10 Marketing Trends in late 2011

Consumption patterns are changing and sales methods as well. To win the heart of their target, the marks must learn to adapt their speech to a constantly changing environment. In marketing, the truth of today is rarely tomorrow's.
  
How do the packaging these days? What products that appeal to consumers? How the brands they give new life to their customer relationships? Discover new consumer concerns ... and marketers. 

1. Packaging

As one of the main criteria for purchase, the packaging of a product is also changing according to the fashions and habits. A visit to the store can realize that the trend is looking for practicality. A target that follows two concerns: the time savings for consumers and the aging population, a major marketing challenge for years to come.
 
Objective: To avoid difficulties in opening packages aesthetically successful but not ergonomic.

The openings are easy and formats doypack integrating all possible options, since the opening up resealable spout, now in bloom on store shelves. The approach is sometimes taken to extremes, like toothpaste destitute packaging found in stores Leclerc stores.
 
2. Gender Marketing


According to Faith Popcorn, the coming months herald the end of "gender marketing," marketing differentiated between men and women.

Exit Coca zero and therefore the Diet Coke, welcome to products that combine values ​​rather male such as technology and women as a concern for the environment. One explanation for this? "Women are increasingly influential, powerful. And men become more sensitive, collaborative and connected." Convergence of the concerns of everyone who spends so unisex products such as the Apple brand, merging technology and art.
 





3. Special Offers

That the consumer research today is the immediate free in all its forms, the immediate reduction in hand or purchased on 2 + 1 free. A trend confirmed by the publication of the quarterly survey PromoFlash that reveals a growing promotional pressure in hypermarkets and supermarkets.











4. geolocation to attract new customers
To attract new customers, sites such as location-based Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook want to make hyperlocal. These sites can offer promotions in real time to pedestrians passing by a shop or to motorists stopping at a gas station. A positive experience if we are to believe the Radio Shack brand, which specializes in consumer electronics and special offers which will notify users Foursquare logs near a Radio Shack store. Result, they spent an average 3.5 times more money in its stores that consumers lambda.

The reason? Younger and therefore more "early adopters" than other consumers, proponents of social networks tend to buy more sophisticated and therefore more expensive.
 

5. Co-branding: two stronger

The creators of the ready-to-wear Kitsune creating a line of JM Weston shoes, Burger King and Eurostar, which communicate with each other, Coca Cola cans that launches branded Raving Rabbids ... Partnerships between brands flourish in many forms. This co-branding, which allows two brands combine their expertise and their images to enhance their product offering, definitely on a roll.
  
I must say that this creation of shared value allows each brand to find his account of research awareness to share the attributes of each product.

 
6. "Street look" in fashion campaigns

It suggests that the trends do not exhibit themselves more on the podiums but in the street. Bloggers like The Sartorialist and Garance Doré set the tone with their unknown photographed in the street, models of the ordinary. A fashion design may be more human and more accessible making clothes which each brings a personal touch.

So this wave of "street look" that marks a growing surf through advertisements that give the impression to capture moments of life, moments of sublime strength by wearing your favorite brand. We refer of course to the mark Kooples who has posters of couples dope on the street or in the boxes his trademark

 
7. "Down aging"

Blogger Trendhunter, observed this year in the 2011 revival of "down aging," the famous return to childhood for a class of consumers nostalgic for an era of recklessness. The brands were well taken the measure of this phenomenon as evidenced by the rise of the retro wave.

Broken down in pubs revivals such as Vespa Piaggio or RayBan Wayfarer, products fragrant years of carefree, havens in times of crisis.


8. Advertising deployed projected on the walls of major cities

Halfway between street art and display areas, the beamvertising attracting more and more advertisers. Brands like Nokia, Rexona and Puma are regular users.

The use of projectors for the development of a device to render stunning visual animations and projection surfaces unlimited gives new life to the concept of guerilla marketing if we are to believe the surprised looks of the people of New York and other world capitals that have been in recent months, attended the magnificent visual spectacles ... and promotional materials.


9. The customer experience increasingly virtual

Visit the virtual store, or guided by mobile, paperless loyalty cards and coupons, mobile payments ... simplified It is clear that the customer experience on the shelves takes a turn more and more virtual. And if the digital invites himself more and more often in real life, he must greatly to the development of smartphones that will soon be unavoidable.

One can also think that the act of purchase is also influenced by the help of augmented reality, this technique for superimposing a virtual image on a 2D or 3D image of reality, in real time, while having the opportunity to interact with the whole. Example, you can see on your terminal the product from its package or fully assembled. Clearly taking shape a future where the Internet, social networks and technological innovation will make it more interactive customer relationships, and brands.















10. Nature friendly products

This can be seen for some time, consumers are increasingly concerned about their ecological footprint and the origin of products they consume. Well this is not about to stop.

Brands have correctly identified the research ethics and communicate more on the "naturalness" of their product. The latest example, Volvic bottles that incorporate plastics plant in their composition and have been designed to significantly reduce their environmental impact. Recognizable by their green cap, these bottles will satisfy consumers looking to rediscover values ​​like love and compassion on behalf of the social and environmental awareness.






Please leave your comments. Thanks to JDN.

 

How to Use Twitter to measure the degree of customer satisfaction ?

Use Twitter search and smileys!

I will present here a small trick to find out what consumers think of a brand or product on Twitter.

Been Twitter Search ?. This site allows advanced searches on Twitter. A big advantage of the site is that it is possible to take into account the emoticons (smileys). It can therefore be measured, with varying degrees of efficiency, the positive and negative.


How? Simply by including the different smileys in research::)): D or: (: /: $ instance.



Example :

Take the example of Comcast firm and see what he says it well:





 And what is said of negative :





Conclusion :

In the end, the result is quite convincing even if does not apply to all tweets. We have a comprehensive overview of what is said positive or negative, and it is a free tool to use interesting for companies who wish to manage their customer relationships.


Twitter Search is also useful to monitor and the day before the launch of a product or service, as well as for major brands for small businesses in a country, or just a city.

How to Integrate Customer Service Into Social Media Marketing

Social media has changed customer service from being a support function to being an extension of marketing. In the social media ecosystem, customers want to know that you're listening and responding. As your organization's front line, customer service is where your company becomes real to prospects and buyers by engaging with the public and showing your firm is real and cares.

With social media, you have to win your prospects, customers, and fans with every interaction across platforms. As your company's point of interaction, customer service is critical to your social media marketing efforts. Zappos is the poster child of amazing customer service across social media outlets. From a customer service perspective, when it comes to social media networks, 46 percent of customers want to solve a problem and almost 40 percent want to give retailers their feedback according to research from Cone, Inc. Additionally, roughly four out of five customers seeks a special deal (Source : H.Cohen).

12 Social Media ways to enhances
Customer Service

Here are 12 ways social media supports customer service and extends your marketing efforts.

    


1. Gives business a human face. Social media's engagement and interaction makes online businesses more personable and shows that someone is home. This transparency starts building customer trust. To this end, it's important to have social media guidelines in place to help employees with their social media interactions.

2. Listens to what customers are saying. With the help of social media monitoring tools, customer service can hear what consumers are asking, provide timely responses, and determine early warning signs of PR and other issues. (Note: social media monitoring may reside in different areas of an organization.) In the current social media ecosystem, it's critical to have a crisis management plan in place to mitigate potential problems.

3. Proactively engages with prospects and customers. This interaction shows that the people behind your company are real and care. Accomplish this with a wide range of interactions such as tweets, Facebook postings, and boards as well as unilateral communications like blog posts.

4. Provides additional product-related content. Use a wide range of formats from online videos to blogs. In addition to specific purchase information, show how to use the products. Here is a consumer-made video explaining how to apply eye color.

5. Answers product-related questions. Real-time and asynchronous conversations can occur on your website, a third-party media site, or a social media network like Facebook. One benefit is that other customers can respond to a confused customer with a direct answer. While the answer may not always be to your liking, it has the authority of being from another customer and reduces your customer service department's workload.

6. Supplies alternative contact channel. Remember, prospects and customers will use any and every entrance to talk to a human and get answers to their questions. Social media-delivered customer service, at least for the short term, tends to be used less on a relative basis, translating to better service.

7. Gives customers a channel to talk to each other. As a marketer, get over yourself! With social media, on your website or on a social networking site, it's not about you, it's about the overall customer-to-customer conversations. You just provide the environment that they want to visit.

8. Shares customer feedback. Often it's ratings and reviews. The benefit is that reviews can help qualify and endorse your product in ways that your staff can't because customers trust other customers. The challenge is that negative issues like United Breaks Guitars' can be amplified due to social media's free media and distribution platforms.

9. Celebrates your customers. By gathering your prospects, customers, and fans on social media platforms, you shine the spotlight on your customers. Oreos does a great job of this with its Facebook page that shows customers eating Oreos.

10. Shows customers behind the scenes. Use social media to give customers a view of what your firm is like. Think broadly in terms of blogs, photographs on Flickr, online videos, presentations, e-books, and LinkedIn.

11. Makes special offers. Social media presents another venue to share the love with your customers. One way to do this is through social media-only deals. Consider it an extension of customer service's ability to close and upsell customers.
12. Create new purchase options. While many companies haven't started testing social commerce, it's a rapidly growing area.

5 Ways to Measure Social Media Customer Service

As with any marketing and/or social media effort, it's critical to set your objectives and create related metrics to assess your success. Here are five metrics to help you monitor integrating social media into your customer service delivery.

1. Number of interactions. Track the number of fans and followers. Bear in mind you may need to entice consumers with special deals and bonuses. Additionally, understand how each platform works and how to be part of the community, or your actions will backfire.

2. Number of issues identified and responded to. In addition to participating in the conversation on your website and tailored company outposts like Twitter and Facebook, use brand monitoring tools to find and reply to consumer issues.

3. Content creation. Track the amount of content that users contribute in terms of ratings and reviews, social media interactions, photographs, videos, and other formats.

4. Sales. Measure sales related to your social media customer service efforts. Have they contributed to your overall sales? Are these efforts helping customers decide what to purchase and do they contribute in a positive way to your brand association and company revenues?

5. Customer service resources. Consider these three important elements. Are you reducing customer service inquiries via other channels? Social media translates to a lower cost channel in many cases. Are you allocating customer service headcount appropriately? Do you have enough people assigned to each channel? Also, monitor for increased usage as this channel becomes more efficient. People who didn't want to deal with customer service may do so on social media.

Social media has changed how consumers and companies view customer service. Now, customer service fulfills a variety of different functions including enhancing your marketing.

Is your firm ready to meet these new opportunities?

Are there any other customer service points that you'd add to this list ?. If so, please include your perspective in the comments section below.