The Science of Marketing

Here’s a follow-up to a post I wrote in late August.  You remember - the one about marketing communications activities that happen in sequential stages to be most effective.  Since then, I’ve been talking to peers and keeping an eye on the blogosphere to get a feel for how others feel about a phased approach to marketing communications.  The result: it seems that the days of trying to do too much with a single tool or program are quickly coming to an end. 

Most marketers are no longer swinging for the fences with marketing communications - they are thinking through their marketing goals and mapping out phased communications strategies that get them there over time.  They are walking before they run, dating before they marry, and establishing a dialogue  before they sell.  Here are a few examples of progressive thinking in the area of marketing phases:

Marketing Experiments Blog: Writing Headlines that Don’t Sell — But Get Much Higher Conversions

Startup Hustle: Acquiring, Engaging, Retaining and Monetizing Your Customers

Marketing Interactions: B2B Websites Need to Focus on the Long Term

Drew’s Marketing Minute: Are You Expecting too Much From your Marketing?

I’m a big believer in marketing programs that don’t sell or try to do too much, but instead happen in phases and focus on long-term success.  I’m glad to see that others agree.  What do you think?

Every now and then, it’s fun to take a walk down memory lane.  So today, I logged into Google Analytics and punched up the content page to find out what our ten most popular posts are.  I was surprised at how diverse the list is, ranging from the very tactical to the very strategic, and covering just about every topic we’ve ever written about.  I’m glad to see that our readers enjoy variety, so we’ll continue to mix things up.  If there’s anything you’d like us to write about, please comment below or send us an e-mail - we’d love to hear from you.

With that, Our Ten Most Popular Posts: 

1. Internal Communications: Own It
2. The Blogosphere: You Don’t Have to Blog to Belong
3. Mission Statement: Make it Possible
4. Slogans: Say What You Do
5. Market Segmentation: How to Prioritize Targets
6. High Tech Blogging: Why?
7. Lead Generation: The Bell Curve
8. Communications Part II: To the Right People
9. Age of Conversation 2: The Deadline
10. The SEO Triple Play: Message, Mechanics, Maintenance

This week, BtoB Magazine published an interesting story on the state of the corporate blog, discussing some emerging trends that were gleaned from interviews with blogging and social media experts from Dell, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Intel and SAP. It’s a good read, and I highly recommend it if you’re investigating blogging as a communications tool. One of the most interesting trends the magazine identifies is the emergence of "chief blogger" as a corporate job title. While smaller companies may not have the resources to hire a dedicated chief blogger, it is important to establish a single owner for the blogging function. Here’s why:

Focus content

For emerging companies, sharing blogging duties is a good idea. It helps take the burden off any one blogger, and allows the company to present multiple viewpoints within its area of expertise. However, one of the greatest assets in a blog is a consistent focus and tone. Without a single owner to guide blog content, posts from multiple authors can easily drift off topic or diverge from the company’s voice, baffling readers in the process. By establishing an owner for all blog content, companies large and small can ensure that all posts are in line with their blog’s focus and tone, and that consistency will keep readers coming back.

Stay on schedule

Blog readers, and especially RSS subscribers, expect to see new content on a blog at least once or twice a week. Posting on a regular schedule helps set and reinforce reader expectations for how often and when to check for new posts, so when companies drift from their blogging schedule, readership trails off. A single blog owner can create a blogatorial calendar and manage the posting schedule to ensure that new content is added frequently and rhythmically.

Moderate comments

When a reader comments on a blog, he or she expects to see their words appear shortly after they click "submit". So when a legitimate comment sits in moderation next to all that wonderful blog spam, readers question whether or not anyone is listening (or worse, whether or not they’re being censored). A blog owner is responsible for reviewing and allowing comments as quickly as possible. Furthermore, the blog owner should ensure that every reader comment gets a reply to keep the conversation going.

Join the conversation

Blogging in a vacuum is never a good idea, so it is critical to find and read other blogs that are related to your company’s area of expertise. Other blogs provide great source material for new blog posts and offer a means of driving links and traffic back to your site. Whoever owns your company’s blog should make a habit out of reading other blogs, commenting where appropriate and reporting interesting posts back to key stakeholders in the company. Without a single ambassador to the blogosphere, different people can send mixed messages on other blogs or, even worse, valuable external content can go unread.

We don’t all have the resources to employ a chief blogger. But by establishing a blog owner, we can avoid sending mixed messages, duplicating efforts or missing opportunities. Most importantly, assigning a blog owner provides a path to consistency, and a stable of happy readers.

What are your thoughts on the chief blogger and blog ownership? Please share - I promise to post and respond to your comment quickly.

This week’s Network World highlights a major challenge in modern communications. In his latest Netbuzz column, Paul McNamara describes the bizarre series of events that followed a major security breach at the grocery chain, Hannaford. After the potential compromise of 4.2 million credit and debit cards, Rapid7, one of Hannaford’s security vendors, immediately removed almost all records of its dealings with the grocer from its web site. And to make matters worse, when McNamara called multiple Rapid7 contacts for comment on the mysterious deletions, he heard a different story from each.

While Rapid7 was ultimately exonerated for the breach, the resulting Network World coverage hinted that by removing its link with Hannaford from the  web site and contradicting itself on its rationale, Rapid7 created the impression of guilt. The Rapid7 incident highlights a valuable lesson in media relations, and all marketing communications activities for that matter. Consistency is critical.

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Today’s post by Drew McLellan asks how marketers can create mission statements that avoid the ambiguous and vague Dilbert version and actually define an organization’s reason for being. Being movie buffs, we just can’t resist drawing inspiration for a follow-up from the blockbuster franchise: Mission Impossible.

Did you ever wonder why Tom Cruise’s missions were impossible? Maybe the IMF’s vision was too grandiose or Mr. Phelps’ goals were too ill defined to take meaningful actions. As it turned out, at least in the first three movies, our hero defied the odds and accomplished his impossible missions. But, that’s Hollywood. In the real world of high tech, visions must be insightful and relevant, goals must be specific and measurable, and both must be tied together with missions possible.

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A recent post by John Jantsch discusses the importance of keeping employees "in the light" by providing the tools and information they need to do their jobs well.  I couldn’t agree more, but when it comes to launching and managing a formal internal communications program, many companies fail to do it well.  I believe it is because the process of informing employees is fragmented, with the CEO, human resources, various department heads and marketing all sharing the role from time to time.  In its current state, internal communications is owned by many and none at the same time, and that is a recipe for failure.

While poor internal communications won’t necessarily lead to employee payback, it can lower morale, hinder decision making and lead to general inefficiencies, particularly in the dynamic environment of high tech. To ensure that the company is operating as efficiently as possible and the employees have the information they need to make the right decisions, a formalized internal communications strategy is a must in high tech.  That means deciding on an owner, setting goals and checking accountability.

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In his recent blog entry, Is Marketing Your Business?, Chris Garrett makes a good argument that in today’s connected world, companies need to make marketing their business. "Consider how many times we see legal teams, PR departments and company representatives all singing from different hymn sheets" particularly struck a chord with me. So, let me amplify this important aspect of corporate communications.

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