2012 May 8 Judy Minot

Measuring the ROI of Social Media

 

Take the BitA recent article in emarketer says that most executives believe the return on investment to engaging in social media campaigns is high. Some believed it was as much 4:1. Most executives thought social media campaigns contributed to increasing

  • marketing effectiveness
  • market share
  • brand or stock value
  • speed to market, and even
  • product quality and talent retention

At the same time, about half of the executives said the biggest impediment to social media was the lack of a “standardized metric” that would let them measure ROI.

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2012 May 1 Britton Shinn

Expectations

Our parents had them.

We have them of ourselves.

We have them of family and friends.

And we have them of our marketing efforts, right?

But are they realistic?

http://www.yoyo.com/p/bruder-scania-r-series-cement-mixer-truck-133444

The other day I overheard a  conversation between my 3 and 5 year old about what they were going to be when they grew up. It turns out that my oldest wants to be a teacher (the most powerful position one can hold in the eyes of a 5 year old) and my youngest wants to be…wait for it… a cement mixer.

You read that right, a cement mixer.

Aside from the obvious rush of pride I’m fairly confident that my youngest can one day drive a cement mixer (hopefully she doesn’t actually want to be a truck).  Chances are also very good that my oldest, if she still wants to, can one day become a teacher.  Both are reasonable and attainable goals.

As marketers I think we sometimes aim too high or in the wrong direction altogether.  This happens a lot with social media marketing efforts. Do we have reasonable expectations of our Facebook brand page?  It probably won’t create lots of new customers, sell our latest product or significantly raise our brand awareness. That being said, I think we can reasonably expect that a properly supported Facebook brand page will at the very least make some of our loyal customers happier.

I’m not suggesting we should abandon social media in favor of more “traditional” digital marketing. I’m simply saying that if we (and our clients/bosses) have reasonable expectations we won’t be let down. And if we are fortunate enough to get some new customers or sell some stuff then that’s a bonus.

If Michael Bay made people we could all be cement mixers. Until that happens we’ll just have to settle for driving cement mixers instead.

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2012 April 5 Britton Shinn

Mobile: To optimize or not to optimize?

The answer is YES!

That was simple – right?  Well maybe it’s not quite that simple.  When we say mobile we are really talking about an entire category of devices. It’s like saying “cars”. There are multiple mobile phone form-factors including; bar phones, slate phones (iPhones), flip phones, slider phones, swivel phones and more. All of these have different sized screens and capabilities.  Tablets are also part of the larger mobile category. Fortunately they are a little easier to get your head around because the market is presently dominated by the iPad.

OK, so we can all agree that we have to be ready to provide an acceptable experience on our websites, for our emails, our videos and anything else digital we make. The challenge is knowing where to start.  There are literally thousands models of mobile devices on the market today.

80 – 20 (ish)

Here’s a simple approach I recommend you consider. Look at your website analytics. They will tell you what mobile devices are being used by your site visitors today.  (If they don’t you need a new analytics platform!)

By way of example when looking at the websites of our clients we find that roughly 90% or more of their mobile traffic comes from 3-4 devices, that’s it.

I recognize that this solution won’t address every website visitor but,  90% sure is a great start.  At the very least it’ll get you into the mobile game without a huge investment. Who doesn’t like that?

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Posted in Design & Usability, Technology


2012 March 29 Tiffany Burke

Why Subscribe to a Pizza With RSS?

Why Subscribe to a Pizza With RSS?Late last year, I flew cross-country to Los Angeles for a few days. I brought leftovers from a certain national pizza chain on the plane with me, and noticed something weird on the box when I was about to eat at 35,000ft.

Everyone wants to let consumers know their company is hip to social media but, you have to make sure that you give enough information, and in a way that makes sense.

Let’s go over the icons on this box, starting from the right side.

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Posted in Marketing, Media


2012 March 28 Robert Kovacs

Usability and the customer experience

Usability is a crucial consideration in website development.  The nature of the web gives the user all the power.  There are a seemingly infinite array of choices.  With very little investment there’s really no “skin in the game” when it comes to your site. Visitors have nothing to lose by moving on.

A tiny handful of sites have something so terrific that users will put up with all manners of clumsy design. I can say with total confidence that your site is not among them.  Keep in mind, a bad user experience will cause visitors to leave and perhaps never come back.  This forces us as website designers and owners to pay close attention to how users engages with the sites we make.

I am pretty sure that this is the case in most industries.  Sometimes, though, I have to wonder. Read the rest of this entry »

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2012 February 24 Judy Minot

How To Create a Brand Lover

abstract-s1Below is an actual interaction between a customer and Zappos. Zappos understands that it’s more important for a customer to have a good experience with their brand than to argue about the value of a $40 bra (which can’t be resold anyway), and now they have a new brand lover. Who uses Facebook.

P.S. Make sure you read the customer’s original email ;)

From: Zappos.com xxx@zappos.com;
Date: February 23, 2012
To: (name deleted)
Subject: Can I return this, PLEASE?

Hey there!

Thanks for contacting the Zappos Customer Loyalty Team. My name is Bri. I would be happy to look into your inquiry. I’d also like to thank you for being an amazing VIP customer!

I am sorry to hear that the (brand name) Sport Underwire Bra you purchased from us is defective. That’s definitely not something that we like to hear about our merchandise, and is not indicative of the high quality of service and products we strive to provide our customers. I am glad that you wrote us right away so we can immediately address this situation.

I certainly do not want to further inconvenience you with returning this item. You are welcome to donate it, trash it, turn it into an art project…it’s up to you, really!

I went ahead and refunded you in full today for this item. Please note, it takes about 2 to 10 business days for that refund to post to your credit card account.. I have also notated your order to indicate that you were advised there was no need to return the item.

If there is anything further we can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to give us a call 24/7 at 1 (800) 927-7671 or e-mail us at cs@zappos.com. You can even use our awesome Live Chat feature, located on our website.

Have a marvelous week!

Yours in relentless service,

Bri A.
Customer Loyalty Representative
Zappos.com
Powered by Service!
Phone: Toll-free 1-800-ZAPPOS-1 (1-800-927-7671)
e-mail: cs@zappos.com

http://www.zappos.com

On Thu, 23 Feb 2012,(name deleted) wrote:

—– customer message to follow —–

hi,

I ordered bras from three vendors and after trying them all on kept yours only. I have worn it to exercise twice now, and find that it does NOT support as it seemed to when I tried it on, my ‘girls’ fall out the top when I do downward dog, and everything sags- well I am not happy!  But the trouble is, I have thrown out the box and the tags.

If I had spent $20 I would say, oh well, live and learn. but the @#$% thing cost $48.

Is there anything I can do?

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2012 February 9 Tiffany Burke

Brand Recognition vs. Bombardment – Email Style

This is the final part of our series on e-mail marketing. Check out our other installments, Email Marketing – The Legal Stuff and What’s the Best Time to Send Your Email?
Brand Recognition VS Bombardment
More isn’t always better, especially when it comes to email. Remember that the people on your email list have agreed to receive them. They are already interested in your product or service and want to get offers from you so they can save money or keep up with the latest news. Overall, email marketing volume has been rising rapidly over the past few years, and open rates are steadily declining. To combat this, companies need to find the right balance between helpful marketing and overwhelming subscriber inboxes. Are you politely reminding customers of your sales and stores? Or are you pushing ad after ad at them so they run to the unsubscribe button? Read the rest of this entry »

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2012 February 3 Judy Minot

A Vassar Education

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — During the first half-hour a special website for Vassar College early decision applicants was live this past Friday, January 27, a computing error caused mistaken information to be posted on the site about the admissions status of a number of these applicants. Before the error was corrected approximately 30 minutes later, 122 applicants logged onto the site. Of those, 46 read a correct letter from Vassar stating that they had been offered admission to the college. The 76 other applicants read a mistaken letter stating they had been accepted for admission, when in fact they had not been admitted to the college. A little more than two hours after Vassar corrected the error, the college had determined who all of the affected applicants were and apologized to them via email for the error.     -info.vassar.news, January 29, 2012

Vassar College

I learned a lot at Vassar but since then I’ve learned the importance of thorough quality assurance or QA. Due to the seven sisters college’s recent embarrassing admissions mistake, I expect there are 76 young people walking around with very bad feelings about Vassar – not to mention their parents and BFFs. I feel sorry for the person or persons who didn’t check their code that one last time, or who didn’t QA the site once more. And I will remember this story the next time I feel insanely pressured to call something “done” when I don’t feel it’s quite ready. Every time a mistake goes out under your name, it does some damage to the trust and good faith you have worked so hard to gain. And some mistakes you just can’t undo.

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2012 February 2 Judy Minot

Could a 5-year-old identify your logo?

Cincinnati-based identity designer Adam Ladd asked his five-year-old daughter her impressions on some popular logos. I never realized that the McDonalds logo looks like french fries, but it does!


My takeaways:

1. A five-year-old can identify the logos of many products she doesn’t use: Nike, Starbucks, GE. The fact that she connects the GE symbol with her grandpa’s work shows the deep roots logos have in our culture.

2. Your logo speaks volumes. A shooting star with a planet. A beachball. Baby toys! And the Monster energy drink logo, well, it does look like worms.

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2012 February 1 Britton Shinn

Just Add Chocolate

D2 Cake Day Chocolate Fondue SpreadCommunication, collaboration and sharing of knowledge are part of the core work philosophy at D2 Creative.  Because we are a relatively small agency, most employees interact with one another on a daily basis.  Despite this, the interaction is almost entirely project-related.

Sometimes people just need to get together and talk.

Hello “Cake Day”.
At 4 o’clock on the first Thursday of each month (or as close as possible) we get together to enjoy something sweet. We chat about movies and music. We joke with one another (Robert and Kevin seem to be the focus of that) and generally have a good time. Read the rest of this entry »

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2012 January 24 Judy Minot

Say (or Write) What You Mean

Engineering Words

I am a big proponent of “say what you mean” in clear simple language, so I was kind of embarrassed in a meeting today when I was asked to explain a bullet point in a presentation we were developing for a client. Read the rest of this entry »

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2012 January 17 Tiffany Burke

What’s the Best Time to Send Your Email?

When To Distract People at Work With E-mailThis is the second part of my series on e-mail marketing. Check out the last installment, Email Marketing – The Legal Stuff.

When trying to schedule an email campaign, think about when you check your own inbox and actually click through to things. There’s not really a “magic time” where people are opening all their emails, but it does vary over the course of the day.

A lot of companies try the “first thing in the morning” approach, and when you look at research from MailChimp, this might not really be helping. Email open rates peak between 12PM and 4PM Eastern time. It’s probably because this is when the largest possible population in the US and Canada are awake and at their desks.  Emails will be fresh in their inboxes when sent around this time of day. People on the East Coast are taking afternoon breaks, customers in Texas are eating lunch at their desks, and those on the west coast might be in their late morning lull. Read the rest of this entry »

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2012 January 4 Tiffany Burke

Email Marketing – The Legal Stuff

This is the first in a three-part introduction to e-mail marketing. In this post, I’ll show you how to build a legally compliant e-mail. In later posts I’ll talk about techniques for finding the best time to send, and discuss the happy medium between too-rare and too-frequent contacts.
Spam and email marketing
Email marketing is a great way to get the word out about your product, an event or a promotion. As opposed to social media like Facebook and Twitter, it very likely that anyone with a computer and internet access has an email address where they can be reached. On the other hand, over 70% of mail on any given day is spam and the CAN-SPAM Act was created to protect consumers and create some guidelines for “good” and “bad” email.

The first step to developing an e-mail marketing campaign is making sure your campaign is legally compliant. This might seem like a “no-brainer”, but it’s incredibly important and failure to follow the rules can result in a $16,000 fine with your name on it.

The CAN-SPAM act applies to all email messages, this includes promotional (sales, special offers, etc.) and transactional emails. Since so many of our clients use email as a promotional vehicle I’ll focus on the laws for those:
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2011 March 15 Robert Kovacs

More change, more of the same

Technology improvements have really changed the way we live over the past decade.  Google is making us stupid, retailing will never be the same again, and the price of real estate will never go down.  Well, maybe not the last one.

I often get the impression from people that all of this is new.  We are in uncharted territory.  I’m not convinced.  I suspect that like Greek tragedy, the basic themes of human nature are pretty universal.

At D2 Creative I spend most of my time working with open source software.  Most people think open source is a new concept.  After all, it’s designed specifically for developing software, right?  It turns out that’s not entirely true.  In 1895 a guy named George Seldon bought the rights to a patent for a kind of automobile engine.  He didn’t make cars; he just sued everyone else for patent infringement.  Soon all car manufacturers were paying him to get off their back.  Today, people like that are still around. They are called patent trolls.  It’s pretty much the same business model as the mafia, only with lawyers instead of guys with pinky rings.

Henry Ford fought back against this patent troll and won. To make sure it never happened again, he set up the Motor Vehicle Manufacturer’s Association, where members could share their patented innovations for the good of the industry.  Like a lot of things we think are new, open source is a lot older than we think.

Things move faster, not necessarily different.

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2010 November 16 Judy Minot
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