Posts tagged ‘Social media’
While Channels Change, the Need to Integrate Stays Constant
Integrated marketing: we’re all talking about it, and most of us get it, at least conceptually. As we continue to evolve our marketing strategies in a changing digital environment, the constant has always been working to integrate branding, messaging, timing and offers across channels. It’s deliberate, it’s coordinated, and I’ll admit, it’s hard because it takes a lot of planning.
The old Rule of Seven― it takes approximately seven impressions before a prospect will act―can take many forms across your organization, so think through your customer touch points to help achieve your goal. Combine broad-based branding initiatives that cast a wide net with direct marketing efforts that get your prospects to take action and engage with you. Then, reinforce those efforts with consistent sales and customer service engagements.
In February 2013, MDR gathered a panel of experts in a live webinar to share ideas for how to integrate across channels. Here are some of the key highlighted tips:
- Direct mail: Use dimensional mailers to create big message impact on high-priority prospects. Reinforce that message in a personalized follow-up email or postcard to increase response power. (Linda Winter, President of The Winter Group)
- Data Integration: Mine your inbound and outbound digital interactions to measure engagement and get metrics to guide your next steps in marketing. (Ryan Mantzel, Co-founder of Flywheel 360
- Trade Shows: Set goals, use careful metrics, and create a strong hot leads protocol to improve trade show ROI. Use social media to extend the impact of show presence before, during and after the event. (Jim McVety, Managing Partner of First Step Advisors)
- Email: Know your goals and design your metrics for success. Use smart email design and optimization best practices to reinforce successful outcomes. An alignment between direct mail and email—with one or the other taking a support or lead role—is a common strategy, with timing of the delivery being important. Natural extensions are social marketing and web advertising to reinforce these channels. (Derek Fairfield, MDR’s leader of E-Marketing Solutions)
- Web Advertising: Increase response rates with a combination of animation, clear messaging and a strong call-to-action on ads and landing pages. Use a conversion tracking code to capture click-thru and view-thru conversions for more accurate attribution of web ad impact to overall integrated campaign performance. (Kim Booth, MDR’s Web Advertising Product Manager)
With a constantly evolving set of marketing tools, how and what channels we integrate will always be changing. But results and research emphasize that the requirement for integration itself will not. Forrester Research found that “…97% of marketing decision-makers indicated they had seen an improvement in revenue that could be attributed to integrated marketing activities.” As integration matures, its benefits will increase. According to The Gartner Group, “By 2014, companies that integrate people, processes and technology will deliver a 50% higher ROMI than companies that don’t.”
Potential customers need to be able to find your information when and how they want it – and that is driving all of us to engage prospects more quickly and in a more targeted way.
Learn more by listening to the recorded webinar.
Talk to us about your integrated marketing challenges and successes in the comments!
Five Ways to Reach Educators This Back-to-School Season
Donnine Souhrada, Product Director, MDR’s WeAreTeachers
As summer winds to a close, education marketing efforts are going into full swing. If you’re tired of the “same old, same old” tricks for reaching teachers, check out my tips to get some new ideas.
1. Get Social: If you’re not using social media yet, you’re missing a ton of opportunity!
In the May issue of our WeAreTeachers client newsletter we talked about maximizing your Facebook timeline, and in June we offered some tips for juggling your social media presences. The July issue focused on Twitter strategies, so these 3 articles provide lots of ideas to help you get started.
You don’t have to jump into all the social media channels at once, but the back-to-school season is a perfect opportunity to really focus on one platform, build it into your marketing plan, and capitalize on the energy of the new school year.
2. Integrate Channels: You know the old saying about not putting all of your eggs in one basket, and that holds true for your marketing strategies, too. In fact, integrated marketing—using multiple channels to reinforce a message—results in maximum exposure and greater “stickiness” for your brand and positioning.
Follow up an email campaign with a direct mail piece, mix up web ads with a social push and email campaign…you get the idea. Multiple impressions on your audience through several channels can yield great returns.
3. Test Something New: While you’re integrating channels, why not add a new one into the mix? This is especially true if you haven’t made the full jump into digital marketing yet. We know educators are online all year long, checking email, researching for their lessons, booking personal travel, and shopping for their classrooms, homes and families. Connect with them there through web advertising or social outreach if you haven’t tried these channels yet.
If you need a turnkey solution for connecting with teachers on the web, WeAreTeachers.com is a destination site with tons of opportunities for you to take your digital marketing efforts to the next level. It’s a great way to get involved in digital marketing with ready-to-go multi-channel programs.
4. Be A Resource to Educators: Educators respond best to brands that they perceive as resources for meeting their needs. Determine what challenges your target teacher pool might be facing this year, and find ways to help them.
For example, teachers feeling the pinch of budget challenges would be excited with a discount or “free” promotion of some kind. Educators working through Common Core implementation could really benefit from a free resource guide to help them through this transition.
Be there for them, and they’ll remember your brand and turn to you first when it’s time to buy.
5. Get Involved: Look for ways to join teachers in online communities. Read what they are discussing, and become a contributing member of these communities so you can respond with your ideas and input.
As you earn the trust of the educators within the communities, you can continue to position your brand as a resource, and use the collective power of these teacher communities to get feedback on your products and services, and show them the ways that you can help meet their needs.
The key is to become part of the community and have genuine interactions with teachers. If you lead with the product pitches, you won’t be able to gain their loyalty. Focus instead on building relationships and creating brand fans, which ultimately leads to sales.
Five Ways to Turn Campaign Responders into Loyal Customers
With MDR’s Free Hot Leads program, email campaign customers can now download full contact information, including email address, for all contacts who have opened and/or clicked on their campaign. MDR will also send a free Hot Lead Trigger follow-up email to these responders automatically. (Learn more about free Hot Leads and trigger emails here.)
But what comes next? After the trigger email is sent, marketers should continue to nurture these leads to work toward conversion. Here are five ways you can continue to engage your Hot Leads campaign responders:
1. Show Them Your Appreciation: Thank educators on your Hot Leads list for their interest in your product or service with a current discount or promotion. You could also create a special offer for this specific audience, whether it’s a free trial or subscription, an exclusive discount, etc. This is an ideal way to continue their positive interactions with your brand and encourage them to stay engaged.
2. Help Them Get to Know You: Create a messaging campaign just for this audience, giving them more in-depth information about your company, product, or service. It’s a perfect opportunity to help them understand your unique value to educators!
3. Put Them in the Loop: Send program participants an opt-in to your email or newsletter communications and/or include them in your direct mailing lists. By including them in your various communication touchpoints, you can continue to keep them engaged and interested.
4. Get Social: Invite these educators to join your online community by asking them to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any of your other social media channels.
5. Request Their Feedback: Reach out to your leads and ask them to submit reviews or testimonials or complete surveys to inform your future marketing or product development. Add reviews and testimonials to your website and/or highlight them on your social media platforms.
All of these strategies will help you continue to build relationships with each of your Hot Leads, creating trust in your brand and ultimately turning these campaign responders into loyal customers.
MDR Forum 