Overall, we think the evening proved that the Salt Lake market is teeming with creative thinking and individuals who aren’t just chasing “shiny objects” but looking at the digital arena as a critical component of any marketing strategy. As Craig said: “It shouldn’t be ‘digital’ or ‘new media’ anymore. It’s about engagement and integrated media strategy.”

We’ve heard it countless times, but strategies shouldn’t (can’t!) be silo-ed anymore. Think of some of the most memorable campaigns you’ve seen recently; The Old Spice “Man Your Man Could Be” comes to mind (though now slightly tainted by the long locks of Fabio…) This campaign originally aired during the Superbowl but then was posted to YouTube where it received tens of millions of page views. Following that and the overwhelming buzz (particularly on Twitter) the commercial began to receive, they took it one step further – directly responding to tweets via YouTube.

The results were phenomenal. The company saw a 107% sales increase and had a combined 135 million YouTube views. Individual products that were slipping in sales even saw spikes after being shown in the spots.

Another interesting topic was the evolution of the traditional marketing funnel – with social media, we’ve seen a new approach: awareness building –> favorability –> likelihood to recommend –> intent to purchase. Studies have also shown that consumers exposed to a brand through social media and paid search are more likely to search for the brand later and fall lower in this funnel to begin with.

As we develop marketing strategies for clients, it’s no longer individual departments (advertising, digital and PR) meeting separately and coming together with multiple ideas at the end to see if everything fits together. We now approach things from an integrated stance from the very beginning. This applies to in-house marketing departments as well. To promote a new product launch, store opening, company milestone, etc. sit all departments down in one room and brainstorm how it can be promoted across all platforms. Should a Facebook page be created for your new product, supported by paid search on certain terms and a TV or print campaign that drives people to connect on the Facebook page? Would a social media hub on your website help generate excitement and drive consumers to platforms where they can talk about your offering with other like-minded individuals? How can you build an army of advocates?

The possibilities are endless but should operate as a cohesive effort rather than individual tactics. This way, you will be hitting your target audience from multiple angles and ultimately see the greatest return on your investment.

According to a recent tweet, AP Stylebook will now include such terms as end user, geolocation, geotagging, link shortener, stream and unfollow.

Luckily, with today’s technology, it’s easy (and even fun) to keep up via apps, Twitter feeds and the like. No more lugging that 1-pound, 1.6 ounce paperback around with no search functionality but your weary, opposable thumbs (don’t tell the printers that we suggested it).

If you didn’t join the conversation with @APStylebook on Twitter today, familiarize your inner journalist with the bible of the newspaper industry by searching hashtag #APStyleChat for tips and refreshers to improve your writing.

He said things like, “If you have something pertinent to say, you neither have to say it to very many people–only to those you think will be interested–nor do you have to say it very often. How many times do you have to be told that your house is on fire?”

And, “Our first duty is not to the old sales curve, it is to the audience.”

And, “I like outdoor advertising. I just think it has no right to be outdoors.”

And one of my favorites, “The real fact of the matter is that nobody reads ads. People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad.”

He talked about creating “conversations” with consumers almost 50 years before social media was invented.

He convinced a gas station chain to promote an imaginary pink additive in their air pumps and stodgy Scientific American magazine to sponsor a paper airplane contest.

Howard Luck Gossage was an advertising visionary who would have been a lot more famous if he’d taken a more traditional path. And just think how much better the business would be if there were a lot more like him today.

“Based on a 100-year-old German recipe, Apple Beer was first bottled in the United States in the 1960s. Although the unique soft drink has grown a loyal following over the years, many people still have the misconception that it’s some kind of apple-flavored beer. These point-of-purchase postings were designed, by Salt Lake City-based Richter7, to clear up the confusion while tying in to the heritage of the locally-bottled beverage.”

Here’s the team who worked on it: Ryan Anderson, art director/digital retoucher; Gary Sume, writer; Ryan Anderson/Gary Sume, creative directors; Dave Newbold, executive creative director; stock, photographer; Cynthia Griffin, production manager.

Image courtesy of www.commarts.com

Old Spice goes beyond hot-man-in-towel commercials

Men really do want to smell like Mr. Old Spice himself. Especially when Old Spice’s ad agency created customized video responses for their clients. Worked on me. http://bit.ly/deZyow

New York gets Wi-Fi in subways

This should make 8 million people happy. Now New Yorkers can soon stay connected 100 stories up or moving 55 mph underground. There goes bonding with your neighbor on the subway! http://bit.ly/9Ud0q5

Good Relationships = Good Health?

And lest we all forget, while we’re moving at warp speed with our social media networking, a research study in the news this week reminds us that honest-to-goodness social relationships – the face-to-face kind – are key to longer lives and good health. “People with greater social relationships are 50 percent more likely to live longer than reclusive peers.” Do you agree? http://bit.ly/dzvSki

1. Like a swarm of killer bees, this South African instrument – previously unknown to many – dominated the news, our ears and was a popular Twitter hashtag. Articles even popped up on how to remove the Vuvuzela sound from your audio by muting certain frequencies on your equalizer – http://bit.ly/bviXut – and Twitter’s fail whale was a semi-constant.

2. Meanwhile, Mr. Jobs’ latest creation is estimated to have sold 1.5 million on its first day, according to Oppenheimer’s Yair Reiner. http://bit.ly/crMoFi

3. However, complaints are already starting to pop up – especially regarding yellow distortions on screen and poor reception. From a PR perspective, it seems that Steve Jobs may need a bit of media training after responding to a customer’s email regarding reception issues by saying “Just don’t hold it that way.” Should he have responded the way he did? Apple is seen as a worldwide innovator and yet their solution to the problem is somewhat pathetic…http://bit.ly/91jI22

4. Lastly, (in non-World Cup and iPhone news) a recent marketing research study reveals a few things about online advertisements that might not come as a huge surprise. Content being “targeted” in any intelligent manner gets a much higher response rate. Likewise, obtrusive ads that do crazy things such as make noise, play music, or roll over the page on a  mouse-over are also extremely effective. However, when an ad was both targeted and obtrusive… people get a bit creeped out and the ads effectiveness falls pretty dramatically. Why? Apparently it begins to call too much attention to the fact that big brother is watching. How do you feel about these types of ads? http://bit.ly/czKpsC

Don’t get me wrong, I totally get the possibilities of companies being able to connect with customers on a level no one ever thought possible in the era of waiting till 10 pm to see what happened that day.

We get our news (and entertainment) whenever we want it.

Popular bloggers change the policies of corporate behemoths.

Technically savvy customers help other customers. For free.

It’s cool. And kind of crazy.

Actually, it’s this craziness I take issue with. The hysteria surrounding something new sometimes overwhelms common sense. (If you don’t believe it, try hanging out around an Apple store on the morning of a new product release.)

Newness should never overwhelm logic, whether you’re thinking about camping out for an iPad or the best way to reach your audience.

Translation: If your customers don’t have Twitter accounts, tweeting them isn’t going to be the right approach.

“Well, duh,” you say?

“I’ve seen it,” I say. Too many times to count.

So, by all means, lets all embrace the new media. Let’s blog and create killer Facebook apps and [fill in the blank here] to our hearts content. Let’s just use a little common sense while we’re doing it.

A recent survey by Alterian shows some interesting numbers about how companies are engaging in this new paradigm shift in digital marketing.  Here are some key findings and excerpts from that survey.

1. How many different providers of marketing services do you leverage for digital marketing, database marketing, data hygiene, brand strategy, web analytics, email marketing and statistical analysis?

It is very revealing that almost 70% of respondents work with 3 or more suppliers, and almost a quarter (23%) work with a staggering 7 or more suppliers. Ensuring the consistency of messaging and brand across so many suppliers can be a challenge, made all the more difficult by marketing teams working in silos with disparate applications and information.

Suppliers will have to change how they operate if they want to provide clients with strategies for customer engagement across multiple channels.

2. How difficult is it to coordinate resources across your digital and direct marketing agencies?

Almost 40% of respondents reported that they found this ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ difficult. Marketers do not need just a direct marketing agency that claims to be digital experts, or a digital agency turning to print. What is needed is a truly integrated agency that solves the problems marketers are having with coordinating multiple resources.

3. In the next 12 months how much of your marketing budget will be shifting from traditional direct marketing (direct mail/telemarketing) to digital/interactive/social channels?

Marketing budgets are shifting away from traditional direct marketing towards digital, interactive and social channels. 40% of respondents anticipate a shift of over a fifth of their budget towards digital channels, with 21% predicting more than a third of their budget shifting.

4. Which of the new marketing techniques are you currently investing in or planning to invest in?

The most popular new marketing technique was Social Media Marketing.  Two-thirds of respondents (66%) were planning to engage in marketing through social media channels.

36% of respondents reported their intention to invest in Social Media Monitoring tools. This is a very high percentage, particularly considering the relative immaturity of the channel.

Coming this Friday I will post “Part 2 – Digital Marketing: Are You Ready.” I will explore additional research results for integrated multi-channel engagement and staff readiness.

Source:  Alterian (LSE: ALN).

Spam Complaints

Email services (Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc.) are getting more spam-adverse every day. If the people you send emails to mark your message as spam, the email services will take notice.

Email services put up with a certain level of users being spam-button-happy. But if they get too many spam complaints from your email recipients, then they’re not only going to stop sending your emails through to those people–they’ll stop delivering your emails to everyone.

Furthermore, you won’t just get your email address flagged as spam, but they will reject anything coming from your IP address. All the major servers will do this: Yahoo, Gmail, MSN/Hotmail, etc.

Email Content No-No’s

It all starts with the content of your email. Some words and phrases will potentially get your email rejected, regardless of whether it’s actually spam or not. Things to avoid in the subject line and content of your email:

1. FREE. The word “free”, especially in all caps, is a BIG RED FLAG. That’s one reason you see emails break up the word “FREE” into F*R*E*E and FR-EE. Email providers have caught on to this trick. The word “free” isn’t necessarily bad, but phrases like “free membership,” “free money” and “financial freedom” are BIG RED FLAGS as well.

2. Punctuation. More than two !! in a row is going to get you marked as a spammer.

3. ALL CAPS. Sometimes you want to put a little emphasis in your message. Occasionally using ALL

4. CAPITAL LETTERS is not bad. Just don’t leave the “caps lock” key engaged all the time. Take a step back, and then type your message using lower-case letters just like you would do in any other normal communication.

5. MLM. It’s unfortunate, but mentioning “MLM,” “multi-level marketing,” “network marketing” or “business opportunity” will get you marked as spam.

6. Flagged Terms. Terms like “make money,” “make millions,” and multiple “$$$” are all red flags. Any mention of cheap medication, erectile drugs and other common spam fodder will definitely get you thrown into the spam category.

7. Images. If a significant portion of your message is built from images, then providers are going to assume you are trying to slip something past them; spammers often try to hide the content of their message using words in an image.

Pick the Right Email Provider

Often, users will sign up with what looks to be a perfectly legitimate email provider, only to find out that all their messages go straight to spam. Is this because the user is a spammer? No. It’s because they use an email provider that has been flagged as producing a lot of spam. For example, if you manage your email list through a paid service that sends a lot of spam (somebody else’s spam), there is a high degree of likelihood that everything coming from that provider will be marked as spam (including your emails).

1. Make sure your email marketing manager or partner requires (or at least highly encourages) double opt-ins. This will cut down on spam significantly.

2. Ask how they deal with too many spam complaints. For example, the strategic partners used by Richter7 are all very good about keeping spammers out of their systems. They will actually call somebody if they get more than .1% spam complaints over several emails.

3. Ask what is being done to keep in good graces with email services like Yahoo and Gmail. For example, one of Richter7’s main partners actively maintains a good relationship with all the email services to keep any emails sent through them “whitelisted”. Because of this relationship, our clients get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to accepting or rejecting emails.

It’s Easy to Get Your Email Delivered

This may all seem like a lot, but the main thing to remember is to write valuable, relevant emails, send them to people who want to hear from you and use a reputable partner.