Optimize Magazine - Spring 2014

SPRING 2014

IDEAS FOR MARKETING AND CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS

How to create, manage & share great content

HOW TO‌ Write blog posts that engage and drive sales Manage your brand on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram Turbo charge your next email campaign

Read our interview

with Ann Handley (pg 6) and register to WIN a copy of her book: Content Rules.

How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and more) that Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business.

Content Rules, suited for organizations of all sizes from Fortune 500 corporations to mom-and-pop businesses on the corner, streamlines the process of creating remarkable content that will lure customers to you. It walks you through the fundamentals of how to create bold stories, videos, and blog posts. And then, once you’ve created the content, it tells you how to share it widely online to cultivate fans, arouse passion for your products or services, and ignite your business.

Register at www.hopkinsprinting.com/content-rules

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WELCOME

Spring 2014

Welcome to the Spring issue of Optimize In this issue, we look at how content marketing and social media go hand in hand and highlight the best ways to manage, maintain and grow your email subscriber list.

Spring 2014

EXPERT OPINION Read insight from the following contributors in this issue:

m

arketing fads and trends may come is the gasoline that can fan the flames of your and go, but it’s probably safe to say content marketing efforts. If you create great that content marketing and social content, your network of colleagues, peer media are two relatively recent additions to groups and followers will share that material the communications mix that are here to stay. and introduce it to a much wider audience.

And as you probably know, the two concepts In our feature starting on page 10, writer Tim are inextricably linked. “Content is fire; social Sweeney takes a look at the four main social media is gasoline,” says author and marketing media channels – Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin consultant Jay Baer. and Instagram and reveals the key strategies In this issue, we show you how to leverage your business needs to implement in order to both those disciplines. In our cover story, we leverage the full capability of each platform talk to marketingprofs.com Chief Content – from composing a 140-character tweet to Officer Ann Handley about the important role telling the story of your brand through images. content plays in creating customer engage Elsewhere, we give you a succinct lesson ment and ‘coercing’ prospects along the in marketing automation and lead nurturing, sales funnel. It is Handley’s opinion that all share five strategies direct marketers can brands should be taking advantage of the new use to counteract the USPS’ recent standard publishing tools that are available, especially mail rate increase, highlight the best email video which is now easier than ever to shoot, communication strategies and talk to a edit and distribute online. In her interview, selection of agency account executives about which starts on page 6, she reveals her most the challenges they face in today’s constantly successful content developevolving marketing landscape. And ment strategies, highlights the before you finish reading, don’t three keys to writing ‘killer’ blog miss our infographic Hook, Line posts and explains how several and Sinker: 15 tips to writing effective world-renowned brands, like teasers to help you fine-tune your Ben & Jerry, are leveraging skills for writing great copy teasers. platforms like Instagram and Here’s to another year of Facebook to communicate with successful partnership. We look their most loyal customers. forward to helping you achieve Roy Waterhouse As I mentioned at the beginyour marketing goals in 2014 President, Hopkins Printing ning of this letter, social media and beyond.

Justin Gray CEO of marketing automation firm LeadMD, Justin explains how technology can make the sales process repeatable.

Helen Bellocq An account executive at Shopzilla, Inc., Helen explains how she keeps up with the constantly evolving media platforms.

Gene Paek

START WRITING BETTER TEASER COPY TODAY! Hook, Line and Sinker: 15 Tips to Writing Effective Teasers

The principal of Ideate Digital, Gene explains how brands should be leveraging the four key social media channels.

Scan the QR code or visit www.hopkinsprinting.com/pf15hooks to download your FREE infographic

01 Welcome

Letter from the President, plus a selection of the key contributors writing in this issue.

10 Brand Building With Social Media

How to use the four key social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

02 Insights

14 Optimize Your Email List

06 Ann Handley Interview

16 My Working Day

News and views from the world of marketing.

We talk to the marketing guru about how to use content to drive engagement and increase sales.

Three ways to manage your email database.

Account executive Helen Bellocq explains the secret to a successful client/agency relationship.

Executive Editor Cindy Woods Editor Nick Wright Art Director Paul Ridley Contributing Writer Tim Sweeney Produced by Fourth Element Creative and The CMO Team ©2014 All Rights Reserved

Printed and distributed by Hopkins Printing www.hopkinsprinting.com

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Spring 2014

INSIGHTS

NEWS | REVIEWS | IDEAS | OPINION |

PRINT MEDIA »

5 key reasons why print is flourishing Despite widespread predictions of its imminent demise, print media is alive and kicking.

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hen ‘print’ dies, how will you know if you can’t read its obituary in the newspaper?

Will you have to go online, or to its Facebook page to find out where the memorial service is being held? Those who like to make predictions have been telling us for more than a decade that print media can no longer survive without a life support system called the Internet. Sure, real-time news is available from every direction imaginable; consumers now expect information immediately and can get it from places like Twitter in bite-size portions; and it is more expensive than publishing online. But here are five good reasons why print could buck the odds and live on. The reasons are more compelling than you might think.

1

PEOPLE STILL ENJOY NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES

A 2013 survey by Deloitte found that 75 percent of people still prefer to read magazines in print. Why? For starters, people still like to read things they can pick up, carry under their arms, and read in places such as on a morning train ride or a long-haul flight. Second, print gives news instant credibility, which still counts for something, even in an age when news is often broken by non-journalists with nothing more than a camera phone and a Twitter account.

2

ADVERTISERS UNDERSTAND CONSUMER LOYALTY

3

ITEMS IN PRINT CAN BE OWNED

What do the magazines you read say about you? You likely identify with whatever publications you read based on the topics, opinions expressed, or just the photos and writing style. In the case of magazines, readers depend on them for inspiration, education and entertainment.

Advertisers recognize that magazine readers are fiercely loyal to their favorite publications, and that makes those audiences a vital piece of almost any brand strategy.

A sense of ownership comes with a book, a magazine, or even the daily newspaper that you eventually give away.

Because we spend money on things in print, they have greater value and are more likely to be kept around.

4

PRINT ADS HAVE LONGEVITY

More important than readers having a lasting affinity for print is the fact that advertisers share that affinity. Ads keep magazines in business and studies show that consumers stay more engaged and less distracted when reading things in print. Advertisers are partial to engaged consumers. When a brand advertises in a print publication, it knows that the ad will remain there until it’s thrown away. In the case of

magazines, that could be a month or more.

Online ads have a shelf life of a maximum number of clicks or a finite time span.

5

THERE IS MORE TO THE STORY

It may be easy to break the news in a 140-character tweet, but it’s very hard to explain it. While it is almost impossible for print publications to break news ahead of the web, many publications now realize that they have the advantage of being able to see what is currently news, then start a new conversation or highlight a specific angle around a story that readers think they already know. n

INSIGHTS

Spring 2014

03

OPINION » MOBILE MEDIA » 2013: THE BEST MOBILE

MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Brands today are doing their best to connect with you in a place where you spend more and more time – on your phone in the palm of your hand. Here’s who did it best in 2013.

SOUND BITES

WHAT’S ON MY MIND We asked three senior account executives to tell us the challenges they are facing.

OVERHEARD RECENTLY

The need for speed

“Content is fire, social media is gasoline.”

JAY BAER Convince and Convert

OREO’S ‘TWIST, LICK, DUNK’ GAME In early 2013, OREO introduced a mobile game that involved aficionados twisting, licking and dunking OREO cookies as they flew through a virtual kitchen.

The goal was to dunk as many cookies as possible in 60 seconds into the milk on the screen. Players could compete against friends or strangers and see the results on a Facebook leaderboard. They could also unlock special edition OREOS that have been released over the life of the brand.

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TARGET’S CARTWHEEL APP Target’s mobile campaign was less about online shopping and more about improving the in-store experience and converting browsers into buyers.

The retail giant used Facebook-sponsored posts to advertise its Cartwheel app, which displayed heavily discounted in-store items. Shoppers could pull up the singular barcode that applies to all the discounted items and either print it out at home or show it on their mobile device at the register.

“The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing.”

SETH GODIN Marketing thought leader/author

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ADIDAS PHILIPPINES To help launch its new Boost shoes, Adidas Philippines ran mobile ads on sports and lifestyle sites. Those who clicked through could visit the Adidas website and play a mobile game, which involved ‘running’ with their fingers across a landscape that highlighted the various types of terrain the shoe could handle. On average, each consumer played the game for more than 60 seconds, while Adidas garnered more than 1.2 million impressions and 15,000 clicks.

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TODD HARING Director, Client Services, Taco Truck Creative

“Clients today want everything faster. Things that used to take months or days are needed in weeks and hours. This strains resources and changes how you staff an account. Not long ago, it was a big adjustment for agencies to move into the digital space to create banner advertising. That’s comical today, where new platforms emerge almost daily. And because consumers have more ways to digest content, it’s important to stay on top of emerging trends. Determining what is a fad versus what is sustainable – not to mention what is good for your brand – is one of the challenges we now face.”

“The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.”

TOM FISHBURNEL Marketoonist

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

Agency/client relations “The proliferation of information on branding and marketing today can cause clients to abandon strategies too soon. If a campaign doesn’t perform quickly, it can be shut down before it has a chance to gain traction. Despite advances in analytics, true learning remains elusive. I am also concerned by the erosion of the client/agency relationship. There is an overreliance on email as the main communication exchange, which may be driven by the perception that speed of response is more important than thoughtfulness of response. There is still great value in face-to-face client exchanges.”

Building global consistency

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Founding Father of the USA

“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, SR. Physician/poet/professor

TODD BAIRD VP, Strategy & Account Management, Catalyst

BEN MULDREW Global Account Director, Nissan United/TBWA

“Clients today expect agencies to deliver a globally relevant and consistent creative product. Coke, Apple and Harley Davidson do it right with a single “voice” across the world. Every piece feels like it has been written by one writer in a single location.

It’s difficult to achieve a balance between a global brand image and local culture.

Integrated global client management is hard to get right. They say, ‘Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.’ It’s more like, ‘Build a better system for managing a global client’s brand and the world will beat a path to your agency.’”

Spring 2014

INSIGHTS

“Brands recognize that by making contact with NEWS | REVIEWS | IDEAS | OPINION |

a consumer in multiple places, that person is much more likely to

MULTIMEDIA MARKETING »

purchase their product.”

Cross-platform magazine advertising on the increase Brands respond to the opportunity to reach multiple audiences.

U

ntil recently, the formula for magazine advertising was pretty straightforward: a catchy headline, a beautiful product shot and a creative call to action. In recent years, however, publishers have evolved by offering slick online versions of their magazines and newspapers with more interactive features and original content that can’t be delivered via print.

Not surprisingly, with the evolution of the medium has come a transformation in the advertising created for it. After all, magazines are appealing to advertisers because they offer the opportunity to speak to an audience with an interest in a specific topic. In recent years, statistics show that advertisers are looking to reach that online publishing audience just as much as the print readers.

Kantar Media and the Association for Magazine Media recently performed a study on 69 maga-

HOW TO BEAT THE USPS’ EXIGENT RATE INCREASE Five simple strategies to help you counteract the effects of the USPS’ standard mail rate increase.

Last year, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) allowed the full request from the USPS for a 4.3 percent ‘exigent’ rate increase of three cents on standard mail to compensate for losses incurred during the great recession. Here are five ways to enhance your direct mail.

zines with both print and online offerings. The results showed that magazines experienced a six percent growth in combined advertising units for print and tablet products in 2013. The study also determined that, year-over-year, tablet unit sales of the magazine increased by 16 percent.

Prior to that, the MPA also released a half-year study in July 2013 that tracked only iPads and showed a similar trend. The research revealed that tablet ad unit sales were up nearly 25 percent

through the first six months of 2013. More than a third of the total print and tablet ads sold for the 58 magazines measured in that study were iPad ad units. Another convincing argument for advertising in both print and online versions of a publication is simply that the more places you advertise, the more likely people are to see your product. A recent research project conducted by the University of Toronto Scarborough found that having both a print and online version of a maga-

TARGET THE OLDER GENERATION

MAKE YOUR MESSAGE CUSTOMER-CENTRIC

BREAK THROUGH THE CLUTTER

Direct mailers will continue to follow the money. In most instances, that money resides in the bank accounts of older consumers. Not only is the wealth gap increasing between the older and younger generations, quite simply there are more healthy, older Americans than ever. And let’s not forget that this affluent demographic still actually reads – always a bonus with direct mail!

Customers today are savvier than ever about sales messaging.

Because of this, it’s no longer enough to sell your products or services purely on features and benefits. While the “what” and “how” remain important, what’s more important to consumers is the “why?” Lead with a clear value proposition that tells the recipient why they should buy from your company and nobody else.

Our mailboxes are crammed full of flyers, badly written offers, cheap direct mail pieces and free magazines. What’s left are the magazines you subscribe to, the high-quality catalogs and the personal direct mail. It’s crucial to understand that ‘personalized’ means a recipient’s name is on the envelope, while ‘personal’ means the offer is targeted, relevant and interesting to the consumer.

INSIGHTS

Spring 2014

5-MINUTE EXPERT »

Marketing Automation Justin Gray, CEO of LeadMD, gives you a quick introduction to the world of marketing automation and lead nurturing.

Justin Gray: It is a combination of CRM technologies and content marketing techniques that help streamline the sales process and make it repeatable.

online movements and the type of content they’re consuming.

Once you have gathered that data, the system takes that information, analyzes it and delivers a relevant message to the consumer that encourages them to take another action.

Q. What are the technology

Q. What is most important?

platforms used?

JG: It is paramount that an organization is on the same page as its buyers. A business’ definition of its buyers’ needs, pain points and solutions must be the same as the buyers’.

Q. What is marketing automation?

JG: There are many platforms from which to choose, including salesforce.com and marketo. com. Agencies like ourselves help companies gain maximum value from that software.

Q. How important is good

zine pulls in more advertising dollars than either medium can achieve on its own.

But the true value of advertising your brand in a publication’s online and print versions lies in understanding consumer behavior. Readers (consumers) who get their information from a variety of sources are highly valued by advertisers because brands recognize that by making contact with a consumer in multiple places, that person becomes much more likely to purchase their products. n

DIGITAL SEGMENTATION

TIGHTER TARGETING

The intersection of an improved quality curve and the lowering price curve has reached the point where digital printing can be used to execute huge campaigns.

The opportunity to segment almost infinitely without a large increase in production costs will cause segmentation to dramatically increase in popularity in 2014.

Since postage is becoming increasingly expensive and mailboxes are becoming increasingly cluttered, companies will start to look harder at how they target consumers. Better offers, better creative, better writing and better research will lead to an improvement in response rates and retention.

Q. What is the key purpose

content in the process?

of marketing automation?

JG: It is paramount. Many companies are still not creating content that is driven by their buyers’ needs. No matter how many times you knock on a buyer’s door, you won’t get in if your message is off. Focus groups, customer interviews and in-house executive

JG: In the past, we couldn’t go online to find out what a solution would cost, what it would yield in terms of returns, or to interact with people who had purchased the same product. You had to accomplish all of that face-to-face with a sales rep. Marketing automation replicates that one-to-one sales process.

Q. How does it work?

JG: Marketing automation helps organizations learn more about their buyers from their

interviews can help you create detailed buyer personas.

Q. What is the first step in content creation?

JG: First, look at all of the content you produce and determine if it is aligned with your buyers’ needs and wants.

If it’s not, retool it or create new content. Then work out your distribution model.

Q. What are the three best automation practices?

JG: First, to understand how to communicate with your customers you need to learn more about them, so create detailed buyer personas.

Second, create your content around those personas. It’s important that every new piece of content – e-book, video or infographic, etc. – will resonate with the segmented group of buyers you’ve already quantified as being of interest.

Third, learn from the online movements your prospects have taken and the type of content they’ve consumed.

It’s a simple concept. Speak to buyers as though they were right in front of you and keep the conversation as relevant to them as possible.

START WRITING BETTER TEASER COPY TODAY!

Hook, Line and Sinker: 15 Tips to Writing Effective Teasers Scan the QR code or visit www.hopkinsprinting.com/pf15hooks to download your FREE infographic

05

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Spring 2014

COVER STORY

COVER STORY INTERVIEW

THE ORIGINAL CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER ANN HANDLEY

Spring 2014

A

former business journalist turned marketing guru, Ann Handley has been helping companies create, manage and distribute content online for more than 17 years.

Nick Wright caught up with her to find out how brands can leverage social channels to engage, entertain and, ultimately, sell to their customers.

Q: You’re known as a specialist in content marketing, distribution and management.

Where did your interest come from?

Ann Handley: My background is print journalism. I studied journalism at school and ended up working for newspapers in the Boston area where I live, including the Boston Globe and several of those magazines you find in the pockets on the back of seats on airplanes. When the Internet arrived, I left that world in 1997 and launched a website called ClickZ.com – one of the first sources of news and information about interactive marketing.

Q: That must have seemed like a leap of faith at the time?

AH: I kept some freelance writing, but the move also coincided with the start of my family. I had a young baby and so, realistically, I couldn’t sustain the journalistic lifestyle anymore. I couldn’t go out and cover a story on a fire at 4am, for example, so my personal circumstances were partly driving my decision, too. That was 17 years ago, but there were signs then that journalism was not doing well. The Internet immediately put a lot of pressure on that world. It was clear to me that I did not have a future in journalism for personal reasons, but I also saw the future for publishing on the Internet and thought it a more interesting place to be.

Q: What was ClickZ.com?

AH: We put up one article per day with the goal of helping businesses market themselves online. It was funny because, back then, there weren’t a whole lot of options. Newsletters, eblasts and social media, none of that existed.

Essentially, most of our pieces talked about banner advertising – how to make the ads stand out and how to figure out where to put them.

Q: You must have felt like a pioneer?

AH: It was a lot of fun and it was very small for a while since there were so few companies doing business online. Most companies didn’t even have a website. Amazon was pretty new and so the whole idea of using the Internet to market a business was a pretty radical concept. But it was a fun place to be and it was very cool to watch all of the new firms and technologies suddenly emerge to service that market. It reminds me a lot of what is happening right now with social media – a lot of changes and a lot of energy.

Q: Where did your business ventures take you next?

AH: Eventually, into the idea of using email for marketing. The one-to-one email marketing industry was taking off with people like Don Pepper and Martha Rogers leading the way.

Remember, this was a time before spam was even a word! We were one of the first companies to host an email marketing conference. Back then it was a radical idea. We got 400 marketers and businesses in a ballroom together in Boston in 1999.

Q: So how did you find your way back to content development?

AH: The bottom line is that I was always doing content. At ClickZ, I was the President but also Chief Content Officer. In fact, I’m pretty sure I was the first person to have that title because I headed up content. We took the print publishing model and adapted it to the online space. We were one of the first to do that in the B2B world.

Using content to build an audience was always my job, but as businesses started to follow the same route, I realized I could be a resource for them since I’d been doing it my whole career.

Q: When did you first realize the opportunity?

AH: As early as 2000, I was telling brands they should hire a site editor or an editorial person to manage their content. Again, this was a radical idea because companies at the time were simply putting brochures up online. At the time, I wasn’t calling it “content,” I was saying things

”Today, you have the opportunity to connect with your customers directly. You don’t have to beg for coverage through media or buy that coverage with advertising.”

like, “Pay attention to your editorial or to what you’re publishing.” At the same time, content has always been part of what I think about in how I relate to the Web, so it was an easy transition to helping companies think about it, too.

Q: Why should companies invest in content?

AH: For a couple of reasons. The first is simply because you can! Today, you have the opportunity to connect with your customers directly. You don’t have to beg for coverage through media or buy that coverage with advertising. Why wouldn’t you want to own that ability when you now have your own media property?

In the B2B world, your customer can be 90 percent of the way through the sales process

f

MY FAVORITE SOCIAL CAMPAIGN BEN & JERRY’S ‘CAPTURE EUPHORIA’ I’m a big fan of Ben & Jerry’s social activities. They don’t have a huge social team but they’re very active and and they tell the bigger story. My favorite example is their “Capture Euphoria” Instagram campaign, where they curated photos of people in euphoric moments – a man standing on top of a mountain, for example, or a grandfather holding his grandson for the first time – and linked them with a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream experience. In doing so, they became a seamless part of their customers’

conversations about great life experiences. The campaign was about aligning with values that the company could get behind.

In a nice touch, the company then used the best content in their local advertising.

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Spring 2014

COVER STORY

HOW TO WRITE ‘KILLER’ BLOG POSTS

My three keys to writing useful, entertaining and inspired content.

Your blog is the hub of your online content, so before you engage on any other social channels or before you produce any other content like e-books or videos, you have to have a home base. All brands need some kind of flexible content management system – and the main value of a blog is that it is flexible and simple to manage – you don’t need to call IT any time you want to change something. Here are three thoughts to help get you started.

1. Set a content

2. Always look to

3. A nswer common

If you’re starting from scratch, you’ve got to think through your content marketing strategy first.

Who do you want to talk to and what do you want to say to them? Work through those big questions first and it’ll be easier to figure out what to publish. Think also about what you want your customers to do next – submit an email address or download a PDF, etc.

Always have a clear goal for each piece of content.

The next step is to identify where your company can add true value. If you’re a real estate company that sells apartment buildings, for example, you might want to create a special guide that shows people what it’s like to live in the neighborhood in which your buildings are located. Again, it goes back to creating content that is useful and helpful for others.

A good place to start with blogs is to answer the questions your company most often receives. Ask your customer service team to tell you the most commonly asked questions and then answer them. Don’t make it too complicated; one question per post is more than enough. And don’t forget that content isn’t always writing. You can pick up your iPhone and shoot a video to answer a question.

strategy

add value

FAQs

QUICK TIP: Don’t forget the importance of video content People love video and it’s so much more engaging than text. It should be an integral component of your content marketing strategy because it’s easier than ever to produce good video today. There are so many tools and technologies to help you these days – there are almost zero barriers to entry.

through researching online, connecting with others on Facebook and Twitter and asking for opinions on your products and services, before they actually raise their hand, pick up the phone or contact one of your sales staff. So the question becomes, what are your customers finding out about you when they’re looking for you online?

Q: You talk about the creation and

“Your content shouldn’t be about what you do or what you sell, but about how you help others and what you do for others.”

curation of content – what’s the difference?

AH: Creating content is pretty self-explanatory – it’s the creation of video, white papers, blog posts, etc. But there’s a big opportunity with curation, too, since it’s not only your own generated content that your audience will find useful. In today’s world, there’s a lot of content out there on your industry and business sector.

Curating that content should be an important part of your overall content marketing strategy.

The ability to stay on top of what’s happening within your own area of expertise, being able to find the right content, comment on it and then share it within your community will become increasingly valuable.

Q: What is the formula for creating great content?

AH: It needs to be useful, enjoyable and inspired. First, it must help your customer and it must be created with empathy in mind.

Ask yourself, what does this piece of content do to help your customer solve a problem or make a decision? Second, it needs to be fun or enjoyable at some level. You shouldn’t, for example, produce a 17-page white paper to explain something that could be covered in a single blog post. Third, it needs to be inspired – a true story, an amazing fact or piece of data, or a story told in an extremely creative way.

Q: What are the most common mistakes companies make with content marketing?

AH: First and foremost, they don’t put their customer first. The default position in marketing is to want to talk about yourself when really you should be talking about your customers. Your content shouldn’t be about what you do or what you sell, but about how you help others and what you do for others. The second thing is that companies aren’t patient enough. They think that if they put up a couple of blog posts, things will magically happen. But you’ve got to create good quality content over a period of time.

Q: How long will it take to see results?

AH: I always say that you should plan for at least six months. Ideally, I would like to see companies give it a full year, but I know that’s hard for many businesses to accept. If you adhere to the formula we talked about – useful, informative, inspired – you should see results within six to nine months. But it’s not just about creating content; it’s about figuring out what you want the customer to do next. Another common oversight is leaving the customer hanging after

Spring 2014

you’ve given them a great piece of content, so it’s important to build a subscriber strategy for your audience.

Q: In an increasingly crowded content space, how do you stand out?

AH: A couple of ways. First, you need to be incredibly useful to the people you want to talk to. Brands often think that they need to make a big splash and ‘go viral’ with their content but you don’t need everybody to love your content; you just need to attract the people you really want to talk to. I also think that most companies don’t do enough to differentiate with their voice or their perspective. Tell me why I should care about you? Why are you different? What value are you offering me that’s different from your competitors?

Q: What role does community play within content marketing?

AH: Communities are important because social media gives you access to people in a way that you’ve never had before. The question becomes how do you use these social tools to build a community around whatever you’re selling or promoting. Communities can help you extend that message. It’s not just about getting good at content, it’s getting good at content marketing.

How do you get the people within your network involved in your story? How do you get them to share it for you and how do you get them to become repeat customers? That’s where the role of community comes in.

The secret to leveraging community is having a subscription model that enables people to share it with their friends or colleagues.

Q: When is it acceptable to inject a sales pitch into online conversations?

AH: A sales pitch is relevant if it’s related to the conversation and is seamlessly integrated.

Companies need to think hard about how they can become caretakers of their online communities and nurture their growth. If there’s an opportunity to throw in a product solution when it’s obvious that there’s a problem that needs solving, then, yes absolutely it’s worth

mentioning. But it’s important to first build relationships with the people who are part of your community. It’s like dating – it’s generally not a good idea to ask for too much too soon from the relationship.

Q: Tell us how you would leverage the major social platforms, starting with Facebook.

AH: Facebook is a great place to talk to people who already know you and get them more involved. It will also be an important hub for visual content. Facebook recently announced that brand pages without a visual component won’t get the same play as those that do.

Q: Twitter?

AH: I use Twitter a lot for social listening and to figure out what marketers are talking about and what type of subjects start conversations.

It’s a great way to discover what interests people as well as to amplify what people in your community are doing. It’s also a good place to engage more on a one-to-one basis.

Q: LinkedIn? AH: Depending on your line of business, I think it’s a tremendous resource. I’ve long held the opinion that it is the dark horse of social media and that it will be left standing when all the others are gone. It’s an incredibly robust platform and they are making smart moves to complete that transformation into a full business resource and not just a place people go when they’re looking for a job. It’s also a great place to keep on top of business trends and to find out what’s going on with people in your network. Some of the groups are interesting, too. There are a lot of good conversations going on in there.

Q: Google+?

AH: I understand its importance from a search perspective, but as a community platform it’s not that interesting to me.

Q: Instagram?

AH: I love Instagram because it forces you to tell a super-short story about your company.

09

I love the way it trains you to think of your audience first and to adopt a customer mindset, not a corporate one.

Q: What is the next evolution in online and social conversations?

AH: I think the challenge for a lot of companies will be to provide dynamic quality experiences because not many of them are there yet.

Thinking through the customer experience is where this is all heading. Ultimately, the goal of content is to help customers and give them reasons to choose you – so I think where we’re going is toward enhanced customer experiences.

Q: How can modern marketers keep pace with this rapid evolution?

AH: While there’s a lot going on in and around marketing, the goal is still simple. Think about what makes sense for your company and think about where your customers are and how you can help them. How can you help your customers make the decisions they need to make? If you can answer those questions, the platforms and the strategies will take care of themselves. Always remember, people aren’t sitting around thinking about your brand; they’re sitting around thinking about their problems. So figure out ways you can help.

Q: Where does print fit into the content mix these days?

AH: Print is still the piece of content that people value most. I have my own blog and I write for marketingprofs.com, but I get the most comments from people who have seen my byline in the print version of Entrepreneur magazine. Print has a gravitas that an online magazine does not have. That tells me print is far from dead. People still value print and I see it as part of any robust content program. n

WANT TO READ MORE? Win a copy of Ann’s book Content Rules!

Scan the QR code to enter, or register at: www.hopkinsprinting.com/content-rules

10

Spring 2014

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media Brand Building How to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn to initiate conversations, build communities and grow sales. By Tim Sweeney

W

hen it comes to social media – with the probable exception of your LinkedIn page – what you post, when you post and how you say it, probably isn’t much of a science. As long as you’re not sabotaging your life or career with questionable comments and photos, it’s mostly all in good fun.

When it comes to building your company’s brand, though, how you use social media should be as thoroughly planned and researched as where you buy print ads or how you email your database. Certain social media channels, for example, will be better suited for your brand than others and, therefore, more effective at connecting with your target audience.

“Each social platform serves a purpose,” says Gene Paek, a digital marketing executive with experience in consumer packaged goods, sporting goods, technology and premium lifestyle brands and now principal at his own company, Ideate Digital. “Facebook is a place of conversation. Twitter is a place for news aggregation.

LinkedIn is a place for networking. Instagram is a place for voyeurism. Pinterest is a place for inspiration.

YouTube is a place for entertainment.”

As it is in traditional advertising channels, the goal is to be in the right medium with the correct messages and content for the audience you’re targeting. Here are some tactics to make these four social media channels assist your brand building efforts.

Facebook One day, not long ago, you probably went to your Facebook page and found that friends of your parents were ‘friending’ you. It was not a figment of your imagination.

The average age of a Facebook user is now 30 – five years older than it was three years ago. But with age comes maturity and, hopefully, a wallet that offers more purchase power. That is why Facebook, with its 500 million users, is still a place you likely need to have a brand presence. Simply being there is not enough, however. Garnering ‘likes’ from a loyal group of followers on Facebook means taking advantage

of the platform in a way that speaks specifically to them. “Facebook is like a television. It’s amazing technology, but useless without content from your cable providers,” explains Paek. “If you’re a small business creating a Facebook page, you will need great content. Otherwise, that page will becomes useless.” A key component to possessing a successful Facebook page is measuring what type of content your fans respond to, then continuing to provide more of that for them to consume and share.

“Just like cable TV, the content you post better be engaging,” says Paek, who points to a restaurant he worked with as a prime example.

Before he began working with them,

11

Spring 2014

Twitter

“If you’re a small business

thinking about creating a Facebook page, you will need the establishment simply posted pictures of the restaurant and guests, thinking that such content would gain traction. Paek’s new approach involved producing more informative content.

“Content that showcased why their 100 percent organic, freshly-ground meats were better than the competition,” he explains. “Why their freshly baked buns tasted so good and why their fresh-cut fries were so delicious. Content that didn’t just show the what, but also the how and why.” Telling a strong story through content is crucial to increasing the amount of interaction you have with your audience, as opposed to just chasing “likes.” Paek urges businesses to monitor the number of shares their content receives, how many comments a post receives, as well as what the interaction rate was for certain types of

great content. Otherwise, that page will becomes useless.”

content – posting a status update versus posting photos versus posting video versus posting polls.

“Followers are always an automatic key performance indicator for any social platform,” Paek says. “But it’s like television’s Nielsen ratings or magazines and their circulations. If this is all you care about, there are many easy tactics to generate huge gains, but they can be worthless.

It’s not about amassing likes. It’s about developing content people want to engage in and share.”

Most of the universe uses Twitter to get the latest news on topics and people they’re interested in. It may sound challenging to be relevant and entertaining in fewer than 140 characters, but neither the character count nor your brand identity should limit your potential. For consumers to become familiar with your brand on Twitter, they need to see your logo and hear from you when they check in, so tweet frequently and provide links to useful content.

“Remember that Twitter is so of-the-moment,” Paek stresses. “Ever have someone favorite or reply to something you tweeted 48 hours earlier?

It seems like they were on delay, right? Social media is a mix of content and what’s-happeningright-now. Brands that take advantage of this are finding the right opportunities at the right time to be relevant and timely.”

For starters, your Twitter handle and avatar should display your brand clearly. Develop relationships by interacting with and following influential people in your field, such as journalists.

However, the key to a successful Twitter following is interaction with relevant followers, not just followers in general. A number of brands struggle in this area, while celebrities seem to do it well.

“OREO has done some newsworthy and amazing tweets in 2013, really setting the bar for brands that do real-time tweeting,” Paek says.

“But what I’ve seen is less about product brands and more of celebrity and athlete brands that are doing an amazing job. They let followers into their inner circles. Shaquille O’Neal has been out of the NBA for years, but has a huge social following and influence. It’s no surprise that you see him in more TV commercials than LeBron James.”

When it comes to tweeting to your followers, stick to a simple strategy. Be consistent in how you say things because that will determine how your brand will be perceived. Paek stresses the importance of defining ‘buckets’ of content you will post on Twitter, the tone you will write in, how you’ll respond to replies, and your businesses “follow” strategy – who your brand wants to follow and align with on Twitter. “Brands that are successful on Twitter aren’t the ones that just post news and links about themselves,” he says, “but also share content and produce specific content for Twitter followers to consume.”

f

12

Spring 2014

SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram Since its inception in 2010, Instagram has grown to more than 150 million active users and has had more than 16 billion photos shared. Every day, there are more than 1.2 billion likes on photos and the number of photos shared per day is in the 55 million range. Within two months of its launch, there were more than 1 million people using it. If, as Paek says, “Instagram is a place for voyeurism,” there are evidently plenty of wannabe spies out there.

For many brands, Instagram offers a chance to connect with consumers through images and brief descriptions, which is how much of today’s audience would actually prefer to be communicated with. There are more than 1,300 brands on Instagram at the moment, with Nike, Starbucks and the NBA leading the charge.

“Instagram is one of my favorite social platforms. Seeing life through the photographic perspective of another is so intriguing to me,” Paek says. “Brands need to understand that followers don’t just want to see product shots, but instead see creative photographic and videographic perspectives from the brand.

I’ve also seen the shift from brands leveraging consumer generated content to leveraging content produced by social influencers that know how to create amazing content on Instagram.”

Mercedes Benz used this strategy when the company launched its new CLA vehicle with an Instagram campaign called ‘clatakethewheel. com’. The premium car company leveraged Instagram users who had large followings by letting them photograph the vehicle for the brand. “It delivered amazing results the brand never could have created on its own,” Paek says.

Sony has done a remarkable job increasing its followers and consumer engagement by staging themed photo contests. Urging your audience to participate with photos also creates more online content around your brand. As your audience takes and posts photos pertaining to your brand, they are also promoting you among their followers, like they would if they shared your content on Facebook. Remember that Instagram only searches for hashtags and locations so if you want your content to be discoverable, tag your photos so that users can find them.

“Done well, a branded LinkedIn page offers the opportunity to emphasize to your customers all of your expertise and qualifications, reinforcing why they do business with you.”

LinkedIn With 260 million users worldwide and 184 million visitors per month, publicly held networking giant LinkedIn certainly has the numbers to connect your brand to more potential consumers. For most businesses, it’s also a somewhat untapped avenue for brand building. Due to its nature as a professional networking site, LinkedIn must be treated differently than channels like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Its users are there for professional purposes, such as to keep tabs on possible employment opportunities and to stay connected to professional contacts.

“LinkedIn is an interesting social platform,”

Paek says. “I think it’s a viable place for brands to leverage programs as long as they remember why the user is on LinkedIn—for business and networking. If your program provides a business or career advantage, great. If it doesn’t, the program doesn’t belong there. What good is fresh seafood in a vegan restaurant?”

One area in which LinkedIn can greatly benefit your brand is in your relationships with customers because a branded LinkedIn page allows them to see your brand beyond your website and advertising. For whatever reason (probably because it’s less flashy), a LinkedIn page is commonly considered a more objective representation of your brand than your website.

If done well, a branded LinkedIn page offers the opportunity to emphasize to your customers all of your expertise and qualifications, reinforcing why they do business with you. An effective brand LinkedIn page should include

Spring 2014

13

SOCIAL MEDIA AT KEY LIFE STAGES

If you’re looking to talk to a specific audience, you first must understand their preferred platforms.

posts on new products, accomplishments and even announcements of new hires that will improve the company’s products and services.

Although a number of companies still block their employees from accessing LinkedIn at work, employees can be a company’s greatest brand ambassadors on LinkedIn by sharing company accomplishments with their own connections.

Regardless of which social media channel is right for your brand, however, Paek advises companies to understand the merit in staying true to themselves and recognizing that they have followers/fans and connections for a reason. “You can’t be everything to everybody.

Instead, focus on engaging users based on your brand pillars,” he says. “And don’t forget, they’re following your brand because they’re attracted to you or because your brand represents something about them, so you’re already doing something right.” n

Teens

Late parenthood

Teenagers today are rapidly moving away from traditional social media channels like Facebook and Twitter toward niche social networks where they won’t find their parents hanging out. Platforms like Kik, Snapchat and Instagram, which deliver the instant connectivity that the younger generation craves, are seen as the new cool place to connect, while Facebook is viewed as old-fashioned, long-winded and cluttered. This life stage is all about sharing experiences, peer validation, and being able to engage using the latest technologies and tools.

These are adults whose children are grown and out of the house, or whose kids have mostly completed their schooling. These types of parents can suddenly find themselves with more time on their hands and want to give advice, rather than ask for it. They have been through the young adult and early parental life stages and now want to talk about and reflect on their experiences. Blogging picks back up with this group. This life stage is all about giving advice and sharing past experiences.

Young adulthood Once viewed as the “blogger generation” there has been a decline in blogging among young adults in recent years, most likely lured away by social media and mobile.

Facebook and LinkedIn are the two networks 20-somethings prefer for their social experiences.

While this life stage remains about sharing experiences, professional development and personal connection are also motivators.

Early parenthood This life stage is all about reaching out for help and feedback. Social usage becomes less about the age of the parent, and more about the age

of the child. Parents (especially new parents) use their social networks to gather information on how to perform best as a caregiver. New parents use social media mainly to ask questions and get answers to adapt to their new role.

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Spring 2014

EMAIL MARKETING

HOW TO OPTIMIZE, MANAGE & MONETIZE YOUR SUBSCRIBER LIST Maximizing the return on your email list isn’t rocket science, but it does require some strategic planning, says Tim Sweeney.

T

he easy analogy for sending great email content to a poorly maintained database of email subscribers is the proverbial tree falling in the woods. In truth, creating marketing content to package into your emails and then misfiring on who it goes to involves much more wasted effort than simply falling down. To maximize the effect of the creative you are producing for your email communications, there are a number of things that have to go right along the way. For starters, you need to know that the people you are talking to are, in fact, actually those people.

Here are some ways to ensure your efforts are not going to waste.

Spring 2014

1. Optimize your email list

2. Segment your audience

If you were to hire an email marketing provider to bolster your email distribution, the first thing that company would likely do with your database is clean it up with a data check. This involves correcting typos and misspelled names that were incorrectly entered into your system.

Having poor records in your client base has a trickle down effect on every part of your business. Don’t despair in finding that you have more incorrect names on your overall database than you thought.

People switch jobs and delete old email accounts quite regularly. By ‘pruning’ your database, your open rate percentage will increase because your list will now have more integrity. Some email experts even recommend deleting people from your distribution list who have not opened any email communications in the last year.

Before giving up on them entirely, you might try targeting ‘non-openers’ with a special incentive or offer. You might even choose to be more direct, asking them if they still want to receive communications from your brand. Remember that it’s better to send a campaign to 7,000 subscribers who are fully engaged in your brand than to send it to 10,000 people, of whom half never respond to your communications.

After cleansing your distribution list to ensure that you’ll be emailing people who signed up to hear from you, it’s time to set about utilizing it for all its potential.

That means segmenting your list based on subject matter that your subscribers have an interest in. No matter how specific the subject matter, there will be aspects of your email content that some recipients will find useless and others will be thrilled to receive.

The real work in this area is done well in advance, ideally when the consumer first signs up to join your mailing list. Assuming you have the capability to segment your database in emails, the questions you ask new subscribers during the initial sign-up period are crucial to maximizing what you send them in the future.

For certain product-specific communications, you might want to think

“The questions you ask new subscribers during the sign-up are crucial to maximizing what you send them in the future.”

5 WAYS TO GROW YOUR DATABASE

Simple methods for building your subscriber audience.

Once you’ve cleansed your database and optimized how you send your emails, it’s time to speak to more potential consumers. There are several ways to add subscribers to your email communications, and most of them don’t involve any new-age tricks. Remember, you’re seeking subscribers who want to hear from your brand, not just names you can buy.

email. It can live online ‑ on your YouTube channel or website, for example – and be delivered via your email communications. The days are over where every item in an email has to lead directly to a sale. Emails can be about brand interaction and ‘soft-selling’ with brand-related content. If it’s done well, your emails may even get shared or forwarded.

1. Create great content

2. Provide an incentive

It may sound trivial, but good content keeps existing subscribers and attracts new ones. Remember, content doesn’t have to reside in your

People love to win things.

Even if the odds are stacked against them, your social media followers are often more than willing to register

about segmenting based on age range, stage of life or even geographical location.

There are too many stories of companies trying to sell snow shovels to people living in southern Florida or emailing married couples about a new singles cruise to the Bahamas. If you plan to offer multiple campaigns in the future, you might even include a link in your email that directs subscribers to a location on your website where they can update their profile or submit more detailed personal preferences.

Some brands even use this platform to ask consumers how often they would like to receive communications. n

their email in return for the opportunity to win something. You can even reward people for subscribing to your newsletters. In that case, the carrot you dangle could be a special discount on a future purchase.

3. Use all your available ‘contact’ resources Take advantage of other places to collect emails. Non-web locations like trade shows and external company events can provide great opportunities to gather new subscribers with a keen interest in your brand.

4. Make it easy and obvious for users to opt-in for content Include an opt-in link at the bottom of all web pages

that users will be engaged in, at the top of your sidebar (if you have one) and on your ‘About’ page. The About page is where people go to find out more about your company, so take full advantage of this interested audience by making it easy for them to elect to hear from you.

5. Promote the benefits of becoming an email subscriber

Do you offer special deals or incentives that can only be found in your weekly subscriber email? Let your customers know the benefits of being privy to whatever bonus comes in your email communications. Tell them on the receipt they get in store or on a banner on your website’s home page.

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Spring 2014

MY WORKING DAY

My Working Day

The evolving role of the account executive

By Helen Bellocq National Account Executive, Clear Channel

A

s a national account executive, my role involves selling out-ofhome and digital advertising. Much of my day is spent calling on clients, setting up meetings, preparing for those meetings and then following up. I spend a great deal of my time contacting media buying teams, as well as clients in their marketing departments, to generate dialogue and ultimately win revenue for the properties that I represent.

A fair amount of my day is also spent on deal maintenance – making sure that contracts are delivered as promised and that we are in tight communication with the agency team handling the media buy. I normally

sold NASCAR.com. When I pitched a large auto company on the West Coast, they wouldn’t even consider advertising on NASCAR.com. Their initial thought was to go straight to AutoTrader.com and Kelly Blue Book.

Keeping up with industry changes To execute original campaigns, you need to stay up-to-speed on the constant innovation in the industry.

Recognizing how a marketer might evaluate options is important if you want to stay relevant. With existing clients, it’s amazing where you can learn things that lead to new business.

I was recently reading Vogue and saw that Lexus was involved in sponsorships around innovation. I knew that CNN.com had recently

someone simply doesn’t want to give feedback on your proposal. But what’s important is digging deeper to learn from these situations. Winning the business is obviously important, but getting information on why you lose is really important, too. Did they look at your proposal? Was it too expensive or not creative enough? I want to know how we can perform better the next time around. Recently, a medical company with a lot of big budget brands reviewed our proposal but

“When you stay on top of what your client and the industry are doing, that’s being a resource.” have about 10 client calls and some kind of ‘event’ each day.

NASCAR just didn’t resonate with the client because of the perception of NASCAR’s fan base. I explained that it’s actually the second most attended sport in the U.S. and that the brand loyalty of the fans is exceptional.

However, opening a media buyer’s mind to something that is outside of what they normally do can be difficult because if they spend money with you and the promotion doesn’t do well, they look bad in front of their client.

Dealing with client perceptions One of the biggest issues I face on a daily basis is the perception of potential clients. People are comfortable with their tried and trusted media partners, so it’s crucial to get the right information in front of the decision-makers. When I worked for Turner in the Los Angeles office, I

MY DAILY READING

launched a new area of its website covering innovation. I contacted Lexus’ media buying agency to see whom they were targeting and was then able to tie that to what CNN.com was doing. When you stay on top of what your client and the industry are doing, that’s being a resource.

Money doesn’t grow on trees ‘We just don’t have the budget,’ is often the standard response when

didn’t make the buy with us because we weren’t on its media buying agency’s preferred partner list.

That’s a worst-case scenario because I could have spent my time on something else had I known that fact earlier. The better the relationship with a client, the less you miss with those types of things. But it’s an important lesson and knowing why we didn’t get the business will help the next time around. n

I read up to 20 different marketing websites and blogs to stay current on industry trends. Here are my five favorites:

Digiday.com

AllThingsD.com

eMarketer.com

Adweek.com

AdAge.com

Read features on brands, get the lowdown on which agencies are executing great campaigns, and learn about the strategies and tactics advancing the publishing field. There’s a calendar of events, such as agency, publishing and brand summits, plus job postings.

The Wall Street Journal’s digital technology site has more content than you can probably digest in a lifetime - let alone on a daily basis. News stories from the ad world, reviews of tech products and interviews with industry leaders make All Things D a one-stop shop.

Making informed decisions is a vital part of good marketing.

That’s where eMarketer.com comes in. The mostly subscription site provides access to daily articles and charts about trending topics, but the real gold is in the data and insights they gather from in-depth market reports.

Stay current on all things advertising, including the stories behind campaigns, newsmakers and Q&As with brand leaders. Adweek covers TV, the media, branding and technology. There’s also an extensive jobs board and a talent gallery for creatives to showcase their work.

If you work in the advertising world, you know Advertising Age. From the news of the day to the latest agency gossip, AdAge.com has you covered.

Going to a cocktail party full of ad geeks? A quick read of the homepage will supply enough conversation ammo to get you through the night.

Calendar showcase Each quarter, Hopkins Printing produces and distributes a quarterly calendar and notepad that have been designed for Hopkins Printing by one of our talented design clients. We are pleased to showcase the design

by Renee Handy, Designer for Ohio Christian University., for our 2014 Q2 calendar project. april SUN

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Printed by Hopkins Printing, 614-509-1080.

Designed by Renee Handy, 501-226-4994.

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