Later this week, I’m reprising my highly
rated (by the audience) presentation, originally given at this summer’s National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU)
Strategic Growth conference.
The topic is social marketing but not from a “slam dunk,”
“gotta have it,” “full speed ahead, damn the business
case,” perspective. Rather the presentation examines whether there is
any “there” there yet regarding revenue (specifically for credit
unions, member acquisition, retention and non-account revenue).
Here’s the abstract from the NAFCU Annual Conference site, and I will
post the presentation on SlideShare in the next couple weeks.
Social Marketing is Free so it
Must be Worthwhile… Right? Well maybe, but BEWARE— don’t be
drawn in by the ‘coolness’ of using Facebook, Twitter and
interactive applications to market your credit union without some
investigation. Before you launch a social media campaign that you’re
sure will “go viral,” don’t forget these three simple letters:
R.O.I. Even though setting up a Facebook or Twitter account, or even a blog,
is free, there are hidden costs in terms of time, resources and budget. This
presentation will explore how credit unions and other organizations are using
social media and other Web 2.0 tools and to what degree they are successful.
Presented by Bob London, President and Founder of London, Ink,
LLC
Announcing e.SSENTIALS, from London, Ink: A new, fixed-price online
marketing program including development of five essential initiatives: marketing
database, e-newsletter, Google AdWords, search engine optimization & social
marketing presence.
Potomac, MD, December 11, 2008-London, Ink, (www.londonink.com) a full-service,
on-demand marketing and communications firm, today launched e.SSENTIALS, a
fixed-price program of online marketing services for small- and mid-size
businesses and non-profit organizations.
Designed to meet the budgeting predictability requirements of small- and
mid-size organizations, the London, Ink e.SSENTIALS program includes the
development and execution of five essential online marketing deliverables for
one fixed price.
The London, Ink e.SSENTIALS Program Includes:
Marketing Database: Compilation of an organization’s
key contacts, including prospective, nurture (long-term), and existing
customers/clients and partners. Regularly communicating to a house list can be
the most cost-effective way to for an organization to maintain or increase
mindshare-a critical step towards being “short-listed” when
prospects are ready to buy.
E-Newsletter: Development of a web-based newsletter
template that will be emailed to one or more segments of the Marketing Database,
plus execution of one prototype e-newsletter.
Google AdWords/Analytics Test: Development of a test of
the Google AdWords pay-per-click online advertising program, the world’s
leading online advertising platform.
Web Site Search Engine Optimization Audit: Assessment of
content, page titles and other factors for search engine
“friendliness” and recommendations for immediate enhancements.
Introductory Social Marketing Program: Development and
implementation of a program that leverages free distribution of an
organization’s message, via at least one of the following tactics:
company/product blog or leading social networking sites.
“Running any business today without online marketing tools such as
database marketing, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising and
basic social marketing, is like making an omelet without eggs,” said
London, Ink president, Bob London. “These tools are lower cost and
easier to measure than traditional marketing tactics, but too often they fall
off the priority list due to a lack of resources and expertise to properly plan,
implement and maintain them.”
“Now with e.SSENTIALS, London, Ink provides small- and mid-size
organizations with a practical, cost-effective and low-risk way to implement
these fundamental programs as they enter 2009.”
What about Content?
The e.SSENTIALS program leverages an organization’s existing content,
such as news releases, white papers, articles and other subject matter or
thought leadership content. New or additional content can be created for an
additional fee.
How is the e.SSENTIALS Program Priced?
The fixed-price, all-inclusive cost of the London, Ink e.SSENTIALS program is
based on the size of the organization by annual revenue. Please contact
London, Ink at essentials@londonink.com or 240 994
7644 for more details. The cost of the program is billed monthly in five equal
amounts.
“Teaching Organizations to Fish”
In addition to the development and execution of the above programs, for an
additional fee London, Ink will provide training for managers and staff on how
to continue to leverage and maximize the above tools.
Additional details are available at e.ssentials.net. To sign up for this
program or to learn more, please contact Bob London, president of London, Ink at
essentials@londonink.com or
240.994.7644.
About London, Ink
London, Ink is a full-service, on-demand marketing and communications firm
based in the Washington, DC metro area, that develops and implements marketing
and communications programs for mid-size and growing businesses and non-profit
organizations.
Bob London, president of London, Ink, serves as a Virtual VP of Marketing for
organizations that need hands-on, interim leadership in marketing strategy,
planning and execution. For more on London, Ink please visit www.londonink.com or contact Bob London at
240 994 7644 or essentials@londonink.com.
Recently I got an inquiry from the CEO of a rapidly growing education firm
looking for help with a referral-based lead gen program. Below is an excerpt
from my response that I thought might be useful to others.
By the way, publishing your answers to client/customer
questions in your blog or FAQ section is fast becoming a best practice for savvy
companies. Why?
First: we tend to get the same questions from multiple people, so rather
than rewriting the answer each time or searching your hard drive, just send the
link to your blog/site where your answer already resides.
Second, your answer will invariably include relevant keywords that can
bolster your natural/organic page rankings on Google, et al.
Below is the content from my reply–the company’s identity has
been omitted.
Basic Rule: While Referral and Loyalty Programs are Different, They
Overlap in Important Ways Here is the difference: Referral programs
are those that leverage existing or previous customers to generate new ones.
Loyalty programs reinforce the referrer’s ties to the brand by providing
additional benefits available to them as a reward for their loyalty.
Strategy 1: Utilize Rewards/Incentives that Reinforce
Your Value Proposition We know that referrals are a sign of brand
loyalty; your opportunity is to provide the referrer with special incentives and
rewards that bring him or her closer to your brand over time.
Therefore rather than continually rewarding/incenting referrers
with cash or other equivalents (i.e. the “Infinite Happy Meal
Loop”), consider utilizing discounts on future courses and continuing
education, additional/ongoing access to instructors and guest speakers and other
similar branded assets, services or intellectual property. The benefits of this
strategy are three-fold:
The reward reinforces the value of
the brand, which is what customers like about you in the first place, and what
they want more of.
Branded assets, services or intellectual property can be
delivered at cost, thus creating a high perceived value at a relatively low
out-of-pocket cost.
Helps avoid the “Infinite Happy Meal loop,” in which the only
differentiator is the toy, rather than the core product, and there is a constant
challenge to up the ante by coming up with a new “toy.”
Strategy 2: Create a “Cumulative” Program to
Stimulate Long-Term Participation Take advantage of untapped potential
to generate referrals among those who have used your product or service longer
than 24 months months prior.
To develop additional “hooks” that keep referrers engaged in
the Referral Program beyond the 12-month period, consider evolving from a
“year-to-year” model to a “cumulative” program that counts all referrals
over the lifetime of the referrer.
For example, being part of a CEO’s Club, based on outstanding
referral performance over the last five or ten years would carry a tremendous
amount of prestige for a graduate that is so vested in your company.
This “cumulative” model creates awareness
(and healthy competition) among all graduates, not just those who graduated less
than 12 months prior.
Strategy 3: Leverage the Power of the Community
One of your greatest assets is your customer base (tried but true cliche
alert!). If you haven’t already done so, create and foster online (virtual)
communities on MySpace and Facebook that provide a place for interaction and
promotion.
This powerful community dynamic can be leveraged to benefit your
Referral Program to:
Test program ideas.
Promote the program
Generate ideas from customers on how to stimulate referrals.
Provide customers with “viral marketing” tools to help them
creatively and powerfully stimulate referrals.
Today I gave the following response to a client CEO who forwarded an article
on success factors in cross-selling and bundling for existing customers.
By the way, publishing your answers to client/customer questions in your blog
or FAQ section is fast becoming a best practice for savvy companies. Why?
First: we tend to get the same questions from multiple people, so rather
than rewriting the answer each time or searching your hard drive, just send the
link to your blog/site where your answer already resides.
Second, your answer will invariably include relevant keywords that can
bolster your natural/organic page rankings on Google, et al.
Here is my reply to the client CEO:
(Name redacted):
I think this is good info and a strategy worth pursuing or at
least evaluating. Based on my experience, I would add three things to his list
of success factors:
Cross-Selling is Sales-Driven; Bundling is Marketing
Enabled:
Cross-selling is based on the premise that there are natural synergies or
overlays between existing offerings, so it is not a stretch to go to a client
using product/solution A and pitch prod/sol B. Cross-selling will happen
because the sales team recognizes the opportunity to sell (and thus earn) more
and feels comfortable enough with the pitch even though it may be outside of
their expertise comfort zone. Bundling requires some market evaluation to
determine the size of the opportunity and the business case for how to attack
that opp, i.e. defining the packages/bundles, identifying the resources needed
to develop packages/bundles (marketing lit, accounting/billing, training,
compensation, etc.) and where packages/bundles make sense for specific
industries, company sizes, etc.
Alignment of Sales Incentive/Compensation with
Cross-Selling Revenue Goals:
Despite collective wishful thinking that cross-selling and bundling will occur
because sales has been communicated to and educated, there needs to be an
incentive that causes them to go outside of their comfort zones, knowledge-wise.
So there doesn’t necessarily have to be a new or enhanced incentive/comp
program but we need to show a very direct and simple link between cross-selling
and their income.
Sales Education/Training:
Related to the first two points above, the sales team needs to feel comfortable
with the pitch and that they can increase their earnings by cross-selling or
selling bundled offerings. Just because initiatives are put in front of sales
doesn’t mean their behavior will follow. They need to feel supported with
the right tools, incentives, training, education, etc. and pointed in the most
lucrative market direction.
