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?