Before Bashing Banner Ads

They’re a symptom of the problem--not THE problem

Brian Morrissey’s post on Digiday last week (“15 Alarming Stats About Banner Ads”) has sparked a lot of controversy from the marketing community. Here is a sampling of the distressing stats he shared:

* 50 percent of clicks are accidental
* The 468 x 60 banner has a .04 percent click rate
* An estimated 31 percent of ad impressions can’t be viewed by users

Oy.

Before we weigh in, take a peek at this online discussion related to Morrissey’s post

One commenter stressed the importance of balance: “Make sure the banners are limited, targeted for the specific needs of your audience, and are unobtrusive. Respect your space and your audience.” Amen.
Another commenter disagreed with the Morrissey’s stats arguing that for those in businesses “where a single new client can generate enough revenue to pay for years of banner ads they are great! The trick is to use good banner ads.” Right on.

Said another, “My peers and I stopped using the CTR to measure the performance of display ads around 3 years ago because it is not an accurate determinant of performance. A good example is a study by Google TechTarget which demonstrated that 44 percent of people who click on paid search were exposed to a banner ad prior to that click. However, most marketers and agencies simply use the first and or last click to measure the performance of digital marketing and in that case display was not getting any performance attribution to the campaigns. They’re selling themselves and their marketing activities short.” Amen again.

Morrissey’s stats are disturbing, but rather than throwing in the towel on banner ads, let’s throw in the towel on ineffective online advertising. Remember that banner ads are one of the cheapest, fastest, least complicated forms of online advertising. They’ve made it easy for armies of lazy, overworked, inexperienced or otherwise unprofessional marketers to get into the game. So what you’re seeing on a lot of websites is a dumping ground for poorly executed and untargeted creative out there by the B and C team. In other words, it’s not the creative assigned to the A team who focuses on the higher priority, more expensive media channels.

Remember, banner ads are just one device in a B2B marketer’s bulging tool kit. And whether or not someone clicks on a banner, hovers over it, or takes further action on it, such as downloading or purchasing from the advertiser, the result of that action is not necessarily the result of the single banner the consumer just viewed.

As far back as 2002-2003, my colleague Rick Telberg and I starting exploring the “latency” effect of online advertising and other cause and effect relationships. Our report “Beyond the Click” still gets plenty of inquiries.

Macro View

The S&P 500 index is now at or near its all-time peak reached in October 2007. Interest rates appear holding steady and housing continues to rebound in all major metro areas around the country. With a 10.2 percent gain over last year’s level, existing home sales continued to climb in February. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the sales rate was the highest since November 2009 when a federal tax credit was propping up home sales. Economists say inventory has been tightening because construction levels are still low, adding little new housing stock, and homeowners are waiting to sell until they have more positive equity.

That’s the big picture, but drilling down, two statistical nuggets caught our eye:

1) First, sales of distressed homes — foreclosures and short sales — accounted for 25 percent of sales, that still a lot, but quite a bit better than 34 percent at this time a year ago.

2) Second, homes were on the market for a median of 74 days. That’s 24 percent better than year-ago levels, according to NAR.

Conclusion

In this era of Big Data and obsessive measurement, it’s easy to suffer from analysis paralysis. Let’s put away the spreadsheets and algorithms for a while and get back to being creative. That doesn’t mean tricking a consumer into clicking (or scanning) on your ad creative. It means finding an emotional connection that draws them to you because you have something to offer them of value at a time when they really need it. Budgets should be loosening up a little in 2013. Let’s not waste this opportunity.

Tags: Brian Morrissey, Digiday, National Association of Realtors, banner ads not working, TechTarget

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Know Everything About Email? Think Again

Intro lines just as important as subject lines. Facebook burnout on the horizon?
We’ve all spent hours agonizing over our email subject lines—and it’s true—they do matter. But, don’t forget about the intro line of your client or customer emails. That’s the first two or three lines of text that users see immediately after the subject line. Intro lines are even more important for mobile users since subject lines are typically cut off for mobile users. According to Incentivibe, which specializes in shared giveaways for business, marketers should use the intro line to hammer home the offer and the benefit in 65 to 85 words. That’s long enough to convey your message and call to action, but not too long to lose your recipients’ interest.

Getting ‘inactives’ re-engaged

Like most B2B marketers, you probably have tons of inactive subscribers on your lists and it’s not helping your deliverability stats to keep them on the list. Some of you are probably trying to re-engage them from time to time, but sending a once-a-year “we want you back” email does little good, according to digital marketing company, Silverpop. Experts say that’s waiting way too long.

It’s better to identify inactives and cull them out after a few months of inactivity. But instead of deep-sixing, put them on a separate “activation track” in which you try to engage them by sending different types of content than you’d send your main list. For instance: Ask them to update their preferences in one email and send a survey of white paper in the next. Also try to find out why they’re inactive. Are there any patterns? See if your inactives fall into a particular demographic group, geographic group or industry category. See if they tend to come from one or two activation sources. Those are red flags that savvy B2B marketers will remedy ASAP.

Facebook burnout?

New research indicates that Facebook may be losing its luster for many users. How do you like that? More than one fourth of users (27%) say they plan to spend less time on the site according to a new study from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Only 3 percent expect to spend more time on the site. And here’s what really got our attention: the group most likely to cut back their Facebook time are the 18-29 year olds. While more than two in five (41%) of FB’s one billion global users access the site multiple times per day, we know that large numbers of users rarely or never access the site—it’s probably moving to the 80/20 rule—the 20 percent most active users account for 80 percent of the regular usage.

Conclusion

There’s no substitute for a snappy, relevant subject line, but no matter how clever your marketing team is, if they don’t follow it up with a relevant intro line, you’re like a baseball team that can’t score runs after it gets runners to third base. With 82 percent of marketers planning to increase their investment in mobile this year (Source: American Marketing Association and Aquent poll of U.S. marketing professionals), can you afford email copy that’s not optimized for your on-the-go clients and prospects?

TAGS: Facebook burnout, American Marketing Association, Aquent, Incentivibe, Pew Research Center, Silverpop

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We’re Recovering, but Not Fully Recovered

Why B2B marketers need to be on LinkedIn

Social media doesn’t kill businesses. Lousy posts do. So whether you love it or hate it, you can’t ignore social media. But at the same time, you can’t be all things to all people. If you’re overwhelmed and a little frustrated by the amount and time and effort it takes to keep up with all your business and professional networks, we suggest keeping LinkedIn on your “must save” list before you start trimming. A recent HubSpot study of more than 5,000 businesses found that, LinkedIn was 277 percent more effective for lead generation than Facebook and Twitter.

We’re not bashing the other popular social networking channels, but if you have to “heavy up” on a single social networking channel, then LinkedIn will probably give you the best bang for your time buck if you’re at least reasonably well-established in your profession or industry.

As Wall Street Journal’s Kate Mitchell reported yesterday, “the quickest way to earn respect and build a reputation on all social media, including LinkedIn, is to showcase your knowledge on topics relevant to your business. Don’t confuse this with only pushing your own agenda, but rather contributing a distinct point of view on topics relevant to your industry.”

LinkedIn has an extensive network of groups where thought leaders post discussions relevant to a particular market or topic. Furthermore, you can create your own groups to lead discussions. For example, a  report by Forrester and LinkedIn notes that nearly three in five (59%) IT decision makers “rely” on social networks for purchasing decisions, yet many companies don’t take advantage of the lead generation that can come from customizing their LinkedIn page.

Macro View

With all the hype surrounding the record stock market highs, the one number that jumped out at us the most was that CBOE Volatility Index. That’s the so-called “fear gauge” and it just fell to its lowest level since February 2007. Market watchers say this indicates the market is no longer as easily unnerved by small corrections or by turmoil in other parts of the world. For now, the recovery in housing, the stock market and the overall economy has gained some solid footing, even though economists argue the Big 3 indicators are not specifically related to each other.

So just as we kept telling to maintain hope throughout the dark days of 2008-2009, now we’re telling you to keep your eyes on the road as there are plenty of potholes that could derail this recovery (i.e. perceived recovery). Congress can’t seem to make any progress on the budget crisis and the national debt. The full impact of the March 1 sequester won’t be felt immediately and hot spots in Europe, Asia and the Middle East could easily deflate the confidence of businesses and consumers large and small.

Conclusion

You can’t stop marketing right now just because you’re flush with leads and cash. Just choose your investments wisely and pick your fights where you can win them. And by all means, if you haven’t given your best employees the raises and promotions they deserve. Do so ASAP or they’ll be out the door before you can say, “brain drain.”

A recent article in the New York Times shared the harrowing tales of job seekers who’ve had excessive interviews with companies that never hired them (or anyone else). We have a couple of important takeaways for both job seekers and companies if anything like this sounds familiar to you:

1) For employers: There is no such thing as a "perfect candidate" because businesses (and non profits) have to evolve much faster than they did before. A perfect candidate today, may not have the skill set (and right cultural fit) for your organization a year or two down the road.

2) If you are a job seeker and have been invited back for interviews half a dozen times or more, that's probably a red flag that the hiring company cannot make decisions in other areas of its business. Chances are you will be stifled in that kind of inertia-driven environment if you're "lucky" enough to get the job.

Disregard our advice if you're applying for Supreme Court Justice, CIA head or Fortune 500 CEO. More on that later.

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TAGS: LinkedIn, lead gen, B2B, CBOE volatility, fear gauge, Forrester Research

Surviving the Sequester

Important numbers for B2B marketers

Just like Y2K, 12/21/12 and the Fiscal Cliff, the world didn’t come to an end on March 1 when Congress failed to come to a consensus on the budget. The resulting “sequester” may actually be a silver lining to the economic clouds (see below). Key learning point here: Don’t let any of your clients or prospects use the prospect of automatic federal spending cuts as an excuse to delay a decision. By the time they get the all clear signal, it will be too late for them to regain market share they lost by not investing appropriately in their marketing, advertising and demand generation programs.

Important numbers for B2B marketers

Like it or not, most of you who read this blog regularly are numbers people. You may not think of yourself as a “quant” or a “cruncher,” but you’re measured regularly by your clients, prospects, superiors and board by quantifiable measures of the return on your marketing investments. Here are some quick stats that we think you’ll find useful in your next planning session.

Tweet the numbers. Market research firm Compendium says including numbers with your tweets will result in 50 percent more clicks for B2B marketers. Again, you’re not in the consumer space where tweeting with numbers provides only a 3.5 percent lift.

Tweet with substance. Sure Twitter’s character limit is pretty, uh limiting, but Compendium found that B2B buyers were drawn to tweets of 11 to 15 words, not the 1-to-5 word tweets that resonate with consumer marketers. If you can produce 11 to 15 meaningful word in just 144 characters, that’s where your skill comes out.

Blog 300. According to Internet Marketing Report (IMR), Google rates blog posts of more than 300 words as valuable content and posts of less than 300 words as “fringe content.” If your goal is to improve your search engine optimization and overall Google presence, then go long (provided you can remain relevant) and try to publish on the same day(s) each week.

Blog 1-2x. According to IMR, One or two well-crafted blog posts each week will do more than daily or more frequent posts that don’t have any substance.

Macro View
Despite mandatory federal spending cuts imposed by the sequester, it’s hard to argue that the overall economic outlook is trending upward. Not a sharp hockey stick mind you, but a gradual upward slope nonetheless. Here are some signs we like:

·         * Banks are lending more to business and industry.

·         * Consumers are more confident and are buying more new homes (and fixing them up).

·         * Sales of new homes jumped nearly 16 percent in January to their highest level in 4-1/2 years.

·         * Home prices were almost 7 percent higher in December 2012 than they were in December 2011.That was the
  biggest year-over-year increase since July 2006.

·         *  Residential fixed investment, which includes spending on home improvements, advanced 17.5 percent in the  
  fourth quarter

      * The Commerce Department revised its stats upward on business spending in Q4—to a 9.7 percent gain, from
  its initial estimate of an 8.4 percent gain        

             * The financial markets continued the momentum started in January and are near their all-time highs

·         * The Conference Board consumer confidence index surged to 69.6 in February from 58.4 January suggesting that     

        consumers are getting used to their 2-percent smaller paychecks.

Surviving the Sequester

The $85 billion in automatic U.S. federal spending cuts may not be all that bad. In an interview on the DJ FX Trader podcast, Sri-Kumar, president of Sri-Kumar Global Strategies said the so-called sequester is actually a longer-term positive for both the U.S. economy and the U.S. dollar. Say again?!?

"This is a pain which ought not to be avoided,” he said. For one, the equity market needs to see a significant correction that reflects the “fundamental problems” the U.S. economy has, and that could happen Friday, Sri-Kumar said. More importantly, the U.S. needs to get its fiscal act together, and the sequester is one way to do it, despite the likely negative short-term impact.

Conclusion

The government may finally do something that cash-strapped homeowners have been forced to do for years—get their house in order and then spruce it up. Check out the lines this weekend at your local Home Depot or gardening center. Bet they’re longer than usual.

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TAGS: Sri-Kumar Global Strategies, housing market, sequester, business confidence

Mobile Strategy Lacking for Many Marketers

Even fewer have a strategy that works. Studies find consumers do research on smartphones, but make purchases on tablets

Regardless of what device you’re using to read this blog, here’s a stat that may startle you: Only one in six (16%) marketers has a formalized mobile strategy according to a new report from the CMO Council. That’s depressing when you consider that there are more than 6 billion mobile phones in use worldwide and they’re one of the most common tools that consumers use to do their research.

CMO’s latest mobile advertising report reveals that mobile relationship marketing (MRM) was the single most investigated, tested and piloted marketing activity of 2012. However, because it’s still hard to measure the effectiveness of mobile marketing, many marketers still have doubts about the ROI they’re getting from mobile. More troublesome: researchers found that among marketers who do have a strategy in place, only one in seven (14%) are satisfied with their results.

Lack of case studies and other barriers

Meanwhile, the majority of marketers (77 percent) say the lack of case studies demonstrating best practices is a hurdle. Other challenges include the ongoing fragmentation within mobile media, such as devices using different operating systems like Android and iOS, as well as the lack of a common technology platform for mobile analytics. CMO’s findings seem to mirror an IAB study launched last week that found a “lack of understanding” about mobile among both brands and agencies. That, according to IAB, is still the largest barrier to bigger mobile advertising budgets.

Phone = research; Tablet = purchase

Researchers now conclude that the smartphone is the device for research while the tablet is the device for purchasing. According to Nielsen and a separate study by the Global Web Marketing Team at Lenovo, nearly two thirds (65%) of consumers used smartphones only for research while one third (32%) used smartphones for research and purchasing. For tablets, almost half (47%) used them to do research and the same percentage used them both for research and purchasing.

When asked whether they preferred to download an app or use a mobile website to research and purchase products, 11 percent of consumers said they prefer to download an app, 33 percent said a mobile-optimized website and more than half (56%) said it doesn’t matter as long as they are satisfied with the information they are given. The key takeaway here folks is satisfaction with the results.

Macro View

The current market pullback is a little disconcerting, no doubt. But our view is that it’s more a function of the looming March 1 sequester deadline and Italy’s political instability than a signal of a true market correction.

There are still plenty of signs for optimism. Last week the Fed said it would continue to buy bonds until the labor market improves, which bodes well for keeping interest rates steady. Although jobs and manufacturing data remain disappointing, the housing market keeps improving. A report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed existing home sales rose 0.4 percent last month pushing the supply of homes on the market to a 13-YEAR LOW! Meanwhile, NAR said the median price of a home nationwide is 12.3 percent higher than it was at this time a year ago.

Conclusion

The financial and economic cycles are increasingly decoupled. While the steepest phase of the stock market recovery may have already occurred, we’re still in the earlier stages of the economic recovery. Many business and consumers are just starting to shake off their slumber and pessimism. Good luck happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seriously. If you haven’t done so already, get your mobile house in order before it’s too late!

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TAGS: mobile, MRM mobile relationship marketing, CMO Council National Association of Realtors, Lenovo, tablets and smartphones for research, Nielsen

IOC Grappling with Irate Customer, Membership Base

What B2B marketers can learn from the Olympic Committee’s hasty decision to drop wrestling and USA Wrestling’s lighting response

To borrow a phrase from the irascible tennis star and TV commentator, John McEnroe: “You CANNOT be serious!” 

That’s generally been the reaction of the worldwide wrestling community that was blindsided last week by the International Olympic Committee’s secret decision to drop wrestling from the Olympic Games. Not skeet-shooting, rhythmic gymnastics, yachting, or pentathlon—wrestling. In response, A Who’s Who of wrestling supporters have publicly denounced the IOC’s covert decision, including former Secretary of State, Donald Rumseld, best-selling novelist John Irving, NFL all-star receiver, Roddy White and  tidal wave of athletes, fans, coaches and Olympic enthusiasts on social media.
It’s not easy to get the U.S., Russia and Iran aligned against you on anything, but that’s a rare feat that the IOC has accomplished from its cozy headquarters in Lausanne Switzerland, one of the few locales in the world in which wrestling does not have a stronghold. Maybe the IOC geniuses will drop T'aekwondo too and get nuclear-aspiring North Korea into their hate circle as well. 

It's been over a week since the IOC announcement and things haven't simmered down. Yesterday, 10-time world champion, Valentin Yordanov, who won gold for Bulgaria at the 1996 Games, returned his medal in protest of the IOC decision.  

As novelist John Irving noted last week in a New York Times editorial, “Just two of the [IOCs] board’s members come from countries where wrestling is an actively promoted sport. Yet 180 countries wrestle, and only 53 engage in the modern pentathlon. Wrestlers from 71 countries went to London last summer; before they could compete, they had to win some of the toughest qualifying tournaments in the world.”

Demise of the modern Olympic movement?

Around 400 A.D., the original Olympics had become so corrupt it had to be abolished. It took almost 1,500 years for the “modern” Olympics to return, but we may be on the cusp of its second great hiatus.

Ironically, the IOC’s decision to disqualify wrestling was made on the birthday of Abraham Lincoln (a great wrestler in his own day) and during a time of year when youth, high school and college championships are being hotly contested in the U.S. Sports Illustrated notes that Lincoln was not our only wrestling president. Other grapplers who made it to the White House include George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, who supposedly "mastered a wicked move called the Flying Marc that savagely flipped an opponent to the ground." Ouch.

Lessons for B2B marketers

So, even if you don’t know a headlock from a half nelson, there are some valuable lessons for B2B marketers in this sad tale of public deceit and brand erosion.

We’re not going to deconstruct the less mainstream sports that wrestling lost out to—they each have their own merits, with dedicated athletes and pockets of loyal followers. But wrestling has been around since Day One of the recorded history of athletic competition. Whether or not you like (or understand) the sport, it has ubiquitous global participation and has fought the IOC’s attempts to change its rules for the X-games style TV audience. Dropping wrestling from the Summer Games makes about as much sense as dropping skiing or skating from the Winter Games.

The lesson for B2B marketers is that you’ve got to do your homework before making any bold product portfolio additions (or deletions) and you’ve got to understand your product’s core attributes and why they appeal to your customer base. Here are just a few:

1. Know what you’re up against. "This is a process of renewing and renovating the program for the Olympics,” beleaguered IOC Spokesman Mark Adams said. “In the view of the executive board, this was the best program for the Olympic Games in 2020. It’s not a case of what’s wrong with wrestling; it is what’s right with the 25 core sports.” Actually Marc, it’s not about what’s right—it’s about who’s kissing your butt the most. Not something most wrestlers are fond of doing.

2. Overcoming adversity. Wrestling is one of the toughest mainstream sports you can do, mentally, physically and emotionally. Wrestlers live for pain, sacrifice and discipline. Last week, Olympic gold medalists Rulan Gardner and Jordan Burroughs publicly thanked wrestling for pulling them out of poverty and for helping them overcome life-threatening injuries. Taking on elitist bureaucrats from Western Europe will be nothing.

3. Proud History: As Rumsfeld points out in his article, wrestling's Olympic legacy is unmatched. It is one of the oldest contact sports and was an important part of the first Olympic Games, which historians date to 776 BC. The first modern Olympics, in 1896, included wrestling as a marquee event. The sport has missed only one Olympics since then, in 1900. For those counting, that is 26 straight Games over a span of 112 years.

4. Global appeal: Wrestling is a universal sport. More than 170 nations from all over the globe have competed. In London, over 70 countries competed and 29 won medals. It’s not like the sport is dominated by two or three rich countries. Athletes from a great number of nations have won medals -- countries as diverse as Iran, South Korea, Sweden, Cuba and Hungary. More countries have been represented on the winners' podium for wrestling than for nearly any other sport. Globally, the TV audience for wrestling averages 23 million viewers, noted Irving. The modern pentathlon—one sport deemed more Olympic worthy-- averages 12.5 million.
5. Accessibility: To compete, all that is needed is an opponent and a flat surface. Anyone can participate, regardless of geography, weather, race, gender, culture or economic background. It doesn't require a golf course, a swimming pool or a horse.

6. Brand tie in. “Wrestling uniquely encapsulates the Olympic spirit, even though it harkens back to older and more martial virtues, rather than the arts festival and Kumbaya session that some may prefer the modern Games to be,” argued Rumsfeld. Few other sports are so directly aggressive: It is you vs. one other person, he said. “There is nothing to hide behind; there are no time-outs. It is all up to you. Yet, precisely because of those conditions, few other sports create such remarkable camaraderie among their participants.”

7. Social Networking Muscle: In response to the Olympic committee's decision, members of the international wrestling community have been reaching out to one another. They are finding common purpose to create a compelling argument for readmission. Within seven hours of the announcement the Facebook pages Keep Wrestling in the Olympics and Save Olympic Wrestling had more than 65,000 likes (and that number doubled to 130,000 by the next morning) and thousands tweeted using the #SaveOlympicWrestling hashtag.

As blogger Jim Licko asked the day after the decision; “Did the IOC solicit any feedback or conduct any kind of formal audience research before making their decision? If so, they may have done a poor job. Meanwhile, five hours after the announcement, USA Wrestling had developed message points and posted them publicly via Twitter, “Here is a list of talking points for everyone when you are discussing the matter of the IOC vote. RT & stand united.”

8. Sportsmanship: Wrestling does not have a true professional circuit and its athletes have rarely been tainted by use of performance enhancing drugs, contract holdouts when they’re already making millions, crass commercialism or violent, criminal acts in their private lives. Said Rumsfeld, “My firsthand experience gives me a greater appreciation for the sport. Wrestling had a positive impact on my teammates, my opponents and me." Rumsfeld also credits wrestling with developing his self-reliance, discipline, perseverance and strategic thinking. That said, he also credits the sport for encouraginh civility, integrity and self-restraint. "These qualities certainly reflect the proud tradition of the Olympic Games, which is why I fervently hope the committee will reconsider its unfortunate decision," Rumsfeld added. 

Conclusion

To exclude wrestling from the Olympics would be devastating for the sport, for the athletes and for the Games. Over thousands of years, wrestling has spread to every continent. It is practiced in hundreds of countries and done through many different styles in many different cultures. The sport has endured war, depression, social changes and globalization. "But the Olympic panel didn't see fit to include it in the 2020 Games," said Rumsfeld. "Something is wrong with that picture."

“I feel most sad for Eastern European and Eurasian countries where wrestling is their national pastime,’’ one of my son's wrestling coaches lamented last week. “It must be devastating to their national psyche to see their heroes and countries rendered irrelevant and obsolete."

DISCLOSURE: The author is a youth wrestling coach and former high school and collegiate wrestler

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TAGS: Save Olympic Wrestling, Donald Rumsfeld, John Irving, Roddy White, Rulan Gardner, Jordan Borroughs, Abraham Lincoln, Jim Licko, Keep Wrestling in the Olympics, #SaveOlympicWrestling

Did You Get My eMail?

5 ways to tame the inbox beast. It’s not about too much email; it’s about too little decision-making authority 

How many times has an important client or colleague called you to ask if you’ve received their email? They’re not really asking about the status of your server or IP, of course. What they’re asking is, “Why haven’t you responded?”  That’s like sending a follow up postcard to someone you’ve just express mailed with a note like this: “Hey, did you get my Fedex?”

For the past several years, we’ve helped our clients in the trade association profession conduct a comprehensive communication benchmarking study in which more than 700 association executives participate. Year after year their No.1 communication challenge remains the same: “Information Overload/Cutting Through the Clutter.”

Jenna Wortham wrote a thought-provoking piece in yesterday’s New York Time about the deluge of email we’re struggling to manage. She laments how “stagnant the format of email has remained, while the rest of communication and social networking has surged light years ahead.”

Technology consultant and blogger, Joshua Lyman, who was quoted in Wortham’s article observed that humans only have a finite amount of “processing power” before they start to feel overloaded. Interestingly, Lyman argued that it’s not the volume of email; it’s the email that requires us think carefully before we react—i.e. “slow down, find the file, compose a great email back.”

Wortham reviewed a variety of in-box management tools and Lyman suggested taking charge of the information overload problem by putting a Twitter-like character limit on our emails and finding better ways to collaborate so we don’t need “10 back-and-forth exchanges” in order to organize an outing or lunch. All good suggestions, but even Wortham predicted that no amount of sorting software or folders will stop “overzealous emailers who insist on hitting REPLY ALL on group messaging.” And we’ve all worked at organizations in which even the most minute of communications must be CC’d to half the company by an insecure or backstabbing colleague.

Suggestions for taming the email beast

Here are some email management techniques that we use internally which have also worked well for our clients:

1. Think before you send. Have you checked your subject line carefully? If it doesn’t correspondent closely to the message that’s within, then it’s not going to make it to anyone’s “Must read” list. That goes for marketing email as well as internal communication with subject lines such as: “Touching base”,  “RE: RE: Weekly Status” or the title of a thread started two months ago or even worse just a blank, or just the words “FWD or Re:”

2. No Forward/ CC Day. Have one day each week in which nobody at your organization can send an email to more than one person.  Watch how fast your email volume goes down when only the single most important decision maker is targeted. If that’s still not helping, then start reviewing your management team and structure. Might be time to start weeding the passive aggressives off your payroll—i.e. the people empowered to say “No” quickly but who aren’t empowered to say “Yes”--ever.

3. Block the BCC.  For heaven’s sake, do whatever it takes to prevent people from using the Blind Carbon Copy option unless it’s absolutely necessary for legal, compliance or client confidentiality reasons.  BCC’ing can be even worse than overzealous forwarding and CC’ing.

4. Limit email to 3 sessions per day. That’s right. We said 3 times per day. Wean yourself of the instant message/instant response mentality. You’re not teenagers anymore. Have the discipline to limit your email sessions to three times per day: (a) when you first get to work; (b) when you return from lunch and (c) before you go home. It’s OK to check email at night, weekends and on vacation. It’s good to know ahead of time what fires you’ll have to put out the next day. But for heaven sake, DON’T RESPOND immediately. You’ll just get you into an endless loop of micro-messages, CC’s and forward’s. It’ll keep you up at night worrying and you won’t spend any quality time with your friends, family or significant other.

5. Empowerment. Finally, empower your people to make real decisions. That will eliminate 90 percent of the extraneous CC’ing, forwarding and superfluous cell phone calls: “Hey did you get me email?”

Conclusion

Email is one of the most powerful and most cost-effective communication tools ever invented both for B2B marketing purposes and for communication with your clients and colleagues. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most abused. Sure there are several promising inbox management tools on the market. But, technology isn’t the solution. People are the solution. The better we can be about sending out relevant communication that really matters, and about empowering our managers to make real decisions with authority, the less overwhelming our email will be on whichever device we choose to consume it.

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TAGS: email overload, communication benchmarking study, Jenna Wortham, Joshua Lyman

Are We Too Deep into Data?

Numbers are only part of the equation when it comes to smart B2B decision-making

David Brooks’ NY Times op-ed piece today got me thinking. Our society’s obsession with gathering huge amounts of data fosters “certain cultural assumptions that everything that can be measured should be measured.” He also notes that data is a “transparent and reliable lens that allows us to filter out emotionalism and ideology.”

Here at HB, we sometimes get labeled as data junkies because we generate a growing portion of our revenue from rigorous benchmarking research and gap analysis studies that we do for our clients. We also try to help online advertisers, agencies and media owners separate the numbers that matter from the numbers that are simply easy to gather—we call those McMetrics. We also urge our clients to supplement all their surveys, polls or other research initiatives with verbatim interviews with respondents. Why? To make sure the human side of the data comes through.

Full disclosure: Our Super Bowl office pools are a little wacky, including one based on the probability that certain categories of commercials will run at specific times of the Big Game. No we didn’t have an over-under on the chances of a second-half blackout. But data showed that a tidal surge of tweets and posts about the bizarre Superdome snafu helped re-kindle interest in an apparent blowout victory for the Baltimore Ravens and brought an estimated 5 to 6 million viewers back to the game.

Beyond the Click

Back in 2002—the dark ages of online media—I co-authored a rigorous research report with Bay Street Group president, Rick Telberg, entitled “Beyond the Click.” The ideas was to help online advertisers, marketers and agencies better understand the “latency principle” of banner ads. In sum, online consumers don’t necessarily visit your website the instant they see your banner ad and if they do go to your website on the day your new banner ad has run, it’s not necessarily because that particular ad is the most effective one in your campaign, i.e. the one that prompted the consumer to take action. We still get contacted for copies of Beyond the Click and the research also explores the “build effect” of a campaign and the weekend “catch-up” effect of busy professionals.

Brooks admits he’s still trying to figure out when it’s best to rely on intuitive pattern recognition and when we should just ignore intuition and follow the data.  Data, he argues is good at helping us understand when our intuitive view of reality is wrong. Second, he posits that data can “illuminate patterns of behavior we haven’t yet noticed.” For example, does frequent use of such word as “I,” “me,” and “mine” mean you’re more egotistical than people who don’t?  Turns out, when people are feeling confident, they are focused on the task at hand, not on themselves. High status, confident people use fewer “I” words, not more, according to University of Texas prof, James Pennebaker, in his book, “The Secret Life of Pronouns.”

I recently spoke with Eric Wulf, CEO of the International Car Wash Association (ICA), about his organization’s industry benchmarking data initiative which has become one of the ICA’s most popular member benefits.  Wash Count™ is a tool ICA developed to help car wash operators benchmark and compare their business results by market, by geography, by type of facility and many other factors. That’s important to an industry that’s increasingly going from mom-and-pop operators to corporate conglomerates. More than 800 sites contribute data to ICA’s research initiative. But here’s the key, said Wulf: “Our staff spends a lot of time onsite with members, picking up pieces of intelligence and always asking them, ‘How’s it going?’ It’s very important to add the face-to-face interaction to the raw data.

Macro View

Despite yesterday’s report that the economy shrank slightly in the October to December quarter, don’t start sounding the recession alarm bells yet. Housing had another strong month and business investment in equipment and software, rose at an annual rate of 12.4 percent, the best showing in more than a year, the Commerce Department said. Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that manufacturing grew a lot faster in January thanks to an increase in hiring and new orders. The ISM’s widely watched index is now at 53.1, up from 50.2 in December and its highest level in almost a year.


Conclusion

Data used responsibly is an essential tool for gut checking our assumptions and preventing emotional bias from clouding our decision-making process. But, remember, it is just one tool in a smart B2B marketer’s tool kit. At the end of the day, we’re all humans, trying to get the right products and services into the hands of the right kinds of humans at just the right time when they’re ready to buy.

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TAGS: Institute for Supply Management, Super Bowl Blackout, Eric Wulf, International Car Wash Association, David Brooks, New York Times, Rick Telberg, McMetrics, Beyond the Click, James Pennebaker, University of Texas

TV Not Going Away, but Viewers Multi-Tasking

TV Not Going Away, but Viewers Multi-Tasking
Don’t be fooled by rosy stock market and economic indicators  

Sixty percent of U.S. consumers still want to watch their shows on TV, but these same consumers also want their smartphones and tablets by their side, according to a new report from KPMG International. Sunday’s Super Bowl telecast/advertising fest will likely bear that out.

Researchers said that 42 percent of U.S. consumers say they watch TV and access the Internet via a laptop or PC, while one in six (17%) watch TV and access the Web via a smartphone. The study also found that more than one in five (22%) watch TV and use a social networking site at the same time.

In a prepared statement, Paul Wissmann, national leader of KPMG's U.S. Media & Telecommunications practice, said: "The introduction of smart TVs is an indication of how the digital transition is accelerating to coincide with the demand of today's consumers to access anything, anywhere and at any time. The smart TV is beginning to reveal itself as the next disruptor."

The study said that one in seven (14%) U.S. consumers polled prefer to watch TV via their mobile or tablet for greater flexibility--mostly coming from what the report called "mobile-centric consumers" 25-34 years old.

Our Take: What may surprise many B2B marketers is that urban consumers in China, Brazil and Singapore are proving to be bigger consumers of digital/mobile media than in the U.S. and they also tend to have higher rates of smartphone/mobile device ownership.

Whether you use conventional TV, mobile or video as part of your marketing arsenal there is no one-size fits all solution. Just like consumers, your clients and prospects have more choices than ever for consuming, engaging and sharing their information. Whether they’re 25-34 or 55-64, you need to take a holistic approach to reaching them.

As our good friend John Graham, president of the American Society of Association Executives is fond of saying, “They want it when they want it in the format they want.”

And if you don’t give it to them “how they want it” they’ll go somewhere else who can.

Macro View

The major stock indices are at or near their highest levels since 2007 and coming off their longest consecutive daily winning streaks since 2004. Initial jobless claims hit a 5-year low last week and spending on residential construction is growing at a faster rate than at any time since 1994.

Today’s meeting of the Fed policy-making committee indicated that the Fed will likely continue buying bonds to hold down borrowing costs since the economy remains weak.

So we’re all good right?

Sorry to make your champagne go flat, but recent surveys of investor sentiment have shown a big uptick. Come again? The American Association of Individual Investors reported that half (46%) of its members felt bullish, up nearly eight percentage points from a week earlier—and well above the long-term average of 39 percent. By contrast, only one in four (27%) felt bearish as of Jan. 9, a nine-point improvement from the previous week. As the Wall Street Journal reported recently, that ain’t good for investors who are historically poor readers of peer sentiment.

Here’s why. In the past, increasing ebullience has portended poor future returns. For example, in the 12 months leading up to October 2007, when the market hit its peak, investors put $207 billion into U.S. stock mutual funds and ETFs, according to investment-research firm Morningstar. On the other hand, in the year before the market bottom in March 2009, they took out $44 billion.

So despite the firm economic indicators we pointed out above—which should be good news for your clients’ and prospects’ businesses—they’re most likely investors in the financial markets. If we have the correction that many pundits expect, they’ll be feeling less likely to spend on their businesses when they’re feeling less flush about their portfolios, retirement accounts and college savings plans.
In other words, things are looking promising, but no one’s ready to exhale.

Conclusion


The stars are never going to be in perfect alignment to make completely worry free decisions about investments, capital expenditures, advertising and hiring. If you’re a marketer, you’ve got to keep the lead pipeline full at all times.

Rob Ingraham, EVP of Global Exchange Events told us today he started his company in 2010 when the trade association business was in the depths of the recession. His firm, which facilitates meetings between vendors and suppliers has been doubling every year, and is on pace to do so again. “A downturn not when you take and hide; it’s when you have a great opportunity to go after market share.”

You don’t need to spend recklessly, but you do need to spend. Trying to time the demand cycle is about as easy as timing the financial markets—or buying gas for your car one gallon at a time when you feel the price is right. Sooner or later you’ll run dry—usually at a very bad time in a very bad place.

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You’ll Never Do Your Best Work Chained to Your Desk

You’ll Never Do Your Best Work Chained to Your Desk
Mobile ad revenue to surge; housing officially rebounding

While the benefits of today’s technology are many, there are some serious health risks for desk-bound professionals, even those of us who exercise diligently every day. Here’s the deal. We spend way too much time sitting and staring at our screens. We’ve got to do a better job of keeping ourselves moving throughout the day, not just during our lunch breaks or time spent jogging or at the gym.

Jack Dennerlein, a professor at Northeastern’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences in Boston suggested in a short New York Times item today that you should do a variation of the 20-20-20 rule used to reduce eyestrain. Take 20 seconds to look at something 20 feet away (instead of at your computer), and repeat this exercise every 20 minutes. Dr. Dennerlein, who specializes in ergonomics and safety, says this eye rule can be applied to movement as well. Every 20 minutes, walk 20 feet away for 20 seconds or more. Stop by a co-worker’s desk. Get a cup of coffee. Pace. Just don’t sit.

Management by walking around


While some of my colleagues think I’m pretty wired or suffering from ADD or a tiny bladder, Management by Walking Around (MBWA) is one of the key tenets we preach to our clients. It not only gives you a badly needed break from the information overload on your screen(s), but it can help you calm down long enough to avoid sending an email or voicemail you’ll later regret. This tactic can also prevent you from turning in an important piece of work before you’ve REALLY checked it over carefully to ensure it’s your best effort. The stretching and blood flow doesn’t hurt either. Best of all, it increases your opportunities for “chance” meetings in the hallway, kitchen, elevator or restroom with hard to schedule superiors or non-confrontational colleagues who’ll do anything to avoid a “face to face” discussion with you.

Can’t I just save time by standing up once in a while? Dr. Dennerlein points out that standing for long periods of time is not good for you either. The key is to vary your work posture throughout the day. “Just keep moving and changing things around,” he said. “I think people should be empowered to make adjustments to see what feels right for them. And one thing that might feel comfortable in the morning might not feel comfortable in the afternoon.”

Here at HB, we’ve found that many professionals do their best work via the “interval” approach. Rather than grinding it out for 8, 10 or 12 hours at a time, some knowledge workers are much more effective with a series of relatively short, but intense bursts of work (say one to two hours at a times), followed short 15 to 30 minute breaks. More on that next week.

Mobile ad revenue surges

A new Gartner report projects worldwide mobile ad revenue will increase 16 percent to $11 billion this year and more than double by 2016. Gartner says its estimates include mobile Web display, in-app display, search and maps, video/mobile TV and messaging.

Macro View

Strong reports on housing starts and jobless claims lifted markets last week. Both the Dow and S&P 500 finished the week at or near their highest levels since December 2007.Jobless claims also fell to a five year low and builders started work on homes in December at the fastest rate since December 2008 according to the Commerce Department Thursday. Economists say housing may no longer be a drag on the economy and residential construction probably contributed to economic growth for THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2005.

Conclusion

While hashing out your plans to leverage your expertise in mobile, don’t forget to take a break from your screen. Walk down the hall rather than firing off a text message to a colleague and you never know who else you’ll run into on your way. It could be just the “chance” meeting that changes your entire week, month or career.

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TAGS: Gartner, mobile ad revenue, housing market, management by walking around, Jack Dennerlein, Northeastern University Bouvé College of Health Sciences