Convince and Convert Blog: Where Social Media and Email Collide

A recent study by ExactTarget and Ball State University showed that consumers 24 years old and younger prefer text messages to email. For consumers 25+, email still reigns supreme. Does that put text/mobile/SMS out of reach for most brands? Not at all. In fact, using mobile to drive email subscriptions is an emerging best practice.

Mobile opt-in is instant, exceptionally easy for the subscriber, and the brand gets both an email address AND a mobile number for use when text messaging is more prevalent in the U.S.

Mobile Opt-in Done Right

I should have joined US Airways’ points program long ago. I fly the airline often, but haven’t signed up for the program because I didn’t want to take the time to fill out a long, online form, etc.

But, on a recent flight I glanced at my cocktail napkin to see this compelling and easy sign-up offer:

Other than the fact that US Airways was practically daring me to violate the in-flight ban on cell phone usage, I was enthralled. One text message with your name and email address, and you’re enrolled. Very slick.

Follow Up Good, but Unfocused

Almost immediately after signing up via text, I received a nifty email confirmation that included a digital membership card, and two offers for bonus mile via credit card offer. While the creative on the offers wasn’t spectacular, the use of transactional email to drive additional action is on the mark.

But then the next day, I received another email that mentioned something called TEXTUS (evidently the system that runs the mobile opt-in program), and asks for me to provide additional info to activate my account. I understand the need/desire for more info from me, but shouldn’t they have asked for that before I got my nifty digital membership card? I wasn’t offended, but I was confused. And that could have been easily avoided. And why was that sent a whole day later?

Then, once I did in fact log-in to provide additional information, I received another confirmation with another digital membership card, and related offers (more this time). Again not bad, but a bit puzzling.

Overall, a great program. Fills a need. Makes it easy. Confirmation and follow up is a little wacky, but extra effort for being an airline (not typically the most nimble marketers) and pulling off a mobile program.

I anticipate mobile opt-in will be big in 2009. The prevalence of SMS capable phones make it a natural for point of sale e-mail subscriptions for newsletters, special offers, and other programs.

Could you use mobile opt-in effectively? What’s your plan?

Welcome. If you like the content here, consider susbscribing to my RSS feed. You can also find me on Twitter @jaybaer

The National Hockey League has rolled out a series of compelling TV spots featuring some of the game’s biggest stars.

And while the new commercials - with a theme of “Is This The Year?” will run nationally on Canadian broadcast and U.S. cable television, like so many campaigns, it’s being forced to go it alone.

How About Some Synergy?

Instead of launching an integrated effort, it appears that this is a TV-only exercise (created in-house by the NHL with creative consulting from Y&R).

- A search for “NHL” on Google finds no mention of the campaign in either paid or organic listing.

- The official NHL Facebook page doesn’t mention the campaign, and doesn’t link to the ads.

- The spots are not on YouTube (although they are on the NHL.com site).

- The ads are not specifically touted even on the Web sites of the featured players’ teams.

A Huge Social Media Opportunity

If there’s one sports league that could and should capitalize on social media marketing, it’s the NHL. It’s downright cultish, and very few people are ambivalent toward it. So many easy social media programs could be launched.

Contests to make your own “Is This The Year?” commercial. Contests to describe why this is indeed the year for your team. Guest blog posts from the players in the commercials. Uploading the spots to YouTube, including a “Making Of” video that shows how the innovative commercials were produced. Linking the spots from players’ Facebook pages.

And in the digital marketing realm, campaign elements might include: buying banner ads that include the commercials using rich media, video ads on Hulu.com and other sites, buying PPC ads that link to the spots, and having each team email links to the commercials to their season ticket holders.

The geo-targeted possibilities are enormous, because the NHL actually cut 2 local versions (featuring local stars) for every team in the league, and these spots will roll out soon after the national effort launches.

It’s amazing that the NHL would create what appears to be something like 70 TV commercials, and not back them up with anything in the digital marketing or social media marketing universe except for putting them on their own site.

Do you agree, or am I being too hard on the ice gang? Other examples of missed social media opportunities?

I’m on Twitter @jaybaer
Subscribe to Convince & Convert via email

From Dot Bomb to Dot Boom

Let’s face it. The economy is taking on the distinctive, sickly pallor of a post Mardi Gras Keith Richards.

Generally, recessions hit the advertising business with the ferocity of a rabid wolverine, and the last one trimmed overall ad spending by 9% according to market researchers Veronis Suhler Stevenson. The wolverine in question mauled and devoured online advertising, which plummeted 27% over two years during the last recession.

This time it will be different. Not only will online marketing survive, it may actually thrive during the lean times, continuing its inexorable theft of ad spend from traditional media tactics. Online is far more mature and proven now, and there are five specific reasons why it will be the go-to tactic among increasingly budget-conscious marketers.

Money Talks

First, online is typically less expensive than many other marketing tactics, and a sizable and impactful online effort can be undertaken more quickly and cost-effectively than can an offline campaign.

Wiggle Room

Like an Elizabeth Taylor marriage, online doesn’t require much long-term commitment. PPC ads can go up and down on a day-to-day basis. Email can be sent (or not sent) based on financial considerations. Even banner ads can usually be negotiated with an advantageous cancellation clause of 72 hours or so. Try that with your local TV station or newspaper. Other than keeping your Web site up to date, the only core online tactics that require substantial ongoing effort are organic search optimization, and Web site analytics and testing.

More Juice for the Squeeze

With diminished outbound marketing budgets, companies will shift focus toward increasing revenue from current customers, either through more frequent purchases, or larger ones. Email marketing is the perfect vehicle for communicating with customers and incentivizing additional purchases. Customer lifecycle marketing (persuasively combining email with direct mail, voice mail and text messaging) will gain favor as companies strive to close a higher percentage of a reduced flow of leads.

Waste Not

There is meaningful financial waste associated with advertising to people who have no interest in your product or service. The superior targeting ability of online marketing will enable companies to focus their reduced marketing dollars solely on likely prospects. This will accelerate the trend toward use of behavioral targeting and retargeting in online ad placement.

Behavioral targeting mines a person’s Web page visits and search terms to serve relevant ads. If a prospect reads several pages on Yahoo! about Nissan Altimas and does a search on Yahoo! using a related term, an ad for Valley Nissan dealers can be served up just in time.

Retargeting (a nascent industry led by local company Fetchback) takes the concept one step further, enabling companies to advertise only to people who have visited their Web site previously without making a purchase. With average conversion rates hovering around 2%, this is an ideal way to reach the other 98% that have taken the time to visit your site but haven’t yet converted.

Additionally, search marketing will continue to expand since it is the only tactic (other than Yellow Pages) that puts the marketer in the middle of the consumer’s purchase psychology funnel. I expect heavier bidding on specific, “long tail” search terms that often correlate with greater intent to purchase.

Numbers Don’t Lie

Online marketing of all types offers superior measurability and trackability in comparison to traditional tactics. This is of course due to the Orwellian nature of the Web, where every mouse click is tracked, usually anonymously. While the availability of this data may give you the same creepy feeling you get when gazing upon Joan Rivers, it makes for effective marketing.

When implemented correctly, banner ads, organic search, paid search, blogs and social media, email, lifecycle marketing and all other online marketing tactics provide a user by user scoreboard that can be utilized to ascertain precise return on investment metrics for each campaign.

In this way, online marketing provides companies the ability to test a wide array of tactics, evaluate which generates the best response, and then adjust the marketing program accordingly.

The old saying is “I know half my marketing dollars are wasted. I just don’t know which half.” This problem is even more acute and painful in a down economy when advertising dollars are curtailed. The inherent cost, targeting, and tracking advantages of online marketing make it more likely to succeed (or at least able to minimize losses from a failed campaign). And when a wolverine is at your door, that’s the type of assurance you want from your marketing strategy.

How I help ad agencies & PR firms get better at digital marketing>>
Get my blog posts in your email>>

I just finished giving a speech at the western region meeting of the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations in Sedona, Arizona. 

NCMPR is the association of community and technical college marketers. A really interesting group that needs to harness social media and work with prospective students on an individual, relevant, highly personal basis. 

While this presentation was specifically for NCMPR, there is a lot of material that will be valuable to anyone looking to launch and maintain a social media and digital marketing program for a mid-sized business or organization. 

Key points in this presentation:

- Media outlets have exploded, causing audience fragmentation

- You have to communicate to audiences individually, because they don’t herd together like the old days

- Using the power of audience segmentation

- Digital marketing is critical in this new hyper-targeted marketing world, because online users identify themselves through their search queries and site usage

- Ways to find prospective community college students (Twitter, Facebook, Blog search, Flickr)

- Web site is the key to translating awareness of your college (or any brand) to action

- Web content needs to be transparent, real, and multi-modal

- Lead acquisition is critical for colleges. Give users multiple call to action options. 

- Secrets to good form design

- Web site testing and optimization basics

- Lead nurturing via personalized follow up and triggered communications

Comments are very much appreciated. Enjoy. 

The demise of email has been greatly exaggerated.

While Jupiter says that overall email volume has dropped from 41 messages per day per U.S. user to 24, the email marketing universe is very much alive and well. The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) projects that $600 million will be spent on email in 2008, driving an astonishing $27 billion in sales. That’s $45.65 in revenue for every dollar spent on email marketing, an ROI figure that’s nearly impossible to match outside of the bottled water and pharmaceutical industries.

But, the increasingly vigorous expectations and demands of email recipients are changing the game. An electrifying survey by Marketing Sherpa in August, 2008 showed that 41% of subscribers believe an email to be spam if it is not of interest - even if it’s email they requested. There’s a Saturday Night Live skit in there somewhere. You meet someone at a party and they end up being boring and irrelevant, so you can click a spam button and they disappear forever.

Targeted = Relevant = Wanted = Successful

Consumer demand for email that meets their specific needs mirrors the surging desire for authentic, 1:1 conversations with brands via social media outlets. Regardless of medium, today’s consumers want to be talked with, not talked at.

This is troublesome for many email marketers who continue to adhere to the longstanding practices of sending an email “blast” or “campaign” to a “list” and hoping that 5% of the recipients take action. This is the definition of surgery with a dull knife, and the patients are starting to revolt.

Further, in many circumstances email may not even be the optimal message delivery mechanism. Text messages, voice mails, good old direct mail, Twitter, and other outlets can be more appropriate and more engaging for consumers at times.

The promise of a hyper-targeted and relevant message, delivered at the right time, to the right person, using the right medium is holy grail marketing, and its the new focus of ExactTarget, the leading email service provider that’s morphed into a robust, centralized messaging system.

(disclosure: I’m an ExactTarget customer and was a speaker at their Connections user conference this week in Indianapolis)

ExactTarget is trumpeting this new era of multi-modal, targeted messaging under the mantra “Subscribers Rule.” Essentially, it’s an umbrella position for “give people what they want, even if it’s a text message in Portuguese at 3 a.m. featuring coupon codes for mittens.”

This notion of 1:1 marketing has of course been the rallying cry for digital marketing since its inception. Historically, the problem has been gathering enough information and insight about your customer base to be able to fashion customized, truly relevant messaging. In the past, you’d have to mine e-commerce data or implement a sweeping audience segmentation study to do it right, and then you’d build an e-mail campaign around it.

Now however, ExactTarget and its burgeoning network of partners are enabling email itself to be used as a segmentation tool. Advanced link tracking, integrations with Web analytics software like Omniture, and a new user-controlled engagement score feature (whereby you assign a numerical weight to subscriber activities like email opens, clicks, purchases) allow the sophisticated marketer to learn a tremendous amount about their audience based on their email-driven behavior, and then use that feedback loop to create and send ever more relevant and timely messages.

Additionally, a thorough program of triggered messages (sent individually based on Web site behavior) can provide tremendous information about a subscriber while simultaneously delivering hyper-relevant and timely information.

I Get Sign Ups With a Little Help From My Friends

A second very interesting opportunity presented by the centralized messaging platform concept is the cross pollination of message delivery vehicles. The most buzz-worthy example is “email opt-in via text” whereby consumers can use short code text messaging to sign up for highly targeted offers and other communication from a brand at point of sale. This could render the physical email opt-in form moot at retailers and restaurants, and would make opt-in immediate (enabling instant couponing, etc.).

Imagine you’re in a check out line at Petsmart and you see a prominent sign that says “for $5 off Iams dog food, text “Iamsdog” to 23907. For $5 off Iams cat food, text “Iamscat” to 23907.” Instantly, the brand knows whether you have a dog, cat or both, has added you to its database, and you get a valuable and relevant coupon immediately. Slick - and not terribly difficult to execute.

Lions vs. Lambs

As this multi-modal, 1:1 marketing gets more prevalent, the software needed to run it and the expertise needed to strategize and manage it are becoming commensurately larger and more complex. Interesting then that ExactTarget is rolling out a formalized partner program (similar to Microsoft, Oracle and other enterprise software companies) that will features specific partner tiers, certifications and other “badges” to distinguish among specific expertise. This should assist clients in selecting the most appropriate agency partner for their 1:1 marketing efforts, and agencies will have a codified program for reselling the software and providing services to augment it.

I’m on Twitter @jaybaer
Subscribe to Convince & Convert via email>>

I am of a vintage that was shaped by Van Halen’s album (actually a cassette for me) 1984. With Jump, Panama, and Hot for Teacher (a video that joins “Hungry Like the Wolf” in my early teen pantheon), this was a truly epic record - highlighted by David Lee Roth’s bad boy caterwauling. 

And then, he screwed it up. Went solo. Recorded novelty hits like Just a Gigolo and California Girls, which were only slightly more legit than Weird Al Yankovic shlock. 

From 1985 until the inevitable bittersweet reunion tour in 2007, both Roth and his former band mates suffered, never recapturing their former glory (despite the yeoman efforts of Sammy Hagar). 

Internet Marketing is Not a Solo Act

Ultimately, it was proven that David Lee Roth was better as part of a group, than he was a solo artist. And the same is true of your Internet marketing efforts.

Many (and perhaps even most) agencies I talk to are trying to add digital marketing services to their capabilities by hiring their own David Lee Roth. A guru. A turtle-necked Web geek that can do it all. Don’t make that mistake.

Here are 3 reasons why the one man show routine doesn’t work.

1. It’s Unknowable

Digital marketing is a paradigm and a platform, not a job function. You can’t hire somebody who does “digital marketing” the same way you hire a copywriter or an account executive, or an art director. The field of Internet marketing is now far too broad and the nuances too numerous for one person to be able to cover all the bases on a practitioner level.

There is no way I could actually execute on the full array of tactics the way I did in 1995-2002 when the variety of tactics was semi-graspable.

The biggest mistake agencies (and clients) make is believing that the same guru that is designing and/or programming Web sites on your behalf can also handle the marketing of those Web sites. They cannot. The two skill sets are almost opposites.

Web design is a project-based, creative, inward-facing, technology-driven process. Internet marketing is an ongoing, methodical, outward-facing, relationship and message-driven process. Other than a little initial search optimization on recently completed sites, Web designers are not doing Internet marketing.

2. Knowledge in a Silo Cannot Expand

I very much believe that eventually we won’t have digital marketing departments or even digital marketing agencies. As digital (Web, mobile, digital outdoor, etc.) becomes fully integrated into the lives of a majority of the developed world, “digital marketing” will be a component of every campaign.

This convergence is already happening. Public relations and search engine optimization are blending. The growing use of video advertising online. Direct mail campaigns that use personal URLs that lead to individualized landing pages - are those “traditional” tactics, or “digital” tactics?

Eventually, digital won’t be given the special treatment the way it is today. You wouldn’t have a “radio department” and eventually you won’t have a “digital department” either.

If digital will be a part of everything, isn’t it imperative that everyone in your agency (or in-house marketing department) understand digital marketing to some degree?

If you have a guru, it gives EVERY other member of your team a built-in excuse (that you provided) to not have to get up to speed on digital marketing.

3. Asking for Trouble

If you hire a guru to handle all of your digital marketing and centralize that understanding, it creates an operational bottleneck in your organization. It’s not even a hub and spoke model. It’s just hub. Every brainstorm that requires digital thinking requires the guru. Every client meeting. Every pitch. When the guru is sick, the digital effort is grounded.

Plus, how many accounts can the guru work on competently?

It’s an extremely inefficient way to manage your personnel.

Further, since the guru gets to work on all the big accounts (because all the big accounts will want digital marketing), the guru develops quite a resume. Consequently, the guru will be endlessly recruited (perhaps even by your own clients). Eventually, the guru will leave for another opportunity that doesn’t require the ball juggling of an agency, and may include free lunch, stock options, and a big office.

Trust me. The guru will leave.

And then what? When the sum total of your organization’s digital marketing expertise walks out the door, how do you keep providing services to current clients, much less attract new ones? Typically, agencies faced with this scenario try to find Guru 2.0 which of course just perpetuates the problem.

Don’t Be Seduced by the Guru

I know fully embracing and integrating digital marketing is hard. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have started a consulting company to assist. The pull of hiring one person to make the pain go away is strong. But don’t fall for it.

Make a plan to distribute responsibility for digital marketing tactics to multiple members of your team. One person handles SEO. One person handles Email. One person handles online media buying. Clearly, once you have a concentration of clients that need digital marketing services from you, you may want to add staff to work on tactical execution. But until then, remember one critical fact:

Internet Marketing is Complicated, But It’s Not Hard

If your staff is bright enough to work for you, they’re bright enough to figure out part of the digital marketing arsenal.

Do you agree? What are your cautionary tales or success stories about Internet marketing gurus? I’d love to hear your comments. Let’s discuss.

AdWeek announced today that security software maker McAfee has hired Tribal DDB as their agency of record. In addition to digital marketing, the assignment includes TV, print, and outdoor. 

Note that Tribal DDB is the excellent digital marketing sister of DDB. These guys know their stuff. I’ve met a few Tribal DDB folks via my work with ExactTarget. But historically, Tribal DDB has been a large but “regular” digital marketing shop. 

Warning. This is just the beginning

Tribal didn’t just beat out a bunch of other digital firms for this account. They were selected as AOR over big league integrated shops including Young & Rubicam and Dentsu. Wow.

As I’ve been saying (especially in my post “Agencies Wake Up - Digital Shops = Trojan Horse“) digital marketers have a much better handle on ROI, testing and optimization, and audience segmentation than do most of their traditional counterparts. Clients increasingly want to minimize ad risk and are willing to engage in several targeted tactics rather than one huge TV campaign.

If the traditional advertising agency community doesn’t see this win by Tribal DDB as a clear sign that the game is changing, I don’t know what will.

What is your agency doing to be able to compete with digital specialists?

How long will it be before digital agencies being agency of record becomes commonplace, rather than an exception? Leave a comment and let me know what you think. 

Perhaps you’d like to receive these blog posts via email?

My 5 Workshops that train agencies on Internet marketing

Web services giant Sapient recently fielded a national online digital marketing survey of more than 200 chief marketing officers (CMOs) and senior marketers responsible for managing digital budgets (among other things).

Survey respondents were asked about the top qualities they sought in their advertising and marketing agencies in the coming year.

Sapient’s Top 10 Wish List for Agencies of the Future…and My Comments

1. Greater knowledge of the digital space. With more than a third of marketers surveyed revealing that they are not confident that their current agency is well-positioned to take their brand through the unchartered waters of online digital marketing and interactive advertising, it’s clear that agencies need to have a greater knowledge of the digital space in order to thrive. In fact, nearly half (45 percent) of the respondents have switched agencies (or plan to switch in the next 12 months) for one with greater digital knowledge or have hired an additional digital specialist to handle their interactive campaigns.

This is another in a series of warnings from me that traditional agencies NEED to get uber-competent at digital marketing now. Clients are switching agencies based on digital marketing knowledge. See my post “Wake Up Agencies - Digital Shops = Trojan Horse” for more.

2. More use of “pull interactions.” When trying to engage consumers with their brand, 90 percent of respondents agree that it is becoming increasingly important that their agency uses ‘pull interactions’ such as social media and online communities rather than traditional ‘push’ campaigns.

No question this is true, and it will be even more acute in 2010 when Millennials (who prefer organic sources of information and recommendations) become a larger demographic cohort than Boomers or Gen X. 

3. Leverage virtual communities. An overwhelming 94 percent of respondents expressed interest in leveraging virtual communities (public and private) to understand more about their target audience.

This one is a little fuzzy for me. It sounds like market research using social networks. That can work, but if this list is in order, no way is this #3 for the future of agencies. On a related note, check out Rapleaf. They take a database (your client’s email list, for example) and cross-reference it against all the social networks so you can figure out if you should emphasize MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, or something else. Cool, and potentially massively useful. 

4. Agency executives using the technology they are recommending. Ninety-two percent of respondents said it was ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ important that agency employees use the technologies that they are recommending. For example, it is important that agency executives regularly use Facebook, Flickr, wikis, blogs, etc. in their personal social media mix.

The fact that this even made the list is an indictment of the advertising profession. If you’re going to pitch a social media campaign to a major client, you might want to have a Twitter account (among other things). It’s like SEO firms that aren’t ranked anywhere on Google for their own services. The Emperor has no clothes.

5. Chief Digital Officers make agencies more appealing. Forty-three percent of marketers surveyed said that agencies with chief digital officers are more appealing than those without.

I agree that having somebody in charge of digital strategy in an agency can be beneficial (disclosure: I had this role at Off Madison Ave for nearly 3 years). However, that approach only works if the agency has many digital experts, and just needs someone to steer the ship. Too many small and mid-sized agencies far prey to the “guru syndrom” and hire one Internet guy to handle all digital marketing for their agency. Big mistake. If that guy leaves (and he will), you’re screwed. And, centralizing digital expertise gives the rest of your staff an excuse to not get better at digital marketing. Don’t do this. See my series of training workshops for agencies on how to not get your whole agency competent at digital marketing. 

6. Web 2.0 and social media savvy. Sixty three percent of marketers surveyed said that an agency’s Web 2.0 and social media capabilities are ‘important/very important’ when it comes to agency selection.

Yes. Related to a couple of the points above. However, it’s critical for agencies to have a social media strategy for their clients, not just a random collection of social media tactics. Building a wikipedia page is not a strategy.

7. Agencies that understand consumer behavior. Seventy-six percent of respondents deemed this as an ‘important/very important’ aspect of their agency’s online digital marketing and interactive advertising area of expertise.

Isn’t this what agencies are supposed to be doing now (never mind the future)? This will be a huge determinant on agency winners and losers in the future, because Google and others will take away agencies’ revenue streams that are procedural rather than strategy and creative-driven. See my post about Google looking to crush agencies for scary details. 

8. Demonstrate strategic thinking. Seventy-seven percent of marketers surveyed ranked strategy/brain trust capabilities at the top of their agency wish list.

Yes. See #7. Same thing in my book. 

9. Branding and creative capabilities. Sixty-seven percent of respondents ranked branding at the top of their agency wish list while seventy-six percent ranked creative capabilities as ‘important/very important.’

This one is definitely more future looking than some of the others. At present, especially for the mid market, digital marketing can sometimes be very successful without great branding. But that will change, and agencies MUST get their creative teams comfortable with digital. How do creative directors get away with “I don’t really understand online, so I have our junior art director do that stuff”? Would that work for radio? For outdoor? For magazine? Well guess what, Internet advertising is larger than all three of these media types (U.S. annual spend).

10. Ability to measure success. It’s no surprise that marketers want an agency that can report on where campaigns succeeded, fell short and where they should be fine-tuned. Sixty-five percent ranked analytics at the top of their agency wish list.

This is the secret weapon of digital marketing and what makes it superior to traditional in some ways. Agencies that aren’t using the inherent measurability of interactive marketing to their advantage are missing the boat. The reason digital marketing will thrive in the recession is its targeting and tracking components. 

What do you think? Are there other attributes the agency of the future must have? Jetsons-style flying car? Extreme Wii proficiency? Please leave a comment with your ideas.

Perhaps you’d like to receive these blog posts via email?

A One Legged Stool

There’s no question the Internet has been good to me. The last two jobs I had before getting involved in Internet marketing in 1994 were spokesman for the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections (prison tours), and marketing director for Waste Management (landfill tours). I prefer this gig as it is smell and horror-free.

I’ve been doing the Internet thing long enough, however, that my hype detector is finely honed (when I hear the words “designer dog” my nose runs). And lately, the more I read about this new online boom, the more Kleenex I grab.

No question, online marketing has many enticing characteristics like trackability, ease of implementation, and targeting (all of which I’ve chronicled in these pages). But I’ve witnessed more than a handful of conversations recently where clients and even agencies have pondered “maybe we should only do online?”

The Internet Isn’t Magic

That chalk mark on the ground? That’s the line between enthusiasm and crazy, and you just crossed it. People are being lured into an illusory sense that just because it’s digital, it defies the laws of marketing. That just because a trial campaign was boffo, a 400% increase in budget should yield a commensurate increase in results.

There are a few, highly targeted businesses – especially those that operate only online – that can succeed with a purely digital marketing approach. But for most real world companies, online-only (or even online dominant) marketing will not succeed.

The Difference Between Demand Creation, and Demand Fulfillment

Why? Because at its very core, digital marketing fulfills demand much better than it creates it. The digital tactics that work best (email to current customers, search marketing, highly targeted banners, social media) work because they reach an audience that is either already aware of your company, or susceptible to your charms based on their needs and lifestyle.

At any moment in time, there are a finite number of prospective customers that are aware of your service, interested in your service, and online. Thus, there is a ceiling on the effectiveness and size of any winning digital campaign. Approximately 100 people will search today for “RV rentals.” And not much can be done online to increase that number. You can do everything possible to maximize your exposure to those 100 searchers, but that’s the size of the potential customer pool via search at present.

To grow the pool of people who are clearly interested in RV rentals (as evidenced by their search query), you have to use the much maligned and uncool world of traditional marketing. By using print, broadcast, direct mail, event sponsorship, and public relations you can grow the awareness and demand for your product or service, and PRESTO that demand will show up online.

Learn From Cupcakes

For example, an examination of historical search volume for “cupcakes” shows a consistent, slightly increasing number of daily searches from 2004 through 2006. Beginning in 2007, when the media began running frequent stories about the new gourmet cupcake trend (no doubt prodded by professional PR practitioners), search volume for “cupcakes” spiked, with a 300% increase.

….While you’re here, sign up to get my blog posts in your email…

1+1=3

At Off Madison Ave, (where I handle strategic planning) we often engage in a tactic called “Media Isolation” to measure this effect and produce efficient media plans. Try it for yourself.

Take a two to four week period and run only PPC and SEO. No other outbound efforts. Then, keep the search campaign up, and add offline tactics. Reexamine results of the search program. Then, take down the traditional campaign, and continue running the search campaign.

What you’ll find in essentially every case is that the initial online campaign produces results that increase by 50-100% when traditional media is added. But most interestingly, the search campaign continues to perform better than it did initially, even when traditional media ceases. Why? Because the traditional program increased demand, and then the online tactics fulfill that demand.

This concept that offline marketing improves online marketing is powerful, but it can sometimes take a while to prove, when you consider that search latency (the time lag between when a consumer first searches for you and when they buy) can be as long as 90 days. Look at your reports in three and six month increments, not just monthly intervals, to help identify these relationships and trends.

From a marketing strategy standpoint, maximizing the effectiveness of your online efforts is a great first step, as the available data and feedback immediacy produce ROI faster than other tactics. But if you want to seriously grow your customer base, you have to put down the black turtleneck and Red Bull and employ a true mix of marketing approaches that work together to increase the number of people that care enough about your product to bother looking for it.

What do you think? Am I being too hard on Internet marketing? Leave a comment

More posts about using a true media mix>>

My digital marketing training workshops for agencies>>

Get my blog posts in your email>>

Will the Crest Weekly Toothpaste Launch Work?

In a sign that the guys who control ad budgets are getting the value of interactive advertising faster than the agencies that place it, P&G announced recently that they are introducing their new Crest Weekly toothpaste almost entirely through the blogosphere.

Samples of Crest Weekly were sent to prominent bloggers (as well as 600,000 Moms) in an effort to trigger an underground viral effect. P&G marketing honchos say that Crest Weekly is an unconventional product. You use it weekly to augment your regular brushing - it has more grit in it to give you that “just back from the dentist, but not numbed or broke” feeling. Thus, it is difficult to explain on TV.

While that makes sense, I suspect the famous data hounds at P&G are also cooking up a little test to see if social media can really carry the water for a launch.

It appears - at least for now - that it cannot, but results are inconclusive.

Ironic Lack of Word of Mouth for Oral Care Product

My search for blog posts, Tweets and other signposts indicating that bloggers indeed used Crest Weekly and wrote about it turned up fairly low volume - although Ariana Huffington’s smile looks a little brighter these days.

I found 10 separate blog posts, on well-targeted sites (beauty, women’s, shopping). I also found just one Tweet (from one of the bloggers promoting her post).

My favorite among them was Tia Williams’ “Crest In Show” post that artfully wove in her background as the daughter of a dentist. Nice!

P&G has not said how many bloggers were given samples, but they did disclose that they began arriving in early August. The product launches in stores next week (mid-September).

The Cavities in the Crest Weekly Launch

There are two fundamental problems with the Crest Weekly approach.

1. They actually sent the product out too early. Blogging is a NOW thing, not a “we’re working on the December issue in August” thing. Sending out samples 6 weeks before the product launches when one use of the product will clearly communicate the benefits to the blogger is too long of a lead time.

It will be very interesting to see if blog posts about Crest Weekly intensify next week when the product launches. I suspect some bloggers are holding their posts until closer to launch. If you find some new ones on Google Blog Search or Technorati, please let me know.

2. The tactic overwhelmed the strategy. The notion that a major consumer goods manufacturer would launch a product via social media is so novel (for now) that the buzz around it became about the marketing approach rather than about the toothpaste. In fact, there are actually more blog posts (including one more once I click Publish) about the social media launch then about Crest Weekly and its magical teeth scouring properties.

Hopefully, P&G won’t interpret this to-date tepid response from the blogosphere as a sign that social media won’t work, and will instead adjust its tactical plan next time around for greater success.

In a related story, Kellogg announced today that the ROI on their digital marketing for Special K cereal (blogs, ads, microsite) is superior to the ROI for traditional advertising. While this isn’t shocking to yours truly - a well-targeted and well-executed digital program will almost always beat traditional in a pure ROI fight - for a company like Kellogg to put that information in print (Ad Week) is a quite the watershed.

Have you launched a product or brand using heavy social media? Did P&G do the Crest Weekly program right, or wrong? Please tell us your story in the comments.

My training and consulting workshops on social media, SEO, email and more>>
Get my blog posts in your email>>