There are a number of different opinions surrounding outbound and inbound marketing and the roles these play in developing a marketing plan.

There are those who believe outbound marketing is passé and suggest focusing only on inbound tactics. Others have done a great job of building up their outbound channels, but have neglected to develop any inbound marketing strategies.

Can you have one without the other?

Sure.  But you’ll get a heck of a lot better results if you incorporate the two.  Together they deliver a one-two punch, pushing out your marketing message, sparking consumer interest, and then drawing them in to learn more as they go online to research more about your product or service.

Outbound marketing consists of the more traditional tactics we as marketers have implemented for years.  And although the internet is now a part of our everyday lives, these off-line avenues are still very important.  Print, radio and television ads, direct mail, email and tradeshows capture attention and spark interest.  These tactics provide a broad reach and offer far more brand impressions than inbound marketing alone.  Outbound campaigns help drive potential customers online to find out more and engage in your inbound avenues.

Inbound marketing helps your company “get found” by those already learning and shopping in your industry.  The goal is to attract visitors to your website naturally, by drawing them in with valuable, helpful content.  Becoming a trusted resource of information that is invaluable to potential customers as they seek to learn more.

Search engines, blogs, viral video and social media sites can all serve as tools to draw people in on their own accord. As your potential customers spend time sifting through the resources you’ve provided, their trust and reliance on your company grows, making it all the more likely they will choose to do business with you.

Both of these strategies are essential elements of a well rounded, effective marketing program. Together they offer the perfect balance of driving your marketing message and engaging customers on a more personal level.

If you have been thinking of placing all of your efforts in an inbound campaign, reconsider.  And if you have been chugging along with strong outbound strategies, adding an inbound marketing effort to the mix will help move you to the next level.

I just bought a new camera.  But what’s interesting, is the process I went through in making the decision to purchase one and which to buy.  A sales flyer I received in the mail featuring the newest pocket sized cameras sparked my interest.  I have a very large heavy camera, but with an upcoming trip to Disneyland planned, a small camera seemed like just the thing.

I took the next step, turning to the internet to read reviews, search social media sites and read about the different cameras on the company websites.  After several days of conducting my own research, I settled on the perfect one.  I just received it in the mail in fact and so far, I’m a happy camper.

If I were to ask, most of you would probably say you make a lot of your purchase decisions in much the same way. Something sparks your interest in a product or service, maybe an ad in a magazine or an email you received, and then you head online to research it a bit further.

Outbound and inbound marketing.  Both of these marketing tactics played a significant roll in my camera purchasing decision.  Let’s take a look at the difference between the two.  Below is a simple chart I found on Hubspot which highlights some of the marketing tactics in each:

Outbound marketing consists of more traditional tactics like print ads, direct mail, trade shows, TV, radio and telemarketing. These marketing vehicles include brand/product messages and aim to promote awareness on a wide scale and entice consumers to take action.

Inbound marketing attracts consumers using a completely different strategy.  Instead of pushing your message out, the goal is to draw people in as they research and find out more about your brand on their own.  Website optimization, blogging, social media and word of mouth all serve to help consumers find out more as they search the web.

Both of these marketing tactics are important in creating a well rounded marketing campaign.

Stay tuned for the next post about the benefits of utilizing both inbound and outbound marketing tactics in your campaigns!

Times are changing in the BtoB media world.  In just the last two years I have seen some dramatic shifts as publications have merged, some have shut their doors and others have emerged as leading magazines in their industries.

One of the biggest changes has been the transition from print publications to their digital versions. Many of these leading publications have already developed digital editions of their print magazines and others are well on their way to doing so. Some have chosen to go completely digital, phasing out their print editions all together.

A new “Communications Industry Forecast” was just released from Veronis Suhler Stevenson’s, a New York based private equity firm, and indicates that by 2013, BtoB e-media spending will surpass BtoB print spending.  With the transformation I’ve been seeing, this comes as no surprise.

According to the forecast, e-media will continue to grow and by 2014 e-media spending should reach $8.03 billion, growing an average of 12.8% a year from 2009 to 2014.

As marketers, this transition from print to digital brings opportunities for creating unique interactive campaigns within these digital publications.  Ads that are no longer static, but actually interact with your readers through video, sound, and moving product images, drawing readers in to learn more about your product or service.

Your potential customers will spend more time with your brand as the interaction entices them to navigate through each part of the ad.  And the longer the reader spends on your ad, the more trust and loyalty they develop for your brand.

Exciting opportunities lie ahead as these traditional print publications go digital.  Stay ahead of the curve by beginning to turn your traditional print ads into interactive digital experiences.

As marketers, we spend a lot of time and energy in creating well thought out marketing messages for our email campaigns.  But a well crafted email message is only good if somebody reads it, right?

So of course, the most asked question when it comes to email marketing… when is the best day and time to send email?

With just a quick search on-line you’ll find there are hundreds of articles and blog posts with varying thoughts and opinions on the best time and day to send emails.

But the real answer is, there is no universal best day or time.  When it comes to sending marketing emails, one specific day/time definitely does not fit all.  What works great for one company or type of industry may not work at all for another.

The answer lies in answering the question, “what works best for your specific audience?”.

Test your email campaigns, analyze the data and determine what time frames are working better than others.  Reviewing email reports with results of previous campaigns will help you determine if your readers have any specific patterns when it comes to the day and time they open your email.  Do you notice any trends?  Is there a day or time that seems to get better results than the others?

Also think about your target audience and make some educated decisions as to when your readers would be most likely to have the time to read your email.  Then test your theories to see which of them give you the best results.

Gather has collected a list of some of the pros and cons of sending email for each day of the week.  Below are some highlights, but you can see the entire list here.  Considering these pros and cons will be helpful in making your educated guesses as to the best day and time for sending your email:

- On Monday many email users make it a priority to organize their inboxes. Send email late in the morning so readers have already had the chance to check their inbox.

- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday are all an optimal days to send as people have organized their work week and have a little extra time for their inbox.  Towards the end of the week readers may hold off on immediate calls to action as they wrap up the work week and get ready for the weekend.

- By Thursday, Gather recommends keeping the message friendlier and less aggressive.

- Friday is a good day to send as less mail is sent in general. However it is the end of the week and people are leaving for the weekend, so send messages early in the day.

Remember, there is no better way to determine the best day and time to send your message than to test and analyze results.  Make yourself aware of how your target audience is responding to your message and then tailor your email marketing program accordingly.

Or should I say, what’s your social media sign?  Are you an avid Tweeter or a more dedicated Facebook Friend?

Research suggests that Twitter and Facebook users differ based more on psychographic characteristics rather than simple demographics.

Two-thirds of daily Facebook users are fans of a brand, and about four in 10 daily Twitter users follow a company or brand.  So as marketers, it’s important to know why and how consumers are using these social networks in order to develop marketing messages better tailored to each specific audience.

A recent report from eMarketer shows that users that have the greatest focus on becoming fans of brands are motivated by trendy topics, entertainment and like the ability to publicly show support for brands.  Using Facebook to promote messages that are informational as well as entertaining can be greatly effective.

Facebook provides a longer lasting informational cycle.  Although users might not see your marketing message instantaneously, the information is routed around a bit longer.  Whereas messages communicated on Twitter are short lived and move quickly.

Twitter appeals most to consumers who want to feel up to date with the latest news and announcements.  Twitterers want knowledge, to be the first to hear about everything. Communicating information about new products and services, up-to-date company news announcements or the launch of a new sales and promotion initiative would catch attention.

Understanding how consumers’ prefer to communicate will help you choose the right tool based on your marketing message and allow you to craft messages that are effective and get noticed.

So what’s your social media sign?  We’d love to hear how you’re using Twitter or Facebook. Share your success stories with us here.

Unless you’ve been hiding away on a deserted tropical island, you have probably heard some talk recently about the “new” Old Spice Man.  The nightly television newscasters are talking about him, women are calling in to their local radio stations to find out how to meet him and he has been the topic of the day across many internet sites.  Why all this buzz about a brand, that until recently was, well… old?

Talk about the power of utilizing social media to drive word of mouth and help reinvent a brand.

Acting on an off-the-wall idea of creating instant buzz by responding in real time to consumers questions/comments with short videos, Procter & Gamble produced funny YouTube videos about Old Spice.  The team leveraged Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and blogs sending out invitations to ask questions of The Old Spice Man.

As people responded, their comments were pulled in and tracked and those who had interesting questions or were high-profile users on social networks were responded to directly in real time with a personalized short video featuring the dashing shirtless actor and former football player Isaiah Mustafa.  Over 200 videos were posted to YouTube over the course of two days and featured everything from a marriage proposal to messages to celebrities.

Check out this one which includes the real-life marriage proposal:

You can see all of the videos here.

It turned out to be a huge success.  Old Spice received over 83 million YouTube video views and grew their Facebook fan base by 616K all in the the course of two days.

I love it when a campaign goes viral.   But what, besides a touch of good luck, makes a campaign like this so successful?  When a campaign becomes an overnight sensation, it’s always beneficial to look back at what worked and why.  Here are a few take-aways and tips from this campaign that can be applied in making other social media campaigns a success:

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If you’re lucky enough to be a friend of mine on Facebook, keep an eye out, I just might buy you a drink!  I’m not talking about a virtual drink, but one that you can sip (or chug) and enjoy.

Most of you, I’m sure, are familiar with the Facebook Gift Shop where you can purchase and send virtual gifts to your friends for their birthday’s or… just because.  And although the idea of sending a virtual gift is pretty silly in itself,  it was great fun and who didn’t feel special and cared about when receiving one?

Well, times are a-changin’.  Facebook is ready to move on and recently announced that on August 1st they are closing the doors to the virtual gift shop.  The question is… why?  Although there have been no official announcements, it could quite possibly be to open the door to a new era of e-commerce.  Where instead of purchasing and sending virtual gifts, you will be able to send bigger and better real-life items.

There has already been some movement in that direction as a few companies are developing e-gift apps which let’s users purchase real-life items for friends.  Cold Stone Creamery’s e-gift app sends a code for an actual product to one or more friends, which can then be redeemed at one of the chain’s 1,300 locations.  And Webtab’s Bartab app, which uses both Facebook Connect and mobile technology let’s users buy tickets for drinks to send to friends.  Then he or she goes to the bar, which must be part of the network, and redeems the digital ticket.

With the number of Facebook users topping 250+ million, as marketers, this opens up a whole new avenue for placing products or services in front of one of the largest communities on the web.  If you’re not already, now is the time to start thinking and planning for the development of an app for your company.  New opportunities are on the way and by planning for them now you will be fully prepared to take advantage of them when they arise.

So let’s bid farewell to all those virtual bears and cupcakes and say HELLO to new opportunities.

Cheers!

Is email marketing on its way out?  This is a question I hear posed often. With the rise in social media and marketers beginning to dedicate more of their budget to social media programs and with the onslaught of unsolicited email, is email becoming a less effective way of reaching customers?  Absolutely not. In fact, it’s more important than ever.

Consumers are pickier now about which email lists they subscribe to and what they spend time reading, but when a customer opens your email, for that moment, you have their personal attention.  And in a world where marketing messages are thrown in front of your customer from every direction, that moment of undivided attention is priceless.

Social media doesn’t eliminate the use of email for marketing, but what it does give you is a powerful opportunity to integrate the two and cross promote while interacting with your customer on multiple levels. With the use of your email list you can jump-start your following on your social media sites, then use these sites to invite more people to sign up for your email list.

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Imagine walking into a restaurant, creating and naming your own meal using an online application, ordering it on an iPad and then sharing it with your entire social network.  I came across this story in the Wall Street Journal about a new restaurant chain that plans to do just that and had to share.

On July 6th, the New York City burger chain, 4food, will open its first of 11 planned locations where they will leverage the use of social media and web-based technologies to engage customers on a whole new level.  The restaurant describes themselves as the new socially networked counter culture.  And I think the idea is ingenious!

Customers have the option to receive personalized meal recommendations based on lifestyle and health goals entered into an online application. Or they can create custom meals, name and brand their creation and market it to their friends on Facebook and Twitter, right from the restaurant. When ordering from home, customers can create commercials on YouTube as well.

The custom meal creations and commercials will then be featured on a 240-square-foot media wall at the restaurant that will also stream Foursquare check-ins and tweets.  Every time someone else orders one of the custom made creations, the creator receives a 25-cent store credit in their 4food account to be use toward future purchases.

The restaurant itself looks quite a bit like an Apple store and seating resembles bleachers and communal tables, emphasizing the idea of social networks and staff will take orders on iPads. Below are a couple of renderings to give you a look inside:

4Food is banking on the idea that by engaging customers through social media and getting them involved in the product development process, they will be inclined to spread positive word of mouth about the restaurant and about their own creations as they market them to friends in their social networks.  The concept is a great one and if their food tastes as good, I believe they will have a winning combination.

Can you measure the value of a Facebook fan?  More and more companies are developing Facebook “fan” pages and encouraging customers or potential customers to connect and become part of their community, but what are those fans actually worth?

The value of a fan can mean many things, but just recently a social media measurement firm called Syncapse took a stab at determining an actual dollar amount.  In a study conducted with market research firm Hotspex they identified and calculated several areas that make a Facebook fan a valuable consumer in the eyes of a marketer. These include product spending, loyalty to the brand, tendency to recommend it, and the emotional connection or affinity to the brand.

Syncapse asked 4,000 fans of 20 of the top brands on Facebook why they were fans of those companies or brands, and about their past and future purchasing behavior and feeling regarding the product. They then tried to estimate what the value of each fan’s spending would be to a company, as well as the value of continuing to have that fan as a customer over time.

So just what exactly is a Facebook fan worth?  Well, according to this study… $136.38.

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