Four Click Freedom

http://bit.ly/173fzI

SmartKiosk Media will deliver Digital-Out-Of-Home (DOOH) advertising via interactive “SmartKiosks,” smartphones, internet social networking sites, and a unique format of direct mail print advertising to consumer households.

Now this is pretty amazing and along the same line as my idea.  My idea again is to use the web, print and outdoor advertising to collect coupons via a coupon code that can be collected using your phone number, on the web or by texting.  On the web these ads can be on social networking sites or use of local targeting software agencies.

The kiosks in my theory was for pre-shopping and collecting of additional deals of the day at your grocer or mall outlet.  When these coupons are then validated at the point of purchase using your phone, and it doesn’t have to be a smart phone, then the retailer is sent the validation as well, eliminating cheating coupons.

The final step is the print media sent to the users house.  Now I am pretty sure that the material this company is sending is just Direct Mail full of ads, even if they are targeted or not.  My idea is to link your magazines and newspapers to your shopping history, something you can also tailor online.  Then when the magazines and newspapers of your choice come to your house they are full of relevant advertising that make a difference to you.

With all the screaming and hollering about the print industry dying it is any wonder why they haven’t tried to absorb this idea.  But the good thing is, if I can get the numbers, I now have something to pull from to allocate risk analyses and profit margins. So, go Smart Kiosks!

http://bit.ly/4sLzg9

This article is about the traditional mobile couponing campaigns underway.  My mom sent this to me and here was my response:

That is not what I am doing but very effective.  I allow users to collect the coupons rather than just be an open portal to discounts that they may or may not use, thus receiving anything and everything.  Also here in China I have to deal with no computers at the point of purchase but still have to verify that the coupon is valid.  I can also go from print to feed to mobile.  Not just surfing the net to feed to mobile.  By feed I mean that the users have a personal account at advertual.com and can collect more coupons from around the Internet, set their settings for advertisers to direct to sell to them, and access their feed of coupons from their phone, much like what I see in this article.  Sounds the same but mine can work for any retailer no matter how big or small with point of sale computers or not.

I checked out the sites that were in the article.  The coupons are so un engaging it is the exact same as cutting coupons the way you used to except on the computer.  Completely boring.  There is no sale done by the retailer except the money off.  Apparently the sale already has to be made then you have to find the coupon and then save.  My clickboard makes the sale, gives you the discount, and then rewards you at the final purchase.  This is advertual, not couponing.

I found a really cool feature on Google Analytics.  I can actually follow someone as they travel through my site going from page to page.  It shows me the percent of people who clicked on different links on a particular page.  So as Alvin and his company from Shanghai traversed my site on Tuesday I could actually follow them as the went from home screen to Clickcard, to Clickboards, to the About page and then the the Clickcard category and so forth.  I couldn’t tell which exact button was clicked by who because there was more than one person searching my site that day, but I could see two or three distinct paths.

The problem however is when they visited the Clickboard page.  The Clickboards are supposed to be ads.  Now Google Analytics will track ads but they have to be registered.  My Clickboards are not registered, so I was unable to see if they clicked on them and how many times and how far they went through the Clickboards.  Very upsetting because that was kind of the point of their visit.  Tomorrow I will have to find out how to register my Clickboards with the Google Analytics.  My first assumption is to add the tag to the Flash coding and then repost them.  And another way is somehow with this Wordpress site.  It has an ad tracker too but haven’t explored this in detail yet.  Both options seem viable but I like the new Google Analytics tool so I am going to explore that first.

I guess I haven’t mentioned why I am so interested in mGuanxi and why I switched my focus from Jin Magazine.  First thing is first i guess, Richard, my current boss here at Jin Magazine, had the opportunity to review my proposal, well at least I put it in front of him.  Whether he looked at the numbers or not, I can’t say, but he refused the new project based on the fact that he is not looking to invest any more time or money into the Jin Media and rather focus on his logistics business.

So that said I needed new options, I was going to re propose to him but now that I think about it, that would have been futile.  So as the opportunity came to my attention when talking to Don Stewart, an indirect colleague of mine here in the office, who at one point offered himself as an angel investor, he brought to my attention several services that are in the same field I am pursuing.  One of which was mGuanxi.  Unlike the other text discount services he put before me, this media had a very unique web portal.

This web portal had the ability for people to come together and add contacts and join groups, take polls, blog, and send messages.  Much like other social media sites.  However this had no connection to their mobile outlet and the benefit to the users over Facebook and local forum websites was quite minimal.  But to me, this was a perfect platform to develop Clickboards.

By adding another tab which would represent Clickboards, using the clicker icon, users would enter a section of the website where they could manage their mobile coupons and acquire Clickboards.  Here they could share with their groups or contacts and friends and redeem points for luxury vouchers.  Really this is the high dive that could really put Clickboards on the map.  These are the top four reasons I had Don tell Alvin of mGuanxi why he should listen to me and my proposal:

Gives a reason for people to interact (to share their coupons, rewards, freebies and earn more)

Makes service free for user and adds performance for clients

Advertisers can decide what and to whom they reward

Breaches the gap between behavioral marketing and static impressions

So far, I have no response and neither does Don from Alvin Graylin from mGuanxi owner of the parent company mInfo.  He may think he is a little taller than me in his high heeled boots and can’t see the relevance of a Jin Magazine editor having come up with a good idea for him because he is a dual major MIT graduate.  But if he could stop himself a minute and so could the rest of you to review what I keep going on about, he may see the true validity that my project has.  Or maybe he is just on vacation and I need to sit back myself for a second.

The real reason I am going after my boss and mGuanxi is so that I don’t have to develop my own brand image.  Jin has a name which would make the Jin Card more recognizable here in Tianjin, and although mGuanxi isn’t a true silver dollar in terms of user interaction, it does have some strength in its name, something that I could definitely build upon.

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