Digital Marketing Skills

There are times when one needs to be sure one is dealing with skilled, thoroughly trained professionals.

A very senior and experienced Marketing Director said to me the other day: “You know Mike, the single biggest thing holding back digital right now is a shortage of experienced, knowledgeable people who really know what they’re doing online. I can’t hire them as employees and I can’t find enough of them on the agency side. Of course, there are plenty of people with experience of design and build, SEO or paid search, but they tend to be do-ers rather than thinkers, and there is a lot of dead wood out there- at every level, from project manager to MD. And don’t even get me started on Social Media - talk about The Kingdom of the Blind…”

Then she referred me to this video, which on one hand demonstrated that she had a sense of humour, but on the other left me hoping that I’d never told her I was a “social media expert”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKCdexz5RQ8

In September last year, figures produced by the UK Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC revealed that £1.75bn was spent on online advertising in the first 6 months of 2009, which meant that online had overtaken TV as the UK’s biggest advertising medium. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/sep/30/internet-biggest-uk-advertising-sector . This was a ‘world first’ for a developed advertising market. The announcement shocked many of the ‘Old Guard’ in Marketing Departments and their ad agencies. There was no denying that Digital had arrived. TV had been the leading ad medium for almost 50 years; now online had overtaken it in ten.

The point my client was making was that the rapid growth of Digital has left what HR people call a “skills gap”. At all levels there is a lack of experience and there is widespread concern that this is actually holding back the emergence of Digital as a serious, grown-up and respected part of the marketing mix. There is no doubt that budgets are moving from traditional media into digital channels, but for many marketing directors this is something of a voyage into the unknown; it is certainly difficult to know where to get impartial advice; everyone who appears to know about Digital seems to have an agenda; most of all, it could be argued, the big digital agencies. Mistakes are being made, opportunities missed. Cowboys (naming no names) are surviving and even prospering.

As we know, pretty much everything in Digital is measurable but this may not be as big an advantage as it sounds. Many online marketers are currently drowning in a sea of analytics: an excess of data and a shortage of actionable information. They are all too frequently at the mercy of the ‘Web Analytics Guru’ whose position of power is akin to that of the car mechanic dealing with the distressed and ignorant customer; sucking his teeth, shaking his head and naming an outrageous sum: “Bad news I'm afraid; your big end’s gone…” And then doing a poor job…

So how is the buyer (of digital marketing services) to find reputable, professional suppliers? Well for one thing, I suggest you should ask your agency about its policy on training its people. Granted, and organization’s involvement in professional training and qualifications doesn’t guarantee that its employees are competent, but it does show a commitment by the employer to professional development and a willingness to invest in their people and their careers.

Digital marketing is certainly growing: driven by technology and also partly by a belief that is it more measurable so that ROI can be demonstrated. However unless we, as a profession, can train a cadre of Digital Marketing professionals, there is a real danger that there will be a backlash; the CFO will turn to the Marketing Director demanding proof of return and if it is not forthcoming, next year’s budget may well be smaller. (“Well we tried Digital…”)

It has been suggested that ‘Digital’ as a discriminator will soon disappear as online channels are integrated into the overall marketing mix and the big ad agencies increasingly ‘get’ digital (very much as TV was rapidly integrated into Press, Poster and Radio advertising agencies in the 1960s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQdihTFaKj8 ). The jury is still out on how quickly and to what extent this will happen but regardless of this trend there will still be a need for skilled practitioners who understand the unique nature of online advertising, of natural and paid search and social media and how they all fit together into the marketing mix. There is already a substantial body of knowledge about Digital but it needs to be shared more effectively; training and professional qualifications can help, increasing digital expertise and understanding both in marketing departments and in their agencies.

It is in everyone’s interest, and the interest of marketing in general, that sufficient people in the marketing profession get the right training in digital skills so that they can use these exciting new channels in the appropriate manner; as a key part of the marketing mix; alongside, not necessarily instead of, ‘traditional’ media. This means not only learning relevant craft skills / techie knowledge but also gaining strategic understanding of how Digital channels can be utilized within the overall marketing mix, which of course is based on principles formulated long before the internet was invented.

Time is money of course, so you will want the highest quality, most appropriate training, tailored to your specific needs; why not resolve to send your people (and dare I suggest yourself?) on a professionally developed and delivered Digital Marketing course? For your highest fliers, consider a professional qualification; the right people will find this highly motivating and better people get better results! Don't look at training and professional development in the rapidly-evolving Digital Channels as a cost; think of it as an investment in your people and their future - i.e. the future of your organisation.

Mike Berry is a Digital Marketing Blogger and Trainer and a Consultant for APRAIS, the international marketing relationships consultancy.

mike.berry.mail@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/mikeberrytweets

http://blogbymikeberry.blogspot.com/

Blogging and e-newsletters – a formula for success

(This blog entry follows on from the last one written by Marie on 20th December last year.)

Most marketers will at some stage or other have been involved in producing a customer newsletter. Back in the day these were long drawn out affairs involving copywriters, editorial teams, a designer, typesetter, external printer and fulfilment house. Nowadays they are far more likely to be digital e-newsletters and all you need for success is a mailing list, an internet connection and something to write about.

I’ll tackle content ideas another time but for now, here’s a case study on how I’ve developed a successful model of writing and publishing e-newsletters.

I’ve entitled this post “Blogging and e—newsletters” because I use the two in an integrated manner. For the purpose of this article my business is irrelevant really, but if the context helps you, I sell training DVDs online to church based musicians. I blog most days and every week or so collect the posts together to create a newsletter which is then e-mailed. My more tech-savvy customers get the blogs as they happen on RSS feed but most still prefer a less frequent newsletter by email. And how do I know this? Well having been blogging and emailing for a fair time I then asked my customers what they thought of the frequency and content using a wonderful free online survey tool called www.surveymonkey.com. In case you are interested my survey is here. The results were great and showed an extraordinarily high satisfaction rate (you can see the summary responses here).

Firstly, WHO to send it to?

A permission based list is a no brainer. Don’t buy-in lists, instead focus energy and resources on creating your own. This will be previous and existing customers, prospects, industry contacts, journalists etc etc. Create a simple sign-up form on your website (offer an incentive if you like), capture email details at trade shows, publish your newsletter via your Facebook fan page, your Tweetfeed, offer it to relevant people in your LinkedIn network. In three years we’ve grown our business database to about 20,000 and we run a very small niche business so that’s quite substantial.

Don’t forget to send a copy to your own staff – its good internal marketing. And if you’re publishing via a blog, encourage them to contribute their own comments.

Secondly, HOW to send it

First rule – don’t use Outlook. Outlook is simply not designed to cope with large lists and if you do use it for multiple email addresses you’ll find your email frequently classified as spam.

I’ve used a low cost piece of software called Gammadyne very successfully. It integrates with my database and I had a designer put a newsletter template together for me. You will need a tech to help you the first time but after that its fairly straightforward. The downside with software like Gammadyne is that its sent using your own mail servers which increases the likelihood of the mailing being classified as spam, and also needs to be pulsed so on a big list can take several hours to send.

More recently I’ve been using Mailchimp. This is a hosted solution, beautifully simple and very low cost. I’ve found our click through rates to be far better and the software will manage your unsubscribes and bounces for you. You get lots of data and statistics with great tracking functionality which will also let you discover your most and least popular articles (see screen shot below). They even have a mailbox inspection service which checks your content for spam trigger words and provides a snapshot of how your newsletter will look in different browsers. Click to read my recent Christmas newsletter to give you an idea of my approach to content.

Content - full articles or snippets?

Assuming your e-newsletter has more than one story, you will need to decide whether to publish the full article (main drawback is a very lengthy newsletter) or headline and teaser only (requiring the reader to click through to your website). I’ve gone for the latter approach because once on the website it’s clear from our web Analytics that they tend to stick around, browse and even buy.

I’ll make sure that each newsletter has a good cross section of articles. Remember that mine will all have been posted on the blog in the previous week so I need to be somewhat strategic in having a plan for what to post. You may have some fabulous CRM software which enables you to send different content to different customers depending on their preference, but as most of us probably don’t have that functionality, the best thing is to mix it up and provide something for everyone.

So I will have something funny, something serious and educational, an “ask the expert” question relevant to my industry and perhaps a video clip or podcast. I’ll integrate something more salesy such as a mention of a new product, but its important not to have your newsletter dismissed as a sales tool. People will rarely click and read heavy sales material. Use your articles to build trust and position yourself as a thought leader rather than to overtly generate sales. Trust me, the sales will come but you have to woo the customer first.

Cross links – retaining customers on the site

So by clicking on any of my newsletter teasers you will click through to the full post on the blog. I’ll try and find an engaging photo (www.istock.com is a great low cost source). The blog post itself should be well written, as succinct as possible, spell checked with hypertext links as appropriate.

I also try and add in a list at the end of other related posts on my site that readers may also be interested in. Search engines love this cross referencing and it’s a useful service to readers. I know from my Analytics that they are used – its also a great way of reminding readers of older posts.

Its all in the headline

Your open rate will be directly related to how good your headline is. I’ve found controversial headlines have great open rates, comedy is irresistible and celebrity names work well too. There is some great advice at Copyblogger.com

Other things to think about are the text you use in the “From” field on the email. I would recommend using your company or brand name as customers will already be familiar and less likely to consider it spam.

And think also about your subject line. Research shows that using the word “newsletter” improves open rates. I change the subject line with each issue to reflect the content of the newsletter, but a standard “Your Company Name Newsletter” is not a bad option.

It also makes sense to personalise your newsletter with your customer’s name. Again, research shows better open rates with personalisation.

Monitoring success

Google Analytics is a great free tool which will help you monitor click throughs to your website from any mailing you have done. Simply embed the code in your hypertext links before you send the mailing. Mailchimp and other providers will give you even more data such as click through rates (which you can benchmark against industry averages), open rates by country, forward rates and far more.

If you watch the popular articles, and the ones that are avoided you will soon learn what works. And if you are publishing the posts on a blog, you should get plenty of nice feedback from the comments section.

How often to send

My recommendation would be to start slow. Suddenly inundating your list with a weekly email when previously they have heard from you biannually is going to annoy them. Perhaps start with a monthly or quarterly newsletter. I would say its better to be more frequent with less content than publish some epic tome every six months. Think about the way you read email content sent to you. If it’s short and sweet you are a lot more likely to click and read.

If you are getting a good response with your first few newsletters then perhaps up the ante a little and start posting more frequently. Talk to customers and ask them what they think. Perhaps even try some split tests where half your list gets a weekly and half a monthly newsletter. See how the response rates vary.

But does it work?

In a word, yes. You do need to have the right content (and if you struggle to write well then perhaps look to outsource to a freelance copywriter) and you do need a reasonable mailing list. In the last month alone, our e-newsletter and blog have accounted for over a quarter of our sales. That’s more than search engines brought in despite our SEO being up there at the top of Google. And that’s a lot more than any expensive advertisements or trade shows will have brought in. The budget needed was peanuts. What was needed, however, and will continue to be needed is for me to make time on a regular basis to research and write something compelling. Are you up for the challenge?

I’ll finish with a quote from the guru of permission marketing, Seth Godin:

“It starts with permission, the understanding that the real asset most organizations can build isn't an amorphous brand but is in fact the privilege of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who want to get them.

It adds to that the fact that what people really want is the ability to connect to each other, not to companies. So the permission is used to build a tribe, to build people who want to hear from the company because it helps them connect, it helps them find each other, it gives them a story to tell and something to talk about.”

Marie Page runs an international e-business selling instructional DVDs teaching contemporary musical instruments. She blogs at http://musicademy.com/blog

Peer Review and Blogs

All academic subjects have journals that allow us to keep knowledge up-to-date. The best journals are subject to peer review, which in many cases is double-blind.

Reviewers are chosen. So an editor will send a manuscript to two or more "reviewers" for their comments. The identity of the author will be withheld from the reviewers, so the review is "blind". Reviewers are required to answer various questions which 'grade' the article, and to provide open-ended comments. The editor will return these comments to the original author/s, and may request that the article is modified. The reviewers' identities remain confidential throughout.

Authors of articles also have their own motivations. Again they are normally unpaid. Modern academia functions on the principle that Institutions are "better" if their professors, lecturers or teachers are "research-active". Government subsidy is often given to Institutions which have an ongoing record of research, which is shown by published articles. Anyone can publish articles, so preference goes to papers which have attracted a peer-review seal of approval, and presumably to avoid the possibility of friendship networks "dishonestly" securing funds, a "double-blind" mechanism has emerged.

One disadvantage is the speed. The entire process takes at least six weeks. Add to this the possibility of re-submission, delays from reviewers, no space for publication and the time received in relation to the publishing cycles, then some articles may not appear for a year after submission. Another disadvantage relates to the quality of the referees. They can make factual errors themselves or may let their opinions bias their view of the research. They may confuse their job with a tutorial role. The system is an accepted way for quality to be controlled.

In the modern day Internet publishing brings such information to us fast and free. White Papers, Newsletters and Blogs deliver the same knowledge but without the barriers of obtaining journal articles. But they are not peer-reviewed, so HOW DO WE EVALUATE THEM? How do we decide what is a high quality blog? We will explore these issues in this blog, but for now take a look at this link which is one way Blogs are evaluated.

http://uk.cision.com/Resources-page/Top-UK-Blogs/Top-UK-Blogs-Methodology/

and if you are really interested see the references below

Emerald Guide to Peer Review

http://info.emeraldinsight.com/authors/guides/review.htm

Poole, M.E. (1993) Reviewing for research excellence: expectations, procedures and outcomes, Australian Journal of Education, Vol 37, no 3, pp219-230.

Rotfeld, H. (1997). We Unequivocally Do Not Thank the @#$*& Anonymous Reviewers, Marketing Educator, 16 (Fall 1997):6 accessed on 2 January 2009 at http://www.auburn.edu/~rotfehj/REVIEWERS.html

Smith, J. (1991) Peer Review:A Vital Ingredient, Serials Vol 4, No 2, July 1991.

By Nigel Bradley, Market Researcher and Academic