Your dealership must now survive in a much more cutthroat environment, which requires comprehensive marketing strategies designed to heighten the selling potential of your employees and attract the maximum number of potential customers possible.  In order to be successful in an anemic economic environment, you need to be developing innovative marketing strategies that penetrate the public’s ennui and makes them take notice of your dealership. Some of the creative and cost-effective strategies include

• Employee Testimonials – A dealership in the Southeast asked its employees to post videos explaining why this business was the best place to purchase a vehicle.  The owner incentivized the employees with a contest that rewarded the employee who received the most likes online.  The contest was marketed online and on television and radio.  The result was a 5 percent sales boost over the same period from the year before.  The success of this strategy was based upon an exciting contest platform that also engaged the public with authentic human testimonials.
• Widen Target Segment – The auto marketing industry has changed radically.  Strategies that were rock solid ten or twenty years ago may only net you a small portion of the potential customers you could attract.  A recent study by ValueClick found that traditional marketing venues like auto review sites, rental businesses and auto parts catalogs were not nearly as effective some non-traditional venues.   The study found a huge number of consumer responses on computer gaming, music, and sports & recreation sites, while the traditional automotive sites reported only a modest response.  The conclusion of the study was that the visitors to these traditional sites are less likely to be impacted by auto ads than visitors to sites which rarely host auto ads.  Developing a broader marketing strategy then refining it to meet consumer response is critical.
• Social Media – Sites like Cars.com, Google+ and Yelp are beginning to heavily influence consumer purchasing decisions.  A study by Digital Air Strike found that almost 70% of consumers were influenced by review sites.  Dealerships that cultivated a strong and positive presence on these review sites had a much greater likelihood of attracting customers and from a greater distance away. Almost 71% of consumers had used a Google search to find a dealership and 49% clicked on a review site before visiting a dealership.
• Emphasize Dealership Strengths – Instead of touting prices that are the “Lowest in the State”, dealerships need to pick key characteristics that differentiate it from its competitors.  You are initializing a relationship with the consumer through your promotions and you want create a relationship that is based on trust and integrity from the outset.  Many consumers expect an adversarial relationship during the purchase process, so anything that can offset that is likely to help keep that customer long after the sale is over.

Marketing has changed radically, and the dealerships that can adapt their marketing strategies to the new business environment are the ones that will survive.  Understand that you are cultivating relationships for the long term, and those relationships are supported by a variety of interactive channels.  Broaden your marketing strategy; you will be surprised at how successful some ignored market segments may be for your dealership.

Content is expensive, so multiplying the impact of your articles, videos and information is a cost-effective strategy for most businesses. Producing informative or engaging content takes hard work which means that you are investing time and money in its creation.  You want to make the products of your efforts as widely available to as many of your target consumers as possible.

There are some guidelines to follow when integrating content with social media.

• Content generation – There are numerous ways to create content.  You can repurpose videos from a seminar at an expo or ask customers to submit images of your products in use. You should be generating content on your blog that is relevant and timely.  Many of these posts probably would easily translate to your social media site without significant editing.  Some will require careful consideration before posting to Facebook or YouTube. Your content, whether it is entertaining or informative, communicates something about your business.  You want to understand how the users of a particular social media site will interpret the content before you start slapping up everything that has your name on it.  A strict product description may not be very appealing on Twitter, but could be very useful on LinkedIn or MantaConnect.
• Links – Even if content may not be appropriate for a particular social media site, you should create links that permit users to easily access it.  If you create text links, you want to use keywords that are popular, intriguing or descriptive.
• Social media buttons – If you haven’t been introducing the social media buttons at the bottom of your blog posts and articles, you need to start doing so.  These buttons help raise your profile on Facebook and Twitter and provide free promotion.  You should provide these buttons from the most popular sites as well as ones you are well established on, but don’t go overboard.  Too many buttons may slow your site down or inhibit responses.  Also encourage partners to like your content; zero likes for a post makes your blog appear unpopular.
• Remove aged content – A key to remaining pertinent is providing content on a regular basis. You social media site should have some depth, but accumulating months of content that is no longer relevant is inhibiting the performance of your site.  Periodically weed out content on these sites that is underperforming and replace it with fresher material.  It may not produce any more business, but visitors will know that at least you are devoting some effort to maintaining the site.

The right content can help a business take off.  If one of your videos goes viral you could be looking at an enormous amount of free publicity.  That isn’t going to happen very often, but you should be producing material that has that goal in mind.  In any case, producing relevant videos, images and information will keep your target consumers interested in your social media site and enthusiastic about your brand.

Although the number of banking consumers who presently utilize social media channels for customer service needs is minute at the moment, as banks begin harnessing the power of positive customer interactions on these types of sites, it’s expected that more customers will begin using them as a resource for everything from troubleshooting account problems to learning operating hours.

Here are just a few of the benefits we see for banks as social media continues to grow in popularity:

1. It’s an ideal platform for healing relationships with less than satisfied customers.  For customers who contact your company through Facebook or Twitter with a complaint, providing a quick and effective response ensures that the immediate problem is resolved, restoring faith in your bank (and perhaps even increasing it).
2. It’s a cost effective solution in many ways. Customer service representatives responding to queries via social media channels will spend less time dealing with customers who can be directed to informational resources on the bank’s website.  In addition, representatives may be able to assist multiple customers simultaneously. Social media platforms are also conducive to skills-based routing, meaning that the expert on a specific topic will be immediately tasked to address the need.
3. It’s available 24/7.  While traditional phone and personal customer interactions may be limited to certain hours or locations, a social media site that is properly staffed can address issues when it’s convenient for the customer.  This heads off any undue stress or anxiety on the part of the customer, since they can get answers to their questions as they arise, instead of during set business hours.
4. Social media engagement is often more honest than other types of customer interaction.  Customers may be more willing to vent about seemingly insignificant or uncomfortable issues that they may avoid in a person-to-person conversation.  This type of honest feedback is critical to improving customer service levels. Although some of the feedback may need to be filtered, recurring criticisms can be more easily recognized – and addressed.
5. Helping a customer can shape public opinion.  Customers who are engaged and assisted on social media sites may be willing to immediately voice their support for your bank.  If your social media strategy is savvy enough, team members will be able to take those positive comments and use them to prop up your policies.

If you’re looking to develop a competitive advantage in your community as the “go-to” bank of choice, embracing social media channels as a new form of customer service is a surefire way to go about it.  If you’re interested in learning more about how you can use social media to boost your visibility in the community, contact us today to learn more.

Here are five simple steps to utilizing Twitter and building a bank of sweet, sweet leads:

1.) Hashtags & Trending Topics – The easiest, fastest way to reach a large audience.  Twitter always has a feed of trending topics on the homepage, and joining the discussion on any of those tags helps you reach a lot of people in a hurry.  Keep an eye on those topics and make timely comments.  Avoid sending tweets that aren’t relevant or that directly solicit sales – the average user is way too smart for that.

In the same way, most of your tweets should use hashtags.  This is the main way Twitter users explore topics of interest.  There are scores of directly relevant hashtags, and some quick research should help you figure out which ones get the most use.

2.) Follow and retweet related content.  Use your Twitter account as a springboard for relevant news and information.  Make sure you’re following every relevant dealer, automaker, spokesperson, etc.  Follow vintage car clubs, racecar enthusiasts, AAA, and other related organizations so you can forward news and promotions to your customers via retweets (and stay informed yourself!).  To dive deeper, a little research can help you determine the interests of your customers.  Start requesting Twitter handles from clients, enthusiasts and employees.  See who they follow and compile lists to determine what types of people/companies/resources are popular among your potential and current clientele.

3.) TAKE PICTURES!  Content with media attached to it always performs better than text alone. Snap shots of the sweet rides out on your lot and in your showroom.  Take photos of vintage vehicles, old ads, modified cars and anything that shows your brand in a positive light.  Post pictures directly from your dealership of staff and satisfied customers.  This shows that you love what you’re doing and what you’re selling.  Combined with proper execution (*hashtags), it will increase and diversify your base of followers, getting a wider range of people to notice you.

4.) Follow your competitors.  Note complaints against them.  Use the input of their customers to improve your own approach.  Add those complainants to a list on your account.  Tweet to them when you’re offering a promotion or putting out new models.  Observe the promotions, responses and content from your competitors.  Keeping an eye on them will surely spark some great ideas and help you avoid their pitfalls.

5.) Have a personality! Be funny, conversational and human. Instead of putting your company logo or a static shot of your dealership as the main profile picture, make it the person who operates the account.  Allow them to take it on as an individual, rather than a corporate conduit.  Check out Scott Monty, who runs Social Media for Ford, for a good example.  Also, retweet useful or just-plain-fun content on a consistent schedule.  While humanizing your dealership, this also makes you more accessible and ripe for interaction.

Have any questions on what you read or need any advice to settle your own Twitter misadventures?  Leave a comment!  We’re on the case!

1. Gather market research.  Social media sites record conversations.  To a marketer, those conversations are 24 carat gems of marketing research that provide priceless insights into consumer behavior.  Once you have identified a community or market segment that your business wants to target, it is only a matter of extracting the right data from those conversations.
2. Connect with an existing online community.  The attraction of these social media sites is to meet people with similar interests, ideas or opinions.  In marketing speak, they form segments, or groups of consumers that share characteristics.  From a marketing perspective, these cliques are models of the larger consumer segment that can provide valuable insights about opinions and behavior. Becoming a valued member of a target group requires more than simply showing up; it means digging into the underlying motivations within those community relationships and contributing meaningful content to the discussion.  Once a marketer has attained a viable position in the community, s/he can capitalize on those relationships to introduce ideas or test marketing concepts.
3. Create a new community.  It is no easy thing to develop a new community based around a company or product, because internet-savvy users tend to distrust corporate sponsored groups.  Many large, well-resourced companies have tried this approach and failed for a number of reasons, but primarily due to lack of value for users. If attracting social media users into a newly founded community is a priority for you, begin small.  Start with an existing customer base that are largely positive about the product or brand, and allow that base to grow organically. It is not important to shepherd the group, but well planned insertions into the online conversations can help shape the community and provide fodder for dialogue.
4. Use social media platforms for message distribution.  Once a relationship with a community has been established, you probably want to start spreading your marketing message.  Whether this is enhanced brand visibility through a growing community or promoting your products, it is important to tread carefully.  No community wants their cherished meeting place to become an infomercial.  It is often helpful to approach the most vocal and thoughtful members and offer them VIP treatment, like free samples, demos, and advanced access to products.  Once the thought leaders of the community are okay with the marketing message it is possible to take the same message to the rest of the group.

Social media offers you many new and exciting possibilities for promoting your business, brand or products, but it isn’t always easy.  Whether you’re just sifting through conversations or you are active in the community, you should be sensitive to the complexities in any community.

I recently had the opportunity to talk solar with Justin Krum, President and CEO of 1^st Light Energy, our partner for solar installations. With 1^st Light Energy, Extra Space Storage has completed nearly 100 solar installations at our storage properties in six states. With these solar panels, 1^st Light Energy has helped us not only save energy, but also lower our operating costs. And we’re adding even more solar panels as you read this!

Justin wants to help others realize that solar energy puts more choices in the hands of homeowners and business owners. Consumers really don’t have to completely rely on utility companies for power! In fact, consumers can even help utility companies when they choose solar. Justin also helps eradicate those false assumptions that serve as barriers to many people who think that solar can’t work for them. So, please pour a cup of joe, pull up a chair and listen in!

 Brent Hardy:
You’ve been in the renewable energy business for about 10 years, and you launched the original 1^st Light Energy location in New Jersey in 2004. Why did you choose this field, and what drives you to continue?

Justin Krum:
I’ve never been a great salesman, so to speak, unless I truly believe in the product, and it’s something that’s a win-win for everyone. And that’s what solar is. It’s something that I can sell that I know will absolutely benefit the customer like when they get their next power bill and see how much they save and know it’s coming from a renewable energy resource.

I’m not a guy who has my hands wrapped around a tree hugging it to death, but I believe that if there’s a way of doing something that is more clean and efficient, then I’m all for that.

Brent Hardy:
1^st Light Energy specializes in both residential and commercial solar energy systems. How would you say that the experience for residential customers is different from the experience of businesses such as Extra Space Storage?

 Justin Krum:
The overall scope of work is significantly different. On a home, we’re putting on an average of about 20 to 24 solar panels, whereas a business, some of the Extra Space buildings particularly, we install close to 1,500 solar panels on one roof. With homes, we put a solar system on the roof and there are no out-of-pocket expenses whatsoever. Homeowners just pay for the energy solar panels produce as they use it, and they do it at a rate that’s normally about 20 to 30 percent cheaper than the electric company. Those rates are typically locked in for 20 years.

Paying for solar energy only without the costs of installation and maintenance is an option that’s also available on the commercial side. It’s called a power purchase agreement (PPA), but the majority of companies don’t use this option since they’re looking at solar as an opportunity for large tax credits. A for-profit entity can own the system and get the tax credits, but PPAs are more attractive to nonprofits and schools because they typically can’t take advantage of tax incentives since they have no tax liability.

Brent Hardy:
You’re based in New Jersey and California, but you were able to help Extra Space Storage install solar panels in Hawaii. How did you accomplish this?

 Justin Krum:
We have engineers who are licensed in all of the states, and we use only our trained installers to actually install the solar panels where ever the location.  We’re able to coordinate it so that regardless of where the install is, we have full control over exactly how it will be done from a quality perspective. Hawaii wasn’t hard for us to find people willing to complete the work. It’s more Massachusetts in December that is harder, you know, to find folks willing to do an install!  We do partner with local contractors to help with the permit process – this helps us to move forward with each installation efficiently.

Brent Hardy:
For potential customers who are unfamiliar with how solar power works, what is your easy-to-digest explanation?

 Justin Krum:
Solar energy is just another form of an electric company. So, instead of using an electric energy provider you don’t always have a choice about, you get to become your own electric provider and put the power station on your roof.

The difference is that the electrical wires don’t come from poles, but from the solar panels themselves. The energy factory is on your roof, and the energy comes down through the wires to the breakers, and powers your whole home or business.

Brent Hardy:
What about solar power during rainy or overcast days?

 Justin Krum:
We don’t disconnect you from your electric company. You’ll always use the solar energy first. If you produce more energy than you can use during the day, the excess energy goes back out to the utility company and your meter will spin backwards and the utility company will send that energy straight into your neighbor’s house. So, a solar system on one roof is actually benefitting, during the day, a couple of homes down the street because of all the excess energy. Blackouts occur when power companies have trouble getting the energy to where it needs to go, but solar puts the energy source right where it needs to go.

At night or when it’s snowy or rainy, you’ll use energy from the utility company, but you’ll be working off a credit from the energy you sent them during the overproduction during the day. The utility company is happy to give you energy at night when you give them energy during the day because you’re lightening the load.

Brent Hardy:
Are solar panels protected from storms or other natural events?

 Justin Krum:
Everything we install is designed for record winds, record cold temperatures, and record hot temperatures. The solar panels have a 25-year warranty, but PPAs are becoming more beneficial because someone else has to maintain the system and carry all the risk.

Brent Hardy:
One of the benefits of having solar power is protection from utility rate increases. How long can a business or residential customer expect to have this protection once solar panels are installed?

 Justin Krum:
There’s a 25-year production guarantee on the solar panels. They’re all warrantied in year 25 to produce between 80 and 85 percent of the energy produced on day one. The life expectancy of the solar panels is actually 40 years. And the great thing is that there are no moving parts to break. It’s just science doing what it does best.           

 Brent Hardy:
How often do you have to turn away a prospective customer because their home or building isn’t suitable for solar power?

 Justin Krum:
The majority of our customers can have solar power, but some may have a beautiful old oak tree that surrounds their home and blocks light, or they live in Manhattan and a skyscraper blocks the sun. So, we do have to turn away some customers, but it’s not the norm. The average customer can benefit from solar power. Most customers think that they have to have the perfect roof that gets sun on it all the time, but that’s not the case. They just need a roof that gets sun most of the time.

Brent Hardy:
How do you know before you install whether it’s going to work?

 Justin Krum:
We take a picture of the roof against the horizon and we know exactly how much sunlight is going to hit that roof everywhere we take the picture. So, we typically go to a roof and we’ll take a picture of the four extremes or corners of the roof, and know exactly how much sunlight is going to hit the roof at those points. We’ll average those four points. So, we know that if x amount of sunlight hits xnumber of solar panels, then y number of watts of energy will be produced from that.

Brent Hardy:
So you actually use your algebra that we all thought we wouldn’t use in high school?

 Justin Krum:
Yes, Mrs. Wadsworth would be very proud of me!

Brent Hardy:
From a real estate perspective, what does installing solar panels do for a home or business? Are some potential homebuyers intimidated to buy a house or building with solar installed?

 Justin Krum:
There is sometimes some concern among potential homebuyers about what will happen during resale of their home, but that concern or opinion seems to be contrary to fact. There’s actually data that tells us that in California the homes that have solar sell better than the homes that don’t have solar on them. The average home with solar sold for $17,000 more in the analysis of home sales between 1999 and 2009. (Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, April 2011 study. Read more at Bloomberg.)

So, solar does become a huge positive. It really comes down to when someone’s looking, and there’s a choice between two similarly priced homes, but one has a zero electric bill compared to a $300 bill for the other, then one of those homes becomes much more valuable to the person buying.

As far as the look of solar panels, you know, most people, when I’m sitting in their home and ask them the color of their roof, they have no idea. I use that to make the point that if you have solar panels on your roof, you just don’t tend to realize it or look at them the same way you do something like your front door.

Brent Hardy:
What has been your biggest surprise in working in the solar industry?

 Justin Krum:
One of the things that surprised me the most is that typically there were certain political parties that were supposedly more for renewable energy, but customers who were actually purchasing solar were often from a complete opposite political party than the ones who were calling for it! Yet, solar power isn’t as political as people think it is. Sometimes people think that if you like solar, you’re a tree hugger or environmentalist and act a certain way, but that’s not the case at all.

Another big surprise is how many homeowners think that solar is too expensive and will never work for them. We have to get over that barrier to help people realize that assumption is completely false. So, the biggest barrier is simply a misunderstanding.

On the commercial side, the lack of education can be worse. With businesses, we can’t get to the executives to help them understand the benefits the way we can with homeowners going door to door. I can’t think of more than 10 companies that have solar on more than one or two sites, so for Extra Space Storage to have so many sites with solar, it shows your willingness to listen.

Brent Hardy:
Are there any other benefits of having solar power that we haven’t discussed?

Justin Krum:
Just to recap, you do save off the electric bill right away, it can help deflate energy costs, and there’s the environmental benefit in that solar is clean and no emissions are created from the production of renewable energy. Also, solar power helps the utility companies to lighten their load.

Brent Hardy:
The number of solar panel installations reached an all-time high in 2011. What do you see in the future for solar power?

Justin Krum:
The solar industry has seen year over year growth that’s really second to no other industry in the past five years, and thousands of jobs have been created. When I got into this in 2002, people told me I was crazy to leave my career in construction, but now we know that solar energy is not a bubble. It’s here to stay, and I think that in five to 10 years even people in areas without much solar energy currently will begin to think of it as a common thing just like a water heater.

The biggest growth perhaps is going to be on the financial side, how people are able to come into solar – whether it’s adding it to property tax bills or financing through local banks. In general, there will be more creative financing. Also, as more people start embracing solar, there will be more R&D funds that promote more growth at a faster level.

As the cost for solar continues to go down, we’ll be able to lower to the price of solar. In fact, manufacturers today are already charging about half the price for solar panels compared to two years ago. The goal for solar, and what the industry is fighting for, is to get to grid parity, where the cost to buy solar power is the same or cheaper than the cost for the local grid (what a utility company charges). In some states, we’re almost at grid parity.

The tax incentives for solar that we have now are in place until 2016, so I think that by the time we get there, we’ll have reached grid parity and the cost of solar will continue to come down so rapidly that even without government-subsided incentives, solar will work, be more widely accepted, and there will be more competition.

Brent Hardy:
Sounds great! Thanks for the informative chat on solar.

Justin Krum:
Thank you for allowing me to talk about it!

Brent Hardy

Q&A with a Justin Krum A Solar Power Brainiac.

The breaks in the opening episode of Mad Men on Sky Atlantic were a nostalgiafest of 60s commercials, including the Milk Tray ads, in which a black-sweatered hero dives into ravines and jumps on to moving trains – “and all because the lady loves Milk Tray”. Ooh, and there’s Go To Work On an Egg (a slogan Fay Weldon has spent half a lifetime denying she dreamed up) featuring Tony Hancock and his virtuoso jowl movements. Ahh, and a young Lesley Ash being versed in the merits of mild green Fairy Liquid by Posh Mother – no doubt little Leslie will be washing dishes herself in the 80s, passing them to a robot to dry.

Were these “classics”? They certainly made a deep impression – some of these campaigns, like the Flake one, lasted decades. Of course, they carried some dubious messages about gender role-play and, despite wholesomely crooned jingles, could be insidiously, sexually implicit, such as the Doublemint gum ads, always featuring a pair of female twins – “double your pleasure, double your fun”. They didn’t always make sense. How could a Mars a day help you rest, as well as work and play?

They remind us not just of more innocent times but of an age of things – of chocolate, baked beans, Playtex girdles, deodorants, washing powders, instant mash, toothpaste, shampoo, Butlins. Aa bold, spangly, optimistic new post-ration book Britain of comestibles, detergents, undergarments and domestic holidays. Contrast them with today’s ads, which reflect a world whose consumers spend every spare hour poring over price comparison websites, prompted by the unsubtle suggestions of meerkats and fat opera singers. Yesterday bad, today good? I think not. Go compare…

Were ads better in the 1960s? | Media | The Guardian.

Well, start with better customer service using Twitter. Your customers can follow you in real time. This is a huge advantage, because it gives you the opportunity to change tactics depending on how your customers react to what you’re saying. And here’s something else – you can actually search on Twitter for conversations that relate to your business – then react to what’s being said. It’s an innovative way to manage your customer service and keep your customers happy.

Use Twitter to communicate more effectively. Use Twitter to talk to people about your goals – and express your core values. Have a “chat” with your followers and let them know what you’re doing. Instead of coming at them as a “business,” come at them on a friendlier level. It’ll make all the difference in the world.

Another great way to use Twitter is to grab our customers’ attention with special offers or events. There are only 140 characters, so use Twitter to have people go to your store or your website to get more info. But don’t just offer a discount; make it into a fun, innovative incentive. Ask customers for feedback on your offer, or have them fill out a questionnaire for additional discounts or offers. You have their attention – use it!

You can also use Twitter to monitor what your competition is doing. Do a search and Twitter will provide links to websites of the competition. This can be local or national, and the information Twitter provides is current. You can even check to see what your competition is doing – and if it’s successful. If it’s working, well, you can use that as a springboard for your own ideas and promotions. If it isn’t working, you’ll know what to avoid.

Most importantly, use Twitter to connect with your local customers – and community. Start talking about local issues that are important to the community, and share information and solutions that you come up with. Support local events, and encourage others via Tweets to support them as well.  Twitter is more than a new social media tool; it’s a way to communicate with customers, increase traffic and make your presence known.

Facebook’s Challenge – Making Money in Mobile World – NYTimes.com.

August 21, 2012 – Anaheim, CA

The following is a statement from US Newspapers:

Newspaper advertising has undoubtedly changed within the last decade. Televisions, laptops and cars have too. Change is inevitable and in most cases creates something superior to the predecessor.

The internet is the fall of newspapers. Not true. The fact is the internet has changed the way most industries do business. Newspapers are not immune to this phenomenon. Thought to be the downfall of newspapers, the internet has given birth to a whole new newspaper audience, and a new way to secure some lost newspaper advertising. In fact, newspaper websites are among the most trusted source of online advertising. The point, internet is not a downfall; it’s an added value for both the paper and consumer.

Newspapers are losing readership. Not true. Newspapers still benefit from significant readership. According to Scarborough Research more than 100 million adults read a newspaper on an average weekday. Donna Barrett, President and CEO of Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. explains the problem with newspapers is a revenue issue and not a lack of audience. Newspaper advertising has long supported the business expenses; however, the recession has led to a decrease in ad spending, putting financial strain on newspapers.

Even with loss in advertising revenue, community newspapers continue to prosper. With smaller expenses, staffs and overhead, they have not felt quite the blow of the recession. 80% of US newspapers reach a circulation of 15,000 or fewer. 8,000 of those newspapers are classified ascommunity newspapers. Advertisers recognize the benefits of advertising in these newspapers.Community newspapers hold the key to local news that directly affects readers’ daily lives. The National Newspaper Association reports that 81% of those surveyed read a local paper each week.

The newspaper industry and newspaper advertising will continue to change and adapt, evolving to fit with the times. There will be changes, but one thing for certain is newspapers have been indispensable to our communities for over 300 years and will not disappear, even in the face of change.

Newspaper Advertising — Succeeding or Depleting in a Digital World.

Now that you have a person’s permission, make the most of your emails. Keep it personal! Sounds pretty basic, but most companies overlook that simple little mandate. And “keeping it personal” is not a complicated process. It just takes some thought and planning.

First, make your email helpful. Give someone a reason to not only read it, but also look forward to receiving it because it contains helpful information. It could be instructions, a recipe, a “remember this important date reminder”  – something that relates to your business and your audience.

Make it personal. This isn’t time for some corporate “mumbo jumbo.” This is a time to say, “Hi, I look forward to seeing you at the next (whatever). Have it sent and signed by a real person, and keep the tone very personal. You’ll have a much higher conversion rate on this type of email if you do.

Have the email respond to something the person has done in the past. For example, have the email say, “it’s been over 6 months since you placed an order with us.” Or anything else that’s personal and applies to the recipient.

If you’re sending a drip campaign to people who are cancelling a service or leaving a program, keep it personal as well. “We’re sorry you’re leaving us after 2 years.” And give them plenty of options to reconsider, along with different ways to change their minds – by phone, email, or web address.

Another tactic that many companies use is to send emails that remind people to order or reorder. But instead of simply reminding them to order something, turn it into a selling opportunity. “It’s time to reorder your (health product), and if you order today, you can receive a 20% discount on any other item on our website!”

Most importantly, make it fun! Use a human voice, keeping it conversational. Make sure the messages are targeted and relevant based on the recipient’s age, demographics and previous order history. And make sure it’s all about them – not all about you. Do that – and you’ll have a successful campaign!

If you’re not on Facebook you probably should be – considering that there are 133 million users in the US alone! Yep, that’s million. So let’s take a look at what the different parts of Facebook mean to you.

First there’s an opportunity to use more and larger photos. Maybe Facebook got a wakeup call from Pinterest, but everything now is visual. One study showed that brands that used photos and videos had a huge jump in their engagement with consumers, while brands without visuals had a similar percentage drop.

But don’t rely on visuals alone! Photos that are coupled with an offer or text have a much higher response than photo-only posts. In fact, even Facebook is ready to admit that posting photos and videos with offers provides a significant increase in shares, comments and likes.

So what are advertisers doing to capitalize on the photo-rich environment on Facebook? Some are using the huge photo space at the top of the Timeline design as a type of banner ad. In addition, some are using the space to focus on promotions, using it to launch new products or time-sensitive pricing offers. It’s a huge space, and used properly offers a huge impact.

Other companies are taking advantage of status updates. Instead of “traditional” status updates, companies are having fun with them, and using them as games. Coke is a great example, using riddles and pictograms to engage their customers. Others are using a “fill in the blank” or other game questions to get their customers commenting. And comments on their posts are going through the roof. So be different, be daring – and have fun.

Finally, it’s pretty common to give praise to fans, but if you can come up with a unique and clever way to do it, you’ll get lots of mileage out off it. Why? Because you’ll be engaging the thousands of other fans that are not being singled out!

Lots of businesses are using Facebook, but many are not achieving the results that they had hoped to achieve. But surveys show that by shaking things up a bit by using humor, along with capitalizing on Facebook’s new visual environment, companies are able to improve their results significantly.

For businesses thinking about using online couponing to boost business, there’s a lesson to be learned from this story. First, Groupon takes a cut of your sales – and your profits. Second, the deep discounting that makes online couponing work really isn’t for everyone.

The whole premise is that by offering discounts via Groupon or other social media sites like LivingSocial and others, you’ll draw new customers into your business. Once there, they’ll ultimately like what they see and come back. But many businesses are finding it’s not as simple as it sounds.

First, many customers are only using Groupon to find spectacular discounts, and have no intention of ever coming back to pay full retail price. So you’ll need to have a realistic expectation of what the daily deal coupon results could mean to your business.

Second, many businesses forget that they have to offer some type of extreme value in order to capture the customer and keep them coming back. This value could be in a very special kind of customer service, a unique setting or shopping environment, pricing discounts or any other type of perceived value that is deemed important by your customer base.

If you do end up going the online coupon route, make sure you capture your coupon users information! Doing so can mean long-term profits to you. You’ll need to set up a lead capture system so you’ll be able to follow up with customers using regular mail, email or via text message marketing. That way, instead of giving your customer a one daily-deal coupon – and hoping they’ll come back, you’ll be able to offer them specific incentives to return to your business. This provides the opportunity to offer specials, sales offers and other incentives to a potential customer over a period of time.

We all feel sorry for the guy in New York who closed his business and blamed Groupon. But now you’ll have a program in place to capture leads and take advantage of what technology has to offer you – improving your ROI and growing your customer base along the way.

There are basically four different ways for you to connect with your customers on social media – at least ways that have proven effective. Everyone knows that the main social media services are Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, and they’re the building blocks you need to build our social media campaign.

YouTube is the place to showcase your videos. Slowly, it’s replacing traditional TV advertising, and you don’t need a huge budget to make it work. Once a viral video is posted, you can hope for huge exposure if you’ve put together something that resonates with your target audience.

Facebook is where to go if you want to build an audience. But you can’t simply ask people to “like” your page or company. You have to be creative and offer something in the way of entertainment in return. Otherwise, why should someone “like you?” It’s the old, “what have you done for me?”  So be innovative – use custom games, develop apps or contests to keep people stuck on your page – and coming back again and again. Yes – it takes time, and money. But we’re talking about 750 million (yes, million!) users – which makes Facebook the largest social network in the world. That’s something you simply can’t ignore.

If you have a company that sells a service or product – start using “crowdsourcing.” Those are those daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial that help to bring tons of people to your business to buy. Yes, you have to provide a deep discount to entice them, but hopefully some of those customers will stay with you after the deal is over.

While most people think of Twitter as a way to engage in business networking and job-hunting, it’s a great tool for business marketing as well. Pretend that your company is a person – and start talking to your customers. And talk. And have conversations – and listen to what they’re saying. You’ll be surprised to see how far you can take this to build a customer base.

The more traditional marketing approach is a one-way street – you talk, and hopefully customers listen. The social media approach is a two-way street – engage customers, and if you participate in the conversation, it’ll have a major impact on your marketing – and your bottom lie!

So what is it that makes people like myself jump to a different marketing channel without giving each channel time to perform? The bottom line here is knowing how to measure results, and when to measure them. Here are some guidelines that have helped me – and hopefully they’ll help you as well.

Using a mix of different marketing channels is absolutely the best way to go for marketers. Why? Because you’ll be reaching a broad range of demographics, and you’ll be reaching most of them multiple times on different marketing platforms, which is every marketers’ dream. You could mix broadcast media with social media, print media with online banner ads, or simply use a variety of different social media approaches. The choices and mixes are unlimited – but the key to success is consistency. Jumping around to different marketing channels without giving each individual channel a chance to produce is simply a waste of time, effort and money.

So how long do you give a specific channel to generate results? Depends on the channel! Each one requires different amounts of time work its magic. For example, direct mail requires a minimum of three contacts with the recipient over a period of weeks in order to generate a response. Building a campaign on Facebook, for example, requires time to generate awareness and have people respond to the creative portion of your campaign, whether you’re asking them to “like” your page or share content with a friend.

If you’re using broadcast media, you’ll need time to build awareness and brand recognition, as well as time to respond to your call to action. To be successful, a broadcast campaign should be heard or seen a minimum of three times by your target audience before the target will respond. And if you’re merely building brand awareness without a call to action, it could take longer.

The overall pattern here is that each marketing channel you choose takes TIME to work. Make sure you measure results for each channel. You can do this using dedicated response phone numbers and web landing pages, social media counts and sales figures compared to other times when you weren’t running campaigns. Once you have that data, let it guide you on your next campaign.

Stick with it and results will come. And don’t be a channel changer.

So how do you capitalize on the connections offered by YouTube videos? Here are some key ways to make YouTube an integral part of your marketing effort.

First, buy those ads! YouTube sells pay-per-click ads. On a keyword search, your video will come up as a “promoted video” – a great way to find new targets interested in your particular topic. Best of all, you only have to pay when your video is played, so you’re not wasting money.

How do you “go viral?” No easy answers here! Sorry, but it’s next to impossible to predict which video will go viral and generate millions of hits. But there are some things you can do to get your video seen.

Make sure you check out what the competition is doing. See what videos are being uploaded in your keyword categories. And check out what types of creative techniques are being used. Nobody wants to copy other peoples’ work; but once you see what’s being done, you can add your own spin to it and come up with something better – something that’s truly unique.

The fact is, the really creative videos are the ones that get watched, so the more creative you can make your video, the better. Viewers choose videos based on personal preferences, so in addition to being creative, it’s critical that you use only appropriate key words with your video.

Finally, make sure you track feedback to your posts – whether it’s positive or negative. Here’s why: by listening to viewer comments, you’ll be able to ensure that the work you post will more accurately meet the needs and desires of your audience. There’s a great tool on YouTube called “Hot Spots” that reports on viewer activity on your clip. Check it out – if you have more than one clip uploaded, it could help you decide which clip to keep.

YouTube is an effective marketing tool, and is not as complicated as many people think. All it takes is a short learning curve to make sure you’re doing things the right way – and then let your creativity soar!

Here’s why I’m asking that question – I saw a statistic this week that made me sit up and take notice: while a lot of businesses are investing marketing dollars in social media, 75% are spending $10,000 or less. $10,000??? That’s nothing but a proverbial drop in the bucket of most marketing budgets! And that certainly doesn’t qualify as a bandwagon.

Here’s something else to consider – most companies that are using social media are only devoting employees’ time to the effort, and not spending even one single penny on paid channels. How do I define “most companies?” How about 57% of those surveyed! Yep, 57% are not spending one cent on social media.

While most people claim that lack of a way to measure ROI is the reason they’re not committing to social media marketing, the real reason is lack of sufficient resources. And while most companies who do use social media agree that it does have value, there’s a lot of disagreement on what type of value social media has.

Most companies do agree that social media clearly helps improve search engine rankings. And a majority of businesses agree that they benefit from posting content on their company blog. After that, it’s a toss-up as to what benefits social media brings to the corporate conference table.

After citing a “lack of resources,” what are some of the other challenges that business owners and managers face with respect to social media that are preventing them from really going full-boat with money and resources?

The responses from business owners and marketing managers ran the gamut – from “trouble managing and growing a social media presence” to “unable to measure or monitor social media” to “lack of social media training and knowledge.”

While everyone agrees social media is growing and important, the biggest mistake companies are making now is that they’re not committing to fully integrating social media into their overall marketing mix. You can’t dabble with social media – either you’re a player or you’re not. And if you’re not, you’re missing out on one of the best marketing tools available today.

Pretty soon, everyone will recognize this and fully commit to social media marketing – and put their money where their market is. Then there really will be a bandwagon to jump on!

Facebook is a great media vehicle with over 133 million users in the US, which comes in handy for companies’ looking for a unique place to advertise. It can be a great tool for businesses, if it’s used the right way.  The new “Timeline” feature is more image-focused, and offers much larger pictures than in previous versions. In fact, since timeline came about, there has been a 65% increase in photos and videos used for advertising. Some companies who started posting photos and videos to their Facebook pages have seen their number of likes and comments actually triple from previous measurements.

Facebook now offers real-time data, giving businesses the ability to immediately see the success (or not) of their campaign, determining whether their ads are working or not. When a company can see that a campaign is working, they can increase their advertising to increase their reach of their campaign.

Businesses are also using Timeline cover photos for marketing purposes. In fact, by using images at the top of their Facebook page, companies are turning this into banners ads for their brand. This provides great exposure for the company with their fans. And by using different calls to action, including posting questions on the image, fans are now able to interact with the cover photo (or banner ad, if that is what’s being used). One company using this tactic in a positive way is Subway. They’re using the photo image as a banner ad to promote their new BBQ Chicken sandwich, which provides great exposure to their 13 million fans.

Another huge trend on Facebook is using games as posts. The biggest user of this tactic is Coca-Cola. They post URL riddles, and their millions of fans are responding in a huge way. JetBlue started using this tactic as well – instead of simply posting info, they began to use more interactive posts like, “fill in the blanks” status updates. By doing so, JetBlue saw a 182% increase in comments that other typical brand posts.

The last trend that Facebook users are jumping on is finding new and innovative ways to say, “Thank you!” to their customers. By finding creative ways to call out fans, you can single out individual fans and give all the others an entertaining experience.

As you can see, the landscape of Facebook marketing is changing. As Facebook changed, so did the companies who utilize Facebook as part of their marketing efforts. Start by going online and seeing what others are doing – then get creative and start using it to your advantage as well!

Perhaps the most important key is that you have to stay laser focused on topics that relate to your content or your particular field. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time and money. Forget switching topics on a daily basis just because they happen to be in the news. Just remember that the folks who follow you are doing so because they perceive you to be an expert in an area that they need advice in. Leverage your expertise by providing news and info that’s important to your audience, with professional advice, case studies or other useful info.

Stay consistent! This helps you develop a unique style and “voice” – that people will come to know and expect. Grab attention from the get-go by develop a style that is unique and consistent. The more consistent you are, the stronger your voice becomes.

One of the biggest reasons businesses fail to achieve success with Twitter is because they forget to communicate with their audience. It isn’t only one-sided, so make sure you ask questions, let your audience know that input and feedback is not only welcome but very important and let your audience know that their ideas and opinions are needed to keep the dialogue going.

Another critical area is to do some basic research about your audience – and your Twitter strategy. It’s just like any other marketing channel – you have to have a plan that’s backed by some solid research. Find out what your followers are actually looking for in terms of content – and deliver it to them. The more you know, the better your content will be and the better loyalty your audience will have for your Tweets.

No matter where you look, you’re bound to find some articles and references to Twitter – and social media in general. The reason is that businesses are beginning to understand how important social media is to their overall marketing success and they’re using it. Which means the field is getting crowded, and in order to have any impact you really have to know what you’re doing. That’s why it’s extremely important to not only know your audience, but to offer the right solutions as well.

Follow these simple mandates, and you’ll be successful with Twitter. And you won’t end up being a twit!

Start out with a subject line that grabs peoples’ attention. Before they hit “delete,” you have to make them want to continue reading. An interesting subject line is the key. You can use humor, ask a question or give some important facts, like “save 50% for 24 hours.” Used properly, they all work.

One of the places many businesses fail with email is that they don’t tell the customer what to do. So make your message clear – tell your prospects exactly what action to take – like, “call before 9 tonight and get free shipping.” Tell them what you expect, and what they can expect from you!

Here’s a big one: make sure you put some fun and useful content in every email you send. Make it interesting – give people some good reasons to read your email, and the emails that will follow. If you get recipients used to expecting fun and informative content, they’ll actually begin looking forward to your emails, and will open them each and every time.

Use professionally designed emails, because the truth is, if it’s boring or ugly, it’s going to see the trash faster than you can say, “adios.”  Use color and graphics, easily readable type and keep it imaginative. Most importantly, make it easy to read.

Less is more! Don’t overwhelm people with too many emails. Keep your mailings to a minimum, and try to make the ones you send more effective. Otherwise, you’ll be seeing a huge increase of “opt outs,” and your database will drop significantly.

One mistake a lot of businesses make is to be too formal. Relax! Keep it on a personal level by asking people how they’re doing, and show them ways you’re able to help them with your service or products. Ask questions, start a dialogue and you’ll not only make new friends, you’ll end up making new customers as well.

Finally, make sure that you deliver on whatever you promise. Don’t pull any surprises or try to sell more than is necessary. People will resent your attempt and you’ll lose their trust. Once you do that, you’ve lost a customer.

Email works, if you use some sound marketing tactics. These work – so use them!