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Time to read: 2 minutes

Why we’re failing to sell with engagement

Most of us are failing to sell with engaging social media because we’re building our content marketing on an outdated foundation. We’re clinging to mass media advertising ideas and values. Rather, we should be exploiting direct response marketing tactics. This is the secret sauce, the untold truth that top social sellers realize and act on. It’s how they are making social media sell for them.

Why do so many of us pursue getting “Liked” on Facebook or followed on Twitter? Because of this single idea: getting lots of customers’ attention (reach) over and over (frequency) is enough to earn a sale… somehow, sometime. You know… this is how advertising works. Now I’m not saying attention doesn’t matter. It does. I’m simply saying it’s not enough. Stopping at earning customers fleeting attention is a sure-fire losing strategy online.

What to do in order to make the sale

Today’s best social sellers do not believe for a minute that exposure to engaging content will result in a sale. They have no trust that it will produce a lead. Rather, they believe in, and execute on, carefully mixing in calls-to-action. The content they create solves customers problems or vividly demonstrates (proves… think “infomercial”) compelling experiences relating to their service.

The best way to sell on Facebook is to solve customers’ problems (yes “for free”) in ways that earn trust and ultimately help them navigate their way toward your paid products and services.

Flip the paradigm!

Don’t get sucked into the profitless prosperity black hole! When I speak to audiences I encourage them to think (and act!) in terms of direct response marketing when engaging with social media and content marketing. Ron Perlstien says, “Frequency is the benefit of success, not the key to success.” In other words, you can increase frequency when you generate sales revenue!

Photo credit Michael Holden

The post How to Be Sure Content Marketing Produces Sales appeared first on Sales Prospecting Tips & Methods | Jeff Molander.

First, it’s important to realize that having a constant stream of content emanating from your business is not that important. Despite what “the experts” keep saying, the most effective content is not that which gets discovered in search engines and gets people to your Web site. It’s not a numbers game. Nor is it that which has “your voice” or “reflects your culture” or “is authentic.” Nor is effective content a blog or article or video which convinces customers to prefer or choose your brand.

The most effective content produces measurable sales. Period.

If leads and sales are what you’re after with content marketing then you’ve got to come to grips with the truth: Effective content marketing goes beyond providing your target audience with useful information. That’s essential but you’ve got to go the extra mile—you’ve got to provide NEW, previously unknown information that tells customers how to avoid risk or exploit opportunity. Good luck finding someone on the outside that a) understands that and b) understands enough about your competitive environment to know how and where to find what your customers truly need to know and c) can actually research such content—let alone produce it reliably, over time!

Getting to the sale demands that your company’s content create addictions among customers. People need to crave your tips and tricks or educational materials. That means your content must always help them solve problems, generate wealth or avoid risk. If your content isn’t doing these things then it blends right in to the environment. It’s crap.

Want your content to look like your competitors? Just outsource it to people who repackage information your customers already know. They’ll take your money and in return pass off what they create as thought leadership or insightful information. And then you’ll pass that junk on to your customers.

95% of content marketing is crap—information that everyone already knows surrounded by buzzwords.

Want your content to produce leads and sales? Hire people who know how to produce written or multi-media materials that make readers/viewers say, “hmm, I never thought of it THAT way… that’s scary” or “I see the opportunity in that, I better get in touch with these people to take action!”

Because that’s what good social media marketing and content marketing does—induces responses that leads to sales.

photo credit: feck_aRt_post

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Time to read: 2 minutes. You’ve probably gotten your feet wet with social media marketing by tweeting or creating a Facebook page. Good for you. But if you’re like most marketers, you were hoping for more from social media: leads and sales. Sure, you’ve netted a few customers that you suspect came from Facebook or Twitter. But you want more; many more. But how to get a customer from your Facebook page or blog to the point-of-purchase is unclear. And the metrics you’re told to use (like “engagement”) don’t help. Until now.

The key to selling with social media

After a year of interviewing the best social media sellers — businesses that are actually selling using tools like Facebook, blogs and LinkedIn — I found a common thread. The answer to selling more with social media is found in starting conversations that are worth having. And conversing in ways that generate questions—that your products or services give answers to. To do this they’re focusing on solving customers problems.

THIS is how to generate more customer inquiries. In fact, they’ve proven to me that knowing how to “do social media” really well is worthless without knowing how to design it to pay you back.

Forget about learning how to “do social media”

The answers you seek won’t be found in learning how to set up a Facebook page or run promotions within it. Nor will learning how to operate blog software, install plugins, set up widgets or create LinkedIn groups help you generate leads and sales. These skills are essential to have, but success requires a focus on planning social media marketing. Giving it purpose.

Following customers into social spaces without a means to capture sales rarely works. Listening and engaging with customers on Facebook, Twitter, blogs or on mobile devices—they’re all necessary, but doing just these things won’t help you sell more and more often.

Solve customers problems

That’s why successful marketers are going beyond capturing customers’ attention in social spaces. Instead, they’re designing social media marketing in ways that ultimately creates a sale. And here’s how: They’re differentiating, driving sales and keeping more customers by diagnosing and solving customer problems—not by cutting prices and offering coupons.

Social media can be a more powerful servant to your business than you think. But only when you act on the truth that attention is only the beginning. Successful social marketers design to sell.

Follow these rules

Everything I’ve learned from today’s best “social sellers” can be distilled to three success principles. Social media marketers that sell:

1. are translators that discover and solve customers’ evolving problems; They answer routine, everyday questions for customers on their blog or using Facebook

2. always design social experiences to discover customers’ needs, cater to them over time and ultimately capture the sale; They use the answers (to common questions) as a way to help customers guide themselves toward more answers — products and services

3. create sales by mixing in behavior-driven, direct response and classic marketing devices; They use what has always worked (traditional marketing tactics, give-aways, contests, etc.) in social environments and leverage traditional lead nurturing tactics to bring the sale to fruition.

I drill down and give actual examples of businesses using this technique in my 3 Habits of Successful Social Media Marketers white paper here.  Good luck!

Photo credit: cyanocorax

The post The 3 Habits of Successful Social Media Sellers appeared first on Sales Prospecting Tips & Methods | Jeff Molander.

Time to read: 3 minutes. Which answer would you rather have?  “How to measure the true value of a Facebook fan” or “How retailers are actually selling on Facebook.”  The answer seems obvious.   But if everyone wants to learn how to sell on Facebook why are so many retailers obsessed with the “value of a friend/fan?”  Here are 3 tips on how to get back on track — sell off-the-hook with Facebook.

Step #1: Admit we’ve lost track of the goal

Welcome to Retailers Anonymous.  Step one: Admit we lost track of the goal.

Now I’m not belittling anyone who seeks to understand “value of Facebook friends or fans.”  But I wonder if selling on Facebook starts with understanding the value of a fan or friend.  Or if it starts with designing behaviors that help guide empowered customers toward sales. Actually I don’t wonder.  I think it does.

But I’m crazier.  I think Web retailers want to know how to sell on Facebook.  We just got distracted.  We DO want to know — stuff like how to design conversations with fans in ways that generate customer behaviors.   I believe most Web retailers are yearning to help customers find answers to questions — via the products and services they sell.  They’ve just lost track of the goal.

Step #1(b): Admit we’ve been following the wrong leaders

Surprising research tells us most retailers are focusing on the value of fans.  And with good reason.  I’ll admit.  No, they’re not crazy either.  They’re being told that “value of fans” matters by every social media guru under the sun.  We’ve been following the wrong leaders — people who have answers to sell.

But the quest to understand “value of fans” doesn’t help retailers understand how to sell on Facebook.   It serves gurus.

Speaking of selfish interests, my forthcoming book features the best retail examples — explaining how to sell with Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.  And without mentioning Dell or Zappos!  But the truth is you don’t need my book to start making sales.  To make more sales on Facebook tomorrow, just stop chasing “value of fans” and start asking better questions, today.

Step #2: Ask better questions

Again.. which answer would you rather have as a Web retailer?

“How many people who become fans are existing customers vs. new customers?”

or

“How do retailers (making sales on Facebook) know which fans to engage with — and how are they conversing in ways that buyers value… that ultimately results in sales?”

The answer seem obvious.  There are retailers making sales using Facebook.  But they’re making use of Facebook (and all social media) differently.  They’re using it to sell — not measure brand funk.  And to achieve this they’re asking better questions.

Step #3: Shepherd customers

Retailers I’m interviewing for my book are finding ways to start conversations worth having.  And then shepherding customers — helping solve problems in ways that connect with their products.  Companies like gardening and small-farm goods retailer, Tractor Supply Company (TSC) are using content marketing and video to drive Web sales.  Their Chicken Whisperer partnership is a remarkable example of compelling, useful content mixing with direct response calls-to-action.

Quirky?  Yes.  But I assure you laughs and novelty are not what’s driving sales.  TSC is becoming an indispensable part of its customers lives through content marketing.

Winning retailers like TSC are helping customers guide themselves toward destinations they (customers) have all but chosen –- TSC’s products and services!

Facebook plays a central role in distribution of useful information that’s designed to prompt engagement and ultimately sales.

Conclusion: Facebook is a sales (not discounting) tool

For TSC, Facebook is not about fans.  Nor their value.  Nor who they are nor the percentage of traffic they send to their ecommerce site.  Facebook is a functional tool far beyond broadcasting coupons.  It’s useful to customers and TSC.

Yet everywhere I go retailers are asking questions — but those that likely don’t serve their best interests.  Rather than seeking out the best way to sell on Facebook they’re focused on the value of fans, for instance.

Action item: Let’s think… more

Retailers seem to be giving up.  Shop.org’s Larry Joseloff is reporting the news this way:

“After many years of retailers hearing that Facebook will change how consumers shop, is it really driving direct business and customers for retailers?  Are the results measurable or is there a lot of ‘faith’ involved with calculating the retailer value of Facebook?”

I really respect Larry.  And his Think Tank is a really, really smart, accomplished group of folks including Kirthi Kalyanam of Santa Clara University; Jeanie Bunker, Alibris; Catherine Davis, The Container Store; Fiona Dias, GSI Commerce; Lauren Freedman, the e-tailing group; Jeremy Liebowitz, Jarden; Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester Research; retail consultant Jim Okamura, of Okamura Consulting; Elaine Rubin, Digital Prophets Network; Matthew Siegel, Ann Taylor Corporation; Adam Silverman, Musician’s Friend; and Paul Zaengle of Columbia Sportswear.  I bow to their collective wisdom.

But I’m asking for a favor in the best interest of all retailers.  Let’s consider asking better questions.  New questions that lead to more practical answers.  Ways that help retailers sell on Facebook.  What do you think?

Photo credit:
daveknapik

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Time to read: 1 minute. The social media and mobile opportunity for financial services organizations (especially banks) extends beyond account access, bill pay, transfers and the like.  Here it is in a breath:

Discovering customers’ evolving needs, nurturing leads, capturing new business and increasing loyalty.

Today’s customers are re-active.  Many times acting out of fear.  And when they need financial help they expect free, value-added services… to aid in making complex decisions.

My new white paper helps financial services companies to create tangible results with social and emerging mobile media.

Banks and insurance companies you will learn how reach beyond coercing customers to prefer their brand.  They’ll learn how leading pioneers are producing tangible demand with digital.  Leads, referrals and increased share-of-wallet.  They’re doing it using three success principles:

1. Creating utility: Finding ways to integrate with the everyday lives of customers simply and relevantly.
2. Publishing: Offering meaningful, valuable tools and information that prompt desired actions.
3. Exchanging qualitative value: Defining success as being mutually beneficial in qualitative terms

Many of us want to help customers make better decisions by becoming the source of trusted, useful information.  But how can you use content marketing on blogs and mobile applications actually produce leads.  Reliably.

Download this paper today and find out.  Good luck!

The post White paper:Social media & mobile in financial services appeared first on Sales Prospecting Tips & Methods | Jeff Molander.

Time to read: 4 minutes. Unfortunately, people don’t trust banks much these days — nor turn to them for financial advice.  For most banks, social media isn’t helping improve the situation.  But one Midwest bank is increasing share-of-wallet using social media.  AnchorBank is designing social media to solve customers’ problems.  Bottom line: most banks are failing to extract leads from social media and mobile marketing.  Let’s learn how to fix that.

Anchor Bank: A winning value-exchange

In life, most of us don’t plan. We react. Especially with our finances. And we don’t turn to banks for advice on complex decisions like retirement or college savings. We look elsewhere. So most banks run Web advertisements and social media ad campaigns. They try to change their image and make us more aware – they really do care and have answers.

But AnchorBank takes a different approach. This bank uses social media to give customers answers they’re needing. AnchorBank is making its product’s benefits real –- when and where customers display a need for them. It doesn’t try to change the minds of customers with ads.

AnchorBank is publishing a library of information (www.financialinformationcenter.anchorbank.com).Answers on everything from small business loans to managing credit better and what to do when preparing for a divorce. But the bank wisely uses this asset to generate leads for high-margin products. Customers literally qualify themselves for products they’re inclined to buy.

Translating need, exchanging value

AnchorBank’s social marketing function translates customer need.  They’re investing in a process that leads customers toward purchase of products by nurturing questions that the bank has answers to.  Customers are trading information on what they need (or don’t need), when and why in return for advice.  The way they express need may be explicit or implicit.  Urgent or latent.

AnchorBank built process around the content. Rather than trying to change customers’ perceptions or grab and keep their attention AnchorBank discovers need, nurtures it and captures sales through content marketing. The bank asks customers to trade information on their “state of need” for valuable knowledge — solutions to their urgent financial problems.

Proof’s in the numbers: AnchorBank is increasing share-of-wallet despite increased regulation and skeptical consumers. Share-of-wallet is the percentage (“share”) of a customer’s expenses (“of wallet”) that AnchorBank’s products/services have earned.  And they’re doing this all while boosting referrals and leads. They’re bucking the trend among banks.

AnchorBank thinks differently about social media marketing – in ways that produce more profitable ways of doing it. They have a different perspective on social media in general. A sensible, practical one.  By design.

Chase’s ‘+1’ campaign failed because it was designed to

Chase provides a brief example of a “social” campaign designed around limited qualitative outcomes.  Of course, it’s often celebrated as a triumph.  Gurus see it as a great case study of how to use Facebook.  Yet a closer look reveals mass-media era value that is largely based in “buzz” and “conversation” that is detached from creating meaningful customer behavior.

Chase failed to tap into the power of the Web in a way that creates meaningful behavior.  What they settled for was PR buzz around the campaign itself.

Chase’s +1 campaign resulted in customers getting little if any value beyond a momentary novelty.  Chase shorted itself on gaining tangible business value.

In a recent Facebook campaign hoping to enroll student card holders (the desired business outcome) Chase invested in banner ads throughout Facebook that invited students to join a Group page –- people who want to learn about or sign up for their new “+1” credit card.

34,000 or so students earned points for spreading Chase’s message that they could redeem later for DVDs and other merchandise — stuff that students actually value.  Concurrently student organizations could earn valuable points for each new referred student who became a Facebook Group member.

Unfortunately the good news stops here.  Chase’s Facebook Group has no means to capture information on student’s actual state of need.  Do they need a card?  If so what credit line and services do they expect?  When will they or might they need one?

Chase fails to capture and store such vital information — for future follow-up with individual students.  There is also no discussion board to monitor for needs-oriented chat among students –- which could have been fed back into the product marketing organization (this being a best practice).

Chase communicates with members unreliably –- when it feels like it (about once a month or so) –- with Facebook alerts about new offers (commercial information).  The program itself is heralded as a “win” given it is influenced by the involvement of several hundred student “ambassadors” who weigh in on how the program is designed in exchange for points or in some cases internship credit.  But this merely amounts to a digital focus group.

What Chase should have done and why

Chase’s agency said, “Students are engaged, and they’re giving us more feedback than we thought we would get… they tell us honestly what they think.”

Listening to customers is obviously beneficial — but only if you do something with the knowledge gained.   And that takes planning.

More importantly, prompting students to give qualitative information (beyond opinion) about their current “need state” would allow Chase to actively market the +1 card to students more effectively.

Overall this campaign was limited in that it didn’t organize around students’ behavior in a way that induces more, beneficial behavior… that generates valuable outcomes on customer and business sides.   Specifically, Chase’s +1 Facebook campaign was not designed to leverage actions that students are known to be actively taking (or willing to take) given what Chase knows about students.  It did not pair those actions with Chase’s objectives in a way that generated tangible outcomes.

The opportunity for you

Banks are inherently service-focused.  That’s a real strength that most aren’t leveraging in the digital realm.  So why aren’t more banks using social marketing to become ultra-relevant to the everyday needs of customers?  Needs that evolve faster and are increasingly driven by emotions?  It seems ripe for opportunity.

Everything banks do can be endlessly useful and always in context — equally relevant to the organization and to the customer.

Today’s banking customers see life this way:  Utility trumps novelty, fun or “engaging.”  While a sense of humor is always a good thing to have customers are having a hard time “lightening up” about their finances and those who they entrust with their money.  Customers want better, reliable service — not to feel better about your charitable giving.

So how can social media bring you closer to aligning your bank’s needs with customers needs through actions both of you take on the “social Web?”

The post How AnchorBank creates social leadswhile Chase struggles appeared first on Sales Prospecting Tips & Methods | Jeff Molander.

Time to read: 7 minutes. Today, Abercrombie & Fitch announced flat Web and declining store sales.  But they have well over 1,000,000 “followers and friends.”   How can this be?  And Moosejaw… they’re missing out on the ‘digital native social commerce’ action too.  Here’s how to improve your social media marketing’s output.  Read on and discover how to create tangible results with social media marketing. 

I noticed that Moosejaw is inadvertently overstating the effectiveness of a Facebook and Twitter campaign and under-utilizing social media’s true prowess.   Essentially, they asked customers to blast and re-blast gratuitous promotional messages about the brand.  But what if Moosejaw created meaning for customers with social media?  What if they prompted customers to do things that, in the end, gave them a more meaningful experience with their products?

A real life reason to take action — buy, encourage others to buy, download an outdoor-life related application that helped customers do what they already want to do in a faster, easier, more fun way?  Or use Moosejaw products in creative, new ways?

With improving your social ROI in mind, I’ll critique Moosejaw’s limited approach and lay out an easy-to-implement path to improve results of social media marketing — using Moosejaw as an example.

Tip: Tie marketing goals to qualitative business outcomes

A quick read of MarketingSherpa’s case study on Moosejaw reveals a set of goals and tactics that create limited success for the brand and its customers — although MarketingSherpa unknowingly celebrates it.  Sherpa’s write-up promises:

“See how a retailer created a product giveaway campaign that required social media users to engage on Facebook or re-tweet messages on Twitter to qualify for drawings.  Not only did they significantly grow their social media followers, but for some products, sales increased 15%.”

Briefly, Moosejaw is a purveyor of outdoor gear and apparel aimed at the 20-30 something crowd — the “digital natives.”  All the more reason for them to get moving on social media marketing.  But therein lies a trap which I’m afraid Gary Wohlfeill and his team have fallen into.

Moosejaw’s expectation of this campaign is part of the problem.  Goals include increasing quantities of things like Facebook Friends, Twitter Followers, “buzz and engagement.”  This is a problem.  Their marketing team was not held responsible for tangible business outcomes — qualitative results.

Tip: Measure correctly

Moosejaw claims sales increased as a direct result of the social campaigns.  But the company did not measure incremental sales by accounting for buying activity that would have occurred anyway.   In other words, they didn’t “subtract out” those naturally occurring sales from customers that would have purchased without the promotion.  They did not invest in a “control group” that would have allowed them to measure the incremental effect.

A true 15% rise in sales as a result of holiday-season give-aways using social media is highly suspect given the holiday season is Moosejaw’s biggest.  People were already primed to buy!

Tip: Create meaningful customer value, not discounts on stuff

But here’s where the story gets interesting.  Moosejaw could have gone much further toward creating a profitable campaign had they focused on creating qualitative value.

The customer value Moosejaw created using Facebook and Twitter was not relevant nor meaningful to customers’ everyday lives.  There was no payoff for customers/participants other than the chance to win stuff.  This created limited results for Moosejaw.

Specifically, customers were asked to behave in ways that simply “blast” promotions across the Web (“virally”).  They were asked to “friend” more on Facebook, comment more on blogs, share more, tweet more on Twitter.  There was no emphasis or requirement on quality of what was being said.

In fact all Moosejaw asked people to do was spread the news of its promotion with “free stuff” as bait.

Moosejaw provided no qualitative outcome for customers/participants.   They did not design the campaign to be relevant to customers’ everyday lives in a meaningful way.

Further, Moosejaw facilitated a negative brand experience.  Participants began to mis-behave and “spam” friends with large quantities of commercial messages (about the promotion).  Hardly a positive brand experience.

Tip: Create utility

But what if Moosejaw had planned to create meaning for customers using social media?  What if they prompted customers to do things that, in the end, gave them a more meaningful experience with their products?  A reason to take action — buy, encourage others to buy products or use Moosejaw products in new ways?

Rather than a give-away contest Moosejaw could have offered customers the opportunity to download an iPhone application or Mac/PC desktop widget custom-designed to improve the experience of using Moosejaw products.

As an example, a skiing/snowboarding tool that lets customers check slope conditions that they regularly romp.  Or a desktop news reader that comes pre-programmed with customers’ preferences for news and entertainment.  Think Bloglines, iGoogle, MyYahoo, MyMSN only for outdoor enthusiasts and customized to hiking, biking, snowboarding, camping or rock climbing.

Think along the lines of Adagio’s Tea Timer.  Tools that both serve a pre-existing customer need and marketer’s need to understand customers’ preferences and momentary “state of need.”

Moosejaw marketing 2.0: A translator of customer needs

By becoming a trusted news source to customers Moosejaw could understand current customers’ preferences and gather highly qualified leads on new customers.   They could do this from moment one and over time — study consumption patterns of media content among customers.

As an example they may notice that rock climbers actually spend most of their time reading about fly fishing — yielding actionable insights on those customers’ preferences and “need state” in terms of what customers actually NEED at the moment.

Moosejaw’s marketing team now become translators of evolving customer need — not just broadcasters of what customers should want or give-away deals.

Expect more: ‘conversation’ and ‘buzz’ isn’t enough

It’s a common belief that more mentions, more “conversation” about a company, the more valuable it is for them.  But this goal is backward.  This goal is relevant in a mass communication world that no longer serves our needs.

Today, there is less value in buzz, positive sentiment and conversation versus creating sales and leads.

“The engagement/conversation/relationship crowd are confused about cause and effect. You don’t sell someone something by engagement, conversation and relationship. You create engagement, conversation and relationships by selling them something.”

Bob Hoffman

In the end, Wohlfeill and his team ran a sweepstakes promotion that gave away products during December.  It was designed to use “social media channels to encourage the audience to connect with the brand there and share the information with friends.”

But notice:  It wasn’t designed to sell or capture “need states” of potential customers.  Selling seemed to just happen — although the rise in sales seems highly suspect given the holiday season.  The tactics employed by Moosjaw’s marketing team were quantitative and mass-communications focused (ie. hoping for actions to be taken rather than prompting them).

And there was no control group.  Measuring the impact of social media programs without use of control groups fails to consider “who would have purchased/acted anyway” (without the promotion).  Results are skewed significantly — toward the promotion being effective.

I hope exploration of this social media marketing example helps you use digital media in ways that power your company.  Because in the end we’re not in this to build Twitter and Facebook a business model!

The post Case study on Moosejaw: Improving social media marketing outcomes appeared first on Sales Prospecting Tips & Methods | Jeff Molander.

The U.S. specialty tea market is exploding with growth.  Adagio is winning because it follows key Web marketing success principles.  Adagio publishes with purpose.

Their marketing-focused blogs and tea-lover tools (like a Tea Timer that prevents over or under-steeping) are highly useful to customers.   Full stop.  This is critical to appreciate (and act on!).

Second, they’re organizing around driving customer behaviors that create marketing opportunities.  They’re allowing customers to do what they’ve already expressed an interest in doing — or ARE (already) doing.

Remarkably successful companies are creating qualitative online experiences that create more frequent customer behaviors.

“The engine of your social efforts is what your business does, not what you hire smart people to declare,” says international speaker, author and branding consultant, Jonathan Salem Baskin.  “The creative part comes in deciding how this reality can become real for everyone else.”

“Consumption of messages isn’t an action, taking an action is an action… the real challenge is to invent ways for consumer behaviors to track with your corporate actions,” says Baskin.

Adagio’s “ethical bribes” are appreciated by customers and profitable to the company — they’re designed that way.  That’s the key.  It didn’t just “happen” because they Tweeted it or blogged about it.  It was highly premeditated based on their target customer’s KNOWN behavior — their NEED.

Useful tools for customers

“When you create a utility you’re creating something that gives people time back.  It becomes less about information as pollution and more about information to help people get through life.”

Nick Law, CEO, R/GA North America

Case in point — Adagio’s Tea Timer is designed to help computer-usin’ tea-lovers by putting a customizable timer (based on tea type) right on their desktop.  Pre-loaded with their favorite teas.  Convenient?  Useful?  You bet but also to Adagio.

Adagio benefits big-time from this non-monetary transaction.   It gathers email address, first name and favorite tea types from customers and prospective customers.  Sure enough, they use that information to market and re-market to customers. 

They use the act of providing value to customers to create marketing opportunities.

Twitter

If you read me you know how critical I am of Twitter use.  Adagio makes me proud.  Featured prominently on their front page they offer a sizable $5 discount on an order just for following them. That’s right.  They provide an incentive to follow them.  Sounds simple but few brands do it.  They’re too busy “humanizing” themselves and having interns tweet gibberish.

Don’t like what they Tweet?  No worries, you still get the $5 — with which you can actually buy a sampler tea product (in fact 2!).  The process was as easy as clicking the offer, providing my Twitter name, checking for a direct message from Adagio and jotting down the discount code.

And here’s where Adagio scores a negative.  They’re tweets are enormously self-centered and pompous.  This week they’re asking Twitter followers to assist them in reviewing and improving their new mobile e-commerce Web site.  Sorry, guys, but I’m not interested in building your business — and nor are a majority of your followers I’d wager.  I’m not interested (let alone willing to) act as a free consultant to improve their mobile e-commerce business.   What action did followers display that gives Adagio this impression?

Blogs & newsletters: Publishing

Adagio is the hands-down winner with their use of blogs and newsletters.  The real story here is how useful its blogs are for customers.  Adagio’s e-commerce business rather quietly — until you start peeking at how they’ve penetrated Google’s search results.  Their blogs are beautiful, useful (to customers), adored by Google and drive remarkable customer acquisition.

Adagio is achieving “page one” Google search placement on high volume queries like “black tea” and niche teas like “golden monkey tea.”  The latter query demonstrates Adagio’s true prowess — it’s ability to use content-focused blogs to generate page one Google listings for its e-commerce site AND its blogs.

Adagio is relying less on search marketing ads (Google AdWords) and more on high quality content.  Simply stated, they’re investing in publishing useful information and making it discoverable.  Not using advertisements.  Using the “natural” search results (where most searchers click!).  Note:  the content is not merely entertaining, fun or “engaging.”  It’s honestly useful and relevant.

Adagio is keen on WHERE searchers click more often — and also WHY they click.  Namely, searchers like discovering useful information, community and tools.  They’re focused on bringing them into the sales funnel using content!  They’re providing customers with “ethical bribes” — a stream (example: e-mail newsletters) of useful content.  Eventually, yes, customers/prospects purchase.

Bigelow struggles with its blog although they’re really trying.  Unfortunately its linking is extremely gratuitous, overdone, haphazard and not well-organized.  But it’s typical.  And this is why it’s simply not creating results.

Bigelow, like so many brands who blog, believes that celebrity gossip is how it will attract readers — a totally different approach from Adagio which blogs to a more sophisticated customer.  Adagio is also more technically expert in executing inbound (to its blog) linking strategies that create better search results on Google for its e-commerce and blog sites.

Video

Here Adagio earns a D (and I’m being generous) with its TeaV featuring Zack Luye.  They’re very busy trying to be cute, funny and entertaining — just like most brands.  Adagio fails to leverage video to provide useful information or prompt customers to take actions.  Adagio is too busy enjoying itself and laughing at itself.

Bigelow mostly falls into the same trap.  But I give CEO Cindi Bigelow props for putting herself on the front burner.  And honestly?  She carries it better than Adagio’s Zack.  While most of what Bigelow is putting out there is rather typical (“branded entertainment” drivel) it is occasionally useful. Ms. Bigelow actually prompts customers repeatedly and she occasionally provides useful information.  The videos are designed to get customers/viewers to DO something.  I give them a C.  They could earn a B if they prompted customers to take more action.

Marketers are publishers

In the past, you used a budget to buy audience.  Now you have to invest in ideas to attract an audience.

Adagio has a bevy of newborn community sites that aim to do just that.  Each will likely blossom based on what we see at their ridiculously innovative TeaChef.com.  Think “cool uses of tea for cooks of all kinds.”  But don’t forget — the real story here is how they’re dominating natural (“organic”) Google search results using publishing platforms that they own and operate.

In my own words

Bigelow and Adagio share similarities — they’re selling products in stores and online.  They also have differences — like Adagio not using a telephone or Bigelow’s discontinuing lower-demand tea flavors because they, “cannot make those passionate fans happy” and turn a profit.  Adagio is ‘co-creating’ specialty teas for literally everyone while Bigelow is busy apologizing.  Very interesting.

When it comes to online Adagio gets it.  Bigelow gets it too but their audience doesn’t demand the high-brow approach — in fairness to them.  Bigelow’s investment in e-commerce (the channel opportunity) is likely far lower as well.  In the end, Bigelow is likely “2.0’ing” (sexing up) itself and not yet taking e-commerce very seriously.  It’s certainly not taking e-marketing very seriously when compared to Adagio nor is it chasing a discerning specialty tea customer.  Ok, I get that

I also need to mention that Adagio pairs its marketing with superior user experience — a better e-commerce machine.   But that’s another story!

What do you think?

The post How Adagio is beating Bigelow Teato the social media punch appeared first on Sales Prospecting Tips & Methods | Jeff Molander.

Time to read: 4 minutes.

Patients demand more from doctors today than ever before.  But too often they receive little if any “quality time” with their docs.  Our current medical system simply doesn’t support meaningful doctor-patient relationships.  Rather than fight the system, thriving medical practices are applying Internet technologies that create qualitative patient outcomes and strengthen patient-physician bonds in measurable ways.

In other words some medical offices are using affordable, accessible Web technology to supplement the weakening patient-doctor relationship.  How?  For starters, by distributing vital information to patients in personalized, customized ways.

Quick example:  A physician’s office may take 6 to 8 calls per day dealing with arthritis treatment.  Pediatricians take calls dealing with asthma, allergies, etc.  Doctors simply don’t have the time to personally take calls or respond to patient inquiries.  Office staff may or may not step in to provide patients with medication advice, general information about the disease, treatment, etc.  Often the patient-doctor relationship suffers.

Solution example:  Use mobile Web and/or social media technologies to do the heavy lifting — to deliver desperately needed information to patients in a personalized, high-touch manner.

So — here’s what medical practices can do, starting tomorrow, to begin creating more meaningful patient outcomes using Web media.

Organize people and technology to support desired outcomes

Looking for a successful model?  The US AirForce (yes, the Air Force!) provides an outstanding example of how to organize a group of people with a common mission around an objective — using simple forms of communications (email, blogs, social media, etc.) as a tool.  They’re using a discover-evaluate-respond method.

Discover:  An inter-disciplinary team evaluates each inbound communication.  They also monitor discussions mentioning the Air Force across the vast Web using simple, free tools like Google Alerts.

Evaluate: Team members evaluate each opportunity for validity/authenticity (is it a real person making the comment or question?),  strength (does the opinion matter?), etc.

Respond: Appropriate team members respond in a pre-determined manner based on “rules of engagement” that the Air Force has committed to as an organization (just as a patient care provider/practice would).  Not all situations earn the attention of a staff member.  Similarly, if a patient is just being a trouble-maker they may not earn a response; however, if it’s a “squeaky wheel” situation where they need help a response is mandated.

Here’s how to start.

A weekly, cross-functional meeting is the first step.

Create your “rules of engagement.”  Start simple by addressing routine patient inquiries — deciding on how to gather up, process and respond to them.  How will you accept patient inquiries? (telephone, email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)  How will you respond, within what time-frame and under what limited circumstances?  How will you set expectations among patients for your new communications program? (share the rules of engagement via promises you make to patients)

It’s critical to decide what is a “routine inquiry” and what is “special.”  Routine inquiries like disease treatment information often does not require a physician’s time.  Yet these majority of situations are an opportunity to strengthen the patient-doctor bond.  Digital media simply gives medical offices the ability to scale time more efficiently and deliver a personalized outcome.

Resist the urge to over-automate (de-humanize) and keep the focus on qualitative experiences

Again, most marketers make this mistake — they see Amazon.com sending out highly relevant emails based on a sophisticated “product suggestion engine” and think they can do it themselves for $19.95 a month using a simple auto-responder system with pre-programmed rules.

A lesson can be learned from traditional marketers — who often fail to apply social Web tools in ways that produce qualitative results.   Most marketers tend to focus on interacting in mass — focusing on number of emails blasted, Twitter tweets broadcast, Facebook friend connections made.   Success is in numbers.

Physicians and medical practitioners cannot afford to interact quantitatively.   Qualitative interactions foster a personal, human touch.  A meaningful bond.

Get physicians/specialists involved — when it makes sense

Yes, special situations may arise that require physician/specialist intervention… such as when a patient has already received basic treatment information and is seeking more in-depth research on the topic.  A minute of a physician’s time may be required to locate the most up-to-date cases or research.  Practitioners can set aside 30 minutes a day to process that fraction of total inquiries that demands their attention.

Realize and act on patients’ expectation of value added, personalized services

Patients — like consumers of products and services — don’t just want more free, high-value services.  They expect them!  In the case of medicine it’s very information-focused.  How can your practice deliver?

The post Social media: creating improved outcomes in medical practices appeared first on Sales Prospecting Tips & Methods | Jeff Molander.