Process and technology are things that get me excited about going to work. It might sound odd that I sit in my company's marketing department, but as much as I love technology, I love creativity. You can't really have one without the other anyways - new technology cannot be created without a creative mind. I lend people my sales, marketing, and tech experience and want to share with the world my thoughts and the knowledge I have gained through experience and other experts. Overall, I'm happy...at home and at work, doing what I love.
Many of us have been there. You tweet (or re-tweet) something maybe you shouldn't have or maybe you even went as far as created a Twitter campaign that ended up backfiring - seriously backfiring.
In a recent campaign by McDonald's to draw attention to their commitment to freshness a request for feed back backfired when customers started tweeting very negative and unfortunate experiences with McDonald's. Their marketing communication strategies seemed to be not well thought out in this instance.
The moral of my story here is that you have to be careful with your social media strategies and with marketing as a whole. If you are in the type of business that deals with the consumer like McDonald's or something to that effect then you definitely want to think about the effects of any social strategy.
The right integrated marketing communications campaign can really take your reach to the next level but of course as seen with McDonald's, the wrong strategy can wreak havoc.
For more information on marketing and sales support and how Allied can help with your marketing and fulfillment needs, contact us.
I think I say the term 'CRM' maybe 250 times in a week. I have said it so often that I forget it's even an acronym for something. Over the last year we have discussed what customer relationship management means to Allied and what we need to do with that 'meaning' going forward. Overall it involves "using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes... The overall goals are to find, attract, and acquire new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service..." - Wikipedia
This brought me to many an article on CRM vendors and it lead me to Paul Greenburg's CRM Watchlist. There were some surprises on there. A few I (admittedly) have never heard of.
Regardless of who you decide to work with, having the right CRM strategy in place lends to play an important role in the success of all integrated marketing communications campaigns. It also will play a vital role in your company's marketing and sales support strategies.
The Allied Group has been helping their clients reach their goals to attract, acquire and retain the right customers for years. Click here to learn more.
You might be thinking that as you blog away feverishly trying to increase traffic and search engine rankings. While blogging alone will give you some results, you really want to optimize your efforts and increase the traffic to your blog. Blogging is such an important part of marketing communication strategies so why waste your efforts. I recently came across a great article on the topic.
Make your blog title interesting and intriguing The title is the most important part of your blog post. Make sure your title is engaging and use numbers like "Top 5 tips..." and don't be afraid to be a little controversial and unique.
Make your content easy to read You want the reader to breeze through your post not struggle and give up. Use bold font and bulleted and numbered lists.
Optimize your content for search Use keywords in your titles and descriptions and make sure that you are using links within your posts.
Encourage interaction Don't hesitate to ask for what you want from your readers. If you want comments or suggestions as for them and also make sure you ask your readers to share your posts.
Social media sharing An important part of any integrated marketing communications campaign or plan is social media so be sure to share all of your posts on your social media channels as well.
To read the original article click here and to learn more about The Allied Group as a top direct marketing agency click here.
Being that I am in technology I have been asked many times "What exactly is cloud computing?" Basically it's the delivery of an application over a network like the Internet. Ever heard of SAAS (software as a service)? Well many software companies are moving over to the cloud and just because we are a top direct marketing agency and not a software company doesn't mean we don't talk about cloud computing.
It affects us all and it really is an amazing concept. Marketing and sales support teams can now manage the deployment of new software without getting their IT involved (or involved minimally). I found a great video on the web of what cloud computing is all about. Check it out.
Page 1 placement - the almighty task of all search engine optimization. You can't talk marketing communication strategies without mentioning SEO and your company's placement on Google. It's just a fact - people are more apt to click results on page one so placement is key. I came across a Marketingprofs article on Google placement. It mentions some tips on ensuring page one placement.
Search Engine Advertising - do not be afraid of advertising and bidding on your business name.
Keyword optimized webpages - have a website that is optimized for keyword placement.
Blog - search engines love fresh and dynamic content. Blogs are always (should be) up to date and ever changing and that is perfect for page one placement.
Social Profiles - get on the top four social networks. Being current and up to date on those sites helps tremendously.
It must have been the recent Holiday but I have been seeing many articles sprout about around the meaning of thanks - and how it affects relationships with clients and customers. You hear it a lot when you call a customer service line before the operator hangs up he/she says something along the lines of "Thank you for being a customer" or "We thank you for your patronage" etc...
Well what we don't often see is a simple out of the blue 'Thank You' coming from the software company you invest thousands with every year, or even the giant company that mails your packages every day. Saying thank you should be part of your marketing communication strategies and email campaigns.
Do not be afraid of saying thank you to your valued customers. Plan on saying thanks immediately when someone makes an initial purchase from you. Also plan on the seasonal thanks (it's not too late even though those turkey leftovers are almost gone!) and the best thanks of all - the one for no good reason.
It's not just about a great marketing and sales support strategy but more about letting your customer know that there's a human side to your company - no matter how large or small.
A simple nurture campaign run through your CRM and marketing automation tool will allow for an easy 'thank you' process.
'Tis the season! Thanks for reading and for your continued patronage!
We are living in the digital age. That's no surprise. But what might surprise you is that people still actually trust and prefer paper. In a recent survey of 16-26 year old young adults 71% would choose to read a print magazine and 52% a print newspaper over a digital version.
Over 10,000 online shoppers were asked how they prefer to be notified of specials and sales, the obvious being email but print catalogs and direct mail promo products came in a close second. Nearly 90% of consumers say that they want to receive promotions and sales in via direct mail.
TV commercials and direct mail like direct marketing postcards were the top two influencers for people when making purchase decisions both professionally and personally.
Bottom Line: Print is not dead - at all. It should still remain an integral part of all of your marketing communication strategies.
I know I prefer a print magazine even with my new 'Newsstand' feature on my iPhone...
Data from Print in the Mix - A Clearinghouse of Research on Print Media Effectiveness
Eloqua provides a leading marketing automation tool and Brian Kardon is their CMO. In a recent blog post of his he discusses the changing face of marketing. This is something that I have discussed many times and it's no secret that marketing will continue its path of changes for the forseeable future.
Eloqua has released a great read titled the 'Real World Marketing Syllabus.' Within it you will find the four new P's of Marketing.
Personality Publishing Packaging Physics
To read the full article and for your copy of the syllabus click here.
This past weekend was cleaning weekend at my house. My stepdaughters' rooms looked as if tornadoes had come through and I wasn't about to clean them myself and I wanted the girls to clean up quickly so we could get out and enjoy the weather. I basically had to make cleaning fun for them, not an easy task especially when I am competing with cell phones, iTouches, and Justin Bieber.
It lead me to thinking about our marketing message and what we should be offering prospective clients. Face it, your just one of probably hundreds of companies offering the same thing to the same audience. You have to set yourself apart and make what you are offering exciting and enticing with the right marketing communication strategies. No one really loves to spend money, sure maybe on fast cars and expensive wardrobes but not on business necessities, but companies need services and they have to buy them.
Think fun surveys with great rewards, free tours of your facilities, posting fun bio's of employees on your Facebook page and Tweeting interesting facts about your industry are a few simple ways of engaging prospective clients and convincing existing customers to renew.
Eloqua provides a leading marketing automation tool and Brian Kardon is their CMO. In a recent blog post of his he discusses the changing face of marketing. This is something that I have discussed many times and it's no secret that marketing will continue its path of changes for the foreseeable future.
Eloqua has released a great read titled the 'Real World Marketing Syllabus.' Within it you will find the four new P's of Marketing.
Personality
Publishing
Packaging
Physics
To read the full article and for your copy of the syllabus click here.
To learn more about how Allied can help with your marketing communication strategies and supply chain management strategies click here.
There is so much discussion on the web about social media and here's another post to join in on the fun. The fact is that social media is not just a fad. It's not something that is going away. With the arrival of Google+ it's now even more apparent that companies need to make social media an integral part of their marketing communication strategies.
There are a few tips that you can reference when adding the right chatter about social media in your email campaigns.
Testimonials: Many companies tweet about an experience they had with a company. See if you can reference that tweet into a testimonial section of an email campaign. Prospects like to hear the good about a company too.
Linking: You obviously are going to link to your corporate blog but there might be some blog talk about your company on the web - if so, link to it and highlight that in your campaign.
Videos: Creating a video isn't what it used to be. You can create a professional looking video for a few hundred dollars or you can invest in the right equipment if you are making more than just a few. You will want to send it out in your emails but also put it online. YouTube is the second largest search engine available. It's simple, get on it.
It's not really a question anymore (or at least I don't think it should be) that social media is here to stay. Businesses are getting their names out there with the ability to 'touch' millions of people for free through the use of social media - well you have the ability to anyways.
A great way to bring more people to your social networks and increase your marketing and sales support is to add some social media call to actions in your email campaigns. You want people to follow you and like your page it really can increase sales in the long run.
Something to remember is that the nature of a traditional email campaign and a social media campaign are going to be different. Ideally prospects are going to want a more conversational tone in the emails they receive and less stuff being pushed out to them.
Consider:
What are some hot topics that are important to our prospects right now?
What social media forums are best for the message in my email? Facebook or Twitter? Both?
What tone should I be using with our prospects?
Don't be afraid to keep it light. Times are changing and it's OK to have personality in your emails to prospects. Keep it neutral but don't be afraid of some wit and even some humor.
In a recent discussion with a coworker about marketing solutions the idea came up of 'Do we really need everything we have'? I am sure that it's a question you probably have asked about your suite of marketing tools.
I have a bit of a 'go big or go home' mentality about a lot of things but spending money isn't one of them. I don't 'spend it if I got it' so I am not quick to recommend the latest and greatest marketing tool to my boss, however, I do think that you should be investing in the right tools as well as making the most of your investment.
The right tools can maximize your marketing and sales support efforts but it's important to remember to get your money's worth out of these tools. Don't just use your CRM as a glorified Rolodex. Make the most of your investment and use every aspect of the tool you can with the resources available to you.
Many tools can add to your marketing communication strategies but it's best to remember the bottom line of why you're using a tool. And if you are not using all of the capabilities available to you or you think you need more - reevaluate what you have. Chances are you might be surprised about what your current tools can help with.
Develop and enforce a unsubscribe or opt-out process. Be sure that you are making a solid effort to not only implement the proper technology to handle opt-out, but also to ensure that the opt-out is available at every single customer touch point.
Avoid misleading email subject lines. Teasers like 'Your privacy may be compromised' may have worked years ago and actually gotten someones attention but in today's world - someone might actually get a little mad at you. And not to mention, subject lines like these rarely evade spam filters, and might actually violate CAN-SPAM. Just make sure that you are being honest.
Don't even consider dirty little antics. Don't try the practice of guessing at email addresses like mmathews at whatever.com (firstname.lastname@company.com). That will surely get you flagged.
Bottom line: (same as before) use your best judgment and keep your emails sounding professional and you should be all set.
So just because someone is subscribed to your email communication doesn't actually mean they are engaged. Two very different things. Engaged subscribers (contacts who have opened, clicked on, or otherwise interacted with an email in the previous 3-6 months) often make up only 30-40% of an email marketer's database. That leaves a whopping 60% that don't care enough to do anything besides ignore or delete your message.
Follow a few simple steps and hopefully your subscribers will be more engaged...
First, try a nice welcome email. Be clear in your communication what they can expect to see from you. If they have subscribed to a weekly newsletter but will receive random communication, let them know. They will appreciate the honesty.
Second, keep what they are seeing relevant and interesting. Your subscribers will be immune to daily blasts so limit the spam. They want to see topics that get their attention. Think of things that they are losing sleep over and focus on keeping the tone about them.
Third, have a plan of attack for that 60% that drop off. You want to win them back - well get an offer ready that will be hard to ignore.
Fourth, loyalty rewards? I am not talking about a rewards card that you scan at the grocery store but think of something you can offer people who have stuck with you.
Lastly, social media is IT - join in. If you can develop some kind of app that is relevant to your product/offering, go for it. Or at the very least make sure your prospects and clients know that you are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
The goal here is to engage every type of person on your list. They are all different and your marketing communication strategies need to be as well.
I generally do not write about how to present yourself in a business meeting but I partake in my share and have recently been evaluating some vendors for our company. As a leader in full service fulfillment and marketing strategy services, I know that we do a pretty good job when in front of potential clients - these guys below, yeah not so much.
I recently had a call that went similar to this and needless to say they were scratched off my list. Well I just can't resist - please do not under any circumstances do this (below) in a meeting. While it is highly comical now - it definitely won't be when you are being laughed at when you leave.
Let's face it, if you're in marketing and sales support you have to deal with lists. I know that there have been many times I silently cursed at the thought of creating yet another marketing list. I have some tips however that I would like to share in order to make list building a little more pleasant and less cumbersome - and to ensure success.
Create smaller and more targeted lists You can expect to increase your response rates drastically when you segment your list into smaller and more targeted lists. Prospects want information that is relevant to what their business is doing and needs. They want to also know about industry trends and what their competitors (peers) might be up to...
Don't use old lists You want to take the time to verify a list before you blast an email campaign or direct mail. When your sales reps tell you they want clean data it's not because they are being difficult - it really is because it's a waste of their time to go through and have half of their list be junk. Use an intern if you have to but make sure that list is a clean as possible...
Measure your success A great way to find what works for your company is to try new things. Well you have to measure the success of each of your efforts. You work hard to figure out what marketing communication strategies to use, you want to know what is working and what's not. You could be surprised by your results. Keep an open mind as testing will sure prove you wrong eventually...
There are of course many other ways to ensure success with marketing lists but these are the basics and what I think every marketer should live by. To learn more about The Allied Group and our marketing strategy services, click here.
It's no secret that e-mail marketing has made its way to the forefront of marketing managers' daily to-do's. Well with that it has to be said that being proactive when it comes to email marketing will bring you far better results than being reactive. You may be asking 'What do you mean proactive?' You have to put yourself in the shoes of your prospect? What do they want to be looking at in their in-boxes? What are they talking to their coworkers about? Look at the big picture and maybe not so much at where to put text, using intriguing subject lines, and other tactics; while valuable and important having a solid grasp of the larger issue will get your email campaign farther than before. So before you hit send, it’s important to think about the big picture.
Is your email relevant? Most experts agree that relevance is the most important aspect of email marketing (some argue of marketing in general). Your prospects are only going to act on your email if it has meaning to them at the specific time it comes into their in-box. You want to make sure that your lists are highly targeted and that the message means something to the recipient. You don't want to send retirement information to a recent high school grad (who should have been receiving marketing for higher education material) and a marketing manager doesn't care about what's new in HR software.
Does your campaign have activity driven rules? You most likely have business rules in place, well each email campaign should have a set of rules in place as well. It's imperative that the rules are defined prior to launch. Make sure that if someone clicks or doesn't click your email they are placed into a specific path etc. Ask yourself what you want each prospect to do and what you think your customer will want from you.
Content, content, content... You want your prospect to want to take the next step. Well you have to give them a reason to actually take action. It's not just about offering a nice creative design marketing piece, it's about giving them something that gets them excited. It might be a case study and coupon for cord blood banking services to expectant parents or free oil change service to someone who just bought a car. Whatever it is, make it compelling and relevant.
Following these basic rules should take your email marketing campaign to the next level. Just shifting your focus back to big picture can help. Let The Allied Group know if there is any marketing communication strategies you need help with.
If you added to your search budget for 2011 you were on the right track. According to a new survey published by Econsultancy search marketing is expected to grow 16% in 2011. The State of Search Marketing Report states that the industry will grow from over $16 billion to just over $19 billion this year alone.
Search is important for any company with a website - and what company doesn't have a website now a days anyways?
Another interesting fact that the report shows is that there is significant outsourcing of search engine optimization, paid search and social media. Only 44 percent of survey respondents’ SEO work is done in-house as opposed to the 51 percent of last year. Another 38 percent of respondents are handling paid search in-house compared to 47 percent last year; and 55 percent are doing social media marketing in-house versus 62 percent in 2010.
While many companies are bringing their inside sales in house, just as many are taking their marketing communication strategies to a third party. The Allied Group can assist organizations with their marketing and sales support efforts. Click here to learn more. And click here to read a version of the report mentioned in this post.
Melanie Mathews, Sales & Marketing Automation Manager at The Allied Group
I think I say the term 'CRM' maybe 250 times in a week. I have said it so often that I forget it's even an acronym for something. Over the last year we have discussed what customer relationship management means to Allied and what we need to do with that 'meaning' going forward. Overall it involves "using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes... The overall goals are to find, attract, and acquire new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service..." - 
It must have been the recent 
We are living in the digital age. That's no surprise. But what might surprise you is that people still actually trust and prefer paper. In a recent survey of 16-26 year old young adults 71% would choose to read a print magazine and 52% a print newspaper over a digital version. 
This past weekend was cleaning weekend at my house. My stepdaughters' rooms looked as if tornadoes had come through and I wasn't about to clean them myself and I wanted the girls to clean up quickly so we could get out and enjoy the weather. I basically had to make cleaning fun for them, not an easy task especially when I am competing with cell phones, iTouches, and Justin Bieber. 
In a recent discussion with a coworker about marketing solutions the idea came up of 'Do we really need everything we have'? I am sure that it's a question you probably have asked about your suite of marketing tools. 
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