Case Study: Corporate Social Marketing

Today's case study focuses not on a single company's specific direct marketing success, but instead it explores the trend of businesses leveraging their brands and using social media to shout to the world how much they care, and (the kind part of me says) to get consumers more involved in global concerns such as renewable energy, climate change and poverty.

See this article from the San Francisco Chronicle: Companies tout their social consciences online.

The article provides a range of examples of companies using outlets such as YouTube to share their work on a variety of causes. Companies sited include the usual suspects: Starbucks and Nike, and also includes Timberland and Whole Foods. All of these firms are raising some pretty significant awareness both for their chosen causes, AND for their companies.

Of course, the companies are motivated by more than altruism.

For Timberland, the YouTube exposure is a marketing instrument, Morey-Reuner (Timberland's Senior Manager of Value Marketing) said.

And it reaches the target groups of the young and keen to consume. The Timberland Earthkeeper spot, for example, has been watched by nearly 107,000 viewers since it was posted in April. The Nike clip has drawn more than 125,000 viewers since May.

"Companies have an interest to be perceived as socially responsible, but they want to sell their products at the same time," said David Stewart, dean of the School of Business at UC Riverside. "YouTube is a new vehicle, and companies are offering these types of media. Therefore, the spots are not completely altruistic. There's an element of both selling and doing good."

Here are specific examples referenced in the article:

• Timberland's Earthkeepers: www.youtube.com/user/earthkeepers
• Nike's The Girl Effect: www.youtube.com/user/girleffect
• Starbucks in Tanzania: links.sfgate.com/ZENM
• Whole Foods' Whole Earth Generation: links.sfgate.com/ZENN

I have mixed feelings about this type of promotional activity. I guess consumers (especially young ones) are savvy (and cynical) enough to understand that firms involved have an ulterior motive. And, I guess, if the cause is a good one, then any support is a good thing, right?

But, somehow this type of altruism continues to ring a tad false to me.

Targeted Social Marketing

This article's title really intrigued me: Trust-Based Targeting.

Hmmm. Now, as a direct marketing specialist, I'm an expert in targeting. I'm aware of the wide array of data that is available to target both customers and prospects, B2B and B2C. So, what the heck does Trust-Based Targeting refer to? Clearly, I had to read more!

It's an intriguing concept, and one that might actually help with the eventual measurement and better targeting of social media. The article outlines mEgo's approach that allows consumers to choose the kinds of messaging and targeting behaviors that fit their own needs and interests, all in the area of social marketing.

The premise behind mEgo's offering is that their users self-create some pretty elaborate and detailed profiles. Then, users decide which parts of their profiles can be shared to advertisers. Finally, users are paid (I believe through donations to their chosen charity) when advertisers use their data for targeting.

"Going back to how mEgo intends to roll out our advertising strategy: We will provide a transparent description of how users’ data is used and, most importantly, allow users to filter which information is publicly available and used for targeting. MEgo members will have complete control of what portions of their profile they’ll permit us to use to target ads. For example, a mEgo user interested in music may choose to view only ads for indie bands generated from a list of their favorite musicians. As an extra step in transparency, we also literally show users the keywords our platform generates for serving the ads they see."

The article contained an excellent case study for an Adidas social media campaign. It illustrated the viral nature of m'Ego's offering and is probably the best illustration of this new targeting concept.

I can't wait to see how (if) other marketers adopt this model. I salivate over the rich data that I may be analyzing in the near future!

But I think that the key things to remember here are trust and transparency--two essentials to this new offering.

"The lesson learned: It is essential that brands earn and keep consumer’s trust in order to be able to effectively market to them. Without trust, the greatest marketing system in the world can’t work. Set the expectation of complete transparency between marketer and consumer, and you convert your consumer from being fearful into being an advocate."

Practical Social Marketing

Just like all of you out there, I read lots of news, blogs and articles each and every day. Part of this curiosity is my need to keep up-to-date on what's going on in marketing, and part (quite honestly) is to ensure that we keep coming up with new info to share with readers of this blog.

So, when I come across information that I can take action on and use almost immediately, I get really happy. That's what happened this morning when I came across a super article on how B2B marketers can make use of social marketing. Be forewarned--this is not the usual advice on how corporations need to create a blog to initiate a dialog with their customers (although we believe that IS important). It also does not give the same advice to put up profiles on places like Facebook, just so your brand can have a presence there.

What it does provide is practical tactics centered around using social marketing for B2B marketers. The article, which essentially consists of an interview with Bianca Garcia, a media planner for Overdrive Interactive is titled: How a Social Media Campaign Fits into a B2B Media Plan.

Here are some of tips I found especially interesting:

• Go beyond LinkedIn. Be on the look-out for industry-specific social networking sites, but don't ignore the sites for the masses such as Facebook, because many businesspeople are participating on a business level. (Check out this Direct Marketing Facebook group that we participate in actively.)
• Ms Garcia advises us to "look at online campaigns holistically, meaning I don't just think of a social media campaign as establishing a mere presence in the social networks, but I always tie in banner ads, blog outreach, e-mail blasts, newsletter sponsorships, etc., into the media mix."
• She reminds us not to forget about YouTube, as this is a fabulous opportunity to get your product info in front of interested viewers. "Some B2B companies might dismiss YouTube as simply a youth-oriented, amateur-video site, but it is far from that. YouTube has turned into such a powerful and relevant social media tool that anyone can leverage its reach and viral effectiveness. There are thousands of education, science and technology, news, and how-to videos about and produced by various B2B brands and companies."

All in all, a thought-provoking way to look at maximizing your investment (even if that investment is only time) in Social Marketing--specifically tailored to B2B marketers.

Case Study Monday: eROI and Wacom

Welcome to another edition of Case Study Monday. This Case Study comes to us from a conference up in Portland, Oregon, that Suzanne attended last week. The conference was an e-marketing summit called Innotech. eROI was one of the many companies who presented at the conference. They are a leading e-mail and interactive agency. They presented this case study at the conference, and we found it so compelling we thought we'd share it with you. We hope you enjoy this great example of using creativity to create a community -- and how eROI helped their client, Wacom, effectively utilize social marketing.

Wacom -- Power of the Pens, Building a Community Wacom products have become such an essential tool to digital artists. The company bridges the gap between fine arts and today’s digital workflow. So much so, in fact, that even those who have never used a Wacom product know the brand by name.

For this campaign, we wanted to share that connection of experienced and new artists. We wanted to turn brand awareness into full-fledged adoption. We did this by bringing in a group of experienced artists and asking them to document their creative process, and ultimately, share some final work.

We really wanted the participants to express themselves freely, so we tried to keep
the creative brief open — restricting artists never leads to great work. The only direction we gave was in choosing artists who represented 12 different areas of expertise that we knew would produce visually interesting work: graffiti, animation, flash, poster art, illustration, photography, air brush, graphic design, apparel, motionography, toy design and Portland’s cut & paste winner (a Wacom-focused art event).

To help focus the campaign, give it consumer relevancy and create a sense of time, we formatted the campaign around a wallpaper calendar. Each artist was tasked to create a month for the calendar, using their specific talent. As predicted through our strategic selection, the body of work produced was extremely diverse, and all produced using Wacom technology.

On top of the campaign highlighting the artistic potential Wacom offers, and pushing the connection to the artist community, we wanted to help increase direct sales through Wacom’s online store. To do this, we not only shared the 12 pieces of fresh art, and the thought process behind it, but also the making of the art and the tools used. This allowed us to work the product in for each artist without seeming pushy, but rather informative and helpful.

We called it the designer toolbox, and it worked out really nicely, highlighting a wide array of products from multiple pens and pen tips, to on-screen tablets and special edition tablets. The varied products in each artist’s designer toolbox, and the soft sell they created, allowed us to send an email for 12 straight days (a non-standard practice) without losing the interest of recipients.

Instead of consumers receiving product heavy calls to action, which can feel overwhelming during the holiday email push, they were receiving interesting content with tantalizing artwork. This artwork drove to the site where the wallpaper calendar resided. Again, the marketing was very subtle with the wallpaper highlighting the art, and only allowing a small Wacom logo to reside next to the calendar in the upper right. The beauty here, is that the logo gets placed on someone’s desktop for a year-long exposure. People actually choose to look at it and become evangelists.

The site produced a real community, spurred on by a glimpse at the professional artists, their process, their work environments and, perhaps most of all, by a user-generated independent digital art gallery. Building the artist profiles in a blog allowed for the community to offer numerous comments. To wrap up the campaign, the user-generated artwork with the most votes was selected to win Wacom’s new cintiq12wX.

We took our thinking beyond this holiday campaign, with the idea of a continued community built from the ground up for Wacom’s impassioned artistic followers. Utilizing the power of Wacom’s house list, we were able to promote the campaign site to a list of over 200,000 Wacom news subscribers. This list included all opt-ins who wished to receive information from Wacom (newsletters, product updates, etc.).

To help market the campaign, we used a small PR push from Wacom’s internal team and a banner ad placed on the Wacom America home page. Marketing was limited because the concept behind the site was to have the creative community do the promotion by uploading their art and communicating to their audiences that they want to win a new Wacom product.

The hope (and these days it's a good bet), was that members of this community would have blogs or some other communication methods to help draw people to the site. That means free advertising from artists embracing the site and encouraging folks to vote for their work on their blogs and various message boards. The goal was to have the campaign be entirely organic with no internal message board or blog seeding, really making it all about the artists and the work.

Results
At the end of the 14 day campaign, over 61,000 unique visitors from all over the world had come to the site, over 2,000 user generated images were uploaded, over 150 comments were left for the 12 Wacom artists. Wacom added over 2,000 new subscribers to their house list A success? We think so.

That’s the power of the pens!

Happy Birthday to the Direct Marketing Blog!

Yes, that's right . . . our Direct Marketing Blog is 1-year-old today. In blog years, that's all grown up! And, we are still loving having this blog, 233 posts later. When you subtract out weekends and holidays, that means we've posted pretty much every other day in the last year. We're feeling pretty, pretty smug about that! :)

Seriously, we hope you, our valued readers have enjoyed our posts on all things direct marketing. And, we hope that we've been able to provide you with a new nugget or two as food for thought for your direct marketing strategies over the past year.

Now, down to the brass tacks . . . so, after a year of blogging are we rich, are we famous? What exactly has this blogging thing done for you? . . . you may be asking. Good question.

Well, we aren't exactly rich (except in character), but perhaps we're just-a-little-bit-famous (at least we have t-shirts from the Blogworld Expo that say we are). In reality, this blog has accomplished exactly what we wanted it to accomplish for us. It's established our foray into social media/marketing. We have over 1,000 unique visitors per month that read our blogs and many more than that who visit often. We believe we have brought our direct marketing expertise to a world-wide audience who we may not have otherwise been able to reach as a West-Coast-based-in-the-US consulting firm.

However, we believe that aside from our great readers, the next greatest benefit to us has been the partnerships that we have developed with other bloggers that are also in direct marketing -- but in complimentary spaces.

Here's a concrete example . . . we often refer to Robert Rosenthal of the Mothers of Invention Creative Agency and his Freaking Marketing blog. Robert operates a brilliant creative agency that provides his customers with out-of-the-box creative development and campaign deployment, along with a myriad of other very forward-thinking services that we simply don't offer. However, with our data and analytical services expertise, we, too, offer services that Robert doesn't offer. Together, we think we can provide a very compelling and complimentary service offering that it's tough to find in the marketplace.

Don't get me wrong, you can find other agencies and analytical firms out there and even some companies who offer it all. What I'm saying is that with our very specific expertise -- and our very different approach to direct marketing -- you can hire in some non-traditional direct marketers that will be able to provide you with solutions very different -- and we believe better and more relevant today -- than the traditional DM firms.

Our point here is that we've figured this out through authoring our respective blogs. We found Robert and Robert found us. From the purest sense, this is the beauty of Social Media . . . building communities, linking with others and creating relationships. See . . . it ain't just for the teenagers! And, by the way, isn't this what pure business strategy is all about, too? Making connections with the right people and creating value for your customers, while building profitability for your business. Yep, sounds about right.

So, yes . . . our blogging experience has been very successful from our viewpoint. As we embark on our 2nd year, we'll continue to comb the news and the industry for thought-provoking information that we hope you'll find interesting and will help you do what you do more successfully. Meanwhile, thanks for reading and commenting on our blog posts over the last year. Keep your comments coming -- we love them! And, we'd love to hear how social media has helped your business. If you have a story to share with us and our readers, please do so!

Engaging the Customer in Product Design

Question: How many direct marketers does it take to target the right consumer?

Answer: Just a couple of really smart ones that understand how to take advantage of reaching the most appropriate groups in the best way during tough economic times.

Case in point: credit card marketers. American Banker magazine has reported that Citi Cards definitely sees the need to maintain one steady source of income: the "mass affluent" customer who is willing to pay for a credit card rewards program.

The magazine reports that "Terry O'Neill, executive vice president at Citi Cards, said that 80% of affluent and near-affluent consumers (which he said Citi defines as households making $100,000 or more) use social-networking and peer-review sites, such as My Space, Linked In and Flickr, to review products and to get advice on purchasing and financial decisions. He recommends issuers use such sites to invite consumers in various target groups to help test new card products for several months before issuing the cards to the general public." This is a wonderful way to use social marketing to target those who you are most interested in acquiring as customers, and getting their feedback on how you can make your product more appealing to them so that they buy it. Brilliant!

This also brings home the point we made earlier this month in our post regarding Push versus Pull marketing strategies. According to the American Banker article, "Executives also suggested that in order for marketers to break through the clutter and reach this market, they need to become more relevant and move from pushing marketing messages at the customer through traditional advertising methods to listening to customers through online communications." Citi Cards has gotten the point, and as a matter of fact "listens to its mass affluent customers by closely reading social networking communities and blogs about topics related to its rewards programs, as well as by offering online feedback opportunities and convening more traditional focus groups. "

It's great to see how traditional direct marketers are embracing social marketing and making it a part of their customer acquisition programs. By doing so, they are bringing the potential customer into the product development process and allowing them to design the product that is right for them. Citi Cards has shown that it really does make sense to hang out where your prospects like to hang out -- not to sell to them but to enlist their help in creating a more successful product. Not only are they creating more profitable customer relationships, they are building relationships with those who they hope to keep for both the short- and the long-term.

Starbucks "Gets" Social Marketing

I finally did it.

I finally bit the bullet and signed up at the first, ever Starbucks venture into social media. Yes, I joined My Starbucks Idea. And, I LOVE IT!

The site has been in action for only three weeks. The entire purpose of the site is to solicit ideas from customers about how to do things better. I'm amazed at how smart and creative people are. Some ideas are no-brainers (free WI-FI!), and some are quite creative. A sampling of these ideas:

• Free birthday drink
• Extra shot in venti drinks (currently it's the same as grande--did you know that?)
• Separate line for those whose order is plain ol' coffee (like me)
• Something to cover the lid opening so that coffee doesn't spill in transit

And, here's the excellent thing--Starbucks is actually, actively acting on these ideas! They've already introduced a new type of stirrer that fits in the lid so that coffee can't seep out. And, if you've heard of their new Pikes Place blend--well, that's a mellower roast specially created for all of the folks that call Starbucks: "Starburnt".

You know, we can all learn a thing or two from Starbucks. They have jumped into social media in just exactly the right way. They put together a very nice site soliciting customer input. Then, they are showing us how they're acting on this input. They're implementing ideas in a timely fashion. Their site is interactive and fun to navigate.

Now, I know I'm a Starbucks fan and a really good customer. But, I'm taking the time out of my day to think about ways to improve their business. How cool is that for them? They've harnessed the minds of thousands (soon to be millions, I'm sure) of customers to help them evolve. What a way to keep a competitive edge.

We all know that Starbucks has a hard time living up to their stellar expectations (how can you sustain their quick growth and high profitability?). Well, I think that this website is just exactly what the doctor ordered. It fits in with the Starbucks brand and culture. They seem committed to it and they're really listening to what their customers are saying. They've used the best parts of social media and claimed it as their own.

My only question--why did they take so long to jump on the social bandwagon?

What I Saw at the Direct Marketing Revolution

As readers of our blog, I know that you will love this Facebook group. It was started and is managed by our buddy, Robert Rosenthal of the Mothers of Invention fame (he also writes a great blog called Freaking Marketing). The group has recently grown to the 700 member mark -- pretty outstanding for such a young group. If you haven't yet joined the group, you may want to take a look -- I'll bet you'll love the exchange of information between direct marketers from all over the world.

I'm featuring it in today's post because of a really compelling discussion thread that's been going on for the last couple of months. Robert sent out the following idea for the consideration of all group members:

Knocking Down Organizational and Cultural Barriers

Organizational and cultural barriers are often among the biggest obstacles marketers face. Common issues include:

- Bosses who embrace command-and-control techniques
- Staffers who operate under counterproductive agendas
- Managers who act as protectors of the status quo
- Senior managers who fail to budget for innovation
- Environments that discourage bold experimentation

Yet some marketers find ways to do groundbreaking work – even in organizations not known for innovation. What techniques have you used to break through organizational and cultural barriers?

Well, did he ever evoke some great reactions on this topic!
The first replies started out by talking about the simple fact that companies need to be able to communicate better. It's true -- we've all been there. Marketing doing things in secret and hiding what they are doing from IT because their view is that IT will most assuredly stop all forward progress. Sales seeking out their own better-qualified leads as opposed to using those that Marketing supplies them -- because in their view, Marketing simply doesn't "get" who the customer is, therefore, they feed them lousy leads. Leadership cuts Marketing budgets because they view Marketing only as a cost center and refuses to take the time to review strategy with Marketing prior to cutting. In fact, I've been in environments where all three of these have occurred in the same company. What a mess!

By the way, if any of these groups sat down and actually listened to each other, perhaps there would be some forward progress, better understanding . . . all of which would all result in better decisions that would benefit the entire business.

But I digress . . back to the Direct Marketing Revolution! So, after everyone determined that communication is definitely key to barrier-busting, then there were those responses that got into the nuances of communicating effectively. One responder talked to how it is sometimes difficult to get your opinions and viewpoints listened to because there are often those opinion-leaders who almost always prevail in every meeting. Yep, been there, too!

How do you effectively get your opinion stated in a room full of opinionated and passionate people? It's tricky -- for communication, you do need an open forum, and you need to allow everyone to state their views. The trick is to manage through it effectively so that what you don't end up with is endless meetings that accomplish nothing.

As one reader said, "I have seen all types of people and many times the most eccentric, unusual and difficult people to work with are the most creative of the bunch. It takes a really solid leader to know how to get that creative energy out of some individuals and to keep office drama to a minimum."

These are just a few snippets from this topic. This is a great discussion thread -- and only one of many at What I Saw at the Direct Marketing Revolution. I encourage you to check out the group and get involved in the conversation. It's empowering to discuss issues that we face every day as business owners of wherever we work. My bet is that you'll pick up some great ideas that you can incorporate into your business from this group. In return, I'll bet that you'll contribute some excellent ideas to the group, too.

This is, simply stated, social marketing at it's finest.

Direct Marketing Message

It is very interesting to see how our world is changing in terms of what resonates with the consumers or businesses that receive our marketing messages. In fact, there is a growing school of thought that believes that you can't push out DM messaging very effectively at all anymore. Nope, it's all about customers getting involved with the conversation about your product and providing their feedback to other "would-be" customers. The world of Social Marketing is proving this to be true.

So, are our traditional direct marketing efforts a waste of time? Happily for us, the answer is no. However, there are definitely some important factors to consider when creating your message. One author, Clayton Makepeace, thinks that one of the main reasons why this shift is occurring is that the Gen-X generation is one of the largest purchasing audiences today. Gen-Xers are between the ages of 26 and 46 years-old and are, as a group, highly skeptical and cynical. Hence, they are going to be highly skeptical of anything that "smells" salesy. Makepeace recommends taking a look at your messaging -- as well as the marketing strategy around that message. Here are three areas that he thinks this inherent skepticism has on our DM efforts today:

1. One-shot customer-acquisition promotions are going the way of the dinosaurs.

Today, it’s all about the relationship between your company and your customer… and building credibility and friendship over time. While marketers who deliver value, invite involvement, and create a sense of community among prospective customers before expecting a sale are growing by leaps and bounds, those who cling to the old models are losing ground.

2. Bombastic "big promise" headlines are not working as well.

Today’s prospects are more likely to ignore sales communications that look and sound like sales communications. Instead, topical, newsy, and intrigue leads that key on something they are already thinking about often work best.

3. High-octane sales copy is losing its power.

Today, lower-key, value-added advertising copy (advertorials) that reward prospects for reading by delivering valuable, helpful, actionable information is leaving the language of the high-energy carnival barker in the dust.

Very interesting -- Makepeace makes some great points. Old-school DM just isn't cutting it anymore. And, as the economy decides what sort of state it is currently in (recession, slow-down, etc.), this becomes even more important. We've got to create campaigns that best resonate with our audiences. And, we simply have to embrace those channels that our customer segments are insisting that we utilize in order for them to buy from us. By understanding customer preferences, you'll stay ahead of the game. And, now, more than ever before, customers are willing to share with us exactly what they are looking for and how to improve on what you do. It's empowering and scary at the same time. I guess the net-net of this is that you have to be willing to truly listen to customer desires and then react to their feedback to keep them coming back for more!

Measuring Social Marketing

One of the basic elements (and benefits) of any direct marketing campaign is the ability to track and measure results. That's a primary reason why we like this business so much. You get the gratification that the marketing dollars spent resulted in positive results (like new leads acquired, new sales made, etc.).

So I was really pleased to come across this article that seriously attempts to quantify the value of Word-of-Mouth marketing: What's a Conversation Worth?

"LET'S SAY YOUR GREENEST FRIEND recommends the latest hybrid vehicle. Or a dairy-sensitive "foodie" suggests you try some new vanilla flavored soy milk. Or your frugal father-in-law steers you toward a particular variety of charge card. Few would question the power of these types of recommendations. After all, they cut through advertising clutter with relevant advice from trusted sources. This elusive credibility led marketers to spend over $1 billion on word-of-mouth programs last year, despite the fact that nobody seems to agree on how to properly value an unscripted consumer interaction."

The article talks about the challenges of measuring social marketing and how it is so hard to compare to other mass media. Author, Dave Balter, CEO of BzzAgent, has decided to tackle this issue via a series of white papers, each focusing on a different measurement component. The first topic is CPM. From the article:

"In order to consider whether CPM is an ideal measure, one needs to consider how to calculate what a proper effective CPM might be for a word-of- mouth conversation. We begin with the simple correlation of a dialogue to an impression, and then layer on the additive values of word of mouth, such as premiums for customer targeting, value of a trusted source, length of engagement, and generational impact (or ripples of conversation)."

"The big, scary question looms: What is the proper effective CPM for word of mouth? $30? $300? $3,000?"

The article provides an easy link to their white paper (no registration required) that delves into the calculation of measuring word-of-mouth marketing in terms of CPM. Now, for some reason, they left out most direct marketing channels in their comparisons, but there's still some valuable insight to be found here.

I know that I'll be on the look-out for upcoming articles on this topic of measuring social marketing efforts. Somehow, our pesky clients will only hire us to produce measurable results, so having a framework around how to measure social marketing results is a great way to add more of this to our direct marketing tool-kit.

Case Study Monday: World Vital Records

On of our business goals for 2008 is to include more social marketing strategies in our direct marketing tool-kit. Therefore, we’re always looking for success stories of marketers who have figured out how to use social marketing to grow their business. We were intrigued by this case study, published in its entirety on Marketing Sherpa.

Situation Overview

Paul Allen, CEO, World Vital Records, wanted to use social networking as the strategy to market his subscription-based genealogy research service. His team created their own social networking site, FamilyLink.com, last spring to help genealogists create family trees and connect with researchers around the world.

The Challenge

So how did he go about augmenting the FamilyLink network of approximately 30,000 registered users? Allen’s idea was to take advantage of Facebook’s 64 million active users. “Our own social network is growing slowly, and it’s going to be a big part of our future strategy, but Facebook is the biggest opportunity I’ve seen in 10 years on the Internet.”

The Solution and Results

When Facebook opened its platform to outside developers last year, Allen and his team moved quickly. In October, they launched a genealogy application for Facebook users called “We’re Related,” which lets people connect to their family members on the network and create family trees. To date, the application has been downloaded by 2.8 million Facebook members, and the activity within the application has doubled, making it the network’s #1 genealogy application.

Along the way, the team has been testing promotional methods, advertising strategies and lead-generation techniques to learn what role such social networking applications can play in their subscription marketing efforts. They’ve even begun developing co-branded applications with partner companies that want to offer family-related content and activities.

In Summary

World Vital Records was able to augment and rapidly grow its existing social marketing strategy by incorporating a cool Facebook application. By understanding the value that Facebook brought to their business, and by getting there quickly once they opened up their platform, World Vital Records was able to launch itself into the world of social media/marketing.

Check out the full article that concludes with eight tips from Allen on how to build a successful Facebook application and monitor its revenue- and lead generation capabilities. As direct marketers, we predict that this will continue to be a big part of our future!

Have a great week!

The Shift in Direct Marketing is Happening NOW!

As time goes on, all of the excitement around social media, viral and online marketing seems to be changing our world. Even the folks that have been around the block a time or two are referencing this change. Check out this post from our friend, Dean Rieck, on his Direct Creative Blog. He recently interviewed copywriter extraordinaire, Bob Bly, and asked him what he thought the future holds for traditional direct marketing -- i.e., direct mail and print advertising. Talk about a loaded question!

Anyway, here's what Bob said: "I do not think print will disappear, but right now, all the focus and excitement is about online marketing. I am not a futurist so I don’t make predictions, but many feel that online marketing is fundamentally changing the way marketing is done … specifically, giving the customer a greater voice and moving away from advertiser-generated copy and content."

Dean then questioned Bob about what effect the internet will have on direct marketing over the next few decades. Dean asks some tough questions! How Bob answered this question is the whole point of today's post. Here's what Bob said: "The web is moving marketing from an advertiser-to-prospect model, where the advertiser sends promotions out to prospects, to a customer-centric model, where customers instead of marketers do a lot of the selling. Examples include viral videos where prospects pass your video on to other prospects, and Web 2.0 sites (e.g., Amazon.com) where customer-generated content (reviews) is more influential than marketer-generated content."

Hence my initial comment about how our direct marketing world is shifting. We love this shift. The idea of customers selling on behalf of marketers is an idea whose time has come. Think of all of the time we spend trying to isolate that perfect consumer or business that may be willing to hear our message. Think about the hours of sleep lost over whether the DM campaign that's hitting mailboxes in the next week will reap us a .5% or a 1.5% response rate -- and the repercussions of either. With this shift, it's all about the customers preferring our product, and preferring it so much that they discuss why they prefer it. What a concept!

Therefore, we really like the direction that our industry is heading in -- and we agree with Bob Bly and his comments. We've already started to encourage our clients to integrate these concepts into their marketing strategies now -- to be proactive as opposed to reactive. The shift has already begun -- and it will be interesting to be a part of this, and to create success around it for our business and those with whom we consult. It'll be a fun ride!

If you'd like to share what you're doing within your business or with your clients to integrate social, viral or online marketing into your marketing plan, we'd love to hear your story.

Direct Marketers Viewpoint

With all of the focus on the upcoming Presidential election, there has been an unprecedented number of pundits out there predicting all sorts of things for 2008. Couple that with the continuing struggles in the housing market, and the naming of 2007 as the Year of "Subprime," and you have an interesting forecast -- to say the least!

BtoBOnline has reported on how all of this impacts the viewpoint of direct marketers. In the article, Amy Syracuse reports on those items foremost on our minds. Not surprisingly, the economy heads off this list. Between the mortgage crisis and the state of consumer spending (or lack thereof), it behooves us all to keep a wary eye on the economy. More than ever, diversification across industries is key. Also, if you think that your marketing strategy is set -- think again. We respectfully submit that with this existing climate, we all need to test, analyze, learn -- then adjust accordingly.

Also on this list of what keeps us up at night are the concepts of Green and Social Marketing. You know how we feel about social media and marketing -- we've driven that point home over the last six months or so. Regarding environmental concerns over direct mail, the article reports that in addition to increasing federal government scrutiny, the "DMA will ramp up its green initiatives this year. The group will unveil target goals in June to reduce members’ environmental impact through paper procurement and use; mail design and production; packaging; recycling and pollution reduction; and list hygiene and data management."

In addition to what our association and government are doing, we strongly believe that by using a solid targeting and analytical approach, you can more effectively implement direct mail campaigns -- this will both provide you with better response rates and help to save precious environmental resources.

Finally, in terms of what the role of direct marketing will take in 2008, the article quotes our good buddy, Bob Frady, of LiveNation.com. Bob (pictured above -- and you were wondering who that handsome devil was, right?) is the VP of Direct Marketing at LiveNation, and an incredibly savvy direct marketer. Here are his thoughts: "Marketers might also reconsider their metrics. [Today] a consumer will see a promotion, then, rather than follow the neat path we’ve laid out for them, they’ll go searching for in-depth levels of information about what we’re offering. Many times we’ll lose the tracking we’ve put in place. … Traditional direct marketing measurements need to be tweaked to capture how customers are actually behaving.”

This is great insight, and it goes hand in hand with not only marketing smarter when developing your direct marketing strategy but also closing the loop to ensure that your efforts are worthwhile by tracking the effectiveness of each marketing program. Frady also pulls in the customer behavior piece which becomes more complex as responders utilize all of the different channels available to them today to spend their dollars with you.

Overall, these are some great viewpoints that provide a roadmap of what to manage for -- and to -- in 2008. It's also going to be fun to see how the role of politics -- and each Presidential candidate -- plays into all of this as November gets closer.

Case Study Monday: Social Marketing to Market Niches

We'd thought we'd present a case study today on one of the growing trends of 2008 and beyond, and that is the prediction that social media growth in 2008 will emerge from more targeted offerings that attract users based on interest.

So, in addition to the massive Facebook and MySpace sites that attract millions of users, new niche social sites are popping up on a daily basis.

As direct marketers, we couldn't be happier with this trend.

We were pleased to see this case study about Loop'd Network, a site that features action sports and appeals to a young, adventure-seeking crowd. The site is relatively new (just launched in November) and already boasts 240,000 members. Even more important, Loop'd "has been able to lure advertising from some of the biggest brands in action sports, including Oakley, retailer PacSun and Monster Energy drink."

It sounds like they're building the site the right way. For example, they're counting on user-generated content to help build momentum. "With the help of Loop'd, Oakley is inviting amateurs to submit videos of themselves doing their best tricks in six different action sports, including skateboarding, snowboarding and motocross. In the past month, about 1,500 users have submitted videos of themselves that have been judged by other users and Oakley employees as a way to reward emerging talent and foster good will among action-sports enthusiasts." Sounds fun to me!

Believe me, social marketing is big business--and niche social marketing is seeing some significant growth. "According to eMarketer, which tracks online media, companies will spend $1.6 billion this year – a 69 percent increase over 2007 – to advertise on social networking sites."

Although the bulk of those ad dollars will go to the social networking behemoths, smaller sites such as Loop'd are projected to account for 10% of the spend in 2008. Hmmm. Let's see, 10% of 1.6 billion is a heck of a lot of money!

Direct marketers cannot ignore the power of social media sites, especially now that so many targeted sites are popping up, and growing in popularity. What a fun and creative way to reach our target markets!

Friday Blog Log, and Happy New Year!

We've come up with an interesting list of links today. Thinking of the New Year, reflecting on 2007 and wondering what 2008 will bring to us...

Thought you'd all be interested in this top ten list of New Years Resolutions. Of course, all of the usual suspects appear--lose weight, get fit, etc. However, topping the list was the resolution to spend more time with friends and family. That's a good one for all of us, no?

We were also intrigued by this Christmas Day post from the Diva Marketing Blog. It talks about how the movie, Miracle on 34th Street can be compared to social marketing. From the movie we all know and love:

"The CEO of a major retail organization briefs the company's ad department. "No high pressuring and forcing the customer to take something he doesn't want. We'll be known as the helpful store. The friendly store. The store with a heart. The store that places public service ahead of profit. The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before."

Yes, the concept DOES sound familiar to the social marketing we're embracing now.

For another look on social media/marketing, check out Greg Verdino's "7 trends that defined 2007". This provides nice insight into what was significant this year in terms of social marketing, including the rise of Facebook and the less-than-stellar rise of mobile marketing.

And, finally, if you're in the mood for cleaning house, check out this post from John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing: Fire 10% of your customers. It contains some pretty practical ideas about how to look at your customer base, and how to evaluate just how profitable they might be.

So, there you have it, a round-up of New Years tips for 2008 and reflections on 2007.

Happy New Year to All!

Direct Marketing: What Are We Thankful For?

Once again, the year has whizzed by . . . Mom was right (again) about time speeding up on you as you get older. So, here we are on the eve of Thanksgiving, and reflecting on what we have to be thankful for in the world of direct marketing. Come on -- I know that's what you're all reflecting on as you're making those pumpkin pies!

For starters, our industry continues to expand. Even with the stumbling economy of 2007, direct marketing spend has continued to grow robustly -- some report as much as 7%. That is great news for all of us! And, in reviewing our client's strategies, it's looking like 2008 will be even stronger than 2007.

Second, certain marketing channels are really experiencing great growth spurts. As we discussed in our post yesterday, it's readily apparent that online marketing is continuing to expand. In addition, those companies who utilize a multi-channel approach -- integrating their online marketing with direct mail, for example -- are profiting in a big way. Once again, it's all about customer preference, and if you have a sound multi-channel marketing strategy, you are reaching more of your customers in the way in which they desire to be communicated -- thus, increasing your response rates. It's as simple as that!

Third, some of the newer channels are beginning to flourish. For example, word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing is experiencing strong growth. As reported by PQ Media, WOM marketing expenditures are expected to grow over 30% between now and 2011. From our perspective, this is increasingly due to the continued acceptance of and participation with social media sites. As we reported last week, social media is here to stay and, we believe, will become an important part of this projected growth, and therefore, a part of many direct marketing strategies.

So, as you're carving that turkey tomorrow, and getting ready to dig in to the mashed potatoes, be thankful that you're involved in an industry as exciting and profitable as ours. And, when you get the "junk mail-king" and "spam-queen" jokes from the relatives, just smile and keep on chewing. The joke is on them . . . and we'll be laughing all the way to the bank.

Happy Thanksgiving!

More From BlogWorld: Corporate Blogging

As promised, here is more from our learnings from the BlogWorldExpo. Again, we think that blogging and social media participation will become imperative to your successful direct marketing strategy.

One of the first sessions that I attended was on CEO and Corporate blogging. Needless to say, this was a very interesting session. Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book, did a great job of moderating the session. Corporate bloggers on the panel consisted of Jennifer Cisney from Kodak, Pete Johnson from HP, John Earnhardt from Cisco and Paula Berg and Brian Lusk (AKA BlogGirl and BlogBoy) from Southwest Airlines. So, all in all, a good cross-section of Corporate Bloggers.

Here are some of the key learnings from this session -- and we think, excellent ideas to consider when pondering whether or not to start a corporate blog.

• Blogging is the beginning of a new revolution. Those corporations not jumping into it are not doing so because they are either fearful of losing control or of being criticized. Those who are should not be . . . the bottom line is that you set the rules for your blog and can control it. Think of it as your editorial channel and a great way to get the good word out about your company. In addition, you are providing an excellent opportunity for your customers/potential customers to not only get to know your company but to actively engage them to participate and interact with your company.
• CEO Blogs rarely work -- except for Mark Cuban's (see yesterday's post). This is because many CEO's simply aren't the best writers and/or communicators. However, you can definitely highlight your CEO in your corporate blog by including his or her insights or interviews with them from time to time on your blog. Some even ghost-write for their CEO's -- and anyone at the conference can attest that this is, indeed, quite the controversial topic.
• There are different ways to go about creating a corporate blog -- and all are equally effective. For example, HP has over 50 blogs. Anyone at HP who wants to do a blog within HP can. They are careful to keep it to a technical discussion of their products and keep customer service out of it (i.e., they refer customer service questions to the customer service department). Cisco also encourages employees to host a Cisco blog in order to participate in meaningful discussions with their audiences. And, here, the Cisco CEO does both participate and see the value of this -- he does one video blog per week. Kodak does it somewhat differently -- they have employees post poignant stories of how they've used Kodak products. You can imagine it -- how getting your photos out when your house burns down helps to ease the pain of loss, the pictures taken during the birth of your children, etc. Very cool blog. Southwest uses their blog to run ideas past their customers -- trust me, I'll be commenting on their latest numbering system. It turns out that I was a big fan of the cattle call.
• Moderating your blog is a must to protect your brand. Most companies allow people to post pretty much anything -- but most moderate the comments to get rid of swear words or personal attacks. In addition, if your company issues a press release, it's a good idea to blog about it so that people have the opportunity to comment about it. Southwest did this for their new seating idea and immediately got 700 comments -- they got immediate and passionate feedback from those who vote with their dollars -- their customers. How valuable is that? Talk about direct marketing -- this is as direct as it gets!
  
• In order to have an effective Corporate blog, you have to have an inside evangelist to take a leading role and convince the leadership that it's worth it. Most corporate bloggers contribute along with doing their real jobs. All panelists seemed passionate about their blogs and insisted that everyone involved really wanted to be involved. They also said that it's important to ensure that your blog is deliverable by email. Sometimes the RSS feeds are behind Corporate firewalls, so those who may wish to subscribe to them can't.
• Your culture is important. If you are like Southwest whose culture allows the employees to take risks, your blog will probably be more successful than a company who is more risk averse. Also, blogging can make your company very transparent. So, if your corporate culture isn't all that great, a blog is probably going to expose that fact. It may be wiser not to blog if this is the case. : )
  

Overall, this session was just full of great stuff to ponder. I hope you've gleaned some good ideas from this post on launching your blog -- Corporate or otherwise. For more on this session, please see another great blog -- The Scratching Post. You'll love KT Cat -- I know we do!

How Marketers Use Facebook

I've been grappling with how to integrate social media (and Facebook in particular) into my bag of direct marketing tricks. I've gotten my arms around why some companies (including my own) need to embrace blogging (to start a dialogue with their customers/prospects and to build credibility). But, I'm still having a hard time understanding how to use other social media to do what marketers are supposed to do. That is: sell more things, make more money.

This article, from "Brandweek", made it a tad clearer: Poke Me, It's Real: Facebook, Interaction Benefits and the Future of Marketing

The author, Maria Popova, provides comprehensive detail about the demos of Facebook (projected to be used by over 60 million people in 2008, with 45% of users being over age 35) and discusses the rich targeting opportunities enabled by Facebook's data collection efforts. She also highlights one of the reasons behind widespread usage, and that is peoples' need to 'show-off'--show the world just how smart/cool/intelligent they are (important to remember when developing social marketing programs).

But, the main thrust of the article was this very important point: People using Facebook are constantly looking for what works for them. It's all about the user, their custom experience, their needs and their wishes. Some quotes from the article:

"Facebook, you see, is the quintessential tool in the age of “opinionation”: I like this, not that, need this, dump that, want this. Now."

"When it comes to marketing, Facebook is a peculiar hybrid of evolution (oh, the possibilities to connect) and devolution, stripping marketing to its bare bones to reveal the all-important "What's in it for me?" backbone."

"And, as far as brands go, it seems like the bottom line is quite simple. As Facebook grows, so will the immediacy of the demand it places on marketers: to do what many have shied away from or outright avoided doing: focus not just on product benefits, but on "interaction benefits"—if I choose to engage with your message (be it a Facebook widget or a product integration or a viral video), what's in it for me?"

So, at the end of the day, succeeding on Facebook is pretty similar to succeeding elsewhere in marketing (and, I guess, in Life). When developing an application, or a program, remember the needs of your prospect/customer. Make sure that it appeals to their need to show their community how great they are. Make sure that it brings them benefits, makes their lives easier or more fun. Make sure that it enables connections, that it helps 'start' conversations.

Oh yeah, and remember that as a marketer, it has to benefit you, your company and your product, too.

Social Media: A Highly Effective Channel for Non-Profits

Nonprofit organizations are very savvy and creative about how they spend their marketing dollars. Simply put, they have to be due to the nature of their business. In a recent DM News article, it is reported that these organizations are relying on the internet as another direct marketing channel to get the word out, and embracing social media is an excellent way to do this. When you think about it, nonprofits have a unique ability to touch people's hearts and build a community. And that's what Social Marketing is all about.

As the article reports, YouTube has jumped into the nonprofit space by offering them a free YouTube Channel to spread the word about the good work that they do. “This really validates how critical the Internet has become for all nonprofits,” said Fred Waugh, VP of marketing for nonprofit software provider Convio Inc, Austin, TX."

Waugh adds that "in the past year, his company’s clients have grown their e-mail files by 50 percent. In addition, these organizations are increasingly interested in leveraging Web sites like YouTube and FaceBook to reach out to new constituents, according to Waugh." What an excellent way to reach folks who may want to become involved in your organization -- either by volunteering or donating dollars.

The article explains, "The new program from YouTube, San Bruno, CA, will enable nonprofits to upload footage of their work, public service announcements, calls to action and more on a premium channel that will have enhanced branding features and increased upload capacity. The channel can serve as the nonprofit’s hub for their uploaded videos while also providing a way for people to connect with the organization."

Way to go YouTube! Not only does this channel give nonprofits an opportunity to demonstrate what they do (a picture's worth a thousand words, right?), but it really helps to establish the organization's brand and philosophy to a larger audience. According to Barbara Shimaitis, senior vice president of Interactive Services at The Advertising Council, New York,“It's a great distribution channel for non-profits, and at no cost. Users can have alerts sent to them for new PSAs. If you, the user, are passionate about an issue, you can embed the video on your persona pages. Marketers and brands are interacting more and more with the user, this is another example.”

In addition, visitors to the YouTube channel who wish to make donations to the organization can do so via Google Checkout for Non-Profits. "Concurrent with last week’s announcement, Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, which owns YouTube, also announced that it has expanded its online payment method Google Checkout to include nonprofits."

From our perspective, nonprofits should jump on YouTube to extend their reach. Using Social Marketing as yet another tool in their direct marketing toolbox can not only reach those who may not be as likely to respond to traditional DM methods, but it can also illustrate -- via video -- the important work in which the nonprofit organization is engaged. Finally, it builds an organization's community and really helps to establish -- or re-establish -- the brand.

Harnessing Passionistas Through Digital Media

Well, thanks to our friends at Yahoo! we have a new study and a new title for a group of passionate consumers. The Yahoo! study, which was entitled"Passionistas: The New Empowered Consumers, tracked the online behavior of consumers with specific passions including health, sports, food and entertainment, and it showed that Passionistas spend significantly more time engaged in activities related to their passions than the average consumer." Hence, the name!

And it really is quite interesting. When you think about it, whenever individuals are passionate about anything, they tend to spend more time thinking and talking about whatever it is. Here are some highlights from Yahoo!'s study:

-- For every one minute a typical Internet user spends online with the same content, Passionistas spend six minutes.

-- Passionistas will visit a website related to their passion three times more than a typical user.

-- Passionistas search online for information about their passion 184 percent more than typical users and conduct more than 100 related searches related to their passion per year.

-- Passionistas heavily engage with communities of like-minded consumers who use email, text messaging, and instant messaging significantly more than typical users, and are more likely to create and share user-generated content online such as photos, blog posts or videos about their passions. Because of their intense engagement around sharing information about their passions through digital media, Passionistas are natural brand advocates and 52% more likely than typical users to recommend or influence others about brands aligning with them.

Wow! So how can direct marketers successfully find these passionate folks and make them passionate about their specific products and services? Well, Mark McLaughlin, Vice President of Audience Strategies at Yahoo! states it this way: "Marketers who build their campaigns from the start with the goal of tapping into passions are inviting consumers to get engaged and create an authentic dialogue."

In addition, the study found that timing is critical in making a connection with passionate-types of consumers. For example, noteworthy events such as "Britney Spears' appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards, the beginning of the NFL season, the premier of a new TV show, or the opening of a new restaurant" get our passionate crowd going! These types of "triggers" make Passionistas excited about the topic of their passion and get them to become engaged in all sorts of sharing activities, like blogging, IM'ing, or participating in some other type of social media. In fact, Jim Kite, President of Connections Research and Analytics at MediaVest, states that, "Accessing Passionistas online also offers the ability to track this valuable group's media consumption habits, enabling brands to optimally -- and accountably -- leverage their advocacy power."

This is why we are so excited about utilizing social media/marketing channels as part of our overall marketing strategy. How better to get prospects and customers involved in what you sell than to get them to do all of the talking about it? Picture this: Consumers are online shopping, blogging, sharing links, etc., about what you offer . . . and there simply is no better advertising than word-of-mouth. It is the ultimate testimonial about the greatness and value of your product or service.

We advise you to take a look at this excellent study -- and thanks to the creative folks at Yahoo! for bringing these compelling results to us.