• Getting content from subject matter experts, when these experts are also required to focus their energy on billable hours
• Occasional missed deadlines and the need to build a backlog of content before this happens
• Varying levels of commitment from different authors

While I’ve seen many companies experience some or all of these challenges at one point or another, as I listened and started to ask questions I realized what was happening to them – blogging had become hard because they weren’t getting anything back from it.  The above challenges really were just addressable symptoms presenting themselves from the larger malady – they hadn’t established a content strategy that showed them direct return on investment from their blogging efforts.

They needed Better Content, Not Just More Content—this broke down in to three main areas:

We Don’t Know What They Want to Know About

Simply put, my colleagues didn’t know what their audience was looking for anymore.  I think each of us at one time or another has hit a temporary wall when it comes to content ideas, but in this case they were really stuck.  Initially they turned to their Analytics, but there was no clear indication of the types of posts that performed better than others.  The solution here was easy – go back to the basics of why you are ultimately blogging for your business.

Think of the stages in your buyer’s journey and where there are most often questions, where people get stalled, or where they have objections that can best be addressed with a great piece of content.  If you think about What’s Missing in Your Content Marketing Approach – for many companies it’s creating content that functions as a part of your sales team.  This isn’t the self-promotional overt selling piece we all dislike, but instead content that is designed to subtly overcome objections and move people to the next stage in the buying cycle.

We’re Not Sure We Know What Their Buying Cycle Is Like

Thinking about content as part of the buying cycle, however, only helps if the marketing team knows what the buying cycle is like—a problem for this group. Sure, they had suspicions, they had spoken with members of their sales team, and even relied on published research from an industry think tank, but they still didn’t have anything concrete.

In this case, the best thing to do is to find a way to ask your clients.  While your own marketing department can call some clients and prospects to get insights, it’s often effective to engage an outsider, as many clients will open up more to a 3^rd party.

I’ve had a number of these conversations recently on behalf of our clients. In addition to learning about the buying cycle and selection criteria, I have heard that our clients’ fees could actually be much higher than they currently are, and in one case, learned that there was a big opportunity about to open up.

We’re Not Turning This into Business

While we all like to help and educate people, most corporate content budgets are predicated on the idea that at some point it leads to business.  If your content marketing program isn’t generating any business, in most cases it’s only a matter of time before you can’t fund your content marketing program.

If you are suffering from the first 2 challenges we outlined above, then it’s not surprising that you can’t turn your blog posts into business.  However, even when you do iron out these issues, too often I see companies missing the basics.  If you take all that time to create a great blog post, and it addresses a key buyer, at the right time, at the right stage, in just the right way, you absolutely need to ask them to provide some basic contact information to access another, more extensive piece of content.

It’s critical to map out key anchor pieces of content (white papers, eBooks, recorded webinars, email newsletters, other content valuable enough for readers to provide their contact information) and match them to themes or topics of posts.  You can them use these anchor pieces as calls to action to take buyers to that next step.

So, if your buyers are reading about content marketing, you can suggest they can also learn more in a recent webinar, The Anatomy of a Content Marketing Strategy (hint, hint).  Or think about how Amazon does it on the Kindle: when you finish book 1 of a series, it automatically asks you if you’d like to buy the second book. By taking people to the next step with a clear call to action, you convert some of the anonymous readers into interested, named visitors, and can determine which readers are valid leads and ultimately which may turn into business.

If you start turning blog visitors into new clients, you’ll certainly feel like you are getting something out of blogging again.

What other tips do you have for solving these issues?  Are you getting anything back from your blogging efforts?  Tell us in the comments section below.

For more about Content Marketing, download our free content marketing webinar:  What if You Build It and They Still Don’t Come? – The Anatomy of a Content Marketing Strategy (See how I did that again!).

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I’m also passionate about helping companies find unique ways to engage their customers and prospects through digital media. It’s rewarding to assist our clients with a campaign and then to see the positive impact it had at the end of the month.

Two weeks ago these two worlds came together for me when I saw a tweet from the Ravens about their Ravens Week of Winning (WOW) promotion.  WOW, as I found out, was a very well thought-out digital media engagement promotion.

Background on the Ravens’ Digital Marketing Efforts

Before getting into this particular promotion, I have to say that the Ravens excel at interacting with fans on many different channels.  They are on Facebook and Twitter, they have a mobile app, provide an SMS feed, have several eNewsletters from which you may choose, and keep their website fresh with a wealth of information.  I knew about all of these channels, but found that I used some, like Facebook and Twitter, more than the others.

About the WOW Promotion

The WOW campaign pulled people like me, who primarily followed the Ravens in one or two places, into all of the Ravens’ marketing channels.  Each day the Ravens would send out a special code fans could use to enter a drawing.  The Ravens used a different digital media channel each day to reveal the code.  On Monday the code was sent in an SMS message; on Tuesday it was in a tweet; Wednesday, on Facebook; Thursday in an eNewsletter; and on Friday in a blog post or news story on their website.

For me, I was using everything but the SMS messaging, so last Monday I signed up for that.  Yes, I got my special code, and no, I didn’t win a prize (darn).  I don’t know why I hadn’t signed up for this in the past, but now I’m on the list.  This is a win-win: I have benefited by getting up-to-the minute updates and the Ravens have benefited by further tying a fan to the brand and growing their subscriber base.  As an aside, when I signed up for SMS messaging I was also notified that there was a mobile app I could get if I didn’t have it already – the perfect message for a heavy mobile user.  On Wednesday, when the code was on Facebook, I had to go the Fan Zone tab on the Ravens page and share a post on my wall to get the code.  This was smart, as I hadn’t gone to this tab before.  I previously read the posts on the Ravens wall but found this tab to have a nice summary of information of interest to me.  Also, by sharing a post saying that I was participating in the WOW campaign, I spread the word to my network of friends who hopefully participated as well.  Friday was a challenge for me.  While I couldn’t fit Friday’s more time intensive promotion into my schedule, this is a perfect way to get fans more engaged and exposed to the depth of content on the website and blog.

From the Ravens Beak

I happen to be in a marketing roundtable with Michele Andres, Vice President of Digital Media for the Ravens.  I was looking forward to seeing her this morning for our monthly meeting to congratulate her on such an interesting campaign.  When I asked her how it went and if she could share any information about the fan response, Michelle told me the campaign was “extremely successful – not only in the number of fans that participated and won prizes, but also in terms of increasing subscriptions to the various digital channels.”   She said, “This was the most successful digital promotion we’ve ever run. The prizes were great and it wasn’t difficult [for fans] to participate.  We know that at this time of year, our digital channels are getting a lot more exposure than normal. So, having a promotion that draws them in – and then hopefully exposes them to our great content and keeps them coming back – is the goal.

“This was the most successful digital promotion we’ve ever run.”

We spoke about all of the work that goes into coordinating a campaign of this size and she told me, “Week of Winning was actually an evolution from what we did last year which was Winning Wednesday. Imagine trying to fit what we did this year into a day – that’s what we did last year. Wouldn’t do that again!”  Like many organizations, The Ravens are continually evaluating their programs and looking for ways to improve internal processes as well as the experience for the fan (the equivalent of a client).  I look forward to seeing what they have planned for next year….aside from winning the Super Bowl.

Do you have an example of a great digital media campaign?  If so, please share.

Yesterday, I took part in a Government 2.0 experiment—the first tweetup organized by @governoromalley’s team at the State House in Annapolis. Here’s my take on how it went.

Social Media is Changing How We Work Together

While technology and new media is nowhere near as powerful as the human heart, O’Malley stated in his opening remarks, it has enabled humans to be more connected than ever. In his opinion, using this connection to improve our communities as tough times continue is critical.  While his opening remarks were general, his actions prove that he’s willing to put muscle behind this notion. I for one hope that this small tweetup is just the beginning of a flood of political leaders helping constituents play a larger role in policy conversations.

All organizations should take note—just as social media has the potential to transform politics, it is transforming the rest of our economy as well. If your organization isn’t thinking about how you can grow or adapt to take advantage of social media, it is missing a huge opportunity.

Turning the Tables

At the beginning of the tweetup, Jeremy Johnson (@tanlife) asked O’Malley what he thought of Baltimore @mayorsrb’s initiative to bring 10,000 families into Baltimore in 10 years. O’Malley gave his thoughts, fighting the assumption that we can do nothing about problems like crime and trash, but also turned the tables to ask Johnson what he thought would solve the problem. Johnson works with a nonprofit, Operation Oliver, which believes the answer to this question is putting “boots on the street”—getting started, picking up trash, and making things happen.

This particular issue aside, this exchange showed the power of new media to bring regular people into policy discussion. Because of this event, and the power that social media presents for the individual, Johnson and his organization had an opportunity to be heard.

Just as social media changes government, it can also change business and nonprofits. Are you asking your customers what new products they want to see? Are you asking your donors what they think the next priority for your non-profit should be? If not, start.

Answering Tough Questions

At one point in the event, I pushed Governor O’Malley on an issue that’s sure to be contentious this assembly—shifting some of the responsibility for teacher’s pensions to the counties without sacrificing classroom funding. I got an honest answer—we haven’t worked it out yet, and have to make some tough choices. O’Malley went into more detail, but fully admitted the complexity and risk of the situation.

Throughout the session, O’Malley confronted questions like mine honestly. This approach is vital in a world where word spreads about mistakes and inconsistencies faster than ever—attendees had fact checking capabilities at their fingertips and were live tweeting their thoughts and O’Malley’s answers.  If he had glossed over an issue, we would have called him out.

The same applies for companies and other organizations. If your company is dealing with a complicated issue, you can’t hide it just by not having a press conference about it. For example, 75,000 people have liked a Facebook page urging Mattel to create a bald Barbie to which children with cancer can relate. Mattel has released only vague statements in response, making their brand seem inflexible and old fashioned. Tackling hard issues quickly and truly responding to difficult questions is essential in a world of crowd-sourced, instant media.

Takeaways For Your Organization

New media is a fantastic marketing tool, but at yesterday’s event, it showed that it has the potential to be much more. O’Malley learned about the issues important to a group of his constituents, and I won’t be surprised if we see a few policy adjustments and programs arising out of yesterday’s conversation.

Here’s how your organization—political, commercial, nonprofit, or educational—can learn from and build on yesterday’s social media integrated event.

1. Hold real life tweetups. At least among the folks I talked to, the consensus on yesterday’s event was that it was cool, and should be repeated. Whether you’re a politician, CEO, President of a University or Executive Director of a non-profit, why not host an annual or quarterly tweetup? They’ll grow both your social media presence and your perspective on what matters to your audience.
2. Ask questions that matter. Don’t just use your Twitter handle to ask people what they think of the Ravens game or what their plans are for New Years. If you’re a politician, ask what people think about same sex marriage, or who should be paying teachers’ pensions. If you’re a school, ask students what their dream dorm would be like—and incorporate their answers next time you build one. If you’re a business, ask about what kinds of products or services your customers or clients would like to see next, and use their answers to form your plans. Asking questions that matter will get you answers that matter.
3. Hold a Twitter Town Hall. President Obama held a Twitter Town Hall back in July that allowed people from all over the country to ask questions that were answered live, shown on a streaming feed, and tweeted on the @whitehouse account. O’Malley and other politicians could do something similar to bring more voices into policy discussions. If your business or organization has a large enough online audience and a geographically disparate customer base or clientele, you could consider doing the same—whether it’s “Live Answers to Accounting Questions” or “Live Answers About Adopting a Pet.”
4. Hold Twitter “office hours.” Politicians—or someone from their office—could be available for a given number of hours every month so that citizens can ask questions and get an almost instant answer tweeted back. No live streaming video necessary—just guaranteed attention to a Twitter account and a commitment to answering tough questions. Your business or nonprofit could provide a subject matter expert to do the same, whether it’s a marketing expert or an on-the-ground medical aid worker in Haiti.

Did you follow the #mdgovtweetup? Is your organization doing anything similar? How do you see new media transforming politics, business, and the world? Please comment below—I’d love to continue the conversation.

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Not so fast, my content marketing friends.

First, think about the sales funnel:

While there’s no universally accepted set of steps in the sales funnel, I typically use the following:

• Awareness
• Interest
• Evaluation
• Commitment
• Referral

While volume of content is important, in the B2B world in particular, churning out content generates traffic that typically fills the top of the sales funnel—the awareness phase. So what’s a marketer to do about the middle and bottom of the sales funnel?

Create better content, not necessarily more content.

Thinking in particular about the Interest, Evaluation, and Commitment steps, here are a few tips on creating better content for the middle of the sales funnel

1. Get Sp­­­ecific

Not all buyers are created equal. They occupy different roles. They work for different types of organizations. They have different budgets. They have different needs.

You can’t necessarily create content for each individual, but what you can do is create content for groups, whether it be by buyer persona, type of organization, or size of company. Most importantly, write about specific situations that groups of your prospective customers are dealing with.

And by all means, if you can name names, do so.  The difference between saying  “a professional services firm used our product to increase lead volume by 200%” vs. “Sweeney, Davis and Scaffani, an accounting firm located in Baltimore, MD, used our product to increase lead volume by 200%” = priceless.

2. Provide Data

Especially in the earlier stages of the sales funnel, before the prospect knows you or your company well, every claim is met with a certain level of skepticism. Sure, in the sales process you build one on one trust—but that takes time.

So what’s the quick way to start to remove that skepticism?

Back everything up with data, and preferably data from a trusted source outside of your own organization.

3. Ditch the Marketing Speak

Let me guess. Your product is cloud-based. It offers seamless integration with the most widely used SaaS applications. It’s a platform, but it’s also a full-featured solution.

Some of this marketing speak is unavoidable, but cut down on it before you publish. As buyers see more and more content, they will start to tune out your buzzwords and devalue your content.

4. Get Visual

Visuals – in the form of charts, graphs, infographics, photos and more – are essential to content, especially case studies, eBooks, white papers and brochures. Not only do they help break up long copy, but for some readers they will represent the single eye-catching and informative element that helps them remember the company that authored the content.

5. Say Something Original

With the explosion of published content, both in print and on the web, it’s easy to assume that your original thoughts aren’t that original after all. And yet every week, month, and year, new thought leaders emerge with original ideas, or at least new slants on previous ideas. Find a way to be original – in message, tone, attitude, or approach.

After all, they do call it “thought leadership,” not “thought following.”

Following this advice will help you avoid making the mistake of publishing content that appeals to search engines instead of humans. In any content planning effort, think about creating content to help your salespeople as they move buyers through the funnel.

What other tips do you have for creating better content? Tell us in the comments section.

For more about Content Marketing, download our free webinar.

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Many People Still Need an Explanation of What Content Marketing Is

People in the industry don’t believe it, but it’s true – the term content marketing sounds great but many marketers, presidents, and CEOs have never heard it or don’t know what it means.  A great example of this occurred yesterday.  Mike and I looked at Google’s keyword research tool and see a term like “content marketing firm” has a very high level of competition  - see how many sponsored listings come up when you search it – and yet only 170 or so searches a month worldwide.  By comparison, the term “advertising firm” has 301,000 searches per month, huge difference.

So, it’s clear people aren’t out there asking for it by name, so the idea of effective content marketing takes some explaining and education.

Content Touches Almost Everything You Do

Take a look at your 2012 marketing plan and I’ll bet most all of your initiatives involve content in one form or another.  Whether it’s webinars, blogging, website updates, social media or so many more initiatives, they all require well-planned and well-crafted content.   Like Seymour the monster from Little Shop of Horrors, you need to continue to feed your marketing initiatives great content, or they’ll shrivel up and die.

Feed Me – Your Marketing Automation Tool is Hungry

One of the fastest growing markets right now is marketing automation software.   We talk to many companies that are in the process of deploying or have deployed the latest and greatest marketing automation and lead nurturing tools like HubSpot, Marketo, Eloqua and many others.  What do they all need?  You guessed it—a content strategy that takes into account the buyer’s needs and behaviors, and how to address each stage of the buying cycle.  All too often companies invest heavily in licensing marketing automation software and then realize mid-way through deployment that they don’t have a content strategy and haven’t identified or created the right content.  The landing pages you visit, the blog posts you read, the lead nurturing emails you receive, the webinars you sign-up to attend, the white papers you register to download, the eBook you get – all of these elements marketing automation tools need to thrive and they all fall apart without the right content.

Don’t let your 2012 marketing approach turn into a Little Shop of Horrors. Make sure you have your 2012 content plan in place and if you haven’t yet developed it, here’s 12 Questions That Should Guide Your Content Marketing Plan.

Agree?  Disagree?  Have a marketing automation story to share?  Hungry for more (sorry couldn’t resist).  Share your comments below.

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The answer was simple. I wasn’t asking myself the right questions, and I wasn’t asking them in the same determined manner that I use with clients. I was letting myself off the hook.

After a good deal of back-and-forth (mostly in my own head), I came up with the following questions, which may serve as a blueprint for building a content marketing plan for your organization.

1.       Why are we doing this?

You heard right. Even someone who makes part of his living on content marketing had to ask that very important question to himself.

I came up with a variety of answers, but none more pragmatic than this one. I’ve seen first-hand what an organized content marketing effort can do for a business, and it’s powerful when done right.

2.       What’s the goal?

There are a variety of ways to answer this question. Some answers will focus on hard metrics like brand awareness, lead generation, or actual transactions. Some answers will focus on softer metrics like prospect engagement or page views. There is no right or wrong answer.

No matter what, though, answer this question early in the process.

3.       What is our unique story?

Even if you think your business falls into the cookie-cutter category, it has a unique story. If you don’t know what that story is, then you may want to go through an extensive process that focuses on company messaging.

If you do know what that unique story is, it ought to inform content marketing themes and be woven into each piece of content.

4.       Who is our audience?

More than likely, you have multiple audiences: prospective clients, current clients, prospective employees, current employees, investors, partners and more.

Then consider the audiences within each of those groups. For instance, you likely have more than one type of audience within the prospective client group. There are likely people that hold different positions, that are interested in different services, and that are engaged in different stages of a sales cycle.

My advice: It seems complicated, but don’t let that stop you. Sometimes you have to build a content marketing plan for your most “common” audience, and then you can take that, tweak it, and apply it to the other audiences.

For more on creating buyer personas, check out Jeremy Victor’s post, Buyer Personas: Where (and How!) to Start.

5.       Who is on our team? What is everyone’s role?

This may be the most important question on the list. A great plan is nothing without great people to execute it. Understanding your internal and external resources is a critical piece of your content marketing plan.

Regardless of how many and what types of people you have on the team, at the top sits the owner of the content marketing effort. Whether that is a Chief Content Officer, a VP of Marketing, or a Marketing Manager, a single person needs to own this effort and serve as champion and final decision-maker. If you’re ready to assemble your content marketing dream team, read my earlier post on this very topic.

6.       Who will handle each piece of content marketing?

Hand in hand with defining team roles is making sure that everyone knows who (internally or externally) will handle each of the following phases of content marketing:

• Content Planning
• Content Creation
• Content Optimization
• Content Distribution
• Content Reporting & Analysis

Effective content marketing programs cover each one of these phases – no skipping allowed.

7.       What are the primary themes?

Mapping out specific topics for hundreds of individual pieces of content is not an easy task. How can you make it more manageable?

Select 3-5 themes for the year, and build campaigns around each theme. Once you have a set of broad themes, generating content ideas and organizing each idea into the right spot will become far easier.

8.       What types of content should we create?

Content comes in many shapes and sizes – blog posts, bylined articles, case studies, Facebook status updates and white papers, just to name a few.

Many companies start their content marketing planning with this question, because they assume content creation guides the content marketing plan. On the contrary, your decision on the types of content to create should be guided by the questions and answers provided in numbers 1 thru 7 above.

9.       When will each piece of content get published?

This is the spot where I tell you that you need an editorial calendar, and someone to manage it with vigor. I’ve seen 5-6 different versions of editorial calendars, all with their individual strengths and weaknesses. Michelle Linn provides a great how-to post on this topic on the Content Marketing Institute blog.

10.   How will we distribute each piece of content?

Remember, content marketing is about…marketing. There’s no point in creating a plan and building out all this content without paying attention to distribution. After all, Distribution – Not Content – is King.

11.   How will we report on the content marketing effort?

Decide the who, what, when, where and how of content marketing reporting before you begin the effort. Your report will likely go through at least 2-3 iterations as you receive input from different stakeholders.

12.   What’s the budget?

When asked his about content marketing budget recently, a prospective client answered with, “I don’t know. What’s the standard budget, like $25,000 per quarter?”

There is no standard budget for content marketing. Some companies spend a good deal more than $25,000 per quarter, and some spend less than that. Like anything else, you have to prioritize the content marketing budget within your broader marketing budget, and make sure it is aligned with the company’s marketing goals.

What questions are missing?

I know I missed some questions. In the comments section, let me know the other critical questions that companies should ask themselves when initiating a content marketing effort.

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——

Big Moves by Big Names
1. Buy, Not Build. There will be a slew of top brands that start to buy established niche media properties instead of starting from scratch.
2. Google will undergo FTC scrutiny for trying to corner the market on the purchase funnel…they buy one too many media companies (i.e. Zagat in 2011) that finally sets off some opposition from social influencers.
3. Facebook indeed surpasses $100 billion in market cap after going public (probably not a stretch, but worth saying… since Facebook is the only company that scares Google).

Just like last year’s, here’s a “Reader’s Choice” list of your favorite 2011 blog posts on Marketing Trenches. We compiled this list based on page views, comments, and tweets (maybe next year it will be Google +1s!), so also thank you for jumping in with comments and sharing our posts with others! The wait is over; here’s the countdown of the top 10 Marketing Trenches posts of 2011:

10. What Makes an Exceptional Social Media Manager?

The Must-Haves, Nice-to-Haves, and Bonus Points you should look for when hiring someone to manage your social media.

9. 10 Things You Should Include in a Social Media Plan

If you’re the fly-by-your-pants type, you might want to skip this post because it has the word “plan” in it (yikes!), but Mike Sweeney lays out exactly what you need to take the pain out of planning.

8. What Angry Birds Taught Me About Social Media

Forget what Mom said. Mindless games can teach you something! Find out what the smash-hit game can teach you about the social media realm.

7. Everyone Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth

Mike Tyson may have said it first, but Will Davis explains why strategic planning is important no matter how well you think you’re doing.

6. 17 Ways 2 Make Ur Tweets Shorter

Remember 2 leave room 4 ppl to RT u! Check out our suggestions here.

5. 10 Steps to Pick-Up a Social Media Audience

What works at the bar will work in social media—just skip the cheesy pick-up lines (or not).

4. 6 Fixes for Writer’s Block, Even if You’re Not a Writer

This post is about… well, you see, this post really explains the best way to… oh well, just read it!

3. Why Companies That Say They Want Social Media Really Want Content Marketing

Executives and students alike may not know what content marketing is, but they’ll still ask you to “do social media,” so be prepared.

2. When 2,000 Facebook Fans Mean Nothing

It’s not how many you know, it’s who you know! Don’t fall for numbers that don’t have any value.

1. Don’t let the Social Media Tail Wag the Content Marketing Dog

A wise man once said, “The tail is nothing without the dog, but the dog is still the dog even without the tail.” See how this applies to social media and content marketing.

0. Special Bonus: If you build it, will they come? Content Marketing Webinar

While it’s not a blog post, and it doesn’t live on Marketing Trenches, this webinar covering the basics of content marketing was popular when it launched and remains popular today, so we think it’s earned its spot on this list.

How did we do? Did all of your favorites make this list? Let us know if we missed any of your favorites by commenting below!

Fear – and in particular the fear of making a mistake –  is a very strong force. For a select few, it can be a trigger for adrenaline and aggressive decision-making. For many others, it can cause inaction, paralysis and conservative decision-making.

For companies that have been burned in their selection of strategic marketing firms in the past, let me offer a few pieces of advice on making a better decision this time around.

1. Know the Difference Between Marketing Strategy and Marketing Services

Marketing strategy should inform and guide marketing planning, which in turn informs and guides marketing services and tactics. Building a new website or distributing one press release each month is not a marketing strategy.

If you have your marketing plan all buttoned up for 2012, you may be ready to hire a marketing services firm to handle one or more of the tactics you identified in that plan. If not, you need to find a firm that can think strategically as well.

Good marketing strategists can not only help you with things like customer, competitor and target market analysis, but they can help you evaluate past marketing performance and use that information to guide 2012 marketing objectives.

2. Get Educated, Set Parameters and THEN Compare Apples to Apples

I see a lot of marketing proposals, and it makes me feel terrible for the people that have to translate, evaluate and compare proposals from different companies.  Even when you cut through the buzzwords and verbosity of the average proposal, you’re often left with dramatically different approaches and price ranges.

Here’s how I solve that riddle when on the buying side:

• Explain the situation and objectives – as you see them – to the firms you’d like to speak with.

• Ask them to come back with a general approach for how they would handle the situation. (This is where you’ll see good firms separate from weak firms.  A good firm ought to be able to explain their approach and how and why it might be different from others.)

• Get educated on the different approaches, and decide which general direction you like best.

• Make that your new approach, and ask for proposals addressing that new approach.

Now you ought to be able to compare apples to apples. You just used this process to educate yourself, get information from some (hopefully) smart marketing firms, and make your decision-making process more efficient.

3. Don’t Buy Tools and Software Before You Buy Your Marketing Firm

– START DIALOGUE –

Marketing Person: We just bought Marketo for marketing automation and Omniture for web analytics last month, so we’re really looking for someone that has expertise using those tools.

Mike: Who or what guided those decisions?

Marketing Person: We told IT that we needed those tools in place, and they evaluated different options and chose those. Everything is being installed right now.

Mike: Do you know how you want to use those tools?

Marketing Person: Not yet, but both Marketo and Omniture have a great education and training program to help us learn how to use them effectively.

– END DIALOGUE –

How can you not see the problem with this approach? Software cannot build your marketing plan, and should not guide your marketing decisions. Strategy and planning should come first. Tactics should come second. Software and tools should fall in line somewhere after that.

4. Design Firms Are (Typically) Not Marketing Firms

We work with a lot of fantastic designers and design firms. They are very good at what they do, and add tremendous value to our solutions.

That being said, design is not marketing, and designers and design firms are generally not equipped to handle marketing strategy and planning. And the smart ones don’t want to handle marketing strategy and planning.

Beware the overreaching design firm, or as Will Davis once said, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

5. Industry Specialists and Category Expertise Do Not Always Equal Success

If you’re in a hyper-competitive industry where all the players look and feel the same, and it’s difficult to create separation from the pack, is the solution to bring in a marketing firm that is an industry specialist?

It might be, and that might work for if your objective is to make incremental gains on the competition. On the other hand, if your objective is to become an industry leader, be careful about hiring a firm that is ready to make you into a “me too” company.

6. Ask References the Hard Questions

In most cases, reference calls are a check in a box that happens once you’ve already decided which firm you want to work with, and at that point your natural inclination is to just confirm all the good things you’ve heard about your new firm. Consider changing your approach.

• Ask for references when you’re still evaluating options, not when you’re close to a decision.

• Let the reference know about your fear and how you’ve been burned in the past. This will lead to a more open conversation, as it’s human nature to be more forthcoming when someone does the same with you.

• Ask harder, more direct questions. Every firm has a weakness, or something that you would not hire them for, what wouldn’t you hire this firm for? When you’ve had conflicts or differences in opinion with this firm, how did it get resolved? I want my ideas challenged, not just accepted, will this or that person in the firm do that?

Now It’s Your Turn

Corporate marketing decision-makers, or even marketing firms, I want to hear from you. What mistakes have you made in hiring marketing firms in the past? What other recommendations would you include on this list? Jump in with comments.

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It‘s hard to think of a marketing tactic used these days that is more disliked by consumers than email. We all get so many emails now it has even gotten boring to complain about them (You’re just back from Florida and now you’ve got 1,000 emails to go through? – boo hoo).

Emails received from companies (other than yours, of course) are often intrusive junk, cluttering up mailboxes and adding undue stress to busy lives. Still, companies in the US spend over $1 billion dollars a year on Email Marketing, with projected growth of 11% per year through 2014 (Forrester). While that’s less growth than projected for hot channels like Social Media or Mobile Marketing (34% and 27% respectively), marketers are still committing increasing dollars to email campaigns.

But if consumers cringe at email, why are companies continuing to use it as a communication tool?

Some marketers get it – emails can (and must) be useful. The most effective emails from companies provide a kind of customer service, and always pass the ‘thank you’ test. Not only am I happy when I receive these, I’m relieved and grateful. What marketer wouldn’t covet that kind of response? It’s ok if there’s a soft cross-sell included, because the main purpose of the email is to bring value.

As a (very) rough guide to what works, I offer below 5 examples of emails that pass the ‘thank you’ test. Most of these fall into the category of retention since I’ve already used or am currently using the product or service. However, receiving these emails significantly increases my positive perception of the company’s brand, and I am much more likely to continue using them in the future:

1. Your Subscription Starts Today: On the first day my newspaper subscription was to start, I received an email saying that my paper should have arrived that day and if it hadn’t I could reply to complain. I opened my door and the newspaper was there—no complaint necessary, but I was thankful for the gesture.
2. Your Order Has Shipped: Soon after placing an order online, I received an email from the retailer telling me the order had shipped, and giving me the number of days it should take to arrive, helpful when I’m anxiously awaiting a product.
3. Your Bill is Ready to View: My wireless company sends me a monthly email stating my bill is ready to view and providing a link to the bill on its site. This is my trigger to go online and make a timely payment so I don’t incur any late fees.
4. Your Flight Is On Time: The online travel company where I booked a flight sent me an email on my travel date, telling me the flight was scheduled to depart on time and giving me the gate it was departing from, eliminating any pre-flight stress.
5. Your ID Is Attached: I receive an email twice a year from my car insurer with a printable insurance ID attached. I just print it out and put it in my car, so I’m sure to have the right paperwork the next time I’m pulled over. No snail mail necessary, and if I lose my ID card, I can simply print it again.

All emails should be at least as useful as these. If they don’t elicit a “thank you,” they’re just spam, and I can’t find the “unsubscribe” link fast enough.

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