The Mobile Side of Hotpads.com

HotPads has great mobile functionality for housing shoppers on the go, so even when they are away from their computer, they can still find your homes for sale.  Their mobile site for all smart phones, Android app, and iPhone app contain great features like:

• Map-based housing search using your GPS location or an inputted address
• Detailed listings with photos, pricing, and full descriptions
• Rental and For Sale housing search

HotPads’ Android App & iPhone App

HotPads’ Android Application and iPhone Application allows users to experience the same great functionality of searching on HotPads from the convenience of their Android phone.

Housing shoppers can search by their current GPS location, or by entering a specific address to search nearby.  

 

 

After narrowing their search by price and bedrooms, housing shoppers can opt to see all results that match their criteria on a map, or in the traditional list format.

 

They can see detailed listings that include pricing, photos, and descriptions and then contact you directly via email or telephone with one touch!

 

 

You can learn more about the Android App here: and the iPhone app here, or just give them a try (they’re free!) by scanning the respective QR codes below

  

For all users who don’t have an Android or iPhone, HotPads still have a great Mobile Site for all smart phone users.  

(These mobile apps and sites are also really helpful for real estate agents to pull up comps and see what else is for sale in a particular location!)

[Via http://wolkia.com]

Can't Hardly Wait for the iPad?

The wait is nearly over as iPad pre-orders start is only 4 days. The pre-order date has been a large source of controversy and speculation. Now, along with the waiting game, the betting is over. Well, almost.

Apple has posted the dates for both the pre-order and the availability date on the iPad product page.

Not sure what to splurge on this spring? Well, whip out your credit cards, and break open those piggy banks. Can’t stand the long lines at the Apple store? Pre-order on March 12. Up for the long line of entertainment at the Apple store? Plan on standing all day on Saturday, April 3.

Not sure how they plan to structure the delivery as many delivery services don’t run on Saturday. So, it’s a tough question. Stand in line all day Saturday so you can get to know your new iPad for the rest of the weekend or pre-order and run the risk of sitting around waiting until Monday.

[Via http://evansmediagroup.wordpress.com]

The Spring Madness Scentsy Sale

New spring/summer scents have been uploaded to the Scentsy website. I cannot wait to get my hands on these new Scentsy Bar scents. Here is a list of the spring/summer scents: cherry limeade, go-go-goji, sweet clementine, mayflower, mad about mint, plum delicious, calypso, berry blush, sugar, and grape granita. I will have these in stock soon. While you’re waiting, check out “My Scentsy Auctions” going on right now on ebay. The 3 auctions end: Wednesday, March 10, 2010. Don’t miss out on these last minute savings. Supplies are limited.

Follow us on Twitter: @KathrynsScGifts

[Via http://kathrynlc.wordpress.com]

Brand vs. Community

A discussion on the difference between a brand and a commodity is going on at one of my groups on LinkedIn. This discussion was initiated by Marco Monfils from Hungary. More than 150 comments have been made so far, indicating that marketing and sales professionals like this topic. It is interesting that respondents presented their own definition and description of brand and commodity, no author was quoted and the comments varied greatly. I noticed two significant trends as follows:

a)      Though there are more than 150 different comments, these could be grouped into eight major categories. That is, most of the respondents differentiated between a brand and a commodity either via value-addition perspective, loyalty and relationship, functional & emotional attributes, brand personality & experience, perceived value & expectations, needs & wants, unique identity or price.

b)      The respondents come from a diverse professional background including Business & Financial Consultancy, Sales & Business Development, Account Management, Marketing, Business & Franchise Owners, and Real Estate. Most of the respondents are from other than marketing profession. Being in the CPG marketing, I considered branding a purview of marketing because marketers are responsible for creating pull for brands. This differentiation is getting blurred and marketing is a cross-functional discipline now, especially in B2B interactions.

I took the liberty of picking the comments that I liked and present these to you here with the name of the group member.  

A brand is a product that is elevated above commodity level because of its added value in the mind of a shopper or consumer.  By Lynn Wentzel

Commodity resonates with consumer at the functional level; brand goes beyond, resonating at the emotional level.   By Keith Kelley

A Brand is that Commodity with a personality!   By Thomas Bullock

A commodity is a product, a THING, tangible. A brand is a[n] idea, a thought, a feeling and is intangible……. As Herb Lubalin said, “Products are made in the factory. Brands are made in the mind.” By  Bob Bischoff

…… THAT THE BRAND PROMISES AND DELIVERS  By Valerie Skala Walker

A brand provides an ‘experience’, a commodity does not.  By Chad Symens

A brand improves the life of its loyal consumer because it constantly brings a new and better feature or experience – it innovates.  By Dana Mosora

Brand is what people identify with. A commodity is traded, bought or sold.  By Craig Castle 

And my two-cent worth is as follows:

Brands create and satisfy consumers’ wants, commodities meet consumers’ needs.

Taking a leaf out of Dan Heath’s book, Brands live in the penthouse of Maslow Hierarchy of Needs; commodities live in its basement.

Which of the above brand and commodity description you like or how would you differentiate between the two? Please comment here and let us know.

[Via http://marketingmirror.wordpress.com]

Lessons Learned

From time to time I will share real stories from my incredibly successful career in marketing.   Some are funny, some are painful, some a bit of both.  They all happened.  Here goes.

In 2003 as I was wrapping up stuff and cleaning out my desk after 20 years at the Seattle office of an inter-galactic super agency I received an email from a client who has since gone on to to lead a Fortune 500 company.  Here it is.  I haven’t changed a word other than to leave his name out to avoid embarrassment for both of us.

Jan,

I understand you’re moving on to a new phase in your life.  (Here was a bunch of praise about what a genius I am.) I learned a lot from you about managing the client/agency relationship that I will carry with me forever.  Among the key learnings:

1.  Never work with a client that is closer than 2000 miles away.  This minimizes the face-to-face contact that is so unnecessary when you can blame each other for revenue misses and budget overruns by email.

2.  The agency always has an advantage when the client is dysfunctional and disagrees internally about what its brand should stand for and who their consumer is.

3.  Never return emails from the client that challenge why the agency costs so darn much to do everything.

4.  Always return emails from the client that invite you to a “bash” at the trade show, or to a sales meeting in a warm weather place.

A wise man indeed.  Of course I replied.  I will skip the shameless suck-up praise I poured into the email as it might sicken you.

Here is my reply, unchanged:

I can see that you have learned well when it comes to managing the agency/client relationship.  I too learned a few things about clients along the way:

1.  Clients want a partnership with the agency as long as the agency does what the client says.

2.  There is an inverse relationship between how much a client talks about its vision and how real the vision is.

3.  Clients and agencies approve advertising ideas together.  When things go well, the client attributes the success to their incredible business acumen.  When things go poorly, it’s because the agency made the client do bad advertising.

4.  The best clients have sales meetings at really cool places and pay for the agency to stay up late, drink and miss the morning sessions.

5.  The best clients give their agencies lots of free stuff.

6.  The best clients know that the only  good advertising is TV, BABY! Particularly, if the tv shoot can be in Europe, with supermodels, an unlimited expense account and the agency folks get to walk around in black clothes and be on their cell phones/Blackberries constantly.

7.  Most clients will admit that the best thing about having an agency is…TICKETS!

8.  All clients want their agency to be good, cheap and fast.

9.  Bad clients are in the risk aversion business.  Good clients are in the risk management business.

[Via http://ps1944.wordpress.com]

Help Us Win A Contest!

We have entered a PayPal Developer’s Contest. First prize is $50,000 cash and $50,000 credit from PayPal. As you know, startups can ALWAYS use money like this and we need your help to get it.

To win, we need you to vote for our demo in the contest before 11:59 PM Friday night, March 5th. Sounds easy, right? It is.

You need to have a PayPal account to participate. If you don’t have one, click here and you can set one up. Pick Personal. It is fast, easy and free.

Once you have your PayPal account, click here or on the screen shot below to be taken to the contest. The first screen will look like this:

Click on the VOTE NOW link to start. You will be prompted to login to PayPal. Honest, this won’t take very long…

Enter your account name and password and then click Log In. If this is your first visit to the PayPal Developers Network, they will automatically redirect your browser to a screen like this.

Please enter a screen name (usually in the format firstname.lastname), check the Java and Social networking boxes and click Submit. You will then be directed to the contest page (finally!) shown below.

Please enter our contest entry number D1039 in the search box in the top right corner and click Search.

You will see our video demo (entry) into the contest on a screen like this:

Please click on the Vote button in the top left corner and you are done!

Except, of course, if you really want to watch the video. If so, click on the Play icon in the middle of the screen.

Please send us your feedback on our (very short – we were only allowed 2 minutes) demo. We’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for your help!

[Via http://blog.connectionpoint.ca]

Managing a Social Media Community

For today’s mixology posting, I am going to send you to Michael Brito’s recent post on managing a social media community.  It is being said over and over again, but it important in any size organization  to make sure that you have the right person in the role of your community manager.  You need someone who can authentically be the voice of your organization as well have the time to communicate.

Take ten minutes to read Michael’s article.

[Via http://marketingmixology.wordpress.com]