08/05/2009

How to Keep Your Marketing Mojo Going during the Lazy Days of Summer

Ah, the slow, restful days of summer. While your clients and prospects may be lounging at the beach there are still metrics to reach, lists to build and sales to close. But how can your finely detailed plan keep its momentum while your customers and prospects are on vacation with “limited access to email and voicemail?” Here are a few tips to get the most mojo out of your marketing plan and yourself during the summer months:

  1. 1. Get a jump on next year’s planning:
    • Conduct inexpensive market research. While busy executives may be taking a much deserved break from their email inboxes, they may still frequently visit their Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts as a way to keep their finger on the pulse while out of the office. Consider leveraging social media efforts to conduct market research. Perhaps develop a poll or pose Q&A on the social site you use to gather intelligence for your fall or next year’s planning.
    • Revisit your database(s).  Sure, your sales team can be Johnny-on-the-spot when it comes to responding to “hot” leads, but what about those prospects that you just can’t close right now? Why not build a program to nurture “warm-leads”? Slower months serve as a perfect time to review your databases for up to date contact information without duplication to ensure that it is in good shape for your lead generation and follow-up campaigns. 
    • Measure marketing plan effectiveness. Now is the perfect time to assess what has worked over the past six months and what strategies can be tweaked for the remainder of the year. Answer, “Which marketing initiatives are providing a measurable return?” Ask, “Can we make adjustments to use more of the initiatives that worked?” 
  2. 2. Reach out to current clients and prospects:
    • Check in with current clients. Maybe you can step in to help while many full-time employees are out on vacation.
    • Plan to start early and finish late on certain days. Many business decision makers may be working extra hours to compensate for upcoming vacations or recovering from vacation time taken. You just might be able to get through to these decision makers early or late, avoiding screeners and gatekeepers.
  3. 3. Spend a little time with family and friends:
    • If you’ve put in the overtime when times were extremely busy, take an early leave on a few nights and reconnect with family and friends. Rejuvenate. Get ready for the next crunch.

What are your plans for keeping your marketing efforts moving in the right direction in the next few months? Has summer 2009 posed additional challenges to your marketing strategies given the economy?

Posted by BrantG Share/Save

07/06/2009

Influencing the Influencer: Talk Through the People Who Talk to Your Customers

Wal-Mart’s “Save money. Live better” campaign has brought about a new wave of sophistication to the retail juggernaut’s marketing mix. Included in the mix is the Elevenmoms social media effort which aims to engage influencers of one of Wal-Mart’s targeted end user.

Influencing those who have the power to influence purchasing decisions is a powerful means of ensuring the success of a product or brand. Cultivating persuasive dialog with the network of intermediaries that have the power to shape purchasing decisions can be initiated through a variety of marketing mediums including print, television, web and social or emerging media. Wal-Mart’s use of Mommy-Bloggers is a good example of how to influence the influencer or use channel marketing strategies to reach and engage a target audience.

Walmart.com’s Elevenmoms program and the social community built around them, fosters conversations from moms, to moms, about saving money and living better — Wal-Mart’s mantra.

Women, moreover, working mothers are Wal-Mart’s most profitable customer segment. And according to a survey on she-conomy.com:

  • 36.2 million women actively participate in the blogosphere every week, either writing blogs or reading and commenting on them.
  • HALF of the women surveyed say that blogs influence their purchasing decisions.

By harnessing the power of women’s’ participation in the blogosphere, Wal-Mart was able to develop an effective channel marketing strategy that influenced a persuasive demographic.

We question, are you identifying the right channels/influencers who influence the purchase decisions of your end users? What tools or methods are you using to reach these influencers?

Marketers looking to grow their brand ambassador portfolio should take note of Wal-Mart’s influencer marketing strategy via Elevenmoms.

06/16/2009

Print Advertising Not Dead, Just Evolving

Surveys show that it’s not yet time to play “Taps” for the printed word—when it comes to media buys, marketers are still choosing to implement print into their marketing mix. Published surveys from Hanley Wood show that 95% of B2B marketers rely on trade magazines when making purchase decisions. Other published surveys show that the B2C world is not abandoning print editions. So while there is a decided shift to online for news consumption and information gathering, print continues to be a go-to-source that marketers must leverage. But how?

Perhaps consider implementing and tracking unique URLs on print advertisements to measure print’s influence in driving online activity. Or consider how a print campaign can influence social media behavior. Starbucks has recently implemented a print campaign in select cities and is challenging people to hunt for the ads, take a photo of it and post it to Twitter to gain exposure for their brand.

To find success in the evolving world of marketing may depend on how well marketers can combine the new with the old. Are you finding ways to leverage offline activities to drive customers online? Do you think traditional marketing still plays an important role in the marketing mix?

05/30/2009

Will Facebook be the Next Inbox?

Marketers considering adding social media to their marketing mix should also be considering how it can be integrated with their current strategies – including email. Next to Search, email continues to be a top revenue driver in online marketing. However, there has been much speculation that social sites like Facebook, will soon replace email with its easily digestible, conversational content. Since social sites still default to email (users must have an email account in order to register) and rely on it for communicating updates, requests, etc. to their users; marketers have an opportunity to present their messages to their audiences as multiple touch points using complementary mediums. Marketers should be thinking about how they can facilitate conversations on social sites that will feed into their email marketing messages that will drive their audiences closer to the ‘sale’.

We’re interested in your thoughts on this topic. Are you listening to how people are engaging with your brand through social media? Are you then applying what you learn to your email campaigns? Do you see an opportunity within your organization to bridge the gap between email and social?

05/29/2009

Study: Social networks overtake e-mail

Propelled by the growth of Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn Corp., social networks are now more popular than emailing on the internet, according to a Nielsen study.

Nielsen said “member communities” are now at 67 percent participation while email is at 65 percent.

The study found that of internet users throughout the world, two-thirds visited a social networking site last year. Of those Palo Alto Calif.-based Facebook is the leader, with visits every month by 3 of every 10 Internet users, the Nielsen study reports.

In fact, Facebook had a 168 percent increase in users, the study said, while Mountain View, Calif.-based LinkedIn had a 137 percent increase.

The biggest growth spurt for Facebook has been in the category of users from 35 to 49 years of age.