Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

I was pretty good at math in high school. But those were the days before classic HP-type calculators made it into the high school classroom. We used slide rule calculators back then. Mine looked a lot like this:

And my math prowess back then was a lot more about Geometry and Trigonometry than Algebra.

Or was it the other way around?

(It has been more than 30 years…)

Anyway, I have a new client, Infinity Softworks, and they’ve been writing calculation software for mobile devices for 12 years. Their PowerOne product was a staple on Palm devices, and Infinity has sold more than 15 million mobile and software calculators.

I believe, though, that things are just about to get interesting… They’ve just launched FastFigures Financial Calculator for the iPhone, available in the AppStore for less than my slide rule cost in 1974.

Mobile Rocks, Even in this Economy

I’m pretty sure it’s not news to many that the mobile space is booming. Even in today’s economic climate. I just ran across some research from Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) in their 2009 Mid Term Forecast (are we there already?), that offered the following stats for advertising growth (yes, I actually said areas of ad growth) this year:

• The Pure-Play Internet & Mobile Services (not sure exactly what their definition of “Pure-Play” is, sorry) segment is still growing but at a slower pace. Previously expected to grow by 15.5% in 2009, VSS now projects an increase of only 9.1% for 2009, down from 11.6% in 2008

• Mobile content and video games will continue to be in demand and record double-digit growth (34.2% and 19.5% respectively), however at significantly lower percentages than originally predicted in their earlier estimate

Elia Freedman, founder of Infinity, is a tech geek and a math geek, and has told me (and blogged) that he feels as if his time has finally come.

He envisioned the mobile application boom years ago, muscled his way through the first few waves, and his new iPhone calculator is so trippy that it both makes me feel like kind of a math dolt, and makes me a little sad I didn’t keep up with more math.

For example - he kept telling me that FF shipped with both a standard calculator and an RPN calculator. I had to look up what RPN meant - Reverse Polish Notation. Cool, but when I tried to watch Elia show how to use FastFigures RPN calculator in the YouTube video he’s cooked up, my brain kind of shuddered.

I’ve got my copy, and while I’ll still use my head to calculate tips - even for odd numbered groups - to prevent Alzheimer’s, I’ll always have FastFigures Financial calculator on my iPhone that can handle Time Value of Money, Commercial and Residential Mortgage Payments, Area Conversions, Powers and Logs, Trig and Hyperbolics, Probabilities, Programmer Math, and more. All for $5.99. Oh my!

In today’s economic climate, it seems a good idea to have a calculator to add up a few taxes here, a bit more savings there… we all know it’s going to take a heck of a lot more than a slide rule calculator to keep up.

In a recent report, the Pew Internet Trust has given us a look at generational habits online, and they’re not strikingly different from each other. I’m not particularly surprised at the similarities, but was surprised at the sheer number of us looking for health information online.

From the report, written by Sydney Jones and Susannah Fox:

Generation X is the most likely group to bank, shop, and look for health information online. Boomers are just as likely as Generation Y to make travel reservations online. And even Silent Generation internet users are competitive when it comes to email (although teens might point out that this is proof that email is for old people).

First, today’s labels for your convenience:

(I’m happy to be a “younger boomer” and fascinated that they’ve finally split the boomers in two, noting there are enough differences between us “younger” and “older” boomers that it made sense to do so).

The report notes:

“Compared with teens and Generation Y, older generations use the internet less for socializing and entertainment and more as a tool for information searches, emailing, and buying products. In particular, older internet users are significantly more likely than younger generations to look online for health information.

Health questions drive internet users age 73 and older to the internet just as frequently as they drive Generation Y users, outpacing teens by a significant margin. Researching health information is the third most popular online activity with the most senior age group, after email and online search.”

Here’s how the breakout looks by generation where Gen X and older are more active than Gen Y:

Look at the correlation of % who go online with the % who look for health information. That’s pretty stunning. In the Gen X generation, it’s a 1:1 correlation. As I’ve said over and over again… the need for accurate, dependable health information online has never been more important.

And now, thanks again to the Pew Internet Trust, we can really see the demand is there.

In a very descriptive article (you might call it Rx for healthcare brands) over on the Back of the Book blog, Ellen Hoenig-Carlson writes a prescription for healthcare marketers that answers the question:

How to optimize our brands in the current environment?

To illustrate just one point in 10 in the Rigors of 2009, Ellen writes:

“Instill less fear; stimulate optimism, provide support and hope. Consumers feel burned from the economic crisis and are often highly frustrated with healthcare systems, but this goes for internal stakeholders as well. When employees are scared, they don’t speak up; they aren’t capable of new thinking or putting the customer first.  Fear will prevent the open and honest collaboration that builds critical relationships inside and outside organizations.”

The wise marketer, faced with penultimate challenges of economy, fear, shrinking budgets, etc. - even if you’re not in pharma marketing - will learn things from this article.

I got a response yesterday afternoon from my rants about HighBeam Research. I thought it deserved to be posted here for everyone, as I felt the response was prompt and fair. And this is a little lesson to marketers, Steve found my posts via RSS. Are you listening for mentions of your company and its products?

Here’s Steve’s response, unedited (I left off his direct line phone number, that’s it):

Janet,

I recently read your tweets and blog post about our service.  I am disappointed to read that we have not provided you with the experience that you expected.

I believe that your blog post makes some very good points, and you have pointed out some areas in our communication that need to be tightened up.  We try to be up front with our customers, and your post has pointed out some areas where we can improve.

There are two reasons for the apparent inconsistency:

-          Over the past year we have nearly doubled the content on the site, and in the past 5 years we have gone from about 15 Million total articles to 68 Million articles from over 5,000 sources.  We are offering ever more value to users, and because of this, we have recently made the decision to increase our price. We notify all annual customers about their renewal price, and we offer a very simple cancellation process if they do not wish to continue.  Though we are a small company, we offer an 800 number that is staffed 24/7, as well as on-site cancellation that is easy to find and available at any time.  While our 800 number communication could be better, if you do get billed, the 800 number does appear next to our charge on your credit card statement.

-          We do offer a “stay and save” offer for our customers, as is common in the industry.  As you know, the cost of retaining a customer is much lower than the cost of finding a new customer, so, we offer the lower price here to help retain users.  I think the insight to draw from your experience is that it has the appearance of being inequitable and we can improve that.  We appreciate your comments, and will be working on this area in the immediate future.

We are working to make some improvements to our communications for all of our customers.  I think that our service is still an incredible bargain relative to the offerings of our competitors and we are hopeful that you will reconsider us in the future when you have a research need.

Thank you
Steve Weir
…………………………………………………….
Steven R. Weir
Director of Subscription Marketing
HighBeam Research, Inc.

I asked Steve if he’d mind me doing this, and he gave me permission to do so. He also noted that he’d let me know when they’re able to synch all of their systems to be consistent. End of rant.

I had a meeting yesterday with Pam Pickens from the City of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development. Pam and I got together through our mutual friend, Suzame Tong, who is brilliant at putting people and events together selflessly.

Pam has a big (but fun) job - she’s helping businesses learn sustainable business practices - as described on the Best Business Center website:

Don’t think your business needs to go green?
Ask yourself these questions:

• Will your business remain profitable as energy and utility costs continue to rise?
• Are your customers asking if your business is “green?”
• Do you believe that your business practices affect your customers and your community?

Their services are free, and there’s a sustainable practice audit that any business can sign up for, where auditors will come in and look at your business practices and tell you how to improve them.

In this time of “drill, drill, drill” echoing in our ears, and our dependence on foreign oil costing billions monthly, even a relatively small step toward sustainability will do wonders for our earth and our economy at the same time.

Go! Go green!