This week I went to the dentist - Dr. Brian Handel, in Wayne, PA – and noticed awards and several autographed celebrity photos on the walls of the waiting room.  I also noticed his website, and it got me wondering, do dentists use Facebook for marketing?  Turns out, they do.

A study in 2011 found that 60% of dentists now have a Facebook page, with suburban dentists leading the way.  The study also found that dentists use their Facebook pages for monthly giveaways, like a free teeth-whitening session or a free gas card, and that several have drawings for iPads and Kindles.  Some also use it to gain referrals. 

Another resource didn’t do a study, however instead issued its own “Top 10 Dentists in Social Media” list.

When you think about it, dentists are a very important part of the local business landscape.  Other local organizations are increasing their exposure through Facebook, and I think dentists have nothing to lose by creating a Facebook page for their practice.

By the way, Dr. Handel advertises “personalized and comfortable” care on his website, and in my case he flicked-away my small cavity in less than 10 minutes and with no pain.  His site also says he was just named “One of America’s Best Dentists” for 2012 by the National Consumer Advisory Council.  That’s also a great use of dental-practice marketing.

Courtesy: Nectarine Natural Body Care

By Chris Alexander, as first published today in MarketingDaily:

One weekend when I was sitting on the couch with my four-year-old son, we were quizzing each other with simple and not-so-simple mathematical equations (typical activity between the two of us).  As he tried to out-score me by making up some imaginary super-quad-gazillion number, he stopped to ask a rather obvious question:  “what’s the biggest number in the entire universe?”  Ah, the subject of infinity.

Big ideas

A big idea usually becomes bigger than one individual or even a group, and with the technology curve it evolves faster than ever before.  Spreading fast, it modifies and adapts itself until it’s a fully-polished entity that’s ready to compete in the world.  One of these ideas belongs to Google.

As you will see in my first marketing blog post, I envision a new “empowered-mom,” one who has grasped the buying process from marketers and has given it to her peers.  After I wrote that, a flood of qualitative and quantitative information started flowing into my inbox.

Some of the entrepreneurs, marketers and agency folks I talked to were also exploring this new age of consumer conversation, many of them referencing Google and its philosophy of the evolving Zero Moment of Truth.  That is, the idea that there is a new step in the purchase process, a step where a consumer pauses to gather research from 10 or more online or offline sources before ever reaching the store.  Immediately, I studied the model more, and discussed implications of it with my peers.

Then, I decided to attack it.

Google and P&G – two thought-leaders

P&G created the first “moment of truth,” or MOT, and then Google came along with the most recent one and changed the game on P&G’s marketing philosophy.  P&G has a ‘very smart crew of marketers’, and they realize the world has evolved, so Google’s nicely-crafted MOT was the perfect package at the perfect time.  And, rightly so.  It accurately throws-away the old traditional marketing funnel and creates a new world, a new MOT.  From store-shelf to online, Google and P&G take over the marketing world, again.

A brand guy versus Google – the empowered marketer?

You’re probably wondering by now, why call-out Google’s shiny new MOT?

While I do appreciate their creative thinking and well-packaged selling tool, I contend that Google’s MOT can lead a marketer to the wrong end-game.  This new MOT starts to fuel a new empowered-marketer, not an empowered-consumer.  And, the consumer is the empowered-mom.  Marketers can’t fabricate conversations about their products through a new MOT.  Those true conversations are now owned by consumers.

But alas, the new marketer feels great with the new MOT acronym in his pocket, and is feeling on the cutting-edge of consumer insights, is riding the technology super-train, and is gaining a powerful edge against the competition.  Right?

Not really.  While the ‘very smart crew of marketers’ (mentioned above) dive deep into human minds to find true ‘human insights’ ahead of brand benefit, many other marketers will yield the powerful marketing sword with their new MOT and their shiny new marketing acronym.  This marketing crowd will take over the online world and tell consumers all about their product’s attributes and why they are truly unique and own-able.  Great.  But, what does the conversationalist, buying-power-wielding, collaborative mom think?

A brand guy 1, Google 0

Fortunately, many marketers are savvy and adept at change.  While some will naturally stumble early in this new empowered world, they’ll eventually find a way to copy the more successful early-adaptors.

However, with an infinite number of empowered-mom conversations about to take place and already taking place, it’s time for me to get back into the conversation with them.

Chris Alexander is a senior marketing manager in the food industry.  You can reach him at christopher_alexander@hotmail.com.

Courtesy: comScore, Localeze, MediaPost

As you’re going around your friend’s neighborhood and wondering where the closest burger joint is, chances are you or someone in the car with you whipped-out their iPhone, iPad or other mobile device and did a search.  After the initial search, you may have even gone straight to the business’s Facebook page to check out the comments or specials.

You wouldn’t be alone.  Research from comScore and Localeze shows that local business searches on social media have increased 67% since 2010.

Not only that, but potential patrons said that they consider local search results more relevant and trustworthy than paid or general search results.  For the full infographic, posted by MediaPost, click here.

Courtesy: Foot Fairy iPad App.

By Chris Alexander

One ordinary day, I was sitting in the boardroom where I work, and our new president asked the marketing team a very simple question:  “what is the future of marketing?”  My mind started to race across social media and the changing digital landscape, and this opportunity to imagine the future immediately started to burn into my psyche.

While still in the meeting, we started reviewing the history of marketing.  That is, in the 1950s and 1960s, marketing was product-centric.  From the 1970s to the 1990s, it was more consumer-oriented.  In the 2000s, it moved towards being more values-driven.  Where I work, we challenge ourselves everyday to think about the mind, body and spirit of the consumer, and how her life (moms buy our products the most) fits into our brand.  So, several days then went by after this meeting, and the answer continued to haunt me, until…

Eureka! 

The iPad.  Last Christmas, one of my gifts was an iPad, my first Apple product since the 1980s.  I felt like this product had been invented for me, as I previously had a netbook and it made my head spin (how could someone make it so difficult to connect to the web from a cell-based computer anyway?).  At first, I was skeptical of every iPad app, with questions like:  why would I pay money for something that is not tangible?  However, within a week, my purchase decision-making had changed forever, and I started to evolve.  I thought to myself, “we, as consumers, have evolved more in the past year than we’ve ever evolved at any point in time before.”  The marketer inside of me started to ask how this type of change is now affecting moms.

The Evolution   

“Mom” has gone through this evolution as well, arguably much faster than I have.  This Internet-savvy consumer scours food blogs, searches for recipes and connects online with friends and family more than the average person.  She has a sense of entitlement, sense of empowerment, and soon she could reach self-actualization.  Mom has transformed from a mass-marketing target to a potential brand ambassador as she communicates quickly with her peers and with experts.  She’s connected to all the other moms and they collectively decide what products are worthy of their ‘buzz.’

Peer Reviews and Virtual Reality

The only thing today that is stopping consumers from simple five-star ratings and peer reviews is simply infrastructure.  How long will it be before every single product is logged into one vehicle, where consumers can instantly see what the best peer rating is?  How long before they take the power from the marketers with the biggest budget or the brightest minds and hand it to their peers?

Enter Siri, the iPhone’s personal virtual assistant.  Fast-forward into the future, a time when mom is working late, so she says to Siri (who now has a real-sounding voice):  “Siri – I’m running late again from work and my family is going to be starving.”  Siri responds, “I’m proud of you and your hard work.  I just looked up quick meal solutions, and I recommend cajun chicken pasta.  Use Perdue Short Cuts chicken with four-and-a-half stars, great peer comments, and a 2011 ChefsBest award.   You have the spices and pasta at the house and the Perdue chicken can be at the drive-thru at Wegmans awaiting your arrival in one hour.”  While in the car and within a minute, she and her virtual assistant have just saved the day.  Another successful, empowered-mom moment.

It’s Here

According to Google’s Zero Moment of Truth study, consumers have already doubled their sources of information before making a purchase, from five in 2010, to ten in 2011.  The empowered-mom revolution has arrived.

Chris Alexander is a senior marketing manager in the food industry.  You can reach him at christopher_alexander@hotmail.com.

QR codes are gaining popularity as a way to bridge the physical medium, like paper, with a website.  We’ve been seeing them now more in magazines and just about everywhere else, including at events.   Here’s a great article from Mashable on using QR codes for events:  click here.

To scan a QR code with your smartphone, just search your phone’s apps section for “QR code reader.”  You’ll likely come up with a solid choice like Apostrophe Digital’s Mobile Tag Reader on the iPhone, or Microsoft’s Tag reader.  You use the viewfinder on your camera’s phone to scan the tag and then it takes you to a website.

Try scanning the above QR code with your phone and you should go to Mouse and Pen’s website again.  There are many creative uses for QR codes today, from business cards to billboards.  Try scanning all of these posted here, including a keychain:  click here.

Where can you put them for your business to drive more people to an offer on your website?  You can make your own QR code here:  click here.