Google Fusion Tables

"When it comes to free data and transparency, the United States of America is one of the best." --Hans Rosling, TED Talks

In looking for fun things to do with Google, compared to similar services offered by Microsoft or Yahoo, I found that Google really doesn't invest its resources onto frivolous notions like 3rd party online games. Instead, Google seems to have everyone else beat in terms of web-based productivity tools. 

First launched in mid-2009, Google's Fusion Tables offers a means of geospatial data visualization and collaboration using public or private datasets. In its Example Gallery, the sample that caught my attention was the one done by WikiEdData about poverty in Washington state school districts. Here is a TED video of Hans Rosling using motion charts and speaking about a historical view of worldwide GDP, per capita income, and mortality rate.

Key features:

• Longitude/Latitude supported by the decimal degree system (same as Google Maps)
• Import CSV files up to 100MB
• Fusion Tables API
• Sharing and merging of tables
• Images cannot be uploaded but can be displayed using a URL

i.e. versus e.g.

Occasionally I have to remind myself about proper Latin syntax when mixed with American English.

i.e. stands for "id est", which means "that is" or "it is". For example: 

I am going to make the best grilled cheese sandwich, i.e., with grilled bacon.
e.g. stands for "exempli gratia", which means "for the sake of example" or, in modern use "for example", e.g.:

I am going to make the best grilled sandwiches, e.g., grilled cheese and smoked ham, roasted vegetables and bacon on toasted panini bread, or grilled portobello mushroom with red peppers and eggplant sandwich.

Secondary Market Research Tactics, part 1

Secondary market research consists of data points and report findings that were conducted and/or compiled by another source. It is typically used by students (for a college course that requires industry data about a company, a niche market, or an industry), businesses, and sometimes consumers who want to see who else is in the industry that could provide complementary products and services so they can make better purchase decisions. While research gathered this way is often inexpensive, it is also less accurate and doesn't provide a complete picture about a niche industry (e.g., Mazda aftermarket auto parts).

Perhaps a client or constituents within your firm have asked about growing market share or starting a new business line in other verticals or market segments. Maybe searching for this data validates or invalidates questions you have about a particular industry. Or perhaps, you are just looking for additional data to support primary research findings before presenting them to a client. All these are common uses of secondary market research findings.

There is a multitude of general use and industry sources where users can get a hold of published market data. The main types of secondary market research sources include government, trade associations (National Association of Realtors, National Automobile Dealers Association, commercial (e.g., JD Power & Associates, NPD, Nieslen), and national or international institutions (e.g., RAND) 
General use public sources:

• US Census Bureau - www.census.gov
• US Bureau of Labor Statistics - www.bls.gov
• National Institute of Health - www.nih.gov
• US Patent and Trademark Office - www.uspto.gov
• Science Accelerator - www.scienceaccelerator.gov
• Newspaper/magazine articles, press releases, and trade publications

Subscription-based sources:

• Lexis-Nexis (legal articles & risk assessment), Atypon (journal article search)
• Enerdata (energy research), OpenThesis (Theses, Dissertations & Academic Docs)
• Biomedical Search

When compiling secondary research data, don't forget to cite the source used and the link where it was found, this can be helpful in verifying your sources.

Organic Growth for Email Lists

You don't need a sophisticated ad program on a 3rd party daily deals website to gain traction with your local customer base. If you have a physical storefront like a dry cleaner, restaurant, bakery, coffee shop, or auto repair shop, you want a loyal, repeat customers.. right?

Here are five easy ways to get started:

1. Use online registration - on your website, on a social media profile page
2. Use offline registration - ask customers if they want to be added to your newsletter or sign up for special in-store offers; a simple sign-up roster or guest registry book can help
3. Embed opt-in messaging in transactional emails
4. Use a brand-relevant prize if engaging in a contest or sweepstakes
5. Use market research studies as a means to gather relevant customer insight, contact info

Pros:

This is relatively inexpensive and subscribers have already expressed an interest about you or your products/services. They are pre-qualified, or at the very least, open to receiving information or relevant offers from your organization. Growing your own list can help reduce spam complaints and opt-outs.

Things to keep in mind:

• Make sure your sign-up box is highly visible on your website (top left is common)
• Don't limit your subscription box to just the home page; make it available in more than once place and be sure it can be easily picked up by a search engine when users type in "email newsletter" when searching in conjunction with your brand(s) or company
• Give people a reason to subsribe: free offers, free webinars, new product announcements, offers from relevant partner firms (e.g., if you are a Photographer magazine and you have exclusive offers for teachers who buy software/hardware from an academic reseller like Studica); free industry research or highlights; coupon for free shipping, 50% off an item (Michaels.com); free gardening newsletter and %-off coupons (HomeDepot.com, Lowes.com)
• If you're using a contest as a means of traffic traction and conversion, track the lifetime value of subscribers obtained this way to determine if the promotion is worth repeating

Future of Social Media

Like just about everything in a marketer's world, social media isn't exactly a trend or a fad, but it too will fade into being just another channel a marketer has to deal with; whether as a consultant advising his/her clients on the strategic advantage of maintaining a presence on community-centered websites, or building campaigns to drive revenues and sales lead conversions.

The world of social media as we know it and its associated terminology like "social analytics" "having a conversation with customers" will go away. It'll be back to just multichannel analytics with social being one of the many potential channels an organization can use for ROI or KPI metrics, and social being a casual, normal way to conduct business online, in wifi, or in some collaborative medium that has yet to be defined.

/soapbox

The Blind Men and the Elephant

I have heard this parable sliced and diced to represent branding, marketing, and customer perception. Here the original version from the Buddhist cannon:

Food Service: Turning Trends into Money Makers

Industry: Food, Hospitality

At Portland's Northwest Foodservice Show, speaker Nancy Kruse gave a very informative keynote about turning trends into money makers. This blog post is just a brief recap.

Goal: To get the consumer out of the kitchen.

How: Upscale and upmarket menu items (and prices)

3 comfort food opportunities:

• grilled cheese - Great Steak's Philly Mac & Cheesesteak; Panera's cuban chicken panini (antibiotic chicken served with jalapeno-infused brine pickle chips); upscaled grilled cheese (brie and apple slices on brioche bread); grilled cheese sandwiches matched by cheese to wines
• meatballs - Fazoli's ultimate meatball smasher; meatball sliders; meatball bruschetta; oven-roasted hand-cut meatballs finished with butter and thyme; foodcart "Great Balls on Tires" (Long Beach, CA)
• red velvet (a flavorful reaction between buttermilk and cocoa powder) - red velvet... pudding, cupcakes, wedding cakes, pancakes, donuts, fried chicken (chicken dredged with red velvet cake batter and cream cheese in the mashed potatoes), as a tea (red tea, raspberry, and white chocolate), as a martini (chocolate vodka, vanilla vodka, frambroise, and chocolate liquor)

2 breakout trends:

• oatmeal - Five weeks after Starbucks started offering this, it turned into a best seller; finished with upmarket toppings (dried fruit, raw brown sugar); Caribou Coffee competes with Starbucks in this category; Jamba Juice uses organic steel-cut oats; McDonalds offers oatmeal with fruit and maple; McDonalds was able to attract women into breakfast foods (a male-dominated category) by offering oatmeal; Corner Bakery offers oatmeal made with yogurt with flavors for summer (berry almond swiss oatmeal) or autumn (spiced cranapple oatmeal); foodcart "Bloops" vegan oatmeal; foodcart Sweetflow Truck's oatmeal brûlée(Washington DC)
• "green" foods - not necessarily organic; roasted artichokes on a chicken sandwich; pasta verde with seven greens (Italian parsley, basil, cilantro, asparagus, oregano, spinach, and peas); CPK oven roasted artichoke and sauteed spinach pizza; farmstand burger with fresh spinach; Mimi Cafe's citrus-broiled shrimp "springtime spread" with asparagus and fresh strawberries; Morton's iceberg wedge bites (baby iceberge lettuce as a finger food); Wendy's new salads (has more marketshare than McDonalds or Panera)

Easy, adaptable promo ideas:

• "crunch it" - textural enhancement; e.g., potato chips topped burgers
• "pop it" - popcorn revival; melted butter with sriracha Vietnamese chiles; popcorn as a side or a snack (with grated parmesan, cracked pepper, chopped chives, truffle oil, sesame seeds) only $5 at Grahamwich's
• "shrink it" - smaller portions; hands-on; shareable; Claimjumper's BBQ pork sliders; Starbuck's new petites in 8 varieties
• "pasta in the AM" - Sfoglia's balsamic marinated strawberry and spaghetti; spaghetti tacos (evolved from Disney's I, Carly tv show; popular among tweens 8-12 year olds)

What creates craveability?
flavor
texture
presentation
indulgence
engagement
and savvy promotion

Trends offer chances to keep customers close:

• familiar and comforting
• flavor and fun
• creative across the board