Managing Marketing in the Coronavirus Crisis

The global spread of the coronavirus already has caused significant disruptions in supply chains, corporate profits, economic growth and government policy. No one knows how bad things will get before they get better, but marketers need to be prepared. Certain industries are more likely to be significantly affected as people shun travel and large gatherings: airlines, cruises, events of all kinds (perhaps even the Tokyo Olympics), business conferences, hospitality, and even retail venues. Supply disruptions also could affect sectors ranging from auto manufacturing to high tech to promotional products. A general slowdown could cut advertising spend initially, but experts believe it is more likely that there will be a reallocation of dollars to cater to quarantined or self-isolating consumers via mail order, digital marketing and e-commerce product sales; via online video and gaming options; and even via streaming of sports events instead of stadium venues. In a recent blog, AI and data tech company Appier suggested tactics to leverage this rise in online consumption, for example by using online data to identify coronavirus concerns and deliver targeted relevant content and advertising via keyword segmentation, which is especially relevant for health, wellness, medical, and sanitation sectors. Companies can also develop more branded online apps, games, and videos to compete for the expanded online audience. Plus, it will be important to use AI and audience data for contextual targeting and proper placement of advertising to avoid creating a negative brand impression. Because companies may face logistical delays, they need to commit to transparent multichannel communications on product shortages and estimated delivery times, as well as timely response to questions and complaints, advises Appier. At the same time, increased engagement via website, e-mail, social media, push notifications or in-app messaging can bring customers closer and help reduce frustration levels. Appier also stressed that marketers need to set the right messaging tone for an anxious audience, avoiding the hard sell in favor of customer and community support. In a PR Week interview, Priyanka Bajpai, regional head, Southeast Asia, SPAG Group, promoted the company's 3E approach to messaging during the crisis: Empathy to show cautious optimism and trust in the future ability to work together and find solutions; Engagement of internal and external stakeholders to inspire confidence; and Education using multiple channels to outline the criticality of the situation and steps taken by the brand to support stakeholders. Brands may also want to highlight corporate social responsibility efforts such as nonprofit donations to address the pandemic but should avoid marketing around those donations. For more, see our website blog at https://www.acculist.com/managing-marketing-during-the-coronavirus-crisis/

Latest Data Proves Direct Mail Is Alive & Well

Some marketers theorize that "direct mail is dead" about as often as "Game of Thrones" fans theorize about the fate of favorite characters. So for all current and future direct mail marketers, here is the latest proof that direct mail is alive and well, and still a key direct marketing tool. For example, the U.S. Postal Service reports that revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2019 (October-December 2018) was up 2.9% to a $19.7 billion total over the same prior-year quarter. A decline in First Class Mail dollars and volume was more than offset by Marketing Mail’s 4.9% increase in revenue, up by $218 billion, and 4.8% bump in volume, up by 1 billion pieces, combined with Shipping and Packaging revenue growth of 8.7%, up by $516 million, and a 5.4% volume bump, up by 93 million pieces. Why is direct mail still thriving in a digital age? We’ve reported it before, but it bears repeating: The 2018 DMA/ANA Response Rate Report shows an average direct mail response rate of 9% for house lists and 5% for prospect lists, stellar rates compared with response rates of 1% or less for e-mail, social media, paid search and display ads. In fact, lower mailbox volumes actually have helped turbocharge mail response in an era of digital promotional bombardment. Consider that, each day, an average of 107 e-mails per person are received globally and an average 63 ads per person are viewed, but only an average of two pieces of mail are received per person. It’s clear which channel gets the audience attention and why 75% of households read or scan their direct mail ad materials daily, per a USPS 2016 study. Not only was direct mail the top purchase influencer among Baby Boomers, per a 2015 MarketingCharts study, but even younger, digitally addicted generations are fans of direct mail. According to USPS studies, 77% of Millennials pay attention to direct mail advertising, 90% think direct mail advertising is reliable, 57% have made purchases based on direct mail offers, and 87% of Millennials say they like receiving direct mail. Direct mail works for an even younger group of consumers as well: 69% of 18- to 24-year-olds prefer reading print and paper communications over reading from a digital screen, per paper-producer Sappi. Direct mail work so well across generations of consumers because it has some key advantages. In an age when trust in advertising is at a minimum, 76% of consumers say they trust direct mail when they want to make a purchase decision, and trust it more than digital channels, per a 2016 Marketing Sherpa study. Direct mail is also more engaging, memorable and persuasive, per neuroscience studies. In fact, a 2015 Canada Post neuroscience study of direct mail found that direct mail’s motivation response, its persuasive power, is 20% higher than digital media’s motivation response. Finally, direct mail can harness multi-channel databases to machine learning/AI, variable data printing and behavior-based triggers to produce timely, highly personalized messaging. For more, see our onsite blog post at https://www.acculist.com/latest-data-shows-direct-mail-is-still-alive-well-and-effective/

Tech Energizes Trade Show & Conference Marketing

AccuList USA has long experience in helping trade show and conference marketers with targeted lists and data services. But we also support an expanded event marketing approach that goes beyond promotion to engage audiences at every touchpoint in a multi-channel world, as a recent post for the Trade Show News Network (TSNN) blog promotes. Luckily, that is easier than ever thanks to emerging event technology trends. Any event pro not using social media to the fullest is missing a key tool in building audience per TSNN's "Top 10 Tech Trends" by Matt Coyne, Technology Engagement Architect at GES EMEA and a 10-year veteran of the events and exhibitions industry. By making it easy for registrants to share their attendance with their own social media networks, marketers can amplify an event and reach new potential attendees that can't be reached directly. Social media can also work in tandem with traditional channels, as with our Digital2Direct tool matching postal records to Facebook users for targeted social ads. Just as important as the boost in registrations is the increase in registration-to-attendee conversion driven by social media engagement, Coyne adds. Digitized content is then the engagement tool that creates an interactive event experience, building repeat attendance and luring prospects via social sharing. For example, Coyne cites the growth of devices like "Smart Badges," which act as a digital briefcase for attendees to collect digitized content. And tools like Facebook Live increase the dissemination and sharing of digital content. Digitized content also can be leveraged with gamification to increase event participation, say by awarding points for Smart Badge usage with exhibitor contacts, speaker downloads, session attendance, etc. and then posting competitive results. AI is another way to help expand attendee experiences; an example is the use of chatbot software to answer attendee questions and offer learned guidance. Finally, there are event-specific apps. Although not every event needs to spend for an app, a large conference can benefit from an app that enables visitors to track their schedules or from a dedicated lead-capture app, for example. For more, see the full blog post at http://www.acculistusa.com/new-tech-energizes-trade-show-conference-marketing/

Study: Consumer E-mail Behavior Varies by Industry

To optimize consumer e-mail response, marketers must adjust strategy for consumer behavior that differs by market vertical and device use. So they'll find valuable guidance in Movable Ink’s "US Consumer Device Preference Report: Q1 2017" report on how opens, conversions, engagement and even order values are affected by market vertical and device preferences. For all industries studied—retail, travel and hospitality, financial services, and media/publishing and entertainment—the report found most e-mails are opened on a smartphone as opposed to a tablet or desktop. Smartphone e-mail opens have especially jumped for financial services, up 7% from the fourth quarter of 2016 to reach 70% of opens in the first quarter of this year. However, retail is not far behind, with 61% smartphone opens for apparel and 57% for non-apparel e-mails. While smartphones still led opens, the more content-heavy media, publishing and entertainment vertical also has a good portion of desktop e-mail opens at 32%, followed by travel and hospitality with 29% desktop opens. Tablet opens are also stronger for media and publishing at 18%, higher than any other industry.Mobile optimization is clearly key for open rates, but retailers should not neglect desktop design because that's where the orders are racked up. Non-apparel retailer e-mails attribute 73% of conversions to desktop use, for example, with 51% of conversions on desktop for apparel retailing. Desktops also deliver the highest average order value for retailers: $171.04 for apparel and $138.57 for non-apparel sales. When it comes to e-mail reading time, the study generally found that iPhones are able to capture more attention than Android mobile phones, Android tablets, desktop computers, or iPads. The finance industry had the longest read lengths on iPhones, with 68% of subscribers spending 15 or more seconds reading their e-mail thanks to the Apple devices. Media, publishing and entertainment e-mails also garnered high iPhone read time, with 61% reading e-mail for 15 seconds or more. For more, see http://www.acculistusa.com/study-how-consumer-e-mail-behavior-varies-by-market-vertical/

Science & Tech Offer Event Audience-Building Tools

For an event to succeed, trade show marketers must build attendance before the event and deliver for attendees by the end of the event, whether measured by lead generation, education or networking. There's an art to it, but science and technology impact success today as well. For example, BizBash.com did an interesting Q&A with Ben Parr, author of Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention, in which Parr highlighted research-based conclusions about "captivation triggers" of audience attention. Start with "automaticity," which means using colors and symbols that automatically affect attention, such as the color red. Move on to "framing," setting the value of an event in a context that garners more attention, such as stressing event ticket scarcity. A message or design that offers "disruption," meaning a violation of expectations, naturally grabs attention, as does "mystery," such as an intriguing headline or subject line. Of course, there is the attention-getting "reward" for attendance, either an extrinsic reward (a swag bag) or an intrinsic reward (personal self-improvement). The good reputations of event, exhibitors and speakers really count, too; brain research shows audiences are especially attentive and trusting of experts, for example. Meanwhile, Event Farm, an enterprise event marketing platform, has interviewed event experts to find new technology trends likely to affect event marketing in 2017 and beyond. Among the trends cited is having events bring the internet to life onsite by letting attendees engage with online experiences, such as viral memes or videos. Marketing pros also foresee that the end of an event will no longer signal the end of an experiential marketing campaign, so that marketers engage with attendees (and non-attendees) after the event via tactics such as re-purposing an event presentation or sharing "digital" event memories. More people are expected to use live streaming to complement events via services like Facebook Live, too, not as a substitute for attendance but as an attendee-engagement enhancer. Finally, watch for attendees to seek to engage with the digital and physical landscapes simultaneously, such as using smartphones to help navigate through a venue. For more, see http://www.acculistusa.com/science-tech-can-help-events-capture-audience/

Innovative Media Tactics Help Grow 2017 Circulation

Circulation pros and media owners looking for new strategies to acquire subscribers, boost event attendance and up revenues will find some great lessons in Editor & Publisher's annual feature "10 Newspapers That Do It Right."  It spotlights ideas for 2017 circulation, revenue and engagement growth with applications beyond the newspaper world. For example, the Albany Times Union is growing its print subscription base by offering more frequency flexibility with a Thursday through Sunday and/or Sunday-only print delivery as primary options. "As consumers continue to downsize their subscriptions to fit into a busier and more digital audience, this change in tactics presented the consumer with flexibility," Brad Hunt, circulation sales and marketing manager, explained to E&P. At the same time, the paper reduced subscription churn by using data analysis of starts and stops to develop more efficient retention and engagement touch points, increasing starts by 7% and cutting stops by 18%. In another example, San Antonio's Express-News woos subscribers and boosts ad revenue via multimedia publication of unique local content. For example, in October 2015, the paper launched a 48-page, all-color tabloid magazine, Spurs Nation, about its local NBA team, the Spurs. Full of original and exclusive reporting on the team (80,000 subscribers currently), the tabloid is inserted in the Sunday paper and sold on newsstands. Four months after the magazine launched, a half-hour "Spurs Nation" television show debuted on the local NBC affiliate. Plus, on game days, the paper began publishing a double-truck with a scouting report and feature story. Content was accessible on the paper’s premium subscriber website and on a niche site. So, in a single buy, advertisers can get magazine, newspaper, TV show and website ads! Plus, the paper added book publishing this past holiday season, with a book about major moments in San Antonio basketball. Finally, publishers hoping to woo millennials to their print, digital and mobile platforms may want to study Singapore's Straits Times decision to create Singapore’s first coffee festival. "We wanted to target a millennial crowd in particular, and much of the publicity was specifically created for maximum impact on social media," Managing Editor Fiona Chan told Editor & Publisher. Since the goal was to get millennials engaged with the publication, the paper’s designated Reading Room at the festival gave guests the chance to interact with reporters, columnists and editors through a series of hour-long Q&A sessions. "Readers are increasingly looking for more than just commoditized news that they can get for free anywhere. What they want is to engage with journalists and newsmakers, to ask specific questions about the issues that interest them and to obtain detailed answers," Chan advised. For more detail, go to http://www.acculistusa.com/innovative-media-tactics-offer-ideas-for-growing-2017-circulation/

Direct Mail's New 'Moment' in the Digital Age

It's no surprise when the CEO of the powerful McCann ad agency, which manages $10 billion in annual marketing spend, stands up to champion direct mail at the recent National Postal Forum. McCann is the U.S. Postal Service's agency of record, paid to push the advantages of mail. But that doesn't diminish the value of the insights offered by CEO Harris Diamond, as reported by Direct Marketing News magazine's Senior Editor Al Urbanski. Arguing that "in a world in which people are endlessly bombarded with electronic messages, direct mail is now the most welcome house guest," Diamond backs up his belief in mail's value by citing a McCann finding that the average American spends 25 minutes out of each busy day with mail. Diamond calls that 25-minute opportunity "The Mail Moment." And he offers five creative principles McCann uses in marketing campaigns to maximize results from that precious Mail Moment. First, he advises, go to the customers to understand their perspectives, looking beyond traditional assumptions; he holds up the example of Pope Francis going out at night, dressed in street clothes, to spend time with the homeless. Second, use direct mail's unique physical properties to engage in ways unavailable to digital, and he cites an Australian Air Force recruitment piece that mailed radio parts sans instructions to prospective engineers and offered a commission to any who could build the radio and tune into a dedicated station. Third, put new technologies to work with mail to enhance engagement and branding, such as using augmented reality (AR) to add a digital experience to paper. Fourth, realize it's not about mail tweaking; it's about "reinventing" the mail medium, using technology creatively to drive action and leverage the Mail Moment to the max. And, finally, make mail a tool for developing a relationship in the digital age, using data to target, personalize and touch audiences. For more details of Diamond's remarks, read http://www.dmnews.com/direct-mail/mccann-ceo-direct-mails-moment-has-come-again/article/485318/

Try These Tactics to Cut E-mail Unsubscribe Rate

Reducing the unsubscribe rate is key to a growing, high-ROI e-mail marketing database, so digital marketers will want to check their strategies against a recent Econsultancy.com post listing 10 ways to cut costly e-mail drop-outs. Here's a quick overview of some of the suggestions: The process of avoiding e-mail defection begins at sign-up, as the post points out. Without creating barriers to easy sign-up, such as a multitude of tick boxes, make it clear to potential subscribers what they are opting to receive in terms of content and frequency. Especially avoid a confusing mix of opt-in and opt-out, advises Econsultancy. Test e-mail frequency, a major factor in unsubscribe rates. The optimum strategy may surprise; Econsultancy notes how one e-mailer found that re-sending the same content to non-openers was more effective than reactivation, for example. Automate to craft content and timing for relevancy and engagement when it comes to communications such as welcome e-mails, inventory updates, incentivized reviews, cart abandonment, loyalty rewards, etc. Automation doesn't strengthen customer engagement at all points, however; also segment the database to match promotions to demographics and customer interest. Don't assume you know what is behind e-mail attrition; get feedback from unsubscribes to diagnose--for example, with a list of opt-out reasons before or after the unsubscribe option. Another tactic to combat e-mail loss is to allow for a change of heart by e-mail defectors with an unsubscribe retraction pop-up. Marketers have also had luck retaining e-mail addresses by offering alternatives to unsubscribing, such as a temporary break or frequency change. For details on all 10 tactics, with examples, go to https://econsultancy.com/blog/67644-10-ways-to-reduce-email-unsubscribes/

Digital Lead Gen Forecast to Dominate Sales Funnel

Marketers consistently say quality lead generation is their top challenge, but the path to success can get lost in today's complex multichannel environment. A 2016 marketing forecast by Salesforce Principal of Marketing Insights, Matthew Sweezy, opines that marketers should recognize a fundamental sales funnel shift: 60% at the middle of the sales funnel must now be devoted to digital rapport-building and lead generation, leaving 20% of the funnel for traditional marketing at the top and 20% for sales acquisition at the bottom. The new sales funnel reflects today's overconnected, multichannel marketing challenge. By 2020, there will be seven connected devices for every person on earth (Gartner Research) and the average person already sees 5,000 ads a day from all channels, not counting social (Yankelovich). Bombarded by digital marketing messages, 18% of the U.S. audience already uses digital ad blockers, per PageFair and Adobe, undermining paid ad strategies. Consumers are also disturbed by big-data privacy concerns, with a third of customers abandoning a brand after a data breach, per The Economist research, so reluctance to provide personal information threatens data-gathering and targeting. The key, says Sweezy, is to give digital customers what they want, which is useful information and trust-building self-discovery (it's made Google is No, 1 in search), noting that 73% of consumers say that getting useful information is the most important factor in selecting a brand. Personalized targeting with behavioral, psychographic and internal data is key, and automation is a useful engagement system, but marketers must work smart. Retargeting ads for a product after purchase of the product just makes customers four times less likely to purchase again. And engagement must be swift, with the average consumer taking only 0.05 seconds to determine content value and 70% switching sites/apps if they are judged too slow. To capture the new digital middle of the funnel, companies need to improve the customer digital experience and close gaps by making frequent, small and socially interactive gestures that keep the brand in front of potential buyers and build trust and engagement, concludes Sweezy. For the whole presentation, go to Salesforce's Pardot blog: http://www.pardot.com/blog/future-marketing-2016-slideshare/

Print Can Add Needed Punch to Marketing Plans

Printed material, including direct mail, keeps proving its worth to our clients in this digital marketing era. So our thanks to Jean Gianfagna of Gianfagna Strategic Marketing for a post summing up the reasons for print's continued marketing power. She cites six marketing advantages that make print a must-have for a smart marketing strategy: unlimited creative options, from formats to personalization to dimensional impact; effective branding via the unique impression created by physical materials; enhanced customer relationships from targeted, personalized loyalty, cross-sell and up-sell messaging; increased customer understanding with detailed product descriptions, comparisons and options that don't fit tight digital formats; durability, influencing decisions long after a tweet or e-mail has been discarded and forgotten; and engagement tapping multiple senses (visual and tactile, plus even scent and sound). That said, marketers can also squander budget on overdesigned, untargeted, ineffective print efforts. So Gianfagna adds some important advice on using print wisely: work closely with a printer before finalizing design to choose the most cost-effective materials and formats; be cautious with use of pricey print techniques, such as die-cuts, embossing and foil stamping; use quality data for targeted, correctly addressed direct mail; plus, when it comes to direct mail, keep USPS regulations in mind for lower postal rates. For more detail, go to http://www.gianfagnamarketing.com/blog/2015/10/29/6-reasons-you-still-need-print-in-a-smart-marketing-strategy/

Content Often Misses the Mark With Mobile Users

Content marketing often fails to engage, especially when it comes to mobile users, per recent findings from BrightEdge's “Content Engagement Report” posted by B2B marketing firm KoMarketing Associates. Engagement rates for content vary by industry, coming in at 33% to 50% overall, with hospitality at the high end of the engagement rate spectrum and retail at the low end. However, industry engagement rates also differ based on whether the audience accesses content via a mobile device or a desktop, with engagement rates consistently lower for mobile users. For the B2B technology industry, as an example, there was a 53% engagement rate among desktop users, but engagement fell to 26% when content was viewed on a mobile device. The poorer mobile engagement is not surprising given that one in four mobile sites are not optimized correctly, resulting in an average smartphone traffic loss of 68%, KoMarketing points out. What is surprising is the slow response of some marketers to the need for mobile-friendly content to engage the 35%-40% of website visits coming from mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones. KoMarketing cites a 2015 survey published by Clutch showing that only 56% of small businesses have mobile-friendly websites, and 10% said they have no plans to create mobile-responsive design! For more, read http://www.komarketingassociates.com/industry-news/report-less-half-todays-content-leads-engagement-2430/

Subject Line 'Thank-you' Boosts E-mail Engagement

E-mail marketers are always looking for the magic subect line words to inspire opens. It turns out that a simple "thank you" has that engagement power, per a recent study from Adestra shared by Ragan's PR Daily. E-mails with "thank you" in the subject line have the highest above-average engagement levels (+62%), according to the Adestra study of 3 billion e-mail attempts by 125,000 global campaigns conducted by organizations in four industries (retail/B2C, conferences/events, media/publishing, and B2B). The open-sesame power of "thank you" may be because many automated, transactional messages include the phrase, such as e-mail receipts sent by brands after customers complete online purchases. But, at the other end of the specturm, other often-used subject line words hurt engagement levels, apparently by making the e-mail read sound like work, with the worst-performing words including "journal" (-50%), "forecast" (-47%), "training" (-47%), "whitepaper" (-40%), and "learn" (-36%). More engaging for e-mail recipients were words that suggest timeliness, such as "bulletin" (+32%), "breaking" (+27%), and "order today" (+27%). For the full story: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/Study_These_words_will_make_or_break_your_subject_19472.aspx

Get Better E-mail Results by Adapting for All Devices

With e-mail now viewed on desktops and smartphones, marketers must adapt content to optimize for all device users, and a recent Direct Marketing News magazine article suggests four strategies for success. While mobile e-mail viewing has surged, desktop e-mail has not gone away. In fact, the article notes, Movable Ink's "U.S. Consumer Device Preference Report" for the second quarter of 2015 found that desktop conversions actually increased to 52.6% of total e-mail conversion in the quarter. Nasty winter weather may be a factor (keeping e-mail recipients close to desktops), but it is still a reminder that e-mail needs to be device-agnostic. This is especially true because device preferences differ by market vertical, per Movable Ink data. For example, 49.4% of nonprofit e-mail opens occur on desktops, but 62.5% of apparel marketing e-mails are opened on a smartphone. The article draws on advice from Vivek Sharma, CEO of Movable Ink, to highlight four strategies for adapting e-mail to all device users. First, adjust content for customer e-mail habits that differ by device, by time of day, and even by geographic location (Californians prefer smartphone e-mail but Virginians lean toward desktop viewing). Second, note that post-click behavior also can vary by device. For example, ask a smartphone nonprofit e-mail opener to text to donate but send a publication subscriber opening a desktop e-mail to an online page. Third, avoid a silo mentality and integrate e-mail strategy for all devices with social, direct mail, and other channels. Finally, measure beyond opens and clicks--tracking click-stream and time on site for example--to tailor content more effectively across devices. For more details: http://www.dmnews.com/email-marketing/four-ways-to-make-email-content-adaptable-for-any-device/article/433149/

Brain Science Finds Mail Bests Digital With Buyers

The latest brain science explains why direct mail maintains its role as a multichannel marketing linchpin. In fact, direct mail beats or ties digital advertising in almost all the ways marketers seek to woo buyers, per a recent Temple University neuromarketing study sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service Inspector General's office. As reported by Direct Marketing News, the study, which showed a mix of 40 e-mail ads and postcards to laboratory subjects, found that a digital approach bested snail mail in only one area: grabbing customer attention. However, postcards outperformed e-mail in five other areas: holding customer engagement longer, generating a greater emotional reaction, generating speedier recall, and creating subconscious desire and perceived value for a product or service. And the two methods tied in three categories: engagement in terms of the amount of information absorbed, memory accuracy, and willingness to purchase and pay. The Inspector General's office is hoping the findings will inspire marketers to make better use of mail's power to win customers. Among its suggestions are increased marketer testing of mail creative, sequencing, and digital print technology, such as augmented reality and QR codes. For more details, read http://www.dmnews.com/postal/direct-mail-has-a-greater-effect-on-purchase-than-digital-ads/article/423292/

How 'Little Data' Basics Yield Big E-mail Results

E-mail marketers can get lost in "big data" analytics and lose sight of the "little data" basics of e-mail delivery that reveal faster response improvements, advises Scott Roth of consumer intelligence company Return Path in a recent ClickZ post. Roth's "little data" fundamentals go beyond engagement rates to inbox placement rates, authentication policies and domain security, and Roth provides a number of real-life examples of how analyzing these basics improved e-mail results. For example, large U.S. retailer Dillard reversed a trend of declining open and click-through rates by checking inbox placement rates across all major mailbox providers. Dillard found that 20% of promotional e-mails failed to reach subscribers, with many e-mail addresses no longer existent. Plus, subscribers who did get e-mail marked it as junk at an above-average rate. The retailer focused corrective actions to pump engagement rates 100% and push open rates above pre-decline levels. Similarly, when another brand saw inbox placement rates drop 50%, they checked their sending basics and discovered that an improperly configured authentication policy for their sending domain had caused most mailbox providers to treat e-mails as spam. With corrective action, the brand saw inbox placement rise 46% to 92%. Financial firms especially need to track basic data for signs of security problems, as Roth points out. For example, he notes how a financial services firm tracking a rise in suspicious domains and call center traffic was able to correlate its e-mail data with phishing outbreaks and then implemented e-mail security protocols. For the whole article, read http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2410356/sweat-the-small-stuff-big-results-through-email-marketing-fundamentals

Using Direct Mail to Rev E-Commerce Results

E-commerce marketers who are smart about planting direct mail in their marketing mix can reap healthier results, points out a recent post by Ernan Roman Direct Marketing on CustomerThink.com. Mail has a unique ability to enhance the B2B and B2C customer experience with a physical "shareability" that digital channels lack, for example. The article draws attention to the History Channel's arty photo postcard promotion of its History Asia programming as an example. The channel estimates the mail campaign generated $1.2 million in PR value via professional interest, social media and requests for the actual art pieces featured in the postcards. Catalogs are another example of physical mail's ability to enhance customer engagement. That's why a major national retailer like Anthropologie uses catalogs as their principal form of advertising "to inspire and engage"(and drive sales). Indeed, direct mail can directly guide the e-commerce customer's purchase journey. For example, online men's retailer Bonobos added print catalogs after a series of successful tests, and now 20% of first-time customers place orders after receiving a catalog and spend 1.5 times as much as other new buyers. Plus, direct mail can be used to lengthen and strengthen online brand engagement, the Ernan Roman article notes, citing the example of Homebase, an online UK home and gardening retailer frustrated by the sales limits of its short spring gardening rush. By targeting high-value gardening customers with a well-timed 500,000-piece mail campaign, Homebase hoped to get customers to shop earlier and spend more. The mailing succeeded in getting customers to visit the site 33% more often and spend 20% more. For more details, read http://customerthink.com/myth-busted-how-direct-mail-can-actually-enrich-the-digital-customer-journey/

Are Facebook, Twitter Brand Marketing Wastes?

Facebook and Twitter are wastes of time and money for brand relationship marketing, concludes a report by Forrester Research. As a story in Fast Company magazine highlights, a recent Forrester study found that posts from top brands on Twitter and Facebook reach just 2% of their followers. Engagement was even worse; only 0.07% of followers actually interacted with posts. Fast Company cites this conclusion by Nate Elliott, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester: "It’s clear that Facebook and Twitter don’t offer the relationships that marketing leaders crave. Yet most brands still use these sites as the centerpiece of their social efforts—thereby wasting significant financial, technological, and human resources on social networks that don’t deliver value." So what's a better digital bet for relationship marketers? Try e-mail, which gets delivered more than 90% of the time compared with the 2% delivery of Facebook posts, Elliott advises. "If you have to choose between adding a subscriber to your e-mail list or gaining a new Facebook fan, go for e-mail every time," he writes. For the article, see http://www.fastcompany.com/3038801/brands-are-wasting-time-and-money-on-facebook-and-twitter-report-says

B2B Content Marketers Doubt Their Effectiveness

The Content Marketing Institute's latest survey of business-to-business marketers found 86% using content marketing, but only 38% believing they are actually effective at it. One reason respondents may doubt their success is poor tracking of content marketing ROI; just 5% consider their ROI tracking "very successful," while the majority (33%) rate ROI measurement efforts as merely "neutral." Another 10% rate tracking as "not at all successful," and 15% do no tracking. For those engaged in content-marketing results measurement, website traffic was the most common metric, followed by sales lead quality and conversion rates. As far as the type of B2B content marketing done, the most popular content (92%) was for social media (other than blogs), followed by e-newsletters (83%) and website articles (81%). What were the most important goals of content marketing? Brand awareness, lead generation and engagement led the list in the survey. The study also pegged 28% as the average amount of total marketing budget spent on B2B content marketing. Unsurprisingly, there was a correlation between perceived effectiveness and spending; those rating themselves as most effective allocated 37% of the marketing budget to B2B content, while the least effective cut their spend to 16% or less of the total budget. For more data from the survey, check out the marketingland.com report at http://marketingland.com/study-21-marketers-tracking-content-marketing-results-102263

Do List Hygiene Myths Hobble Your E-mail Results?

A "clean" e-mail list is key to deliverability and marketing success, but some list hygiene assumptions can actually undercut effective list use. A recent Direct Marketing News article turned to industry experts to identify four common e-mail list hygiene "myths" to avoid. For example, if you think e-mail list hygiene is a simple matter of regularly scrubbing "bad" data (opt-outs, bounces and invalid addresses), you aren't going far enough to create a responsive e-mail list. Today, list hygiene also means identifying addresses that lack recent activity/engagement (opens and clicks), experts advised. And if your hygiene focus is simply to reach the inbox, you are myopic as well, assuming that a knock on the door is all it takes to win an open. Good list management goes beyond deliverability and "batch and blast" to effective list use via targeted, personalized, relevant messaging, industry leaders asserted in the article. Plus, if you believe your list hygiene has rooted out all the bots and spam traps, you may be living in a fool's paradise, especially if you are a product or retail marketer. Loren McDonald, VP of industry relations at Silverpop, flatly told DM News, “Bot use has become more of a problem.” Despite the growing volume and sophistication of e-mail boobytraps, he noted that there are also more services that can help with real-time verification to seek known bots and spam traps -- provided list hygiene programs realize the need. For the complete article, see http://www.dmnews.com/busting-myths-on-email-list-hygiene/article/356087/

Tips for Welcome E-mails That Win Engagement

Welcome-to-our-list e-mails are key to subscriber engagement, yet some marketers either don't send them or don't take care to make them effective. With two to six times the open rate of other e-mails, that first welcome is a once-in-a-digital-relationship opportunity, so get it right! Courtesy of a recent article in Target Marketing magazine by Cyndie Shaffstall, here are some tips for improving welcome e-mails. Start by using a short subject line that reminds the recipient of the new relationship ("Welcome" is one obvious word choice). A simple text e-mail is more likely to dodge spam filters, while interactive html encourages engagement. But why choose? You can send a text and follow with an html. As far as content, write clear and direct copy, repeat the WIIFM message that inspired subscriber opt-in, and personalize as much as possible. Send that welcome message immediately before they forget they opted in; an auto-response makes it easy. Set expectations on frequency, format and content -- and deliver as promised. Increase engagement and retention with a reward (any gift promised or a surprise offer) and make it easy to redeem rewards. Boost social sharing with incentives, too. Remind new subscribers to save/archive the message if it contains important account data. Of course, you can then use A/B testing to craft the best possible "thanks for subscribing" e-mail. For more detail and examples, read the article at http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/blog/thanks-subscribing-10-tips-great-welcome-emails#