Distribion makes social media easier.

By now, there should be little doubt regarding the pervasiveness of social media. We’ve shared statistics on social media multiple times in the last year in this space, and new statistics come out frequently augmenting the case for social media. Without a well devised and implemented presence in social media, a company misses great opportunities to achieve greater success. Most target audiences can be found somewhere in social media.

Nevertheless, a quality presence in the social media space doesn’t occur out of thin air. Social media is something that takes a time commitment, a good degree of training & knowledge on a subject matter that is constantly evolving, as well as locating, producing and sharing relevant content. Additionally, concerns about corporate and regulatory compliance in regulated industries can increase the degree of difficulty. All these factors can work as disincentives from the perspective of a local sales agent.

Local sales agents in industries like financial services, insurance, healthcare and pharmaceuticals have a lot on their plates. There are always new sales objectives to meet, and retaining existing business is often a priority. There can be key client service issues to attend to, preparing presentations and tying up loose ends around the office, all taking time. For many, dedicating the required amount of time to having a fully formed and well implemented social media presence across multiple social media platforms can seem like an overwhelming task. Fortunately, local agents can have a valuable allies taking care of much of the time and content requirements in maintaining a social media presence.

Distribion has found a way for corporate entities to support their field sales agents in social media through automatic campaign scheduling and personalization options.

With automatic campaign scheduling, corporate marketing entities, who may have dedicated social media marketers, publish pre-approved social media campaigns that consist of numerous content posts with links to compelling content, including collateral. Once published, local sales agents opt-in to a campaign and our marketing automation software posts the content to the selected sites at the designated time intervals on their behalf. Local sales agents are not required to dedicate time to this in any way beyond the opt-in. They become able to spend more time selling, while their social brand is built and maintained for them.

With personalization options, corporate marketers can allow for places where posts can be customized, and if necessary, routed through a corporate approval process prior to being published. In any organization, some agents will take advantage of these personalization options, and there will be some that want to do no more than just opt-in to corporate campaigns. Either way, there is a presence in the social media space for the local agent, bolstering their own image amongst local prospective clients.

Once published, employees and marketing partners simply opt-in to a campaign and the software posts the content to the selected sites at the designated time intervals on their behalf. Local sales agents are not burdened with tasks of finding relevant, engaging content, community management or any other time consuming aspects of social media. They spend more time selling, while their social brand is built and maintained for them.

**This is the second part in a blog series. Click here for Part One. **

It makes sense to check for a good fit.

One of the many advantages of the Quick Start program is that a company has the opportunity to evaluate what the Distribion platform can do for them. Marketing initiatives do not exist in a separate domain with no connection to the outside world. What happens within the marketing function has a material impact on the company as a whole. It has been said that marketing is the lifeblood of any organization. It is a statement that I certainly agree with, and seeing the real world impact of a marketing initiative is something that is beneficial to a rather wide range of organizations.

Not all of Distribion’s clients have the intention of using the software in the exact same way. Each company has their own individual needs that they would plan to use the software to address. What is universal is the goal that each and every potential client that evaluates Distribion with. Clients engage in an evaluation process with us because they would like to affect some sort of meaningful change within their organization. If Distribion is able to help them achieve what they desire to achieve, the organization is much more likely to view Distribion favorably and make a longer term commitment to the platform.

A short term trial of 90 days serves as an extended test drive. Over a 90 day period, it is possible to see how can the platform can have material impact. Because the platform software is comprehensive, there are a lot of functions that it can be used for. Some organizations will use more features right away through a multi-channel approach, and some will see how the platform can be used in a single channel before moving into other channels. Sometimes, a organization doesn’t have a robust presence in a particular channel (ie social media), and may choose to use the platform to gain a foothold in that particular channel. Whatever the goal the may be, an extended trial allows for extended evaluation, and an extended evaluation period does allow for greater certainty in decision making, in committing organizational resources to a platform. Making a decision that is a right for a company is crucial to their own success, and as a corollary, their own perception of the value of Distribion.

Setting permissions has business benefits.

One of the key features of the Distributed Marketing Platform is permissions. The platform is entirely permission based. There is a key administrator or administrators depending upon the size of the organization using the platform. Administrators can set business rules as they see fit with regard to content, assets, approval flows, etc. They have control over the look, feel and capabilities of the user environment.

Why is this done? It is done because it creates benefits at both the corporate and local levels.

At the corporate level, there is increased centralized marketing control. Centralized marketing control and maintaining a strong brand image that is consistent can be a significant issue in distributed marketing organizations. Gleanster research indicates that 89% of large companies with regional or global brands indicated that they struggle to maintain a consistent customer experience due to a misalignment between corporate marketing directives and local marketing efforts. I’ve often said that marketing works best when various elements of the marketing mix are working harmoniously together, and a misalignment between corporate and local entities is the antithesis of harmony. Having a consistent look, feel and themes in messaging is the ideal for corporate marketers. An additional element that comes into play in distributed organizations that are highly regulated is the potential for fines from a regulatory body. According to Distribion‘s own customer analysis data, companies using our platform reduce marketing compliance costs by 15%.

At the same time, local marketing entities have their own needs, and the needs of local marketing entities are crucial to an organization achieving its financial statement objectives. Gleanster observed that 93% of distributed marketing organizations cited the conflicting needs of local marketers and corporate marketing as a primary challenge. Recent data from the CMO Council indicates 61% of marketers surveyed felt that local customization of content would be a high priority during 2013. When there is a product category that lends itself to high local level sales involvement, the implementation of customization becomes more appealing. However, when are there customization needs, sometimes the marketing process lends to inefficient practices. According to the CMO Council, over 40% of a sales rep’s is spent creating presentation and customizing messages. This translates into lost productivity, estimated at 5.2 months of lost time in a given year. Distribion’s own customer analysis data has shown that companies using our platform reduce time customizing messages by 25%, adding 3.25 months of time to a local sales agent’s calendar. This time can be used in a variety of productive ways that can enhance revenue.

The benefits of permissioning that create centralized marketing control while allowing for local customization enable marketers to more effectively manage their brands & sales agents to increase qualified sales leads. These are desirable outcomes, and ones that can often be seen on financial statements.

Power up your webinar & seminar marketing efforts.

Webinars & seminars are a very effective means for companies to acquire, retain and cross sell. Also, they can educate agents & channel partners. Unfortunately, in industries where distributed marketing models are commonly found, webinars & seminars have not been used to their fullest potential.

Distributed marketing management software is a crucial component in achieving success webinars & seminars. What are some of the end results of using the software?

Results

• Better customer acquisition: More qualified sales leads

• Better retention: Keep more of your existing customers

• Better ability to cross-sell: Increase revenue by selling complementary products

• Better agent & channel partner support: Knowledge = Power.

These are all very desirable results. The majority of businesses desire to increase the customer base and market share. It is quite difficult to do that without qualified sales leads coming into the sales pipeline. Retention is a factor that makes lives easier for both sales & marketing departments. Better retention can enable sales & marketing goals to seem like less of a burden. Keeping customers happy and staying with a brand is often easier than acquiring new customers. Retention is not something that happens without effort, and certainly a webinar or seminar can be a part of retention efforts. Cross selling is important as well. If complementary products can be sold to existing customers, revenue increases. When revenue increases, financial statements often look better. They look better 100% of the time when revenue increases are accompanied by lower costs.

Finally, education matters. Achieving better agent & channel partner support can create improved outcomes. Agents and channel partners are key parts of distributed marketing organizations, and when agents & channel partners are properly educated on how to optimize their own sales performances, they are empowered. Knowledge = Power.

Distributed marketing management software has many uses. Optimizing the webinar and seminar delivery process is a valuable use of the software, resulting in lower costs as efficiency is increased and more qualified sales leads.

TV & Digital advertising need not be mutually exclusive. They often complement each other.

Audience fragmentation is a truism in media today. 30 years ago, the Internet was not widely available and cable was in its infancy. The legacy broadcast networks, like CBS, commanded a much larger share of the audience. In the last 30 years (but especially in the most recent 15 years), we’ve seen a proliferation of media channels coming into play, forcing brands to be more aware of content distribution so as to reach their target audience. Brands need to be in multiple places for top of mind brand awareness and fostering the positive brand beliefs that ultimately lead to increased sales and revenue.

We realize that many of the brands that we interact with in our key industries set aside budget to advertise on TV. Each company has their own perspective and their own goals. Some see TV as a key fit based upon their goals and financial picture. TV and digital work best as an integrated function. A TV campaign can boost outcomes in the social media space, which is a key part of multi-channel marketing. Using print campaigns that are also aligned with messaging being used on TV is part of integrated, holistic marketing communications.

In all channels, what matters most is the content created. Without compelling content, brand created messaging on TV, in the social space, in email, on websites, video and in print is not going to cut it. But compelling content is really a prerequisite in marketing campaigns. Advanced marketing is dependent upon how well a brand uses the various channels. Multi-channel distributed marketing automation software is designed for the purpose of having more effective use of marketing channels. More effective use of marketing channels is usually measured by reduced cost, and increased customer acquisition and/or retention, which creates more revenue. The combination of more revenue and less cost is something that looks pretty on a financial statement.

How brands get those pretty achievements is intriguing. There are numerous feature functions within the platform, but lead evaluation through detailed tracking & reporting is one of the key features, as well as reducing the time sales people spend on creating customization within their marketing messaging. More effective use of sales time is a recipe for success.

The multi-channel mix is a lot like snowflakes. No two multi-channel marketing efforts are exactly alike. While multi-channel campaigns have many of the same elements, they are often executed slightly differently as different companies weight the mix and channel utilization in different ways. The best idea is to use multiple channels to get a compelling message out there that frames brand beliefs in a positive light, creating an inducement for consumer purchase.

Gleanster statistics highlight the most important aspects of distributed marketing software.

Gleanster recently released research regarding the importance of multi-channel, distributed marketing software. The report contained many great statistics, and we’ve shared some of them on our various social media pages.

These statistics speak volumes about the relevance of the distributed marketing model and the impact of distributed marketing software.

• Top Performers are 7 times more likely than Everyone Else to invest in centralized, multi-channel marketing tools across corporate & regional marketing.
• Top Performers are 8 times less likely than Everyone Else to rank brand consistency as a top challenge.
• 74% of Top Performers note Personalization across all brand communication as a top challenge.
• 96% of Top Performers used or planned to use centralized campaign management platforms for corporate and local marketing execution. 45% currently using & 51% planning to use.
• 87% of all respondents indicated their organization’s customer experience had “room for improvement”.

All of these statistics have merit. I think that any company would aspire to be a top performing company. When there’s a step you can take to be 7 times more likely to be classified as being a Top Performer, it is a very good step to take. It is easier said than done, but taking the steps to get to that point are crucial and require organizational commitment (though our Quick Start program alleviates the commitment pain).

Consistency is key in branding. In past corporate blog posts that I have written, I’ve emphasized consistency. Coca-Cola is an example of a brand that I have cited in past blogs as a brand that exemplifies consistency. Consistency is even more essential in distributed marketing model organizations due to the highly regulated nature of the industries where they are found. Due to high levels of regulation, there can be fines if certain components of consistency are not followed. Distributed marketing automation solutions come with templates that are configured that can define and maintain the essence of a brand. The look and feel of a brand impact the perception of it. Perception is everything in marketing.

Perception ties into customer experience. Now more than ever, customers are seeking an experience that delights and delightful experiences can spread through the social media sphere. If positive word of mouth spreads digitally, that makes brand management much easier. Marketing automation solutions are a part of creating those experiences.

In distributed organizations, personalization matters because there are sales forces that make sales locally. These product categories are marketed differently than fast moving consumer goods found in supermarket type environments. However, a central feel matters to these brands, just as it matters to brands in fast moving consumer goods. The balancing act of customization to local markets while maintaining centralized brand management is a challenge, and it is being realized. Addressing this balancing act is a central component to a multi-channel distributed marketing automation solution.

What are your thoughts on what you read? Leave a comment below.

Is it time to consider the alignment between distributed marketing software & marketing to Hispanics?

Two articles on Adweek’s website provided some intriguing statistics about the US Hispanic market and technology adoption. Adweek noted a Nielsen statistic that 72 percent of US Hispanics have a smartphone and watch more online video than 62 percent of white non-Hispanic Americans. They also noted an eMarketer stat that 72 percent of U.S. Hispanic Internet users will use social networking in 2014 vs. 68 percent of the total population in the U.S.

The statistics on technology adoption are not tremendously surprising given basic demographics. Hispanics now comprise approximately 17 percent of the US population, as compared to 9 percent in 1990. More important than the size of the population is the composition of the population. On average, Hispanics are 10 years younger than non Hispanics in the US. For many brands, gaining market share within a younger age demographic has been desirable as it can increase brand loyalty over an extended period of time. Numerous brands in many of our key industries stand to benefit by mastering the tenets of successfully using the marketing mix to gain market share amongst Hispanics.

Social media marketing and online video are key items in a multi-channel marketing approach. They often work together. For instance, video content comprises quality status updates on sites like Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn. Videos expand their reach through social media sites. Considering that Hispanics consume a significant amount of video online and are active in the social space, it would be wise for brands to factor this into their marketing plans & strategy.

Multi-channel marketing serves as the skeletal system of marketing efforts, and would be especially relevant in efforts in Hispanic marketing. It is a great base to build upon. Having the multi-channel marketing automation framework serves as a proven methodology for marketing success. It is a good way to position a campaign, as Gleanster Research has repeatedly noted that Top Performers are significantly more likely to be using a distributed, multi-channel marketing automation software platform. The platform can distribute, optimize and manage content across channels where the target market is paying attention, but the content itself must be content that is going to resonate. Marketing to Hispanics has its own nuances. One blog post on the subject could never do it justice, but just simply translating English language ad copy to Spanish isn’t going to be enough. A classic mistake made by brands in Hispanic marketing initiatives is assuming that all Spanish language speakers are culturally similar. These are just some simple tips that usually enhance efforts.

The right messaging combined with the right platform for executing marketing initiative is the best positioning for success. This is easier said than done, but what is most relevant is that brands should be aware that Hispanic marketing initiatives are well aligned with digital, multi-channel marketing efforts.

Trying before you buy provides the opportunity to check for a good fit without a hefty, long term commitment.

**Co-authored by Edgar Rodriguez**

Why try before you buy?

As a marketing strategy, offering the “try before you buy” initiative as a sales incentive makes a lot of sense. Different industries have different variations on this.

Whenever you go to a store like Sam’s Club or Costco, numerous food & beverage brands partner with these retailers to allow you small samples of the product before buying it. Automakers and their dealerships allow test drives as a standard practice and certain automakers/dealership allow extended test drives. Buying a car is a costly expenditure for most people, and having this type of experience prior to purchase helps.

In the software industry, particularly with enterprise level software offerings, there are often free trial periods or limited trial periods. Often these trial periods are a set time period and are less costly than the complete, standard version. The primary reason for this is to remove the objection of price as a reason not to engage in a discussion. If an company is allowed to use software throughout the organization for some time period without making a commitment, it eases their mind. There becomes a willingness for companies to the use software and see if it does meet their needs.

Distribion has thought of this and perfected a pilot program that we call the Quick Start. The primary reason we developed this program was to offer our clients the benefits of seeing the results that the Distributed Marketing Platform has been known to produce, but without the commitment of a large scale contract. Typically speaking, the Quick Start program produces defined and measurable results in a 60-90 day time frame. It also doesn’t involve significant IT headaches or a massive disruption in existing processes.

This is how it works: Increased Sales & Productivity is a defined end goal. We’ll get you to your end goal with Centralized Marketing, Multi-Channel Marketing, Marketing Automation, Local Customization and Campaign Insights. We waive the set up costs and conduct an initial analysis of where you stand in your marketing efforts. From there, we will work with your existing collateral or with newly created marketing materials. These materials will be integrated into templates that can be used for customer acquisition multi-channel campaigns. A combination of email, social media, microsites and forms & surveys can be used to create leads that can be converted to sales, which are the lifeblood of any distributed organization. A basic visual workflow of this process can be seen below.

At a local level, agents will have the opportunity to make changes based on corporate level permissions set, thus providing the best of both worlds. Local customization occurs to resonate with local audiences while the essence of a strong corporate brand remains intact. Detailed tracking and reporting allows sales agents and corporate brand managers the opportunity to know what works in their marketing efforts, and what can be augments to increase effectiveness. The 5 basic components above impact a brand’s ultimate goal of increased sales & productivity.

Certainly, there is a learning curve with something new, but the idea is that something new should not feared. The way in which we address this is by offering access to our client services team, who can assist a company through the intricacies of the software platform. Throughout the course of the trial period, we’re helping you get acclimated to the platform, and discovering the means in which the platform is designed to augment marketing efficiencies and effectiveness. Distribion realizes that there are numerous elements that comprise multi-channel marketing campaigns and we are focused on your ease of use. Ease of use is an idea that I have always believed in throughout the course of my own marketing career. Case study after case study in the brand world emphasizes the idea that the easiest to use product, within numerous product categories, is the product that gets a significant share of the market.

If we didn’t believe in the idea of “try before you buy”, we wouldn’t make this offer available. We are confident in our platform’s abilities to affect positive marketing changes within an organization, and within a short time frame. We think that is a strong offer. But it’s not our perception that matters most. It is yours, and you’ve got the opportunity to see our brand’s value without the peril of a long term, expensive contract that bogs down numerous departments.

**This is the first in a series of posts about the Quick Start program. Stay tuned.

Users have individual preferences in a branded product.

Both Distribion and Wrike are Software as a Service (SaaS) brands in the B2B space. Wrike offers project management software, which Distribion uses around the office to foster productivity in managing complex tasks and projects. Distribion provides distributed marketing management software to enable brands with distributed marketing models to automate complex marketing activities. Both brands offer a value proposition to the end user of achieving greater efficiency in their work activities. Both offerings have a wide variety of features, but not all features are valued equally by all clients. In the Distribion use case of Wrike software, features that are valued most highly are time allocation and ticket management. It is likely that other Wrike clients value different aspects of the Wrike software than what Distribion values.

Distribion’s marketing automation software offers an immense amount of potential solutions. Not all of Distribion’s clients use the software in the exact same way. Each company has their own individual needs that they use the software to address. The purpose for a company to use the software is crucial. For some clients, customer acquisition is a key motivating factor. Others are motivated more so by the ideas of customer retention and cross-selling product offerings to existing customers. Some wish to create more effective communications with sales partners through use of webinars. Some like the marketing asset management capabilities and permissioning, items within the software that address brand compliance issues.  Purpose also impacts what features a client perceives as most beneficial. Some users like the email bundle capabilities, some users embrace the idea of creating alignment between email and social media, some users value the e-commerce storefront and print management capabilities, etc. Because the software is comprehensive, there are a lot of functions that it can be used for. This idea is hardly unique to Distribion. As an example, the features that I appreciate most in the car I drive may not be all that important to another person that drives the same model of car I drive.

From a marketing standpoint, the variance in features that certain end users will appreciate creates a communication challenge. This is why segmentation is a fundamental concept to marketing. Most brands have to realize this and communicate the features that they know segments within their target market will appreciate the most. Going back to the car analogy, some people might value a car brand for its performance features, but the car might also possess some impressive safety features. Theoretically, it would be possible to communicate a set of performance issues and a set of safety issues to sub segments of an overall target marketing without diluting the essence the brand. Depending upon the product category, a brand is often tasked with the idea of communicating about disparate product features, some of which may not matter to all users. Within the target market of key users, a brand must find which message will resonate best with a certain set of users. When that is done, it facilitates a brand’s marketing communication efforts.

Brands continually seek ROI from social media efforts.

This is the third part of ongoing series. Part One  & Part Two are available. 

Part One of this series introduced the topic. Part Two was about setting the right mindset. Now is the time to evaluate some mathematical equations for measuring social media ROI.

Special thanks to Angie Schottmuller of Search Engine Watch for writing a detailed article entitled “Social Media ROI: 14 Formulas to Measure Social Media Benefits”. I’m only taking a look at 3 of the equations she proposes today due to time & space constraints. I recommend reading her full post when you have some time to dedicate to this topic.

Without further ado, here are the mathematical equations.

11) Support Value – Online Self-Service:

GOAL: Enable Self-Service, Reduce Support Costs

_____(#) weekly support calls per topic
X _____% calls likely solved by self-service
X $_____ average support phone call cost
___________________________________
= $ Call Support Value

Example:  Estimated 1,500 weekly support calls at which 70% could be resolved online via self-service at an equivalent support call value of $6.30 each = $7,056 equivalent call support value

I chose Item #11 about online self-service because this is something that a robust social media and web presence can impact. Online self-service applies to all brands, but I believe that this would have more relevance for brands in product categories where the average price point for the product offering is higher and the product category lends itself to extensive questions. As an example, I think Dell would be more inclined to apply this equation to their social media efforts more than Dairy Queen. What I like most about this equation is that it considers consumer mindset in wanting to engage with the brand in the social sphere. When there’s a pressing post purchase concern, visiting a company website and perusing the social media sites of the brand are pretty common behaviors towards resolving that concern.

One of the keys to successfully implementing a social media presence based on this idea is creating website & blog content that addresses the most common service concerns. The website and blog content can easily be used for social media updates. These posts should be blended with brand building posts as well.

Effectively handling these items in the social media space could lead to enhanced customer retention and future brand loyalty as well, which isn’t directly addressed in the equation. However, retention is an item that most brands value. Many brands know exactly what retaining an existing customer is worth vs. finding a new one.

13) Sales Value – Social Leads (Lifetime Value):

GOAL: Grow Revenue, Generate Leads, Acquire New Customers, Retain Customers

_____(#) qualified online social leads identified
X _____% lead-to-customer conversion rate
X $_____ (LTV) customer lifetime value
__________________________________
= $ New Customer Lifetime Sales Value

Example:  Estimated 100 qualified leads routed to sales teams with a typical lead-to-conversion rate of 4% at an average customer lifetime value (LTV) of $22,500 = $90,000 equivalent converted lead new customer lifetime sales value

Looking at this one, I see how companies in the B2B space would really be attracted to this, and many B2C companies would too. Brands with self-identified longer sales cycles would like it.

When one considers this equation within the MIT Management Review mental framework from the previous article, the equation gets murkier. The MIT Management Review was clear about wanting measurement of social media ROI to come from the incentives of the target consumer for using social media. In this equation, one wonders how the # of qualified online social leads identified is defined by the brand. Is this based on target consumers self-identifying? Is it based on evaluating a list of names of Followers on Twitter? I know I’d need greater clarity on this part of the equation.

Lead to customer conversion rate is really a good thing to know. There’s often statistics out there industry wide in a particular industry and a lot of brands would be cognizant of their own ratios and formally track it. LTV is an even more essential item to know.

14) Sales Value – Social-Aided Conversion:

GOAL: Grow Revenue, Boost Conversion

( _____% new conversion rate − _____% old conversion rate)
/ _____% old conversion rate
X $_____ average # monthly products sold
X $_____ average product sales value
__________________________________
= Increased Sales Value

Example:  Estimated conversion rate increase from 2% to 3.5% with an average 100 monthly products sold at $750 = $32,142 more in monthly product sales

I feel that this is a strong general metric after going from nothing to maintaining an active social media presence or after a significant change in the way that social media is being used by the brand.

Social media alone may not fully explain a new conversion rate. I’m also not sure how this formula accounts for changes on average # of monthly products sold and average product sales value. A change in conversion rate would change the # of monthly products sold and there may be an effect on value of product sales.

A February 2013 Mashable article had a great social media ROI suggestion.  It suggested to look at overall results, then work backwards. Though that’s not the most concrete way of doing things, I see value in it. Almost every mathematical equation will have some sort of flaw if one looks hard enough, so perhaps one of the simplest suggestions can provide a valuable perspective.