Retail Marketing - Shopping Center Marketing

Known for their contemporary design acumen and care for standards based code - Dotfusion wins the CSS Awards, “Site of the Day”, for it’s innovative solution for Yorkdale Shopping Centre’s Back to School content module.

View the CSS Award Site:
www.thecssawards.com

View the Yorkdale Back to School Module:
http://www.yorkdale.com/back-to-school/

The hunt for new social media tools and strategies, is endless. After loads of research with the hope that I could write a few short pieces on the best way to use each type of Social Media platform, I’ve found that the underlying message remains the same, no matter what type of platform you choose to use.

Each type of Social Media (ie. geo-location based or other) all have one thing that they do well and something that differentiates them from the other sites, but the bottom line is that there are 5 simple steps to maximizing whichever platform you use, to make it work best for your brand.

5 Ways to Build a Loyal Audience Using Social Media:

1. Meaningful Content is Key: There are 3 types of conversations you can have with a total stranger. One, is the conversation that leaves you knowing WAY too much about someone/something and leaves you sort of “winded” by the event. The other, leaves you bored and uncomfortable, making you totally disinterested in seeing that person again. The third conversation, leaves you wondering more about them and maybe even wanting to re-engage in that conversation (or one like it) in the future. Be the latter. Don’t vomit everything all at once, or recess into silence, rather, create meaningful content that adds value to your consumer’s experience.

2. An Immutable Rule of Branding; Stay Consistent: Branding your online identity is just as important as branding your packages for shipment, your store front, or your business cards. It’s your identity. Be consistent. Consumers want to be the one changing their “hair color” but if brands do, they’ll get lost right along with loyalty.

3. Use the Platform How it’s Intended for Use: Knowing what makes Facebook different than Twitter, YouTube, Gowalla or Foursquare is key. If you don’t know the difference and try to create a campaign around Social Media, you’ll end up with a mess on your hands and your consumers won’t be able to keep up. Learn the system, then operate it.

4. Maximize and Optimize: Every Social Network has a section where your brand can be talked about, linked from, or to, or Optimized through SEO. When people are trying to find you on a Search Engine, you want them to be able to and social sites are built to help you accomplish that. Don’t leave the “about us” section begging for content.

5. Partner Up with Someone Who Understands You, Your Brand and Your Goals: At Dotfusion, we are always seeking to expand our awareness and depth of practice in Social Media. Partnering with someone to help you build strategy and monitor success, can help your prove ROI to your campaigns along with helping to grow your business online. To build your partnership, contact a Dotfusion representative.

The internet has given consumers the power of complaint as much as the power of acceptance. Unless your brand is made of fairy tales and magic, it’s unlikely that all the consumer feedback you receive on Twitter will be positive, at all times.

Dealing with negative feedback is really important and should be handled as strategically as your campaign itself.

Here are 5 ways you can respond to negativity on Twitter:

1. Respond Quickly - Responding quickly is easiest when you have “listening tools” set up for your brand and can help you find a problem before it gets to big to turn around. An immediate response also tells people that you care and that you’re striving to improve.

2. Respond Personally, not as the Company - Building personal relationships will carry you far and responding personally reminds the consumer that you’re more than a faceless brand. This will also help them to understand that you’re trying to help them.

3. Request an Alternate Method of Communication - It’s not always easy (or best) to deal with a crisis in 140 characters. Asking for an email address or phone number can help address the complaint with a personal twist.

4. Let Someone Else Intervene - If you’re having a hard time smoothing the situation over, letting someone else step in can help alleviate the pressure from both sides of the complaint. Sometimes it’s best to let someone else help you.

5. Know When Enough is Enough - Let it go and make it better. You can’t always win every battle and if you have haters, you probably also have people who love you (or your brand).

The biggest thing about handling complaints is learning from them and letting your complainers know that you’re working to better your company or brand to help avoid more problems in the future.

Read the full article here.

To develop a strategy to listen to your consumers through social media, contact a Dotfusion representative today.

Is your small business tracking your web site’s analytics? Wondering where you should start? Well, I came across a great article to help you get started.

First off, you’ll need to install tracking software. It’s usually only a matter of installing a bit of javascript in the footer of your site’s design. If you don’t know how to do it, your designer should be able to very quickly.

Read more at OPEN Forum

Your store may be small, your niche obscure and your locations few (or singular), but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have a high-impact marketing campaign, without sacrificing your retirement fund, or laying off employees.

Steven Singer Jewelers in Philadelphia is a great example. Steven Singer’s focuses on prolonging a couple’s engagement process, by trying not to sell engagement rings. They want you to buy their other products (bracelets, necklaces, broaches) in leu of the ring, to keep their male patrons happy and coming back later for the bigger items. Steven Singer sells “more time” for guys who aren’t just ready to take the plunge into marriage, using the philosophy of scaled sales; “sell small now, to sell larger later” unlike other stores that sell engagement rings with urgency. Steven Singer knows that if you buy from his store now, you’ll be back later.

The Campaign: “I Hate Steven Singer dot com”

The Medium: Local billboards and radio ads

The Strategy:

1.  Use a permanent campaign

2.  Fuel natural human curiosity.

3.  Own your region.

4.  Focus on a different audience than your competitors.

5.  Have a personality to lead your efforts.

6.  Create a signature event.

Click here for the full article.

Marketing to your community in a way that draws long term interest, is a goal of every marketer / brand owner. To build a fool proof strategy to deepen your brand’s loyalty and longevity, contact a representative at Dotfusion today.

Have you ever longed for the future of shopping for jeans to be determined for you, or are you the kind of shopper who likes trying on endless styles of denim before you settle on one that fits your shape? Every body is different and every shape unique, and speaking for myself, I find the process as taxing as, well… paying taxes.

Enter Old Navy and their newest effort to get people looking at their denim collection online and carrying that interest into their stores.

“The Booty Reader” is Old Navy’s newest attempt to wow their audiences, not by reading fortunes, but by reading “booties”. The magical fortune teller allows you to select your style preference - in the shape of Taro cards - then upload a photo of your actual backside, or select from a few images that best represent your body shape. The magical card reader then tells you which denim would look best on your body and presents you with pictures of the your body style in the jeans.

I can say this much, I haven’t shopped at Old Navy in a long time, but I’m going to have to run out and try on my recommended jeans this weekend.

The NDP Group is reporting that Google’s Android mobile device operating system has taken over top spot in sales for the second quarter of 2010. Blackberry’s OS market share (based on new sales) has dropped 9% from last quarter while Apple’s iPhone took 22% of the share.

As the mobile devices become more and more powerful, it is a good idea to keep your eye on these numbers to decide which platform(s) to deploy your mobile applications on.

Ever been on hold? For a long time? For a REALLY long time? Of course you have - it’s an experience that (unfortunately) is just part of life these days. However, there’s a new iPhone app that promises to make being on hold something of the past, and that app is LucyPhone.

Just pick a company to call and give Lucy a number to call you back on. If you can’t find the company you are looking for, no worries… you can also have Lucy connect you to any toll-free numbe… Read Morer. While Lucy waits on hold for you, the app shows you the status of the call. You can also re-join the call if you want to resume your place in the queue!”

Source: www.appstorehq.com

Pepsi is going retro with a remake of their 1995 Super Bowl advertisement, “Diner”. This time it’s Pepsi Max taking on Coke Zero.

Pepsi is following in the footsteps of Coca-Cola’s remake of the “Mean Joe Greene” advertisement during the 2009 Super Bowl.

Analysts say people love the funny, spirited rivalry of the decades-old cola wars and the move will benefit both soda makers. That’s good news for the $100 billion industry, which is seeing weak soft drink sales as shoppers switch to healthier juices and teas.

It is the most revolutionary way of Social Ticketing… all you have to do is register your Event in www.twicketer.com, they will provide you the URL to distribute it through twitter, facebook, my space, etc. You can sell or buy tickets.  The purchase can be made with PayPal or a Credit card and it is also possible to buy tickets for your friends, each of you will receive a link in your smartphones, as easy as that!. At the event security will check your smartphone as an ID and validate your ticket.