6-21-2017, Mobile Electronics Magazine -- Marketing techniques are not one-size-fits-all. How a business approaches marketing and customer retention varies depending on a lot of factors, including demographics, location and niche. When it comes to customer retention through email, business owners must find a good balance in order to avoid alienating customers by sending too many emails. To make email marketing effective, a strategy has to be implemented that takes into account subject lines, content and graphics that emotionally engage the consumer. Jon Dewar owns Modern Media Geeks, a company based out of Kingsland, Ga. to help businesses with online marketing. Dewar has worked with businesses in a number of industries and acknowledged the difficulty of finding the right approach. “It’s a massive deal. Email marketing as a whole is not a strong sector. Any good email marketer will tell you, you want the email to be sent at five or six in the morning so it’s at the top of the inbox,” Dewar said, noting that most people turn off their alarm in the morning and then pick up their phone. “It’s a fighting chance you’ll be opened instead of swiped.” Use engaging graphics that spark an emotion, Dewar said,…

Sound impossible? Ready to start writing furious comments? Then you’re ready to have a real conversation about our industry. Throughout social media and mobile electronics publications, we have seen dozens of retailers step up their game by creating boutique stores and installation bays utilizing all the latest installation techniques catering to automotive enthusiasts. But what about the customers who buy elsewhere? How likely are they to come in to your store?  Unless you have been living under a rock for the past ten years, you already know online sales are growing at an alarming rate and taking money out of our brick and mortar stores. Look at Radio Shack, Circuit City and Best Buy. Radio Shack is in bankruptcy, Circuit City is gone and Best Buy had to do a major restructuring of their store’s culture and core business practices. Did you know that an article in Forbes stated that Best Buy is growing by 17 percent in Q4 this year in online sales? Let’s take an honest look in the mirror. People don’t buy from us for only three reasons. I call this the three P’s: Price: They found it somewhere at a lower price. Product: They did not…

6-12-2017, Mobile Electronics Magazine -- The human voice registers at 25 to 35 decibels. Anything higher than 130 dB and you hit the pain threshold. Go to a rock concert and you’re in for about 125 dB. Fireworks or a space shuttle launch—even when you’re a few miles away—deliver almost off-the-charts sound. More obscure, but unbelievably powerful, is the low-frequency rumble of a blue whale at over 185 dB. Now imagine a vehicle with pressure-sealed doors, a shatter-proof windshield, and booming bass—amps and subs packed to the max inside—and you’ve just entered the world of sound pressure league competitors.  Auto sound competition, or what some might even consider a car audio art form, has been around for quite some time. The original governing body back in 1988 was called the National Autosound Challenge Association (NACA), but the name didn’t cover its scope as more people got involved. “After a few Canadian distributors and dealers saw the value in what it was doing for the industry and came on board, they changed the name to IASCA (International Auto Sound Challenge Association) in 1989, said Moe Sabourin, director of operations for IASCA Worldwide. “IASCA’s main purpose was, and still is, to be a…

Here’s something you might want to consider tattooing on your forehead: What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do, says productivity guru Tim Ferriss. 6-12-2017, Ted Talks -- To do or not to do? To try or not to try? Most people will vote no, whether they consider themselves brave or not. Uncertainty and the prospect of failure can be very scary noises in the shadows, and most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty. For years, I set goals, made resolutions to change direction — nothing came of either. I was just as insecure and scared as the rest of the world. The simple solution came to me accidentally in 2004. At that time, I had more money than I knew what to do with — and I was completely miserable. I had no time and was working myself to death. I had started my own company, only to realize it would be nearly impossible to sell. Oops. I felt trapped and stupid at the same time. “I should be able to figure this out,” I thought. Why am I such an idiot? Why can’t I make this work? What’s wrong with me? The truth…