While not a complete representation of overall brand effectiveness, a destination’s marketing name is typically one of the first interaction points for a consumer. And for the destination, a critical first impression of their brand story.
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Category: Branding, Destination Marketing
Being digital marketers at the core, we obviously believe strongly in the power of the web as a communication tool. What’s interesting though is that as we work with more retail brands, we’re discovering that the web in conjunction with social media tools, is a marketing platform that actually allows your message to grow and spread to the masses on a large scale. Continue reading →
Category: Branding, Location Based Marketing, Mobile Marketing
Loyalty programs have been slowly moving into the mobile space, but three recent developments, Facebook Deals, Starbuck’s Mobile App, and the Clip coupon app, show that this trend is picking up steam.
Social deals benefit the brand and the customer
Facebook Deals was recently launched across Canada as part of the Facebook Places feature. Now, by using a smart phone to check-in their location to Facebook Places, consumers are provided with a list of nearby stores offering deals.
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Category: Location Based Marketing, Mobile Marketing
To say that Suitcase has embarked on a new direction might not be entirely accurate.
Sure, we have a new positioning, and we’re creating a new set of solutions to offer to our clients, but the direction of our agency is exactly the same as it always has been – merging the latest technology with creative, effective executions.
When we started Suitcase ten years back, the digital world was bouncing back from the dot-com hiccup of the late nineties. Despite the cautiousness of the time, we were able to envision the very real role that websites and digital platforms would play in connecting a brand with consumers. What we know today, after a decade of experience, is that engagement, and more importantly how you engage your consumers, is the key to an effective marketing plan. I believe that the growth of social, mobile and location-based technologies are unlocking never before imagined opportunities for that engagement. Continue reading →
Category: Branding, Location Based Marketing, Mobile Marketing
Being digital marketers at the core, we obviously believe strongly in the power of the web as a communication tool. Interestingly, as we work with more retail brands we’re discovering that the web is a marketing platform that actually allows your message to grow and spread when it’s merged with social-media tools.
In other words, this multi-faceted platform can engage the voice of a brand directly to its consumers, and also be a tool that empowers those consumers to spread the word to other consumers. In my opinion, this brand extension is quickly becoming a retail marketer’s greatest asset.
I’m not proposing that traditional advertising is dead, or outdated. If planned properly more traditional methods, which are always effective at directing people online, don’t have to be replaced, but can be leveraged. Imagine rolling all your traditional advertising into a snowball and then pushing it down a hill. You’d be able to watch as its influence grows exponentially as your consumers interact and share information about your product, service or company. The image below illustrates how this can work.
For example, a flyer can still remain a flyer, but a social campaign call-out can be added to the cover. A TV spot can remain a TV spot, but with a social media call-to-action where consumers are invited to interact with your brand and other consumers. The goal is to have your media mix working together to ultimately drive foot traffic to stores.
It does however take some time, experimentation, TLC and patience. Don’t think that it’s a switch you can just turn on. Starbucks, Oreo, Skittles and Coke definitely didn’t acquire their millions of fans overnight. It’s taken years of tweaking and investing but what a powerful asset they’ve built. Each of the above brands list have in excess of 15 million people listening to and conversing with them on Facebook. This connection is something they use at the drop of a hat to run quick promotions, events, sales, campaigns, and more.
That’s the kind of nimbleness and opportunity almost any company would aspire for – what about yours?
If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you, please comment here on the blog, or you can reach me at trent@suitcaseinteractive.com
Category: Location Based Marketing, Location-Based Experiences, Mobile Marketing, Uncategorized
Predictions, prognostications, big hairy prophesies –whichever term you use, the start of a new year just lends itself to forecasting what next 365 will offer.
If we learned one thing about social, mobile and location-based marketing technologies and applications in 2010, it’s that no matter how audacious our thoughts may be, our prediction is that several new, never-before imagined ideas will rise to the top of our industry and surprise us all.
But, for now here are our best guesses for social, mobile and location-based marketing in 2011.
Social:
Social Shopping Could Be the Next Big Thing
Social shopping as a concept has been around for a while with sites like Kaboodle, ShopStyle, Wists, Wishlistr and Zozolo, but most of the current communities haven’t gained mass appeal. Despite some shortcomings, Apple’s Ping social network is a great example of social shopping in action. Continue reading →
Category: Uncategorized
They always say that you need to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going. And as a knowledge based agency, we’re always keeping an eye on the digital industry to see where things are going.
We’ve rounded up a few interesting trends in social media, mobile and location marketing that we think will be affecting things to come.
Social:
Foursquare Boasts Over 5 Million Users
While only an estimated 4% of adults actually use GeoSocial services, they seem to be on a somewhat steady incline which was highlighted by Foursquare’s recent 5 million user milestone. Continue reading →
Category: Destination Marketing, Location Based Marketing, Mobile Marketing
Rob Howard, Suitcase Eastern Canada’s Managing Director, made a big impression on the Canadian marketing community in 2010.
Of course we’ve seen his influence around the office through his pitches and strategies, but his July 27, 2010 post Here and Now Culture has been named one of 2010′s top 5 articles by the readers of the Canadian online marketing website onedegree.ca.
In the piece, Rob deftly compares and contrasts the traditional and location-based marketing models. His conclusion is that the older model resembles a treasure map where success relies on the consumers ability to follow the clues and end up at the cash register. The newer model, location-based marketing, in Rob’s assessment (and one we all share) is like a radar, a beacon where. “… the consumer is delivered an experience relevant to their physical location and needs at the time.”
And, as Rob also explained in the article, the key to being in the Here and Now, with the consumer is to understand and appreciate the uniqueness of your customer’s journey, as they consider, compare, learn about and interact with your products and brand.
Delivering a location-based brand experience requires not only mapping out the customer journey, but also tailoring each interaction to the customer’s needs or motivations based on their physical location at the time of each interaction.
As Rob boldly states, “Location-based experiences can — and will – transform the way consumers interact with brand organizations big and small.”
We raise our glass to Rob for all the tremendous work he’s done for this industry in 2010 and for his insightful thoughts moving forward into the new year.
Category: Location Based Marketing, Location-Based Experiences
For destinations, planning season is upon us.
At least, it should be.
Even if you are just in Q1 of your budget year, the end of the year is an ideal time to tabulate and examine the results of the past 12 months.
And for those setting DMO / CVB budgets…or just playing the shell game with your line items…December also offers a chance to begin allocating funds for new projects, come the new year.
Not to mention a bit of space as coworkers take vacation and your agency begins the annual 4-week holiday party.
So, what should be in your destination marketing budget for 2011?
We thought you would never ask.
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Category: Destination Marketing, Location Based Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Search
*As cherry picked from Robert Solomon’s “The Art of Client Service”
Last week we took a look at our client-relationship philosophy through a series of 11 Commandments stemming from Robert Solomon’s book “The Art of Client Service”. We hold these combined 11 points to be the measuring stick when evaluating our interactions with customers. Please join us as we conclude the list that we started in Part One. Continue reading →
Category: Uncategorized
