Isn’t the concept of set it and forget it marketing wonderful? Creating marketing promotions once, entering them into an automation tool and kicking back while you wait for the money to come in is quite appealing. Marketing automation tools are available for almost every type of customer contact. They are frequently grouped under the customer relationship management umbrella with the misguided view that automated responses are a viable substitute for genuinely caring about your customers.

Finding the right balance between automation and personal connection is a huge challenge. Each company has an individual corporate culture that determines what is acceptable or not. Copying the competition is an exercise in futility because they have different relationships with their customers. The people who frequent your business have expectations that must be met for continued success.

Individual customer preferences add to the challenges of finding the perfect balance. There are so many marketing and communication channels available it is economically impossible to participate in all of them. It gets to be so overwhelming that automating everything and moving to a cave becomes tempting. Before you go that far, think about what drives your revenue and how you could increase it if you had the time. Now, think about how you are actually spending your time. Are you dancing close to the revenue stream or flittering about in routine activities that don’t move you forward?

Marketing automation can move the revenue stream away from your daily activities.

Out of sight is out of mind. Before you know it, weeks have passed, your marketing is losing steam and you are clueless. When you automate without extensive oversight you lose visibility of the out-of-whack factor. There are always anomalies that appear when people go data diving. Some are early warnings of pending catastrophes. Others are inspiration for new product lines, services, or promotions. All are hidden from view in set it and forget it marketing.

The best approach to creating an effective automated marketing strategy is to identify the items that can be effectively and economically automated, invest the necessary resources into setting them up correctly, and schedule regular reviews of the content and process. Marketing is always best when it is fresh. Here are some do’s and don’ts to help you along the way:

• Do use marketing automation to save time and money. Email, social, and mobile marketing have tools that allow you to schedule activity.
• Don’t schedule activity during times no one will be available to respond. The idea is to motivate the customer or prospect to do something. Poor scheduling reduces opportunity and revenue.
• Do plan complete campaigns including dates and delivery times. Once a few are scheduled there will be less stress and knee-jerk marketing.
• Don’t fail to monitor the process. Include yourself as a recipient in every marketing campaign so you’ll see and hear everything your customers and prospects do.
• Do use transactional emails to keep customers informed about their order process. It improves relationships and reduces calls.
• Don’t forget that transactional emails are a customer touchpoint. Using them simply to relay information is a lost opportunity.
• Do include social media updates on your blog or website. Include an invitation for your visitors to connect with you.
• Don’t keep outdated information on your website or blog. If you aren’t active in on a social media platform, remove the app.

When my son was learning how to ride his bike, he asked, “Mom, do you really expect me to balance my bike, make it go forward, AND watch where I’m going?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Really? And I’m supposed to do all of this at the same time?”

I always have a challenge with those questions. The mom in me wants to say, “Sweetie, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.” The engineer in me wants to explain how overcoming the inertia makes it easier to balance, so all he really has to do is watch where he’s going. Usually the two are mixed up and come out like this: “Not really. There is another option. Instead of starting the forward motion that makes it easier to balance, you can watch everyone else ride their bikes and wonder what it’s like to feel the speed.”

He mastered bike riding that day.

Integrated marketing is like riding a bike. It’s much easier once you overcome the inertia. And, once you’ve done it, you never forget the feeling.

I’ve been integrating marketing and customer care for direct marketing companies most of my professional life. How we connect with customers has changed during this time. New opportunities became available when ecommerce joined direct mail, bricks and mortar, and telemarketing channels. Combining it with some amazing logistics, customers’ desires could be fulfilled within 24 hours or less.

The addition of social media allows us to have relationships beyond order and fulfillment and to expand our reach. Before long, we’ll be traveling with our customers via the mobile pipeline. How we do business is rapidly changing and I’m enjoying the ride. Along the way, I’ve observed a few things about implementing an integration initiative:

• Complacency is the enemy of integration. While not everyone has to buy-in to the process, you have to have team members who are passionate about it. They’ll convert the others. Or, at least the ones who can be converted.
• There will always be resistance to change. It is your choice, as the leader, whether that resistance derails the process. It’s like biking; you have to apply extra force to get the momentum going. (Remember Newton’s First Law?)
• Integration requires team participation. If you are still receiving resistance from a few people after the initiative is showing signs of success, they need a bigger change than you are trying to implement. They have to get on board with the program or leave. It’s that simple. Don’t let it get complicated.
• Social media cannot stand alone as a viable marketing channel.Yes, I called it a marketing channel. Yes, I know that the social media gurus will insist that I don’t get social media. Again. Yes, Facebook has introduced social commerce by allowing shopping carts within their platform. And yes, people are using it successfully. But, here’s the secret they don’t want you to know. Social commerce is the integration of social media and ecommerce. If you don’t know how to use ecommerce to grow a business, you won’t be successful at social commerce.
• Social media makes direct marketing better. You can grow your business without ever tweeting, posting, or friending, but it will be stronger and more sustainable with a good social media strategy. This is because social media allows you to have a one-to-one connection with your customers that used to require a storefront. This improves relationships, lifetime value, lifespan, and ROI.
• Direct marketing is still the best way to motivate people to buy. Period.
• Knowing how to use (or manipulate) a tool or a platform doesn’t make a person a marketer. Marketing is part art and part science. It takes years of experience to know how to get people to choose your products or services to solve their problems. I’ve noticed that many of the people presenting themselves as marketing experts refer to books, case studies (not their own), and professors when defending a position. I think that it is great that they are studying their profession but I wonder if their potential clients agreed to provide on-the-job training.
• Integration takes time. It’s a process and it can be extremely painful. Integrating direct marketing and social media takes even more time. You have to build a community of qualified people before you’ll see results. Shortcutting the process doesn’t move you closer to the end. It derails the initiative.

Well, that’s all for now. Get on your integration bike and start peddling to overcome the inertia. Before long, you’ll be ready for the high-speed lane.

My son is moving there too fast for me. He gets his learner permit this month. We’ve already had chats about torque, suspension, center of gravity, combustion, braking systems, and choosing the right vehicle. We’re both very passionate on the last point. He’s thinking muscle car. I’m thinking tank.

Promotional marketing is strictly taboo according to conventional social media wisdom.

Maybe the marketing team at Woot! missed that memo because almost all of their tweets are promotional. More likely, they decided that their best marketing strategy is the one that works best for their customers and company.

Their creative and extremely successful marketing that flies in the face of conventional wisdom is the reason they are one of the companies featured in “Social Media 4 Direct Marketers.” And, just when you think that they have finally reached a marketing pinnacle, they outdo themselves.

The email they sent to their subscribers capitalizes on the recent Gawker password debacle. It says, “We have your back. You never have to worry when you are connecting with us because we are watching out for you. And, as a bonus, we’ll throw in a discount.”

In one move, they integrated their marketing, reassured customers worried about identity theft, and generated revenue.

Simply brilliant! High Woot! for everyone.

Here’s the email:

YOUR WOOT PASSWORD MIGHT NEED A CHANGE

Dear *********,

By now you’ve probably had enough of the whole Gawker account hackery ordeal, and we hate to pile more anxiety on. But we found your email address in Gawker’s list of compromised user info, and it looks like you used the same email address for your Woot account.

We have no idea if you used the same password at each site, of course. But if you did, it might be a good idea to change your Woot password. You can do that at your My Account page here: https://account.woot.com/changepassword. Or if you’re nervous about clicking links in emails, just log in at Woot and click “My Account”.

And because we know you’ve probably had a crappy week, please let us ease your pain. Just enter the coupon code CHANGEYOURPASSWORD during checkout at any Woot site and enjoy $5 off of your purchase. It expires March 31, 2011, by which time we assume you’ll have recovered from your Gawker-hack trauma.

Stay safe and keep those passwords fresh now, y’hear?

—Woot

This week’s Friday Favorites are are from Spin Sucks author and Arment Dietrich CEO Gini Dietrich. A few weeks ago, she wrote two blog posts covering eight trends to watch for 2011. And, next week she is presenting a webinar on 9 Marketing Trends for 2011. (Not an affiliate link.) Her abbreviated comments are in italics followed by my thoughts. (You can read her complete posts here and here.) Thank you, Gini for starting the conversation.

1. Content, content, and content: Gini mentions that it’ll be big for B2B companies as they figure out how to use intellectual content to attract new customers.
    

   I’d add that B2C companies will use it to show how to use products and humanize their business.

2. FTC Rulings: The days of free wheeling social media entrepreneurs is almost over according to Gini.
    

   She’s right. The FTC will increasingly require disclosure (note the not an affiliate link above.) Take it from me, as a seasoned direct marketer bound by FTC rulings, you don’t want to battle them. Their fines are large and per offense. (Which means that one mistake could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

3. Net neutrality Gini notes that if Google and Verizon get their way, the people who can afford to pay for speedy delivery will have an advantage.
    

   The actual proposal excludes the public Internet. Before you breathe a sigh of relief, it include private networks AKA mobile. This rapidly expanding channel may require marketers to bid on exposure.

4. Customer engagement “If companies do not engage their customers, I mean really engage them as human beings and not as people who you think want to be sold, it won’t matter what kind of content you have, how you follow the FTC rules, or if you have more cash to get on the Internet more quickly,” says Gini.
    

   Agreed! This means that you have to roll up your sleeves and get serious about your customer acquisition, retention, and expectations. You have to know who wants a one-to-one relationship and who simply wants to complete the transaction. Both need to be served the way they want.

5. Social commerce Gini notes that ecommerce is easy to set up on Facebook. Not only can you sell there, your customers can easily tell their friends.
    

   If you thought ebay made it easy for anyone to be an entrepreneur, you haven’t seen anything yet. Watch for new cottage industries to pop up as more people become business owners. In other words, if you have an established business, watch your back. The competition is about to heat up.

6. Group buying Expect sites similar to Groupon to grow providing new opportunities to reach different audiences.
    

   Deals of every kind will increase in popularity as people accept new financial realities. Make sure that your marketing wins include profitability metrics as well as sales and response rates.

7. Q&A sites Straight from Gini’s post: “It may seem crazy if you’re not a high user of the social platforms, but people are beginning to make real decisions based on recommendations from their virtual friends. Sites such as JustAnswer will begin to pop up, allowing people to ask a question and get real answers, from real people. The marketing possibilities become endless because you’ll begin to collect data from groups of people instead of one customer at a time.”
    

   Your marketing team needs to be well versed in data mining and behavior analytics. If not, the golden nuggets of information needed to provide direction will remain hidden.

8. Mobile Gini suggests that you “Watch for movement toward mobile payments and begin thinking about how to accept payments via an application on the phone.”
    

   Start by making your website mobile friendly and incorporating mobile marketing into your current channels. Test everything, documenting as you go. You’ll be so far ahead of your competition, they won’t be able to see you.

The plus one trend will be revealed in the Spin Sucks 9 Marketing Trends for 2011 webinar on December 15. If the first eight are an example, it’s bound to be good.

What trends do you foresee for 2011?

Have a great weekend!

The first email I received this morning started out with:

“Why would someone who knows about Internet marketing offer a gift card that expires on Black Friday instead of Cyber Monday?”

“Gee, I don’t know,” was my first thought, followed by, “it doesn’t sound too smart.” Then I read the next sentence:

“You should know better.”

That’s when I realized that he was asking me why I offered a gift card to my community that expired on Black Friday.

It started out innocently enough. I appreciate the people who make this blogging and social media thing worth the time and effort. My planned post was an excerpt from “Social Media 4 Direct Marketers.” Just before posting it, I decided to add this:

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Since our guides range from $19 to $49, that was equivalent to 40% – 100% discount (as in Free!) Now? Not. So. Much. A conversation this weekend with marketing maven and ecommerce genius Amy Africa included her telling me that I forgot to look at the calendar. She was right, I wasn’t thinking clearly. But, it was done, so that was that.

Or so I thought. I’ve received four emails this morning admonishing me for not thinking. Each received a code so they could use the gift card. The THANX code has been reactivated and a new one has been created for anyone who wants to remind me to think before posting. They can use OOPS in the discount box and receive a $20 discount. This time it expires tomorrow so you have all of Cyber Monday.

To keep this from happening to you:

• Plan your marketing campaigns in advance making sure that your schedule matches your community’s expectations.
• If you have a brilliant idea as an add-on, take a minute to think it over. Or, better yet, ask someone you trust for marketing ideas (Your BFF might not be your best bet.)
• When Amy Africa tells you something was a bad idea, be prepared for some fallout. She is always right.
• Keep reading my blog. Apparently, I’ll make the mistakes so you don’t have to!

And, if you want to take advantage of the gift card, click here. to see our selection of guides. Don’t forget to use THANX or OOPS in to discount code box to activate your $20 gift card.

Have a great week!