With the growing popularity of smartphones, mobile marketing has transformed into a billion dollar industry. Smartphones allow companies to target consumers through websites, texts, applications, and direct voicemail messages. Mobile marketing is an effective way to reach a target audience, but must be done properly. Many times companies are too aggressive and their messages are ignored by receivers.

Kleenex is one company basing their new marketing campaign around this popular trend. Getmommed.com is the site established by Kleenex to cater to consumers’ psychological needs for extra motherly care during the cold and flu season. Consumers are encouraged to visit the promotional site via Kimberly-Clark’s main Web page, print advertisements, and television commercials. Site visitors can complete a quiz matching them to one of eight cyber moms. Pick Magnolia and this Mom can cure your cold with home-style cooking, while Lisa offers craft and home decor ideas. Kleenex reports the most popular Mom is Jessica, the “Best Friend” Mom. After signing up on the site, consumers are able to request wake-up calls, text reminders, Facebook messages, and words of encouragement from their new Mom.

The GetMommed.com Web site makes sure you have adequate access to motherly TLC this cold and flu season.

Kleenex combines internet and mobile marketing, resulting in a highly interactive campaign. They avoid sending text blasts and e-mail advertisements to consumers, instead offering helpful services that consumers can voluntarily register for. Companies who want to effectively utilize mobile marketing to target their consumers can follow these simple rules.

Integration is key

Smartphones have given users the capability to scan all types of advertising mediums, so integration of all platforms is now extremely important in a company’s campaign. Kleenex effectively merged their platforms and prompted consumers to visit their site through print and television ads.

Give and you shall receive

Offer helpful services or incentives that smartphone owners will use on a daily basis. Kleenex offers weather updates, wake-up calls, or text reminders. These tools provide emotional consumer appeal and help build brand loyalty and awareness.

Get Social with Social Media

Leverage your marketing plan and business with social media sites. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are all platforms that can take your campaign to the next level. Remember that connection of all social media outlets is key. Display links for Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts on your campaign’s homepage. Kleenex integrates Facebook links on their main page, allowing visitors to view each cyber mom’s Facebook and befriend them.

Get to know Magnolia, Lisa, and the rest of the Moms through Kleenex’s Webisodes on YouTube.

Kleenex has successfully entered the cyberspace of consumers with these simple rules and the help of eight fictional Moms. They continue to establish strong emotional ties with consumers and create long-term brand loyalty. Follow Kleenex’ lead and your company could be seeing similar results.

On November 19, USPS Business Alliance Manager Mike Naples broached a subject many of us new-media-obsessed marketers don’t think about very much: direct mail. Direct mail, Naples asserted, is the work horse of direct marketing. It has measurable results, it’s affordable, and it’s easy to target your best customers.

Lest you think that snail mail has gone the way of the dinosaur and eight track player, consider the numbers: we spend 47 billion dollars annually on direct mail marketing—about 9% the of GDP. Compare that to the 6 billion dollars spent on internet marketing.

Closer to home, think about how direct mail affects you. I, for instance, am a Web developer. I haven’t had a printer hooked up to my computer in at least two years. I tweet. I also have one Harry and David’s catalog, two Coldwater Creek catalogs, and a brochure for the AMA Face to Face training series on my coffee table. A kitchen drawer is crammed with 20% off coupons from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. So even the techiest of the techies are touched by good old-fashioned hard copy, especially when it is targeted precisely to our needs and wants.

Direct mail also has a much longer shelf life than, say, a marketing email, which drops like a rock into the abyss of the overcrowded in-box in a matter of days. (How long have those catalogs been sitting on my coffee table? You don’t wanna know.)

Direct Mail versus General Advertising

The age of mass media advertising is over. Today’s marketing must be personalized and non-intrusive to break through the barriers of spam filters, TIVO, and our general self-trained indifference to advertising. Direct mail, though massive in scope, is not the same as general advertising, said Naples.

General advertising, such as a sign on the side of a bus, sells a product. Direct mail sells offers. General advertising creates sales. Direct mail creates customers—whom you can learn about and collect data from for better CRM and future marketing efforts. General advertising is short, appeals to the emotions, and maybe even tries to make you laugh. Direct mail can use lengthy copy that focuses on facts, and, Naples, says, it makes you money.

Tips for Direct Mail Marketing

• Use compelling offers in your mail: free trials, free samples, free information.
• Size does matter. A brochure tucked inside a standard size envelope outperforms a postcard.
• Make it personal. Send offers related to the recipient’s background, experience, and interests.
• According to the Direct Marketing Association, 42% of direct mail recipients like to respond online. Personalized URLs (purls) allow you to direct traffic to the Web in a highly targeted fashion.
• Direct mail can be used at any point (or every point) in the sales cycle.
• Add a magnet or a sticky so recipients can tack the mail piece to their refrigerator or wall.

On October 29, 2009, at the at the Texas e-Marketing Summit, Bryan Rhoads outlined Intel’s social media marketing roadmap and provided advice for companies that want to integrate emerging media into their own marketing programs. Rhoads, a Digital Strategist who pioneered Intel’s new media marketing strategy, is the curriculum architect for Intel’s Digital IQ digital education program and a founding member of the Intel Social Media Center of Excellence.

Rhoads identified four distinct phases of adoption: Grassroots adoption, Results testing, Operationalize, and Widespread adoption. Careful planning at every phase, as the acronym suggests, will help you GROW your social media marketing program in a smart, profitable direction.

Phase 1: Grassroots Adoption

Before Intel began using any kind of social media, its employees were already blogging independently. In launching its pilot IT blog in 2006, Intel leveraged the enthusiasm and knowledge of these trail-blazers. Rhoads characterizes the grassroots phase as the foundation of a formalized marketing plan:

• Led by the passionate few
• Fed by hype
• Feared by Legal and IT
• Efforts are not tied to a formal strategy or ROI
• Limited barrier to entry
• Personal brands often trump company brands

By observing and analyzing the efforts of the independent bloggers, Intel collected enough data about technique and the potential for audience engagement to make an informed decision about moving forward with a pilot program.

Phase 2: Results Testing

Grassroots activity gets the ball rolling. The pilot program is a testing and organization phase. It’s the ideal time to make mistakes and then use what you learn to build a compelling case for adoption and to allay the “what-if” fears of reluctant stakeholders.

• Pilot your ideas with a focus on business results
• Prime your business case
• Do it all wrong quickly
• Mitigate risks to placate Legal and IT fears
• Get ROI and measurement standards in place
• POST exercise
  • People: Assess your customers’ social activities
  • Objectives: Decide what you want to accomplish
  • Strategy: Plan for how relationships with customers will change
  • Technology: Decide which social platforms to use

Phase 3: Operationalize

The pilot program lays the groundwork for further formalization of a social media program. This is the time to get all stakeholders on board and build infrastructure for scalable, repeatable business processes.

• Be absolute on the business case—proof testing is over
• Establish governance and guidance
• Provide infrastructure
• Invest in tools and training
• Define metrics and tracking
• Establish clear roles and responsibilities within the organization
• Scale participation (what level of knowledge and active participation is required of which employees?)

Intel developed numerous programs to communicate its objectives, educate and align employees, and set goals and guidelines for its new media marketing program.

• The Social Media Center of Excellence is a team headed by Rhoads to create guidelines, processes, strategies, and skill-building programs.
• Intel’s Social Media Guidelines provide a framework for increased participation—easing management concerns, getting everyone on the same page about expectations, and ensuring transparency.
• The Digital IQ training program is an online university aimed at creating a vast digital marketing force. Employees take 100 through 400 level classes based on their roles and responsibilities. Digital IQ also helps the Social Media Center of Excellence identify and place new voices in Intel’s social spaces.
• Digital IQ 500 is a further level of training that licenses anyone to practice social media on behalf of Intel. These 30-minute online courses were developed by key SMEs and the Social Media Center of Excellence. They include company strategy, legal and security cautions, moderation policy, and recommended best practices.

Phase 4: Widespread Adoption

Widespread adoption occurs only after the entire company has been primed and a scalable, sustainable plan for implementation has been established.

• Social media is integrated into campaigns
• Social media is included in the strategy phase
• Practicing social media becomes second nature
• Easily replicated processes are in place
• Dedicated roles have been established
• Executive support is cemented

Key Take-aways

Most companies do not have the vast resources of a global company like Intel, but we can all benefit from lessons Intel learned as it adopted social media marketing:

• Learn which way the wind is blowing from your resident enthusiasts.
• Don’t feel pressured to act immediately. Take the time to figure out where your audience is before jumping into a new venue.
• Define success and find a way to measure it.
• Use the proof-testing phase to demonstrate the potential value of social media and to examine and head off potential pitfalls—all of which will help get reluctant stakeholders on board.
• Further reduce anxieties and ambiguity for everyone by establishing comprehensive training and guidelines.
• Find your social media marketing “sweet spot:” where along your business’s marketing funnel can you use social media tools for the most impact?

In the war to win your customers’ attention, you are not competing against other marketers; you are competing with your customers’ friends’ Facebook walls. On September 17, 2009, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, co-authors of Trust Agents, talked to us about how to win attention in a world of information overload.

It’s all about building trust with people so that they will listen when you have something to say. Brogan and Smith provided helpful tips from their own experience for breaking through the white noise of everyday life and getting attention.

1. Make a Habit out of Breaking Habits.

When you interrupt the patterns that govern people’s lives by saying and doing the unexpected in a manner that is helpful or insightful to others, you wake them up, you jolt them out of their mental auto-pilot mode, and you become visible.

With social media, you have the opportunity to become visible through many channels and to be seen as a whole person rather than a flat corporate entity. Brogan and Smith encourage companies to put a face to their marketing. Also, when you have a habit of breaking habits, you become more creative and more open to new ideas, which in turn fuels your ability to develop new angles and opportunities for yourself.

2. Stand Out, Start Something.

If you’re competing against others, you’ve already lost, say Brogan and Smith. Citing Cirque du Soleil and the iPhone as examples of game changers in their respective industries, they noted the importance of carving out more profitable spaces in which your company can operate.

For instance, PodCamp, a Barcamp-style “unconference” for new media enthusiasts and professionals co-founded by Brogan and Christopher Penn in 2006, was a way of standing out and starting something. By creating a community around a shared passion, they created the Next Big Thing without quite realizing it. That flood of attention and enthusiasm benefited them even as it created momentum for everyone involved.

“The only difference between a community and an audience is which way you point the chairs.”
—Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan on the evolution of PodCamp (interview with Adele McAlear)

(Toward the end of the presentation, an audience member amended this advice as “listen and then start something.” Don’t forget to check out what’s already going on and start participating before starting something new. Perhaps your Next Big Thing has already begun and is waiting for you to join.)

3. Build Your Network Ahead of Need.

Just as the worst time to find a job is right after you’ve lost one, the worst time to find a customer is right when you need one. If you have built relationships with people before you need the sale, it’s that much easier to get them to be receptive to your offer.

4. Create a Culture of Giving.

Chris Brogan describes his call-to-action as “Come back—I’ll give you more.” He says that by creating a culture in which he makes a habit of doing things to help people, he’s “training people to be nice” to him. Indeed, by setting the example of giving value to people without asking for something in return, you train others to pay it forward in a similar fashion. It’s no wonder that eventually you would become the beneficiary of that goodwill. As with collaborative efforts like PodCamp, generosity and inclusion build conversation and engagement, which is a recipe for trust and attention.

And speaking of recipes…

5. Give your customers recipes in which you are the ingredient.

You won’t find a can of cream of mushroom soup that doesn’t have a recipe on the label that requires cream of mushroom soup. Likewise, you should frame yourself as a necessary ingredient in your customers’ success. I found this piece of advice to be one of the most concrete of the presentation, and one that many of us could run with, when we decide how it applies to us.

What would a recipe for your business look like? If you sell widgets, could you suggest projects on your Web site that use that widget? If you sell expertise, could you create an event around that area of knowledge? AMA members, write in with your ideas and get some collaboration going!

There are many reasons to begin corporate marketing programs for both your employees and clients that focus on greening, well being, and community. By starting from the ground up and building community within a corporation, it improves employee’s mental and physical health. Businesses then ensure a more productive work output. More importantly, employees soon determine that it is much easier to come to work when they feel as if they are a part of a caring community within the work environment. As part of a corporate vision of responsibility to community, you also bring this incredible message of green lifestyle and better health to the public – your customers.

One of the frustrations of living in our modern culture is that it seems people are never satisfied and always want more. This applies both within our business lives and within our home lives. It seems that many are not happy with a simple life, because they feel that if they have more—more stuff, more technology, more stress—this will make them happy. Yet, it occurred to me several years ago that I knew very few people who could call themselves happy within the corporate or private sect.  This discovery of the “myth of happiness” was the beginning of my search to understand why I was able to find happiness and what it is that made me feel more satisfied. Determining this, then inspiring others to feel the same way triggered a larger understanding of the world.

Society by and large seems dissatisfied because media and popular culture have enticed us away from the basic pleasures of life. It is my opinion that it is within your power as influencers of the corporate market to take control and change negativity. As a result of living a greener lifestyle and changing my attitude to be more positive, I have discovered something ground breaking, jaw dropping, and earth shattering: I have discovered happy people. Everyday citizens who are satisfied with life—they do exist! There is hope that you and your family can have this feel-good experience too.

Have you ever noticed that members of your business and social world who are involved in helping their communities are more satisfied with their lives? Their goals are not focused on wanting more, and more, and more; instead, they put forth efforts to be a part of something larger. They participate in experiences where their hearts are warmed and their souls feel complete. Every person who comes to a volunteer event to help a community organization arrives with a smile. I have seen this happen every time without fail.

Yes, these people have their own families, their own hard-luck stories, and their own belief systems. But they arrive, ready to work, with a positive mindset and a unified goal. Everyone laughs and jokes and makes the experience a good one. Beyond building a garden or clearing weeds or selling fund-raising items, they are there because the experience enriches their lives and minds emotionally.

Contributing to employees’ health by encouraging a green lifestyle can become a catalyst for positive change within employees’ personal lives. It can set an example to all that the company holds high expectations for beneficial health practices. This concept can expand exponentially if the employees utilize the healthier greening and living ideas promoted by the company and then proceed to teach their clients, families and neighborhood communities these same ways of living.

Soon it becomes far more than a way to improve production for the business; it demonstrates and encourages “doing the right thing” mentality and begins to change lives in a positive way. Having a business which promotes goodwill and green living is the right thing to do for the world; not just our wallets.

Imagine if every business within the United States picked up this idea of supporting their employees—their corporate community—by marketing, and therefore, educating on better health practices, greening practices, and community building techniques? The concept seems revolutionary, yet the implications of building a better, greener world by utilizing corporate entities could change the world forever – for the better!

Let’s make it happen together!     

*Hear Shawna speak at our Lunch Event on July 16th - Register Now!  

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

 Shawna Lee Coronado is an author, locally syndicated newspaper columnist, energetic speaker, and environmental and health correspondent with over eighteen years of experience with sales, marketing, and public relations.
Being very active in local community is critical to Shawna’s inspirational message. She is heavily involved with many community greening and improvement organizations and is currently on the Board of Directors for Fermilab National Accelerators Natural Areas. She works closely with the America In Bloom organization and has participated in many groups such as environmental advisory commissions, parks and forestry associations, and educational institutions.
Shawna’s experience in business development, communication, sales management, and online marketing has helped her spread the positive health and greening message she is so passionate about. Shawna’s goal is to inspire and motivate people to get off the couch and get out into the environment and community to improve both their own physical and emotional health and make a difference for the world.

Now that you’re working on your Big, Hairy Audacious Goal, known as your BHAG (bee-hag), let’s take a breather from your 2009 marketing plan. Skip this if you’re not in the wireless industry, use wireless (who doesn’t), or care about wireless access (show of hands). Okay. You’re all reading. Or as we like to say in Texas, y’all got eyes.

Personally, after seeing the gadgets at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, I got all hot and bothered about the iPod and projector combo. I’ve been wanting that for years. I’ve done my share of PowerPoint presentations over the years. Unfortunately, at my last job, that meant lugging around the old projector abused by 100 other employees.

The Cinemin Suite of pico projectors by WowWee Technologies is poised to change all that. As Tom Merritt, executive editor of CNET, explains, the pico projectors let you cast your videos, PowerPoints, or other content on any surface.

All you have to do is connect one of the projectors to your iPod, and you’re off to the races. No more lugging a suitcase-sized projector to your next meeting. Speaking of the “Eyes of Texas”, the whiz-bang DLP technology was invented by Texas Instruments. Like that? Whiz-bang tech for WowWee Tech?

We’ll have to wait and see what other devices will hook up to the Cinemin Suite of pico projectors. Meanwhile, I’m imagining a new swagger to my step when I enter the conference room, armed and ready to PowerPoint with a handheld device.

About Brenda Hessney

Brenda Hessney

Brenda is an Austin marketing specialist with a knack for quickly analyzing, planning, and implementing effective, cost efficient sales campaigns for small to medium sized high-tech companies.

I am upbeat. When it rains, I get energized. I don’t see the gray skies, I see rain greening my grass. As marketing and advertising professionals, there’s a choice to make: either we make it rain or we turn off the spigots.

Let it rain. Is your marketing budget cut? Get creative - mix it up by reaching into the toolkits of low cost, guerilla marketing and interactive marketing techniques. This blog will explore those methods and more with real-life examples from industry veterans.

But first thing’s first. Refresh your thinking with just one exercise today: write down your company’s Big Hairy Audacious Goal (”BHAG” said as “bee-hag”). I just beg you to absolutely not call a meeting to do this. Group think kills BHAGs. It’s best done as an individual exercise.

Why do I think it’s time for a BHAG? Short-term profit seeking is trouble with a capital “T”. When authors James Collins and Jerry Porras coined the term Big Hairy Audacious Goal in their 1996 article entitled “Building Your Company’s Vision,” they wrote that the BHAG is “…an audacious 10-to-30-year goal to progress towards an envisioned future.”

When your vision is big, it unites your team, lifts morale, and fuels progressive actions. Collins and Porras turned their article into a bestselling book, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. Here is a sampling of the BHAGs they collected from tech companies. (Remember that the timeframe is the mid-90s.)

• Google: Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
• IBM: Commit to a $5 billion gamble on the 360; meet the emerging need of our customers.
• Microsoft: “A computer on every desk and in every home.”
• Motorola: Invent a way to sell 100,000 TVs at $179.95; Attain six-sigma quality; win the Baldridge Award; launch Iridiums.
• Sony: Change the worldwide image of Japanese products as poor quality; create a pocketable transistor radio.
• Nokia Siemens Networks: Connecting 5 billion people by 2015.

Now that we’ve had a decade to look back on these BHAGS, what are your comments on these visionary goals? Right, not every company attains their BHAGS. But the alternative, no Big Hairy Audacious Goal to strive for - is to curse gray skies instead of see the green grass.

Want an easy focus group to test your BHAG? Post it in the comments for feedback. May your life be blessed with sales revenue.

About Brenda Hessney

Brenda Hessney

Brenda is a successful Austin marketing specialist with a knack for quickly analyzing, planning, and implementing effective, cost efficient sales campaigns for small to medium sized high-tech companies.

Early 2009 and you’re into managing your marketing budget for the year. The annual tug-of-war over a company’s marketing budget between the directors of the marketing department and the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) was just a few months ago. Believe it or not, it’s time to start thinking about 2010.

With the downturn of the economy and no immediate positive forecasts, the 2010 budget tug-of-war is likely to get nasty… but it doesn’t have to be. As marketers, we’re trained to identify, target and speak in our customer’s own, unique language. I’ve found that CFO’s have their own language and if you’re willing to slip on a propeller hat and create a spreadsheet or two, your efforts will go a long way in getting your marketing budget approved.

I offer you five simple steps on how to get your marketing budget approved…and even speak to a CFO… if you really have to.

1. Marketing and Sales departments don’t “place nice” – be prepared: In most organizations, each department is focused on their own objectives and less interested in developing “the brand.” Often times, marketing and sales can lock horns with each other resulting in top management to make a choice. Awareness and management of this situation is the first step of getting your budget approved.

2. Ditch the marketing jargon and stop using the word “budget.” Company presidents and C-level executives rarely make it to the top via a marketing route. They don’t speak the marketing language. Smart marketers think of a marketing budget as an “investment,” while many company leaders think of marketing as an “expense.” For awhile, marketers were able to get what they wanted by simply switching these two words around – no more. The presidents and C-level executives have caught on. Today, the smart marketer should speak to CFO’s and company presidents as if we were managers of an investment portfolio.

Treat the term “budget” as a “loan.” CFO’s see the word “budget” and think money will be spent without any sign of returns. “Loan” implies the marketer will return the money with interest. Talk about your company’s marketing channels as different ways to make profits.

Stop using the term “ROI” and start using the term “profit.” Just like portfolio managers. C-level executives understand the word profit and all profit can be measured. Can all marketing ROI be measured? Likewise, stop using the word “cost” and start using the word “value.”

3. Become “metaphor-lingual” in business: Dropping the marketing jargon is step one in communicating (and convincing) the C-level budget slayers to stay away from your budget. When talking to the “propeller-wearing-spreadsheet-people,” use everyday metaphors to better explain marketing. Metaphor example: If you were working in oil or gas exploration and you just started drilling random holes, you’d probably be fired rather quickly. When deciding where to spend marketing dollars, the attitude from CFOs seems to be “let’s drill a few holes over here and a few here and hope it generates some response.” This of course, is the very definition of poor strategic planning for marketing. When speaking to non-marketers, learn to be “metaphor-lingual.”

4. Wrangle the ROI warfare and choose sides: C-level executives are often times obsessed with measuring ROI. When marketers can’t demonstrate or justify ROI, budgets get slashed. There are many ways to measure ROI in marketing, but unfortunately most of the metrics aren’t designed to co-exist. For example, direct marketing mailers focus on cost per sell. Media measurement is all about reach and frequency, while PR professionals are busy counting column inches and brand ROI is measuring brand preference. For large organizations, marketers need to create a ROI “dashboard” and keep all of the metrics in front of you, at all times. In smaller organizations, a marketer needs specific directions and buy-in surrounding the company’s business objectives. These business objectives must be supported from senior management and be measured by the appropriate ROI measurement method.

5. Adopt a culture of ROI measurement and build your plan. You’ve identify the challenges of working with multiple departments, you’ve ditched the marketing jargon, you’re using metaphors and you’ve selected the right ROI metric for your company. You’re well on your way to getting your budget approved. By taking the next 5 steps, you will accomplish three critical things: You’ll create a culture of ROI; you’ll be speaking to a CFO in a language he or she understands and most importantly, you’ll get your marketing budget approved!

1. Build the team – Unite departments, research and c-level management

2. Unify the ROI agenda – Agree to a strategy, set realistic goals and prioritize outcomes.

3. Establish metrics – Determine data sources, set goals and align budget with tasks

4. Communicate – brief agency partners, communicate to every employee and discuss metrics along the way

5. Adjust and review – Measure progress, review the processes and optimize performance and tactics during the process based on the numbers.

It is budget season planning time. Follow these steps and that marketing budget is yours.

About Darren Drewitz

Darren has 16 years of strategic and integrated marketing experience on both the client and agency sides. He has experience in both B2B and B2C marketing, including the multi-location, food, logistics, building & construction and tourism industries. Darren specializes in developing year-long strategic and integrated marketing plans designed to align business objectives with marketing initiatives. Darren lives in Austin, Texas with his wife Melissa and their two sons. Darren serves as an account director for MQ&C Advertising, a 25-year-old, full-service marketing and advertising agency.