At Zephyr 47 we are incredibly excited that one of our clients has been named a finalist for a 2011 Eloqua Markie Award in the Event Nirvana category! We have worked with Isilon throughout 2011 to support their extensive field marketing efforts in North America.
Congratulations to Isilon! We are very happy that you are receiving this recognition!
For more information on the Eloqua Markie finalists in this category, you can visit here.
(Intro-Note: Zephyr 47 is proud and honored to post this guest blog from Joe Chernov who is Eloqua’s Director of Content. Joe is pioneering new methods to develop and deliver content in ways that connect businesses with customers. An example of his efforts is the brilliant Eloqua Content Grid infographic he developed with JESS3. We look forward to your comments and feedback on this post! -BH)
Evolve or Die: 5 Ways Communications Pros Must Adapt
By Joe Chernov, Director of Content, Eloqua
Joe Chernov - Eloqua's Director of Content
The publishing industry is like a keystone species: It has a disproportionate impact on its ecosystem. As magazines and newspapers find themselves on the endangered list, the survival of surrounding industries – most notably corporate communications – relies on their ability to adapt. Without newspapers and magazines through which to tell their employers’ stories, PR professionals have migrated to the social Web (thus the staggering numbers of self-described social media experts). But to focus solely on social media is to miss the larger impact that publishing’s decline is having on the marketing ecosystem. Following are five ways the communications industry must adapt if it’s to survive.
1. Aesthetics. Ironically, the demise of print publishing has given rise to more channels than ever before. In fact, every marketer has the potential become his own distribution outlet. This surge in channels has, predictably, created a white noise effect: the more people are talking, the less they are listening. Rather than “talking” louder (e.g., issuing more press releases), communications professionals should learn a new language: design. The way content looks correlates positively to its perceived value, which in turn, causes spread. PR pros should refashion themselves as “’aestheticizers’ of content” if they are going to be heard in the crowded auditorium.
2. Celebrity. Traditional advertising has corroded trust. Ads have lied to consumers for too long. The next era of communications gives companies a fresh opportunity to repair this relationship. But businesses can only do so by becoming more “human” themselves, and the most direct path is to catapult select staffers to celebrity status. Ford Motors has a market cap of nearly $40 billion, yet hundreds of thousands of people trust the company just a little more because of one guy: Scott Monty. The idea that an everyday employee could have a tangible impact on the trustworthiness of a brand was inconceivable just a couple years ago. Ford understands that people trust people much more than they trust logos.
3. Question. Traditionally, the role of the PR person was to answer questions, sometimes sensitive questions that were not in the best interest of senior executives to answer (thereby earning the nickname “flack”). But the next generation communicator must also be proficient at asking questions. Posing public questions to customers, influencers and even competitors is a trigger to get other people talking about the brand. It’s fire-starting in its most basic form.
4. Links. The “clip book” – a binder containing all of the articles secured on the PR person’s watch – has become so obsolete that the words alone look anachronistic. But that doesn’t mean communications leaders shouldn’t keep score. There is simply a new point system: links. One of the new and varied responsibilities of the PR pro is to create and inspire others to create inbound links, anchored off of a company’s most vital terms, throughout the Web. Think of it as the clip book 2.0.
5. Support. Customer support and corporate communications once represented opposite points on a string: the former consisted of a specific message delivered to an individual, whereas the latter employed a broad message broadcast to many. Social media has bent that string, bringing those points together. Because support now takes place in public, it has become its own form of marketing. Marketers need to align with support staff, because they are the same team. PR agencies should develop a service that caters specifically to their clients’ support departments.
Evolve or die. It’s not only the law of nature, but also the law of business. My question to marketing and communications professionals is this: As print publishing nears extinction, how are you planning to adapt?
Z47 Editor’s Note: Joe can be followed on Twitter @jchernov
Are your emails bouncing like balls?
Email marketing is still a relatively young practice that many small businesses manage manually. There are a number of risks and problems that arise if the proper tools and technologies aren’t used to increase email marketing effectiveness.
One of the more common problems is undeliverable email. Two types of undeliverable email are soft bounces and hard bounces. In the realm of email marketing, these terms are grouped under “Bounce Rates”.
Simply using a desktop email client like Microsoft Office Outlook or email services like Google’s Gmail, Microsoft Hotmail and others greatly increase the problems of email bounce rates. Risks from poor email management are lost revenue opportunities and a damaged reputation! Here are some suggestions to help small businesses (and even larger enterprises) manage the valuable email list and reduce bounce rates.
1. Find the right tools or technologies designed to help with email marketing. (A service perfect for small businesses is Constant Contact. A fantastic service for larger enterprises is Eloqua. )
2. Send confirmation emails to contacts who subscribe or opt-in to your emails. This will help confirm the contact really wants your email and that you have the right address.
3. Send regular and relevant emails to your contacts. BUT, don’t OVER-EMAIL! Sending regularly scheduled email using a recognized service provider like Constant Contact helps prevent soft bounces and keep the list up to date.
4. Use common sense with subject lines. We all get spam with terrible grammar, symbols, ALL-CAPS and ridiculous promotions. Spam filters and junk email folders will commonly block, delay, filter and even delete emails with spam-like subject lines. Put yourself in your contact’s place. Would YOU open the email?
5. Provide a method for your contacts to opt out or unsubscribe from your email. Always remember your contacts have given you permission to email them. Don’t abuse that honor. This is a best practice and quite often a legal requirement that follows anti-spam laws and regulations.
6. Provide a “Sent-By” email address that is relevant to your message and business brand. Again, would you open an email from an unknown person?
Desktop email clients or free services like Yahoo! or AOL make email marketing very laborious for a small business. Find a reputable, reliable, and economical email tool or service that easily automates the process and increases effectiveness and connections with customers. Eliminate the BOUNCE!
Additional Resources
White Paper – 10 Keys to Maximize a Marketing Automation Investment
I recently wrote about the importance of Contact Cadence when developing and implementing a customer marketing campaign strategy. The benefits of contact cadence ensure a database of customers will receive the right information at the right time without being exhausted by excessive and uncoordinated communications.
Complementary to cadence is Email Contact Governance. This is the series of people and policies that determine who, how, what and when customers and prospects can be contacted using marketing automation systems. (Please note: Governance is not intended to restrict sales contact! Sales managers and reps may initially interpret this means they can’t make calls or appointments. Not so!!)
Email Contact Governance is especially critical for companies that have multiple business units that run independent campaigns. In the era of confederated business units and executives who desire to “cross-sell” and “up-sell” to other business unit customers, companies head into the dangerous territory of uncoordinated spamming and damaged customer relationships. (In some countries and U.S. states this may even be illegal email contact which is another topic in itself.) An effective Email Contact Governance Policy and Team can actually help strengthen customer relationships and support contact cadence with a campaign strategy.
Who – The Team
When – The Coordination Plan
What – The Content
Worst-Case Scenario: Mojito Manufacturer, Inc. conducts a strategically important annual customer event. The corporate communications team promotes each event up to a year in advance beginning at the current event. Communication frequency via email increases as the date approaches. Business units also run their own event communications independent of corporate often duplicating or triplicating the emails sent to customer contacts. This is where the worlds collide! Combine this activity with planned email campaigns and throw in 3rd party channel and chaos ensues! Sales managers scream at marketing managers that customers are complaining of too many emails. Believe it or not this is quite common!
Ideas to Consider:
What are your experiences, lessons learned and best practices?
Marketing automation with systems like Eloqua, Manticore Technology, Marketo, Pardot and others are like driving an amazing Ferrari, or even a powerful tractor trailer rig. They offer fanstastic capabilites to develop new and profitable customer relationships and tools to measure marketing ROI. With all of these capabilites comes great enthusiasm and one that must be tempered with discipline and planning.
Cadence: “A recurrent rhythmical series”
Most parents wouldn’t let an inexperienced teenage driver at the wheel or a beautiful Italian sports car without some solid ground rules, policies, and training. The same can be said for how organizations use marketing automation systems. Contact Cadence is critical to make sure all of the power is used effectively and customer relationships and repuations are kept strong. (We discuss complementary Contact Governance in another blog post.)
Contact cadence is very important to measure and manage marketing campaigns throughout the course of a year. Cadence starts with a strategic plan on implementing and using a marketing automation system. A core component of this overall strategy is developing and managing a campaign calendar that plans contacts over the course of a year. Who you are contacting with the right content and how often. This helps build the proper cadence and keeps your database and relationships healthy.
Cadence Benefits: A well planned annual campaign calendar with the proper target audience lead to increased conversion/response rates, better qualified opportunities with shorter sales cycles and strong credible relationships. If you execute a well planned campaign schedule with high value content in measured sequences, not only will your campaigns increase in effectiveness, you may find your database contacts actually look forward to your contact.
Risks with Poor Cadence: With random, excessive and unplanned marketing campaign contact, an organization risks dramatically lowered campaign conversion rates and damaged perception. Customer may perceive that you are simply “spamming” and not really providing high value content at the right time in their buying cycle. If you exceed cadence with customers, they will disengage. Very simple.
Ideas for Developing Proper Cadence with Marketing Automation
Contact cadence using a marketing automation system enables an organization to manage customer contacts and increase overall effectiveness and conversions.
Additional Resources
Eloqua is getting off to a good start for 2010 with this week’s announcement on their 2009 financial performance and the kickoff of their Customer Success Tour with stops in North America and parts of Europe and Asia. For those not familiar with Eloqua, they are market defining vendor in cloud-based marketing automation technology. Information on the remaining stops for their global Success Tour is located at: http://user.eloqua.com/
The content and format provided a valuable experience which included a customer case study, breakout groups, and a informative preview of Eloqua 10. I am pleased to see Eloqua is maintaining this direct customer contact and communication even in a challenging economic climate when travel budgets are tight. To me this is important because it shows they are committed to building and maintaining strong customer relationships.
Members of the Eloqua team presented a customer case study on VFM Leonardo and how Eloqua has dramatically improved VFM’s lead flow and quality, tracking, and scoring. As a marketer, I always enjoy learning how colleagues are developing customer marketing strategies and measuring the results. Case studies are always good. However, as a minor criticism I would have preferred to have a local customer to present their own story.
Eloqua 10
The highlight of the meeting for me was having an Eloqua product manager present and demonstrate Eloqua 10. I did not attend the Eloqua conference in San Francisco last fall when many of the Eloqua 10 improvements were first unveiled. (I highly recommend attending one of the Success Tour sessions for this reason alone.) Eloqua has made a number of significant improvements with ease of use with the new interface and workflow. Users will find campaigns in Eloqua 10 easier to build, manage, and measure which will help with productivity. The response to the Eloqua 10 preview from the Seattle users (myself included) was very positive. Improvements are made in a number of areas including drag and drop menus, activity driven content management improvements, web analytics and reporting. Eloqua is also introducing new capability called Flow Mode which will deliver time efficiencies with single flow programs without filters. I am also looking forward to the new Smart Exchange they plan to make available which will offer template libraries for partners and customers.
Eloqua is not forcing customers to migrate to Eloqua 10. But I believe the interface and management improvements will motivate customers to migrate to Eloqua 10 sooner rather later. For Eloqua partners, data migration services will provide new service opportunities when working with existing customers.
Note: You can follow feedback on the tour on Twitter with the hashtag group #EloquaTour.
Let me know your feedback on other stops in the Eloqua Tour and your thoughts on Eloqua 10.
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“Here at Isilon, we have a growing dependence upon and sophistication with our marketing automation solution and its integration with CRM to support global marketing campaigns. Zephyr47 has provided us with high quality, timely and affordable program support, enabling us to expand both the type and number of digital marketing programs launched concurrently.”
~ Michael Korch, Sr. Marketing Operations Manager, Isilon Systems a division of EMC
“Zephyr 47 is a great resource to augment our in-house marketing staff. They have developed concise messaging, targeted outreach programs and professional marketing material. I would highly recommend Zephyr 47 based on their commitment to produce deliverables on time and budget and the quality of their work.”
~ John A. Novell, SVP, Safeharbor Knowledge Solutions
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