Marketing Home Products

Earlier this year, Google introduced Google Wallet, a revolutionary way to pay for items using Near Field Communication (NFC) to turn your smartphone into your wallet. But Google’s not the only one turning smartphones into something more powerful.

Blackberry announced that starting in 2012 several of its phones will be equipped with NFC technology similar to that used by doors that are unlocked by tapping cards to a card reader.

Image source: Geek.com

So instead of using a card to get into your apartment building or office, you’ll just need your smartphone. Blackberry says this will create an extra layer of security by allowing users to set a PIN on their phone that must be entered after the door has “scanned” their device. Preventing thieves from being able to access your home by stealing your card, they would now have to figure out your PIN, too.

There’s no word yet on whether other phone manufacturers will start adding similar features to future phone models, but with NFC technology already being explored by other manufacturers (again, think Google Wallet), it seems to be a logical progression of events. This could have major implications for both door and door lock manufacturers and security companies. If home security via smartphone is the way of the future, doors that come standard with this technology and integrate into the home’s security system could be a very real possibility. And why stop at the front door? Could we see security system keypads replaced by an NFC receiver? Or perhaps a security system that detects when an NFC-enabled device goes out of a home’s range and automatically arms the system? Smartphones already touch many parts of our lives, and soon they will change the way we think about home security.

As election season draws closer, candidates are eagerly throwing their hats into the ring in hopes of gaining early momentum and public confidence. Evident in the last national election cycle, social media plays a key role in political campaigns now. As more people spend more time on social networking sites and less time in front of traditional media, candidates are being forced to use new tactics to reach their constituents. This year, a new service from Facebook is changing the political game once again, and this change has an important implication for brands as well.

Bloomberg Businessweek recently spotlighted Michele Bachmann’s campaign as one of the first to take advantage of Facebook’s just-released advertising tools that the company is currently marketing to politicians. Rather than targeting ads based solely on demographic information, the new software allows candidates to tap into the mass amounts of information that Facebook regularly collects about its users including likes, interests, status updates and more. Using this information, campaigns are able to create ads tailored to very narrow and specific audiences, sometimes as small as a few dozen people. While the technology is still relatively new and solid metric results are yet to be seen, Bachmann’s campaign claims that “a significant portion of the people who pushed her over the top in Iowa…came as a result of the ad campaign.”

Facebook emphasizes that the purpose of the super targeted ads is not to simply increase the number of likes – it is to increase engagement with constituents.

“What I push with folks is that, while the fan count matters, how many people are interacting with it really matters. How many people are liking it, commenting on it, sharing it with their friends,” says Facebook’s Katie Harbath.

In politics, this means getting people to go vote and campaign for a candidate. However, measuring and monetizing the effect of these campaigns on true engagement is something no one can truly do yet. There is currently no way to know for sure whether these ads resulted in Bachmann’s Iowa win or whether they ignite any more engagement than Facebook Ads targeted solely on demographics.

But the ideas this new kind of advertising raises is important for brands to take note of because, most likely, Facebook will offer this technology to advertisers outside the political realm in the future. Namely, think about the following things.

• Do you know your customers well enough to target just a few dozen of them based on common interest?
• Do you have the time and skill to create effective ads for each niche of your target (a Bachmann campaign staffer said he designed more than 1,000 ads during a 45 day time period)?
• Do you know what the next step of engagement is beyond a “like” that you want to see from your customers?
• What can you be doing now to move beyond a simple like into true engagement?

How often do you use your smartphone in place of your computer to surf the Internet?  Smartphone technology is very well suited for those of us on the go. The common saying “there’s an app for that” may be more true than we might believe.  With a simple touch of the screen, we are able to gather information all over the web.  Companies are learning that the integration of mobile websites and apps can have a positive impact on business.  The goal of any successful mobile website or app is to create a pleasant experience for the customer, with one of the most important factors being easy navigation.

As technology advances at the pace of a freight train, it’s important that companies are able to keep up. The article “IKEA Rolls out iAd Campaign to Drive App Downloads” gives some insight into IKEA’s clever use of mobile apps.  The home furniture and accessories brand released its 2012 catalogue, which can now be viewed via a mobile app.  After clicking on the IKEA’s iAd, you are sent directly to the Apple App Store where the catalogue can then be downloaded for free.  The convenience and availability of mobile apps attracts customers and can therefore boost a company’s sales.

Target is also a big advocate on marketing through the use of mobile technology.  According to “Why Retailers Should Integrate Mobile Device Technology into Their Marketing Strategy,” Target uses a variety of mobile app strategies to attract customers.  If a customer is shopping at any Target store, he or she can use the barcode scanner on the Target mobile app to scan a product, which will result in detailed information about that product.  Both Target and IKEA are successful retailers that are taking necessary steps to expand their respective brands.  What other companies do you notice that are exercising smart mobile marketing campaigns?