When someone’s mind is made up and they have a negative experience with you in any form, that experience can spread like wild fire. Today’s post from Marketing Prof’s “Get to the Point” is a perfect example. This post is spreading like wildfire across the internet as I write this. There is enough business out there for all of us. You never have to force anyone to do business with you or listen to what you have to say. Focus on the people who are dying to hear from you and have them spread that to other like minded people! The reward will be never ending!

Best Nicole

How’s This for Passing the Buck?

One year ago, Lynda Partner wrote—but did not publish—a blog post that eviscerated a software company for taking liberties with her email address, and then treating her complaint with stunning indifference. “Why publish it now, you ask? This week I got more spam from this same company,” she says. “It made me so angry that I dug up this post and I hope it gets wide distribution.”

It all began with an email, purportedly from the company’s CEO, that invited Partner to become an “ambassador” for the company, a role filled by “its biggest fans, best users, and closest friends.” There was only one problem: she had never heard of this CEO and couldn’t figure out why he had her email address.

“It took me a while,” she says, “but it turns out that when I opened a Web-hosting account recently, the hosting provider offered a free download of [the CEO's] software. I did not download it. So how did they get my email address?”

Partner wrote a brief note saying she never opted in to the company’s campaigns, and requesting confirmation that her email address had been removed from its list. The person who replied continued to insist she had downloaded the software and that the only way to stop receiving messages from his company was to cancel her account.

The result? Partner’s scalding post now travels the Internet.

The Po!nt: Use common sense. Pushy tactics like these are nothing more than self-destructive.

I can’t stress enough the value that is waiting  for all of you who are hesitant to dive in. Connecting and engaging with your customer is only going to enhance your relationship—which in turn will turn into increased sales, repeat sales and additional sales to your customer’s friends. Are you  ready to gain the sales you have lost and build upon that to get more sales in this new economy? Let us know. We want to hear from you.

Best Nicole

In a post at the Viral Garden blog, Mack Collier discusses why so many companies struggle to launch and maintain active online communities. To find success, you’ll need more than a message board and good intentions, he says. Here’s some of his advice:

• Communities grow and thrive when you offer members something of value. “[They] do not form around the idea of being monetized,” he says. “Want to make money off your community? Fine, but you can’t monetize something that doesn’t exist.”
• They don’t materialize out of thin air. “One of the biggest myths about online community building is ‘if you build it, they will come,’” says Collier. He suggests reaching out to your target audience and explaining why they’ll benefit from participation.
• They benefit from the enthusiastic support of key participants. Some members will take a natural lead—identify these evangelists and show your appreciation. “Empower them to promote your community to others,” he says. “Showcase their contributions. And above all else, say thank you.”

The Po!nt: Don’t take anything for granted, and have a clear purpose. “[B]efore you start your online community-building effort,” advises Collier, “think about where you are, and where you want to be. Is the goal to make money, or is the goal to create a group of happy people?”

Source: Viral Garden. Click here for the full post.

So many people feel that if they put up a facebook page and create a twitter account that they’re off to the races with a social media campaign that will lead them to an instant increase of their goals. (For some it may work, but even those people have a plan in mind in regards to how they connect their campaigns.) For most, an “increase of their goals” arguably means sales. As social media and social networking are now allowing consumers to take control—to have a voice and be able to choose to speak to, and with, the products, services and people they care about—there is no more hiding from this marketing channel. What truly makes this channel great is when you have a strategy that partners with the offline channels as well. Email is terrific. But what happens when that customer who received your email goes to your bricks and mortar business? If there is not a seamless integration and continuity of that online message (we all remember it takes 5 to 8 replays of the same message for it to resonate) you risk the chance that your message will be lost or never received.

It is creating a strategy—a plan that includes your online, offline and in-store marketing channels—that will ensure that your message never gets lost. The post below from Marketing Profs, Get to the Point, gives you a few ways to see how this works.

What’s your plan?

Best Nicole

For too long, too many marketers have underestimated the value of email’s impact on offline retail,” say Lisa Harmon and Alex Madison in a post at the Email Experience Council blog. If you focus entirely on generating online sales, they argue, you might be missing out on bricks-and-mortar opportunities. They’ve seen retailers use multichannel “noteworthy tactics” like these:

In-store discounts that are unavailable online. The pair cite an email offer from Betsey Johnson touting a special perk for in-store shoppers: a gift card worth at least $25 for those who spend $250 or more.

Images and copy that heighten the appeal of an in-store visit. “Apple reminds subscribers … of their great in-store service by including a picture of a blue-shirted expert alongside store offerings,” they say, “and also by using beautiful store photography to make subscribers eager to experience in-store shopping.”

Personalized invitations. Have your sales associates write personal emails with an invitation to a special in-store event. Nordstrom, for instance, did this when inviting its most loyal customers to a special sneak-peek ahead of an anniversary sale.

The Po!nt: Link your 2D and 3D. “Remember that there’s likely much overlap between your most loyal email subscribers and your loyal store visitors,” say Harmon and Madison. If you haven’t leveraged that crossover, try using strategies like these to help make it happen.

Everyone needs to get on the band wagon. “They”—yes your customers are talking about you even if you are not engaging—aren’t waiting. So why are you? Get out and engage them—because they want to engage you.

Best Nicole

When Larry Rudolf became vice-president of marketing at Markham, Ont.-based Strategic Connections Inc. (SCI) last year, he took on a challenge.

A 2006 deal with General Motors Corp. had made SCI North America, with 85 employees, the biggest provider of software for tracking and managing sales leads to the auto industry. But GM private-labels SCI’s Torque system, so even auto dealers who use it may not have heard of the company.

Mr. Rudolf’s goal was to raise the company’s profile, especially outside North America.

“What I needed to do was to use every single tool,” Mr. Rudolf says. “Today, social media marketing is one of the fundamental tools, or it’s becoming a fundamental tool.”

 Gifford Watkins, founder and chief executive of Atlantic Webfitters in Mount Uniacke, N.S., uses Twitter to keep up with news and rumours

First Mr. Rudolf established a blog at www.idriveleads.com. Then he opened an account on Twitter.com, a social networking site that has gained popularity. He also set up a page on Facebook.com, the leading consumer social-networking service.

Twitter, the latest example of a social networking site turned business tool, is a “microblogging” site where members post 140-character “tweets,” or updates on their activities, comments and links to websites. Twitter gets about 10 million unique visitors a month, up from barely a million at the beginning of 2008.

SCI uses it for marketing, with tweets like: “Dealership was with us 2 years. Left late summer for a competitor. Came back (yesterday) and asked for a 3-year contract. Results matter.” Other tweets are teasers for company blog posts, which doesn’t necessarily sell SCI’s products directly, Mr. Rudolf says, but help the company present itself as a thought leader in its field and drives traffic to its website.

This may sound dangerously close to spam, but Twitter makes it easy for people to opt in or out of following your tweets, says Tim Hickernell, lead analyst for Info-Tech Research Group, based in London, Ont.

That puts the onus on the business, which must make people want to follow its tweets. So there must be valuable information and not just self-promotion.

“Make sure you give them something of value. Don’t parrot [by repeating what others have written] and don’t fill it up with noise,” Mr. Hickernell advises.

At the same time, he says, Twitterers must know their audience. Some people want information, some want interactivity and expect you to reply to their tweets. Gauging this can be difficult, Mr. Hickernell says, and success can only be judged by feedback or whether people stop following you.

Using Twitter as a business tool means listening, too. Businesses can monitor public opinion about their products or services and keep up with what’s happening in their markets.

Sarah Thompson who recently established the Toronto public relations agency CoeurIdeas, says Twitter’s search feature, which lets her hunt for tweets containing a word or phrase, is a great way to monitor public opinion about a product or announcement.

Gifford Watkins, founder and chief executive of Atlantic Webfitters in Mount Uniacke, N.S., uses Twitter to keep up with news and rumours about DotNetNuke, the open-source software his company uses in building Web portals.

Businesses should also look at Facebook and its business counterpart, LinkedIn, Mr. Hickernell adds.

LinkedIn bills itself as a professional networking site, where users create profiles and forge links with others. Ms. Thompson likes it for locating “all those people that I’ve lost the business cards of along the way.”

The LinkedIn Answers service lets subscribers post questions and receive answers from other subscribers — “almost like opening a problem ticket that the public can give good answers — or bad answers — on,” Mr. Watkins says.

Facebook is still seen largely as a consumer site, but Mr. Hickernell says “many people are indeed using Facebook now — the 30- and 40-somethings — for professional networking.”

Mr. Watkins uses Facebook to talk about his concept of Web portals — sites that non-technical people can update, compared to conventional Web pages. “All I do is basically pontificate about the job I love,” he says, but it helps educate customers.

Mr. Hickernell advises care in using social networking, though. Employees must be careful what they post, and mixing business and after-hours identities online is “an accident waiting to happen,” he warns.

Marketing Profs writes a daily blog called Get to The Point! One of today’s posts beautifully describes how understanding the ways in which your customer wants to connect with you and you with them, will help provide the pathway to the social media relationship that builds brand evangelism.

Enjoy their post. Best Nicole

Pepsi’s Scheme Fails Taste Test

By now, you’ve probably heard about a recent Pepsi outreach that delivered three packages, over the course of an hour, to 25 influential bloggers; the first two contained cans with logos from throughout the cola-maker’s history, while the last featured those with the latest design.
A note explained: “You’re part of a handful of digital and social influencers we’re reaching out to regarding a multiyear, companywide transformation.”

The delivery gimmick, which some found intriguing, didn’t pack its intended drama for a few recipients. Mack Collier, who lives in a rural area, was bemused by the silliness of having a courier sit in his driveway while waiting out the prescribed 20-minute interval between each delivery. Rohit Bhargava, meanwhile, missed it altogether—he was out of the country when the packages arrived.

Collier applauds Pepsi’s ambition, but takes issue with the initial stage of the campaign’s execution for these reasons:

“Sending bloggers stuff to get us to blog about it is soooo 2006,” he writes. “Sure it can lead to a ton of initial buzz, but if there’s no follow-up and if the buzz doesn’t lead to the start of creating connections with your customers, then it’s still money wasted.”

Companies should target online evangelists before they go after social media influencers.

In the world of social media, you’re sure to see a better ROI on time than on money.

Your Marketing Inspiration: Focus on the relationships that social media tools facilitate, not the tools themselves. “You want to use social media as a channel to better connect with your customers, as a way for you to better understand them, and for them to better understand you.”