Marketing

Gibu Thomas, head of mobile for Walmart, says the concept of “smart shopping” will be driven by mobile technology. “The future of retail is the history of retailing,” Thomas said during a keynote address at the CTIA Wireless trade show today. “It’s about a personalized experience for each shopper delivered through the smartphone.” Thomas explained Wednesday that half the base of Walmart customers now own smartphones. For the age 35 and under crowd of Walmart shoppers, the smartphone penetration rate is approximately 75%. Critics fear that Walmart, like many other retailers, will see their sales erode as more people shop online and from their phones. But Thomas believes that mobile-influenced sales in stores will soar to nearly $700 billion, double the market opportunity for e-commerce. “Adoption is not a problem,” Thomas said, according to CNET, which reported that smartphone-carrying Walmart customers “make four more trips and spend 77 percent more in stores each month.” As of this writing, mobile access drives a third of the traffic on Walmart.com. Why? Because, according to Thomas, the company is actively working toward its goal “to create shopping tools that become second nature to customers.”

Americans are some of the most entrepreneurial citizens in the world. But is this a good thing?The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a yearly report funded by Babson College, concluded Wednesday that Americans are more bullish than ever about starting a business--even if their entrepreneurial ambitions will never materialize into the profitable business they believe it will become.So does their entrepreneurial optimism actually lead to starting businesses?According to the report--yes. But are those businesses successful? That's harder to prove.In 2012, about 43 percent of Americans "believed there were good opportunities for entrepreneurship around them." A year earlier, that figure was around 23 percent.The study also looked at several other innovation-driven economies, and researchers noticed a curious cultural discrepancy: While perceptions of entrepreneurship jumped in the United States from 2011 to 2012, they generally languished almost everywhere else. "This assessment of attitudes suggests that Americans see entrepreneurial opportunities in light of current economic conditions, but assess their own abilities as distinct from external shifts," the authors note. In 2012, the Total Entrepreneurial Activity--a measure of entrepreneurial intentions--rose to nearly 13 percent, up from 7 percent in 2009. Of course, the recession had largely influenced those numbers, but again, Americans displayed more entrepreneurial activity than other countries surveyed.Part of it has to do with the relative level of opportunities elsewhere. The authors speculate that in wealthy, well-developed countries, where job protection and security are rooted in the economic landscape, there's less incentive to pursue entrepreneurship.Still, that doesn't fully explain why the U.S. would rank so highly for would-be entrepreneurs. Perhaps it's a cultural phenomenon: The digital generation has grown up entrepreneurial, a fact reflected in the boom in entrepreneurship among young people. Additionally, amid the economic cycle of the previous years, the data indicate that the appeal of entrepreneurship has returned to the United States earlier than in many innovation-driven economies.Now, of course, comes the question of whether or not these soon-to-be entrepreneurs will launch successful, job-creating, revenue-generating businesses. Start-up failure rates are notoriously difficult to measure, but Wednesday's report highlights a growing problem for America's future entrepreneurs: Access to financing.It's worth noting, too, that the lion's share of funding for new ventures comes from personal savings and loans from friends and family. About 73 percent of all financing comes from an entrepreneur's own bank account--less than two percent comes from venture capital. So while the report generally highlights a positive trend, there will be obstacles to overcome.

Pandora and Facebook are doing bigger business together for the purpose of giving social media junkies new personalized music sharing and listening options. The leading internet radio service announced Tuesday that it is making it easier than ever for millions of registered users to discover and share the music they love with friends. It’s all made possible through a new Timeline App on Facebook. The enhanced sharing capability makes the Pandora social experience even more personalized by allowing listeners on both mobile and web to automatically publish their music activity to their Facebook Timeline and curate their musical identity within the Music section for timeline. “Music is a central part of many people’s lives and at Pandora we recognize that it can be both an intensely personal experience and a highly social experience,” explains Pandora Chief Technology Officer and EVP of Product, Tom Conrad. “For those who want to share, Pandora’s new timeline app serves as another platform for music exposure and discovery, which benefits listeners, artists and advertisers. With Facebook’s recent addition of the Music section for timeline, we’re now offering personalized social sharing experiences for every type of listener.”

During the month of May, my marketing company – Marketing Resources & Results – is profiled by the State of Ohio. The state is focusing on successful women owned businesses this month. I’m honored that my company was one of the businesses selected to be profiled. So, how did we get selected? Just like so many things in business, we were prepared and kept our eyes open for opportunity! Are you prepared to market your company? Do you have your summary statement? 4 photos that represent the business? Do you know where to look for an online directory that makes sense for your business? The state of Ohio takes submissions for their directory of businesses. Besides the state level, there are lots of potential directories that may be interested in profiling your business: Yelp, DMOZ, City-Data, Thomas Register, and more. It’s important to use only legitimate directories, not link farms that charge you for listing your domain. I’m assuming you know why it is important to have online visibilty for your company. If you’re not seen on line, in many cases, your business simply doesn’t exist. So, where do you have your company profiled? Share the link below in comments.

Forbes magazine released their annual list of the world's 100 most power women

Let's call the 'Millennials' the Entrepreneur Generation' and learn to manage the valuable characteristics that set them apart.My neighbor Adam is a so-called Millennial. That means, according to those who follow pop culture today, that he is between the ages of 19 and 30. (He's 21.) Adam will be entering his senior year of college in September at Penn State. He was born the same year that Bill Clinton was elected president. He never knew Michael Keaton as Batman and he's never heard of Murphy Brown. He grew up watching Rugrats on Nickelodeon and Arthur on PBS. He has always had a cell phone and can't imagine a world without the Internet. Growing up, he only had to deal with 150 Pokemon characters (compared to 600 today).Adam and his friends are different than my generation. (For the record, I'm in a demographic called "Generation X," which I think sounds a lot cooler.) If you're running a business you had better be prepared. Because over the next few years this completely new generation of people like Adam are going to be entering the workforce. In fact, they've already started to arrive.Last week I read a survey from oDesk and consulting-firm Millennial Branding that polled almost 3,200 workers (2,000 of them called themselves Millennials). Turns out, 72 percent of the people who responded to the survey and who are still at "regular" jobs said they wanted to be entirely independent, and 89 percent said that they prefer to "work where they choose." Fifty-eight percent identified themselves as "entrepreneurs."Let's Rename ThemTo me, this says Adam is more part of the "Entrepreneur Generation" than any "Millennial" group. I don't mean that Adam will one day own his own business or risk everything on a start-up. He may never become rich, invent the next Facebook, or come up with something like Bang With Friends (and for that you should be grateful). But he, like most in his generation, has been raised to be more entrepreneurial than my generation. And if you're going to be a smart employer, you need to recognize this now because this generation is entering the workplace with different expectations and needs than anyone before. Can I make generalizations for an entire generation? Yes, yes I can. In fact, I see five things that set them apart:Mobility Adam has a smartphone. He has an iPad. He also has a laptop. These tools are inexpensive and common. He's been using these things since high school and can't imagine not having them around. Not only that, he can't imagine not having information wherever her goes. He grew up in a cloud-based world. He turns on a device and up comes data, be it from Facebook, YouTube, Google, or Twitter. (I didn't say it was meaningful data, OK?) He will have the same expectations in the workplace. He'll assume he can do his work from anywhere and any time he wants. He will expect to be able to move around the office, leave the office, just stay away from the office, as long as he gets his work done. He'll get frustrated if he can't collaborate instantly with others like he's been doing since the 10th grade. Are you ready to accommodate needs like these?WorldlinessAdam and his friends are more in-tune to the world than any generation before them. They are used to seeing almost real-time videos of revolutions, war, natural disasters, and Russians doing daredevil acts on YouTube. Adam has flown to far off places and cruised the Caribbean. He has not had to battle Germans or bomb the Japanese. He chats with opponents from the Middle East on his Xbox and plays Mafia Wars with other students in Malaysia. He has watched his country transform from a dominant super power to one of many equally-important players in geo-political events. He has witnessed the rise of China and the fall of dictatorships. He will expect that your company has customers around the world and is willing to do business wherever opportunities lie. Is that true?ToleranceAdam has a cool tattoo on his arm and wears a small earring. And y

Above Image: Headcount of social business (circled in orange) slightly decreases before large growth. Social Business Headcounts Change as Programs Mature Like the calm before the storm, your social business headcount is likely to decrease 10-20% before it radically expands.  Altimeter found through two independent surveys to enterprise class (Companies with over 1000 employees) survey respondents in different years that they both have a drop off in headcount at year 2-4.  We’ve survey corporations both in 2010, as well as in Q4 2012 to find out how social business programs are structured.  Much of the research was recently published in the report, the Evolution of Social Business.  So why this change? After experimentation, unchecked programs get sanitized as a central body takes control.  Many companies I’ve seen inside of have often experimental programs occurring for the first 1-3 years.  Labeled skunkworks, rogue, or sandbox programs, this “wild west” grows out of control, sometimes causing stress or resulting in a social media crises.  Often corporate communications, marketing, blessed by an executive sponsor seeks to wrangle control of these programs, by anointing a working team to build a strategy.  In short, the wild wild west moves from unchecked teams in outposts to a new centralized model. A core team consolidates, finds efficiencies in a hub and spoke model.   We often see companies emerge in a hub and spoke model, where a core team is serving the rest of the company in a coordinated fashion.  This leader, the Corporate Social Strategist, leads the charge, often reducing excess headcount deploying social and along with it, rogue efforts.  Interestingly, the data shows this happening in the 2010 early market at year 3-4.  Yet fast forward two years to 2012 and we see the consolidation happen much earlier, in years 2-3, as companies have gotten wiser from their peers. Explosive growth occurs as team scales in “dandelion”, multiple hub and spoke model.  After the consolidation occurs in both program strategy and the headcount as illustrated in the above diagram, companies see explosive growth as the company “gets the social religion”.  If the core team has structured their program up for scale, they will have invested in social readiness, as well as have a strategy to avoid massive proliferation. Social business follows a cycle expansion, contraction, then explosion before maturity. Two data distinct data sets helped to tell this story. Expect to see social business programs hit maturity to consistently spread across the enterprise in a safe manner after 5-6 years with proper care and planning. Watch the patterns in your company, after rapid consolidation and program efficiency occurs, be prepared for radical growth as the rest of the enterprise business groups start to adopt social, including their own social leaders in business lines, departments, geographies and product units.

John Paul DeJoria manages multiple companies--all without using email.When John PaulDeJoria and Paul Mitchell launched John Paul Mitchell Systems in 1980, they went door to door pitching their shampoos and conditioners to Los Angeles salons. Mitchell died in 1989, leaving DeJoria head of the company, which now sells more than 100 products in salons in 87 countries. But DeJoria, 63, does way more than hair care. In 1989, he and Martin Crowley co-founded Patrón Spirits, which sells more than two million cases of tequila a year. DeJoria also owns many other companies, including pet care line John Paul Pet and jeweler DeJoria Diamonds. Though DeJoria's empire has grown, he still values door-to-door visits. He spends a lot of his time meeting with the salon owners and distributors. But these days, he uses a private jet to get there. As told by Liz Welch. Photographs by Jeff Wilson. I work at home in Austin, but I spend a lot of my time traveling--about two weeks out of every month. I visit Paul Mitchell's headquarters in Los Angeles once a month, and I go to Patrón's headquarters in Zurich four to five times a year. I also travel a lot to meet with distributors and salon owners, to do press interviews, and to attend openings of Paul Mitchell schools.I could not do what I do without a private jet. I travel to at least 20 states a year, sometimes leaving in the morning and returning at night. I save so much time not having to deal with checking in and customs. Plus, I haven't had a cold in 20 years.I don't use email or a computer. I would be so inundated that I wouldn't be able to get any work done. Instead, I do everything in person or on the phone. I have a phone book that's 15 years old and filled with whiteout and rewrites. I carry that everywhere.I chose to live in Austin because Eloise, my wife, is from Texas, and it was a great place to raise my youngest son, John Anthony, who is now 16. Plus, I can get to South America or the East Coast two hours faster from Austin than from Los Angeles.I usually get up between 7 and 8 a.m. Whether I'm home in Austin or I'm in another part of the world, I like to spend the first five minutes of the day lying in bed and--I just am. I just try to be here and now. I find it helps me be more peaceful.After a light breakfast, I head to my home office, which is separate from the house. There I have a desk, an exercise ball that I use as a chair, a phone, and a fax machine. The headquarters for Paul Mitchell and Patrón each have a fax machine for one purpose: communicating with me.I don't use email or a computer. I would be so inundated that I wouldn't be able to get any work done. Instead, I do everything in person or on the phone. I have a phone book that's 15 years old and filled with whiteout and rewrites. I carry that everywhere.I have three assistants. Kelly Sellers is my executive assistant, and she works out of our home. She's amazing. She went to high school with my wife and has been with us for 12 years. I also have an assistant at Paul Mitchell and one at Patrón.Every morning, Kelly gives me a list of all the calls I need to make that day. There are about 10 companies that require my time. Paul Mitchell takes the most time. I talk to someone there at least once a day. And talk to someone at Patrón several times a week. I also own several water companies and a brewery in Germany that I touch base with regularly. My presidents are much smarter than I am. That's a prerequisite.I could go insane if I obsessed over every little detail of all of my companies. My management philosophy is to pay attention to the vital few and ignore the trivial many. For instance, with Paul Mitchell, I want to know how the schools are doing, how the manufacturing is going, how sales are doing, what new products we're launching, what our main advertising campaign is, and if my people are happy. The other little details are just trivia.I don't micromanage, but I do care deeply abo

The 2013 Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report was just released. The report offers important lessons for startups and small business. Apple is once again listed as the most valuable global brand, with Google, IBM, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola rounding out the top five. We’ve previously written about important lessons small businesses and startups can learn from the world’s best Brands. If you want to review our prior posts, read What Small Businesses Can Learn From The World’s Best Brands, Branding Secrets of the World’s Best Brands, and What Can You Learn From The World’s Best Brands. Here are 10 key highlights from the BrandZ 2013 report (and the important lessons for small businesses and startups): 1) It’s not enough anymore to release new products and services. There are many products and services in the marketplace and a lot of noise. Smart brands attempt to be omnipresent and useful to their customers. The best brands deliver great value. 2) The distinction between consumers’ personal, social and business roles is eroding. We often occupy all of those roles simultaneously and as a result, it’s becoming more difficult for many brands to market to their customers. Branding is important, and it’s too easy to make a branding mistake that can cripple your small business. 3) Location is no longer relevant. Smaller brands can effectively compete with bigger brands because you can reach the consumer anywhere, physically or virtually. But you must have a web presence to reach consumers virtually. 4) Brands that are meaningfully different tend to be more successful. Consumers are looking for “a bit more” from most brands – not just the products and services they purchased. This is an opportunity for smaller brands to deliver great value and personalize products, services, and communications with their customers. 5) Customers are looking for a flawless experience from all brands and typically have little patience when the experience is less than perfect. Years ago, certain industries could offer a poor customer experience and customers would tolerate that poor experience because there were few options for customers. This is no longer true. There are numerous options for nearly all customers, and poor experience is a sure way for a brand or a small business to lose customers and go out of business. 6) Content marketing is important. Brands are producing their own content and telling their own stories. It’s no longer enough to rely on the media to help brands grow. This means that smaller companies will need to keep up and finds ways to create useful, unique content. Brands with “personalities” tend to do better. 7) Brand reputation is becoming even more important today. Recommendations from friends and colleagues can make or break a brand. 8) To accelerate growth, it’s important to be present in rapidly growing markets. 9) The middle is getting squeezed. Brands at the premium and low price ends of the spectrum present consumers with a clear choice. Everyone in the middle is being left behind. If you’re not at the premium or low end of pricing in your market, you have a greater need to communicate a clear value proposition to your customers. 10) Companies that listen to their customers in social media and engage in collaborative conversations tend to be more successful than companies that ignore consumers. What other advice would you offer small businesses and startups building their own brands? Related posts: Branding Secrets Of The World’s Best Brands What Small Businesses Can Learn From The World’s Best Brands What Can You Learn From The World’s Best Brands?

On Tuesday, Acision published new research indicating that 8 in 10 US consumers now use multi-service messaging. Acision, finds that 79% of Smartphone users are today using multiple messaging services, including SMS, MMS and IM/Over-the-top (OTT) applications, to fulfill their messaging needs. “Despite dramatized media headlines indicating the death of SMS, our research confirms that while OTT messaging service usage is on the rise, SMS is still regarded as a key service by many consumers in the US,” explains Russell Grahame, SVP and General Manager of Acision North America. “However,” he adds, “as consumer behaviors and expectations evolve and they look for richer messaging services to communicate and connect, time is of the essence for carriers to fast-track the launch of their own rich messaging and RCS based services, in order to create a new communication ecosystem.” Other notable findings of the research show that: 72% of US consumers surveyed are using multiple messaging services each day, triggered by speed, rich features and cost. IM/OTT messaging is gaining ground with SMS, which is still today’s only assured service for all 72% state a dependency on SMS, despite new OTT services Consumers connect to more contacts with OTT messaging today, but don’t separate out service usage across family, friends and work 75% are interested in an operator rich messaging service such as ‘joyn’, which can eliminate messaging fragmentation To learn more about the second edition of Acision’s annual research, click here.