HappyMiel - Mobile & Social Marketing http://happymiel.be Thu, 09 Aug 2012 11:17:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gifSome Rights ReservedHappyMielhttp://feedburner.google.com Living on the edge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HappyMiel/~3/YRvwlC7pL8E/living-on-the-edge http://happymiel.be/living-on-the-edge#comments Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:37:24 +0000 Miel http://happymiel.be/?p=1363

Business is going well, truth be told. I feel like I’m finally moving ahead. About time too, since this is year three of the start-up. Perhaps it’s not a start-up anymore, with the few international ventures and partnerships set up, but it still feels like one. I should be really happy. Most of the bills are paid, food in the fridge and work on the agenda. It does make me a happy Miel. But some other things are really getting too big of a load to bear.

But hey, that’s why we have blogs, right?

1. Payment due. Alert!

First thing that I’ve been struggling with as a freelancer/entrepreneur is getting paid within my set term. The larger the company I work for, the longer I have to wait for my money. That just doesn’t make sense. 60-days from the end of the month you invoiced in, 90 days, sometimes even 120 days. Ridiculous. If you hire me, my terms should apply to the deal unless we negotiate different terms and both sign the agreement. That’s the theory.

I don’t have to remind everyone that there currently is a global economic situation that could easily be described as “it seems we’re a little bit in somewhat of a pickle here, gents”. Maintaining the old payment system is really the last thing we should do. Companies restructure, reorganize, fire people and use the crisis as an excuse to get the same job done for less money. Everything is being revised except the outgoing payment terms and conditions.

    We’re slowing down the economy.

This is a conclusion I draw from my own experiences. If everyone would get paid faster, they have more money to spend. Money will go around faster and boost the economy. In my head it makes sense.
Yet I find myself postponing things I want to buy because the money is still on its way, postponing trips I want to / need to make for the same reason. I can contribute less to the economy because my hands are tied. And I’m certain that I’m not the only one.

That’s why we need a critical revision of the payment term system. I’ve always had mine set to 15 days after the date of the invoice. I’m not a bank. I worked for you, the job is done, you pay me. You have two weeks to open up your digital bank and make the transfer. That seems pretty fair to me. Try that with a butcher, a baker or any retail store. Go inside, enjoy the products take them with you and say you’ll pay later.

    In my three years of business, I can count the invoices paid when due on one hand.
    And then you have two options.

I’m not a big company with a sales team. I have to look for work and that takes time, it’s an investment. So if there are clients to work for, you don’t want to spoil the relationship by nagging for money. You actually can’t afford to lose clients, and then you cut them some slack and adapt as much as you can to their terms of payment. Because if it’s 30 days, all you’ve done is wasted time creating and sending two reminders. It costs more in administrative time to chase the money that is coming to you anyway. If the client’s terms are 30 days, their payment crosses the second reminder. That was option 1. You do nothing and play the staring game with your bank account.

Option 2 is what you should do, because you’re being treated the same way. If the invoice is expired, you call or mail your contact person and remind them. This is the informal warning. If the invoice is expired 8 days, send a reminder per snail mail. Here you have two options. Either you play it the friendly way and send it unregistered, or you play it official and send a registered mail they have to sign for upon delivery. The second option is really harsh, but shows you mean business. If 8 days pass and no money comes in, you charge 10% of the outstanding amount and send a new invoice with the damage claim added. As of that moment, you start to charge your preset annual interest rate (mine is 12%), because you have in fact just become a bank. This can fire back into losing the now disgruntled client.

    You always feel yourself dancing on the rope of tolerance.

If you push too hard, you lose the client and the future money he could’ve brought in. And not just that, also the possible referrers and new business through the client’s network. But if you don’t push, it’s you who’ll go under.

2. Strike 4

No. Really. Not so long ago, I was looking for work work. Not work I do as a freelancer, but work work, for a boss. I had finished a couple of projects and no new ones emerged for two months. I used up the little reserve I had and invoices remained unpaid. I enrolled myself in half a dozen interim agencies for a temp job. I thought it wouldn’t be so hard to find work. College degree, speak some languages, 10 years experience in marketing and sales. Thought I was going to be fine. I received a phone call that same day to start working the day after. I ended up working for a brewer, doing beer & soda deliveries to bars and clubs. I kid you not.

That was a big step down. From a proud independent freelancer to the guy at the back of the bar in the alley trolling booze down the basement. I took what I was offered, because I had to. At the end of the week, the money was in my account and I could pay a few bills.
That feeling of being paid for the work you did…

Bills kept piling up though, and I couldn’t keep up. I missed a payment for my internet connection once, every week you get a letter with additional administrative costs for being late. You pay for the fact they have to remind you you didn’t pay. The second bill was due, missed the expiry date by 3 days, and paid both bills. Got cut off the same day I did the payment. Really cut off. All you can surf to is the page of the provider with links to online banks to make the payment. 3 days later, back online but put on small-band. Two painstaking weeks of cursing and a back to the 90s feelings whenever pictures download. YouTube clips buffer every 2 seconds. Everything you do takes ages, costs more time and indirectly, money. Every moment you’re on the web you feel frustrated, constantly reminded of being a lousy customer who paid too late. Well at least I pay.

    I wish customer loyalty and history would count when you’ve missed a payment.

And then you have the criminal companies with a monopoly, who hold you hostage and treat you like crap, just because they can or hide behind teams of money-thirsty lawyers and legal specialists. Again, from my own very recent experience.

Up until this month I was a customer of a national energy provider. I paid €138 every month for gas and electricity. For years. Then I got a letter: dear customer, you’ve paid too much last year with your monthly fee. We will refund you soon. By the way, we’re increasing your fee to €144 next year.

Makes.Totally.No.Sense.

So I call customer service. A sweet young lady picks up the phone. We follow her script. No good explanation comes up. She says my fee is really high. I said it was what they proposed to me as the best solution when I joined, 4 years prior this call. She looked at my monthly usage and said I could change to a cheaper formula if I went to the website and signed up, but that she’s not allowed to make the switch herself. I asked her how long that cheaper formula has been around. A couple of years. I asked why they would make loyal customers pay deliberately more for such a long time, in a climate where it takes one click to switch to a competitor. She was sorry. I changed to another energy provider as soon as the call ended. Screw this.

I’m a guy who follows basic rules of business. I want to pay everyone I owe, and I want to pay fair money for good work. Common sense and courtesy, polite and correct. But I’ve noticed that a lot of other people aren’t acting alike, which puts me in a very tight spot. The government and official institutions knocked on the door, serving bill after bill, every week I spent waiting for money and work cost me dozens of Euros interest, late fees, administrative charges, no to mention the shit I’ve been going through with my mobile carrier.

I travel quite a bit, I roam data and voice. It’s expensive. I’ve been with the same provider for more than 6 years. It’s not the cheapest one. I have a monthly pack I signed up for in a local store that normally is €80 a month. This year’s invoices are moderate (fewer money, less travel); just under €2000 the past 8 months.

€124,58 / €249,55 / €208,47 / €132,19 / €153,23 / €130,54 / €599,57 / €220,50 / …

I’d call myself a pretty good customer. And loyal too. But a recent twist made things take a turn for the nasty. Around the same time I failed to make it to the due date for the internet provider, the same happened for my mobile provider. No cash in the bank, couldn’t pay yet. Reminders every week. Next bill was due, still no money in the bank. Outgoing calls are cut off. I can’t do business anymore. I have to wait for people to call me.

    Picture this right: a mobile social media marketing freelancer without internet and phone. Priceless.

Money came in and I paid the bills. Next invoice notes: €25 extra to ‘reconnect me’, that’s 20% of the money that was due. Ridiculous. The subscription is in name of a company. I pay (knowingly too much) every month. For years. This doesn’t count. And then today, my phone was cut off again.

The payment was due July 27th. It’s August 3. The invoice was already at the bookkeeper (I left it there when I closed my quarter) but indeed, I forgot to pay. I noticed and paid. Almost a week late, true. But why cut me off and rob me of business? I take a couple of hours off to be able to walk by the provider’s store. I ask the woman in the store to check what’s up. I give her my phone number so she can check in the computer.

She picks up the phone and calls… me. Good start. This time it’s for real. She calls the provider’s service through that special back door only the store employees can use. I’m being cut off preventively because I have a history of missing payments. I will be reactivated when the money is on their account. Cost: €25.

    This is retarded.

Where is it written that you can preventively cut off a business of a major important service like mobile after being less than one week late to the due date?

I wish I could change providers. But I can’t until January because somewhere a few years ago some sweet-talking girl from the mobile provider’s marketing department called me to propose me a cheaper business formula than the one I was using. I agreed. Apparently it was a contract for a couple of years. I need to buy my way out of it, paying the monthly average for the remaining months of the contract. I’m actually considering buying off the contract to get rid of the provider I’m being taken hostage at. Screw this.

I realize this is quite the rant.

I guess there are a couple of points I wanted to make towards people who want to start their own business, or just have. And towards ‘the industry’ in general.

For entrepreneurs:

1. Cover yourself. Create good terms and conditions. Apply them.
2. Get sign-offs and confirmations for the work requested.
3. For the work proposed.
4. For the work finished.
5. Chase the money.
6. Chase the money.
7. Constantly question the sincerity of services you rely on.
8. Keep looking for cheaper alternatives.
9. Pay on time.

For the industry:

1. Times have changed. Pay faster.
2. Stop using the crisis as an excuse to force freelancers
    to hurt themselves to get the job.
3. Value customers for what they’ve already proven to be worth.
4. Value customer loyalty more.
5. Treat your existing user base better.
6. Reward your existing (loyal) user base more.

Don’t get me wrong. Starting my own business is still the best I every did. I have no regrets. But it hasn’t all been a sweet story, and I don’t find a lot of people talking about these things.

It’s time for a change. Small entrepreneurs and good companies are going belly-up because the financial system is wrong. It’s stuck in an age where it didn’t matter when the money came, as long as the payment was processed in a reasonable time frame. The climate today calls for near-instant payments. There’s no more room for maybes.

]]> http://happymiel.be/living-on-the-edge/feed 0 http://happymiel.be/living-on-the-edge Restaurants and mobile business http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HappyMiel/~3/8U1VEj9XZaY/restaurants-and-mobile-business http://happymiel.be/restaurants-and-mobile-business#comments Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:05:00 +0000 Miel http://happymiel.be/?p=1355

With the audience shifting towards mobile devices, local businesses are slowly making the move to apps and mobile websites. However, in many cases they use the wrong approach. Mobile isn’t just an extension of your identity, it’s a platform that deserves specific attention. If a restaurant takes the time to invest in a mobile website, it’s such a shame to see they only deliver half the experience to their customers. A recent infographic I came across pointed out some of the challenges for the food entertainment industry:

The most important question to ask yourself, as a restaurant, is: why is someone using my mobile website? Possible answers to that question are:

  1. Looking for a place to eat in the near future
  2. Looking for a place to eat right now
  3. Supposed to meet at the restaurant but forgot address
  4. Look at the menu
  5. Need to get in touch quickly

If these are your answers too and you don’t have a mobile site yet, this means you will have to design a really simple mobile website (think about ‘tapfriendliness’: make the links big enough so people can use their fingers easily) with very limited options. If you offer take-out food, design a very simple form with check-boxes. The easier it is to use, the more likely people will reuse it. Make it quick for people to find all the things they need. If you have a reservation policy, make sure it’s as clear and minimalistic as possible.

The 1 – 2 – 3 of a reservation form:

1. Who are you, so we can get back in touch? [Name] + [Phone #]
2. When and for how many guests? [Calendar] + [# of guests]
3. Special food requests (allergies,…) [yes or no] [textfield for special request]

But this isn’t where it stops. What happens next is everything. You need to have a mobile strategy set up. What will you offer, when and to whom? Lunch specials for the students of the college nearby? For the business folks in the building down the street?  Dinner specials for team meetings, celebrations,… How will you reach them, what will you say to convince them?

A lot of questions still need an answer. Look things up about mobile social media marketing and mobile check-in marketing; learn to set up and manage a database with the phone numbers of your customers and start preparing a mobile e-mail marketing strategy. Or hire a pro to help you out ;-)

[data from: How restaurants are using mobile and online technology]

]]> http://happymiel.be/restaurants-and-mobile-business/feed 0 http://happymiel.be/restaurants-and-mobile-business 26 inspiring quotes http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HappyMiel/~3/7jPMyg_kXm4/26-inspiring-quotes http://happymiel.be/26-inspiring-quotes#comments Mon, 18 Jun 2012 10:45:12 +0000 Miel http://happymiel.be/?p=1298


]]> http://happymiel.be/26-inspiring-quotes/feed 0 http://happymiel.be/26-inspiring-quotes The story of the product http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HappyMiel/~3/VI4Pr3JvEr8/the-story-of-the-product http://happymiel.be/the-story-of-the-product#comments Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:45:25 +0000 Miel http://happymiel.be/?p=1296

It’s been proven countless times in the past that it’s very important to bring more than just a product to the consumer. People want stories, and stories stick. A look behind the scenes, a sneak preview, the origin of ingredients or the product journey… all of these have served many times in successful promo clips or popular videos. The latest two remarkable vids I saw floating by on the web recently:

Delta Airlines: Your bag’s journey on Delta / because unless you work in the luggage handling sector of aviation, you’ve always wanted to know what happens when your suitcase takes a ride on the belt.

(via)

Patient research work involving more than 5 thousand photographs resulted in a 1 minute film that AlmapBBDO created to advertise Getty Images, the world leading image database for creating and distributing visual contents. The film is surprising when showing 873 images in 15 images per second, sufficient speed to transform the series into a video that, without any text, tells a beautiful story. All photos, without any exceptions, are from the Getty Images archives.

Getty Images: From love to bingo (in 873 images)

]]> http://happymiel.be/the-story-of-the-product/feed 0 http://happymiel.be/the-story-of-the-product Marketing sunlight http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HappyMiel/~3/G1ZTM4DPsuc/marketing-sunlight http://happymiel.be/marketing-sunlight#comments Sun, 06 May 2012 18:59:38 +0000 Miel http://happymiel.be/?p=1288

If you like being out and enjoy your time in the sun you’ll agree that there’s more to ‘sitting in the sunlight’ than just finding a good spot. There’s a strategy to picking the right seat on a terrace or in the park. It’s also about keeping track of where the sun is going to be for the rest of the time you’re out. Finding the right sunspot isn’t always easy, especially if you live in a big city where buildings are covering the sun.

What better way to promote your business than selling what’s free? Ray Ban and Coppertone did just that. Both companies released an interactive app to help you find the perfect spot. Sunglasses brand Ray Ban even suggests cafes or restaurants where you and your friends can meet, all with the specific hours of sunlight listed. The social factor: it lets you check in into the sunspots, and you can add new spots that haven’t been listed yet.

Ray Ban’s Bright Light:

What I like the most about Bright Light is that it shows you alternative walking directions which might not always be the shortest, but they will be the sunniest. A bit less social and limited to Newy York, Sunscreen brand Coppertone serves NYC the sunny side up:

All we have to do now is wait for branded apps with air quality stats and the urban locations where it’s the safest to breathe. Might be a good thing for Fébrèze or Breeze. I can already see the free oxygen stands!

]]> http://happymiel.be/marketing-sunlight/feed 0 http://happymiel.be/marketing-sunlight Future travel predictions http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HappyMiel/~3/ysQW2PlaWxI/future-travel-predictions http://happymiel.be/future-travel-predictions#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:05:45 +0000 Miel http://happymiel.be/?p=1274

Here’s a little gem from KLM: in exchange for access to your Facebook, they’ll predict for you where you’ll travel to in the future, based on the places you’ve been (and were tagged or checked-in at, I presume). Additionally, they say they’re Googling your name, parse those results, check 7200 travel destinations, check Gowalla and then some other undisclosed things. The undisclosed things could be programmer humor though.

The prediction in my case reads: “In August we predict you will be in the spectacular city of New York
. Your arms are getting a little tired from carrying an obscene amount of shopping bags, but you just happily keep strolling down 5th avenue. Got to love shopping in the big apple! And who knows? You might bump into Paul while you’re there!”

I like the forecast. Good thing about this campaign is that it delivers emotions and dreams. There is something in the human nature about knowing the future… a sort of Thanatos in every one of us who desires to know how much time there’s left and what to expect next. As much as we enjoy the element of surprise and the unexpected in life if it’s a good thing, we want to avoid all the bad and prevent evils from happening. It’s the reason why horoscope predictions are so popular and good fortune tellers make more fortune than ever.

Putting the element of prediction in a campaign is always a good idea. Let’s talk about relevance and execution now. I was really thrilled with my prediction, could already see myself strolling through Battery Park pondering about how the Titanic never made it. But then I notice the button at the bottom of the page and it says: “Not so sure? Try again.” – that’s a disappointment. Every time I hit the button I get a different result. Other random friend, other random destination. The magic is gone.

During the loading sequence, you read: “checking Gowalla” (a mobile check-in social service). I’m not using that service, I’m using FourSquare. If only it was linked to my 4sq account, then it would find the places I’ve visited and predict my future much more precise. Small details, but it narrows down the segment of people who feel ‘talked to’ with every misstep along the way. Either you say you’re checking all of networks (even if it’s fake), or don’t mention it at all. But if you mention just one, the magic’s gone for everybody who’s not on it.

I really like the idea, but I would’ve enjoyed it more if it was executed better. The prediction it makes right now doesn’t really require a Facebook auth to see the campaign. Not if the results are so shallow. Or at least, and excuse me if I’m wrong, that’s the impression you get.

Imagine you’d really launch an app that sources all the data and accurately predicts your destinations based on where you’ve been and where your friends will be, and then imagine the ideal online social network where all of its users share every location they’ve been on vacation to or stayed at during a city trip, and plan/announce all of their future trips as well. That would be great, wouldn’t it?

Unfortunately in this case, not everything contributes to the story. I would never put the ‘try again to break the magic’ button next to a call to action to buy the tickets, and the SQRP (social query results page) would look a lot more attractive. If you’re trying to sell tickets, sell the dream first. It’s not that hard to pull some nice pictures up about the destinations and create a nice template for the results.

I liked it, at first. But I revoke the invitation.
I demand more spectacle in exchange for my personal data!

Travel Predictions website

]]> http://happymiel.be/future-travel-predictions/feed 0 http://happymiel.be/future-travel-predictions Social currency exchange http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HappyMiel/~3/5vyyO29rfyg/social-currency-exchange http://happymiel.be/social-currency-exchange#comments Sun, 08 Apr 2012 12:10:16 +0000 Miel http://happymiel.be/?p=1251

In an interesting infographic from Backupify about the valuation of social data, I’ve found this little bit that shows what it would take to make $10 with social media if the company revenue would be divided by content.

Other interesting bits:

  • A Facebook user is worth $118.34
  • A Linkedin user is worth $104.46
  • A DropBox user is worth $80.00
  • A Twitter user is worth $71.43
  • A FourSquare user is worth $40.00
  • A Pinterest user is worth $28.09
  • A Yelp user us worth $21.21
  • An instagram user is worth $18.82
  • A Path user is worth $12.50

Too bad there are no numbers about Google or Google+ in this infographic because the stats on Technology Review about the revenue per active user are quite promising:

See the full Social Economics infographic here
How much is a user worth?

]]> http://happymiel.be/social-currency-exchange/feed 0 http://happymiel.be/social-currency-exchange