There's more to life than viral marketing

Hi everyone

Can I share a bit of a secret? I don't really believe in "viral marketing".

Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of a fantastic campaigns that people want to spread around to everyone they know, because they are so useful, fun, or just so damn cool. But that's not what I'm talking about.

The Viral Myth

The viral marketing campaigns I dislike are, as Paul Kedrosky says, "not the end result of an actual idea or strategy but are born of a desperate desire to do something, anything, in the new-media space." It happens when we see something like Moonwalking Bear, Nike Next Level or BudTV Swear Jar - and we all think wow, that's cool.

They got high viewing numbers, great buzz on the web and they have every marketer and agency licking their lips about making a big splash for a relatively small investment . Yep we all think , I gotta "Get me one of those".

Hey after all, as Jacob Wolfsheimer asks in his post, internet marketers goal is to create downright viral content, right? "Wrong. Content going Viral isn’t necessarily the goal, it’s often a by-product of well positioned content. The goal is to create well positioned content and prep it for at least some viral success."

So here is the issue. Are we so obsessed with producing the next big viral hit, that we are deluding ourselves that this is where the focus of our next digital marketing campaign should be? Especially when it seems we can get such a big bang for a relatively smaller buck?

I think we are, and I think this viral logic is like an amateur gambler riding their luck in Las Vegas. Actually , I think the gambler has a better chance of hitting the jackpot than many viral campaigns have of taking off. Here is my personal opinion why.

What's wrong with Viral?

1. Successful viral content often doesn't equal great marketing content: Look at the top 10 viral campaigns last year and what you generally see is that in order to succeed you need to tone down (or remove) the brand or product and play up the entertainment value. Sure I am a huge fan of fun, but most brands want to focus more on the core message than just give entertainment value. Look at this popular viral Amazing Catch from Gatorade recently. Cool, well shot, and fun. Did you see the Gatorade tie in? No, neither did I.

2. Viral marketing is often a one-hit pony: I'm sure I will annoy some ad people when I say I really didn't like the Gorilla Cadbury on principle. Sure it's fun, but as marketing I thought it was lazy and gratuitous, I just didn't get the brand connection strongly. So any kind of enjoyment = Cadbury? Not for me. And now after seeing the follow up campaigns for Cadbury it just re-confirms my view. A one off bit of fun. Most virals have a brand or product message as an add-on, they are not front and centre. People barely realize the brand made it in the first place.

3. Viral success is often by chance or a cynical numbers game: Which brings me to my next point. Really what is popular virally is original and unbranded content. That's what media like YouTube were created for in the first place, so the problem is the need to make it viral by minimizing the brand elements. Its success is then based on its ability to entertain rather than provide a message. And after reading this cynical article, 'the secret strategies behind many viral videos' on how many brands boost their viewings on YouTube, success often comes from manipulating the system to get the highest number of views anyway. Shameful marketing.

4. What do you really get from your viral campaign?: Even after all of this, if we produce a great campaign that gets millions of views on YouTube, what does that mean for our campaign? I mentioned the great swear jar campaign for Bud TV at the beginning. Well BudTV just closed down. The fact is the maximum viewings doesn't mean better metrics for the product or service, better awareness or better sales.

In Content Gone Viral, Jackie Peters argues that rather than hitting 5 million of everyone, shouldn't we be hitting the 50,000 people that really matter to us with an engaging, relevant message? At some point, especially in digital, quality content matters.

Content Matters

In Joseph Jaffe's great ADWeek article ' Why most viral marketing amounts to lazy, clueless chatter ' he is brutally honest about viral marketing when he writes: " I'm not terribly sure that it's predictable or reliable to plan for this kind of spreading of the word and, even more troubling, I'm not convinced that it actually works."

"Here's the thing: In this day and age, all content has the ability to be wildly viral, that is, embraced, internalized, evangelized and disseminated. Rather than plan with the end in mind, might I suggest instead that we focus on the idea itself and the means to achieve that end. In other words, getting back to basics to generate compelling, relevant and engaging content and then liberating it to be embedded, hacked, mashed and showcased accordingly."

I couldn't agree more. Let's get back to creating brilliant content, knowing who our audience is, defining success and yes making it easier to share. And let's worry less about hitting the YouTube jackpot in the hope that somehow, that will translate into success for our brands.

Do you agree? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Feel free to add comments below, or for further questions or advice contact me at rob.h@th.arcww.com

The end of email marketing?

Hi there

Compared to sexy digital topics like blogs, social networking or gaming - talking about email marketing seems a bit like watching paint dry. Not very exciting.

Often first thing email marketing reminds us of is SPAM and the irrelevant hard-sell messages filling our inbox. In other words, the same old interruption marketing that is being left behind in favour of Web 2.0's conversational marketing.

But the fact is email marketing has been the backbone of digital and CRM programs for over 10 years. Email has enabled us to deliver customers requested content such as e-newsletters and product updates, tailored offers for particular customer segments, and where would our 'sexy' viral campaigns be without the ability to send our content to friends and colleagues via email.

So what is changing in the email world that has so many marketers asking if email marketing is dead?

A Tougher Environment

There are a few major developments influencing the negative perception of email marketing right now;

- Younger people (under 25) rarely use email: As highlighted in the Slate article The Death of Email, the growth of IM, twitter, SMS and blogging/micro-blogging means that the next generation of users think that email is too formal and too slow. And while some think that these younger users will change back when they get in to a work environment, I think they will bring these habits with them and that email will fundamentally need to evolve to suit them. Technology usage does not go backwards.

- Customers are harder to reach: Our inboxes are getting fuller, so our attention span for checking email shorter . That also means your more valuable customer segments are less likely to opt-in to your list, leaving it harder to find/build/maintain the right target databases. New opt-in laws, busier lives and more communication channels mean that it is harder than ever to reach customers. The ability of email to influence online/offline purchases has dropped up to 10% in the last year alone.

- Social media has changed the messaging environment: New survey results show 22% of email users said they are using social networking sites instead of email. The ability for more instant and open platform communication - something Twitter will become common for - makes email seem slow and 'not as connected'. As a result many people see social email , which allows recipients to easily share their emails in any environment, as a way of making email become more relevant for broader audiences.

- A tough economy impacts email marketing effectiveness: As pointed out in this article from ClickZ, tough times make it harder for email campaigns to work. That's because email is often cost effective so everyone wants to use it in a downturn, making it even more difficult to stand out. And in tough times people change jobs and contacts, so maintaining good data becomes even harder as well.

How Email Campaigns are Changing

Despite the challenges, fantastic email marketing campaigns like this from Career Builder and from Columbia Sportswear continue to be created and drive great sales returns. But as these examples show, email is evolving and integrating with other media and channels to be part of a much bigger picture. The era of 'spray and pray' is definitely over.

In this presentation from email service provider Silverpop, one of our regional marketing partners, they highlight the need for real change to how we create email campaigns moving forward. The key points are:

#1. Embrace customer power: Customers now expect to be able to choose to opt-in and determine when, where, what and how they read their mail. They dictate all of their preferences and get exactly what they want. Think of the external emails you regularly want and do read - from your airline, bank, telco provider, entertainment site or a trusted news source. Like these ones from travel provider Kayak. And think about how they link with all your other campaign and communication elements. This is the new price of entry for getting consumer attention.

#2. Focus on Converting Long Term Prospects: Most prospects are long term so build programs that reflect their needs throughout their life cycle and don't continually harass for sales at the wrong time. Sign people up, give them added benefits, always keep the option to buy open but consider their needs first. The growth of emails that have all the functionality of micro-sites reflect the trend of giving value before you can expect a return.

#3. Focus on relevance not frequency: Frequency is out, behaviour is in. Concentrate on giving people what they need based on their purchase behaviour, purchase life cycle, event triggers (birthday or purchase anniversary) and actual needs. Just emailing all customers all the time will kill off even your brand evangelists. The increasing elements of personalisation and customisation in emails is what will drive return and loyalty for email.

#4. Minimize list churn and inactives: Use welcome programs, create unsubscribe preference centers, implement re-engagement programs. Most of your email success comes from the right list and in a tough economic environment lists will change constantly. Give people a reason to keep engaged or come back on board.

#5. Design for multiple devices: Your emails are being viewed in a growing number of environments, via PC and mobile, and can be delivered via RSS as well. Are your emails iPhone and Blackberry friendly? Is the content compelling in these environments, and easy to read and use? The creative and production challenge now is to deliver the customer experience that renders well on multiple environments. Email campaigns specifically for smart phones like the iPhone are proving they can work well.

#6. Dive into the social world: If you look at the best social sites, they have enabled communication to become more layered, more open and faster. Perfect for friends and community. If you look at email it allows more detailed, and more trackable, and more formal communications. Perfect for most work environments. But as the two blend, shouldn't your email be able to connect seamlessly to your social network and visa versa?

It's early days but it's already starting to happen. Tools now allow marketers to place links within an email allowing recipients to easily post the message to their profile page on Facebook or MySpace, where friends can see the message, make comments and even post your email on their own profile pages.

Email is not dead, but it's undergoing a pretty radical upgrade. The exciting thing is that the email campaigns of today are looking a lot like other digital campaigns - more relevant, engaging, and yes, even sexier. But to produce these campaigns we need to understand social email, mobile email and integrated email fast - because everything else is going the way of the dinosaur.

Cheers, Rob

Feel free to add comments below, or for further questions or advice contact me at rob.h@th.arcww.com

Marketing using online social networks

Hi everyone

As I've mentioned, not a day seems to pass without one of our clients asking how to better use social networking to their advantage. The answer in short is that while there are plenty of options, making it work is not always easy.

And one simple reason is because people have traditionally used these networks simply to interact with other people. Unlike other mainstream online media they are either not used to, or have not been wanting to, engage with advertising messages.

As a result some marketing chiefs are questioning the value of marketing on these networks. So what then, are our options?

What are online social networks?

Well first let's define online Social networks. Social networking has created new ways to communicate and share by providing a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail, photo and video sharing, and instant messaging services. The main types of social networking services are those which contain directories of some categories (such as former classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and recommender systems linked to trust.

Popular methods now combine many of these, with MySpace and Facebook being the most widely used in North America; Nexopia (mostly in Canada); Bebo, Facebook, Hi5, MySpace, Tagged, Xing; and Skyrock in parts of Europe; Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America; and Friendster, Orkut, Xiaonei and Cyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Hi5 is the biggest social web in Thailand, with around 8 million Thai users, although the fastest growing appears to be Facebook now with over 400,00 users. I'd note the difference between social networks, and the wider area of social media.

Why do people use them?

For a more comprehensive view on why people social network you should read Groundswell, but undoubtedly the movement is part of a broader cultural shift whereby "People create, share and discover new content on their own. They create vibrant and rich cultures across online networks and use the social tools provided to stay connected."

People are social beings and given the tools will keep finding better and more meaningful ways to stay connected. And perhaps even more of interest, 65% of users are above 18 and the fastest growing segment is in above 35 year olds.

How does our marketing approach need to change?

The growth of these networks has mean that communication that was once dictated by a brand has now moved to be far more customer controlled. This has forced marketers to incorporate conversational marketing and customer advocacy into the overall marketing plan.

Conversational marketing is a participatory type of marketing that require observation and interaction at the individual level (See my post on blogs in January 08).

Marketers must engage customers on their turf, in their way, in order to help them solve problems, find information or simply engage them in valuable dialog. The above approach and approaches below are detailed in a great mini-book by Jesse Torres freely available online which I'd suggest to everyone to read, entitled "Community Banker's Guide to Social Network Marketing".

What are our tactical tools for current social networks?

1. Profile Centric Marketing: Create a profile within the social network, then customize that profile page with functionality to attract and retain members. An example of this would be the Bangkok Airways Facebook Page, where the company created a Facebook profile where people can become a 'fan'. Once they become a fan - people can receive updates and offers, connect with other members and participate in special events for members only.

This approach is good for building community when you have genuine and consistent offers and events and values. The warning is that it requires plenty of effort to maintain the content and the keep responding to members needs in a timely and appropriate way.

2. Ad Centric Marketing: A more traditional approach where companies can place advertising within an individuals profile page. At the moment Facebook is offering multiple marketing platforms: Facebook Pages, Facebook Applications, Facebook Connect, Facebook Events, Traditional Facebook Ads, Facebook Social Ads or Engagement Ads.

Facebook ads and social ads are described in detail here, but essentially allow you to place different types of banner ads depending on the context, behaviour or demographic of that member. The strength of these ads is the wealth of customer data available on these sites. With that in mind Facebook just launched Engagement ads, where it can target and pose specific questions based on all this data.

As Bob Garfield pointed out in this great article, this is where the real future of advertising via social networks is likely to be heading.

3. Widgets and Applications: Up until now a lot of the interaction on social networks is via widget or applications, as these are the applications beyond the usual email and messaging, that enable you connect and have fun with others. Whether it's a Funwall or iLike application, these programs developed for networks have been hugely popular. And unlike ads don't cost anything to run on the sites.

But with over 10,000 applications created, and the effort required to make them popular, you have to wonder whether creating one now is worth the effort. It seems most are just installed and forgotten about.

Create your own social network?

As discussed in this paper, sometimes a brand will have a big enough user base and interest level to create their own community. There have been successful efforts by companies such as Fiskars, and P&G's efforts have been commendable despite the challenges. But the reality for most companies is that unless you can create a more compelling fundamentally different social network from than one that already exists - don't bother.

In most cases it makes sense to engage where the community already hangs out and affiliate with them, instead with trying to compete with them. A good example is how Tivo engaged with a vibrant community that was already in existence.

The last word is, think carefully about how you get involved. There is great potential here for the right campaign, but there's also a reason why many social networks aren't making money. They haven't all worked out to market well to their users. Yet...

Cheers, Rob

Feel free to add comments below, or for further questions or advice contact me at rob.h@th.arcww.com

10 ideas driving digital marketing

Hi everyone

Someone asked me last week why social networking was taking off, which got me thinking about the BIG ideas driving marketing change at the moment. So this week I'd thought I'd list my top ten most influential digital ideas:

#1. Permission Marketing: About 10 years ago Seth Godin wrote a book called Permission Marketing which highlighted a new marketing approach, particularly online. The idea is that consumers provide marketers with the permission to send them certain types of promotional messages. For example, they ask permission to send advertisements to prospective customers. Many marketers felt that this was a more efficient use of their resources because advertisements are only sent to people that are actually interested in the product. And people feel better about the messages because they actually want to see them. This has had major impact on areas such as direct, email and mobile marketing - including the formation of opt-in & opt-out databases and other permission-based marketing strategies.

#2. The Long Tail: I'll quote from Wikipedia here: "The Long Tail was first coined by Chris Anderson in an October 2004 Wired magazine article to describe the niche strategy of businesses, such as Amazon.com or Netflix, that sell a large number of unique items, each in relatively small quantities. The distribution and inventory costs of these businesses allow them to realize significant profit out of selling small volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers, instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items. The group that purchases a large number of "non-hit" items is the demographic called the Long Tail." What this idea implies is that online there is often a niche for your business - in almost any business that you're in. Including now social networking sites, finance, travel...you name it.

#3. The Tipping Point: Not just a digital marketing concept, but online is where this idea really seems to have taken hold. The Tipping Point is the moment at which a niche idea or product becomes mainstream. A popular idea from Malcolm Gladwell's book, it explores the reasons why some ideas take off and others don't, and also the role the internet has to play in reaching that point. For example, the iPhone has now definitely reached the tipping point (even before its recent launch by True here in Thailand). My prediction for something to reach the tipping point soon is twitter. It has yet to really catch on here, but I think it will, very soon.

#4. Buzz Marketing: Most people will know this one, but it is never the less an important idea worth repeating. With the transformation to a Web 2.0 (see # 8) world, customers are the ones controlling and driving the message because most people believe in what other users say rather than what brands say. Often referred to as word of mouth marketing, and spawning other ideas such as viral marketing and influencer marketing, buzz marketing relies on producing content and communications that allow the message to be viewed, shared or even mashed up by customers to maximise its impact and pass-on-ability. Check out this great example. The challenge with buzz marketing is in the measurement of a campaign's success, which is the focus of a lot of conversations now.

#5. Wikinomics: The BIG idea here is problem solving, creating or sharing by using mass collaboration. Evolving from the IT sector and concept of open source programming, it is grown into a phenomenon that covers everything from the online encyclopaedia http://www.wikipedia.com/ , online clothing from Threadless or even online social movements. The beauty of this crowd sourcing concept is that it often relies on many people with a shared passion to cooperate and improve a situation or solve a problem - for the joy of it. The idea of wikis is now being applied to almost every project that requires ongoing improvement and user input.

#6. Collaborative Filtering: Collaboration again - only this time the issue is not creating something but finding out what I like. How can I find what's right for me, easily and reliably on the internet with so much information? The answer is by listening to other people just like me.This idea has fuelled the development of taste recommendations on books or music sites (Barnes & Noble, http://www.ilike.com/) and is behind things like 'favourite articles' on online news sites like http://www.digg.com/ or critic review sites like Epinion. It's what users want that matters, not what editors or owners guess they might like.

#7. User-Generated Content: Moving in the same direction, the production of online content is now also shifting from companies into the hands of end users. The growth of consumer content - in the form of digital media technologies such as digital video, blogging, podcasting, mobile phone photography and wikis is in line with the development of two-way conversational media. That is, people wanting content which they feel is more unique, relevant and participatory then one-way corporate communications of old. Sites like http://www.tripadvisor.com/, http://www.wordpress.com/ and http://www.reddit.com/ are great examples. And most marketing campaigns and sites now as well rely on the relevance and impact of this content to keep them fresh.

#8. Web 2.0: Some people hate this word but I don't - I think it is a good way to summarize the movement (quoting Terry Flew) "from personal websites to blogs and blog site aggregation, from publishing to participation, from web content as the outcome of large up-front investment to an ongoing and interactive process, and from content management systems to links based on tagging." Check out more here, but every idea in this list encapsulates the movement to Web 2.0. Interesting to note how each industry now applies this new web evolution to their business using terms such as as Travel 2.0, Finance 2.0, Automotive 2.0, Telecommunications 2.0 - even Charity 2.0 and Mothering 2.0!! Okay, maybe I do understand why people do think this idea is over-hyped.

#9. Folksonomy: Folksonomic tagging is intended to make a body of information increasingly easy to search, discover, and navigate over time. For example a site like http://www.delicious.com/ . What it does is take all your bookmarks, all the pages on the internet from web sites to key pages, and puts them all in one place. Then it classifies them so it's easy to find. So you type 'marketing' or 'art' or 'cats' and all the information based on that area are in one place. You can also follow what other people are tagging and learn from them. Yet another idea that is making the web easier, simpler and more fun.

#10. Groundswell: I've put this in because it's an idea from a book I've just read of the same name. The Groundswell is simply another way of talking about explosion of social media - from Myspace to YouTube, Cyworld to Flickr - and it describes the phenomenon as something happening from the ground up. Like most things, us marketers are always trying to catch up with the developments that people are exploring online. In my next post I'll tackle some ways marketers are trying to deal with these social networking developments and create more connected marketing campaigns.

Speak to you then

Cheers, Rob

Feel free to add comments below, or for further questions or advice contact me at rob.h@th.arcww.com