Maximizing Email Marketing Performance

DATE: May 15, 2008

TIME: 10amPT/ 11amMT/ 12pmCT/ 1pmET

PRESENTERS:
Steve Daigneault, Managing Director of Internet Communications, Amnesty International USA
Andrew Eisner, Vice President of Client Services, Interwoven
Marla Chupack, Moderator, American Marketing Association

COST: Complimentary

Click Here to Register NOW

How Amnesty International USA Doubled Response Rates with Simple Changes to its Landing Pages

Join us on this educational Webcast and learn how Amnesty International USA, a leading human rights organization, made subtle changes to its landing pages that produced dramatic increases in email marketing conversion rates and overall donations.

Learn how Amnesty International is leveraging innovative Website optimization strategies to:

• Easily test different combinations of content, offers, and layouts
• Deliver a more compelling landing page experience
• Increase email marketing campaign conversion rates
• Drive a more data-driven approach to Website design

A recording of this Webcast will be available if you can’t attend the above session. Please register and we’ll send you a link to the recording.

SPECTRUM Awards Ceremony to honor Top Advertisers and Marketers

Spectrum Awards 2008
Event by: AMA Phoenix

May 21, 2008
07:00 PM - 10:00 PM Arizona Time
(Location: Phoenix Art Museum )

Main Location: Phoenix Art Museum
1625 N Central Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85004

RSVP By: May 20, 2008 10:00 PM Arizona Time

Title Sponsor

VIP Cocktail Party Sponsor

Keynote Speaker: Dan Harkins

Don’t miss the MUST ATTEND EVENT OF THE YEAR for marketing and advertising professionals all over the Valley! The American Marketing Association Spectrum Awards is a veritable “Who’s Who” in the Phoenix marketing and advertising scene, and is the PREMIER OPPORTUNITY for you to meet people from the VERY BEST AGENCIES in the SouthWest and ARIZONA, network with your peers, socialize, and check out your competition! If you are in Marketing and Advertising, you need to be here.

Register today and enjoy an exciting evening with other key marketing and advertising professionals who are at the top of their game at the BEAUTIFUL PHOENIX ART MUSEUM in downtown Phoenix.

But hurry – seating is limited and thousands of industry professionals have been talking about the success of last year’s event.

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AGENDA

May 21, 2008	Wednesday 07:00 PM - 10:00 PM	Phoenix Art Museum
	06:00 PM - 07:00 PM Silent Auction
	07:00 PM - 09:00 PM Awards Ceremony and Dinner

Member $100.00/Member Student $100.00/Student Non-Member $125.00/Non-Member Table of 10 $900.00/Table

Thank you to our sponsors

AirMarketing Hosts SEMPOAZ with Special Guest Microsoft

If you are in the Search Engine Optimization/Marketing (SEO, SEM) profession and will be in the Phoenix Arizona Metro area on May 1st; you will not want to miss this event!

This is a unique opportunity to meet with a top search engine and see how things work behind the scenes.

Microsoft Search Marketing Trends and Tools
As a part of SEMPO AZ’s Quarterly Education Series, Kelly Thomas and Jorie Waterman from Microsoft’s adCenter in Seattle will be flying down to speak about the tools and technology being developed by Microsoft to help search engine marketers during all stages of their advertising campaigns. They will cover ways to use the unique research prototypes available on adLabs and the adCenter Add-in for Excel – all tools enabling advanced keyword research needed to hone campaigns in both paid and natural search. After walking through the data and tools available, Waterman and Thomas will discuss how they see search engine marketers utilizing this data across the lifecycle of a marketing campaign.

Attendees will learn and experience:
o What is available on adCenter, and a glimpse into the roadmap for the future
o A deep dive into Demo Targeting and Bid Boosting
o Research prototypes available for review on adLabs
o How the industry could use this data in their strategic planning and optimization processes

SEMPO AZ (sempoaz.org) is a working group of SEMPO (The Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization). The purpose of this group is to provide education, awareness and a better understanding of search engine marketing. We support the mission of SEMPO (www.sempo.org) and aim to serve the marketing professionals engaged in search in the Arizona market.

The event will be held on Thursday, May 1 from 6:00-8:00 PM at airMarketing located at: 3419 East University Drive in Phoenix.

Admission will be $20 for SEMPO members and $30 for non-members.

To register for this event, please click on the link below:

http://www.register123.com/event/profile/form/index.cfm?PKformID=0×565574202a

If you need more information, please call Jason at 602.565.312 or go to www.sempoaz.org

To see if your company is a member, please visit: www.sempoaz.org/directories/all

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you at the event.

Service Excellence: 7 steps to stand out.

In the business world, good customer service often isn’t good enough anymore.

Customers and clients are becoming increasingly disenchanted with the merely adequate. For them, extraordinary service is the rule, not the exception. Anything less, and they’re happy to vote with their feet and their wallets.

That makes extraordinary service necessary, not just desirable. And that, in turn, mandates a strategy to help ensure that your business matches that standout service standard on a daily basis.

Here are seven ideas and tips to help your business establish and maintain an ongoing climate of service excellence.

1. Define what extraordinary really means. It’s an easy term to toss about, but knowing what exceptional service entails is essential to establishing the procedures and the mindset with which to achieve it. So, delineate what extraordinary means — is it lower price? Keeping appointments on time or making certain that telephone service reps always say “please” and “thank you”? By knowing precisely what is merely good enough — and what takes your business beyond that — you get a firm handle on what you need to do to hit that goal on a consistent basis. For 1-800-Got-Junk? that means calling a customer to let them know that the van they’re expecting is going to arrive on time.”We pledge to arrive on time, in a clean shiny truck, with two friendly uniformed drivers — but so can anyone. What makes us unique is our truck crew will call the customer 15 minutes ahead of time, and let them know we’re on time,” says Christopher Bennett of the Vancouver, B.C., junk removal service. “This has a huge impact on the customer. Calling ahead sets exceptional expectations — even if we’re running late, the customer appreciates the call in advance.”

2. Ask if you’re not sure. Many companies may find it understandably difficult to genuinely pinpoint what extraordinary service really entails. So, do some legwork. Conduct focus groups with customers to see what they really value (and don’t lead the group to answer the way you want). Identify topics that are frequent targets of dissatisfaction. Often, you may find extraordinary translates to a holistic grouping of issues, not just one product or service. “Often, being extraordinary means offering someone a truly exceptional experience,” says Dr. Noelle Nelson, author of “The Power of Appreciation in Business.” “The quality of something may be good, but it’s the overall experience that will really define customer loyalty.”

3. Allow your people to be extraordinary. Saying you want extraordinary service and actually carrying it out is a tough nut without the necessary authority. One of the biggest challenges of providing a consistently top-drawer performance is shifting conditions — what’s appropriate for one customer may not work with another. For instance, one customer may be so dissatisfied that a partial refund may be in order. By contrast, other customers who are a bit less peeved may be happy with a problem solved without any sort of refund. So, allow employees reasonable freedom of choice to read a situation and react accordingly. For instance, Nelson suggests giving employees a budgetary allotment which they can use, as needed, to address refunds or other unexpected costs associated with giving customers the benefit of the doubt. To illustrate: Southwest Airlines gives its telephone customer service reps the authority to OK refunds if a caller claims they didn’t get the airfare they wanted. (The reps charge their own credit cards, then later get reimbursed.)

The Ritz Carlton Hotels also do this. Each employ is given a daily budget to create a WOW Experience or for Service Recovery.

4. Share information. If you run a retail business, business management tools can be invaluable in tracking critical data, such as what items and services are selling particularly well. If you have that data, don’t keep it a secret. Sharing the information with your employees lets them know what’s hitting on all cylinders. It also helps them promote these products or services to customers. “Sharing information with others is a really positive step,” says Nelson. In other words, don’t keep critical customer information close to the vest. That holds true with businesses other than retail.

Every company has the critical issue of Intellectual Knowledge and how it is shared across the organization or lost as people leave and take that valuable information with them. Create and implement a succession program so that valuable information is not lost, and there is someone ready to step in immediately as openings occur.

5. Share the commitment. Nothing can prove more destructive to a commitment to extraordinary service than management for whom the concept is little more than lip service. Walk the walk by buying into that commitment just as much as you hope your people will. Make sure you reward top performance. Invest the time and expense in any sort of training that may help employees carry out and maintain high performance standards. Don’t forget yourself and others in the front office. “Make sure that training takes in everyone, not just sales, marketing and other front line employees,” says Karen Leland, author of “Customer Service for Dummies.” “Training and Re-Training is an important part of creating a lifelong culture for service excellence since it helps build an understanding of the concept of service. And that means a top-down commitment. Leadership should set the tone for the entire effort.”

We have all taken part in employee satisfaction surveys or administered them at some point in our careers. A common misconception is that satisfaction is the same as commitment. It is important to measure employee commitment and engagement over satisfaction. After all, I can be very satisfied without being committed and engaged to the organizations success.

6. Don’t expect magic overnight. Another potential hurdle to extraordinary service is the expectation that it’s like flicking a light switch — on it goes, and everything’s hunky dory.Truth is, exceptional service takes time to take hold in an organization, particularly one with an array of people and departments. Give it enough time. Review performance every four to six months. “It’s essential to stay the course so you can improve service ratings,” says Elaine Berke, a Westport, Mass., consultant.

7. Expect challenges and set backs and react accordingly. The road to top notch service is not without its bumps. Don’t pretend they’re not there. Rather, make them a part of the journey by acknowledging a slip up and, in so doing, recommitting to extraordinary performance. For example, if a customer receives the wrong item, don’t stop at making sure they get the right one. Let the customer know that you’re sorry for the mistake and build their confidence that it won’t happen again. “Build customer loyalty, not just satisfaction,” says Berke. “When you apologize for problems and really listen, you build a relationship.”

For more information enroll in the Disney Institute.

Bumping the Lamp: Magic of Quality Service

Here’s an Idea!

If you remember the movie - Who Framed Roger Rabbit, you may recall a scene where Bob Hoskins bumped a real lamp and the light and shadow moved and appeared natural against the animated character, Roger. That attention to detail is a very important aspect of the Disney Philosophy and is taught through the Disney Institute. It is also an important part of every successful company’s/person’s philosophy. Exceed Expectations at every chance. Lead by example. That lesson was drilled into me by the Marine Corps. This is at the heart of Service Excellence. You need not be in a position of authority (although, I admit it helps a great deal). I am not in a position of authority over others so I must to lead by example. You can too. No one ever got fired for exceeding expectations, and if they did, they were happier for it.

Back to the topic though. I want to introduce the Quality Service Cycle as taught by the Disney Institute. I stress this is just an introduction

It is composed of four elements:

Service Theme

Service Standards

Delivery Systems

Integration

The Service Theme is the Mission and Vision Statement of the organization. The Service Standards are the rules, regulations and desired behaviors of all employees. The Delivery Systems are the internal processes and Integration ties it all together.

Creating this Quality Service Cycle will help you

1. Create a brand

2. Align all of the organization around it with the common goal

3. And eventually internalize it and make it a part of the culture.

Some of the pieces are actually covered in two other articles I wrote on this blog titled Internalize Your Brand and New Year’s Resolution

This concept is at the very core of everything. Think about it, Leaders pass on, Products become obsolete. The one constant is the ideology that drives the company and culture of that company to endure, adapt and keep pace through the ever changing market place. It is the ideology that becomes the source of motivation and inspiration!

If you want to learn more, enroll in the Disney Institute.

I am a huge believer in Service Excellence. It is in every industry. We all serve someone and even our co-workers and other departments are our customers.

We can make the promise of Quality Service, but as they say Charity starts at home. When you deliver the promise internally, it will be delivered externally.

Purina Gets Social

Purina has published a site that capitalizes on peoples’ love of their pets and the power of Social Media.

The PETCHART site is an excellent example of how a company can capitalize on and foster user generated content which gets consumers interacting with the brand, and having the brand gain valuable mind share. This concept can be expanded to support online promotions as well, grow the customer database, distribute coupons and even sample product. The possibilities are endless. Purina PetCharts offers pet owners an opportunity to share videos, photos, and read stories and articles that can help them take better care of their beloved pets. The stories are actually aggregated from RSS feeds which makes the site even easier to maintain. There are links to the company promotions and coupons and special offers. This execution is done very well. The one thing that is missing is the ability for pet owners to actually discuss products and share their own stories and add comments. This would be a fantastic way for Purina to keep a pulse of their consumers and speak directly to them.

Maybe in version 2.

Save the Male!

Advertisers have long used sex and beautiful women to sell products. Women’s groups have been fighting against the stereotypes that are portrayed in advertising, and rightly so. We are confronted with the slutty, the deceiving, the weak and dumb blonde stereotypes in ads and television and movies. This does great harm to women. Young girls can do good in math and science. They don’t need to use their sexuality to get what they want. Women also have a valid choice to stay home and take care of their children if they desire. They are not less of a woman if they are awesome cooks and great mothers. Well, what about the stereotypes of men in the media? I have seen over the years a very disparaging view of men and fathers. We are shown as idiots, we only have one thing on our mind and fall for the seduction of beautiful women. Beer and television and sports are more important than our family. We are shown as lazy and disrespected by our wives and children or the stupid redneck etc.

an excerpt from an ADAGE.com article written by Glenn Sacks and Richard Smaglick provides 3 suggestions for advertisers:

1. Create more ads that are father-positive. Some recent examples include AT&T’s touching father-daughter ad “Monkey”; First Choice Holidays’ “Slow-Motion Hugs”; and Ford’s father-son ad “We Know.”
2. As we consider whether it’s wise to make men the butt of every joke, we should also consider the joke itself. Many see the 1960s as the golden age of advertising. Those who crafted the ads of that era created work of superb quality, seldom if ever resorting to the contempt, shame and aggressive ridicule of today’s ads.
3. When an ad does need to poke fun at somebody, stop automatically defaulting to men as fools.

I applaud the advertisers who portray men and fathers in a positive light. Another good example I have seen is the movie Game Plan. It showed a black football player as a good role model, a good father and husband. This is very different from other portrayals seen in the media.

So, we don’t need to resort to the lowest denominator for an ad to work. The public is smarter than that.

iCrossing Expands Into Germany With Acquisition of 3GNet

Here’s an Idea!

Acquisition Extends iCrossing’s European Footprint and Grows Retail Client-Base

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – April 14, 2008 – iCrossing (http://news.icrossing.com), a global digital marketing company, announced today that it has acquired German digital marketing agency 3GNet GmbH. The acquisition extends iCrossing’s leadership in the U.S. and U.K. into the pan-European market, further establishing the company’s global footprint and client base. The terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

One of the longest established digital marketing providers in Germany, 3GNet provides natural and paid search marketing as well as affiliate marketing services to a number of global brands, including eBay and ESPRIT, as well as leading European brands Görtz, Allianz 24, HSE24, baby-walz and O2 Germany.

3GNet will continue to be led by founders Patrick Bertermann, Oliver Grünig, and managing director Gottfried Häuserer, who will report to Don Scales, president and COO, iCrossing. Headquartered in Munich with an additional office in Berlin, 3GNet will be transitioned to the iCrossing brand.

3GNet’s search and affiliate marketing expertise enhances iCrossing’s ability to serve its global clients – including The Coca-Cola Company and Toyota, among others. The deal brings iCrossing’s headcount to 620 employees across 15 offices in the U.S. and Europe.

“3GNet has a track record of delivering excellent results for global brands in the European market,” said Jeffrey Herzog, founder and CEO, iCrossing. “Their understanding of the European search market, particularly in leveraging affiliates, as well as their technical expertise, makes them a perfect fit for iCrossing.”

“We were not only impressed with 3GNet’s capabilities in digital marketing,” said Don Scales, president and COO of iCrossing, “but also with the cultural similarities with iCrossing. Their creativity and passion will serve us well in the European market.”

“iCrossing has become one of the largest independents in the world, and they have the right mix of people, technology and vision to continue that growth,” said Patrick Bertermann, co-founder of 3GNet. “We will draw upon their deep pool of expertise in the areas of search, social media and analytics to broaden our market among current and new clients in Europe.”

3GNet was advised on the transaction by Fraser Finance and MLawGroup.

About iCrossing

iCrossing is a global digital marketing company that combines talent and technology to help world-class brands find and connect with their customers. The company blends best-in-class digital marketing services – including paid and natural search marketing, Web development, social media, research and analytics – to create integrated digital marketing programs that engage consumers and drive ROI. iCrossing’s client base includes such recognized brands as Epson America, Toyota, Travelocity and 40 Fortune 500 companies, including The Coca-Cola Company and Office Depot. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company has 620 employees in 15 offices in the U.S. and Europe.

About 3GNet GmbH

The 3GNet GmbH, an iCrossing company, was founded in 1999 by Patrick Bertermann and Oliver Grünig and is one of Germany’s leading agencies in the online marketing sector. The company employs a diverse, multilingual team of seventy to offer international search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and affiliate marketing management. 3GNet clients include Allianz 24, Epson Germany, baby-walz, eBay, easyCredit, ESPRIT, HSE24, and O2 Germany.

How to Capitalize on Brand Evangelism

Here’s an Idea! Create a product and deliver service worth talking about and Save BIG on Marketing Costs

The person who made this video can be considered a Brand Evangelist. The Brand Evangelist is what every company is desirous of. With so many videos and blogs and user generated content out there, marketers need to embrace it and nurture it and cultivate it. People are going to talk about your Brand, Your Product, Your Service, So it had better be good.

But how do you actually create a Brand Evangelist?

A company like Swingline Staplers is - let’s be honest - not very exciting. It’s a stapler! Some could say it is a commodity like the staples that fill them, or even paper clips. Yet, here we are witnessing a Swingline Stapler Brand Evangelist who is Passionate about Swingline Staplers.

Well first, you have to create a product or offer a service worth talking about. You must exceed the expectations of the consumer. Swingline does this by differentiating itself from its competitors with the lifetime warranty and no jam promise. Next they had product placement of their RIO RED Swingline Stapler in the movie “Office Space”. They have introduced a CHROME Stapler to their lineup which personally I am attracted to for the simple fact that adding chrome to anything in my personal “Guy” opinion bumps up the cool factor.

While Swingline could do more such as adding a blog to their site, or offering Bling Kits for your stapler; they do hold an annual Sweepstakes for Office Administrators which honors the top Office Administrator of the Year.

This endears customers to the product and gets people thinking about Swingline when they are in the market for a stapler.

Can you think of any other ways to create and foster Brand Evangelism for your Brand?

Echoing Green was Green before Green was Cool.

Here’s an Idea! Be ahead of the crowd!

Joey Belville, the leader of the band, Echoing Green is a genius before his time. Did he know that so many years ago Green would soon be Envoge?

He has captured it all in his marketing concept and imagery conveyed by the name and brand of the Echoing Green.

Echoing conjures up images of a beautiful canyon on a beautiful day. The echoes of nature that stir our hearts to commune with it. The color green has long been associated with healing and strong health and vitality.

The Echoing Green ties it all together in their music which also conveys the emotions and imagery that the name suggests. The branding is so simple and obvious and pure all at the same time. That is why it works so well.

The Echoing Green already has a large Cult Following that keep up with them via their FaceBook Fan Group site and MySpace Fan Site.

Now the Band can fully capitalize on the latest social and corporate trend of “Going Green”; afterall, The Echoing Green were green before going green was Cool!