Social Media and Customer Loyalty: The Skinny
January 30, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
Typically I frown on simply ‘reposting’ articles, but this one is so good it’s my exception to the rule this month:
Deepening Customer Loyalty Through Social Media by Aaron Strout
When was the last time you said to yourself: “Wow, I’d recommend this product or service to a friend”? Within the last month? Six months? If you have to think about this question, you’ve already made my point. Over the last 50 years, outsourced manufacturing, poor customer service and an overall commoditization of products and services have served to erode consumers’ affections for most brands.
While the idea of diminished customer loyalty may be disheartening–after all, if customers aren’t loyal, they don’t rave about your brand to other customers and they certainly can’t be tricked into forking over a greater share of their wallet–all hope is not lost. In fact, smart brands like Dell, Ford and Sears are starting to see increases in brand affinity as a result of their social endeavors. Read more
Trade Shows: Working It On & Off the Show Floor
January 18, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
Having attended an average of 5 shows a year for the last 4 years I have seen a variety of businesses do a variety of behaviors on the show floor. I’m sure you know what I mean: there’s the bashful betty that sits in a back corner of the booth waiting for you to come talk to her, the pals that are too busy talking to eachother to talk to you, and (everyone’s favorite) the hawker – standing in the aisle waiting to jump on anyone with a pulse that walks by their booth. As much as I hate to say it the hawker is actually working the show more than anyone else… but they’re still missing so many more opportunities.
Walking the Show Floor
In addition to checking out the competition, walking the floor is a great practice for a multitude of reasons. Booth Setup. No matter how many years or how much money you spent in developing the perfect booth, times change. Cruising the aisles is a great way to stay current. What booths are the busiest? How does the layout encourage people to hang out in the booth? What colors and styles are showing up more and more? Many people forget to also look for what doesn’t work. Read more
Targeted Marketing: Email or SMS messaging?
January 7, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
I read an interesting article this morning from eMarketer Daily about marketing to High School and College students.
More than six out of 10 US high school and college students surveyed “never” or “hardly ever” read marketing e-mails, according to an October 2008 survey by eROI. The majority of respondents said companies were not effectively speaking to them personally through e-mail.
And look at this little graph – text messaging is often the preferred communication method!
I’ve done quite a bit of marketing to High School & College students for my clients via Facebook and MySpace and have fantastic successes by keeping our messaging in the tone and manner that the students use. Read more
Measuring Social Media: Making Impressions into Money
October 21, 2008 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
While doing my morning reading I stumbled upon a great question:
Are clicks and impressions still the standard for online advertising success?
As a publisher, are clicks and impressions still the standard for online advertising success? If not, what are you attaching every dollar to? Social media platforms like Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter allow you to spread a message quickly to a captive audience, but what good are 20,000 friends and one million video views if there is no direct dollar amount associated to it? An impression and a click are tied to a dollar, but if you’re not using these as the benchmark then what good is your inventory?
So are clicks and impressions still the standard, or can you convince your CFO that having friends is more profitable?
I’m finding more often that this is a common question, as the traditional marketing methods give way to the more interactive and social mediums. It can all be very confusing (I know, I’ve inspired many MANY headaches), but there are some simple things to know which may clear this confusion up. Read more
Social Media: What it is and Why you should care | episode 1
October 19, 2008 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
Social Media is media that utilizes a social platform – its meant to interact with a person in a manner similar to person-person interaction. This means video, photo-sharing, blogging, profiles, tagging, commenting on eachother’s items, friend circles, groups, and on and on and on.
What makes social media so special is it’s two main applications: social media optimization and social media marketing. Social media optimization is the trick/expertise/pure luck of creating social media in a way that will encourage it’s spread (aka. viral) across the web. This is where rules like no videos over 2 minutes come in to play – 2 min is a very viral-able time block. Social media marketing is focused more on the pr, content, and collaborative aspects of social media – this isn’t too far off from traditional marketing and pr… just add tech and a strong narrowing of topics/audience (there’s blogs for people who love radishes for goodness sakes!)
Great info, but why should you care?
Spam-Stupid: CYA for Eblasts
October 11, 2008 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
Lately I’ve been getting more and more emails from people I meet at networking events that take my email address and add it to their mailing list. Next thing you know, I’m getting emails from people I don’t know on a fairly regular basis.
While I’m glad that such a large number of these small business owners have caught up with the marketing benefits of newsletters, I’m dissapointed to say that many of these same folks have missed one very important element: the unsubscribe link.
Sure, you’ve worked so hard to build your mailing list, and you hate to lose readership (I don’t blame you) – but in addition to holding our mailboxes hostage, you are also violating CAN-SPAM law.
ANYONE that sends out email information; be it daily news, inspiring quotes, event invitations, or newsletters needs to read over the CAN-SPAM in it’s current incarnation here. You don’t have to use a service (even though it can be a HUGE CYA for all legal issues), just put a little note telling people to reply with unsubscribe in the subject line if they wish to no longer receive your emails. DON’T PULL A FAST ONE: you must keep track of the unsubscriber and not send them emails next time. Read more
Marketing Budget 101: SCORE says….
August 19, 2008 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
Setting a Marketing Budget
By Susan M. Jacksack, J.D.
Staff Writer, CCH Business Owner’s Toolkit
Spending on marketing support—promotion, advertising and public relations—varies widely, from less than 1 percent of net sales for industrial business-to-business operations to 10 percent or more for companies marketing consumer-packaged goods.
Consumer packaged goods companies may spend 50 percent of net sales for introductory marketing programs in the first year, subsequently lowering the percentage spent to a stable 8 to 10 percent within a few years. Retail stores that advertise and promote spend an average of 4 to 6 percent of net sales for marketing support.
Cause Related Labeling; Bettering The World One Label At A Time
July 30, 2008 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
Orlando, Fla. – Online Labels, Inc., the leader in blank labels for laser and inkjet printers, announces the launch of Cause Related Labeling, a program designed to provide all qualifying non-profit organizations and charitable causes nationwide with free labels. The effort will assist all types of organizations that use printable labels in their everyday operations such as special events, branding, fundraising efforts, direct mailings and administrative purposes.
In three days since the program’s inception, OnlineLabels.com has honored the requests of over 15 different charitable causes, donating approximately 10,000 labels. These organizations include Habitat for Humanity, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Child Abuse Prevention Association, Autism Society of America and The Georgia Writers Association. For an updated list, visit http://www.onlinelabels.com/ol_helped.htm.
“I heard that OnlineLabels.com was a great place to buy labels, so when I received an email from them I checked out their site and noticed they were offering to donate labels to non-profit organizations,” said Jeanne Powers, founder of Handicapped Friends Pen Pals Club. “I was a little skeptical, but filled out the request anyway. I was so blown away when I got a response telling me they were sending the labels I asked for.”
Read more
Coupon Use: Survey Released in April
April 4, 2008 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
I stumbled upon this article today that said the following:
An economic downturn and technology advancements will lead to increased coupon usage among U.S. shoppers, according to survey results released today by Toronto-based ICOM Information Communications (ICOM).
Of the 1,529 U.S. consumers who responded to a recent ICOM survey conducted in mid-February, 67 percent said they are much more likely, or somewhat more likely, to use coupons during a recession. The breakdown was 45 percent much more likely and 22 percent somewhat more likely.
Which really seams like common sense. Interesting though was the breakdown included by age and by region, and this little tidbit: Read more
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