Category: Sales & Marketing

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Free Management Library and iBrand Masters Tweets 2010-05-16

Smiling lady collecting a document
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GLOBAL STUDY: BUSINESS POLICY & RISKS OF EMPLOYEE SOCIAL MEDIA USE

Businessman reading papers on the couch

Despite Increased Adoption of Social Networking Tools, the Absence of Policies, Process and IT Architecture Puts Organizations at Risk

Cisco recently released the results of a third-party global study designed to assess how organizations use consumer social networking tools to collaborate externally, revealing the need for stronger governance and IT involvement. The use of consumer-based social networking tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, as collaboration platforms is connecting organizations with the external world in myriad ways.

The study findings indicate that the business world is at the early stages of adopting these tools and in the process of identifying key challenges, such as the need for increased governance and IT involvement.

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Study Highlights:

The Increased Use of Consumer-Based Social Networking Tools in the Enterprise

  • 75 percent identified social networks as the consumer-based social media tools they primarily use, while roughly 50 percent of the group also identified extensive use of microblogging.
  • Social networking tools are spreading into core areas of the value chain, including the marketing and communications, human relations, and customer service departments. Within marketing and communications, these tools have already become an integral part of the organizations’ initiatives.
  • Small and medium-sized businesses are actively using social networking channels to generate leads, but this remains a growth opportunity for larger companies.

The Need for More Governance and IT Involvement in Social Media Efforts

Only one in seven of the companies that participated in the research noted a formal process associated with adopting consumer-based social networking tools for business purposes, indicating that the potential risks associated with these tools in the enterprise are either overlooked or not well understood.

For more information, see the full article.

For more social media “Marketing” tips and tactics, search these phrases:

  • Employee social media policies
  • Business use and risks of social media
  • Social networking policies

Happy “Marketing” hunting!

Does your company have a social media policy? Is it good? Is it fair to the employee?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman: With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

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Needs Assessment

Man looking through documents

The First Step

A Needs Assessment is a systematic exploration of the way things are and the way they should be. These “things” are usually associated with organizational and/or individual performance.

WHY design and conduct a Needs Assessment? We need to consider the benefits of any Human Resource Development (HRD) intervention before we just go and do it:

  • What learning will be accomplished?
  • What changes in behavior and performance are expected?
  • Will we get them?
  • What are the expected economic costs and benefits of any projected solutions?

We are often in too much of a hurry. We implement a solution, sometimes but not always the correct intervention. But we plan, very carefully and cautiously, before making most other investments in process changes and in capital and operating expenditures. We need to do the same for Human Resource Development.

The largest expense for HRD programs, by far, is attributable to the time spent by the participants in training programs, career development, and/or organization development activities. In training, costs due to lost production and travel time can be as much as 90-95% of the total program costs. Direct and indirect costs for the delivery of training are about 6% of the total cost, and design and development count for only about 1-2% of the total. Realistically, it makes sense to invest in an assessment of needs to make sure we are making wise investments in training and other possible interventions.

Friday: 4 steps to conducting a Needs assessment.

Happy Training and comments, concerns and guests are welcome

Leigh

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

– Looking for an expert in training and development or human performance technology?
– Contact me: Leigh Dudley – Linkedin – 248-349-2881
– Read my blog: Training and Development

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Case Study: Viral Mobile Marketing Campaign Achieves 72% Click-Through Rate

Person Using Smartphone

Use Mobile to Engage the Customer and Build an Opt-in Database

When you create a marketing campaign that goes viral, you’ve hit the jackpot!

In this case study from the Mobile Marketing Association, we learn how the “Fly the Flag for Football” campaign created excitement around both the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup, while building an opted-in database for future mobile advertising campaigns.

Use Mobile Marketing to Collect Profile Information and Refer Friends

The campaign had an astounding 72% response and click-through rate – the number of consumers who visited the mobile website, profiled themselves, answered the questions and referred three friends after engaging in a competition via SMS short code.

Viral Mobile Marketing Campaigns can be Wildly Successful

This case study proves that when integrated properly within a “traditional” campaign, incentive-based mobile marketing has an extremely viral effect. It must be well planned, integrated into your offline strategies, goals and tactics; and well executed – just like all your marketing efforts!

(Case Study excerpted from Mobile Marketing Association)

For more information, see the full article, Viral Mobile Marketing Campaign Passes with Flying Colors

For more social media “Marketing” tips and tactics, search these phrases:

  • Viral Mobile Marketing Campaign
  • Mobile Marketing
  • Case Study Mobile Marketing

Happy “Marketing” hunting!

Have you used viral Mobile Marketing Campaigns to build your business?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

.. _____ ..

ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman: With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman assists clients in establishing and enhancing their online brand, attracting their target market, engaging in meaningful social media conversations, and converting online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

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Customer Service Strategies…Self-Help is IN

Smiling young man on headphones

Help Thyself. It is the ‘it’ strategy these days. It makes good business sense. Outstanding content can divert call and email volume. It can improve the Customer Experience. As technology has evolved so have self-help presentation options. Long, static user guides are quickly becoming passé as quick guides, indexed documents and how-to videos become ubiquitous.

Which Customer Self-Help Strategy is best for you?

First, think of self-help as just one of the cornerstones of your Customer Experience. Self-guided learning works great, but only for those customers/users who would rather find the answer instead of waiting for an email response or to make a call.

When you ‘walk’ from the outside-in through your Customer Experience, do you discover ways to teach your customers how to best use your product or service? Can you think of ways to encourage your users to better understand how your product or service can add value for them?

Self-Help options should be a natural extension of how a customer learns to use your product or service. If there are a lot of visual references required, then video is a solid option to include. If a quick reference guide of steps 1 through … makes sense, then don’t use a video. The user would have to write down the steps instead of having that quick guide in hand. Or better yet, pair the two together if that enhances understanding and ultimately utilization.

Comprehensive product manuals are somewhat of a necessary evil. It’s likely they are not fully used and they take a lot of time and resources to create and keep current; but, you can’t get away without having one. (Side note-have your new employees use the current manual to learn about your product/service as well as to identify what may be out of date.)

Does your self-help content include references to how your customers will use your product or service? User-based, topical presentations are the secret to user traction. To improve comprehension and utilization, present your information with when and why content.

I am a big fan of ‘bite-sized’ learning. If you have a complex service or product, then try to segment your Self-Service offerings to facilitate quick, incremental learning. Create short, topical content based on how the product or service will be used.

Create content based on the Who’s-on-First perspective: WHO should do WHAT, WHY and WHEN; and, don’t forget the HOW to ensure those who will try self-help, can find the answers.

Exceptional Self-Help strategies will divert inbound customer requests; but, they will not be effective as the only Customer Service strategy. Create your self-help content and presentation strategy as one of the pillars of your overall Customer Experience.

Amazon, Netflix, Go-To-Meeting are a few examples of outstanding self-help strategies. What are your favorites?

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Case Study: Mobile Call to Action Engages Lincoln Center Audience

Young lady smiling while on a phone call

We all love to hear about REAL organizations using new technology to expand and engage their audience. All this stuff DOES work, when it’s used strategically and professionally. Here is an example of a first-time use of mobile for a big event. And it worked!

Marketing – Lincoln Center Style

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts launched their first mobile marketing platform as part of the promotional campaign for the outdoor dance series Midsummer Night Swing.

“We’ll definitely keep mobile marketing for the upcoming season. “It’s working,” said Nan Keeton, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.

Mobile –SMS Integration

Comprised of twenty-five out door summer dance parties, Midsummer Night Swing reaches a vast audience, with roughly 70,000 people attending the events per year, either as ticket purchasers or as spectators.

The intention of this trial was to explore mobile mechanics and to identify future mobile marketing avenues for Lincoln Center. Both SMS integration platforms were successful at achieving these two goals. Lincoln Center learned key lessons about mobile programs, while also identifying ways to perfect and expand its cellular efforts.

Two exciting results – Lincoln Center’s mobile marketing campaign:

  1. The acquisition of 500 members for the text club and
  2. The redemption rate of 5% for the mobile coupon.

The willingness of 500 passionate swing dancers to opt-in in spite of the typical 15 cent receiving cost of text messages is an indication of the level of patron excitement about this new media channel. It was also valuable to learn that the mobile delivery of discount offers redeemed via promotion codes on Lincoln Center’s website could be an effective way to stimulate ticket sales.

For more information, see the full case study, Mobile Enhancing Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

For more social media “Marketing” tips and tactics, search these phrases:

  • Mobile Marketing case studies
  • Lincoln Center
  • SMS marketing

Happy “Marketing” hunting!

Do you have REAL mobile marketing case study examples to share?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman assists clients in establishing and enhancing their online brand, attracting their target market, engaging in meaningful social media conversations, and converting online traffic into revenues.

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Thought Leaders Then and Now – Leo Burnett on Marketing

Marketing Thought Leaders and Social Media

Do the core principles of history’s Marketing Thought Leaders still apply to the new paradigms of social media marketing? Here we take a closer look at Leo Burnett and his now worldwide agency.

The quick answer to our question – a resounding YES! ABSOLUTELY. (From the Marketing Hall of Fame):

Social Media Marketing Takeaways include:

  • “Marketing” harmony is a core concept in social media – all strategies and online marketing tools must be considered together, and prioritized, in order to achieve important business goals – including increased revenues.
  • Consumer insight is a founding principle of both the Burnette agency and Web 2.0 – Internet Marketing is USELESS unless you have clearly defined your target customer and attract them where THEY are in social media. (It’s not about YOUR message anymore – it’s all about what THEY are saying. Are you hearing them?)
  • Customer engagement – Burnett’s core beliefs also include: ‘… a message so engaging and human that it builds a quality reputation and produces sales.’ YES YES YES! I especially love the part about producing sales – otherwise, why do it, really? (Traffic conversion into customers is the topic of a previous series of posts on my Marketing Blog.

Burnett Believed in Marketing Harmony

Long before the concept of integrated marketing communications was conceived, Leo Burnett said: “…in its performance, advertising is not a soloist. It is a member of an ensemble of all those activities that can be classified under the general head of marketing, and it must do its part in harmony with them.”

Leo Burnett’s Business Philosophy

“Our primary function in life is to produce the best advertising in the world, bar none … This is to be advertising so interrupting, so daring, so fresh, so engaging, so human, so believable and so well-focused as to themes and ideas that at one and the same time, it builds a quality reputation for the long haul as it produces sales for the immediate present.”

– Marketing Hall of Fame

For more information, see the full article – Leo Burnett on Marketing

What revenue-generating tips have you discovered in Social Media Marketing?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

. . ________ . .

ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman: With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman assists clients in establishing and enhancing their online brand, attracting their target market, engaging in meaningful social media conversations, and converting online traffic into revenues. Email Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

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Slouching Towards Friday: Best Days to Send a News Release

Young lady reading a newspaper

A longtime client asked me to post a news release to the media last Friday. I gulped and said to myself, “Where have I gone wrong? How many times I have I told them, ‘Any day but Friday?’ Am I totally not communicating clearly in my media savant communications capacity?” Gulp, and gulp again…. “Can I home go home yet?”

But, being of service, I obliged.

Today said client emailed and said there seemed to be no action on the release. I promised to look into it, which means calling the usual suspects and most likely resending the news release to a handful of them.

Why is Friday such a bad day to send a news release? Simply because it is the end of the work week. Unless you have breaking news that can’t wait, it’s a day better left to other endeavors. Ditto for Monday, when people are just getting back into the work week and also getting inundated with news releases, plus taking the regularly scheduled Monday morning meeting while jumping onto a bunch of other multitasks.

On the other hand, plenty of organizations do freely send out releases on Friday, late Friday, too — news that is rarely “good.” These parties are usually large corporations that misfired (the recall of Motrin story broke Saturday so I’m guessing — only guessing — this was a Friday release — see the story link here: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6401AK20100501). Or a branch of the federal government that screwed up or was slow to react to other news (notice how Obama arrived over the weekend to visit the growing Oil catastrophe in the gulf). Or a tarnished political org (pick an org, any org), hoping this news goes unnoticed. Ha!

I’m guessing no one in media — especially at the big news media outlets — has ever missed a “bad news” news release that was sent on Friday afternoon when most people’s thoughts are turning to what the weekend has in store for them. While the press and broadcast media all staff for the weekend, the available resources are usually thin. And getting thinner.

Over the past two years, the lousy economy has decimated the ranks of those working in media — yet another reason to consider what day of the week to send your news release. Of course, PR is about much more than just sending a news release.

But you knew that already. Didn’t you?

Gulp.

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Thought Leaders Then and Now – Raymond Rubicam – Marketing Hall of Fame

The Marketing Hall of Fame gives us deliciously interesting insight to Thought Leaders who shaped our Marketing and Advertising industries. Do their core philosophies transfer to Web 2.0 marketing and social media marketing?

In the case of Raymond Rubicam, Founder of Young & Rubicam, YES!

He forever changed the ad world with his beliefs and practices:

  • HE NURTURED THE CREATIVE TALENTS OF THE COPYRIGHTER – a basic tenet of Web 2.0 marketing. The web is a glorious instant publisher for all creatives!
  • HE KNEW THE CONSUMER – another foundation of Web 2.0 marketing and social media marketing. The consumers’ needs and wants are finally being heard!

“Marketing” Creativity – The Cornerstone of Success

Raymond Rubicam and John Orr Young founded Young & Rubicam with $5,000 and the belief that an advertisement should “mirror the reader.” While Raymond Rubicam’s emphasis on creativity was innovative in itself, his philosophy and copywriting approach revolutionized the industry.

He believed that in effective marketing, knowledge and understanding of the customer was a critical component of effective advertising.

David Ogilvy credited Rubicam with assembling “the best team of copywriters and art directors in the history of advertising,” whose advertisements “were read by more people than any other agency’s.”

The agency quickly became the world’s third largest, representing many of America’s leading companies, such as Gulf Oil, General Electric, Johnson and Johnson, Fortune, Life and others. They EARNED these accounts through their creativity and because they knew their consumers.

Pioneers in Consumer Research

Rubicam constantly stressed the necessity for ideas founded on facts. His idea was to “know more than your competitors do about the market, and put that knowledge into the hands of writers and artists with imagination and broad human sympathies.” Rubicam set out to put his beliefs into practice.

Rubicam hired Dr. George H. Gallup, then a Northwestern University professor, to lead the agency’s research department in 1932 and pioneered in new methods of research on people’s preferences, prejudices, their reading and radio listening practices.

– Marketing Hall of Fame

Click on the following link for more Insights into Rubicam.

Social Media Marketing’s Core Principles include:

  • Know your target audience
  • Listen. And based on what you learn about them, engage in meaningful two-way conversation

Rubicam couldn’t be more right-on today. For more basic social media marketing principles, see this eye-opening PowerPoint by iBrand Masters.

Which marketing powerhouse Thought Leaders still influence us today?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman: With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business coach, business planning consultant and social media marketing consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media marketing consulting firm, Lisa Chapman assists clients in establishing and enhancing their online brand, attracting their target market, engaging in meaningful social media conversations, and converting online traffic into revenues. Email Lisa @ LisaChapman.com