Friday, October 22, 2010

Coke Shuffles Marketing Org to Reflect Changing Landscape

How does a company become one of the most recognized and respected brands on the planet? In the case of Coke (get it, case of Coke?) it’s comes from the benefit of a lot of years of being at it (over 100) making changes along the way (sometimes failing miserably like the New Coke debacle) and adjusting to the shifts in how people receive, digest and disseminate marketing messages.

It appears as if they are well on their way to keeping their position if the recent moves in their organization are any indication. AdAge reports

Coca-Cola announced internally today that it is making changes to the leadership team of its global integrated marketing communications and capabilities organization. That group, led by Wendy Clark, falls under Joe Tripodi, chief marketing and commercial officer.

“It’s recognition of a shift in the landscape,” said Ms. Clark, senior-VP integrated marketing communications and capabilities. “Increasingly, we understand the idea of a liquid and linked landscape. And perhaps we weren’t structured for ultimate success within that landscape.”

Seeing large, iconic brands recognize that in order to remain at the top and compete in the future that they need to have their organizations reflect the new marketing reality is pretty big. It was last year in fact that a representative of Coke said that Coke.com was no longer their home page but Google and social media in general was where people reach Coke and truly was their front facing web presence. In a day and age where it’s pretty easy to poke fun at big companies and their lack of social media savvy this move is pretty refreshing (like an ice cold Coke on a hot day, right?).

The article went on to explain more of the theory that went behind this shift in the marketing organization and why a key hire was made.

Ivan Pollard, formerly global partner at Naked Communications in London, will be relocating to Atlanta to take on the role of VP-global connections. He had been working with Coca-Cola in his role at the agency, most recently leading the integrated agency efforts for the brand’s World Cup efforts. His new role will include leading the company’s efforts to engage consumers through paid, owned, shared and earned media.

First of all, look at his title, VP-global connections. A non-traditional title because traditional marketing, while still important, is not the beginning and end all for brands. His role? To engage consumers. Enough said. With a brand that is purely a consumer product play engagement will be critical because that’s what individuals are learning to expect from the brands they support.

And if you were not convinced already that Coke is setting the stage for the new look marketing organizations of the future see what Wendy Clark had to say about what they had been seeing that prompted this change.

Ms. Clark said that, previously, the organization had been more siloed and, in some ways, put more emphasis on paid media. It was a revelation to discover that of the 150 million views the brand has amassed on YouTube, only 25 million to 30 million of those views could be attributed to content Coca-Cola had put into the marketplace.

Wait, did I read that correctly? Someone at a big company had the smarts and humility to realize that the success of the brand wasn’t all about their efforts? Instead they are listening to the marketplace and responding in a way to best capitalize on the market conditions that are evolving now and will only become more important moving forward.

Look, maybe you guessed it already but I am a Coca-Cola bigot. It’s the only soft drink I will ever consider and I look for other types of drinks to have the Coca-Cola origin to decide if I will try them or not.

Having said that I like the brand even more now that I see that as a company they are staying flexible and responding to the shifts and changes in the world of consumer marketing in a way that will give others pause to think “Is this the real thing and should we being doing it too?”

So have a great weekend and enjoy a Coke and a smile!

The Cult of McRib: How Fake Ribs Drive Real Product Buzz

It was during the summer of 2006 when I sat down with my first McRib. Over the next two weeks, I ate at McDonald’s seven times, downing eight rib-resembling sandwiches (I clearly wasn’t having the best day on one of those visits). Despite the obsession, the McRib hasn’t crossed my mind often in the four years that have passed. Until ten days ago as I was browsing my Twitter feed …

McDonald's confirms the McRib's triumphant return on Twitter

McDonald's confirms the McRib's triumphant return on its official Twitter account.

The McRib will be gracing menus in less than two weeks and fans have wasted no time leveraging digital media to celebrate its resurrection. There’s the handy McRib Locato r to map sightings, @McRibWatch on Twitter for real-time updates while on the hunt, and more than 200 Facebook groups dedicated in some way to the elusive sandwich – all unofficial. All this for a sandwich available for a limited time “because people get tired of it,” according to the McDonald’s U.S. president.

Parables of cross-country travel and sandwich-smuggling have framed the sandwich as a cult product, appealing to a cadre of obsessive fans with most consumers left to smirk (or gag). However, in an era of heightened word of mouth and social media broadcast, a growing group of McRib fans is finding its voice. While McDonald’s’ most infamous sandwich has a history of online success spurred by farewell tours and a “Save the McRib” campaign, this is the first opportunity social media users nationwide have had to be vocal.

Aside from a tweet here and a Facebook post there, the buzz hasn’t been driven by McDonald’s – it originated from the cult. Is it possible then, after 30 years of cult success and purported esoteric status, this is the year the McRib emerges from the underground? I think so.

Why? Word of mouth qualities inherent in the product – driven by social media. Between the pickles, onions, and hoagie roll is a sandwich that has buzz (among other dubious ingredients) in its DNA. While some of its success has been accidental and some has been random, three fundamental qualities of the McRib that have helped McDonald’s spur genuine word of mouth in 2010 – and might help you generate buzz too.

Intangibles make the McRib buzz-worthy (Photo credit: Electric Mayhem)

The product's marketing intangibles make the McRib buzz-worthy.

1. The McRib is like no other. Clearly a fact that can’t be argued. Though, I don’t mean because the sandwich is a cultural oddity – the sandwich is remarkable in both composition and proposition. Even from a quality standpoint, the McRib is no lobster tail, but lobster tail is already lobster tail – what’s the point? In an online landscape, uniqueness can spark WOM, but it’s only the beginning.

2. The McRib doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. It’s not a hamburger, it’s not for everyone, and, heck, some people don’t even think it’s pork. No matter, because McDonald’s embraces an inadvertently crowdsourced mythos of the sandwich that grows every time it returns to the menu. While many products aren’t received with such foolhardy affection, the key is authenticity and it is fundamental to the survival of any product or service online.

3. The McRib is no stranger. Not only has McDonald’s embraced the sandwich’s following, the company feeds its fans through interaction and responsiveness. While engagement is a no-brainer at this point, one-on-one interaction is still rare for organizations of any size. Obviously, social media channels allow for an opportunity to strengthen a bond and delight an acknowledged customer. Any organization on social media must engage - it’s not on a wish list, it’s on a must list.

Setting the landscape for buzz includes product or service uniqueness, authenticity, and responsiveness. While these aren’t the only qualities necessary for generating word of mouth, it’s essential they’re baked – or molded – into a product or service.

What other product attributes do you think are necessary? Do these principles apply to your organization? Answer those questions while I gas-up my car – a McRib was just reported in Falls Church, Virginia about 10 miles away.

Image credit: Electric Mayhem.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Banned By the NBA – Making a Killing Off Bad Press

Imagine creating a company and building a product that could revolutionize the way people live, do business or play sports… then being told your product couldn’t be used for business or in any professions? This would be detrimental to your business, and the idea of not having a pro athlete / entertainer being about to sponsor and sport your product would be a disaster!… or would it?

This is EXACTLY what has happened to a new shoe company, Athletic Propulsion Labs and their new $300 shoes called the “Concept 1“. The promise from the company is that these shoes will increase your vertical jump anywhere from 1-8 inches. Sounds crazy right? Well… not too crazy! The NBA has banned the use of these shoes as they are considered a performance enhancing product. The only thing better than having Lebron James or Kobe Bryant running down the court in a pair of these, is the NBA banning these shoes and solidifying the amazing claim that these shoes WILL make you jump higher!

What seems like a disaster for Athletic Propulsion Labs, has turned into anything but. ESPN and every other sports outlet has been covering the story and Athletic Propulsion Labs is getting an amazing amount of exposure for their breakthrough technology shoe for nothing. Heck… I even ordered a pair to give them a try!

Check out some of the free publicity Athletic Propulsion Labs has been receiving due to their shoes being banned in the NBA. This is the type of exposure that can’t be bought!

- Rejection by N.B.A. Gives New Shoes Even Greater Bounce

- NBA: Players can’t wear Concept 1s

- NBA Bans Athletic Propulsion Labs’ Concept 1 Shoe Designed to Increase Vertical Leap

- Can special basketball shoes really make you jump higher?

My favorite article so far has been the one from Sports Illustrated (bottom link above) where they actually do a video test. In short, one guy jumps off one foot and doesn’t see much of a different, then another jumps off two and jumps a bit higher than he ever has before. We will have to wait for more people to purchase the Concept 1s and take their video testimonials to YouTube to see the truth behind these shoes and if they really work.

In the meantime… Athletic Propulsion Labs will bask in the glory of being “Banned by the NBA“! What a great way to kick off the upcoming NBA season!

When An Increase In Ad Spend Numbers Really Isn’t

You know how we feel about research here at Marketing Pilgrim. If you don’t have your ‘grain of salt’ hat on when you read most surveys and reports you could be led down a path that isn’t what you thought it might be.

The latest version of this is a report from Nielsen (as reported by MediaPost in an article titled “More Confidence, More Advertising) about increased ad spending trends. Here is the chart that was of most interest to me. Needless to say, when I saw it I had a few questions.

First, take a look at the sectors that have increased their ad spend the most. Automotive and things connected to automotive. Where is that ‘confidence’ coming from? Well, read some of the details behind the numbers and you may be able to guess.

Overall, there was a 3% increase in the top 10 product categories, with the largest growth by far seen in automotive and auto insurance. The automotive advertising was driven largely by increased spending by General Motors, which was up 73% over 1H09. Ford and Toyota also grew their ad spending by 15% and 22% respectively. An increase of 82% for UAW Health Care Trust contributed to the first half growth in the auto insurance category. All other categories, except department stores (+5%) and restaurants (+2%) showed declines in the first six months of the year.

Ok so here I go with my take on this. General Motors advertising up 73%. All that says is that your tax dollars are hard at work. With the government owning the majority of the company you might expect that there is a critical need to get some revenue since now if GM tanks we are all shareholders to a degree. Is the ad spend increase due to the market and the current success of GM? Hardly. That increase is a bailout increase not a result of confidence. It’s about PR and appearing to be strong. I don’t think it’s because of their stellar performance and confidence in the market.

Look at the other automakers. Ford (no stimulus) up 15% which is likely because they are just keeping pace. Toyota? A Toyota ad spend increase has little or nothing to do with consumer confidence. In fact, it’s quite the opposite because it has everything to do with corporate incompetence! They have been such a reputation and PR train wreck this entire year they have to advertise just to reassure people that they are not really as stupid as they appear! It’s like reporting that gas companies increased ad dollars is due to success and BP led the charge with huge increase in ad spend. Would that spend be due to consumer confidence or saving their behinds?

Look, I am not trying to pee on everyones’ Corn Flakes by saying that there is no real ad spend increase. I am just pointing out the truth of these matters rather than trying to BS my way into believing something that appears to be pretty weak at best.

We all want things to turn around. But to put money into an advertising environment that is unhealthy just because we are told it’s getting better when it’s really not, is not good for anyone. If companies throw more money down the drain advertising to a public that can’t buy anything due to the economy that will only serve to slow a recovery.

Personally, I just like the truth and it often lies well beneath the numbers that get paraded around on the surface. No one likes to be misled and trying to manufacture a reality that is not based on facts and reality is bad practice. Oh and by the way, sometimes the truth is harsh but until we learn to deal in it vs. a business fantasyland we will continue to take beatings like we are taking now.

Sermon over. Resume your day .

How to Publish Your Book in the iBookstore

image of iBookstore

One of the original forms of content marketing is publishing a good old-fashioned book. It’s not the book sales that make most business authors wealthy, but what they can do because they’ve written a book — consulting, speaking engagements, and more.

But here’s the twist. A recent report out a few weeks ago that electronic books are outselling paperback books, and Apple expects to sell more than 28 million iPads by the end of 2011. So it’s no surprise that a lot of writers want to know how they can get a new-fangled electronic book into the iBookstore.

Getting your book into the iBookstore can be a low-cost and profitable route that exposes your work to entirely new markets. But getting a book approved by Apple isn’t a simple process.

You need to follow specific guidelines for preparing and publishing in order to avoid time-consuming headaches and a rejection email.

This post offers you a step-by-step guide to preparing and publishing your book for submission to the Apple iBookstore.

Preparing your book for electronic publication

It is important to make sure that once readers download your digital book, they have a really good experience with it. That’s what gets them to mention it to others, talk it up on social media sites, and rate it well.

Part of ensuring a good digital experience is in the editing process. This post on BubbleCow discusses some really important elements of self-editing.

You also need good design. Great covers sell books. And with digital books, it’s doubly important to capture reader attention, since the icons are small and there is so much to see at one time.

A couple of places to look for quality cover designers are 2H Designs (UK) and The Book Designer (US). Whether you use those services or not, they’ll give you a good idea of the types of design services out there.

Self publishing for the iBookstore

Apple’s distribution system for the iPad is a free app called iBooks. This app allows you to buy and download books from the iBookstore.

Apple doesn’t have too many restrictions on the books that can be uploaded to the iBookstore, but individual writers are not able to directly upload titles.

In that case, you must be wondering why I am writing this guide. Well, as it turns out, Apple has appointed a number of iBookstore aggregators that are approved to submit books to the iBookstore for you.

For this article I am going to focus on using Lulu. Another popular option is Smashwords.

Here are some things to take into consideration before you get started with an aggregator:

Cover Image. You will need a quality book cover image (JPEG) and it must be a vertical rectangle shape at least 600 pixels tall. The cover should include both the title and the author name. It cannot be a greyscale image and it cannot contain hyperlinks or web site addresses. Also, keep the image PG-13 (no nudity).

Content Restrictions. You must be the original author, or exclusive digital publisher or distributor. Apple strictly forbids content that encourages illegal activities, promotes intolerance or discrimination, invades the privacy of any person, or that slanders or libels a person or organization. Erotica that depicts underage people engaged in or witnessing sexual acts is totally off-limits, in addition to being just plain wrong.

Pricing. Apple prices ebooks in 99-cent increments, so you are encouraged to do the same.

ISBN. You need to get an ISBN for your ebook. Most aggregators have services that will automatically assign you one.

Get your books into the iBookstore

Now that you have your book edited, a cover created, your pricing set, and have had it checked for content, you are ready to use an aggregator and get your digital book into the iBookstore. (One important thing to know before you move forward: you retain all copyrights and intellectual property rights to your books.)

I’ll take Lulu as an example of the steps you’ll go through to get your digital book into the iBookstore. The steps are very similar for all aggregators.

ePub format. ePub is the format Apple accepts for ebooks. Lulu has a service that will run a special ePub checker and then convert your book into the proper format that is guaranteed to pass Apple’s strict guidelines. You can also submit the ePub file yourself using any number of ePub services as well as Apple’s own Pages program. If you want a speedy process, I would suggest using the aggregator’s services to avoid any technical holdups.
Cover image. You will need your cover image to upload along with your ebook in ePub format.
ISBN. Lulu will assign your book an ISBN as part of their regular service.
Upload. You can now upload all your files and supply all of the necessary information about your book.
Get Paid. Apple retains 30% of all revenue from sales on the iBookstore. The publisher (that’s you) receives 80% of the remaining revenue and Lulu receives 20%. Or you can pay Lulu a one-time fee and you won’t pay them any additional commissions.

That’s it. You now have your very own book in the Apple iBookstore for sale.

Now, of course, it’s time to market it. But that’s another post …

Free Affiliate Training from Wolf Storm Media

We all know that affiliate networks are still one of the driving forces in the pay per lead industry and also one of the most competitive markets you can get into. Go to any affiliate conference, and if you are an affiliate, the networks will pounce on you trying to get your traffic. Ask why you should run their offers and you will usually get the same answer…”best offers, highest payouts!“. They all promise the same thing, but that game doesn’t work anymore. Network are having to truly focus on being the best around, and coming up with new incentives to bring in new and active affiliates.

One of the most recent networks to get into the affiliate game is Wolf Storm Media. The goal behind Wolf Storm Media, is still to compete with other networks by offering a wide selection of offers at competitive rates, but also to pay all affiliates on a weekly basis (ACH, and earning at least $50). Another focus from Wolf Storm Media is their affiliate training center, which walks affiliate through the process of how to setup new ad campaigns across different platforms, such as Facebook Ads, Plenty of Fish, CPV, Media Buying and more.

There are currently over 400 different ad campaigns to choose from within the network. The majority of them are in the categories of Games, Dating, Mobile and Email Submits. The pay outs on most offers available through the network are in line or slightly higher/lower than other competition networks. Base rates among the networks are never a huge deal, as everything is negotiated on volume. WSM also pays out a 5% commission on all referred affiliates.

We are seeing a growing trend in the affiliate network space over the past recent years. Successful affiliates are moving away from just pushing affiliate offers, to running their own affiliate networks. Wolf Storm Media was started and run by Jeremiah Cooper, who also first started out as an affiliate and now in the affiliate network game. The WSM network is run off the HasOffers platform, which many other networks are also operating off of.

Preview of WSM Affiliate Training Area

Before reviewing the network, I asked Jeremiah what makes Wolf Storm Media different from the majority of other networks out there competing for your business. The response was “Our network is dedicated to training our affiliates in any way we can.“, which can be demonstrated through the affiliate training section setup to WSM network users. Jeremiah also says the following about their affiliate training area “The training area consists of video and text tutorials in several of the affiliate friendly traffic sources. We also have a private forum for affiliates to use to ask questions, and help each other. All of our account managers are affiliates as well – and are happy to answer any questions our affiliates have. We’re here to help affiliates build, scale and optimize their campaigns.“. The last thing I wanted to ask Jeremiah about, was the ability to build out custom landing pages and ad copy for affiliates, to which I was told, “We have several designers that we work close with – and I’m working on setting up a creative services department so that all of our affiliates can use our team to design their creatives and landing pages should they choose to do so.”

Wolf Storm Media is one of the most recent networks to go live and compete in a very tough space. If you are a successful affiliate, or even a newbie and still trying to figure things out, WSM promises to take the necessary steps to take you to that next level, or even your first. Join Wolf Storm Media today.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Have Corporate Blogs Really Caught On Yet?

We see report after report after report of the acceptance or the non-acceptance of corporate blogging as a marketing tool. Often the measurement is done based on the activities of the Fortune 50 or 500 which I find a little puzzling since they are likely to have the most difficult environment to truly blog based on rules and regulations that keep public companies from themselves regarding the financial side of the ledger.

eMarketer, however, is taking another stab at looking at this part of the online marketing world and sees the following from data that apparently goes beyond just the big boys. (Note – The full report is from eMarketer and is for sale on their site and MP receives no compensation from eMarketer).

Honestly, that is still a pretty low percentage in my estimation considering the potential value of a blog (if done correctly, kept up and truly utilized which is what keeps most away from the practice to begin with). Even with the prediction of 43% of companies utilizing the technique by 2012 it seems low but that’s just me.

What else did they uncover about blogs? The usual funny stuff that shows just how lame traditional media can be when it cries foul around their online counterparts / competition then turns around and relies on it for information for their ‘profession’.

Here is a chart showing how journalists use the online space (I think the correlation to the blogging info above is that they use blogs as sources but that’s just a guess). There is quite a dependency on all things online for these folks including ones, like Wikipedia, that are notorious for their content being factual vs. fictional (although maybe the truth is setting in since their dependence is down from last year).

So is corporate blogging set to become more commonplace? Will there be a time when over 50% of the companies are using blogs to their benefit? Is the importance of corporate blogs overplayed? Should companies at least be blogging so they can feed journalists the information they want to see published since they are increasingly being used for sources anyway?

You tell us. You’re the experts after all. Thanks.

Five Tips for New Grads: How to Use Social Media to Start Your Career

It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in my dorm room sending my college roommates links to YouTube videos and someecards on Facebook. Fast forward four years later; I never expected I’d be starting a career in social media. In those four years social media revolutionized communication, and a career in the field means the opportunity to be part of one of the most exciting, rapidly changing areas of marketing and PR today.

For new college grads, we’ve been using the Internet as another social layer of our lives since high school, and the lines between personal and professional use can often be blurry. When pursuing your career, it’s important to make sure that your passion for sharing content via the social web will help you get hired—not turn employers off. Here are a few things I’ve learned to keep in mind:

Be careful of your online footprint. Don’t underestimate what employers will be able to find about you online. Be aware of what results search engines return, and keep this in mind whenever you post updates, upload photos, or comment online. Make sure what employers find reinforces a positive impression of who you are, from anyone’s perspective. Creating a personal website or public resume on LinkedIn, starting a Twitter handle with your full name in the profile, or blogging about your professional interests can be good ways to control the information that comes up about you in search.
Always present yourself the way you want to be perceived. Similar to a job interview, the way you act and the things you say on social media platforms can quickly make or break an employer’s idea of who you are. Check spelling and grammar, and if it’s something too personal for work, it should probably be left offline. Stay away from profanity and vulgarity—you (most likely) wouldn’t cuss in front of your boss or a client, so you shouldn’t online either.
Share your professional knowledge. Hiding behind a private Twitter handle may not be the best way to advance your career. Impress prospective employers and new colleagues with your expert skills at using your own social media accounts and with the quality of the content you share there.
Learn by watching others. Take note of how the professionals you admire use social media to build their personal brand. Gather insights into best practices and make an effort to use the techniques you observe and make them your own.
Continue to be curious. Social media provides a constant, real-time source of news and professional resources. Follow the Twitter handles or blogs of the movers and shakers in your field. Take note of the strategies world class companies are using. Social media moves fast, and it’s up to you to be on top of it.

Pair these practices with a portfolio filled with great leadership and experience, examples of the results you drove and an energetic attitude, and you’ll be applying for jobs with social media on your side. To see what positions are available within the Ogilvy PR 360° Digital Influence team, make sure to check here: http://blog.ogilvypr.com/careers/.

What tips do you have for using social media as you start your career?

Google Ventures Likes Local Play

Google continues its foray into the world of local Internet marketing and services with an investment by Google Ventures into a local deal site called Signpost (originally named Postabon).

At this point it’s not a shock to watch Google get its hand deeper and deeper into the local cookie jar. What is interesting is how they are doing it which is in just about every facet of the company. Of course, as the world gets more mobile with its Internet use that means more mobile search so it’s not terribly difficult to connect those dots now is it?

TechCrunch reports

No, it’s not what you’re thinking — Google Ventures didn’t just invest in a Groupon clone. But the search giant’s VC arm is taking a stake in a local deals startup called Signpost which looks to help you find the best deals in your neighborhood . The size of the Google Ventures investment isn’t being disclosed, but it’s a follow-on to a $1 million seed round Signpost raised earlier this year from Spark Capital. Signpost has been known as Postabon up until now — in conjunction with the announcement, the startup is getting a new name and is relaunching with support for more cities.

Initially I though it sure sounded like a Groupon clone but an explanation of the service clears that up

At a high level Signpost is pretty straightforward: log onto the site, and you’ll find a listing of deals at restaurants, retailers, and other merchants located in your city (you can zoom in if you want to restrict your search to within a few-blocks). And unlike sites like Groupon, there are dozens or even hundreds of deals visible on Signpost at once, ranging from happy hour at your local bar to a 40% discount at a nearby spa this weekend.

What sets the site apart for now (although it is not the only player in the space) is that the deals are given to the site by customers of businesses. What’s their incentive? Being a good neighbor I suppose since there isn’t any system to truly reward someone for putting a deal they discovered up on the site (other than a foursquare-esque hollow victory by offering ‘karmic points’ which can be exchanged for nothing and is silly but hey).

The site is limited to major metros with New York City having over 12,000 deals listed since it has been the only metro until now. New cities that are coming on board today are San Francisco, Boston and Chicago.

The great thing about these kinds of offerings are the realization of how local is being redefined. Sure it’s nice to have these deals be put out for the true locals that live in neighborhoods and frequent these businesses. What’s better about these large urban centers are the number of what I call ‘temporary locals’ that can now know this information.

What’s a ‘temporary local’? It’s that transient person whether it’s a tourist, a business traveler or someone from another part of the city who finds themselves in a certain area and needs something. They may not live there but they are now a local person to those businesses albeit a temporary one. Of course, whether you live in the area or not, your money spends the same and the word of mouth generated by the ‘local temp’, if you will, could create more traffic from their friends and acquaintances that find themselves in that area for any reason.

So Google continues to give signals that the local and mobile thing is finally getting to be real. Why? Because there is money being poured into it, which means there is money to be taken out of it in the form of revenue.

If Google smells significant revenue there must be some blood in the water so this could turn into a feeding frenzy. Of course, it could die a terrible ‘unrealized Internet fad’ death as well but that’s what keeps this fun right?

Should Your Content Aim for Traffic or Conversion?

image of woman making a decision

Which articles attract reader attention, bringing you more traffic, more tweets and Stumbles, more eyeballs on the page?

Which articles convert, bringing you more subscribers and sales?

And how do you roll out a strategy that maximizes the twin impact of attraction and conversion?

Head to your local newsstand. The best attraction and conversion techniques are hidden between the pages of two very different magazines: Cosmopolitan and The New Yorker.

Cosmopolitan articles attract

Why does a Cosmo-type article attract more attention?

77 Sex Positions in 77 Days
75 Crazy-Hot Sex Moves
10 Cheap Fun Date Ideas
117 Style Ideas Already in Your Wardrobe

Seriously … 77 sex positions in 77 days?

That’s a lot of daily practice — but the sex isn’t what’s actually attracting readers.

We find it impossible to walk past anything that gives us seven, seventeen, or seven hundred ways to do or achieve something. We’re greedy, and we’re attracted to articles that feed our lust for excess — even excess information.

Most of us are suckers for list posts.

Mostly the articles are just bullet points stacked up against each other that go on forever. Sometimes there’s some meat to the bullet points, but often (especially in Cosmo) it’s just points.

This of course gives you the feeling that you’re learning something — and you are — but there’s no depth to the knowledge.

Cosmo-type articles are light reading. And we like light reading.

Gossip magazines sell like hotcakes for a reason. And just in case you’re thinking attraction is strictly a women’s-interest magazine strategy, you’ll find men’s magazines do it too.

Men’s Health and Money always includes light-reading articles on their covers like “How to Get Rock-Hard Abs” and “7 Secrets to a Richer Retirement.”

In fact, for years Men’s Health ran essentially the same four covers over and over again. They figured out the headlines and formats that were most effective and they just kept running the same ones.

Add light reading and a huge list together and what do you get? The promise of a lot of information without putting much work in to get it.

No wonder we find them so attractive.

Cosmo-style content gets retweeted, shared on Facebook, and sent around all the other social media channels more often, too — because everyone knows other people are attracted to this kind of format. And by sending it on, it makes the person who posted it seem more attractive by association.

If you create articles that offer Cosmopolitan-style headlines and light, easy-reading body copy, you will get the same results that Cosmo has gotten for decades on end. And those results are very good indeed. (That’s one reason Copyblogger has recommended Cosmo as a great resource for headline inspiration.)

New Yorker articles convert

The New Yorker produces in-depth, well-written articles that drive home a specific point.

When you write articles in that same style, you impress the heck out of your reader. They see you’re smart. They see you know what’s going on. And they see you can tell them something they don’t already know.

That impression is so powerful that the reader is compelled to investigate further to see what else you can tell them. The more in-depth articles they find, the more they think you’re a smart person to check in with often — and the harder it is for them to resist the Subscribe button.

This doesn’t just apply to text articles, but to video and audio as well. An in-depth piece in text, audio or video sucks you in. The more time you spend reading, listening or watching something, the more keen you are to follow up with the source.

Those of you who have read the back-of-magazine articles at The New Yorker might be worried this means you have to write incredibly long articles. You don’t.

Being interesting is far more important than going on and on about a topic, and even The New Yorker has plenty of short pieces that still offer great insight.

For a New Yorker-type article, you need depth, detail, and analysis. Those three things empower your reader a lot more than Cosmo-style fluff.

Put more in-depth detail and analysis in your writing, and you’ll see your conversion rates skyrocket.

So which is the best strategy?

It depends on you, of course. Some blogs — just like some print publications — are driven almost entirely by Cosmopolitan-style headlines and copy. Others are driven by the New Yorker style.

But you don’t actually have to choose.

You’ll notice that even Cosmo includes at least one in-depth article per issue. And The New Yorker always has a couple short, lighter items up front. Heck, even Playboy made a name for in-depth articles and attention-getting pin-ups.

You can use both of these strategies at the same time. And you should.

A strategic mixture of both types of articles will not only attract a larger number of clients, but also get you greater conversion.

You can also interlink articles, so that a Cosmo-style short article leads to a more in-depth New Yorker-type article. Or a Cosmo-influenced headline can pull the reader into a piece with more depth than Cosmopolitan ever dreamed of.

In print, magazines normally separate the two styles. The front of the magazine has mostly short, light pieces; the back has longer, more in-depth pieces.

Online, you get to be more flexible. You can drive them from light material to deeper, more detailed content so they get a brilliant mix of both kinds of pieces (you’ll get great SEO benefits, too). They’ll be more attracted to you at the same time they’re inclined to convert and check in with you daily.

If you want to attract attention (that means more traffic, more readers, and more social media sharing), go with Cosmo-style articles. At a minimum, make sure you’ve crafted a drop-dead attention-grabbing headline.

If you want conversion (that means subscribers and paying customers), lean toward New Yorker-influenced articles, with plenty of depth, detail, and thoughtful analysis.

And if you want both, give your readers both. Copyblogger doesn’t settle for just one approach, so why should you?

Eloqua Report Offers Tips on Lead Generation & Email Marketing

Marketing automation has made it possible for a small sales staff to contact and monitor 1,000 of customers with just a few key strokes, but such ease of use has its downside. Just because you can send out mass mailings, doesn’t mean you should. 1,000 randomly targeted emails might bring in a couple of dollars, but Eloqua, a provider of marketing automation solutions says that proper lead scoring and nurturing are more likely to pay off in the long run.

As part of their Eloqua Experience user conference, Eloqua collected data from more than 700 B2B and B2C companies to come up with their new report: How Do You Stack Up? Marketing Automation Trends, Benchmarks, & Best Practices.

The report not only offers up statistical data, but they also include practical information on what the segment leaders are doing in regard to email marketing and the tactics that are keeping the laggards running in last place.

Finding:

· Marketers are Leveraging Lead Scoring: Marketers are regularly using lead scoring to qualify the quality of leads and are sending high-quality leads to sales for follow-up while entering lower quality leads into a nurturing program.

This is critical when it comes to best use of your manpower. They recommend that clients be rescored on every contact and that there is a system in place to bump the highest scoring clients directly to a sales agent for immediate follow-up.

· Automated Nurturing Pays Off: Companies of all sizes benefit by adopting lead nurturing to move prospects down the purchase path. Marketers who implement nurturing programs provide sales with a significantly higher number of qualified leads.

Their stats showed them that most companies sent an average of four emails per program. B2C companies waited 3 to 8 days before emailing but sent emails more frequently at the start of the program. B2B emails were spaced out over several weeks. The trick to nurturing, says Eloqua is to send emails that match the stage of a customer’s buying process. I can tell you from experience that sending me the same, “did you want to complete your registration” email every couple of days is not the way to go. Instead of “yes,” I hit unsubscribe and that company lost me as a potential customer.

· Email Marketing is Growing: Eloqua found that B2B email marketing is in fact growing, contrary to many predictions and that there is healthy growth because marketing automation allows companies to easily execute email marketing campaigns.

This section of the report is the part everyone can jump in and use right now. It’s probably all information you’ve heard before but it bears repeating. Shorter emails are better, segment and manage your bouncebacks and most importantly, strengthen your call to action. Eloqua provides best and worst examples for subject lines, formatting and other email tips.

As we’ve discussed here before, reports like these highlight the good side of the company that produced them, but in this case it doesn’t make the information any less relevant. You’ll find some stats and graphs in this report, but mostly it’s filled with concrete information you can use to tune up your lead generation and email marketing program.

You can download the pdf free of charge by clicking here.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Unsung Heroes of Gov 2.0

Today is my birthday. As I sit back, reflect on life and take stock of the years, I can’t help but marvel at how far things have come.

In the Fall of 2003, I left a corporate job in management with Eastman Kodak Company to work on a Presidential Campaign.

I took a 2/3 pay cut and traded in an ocean front view apartment in Miami, Florida for a sleeping bag in a four-person home in Little Rock, Arkansas.

You might ask, “Why?”

I know my mother definitely did.

The answer is simple. I was inspired by the promise of an accountable and open government by, for and of the people.

This move was my first foray into the world of new media. Many of you might have heard of the Dean campaign and the technological innovation that the techies there made. The same was true for the techies involved with the Clark campaign. They were a passionate group of folks inspired to use technology for the good of a better government, by, of and for the people. This was something that they were making real in the campaign space but the vision that many of them had was to see this transcend the campaign and brought into office by the candidate once elected.

Seven years later, I found myself having coffee, reminiscing about what got me into this space (new media) with someone who I consider to be a leader in the Gov 2.0 space. Seven years later the Obama campaign - itself brought into office in no small part because of technology - was the administration that brought with it the Open Directive. And though it is true that this movement may not have started with the Obama administration, for me it has been inspiring to see the growth that has happened in the course of the last few years.

This transformation has taken the work of many unsung heroes.

It is an iterative process and change does not happen overnight but I am inspired by what I have seen to date. I truly believe that this is only the beginning.

That twenty something year old who left the rat race of corporate America for the promise of what could be possible in government with inspired leadership, still exists.

The opportunity is huge and this is only the beginning.

I’d like to take a moment and use this thread to honor some of the unsung heroes. Who are some of the people that you know who are making a difference in this space?

Bing Foots the Bill for Interactive Book Campaign

People love a good treasure hunt, and that’s what Bing is banking on with its interactive marketing campaign for Jay-Z “Decoded.”

The complex ad campaign involves book pages hidden all over both the real world and the virtual one. The object is to use the combined forces of the world’s population to uncover and ‘decode” all of the pages before the book comes out in print on November 16. Random House is publishing the memoir but word is that Bing is paying for the campaign which couldn’t have been cheap.

Here’s how it works. You go online to Decode Jay-Z with Bing and get a clue which pops up over a Bing map. The first clue is this:

“Find your first page in the NYC district where Jay and Leo saw Wale at the Highline.”

Don’t know the answer? That’s where Bing comes in. The search box is located under the response box and I’ll admit I had to use it to find the answer, which I got from other reporters writing about this story. Not how they intended it to go, I’m sure. The second clue though said Jay-Z mentioned this “Phillip” in a Time-Out article. Use the last name to find a fancy art gallery in the area (Chelsea). Now I had to use Bing in the way it was intended. Found the article, got Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman, Chelsea and art gallery got me to the Nancy Hoffman Gallery and voila, I was in like Flynn.

Unfortunately, I don’t live in New York, so I had to depend on a local to go to the gallery and shoot a photo of the page which is on display as a piece of art. Pretty cool. The people who saw the page in person were able to get a code which they enter online for a chance at a prize.

For the housebound among you, there will also be online scavenger hunts for pages so you can win without leaving the house.

It’s a monumental project and I can’t imagine the kind of coordination it took to put this together. The ROI comes back in a couple of ways. First, Bing is getting a huge amount of publicity and traffic just for hosting this thing. Random House expects to sell through the first printing of the book even though it will be fully available online. Jay-Z is getting his royalties and lots of buzz.

The second level of return is on dollars and buzz generated for each spot where the pages are located. David Droga, creative chairman of Droga5, the New York agency that is behind the campaign said that pages will turn up in the most unlikely places including at the bottom of a hotel swimming pool, inside jackets in a store window or on the felt of a pool table.

“People were lining up to be part of this, like premium hotel brands and sports stadiums. It’s a sincerely mutually beneficial partnership. At the center is Jay-Z’s book, but all the players at the table stand to benefit.”

As of this writing, seven pages were released, seven found and six decoded. Looks like they’re off to a great start, and I’ll bet that by the time this game comes to an end, they’ll have more players than they ever anticipated.

What do you think of this campaign? Is it likely to push Bing to beat Yahoo in the search engine wars? Or will it be a one time glut of traffic that falls away when the game is over?

How to Create a Memorable Business Card

After you leave a conference or meet with anyone that might lead to future business, your business card is the gateway for future contact and how you will be remembered. It’s important to have an exciting, professional and creative business card. The majority of business cards that are collected after a conference are thrown into a box and never looked at again. However, if you make a killer business card, you and your business are that much more likely to be remembered. Here are a few ideas and notes to remember for your next business card design.

1.) Use Your Real Picture or Memorable Logo
Personally, I have the big Zac Johnson cartoon guy on all of my business cards. It’s actually become quite a recognizable logo/symbol over the years. For anyone that doesn’t have a memorable mascot or logo, I would highly recommend adding your picture to your business card. I know when I come back from a conference and look over my business cards, I will see a few and remember the name, but not the face to go with it. Having your face on your business card makes it impossible for anyone to forget who you are!

2.) Add Social Networking Links
No longer is it about adding your full company mailing address, but instead what your social networking links and tags are. It’s becoming a must to your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn urls. My favorite method of online contact is through AIM and EMAIL, so don’t forget those as well.

3.) What’s On Your Back?
Having a solid white background on your business card is just plain and lazy. Why pass up on the opportunity to grab even more attention and creativity to your business. Over the years I’ve used the back of my business cards to show different site properties that I own. I’ve also seen other business cards have calendars, fun designs, funny athlete stats and note pad lines. Add anything you like, and don’t be scared to get creative… do something original and get even more attention for yourself and your brand.

4.) Size Matters
When you are collecting business cards at a conference, you may find that your little stack of business cards aren’t stacking so perfectly. This is because people are getting more creative with their business cards and making them in a wide variation of sizes. Sure, it’s plenty annoying when you are trying to stack all of your collected cards, but they definitely stand out from the rest and grab your attention.

5.) Paper, Plastic… Metal!
You can simple, creative or very plan with your card design, but one of the best ways to get noticed is to have high quality business cards made out of metal or plastic. These cards can run a few dollars each, but will leave a lasting impression that will make others want to show your cards to their friends. If cost is an issue for you, only hand out these premium type of cards to your best potential contacts, and hand out your regular cards to everyone else.

Whether you are designing your next business cards, brochures, company flyers or anything, make sure that you take the time to make your work stand out and be more than just another business card tossed into a box after an event.

Feel free to share your business card design in the comments section, or talk about some of the coolest business card designs you’ve received over the years.

Blogger Insight - Marketing Blog

Friday, October 22, 2010

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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

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