Month: February 2017

Categories
Alexa Amazon Echo Smart Home

The Connected Home is Changing, Thanks to “Alexa”

By: Vince Kattoula

If you were at CES last month, one name you heard everyone saying is “Alexa.” As the voice of Amazon Echo, many device makers were featuring her in their products – and for good reason. By this summer, it is predicted that nearly 30 million families will have added some sort of smart technology to their household. Therefore, we’re confident that voice command technology will quickly gain traction in homes, condos, apartments, college dorms, and even hotel rooms.

Devices like Echo and Google Home appear poised to be the new technology (and with certain new home door locks, literal) gatekeepers in the home. They provide the interface to all kinds of other devices, appliances, and other ordinary household objects that are rapidly becoming part of the “Internet of Things.” These gatekeepers not only provide consumers unheard of control over their environment, they are yet another source of user data.

By collecting and analyzing data on consumer behavior, brands can create improved and more targeted ad campaigns. Alexa and her competitors are even interfacing with one of our favorite topics around here: The Connected Car. Our partners at Ford understand how important voice command technology has become. Earlier this year, the automaker announced a partnership with Amazon that would bring Alexa into Fusions, Explorers, Escapes, and their other vehicles. Connecting the home and car will empower drivers to start their car with a simple voice command, or turn up the heat before returning home.

From playing a stream or podcast to setting the temperature or turning on the lights, there’s a lot these devices can do. At jācapps, we have been working on developing “skills” for Alexa. We’ve been playing with our Echo (and yes, our Google Home) because of its huge potential to redefine the way consumers inform and entertain themselves where they live.

So, in our ever more “connected” world, it appears that offering consumers just a smartphone app won’t cut it anymore. Your brand needs to follow your audience wherever they may be. This means offering them apps everywhere (or App Everywhere℠ as we like to say) in the car and now … in their homes.

Click here to reach out to us with questions about your brand’s mobile strategy for 2017. You can also give us a call at 248-353-9030 or email sales@jacapps.com.

Categories
Alexa Amazon Echo Smart Home

The Connected Home is Changing, Thanks to "Alexa"

By: Vince Kattoula

If you were at CES last month, one name you heard everyone saying is “Alexa.” As the voice of Amazon Echo, many device makers were featuring her in their products – and for good reason. By this summer, it is predicted that nearly 30 million families will have added some sort of smart technology to their household. Therefore, we’re confident that voice command technology will quickly gain traction in homes, condos, apartments, college dorms, and even hotel rooms.
Devices like Echo and Google Home appear poised to be the new technology (and with certain new home door locks, literal) gatekeepers in the home. They provide the interface to all kinds of other devices, appliances, and other ordinary household objects that are rapidly becoming part of the “Internet of Things.” These gatekeepers not only provide consumers unheard of control over their environment, they are yet another source of user data.
By collecting and analyzing data on consumer behavior, brands can create improved and more targeted ad campaigns. Alexa and her competitors are even interfacing with one of our favorite topics around here: The Connected Car. Our partners at Ford understand how important voice command technology has become. Earlier this year, the automaker announced a partnership with Amazon that would bring Alexa into Fusions, Explorers, Escapes, and their other vehicles. Connecting the home and car will empower drivers to start their car with a simple voice command, or turn up the heat before returning home.
From playing a stream or podcast to setting the temperature or turning on the lights, there’s a lot these devices can do. At jācapps, we have been working on developing “skills” for Alexa. We’ve been playing with our Echo (and yes, our Google Home) because of its huge potential to redefine the way consumers inform and entertain themselves where they live.
So, in our ever more “connected” world, it appears that offering consumers just a smartphone app won’t cut it anymore. Your brand needs to follow your audience wherever they may be. This means offering them apps everywhere (or App Everywhere℠ as we like to say) in the car and now … in their homes.
Click here to reach out to us with questions about your brand’s mobile strategy for 2017. You can also give us a call at 248-353-9030 or email sales@jacapps.com.

Categories
Uncategorized

Key Takeaways from Digital Marketing Boot Camp 2017

By: Vince Kattoula

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the inaugural Digital Marketing Boot Camp hosted by the Detroit Regional Chamber. The event took place at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in the A. Alfred F. Taubman Center for Design Education. It was a crowded room filled with much energy and inspiration. Here are some key takeaways.
Sola Obayan, Founder and former President of the Social Media Association of Michigan, had this to say about running a successful marketing campaign: “Start with WHY, then HOW, then WHAT.” Currently, she leads 360+ strategic marketing programs as the Principal Consultant at BTO Solutions. Throughout her presentation, she stressed that one thing to focus on in 2017 is your brand’s website, as well as optimizing messaging. Before she left the stage, Sola challenged each one of us to find out our purpose, cause, or belief that inspires us to do what we do. Do you know your WHY?
Sarah Grajewski, Director of Search at MLive Media Group, says “If a business doesn’t show up on the first page of Google, they don’t exist.” Search advertising is the low-hanging fruit of digital marketing. We all know how important it is for our brand to show up in organic search results. Michael Taylor II, Partner and Creative Director at SS Digital Media, reiterated this point at DMBC 17. Improving your website’s search engine ranking help customers find you. In fact, it drives more traffic to sites than paid searches, social media outreach, email marketing, and referrals combined.
What stood out to me the most was Marcus Burrell and Eric Thomas’ presentation about taking a human approach to social media. Both Marcus and Eric are Senior Partners at Saga MKTG and their goal is to help organizations tell their story to bridge gaps and inspire people to action. They mentioned that instead of talking to their audience only when they need to, brands should be talking to their audience on a regular basis – just as you would with your friends and family. Thomas went on to say, “People don’t care about your brand. They care about humans. Humanize your brand and people will care about it.”
I left CCS feeling engaged and inspired. It’s safe to say that I’m looking forward to the next digital marketing event hosted by the Detroit Regional Chamber.
Special thanks to Brenda Meller from Walsh College for the invite!

Categories
Mobile Apps Podcasting

Podcasting Can Help Your Brand Grow, Here’s How

By: Vince Kattoula

There seems to be a podcast for just about every interest out there. With the right content and an effective strategy, a podcast can help grow your brand and even capture new leads. To stay relevant, and to maintain your place as one of the 27 apps that smartphone owners use on average, podcasting should definitely be a part of your content and marketing mix.

Building meaningful relationships with consumers takes effort. As you work to move customers down the sales “funnel,” podcasts can be a great tool to complement your efforts. Through a podcast, you can connect with your audience on a personal level, inform them about subjects relevant to them and their decision about using your product or service, and speak directly to their interests. It’s an awesome platform to keep up with your brand for a busy professional who’s always on-the-go.

Blogs are a great way to get your message across to your target audience. But, unlike podcasts, they cannot be consumed while driving or while doing other activities, like exercising or cleaning the house. Thanks to the ease with which people can listen to them on their mobile devices, podcasts can attract people who are not as interested (or don’t have the time) in consuming written content. Having a podcast available to share with your audience during whatever activity they may be doing increases your chance of engaging with them further, as well as introducing new people to your brand.

If you’re currently involved with podcasting, or looking to get involved, make sure to check out the largest gathering of podcasters in the world at Podcast Movement. This year, it takes place in Anaheim, CA from August 23-25. And, if you work in/around radio and would like $100 off your Podcast Movement registration, our sister company, Jacobs Media, was nice enough to provide a discount code. Use JACOBS100 for the $100 discount when you register here.

Podcast Movement 2017: Broadcasters Meet Podcasters

One of the best things about the apps we build here at jācapps is the podcasting feature. It is second only to the stream in popularity. Click here to get even more of an understanding of how podcasting can help your brand. You can also reach out to us at 248-353-9030 or sales@jacapps.com.

Categories
Mobile Apps Podcasting

Podcasting Can Help Your Brand Grow, Here's How

By: Vince Kattoula

There seems to be a podcast for just about every interest out there. With the right content and an effective strategy, a podcast can help grow your brand and even capture new leads. To stay relevant, and to maintain your place as one of the 27 apps that smartphone owners use on average, podcasting should definitely be a part of your content and marketing mix.
Building meaningful relationships with consumers takes effort. As you work to move customers down the sales “funnel,” podcasts can be a great tool to complement your efforts. Through a podcast, you can connect with your audience on a personal level, inform them about subjects relevant to them and their decision about using your product or service, and speak directly to their interests. It’s an awesome platform to keep up with your brand for a busy professional who’s always on-the-go.
Blogs are a great way to get your message across to your target audience. But, unlike podcasts, they cannot be consumed while driving or while doing other activities, like exercising or cleaning the house. Thanks to the ease with which people can listen to them on their mobile devices, podcasts can attract people who are not as interested (or don’t have the time) in consuming written content. Having a podcast available to share with your audience during whatever activity they may be doing increases your chance of engaging with them further, as well as introducing new people to your brand.
If you’re currently involved with podcasting, or looking to get involved, make sure to check out the largest gathering of podcasters in the world at Podcast Movement. This year, it takes place in Anaheim, CA from August 23-25. And, if you work in/around radio and would like $100 off your Podcast Movement registration, our sister company, Jacobs Media, was nice enough to provide a discount code. Use JACOBS100 for the $100 discount when you register here.

Podcast Movement 2017: Broadcasters Meet Podcasters

One of the best things about the apps we build here at jācapps is the podcasting feature. It is second only to the stream in popularity. Click here to get even more of an understanding of how podcasting can help your brand. You can also reach out to us at 248-353-9030 or sales@jacapps.com.

Categories
Mobile Apps Radio

4 Reasons Why Your Radio Station Should Have a Mobile App

Radio Apps

By: Vince Kattoula

Investing in mobile apps is crucial because your audience’s attention is literally in the palm of their hand. A mobile app helps your station engage its best listeners, enables new listening occasions (the gym, the house, etc.), and connects your brand with new listeners. Here are some ways your audio brand can benefit from having a mobile app:
Apps build brand recognition
Considering that the average US adult spends about 2.8 hours per day consuming mobile media, having your brand’s logo on your listeners’ screen is extremely valuable. Furthermore, according to eMarketer, the average smartphone user spends 85% of their smartphone time in apps, compared to 15% on the mobile web. This means that a clear majority of that media being consumed is being consumed using an app. The more listeners see your logo, the more they’ll recognize your brand – which is why you shouldn’t just assume that listeners will find you on TuneIn, iHeart or the mobile web.
Apps drive engagement
One clear advantage apps hold over mobile websites is the ability to create highly specific, individually customized messages that users will find relevant – such as special offers and events. Using the proper analytics, your station can personalize the experience and, in turn, offer more value and provide a place for your listeners to interact with your brand and each other.
Push notifications are a powerful way to keep listeners up-to-date with information about contests, events, weather and traffic. Your station’s most loyal fans will likely opt-in to these notifications, which means they’ll always be informed about and connected with your content and your brand.
Apps increase loyalty
A mobile app for your audience provides your brand another opportunity to sign up new listeners and to also say “thank you” to your existing listeners. Creating offers that are exclusive to your app will keep listeners coming back for more, resulting in a stronger relationship with your brand. However, we’ve said before that having an app is only half the battle. This still holds true. Promoting and marketing your app requires real focus and attention. Check out our blog “3 Keys to Effective App Promotion” for some great ways to successfully promote your mobile app.
Apps generate digital dollars
Watch our webinar on Monetizing Mobile to get a better understanding of how to generate additional revenue for your radio station using mobile apps.
Click here to discuss your station’s mobile strategy, and what we can do to help. Also, you can give us a call at 248-353-9030 or email us at sales@jacapps.com.

Categories
Mobile Apps Smart Home

Mobile Apps Play to the Home Crowd

By: Vince Kattoula

Over the last year or so, mobile apps have followed us from our smartphones and tablets to our cars and homes in multiple ways. We can thank devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home for leading this app revolution into our homes. These devices are capable of voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, and providing weather, traffic and other real time information. They can also control several smart devices when used as a home automation hub. Personal assistants and voice commands, along with the apps and devices that use them, have been with us for some time now. Gartner reports that the use of these personal assistants, such as Siri and Google Now, has grown from 31% to 35% from 2015 to 2016. As the months go by, more consumers are becoming less apprehensive about this kind of technology.
As it becomes more seamless and intuitive, voice control in the home has the potential to become one of the biggest tech hits of the year. There are currently about 250 devices that are certified to work with Echo, which presents an opportunity for several brands to gain a strong presence in consumers’ homes. Furthermore, Amazon has encouraged rapid development of third-party applications with its open-systems approach and even financial incentives for some partners. Apple also understands this challenge, which is why they have built an app, called Homekit, solely dedicated to whole home automation.
What this means is your brand needs to start thinking about how it will interact with consumers beyond their phone, tablet, and even their car. How will voice controlled technology impact your brand’s identity and they ways it engages your consumers? It may seem like something far off in the future, but the sales of Amazon Echo and Google Home this past Christmas, would seem to indicate that the future is closer than you might think.
We can help you with those questions. Click here to reach out to one of our mobile experts, call 248-353-9030 or email sales@jacapps.com.