I contributed to an article for last weeks’ DM News, titled “Adding Dimension to DM Success”. You can read the entire article here. For the right target, and the right product or service, nothing works like getting a “present” in the mail. We recommend a dimensional piece for a number of our clients, because the engagement level is so great. And most importantly, because they work. Here’s one we recently mailed for Weyerhaeuser. You can check it out in our portfolio
We rely on research and testing to optimize the user experiences we build for our clients. Sometimes it’s big stuff, and sometimes it subtle stuff: What a difference a few pixels make (via CNET News) provides a great example of how granular these tests can be–and how much they can matter to the bottom line.
For years, I’ve talked about the importance of scannability in any online presentation. (My coworkers are definitely sick of hearing me talk about scannability AND exploration.)
I’ve written and edited my share of thousand-word articles, don’t get me wrong. But the more I watched Web traffic reports and usability testing, the more I evangelized scannability (and specifically, short bulleted lists).
Michael Agger has a piece in Slate that cleverly summarizes the arguments for and the importance of scannability. (Although in general I have negative feelings about overuse of the sentence fragment and … within a paragraph. So I take exception to that suggestion.)
He also makes an excellent point about reading speed and font. (Although, again, I prefer to stick with Arial because it scores best across both online and offline platforms.)
Anyway, it’s definitely worth a read: “Lazy Bastards: How we read online”
An interesting post from Steve Feinberg (Belly of the Beast Blog) about Why CMOs Keep Getting Fired.
We spend a lot of time thinking about our clients’ brands. Brand Beliefs drive all online experiences — as well as traditional direct marketing.
Part of our Envisioning process for online initiatives includes a workshop to dig into Brand Beliefs, Measurement Objectives and Brand Relevance (online experiences).
This morning I discovered an interesting experiment on crowdsourcing and brand. Brand Tags describes itself as “a collective experiment in brand perception.”
The home page presents a brand logo and asks users to “enter the first thing that pops into your head.”
“A brand exists entirely in people’s heads. Therefore, whatever it is they say a brand is, is what it is,” the site explains.
Scores of companies — from Acura to Ziplock — have already been tagged with nearly a million unique tags.
The tags are displayed in the tag cloud form so you can easily see the most popular responses. Apple, for example, has dozens of tags. But what comes across most clearly are the Brand Beliefs — Awesome, Clean, Computer, Cool, Creative, Cult, Design, Expensive, Hip, Innovative, ipod, Love, Mac, Overpriced, Overrated, Pretentious, Quality, Simple, Sleek, Steve Jobs, Style, Trendy and White.
If you have a few minutes to explore, also check out the backwards tags where you can guess the company based on the tags.
I attended the Advertising 2.0 conference in NYC on Wednesday. The keynote was Susan Decker, President of Yahoo. She talked about the state of online display advertising and compared it a bit to search.
For the last five years, search advertising has worked well because it’s exceedingly simple to translate a search query into the ultimate intentions, goals, and desires of the user.
Since search-intentions are clear, investments and technologies have been focused on improving the serving and delivery of the search ads themselves (e.g. Adwords, Panama, and bid management systems like Omniture’s). Nowadays, very sophisticated platforms exist to drive search campaigns and the efficiencies are staggering.
The problem? Ninety percent of all online advertising inventory isn’t search based. And this enormous display ad (e.g. banner) inventory is fragmented and inefficient. Susan is predicting a renaissance in display advertising. I think instead it’s facing a revolution.
The online display-advertising inventory is fragmented because it is structured largely on the ancient ideas of content ownership and subscriber profile. That is, online display ads are sold in nearly identical fashion to offline display advertising – a system that was established literally a hundred years ago or more. Revolution is needed.
It’s important to note here that even though these online ads are inefficient, they are so much cheaper than offline ads that the vast inefficiencies involved are easily hidden by agency or media planner or even by clients themselves. (These ads essentially get “fewer miles-per-gallon,” but each gallon is cheaper to buy.) A little better, certainly easier, but not the permanent solution. Frequency works after all, and online ad frequency keeps getting cheaper all the time.
The real problem is not how much less you could be paying for the same impressions (lowering the “C”), it’s how much targeting and reach and response you’re missing out on (increasing the “A”). As a rule, “old fashioned” marketers will be excited by the ever-shrinking-C in CPA. Direct marketers will instead be excited by the ever-increasing-A. Why? Because as direct marketers, we look beyond campaign metrics like CPA to look at lifetime customer value; each missed acquisition represents enormous opportunity losses.
Susan Decker also cited statistics that suggest that in 2012 Internet advertising will be second only to direct marketing and will exceed all print and TV. She spoke with enthusiasm about the vision of Yahoo’s freshly minted display advertising platform – hoping it will deliver on the idea of writing an ad once and publishing it to 500 million users.
Again, I agree with her sentiment, but her choice of words belies an “old fashioned” approach. First, by separating “Internet Advertising” from “Direct Marketing” I think that Sue is participating in the propping up of out-of-date mass-market-mentality about marketing and advertising – the very attitude that created the fragmentation she’s trying to solve! Revolution is needed.
The long tail – of both products and the markets they target – is the single most important concept to understand in this new media landscape. As targeting efficiencies improve (the ultimate promise of improved display ad platforms like those from X+1, Tacoda, and RevenueScience), marketers will find greater opportunities and lower costs through increased segmentation. (That would be the complete opposite of sending the same ad to 500 million people). Products, being sold directly to niche markets of consumers, through one to one marketing methods, will define the display advertising landscape… and that’s direct marketing.
As Seth Godin put it so well almost 10 years ago: “the Internet is the ultimate direct marketing medium.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Diane Quinlisk May 30, 2008
585-453-8313
dquinlisk@catdir.com
Catalyst Direct, Inc., hires Colleen Merchant
ROCHESTER, NY—Catalyst Direct, Inc., has hired Colleen Merchant as account executive at its Marina Drive location.
Merchant joins Catalyst from Roberts Communications, where she progressively moved up the ranks over the last 12 years. Her most recent position was as account executive supporting the agency’s Xerox business.
In her new role at Catalyst, Merchant will help guide client marketing strategies and assist the Catalyst team in meeting and exceeding client objectives with targeted creative solutions.
“At the end of the day, it comes down to two things: strategy and relationships,” says management supervisor, Wayne Drazek. “Colleen possesses the experience and insight to conquer both.”
Merchant holds a bachelor of science degree in journalism from West Virginia University, with a concentration in broadcast journalism and a double minor in English and psychology. In her free time, Merchant has enjoyed coaching gymnastics at Bright Raven Gymnastics, Inc. for the last 15 years. Merchant lives in Gates, NY.
About Catalyst Direct:
Catalyst Direct is a full-service direct marketing agency specializing in knowledge-based solutions designed to acquire, retain and maximize customer relationships for its clients. Founded in 1990, the company employs more than 85 professionals and is headquartered in Rochester, NY, with an office in Dallas, TX. The company’s client roster includes Eastman Kodak Company, GE Money, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, HSBC, M&T Bank, Pitney Bowes, Valvoline, and Weyerhaeuser.
It’s finally here! I can tell you from past experience that’s it’s a lot more difficult to create a website for your own company than it is to create a site for a client. But we made it. We’re still in semi-beta, because we’re doing some things differently. For starters, we built the site on a blog platform (WordPress) so we can update it easily and try out new things.
We also had to create a number of custom templates and bend them to work in this environment. We also got inventive with new plugins for listing tags and displaying custom functions and information, authors by ID or username and some other more techie details (let me know if you want/need specifics).
All in all, it’s simple, intuitive, user-focused and comprehensive. We’re pretty happy with it. But what do you think? Give it a look and let me know.
The Railroads Did It
The need for brands was initially spawned by national companies who wished to compete with local manufacturers — an opportunity brought on by mass production and Rail’s ability to distribute products more widely. Brands have since evolved from a “logo and mark” to complete personalities which capture the essence of how businesses wish to relate to their customers.
Brands became handles for consumers – through which they could not only engage with the personality of a company but also get reasonable expectations of quality and consistency. “Brand” was invented as a standin for a real person — making the same assurances a local maker or shopkeeper had traditionally made. And, over the last 100 years or so, brands became product “personality” itself.
TV Put it Together
Along comes TV. With a brand infrastructure in place, manufacturers could now broadcast awareness of their products across the entirety of their distribution area. In this world (broad reach, broad distribution, and little branded competition) national brands grew and prospered.
And the Internet Broke it Apart
With the broad adoption of the Web and rapid penetration of even the most personal of services being offered online (e.g. banking), we can declare the broadcast era officially dead.
Suddenly, consumers can experience brands directly: through online events, interaction with products, or by visiting the online environments of brands; or they can experience them vicariously: through an eBay Seller’s feedback, a compelling blogger, or a reviewer on Amazon who seems to share their likes and dislikes.
As the online channel becomes the primary delivery point for brand experiences, it’s critical that marketers take advantage of the enormous growth opportunity this trend presents. If your company will participate in this new branding paradigm, it needs to be ready for the voyage. Changing your mindset from a broadcast mentality to a narrowcast mentality is the first step.
Imagine: “brand marketing” that is focused on customer acquisition and conversion and which drives real value in the business in a measurable way.
The challenge, of course, is that brand marketers and direct marketers speak very different languages. Bridging the gap between these disciplines will take real investment from both kinds of marketers — learning the skills, talents, and approaches of the other — and it will take a bit of gumption as well.
Artist Aurora Robson, that’s who.
Among her other remarkable works of art, Robson has created a series of junk mail collages. (I have forwarded an e-mail to her — hoping she’ll consider changing it to “direct mail” collages.) ;-)
