Simple, smart email marketing from Road ID

I buy almost everything online. Books, clothes, light bulbs, earplugs, shirts, everything. More often than not the subsequent emails – when I forget to check whatever box is required to opt out of “valuable offers” – are too frequent and almost never of value.

But yesterday I ordered a Road ID, one of those useful bracelets that cyclists wear in anticipation of the inevitable crash that might leave you just a little too dizzy to tell those first responders who to call. It includes your name, address, contacts, etc. I do actually recommend you wear one if you cycle solo and especially if you commute in traffic.

Anyway, today I got the simplest email. Titled “Road ID – Tell a Friend Coupon,” it revealed in the subject line exactly what it was. The note thanked me, complimented me on my intelligence, and offered me 20 $1.00 discount coupons for any of my friends or followers, which I can distribute simply by giving them this code: ThanksEdward6560457. (Redeemable here.)

It went on to do the most obvious thing that any brand can do in an age of effortless digital sharing: the email asked me to spread the word. It even offered me a cut and paste tweet, complete with a link and the above code along with a gentle suggestion to talk to my kids if I were still among Twitter’s yet to be initiated.

Finally, and perhaps most impressive, instead of being sent by some robot whose address is No Reply, this note came from a real live person — company founder Edward Wimmer — to whom I could actually respond.

Good to know that there are actually marketers our there reading Flip the Funnel and The Thank You Economy.

I’m not in the habit of promoting other people’s products without getting paid significant retainer fees, but I figured that in this case I’d make an exception in hopes that a little shout out for Road ID might encourage them to keep up their respectful and useful marketing efforts and perhaps get others to do the same.

Plus I think that cyclists should wear one. Along with a helmet.

What do you think?  Do you see more bad examples of email marketing? Or can you share other great ones?

Social media and responsibility

This is a lesson in social media, the danger of speaking without thinking, and the different ways in which content can get interpreted. (It might also be a lesson about good and bad advertising, but that’s secondary.) I share the story below in hopes that people might learn something. I know that I have.

Sunday afternoon, caught up in the brilliant performance of John Lackey who was pitching a shutout for the Boston Red Sox, I found myself annoyed by Eastern Bank’s frequent, half-second-long, transitional logo blasts. Without really thinking, I posted the following tweet: “ I am closing all accounts at Eastern Bank. Most annoying ad buy in history of sports on NESN Red Sox coverage.”

There are just two problems with this. One, I don’t have any accounts at Eastern Bank. And two, “in the history of sports,” is a pretty sweeping generalization. Hard, if not impossible, to back that one up. In my defense, I was attempting to make a point, throw in some drama, and see if anyone else out there felt the same way. I assumed that most people online aren’t totally literal — see this smart Tech Crunch piece — but I guess I could be found guilty of confusing hyperbole with irony.

Oh, and there’s one more little thing. Eastern Bank used to be a client of Mullen. I harbor no ill feelings of any kind regarding them or the relationship, but in retrospect that should have been disclosed.

Moments later I had second thoughts about my tweet, but as we all know seconds is a long time in an era of instant access and the web. I deleted it, but not before the cat was out of the bag and someone paying attention had sent it off to the marketing department at Eastern.

Yesterday, an executive from the bank sent me an email requesting we talk more about it. I have to give kudos to the bank for both paying attention and for reaching out. Shows they are tuned into the social conversation. I responded with a variation of the above, admitting my haste and arguable faux pas. But never one to hold back, I also suggested the following:

My personal advice would be to find a different way to present your logo and brand to viewers that is more inviting. In a fragmented media world and an era where attention is the new scarcity advertisers may have to take every opportunity to get their brand out there.  However, in an age of social media when consumers have the power to opt into or out of a brand’s messages, advertisers also have a responsibility not to annoy. At times it’s a fine line, but if you err on the side of delight rather than harsh interruption you will win out in the long term.

These are trying times for advertisers. On one hand, the media landscape makes it essential that brands be present in as many different places as they possibly can. Compound that with an increasing scarcity of attention and advertisers have little choice but to find new ways to get those messages in front of us, if only for a second or two.

On the other hand, we live in an age of social media. It’s never been easier for consumers and viewers to pipe up, voice their opinion (positive or negative) and even take over the conversation. That means advertisers need both the good sense, if not the actual responsibility, to bring joy and delight to readers and watchers and not simply present self-serving messages that interrupt us.

However, this miniature case study also serves as a reminder that those of us taking advantage of our new-found powers and digital microphones should to use them more judiciously. I plan on trying to do a better of job of that in the future.

So what do you think? Are we entitled to shoot our mouths off? Should advertisers be held accountable for annoying work?  Are we both in the wrong?

Gifts of Giving from Facebook and Google

It’s the time of year when all sorts of packages show up at the office. Gourmet popcorns, fruit baskets, Godiva chocolates if you’re lucky.  Unfortunately, more often than not the corrugated containers reveal some stupid tchotchke buried beneath environmentally offensive turds of foam core.

Not trying to be a Scrooge, but really, what are people thinking?

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised when I opened a box from Facebook. It had been sitting on the floor of my office for a week, relegated to a to-be-recycled pile of magazines and stuff. I guess curiosity finally won out.

Here’s what I found. A double-walled porcelain cup, BPA free and microwave safe. True, that qualifies as a branded tchotchke. But at least it’s a useful one. There was also a pocket envelope with the single word “Please” printed on it.  The card inside also displayed one word. “Share.” A request that was hard to ignore when you realize you’re also holding a $75.00 gift card redeemable at donorschoose.org.

Five minutes later I’d passed the money on to two different projects, one in need of books for a lower school’s girls’ reading group.  Another for an inner city middle school class requesting funds for classroom technology.

Good idea, Facebook. Made me think better of you and did exactly what any marketer should be doing these days – marketing with, not to, its community. It let me participate, introduced me to a worthwhile organization, and inspired me to tell other people about it.  I’ll even forgive you for the styrofoam popcorn kernels.

However, Google may have one-upped Facebook when it comes to giving. Between December 15 – 19, the search giant will donate money to a good cause for every tab you open in its Chrome browser, up to 250 tabs a day.  You can buy vaccinations, books, clean water, shelter and trees.  Open a tab and you’re “contributing” to The Nature Conservancy, Charity: Water, Doctors Without Borders, Un Techo para mi Pais, and Room to Read.

OK, in both these cases Facebook and Google have millions of dollars they can donate to charity. And obviously they were going to give the money away anyway.  But as I’ve said here many times, why would any brand do that in the age of social media when you can allocate your money to your community, give them a say, allow them to be part of the experience and encourage them to feel good about themselves as well as your brand.

Congratulations to Facebook and Google, rivals in the market, but allies in the season of social giving.

What if someone confesses suicidal thoughts on your Facebook page?

You have a branded Facebook page. It’s pretty active. Lots of people commenting, interacting, talking about your product, how they use it, what they like about it.

Then out of nowhere someone posts, “I’m so depressed I’m thinking about killing myself.”

I did a fair amount of pro bono work for the Samaritans years ago. One of the first things they teach you is that prior to any suicide attempt there are always signs and that you have to take each and every one seriously. They range from a neglect in personal appearance, to giving away personal items, to voicing depression, to the most serious of all, a mention of suicide.

We have seen cases of people announcing their suicide on Facebook before. But what if it happens on your brand’s page? What do you do? Do you take it seriously? Do you respond? Do you delete it? Or simply disregard it? Tough choice. It could be a joke, or more likely a simple exaggeration.

Then again, what if it’s not? Imagine a scenario in which the person actually commits suicide and it becomes apparent that he posted his intentions on your page but no one responded, offered advice, or shared an 800 number for the Samaritans. Now there’s a PR nightmare.

Today some of us at Mullen went through this exercise. Here’s where we netted out.

We would choose not to respond publicly in the stream. Instead, if the user had his email permissions on, we would immediately send an email saying we hoped that he was OK and that if he wanted to talk about things we know people who are there to listen. We’d then include a number for the Samaritans. We would also alert the Samaritans to the fact that we were doing this. (The Samaritans actually have a page on Facebook.) Chances are they’d have a recommendation as well.

If his permissions were off, we thought it might be wise for a brand to create an individual (personal) user page and friend the person in order to send him an email with the above message.  To be honest, we’re not entirely sure of this approach as a marketer could suddenly find himself in the middle of an online conversation or relationship that he’s ill-equipped to deal with.  Then again, if you were seeking help or attention, would you have your email permissions turned off?

We’d obviously monitor the stream to see if there were additional comments or expressions of depression or if others joined the conversation. And finally we would alert Facebook and request their recommended protocol for dealing with this kind of situation.

David Meerman Scott in his new book Real Time Marketing and PR tells us that we have to respond to all things social within moments of their happening or risk the consequences.  Not sure there’s an easy solution for something that might be this serious.  How would you handle the situation?

Related links:  Facebook adds to loneliness

The momentum of mobile

Within two years 50 percent of American employees will work remotely or via mobile.

Wireless will be soon the dominant channel for tracking investments and conducting online trades

Mobile advertising will grow 50 percent in 2011 to over $1 billion

4G will put all of our vending machines and appliances online

Application developers are thrilled with iAd performance and revenues

The biggest opportunities for entrepreneurs and start-up companies will be for those who develop better battery lives

One percent of AT&T customers use 40 percent of its data services

I spent this morning at the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council’s (MTLC) Mobility Summit. The theme, no surprise, was ubiquitous connectivity. Thanks to mobile in its current state we are all connected all the time. Connected to news, information, each other. And with 4G coming we’ll be connected in even less time. Though we’ll pay the price. One speaker alleged that, “If we leave our 4G on, we use up our $90.00 a month worth of data in the first 40 minutes of the month.” Gulp. Not sure I want to see what the rest of the month is going to cost.

Costs aside however, it’s clear that mobile is not only what’s next, it’s a race to see who figures it out first. The service providers – AT&T, Verizon, Sprint – along with the Cisco’s and Akemai’s labor furiously to make 4G a reality and to enlarge the last mile of pipe. Emerging location-based platforms struggle to get their revenue models right. New start-ups with tools and applications for everything from analytics to social aggregation to mobile community building, battle it out for access to venture capital. Meanwhile brands and advertisers search for the marketing mix that might make sense, evaluating and experimenting with mobile banners, contextual offers, iAds, rich media executions, custom apps and QR codes.

What’s interesting at a “summit” like is to see all the different perspectives. To the providers it’s all about technology, capacity and speed. To investors it’s about revenue models, growth and exit strategies. To platforms it’s about user experiences and downloads.

But if you’re a marketer, you have to think about all of that. Technology creates new opportunities for content, video and applications. If subscription costs affect the rate of adoption you have to decide whether to invest simply in basic ads (the CTRs are often better) or to build more robust experiences for a smaller community. And the user experiences in which you do invest — from apps, to utility, to context, to the accessibility of your mobile friendly website – not only have to be great, they need to be considered in light of everything else you do.

In poking around yesterday, I noticed that while numerous retailers have entered into mobile with coupons, LBS offers, and functional apps, others haven’t even converted their websites to be mobile friendly.

That might be the first place to start.

Interested in more?

Mobile trends from Noah Elkin

Marketing thoughts from Brenna Hanly