If you have been following manufacturing news lately, you probably have become familiar with the word “reshoring” indicating that U.S. manufacturing companies are moving overseas production back onto national soil. Different reports have cited the increased cost of international labor, unfavorable currency exchange rates and decreased product quality as reasons for reshoring, but rarely is a number given for exactly how much money companies are saving by moving their production back to America.
Category: Clients
INSTAGRAM AND PINTEREST: 6 WAYS TO TACKLE SOCIAL THROUGH MOBILE
Originally posted on Digby’s The Mobile Retail Blog
The last couple of years have been pivotal for brands’ social media capabilities. Social media has grown beyond the 140-character, text-only limit and has blossomed into media-rich social communities. There is a burgeoning opportunity for brands to take advantage of social media in new ways to garner more brand interest, loyalty and participation.
About four years ago, Twitter was dominating the media waves with thousands of experts and bloggers sharing advice on how brands and companies could harness this new social technology. Now, media-rich platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram are the social media darlings, and Facebook continues to release innovative new capabilities for companies hoping to connect with their social customers. Some brands are making promising headway into social and mobile integration, and soon, they’ll be paving the way for many other brands. For companies contemplating dipping a foot in—or diving in completely—there are a number of practices to start now.
1. Incorporate merchandise photos on an Instagram brand page.
Instagram is a popular new photo sharing mobile app, where users can upload or take photos, edit them using preloaded photo themes and share with the community and their friends. Brands with photogenic merchandise should get on Instagram now. Companies should upload in-store photos of products or events, product shots, magazine spots and any other brand-worthy photos to Instagram, and tag them with key words and location to drive traffic to local stores. Puma (11,000+ followers) is doing a great job of sharing not only product shots, but lifestyle shots, with a friendly mobile fan base.
2. Add “lookbooks” to Pinterest.
Officially launched in 2010 as an invite-only beta trial, Pinterest has become the fastest growing and third most popular social network, behind only Facebook and Twitter. This virtual pin board allows users to upload photos from the web, add a description, organize by topic (or pin board) and share with their followers. Because every pin is credited back to the online source, many brands have experienced increases in site visits and sales from Pinterest traffic. A PriceGrabber.com study showed that 21 percent of Pinterest users had made a purchase directly from Pinterest.com. Companies could easily create boards that serve as lookbooks for their merchandise. One of my favorite brands to follow on Pinterest is Michael Kors, and his board, “Style Tips” is a good example of a brand sharing a product-inspired lookbook. A recommendation for Mr. Kors would be to link the photo back to the e-commerce product page or include the link in the description.
3. Allow customers to create and share Pinterest boards as a part of a community action.
Earlier this year, The Paper Source, an arts and crafts store, encouraged their customers to create a board inspired by a craft project using pins from Paper-Source.com as a part of a competition. The chosen winner of the most creative board would receive a large discount on all supplies needed to complete the project. It would be awesome to see a company run an in-store mobile contest where customers could create Pinterest boards on their phones or tablets by scanning product QR codes and adding them to the boards. Continue reading
SecureNet Plans Austin Tech Center, Creating 200 Jobs
SecureNet Payment Systems, a Maryland-based company that develops payment-processing technology, says it is establishing a technology and innovation center in Austin that could employ 200 people in the next year. CEO Brent Warrington, who lives in Austin, said the company will relocate some workers from its headquarters in Rockville, Md., but primarily will hire locally to fill a range of technical and non-technical jobs.
Best Ways to Combat Showrooming Trend (CrossView)
The most powerful way to stop showrooming is to allow customers to order online and pickup in-store. 70 percent of the top 10 retailers provide in-store pick up for e-commerce orders; however, only, 26% of the remaining retailers provided in-store pick as an option. After writing about Amazon and how Main Street USA businesses can compete, I received a message about a study from CrossView, a cross-channel commerce solutions and retail technology provider.
Are consumers buying from window displays vs. going in-store?
With retailers, brands and marketers using mobile in their marketing mix, the medium has undoubtedly changed the ways that consumers shop, specifically with merchandising and store displays. Mobile bar codes, SMS calls-to-action and augmented reality in window displays have shifted how consumers buy things online.
OFA Distribution Updates to OpenFabrics Software (OFS)
With these changes by the OFA, the OpenFabrics RDMA Software, also known as OFED, is moving into the mainstream Linux kernel and into the distribution’s user space environments,” said Doug Ledford, lead engineer for RDMA technologies, Red Hat, Inc. “This will eliminate the need for users to download a separate OFS stack to put on top of their operating system of choice, increase the quality and ubiquity of RDMA stacks across all Linux distributions, and help the role of OFS move from being an add‐on item to an integral part of the core RDMA provider in every Linux operating system.”
Pricing Transparency
Nordstrom recently announced adjustments to its loyalty program; frequent shoppers are eligible for perks like custom shopping parties, in-store fashion shows and as much as $100 in complimentary alterations.Barnes & Noble unveiled temporary price cuts to its Nook tablets and e-readers for shoppers who buy either People magazine or New York Times Nook subscriptions. And Safeway, Kroger and Stop & Shop are hoping to offset rising food prices by providing gasoline discounts to their rewards members and personalized savings for loyal shoppers.
Startup goes for restaurants
Ten years after starting development, Adam Christopher is launching what could be a Swiss Army knife of restaurant management software. Austin-based RestaurantConnect Inc. is launching software that plans to go beyond conventional online restaurant reservation systems. The idea is to give restaurant owners a suite of Web-based applications that are a fraction of the cost of those offered by gastronomy Goliath OpenTable Inc.
Geofencing: Can Texting Save Stores?
Retailers are trying to make smartphones work for them instead of against them. Take Maurices. The women’s clothing chain last month started sending promotions to the phones of people who come within a few hundred yards of its stores. Consumers who opt in to the service are sent messages about in-store sales. There is little evidence that sort of marketing actually works, but Maurices wants to give it a shot, in hopes of drawing people to the chain’s bricks and mortar locations.
When I Grow Up I Want To Be…
I’m not going to lie. Sometimes my job is hard. In fact, it can be downright frustrating and still causes me to shed a few tears now and then. Twelve years working in public relations has taught me to have thick skin and to keep pushing forward when things get tough, but I still have days when I can’t wait to get home and pour myself a tall glass (or two) of my favorite white wine. And I’m not the only one who feels this way, either. According to The Huffington Post, public relations is ranked one of the top ten most stressful jobs in America, right alongside our friends in advertising, commercial pilots, architects and EMTs. PR executives must consistently prove our worth to clients, for fear if we don’t, we’ll get the boot. (We must also be perfect spokespersons and pitchers for the media, for fear of being “that PR person” – but that is another topic all together!)
We must educate clients who don’t understand that it is not always about how many clips you get, but also includes the importance of developing and nurturing relationships with media, analysts and industry though leaders. We must be all things to our clients: spokespersons, advisors, cheerleaders, editors, trainers, devil’s advocates, educators, writers, lead generators, pitchers, networkers, brand ambassadors, sometimes psychologists, travel companions, and dare I say, friends.
So, imagine my surprise when I read a CNBC report about the Top 10 Hated Jobs in America (as surveyed by CareerBliss). Public relations was nowhere to be found on the list, instead, it was marketing managers and VPs of sales and marketing. According to the survey, directors of sales and marketing (who typically manages the company budget, public relations and employee training) reported the second-highest level of job dissatisfaction due to “lack of direction from upper management and an absence of room for growth.”
I’ve been working in the PR agency world for my entire career, so I am not naïve to think that marketing managers and directors have it easy. I know they don’t.
Austin
