About Will Irish

How To Successfully Launch An Email Campaign In A Social Media Conditioned, Mobile Ecosystem

May 26, 2011 By Will Irish Leave a Comment

TRADITIONAL EMAIL MARKETING

Due to the evolution of social media connections, computer-based email usage is on a rapid decline. Trends reveal that people are using mobile phones to read their emails, or simply replacing that medium with social network messaging. Which means the marketing campaigns to traditional email must be adjusted to effectively be consumed.

Mobile email readers surfing their inbox are now either killing time, or glancing at their phone. Your message should be succinct and strategically direct them back to future laptop or tablet computing for full impact. In fact, studies revealed that 91% of email users have unsubscribed from a company email they had opted in for. Clutter on their mobile device as they scroll through their inbox seems to encourage users to make deep cuts and prioritize the email consumption they are willing to receive in their email inbox.

Additionally, if you’re directing someone to a website through email marketing, and understand that reading email on mobile devices is the trend, it’s critical to have a mobile website optimized for mobile consumption. Less features, big buttons (Touch interface), clear call to action without a lot of decisions to be made.

At the same time, Social networking direct messaging carries an entirely new set of etiquette. Once a company is allowed to enter this space with an individual, it cannot be utilized as a replacement to the email inbox. It’s an extremely personal engagement to send a message to say a facebook inbox. Messages are invading their own profile and you will quickly be released if it’s not personalized, infrequent and user centric (read: no promoting).

You’re allowed much more latitude in the public arena of the networks in terms of frequency, but the message should still primarily remain engaging rather than self promotion.

SOCIAL MEDIA

67% of B2C companies have acquired a customer through Facebook.
57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog.
42% of companies have acquired a customer through Twitter.

70% of Google search results that are clicked on are organic results – only 30% to paid search links. SEO should always be considered due to the transfer of credibility from Google and the massive marketshare even as it evolves into a social search platform. i.e. Likes and +1 driving user experience.

MOBILE MARKETING

40% of smartphone users compare prices on their mobile device while IN STORE shopping for an item.
1 in 5 adult mobile phone users have used their device to make a purchase in the past month.

So are you following the new rules of email marketing? If so, take a step back and review the above evolution of how we consume email messages and the technology we employ to connect. In this age of information overload, the new genesis is that we are starting to control, and filter our devices to reveal only those content topics that we want, need or are passionate about.

I completely realize there is a strong sect of statistics which can be warped and bent to prove that email consumption is not declining. I get that, I really do. However it’s the way in which email is being consumed that has changed, and if your emails are optimized to the world of smartphones, pointing to mobile websites, you will undoubtedly see considerable traction on your campaigns.

Want more proof? Chances are you only have to review your mobile habits.

Filed Under: Business Success, General, Mobile Marketing, Social Media, Social Media for Business Tagged With: email marketing, mobile marketing, social media

Slick Coca Cola Experiment Proves Social Media Marketing “Can” Work

May 1, 2011 By Will Irish Leave a Comment

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One of the most logical questions I’m asked by small business owners goes something like the following. “We see the masses moving towards Social Media Marketing, but can you ‘really’ see any measurable ROI?”

Fair question, but also quite revealing of how desperately business owners need valuable insight to unwrap traditional marketing concepts and offer a paradigm shift to see how Social Media Marketing really works.

I should say, I have a long, very customized and detailed answer when speaking with prospects and clients about that topic. Needless to say I would refer to their primary purpose behind using social media, such as, brand exposure, money making, or more traffic.

But it all comes down to one thing. When done correctly, Social Media Marketing should be about engaging, and uniting your market with your products or services. It’s not your company shouting from a hilltop “BUY ME” as traditional marketing models have operated, but rather it’s finding a way to let your market enjoy your products and services with others in your market. Huge difference.

I have to tell you, I was very impressed at Coca-Cola’s most recent Social Media experiment where they wheeled in a giant Coke machine, dubbed “The Friendship Machine”, and you’ll see why in this video that absolutely rocketed into cyberspace in true viral nature.

The really cool thing is not only did they do it right, they actually provided some measurement of ROI on the end of the video. It’s fun. It was creative, and not once did I feel I was being advertised to.

Check it out:

Filed Under: Business Branding, Business Success, Offline Marketing, Social Media, Social Media for Business Tagged With: coke machine, small business online marketing, social media marketing, viral marketing

How To Bridge Your Offline Market To Your Online Universe

February 19, 2011 By Will Irish Leave a Comment

While many in the marketing world are very familiar with 2D codes, the concept is just now starting to see particular traction in the consumer usability. Not familiar with a 2D code you say?

Let me explain by way of an example.

To lay a primary foundation, it’s important that we all realize and admit that smart-phone and mobile use is absolutely blazing trails at lightning speed. In fact, if you were to look around and observe any day of the week you would find more people staring at, and typing on their mobile phones than actually talking! (What irony when you think about it)

So what exactly are they doing? What are you doing when you’re staring at your blackberry, or interacting with your iPhone rather than speaking on it?

Texting, yes, maybe. However while texting is a major form of communication that status updates and apps like Twitter have made more acceptable by training us to communicate in 140 characters or less, that’s probably not occupying the great majority of your time.

In fact people are using their iPhones and Blackberry Smart phones to surf the internet, check their Facebook feeds, Check in on Foursquare, and interact via various social media channels.

The question any offline, brick and mortar business, or brand might ask is how can we move our offline customers to our online world, where you are able to track, personalize, and communicate in a very specific manner?

Huge question to consider. It has been since the internet really evolved. How can you integrate offline and online promotion?

Let’s say you own a local used book store in the center of town. Let’s also assume you’ve done a magnificent job of building an online presence and sales funnel for brand awareness and interaction.

Now picture this likely common occurrence. So one Sunday afternoon, a consumer is walking down main street to find that when they reach your used book store, they see the all too familiar orange and black sign boldly pronouncing; “We’re Closed”, hanging on the door.

The result is clear, they find a competitor, or distraction of this world never reminds them to stop back in. Read: lost customer, lost repeat revenue.

Until now, there had been no way to really link that person back to your online communities and marketing efforts, other than hoping they remember to look you up online at some point.

Enter 2D codes, also commonly referred to as QR codes (quick response). What if your orange and black “We’re Closed” sign on the door had a sort of “hyperlink” to your online presence?

Yes, I hear you asking, “but what would make a potential consumer remember that text hyperlink?”

Ah dear reader, a great question to ask, and that’s where 2D codes are helping to bridge that offline gap to your online presence.

A 2D code is a square, almost “bar-code/fingerprint” that you make for your business. Almost every smart-phone has a camera functionality on it, which a free application scanner can interpret and bring you directly to your online presence page of choice.

If you own a Smart-phone, point your mobile browser to scan.mobi and you will be prompted to download a 2d scanner application and within 60 seconds you will have the ability to take a picture with that application. When a picture of that 2d code, or qr code is taken via that free application, it directly brings the viewer to where ever you’ve decided best for that person to land online, in their mobile browser.

For this example, if someone “scanned” (took a picture) of your 2d code on your used bookstore “We’re Closed” sign, you could have that 2d code take your potential customer to your online store to search inventory of your used books. They would be able to even purchase the book and have in store pick up or shipping, but the sale is now possible in an automated way.

Maybe you choose to have your 2d code land them on a page where they input their email address so you can send them a 10% discount coupon on any book in your store. Now you have the ability to communicate over and over again at almost no cost, and almost guarantee that due to this discount, your passer-by visitor will not run to a competitor to find the book of choice but rather take advantage of this discount coupon.

2D codes. QR codes. Learn them. Know them. Understand how to integrate them into your online sales channels.

If you have a Smart-phone and have downloaded the scanner, scan an example of my QR code and watch how it brings you to my Facebook page for my company, Precision Online Marketing LLC to get a feel for it.

If you’d like to make your own QR code, try http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ It will take you about 30 seconds to complete.

Hope you found this helpful. Love to hear of any ideas that you can think of to employ these codes for the use of Offline Businesses to help drive Online traction.

Some Statistics to Consider:

“In the last twelve months, customers around the world have ordered more than US $1 billion of products from Amazon using a mobile device,” – Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com (July 2010).

“Half a billion people accessed mobile Internet worldwide in 2009. Usage is expected to double within five years as mobile overtakes the PC as the most popular way to get on the Web.”

“By 2011, over 85 percent of new handsets will be able to access the mobile Web. Today in US and W. Europe, 90 percent of mobile subscribers have an Internet-ready phone.”

“There are more than 200 million active users [40 percent] currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook as non-mobile users.” – Facebook official statistics (January, 2011).

Filed Under: Mobile Marketing, Offline Marketing, Social Media for Business Tagged With: 2d code, mobile marketing, offline marketing, qr code

Business Branding with Social Media: The Real Deal

August 12, 2010 By Will Irish 3 Comments

Things are still a little old school at times when it comes to marketing efforts. There are those who firmly believe in progressing with the future (these are the ones who have embraced social media with welcoming arms). There’s also another group that are a bit more resistant to change (to put it nicely).

Although kicking it old school is perfect for certain situations, it’s not the best decision when it comes to marketing efforts. Let’s take a minute to look at some of the ways we brand “just because that’s the way we’ve always done it.” We’ll also look at three myths out there that need to be dispelled.

What Do You Think of When You Hear the Word ‘Branding’ [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Branding Tagged With: Business Branding