Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Video: A New Approach to Engagement

CM comment: A very good video on engagement marketing. Not all applicable to our space but still worth watching.

April 8, 2008: from Forrester's Marketing Forum 2008 -- Forrester Research Senior Analyst Brian Haven says the four I's - involvement, interaction, intimacy, and influence - provide a framework for better understanding and measuring engagement with your customers.

Watch video at: http://tinyurl.com/d8svc6

Advertisers Need Patience To Tap Into Web's Potential

February 24, 2009: from Boston.com -- Marketers used to spend the bulk of their money on TV ads, which ran for a few weeks or months at a time. But these days, because of the Web, the shelf life on ads is infinite.

As the Web changes ways of doing business, said Alicia Arnold, vice president of account management at Molecular, a Boston digital agency overseeing the effort, advertisers including Reebok are asking: "How can we move away from buying media time and toward creating time" between us and our customers?

Since April 2007, Reebok International of Canton has hosted Run Easy, a website (www.goruneasy.com) that lets runners map out their favorite routes, post iTunes playlists, join jogging-related discussion groups, and upload photos. The site snared more than 1.61 million unique visitors between its launch and mid-December 2008; in comparison, the first season of "Damages" on FX reached an average of about 2 million people on days it aired, according to Nielsen Media Research.

A broader Run Easy ad campaign involving TV helped start the venture, but the Web effort has largely sustained itself through user-generated activity. To get the most out of Super Bowl ads - and presumably other campaigns that require significant investment - advertisers need to "blend social media, traditional media, and buzz around the watercooler," said Jim Nail, chief marketing officer of TNS Cymfony.

Reebok has reasons for continuing to operate the Run Easy site, other than giving people a virtual place to congregate, said Rich Prenderville, head of global brand marketing at the athletic gear concern. The company believed consumers had become daunted by ads that told them "you have to do this, you have to do that" in order to be a runner, he said. On Run Easy, they can learn and progress at their own pace, gathering support and information from other users.

Now that Reebok has built a community, he said, why take it down? "We started a community and we have started people talking about something, and if we just turned the lights off on it, I think we'd do them a disservice.

Full story at: http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=sv45jycab.0.0.o7uw4wcab.0&p=http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2Fdyece6&id=preview

Coupons Are Hot. Clipping Is Not.

February 25, 2009: The Wall Street Journal -- Increasingly, shoppers are skipping the scissors and getting coupons online or having discounts sent to their smart phones and rewards cards. Currently, online coupons account for 1% of all coupons offered nationwide -- but their use is growing quickly, with redemptions jumping 140% last year, according to Inmar. Manufacturers are attracted to digital-coupon delivery in part because of its 13% redemption rate -- far above the 1% redemption rate for coupons found mostly in newspaper inserts, on the back of sales receipts and on product packaging.

Stores are jumping further into the high-tech end of couponing. Last month, Kroger Co. said it would go national with its free text-messaging coupon program, a service provided by Cellfire Inc. Dan Keefe, who works for a technology firm in Cincinnati, signed up for Cellfire last fall. Now every Sunday, Mr. Keefe, 46 years old, checks his BlackBerry for deals, such as the 50-cent discount on a package of Kroger-brand cheddar cheese he recently received. Clicking on a link in the text message tells Kroger's computer system to add the discount when Mr. Keefe's loyalty card is scanned at check-out.

Grocers and packaged-food companies view this pinpoint digital advertising as a way to improve customer loyalty, draw more foot traffic and fuel overall sales. Customers see the marketing as a way to find bargains they might otherwise miss.Online coupons are also being scoured for untapped discounts. Coupons.com, a site that offers coupons from large food manufacturers and national grocers, says its users printed out online coupons valued at $300 million last year, an increase of 140% from 2007. Based in Mountain View, Calif., the company predicts the total will triple this year, partly because of the recession.

General Mills Inc. last year accelerated its spending on digital couponing, according to Karl Schmidt, director of promotion marketing. He says the company, which runs its deals on Coupons.com, pays only after a customer prints out a deal. Also, General Mills can have a coupon online in a week, compared to the two months it takes with print media.

Full story at: http://tinyurl.com/ddm255

The Coming Explosion In Mobile Media

February 26, 2009: from Mobile Life Magazine -- The iPhone isn't just boosting Apple's bottom line. By ushering in the era of the smart phone, cells that are able to perform multiple tasks like surfing the web, taking and sending pictures, watching movies and listening to music, the iPhone and other devices like it may finally help deliver on the long-held promise of mobile advertising. It's one of the few areas of media poised for big growth over the next few years, according to a report released this week by the Kelsey Group, a research and analysis firm that's part of BIA Advisory Services. The report predicts that U.S. mobile advertising revenues will balloon to $3.1 billion by 2013 from $160 million last year, with local search generating roughly one-third of the total revenue. Advertisers will be attracted by the huge jump in mobile data consumption, driven by the adoption of smart phones with those multitasking abilities.

Full story at: http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=sv45jycab.0.0.o7uw4wcab.0&p=http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2Fd3wtjs&id=preview

What Social Media Can Learn From Email Marketing

February 25, 2009: from MediaPost Communications -- Provide Psst. Hey, marketer! Trying to figure out your social media strategy before the boss asks again? I gotta few tips for you. Many social media challenges can benefit from hard won lessons we've learned through email marketing.1. It's not free. There are plenty of free social media tools out there. You can certainly set up a MySpace brand page or LinkedIn profile for free. However, no social media program will succeed without time, resources and expertise.

2. Being present is not enough. Put up a corporate-speak Facebook page and see who comes. Not so many, right? But a Facebook page that has a cause or purpose is interesting because it's meaningful and engaging. At the same time, tell no one about your page and it's all but invisible.

3. Be authentic. This is a universal marketing truth, but worth mentioning because too many email and social programs lack it. Our customers know when they are being sold. Relevance, honesty, believability, integrity: these are the only things that create value and drive predictable response.

4. Integrate, don't imitate. Replicating your website on Facebook does not a compelling and engaging destination make. Posting your email offers on Twitter will quickly tire followers. Selling product may not be the best objective of your social strategy. Perhaps your blog is about education and driving inquiries. Your MySpace brand community may be about reach for video ads. Twitter may be a great customer service outreach tool.

5. Endorsements matter. Social media pulls the marketer off the brand pedestal and drags her into the throes of the messy, wild, unpredictable community. In this equality, social media empowers brand advocates.

6. Measure well. All investments in social media must be linked to a business goal.

7. Have something to say. This is perhaps most important. Don't start talking until you have something valuable to say. Make the commitment and stick to it. Fund it. Be ready to maintain it. Conversation takes two people who do both listening and talking. This is the essential truth of our social Web 2.0 world: Marketers don't own the conversation. Give your subscribers and community members what they want -- engaging, interesting, relevant content and offers that are worth reading and talking about -- and they will give you what you want: sales and loyalty.

Full story at: http://tinyurl.com/dfnvmk