MarketingSherpa Blog

When you operate a publishing site like MarketingSherpa, you want to be clear to your subscribers about the content available to them. Articles published in our nine weekly newsletters are open access to our hundreds of thousands of readers for seven days before they go into a members-only archive. The barrier date is stated in each email.

Still, results from a survey conducted earlier this year showed that 68% of our readers don’t know how long articles are available before going behind the membership wall. We decided our limited-access policy needed to be clarified. We also wanted to see if adding an expiration date to newsletter subject lines might create a sense of urgency that would boost open and clickthrough rates. Read more…

I just received an email from a good friend in Massachusetts. A girlfriend of hers, a 20+ year marketing professional was “let go” from her position as head of a technology firm’s marketing … right before Christmas.

Crazy but true, the CEO in question tried to paint the layoff as a compliment. “You’ve done such a fine job putting a team in place here and training them. We really don’t need you anymore.” he apparently said.

Now, when was the last time you heard of a CFO being laid off like that? “Bob, you’ve done such a fine job training bookkeeping and hiring that accounting firm. We’ve decided to do without you this year.”

Or how about the CIO? “Jerry, those technicians of yours are fantastic geeks. Our tech has never been in better shape. Thanks and have a nice life.”

Yet, somehow on a planet where it’s nearly inconceivable to lay off your most critical leaders when a company needs them most, during a crisis, it’s all too easy to lay off the head of marketing.

Back during the downturn of 2001-02, marketing got socked in the stomach. We were money wasters; we weren’t accountable enough; we were “suits”; we were bad. In fact, when in reaction to the then-common marketplace feelings, an ad agency in Massachusetts did a joke song CD titled, ‘Let’s All Blame the Marketing Director!’ It was so true to life that it was hard for some of us to laugh.

We’ve come a very long way since those dark days. The profession as a whole has nearly reinvented itself — especially in terms of accountability and measurement. Now, we all measure everything (and now CEOs complain our reports are too detailed; if it’s not one thing, it’s another.)

But, I think we still have one profound challenge to address as a profession. We have raised our reputations as tacticians, but we are not seen as mission-critical strategic leaders.

Strategic leaders keep their jobs during recessions. Tacticians can be downsized. You can always get a cheaper tactician or make one tactician do the work of two. Heck, you can even outsource tacticians to other, cheaper countries.

How can marketing as a profession seize the day and get upper management to (a) give us a seat at the table, and (b) see us as the strategic leaders that we are?

I don’t have the answers — but I hope you do. Write me. Share your insights and ideas. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

I think nearly all CEOs share two fantasies. The first being that they could appear on the front page of The Wall Street Journal or cover of Business 2.0 … if only a PR person gave a bit more effort. The second is that they could save a heck of a lot of money if they slashed the ad budget and got more PR coverage instead. Because, PR is “free,” right?

(Anyway every CEO is convinced that 50% of the ad budget is wasted as things are.)

This explains why PR always gains in popularity during a recession, even an incipient one like what we’re undergoing these days. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help the PR profession all that much. Scads of PR pros were laid off or barely survived in downsized firms during the economic downturn of 2001-02.

It’s due to the “PR is free” thing that your CEO can’t seem to shake from his or her head.

PR is, in fact, a heck of a lot like search engine optimization. A skilled practitioner comes in, redoes your site’s messaging, builds inbound link relationships with hundreds of influential sources and then everyone waits six months to begin to see significant impact. In the meantime, the fiscal quarter is ending and your CEO is getting nervous. “Where are the ’free results’ already?!” “Where’s my No. 1 ranking?” “Where’s my WSJ cover mention?”

Then, your CEO asks, “Hey, if it’s free, why are we paying for this? How hard can this PR (or SEO) thing be? Let’s bring it in-house and save even more money. It’s a recession after all, we all have to work a little harder and tighten our budgetary belts.”

Which is how even the best PR firms get fired. And the best marketers start looking a little hollow-eyed and permanently exhausted. PR is people-work after all. It’s relationship building — not something a typically introverted marketer tends to be fabulous at. When well done, PR also takes an extraordinary number of man-hours … something you may not have on hand when the CEO just cut your staffing budget again.

PR is invaluable — especially when you get strong mentions in niche media that your prospects read passionately. But, it’s not free.

OK, so what’s my advice this week? If you are trying to get more glowing press coverage in this down market, one factor can help you. Trade journalists like exclusive case studies in any economy, but when the going gets tough, they utterly adore them. In 2008, it’s going to be easier to get case study coverage than ever before.

As Micky Long at Aberdeen Group once told me, “In a recession, reporting coverage moves. It’s not about vision or the next greatest thing; it’s about show-me-the-money. Show me the ROI. Reporters say ‘Let me talk to a customer.’ ”

So, there’s your hook. Go forth and build media relationships. Good luck!

Many journalists will agree to a quick informational phone call with new marketing leaders, if you respectfully request it. Let them know the conversation will not run longer than 15 minutes and will be at a time of their convenience, and promise you will not pitch them during that time. You’re seeking information so you can serve them better as a possible source and advertiser.

If you can’t get through, but you already sponsor the publication in question, a gentle nudge from your ad sales rep can help, too.

Here are the best questions to ask during those 15 minutes:

– Is there a particular PR person or firm you respect the most in their field? Whose email or calls would you be most likely to respond to because you know they’ll bring you good stuff? (Never hire a PR firm that’s not vouched for by the press they pitch routinely.)

– Do you or does any member of your team ever freelance for vendors to write white papers or articles for email newsletters? Are any of you ever available as speakers or moderators for vendor user conferences? Obviously, we understand this possible relationship would not affect your other coverage.

– How far out do you begin working on major stories for issues? What are your biggest deadlines? If we wanted to be considered for a quote or as background for a story, by when would we need to contact you if we see something in your editorial calendar coming up?

– What do you see as the hot button stories or areas of coverage that your readership is deeply interested in over the next six months? What’s over, done, dead?

– Do you study which search terms are very popular on your site’s search engine? How about which types of articles get the most clicks and views from your email newsletter? Is that information I could get routinely, say every month or quarter, from my ad sales rep if I’m a client?

– Which bloggers do you pay the most attention to? If you blog, what sorts of items, gossip and otherwise, make useful snippets for you? Do you mind being pitched on possible blog snippets?

– What sort of story or data would you love to get from a source as an exclusive? How about a case study? A tip sheet? Statistical results from a new industry survey? An interview with one of our top clients? Product launch previews? A sample of the product to review?

– What sort of story or information should I just never bother you with?

– Who on the staff should we contact? Should we just send information to one beat reporter in particular?

Note: You may also want to check MarketingSherpa’s extensive library of PR interviews, ranging from BusinessWeek to Women’s Wear Daily. Top journalists reveal exactly how they wish you would pitch them stories. This Members-only resource is available on free trial at:
https://www.marketingsherpa.com/memberhome.html

I used to call it the “X Factor.” No matter how intelligent, talented and hardworking you are, you’ll only get so far in your career without the X Factor.

As a young marketer, I thought of it as brownnosing. You know, the guy who gets the promotion because the boss loves him, even though other people may have worked harder and better. Now, I know it was office politics. He was better at building alliances, negotiating power and presenting himself in a golden light.

Marketers as a race are not particularly adept at office politics. We’re not good at selling ourselves.

Consider how normal it is for companies to have a CFO but not a CMO on the top management team. Consider how few Fortune 500s have a marketing guru on their board of directors. Consider how hard you have to fight for your budget, for your strategy, for new hires, even often for technical support.

I’ve been spending a great deal of time this past month reading transcript after transcript from past MarketingSherpa Summits, trying to determine what the most useful lessons were. Frankly, although we concentrated a great deal of attention on campaign tactical nuts and bolts, what made our Case Study presenters so successful was that extra X Factor.

They had mastered office politics.

“How did you get the CEO to agree to that?” an audience member invariably would ask. “I marketed it internally” would be the answer. “You need to market yourself inside your organization.”

Personally, I used to find office politics nearly incomprehensible. But, now, I realize it’s just another form of marketing.

-> Step #1. Market research

Target the most influential and powerful people in your organization who could help the cause of marketing if they were so moved. (Note: Influencers are not always the same as the official power structure on paper.)

Treat them like any other marketplace — research their pain points, fears, goals and aspirations. And, of course, their taxonomy, precise wording choices can be such powerful marketing tools. Lastly, discover how they like to obtain information: Informal conversations? Formal presentations? Detailed reports? One-page memos with a chart in the middle as eye candy? Which media do they most pay attention to and trust: The Wall Street Journal? The blogosphere? Best-selling business books? Talk radio?

Study to know your CFO or CIO or head of sales so well that you could write up a formal persona profile on him or her. (In fact, why not do it? It would be a good exercise.)

-> Step #2. Create a marketing plan

As with any other campaign, set a measurable goal of some sort. It might range from getting more feedback from the sales force to signing off on the new hire you’re seeking.
And, then, start educating, nurturing and cultivating your marketplace.

You might start an internal email newsletter — marketing factoid of the week, including quotes from media your prospect trusts. Or by adding a mini-marketing report card to the homepage of the company intranet. Or by changing the way you report on your success.

The latter is often the most powerful. Instead of reporting on marketing-centric measurements, tie your data to your target market’s pain points and goals. Rather than talking about click rates, or prospect list size, or even campaign ROI, you might discuss shorter sales cycles or higher purchase per order.

Consider – which would your CEO be most impressed by? The overall open rate of your email newsletter or the percent of top accounts who routinely read articles in it?

-> Step #3. Give your potential allies power

The biggest step in seeking power is to allow others around you to feel powerful and appreciated themselves. Professionals are more stressed out by a lack of control in their working conditions than they are by hard work itself.

You can gain power by giving power to others — by asking for other department’s input and decisions at fairly early stages in the marketing process. Key — only allow brainstorming if you have data in your pocket to fight off a potentially disastrous decision. Best idea: Ask others for what they think problems are … and then return with two or three equally good strategies for them to vote on as solutions.

So, you’re not saying: “What should we do with our marketing budget this year?” Instead you’re saying: “What’s the biggest problem we need to solve with marketing this year?” And then a few weeks later, you’re saying: “I’ve researched your problem and here are the two best possible solutions. Which do you prefer?”

As one top marketing consultant told me privately last month: “Management often doesn’t know good marketing from bad. They’re convinced 50% of their budget is wasted, and they’re not sure who to trust to fix it. Probably not marketing.”

For 2008, your toughest marketing challenge may be internal politics. Now is the time to acknowledge this reality and focus your skills to win.

If you’re in a services or B-to-B marketplace — enterprise software, for example — the last thing you’re probably doing is posting your prices on the company website.

Study after study reveals, however, that pricing information is precisely what prospects visiting your site are looking for:

– A June 2007 MarketingSherpa Study in partnership with Enquiro showed that pricing information was the No. 1 thing executives researching IT solutions in price ranges above $50,000 wanted online during every stage of their decision — from early awareness and research on.

– CMP Electronics Group’s Global Media Usage Study in 2006 showed similar results. 61% of surveyed engineers said the top reason they went to company websites was to research pricing. Prices were second only in popularity to downloadable data sheets.

– A 2006 ThomasNet study revealed 74% of prospects researching on their site wanted to see manufacturers pricing information there. However, only 23% of manufacturers made their pricing public online.

I understand why you may not put pricing online. Perhaps your sales reps want as much flexibility as possible in negotiations. Maybe you’re concerned making price wars and/or commoditization. Or, perhaps your product managers are convinced pricing is far too complex even for an online calculator to reflect accurately.

Whatever the reason, you need to keep two human factors in mind:

#1. Your competition already knows your pricing because they have to sell against it. There is no secrecy. Frankly, if they don’t, they are so inept at their jobs that you have nothing to fear from them.

#2. Your prospects will find pricing information even without your help. They’ll ask friends at other companies, post queries to industry email discussion groups and boards, ping analysts or surf the Web researching.

The only problem is, you’ve now lost control of your pricing messaging. You can’t surround the conversation with value and branding. You can’t be sure that the correct information is even getting to prospects.

And they’re making those decisions before they agree (or not) to meet with your sales reps. Because pricing information is now sought much higher up in the sales funnel than most marketers suspect.

The good news is that most of your competitors face the same problem. Revealing your pricing — with all appropriate branding and lead generation flourishes — can become a competitive advantage for you in 2008.

Happy Holidays!

While studying guidebooks about Nepal yesterday, I was appalled to see one of them blithely suggest shopping for cheap, pirated CDs and DVDs here.

I immediately turned on my laptop to dash off an email to the publisher.

I planned to say, “As a company *completely* financially dependent on the sanctity of your copyright, how can you recommend supporting breaking other people’s? Everyone who creates or publishes content — every blogger, writer, video maker, etc. — has an ethical obligation to defend copyright. That means not just your own copyright but the copyright of others.”

Many Americans, in particular, don’t realize the true damage of copyright pirating. What’s the big deal? Hollywood studios and music stars make gazillions anyway, don’t they?

The fact is, routine copyright pirating has devastated the local music and movie industries of many second- and third-world countries, including places such as Madagascar and Morocco where talented and beloved artists can’t make a living because they are ripped off so much.

Copyright pirating also strikes closer to home — hundreds of millions of Google AdSense dollars are at risk in the legitimate blogging community. Nearly every single independent blogger I know who makes significant income from their content has had to fight at least one, more often many, plagiarizers who scrape their content for AdSense profit.

Sherpa has had its share of problems, most notably when one marketer, who shall remain nameless, posted illicit PDF copies of our Guides on a private website that he charged a $1,000 month subscription fee to. In the publishing world, this is not an unusual occurrence.

Anyhow, when I turned on my brand new laptop to register my righteous indignation to the publishers of that travel guide, I noticed something horrible. When the IT department back at the main office set up my new PC for me, they forgot to transition over my music files. My iTunes folder was empty.

I’m supposed to be writing a new 300-page Sherpa Handbook this winter. I can’t write a Handbook without my music playing! And, trust me, there’s no place I’ve found to purchase legit CDs here. Plus, at 128k max speeds, local “broadband” won’t support purchased iTunes downloads.

So I, the great defender of the American copyright, slunk into a local music store to buy some pirated CDs. At first, I pledged to buy only CDs that I already owned copies of. It’s sort of an ethically grayer area than buying content you didn’t already pay for legitimately.

But then Jack Johnson’s ‘In Between Dreams’ CD was playing on one of the shop’s sidewalk speakers … and it sounded so good. I had meant to buy it in the past — the real thing, I mean. I couldn’t help myself. I stepped up to the counter and said, ‘Give me that one” and, $5 later, owned it illegally.

Then I went straight to my local cybercafe and logged onto to my account at Amazon.com (one-click ordering is a godsend when you’re dealing with slow Internet speed) to buy a legit copy of Jack’s album. It’s en route to my home in the US right now, then my step-son will forward it to me here. I’ll throw out this copy as soon as I get the real thing in my hands. So, Jack and New Age Records, you have my money.

And, now, you have my apology as well.

Approximately 27 million Americans traveled over this past Thanksgiving holiday; and, all that time everyone spent standing in various lines (check-in, security, coffee, baggage claim) was pretty much a wasted marketing opportunity.

Aside from airline magazines and airport wall posters, very little marketing targets this captive audience, many of whom would be more than happy to seek a momentary mental escape. Here are my top three ideas based on my recent trip via India to Nepal, where I’m now living for the winter:

#1. Wi-Fi — Although TradeinIndia.com sponsors all the baggage carts in the New Delhi airport and The Times of India’s email opt-in offers are promoted on huge billboards in the departure lounge, frustratingly, there’s no Wi-Fi, sponsored or otherwise, at that airport.

This may change soon. When Delhi officials invited potential sponsors to submit proposals to sponsor free Wi-Fi in several downtown locations, they were stunned at the deluge of more than two dozen would-be advertisers.

#2. Video monitors — I didn’t mind long visa lines when we landed at Kathmandu’s International Airport because the gorgeous ads that played on oversized Samsung LCD monitors positioned around the room were a delight to watch … and even hear. The ads, presented on a continuous five-minute loop, featured tasteful local background music and glowing shots of regional crafts, scenery, restaurants and retailers. It was all put together by a local advertising entrepreneur.

#3. DVDs — Two of the airlines I took en route to Nepal offered free newspapers as you boarded the plane. Frankly, after sitting in waiting rooms for several hours beforehand, the last thing I wanted was yet another newspaper to read. But I would have been thrilled to get a free DVD.

Are you already sponsoring or creating compelling video content or an interactive game as a brand-building exercise? (For example: Grey Goose vodka’s ‘Iconoclasts’ TV series or Lunesta’s ‘The Art of the Story’ events.) Why not offer free DVDs to airline movie-weary travelers with PCs?

The point for all three of these ideas is not to bombard travelers with ads but, rather, to build a warmer relationship during a time when they are likely bored and a little exhausted. If you’ve already invested in entertaining content for your website, microsite, viral game or online video, why not repurpose this to make people’s trips a little more pleasant?

Like many women my age with a job and a family, I’m too busy in my regular life to pay attention to most sponsored websites or even regular TV shows. But when I’m traveling, I’m a captive and grateful audience. Reach me — I’ll thank you for it.

Please raise your right hand and repeat after me, “I will hunt down and erase any ‘Reset’ or ‘Clear Form’ buttons on every online form for my brand.”

My golly — there’s just NO EXCUSE.

The ‘Reset Button’ is an archaic bit of submit button design from the early 1990s, back when forms were used by internal company data entry … not prospective customers. Somehow as public Web forms developed, designers unthinkingly copied the buttons, using and re-using them on form after form.

According to new data in MarketingSherpa’s updated Landing Page Handbook, 22% of marketers say their company sites still use these old-style buttons.

Can you say, “response killer”?

Imagine, you spent a great deal of time, energy and budget creating a campaign to drive qualified prospects to your landing page. Your campaign’s entire success rests on getting lots of these visitors to fill out a registration form. Luckily, some of them do, typing in their name, address and maybe even answering a few questions for you. Then they move their mouse down to click on the gray ‘Submit’ button …

… but mistakenly click on the ‘Reset’ button right next to it.

The page blinks, and all their careful typing vanishes in an instant. The form is blank again.

How many of your prospects do you think will bother to type all those answers again? And how many will just give up and leave your site in disgust?

Nearly one out of every four marketers still drives traffic to pages with a clickable Reset button. I just can’t comprehend why you would want to shoot your conversion rates in the foot like that.

If you are one of these marketers, please do whatever it takes to yank the Reset button. Send pizza to the Web department for lunch, or, heck, why not promise a bottle of champagne to enjoy together in celebration of a successful search-and-destroy mission?

Related link:

New – MarketingSherpa’s Landing Page Handbook 2nd edition is revised and expanded with 267 pages of useful stats, how-to instructions and real-life examples. Copies are available with 24-hour shipping at:
http://www.sherpastore.com/RevisedLandingPageHB.html

When I founded MarketingSherpa nearly eight years ago, I never dreamed the day would come when I would actually be in Nepal meeting real live sherpas.

So far, they are all being awfully nice about our company name. One might be offended by some random American co-opting your family and tribe name just because she admires you. However, all the sherpas I’ve met have been terribly pleasant people who don’t seem to mind.

Thank goodness.

Here’s how the whole thing came about and why we’re named in honor of the sherpas of Nepal:

Back in 1999 when researching possible company names prior to launch, I noticed that most marketing advisory newsletters were by named gurus or guru-wannabes.

But the fact is, every experienced marketer has test results and hard-won lessons that might prove practical to others. Why should I preach my own best practice sermons from on high? Instead, it’s far more useful (not to mention interesting) to go into the field and interview thousands of real-life marketers for their own stories and data.

What you’ll learn is that great marketing is far, far harder than civilians suspect. (Some professionals, including many of your co-workers, think of marketing as the basket weaving course in college — how hard could a gut course be? Answer: awesomely tough.)

In fact, after a 20-year marketing career, I felt as if achieving and sustaining great results was much like climbing Mount Everest. The elements are against you, and you would do better with an expert guide by your side.

My mind naturally turned to the sherpas of Nepal, the ethnic group from whom all the best Mount Everest guides have come.

The funny thing about sherpas is that despite the fact that Sir Edmund Hilary and hundreds of others could not have climbed Everest without their sherpas … these guides are far less famous than they deserve to be. The limelight does not tend to fall on the sherpa but rather on the climber they assisted.

That’s why I seized on that idea for the company name. We were not seeking fame as gurus who told marketers what to do. Instead, we were gathering and disseminating practical info from the field that enabled you, the reader, to climb your own marketing career mountain.

When I named the company MarketingSherpa, the peak of my outdoor activity was ordering drinks at a trendy sidewalk café in the city. Preferably in heels and, perhaps, a flippy little skirt. I never expected to own hiking boots, let alone see the actual Mount Everest up close and personal.

Then, as fate would have it, I met my future husband, who is as outdoorsy as they come.

Now that my job allows me to work virtually via the Internet from nearly anywhere in the world, I gave him the choice of where we would live. As you may know from my past blogs, for the summer he chose his native country, Serbia. And for this winter, he chose Nepal.

So, here I am brand new hiking boots and all. A sherpa come home to rest in the land of sherpas. Life does turn unexpected corners, doesn’t it?

By the way, if you would like to learn more about sherpas in America, here’s a great Web site:

United Sherpa Association in New York (packed with info):
http://www.sherpakyidug.org/

And, if you would like to contact the editorial and research offices of MarketingSherpa to be interviewed about your own marketing activities, the best contact is Editorial Director Tad Clarke at TadC(at)MarketingSherpa.com.