by Karen TalaveraPublished on April 13, 2011    


In this article, you'll learn...

• Why a thank-you process should be a part of your email marketing message stream
• How saying thanks and sending nonpromotional greetings can humanize your brand

Unless you were raised by wolves in the wild, at some point you learned that it is polite to say thank you. It's not merely proper etiquette; it's just downright considerate and gracious.

Yet, for marketers, saying thank you is about much more than just being polite. If you're in the business of building lasting, loyal customer relationships (and if you're not, please ask why you're bothering to be in business at all), it's an essential practice that pays both monetary and goodwill dividends. Without it, you're at greater risk of customer flight—and you're a sitting duck for the competition.

If you don't already have a thank-you email process in place, it's easy to begin one. I suggest matching the format of your initial thank-you message to the channel via which someone first did business with you, then expanding that process over time.

For example, did someone purchase from you online? If so, email the customer a thank-you message with an offer to revisit or purchase again; ideally, you'd provide a coupon or free gift to entice action soon. Did someone buy in your store or office? Send a thank-you follow-up letter via postal mail. Did customers do business with you at a conference, fair, or tradeshow? Email and mail them an invitation to engage with you at your physical place of business, your online storefront, or both. And keep the follow-ups going.

The thank-you and other conversational greetings (such as birthday, holiday, and anniversary acknowledgments) become a legitimate reason to reach out to and talk to customers and should be different in feel from the ever-present invitation to buy, buy, buy. They make you approachable, grateful, and personal.

Remember, people don't buy from brands; people buy from people. Adding thank-you emails to your marketing illuminates the human side of your brand.

Acknowledging the performance of the action you requested is as important as, if not more important than, asking for it in the first place. Always thank promptly, but also show gratitude when it's expected (such as, at a minimum, at Thanksgiving and on a customer anniversary date) and when not expected (at any other appropriate juncture, when it willsurprise and delight).

Here are three suggestions for weaving both expected and unexpected thank-yous, in the spirit of gratitude, into your marketing.

1. The Immediate Thanks
   
   As I recommended, an initial thank-you message should match the channel via which communication or a transaction occurred. Make it immediate and consistent in tone, design, and style with your marketing message that prompted the purchase or action.
   
   Immediate thanks for e-commerce transactions can be sent easily via email, but don't forget social media. If, for example, you're asking customers to enter a sweeps or promotion on Facebook (or give you a thumbs-up there), redirect them to a thank-you page immediately after they take action.
   
   Also, the greater the purchase or commitment someone makes, the more time, effort, and money you should spend thanking that person. The last time I bought real estate, for example, I received a huge housewarming gift basket, not a lame postcard or text message. Match your thanks, in magnitude, to the action you are thankful for.
   
2. The Seasonal Thanks
   
   After you've sent immediate thank-you emails to acknowledge specific calls to action that prospects or customers took you up on, remember to also thank your customers at regular, natural intervals throughout the year. In the US and in other countries that celebrate a day of Thanksgiving, that one's a given, but go beyond national or religious holidays. 
   
   Are you also thanking your customers on the anniversary of their relationship with you? Of their first purchase? On holidays relevant to them (Mother's Day, Father's Day, New Year's Day, Veterans Day, Grandparents Day)? 
   
3. The Surprise Thanks
   
   Of course, we all love a thank-you for no particular reason when we're least expecting it. To start, weave a quarterly or (if you're ambitious) monthly thank-you campaign to reward repeat business and customer loyalty. It could be as simple as a winter/spring/summer/fall program with a special offered during each season. Or, to keep people guessing, make it random, maybe even behaviorally driven.

For example, as customers reach specific purchase levels with you, move them into segments that receive exclusive thank-you gifts. Think of how American Express does it with its charge-card holders: Gold, Platinum, and "black card" Centurion members all receive specific perks for being customers at those levels. The higher the level, the bigger the gratitude! In 2009, for example, American Express sent several "gifts" throughout the year to Centurion card members, ranging from a $500 gift certificate for swanky department store Barney's (no minimum purchase required) and a $500 gift card usable on a $1,000-minimum purchase at high-end jeweler Van Cleef. Centurion cardholders spend a minimum of about $300,000 per year, so $500 here or there is a drop in the bucket.

Remember, you don't have to be a big spender, but do be generous relative to the customer's value to your business.

* * *

When you integrate thank-you messages into your customer communication stream, especially your email programs, you won't be thought of as the friend who calls only when she needs something. Instead, you'll be considered—and appreciated for taking the time to be—sincere... and human!

"Building a brand through social strategies doesn't happen overnight," writes Maria Pergolino atMarketo's blog, "it requires a sustained commitment using effective strategies for engagement and relationship building." Even as Twitter celebrates its fifth anniversary, however, many businesses still get it wrong. 

Here are a few of Pergolino's tips for getting it right:

• When you see a tweet that your followers will appreciate, hit the retweet button. Retweeting is a win-win-win strategy that shares relevant content, shows respect to the author of the tweet and gives him/her exposure throughout your network.
• Report news and provide links to original content. As industry news breaks, pass it along to your followers. And, she says, "be sure to include links to your own content from newsletters, B2B blogs, white papers and other sources in your tweets."
• Use hashtags for enhanced Twitter searches. A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by a # sign (for instance, #marketingprofs or #sxsw) that makes it easy for non-followers to find your information. "Research tags already in use," Pergolino suggests, "and utilize them in your B2B social media campaign."
• Interact with your followers. Respond when they send @ replies, comment on their tweets and send a quick "Thanks for the RT!" when they retweet you.
• Use lists to categorize tweeters you follow. Lists not only create an easy way to scan tweets by subject but also let the people on those lists know that you consider them go-to experts on a particular topic.

reposted from In a video interview with Web Marketing Today, Bryan Eisenberg offers a 7-minute primer on what he terms the Five Rs of search engine marketing. "I really wanted to demystify [the five core principles], especially for a lot of small and midsize businesses," he explains. "They hear so much conflicting [information] about search."

Here's a quick overview of Eisenberg's thoughts on each R:

Relevance. "How do you make sure you have the right content that's speaking to what people are interested in?" Eisenberg asks. "The search engine's goal is to match the user with what is going to be the most relevant content related to what their query is." 


Reputation. Good reviews never hurt—but they can be much more helpful if they come from respected sources. "Who's saying you have good content? Who's linking to you, saying you have good content?" he asks.

Remarkable. A good way to go unnoticed by search engines is with competent—but unremarkable—products, services and content. "People don't comment about stuff that's ordinary," says Eisenberg. "You have to be remarkable. Remarkably good or remarkably bad: that's when they comment."

Readability. Make your content easy for customers to digest by breaking chunks of information into headlines, bullet points, graphics and infographics, Eisenberg advises. You appeal to search engines with proper content like well-chosen tags and keywords, he notes.


Reach. "When developing your content," Eisenberg adds, "write about topics that have wider interest." If your focus becomes too narrow, he warns, people simply won't search for the information you have to offer.

The Po!nt: How remarkable is your rep these days? Remembering the Five Rs could help keep your SEO strategy on course.

"A drip campaign is a series of emails that are sent in a specific order at predefined intervals," writes Liz McInnis atBuyerZone. You might use campaigns to educate, nurture new leads or cross-sell to customers. Whatever your goal, her bits of advice, like the following, are likely to be useful:

Go light on self-promotion and heavy on valuable content. "Know what your prospects are interested in and offer ideas and solutions to their problems," she says. "Hint: they don't want to hear you talk about yourself all the time."

Format your content for mobile devices. Prospects who open email on iPhones or BlackBerries, but can't easily read your message, are unlikely to track your email down when they're back at their laptops.

Proofread your message. Then proofread again. If you let a grammatical error or a broken link escape your attention, why should a prospective customer let you manage a major project?

Send an avalanche of emails at your own peril. "Sending emails daily will likely annoy your prospects and damage your company's reputation," she says. "You may even see a spike in unsubscribe requests. A good rule of thumb is to send no more than one email a week."

Have a specific goal for each message. A recipient should be able to identify the purpose for each email—and appreciate its relevance.

Reconsider your strategy if it doesn't seem to be working. Don't forge ahead if you notice a drop in clicks or if leads start unsubscribing en masse. Use tests to identify the problem, and adjust as needed.

Called +1 (“plus one”), the service will be available to users with a Google public profile linked to their Gmail or other accounts. Clicking a +1 button appearing next to search results and advertisements will send the recommendation to email contacts and social friends, and also serve to reorder future search results for the original user.

Facebook has begun trialling ‘real-time advertising’, which is a new feature that lets the social network serve up immediate targeted messages based on users’ every action on the site.Websites such as Facebook will have to make stringent data privacy settings the default position for users Photo: PA

By Emma Barnett, Digital Media Editor 2:35PM GMT 25 Mar 20119 Comments

The social network is currently testing the new service on five million of its 500 million users.

A Facebook spokesman said: “We are currently testing a feature that simply helps surface relevant advertising more quickly.”

According to advertising magazine, AdAge, this is how it will work: “Any utterance will become fodder for real-time targeted ads. For example: users who update their status with 'Mmm, I could go for some pizza tonight,' could get an ad or a coupon from Domino's, Papa John's or Pizza Hut."

Real-time communication and advertising has been largely championed and pioneered by Twitter – which already surfaces promoted tweets (branded paid for messages) next to relevant tweets in real-time.

Facebook also offers ‘Places Deals’ which are offers from companies based on a user’s location and check-in patterns.

By Ricardo Bilton | March 28, 2011 12:15 PM EDT

Google is inching closer the debut of its mobile payment system, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The paper says Google is teaming up with MasterCard and Citigroup to bring its mobile payment system to consumers. Using an application available on near field communications-equipped phones, Citigroup card users will be able to use their phones to pay for purchases.

The move is believed to leverage Google's advertising business, giving the company greater insight into how users view targeting advertising. Google isn't believed to take a share out of transactions initiated through the system.

Earlier this month Bloomberg reported that Google plans to test the program in New York and San Francisco. The trial is set to begin within the next four months. VeriFone Systems Inc. will manufacture the contactless readers.

NFC support is included in Google's flagship phone, the Nexus S. With the embedded NFC chip Nexus S phones allow users to read information embedded in a variety of objects, including posters and advertisements. But the most lucrative potential in the technology lies in its ability to be used for mobile payments.

A representative from Wal-Mart also confirmed that Google had met with the company to brief it on the system, but said that the talks were preliminary. 

Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/127678/20110328/google-mastercard-citigroup-mobile-payment-nfc.htm#ixzz1I239ZCHs

Why You Should Nix 'Black Hat' OptimizationThe New York Times recently noticed something odd when performing Google searches on terms as diverse as bedding, skinny jeans, area rugs and grommet-top curtains. "You could imagine a dozen contenders for each of these searches," writes David Segal. "But in the last several months, one name turned up, with uncanny regularity, in the No. 1 spot for each and every term: JCPenney." The retailer's ranking even bested manufacturer Samsonite.com in Google searches for Samsonite carry-on luggage.

The newspaper asked Doug Pierce of Blue Fountain Media to investigate, and he discovered the strikingly unsubtle use of "black hat" optimization—including an array of phony sites that appeared to exist for the sole purpose of linking to the store's website.

"There are links to JCPenney.com's dresses page on sites about diseases, cameras, cars, dogs, aluminum sheets, travel, snoring, diamond drills, bathroom tiles, hotel furniture, online games, commodities, fishing, Adobe Flash, glass shower doors, jokes and dentists—and the list goes on," notes Segal.

Though not illegal, black-hat tactics are strictly verboten in the Google rulebook. "The company draws a pretty thick line between techniques it considers deceptive and 'white hat' approaches, which are offered by hundreds of consulting firms and are legitimate ways to increase a site's visibility," Segal explains.

Google retaliated with a "manual action" against JCPenney. In the space of two hours, for instance, the retailer's No. 1 ranking for Samsonite carry-on luggage plummeted to No. 71. Rankings for other search terms underwent similarly dramatic demotions.

The Po!nt: In the end, cheaters never win. Sure, everyone's trying to boost their search-engine rankings. Just make sure you follow Google's ground rules when you do it.

Source: The New York Times.

Harnessing the Mobile Web: Three Strategy ConsiderationsKnotice has produced an elegantwhitepaper detailing how you can harness the power of the mobile Web. "Over the next decade, the mobile Web will be a key conduit for your customer relationships, and foundational to your overall mobile strategy," the introduction notes. The key for businesses? Using the mobile Web in a "purposeful and relevant manner" to better serve customers.

Here are three of Knotice's suggested strategy considerations for preparing a mobile initiative.

Choose the right connectors.The best "connector" (i.e., the method by which you actually engage the user in your mobile campaign [via text, Foursquare, etc.]) can depend on demographics, context, media, cost, reach, adoption rate—even the customer lifecycle. Today's mainstream mobile connectors include 2D (QR) barcodes and SMS. Consider their differences to find your best fit:

• SMS is the most understood, but is costly to scale and may require carrier approval, depending on the interaction you want to initiate.
• QR codes are growing in popularity and can yield multiple types of responses (sending a text, prompting a file download, downloading contact information). You can put codes on print ads or products. And there are no carrier fees!

Don't mistake connectors for the destination. In mobile strategy, emphasis is often placed on the type of connector used instead of the destination the customer will be connected to, the paper notes. For example, experimenting with QR codes is fun, but what do you need users to find with them? Is the whole experience smooth and efficient? Does it make sense?

Be personable but brief. A mobile customer is on the go. His time is limited. Her handheld may be slow to load and equipped with a small screen. Provide valuable information that can satisfy customer needs in an instant. Focus on functionality, engagement and clarity.

The Byte: Put yourself in their mobile shoes. When building a mobile approach, consider what you would want as a user and go from there.

republished from MarketingProfs