Covid-19 Digital Playbook

With shelter-in-place (SIP) and a likely recession due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, now is the time to double down on digital marketing and sales!

With store closures, many retailers, such as Nike, are reporting Black Friday sales levels and conversion rates! And I've been seeing similar results for my clients.

In fact, in its recent quarterly report, Nike's CEO said it was able to engage its fans via its app and other digital channels while they were quarantined at home, and their free exercise services translated into strong digital sales that helped offset store closures.

Some brands or OEMs who previously had channel conflicts from wholesale/retail partners or their own brick-and-mortar stores suddenly see their direct-to-consumer channel as the only game in town during SIP.

That makes this a critical time to dig into your website and mobile app analytics!

See what part of the site is getting the most traffic, what's selling now that wasn't before, what is the makeup of the customers who are shopping now vs. before, where are users dropping off or hitting UX roadblocks?

For many of my clients, I've seen a spike in mobile web and mobile app traffic especially throughout the day and not just during commute hours. No surprise as people are home due to SIP. Also, historically, lots of office workers shop on their work desktops during the weekdays. It's not uncommon to see high conversions on Mon mornings before lunch as workers tackle their "to do" list after a relaxing weekend. But suddenly they don't have access to those work computers and must go online on their phones. So make sure your site is optimized for mobile, now more than ever!

Re-evaluate all your advertising

Online ad prices, especially banner, native, and video ads, that run on publisher sites are dropping as supply outstrips demand because advertisers have pulled back on spend because of SIP (e.g., travel industry can't really promote bookings), recession fears, and brand safety concerns (i.e., brands don't want their ads to show next to coronavirus content, especially on news sites). However, if you are less brand sensitive or develop a more targeted blacklisting strategy, you can make out like a bandit for your media buys. For example, Facebook CPMs have fallen to their lowest levels in 2 years.

Facebook CPM Falling (Source: Gupta Media)

It's also a good idea to assess the competitive media landscape. You may discover some competitors have pulled back on their paid advertising in search, display, social, video, or mobile apps. Time for you to grab market or mindshare, likely at lower ad prices as mentioned above. For some of my retail clients where Amazon used to compete with them on search, there's been less competition. Not that Amazon doesn't have the money to bid against them, but more likely because Amazon has more than its hands full now from organic traffic with everyone turning to the online retailer during SIP. (More on that below.) So check your Google Auction Insights reports. On the flip side, depending on your industry, you might see quite the opposite competitive pressure and everyone is getting more aggressive to capture as much demand as possible right now. Think about the fiercely competitive online video conferencing space right now where you have Zoom, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams, and Webex duking it out.

I expect performance media campaigns to see less budget cuts than branding campaigns.

Also, make sure your ad messaging is on target and appropriate for these times. For example, yesterday morning I heard a local radio ad that asked "Taking your kids to school? Listen to us in the car." Really? Schools have been closed for a month during SIP! Someone at the station clearly sleeping behind the wheel.

Take stock of and promote your most relevant product and service features during these times.

By now, as a consumer, every company has probably sent you an email and driving you to their Covid-19 landing pages to explain how they are reacting to the pandemic and SIP. And most importantly, what special services they are offering during these uncertain times.

So, as a brand, what are you going to promote?

If you have interest-free payment plans or "layaway" plans like Afterpay, it's time to promote that. Amazon features it prominently on higher ticket price items (see below). Some auto companies have rolled out 0% interest, 72-month auto loans even!

Amazon's interest-free payment plan

Right now consumers are very concerned about supporting small businesses who risk going under. For smaller businesses who are reaching out to their community for help, now's a good time to setup and promote online gift cards. Square, which is quite popular with small businesses, has even created a Give & Get Local site to make it easy for local merchants to promote their e-gift cards to consumers. I've seen when merchants promote this in email campaigns, consumers are buying them to keep their favorite businesses afloat, hoping to patronize them later when we get through this. Facebook is also offering small businesses grants.

Offer curbside pickup following social distancing best practices? Promote that. Are your shipping and delivery times still unaffected? If you compete with Amazon, you may have an advantage now against the Prime shipping program as Amazon is swamped with traffic and orders, forcing them to prioritize some items over others. I don't blame them. I was about to buy an item that was eligible for Prime shipping. But at checkout, it said it won't ship for 1-2 months! That's crazy. #abandoncart

Amazon delayed shipping warning

Sports retailer Sports Basement has been sending out emails that promote online events to help customers stay fit, such as live workouts with a trainer via video conference and healthy recipes to try at home (side note: there has been a spike in baking and home cooking with SIP). And of course, discounts for shopping online! Similarly, REI has 6 Ways to Mix Up Your At-Home Workday. Both are great examples of brands staying true to their brand positioning while producing relevant, engaging content for their customers.

Sports Basement workout tip

Also, make sure you are monitoring online chatter using social media tools. How are consumers reacting to your company's response? For many brands, they are dealing with significant customer service complains on social media, online chats on their sites, and of course their call centers. But also use this data to see what's trending? How do you weave your brand into the conversation? The key is to be authentic, empathetic, and not too salesy.

Get the word out!

When you've identified relevant content to share with the community, it's time to put the CRM team and tools to work! Leverage that email database you got! For small businesses using Square, Square is offering Square Marketing, its basic CRM program I previously reviewed, for free right now. Yelp is also offering some of its premium marketing services for free for small businesses. Take advantage of these tools! Most are very easy to use without a huge learning curve.

Of course, take it to social media channels. Remember when just a few weeks ago, the government and consumer privacy advocates wanted to take down Facebook and Big Tech? Now, consumers are spending more time than ever on Facebook and almost every single social network has seen engagement shoot through the roof! When you do post, do some #hashtag research to maximize visibility.

And this goes without saying, but make sure your website can handle increased traffic, especially if you're a retailer and your stores are closed. You might also consider a code freeze like most online retailers normally do Nov-Dec. Don't risk rocking the boat when it's the only sales channel you got right now!

Lock-in long-term behavior changes

Lastly, all this time at home and SIP has forced consumers and businesses to change their behavior, largely favoring online activity, and you should take advantage of making these behaviors long term habits. Just to name a few benefactors -- online video conferencing, online banking/mobile app banking, online grocery delivery, esports, virtual medical professional services like SteadyMD or Talkspace, not to mention multi-channel retailers who have struggled to get in-store shoppers to go online or use their mobile app. Post-SIP, all these industries will benefit from an injection of new users; the key will be to keep as many as they can as paying customers for years to come.

My Covid-19 Digital Playbook:

1. Dig into your web + app analytics data for insights
2. Re-evaluate your media buys and messaging
3. Develop relevant content for Covid-19 behaviors due to SIP and be useful to consumers
4. Be active on social media and email channels
5. Be prepared for how to exploit long-term behavior changes after we get through this to capitalize on your short-term wins

Now I only wish there was a digital solution for haircuts because I need one badly! =( And I don't just mean an AR filter for my video calls or socialpost!

Stay safe and sane out there...

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6 Offline-to-Online Marketing Integration Best Practices

Despite all the doom and gloom in the retail sector, such as the planned liquidation of Toys R Us, some retailers are doing some great things in terms of marketing. While Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY)'s stock price has fallen by over 33% the past year, its latest in-home mailer offers some great examples of O2O integration across its digital and offline marketing programs.

When I first received their Spring 2018 mailer, it is clear they are migrating to more of a lifestyle brand catalog, like Pottery Barn. It's thicker (84 pages!) and on higher quality paper stock. In the past, it was a few pages and the paper was junk mail-like paper quality.

Spring 2018 in-home catalog

1. MOBILE APP PROMOTION

Open up the first page and BBBY immediately and prominently promotes its mobile app, telling you how you can easily shop the catalog via mobile by just scanning the catalog's front cover with the app's AR scanner.

Mobile app promotion

2. SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILE PROMOTION

Also on the same page, since they're talking mobile, BBBY promotes its Instagram profile. But I'm surprised they did not also promote its Pinterest page, because home decor is so popular!

Cross promotion of BBBY Instragram acount

3. KEYWORD SEARCH CALLS TO ACTION

One of my favorite tactics is their suggestion to enter specific keywords into its website's search bar to see all the same products laid out in its catalog:

Shop the room: Search keyword cues in catalog

Close-up example of keyword: airy living room

If you type "airy living room" on its site, you see the below landing page, which is a great hand-off from the catalog. This is so much easier for consumers than trying to recall a long website URL path to manually enter in a web browser.

My only suggestion for improvement is to make the room photo interactive so if I click on an item I like, it has an anchor link on a hotspot to take me directly to the specific product description rather than scroll through the extremely long landing page with all the products listed below the main photo.

Landing page if you search for "airy living room" on bedbathandbeyond.com

From an analytics perspective, the keyword CTA is great because from your web analytics tools, such as Adobe Analytics that BBBY uses, you can see the exact search volume for each keyword entered to truly gauge how popular this tactic is! Because let's face it, no one in his/her right mind will think of entering "airy living room" without some kind of prompt =)

4. VANITY URLS & TRACKING

Throughout the catalog, BBBY has CTAs to go online using vanity URLs. Near the end, it even has one page that promotes many of its offerings online.

Vanity URLs galore from catalog page!

All these URLs resolve and redirect to longer URLs. For example, bedbathandbeyond.com/yourmove redirects to https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/static/movers.

bedbathandbeyond.com/creditcard-catalog redirects to BBBY's credit card partner Comenity's website: https://c.comenity.net/bedbathandbeyond/pub/apply/Apply.xhtml?cmp=460_print_apply_catalog_201701_001

What is noteworthy here is that Comenity has assigned a unique campaign tracking code to this URL. This gets passed to its Adobe Analytics as a campaign parameter to easily and surgically track the session of a user that came from this ad placement in BBBY's catalog. Perfect! Unfortunately, BBBY does not have these detailed campaign tracking codes in the vanity URLs that drive to its own website for some reason, so that's a big analytics miss.

5. COUPONS TO TRACK IN-STORE PURCHASE

Typical 20% off coupon

As many of you know, BBBY is extremely generous with its distribution of 20% off coupons. This direct mail catalog was no exception. While the retailer thought about weaning itself off of such promotions a few years ago, it hasn't. But I'm glad to see that if you're going to offer a coupon, track the heck out of it! Here's what they are doing that more retailers need to do. BBBY's direct mail coupons have unique bar codes on them for tracking purposes. These are unique based on customers in its CRM system. When a user redeems the coupon in a physical store (or online), this tracking code is captured and BBBY knows you actually bought something in store.

But many retailers stop short of doing something useful with this insight. BBBY sends a personalized email (see below) a few days later to (1) thank you for your recent in-store purchase and (2) ask you to rate the purchase to help populate its user reviews on its website. This is a great example of tying your print, web, email, and CRM marketing campaigns together with a bow!!! All this is done without me ever realizing they matched, on the back-end, my email address from an online order I made once a long time ago to my CRM profile. I didn't have to give my name or email to the cashier in the store. It was all tied to the physical coupon seamlessly!

Thank you email tied to recent purchase

(BTW, if you didn't know, these BBBY coupons never really expire despite the expiration date printed on them.)

6. ACQUISITION INTEGRATION

Last year, BBBY bought Decorist.com, an online interior decorating service that matches a consumer with a designer to design a room together in one's style and budget. The catalog is sprinkled with new Pro Tips throughout from designers on Decorist.com and encourages readers to go to bedbathandbeyond.com/decorist to learn more.

Decorist promotion

In summary, most of this #O2O goodness can be done by any retailer with nominal investment. Marketers just need to be willing to invest in strategic planning and coordinating efforts across departments to do what's best for their brand and customers!

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Star Wars' Force Friday: Toys R Us vs. Target

Earlier today...way earlier, like 12:01am, was the start of Force Friday, a huge retailing event ahead of the next Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, that would unveil new toys and merchandise associated with the new movie coming out this December.

It so happened that the shopping center I had planned to go to had both a Target and a Toys R Us that were participating in this event, so I decided to see how the 2 stores ran Force Friday. But which store should I hit first?

Toys R Us was going to be my first destination. Why? Because they had promoted a free t-shirt and poster giveaway while supplies last. So I showed up at 11:30pm and found a short line of about 15 people had already formed. Mostly adults, but I also saw a few kids way past their bedtimes on a school night!

When the doors finally opened shortly after midnight, the crowd had grown to about 50-60 people, as we all beelined through the front door in an orderly fashion. A Destination: Gateway to the Galaxy cardboard archway greeted us.

Toys R Us archway at front entrance

Inside, employees had lined up short (maybe 3 feet tall) Star Wars figures a few feet apart, pointing shoppers to the special Star Wars section for the event. It was like a Hansel and Gretel bread crumb trail.

But I, along with other shoppers, was disappointed that it was primarily just one aisle in the store. A very cramped aisle. So we had to queue up to just get into that aisle. There weren't as many new items as I would have expected. I also noticed all the workers were gathered up front at the registers. Surprisingly, none were in the Star Wars section --- likely because there was no room! But the workers didn't really engage and chat with customers about Star Wars either.

After I made my purchase, I received my free Pop t-shirt (shown below). But there was no poster =(

Free t-shirt at Toys R Us

At this point, it was 12:20am, so I ran across the parking lot to Target.

Target had been running a big "Bring Your Rey Game" campaign for Force Friday. I thought it was quite clever, capitalizing on current trends around gender equality and empowered women (e.g., equal pay for equal work, work force diversity, success of Wonder Woman movie that was also directed by a female director, Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In).

Inside the store, it was well-lit and a few large Star Wars cardboard displays cordoned off the Star Wars merchandising area.

Target Star Wars: Episode 8 display

Immediately, it was obvious this Target had more merchandise than the Toys R Us I went to. In addition to stuff I saw at Toys R Us, such as action figures, LEGO sets, and Nerf guns, Target also had video games, drones, videos, clothing, plush toys, Halloween costumes, and more! One thing I had missed somehow before today was Target had generous coupons for major purchases:

Also, Target employees who were obviously Star wars fans were working this section of the store, chatting it up with customers. There was no freebies here, but this store was running a raffle at 12:30am, giving away an X-Wing quad drone and a BB-8 playset. Sadly, I didn't win :-(

Star Wars Force Link BB-8 2-in-1 Mega Playset

Propel Star Wars T65 X-Wing Battle Quad Drone

As I walked out of Target at 12:40am, I was reflecting on my 2 shopping experiences. I expected Toys R Us to "go big or go home" for this event, given their focus on TOYS and since Toys R Us has been losing ground to Walmart and Target in toy sales. But I felt like the energy, the selection, and the staff were better at Target. 

There was probably some foreshadowing. I had called both stores yesterday to verify they were participating in Force Friday. When I called Target, the sales associate immediately said yes, they were participating and that doors open after 12 midnight only for buying Star Wars items. She explained that because the store normally opens to midnight. When I called Toys R Us, the sales associate wasn't sure, asked me if "that was the Star Wars thing", and then put me on hold for 5 minutes to ask someone to confirm. So I said, "Thanks, see you tomorrow night." She said, "No, it's Friday night." I said, "Wait, it's Thursday night, right?" She replied, "Duh, you're right." Enough said.

But this is just one Jedi's observations. All-in-all, it was a good night for my first Force Friday event!

May the Force Be With You

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Why Shark Tank is the Best Show Ever!

I love the show Shark Tank, an Emmy-nominated TV show where entrepreneurs pitch their business to 5 self-made millionaires/billionaires, including Mark Cuban and Kevin O'Leary (a/k/a Mr. Wonderful). I like how it's like a Harvard case study on steroids, jammed into 15 minutes for each company pitch that makes me think about what I would do.

In fact, this show helps a lot with my advisor and mentor work that I do with start-ups, including Geek Camp. I pick up lots of good tips from the savvy sharks who quickly assess business models, cost per acquisition, go-to-market strategies, and, of course, reasonable valuations. So many entrepreneurs lose a chance for a deal on the show by over-valuing their businesses or offering as little as 5% equity, which won't excite any shark to get up in the morning.

When colleagues or clients have asked me how can they learn to be more strategic or how to evaluate businesses, I don't tell them to read Michael Porter. I point them to Shark Tank.

There's no voting people off islands, bachelorettes crying, people backpacking around the world, or celebrity backstabbings. Instead, what you will see and learn to love about the show is that it covers the 4 Ps' and the 3 C's in an entertaining format that shows the American dream is alive and kickin'.

For hopeful entrepreneurs, I've summarized what you should be prepared to answer from the sharks based on watching every episode over the years:

3 C's:

• Company - How did you come up with the idea? What are your sales so far and in the past 12 months? How much have you invested? How long have you been doing this? 
• Customer - Who is this for? What's your customer acquisition cost? What's the average order volume? What is the repeat purchase or reorder rate?
• Competition - Who else is out there with a similar product? What's different about your product? Sometimes when Mr. Wonderful thinks a company is asking too much, he'll ask "What's to stop me from hiring a bunch of folks to knock off your product myself?"

4 P's:

• Product - Do you have a product or a company? Do you have a patent? Sharks love patents! And Mr. Wonderful loves it when he can license those patents!
• Pricing - What does it cost to make? How much is wholesale? How much is retail?
• Placement - Where are you selling this now? What kind of distribution do you have? Often a shark has a strategic relationship that can be brought to bear and each shark has their own set of strengths. For example, the tech guys are Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec. Lori Greiner is the "Queen of QVC" and retail. Where are you selling this today? Have you tried calling the major distributors or retailers in your category? Warning: If you haven't done this or pounded the pavement, you will get a mouthful from the sharks that you are not hungry enough!
• Promotion - How have you gotten the word out? Many say social media and Facebook. Some go to tradeshows.

Be forewarned - if you don't know your numbers, the sharks will take a huge bite out of you!

Over the years, there has been some awful and crazy ideas people have come up with:

Wake 'n' Bacon - This is a concept for a bacon-making alarm clock because the entrepreneur believed people loved waking up to the smell of bacon in the morning. Alas, the sharks thought it would be a fire hazard having an oven on the nightstand. Mark Cuban's closest thing to a compliment was "this is going to be a present for dad because it's so darn stupid."

Sullivan Generator - Seeking $1 million for a 10% equity stake, Mark Sullivan, an inventor of over 1000 products, claimed his generator could take salt water from the ocean to make electricity and one of the byproducts was gold ($96 billion worth apparently). Kevin O'Leary summarized it best when he asked "How long are you visiting us on Earth?"

On the other hand, Shark Tank recently had a company backed by sharks get acquired by a public company. GrooveBook was bought by Shutterfly for $14.5 million 11 months after making a deal with Mark Cuban and Kevin O'Leary.

Finally, what makes the sharks more than just VCs or angel investors, who can offer access to capital, strategic partnerships, and business connections, is the free PR from the show. Even those who walk away without a deal often times will see a huge spike in sales after appearing on Shark Tank. And even those who make an *ss of themselves on national television! To me, that means if you make a good product, people will buy it even if the founders are schmucks.

Catch it on Fridays at 9pm on ABC. It's a bad time slot so DVR it. It's well worth an hour of your time each week!

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Co-Op Marketing Case Study: Southwest and DISH Network

As a marketer, every once in a while, I come across a marketing campaign that I find well executed that inspires me to write about it and give it some props.

Southwest Airlines and DISH Network are co-op marketing partners. For example, here's a co-branded marketing landing page where new DISH customers can get a boatload of Southwest Rapid Rewards points and save on their monthly subscription to Dish.

Then there is this great "surprise and delight" marketing example. The day before a recent Southwest flight, I got the below email from Southwest with the subject line: Your Southwest Flight Tomorrow: Watch TV For Free!

Totally unexpected and timely. It soooo improved my flight experience. It also made the Southwest flight experience more in line with Jetblue's DirecTV in-flight offering.

The above is not an uncommon marketing practice for customer acquisition. So, here's where things get interesting. What about EXISTING customers of DISH and Southwest?

This week I received this email. Once again, a great subject line to lure me in: Get free live TV on your next flight.

Unlike the previous email, I was greeted by my first name. Not Dear DISH Customer or Dear Valued Customer like above. Not hard to do since Southwest obviously knows my name from my Rapid Rewards account. But it starts out by saying "Being a DISH customer has its perks." This implies the 2 companies cross-referenced their customer database for this targeted email and knows I'm a DISH customer already.

This kind of personalization is not rocket science, but so many marketers don't apply this simple best practice.

The only critique I have is there is no clear CTA, a wasted marketing opportunity. While it says I just need to bring a portable device, it doesn't tell me how I will redeem the offer. Do I need to have my DISH login or account info handy? Or my Rapid Rewards number? Or maybe I'm still skeptical and don't believe it's just as easy as bringing my iPad. I'm a bit surprised there is no hyperlink to Learn More.

Often, marketing programs are focused on customer acquisition. Nothing wrong with that. But once in a while, there's something for customer retention and this is a great example!

Also, this is not a "big data" application by any means. But just good ole fashioned smart marketing.

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Know Thy Customer

Recently I've been meeting with various start-ups, including spending some time mentoring young entrepreneurs at Geek Camp V a few weeks ago.

I happen to be talking to more B2B companies lately. And one thing I've noticed is around customer acquisition. I always stress to young entrepreneurs they have to do everything they can to truly understand their target audience. Unlike B2C products or services, it is sometimes difficult for entrepreneurs to fully understand the customer needs, unless they have specific experience in the business.

But first, in order to do that, one needs to narrow down and identity a target or industry vertical. I always share with start-ups my story of a former client -- a global entertainment company that was starting a new music venture. The client told me its target was "everyone in the world because everyone listens to music." While the latter is probably true, not everyone is going to want your product to do so. I also call that the "Microsoft Zune trap" =)

The reality is as a start-up, one has limited time and resources. So one needs to really focus. You can't be chasing everyone in all markets because then you're not addressing anyone's needs very well. And quite frankly, it's like throwing spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks.

So do a little homework, even if you have to do some scrappy market research or talk to lots of smart people in various industries to pick their brains over coffee. Then pick a target or no more than a handful of targets. Do everything you can to understand the target customers' use cases and pain points. Really learn the target's current process for doing things. Better yet -- try to observe them in their "natural habitat." You don't need to be an ethnographer! Talk to as many customers as you can 1:1 or in small focus groups. If you can get in front of a bunch of them at once, buy them lunch. A $20 pizza will get you intel worth way more than that!

Going back to my B2B entrepreneurs...

Armed with this insight, ask yourself: How can I improve the situation? I advise them to quantify the cost benefits or savings. Because B2B deals are usually not an emotional sell, but a cost or efficiency sell. So, it's quite black and white if you make a compelling business case. This is when I usually teach these young entrepreneurs some basic economic modeling skills. VC's like to see these analyses as well!

Once one identifies the primary problem that is being addressed, step back to see the entire value chain and customer journey to see how one can use the customer intel to either enhance the user experience or sell services.

It's really about determining the value exchange. This can help one figure out one's pricing model and sometimes help one figure out who the REAL paying customers are in the value chain. It might end up being a middle man or distributor versus the end user. This is often the case in B2B industries.

Think you got a better mouse trap? Most do. Now think about the switching costs to get a new customer to use your product or service instead of the status quo. It is human nature to not want to make changes. After all, it's never easy. How can you lower this barrier? Can you create a way to import their current data into your platform? Or the cost-benefit analysis you did above shows a clear positive ROI in a short time period. Whatever the case, don't underestimate during the sales cycle how difficult it is to acquire customers, despite how awesome one's mouse trap can be. I've seen this firsthand from a start-up with a great school administration tool to an easy-to-use dental office administration tool.

The entrepreneurs I meet are often super smart and passionate about their businesses and technologies. For a few moments I spend with them, I enjoy having them focus on their customers and try to walk in their customers' shoes, which is my passion.

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Amazon's Great Email Campaign to Support Katy Perry's New Album Launch

Today was the official launch of Katy Perry's new album, Prism. And online music retailer Amazon.com showed how a simple email marketing campaign is an example of great marketing.

Yesterday, I received this email from Amazon:

Promotion email from Amazon.com

Here are 3 great reasons why Amazon showed it's data-driven marketing prowess again:

1. Timely - On the eve of Katy Perry's new album and her album release party, I was sent this email.

2. Transaction data driven - Amazon knew that I recently bought her new MP3 single "Roar" so I'm likely a Katy Perry fan and likely to purchase her new album.

3. Addresses an old customer pain point - I already paid good money for the first single off the new album. If I had known that I'd end up wanting to buy the new album, I could've saved the money I spent on just the single(s). 20/20 hindsight and a classic buyer's remorse. Bam! Amazon removed that concern by giving me a promotional credit for the cost of the "Roar" MP3 I recently bought. Great idea and one less excuse not to buy!

But some constructive feedback for Mr. Bezos and his marketing team: Creative!

They could've written a more specific and relevant title in the subject line of the email since we all know the subject line has a huge impact on the open rate. "Your Amazon.com Promotional Credit" is not very customized or compelling. While the copywriter is working on the subject line, have him work on the body of the email to not sound so robotic and sterile. I also think inserting the new album's cover art (shown below) would have been a nice addition.

Katy Perry's new album, Prism

But, overall, a good idea. Kudos, Amazon!

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Yelp Helps Small Businesses Expand in More Ways Than One

As consumers, we all know how awesome and useful Yelp is, especially for things like restaurant reviews. It's invaluable when traveling to new cities and you're looking for a good bite to eat!

For a business, especially a small one, great reviews on Yelp definitely helps drive customer acquisition. That's a no brainer.

Recently I was talking to a friend who runs a successful wine bar that he started a few years ago. And he made me realize there is another important benefit of maintaining those strong positive reviews on Yelp as a small business looking to expand.

My friend is shopping for another location to grow his business, and he said that prospective landlords who may not know much about his business actually go on Yelp to learn more about it. It's an interesting use of Yelp -- helping landlords vet tenants!

Not only do great reviews help, but beautiful photos of the place of business (and not just food shots) do too. It gives the landlord a real sense of how nice and fancy schmancy the business is.

Speaking of photos, even Google Maps comes into play. Prospective landlords can not only see where your current location is, but also get a Street View of your business for its "curb appeal."

Come to think of it, lenders probably do the same thing...

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Capital One 360 Has a Sense of Humor

In this social media world where 2-way dialogue with consumers rules, I give Capital One 360 two thumbs up! Since Capital One acquired ING Direct and re-branded it as Capital One 360, they've been trying to properly manage customers' expectations of the transition.

Acquisitions can be tough because you don't want to alienate current customers. And with a re-branding, you also want to attract new customers. In both cases, marketing communications is critical!

Take your standard legal disclosure notice. Capital One 360 found a way to make it a little bit funny and interesting. And it has a very personal style, like they are talking to a friend.

Email from Capital One 360

The "Legal Land" lead-in title is great!

"What's on tap now?" - Awesome to hear that from a large stodgy financial institution!

"And that's it, all done." - Expect to hear this from a friendly dental or doctor after an appointment

Also, kudos to their legal team for having a sense of humor as well and approving a message like this!

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Undercover Boss Shapes Corporate Brand Reputation

Happy new year, everyone!

For those of you who follow my blog, you know I'm a big fan of Undercover Boss. While the show is a tad formulaic with its endings (e.g., the bad manager who gets a talking to and a second chance, the hard working manager who overcomes personal challenges in life and gives his/her all to the job), it is interesting to see the human side of CEOs.

I didn't realize how much the rest of America is influenced by this show until Nielsen recently released its Top 10 lists of 2010. Here's the shocker from its Top 10 Most Effective Product Placements on Brand Opinion. 7 of the top 10 shows is Undercover Boss!!! I never thought of the show as product placement, but I guess it is. I thought the Apprentice had a good product placement thing going, but this is definitely more entertaining, as the executives that appear on the Apprentice always seemed so stiff.

You can bet CBS has a long list of corporate titans lined up for their 60 minutes of fame on prime time. I wonder how long before the worker bees grow suspicious when they are told that a reality TV show about an intern or temp worker is being filmed =)

Until then, catch the next episode tomorrow night, featuring Norwegian Cruise Lines.



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Good example of a mobile web experience from Hootsuite

Lately, I've been trying to convince clients to invest a little in optimizing a prospect's experience when they visit your website from a mobile browser.

This is especially important because consumers overwhelmingly prefer the mobile web to mobile apps a recent Adobe study.

About half of my clients today have a mobile website that is different than their regular desktop website. And very few have mobile website optimized by OS even though user agent detection is common place.

So I found it noteworthy and encouraging when I recently visited Hootsuite's website...from my Droid.

I just googled "hootsuite" from my Droid, clicked on the search result, and it took me to hootsuite.com/android.

 
It was great! It had very specific Android creative and messaging. Even the Hootsuite owl mascot got morphed into the Google Android robot character on the right hand side!
The page had benefits clearly listed, strong Download call to action, a video showing how it works on an Android phone, and even a QR Code to download!  (However, I don't know how I would take a picture of the QR code from my mobile if I am reading this page on the same device.)

Also, for you, iPhone lovers, they also had a mobile iphone page at hootsuite.com/iphone. Again, very similar to the Android page, but with Apple cues and messaging.

I hope more brands follow suit as smartphone adoption and mobile browsing will continue to soar!

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"Undercover Boss" Proves Benefits of Being "Human" by Companies

I love the new reality TV show Undercover Boss. Partly because I'm a constant student of business management (Yes, I like Peter Drucker and Jack Welch books too). If you haven't seen the CBS show, it about executives at large companies going undercover and work "in the trenches" for a week to see how their operations is really doing. Executives from big brands such as 7-Eleven, Waste Management, Churchill Downs, Chemed (Roto Rooter), and...Hooters have been on the show.

While I think it's gotten formulaic with the executive discovering and recognizing that unsung hero to the rogue manager that is a borderline harassment lawsuit waiting to happen, it's still good TV and reflective of the spectrum of talent you'd find in every large company.

Today, the WSJ ran an article correlating the lift in stock price of many of the companies that have been featured on the show and how they have beaten the S&P. I'm not writing about investment strategies here, but more about customer expectations today and the brand halo effect from Americans seeing executives as "real people."

Waste Management, which was featured in February, saw traffic on its site go up in a few notable areas -- a 256% increase in "become a customer" inquiries, 98% increase in Careers page, and inbound email doubled! Not to mention it's stock is up 9.3%. I believe this is due to "humanizing" the company and executives.

This is about more than a hit show. It's a growing trend that consumers are seeking more transparency from companies today and in a crowded marketplace, any differentiation is a competitive advantage. And social media has been a driving force behind this! Whether it's 'straight talk' on corporate blogs (such as when GM's CEO blogged during its bankruptcy proceedings) or responding to customers on Twitter, consumers expect it and want more of it. eMarketer recently found that consumers trust brands in social media, second only to peers. They even trust brands who are directly speaking to them more than media.



And engaging with consumers in social media actually pays, according to a recent Chadwick Martin Bailey study. It said consumers are more likely to to buy from brands they fan on Facebook or follow on Twitter.



Whether you buy into this theory or not, I recommend you at least catch Undercover Boss on CBS. It sure beats Celebrity Apprentice!

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Pharma companies match "assurance" programs from auto companies

First, the auto companies were offering special assurances that if you got laid off, you wouldn't have to worry about your auto loan payment and could return the car. Kudos to Hyundai for its ground-breaking Hyundai Assurance program. Obviously, this was designed to stop the steep decline in new auto sales since last year.



But, last week, Pfizer upped the ante with their MAINTAIN program that lets recently unemployed and uninsured Americans continue to take more than 70 of their drugs for free for up to 12 months!

Eligibility requirements of the new program include:

• Loss of employment since January 1, 2009
• Prescribed and taking a Pfizer medicine for at least 3 months prior to becoming unemployed and enrolling in the program
• Lack of prescription drug coverage
• Can attest to financial hardship

This even includes blockbusters Viagra and Lipitor! Yes, Viagra -- so, if you're depressed because you lost your job, I'm sure you can think of some way to lift your spirits. =)

Big pharma gets kicked around a lot and with all the talk in Washington about health care reform, this is a very innovative and impressive move by Pfizer. You guys rock!

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BART going 2.0 on us!

I spend a lot of my time at work trying to convince clients to invest more online, especially in social media. These are smart marketers at big brands. And many are so gun shy to just pull the trigger and DO SOMETHING!

I find it ironic then that BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) has been more progressive than some of these clients.


(Photo courtesy of SF Weekly)

They were already running a great near-real-time email-based BART advisory alert service that often reported delays to its schedule. But then I noticed an ad on a BART train telling people to follow them on Twitter (twitter.com/sfbart). They not only push out delays in the system, but they are responding to user feedback and issues, promoting local events and how BART can get you there, and proactively engaging in the community in useful ways (e.g., this tweet from last week when big RSA conference was in town: "Welcome to all the folks taking BART to RSA! Let us know if you have questions and we'll try to answer. #rsac"). They are even giving away $25 BART gift cards for favorite tweets about BART. Best of all, the tweets feel very personable, not just what you'd read on their "dry" website.But they're doing more than just Twitter. They have RSS feeds. They've also opened up their schedule and real-time data to third-party developers. This recent news release about their "Developer App Center" summarizes some of the other cool stuff they have cooking in mobile space. They did a mobile survey and appear to actually be listening and responding!

It makes business sense why they're reaching out to developers and customers. California and many municipalities are facing budget cuts so they have to rely on the collective wisdom of the community, given their limited resources.

Overall, I am very impressed by this new face for BART. Keep it up, guys!

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