The lesson you are about to learn suggests that not only is it important to proactively understand and integrate social marketing into your traditional media strategies, but you’d better be sure that it actually serves towards the social good of your brand.

It’s no news that there is a growing anti-Starbucks constituency who feel as though the company may have made a few wrong turns along the way to Mega Brand Stardom. In 2007, the company’s stock dropped 42.8%, and is already down another 14.7% since the beginning of this year. Contributing factors? Independent music supporter turned corporate label sellout? Maybe a little… A decline in customer service and quality products? Probably a little more… Packing in stores across the street from one another? Maybe even more… Perhaps the strategy behind that idea was to have a convenient place to go for coffee – while you’re waiting in line for your coffee. One of the most astounding disenchantments is that in addition to paying close to $10 for a cup of coffee and a little breakfast nosh, if you’d like to stay and relax for a bit, you can plan to pay even more for the luxury of WiFi access.

The return of CEO Howard Schultz has brought blissful hope of a return to the “good ‘ol days” when, sure, coffee was still $4 a cup, but at least it had some character. The CEO himself was quoted recently as suggesting, “You have to balance creativity and entrepreneurship with process and strategy”.

Perhaps harkening back to its whimsical beginnings will somewhat ease the media beating the brand has already endured this year, but alas, there is more. Starbucks is the industry’s whipping boy once again with their latest online marketing effort, MyStarbucksIdea.com. In the company’s own press release, it touts the site as “Starbucks first online community that takes the Starbucks Experience outside the store and enables customers to play a role in shaping the company's future.” It sounds social enough. The only problem? That exact site already exists. It’s called StarbucksGossip.com. Only it’s not a Starbucks-owned domain.

Of course, StarbucksGossip.com, the legitimate social community, was quick to give MyStarbucksIdea.com a very enthusiastic thumbs down. Sparky, a blog contributor and savvy consumer, even went as far as to make the observation, “It's a dud -- a suggestion box with voting. True social networking would have connected customers with EACH OTHER on many topics -- including those that are not coffee related. Instead, we get separate partner and customer sites. And the customer site is led by partners!”

StarbucksGossip.com, which has actually been around since 2004, gained substantial media attention and a huge spike in traffic towards the end of last year. A Starbucks corporate memo was leaked and posted on the site, written by recently reinstated CEO Howard Schultz, and addressing top executives regarding his fears about the company losing its soul. The site’s owner, journalist Jim Romenesko, holds a full-time job with the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit media-training center in Florida. When The Seattle Times interviewed Romenesko about his opinion of Schultz’s statement, he agreed. “Yes,” says Romenesko. “[I think he got it right.] Particularly this line: ‘One of the results has been stores that no longer have the soul of the past and reflect a chain of stores vs. the warm feeling of a neighborhood store.’ I laugh because Starbucks doesn't let employees use perfume or cologne while on duty because it will get in the way of the smell of coffee in the stores. That's laughable, because when I walk into a Starbucks now, I smell egg and bacon from the breakfast sandwiches and think for a second that I'm in a McDonald's.”

To lock in the brand’s new designation as a social marketing outcast, the same day the Starbuck’s press release around MyStarbucksIdea.com was publicized, New York Magazine smugly countered the announcement with this comment, “What’s truly astounding is that many of the ‘suggestions’ posted there yesterday were announced as new initiatives by the company today. Talk about being heard!” This was an obvious jab to the staged nature of the site and the impossibility that consumers were really playing an integral role.

Now may be the appropriate time for an interlude around the vast benefits of creating a thriving social community around your brand – as well as a few positive examples. Social marketing can be a significant contributor to positive recall and increased conversions, when properly integrated.

In a recent study on consumers’ use of Social Media from the Society for New Communication Research, Dell and Amazon were the two brands cited most often when asked which companies have done the best job in using social media to respond to customer care issues. Dell also utilizes Dell IdeaStorm.com, which allows consumers to make suggestions for products. The site keeps a running tally of the number of ideas contributed. It gives consumers a voice, while also providing an inside perspective of what other ideas may already be in development by the company itself.

MySpace announced recently the launch of MySpace Music, expected to roll out over the next several months. The music industry’s woes around a failing revenue model could receive some relief with the help of this social marketing behemoth. According to Nielson SoundScan data for 2007, all album sales, including digital, dropped 9.5% last year – while still taking into consideration the 45% increase from digital sales. What MySpace Music proposes is the idea that not only can you listen to and purchase music online, but share opinions, read reviews, download the ringtones, and more. The possibility to increase revenue is substantial when you consider that these items can span the artists’ pages, fan pages, as well as the music site itself. On the other end of the spectrum, since its inception in 2003, iTunes has done little to build a community around the music.

And now, for my final, and current social marketing favorite – the Honda Element. In December of last year, DogCars.com, a dog lover’s online community, named the Honda Element “DogCar of the Year.” Honda’s agency, RPA, took that idea and turned it into their latest television ad, “Pointer,” which relays the features of the car through a dog’s perspective. The creative was also carried over into banner ads and online videos.

68% of online marketers surveyed by iMedia Connection in February of this year believe that traditional media will lose dollars to user-generated content. Brands that successfully partner with their consumers online will experience collaboration throughout all of the stages of the marketing process, from inception, to creation, to sales and post sale support. By targeting influentials online, brands can effectively connect with their target audience in a positive way, as well as monitor potential problems much more efficiently, before significant damage can be done.

Posted by Michele Miller at 01:03 PM
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It’s no secret that email is an invaluable tool for branding and promotion. For our normal, daily usage, emailing usually involves two steps – write and send. On the personal level, that works well enough. But a powerful brand requires more from this powerful medium. Brand-driven emails aren’t just digital notes from your favorite shop. They have much more room for purpose, and much less room for whim.

For starters, emails should promote a thorough brand experience. Though this is the low-hanging fruit of email production, it’s often overlooked. Gene Liebel, of iMedia Connection, quotes, “Each time you send someone an email, you create a little user experience for them. Yet most companies don't involve their user experience teams in the creation of email marketing campaigns… What's happening here?” Receiving an email not optimized for experience is like eating at a restaurant with no decoration – it’s bland and not very appetizing. While brand-driven communication can cover any different function, it should at least cover the basics.

Moving along, a proper email often involves some degree of segmentation. Technology has given us the power to customize messages to different sets of people, and it’s quite wise to advance on this ability. Different audience segments have different demographics, priorities, and are in different stages of the buying process. For this reason, singular messages don’t usually appeal to mass populations. Silverop CEO, Bill Nussey, quotes, “How you segment your lists is as important -- or more so -- than the creative you send and the offer you deliver. Dividing your email list into smaller groups of like-minded individuals can dramatically improve the relevance of your campaigns.” Constantly emailing the exact same message is like eating at a restaurant with one item on the menu. Even if it’s good, it doesn’t quite have the range. Fortunately, in marketing, fragmented audiences no longer means fragmented results.

Creating an experience and segmenting audiences enhances potential – but how can you know the best way to optimize them? A smart mind and professional title aren’t enough. You need a legitimate strategy. In other words, test. Test your materials, test your approach, try them out, and test them again. If you always have your finger on the conversion pulse, you’ll better understand your audience and why they’re bothering to open your email. Jeanne Jennings, from ClickZ, quotes, “A 7 percent increase in opens [was achieved] by mailing a few hours earlier… A 50 percent increase in clicks [was achieved] by adding a single paragraph… A 75 percent increase in sales [was achieved] by moving the offer copy.” Emailing without testing is like cooking without tasting. The only way to know what you’re serving is to investigate beyond an attractive outer layer.

And finally (for now), emailing is greatly enhanced when it’s part of a rich, integrated campaign. As a standalone piece, it’s only telling one part of the story. Influential brands should be employing such diverse elements as microsites, mobile campaigns, and widgets, in addition to traditional media (the oldies, but still goodies). These channels, working together, create a synergy unmatched by any single medium. Erik Sass, from Online Media Daily, quotes, “Email is a powerful tool for reaching consumers, and it works even better in conjunction with other disciplines, both online and offline. But marketers are still running up against obstacles… First of all, email doesn't get the credit it deserves because it's sometimes distant from the purchase, even if it influenced the decision.” Sending emails without a network of media is like eating fine food without a glass of wine. Each, alone, is nice. But together, they’re exceptional. Fortunately, there are qualified agencies that know how to tell the whole brand story.

The bottom line is that email has incredible abilities, but those abilities have to be actualized through best practices. Considering the potential, it’s worth taking every measure. How else could you better do this?

The New Marketing Economy is brought to you by Annodyne, Inc., a full-service provider of integrated marketing solutions. Annodyne is an enlightened breed of agency, bridging the gap between traditional and digital media – to modernize business and brand.

Posted by Jonathan Sauer at 04:43 PM
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