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!

A Question About Opt-Out Granularity

Posted on | August 10, 2010 | No Comments

A recent post in the Marketing Dissector asks why most email systems only allow blanket opt-outs for recipients.  There is no simple answer to this problem, but the blame doesn’t entirely rest on the providers’ shoulders…

One of the first things you learn in direct marketing – and this is a direct marketing issue at heart – is that your mail (or email) list is the first place you start with any campaign.  If you don’t get your list right, the rest falls apart. Wrong audience. Wrong message. Wrong offer. Wrong response. OPT-OUT in droves.  (Note: This is the part of direct mail that is no different from good solid PR tactics…find the right editor; target the right message, or they’ll “opt out,” too. Aside: I stand by my claim that ALL good marketing starts with good PR.)

The direct marketer’s role is to segment the list correctly and make sure that the right message hits the right target through the right channel at the right time.  (Thank you, Peppers & Rogers…)  But doing this in reality is really hard as, even, the largest marketing automation users with the most sophisticated behavior or trigger-based marketing campaigns will attest. 

Many marketers – stressed for time, lazy, or limited by technologies, budgets, etc. – bypass this best practice and send emails with abandon – wrong message/offer, etc. – and, hence, wrong response: opt-out meshugas.   (A direct marketer, by contrast, would never do this…the cost of printing, handling, and postage these days is just too great. Email is cheap and, so, has promulgated a lot of bad habits.)

The message here – in case it’s not apparent – is that marketers with bad habits CANNOT expect (or fault) technology for problems they themselves create.

Most email delivery services (including packaged software and especially systems designed for the SMB market) are “non-intuitive” vehicles.  While they have lots of capabilities built in, they’re not intelligent to a degree that allows them to know whether the instructions they’re being given are correct.

They’re like trains carrying passengers, dependent on a conductor for direction, speed, and stops along the way to allow customers to disembark, etc.  IF the conductor (marketer) insists on loading everyone standing on the platform and taking them to wherever the train is going, there will be lots of people clamoring to get off. Others may stay just to see where the ride ends (or because staying on has benefits that getting off doesn’t…and some marketers count on this.) In the email world, conductors who don’t open the doors when customers want to get off are called spammers.  And there are “transportation police” at both the Federal and State levels who have a responsibility to stop them and enforce steep fines and penalties for not following the rules.

These same rules – commonly referred to as The CAN-SPAM Act – also dictate what email service/software providers must do when someone requests to opt out.  The Act says unequivocally that “your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future.” And it says that such notice must be “easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand.”  It also says, “You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you.” (Ed. Note: This latter bit appears to be newly-added. It used to be in or out, no qualifiers.)

Some homegrown emailers have Internet-based menus in place.  But such landing pages require constant monitoring and coding, in most cases.  And for many marketers, and for email service providers, this is a non-trivial task – especially in the SMB market.  So, what’s the recourse?  A ‘blanket’ opt-out policy that does equal disservice to the marketer and to the email recipient, opting out everyone of everything. It’s perfectly no-win/no-win. 

The message here – not much different from above – is that marketers need to stick to good direct marketing basics and, again, not expect (or fault) technology for problems they themselves create.

We’d love to hear your opinions and ideas on how to make this simpler for email marketers — without abridging the law, of course

Six Tips for Creating Effective Emails

Posted on | August 2, 2010 | No Comments

Here are some easy rules to follow to assure that your emails are effective.

1. Define Your Goal

Before you decide on the type of email you’re going to send, you should define your goals. By clarifying what it is you’re trying to achieve and who you’re trying to reach, you’ll have a better understanding of the type of email you want to send.

2. Email Types

There are lots of different types of emails, including:

• Welcome letters
• eNewsletters
• Order confirmations
• Event invites
• Promotions
• Contests
• Polls/surveys
• News (e.g., alumni)
• Alerts
• Fund-raising
• Crisis communications

3. Content

General rules of thumb for creating message content that gets read:

Direct your message to your target audience.

Keep the message short & sweet: “one scroll” is a good rule.

• If your articles run long, put the first ‘teaser’ paragraph into your email and add a link to the rest of the article.

Engage your readers: give them reasons to respond to your message.

• Include a call to action, clickable links to separate landing pages, etc.

Reinforce your brand

Follow CAN-SPAM guidelines.

• Always include an opt-out device for individuals who do not wish to receive future email messages.

4. The Subject Line

Carefully choose your “Subject” line: it’s the all important hook for getting your email opened.

Craft your Subject line to interest recipients to open your email. You may wish to include the benefit to the reader, the brand name, the offer, or a sense of urgency.

Keep it brief: 5-to-8 words and limit the length to 40 characters including spaces.

5. Design

Place the most important information at the top.

Restrict colors to the standard 216 web-safe color palette.

Compress images: the smaller the image file size, the quicker your message will load in the recipient’s window.

Keep it narrow. Limiting the width will make sure that the email will print without the right edge being cut off, and ensure the email’s visibility within the default preview pane of most email clients.

Create both text and HTML formats. Many email programs display HTML, but some only display text.

Not all email programs that display HTML will display style sheets (CSS) correctly. Therefore, you may wish to embed your HTML style tags into each element. (We found that this is specifically helpful for users of Lotus Notes.)

Be respectful of your audience’s time and bandwidth by keeping messages less than 50k in size.

Email clients will not always display files as you see them previewed in a web browser window. When deciding on your design, consider how your message will display in various email clients, such as Outlook Navigator, Yahoo, Gmail, EudoraPro, Hotmail, AOL, etc.

6. Test Your Email Before Sending

Make sure to test your email before sending it.

Set up a test list of internal recipients and send your test broadcast to them.

Proofread your content and check to make sure links are working.

Make sure your template graphics display properly on various email clients.

Check your subject line. You might find you need to adjust it to accommodate the way different email clients display your message.

Filter Survey Results for More Insights

Posted on | July 26, 2010 | No Comments

Professional researchers know that they can uncover valuable insights from their survey efforts by drilling down into their results.  Without a lot of effort, you can too.

It’s really not hard to gain more insights by looking at your results from different angles – for example, by different socio-economic groups, by industry, by geography, etc.  By adding a few appropriate ‘filtering’ type of questions to your survey (e.g., age ranges, geographic regions, industry, etc.), you can segment responses by type.

These types of insights can help you gain greater value from your surveys and give you greater insight into how to respond as a result.  Ennect makes this easy with its Compare-O-Gram feature, but other surveys may have similar capabilities.  If not, you can do a comparison by hand; it will just take more work.  Also, it’s nice to see results in charts, and Ennect’s Compare-O-Gram feature actually lets you view results graphically, enhancing your ability to quickly see differences.

It doesn’t require heavy lifting to achieve results that can reveal valuable insights for your organization.  For example, Duquesne University’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) wanted to study how businesses were dealing with the emergence of new social media channels.  Click here – Tech Survey Shows Impact on Different Organizations – to see the article.

By comparing the Tech Survey results with another published survey, it was apparent that organizations in the southwestern PA area had not adopted social media marketing strategies at the same pace as organizations nationally (42% locally versus 59% nationally).  For the SBDC, that meant that putting a lot of money and time into social media to promote their upcoming conference might not have the desired effect.

Using the Compare-O-gram feature, however, allows us to dig further to see what social media tools the local business community is deploying by ‘type of organization.’  The graphic below shows us that among for-profit companies (manufacturers and business services), LinkedIn is popular and, to a lesser extent, FaceBook and blogging. 

The insight for SBDC:  focus on the social media channels that their targets are more likely to use and eschew things like YouTube and MySpace and possibly even Twitter.

Additionally, if you’re a social media service or application provider, this kind of drill-down information can give you insights into what kinds of services you want to offer different types of clients and provide an indication of where you might be most successful with your prospecting. 

To learn more about how customers are using surveys to enhance their marketing efforts, click here.

Get the Word Out: A Half-Century Old Plant Blooms in Pittsburgh

Posted on | July 13, 2010 | No Comments

It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the bright yellow blooms of the Agave Americana – especially if you live in southwestern Pennsylvania where the plant is definitely not native.  It’s even more amazing since the mighty succulent, estimated to be between 40 and 50 years old, has survived freezing temperatures, storms and whipping winds, which recently caused its stalk to snap.  So, it was a bit of a surprise when, bandaged with duct tape and stabilized by a splint and ropes, the giant plant recently burst into sunshine yellow blooms!  Growing to over 33 feet, the giant agave’s flowers are literally bursting through the glass ceiling of Phipps Conservatory’s Desert Room.  But not for long: The agave will only bloom for a short time before dying.

Alerting the Flower World Via Email

Since it would be a bloomin’ shame for plant aficionados and backyard gardeners to miss the short window of opportunity to see the old agave flower, the marketing staff at Phipps turned to Ennect Mail to alert patrons to this special event and to a party in the plant’s honor.

“We send out a regular monthly newsletter to patrons to let them know about events at the Conservatory,” said Liz Fetchin, Marketing and Communications Manager at Phipps. “But we couldn’t wait for the newsletter to get the word out about the agave since it really is a short window for visitors to see this. We needed to turn around communications fast. Email marketing is ideal for this kind of announcement.”

Obviously Phipps Conservatory’s patrons appreciate the effort since the mailing received nearly a 20 percent open rate.  Hopefully, that will turn into a lot of binocular-aided viewers over the time that the agave is in bloom.

For more information on Phipps Conservatory, click here.  

 To read more about the Agave Americana, click here.  

And to learn more on how Ennect Mail can help you, click here.

The Little Kid on the Ukulele Drove Me to SEARCH

Posted on | June 30, 2010 | No Comments

Driving to work this morning the radio almost drove me off the side of the road when the car in front of me stopped suddenly.  Distracted, I was singing along to a rendition of “I’m Yours,” a popular Jason Mraz song sung by, well, at that point, I wasn’t sure whom.  I was actually listening to someone who appeared to not know the words to the song.  Unfortunately, I only knew some of them and was relying on the Mraz-wannabe for the rest.  Obviously, that wasn’t happening.

By the time I got to work, the tune was jailed in my head and I knew I wouldn’t get a thing done until I set it free. I had to find out who this person was. Luckily the radio announcer had given me a clue – five descriptive words – essentially, a long-tail keyword (Click to see long tail SEO infographic) …

Little+Kid+Singing+Jason+Mraz

Off I went to deposit the keyword string into the world’s second most popular search engine: YouTube. And there he was:  a young Asian boy on ukulele who had the chords down perfect, but who obviously had no idea what he was singing.  Don’t get me wrong, the song is cute to listen to, but the visual component puts it right over the top. This heartfelt rendition of “I’m Yours” went viral within the office in just a few minutes and who knows where it went from there. (At this writing, the number of views = 21,835,809.) This, of course, is what you want to happen to YOUR videos.

Even without the radio announcer’s keyword tip, I might have found my target with a combination of other keywords: I’m+Yours+Mraz+kid, etc.  But the fact is: the little kid on the radio drove me to search, which got me to thinking…

What Drives You – or Your Customers – to Search?

If you’ve been watching my Ennect and Elliance tweets (What! You don’t spend every moment of your day reading my tweets?), you know I share search tips off and on.  I’m not a search specialist, but I’m convinced of the power of search. And I sometimes listen in on conversations among the search gurus at Elliance, who are convinced – along with the rest of the world – that search is the first step in the majority of purchases.

And to that I say – again – but what drives search?  In my case, it was the need to have my curiosity sated. (In Maslow’s hierarchy, I suppose that falls under “knowledge and understanding needs.”  I’m obviously still struggling to reach the “self-actualization” top of the pyramid.)

What concerns me is that many companies focus on search terms and miss the real reason people use search:  they have a NEED.  And needs can be driven internally or externally, which means companies can do things to activate search.  What?  Well, there’s a whole list of things: media coverage (PR), email marketing, marketing events, surveys, advertising, word of mouth, social media, and radio – just to mention a few.  I just interviewed someone who’s keyed into parents’ needs for quality TV programming for their children. She uses Ennect Sweeps to help activate interest – and search — for her organization’s mission.

My need today was stimulated by drive-time radio.  Here’s my multi-million-view question for you: What are you doing to stimulate your buyers’ needs?

Click here to see the ukulele kid’s video on YouTube.

The New KISS: Keep It Simple and SOCIAL!

Posted on | June 24, 2010 | No Comments

KISS is a familiar acronym that roles off of most of our tongues as “Keep It Simple, Stupid.” But as much as I like the “Keep It Simple” part of that description, I’ve never been a big fan of being called “Stupid.” And the emergence of social media provides a perfect opportunity to shake “the old KISS” up.

I say we take KISS to a new level: “Keep It Simple and SOCIAL.”  With all the new social media tools and methodologies, it should be easy to do this.

Here are Five SIX! (ed: oops!) Tips for Keeping It Simple and SOCIAL:

S – Start SMALL.  If you’ve never tried social media before, don’t take on too much at once.  Think about what would make the most sense for your company’s business and for your own time and capabilities. If you sell highly complex products – and you have the resources to do so – you might start a blog to help explain complex processes or concepts and to solicit others’ ideas as comments.  If you sell consumer goods via an ecommerce site, try tweeting to raise awareness of special promotions on your website.

O – Set OBJECTIVES.  Before you start, think about how social media can best help you meet business goals that are measureable.  Establishing a yardstick will keep your activities directed toward meeting your goals.  If you don’t set goals, you will have no way of knowing whether your social media has been successful.

C – COLLABORATE.  Look around your organization, your partnerships, and your customers for collaborators – others who are capable of and interested in using social media to help your company grow.  You will often find people who have capabilities and knowledge that can help you improve your start-up efforts and you’ll also have someone else to rely on when you need assistance. 

I –INTERACT. The whole point of social media is engagement: listening to your followers and responding to them.  You can’t just set up social media and forget about it.  And, just as email can often eat up countless hours during the day if you don’t manage your time, so can social media. Remember to think about how much time you can afford to devote to interacting with others as a result of your social media efforts.  Before you begin, set aside a portion of your day to focus on your social media activities.  It will help you keep the reins on what sometimes can become a runaway activity.

A – ACTIVATE and ADJUST.  You will save countless steps by putting an action plan in place and following it, then by “just starting up.” Not only will you have a framework in place to grow effectively, but you’ll have something to measure against so that you can quickly make adjustments to assure ongoing success.

L – LINK your social media efforts to your other online and offline marketing.  Remember to put your LinkedIn and/or Twitter address on your business card, in your email signature, on your website and on all your collateral. Use it in your email and online event marketing efforts and in your online sweepstakes and surveys. Sprinkle reminders liberally.  It’s the simplest thing is to do and so many people forget!

Social media can be immensely rewarding to your company if you follow these KISS steps.  Hope you find them helpful. 

If you have other tips you’d like to share, we’d love to hear about them…

Martha Stewart Uses Social Marketing to Drive Her B2B2C Business

Posted on | June 16, 2010 | No Comments

If experimenting with new social media marketing turns up positive opportunities for Martha Stewart, shouldn’t other B2B2C marketers put it to the test?

Stewart owns (is?) one of the most well-known brands in the country.  One word – HOME – embodies everything she markets and sells. When we think about “home,” however, it conjures up concepts like “safety, stability, comfort, relaxation…”  Yet, Stewart’s approach to social marketing leans more towards “experimentation,” according to a Jesse Stanchak blog post, “4 social-marketing tips from Martha Stewart,” that reported on Stewart’s presentation on June 14^th at TWTRCON in New York City.

According to Stanchak, Stewart’s a bit of a social media renegade suggesting that “you shouldn’t feel pressured to comply with other people’s ideas about how you should express yourself.” He points to Stewart’s tendency to “write in unpunctuated streams, and sometimes even in block capitals, though some tell her it’s against the rules.”  Stewart’s reply: “Who the heck made these rules? That’s the way I type.”

Stewart both tweets and blogs.  You can find her at http://twitter.com/marthastewart, http://www.themarthablog.com/, and http://dailywag.marthastewart.com/.   The latter is a blog about Stewart’s French bulldogs that actually led to a line of pet products which she markets in partnership with PetSmart.  It’s a great example of how engaging and listening to your social network can help a B2B2C company develop new market opportunities.

Stewart’s, of course, isn’t the only B2B2C company experimenting with social media, but there are a lot more who are hesitant to do so.  While it clearly makes sense to have all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed, some companies use that as an excuse to not try social marketing.  And, sure, there are companies who have gotten burned, but if you’re monitoring your company and your social media appropriately, there are more benefits than brickbats for your efforts. 

To read more about how Stewart’s B2B2C business approaches social networking, click here.

Event Planners Find Premium-rated Properties Around Pittsburgh

Posted on | June 7, 2010 | No Comments

If you’re an event planner who’s looking for top-rated venues in or near Pittsburgh where you can host your special guests, you might consider the ones below.  On the 2010 AAA (American Automobile Association) list of highly-coveted Four and Five Diamond Award recipients, many of these venues are repeat winners. The AAA rating system is the only one covering all of North America and one of only two based on onsite inspections.

Eleven
1150 Small Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
412-201-5656

This is the fifth consecutive year that this Pittsburgh-based restaurant, located in the city’s popular downtown Strip District, received the AAA Four Diamond Award award. It offers contemporary American cuisine.

LeMont
1114 Grandview Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15211
412-431-3100

Atop Mt. Washington with expansive views of the downtown Pittsburgh skyline and its three rivers, the LeMont celebrated 50 years in business in 2010 along with 14 consecutive years as a AAA Four Diamond Award recipient. Steak Diane is its signature dish.

Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel
107 Six Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
412-562-1200

In the heart of Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, the Renaissance is the only lodging property currently rated Four Diamond.  It’s the hotel’s eighth such rating.  The hotel is just across the Roberto Clemente Bridge from Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball franchise, and not far from PNC Park where the Pittsburgh Steelers play. It is also in the vacinity of Mellon Area and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

Glendorn Resort
1000 Glendorn Drive
Bradford PA 16701
1-800-843-8568

On a secluded estate, this resort offers a variety of accommodations with an amazing 41 wood burning fireplaces — each suite or cabin has a least one — plus an award-winning culinary team.  This is Glendorn’s 14th AAA Four Diamond Rating.  The property also offers fly-fishing on three miles of privately managed trout streams.

Nemacolin Woodlands Resort
1001 Lafayette Drive
Farmington, PA 15437
866-344-6957

Nemcolin is the only resort in Pennsylvania that has received four AAA Diamond Awards in 2010, including two Five Diamond Awards for its Falling Rock facility (4th consecutive Five Diamond) and for its Lautrec restaurant and two Four Diamond Awards for the resort itself (7th consecutive Four Diamond) and for its Aqueous restaurant. Nemacolin includes an acclaimed spa, two champoinship golf courses, an outdoor sporting facility spread over 140 acres with an off-road driving academy, an equestrian center, petting zoo, and more.

Only 1,267 hotels and 749 restaurants received the AAA Four Diamond designation for 2010.  An even more prestigeous club, just .28 percent of 31,000 lodgings and 27,000 restaurants are Five Diamond rated. Contact AAA for detailed lists and for more information.

If you need event marketing and registration tools to help you plan your event, look no farther than Ennect which offers online Event, Mail, Survey, and Sweepstakes software for users. Try it for free.

Manufacturing News is Good. Again.

Posted on | June 2, 2010 | No Comments

It’s the “again” that counts!

According to a June 1 report by the Institute for Supply Management™ Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, the manufacturing sector has shown expansion now for 10 consecutive months.  (Yeah!) The latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business® also said that the overall economy has grown for 13 consecutive months!  (Woohoo!)

The report’s rate of growth reflects continued strength in new orders and production across 16 of 18 industries as measured by the PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index).  The report also points to six months of continued growth in employment.   (We like the sound of this more and more.)

What’s growing the fastest?   At the top of the list is: paper and wood products, transportation and electrical equipment, appliances and components, fabricated metal products, computing and electronic products, and furniture.  What’s contracting? Petroleum and coal.  (Seasonal?)

It’s good to see expansion continue as it can only mean greater opportunities for our clients and their customers too, since so many of them are in these sectors.  However, with companies still being cautious on how they spend their money, more and more of them are turning to emarketing tools during this recovery to help sustain their momentum.  It’s sometimes slow going as many manufacturers find it hard to make a transition from an account management/sales model to a marketing/sales model.  This is a critical step for success that some smart manufacturers are already beginning to adopt. 

As indication of this, a recent report from Forrester Research predicts B2B companies will lay out $54 million on social media marketing alone in 2014, a huge increase from 2009’s $11 million spend.  You can read more about the growth of social media and other interactive marketing in eMarketer.

B2B customer buying practices are changing according to John Neeson, managing director and co-founder of SiriusDecisions.  Sales and marketing need to change as well.  At the recent SiriusDecisions 2010 Summit Neeson pointed out that customers and prospects “no longer want to be marketed and sold to in a linear fashion.” They want to control the experience and interact on their terms.  Where does this happen most?  On the Internet:  via search, the web, and social media. 

As further illustration of this, attendees at the Summit heard from B2B marketers about tools they’re adopting to better manage and analyze customer responses to their online marketing activities. 

Net:  The economy may be getting better, but the question is:  Has manufacturing turned the corner on learning how to engage with buyers on their own terms as a way to accellerate growth?  I don’t know if we’re quite there yet!  What do you think?

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