Making the best products in the world means delivering products that customers want to buy.  How do you do that without marketing? Don’t believe me that marketing isn’t a huge part of what’s going on at Ford?  Here’s an excerpt from the article:  “The changes in Ford’s approach to creating cars run so deep that its engineers and designers had to answer the question, What is a Ford? Even if they produce cars specific to the American market, like the Mustang, says Derrick Kuzak (head of global product development), “they need to reflect a global Ford view in terms of how the vehicle drives, how it sounds, how it looks, how it feels. And so we developed a global Ford-brand DNA that encapsulates all of those elements — look, sound and feel — and that’s a really, really big deal.”

A globall Ford-brand DNA!  Wow.  That is a big deal!

Flickr photo by ajschwegler

Which brings me to a question about universities posed in The Economist blog post: “Could America’s universities go the way of its car companies?” (Note: article on Ford, notwithstanding.)

If you read some of the more than 50 comments to The Economist blog post, there are a lot of irate students, parents, professors, and business owners who have strong opinions about the value of American higher education today.  Listening to the reaction to the post, it sounds a lot like how people used to talk about the American auto industry when everyone was buying foreign imports.  Have the American car manufacturers learned from those marketing mistakes or has luck (ala Toyota’s misfortunes) played a big role?

Is it legitimate to suggest that maybe university presidents and marketers should start waking up — along with manufacturers — to what’s going on in their ’supply chains’ that’s diminishing the value of their products?  If marketing can help Ford, it should, also, be able to help universities clarify what they need to do to put out a ‘product’ that better meets the needs of their buyers, right?  In the crazy heirarchy of universities today, I wonder, if marketing is actually being given a chance to do marketing these days.  And I don’t just mean redesigning a brochure or putting out a press release.  I mean redefining  the ‘university-brand DNA!’ 

Maybe it’s time for a revision of the “Hey Manufacturers. Stop Whining. Start Marketing” rallying cry.  Maybe it’s time for a “Hey Manufacturers. Move Over. The Wheels Are Falling Off Our Universities, Too” wake-up call!

Comments?

No matter.  I came across something I thought I’d share – GlobalSpec’s 2010 Economic Outlook Survey: How Industrial Companies can Succeed in the Current Economy which you can find here: http://www.globalspec.com/wp/2010_EconomicOutlookSurveyBlog

The report includes interesting information on the state of industry, valuable stats about the growth of online use by industrial engineers and product developers, and offers a benchmark by which to measure your own industrial marketing efforts. 

But mostly I mention the report for these reasons:

• The survey was done in January and contains useful marketing guidance for industrial sector companies.  For example:

“… 61% of respondents working in the Semiconductor & Electronics industry, and 59% in the Automotive industry, expect sales to be up in 2010 … 58% of those in Consumer Products/Electronics and 57% in Chemicals, Plastics & Rubber anticipate higher sales in 2010 as well.

“Suppliers that provide products and services to industries that are showing improvements should invest in marketing to increase their visibility, maintain competitiveness, and open up opportunities to win new business. On the other hand, suppliers and service providers that primarily sell into the hardest hit industries should determine if their products can meet customer needs in industries that are beginning to rebound, and if so, develop messaging for these customers and plan marketing programs that target these industries.”

(Note the emphasis on continuing to market appropriately whether in a growing or declining segment!)

• The date of the survey raises a question about whether – given recent economic news – these sectors have actually recovered over the year and whether marketing has played a part.

I’d be interested in your thoughts on this.  Please share this quick survey: 

Please retweet this 2-question survey:  Howz it goin out there manufacturers? http://elliance.ennectsurvey.com/howzitgoinouttheremanufacturers

HARD Change!

I’m not talking about philosophical or metaphysical change.  What I’m talking about is:  Does emarketing still work when your business requires you to make HARD change: pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollars?

The answer is: of course it does.  But now there may be some additional emarketing tools in your arsenal besides email and online event registration, social networking and website/search engine marketing. 

I came across a great post the other day that offers a list of location-based applications that small-to-medium size businesses can easily apply to their ‘hard-change’ locations.  I thought eMarketing Blog readers might be interested in reading it too.  So, here’s the link to the Beyond Foursquare: 5 Location-Based Apps for Small Business post.  

Do location-based services work?  Would Facebook have launced its own service (a geo-location app called “Places”) if it didn’t think there was a future in this type of service?  Probably not.  And there is some good evidence that people are checking into location-based services at establishments that have adopted this emarketing technology.  Here’s a link to a report on AdAge about how some restaurant chains are using a location-based games to drive interest.

If you’re the type of company that has to make hard change, maybe the new location-based apps can help you make more!

The Mail Train (Library of Congress)

One of the first things you learn in direct marketing – and this is a direct marketing issue at heart – is that your mail (or email) list is the first place you start with any campaign.  If you don’t get your list right, the rest falls apart. Wrong audience. Wrong message. Wrong offer. Wrong response. OPT-OUT in droves.  (Note: This is the part of direct mail that is no different from good solid PR tactics…find the right editor; target the right message, or they’ll “opt out,” too. Aside: I stand by my claim that ALL good marketing starts with good PR.)

The direct marketer’s role is to segment the list correctly and make sure that the right message hits the right target through the right channel at the right time.  (Thank you, Peppers & Rogers…)  But doing this in reality is really hard as, even, the largest marketing automation users with the most sophisticated behavior or trigger-based marketing campaigns will attest. 

Many marketers – stressed for time, lazy, or limited by technologies, budgets, etc. – bypass this best practice and send emails with abandon – wrong message/offer, etc. – and, hence, wrong response: opt-out meshugas.   (A direct marketer, by contrast, would never do this…the cost of printing, handling, and postage these days is just too great. Email is cheap and, so, has promulgated a lot of bad habits.)

Opting Off... (Library of Congress)

The message here – in case it’s not apparent – is that marketers with bad habits CANNOT expect (or fault) technology for problems they themselves create.

Most email delivery services (including packaged software and especially systems designed for the SMB market) are “non-intuitive” vehicles.  While they have lots of capabilities built in, they’re not intelligent to a degree that allows them to know whether the instructions they’re being given are correct.

They’re like trains carrying passengers, dependent on a conductor for direction, speed, and stops along the way to allow customers to disembark, etc.  IF the conductor (marketer) insists on loading everyone standing on the platform and taking them to wherever the train is going, there will be lots of people clamoring to get off. Others may stay just to see where the ride ends (or because staying on has benefits that getting off doesn’t…and some marketers count on this.) In the email world, conductors who don’t open the doors when customers want to get off are called spammers.  And there are “transportation police” at both the Federal and State levels who have a responsibility to stop them and enforce steep fines and penalties for not following the rules.

These same rules – commonly referred to as The CAN-SPAM Act – also dictate what email service/software providers must do when someone requests to opt out.  The Act says unequivocally that “your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future.” And it says that such notice must be “easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand.”  It also says, “You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you.” (Ed. Note: This latter bit appears to be newly-added. It used to be in or out, no qualifiers.)

Some homegrown emailers have Internet-based menus in place.  But such landing pages require constant monitoring and coding, in most cases.  And for many marketers, and for email service providers, this is a non-trivial task – especially in the SMB market.  So, what’s the recourse?  A ‘blanket’ opt-out policy that does equal disservice to the marketer and to the email recipient, opting out everyone of everything. It’s perfectly no-win/no-win. 

The message here – not much different from above – is that marketers need to stick to good direct marketing basics and, again, not expect (or fault) technology for problems they themselves create.

We’d love to hear your opinions and ideas on how to make this simpler for email marketers — without abridging the law, of course

1. Define Your Goal

Before you decide on the type of email you’re going to send, you should define your goals. By clarifying what it is you’re trying to achieve and who you’re trying to reach, you’ll have a better understanding of the type of email you want to send.

2. Email Types

There are lots of different types of emails, including:

• Welcome letters
• eNewsletters
• Order confirmations
• Event invites
• Promotions
• Contests
• Polls/surveys
• News (e.g., alumni)
• Alerts
• Fund-raising
• Crisis communications

3. Content

General rules of thumb for creating message content that gets read:

Direct your message to your target audience.

Keep the message short & sweet: “one scroll” is a good rule.

• If your articles run long, put the first ‘teaser’ paragraph into your email and add a link to the rest of the article.

Engage your readers: give them reasons to respond to your message.

• Include a call to action, clickable links to separate landing pages, etc.

Reinforce your brand

Follow CAN-SPAM guidelines.

• Always include an opt-out device for individuals who do not wish to receive future email messages.

4. The Subject Line

Carefully choose your “Subject” line: it’s the all important hook for getting your email opened.

Craft your Subject line to interest recipients to open your email. You may wish to include the benefit to the reader, the brand name, the offer, or a sense of urgency.

Keep it brief: 5-to-8 words and limit the length to 40 characters including spaces.

5. Design

Place the most important information at the top.

Restrict colors to the standard 216 web-safe color palette.

Compress images: the smaller the image file size, the quicker your message will load in the recipient’s window.

Keep it narrow. Limiting the width will make sure that the email will print without the right edge being cut off, and ensure the email’s visibility within the default preview pane of most email clients.

Create both text and HTML formats. Many email programs display HTML, but some only display text.

Not all email programs that display HTML will display style sheets (CSS) correctly. Therefore, you may wish to embed your HTML style tags into each element. (We found that this is specifically helpful for users of Lotus Notes.)

Be respectful of your audience’s time and bandwidth by keeping messages less than 50k in size.

Email clients will not always display files as you see them previewed in a web browser window. When deciding on your design, consider how your message will display in various email clients, such as Outlook Navigator, Yahoo, Gmail, EudoraPro, Hotmail, AOL, etc.

6. Test Your Email Before Sending

Make sure to test your email before sending it.

Set up a test list of internal recipients and send your test broadcast to them.

Proofread your content and check to make sure links are working.

Make sure your template graphics display properly on various email clients.

Check your subject line. You might find you need to adjust it to accommodate the way different email clients display your message.