Brands that Tweet

There has been a lot of discussion lately about whether or not brands should be on Twitter. If you are thinking about whether your brand should be on Twitter – Here is just some of the discussions occurring about branding with Twitter

• BusinessWeek piece on Brands that Tweet

• Do brands belong on Twitter?

• Brands need to think before they tweet!

• Why Brands ABSOLUTELY DO Belong on Twitter

View the list of brands that are Twittering >

Make Customer Service Local and Strong

Customer service is a business’s No. 1 form of advertisement. It will keep people coming back even if the prices are not the lowest, because adding value to your service still holds weight even in this economy. Businesses that realize this — and act on it — in 2009 should continue to grow no matter what the economy throws at them.

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The Plight of Advertisers in a Multichannel World

Consumers increasingly expect device independence in accessing content, indicates a new survey from Deloitte. The trend is most pronounced among younger people, but Baby Boomers and older adults — those likely to be bigger spenders — are also mixing it up.

About half (49 percent) of U.S. consumers want the freedom to view their content on any platform they choose — be it television, media center software, smartphone, or PC.

Perhaps the biggest trend reflected in the survey findings, not surprisingly, is the rise of the mobile phone as an entertainment device. Over half of those in the Millennial generation (ages 14 to 25) view their mobile phones as sources of entertainment content. That’s compared to 32 percent of consumers overall. In the U.S., 20 percent of consumers even use their mobile devices to view long-format video, including television shows and movies.

Another trend driven by the Millennial generation is Internet access to video content, perhaps most notably, movies. A whopping 67 percent of Millennials watch movies online. Members of this generation also are much more receptive to user-generated content such as blogs. A vast majority of them (81 percent) view such content, compared to 66 percent of consumers overall.

What seems clear is the fact that consumers in all groups are chafing at the prospect of being forced to stay on a particular platform to use a particular type of content. A significant majority (60 percent) of respondents indicated that they would like to be able to easily integrate their televisions with their computers.

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Time to Build Your Communities

Before you run out and fire everyone or slash the budget to the point that stamps are rationed by the CEO, consider something else. Marketing is essential to promoting your ideas, and even in a recession, promoting your ideas is a powerful tool for doing business now and down the road.

There are three things that marketing — alone or in conjunction with sales — can do to help you make the downturn as shallow as possible for your bottom line.

1. Spreading your thought leadership

2. Showing your customers that you are involved in their success

3. Building communities that will drive your inevitable upturn

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