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.

Direct Marketing Links

Another Friday is upon us, and that means it's time for me to share some of the interesting articles I found this week.

Why People Buy - Online
Let's start out with a new blog I was happy to find this week: Direct Dispatch from Haggin Marketing. This article talks about what consumers value must when they're shopping online. It's surprisingly different than what we value when we shop in a physical store. The article also presents a list of the 50 retailers who are doing it right, online. It's no surprise that Amazon tops that list.

Marketing Professor Adopts Radiohead Business Model for Textbook
You know I'm a sucker for interesting price plans. And, like most people out there, the word Free is one four letter word I LOVE to hear. That's why I got a kick reading this article about a professor who is letting his students pay what they will for his book, the required course reading.
And, he's letting them set the price AFTER the course is complete. Love this concept, and hope to hear results of this pricing experiment.

Social Media/Networking a Marketing Flop
I couldn't agree more with one of my very favorite people, Lewis Green. On his blog that focuses on how to grow business while keeping people first (love the concept, don't you?), he tackles the issue of social marketing and discusses how failures in this area can often be due to companies not aligning their social media efforts with the overall corporate marketing strategy. Just makes good sense.

When you go the extra mile
Customer service is so darned important. And, it can be the one differentiator you may have. Good service can help keep your company strong (or at least keep you stronger than your competition) in bad economic times. This post from Andy Sernovitz's Damn! I wish I'd Thought of That! blog brings this point home. Good read.

The Future of Debates vs. Dialogs
From the Note to CMO Blog, this post got me thinking. The author makes a valid point that there is so much content out there, and asks the question: are people really reading and discussing, anymore? He contends that "there is a growing shortage of conversation, with only massive parallel monologues taking place." Excellent food for thought.

Direct Marketing Links

As always on a Friday, I'm happy to share some of the interesting articles I've been reading this week. Enjoy!

The future
I'm a sucker for predictions of the future, so I was very pleased to find this video that recaps recent developments in computing, including the rise of social media and changes in e-commerce. It also projects out to 2015 (it predicts the demise of the 4th Estate, the press). This is definitely worth a listen.

Snail Mail Goes Digital
Great news for direct marketers. New technology is coming (to be introduced in May 2009) from the US Postal service that will allow businesses to track the movement and delivery of each piece of mail sent. This means that you'll know exactly when a prospect has received your piece, allowing you to time telemarketing or email follow-up precisely. Conversely, if a customer tells you that the 'check is in the mail', you can track their payment and know exactly when to expect it (or verify that, indeed, the check was sent). This technology will be a boon in measurement and tracking. Good news, indeed.

99 Marketing Tips
Speaking of measurement--the Johnson Direct blog (Marketing That's Measurable) is offering a book on how to make your marketing more measurable. At no charge, this sounds like a worthwhile investment :)

Information Arbitrage
Coined by the Marketing Geek's blog (doncha love that name?), the idea of information as a competitive advantage is intriguing. "Information arbitrage is occurring when a marketer takes advantages for his own brand over other brands due to one of three potential arbitrage situations: More Information, Better understood Information, Better used Information." Good food for thought here.

More on Lead Nurturing
The B2B Lead Generation Blog has an excellent post on lead generation and nurturing. It also happens to be an excellent complement to my post on the same topic.

Direct Marketing Links

Another week has gone by. Where the heck do the days go, anyway? As always, here's a round-up of some of the articles that intrigued me this week.

Small Favors, Big Success
Wow! The research on this post from the Neuromarketing blog intrigued me (and surprised me, too). The author explores how someone is more likely to say 'yes' to doing a favor if they've already performed one small favor first. "The message in all this is clear. Making a small initial request of your targets won’t turn them off. Rather, if it is small enough to be granted by almost everyone, it will make them more likely to respond positively to your ultimate request."

The article cites multiple examples and really got me thinking. I will definitely be testing this concept in some future direct marketing campaign!

Build your Business with LinkedIn
Check out this post from Hit Search. It highlights a video about how one marketing expert is using LinkedIn, and specifically its Q&A feature to gain new clients (as in over $250,000 sales to-date!). I know that I really enjoy reading, asking and answering questions at LinkedIn and find it an awesome resource. Good to know that some folks are also benefiting in the way of new contacts and new contracts.

Domain Name Tips
Loved this podcast from Bob Parsons, CEO of GoDaddy.com. He provides tips on how to choose the best domain names. Some of my favorites: Make sure that the domain is easy to spell...And, avoid numbers and hyphens. Hmmm. Good stuff and a fun video to watch. An excellent use of a short video, by the way, AND it fits right in with GoDaddy's business. I guess this guy does know what he's doing...

Building Your Personal Brand
I loved this post from the Brand Dame blog (excellent name, by the way!). The author, Jill Biden provides some handy advice about using email signatures, your blog, website and social networks to build your personal brand. Small things that most of us forget about, but that can enhance your image on a daily basis.

Honoring 9-11
I know I'm a bit late here, but the advice from the Media Orchard blog resonates whenever you read it. The blog lists 9 ways to honor 9-11. My favorite: "Treat people the way you did in the days immediately after the 9/11 attacks." I can well remember how that horrible event caused us to really be grateful for our friends and family; it caused me to appreciate what I have in my life. These are good things to remember and a heck of a great way to commemorate 9-11.


Have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy the last of these summer days :)

Direct Marketing Links

Can you believe that the end of summer is already upon us? Happy Labor Day to all!

As always, since it's Friday I'll share some of the blog reading that I found especially interesting this week. Enjoy!

Tomorrow's Classroom
Chris Brogan started a very interesting conversation with his article on how a typical third grade classroom may be using social media and other technology as part of the education process. Great food for thought here and lots of insightful comments, too. What a fun time to be growing up--now, if only adults can keep up with the kids, in terms of technology adoption...

Campaign Marketing Critiques
Like most American's, I've been super interested in this presidential campaign. I've especially appreciated how Obama is connecting with his voters and maximizing social and mobile marketing techniques. That's why CK's post on the Marketing Prof's Daily Fix blog hit home. She's asked a number of experts to comment on both the Obama and the McCain marketing and branding strategies. Fascinating!

A New Marketing Catch Phrase?
"Listening by walking around, or LBWA". That's the phrase coined by Mark Hurst in his Good Experience Blog. He talks about how important it is for executives to understand the customer, and brings up a good point that one way to gain this understanding is to experience the company from the customers' perspective. He recommends that retail executives actually walk around their stores and see what the customers are up to. Of, if your firm is online, sit with a consumer and watch him/her navigate your site. Seems like 'no-brainer' advice, but it's certainly essential, and probably something that most senior execs don't normally make a habit of doing.

Traits of Good Blogs
From the 43 Folders blog (I love that name, by the way!), author Merlin Mann lists what he thinks makes for a good blog. One of my favorites: "Good blogs are weird. Blogs make fart noises and occasionally vex readers with the degree to which the blogger’s obsession will inevitably diverge from the reader’s." Love this!

Labor Day Defined By Seth Godin
Gotta end this list with the master, right? Very interesting post about working smart, working hard and working long. Hmmm. I want to be the one that works only a few hours, is most fulfilled and quickly becomes a billionaire... And, no you still can't post a comment to his blog (a discussion held this week on Robert Rosenthal's Freaking Marketing blog). But Mr. Godin is so darn smart, isn't he?

Direct Marketing Links

Happy Friday! As always, here's a round-up of some of the blog posts I've enjoyed this week.

B2B Lead Nurturing
I personally believe that lead nurturing is both a science and an art. It's so key to develop an understanding of where your leads are in terms of the sales funnel, and then treat them appropriately so they move to the next step and ultimately become loyal customers. This post from the B2B Lead Generation blog provides a recap of some recent Marketing Sherpa research on this topic as well as some other handy links.

Writer's Block?
Wendy Maynard shares some excellent ideas for bloggers and others who write, on her Kinetic Ideas blog. She lists 7 tips to help you come up with blog content. My favorite is her Tip 7: Share Your Success Stories. I agree that there can be nothing more powerful than hearing about a real-life example of marketing that achieved results. The more exact reporting of results (numbers, revenues, etc), the more powerful the case study (in my opinion, of course).

Social Marketing Case Study
And, while we're on the topic of the power of case studies, take a look at this post from the Advergirl Blog. The author goes into wonderful detail about the social marketing initiatives recently launched by the city of Columbus tourism and convention bureau. I like the honesty and insight of this reporting, and I learned a lot. Thanks, Advergirl!

Client Relationships: Good or Bad?
We're always talking about the importance of building and maintaining long-term client relationships. That's why this opposing viewpoint from the Guerrilla Consultant Blog was especially interesting. It talks about the downside of long-term client relationships. A very interesting perspective and one that hit home with me.

Rebounding from a "No"
This simple, yet oh-so-true post from the Diva Sales Tips Blog is definitely worth a read, especially if you're responsible (like me) for generating sales and new business. It provides practical and sound advice on actions you should take when your prospect or client says 'no' to one of your proposals. I liked this quote: "So even when you get a NO - make sure you act gracious." The article goes on to give you ideas of concrete actions you should then take to set yourself up for the next 'Yes'.