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Partner Name: Coffee at Lola's
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Lola's Coffee Shop/Bar is a new, cozy, and unique coffee shop/bar right on 3rd St. in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. They offer amazing coffee that is ready to fire and fuel you up for your day. They also offer alcohol beverages for those who love to be articulate with their coffee.
“I am so impressed with how much this product improves with its updates. This is so sharp looking!
— Dan, General Manager
Coffee at Lola's not only does a great job at getting customers to post to their UPshow screen, but their digital menus and other spotlights make the screen customized for their brand and more enticing for customers to look at.
For more about Coffee at Lola's:
Partner Name: Jump Street
Location: Littleton, CO, Glendale, AZ, and Franklin, TN
Jump Street is an indoor trampoline park where both children and adults can jump around and have a great time! They host many different events including birthday parties and corporate gatherings.
“Upshow is a great way for our staff to interact with our guests and show our community involvement.
— Tyler Brooks, Manager
Jump Street has gotten so much success because their staff participates in the process. They use UPshow to talk to customers and encourage them to post their photos to the screen. As Tyler mentioned, not only does this help them get posts but it also helps them build a relationship with their customers.
For more about Jump Street:
Partner Spotlight: Hamburger Mary’s
Partner Name: Hamburger Mary’s
Location: Chicago, IL
Hamburger Mary’s is an absolute blast, providing amazingly delicious comfort food and incredible entertainment. Whether you're there for its weekend drag shows, chowing down on a mouthwatering burger, or winning big at bingo this fun and flamboyant bar and grill in Andersonville is sure to hold your attention!
“Our customers love UPshow! It’s a great addition to our customer experience at private events especially.
— Jason from Hamburger Mary's
Hamburger Mary’s has seen its success through its fantastic screen placement and constant use of spotlights promoting the various events it has going on throughout the week.
For more on Hamburger Mary’s:
Partner Name: CrossFit Solace
Location: New York, New York
CrossFit Solace is one of America's leading CrossFit gyms located in the heart of Manhattan. This professional-level athletic studio combines all types of CrossFit, Yoga, Olympic Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Gymnastic based classes. Many of the trainers are well-known fitness celebrities who will push you to your limits and show you how to prioritize your health!
UPshow is a perfect tool for our marketing goals. Our celebrity trainers post a lot and members post a lot too! We are in a prime location in Manhattan and have UPshow on 3 TV’s that face outside for all the passerby’s to see.
Caroline McDavid-Seidner, Director of Retail & Marketing
Caroline and the team @ Crossfit Solace make the most of the UPshow platform by not only using it to build community and showcase members, but as an advertising tool to grab the attention of the constant foot traffic their front windows see. We love it!
After a few of my colleagues attended a class at CrossFit Solace, they confirmed that it was the hardest yet most rewarding workout they have ever experienced!
For more on Crossfit Solace:
While the layperson may see an Instagram feed as an easy way to look at pretty stuff with a Valencia filter, savvy business owners know that these pictures & videos have serious benefits, including create new customers, build foot traffic, and generate revenue.
According to Bazaar Voice, 64% of millennials and 53% of baby boomers want more options to share their opinions about brands. Unsurprisingly, studies show consumers trust customer generated content more than all other forms of media.
This is because social networks are more than just a place for baby pictures and uncomfortable political memes, they are an amazing lead generation source for your business. Beautiful pictures & videos posted of your product or service are the most effective type of user-generated content.
Compared to traditional text-focused customer review sites and the benefits to a rich multi-media review via the social media are plentiful.
Yelp, in theory, is a fantastic concept. In practice, however, they have been dishonest practices that undermine the service. Yelp has been scrutinized for their practice of having businesses to pay for their positive customer reviews. Without question, this cheapens and dilutes the quality of the community. Would you go to RottenTomatoes.com if you knew that movie’s could pay to have to up their rating? Me neither.
Before a customer can even think to look on Yelp or other review sites, they have to be aware that a business even exists. What is the #1 way consumers learn about products & services? Through word of mouth. Friends, family, co-workers and classmates. are where we learn which restaurants to try, what movies to see, which plumber to use, etc. etc. etc. A benefit of pictures & videos posted on social media is that it will introduce or even remind them that you exist and are awesome!
According to a 2013 Pew Research, nearly half of all Internet users have reposted a photo or video they have found online. An equally intriguing stat from the same study is that 54% of all Internet users have posted an original photo or video that they personally have created.
Early man would tell stories with cave drawings until the written word then took over as the predominant communication method. It appears that, as a society, we’re traveling back to our roots of visual storytelling and communication. You had a good run, written word
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the average customer’s attention span in 2015 was eight seconds, down from 12 seconds in 2000. That means by before this paragraph has been finished, the average person has checked gotten distracted by some type of buzzing on their phone.
It is easier to process information more quickly with visual media than written word. It is so much simpler and accurate to look at a beautiful sunset than it is to try to read a description of it. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much is video worth? Ten thousand? Twenty thousand? Let’s settle on fifteen thousand.
Option 1: You can read about it
Option 2: You can look at a picture of it
Option 3: You can watch a video of it
Which is the best way for you to have a better understanding of what a space shuttle launch is like? Video empowers you to see and hear every detail, feel the magnitude . It’s the closest thing you can get to actually being there.
For brands, this is no different. The most valuable exposure you hope for is potential customers seeing someone they trust experiencing your product or service.
Think of how much more valuable it is for a business like iFly, indoor skydiving, when someone sees a video of their friend magically flying like Superman versus a written review trying to explain it. A video is more eye-catching, relies less on subjectivity, and does a better job storytelling the experience.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/x0cboY0MrnY
Brace yourself. We have some ground-breaking news.
Studies show that people prefer to get word of mouth recommendations and referrals about stuff versus looking at advertisement directly from the brand?
AMAZING! UNBELIEVABLE! REVOLUTIONARY!!
Oh what’s that? Oh… you already know about WOM in marketing? This… makes complete sense to you?
If this makes sense to you, that means you fit the following qualifications:
Okay, so it’s not ground-breaking that when you are looking for a new restaurant, a movie to see or even a plumber to use, you look to the people you know and trust best.
But isn’t it beautiful when fact-based science matches gut-based intuition?
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Everyone (even Nielsen) agrees that Customer Generated Content (CGC) is invaluable to businesses, and it’s simple to see why: Every time a customer takes a picture or video of your product or service, they‘re blasting an organic referral to hundreds or thousands of their friends, family, co-workers and more. It’s word of mouth on digital steroids.
Customers acting as your promoters is the best, easiest and most effective way to promote your business. So… how do you get them to do it?
At UPshow, we live and breath CGC, so we put together our Top 5 Tips to Transform your Customers Into Promoters.
Even super savvy social media users need a nudge sometimes. Simply presenting the idea to share about you will increase the activity. Calls to action including signage at the register, tables tents, flyers are all basic ways to get your customers to post more. Your employees can also be your greatest ambassadors by encouraging customers to take pictures or even taking the picture for them.
If social media has taught us anything it’s that people LOVE seeing themselves. Don’t just let the pictures & videos your float aimlessly in the interwebs; turn your customers into stars by showcasing their pictures & videos in venue! UPshow grabs pictures & videos in real-time so your customers instantaneously see themselves on TV screens. Customers love the wow factor and getting their 15 seconds of fame.
But remember, the only way customers get on the screen is by promoting your business! Using UPshow also makes sure that customers are promoting you the exact way you want to be promoted!
Not everyone is Picasso with a smartphone, so your customers may need some ideas and inspiration. Creating and designing “shareable moments” (aka the type of stuff people want to take pictures/videos of and brag about), such as cleverly painted walls, novelty menu items, and other cool things that make your business unique and standout.
With UPshow, our partners run specific campaigns & contests to provide direction about what to post.
For example, an UPshow partner that is a Build Your Own Bagel Sandwich restaurant told customers to take a pictures of their custom creation. Customers described and titled their bagelwhich in their post and were entered into a contest to temporarily get listed in the menu!
Even better, friends & family of the entrants organically began coming to the bagel shop to order the custom creations! Pretty quickly, there was an unofficial crowd-sourced menu!
Want to really increase customer generated content? Offering your customers a little somethin’-somethin’ to post is a great way to do it.
Many UPshow partners strategically offer post incentives that get their customers to make additional purchases (i.e. Buy 2 beers get 1 free) or to return to your business (“20% off a large pizza next time you’re here!”).
Through UPshow’s proprietary Connected Commerce, it’s easy to automatically and instantly send a personalized message on Instagram or Twitter to each customer, informing them of their prize.
Engaging on a 1-to-1 level is an easy and authentic way to turn a customer into an evangelist. With UPshow, our partners have the tools to easily communicate of their customers who have posted in just one-click and invite them to return. Our partners find that this type of relationship building not only creates repeat business, but repeat CGC as well!
Today, an average user on social media has about 150 followers. Not bad! But when an influencer posts, they are amplifying your brand to thousands and thousands of people. One post from an influencer can dwarf the impact of dozens or even hundreds of people.
From a cost standpoint, the general rule of thumb is that this type of organic in-venue visual content and reach has a value of $50/CPM. So, if Janice in Accounting has 10,000 followers, that means in order to get this type of reach, you would traditionally have to pay upwards $500!
An influencer is just another fancy word for “popular-expert.” They can be experts in beauty, fashion, food, athletics, nail clippers, anything! A main reason reason so many people follow them is because they serve as a curation tool to discover what’s fresh, new or just awesome. The same way if you’re looking for a new brunch spot, you would text your self-proclaimed “Foodie” friend for recommendations, influencers are constantly giving out recommendations and referrals to business and experiences.
While there are influencers out there you can pay an arm and a leg to hold your product and smile, it’s not necessary. Influencer marketing is at its most effective when it is authentic and organic. As social media consumerism has matured and followings are cemented, consumers can tell the difference between plastic paid ad and a real experience. Instead of shelling out your entire ad budget, creating an environment that encourages and rewards posting while allow you to broaden your reach without needing to reach into your wallet.
How do you encourage these influencers to post? Check out our Top 5 Tips to Transform your Customer into Promoters.
Round Two of COVID safety is here - with many states already administering booster shots to high-risk populations. Is your retail health clinic positioned to meet distribution demands for a second time? Digital signage effortlessly streamlines your vaccine logistics management by (1) providing customers the most up-to-date information about booster availability (2) attracting and training enough staff to administer the booster and (3) keeping your employees informed so they provide your customers the best possible service.
Knowing that customers will continue to turn to retail health clinics for disease prevention presents an opportunity for locations to expand their patient base; however, these locations must prepare accordingly.
Due to the COVID variants, the country is already experiencing an increased demand for boosters, as well as flu shots. By using digital signage to inform customer and staff, you stay a step ahead of the needs for when the boosters become widely available.
Retail health clinics who excel at vaccine logistics management do so by broadcasting the number of available appointments each day, encouraging patients to schedule appointments and managing the flow of customers to maintain social distance. In-venue screens use custom QR codes to book those appointments by bringing customers into retail apps (and by default the care+commerce ecosystem). App downloads allow for even more communication opportunities that mirror the in store experience: your clinic’s after-hour times, booster availability and calls to action so shoppers take advantage of offers. All of these communication tools help further underline the value add of your retail experience.
Last year, NPR’s Marketplace reported the industry would require another 15,000 pharmacy workers to help with the distribution of vaccines. Since then, the shortage of pharmacy workers has remained just as extreme, if not gotten worse.
Place your retail health clinic ahead of the curve with smart vaccine logistics management. Appeal to the widest audience of applicants possible by using in-store digital signage to communicate job opportunities. Vaccine technicians do not require a formal degree, so many current customers may be eligible to apply. Custom QR codes allow interested customers to apply for a position directly from their phone; creating much needed job opportunities for the community in a depressed economic environment. A larger applicant pool provides your clinic with more opportunities to select qualified candidates, ensuring the best patient experience.
Technicians need clear, up-to-date information for your retail health clinic to operate productively; digital signage optimizes your employee communication. Broadcast required training for all employees, and allow them to sign up for any session directly from their phone with a custom QR code. Keep all employees in the loop on new booster developments and safety procedures so that they operate with best practices at all times.
Booster availability may fluctuate from day-to-day. Leverage displays to show the number of boosters in-stock at your location and distribution counts each day. Ensure that risk and disease spread stays at a minimum by displaying cleaning procedures and safety protocols. Display shift availability on-screen, allowing workers who feel unwell to easily trade shifts with healthy employees, and for recovered employees to make up for lost shifts by picking up more when they are well.
With digital signage retail health clinics will communicate and handle this upcoming need better than most traditional care providers by offering a wider variety of hours, allow for walk-in appointments and provide a convenient opportunity to consolidate shopping. Make sure to prepare your clinics with the tools they need to provide a satisfactory experience and drive revenue.
This month, Built In Chicago released their list naming UPshow one of the best companies to work for in 2020.
Companies on the list are selected based on data submitted by companies and their employees.
Said Maria Christopoulos Katris, CEO and Co-Founder of Built In: “We extend our gratitude. These companies exemplify what it means to be an employer of choice for today’s purpose-driven tech workforce.”
UPshow is proud to be a top-tier employer - we value our people over all else and strive to create an environment in which everyone is happy, fulfilled, and ready to win together.
Read more from the list here.
