all media is digital now - Minfo

ALL MEDIA IS DIGITAL NOW Using mobile platforms to power your business

Today's always-connected consumers are challenging businesses to be more responsive to their needs and expectations. Increasingly this means using digital and smartphone technologies to deliver branded experiences, offers and customer service.

Prepared by Gavin Heaton for Minfo. July 2015

7/31/2015

ALL MEDIA IS DIGITAL NOW Using mobile platforms to power your business Advertising was once considered a vital source of product information. Without the distractions of the digital world, families would have time after work and school to gather together in their lounge rooms to watch TV. And commercials were an integral part of that experience. Every ten minutes or so, these 30 second spots would beam a world of new packaged goods, cars, travel and entertainment directly to our homes. It was a golden time for brands — audiences were served up ready and waiting. There were few options in terms of channel selection — with free to air programming dominated by a small number of commercial networks. And the audiences themselves, had time, were open to the interruption and had no choice but to wait for programs to start and end. It was a time of linear programming and large, unified audiences. But those times have changed. We have to face facts — all media is digital now.

The three shifts impacting today's marketers This shift to digital has three dimensions that are challenging marketers and the brands that they support. 1. Audiences shift to digital — the changing nature of where we spend our precious time and attention 2. Behaviour shifts to omni-channel — customer experience and expectation 3. Measurement shifts and fragments — the business challenge and opportunity Everywhere you look, people are using smartphones. They are talking. Discussing. Connecting. They are gathering information, reading news, reviews and status updates on various apps, websites and social networks. But they are also buying. IBM's 2015 Smarter Consumer Study surveyed over 1800 Australians aged from 18 to 60+, confirming what we have known anecdotally for some time — that mobile has changed the game. What we are observing with mobile can no longer be considered a "fad" — it's now a fully-blown route to market that businesses ignore at their peril. ... with 78 percent of study respondents owning a smartphone – up from 64 percent last year and 47 percent the year before – we can expect more online mobile purchases to be made in the future.

Minfo whitepaper: All media is digital now

1

7/31/2015 In Australia, Facebook now lays claim to over 10 million daily users, 90% of whom login via mobile. And with one out of every three minutes of mobile being spent with Facebook properties (Instagram, Messenger and Facebook),i it's clear that social networks like Facebook are teaching consumers new behaviours and changing the patterns of what they do with their smartphones. And it's not just about being social. It's about media. It seems that consumers have understood this for some time, but brands have struggled to respond. Some blame the rate of change. Some blame technology. And some claim lack of budget. Many, of course, simply point to the still powerful world of broadcast media — the power of celebrity endorsement, advertising and the huge numbers attributed to blockbuster movies, sports broadcast and reality TV shows. From the brand point of view, marketers have decades of experience with broadcast media. There are benchmarks, metrics and best practices. They know how to buy, where to buy and who to buy through. But digital — and more specifically — mobile, is newer. Unformed. It feels niche and largely unconvincing. The statistics and measurements don't gel with traditional media measurements — and it's fragmented. But it's hard to argue with 9 million daily Facebook mobile users. While the statistics for social media look amazing, the raw fact is that traditional media still matters. The 2015 PwC Australian Entertainment and Media Outlook projects that by 2019 the local ad spend on media will reach $16 billion with 51 percent of that total — around $8.2 billion — dedicated to internet advertising. This includes various forms of digital ads from display and search to video and classified. Ignoring half of your market and their communications needs is never a good idea — so for the foreseeable future, brands need to think creatively about ways to reach an increasingly digital audience. We need to think about ways to bridge the gap between the traditional and digital worlds.

2019 - $16 billion Internet FTA TV Radio OOH Newspapers Pay TV Magazines Film

Source: The Australian Entertainment and Media Outlook report, 2015. Minfo whitepaper: All media is digital now

2

7/31/2015

OMNICHANNEL AND THE PROBLEM WITH ROI Before we can seriously connect the dots between our digital and traditional marketing efforts, there are some challenges that we need to consider. And in the marketing world, return on investment is one of the biggest.

What is Omni-channel?

Over the decades brands have become used to buying traditional forms of media. Wikipedia defines omni-channel or multichannel Through this approach we retailing as: have seen the emergence of ... the use of a variety of channels in a customer's strong, well-known and shopping experience including research before a powerful brands that have purchase. Such channels include: retail stores, online been able to cultivate and stores, mobile stores, mobile app stores, telephone reach large scale audiences, sales and any other method of transacting with a generate trust and ultimately customer. Transacting includes browsing, buying, returning as well as pre-sale and after-sale service. to drive sales. Accordingly, creative and media agencies have become seen as partners in the process, working with research organisations to establish ratings mechanisms, sampling surveys and regular reports. And from this environment, brands are able to understand the performance of their advertising and marketing efforts. In the digital world, every website visit, each page viewed, display ad clicked, search term shown and web inquiry made, we have a measurement. We know where our digital customers come from, how they found us and when. We can track their movements from social networks to website, from apps to shopping cart — and everywhere in-between. There is also an important distinction between traditional and digital media. With digital — we are not measuring samples sizes, we are measuring everything. This is adding a great deal of complexity to the world of brand marketing.   

How do we accurately determine the role that traditional media has in closing an online sale? How important is web research in building preference for your products before it is purchased in-store? What about customer service? Or the role of a call centre?


3

7/31/2015 With this level of complexity, no wonder it is challenging for brands to identify the most effective channels and to measure the impact of their marketing investments. This problem has been exacerbated by the rising popularity of digital media, social networks and the "second screen". "Second screen" is the term used to describe the mobile device used while watching TV to augment the experience.ii

Researchers have shown that the use of the second screen is significantly damaging the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.iii In the study, those who only focused on the TV were able to recall 2.43 out of every three brands mentioned, while those using a second screen managed to recall only 1.62. Report author, Jonathan Jensen explains: Viewers don’t even remember that your brand was on TV because they were too busy posting on Facebook or Twitter or reading emails. This study should provide a measure of pause to brand marketers who spend a lot of money to get products integrated into live sporting events and other shows.

But social doesn't fare much better. Even if you take into account that your customers are switching from broadcast to social, they're still unlikely to find you. For much of 2015, marketers have been noticing a significant decline in the organic reach of their Facebook pages. Since adjusting their News Feed algorithm, there have been claims that reach has dropped as much as 88%.iv With this level of fragmentation, marketers need to find new ways to squeeze every valuable drop of engagement and value out of each customer touch point.


4

7/31/2015

CREATING YOUR OWN PRIME TIME MOMENTS WITH

MINFO

What's needed is a new way of understanding not only the technology that is driving these changes, but the behaviours of our always-on customers. Moreover, we need new technologies that bridge traditional and digital media in intelligent ways that serve the needs of customers when and where they need it. We need a way for brands to create their own "prime time moments". Minfo is a platform that delivers an omni-channel customer experience — connecting customers and brands with offers and branded content at a single touch. With Minfo, brands can extend, track and deepen the engagement with customers at every touchpoint. It has been designed to be the simplest and easiest way to get more information on everything your customers see and hear.

Any brand can go mobile with Minfo With mobile technology being constantly updated, brands can struggle with the ongoing cost of mobile app development. It's not just the initial development costs that have to be budgeted, but ongoing maintenance, porting to additional platforms (eg from Apple's iOS to Android) and upgrades prompted by manufacturers. Minfo takes the cost and worry of technology out of the equation, providing a powerful yet easy-to-use platform that allows brands to:    

Create new digital/mobile ready campaigns Overlay a digital layer on existing campaigns Transform in-location customer experiences through mobile location services Pay per engagement / performance based.

MINFO IN ACTION After downloading the Minfo app from the App Store or Google Play, Sharon, a working mother of one, is connected to local businesses, charities and schools via the app. On her way to the school drop-off, she hears an ad on the radio for TLC for Kids. Using Siri to launch Minfo, a silent digital signal is detected and TLC for Kids page is loaded directly by the Minfo platform. After dropping her daughter at school, she uses the Minfo ecommerce shop to sign-up to a regular TLC for Kids donation. Meeting other parents for morning tea, Sharon enters the local cafe. As she has opted-in for Minfo messages, Sharon is alerted to a new 2-for-1 offer as she walks into the cafe's Mzone. Showing her phone, she is able to redeem the coupon on purchase. Finishing coffee, Sharon gets a message from her friend, Jennifer, via social media. Another Minfo fan, Jennifer,used the platform to let Sharon know there's a sale on next door that's too good to miss. Stepping into the shop, Sharon is able to scan the MQR codes and get details of the sale offer directly on her phone. For more examples and ideas visit Minfo.com or view the YouTube video at https://youtu.be/MYUfAjvygac

Five campaign formats There are five campaign formats available to brands on the Minfo platform:


5

7/31/2015 

 





Print — use Minfo Quick Response (MQR) Codes in your print communications to provide consumers with an easy way to get more information about your campaign directly on their smartphone Links — Minfo Smartlinks can be used in emails, eNewsletters, websites or wherever you would normally use a hyperlink Audio / TV / Video — Embed a silent digital signal into the sound track of your advertisement. It works with radio, TV commercials, YouTube ads, clips and cinema advertising Locations — Any public space including shops, museums, sporting standiums, shopping centres and libraries can direct in-location offers to customers using existing PA systems Search — In app Minfo search reveals campaigns, offers and advertisements available across the Minfo network.

Augmenting your campaigns with Minfo Brands can easily augment existing campaigns or quickly develop new campaigns from the Minfo platform. Simply create your Minfo page like a mobile landing page — with business information, branding, images, text and calls to action:


6

7/31/2015 

 



Registration: Get started on your first Minfo campaign by registering at Minfo.com.au. Click the Account button and choose Register. You'll need standard company information such as business name, address, contact information and ABN so that your account can be verified Campaign creation: Choose campaign type and enter a name for your campaign. Copy and paste text and upload your images Prepare your digital signals: Create and download any MQR Codes for your print campaigns and encode your audio visual files with our digital signals ready for broadcast Test and launch: Test your campaigns and publish them ready for your campaign launch.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR MARKETERS AND BRANDS Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half. -- John Wanamaker

Marketing and advertising pioneer, John Wanamaker famously complained about the challenges of attribution and marketing measurement. But in the last 100 years, technology has transformed our markets and our marketing, and this has accelerated in the last five years. But with every change comes opportunity. The Minfo team have been observing the three shifts for some time and have developed the Minfo platform to connect brands, businesses and marketers with their customers in innovative ways:

Connecting with shifting audiences When our customers began shifting their attention online, the costs of doing digital business were prohibitive. Even today, with low cost technology, it can prove an expensive undertaking. The Minfo platform provides a ready-made mobile, digital platform that:    

Provides a ready-to-go mobile experience for your customers Requires no IT team or developers Integrates with customer behaviours like "sharing" and connecting Can even provide map based directions to your retail stores.

Interacting across different channel We all know our customers expect our businesses to be "on mobile". We also know that they are expecting offers, coupons and extra information that can help them make a decision. We also know that they expect this information to come from their friends and family. With the Minfo platform, brands have access to powerful omnichannel capability, including:


7

7/31/2015  

 

Minfo pages that deliver the most relevant information or offer to your customers when they want it Maintaining that top-of-mind connection through the Minfo audio visual signal system, triggering a mobile interaction with a single touch or voice command at the point of maximum interest The ability to purchase items, book restaurants, events, holidays or even donate to a worthy cause — impulse engagement A powerful way to connect locations with mobile experience through MZone location awareness. Now there's no need to lose your in-store customers at the checkout.

Measurement shifts and fragments Even the marketing genius, John Wanamaker struggled with marketing measurement. But connecting the dots between your digital and traditional marketing closes the gap. The Minfo platform embraces both digital and traditional marketing, connecting the two through innovative technologies: 





Using MQRs connects your print advertising, business cards and business stationery with vital business information and offers, while at the same time revealing to you what works and which initiatives are triggering action Using the Minfo Audio Visual signals to trigger responses from your radio, TV and internet video adverts takes your customers into a deeper level of engagement. Again, you'll be able to track and measure the effectiveness of your channels, creative and calls to action With the MZone capability you can easily begin to connect your in-store shoppers with the latest offers and information.

CONCLUSION There is no turning back the clock when it comes to digital and mobile. But there are ways to bridge the gap, efficiently and inexpensively. Apps and platforms like Minfo provide brands and marketers with an innovative way to connect, interact and transact with customers, on mobile and in location with no IT expertise or technology needed.


8

7/31/2015

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gavin Heaton is a marketing technologist, strategist and advisor, and regularly speaks on the convergence of marketing, technology and innovation. He is the founder of the Disruptor’s Handbook – an un-Agency that brings startup culture to the world of digital marketing and transformation. He works with big companies and with small companies with big ideas, and has developed digital strategy and execution for global brands on both the agency and client sides. In his limited spare time he serves as president of youth organisation, Vibewire. See By the Numbers, Facebook in Australia, http://servantofchaos.com/2015/04/by-the-numbersfacebook-in-australia.html ii See "TV and Social Media The Value of the Second Screen", http://wersm.com/tv-and-social-media-the-value-of-the-second-screen/ iii See "Second Screen Users Ignore TV Ads, http://advanced-television.com/2015/05/28/second-screenusers-ignore-tv-ads/ iv See http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/studies-show-more-than-40-percent-decreased-organic-reachon-facebook/297300?red=if i


9