Did You Get My Text?

650,000. 

That number signifies the number of mobile apps in Apple’s App Store. That number also signifies that mobile is here to stay and that people will use their phones for everything they can. 

Mobile marketing is a growing trend and will continue to trend for a number of reasons:   

1. Smartphones Have Taken Over

Yes it’s true, smartphones have broken the 50% barrier and are now more prevalent than regular old mobile phones. 

2. Text Messaging Is Always on the Rise

Text messaging has risen to 8 trillion SMS in 2012 which is a rise of over the billion SMS sent in 2011.

3. Social Media is Still Growing

eMarketer estimates that by 2015, the population of mobile social network users will reach 79 million. Social networking was also the fastest-growing category among users of both apps and mobile browsers. In short, people are using their phones to be social more than ever and it’s only getting more prevalent. 

So how can businesses get involved with mobile marketing? Well, there’s two terms that you should make yourself familiar with if its something you want to pursue, those being: 

• Long codes
• Short codes

Long codes and short codes are how SMS marketing deploys or receives its message. Short codes are great because they are used to generate a response from your marketing activity. Short codes are how people vote for their favorite singer on American Idol. It is taking a 5 digit “short code” and texting it to a certain number. They then receive an automated response letting them know what will happen next.

Short codes are the costlier of the two options, but it’s because the number is shorter (and therefore easier to remember and text), you can do large text blasts, and short code platforms are generally easier to use. The downside is they are more costly, people can “opt out” of your campaign, and you have to register with all mobile carriers. 

Long codes are the cheaper option, but it also has its pros and cons. For one, clients can use their own long code (instead of registering a five digit number as with short codes). Long codes also don’t have to be registered with each cell phone provider and (as I said before) they’re also cheaper. 

However, the cheaper the product, the lesser the benefits. Long codes are, well, they’re long which means it will be more difficult for people to remember that number as opposed to a five digit one. You are also limited to the number of texts that can be sent as opposed to short code texts with which there are no limits. 

There are a lot of great options to consider with mobile marketing and the trends prove that it’s something worth looking into. It may not be the biggest tool around today, but we also may not be far from the day when it is. 

Understanding the Umbrella Campaign

“The biggest benefit [of an umbrella campaign] is the message we put out, by having the same sort of creative idea throughout each of our [commercials]. It makes the Campbell’s message so much bigger and more easily interpreted and understood by consumers – as opposed to fragmenting our message and advertising spend.”-Kristi Knowles, Marketing Director, Campbell’s Soup

As you can see from the above quote, there’s something special about umbrella campaigns. If properly executed, they have the ability to reach far and wide and make your brand recognizable in an entirely new way.

Take Chrysler’s “Imported from Detroit” campaign they launched a while back. Chrysler, like most US automakers, was trying to climb out of a hole and turn things around. Buying American was becoming a joke of sorts, but they boldly launched an umbrella campaign that wore a proud badge of made in America and made it seem like it was worth driving a Chrysler again.

The campaign was awarded an Effie in 2012 and according to a statement from Chrysler on their entry, “The success of this campaign has contributed significantly to the company's sales growth over 2010, and as a result of this success, Chrysler has paid off their government bailout six years early.”

Umbrella campaigns are great because they don’t limit your brand to one specific product. “Imported from Detroit” wasn’t just for one Chrysler model, it was for every Chrysler model. They could sell whatever Chrysler product they wanted and then close out their ad with “Imported from Detroit”, they were essentially killing two birds with one stone, which is the beauty of umbrella campaigns.

There are, however, some important things to remember about umbrella campaigns:

You’re not selling a product...

Umbrella campaigns can ultimately help your sales, but they shouldn’t be created to sell something in particular. “Imported from Detroit” was Chrysler’s new badge of courage and it certainly gave people a reason to buy from them, but the campaign would’ve received much less acclaim had it focused on say a simple: “Buy a Chrysler now and received 0% APR for the first 12 months”.

What’s the “why”?

Or in other words, what is the purpose of your brand. If the purpose has to do with the price or the deal they’re going to get, you need to rethink the purpose. Price is always going to be an option for people, but an umbrella campaigns aims to go beyond that. Yes, there are cars that are cheaper than Chrysler, but “Imported from Detroit” gave people a reason to buy with a purpose. Even if they were getting a great deal, they weren’t just getting a great deal, they were buying American, supporting the US economy, creating jobs, all of that just from “Imported from Detroit”.

Umbrella campaigns have a lot of benefits and can be a big win for your brand if executed properly. Think of an umbrella campaign as a way to remind people of what your brand is in a new way. 

The Most Pinteresting Blog in the World

Pinterest-ed yet?

Okay, I’ll stop now.

You may have heard of Pinterest. It’s a social media site that acts like a kind of bulletin board. People see images they like (a food recipe, meme, or workout routine) and “pin it” on their board. Their board is visible to their friends, their friends can “repin” the post and it goes on and on. It might sound like Facebook or many other social networks, but Pinterest is different and it could have an impact on social media plans moving forward. 

How It’s Different:

In a recent American Advertising Federation (AAF) presentation, Mike Magolnick said Pinterest is revolutionary because it links the emotional with the commercial, which is something Facebook and Twitter have failed to do. You can’t get people to buy stuff on Facebook and Twitter lacks the emotion that Facebook has. Pinterest is the middle ground.

However, we are anticipating that soon marketers will be asking why their brand isn’t active on Pinterest. Well, while Pinterest is great for a lot of brands, it isn’t right for every brand for a number of reasons:

Pinterest is a feast for the eyes:

If your brand doesn’t have a unique way to sell itself through images, Pinterest might not be right for it. Pinterest is a colorful, pretty site to look at because of the collection of images on it. I mean, look how pretty this is. People pin stuff on their “board” because it’s eye-grabbing, it’s relaxing to look at, it’s cool to look at, and it’s usually something they would like to buy.

From our perspective, if you’re selling a service or something like car insurance, you probably don’t have a place on Pinterest.

Who is your target demographic?

What are you selling? Men’s cologne? Muscle cars? Bad news, 68% of Pinterest users are women and 97% of the people who “like” Pinterest’s Facebook page are women.

Pinterest is most likely working on a grand plan to even out this one-sided demo appeal as we type, but for the time being, Pinterest isn’t ideal if you’re looking to sell to men.

How are other social networks doing?

How is Pinterest going to affect the marketing ways of Facebook and Twitter? Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer right now. June was a huge month for Facebook as far as adjusting their site for brands as they made many “Pages” upgrades to accommodate marketers (for example, brand pages can now schedule Facebook posts). However, Facebook’s marketing role remains as questionable as ever. Twitter’s role remains largely the same and, arguably, the safest. Tumblr is growing right behind Pinterest, but that’s a topic for another post.

Social media is an ever-evolving landscape, and it’s continuing to grow. Pinterest arriving on the scene makes this growth even larger and even more exciting. All brands may not have a use for it right now, but considering the pace at which things change in this field, it’s best to keep an eye on it.

Branding through Social Media

"Social media isn't the end-all-be-all, but it offers marketers unparalleled opportunity to participate in relevant ways. It also provides a launchpad for other marketing tactics. Social media is not an island. It is a high-power engine on the larger marketing ship."-Matt Dickman, SVP Digital Marketing at Fleishman-Hillard

Though they were labeled as fads during their humble beginnings (and still sometimes now), social networks like Twitter and Facebook have grown to include a combined total number of subscribers that exceeds one billion people. That’s kinda huge.

Most fleeting fads don’t feature this size fraction of the world’s population. As a result, many industries and organizations have not only accepted social media, but are now embracing social media as a way to brand their company and/or their product – whether it be through Facebook, Twitter, or both. And while the push to use social media has been somewhat prevalent since the middle of the past decade, some institutions are still trying to find their way in this realm in terms of expressing and building a brand across various social media channels. With this in mind, we’d like to offer a few key concepts to remember when branding through social media:

Consistency: 

Consistency is a problem for any kind of branding, but it can be particularly frustrating for branding across social media. Why? Because social media, even when formal, is a very personalized version of your company and/or product. You’re creating an e-personality and when your consumers have no concept of who that personality is, it frustrates them. Taking that into consideration, your messages via Twitter and Facebook should match in tone, what they’re trying to convey, and target audience.

Keep it simple: 

How many characters do you have at your disposal for a tweet? 140. Not 140 words. 140 characters. You have more for a Facebook post, but long Facebook posts will almost certainly turn away the eyes. People on social networks want the bare minimum and they want any information they’re going to get very quickly. There should be simplicity in the length of the statement and in the choice of words. Plus, trying to over-explain what your company and/or product is can simply complicate or distort the message.

Interaction: 

As mentioned before, whatever social profile you create for your company and/or product is essentially that entity’s personality. That personality should both interact with its “followers” and “friends” and encourage those people to interact with one another. If you’re not encouraging any kind of interaction on your social profile, you are essentially talking to a wall. People will also grow more comfortable and attached to your product if they can interact with it on this level.

Branding yourself through social media has endless possibilities and it is also quickly becoming one of the most cost effective forms of marketing. But just because it’s mostly free and readily available, does not mean it’s easy to use, so please consider what we’ve wrote about while you’re using it!

Why you should NOT fear the transparency of social media

In conversations with several credit union marketing professionals, there seem to be two main reasons why they aren't investing as much time or as many resources in social media as they probably should be.

1. They don't see how it is relevant to the financial services industry.
2. They fear the transparency of it, and how it gives customers an open forum to discuss anything - including negative topics.

I will try to tackle the first issue later this month, because it is an industry-wide struggle without an easy answer. But the transparency of social media is still a very hot-topic issue that needs to be addressed.

Facing criticism is difficult for anyone. But especially among banks or credit unions - places people trust with their money - because stability and assurance are non-negotiable must-have qualities. It makes sense that the assumption would be that an angry member could do irreparable damage to the reputation of a financial institution by posting about a customer relations mishap repeatedly on Facebook or Twitter. And if not managed properly, it might well could.

But if managed well, it will do the opposite.

Today's consumers crave transparency from the brands they trust. Why? Because transparency is authenticity. Authenticity is real; it is honest. People trust honest. If you are doing good business, your members are going to be ambassadors of your brand. They will recognize that mistakes happen, no one is perfect. And in many cases, they will defend your brand by expressing their own positive experiences. Beyond that - they will appreciate that you took public criticism, especially if in response to it you apologize sincerely and gracefully take action to correct the problem.

Also, the fact of the matter is, whether you are on social media or not, your members most definitely are. And they are probably still talking about you. By being involved in the conversation, you can help manage it. And by not being involved, it sends the message that perhaps you have something to hide.

And, not fearing transparency has the added bonus of allowing you to use social media as the most inexpensive way to get immediate feedback on products and services you provide. That means you can make adjustments quicker, and keep your members happier.

Have a look at this case study about the Boulevard Brewing Company, and their launch of a chocolate ale.

Boulevard Brewing Company: A Social Media Case Study in Leadership, Transparency and Doing the Right Thing

 How have you interacted with customers/members on your social media channels? Any negative or positive experiences? Let us know in the comments below!

More on PURLs: Landing Pages that Work

Making good use of PURLs is a twofold process. 1.) Creating compelling direct mail or email marketing that drives your target audience to use their PURL. And 2.) Having a landing page created that upon their arrival engages them and sends a clear message.

Each of these are equally important, but the landing page is where you get the results you are looking for. This post has 10 quick and dirty key points to keep in mind when considering the design of your landing page.



1.) Relevant, attention-grabbing headline

2.) Relevant graphics and design

3.) Use a different design than your homepage - something that stands out and makes it unique.

4.) BUT stay true to your branding.

5.) Clear, simple call to action. Don't ask for more than one thing, instead be direct and lead them directly to that next-step.

6.) Give just enough information to support what it is you want them to do - no more, and no less.

7.) Don't make viewers scroll to view important content.

8.) Don't overwhelm them with links. Provide them with a link to the next page you want them to view, and maybe a link to contact you.

9.) Utilize white space to make it easier for viewers to make a quick scan of your landing page.

and 10.) Pay attention to the results you are getting as the campaign is ongoing-tweak your page and test the change that you make. Within the first two weeks you should have settled on design/copy that optimizes results.

What is a PURL?

Since our newsletter this month focused on Kearley's past successes with PURLs, I thought now might be a good time to revisit what they are. Here is a great article that I found that explains fairly simply what a PURL, why it works, and why they are great tools for marketers.

Why Marketers Should Use PURLs