Browsing articles from "December, 2010"

NHS – Human Services

Dec 29, 2010   //   by admin   //   Interactive, Our Work  //  No Comments

With an initial focus on recruitment, The ODM Group worked with the NHS Communications team to launch a fresh site using new branding and new architecture. The site features streaming video, an events feed, a locations map, and means for donors to support the NHS Foundation. Within the first year, visits to the NHS Human Services website tripled and traffic through the Contact US page into the Communications team increased tremendously.

NintendoFuse

Dec 28, 2010   //   by admin   //   Interactive, Our Work  //  No Comments

The ODM Group’s Interactive Director Mickey DeLorenzo developed and designed the popular Nintendo fan site which attracts 250,000 unique visitors a month. It is continuously delivering new and exclusive content to drive traffic to the site. The website has garnered attention from game developers and big game studios that provide him with exclusive tips, event invitations, early access to Betas and PR initiatives. The website hosts a very active community forum with a weekly podcast and has developed a very loyal following.

[NintendoFuse]

People’s Light and Theatre Company Celebrates 35 Years

Dec 22, 2010   //   by admin   //   Blog  //  No Comments

People’s Light and Theatre Company recently held a gala to celebrate their 35th anniversary. We had the privilege of working with them to create a video showcasing their organization, which will soon be up online. The video was a lot of fun to work on, it was great to really dive into what makes them a fantastic group.

People’s Light is a nationally recognized theater company celebrating 35 years of artistic achievement, community engagement and education. They are a rich cultural center for the Philadelphia region and beyond. Central to People’s Light’s mission are their arts education programs, where the experience of theatre is deepened with discovery. They have reached over 450,000 high school students since 1987.

They are truly a fantastic organization, and we’re not the only people who think so. The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Philadelphia Foundation awarded them a grant as part of the Engage 2020 Innovation Grants initiative (Philadelphia Business Journal article here). People’s Light was one of 10 organizations around the city to receive a grant, out of more than 60 who applied.

Having Fun in the Studio

Dec 22, 2010   //   by admin   //   Blog  //  No Comments

We had a fun green screen shoot in the studio this past Friday, and this time I remembered to bring a still camera to grab a few behind-the-scenes shots!

Great crew, great clients, what better way to end the week?

AT&T Misses a HUGE Marketing Opportunity

Dec 22, 2010   //   by admin   //   Blog  //  No Comments

The other day I received a phone bill from AT&T that was for almost twice the amount that is scheduled in my plan. Obviously I was upset, but this post isn’t about that. It’s about how AT&T missed several opportunities to make money from me while also making me happy in the process.

Communication Breakdown, NOT!

The situation is a familiar one; without realizing it, I used far more minutes than my plan allows for during the month (I had an unusual number of long conference calls). While working with AT&T’s Customer Service Rep to resolve the issue, I asked why I was never notified that I had exceeded my plan’s minutes, especially considering how massive the overage was. The Rep told me that I could request a notification email, but such an email would only be sent after I had exceeded my limit by one hundred minutes!

Furthermore, AT&T will not notify me when I am approaching my limit, nor will they notify me once I’ve exceeded my limit. Indeed, the only notification I’ll get is after I’ve already accrued close to two hours of additional charges, and those charges are then billed at a significantly higher rate.

While some may consider AT&T’s failure to notify me a “shady” business practice, the one thing it wasn’t was a communications breakdown. Indeed, it was a conscious decision made by AT&T based on calculations that tell them that they’ll generate significantly more revenue by billing their millions of customers who exceed their limits every month at a higher rate. But at what cost?

Missed Opportunities

It’s not news that massive numbers of people get upset with AT&T when they receive their bills every month. Many of them leave AT&T for another service as soon as their contracts expire. This is called churn and it’s a major loss leader in the telecom industry.

The following steps outline how AT&T could seize the opportunity to provide an important value-added service to their customers that would not only make those customers happy, but both reduce the churn rate and generate additional revenue.

  1. When a customer chooses their plan, they should be required to sign up for Usage Notification Messages via email, SMS, Twitter DM’s, Facebook, voice mail, smoke signals or whatever method they choose. Upon doing this, they have now Opted-In to receiving constant messaging from AT&T which, in addition to notifying customer of their current usage, could also be filled with special offers, coupons, etc.
  2. One or more of these messages could be a mandatory as part of the contract in order to guarantee that AT&T will be able to reach them with their message.
  3. The customer should be allowed to choose when these messages are sent, and their frequency. A typical messaging program could look like this:
  • Notification 1 – Approaching Limits (Optional): “You requested that this notification be sent to you when you are within XX minutes of your limit. If you would like to purchase additional minutes…”
  • Notification 2 – Limit Reached (Mandatory): “You requested to be notified when you have reached the limit of your contract. Any calls made beyond this point will be billed at XX/minute. However, you can purchase additional minutes at the special rate of YY…”
  • Notification 3 – Weekly Usage Report (Mandatory): “At the time that this message was sent (xx:xx:xxxx), you have used XX minutes out of YY minutes as specified in your plan. If you feel you may exceed your monthly minutes, you can purchase additional minutes at the special rate of YY…”

The benefit to AT&T is that they get a chance to offer the customer something of value while at the same time letting the customer know the status of their account. Their customers will be much more likely to read these messages because it keeps them informed as to how many minutes remain in their billing cycle.

BTW, because AT&T realized they were remiss in notifying me that I had exceeded my minutes, they credited me back the overage. Thanks AT&T!

So, is this simple, or what? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Neal Wiser is Vice President, Digital Strategy and Operations at ODM where he leads our teams in the creation and execution of strategic and tactical digital marketing plans. You can follow Neal on Twitter (his handle is @NealWiser) or connect with him Linkedin.

Case Study: Even When Engaged Late, Social Media Can Effectively Market Events

Dec 22, 2010   //   by admin   //   Blog  //  No Comments

This summer, I was engaged by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce (GPCC) to help them promote a special event, “Cultivating a Creative Workforce” featuring special guest, actor/director and businessman Robert Redford. The event was organized by the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia (ABC), an affiliate of the GPCC, and was intended to be a discussion about how creativity in both arts and business can strengthen communities and improve economic development.

My task was to use social media to promote the event. Although both ABC and GPCC are beginning to integrate social media into their communications channels, relying on social media to promote such a major event was considered an experiment by the client. Consequently, I was brought in late in the planning stages (hardly an ideal scenario as social media should be an integral part of any marketing endeavor) and an email campaign had already commenced.

RISK ANALYSIS

Aside from starting late, I was working with a limited budget and time frame (about three weeks to plan and execute), so I immediately conducted a quick Risk Analysis to help manage the client’s expectations. Among my findings were the following:

Pros:

  • Mr. Redford is considered a major movie star and commands tremendous respect for his artistic and business accomplishments.
  • Mr. Redford holds strong appeal for the 40+ demographic.
  • The 40+ demographic is quickly becoming very active on Facebook.
  • The 40+ demographic is more likely to pay the $70-$80 ticket price.
  • This event is a strong draw for those interested in the topic.
  • The venue is relatively small (approximately 350 seats)
  • Approximately 50 tickets have already been sold.

Cons:

  • Limited budget and time frame to plan and execute.
  • Marketing had commenced without social media integrated into the overall strategy.
  • Mr. Redford’s primary appeal was expected to be to those 40 and over; a demographic quickly becoming much more active in social media, but not uniformly active on a broad range of social media channels.
  • The topic may not hold broad appeal to those interested in seeing Mr. Redford.
  • The event took place in Philadelphia which limited our expectations to be able to attract attendees who were not local.
  • In the current economy, some may consider the $70-$80 ticket price too expensive.

STRATEGY – Goals

In marketing, goals dictate, or at least significantly influence, strategy. The goals for this engagement were simple and allowed me to move forward quickly.

  • Sellout tickets
  • Increase visibility of both the ABC and GPCC

STRATEGY – Targeting

Targeting was one of my biggest concerns. While the ABC and GPCC sent emails to their members, I didn’t have the resources to build an extensive target list. As a stopgap measure, I reached out to my own social network and asked them to spread the word. However, this presented another issue as large segments of those networks didn’t necessarily meet the target criteria.

Target Criteria:

  • Must use any of the various social media channels which would be utilized.
  • Fans of Mr. Redford’s film work and philanthropic work.
  • Belong to the 40+ demographic (especially those over 50).
  • Employees of ABC and GPCC member companies.
  • Those interested in cinema including members of local theater and film groups.
  • Those interested in the topic.
  • Those located in or those who would be willing to travel to Philadelphia.

TACTICS – Channels

Having an “A-List” star such as Robert Redford is certainly an advantage, but it is still necessary to find people online who will be receptive to your message. Due to resource constraints, I focused on the following social media venues/channels:

  • Facebook and Facebook Fan Pages.
  • Twitter.
  • LinkedIn and LinkedIn Group.
  • Greater Philadelphia Film Office website.
  • ABC and GPCC social media channels (these websites already had notices).

TACTICS – Landing Pages

By the time I was engaged, ABC had already launched a page on Eventbrite.com to handle ticket sales and had linked to it from both their website and from the email. As a result, this page became the de facto landing page for the event. Unfortunately, Eventbrite pages cannot be branded or customized and do not make the most compelling of landing pages.

Fortunately, ABC uses listrak.com as their email vendor. Listrak subscribes to standard email conventions which dictate that emails include links to an HTML version of that email. Since this page, essentially a duplicate of the email, made a better landing page than the Eventbrite page, the client and I chose to adopted it as the target for all of our links. Additionally, the Listrak page also had a link to the ABC’s Facebook Fan page.

TACTICS – Outposts

For the simple reason that not everyone uses every social media service, it was necessary to establish Outposts on the most popular social media platforms. Outposts act as the primary destination for your activities on those platforms and allow you to have a diverse presence.

While both the ABC and GPCC have Facebook fan pages, I set up a Facebook Fan page specifically for the event and the client and I began posting content to get the conversation going. Additionally, I set up a Twitter page and posted notifications and updates on other sites. In all, we established a presence or utilized an existing presence in the following locations.

Facebook

Twitter

Landing Pages

Other Websites

Additionally, we utilized the following services to archive images and videos of the event for anyone with an interest. Posting event related assets (video, pictures, etc) also provided additional content that could be mentioned in order to raise awareness about the ABC and GPCC for future events.

Post Event

TACTICS – Tweets & Updates

Our primary method of communication was Tweets on Twitter (using the Hash Tag #RedfordinPhilly) and Status Updates on both Facebook and LinkedIn. Other tactics such as writing blog posts and producing simple promotional videos were quickly eliminated as not practical based on existing constraints.

Upon launching the Redford in Philly Facebook Fan Page, we used Facebook’s “Suggest to Friends” tool which sent messages to all of our Facebook Friends. This tactic resulted in several spikes in page traffic (see Results, below). Additional tactics included posting details about the event on approximately 30 LinkedIn groups (which appeared in their subsequent emails), MySpace and posting links to Digg, Delicious and Stumble Upon.

Although I did receive approval to give away free tickets in order to help generate buzz, this did not occur until about a week before the event and its impact was marginal. I had hoped to give away tickets every week, but did not receive approval for this activity. I had also hoped to have winners get their pictures taken with Mr. Redford; unfortunately this was not approved by Mr. Redford’s management team.

TOOLS

While other tools may have been used by other team members, I managed my assigned tasks using the following:

  • Tweetdeck: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn posting.
  • Facebook Insights: For analytics.
  • Tweetie: For posting to Twitter from my iPhone.
  • Bit.ly: Tracking clicks on links from posts and tweets.
  • What the Hash Tag: For tracking tweets with the #RedfordinPhilly Hash Tag.

RESULTS

Aside from what is provided below, I didn’t have access to data from the email campaign, the Eventbrite page or from the client’s respective Facebook Fan Pages. Access to such data could have allowed me to alter tactics and improve targeting, but I made use of what was available and delivered acceptable results.

Facebook

  • Fans: 67 (36% Male, 63% Female). While slightly below expectations, it’s interesting to note that 74% of all activity came from people aged 18-34. However, this is likely due to the fact that most of the Fans came from Sagefrog employee social networks and thus skewed younger.
  • Page Views: While generally very low overall (which met expectations), we did experience several days with notable spikes in Page Views.
  • 332 Page Views upon launch of the Facebook Fan Page using Facebook’s “Suggest to Friends” tool.
  • 457 and 137 Page Views during the final week prior to the event when mentions, tweets and posts from the team were peaking.

Twitter

Bit.ly

  • Clicks (on Arts Email Landing Page Link): 268
  • Clicks (on Eventbrite Registration Page Link): 88 (clicks ended when we switched Landing Pages).

YouTube

  • Views: 287 (post event)

WHAT WORKED

  • Twitter excelled in its ability to rapidly spread word about the event and for its reach (I received several comments from Followers who said they would have attended the event if they were in Philadelphia; travel being prohibitive as most are outside the United States).
  • Facebook (via their “Suggest to Friends” tool) clearly drove significant traffic to the Fan Page and for general interaction.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK

  • Not including social media in the initial marketing strategy and budgetary constraints severely limited social media’s impact. While the campaign was ultimately successful, we could have sold tickets at a faster rate had we been able to more effectively coordinate our strategies and utilize a greater variety of tactics.
  • Because ABC and GPCC are both still establishing their social media presence, the strength of the relationships with their members through those channels has not reached its full potential.
  • I did not have direct access to either ABC’s or GPCC’s social media outposts and could not directly contribute to the overall volume of activity on those channels. This limited my ability to reach members who are active on those channels.
  • I had very little access to analytic data about the email campaign, traffic to the eventbrite page or traffic to the client’s respective Facebook Fan Pages. Access to this data could have allowed me to alter tactics and improve targeting.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite limitations, I helped the client fill over 300 seats – a 500% increase from when I was first engaged. As a result, both the client and I were very satisfied with social media’s performance promoting this event.

Neal Wiser is Vice President, Digital Strategy and Operations at ODM where he leads our teams in the creation and execution of strategic and tactical digital marketing plans. You can follow Neal on Twitter (his handle is @NealWiser) or connect with him Linkedin.

Does too Much Reliance on Viral Marketing Limit Growth Potential?

Dec 22, 2010   //   by admin   //   Blog  //  No Comments

By Hugh MacLeod (http://gapingvoid.com/)

I recently read an interesting post, Advertising is the cost of being boring, by Andy Sernovitz. In his post, Andy states that if you please your customers by making a great product that they will want to talk about, they will talk about it and essentially market your product for you, for free.

Andy is referring to the power of Word of Mouth (i.e. Viral) marketing. Certainly, when properly managed, viral marketing can be a very powerful weapon in the marketer’s arsenal for many reasons, including:

  • People are expanding the reach of your marketing campaign by spreading information about your product to those who might otherwise not see or be responsive to your message.
  • People receiving the viral message will likely have some form of relationship with the person spreading it. As a result, that endorsement will likely receive greater consideration by the recipient.
  • When others spread your message for you, your cost is essentially zero.

The Holy Grail

Sure, it’s great to have a product that people will talk about and enthusiastically recommend; it’s one of the holy grails of marketing. Unfortunately, Andy’s forgetting that products don’t exist in a vacuum. There’s competition out there and you can’t assume that they’re not doing everything they can to get the word out about their products.

Regardless whether you call it ‘impressions’ or ‘top of mind awareness,’ you must make sure that people are getting exposed to your product, brand or message on a regular basis through every channel available to you.

Social Media Marketing is Powerful, but…

I know this may sound strange coming from someone who is such a strong proponent of social media marketing, but the reality is that too much dependence on any single channel (in this case, viral marketing) can not only limit the reach and effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, it can limit your ability to expand overall market share. Here’s why:

  • Your Spreaders (the people who are most likely to virally distribute your message) are already customers.
  • Spreaders could focus on selling points that might not be part of your primary value proposition.
  • Spreaders might unintentionally distort your message causing confusion.
  • A Spreaders’ connections and influence may not reach far into the desired market.
  • A Spreaders’ enthusiasm may wane, and this could happen at a critical time.

While these points may sound like reasons for you not to engage in social media marketing, that is NOT the case. My point is that social media marketing MUST be a PART of your campaign, but not the ONLY part.

What do you think? Please leave a Comment and let us know.

Neal Wiser is Vice President, Digital Strategy and Operations at ODM where he leads our teams in the creation and execution of strategic and tactical digital marketing plans. This post originally appeared on his blog, NealWiser.com. You can follow Neal on Twitter (his handle is @NealWiser) or connect with him Linkedin.

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