Danielle Gauthier

Email marketing is an important component of a robust digital marketing strategy, but what about the daily emails we send each day as we interact with clients, vendors, suppliers. Every person in your company is sending emails and the real estate at the bottom of those emails is important because someone is already looking.

A study in 2004 showed that a person in business will send 34 emails daily and receives 99 emails daily (which are likely responded to) – I would suspect that it has tripled since 2004. At least for myself that is the experience. Either way, the point is: We send and receive a lot of emails.

One thing that strikes me is that few companies engage in real signature branding, which is a missed opportunity to increase engagement with people you are doing business with, and turn loyal clients into referring clients by reminding them of your brand on a regular basis by including links to your website or if possible, links to the latest blog posts of press releases. If signature design can be managed centrally by the marketing or sales team, it becomes possible for once mundane daily back and forth to turn into a branded experience which can be updated to keep them interested.

In email marketing, it can be hard to simply get them to read the email. If you already have people who are guaranteed to read your emails it is important to remind them of what more you can do for them. This makes the email signature valuable real estate.

Ideas for engaging others in your email signature:

• Include a link to your website
• Include links to your blog or, better yet, the latest posts and update these
• Or a link to your latest white paper
• Link to a feedback form
• Have a question – link to a place where they can answer
• Include your logo and use some color too

Let’s face it, the past decade has not been so great for this “uniquely New York” drugstore and Duane Reade had to do some heavy damage control. Now, equipped with a new attitude towards customer service,  Duane Reade is building a community around its’ brand. If you track their interactions with customers on social channels over the past few months, you see a pattern of relationship building efforts in line with the Duane Reade “Prescription For Change”, as they call it.

Recent developments in the Duane Reade digital marketing plan that have come to my attention:

Twitter @DR_DuaneReade

Tweets by Brian, Duane Reade uses Twitter to interact with their customer base, aiming to enhance their customer service and of course spreading the news about new Duane Reade products, and posting links to their weekly online flyer. In the spirit of their customer-centric new vision, tweets about Duane Reade on the site are responded to in the hopes of resolution or help.

Facebook

Duane Reade has a new Facebook account, and their participation here is again much as on Twitter. They represent themselves on both social networks to be accessible in more places online. They are listening to consumers and they are acting on what they are hearing.

HardOrSoftNY.com

Duane Reade is asking New Yorkers if they like them hard or soft – cookies that is. I am sure the sexual innuendo was intended. This poll is being plugged online and in their print promotions. This is a good start in the right direction. I think this a good beginning project for a brand relatively new to more social forms of marketing.

Online Flyer

Available in both Flash and HTML, Duane Reade is now featuring all their promotional print materials on their website, including new publications like the Duane Reader. This means that those who opt out of getting flyers to reduce paper waste, or those who plain old don’t get them, can still access them anytime. In addition, and this is the best part, and accessible version of the flyer is available that can be printed on a braille printer or read by a screen reader.

Duane Reade has not just upgraded their digital marketing strategy. Thirty of their 250 stores have been revamped in the new branded look that will become trademark of the new Duane Reade. Fresh and healthy food is being made available in-store, and in a few locations on-site physicians are there to treat minor ailments and provide recommendations.

But as they say, for Duane Reade, it’s in the bag. Their locations, perhaps not ideal for most companies, are in prime locations that will ensure their survival over the years. If they stick to their plan to revamp, re-brand and resolve, this New York staple will win back the hearts of New Yorkers.

Now, in my opinion…

Wall Street’s Sad Panda should ONLY carry the Duane Reade bag. The Duane Reade bag is likely their biggest brand asset – there was a New York Times article devoted to the joys of getting a Duane Reade bag. They should leverage their reusable bag – it has a mythos that is achieved after years and years.

Steve Cunningham of Polar Unlimited posted recently on Mashable with a list of Top 5 Must-Read Social Media Books – it was a great post and defines the books in terms of major lessons to be learned from each. Here is the list of books but read the post on Mashable for the full scoop.

1. Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
2. The Whuffie Factor by Tara Hunt
3. Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel
4. Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuck
5. The New Community Rules by Tamar Weinberg

It is a great reading list for 2010, but to be honest I will likely read more than that next year. So I will add 5 more books to my social media reading list in the new year. I am interested now in the needs of a very professional company and must employ social media within very strict confines while still fostering communication between vendors, clients and potential clients. I will base the rest of my reading list on these needs as the above list covers much of the basics.

6. The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get It Right by Debbie Weil

7. Facebook Cookbook: Building Applications to Grow Your Facebook Empire by Jay Goldmann (this is more for development, but it is social media development)

8. Email Marketing By the Numbers: How to Use the World’s Greatest Marketing Tool to Take Any Organization to the Next Level by Chris Baggott and Ali Sales

9. SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate by Joel Postman

10. Building Social Web Applications: Establishing Community at the Heart of Your Site by Gavin Bell

What I am reading right now? Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business by Erik Qualman and Winning Results with Google Adwords by Andrew Goodman (bought it at SES Toronto… forgot all about it until recently).

What is on your social media reading list for 2010?

Canadians are participating on Twitter. In 2007 a According to Twitter stats in 2008 Canadians accounted for 7% of traffic. Checking Alexa.com today reveals their figure of 2.5% – Alexa ratings however are known to be flawed, but we do know that Twitter usage in Canada is not near close to that of our American brethren despite similar technologies and technological interest. And a Sysomos study released in June 2009 indicates that Twitter usage by country indicates 5.69% of Twitter accounts belong to Canadians. This data was compiled by indexing 11.5 million Twitter accounts and recording country of origin.

The question begs however – how many of these accounts are actively being used…?

Mobile Provider & “The Green Monster”

Twitter adoption in Canada has been largely stunted by mobile provider reluctance to allow users to participate at a reasonable cost – and while there is the possibility of communications via Twitter on the web, believe it or not real life experiences are much more inspiring. Data plans in Canada are not within the price range of the average mobile user, and SMS can get very expensive as well. Bell higher ups have stated that a Twitter update is not the same as personal message – it’s just not the same thing. I don’t see the difference – the networks have grown but if you offer an unlimited plan it appears that you cannot distinguish between what it is used for. Hmm… doesn’t this sound familiar (p2p throttling).

My solution: There are lots of Canadian companies (retailers especially) that want to make use of social media but they either find too few Canadians or too few Canadians find them. Why not work out a deal with mobile providers – you receive Tweets from Retailer A you get Twitter credits, get Tweets from retailers A & B get even more mobile credits. Mobile companies make money, retailers market, and consumer gets Twitter with daily updates from the retailers they are following. Everyone is happy! Je rêve en couleur…

Twitter Frustration

While this is not restricted to Canadians alone, many first-time Twitter users feel frustrated when they join Twitter because they do not understand how it works or what it is for. In my discussions with people about Twitter (non-Twitter users or users with non-active accounts) there are some misunderstandings about the real value of participation there. Here are some of the opinions from people in the marketing industry as well as those would use Twitter primarily for personal communication:

• tweet about mundane daily happenings as they happen
• tweet ads on regular basis with no dedicated interaction
• tweeting about TV shows

While these have their time and their place, the real value of Twitter is the real-time communication that is made possible for the organization of communities in spreading knowledge. The valuable local content on Twitter in Canada is not as pronounced. If I tweet about an accident in the city I live in as I drove by, people would hear about it but the news would not spread quickly enough to be of help to more than a handful of people (this is a random guess). While the tech community in London Ontario has long embraced Twitter it seems that the supply of local “early adopters” will have to run out and my mom won’t be using Twitter anytime soon without some real incentive. This local, pertinent content is one of the real powers of Twitter – averting hazards, finding great local sales, hearing about a great rock show – and until mobile providers make this more accessible, Canadians will likely be slow to adopt Twitter as a tool for every day living and communication quickly with friends, families and people within and without their networks. The more people on Twitter in your region, the more valuable it becomes as a tool and this is where our frustration with the mundane will be relieved.

In America, It Trickled Up… In Canada, It Trickles Down

In the United States, Twitter growth was much quicker and it was not until later that offline retailers really took advantage of Twitter. Online only companies have been using it since the beginning. But, in the United States, the companies went to where the people where. In Canada, on the other hand, there is still not a very large user base and the value of Twitter is not as pronounced as in the country to the south. Retailers are encouraging Canadians to join Twitter in exchange for valuable savings – many retailers such as Future Shop, Sears, Sobeys and Safeway, among others, are using contests and other incentives to compel people to join and follow their brands.

Will Twitter Move Forward in Canada?

While I think the Twitter model is bound to change, it could become a very valuable tool for disseminating local content and real-time communication to our larger networks. As well, it could become a very valuable tool for marketers. Many companies will find their niche audiences here – Canadian retailers like Future Shop are poised to speak to the early adopters of Canada – those most apt to buy the new phone, the newest netbook and the latest in gaming technology. Herein lies the power of Twitter and social networking – you can connect with your tribe and your tribe can connect with you. Labelled and mapped into the social graph, these tribes are to identifiable and social media marketers can find their audience in those most apt to be interested in what they have to offer, connecting with their customers and increasing brand engagement.

What do you think the future holds for Twitter in Canada?

Social media was invented for communication between people – those looking to market their products were not the end user these tools are designed for. Mark Zuckerberg and his associates did not come up with Facebook thinking “Gee, how can we assist big brands in selling their wares?” and Twitter was not conceived to allow brands to blast their products in real time to potential customers. Yes, it is clearly the assumption that where people will go, marketers will follow, but to what end? This continuous chase has some coming earlier, some coming later to the table – each saying “Me too! Me Too!” often forgetting the element that brings sustainability to a brand – are you really connecting with your consumers?

Retail brands, for example, could potentially create  accounts, populate them with tools to help shoppers browse products and announce deals and yes, they might come into the store and buy some products. But do they feel better about having engaged with your brand online? Was it really more efficient than other ways of pre-shopping and have you enhanced your customers’ experiential satisfaction? And here is the big question: Will they follow you, fan you, or friend you again? Will they seek you out because you are a brand that they want to be associated with? Or will they allow you to engage them once and engage only if marketing dollars are spent getting their attention?

Your audience must be at the center of your interactions within social media networks – connect with them, engage with them. And make sure they leave with that fuzzy feeling that will have them coming back again based on previous positive experiences. And, as opposed to many other channels, social media could leave marketers with a fuzzy feeling too. Do not require social media users to imagine spending money on your products and services and focus instead on your relationships, you could inadvertently have customers who will loyally return again and again, turning their noses up at other brands.

Here is a simple illustration of what I mean using retail brands on Twitter. Now, as a disclaimer, these brands have come to the table at different times, which does account for some of the difference. On the other hand they are all using different approaches and as a result are seeing entirely different effects.

Safeway http://twitter.com/Safeway

• A few tweets about savings available each day
• 0 following, 197 followers

Future Shop Canada http://twitter.com/fs_connect

• Frequent tweets about tech news and FS blog posts, as well as more personal interactions with Twitter users interested in FS products
• 949 following, 1120 followers

Best Buy Twelpforce http://twitter.com/twelpforce

• Primarily of customer interaction and customer service – watch Twitter to find Twitterers asking questions about products, answer questions, assist after the purchase
• 2152 following, 14906 followers

Zappos http://twitter.com/zappos

• Account “owned” by CEO – personable tweets, interaction with people on a one to one basis
• 395707 following, 1546338 followers

A few lessons about social media from these examples:

• It is easier to like people than it is to like a faceless company – give your brand a face (Zappos) or many faces (Best Buy) and provide them with opportunities for conversation
• Leverage your other assets in social media such as your blog (Future Shop).
• Corporations should never consider themselves too important to follow their customers – if you can’t be loyal to them, why should they be loyal to you? (Safeway)