One prediction in particular struck a chord with me, simply for the title. It was from Jason Miller from Marketo.

“Social media and email call a truce”

Why am I so fond of this marketing prediction? Not because it is timely. We’ve already seen client data for some time that shows that one does better with the other, not without. The reason why this stood out to me is because I believe it is high time that the dividing line between social media and email disappear. This starts with the user or marketer. Currently, they are two different things that work together. In the future, I would like to see them meld together all the more. Currently, Facebook is doing a great job of integrating their messaging platform with email. You can send to an email address using Facebook. You can also receive from an email at your @Facebook.com email address right in your Facebook messaging application. This is just the beginning, here’s what I would like to see happen further.

1. I want Facebook to allow HTML emails to display properly in Facebook messaging so people can subscribe to the brands they are interested within Facebook.
2. I want Twitter to display HTML emails within a tweet’s media content much like it does with Youtube and other rich media.
3. Email clients should integrate with social media to make it seamless (oh yeah, Google plus is doing this with Gmail, if you are logged in to one, you are logged in to the other).
4. Today, Gmail users can add apps like Rapportive which allows you to see your social connections within the web email view. Making this integration more native (and in more email clients) is a must for the email service providers.

All in all, I am expecting 2012 to be a good year regardless of what changes with social media. However, in 2012 I am looking for email and social media to not just work together, but to continually merge into becoming one. There is no competition between the two, and email marketing is not dead as Jill said right around this time last year. I believe we have more levels of integration to look forward to, and more ways to make email social.

I’d like to cover two areas of distribution – product distribution and marketing channels.

• Product distribution: No matter how good your iPhone is, your sales will always go up if you are on the shelves of Wal Mart, the largest retailer in the world. Most of the items in the dollar store have no marketing, but they sure do sell a ton. There are indeed down sides to having a piss poor brand, but the fact is, when your product is easy to buy, more people buy it.
• Marketing Channels: Even if you create one of the most bland social networks in the world, if you create marketing channels like making it exclusive to college campuses, you will grow faster than if you announce it to the whole world. Similarly, AddressTwo the Small Business CRM knew that they were better off investing in the right marketing channels to build their customer base. While it’s a great product, it is not the best there is. It’s success is from being marketed to the right people, through third party channels. By creating reseller channels with marketing firms, they had their product being sold for them as a value add.

Recently we’ve brought in members that have more experience, and we’ve added new elements, and ultimately increased the size of our team. This makes us a stronger marketing agency. Over the last three years, we’ve had a short list of talented people that have worked with redwall LIVE in a few different roles. We have contractors that we work with every day, that we would not think about leaving. We’ve had tons of interns, several contractors as well as a few full time individuals, all of which have added some value to the company. Some have moved on, and I’m glad to say MOSTLY under positive circumstances. My point is, quality talented people is one thing I would not trade.

Today, I could not be more proud of the people we have on our team. This is a team that I love to brag about. Every one of us has chosen to be a part of this team, in spite of other options. Every one at redwall is passionate about our mission to create, innovate and market amazing businesses. Our hobbies and our jobs have blurred lines. We love creating. We love telling stories. We love building them as well. Thanks for letting us be a part of your story. Here’s to some great people.

Blaise Vincz, Ben Murray, Daniel Herndon, Heather Chapman, Adam Bocik

A marketing campaign failure

1. Good headlines. Copy writers are in demand these days. With the prevalence of  search engine marketing, social media and the importance of creating web content for blogs and more, fresh content is at a premium. The irony of the matter is  that all that content is only as good at the headline that will sell it. The subject line of an email, the tag line on a billboard, it needs to be simple and clear. It must be interesting, spark curiosity and  lead to a clear call to action.

2. Good design. People have been trained to appreciate good design. Even the left brained individual that can’t consciously discern the difference between good and bad, still subconsciously responds to good design even if they don’t know it. My late friend Steve Jobs took this into consideration with all of Apple’s products. They use a minimalist design, with simple use of color and shape. Think of their logo. It stands out, but yet it is extremely simple (todays version is just a white silhouette of an apple with a bite out of it). They have sold a tremendous amount of products by being meticulous about design.

3. Good distribution. In terms of advertising, the earthshaking tag line or catch phrase on an amazingly beautiful ad doesn’t get any response if it is not where the right people see it. Here are some thoughts when it comes to distribution: A terrible product on Walmart‘s shelves (the worlds largest retailer) will sell more than an awesome one in your yard sale. A “perfect” ad in a mens car magazine, selling a product targeted at middle aged women will not likely sell anything. 1000 postcards to strangers will sell fewer products than 100 marketing emails to past customers. My point is, your advertising needs to be put in the right place, your cool interactive campaign needs to be targeted at the right people in the right way. You must practice relationship marketing if your brand is going to be successful.

Consider this ad we designed for an industry magazine. We took all three of the above into consideration when preparing this ad campaign. Allow me to point out a couple points to illustrate.

Simple and clear is powerful. Don’t worry about earthshaking copy, when you just need an earthshaking headline. There is very little question of what the message is here. Think of a a good headline like the tip of a sword – if you are trying to pierce something, you use the tip of the blade first. Giving your audience all the information at once prevents any of it from being received so start with the point.

Contrast can been seen for miles. Consider contrast in two areas: design and message. Contrast in message is using the art of pattern interrupt by deviating from what is expected (we said think small instead of think big for example). Controversy is also a way contrast can get attention. Contrast in design includes choosing colors for backgrounds that make your subject standout. Contrasting design catches the eye (and is pleasing to the eye when done tastefully).

The obvious answer is that you would like to have both. When you hire a creative marketing firm, you are putting your trust in someone because you feel that they provide the “juice” that your company needs. There are a few reasons why you might ultimately hire a marketing company:

1. You need a creative focused team that can provide a right brained look at your business (for branding, marketing campaign ideas, etc.)
2. You need the bandwidth because your team can’t implement and still complete the rest of their jobs.
3. You need some specialized service (social media, mobile apps, commercial production, etc.)

Maybe it’s all of the above. While there may be an emphasis on one over another for a specific project or ongoing need, I would argue that you need a balance of all of the above. That is the makeup of a good marketing team. Here are some tips to ensure that you are working with a team that has all of the above:

1. They know they need to have a creative minded and a functional minded approach.
2. They talk about measurement and achieving ROI
3. They believe in hitting deadlines and backing up their work with results (that your business expreiences the benefit from).
4. They have nice, stylish clothes but they are laundered too.
5. They don’t just talk about “ideas” but also “why”
6. Their staff includes people that know how to use Excel or Illustrator but not always both.

If you really want to get into this, I’d like to convince you that we are a great example of this sort of team. When we write a marketing strategy it talks about how you capture attention as well as how you capture data.

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redwall is seeking a full time Marketing Coordinator:

redwall LIVE is seeking a driven and studious candidate for a marketing coordinator role.

Compensation:
Base salary plus monthly performance bonuses
Approximately $25,000 +/- based on experience.
Successful candidates will add an additional 20% in bonuses and have further advancement opportunities.

Position Requirements:

• Eager to learn and grow
• Understanding of written marketing strategies
• Manage, proof and/or write marketing and PR copy
• Monitor account activity and measure marketing results
• Active and skilled in social media and social marketing
• Detailed project management using internal project management software

Skill Set Requirements:

• 4 year degree or equivalent professional experience
• Strong interpersonal skills (both internal and external)
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Proficient with a keyboard and mouse and aspects thereof
• Comfortable with a Mac
• Highly motivated
• Detail oriented
• Copy writing experience
• PR experience desired
• Creative thinking and problem solving skills
• Experience in MS Office Suite, Google Apps, Wordpress basics
• Experience in Adobe Creative Suite a plus
• HTML and CSS Basics a plus
• Ability to work in fast-paced environment with a team
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

It sounds like a few steps above marketing 101 but it’s actually a great way to increase ROI.

As a digital marketing firm, just like the cobbler’s shoes, our marketing has been less than it could be because of our preoccupation with clients. In june we had a record month. Sales were higher than ever, but they were $501 away from a perfect round number… so we decided we would create an email campaign based on that number to cap off the record month of sales.

In only 2 hours – with 3 hours left to spare to the month, we ended up designing an original email, coding it and sending it out to our database. This flash marketing campaign resulted in one (1) response from a startup that purchased the offer and several positive responses from customers and contacts congratulating us for our growth.

We decided that each month (for a little while) we would do a 501 deal to end the month out with a special limite time offer. In july we featured a simple video we did for a sponsorship with Indy Partnership. Here’s why we believe this works:

1. We get a chance to highlight a project we did and show our work

2. We connect with our customers and contacts in an interesting way

3. We give the small budget biz the opportunity to try our services

4. We received 4 new projects from the one we released this morning!

Click here to learn more about this campaign.

Google is a victim of its own success: its search has become polluted by SEOs. What shows that Google has failed is all those “non-search” services that really solve a search problem, like Match.com or Realtor.com. If you add them all up, they account for 50% of searches.

-Roger McNamee (on Business Insider)

Consider this point – search is so cluttered with people aiming for rankings, based on their ability to spend, that search by itself is broken. What to people make their buying decisions based on? And if thinking ahead is at all important that where is search going? Consider the following:

1. A “search engine” is not the answer to everything. Consider Foursquare and Angie’s List as examples. Customers are looking for trusted reviews from their friends. They are asking for recommendations online. They are searching specialty sites that features the specific category, in the specific geographic area. They are using mobile apps in many situations that help them find their choices. These may be commerce driven, but they are not search engines.
2. Effective conversion with Social Media Marketing and Email Marketing is more critical than ever. When you rank and so does another company, how do you compel the buyer to choose you? What value are you providing (prior to the sale) that is useful in driving results? You must provide (1) organic social media results (2) organic search results (3) attracting buyers to opt in when they find you. (This point is mind blowing. For a free report on this click here.)
3. Communities are where the highest level of transactions happen. When people become a part of the same group or community, their purchase intent goes up. It’s no secret that marketing to people will always pay more for something if they have a meaningful connection. Why would you not focus your marketing efforts on this community?

1. Creating a website with no conversion strategy: Why bother having a website? They can be expensive and time consuming to build and maintain. You don’t just want to merely have a presence on the web, when you can actually have a plan to attract response through your site.
2. Email blasts: The term “blast” suggests that you are sending a single email to your entire list. This approach suggests that everyone on your list is the same type of person, at the same stage in the buying cycle, and responds the same way. If you want to market to many for a minimal return, how about trying billboards. Otherwise, consider segmenting and targeting your email marketing communications.
3. The old “we’re on Social Media” line: Yes, so are your competitors, but if they have a professional marketing consultant helping them to establish a stronger and more engaging presence, your twitter account is not enough. If you are not practicing improving engagement, response and conversion, then being there is possibly meaningless. It is critical that companies have a strategy for social lead generation. Social media is not only about content driven campaigns, it’s also about responding to people with a point in time need.
4. Focusing on strangers and forgetting customers: Your most loyal customers refer you the most business, they are the most likely to make a repeat purchase as well. Why don’t you spend more dollars marketing to keep them? How about providing more value to them for a higher profit? They will pay more, and their loyalty will lead to new customers as well.
5. Listening without responding: People are talking about “listening” on social media. Seldom do companies establish a meaningful response plan for what they are listening to. We recommend you contact LeadJen, a pioneer in social lead generation. The fact is, in most industries, customers are seeking for or reviewing products and services online. The opportunity is there.