If you've got a few minutes, we've got a few great ideas. Actually, more than a few. Make that a lot.
Given that everyone is swamped at the end of the year, we thought this would be the perfect time to get marketers to share some of their best quick tips for success. From catalogs and events to social media and email, here's ideas you can use in your own campaigns for good luck in the new year and beyond.
SWEET IDEA:
STALK PROSPECTS (POLITELY!) IN SOCIAL MEDIA.
MARI LUANGRATH, founder/owner, Foiled Cupcakes
Before the 2009 launch of Foiled, the online gourmet cupcake delivery company she started in mid-2009, Mari Luangrath got the best marketing advice she's had to date: “Start invading conversations,” said a Twitter-savvy friend.
It turned out to be a winning notion. To date, Luangrath has barely used anything except social media to promote her company, which now sells about 1,000 dozen high-end handmade pastries a month at $38 a dozen. In fact, Luangrath estimates that about 94% of her company's sales to date have come through social media leads, and specifically Twitter.
To stay focused on the Chicago market at launch, Luangrath focused on followers of the local public radio station and scanned their feeds to find those who were talking about a topic dear to the hearts of her female 18 to 40 demographic: shoes and chocolate.
She listened in, contributed helpful links and advice, asked to see pictures of other people's new shoe buys. Inevitably, these Twitter friends saw her cupcake avatar and asked about the company, providing an opening for a very low-key sales pitch.
The same sociable-media approach turned up prospects among bride groups on TheKnot.com forum and among administrative professional groups on LinkedIn.
“These people order dozens of cupcakes for holiday parties and the boss' birthday,” she says. “I set a Google alert for relevant articles on Chicago social media, and then posted them with my comments. But it had to be relevant and genuine. You want to engage people, get feedback and start a conversation. Then you can say, ‘Why don't we drop some cupcakes by and show you what we do?’
“Basically, you just want to present yourself with courtesy and enthusiasm. After all, everyone likes cupcakes.”
— BRIAN QUINTON
SWEET IDEA:
MAKE CONTENT THE KEY INGREDIENT IN YOUR BRAND BUILDING PIE.
HALLEY SILVER, director of online services, King Arthur Flour
Halley Silver is a proponent of the axiom “content is king.” As director of online services for King Arthur Flour, a manufacturer/marketer of baking supplies, she uses nonpromotional content — recipes, how-tos, advice — in the company's emails and on its website to engage customers, burnish the brand's reputation and, ultimately, generate sales.
For instance, King Arthur usually sends at least two emails a week to subscribers, but Silver tries to include one or two editorial-only, nonselling emails a month. And even the more promotional messages include editorial content such as links to recipes or blog posts. “We really want people to look forward to opening the emails,” she says, “so we make sure there's some editorial content in every one.”
The relaunch this past summer of King Arthur's online community, the Baking Circle, is another source of content. The company had hosted an online forum for a number of years, but in July it integrated the Baking Circle into its ecommerce site and added a number of features. In addition to starting or contributing to discussions, forum members can view videos, share recipes, ask questions, or simply chat with other members — all in one place. “The best way to inspire and educate online is by having a conversation,” Silver says, and the integration of multiple features into the forum was designed to encourage ease of conversing.
And it's working. “We're seeing a big uptick in conversations,” Silver says. “This has been a great way for us to connect and get baking tips online. It also enables people to contact our customer service center” — to point out broken links, say, or to inquire about order status and, of course, to buy products referenced in the recipes they were discussing on the forum. — SHERRY CHIGER
SWEET IDEA:
MARKET AROUND YOUR AUDIENCE'S LIFESTYLE.
ANN CRANDALL, executive vice president of marketing, New York Road Runners
Not surprisingly, New York Road Runners gets the most marketing mileage close to the Nov. 7, 26.2-mile ING New York City Marathon. But a runner must keep a healthy lifestyle year-round to make it through the race, so the 40,000+ member nonprofit launched “I'm in. We're in.” last March, a campaign to communicate the health and wellness benefits of the sport.
The program offered sponsors a way to extend their reach by spreading marketing efforts across four phases of runners' lengthy preparation for the big race — the application process, the lottery, training and marathon week/race day.
“Instead of just six weeks before the marathon, partners can talk to runners about health and fitness throughout the year,” says Ann Crandall, executive vice president of marketing for NYRR. “After all, it's not just a one-day event. We are year-round — we have a race almost every weekend.”
The new program also speaks to runners and their friends and family through an updated website offering a new line of NYRR-branded merchandise and a newsletter that incorporates sponsors, like a Grana Padano cheese tour, during the marathon. And a “Marathon Monday Mania” scavenger hunt in early November had runners complete tasks involving sponsors, like photographing themselves in Dunkin' Donuts or Subway restaurants and then posting the pics on a Facebook page. — PATRICIA ODELL
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SWEET IDEA:
MAKE SURE EVERYONE IN YOUR ORGANIZATION IS LISTENING TO CUSTOMERS.
THERESA KUSHNER, director of customer intelligence, Cisco Systems
While business-to-business CRM may start with a backslap and a martini, Cisco Systems is using social media to build a better schmooze.
“Businesses go to certain [online] watering holes,” says Theresa Kushner, director of customer intelligence within Cisco's strategic marketing organization. “And those companies have individuals who are making decisions, who have voices they are sharing outside of their companies.”
The task of listening to customers and gaining insight isn't limited to one department within Cisco. It's an organization-wide initiative, and each branch — service, brand managers, marketing, sales — takes an active hand in making sure information gleaned gets to the right department.
For instance, if Cisco determines people are talking about security applications within a borderless network area offering, it could forward the information to product development. Or it might go to salespeople, especially those who knew their customers were using competitive products.
Tracking sentiment is easy when existing customers log on from work, or identify themselves as being with a specific organization. Keyword analysis software can isolate areas of concern. The hard part, says Kushner, is identifying business customer contacts when they talk about Cisco from personal accounts.
The ultimate goal — figure early 2012 — is for Cisco's sales force to have a constant stream of customer insight sent right to their desktops, whether through a Salesforce.com system or a social media feed. — RICHARD H. LEVEY
SWEET IDEA:
GIVE FANS ALL THE MOBILE THEY WANT, AND THEN SOME.
JEREMY ZIMMERMAN, director of new media, Pittsburgh Penguins
Talk about turning lemons into ice-cold lemonade. The Pittsburgh Penguins began looking for ways to stay engaged with their fans back during the NHL lockout of 2004-2005. What they arrived at, with the help of Vibes Media, was a 360-degree mobile experience that includes text-to-win sweepstakes, text-to-screen scoreboard engagement, and a mobile alert system that clues in Pittsburgh's college crowd when low-price tickets are still available on game days.
“Hockey fans are younger, more educated and more tech-savvy than the average sports fan,” says Jeremy Zimmerman, Penguins director of new media. “So three or four years ago, we jumped in and started using that channel as a marketing tool to reach our fans.”
The program's success is in the opt-in numbers. The Penguins now have about 70,000 mobile numbers in their main database, where members sign up to receive news, game recaps, off-season trades and special offers. And the Student Rush Club has grown to about 17,000 members — big enough that American Eagle has sponsored the ticket alerts and run banner ads at the top.
Enhancements have followed, including smartphone apps that show archived video. But the big step came this season with the Penguins' move to a new stadium equipped with a new pilot video system from Carnegie Mellon University that lets attendees watch the game from six different angles over their phone screens, along with display ads from sponsor Verizon Wireless. — BQ
SWEET IDEA:
CHECK OUT CHECK-INS, EVEN FOR SURPRISING CONSUMABLES.
CASEY PETERSEN, Internet business specialist, Murphy USA
Murphy USA sells gas, mostly in 1,000 locations linked to Walmart stores. So you think families, moms, Middle America, but not leading-edge mobile users, right?
Think again. Last June the company began testing a program that offered rewards to users who checked into its retail locations via the Whrrl social network. Those perks ranged from a slew of $1-off coupons and free beverage and snack offers to a daily giveaway of $50 in free gas.
After testing for three months, Murphy revealed that a whopping 44% of the check-ins came from new customers. Since the only promotion Murphy did was to place signs at the pumps, says Murphy's Internet business specialist Casey Petersen, the new traffic came from users checking in and sharing their locations with their friends via Facebook and Twitter.
“When we went looking for an online program, mobile seemed to give people the way to sign up for something at a station so we could pull them online later,” Petersen says. “Location-based services are perfect for that, and Whrrl's demographics skew very heavily toward women and moms.”
Studying check-ins gave Murphy USA some other interesting insights. For example, people who used the Whrrl network were three-times more likely than the brand's average users to visit more than once a week. And 85% of those check-ins said they chose Murphy USA over a competing gas retailer nearby. — BQ
SWEET IDEA:
BUILD BUZZ WITH AN INVISIBLE POP-UP STORE.
KERRY KEENAN, executive director for creative content, Young & Rubicam
Athletic shoe maker Airwalk wanted to create excitement around a limited-edition return of its classic Jim shoe, made popular in the '90s by skateboarders. So digital agency Y&R opted to take the campaign directly to the places the shoe was born — namely, public parks in New York and Los Angeles.
The company put the word out through shoe-fan social media that collectors in those metros should download the GoldRun iPhone geo-location app. Then, on Nov. 7, the company activated an augmented reality geo-location campaign that allowed the first 300 log-ins in Washington Square Park and Venice Beach to see a Jim shoe floating on their phone screens.
While users could see the shoe until midnight Nov. 7, only the first 300 were able to click through to the Airwalk ecommerce site and buy a pair of Jims.
“The idea of linking an exclusive fan to an exclusive purchase that you can't buy at retail made this work,” says Kerry Keenan, Y&R executive director for creative content. “Marketers tell stories, and these locations were part of that story.”
For a campaign that got the word out to fashion, sneaker, music, design and tech bloggers only a few days before the promotion, the response was amazing yet manageable, Keenan says. Meanwhile, traffic to the Airwalk website is reportedly stronger than ever. — BQ
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SWEET IDEA:
‘ONE-SIZE SOCIAL’ DOESN'T FIT ALL VERTICAL MARKETS.
ERIC MAJCHRZAK, marketing director, Freed Maxick & Battaglia
If you're a B-to-B firm that targets everyone from butchers to bakers to candlestick makers, don't think you can just put all your prospects into one cozy social media tub. Professionals in different vertical markets gravitate to different social sites and platforms, and that means marketers wanting to build relationships with them should do the same.
Buffalo, NY-based CPA firm Freed Maxick & Battaglia does exactly that, with a marketing department functioning like a mini-agency creating social strategies tailored to different audiences.
“In some industry niches, social may play a bigger role than others,” says Eric Majchrzak, marketing director. “We do the research and see if prospects in a particular niche are heavily into something like blogs or LinkedIn, or have Facebook pages. It all depends on the vertical.”
Entrepreneurs are one example of a niche that responds well to social media, he notes. They tend to utilize these platforms not only because they can control and personalize their messages, but because social can be relatively inexpensive.
Small business owners are particularly reachable by Twitter, because they themselves are often the voice behind their accounts. In a billion-dollar entity, Majchrzak points out, you don't know who is doing the tweeting in the name of the organization. It could be the CEO — or a college intern.
In his own company, Majchrzak is working to create internal social “champions” who are comfortable in that medium.
“While someone might not be comfortable meeting with bankers over lunch or on a golf course or at a cocktail party, they might be a fantastic blogger.” — BETH NEGUS VIVEIROS
SWEET IDEA:
TURN YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH INTO A SPECIAL OCCASION.
J. SCHAFFER, senior manager — promotions, Nissan
The Nissan Leaf is an attraction on its own: 100% electric, zero emissions, no tailpipe. People want to look at it, touch it, check under the hood. But how does Nissan convert that excitement to a sale?
Starting last May, the six month “Drive Electric Tour” brought the car to numerous distance running and cycling events as part of a massive integrated marketing plan, resulting in the sale months ago of all 20,000 vehicles available for pre-order.
Additionally, in 23 markets through March 2011, the car is being showcased in a three-step experience catering to groups of 15 to 20 enthusiasts. The first step showcases the battery and charging. The second focuses on the “sexy science” behind the vehicle, like how to use a smartphone to check battery levels. The third is dedicated to the 100-mile range of the vehicle.
“You want to have a deep engagement with people. Just putting a car out in front of them just doesn't do enough these days, there has to be some sort of takeaway so that they stay connected to the brand,” says J. Schaffer, senior manager, Nissan promotions.
One person from each group is selected to show how the Leaf would work for them. The experience is built in glass boxes so reps can keep the flow moving smoothly. The final piece, a test-drive in one of 14 Leafs, has been taken by “several thousand” people in each market. — PO
SWEET IDEA:
THINK OUT OF THE BOX WHEN LOOKING FOR COPYWRITING TALENT.
CAROL KENDRA, CMO, The Henry Ford
The Henry Ford wanted a distinct voice for its catalog copy — chatty and friendly, yet colorfully evocative of the artisans whose work it showcases.
So rather than go to an agency, it retained David Lyman, a freelance journalist who has served as the voice of the catalog for five years.
“His background as a travel writer was very appealing to us, as we are trying to be intelligent, yet conversational — a mix he very much achieves helping people understand the relevancy of our products in a meaningful way,” says Carol Kendra, CMO of the Dearborn, MI, historical attraction.
The catalog was developed in 2005 as part of a national communications strategy to position the museum as both a destination and a brand. Outside of the copy, creative on the book — which has a 200,000-copy annual circ — is handled by the inhouse creative services department.
“The catalog is designed to not just sell product, but to inspire people by meaningfully connecting our stories. The photography mixes contemporary products with authentic, historical artifacts and buildings, which has become a signature look and as big a part of storytelling as the copy itself,” Kendra notes. “Our audience is split equally between men and women, with a focus on those with a rich appreciation for history, authenticity and handcrafted items.”
Social media ties into the catalog mix as well, helping promote items like limited-edition glass candy cane Christmas ornaments, which collectors begin reserving in July. — BNV
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SWEET IDEA:
PAY YOUR CUSTOMERS TO BE YOUR MARKETING DEPARTMENT.
GIOVANNAH CHIU, director of lifestyle marketing, Karmaloop
As befits a seller of streetwear targeting teens and young adults, Karmaloop was taking advantage of social networking back when a “tweet” was something a bird uttered. In fact, its rep program, which incentivizes customers to promote the brand, is one of the initiatives that director of lifestyle marketing Giovannah Chiu is most proud of. With 6,500 reps worldwide, the program accounts for about 20% of Karmaloop's roughly $100 million in sales.
Reps are given a customized code that they are encouraged to share via their personal blogs, websites, Facebook pages and just about any other channels they fancy, “so they kind of develop their own customer base,” Chiu says. For each sale they generate they earn points that can be applied for Karmaloop merchandise. Karmaloop provides them with downloadable banners, flyers and the like, as well as a few ground rules — “there are certain things we do inhouse that we don't want them cannibalizing,” such as keyword bidding, Chiu says. Otherwise, “we encourage being creative and unique.”
The rep program is a natural extension of 10-year-old Karmaloop's online roots. “We had a blog and a newsletter at the very beginning that wasn't always part of the ecommerce site,” Chiu recalls. These focused at least as much on music and events as on Karmaloop's apparel offering, building credibility and creating a sense of community with its core audience.
“We have our built-in audience and the trust and loyalty of millions of 18- to 24-year-old kids, and they're going to follow us, because peer-to-peer is how we do that,” Chiu says. — SC
SWEET IDEA:
GET PARENTS TO SHOP BY INVOLVING THEIR KIDS IN THE PROCESS.
MATTHEW WARNER, merchandise manager, children and teen's books, Barnes & Noble
Children might not help earn the money coming into their household, but they sure as heck help dictate where it's spent. Barnes & Noble is harnessing some of that pint-sized buying power with the new B&N Kids Club.
“In this tough economy, we wanted to reward parents and caregivers for the shopping that they already do with us and to encourage them to continue to see us as their go-to place for children's books and educational toys and games,” says Matthew Warner, merchandise manager, children and teen's books.
Beyond the expected instore and online discounts on books (members get a 30% off coupon just for joining), the retailer created the B&N Kids' Expert Circle, an online resource to further involve moms and dads in the brand. There, members can find advice from folks like former Assistant Secretaries of Education, noted pediatricians and best-selling authors on topics ranging from starting school and reading to potty training and imaginary friends.
Also, this past summer Barnes & Noble launched the Online Storytime program, a video/book program that features authors and celebrities reading great picture books. “It's targeted toward parents of children ages two to six and has showcased authors like Maurice Sendak reading Where the Wild Things Are and Jan Brett reading The Mitten, says Warner. In December, Chris Van Allsburg reads The Polar Express. — BNV
SWEET IDEA:
MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS' ONLINE EXPERIENCE AS COMPLETE AS POSSIBLE.
TONY HARRIS, CMO, Digi-Key Corp.
For decades Digi-Key Corp. sold electronic components to engineers, tradesmen and hobbyists exclusively via its encyclopedic print catalog, eschewing an outside sales force. But since CMO Tony Harris was hired four years ago, the company has focused on strengthening its ecommerce efforts and improving the online experience for its audience.
The Lighting and System Design virtual symposium held in Aug. 2010 is a case in point. Like an in-person trade show, the seven-hour online event included a keynote speaker, multiple tracks of sessions, and an exhibit floor featuring a number of the 450-plus companies whose products are distributed by Digi-Key. The event strengthened Digi-Key's relationships with vendors and positioned it as a knowledgeable industry source.
Harris's other initiatives include the creation of sector-specific Tech Zones on digikey.com. These microsites include not just products but also articles, videos, white papers and other resources for each particular market sector. Given that Digi-Key sells close to 2 million SKUs, this sort of simplification is critical.
Many of Digi-Key's online efforts — including its introduction of mobile and iPad apps, a YouTube channel and downloadable widgets — are cutting edge not only for the components industry but for direct marketers as a whole. That's because Harris doesn't look to Digi-Key's direct competitors for inspiration. “I look outward to companies like eBay or Amazon or L.L. Bean or Netflix to see what they do,” he says. “It doesn't matter if someone is an engineer or the president of a company, they have a general expectation of how they go about and source something online, whether it's a refrigerator or a camera or B-to-B products.” — SC
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SWEET IDEA:
TARGET PROSPECTS BASED ON THEIR NEEDS, NOT YOUR WANTS.
PAUL-HENRI FERRAND, CMO, consumer and small/medium business, Dell
Dell will, of course, sell a computer to any interested prospect. But the “You Can Tell It's Dell” campaign is moving the focus away from mass marketing in favor of targeting four specific segments.
Each of the four groups — families with kids, mobile professionals, gamers and Gen-Y consumers — is being targeted with ads designed to appeal to it, and moves away from price-focused, transactional advertising, according to Paul-Henri Ferrand, the CMO of Dell's consumer and small and medium business unit.
Ferrand has his work cut out for him: The consumer business represents more than 19% of Dell's overall revenue, and is the fastest growing business unit within the company.
The creative design behind each segments' ads reflects a variety of psychographic information: The quest for self-expression and connectivity among Gen Y'ers; the need for value and enhanced productivity among families with kids (where mothers tend to make most of the purchase decisions); gamers' desire to own high-performance equipment; and the freedom offered by mobile devices to those in the workforce.
The campaign launched in late October in the U.S. Efforts will be tailored to each market as it is rolled out across the globe.
“We have a clear strategy of where we want to go, and we're aligning efforts to ensure that this isn't just a U.S.-centric transformation,” Ferrand says. — RHL
SWEET IDEA:
GET PERSONAL IN DIRECT MAIL TO ENGAGE YOUR FLOCK.
JAMES KOPP, director of diocesan services, Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie, PA
For many parishioners, belonging to a church is as much about community as it is about worship. That' why it made perfect sense for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie, PA, to get personal in a postcard mailing earlier this year to lapsed donors.
The diocese used personalized URLs not so much to raise money but to establish engagement with the recipients, says James Kopp, director of diocesan services for the Cathedral Corp., the diocese's agency, noting that while PURLs are common among for-profit and educational direct marketers, they're rarely used for religious fundraising.
About $110,000 was raised from an $8,000 investment in the campaign, which asked “What Does Being Catholic Mean to Me?” Kopp notes that money was raised not directly from the postcards, but through subsequent direct mail efforts to the same people, some of whom had not contributed in 10 years.
“Rather than just ask them for money, what we decided to do was remind them what it was to be Catholic to get them to feel good about the faith again,” says Kopp.
The series of three oversize postcards featured a web address that included the recipient's name and name of the local parish priest. At the URL, the parishioner was given answers to the question, such as “It means that I belong,” “It means that I am part of something larger than myself,” and It means that I have a caring pastor.” — LARRY RIGGS
SWEET IDEA:
GET YOUR SALES AND MARKETING FUNCTIONS WORKING IN SYNC.
KATRINA MCGHEE, executive vice president/CMO, Susan G. Komen for the Cure
If you want to reach today's overloaded consumer, you need to have all communications from your organizations working together for one cohesive call to action.
That's why Susan G. Komen for the Cure decided to have one person oversee its marketing and sales functions this fall, naming Katrina McGhee executive vice president and CMO. This meant it could bridge the disconnect between the cause-related marketing it does through corporate partners and its own communications. “The splintering of messaging means there are so many messages that they become white noise to the consumer,” McGhee says.
Merging these functions also allows Komen to expand the scope of its activities. Take its January 2011 four-day event in the Bahamas, which marks the first time the organization will host a 5K run and a marathon at the same event. It's more than just a fundraiser for a country where 23% of the women carry the BRCA1 gene mutation (an indicator of disposition toward breast cancer): It's a chance to bring together two types of runners, along with their families, for a wide range of family-friendly, yet mission-focused activities.
Or consider its nascent focus on Hispanic communities, an initiative similar to Komen's Circle of Promise, which focuses on African-American women, says McGhee, who previously worked in sports marketing and with another nonprofit.
“When I go to a potential corporate partner, I know to say ‘what are your core objectives? Here are mine — what's the win-win?’” McGhee says. “You don't find that conversation happens with many nonprofits. We understand the language of business.” — RHL
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