How to Get Your Emails Read
Email marketing, when executed properly, has been known to deliver impressive results. One important factor in email marketing is that it is not very expensive when compared to traditional mass marketing means. The CMO Council notes that email marketing accounts for 15% of SMB marketing spend. Small to medium sized businesses often have limited budgets, so they need to choose marketing communications mediums where they will get the best return on marketing investment. With email having the potential to be a cost effective medium, what are some ideas that brand marketers can use to get their emails read. Earlier Read More
Tragedy Postpones Branding
The tragedy in Boston on Monday was a horrific and saddening event. It also served a lesson in digital marketing. Monday afternoon was a challenge for marketers in the digital space. The ability to schedule social media posts and emails is a wonderful asset to marketers, and is a part of our distributed marketing software. The scheduling of social media posts and emails has become a common practice, and during the vast majority of times, it helps brands drive top of mind awareness and brand engagement. However, during a tragic event when lives are lost due to a coordinated act Read More
Where’s the ROI in Social Media? (Part Two)
In February, we posted Part One of this series. Part One was meant to be just an introduction to the topic. Part Two is a more in depth look, emphasizing mindset to measure ROI. One of the thought leading pieces on this topic came from a 2010 article in the MIT Sloan Management Review. Although a number of the examples are rather dated at this point, most of the key themes touched on in the article remain true today, even with the drastic changes in social media in the 2 and a half years since it was released, confirming the Read More
Is Non Participation in Social Media a Great Danger?
Trade publication “Insurance & Technology” recently featured an article about social media’s dangers. The article cited a quote from a VP at a life insurance company and a consultancy in the insurance industry. There was some alignment in their perspectives. The VP at the life insurance company stated that “the value in terms of selling” for social media hasn’t “warranted a huge investment.” The consultancy discussed the dangers in the social media space, but also mentioned social media monitoring as having value. What the executive in the life insurance company said may hold value in their organization. At the time Read More
Bridging The Advertising Trust Gap
A report from Forrester Research, based on survey responses from 58,000 respondents, indicates what could be perceived as a severe advertising trust gap. The data indicated that 70% of consumers trust brand recommendations from friends but only 10% trust advertising messages. At first glance, this may seem like a significant deficiency for brand advertisers and a substantial knock of the process of advertising itself. While there is relevance in this snippet of data, it does not spell doom for advertising. I expect advertising to be around in some form 100 years from today. Certainly, this is nothing new. There’s often Read More
Research Indicates Importance of Distributed Marketing Management Software
Content distribution is a key concern for marketers. Recent research from Gleanster and the CMO Council has reinforced this notion. For instance: A significant percentage of companies are having difficulty finding balance between corporate marketing and local marketing efforts. Recent research from Gleanster noted that 93% of distributed marketing organizations cited the conflicting needs of local marketers and corporate marketing as one of the biggest challenges. CMO Council data indicates that 61% of marketers they surveyed felt that local customization of content would be a high priority during 2013. Use of technology has corporate & local marketers at odds. Separate Read More
Why Multi-Channel? 5 Places Where You Need To Be
Visa ads once had a famous tagline of “It’s Everywhere You Want To Be”. So where is the everywhere that brand marketers want to be? Simply everywhere, or as close to everywhere within reason. One of the key challenges of the present era in marketing is changing the mindset from single channel to multi-channel. Brand marketers need to stop thinking about marketing communications efforts in a single setting and think more fully about how the efforts are going to integrate holistically. How will the pieces of the puzzle fit together? Here are the 5 basic components of a multi-channel digital Read More
Why Brands Should Not Pass on Local Customization
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament will begin in earnest on Thursday, but the field of teams was chosen yesterday. The tournament is a noteworthy event in the annual cultural calendar, particularly in places where college basketball is closely followed by a significant portion of the population. This represents a tremendous opportunity for brand advertisers in all industries, including distributed marketing brands in insurance and financial services. Experian has compiled data and released research findings about the cultural significance of the tournament. According to Experian, the men’s tournament will reach nearly 20% of adults age 18 or over. This is an Read More
Distributed Marketing Management: Targeting & Reaching Baby Boomers
Earlier this week, the AARP announced a new effort in social media marketing, a YouTube series called “Movies For Grownups.” In the 50+ market, the AARP has significant brand awareness, which makes sense as the 50+ market is their specialty. If the AARP is making inroads in the social media space with senior marketing initiatives, I interpret this as the latest signal that the 50+ market is becoming more and more digitally aware. There’s a lot to be impressed with from the perspective of many brands with regard to the 50+ market. Many brands that operate using the distributed marketing Read More
How to Take a Distributed Marketing Management, Multi-Channel Approach to a Brand Crisis
Talking about crisis management is never a fun topic for most marketers to consider. It is something that can keep someone who works in marketing awake at night. Brand crises can take on many forms. They can be product related, a problem with a celebrity endorser, the way customers are treated, or pretty much anything that will cause negative perceptions of the brand. In a distributed marketing organization, there are significant customer interaction touch points that are unique to this form of organization. If a brand crisis happens within a distributed marketing management type organization, there’s a different type of Read More
