How tech is helping shoppers trust marketing
By Jon Whiteaker - 05:26PM - Fri 28th October 2011
In 2004 Al and Laura Ries argued in their book ‘The fall of advertising and the rise of PR’ that customer trust in traditional adverts had fallen so far as to make them pointless for all but the most established firms.
They argued that people were often won over by well-run PR campaigns but when it came to simple brand advertising they were instantly sceptical of any message that was trying to be communicated.
Almost a decade later however the advertising industry is still going strong and commercials have if anything multiplied not disappeared from our TV and computer screens, but there is some truth in the assertion that communicating with customers on a personable level can be far more effective than blatantly selling to them.
This is what makes many of the new social media and technological marketing techniques so appealing to retailers and brands – they do not really seem like marketing and are therefore more trusted.
Nick Bennett, Managing Partner at Steel Advertising Agency, told Retail Gazette: “From a brands point of view they see these channels as a route to market, as advertising channels, however people using social media are there to connect, share opinions and find entertainment.
“It’s a share medium, which makes it interesting: people read a brand’s content as part of a conversation and not as advertising. This means customers will speak quite frankly about a product or the wider company, it gives them a voice.”
Getting friendly with customers through social media often allows a company to harvest consumer information, which in turn means retailers can offer more targeted personalised marketing in the future.
And evidence suggests that customers want to have this two-way conversation with traders, with a recent report from Nelson Research showing that 53 per cent of adults on social media follow a brand while only 32 per cent follow a celebrity.
Consumers are increasingly seeking out their favourite brands and retailers, and as Liz Backhouse, social media expert at hosting specialist UKFast, argues: “Whether you are on it or not, people will talk about you.
“I had a bad experience with a company recently and I went on Twitter to tell other people how useless that company was. Because this company wasn’t on there, they couldn’t handle my complaint.
“Things can get out of hand because they’re not on there to respond. You can’t control a conversation if you’re not part of it. Your consumers will be talking on social media with or without you.”
Not all of this social twittering can be positive though and companies will obviously be keen to see a return on the time and money spent on these mediums.
Firms also need to be careful not to repeat the now infamous example of a marketing disaster, when soft drink brand Dr Pepper inadvertently posted a reference to a notorious porn video on a adolescent girl’s Facebook page last year.
This error came about through a non-direct marketing campaign, meant as a bit of fun where people wrote embarrassing comments on profiles for the chance to win money, but it of course ended up causing a lot of damage to the company’s reputation when the mistake was made public.
Although this promotion ended badly the sense of entertainment in many modern marketing campaigns is the key to their success, with the customer believing that they are getting something (a deal, a game, information) for nothing.
QR codes have this appeal as an interactive medium, people will interact with a deal or an advert just because they get to use their smartphone to do it, the same rule applies to other technologies like augmented reality.
Daniel Pattison, Group Sales Director for point-of-sale specialists Augustus Martin, commented: “QR Codes have also given an alternative to mobile marketing by providing a way for the consumer to engage with a promotion or competition for free.
“By scanning a code using a free app, the user can then be sent a text message confirming their entry to a competition, and more importantly, their mobile phone number is also stored on a marketing database from which a retailer or brand can choose from at a later date.”
Speed and convenience are the keys to the new retail experience and once near-field communication technology is incorporated into the next generation of phones, all of the new mobile offerings will be made even more compelling for shoppers.
Bennett believes consumers are set to become even more interactive with brands in the next year with mobiles and location-based promotion becoming increasingly popular but he warns that retailers should ensure that they do not pursue new technologies just for the sake of seeming cutting edge.
“Technologies, the platforms and widgets, are advancing at such a pace but they should be made to fit a good idea or strategy rather than the other way around.
“Sometimes there is a kneejerk chasing of the latest Facebook capability, instead companies should concentrate on getting the campaign right before cautiously choosing the technology to deliver it.”