Conversational Media Marketing

Email Insider just done with several demographic groups age 34 and under regarding their channel preferences for receiving and/or being influenced by promotional messages.

The four groups were:

• Teens: 15-17 years old, still in high school
• College students: 18-24 year olds still in school
• Wired: young males, post-college between the ages of 18 and 34 years old, without kids. They are employed full-time or self-employed, have a good income — an annual household income of at least $35K
• Young homemakers: females, between the ages of 18 and 34 years old, who consider “homemaker” to be their primary occupation

For years I've been harping about how I think play well together as marketing tools. Now, a B2B Ask the Expert article aptly suggests email has a place within social media as well. Who'd thunk it!

"E-mail marketing could not be better suited to enhance your social media efforts; in fact, it is the key ingredient in launching a successful social media marketing campaign," states the article. "The rise of social media is pushing the evolution of e-mail marketing from blast campaigns to more personal, one-to-one engagements."

How do most Facebook, Ning and other online communities keep members informed? Email is the obvious choice. For example, I manage the IBNMA and use FB's email messaging component all the time. It's ability to proactively "push" content is the key -- as opposed to the more passive RSS feed.

Speaking of RSS, in spite of the fact it's been around since 1995 (a long time in Internet years), it's rate of adoption among non-techies still pallors in comparison to old-fashioned email.

Those who prophesied email's demise must surely chagrin (if they even remember what they said). Email is far from dead. In fact, I can't see a time when it will die, even with RSS, Twitter, Friendfeed and all the other choices.

The bottom line is that, today, we have multiple options for how we receive information. The fact that email is still one of them - and a significant one to boot - is a good thing.

What do you think?

When Jason Calacanis quit blogging last month (he really did) and turned to the use of email newsletters, by the reaction in the tech community you'd think it was the first time someone thought of using email as a marketing or business communications tool.

Jason has always been a trend-setter, so I suspect others will follow his lead. (In fact, others already are.) I do think it interesting that he turned to something as old-school, tried-and-true as email. Like the title says, what's old is new again.

I've longed believed blogs and email can work together as a marketing "one, two knockout punch!" (Corny, I know, but I like the metaphor.) I've been writing about it and it's recently become a topic renewed , Calacanis notwithstanding.

Blogs and email can provide any company, large or small, with an inexpensive way to share its message and build its brand.

Still, it will be interesting to see if others follow Jason's lead. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if even Scoble made the shift!

UPDATE @ 3:19 p.m.: Just saw this report on B2B Magazine which says social media is affecting email marketing.

The more I understand marketing, the more I see the need for an integrated approach which spans a wide range of tactics. I've commented on the use of , but that's only one way. The kind of integration I'm referring to is something like that provided by companies like Eloqua. Truly sophisticated stuff.

Today, B2B magazine posted two articles with almost the same title, which is what got me to thinking about this:

• Businesses embrace blogging
• Businesses embrace integrated marketing

If I had my druthers I'd focus only on the blogging/new media side of marketing, for that's the new fangled stuff. But, more traditional, tried-and-true approaches like email, Webinars, whitepapers and microsites, while less sexy, are necessary to get the job done.

In my case, getting the job done means generating leads for our salesforce. And it's best done when the right hand knows what the left is doing (i.e. Information from all sources is integrated via a single database.).

So, while blogs, social networking, podcasting and video are all tactics we're putting to use at Bizzuka, I'm disciplining myself to make use of the other stuff too...then blog about how successful I am at doing so. :-)

The more I think about the use of blogs and email together as complimentary marketing tactics - a topic I've discussed - the more I'm convinced they are truly a marketing power duo.

Email is without peer as a tried-and-true marketing technique. Blogs have entered mainstream awareness to the degree they are no longer considered tangential. It's becoming commonplace to see a blog associated with a company's Web site. Since both are content-centric, they pair very well. (I call them a digital "peanut butter and jelly sandwich.")

That's why I feel strongly that some company should create an integrated blog/email marketing platform, and I know just the company to do it too, Compendium Blogware.

(First, sorry for the latency in posting. We had a death in the family, then going crazy trying to catch up at work. First one thing, then another.)

For a time it was fashionable to "dis" email as a marketing tool. With the advent of blogs, RSS and social networks like Facebook and Twitter there were those who foresaw its demise. Well, somebody better inform online marketers because, according to eMarketer and others, email is far from dead! In fact, it appears to have a very bright future.
 

I have long been an advocate of using blogs and email as complementary online marketing strategies. Blogs serve a customer acquisition function, while email serves a customer retention role. That belief was recently reinforced when I attended a webinar jointly sponsored by a new company, Compendium Blogware, and well-known email reputation service provider, Habeas.

Even before being included in Junta42 Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs list, I've given serious thought to content as a marketing strategy, especially since Brian Clark began touting it via his new Teaching Sells initiative.

Junta42 defines content marketing as "a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience - with the objective of driving profitable customer action."

• Yahoo Search Casts Lots with Semantic Web Technology - MarketingVox
• Yes, You Too Can YouTube - Forbes
• Is AOL after widget-maker KickApps? - MediaPost
• The Future Belongs to Widgets - MediaWeek
• Top Tools - The Daily Fix

I'm one who believes email is still a viable marketing tool that, when combined with a blog, can really supercharge your marketing efforts.

Email Insider has a great post on how to do email right. The blogger, Melinda Krueger, makes several good suggestions:

1. Use an ESP (Email Service Provider) - A couple of good ones I recommend for small business are Constant Contact and Vertical Response. I've used both of those with great success. Presently, for my wife's home staging business, I'm using VR. I find it to be versatile and easy to use. We create our newsletter using Dreamweaver and VR makes it easy to upload the HTML file. Plus, it gives better than adequate reporting metrics.
2. Create a great user experience
3. Build your list, online and off - Krueger says to use a variety of media to promote the newsletter. That's one reason I like to using a blog, to cross-promote the newsletter.
4. Consider frequency - How often to mail is a sticky wicket. I once worked for a non-profit that would over-mail the list incessantly. As a result, we experienced a high burn-out rate. The negative consequences of over-mailing are manifold: You'll burn out your list pretty quickly causing recipients to either unsubscribe or (and this is the more likely case) sequester your message to the deleted mail folder. Personally, I think once a month is sufficient for most businesses with the occasional special promotion thrown in.
5. Repeat site nav in the email - Krueger suggests that users may have interest in your company beyond the email itself, so having your Web site main navigation as part of the template is a good thing. Plus, using an ESP like Vertical Response, you can keep up with the click-thru rates.
6. Define goals and measure progress - I follow trends over time for open rates, click-thrus and unsubscribes. My wife and I spend considerable time testing subject lines and message content to find a formula that works.

Now, that's how to do an email marketing campaign that works. Following is an example of how to do one that doesn't.