In light of the recent tension from WikiLeaks and the holiday season, I find myself wondering, “Where is the love?” 

An article I read today from Fast Company addresses the recent embarrassing confidential information released by WikiLeaks, telling executive to remain guarded and assume the worst from those they don’t trust.  On the verge of the holiday season, I feel that rather than solely shielding ourselves against others, businesses and executive should take this opportunity to spread some cheer. 

This seems like an appropriate time to bring up an article I found on CNN.com called “8 feel-good websites to brighten you day”  which simply describes and provides links to 8 websites that can bring a smile to our faces.  The question is how can businesses create ways to make their customers and followers feel good, and in term stimulate good reputation and possibly sales?

While it isn’t exactly relevant for businesses to have RSS feeds of “happy news” for the day, maybe if we try to remind consumers that we’re people too with interests and concerns they’ll feel a stronger bond to the company.  Establishing a connection with followers is like making friends- sharing common interests and bonding over them.  Does an entire campaign need to revolve around making consumers happy?  Maybe for larger businesses where consumer reviews are easily found online, but for smaller businesses blogging, tweeting and even using Facebook can bring the extra humanism to a consumer’s experience.

As long as it remains appropriate, businesses shouldn’t be reluctant to share things they care about or ideas that they find interesting to stir conversation and thought.  Keep the thought in mind when working over the holidays, maybe the smallest pleasant gesture towards clients can create a big impact for your company’s reputation, as well as moving your clients to spread the cheer too!

Tina Walsh
Marketing Coordinator

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I recently attended a webinar and read an article that took somewhat opposing sides about today’s marketing: a need for measurement and too much of a science.  Both arguments leave me wondering; Didn’t marketing always have both?  It’s not a one trick dog. 

David Lavenda, blogging for Fast Company, wrote that marketing today is too much of a science, and new methods of measurements have limitations.  He believes the marketing budget can only be reduced so much, and breakthrough innovations require “radical ideas to difficult problems.”  Lavenda stretches this argument too far, pointing out that descriptions for marketing job positions now include words, like “metrics,” “track,” and “measure,” but marketing positions involved in analysis and measurement are not new or any emerging trend.  There certainly have been breakthroughs regarding marketing analytical tools, such as the previously described Twitter analysis dashboard, HootSuite.  But CEOs aren’t suddenly concerned over a company’s budget allocation; marketing departments have always been required to provide some sort of results, or they wouldn’t be able to provide evidence of their budgetary needs.

Marketo held a webinar titled, “What the CEO Needs from Marketing,” featuring the opinions of Phil Fernandez, CEO of Marketo, and Umberto Miletti, CEO of InsideView.  Fernandez felt marketing currently lacked the proper measuring tools to confidently inform CEOs of revenue results from campaigns and admitted to trusting his sales team more as they “have the metrics.”  He suggested that for marketers to build stronger trust with CEOs, they should propose to reduce the marketing budget, and find ways to measure revenue resulting from marketing efforts.  Fernandez makes a marketing department sound like a detached part of the business- the artsy cool kids who won’t share details and simply express themselves through their work. 

I’m painting a stereotype of course, but for a business to be successful, its executives and departments must work cohesively towards similar goals.  Marketing naturally should provide certain measurements depending on the tactics implemented, but even more vital is the communication between marketing (and sales executives and customer service) and CEOs, so that all parties are aligned on programs, expected outcomes, and the metrics that matter most to the business.  Proper communication enables CEOS and marketing executives to strike a balance between science, art, and accountability to satisfy both sides.

Tina Walsh
Marketing Coordinator

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Recently I’ve been researching revenue sharing, specifically affiliate marketing- a concept where a business rewards its partners (affiliates) with money depending on clicks, leads, or sales generated.  Many average Internet users see affiliate marketing as a way to make easy money.

A blogger or Web site owner simply has to partner up with a business, create a landing page or set up banner ads, add in the right key words to attract interested users, and wait for the cash to roll in.  This new profit model has dawned a new group of “average Joe” marketers, making a profit for themselves along with prospects for businesses.

Businesses create their own models of affiliate programs to best suit their objectives for the marketing scheme:

Barnes and Noble (B&N) offers a 6% sales commission on a variety of products that affiliate marketers may choose to advertise on their sites.  Affiliates simply follow the steps to apply banner ads to their page, receive their monthly commission in increments of $100 from Google Adsense.  B&N targets the authors of books as a way to promote their pieces through their Web sites and generate company revenue.

Tea Forte offers affiliates a 10% commission on all sales, providing banner ads, product choices, and links to include in their Web sites.  Their program is more neutral than B&N or Third Tribe (which I discuss below) in their use of LinkShare, a provider of online marketing solutions that creates and manages an affiliate program to meet the needs of the company.

The Third Tribe offers 33% commission per month for each (active) referral membership.  Third Tribe uses affiliate marketing as a way for members to reduce their own monthly membership fee and earn additional income; in order to successfully gain a profit, affiliates would need at least four new or recurring referred members each month.

The varying models of business to consumer affiliate marketing stir a number of questions:

How does affiliate marketing generate new sales (in addition to passive income), rather than redirecting interested customers through different channels to purchase?

Can an affiliate marketer make a full living off of these models?

How does affiliate marketing fit into a business’s sales pipeline?

Questions or thoughts? Let me know what you think.

Tina Walsh
Marketing Coordinator
RedZebraWorks

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What do they have in common? Besides the fact that their music is played in my house on a regular basis, they are experts in their business.

Around Grammy time I read an article about Lady Gaga, and just last week I posted a link on my dad’s Facebook about the Grateful Dead. Now, I know everyone’s been hearing about Lady Gaga, but you may be asking yourself, what can a business today learn from the Grateful Dead?

Social media in the business sense is all about conversing with your customers, making them feel important, and in return generating sales and leads. Here’s how both of these artists do exactly that.

Connect with Customers (or Fans)

Lady Gaga: She goes where they go. Online. She debuted one of her latest singles, Bad Romance, on her own website, not on TV.

Grateful Dead: Before a public announcement was made about an upcoming tour, the Grateful Dead’s most loyal fans received a phone call from their hotline alerting them of the upcoming shows.

Build a Relationship with Fans

Lady Gaga: She has nearly 3 million followers on Twitter, updates her status regularly, and even has a pet name for her fans that she tattooed on her arm, she calls them her Little Monsters.

Grateful Dead: Die-hard fans, referred to as Deadheads, became a sort of social community. The band reserved the best tickets for their fans, but made sure to cap the prices for their 4 hour long shows. Deadheads were actually allowed to tape the shows because the band believed that sharing the tapes would increase their fan base.

Generate Sales

Lady Gaga: Album sales have reached at least 8 million and digital single sales surpassed 20 million. She just became the creative director for Polaroid and is a spokeswoman for Viva Glam lipstick (proceeds go to Mac’s AIDS fund).

Grateful Dead: All of the special treatment and focus on community encouraged Deadheads to buy merchandise. They are one of the most profitable bands of all time.

Social Media isn’t just about putting as much content online as you possibly can, and being on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Buzz, and any other number of sites. Fundamentally, treat your customers and fans well and they will treat you as well as they do Lady Gaga and the Grateful Dead.

Julie Novak
Marketing Coordinator
RedZebraWorks

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