With all of the shiny new tools out there, many of our small business clients ask whether they still need use email marketing to reach their communities and audiences.  A few months ago, I would have said “yes”, but not as emphatically as I say it now.  A few months ago, I would have spouted off something about how your clients, influencers, and potential clients like to receive their information in different ways.  Not everyone is going to be on Facebook, reading your blog, etc. but they might actually like to hear from you by email.  I believe that this is still the case, however now we have some metrics to back it up.

Last week at the Word of Mouth Marketing Supergenius conference in New York, Olivier Blanchard from The BrandBuilder not only gave an incredibly robust presentation on determining ROI from social media efforts but he also gave a REAL LIFE (these exist!) example of a small business who used different digital and print avenues to promote his business.

From Olivier’s presentation:

Example of spend justification — A retailer suspected his print advertising wasn’t helping. 90% of spend was on print, 10% was on email, blog, and in-store. We embedded unique promo codes in each channel. We did sales as tests. We didn’t need to measure all the time, just slivers of time. Of all promo codes, 4% of sales came from print, 69% came from email, 17% came from Facebook, and 10% came from web and blog.

In our own experience, we have also found that our clients have highest direct sales from email marketing compared to other platforms.  One of the design firms that we work with in Montana held a large sale on all furnishings from one of its manufacturers.  The firm printed and mailed postcards about the sale and….crickets.  For the same sale, we developed an email marketing campaign as well.  At least three large furnishing purchases were attributed directly to the buyers receiving the emails (side note: margins on furniture are large). Emails are sharable too.  For your list of 500, you may reach 1,000 when people forward on something good to their friends. That’s much more difficult with a hard copy mailer.

By what I’ve written in this post, I would imagine that several of you are thinking- “Well then why do we waste our time with Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and the other things that are about to make my brain explode?  Why not just put all of our resources into email marketing if we want to make more money?”  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging, vlogging, etc. are important for the new way that we, as consumers and as sellers interact; we expect that interaction and it’s an important fundamental piece of our new marketplace.  On the digital marketing scale, email marketing is much less conversational. Conversations are important in building the bridges for future sales and future brand development.  Don’t give up on the other platforms, but especially don’t think that email marketing is now obsolete.  Just like each of the other tools, it has its place in your tool belt.

A salon in our hometown of Charlottesville is doing a great job with promoting its business on Facebook.  They have tremendous fan interaction and loyalty, and you can really see the personality of the salon, without even stepping foot in the door.  In fact, I was so impressed with their company after being a fan on Facebook for the past few months I even considered scheduling my next hair cut there…until today.

I am a fan of their page on Facebook.  A week ago, they posted on their wall that if they got to 1,000 fans (now “likes”) by the end of May, one of their fans would receive a giveaway.  This is clearly against the Facebook Terms of Service agreement which now prohibits contests being held on a Facebook business page unless offered through a third party vendor or approved by Facebook directly.

I felt a bit like a little kid saying “my mom says that you’re not supposed to do that”, but I wanted to make sure that this salon did not get in trouble and have their hard work on Facebook be for naught.  I commented on the giveaway post by the salon and diplomatically told them to be careful about offering contests on their page.  I also said that I was not sure how actively Facebook was enforcing these guidelines, but I wanted to be sure that they knew.

What did the salon do???  They deleted my comment.  They have then proceeded to post more on their wall about this giveaway, even weekly contests to their “likes” group.  (more…)

Ethan Allen added a style quiz to its website recently.  While there is nothing scientific about it, it is a great example of a website encouraging visitors to not just browse but to actually interact.  Once you take the quiz and are assigned your “look” (my results said that my look is “glamour”), there is a link to explore products which takes you to the Ethan Allen products that best fit that look.

While I am not Ethan Allen’s target audience, I did appreciate that they are encouraging interaction and inciting individuality by assigning quiz results.  Instead of just selecting a sofa from a page, you are shown the pre-selected pieces that fit your individualized style.  That’s just good marketing.

From a coding perspective, this quiz probably cost Ethan Allen very little but they will see great ROI due to increased word of mouth (I found out about the style quiz via Twitter and retweeted accordingly) and by converting quiz takers to customers through meeting their stylized preferences.

Take the quiz yourself.  It’s fun.

I was recently looking for a good, comprehensive list of social media books to add to my bookshelf (and to hopefully get around to reading!).  Lee Odden from TopRank Online Marketing sent me this list:

• Cluetrain Manifesto – Rick Levine, Chris Locke, Doc Searles, Dave Weinberger
• New Rules of Marketing and PR – David Meerman Scott (video interview)
• Do It Wrong Quickly – Mike Moran (Mike’s guest post)
• Join the Conversation – Joseph Jaffe (interview)
• Groundswell – Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff (interview with Charlene)
• Personality Not Included – Rohit Bhargava  (book review)
• Tribes – Seth Godin
• Here Comes Everybody – Clay Shirky
• Age of Conversation – Gavin Heaton, Drew McLellan (100+ contributors)
• Social Media Marketing An Hour A Day – Dave Evans
• Secrets of Social Media Marketing – Paul Gillin
• Naked Conversations – Shel Israel & Robert Scoble (Video interview with Robert)
• Freakonomics – Stephen Dubner & Steven Levitt
• Buzz Marketing – Mark Hughes
• Radically Transparent – Andy Beal & Judy Strauss (interview with Andy)
• Web 2.0: New Tools, New School - Gwen Solomon & Lynne Schrum
• The Long Tail – Chris Anderson
• The Wisdom of Crowds – James Surowieki
• Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business – Larry Weber
• Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking – Andy Sernovitz, Afterward by Guy Kawasaki (interview with Guy)
• Social Media is a Cocktail Party: Why You Already Know the Rules of Social Media Marketing – Jim Tobin, Lisa Braziel (TopRank is quoted on back cover)
• Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide: Business thinking and strategies behind successful Web 2.0 implementations – Amy Shuen
• Now Is Gone: A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs – Brian Solis, Geoff Livingston (video interview with Brian)

To read his full blog post, click here.  Thank you Lee for this great list!

We can all learn a thing or two from the Zappos model.  They are one of the most talked about companies today because they do things right.  What do I mean by right?  I mean that they take care of their customers and they take care of their employees.  As a result, people talk about them…lots of people.  Just a couple of examples:

- A woman called Zappos because her mother died and had a few unopened Zappos shoes boxes.  The daughter called Zappos and they immediately said that they would be happy to take the shoes back and would arrange for the pick up.  At this point, we are all thinking that this is standard, good customer service.  However, a week later the daughter received a bouquet of flowers with a note that read “We’re so sorry for your loss – the Zappos team”.  The daughter turned out to be an influential blogger and this story was widely circulated (as I’m circulating it here).

Lesson:  Let your employees go above and beyond to do what is right.  Don’t just provide client service, provide exceptional client service and people will talk about it.

- Zappos now pays its employees $2500 to quit.  If, after an extensive training program, anyone feels that they cannot provide the level of service expected, they are offered $2500 in addition to the time worked to quit.  The company used to pay $250, then $1000, and now $2500.  I would surmise that Zappos easily makes back this money several times over by not only having employees that really want to be there but by also showing their customers that they have policies that put the customers first.

Lesson: Follow the word of mouth marketing mantra: Make your company remarkable and people were remark on it.  Stories like these make people even more likely to become clients because they like what you stand for.

Read more about Zappos in a recent AdWeek interview with Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh.

Tomorrow I leave for Chicago to attend Gaspedal’s Word of Mouth Marketing Crash Course.  Gaspedal’s CEO, Andy Sernovitz, wrote one of my favorite business books called Word of Mouth Marketing.  See the book here at Amazon.  I recommend the book to everyone and anyone.

Stay tuned for some great information after I return from the Crash Course.  In the meantime, take a look at the outline of the course by clicking on the button below.  Gaspedal holds the Crash Course every month at the “Catalyst Ranch” in downtown Chicago.  I’m looking forward to it!

As 3D renderings are becoming more realistic, they are also becoming better tools to market your business to both current and potential clients. When considering whether or not to utilize renderings (and the answer should be yes!), consider the ways that utilization can improve your bottom line:

Rendering by Gibson Design Management; Design by Q Design, Denver, CO

1. Communication with your clients. Many clients have difficulty visualizing how a space will look. As a designer, you have that gift of visualization; however it is often difficult to communicate that picture to your client. Through renderings, you and your client can be on the same page—literally and figuratively.
2. “Upsell” opportunities. I started my career in a corporate training program for a national homebuilder. Soon I was charged with all of the sales and marketing efforts for my own developments and our office was located in one of our model homes. Good builders do a great job of showing all the bells, whistles, and extras in their models. Everyone wanted the model and they wanted it exactly as it was shown. It was not uncommon to add $150,000-$200,000 to the base price of the home because people had to have “the model”. We showed them the possibilities in the model; show your clients the possibilities in your renderings.
3. Set yourself apart from the competition. Very few design firms are utilizing 3D renderings for their typical clients. By highlighting this feature as a service you offer, your firm will easily be set apart from the other firms that your potential clients interview.
4. Word of mouth marketing. When you send your clients the rendering for the beautiful new room that you have designed for them, they will be in awe. This rendering will have your firm’s name and information on it. No doubt, your clients will forward this rendering on to family, friends, and coworkers to show them all how wonderful their new room will look. This will:
   1. show your clients’ friends how smart they are to have hired a great designer like you
   2. serve as some of the best word of mouth marketing that you can employ as your renderings are forwarded all around town (or across the country) and you receive an abundance of inquiries from people wanting to know how they can work with you and where they can send their checks

A typical rendering will cost between $800-$1100. When you consider the return on investment for the items listed above, can you afford not to integrate renderings into your repertoire?