I.R. Gilyeat & Company - Our Latest Thinking

Toyota falls from grace...

Ian Gilyeat — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:19:00 GMT

The breadth and impact of the Toyota recall is breathtaking. It’s been a slow simmering pot that has finally erupted onto the world stage, leaving many stunned and gasping for breath.

In some ways it is reminiscent of the Tylenol scares of the past. However, this one is different. It didn’t burst suddenly into existence but has been slowly percolating inside the company and now has the feel of a cover up…

I won’t say it’s a cover-up because I don’t believe that it is… Some will even jump to proclaim that the company is in trouble and that excessive damage to their brand has occurred. I don’t share these opinions. Let me explain…

I have been to Japan and worked with Japanese executives for a number of years. My experiences with them have been uplifting and refining. My skills as an executive are better today because of my interactions with them. However, I also recognize the culture is uniquely Japanese and the willingness to brashly admit error and “fall on the sword”, as is often expected to be done in America is a difficult place to get to for the Japanese. This is not a flaw in their culture but rather a uniqueness that is different from other cultures. It is one of their strengths that feed into their sense of national pride.

In observing the Toyota manufacturing problem it’s important to remember something about the Japanese: this is a people that take great pride in the ability to write on a grain of rice. Think about it. The level of control, patience, attention to detail and focused effort is remarkable in doing this thing.

Now apply this cultural characteristic and inherent expectation to Toyota cars. The same cultural expectation for control, patience, attention to detail and focused effort is deeply embedded in the manufacturing of Toyota cars. To deliver anything less is a failure. A national failure…

This is not a simple manufacturing problem for a middle of the road company. This is Toyota. It carries the name of Mr. Toyoda. This is a national treasure - the treasure of a people that inherently, almost subconsciously, expect – perfection.

The decision to make such a bold admission of failure, on a world stage, is a monumental effort and tarnishes the view of an entire nation. Is it any wonder that it has taken a year to come forward?

So, now that the decision to admit error has been made, true to the cultural expectations, exceptional focus has been turned to fixing the problem. Manufacturing has been halted. Supply chains and partner relationships have been disrupted. Big, bold advertising is now in place to “win back the confidence of our customers.”

Make no mistake Toyota will be stronger and better when this is done. The manufacturing will be tighter. The supply relationships will be enhanced… and the marketers? Well they, almost have a blank check to do whatever it takes to remove whatever tarnish has landed on the brand and polish up Toyota as a brand we can all trust - a brand that stands for reliability, stability and safety.

www.iangilyeat.com

Is advertising stuck in the 1900's?

Ian Gilyeat — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:37:00 GMT

Today I had lunch with an old friend...a friend from some 30 years ago. We both have made careers in advertising and marketing. He comes from the creative side, having been a Creative Director in several agencies, but it is clear from our conversation that there is more to advertising than a good quip, a funny headline or a well crafted message - at least in his head there is.

We spent a fair amount of time talking about integration. Some of you many recognize this as a core position that I have referenced on numerous occasions. You've seen say, "the future marketing is personalized, measurable, transactional and integrated. I found it noteworthy that a CD from the agency world, with heavy focus on brand development and messaging, would be talking about integration.

Now granted when I think of integration I tend to think of systems and processes. However, this notion can also be applied to an integrated brand experience that extends well beyond corporate brand guidelines - as it was today in my lunch conversation.

Peter Drucker is quoted as saying, "90% of the information needed to run a company exists outside of the company."

Based on the conversation I had over lunch today, it's nice to see that the brand guys are thinking the same thing and that integration extends well beyond the four walls of the corporation - including the great and nebulous brand.

So back to my headline question, is advertising stuck in the 1900's? For some I would have to say yes. However, there are many inquisitive and brilliant minds that are working within their brand experience world to figure out how to create an integrated experience well beyond the traditional notions of advertising. In the end, I'm convinced this will be very good for the customer.

www.iangilyeat.com

Extending Email Marketing to Cross-Channel Marketing in 2010

Elizabeth Hunt — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:26:00 GMT

Recently I read an article by David Goetzl entitled, "Study: Email Spending To Rise In 2010"

Here’s my take away on the article:

Instead of cutting back on spending during this recession, email marketers are looking to spend their budget on cross-channel marketing including SMS.

A survey conducted by SilverPop to 300 marketers, reported that 90% of the marketers are planning to spend as much or more in 2010 than they did on their email marketing in 2009. Even amidst the recession, those who had a strong email platform still saw increased ROI last year. Why? Because even in difficult times, when other companies are cutting back, the most measurable channels, like email, let you see a real return on investment and it keeps your brand at the forefront of your customers’ minds.

However, eventually the market will turn around and you can expect nearly every company to be employing email marketing. It is forecasted that by 2014 consumers will receive on average, 9,000 emails a year. When that kind of volume happens, it will be necessary for marketers to cut through the clutter and you will be able to do so if you continue to build strong, personalized relationships now. In addition, employing other media tactics such as SMS (text messaging) seems to be a popular new avenue that will continue to build acceptance.

There is always the debate though, that SMS is an invasion of privacy because some people feel their mobile devices are solely for private use. However, if SMS is used only as an opt-in channel, then it is definitely a great source of direct marketing. If the number of emails to an inbox really does increase to 9,000 per year as the article claims, SMS will be a great way to break through the normal clutter of email messaging and get personalized messages directly to the customer every time.

Bill Nussey, CEO of SilverPop was quoted to say "as customers become more mobile, their marketing must reach them in more timely ways and through channels such as SMS."

Customers are becoming more and more mobile and if you want their business, you have to keep up with them. Email and SMS text messaging are a great channel for delivering messages that meet their needs.

Elizabeth Hunt

www.iangilyeat.com

Why is pay for performance (PPP) so hard to apply to customer retention marketing?

Ian Gilyeat — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:05:00 GMT

The answer to this question is pretty simple - and it has nothing to do with difficulties in implementation. The real reason is the gravy train. Loyal customers are the gravy train for every company and who wants to share the gravy train with a pay for performance agency? Very few.

Think about it - acquisition work is hard and risky. If 2% of the market responds to your offers let the agency take the losses on 98% of their efforts.

However, when you have customer segments that buy every week or every month regardless of what you send them (you know 75% order rates on your RFM segments) - why would you strike a pay-for-performance deal with an agency for those customers? Most marketers don't - and they have plenty of good reasons for saying no - but the simple answer is - you can't afford to gave away the gravy train.

www.iangilyeat.com

Unified communications in electronic marketing...

Ian Gilyeat — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:34:00 GMT

Lately I've been doing a comparison of email marketing providers - although it's a little unfair to focus only on email. One of the purposes has been to identify a single platform that presents a unified communications experience for the marketer. A platform that allows the marketer to send email, SMS text, voice broadcasts, instant messaging, etc in a single, unified campaign. You know, message one is an email, message two is text and message three is a voice broadcast. All automated connected and sequential from the marketers perspective so it can be set up once and let it run. From what I can tell these are few and far between. At least for a price that is within reach for small to mid-sized companies.

We looked at more than a dozen companies. These included such well known providers as Vertical Response, Constant Contact, Genius, ExactTarget Lyris, Responsys, SilverPop, Alterian, Blue Hornet, Unica, Marketo and Eloqua. As you can see there are many options in this space.

We were doing a fast look not a look that was intended to be exhaustive, say like a Forrester Wave Analysis. We talked to several at length and others we only looked at briefly. Some dropped out quickly due to functional limitations otherwise due to price. We got to a short list pretty quickly. We had specific criteria that were important to the business we're working with. Things like cost, maximum limits on table relationships, send volume capacity, price per send, startup cost, breadth of APIs available, flexibility in the use of recommendation engines and so on.

Part of my purpose for giving the laundry list above is to express how important it is to know your own specific requirements and environment so you can find a match on the type of solution that will best fit your needs. Every solution does not fit every company.

I won't tell you here which one we selected, but if you want to know, call me (602-692-3818) and I'm happy to tell..and to explain why we picked the one that we did.

www.iangilyeat.com

Mobile marketing is not a single device strategy...

Ian Gilyeat — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:01:00 GMT

It seems to me there is a flaw in the way that some marketers think about mobile marketing. The temptation is to want to send promotions to the mobile device by itself. - a single destination assumption - and apply production resources accordingly.

Thinking this way is convenient and it simplifies the production effort but it ignores the fact that many people have multiple mailboxes and they route those multiple email boxes to their desktop email client and their phone. So, the old idea that sending email in multi-part MIME so that it renders in HTML and text is still a good idea.

Even with the wild success of the iPhone, the iPhone has not net displaced the desktop or laptop computer. I believe the need to address the rendering capabilities of multiple devices within the same email will continue to be standard production processes for a few years to come.

www.iangilyeat.com

Email marketing to mobile devices...why it will fall short

Ian Gilyeat — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:36:00 GMT

This afternoon while reading up on email marketing to mobile devices, the thought was reinforced in my mind that email marketing to mobile devices will fall short of users and marketers expectations. The reason for this opinion is driven by two simple points:

Reading email on your smart phone is great for convenience and for items that are urgent. Most marketing messages are neither.

Now, I'm not debunking the value of mobile marketing. In fact, I take the view that mobile marketing is a hot space but believe other technologies are much better suited to the convenient and the urgent needs of the user.

Text messaging, as an example is well entrenched into reality TV shows. It is convenient and urgent for those that are deeply engaged in voting on the show. Text messaging is simple, it's fast and nearly ubiquitous. It's great way to communicate at events like concerts or those enabled by location specific offers.

Consider too the integration of ad serving platforms, social tools like Facebook and the use of key tokens or phrases that pull offers from a web site to the phone for immediate viewing and interaction by the device owner.

The whole notion of a "mailbox" and mobility simply seem to be at odds. Oh, I know email can be automatically forwarded to my smart phone and I can respond to it immediately. It's just that the mailbox is a middleman of sorts. It contains spam filters, business rules and attachments. As a marketer, it just seems much easier to go directly to the mobile device - through use of the phone number - or GPS locater - and interact directly with the device owner - instead of working through that darn mailbox.

www.iangilyeat.com

Informatica Updates Data Integration Platform

Ian Gilyeat — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:17:00 GMT

ExactTarget: Exact Training

Elizabeth Hunt — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:09:00 GMT

I must admit, when I first started implementing ExactTarget, I was slightly overwhelmed. Ok, ok, majorly overwhelmed. It was the most robust email program I personally had dealt with to that point.

Thankfully, ExactTarget has one of the best help, training, resource sites I’ve seen: 3Sixty.

3Sixty has resources galore! What I find the most useful though, is the University. The University is a database of step-by-step, interactive videos. These 10-15 minute videos focus on individual functions of ExactTarget ranging from very basic, beginning functions such as creating emails to automating your email campaign. Not only do they talk you through each step, they show you and then you actually do it. ExactTarget gets major props for incorporating all learning styles. By the time you have finished one video, you feel confident that you can recreate that same process on your own.

Here are some of the other training and resources ExactTarget offers through 3Sixty:

Resources – They have many white papers and case studies that cover a plethora of topics regarding ExactTarget.
Ideas – People submit different ways they’ve used ExactTarget and share their ideas with other ET clients. You can also submit ideas for future ExactTarget upgrades.
iLab – You can be a part of the development of new ExactTarget innovations. Here you can see and test ExactTarget’s latest technology and share your feedback.
Question & Answer - Not only can you submit questions that ET reps will answer, but you can go back and search previously answered questions to see if anyone had a similar question or problem as you.

Not every email provider makes things this easy. If you’re looking for an email marketing solution, either to bring it in-house or to partner with a service provider, I promise your marketing managers will greatly appreciate you taking into consideration the resources available for training and implementation.

- Elizabeth
www.iangilyeat.com

How much should you pay for a new customer?

Ian Gilyeat — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:13:00 GMT

In some companies, how much you actually pay to acquire a new customer is a great mystery. It shouldn't be. This should be and is one of the basic building blocks of a successful company.

8X8 is a voice over IP provider. Thy service businesses and consumers with telephone services over the Internet. In their most recent quarterly earnings report they offered up the following numbers:

$638 cost to acquire a new business customer
$201 monthly revenue value of each business customer
67% gross margin

This is a company that knows how much they actually spend to acquire a new customer. How much should they spend? Well, let's think about this for a minute...

$201 per month in revenue times 12 months equals $2,412. Not bad. Spend $638 and get $2,412 back in year one. This suggests a simple expense to revenue E/R ratio of 26.5%. That's okay unless you work for a channel partner like Insight, CDW or others and need to run your marketing department on 3% of revenue.

Factor in the gross margin of 67% and they earn $1,616 in gross profit for every customer that they serve.

Remember the above is an unloaded or unburdened analysis. There are many other aspects that must be considered up when trying to answer the question of how much you should spend for a customer... but we're going to keep this very simple today.

Many direct marketers will tell you that they lose money in year one, break-even in year two and start making money in year three. Applying this logic to 8X8 and they could spend up to $2,412 before going into that "lose money in year one" position. If you want to load up the analysis a little, work from your gross margin number instead - and the number for 8X8 becomes $1,616.

Personally, I like the 26% E/R range that they are in. The company is showing a profit and based on this simple cut of numbers they could afford to spend a little more if they need to. That's a good position to be in.

www.iangilyeat.com

"I'm sorry but she doesn't talk to customers"...

Ian Gilyeat — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:56:00 GMT

I love it... this afternoon I called a potential new client. I was referred to the Publisher and Executive Director of a small publishing firm by a friend and associate. I'm guessing this company has about 50-75 employees and maybe $3-$5M in annual revenues. Not exactly a big outfit.

My contact gave me her business card. He provided details of a conversation that he and she had at a recent conference. Based on that conversation, she is interested in talking to me...this is what I call a warm referral.

To my utter surprise the number on her personal business card is a general company number. When I called the number, a nice voice on the other end of the phone says, "I'm sorry she doesn't take calls from customers," to which I replied, "That's ok, because I'm not a customer." The nice voice at the other end then gave me a generic email address where I could send a request to talk with her. You know, something like, info@abc_company.com. Nice.

I already have her personal email address so I sent my note directly to her. We'll see what she comes back with...

Having said that, the message that comes through is loud and clear, "She doesn't talk to customers." Too bad, I mean that's really a shame. Companies do not exist without customers. Rumor has it that this company has a customer churn problem. Hmm... I wonder why?

Folks, I know this is marketing 101, sales 101 and business 101 - but talking to customers is a good thing. Executives will make better decisions about their companies if they will talk to customers - even if it's only those that call in and ask to talk to them. Sooo - if you're an executive and you have a policy or a practice in place that says, "I don't talk to customers" - change it. Make a few phone calls. Go on some sales calls. Talk to your customers. Better yet - listen to them.

www.iangilyeat.com

P.S. You might consider automating a process whereby you do an Nth selection from your "customer complaints" and you personally get scheduled for a call with that customer to listen to what they have to say. You might be surprised at what you learn.

3 Lessons of Great Customer Service – Home Depot

Ian Gilyeat — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:38:00 GMT

3 Lessons of Great Customer Service – Home Depot

Let me share with you a recent encounter we had with Home Depot:

Background: We’ve lived in our house for 17 years now. It’s been through 5 kids and 4 grandkids and numerous other kids we probably didn’t even know. The poor carpet took the brunt of it all. When we decided to replace all of the carpet with beautiful carpet from Home Depot, we were thrilled! It was a lot of work getting ready for it, seeing as how nearly our entire upstairs is carpeted. It took an entire day but we finally got the carpet replaced. Oh the joy of walking barefooted on beautiful, soft, lush carpet!

The carpet and fumes smelt terrible, but we figured that would just go away right? I mean everything has a funny smell when it’s new, even babies. We opened every window and door in our house to air it out, but it didn’t go away and my entire family started getting sick. Our respiratory systems went haywire we couldn’t breathe properly or sleep and we had constant headaches. This has been going on for 4 weeks now.

We called Home Depot to let them know the problems we were having. We didn’t expect them to do anything actually but if there was a problem with this particular carpet or padding or glue they should be aware of it. However, we were pleasantly surprised at their response. In fact, we’ve been singing the praise of Home Depot’s customer service ever since.

Lesson 1: Listen and Genuinely Care

When Home Depot heard our story we could tell they were concerned and genuinely cared that this was affecting our family. They got the right people on the phone and made sure they fully understood our plight.

Lesson 2: Respond Immediately

Within 10 minutes of hanging up with Home Depot, the carpet installation company called us and then came over in less than 10 minutes after hanging up the phone to check out the situation. Home Depot also immediately scheduled a specialist to come out, check the air, and test the chemicals in the carpet.

Lesson 3: Fix It

Home Depot realized something had to be done so they volunteered to replace the carpet at their expense. Our carpet hasn’t been replaced yet, but from my perspective they are handling it right.

So next time a customer comes to you with a complaint, keep these lessons in mind. Listen and care, respond immediately, and then fix it! It may be at an additional cost to you, but it will ensure you a life-long customer. Plus good customer service is definitely a marketable attribute.

Note to Customers: Speak up! How can the company know we are dissatisfied if we don’t let them know? Had we never spoken up in the first place, we would have gone on being sick and upset with Home Depot for selling us this carpet. Instead, we are singing praises to their name because of how wonderful they responded!

Note to Marketers: Pay attention to your customer service department. Proactively act on the feedback you’re already getting before an upset customer writes a scathing tweet, blog post or newsfeed to their 500 closest friends about your company. Many of you have automated inbound response systems in place. Integrate these into your email marketing systems and leverage the event-triggered capabilities that they offer. Use your messaging platform to incorporate a follow-up series that is custom tailored to the disgruntled customer. These are the folks that can become your “raving fans.”

Customer service is a marketable asset and if you take the time to plan for it your company will be ready and prepared with a great response when a complaint comes in. It may cost a little time and effort but it will ensure you a life-long customer.

-Elizabeth
www.iangilyeat.com

Why the MGM Twitter campaign is morally corrupt but brand perfect...

Ian Gilyeat — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:58:00 GMT

We have promoted and continue to promote the position that marketing in the future is measurable, transactional, interactive and personalized. In addition, we support the basic tenet that technology is an enabler of making choices. Customers choose to buy via the web, the telephone, vie email, private extranets or at a retail store front. All of these various purchasing channels use technology to give the customer a choice of how to do business with you.

Customers also use technology to engage with companies through a variety of electronic messaging platforms: the company web site, social networks, email, the telephone, Twitter and so on.

The current Twitter campaign by the MGM Grand, "Get Rewarded for Your Sins", uses some of the hottest technology in the market. Twitter is about as hot as you can find and it is brand perfect. When marketers think of message consistency and messaging alignment - this is a great example of how to do it. First, the MGM Grand campaign leverages the brand position of Las Vegas as "sin city". It ties into the overall theme and position and encourages people to brag about their sins - and to get rewarded for doing so. The campaign takes advantage of the notion that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" - the notion of secrecy. Twitter accounts can be created with an alias. An unknown identity. One that is not connected with reality. Brag about your sins - do it in secret - and maybe even get rewarded. Sounds like Vegas, doesn't it? Pretty slick if you're a marketer working to parlay the value of sin and have it stick to your brand. Finally, it is easy. It's not difficult to tweet a sin and and you can send it to an address - it's not even a real person.

Technically speaking, Twitter is a strong messaging platform. It is easy to use and nearly everywhere.

The campaign is morally corrupt. How many companies do you know that encourage their employees to lie, cheat and steal? How many companies are looking to hire people that brag about their sins? You know the man or woman that brags, "I have a second wife in another city and see her every other month. Does my wife know. No way." Or the employee that brags about embezzling $1 million from their last employer (maybe MGM?) over the previous fifteen years? What about the investment adviser that counsels his clients to trade their stocks excessively so he can make more commission? "Mr. Client this is a great stock - now is the time to buy." Or the senior executive that makes his or her millions by trading on insider information. You get the picture...

Yes, the MGM Grand campaign fits their brand perfectly. Lie, cheat and steal. Go ahead - Get Rewarded for Your Sins. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it?

Marketing is a great profession and those that are purveyors of sin are some of the best in the industry. We should all learn from what they do without buying into the lie that you "get rewarded for your sins". Go ahead, ask you boss if it's ok to lie, cheat and steal from the company - or better yet, ask your customers. It's really important to know what kind of customers you have...

It's possible that this campaign might actually backfire on MGM.

www.iangilyeat.com

Voice recording: Digium CEO: We're profitable, channel driven

Ian Gilyeat — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:56:00 GMT

A simple one-point comparison between Unica and ExactTarget

Ian Gilyeat — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:09:00 GMT

You can tell a lot about how a company thinks about their product and what type of customers they appeal to most when you dig into the details of their offerings. One simple comparison between Unica and ExactTarget will illustrate the point:

Unica allows you to copy and paste marketing objects that contain multiple automated marketing steps within the object. ExactTarget does not - at least that is my current understanding - and if I'm wrong, I invite the folks from ExactTarget to correct me:

Elaborating a little further:

Let's say you create a multi-step drip marketing series. It contains 6 emails that are sent in response to a web form that is filled out by someone that is interested in your product or service. You work for a company with 3 divisions and 12 product teams. You are on product team A. Product team B comes to visit and they see what you're doing with customers when they fill out a form on your web site. They like it and want to do the same thing for their customers. They want to copy your six step series, change the content of course but use the same timing, business rules and templates. If you've defined it as a marketing object inside of Unica you can simply copy it and repeat the steps but change the content, change the customer profile that qualifies, etc. But you can copy it and repurpose it.

Now let's assume that you're a user of ExactTarget in the same company. You are using their agency platform and you've built a nice 6 step email program for product team A. You like the results so much that you want to repurpose the structure, not the content or the customer segments, but the structure of the series to Product team B. In ExactTarget you cannot copy and paste the object even though you are the master administrator. You have to rebuild it for client B.

A simple comparison - but I believe is a nice example of how Unica is geared and built to support big, complex organizations. Whereas ExactTarget is built more for single purpose marketing; email marketing. True they have expanded their delivery channels to text messages and voice mail, but the basic focus on meeting the needs of email marketers shows up.

www.iangilyeat.com

Excuse me sir, can I help you boil the ocean? or Marketing management for really big companies...

Ian Gilyeat — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:01:00 GMT

Yesterday morning I spent some time looking at the latest offering from Unica at the DMA Convention. I was standing with a group of 7 from a large software concern as they listened and watched. They were interested and were doing due diligence. I overheard that an RFP or two or more had been sent to them already. This was not a first exposure for the group. It was clear that this was not the first conversation for this company and that this presentation was directed at them. I had already queried and asked questions for fifteen minutes or so prior to their arrival. So I decided to stay and watch and listen...

Unica likes to talk about marketing resource management or MRM. They unabashedly state that this is a campaign management platform. I found it odd that the sales person I spoke with focused on the message of execution as his central selling point and stated that they have nothing innovative. "there is nothing innovative in MRM - MRM is all about execution." They talked about having an offering that competes well with Omniture, ExacTarget, Aprimo, SAS, SPSS and others. I won't quote prices but based on the conversation and presentation this is not a cheap solution... but that's ok when you have a marketing budget of $100M.

Unica is clearly built for very large business and is intended to create a marketing centered view of the world. Campaign driven, delivered through batch processing. I know this is not a fair characterization but if Twitter and social networks are about real-time conversations and connecting with your customers through real-time engagement - Unica is on the other end of the spectrum; big business, big budget and big methodical processes. Manage the content, pull the list, build a few models and push those messages out.

In fairness to Unica here is the most recent first paragraph from their web site:
Unica provides innovative marketing solutions that turn your passionfor marketing into business success. Our unique interactive marketingapproach incorporates customer and web analytics, centralizeddecisioning, cross channel execution, and integrated marketingoperations. More than 1,000 organizations worldwide depend on Unica.

Net/net - I was impressed with the product but doubt that I could find 1,000 companies where I could comfortably recommend their platform. If you do have a $100 marketing budget - well, ok, maybe even as small as $50M - Unica is worth looking at, but you should take a look at Eloqua too.

www.iangilyeat.com

You know, I could tell ya' but then I'd have to kill ya...

Ian Gilyeat — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:38:00 GMT

You've heard this line before haven't you? The one that implies that the information is so rare and so secret that no one else has ever heard of it before and no one should ever hear of it again. It's usually said a bit tongue in cheek with a chuckle...

Well this is my impression of Reputation Defender and what it is that they offer. I just spent 30 minutes talking to them at the DMA Convention because I was interested in what they do. It fits into some of the work that we do...well, at least I thought it might... maybe this little commentary will hit their radar - maybe it won't. They claim that Google only searches 5-10% of the Web but they search the entire Web. They search the entire Web so they can reorganize the content that already exists on the Web and present it in a more organized fashion in order to protect my reputation or the reputation of your company. They create and publish content for your company on your behalf to web sites that are critically important to your company. They're not an SEO company - or at least I think that's accurate.

When I asked for an example of what kind of content they publish and where it would be published the answer was, "well, sign up for the service and then you'll know." No, really, I'd like to understand. Can you give me an example of what you do? "Well - no. Not really. You have to sign up for the service to find out." So are you kind of like a social monitoring service or a provider of technology - like Radian 6? "No, not really. It isn't our intent to notify you in real time what people are saying about you or your company. Our purpose is to do a deep search so we can reorganize existing content and publish new content on your behalf. Content that is in your best interest."

I did understand that they deliver a report to you as part of their service. Nice.

So let's just consider this a test and see if the folks from Reputation Defender can find and identify my comments about their company. And if they do, I'll let you know... in the mean time, if any of you have a positive experience with them and can tell me what they do, give me a call at 602-692-3818. I'd like to understand...

www.iangilyeat.com

Is Google Voice an Internet application or is Google now a phone company?

Ian Gilyeat — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:58:00 GMT

Most of the time I tend to ignore announcements and movements from the FCC. However, the current debate over Google Voice and whether it is considered a phone service or an Internet application has my attention. I suppose it's because we have been spending our time thinking about messaging audits and what value they deliver to major corporations.

So, let me probe a little bit into the topic of messaging and the FCC. What types of messages does the FCC get to govern?

Email communications?
Postal communications?
Text messages?
Instant messaging?
Fax messages?
Social network messages?
Telephone conversations?
Broadcast messages sent to 500 of my closest friends?
Tweets?
Video broadcasts?

Maybe it has less to do with the type of message and more to do with the network, the spectrum or the medium that is used to carry the message... as in the common carrier?

Public networks that are maintained by common carriers like AT&T, Verizon and others and use twisted pair wires?
Wireless networks that use radio towers?
Private networks that use dedicated circuits between point A and point B?
Private networks that are contained within the walls of private corporations?
Private satellite networks?
Private short wave radio spectrum?
Public radio spectrum?
Messages (verbal, text, video, etc.) that travel across the Internet?
What about messages that travel across light? Today it's in a cable of light - but what happens when we can use light in the same way that we use radio waves today?

Lots of questions show up simply by asking is Google Voice an Internet application or are they offering a phone service and must be regulated by the same rules as those that govern common carriers.

So just as a brief refresher here is the statement of why the FCC was created: The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 and ischarged with regulating interstate and international communications byradio, television, wire, satellite and cable.

For all of you marketers that use anything electronic, I hope you're thinking about how you will create the ability to audit and regulate your electronic messages because if the FCC expands their definition and ads the Internet to their list, don't be surprised to find that "regulation" requires an ability to track what is happening in your many electronic communications devices.

If you think this has even a remote chance of becoming real start by auditing your messaging practices now.

www.iangilyeat.com

Email no longer rules - well, not so fast there boys...

Ian Gilyeat — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:13:00 GMT

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal published an opinion that email no longer rules. In the very same article they describe how email use is up 21% and social networking site usage is up 31% - all of this growth in a one year period; August 2008 to August 2009.

It's nice to see them take a position, but a flawed position if you ask me. First off, social networks also have private messaging functions that are sent from one person to another single person. Even the latest social darling, Twitter, lets you send direct messages to individual people. This function is little more than a private email system if you ask me. In effect, some of the growth in social networking will be from people that discard or ignore traditional email systems because their social network provides them with the same one-to-one private communication that email offers. So, I'm not sure how they can claim that email is in demise with 21% growth and with some of the social media simply grabbing a share of the email spectrum within their private networks.

Having said, that there are a few statements in this article - and I recommend that each of you read it - that are thought provoking; enough so that I'd like to add some color commentary:

"Email is stuck in the past where we "log off and on, checking our messages in bursts". I don't know about you, but focus is a good thing. As a parent and as a business executive, if I am having dinner with you, I want your attention. I want you in the conversation. I expect your attention to be at the moment in hand - not constantly plugged into the stream of communication that is coming across your phone. In spite of the capabilities of the technology, human limitations and common courtesy suggests that logging on and off and checking our messages in bursts will be here for a very, very long time - regardless of how plugged in or connected we become.

"Email, stuck in the era of attachments seems boring compared to services like Google Wave". See my previous comment. Also, I see little difference between opening an attachment or going to a link to see the picture, video, or whatever it is that I'm looking at. It is a minor technical difference. The recipient of the information still needs to go somewhere or open something in order to see it - especially as filtering mechanisms become more robust. Some of you may remember something called "intrusion marketing". People don't like to be intruded upon and will find a way to "turn you off" even if you are broadcasting or sending a constant stream of communication.

"This whole idea of email isn't really quite as significant anymore when you can have many different types of messages and files." Ahh, yes, many,many types of messaging services: email, social networks, instant messaging, postal mail, faxes, text alerts, SMS, etc. At some point unified messaging products will be necessary and productive and will continue to place control in the hands of the recipient.

"New tools will make our interactions much faster." Really? The fact that I have multiple places to go to receive messages may just cause me to respond more slowly. The newest technology may eliminate barriers of time and space - but it will like only be compressed with those people that are interested in having a real-time conversation with me - whether that be in business or on a more personal level.

Oh, and "all these messages will make us more dependent on technology" Hmm... seems to me that individual choice stills rules supreme and technology is an enabler of making choices. Dependency is driven by individual choice and behavior.

And lastly, "we will have more ways to send messages." It's too bad that the author focuses on the sending of messages. Relationships and good communication is on the messages being sent and received in both directions - i.e. a two-way conversation - be it over a telegraph, a telephone, by postal mail, on a web site or via tweets. Relationships built on two-way conversations bring fulfillment into our lives. The technology that continues to evolve should help us enable and strengthen those relationships.

If we focus on simply "sending messages" we will indeed devolve into a position that is self-absorbed and focused on self-gratification. I believe in the email world this is commonly referred to as SPAM and in the postal world it is known as "junk mail."

Marketing executives at companies that use all of the messaging technologies noted above will do well to place their focus on the customer on not on some new technology that lets them "send more messages".

www.iangilyeat.com

Your business-rules engine needs a messaging platform...

Ian Gilyeat — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:47:00 GMT

I just finished speaking with a good friend about a company he is involved in. Our conversation reminded me of several key elements of the new marketing world that I believe are fundamental to succeeding in today's market. But before I list those let me tell you a little about the conversation.

We spoke of delivering information to customers through existing loyalty channels. A robust rules-based engine is in existence to match the customer profiles to the offerings that are being presented. Attractive offerings are created that are compelling and interesting to their target audience. We touched on automation; started to talk about messaging to these customers and the messaging platforms that will be used and then we ran into a void.

The idea of messaging infrastructure as key to the go-to-market strategy may have been somewhat overlooked although I'm sure it is addressed in several places - perhaps it just hasn't been framed up as a centralized theme. However, in my view of the world it is critical and necessary to succeeding in the market.

Let's reframe the conversation a bit - in a way that applies to many in the ecommerce and marketing sectors today:

You need Content (i.e. offers, creative, product specs, pricing, etc)

You need Business Rules (i.e. offer product A when they land on the home page; put an offer in every box, etc.)

You need a List of who you're selling to (i.e. web site visitors, prospect lists, customers, suspects, etc.)

You also need a messaging platform (i.e. a delivery vehicle - web site, telephone, email, US Postal Service, etc.)

In the old days these were often thought of as List, Offer and Creative. Going way, way back the predominate messaging platform was the U.S. Postal service - at least for direct marketers.

Today it is quite different. Content can be variable. Business rules govern when the content is delivered, where it is delivered and to whom it is served up - customers or prospects. It happens in real-time. Sometimes in a transactional moment. You know - capture those eye balls.

And yet, the messaging platform needs to planned, designed and built in a way that is focused on establishing and increasing long-term customer value. Direct marketers have said for years that you lose money on acquisition, break-even on conversation (typically the 2nd purchase) and make money on retention. In a real-time, on-demand world that is always on and in reality very connected - your messaging platform better be part of your go-to-market plans needs to support your strategic objectives. You need to think through how it will be deployed and what moving parts will be in place: email engines, text messaging, IVR's, personalization engines, telco partners, etc.

So, back to the foundation elements that I referred to in the beginning. Marketing in today's world is transactional, measurable, personal and integrated. Your messaging platforms are key enablers that makes these four building blocks work together to increase customer value.