reports £1 for 1 day.  However, best practice preaches that the use of numbers and symbols cause issues with deliverability.  And therefore, we always steer clear of using them.  So instead of running with a symbol loaded subject, we ran with a headline of ‘ 24 hours of winter madness’.

So, 1) no mention of company credit reports,  and, 2) no mention of the actual offer.  However, we hoped that we’d intrigue people into opening to find out what it was about.

The open rates pretty good (avg 25%) and in some groups, the click throughs were very respectable.  However, with such a great offer, we were expecting better things.

Following that mailing, we tuned into a webinar, ‘The five best ways to optimise email response’

by Dr Flint McGlaughlin.

Many of the lessons within the webinar were as expected, however, it did provoke thinking.  In particular, when they were going through a series of subject lines and looking at how the campaigns could be improved – one recommendation was to change the subject line of the mailing from ‘Thank you for Making us your Florist of Choice, to ‘15% offer – Our way of saying thank you!’.

(http://www.marketingexperiments.com/images/multifiles/articulate/miami-summit-2010/player.html)

Now of course, any marketer utilising basic best practice techniques is going to be aghast at such a recommendation – let’s see, how many symbols in the subject line – errr…% – and ! =3!

Now of course, from a marketing message – I totally agree.  Communicating very clearly what you are offering right up front is key to successful marketing messaging.  However, what about the spam filters and deliverability – what’s the point of going to all the effort of creating the piece, if it isn’t going to make it through to the recipient.

So we decided to query this point with Dr Flint McGlaughlin – and his response is detailed below.

QUESTION:

How much validity is there to the conventional wisdom that, in the Subject line of an offer email message, numbers, certain symbols (especially £/€/$, %, and !) and “SPAM words” such as “Free” and “discount” will cause a dramatic reduction in deliverability, and consequently effectiveness?

ANSWER:

In the case of the particular company and study referred to on Slide 22, that was precisely one of the questions we set out to answer.  What you couldn’t see in the context of Dr. McGlaughlin’s Email Summit presentation is that this particular 2-treatment comparative vignette was just a tiny part of a much larger and broader study intended to test that specific widely-accepted presumption along with a host of others to see how valid they remained through the evolution of regulatory and ESP-technical filter changes since the time they were first introduced and anecdotally adopted; around 2003-2005.  This was important because we know from our foundational Offer/Response-Optimisation principles of “clarity trumps persuasion” and “specificity converts”, that the clearer and more specific subject line—i.e., the one with the “15% Off…” copy—should convert better.

What we found was that there was, in fact, a small but significant difference in deliverability—interestingly, it was more pronounced among the smaller ESP’s.  In addition, as we had predicted based on the “eme” heuristic, the Open Rate actually declined (…by more than 25%).

In the end, though, the central research question was “Which email subject line will result in the greatest projected net revenue?”   As revealed in Dr. McGlaughlin’s presentation,  despite the slight dip in Delivery rate, and the (what would otherwise have been alarming) drop in Open rate, the Clickthrough Rate (CTR) to the landing page was 60.3% higher.  What he may not have mentioned is that, in direct answer to the research question, the Treatment subject line yielded a 56% increase in projected net revenue vs. the Control.

So, while it appears there is still at least some validity to the commonly held belief that special characters in the email Subject line reduces deliverability, our research—this test two others conducted in different products and industries—suggests that when they serve to do so, these negative factors are dwarfed by the power of clarity.

Interesting eh – I’ll certainly be split testing the subject line in our next offer against this view – and will report back results.

For more marketing news, views, ideas, tips and suggestions – why not subscribe to my marketing blog http://www.carvillcreative.co.uk/blog

Or follow me on Twitter – I’m always sharing useful stuff on there too.

Michelle Carvill is owner and Marketing Director at Carvill Creative – a graphic design and marketing services agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  The agency covers all aspects of graphic design and marketing – covering social media marketing and website planning and website design.

So please tell me what’s going to happen to banks?  In my experience of banking with banks, both personal and business accounts – and in working with banks in partnership arrangements – there seems to be a common challenge.   And that challenge is, they’re too slow!

As typical with any enormous organisation – there are just too many hoops to jump through – too many processes, too many lines of management and therefore, everything takes too long.

For example – I recently made a complaint to my bank (I have to say, I can’t remember the last time I’ve had any reason to complain to them).  I made my complaint via email (which was never allowed to happen in the past – ooh progress).  24 hours later I received an email from the relevant team (it was looking promising) advising that my complaint was being looked into – attached was a lengthy PDF – and I was referred to the customer complaint process, informed to read said lengthy PDF, and advised that I’d receive a written response, together with a hard copy of the lengthy complaints process brochure within 14 days.  (It couldn’t be emailed in case someone intercepted the email).

I then queried why it was going to take 14 days to respond – to be advised that it was procedure and if I read page 14 of the Customer Complaint Process brochure, it was clearly documented – blah, blah, blah.

Now as a small business – highly responsive to clients, I can’t for one minute imagine asking a client to wait 14 days for anything – let alone to address a service recovery procedure.  It just a) wouldn’t  and b) couldn’t happen.

As a small business, we don’t have a Customer Response Team (probably a team of a minimum of 20 perhaps, even 80+?).  Instead, we have a small team that does everything they can to deliver services and service to our clients.   And let me tell you, there’s no ‘we’ll get back to you in 14 days’ amongst our vocabulary.

So in an age where everyone expects high levels of responsiveness and service (after all technology has enabled it – right! and so we do out best to keep up) we just sit back and accept the prehistoric practices of banks.

It must be hugely frustrating to work in a bank and want to make a difference – red tape, bureaucracy, 5000 meetings and procedures to work through, 150 different types of line management decision makers – yet no real empowerment to actually DO anything.  By the time a decision is made, the opportunity is probably lost.

I wrote a blog post a few weeks ago about ‘keeping things simple’ and for those businesses that do so – they’ll have cracked it.

What I’m hoping for is a bank to perform as if it was a nimble and responsive small business.  Quick decisions, minimising red tape, form filling and bureaucracy.  I saw on the tube the other day, an advertisement for www.wonga.com – ok the maximum lending is £400 – but everything is done online – and they’ve even made a mobile app for it, so you can order from your phone.

The large high street banks certainly have considerable budgets to create the right vehicle – so why don’t they take a look at offering a truly online, responsive, non bureaucratic, decision making off-shoot – small, nimble, responsive, immediate decisions – online, convenient. (A small business within a big business without all the red tape).  Instead of ploughing their money into ‘candid’ and expensive advertising campaigns that push dated information and ideas down out throats.

I’m sure there are nimble divisions such as I desire within banking groups – but are they truly independent – or still dogged by the shadow of the ‘brand’ – and all the stifling controls that come with it.

There have been some success stories – First Direct service was the first to really look at servicing clients in a different way.  And more recently, I notice that Santander are really pushing responsiveness – opening business accounts via the telephone within hours and online loan applications – immediate decisions and money in your account within 4 days!

In my opinion banks should get real and close to what is really important to the majority of their customers (and let’s face it, we’re not all big commercial companies hindered by the same prehistoric processes) – look at the true business demographics.

“What’s important to busy people and small businesses” are simple questions that banks may spend fortunes on market research to understand but certainly don’t gear themselves up to servicing very well.  To put it simply, we’re looking for services that help rather than hinder.

I’m waiting for a new solution to banking – a solution such as the one I saw on the tube – but with a broader range of services, a banking solution that really does understand what’s important to people and small businesses in this day and age. Wake up – its 2010 not 1910.

Times have changed – and all businesses have to appreciate that and get on board with the what’s happening right now in order to succeed in this digital future.  I’ve said it before – small businesses, well leveraged and savvy are agile and responsive to change.  Large lumbering dinosaurs – just can’t get there as quickly.

Hope I won’t be disappointed and that a nimble and savvy online banking solution will appear in the not too distant future – and of course, the main focus – to keep things simple!

For more marketing news, views, advice and tips (oh and rants too) – why not subscribe to my blog http://www.carvillcreative.co.uk/blog .  And follow me on Twitter too.

Michelle Carvill is owner and Marketing Director at Carvill Creative – a graphic design and marketing services agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  The agency covers all aspects of graphic design and marketing – covering social media marketing and website planning and website design.

To provide a bit of context – I had a very simple query.  I received a notification advising me that I needed to renew my Norton 360 license with them – simple – and I did that no problem.

However, the license I have is for 3 machines, and I wanted to switch one of the licenses and see whether Linux platforms were supported in that license.  A quick call – or live chat query, or even email support would have sufficed.  The query could have been resolved in, say, 2 minutes.

I searched on their website for answers to my queries – but nothing was evident, and so I hunted down a number to call and eventually found an office in Reading.  I called them and having completed at least 4 rounds of call selection – I was then put into a queue.

It was interesting, because in the queue, I wasn’t notified that it was going to take me an hour and a half to get through – instead, I was repeatedly advised to hold on the phone, as if I hung up, I would lose my place in the queue and have to start again.

I waited, and waited – after 40 minutes, I started to get really fed up – but the, by now, terrifying mantra came at me again – hang up and I’ll lose my place!

Of course, I wasn’t just sitting there winding myself up during the long wait – oh no, I tried to be as productive as possible.  I visited their site again, hunted down the FAQs, hunted down a search facility, inserted the keywords relating to my query etc etc.

Pages upon pages of results returned – totally off the mark – and now I’m getting more and more frustrated.

After 90 minutes on hold – I was now uber twitchy – of course, my Twitter app was open, so I posted; ‘Can’t believe I’ve been waiting on hold at Symantec for an hour and a half, disgusting.’

Fortunately, or unfortunately for the poor chap I did eventually get put through to, they answered the call shortly after, (1 hour and 38 minutes on hold.  That’s got to be a record!)  Flabbergasted, I wanted an explanation, why, what… however, the very nice chap I was now through to in the Philippines had no answers.  Sorry – we’re busy, that’s all I can say.  He answered my query and worked through what I needed to do – and all was fixed.  However, I was still finding the whole waiting on hold for that amount of time, incredulous.

Interestingly, just 10 minutes after I’d posted on Twitter – I received a message on Twitter from NortonOnline asking how they could help me.  Had my problem been resolved – sorry to hear I wasn’t happy?

I’d also received a few Direct Messages from others advising me that they too thought Symantec were terrible.  Poor service levels – not responsive.  One chap had been trying to cancel a standing order with them for months!

I tried to Direct Message NortonOnline, but because they weren’t following me, had to post to all, advising that yes it had been fixed – but did they really think that 90 mins on hold was acceptable?

I also queried, the point as to why they hadn’t they promoted their Twitter support on their website?  Had I seen that, then I’d have been on them like a shot.  And why no live chat – particularly as they clearly don’t have the mechanisms to handle calls responsively?

They thanked me for my suggestions and my great feedback!  Hmmmm.

What’s clear, however, is that Twitter and no doubt Facebook, are being closely watched by the corps.   Brand reputation is clearly being managed very closely online – with the remit to capture any negativity before it spirals out of control – and turns into a Dell Hell.

Let’s hope that more and more businesses start to utilise Twitter as a means of responding to customer queries – but actually adding real value.  I’d much rather be dealing with a 10 minute response than a 90 minute one.  That would speak volumes for a brand – the fact that they are actually servicing customers, rather than simply looking at preserving their brand reputation – the two are interlinked.  The fact that NortonOnline came back to me quickly online via Twitter, didn’t temper the negative vibes that had manifested whilst waiting on hold for 90 minutes.

Being responsive in the social media arena can’t just be about apologies – it’s got to be about servicing the consumer.   So take heed all you corps that are jumping on the Twitter bandwagon.  Don’t just pay lip service and make your presence all about managing your brand reputation, but get real service running via Twitter and really make your presence count!

For more marketing news, views, rants, tips and advice – why not subscribe to my blog or follow me on Twitter.

Best wishes

Michelle Carvill

Michelle Carvill is owner and Marketing Director at Carvill Creative – a graphic design and marketing services agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  The agency covers all aspects of graphic design and marketing – covering social media marketing and website planning and website design.

I simply want to transfer the photos from my Blackberry to my laptop.  Now that shouldn’t be difficult at all should it? Surely the current Blackberry Desktop Manager has a simple resource for doing this – surely, it’s just a simple case of syncing my device and voila!  Er – no.  Not that simple.

Ok – I won’t be defeated, rather than email each photo to my outlook account (tedious) – I’ll send via Bluetooth.  Simple!

So, I open the Bluetooth access on my laptop – my laptop and Blackberry run into the arms of one another – very painlessly – and connect.  Great – so now it’s just a simple case of sending my photos via Bluetooth.   Er – no.  Not that simple.

The software is not compatible.   Bit of a pain – but shouldn’t be insurmountable – I will simply visit the Blackberry.com site and get the relevant update.

By now I’ve spent the best part of 2 and a half hours trying to complete what should be a really, really, simple task.

So, I open up my Desktop manager – and request updates – again should be simple – and it pretty much is.  I access the relevant updates, upload – message that it may take 30 minutes for everything to configure.  Oh, oh – there’s now no way to stop this progress, as if I do I’m warned I disrupt the data and so I am now left wondering what exactly it’s up too – and keeping everything crossed that it hasn’t reconfigured my email accounts (as it did last time)!

What should I be doing now – well actually, enjoying the snow with my children at the ‘community built’ ski and sledge runs at Punt Hill.   A task that I thought would have taken me minutes – has taken hours!

How much longer…

The statement ‘why is nothing ever simple’ – isn’t just my continual mantra.  I hear it all the time from friends, peers, family – even my children.  And hence why those businesses that have a sole purpose to ‘make things simple’ – and really deliver on that – are destined for big success.

Oh – have to pause this post – got to restart my ‘systems’ to implement the changes.   Back soon.

Pleased to report that I eventually managed to get my Blackberry photos uploaded onto my laptop.  In fact, having battled with the Bluetooth access – it transpired that the lated Blackberry desktop manager had indeed included a Media Sync function in their latest release.  So there it was…

Customer service has nothing to do with simplicity

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about the Blackberry service – indeed their customer service has always been responsive and excellent.  This isn’t what I’m talking about – it’s more to do with the fundamental way things are designed.  Create products and services that are so intuitive – and customer support becomes almost unnecessary.

There’s a business model right there – make or provide access to a product or service, which is as simple as possible, and you’ll thrive.

For example, The Made Simple Group have a number of online services for the start up and small business communities – which each site offers something different, the one similar key factor – making simple.  It’s no wonder that their www.companiesmadesimple.com site is one of the leading online company formation sites in the UK.  They’ve made the process of forming a company (I’ve done this a few times now on other sites and with my accountant and have to say never, ever, found it a simple process previously) – but with Companies Made Simple, it really is a very simple process.

Another service I came across, www.enterprisemadesimple.co.uk – focus on getting access to all the grants and funding available for businesses – simple.  There’s so much red tape involved, that it becomes such a time consuming exercise for businesses, that I’m sure there’s always surplus funding left over at the end of each day.

Businesses that focus on making things simple – designing products and services, and websites – that are so intuitive, are totally on to a winner.  In an age where time is our most limited resource – those services that make things truly simple will win through.

One of our own sites – Logotastic, an online logo design service, was created just for this purpose too – the brand identity and logo design process can often be a very lengthy, time consuming and expensive process.  Logotastic focuses on getting the user to put their brief online in a succinct way – and then they work through the design iterations with a professional designer online – cutting out the often unnecessary, design by committee and meeting after meeting elements.  The ethos – to simplify and make professional design affordable to all.

There’s a great book I recommend, The Design of Everyday Things, which is a bible for anyone interested in usability – not just online usability – but service design and product design.

I do find myself always saying – why is nothing ever simple! As things never seem to be as clear cut as they should be.

In fact, this morning, (now a day after the Blackberry case) I had to wait at my house before going to the office for an Engineer to drive all the way from Kent to deliver a new knob for my cooker (using up fuel and increasing carbon footprint)!  I had told them the model number, serial no etc – in advance and explained that the two spares I had been given on delivery of the cooker some 18 months ago, had been used up – one other knob had cracked (design fault with the original design I suspect) – and could I have a few more in case of further incidents.  However, rather than simply packaging up the knobs and posting them to me – I had to take time out of my working day, the engineer had to drive from Kent to Berkshire – for what was a ridiculous ‘call out’.  He was here no more than 5 minutes – he opened a DHL bag (which had been posted to his office) containing the knobs – took one out and put it on the cooker!  No skill required whatsoever.  So why all the hassle – why not simply send the knobs directly to me!  Bonkers.

My mantra for 2010 is to ‘keep things simple’ – and to look for the most ‘plug and play’ products, and simple services I can.  They save me time and keep my stress levels in check.  I’m not prepared to battle any longer.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not about dumbing down – as often it takes a whole lot of complex thinking and backend structures to make a process as simple as possible (think Apple and you know what I’m talking about).  Hence why many cut corners – and we’re left with unnecessary customer support calls (which again, tend to take hours to rectify – particularly when related to IT).

So come on you corps out there – make things more simple… a bit more effort at the design and service delivery conceptualisation stage will reap huge rewards.   Those businesses that are already doing it – are doing well.

It’s not rocket science – so I’ll end this post with a KISS… (keep it simple stupid)!

For more marketing views, ideas, news, tips and tactics – why not visit my blog – you can subscribe and get regular posts delivered to you via email.  Also – follow me on Twitter – always sharing useful resources on there too!

Michelle Carvill is owner and Marketing Director at Carvill Creative – a graphic design and marketing services agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  The agency covers all aspects of graphic design and marketing – covering social media marketing and website planning and website design.

Whilst many of us have really great intention – it is often zapped by people we meet, work with, live with – and the reality that our most precious resource, time, just seems to run away with us – there simply are not enough hours in the day.

Optimism, passion and energy are really key fundamental success factors we need to personally harness as, when you think about it – it’s energy and enthusiasm that keeps us all going – the sense of purpose that motors us on.

Think back to how you feel when you’re not 100% – I know myself that I can’t think straight – and often feel overwhelmed by the usually manageable everyday tasks.

Whilst the 2009 media was dominated by the ‘doom and gloom’ relating to the economic climate – so many of us were keen to get into 2010 – and I don’t think I’m alone in feeling really optimistic about 2010.  And, of course, optimism is infectious – perhaps that’s just the way it works – a self fulfilling prophecy – resign yourself to D&G (and I don’t mean Dolce and Gabanna) and that’s what you’ll get heaps of.

So if optimism is infectious – let’s spread it.  And to keep ourselves keen on spreading it – let’s ensure our energy and enthusiasm levels are maintained too.   Revisiting my September 08 post – much of what I stated, remains…

1. Watch out for ‘energy vampires’ – and by this I mean those people that ’suck’ the life out of you.  We all have them in our lives – these are the people you are around for a period of time and you come away from feeling ‘low’, ‘negative’ or hugely frustrated.  Try to avoid these ‘vampires’ as much as possible.  If you have to be around them, zone them out as much as possible.  And counteract their negativity with positivity.  You’ll be amazed at how much better you feel.
2. Counterbalance the ‘vampires’ by being around ‘energy boosters‘ – these are people that really excite you – get you enthused and positive about what you do.  They ooze energy and when ‘boosters’ get together – energy is shared – and it generates more energy so everyone comes away feeling ready for anything.  You know who these people are – so spend more time in their presence.
3. Get fit - mentally and physically.  At the time I wrote the original post, I had just run my first half marathon (have to say that I haven’t run another one since, but do regularly run 6 miles at least a couple of times a week).  Whilst a person who has always been very sporty and active, running was something that I had done down the gym for 10 minutes at a time – but long distance was not my bag.  Preparing for a marathon (or half marathon) is hard work – and it takes dedication, commitment, resolve, determination and self belief.   You really question whether you’ll make it round, will you fail, will your heart give out!    But in your heart of hearts – you know you can do it.   Coping with the doom and gloom of our economic climate is somewhat aligned to running a marathon – nothing is going to happen quickly – and so you need to prepare yourself for the long run.  Stay well – keep focused on the end goal – and keep going, be determined – you will get to the finish line…
4. Me time –  get into the habit of  making some ‘me time’.  There’s nothing clever about working and worrying 24 hours a day.  You’ll burn out, lose momentum, become low and energy and enthusiasm will slip far from your grasp.  Don’t let yourself get to that stage.  Take ‘me time’ – and by this I mean doing whatever it takes to ‘recharge your batteries’.  Whether it’s a long walk, training for a marathon, yoga, meditation, hanging out with the children, feeding the ducks, dog walks, listening to music, dancing, going down the gym, reading a book etc - whatever it takes – be sure you do some of it regularly.   I recommend at least 1 hour of ‘me time’ a day.  Sounds like it should be simple to fit in just 1 hour a day – but you’ll find that it isn’t.  So start with setting 1 hour as your benchmark – and see how you go…

In my viewpoint – there’s no reason why 2010 shouldn’t  be the year of the small business.  As market confidence returns and businesses start to come out of hibernation, this poses opportunity for smaller organisations that have ridden the storm to push ahead of those that may still be struggling:

• Small is responsive, fast and nimble
• Small is very price competitive
• Small provides excellent service levels (often direct from the people who own the business)
• Small is willing to tailor services and innovate

So if the time is right for small businesses to push ahead and steal away business from larger organisations – what types of things should we be thinking about:

1. Well – for one, where possible we need to ‘unbundle’.  If consumers are focused on just buying the ‘basics’ – then don’t over complicate the purchase.  Strip back all the ‘frills’ – and provide a ‘basic’ offering.  You can always hedge your bets by providing the consumer with the option to ‘add on’ if they wish to – but keep it simple.  If they want a sofa – just let them buy a sofa (without the chairs, lamp and side tables thrown in)!
2. Market hard and direct – we know we can compete against the bigger players – so it’s time to market hard.  Create a list of target businesses you want to work with and create a campaign.  My suggestion is that you do the research in building the list based on your own client criteria (what’s currently working is always a good platform to build on) – build a list and then build your selling proposition – and then get on the phone (either directly if you’re good at telesales and have time – or appoint a professional to help) – and make some appointments to get in there to let them see how you can provide exceptional value for money, provide excellent service levels without any compromise on quality. In my opinion, marketing now, as we come out of the really negative climate into a slightly more confident one still needs to be ‘direct’ – so focus efforts on winning new business and not just brand building.

So that’s it – simple eh – keep optimistic, energised, enthused and focused on what you want to achieve in 2010.  At the end of the day it’s you that matters – with your mental and physical energy levels in tip top condition,  that’s  what’s really going to help you stand out in a crowd!

For more marketing news, views, tips and advice – why not subscribe to my blog and don’t forget to follow my tweetings on Twitter

Here’s to an energetic, happy and successful 2010!  I’ve got a good feeling about this one…

Michelle Carvill is owner and Marketing Director at Carvill Creative – a graphic design and marketing services agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  The agency covers all aspects of graphic design and marketing – covering social media marketing and website planning and website design.

Whilst I participate on and am very comfortable with social media platforms – what I am not, is a ‘social media expert’.  What I am, is a pragmatic and experienced marketer (both off and online) – open to and keen to leverage new channels of communication as you would imagine any decent marketer would be, particularly if those channels enable more targeted activity.

Twitter certainly seems to have dominated ‘social media’ platforms and media during 2009 – and piggybacking on the success of Twitter are at least 5 or perhaps even 10 million (or perhaps even more) social media experts!  Where did they all come from?  And what is the definition of a ‘social media expert’?

In fact, without mentioning any names, I recently met a ‘social media expert’ at a networking event – their business card actually stated Social Media Expert underneath their name.   So, in the name of my own personal quest to determine the route and core of social media expertise, I honed the conversation around developing a greater understanding of the competence involved.

What, very quickly, became apparent, was that this expert was participating with social media platforms in a very similar way to me – and had been doing so for a similar amount of time.  Prior to that, they mainly focused on SEO!  ITheir role was to share their social media expertise with clients – assisting them in setting up these channels to market.  Effectively, setting up accounts, setting alerts to make them aware of activity in their particular sector (if relevant).   On a positive note – I suppose labelling yourself as a ‘Social Media Expert’ regardless of your background does indeed communicate a very targeted and relatively still niche expertise – regardless of how ‘young’ that expertise may be.

I wrote a blog post some months ago now – about Implementing a Social Media Strategy – the post was born from activity I’d been undertaking with a client I’ve been working with for about 7 years.   As part of their ‘umbrella’ marketing strategy which covers a whole range of marketing activity (both inbound and outbound) – it was clear that new ‘social media’ platforms were out there for us to leverage.  So, in just the same way, we’d approach any new activity, I researched, strategised and created a social media activity plan which we would look to implement – and nurture.

I follow the words ‘social media’ in my TweetBeep alert and so am always watching what’s being ‘talked about’ in the social media context.  [In fact this resource is really useful for targeted activity see this post] .  From months of observation, what’s very clear is that many organisations are not ‘on board’ with social media – and those that are, it’s all still very fertile territory.

Recently, I’ve noticed that there are definitely more resources out there springing up from marketers and others who are charged with putting together a social media strategy for organisations – however, it’s still very fragmented – people borrowing theory and practice from one another (which is pretty great actually).

I then researched ‘requests’ and ‘job specs’ for what companies are looking for from a ‘social media expert’ – and it pretty much seems to be the following:

1)         Help to set up the various accounts and manage them ongoing

2)         Set up a blog and assist with writing content and share on social media platforms

3)         Brand management – watching what’s being said about their brand(s)

4)         Include social media platforms in campaigns

I haven’t done ‘extensive’ research, so I’m sure there are other elements to add – but enough to get a flavour for what seems to be the general remit of a ‘social media expert’.

Anyone participating on social media platforms is likely to agree that participation and monitoring and keeping on top of the game can be quite time consuming.   In fact, from my own personal experience with clients, it’s the time consummation which seems to be a big turn off for many companies.  ‘How are we going to manage it all?’ – and ‘tada’… hence the rise of the Social Media Expert.

Of course, when things seem too consuming, it’s useful to break them down into bite sized chunks by ‘compartmentalising’ them – and therefore, organisations may well be on the hunt for social media experts to bring into their marketing teams.

In 2010 no doubt more and more digital agencies will be ‘all over’ social media – providing the ‘full social media service’ as an inherent service – indeed, many have already added this to their menu of services.  So not only will Social Media Experts continue to grow – but Social Media Agencies will have a life of their own – swallowing up many of those with social media competence and experience.

As a pragmatic and experienced marketer, I will continue to remain just that – of course, where relevant, as part of the ‘marketing mix’ social media activity will be leveraged – in my view, the platforms are channels for us to leverage.

Social Media activity isn’t something that is done in isolation – it’s part of the marketing strategy and brand communications – it’s got to be joined up, thought through and implemented with the same thought and care as any marketing activity should be.

In my view, social media platforms sit with marketing – part of the marketing mix – and marketing enables strategic planning.  So all in all – be careful how you execute your social media activity.  It’s your brand and reputation out there – be transparent, considered and think it through…

Here’s to watching what happens in 2010!

For marketing news, views, tips and ideas – why not subscribe to my blog http://www.carvillcreative.co.uk/blog – oh and you can always follow me on Twitter.

Michelle Carvill is owner and Marketing Director at Carvill Creative – a graphic design and marketing services agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  The agency covers all aspects of graphic design and marketing – covering social media marketing and website planning and website design.

As soon as I saw this my immediate response was one of ‘questionning’ – so I had a little think about it – was there a clever little message in there that I was missing? Bag for Xmas – not for life…? Hmmm…. But no – I quickly ascertained that this ridiculous posturing is just really poor marketing.

Questions to the Phones 4 U marketing team – where did that idea come from and what possible positive brand associations were you looking to achieve?

Was it really as ridiculous as someone saying – “hey, there are so many bags for life out there messages – let’s look ‘edgy’ and different by clearly stating that our bags are just for Christmas?” – oh dear.

Message for the Phones 4 U marketing team – it’s totally put me off your brand, irresponsible message, ridiculous and trying too hard. If there was any purpose – then I’m missing it. It’s just left me with negative brand associations for you guys… the bags looked great – you just should have left the message off them.

I was totally impartial to your brand before – no negative associations at all – so no reason why I wouldn’t have wondered into your store. Now I have some emotional response with your brand – but it’s not positive. That’s not great marketing is it. Or perhaps that was the intention – targeting those that find recycling and efforts to reduce wastage ‘dull’ and futile? Who knows.

It just goes to show the power of words. A real example as to how businesses and brands need to be careful of what they say – trying to be ‘edgy’ or even attempting dry humour can often be misconstrued and set the brand on the road to negative associations.

For more marketing news, view, ideas and tips visit my blog http://www.carvillcreative.co.uk/blog

Michelle Carvill is owner and Marketing Director at Carvill Creative – a graphic design and marketing services agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  The agency covers all aspects of graphic design and marketing – covering social media marketing and website planning and website design.

Without going into too much detail – what surprised me was their ‘old fashioned’ view on partnerships and reciprocal promotion.

In a day when advertisers have never been more savvy, and have never had as many tools and resources to measure their advertising effectiveness, I was genuinely gobsmacked to hear that my proposals for cross linking and reciprocal

You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours...

promotion (you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours) were completely dismissed, because their modus operandi from an advertising perspective was purely based on paid ad sponsorship.

Indeed – this is why more and more ad spending has become based on a ‘CPL’  or ‘CPA’ – cost per lead, or cost per acquisition basis – because businesses, regardless of size, are hesitant to throw their money at online advertising (banner, content sponsorship etc) without any agreed return on investment.  With a cost conscious market – business should be looking at other ways to promote themselves.

A key area I really to advocate – which is far more mutually beneficial to both parties, is indeed the world of ‘Partnership Marketing’.

By this I mean linking and ‘partnering’ with other businesses that have specific synergy.  You both have the same audience – but offer different services / products.  Find a partner with this specific synergy and 1) you can promote their relevant services to your customers and 2) they will promote your services to their.  Immediately creating a prospect base which is targeted – and is being ‘introduced’ by someone that audience potentially ‘trusts’ rather than a ‘cold sell’.

And of course, rather than do this on a ‘one hit wonder’ basis (which almost never works) – the partnership should continue for a period of time.

So let’s take a look at some examples of what works from a Partnership perspective:

1) Added Value

One great example is one of my clients, The Made Simple Group – who within their group of online solutions for the start up and small business community, have the award winning http://www.companiesmadesimple.com – a company formation site.  Google have partnered with The Made Simple Group for a number of years now, as they clearly see the benefits of offering Google Adwords vouchers to businesses that are just starting out in business – educating and advising on how to get noticed online and providing them with a voucher to try our Adwords.  This presents The Made Simple Group with a relevant added value offering and a great brand (Google) to promote on their sites.

2) Relevant Reciprocation

What I’m talking about here is businesses using each others’ platforms to broaden their relevant messages.  For example – let’s take the start up audience again.   Start Up Community is running a campaign to help new businesses ‘Get Online for Business’  – they are partnering with other players in the start up community – from company formations, to event sites for start ups and advice sites for start ups.  Start Up Community also has their own start up cCommunity – so they too can offer the people that are promoting their Get Online for Business campaign – an opportunity to promote their services / products to their audience.

3.   Expert Promotion

If you have a website or service where there is an accepted ‘expert’ – then partnering with this expert to promote their views, services etc can be very beneficial for your audience.  Similarly, the expert may also be able to promote what you do to their audience, again, via their site, their services, or blog etc.

In a time when businesses are extremely cost conscious about advertising spend – and are looking for a more accountable advertising solution – then ‘partnering’  can provide a mutually beneficial means of getting out there.

There are so many positives – and it’s certainly not a new concept.  Partnership Marketing has been around since time began – people recommending other’s services – finding influencers and working together makes complete sense.

Of course, the key to all partnering activity is relevancy – it’s got to make sense.

So take some time – have a think about who in your arena would be good to partner with – figure out what you want from them, and what you could offer in return.  And then fix up a meeting to discuss your proposition and listen and learn what they want too.

Open your mind to partnering… get it right and it could be the start of a beautiful relationship!

For more marketing information, news, view and advice visit or subscribe to my blog.

Best wishes

Michelle Carvill

Michelle Carvill is owner and Marketing Director at Carvill Creative – a graphic design and marketing services agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  The agency covers all aspects of graphic design and marketing – covering social media marketing and website planning and website design.

Following the much tweeted about ‘Word Press’ hack – (and yes, my blog was indeed infiltrated and messed upsignificantly) – I thought I’d take advantage of having to reload my blog by moving it to my site (WHAT, I hear all SEO experts stating – she hasn’t got her blog on her site – longtail blah blah blah).  Yes, I know that it’s really poor from an SEO perspective, but my blog wasn’t started as a content and traffic builder for my site – it was a genuine attempt at independently sharing my marketing views, news and ideas and advice without having any ‘sales’ push.

Anyway – back to the blog, it’s now finally moved – so now I can happily post again.

And of course, what I’ve observed is that by not posting to my blog regularly – I’ve noticed that other things related to social media have also started to slow down.

• I haven’t visited / participated in as many of the  forums I usually visit
• I haven’t tweeted as much as usual
• I haven’t been vigilant with my Tweetbeep alerts
• And I haven’t even been checking out who is following me!

This lack of blogging activity, coupled with a few fab days away for a birthday celebration with girlfriends – has meant that over all, my social media activity has slowed from a force 7 to a force 1.

What’s daunting however is that in just a few weeks, as I now get back onto Twitter and the forums – so much activity seems to have happened – there’s so much that I’ve missed out on.  Already there are tons of other people out there – my Tweet Beep alerts are consistently firing new Twitterers – which I am again researching and if relevant then following.  All my blog posts have vanished from the ‘Latest Posts’ on the forums – it’s amazing how quickly you can drop out of the loop.  And there’s been so much activity on the forums – there’s just so much I could have been participating in!

So key things I take from this – which I didn’t fully appreciate before:

1. My blogging activity is the lead in my social media activity – if I don’t blog, I tend not to share my posts and tweet and then get involved with my regular social media environments.
2. If for reasons beyond my control, (life, bugs, holidays etc) I fall out of the loop – it’s as quick to get back on bandwagon as it was to fall off.  That’s the beauty of social media.
3. However, it’s probably best to stick at it and keep building momentum.  As when you stop – others do not.
4. Social media activity is still relatively fertile territory for the majority – so rather than give myself a hard time for not being as proactive as usual with my activity – give myself a break and realise that ‘hey, you’re still ahead of the majority’.

For more marketing news, views, ideas and advice – visit my Blog.

It was published in 1999 – so it is 10 years old – but a decade later and the messages and gems containedwithin are more relevant than ever.

One message which really resonates is about risk – taking risks, daring to be innovative and creative, being willing to be laughed at – to fail – taking it all on the chin, learning and trying again.

Isn’t that how great marketing works? Let’s face it, behind the majority of successful ventures or products – it is likely that there are tens, if not hundreds, of attempts that went before the success.

Even those success stories that just seem to have ‘happened’ and become an overnight phenomena –(eg: Twitter) will have had a previous format in a previous life that failed, was tweaked, tested, failed again, tweaked, tested – taking years to create a formula that works and brings huge success.

Of course, written 10 years ago – their view of a ‘traditional organisation’ – is one where innovation and creativity is not encouraged or nurtured. Failure carries the corporate equivalent of the death penalty – sending a message throughout the corporate system that failure is punished.

Of course, such a message inhibits innovation.

True innovators are prepared to fail in pursuit of the unknown – it may seem like a great idea – but no one’s certain. However, they go for it any way – risk takers or innovators.

In the book – Riddlerstrale & Nordstrom cite examples such as: Mahatma Gandhi’s India, Henry Ford’s Model T, Man Ray’s photographs, Ruben Rausing’s, TetraPack, the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s album, Akito Mortita’s, Sony Walkman – each of these attributing to their unusual ability to combine new technology, institutions and values in unexpected ways. They took risks!

Some risk their lives in the pursuit of creating something new and different. Again, Riddlerstrale & Nordstrom cite the “great value innovator Jesus took risks and was crucified”. And in our times, Nelson Mandela took risks and was almost killed for it. Alfred Nobel took risks and passed away in solitude. Van Gogh took risks, was ridiculed and committed suicide!

For every successful entrepreneur such as Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Richard Branson etc – there are thousands of others who tried and failed. However, rather than us viewing those that try and fail as ‘failures’ – and ridiculing their attempts – we should celebrate their bravery. After all – we all learn from our mistakes – it’s a basic inherent mechanism of human progress. We learn from our own mistakes and from the mistakes of others.

As the boys in Funky Business put it so succinctly – “If it were not for all the fools trying to do the impossible – over and over again – we would still be living in caves!”

The only way not to fail, is not to try. No failures = no development.

I love the quote by Philosopher Lugwig Wittgenstein: “If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever happen”.

Of course, 10 years on – have things changed that dramatically? Given the advancement of technology – and the innovation this enables – then there are certainly more organisations professing to nurture creativity and innovation – and those that appear to be the leading lights in this arena such as; Google and Microsoft (to name just a couple) – are indeed enjoying great success.

Ask yourself:

• When was the last time you took a risk?
• Are you being innovative with your services and product offerings?
• Are you ‘floating in the sea of sameness’ – competiting with the competition or innovating?
• When was the last time you failed – what did you do?  Give up, tweak it and try again?
• How do you feel about failure?  Negative – or positive?  It’s a learning curve after all.
• What can you do to drive innovation in your business?

I totally concur with the boys at Funky Business – ‘companies must become breeding grounds of risk takers’. And more respect should be given to those that take risks – even if it does result in a failure. Failure happens, that’s a given. Give people trust and it will happen more productively.

And just think of what celebrating risk and failure would do to morale!

For more marketing news, views, ideas and tips – why not subscribe to my blog or follow me on Twitter

And I highly recommend the book Funky Business, by Ridderstrale and Nordstrom. It’s an excellent read – informed and thought provoking. Visit www.funkybusiness.com or their site www.business-minds.com .

Michelle Carvill is owner and Marketing Director at Carvill Creative – a graphic design and marketing services agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  The agency covers all aspects of graphic design and marketing – covering social media marketing and website planning and website design.