SmartSymbols^tm

SmartSymbols offers a Compass icon, it looks like this: (here is the link to a larger subset ).

There are many good ways you can use it - show where your dealers are located, or where your book’s plot is taking place via Google Maps.

But there is another way you can use Compass icon - highlight the neat places where your product is being used. It could be particularly powerful if the location is distant and interesting - it allows your visitor’s mind explore and wander, it adds a completely different aura to your product.


Here is What I Mean
Find out (or if you know this - that’s even better!) if there is an expedition in some exotic location, and one of the explorers is using your product, be it a camera, a jacket or a book. For example: if you make cameras - maybe Discovery’s Blue Planet has been using it in some of their most interesting diving locations?

If you build cars - are they delivering humanitarian supplies somewhere to someone in need? And of course, if you write travel books - what is so great about the places you are writing about, show us some pictures, highlights, historical facts - something - but only when we ask. (That is one of the wonderful things about interactive icons approach )


Interactive Maps
Of course you can embed interactive maps into the Compass icon, Google Maps for example. The neat thing about Google Maps is that you can overlay destination information, such as photographs. Here is an example of a photo set from Carcassonne.



The beauty of this approach is that all this information is hidden behind the Compass icon, and it is only displayed to the website visitor when s/he is looking for it, which is the very foundation of permission marketing.

Takeaway
Compass icon can be a strong customer engagement tool if you use it creatively. Yes, you can display dealer locations and retailer outlets where your product is sold. But don’t stop there - use this powerful technology to extract your visitors from mundane minutia of the day and carry them to exotic places, connect them to interesting people and build product associations that last.

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Recently we have decided to remove the word “green” from our company name and rename it to simply JumpGauge Systems; we will do it as soon as legally possible. Why? Because having “green” in the name makes you a prime target for “greenwashing” accusations.

Below is a post that Stas Anton submitted to Net Impact blog: NIBbles. You can read it and the full thread here: http://netimpactboston.org/category/nibbles/

POST BELOW IS REPRODUCED FROM NET IMPACT BOSTON BLOG

Labels are designed to help all involved: a seller can tell a story about a product, a consumer can learn about the highlights of the product. The interesting thing about eco-labeling is that it often times hurts all involved: consumers because they are misled, distributors because they lose trust, and manufacturers, because they cannot tell their side of the story in all its complexity.

During the last Clean Tech dinner our discussion revolved around what is the real impact of eco-labeling and greenwashing. For example: is it important to tell a consumer green information about a product? Do they care?

The answer is probably “yes”, as long as there is trust between a consumer and a producer. However, if there is no trust, then the “green” labels become an irritant, and a likely turn-off for a consumer. Today many companies ride the green wave, because the green market is both hot and new. This will change once the market matures and consumers become wise and more educated on the subject of green.

The universal agreement during the discussion was that more transparency increases trust and reduces the possibility of misrepresentation. The trick, of course, is to provide transparency without boring the consumer.

There is a lot to learn from the current evolution of green and eco-friendly labeling, but the sooner we figure out how to make and read them, the better off all of us will be. After all, most of us are both: consumers and producers.

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Stas Antons, Principal at Jump To Green, Inc. to speak at Net Impact Boston’s Cleantech Dinner Discussion Series on June 29 at Redline, Harvard Square (59 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA).  Details and signup information can be found on the Net Impact Boston website.

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