My way

Marketing ideas worth spreading.

You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfoled, talk about the experience.

If you are marketing from a fairly static annual budget, you’re viewing marketing as an expense. Good marketers realize that it is an investment.

Seth Godin

Marketing stories worth reading 7

Our lesson learned was how to improve email marketing. Our challenge wasn’t so much the opt-in database, but getting the folks in that base to read (open/click on) the newsletter and the stories in it. Our first move was to create a sense of involvement or empowerment for the recipients. We provided them an opportunity (raffle for five) for a discount on a significant service, which many of them already utilized, for those who responded with suggestions/requests for topics about which they’d like to read. We offered the respondents the chance to be credited with the topic suggestion, which would give their business promotion to our audience.
This improved our click through rates on the newsletters by more than 25% (a rate maintained after the second issue with these changes implemented). It improved our click through rates into the stories  (usually two stories per issue) by more than 30%. Our second move was to switch the TO line to be from the company, not an individual. This, implemented two issues after the above change, had an  immediate impact with open rates improving another 15%.
Our third change was to the subject line, changing it to highlight the main story in the following format: NEWSLETTER TITLE: You asked for: TOPIC. From this, we saw another 8% increase. Our fourth change was to follow up more thoroughly with those who clicked through and opened the newsletters and the stories. We were establishing patterns from the recipients that suggested additional services in which they’d be interested. We found that specific and personal emails to these people by email and phone resulted in improved customer service at a minimum. Some of the recipients did not necessarily jump at
new offerings, but many had questions/concerns about existing services or even services they were  getting from other vendors. Now they’re more engaged and more satisfied/impressed.

Michael Beresford, President, NetScope, www.net-scope.com

Ideas worth spreading No. 9

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.
Salvador Dali

Ideas worth spreading No. 7

Common sense is not so common.
Voltaire

Ideas worth spreading No. 6

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Marketing stories worth reading 6

When it comes to career choices, trust your instincts. In January of last year I left the agency side of marketing to re-enter the corporate world. Company stability was a priority on my list. When a friend
asked me to join him at his start-up software company I was hesitant. While funded at the time, some of the executive management had a history of starting tech companies and selling them off. However, my friend assured me that this company was on a track of managed growth and I was impressed with the company’s president, who had a track record of growing successful companies.
Two months into the job there was a sudden change in regime. The board replaced the president and within two weeks the company direction turned 180 degrees. I saw red flags and started exploring other
employment opportunities. My friend implored me not to leave, promising that even if the company were sold, I would make plenty of money. The idea of possibly riding out the slow economy on the potential money I could make was appealing, but my instincts told me it was too good to be true.
So I forged on with my job search and was fortunate to land another job offer in a few weeks with a company that had been around for 15+ years and had managed to be successful while remaining small — real managed growth. I was at a crossroads where I could ride out the wave at the start-up or take a safe route with the other job. I decided to take the safe route and accept the other job.
Shortly thereafter the start-up company secured millions of dollars of additional funding. I immediately questioned if I had made the right decision. I was happy with my new position but also wondered if my
aversion to risk taking had been a mistake.
A few months ago my former company went under. No one made the fast dollar they had been banking on. I was relieved that I trusted my instincts and remembered that the economy, while improving, is still not what it used to be. I’m glad I followed my instincts to safer pastures.

Corrine Solomon, Marketing and Communications Manager, Time America Inc.

Marketing stories worth reading 5

Metrics don’t lie! After trying to teach our business Web-best practices, we implemented a new metrics program for our online campaigns. The new metrics graphically illustrate what links visitors clicked on and give us a funnel analysis of where users dropped off the conversion path. Backed by hard data, our business was ready to listen and reevaluate the way they design their campaign landing pages.

Teri Ann Helfrich, Internet Marketing Manager, Becton Dickinson & Company, www.bd.com

Marketing stories worth reading 3

I was reminded this year that PR is more than media relations and publicity. It is the long-term development, management, and maintenance of relationships that can affect your business. How did I
relearn this important lesson? Recently the phone rang with a new business opportunity. The prospect was interested in talking with me about handling PR for his company. He heard about me from someone who
once worked for me years ago. I had lost touch with her but she apparently still thought highly enough of me to refer me to this prospect. I located her and thanked her for her referral. The real lesson is this: treat
everyone with respect and manage your relationships because you never know where the people you touch will turn up. And you’ll probably never hear about the bad things being said about you. By the way, I got the business.
Harry Hoover, Managing Principal, Hoover Ink PR, www.hoover-ink.com

Marketing stories worth reading 1

We learned from some failures. I was retained by a client to send an emailing to about 2,300 names gathered from a trade show event. The campaign was a disaster. I had requested daily uploads of the prospect list (so our first email in a series of 6 emails would be waiting for people when they got back from the show). However, the client did not get me the list until a week AFTER the event. In addition, an  overwhelming majority of the names had little, if any, contact with anyone at the booth. No memorable impression will not help other efforts! I scrambled to tweak the entire campaign, adding a sweepstakes for a flat panel monitor and giving away a few other cool prices and free trials. The campaign as a whole pulled only a 1.67% click through with a peak of 3.2% on our second mailing. Oh, and total conversions… ZERO!

Allan Sabo, Marketing Strategist, ALTI Business Upgrade Consulting,
www.alticonsulting.com

Ideas worth spreading. No. 1

For me last week was long, hard and filled with problems that I had to overcome. So it is natural to think on what Gandhi said :

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”