Mark Kolier’s Blog

Posts Tagged ‘DM News’

Last Friday and this past Monday the stock market took major hits. Yesterday it came back. One of the biggest losers was LinkedIn which some say was overvalued. While I am not all that knowledgeable when it comes to company valuations I have been using LinkedIn more and more and with great success.
The main reason I consider it a success is that people respond to inquiries on LinkedIn more than any other social networking portal I have used.

An article in DM News http://bit.ly/pMMuZF highlights increases in LinkedIn’s revenue – and it was from Friday August 5th shortly before the stock took a pounding.

My work in developing our China business requires expertise far beyond that of my regular circle of contacts. LinkedIn has offered me a way to engage total strangers by asking for help, offering help and simply offering my opinion on something they might have written or said. What continually surprises me is the rate of return on what I consider to be a very minor investment.

Of course not all my inquiries are responded to. And I know I need to be careful since there is a rating system on LinkedIn such that if enough people complain about being spammed or contacted inappropriately you can be blacklisted from making outreaches to people you don’t know using a feature on LinkedIn called ‘Inmail’.

But I am here to tell you that if you are not using the Premium or Pro access on LinkedIn you are missing out on opportunities to connect with people in way that has never before been possible. However I do wonder how long this open-networking will last. If people begin to be deluged with requests from all over the map the opportunity conduit that LinkedIn offers may well become unworkable and unusable.

In case you are wondering I try to be as open as possible myself when it comes to answering questions posed to me on LinkedIn. I also receive offers to Link In with people I don’t know but my policy is to not Link In with total strangers. Yet answering a question for a total stranger (provided it is a relevant question and something that I can help with) is something I always agree to do.

I believe LinkedIn is the best of all the social networks in offering a value proposition. Yes better than Facebook and better than Google+ (which is on the rise as far as I am concerned).

How about you – are you getting everything out of LinkedIn that you could? Or do you think it’s too much trouble and a waste of time?

I know I’ve felt it coming on for quite a while now but a report from DM News on June 27th http://bit.ly/junPy3 offers some pretty sobering metrics on open rates, overall email deliverability as well as unsubscribe rates.

The suggestions on how to rectify the problems are solid if not unspectacular (not that they could be spectacular). But underlying it all is the long and slow decline of email marketing in general. The primary reason given is competition in the inbox which if you are anything like me makes total sense since I receive well over one hundred emails per day (closer to 200+). And I don’t receive all that much spam!

I wonder what email marketing will look like in two years. It won’t have disappeared and I am not suggesting it ever will. Yet it concerns me that there has been little innovation in this channel over the twenty years or so (a guess) email marketing has been employed.

Most marketers are aware that acquiring customers via email marketing has never been more difficult and is in large part futile. Retention and existing customer engagement emails continue to be effective but the overall curve is definitively on the downside.

I’m not going to offer any primer on best practices for sending emails to better engage customers. They exist in many places and there are no shortcut tricks to creating email marketing that works every time (despite what some people will tell you). I do know how I feel about email marketing that works for me personally. I am ok with three or four communications a month, offers for things that I actually might want to buy or learn more about. That’s about it. Are you different?

What really is of interest to me is in predicting the direction subscription marketing messages will go – i.e. emails you have opted in to receive. Where will Facebook be in the mix? Will Google be a player in leveraging search queries into relevant direct messages and offers? How about location based marketing services like Foursquare? It’s no secret that email has replaced traditional postal mail for a substantial amount of business communication. Personal communication (i.e. the art of letter writing) has also migrated toward email to some degree but also to SMS texting, FB messaging and web based messaging like IM and even Skype messaging and calling.

How many email messages do you receive? How many email accounts do you have? Have you set up an email account like a Gmail account (I did this) to use when you sign up for various things so that marketing messages all end up in one place – not your work email?

I saw an article last week in the DM News http://bit.ly/euzIOK noting that two-thirds of “consumers oppose online behavioral tracking and targeted advertising based on it, according to a Gallup/USAToday poll conducted earlier this month. Consumers were surveyed about the subject days after the Federal Trade Commission recommended a “Do-Not-Track” policy that would allow Web browsers to opt out of all online tracking by third-parties.

Gallup found that 67% of consumers said advertisers should not be allowed to present ads based on their Internet use, while only 30% said marketers should be allowed to do so. Thirty-five percent said tracking by marketers is justified because it allows free access to websites, and 61% said free access was not worth the loss of privacy.

Ninety percent say they do not pay much attention to online ads, while 61% said they have noticed targeted ads based on websites they have previously visited.

Taking issue with the tone of the questions in the survey, Jerry Cerasale, SVP of government affairs at the Direct Marketing Association, said the results pose a challenge for marketers. They need to educate consumers about what behavioral targeting is, and its value, he said.

“The question starts with Do-Not-Track…The request itself gives a negative connotation,” he said. “We look at it as an educational challenge.”

The poll also found that consumers are willing to allow some tracking, as long as it is their choice. Although 37% of adults would allow no tracking at all, 47% would allow tracking from advertisers they choose. The segments of consumers more amenable to opt-in tracking are younger and wealthier, according to the poll. More than half (57%) of adults ages 18 to 34 would allow tracking by selected advertisers, while 53% of those with annual incomes of $30,000 to $74,999 would do so” Gallup surveyed just over 1,000 consumers December 10th – 12th.

I agree with Mr. Cerasale’s point that the questions itself is a loaded one. When the discussion is about on line tracking that feels creepy. However, and I have been harping on this for a long time, when the discussion is about marketing relevancy and how behavioral targeting will save consumers time the conversation is entirely different.

Those with unlimited time can beg to differ but until there is evidence that 3rd party advertisers have individual consumer information and are using it in a personal way I will remain convinced that serving me relevant ads beats my being served feminine hygiene product ads and my daughter being served ads for Cialis and Viagra.

And you?

As I sit in the San Diego Airport waiting to go home I have just spent three nice days in one of America’s nicest cities. I have attended my 22nd DMA conference. This membership organization that began as the Direct Mail Association became the Direct Mail Marketing Association (DMMA) then and now the DMA.
Like many associations the industry conferences is the primary revenue source. After years of growth in attendance, vendor participation and offerings, the 2008 DMA saw a significant drop in all three areas. It took place in Las Vegas 2 months after the financial crisis ensued. In additional the DMA reduced its staff substantially and I still feel bad for former DMA employees I know for a long time who’ve yet to find new jobs.

My thoughts as I headed out to San Diego centered a testy proxy fight between a DMA board members and the DMA board itself. Many of our clients and my colleagues decided not to attend this year for various reasons, expense being the primary reason given. I think that those folks should regret their decision not to attend.

The DMA still has its feet firmly implanted in direct mail and old habits die hard. But the leadership of the DMA has recognized the move to new marketing channels and has made strides in making information and learning on new marketing channel a focus. The proxy fight was settled and I for one was happy with the points brought up and the resolution. The DMA is an organization that can well use some pot stirring. And the exhibit hall while a nice place to see old friends and associates but walking around the floor makes me feel like I am caught in my own ground-hog day moment. It’s not working and feels outdated.

We direct marketing folks like to cite the measurability of the direct marketing process. We are even a bit smug about it. For what reason I do not know as the rest of the advertising world has always considered direct marketers red-headed stepchildren as long as I have been involved. But I did hear a lot of honest talk (particularly at the DMA Global Leaders Forum held on Monday) questioning if direct marketers are measuring the right things when it comes to web analytics and e-commerce in general.

It’s fine to have all these cool tools but if the wrong things are being measured or the measurements are not indicative of what is really happening we are drinking our own Kool-Aid. I think it is great that these kinds of questions are asked and answered – or at least they are trying to be answered.

I read Ad Age, Adweek, DM News, and occasionally Brandweek, and more and more the stories are similar. All marketers and marketing agencies direct and otherwise are trying to do the same things for their clients –help acquire and retain more customers. The marketing world has been turned on its head in the past nearly two years. Lower marketing budgets, higher accountability and demand for better ROI have changed the landscape for ever more. I am more optimistic that the DMA is heading on the right path and can and will remain a relevant organization.