Marketing Automation Best Practices

Spend More in an Economic Downturn

2008-07-07T13:31:00.005-05:00

Some 60% of American Marketing Association member marketers say halting or reducing spending on key marketing programs is the biggest mistake marketers can make in an economic downturn, according to (pdf) a recent AMA survey.

The AMA offered four strategies to enhance marketing plans in a downturn - shape the message, don’t slash the price; focus on whom not to target; stand apart from the crowd and invest in innovation; and sustain the brand:

Shape the message, don’t slash the price
Only 3% of American Marketing Association marketers say it is important for marketing functions to adjust pricing strategy to help sustain and grow business during an economic downturn.
Implications for marketers: Conduct research to understand your competitor’s positioning and your target audiences’ perception of the economic environment; hone and refine your messages; highlight the value of your product or service, rather than slashing the price.
Focus on whom not to target
Some 67% of AMA marketers say it is important to mitigate the impact of an economic downturn by refining target audiences.
Implications for marketers: Assess which segments of potential customers you do not want to target; don’t market to inappropriate market segments (simply stated, some customers are more costly to serve than to lose); focus marketing strategies on customer segments that will produce the greatest ROI.
Stand apart from the crowd and invest in innovation
Most AMA marketers, 66%, report that they would take the same amount or less risk with a new product and/or service innovation during a time of economic uncertainty.
Implications for marketers: Differentiate through innovation with a product or service that performs in a faltering economy; invest in R&D now to ensure that your company is in a position to compete when the economy rebounds.
Sustain the brand
63% of marketers say they can lessen the impact of a downturn by investing in brand building as part of their marketing plan.
Implications for marketers: Establish access to executive officers to understand ongoing shifts in business strategy; realign marketing strategies to match business objectives quickly to demonstrate a commitment to the bottom line; qualify and quantify results quarterly to establish an ongoing dialogue with executive officers.

About the survey: From May 6, 2008 through May 16, 2008, the American Marketing Association conducted online interviews with 244 AMA members in the continental United States.

Marketing Automation versus CRM

2008-06-10T16:29:00.007-05:00

I have often found that many CRM (Customer Relationship Management) companies say they do marketing automation. While this may be true on some features, most come up short when you look at their out of the box capability. For example, Salesforce.com limits the amount of email sent to 500 per day per user. Just to set the record straight, here is a good definition of what is a CRM.

To me there is a symbiotic relationship between CRM and Marketing Automation. There are different types of marketing automation software that can be added to most CRM solutions. Most of these tools are designed to increase revenues and implement a more consistent marketing campaign for the business to promote its product or service. Here is SearchCRM's definition of marketing automation.

Some things to consider when choosing a marketing automation tool is database design, campaign management, integration of analytics and reporting, email campaigns, and multi-channel support. Another key is the ability to perform batch (versus broadcast) sends and the deployment of real time view notifications.

A good marketing automation solution will integrate key analytics and reporting back into a CRM for a full picuture of the sales cycle.

LeadsCon Conference: Lead Management System Panel

2008-04-08T10:43:00.000-05:00

LeadsCon Conference, Las Vegas (April 2nd through April 4th) - Friday Morning Panel: Lead Management System – Lead Gen’s Killer App

The members of the panel included Raj Parekh of LeadROI, Jeff Solomon of Leads360, Rick Doyle of Lead Mailbox and Bill Rice of Kaliedico with Michael Ferree of of ZipSearch moderating.

It was a very interesting session and no doubt the best of the conference (probably because they were asked to shake it up a little bit by the conference director). Each LMS provider wanted to tout their unique features and take subtle shots at the others. It was all friendly though. FYI, I have a very high regard for each of these panelists (they all have great companies).

The most contentious issue addressed: sharing data with lead aggregators and being able to provide “analytics” with quality data. Most panel members admitted that their data might not be perfect, and that they didn’t really know how to answer or address the question of how to provide bi-directional data with the lead aggregators.

As they attempted to address this issue I believe they were missing the larger need (at least in terms of what “C” level execs want): a more comprehensive view into their world, including data-supported ROI information on their campaigns and initiatives and clear analytics that will lead them down more profitable paths.

What I find interesting from their responses is their lack of looking at the big picture as well as other pertinent data elements. From my understanding, not many of the LMSs contain the most important data of all, closed-loan data. This is because once the LMS does their job it is primarily tracked in the LOS, and today very few lenders pass the closed loan data back to the LMS. Other missing elements include: phone data, pricing data, web analytics and lead generation data (like what banner ad this lead clicked to fill out the app). The LMS is not the killer app today because it’s missing these other (really) important data elements.

Once a company builds a solution that delivers all of these data elements (and complete “analytics”) it will be the “killer app”. As for SoftVu we have been working on a data warehousing solution with a business intelligence reporting (BIR) engine since Q4 of 2007 and we plan to showcase the solution later this year. We’ll see if we can show the panelists what “analytics” really are.

Personalized Email Pays Off

2008-03-27T10:41:00.000-05:00

According to eMarketer, email with personalized subject lines and messages have higher open rates than email that is not personalized.

This is just another datapoint that shows the importance of humanized communications in increasing email marketing performance metrics. More importantly, these tactics helps to build a better customer experience.

The Pros and Cons of Link Building

2008-02-26T13:04:00.000-06:00

Joshua Palau does a great job exposing the advantages of link building for search engine optimization in his article entitled, The Schizophrenia of Link Building.

I enjoyed his simplistic explanation of this common SEO practice...

"In order for a site to rank well for a topic or specific keyword, it needs to have quality links pointing to it from other quality sites, preferably using the targeted keyword in the link. The concept is very much at the center of how Google ranks pages and finds grounding in the educational principle of authoritative references.

If an author publishes a book on quantum physics and cites several other physics books, people in the field will likely believe the cited books are experts on the subject matter and worth reading. This concept was transferred to the web and evolved further as social media exploded.

I'm a TV junkie. So when asked about the latest celebrity dalliance, my opinion may count for more than someone else's who can't tell the difference between Mary-Kate and Ashley. This idea holds sway in the world of link building as well. If I told you that The Superficial is a great site for celebrity gossip you would trust that site because it came from me.

For a time, all was good in the kingdom of search as the world of link karma worked in a very "wiki" way. Sites that had content about Caribbean vacations would link to Starwood's Caribbean hotels because it was in the best interest of their users. Links were swapped, given away and even paid for because there was no harm. For the most part, users got links to good partners and sites received a boost in Google.

Then, the concepts behind link development spawned several search result jokes like Miserable Failure, French Military Victories and others.

It stands to reason that as the Google team got wise to such Googlebombing, it recognized how easily the company could be manipulated through the use of links. People could buy enough links to gain high rankings as long as their site was somewhat on topic. The ripple effect on Google would be significant because the quality of its results would go down; users would visit less, and there would be less clicks on those paid listings."

Where's The Beef?

2008-02-25T09:10:00.000-06:00

I spent the weekend in a class the certifies me as a "CBJ" (Certified Barbeque Judge), which is mostly a matter of paying a fee and learning a few rules about barbeque contest. The substance of the class consited of eating a lot (about 2 pounds, total) of barbequed meat to practice judging, then compare notes with others in the class and with practiced judges.

The weekend before, I spent at The ADDYs (formerly OMNIs) show watching a ton of winning ads from Kansas City agencies . . . and I've got to tell you, though there were several exceptions, for the most part, there was way more "beef" at the BBQ judging class than at the ADDYs.

Don't get me wrong--there was a lot of beautiful, eye-catching, and clever artwork, film, and photography . . . many georgeous ads that could attract attention from across a room crowded with other ads--a lot of good stuff to learn from. But for most of the winners, even after a closer look at the posted ads and watching them live during the show--it was difficult to tell exactly what they were selling or what the ad was trying to say about the product or service (other than--oh, look how arty/clever/design-y the agency we hired is). Overall, they lacked the beef of any ad--the message.

So really, all I'm saying is please, please, please, start your ad from the premise that you have something to say--listen to your clients first, find out what's great about their product and service, then say it loud and proud in the ad you create for them. Too many ads looked like they started from the premise, "Hey, let's make a cool ad that'll win an ADDY" instead.

Forrester Calls for 'Connected Agency'

2008-02-08T15:06:00.000-06:00

In yet another rebuke of traditional advertising agencies, Forrester Research believes today's ad agencies are not well-structured to take on tomorrow's marketing challenges, needing to move from making messages to establishing community connections. In a new report, the research firm paints a grim view of the current state of advertising, which it believes is in "a world of hurt" because consumers are tuning out the messages the industry is predicated on producing.

Instead, it believes shops need to be organized around communities, not disciplines. What it is calling "the connected agency" would not only know certain communities but also be active members of these groups. Pushing messages would give way to encouraging voluntary engagement, and ongoing conversations would replace time-based campaigns.

In Forrester's view, most people rely on advice from friends and others in their various communities to make product decisions, while using tech tools to tune out ad messages they deem irrelevant. On top of that, consumer media choice has made the notion of a "captive audience," other than during some sporting events, a thing of the past.

Forrester sees agencies made up of community members -- moms, for instance, helping Procter & Gamble play a constructive role in communities of other mothers.

Savy marketers have long known that building a digital profile customers can lead to a high ROI. This new reocmmendation is an interesting idea to help traditional advertising agencies evolve in a Web 2.0 world.

Social Media and Marketing Automation

2007-11-08T22:39:00.000-06:00

Social media or social networks means the gathering of people within a community (whether that's an actual online community or simply a section on a Web site dedicated to giving consumers a voice to actively participate in the creation of new and/or the management of existing content). Users have the ability to post their own photos or videos, rate and review products, create tags for content, write or respond to blogs, or change existing content (like wikis), and more.

Social media has allowed consumers to take charge of their Web experiences and marketing automation programs can take advantage of this new tool to increase sales and build a relationship with consumers.

Here a couple of ideas on how to integrate social media into your email marketing or marketing automation efforts...

Reviews -- The key with reviews is participation -- the more coverage your products have, the more effective the reviews will be.
Ratings -- Ratings include stars, thumbs up and down, "paws," and a myriad of other forms. Consumers register their level of approval, and the product's rating becomes based on some form of average of responses. This type of consumer feedback is incredibly useful for optimization because it is easily rankable. Have on-site search? Why not rank results by popularity? This is a fabulous way of providing relevance through ranking.
Digg -- Social sites provide a clearinghouse for user responses. The most well- known, Digg, allows sites to put up an icon on articles that lets the reader "Digg" the content.

Personalized Email Increases Open Rates

2007-11-06T21:18:00.001-06:00

Personalized e-mails boost open rates, according to a MailerMailer study. The e-mail service provider found that personalized "subject" lines in particular increased the number of times recipients opened their mailings.

The "subject" line is so important that, even when marketers have recipients' permission, the wrong line can still mean trouble.

The MailerMailer study also found that open rates have continued to decline, as they have since 2004, as more people started using e-mail programs that disable the “automatic image downloading" setting.

Even though open rates have gone down, click rates remain steady, suggesting that people are still reading their e-mail despite the lower-reported open rates.

Three Simple Ways to Humanize Your Email Marketing

2007-11-03T17:20:00.000-05:00

I am always surprised at the number of emails I receive from companies that have clearly been written without any effort being to connect with me as an individual. This lost opportunity is most evident when I provide my email address to a company for the very first time.

Maybe I sign up for a newsletter, maybe I register for some kind of service, maybe I buy a product. Almost without exception, the automated emails I receive to confirm the action I have just taken are uniformly drab and impersonal.

When a customer first gives you his or her email address, you have a small window of opportunity. Customers are expecting a confirmation email from you. They are waiting for it. And when it arrives, almost 100% of people will open it. In other words, this is your first and best chance to make a great impression. Do you or your company take full advantage of that opportunity?

Marketing automation is one answer and here are three simple things you can do to "humanize" any email communication.

1. Communicate as a person, not as a business
People don't want to hear from a computer. They want to hear from you.So include some elements in your email that are one-to-one—from one human being to another. A photo or video of sales rep on a landing page is a powerful way to connect on a human level.

2. Add a real name at the end of each email
Many emails are signed by "The Domainname.com Team" or something like that.Well, if the head of that team is called John Frost, sign the emails with the name "John Frost."
Make it from a person. There is no power in sending an email and signing it as a corporation or a team. There is no connection there. When you do that, every opportunity to take advantage of this most personal of online media is lost.

3. Add your real address and other contact information
When I receive an email that closes with the complete mailing address of the sender, it immediately boosts my feelings of trust and confidence in that company. When "John Frost" also adds his own email address and phone number, then the connection I feel with that company rises immeasurably.