Multichannel Magic

When you spend a fair amount of time in the social media world, you see how it opens doors, enhances relationships, and expands horizons. It’s hard to imagine anyone not jumping in and embracing the channel. But if you step away from the hub, you find that most companies don’t have a social media strategy or an interest in creating one.

Companies don’t participate in social media because management doesn’t see the value.

We can talk about engaging customers, improving brand recognition, and building relationships, but it won’t change minds. We are in a tough economic climate where every investment requires a significant return to be viable. Most executives are smart enough to know [Read more →]

If you want loyal customers, you have to connect with them. You can’t simply distribute products with a smile and expect people to be impressed. Combining direct marketing and social media is a great way to share your story with your customers.

The first step is to identify the story you want to tell. What will resonate with your customers? How you got started? Source your products? Protect the environment? Envision the future? Or, a combination of all? Your story is unique and hard to replicate. Keep it simple and true. While there are plenty of companies who create fictitious back stories, it is a very risky tactic. The same customers who love you today will turn against you quickly if they feel betrayed. Choose a story that is developing. You’ll want to add adventures to keep your customers interested. [Read more →]

Hit-&-run customers are elusive, exasperating, and expensive. They sneak into your database with the promise of long-term loyalty, but they never deliver. They purchase one time and disappear. Every marketing penny spent trying to lure them into the second order is wasted.

The biggest challenge with hit-&-run customers is that they look like regular ones.

You have to dig deep to find the things that make them different. Here are some clues to look for: [Read more →]

The other day I met a gentleman who introduced himself as a “self-made man”. When I asked about his line of business, he said that he was in retail ecommerce. My first thought was, “Wow, you must be really tired!”

I know about retail ecommerce. And, what I know tells me that there are no “self-made” success stories. There are leaders, and he is definitely an example of a leader. It takes a good one to inspire people to help. But, the success or failure of any company is dependant on the team. In ecommerce, you have: [Read more →]

The twitter follow Friday hashtag (#followfriday or #ff) is a great way to recommend or find people to follow. It was easy to do when I only followed a few people. It’s a lot more challenging now.

It isn’t enough to say that I follow someone by tweeting their handle and a hashtag. There’s more to it than that. So I decided to create a follow Friday post that adds some why to the who. This list is not comprehensive by any means, but it is a start:

Direct Marketing - Follow these people to keep up with trends in direct marketing and ecommerce: @AccuGuy, @AmyAfrica, @catalogbiz, @daivrawks, @david_bdml, @Debbiedee5, @DebbieKirk, @DMA_USA, @ECMODSHOW, @gibt, @infinitypg, @ipresort, @JohnBethel, @loisgeller, @Tracey_GrayHair

Social Media - Here are your guides to social media and marketing in general: @allenweiss, @Ambercadabra, @BethHarte, @copyblogger, @chrisbrogan, @MackCollier, @MarketingProfs, @PRSarahevans, @skydiver

Business - All things business from innovation to accounting: @JohnAByrne, @shirleybrady

Since there are many more people that I enjoy following, I will be adding to this list. My hope is that it will help you find more great tweeple. And, if you would like to follow me, I’m known in twitterville as @wilsonellis!

Please note: Everyone on my list discusses lots of topics and improves the conversation by doing so.

Do you remember the advice, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it?” It isn’t always applicable. Email marketing may not be broken, but it desperately needs fixing. While it is the most effective, cost efficient tool available today, its performance is far below its potential. And, as long as we consider that acceptable, it will stay that way.

In 1997, when email marketing was new to a lot of companies, I created my first campaign for a client. The company had a great story and customers who actively followed it. We decided on the offer and sent a text email to 10,000 addresses. The process took a little time because we linked the database with Outlook to send the message.

We had two computers going; one to send the emails, the other to watch the website. It was a heady experience because orders started coming in before the send process ended. There was no comparison between our direct marketing campaigns that took [Read more →]

Choosing a direct marketing strategy used to be relatively simple. If you had a little experience, duplicating your successful campaigns usually worked. If you didn’t, there were plenty of books that provided examples to follow.

Things are a little different with social media. First, it is so new and evolving, there are no books. Even if there were, they would be obsolete before the print run was complete. You have to find your own way.

There are a few guides available, but [Read more →]

It’s easy to know why complaining customers stop buying. They tell you. But, what about the customers that go away quietly. One day they are shopping with a predictable pattern. Then they stop.

No amount of data analysis will tell you why. If you compare their history with others who are still active, nothing seems amiss. They just stopped buying.

The good news is that there is a reason. The challenge is finding the one that applies to individual customers. The top five reasons customers stop buying are: [Read more →]

Welcome to the match of the decade – Social Media vs. Direct Marketing. Around the globe people are choosing sides, anticipating that one will overcome the other. Let’s take a moment to review their features:

In one corner, we have Social Media, a young, agile, and engaging contender.

He’s been taking the circuit by storm. His ability to sweep the globe with your marketing message at minimal cost is particularly appealing. Then, there is that one-to-one contact with your customers and prospects. Having Social Media on your side turns your company into the corner store. You can chat with your customers and really get to know them.

Unfortunately, there is a dark side. [Read more →]

The New York Times Bits blog outlines twitter’s plan to link shopping advice with purchasing. If you are a consumer looking for the best value, this news ranks high on the “how cool is that? I can’t wait!” chart. If you run a company providing goods and service, you better start getting ready. Now. Your world is about to change.

According to the post, “twitter would couple e-commerce with advice from other shoppers.” This combination should strike fear in every ecommerce company whose service is less than five stars. And, if you provide five star service, you should be a little nervous because advice is very different from reviews. Advice is personal. [Read more →]