JANUARY 5, 2011

Create a strategic plan for success. 1

Companies who have profited from social media are twice as likely to have a FORMAL STRATEGY.

Make the shift from just having a “social presence” to supporting actual business objectives and engaging customers.

Companies haveGAINED REAL VALUE

from significant strategicefforts.

Companies who have gained value from just 

“experimenting.”52%

13%

� 2010 Customer Insight Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Build Your list at Every Opportunity & ALWAYS by Permission

Think Through Possible Customer Touchpoints:

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Direct Mail• Testing – Why, when and how much

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Ask the big questions before you go live with the customer.1. Who will “own” it? 

2. How many hours per week can you allocate to support your strategy? 

3. Is the budget adequate to do the job?

4. What role do you need outside of your existing resources to fill to help implement your strategy? 

5. Will your content updates depend on any other resource or person? 

6. Who will be responsible for monitoring and moderating customer’s comments? 

7. What is the response time you expect of that person?

8. Who will address customer service issues that need moderated? 

9. Do you want your voice to be an individual person or a group of people at the company?

10. Are your legal, HR and IT teams clear on the limitations and risks that may be associated with a social media initiative?

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� 201 Customer Insight Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Creative Brief — Starting a Project Launch Off Well• Company Brand Checklist

• Communication Objectives

• Competition

• Target Audience

• Offer

• Key Message

• Call to Action

• Other requirements

• Schedules

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� 2011 Serff Creative Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Brainstorming and the Power of Putting ALL Ideas on the Table• There are many ways to brainstorm 

when coming up with new and innovative ways to sell to your customers. 

• One way — “Mind Mapping”– Write ALL ideas down

– Decide on the strong ones, then focus on what conceptscould come out of those words

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Brainstorming — Mind Mapping6

� 2011 Serff Creative Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Direct Mail• You are only as good as your metrics

– RSP Rate

– CPL

– CPS

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• Are you using other metrics?

• Are they “Real Time”?– Can you make spend decisions any time/any day

8 Measure success based on the objectives you want to achieve.

Visitors, Source of traffic

Interaction

Virality

Network Size Sales

Leads

Search Engine 

Marketing

Brand Metrics PR

Customer Engagement

Retention

Profits

� 2010 Customer Insight Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Consistency of Your Brand• Create consistency in ALL a customer sees of your 

company, regardless of where they see it.– Application of color

– Usage of fonts

– Style of imagery conveys your personality

– Tone of your message

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� 2011 Serff Creative Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Target your audience first, pick your tools later.10• Who do you want to engage?

• What do they have in common?

• How do they use your product?

• Where can you connect and interact with them? Your connecting with

people, not tools.

� 2010 Customer Insight Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Direct Mail• Testing new data – do you hotlist?

• Newer data ‐ less quantity ‐more data sources

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Existing Database

Most Recent Records Added

Email Marketing is NOT Advertising –It Is Dialog12

“It’s time to fully understand that your

customers are living, breathing,

creatures who want one-to-one relationships with your company,

not just

one-way rhetoric.”---- Don Peppers, The One-to-One Future

Direct Mail• Use focus groups to improve your campaign

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Example: Entertain/Instruct

Where’s the Value? Entertain, Inform, & Instruct While Building Relationships14

Used With Permission

Company Background:2‐person recruiting/ consulting firm

Email Costs:1st year’s email license and strategic/design services: $15k

1st Year Return on Investment:$200k as a direct result of their monthly newsletter to 6,000 recipients

Example: Inform/Instruct

Where’s the Value? Entertain, Inform, Instruct While Building Relationships14

Timely Gardening Tips from Miracle‐Gro eNewsletter

Rose gardeners receive different advice than vegetable gardeners.

Gardeners in the North receive different advice than those in the South.

Growing the Relationship:Be Creative• Be Unique. There are many ways to 

keep in touch with your customers by multi‐touch marketing in email, direct mail or other means. Keep it creative to make those touches count.

– Send personal cards or letters

– Direct mail campaigns with special offers for your top customers

– Referral email campaigns

• Remind them how much you value their business and trust

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Listen to your customers.16

SOURCE IDEAS. FOSTER INNOVATION.

REALIZE PAIN POINTS. LEARN FIRST HAND WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS WANT.

2010 Customer Insight Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pick the right social media tool for the job.17

Source: 360i analysis of Nielsen @Plan; Fall 2009

• 2.6MM influencers• 18.5MM in social media• Prefer blogs, forums & review sites

Joiner

Creator

MySpace

Facebook

Critic

Spectator

Creator

Critic

BlogsReview SitesReview Sites

Twitter

Digg YouTube

Blogger

• 2.3MM influencers • 30.2MM in social media• Prefer blogs & social nets

• 3.7MM influencers• 55.9MM in social media• Prefer Review Sites

Entertainment Techie Influential Dads Influential Boomers

2010 Customer Insight Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Looking Good in All Mediums• Your brand must carry across its brand effectively in 

any medium, such as email, direct mail, print collateral and social media.

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� 2011 Serff Creative Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Direct Mail• Track your mail to integrate with other mediums 

(Television, E‐mail and Telemarketing)

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Make it POP! Step out of the box for creative formats in Direct mail• Look at ways to stand out from your competition and 

other means of clutter.– Unique formats:

• oversized postcards

• Multiple‐fold formats

• Specialty shapes and promotional products 

– Create a piece that will jump to top and get that customer to open your piece.

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Beat Inbox Competition 21Your email communications

MUSTstand out!

ARE YOU 1 OF THE 14?

Integrate social media into your existing communication plan.22

DON’T KNOW

RUN AS AD-HOCPROGRAMS

RUN AS SILOEDCAMPAIGNS

RUN ASINTEGRATEDCAMPAIGNS

41%35%

17%7%

U.S. Companies’ Social Media Tactics

December, 2009

Identify where social media can be integrated.Messages should be mirrored through your social media campaigns.

� 2010 Customer Insight Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

The 3 “C’s” of Email Marketing: 1 - Consistency23

Email format consistent from issue to issue

The 3 “C’s” of Email Marketing: 2 - Continuity23

The 3 “C’s” of Email Marketing: 3 - Commitment23

• Test, test, test and monitor response rates

• Send to a portion of your list and at different times

• Move content elements

Follow the 6 C’s of Social Media24

Listen, Learn, Act.

Content

Conversation

CommunityCollaboration

Conversion

2010 Customer Insight Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Direct Mail• Hard copy prospect to online customer

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Personalize for Increased Response26Email Response Rates by Number of Personalization Elements

Personalize for Increased Response26Email Response Rates by Number of Personalization Elements

Personalize for Increased Response26Email Response Rates by Number of Personalization Elements

Directing Creative to Your Customers Effectively

• Tone of message

• Use of imagery

• Collect data from your customer

• Personalize with variable data for following up campaigns, or second touch

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Direct Mail• Modeling – how to do it and why?

• Pull a segment of your current customers

• Find more prospects like your customers

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Promote the Relationship Online and Offline• Grow your relationship with your customers 

through branding and creative execution

• Create unique value through social media and other personalized venues

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Direct Mail• Postal Standards Continue to Change – do your 

research and ask your postal experts

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31 Set objectives to “be” social rather than to “do” social.

Set objectives to “BE” social, rather than 

“DO” social. 

Align social media objectives with 

business objectives.

Determine how you will measure

success.

SMART ObjectivesQuantity and quality of traffic

Sales revenue

Interaction

Sales leads

Profits

Foster brand advocacy

Search marketing

Gather customers insight

Brand metrics

Customer retention

Customer engagement

2010 Customer Insight Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

The 80-20 Rule Applies Here, Too!32Emails Should Contain at Least 80% Value‐Added Content to 20% Promotion

The Golden Rule of Email Marketing:33

“Send unto others as you would have others 

send unto you.”

Steve Miller/NetNewsdeskCopyright 1997‐2010

Used with permission

Today’s Speaker Panel34Sallie Burnett – Customer Insight Group

sallie@customerinsightgroup.com

Ian Serff – Serff Creative – ian@serffcreative.com

Deb Daufeldt – Second Story Solutions, LLC

deb@secondstorysolutions.com

Ryan Hartman – Wiz Bang Solutions – ryan@wizbangsolutions.com