"Buy the Way…" Insights on Integrated Marketing Communication

“There’s no such thing as bad publicity” is an old adage, but does it ring true?

Enter PuppyMonkeyBaby.

If you watched the Super Bowl or follow marketing trade publications, you likely saw the ad. In case you did not; however, it’s on YouTube.

Disclaimer: This ad is weird. It may be one of the weirdest you’ve ever seen. It might even give you nightmares and/or the willies.

Viewers were split on the ad: some loved Mountain Dew’s spot, which featured a PuppyMonkeyBaby, others not so much. (Case in point: this news story declared the commercial was “freaking Super Bowl viewers out” and that Mountain Dew crossed the “line between cute and horrifying.”

You might be wondering: what is a puppymonkeybaby anyway? Well, unfortunately, it’s exactly what it sounds like: one-third puppy, one-third monkey, one-third baby and 100% weird.

In case you can’t bring yourself to watch the commercial (I don’t blame you) here’s the gist: The creature appears, basically from nowhere, in a living room where three late teens or early 20’s guys are hanging out (we can guess this is Mountain Dew’s target audience), carrying a bucket full of the new Mountain Dew Kickstart. It does a creepy, jittery dance while chanting its name “puppymonkeybaby” to the horror of the guys sitting on the couch.

It jumps up on the couch, passes out the drink and licks one of the men’s face three times, each lick punctuated by the creature announcing its different segments (“puppy”, “monkey” and “baby”, in case you forgot). The guys jump up and start dancing along with the puppymonkeybaby and dance out of the apartment while drinking Kickstart. Mountain Dew then explains that puppymonkeybaby, like its new drink, is three parts of different things put together to make another better thing (Supposedly. I like puppies, monkeys and babies on their own just fine, thank you). “Dew”, juice and caffeine, all mixed together to create the new, more delicious, Mountain Dew Kickstart.

But in spite of all of the negative attention garnered by the ad, it got attention. Even though the ad was posted on Feb. 3, it already has nearly 20 million views on YouTube. The hashtag #puppymonkeybaby was one of the highest trending items on Twitter for more than day after it aired. There are already articles suggesting it as an easy DIY Halloween costume.

So, this begs this question: was it a successful ad? Which step on the consumer decision making scale is Mountain Dew addressing here? Do you think viewers are more or less likely to purchase Kickstart now than they were before?

What happens when celebrity endorsements and eWOM have a baby?

If you are anywhere on social media, you most probably saw all the hype surrounding Beyonce’s new song ‘Formation’ and Red Lobster’s response to the lyrics in the song.

“When he f–k me good, I take his a– to Red Lobster”

While some may agree that Beyonce has the celebrity social and cultural influence to make anything go viral, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) helped generate unexpected buzz marketing for Red Lobster that the seafood chain restaurant was not anticipating.

Red Lobster sales surged 33% after the release and Super Bowl performance of Beyonce’s new song ‘Formation’. Instead of paying for or planning a thorough buzz marketing campaign, eWOM via Twitter made Red Lobster relevant after various content spread about the brand in connection and response to Beyonce’s lyrics. Twitter flooded with hashtags and tweets mentioning Beyonce’s ‘Formation’ and Red Lobster and the celebrity’s endorsement of Red Lobster created a chain of reactions and responses that made Red Lobster a hot topic of conversation. It was the first time Red Lobster ever trended on Twitter.

Some criticized Red Lobster (and their social media manager) for taking hours to form a response to Beyonce’s song, since a few hours in the Twitter world can be considered an eternity.

They eventually stepped through the door of opportunity embracing the publicity and responding with a direct tweet to Beyonce, mentioning a possible new menu item using her nickname Bey.

It is worth asking ourselves if Red Lobster would have gone viral if a different celebrity had dropped the restaurant’s name in their lyrics? Or does Red Lobster owe this attention to Beyonce’s fans who spread the brand’s name and associated content via social media?

Depending on how Red Lobster handles this new-found publicity and engages with customers will determine whether Red Lobster’s spike in sales will be short-lived, or if this type of viral electronic word-of-mouth has the potential to bring an enduring increase in sales and continue to peak customer interest.

Celebrity endorsements and eWOM are by no means new forms of marketing, but brands that are prepared to engage with consumers and trends through digital platforms, especially social media, can harness this powerful way of marketing to push their brand forward. The Twitter madness over Red Lobster over the last few days serves as a lesson for brands to be equipped with social media adeptness to capitalize on this kind of publicity when it happens. It will be interesting to see what happens to Red Lobster and to pay attention to when instances of celebrity endorsement and eWOM can make for a success, and in some cases unexpected, viral marketing campaigns for brands via social media.

References

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/business/beyonce-song-lifts-sales-33-at-red-lobster-chain.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6867242/red-lobster-responds-beyonce-formation-lyric

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/consumer/os-red-lobster-beyonce-bump-20160209-story.html

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/online-buzz-marketing/

http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/bid/233669/Electronic-Word-Of-Mouth-presents-a-window-of-opportunity-for-businesses

#bodypositive #selfesteem #acceptance #TheDollEvolves

Mattel announced just last week the release of 3 new Barbies: Tall, Petite, and Curvy.
While the doll has undergone small changes over the years, this by far represents Barbie’s most drastic and important change to date.

Barbie has become a “symbol of American beauty” and an “aspirational role model” for young girls all over the globe. Barbie is so popular among young American girls it’s estimated that 99% between the ages of 3 and 10 own at least one Barbie.

But there’s been a serious problem. At the center of controversy for years, has been Barbie’s thin and disproportionate figure, which portrays an unrealistic and unattainable standard of beauty for females. Not only that, the ideal she embodies has been linked through several studies with a high occurrence of body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, and disordered eating.

Despite the research, some have defended Barbie, saying that the doll can’t possibly have such an influence on young girls and that other socio-cultural factors must be to blame.

The study

In 2006, Dittmar, Halliwell, & Ive conducted a study to gain deeper insights into the factors that play a role in influencing body satisfaction and self-esteem. They also sought to find out just how early these types of perceptions begin to form in females. The study included girls between the ages of 5- and 8-years old. In one group girls were presented with images of a Barbie. In the other group, girls were shown images of a doll with a body shape and size closely representative of the average American woman.

After viewing the images, the girls answered a series of questions about their perceptions regarding body satisfaction and self-esteem.

The results

Girls who viewed the images of Barbie reported higher levels of body dissatisfaction and lower levels of self-esteem. Conversely, girls exposed to the doll with the average body type reported lower levels of body dissatisfaction and higher levels of self-esteem.

How we got here

A push for beauty standards over the years to evolve towards more realistic ones and those recently undertaken by body image advocates like Lena Dunham, the beginnings of cultural acceptance of the curvaceous body type as seen more in the media (think Beyonce, Kim K., Kristina Hendricks), and research supporting the value of taking a body positive approach with young girls is how we got here, and it’s why she’s finally here!

In a statement made by Evelyn Mazzocco, senior vice president and global general manager of Barbie, “We believe we have a responsibility to girls and parents everywhere to reflect a broader view of beauty.”

The Future

What influence do you think Curvy Barbie will have on body image for young girls and women? What will be her impact be on media and society in the future?

Watch: How Barbie Got Curvy: Inside the Radical Remake of an Icon.

References

Barbie. (2016, February 7). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&q=barbie

Dietrichs, P. C., & Lee, C. (2011). Waif goodbye! Average-size female models promote positive body image and appeal to consumers. Psychology and Health, 26(10), 1273-1291. doi: 10.1080/08870446.2010.515308

Dittmar, H., & Halliwell, E., Ive, S. (2006). Does Barbie make girls want to be thin? The effect of exposure to images of dolls on the body images of 5- to 8-year-old girls. Developmental Psychology, 42(2), 283-292. Retrieved from http://static1.nina.be/static/asset/2014/DoesBarbieMakeGirlsWantToBeThin_1721.pdf

Dockterman, E. (2016, January 28). Barbie’s Got a New Body. Retrieved February 01, 2016, from http://time.com/barbie-new-body-cover-story/

Halliwell, E. & Dittmar, H. (2004). Does size matter? The impact of model’s body
size on women’s body-focused anxiety and advertising effectiveness. Journal of
Social and Clinical Psychology, 23(1), 104–122. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libproxy2.usc.edu/docview/224667301/fulltextPDF/8A802DF0A8784E35PQ/1?accountid=14749

King, C., & Lull, J. (2016, January 28). Watch Barbie Designers Explain Why They Finally Changed Her Body. Retrieved January 30, 2016, from http://time.com/4196229/barbies-new-body-watch-designers-explain-why-they-changed-her/?iid=obnetwork

Just this week I was listening to an episode of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour where they discussed the Grease Live production that just took place on FOX on Sunday, January 31st and was able to have over 12 million people tune in for the event. However, the most interesting point that came up during the discussion was, “why are networks going back to the live productions?” And the debate it started was quite intriguing and brought up a lot to think about (NPR, 2016).

In the world that has become dependent on their DVR and their streaming services, networks are coming up with ways to be relevant and if shows like American Idol, The Voice, So You Think You Can Dance and Sporting events show us, people will show up and watch the events they know need to be viewed in real time so they can be part of the conversation (NPR, 2016). So if we look at that logic in regards to marketing, our strategies have to shift and evolve to see how to meet the audience where they are at and not be content to lose ground to the new viewing and buying habits in an increasingly digital world.

According to a 2013 survey done by Momentum Worldwide, where they asked 6,500 people in nine markets to rate 23 type of brand experiences, from watching TV to attending a concert to see the impact. The results of note, as you can see in the graphs and surveys to your left, were that people really were influenced by live interactions, whether it be a music event, sporting event or charity event (AdWeek, 2013). These results are telling, when people experience your brand, they are more likely to talk about it and as today’s entertainment landscape is changing and people are more accustomed to the integrated marketing in everyday life, we as marketers need to step back and see how the brands we represent can find their integrations that make sense with the brand positioning and the target audience we are trying to appeal and move to action.

We all know that social media is an integral part of any marketing plan, no matter what your product, service or event but it is time to look beyond just the passive use of posting, tweeting or event retweeting something and create some noise and impact that enhances a consumer’s or potential consumer’s experience. Social media alone cannot be the strategy, it needs to be a tool that leads to a larger interaction and conversation with your potential and current customers to allow a brand to adjust and address the needs that are trending in the marketplace (Newman, 2015).

Sponsorships of live music and sporting events, like we just witnessed with Pepsi and the Super Bowl 50 halftime show or even Ellen DeGeneres using a Samsung Galaxy Note to tweet out that infamous Oscar Selfie during the show are strategic integrations that bring a brand into the conversation and keep them top of mind and potentially become an influencer in their next purchase of an items in that category. Twitter just introduced a new feature for businesses that will allow you to target and interact with an audience during live events that are trending and create content that is directed to them (Hutchinson, 2015). This access to the analytics and audience breakdown, will be a wonderful tool for marketers to enter into a conversation with knowledge of the mindset of their target, allowing them to create an intentional message that becomes part of the relevant discussion with their intended audience.

However, even with the seemingly disconnection of personal relationships in an increasingly digital world, the need for connection is coming back around and is seen as becoming a necessary aspect of marketing in 2016 (Moraes, 2015 & Newman, 2015). The consumer has become wise to they are being marketed to and the need for the personal connection, even if it is through their smartphones will become how brands will be able to find future success. That is why the need for brands to be a part of the live, experimental landscape will be critical to brand evolution and sustainability (Moraes, 2015 & Newman, 2015). Whether it be a live production of a network staged musical, the Oscars, Super Bowl or even a concert or festival at strategic large market venues, brands need to find ways to connect to the audience they serve. Let them feel, touch, taste and live your brand or what your brand means for them and from there you will be able to adapt, adjust and continue to serve your current fan and hope to build loyalty that will result in sharing their experience and bringing more people into the next experience with them.

References:
AdWeek. (2013, November 13). Live events are king for getting people to recommend and buy brands. Retrieved from: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/live-events-are-king-getting-people-recommend-and-buy-brands-153740

Hutchinson, A. (2015, July 23). Twitter makes it easier for advertisers to target live event discussion with new insights tools. Social Media Today. Retrieved from: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-business/adhutchinson/2015-07-24/twitter-makes-it-easier-advertisers-target-live-event#sthash.qFdW1SGH.dpuf

Moraes, M. (2015, September 25). 7 game-changing marketing trends to tackle in 2016. HubSpot. Retrieved from: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/7-game-changing-marketing-trends-to-tackle-in-2016

Newman, D. (2015, November 3). The top 10 marketing trends that will define 2016. Forbes. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2015/11/03/the-top-10-marketing-trends-that-will-define-2016/#209db25c7d58

Pop Culture Happy Hour. (2016, February 5). Pop culture happy hour: ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,’ ‘Grease,’ TV musicals. NPR. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2016/02/05/465633016/pop-culture-happy-hour-crazy-ex-girlfriend-grease-tv-musicals

There will be no turning backs under many important occasions— a job interview, a pitch, even a blind date. You want to show your best side and act more intelligent than other competitors. Here’s the good news. There are actually some scientifically proved tips that can make you “look” smarter. The writer has arranged and listed some simple tips that are being most recommended and can be easily executed.

Wear glasses

Wear glasses, really? Yes. It is that simple. Some people choose contacts over glasses because they believe wearing glasses makes them less attractive. However, studies have shown that wearing glasses does help people succeed in interviews. Dr. Neil Handley, the curator of the British Optical Association Museum at the College of Optometrists, stated that glasses not only cover eyes, the window of someone’s soul, but also surrounding tissues, cheekbones, frown lines and so on. With these body parts covered, it would be more difficult for others to indicate one’s thoughts. People tend to assume others are better and greater when there is a knowledge gap, thus when people couldn’t scrutinize your thoughts by facial expression, they tend to think you’re more intelligent. In addition, many people believe in the myth that people wearing glasses read more than others and are thus more knowledgeable.

Use Middle Initial

Names with middle initials are often presented in formal contexts, notably while referring to intellectual achievements. Thus people often considered those who use middle name initials having higher social status and intellectual capacity. Psychologists Tilburg and Igou(2014) conducted a study that authenticated this bias. In the study, 85 students were asked to read an article and rate it on its quality. Different kinds of names were presented as the author of the article, including “David Clark”, “David F. Clark”, “David F.P. Clark” and “David F.P.R. Clark”. Among the names, “David F. Clark” achieved the highest rating. An assumption for this bias is that when people receive letters from high-intellectual professionals such as doctors, lawyers or other high-status experts, the documents are often signed with middle initials. After reading a lot of such letters, the association between middle initials and high intelligence is made in people’s mind.

Smile

Studies have proved that smiles not only make people appear more attractive, but smarter as well. According to anthropologists Kleisner, Chvatalova and Flegr (2014), there is a correlation between presented emotions and perceptions of intelligence in faces, while smiling faces are perceived as high-intelligence and angrier faces are perceived as low-intelligence faces plus untrustworthy. An explanation for the connection between smile and intelligence is related to confidence. People often assume that the more you know, the more confident you’ll act, and people of smile when they’re confident.

Engage more
The perception of intelligence people have on you will increase if you engage more in the conversations and there are many ways to do so. While listening to others, slowly nodding your head is a good way to show that you’re going along with others point of view. Slow nodding not only indicates understanding, but also shows approval and encourages others to keep on talking.

According to Murphy, a psychologist at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, in addition to nodding your head while listening, another strong sign of intelligence is to look at others when you’re talking to them. Also, people believe you’re more intelligent when you stand or sit straight and talk in an expressive, confident way.

Something you should NOT do: to talk TOO much

As Abraham Lincoln once said “Better to remain silent and be though a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt”. People would not be impressed by others’ lengthy speech, even if the person does know a lot about the topic. One should only express his or her opinions if those thoughts could help the conversation. Also, don’t talk too much when you are unfamiliar with the topic. Many people try to act smart by commenting on every single topic. However such action actually risks exposing what they don’t know.

Of course it is important to enrich our mind and learn practical knowledge. However, no matter how smart you truly are, you all need to allow people to have interests in you in order to notice your intelligence. Acting smart is a great way to get involved. Remember these tactics, they may come in handy someday.

References 

Baer, D. (2014). Here’s why using your middle initial makes you look smarter. Business Insider. Retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com/middle-initials-make-you-look-smarter-2014-5

Ingraham, C. (2014). Want people to think you’re smarter? Smile more. The Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/04/07/want-people-to-think-youre-smarter-smile-more/

Kleisner, K., Chvatalova, V., & Flegr, J. (2014). Perceived intelligence is associated with measured intelligence in men but not women. PLos One. 9(3). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081237

Murphy, N. (2007). Appearing smart: the impression management of intelligence, person perception accuracy, and behavior in social interaction. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 33(3), 325-329

Patel, N. (2015). Psychology explains why people with glasses look smart – Or do they just look better. Inverse. Retrieved from: https://www.inverse.com/article/6670-the-psychology-of-glasses-and-intelligence

Paulas, R. (2015). The hidden psychology of wearing glasses. Pacific Stanford. Retrieved from: http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/more-than-just-four-eyes-the-hidden-psychology-of-wearing-glasses

Shellenbarger, S. (2015). How to look smarter.

Tilburg, W., & Igou, E. (2014). The impact of middle names: Middle name initials enhance evaluations of intellectual performance. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(4), 400-411.

One of the trends of 2016 that is buzzing around marketing departments is Marketing Automation. It is a current marketing trend that is a must. Marketing automation can imply doing email blasts but there is so much more work and opportunities offered to engage your audience and make them your costumers.

Marketing automation can consist of many digital marketing strategies, leading a customer to brand website and offering a tool to get to brand Facebook and Twitter pages to view customer reviews and responses on product use. Also, automating Tweets and Facebook posts of current campaigns and generating buzz while current product is entering global market will have a great advantage. The purpose of marketing automation is to engage in your potential customer, lead them to purchase and build brand loyalty. Marketing automation is an important part of businesses marketing strategies for 2016 and there is no way getting around it. Some companies like to do things the old way.  That just doesn’t fly any more in an economy where smartphones are vehicles for businesses to connect with costumers. In a time where a tweet or post on Facebook can have a potential reach of billions marketing automation is guarantee to boost sales.

Taking leads, nurturing them and continuously connecting with your leads will have positive effects. Some people think email is dying down and all automated email messages fall in spam folders. Email is booming more and not dying down with other tools of communications such as Facebook messenger, Viber, Whatsapp. Plus personalization is in existence. Customers can click on interests and join email lists. Marketers have the chance to provide engaging content that connects with  potential customers. Marketing automation can also measure impressions with clicks. It is the top way businesses can follow data on marketing efforts and profit.

Lets not forget some of the important marketing automation strategies that we might get. I don’t know about you but it works for me every year on my birthday with emails from my favorite brands wishing me a Happy Birthday Month.

References:

Roetzer, P. (2014, January 9). 15 Ways Marketing Automation Can Maximize Your Content’s ROI. Content Marketing Institute. Retrieved from: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/01/marketing-automation-maximize-content-roi/

Patel, N. and Ritika P. The Definitive Guide to Marketing Automation. QuickSprout. Retrieved from: https://www.quicksprout.com/the-definitive-guide-to-marketing-automation-chapter-1/

Imgur.com is a image hosting website where users can upload content that is voted on by other users.  It proclaims that it is “The greatest image site. Full of the all the wonders and magic of the interwebs.”  When the site first started, it operated off of user donations.  However, in 2009 the site began showing display ads on the sidebar and then expanded to sponsored promotional images that appear on the site.  Initially the sponsored images were complained about by users.  Many felt that the material was poorly done.  Not only was the marketing ineffective, it frequently created a negative feeling for the brand.

Anthony Young, author of the book Brand Media Strategy states that no brand will be bought by every person, so tailoring your market is much more cost effective.  That is exactly what deodorant, body wash and other man freshener producer, Old Spice, did.  With an audience comprised of 75% under the age of 35, heavily skewed towards the male demographic, it was a great marketing venue. Old Spice seized this opportunity and launched a campaign allowing it to interact with this target market.

http://imgur.com/gallery/BcZMG

The marketing group launched a series of images and the users would determine the winners.  Not only did Old Spice make their campaign interactive, they also made the content quality.  They examined the content that was frequently found on the “front page” and modeled their campaign after that content.  The end result was positive feedback from the community and open discussion regarding the product.

User WellWeAreAllOutOfCake stated: “I have to say, please give your market research department a HUGE high five. This is tailoring ads to your audience done well.”

Followed by EverythingYouThoughtYouKnewIsALie stating:  “Advertisers that actually know their community?? Nice.”

Old Spice demonstrated that the company had a firm understanding of what Imgur users wanted because it took the time to get to know them.  They proved that fact by producing quality posts, and gained the trust of the Imgur market.  Anthony Young, author of the book Brand Media Strategy states that no brand will be bought by every person, so tailoring your market is much more cost effective.  Old Spice tailored their campaign perfectly.

And in case you were wondering – I’m team Bearglove all the way.  I even bought some for my husband.

https://help.imgur.com/hc/en-us/articles/201424856-History

Young, A. (2014). Brand media strategy: Integrated communications planning in the digital era. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Chapter 1.

A giant advertisement for Verizon covers Four Embarcadero above the Super Bowl City site in San Francisco, California.

The Verizon banner above, that covered a large portion of Four Embarcadero Center, was taken down on city orders prior to this year’s Super Bowl (Johnson, 2016).  According to San Francisco’s planning code, the reason for doing so was that ‘too much’ of the display was devoted to Verizon in proportion to the part dedicated to the Super Bowl – a civic event (Johnson, 2016).

According to the 2015 Neilsen Ratings, Super Bowl XLIX had an average audience of 114.4 million viewers (SuperBowl-Ads.com).  The Super Bowl is notoriously the most-watched television program of the year, so it should come as no surprise that ad space costs a pretty penny.  What is interesting is that despite these Super Bowl ads not really boosting sales, companies are continuing to pay a lot of money for them (“Why Super Bowl”, 2016).

This year, a thirty-second advertisement costs around 5 million dollars (“Why Super Bowl”, 2016).  For the smaller, not-so-wealthy companies, there is a slim chance that they can afford such prime real estate.  This means that these smaller companies have to find a way to use the Super Bowl’s hype to their advantage without paying top dollar?

The following is what I believe to be a successful utilization of the Super Bowl hype by a smaller company:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm7qovrqD-I

Newcastle Brown Ale did not buy any airtime in the 2014 Super Bowl (Nudd, 2014).  Instead, they chose to create a faux Super Bowl campaign that, along with the endorsement of Anna Kendrick, hijacked conversation surrounding Super Bowl marketing (Nudd, 2014).

With the Super Bowl fast approaching, take note of the advertisements televised during the game, but also note the campaigns created that, like the Newcastle campaign, are able to utilize the conversation surrounding the Super Bowl to their advantage without spending millions.

** Make sure to comment if you see any specific examples this weekend!

References:

Nudd, T. (2014, January 30). Anna Kendrick Isn’t ‘Beer Commercial Hot’ but Is Hilarious in Newcastle’s Super Bowl Campaign. Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/anna-kendrick-isnt-beer-commercial-hot-hilarious-newcastles-super-bowl-campaign-155337

Johnson, L. (2016, January 28). Huge ad for Verizon at Embarcadero Center coming down. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-Huge-building-ads-for-Verizon-Visa-must-6790468.php

Marans, D. (2016, February 5). Why Some Top Companies Decided Super Bowl Ads Aren’t Worth It. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/super-bowl-ads-not-worth-it_us_56b52312e4b01d80b2466dee?utm_hp_ref=super-bowl-commercials

SuperBowl-Ads.com Super Bowl Advertising News. Retrieved from http://superbowl-ads.com/

Why Super Bowl Advertisers Are OK That the Commercials Don’t Boost Sales – TIME -. (2016). Retrieved from http://superbowl-ads.com/super-bowl-advertisers-ok-commercials-dont-boost-sales-time/

Email. We all get it, and whether you love it or you hate it, it is here to stay as a marketing tool. According to the Direct Marketing Association, there is a 4300% return on investment for email marketing (Shah, 2013) and emails produce a conversion rate that is three times greater than those from social media (Aufreiter, Boudet & Weng, 2014). Think about how much spending even just an extra dollar per email could mean for your bottom line! Whether you’re sending email out to 10 or 10,000,000 customers a day, it’s well worth it to invest some time and resources into creating the most effective email marketing campaigns.

This is the first in a series of posts about how you can optimize your email communications for more opens, more clicks and ultimately, more conversions. Below, three tips on how to make the most out of your email marketing efforts to get consumers to open your emails.

Start with an attention grabbing subject line.

“What’s in a subject line? That which we call an email by any other name would be opened as much.” -Shakespeare, probably

Hate to break it to Juliet, but it’s pretty important what you decide to name your email. It’s astounding how many emails I get a day with a boring subject line. This is how your email makes its first impression on the consumer! According to a study from Chadwick Martin Bailey, the subject line is the second most important factor is getting a recipient to open an email. The first is who the email is from, but I’m hoping/going on the assumption you’re only sending to people who want to receive your emails in the first place (Stahler, 2015). It’s okay to be straightforward if what you are saying is worth value to your customer – 50% off the entire site? $20 to leave a product review? I’d probably click on that (Van Meter, 2016). But for emails with less inherently clickable value, get your customers excited to see what you’re sending them. You can tease them, shock them, give them a valuable tip…the options are endless, and just as long as you don’t mislead your audience into clicking, this is a great exercise in creativity (Van Meter, 2016). There are plenty of resources to be found with a quick Google search if you aren’t sure where to start. But once you’ve started writing great copy for subject lines, how do you know which subject line is going to work best? That leads to my next tip…

Test everything…and I mean everything.

There are statistics all over the Internet about email best practices, and many of them hold up and can be used as a guideline for your sending habits. But do they work for your specific audience? The audience you have carefully collected email addresses from and who are integral to your business success? You won’t know until you test your strategies to see what it is that they like. A simple A/B split test can mean the difference between sending them exactly what they want to open and exactly what they want to send to their trash (Bradley, 2014). How many things can you test? Let me count the ways:

• Subject lines: What does your audience respond to? Straightforward or click bait?
• Sending name: Do you have a proper name and a more colloquial one? See what your customers prefer!
• Promotions: Is it better to offer percentage off or dollar off incentives for sales?
• Send time: Are your customers morning people or are they checking their inboxes in the evening after work?
• Send days: Are they more likely to convert on a weekday or weekend? Do they shop to feel better about Mondays or to start off the weekend on Fridays?

Can you think of any other things you might want to test to increase open rates? If so, find a way to test it and start sending! All these tests will help you with my next tip…

Segmentation: We’re getting personal.

Say you work for a sporting goods store, selling everything from watersports gear to snow apparel. You’ve got a great base of customers who live across the United States. Are you going to send your customers who live in the Midwest email after email with information on sales about surf equipment? Or 20% off snow jackets to your customers who haven’t experienced temperatures below 70 degrees in 6 months? Well, you might, but you probably shouldn’t. Segmenting your audience ensures that you are sending content that is relevant to the recipient as often as possible. They want to know that you care about their interests and are willing to go the extra mile to give them attention based on their personal preferences (Hexton, 2013). There are both simple and complicated segmentation approaches you can take, it just depends on your business and the goals of your email program. You can segment by location, gender, interests, and so on – whatever components you can break your content down into to make it more relevant for someone getting your emails. This is one small step toward personalization, which can make your customers feel more connected to your brand and be more likely to open your direct communications (Hexton, 2013). After all, it was hand picked to be sent to them, so why wouldn’t they want to take a peek at what you have to say?

Alright, so you’ve written the great subject line, you’ve tested every variable you can think of, and you are sending relevant content your audience segments want to read. What’s next? Getting your customers to click through the email to your website. Stay tuned for my next post with tips to boost your email click rates and get people to your business.

I hope these tips are helpful to you and lead to increased open rates for your direct communications. And if you aren’t in control of your company’s email program? Modify and incorporate some of these tactics into your personal emails, and see an increase in opens for any “quick favor” emails you might have to send. Have any questions? Leave them in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer.

References:

Aufreiter, N., Boudet, J. & Weng, V. (2014). Why marketers should keep sending you emails. Retrieved February 6, 2016 from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/why_marketers_should_keep_sending_you_emails

Bradley, J. (2014). From timing to testing: How to create emails that get attention. Retrieved February 6, 2016 from http://myemma.com/blog/article/from-timing-to-testing-how-to-create-emails-that-get-attention

Hexton, C. (2013). The most overlooked email marketing strategy: segmentation. Retrieved February 6, 2016 from http://marketingland.com/the-most-overlooked-email-marketing-strategy-segmentation-63729

Shah, N. (2013). 18 Email Marketing Stats That’ll Make You Better at Your Job. Retrieved February 6, 2016 from http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-stats-list

Stahler, M. (2015). 25 Stats Every Email Marketer Should Know. Retrieved February 6, 2016 from http://www.sensiblemarketing.com/blog/25-stats-every-email-marketing-pro-should-know

Van Meter, M. (2016). 7 irresistibly clickable email subject lines. Retrieved February 6, 2016 from http://myemma.com/content-hub#ufh-i-197174421-7-irresistibly-clickable-email-subject-lines

Video games are a unique industry.  They appeal to their own niche of consumers and are surrounded by a massive culture.  From gaming marketing conventions like E3 to fan-oriented conventions such as Penny Arcade Expo, the extensive following that video games have garnered owes a lot to the endless facets of marketing that the industry employs.  One of these facets is betas.

What is a beta?  During the development of a video game, the polish and playability of a game can fluctuate.  To test games before they’re finished, companies sometimes temporarily release an early version of the game to the public in order to get valuable feedback (Atwood, 2008; Tassi, 2015b).  The earliest playable version of a game is usually referred to as its alpha stage (Atwood, 2008).  Following extra polish, it reaches beta stage (Atwood, 2008).  The beta stage usually comes somewhat close to the final product, but relies on extra input from the gaming community and data from those directly testing the game (Atwood, 2008; Tassi, 2015b).  By releasing betas to the public, gaming consumers may easily ascend through the stages of consumer decision-making (“Introduction,” 2016).

Multiplayer betas are some of the most common forms of betas in the gaming industry (Tassi, 2015b).  These not only generate valuable server data for game developers to streamline the game, but they also generate hype for upcoming game launches, making them a valuable asset to the marketing process (Tassi, 2015b).  In 2007, the upcoming Halo 3 was on many gamers’ minds, and folks would likely take any means necessary to play it as soon as possible (Klepek, 2007).  Microsoft Game Studios took advantage of this and made Halo 3‘s multiplayer beta accessible through the disc of another game: Crackdown (Klepek, 2007).  By using the relatively unknown Crackdown as a gatekeeper for Halo 3 beta participants, many folks ultimately played and loved Crackdown on its own merits (Klepek, 2007).  This was a genius marketing tactic.

Recent multiplayer betas, however, bring about some suspicions on the practice.  Contemporary examples of multiplayer betas include those for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege and Tom Clancy’s The Division.  Both of these games are published by the same company, but their individual betas have incurred decidedly different results.  The closed beta trailer for Siege can be seen below.

The closed beta for Rainbow Six Siege brought about a flurry of reactions.  Some broken features of the game were addressed, but many positive reactions were had throughout its development as well (Tassi, 2015a).  In fact, during a cluttered season in which many blockbuster video games saw release such as Halo 5, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, and others, Rainbow Six Siege was brought back into the limelight through its second multiplayer beta (Tassi, 2015a).  On the other hand, The Division was met with more disappointment upon its beta’s conclusion, leaving the success of its impending release to be questioned (Kain, 2016).  Much of this was due to user-generated feedback over gaming communities, social media, and journalism that creates its own reflective marketing.

Forbes’ Paul Tassi (2015b) recently brought up a salient point that multiplayer betas can do just as much damage as they can give aid in the marketing process for games.  The practice of releasing an unfinished product for public testing is indeed a risk.  Should there be a survey of quality before games are released in public beta form?  Are public betas one of the only ways that bad games can improve?  Should some games never be released in beta form?  As there are many game developers out there, it’s likely that quality assurance standards very greatly by company.  Should marketing professionals be the gatekeepers for betas?  I personally believe that marketing teams should work in conjunction with quality assurance personnel such that bad marketing responses may be minimized.

References

Atwood, J. (2008, July 30). Alpha, beta, and sometimes gamma [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://blog.codinghorror.com/alpha-beta-and-sometimes-gamma/

Introduction to Marketing Communication. (2016). Retrieved from https://mcm.usc.edu/mod/page/view.php?id=33827

Kain, E. (2016, January 31). The 5 biggest problems with ‘The Division’ beta. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2016/01/31/the-5-biggest-problems-with-the-division-beta/#6d10eb073666

Klepek, P. (2007, February 9). Crackdown Disc Required for Halo 3 Beta. 1up. Retrieved from http://www.1up.com/news/crackdown-disc-required-halo-3

Tassi, P. (2015a, November 24). Reminder: ‘Rainbow Six: Siege’ still exists, open beta starts tomorrow ahead of launch. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/11/24/reminder-rainbow-six-siege-still-exists-open-beta-starts-tomorrow-ahead-of-launch/#2a68d6a05ba8

Tassi, P. (2015b, November 30). From ‘Rainbow Six: Siege’ to ‘Battlefront,’ can betas be hurting games? Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/11/30/from-rainbow-six-siege-to-battlefront-can-betas-be-hurting-games/#57f43a5b6e16

Media:

http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Crackdown?file=Halo_3_Beta_marked_Crackdown_box_art.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt9m48NyNEA