The purpose of this column is to help you grow your business successfully during these turbulent economic times. Using technology-based solutions for marketing, business and economic development this column will provide insight and perspective for readers. It will explore cost-effective (and sometimes no-cost) strategies and tactics to address the growth challenges facing most businesses today.

This article is titled ‘Business 3.0′ because we’re going to explore next-generation strategies and tactics that you can implement easily for your business. Solutions and tools that will help you increase brand awareness, engage consumers, drive traffic and convert customers. Many of these methods you won’t find at today’s ad agencies or marketing firms. Some of them, you have probably not heard of. But, they’re out there, helping other businesses grow. Now, you’ll be able to use them to grow your business, too.

Though, in today’s hyper-competitive marketplace, standing out from the crowd in a sea of messages, advertisements and brand names is more difficult now than it has been at previous times in the past.

With the explosion in new media platforms and advertising/marketing channels comes the related prolific and duplicitous messaging now seen in the marketplace. In fact, by some estimates, today’s consumer receives over 5,000 advertising messages in one form or another, each day. 5,000! This doesn’t even factor-in that 30%of all Internet activity is now taking place on mobile devices.

Obviously, this sea of messaging is of little practical business value and even serves to build more resistance and less confidence from consumers. This, consequently, increases the duration and efforts of business development initiatives.

Especially in today’s marketplace where there are more ways than ever to disseminate information, it’s more difficult, than at previous times, to “get the message through.”

Yet, the ways and means consumers use to look for, consider, and ultimately purchase goods and services from your business are changing right now. Traditional methods are quickly being replaced with more efficient, more engaging and more extensible ways of messaging that connect with consumers.

While the basic tenets of reaching consumers hearts and minds has largely remained the same, the multitude of channels by which to reach them has mushroomed this last decade: where we now have print, radio, web, hand-held devices, video games and a myriad of other platforms by which to reach consumers of every imaginable demographic.

Enter <Generation We>: The way marketers and advertisers communicate with consumers has changed forever.

This shift from <I> to <We> is an important change for our society. It redefines the opinions, beliefs and actions of consumers. With evolutionary change like this, new, improved and different methods of messaging and communicating with the marketplace – with consumers – are born of necessity.

Essentially, the market is moving from a “push” style of messaging to a “pull” style of messaging. Where “push” messaging takes the form of print adverts, email and direct mail, cold-calling, etc; “pull” messaging includes tactics like search engine marketing, digital press releases, mobile phone applications and more. “Pull” messaging is widely considered to be more effective and less expensive than the more traditional “push” efforts.

As we stand at the dawn of a new era in economics, social awareness and environmentalism, we must recognize the shifts within the hearts and minds of the public – and how the dynamics of the marketplace have changed the face of the consumer from <I> to <We>.

Knowing which of these tools, media channels, micro-actions and strategies to apply accordingly is why this column is important to you. Each issue, I will introduce you to easy-to-implement digital business solutions that will help you expand your reach and connect with consumers in engaging and compelling ways that will help you grow your bottom-line.

Next time; Performance Art: Embedding and Distributing Your Message via Real-World Linking. I’ll show you how to link a piece of paper, or clothing, or flyer to an Internet site or other destination on the web.

When most people think ‘search engine marketing,’ they generally think of the big three search engines: Google, Yahoo and Bing. Up until recently, if you were interested in Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, your ad dollars would likely flow to these companies exclusively. And yet, were you aware that Facebook offers PPC advertising as well? And did you know that because Facebook can draw upon massive amounts of personal user data, Facebook PPC campaigns can be extremely targeted?

Consider this: Facebook has nearly doubled its user base from a year ago and now has approximately 500 million total users. Additionally, Facebook has a mound of personal data on each of those users. How old are they? What are their political affiliations? Who are they friends with? What sort of music do they like? And that just barely scratches the surface.

When you launch a PPC ad campaign on Facebook, you can target your ad with amazing precision based upon this rich user data. While Facebook ads have much the same layout as the big three search engines do (title, ad body text), they do allow a small image to be included with your ad. The key differences don’t end there however, as you can target individuals by age, sex, sexual preference, relationship status, languages spoken, likes and interests, education and work, and the list goes on.

Unlike the major search engines, Facebook knows who and what you’re connected to. You can take Facebook ad targeting another leap farther, by targeting users who are connected to a page, event, group or application. Or you can target users who are not already connected to one of these items. And this is the big one: you can target users whose friends are connected to a particular Facebook element. For example, if your company has a Facebook “fan” page set-up and you’ve managed to attract a nice base of users who are connected to your page, you could start an ad campaign that targets the friends of users who already like your company or organization, but are not yet fans of your particular brand.

The mind reels with the possibilities here, because Facebook allows you to leverage that huge depth of knowledge it collects about its users every day. Each time a Facebook user friends someone, or become a fan of something, or each time they indicate they’re attending an event, or tell Facebook something key about themselves, these users position themselves more and more to be better targeted by companies and organizations that know they’re a good fit for their particular product or service.

So how does Facebook fit with your overall marketing strategy? Can you devote even a relatively small budget to this massive social network? If you can, you need to consider this alternative to traditional search engine marketing. Advertising on Facebook, puts you, your company, or your organization in front of users whose demographics can be carefully selected, targeting them where they work, play and interact with their friends and associates. And frankly, that’s something much too powerful to ignore.

More services than ever are being made available on Smartphone’s; from access to maps, direction and news, to weather and traffic alerts - which means you can stay on top of everything while you’re on the go and right in the palm of your hand!

Smartphones, like the Android, iPhone, Palm and Blackberry make it easy to connect to the internet, email, share data, manage your personal and work calendars, and even connect with friends socially.  With Apps like Voice Search, IM, Skype, and eOffice tools, one can turn their Smartphone into a mini-office on the go.

With the popularity of Smartphones on the rise; it’s necessary to evaluate your mobile web presence.  Last year, according to ABI Research,  close to  $1 billion dollars in trade occurred using Smartphones and in 2010, that number is expected to double. In their “Mobile InsightNorms” analysis through the 4th Quarter 2009 InsightExpress found that, when it comes to brand awareness, reach and purchase intent, mobile is a 4 to 5 times more effective ad medium, than online: Citing that “low levels of clutter” likely increase the brand impact.

There isn’t much debate that mobile browsing is the future of the Web - or at least a large part of it.  Internet use on mobile phones is growing rapidly and with the introduction of new devices, from Smartphones to the iPad, that trend is only going to speed up. These days, the vast majority of sites on the Web do not have mobile-friendly versions;  but with Smartphone technology growing leaps and bounds, and usage skyrocketing, you may be limiting your business and exposure by not having mobile-friendly webpages.

Our last article discussed exploring next-generation strategies and tactics that you can implement easily for your business. I specifically spoke about the importance of “pull” vs “push” marketing and of solutions and tools that will help you increase brand awareness, engage consumers, drive traffic and convert the customers of “Generation We” for your business.

These tools are more efficient, more engaging and more extensible ways of messaging that connect with consumers.

Extensible is an important word here because it speaks to the ways that information can be propagated and reused in different platforms. With today’s smartphone-equipped, always-connected consumer, messaging and design both need to be extensible; more so than in the past.

Often, certain technology-based business development ideas are created and become a fundamental platform by which to reach consumers. Consumers are attracted to and adopt these ideas and platforms, not only because of novelty, but also because it engages them, or otherwise serves a basic purpose.

One such example that serves as a fundamental and extensible platform for marketing, customer engagement and business development tactics that is gaining a lot of adoption among businesses and consumers is the 2-D code.

I want to show you something:

These are what you might call, in today’s terms, the “advertisements” of tomorrow. Futuristic right?

Yet, they’re not really advertisements at all. They’re more akin to art that performs.

It’s called a 2-D code and here is how it works:

Basically, within the graphic above is an embedded URL, phone number, email message or other data.

You need a 2-D code reader to “use” the code which then links directly to a website, other destination on the Internet, or displays a telephone number, text message, or email.

Most smartphones have this feature already integrated with their camera function. If your smartphone doesn’t have an integrated 2-D code reader, you can get one free at BeeTagg.com and many other places.

Simply install and start BeeTagg (or your smartphone camera with integrated code reader), and center your lens on one of the square images above to take a snap shot of it. Then you’ll see where you end up.

This entire process is known as “real-world linking” because it links from real-world objects (like printed materials) onto the Internet.

Indeed, there are real-world practical uses for this, too.

Imagine restaurants displaying 2-D codes on their windows for passers-by. Potential customers will simply snap a shot of the 2-D code and be taken directly to a mobile version of the menu, for example.

Think about how museums, art galleries and artists can add depth, detail and a more interactive experience to their venues by using 2-D codes linked to audio and narrative files.

Realtors will use 2-D codes to enable prospective tenants and buyers to instantly learn more about the property or location.

Using 2-D codes, trade show exhibitors can add depth and dimension to their exhibits even long after the trade or event is over.

Even business districts will use 2-D codes to provide information and help draw attention and customers to their district destinations.

Embedding your message within an engaging experience, like 2-D codes, is a fundamental tactic in cutting through thru the advertising noise, attracting attention and connecting with consumers.

2-D codes have many unique applications and help in creating an engaging experience that your customers will remember and share with their friends.

How do you see 2-D codes being used in your business or economic development efforts?

My next article will discuss a very hot topic called proximity based marketing. This is about creating a geographic boundary around your business which allows you to automatically communicate with prospects and customers who walk or drive past your virtual perimeter. It’s called geofencing.

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