GraMATR - Accountable Marketing Blog

Find your Twitter voice

Brian Handrigan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:02:30 +0000

So you have gone through the process and set up a Twitter account, now what?

What do you talk (or Tweet) about? This is the situation that most people I know find themselves in after they get onto Twitter. Does anyone really care that you are eating a jelly doughnut and drinking coffee – probably not. And it is at this moment that you may think all of this Twitter frenzy is ridiculous and decide you want nothing to do with it. And if you do, that could be a huge mistake. You see, just like any other social environment, you need to determine what Twitter is to you, find your voice and start interacting.

Instead of thinking about Twitter as a highly restrictive email (or blogging) environment, think of it like the world’s largest cocktail party where you can listen in to as many conversations as you want to (following) and interject a view, opinion or something useless (status) at any time for others to listen to. But before you jump in (or out) too quickly, you need to decide how Twitter will exist in your world and what your voice will be.

For Example:
You could simply be the Mute – You could choose to follow a person, topic, whatever really and use a great tool like TweetDeck to monitor what people are saying in real-time. And real-time is the key here, you are listening to what is being said now, not an hour ago – because of this real-time nature of the dialogue, my wife told me about the Swine flu problem before the major media outlets reported on it. It is OK to just listen – this is a valid way to use Twitter to keep up on current opinions, etc…
You could be the Expert – You may choose to follow people related to an area of expertise that you have and inject comments, links, photo’s etc. related to that topic. Using Twitter like this allows you to monitor your subject area while voicing your opinion (or expertise) when appropriate and you actually add to the dialogue that is going on.
You could be the Socialite – You could tweet about the people you are hanging out with and actually use Twitter to expand your social network beyond the physical and actively interact with geographically diverse people in a simple, convenient way. Twitter becomes an extension of your social network and you may share “Getting coffee or Eating lunch” comments, but folks probably won’t mind. Considering Twitter was originally created to allow individuals to group text their friends with “What they were doing” so people could choose to participate or not – this use of Twitter is probably closest to the founders original idea for it.

You don’t have to adopt just one of these Voices, but by thinking about how you want to interact with Twitter (and the Twitter Community) before you get started will make you time with Twitter more rewarding and useful.

What are your thoughts?

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Posted in Education Tagged: Social Media, TweetDeck, Twitter

GraMATR jumps into Twitter

Brian Handrigan — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:58:03 +0000

While I’ve had a twitter account for some time (http://twitter.com/gramatr) I am going to try and provide more real-time updates and ideas as a supplement to full scale blog entries. Hopefully you find our expansion into real-time social media worthwhile.

How are you using Twitter?

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Posted in Accountable Marketing Tagged: Social Media, Twitter, Web 2.0

Integration & Marketing Nirvana

Brian Handrigan — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:18:51 +0000

In a September 16th article on DMNews.com entitled “The path to marketing nirvana is paved with integration” Blaine Mathieu discusses the need to integrate the tools used to manage & execute e-mail marketing, Web, PPC & other digital media campaigns. On the surface, I agree with Blaine’s observation that executional nirvana (aka ease of management) can be achieved by bringing the analysis and execution components of these varied online media together so informed, timely decisions can be made and actions taken.

My only issue is whether he has gone far enough with the affected media landscape – shouldn’t non-digital response oriented media be included in the integration? Aren’t we just re-defining the silo’s here? But more importantly – is real marketing nirvana going to be reached by executing a disjointed strategy via integrated tools or is it simply adding efficiency?

In my experience, a solidly integrated strategy executed via disjointed tools is more effective than a disjointed strategy executed via integrated tools (assuming that the tools are fully integrated across digital and traditional media). To that end, while I agree with the intent of Blaine’s article; I would submit that we as marketers still need to work hard on fully integrating digital media into our strategic fabric and use all appropriate media to achieve campaign objectives – rather than bolting on digital tactics to a non-integrated strategy or supplanting strategy with executional technology.

How close are you to marketing nirvana?

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Posted in Accountable Marketing, Internet Marketing Tagged: Accountable Marketing, Direct Marketing, DMNews, Email Marketing, Internet Marketing

Three Keys to Effectively Engage Your Customers via E-mail – Part 2

Brian Handrigan — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:40:17 +0000

In Part 1, we covered why we need to more effectively engage our customers via email; outlined the three keys (Relevance, Action & Involvement) and discussed Key 1 – Relevance. In Part 2, we will cover how Action and Involvement complete the value provided by Relevance to create a sustainable two-way relationship with a prospect / customer.

2. Action

Educators know that learning is more effective when accompanied by additional stimuli, such as the use of physical manipulatives when reinforcing a math concept. Engaging an email subscriber is no different. We are not suggesting that you ask your subscribers to cut out objects or do jumping jacks while reading your email; but getting them to Act on something; a call to action, a link for further information, something that will engage them at a deeper level than the email & pray method that many follow. Another interesting tactic is the Refer-a-friend approach by including in your e-mail a section that reads, “If you are finding this e-mail helpful, click here to refer-a-friend;” if done properly, your subscribers become more than readers, they become advocates. By providing value beyond the 4 corners of your email message alone elevates your communication from a mere one sided conversation to a supportive resource on topics important to both you and your subscriber and through the appropriate use of external links, you motivate your subscribers to keep opening your e-mail time after time as they expect to find value with each message.

3. Involvement

As illustrated in the first two keys, it is tremendously valuable to present relevant information and be viewed as a resource to your subscribers; in this next key, we increase our value but relinquish control as we encourage our subscribers to become involved (not just with us) but with each other. Opinion polls, message forums, blogs & online communities are means by which we can encourage peer-to-peer involvement. If we want to engage our subscribers but are concerned about directing the involvement; opinion polls and message forums can be a great first step since polls allow you to draft the question and potential answers while message forums allow directed topic areas and comment moderation. The next two involvement areas (blogs & online communities) present bigger challenges and rewards since in a true exchange of ideas, the blog writers and community managers control both the categories and conversation completely outside of your control. These rules of engagement are new for most and you must realize that you cannot control what is said (even if it makes you uncomfortable). The payoff for encouraging this type of involvement can be great – access to honest assessments of your products / services and insight into how vocal advocates within your target community think and act.

If you want to get a better idea of what is going on in your target market in order to decide where to get involved, you could A) conduct a web search (which would provide more information than most can process) or B) use a tool like Google Alerts to get a daily or weekly view into current web and blog activity related to targeted terms – helping you identify the active sites / blogs in your space.

By utilizing these three keys to consistently engage your customers, your e-mail programs will become a relevant resource that your subscribers find value in and ultimately contribute to the development of the community at large.

B & P.

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Posted in Accountable Marketing, Education, Internet Marketing Tagged: Accountable Marketing, Direct Marketing, Email Copywriting, Email Marketing, Internet Marketing

Three Keys to Effectively Engage Your Customers via Email – Part 1

Brian Handrigan — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:22:38 +0000

Companies are always looking for better ways to leverage the Internet to both acquire and retain customers. Email communications have become a staple in Internet marketing, and for good reason; they are inexpensive to deliver, customizable and user activities are highly track-able. But is your content and communications strategy meeting the Web 2.0 expectations of your constituents? Many think that most significant factors in an effective email campaign are compiling subscribers and ensuring the email content reflect your brand image. Your email communications can be much more than an update correspondence or pure sales pitch. You can use deliberate (and valuable) communications to develop an active participatory relationship that gets your customer engaged with your brand, website, and product, resulting in a loyal and active customers. To successfully do this, you should keep these three important keys to success in mind: 1. Relevance, 2. Action, and 3. Involvement.

1. Relevance

No matter how important your service may be to your customers, no one wants to be blatantly solicited or pandered to on a regular basis. Provide your readers with relevant information that they can use covering topics both directly and tangentially associated with your product / service and the period(s) in which they connect with you.

For example, companies that have committed to regular email communications tend to “deliver” content on their schedule. January, Feb, March content etc. This may make planning the email program more manageable, but does little to target content at the consideration, activation or use phases a customer has with you product / service. By mapping event-trigger opportunities in the consideration, activation and use of your product a customized email communications plan and content can be developed that addresses the specific needs / concerns of your audience in an appropriate way at the appropriate time. Beyond the planning for this interaction, write content that addresses direct and indirect issues that your customer is facing at these individual trigger points and offer “real” value to them. Additionally find ways to leverage the power of most modern email campaign management systems to integrate calendar based content into your trigger campaign to promote the feeling of both situational and seasonal relevance.

Part 2 will cover how Action and Involvement complete the value provided by relevance to create sustainable two-way relationships with your prospects / customers via online tools.

B & P.

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Posted in Accountable Marketing, Education, Internet Marketing Tagged: Accountable Marketing, Direct Marketing, Email Copywriting, Email Marketing, Internet Marketing

Don’t talk at your customers via email; nurture them.

Brian Handrigan — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:47:29 +0000

The average Internet user receives over 80 email messages per day. As these numbers continue to grow, even non-spam email risks getting lost in the clutter. Stand out out and stay engaged with your customers by making your email something they look forward to and find value in. The key to success is in delivering content that is relevant to the needs and interests of each customer individually and not “talking at them” with boilerplate emails.

The availability of easy to use email campaign management tools has enabled more organizations to communicate with their customers directly. The desire to communicate with customers is good , however too many companies believe that merely inserting a customer’s name into a monthly broadcast email qualifies as personalized email. Personalization must go beyond customer names and email is uniquely suited to deliver content that is both relevant to the customer and time-appropriate for them. Moving one step further, for high-ticket or recurring purchase products (or services) email can be used to “nurture” and cultivate customer relationships over time.

Once you determine that your email program would benefit from a “nurturing” strategy, the next logical question is how do you do it? Following are the three critical steps to developing a successful email-nurturing program.

Step 1: Establish a nurturing program objective. First, determine whether the program is establishing a prospect relationship for a future sale or trying to build or retain an existing relationship. Next, determine a specific objective such as a specific number of leads, a percent reduction in defection, or a dollarincrease in LTV (or a specific time increase in duration.)

Step 2: Establish a nurturing development timeline. Once the objective is identified, list the critical customer milestones that both positively and negatively impact your ability to achieve the program objective. Construct an event-trigger based timeline schedule that supports the program objectives. It is during this step that you determine offers that will affect behavior.

Step 3: Develop an email program editorial calendar and content. Building upon the event timeline in Step 2, construct an editorial calendar that supports the development objectives of each contact while maintaining a compelling editorial arc that provides both company generated and third party content. During this step, determine whether you will provide all content in the body of the email or provide content snippets that drive the user back to your website for additional information. Copywriting (or just say “copy tone”) tone, consistency, relevance and quality will have a significant impact on the email’s value to your customer over time – so be sure you engage quality copywriting talent.

If you follow these three steps, you will be prepared to elevate your customer email program from one that talks at your customers to one that nurtures them along a development path designed with their needs in mind and delivering improved campaign performance and higher relevance in their inbox of growing clutter.

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Build your email list the old fashioned way: Direct Mail

Brian Handrigan — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:40:22 +0000

For those of you wanting to launch (or grow) an opt-in email marketing program to communicate with prospects or customers and don’t have a valid email address for all of them; you may be wondering how to build your opt-in list without upsetting your target. While collecting email addresses from future responders (at time of response) is definitely one way of building a list, what about all of the prospects / customers that are currently in (or will be added to) your database without an email address? Do we just forget about them? I guess that is one way of dealing with the problem, but not a real solution.

If you want to build a sound opt-in email list, sometimes you have to go old school and Direct Mail is a vehicle. I’m not talking about the simple “Postcard & Pray” method that may be cheap but not a high performer. I’m talking about a thoughtful direct mail program that considers the motivations of your targets and has a professional package and compelling offer to convince your prospects / customers to exchange their email address (a piece of property) for something of equal or higher perceived value from you.

Don’t kid yourself, getting your online newsletter is not considered a valuable exchange to most people.

And by program, I mean an integrated acquisition strategy that includes segmentation, direct mail package (offer, copy & creative), response mechanism (phone, microsite, etc.) and viral (i.e. refer a friend) system components. If you follow this process, you might be surprised how well Direct Mail can positively affect your email program success.

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Numbers, numbers & more numbers…

Brian Handrigan — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:47:59 +0000

In another AdAge.com article this week (‘Industry Unleashes Flood of Studies to Prove Its Worth: Harsh Times Demand (Even) More Concrete Evidence of Effectiveness‘ by Jack Neff) Accountable Marketing is getting more press. As economic fears increase, advertisers are demanding more and more quantification that their media dollars are working – in response, a bevvy of media companies, agencies research firms and marketers themselves are conducting elaborate studies to prove that their efforts are working.

The trend excites me, because we all win when accountability is demanded from marketing / advertising activities. What concerns me is that the studies ask the right questions, enough data (of the right categories) id collected to support immediate and long term analysis needs and that the studies ask the right questions and the marketers themselves are prepared to adopt a continuous improvement model to benefit from their learnings. If the goal of the studies is to simply placate the accountability requests of marketers or validate that the media is working, I fear that the true impact of Accountable Marketing is lost. If you start with the premise that everything can be improved (or even replaced) then performance / accountability studies are used to identify opportunities for improvement and then implement them through a continuous improvement change / test model – all parties involved will benefit from sustainable long term improvement and competitive advantage.

Accountability is more than an economic necessity and ALL Marketers should look for ways to not only Quantify Benefit but continually Quantify Opportunities for improvement throughout the marketing value chain. What do you think?

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Advertisers are trying more and more to know YOU!!! Just ask AdAge…

Brian Handrigan — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:23:26 +0000

In an article published yesterday on AdAge.com (“More Marketers Want to Get to Know You: CRM Surges as Brands Demand Measurable Results” By Michael Bush and Rupal Parekh )the venerable advertising publication notes that more and more advertisers are turning to CRM as a way to increase customer intelligence and quantify results. I couldn’t agree more – Accountable Marketing is bigger than just Direct Marketing and is becoming a more and more important component of the overall Advertising Mix.

While I am encouraged to see that general advertisers are looking to database tools and analytics to help them improve their customer insights; its important not to abdicate goals, objectives or control to the CRM vendor but rather leveraging the vendor’s expertise and establish an accountable marketing discipline that fits your business. In an earlier post I discuss the importance of data quality and integration, it is important to note that with the increasing spend on CRM that the AdAge article mentions – all of that investment can be put at risk if the basics are not followed. And beyond setting up a CRM solution – What do you plan to do with the data? What questions are going to be asked? And how equipped is your organization to implement any findings that you glean? If you look at Marketing / Advertising Accountability as a systematic approach to continuous improvement rather than a point in time project your chances of success increase dramatically. Good luck…

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One more fantastic use of Gmail

Brian Handrigan — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:20:22 +0000

Just when you think Google apps (like Gmail) can’t get any better – they are free after all – you go and learn about a feature that makes you wonder how you ever lived without it. I am talking about the virtual email addresses that you can create on the fly. If you have no idea what I am talking about, don’t worry I wouldn’t have either – until now.

With the use of these virtual email address – a name I have latched on to to describe this function; a single Gmail address can act like an unlimited number of distinct email addresses to the outside world. for example: if you have the Gmail email address of yourname@gmail.com we all know that you can receive emails at that address and can even have Gmail collect email from external accounts. What is specifically unique is that Google has enabled a dynamic interpreter to its Gmail delivery engine and with the addition of a simple “+” sign at the end of you proper user name and before the “@gmail.com” domain address you can customize the email address you have mail sent to and manage it in a single Gmail account. So, yourname@gmail.com, yourname+01@gmail.com, yourname+customtrackingcodehere@gmail.com all deliver to the “yourname” account but maintain their targeted addresses.

The other fantastic thing about this feature is that you do not have to pre-configure these alternate addresses ahead of time. This alone makes the feature unique and highly useful for many things; but recently for us, in the testing of a highly complex email campaign.

You see, we have recently launched a campaign for client that is managed from a custom Marketing Database that feeds event trigger based email lists to a third party email delivery service (in this case SilverPop). We had approximately 60 different email templates that could be triggered by a variety of business rules and we wanted to make sure that each email was specifically processed and sent for the correct business reasons. We created an email list control file of email seeds based on each distinct delivery reason and set a batch upload to the API – we used the yourname+customtrackingcodehere@gmail.com email address method to ensure that there was only one intended message to each email address in the batch file and included tracking details in the email address to compare the email received by each address to the matrix of rules indicating which email the address should have received. By using the virtual email address capability of Gmail, we were able to send complete sets of emails to 4 different testers with only 4 Gmail email accounts, rather than the 240 different email accounts that would have been required to conduct the same level of testing without it. We know that we could have pre-configured all these addresses as email aliases in a standard POP or Exchange messaging system – but we didn’t have to go through that extra work – and that’s what we found so useful about this solution.

Have you found a similar tool or have other observations, let me know.

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