Digital Marketing in a Downturn
eBizITPA – March 26, 2009

The old playbook…
―…build a recession ―…response to the
 
marketing plan based recession varies by
on the firm‘s strategic geography, sector and
capabilities‖ firm size‖

Source: Justin Kirby & Paul Marsden (2006). Connected marketing. Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann. xix
Crisis In Mass Marketing
18%: Proportion of TV advertising campaigns generating positive ROI

54 cents: Average return in sales for every $1 spent on advertising

256%: The increase in TV advertising costs (CPM) in the past decade

84%: Proportion of B2B marketing campaigns resulting in falling sales

100%: The increase needed in advertising spend to add 1-2% in sales

14%: Proportion of people who trust advertising information

90%: Proportion of people who can skip TV ads who do skip TV ads

80%: Market share of video recorders with ad skipping technology in 2008

95%: The failure rate for new product introductions

117: The number of prime time TV spots in 2002 needed to reach 80% of

adult population – up from just 3 in 1965
3000: Number of advertising messages people are exposed to per day

56%: Proportion of people who avoid buying products from companies who

they think advertise too much
65%: Proportion of people who believe that they are constantly

bombarded with too much advertising
69%: Proportion of people interested in technology or devices that enable

them to skip or block advertising

Source: Marketing Leadership Council - www.mlc.executiveboard.com

Reprioritize marketing vehicles
Reevaluate the

effectiveness of current
vehicles
Shift 10-15% into new

media
Conduct a marketing

audit, don‘t just do
guesswork

Where Everything Is Headed
Today
Digital
Non-Digital
1996 2009 2050?
Source: Google

Over Half of Online Adults…
75% of online adults

18-24 have a profile
on a social network site
57% of online adults

25-34 have a profile
on a social network

All the Digital People

The Writing is on the Web
Forrester: By 2008, online marketing activity will be more

ubiquitous that anything except in-person events (including
sales calls!)
DMA: In 2008, online marketing efforts will be the dominant

media for B2B initiatives
CMO Council: B2B decision makers spend 5+ hours every

week researching product information online
KnowledgeStorm: 89% of business & IT professionals state

that online content has a major impact on their vendor
preference and selection
In 1965, it took three TV ads to reach 80% of adults by

2002, it required 117

Popular Digital Marketing Tactics
Source: Forrester,
August 2008

360 Digital Marketing World
Online eNewsletters Email Real Simple
eMail eCards
Media Syndication (RSS)
Content Partnerships
News
Community
sites Syndication
Special Manifestos
Blog Search Engines
Interest Conversations
Blog Aggregators
Blogs
Chat
Search Engine
Rooms/Events
Citizen
Optimization
Photo Blogs Action
Keyword
Listservs
eAlerts
Marketing
Message Boards
Search Meetups
Text-messaging
Press Rooms
Online
Web Sites Viral Games &
IM w/RSS
Content Contests Advertising
Wikis
Folksonomy Digital Radio
Social VBlogs
Bookmarking Podcasting
Webcasting
Digital
Phones DVR Game
Devices PDAs Microcasting
(Tivo) Consoles
Source: Ogilvy

The Digital Sales Funnel
Source: InTouch

The Conversational Sales Funnel
marketer generated consumer generated
be aware talk
form opinion
consider
buy use
??
?
?
?
directories
search crm
advertising, PR, publishing wom/ social networks
educational marketing
event and sponsorship marketing
games
mobile marketing
Source: Digital Voodoo

Six Digital Strategies for
Surviving the Downturn
Make it ALL Accountable
1)
Build Your Addressable Customer Base
2)
Digital Intimacy (stay close to your customer)
3)
Start and Keep doing Search (SEM+SEO+SMO)
4)
Engender Trust
5)
Don‘t ignore the power of Social Media
6)

1. Digital Accountability
“Marketing executives are seeking accountability
and measurable results. Data-driven marketing is
an increasingly important component of corporate
marketing campaigns.”
—Mike Iaccarino, chief executive, Epsilon, in a press release
Even online marketers show room for improvement in
accountability. In a Marchex-commissioned survey
conducted by Sterling Market Intelligence in October
2008, only 25% of national advertisers said they were
measuring ROI for their online marketing campaigns.

Success Metrics
Reach

 How many hear your message?
Acquisition

 Who’s attention did you get?
Conversion

 What information did you gather?
 Who can you contact as a “lead”?
Retention

 Who follows you after the acquisition?

Build Your Value Funnel
Define your critical actions

Map against your sales

process/sales funnel
Track to conversion

Wash, rinse, repeat


2. Build Your Addressable Customer Base
Everything = Data, ―CRM mentality‖

Capture mechanisms at every turn (capture

attention & capture data)
Get comfortable with the data – it‘s all about the

data!
Setup data-driven trigger points to nurture your

prospects along
For Example: In 2001, ADC communications, a competitor to Lucent, Cisco and Nortel
saw it’s sales degrading to the point of a 27% dip. The immediately retrenched, changed
course, implemented a recession marketing & sales strategy and gained market share on
each of their major competitors that they retain to this day.

Jeep‘s ―Jeep 2.0‖ Strategy
Portals (using contextual/Google and behavioral/AOL targeting)
1.
An IM avatar development program
2.
Online video - A new campaign site which was redesigned to host
3.
rich-media offerings like video vignettes
Virtual \"test drives―
4.
Ads on free music download sites with viral marketing (pass this
5.
song on to your friends capability)
Microsites
6.
Traditional TV with product placement
7.
Events and bowl games - An online fantasy football sponsorship
8.
w/print component
Print ads
9.

Jeep –
The way beyond trail
A choose your own adventure

interactive film
User integrates him/herself directly

into the video and story reflects
their personal registration selections
Program provides clues in exchange

for ―tell a friend‖
Product directly integrated and

demonstrated through plot line of
film

3. Digital Intimacy
Build your tribe

E-Mail: Still a Great Medium for Staying in Touch

Meet them in their medium

Build brands & communities

of fans, don’t just advertise
This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update — each
individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even
supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets
coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and
family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting.
- Clive Thompson, NYT Magazine

Build Community in Niche Networks
Beyond Students
Over 350,000 pets
Approx. 700 new each day
My Space Politics
Moms Investments
Real Estate

4. Start and Keep doing Search (SEM+SEO+SMO)
Search provides a strong, highly

measurable ROI for marketing dollars
spent.
Search garners click-through rates that

exceed all other forms of online
advertising.
Search offers marketers the potential for

immediate sales online, as well as for
online and offline sales at a later time.
Search can even enhance brands.

Over 80% of consumers and

businesspeople engage in on a regular
basis

Search is Integrated…so Integrate It!
(almost) Everything

digital/web based can
contribute to search
Integrate search

components into ALL of
your marketing (PURLS,
―Google This‖

Engender Trust
Trust is the currency of brands, and it has never been harder to

create or hold on to.
Reviews, recommendations, friends, experts, thought

leadership…all trusted!
Do everything you can to make your product and customer

service as good as they can possibly be.
Emphasize listening over loud-speaking.

Adapt your marketing messages to be more real.

Consider building a community where consumers can weigh in.

Take the bold move of embracing customer ratings and

reviews.

Trusted Sources

Become a Thought Leader
Be Generous With Your Knowledge

 Share beyond the marketing speak
Be Consistent

 Calendar your activities – daily, weekly, monthly
routine
Always Deliver Value

 Listen, think, revise, teach, repeat
Take A Stand

 Take your strong positions to market
Focus On The Long-term Benefits

 Track your results in months & years

Engage in Social Media
―Social Media is
people having
conversations
online.‖

The conversations are powered by…
Blogs

Widgets

Micro Blogs

Online Chat

RSS

Social Networks

Social Bookmarks

Message Boards

Podcasts

Video Sharing Sites

Photo Sharing Sites

Virtual Worlds

Wikis

(…just to name a few)

A Few Examples

Social Media for Small Business
Caminito Argentinean

Steakhouse is a single-
location restaurant in
Northampton, Mass
Using a website, local ads,

blogging, video, Twitter,
MySpace and other digital
tools to drive business

Just Your Average Social
Media Steakhouse…
In addition to the blog, Caminito leverages social media by the following means:
Prime cuts blog and YouTube TV channel, including videos on Viddler

Consistent PR

A monthly e-newsletter is sent to an opt-in email list to announce special events, special menus

and more.
Caminito is very active on Yelp! and includes a link on its website to encourage users to leave

reviews there.
Web analytics are monitored at least weekly and sometimes daily to see where traffic is

coming from, judging return on investment for certain campaigns and promotions and make
site enhancement decisions.
The restaurant has a MySpace page to reach the college age crowd with several area

universities and colleges nearby. They post bulletins, blog posts and events there.
Caminito also uses Upcoming, Facebook, Twitter, Plurk and FriendFeed, networks through the

Answers section of LinkedIn and has a Flickr account for restaurant-related images.

Caminito‘s World…

The Social Homebuilder

Martell‘s Holistic Strategy
Holistic strategy, not just

social media
Advertising, customer

relations, vendor relations,
public relations, website
execution, social media
Strategic process of defining

their audience, establishing
their objectives, developing
strategies to accomplish
those objectives with the
audience and then decided
the tools

Indium Social Media Strategy
25% reduction in marketing spend

Major account wins

Entire organization involved

in the ‗community‘

B2B Discovers Online Videos
It is my goal to meaningfully engage my audience and draw them in.
Video offers anenhanced ability to do so (especially when compared
to static posters/graphics). Rick Short, Indium
Multiple Customer Touch Points
Multiple
Uses

Integrated Social Media Strategy
Goodwill Repositioning
Blog
YouTube
MySpace
ebay Store

A Few Good Stats
http://dcgoodwillfashions.blogspot.com/
Over 11,500 unique visitors to the virtual fashion show 9/12 launch

Over 42,000 page views

16% of fashion show visitors have been converted into online

Goodwill shoppers
Fashion Show Visitors from 31 countries and 48 states plus DC

48% of fashion show visitors are from the DC, MD, VA region (the

area we serve)
Blog is averaging between 600 & 700 visitors a week

5.6% of blog visitors are being converted into online Goodwill

shoppers
Blog visitors from 77 countries and all 50 states

Brick & mortar stores during the two weeks following
the launch of the fashion show:
 Customer count + 6.6%
 Rack sales (clothing) + 16.5%
 Total sales + 8.275%

So, Now What?

Digital & Social Media Strategy in 8 Parts
Part 1: Learn to Listen

Part 2: Join the Conversation

Part 3: Start a Blog (or… Be the Media)

Part 4: Tap into Your Community

Part 5: Crowdsource Your Next Big Idea

Part 6: Harness the Power of Social Networks

Part 7: Share Photos and Videos Online

Part 8: Measure Your Success Online


Learn to Listen
Where are your customers online/offline?
Blogs, Social media tools (e.g. LinkedIn Answers), Discussion Forums,

Twitter, etc…/Events
Monitor these conversations:
Find your brand using Google Alerts, Keotag.com, Boardreader.com and

Technorati.com
Use a central tool to track the different conversations happening around

your company. Most online conversations are RSS enabled, barring a few
Yahoo! groups that don’t support RSS. Use a RSS reader (e.g.
Bloglines.com) to gather all these conversations into a central repository
and create a folder that you check on a daily basis.
For Example: Best-in-class organizations pursue social media listening as a daily
discipline and have a response strategy to engage in the conversation if necessary.

Join the Conversation
Be transparent. Be open and

honest in all communication.
Be ethical. Live by the WOMMA

Practical Ethics Toolkit
Be relevant. Share information

and perspectives that are valuable
to the online community
Personalize and be personable.

Address negative discussion

head-on.
Court evangelists & advocates.

Even if you‘re not ready to join the conversation, it pays
to have a sound strategy for dealing with any social
media conversation taking place about your brand.

Be the Media (or, Start a Blog)
Feature a link to the

blog on your company
home page.
Employ a team of

bloggers.
Provide guidelines to

bloggers.
Share company news and thought leadership.

Post a combination of written word, photos and video.

Link generously to other digital influencers.

Allow moderated comments to foster a two-way conversation.


Tap Into Your Community
Community members can

be worth 30% more
Tap the power of your

customer base
Increase long-term

lifetime value
Involve them in

something meaningful
Know what customers

really want to buy

Crowdsource Your Next Big Idea
Define an idea

management process.
Design and develop the

online community.
Promote the community

with your customers.
Invite them to contribute.

Post questions to spur

their thinking.
Celebrate great ideas.


A Crowdsourced Business
Seventh Generation, a leading green consumer
products company, used a crowdsourcing approach to
design an eco-friendly diaper bag as part of its Wee
Generation campaign. Mommies, children and leading
environmental experts collaborated to design a state-
of-the-art, limited edition bag, which Seventh
Generation now sells.

Harness the Power of Social Networks
Connect with your customers

in their network.
Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace,

etc…
Build applications for them in

their networks.
Assign someone in your

organization as the
‗community manager‘.
If you build it, they won‘t

come – put together a sound
seeding strategy

Share Photos and Videos Online
Create a brand channel on

YouTube.
Upload your company‘s videos to

your YouTube channel
Adds to your search results

• Promote your company‘s YouTube

channel or specific videos on your
Web site, emails, newsletters.
Engage your audience by

encouraging them to add
comments, rate videos, share
video.
Update your content frequently to

keep it fresh. This is critical to keep
people coming back.

Measure Your Success Online
The value of social media presence can be calculated by simple methods:
Reach

How many people are influenced by our social & digital media efforts?
Acquisition

How much of their attention have we acquired through connections,
website visits, and time spent engaging with us?
Conversion

How many have we ‘converted’ toward the ultimate goal (subscription,
sales, leads, registrations, evangelists, etc.)?
Retention

Are we reducing customer churn, lowering our overall cost to serve,
increasing the purchase value/volume/frequency, and growing the lifetime
value of our customer base?

MEASURE
Another take on the process of measuring social media value
Source: Forrester Research

“Every brand needs to be relevant and part
of a community. They need to open a
dialogue with their consumers, but they also
need to be prepared for what could be
negative feedback and I don’t think all
marketers are ready for that.”
- Bob Ivins, EVP, comScore

How to control
millions of inaccurate
and divergent
conversations ?
YOU DON’T
Consumers are beginning in a very real sense to own our brands and participate
in their creation … We need to begin to learn to let go.
A.G. Lafley, CEO and Chairman of P&G, October 2006
(cc) Lynette Webb, 2006

Five Keys to Social Media Success
Be Generous With Your Knowledge

 Share beyond the marketing speak
Be Consistent

 Calendar your activities – daily, weekly, monthly
routine
Always Deliver Value

 Listen, think, revise, teach, repeat
Take A Stand

 Take your strong positions to market
Focus On The Long-term Benefits

 Track your results in months & years

Social Media Homework!
Find blogs in your area of interest

Seek out podcasts for marketers (or whatever you

fancy) in iTunes or Podcast Alley
Sign up for a free RSS reader (Bloglines, Google

Reader) and consume feeds
Join LinkedIn

Anyone not visited YouTube yet? Look for your

favorite things there too

Social Media Extra Credit
Become a regular commenter on blogs that interest

you
Join Facebook & ask a question on LinkedIn

Start a blog of your own on a topic of your choice

Create a podcast

Switch over some of your newsletter subscriptions to

RSS feeds
Get a Flickr account to share photos


Digital Marketing in a Downturn
Q&A
Need help after the presentation? Email dana@marketingsavant.com