phone users are 1.6 times more likely to manage finances compared to traditional desktop users. The Mobile Intent Index study also found that mobile phone users don't use the Web for educational purposes or creative expression; and men use the mobile Web to escape while women use it "to make others laugh."
"Mobile phones have become the way people organize their lives -- managing finances, connecting with friends, purchasing products -- and this trend will only accelerate," said Kathy Bloomgarden, Ruder Finn co-CEO,in a statement.
In the study, which asked people how frequently they use their mobile phones to go online for 295 reasons, three in five said they download applications at least once per month, while 36% download applications from social networking sites at least once per month.
The firm says that when shopping, men are more likely than women to compare prices, but women are more likely to purchase. Also, women use the mobile Web to express themselves, while men conduct business. Youth are more likely to shop over their mobile phones than the average mobile user, and seniors are much more likely than the traditional user to use their mobile phones to educate themselves.
Also, 91% of respondents said they go online to socialize, versus 79% of traditional Web users: 62% are sending and receiving instant messages; 58% forward e-mails; 40% forward content; 38% forward photos; 45% post comments on social networking sites, and 43% connect with others on such sites.
The firm says mobile Web users are handling more personal finance online. The study said 60% of mobile Web users are 1.3 times more likely to go online to do business compared to traditional users. They are 1.6 times more likely to manage finances. The survey said the top business intents are online banking, checking bills and credit card status and reading business blogs.
A new study of mobile Internet use by PR firm Ruder Finn finds, among other things, that Americans spend about 2.7 hours on the mobile Internet per day. Ninety-one percent of mobile phone users go online to socialize versus 79% of desktop computer users.
Also, mobile phone users are 1.6 times more likely to manage finances compared to traditional desktop users. The Mobile Intent Index study also found that mobile phone users don't use the Web for educational purposes or creative expression; and men use the mobile Web to escape while women use it "to make others laugh."
"Mobile phones have become the way people organize their lives -- managing finances, connecting with friends, purchasing products -- and this trend will only accelerate," said Kathy Bloomgarden, Ruder Finn co-CEO,in a statement.
In the study, which asked people how frequently they use their mobile phones to go online for 295 reasons, three in five said they download applications at least once per month, while 36% download applications from social networking sites at least once per month.
The firm says that when shopping, men are more likely than women to compare prices, but women are more likely to purchase. Also, women use the mobile Web to express themselves, while men conduct business. Youth are more likely to shop over their mobile phones than the average mobile user, and seniors are much more likely than the traditional user to use their mobile phones to educate themselves.
Also, 91% of respondents said they go online to socialize, versus 79% of traditional Web users: 62% are sending and receiving instant messages; 58% forward e-mails; 40% forward content; 38% forward photos; 45% post comments on social networking sites, and 43% connect with others on such sites.
The firm says mobile Web users are handling more personal finance online. The study said 60% of mobile Web users are 1.3 times more likely to go online to do business compared to traditional users. They are 1.6 times more likely to manage finances. The survey said the top business intents are online banking, checking bills and credit card status and reading business blogs.
Broadcasters Bet On Mobile To Regain Viewers
The New York Times, Yesterday, 11:44 PM
In the last 10 years, broadcasters have lost 25% of their audience. To combat the loss, broadcasters are going on the offensive. Beginning in April, eight TV stations in Washington, D.C., will broadcast a signal for a new class of devices that can show programming, even in a car at high speed. In all, 30 stations in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington have installed the necessary equipment, at a cost of $75,000 to $150,000.
"Younger generations want programming on the go," said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters. "To access TV on a cellphone, on a laptop or in the car is a game changer for local broadcasters. If enough people watch using the mobile TV technology, local stations can increase their revenue.
The first devices will become available in April. They include a $249 TV-DVD player from LG; a $120 device the size of a cigarette box from Valups, a Korean set-top box maker, that retransmits a mobile signal to an iPhone, iPod or BlackBerry over Wi-Fi; PC dongles and set-top boxes for automobiles from iMovee; and a $149 iPhone/iPod mobile TV cradle from Cydle.
In the last 10 years, broadcasters have lost 25% of their audience. To combat the loss, broadcasters are going on the offensive. Beginning in April, eight TV stations in Washington, D.C., will broadcast a signal for a new class of devices that can show programming, even in a car at high speed. In all, 30 stations in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington have installed the necessary equipment, at a cost of $75,000 to $150,000.
"Younger generations want programming on the go," said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters. "To access TV on a cellphone, on a laptop or in the car is a game changer for local broadcasters. If enough people watch using the mobile TV technology, local stations can increase their revenue.
The first devices will become available in April. They include a $249 TV-DVD player from LG; a $120 device the size of a cigarette box from Valups, a Korean set-top box maker, that retransmits a mobile signal to an iPhone, iPod or BlackBerry over Wi-Fi; PC dongles and set-top boxes for automobiles from iMovee; and a $149 iPhone/iPod mobile TV cradle from Cydle.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Vegas Newspaper Rolls Dice On Video
MARKET SHARE BY ARTHUR GREENWALD
TVNewsCheck, Jun 8 2009, 11:01 AM ET
Some of the largest stations and station groups are cutting staff and turning newsrooms into cross-platform "content centers." The ostensible purpose is to bolster the declining broadcast business by expanding onto the Web. It's the smart thing to do. But if TV stations think they're going to dominate Web advertising just by showing up, they should think again.
Estimated at $13-billion-and-growing, the local online media marketplace is wide open. TV stations are competing not only with newspapers, but also with radio stations, yellow pages publishers, other directory publishers, online search and a host of scrappy startups. And these local rivals recognize no boundaries. They intend to compete on all fronts, including video.
This is the first in a series of Market Share columns to examine the convergence of local media online. We'll start with DMA 42, Las Vegas, where the family-owned Greenspun Corp. has been making media waves for years. Greenspun's Pulitzer Prize-winning Las Vegas Sun and Las Vegas Weekly both run award-winning Web sites that have long showcased original video segments. And starting June 15, they'll be joined by 702.TV, a Vegas-centric video venture — both online and on the air.
"The television version of 702.TV is reverse engineered from our Web site," says Greenspun Media President and Executive Editor Rob Curley. The half-hour show aired previews last week on KTUD, a Class A station that reaches the entire market thanks to widespread cable carriage. It also offers an aggressive lineup of syndicated fare (Oprah, Family Guy, Frasier, and next fall, The Office). 702.TV is composed of "two-to-four -minute Web videos that have to be cut down to 90 seconds for TV," says Curley
"702.TV has great production values and it's hyperlocal," says KTUD General Manager Steve Carlson, who co-owns the station with Greenspun. "We'll launch it as a weekly show, but soon it will be on twice a week and by mid-July five nights a week at 5:30, leading into Family Guy."
Although the hyperlocal format affords rich opportunities for advertorial-style commercial tie-ins, Carlson expects KTUD to derive revenue primarily from "traditional 30-second spots."
Visitors to 702.TV, the Web site, can view the broadcast version, but more likely they'll cherry pick among the segments, all carefully meta-tagged for future search and retrieval. The Web site will also feature talent blogs, user-generated content and easy links to Greenspun's ever-expanding database of all things Vegas. And freed of broadcast time constraints, the Web version of 702.TV will be especially friendly to creative advertorial partnerships, especially those that add entertainment value.
702.TV, takes its name from the Las Vegas area code and its style from the Las Vegas Weekly's Web site, where the most popular blogger is a local stripper — as opposed to lasvegassun.com, which Curley describes as a print-centric "Web site for people who love newspapers."
While 702.TV is focused on fun, its mandate is serious. Las Vegas Sun President and Editor Brian Greenspun challenged the Greenspun Media staff to "come up with a way to inform people who don't even know they need to be informed," Curley says. Viewer engagement is the top priority.
"It's even easier to click away from a Web site than to change a channel," says 702.TV Executive Producer Chris DeFranco, "Every video package has to hook user attention right off the top."
A veteran of Las Vegas news and ad production at Landmark's KLAS, DeFranco cites a recent profile of a colorful local bartender that starts by explaining why his most popular drink is called "ass juice." And opening night of the MGM Grand's Crazy Horse Paris Review was shot in all its topless glory — with the naughty bits covered over with the 702.TV logo.
Obviously, this isn't news as defined by the RTNDA, which Curley freely admits. "We're not set up to do exposés.Our concept was always about how do we entertain and inform people," says Curley.
702.TV "only covers hard or breaking news when the Las Vegas Sun asks us to" — for example, the recent flap over President Obama's reluctance to meet with Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons, says DeFranco.
"We told the story with animation and graphics and cartoon captions in the style of (Comedy Central's) Daily Show,"
While decidedly light in tone, 702.TV follows a fairly traditional format with short catchy lifestyle pieces at the top and bottom, heavy on Las Vegas' never-ending stream of visiting celebrities. In the middle, there's a three-to-four minute sports-heavy local news segment, usually a breezy chat between co-host Denise Spidle and a Las Vegas Sun reporter.
Other hosts include entertainment reporter Emily Gimmel and two sports reporters, Christine Killimayer and Alex Adeyanju, all of whom routinely shoot and edit their own stories. "We also have shooter-editors
TVNewsCheck, Jun 8 2009, 11:01 AM ET
Some of the largest stations and station groups are cutting staff and turning newsrooms into cross-platform "content centers." The ostensible purpose is to bolster the declining broadcast business by expanding onto the Web. It's the smart thing to do. But if TV stations think they're going to dominate Web advertising just by showing up, they should think again.
Estimated at $13-billion-and-growing, the local online media marketplace is wide open. TV stations are competing not only with newspapers, but also with radio stations, yellow pages publishers, other directory publishers, online search and a host of scrappy startups. And these local rivals recognize no boundaries. They intend to compete on all fronts, including video.
This is the first in a series of Market Share columns to examine the convergence of local media online. We'll start with DMA 42, Las Vegas, where the family-owned Greenspun Corp. has been making media waves for years. Greenspun's Pulitzer Prize-winning Las Vegas Sun and Las Vegas Weekly both run award-winning Web sites that have long showcased original video segments. And starting June 15, they'll be joined by 702.TV, a Vegas-centric video venture — both online and on the air.
"The television version of 702.TV is reverse engineered from our Web site," says Greenspun Media President and Executive Editor Rob Curley. The half-hour show aired previews last week on KTUD, a Class A station that reaches the entire market thanks to widespread cable carriage. It also offers an aggressive lineup of syndicated fare (Oprah, Family Guy, Frasier, and next fall, The Office). 702.TV is composed of "two-to-four -minute Web videos that have to be cut down to 90 seconds for TV," says Curley
"702.TV has great production values and it's hyperlocal," says KTUD General Manager Steve Carlson, who co-owns the station with Greenspun. "We'll launch it as a weekly show, but soon it will be on twice a week and by mid-July five nights a week at 5:30, leading into Family Guy."
Although the hyperlocal format affords rich opportunities for advertorial-style commercial tie-ins, Carlson expects KTUD to derive revenue primarily from "traditional 30-second spots."
Visitors to 702.TV, the Web site, can view the broadcast version, but more likely they'll cherry pick among the segments, all carefully meta-tagged for future search and retrieval. The Web site will also feature talent blogs, user-generated content and easy links to Greenspun's ever-expanding database of all things Vegas. And freed of broadcast time constraints, the Web version of 702.TV will be especially friendly to creative advertorial partnerships, especially those that add entertainment value.
702.TV, takes its name from the Las Vegas area code and its style from the Las Vegas Weekly's Web site, where the most popular blogger is a local stripper — as opposed to lasvegassun.com, which Curley describes as a print-centric "Web site for people who love newspapers."
While 702.TV is focused on fun, its mandate is serious. Las Vegas Sun President and Editor Brian Greenspun challenged the Greenspun Media staff to "come up with a way to inform people who don't even know they need to be informed," Curley says. Viewer engagement is the top priority.
"It's even easier to click away from a Web site than to change a channel," says 702.TV Executive Producer Chris DeFranco, "Every video package has to hook user attention right off the top."
A veteran of Las Vegas news and ad production at Landmark's KLAS, DeFranco cites a recent profile of a colorful local bartender that starts by explaining why his most popular drink is called "ass juice." And opening night of the MGM Grand's Crazy Horse Paris Review was shot in all its topless glory — with the naughty bits covered over with the 702.TV logo.
Obviously, this isn't news as defined by the RTNDA, which Curley freely admits. "We're not set up to do exposés.Our concept was always about how do we entertain and inform people," says Curley.
702.TV "only covers hard or breaking news when the Las Vegas Sun asks us to" — for example, the recent flap over President Obama's reluctance to meet with Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons, says DeFranco.
"We told the story with animation and graphics and cartoon captions in the style of (Comedy Central's) Daily Show,"
While decidedly light in tone, 702.TV follows a fairly traditional format with short catchy lifestyle pieces at the top and bottom, heavy on Las Vegas' never-ending stream of visiting celebrities. In the middle, there's a three-to-four minute sports-heavy local news segment, usually a breezy chat between co-host Denise Spidle and a Las Vegas Sun reporter.
Other hosts include entertainment reporter Emily Gimmel and two sports reporters, Christine Killimayer and Alex Adeyanju, all of whom routinely shoot and edit their own stories. "We also have shooter-editors
NADA economist: 14% sales increase
by Neil Roland
Automotive News February, 14, 2010
Powered by the rising economy, U.S. sales of cars and light trucks likely will rise 14 percent to 11.9 million units this year and go higher next year, NADA chief economist Paul Taylor predicted Sunday.
Taylor said his forecast exceeded the consensus estimate of 11.5 million units from other economists mostly because used-car prices are rising in response to diminished supply, making new cars more appealing.
He also cited improved fuel economy in predicting increased sales across a broad range of vehicles.
"We believe in this economy, and we believe higher mileage in a lot of cars will motivate sales as well," Taylor said.
He said he expects 2011 sales to top this year's but wouldn't be more specific.
Taylor forecast a 3 percent increase in gross domestic product.
He said consumer confidence was hamstrung by stubborn unemployment, and lack of floorplan financing for some brands continues to be a problem.
"None of this is progressing as fast as we'd like," Taylor said.
U.S. sales plunged to 10.4 million units in 2009, from 13.2 million in 2008 and 16.1 million in 2007.
Automotive News February, 14, 2010
Powered by the rising economy, U.S. sales of cars and light trucks likely will rise 14 percent to 11.9 million units this year and go higher next year, NADA chief economist Paul Taylor predicted Sunday.
Taylor said his forecast exceeded the consensus estimate of 11.5 million units from other economists mostly because used-car prices are rising in response to diminished supply, making new cars more appealing.
He also cited improved fuel economy in predicting increased sales across a broad range of vehicles.
"We believe in this economy, and we believe higher mileage in a lot of cars will motivate sales as well," Taylor said.
He said he expects 2011 sales to top this year's but wouldn't be more specific.
Taylor forecast a 3 percent increase in gross domestic product.
He said consumer confidence was hamstrung by stubborn unemployment, and lack of floorplan financing for some brands continues to be a problem.
"None of this is progressing as fast as we'd like," Taylor said.
U.S. sales plunged to 10.4 million units in 2009, from 13.2 million in 2008 and 16.1 million in 2007.
Writing A Brand New Book
By Jim Gilmartin Monday, February 15, 2010
Somewhere in America, a baby Boomer will turn 50 every seven to ten seconds. That's more than 12,000 each day and over four million each year for the next decade. Baby Boomers and older consumers are the single largest economic group in America.
But be careful what you call them. Euphemisms like "elder," "of a certain age" or "senior" may not go over well. Many may become more than a little upset with being labeled. After all, they aren't simply writing a new chapter of their lives, they're writing a brand new book -- and each book is different.
The Average Consumer Doesn't Exist
Unfortunately, few marketers have figured out how to best target the Boomer and older consumer. While one Boomer might be gearing up to start a business, another might be taking early retirement. Everyone is different. But how deeply do marketers really want to believe that? How many marketers want to deal with consumers under the rule that every one is unique? A conflict exists between the idea of personalizing company/customer relationships, and the desire to put every consumer in some category that allows marketers to predict their behavior.
Marketers Have to Stop Net Fishing and Start Fly Fishing
Behaviorists have discovered that no two people see anything exactly the same way. No view we have of anything can be fully congruent with anyone else's view because, like fingerprints, every brain is unique as are the five senses that connect us to the world outside our minds.
Not only do we each see the physical world at least slightly differently from everyone else, we don't precisely match anyone else in anything we believe. There will always be some aspect of a belief that bears the imprint of our distinct identity. So, at best, we can only achieve an approximate matching of our beliefs with anyone else's.
Conditional Positioning
Boomers and older consumers are more resistant to absolutism. The young mind tends to see things in terms of absolute states or conditions. In contrast, Boomers and older consumers tend to have greater appreciation for the finer definition that nuance and subtlety give to a matter. This bias results from a combination of experience and age-related changes in how the brain processes information. The predisposition of Boomers and older consumers to reject absolutism means that marketing communications intended for them should generally reflect a conditional tone, allowing each reader/viewer to interpret the message based upon their needs and desires. Less is more in these markets.
Putting It Together
Just as Boomers have transformed every other stage of their lives, smart marketers can bet on one ubiquitous theme: Now that the kids are away, the Boomers are going to play. Yet, the key to the Boomer and older consumer's pocketbook is in a better understanding of their minds.
Marketing needs to be adjusted to the facts that no two people perceive anything exactly the same way. At a time when such terms as "permission marketing," "customer relationship management," and "online personalization" are widely bandied about, more serious thought needs be given to the uniqueness of each of us and why we are unique.
Somewhere in America, a baby Boomer will turn 50 every seven to ten seconds. That's more than 12,000 each day and over four million each year for the next decade. Baby Boomers and older consumers are the single largest economic group in America.
But be careful what you call them. Euphemisms like "elder," "of a certain age" or "senior" may not go over well. Many may become more than a little upset with being labeled. After all, they aren't simply writing a new chapter of their lives, they're writing a brand new book -- and each book is different.
The Average Consumer Doesn't Exist
Unfortunately, few marketers have figured out how to best target the Boomer and older consumer. While one Boomer might be gearing up to start a business, another might be taking early retirement. Everyone is different. But how deeply do marketers really want to believe that? How many marketers want to deal with consumers under the rule that every one is unique? A conflict exists between the idea of personalizing company/customer relationships, and the desire to put every consumer in some category that allows marketers to predict their behavior.
Marketers Have to Stop Net Fishing and Start Fly Fishing
Behaviorists have discovered that no two people see anything exactly the same way. No view we have of anything can be fully congruent with anyone else's view because, like fingerprints, every brain is unique as are the five senses that connect us to the world outside our minds.
Not only do we each see the physical world at least slightly differently from everyone else, we don't precisely match anyone else in anything we believe. There will always be some aspect of a belief that bears the imprint of our distinct identity. So, at best, we can only achieve an approximate matching of our beliefs with anyone else's.
Conditional Positioning
Boomers and older consumers are more resistant to absolutism. The young mind tends to see things in terms of absolute states or conditions. In contrast, Boomers and older consumers tend to have greater appreciation for the finer definition that nuance and subtlety give to a matter. This bias results from a combination of experience and age-related changes in how the brain processes information. The predisposition of Boomers and older consumers to reject absolutism means that marketing communications intended for them should generally reflect a conditional tone, allowing each reader/viewer to interpret the message based upon their needs and desires. Less is more in these markets.
Putting It Together
Just as Boomers have transformed every other stage of their lives, smart marketers can bet on one ubiquitous theme: Now that the kids are away, the Boomers are going to play. Yet, the key to the Boomer and older consumer's pocketbook is in a better understanding of their minds.
Marketing needs to be adjusted to the facts that no two people perceive anything exactly the same way. At a time when such terms as "permission marketing," "customer relationship management," and "online personalization" are widely bandied about, more serious thought needs be given to the uniqueness of each of us and why we are unique.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Create A Movement
By Mike Doherty Friday, February 5, 2010
This generation is creative, social and connected. They are changing the way we interact with brands and content by creating an environment for marketers that is much more interactive and connected.
To successfully engage this group, you can't advertise to them; you have to invite them to participate in something bigger than advertising. Marketers need to give young people ready access to the content they create and enable them to participate with it, create their own and share it. They need to inspire and engage youth and then reward them for participating. For youth, public recognition has become the modern-day merit badge. If done right, your marketing efforts will gain momentum and feel more like a movement than a campaign.
One example of creating this type of engagement is the recent effort by the International Olympic Committee. It has allowed teens to adopt and participate with the Olympic values by creating a digital campaign called "The Best of Us Challenge." Aimed at young people, the global effort is a digital social experience that invites people around the world to challenge top Olympic athletes and their peers, using sport and non-sport talents via an online competition of consumer-generated videos.
Not only is it fun to see global youth engaging with Olympic athletes, engaging experiences like this provide Gen Y with a sense of co?ownership, so they feel they have a role and a voice in the movement and spirit of the Olympic Games.
Here are five tips on creating a movement that Gen Y will embrace:
1. Individualism: Enable Gen Y to be creative. They like to personalize experiences and they want the ability to self-aggregate your content. If they like it, they'll want to embed it on their Facebook pages. (The New York Times allows you to embed but CNN only lets you email a link).
2. In the now: This generation is always on and leads the buzz revolution. Marketers need to draw them into an experience quickly and demonstrate the immediate value. Gen Y is more than twice as likely as pre-Boomers to try the newest/latest version of products so you also have to continually refresh and update content. (Apple.com is much better than Dell.com at refreshing content.)
3. Social interactivity: Facilitate Gen Y's desire for recognition and connection with others. They index high on "I like to show off my taste and style," so give them the ability to gain the recognition of being the first one to share new things. A good example is the Victoria's Secret Pink event during which pics that were posted immediately appeared on stage behind the performers.
4. Authenticity: Communicate on their level. Gen Y is skeptical of authority and process five times faster than most of us, so speak their language in terms of simplicity, abbreviations, fragments and images. Keep directions simple and use images to click on rather than text or drop downs. U.O. (Urban Outfitters) and OMG.com are great at this.
5. Make it fun: Gen Y is experience-oriented; they feel it all. They enjoy absurdity and odd humor, which is why they are hyper-active on YouTube.
This generation is creative, social and connected. They are changing the way we interact with brands and content by creating an environment for marketers that is much more interactive and connected.
To successfully engage this group, you can't advertise to them; you have to invite them to participate in something bigger than advertising. Marketers need to give young people ready access to the content they create and enable them to participate with it, create their own and share it. They need to inspire and engage youth and then reward them for participating. For youth, public recognition has become the modern-day merit badge. If done right, your marketing efforts will gain momentum and feel more like a movement than a campaign.
One example of creating this type of engagement is the recent effort by the International Olympic Committee. It has allowed teens to adopt and participate with the Olympic values by creating a digital campaign called "The Best of Us Challenge." Aimed at young people, the global effort is a digital social experience that invites people around the world to challenge top Olympic athletes and their peers, using sport and non-sport talents via an online competition of consumer-generated videos.
Not only is it fun to see global youth engaging with Olympic athletes, engaging experiences like this provide Gen Y with a sense of co?ownership, so they feel they have a role and a voice in the movement and spirit of the Olympic Games.
Here are five tips on creating a movement that Gen Y will embrace:
1. Individualism: Enable Gen Y to be creative. They like to personalize experiences and they want the ability to self-aggregate your content. If they like it, they'll want to embed it on their Facebook pages. (The New York Times allows you to embed but CNN only lets you email a link).
2. In the now: This generation is always on and leads the buzz revolution. Marketers need to draw them into an experience quickly and demonstrate the immediate value. Gen Y is more than twice as likely as pre-Boomers to try the newest/latest version of products so you also have to continually refresh and update content. (Apple.com is much better than Dell.com at refreshing content.)
3. Social interactivity: Facilitate Gen Y's desire for recognition and connection with others. They index high on "I like to show off my taste and style," so give them the ability to gain the recognition of being the first one to share new things. A good example is the Victoria's Secret Pink event during which pics that were posted immediately appeared on stage behind the performers.
4. Authenticity: Communicate on their level. Gen Y is skeptical of authority and process five times faster than most of us, so speak their language in terms of simplicity, abbreviations, fragments and images. Keep directions simple and use images to click on rather than text or drop downs. U.O. (Urban Outfitters) and OMG.com are great at this.
5. Make it fun: Gen Y is experience-oriented; they feel it all. They enjoy absurdity and odd humor, which is why they are hyper-active on YouTube.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
What is Mobile Marketing and How Will it Affect Your Business
“As seen in the February 2010 Advertising & Marketing Review.
By Kim Dushinski
It seems that the “year of mobile” has been declared enough times that it certainly must have come and gone already. According to the GSM Association (www.gsmworld.com), it is estimated there are over four billion cell phone subscriptions worldwide giving mobile a 60% worldwide adoption rate. In the U.S. there is an 89% adoption rate with cell phone subscriptions numbering over 276 million. Clearly the “year of consumers getting mobile phones” has indeed come and gone.
What hasn’t happened yet is widespread business use of mobile as a marketing channel. It is still early days but companies are jumping on board quickly. Large corporations from McDonald’s to Coca-Cola to Wal-Mart are undertaking mobile campaigns. Media like USA Today, Hearst magazines; Bravo TV and Clear Channel are aggressively pursuing mobile interaction with their audiences. Small businesses, too, are jumping on board with simple mobile coupon campaigns.
Mobile has not saturated marketing yet though. The “year of mobile marketing” is yet to come. It is the next digital frontier and, mark my words, it is coming fast.
What is Mobile Marketing Anyway?
Recently the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) updated their definition of mobile marketing to state that mobile marketing is “A set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.”
There are some key components in this definition that are worth examining. First of all, you’ll notice that the MMA refers to mobile devices, not cell phones. That’s because our phones have become much more than a way to make a simple phone call wherever we want.
In addition to voice calls, cell phones can send and receive text and instant messages; give us Internet access; and provide GPS navigation. Our phones are also cameras, alarm clocks, calculators, calendars, note taking devices, workout trackers, gaming devices, music players, and more depending upon what applications we load on it.
Cell phones are so valuable to us that we keep these powerful devices with us at all times. It is the power of the device and how attached we are to them that drives the potential of the mobile marketing channel.
All of this begs the question of whether or not consumers want to be the recipients of mobile marketing. Of course no one wants to ‘be marketed to.’ However, everyone wants to have relevant information at their fingertips when they look for it or have it delivered to them when they have explicitly asked for it.
Mobile marketing done properly provides relevant value to consumers. That’s why the MMA made sure to put the word relevant in their definition. Relevant communication can be achieved using a variety of tools from the mobile marketing toolbox, thus the concept of “any device or network.”
Tools of Mobile Marketing
Contrary to what you might think (based on what is hot in the news and how many of your colleagues have one) there are many more tools in mobile marketing than those that are iPhone related. In fact, iPhone-specific mobile marketing only reaches a tiny fraction of the overall mobile market. Yes, these are the most voracious users of mobile data, but iPhone users are not the biggest market segment.
According to Tomi Ahonen, author of the several best selling books on mobile and a leading mobile consultant, “The iPhone currently (June, 2009) has a little over 10 million active users in the USA on the AT&T network at which time it meant that 4% of all Americans with a cell phone had an iPhone.” Disabuse your mind that mobile marketing is synonymous with the iPhone, otherwise you risk missing out on 96% of the mobile market.
SMS (Text Messaging)
The single most used tool on mobile by consumers besides voice calls is SMS (commonly known as text messaging). No, it is not just teens who use text messaging either. A study done by Nielsen in 2008 showed that, up to and including the age bracket of 35-44, Americans send more text messages than make phone calls on their mobile phones.
Text messaging can be used in marketing with explicit permission by the consumer only. It takes smart and effective marketing to get consumers to opt in to a text message campaign. But it works like a charm when it is done well.
Recently, Pizza Hut ran a campaign to share the news about their new Hershey’s Dunkers. They ran a contest to win free pizza every month for a year. In two weeks they got 2,000 people to enter the contest via text message. Even more exciting is that they got 54% of these people to agree to get weekly text message alerts about Pizza Hut exclusive deals sent directly to their phone. This is an example of the type of relevant information that consumers are willing to agree to receive.
SMS campaigns can be mobile coupons, alerts, text clubs, and exclusive offers of discounts or content. Text messaging is simple, but powerful. It is also underutilized. SMS marketing is a huge opportunity for businesses right now.
Mobile Websites
Morgan Stanley released a 424 page report about the mobile internet that, among other many things, predicted that the mobile Internet market will be at least twice as big as the desktop Internet market. Excitement abounds for the mobile web.
Unfortunately the mobile web experience is less than stellar for most consumers at this point in time. Despite the results shown in an iCrossing study that 84% of mobile web users expect websites they visit frequently to provide a dedicated mobile version of their site, few do.
One huge misconception around the mobile web is that as long as the site will technically work on a phone, it is mobile friendly. Not so. Businesses need to take into account that mobile web use is entirely different than desktop use. People want fast, easy access to the information they are most likely to want when they are mobile.
Just because powerful phones like the iPhone, Palm Pre and other smartphones can handle a full sized site, it doesn’t mean that consumers using these phones have time to wade through an entire site pinching and squeezing their way to the data they need. You need to offer a well thought out mobile website that works on a wide variety of mobile devices that provides the most relevant information possible.
Mobile Advertising
Google’s purchase of AdMob and Apple’s acquisition of Quattro Wireless, both leading mobile ad networks, indicate that mobile advertising has hit the big time. Both of these giants in technology and marketing understand that mobile’s time to shine is now.
Mobile advertising is similar to Internet advertising in that it is largely comprised of banner and text ads that appear on websites (mobile sites in this case). But it is a lot more as well. Ads can also appear within applications, as applications and even within text messages.
Ads can be extremely well targeted – by demographics, type of cell phone, location (in some cases) and even with knowledge of the mobile web browsing habits of the phone. If you are planning any sort of an advertising campaign, it would be well worth your time to investigate the possibilities of mobile advertising.
Mobile Email
According to Deborah Hall CEO, Web2Mobile, “Currently 0.8 percent of email newsletters are optimized for mobile, yet 20 to 30 percent of folks are checking their email on mobile devices.” If you are sending email as part of your marketing and your customer checks that email on their mobile device, you are now mobile marketing – whether you intended to be or not.
What if that email is unreadable? What if it crashes the phone of the person who is trying to read it? These things happen every day to unsuspecting marketers who assume that their email is being read on a desktop computer with a 17 inch monitor. It may not be. Make sure that all email marketing you do is mobile friendly.
At a minimum emails must be readable by a multitude of mobile devices. This means that emails built around a graphic platform won’t work. HTML renders horribly on most mobile phones and PDF files that open as beautiful images showing elaborate emails simply do not even open.
Much the same as with mobile websites, the content needs to adapt to the mobile environment. Shorter articles are necessary and the call to action should include a phone number more often than a web link. Navigation should be moved to the bottom of the email and not take up valuable real estate at the top.Apps
iPhone apps are a siren song to marketers. They are fun, sexy and cool. Everyone is talking about them. Clients want them because they hear all the hype and excitement about them in the media. They can be a good marketing tool – as long as it is not the only mobile marketing undertaken. As mentioned at the outset of this section, iPhone users only comprise roughly 4% of the mobile market. What other marketing tools would you use that ignored 96% of your potential customers?
Apps can be created as a product to be sold, a branding tool, or advertising can be placed within other company’s applications. A detailed strategy should be put in place well before any apps start being created.
Remember, too, that there are other app stores that you might want to consider. Like Blackberry’s App World, Android Market, Palm’s App Catalog or Nokia’s Ovi Store. iPhone is not the only app game in town.
Who Should Use Mobile Marketing
At this time, the best use for mobile marketing is in a business to consumer situation. Business to business works best with mobile within the limited scope of trade shows, conventions and other business related events.
Within the business to consumer markets, mobile marketing works especially well for restaurants, night clubs, casinos, hotels and retailers. There is a huge opportunity in mobile for non-profits to use it for donor communication as well as getting donations.
Bottom line, if you are working with a business that is looking for more customers, wants to retain the customers they already have or wants to increase purchases from current customers, mobile marketing should be considered.
Kim Dushinski is the author of The Mobile Marketing Handbook. She works with marketing professionals and entrepreneurs offering training and tools in mobile marketing. Find out more about how she can help you with mobile marketing at www.MobileMarketingProfits.com.
By Kim Dushinski
It seems that the “year of mobile” has been declared enough times that it certainly must have come and gone already. According to the GSM Association (www.gsmworld.com), it is estimated there are over four billion cell phone subscriptions worldwide giving mobile a 60% worldwide adoption rate. In the U.S. there is an 89% adoption rate with cell phone subscriptions numbering over 276 million. Clearly the “year of consumers getting mobile phones” has indeed come and gone.
What hasn’t happened yet is widespread business use of mobile as a marketing channel. It is still early days but companies are jumping on board quickly. Large corporations from McDonald’s to Coca-Cola to Wal-Mart are undertaking mobile campaigns. Media like USA Today, Hearst magazines; Bravo TV and Clear Channel are aggressively pursuing mobile interaction with their audiences. Small businesses, too, are jumping on board with simple mobile coupon campaigns.
Mobile has not saturated marketing yet though. The “year of mobile marketing” is yet to come. It is the next digital frontier and, mark my words, it is coming fast.
What is Mobile Marketing Anyway?
Recently the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) updated their definition of mobile marketing to state that mobile marketing is “A set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.”
There are some key components in this definition that are worth examining. First of all, you’ll notice that the MMA refers to mobile devices, not cell phones. That’s because our phones have become much more than a way to make a simple phone call wherever we want.
In addition to voice calls, cell phones can send and receive text and instant messages; give us Internet access; and provide GPS navigation. Our phones are also cameras, alarm clocks, calculators, calendars, note taking devices, workout trackers, gaming devices, music players, and more depending upon what applications we load on it.
Cell phones are so valuable to us that we keep these powerful devices with us at all times. It is the power of the device and how attached we are to them that drives the potential of the mobile marketing channel.
All of this begs the question of whether or not consumers want to be the recipients of mobile marketing. Of course no one wants to ‘be marketed to.’ However, everyone wants to have relevant information at their fingertips when they look for it or have it delivered to them when they have explicitly asked for it.
Mobile marketing done properly provides relevant value to consumers. That’s why the MMA made sure to put the word relevant in their definition. Relevant communication can be achieved using a variety of tools from the mobile marketing toolbox, thus the concept of “any device or network.”
Tools of Mobile Marketing
Contrary to what you might think (based on what is hot in the news and how many of your colleagues have one) there are many more tools in mobile marketing than those that are iPhone related. In fact, iPhone-specific mobile marketing only reaches a tiny fraction of the overall mobile market. Yes, these are the most voracious users of mobile data, but iPhone users are not the biggest market segment.
According to Tomi Ahonen, author of the several best selling books on mobile and a leading mobile consultant, “The iPhone currently (June, 2009) has a little over 10 million active users in the USA on the AT&T network at which time it meant that 4% of all Americans with a cell phone had an iPhone.” Disabuse your mind that mobile marketing is synonymous with the iPhone, otherwise you risk missing out on 96% of the mobile market.
SMS (Text Messaging)
The single most used tool on mobile by consumers besides voice calls is SMS (commonly known as text messaging). No, it is not just teens who use text messaging either. A study done by Nielsen in 2008 showed that, up to and including the age bracket of 35-44, Americans send more text messages than make phone calls on their mobile phones.
Text messaging can be used in marketing with explicit permission by the consumer only. It takes smart and effective marketing to get consumers to opt in to a text message campaign. But it works like a charm when it is done well.
Recently, Pizza Hut ran a campaign to share the news about their new Hershey’s Dunkers. They ran a contest to win free pizza every month for a year. In two weeks they got 2,000 people to enter the contest via text message. Even more exciting is that they got 54% of these people to agree to get weekly text message alerts about Pizza Hut exclusive deals sent directly to their phone. This is an example of the type of relevant information that consumers are willing to agree to receive.
SMS campaigns can be mobile coupons, alerts, text clubs, and exclusive offers of discounts or content. Text messaging is simple, but powerful. It is also underutilized. SMS marketing is a huge opportunity for businesses right now.
Mobile Websites
Morgan Stanley released a 424 page report about the mobile internet that, among other many things, predicted that the mobile Internet market will be at least twice as big as the desktop Internet market. Excitement abounds for the mobile web.
Unfortunately the mobile web experience is less than stellar for most consumers at this point in time. Despite the results shown in an iCrossing study that 84% of mobile web users expect websites they visit frequently to provide a dedicated mobile version of their site, few do.
One huge misconception around the mobile web is that as long as the site will technically work on a phone, it is mobile friendly. Not so. Businesses need to take into account that mobile web use is entirely different than desktop use. People want fast, easy access to the information they are most likely to want when they are mobile.
Just because powerful phones like the iPhone, Palm Pre and other smartphones can handle a full sized site, it doesn’t mean that consumers using these phones have time to wade through an entire site pinching and squeezing their way to the data they need. You need to offer a well thought out mobile website that works on a wide variety of mobile devices that provides the most relevant information possible.
Mobile Advertising
Google’s purchase of AdMob and Apple’s acquisition of Quattro Wireless, both leading mobile ad networks, indicate that mobile advertising has hit the big time. Both of these giants in technology and marketing understand that mobile’s time to shine is now.
Mobile advertising is similar to Internet advertising in that it is largely comprised of banner and text ads that appear on websites (mobile sites in this case). But it is a lot more as well. Ads can also appear within applications, as applications and even within text messages.
Ads can be extremely well targeted – by demographics, type of cell phone, location (in some cases) and even with knowledge of the mobile web browsing habits of the phone. If you are planning any sort of an advertising campaign, it would be well worth your time to investigate the possibilities of mobile advertising.
Mobile Email
According to Deborah Hall CEO, Web2Mobile, “Currently 0.8 percent of email newsletters are optimized for mobile, yet 20 to 30 percent of folks are checking their email on mobile devices.” If you are sending email as part of your marketing and your customer checks that email on their mobile device, you are now mobile marketing – whether you intended to be or not.
What if that email is unreadable? What if it crashes the phone of the person who is trying to read it? These things happen every day to unsuspecting marketers who assume that their email is being read on a desktop computer with a 17 inch monitor. It may not be. Make sure that all email marketing you do is mobile friendly.
At a minimum emails must be readable by a multitude of mobile devices. This means that emails built around a graphic platform won’t work. HTML renders horribly on most mobile phones and PDF files that open as beautiful images showing elaborate emails simply do not even open.
Much the same as with mobile websites, the content needs to adapt to the mobile environment. Shorter articles are necessary and the call to action should include a phone number more often than a web link. Navigation should be moved to the bottom of the email and not take up valuable real estate at the top.Apps
iPhone apps are a siren song to marketers. They are fun, sexy and cool. Everyone is talking about them. Clients want them because they hear all the hype and excitement about them in the media. They can be a good marketing tool – as long as it is not the only mobile marketing undertaken. As mentioned at the outset of this section, iPhone users only comprise roughly 4% of the mobile market. What other marketing tools would you use that ignored 96% of your potential customers?
Apps can be created as a product to be sold, a branding tool, or advertising can be placed within other company’s applications. A detailed strategy should be put in place well before any apps start being created.
Remember, too, that there are other app stores that you might want to consider. Like Blackberry’s App World, Android Market, Palm’s App Catalog or Nokia’s Ovi Store. iPhone is not the only app game in town.
Who Should Use Mobile Marketing
At this time, the best use for mobile marketing is in a business to consumer situation. Business to business works best with mobile within the limited scope of trade shows, conventions and other business related events.
Within the business to consumer markets, mobile marketing works especially well for restaurants, night clubs, casinos, hotels and retailers. There is a huge opportunity in mobile for non-profits to use it for donor communication as well as getting donations.
Bottom line, if you are working with a business that is looking for more customers, wants to retain the customers they already have or wants to increase purchases from current customers, mobile marketing should be considered.
Kim Dushinski is the author of The Mobile Marketing Handbook. She works with marketing professionals and entrepreneurs offering training and tools in mobile marketing. Find out more about how she can help you with mobile marketing at www.MobileMarketingProfits.com.
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