Recent marketing industry events have highlighted the coming wave of mobile marketing. Location-based marketing has had a particular hype. I wanted to learn more about it first hand, so I took to the road to test it out myself while on a short vacation this past weekend.

In advance, I researched some of the latest location-based marketing techniques and platforms.

• Twitter has integrated geotagging into tweets accessible by computer or on your mobile device. Marketers can target and communicate virtually, which makes it easier for marketers to find customers and quickly get in touch in real-time.
• Foursquare was the instigator of geotagging presented as the highly popular location based game/application, rewarding customers with ‘check-ins.’ In most recent news, they are close to 1.8 billion users and just raised $20m in a Series B investment.
• Yelp newly introduced a similar concept to Foursquare by adding badge features and ‘Dukedoms’ to their mobile application. Ideally, Yelp would like to provide readers with quality reviews since they will have the ability to track the number of times the reviewer is actually visiting the venues.
• Gowalla, also similar to Foursquare, has just rolled out five new local language settings for global users to actively participate.

An article last week from Noah Elikin on Media Post Marketing Implications of a Truly Mobile Internet, discussed the idea that frequent travelers were a prime target for location based marketing. I put the theories to test on my adventures to the Northwest and Canada. From Thursday to Monday, I utilized my social networks by checking into Foursquare and sending updates to Twitter. Being an avid user of social media and having a fairly sizable network of 1150 followers, I was curious to see if brands would indeed market to me as I was on the go.

On Foursquare, I made sure to check-in everywhere I stopped, including: airports, train/bus stations, hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, well-known tourist attractions, and tours. I logged over 20 check-ins and 15 tweets throughout the trip. Surprisingly, the results were underwhelming. Out of all venues I visited and tweeted about, I only received one automated response from the tour company, @SavorSeattle, thanking me for the follow and participating on the tour.

The only ’specials nearby’ notification I received was from @Starbucks on Foursquare. For the sake of my research (and being a frequent coffee drinker) I couldn’t travel all the way to Seattle without visiting the original Starbucks store. The company has quickly adopted location-based marketing on Foursquare. When users check-in to the store, a notification pops up offering incentives to “Mayors” (most frequent customers) discounts and free drinks. It is a program that drives increased customer visits and alerts to Starbucks near their immediate location.

Findings: Despite the location-based marketing hype, the practice has not become an integral part of the marketing mix. It will be interesting to watch brands roll out the efforts in the months and years. However, for the moment, there is not very much activity visible at the traveling consumer level.

Although I was not geotargeted by marketing brands, I did learn more about an interesting tool for travelers worth noting: @Boarding

The recently new idea was founded by Damien Guinet in France and seems to be leading in the developing an ideal platform for travel-based marketing. The concept is to find ’stranded travelers’ through online social media tools. Simply tweet #boarding followed by the airport code and moments later you will receive a message with a link to a map plus list of Twitter handles also in the airport. What I found most interesting about the concept is the ultimate end goal of the idea: Proposing specific airport service/product coupons plus tips to help occupy the time while waiting to board.

Traveling back to Chicago from Seattle, I put my research to the test myself. After reviewing the list of Twitter profiles in who were also at SeaTac International Airport, I came across @AirlineReporter, who I have recently started following. So I did what any other tweep would do - sent a direct message to see what terminal he was in! We ended up meeting at his gate and chatting about how we had just put social networking into practice. He had valuable insight for location based marketing. Airlines are finding creative ways to integrate social media into brand strategy. For instance, there is future talk of allowing customers to check into their flights via Foursquare, providing a quick, efficient way of flying. Incentives are also being created, such as becoming the Mayor of the airline terminal and given the chance to bump up to business class or win 5,000 frequent flyer miles. The tools seem to be a great starting point for airlines and companies to build up to specifically target the traveling customers.

My end result showed that many companies are buzzing around location-based marketing and hoping to roll out their innovative and creative concepts, although the ideas have not yet been fully implemented. After putting myself out there, one thing is for sure - thanks to social media and mobile apps, you can connect virtually with anyone, anywhere. How will companies catch up with real-time connection on the go? What examples have you come across in your daily activities recently that integrate location-based marketing?

Paladin would like to find out where location-based marketing is headed in your companies. Take our quick, one-questioned polls and results will be given next week on our social networks.

1. http://polls.linkedin.com/p/93828/jqvtu

2. http://polls.linkedin.com/p/93830/cmzdo

This week, Paladin participated in the Heartland Mobile Council’s MobileU101 conference. As companies awake to “the year of mobile,” this event discussed strategic approaches to mobile marketing.  But is this really the time of mobile?

Motorola’s Dana Warszona, a panelist, said the mobile tipping point for Japan came about 4 years earlier compared to the US. She and her fellow panelists Andrew Koven, President, E-Commerce & Customer Experience, Steve Madden Shoes and Julie Krueger, Senior Vice President, eCommerce and Direct, OfficeMax felt that the US is just now at that point. They stressed that for retail companies, in particular, this is the time to pull the infrastructure together and to get smart on mobile and to do it quickly. Two-thirds of retailers are already doing mobile or in the midst of implementing it.

They advise moving away from simply the siloed campaign and to develop mobile as a part ongoing strategy and business operation. For consumers mCommerece is coming and it will mean that cash registers and credit cards will become obsolete. Krueger said that mobile will do away with kiosks and that the in-store experience will change radically. Warszona pointed to Best Buy as example of a company that was truly tying mobile into their business operations.

Koven said, “Mobile is the second coming and we’re [Steve Madden Shoes are] going to lead. We’re not going to wait and see.” 

How are these initiative being done? Krueger said that companies are not yet investing in additional human resources needed for mobile. Her current teams are adding it to their work load. But as the tide turns and mobile heats up, we will see companies ramp up the internal resources needed to manage this growth.

Staff, roles and ownership for mobile were reoccurring discussions during the conference. Which departments should own the mobile marketing strategy or execution? Will marketing generalist take mobile marketing on as an additional tool in their tool belt or is mobile best developed and managed by specialists? As Mobile Marketing emerges, we look forward to following this debate and the trends.  We would like your input on the topic. To weigh in, please take our poll - http://tinyurl.com/2bfolsr . We will be happy to share the results with you.

Here are a few recent articles and links related to mobile marketing:

 Mobile Marketers: Just Do Something

Chicago mobile event highlights opportunities of mobile marketing

Heartland Mobile Council

What Apple’s Acquisition of Siri Means for the Future of Mobile Search

Twitter Stream from the event

You know that the time will come when the “employer market” will change back to a “candidate market”.  My friends, that day is fast approaching!  For those of us who went through this cycle in the 90s (yes, I was there), it was a great time for qualified talent to make a change but not so good for companies who had invested thousands of dollars and years into cultivating the talent.  Firms were often in bidding wars over candidates and many times there would be 2-3 offers up for consideration.  Sign on bonuses, relocation packages and stock options were commonplace, not the rare exception.

There are some basic steps you can take as an employer to solidify your relationship with your employee so you don’t find yourself looking for help when you didn’t see it coming.

1. Make sure your employee knows where they stand in your business.  Tell them how you feel about them.  Show them they matter in their pay, benefits and involvement in the decisions of the business.
2. Be flexible with things like time off, work hours and virtual work when possible. Today’s workplace has changed dramatically and employees are juggling much more in their schedules and the employers who offer the most flexibility will grab more of the top talent.
3. Don’t try to play the bidding game with an employee who is already looking on the outside.  If they matter to you, counter quickly and decisively if necessary but be willing to let them go their own way.  If their decision to leave is all about more money, the desire to get more will continue to be there.
4. Promote your best people and give them a clear career path that is set in your firm.  People who have been patiently waiting through the Recession for those long ago promises will not be so patient moving forward. 

As a candidate looking to make a change there are also key factors for you to keep in consideration.

1. Have your resume always up-to-date and references available.  Some jobs will appear out of the blue and you don’t want to keep a potential employer waiting.
2. Keep your social networks open and always looking for new potential matches.  Remember, other people will have the same idea as you.
3. Don’t just “kick the tires” to see what is out there.  While as a candidate you might have the upper hand, you can burn bridges and get a bad reputation with recruiters and clients that will spread like wildfire.

The bottom line is that things are improving and the market will be much more competitive for the top talent and keeping the people you already have in place.

Now is a good time to do some “soul searching” and make sure you haven’t capitalized too munch on the current market and irreparably strained the staff relationships that your business needs to continue to be successful.

Everyone in the business world is ready to pounce, once they know it is safe, on fast growth stocks and other investments.  We all want our money to grow and work for us and not decline like so many have seen over the last year.  I have a hot tip ( hopefully not seen as insider trading) for anyone willing to step out and make the commitment.

The investment is known as human capital, your company’s employees.  There is no other asset a firm can have that will have a greater impact on their business than the people who actually do the work.  We sometimes forget that fact.  Solid employees who are committed, well-trained, and have a solid work ethic drive your profits up and have a positive effect on the results of others around them.  Just look at some examples I’ve seen over the years.  Broadcast.com, a small video conferencing company in the 90s, had a great idea that was new to the business world and the technology was literally being developed as they were marketing the service.  Those people worked LONG hours in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas with no guarantee that anyone would buy this new service on the “Internet”. In a short amount of time, Mark Cuban (now know as one of the richest men in America and the owner of the Dallas Mavericks) converted their hard work and commitment to a gold mine for all of those who used their talents to help the company succeed.  Not only did he profit as an owner, but all individuals involved profited when their company was purchased.  Other firms that come to mind where the employees had a direct impact on the company success are Microsoft, Apple, Google and The Container Store. In each case people who started in a role of just bringing their individual talents to the table helped the company succeed.

Another advantage to investors today is cost/value.  The talent available today is 20-40% less in cost than just 3 years ago.  A web designer with 5 years experience in 2006 could expect to make $70-80k a year in salary.  Today, someone with the same experience and skills will make $50-70k.  Many firms in order to keep their staff in place during this economic turmoil, have reduced salaries across the board 10-20% on average in order to avoid additional layoffs.  As an investor that is an immediate savings to you in securing new hires.

As with any investments, there are risks, namely making sure your hires are solid and meet the skills you require.  A bad hire or an under-achieving hire can be costly in salary, training and lost productivity.  That is why a solid recruiting partner, like Paladin, not only helps make strong investments in your human capital, but we also share in the coaching, training and ongoing assessment in your potential growth and challenges.

Any investor who ignores their human capital portfolio is destined to see losses.  Those who focus on hitting now while the costs are down and the resources are huge have a tremendous opportunity of significant growth and longterm security.  Just a thought for you investors to ponder.