Put Images in Your Emarketing Survey Questionnaire

Posted on | November 22, 2010 | 1 Comment

Make Your eSurvey Visual — Add Image Graphics

There are a variety of online survey tools available, but not all of them allow you to add graphics.  Here’s a way to do it with Ennect.   Because Ennect’s emarketing tools are integrated, you can use the graphics library from Ennect Mail to store and access images which you can then add to an Ennect Survey or Sweeps questionnaire.  See the steps below to learn how…

First, upload your images to the Ennect image library. – In the Ennect Mail application, go to the “Prepare Emails” window and click on the “Upload Images” tab.  Use the “Browse” button to find the images you want to upload and click on the “Add” button to upload them. Ennect allows you to upload multiple files at the same time.

Next, copy the image URLs to a separate temporary document. — In the same “Prepare Emails” window, click on the “Manage Images” tab.  Find the images you uploaded and copy the HTML codes that are listed to the right of the image names. (Highlight the codes and hit Ctrl-C.)  Then, simply paste the codes (Ctrl-V) in a separate document or into a blank email box. This temporary holding space will allow you to easily retrieve the codes when you need them later.

Now, begin creating your survey.  — Open Ennect Survey (or Ennect Sweeps). Click on “Create Survey” or open a survey you’ve already created.  If you’re creating a new survey, fill in the survey options in the “Create Survey” window before proceeding.

A really easy way to add images to your surveys is to use them in “survey headings.” Open the “Build Survey” window and follow these steps:

• Click on “Add Question.”
• Select “Heading or Title (No Response)”
• In the “Add a Heading” text box, select and paste one of the HTML codes from the temporary file where you previously copied them. Saving your entry will move you back to the “Build Survey” window.
• Now, add whatever type of question you want below (or above) the image.
• Here’s the URL to the demo survey we created using this method: http://elliance.ennectsurvey.com/sampleproducttestdemonstration

Another way to add images to your survey is to use images within survey questions.  – This allows you to offer images as question “options” (i.e., answers). Here’s how to do that:

• When you add a question to a survey, don’t select “Heading” but pick another option, like “Check boxes.”
• Fill in your survey question in the text box and select the number of choices you want to provide (i.e., the number of images “answers” you want to offer).
• Instead of typing text into each of the choice boxes, select and paste one of the HTML codes from the temporary file where you copied them. Save your entries. You’ll have images appear instead of text answers.
• Here’s the URL to the demo survey we created using this method: http://elliance.ennectsurvey.com/sampleholidaythankyousurprisedemonstration

 

 

Did You Win Full Registration to the 2010 PA Business TechCon?

Posted on | November 17, 2010 | No Comments

Two winners were randomly selected for full complimentary registration to the 5^th Annual Pennsylvania Business Tech Conference on 11/18/10 at Duquesne University:  Joseph M. Kubicek, CMC, co-founder of Global Learning Company, and Elizabeth Lynch, education specialist at The Phipps Conservatory.  Congratulations to our winners who were chosen from those completing the Second Annual Technology Use Survey which we sponsored with Duquesne University’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC).

Last year’s survey indicated that organizations in the region were slower to adopt new emarketing technologies:  only 42% had social media marketing strategies in place and only 9% planned a move into social media channels. By comparison, an Equation Research report showed a social media adoption rate of 59% and a “planning to implement” rate of 28% for small businesses. A separate survey, conducted by Babson Executive Education and Mzinga, across a variety of industries nationwide, reported that 86% had adopted social technologies.

While the drawing has closed, the survey will remain open until 11/19/10. If you’re from western PA or nearby, please take the survey. It can be reached by going to: http://elliance.ennectsweeps.com/Participate/ParticipateSurvey.aspx?SId=4262&CId=0

A final report on the findings will be published after the conference. 

3 Tips to Increase Your Piece of the Holiday Sales Pie

Posted on | November 15, 2010 | No Comments

Selling jewelry or personal products?  Your holiday sales prospects are up! Here are three tips to successfully increase your holiday sales.

According to the National Retail Foundation’s 2010 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, consumer spending for the 2010 season will climb slightly – from last year’s $681.83 per-shopper average to $688.87.  More interesting is that buyers indicate an intention to shift their purchases from more practical items to more discretionary ones.  For example, the NRF reports that 23% of people are adding jewelry to their wish lists this year – a 10% increase.  The report also states that interest in personal care or beauty products are up too, from 17.1% in ’09 to 18.2% this year.

How to move holiday purchase decisions in your favor?

- Start marketing now! The holiday season has officially begun. Savvy buyers have already started scanning for deals on items they want to purchase.  A Google/OTX survey recently stated that 35% of holiday shoppers began their shopping in August.  So the time is right to get your website optimized and your email program going NOW!

- Go online! Forrester Research predicts that US online sales for November and December will be up by 16% over 2009.  The NRF reports that online shoppers will spend 24.6% more than other retail buyers.  And this year, mobile will also play a greater factor. According to the NRF survey 25% of US buyers will use their smartphones to shop, research products or prices, and find nearby stores.  The younger the buyer, the more likely mobile devices will come into play.

- Emphasize value! While this season’s buyers plan to rely on coupons more frequently (40.6%) to keep spending down, they’re also willing to pay a higher price if they perceive a greater return in value. So don’t forget to showcase the value of your offerings.

Bottom line: Get your value proposition, pricing, and online offers going NOW to make sure you grab your piece of the holiday spending pie this year! And if you need help developing online marketing campaigns, give us a call.  We’d be happy to assist.

Email List Segmentation that Works for Industrial and B2B Marketers

Posted on | October 11, 2010 | No Comments

If you want to make your contact list work harder and obtain higher lift from your email marketing activities, try list segmentation. It’s not a new technique, but it’s a proven one.  It works because it enables you to better match your email messages and offers to an audience’s qualifications or known needs.

But the most common ways to segment lists – by socioeconomic factors, zip code, age, sex, etc. – don’t work for B2B marketers.  For one thing, many B2B purchases are accomplished by committee or by RFP, so the buyers’ identities and backgrounds are frequently unknown. And, for the most part, they don’t come into play when making complex or group purchase decisions.  After all, the whole RFP/committee-purchase process is an effort to remove ‘emotion’ and individual characteristics from the buy decision anyway.

So, what does work for industrial or B2B list segmentation? I’ve read a lot of different opinion pieces on this written by industry ‘gurus’ who advocate “knowing your customer” or “developing personas for each of your targets,” but it all seems a lot more complex than a busy marketer has time for.

The one piece of advice that resonated with me and that seemed practical and achievable for B2B marketers who already have way too many hats to wear came from SiriusDecisions, a trade analyst firm that specializes in B2B consulting. And it didn’t even come from an article on email marketing but from a blog post about targeting channels, entitled, “A B2B Channel Mid-Market Reality: One Size Doesn’t Fit All.”

The writer discusses the typical ways that companies target mid-market buyers (by number of employees or revenue) and suggests that these descriptions really don’t provide the information a marketer needs to understand buyer motivation.  As Laz Gonzalez, director of Channel Management Strategies at SiriusDecisions, writes: “…one can begin to point out similarities such as their lack of budgets or limited resources, but that only addresses whether they are pre-disposed to purchase, not what would motivate them to do so.” What does?  “Looking at differences by verticals (e.g., regional hospitals in healthcare who buy technology solutions to comply with regulatory standards such as HPAA [sic] or professional services firms who buy to become more competitive)…”

I believe applying THAT thinking to your email lists and segmenting them by vertical can have a lifting affect on your emarketing campaigns.  A further segmentation, then, would be by title if you have that, but even if you don’t, segmenting by vertical gives you so much more to work with in terms of insight into your buyers’ motivations.  Try it. See if it works for your next email campaign.

To read the entire SiriusDecisions’ post, click here:  http://blog.siriusdecisions.com/Blog/bid/51657/A-B2B-Channel-Mid-Market-Reality-One-Size-Doesn-t-Fit-All

Win Free Registration to PA Business Tech Conference

Posted on | October 4, 2010 | No Comments

Win Free Registration to PA Business Tech Conference

Win full registration to the Nov. 18th PA Business Tech Conference. Fill out the technology use survey sponsored by Duquesne University’s Small Business Development Center and Ennect and you’ll be entered to win. SBDC’s conference helps businesses utilize the latest in emarketing and information technology to drive sales, cut costs, and build brands. Be one of two lucky winners.

Just click the link here to enter: http://elliance.ennectsweeps.com/Participate/ParticipateSurvey.aspx?SId=4262&CId=0

For more information on the conference, go here: http://www.sbdc.duq.edu/techconf.asp.

MBA Roundtable Uses Its Annual Event to Build Long-term Membership

Posted on | September 28, 2010 | No Comments

The MBA Roundtable is a unique organization whose members comprise business schools from all over the world.  Established in 1995, the Roundtable helps MBA (master of business administration) faculty and program directors drive curricular change within their organizations by delivering events, publications, and research that enable members to openly share ideas with one another and advance the curricula delivered in graduate management education.

Each year at its annual event the organization draws together top MBA deans, associate deans, and program directors to share their experiences and insights.  The 2010 MBA Curricular Innovation Symposium, hosted this year by the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, will focus on curricular innovation as a strategic imperative for MBA education.  The event will include case studies, networking opportunities, keynotes and panel discussions featuring speakers whose schools have undergone a significant curricular change.  For the first time, attendees will be able to participate both in person and virtually. There’s also a follow-on day of trips to nearby historic sites like Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.

“The virtual component is a brand new experiment for us,” says MBA Roundtable Executive Director Carleen Kerttula.  “We are one of the first to offer a  virtual event for the MBA dean and program director audience. We’re breaking new ground…we’re very excited about it.”

“The symposium will showcase four schools that have gone through major curricular innovation within the past two-to-three years and are in the implementation stage.  Their representatives are going to talk about the strategies and processes they followed when designing their new MBA curricula, what  the design outcomes were and how they evaluate the relative investment.  We expect this part of the conference to draw major interest,” Kerttula comments. “We’ve also scheduled a special interactive session with Jeanne Liedtka who’s on the faculty of the Darden School and is an expert on design thinking and innovation. She will provide the group with tools and ideas for better informing and managing the change process.”

Kerttula uses this annual event as a way to attract and build membership.  “There’s quite a bit of interest in our organization because of the event. Attendees come because the topics are of interest in terms of planning for their own schools’ futures and because it gives them an opportunity to network,” says Kerttula.

By using tiered pricing as part of her registration plan, Kerttula uses the event to attract members since she can show that a membership almost pays for itself.

Sometimes it’s not enough for associations to offer information and resources – no matter how valuable. “People may look at an organization like ours and say, ‘Wow, that’s great,’ But they may still not join,” Kerttula comments. “The event provides a tangible product that is much easier to leverage as part of the sales process.  It’s a great tool for engaging new members.”

If you run an association that’s doing events and not optimizing them to increase membership, you might want to reconsider since the payback can be longer term than you think. Says Kerttula: “Our track record demonstrates a near 90% rate of renewals in subsequent years.”

For more information about the 2010 MBA Curricular Innovation Symposium, go to: http://ennect.com/e1292/p9371.aspx.

To read the full case study about the MBA Roundtable, click here.

Online Sweepstakes Software Helps OT Sports Win Sales

Posted on | September 21, 2010 | No Comments

Started in Prague and relocated back to North Carolina by two Wisconsin brothers, OT Sports has found a unique niche in the design, manufacture, sale and distribution of custom team uniforms, licensed replica jerseys and sideline apparel.

Its online presence gives it easy access to international markets.  And while it continues to grow (now with almost 70 employees), a lean profile keeps it focused on cost-effective marketing efforts. While it serves a specialized market, the typical buyer – team coaches and managers – are very transitional and often change with the seasons.  “We sell to schools and minor leagues whose coaches change frequently, so we need to refresh our mail lists seasonally and that’s difficult,” says Lori Wade, marketing and sales representative at OT Sports.

The company found Ennect online when it was investigating different ways to build awareness for its products. “We started using Sweeps in July doing one online contest,” says Wade.  “It was so successful, that we started a second one a month later.”

The company began using Sweeps to promote its lacrosse team uniforms, drawing its first winner at the end of July. The success of that promotion motivated OT Sports to begin a separate contest to promote hockey team uniforms.

“We’ve increased the new names on our mail list by 70% as a result of the sweepstakes promotion,” says Wade.

Wade created an initial email to introduce the Sweeps to existing customers.  “Since then,” she says, “it’s grown by word of mouth and through people seeing it on our homepage.”

The popular contests are an easy way for Wade to collect the contact information and data she needs to identify potential buyers.  She uses the Sweeps form to collect email and address information as well as data about whether the contact is the person responsible for purchasing uniforms.  The downloadable Ennect reports allow her to easily update her sales and marketing database. And after letting Sweeps select the winner automatically, she simply follows up with a congratulations email.

“It’s a great program, easy to use, and it’s been successful for us,” says Wade. “Not only has it brought us new customers, but it’s brought back existing customers who we haven’t done business with for a while or who forgot that they bought from us. Since most of our jobs are relatively small, it’s important that we have fresh contacts.  Ennect Sweeps is inexpensive and doesn’t take a lot of work; that makes it a winner in my book.”

If you’re a team coach and would like to enter one of OT Sports Sweeps, click on one of the links below… and good luck to you:

To enter the sweepstakes to win hockey uniform, click here.

To enter the sweepstakes to win lacrosse shorts, click here.

Help, Marketing: The Wheels’r Fallin’ Off American Universities

Posted on | September 7, 2010 | No Comments

A couple days ago The Economist published a blog that hit a nerve: “Declining by degree:  Will America’s universities go the way of its car companies?” I had just tweeted off some comments referencing a Time Magazine article about how Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor Company, is trying to turn his company around – NOT thanks to government subsidies, but to good, solid — pay attention here manufacturers — marketing.  As Mulally says in the Time article: “We are fighting for the soul of American manufacturing. “We are leading the way on ‘What does it take for America to compete in the global economy?’ That’s what this is about. And it starts with making the best products in the world.”

Making the best products in the world means delivering products that customers want to buy.  How do you do that without marketing? Don’t believe me that marketing isn’t a huge part of what’s going on at Ford?  Here’s an excerpt from the article:  “The changes in Ford’s approach to creating cars run so deep that its engineers and designers had to answer the question, What is a Ford? Even if they produce cars specific to the American market, like the Mustang, says Derrick Kuzak (head of global product development), “they need to reflect a global Ford view in terms of how the vehicle drives, how it sounds, how it looks, how it feels. And so we developed a global Ford-brand DNA that encapsulates all of those elements — look, sound and feel — and that’s a really, really big deal.”

A globall Ford-brand DNA!  Wow.  That is a big deal!

Which brings me to a question about universities posed in The Economist blog post: “Could America’s universities go the way of its car companies?” (Note: article on Ford, notwithstanding.)

If you read some of the more than 50 comments to The Economist blog post, there are a lot of irate students, parents, professors, and business owners who have strong opinions about the value of American higher education today.  Listening to the reaction to the post, it sounds a lot like how people used to talk about the American auto industry when everyone was buying foreign imports.  Have the American car manufacturers learned from those marketing mistakes or has luck (ala Toyota’s misfortunes) played a big role?

Is it legitimate to suggest that maybe university presidents and marketers should start waking up — along with manufacturers — to what’s going on in their ’supply chains’ that’s diminishing the value of their products?  If marketing can help Ford, it should, also, be able to help universities clarify what they need to do to put out a ‘product’ that better meets the needs of their buyers, right?  In the crazy heirarchy of universities today, I wonder, if marketing is actually being given a chance to do marketing these days.  And I don’t just mean redesigning a brochure or putting out a press release.  I mean redefining  the ‘university-brand DNA!’ 

Maybe it’s time for a revision of the “Hey Manufacturers. Stop Whining. Start Marketing” rallying cry.  Maybe it’s time for a “Hey Manufacturers. Move Over. The Wheels Are Falling Off Our Universities, Too” wake-up call!

Comments?

Howz It Goin Out There Manufacturers? Here’s a Resource for You

Posted on | August 30, 2010 | No Comments

With the economy not doing as well as anticipated and back-to-school retail sales lower than expected, I thought it was time to see what others in the industrial marketing community were saying to manufacturers these days.  (Was I looking for colleagues-in-arms or still feeling residual guilt for the “Hey Manufacturing! Stop Whining. Start Marketing.” post?)  

No matter.  I came across something I thought I’d share – GlobalSpec’s 2010 Economic Outlook Survey: How Industrial Companies can Succeed in the Current Economy which you can find here: http://www.globalspec.com/wp/2010_EconomicOutlookSurveyBlog

The report includes interesting information on the state of industry, valuable stats about the growth of online use by industrial engineers and product developers, and offers a benchmark by which to measure your own industrial marketing efforts. 

But mostly I mention the report for these reasons:

• The survey was done in January and contains useful marketing guidance for industrial sector companies.  For example:

“… 61% of respondents working in the Semiconductor & Electronics industry, and 59% in the Automotive industry, expect sales to be up in 2010 … 58% of those in Consumer Products/Electronics and 57% in Chemicals, Plastics & Rubber anticipate higher sales in 2010 as well.

“Suppliers that provide products and services to industries that are showing improvements should invest in marketing to increase their visibility, maintain competitiveness, and open up opportunities to win new business. On the other hand, suppliers and service providers that primarily sell into the hardest hit industries should determine if their products can meet customer needs in industries that are beginning to rebound, and if so, develop messaging for these customers and plan marketing programs that target these industries.”

(Note the emphasis on continuing to market appropriately whether in a growing or declining segment!)

• The date of the survey raises a question about whether – given recent economic news – these sectors have actually recovered over the year and whether marketing has played a part.

I’d be interested in your thoughts on this.  Please share this quick survey: 

Please retweet this 2-question survey:  Howz it goin out there manufacturers? http://elliance.ennectsurvey.com/howzitgoinouttheremanufacturers

How Do You Emarket if You Need to Make HARD Change?

Posted on | August 20, 2010 | No Comments

I’m not talking about philosophical or metaphysical change.  What I’m talking about is:  Does emarketing still work when your business requires you to make HARD change: pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollars?

The answer is: of course it does.  But now there may be some additional emarketing tools in your arsenal besides email and online event registration, social networking and website/search engine marketing. 

I came across a great post the other day that offers a list of location-based applications that small-to-medium size businesses can easily apply to their ‘hard-change’ locations.  I thought eMarketing Blog readers might be interested in reading it too.  So, here’s the link to the Beyond Foursquare: 5 Location-Based Apps for Small Business post.  

Do location-based services work?  Would Facebook have launced its own service (a geo-location app called “Places”) if it didn’t think there was a future in this type of service?  Probably not.  And there is some good evidence that people are checking into location-based services at establishments that have adopted this emarketing technology.  Here’s a link to a report on AdAge about how some restaurant chains are using a location-based games to drive interest.

If you’re the type of company that has to make hard change, maybe the new location-based apps can help you make more!

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