hawkeye Insight & Strategy

All the new technology increases the importance of the human factor in marketing.

Marketers have seen continuous change for years now, much of it driven by new and disruptive technologies. And while tremendous change brings tremendous opportunity, we see that the changes in technology are driving a re-emergence of the human factor in marketing. It’s never been only about the technology, even though technology has a loud voice. But more and more, the common factor that ties it all together is how we use the technology to better engage and build relationships with other humans. 

To kick off the new year in marketing harmony we created hawkeye's Ten Marketing Trends for 2012.  

The top ten trends we see are:

1. Authenticity is the new celebrity
2. Old school meets new school
3. Searching for simplification
4. Content is (still) king – but expertise rules
5. Content curation has 3 C’s
6. Experiential embraces technology across channels
7. Gamification
8. Social Local Mobile delivers mo’ and mo’
9. Understanding big data
10. The power of the crowd

Download your copy now and reposition yourself for success in 2012.

QR Code Best Practices for B2B Marketers

QR Code Best Practices for B2B Marketers
In the past couple of months I have received requests from several of my clients about the best way to utilize QR codes. No doubt, QR codes are growing in popularity. According to the latest U.S. statistics published by ComScore, an estimated 14.5 million QR codes were scanned in June 2011. More than a third of those who interacted with the QR codes make over $100,000 per year, a demographic closely associated with business decision makers. With QR code usage on the rise, B2B marketers must adhere to best practices to make the experience relevant and rewarding rather than just rushing into the latest marketing fad.
Business owners or decision makers looking for a considered product or service have a need for education. They want products and services that will help them grow their business. They often base a buying decision on their business goals, vendor relationships and trust. QR codes paired with educational content help to build awareness and trust. A QR code suggests there is something of value for me if I go to the trouble of taking out my phone and scanning it. QR codes that waste the time of a business buyer will be detrimental to a trusted relationship.
B2B QR Code Best Practices
1. It is all about content.

QR codes are real-world links, so be creative and thoughtful about when and where you use them. Create an experience that your customers or prospects will not forget. Deliver content to customers or prospects that is worth the time it takes them to scan the code. The novelty of the QR code has already passed, so if you don’t have compelling, unique and useful content to deliver, don’t use a QR code simply as an engagement device. Using a QR code to simply drive a user to your website could have a negative impact on your brand. A highly engaging experience will set you apart.

Some of the best examples we have seen for delivering relevant content via a QR code include:

 Delivering bite-sized information on products or services – QR codes on catalogs and direct mail pieces can provide quick (less than three minutes) instructional videos or product specifications.
 Gathering opinions – QR codes can be used to provide a link to a simple one- to three-question survey of your prospects or customers.
 Fast-tracking the path to sales or service – QR codes can be set up to dial in directly to sales or service representatives to provide quick and easy answers to customer or prospect questions.
 Delivering personal video messages from your CEO, product managers or engineers to reinforce brand or product messaging.
 Enhancing event and tradeshow marketing with QR codes leading to information about speakers and conference sessions.
 Linking to your Facebook or LinkedIn pages to encourage customer engagement.
 Delivering a promotional offer – QR codes linked to mobile coupons are part of the bigger trend of digital coupons, which may be a viable strategy for the small business market.
 Personalizing messages by combining QR codes with a pURL.

2. Capture leads.

In the rush to utilize the latest technology, I see many companies forgetting that lead generation is their primary goal. Be sure that you have a lead capture component to any type of content you are delivering. This could be as simple as providing an opt-in to ongoing communication.

3. Have a strong call to action.

We are stating the obvious, but time and again, we see a QR code slapped on a printed piece without any message telling someone why they should scan it. We are past the days where QR codes are a novelty and worth pulling out your phone just to see what’s there. Put a message next to the barcode that tells someone why they should scan it. For instance, “Scan for 5 tips” or “Scan to see how it works.” Give them a reason to scan and make it a good one.

4. Grab their attention.

Print your QR code in a highly visible location and make it big enough to read. Since it is an extension of your printed piece, the QR code should be placed near the content it is meant to reinforce. Also, keep in mind that the more content contained inside the QR code, the more complicated the QR code will be. The more complicated the QR code, the harder it will be for smartphones to read. If your QR code links to contact info, only put what's absolutely necessary. If your QR code links to a website, make sure the URL is as short as possible.

5. Make it easy to share.

Your goal should be to make something engaging and to create a unique experience that people will want to share. Make sure that the Twitter/Facebook share icons are the mobile-friendly share icons to ensure that your customers have the best experience.

6. Track your success.

If you are a B2B marketer, you will undoubtedly be interested in seeing if your efforts are generating interest – and potential leads. Set up tracking see how many people scanned your code. This requires a platform that lets you measure all aspects of your campaign and provides actionable reporting to allow you to optimize your efforts quickly. Of course, if the content you are sharing is valuable, businesses will share it with other business owners or colleagues on Twitter or Facebook, so the first generation tracking information is just part of the total story. Through QR codes, we can tell where a customer came from and what they do next.

7. Make it mobile-friendly.

QR codes are just the first step in customer engagement. There is nothing more irritating than scanning a QR code and being directed to a website that is not optimized for viewing on a smartphone. Images, navigation, content and video should all be optimized for the small screen and mobile broadband constraints. Video must be delivered encoded for the device that scans it. Web apps or web pages must be optimized for all possible devices as well. And, be sure to make your content bite-sized. Mobile users are looking for quick bits of information.

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Deck the halls..... with great email subject lines this season

According to eMarketer there were 205.6 million email users in the US in 2011, and the number will grow by about 3-4% this year.  Business users receive an average of 100 emails each day and consumers about 32.  That's a lot of email.  And we can expect it to increase during the coming holidays.

If you want your message to get through - and get opened - (even during the holidays) you have to start with a great subject line. 

Here are some of the best practices, tips and tricks for writing great email subject lines.

1. Give me a reason to open it.

• Stimulate the reader to open the email. Answer “Why now?” and state the point of the email.

• Should tell what the email is about, offer something of value and be relevant to the reader.

• Act as a teaser – pass the “must-read” test and pique the readers curiosity.

2. Get personal.  And relevant.

• Subject lines should vary by product, target, and offer and focus on what is most relevant to the target.

• Personalization techniques can include subtle use of “you” and "your", the customers' name (although be careful here as sometimes this is preceived as SPAM), geography, product, content interests, groups they belong to, and known behavior.

3. Make the main thing, the main thing.

• Highlight the most important fact or benefit to the reader.

• Clearly state what’s in it for them, or what you want them to do as a result.

4. Keep it short. Get my attention fast.

• Try to keep subject lines under 50 characters, unless there’s a good reason to be longer.

• Front load to maximize impact of the first 35 characters.  Don’t let important words get lost if truncated by the inbox (at around 30 characters).

5. Create a sense of urgency.

• Be careful of SPAM red flag words; but you can test the favorite words of promotion - "now", "new", "free", and "only" -  just not in all caps or with exclamation points.  Don’t use "free" as the first word.

6. Organize into distinct thoughts.

• If the message is more complex, break up main thoughts into strategic, concise, relevant chunks so its easy to get the point quickly.  

7. Stand out from the crowd.

• Differentiate your subject line from the rest of the subject lines in the consumer’s inbox by using buzz words, personalization, a sense of urgency or endorsement.

8. Be authentic, don’t overpromise and don’t be too clever.

• Consumers often delete emails if they feel tricked into opening the email.

• Don’t write subject lines like ads. Appearing as too pushy or pitching a sale will leave the  email in the spam folder. Subject lines should simply describe the offer or message of the email, or tease the reader about what's inside.

 

9. Play with your brand personality.

• Unique brand attributes and personality can distinguish emails in the inbox.

10. Test, learn, refine.  Then do it again.

• The most effective way to evaluate email subject lines is to test them, continually.  Different things will work with different audiences, products and categories. 

• Consider subject lines early in creative development.

• Test with a sample of your list or get consumer feedback.

That's it.  Hopefully these tips will help you get exactly what you want for the holidays - gift wrapped open rates, click-throughs and conversions.

Happy Holidays!

hawkeye goes golfing for charity

hawkeye was pleased to sponsor hole number one at the annual Western Union Foundation golf tournament at Castle Pines Country Club in Castle Rock Colorado.  The day was perfect, with perfect weather; but unfortunately the boys from hawkeye will be keeping their day jobs at the agency.  Finishing with a one over par 73 in the scramble tournament, Team hawkeye had a respectable score and did not finish last place in the tournament.  And while hole number one was the longest drive competition hole, none of the hawkeye team members won that prize - another player who drove the ball a mere 415 yards won it instead.

The Western Union Foundation is a fantastic organization that has a mission to literally change the world, by helping create economic opportunity around the world.  hawkeye is a proud to be a partner of one of the premiere brands and companies in the world, who is so aggressively creating such a great legacy.

 

Retail banks going digital and social

Here's a great article from strategy and business on how retail banks need to rethink digital and social to begin reaching and engaging the "connected generation".  

http://www.strategy-business.com/article/11202?pg=0

In the past, all sorts of obstacles have gotten in the way of banks embracing web 2.0 and social media including:

- a typical conservative orientation of financial institutions (because they operate in the financial industry) 

- fear of running into the wrong side of financial regulations

- the challenge of opening up to direct dialogue with consumers while carefully managing personal and private financial information

- significant, real hurdles around integration across channels and systems

and a whole host of other challenges.  But the need to acquire new customers, grow deposits, generate revenue and reduce costs in today's environment, as well as the need to regain lost trust over the last couple of years will force retail banks to adapt. And take advantage of the huge opportunities the new technologies, channels and communications represent. 

At the same time real innovators have made huge progress in this area.

The art of storytelling is even more important today

Stories have engaged people for centuries.  Before writing and the printing press, telling stories was the only way cultures had to pass down their history, educate their people, teach the rules.  It is perhaps the most enduring method communications we have ever known.

With acting as one of my hobbies I understand the importance of a good script. It is what engages, captures the imagination, makes you smile and laugh, or makes you cry.  Its all about the story.

We often lose sight of storytelling amidst all the new technology and capability of today's marketing. In direct marketing, its amazing that we can talk one-on-one with thousands of customers in a relevant way based on what we know about them.  Using digital tools, its even more amazing that we create websites that completely reinvent themselves for different users based on their search activity and history with the site. We use facebook likes, shares and profile data in social media to target specific offers.  And we track activity online to serve relevant ads where and they are most meaningful to consumers.  But without the story, its all really just more noise trying to cut through the clutter by being the most relevant and meaningful at that point in time. 

I think these guys are on to something when they write about the importance of the story of the brand.  Brands are one of today's big stories, with all the potential power of a great script. Today's marketing gives us a bigger stage and more new ways to tell it. They key is to knit all the pages together so we move people just like they are moved when they see a great movie or attend a great play.  Maybe storytelling is the new relevance.  Maybe it'll make our work even more memorable and engaging so that it drives the results we need.

http://adage.com/article/guest-columnists/storytelling-apple-google-chevy-led-success/229814/

72% of consumers more likely to remember an ad with a QR code.

Big numbers on QR Code use and response rates.  

And this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what is to come with this great technology. With personalized QR Codes linked to pURLs, response and engagement rates can be significantly higher.  Some key findings:

• Mobio reports that during July to December of 2010, QR code scanning grew a whopping 1,200%; 89% of QR codes link to more information about a product, promotion, or event; 6% of QR codes are for mobile payment.
• According to a February 2011 survey of U.S. smartphone users by MGH, a Baltimore social media marketing company, 32% of respondents said they have scanned a QR code. Of those, 53% said they used the code to get a coupon or discount. And 72% said they were more likely to remember an advertisement with a QR code.

http://thesocialcustomer.com/loyalty360/40626/qr-codes-drive-customer-engagement

 

Connecting the See and Say of Advertising

Check out this fascinating video on Deb Roy's presentation at the 2011 TED conference.  It started as a research project into how we learn.  It took a turn when the team started looking for connections in the social space between TV programming and social comments, show amazing linkage between what people see on TV and what they say in social posts.  So why not make the leap to linking what people see in advertising and marketing to comments in social spaces to optimize our marketing efforts?

Check it out.  The linkage discussion starts at around 11:30 of the video.

http://www.ted.com/talks/deb_roy_the_birth_of_a_word.html

"Customer Focus" means more today than ever

Very early in my career a wise mentor told me you can never go wrong when thinking like the customer.  I have used that thought as a guidepost in countless meetings and on many projects over the years.  Now, times have clearly changed.  The customer has more control and power than ever before.  And the pace of change is accelerating.  Now, focus on the customer and building customer relationships is more a matter of survival for many businesses.  And a very exciting time for marketers.  Engage customers in real dialogue? Pull customers in with content that they want, instead of pushing out what we think they want us to say?  Bring it on!

Check out this thought provoking piece from Josh Bernoff at Forrester on "The Age of the Customer".

http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/surviving-disruption-age-customer/228009/

Bringing MasterCard Priceless to life

MasterCard is bringing their Priceless brand promise to life by delivering real local marketing value in a unique way.  Combining social media and local marketing to deliver the brand promise, allowing customers to access “priceless” experiences in "Priceless Cities". Instead of only using image-based “priceless” ads, MasterCard is taking advantage of the resurgence in local marketing and promotions, to differentiate themselves from other card competitors – delivering unique, emotional experiences to engage consumers at the local level:

Source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/mastercard-brings-priceless-to-a-pricey-place/?ref=media