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I am a big fan of electronic communication, and I believe it is the center of an organization’s brand. When consulting on web development projects, I have recommended that organizations consider how the online world interacts with the execution of their mission instead of thinking about their website as a place to communicate what they are doing.

Yet I am more excited about print work than ever. Why, you might ask? Isn’t print just going away? Yes, many forms of printed communication have been effectively converted to electronic channels. But print still has a place. A more special place.

I think of print as a marketing gift to your target audience. What can I create that will be perceived as something special to be received? In a world where so much of communication is electronic, a printed piece perceived as a gift makes a huge impact. Two years ago, I was asked to use quotes of grateful students in a year-end appeal.  Instead of sprinkling quotes on a brochure, I made the quotes into a little book (just one color on the cover and two colors for the body to keep costs down). We spent a couple of hundred dollars more for production, but it more than paid for it in ROI. The response rate and giving beat the previous year.

Another reason to be excited about print

Many are mistakingly focusing exclusively on electronic channels to communicate. This makes those who are using printed communication stand out more and receive a better response. When I counsel start-ups, I always suggest that they include some printing in their marketing budget. I wouldn’t recommend an overview brochure, but I would take the time to celebrate a holiday other than Christmas with a special mailed greeting or invest in custom note cards if you will commit to using them.

As central as electronic communication is to an organziation, do not forget to include some print communication. Everyone responds well to gifts.

Need help with rethinking your print communication? Want to rethink your electronic communication strategy? Spire2 offers experience with both channels and can help you discover ways to use print and electronic communication more effectively. Contact me here to learn more about ways we help clients reach business objectives or call 630.462.2567.

Sharing has become an easy, yet powerful tool in marketing. Making your content easy to share is critical in the Facebook and Twitter reality we live in because when people share your content online, they are doing your marketing for you. By harnessing the power of share you can better reach more prospects and find more followers.

Sharing your email campaigns has just gotten easier!
Spire2’s E-broadcaster, powered by Emma, has just added a new feature that makes it easy to share your email campaigns with followers on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  Better yet, this feature also provides you with the ability to track who is sharing your email and with which social network.  Sound interesting? Learn more about how to utilize this new feature with your email campaigns.

Need help with email marketing? Spire2’s experience with email marketing started in the days when saying you helped people with email marketing had to be spoken in hushed tones to avoid being labeled a spammer. A lot has changed since 2003. If you are looking for help in improving your results or getting a program off the ground, give us a call at 630.462.2567.

We recently helped a small association utilize an off-the-shelf solution to better manage membership and connect members to each other. The West Suburban Philanthropic Network provides guidance, networking opportunities, and education for professionals working for non-profit organizations. On the new website we used web host Wild Apricot. All the functionality to manage membership, events and communication are built right into the monthly fee. The solution has all the functionality of a big association at a fraction of the cost to develop and run. For an organization like WSPN, it was a perfect solution.

I was asked to do a presentation on social media last week and was thanked by attendees for not making them hyperventilate. The hype about social media seems never ending. I thought I would share a few of my thoughts:

1. Take social media slowly. Jump in, but spend time watching what others are doing and observe how they are using social networks. This will help you develop a plan. What will work best for your lifestyle? What networks do you like? Which networks are used by your target audience? Social networks are here to stay, but no need to panic. My advice: No need to build a facebook fan page.  How many fan pages have you visited more than once?
2. Don’t neglect things that work. A downside of social networks is that they are open and you don’t own them. If you sell pizza and offer great deals through Twitter and build a great following, the pizza joint down the street can easily friend every one of your followers and offer them a better deal. Building and maintaining your own house list should still be your priority. It remains to be seen which social networks will last, but if you are cultivating your email list you need not worry.
3. “Social media is not an event but a process.” It is not something to tackle and cross off your list and never touch again. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other networks are places to have conversations and create dialogues. If all you are doing is “screaming” and not conversing, then you are missing the boat. If you are heavily promoting your Twitter handle but your three tweets were written a couple of months ago and the most meaningful tweet was about finding an old tuna sandwich in the back of the fridge, you are not building your brand.  Don’t promote it until you have figured out what you are trying to accomplish and have some traction.
4. Social media can be useful without it being a marketing tool. Twitter and LinkedIn are great places to do research, network, learn and do competitive intelligence. Twitter is an awesome tool for seeing what is going on and dialoguing with people you would not be able to reach any other way. I have yet to use it to market my business and have no plans to promote my twitter handle (but I won’t make it hard for you to find me @jefferyjames.)

So there you have it. Social media advice without the hype. What do you think? Is my advice on the mark, or am I missing something? Let me know.

Spire2 is out to prove that promotion doesn’t have to cost a lot. We created little cards (check out moo.com) and sent out Valentine’s greetings to prospects and customers.  I texted a bunch of these to my wife from the list we gathered at the office and the overall effect was positive. So I am challenging you to get your phone out and text a couple to someone special in your life. Happy Valentine’s Day. And let me know how it goes.

Here is the list we gathered:

Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?

Didn’t I see you on the cover of Vogue?

You make me melt like hot fudge on a sundae.

Were you in Boy Scouts? Because you sure have tied my heart in a knot.

Hello. Cupid called. He says to tell you that he needs my heart back.

I think you’re sweet.

Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?

I like that shirt.

You’re cute.

I lost my number. Can I have yours?

Hey there, sugar

If beauty were time, you’d be eternity.

If I had a nickel for every time I saw someone as beautiful as you, I’d have five cents.

You’re so beautiful that you made me forget my pickup line.

I was wondering if you had an extra heart. Mine seems to have been stolen.

You look beautiful today, just like every other day.

You make my heart sing.

All you need is love.

Do you have a Bandaid? Cuz I just scraped my knee falling for you.

You’re eyes are bluer than the ocean, and I’m lost at sea.

How was Heaven when you left it?

Was your father a thief? ‘Cause someone stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes.

If a star fell for every time I’ll think of you, the sky would soon be empty.

I think you’ve got something in your eye. Oh never mind, it’s just a sparkle.

Oh, that’s why the sky is so gray today. All the blue is in your eyes.

I don’t know how to say this, but I think you have stolen my heart.

Did the sun come out or did you just smile at me?

Hey beautiful…that is your name, right?

Do you have a map? Cuz I just got lost in your eyes.

The bad news for those with no website is that search engines are making your business invisible. As smart phones grow in popularity, more and more people are turning to the Internet to find local businesses. A phone book is too labor intensive when I can search for anything on Google and it shows up on my iPhone and with another touch I can call the number.  The good news is that even if you don’t have a website you can be found online. It’s fast, free, and painless to register your business with both Google and Yahoo!.

Register with Google Local Business Center
Register with Yahoo! Local Listings

Google allows you to edit keywords and tags. Make sure you check out this video to get the most out of your listing.

Don’t take this as my endorsement to skip having a Web presence, but an encouragement to take control of your Internet destiny before you disappear.

Many are paralyzed about all the changes in the marketing world, and I understand. It’s hard to keep up. I have some good news, though. I have boiled down these changes into a single question. If your marketing addresses this one question consistently, you will get results. Are you ready?

How do you get more people to like you? Really. From small businesses to large corporations, the question is the same.  Your marketing needs to get more people to like you and your brand. It also needs to feel personal and human. But you say, “Liking me is not relevant; I just want them to support my organization and/or buy from my organization.”

Most prospects have a very defined personal network that is easy to access and connect with.  I don’t know about you, but I am now updating people with whom I had not kept up (my freshman roommate, a colleague from a job 10+ years ago). I am also looking to my network for help in navigating decisions. Why? Because it is easy and I trust them. The reality is, so are your prospects.

Looking for a new dentist? Ask your Facebook friends to provide recommendations. A big dentist ad in the yellow pages isn’t really going to do that much. Looking for a new place to eat? Maybe that place someone tweeted about the other day will pop into your head. Is the restaurant attracting customers by flooding the area with a 10% off coupon? Even if you think these examples don’t apply, think again.

Your marketing needs to be focused on getting prospects and strangers to connect with you and join your network (there are many ways to define network). They will get to know you by reading your LinkedIn recommendations or by finally grasping your service when they read your email newsletter. Drip, drip drip. The more people like you, the more likely your name will come up.

Are you responsible for marketing? Every marketing decision should answer these questions: How will this get more people to like me and my brand, and how can I do it in a personal and authentic way?

As I wrote this, a prospect from 5 years ago sent me an invitation to join his network. Amazing. Do you think he likes me?

I was in a meeting the other day and someone said that email marketing doesn’t work. I responded quickly that I disagreed and that if his personal experience wasn’t good it was because he was not doing it correctly. I regretted being so cocky in my response, but consider some of the information I had read earlier:

87% of consumers prefer email to communicate with companies, according to Merkle’s next yet-to-be-released “View from the Inbox” consumer survey. 66% spend 20 minutes each week with permission email. 20% say they’ve used SWYN to share an email with their friends and family on social networks. People who are active on social networks check their email more often. 44% check their email on their smart phone.

My experience is that most people treat email marketing like a printed newsletter at best and an advertisement at worst. Customers and prospects don’t mind at first, actually the first time or two you’ll get a great response. Quickly though, they get sent to the junk folder.

Email has to be approached and executed differently than every other form of marketing. It has to provide value and, the core of this value should be relational– they are getting to know you and your business in a more personal way.

Read through your last couple of email campaigns. Ask yourself a tough question: Would you really read it if you were on the receiving end? Then ask yourself this: What would my target audience want to read that would create a more personal relationship?

And if you are still skeptical of email please read the following snail mail horror story. A friend in the printing industry shared that a client had mailed 80,000 pieces and didn’t get a single response!  It was obvious that the mailing got lost in mail (of course the post office won’t admit it)  – $24,000 in postage, not to mention the printing and creative. A scary reminder – just because you send it in the mail is not any guarantee that it will end up in the hands of the addressee.

I got another one today – It was a hard copy newsletter from a local nonprofit. Eight pages filled with clip art, stretched type, lots of boxes and a whole wagon full of words. Straight from the desktop revolution of the 1980s. “We don’t need a designer; we can do it ourselves. We just bought a shiny new computer for the office.”

It was painful to flip through, but not for the reasons you are expecting me to spill forth. It was painful because the message was wrong for the medium.

Announcements, event reminders, and general updates are better suited for email where one can scan through and click to read more. Am I suggesting that mailing is a waste of time? No, I am suggesting that all communication needs to be periodically examined to determine what resources to use, and where. Electronic communication costs are so low that you can increase frequency (the magic in marketing). Print resources can be combined to deliver more impact and inspiration and, since frequency is accomplished through electronic communication, you can mail to a smaller, more engaged audience.

What if the nonprofit stopped sending four newsletters and used the pooled resources to create one excellent piece that inspired me to get involved? Something that would make the nonprofit’s mission so real that I’d share it with others and tell them to visit their website. Then when my friends visit the website, they would likely sign up for the nonprofit’s email newsletter because a generous donor is making a donation for every email subscriber. The site would even offer to send them a copy of the excellent piece if they would make a small donation to cover the production costs and help the cause.  You’ll notice that your prospecting list just got a whole lot bigger, your new donors list had a huge spike, and the nonprofit got a lot more buzz and attention.

Of course you could just keep sending me the paper newsletter, but I am not going to open it anymore. It is just too painful to see you waste your resources.

I often talk to clients about making their marketing more personal. Below is an excellent example of great email marketing. This is the email I received after subscribing to a newsletter:

“Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter. I hope it works out well for you. Every newsletter contains instructions on how to unsubscribe, so if it becomes too much, feel free to cut back.
If you find something you like, feel free to forward to your friends and colleagues.
If you have any questions, please contact me.
Thanks!
Are you also subscribed to my blog? Get it sent to your feed reader of choice, or your inbox by clicking here.”

Notice the friendly and simple tone, the way it communicates that I am not being sold (I can cut back if it gets too much.) Marketing became cold and neutral in the mass marketing era when one incurred big costs to print and distribute a message. Marketing also needed to appeal to the largest possible audience and it needed to last until the 5,000 brochures were used up. A lot of people still make the mistake in thinking they have to sound neutral for it to be “marketing”. This is simply not the case.

With digital printing and electronic marketing, hard costs (printing and distribution) are dropping to zero. If you change your mind or want to correct a typo (my achilles heal… umm I mean heel) there are almost no hard costs. Don’t miss this opportunity; be real and sound real in all your marketing. “People do business with people they know, like, and trust.” Forget most of what you learned about marketing and let your personality shine through. Hey, if you know who I need to give credit to for that quote, let me know.