Trends for 2009: #13. Online Interactive Marketing will grow

Okay - I know this may seem somewhat repetitive, given some of my other Trend titles included:

• Integrated Interactive Campaigns
• Paid Search Advertising
• Online commerce will continue to grow
• Online advertising will continue to grow

But, there is a subtle difference here that is important. So, on we go ...

Online Interactive Marketing will continue to grow ... but ... most Marketers will continue to be more familiar with traditional media than the boundless opportunities provided to them by the online world. Even as marketing budgets are slashed and traditional media crater in their reach and effectiveness, many Marketers will not take advantage of the new opportunities that are available cheaply, easily, efficiently, and effectively online.

Some things for Marketers to focus on in 2009:

• Determine and Pursue your Social Media strategy: First off you have to recognize the value in engaging significantly and frequently with your prospects and customers, and then look at the opportunities you have to "monetize" your involvement. You need to develop a long-term social media strategy, plan, and related tactics. You also need to invest in getting good people and training them to do the job right. Tactics you may employ include:
  
  • Publish your own blog - content you might publish includes your Executives views on your culture, your ad campaigns, your product, your people, stories from your customers, and your company's history.
  • Participate in other blogs and reviews - use Techorati, Google, IceRocket, and others to track blogs and reviews where your company's name shows up, or where topics that are important to you show up. Create a "company blog spokespersa" (which could actually be several people, so long as they stick to the persona). Participate in blogs. For instance, if someone gives your product a good review then thank them for that. If someone gives your product a bad review then see what you can do to resolve the problem.
  • Add Reviews to your Site - There are two companies out there who can help you get product reviews up on your site fast. They are Buzzillions and BazaarVoice. Either of these two companies can get you up and running fast.
    

• Produce some Online video: Video continues to grow in importance on the web. A good analogy is that Video is to Text on the web as TV is to the Newspaper in traditional media (i.e. Video rules in terms lasting impressions). Reasonable quality video cameras are selling for about $100 (albeit it makes sense to invest in higher quality for commercial purposes). Publishing video couldn't be easier with the likes of YouTube and similar hosting sites available for FREE. The message ... produce some video.
• Produce TV-like commercials specifically for the web: In the "old days" you might have produced a TV commercial and then posted it to the web. That won't do any longer. Now it is important to shoot TV commercials specifically for the web. How are they different? First off they are typically lower video quality. They also might be shorter. In TV-land, the viewer must sit in front of your ad for 30 seconds. On the web, they will leave you more quickly. On the other hand ... your ad may be several minutes long. On the web you can produce an "advertising epic" - so long as it is truly captivating. People will gladly watch your entertainment, and maybe even forward it off to friends, and you won't have to shell out for a bunch of TV air time. A big way to make your online ads different is to allow a viewer to interact with the commercial. Perhaps the viewer should be able to select characters in the ad, then choose various changes to your plot line.
• Create Software as an Advertising Media: Build out Google Gadgets, desktop applications, or other similar software that will help your customers connect with you. There has to be real value in the software. But, if you build it, they will come. Plus, they will buy from you!
• Build your Opt-in Email List: Email marketing is likely the cheapest and most effective way to reach out to people who have already volunteered to be your customer. If you don't have an inhouse opt-in email list, start one. If you do have it, make sure that your emails are personalized and effective.
  

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

Trends for 2009: #3. Direct Marketing will be in vogue

In 2009, Direct Marketing will become critical to an organization’s marketing success.

What is Direct Marketing? DM sends its messages straight at a prospective customer typically with media that is sent "personally" to the intended target. The goal of a DM piece is unabashedly to drive a purchase. Examples of Direct Marketing include direct mail, e-mail, telemarketing, desktop applications, mobile marketing, and RSS feeds. While traditionally it is unsolicited (e.g. that junk mail in your old fashioned mail box, or that phone call at supper time), on the internet DM is moving away from the "porn spam" and is tending to quality in-house opt-in lists or programs.

Why will Direct Marketing be hot in 2009? Two simple reasons. (1) It is cheap. (2) It works. In a tight economy, you NEED to get the bang from your advertising buck. DM does that and it is also uniquely trackable. Act now!

In 2008 the best DM was done by ... Barak Obama. His campaign forged a direct communication link between the candidate and the voter through multiple Direct Means, including mobile text messages, email and Twitter.

Things to focus on in 2009:

• Creating targeted and relevant campaigns that can be executed on multiple DM channels
• Tuning existing DM campaigns
• Ensuring your lists are opt-in and accurate
• Personalizing DM campaigns based on profile, preferences, and interactions
• Treat your email list like gold. Use it carefully. Don't abuse it.
• Focus on your existing customers. Mine your customer databases and create appropriate personalized direct offers
  
• Look at each DM media and look for new opportunities.
  

By the way ... for a few years a common industry prediction has been that RSS will replace email. Email still rules. People still won't know what the hell RSS is. However, if you aren't doing RSS, it is a good time to start. First things first, is to figure out for your customers how they can easily understand the technology and use it. RSS does have slow but solid growth as a strong medium of distributing marketing information.

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

Why would you send me an email full of graphics?

Are you involved in email marketing? If you are, then this blog is all for you ...

Dear Email Marketer:
Please, please, please don't send me another email that is full of nothing but graphics. Sure, it looks pretty if I take the time to download all of your images. But, let's face it, I'm not going to.

Good old Microsoft Outlook - which dominates corporate email systems, and probably has a very high market share of personal email as well - does not by default load all your images. So, when your email lands in my inbox I just sit and stare at your blank looking email. I have a choice to make. Delete? Download? Delete takes about .5 seconds. Download takes about 5 seconds to load the images and then peruse your email before I delete it (because, honestly, I'm already in that mindset now that I have to download the good bits).

So - either way, I've deleted your email.

How can you make your email so that it is more likely that I'll read it. TEXT. TEXT. TEXT. Did that message come through? Put your important message in text in the body of the email. You can surround it all you want with pretty images and branding. I don't care about that. And, why should you care if I care? Your job is to get me to read your email and take action because of it.

So, to summarize:

• Fill your email with text
• Avoid and minimize the use of graphics
• Make the email work on its own without the graphics (i.e. who is it from, why should I care, what action should I take, why should I take action now)
• Add some graphics as necessary (e.g. your branding).

Thanks in advance for helping me to read your email.

Yours truly,
Dave Jones
VP Marketing and Sales
MarketGoGo.com