With budgets still tight, how are companies managing to stay connected while bringing engaging and relevant messages to customers?  

Successful companies are learning that if they use interactive elements such as video, polls, FLASH and RSS feeds within their e-mail marketing campaigns, they see higher conversion rates and a stronger connection to their customers.

Video, if created properly, can really enhance your e-mail message and recipient interactivity. By using an enticing image with descriptive impact statements, recipients will be eager to click and link to the video. Include the file size, length of video or formats supported. Use flash video (FLV) whenever possible to achieve higher compression rates. 

• HOW TO: Create Online Video That Works by David Rich

Polls are a great way to entice recipients and engage audiences that want to be heard. Create topics or subjects that will resonate with your intended audience. Provide immediate results, along with associated support material, newsletters or additional links.  

• Best practices: Using polls in e-mail marketing by Karen J. Bannan

RSS feeds are another way to keep customers connected post e-mailing especially if your company has a blog, dedicated community or news section. RSS feeds provide the right amount of content to recipients on their terms making it the perfect connection outside of targeted e-mails.

• Newbie's Guide to Google Reeder - by Josh Lowensohn

In summary, once you have created an on-going e-mail campaign with customers, remember to include interactive elements and content that will continually engage your customers. Remember to measure the effectiveness of each campaign and refine where necessary.

Best,

Denice MacDonald

According to several leading experts, social media is a number one priority in 2010. Social media will be used by organizations to lift their brand, stay connected to customers while using networks to grow their lead-gen pipelines. To learn how your organization can capitalize on what others are doing, check out these ‘top’ resources, articles and blogs from leading subject matter experts.   

Social media on marketers' menu for 2010 by Helen Leggatt, Biz Report   

"It looks like social media is on the menu for most marketers next year. A survey of almost 2,000 MediaPost subscribers found that over half plan to have "a presence on social networks" as part of their marketing mix in 2010..."  

10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010 by Ravit Lichtenberg from Ustrategy.com

"It is impossible to separate social media from the online world. Facebook reached 350 million users last month -- 70% of whom are outside the US -- and it accounts for 25% of the Web's traffic, according to Pew nearly one in five people on the web use Twitter or some other service to check status messages, and 94% of enterprises plan to maintain or increase their investment in enterprise social media tools. The social media conversation is no longer considered a Web 2.0 fad -- it is taking place in homes, small businesses and corporate boardrooms, and extending its reach into the nonprofit, education and health sectors. From feeling excitement, novelty, bewilderment, and overwhelmed, a growing number of people now speak of social media as simply another channel or tactic..."

Why You Need A Social Media Policy in 2010 by Vanessa DiMauro, Customer Think   

"Policies are dull. No one wants to create them, no one likes to read them and certainly, few desire the job of enforcing them.  But they can play an important role in outlining the rules of engagement around a particular set of online behaviors and have a strong role to play in the face of new situations where the there are no standards.  This is especially true with the wild west world of social media in business..."  

Six Social Media Trends for 2010 by David Armano, Harvard Business Review   

"In 2009, we saw exponential growth of social media. According to Nielsen Online, Twitter alone grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month. Meanwhile, Facebook continued to outpace MySpace. So what could social media look like in 2010? In 2010, social media will get even more popular, more mobile, and more exclusive — at least, that's my guess. What are the near-term trends we could see as soon as next year..."

Best to my network this holiday season!   

Denice MacDonald 

My colleague James Davidson just forwarded a Google Wave invite to me – what an amazing application.   

Google Wave, accessible through Google Browser Chrome, is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. 

To make sense of it all, Mashable has compiled a complete user guide offering key information, definitions, and links related to the launch of Google Wave.  

This in-depth guide provides an overview of Google Wave, discusses the terminology associated with it, details information on Google Wave applications and goes over ways to keep you informed. Get it here: Google Wave – A Complete Guide by Mashable  

YouTube also has several abridged videos on how Google Wave works along with key attributes. 

Google Wave is closed to the public and available only to developers. Google plans on opening the service to the public at some point later in 2009. If you are interested in getting on the list for an invite, you will need to go here and sign up. 

Best

Denice MacDonald                                                                         View YouTube Video

Ahhh….social media and social media marketing are quite the buzz these days. My user groups and close business colleagues remind me how ‘hot’ this topic is.  Although social media can be the silver bullet for some, e-mail marketing is still quite viable for others.

Customers still want to hear from you

Your strongest (and most loyal customers) still want to have a personal interaction with you. E-mail allows a strong format for segmented content to your customers – reminding them of your products, services or news. 

Some prefer to have the message delivered to their in box

Undeniably, no one can underestimate the power of a third party sell through a strong social networking community – but believe it or not, some prefer to have targeted information sent to them routinely, if not daily through e-mail.

E-mail can be delivered based on opt-in parameters from your mail list (what, when and how content is delivered). That way, there is a win/win for both parties: customers get the content they want and you have a way to stay connected - intimately.

Social Media – some not getting it quite right

Overzealous fan pages, corporate pages with no viable links, as well as poor content will lead to a marginal social media experience – possibly eroding any chance that your company will get noticed – nonetheless virally promoted. 

In order for social media to be successful, there needs to be a strong integrated interactive marketing strategy.

Until a strong social media plan is place, continue some form of e-mail marketing to stay connected to your customers.

Other exceptional thought leaders who agree: 

Social Media vs. Email: Which Is A Better Marketing And Communication Channel? By Robin Good, MasterNewMedia  

Social Media Marketing Vs. Email Marketing By John Chow Dot Com 

Is Email Marketing Endangered? By ExactTarget (White Paper Download)                                         

[Photo credit: Vacuum3d from MasterNewMedia Website]

Best

Denice MacDonald

You were just notified from your department head or the CFO that you budget for fourth quarter 2009 has been reduced – or worse yet, eliminated. What do you do now?

Like most organizations I consult with, marketing budgets are defined by reactionary initiatives. What can you do to safeguard your marketing initiatives and still get results?

The Power of Three

It is always advisable to do any type of marketing initiative that will yield three defined uses (create it once, pay for it once, use many ways). That is, if you do a direct marketing piece, you may consider an on-line version and an e-mail version to select recipients. If you’re doing a trade show (money already appropriated), consider some type of interaction at the show that will draw visitors to your online presence and a creative way in which to follow-up with trade show leads. 

Maximize Alternatives and Options

In the case of advertising dollars, some media outlets will allow you to ‘refine’ your budget so that you can reallocate resources to other initiatives – in lieu of one costly ad space, consider spreading your advertising dollars to smaller focused banner ads or thru the media outlet's e-mail/direct mail efforts. Staying connected over time and with more frequency will yield a higher return on investment against budget dollars. (Hint: reconsider costly yellow page ads that can't be tracked and are overpriced!)

Get Others to Pay for It

Lastly, collaborate with all departments and determine what channel partners, associations, or vendors you may have that may garner visibility for your organization. Online reciprocal links, shared webinars, speakerships, collaborative user groups and even shared web pages will multiply your efforts and the bottom-line without incurring any additional budget dollars.

You would be surprised how many organizations within your network are in the same situation and would welcome a joint campaign to elevate marketing efforts.

Best,

Denice MacDonald 

You’ve completed several highly charged e-mail campaigns and have come up short on conversion and high on complaints. Where to you go for help? You can use Return Path’s Sender Score Monitor tools to figure out how reputation is affecting your individual campaign results. 

Return Path’s monitoring suite provides real-time feedback on how your campaigns actually fare in the inbox. It also tells you why a campaign failed. For example, if you see that the campaign generated a high complaint rate, you should take steps to stop complaints by making sure subscribers understand what to expect from you and that you are sending e-mail that is of benefit to them.   

This includes segmented content by audience type, relevant and noteworthy links to resources or other valuable information along with other interactive functionality. 

Lastly, poor infrastructure hurts your reputation because it makes you look like a spammer. Or, at the very least, it makes it appear as if your system has been or could be compromised by hackers effecting both open rates and credibility. 

Resources: 

Sender Score Lookup (free) - A Sender Score is a measure of e-mail sender reputation.

Reputation Rules Series (free subscription) – Four week e-mail series on how “E-mail is a Relationship”.

Reputation Monitor - With Deliverability tools and services from Return Path, more of your e-mail can reach the inbox-which means more responses.

Webinar and Events – Includes both hosted and industry events.

More about Return Path: 

Since 1999, Return Path has helped some of the world’s most successful companies use email more effectively. Return Path began with the notion that there was a better way to do things: that email marketing didn’t have to be a war between marketers and consumers, that it was possible to do more with less, that the smartest email solutions were the ones that not only impacted your bottom line in the short term but also benefited your reputation for the long term. 

Sources and Excerpts: 

The aforementioned comments are abbreviated highlights from Return Path’s Reputation Rules Series. I highly recommend that you subscribe to this free learning and/or contact Return Path if reputation is affecting your e-mail campaign outcomes.

Best

Denice MacDonald

With budgets taking a hard hit these days, online marketers are reverting back to e-newsletters as a viable way in which to keep in front of customers. But how do you know if your impending e-newsletter campaign will be relevant or effective?

Simply, make it worthy.

The single most important way you can improve your e-newsletter performance is to increase relevance through greater use of segmentation and dynamic content.¹

Focus on defined goals. Although open rates are important, consider concentrating on business-focused goals. E-newsletters provide brand exposure, company awareness against competitors and an opportunity to soft-sell.

Create trust. Trust drives everything from the initial opt-in to engagement and on through preference updates and even unsubscribing. If your e-newsletter-related processes and messages don't create trust, recipients will unsubscribe – and even worse, virally complain to others.  

Communicate-don’t sell. E-newsletters are as close to a one-on-one conversation as you'll get with your customers. You have more to say than just "buy from us." Customers want and expect more from their relationship with you – specifically content that is important to them.

Measure, measure, measure. Integrating e-newsletters with Web analytics and other behavioral data will pay off in more relevant content, engagement and ultimately conversion.

In summary, e-newsletters should contain useful, relevant content and reflects what it's like to do business with your company. The e-newsletter should focus on solidifying relationships with your clients and prospects over the long term, not on hard sales and quick promotions.

Source: 

¹ Forrester Research, March, 2009

Best

Denice MacDonald

TinyURL is a web service created by Kevin Gilbertson that provides short aliases to redirect long URLs. Basically, TinyURL turns a long URL into a much shorter one.

For example, I took my URL and made a TinyURL:

http://www.macdonaldconsultingservices.com/ has a length of 42 characters and resulted in the following TinyURL which has a length of 25 characters: http://tinyurl.com/dn373h

Or, I can give my recipients confidence with a preview TinyURL: http://preview.tinyurl.com/dn373h

The preview feature allows recipients to preview the link at the TinyURL site so that they can see that the link directs to my web site and not a phishing site or a site with potential viruses.

How can you use TinyURL?

• If you want to 'cloak' a URL and give some mystery to a link within a 'known' campaign.
• You want to shorten, drastically, a URL such as a MapQuest link within e-mails.
• You want to shorten a lengthy product link, video or podcast link so that it doesn't break within a critical e-newsletter.
• Within Twitter, to minimize the use of characters.

Basically, the use of TinyURL is endless. For more learning, click on the following YouTube video.

Best

Denice MacDonald

As dollars get scarce and competition grows fierce, marketers are now pondering the direction and mode of maintaining their customer base and market share. Let’s face it, tough times force tough choices – what to keep, what to slice, what to start anew.   

Here’s a few suggestions on channels that will aid marketers to stay ‘in the game’ for 2009:  

Online advertising 

Although price competitive, there will be many ‘opportunity buys’ for online marketers willing to take the plunge.   

Search marketing

Still touted as the best deal, search can be measured and refined – allowing targeted and niche campaigns.   

Integrate

Collaborate online branding with search initiatives resulting in a cohesive and measurable strategy. 

E-mail

No it’s not dead – it's resurrected as a viable and affordable means of staying connected to customers and prospects. 

Service is marketing

The best thing you can do to keep customers and potentially increase sales is to focus on customer service.   

Online video

Video engages and can become a viral strategy. Videos also are well poised for repurposing at trade shows, online and within e-mail campaigns. 

Metrics 

Test, test and retest. You can’t get enough statistics to help gauge and refine both online and offline initiatives.  

The only economic constant is change -- it will be paramount for marketers to stay agile relative to initiatives for 2009.

Best,

Denice MacDonald 

Viral marketing, also referred to as word-of-mouth, is defined as a strategy or set of initiatives that encourages individuals to pass on, communicate or influence market messages and brand to others.

In the old days, you either had to buy expensive advertising or entice the media to tell your story. Unfortunately, many organizations create viral marketing campaigns based on the old rules. 

The best viral marketing efforts promote your organization and its products and services by delivering great online content (video, a great blog post, discussion forums, an interesting photo or graphic) that is directly tied to your products, services, and company brand.

Successful viral marketing campaigns sell your ideas in a creative way that people want to share with their friends, colleagues, and family members.  

According to David Meerman Scott, this isn’t the same old marketing and PR you’ve tried before. 

DON'T:

>Obsess about being “on message.”

>Break the bank with expensive advertising.

>Beg mainstream media to write about you. 

DO:

>Tell your story directly to an interested market.

>Make it easy for people to share your content with their friends, colleagues, and family members. 

Viral marketing can also be applied to recruiting efforts and employee communication.  Reason simply, it’s great to hear about an organization through individuals who have direct experience to share. 

Viral Marketing Resources: 

The New Rules of Viral Marketing by David Meerman Scott 

Six Principles of Viral Marketing Copyright © 2000, 2005, Ralph F. Wilson, E-Mail Marketing and Online Marketing editor, Web Marketing Today.

Best,

Denice MacDonald

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of “E-mail Data Management Best Practices,” a document with a series of far-reaching privacy and data security recommendations intended for publishers, marketers and service providers.  

Focusing on protecting consumer privacy while improving effectiveness in e-mail marketing executions, the document was released at TARGUSinfo’s Online Lead Quality Summit. 

Some of the document’s key recommendations are: 

 √  Senders should send commercial e-mail only to individuals who have provided informed consent.

 √  A global unsubscribe mechanism should be implemented for all companies sending e-mails. Advertisers and marketers should authenticate their e-mails by publicly registering the domains from which they send the e-mail.

 √  A company cannot transfer a consumer’s permission to receive commercial e-mail to another company without the transfer being referenced in the new company’s e-mails. 

About the IAB 

Founded in 1996, the Interactive Advertising Bureau represents over 375 leading interactive companies that actively engage in and support the sale of interactive advertising. IAB members are responsible for selling over 86% of online advertising in the United States.

From my perspective, the IAB is a 'must-have' resource for any web marketer.

Best,

Denice MacDonald

According to a recent e-Marketer report, more than six out of 10 CMOs and senior marketing professionals surveyed in the US said that digital tactics (including mobile, video, e-mail etc.) accounted for more than one-quarter of their agency marketing, according to a July 2008 study by Zoomerang for Sapient.  

Respondents also said digital marketing was growing in importance. Nearly one-half (45%) of those polled had either switched agencies or planned to switch during the next 12 months to gain access to more digital expertise. Almost eight out of 10 said that agencies' interactive and digital aptitude was important or very important.  

What is digital marketing and what does it mean for marketers? 

According to Wikipedia, digital marketing is defined as the practice of promoting products and services using digital distribution channels to reach consumers in a timely, relevant, personal and cost-effective manner. By doing so, marketers realize the following benefits: 

Brand-advantage – typically in the past, marketing and any digital initiatives were handled separately or were non-existent. With the use of digital technology, marketing professionals have an opportunity to enhance messaging and bring cohesiveness to their brand. 

Larger reach – digital initiatives allow marketers to expand their campaigns beyond one single effort leveraging several channels to optimize budget dollars and reach. 

Personalization – with digital initiatives, messages are highly targeted and specific allowing marketers to not only track how many people saw their message but also specific information about each user. 

As marketers, digital tactics allow for many opportunities that can be tracked measured and refined. To learn more about digital marketing and tactics, consider accessing the following resources: 

• The McKinsey Quarterly – Digital Marketing
• NetImperative – Digital Marketing News and Events
• MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer

Best

Denice MacDonald

Tradeshows are no longer simply ‘meet and greet’ events. 

Tradeshows offer a tremendous opportunity for businesses to increase market share with existing customers, introduce new products and services while creating and converting new leads.

Leveraging the Marketing Mix - It is imperative that your marketing efforts include pre-show, at-show and post-show activity. 

Before the show, consider direct or e-mail marketing.  Reason simply, mail lists are typically included with the exhibitor fee and offer a low-budget way to attract leads to your booth.  In some cases, the list can be vetted to include leads more aligned with your offerings.  Don’t forget to include customers in your mailing and/or offer ‘free passes’.

The mailing/announcement could include an incentive or giveaway to your booth. Developing a dynamite giveaway takes thought and creativity. Consider what your target audience wants and what will help them do their job better.

 At the event, use the booth as an effective marketing tool by making a strong statement about who your company is, what you do and how you do it (great signage, large graphics etc.). The purpose of your exhibit is to attract visitors so that you can achieve your marketing objectives. In addition to it being an open, welcoming and friendly space, there needs to be a focal point and a strong key message that communicates a significant benefit to your prospect. Plenty of literature and business cards will help to entice visitors to your offerings. Blogging, onsite kiosks and video imagery will also enhance visitor engagement.
.
Lastly, your people are your ambassadors and are key to visitor engagement. They represent everything your company stands for, so choose them well. Brief them beforehand and make sure that they know: why you are exhibiting; what you are exhibiting and what you expect from them.

Post the event, the key to your tradeshow success is wrapped up in the lead-management process. The longer leads are left unattended, the colder they become. Establish a process by reviewing and vetting leads, set time lines for follow-up including scripting, custom communication and web page, use a database for tracking, make sales representatives accountable for leads given to them, and then measure your results.

Need a great booth?

Contact: Chuck Hill, Director of Marketing and Sales at Creative Works, Inc.

Best to everyone this 4th of July!

Denice MacDonald

As you know, e-mail was, and still is, the key component of ‘social interaction’ – yeah, it’s not wrapped as nicely as other social networking initiatives but it is still viable as an integral part of the customer/employee communication.  Not only is it affordable, it offers you an opportunity to stay connected – on your terms.

Here are a few great tips from the trenches:

REWARD: Identify e-mail forwarders and reward them – they are your best brand ambassadors.

PERSONALIZE: Personalized images can increase conversion by 50% - especially if a subscriber/recipient’s name is highlighted.

LIST SIZE: The larger the list, the less effective it is – lists typically become obsolete in six months (a big reason to keep up the database).

AUTHENTICATE: Insure that the program and your e-mail/domain meet standards to preclude spam issues or getting black listed - provide instructions on how recipients may add you to their white list.

EASY TO SUBSCRIBE: Create a preference center so subscribers can say how often they'd like to receive emails, what they're most interested in etc.

INCREASE OPEN RATES:  Scrutinize the “Subject Line” within e-mail campaigns.  Reason simply, most recipients (even if they know you!) will react to a subject line with a topic that offers subject matter that is relevant to them. Think long and hard about what that subject line should be.

INCREASE CONVERSION: The actual layout and design of the e-mail itself will determine open rates and ultimately conversion.  Consider less graphics and more text in the upper most portion of the e-mail real estate.  That way, one or two lines of text will appear in the recipients "Preview Pane" -- offering them a quick view of the e-mail content.  

I recently completed a project for a client that was a wrap-around before delving into a full blown web site revamp.  What did we do?  We customized several on-going e-mail campaigns to target customers based on product selection - cross-selling where appropriate.

Oftentimes, large manufacturers are hesitant to revamp their sites as the content inventory and collaboration between departments seems too daunting. (See recent blog: Who Owns the Web Site.)   Therefore, e-mail marketing is still very attractive to large organizations - especially if their client list is vast and diverse. It is a quick way to stay connected while measuring feedback and interaction within the campaign that will quantify and qualify strategy for the site revamp. 

Where to start:

Designing the template(s) is critical to the success of your campaign. Determine a specific content purpose offering subscribers/recipients value. This is also a good time to roll-out a new product, company annoucement or elevate new hires.

Next, determine the various audiences and segment content and interaction appropriately. C-level may want case study metrics while product end-users may want to see tools and testimonials.

Lasty, design for the various audiences. This may include segmenting the subscriber list to maximize ROI of the various campaigns.  If necessary, you can tweak the e-mail template(s) moving forward based on interaction.

This create-it-once/use-many-ways approach offers a unique way in which to stay in front of clients before a critical web site revamp.

Suggested e-mail programs worth reviewing:

ExactTarget (provides both web-based and self-service, rich media)

Campaign Monitor (great for organizations that want to pay as they go, includes great newsletter templates)

Arial Software (enterprise level solutions, large bulk etc.)

Great Resource:

E-mail Newsletter Best Practices by Larry Chase

Best Permission-granted E-mail Lists:

Hoovers

EmailLabs

Online video is more than MySpace and ads – it’s a lot more.

With traditional television ads, there is very little social interaction or measurable engagement. With online video, however, you can easily optimize for social networks, blogs and widgets, and also take advantage of the ability for people to share and comment on the videos or otherwise spread them virally. Social media technologies enable you to dramatically stretch your advertising budget, as you're empowering your audience to help spread your message and your brand to their friends and networks. And thanks to the cost efficiency of online video, you can also create several versions of videos that appeal to a wide range of demographics.  

Here are a few guaranteed approaches using video within your marketing mix:

Recruiting:  Get others to acknowledge the organization and its great culture.

Product Launches:  Nothings better than a customer using your product and endorsing it.

Blogs: Get an authentic ‘take’ on any subject matter with social interaction and feedback.

Trade Shows: Customers love to see employees they work with but never get to really ‘face’.  Run a customer service video with an engaging theme.

Newsletters:  Up the ante on interaction by providing a couple of :15 second spots offering a personal take on the subject matter.

Web: Repurpose any or all of the above to your online web presence, banner ad, custom pages or e-mail communications.

Ahh….great white paper on 2008 trends by MarketingProfs 

Based on the perspectives shared by executives and marketing managers across a broad range of industries, sectors, companies and marketplace situations, the report found a continuing escalation of the focus on "new media" – tactics enabled by and based on Internet technology – and a somewhat less pronounced emphasis on many traditional tactics. 

Of particular interest, e-mail marketing is still high on everyone's list – followed by trade show activity and online video! See how you, your clients and your organization fare in the war on B2B Marketing.

MProfs_B2B_2008.pdf (177.22 kb)

Ten Key Online Predictions for 2008

eMarketer has issued predictions for 2008 in key online areas, including those related advertising, videos, social networks, e-commerce and entertainment, saying online advertising will ride out potential economic storms in the US - and YouTube will decide political elections.

The 10 predictions for 2008 according to eMarketer:

1. Online ads remain resilient.
2. Video surge slows.
3. Social-network advertising hits $1.6 billion.
4. Networking goes beyond MySpace and Facebook.
5. YouTube decides the election.
6. Beijing Olympics pumps up ad spending.
7. Buy online, pick up in-store becomes expected feature.
8. Movie downloading hits the mainstream.
9. Music marketers roll out new business models.
10. Dynamic ads heighten gaming revenue potential.

Social Network Usage

Social networking will remain a key online activity, with 44% of US consumers using social networking at least once a month in 2008. While MySpace and Facebook will continue to dominate the market, changes are taking place that will extend social networking activities beyond a single destination site.

Profiles will eventually become portable, meaning consumers need only create one and be able to use it in many places on the web. Widgets that today work with only one social-network site will be designed on an open platform, extending their reach.

Activities such as online shopping, searching and even sending email will be enhanced with social-networking features.  Moreover, much of the social networking strategy can also be applied to B2B applications with intranet scenarios.

For the top social networking sites thru November, click here.