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In a post at Harvard Business Online, John Baldoni worries about the impact budgetary cutbacks will have on corporate meetings this winter. “I hear from colleagues in the communication business [that] meetings are being scaled back or canceled to a large degree,” he reports. “Scaling back makes sense; canceling meetings does not.” Here’s why:
- Meetings give your leadership team the chance to outline the company’s plan for the coming year—critical information for external partners like dealers, vendors and franchisees.
- They can also give your sales team an immediate sense of what to do in the short term.
“Both constituencies need to take the measure of their leaders and to discover for themselves if those at the top have the right stuff to lead,” says John Baldoni.
He recommends presentations that offer a clear vision for addressing current economic conditions; create the sense that you’re not only up to the challenge, but prepared to face it head on. Also, cultivate an interactive atmosphere that encourages participants to share their stories and offer feedback.
“Cancelling such meetings, except when there are no other alternatives, sends the message that employees and even vendors and customers are expendable,” says Baldoni. Instead, keep corporate confabs on the schedule and use them as a tool for energizing your constituents and renewing their trust.
Source: Harvard Business Online. Click here for the full post.
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Social scientists have long been intrigued by the human tendency to mimic the behavior of others. Research has shown that people automatically mimic other people’s posture, mannerisms and facial expressions as they interact. But does mimicry translate to product preferences as well? These researchers say yes.
Consumers were invited to participate in a study about ad memory. As a part of their orientation, they were shown a videotape of a “previous participant” engaged in the study. In the videotape, the “participant” (actually one of the researchers) had two bowls of snacks in front of him—animal crackers and goldfish crackers. The participants witnessed the subject snacking exclusively on either one or the other bowl of crackers.
Sure enough, participants in the goldfish cracker-only condition selected goldfish more often than they did animal crackers, when they were offered the two snacks, while participants in the animal cracker-only condition selected animal crackers.
The researchers conducted other experiments to further hone in on the effects of mimicry on preferences, and concluded that mimicry can indeed influence product consumption and appraisal. “As a result of mimicry, we consistently observed increased product preferences across a variety of … measures,” they concluded.
Words to market by: The next time you set up a product display, invite some of your best customers to stop by. Their appreciation might initiate a mimicry effect!
Imitation pays. Encourage your customers to buy based on others’ choices. You might try highlighting “best sellers,” or showcasing customer preferences.
Source: “Of Chameleons and Consumption: The Impact of Mimicry on Choice and Preferences,” by Robin J. Tanner, Rosellina Ferraro, Tanya L. Chartrand, James R. Bettman and Rick Van Baaren. Journal of Consumer Research
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While attending MarketingProfs’ Digital Marketing Mixer in Scottsdale, Karen Talavera finally understood the importance of mixing various sorts of online marketing together. Take email and social media: Each is a significant force in and of itself, but combined they become even more powerful.
Talavera’s tips for creating marketing gold through digital convergence:
- If you have an e-newsletter, she recommends tweeting a link when new editions appear. There’s a proviso, though: If your tweets rarely say anything more than “Check out the latest newsletter,” the Twitter community will start to see your participation as completely self-serving. So be an active participant—even when you’re not linking to content—and add value to link-driven tweets by including catchy tidbits from the newsletter.
- Be sure to include links to your email sign-up page in all of your social-media profiles.
- Give customers incentives to share your content, and make it easy to pass around. According to Talavera, “More people would rather share once with a network than forward-to-a-friend via email, especially since Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and LinkedIn have gone mainstream and the average user can reach a significant percentage of colleagues, friends and family in these environments.”
Just like the alchemists of old, finding the right digital formula takes some trial and error. “Really,” says Talavera, “the only way to understand fusion is to be willing to mix, mash and experiment a bit.”
Source: MarketingProfs. View the full article here.
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Most of us would agree that the entire point of a press release is getting media outlets to report on its contents. The more coverage, the better. So imagine David Meerman Scott’s bemusement when he received a release accompanied by a sternly worded—and counterintuitive—legal notice that forbade its dissemination: “This electronic mail transmission,” it began, “contains confidential information intended only for the person(s) named. Any use, distribution, copying or disclosure by any other person is strictly prohibited. If you received this transmission in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail and then destroy the message.” Huh?
Scott also highlights a 361-word press release from a major oil company that reads very nicely until it terminates in a 519-word disclaimer parsing the definition of several words that weren’t even used in this particular announcement. It’s but one, he says, of the thousands he could cite.
Yes, lawyers sometimes insist on CYA language, but its heavy-handed presence sends exactly the wrong message. “By including these statements,” argues Scott, “the press release says don’t believe a word we’re saying. This is what happens when lawyers get in the way of PR.”
Scott distills our Marketing Inspiration into a quote from David Henderson’s The Media Savvy Leader: “Always tell the truth and you won’t need to hide behind an attorney or safe harbor.”
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In a post at the Emma blog, Jim Hitch tells the story of two emails he received within 20 minutes of each other. “They’re similar at first glance,” he says. “Almost identical, really. Both are very image-heavy, both came from brand-name clothing retailers, both include simple calls to action, both drive traffic to an online store, on and on I could go.”
So, what set these twins apart? Hitch discovered a key difference when he took a look “under the hood” to see how each handled blocked images. Here’s what he found:
One email displayed only the small blue boxes that indicate an image hasn’t loaded.
The other added text that echoed the message each blocked image contained.
“That backup plan is known to the html-savvy as the alt tag,” he says, “the alternate text that shows when the images don’t load.” Because of this, the second email was still able to tout free shipping and invite subscribers to apply for a credit card.
According to Hitch, since many email programs block images by default, an alt tag workaround insures that recipients still get the gist of your message—making them more likely to enable images or click through to explore your offer.
Tag ’em. “Next time you create a campaign,” advises Hitch, “be sure to think about your own backup plan. The general rule is to set an alt tag for all of your images.”
Source: The Emma Blog. Read the full post here
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In a wide-ranging video interview with BNET, strategist RJ Talyor of ExactTarget discusses a range of email marketing issues, and provides insight on the best way to handle messages sent to subscribers, whether they’re reading email at their desk or on the go.
Says Talyor, “You need to develop an email that renders in some way on a BlackBerry—or a device that only displays maybe text or a mangled version of the HTML—in such a way that it’s going to get the subscriber not to delete your email but instead flag it for follow-up when they get back to their laptop or desktop.”
These days, you don’t face an either/or decision when it comes to the various ways recipients can read your message. With multipart MIME, the recipient’s device or computer selects text or HMTL, depending on its capabilities.
“For example,” Talyor notes, “I have a Motorola Q … [that] displays only text. But when I go back to my inbox on my regular laptop … it displays the HTML version.”
Multipart MIME doesn’t just sound good; based on substantial research, ExactTarget found that the versatile approach that MIME enables produced significant statistical advantages.
Massage that MIME. “Ultimately,” says Talyor, “you see a higher open, click-through and … conversion percentage going forward with that strategy than [with] straight text.”
Source: Marketing Technology Blog. View the full video here
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Ah, the mobile phone: we know it well as consumers, and as such are in a perfect position to approach it from a direct marketer’s POV. Here are a few ground rules for truly covetable mobile marketing:
Bait your line. A useful iPhone app could do you right, as could a nifty advergame, or exclusive discounts for top customers. Ooh!—and in 2007, SMS serials were all the rage in Japan. Suck ’em in with a story!
Plan well in advance. Set aside three months to spread the word and prepare related media buys. This is a great opportunity to snap up mobile numbers for future promos. Just ask Team Obama, which gathered a panoply of numbers when it offered to text Obama fans the name of his running-mate in advance of the media.
Nixus interruptus. Pop-ups didn’t last long chez Internet, and equally interruptive marketing has no future in mobile.
Always, always ask permission. Two weeks ago, AT&T got burned when it sent an unsolicited text message about American Idol’s season premier. Hundreds made vocal complaints all over Twitter.
Back it up. Your mobile marketing campaign needs a subsite where people can learn more. At the very least, the homepage should tout the same creative and tagline.
Be phone-friendly. You’d be surprised how many mobile marketers include a link in their messages, then forget to optimize the site for people visiting from their phones. (Even iPhones load faster when a site’s mobile-optimized.) Avoid this faux-pas! Be accessible!
In mobile as in life, it helps to know the rules of engagement. Keep these close at hand. (For best results, text to self!)
source: marketingprofs enewsletter
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“Social media, like any new marketing channel, is a sticky slope for B2B marketers,” says Justin Hitt in a recent blog. “I personally prefer keeping social media ‘business social’ rather than polluting it with advertisements.”
But, wait a minute: if ads are out, what else can B2B marketers do to monetize (and justify to the boss) their participation in online communities? Hitt offers a list of ways that he and his clients have been successfully using social media to boost their bottom lines. Among their “social” activities:
- Conducting research to understand more about a prospect’s or client’s “buying desires.”
- Finding decision makers for certain products and services.
- Extracting names from a given community for lead generation.
- Getting answers to questions, reaching out to other experts.
- Finding joint-venture marketing partners and creating various “cooperative opportunities.”
- Connecting with past customers, keeping them up-to-date.
The key word here? Research. There’s a wealth of data (leads, client preferences and shared wisdom) just waiting to be tapped by B2B marketing teams in these communities. “Social media is something I added to my existing mix,” Hitt reports, because “in some ways, it does it better (saving time, money and resources).”
But a word of caution: “An important thing to remember is that not all your prospective buyers are even online; don’t give up one channel for another,” he advises.
Even without ads, social media can pay off. One key is tapping online communities for the vast amount of insights they offer.
Source: Ask Justin Hitt.
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In a guest post at the HubSpot blog, Paul Gillin argues that women’s interest magazines like Redbook face the same basic challenge as your online properties: grabbing a distracted person’s attention and convincing her to become a regular reader. As he analyzes a sample issue swiped from his gym, he explains what you can learn from the magazine’s editors—here are a few highlights:
Tantalize readers with provocative cover lines. Gillin cites examples like: How to Ditch Your Debt For Good, The Seven Secrets to Lasting Love and The Superfood You Shouldn’t Skip. “The cover practically shouts at you that the September Redbook [sic] will make you happier, thinner, richer and better in bed,” he says. The implicit message—and one you can attempt to emulate—is that the reader will miss something important if she doesn’t take a look inside.
Create points of entry. Magazines like Redbook excel at presenting information in small, clearly defined segments, each with its own headline and images. “These same tactics can work online,” says Gillin. “Callouts, sidebars, pull-quotes, Q&As and other visual tools break up rivers of text and give readers more starting points to engage with the content.”
Speak directly to the reader. According to Gillin, these magazines are filled with personal pronouns: I, me, you, our and us. “Speaking to people in personal terms makes the content more conversational, personal and relevant,” he says. “It works.”
“While the media may be different, a lot of the tactics that the women’s magazines use to entice people in checkout lines also work online,” says Gillin. Next time you’re in the market, pick up a copy.
Source: HubSpot.
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Hold on to your high-quality prospects
“It probably comes as no surprise,” say Kara Trivunovic and Andrew Osterday in an article at MarketingProfs, “[that] the process of acquiring new customers comes with one of the higher price tags of any of your marketing initiatives.” This places a high priority on the cultivation of customer loyalty—and, therefore, the importance of a healthy email marketing program. Trivunovic and Osterday recommend strategies that:
Emphasize quality over quantity. “Adding 50 new and engaged customers or prospects can have a better positive net effect on your bottom line than adding 500 prospects that might not be as interested in what your organization has to offer,” they explain. They’re more likely to buy your product or service, and less likely to hit the “spam” button in annoyance.
Create a streamlined onboarding process. Keep new subscribers engaged by offering quick confirmations and keeping personal data requests to a reasonable minimum. “Collect only the information that you will use to help get the right message to the right recipient at the right time,” they say.
Keep tabs on the competition. Your customers don’t live in a vacuum, and you need to be aware of the other messages they hear. “Timely offers, [frequent testing] and clear product differentiation [encourage] your customers … to make purchase decisions quickly.”
Hold ’em close. By boosting customer loyalty with efficient, relevant emails, you’ll gain increased sales and lower costs.
Source: MarketingProfs.
In a post at Harvard Business Online, John Baldoni worries about the impact budgetary cutbacks will have on corporate meetings this winter. “I hear from colleagues in the communication business [that] meetings are being scaled back or canceled to a large degree,” he reports. “Scaling back makes sense; canceling meetings does not.” Here’s why:
