Email Messaging on Target

Advanced deliverability and functionality are essential to a high performing email marketing campaign.  Immediate and intelligent engagement is similarly vital for establishing a fully optimized lead generation and CRM program - as long as it is done right. The goal of driving leads and conversions can be compromised if messages are viewed as SPAM, a major threat to efficiency. Also, some initiatives lack precise and timely reporting to track and explain the delivery fail. The majority of publishers and performance marketers are painfully aware of such email marketing shortcomings. As is true of every performance channel, a program of continuous improvement must be implemented to proactively address deliverability and functionality.

Incorporating an audience-specific proprietary messaging tool into your campaign will alleviate many common email marketing challenges. For instance, MediaWhiz Messaging™ enables advertisers to qualify leads and effectively manage the consumer experience at the highest level. It delivers a cascade of multiple dynamic emails, each with increased urgency, providing the right message to the right consumer at the right time. But a powerful targeting and retargeting strategy must rely on more than a forward thinking messaging tool. It must include a forward thinking client services team.

Leveraging consultative email marketing expertise while optimizing the entire lead generation marketplace will increase conversions and improve cost-efficiency by eliminating unresponsive consumers. Client services and account managers can obtain client information while identifying and recommending unique multiple domains to your client increasing the likelihood of lead generation and lead conversion.

A technologically advanced, proprietary messaging program can drive conversions and increase overall email marketing efficiency. This is more important than ever in the fast-paced, continuously evolving world of online performance marketing where delivering the right message the first time around is what matters most for a high performance campaign.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The holiday season is fast approaching. You know what that means – turkey (or tofurkey depending on your culinary preference), football and online shopping. Black Friday, traditionally regarded as a nationwide day after Thanksgiving raid on retail storefronts, is becoming more of a digital force. Based on the number of Black Friday sales offered online, Black should be replaced with Bargain. Friday branding aside, performance marketers across all channels should begin tailoring highly targeted campaigns for the day after Thanksgiving and the holiday season as a whole to drive results for advertisers and publishers.

Online coupons figure to be used heavily by savvy shoppers but focusing primarily on this tactic to generate new business could alienate existing customers. Media buys on top-performing, contextually and lifestyle relevant sites must target shoppers with purchasing intent, not passing site visitors. Opt-in campaigns must be more dynamic and consumer friendly. Banner ads need to be more engaging to increase conversions to sale. For seasonal Search initiatives, driving highly relevant traffic is key.

The strategies outlined are consistent with those of performance marketers year round. However, the holiday season presents digital marketers with a shorter window of opportunity to drive ROI. Hitting the right target, whether that is a new or current consumer, is essential.

Corporate America Embraces ORM

To paraphrase Warren Buffet, it takes years to build a reputation and only minutes to ruin it. This has long been the rallying cry for performance marketers pitching Online Reputation Management (ORM). According to a recent published report in AdWeek, the message is resonating.
This summer, much maligned oil producer BP drastically increased its Search advertising spend from around $60,000 a month to over $3.6 million in June. Of course, this investment in ORM was in response to the devastating Gulf oil spill. The bulk of BP's initial spending on advertising after the disaster was targeted toward traditional mediums. The company was forced to adjust its strategy upon realizing that people were actively seeking information on BP and openly expressing disdain for BP. BP wasn’t controlling their brand message effectively. They weren’t being proactive.
Had a robust ORM platform been in place for BP ahead of the spill, negative user posts on blogs, social media networks and websites would have been better monitored. Though the disaster still would have occurred, the aftermath in search space wouldn’t have been as far-reaching nor would the investment to clean up BP’s online reputation been as costly.

Search Results in Real-Time – The PPC Effect

The trend of the moment in Search is speed. Projects like Google Caffeine are designed to make the web a faster place. A byproduct of a speedier search is the generation of the immediate, real-time result – being able to see Search working for you as you type. Google has adapted this concept into a new live update metric that revises search results as keywords are entered into a search box. I’ve watched the update do its thing on YouTube. You should look for it. It’s pretty trippy.

Search professionals that struggle with motion sickness may have to brace themselves before utilizing the new feature. The page changes with each character entered into the search box. The innovation has some Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search experts concerned fearing fickle potential customers may shift their click focus in mid-search decreasing click-throughs. This would be true if PPC campaign success was dependent on a fly-by-night consumer. People intent on looking for a particular product will conduct a search for that product and click accordingly. For example, if a user is searching for jeans, the user is unlikely to be swayed from PPC jean ads in favor of ads for JetBlue simply because they both begin with JE.

Though a web page may be faster and more real-time based, that doesn’t mean a serious, relevant user will fail to convert. If anything, Google’s new live update feature will ensure PPC campaigns are effectively leveraging the right audience.

What Exactly is the New Reality?

Recently, Adweek published an article titled “CMO’s Face New Reality”, which chronicled the struggles of marketers post economic slowdown. It reported on the challenge marketers are facing with regard to engaging new and existing customers as marketing budgets decline. Improving customer retention and loyalty, acquiring new customers and increasing sales to current customers were named the three most important issues facing marketers today. Interestingly, these same marketers indicated that they were rather lackluster in leveraging digital marketing and performance strategies to achieve their core objectives. This is difficult to reconcile considering that the hallmark of online performance marketing is continuous improvement, growth and efficiency. What exactly is the new reality CMO’s are facing and is it reality after all? It shouldn’t be that marketing budgets need to decrease. It should be the realization that marketing budgets are no longer the litmus test for an effective campaign.

Online performance marketers know that improving customer retention, acquiring new customers and increasing current sales requires a multi-channel approach that maximizes spend through continuous improvement and optimization. Marketers who are gun shy about investing in digital may believe that such optimization will cost more than it is worth. If done right, shifting to an online performance model will ultimately demand more from your marketing spend. It will enable companies to effectively target and re-target new and current customers, get the most out of your leads database and promote growth through cost-efficiency. Performance marketers know this. It’s time they spread this knowledge to recession-wary CMOs.

Email - The End or a New Beginning

At a Nielson conference held last month, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg raised eyebrows by declaring the impending demise of email as the primary messaging platform. Her reasoning was based on a published Pew report, which stated that only 11% of teens utilize email every day.  Those numbers certainly suggest that social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are the platform of choice for that segment of the population. They are indeed growing in popularity across all age groups but to outright declare that the end of email is near is a bit short-sighted, especially with regard to corporate communications.

A case can be made that email is the original social media network. Before Facebook and Twitter came along, email was driving targeted messaging results. It remains a pivotal component to any business marketing strategy. It shouldn't be thrown to the scrap heap in favor of Facebook or Twitter. It should be incorporated into your social networking platform. Email should be used for engagement across the entire social consumer landscape. By incorporating Facebook and Twitter into your messaging campaign, you can extend your reach to users likely to disregard promotional emails by including such offers on your social networking pages. Once the social user is engaged, subsequent emails will sustain and grow interest maximizing spend and driving ROI.

A continuously improving email program, one that implements social networking, will most assuredly make those questioning the life span of email rethink their position. By combining it with social media, email will not be facing its end but a new beginning.

Generic Keywords – Key To Search Positioning

In a recent study conducted by Covario, a surprising number of global online retailers ranked poorly in Google searches due in large part to a lack of generic keyword optimization. For instance, Home Depot ranked 16th in keyword search for “home repair.” Considering the retailer is a home repair and home improvement juggernaut, its paltry position seems pretty illogical. But it proves that even the most successful brands need help getting their message across and understanding the value of search.

According to Covario, the top four spots on Google can be worth upwards of $100 million in annual revenue. Performance marketers should digest the findings in the Covario study and incorporate them into an overall sales strategy emphasizing the search value proposition. We need to stress the value of click-throughs as positions fluctuate; they can increase ROI. In terms of tracking processes, Paid Search is highly measurable and easy to monitor. As for Organic Search, enhanced Webmaster Tools on Google make it possible for clients to see the breakdown of impressions and conversions on their site.

The value proposition of search begins and evolves with continuous optimization. Any plan for improving search optimization must include generic keywording. The value of search to a brand is undeniable but only if that brand can be found.