Download The Best Marketing Advice I Ever Received, and the Best

The Best
Marketing Advice
I Ever Received,
and the Best
I Ever Gave:
5 Experts Share
Their Wisdom
Silverpop
The Best Marketing Advice
Tweet This
The Best Marketing
Advice I Ever Received,
and the Best I Ever Gave:
5 Experts Share Their Wisdom
T
oday, the marketer’s world is more frenetic
than ever, with a new digital option elbowing its way into the fray seemingly every day.
Marketers seeking to capture their customers’
and prospects’ attention and loyalty can face
the proverbial problem of too much of a good
thing. Knowing which way to direct a campaign
can be overwhelming, even for the most seasoned professional.
The ideal focus of your marketing efforts is, of
course, largely based on your industry, your
brand and the desired result, but striking the
right balance of new tricks with the tried-andtrue in order to manage a successful campaign
doesn’t have to be elusive, say five marketing
experts Silverpop spoke with. Hailing from all
corners of the marketing universe with experience aplenty under their respective belts, they
shared the best advice ever received and, alternately, the best advice they could give. Because
with the marketer’s world showing no signs of
getting any easier,
we could all use
a little help along
the way.
silverpop.com © 2012 Copyright Silverpop. All rights reserved. The Silverpop logo is a registered trademark of Silverpop Systems Inc.
PAGE 2
Silverpop
The Best Marketing Advice
1
Tweet This
Consider Your Audience First, Then
Manage Your Brand’s Place Within
Scott Monty, global digital & multimedia
communications manager for Ford Motor Co.
A
s the global digital and multimedia communications manager for Ford Motor Co.,
Scott Monty may sit front and center in today’s
modern marketing world, but he draws daily
inspiration from ancient wisdom.
More than 2,000 years ago, the Roman statesman and orator Cicero advised,
“If you wish to persuade me, you must think
my thoughts, feel my feelings and speak my
words.” And it’s this insight Monty uses to
make daily decisions
that affect Ford.
“Even though tools and technology and the medium may change very quickly, fundamentally,
human nature stays the same,” he explains.
“People want to be treated in a respectful way;
they want to be able to relate to people like
them; and they want to be part of something
bigger than themselves and to contribute to the
world around them.”
Considering the audience first is critical to engaging that audience, Monty says, adding that
working on an empathetic level with people creates a connection that meets them where they
are and helps build trust. Today’s digital world
opens new doors for marketers looking to help
consumers participate in something bigger than
themselves.
“We as marketers can group people together,
amass social movements and give people more
of a say,” he explains.
Monty points to Ford’s celebrated “Fiesta Movement” as an example of Cicero’s advice in action.
The 2009 campaign, devised to build momentum
for the 2010 U.S. launch of the Ford Fiesta, selected 100 tech-savvy vehicle enthusiasts who had
a digital following and gave them each a Fiesta to
drive for six months. Their only requirement was to
document their experiences on social media outlets, such as Facebook and YouTube, and produce
a monthly video related to the car. Consumers
were encouraged to follow the non-edited, uncensored posts and even contribute to the dialogue.
The unorthodox grassroots campaign generated
huge buzz and did exactly what Ford had hoped it
would do: build awareness among young, sophisticated, “Generation Y” consumers.
Monty credits the campaign’s ability to connect
with people where they are and how they communicate with its huge success.
“Across the board, people don’t trust companies
the way they used to. They look to third-party
experts, the media and [social media experts and
bloggers],” he says. “With these 100 agents, we
gave people the opportunity to find someone they
could connect with and the ability to come along
on the virtual ride.”
Connecting with your demographic, however,
means understanding how
your brand fits in and then using the appropriate
tools to emphasize it, Monty explains, prefacing
the best advice he can offer marketers.
silverpop.com © 2012 Copyright Silverpop. All rights reserved. The Silverpop logo is a registered trademark of Silverpop Systems Inc.
PAGE 3
Silverpop
The Best Marketing Advice
Tweet This
“Just because we can, doesn’t mean we
should,” he advises. “All the new techniques
and platforms available today open marketers
to opportunities to enter new conversations,
but it doesn’t mean we need to.”
Just as wellness experts guide clients to
embrace their true identities, Monty counsels
marketers to know their brand’s distinctiveness and understand how and where it fits into
2
today’s advertising world. With this, comes one
last caveat.
“If you’re deciding to interact in the
social space, realize it’s a conversation,
not a forum. It’s about give and take, people
getting to know people. It’s not a forum to unleash platitudes and marketing spin,” he says.
“The ability to humanize your brand is absolutely critical to achieve success in this space.”
Do Your Own Thing,
Then Do It Simply and Really Well
Andrew Kordek, co-founder and chief strategist
for Trendline Interactive
J
ust because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t
mean you necessarily need to do it too.
To date, this is what Andrew Kordek believes is
the best marketing advice he’s ever received.
The chief strategist and co-founder of strategic
email marketing agency Trendline Interactive
says that in a time when newfangled digital
options pop up almost daily, the advice is more
relevant than ever. Clients often become overwhelmed and feel pressure to “be everywhere,”
Kordek says, which can derail otherwise strong
marketing strategies.
“Today’s society has digital ADD,” he says,
which is something he believes companies
must recognize in both themselves and their
intended audiences since capturing attention is
difficult enough even with the most streamlined
approach.
“When you think you have to do everything
everyone else is doing, you complicate things,
rush things and don’t do them correctly or with
any thought process behind it,” Kordek says.
“Many companies have fallen prey to
that pressure.”
He and Trendline Interactive put this prudent
approach into play, too. Despite his stake in an
email marketing agency, Kordek doesn’t have
an email newsletter. While Trendline Interactive
has a Facebook presence, management is careful about how they use it and, as he puts it, “We
don’t spout out on it all the time.”
“Everyone talks about global integration, but
integration is hard. It costs money, and it costs
time. It goes far beyond sticking a button on an
email,” he says, adding that too many agencies
and consultancies don’t provide their clients
with the appropriate context for what true
integration involves or provide them with a
strategic process for it.
silverpop.com © 2012 Copyright Silverpop. All rights reserved. The Silverpop logo is a registered trademark of Silverpop Systems Inc.
PAGE 4
Silverpop
The Best Marketing Advice
Tweet This
The result is a scattered, mediocre campaign
that tries to do everything but succeeds in
nothing.
Kordek’s experiences have built the foundation
for what he sees as the best advice he’s given:
Simplicity works.
“We counsel clients to think big but start small
… let’s concentrate on doing a couple things
and doing them really
well,” he says.
As an example of what not to do, Kordek cites
a recent sign-up page he got to via an email.
Ready to provide the all-important email
address, he noticed that the company had enlisted interested people like himself to “join us,”
then proceeded to list multiple digital options,
including Facebook, YouTube, Polyvore, Pinterest and Twitter.
their email interface is helping that cause and
not hurting it.
He suggests marketers do the “Grandparent”
test, where a less savvy user is observed looking
at the email interface for the first time.
Always quick with an analogy, Kordek tells
clients to think of their email programs like
hosting a party. They need to get their houses
in order, then prepare for a hospitable welcome
to set the stage for a good time.
“Cleaning up your house is the very first step
to ensuring the experience is great,” Kordek
says. “And when people come to your door,
do you welcome them or kick them over the
threshold and walk away, hoping they find what
they need?”
This onslaught diverts attention and reduces
the chances of capturing the email address, he
contends.
Too many companies have cluttered their email
experience without taking care of the basics,
he says. Throwing your guests into the fray
without showing them where the food or coat
closet is can be disorienting.
“Email is the bread in the digital sandwich. It
keeps everything together—offline and online.
Email centers it all,” he says by way of explaining his belief that companies need to ensure
“To be a good host, you might need to
show them two or three times,” Kordek says.
“You want the experience to be good so
they’ll stay.”
“
Email is the bread in the digital
sandwich. It keeps everything
together—offline
and online.
”
silverpop.com © 2012 Copyright Silverpop. All rights reserved. The Silverpop logo is a registered trademark of Silverpop Systems Inc.
PAGE 5
Silverpop
The Best Marketing Advice
Tweet This
3
The Zany Bird Gets the Worm, but It
Must Work Hard to Earn its Audience
Peter Shankman, marketing consultant, author
and founder of Help A Reporter Out
W
hen it comes to off-the-wall marketing
and PR ideas, Peter Shankman wrote the
book. Literally. His Can We Do That?! Outrageous
PR Stunts that Work and Why Your Company
Needs Them is an in-the-trenches look at how
breaking molds can shake things up just enough
to make a lasting impression.
It comes as no surprise, then, that Shankman
counts this as the best advice he’s ever received: Don’t worry about what people might
think when you have a crazy idea.
“If they don’t like it, they’ll say so and you’ll
start over, but more times than not, they’ll be
intrigued and willing to run with it, and it will
work,” Shankman says.
It’s been such a part of his career fabric for so
long, Shankman says he can’t remember where
it originated, but acknowledges that it’s the
basis for how he approaches everything.
In 2005, he suggested a small Tarrytown, N.Y.,
yarn store outfit a van with huge rolls of yarn
and knitting needles. Seven years later the
spectacle known as the “Yarn Bus” is still a huge
hit as it shuttles people from Manhattan to the
Flying Fingers Yarn Shop in Tarrytown, half an
hour north, where they can shop, then shuttles
them back to the city.
Shankman says Flying Fingers was immediately taken with the idea, which he has found
to be the general way such suggestions pan
out. Some companies might be hesitant and
others might even reject the zany outright, but
it doesn’t prevent him from floating his unconventional ideas.
“The trick is that you never know what’s going
to happen with those ideas unless you suggest
them. Too many marketers assume it’s going to
go bad, so they don’t bother.”
So what’s the best advice this maverick has
ever given? Ironically, it’s one with restraint and
even decorum at the heart. Shankman, who
also founded The Geek Factory, Inc., a boutique
social media, marketing and PR strategy firm, is
adamant that companies must earn
their audiences.
“Having an audience is a privilege and not a
right. It’s like wearing Spandex,” he says.
When marketers and companies concentrate
on the audience they have rather than the audience they want, they stay on course, he asserts.
“Keeping the people you have entertained,
happy and informed has to be the priority,”
Shankman says. “When you do that and do it
well, you will grow organically.”
Companies must work to engage their audiences and then listen to their feedback, he says,
cautioning marketers not to bother asking what
people want if they’re not going to honor the
choices, such as sending more emails than requested or not respecting the preferred method
of communication.
silverpop.com © 2012 Copyright Silverpop. All rights reserved. The Silverpop logo is a registered trademark of Silverpop Systems Inc.
PAGE 6
Silverpop
The Best Marketing Advice
Tweet This
Much like wearing tight, stretchy clothing in
public before putting in the necessary time at
the gym, companies risk offending their customers and digital followers when they’re dismissive
or unengaged.
4
“On the flip side, some companies are
doing it very well. They ask how you want to
communicate with them—and ask often—and
they stick to it,” he says. “It definitely stands out
and builds loyalty.”
Get to It Already, but Put the
Brakes on the Hard Sell
M.H. (Mac) McIntosh, founding partner at Acquire B2B and
CEO of marketing and consulting firm Mac McIntosh Inc.
A
t the height of the popularity of Nike’s
famous slogan “Just Do It!” something
clicked for Mac McIntosh. He recognized in
himself the same inclination for agonizing over
details he saw in many clients. The problem?
Slogging through projects and brooding over
minutiae wastes precious time.
“I have to fight the urge to quit fiddling and
get it out. You can always change one little
word or make another adjustment to a paragraph, but in the end, sending it or not sending is what makes the difference,” he says,
clarifying he’s not supporting sloppy writing
with poor grammar or typos.
“Instead of planning to get ready to get started,
you just need to do it. Perfection is about practice, and you’ll never realize it if you don’t get
it—whatever it is—out the door,” says McIntosh, who has more than 20 years of advertising, marketing and sales experience.
For marketers who find they get mired in the
details of messaging, for example, McIntosh
suggests they start by answering these questions in this order: What, Why and How. Ensuring that communication conveys to consumers
what’s in it for them is the primary burden for
brands seeking to make a connection.
A founding partner at Acquire B2B and CEO of
his own marketing firm, McIntosh also writes
regularly for a number of leading print and online
marketing and business publications as well as his
own award-winning blog, Sales Lead Insights®.
He concedes he’s struggled with “just doing it”
because as a self-proclaimed perfectionist, he’s
prone to sweating specific elements or spinning his wheels in thought rather than getting
started—both of which he’s often observed in
clients over the years.
“Once those are answered, you can fill in and
qualify with ‘Who’ and ‘When,’” he says. “A lot
of emails ramble on, and buried in there might
be the answers, but they’re so hard to find
they’re completely missed.”
Sometimes this shift in thinking is just what
the doctor ordered, and McIntosh believes the
best advice he can offer other marketers follows this same line of reasoning.
silverpop.com © 2012 Copyright Silverpop. All rights reserved. The Silverpop logo is a registered trademark of Silverpop Systems Inc.
PAGE 7
Silverpop
The Best Marketing Advice
Tweet This
“Stop selling and instead, help your customers
buy. Match your marketing and sales communication processes to the customers’ buying
process for the most success,” he says.
Too often, marketers dive face first into the
hard-sell pond when they need to slow down
and address the buying process from the
consumer’s perspective. Whether it’s email
communication, Web language, messaging
for collateral materials or some other
marketing dispatch, the pitch must fit the
audience’s needs.
“I think it’s probably always been true that
people don’t like to be sold, but if they feel
someone is trying to help them with their prob-
5
lems, they’re much more likely to be receptive,”
he notes.
The relationship between vendor and consumer
at this level is not so unlike a dating relationship
in the early stages, he says, adding that taking
the time to build trust and answer obvious
questions is both intuitive marketing and the
type of work that sets up the relationship for
long-term success instead of a flame that burns
bright then dies.
“If you ask someone to marry you on the first
date, they’re probably going to say ‘no,’”
McIntosh says. “But if they say ‘yes’ on the first
date, you probably won’t want to be married to
them anyway.”
When It Comes to Your Site, It’s
About Usability, Usability, Usability
Bert DuMars, vice president of digital marketing
and e-commerce at Newell Rubbermaid
“P
retty is as pretty does” may not be the
phrase that typically springs to mind
when discussing e-commerce, but maybe it
should be. That’s because it doesn’t matter how
attractive, slick or sophisticated a site is if it isn’t
user-friendly and functional, says Bert DuMars,
vice president of digital marketing and e-commerce at Newell Rubbermaid.
“It doesn’t matter what you or I think the website
should look like, how it should be navigated or
how the shopping experience works. It matters what consumers think and how it works for
them,” DuMars says.
DuMars, who’s been working on and with
sites since the 1990s, says this piece of advice,
handed to him from a boss and mentor years
ago, has proved so invaluable over time in the
e-commerce space, it’s also the best piece of
advice he offers these days.
At a company like Newell Rubbermaid, which
handles numerous consumer and commercial
brands, such as Calphalon, Graco, Rubbermaid
and Sharpie, it’s one pointer that fits for every
brand, he explains.
“In the world of e-commerce, marketers have to
deliver a brand experience that’s relevant to the
brand they’re trying to sell, but usability is key
no matter what you’re trying to sell,” he says.
“We have to move from brand-building to also
providing our consumers with an exceptional
silverpop.com © 2012 Copyright Silverpop. All rights reserved. The Silverpop logo is a registered trademark of Silverpop Systems Inc.
PAGE 8
Silverpop
The Best Marketing Advice
Tweet This
going to search for it.”
shopping experience, which in today’s world
means fast and easy transactions like buying,
browsing and customer service.”
Leading retailers also keep their sites clean and
visually sparse so they’ll load quickly, he notes.
Marketers must balance content with navigability and understand their brand’s identity and
demographic, of course. For some of Newell
Rubbermaid’s brands, for example, context is
integral to the decision-making process, and
the sale is less likely to happen without it. Other
brands, however, rely solely on the ease of finding the product page and getting through the
transaction.
What does DuMars advise e-commerce marketers tasked with creating the right interactive
experience for their brand? Observe those who
are doing it right and use what will work for your
brand and your consumers.
“Look at world-class e-commerce sites and
you’ll see commonalities among them,” he
says, adding that in addition to ease of navigation and clear content, leading retailers use
straightforward language.
“If you’re selling a pen, use the word ‘pen,’” he
says. “It may be a beautifully engineered writing instrument, but that’s not how the user is
“A lot of marketers think in terms of the visual,
but we have to be careful to balance the visual of
the website with how fast it can load,” Dumars
says. “The vast majority of consumers want to
get to that home page or that product page and
complete a task as quickly as possible.”
Finally, to ensure a site is user-friendly and gets
the job done, DuMars endorses usability testing.
These studies, which can be done on a large- or
small-scale budget, typically engage real consumers to use the site and then offer feedback on how
easy/difficult it was to find what they were looking
for and complete a transaction.
The objective set of eyes can be valuable to
a retailer or brand marketer to determine
whether the site actually engages or frustrates
consumers. Because marketers and Web experts work with sites and know how to navigate
even the toughest, most arcane setup, they’re
often poor judges of usability, he says.
“We think we know, but we don’t,” DuMars says.
“Get the objective opinion to know for sure.”
“
If you’re selling a pen, use the word ‘pen.’
It may be a beautifully engineered writing
instrument, but that’s not how the user is
going to search for it.
”
silverpop.com © 2012 Copyright Silverpop. All rights reserved. The Silverpop logo is a registered trademark of Silverpop Systems Inc.
PAGE 9
Silverpop
The Best Marketing Advice
Tweet This
Conclusion
So there it is. From Cicero to Nike, basic tenets prove just as advantageous today amid the din of
communal dialogue and social networking as ever before.
Since the digital world is speeding along and the World Wide Web’s reach is truly international these
days, the chance of a slower-paced marketing world isn’t likely. The ability to make good decisions
quickly will continue to be a prerequisite for marketing success.
Through different experiences and perspectives comes the collective caveat from all five experts that
knowing when to engage is as important as how to engage, and that only comes from a firm grasp
on the context of your brand.
Awareness of a brand’s story, its differentiators, its demographic, its place and its purpose should
drive marketing strategy. When marketers preside over these aspects from the beginning, they can
approach new, even bold and unconventional ideas, with confidence.
Like our content? You’ll love our product.
Check out our demo.
silverpop.com © 2012 Copyright Silverpop. All rights reserved. The Silverpop logo is a registered trademark of Silverpop Systems Inc.
PAGE 10