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SEO continues to be more of an art than a science, don't you agree? When you find a search expert who delivers measurable results, consider yourself lucky.

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Case Study: Social Networking

Today's case study comes to us from Chief Marketer. It's an interesting discussion about how the Broadway musical, First Wives Club is using social networking to build a fan base, and an audience for the musical. What I learned? For the right target market, making the effort to build and manage a social network absolutely makes sense.

Below is the case study in its entirety.

First Wives Club Engages in Social Networking

When you're going through a tough time, you need friends more than ever. And if they an identify with your experiences, even better. FirstWivesWorld.com recently debuted social networking features to help divorced and soon-to-be-single-again women do just that—and have laugh or two in the process..

The venture began when Jonas Neilson and his partner Paul Lambert acquired the rights to produce a Broadway musical based on the 1996 film "First Wives Club."

In the process of reinterpreting the movie for the stage, the duo ran a series of focus groups with divorced women. Unlike typical focus groups, champagne was served.

"It was really kind of interesting, because they were more like cocktail parties," says Neilson, it wasn't long into each session before the ladies were laughing, crying and exchanging business cards. "There was an unspoken bond between the women. They had a commonality which immediately created a sense of belonging to the group."

There was a real need there that wasn't being met online, says Neilson, for women to connect with other people who were going through the same experience.

Over time, the site morphed into a destination for divorced women to find networking, resources and entertainment, such as "Hot Flashes," a fictional blog by Mimi Schmir, a writer who has written for "Grey's Anatomy," that take a humorous look at failed marriages.

While some might think a site devoted to divorce would be maudlin, Neilson says with First Wives World that is most certainly not the case. He says most divorced women he's talked to say they were miserable in the marriage, and the divorce became a shot at a new life.

Neilson says he thinks that the next frontier for successful online communities is taking those relationships offline, into the "real" world.

As for the musical, it will premiere at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego in July 2009, with a goal of hitting Broadway in 2010. Getting the word out via the site is a natural fit since the profile of many users—women who are 40+—dovetails what who buys the majority of theater tickets.

The portal is generating about 100,000 page views per month. Right now, Neilson says FirstWivesWorld.com is concentrating on building an audience, rather than measuring a hard ROI.

"We want to keep the network 'sacred' for women" who are gathering information on how to deal with their divorce, Neilson notes. "We don't want to inundate them with banners. We want them to feel this is their space."

Of course, he notes, that doesn't mean that the site isn't looking for unique ways for sponsors to integrate their marketing messages into the site. It's a good demographic, Neilson says, because at this point in their lives, these women are very open to changing things like brand loyalties.

Ultimately, Neilson says the site will help fund the musical. "Instead of creating the product and then trying to find an audience, we're building the audience first."

Today, it's all about coffee

So, what's a direct marketing blog doing talking about coffee? Well, it was on my mind today and the more I browsed around, the more coffee news I came up with, and felt the compulsion to share with you.

You've probably all heard about Starbucks' offer to give everyone who votes today a cup of joe. For free. Without requiring any proof of voting. I love that! We've been faced with so much depressing economic news (and don't get me started about the overkill on the election coverage...), that news about getting anything for free, especially one of my favorite things, puts a grin on my face. Kudos for Starbucks for being good to their customers and encouraging us all to vote. Oh, and kudos to them for garnering all of this good press and building customer good-will at the same time.

While I'm on the topic of Starbucks, check out this DM News article about their launch of a new loyalty program. If you spend more than $5/week at Starbucks, you will definitely find value in this card, even though it's not free. You know my take on this, as a database marketer--I'm drooling over the opportunities to mine the customer data and figure out new ways to sell more things and grow customer loyalty.

Here's an overview of the program, straight from the article:

The new Gold program, which goes into wide release on November 4, offers a 10% discount on most in-store purchases. Gold membership costs $25 annually and offers its own card, which users are encouraged to register for additional benefits such as complimentary beverages on their birthdays. Starbucks Card Rewards, the program that launched earlier this year, provides members with free drink customizations and WiFi hours with the use of a pre-loaded Starbucks card.

And, if that wasn't enough coffee news, take a look at this item (also from DM News) that talks about Caribou Coffee's launch of a mobile marketing campaign. I can see how this channel could be ideal for retailers like Caribou--catch your demographic (in this case, they wanted to boost sales to 18-34 year olds) when they're out and about and shoot them a valuable coupon ($1 off a large drink). Nice application of mobile marketing, wouldn't you agree?

So, there you have it, an update on direct marketing of coffee--with some loyalty ideas thrown in at no extra charge!

Gotta go--need to drink my Venti!

Case Study: Using Analytics to Identify Business Opportunities

Today's case study comes to us from Sigma Marketing Group, a full-service database marketing firm. They've highlighted work they've done for their client, Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE) helping them with regional economic development programs. I like this one because it incorporates analytics and cleverly uses data to generate a successful program.

The Challenge
GRE is a regional economic development organization supported by a team of private and public sector leaders dedicated to improving economic performance in the Rochester, New York Finger Lakes region. Its primary goals are to:

• retain and expand existing business;
• professionally market the region as a competitive, vibrant, and high-profile place for business location and growth;
• support business attraction, expansion, entrepreneurship, and innovation by collaborating with local businesses, universities, not-for-profit organizations, and government leaders.

Because of Rochester’s rich history of thriving high-tech companies, GRE determined that the region was best suited to attract three types of industries:

• Fuel Cell
• Biotechnology
• Optics

To that end, they approached SIGMA Marketing Group with the following challenge:
Focusing on these three industries, help us identify companies across the country that are likely to:

• Expand operations
• Consider Rochester as a potential site for expansion

The Breakthrough
SIGMA developed an analytic-based direct marketing program with the following methodology:

• The Lists: Build search criteria, customize lists from a variety of sources, then target decision-makers in the three industries across the country.
• The Mailer: Create a cost-effective, compelling direct mail piece that includes specific information on why the company should consider Rochester for its expansion needs. Specifically, SIGMA created bi-fold brochures that were customized for each industry.
• The Data: Include an attractive offer in the piece that would entice the recipient to:

• Log onto a new GRE Web page
• Provide self-reported data via a simple online questionnaire
• The Offer: For those recipients willing to go to the site, GRE provided them with:
• A free S.W.O.T. analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) written by a leader in the recipient’s industry.
• A link to a website that allowed recipients to choose amongst several business-related gifts or charitable contributions.

• The Analytical Model: SIGMA then created a model that analyzed the results into three categories:

• Alert: These are highly qualified prospects who should be called immediately.
• Semi-Alert: These are qualified prospects who should be called within 30 days.
• Future Contact: These prospects are not qualified for immediate follow-up, but should be contacted on an as-needed basis.

The Win
“SIGMA designed an effective direct mail campaign that yielded double our projected response. In addition, the self-reported data incorporated in this campaign delivered insightful quantitative research that has helped us further refine our marketing efforts.”

Direct Marketing Links

TGIF!

As always, I'm happy to bring you some of the articles that I found interesting this week.

How to Win the Social Marketing War
OK, I'm not sure I would categorize social marketing as a 'war', but author Pete Kulenek posts a nice summary of how businesses can/should include social activities such as Facebook and My Space in their marketing mix to help build traffic to your website. Learning: The key is to adopt this simple “5 H’s” approach:

1. Humor
2. Honesty
3. Have fun
4. Help people

Works for me!

Being Multichannel
Speaking of channels, take a look at this thought-provoking post from Kevin Hillstrom. He talks about how difficult it can be for marketers who practice in a variety of channels to truly dominate any one given channel. His advice (paraphrased by me, of course): focus on the customer and deliver the content and useful information that the customer needs. Make it easy for the customer to find you and figure out ways to 'pull' the customer to you as opposed to pushing tons of messages to her.

What went wrong with the market...
As a businessperson who's worked with the mortgage industry (yikes!) throughout all of my years of marketing, this post by Sandeep Giri hit a tad too close to home. He's provided a tongue in cheek explanation of today's current economic woes. Check it out for a laugh (and maybe some cries, too).

Now Be a Ninja!
For those of you out there who religiously measure your blog with Google Analytics, you'll appreciate this information from Avinash Kaushik. He explains some new releases from Google, including their advanced segmentation. I'll definitely take the time to explore these new features.

Mobile Marketing Advice

I continue to struggle with ideas on how to incorporate mobile marketing into my direct marketing tool-box. Specifically, I’m having a hard time getting my arms around practical applications, and thinking of real-life ideas that will benefit my clients. Yet, this is an industry that is huge and growing. Mobile marketing is a channel to be reckoned with and maximized for the right opportunity.

This article from DM News provides some interesting insight. The article presents four different viewpoints and tips on how to make mobile marketing work—how to incorporate this channel into your marketing mix.

The first tip is from David Spear, EVP of sales and marketing, mobile technologies, LSN Inc.

Takeaway: With mobile Web campaigns, it's best to keep the design elements simple

“Whether a campaign is designed to drive brand awareness, deliver knowledge or influence direct response, it must be easy for the subscriber to understand, engage and extract value from it. Make sure you consider all elements when reviewing a campaign for simplicity. If the campaign is designed to be simple and straightforward, then traction will follow and viral will grow organically and successfully. If the campaign is overly complicated, it will disappoint in almost every aspect.”

The next tip, recommending Short Message Service (SMS), also known as text messaging comes from Steve Siegel, VP of brand solutions, HipCricket. His reasons for SMS are pretty compelling:

• The reach of SMS—everyone uses text messaging.
• The ability to measure results (you know I love this benefit!)
• SMS allows for remarketing opportunities
• SMS can be used to gather important data points from consumers (another benefit I love!).

Next, Bryan Morrison, President, Ipsh, brings us great information about mobile marketing’s ability to exploit proximity strategies. He says: “Proximity is the concept that makes mobile special.”

“While the Internet forced marketers to learn interactivity, mobile layers context on top, making your location the most important benefit the medium can offer. Understanding proximity allows brands to provide consumers genuine utility in their day-to-day lives.”

Just consider the possibilities—retailers can offer you coupons or special offers, at the point in time that you’re entering the mall! Timely, and valuable to consumers.

Finally, Michael Chang, CEO and co-founder of Greystripe, offers insight into the benefits of in-game mobile marketing—essentially embedding your advertising within a game people play on their mobile device (phone). More info on this concept, from the article:

“In-game ads are primarily priced on a CPM basis, reflecting the strong branding opportunities available from full-screen ads and rich data-gathering features. Pricing is also impacted by targeting. As with WAP banners, regional targeting is almost always available, and some providers offer more refined targeting such as by carriers, types of handset, or based on user demographics.”

“Advertising in mobile games provides bigger and richer ads than SMS or WAP banners, as well as a positive brand association for the advertiser. In-game advertising offers unique features, a great user experience and allows advertisers to benefit from a positive association with fun mobile content.”

Hopefully, these four unique perspectives have shed some light on practical applications of mobile marketing. I know that they’ve given me some great food for thought!

Case Study: Alltel, Acxiom & A Marketing Database

It's Monday, and that means it's time for a direct marketing case study. This one comes to us jointly from Acxiom and Alltel Wireless. (Check out this link for a podcast on same topic, plus the opportunity to sign up for the full case study).

Customer Lifecycle Management

When Alltel Wireless engaged Acxiom to improve the precision, relevance and sophistication of its direct marketing communications, the company’s siloed sources of customer data and limited prospecting data were restricting their abilities to engage with customers and prospects. Acxiom worked closely with the Alltel Wireless team to deliver a set of solutions that anchored the entire campaign process. Acxiom combined its data products and customer intelligence with Alltel Wireless customer data and prospect list for targeted segmentation based on actual customer behavior and real household composites.

The Opportunity
Alltel Wireless wanted to increase customer acquisitions, improve retention and grow customer revenue with more targeted, relevant communications.

The Solution
Acxiom’s marketing database solution assisted in driving two top objectives:

• New customer growth
• Reduction in customer churn

The Results
265% increase in incremental customer postpaid additions tied to direct marketing efforts. “My Circle” campaign gross take rates exceeded 6% from existing customers. Direct customer communications have increased 285%.


Wow--pretty great results! Truly illustrates the power of a database.