AMiable Solution #48: Twitter: Finding Long-Term Success in a Few Words

You can't argue with Twitter's popularity.  Everywhere you look, people are referencing things public figures and private citizens have said--good and bad--on this social network.

With more than 340,000,000 Tweets posted each day, Twitter connects users to "the latest stories, ideas, opinions and news" about people and organizations they find interesting: current events, other public figures, community and national news, and everyday experiences with businesses and organizations

Unlike Facebook, Twitter limits communications ("tweets") to 140 characters.  It doesn't sound like much, but in most cases it's enough to announce sales, new products, and upcoming events; solicit comments and suggestions; gather feedback on new or proposed services; and address hot topics or time-sensitive issues. 

The messages are short, but the time required to maintain a Twitter account is not.

To gain a regular following and build trust (once you learn the jargon), Twitter recommends sharing behind-the-scenes information, regularly monitoring comments about your organization, asking questions, responding to questions and comments promptly, and offering specials and limited-time deals.  In addition, Twitter recommends referencing articles and providing links to articles about your industry to establish your organization as an industry leader and expert. 

Not an insignificant task.  Whether you choose to join the conversation on Twitter or not depends on how much you're willing to commit in terms of time and resources.  Twitter offers numerous paid advertising opportunities to help build account awareness--promoted accounts, promoted tweets, and promoted trends--but marketing your Twitter presence in your direct mail marketing and email marketing may be the best way to build a foundational following and determine if the reward is worth the effort.

AMiable Solution #47: Facebook: A Head of Social Media Marketing

Millions of people monitor or participate on social networking sites every day.  Facebook alone boasts a user base of more than one billion people. If you haven’t added social media marketing to your 2013 marketing calendar, or if you’re not sure if Facebook is the right social media dance hall for your organization, we offer the following insights for marketing on Facebook. 

According to market researcher Edison Research, more than two-thirds of 18-44 year-olds who use social media follow particular brands, and almost three-quarters of 25-34 year-olds do.  When these consumers choose a social network for following a brand, more than 75% of them go to Facebook first for information, according to Edison Research blogger Larry Rosin.

It’s easy to see why. Facebook is arguably the most flexible social network available.  It allows users to publish lengthy texts (“posts”), comment on others’ posts, post photos and videos, and see the posts and comments of not only the people they’ve connected with (“friended”) but also the postings and comments of friends of friends.

You can use Facebook to connect quickly and easily with a broad audience, sharing images and information about new products, services, and events; generating organizational activity and interest with contests, promotions, and sales; soliciting feedback on current or proposed activities; and gathering general consumer comments, endorsements, and suggestions.

“Pages,” as the participant-specific areas of the site are called, are free to create.  You can create a general page with a basic account, or you can create a business page and have access to paid options, including promoted posts (for pages with at least 100 “likes”), page insights (for pages with at least 30 “likes”), and targeted ads based on Facebook user location, gender, age, likes and interests, relationship status, workplace, and education.  Pages can be categorized as a local place or business; company, organization, or institution; brand or product; artist, band, or public figure; entertainment; and cause or community.

Facebook's options and accessibility come with a bit of a price, however.  Privacy concerns run high as more and more “private” posts and photos become accessible by the public.

Still, participating on Facebook is a cheap and relatively easy way to create brand awareness and to connect with a potentially large worldwide audience.

Facebook isn't your only, or even your best option, when it comes to social media marketing, however.  Come back next week to learn more about Twitter, and then check us out later in the month when we look at YouTube and LinkedIn.

AMiable Solution #46: 2013 Marketing Cliffs Notes: SoLoMo

If you read Direct Marketing News, you know that Bruce Biegel, Managing Director for the Winterberry Group, identified SoLoMo as a marketing “focus” for 2013, as reported by Editor-in-Chief Ginger Conlon. But do you know what SoLoMo is?


In a nutshell, SoLoMo combines social media, local business, and mobile technology to identify a mobile user’s location and relay local incentives, offers, deals, coupons, etc.

Advantages:

• You can create highly personalized and customized offers based on the recipient’s previous transactions and through the customer’s likes and shares on social media.

• It speeds the purchasing process.

Disadvantages:

• Privacy is a key concern. According to Kerry Doyle’s Cisco article, “SoLoMo: Why It Matters and What You Should Know,” last August Congress was considering 26 different bills addressing wireless privacy issues.

• Consumers worry about the security of making mobile payments. Regulations are expected to be forthcoming.

• SoLoMo bypasses an organization’s website, eliminating any possibility for providing additional information or upselling.

• It requires the creation and maintenance of an app.

A relatively new trend, SoLoMo is still working out the kinks, a task Biegel expects will extend into 2014. However, it stands poised to become another important technological avenue for marketing departments of all sizes.

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.

AMiable Solution #45: 2013 Marketing Cliffs Notes: Seamless Acceptance

As the United States Postal Service enters 2013, it does so with an eye toward the future and the role of technology, including Seamless Acceptance, in it.


Seamless Acceptance is the Postal Service's effort to "fully automate verification of commercial mailings performed during postal processing of the mail." Utilizing Intelligent Mail barcoding (IMb) Full-Service, it focuses more on electronic acceptance of mail pieces with less postal clerk interaction and less paperwork, adding container barcodes to the mix, pallet, sack, and tray; bypassing the postal clerk inspection as the mailing enters the production system; and adding electronic drop-ship clearance and postage. As the Business Mail Entry Manager in Merrifield, Virginia, put it, Seamless Acceptance will allow her to "check it (a mailing) in, charge it, and process it without ever seeing it."

The benefit? According to the USPS's Comprehensive Statement - 2010 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations, 2010 Performance Report and 2011 Performance Plan, "Information obtained from mailings in process helps to determine address accuracy, verify mail preparation quality, validate correct postage, and, with the use of Confirm service, track individual pieces as they move through the system. Seamless acceptance will help the Postal Service partner with customers by capturing and sharing information about mail errors earlier in the process." In other words, your mailpieces will enter the delivery system faster and cleaner.

How can you prepare for Seamless Acceptance? The program requires specialized equipment and barcodes, which your mailhouse should have. Talk to your vendor about its procedures for complying with the Seamless Acceptance process.

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.

AMiable Solution #44: Tips for a Happy New Year: Remember Yourself

If you're among the population of folks that checks work email while on vacation, reads reports instead of magazines on the beach, and texts reminders to colleagues from the holiday dinner table, then this blog is for you.


Hard work, dedication, accessibility, and attention to details will help you analyze, create, and execute your way through a successful career. However, all work and no play won't help you live longer or healthier.

The drive to succeed at work isn't an uncommon one, but the need to put a successful professional life ahead of a healthy personal one is largely all American. Back in May 2003, Hara Estroff Marano reported in Psychology Today that Americans work 100 more hours per year than the Japanese and up to three more months a year than Europeans. And, according to the article, "Why Your Brain Needs a Break," Americans are the only workers in the world who don't get mandated paid vacation leave.

There's good reason to pull your nose away from the grindstone. In the 2011 article, "Why Your Brain Needs a Vacation," CNN reported that removing your brain and your body from your work environment allows you to re-approach your work with a fresh perspective. An idea for that campaign you've been struggling to create or update may occur to you or become much clearer after a much-needed vacation. The further away from work you get--literally--the more your perspective improves. Can't afford a vacation overseas? You can still gain the benefits of a vacation simply by immersing yourself in a new environment and paying attention to new things.

To really maximize the happiness benefits of a vacation, you need to plan your vacation in advance, not on a whim. According to Tara Parker-Pope in a 2010 New York Times blog, researchers in the Netherlands found that the simple act of planning and anticipating a vacation did more to boost individuals' happiness than the vacation itself. And, taking multiple shorter vacations instead of one long one helps make the good times last throughout the year.

So go ahead : enjoy your end-of-year holiday activities. Spend a relaxing evening in the company of family and friends. Get out and enjoy a neglected activity or pastime. Then, make sure you make plans to use your hard-earned vacation time in 2013.

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.

AMiable Solution #43: Tips for a Happy New Year: Remember Your Customers

How many times did you cringe this year after reading a marketing survey or study that identified trends or strategies that were not on your department's radar? Or worse, they conflicted with activities or strategies your organization had spent the year supporting?

In 2009, Direct Marketing News reported on a study, conducted by Borrell Associates, predicting that direct mail marketing spending would decrease by 39% between 2008 and the end of 2013.

However, just this month, Print in the Mix, a publication of the Rochester Institute of Technology, reported that marketing firm Epsilon Targeting determined, through its latest annual Consumer Channel Preference Study, that consumers prefer to receive marketing through direct mail over all other marketing channels.

Did something change? Who's right, and who's wrong?

It depends on who you ask. The survey takers clearly have a stronger opinion than the survey readers, but that doesn't necessarily make their conclusions or decisions your conclusions or decisions. Studies are great for giving you a general sense of an industry or community, but that doesn't necessarily mean what's good for them is good for you. The marketing industry in general may be spending less money on direct mail, but that might not be the best strategy for you.

No one knows your clients, members, or donors better than you (at least they better not). If you know, through historical data and reports, that your clients respond better to direct mail than email, keep mailing! Not only will you continue to communicate in a way that's most likely to appeal to your clients and generate response, but you may also find you have increased visibility as more and more other companies--including your competitors--listen to the studies and follow general trends instead of customer preferences.

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.

AMiable Solution #42: Ways to Save in 2013, Part 2

Direct mail marketers should not rely on integrated direct mail/electronic strategies alone, or so the USPS seems to say with the inclusion of three mail-focused promotions on its 2013 schedule.

Hoping to encourage customer replies by mail, the USPS is offering an "Earned Value Reply Mail" promotion. Marketers who register (beginning January 1, 2013) and include a first-class Business Reply Mail (BRM) or a Courtesy Reply Mail (CRM) envelope in their mailings will receive a postage credit every time a customer uses the envelope to respond.

The USPS is also offering a "credit" of sorts to mailers incorporating Picture Permits into their first-class and standard-mail letter and card mailings. Picture Permits, which allow marketers to incorporate a corporate logo, brand image, or trademark into the permit imprint indicia, typically carry a one-cent-per-mailpiece fee. However, with the USPS's "Picture Permits" promotion, that fee will be waived for all mailers who register, beginning June 15, 2013. Picture Permits can be used with pre-approval only, so interested mailers must be sure to allow themselves time to complete the registration and application process prior to the promotion's scheduled run time, August 1, 2013, through September 30, 2013.

Finally, running August 1, 2013, through September 30, 2013, as well is the USPS's "Product Samples" promotion. The promotion seeks to encourage the inclusion of product samples in direct mail pieces by offering qualified mailers a 5% upfront postage discount. The promotion also draws attention to the USPS's proposed "Simple Samples" pricing for standard mail, which will go into effect January 27, 2013. Registration begins May 1, 2013.

As was the case with the mail/mobile technology promotions discussed in the last blog, complete details for these promotions are still forthcoming, but the potential benefits of each promotion to your organization should be analyzed and added to your calendars now.

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.