Category Archives: Tech

Automation Nation

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As we dig deeper into 2013, I predict even more companies will get on the marketing automation bandwagon and the marketing industry as we know it will become an ‘Automation Nation‘.

Automation Nation

By definition (and according to Wikipedia), marketing automation is the name given to software platforms designed for marketing departments and organizations to automate repetitive tasks. Marketing departments, consultants and part-time marketing employees benefit by specifying criteria and outcomes for tasks and processes. These tasks and processes are then interpreted, stored and executed by software, which increases efficiency and reduces human error. (Originally this was called email marketing automation.)

The benefits of implementing a marketing automation solution are tremendous especially for those firms’ marketing departments that are operating on the ‘lean and mean’ side. It gives organizations and marketers the ability to do more with less! Using a marketing automation platform allows marketers to streamline their sales and marketing activities by replacing high-touch, repetitive manual processes with automated solutions.

Marketing automation consequently provides a more consistent, less manual way for tracking items such as lead source, conversion rate and MARKETING ROI (aka the holy grail: being able to attribute sales revenue to the Marketing department!!! Yes Sales Team we do contribute to ‘your sales’ :) )

Okay now where was I…yes marketing automation solutions. As I was saying, there are many different solutions out there –some more basic than others. A fully developed marketing automation system will provide information across all phases of the marketing process, including:

• Demand Generation
• Lead Management
• Lead Scoring
• Lead Nurturing
• Lead Generation
• Campaign Analysis
• Lead Qualification
• Sales Effectiveness

Whereas, a more basic platform may only provide lead nurturing and automated functionality, for example.

The first question most people will ask is, “Okay, so which is the best marketing automation provider out there?” TBH (to be honest), the answer really depends. It depends upon your organization’s need, established business practices as well as its level of commitment to making your sales and marketing processes automated.

If you know there are certain processes that your organization will never change, that will prevent you from, for example doing lead scoring and nurturing, then a fully developed system might not be the best choice. Conversely, if your organization is open for change and you have buy-in from key decision makers and leadership, a fully-developed system might just be the perfect solution.

Here’s a great chart that helps defines the steps you should take if you are looking at selecting a marketing automation vendor:

10steps

Courtesy of: http://www.marketingautomationsoftware.com

So, if your organization isn’t already on the bandwagon, I encourage you to get on and not be left behind! The benefits of automation are just too great to ignore. Let automation take over all those manual tasks you are doing so that you can be freed up to take your marketing programs to the next level. I promise you, it’ll be a life changer (in a positive way) and fun too!

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Jumpstart Your Career by Excelling in These Four Business Elements

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We have spent a great deal of time in the last few months talking about doing a better job of on-boarding new employees and providing direction when it comes to professional growth.

Altimeter Group partner Jeremiah Owyang is an industry leader that provides excellent commentary on his blog on all things digital with an eye on what is disruptive.

I really like this recent post “The Four Elements of Career Management in Business” and have shared it around our office.

It’s a great cheat sheet for what any ambitious leader-in-waiting (or someone on the hot seat now) should focus on, as well as how to analyze what you may be spending too much time on or not enough in elevating your career.

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Email: Meet Search. Search: Meet Gmail.

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I just returned from speaking about the New Inbox: Email + Mobile + Social at SES SF for the first time. For a conference that was primarily about search engine optimization, there were a couple of really interesting gems I walked away with.

One of the coolest things was being able to hear Matt Cutts(@mattcutts), head of Google’s Search Quality team, speaking about how his global team has to fight “Web Spam.” Google (the proper noun turned verb) was taking a lot of heat/questions around whether Google+ really had influence on search ranking (Cutts denied this) among other SEO-related issues.  Immediately, I felt like a closer cousin to the search marketers in the room.

Another area he touched on was the new ability to extend a user’s Google search to look inside their Gmail inbox.  Matt mentioned that Gmail search is currently in a field trial phase where they are seeking out feedback from about 1MM users to help refine the experience for both usability and privacy.

They’ve done a nice job of considering inbox privacy by making the default state of the Gmail search results collapsed and accessible by clicking on a plus sign to reveal related search results.

When I first caught wind of this feature, I thought it might be about as awesome as Google Wave.  However, upon testing it out, I think it has good value for consumers and has positive implications for email marketers. I’ll use one of BrightWave’s clients, Stoney River, to demonstrate benefits for both the consumer and the email marketer.

One Place to Search
In the same way that Google tries to surface relevant non-web results like images, maps, or videos, the Gmail results appear in the right column as one more relevant content source.  This saves me the trouble of popping another tab/window for Gmail to search for something. Additionally, by adding ‘gmail’ into any search string, the results then are placed into the main search result column because Google infers that you want to search within Gmail first.

Yet Another Reason Why Subject Lines Are So Important

When I did a search for Stoney River, Google surfaced 3 pieces of information about related Gmail content:  ”From” (up to 12 characters), “Subject Line” (up to 32 characters) and “Send Date”.

The first 32 characters of your subject line can make the difference of whether you can turn a Google search in to a real business conversion. Suddenly the user can get one additional look at the subject lines for the five most recent emails that you’ve sent.

Two Great Tastes that Taste Great TogetherThe day before my session, I posted this tweet. To my delight, during Q&A @gretchenegeberg asked the question for which she was rewarded a pack of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  I answered her question by saying that search and email go great together because I believe that for many marketers, the reason why you optimize your search is in order to capture an email address.  Permission-based email marketing via a house email list is so incredibly cost effective. You’d be crazy not to make email address capture a top conversion priority.

If you were to use a less-chocolatey, cheesier analogy, it’s not unlike Jerry Maguire where Tom Cruise is search and Renee Zellweger is email. This is how we make the quan.

I hope I get invited to speak again at future SES conferences because I’d love to continue building synergies with search marketers. And maybe by then, I’ll have a different analogy to use so that I can just shutup.

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Olympics + Social = Happy Combination

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With social media becoming front and center in the digital realm, it is no surprise that the Olympics have become the ultimate social event. Dedicated hashtags, numerous athletes tweeting daily, and results being posted instantly online, various areas of social media have boomed as a direct result of the Olympics.

The opportunity to watch Olympic coverage live on various outlets (TV, YouTube, and the main NBC Olympic website) and the time lapse between event completion and normal television viewing encouraged the trend of online viewing. Once on the sites, individuals were able to share with friends via Google Plus or Facebook, tweet, or comment directly on the video. With this constant information stream, event results have been broadcast to the public faster than ever.

This instant access and social interaction can easily create a nightmare for members of teams and the Olympic Committee. However, as with most individuals that are savvy in the social world, the Olympic Committee provided all athletes with a guideline document for social media. Take a look at what the athletes have to abide by when participating in social media. Everything from appropriate words to use in tweets and comments to branding for the Olympics is included. Below are a few of my favorites:

  • ‘Blogs or tweets must be in a first-person, diary-type format and should not be in the role of a journalist – i.e. they must not report on competition or comment on the activities of other participants or accredited persons, or disclose any information which is confidential or private in relation to any other person or organization.’
  • ‘Video and/or audio must only be for personal use and must not be uploaded and/or shared to a posting, blog or tweet on any social media platforms, or to a website.’
  • ‘Participants and other accredited persons must not use the Olympic Symbol – i.e. the five interlaced rings, which is the property of the IOC – on their postings, blogs or tweets on any social media platforms or on any websites.’

(Olympic Guidelines – Social Media, 2012)

With such strict guidelines, one would question how well the Olympic committee could enforce it with thousands of athletes and individuals of the press.  Enforcement didn’t seem to be a problem as many individuals were turning in each other to ensure no one received the leg up on material. For example, NBC requested that a British Newspaper’s correspondent be suspended from Twitter until after the games due to his action online. Their request was granted and the individual was banned until the games closed (Read more here). Although the games had a few other issues, the guidelines put forth early in the process really limited the overall possibilities for content.

Another popular trend during the Olympics this year was the use of hashtags in post. The most popular hashtags included #London2012, #Olympics2012, and #Olympics. Each hashtag had its own success but the most popular one was #London2012. Below is a chart showing the last 24 hours of use for the hashtag.

(#London2012, HashTracking.com)

As you can see, it generated over 6,225,000 impressions and reached an audience of over 5,979,000 in the past 24 hours. With such a large impact, it is no wonder that social media has been so popular during the Olympics.

As the games came to a close Sunday night, twitter was aflutter with athletes and viewers tweeting their thoughts and sadness that the games were ending. A few example tweets below from a US equestrian team member and the US Olympic Team account:

(#London2012, Twitter.com)

Many others discussed the variety of musicians that were featured and the overall impact of the performance in our lives. With such a high bar set, I look forward to seeing the Rio Olympics in 2016 but, until then, I leave you with a video from the closing ceremonies and the words of John Lennon, “…I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one; I hope someday you’ll join us; And the world will be as one”.

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Mobile Innovation?

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Last week many of the top marketing sites posted an article about a new and innovative campaign by Coke and Auntie Anne’s. You can check a few of the articles out here…

Adweek | Yahoo | ClickZ

So what was the big deal and how are they doing this? It’s actually a pretty simple idea but takes two different technology platforms and a great partnership to pull off. The partnership, of course, is between Coke and Auntie Anne’s. Taking the number one brand in the world, that happens to be a consumable, inexpensive, and often impulsive purchase and matching that with a chain that sells their products and often lives in malls (easier to geo-target since anyone located in the mall is in striking distance) doesn’t hurt a geo-targeting campaign.

The two technology companies are what make it really interesting, specifically the pairing of these two services. This is where most of the articles are giving the “innovation” credit, the idea to use the two in conjunction. You have Millennial Media that has been geo- and demo- targeting for a while now, but that isn’t enough on its own. The magic is in tracking the conversion and optimization (in real time), which Sparkfly does for POS systems. The diagram below gives an overview:
[This diagram was produced by these companies and is on several of the article sites]

When I see this I look at the components and see that they all existed prior to last week. We can already geo-target, we can track conversions, we can optimize things in real-time. So why aren’t we (meaning anyone who isn’t Coke and Auntie Anne’s) doing this? I mean, aside from the fact that not many companies have experiment budgets of significance (see that ClickZ article for Coke’s 70-20-10 rule). I think it’s because we aren’t making the effort to figure out how we can use the technologies to our advantage and we’re letting excuses get in the way.

I’m going to go out on a limb and think of some common objections to trying to run a campaign like this, keeping in mind that I don’t think many brands can run a campaign exactly like this. I do think many brands can take the concept and run campaigns that leverage the components in a simpler, yet impactful, way.

Common objection: “I sell X-product and (maybe) have some physical locations but no way to track POS conversions (ex. I don’t have the staff, the training, coupons, etc). Why would I waste my time trying to leverage geo-targeting with conversion optimization? I think I’ll address this concern in letter form:

Dear sir or ma’am,

Geo-targeting at its core is just relevancy marketing (or what I call “marketing”), so the key is to increase relevancy, test, then optimize. If you have physical locations then relevancy may be someone in the proximity of your location. If you don’t then the relevancy you can get from geo-targeting may be in the form of what the user is doing. For example, if I sell cars it may be important to know when a user is near the lot but it may also be useful to know when the user is at a gas station. If I know the user is at a gas station, odds are they are pumping gas and if they’re pumping gas I talk to them about the new hybrids we have on the lot. You hate paying all that money for gas, right? Well let me remind you that there is an alternative out there while it’s top of mind.

Don’t have the ability to track conversions? I would say you have some ability to track some type of conversion. That conversion would come in the form of clicking a link. Even better, what if you were running this as part of your email campaign*. If you have a person’s email address and you send to them on a regular basis then you can track behavior and more importantly, changes in behavior. That’s a type of conversion. We can geo-target to a limited degree in an email so why not hit up that same user near gas stations or your lots with your hybrid messaging in the email instead of the default message? Then track all the users that have received one of those high impact and relevant messages and see if that group has higher conversion rates over the next few messaging cycles (weeks, months, etc).

Sincerely,

Ryan “That’s easy for me to say” Tuttle

One last note, on this innovative campaign: They were using Millennial Media’s demo-targeting (targeting mothers) to pinpoint users in addition to the geo-targeting. What if they had used the person’s email address and their loyalty program (MCR)? Think about the CRM data and impact they could have had. Think about how much more they would have known about the person in order to influence their behavior. What if I opened my loyalty program email and the email server knew I was on a mobile device AND that I happened to be near a mall? Now the message can read “Go to Auntie Anne’s now, buy a Coke, and we’ll double your reward points for purchases in the next hour.”

Think about it.

*You knew I would go there, right?

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Small Companies Get A Big Boost with Google’s New App

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Kudos to Google for rolling out the new Google Maps Coordinate. This application could give small businesses off-the-shelf technology to compete with larger, more sophisticated competitors. The app works in conjunction with Google Maps to locate representatives in the field in real time. Dispatchers or home office personnel can track an employee’s location and be able to provide the customer with an exact time that their representative will arrive at the location. This technology was implemented long ago in logistic behemoths such as UPS, CSX and the like but for the first time a small to medium-sized business can access the technology without having to reinvent the wheel – pardon the pun.

It’s feasible that this technology could also allow customers to track the company’s representative directly in much the same way we track a UPS package out for delivery. For a customer whose stuck waiting around the house for the furniture delivery, the pizza guy or the repair technician, this service could save hours of frustration and enhance the entire customer experience.
This app could also save companies some serious money in other ways as well. Here in Atlanta, we know a thing or two about traffic delays – and those delays cost time and money and I really haven’t seen a traffic delay “enhance customer service.” But with this app, representatives in the field can instantly know that a traffic delay will prevent them from meeting their time commitment and perhaps another representative who might be closer to the location might be a better resource.

But beyond the customer experience, I’m most excited about the implications for the family experience.  We’ve got three kids moving in four directions and I rely on a very strong network of friends and family to keep us all going in the right direction.  I’d love to be able to locate a friend or family member through a simple app and be able to know that they are on their way to a pre-arranged pick up or drop off.  In an ideal world, I could locate my husband on his way home and ask him to pick up our favorite take-out as he approaches the restaurant.

I also really like the “invisible” feature on this app. I’m a stickler for privacy concerns and this app allows employees to turn the tracking off after their shift is completed or during a lunch break. Another round of Kudos to Google for getting out front on privacy rather than the usual afterthought.

Some small firms may balk at the $15 per user per month that Google is charging, but for organizations that strive to exceed customer expectations while eliminating wasted time and money, Google’s price may be a bargain.  And for a busy mom with family members on the go – that’s money well spent.
There’s just one catch for this dedicated iPhone User – it’s only available on the  Android platform.

Watch your back, Apple – Google’s tracking you.

 

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Culture, Language and Relevancy

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Please excuse the chain thought, but it’s how my brain works…

I’ve seen a few articles and blog posts this past week on Intel’s “StudyBook tablet PC for emerging markets“. It’s the next step in getting technology in the hands of under developed regions, a follow up to their Classmate PC that’s been around since 2007 and has found it’s way to millions of classrooms. This and other programs like One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) reminds me of a question I received a few years ago that really caught me off guard.

Image from: amazingpics4you.blogspot.com

I was at a conference giving a keynote presentation on mobile marketing, but this was almost two years ago so it wasn’t as played out. Besides, two years is like forever ago in mobile marketing right? Anyway, I don’t remember the exact wording of the question – just my answer. The question was something like, “With the push to get inexpensive devices such as netbooks into emerging markets how will this effect mobile marketing efforts?” The guy asking the question also used, “introducing low cost netbooks into India” as an example. The question was out of place with all the other questions I was getting like, “Wait, explain iAds again?”, “Why did you show a video of someone driving a car with an iPad?” or “What was your name again?” My super clever response was just as out of place. I didn’t know how to respond so took the math high road and said something like “caveat, caveat.. blah.. blah.. well, if you introduce a billion* new devices into any market it’s going to change the dynamics.”

What?

I’m still not sure what the person was asking, mainly because I don’t remember the question, but I could have gone in several directions with my answer. What I should have done is thought about how introducing more users from a different culture would impact marketing efforts.
[Past Ryan] Oh, man. My bad.

We do a lot of email marketing here at BrightWave and one of the first rules in email marketing is to stay relevant. So, in introducing new cultures (or existing cultures in greater quantities) into our user mix we need to consider how to maintain relevancy. This is nothing new, there are many agencies out there that specialize in marketing to various cultures and even a few agencies that claim to be multicultural marketers. Just Google anything on Hispanic marketing trends in the U.S. and you’ll find that this group is increasing, spending a ton more, and there are several agencies that will “help” you figure out how to market to this group.

I’ll tell you one way to market to this group, or any other… make sure your messaging is just as relevant to them as to the rest of your customers/subscribers/followers. Relevancy will come in many forms. In the case of completely different cultures and languages by empowering emerging markets with StudyBooks and Classmate PC, relevancy will be a very unique value proposition for those users. In the case of the growing Hispanic market within the U.S. relevancy may be more subtle. In this case it may just be a shift in the language used (e.g., Spanish instead of English) and less in the value proposition (e.g., All U.S. kids want to run faster in new Nike shoes).

We as marketers need to start thinking of what we will do to increase relevancy to the new cultures that will start subscribing to our lists. For me, I think I [and by "I" I mean the team at BrightWave] am going to develop a way to send email that auto-detects the default language on your device and delivers** the appropriate content (language). I don’t know if it can be done, but if it can we’ll figure it out.

What are you going to do?

*You know, because obviously everyone in India was going to get a netbook
** I really do think it can be done. We can deliver content in real-time by auto-detecting your device, so why not do the same with your default language?

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Zeega – The Next Big Thing From SXSW 2012

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SXSW is one of the largest, if not the largest, interactive and digital-focused conferences in the world. Tens of thousands of people flock to Austin, Texas each March to learn the latest developments in the industry, network with people from all over the world, and, well, get a ton of free swag.

SXSW 2012

Though networking, business development opportunities, and ample souvenirs are plentiful at this conference, the greatest appeal of this SXSW in the past few years is the chance to be a part of “the next big thing” in its infancy. Think Foursquare. Twitter. Groupme. These are all start-ups that can attribute their rise in success to their appearances at this conference all within the last five years*. Had it not been for SXSW, who knows if these companies would be doing nearly as well as they are now.

Like each year, 2012 has quite a few contenders for the “next big thing” designation. There are several new apps, platforms, and gadgets that show promise, but I’ve found the one that I’ll be pulling for in the next couple years to come. It goes by the name of Zeega.

I attended a talk regarding the moves those in public media are making to a more transmedia approach. The panelists, hailing from the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) introduced us to an open-source platform storytelling platform. Here’s how the team at Zeega describes it:

“Zeega is an open-source HTML5 platform for creating interactive documentaries and inventing new forms of storytelling.”

It sounds simple, and in terms of approachability from users, it is. This platform is strong in ease of use. The layout of the sight is reminiscent of Photoshop without the hassle of having to learn how to use new software. The simplicity, however, doesn’t mean that this application is lacking in terms of quality of content that may be created from this. Drag and drops of animated GIFs, include a picture of your choice and choose your filters. No matter what you throw in there, Zeega gives you the chance to create something beautiful that can be shared across multiple platforms.

Zeega is currently in early alpha testing stages, but you can sign up for updates on when it will be available for public use.

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Siri Makes Beautiful Music (With a Little Help)

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As a fan of the Flaming Lips, I try keep up with all the innovative/odd things they release.  The Flaming Lips have a long history of experimenting with their sound, beginning with their album Zaireeka (published as 4 CDs meant to be played simultaneously), and again most recently with their track, “Now I Understand.” The track is available for one week only on SoundCloud and features Apple’s Siri, Erykah Badu, and Biz Markie.

The Flaming Lips – Now I Understand

Siri, Apple’s iPhone 4S virtual assistant, provides the intro and outro for the song, while Erykah Badu provides the main vocal track.  The Flaming Lips themselves provide the instrumental track.  Wayne Coyne, lead singer of the Flaming Lips, notes that it includes “Biz Markie backwards,” but I haven’t been able to find it.

Siri is the key innovation in Apple’s latest iPhone, the iPhone 4S, and is in itself a rather impressive piece of technology.  Siri accepts the iPhone users voice input, allowing them to schedule meetings, send messages, place calls, and even integrates with WolframAlpha to answer almost any question you can ask.

Siri isn’t quite perfect, however, as it requires an active network connection to function.  Each command is processed then sent across the network to be processed by Apple servers.  Many users have reported problems in areas where there connection to the Apple server is hindered by slow data service.

Despite Siri’s flaws, it remains an impressive piece of technology, allowing most iPhone users to control nearly any function of their phone using simple, conversational English. People are finding new ways to use Siri every day and “Now I Understand” is a fun example of this new technology being used in an exciting and creative way. I can’t wait to see what this progressive-thinking band will do next.

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