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By Craig Smith
You probably have heard all these terms an awful lot lately.
You wonder about what these technologies do? What value to
they
provide? If you aren't up to speed on these new applications
and
how they are impacting retail online interaction then read
this
brief further.
Will these technologies impact you? To be honest, it's too
early to tell - but awareness drives innovation and maybe your
team will develop an idea/application that truly changes a
portion of your eCommerce business.
Here's the rundown:
Blogs
What it is:
Probably the most well known of the three, blogs allow
everyday
people to quickly develop a website and distribute any type of
content that they desire. Many web entrepreneurs use this
functionality to develop online stores within niche markets,
while using search popularity to beat out larger retailers on
the specific terms within the market.
Where Blogs make make sense is within targeted online
communities. Certain blog authors develop a large base of
specific visitors, hence the site becomes a target market for
viral marketing. By integrating your brand image within the
site experience at that SPECIFIC blog, you as an online
marketer are able to truly segment your marketing PRIOR to
converting someone as a customer.
Should you care:
If you have a very unique value proposition, or sell to a very
specific or high-value customer segment, blogs can be a great
way to increase overall brand awareness. You can better
connect
with your customers and provide detail into the current
sales/promotions that you are providing.
Podcasting
What it is:
Pocasting should be just called mobile video broadcasting -
Apple's marketing/development team did a great job with
branding their device to a type of emerging media! Similar to
traditional radio and television, mobile video broadcasting
delivers branded content in either a paid/free environment, on
someone's mobile MP3 player (Apple only does video currently,
but that will change shortly). Retailers can use this
communication channel to further connect to their customers
with promotional events, while transmitting specialty
programming to meet an interest need.
Should you care:
Not really. Until video podcasting penetration increases, it's
still a limited channel for advertising. The best application
available right now would be an online content segment that is
digitally delivered to an opt-in list. As technology advances,
you can potentially do this from your current opt-in page from
your website and not from Apple's iTunes platform.
RSS
RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and is a method for
electronic content distribution. RSS is transmitted via the
internet, but what makes it unique is that no downloading
efforts are needed by the end receiver of the content. It
streams instateneously. Consumers can have news readers on
their computers, either integrated into an emal client, or an
aggregated web application such as News Gator, and are able to
get information relating to their interests.
Already gaining steam in the travel industry and within
comparison shopping engines, RSS seems to be a valuable way to
push news, offers, and infomrmation to customers. Travel
companies are able to provide a streaming supply of last
minute
airfare offers to their customer segments, without that
customer
having to open an email or visit a webpage.
Should you care:
Depends on the nature of your business. Do you consistently
offer new prices? Do you get new pieces to your assortment
consistently? Do you have a customer base that is extremely
loyal that you want to reach out to with messaging? If so, RSS
may another channel to help build your brand.
About The Author: Craig Smith is the founder and managing
director of Trinity Insight LLC. Trinity is a consultancy that
helps online retailers sell more products within the eCommerce
marketplace. www.trinityinsight.com
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