Article

Post-deployment marketing promotes success

How companies market their kiosks and self-service devices after the machines are deployed is just as important to a deployment's success as the initial planning stages.

October 23, 2005

It's a reality that a ton of planning goes into a kiosk project. From hardware selection to software design, perfecting the configuration and operation of the kiosk program can be a daunting task to say the least. Surprisingly, of the many checks and balances that are enacted to ensure success, post-deployment marketing still remains an illusive but important, or should I say essential, part of the planning process.

Why plan for post-deployment marketing?

You've invested tens of thousands of dollars, or in some cases millions, to create a self-service application that is built around a specific user or customer and a specific application. Hopefully, the enclosure design and supplemental signage of the kiosk makes the purpose of the kiosk easy to recognize and understand by users or customers. However, assuming that the mere existence of the kiosk will ensure usage is naive. Rather, a post-deployment marketing plan can help you to introduce the kiosk to your users or customers and eventually even getting them to use it. Stating the purpose of the kiosk in more traditional means will help to build awareness and, ultimately, to be a tool users and customers are comfortable with.

When is the best time to plan?

First, I want to mention here that it's never too late to start planning a post-deployment marketing plan. Second, the best time to start thinking about this plan is right from the beginning. Whether you plan to use incentives to get customers to trial the new system and the features or convenience available at the kiosk, the planning will often yield the best results if begun well in advance. Reaching users/customers in alternative methods with an introduction to the system can be compared to television programs running announcements about their `show tonight at seven' on the radio. Why? Because to build awareness, effectiveness is dictated by throwing the message in as many different directions as possible.

Tom Weaver, vice president of sales and marketing at Kiosk Information Systems, said, "Signage at the point of transaction is crucial. Â… To advertise a kiosk that's located inside, a c-store or gas station may put signage out at the pump where the primary audience or core business is."

What tactics are worth considering?

I've seen all types of interesting gimmicks to build awareness for the kiosk or to simply get consumers to use them. Some grocery stores for example have put advertising and special coupons only redeemable at the kiosk in their mailing pieces in the local newspaper. And this is just one of many different ideas.

Kodak, for example, ran national television advertising spots for their PictureMaker kiosks. BT created an innovative program called "What's Your Party Piece," where customers were prompted to use the kiosk's picture phone to email a crazy face or a joke for a chance at cold-hard cash. Then there was the jewelry store in the upper Midwest that ran its usual radio spots, but this time the spots talked about the stores new kiosks and how customers could use them to search a larger inventory of rings and diamonds. The point is, knowing your audience and talking to them about the kiosk through traditional marketing methods can prove one of the best ways to have customers walking in with anticipation of the new technology.

"It's very important to brand the unit," said Weaver. "Customers need to be able to see it across the room and know what it does."

Another very important tactic is to pitch store employees on the concept of the kiosk and how it can be used as a sales tool and a way to make things around the store operate more efficiently. I can't tell you how many times I've walked into a store, or airport for that matter back in the days, and the representative or salesperson had virtually no more of an idea how the kiosk functioned than a customer. Today however, I've been very pleased to see that many locations are training employees on the purpose of the system and these same employees are now able to direct customers to the kiosk or, better yet, to utilize the kiosk in their sales process.

Lastly, there is the word-of-mouth factor. Educating a smaller, selective group of customers on the technology can often yield great results. Numerous times I've been in the self-checkout kiosk line at the grocery store or Home Depot and watched one customer teaching another customer how to use the system. For some reason once people learn how this technology can simplify their lives they feel this innate responsibility to help teach other people how they too can simplify their lives with kiosks. It's sort of funny, but I think somehow this is what it must have looked like when the first humans found fire.