A client sent me two articles to react to about online advertising.  The title that I chose for this posting states my position:  I'm not sure why people think that advertising alone should support a website.

The first article is from The Economist and is entitled The demise of a popular but unsustainable business model for the Internet now seems inevitable.  This is one of the best articles I've read that explains the reality of Internet business models, whether realistic or not.  Read the entire article at www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13326158.

Great explanation of the dotcom crash…
Firms sprang up to offer content and services online, in the hope that they would eventually be able to “monetise” the resulting millions of “eyeballs” by selling advertising. Things did not work out that way, though, and the result was the dotcom crash.

…and of the Web 2.0 bubble…
Google’s ability to place small, targeted text advertisements next to Internet-search results, and on other websites, meant that many of the business models thought to have been killed by the dotcom bust now rose from the grave.

….and economical realities.
The idea that you can give things away online, and hope that advertising revenue will somehow materialize later on, undoubtedly appeals to users, who enjoy free services as a result.  Ultimately, though, every business needs revenues—and advertising is not going to provide enough.

The second article is a provocative one entitled Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet and states that advertising cannot fully support the Internet.  Read it at www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/22/why-advertising-is-failing-on-the-internet/.

Websites need to sell real products, services, information or 'access' to information like TripAdvisor.com.  Or, offer an 'experience' like LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, or World of Warcraft.

It's true that most people don't trust ads, online or offline.  They don't 'want' them or 'need' them.  The Internet allows users to get information from a variety of sources and from sources they trust.

But, no company expecting to maintain market share in today's economic environment is going to say "Stop telling potential customers about us." 

Organic search, paid search and display banners can increase awareness and conversions even in today's climate.  Display banner advertising works because it reaches users where they are on the Internet.  You don't advertise just with your name on the building.  You advertise in high traffic areas, too.

How does Definition 6 ensure that online advertising succeeds for our clients?   First, we're big into collaborative strategy.  How can you differentiate yourself?  How can we build synergy with your other initiatives?  Who should you target with banners?  What should the messaging be?

Bottom line:  Appropriate targeting and messaging still works online.  We go beyond traditional banners; we use rich media to make the experience engaging and interactive.

I was recently reading an article on Marketing Sherpa which was discussing their latest email marketing summit.  The article had a number of great insights on steps companies can take to improve their email programs.

The article served as reminder of how easy it is to become engulfed in the day to day or routine of your email program and how important it is to take a step back and examine the program as a whole.  Taking the time, even if it is quarterly or annually, to ensure that the email communications you are sending are both relevant and timely to your customer is imperative. 
Let’s take a look at a company within the retail industry; company A.  For years they have sent weekly emails to their customer list.  The weekly email is always composed of three offers.  Open rates are varied within a certain range, but are not showing any improvement as the program matures.  One cause of this lack of progress may be that the company has never taken a step back to evaluate who they are communicating to, why their consumer wants to hear from the company and how often this consumer would like to hear from them.   By answering these 3 fairly simple questions the company can begin to make program improvements.
1. Who are you communicating to?

This question is key to any successful email program.  It allows you to begin the process of segmentation at a base level.  Many times this data is a part of the enrollment process or may come from your CRM; some examples: is the customer a man or a woman, what is their age range, what are their interests (related to your products), do they purchase for themselves or for others, are purchases based on events (birthdays, anniversaries, etc), there are multitudes of questions you can ask which will help you to learn more about your customer. 

2. Why does the consumer want to hear from you?

Different customers are looking for different experiences with your brand.  Some may only want promotional communications – they only want to transact with your brand.  Other customers may be less interested in promotions and more interested in related lifestyle information.   Creating these differing communications and allowing recipients to choose which message they receive empowers the user and should improve both the short and long term stats of your program.

 

3. How often does the consumer want to hear from you?

How many lists is your customer signed up for?  How many emails are they receiving daily?  One way to ensure that you are not the list they unsubscribe from due to irrelevant and untimely communications is to give them the option.  Ask the consumer how often they would like to receive communications from you. This puts them in control.  When they receive a message from you, whether it is weekly, daily or monthly they have asked for that email and expect it.

By tackling the three issues above you can make great strides in your email program.  The main takeaways here are to know as much as you can about your customer – tailor your communications based on this information and to put the in control – allow them to “opt-in” not only to being on your list, but also to the frequency and types of communications they will receive.

 

Business Development Exec, Rhonda Vincent, shares with us the 7 top online marketing trends for 2009…

For online marketers 2009 will be a challenging year, they’ll need to build the basis for future expansion, leveraging social media, emerging technologies and vendor partners who are thinking about their business and find ways to maximize their budgets.  Here are 7 online marketing trends for 2009 that I came across on a ClickZ report:

• Increase customer retention efforts by marketing to your existing customer base – it’s cheaper and more effective because you know who they are and you understand their behavior.
• Create more attractive content – it will engage your customers and will help with your search engine optimization marketing
• Develop targeted marketing campaigns across a variety of mediums…e-mail, text messages, instant messages.
• Leverage online communities such as LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter…
• Increase your Web Analytics efforts
• Enhance search marketing advertising to expand across social media, mobile, and local search.
• Continue to integrate distribution channels despite higher cost

Interactive Ad Agencies like Definition 6 can leverage this insight to maximize your spends with the best ROI to get you through this year and still plan for 2010 initiatives.
 

PointRoll hands out nifty little notebooks with the first page filled with Best Practices for Display Banners.  Here's a summary:

1.  Keep the campaign objective and key metrics in mind when designing banners.   Use more than one panel for displaying a lot of info or you want user interaction and engagement.  If direct response is desired, one action-focused panel is most effective.

2.  Banner animation should not be too slow or too fast; the call to action should appear immediately.

3.  Give the user a compelling reason to rollover with a clear, prominent, and relative call to action.

4.  Rollover hot spots should be as large as possible and easy to see.  On most sites, the rollover max spec is 33% of the banner.

5.  All panels should be accessible from any other panel.  Use horizontal hot spots on horizontal ads and vertical hot spots on vertical skyscraper ads.

6.  Ideally, the entire panel should be clickable, and also use a well-defined click button.

7.  Include a "loading" message that appears as the video streams in.  Users with slower connections will know the video is coming.

8.  Use video player controls for optimum usability - pause, play, and volume.

9.  Video should auto play upon user rollover.  Requiring users to "click to play" reduces video plays.

10. After video completes, include compelling, relevant call to action.

More Best Practices for display banner ads are listed at http://www.pointroll.com/best-practices.aspx.

Definition 6 can help you craft your online advertising strategy, whether it is banner ads, organic or paid search, or email marketing.  We negotiate with vendors to maximize your media spend when developing Media Plans that meet your objectives.  We design and build ads and deploy them, working with partners, such as, the search engines and PointRoll.  We do it all!

Definition 6 Client Manager, Ira Gross, discovered an enlightening article in the Wall Street Journal around the impact of implementing overnight sends for email marketing newsletters.  The article mentions that companies who execute marketing programs in concert with their customers pay cycle are yielding better returns than performing promotions without paying attention to that cycle.  A few items worth mentioning from the article:

1. People buy bigger ticket items closer to payday
2. People spend less at the end of the month
3. Aligning promotions and offerings to pay cycles yeilds stronger sales

Given the current economic situation, firms need to understand their customers cash on hand and run appropriate promotions.  If you are running tartgeted email marketing campaigns, this article is definitely worth checking out.

In my role as CTO of a company that utilizes technology as part of everyday life not only in how we work but in what we build as solutions for our customers it is of constant interest and concern to me how people use technology and emerging technologies. But equally important is how people misuse technologies. As a heavy consumer of social media, social networking, communication and collaboration technologies I am intimately aware of the value these can provide. Time saving communication technologies that also let you expand your reach, do more with less, and be more effective are wonderful but only when used appropriately.

 

Particularly, as more and more of the masses of people who are not necessarily technically elite or savvy become daily consumers of this same technology we begin to see confusion about what technology is appropriate for what use, and a reciprocal amount of misuse or lack of understanding of appropriate etiquette in their use.

 

That’s all my really, really, really nice way of saying that a lot of non-tech people are using these amazingly powerful communication technologies and driving me and many others completely crazy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled they are using them and that adoption is becoming so widespread. But many of these users jumped the adoption curve of predecessor technologies or aren’t aware of surrounding technologies and are thus left with no notion of how to use them properly or make discerning variances in how they use them. The results are creating scenarios that threaten to kill the use of the same technologies that can be so valuable to us. The digital highways are becoming littered with the early adopter corpses of people once enamored with micro-blogging and social networking who found themselves unable or unwilling to withstand the barrage of misuse. They have either abandoned use, retreated to more secretive and closed usage, or moved on to lesser known emergent technologies. And that’s a shame.

 

I’m going to address two main things in my upcoming rant: using the right communication technology for the right purpose, and good etiquette when using these technologies. I’m absolutely certain many will disagree with my assertions on both of these areas. That’s fine. We all have our perspectives. If you disagree, go write your own blog. This is mine.

 

I’ve noticed widespread use of one technology for a purpose another was intended to serve. Different communication technology is intended for different purposes and we need to be aware of this. Misuse leads to discontinued use. I’m sure we’ll eventually see some consolidation in the marketplace among vendors and tools leveraging capabilities of one platform and another into a combined format. But the ideas I’m talking about still apply. You need to take into account a number of principles in your communications before selecting a means and technology for that information dissemination: is it short form or long form, one-way or 2-way with dialogue, intended for the masses or reasonably private, one-to-one or one-to-many, synchronous or asynchronous, personal or business, welcomed as a constant or desired as occasional? All of these factors dictate how you should communicate your information and what medium you should use to communicate it.

 

To put it simply: I don’t want you to be my friend on Facebook if I just met you at a networking event or in a business meeting, that’s what LinkedIn is for. You are not my friend if we just met and I don’t care to see constant updates that you just enjoyed a great latte. And even if you are my friend I don’t need to see an update of every 5 minutes worth of a conversation you are having or a presentation you are listening to. I’m not saying you shouldn’t share it. I’m saying Facebook isn’t the right forum for it. Nor is text messaging or e-mail. But Twitter probably is right for that purpose. I could subscribe to your tweets and read them all day long if I wish. If you create more clutter in people’s lives which are already overloaded with digital information then you will become worse than noise and static, you become a negative force.

 

I recently opened up my Facebook page to see the same persons face staring at me 10+ times in a row. It was a series of updates on what they were doing, all centered around the same subject. I wanted to scream, “It is possible to comment on your own thread!”. It could’ve been a nicely condensed thread that people could expand if they wished. In this instance I suspect it was someone who’d tied Twitter to Facebook and didn’t even realize what kind of end experience they were inflicting on their friends and followers. Don’t get me wrong, the material was of interest and I’m ecstatic to see people engaged in sharing information so instantly and constantly. This kind of communication is making things extremely interesting. But consumers of these technologies need to really get to understand them from both their perspective as well as others. And unfortunately you simply can’t expect the providers of the technology to make everything 100% immune to improper use.

 

I don’t want to see a personal argument or discussion between people on a social media site. Do it in email or even better… call each other and talk! If you want to espouse your personal political, religious and social beliefs in long form then use a blog and tell people on MySpace and Facebook and Twitter to go visit it, keep your Status posts short and to the point. If you want me to know every web site you think is cool just let me visit your del.icio.us account. You can still post killer links in your various social networking forums, but if you find yourself posting a half dozen links a day I might suggest you are cluttering up a lot of people’s reading material who don’t necessarily care.

 

Text people when it’s important. Use email when it’s interpersonal, inter-team or intercompany and long form. Twitter to the masses. Facebook with your friends. LinkIn with your business connections to find out how far you are from Kevin Bacon and reach out when you need a job or need to reach that key client that you are just 2 degrees away from! Yammer to your business colleagues from atop the highest mountaintop from which you still get a signal!

 

And there is still something called a phone you can use to talk and avoid countless back-and-forths. You can still pull up a chat client like Skype and have a great textual conversation in real time. And you can still hop on a web meeting conference to work more collaboratively.

 

Now it’s one thing when an individual gets confused in this communication quagmire, there is a lot to take in and learn. I fully understand that my mother may have just heard from her friends about this new fangled Twitter thing and wants to know what her grandkids are up to so she can be a part of it and that some degree of misuse will occur in the valid purpose of moving to ubiquity. But what shocks me more is when I see companies failing to do their homework before embarking down the social media highway. These technologies can be tremendously powerful in helping drive sales and furthering your brand in the minds of consumers. There are great case studies on how companies effectively use social media and networking. But there are far more examples of those that do more damage than they do good. Use must be metered, highly targeted, and seen as useful and welcome by the receivers. Companies need to have more of a plan for their social media communications, just like they do for their websites, press releases, TV advertisements, and e-mail marketing campaigns. It’s a very different medium and you need to understand it well instead of playing ready-fire-aim. To do otherwise is to become noise, static, or much, much worse: an annoying nuisance who simply detracts from my effectiveness like that guy in Nigeria who keeps sending me e-mails so I can help him move his millions of dollars out of the country. Damn, I hate that guy.

Our society has become accustomed to instant access to relevant information within moments of thinking of a question.  Even the slightest curiosity can easily be satiated by launching a web browser and typing a word that seems to represent what you're looking for.  Search engines have been around for ages-- and the way search results appear on a web page hasn't changed a great deal in the last 10 years.   It's still just a page with small paragraphs, underlined links and bolded keywords.  But dramatic improvements in search result relevance have changed the landscape of information pursuit.  What used to be considered "resourcefulness" in the ability to dig up obscure yet valuable information has become the norm, completely accessible to the average computer user.
 
Google has ushered us into this world of information access.  They've trained us to expect to find what we're looking for within the first page of results.  I find it frustrating to even have to read beyond the first few results.  Once you have to click beyond the first page of search results, you are considering whether you might have made a bad choice in what keywords you chose to search for. 
 
So how can you leverage this Google phenomenon in your business?    It's about leveraging the fact that everyone now knows how to use the Google user interface.  What if you were to offer that same familiar user interface to your employees?  They're already trained to form the appropriate "question" to type into the form, you just need to point them to your companies own Google.  Imagine giving users access to SharePoint sites, internal wiki's, company documents or even purchase orders without needing to publish another document explaining how?  How much do you spend on putting together documentation specifically geared to the "lowest common denominator" users?  Thanks to Google's enterprise technologies, you don't have to any more.  You can hook it up, turn it on and turn them loose.

And, people don't just search for web pages containing information.  They even use Google as an internet "quick-launch."   I was perplexed the first time I saw someone Google (yes, it's a verb too) "facebook.com" and click the first link.  Why not type it into the URL field of Firefox?  Because if you Google it, you don't even have to type it correctly.  You can completely botch the spelling and still find exactly what you want.  Furthermore, you don't have to guess on whether it's .NET or .COM or .BIZ and risk accidentally ending up on some unpleasant website that has nothing to do with what you're looking for.

There's another plethora of value and excitement in the Google OneBox features.  Although this isn't quite as well known as Google itself, most people have experienced it before.  You Google "MSFT" and you get the current stock quote for Microsoft Inc.  Or you Google "Weather 30306" and you see the Atlanta weather appear in a small comic-strip form across the top of the search results.  These aren't web pages so how is that information getting up there above the search results?  This is the Google OneBox.  It allows you to connect your enterprise Google Search Appliance to other sources of real-time information - SAP, CRM, ERP, Sales Force, etc.  You can add a connection between your Google Search Appliance and Sales Force to enable you to find contact information that is stored in SalesForce.com, by simply typing in the person’s name or some other associated information.  There are lots of things going on behind the scenes-- XML moving between these systems,   but that doesn't really matter.  The point is that you get your information without having to go into Sales Force.  Read our detailed document on the Onebox to dive into the details.
 
This is starting to sound pretty compelling, right?  For the accounting types, it's not a hard sale as it's going to deliver improved operational efficiency, reduced cost of infrastructure, and reduced complexity of internal data access.  The other half of your organization will be benefiting from the value of information that previously was just not accessible without substantial and cost prohibitive efforts.      Your newest client will find your most recent proposal was right "on the mark"…all because the business development executive was able to find previous RFP responses that your agency has delivered over the last 5 years.     
 
It's hard to imagine areas of your business that wouldn't be affected by implementing such a game changing device.  Definition 6 can work with you to implement Enterprise Search Solutions, helping your company leverage the power of Google Search.    We're certified Google Search Enterprise Partners, trained at Google Headquarters in Mountain view, California.  We have a team of top solutionists that are among the most experienced in enterprise search field.

I am quoted in the book The Truth about Email Marketing in the chapter entitled Getting the ball rolling with your email marketing partner.

"As a client, be prepared to share information about how email addresses are captured, what is stored on each customer or prospect, metrics on all your email campaigns, as well as, offline marketing efforts.  The email strategy vendor may suggest a new look and feel, new language, or more ways to target users.  Continue to test recommended changes in order to optimize email campaigns.

It can be difficult to convince senior management that the email marketing strategy should be given as much thought as the marketing strategy.  There should be dedicated resources, and the strategy needs to continue to evolve.”

Definition 6 sends out almost 300 million emails a year on behalf of clients.  We know how difficult it can be to get started and to improve email campaigns.

We can help you develop an email marketing strategy, segment and target users, design templates, craft language, build HTML templates that content can be dropped into, deploy the emails, and measure the effectiveness.

Email marketing continues to be a cost efficient way to reach customers and build productive relationships.  It is easily measurable.  That's a combination you can't beat.

Definition 6 Client Manager, Gabe Rand, on the impact of implement overnight sends on your next targeted email marketing campaign...

I recently read an article on the Marketing Sherpa site about how a company using email marketeing services ccontinued to test email send times after a previous test showed a surprising boost in CTRs for messages sent out overnight. They wanted to verify tests of this unconventional time to make sure the rate held up.  What the article points out is that:

1. Varying send times may impact click throughs, even if it does not impact open rates
2. Early morning sends positively impacted click through rates, while making minor impacts on open rates
3. Be sure to not only test send times for the entire send but do a/b or split testing for the same send for multiple times of day.

In summary, continuous testing of an email program leads to additional insights and the more you know about how your consumer interacts with the messages you are sending them the more power you have.  Check out the full article by logging into MarketingSherpa.com.

I had a colleague ask me, “Do you have any examples of particularly successful email solicitations for online surveys?“

It seems like such an easy question.

But, it is akin to asking: Can you show me copies of successful websites? 

As soon as you pull examples, they can say, “Well, that doesn’t apply to my client.”

Some important things to consider from your customers' perspective:
What’s my relationship to the company?  Do I believe the company will act upon what I tell them?  Do I feel comfortable being honest with them?  Do I have a sales rep that I prefer to give feedback to, instead of a written response?

What’s my incentive for filling out a survey?  Do I have a complaint, and I’m dying to give negative comments?  What are they offering me?  A $5 credit to use against my bill?  An accessory that complements the products I buy from them? Or, something that makes by professional life easier?

How long is it going to take?  It better be quick.  It better not require me to think too much.

When are you asking me?  After I’ve looked at your site?  After I’ve purchased something?  Is it event-triggered?  Or, is it out of the blue?  Have I been getting regular emails from you?  If not, then my sales rep should talk to me and tell me that I will be getting an email survey.

Who are they asking?  Everyone?  Or, am I made to feel special? 

The answers to the above questions will help drive the content of the email.  In addition, what other initiatives or customer communications are already scheduled to go out that I can piggyback survey requests on?

Finally, don’t forget a follow-up email telling respondents the “ratings” and what changes I’ve made, based on their feedback.

We are skilled in all aspects of email marketing, including email surveys.  We'll be glad to talk to you about your email content and design, as well as, strategy for segmentation and targeting.

Project Manager Lisa Seals presented an article to our Client Services group on the effectiveness of optimzing PPC campaigns through targeted email marketing -geotargeting.  The article reinforces the importance of geotargeting to deliver relevant customized keywords, ad copy and offers to searchers in specific geographic locations.

And according to MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Search Marketing Benchmark Guide, marketers agree that geotargeting is an effective tactic that delivers high ROI.

 

Lisa highlighted three major points from the report:

 

1.     In addition to targeting PPC campaigns to searchers in specific locations, ecommerce sites (or other national search advertisers) should also consider geotargeting to optimize their overall search strategy.

2.     Shifting resources to regions that deliver the best performing traffic, or highlight brands based on regional popularity, will deliver the highest ROI.

3.      Always remember to test.  As a geotargeted ad group demonstrates its effectiveness, you can move on to a new region or increase spending in those areas to maximize results.

 

Check out the full article on MarketingSherpa.com to learn how a national jeans company developed a comprehensive search marketing strategy that included geotargeting to advertise a popular apparel of brands in major metropolitan areas.

 

Check out our some of our blogs for information about Definition 6's search engine optimization solutions.

 

 

Definition 6 Technical Project Manager, Lance King, delivered an article presentation on how a simple execution of permission based email marketing campaign led to increased traffic and lead generation for marketing firm Enlighten.

For years Enlighten was delivering electronic holiday cards, costing the company marketing dollars while gaining very little exposure.  Two years ago, they developed an online “Holiday Party Excuse Generator” which resulted in a viral marketing bonanza.  They reaped the benefits even more when, a year later, traffic spiked despite any additional marketing efforts.  The lesson: if you can create a low-budget campaign that has the potential to get people buzzing about it, sharing it and spreading it, that’s great in any situation but certainly more now that marketing dollars are being closely scrutinized.

Three final points from Lance’s article:
1. Create a timeless, targeted email marketing campaign
2. Create a campaign that is fun and easily shared with others
3. In addition to direct sends, get information out to the press and social media outlets about your campaign  

You can read the full article at http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30964&pop=no#

Contact Definition 6 today to find out how we help our clients strategize and deliver impactful email campaigns.

At this Interactive Advertising Agency, we have been writing about how traditional media spending is moving on line. We have not been alone and we do believe that it is a good action to take if you are in Interactive Adversing. However, Pat LaPointe makes a good point last Friday in the article "Fools Rush In -- In Search of Magic ROI", by Pat LaPointe , Friday, December 12, 2008 "....beware: nearly EVERYONE ELSE HAS THE SAME IDEA. .....But the laws of marketing physics suggest that more marketers and marketing dollars will rush in to the arena than proven executional avenues can accommodate in the short term. And most of them will NOT bring breakthrough new creativity with them. That will create lots of failure and un-delivered expectations, which in turn may slow adoption of otherwise valuable marketing options." Full Article at: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&art_aid=96614#comments.

So it got me thinking...what about Email marketing?  The more the idea soaked in the more I liked it. Targeted Email Marketing is a wonderful way to shift ad dollars into digital and avoid being overwhelmed by the clutter. It is your list, your relationships and your message. It might be better than an over priced PPC campaign and a weak display campaign. It certainly will be faster and cheaper to do!

At the same time, if your Interactive Adversing Agency is good at creative, good at media planning and optimization and good at conversion techniques, you might just be someone who can break through the clutter, gain market share and then use Email to crush your competition.

Jeremy Bromwell, a Definition 6 Account Coordinator, reported on a Forrester research article...

Because many interactive marketing programs are fueled by measureable results, interactive marketing will survive and even thrive during a recession.

Jeremy covered a few points that have held extremely relevant:

1. Many interactive marketing formats target the decision to buy, rather than just boosting awareness. When people are worried about spending, increasing engagement is more likely to generate sales than shouting about a brand.
2. Predictions are that online display ads won't be hit too hard, money will flow towards search engine optimization solutions and email marketing will increase and social applications will strive in the soft economy.
3. Make sure results-based interactive gets its share of the mix. Your CEO is warning your VP of advertising to prepare to cut spending. You should be whispering in his/her other ear with stats about how your targeted email marketing, search engine optimization marketing, or online advertising programs are paying off. If the dollars get cut, this will keep interactive in the mix or even increase your share of the remaining marketing dollars.

Jeremy's final thought to the group was that interactive marketing initiaves should be top-of-mind during a recession as their measurable results can be used as leverage to hold on to or even expand interactive marketing programs. The ability to tie ROI and ROAS to an interactive campaign is one of the many advantages of the channel.  Also, time to market and refinement cycles are much quicker with interactive and the cost is often lower too!  The full article can be viewed at: http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/0,7211,45128,00.html 

Simple E-Mail Segmentation

Jeremy Bromwell and Cecilia Barella, Definition 6 Account Coordinators, recently spoke on articles they read on ClickZ...

List segmentation is often perceived as difficult or expensive; however, if you are not currently segmenting your list there are some very simple tactics you can use to better target content and improve performance of your direct email marketing efforts.

Jeremy and Cecilia explained segmenting your list based on metrics and developing 5 groups:

There are different strategies and tactics utilized to tailor your messaging for each of the above groups.  Our email marketing services can not only help you segment you subscriber list, but also develop comprehensive strategies ranging from trigger-based transactional emails, quarterly schedules, to templates that view and convert well across multiple platforms and browsers.

The full article can be viewed at: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3629708

As the holiday season approaches, the prospects for record setting sales appear dim for most retailers.  The economy is, well, you know...  Competition is keen and consumers are spending on necessities, if that.  This will make the 2008 holiday season especially challenging for marketers and retailers.  So for eTailors, and those in the electronic commerce space, getting it "right" this year can mean staying in business, or not. 

So I suggest a pre-holiday, eCommerce audit to ensure a successful holiday season.  Make sure your web site is search engine optimized by reviewing page tags, keywords, meta data and header information.  Ensure your home page has a strong call to action.  Are there special promotions prominently displayed on the homepage and above the fold?  There better be, because your competitors will have that nailed!

Have you checked the web channel integration with your inventory application?  Better make sure that inventory purchased on-line is reflected in your database in near real time, as the costs of returns will be higher this year, with gas prices as they are.

Are you planning special promotions and marketing events in your other channels?  Ensure that the web is being leveraged to support and augment those initiatives.  Are your call center employees up to date with your latest web promotions? 

If your website is hosted by a third party hosting provider, have you alerted them to that great new web promotion you are planning?  You'll need to ensure they can handle the anticipated increase in bandwidth.  Those managed services providers might also offer some ideas on how to keep that traffic even by varying messaging by the time of day and even day of the week.  This will smooth out traffic and promote a more consistent user experience.

And let's not forget the all important email campaigns.  Have you segmented your target audience so they can receive offers indicative of the part of your website that got them to opt in in the first place?  Are you promoting higher margin products so you don't generate a lot of traffic and revenue but no profits?  Are you sending emails often enough to keep your prospects engaged, but not too often that they stop opening your emails?  Can you do timely email clickstream analysis to identify which promotions are generating the most traffic, and stop the low performers and supplement the rain makers?

And have you reviewed your search and SEO strategies?  Will you be doing a lot of paid search?  Buying brand terms, category terms or product names?  Do you have a comparison or analysis regimen in place so you can add to the converting keywords and dial down the laggards?  Can you run timely metrics reports to get a good snapshot on how your website is performing on a daily basis?

If you have not thought through all of these interactive marketing concepts thoroughly, 2008 might be the year you learned a lot more about eCommerce than you bargained for.  And the way 2009 is shaping up, that job search will be long, prolonged and difficult.  So contact Definition6 now, and have us perform that eCommerce audit and tune up for you.  You'll sleep better, outpace the competition and ensure that 2008 is a stepping stone to a more prosperous 2009.

At Definition 6, I get this questions quite a bit, as an Interactive Advertising Agency we are often on the front lines of business managers arsenal of what to do during troubling times.  Most organizations have a flight or fight response to troubled times and we help both type of customer's needs with our core services.  I wanted to just provide two examples of why I feel the Interactive Ad Agency is a critical strategic asset for marketers today.

If you are one who is looking to "run from trouble", and I mean this to say you are thinking; "The economy is in trouble and I need to pull in the reins on spending and cut costs".  I would suggest you talk to your agency about search engine optimization solutions and move away from paid search as your only expenditure. This will allow you to earn traffic instead of pay for traffic. The effort might take a few months to begin seeing results, but the cost savings over a 6 month period will be dramatic.

If you are inclined to believe that in hard times it is time to pump up the effort. We would recommend that you look closely at leveraging your in-house email lists and focus on email marketing. By simple taking some of your existing offers from your direct mail budget and rapidly moving them to online email marketing you should be able to impact sales within 3-4 weeks and reduce costs per sale by 1/3 to 50% just by channel shifting your efforts to online.

These are certainly simple examples, but I wanted to just wanted to start a thread about what to do in uncertain times. For additional points of view on this topic check out http://www.beyondmadisonavenue.com/2008/10/invest-in-online-advertising-now/ by Brian Yalung.

More to come soon.

Small business owners are affiliating their brand with charities as an alternate marketing channel.  Truth be told, people like to associate themselves with businesses that support causes so it's a win-win for the company and for their target audience.  In an article found on www.frugalmarketing.com, the author details ideas and strategies on how to help businesses expand their marketing opportunities while engaging in charitable giving.  Below are a few key points from the article:

1. Don't hesitate to use charitable marketing because you think it will take advantage of a cause.  In actuality, many charities want to partner with a business and they understand that it is mutually beneficial.
2. When choosing a charity to participate in, look for charities that will not only provide meaningful exposure but also one in which your target audience would be most likely to participate in.
3. Maximize exposure by associating your name with your charity.
4. Partner with a charity to focus on a niche market in order to bring new customers to you and new members to your charity.

Charitable marketing is a great way to optimize your marketing dollars whether that be through targeted email marketing, website development or interactive media.  To read the full article, go to: http://www.frugalmarketing.com/dtb/charity.shtml

CAN-SPAM is the US Federal Anti-Spam Law in effect since Jan 2004.  There are four new rules which went into effect on July 7, 2008, which may require changes to your email campaigns or the unsubscribe process at your website.

FTC New Rule Provisions:

1.  Email recipient cannot be required to log in to unsubscribe.

2.  All 'senders' of the email are responsible for compliance.  When we do affiliate marketing for clients [for example: advertise in emails sent out by Website Magazine], the sender in From Line is the primary sender and is responsible for complying with CAN SPAM; but, if they do not...then, all advertisers are liable.

3.  If you offer a reward for recipients to follow to a colleague or friend, then all CAN-SPAM rules apply to the forwarded email.  Therefore, the recommendation is "DON'T offer an incentive to subscribers to forward emails."  In addition, the content that is contained within the forwarded email must be able to controlled by the subscriber.  You have to let them see what the email is going to say and give them the option of editing the content.

To read the entire article and keep up with legislation that affects emails, click here:  http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/05/canspam.shtm 

Definition 6 helps clients with email campaigns by crafting email strategies, composing targeted messaging, creating email templates, incorporating dynamic content, deploying emails, reporting on the results, and continuous testing to optimize email campaigns.

Lynn Moss
Def 6 Client Manager

I recently "opted-in" to an online retailers email list. The experience was underwhelming to say the least. After I optedin, I received an immediate email welcoming me to their distribution list. Six weeks and counting, and I have yet to receive another communication from the firm. At another e-tailors website, I opted in while looking at some of the services that they offer - in this case looking to replace some windows on my condo. Several weeks later I began to be run over by emails offering discounts on hand tools, consumer electronics, and large appliances. There was nary an acknowledgement that my reason for opting in had to do with their services rather than their products.

At a team meeting with another large internet retailer, I asked the online marketing manager if they documented where a user was on the website when they opted in. Blank stares all around. Then the question, "Why would that matter?" I asked, "Wouldn't you want to know what someone was looking at when they decided to opt in?" To me it was a totally obvious connection; to my client it was an irritating question. Further research showed most e-tailors clearly in my clients’ corner. Opting in was good enough. No reason to know more. I pose it as the complete opposite. And the difference is the ability to easily begin a 1:1 customer dialogue over the web; or not!

If the web retailer mentioned above had documented that I was looking at a window installation when I had opted in to receive additional communications, they would have targeted messages to me for window installation services, window treatments, perhaps shutters and other products that showed they knew what my specific interest in their firm was all about. Instead, I was lumped in with the several other million email optin's who apparently have an insatiable thirst for inexpensive hand tools and cheap consumer electronics. I no longer read that firms email marketing promotions, as they contain nothing I am interested in. 
 
So the light bulb clicked on. How many firms on the internet try to map where a user was when they opted in so they can create better email marketing campaigns or email marketing services. If my experiences over the past two years are any indication, the answer is not many. So here are a few simple steps that a firm can take to integrate their email campaigns in order to move towards a more customer centric 1:1 dialogue.

1. For the easiest level of integration, firms with multiple products and services can provide users with a checklist of items for which they are interested in receiving email and other interactive marketing communications. A few large computer hardware vendors are already adept at this. 

2. For sites with multiple products and services, they should capture where a user was on the site when they opted in. This could be at a category level, product level, or possibly a business unit level.

3. Create interactive marketing promotions that correlate to the distinctly different parts of the site where users opt in. For example, if I was looking at "services" at least send me email messages that show awareness that I was interested in services rather than products.

4. If product categories are highly differentiated, than the corresponding email campaign should be too. For example, if hand tools and power tools are in different categories, and I opted in looking at hand tools, than a subsequent email marketing campaigns should contain some elements related to hand tools.

5. Over time, an "opted-in" customers' sales activity should be added to their profiles so that over time the firm can know what they were viewing when they opted in, what online promotions had a high click through and/or conversion rate and which products were ultimately purchased.

At that point, the sponsoring site should have all the information they need to have a robust 1:1 customer dialogue with an engaged and nitrated client. And all because they captured what page a prospect was viewing when they opted in to receive additional information. Sometimes, the missing link doesn't have to be missing at all.