Photo from our interview with Avinash at SES Hong Kong

The morning keynote speaker for the 2011 MIMA Summit was none other than Avinash Kaushik co-Founder of Market Motive Inc and the Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google.  Avinash was a very funny and engaging speaker.  Nothing was off limits during his keynote.  Caught in the crosshairs of Avinash’s presentations were what he called “small” local companies (General Mills, 3M, etc) that dared to provide a “less than ideal” user experience.

Innovation was the topic of the morning’s keynote, ranging from which companies are a good (and bad) example of implementing innovation to proper metrics to show success.

What Are the 3 Definitions of Innovation?

Kaushik on innovation: “One of the great sexy things about the Internet is that everything you knew about the Internet 6 months ago is now irrelevant. “

• Incremental
• Incremental with Side Effects
• Transformational

How Can You Participate In Innovation?

Kaushik on measuring success: “If you only measure clicks, page views, visits, video views, touches, emails, and number of reports you are SUPER LAME.”

1. Accountability: Focus on the metrics that matter.  Do not let irrelevant data cloud your vision.  Increase loyalty by giving customers what they want.
2. Multiplicity: Losers only focus on the 2% of conversions they receive from their website.  Winners focus on the 98% that didn’t convert.  Social, Search, Content, Email are all things that drive value but should not be considered a stand-alone marketing strategy.
3. Influence: Traditional Marketing Strategy: shout to customers and hope that something will happen.  Internet Marketing: Create a flow of conversation between your brand and the end user.  Social Marketing Revolution: create not only a flow of communication between the brand and the consumer but encourage the consumer to share with their network.
4. 4. Fail Faster: Each one of us has an opinion.  Often the worst ideas are created by H.I.P.P.O’s (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion). If you’re going to fail do it quickly.  Don’t let ego’s get in the way of making adjustments and tweaks to the original plan.

4 Ways Data Can Help You Do The Right Thing

• Conversion Rate = # of audience comments or replies per post
• Amplification Rate = # of re-tweets per tweet = # of shares per post = # of share clicks per post
• Applause Rate = # of favorite clicks per post = # of likes per post
• Economic Value = sum of short and long term revenue and cost savings

Create A Better User Experience

Kaushik on improving user experiences: “Be better each day than we were the day before.”

The Unreachable Coupon

How much time and effort would you spend to gain access to a .60 cent coupon?  Some corporations think that the answer is: 13 steps and 30 minutes spent filling out personal information (with no error checking) only to find that you have to install another program in order to actually print the coupon.  If companies only focus on the data they NEED they will avoid angering the very customers they were trying to engage.  Why does the Internet bring out the worst in us?

You Say You’re Innovative But You’re Not

The example used was that of a company whose homepage screams the word innovation…literally.  However, their design screams 1940’s.  What we learn from this?  If you’re going to use strong words to describe yourself make sure that your branding reflects your message.

Measuring Suckyness

If you want to form a long-term relationship with your audience you need to provide them something of value first.  Sites that bombard browsers with too many advertisements, links, and paths are “puking” so to speak on their users.   Filling your site with 400 links on one page is not a good strategy.  Avoid suckyness by providing value in a way that is easy for your audience to digest.

I Love This Website!

Websites that allow you get to where you want to be as quickly as possible provide a much better user experience.  By segmenting consumers as soon as they reach the home page they are much more likely to frequent your site because they know exactly how to navigate and will be provided information that only pertains to what they are looking for.

What Did We Learn?

• Extract Insights From Things You Do Every Single Day
• Force companies to provide us with the things we need to make educated buying decisions
• Be authentic!
• Stop guessing and start using the data available to you

For another blog post covering Avinash’s MIMA Summit keynote, visit Lisa Grimm’s blog: Communications Passionista.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2011. | #MIMASummit: Avinash Kaushik Keynote on Improving Engagement Through Innovation | http://www.toprankblog.com

Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance

There are 5 key steps that each marketer must take to create a successful social media campaign.  What does this include?

• Listening to what is being said online
• Assessing the marketplace
• Engaging with current and prospective clients
• Measuring is a way for us to optimize
• Improving our strategy as we learn more

According to Hemann listening and measurement are the two most important ingredients for success.  You cannot successfully execute on one without the other.  Below are a few of the best practice approaches that Hemann shared with the audience at today’s session.

Understand What Simply Listening Can & Cannot Do

• Optimize your content in real time
• Create a better customer experience
• Quickly learn about potential product issues
• Marketing through conversation
• Gain valuable business intelligence

Create A Solid Social Media Strategy

• Planning and beginning and ending stages is essential
• Internal resources for facilitating and executing is critical
• You can’t listen to everything so fine tune your process
• Don’t rely on just one tool for quantifying results

Tools & Reporting: Questions Every Company Should Ask Themselves

• Has your internal team decided on the tools you want to use?
• Is there a training and implementation schedule in place?
• Has a process for reporting been scheduled?
• Do you know what your competition is doing?

Myths & Misconceptions To Avoid

• Social media cannot be measured: You collect dozens of data points each day that assist in measuring your social media efforts.
• ROI stands for something other than return on investment: ROI does not refer to influence or engagement it is directly related to gaining or saving the company money.
• Social media measurement is different than traditional media measurement: Social media is measured by utilizing a series of strategies and tactics just as you would with any other effort.
• Social media is meant to be organic and we already have too much data: You can never have too much data!

Never Forget the Five W’s

• What people are saying about your brand.
• Where they are talking about your brand.
• When people are talking about your brand.
• Who is talking about your brand.
• Why people are talking about your brand.

Common Measurement Questions You Should Always Keep In Mind

• How many people did we reach?
• Did the program create conversation?
• How do I get ad equivalency so the brand can compare this to our advertising?
• Were our fans/followers engaged?

What Is Our Take Away From This Afternoon’s Session?

• No subject is unapproachable
• This is a step-by-step process
• Gaining access to quality data provides a huge competitive advantage

[Note from Lee: Chuck has published his presentation online so take a look below for the full presentation. Thanks Chuck!]

There are many ways to effectively track social media metrics for B2B sales.  What tools have you found to be effective for social media measurement?

Stay tuned for more posts from MIMA Summit 2011.  Follow the hashtag #MIMASummit on Twitter and watch for any posts on @toprank or @azeckman to see updates and photos from the conference.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2011. | #MIMASummit: 6 Tips for Developing a Best Practices Approach to Social Media Measurement | http://www.toprankblog.com

When you think of geotagging, or checking in, what do you think of? Probably GPS, FourSquare, Facebook Places or letting a photo site like Flickr know where a photo was taken. But it can also be done for blog posts.

Geotagging in blog posts is still relatively new, but it well on its way.

WordPress.com already supports geotagging on profiles and posts so that you can let others know where you are posting from. They will also soon launch a Geo Search feature that will allow people to find posts based on their location.

If you have a WordPress hosted blog, this functionally isn’t built-in yet, but there are a few plugins that can enable it. GEOTag, OSM and Geolocation all claim to add geo information to blog posts and are worth checking out.

So how does this tie back into local search marketing? Easy. Local search is all about finding the right match for a user based on their location. So when I search for “Audi dealers in Minneapolis”, it filters out any results in Los Angeles, Seattle or New York.

Now imagine that same search in regular search. Search engines will still put local results at the top, but then list out what it believes are the best matches based on their algorithm. If you have geotagging setup, that can be another indicator to search engines that your post is targeting (or most relevant for) searchers the Minneapolis area, and it may then rank better for that specific search.

Search engines are all about giving the best search results to their searchers and location is increasingly important. Not all users know to search Google Maps for local results, so search engines have to interpret local intent and the location of the searcher into regular search results as well. If you are geotagging your blog posts, this can be one more indicator to search engines that your content is a good match for a geographically specific search query.

As geotagging continues to evolve, chances are that search engines will roll that into their algorithm as well as the other geolocation signals currently considered. It’s also very possible that location specific search engines will start popping up and show results based purely on geotagging. Getting geotagging setup now might help get your blog content ahead of the game.

This post idea was sparked by the I <3 WordPress discussion with Peter Fleck and Toby Cryns at the 2010 Mima Summit.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2010. | Can Geotagging Blog Posts Increase Local Search Marketing Performance? | http://www.toprankblog.com

Kipp Bodnar of HubSpot

This post is one of a series of liveblogs from the 2010 MIMA Summit.

B2B social media can be surprisingly successful with a specific focus on lead generation.  If social media is to be taken seriously for B2B by marketing decision makers, it needs to maintain a focus on business objectives and driving sales vs. “fluff”.

B2B companies are actually in a much better position to use social media as a marketing channel than B2C companies.  They often have a much clearer expectation for what a customer does and what they want.

B2B companies also have deep internal expertise.  It’s not uncommon for top B2B companies to employ thought leaders in their specific industry.  However, there’s a solid argument that for many B2B companies, online marketing and social media might not be a fit.

Instances where social media doesn’t make sense:

• If you have a tiny customer base (perhaps you have only 5 customers).
• If the people you are trying to talk to can’t access the internet.  Many people in regulated industries can’t access the outside internet from work. (i.e., some military/electric industry).
• If you or your business don’t have an advocate that can help you.
• Velocity and volume – tough for social media in the beginning.  You can potentially create quick velocity but quick volume would be difficult.
• If you have a lack of resources you shouldn’t engage in social media.  This seems like a big pain point for organizations.  If you lack the time or resources it makes it difficult to be successful.

It’s important to classify what exactly a lead is.  According to Kip, a lead is when somebody expresses clear interest in working with your business.  If someone downloaded a whitepaper and gave full contact information, Kip classifies that as a lead.

Before anything else, it’s important to have the basics in place.  If the website isn’t usable and there are no landing pages to collect lead information, social media is going to have much less of an impact because the traffic won’t engage and convert with your content.

Content to build leads for B2B Online Marketing

Content is the building block for all online marketing as a B2B company.  Companies need to know how to talk to prospects in a way that is not promotional, solves their problems and provides value to them.

More content, in general, equals more entry points which should lead to increased leads.  Content creation correlates to organic lead growth.  One way to attain conversions is to ensure there are calls to action alongside content.

Leads stem from multiple social channels depending on industry and strategy. Discovering where your audience is matters.  Remember that engagement is not a goal, it’s something you do which helps facilitate a goal and should be measured as a KPI, not an outcome.

Blogging has been critical as it is a platform to create and publish content throughout many different networks and attract new visitors.

Headlines win – never before in history have we had so much information.  People are subscribing to blogs via email, Twitter LinkedIn, RSS, etc and headlines are the main call to action for content.  They’re the make-or-break detail if people read content or not.  HubSpot has found many of their most successful article headlines have numbers in them because people know they’ll be scanable.

Always optimize content with keywords so that you’re gaining additional organic visitors from search engines.

Social media and lead generation

CTAs (Calls to Action) – With a business blog, there are many different ways to get people to become a “lead” from a visitor.  For example: including buttons in the sidebar to talk to a representative, or text links within content to whitepaper landing pages or to download content.  HubSpot has found it successful to add calls to action at the end of content.

We have found that a majority of posts generating leads haven’t been published recently.  Older content is generating  leads.

It’s important to remember that your customers are more important than you are.  For example, HubSpot has a customer in Virginia that installs pools and spas.  All he does is share what someone might want to know when installing a pool.  He doesn’t directly sell his products, but that’s okay.  Even if people aren’t ready to buy, publishing value added content adds them into that consideration section.

Getting all team members involved in the business blog is vital.  People want content from people, not necessarily just companies.  Getting different people from different departments – i.e., research or product, allows marketers to expand the relevant information covered on a given blog to appeal to a larger subset of customers.

Business blogging drives leads and serves as a hub for search and social media visitors.  It doesn’t feel like they are visiting a website that hasn’t been updated in years.  A blog provides much better context for a business.

According to HubSpot’s research of its own customers, B2B is lagging behind B2C in terms of direct customer acquisition in social channels.  B2B is only winning in one tool: LinkedIn, which makes sense.  B2B organizations are acquiring customers through social channels, just not at the same rates as B2C.

Key tips and takeaways for B2B Social Media Marketing:

• Email is the ultimate testing ground for social media because for most of those getting started in social media, email is the largest sample. Email is not being replaced by social.  You can use it as a testing ground to amplify the success of other marketing campaigns.
• The CRM tool is essential to tracking.  Look at how a lead comes in, how it was converted and how it goes through the sales process.  By having your sales system and CRM tied in with analytics, it gives a clearer picture from visit to lead, which is essential to tracking.
• Lead source – It’s important to understand what leads you get from different online channels to identify what sources are effective or not.
• Measurement – With analytics in place to measure and provide insight around lead sources, you can figure out where to allocate budget, especially if you can measure from visit to customer.
• Social + CRM is how you should think about ROI.  If you can have your web analytics and your CRM talking, you can have an understanding of how people are coming to your site and how different channels are performing to you, measuring it down to the customer level.
• Acquisition cost reduction: Social media can equal more engaged and lower cost customers.

Thanks to Kipp Bodnar for presenting the above session during the 2010 MIMA Summit.  Kipp leads the content marketing team at HubSpot and writes for the Social Media B2B blog.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2010. | How to: Use B2B Social Media for Lead Generation | http://www.toprankblog.com

Web Analytics is an excellent way to ensure your marketing efforts are not in vain. However, looking at Analytics without understanding user behavior may leave you treading water instead of creating a wake your competitors will fear.

One way to take your methods of measurement to the next level is to combine Analytics with User Experience (UX) information. What you stand to gain can be great whether you dip a toe or cannon ball into blended analytic waters.

To make sure you don’t sink, first understand that Analytics will tell you what’s happening on the site. User Experience Research then helps you understand why it’s happening by gaining insight into the behaviors and motivation of visitors.

When you combine both, you can start to understand the What and the Why of what’s happening on your website. This also allows any potential problems to float to the top more quickly, allowing you to see the problem you need to solve and what changes might do just that.

The following case study illustrates what you can find when you combine the power of Analytics and user behavior:

An insurance quoting website, which had a 14 page quote and purchase process was going through a website redesign and decided it was the perfect time to double check their form process.

The goal was to identify where in the funnel visitors were getting stuck and abandoning the process.

After understanding user experience and their reactions to what you are testing, the data should be compared to Analytics. Does Analytics show visitor ‘drop-off’ points in similar places as what was identified as confusing/irritating by the users?

To understand drop-off points and not spend time in lower-priority places, be sure to identify logical places for drop-off. In this example a make-sense drop off would be after the quote is delivered because you can expect that some visitors won’t like the quote they received and abandon to either get a different quote or purchase elsewhere.

Where you want to spend time is identifying the unexpected drop-offs. One such drop-off point for the health insurance quote form was the request for a social security number. Almost all users are cautious when giving such information online, but the problem in this particular case was that the information was asked for too early in the process before the person is invested.

As such, they identified an item to test. After placing the request for the social security number further into the funnel where the user was more invested and felt like it was OK to give their personal information, the abandonment rate decreased.

The next drop-off point was the question of where they attended college, which some – via the user experience testing – found offensive and/or didn’t understand how it was relevant to an insurance quote. The Analytics confirmed this and showed a higher than normal drop-off rate at the point that question was asked in the funnel.  Ask yourself, why is this question part of the form? Is it necessary? If not, remove it and improve the percent of visitors who get further in the funnel and closer to a sale.

Start getting more out of your website by diving deeper into the following 6 areas using both Analytics and User Experience Data:

1. Landing Page Optimization
Analytics: Bounce Rate, Conversion Rate
UX: Why people convert.

2. Site Navigation
Analytics: Top Content
UX: How they get there

3. Form Completion
Analytics: Abandonment, Page reloads
UX: Specific Objections

4. Content
5. Analytics: Time Spent on page
UX: Is it engaging?

5. Testing
Analytics: A/B Testing
UX: What to Test

6. Terminology
Analytics: Search Logs
UX: How people use language – what is your target marking using to search for you

In the case that you need to dip your toes, go old-school and simply sit behind someone and watch them navigate your website. Where do they go first, second, third, what do they avoid? Ask them why. Some data is better than no data.

Thank you to Fred Beecher and Andrew Janis of Evantage Consulting for presenting the above case study and tips on UX and Analytics during the 2010 MIMA Summit.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2010. | 6 Ways to Dive In to Analytics & User Experience | http://www.toprankblog.com

Whether you agree or disagree that email has one foot in the grave, many online marketers are finding effective ways to leverage email as part of a social media marketing mix. Integrating email and social media was the topic of discussion at a session during the MIMA Summit last week with Loren McDonald, VP of Industry Releations, SilverPop and Brian Brown, Director of Modern Marketing, ideapark.

Social sharing options embedded in online content have helped increase distribution and reach for thousands of web sites. One of the most common ways email has been used in a social context is “Forward to a Friend”.  However, the tried and true ‘Forward to a Friend’ link has less than .1% CTR, so many marketers have taken it upon themselves to find a new way to circulate content amongst networks.

Alternatively, there is  the ‘Share to Social’ (S2S) link. While  S2S is relatively new, a .5% CTR gives early reason to be optimistic according to a Silverpop study.

The Silverpop Share-to-Social study also reported that S2S is likely to result in sharing of content with 150 to 200 people on average. In contrast, a “forward to a friend” link may reach an additional 1 to 2 people. Share to social use results in a 24% increase in reach on average.

How does Share-To-Social (S2S) Work?  S2S is a call to action such as ‘Share this Newsletter’ followed by graphical links to various social network or content sharing sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, StumbleUpon and so forth. all within the email message.

If you look at most blogs and online publishers, social sharing buttons are not anything new.  In fact, TopRank created one of the first tools for blogs to embed social bookmarking buttons over 3 years ago. Posting them within email messages, however, is catching on and there are a few guidelines to follow for successful integration:

Understand what motivates subscribers to share
People share for different reasons including:

• Self Interest: People share because they think they will be rewarded. i.e. sweepstakes
• Altruism: sharing makes them feel good
• Validation: sharing feeds the ego
• Affinity: sharing makes people feel more a part of the community
• Prurience: sharing makes people feel less guilty for gawking

Target the right social networks and media
Is the use of 4 or 5 networks the right number? If not, how many is?

Be sure to do your homework and identify on which social sites your target audience is spending time. Of those, on which sites are they interacting or sharing content the most?

Once you have this identified, don’t shut down the research. Continue to follow the target audiences to make sure they aren’t migrating to a new site leaving you unaware.

Keys to targeting the right networks:

• Utilize 3^rd party research
• Survey subscribers/monitor network activity
• Test and analyze click/share activity
• Identify subtrends i.e. high value sharers
• Kill the losers

Educate subscribers on how/why to share
Despite the growth, ‘sharing’ is still early among some audiences.

Alongside the ‘share this’ buttons, consider adding a ‘what’s this’ button and give them instructions on how and why to use the feature.

Encourage people to share. Placing the links on the page/email may not be enough. Just like with anything marketing, you need to include call to actions to get people interacting.

Once you have integrated S2S, the next step is to identify high value sharers. Who are the ‘few’ people that often share your content and have a larger than average network?

Optimize email sharing design and link location
Where to put the links?

Test different placement of the ‘share this’ links. Top, Middle, Bottom, Sidebar etc.

At the very least, by moving it around you can avoid users getting used to seeing it and therefore ignoring it.

Eight ways to create shareworthy content:

1. Trustworthy - Brand and source of content or offer is widely known and trusted
2. Tap into Tribes - Message content speaks to tribal groups within subscriber base
3. Obvious - Essence of the email content to be shared is obvious, simple to grasp
4. Easy to Share - Sharing links are easy to find and use
5. Social Acumen - Targets the right social networks and social acumen of subscribers
6. Creates Value - Must provide value or recipients will not share
7. Rewards/Incentives
8. Great Content

What B2B emails are shareworthy? Articles and statistics.

What’s not shareworthy? Long newsletters, negative news and highly personalized emails.

Analyze, test and refine for increased sharing

Test – what’s working and what’s not including:

• Copy
• Link style
• Link location
• Broad vs narrow focus messages
• Viral-only messages
• High-value sharers

Key Takeaways for integrating social networks and email:

• Narrow your network focus
• Make it easy to share
• Determine what your subscribers find most ‘shareworthy’
• Identify and reward your key influencers
• Test everything and don’t be afraid to fail

At our agency TopRank, we’ve been implementing email marketing programs in conjunction with other online marketing and lead generation efforts including social media for 5 years. A good starting point to improving email effectiveness is to read some of the better email marketing tactics online and this recent post from WebProNews on why social media isn’t replacing email.

Are you implementing email marketing with social networking? (outside of the emails that occur within the social network) What have you found to be the best/worst practices?

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | How Social Media & Email Marketing Boost Customer Reach | http://www.toprankblog.com

The MIMA Summit breakout session “Storytelling: Actionable Insight from Analytics” was jam packed with collective analytics wisdom shared by panelists Jason Rapps, Joel Wright, Marshall Sponder, and moderator Jennifer Veesenmeyer to help organizations overcome 3 key web analytics obstacles:

1. Getting traction – getting from stage 1 to stage 2
2. Nurturing a data-driven culture – pushing analytics to the rest of the organization
3. Extending analytics to Web 2.0 and other new technologies

To answer the burning question of how to overcome the obstacles listed above, each panelists elaborated on a specific obstacle.

Obstacle #1: Getting Traction
Jason Rapps, Senior Web Analyst at Motorola, explained to the audience that the real question when working with analytics is “What do I do with this data?” Further, Jason advised that the first step in gaining traction is actually to take a step back and determine what success means for you/your company.

To succeed with analytics, actionable metrics must be delivered and confidence in the data must be instilled throughout the organization.

Recommendations to get traction and succeed include:

• Being consistent in the information you provide, and target to the audience
• Knowing the weaknesses of your system and communicate to team/management
• Communicating your needs
• Not overpromising – be realistic and prove the value
• Understanding the difference between “Metrics” (numbers) and “Analytics” (the story that explains what is happening, why it is happening and helps identify what to do next)

Obstacle #2: Nurturing a Data-Driven Culture
Joel Wright, Senior Web Analytics Consultant, Dell outlined success factors as well as the obstacles encountered when working within a data-driven culture.

Success with Analytics:

Obstacles/Challenges to Overcome:

Recommendations to Nurture a Data-Driven Culture include:

1. Focus on goals/Impact ($) – understand what you are going to do/accomplish and tie to the bottom line and create a model that everyone can understand.
2. Review Scorecards Weekly – critical to nurturing a data-driven culture and creates a common vocabulary between team members. (Make sure to include commentary on why the numbers are fluctuating.)
3. Invest in Analytics Talent – challenges can be overcome by a person the “gets it”, turn the data into information that can work for you.
4. Bonuses for Achieving Goals – tie an incremental bonus to meeting the goals set forth.
5. Training and informal workshops – need a way to engage and needs to be consistent.
6. Include Analysts from the start – information /advice/requirements can be communicated from the beginning versus after a new creative, flash, etc. is launched.
7. Constantly test – everybody is testing, now the question is what to test.
8. Market Successes – use the numbers to communicate the successes. (Share with the team that the numbers are being used to achieve goals.)

Obstacle #3: Extending Analytics to Web 2.0 and Other New Technologies
Marshall Sponder, Founder of Webmetricsguru.com, explained that social media, search & web analytics are converging, and ultimately changing the future of analytics.

Examples of recent mergers/acquisitions/partnerships that will change the future of analytics include:

• Adobe recently acquired Omniture (merging creativity with measurement)
• What people want to see is an analytics paired with design/creative so they can be measured rather the ongoing “silo” effect.
• WebTrends partners with Radian6 (Omniture & Coremetircs soon to follow) and SalesForce.com (Social CRM).
• Tealium tracks brand exposure and pipes data to Google Analytics, Omniture and Coremetrics.
• Comscore and Omniture partner to provide categorization and AD Tracking.
• Nielson and Facebook partner to do online research.

So what does this mean to Web Analysts?

Marshal wrapped up his segment of the presentation with the following thoughts:

• The future the social media data will be merged with analytics
• Data collection is a commodity right now, intelligence is not

In closing, Jennifer Meister, VP of Analytics at Stratigent and moderator of the Storytelling: Actionable Insight from Analytics session, summarized the recurring themes reiterated throughout the session as:

• So much data – so much to do, focus on the information/analytics that adds value
• Tie goals – awareness, advocacy and then get numbers around them
• Silos are coming down –  teams are becoming integrated

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Storytelling: Actionable Insight from Analytics | http://www.toprankblog.com

Through the democratization of publishing content, the vocal minority, those 1%’ers (“sneezers” as Seth Godin calls them or “connectors” as Malcolm Gladwell refers to them as) are integral for your brand.

Why are they important?

New forms of most trusted advertising:

1. Recommendations from friends
2. Other people’s opinions online
3. Company websites
4. Editorial content (news articles)
5. Brand sponsorships

“1%’ers” fall into both numbers one and two.

What we are seeing is anonymous opinions are influencing the way people buy.  Word of mouth from both people we know and don’t know is impacting opinions and purchasing decisions.

The number 1 indicator of growth for any brand:  “Would you recommend a product or service to your friends/colleagues.”  In other words:  loyalty rules.

Levels of loyalty:

1. Ownership
2. Evangelism
3. Referrals
4. Retention
5. Satisfaction

Examples provided by Jackie:

1%’ers impacting brands negatively:

Domino’s

Negative video about two rogue employees – spread throughout the social web.  Domino’s responded by video on YouTube and created a new presence on Twitter.  Many viewed the response by Domino’s are laudable, but in some ways inadequate.  We’ve all heard the story, but did you hear the impact for the brand:

• 46% would order Domino’s before the prank video.
• 15% would order Domino’s after prank video.
• 24% would order Domino’s after the apology video.

This story spiraled out of control in less than a day and resonated far beyond the local Domino’s where the crisis occurred.  The Lesson?  Crisis communications now measured in minutes.

Ramon (Domino’s Franchisee)

Another sample from Domino’s, this time a negative situation turned into positive PR.

Ramon, a Domino’s franchisee from Chicago is passionate about social media and pizza.  A customer and social media user Amy ordered a pizza from one of Ramon’s locations and they messed up the order.  The franchisee created a video response message to “interactive Amy”.  Video was authentic and was applauded by both social media devotees and regular users.  In the end, the mistake was transformed into something positive.

Motrin

We’ve mentioned this story previously at Online Marketing Blog  in a post on B2C marketing, however it remains a great example of understanding your consumers.

Motron launched a video aimed at promoting their product to new moms.  Unfortunately, many mother’s felt insulted by Motrin’s message and rallied together against the brand.  Instead of responding, Motron retreated from a vocal niche (read the full story at Mashable).

While the negativity may be forgotten by now, Google remembers everything – the story is on page one due to the amount of the attention attracted.  And, according to Jackie, you are your Google results.

1%’ers impacting brands positively:

Bacon Salt

A few people in Silicon Valley decided to combine their two favorite things – bacon and salt.  They engaged the “1%’ers” in social media channels.  Enough people started talking about bacon salt online, that it spread into the real world.  There was such demand that people were calling grocery stores asking if they carried Bacon Salt.  After enough of this, they had leverage they needed to get their product onto grocery shelves.  Their next step was “Baconnaise” – bacon-flavored mayonnaise that was inspired by the amazing response to Bacon Salt.

What can we learn from this?  People are the message.  We need to connect with real people to spread products and brands.  And from research, we know that people are the most trusted form of influence.  Additionally, this campaign highlights the fact that social proofing can provide you the reputation necessary to accomplish end business objectives.

Fiskars (best known as a scissors manufacturer)

Fiskars recognized that scrap booking was inherently a social activity.  Scissors are, of course, a vital tool for the scrap booking experience.

The brand noted there are gatherings already being held both at stores and with groups that organize online.  Fiskars capitalized on this by creating a program not about their products, but about the love of scrap booking.  They tapped into the community by finding 4 women who were passionate about scrapbooking and met frequently in a local scrapbooking group.

Fiskars recognized their group as something special and gave them blogs, profiles online and connected them with other scrapbookers around the country.  These 4 women were made the leaders of a nation-wide campaign where their local scrapbooking group was patterned at scale.  Essentially, scrapbooking lovers nationwide could connect with a digital group of other interested scrapbookers, and then meet up at physical retail locations locally (yet still remain part of a larger group).

People who joined got a “welcome pack” with a unique pair of Fiskars scissors, business cards, etc.  Fiskars worked to solidify their brand loyalty by connecting with a vocal group.

Results?

• 6,250 members in 50 states
• 1,000 certified volunteer demonstrators
• Fiskars’ growth rate – craft stores where “Fiskarteers” are involved have three times higher sales growth than non-member stores.
• 13 new product ideas/month
• 85% of “Fiskateers” likely to recommend the product to a friend

The lesson:  it’s about getting your customers involved.

Participation is the 5^th “P” of marketing.

Conclusion – 3 simple things to leave you with:

1. Listen
2. Attract, not interrupt
3. Participate

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | MIMA Summit: Jackie Huba (Church Of The Customer) Keynote | http://www.toprankblog.com

2008 MIMA Summit at The Depot

UPDATE: We have a winner! Liz Giel was selected by a mysterious voting process contrived within the ranks of the TopRank staff and involving various secretive and hurried Account Managers. Suffice it to say, we appreciate all who ReTweeted, linked and commented.  Don’t worry, there will be liveblogging of the event here on Online Marketing Blog and live streaming of several sessions at MIMASummit.org. Congratulations Liz!

In just under a week the annual Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association Summit will be held downtown Minneapolis at the Hilton. With keynotes from Seth Godin and Jackie Huba as well as a collection of local and national subject matter experts ranging from Greg Swan of Weber Shandwick to Scott Monty of Ford, it should be a veritable vortex of interactive velocity.  I apologize, that alliteration was so bad.

Anyway, TopRank has been asked to participate in the “Migrate” themed event on the topic of search engine optimization and social media convergence.

After writing, presenting and most importantly: being a paid consultant and self-practitioner of SEO (12 years) and Social Media Marketing (5 years) respectively, I thought it would be a good appetizer for next week’s presentation to highlight some of the most popular blog posts covering SEO and social media marketing from  Online Marketing Blog.

Top SEO and Social Media Marketing Posts from Online Marketing Blog:
(by traffic in the past 12 months)

1. 25 Must Read Social Media Marketing Tips (Apr 27th, 2009) – This popular post offers specific advice on justifying investment in social media strategy, how to decide on tactics and measuring success from in-house social media marketers including: Dell, Comcast, HP, Wells Fargo, Intel, Best Buy, General Mills, Ford, UPS, Home Depot, Cirque du Soleil and a mix of SMM consultants/agencies: Altimeter Group, Crayon, Ogilvy 360, Future Works, Doe Anderson, New Marketing Labs and others.

2. Guide to Twitter as a Tool for Marketing and PR (Nov 15th, 2007) – Excerpt: “The key with Twitter is not to look at microblogging as individual posts, but think of the overall impressions and value that can be created over time. Each 140 character or less entry serves as a seed of an idea for an overall objective. Over time, you’ll build a footprint and brand of influence within the Twitter community”. This post also includes tips from other early adopter Tweeple including:Andy Beal, Todd Defren and Michael Gray.

3. Best and Worst Practices Social Media Marketing (Feb 12th, 2009) – Many marketers are unsure about the difference between best and worst practices when it comes to commercial participation on the social web. Identifying best and worst practics is a work in progress of course, as communities develop, grow and change.  This post outlines the basic best/worst practices that will hold true for years to come. Internet years that is.

4. 25 Tips for Marketing Your Blog (Jun 15th, 2006) – An oldie but goodie, this post contains many of the fundamentals for creating search engine friendly blogs and has been cited by over 14,000 web sites including Search Engine Land, Copyblogger, Mashable, Stuntdubl, SEOBook, Duct Tape Marketing a and HubSpot.

5. What is Your Social Media Marketing Strategy? (Mar 25th, 2008) – Social media is hot, every body’s doing it. But the question needs to be asked: why? This post offers several good business reasons why companies should invest time, money and resources into social media.

6. Top Ten SEO Tips for PR Professionals (Apr 29th, 2009) – After presenting these ten tips at a public relations conference, I blogged the presentation and wrote another blog post detailing each of the ten tips. It should have been an ebook, but I decided it would reach more people as a series of 11 blog posts.

7. 16 Rules For Social Media Optimization Revisited (Aug 4th, 2009) – A follow up to a post originally published in 2006 that defined a new marketing category, this 3,117 word article by TopRank’s Adam Singer offers an update that resonated well with Online Marketing Blog readers. Is social media optimization still relevant and why?

8. 5 Link Building Tips for New Websites (Mar 20th, 2009) –  KISS, as in Keep It Simple Stupid. It’s sage advice for many things, including blog posts. This link building basics post from TopRank’s Dana Larson hit the nail on the head for many new web site owners in search of those ever elusive first links to boost search engine rankings.

9. Lowdown on Press Release Optimization (Oct 24th, 2005) – One of the first really popular blog posts we ever published, still gets new links every week from sites like WebProNews, Bruce Clay, Techipedia, LED Digest and Yahoo.

10. SEO Basics: 6 Tips for Google Webmaster Tools (Apr 7th, 2009) – Google set the stage for formal search engine support of the webmaster community by developing Webmaster Tools (thanks Vanessa Fox) and TopRank’s Thomas McMahon wrote up this popular tips post highlighting some very useful features.

BONUS!  While not one of the most popular posts overall in the past year, a few recent entries made on Online Marketing Blog speak specifically to the presentation I’ll be giving at the MIMA Summit next week:

SEO & Social Media Roadmap – How do you plan for a social media strategy? How do you leverage the Yin/Yang benefits of both SEO and Social Media for objectives, tactics, specific tools and measuring goals? This post attempts to answer those questions specifically.

Social Media and SEO: 5 Essential Steps to Success – This post was published over at Mashable and focuses on making the most out of combining SEO insights with social media marketing tactics through development of a roadmap.  Like any digital marketing effort, a combined SEO and social media program is most effective that identifies a target audience, specifies measurable goals and a strategy to guide implementation of tactics.

Hopefully your appetite has been stimulated enough to come to our  MIMA Summit SEO/Social session right after Seth Godin’s keynote. If not, you’ll definitely have actionable tips you can use in your SEO and Social Media Marketing efforts today.

Session Details:
The Intersection of SEO and Social Media

Oct 5, 2009 – 9:45 am
Tactics Track, Salon C
Hilton, Minneapolis

Session Overview:
Successful social media efforts build community, better connect brands with customers and can influence both media coverage and increased sales. Yet implementing a social media marketing program without optimizing content for search is literally “leaving money on the table.” Useful social content (blog, video, images, audio and applications) that cannot be discovered via search is a lost opportunity to reach audiences that are looking.

Why do so many companies fail to leverage their participation on the social web for SEO? This session will provide specific “Do’s and Don’ts” of social media optimization and provide attendees practical examples of how companies can leverage SEO and social media content to improve their search marketing performance.

If you like video, here’s an interview with Phil Wilson of Minnov8 & myself talking about SEO/Social and what I’ll be presenting at MIMA Summit.

Win a Free Pass to the MIMA Summit!

Want to attend the sold-out MIMA Summit in Minneapolis next week but didn’t get your ticket in time?  Or maybe you’re a Seth Godin fan and just can’t stand the fact that you’ll miss hearing him speak in person.  Well dear readers, we just might have the solution to that problem.  TopRank Online Marketing has one extra ticket from the corporate table we purchased for the MIMA Summit and we’re going to give it away.

All you have to do is leave a single comment below with a creative and/or compelling reason why we should give YOU a free ticket to next week’s MIMA Summit ($595 value) OR if you Tweet a similarly creative link to this post, that will show up in our comments too. We’ll pick one lucky winner on Thursday Oct 1st.

Sound easy? Sound doable? Then get to it.  If you comment, be sure to enter your email address so we can contact you. If you Tweet, be sure to follow @toprank so we can DM you. We will ONLY contact you if you win and will not rent, sell, post, hack or do anything unsavory or sinister with the information you provide.

Obligatory Q and A:

Q: Does it include gratuitous coffee in the morning before Seth speaks?

A: If MIMA provides it with the corporate table tickets, then you get it. Pretty sure they’ll be offering coffee. Maybe even some bacon.

Q: Does it include lunch?

A: Pretty sure lunch is included. If not, I’ll buy you lunch.

Q: Does it include door to door pickup service from my home in Ham Lake to downtown Minneapolis with sidetrips to Starbucks on the way there and Lucia’s Wine Bar on the way home?

A: I don’t think so.

Q: OK, what about cab fare?

A: Nope.

Q: Transit pass?

A: Not going to happen.

Q: Bus fare?

A: That would be, ah, no.

Q: Schwag?

A: MIMA Summit events and sponsors have been amazing with their schwag generosity. Can’t imagine this year will be any different.

However, we might bring a TopRank mugs. We’d bring the TopRank Old English Sheep dog, but he has a sinus infection and believe me, you don’t want to be around when a 90lb sheep dog sneezes.

Any other questions? Please Tweet them to @toprank or email seo at toprank dot org

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TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | 10 SEO & Social Media Posts To Read Before MIMA Summit | http://www.toprankblog.com

As you can tell from the photo above, it was a sold out event and a very big venue. Both keynotes were informative and entertaining. Rebecca Lieb’s presentation was covered by TopRank’s Jolina Pettice and while we didn’t post on Ze Frank’s amazingly entertaining presentation, you can pretty much get a feel for it from his presentations at SXSW last year and from what he’s presented at the TED conference.

Those whose interactive marketing interests extend to the boob and penis humor category were likely satisfied by both keynotes as they touched on everything from jiggly French Maid “how to” videos to crowdsourcing creative phallic drawings.

Despite the sophmoric humor, key messages were clear:

• advertising is evolving as content
• publishers are competing with advertisers
• humanizing brands vs brands being human
• internet access at the Depot sucks during a keynote
• technology connects people and conversations
• the social web creates new channels of dialoge and companies need to identify how to monitor and respond – how to engage with that feedback
• you can be famous on the web and broke in the real world until people start paying you $10k to speak at conferences or “dance like an idiot and don’t sell anything”

TopRank team members posted on a number of MIMA Summit topics and sessions:

• MIMA Summit 2008 – Ashley
• MIMA Summit 2008 Kicks Off to a Sold Out Crowd – Julie
• MIMA Summit Marketing Mix Challenge – Lee
• Storytelling, Advertising and Content – Rebecca Lieb at MIMA – Jolina
• The Changing Face of Email Marketing – Julie
• Corporate Bloggers: Angels or Demons? – Jessica

You can find other Summit blog coverage via Technorati and the MIMA blog.

The Twitterati were active and enthusiastic during the Summit, making the designated hashtag, #mimasummit08 the most popular trending tag on Twitter’s search engine during the event.

All in all, the FEED Summit was a good event for the Twin Cities interactive set.  Outside of the PPC session with Kevin Lee, it was fairly light on the search marketing content but that’s our self admitted bias for any marketing event. The networking was great thanks to ample breaks between sessions, a super lunch (really!) and the inevitable happy hour sponsored by Gage and Microsoft.

Thanks to MIMA!

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TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Wrap Up of MIMA Summit 2008 | http://www.toprankblog.com

At the MIMA Summit (Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association) this afternoon, I attended a session discussing the pros and cons, along with the challenges a corporate blogger must overcome to represent the company and still make a connection with the blogging community.

Valeria Maltoni is a blogger at Conversation Agent and Director of Marketing Communications for SunGard. Valeria kicked off the session with a discussion around how an organization can get started with social media and a company blog.

As a business and marketing professional, we are tasked to find different ways to make a profit, find new customers, and build the company brand.

In today’s Web 2.0 world, there’s a community out there filled with customers, special interests groups and business partners just waiting to be heard.

Take a quick inventory of your online assets, most websites today offer users stagnant content with no potential for interaction.

So, why create a corporate blog?
-     To learn what your customers want
-     Give your business a face online
-     Bring the conversation inside the company

A company blog opens the door to listen and understand what your customers are saying. A company blog is a platform to provider visitors fresh content and interact with community members.

There is however, a fine line between company and community the corporate blogger must walk. The challenge is providing an open communication channel to engage the community while keeping in alignment with the corporation’s legal, brand, and business standards.

We all wear many hats in our professional lives and the corporate blogger is no exception.

To be successful, a corporate blogger must be the:
-    Communicator (editor)
-    Facilitator (community builder)
-    Negotiator (marketer)

Additionally, a good corporate blogger has attributes that contribute to success, and must be an active listener, an advocate for the company and an ambassador to the community.

Trust is key in building a social media community. To build trust, you must be open in your objectives and transparent within your communications.

How can a corporate blog be humanly authentic?
-    The organization must know itself
-    There must be internal & external alignment
-    Create a platform and culture of passion
-    By all means… always be honest

Each interaction with the blog has the potential to be direct, relevant and memorable for the community members.

If you are considering launching a corporate blog, first:
-    Add listening to your ‘to-do list’ (understand the conversation before jumping in)
-    Do a sanity check on content (can you produce content outside of marketing collateral)
-    Align behind the effort internally (you will need internal support to be successful)

Many companies considering launching a corporate blog have probably asked the question: What is the worst that could happen?

Reality is; social media and blogging opens the door for customer feedback and opinions (both positive and negative). As a company, you need to identify and prepare your responses before diving in. Keep in mind that the most vocal customers are the ones who care enough to tell you how you’re doing.

Valarie offered advice for organizations considering social media and a corporate blog:
1.    Hire great people and get out of their way (give permission to represent the company)
2.    Learn to celebrate the right things (launch is just the beginning)
3.    Read that press release as a reporter would (content first)
4.    Join a conversation already happening and contribute
5.    Think humans first, technology second
6.    Be prepared to address questions, in some cases fast (this is crucial in online time)
7.    Give customers options to receive information how they want it (RSS, widgets = pull)
8.    Provide customers a way to vote on your upcoming promotion
9.    Get to know your customers
10.    Start with beliefs (living and breathing reasons why)
11.    Tell stories that transmit your beliefs
12.    Surprise customers (in a good way), show appreciation

Empower the community you’ve created. If you are asking questions and receiving feedback from your readers, be sure to moderate and post user comments AND your responses.

As a corporate blogger, avoid:
-    Getting defensive
-    Being negative
-    Posting spam

Community is a balancing act and is uncharted territory. The challenge is finding the delicate balance between company and community.

Valeria wrapped up the session giving us the bottom line: blogging is about creating a personal connection with the community.

If you are considering adding blog marketing to your marketing mix, what are some of the challenges or concerns you are facing internally within your organization?

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Corporate Bloggers: Angels or Demons? | http://www.toprankblog.com

Jamie Schissler, Strategy Director at Avenue A – Razorfish, the presenter for “The Changing Face of Email” session shared with the MIMA audience that as the role of email evolves, so too will its impact.

So why will the email marketing strategies of yesterday not work for email marketing success today?

A few key answers and issues that were stressed in the session that and I would like to focus on in order to answer this question were:

• Deliverability
• Test & Measure

There are far more distractions as well as competition than in past years with social, mobile, and other technologies. Additionally, there is the deliverability challenge caused by the ever changing list.  With roughly 20% of people changing email addresses each year to avoid spam and/or to start “fresh” and escape the email account that has gotten out of control, it is difficult to keep in touch with your opt-in audience.

Another deliverability challenge is the growing number of savvy email recipients that believe that a good way to unsubscribe to an email is to simply click the “spam button” and in essence eliminating your reach to that person going forward. (Of course it is key to deliver content that is important to recipient to avoid your audience from opting-out.)

Deliverability of email messages to the mobile device users is also going to be a growing challenge since messages displayed on mobile devices will look,  feel and likely interact with the recipient differently than when viewed within a traditional email account.

As can be expected, with the deliverability issues noted above, reaching the target audience is and will become more difficult in the future. However, through careful monitoring and adjusting to the audience that is responding, as well as those that are not responding, it will be possible to achieve successful results to email marketing programs.

Test & Measure:

To understand the success or failure of an email campaign it is imperative to look at the results of email campaigns to learn from for future campaigns.

From standard statistics such as opens, click throughs, opt-outs, etc. to more of a “total reach” analysis of who is opening, who is clicking and how will the campaigns move the products/services marketed.

Measuring the frequency of campaigns, and whether or not there are more opt-outs when campaigns are sent weekly versus monthly or daily, is an area to focus analysis on. Adjusting the frequency of the campaign accordingly and continuing to test and monitor the results will hone the right frequency mix for your company.

Analysis of email campaigns stats in conjunction with web statistics (whether it be with free analytics packages such as Google Analytics, or with paid packages such as Omniture) is also very important to the success of your email marketing program.

As Jamie Schissler concluded, he showed a slide of many different kinds/styles/sizes of shoes and to remind the audience that everyone can’t walk in everyone else’s shoes and that everyone’s email marketing experience will be different. Embrace the change we are experiencing in email marketing and make that change work for you!

P.S. If you are interested in reading more on my thoughts about email marketing and useful email marketing tips – check out my previous TopRankBlog post entitled Email Marketing Tips & ClickZ Specifics.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | The Changing Face of Email Marketing – MIMA Summit | http://www.toprankblog.com

The annual MIMA (Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association) event kicked off this morning with Rebecca Lieb as the opening keynote.

In a nutshell, the sessio

n was funny, insightful and not without the inevitable internet issues which seem to plague all search conferences (ironic, yes?).

Rebecca got Minnesota online marketers thinking about the following 3 items:
1. Informative (be the content)
2. Entertaining (let people play)
3. Viral (make something people want to share)

From Jerry Seinfeld to French maids to Sarah Silverman’s video about Obama, everything Rebecca shared with the audience centered on the above 3 items.

The first is be the content. It isn’t enough, and hasn’t been for awhile, to publish product or service content. Rather, content that is compelling to your audience needs to be created for them.
No one wants to read standard brochure information. No one.

Here’s what a site might read: Blue Infant T Shirt with Sailboat.
Good right, descriptive, maybe optimized?
But what about throwing out the old product description and sell the shirt from the point of the baby? All the distinguishing characteristics of the blue shirt with the sailboat will be included, but in a creative way.

The content automatically becomes more compelling to the parent searching online for baby clothes.

Second, entertain. By nature, humans like to play so our content, marketing etc needs to entertain the prospect.  Entertainment can be achieved through storytelling, video, images and even games. Rebecca recommends you start by identifying your brand’s story.

The third point Rebecca had for the audience is making content viral. I often hear folks say creating ‘viral content’ is impossible, it either goes viral or it doesn’t.

However, I would argue with this.

If you are creating content based on brochures, pure product information etc, it will never go viral.

Why would it? No one is going to forward dry product information to peers or friends. But, if content is entertaining, funny or thought provoking they will share it with others whether their friends are interested in that product or not. It’s the creative people want to share (benefit to the marketer is that you are getting more eyeballs for that content for free).

The benefit of viral content is that it is opt-in. Once something sparks a users interest, they will go find more. I wasn’t quite sure what the Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates commercial were all about but I was interested enough to search for more of them online and draw attention to them to peers to see what they thought.

Overall, the keynote was thought provoking, funny and entertaining, which is what made me want to share it with you.

Rebecca will be participating in a Geek Out breakout session at 1:45 in the Soo Line room, so if you’d like to continue the conversation on Advertising and Content, be there or be square.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Storytelling, Advertising and Content – Rebecca Lieb at MIMA | http://www.toprankblog.com

The Marketing Mix Challenge session promises to answer the question: “If you’re going to launch a new product, how do you formulate the marketing mix – in this economic climate?”

The panel included a mix of in-house marketers and agencies: Luba Smulka from General Mills (Cheerios), Eric Boyles from Medtronic, Ron Corbisier from Cadria (agency) and Patty Henderson from Colle+McVoy. The Moderator is Jeffrey Gorder from ideapark.

The product to be rolled out in a 3 month trial with a $500,00 budget is a yogurt based vitamin drink: Edge-Y.

First up is Luba Smulka, Consumer Insights Manager from General Mills. The challenge is to determine whether there’s viability for a national roll out. To do that, you’ve got to test it.

Target audience are time stressed, nutrition conscious, digitally connected, they run in packs and are attracted to instant gratification. The barrier to act is that it’s an unknown product. Audience is skeptical of overpromises from brands.

Most important points of influence are to be where the target audience are most likely to listen. For example, at home in the AM, breakfast & going to work. Also in the PM online at the close of the day. Other opportunities include: at work, in-store or personal recommendations.

Budget distribution: Mostly online 60%, 30% print. 10% broadcast.

Next up is Eric Boyles from MedTronic.

Target persona – they’ll try it and if they like, they’ll keep buying.

Minimize barriers to trial. Leverage the social aspect for recommendations. From a viral perspective, there’s a lot of opportunity to get people to try the product and get the word out.

Optimal mix combines free POP program, fee e-trial program, search program, destination web site, social eCoupons, PR and local media. Also an investment in datamining. The emphasis would be on offline.

This is in a 3 month time line, so search not an optimal channel.

Now we have Ron Corbisier from Cadria.

First it’s necessary to test market key objectives.  Build awareness of Edge-Y with “on the move” urban audience targets. Motivate repeat purchasing by mobilizing the product offering. Get the product out to the audience. Give it easy access. Gather feedback on product and marketing mix performance.  Leverage information captured on a daily basis and optimize the budget.

Tactics:

• Launch a tie-in at a major metro event – summer is ideal season
• Mobile (Gem car) stores throughout key metro locations
• Giveaways as well as product for purchase at events
• Sampling & couponing at mobile store, large locations (business sampling)
• POS media at target retail locations
• Out of home mobile media
• Metrics are key

Budget breakout: $500k doesn’t go very far for a product rollout.

• Launch event & sampling
• POS media
• Web site and SEO
• (others but slide went by too fast)

What is a measure of success in a launch like this?

With a 3 month trial, it’s not about ROI and market share. It’s more about getting an infusion of the product into the target audience and use learning from the experience to plan a national rollout.

Last up is Patty Henderson, Interactive Director from Colle+McVoy.

Trial through in-store sampling is the first focus to prove it as a viable product for national roll out. 92% of consumers say they’d buy a product if they tried it and liked it.

Use street teams via light rail stations, transit stations, etc to hand out samples. Also day care and gyms.  It’s a sports drink but yogurt based so the health angle might get better play.

Give those trying product out an opportunity to use a coupon to buy the product. An incentive is provided to get people to visit the edgey.com web site where there’s a contest.

Employ a social media monitoring tool to offer coupons to people that fit the target profile. Get buzz in forums as well.

Word of mouth. People trust recommendations from others, newspapers, online consumer opinions and brand web sites. (from neilsen)

The web site would collect testimonials and allow them to make comments, express preferences about the product and to share with their friends.  Also, possibly some radio promotion and out of home.

The session finished off with audience questions.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | MIMA Summit Marketing Mix Challenge | http://www.toprankblog.com

With a sold-out room full (600+) of Minnesota interactive marketers chomping at the bit to learn the latest and greatest, it is guaranteed to be a wonderful event.

As the introduction to the event, MIMA ’08 played an awesome & quite humorous MIMA theme song / video by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal that had flashbacks to the “old days” of the interactive – my favorite reference was a lyric that eluded to the good old days of interactive and the internet when you had trouble keeping up the monitoring of your 2 email addresses and posting to blogs a many times…a year.

Matt shared, with the crowd a few key take aways in his welcome message:
- Feed the Feed and share your thoughts with everyone!
- Grow, Evolve & Produce

As Ashley Bruce mentioned in a previous post, the TopRank team has 10 members at the MIMA Summit today, so please stay tuned for posts re. key take-aways from MIMA!

During my attendance at MIMA, I am looking forward to learning a lot from each of the presentations I attend, such as:

• The Changing Face of Email
• Creativity: Bridging Traditional to Digital
• Corporate Blogger: Angel or Demon?

Thank you Matt for setting the stage for what is certain to be a great day!

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | MIMA Summit 2008 Kicks Off to a Sold Out Crowd | http://www.toprankblog.com

On Wednesday October 1st, about ten of TopRank’s finest will be making the trek from the Western suburbs to downtown Minneapolis for the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association’s (MIMA) “sold out” Summit.

As in years past, MIMA Summit will take place at The Depot with a new focus on the subject of “mutualism”. Mutualism centers on the open use of material in the online world, in which web marketers and users alike participate with one another and share information together. In that spirit, I’m going to take the information provided by MIMA about the Summit and share with our readers.

The MIMA Summit is an all-day event including two keynote speakers (Rebecca Lieb & Ze Frank), numerous breakout sessions on just about every interactive marketing topic you could wish for and of course, a happy hour. Here are a few sessions I’m planning on attending to give you a taste of what the MIMA Summit 2008 has to offer.

Opening Keynote: “The Decline of Advertising and the Creative Renaissance” Rebecca Lieb, former Editor-in-Chief for the ClickZ Network, will kick off the MIMA Summit looking at the shift from ‘advertising’ to ‘marketing’ in the digital sphere. You can read our recent interview with Rebecca here.

“Creativity: Bridging Traditional to Digital Adrian Ho and Christian Erickson of Zeus Jones explore the creative divide between traditional advertising and digital marketing. Using real-world examples, this digital marketing duo will give advice on blending creative messaging into the value-driven digital landscape.

What Conversation? The Summit’s second keynote address will be given by Ze Frank, online performance artist, humorist and composer. Ze will be examining how brands can successfully participate in online conversations. The MIMA description assures that Ze will most likely avoid the difficult questions and instead focus on his own experiences. Who doesn’t love tangents?

Corporate Blogger: Angel or Demon? Director of Marketing Communications and Blogger Valeria Maltoni explains the interesting phenomenon that is the corporate blogger. Valeria will draw on her personal experience to give advice on blogging effectively about an organization while maintaining an authentic voice.

Happy Hour with Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal.  While I don’t know much about this comedy duo from North Carolina, what I saw on their website gives me hope that their show will be entertaining. I also like the fact that one of the comedian’s last name contains the word ‘laugh’ and the other’s first name is ‘link,’ which is only fitting for a digital marketing event.

There are many more sessions taking place at Wednesday’s MIMA Summit. Between all of us, the TopRank crew should be able to attend most of them and bring our newfound knowledge into play with both officemates and clients. Plus with all the humor on the schedule, we should have a new set of interactive marketing jokes to share.

If you’re attending the MIMA Summit this week AND you’re a Twitter enthusiast, be sure to tweet @mimasummit about the event happenings, questions and observations during sessions. To follow the MIMA Summit conversation, click or subscribe to this MIMA Summit Twitter Search .  MIMA Summit info is also on Facebook.

You can read our past coverage of MIMA Summit events here.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | MIMA Summit 2008 | http://www.toprankblog.com

One of the fun things we get to do on Online Marketing Blog is interview interesting people we meet and get to know by being involved with the industry. This interview is with Rebecca Lieb, Editorial Consultant to ClickZ and former Editor for the past 7 years. In addition to previously offering sage advice on getting more out of marketing conferences here on OMB, Rebecca works as a consultant, is writing a book on search marketing and is often retained as a speaker for industry events.

In this interview Rebecca shares tips on selecting interactive marketing vendors, shares her insights into upcoming marketing strategies and talks briefly about her upcoming book on search marketing as well as the MIMA Summit here in Minneapolis where she’s the keynote speaker.

Your journalism and editorial background has taken you many places topically and geographically. What are some of your favorites?

I was a Variety bureau chief based in Berlin right after the Wall fell, which was as fantastic as it was dissonant. One week I’d be at the Cannes Film Festival, a few days later I’d be attending the first film festival open to Westerners in Romania or Minsk. Often it’s not just the “where,” it’s the “when,” too. Interactive marketing has taken me many new parts of the world to speak, most notably my first trips to South America. But personally, my passion of the past few years has been Southeast Asia. I’ve been to Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and most recently, Burma. As you can probably tell from this list, adventure takes precedence over thread count every single time!

You were so nice to meet with Dominic and I this hot summer. What do you like most about living in New York? It can’t be the heat! In an increasing digital world, do you think there are additional opportunities for someone working in the Interactive Marketing field to physically live in a large city vs. working remotely elsewhere?

I have a good friend who’s currently making a great living in this industry from his home in idyllic and remote rural Vermont. It’s all red barns, cows and covered bridges — but he’s got satellite wi-fi in his sugar shack! You can be anywhere nowadays, and I’m often tempted to pick up stakes and move elsewhere (who isn’t?). And who knows? One day I may. But there’s still a whole lot of value on at least thee occasional F2F meeting, not to mention conferences, seminars, and in-office meetings. Of course, that whole metaphor can be applied to physical workspace as well. For years at ClickZ, I went into an office or sometimes, worked from home. Regardless, the majority of business these days is done via emil or IM these days — often with the person at the next desk! Physical location and proximity are a great social lubricant, which isn’t to be underestimated. But certainly Being There on a daily basis is no longer a prerequisite for success or indicator of ability.

You’re writing a book on SEO for Pearson’s Financial Times imprint. Please share your high level view of the book. It seems quite a challenge to put something in print that changes so often.

SEO changes almost daily on a tactical level, but that’s really not what my book’s about. (It comes out either late this year or in early 2009, btw). Its aim is to provide a bird’s eye view of SEO to a CEO, CMO, or small business owner who needs to get a grip on the overarching strategies, tactics, needs, and philosophies behind SEO. And that’s really necessary. I can’t tell you how many people out there aren’t even aware SEO exists as a marketing discipline. When I’ve told non-industry friends I’m writing a book on “search,” they’ve taken it to mean research, or even executive recruiting. It’s a seeing-the-forest-rather-than-the-trees issue – something people in interactive marketing, who live and breathe this stuff every day, often forget.

We’ve run online marketing tactics polls with the usual suspects popping up in the top ten: Blogging, Email marketing, Search engine optimization, Pay per click, Social networks, Affiliate marketing, Blogger relations, Viral marketing, Corporate web site, Online public relations.

Want to know what I think is big right now? Content strategy. Content as marketing, and marketing as content. Buinesses are finally realizing what’s long been true: if you have a web site, you are a publisher and you have to think like one. The same holds true for bloggers, of course, as well as in e-mail. This whole digital thing is about content. You can’t do SEO without fresh, original, frequently updated content. Since leaving ClickZ as a full-time gig, I’m working with all sorts or companies and organizations to get their content on track, both strategically and tactically. That’s what’s at the core of all things digital, as with any other form of media.

For businesses newly exploring interactive marketing, what advice or tips can you give for evaluating tactics and vendors?

Know what you’re shopping for. I spoke with someone today who knows he needs an ESP, but was unfamiliar with the term “deliverability,” perhaps the biggest concern in email right now. Yes, it’s time consuming, but as the local TV ads for the discount suit store have been saying for years, “an educated consumer is our best customer.” That works three ways, in fact. It’s good for the vendor, good for the buyer, and good for best practices. And don’t forget to vet. Talk to current and past clients and get their stories. Learn from experience.

You’re keynoting at the MIMA Summit in October as is Ze Frank. Can you share an overview of what you’ll talk about and have you researched Minneapolis/St Paul yet? FYI, that doesn’t mean watching Fargo.

Hey! Yo! I’m a midwestern girl – born ‘n’ raised – so don’t start! But admittedly, I haven’t been to MN since I was about 10 years old, so I’m counting on local industry friends to show me around. One’s Gayle Tesky, and maybe you’re another one, Lee?

Definitely.

As for what I’ll be talking about: content is marketing, and marketing is content. I want to explore the effect this trend is having on different sectors in the digital space, as well as how it’s affecting media. Take the Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld spots that CPB just launched. They’re pure content and entertainment. And the media is roll your own. So what’s this going to mean for media buying when all these destination sites pop up? By extension, what will that mean for agencies? I think the landscape is in for another interesting shift, and that’s what I hope to get people at MIMA thinking about.

With your deep and long time editorial background, I am hoping you can share some advice on what we could do to make Online Marketing Blog more effective at reaching client side internet marketers? BIG BONUS points for answering this one!

Be a mirror. How about industry-specific case studies and profiles of top client side marketers, again, in a variety of verticals. My experience has shown time and time again that people need to be led to information they can identify with. You can write about email marketing best practices until the cows come home, but until you apply it to financial services, or travel and hospitality, you just aren’t going to get those folks to read it, no way, no how. Why do you think we’re seeing such an explosion or hyper-vertical and hyper-local online content? That’s why!

What are some of the online resources you rely on for staying current with the interactive and internet marketing industries? Ex: blogs, forums, web sites, newsletters or social media sites. I see you’re on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Are those the social media sites you use most often or are there others?

Bloglines is my homepage. I subscribee to over 200 RSS feeds, and have feed-ized many of my email subscriptions so they land there, rather than in my already cluttered inbox. Also, many of my feeds are searches for keywords and hrases that appear in news and blog posts, so I can keep on top of subjects I’m tracking. What to see what I read there? My user name is rebeccal. I’m pretty sure you can search for feeds by user on Bloglines, right?

On the social front, I am signed up for more than the three services you name above, but more for research reasons than any real sort of functionality need.

You’re now an editorial advisor for ClickZ after serving as Editor for over 7 years, writing a book, speaking and consulting. What’s next?

Um, stay tuned? I’m doing a ton of speaking and content strategy consulting. But I’m also in late-stage talks with a couple of companies about full-time gigs. By the time this is published, I may have decided to remain a free agent…or not. The suspense is killing me, but life remains, as always, interesting. I may need you to run a reader poll on which choice I should make!

What is one question that I really should be asking you? (and the answer of course).

Boxers or briefs? Nah – I’m a chick. OK, what’s the single thing I absolutely, positively have to do or see in Minneapolis? And YOU have to answer that one, Lee!

Unfortunately the Minnesota State Fair with its cornucopia of deep fried foods on a stick has already passed, so we’d have to be sure to either do a boat tour of Lake Minnetonka or check out the new Guthrie Theatre.

Thanks Rebecca!

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Spotlight on Search: Interview with Rebecca Lieb | http://www.toprankblog.com

The following are wrap-ups from MIMA Summit veteran attendee Thomas McMahon and first-timer Dana Larson.

Thomas McMahon

Going to the MIMA Summit is always a treat. It’s amazing to see how many local people are in the industry and take the time to come out and enjoy a day of great food, networking and great presentations.

The two presentations that stood out the most to me were Pimp My Reports from Bret Busse and the afternoon Keynote by Jason Fried of 37Signals (aka Basecamp).

Pimp My Reports was a short session all about tailoring reports to match the clients needs. Believe it or not, it’s just like the MTV show Pimp My Ride. Don’t believe me? Check out this MTV video and watch the episode where the 91 Ford Festiva gets transformed from a pile of junk in to a rock and roll mobile complete with tattooed leather sets and a Playstation2. That example might be a bit extreme, reporting back to the client should start with finding out what matters to them and tailoring the report their needs.

The afternoon Keynote was an eye opening look into a new way of working: silent. The guys at 37Signals have found out that talking to each other is a big productivity killer. To help fix this, they have days where no one is allowed to talk. Their example was to think of it like sleeping. If you constantly get interrupted, you never get a good night sleep. Work is the same way. By being silent and only communicating via IM or email, you are more apt to get into the zone and crank out more quality work in a shorter amount of time.

Another tip was to avoid meetings as they can be toxic. Some meetings can be an hour long, but really, the meeting could be 15-20 minutes and have the same outcome. It seems people are more apt to fill the time than have shorter meetings.

I have to say, Jason had some great ideas. I’m not convinced that they’d work out for all companies, but there was one take away that I can start doing today; and that’s avoiding “red flag” words. Words such as need, can’t, easy, just, only and fast are all words that don’t come across well in communication as it means you’re making assumptions.

“We just need this one feature.” “It should be easy to just add one more thing.” “Let’s do it fast and get it done with.”

These types of statements make it appear as if the sender is assuming that the receiver’s job is simple. The receiver may feel insulted or under-appreciated. Avoiding those “red flag” words can help out communication quite a bit. I know I’m going to print them out and do my best to try and avoid them.

Being my third MIMA summit, I find it hard to believe how much it’s grown and how it gets better every time. They said that this year there were double the amount of attendees there were last year and they still had to turn people away. It’s really great to see such an active and passionate interactive marking community in Minnesota.

Dana Larson

The MIMA 2007 Summit at The Depot in Minneapolis was my first MIMA Summit. It was exciting to see how many liked-mined individuals there are in the area, and I enjoyed the opportunity to be able to network with them. As Thomas pointed out, the MIMA Summit has grown pretty extensively over the last couple years, and it’s interesting to be thrown into the mix while it is still growing and I can see how far it go.

The afternoon keynote was eye-opening in the ways that increase and decrease productivity in the office. Well, at least the 37signals office. We shall see how those tactics work in the TopRank offices. But I do notice interruptions a lot more often now, and I can see where implementing a “quiet afternoon” might be beneficial in getting a larger amount of work done.

The session that stood out the most for me was the Internet Marketing Toolbox session at the end of the afternoon. Because it was the last session of the day and the panelists were well aware that the happy hour was coming up, it was a laid-back session with a couple presentations on web 2.0 tools. After the short presentations, audience members were able to shout out their own favorite internet marketing tools for the benefit of everyone in the room.

One of my favorites that was talked about was MindMeister. Here, a user can input a main idea with a few branch out concepts and other users on MindMeister can input their own ideas and concepts and brainstorm together with every other user. This creates one extensive concept map around a certain topic which can help any user with a presentation idea, a blog post or even planning a wedding.

You get around 7 free mind maps on MindMeister before you have to start paying for them, but for any dedicated planner, researcher, writer or presenter it is a very useful tool.

Since it was my first MIMA Summit, I didn’t know what to expect. But I enjoyed the opportunities to network and I feel I learned something from every session I attended while spending the afternoon in a showcase of local talent and great Minnesota minds.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | 2007 MIMA Summit Wrap Up | http://www.toprankblog.com

The local interactive marketing association I’m involved with here in Minneapolis, MIMA, has launched a new interactive marketing blog that covers some industry news and particularly the good things happening in the midwest interactive marketing space.

Yesterday we had the annual MIMA Summit which went off very well. There were great speakers, a sold out venue, great networking, the best bag of schwag I’ve seen at any conference-anywhere, super food, tons of giveaways from companies like Target and of course some drinking, a bit of electronic-performance art from Popular Front, more networking and libations. A good time was had by all and the feedback has been excellent.

Next year it may need to be a two day event and will certainly need to move to a larger venue. If you’re a marketer working in the midwest, I highly recommend checking out MIMA.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2006. | MIMA Interactive Marketing Blog | http://www.toprankblog.com

One of our pr firm clients, The Web Marketing Association and Web Award will have their CEO, William Rice start things off with the morning keynote presentation. Bill has run the Web Award competition for 10 years and the program has reviewed over 9,000 web sites in that time. His presentation will offer insight into what makes an award winning web site and he’ll also present industry vertical data compiled over the past 10 years.

I will be introducing Elisa Camahort, co-founder of BlogHer, a community and conference for women bloggers. She also runs a marketing agency called Worker Bees. Elisa will be presenting, “10 Techniques for Web Writing”. I could certainly use a heavy does of that! I am looking forward to meeting her in person.

In the afternoon, I will be introducing Jake Baillie from TrueLocal. I’ve seen Jake speak many times at Search Engine Strategies and Webmaster World Pubcon conferences and even had the opportunity to speak with him at a DMA conference in New York this summer. Jake is one of my absolute favorite speakers on search marketing. He knows his stuff up and down. He’s also a really interesting guy with deep interests in photography, flying airplanes, poker, black hat SEO and competitive intelligence. We’re lucky to have him as a speaker and I’m looking forward to his presentation on site architecture.

The afternoon keynote presentation will feature Michelle Collins, a blogger for VH1‚Äôs, Best Week Ever who I have not met but I hear she is a fantastic speaker and a great comedian. We’ll have 8 members of the TopRank M&O team there as well and it should be a great event.

I’ll be taking photos and maybe a few short video interviews and will post to Online Marketing Blog in the evening.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2006. | MIMA Summit Starts Today | http://www.toprankblog.com