Archive for June, 2010

June 30th, 2010

How to Measure the ROI of a Social Media Campaign

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Are you interested in learning how to measure the ROI of your social media campaign? Great. You’re in the right place.

The starting point for measuring the ROI of a social media campaign is to do a Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) analysis. Customer Lifetime Value is the net revenue a customer brings to your business over the entire course of your engagement with them.

For example, if you’re a cable company and a typical customer spends $100 a month with you and stays with your company an average of 2.5 years, then a simplified version of your Customer Lifetime Value would be $100/month x 12 months x 2.5 years = $3,000.

Book: How to Make Money with Social Media by Jamie Turner

Are you interested in learning how to measure the ROI of your social media campaigns? Then click here to download a free chapter from Jamie Turner's soon-to-be-published book.

(We say this is a simplified version of Customer Lifetime Value because a more complex formula would factor in the net present value of money, the cost to service the account and several other variables. But we’re using this simplified version to keep the illustration short and sweet.)

Once you know your Customer Lifetime Value, you’ll have a sense of what you might spend to acquire that customer. A starting point for the example above would be 10% of of your CLV. 10% of $3,000 is $300, so that’s what you’d budget for in your customer acquisition program.

I imagine if you went to your CFO and said, “Can I spend $300 to make the company $3,000″ the answer would almost certainly be yes, unless your CFO wasn’t very smart. Or drunk. Or both.

Spending $300 to generate $3,000 is a 10:1 return on your investment which, by just about any standard, is a terrific ROI.

What does Customer Lifetime Value have to do with Social Media?

The starting point for any good social media campaign is measurement. By that, I mean that a well-run, well-managed social media campaign will be set up to measure the return on your investment.

So, for example, if you use direct mail as one of your primary sources of customer acquisition, and if your ROI on your direct mail campaign is 8:1, then you’d want to be sure that your social media campaign matched or exceeded that before you sunk huge amounts of money into it, right?

The problem is that most people don’t know how to set up their social media campaigns so that they can be measured. That’s a pretty big problem. And one that begs a solution.

Good news.

If learning how to measure the ROI of a social media campaign sounds like a fabulous idea, then you’d probably be interested in downloading a free advanced copy of a chapter from my book, “How to Make Money with Social Media” which will be published by the Financial Times Press this fall.

This chapter, called “Measuring the Only Really Important Thing — Your Return on Your Investment” outlines some of the tools you’ll need to set up a social media campaign that generates a specific, tangible return on your investment. It’s packed with good tips and techniques on how to set up a measurable social media campaign.

If you’re ready to get serious about social media, and if you’re ready to start measuring the effectiveness of your social media campaigns, then this chapter is for you. It outlines everything you’ll need to know about measuring social media campaigns on a specific, ROI basis.

So download your free chapter right now. Or, better still, order and advanced copy of the book from Amazon. After all, if you like the free chapter, then you’re going to love the full-length book.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer at the 60 Second Marketer. “How to Make Money with Social Media” will be available in fine bookstores (and a few not-so-fine bookstores) this fall.

CategorySocial Media | Comment5 Comments »

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June 29th, 2010

23 Search Engine Optimization Tips

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I don’t know about you, but every so often, I need a refresher course on some of the more fundamental aspects of marketing. There’s so much new information out there, sometimes I need to re-visit some of the basics just to stay on top of things.

With that in mind, I thought I’d write a quick refresher course on search engine optimization — what it is, why it’s important and the basics of optimizing your website.

This isn’t meant to be an all-inclusive post — just a quick update. So if I’ve missed anything, please let our readers know in our comments section below.

SEO Tips

When you optimize your website or blog, you're driving more people to your business. That'd be a good thing.

What It Is:

  • Search engine optimization is the act of setting up your website so that Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines rank it higher on their home pages.
  • Most search engines have spiders that crawl the web and take a snapshot of every web page on the planet.
  • The information on each web page is dropped into the search engine’s proprietary algorithm. That algorithm effectively decides what the page is about and how highly it should be ranked on the search engine.
  • Websites that have been “optimized” have been set up to enhance the likelihood that the search engine will rank that website (or a page within the website) as high as possible.

Why It’s Important:

  • When people search for certain keywords and see your website listed, they click through.
  • For example, when you Google “Coke vs. Pepsi Taste Test” one of the top posts will be the 60 Second Marketer article called “Coke vs. Pepsi. The Taste Test They Don’t Want You to Know About.”
  • Go ahead. Google “Coke vs. Pepsi Taste Test” and see for yourself.
  • Our “Coke vs. Pepsi” article is one of the top-ranked articles on our site. In other words, more people click-through to that article on any given day than just about any other article on our site.
  • You’ll notice that we’ve done a lot of little things to encourage visitors to click through from that page to other pages on our site.
  • For example, we’ve included links to other articles that people reading the Coke vs. Pepsi article might find interesting. We’ve also included links to relevant videos and white papers that may be of interest to the people visiting that page.
  • Our goal in doing that is to encourage click-throughs and repeat visits from visitors around the globe.
  • We’ve also displayed links to our eNewsletter sign up form on the Coke vs. Pepsi page. (What? You haven’t signed up for our free weekly marketing eNewsletter? C’mon, join in the fun. It’s the coolest eNewsletter on the planet. Seriously. The … coolest … eNewsletter … on … the … planet.)

How to Optimize Your Website or Your Blog:

  • Okay, let’s start by agreeing that I’m not going to be able to tell you everything about optimizing your site in this short, 60-second refresher course. But I will be able to give you the basics.
  • For starters, be sure the title of your page is set up to match what people would be searching for on Google, Yahoo, Bing or other search engine sites.
  • The title of the page is not the URL, it’s the actual title of the page that sits above the URL in your web browser.
  • If you’re writing a blog post, you’ll want to write your headline so that it matches what people might be searching for, too.
  • I don’t do that with every single post, but you’ll notice that about every 3rd or 4th post, I’ll write a headline that’s specifically designed to match what people might be searching for in Google.
  • Recent examples include “Is Social Media Right for My Business?,” “Email Marketing Benchmarks” and “How to Make Money with Social Media.” Each of these blog titles might be an exact keyword phrase match for someone searching in Google on these topics.
  • It’s also important to write the first few lines of copy so they come close to matching the title of the page or the headline of the post. This is a way to telegraph Google, Yahoo and Bing (a.k.a. The Big Three) that the article content actually matches what the headline is about.
  • What I don’t do is keyword stuff. Keyword stuffing is, oh, so 1997. In fact, there are those who would tell you that jamming a bunch of keywords into your web page or blog post just tells The Big Three that you’re trying to game the system. That’s a no no.
  • The next simple step is to update your ALT tags and your META tags so that they match the content of your web page. Again, don’t try to game the system here — just genuinely write them so that they accurately match the content on the page. (Side note: Google, for one, doesn’t even bother reading your META tags anymore, so trying to game the system with optimized META tags is a waste of your time.)
  • In-bound links are an important SEO tool. In fact, some will tell you that it’s the most important aspect of SEO. How do you get in-bound links? Don’t bother paying for them. And don’t waste your time trying to swap links with other people (not enough bang for your buck). Just make sure your content on your website or your blog is so helpful that other people link to the web page or blog post. If you do that, everything else will take care of itself.
  • Finally, there are some people who believe that outbound links have a little SEO juice to them. Logically, that would make sense. After all, a post that links out to MarketingProfs.com, ChrisBrogan.com and Diva Marketing Blog is, in all likelihood, a blog about marketing.

That’s just a quick review of some of the more important SEO tips and tricks. Of course, I’ve missed a few. If you have some you’d like to add, just drop ‘em in to the comments section below.

Posted by: Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer. Download a free chapter from Jamie’s new book, “How to Make Money with Social Media” by clicking the link.

CategorySEO | Comment6 Comments »

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June 29th, 2010

Partnering With Nonprofits For Mutual Benefit

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By David Wood, International speaker, standup comedian and Professional Certified Coach

Thousands of people are finding new freedom by starting online businesses sharing their passions, hobbies, skills and life experiences. With this new freedom, more online business owners are finding mutually beneficial ways to work with nonprofits and charities.

Building a relationship with a charity or nonprofit organization doesn’t just look good, feel good, and do good — it’s good for business, too. By creating a two-way partnership, you can support a cause in a way that gets you more customers and revenue.

Now, you might be thinking giving is something that should be done discreetly, not as a way to boost sales figures or profits. Giving discreetly is wonderful because it can’t be for anything else other than to do something positive.

What I’m suggesting is something you can do in addition to your anonymous giving — a symbiotic relationship that will support a cause and your business at the same time.

When I offered to give away copies of my book Get Paid For Who You Are™, I suggested people consider making an optional donation to two charities: the Rainforest Foundation US, our charity partner founded by Sting and Trudie Styler to help native people save their rainforests, and One Laptop Per Child, which provides computers to needy children around the world. A little over a month after the launch, more than 68,600 people had signed up to claim their free copy while donating more than $58,000 to the charities. Meanwhile, we have generated more than $90,000 in revenues while signing up more than 1,000 to a monthly membership program.

Here are few ways to serve your business and charities at the same time:

Donate your product or service — This is the most basic way to give. You can reach out to staff members, volunteers, beneficiaries or even board members, offering your services or product to them for free, as a prize or as a premium.

Speak at events — Nonprofits and charities always need speakers to train, inspire and entertain their members and donors at fundraisers. Speaking at these events puts you in front of CEOs and other leaders who could hire you to speak, or buy your product or service.

Give a percentage of profits — Donate part of your annual profits to a nonprofit or charity, but try to do this as a partnership, creating an agreement for what they will do in return. Donating a portion of your profits to a charity is an amazing gesture and the nonprofit has an interest in you increasing sales. More profits mean more donations. Nonprofits will often agree to mention your business in their Web sites and newsletters, press releases, direct mailings and other publicity. When you partner with a nonprofit it can definitely increase your credibility. When you mention on your Web site that a portion of your proceeds support the local humane society or soup kitchen, you’ll generate good will and trust. The organization can also reach out to its members on your behalf, which will help generate sales.

Serving your business and charities at the same time goes hand in hand. The more profit you can generate, the more you have to donate. What better way is there to serve the world and enjoy lifestyle freedom than getting paid for who you are?

About the Author: International speaker, standup comedian and Professional Certified Coach David Wood is the author of Get Paid for Who You Are™ and a coauthor of the bestselling book Guerilla Marketing on the Front Lines. His tried and true methods for freeing oneself from the shackles of the timecard have been the inspiration for many people to gain a lifestyle of freedom and contribution. Learn more at www.GetPaidForWhoYouAre.com.

CategoryNon-Profit | CommentNo Comments »

June 27th, 2010

Why Tom Cruise Bombed at the Box Office

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If I may, please allow me to start this post by saying I have nothing against Tom Cruise. In fact, he strikes me as a very nice and genuine guy. But he’s learned something about consumers that you should know, too, because it has something to do with branding.

If you haven’t heard yet, Tom Cruise’s new movie “Knight and Day” fizzled at the box office, opening at No. 3 with just $20.5 million in revenues. It was the worst opening weekend for a Cruise action movie in over 20 years and is probably a sign that audiences have still not forgiven him for his erratic behavior a few years back.

You’ll notice that Russell Crowe has suffered the same fate as Tom Cruise. Crowe used to be considered as big a star as Cruise, but after a series of (inexcusable) outbursts and attacks on seemingly innocent people, the movie watchers around the globe dropped him. (Other than Robin Hood, Crowe’s movies have done progressively worse ever since he hit a New York hotel employee with a telephone.)

What can marketing directors and business-owners learn from all this?

Here are a few things:

  1. Consumers understand that a public persona is inexorably linked to the inner being. In other words, if Russell Crowe hits a hotel employee with a phone, consumers know that that means he’s probably a jerk inside and out. Movie watchers won’t buy that.
  2. Once consumers put you on a pedestal, the next thing they do is to try to knock you off. It’s a paradox, but it’s true. Consumers (Americans in particular) like to see people rise to the top. Then they like to see them get knocked off by the new up-and-comer. I don’t know what that happens, but it does.
  3. There’s always a competitor ready to take your place. By any measure, Tom Cruise has had a stellar career. To have dominated the box office for as long as he has is a testament to his likability. But if you have a misstep, there’s always someone waiting in the wings to take your place. (Hellllloooooo, Robert Downey, Jr.) Mr. Cruise is learning that the hard way.

Personally, I think Tom Cruise is a good, decent person. But apparently, I may be in the minority on that one. The bottom line is that whether you’re brand is “Tom Cruise” or “Bob’s Widgets,” you should do everything you can to protect it. After all, if you don’t, there’s someone waiting in the wings to take your place.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digitial and Direct Response, Inc. You can download a free chapter of Mr. Turner’s forthcoming book by clicking, “How to Make Money with Social Media.”

CategoryGeneral Business | Comment8 Comments »

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June 24th, 2010

Is Social Media Right For Your Business? Here’s How to Find Out.

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I do a lot of seminars and speeches around the country on how to set up, launch and run a social media campaign. My goal is to help people who are interested in developing a long-term, strategic approach to social media (as opposed to a short-term, tactical approach).

Social Media Question Mark

Is social media right for your business? Here are some things you should consider before you dive into the world of social media.

Recently, a lot of people have been claiming they have a social media campaign simply because they’ve launched a Facebook page. Unfortunately, a Facebook page does not constitute a social media campaign. A well-executed social media campaign involves setting objectives, developing strategies, identifying tactics and executing a plan.

Reshma Shah, my co-author on How to Make Money with Social Media, recently consulted with a major corporation about setting up and running a social media campaign. Her conclusion after doing an initial analysis was that their client’s business model wasn’t right for social media. As a result, her recommendation was to NOT launch a social media campaign.

Deciding whether social media is right for your business is deceptively simple. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you’re exploring the possibility of setting up, launching and running a social media campaign:

  • First, acknowledge that social media is over-hyped right now. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a useful tool. It just means that you should acknowledge that it’s not a silver bullet that’s going to solve all of your marketing problems.
  • Second, understand that social media is just one of many marketing tools. Before you decide to launch a social media campaign, you’ll do yourself a favor if you explore all the traditional marketing tools first. Have you looked into radio? Paid search? Outdoor? Collateral? They’re often good alternatives to a social media campaign.
  • Third, recognize that your industry might not be right for social media. If you’re in the trucking business, social media may not be right for you. If you make industrial drill bits, social media may not be right for you. If you repair lawnmowers, social media may not be right. There’s nothing wrong with that. Really, there isn’t.
  • Fourth, acknowledge that your brand probably doesn’t have social media magnetism. Social media magnetism is the power some brands have to draw people to their social media campaigns. Starbucks, Nike and Apple have social media magnetism. You’re probably not Starbucks, Nike or Apple, so you’ll have to push people to your campaign in order to get them to engage with you.
  • Fifth, understand the 5 business models for social media. They include branding, research, customer retention, e-commerce and lead generation. For a more in-depth understanding of this, visit Social Media Business Models.
  • Sixth, understand that social media isn’t free. Despite what you’ve heard, there are labor costs, production costs and even the occasional media costs associated with a social media campaign.
  • Seventh, accept the fact that you can’t “set it and forget it.” You can’t come in every morning and spend 10 minutes on your campaign and then leave. Social doesn’t work that way. A good social media campaign requires people to consistently monitor and manage the campaign.

Hopefully, these thoughts are enough to get you started on your way with social media. It’s not a complete list, so if I’ve missed any, let me know. Just add them in the comments box below.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response.

CategorySocial Media | Comment9 Comments »

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June 24th, 2010

How Long Will it Be Before BP Re-Brands Itself?

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Many of our readers have stopped by our home page to answer the poll question we posed last week — “How Long Will it Take BP to Change its Name and Re-Brand Itself?”

Even thought a good percentage of people feel as though BP will never change its name, there are a good number of people who feel as though BP will re-brand itself within the next few years.

What are your thoughts? Fill out the survey below and find out how you compare to others.

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June 22nd, 2010

Inisder Tips on a Newer Marketing Technique — Behavioral Targeting

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Not long ago, we asked Raphael Ravilla at BKV Digital and Direct Response to tell us what he knew about Behavioral Targeting, one of the newer and more interesting aspects of online marketing.
Raphael wrote a post for the 60 Second Marketer, which is summarized below. We used what he taught us about this new and innovative technique in a 60 second video, which is also included here.

Here’s what Raphael wrote for the 60 Second Marketer a short while ago:
“Have you ever shopped online at a particular site and noticed that, after your visit to that site, you’re seeing that company’s banner ads everywhere, almost as if they’re following you?


More likely than not, they are following you. If the store has a robust behavioral marketing strategy, then you’re being presented ads that are related to the pages you visited on the previous site you visited. They may also present ads to you based on what you may or may not have purchased on the site.


How does this work? The company has placed numerous “action tags” across its site—in category pages (or store isles) and through the shopping cart process. They know what you browsed, and if you bought the product, or if you abandoned. They can then serve you ads encouraging you to reconsider the product you didn’t buy. They can even serve you ads that are related to the products that you have just purchased.


The ads that you see are visible on their site, and throughout the web. If it’s a large corporation, they’ve probably purchased billions of impressions used to re-market to people like you for upsell and cross-sell purposes.
Do you have a site and want to do the same thing? The conversion rate lift is quoted by some at over ten times regular non-behaviorally-targeted ads.


Here’s how to do it:
Identify pages in your site you want to “tag.” Usually, it is the homepage, the category top-pages and sub-pages and finally, the entire shopping cart process. You can overlay and mix/match the tags to define audience buckets. You can use either a third party action tag, or an action tag from an ad-network.
Now, you’ll need traffic: Use all forms of media to drive site visits and you will soon be collecting “cookies” that you can segment and re-market to.”
How do you re-market? Go through the ad-network that supplied you the action tags and they can help you create your behaviorally-targeted campaigns.”
Behavioral targeting is one of the newer ways marketers can supercharge their marketing campaigns. What are some other new tools? Let us know and we’ll write a post about it.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response.

CategoryBehavioral Targeting | CommentNo Comments »

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June 19th, 2010

Check Out the 60 Second Marketer Radio Station on Pandora

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If you’re like a lot of businesses, you’re constantly trying to find ways to connect with your prospects and customers. The more opportunities you have to connect, the more likely you’ll build brand loyalty with the people who buy your product and/or service.

The 60 Second Marketer Pandora Radio Station

Check out the 60 Second Marketer Pandora Radio Station by clicking here.

That’s the reason why companies like Starbucks, RedBull and Pepsi spend tens of millions of dollars each year sponsoring special events and activities.

RedBull is a company that’s done a fabulous job with their “outside the retail store” brand-building efforts. If you haven’t had a chance to check out everything RedBull is doing with their air races, you’ll want to check them out. They’re doing a great job building awareness and enthusiasm for their brand in an innovative way.

But what if you don’t have millions of dollars to spend on big, splashy events? What if you’re a small- to mid-sized business with a limited budget? What should you do then?

That’s what I was noodling with earlier today when I remembered that Pandora, the Internet Radio Station, could be used as a way to connect with prospects and customers.

Pandora is a very, very cool website that allows you to create your own radio station. Interested in Punk Fusion Banjo Thrash bands like I am? Then you can create your own radio station around that specific genre.

(Just kidding about the Punk Fusion Banjo Thrash genre, by the way.)

Anyway, I’ve created a 60 Second Marketer radio station on Pandora and though I’d share it with you. It’s meant to be background music for when you’re in the office working on your next marketing plan. As such, it’s populated with laid back, easy-going, yet optimistic music.

You can check it out here: The 60 Second Marketer Pandora Radio Station.

Let us know what you think of the radio station. Then steal this idea for your own business. It’s a great — and inexpensive — way to connect with prospects and customers.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response.

CategoryGeneral Marketing | Comment6 Comments »

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June 17th, 2010

Six Ways to Improve Online B2B Lead Generation

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An old friend of mine named Keith Finger emailed me his newsletter the other day. It included an article called, “Six Ways to Improve Your Online B2B Lead Generation.”

I thought it was a short, well-written guide on how to improve your lead generation skills, so I asked Keith if we could re-purpose it for our readers.

Lead Generation Tips

Improving your lead generation can be as simple as following these simple steps.

Here are Keith’s tips:

If you sell B2B, your website must be more than an electronic brochure.  Here are six ways to improve how your website can generate business.

1.  Ensure your home page clearly communicates what you do, and the markets/industries you serve.

People see your home page more than any other site or marketing materials, so make sure it grabs their attention with useful information that pulls them in and is segmented by the markets or industries you serve.  Graphics that take up most of the page are pretty but do little to improve conversion.  Also, ditch the cute Flash opening (unless of course you’re in the Flash business.).
2.  Use a conversational tone in your web copy.

It should read like you’re sitting across the table from someone and talking about your company.  Discuss how you help clients make money or save money and the results you’ve achieved.   Have content that speak to prospects at every stage of the sales cycle.  At the beginning that means establishing credibility and trust, and holding off on specific solutions until further into the funnel.  And use a copywriter for customer-facing communications.

3.  Have content that is speaks to each target market.

If you sell the same product or service into more than one market, you need content that is unique to that market.  Why?  Because you want to show you understand each market and its unique needs and challenges.  This means you’ll need to organize your web site by customer type so prospects can easily find what you recommend based on their company size, vertical or other differentiator. Use phrasing unique to each market you serve.

4. Update your website regularly.

Prospects don’t want to see press releases from 2007, or announcements for past webinars.  Keep things current, and keep things relevant to your target markets.  You can maintain your own website by using a content management system (CMS).

5. Have a compelling call to action on every page of the web site.

Give people a reason to begin the sales conversation with you by having a compelling call to action on every page. The call to action will be specific to the offering they’re reading about and could be a white paper (of 5-7 pages), webinar or other useful information they’ll trade their contact information for.

6. Use short online contact forms

Long, detailed contact forms deter people. All you need from them is their name, company, phone and email. You can get other information as the relationship develops. And since you’re not simply calling everyone who gives his/her info (it’s too soon in the sales cycle), have a checkbox if immediate contact is desired (as opposed to just signing up for a newsletter or white paper).

Author Bio:

Keith Finger has held significant marketing roles at Sprint Nextel, Orange Business Services (part of France Télécom) and Glenayre Electronics, and has started several businesses of his own. You can contact Keith by visiting his website.

CategoryGeneral Marketing | Comment13 Comments »

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June 16th, 2010

Register for Social Media/Web 2.0 Webinar

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My good friend Bob Hanson has arranged a webinar that takes place tomorrow (Thursday), June 17th from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm Eastern Time. We’re going to cover a lot of ground, especially on the new and emerging media front.

Social Media Webinar

Interested in learning how to grow your sales with new and emerging media? Then click here to register for a free webinar.

Interested in registering for the event? If so, you can do so by clicking Social Media/Web 2.0 Webinar.

Here’s the description on the registration page:

Social Media, Web 2.0, and web marketing have changed the way your prospects research solutions and buy, forever.

Faced with increasing competition for your buyers’ attention, and the proliferation of new media and anywhere access points like phones and iPads, how can Marketing Events help you reach more prospective buyers at the right time and create cost-effective leads and customers for you?

In this interactive webinar panel, 3 experts, each with decades of ‘in-the-trenches’ marketing experience will share with you their unique perspectives in a free, 75 minute, educational session.

  • Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer of 60 Second Marketer, and expert on social media marketing,
  • Bob Hanson, President of Quantum Leap Marketing and co-author of a new study, the ROI of Marketing Events, and
  • Roger Courville, President of the 1080 Group and author of the The Virtual Presenter’s Handbook.

Sponsored by the Cutting Edge Marketing Webinar Series with Citrix Online.

Here’s just some of what you’ll learn:

  • Why your 2009 marketing model is probably out-of-date, and what to do about it,
  • How to expand your reach for more web traffic and leads through Social Media and Web 2.0 marketing,
  • How to avoid the common mistakes with webinars and marketing events, and increase sales with them.

It’s all available to you in living color when you sign up for this information-packed webinar.

Includes 20 minutes of tips and strategies from each panelist and 15 minute audience Q and A session. And each attendee gets a summary, companion checklist from all of the experts, Success with Marketing Events 2010.

I’m looking forward to a fun and educational webinar. See you there!

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response.

CategorySocial Media | CommentNo Comments »

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June 16th, 2010

Update: Email Marketing Benchmarks

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A member of the 60 Second Marketer community asked a terrific question the other day.

Here’s the question as it was emailed to me:

“I just wanted to be sure what was being said on the Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry posting.

In that article there is a data table where two of the columns are headed Open Rate (OR) and Click-Through Rate (CTR).

What is meant by the OR is obvious. I’m not confident what the CTR is in this instance as I have seen it described in two different ways.

Elsewhere I have seen the CTR calculated as a percentage of the total emails sent.  The alternative calculation is that the CTR is a percentage of all of those emails that were opened.

The difference in the actual numbers is significant. Take the Art Gallery results where OR = 22% and CTR = 11% – a high percentage given the information in your 60 second video.

If the first method of calculation is used then with total emails of (say) 100 then 22 people opened their emails and 11 of them clicked-through after reading their email.

Using the second method, again with total emails of (say) 100, then 22 people opened their emails. If 11% of them then clicked-through then the actual number who did so = 2.4 people.

11 people vs 2.4 people, which one?“

First and foremost, I’d like to thank Terry for asking this question. It’s a great question and I’m more than happy to clear it up.

According to ConstantContact, the email click-through rate is the percentage of click-throughs for a particular email based on the number of contacts who actually opened the email. A common click-through rate is around 4% of those emails opened. The click-through distribution total is merely the total of all clicks for that campaign – which is always 100%.

Email click-through rates vary widely based on industry, email content, contact list quality, timing and many other factors.  The email industry overall reports average click through rates around 6% of emails opened.  Constant Contact customers see average click through rates ranging from 7% to 27%

So, in the example Terry provided above, the actual CTR for the art gallery example would be 2.4 people.

Thanks again for asking the question, Terry. Part of what makes the 60 Second Marketer community work is that people like you ask terrific questions.

Posted by Jamie Turner, the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response.

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June 15th, 2010

How to Make Money with Social Media

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I had a fun and engaging dialogue today with a company that was very interested in learning how to make money with social media.

If you’re like many marketing directors, learning how to drive revenue with social media may the the #1 thing on your mind.

Surprisingly, many companies think of social media strictly as a branding tool. That is, they use it simply to build awareness for their brand rather than using it as a way to specifically drive revenue.

But using social media simply as a branding tool is 20th century thinking. A more sophisticated approach is to use it for a multitude of purposes, some that specifically make the cash register ring.

With that in mind, here are the 5 most common social media business models. Which ones would work best for your company? Do tell.

Social Media Business Models

You can use this hub-and-spoke model to drive prospects to your website. Once you've captured your prospects' contact information, you can re-market to them and convert them to customers.

E-Commerce: If you can sell your product or service online, then your #1 goal for your social media campaign should be to drive prospects to a landing page on your website. That’s what DellOutlet does. They make special offers to their 1.5 million followers and drive those followers through to Twitter-specific landing pages on their site. My research indicates they’ve generated in excess of $5 million in revenue this way. (You can’t live on that, but, hey, it’s a start.)

Research: You can also use social media as a way to keep tabs on customer sentiments about your brand. One way to do that is to use a company like RapLeaf to analyze what people are saying about your brand online. Another way to do that is to launch a website like MyStarbucksIdea.com that asks customers to vote, discuss, share or see ideas from the Starbucks community.

Branding: Social media can also be used as a branding tool to build awareness and interest in your product or services. That’s what Toyota has done with this funny, light-hearted YouTube campaign promoting the Toyota Sienna.

Customer Retention: If it costs 3 to 5 times as much to get a new customer as it does to keep an existing one, wouldn’t it be smart to use social media to to keep customers satisfied? That’s what Comcast has done with their ComcastCares Twitter page. Go Frank!

Lead Generation: Some companies can’t sell their products or services online. For those, you can use the lead generation model outlined in the graphic on this site. With this model, you’d drive people to a landing page on your site that captures lead information from your prospects. Once you’ve done that, you can re-market to the most qualified prospects and convert them to customers. (For an example of a lead generation capture form, check out the one we have for BKV Digital and Direct Response.)

The Bottom Line:

There are some very smart, very authoritative social media experts who claim that social media isn’t measurable. Quite frankly, they don’t don’t what they’re talking about. Social media is very measurable. Better still, if you set up your social media campaign properly, you can use social media to drive revenue. And isn’t driving revenue what it’s all about?

Interested in staying up-to-date on the newest tools, tips and techniques in marketing? Then sign up for the 60 Second Marketer eNewsletter. No SPAM. No gimmicks. Just free tips delivered to your inbox each Friday.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer. Jamie’s book, “How to Make Money with Social Media” will be published by the Financial Times Press this fall.

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June 13th, 2010

What’s the Difference Between Quantitative and Qualitative Research?

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What’s the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?

I’m always surprised that the #1 video on the 60 Second Marketer YouTube Channel is the short tutorial we did called, “When should I use qualitative vs. quantitative research?”

The differences between these two forms of research is probably a question many people have, but have not had the time to track down the answer.

As it stands, understanding the differences between the two are important, especially if you’re a marketer. For example, if you’re interested in taking a dive into the emotions behind your consumer’s purchase behavior, you’d most often want to use Qualitative research (but not always).

On the other hand, if you wanted to get statistical data on consumer preferences, you’d want to use Quantitative research.

Those two examples don’t completely explain the differences, so rather than go into a big, long description, we’ve included the 60 second video from our YouTube channel in this blog post.

Alternatively, you may want to look at the Wibiya toolbar bottom of this page and click on the icon that says YouTube. The Wibiya toolbar a very cool new way we’ve provided our followers with access to our entire YouTube video portfolio, without having you leave our site.

Enjoy!

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response.

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June 12th, 2010

Why TV Advertising is a Big, Fat Waste of Money

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Most of our readers grew up in an era where marketing was a one-way form of communication. The idea was to broadcast a television commercial to millions of viewers and shout loudly enough that they stopped what they were doing and took notice of your ad.

Marketing Tips

In 1965, you could run 1 commercial during prime time and reach 85% of the viewing audience. Today, it would take more than 125 commercials to accomplish the same thing. Despite this, there are ways to use TV to efficiently drive sales, if you know what you're doing.

The consumer behavior model this technique followed was called AIDA. It was developed in the 1960s and it stood for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

The idea was that if your television commercial stood out and got enough attention then that would drive a certain percentage of the people to have interest. Of those, a certain percentage would have desire and a subset of that group would eventually take action.

The good news was that, back in the 1960s, you could run 1 television commercial during prime time on 3 different channels and reach 85% of the viewing audience. (For perspective on this, today, you’d have to run the commercial more than 125 times to reach 85% of the viewing audience.)

Despite television’s ability to reach massive numbers of people, it was still a highly-inefficient form of communication. For example, let’s say you were advertising something that was targeted just to men — men’s shoes. Automatically, right out of the gate, 50% of the people watching your commercial weren’t interested in what you were selling. So before you even sold a single shoe, 50% of your marketing efforts were wasted.

But wait, it gets even worse. Of the 50% of the people who might be viable candidates for your shoes, you could imagine that half of those were either in the bathroom taking a pee or in the fridge looking for that last cold beer.

So now, only 25% of the people watching your commercial are actually watching your commercial. That’s 75% inefficiency!

And it gets worse still!

Of the 25% who are actually sitting in front of the boob tube, maybe half of those just bought new shoes in the past 4 months. So now, only 12.5% of the people are actually active candidates for your shoes.

And of those 12.5%, maybe half of those don’t like your brand of shoe!

So suddenly, you realize that you paid for 100% of the viewing audience, but only 6.25% are actually watching your commercial and might be interested in buying your shoes.

What a horrible, horrible waste of money.

Oddly enough, for more than 50 years, this model worked. How? Because marketers built those kind of inefficiencies into their ROI models and everything came out in the wash.

But those days are over. Kaput. Gone.

How many of you reading this post could go into your CFO and say that 93.5% of your advertising budget was going to be wasted on inefficiencies and mis-targeted ads? If you tried that, you’d probably lose your job.

The good news in all this is that there is hope. There are plenty of ways you, as a marketer, can gain efficiencies with your marketing. Better still, TV isn’t a complete waste of time. In fact, if you read this article on the 60 Second Marketer site about how to use television to efficiently generate sales, you’ll find plenty of good ideas and advice on getting the most bang out of your television buck.

The Bottom Line:

The days of being able to run a television commercial and watch the cash register ring are over, unless you know some of the new ways to gain efficiency with television advertising. In the meantime, you can focus on other marketing tools like paid search, SEO, Email marketing, direct response marketing and social media to drive sales and revenue.

Interested in getting weekly updates on the newest tools, tips and techniques in marketing? Then sign up for our marketing eNewsletter delivered to your in-box every Friday. No spam. No gimmicks. Just good information.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine for BKV Digital and Direct Response.

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June 11th, 2010

8 Counter-Intuitive Marketing Principles That May Surprise You

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In today’s 60 Second Marketer eNewsletter, I kicked things off with the following few paragraphs:

“One of the smartest sayings in marketing is this:

Marketing Best Practices

Some of the best marketing principles are counter-intuitive.

Consumers aren’t in need of 1/4 inch drill bits. They’re in need of 1/4 inch holes.

It highlights one of the great truths in marketing — that you should spend more time studying your consumer than studying your product.

If you get inside the mind of your consumer, you can understand what it is they’re really buying. And once you’ve done that, you’re home free.

To drive home this point, take this simple test:

People who buy Porsches buy them because:

  1. They have 4 valves per cylinder
  2. They have longitudinal engine alignment
  3. They have a 9:1 compression ratio
  4. They make the owner feel sexy

The answer, of course, is number 4. (Trust me, nobody ever bought a Porsche for its longitudinal engine alignment.)

The people at Porsche understand this. Which is why they sell so many Porsches every year.”

That passage in our marketing newsletter got me thinking, “What are the timeless truths about marketing that every marketing director should know?” With that in mind, here’s what I’ve come up with:

  1. There are only 4 reasons people will buy your product/service. They are 1) price 2) service 3) quality 4) exclusivity or some combination of those concepts. Everything else is just a variation of those themes.
  2. Don’t do research on people who buy your product or service. Do research on the people who have considered your product/service, then gone elsewhere. That’s where you’ll find gold.
  3. Your #1 job isn’t to take care of your existing customers. Instead, your #1 job is to acquire new customers. Oh, sure, taking care of existing customers is a very close second. But your #1 job is to get new customers. Otherwise, you’ll be out of business in about 4 to 6 years. Do the math. Seriously. You’ll find it’s true.
  4. The best time to increase customer loyalty is when a customer is pissed off at you. This is also counter-intuitive, and it’s also true. If you can take an existing customer who is about to leave and convert them to a happy, fulfilled customer, they’ll often become your biggest advocates.
  5. Don’t compare your company to other companies in your industry. The trick is to compare your company to best-in-class companies in other industries. That’s where you’ll find the new, innovative and growth-producing ideas that make the cash register ring.
  6. You’ll learn more from your failures than you will from your successes. People spend their careers trying not to fail. But if you aren’t failing, it means you’re not trying new things. Remember, Steve Jobs failed at Apple plenty of times before coming back and kicking ass.
  7. The most important order you’ll ever get is the second order. This is a classic principle first mentioned by Bob Stone, the direct marketing guru. Why is the most important order the second one? Because a two-time buyer is at least twice as likely to buy again as a one-time buyer. Treat your second time buyers like royalty. Because they are.
  8. All the research in the world won’t teach you as much as transactional data. Transactional data is the information from people who have actually purchased your product or service. You’d be amazed at how deep it can go. BKV Digital and Direct Response once studied 400 different data points about each one of their client’s customers. 400 pieces of information about each customer! Imagine the impact you can have on your sales when you can go 400 data points deep on your customers. Whew.

I’m always trying to come up with marketing principles like these ones for our marketing newsletter. Are there any I’ve missed? If so, let me know and we’ll include them in updates.

Onward.

Posted by: Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer. Jamie’s book, “How to Make Money with Social Media” will be published by the Financial Times Press this fall.

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The 60 Second Marketer is a free online magazine brought to you by BKV Interactive and Direct Response. We try to provide quick updates on the newest tools, tips and techniques in marketing. We also try to accomplish that with a dose of humor or levity. As it turns out, we're pretty good at providing tools, tips and techniques, but we're not actually all that funny. Which would explain why people don't call us "funny" as much as they call us "laughable." Bummer. Our offices, for those of you who are interested, are located in Atlanta (404-233-0332) and Kansas City (913-648-8333). We also have offices on Bora Bora, but they don't have the phones installed yet.

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