Hello bloggers! Today, I would like to talk about buzz marketing.
Before I start, I will give you a bit more explanation on the subject, of course. Buzz marketing is the interaction of customers, which serves to amplify the original marketing message. The intention of buzz is to provide a vague but positive association, excitement and something fascinating about a product or service. The goal is to create positive buzz in order that people start talking about your company spontaneous. I will clarify this theory with a few examples later on.

Buzz marketing is one of the things I really like about marketing. It is a type of advertising that all the business should consider taking it in their marketing campaign. In order to use buzz marketing, there is one thing you should know and that is: BE CREATIVE.  When you are creative, it really makes people curious and when people are curious, your company gets a lot of publicity. Often without spending a lot of money.

I found a very interesting quote that is appropriate for this blog: “Buzz marketing is like succeeding in Hollywood: every actor wants to do it, only a few succeed.” If I translate this, it means: every company is trying to use buzz marketing but only a few will succeed and get positive buzz about his product or service. And that is true! It is very difficult to create the perfect buzz for your company, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. Because you have no control what the people will think about your campaign.

The examples I am going to discuss here are simple yet creative.
The first example happened months ago. They were building a new supermarket in the neighborhood. The renovations were almost finished and the store was hanging a large white sign on their building. The first week there was just a white sign but two weeks later, the first sentence appeared on the sign: “Competitors, beware…”. That was the moment when the buzz started. People were asking themselves what the other sentence could be… It was a huge success. Oh before I forget, the other sentence was: “We are now the cheapest!”

An other example is Guerilla marketing that creates a buzz for companies. You can see a couple of examples on the photos that I have posted.

Thanks for reading my blog!
NIELS

Hello everyone!

Group buying is one of the most upcoming trends in 2012-2013 or it was… According to marketers, group buying sites are losing their customers faster than the amount of time it takes them to arrange a deal.

Groupon, Shedeals, … Those are the most popular group buying sites, in my opinion. I have no doubt that they also feel this fall. People are getting more negative feelings towards group purchases. And you are wondering how this could happen? Well, I think this is mainly because people have often been tricked online. There are so many stories about paying hundreds of euros and at the end, they received nothing. Once they have been tricked, it is very difficult to win back their trust. It may also be that people, especially with the age of 40+, do not dare to take the step for online purchasing. They find it too dangerous. They are afraid that the product or service aren’t 100% safe. And if I have to be honest, I can understand them very well.

For a little while, Facebook has also participated in this business but after a few months, they run into problems. The major problem was that they had too many expectations. Facebook thought it was going to be a huge success because of the social networks: there are millions of people connected to Facebook. But I honestly think the people could not link group buying and daily deals with social networking. They just did not trust it and when that happens, there is no way to fix it.

Recently I bought some tickets for Robbie Williams for his concert in August. I am someone who is not familiar of buying stuff online and I think this is not going to change soon. I am always afraid of losing my money and I am always looking for the most reliable website to buy something. I hope I will get a positive experience with all this.

Feel free to comment and thanks for reading my blog!

Niels

Blog 6: QR Codes


Hello bloggers!

A while ago, my brother was looking for a new car. They visited many and many garages but one garage did something very unique. The owners of the garage put a QR code on the car and people could scan that code with their smartphones to get more information about the car. There was one big advantage linked to that strategy of using a QR code: when the owner was busy helping other clients, you could immediately get some information about the car instead of waiting for the owner.

And that’s why I wanted to write something about QR Coding for my blog because people are getting more and more creative with this kind of technology.

I think probably everyone knows what QR coding is nowadays but for those who don’t know what I am talking about, I will explain it. QR codes are a fast way of getting information to customers. Those QR codes are square bar codes that can be scanned with a smartphone and then you will get information on your screen of your mobile. That can be contact information, maybe some publicity or just a regular website.

As I mentioned earlier, people are getting more and more creative with QR Coding. Over the past year, businesses have slapped QR codes on their business cards, billboards, on stones in the road, … Anywhere consumers can utilize mobile devices to get product information. But there is something more interesting than standard QR Codes… Called branded dial code!

Branded dial codes are QR codes that consumers can access with a keypad and those codes are gaining in popularity very fast. More companies are using this as a way to increase their audience they want to reach. And how is that possible you think? Well, not everyone has a camera on their phone but everyone has a keypad, that’s why.

As you can see, I’ve put a couple of pictures in my blog of QR Codes on creative places. Please, feel free to comment and I will see you next time!

Niels

Hello everyone!

Today I am going to talk about Google’s newest invention and it is called Google Glass. Because I have to give a presentation on this innovative product within two weeks, it seemed nice to write a blog about it.

Most of us will probably heard about Google Glass but for those who don’t know what I am talking about, I will explain it. It is still in the testing phase so these glasses aren’t on the market yet.

Google Glass is a portable computer with a head-mounted display that is currently being developed by Google. A head-mounted display is a display screen worn on the head. It can be built in the form of glasses or in a helmet. In this case of Google, it is built in the form of glasses. Google Glass displays information such as a smartphone but hands free. An user can operate the device with his voice or a touch pad on the side of the device. With these glasses you can do everything: take pictures, record a small movie, use Google maps, Skype and lots of other stuff. You can see a picture of the glasses down below.

Currently there are no glasses added to the device but Google is considering partnering with manufacturers like Ray-Ban or Warby Parker and might also open stores where customers can try out this new invention.

I asked my friends what their thoughts were about this product and if they would buy/wear it. Most of them said it looked quite ridiculous and that they would not wear it. But if they had the opportunity, they would definitely try it out.

However, I believe this is a product for the future. Maybe within 10-15 years, everyone will walk around with the Google Glass. What do you think about this? Don’t be afraid to comment and share your thoughts with us about this product!

Oh and before I end this, I also posted a video, feel free to watch it.

Niels