Questions and answers.

Source: Google ImagesThis past week I discovered the magic of Quora. I had been hearing a lot about the site recently so I decided to sign up and see what it was all about... and now I’m addicted. Although the site has been around for over a year now, the user base only started to take off in the last few months of 2010 and now has close to 400,000 users.

The primary idea behind the site is a simple one, ask a question... get an answer. As we all know from school, there is no such thing as a silly question. The same holds true for Quora. Here are a few examples of questions that I have seen:

• When will Google TV be supported in Canada?
• What is the best and fastest way to make 1 dollar online?
• What are some good examples of brands using Foursquare?
• Where is the future of mobile advertising heading?  

You will notice these questions are centered around certain topics and that’s because Quora allows you to follow topics that interest you (similar to how Twitter allows you to follow people who interest you). Here are three reasons why you should join Quora right now (by the way, I don’t work for the company or anything, I just really really like the service and the idea behind the site):

1. The user base - One thing that truly fascinates me about Quora is the kinds of people who answer various questions. Someone may ask a question about why Facebook does something a certain way and then an actual employee of Facebook will answer the question. You literally get answers straight from the horse’s mouth. There are some truly influential people on Quora right now including: Kevin Rose, Dennis Crowley, Amber Mac, Leo Laporte, Dave Knox, Mitch Joel, Robert Scoble, Pete Blackshaw and Evan Williams.
2. The community votes - A feature of Quora that I find very interesting is that users have the ability to vote answers up or down. Users also have the ability to thank others for certain answers, leave comments and even vote answers as not helpful. These features ensure that the answers you see are typically the best answers for any given question. All Quora needs now is a voiceover of Jeff Probst saying, “the tribe has spoken,” every time someone’s answer gets voted on.
3. A customized experience - Just like Twitter, Quora allows you to follow people and follow topics that interest you. What this allows for is a completely customized experience on your home page. The feed on your home page only contains questions that are relevant to you and this is a feature that a lot of great social networking sites have in common.

Final thoughts: If you are already on Quora or if this post has inspired you to join Quora, my one piece of advice when using the service is to be real. Authenticity is what makes this site amazing and it will be the driving force that sustains this site. You don’t have to necessarily try and answer a whole lot of questions because in many cases, that would have already been done for you. All you have to do is read and be enlightened. Let me leave you with a quote from a cool cat named Jimi Hendrix, “Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.”

Your brand needs an app

Source: Google ImagesAnd it must be free. Apps provide marketers with the opportunity to create an experience. Think of some of the best apps that you have used in the past. What has made them so compelling? Have you noticed that when you open a really good app your tendency to divert your attention to other things decreases? (even if your phone is capable of multi-tasking - having many apps open at once). A great app is one that offers value to a consumer. That value may come in the form of some quick entertainment (Angry Birds does a good job of this), quick information (Google maps for instance or any news app) or a quick way to connect (the Twitter app).

The trait of creating value is something that great apps have... and it is also something that great brands have. We’ve all heard the saying that when a consumer buys _____ (insert brand), they are not buying _____ (insert product/service) but they are actually buying _____ (insert feeling/experience). Your brand needs an app because it can provide you with an opportunity to create that feeling/experience, even before your consumer buys your product/service.

3 Things marketers should know about apps:

1. Offer value - It does not really matter what product or service you are selling because every product/service can offer value to a consumer. A fantastic example of a brand that offers value to a consumer through an app would be Kraft’s Big Fork Little Fork app. This app helps educate a target demographic on the positives of healthy eating.
2. Don’t advertise, educate - Don't use your app as an another medium to advertise your product. Consumers get enough of that already. Instead, use your app to educate consumers about the benefits of your product or better yet educate consumers about something they will genuinely find interesting. For example: If you are a beer brand, educate consumers about the brewing process for your particular brand or consider educating them on what beers go best with certain foods.
3. Be free and be shareable - It's very easy to throw a price of 99 cents on an app, just so it can bring in some kind of revenue... but why don't you just offer it for free and make money elsewhere? Offering it for free does one compelling thing: If consumers download and genuinely like your app... then they will actively search for your brand and want to choose it. It's no longer a case of you trying to draw a consumer in to your brand, instead a consumer will want to select your brand because of the value you have offered him or her for free. The second part of this point: be shareable. If you offer something of value, a consumer will innately want to share that with friends (so that they can be seen as valuable also). By building this feature into your app, you are creating the potential to make consumers your brand advocates.

Final thoughts: Apps are becoming increasingly ubiquitous. Last week Apple launched their app store for the Mac. Although the feature phone is still dominant in most parts of the world, the smartphone is rapidly increasing and may even take over feature phone in popularity this year. Soon enough almost everyone in the world with an internet connection will have the ability to download an app. With the hundreds of thousands of apps out there, you have to create a compelling enough reason for someone to download yours.

Christmas, Magic and Marketing

Not a lot of people believe in magic, but then again... not a lot of people know exactly what magic is. Having dabbled in the art myself, I can tell you that magic is a lot more than just sleight of hand routines and crafty Source: Google Imagesprop work. David Blaine in his book Mysterious Stranger, said that a magician is really an actor playing the role of a magician. A magician is someone who can make someone else believe in the unbelievable. According to Paul Harris (another legendary magician), magic is actually the art of astonishment.

The moment you witness something astonishing (like a great piece of magic), your conscious mind pauses for a second and actually considers whether or not to believe what just happened. It is in that one moment that you have experienced true magic. The reason I bring up the notion of experiencing true magic is because we are just starting to recover from the wonderful season of Christmas. A good way to know whether or not you have given the perfect gift is to watch the reaction on the receiver's face and judge whether he or she experiences that moment of magic.

Marketers can learn a lot from magic:

1. Delight with the unexpected - The one thing about a great piece of magic is that the ending is usually very hard to predict (unless of course it's a classic effect like sawing someone in half). An unexpected ending would generally leave the audience amazed and could easily create a long lasting moment of magic. Marketers should always try to deliver the unexpected. This is most readily applicable to the service industry, where a typical customer experience can be made magical by delivering something unexpected. E.g. A free upgrade to a first class seat for a single traveller.David Blaine (Source: Google Images)

2. Create something engaging - Another facet of a great piece of magic is that it will always keep the audience engaged (especially cynics who are watching every twitch of the magician's hands). Great marketing should do the same thing. Whether it be a 30-second spot or a below-the-fold display ad, the intended audience should be engaged enough to want to answer the call to action. 

3. Involve the audience - If the audience participates, they are made to believe that in some way shape or form that they actually have control over some part of the magical effect. This does two things: makes the effect more engaging and creates a stronger magical moment at the end. Most marketing is a one-way message to an audience and although some one-way messages can be engaging, most are not. The wonderful thing about social media is that it allows for an actual conversation (a two-way interaction as opposed to a one-way message). When you are creating a new piece of marketing, always think of how you can involve your audience.

Final thoughts: The art of marketing can easily be related to the art of magic. It should be the goal of any marketer (and any magician) to create a truly wonderful moment of magic and make it last as long as possible.

How can Groupon be a catalyst for loyalty?

Source: Google ImagesHypothetically, if there was an award for the company with the most potential in 2011... that award should go to Groupon. Groupon’s growth rate over the past year alone has been quite staggering and in many ways it’s only just beginning. Although the reasons for the Company’s rejection of Google’s mammoth offer are still a little hazy, I feel that Andrew Mason and his team believe they can be worth more in future.. a lot more. John Battelle recently wrote a brilliant blog post about the potential of Groupon and why they may in fact be bigger than Google one day.

The big question for digital marketers is this... how can Groupon (or other group-buying/coupon services) be strategically used to not only increase lead generation but ultimately to create loyal customers? In other words... how can Groupon be a catalyst for loyalty?

3 steps to loyalty:

1. Offer some tempting bait - If you decide to partner with Groupon, the deal you offer must be something customers are willing to buy. Here’s a thought... figure out the product/service your offer that has the greatest demand and offer that as a Groupon. Why? Because it will cause customers to walk into your store. Once you have them in store, you have already won half the battle. The principle of temptation works the same way in any scenario, whether it be an attractive member of the opposite sex or a well-valued Groupon... a tempting offer creates action.
2. Prepare your internal army - Once you have chosen the offer that is going to create action, the next important step is to inform every possible employee at your company that you are going to offer this deal... on this day. The reason behind this is simple: Groupon is giving you the chance to put on a show. Think of it like this... your company is like a small-time band trying to make it big. Groupon comes along and manages to secure you a well sized crowd. Your job is to then play so well, that the crowd yells for an encore.
3. Delight, delight, delight - The most exciting thing about Groupon is the amount of new customers it can draw for your business. When you offer a Groupon, expect customers to swarm in and be prepared to delight them in every way. I’m not saying that the day you offer a Groupon should be the only day you delight customers, but if you haven’t thought about delighting them in the past... offering a Groupon would be a great place to start. Customer delight is a long-term strategy and offering a Groupon could be the first step in that strategy.

Final thoughts: Planning (pick the bait), preparing (amp the army) and executing (delight everyone) are three fundamental steps in pretty much any theoretical business model. Add in research and post-execution analysis and you’ve essentially covered everything. Groupon has tremendous potential to help many companies, as a result... its opportunities for growth are currently plentiful. Marketers can utilize Groupon as a strategic catalyst for securing loyal customers. Forget the bait and switch... start the Groupon and delight.

The Chromium Disruption

Source: Google ImagesChristmas came early for Google fans this past week. There were a slew of very exciting announcements made by the Company including: updates to the Chrome browser, the next generation Nexus smartphone called the Nexus S and also the introduction of a new operating system aptly named Chrome OS. This final announcement is the one I took particular interest in and the purpose of this post is to explain why Chrome OS fits Clayton Christensen’s model of a disruptive innovation.

If you are not familiar with this very interesting new project by Google, the Company has set up a website for “The Chromium Project” and also has a amazingly simple overview video on YouTube. Additionally, if you are not familiar with the idea of a disruptive innovation, Professor Christensen’s website offers a fantastic summary of the key concept. Christensen wrote an article in the Spring 2002 issue of the Sloan Management Review called, “Foundations for Growth - How to identify and build disruptive new businesses” with two colleagues, Mark W. Johnson and Darrell K. Rigby. In this article the authors discuss two tests for an innovation that would disrupt the market from the low end. Here are the tests and Google’s answers to those tests:

1. Are prevailing products more than good enough? - If you haven’t already done so, I’d take 3 minutes to watch the YouTube video I mentioned earlier before reading on. The video explains how a lot of people who have computers use the browser application the most, compared to the variety of other applications they own. This begs a simple question... are our current operating systems more than good enough? Just think for a minute...when was the last time you used more than let’s say five applications on yourSource: Google Images computer? Perhaps if you a programmer or media developer of some sort then it is likely that you use many applications all the time. However, for the general population, Google’s argument is that a browser is really all you need. In some ways, I agree. If I can do everything in one application that I normally do using five applications... then why not switch? 
2. Can you create a different business model? - Although Google has not yet announced a pricing model for this new OS (combined with the new hardware that the OS will run on)... here is something to consider: What if, Google and its partners gave away the hardware for free and instead... charged money for additional software? Yes, I know, it is very drastic and probably unrealistic but still a very intriguing thought. Google is known for its advertising prowess, so could the Company introduce an ad-supported ... computer? If it does, it would certainly have created a different business model, at least in the computer hardware market. 

Final Thoughts - Google’s Chromium project has the potential to be a very disruptive force to industry incumbents Microsoft and Apple (the former being the bigger of the two in terms of OS market share). A lot of factors have yet to come into play, so only time will tell how disruptive Chrome OS will be but... if you look at what Android is doing in the mobile market... it may not be so hard to imagine what Chrome will do in the OS market.

Stop competing, start collaborating.

Source: Google ImagesThis past week certainly had its fair share of very interesting stories; however. most of them were overshadowed by the Google/Groupon saga. Although it’s very tempting to write about the tale of Google and Groupon, most of my thoughts this week centered around a very interesting move by Gowalla.

For a long time Gowalla’s presence was hidden underneath Foursquare’s rising success among well-known brands, even though Gowalla was around before Foursquare was. A couple of weeks ago, I read an engaging profile written by Fast Company about Josh Williams (Gowalla’s Co-Founder and CEO). The article provided me with a better understanding of the core purpose behind Gowalla’s existence. To quote directly from the article, “Josh Williams liked to travel, and explore, and he wanted others to embrace that same spirit--and what it means--in a social and sharable way.”

Source: Google ImagesAfter re-reading this article, it seems clear to me why Gowalla decided to incorporate itself with Foursquare and Facebook. The latter two companies have now become such essential social tools for digital consumers that it could only benefit anyone to collaborate with them. This was still a very bold move by Gowalla, the company essentially made the choice to stop competing and start collaborating. It is still yet to be decided what will become of this bold move, but I’m hoping that both Facebook and Foursquare (primarily the latter) will play along with the new rules of competition.

3 key takeaways from Gowalla’s move:

1. Put yourself in the consumer’s shoes - Forget trying to shape the behaviour of a consumer and instead, focus on changing your own behaviour to suit theirs. One of the keys to a disruptive technology is that it takes something consumers are already trying to do and makes it easier. Gowalla just potentially became a one stop shop. 
2. Target markets are not fixed - Human beings are complex. Even though some of us may be loyal toSource: Google Images certain brands in some respects, we may be very fluid between brands in others. Segmenting users especially when it comes to social technology can be dangerous, simply because everyone has an innate need to feel connected. If your brand is currently targeted... how can you collaborate with your competition to increase (or I should say blur) the span of your target market? 
3. Competition does not have to be a zero-sum game - In a zero-sum game, the customer always wins... so who in their right mind would want to work at a company that always loses? It’s easy to picture your consumer base as a large pie... you have a chunk and your competition has a chunk... each day you both try to take away more of the other’s share. What if you stopped and together decided to make the pie bigger? 

Final thoughts: Chief Insurgent in the new consumer revolution, Alex Bogusky was recently quoted saying, “collaboration is the new competition.” Josh Williams certainly seems to agree. In this age of hyper-competition, it may be more useful to shake hands, rather than throw punches.

10 Interesting Things that Happened in November

1. Facebook launched a new messaging service - Will this potentially change the way millennials communicate?

2. Myspace redesigns itself around 'social entertainment' - Is it too late? Or will this move make Myspace relevant again?

3. Zynga wants the world to be 'Dog Activated' - How much will social gaming extend beyond the Internet?

4. Alex Bogusky talks about 'the empowered consumer' - A fundamental power shift, in our favour. 

5. Facebook launches a mobile platform called 'Deals' - 500 million reasons why it could succeed. 

6. Conan returns - He's back in his true form. Long live Conaw. 

7. Samsung launches the Galaxy Tab in North America - A big threat to the iPad? You tell me. 

8. Microsoft launches the Kinect - Which recently overtook the iPad as the fastest selling consumer device ever, well done. 

9. Google launches a marketing experiment - Another step in online interaction, offline. 

10. Qwiki releases alpha invites - If you haven't tried this already, do so. It may change search. 

The Brick and Click Disconnect: A Story

For many retail stores across North America... this past weekend was one of the most important of the entire year. The combination of Black Friday, followed by Cyber Monday is one of the highest grossing periods of the year for any retailer. For many years, I haven’t really done much during this time, just looked around at a few deals here and there but never really taken advantage of anything out there. This year was different. I’d like to tell you about my experience with a certain retailer, who shall remain nameless. I will first tell you my story, then share some lessons I learned from it.

Source: Google ImagesMy story: I needed a new winter coat. Considering I live in Canada, this article of clothing is probably one of the most essential. I had been searching online since September for a good deal on a nice winter coat and finally on Thursday I came across a deal I couldn’t refuse. A certain retailer was offering 25% off an entire online order plus free shipping! 25% off an order seemed like a pretty nice deal to me, the only problem... I didn’t know what size I needed. Luckily for me, this retailer happened to have a physical store nearby to where I live. The online sale was a one-day only sale, so I decided to head over to the physical store to see if they had the coat (and to figure out my size).

I figured - before even entering the store - that if I found the coat I wanted, in the size I wanted... I would just pick it up in the store, because if the online store offered 25% off then obviously the physical store would do it too right? ... Wrong. I walked into the store... found my coat... and took a look at the price. It was literally twice the price that the online store was offering (mind you the online store had this one-day discount going). Now... who in their right mind would ever buy the coat (or anything else for that matter) from the physical store if they can get a much better deal online? In fact, I hung around the store for a while and observed that a lot of people were trying clothes on and simply walking out afterward.

Interestingly enough, I met a friend who happened to be working at the physical store. I asked her if she knew anything about what was going on and asked whether she noticed that a few more people than normal were trying things on and leaving. She said this was the case but she had no idea why. When I informed her about the online deal... the customer behavior seemed obvious. She told me she would’ve done the exact same thing. So I tried on my coat for size, went home and ordered it online. The online experience was flawless, but the overall disconnect between brick and click left me a little dumbfounded.

Two key lessons:

1. Customers aren’t fools: It would be naive of any company to think that customers do not search for their products online. Even if the company is seemingly selling a ‘commodity,’ there will still be a customer who searches online for this product. The process of online search may not necessarily be to purchase, it may only be for information gathering; however, it still happens. This being the case, any company that creates a disparity between an in-store price and online price is merely making the choice simpler for the smart customer. This causes a problem for companies: something has to suffer, in order for the other to succeed. In my case, it was the salespeople. 
2. Your salespeople are some of your greatest assets, treat them that way: Imagine this: the day before the massive sale, every salesperson gets notified and told of this amazing deal online and told to encourage customers to try on clothes and then make the purchase online. Or better yet, the deal applied to the physical store as well! This way, salespeople would have been motivated to sell more and become even stronger advocates of the brand, and if a customer didn’t find the right size, the salesperson would have simply directed him or her to the amazing deal online where the customer would have surely found his or her size. Instead, the disconnect between brick and click, demoralized sales staff and if they got paid on commission... it would have even caused them to lose money. 

Final thoughts: Online shopping is a disruptive reality that is facing many physical retailers today. It is absurd for retailers to create a disparity between online and physical because customers today aren’t fools, but worst of all salespeople may get neglected in the strategy. If you’re a retailer selling something in both worlds, ask yourself - how can I delight my customer, while at the same time keep my sales staff happy? You may find that answering the latter, will answer the former.