AMiable Solution #172: Make 2016 Mixable

For years we’ve heard the predictions.  Direct mail is dying.  Digital marketing is the future.  Mobile marketing will change the way businesses operate.  And with so many options to choose from--print, email, websites, social media, public relations, content marketing, SEO, etc.--trying to decide which channels to invest in and how to distribute the marketing budget among them can be overwhelming.

The problem is, marketing is not a single-channel operation.  Most organizations benefit from a mixture of mediums. 

Just how many approaches you take and just how much you invest in each will vary depending on your specific audience, your offers, and your industry.  However, the following facts and statistics, obtained from Tom Pick’s December 2, 2014, business2community.com article, “104 Fascinating Social Media and Marketing Statistics for 2014 (and 2015),” may help you determine the right mix for you.  At the very least, they’ll give you something to think about:

·        91% of people have unsubscribed from company emails they previously opted into.

·        89% of 18-29 year-olds are active on social media, as are 43% of adults 65 and older.

·        Each month, 329 million people read blogs.

·        Articles with images get 94% more views than those without.

·        Posts with videos attract three times as many inbound links as plain text posts.

·        Facebook accounts for 15.8% of total time spent on the Internet.

·        There are nine times as many marketing emails sent each year as direct mail pieces delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.

·        Email marketing delivers the highest ROI (about $44 per dollar spent, on average) of any digital marketing tactic. SEO is #2. Banner ads have the lowest ROI.

·        Emails with social sharing buttons increase click-through rates by 158%.

·        Almost half--48%--of all emails are opened on mobile devices, yet only 11% of e-mails are optimized for mobile.

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           Despite all the hype about online, 67% of B2B content marketers consider event marketing to be their most effective strategy.

Should you base your entire 2016 strategy on the statistics above?  Certainly not.  But you should consider your audience carefully in light of them and then do what marketers do best: test.

AMiable Solution #171: Make 2016 Measureable

It may seem ridiculous to remind marketers to make measuring and tracking their marketing efforts a priority.  Marketers are generally obsessed with codes and return rates and bottom lines.  However, sometimes it’s worthwhile revisiting things we assume are a “given.”  Things we need but don’t nurture.

We’re talking about the relationship between your organization’s marketing and customer service departments.

How often does your marketing team, or at least a few members of it, meet with the customer service team?  If the two departments operate out of separate buildings or even different cities, the answer is probably “infrequently.”  That’s a problem.

Your customer service department is a key component in measuring your marketing efforts.  You could create a perfect offer, provide a clever tracking device, and package it in the most beautiful and eye-catching way, but if you don’t communicate well with customer service, arming them in advance of upcoming promotions, providing them with answers to questions they’ll likely field, and reinforcing or explaining to new reps the importance of identifying the source of all inquiries, donations, and sales, your promotions are going to fail.  At the very least, you’ll never know just how well they did.

You must arm your customer service reps with the tools they need to be successful in their jobs and to help you do yours better.  If they understand the importance of tracking promotions; of asking questions and noting common or unusual concerns, complaints, or problems; and of understanding not only how the products or services you’re promoting work, but also how their roles fit into the system of the entire organization, you’ll get the best possible measurement of your efforts, and you’ll set them and your organization up for success.

Meet with your organization’s customer service reps regularly, whether in person or over the phone.  Discuss upcoming or current promotions.  Provide them with the information customers will need, including where on the website to find a particular promotion or how to log into a webinar.  Encourage reps to share customer feedback with you--good, bad, and ugly--so that you can improve products as necessary or promote them in ways you hadn’t considered before.  Let them help you understand how your customers prefer to receive and request information.

The more your marketing departments and customer service departments are in sync, the more you will learn about your customers, their buying habits, and their promotion preferences.  It’s a relationship more valuable and more accessible than any software system, and it’s only a phone call away.

AMiable Solution #170: Make 2016 Manageable

We’re one week into the new year: what’s your outlook?  Are you optimistic about the possibilities this year holds, or are you already overwhelmed by the workload that carried over from last year?

Whatever your attitude, you can help make 2016 more manageable than 2015.

Start by taking a look at your schedule.  How often do you give yourself a break?  If you’re not building down time into your schedule, you’re probably not really giving yourself a chance to recharge from the stress, strain, and time spent while working or thinking about work.  Planning at least one activity or block or time with family or friends each week will give you something to look forward to, help improve your overall satisfaction, and force you to manage your time at work and at home a little better.

Next, take a good hard look at your schedule.  Are your plans realistic?  Is it really feasible to include so many activities--whether at work or outside of work--successfully?  If your workload includes more tasks than you can realistically accomplish, talk to your supervisor about setting priorities, shifting timelines, combining or eliminating meetings, or sharing responsibilities with someone else.  If your home life activities have you stressed, consider which ones are the most important to you and your family or the ones that you can make the most difference with and get rid of the others. 

Finally, remember that time and stress management is largely a mindset: sometimes you have to remind yourself that you can’t control everything.  To make your life more manageable, consider what you can control and focus your energy on those areas only.  You can’t control how your co-workers operate or what’s going on with the economy, but you can control how you get things done, how you spend your time and money, and how you handle different situations.  Focus on the things you have control over.