Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Running the rule over marketing campaigns


The financial director of a company I worked for was fond of quoting at board meetings an unattributed statement that 'half the money spent on advertising is wasted, but didn't know which half." Perhaps his helpful remark was intended to present marketing as unscientific compared with the precise art of accountancy - but lets not go there. The trouble is, although that comment about advertising has variously been used by people such as Henry Ford and Lord Lever and as early as the 19th century, the actual origins are unclear. As to whether it is true - well that's another matter. Another frequently quoted, or actually misquoted statistic is that we are all subjected to 1,518 advertising messages a day - a figure taken from a speech in 1957 by then VP Advertising of General Foods to emphasise and exaggerate a point, based on his own unscientific research and extrapolated to a family of four - not for an individual. A later formal survey put the figure at 76 advertisements a day of which just 12 made any impression and 3 of those negative. Another often quoted statistic is that only 2% respond to direct mail, so 98% is wasted. Others agonise over market share which in some industries is easier to measure than others and of course Google Analytics has shone a new light on web site activity. The reality is that whilst measurement is important, figures need to be viewed with some care. The fact is that marketing has to take account of human factors, preferences and prejudices and that the only real measure is the bottom line of the company. Of course an improvement in profitability can be attributed to other non-marketing factors, such as productivity gains through investment in new plant, or due to savings on waste. So with due caution in mind  the recently published "UK email marketing benchmark report" offered some interesting insight into the measured success of e-mail campaigns. What emerged was different levels of success across different industries. For the industrial/manufacturing sector the bounce rate was 13.28%, opens 20.38% and clicks, 1.86%. Unsubscription rates were 1.35%.  The question is what does this actually mean? Bounces measure e-mails that don't work. Unlike postal delivery where there is a human involvement, any error in an e-mail address will fail, a frequent source of error are the subscribers themselves. Interestingly unsubscription rates are very low suggesting either the list is on target or perhaps a degree of laziness in bothering to unsubscribe.  Although around a fifth actually opened the e-mail,  more will have received and seen the message in the preview pane so would still have an awareness of the campaign. Of those opening the message 9% clicked on the link through to the landing page or whatever the call to action was. At this point of course Google Analytics can track the arrival on the web site. These metrics are  all useful, but just because percentages can be calculated to several decimal places it does not infer there is a high level of accuracy. Marketers need to use numbers but also keep an eye on the bigger picture and develop an understanding of how effective the campaign is.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Engineering marketing solutions

In the previous blog - 17th September - reference was made to the difference between sales and marketing personalities, with marketing described as far more to do with planning for the future, with strategy to keep ahead of fast moving trends, the routes to market, and the means of promotion and delivery that provide the essential environment in which selling can be successful. Consider now another dimension, that of introducing an engineering approach to marketing. Engineering brings discipline to marketing, a discipline much needed in controlling the flights of fancy of the creative media types in getting the i's dotted and t's crossed, keeping feet firmly on the ground and keeping sight of the purpose of marketing a product - not in winning design awards. And if bringing engineering into marketing might seem a strange notion, unless marketing is properly controlled and brought in on budget then it will be a disaster. Engineering projects are as much about planning, adherence to schedules and budgets as they are about technology. In fact engineers are increasingly being employed in some surprising areas including many types of management consulting and in the financial sector. 

 IET magazine recently ran a piece entitled 'Engineers in the City' which included the following extract.
" During the past two decades an increasing number of mathematicians, physicists and engineers have switched to work at investment banks and hedge funds, lured by the boom in financial engineering and quantitative finance. Talented engineers found they could make more money on Wall Street or in the City than in academia or industrial research. ... the new breed is called 'quants'. Perhaps the jewel in the quants' crown is the Black-Scholes theory.  ... a formula for valuing options in terms of underlying security and cash. It quickly became used by all option traders and revolutionised finance".

Technical marketing brings the same engineering methodology and thinking to marketing - introducing staffing structures, building the team, setting objectives through the marketing plan, formalising budgets, introducing financial controls, defining schedules and setting specifications for creative projects. Too often companies launch into building a web site, designing a brochure, booking an exhibition stand or commissioning an advertisement without first deciding on what they need to achieve. Design led agencies naturally play to their strengths - a flare for creative designs - and wow clients with exciting images. Arguably engineering marketing, or as we call it technical marketing, lacks some of that wow factor, but what we have discovered is that clients recognise the benefits that our approach can bring to the bottom line. We supply the rationale. And with the increasing importance of the Internet in marketing, a technical competence and comprehension of what works online too.  Of course there is a need for professional creativity, but it requires purpose and direction - in short planning, organisation, discipline and control. So engineering marketing solutions works - our clients testify to that.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Are marketing and sales the same?


There is often confusion about marketing terms. For example advertising is frequently used as a blanket description for all forms of promotion. Sales and marketing are similarly confused as though the terms are interchangeable. Some companies combine sales and marketing into a single job portfolio. But in truth the roles are not only different, but call for different personalities. Selling is very much concerned with the present, with closing sales, meeting sales targets and dealing with current customer demands. Marketing on the other hand is far more to do with planning for the future, with strategy to keep ahead of fast moving trends, the routes to market, and the means of promotion and delivery that provide the essential environment in which selling can be successful. One is short term seeking to close deals, the other longer term, educating and informing prospects.  Marketing is everything that you do to reach and persuade prospects. The sales process is everything that you do to close the sale and get a signed agreement or contract. So in fact it is a continuous process. Marketing uses techniques  to reach and persuade prospects that you are the company for them, with messages that prepare the prospect for the sales  people. Marketing communications includes advertising, public relations, brand marketing, viral marketing, web sites, e-mail and direct mail. The sales process consists of interpersonal interaction often with a one-on-one meeting, cold calls, and networking. The sales person engages with the prospect or customer on a personal level rather than at a distance.  What often happens is that the sales and marketing teams drift apart and this is important to avoid through 'internal marketing' ensuring both teams understand what the other is doing and why to ensure the process is continuous.

Friday, September 04, 2009

Can RSS complement e-mail marketing?


For some years RSS has been a neat solution to a problem that few people realised they had. One way of looking at RSS news feeds was to use them to keep up to date with topics of interest that individuals could customise - to in effect create their own virtual daily paper by grouping RSS feeds from various news publishers. For example you might chose to scan news headlines from the world at large using a feed from the BBC or CNN, news from your industry or profession, your favourite sports team or blog. To recap - RSS 'Really Simple Syndication' - offers headlines and opening lines of a news story with a link through to the full story on the web site of the news publisher. Originally it required special reader software to be downloaded to operate the system, but now that chore is even eliminated thanks to reader software  being a component of modern web browsers. RSS offered a quick way of remaining informed on topics important to the individual, a rapid skim of the headlines, perhaps reading one or two items in more depth and at a time convenient to the reader. Quite an attractive option compared to the assault of e-mails to the in-box.  RSS was seen as an alternative, even a replacement for e-mail but that has not happened. But according to BtoB "RSS has emerged as a strong complementary tool for e-mail marketers."  In a current article they propose 4 key tips:-
  1. RSS only works if you are using it for frequently updated content.
  2. Track and target your RSS feed.
  3. Promote RSS using e-mail and promote e-mail using RSS
  4. It's OK to double dip sometimes. i.e. repurpose content in both RSS and e-mail news.
The important issue is to get the message to your target audience. To learn how RSS and e-mail marketing can operate within a fully integrated marketing programme why not contact Technical Marketing for the full story.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Top of the search results - is it enough?



A great deal is written and discussed on the subject of search engine optimisation and the importance of ranking highly on the first page of Google results for your search term. But pause for a moment and think about that point. Are the search terms used to optimise your site the same terms someone searching will use? Enter the search term 'marketing' and approximately 493,000,000 results  are returned in 0.33 seconds. The first 3 are paid for positions and the top organic result is a Wikipedia definition followed by Marketing Magazine, the Chartered Institute of Marketing and various guidance information rather than marketing agencies that might actually help a business move forward. Take a step back, why search on 'marketing' in the first place? Indeed what need prompts someone to turn to the Internet? Perhaps a business is experiencing a falling order book and someone has suggested marketing could help. But as we have seen simply entering the term 'marketing' is not very helpful. Although the keywords people search on are collated, can be analysed and optimised, practical experience indicates that most visitors arriving at a web have actually combined the company name or brand with the product or service they are seeking. This suggests that the search is not just random but prompted by some other marketing activity. Common sense suggests people don't want millions of results, they want to quickly get to a short list of people that can provide what they need and to use the Internet to get this they have to refine the search. The message is not to assume that the web site is a stand alone marketing tool that will deliver a steady steam of well qualified prospects, but a component within an integrated marketing strategy. Other marketing techniques such as advertising and press relations can help raise and maintain the awareness of a business and its products or services. The web site is great for providing information and as a response channel working within a well planned and co-ordinated marketing communications programme.