Stop Obsessing and Start Marketing Your Values

Dela Quist, Founder and CEO of Alchemy Work

Dela Quist wants brands to re-evaluate how many emails they’re sending customers, but his message is probably not what you’d expect.

The founder and CEO of Alchemy Worx, a London-based digital marketing agency, says companies should accept the fact that most emails they send won’t get opened — but then send them anyway.

That’s right. Quist pushes brands to embrace two truths when considering their email programs. First, email has a dirt-cheap per-unit cost. Secondly, the “nudge effect” — the power of subliminal suggestion to encourage a particular action — has a huge presence in email marketing. When combined, the only logical conclusion is for brands to champion email’s role as it relates to building brand traction.

“Unopened email in an inbox can influence a consumer’s behavior by simply creating awareness or acting as a reminder,” Quist says, explaining how the nudge effect works in e-commerce.

Alchemy Worx first started investigating the nudge effect’s influence on email several years ago after noticing an uptick in purchases even from subscribers who had left messages unopened. After several months, researchers concluded that email’s presence alone can positively affect a brand and the interaction a consumer has with it. In simple terms, an email from a company sitting in an inbox can serve as a reminder of that company and motivate a consumer to buy something.

Quist says this all has to do with the way people review email as it comes in. Dubbing it “email triage,” he sums up the process of how busy consumers review email like this: They decide what to read immediately, what to keep for later and what to delete.

“Even if you delete it, you have to use your highest cognitive functions to make the decision to do so, to ensure it’s something you don’t, in fact, need to keep. And that creates a brand impression in the mind,” he says.

But companies are not exploiting this notion to its fullest, Quist says, encouraging them to “stop obsessing” over the percentage of their emails that get opened and recognize that each email offers an opportunity to extend the brand.

“If a brand is sending out a weekly email, there are 52 chances to get the message across,” he says by way of example. “Most companies have values they want to communicate. Their email strategies should harken back to those values. The brands who exploit [the nudge effect] least are those who don’t think of a subject line as part of a 52-piece story.”

Brand strategy as it relates to the nudge effect within email is hard work, he says, and email campaigns that use the nudge effect to its fullest have a few things in common: They’re going to the strongest email lists possible with the most interested customers; they make smart, savvy use of subject lines; and they’re frequent.

To build the best lists, Quist encourages organic growth, meaning that addresses come from people who have interacted with the brand. From the brick and mortar to the URL and even the call center after a positive experience, these touch points should result in an email address.

“If someone’s your customer, you should have their email. If someone is your customer and isn’t on your email list, you need to incent them to be on your list,” he says. “Then put together a great program and make them want to get as many as possible.”

Part of a great program comes from smart use of subject lines, which Quist recommends be slightly longer and include a piece that’s the hook and a piece that’s actually addressed inside the email itself. Likewise, every campaign and every subject line shouldn’t be about pricing.

Finally, frequency is key. With negligible perunit cost, email is the most economical form of advertising. Provided companies are being smart — applying best practices for maintaining lists and not ignoring good marketing sense along the way — regular emails can build the brand, he says.

“I often ask the question, ‘What would you do if TV airtime were free?’ Likely, spend more time on creative and make the offers better. Then do that in email,” Quist says. “In the end, what I’d like to say is that we need to drop the ‘email’ from ‘email marketing’ and just think of it as marketing, because that’s what it is.”

Smart Content Is the Way to Your Customers’ Hearts

Joe Pulizzi, Founder of Content Marketing Institute and Content Marketing World

There’s no doubt in Joe Pulizzi’s mind that strong content is the key to improving relationships in today’s digital business world. But Pulizzi, who founded the Cleveland, Ohio-based Content Marketing Institute and has written two books on the subject, pushes companies to consider that the best content doesn’t start with the brand; it starts with the consumer.

“We’re talking about ourselves too much,” he says.

To Pulizzi, robust and relevant content is key to pulling in the loyal relationships businesses are seeking. Once in place, those same relationships can give rise to even better messaging that will bolster even stronger relationships.

But first, companies have to stop talking over their consumers with information that just isn’t relevant.

“Most companies get it but then again, they don’t really get it,” says Pulizzi, about the inherent disconnect. “Most consumers don’t really care about products or services. They care about what keeps them up at night: how their lives are affected, how their jobs and careers are affected.”

These “pain points,” as he refers to customers’ interests and concerns, are what brands need to be addressing to first connect and then establish themselves as the expert with the solutions consumers are looking for. The intersection of those two aspects is where companies will find their strongest messaging, which will give them the leverage to build long-term relationships.

“That is the secret sauce,” Pulizzi says, adding that brands with the strongest reputations and most loyal customer bases have correctly identified their “secret sauce” and created messaging that reasserts it at every point for every channel in use.

Done correctly, content marketing builds strength among the business-to-consumer relationship all along the value chain, giving rise to better relationships, which in turn offer up feedback to provide more relevant future content, and so on.

To help companies with the process, Pulizzi has a few pointers. To get moving in the right direction, he suggests companies ask themselves this tough question: “If all the content we’ve created was removed from the face of the earth, would anyone notice?”

“If the answer is no, you have a major issue,” Pulizzi says, recommending that companies then take several pieces of existing content — brochures, emails, e-books, Web copy, social media interaction — and have their marketing team interact with it.

“What we usually discover is how great we are, but there’s nothing about what’s keeping our consumers up at night,” he says.

To improve messaging that might be on the cusp, Pulizzi says companies should embrace the storytellers both within their ranks and outside the company. These internal experts and external brand evangelists, who have real cache among consumers because they’re viewed as less formal and more accessible, can be highlighted across many channels, from social media to Web profiles and even blogs. (A strong editorial process with “at least three levels of proofing” is, of course, critical to the mission of good content, Pulizzi is quick to point out.)

These raw materials for improved messaging begin to build the foundation for resonant content marketing. But finally, Pulizzi says, brands must commit to communicating within their organizations so that the multiple channels they’re dealing with — email, social media, website copy, blogs, forums, etc. — are not all operating independently.

The so-called “silos,” where social media direction resides separately (or only partially connected to) public relations, which doesn’t communicate with marketing, which doesn’t communicate with business development, etc., end up hurting relationships with consumers because messaging comes across as fragmented and inconsistent, says Pulizzi, adding that brands should consider appointing a liaison or coordinator to help streamline this while the old silo model is slowly dismantled.

Brands that prioritize their consumers’ needs and align those with their own core values will earn their audience because of the clear, vibrant content that will emerge, Pulizzi says. All of it will enhance the brand’s strength and marketing endeavors across the board.

“The truth is content marketing can make traditional marketing programs even better,” he says.

Stop Talking At Your Customers and Start Conversing With Them

Scott Stratten, President of Unmarketing and Author of Book by the Same Title

If he could communicate one message to companies about the way they handle their brands online, Scott Stratten would say, “be authentic.”

Much like Pulizzi, Stratten often cringes at the general communication approaches companies are taking with their customers. Stratten, who is the president of UnMarketing, a Toronto-area company he founded to undo the poor marketing he’d experienced first-hand after years in the industry, literally wrote the book on upending conventional marketing practices in the age of digital engagement. His book, UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging, urges brands to reconsider their voice in a world where their consumers now share the stage.

“We live in a fascinating time with so many tools to engage with people, but we’re using them so poorly,” he says. “It’s like we’ve been given a telephone for the first time, but all we’re doing is robo-calling.”

Stratten sees this inauthentic interaction as the primary problem in today’s marketing world and the reason many companies — some with strong customer bases — are losing ground across the board, but especially within the social universe.

“Social media is not a new way to send bad advertising,” he says. “If I gave you a room with a thousand current customers and asked what you’d like to do with them, the answer would not be to send them a thousand brochures; it would be to mingle and schmooze and interact.”

This stale attitude is not new or contained to the social universe, of course. Stratten sees it as a holdover from old-guard marketing approaches that tried to control and silo responses in an effort to manage results. The problem is that in a world that’s as connected as the modern one is — with consumers sharing the forum, making their choices independent of sales reps, then discussing their experience — this model falls flat.

One example are emails sent from “Do Not Reply” accounts that close with what Stratten wryly refers to as “the extra hug” of a reminder that “no one is manning this account.”

“That says, ‘You will listen to us, but we’re not equipped to listen to you,’” he admonishes.

Since Stratten’s emboldened spirit is representative of the average modern consumer, he presses companies to take heed and start connecting via social channels, but urges they do so with a plan, embrace the elements of conversation, and then remain involved in that conversation.

“The only thing worse than not being involved is jumping in without a plan,” he says, explaining that companies should determine what they want to get out of the social experience, then create companywide guidelines for how employees should and should NOT use the various channels.

Once benchmarks and guidelines are in place, the conversation can begin, but brands must remember that a conversation is not a campaign. This is not the place to spew company mantra or post press releases. Likewise, the tone of voice and the approach must fit the social setting, he says, cautioning that an overly stiff voice will do little for authentic engagement, but inappropriate conversations will do nothing good for a brand, either.

“Make me think I’m talking to someone, not some thing. I like talking to faces, not logos,” Stratten says.

Remember, too, that conversations are ongoing. Stratten reminds brands that dialogue isn’t 9-to- 5, and a social presence can’t be contained to Monday through Friday. It’s ongoing, and there needs to be appropriate staff to manage it.

“Don’t let your account go stale,” he says. “Checking in once a week or month isn’t social. If you can mail the response and it would’ve gotten there as fast, you’re doing it wrong.”

But the No. 1 killer of authenticity, says Stratten, is generic message automation. “If you don’t have time to write a real-time tweet or post a relevant comment on your Facebook presence, you’re doing it wrong,” he says.

As for when companies should post, Stratten is just as adamant: “Whenever you have something awesome to say.”

Embrace the Technical to Enhance the Personal

Dave Cados, President and Founder of Xcel Agency, Inc

When used appropriately, automation can enhance relationships by helping deliver more relevant and timely content, says Dave Cados. In fact, the president and founder of the San Francisco-based Xcel Agency, Inc., says to build the strongest, most authentic relationships with their consumers, brands should embrace a few tricks the digital age has up its geeky sleeve.

Like Stratten, Cados emphasizes authenticity and says the goal for companies as they seek to cultivate better lists should be “a one-to-one relationship.”

“We like to encourage our clients to look at it as building a lifetime relationship,” he says.

Tools that automate and collect data, then segment that data for precise targeting, can elevate a brand’s identity by improving the relationship it has with clients. That’s because intuitive data allows for specific messaging, which helps create a dynamic that is more twoway and built on customers’ terms.

To help turn that into a reality, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms help companies collect consumer behavior and interests, then set up automated programs to trigger relevant messaging based on that information. The resulting targeted campaigns relate to consumers on their level, effectively putting them in the driver’s seat of when and how companies interact with them.

As Cados puts it, “data is the power player” when it comes to building strong digital relationships. With robust data collection, everything from email to social media campaigns becomes more relevant.

“Expanding the amount of data you collect will drive deeper, more relevant segmentation based on an individual’s behavior and interest, not your assumptions about those things,” says Cados, itemizing things like referral source, website activity, content downloads, media views and social interactions as types of information that can be captured with today’s tools.

Similarly, brands should be using preference centers, where consumers are given the option to choose their method of communication, how often they’re communicated with, and what they want to receive. In addition to providing options to receive all communications, just newsletters or product updates only, Cados recommends companies also include “snooze” or opt-out buttons here as well.

“The whole idea is to make as much as possible as easy as possible for them,” he says. “If you think about it, it’s just another piece of building that one-to-one relationship.”

Something that does not edify that relationship is a brick wall that blocks communication. Cados is also not a fan of the “Do Not Reply” email address because it cuts off a valuable source of data collection, which in this case wouldn’t be automated and would come directly from consumers.

“Have a reply-to address and read the responses. You can pull great insights from that,” he says.

And if, in the end, what your customer wants to tell you is that it’s time to break up, well, that’s important information too that must be managed with finesse, he says.

For many companies, the “unsubscribe” button is the last one they want consumers to find, but Cados cautions that hiding it can cause an even bigger heartache: a SPAM report, which hurts sender recognition and ultimately weakens a brand.

“If the customer wants to end the relationship, don’t make it difficult. Making the breakup as easy as possible will increase the chances of future re-engagement,” he says, adding that offering fatigued customers a snooze feature – the digital equivalent of “we’re taking a break” – is a good option to provide.

If unsubscribing is the choice, however, making it visible and easy to navigate is critical, Cados says.

After all, breaking up is one part of a relationship, which is how companies should view the connections they have between themselves and their consumers. The way it’s handled is one more piece in the ever-important puzzle that ultimately builds a brand’s digital picture in the mind of those consumers.

It’s important, in fact, for brands to take the time to review all the pieces, Cados says. By looking at everything – click-throughs, video views, cadence, sales, etc. – and evaluating it all in context and against goals, companies can improve their relationships.

Case in Point: Committing to Your Consumers’ Needs Pays Off

Susie Anderson, Marketing Analyst and Promotions Coordinator for Amplify Federal Credit Union

Ask Susie Anderson about the importance of building relationships and she’ll tell you a story. As a member of the marketing team for Silverpop client Amplify Federal Credit Union in Austin, Texas, Anderson knows first-hand how syncing your brand’s mission with consumer needs, then remaining consistent in your messaging along multiple channels, can boost business.

Her best example, which could serve as a case study for many aspects discussed by the previous four experts, comes from a fall 2011 campaign that’s still yielding measurable results.

“When the big banks announced they were going to start charging for debit cards and other services, we realized this was an enormous opportunity for us and we had to do something around it,” says Anderson, who helped spearhead the resulting multichannel “Rescue a Friend from Bank Fees” campaign that came together inside just two weeks.

While everything fell into place quickly and produced excellent results, Anderson says it was the result of concerted effort that began with a team commitment to Amplify’s annual goal of boosting the credit union’s membership and a dedication to the member-owned cooperative’s core values.

“We’re always looking for ways to help our members and make the banking experience more pleasant for them,” Anderson says. “We’re here to serve our members’ best interests, and charging extra for services clearly doesn’t help consumers."

Recognizing the immediate consumer need that had exploded on the national stage in early fall 2011, Amplify’s marketing team put together a multitier campaign that included email and social media as well as print, television and even street teams, where their own people (Anderson among them) talked with prospective clients about the advantages of an Amplify membership over a big bank.

“We had two primary messages — that we give the (banking) process back to our customers, and that we are a member-owned cooperative so profits go back to our members — and we hammered those messages across every channel we used,” Anderson says.

For email, Anderson’s team capitalized on technology available to them via Silverpop and put together a targeted campaign that went to non-credit union members within a five-mile radius of existing members. Facebook and Twitter posts combined the relevance of the national news story with what Amplify knew mattered most to consumers: the level of service they could expect and how fees would be (or wouldn’t be) levied. Everything built momentum to the big day, “Bank Transfer Day,” when the credit union planned to sign up new members.

For example, a few weeks prior to “Bank Transfer Day” Amplify posted the following on Facebook: “We want to assure all our current and prospective members that Amplify Credit Union will NOT charge you fees for using your debit card. You can be confident that Amplify has no plans to implement such a fee.”

Then, when “Bank Transfer Day” arrived, employees of one Amplify branch posed for a Facebook photo in branded T-shirts wearing this accompanying message: “Palm Valley is ready to show people how much better banking can be! Walk away from those bank fees and come to Amplify.”

Did it all work? Enormously so. The sun set on “Bank Transfer Day” with 100 new Amplify members, more than what the cooperative usually signs up in a week’s time and significantly exceeding the expectation. More importantly, customers are still “rescuing friends” and membership continues to boom, says Anderson.

“We continue to monitor the results and are able to go back and see comments (from monthly surveys) about coming from a big bank and how ‘I really love my credit union.’ It seems to have really resonated with people,” Anderson says.

As for using this momentum for future campaigns, Anderson says plans are already in the works for a push to bolster another organizational goal and that consumer needs will once again be the focus.

“It’s really a no-brainer for us since it lines up so well with what we’re all about,“ Anderson says. “It makes good marketing sense to identify what our customers need, then highlight how we can provide that.”

Conclusion

Consumer loyalty is the backbone of marketing, but today’s digital world requires a level of engagement never before seen. Ensuring that interaction is everything it can be is crucial in this multichannel environment. With empowered customers sharing the marketing stage, companies risk more when they disengage, but they also stand to gain tremendously when they shore up these earnest resources.

Not unlike personal relationships between people, a lot naturally falls into place when brands extend real respect to their customers and treat them with high regard. Some triedand-true dating principles are just as helpful in this dynamic. More listening than talking is an excellent step, but then following up on the feedback with substantive, relevant content makes it clear there’s a commitment to the relationship.

Finally, don’t forget that presence matters. We can’t shove our significant others to the back burner for long and expect them to stick around. Frequent interactions are important, especially when they’re rich with smart, significant communication.

Keeping the spark is admittedly hard work, but going steady has its rewards. True loyalty must be earned, but once it is, it paves the way for long-term faithfulness and support — in good times and bad.