I had another meeting today where I was trying to explain to a client how important it is to have all of his customers' email addresses. About half way through the conversation he asked, "why does everyone want my email address anyway?" That is a great question, and there are many great answers including the low cost of email versus traditional mail, the ability for the recipient to forward your message to a friend, and everybody's favorite - to drive traffic to their website, but I think the best answer is metrics. Email communications are completely trackable. It is as close to big brother as we can get. When someone sends you an email that you open, they know it. If you click on something, they see that too. They also see how many pages you visited, how long you were on their site, what pages you looked at, if you buy something, and my favorite, your exit page. An exit page is the last page of your website that the visitor was on before leaving your site. (P.S. - improving this page can improve conversions, results, sales, or whatever it is you are tracking.)

I now receive emails from Snickers and Pepsi (what does that say about me?). I also receive email from Industry Week, Thompson Cigar, BtoB magazine, Ad Age, Dell Horoscope, Tri-state Tech Wire, JustSell.com, TheStreet.com, SamAsh.com, ticketmaster.com, FYE.com and literally hundreds of others. Does it work? Is it worth it? I think so. If I am not interested today, I can easily delete it, but many days I take a look, and some days I actually take action. Not often, but once in a while I actually do. So do thousands of other people on their list, and that action can really add up for the company sending the email.

Back to metrics and big brother - we were sending all of the emails for a sporting goods company, and we really raised the bar on their metrics and understanding their customers' habits, likes and hobbies. We would send a monthly newsletter that featured a wide array of sporting good promotions. It was a potpourri of sports including golf, fishing, tennis, running and others. We would then send follow-up emails to everyone who clicked on a specific sport, but the follow up emails were customized to the client based on the click and purchase habits. (Oh yeah, we had it tied into their loyalty and rewards program too.) Like football? We know, that is why we send you football related emails. Like tennis? We know.

Now of course you don't have to be this tactful with your email list, but you should at least be testing a message or headline before spending big bucks to run an ad. Your customers' email addresses really come in handy here. What we do is craft two messages and send it to a good sample of your customers, and then simply track the response to help decide which creative is more effective. Sound simple? It actually is. Call me, I'll be happy to tell you more.

Joe Bottone
VP Business Development
The Worx Group
203-758-3311
jbottone@theworxgroup.com

Happy e-marketing!

I worked a long time ago in radio. To put it in perspective, when I edited, I used a razor blade and tape... rather analog compared to the digital editing and recording equipment they have today for audio. Every audio engineer is concerned about the quality of the audio. One of the ways this is measured is SNR or Signal-to-Noise Ratio. Modern microphone technology makes it pretty easy to get a good signal and limit noise these days. SNR is probably a concept that will go the way of the buggy whip as technology gets better.

But as I was looking at a particularly busy marketing-based website, it occurred to me that the idea of Signal-to-Noise Ratio applied well to marketing. While the site I was viewing was pleasant to look at, I got so caught up in the “noise” of the bells and whistles, that the whole message of their products and services was lost. The noise had overtaken the signal in their marketing message. So, despite the fact that I was impressed with the folks who built the website, the message was lost.

It’s easy to get caught up in the fun of designing. I’ve seen clients and marketers alike, who add features for the sake of adding features. When the piece is near complete, though, it may be a good idea to step back, put on the headphones and listen for the noise. Then be sure your message is getting through.

Dutch@TheWorxGroup.com

I enjoy watching The Office on NBC. It’s a half-hour comedy that is written and shot as if it were a real documentary in the making. Very funny. I never really watch it during its Thursday night time slot, though. I’m a TiVo addict, like most DVR users have become, so I watch it at my leisure sometime after it airs.

As any TiVo/DVR user will tell you, we don’t watch commercials any more, except maybe during live televised sports, and sometimes not even then. This is bad news for the advertisers and bad news for those of us who make our living as marketers. One way advertisers have fought back is through product placement. The CSI franchise on CBS is obviously sponsored by GM. The Hummer H2 is almost a featured character on CSI: Miami, even to the point that viewers have been directed to the website to see extended scenes featuring a Hummer. Now the Yukon (with special crime fighting accessories) is making regular appearances on the fictional crime scenes of Las Vegas. Product placement is nothing new in this front as marketers battle against the DVR remote and ever less patient viewers.

The newest front in the battle against commercial skipping brings us back to The Office. Using the cast as their spokespersons, The Office made some fake PSA’s (public service announcements) using the graphics, backgrounds and music traditionally associated with NBC’s real PSA’s (The More You Know campaign). Except for their content, these PSA’s were the real deal. The content, of course, was as silly as one would expect from The Office. They passed these off as an April Fool’s gag (and they are funny), but the really brilliant part was that the PSA’s were embedded in the middle of the commercial break. If you’re a fan of the show and have a DVR, then you stopped fast forwarding to watch the fake PSA’s… and laugh. You also probably caught a commercial or two on either side of the PSA. Brilliant. Was this an intended consequence or a happy accident? Only a few at NBC know for sure.

Who knows where this will lead? Maybe the program stars will become the pitchmen (and women) of the future. Maybe we’ll return to the sponsored programming that kicked off the TV era. Maybe we can’t yet conceive of the next front on which we’ll fight for the attention of viewers.

French-born philosopher Jacques Ellul wrote "Modern technology has become a total phenomenon for civilization, the defining force of a new social order in which efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity imposed on all human activity." There are many reasons one might disagree with Ellul on many points he makes, but it’s pretty hard to argue with the idea that “efficiency is…a necessity imposed on all human activity.” So TV viewers are made more efficient by DVR, and marketers have to come up with more efficient (and creative) ways of getting the attention of viewers. And so the battle will always go on. New innovations create the need for yet more new innovations. But we sure are going to have some fun as both marketers and viewers as it happens.

Dutch@TheWorxGroup.com

Probably every net-savvy graphical designer out there would love to have the job held by Dennis Hwang... at least for a few weeks. He does all the fun variations on the Google logo that appear on the Google website for holidays and special occasions. I'm sure you've seen them for Christmas or the Olympics.

Did you know that there is an online museum of Google logos? Browsing these is like eating Lay's potato chips - you can't look at just one. I dare ya.

How great is it that no matter how many times they change the logo you still get it. Sure it's always in context - that helps. But every rendition reinforces their brand completely. If anyone ever has a question about the power of a strong brand, this is the answer. I can't wait to see what's next.

My current favorite? I'm so into curling in Torino, despite the recent USA men's team elimination, so I like the curling tribute logo. Nice how the red and yellow stones fit right into the logo where the red and yellow O's usually are, huh?

What's your favorite?


Dutch@TheWorxGroup.com

With the rattle and hum of this year's Grammys now subsided, sufficed to say that U2 is with little argument one of the seminal bands in music history. Five more Grammys for the four lads from Dublin - giving them a grand total of 21 - places them sixth on the all-time award winners list. But is it the music that makes them such a tour de force, or is it a marketing decision made almost thirty years ago?

U2's image and marketing strategy has always been as much a part of the package as Edge's guitar licks or Bono's distinct voice. Think of the Joshua Tree era of the late 1980s, and you can see the stark, timeless black and white images of the band in the desert in your head; or the Achtung Baby era of the early 1990s, with its sensory overload and multimedia onslaught; or the current era of red and black, highly-graphical simplicity. Every image, every delivery of their "brand," is carefully and intentionally crafted.

But what may have been one of the most pivotal marketing moves in music history - and certainly for the band - came from their long-time graphic design collaborator Steve Averill, way back in 1978. Averill has designed the albums and tour artwork for every album of the band's 28-year career (talk about a long-term client). The story goes something like this: in the late 1970s, the band was playing under the name The Hype, and bassist Adam Clayton felt like they needed to change their name. For a battle-of-the-bands contest, they hastily decided on U2 with Averill's guidance. The name harkened images of the spy plane of the same name, but in broader (marketing) terms, meant "you too": the idea of inclusion and involvement with the audience. In addition, the graphical simplicity and strength of the two symbols - a capital "U" and "2" - allowed the band's name to project prominently on posters and in publications. For a baby band competing with a million other hopefuls, it gave them an initial marketing edge. From there, all they did was make defining music for generations and sell millions upon millions of albums.

How does this apply to the "real world"? For starters, it shows how careful marketing consideration and brand development from day one - and a commitment to evolving your brand while remaining true to its core competencies - can lead you to unchartered terrritory. Or just get you out of your middle-class existence in the heart of Ireland. To this day, U2 is still about "you too," and they're a brand that has extended globally, gaining more equity with each hit single.

Grant@TheWorxGroup.com

I used to joke that TiVo was the closest thing to a time machine ever invented… and it is pretty close. But yesterday I got an email that made me rethink that. It was an email from me that took a year to get here. It was sent via FutureMe.org.

It sounds pretty banal; getting an email. And it is, but this is something I had written in my own “style” exactly one year earlier. It was like the little voice in my head had a 12-month echo. And while it is technically very simple to store some text for a year and email it at the end of that time, the email itself was very powerful.

My message to myself is not important and I’ll spare the reader the details, but what was impactful was that the message was filled with 12-month goals. Some I had completed and some I hadn’t. One personal goal I had literally accomplished the day prior to receiving the email! How did I know it would take one year? Creepy, but powerful.

Anyway, until Hanz Gubenstein invents time travel,* FutureMe.org is a great way to help keep yourself honest when it comes to your marketing (or personal) goals. I highly recommend a little time travel in the name of personal and/or professional growth.

Dutch@TheWorxGroup.com

*Does Anybody Here Remember When Hanz Gubenstein Invented Time Travel? is a hilarious movie script that got to the finals of the third season of Project Greenlight. Emails are actually sent back in time (rather than forward) and become the vehicle for many comical situations. The script was written by Rick Carr, a personal friend and fraternity brother whose movie I hope to see in theaters soon.

In their January 9, 2006 issue, MediaWeek published an article titled Blog Fog in which they make the case that the revenue models for blogging and advertising on blogs are not yet developed. In the meantime, they recommend that corporations should create their own blog(s) to get in touch with their customers and that they should watch the blogosphere so that they can stay in touch with the buzz about them.

I don't disagree with any of their assessments or advice. But I want to put you on my meandering train of thought about their title that got me thinking a bit more about the future of blogs. What does fog imply? Poor visibility to be sure. A mirky future, probably. Shapelessness. I guess you could say the future is "nebulous." Root word 'nebula' (maybe not, but this is my train of thought, for better or worse). Is a nebula a better descriptor for the current state of blogs and their power? I'd like to think that it is.

Rather than an uncertain fog that sets the stage for some horrible fate (like dry ice in a B horror movie), a nebula is a loose cloud of gases and particles that, while shapeless, will someday hold star power. What will that look like? Who knows. But it sure seems more hopeful for those of us who read and write blogs!


Dutch@TheWorxGroup.com