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Archive for the ‘Digital Marketing’ Category

Focus on Relevant Content — and Watch Your Facebook Fan Base Increase

February 22nd, 2012 by

With over 160 million users per day, Facebook is the de facto social media, advertising and marketing platform. In comparison, Twitter has only 20 million unique visitors each month (source: comScore) — despite it being the source for news as it happens.

According to comScore’s report, The Power of Like: How Brands Reach and Influence Fans Through Social Media Marketing, “Facebook represents the vast majority of U.S. social networking activity, accounting for 90% of all time spent on social networking sites in the U.S.” Wow!

So it makes sense that big name brands from Axe to Starbucks use Facebook to stay in touch with their audiences. And thanks to this ability to communicate directly with brands, consumers are now able to vote, not just with their pocketbooks but with their very visible feedback, too.

Witness Netflix’s debacle when it doubled its fee AND tried to separate its streaming and DVD services (and change the DVD-by-mail service name to Qwikster, too). Fans on Facebook howled. Netflix backed off on the name/business change, but kept the higher fee structure.

Of course, you don’t have to be a big business to have a Facebook page. Many small and mid-size companies have a Facebook presence, too.

Until recently, the focus has been on garnering fans; the more fans you have, the greater your reach. Due to comScore’s research, however, Facebook is now emphasizing the importance of how well you engage your fans.

According to the comScore report, the largest portion of users’ time — 27% — is spent on the individual’s home page, which features the Newsfeed. Research showed that people spend very little time on branded fan pages.

Even more important, the comScore report noted, “the Facebook Newsfeed uses an algorithm to rank content based upon the likely interest to a user so, unlike in other social media settings, only the content determined [by Facebook] to be most relevant to a user is delivered at a specific time.”

New Page Insights Emphasize “Engaging Content”

Hence, Facebook’s revamping of its page metrics. With the new Page Insights, you now have data on how fans are interacting with your content. As with your Web analytics, you can now use Page Insights to help drive your Facebook campaign decisions. Facebook’s Insights include:

External referrers — This data point tells you how people found your page from outside of Facebook. Now you can instantly see if people are clicking through from your website or blog, from a website where you placed an article, or if they found you through a search engine. One question to ask your marketing team: Of these unique visitors, how many converted into Likes?

How you reached people — This Insight is particularly cool because it tells you how many fans saw your page versus how many of their friends saw it through Likes, comments, sharing, etc. This is where Facebook is emphasizing engaging content — the more people Like, comment and share your content, the more “viral” (and relevant) it becomes.

How People are Talking About Your Page — Facebook now gives you data by story type, including mentions, Likes and photos. You can use this data to determine which story types drive engagement.

Even better, you can now see comprehensive data for each individual post in one screen on the main Insights page, making it much easier to determine which topics drive reach, “talking” and virality.

Data Is Good. Putting It to Use Is Better.

To increase content relevancy and engagement, consider the following tips.

1. Listen, don’t sell — Although Facebook is a powerful advertising medium, using traditional mass marketing practices will backfire, causing people to Unlike you. Instead of pushing out content that talks about your products, focus instead on content that encourages your fans to talk to you.

2. Test, test, test — Test various types of content (e.g., surveys/polls, photos and video, offers, events, and links to trending topics, etc.), times of day and days of the week to see when your audience is online and most engaged.

3. Create a brand “story” — Facebook is a social network where people expect to be entertained. Use this freedom to create a story or personality for your brand — one that resonates with your audience. Then, don’t be afraid to have some fun.

Creating content that’s relevant will go far in engaging your fans, ensuring your content appears in their Newsfeeds — and over time, building your fan base. Do you have examples that you’ve used to engage your Facebook fans? Feel free to post them below.

 

Category:  Digital Marketing, Marketing Trends, Social Media Marketing  |  Tags: , ,   |  No Comments

Choosing the Right Medium for Your B2C Audience — Part I

September 22nd, 2011 by

In today’s economy, business owners and marketers need to get the most from their marketing dollars. In an era of shrinking budgets, marketers are putting more dollars into online marketing. Online marketing is less expensive than traditional marketing, and it can be targeted to specific groups. It’s also easy to measure; there are many tools available to report on almost every aspect of your online marketing efforts (unlike traditional marketing where you place an ad in the paper and hope for the best). Does that mean you should put your entire budget into online tactics? No, it means you should do some research, get the right mix of traditional and online mediums, and integrate your message across them all.

In Part One of this article, I’ll cover how to choose and integrate the right mediums. In Part Two, I’ll present a specific case study of a consumer brand that markets across many channels.

Do some research when developing your campaigns

It’s easy to say that traditional marketing methods are dead and focus solely on online (especially social media), yet according to research, many “maligned” marketing channels, including newspapers and TV, are still quite viable — with marketers increasing spend for 2011.

Even though newspaper readership is declining, it’s still relatively high for the age 50+ crowd, according to the Pew Research Center, with 38 percent of 50-to-65-year-olds reading the news and 47 percent of those over age 65 doing so.

Television advertising had a strong year in 2010, with spending jumping 10.3 percent over 2009. According to the Hollywood Reporter:

Spot TV ad spending got a 24.2 percent boost in 2010, making it the biggest percentage gainer, while network TV rose 5.3 percent, and cable TV recorded a 9.8 percent gain, according to Kantar Media.

And, although direct mail saw a decrease in spend in 2009, “Bruce Biegel, managing director of the Winterberry Group, told the Direct Marketing Club of New York on January 13, 2011, that . . . direct mail spending will grow 5.8% to $47.8 billion this year, driven by acquisition mail increases.” (Source: Direct Marketing News)

According to Biegel, “Direct mail still really works well for acquisition [marketing] because it’s easier to target [than other channels] . . . and because digital as an acquisition tool is still finding its way, direct mail will be an important tool for direct marketers.”

Integrate your selected mediums

Once you’ve identified which mediums you’ll use in your campaign, you’ll want to develop a strategy to make sure your customers can move seamlessly from medium to medium. To make this happen, you need to have consistent “creative” and cross-medium information:

Creative — A coupon delivered via email needs to look good on both a smartphone and a desktop computer Internet browser. This same coupon — along with its message — may need to be modified if delivered through Facebook and modified yet again if you distribute hardcopy versions in-store.

Cross-medium information — Every medium you use should contain information about where to find you in other mediums. If you have an in-store coupon display, for example, you’ll want to include your Facebook URL (and not just the icon!) in the creative — and maybe even give an immediate incentive for “Liking” your page. When you “Like” Naked Pizza’s page, for example, you’re sent a discount coupon that can be used at any of its stores.

Finally, before adopting any medium, be sure to get permission from your customers to contact them via that medium. Do they want email and text messages from you? A younger audience may appreciate the immediacy of your SMS messages; older demographics may get annoyed, especially if they have limited texting plans. Don’t assume — ask!

Even though your marketing resources are limited, you can maximize the impact of every dollar by spending a little time researching which mediums are best for you and then integrating them.

Do you have some great (or not-so-great) examples of integrated marketing campaigns — your own or others? Post them below.

 

Category:  Digital Marketing, Direct Mail, Integrated Direct Marketing, Marketing Insights  |  Tags: , ,   |  No Comments

Not Using Facebook Yet for Your Business? That’s OK. (Really!)

August 17th, 2011 by

As Greg Sterling said in his Search Engine Land article, “There’s been a boatload of survey data released in the past six months documenting the adoption of social media by small businesses (SMBs).” (See the rest of Sterling’s article, Report: 58% of SMBs on Social Media Sites, Most Have Only Limited Engagement.)

Unfortunately, this data doesn’t give a clear picture of how and how many SMBs are using social media — and in particular, Facebook.

Hiscox, a company that provides insurance to small businesses, surveyed small businesses and found that nearly 50% weren’t using social media at all and that of those who do use some form of social media, only 19% use Facebook.

Data from Palore’s research, however, paints a different picture: 54.2% of SMBs have a Facebook page, with 22.3% of SMBs having both a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

Jason Falls, social media expert and author of the forthcoming book, No Bullshit Social Media, on the other hand, states that only 27% of small businesses are using Facebook.

Although Facebook usage data may be unclear, these social media experts quoted agree on one thing: SMBs need to use social media to market their products and services.

But is this really the case? Maybe, maybe not. From Heinrich’s perspective and in working with small and mid-sized businesses, there is no universal answer; it really depends on your audience, budget, and business objectives.

Why you may not need a Facebook page

When our clients ask whether they should be on Facebook, we say, “It depends.” This is because social media is just one marketing channel, and Facebook is just one platform within that channel. Facebook should make sense within the context of the overall mix.

Although the Facebook “Like” button is ubiquitous, it doesn’t necessarily follow that a Facebook page is right for your business. When deciding whether to begin a Facebook campaign, it pays to look at a number of factors:

1. Your audience — The question to ask yourself is, “Will my customers engage with me on Facebook?” For many big-name consumer brands, a Facebook presence can be a must.

This isn’t always the case for local businesses, something Francine Hardaway points out in her article, “Most Small Business Facebook Page Fans Not Local” for the Business Insider blog.

According to the research data she cites, only 15% of “Likes” on the average small business page are local — the rest come from “fans” outside of the area. “From that,” states Hardaway, “you can extrapolate that the Facebook pages of most small businesses do them little or no good for targeted marketing efforts.”

Just because you can create a Facebook page doesn’t mean you have to or should, especially if your local customers would rather engage with you during the course of face-to-face transactions in your store.

2. Your budget — Common advice states that social media is “free” and therefore a cost-effective tactic for SMBs. Yes, opening a Facebook page or Twitter account is free. But maintaining these accounts requires a huge investment of time and resources to create fresh content on a regular basis, respond to people’s comments, and provide damage control to manage negative commentary about your business.

If you don’t have internal resources, you may have to hire an outside agency or consultant to maintain your presence for you.

3. Your business objectives — If your objective is to generate leads — for example, you’re a fencing company that needs to keep its installers busy — Facebook may help you build brand awareness but it won’t necessarily provide you with the leads that you need. In this case, your business objectives and marketing tactics don’t match, and while you may see some business lift from the additional awareness, it’s certainly a much more passive sales path to take.

Instead of using social media, you’ll want to consider an integrated lead generation campaign that rewards people for word-of-mouth and online referrals (reviews on your Google Places page), takes advantage of targeted direct mail, and includes pay-per-click and SEO.

Has your business developed a Facebook presence? Why or why not? Leave your comments below.

 

Category:  Digital Marketing, Marketing Insights, Social Media Marketing  |  Tags: , , , ,   |  1 Comment

Heinrich Must-Reads for 2011: Your Guide to Success

July 12th, 2011 by

Article re-post from January 18, 2011.

What’s on your agenda for the new year? Popular goals we’ve heard include:

  • Tackling a major new product launch
  • Fostering more innovation from marketing staff or an agency partner
  • Turning up the dial on productivity for your marketing efforts in light of the economic recovery
  • Looking for a new career challenge that really drives your passion

The Heinrich Report’s “What We’re Reading” series is a great resource that can help focus your priorities and clarify your 2011 goals. Here’s a list of our top choices, ones that we think can help you dive into the New Year with confidence.

Books

1) Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters

by Michael Bungay Stanier

Why we like it: A quick read with helpful insights on how to jumpstart your passion for the work you already do — or hope to do.

2) Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why It Matters

by Bill Tancer

Why we like it: It’s a great big Internet out there, and it’s always in flux. This book helps you understand how people keep up, and how they harness the Web as a resource.

3) UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging.

by Scott Stratten

Why we like it: Engagement has been a big theme for us the past year, and Stratten keeps us motivated.

4) Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality

by Scott Belsky

Why we like it: It’s one thing to have a great idea. It’s quite another to make it a reality. And that’s something almost everyone can relate to.

5) Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

by Chip and Dan Heath

Why we like it: See #4!

Blogs

Harvard Business Review: http://blogs.hbr.org/

Insightful writing on current marketing happenings and trends.

Junta42: Joe Pulizzi’s Blog: http://blog.junta42.com/

Always a Heinrich favorite, Joe drives his points about content home over and over again, but makes it sounds fresh and exciting every time.

Convince and Convert: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/

For crystal-clear analysis about the impact of social media on businesses (and help making it work for yours), bookmark this website.

Personal Branding Blog: http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/

Because people are brands, too.

Forrester Blogs: http://blogs.forrester.com/

Data and smart analysis from research leaders.

The Financial Brand: http://thefinancialbrand.com/

Financial institutions face unique challenges when it comes to social media, content and brand identity, and this site gets it.

Mashable: http://mashable.com/

Find the most up-to-date digital and social news here.

Apps

Evernote: Tagline, “Remember Everything.” Enough said.

Chronicle: Everything you need to start a journal on your iPad.

Webster’s Dictionary: No more excuses. Correct spelling is in the palm of your hand.

Dragon Dictation: A real time-saver. It lets you “talk” a text message, and more.

Pandora: Background music for your life.

 

Category:  Book Reviews, Content Marketing, Customer Acquisition / Retention, Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Trends, Social Media Marketing  |  Tags: ,   |  No Comments

Online Daily Deals: Don’t Lose Your Shirt – Do Your Homework First!

June 28th, 2011 by

Some of our consumer clients ask whether they should make daily coupon deals, through companies such as Groupon, Google Offers and LivingSocial, as part of their marketing mix.

In these deals, your business offers a discount on food, services or products. If you’re a spa, for example, you can offer an all-day beauty package at a reduced price. A restaurant can offer dinner for two at a special rate and a bagel place can offer a free bagel with the purchase of a cup of coffee. A karate club can offer “trial” lessons.

You then contract your special offer with one of the daily deal companies. The company promotes your offer to their subscriber base. (Groupon, for example, has over 35 million registered users.) These deals also get passed around on social networks, such as Facebook.

Consumers can then purchase your deal. You get new customers in the door and everyone is happy. Right?

Not exactly.

Many businesses learn the hard way that daily coupon deals are expensive, both in terms of upfront and long-term costs. Smaller businesses can get slammed with the sheer number of people who come through the door. And, there’s no guarantee that these new customers will become repeat customers.

If you’re considering a daily deal for your business, it pays to do your homework first. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of best practices to help you get the most from daily deals and maximize repeat business – without losing your shirt.

1. Do the math first.

Let’s say you offer a spa package normally priced at $150 for $75 (50% off). Groupon and other daily deal companies generally require 50% of the revenue generated, so for every $75 spa package, you have to pay the brokering company $35. This means that for every daily deal spa package you sell, you gross $35.

In addition, you have to consider your “hidden” costs. Whether you charge $35 or $150, you still have to pay employees, taxes, utilities, supply costs, etc. If you sell more daily deal packages than you anticipated, you may have to pay employees overtime, order more stock, and incur other costs.

The bottom line? A daily deal may cost you much more money than you anticipate, so run your numbers first to ensure you can handle and afford the onslaught of new business.

2. Read the fine print – twice!

You can find many articles online that discuss how daily deals benefit the brokering company more than the merchant. One issue is the revenue model – you don’t receive your revenue right away. Another issue, as cited above, is that you pay a huge percentage to the deal company. As a result, you’re effectively offering your product or service as a loss leader.

If you decide to do a daily deal, read the contract carefully and ask questions, such as:

  • Will you get the names and email addresses of the people who purchased your package? How will this information be delivered to you?
  • When do you receive revenue payouts?
  • How long do you have to honor a daily deal?
  • Can you limit the number of daily deals sold?

3. Determine how you’ll manage the influx of new business.

We all love getting new business. However, too much new business too quickly can leave you scrambling. Before you sign up for a daily deal, work out how you’ll manage the new business, including extra hours for employees or more inventory.

Don’t forget “extras”: Will your spa need more towels, candles and laundry detergent (to wash all those extra towels!)? Will your karate club need extra uniforms for trial lessons?

4. Limit the number of deals honored and the redemption period.

Some businesses fail to ask if they can cap the number of deals sold. You can state in your contract if you want your offer stopped once you’ve sold a specific number of packages. Your contract and the deal copy should state how long you’ll honor redemptions – e.g., “This offer valid until [date].”

5. Determine how you’ll track daily deal buyers and their repeat business.

As stated in Tip #1 above, ask the daily deal company if you get customers’ names, email addresses and phone numbers. If you don’t (and you may not), you’ll need to devise a plan for collecting this information when daily deal customers walk in the door.

After all, what’s the point of going to all this effort if you can’t turn new business into repeat business? Some things to consider include:

  • Contact information – How will you collect contact information and where will you store it?
  • Coupon redemption – Which methods will you need to ensure people redeem coupons only once?
  • Ongoing communication – Do you have an e-newsletter or Facebook page where people can receive ongoing messages from you?
  • Repeat business – How will you track new business to see if it becomes long-term repeat business?

Daily deal sites can be a boon to consumer-based businesses. However, to make them work for you – and to turn new business into repeat business – it pays to do some homework and planning up front.

 

Category:  Customer Acquisition / Retention, Digital Marketing, Marketing Trends  |  Tags: ,   |  No Comments

Use QR Codes to Boost Business Response

April 12th, 2011 by

You’ve heard the buzz — QR codes are the hot new thing marketers are talking about. Heinrich clients have certainly noticed them and want to know, “How can we use them in our business?”

Short for “Quick Response,” QR codes are also known as “2D datamatrix” codes. In fact, QR codes are simply barcodes that have been supersized. A standard barcode is limited in the amount of information it can hold: Typically a barcode holds up to 40 characters in ASCII or “text” format.

Datamatrix codes, on the other hand, can hold up to 2600 characters in non-ASCII format, which means that you can include a URL (and lots of other info!) in your QR code.

Quick QR code how-tos

To scan a QR code, you need a smartphone and a scanner app. I use quiQR, an iPhone app (cost: $1.99). Whichever app you choose, I recommend that you read the reviews as the quality level and ease of use varies greatly among apps.

Once you’ve downloaded your app, simply scan the QR code to be taken to a web page. Because Heinrich clients want to know how QR codes work, I developed a quick video showing how to scan a QR code using one I had printed on the back of my business card.

To make your own QR codes, you can use quiQR, bit.ly, which generates a QR code whenever you shorten a link, or Kaywa, an application developed by Datamatrix, the pioneers in datamatrix codes.

Integrating online and offline marketing

So how do you use QR codes in your marketing? I recommend using them to connect online with offline marketing tactics.

Remember, people don’t readily recall a URL and they aren’t always near a computer — but many of us don’t go anywhere (at least intentionally) without our smartphones and carry them everywhere with us. QR codes allow you to engage with people where they are — whether they’re standing in the grocery aisle or walking past your storefront — as they’re very mobile friendly.

While adding a QR code to a business card is pretty cool, you’re limited only by your imagination in how you can use these fascinating codes. Here are a few of the ways we’re seeing businesses use QR codes to integrate offline with online:

Direct mail lead generation: Many banks and financial institutions still communicate with their prospect and customer audiences using direct mail. Using QR codes can add an element of digital interactivity to their direct mail campaigns, connecting customers and prospects to the online channel — and moving them further along the sales cycle.

Store signage: For businesses with “brick and mortar” locations, adding a QR code to a store window sign allows passersby and store customers to access a coupon via their mobile device, encouraging people to stop in and browse or make a purchase.

One-to-one marketing: In a March 30, 2011, interview with B2B Magazine, Martha Willis, CMO of Oppenheimer Funds, discusses how her firm is using QR codes to great advantage. When you scan a QR code found in an Oppenheimer print ad, it pulls up a video of a fund manager talking about investment opportunities. Says Willis, “From my perspective an advisor looking for an asset manager wants somebody on the forefront of knowledge. If they’re using dated instruments or tools, they don’t look like they’re on the forefront of knowledge.” Amen!

From “Cool!” to “How did we live without them?”

Although QR codes are benefiting from the coolness factor at the moment, their potential for powering truly integrated marketing is huge — and something you as a direct marketer don’t want to dismiss. My colleague Neal Sceva, an Integrated Solutions Specialist at CPC Solutions, recently commented,

“I sat back not knowing what to do a decade ago while the Internet and email marketing virtually decimated direct mail and now I believe there’s a huge opportunity for direct marketers to become thought leaders with new mobile-driven marketing efforts such as QR codes. I’m really excited!”

The key to realizing the potential for QR codes is to understand that they give people the ability to click on something flat and then get taken to a rich interactive experience — anything from a website to a video.

We’ll definitely be keeping our eyes on this exciting technology and bringing you updates as they occur.

What do you think? Have you used QR codes in any of your campaigns? Are you thinking about it? Do you have other questions that I or someone else at Heinrich can answer for you? Post your comments below.

 

Category:  Digital Marketing, Direct Mail, Integrated Direct Marketing, Social Media Marketing  |  Tags: , , , ,   |  3 Comments

Three Direct Marketing Rules to Apply to your Digital Strategy

February 23rd, 2011 by

The online space has opened up an entirely new way to market to your prospects and customers. Your website, Facebook page, email campaigns and social media strategy provide vast opportunities to build relationships, engage in conversations and encourage sales.

There’s plenty of advice out there from digital experts, content marketers, social media mavericks and email service providers. But it’s been our experience that you don’t necessarily need new ideas for the newer mediums. Instead, you can turn to established direct marketing best practices to get results. Here are three direct marketing rules that can help boost the ROI of your digital marketing efforts.

Rule #1: Make your offer crystal clear.

Best practices for online marketing include customizing your communication to suit the customers’ extremely short online attention span. Emails get scanned, the web gets “surfed”… all the more reason you need to put your offer out there as clearly as possible.

Marketing Sherpa just released its “Best Of” email campaigns from 2010, and it’s a great sampling of what works. In the “best email list growth campaign” category, Honorable Mention went to the email below (the winners were not “offer” emails, so we haven’t included them here). It was the offer that made it a Sherpa favorite. The judges cited “the incentive to re-engage, and the clear call to action” as show-stoppers.

Take a look at how simple it is: just a matter of highlighting the offer through color shading and a design box. Even if you glance at the email, you can’t miss the offer.

View all of the marketing Sherpa Winners here.

Rule #2: Provide a clear call-to-action, and offer it in many channels.

The online call to action is both science and art; companies test, and test again to figure out what works best. Is it a button or a link? At the top of the page or in the middle? And what does the button say?

To get a good sense of the nuances in play, visit the website of award-winning marketer and founder of Marketing Sherpa, Anne Holland. Called Which Test Won, the site lifts the curtain off A/B email testing, and reveals not only the creative output, but the results as well. But first, she makes you take a guess!

Visit Which Test Won right now to see what works. Will your gut instinct guide you to the winners?

One more note about your online call to action. Be sure you also offer your customers other ways — offline ways — to respond. Just because they’re online doesn’t mean that’s the way they want to contact you. Always provide a phone number, too.

Rule #3: Be clear about who you are and what you do.

Whether your website is ecommerce or just brand informative, it’s a crucial point of contact between you and your customers. What kind of message does it send? The words and visuals on your site should quickly explain what you offer, and what sets you apart from others in the industry. Don’t let the visuals overpower the message and benefits.
Each year, the Web Marketing Association selects the best websites in 96 categories. Take a look and see what you think makes them great.

Visit WebAward.org

As you revisit your online marketing efforts, perhaps you already see areas that need direct marketing’s best practice applications. When you’re ready to take action, we’re here to help.

Category:  Copywriting / Creative, Digital Marketing, Integrated Direct Marketing  |  Tags: , , ,   |  No Comments

Heinrich Hot Topic: Website Refresh or Facebook Fan Page?

January 18th, 2011 by

Today’s consumer lives online. They email, shop, research, share. That impacts your marketing strategy, and the way you allocate your budget. But it’s a big Internet out there. Where’s the smartest place to invest your time and your money?

For many debating brand presence online, it boils down to two major possibilities: a website refresh or a Facebook fan page. Two paths, with two seemingly different goals. Let’s see where they lead us.

The Web: Dead or alive?

Remember the 90’s, when every business was scrambling to get a viable, professional website in place? Well today, we’ve got Wired magazine’s controversial August cover story “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet.” The value of brand websites has been called into question, shadowed by the rise of apps and social media. They all give you different ways to communicate, get information and shop on the massive database that is the Internet. Wired rather bluntly sums it up by saying that there’s a whole bunch of us out there right now who’ve “spent the day on the Internet — but not on the Web.”

Obviously not everybody lives this way — yet. But the way Wired sees it, the Internet is becoming nothing more than a mode of transportation for all the other things people use in their lives, and websites aren’t favored destinations.

Wired gets you thinking. The reality is that we all have clients and customers who rely heavily on websites for online banking, shopping and more. So why bring it up? Because your customers today and in the future will be spending more and more time with social media and apps, and chances are they’ll be looking for your brand there, too.

However, that doesn’t mean they’ll ignore your “www.” A website is important for the simple reason that people assume you will have one, and it will be professional, useful and representative of your brand. We’ve talked before about how consumers research online before buying products or even supporting a brand. A website is sure to be a stop on that customer journey.

Kurt Frank, owner of Denver agency Digital Assets, agrees. “Your website is sure to be one of the first things to make an impression on a prospect or client. It’s the equivalent of the lobby of your office, and you have just about a few seconds to make an impression.” Make sure your website looks on-brand, and make sure it’s got a message that’s relevant to your customers.

Heinrich’s take:

Don’t let social media and apps influence where you invest your budget. Instead, take into account your business problems and customer base. If you’re a retailer selling products, your e-commerce website is your business. Ask yourself: Can I do more to make my website a great place to shop? What’s more, since people go there to buy, what are other ways I can capture them, and establish my brand as more than a place to shop? And when they’re ready, is my call-to-action easy to see?

Facebook fan page: Should you make it your primary customer interaction online?

Even if e-commerce is your business, it’s not quite an ROI marketplace anymore. “Social consumerism”, as Brian Solis calls it, means consumers have many roles, all at once. “Customer” is just one. They’re also influencers, decision makers, advisors, idea generators and advocates.

Just as there’s fluidity on the consumer side, Facebook wears many hats, as well. It supports a marketing cycle with value at every stage. Think of Facebook as your loyalty generator, word-of-mouth megaphone and relationship builder. Put simply, everything you want a great marketing campaign to achieve can be done here. Even better, your fans become marketers on your behalf, even if the act is as small as “liking” your page. That one-click action gets advertised to all of that person’s friends — and gets your name out there.

Brian Solis all but promises great rewards for your Facebook efforts. “For those brands who engage with purpose and resolve, will find their actions merit rewards. It’s one thing to earn fans, it’s ultimately the goal of every business to transform fans into customers and advocates.”

Heinrich’s take:

A Facebook page can be crucial to your strategy for 2011, but only if you’re going to invest the time and thought it takes to promote the page and keep it engaging and relevant to your customers. When the goal is transforming people into customers and advocates, you have to be there every step of the way.

And the winner is: Customers.

Customers have more ways to connect with brands than ever before, and by all accounts, they’re using them. Maybe some online venues enjoy more activity than others, but in this new marketing landscape, there’s a bigger picture behind the numbers.

For example, in 2009-10, the increase in traffic at company Facebook pages coincided with a decrease in “.com” traffic. (E-commerce websites excluded.) AdAge cites Kraft Foods as one of the most notable examples. In August of this year, its Oreo page was the No. 3 brand page on Facebook with 8.7 million fans, and growth of 71,000 a day. At the same time, “the multi-brand site where its web presence has been hosted, NabiscoWorld.com, has seen U.S. traffic decline from 1.2 million in July 2009 to 321,000 last month [August].”

Falling numbers would, in another time, cause panic. But today’s consumer/brand relationship is more complex than that. When global agency DDB conducted a survey to better understand the relationship between consumers and Facebook. They found encouraging results:

  • “Facebook users who like a brand’s page on the social networking site use its products regularly or occasionally.”
  • “After following the brand on Facebook, more than a third of the respondents want to buy this brand’s product more.”
  • “Brand page fans on Facebook also feel comfortable recommending the brand to friends, with 49 percent of the respondents saying they would ‘certainly’ do so and 43 percent saying they ‘probably’ would.”

Facebook sells. It changes the look and feel of your brand, from just a place visit (a website), to a place to hang out and talk. And that transforms them from visitors into customers. So if you don’t have a Facebook page, get one — but consider it as one more asset that supports your brand. “Facebook” says Kurt Frank, “helps create buzz about your brand and your product. But you don’t sell your product on Facebook. You offer content. Save the sales and marketing for your website.” Both are important, and they can help each other.

Whether you choose to update your website or your Facebook page or both, you must integrate it with your overall brand message and strategy. We can help you determine the right mix. Let’s talk.

Category:  Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing  |  Tags:   |  No Comments

Heinrich Must-Reads for 2011: Your Guide to Success

January 18th, 2011 by

What’s on your agenda for the new year? Popular goals we’ve heard include:

  • Tackling a major new product launch
  • Fostering more innovation from marketing staff or an agency partner
  • Turning up the dial on productivity for your marketing efforts in light of the economic recovery
  • Looking for a new career challenge that really drives your passion

The Heinrich Report’s “What We’re Reading” series is a great resource that can help focus your priorities and clarify your 2011 goals. Here’s a list of our top choices, ones that we think can help you dive into the New Year with confidence.

Books

1) Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters

by Michael Bungay Stanier

Why we like it: A quick read with helpful insights on how to jumpstart your passion for the work you already do — or hope to do.

2) Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why It Matters

by Bill Tancer

Why we like it: It’s a great big Internet out there, and it’s always in flux. This book helps you understand how people keep up, and how they harness the Web as a resource.

3) UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging.

by Scott Stratten

Why we like it: Engagement has been a big theme for us the past year, and Stratten keeps us motivated.

4) Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality

by Scott Belsky

Why we like it: It’s one thing to have a great idea. It’s quite another to make it a reality. And that’s something almost everyone can relate to.

5) Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

by Chip and Dan Heath

Why we like it: See #4!

Blogs

Harvard Business Review: http://blogs.hbr.org/

Insightful writing on current marketing happenings and trends.

Junta42: Joe Pulizzi’s Blog: http://blog.junta42.com/

Always a Heinrich favorite, Joe drives his points about content home over and over again, but makes it sounds fresh and exciting every time.

Convince and Convert: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/

For crystal-clear analysis about the impact of social media on businesses (and help making it work for yours), bookmark this website.

Personal Branding Blog: http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/

Because people are brands, too.

Forrester Blogs: http://blogs.forrester.com/

Data and smart analysis from research leaders.

The Financial Brand: http://thefinancialbrand.com/

Financial institutions face unique challenges when it comes to social media, content and brand identity, and this site gets it.

Mashable: http://mashable.com/

Find the most up-to-date digital and social news here.

Apps

Evernote: Tagline, “Remember Everything.” Enough said.

Chronicle: Everything you need to start a journal on your iPad.

Webster’s Dictionary: No more excuses. Correct spelling is in the palm of your hand.

Dragon Dictation: A real time-saver. It lets you “talk” a text message, and more.

Pandora: Background music for your life.

Category:  Book Reviews, Content Marketing, Customer Acquisition / Retention, Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Trends, Social Media Marketing  |  Tags: ,   |  No Comments

Smart Ways to Use Video Marketing As a Growth Strategy

November 16th, 2010 by

Video marketing is on marketers’ minds, fueled by the popularity (and phenomenal sales success) of the Old Spice campaign back in July. And it’s not just a trend. Recent comScore stats note that 177 million U.S. Internet users watched video content in June. Inevitably, that means more marketing messages get absorbed from a computer (and, increasingly, mobile) screen than a print piece. David Hallerman, of eMarketer, is more blunt:

“At this point, the audience is expecting to see video, whether it’s ads with a video for packaged goods where they’re trying to make it more interesting, or video that explains more about a product. Video has become a common denominator that people expect to see.” Read the article.

Every business could benefit from a video marketing plan. It’s a channel with plenty of opportunity, one still in need of video marketing leaders for key categories. To succeed, you can follow the same principles that Heinrich advises for any marketing campaign:

  • Align your video marketing with your business goals.
  • Create a strategy to market your videos.

Rule 1: Align your video marketing with your business goals.

The viral success of the Old Spice campaign seemingly set the video marketing bar high, both in terms of consumer engagement and sales. In it, the commercial figure, “Old Spice Guy,” directly responded to tweets and Facebook posts via videos on YouTube. During the campaign window, Old Spice sales went through the roof, rising a whopping 107%.

More importantly to Old Spice, video marketing helped them achieve their rebranding goals. Old Spice gained mainstream attention and became attractive to a new, younger audience. Put simply: They wanted to make it cool.

Your video marketing can learn from Old Spice, and it doesn’t need the same budget, or to go viral. It does need to satisfy your business goals through relevant, meaningful content. As Jeremy Scott at Reel SEO, The Video Marketer’s Guide, puts it, “Before you pick a type of video to create, you need to know what your goals are…Like any piece of online content, the chances for success increase exponentially when the video is created to fulfill a specific purpose.”

Video can break down barriers for you when it comes to content possibilities that engage consumers. Here are just a few ideas that could work for your business.

Educational/informative videos

Categories like financial services can benefit greatly from creating informative, educational video content for consumers and promoting it up front on their website. This is especially true in challenging economic times like these, when consumers struggle to navigate rocky financial terrain. Topics like budgeting, retirement planning and even checking account advice get clicks, and video adds a human touch that makes the subject matter even more accessible. Over at MSN Money, you’ll find online videos that offer money-saving tips, “real people” interviews and business updates, all right from the home page. It’s all on-topic, and in support of other non-video content on the page — contributing to a richer, more engaging website experience overall.

Product demo videos

Showcasing a product and demoing it online can boost your sales. Just look at eBags.com. On their YouTube channel and through 200 videos across their ecommerce website, eBags employees show products in-hand. They open zippers, reveal the insides of purses and backpacks, and zoom in for close-ups to highlight quality. According to the ecommerce blog Get Elastic, the results have been staggering. To quote:

  • 138% higher conversion rates on product detail pages when a customer clicks on the video
  • Significant increase in time on-site (measure of engagement)
  • Reduced customer complaints. When eBags received a complaint on a product the customer was confused about how to assemble, the designer created video the next day. Now eBags emails that video to each one that receives that product.


The kind of video content you decide to promote will of course depend on your business. With all the recent hype, you might feel a sense of urgency to get started. Instead, it pays to take time to define your business goal so you can create a video campaign that helps you achieve it.

Rule 2: Create a strategy to market your videos.

One of the most common assumptions about video is that you can just put it online and people will find it. But, in truth, the rules of marketing still apply. You have to promote your video to your existing customer base using all of your offline and online channels, where you already have an interested audience. Here are just a few ideas.

Enrich your website or blog with video content.

We’ve written before about building a customer base through content marketing. Articles only have to be one part of that content. An educational video can add value to the blog, lift engagement — and even drive more consumers to your content via organic search. TechCrunch cites findings from Forrester Research that determined “videos were 53 times more likely than traditional web pages to receive an organic first-page ranking.” The result can be a longer-lasting marketing campaign, one that endures thanks to strong search placement.

The Dove brand found rebranding success in this way. For a few years now, they’ve promoted videos through a rich blog channel on their website and an easy-to-find features section that includes video — and it almost always supports one of their ongoing campaigns. For example, viral video success (11,938,653 page views) has kept their Campaign for Real Beauty front and center — and helped broaden their brand message. Their latest campaign, “Dove Hair Care Brush with Greatness Sing4All” puts video at center stage; in it, they invite customers to submit a video performance of “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music.

Dove uses video not only as a way to inform customers, but as a way to engage and interact with them, too. The end result is a marketing effort that builds a strong emotional connection between customer and company.

Support social media efforts with video.

In 2009, Nielsen reported that time spent viewing video on social networking sites increased 98% year-over-year, “from 503.8 million minutes in October 2008 to 999.4 million minutes in October 2009,” with Facebook as the leading destination.

Just as social media offers your business the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with your customers, video on your social media platforms gives you the opportunity to personalize your brand, deepening customer engagement and presenting your company as one that’s accessible and helpful to its customers.

On Facebook, COUNTRY Financial and MasterCard use video to engage their fans — and, interestingly, the content isn’t limited to financial advice. MasterCard offers entertainment, such as a Loretta Lynn tribute to highlight its sponsorship of the Grammy Awards, along with informative videos about non-financial topics like eco-friendly living. And at COUNTRY, you’ll find videos on fire safety tips, a report on auto safety standards and fans singing fight songs at a Colorado State University football game.

Video supports these brands in their social media efforts to improve customer relationships — and to do some image marketing. As they attempt to position themselves as lifestyle brands, not just as financial ones, video adds personal touch that supports their goal.

Is video marketing as a growth strategy right for your business?

With smart planning, video marketing can fit into your budget. Get a breakdown of potential costs right here. What’s more, the benefits can go well beyond increased customers, page views and sales. At the TED conference back in July, TED curator Chris Anderson offered inspiring words about the value of video, and suggested it can drive innovation in businesses and their customers. He summarized himself in an article on CNN:

“Hidden among all the cute kittens and pirated TV shows, online video is driving astonishing innovation in thousands of different fields ranging from the ultra-niche to the sharing of truly world-changing ideas.” Read the article.

You don’t have to start your video marketing campaign to change the world. Let’s get started with ideas that can help you reach new customers. Just email us at Heinrich Marketing.

Stay inspired! Watch the complete video of Chris Anderson’s TED speech.

Category:  Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing  |  Tags:   |  No Comments

Three Ways a QR Code or Barcode Boosts Direct Mail Response Rate

September 29th, 2010 by

QR Code Boosts Response

When we think about creative work, we think about big ideas, visual concepts, and even catchy taglines. But technology has hatched new creative tools that can help you add a “wow” factor to your creative campaigns, and boost response along the way.

Rob McPhee, creative director here at Heinrich Marketing says these new tools offer more choices for consumers: “They’re giving people a chance to respond in their own individual way, while staying in a controlled environment…there’s just more than one path to the call to action.”

According to Rob, the tools to keep your eye on are any that involve smartphone applications — but especially barcodes or QR codes. A code can work in two ways:

  • As an engagement tool. The recipient can scan a mobile device over the code to receive information.
  • As an attention-getting visual element more likely to get a second look in a stack of mail.

And the benefits just get better from here.

Satisfy consumer needs fast

Barcodes and QR codes can help you bridge the gap between direct mail and digital technology, and unite the best benefits of both. That’s key when you’re up against today’s consumer, characterized by a “need-it-now” attitude and a desire to research online before making purchase decisions. A direct mail recipient can simply swipe their smartphone against a code to receive information on their personal device. It’s fast, easy and a great way for you to satisfy their desire to know more while still controlling the content.

Simplify the response process

Think of a barcode/QR code as an engagement tool that pushes consumers along the sales cycle more quickly. Your response channel is built right into the direct mail piece, so the recipient doesn’t have to type in a web address or call a number. They don’t even have to go to a computer. All they need to do is scan their phone to respond. The call to action becomes an almost effortless step for the consumer, and an invaluable lead generator for you.

Deliver personalized information to a personal device

A barcode/QR code can make you a better communicator. It enhances your ability to deliver more personalized content immediately, and continue the conversation your direct mail began with your consumer. There’s no unique (and possibly complicated) URL for your recipient to type in. With just a quick smartphone scan, they can go directly to a customized landing page that speaks to them.

Summary: When it’s easy to respond, more consumers will do it

A simpler response process makes a world of difference to today’s busy and more discriminating consumer. A barcode/QR code speeds up the delivery of customized information. It can help you foster a relationship built on trust and reliability — and turn a “response” into a sale, fast.

Heinrich can help you create a code strategy. Email us today.


 

Category:  Customer Acquisition / Retention, Digital Marketing, Integrated Direct Marketing, Marketing Trends, Mobile Marketing, Social Media Marketing  |  Tags: ,   |  No Comments

Case Study: Cherry Creek Arts Festival Website

June 9th, 2010 by

 Cherry Creek Arts Festival Website: An Outdoor Galleria Goes Digital

Who the Client Is: The Cherry Creek Arts Festival (CCAF) is an annual, three-day Denver event and a world-class attendence and award-winning celebration of the visual, culinary and performing arts. With 350,000 visitors over three days, this signature event will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2010.   

Challenges to Overcome:  1) Embody both the spirit of a three-day event and create a hub for year-round festivals, education and outreach; 2) Facilitate logistics such as volunteer registration, artist entry and sponsor sign-up with convenience; 3) Leverage new media; 4) Offer a rare artistic experience; 5) Provide flexibility and scalability as CCAF grows from year to year. 

How Heinrich Approached the Project: We wanted to fuse the static and dynamic. To do that, we knew we needed a vibrant community component; a strong backend to accommodate registration, a shopping cart and volunteer signup; and a scalable and accessible content management system. Then, each of those components needed to spill into an online experience that was peppered with design, imagination and multidimensional elements.

What Heinrich Delivered: The virtual space of a traditional museum, complete with the wood floors, white walls and individual frames of an international gallery, filled with a modern, online experience of browsing, shopping, learning, connecting, registering, posting and playing.
“Hopefully, it will become one of the biggest virtual museums in the world,” says Rob McPhee, creative director at Heinrich. “There are 255 artist pages alone.”

Rather than adding connectors like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as the usual afterthought down the page,  iMac-inspired visuals form a central, comprehensive menu of social media. Real-time digital technology allows event visitors to upload photos directly to the website.

Why the Functionality Is Such a Good Fit: Any task, whether it’s purchasing art, volunteering for parking duty or signing up to be a multilevel sponsor, can be accomplished completely online.  In addition, the website can literally be redecorated on the fly. “With a superstructure and library on the backend, its flexibility is more than just updating images or changing text,” says McPhee. “We can swap out the walls, the floor and the ceiling of this website — even add people or artists.”

<<Back to The Heinrich Report

Category:  Case Studies, Digital Marketing, Direct Mail, Heinrich News, Marketing Strategy  |  No Comments

Anatomy of an Integrated Multichannel Marketing Campaign

November 9th, 2009 by

Anatomy of an Integrated Multichannel Campaign
 
         

You’ve got them surrounded. Mailbox, inbox, Facebook wall, Twitter stream, mobile device, search results, TV, radio, print ads …You can target customers from every direction at once. Yet as marketing channels have multiplied, one truth hasn’t changed: More isn’t necessarily better.

“Integrating, not just duplicating, your message across channels is one of the most important ways to optimize your marketing quickly,” says Heinrich President and Owner George Eddy. “You can reach a bigger or broader audience and convey your message via multiple touchpoints. The key is in knowing which channels work best in what combination for your campaign, so you don’t confuse customers — or your ability to measure response.”

Start with this guide to the anatomy of a smart integrated marketing campaign.

In this article:

Part 1: The Brains: Leverage the strengths of each channel.

Part 2. The Heart: Keep branding consistent across channels.

Part 3. The Core: Use interactive direct marketing to help you track response.

Category:  Digital Marketing, Integrated Direct Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Metrics & ROI  |  No Comments
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