Justin Dawkins

Latest Updates: Internet Marketing RSS

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  Part I: Understanding your audience - More than just translations

  Justin 9:00 am on April 2, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Email Marketing (7), International Marketing (2), international-email (2), Internet Marketing

  A while back I briefly discussed some of the things you may want to consider when taking your email marketing international. I could dive into the obvious differences and probably should provide you with some back story but for now I will just get straight to the point.

  When considering your international email marketing strategy, the first thing to consider is your audience. After all we’re not talking about your neighbors or even someone who lives within your local community. We are talking about an audience that speaks multiple languages, is built on different principles, has a culture all its own, uses the web in many different ways and most importantly will likely interact with your company differently than most of your domestic customers.

  Because of these differences I have put together, what I believe to be, the top five questions you may want to ask yourself when you begin to write your copy and designing your email creative. Hopefully this will allow you to define a more effective strategy, for your international email campaigns.

  1. How does my international audience use email? (How frequently should I email my international customer base?)
  2. How does my company currently interact with my international customer base? (Online only, via one-to-one communications, website feedback loops, etc.)
  3. What cultural differences should I consider when designing my layout? (What works for some, may not work for others)
  4. What are the laws around SPAM in countries outside of the US? (Stay legit, some countries carry rules that are tighter than the US)
  5. How will I track, measure and manage my email metrics once my email is deployed?

  Of course there are many others, and this assumes that you have already asked yourself, the important questions like; “How do I measure my ROI?”, or “What are the goals and objectives of my email campaign?” Hopefully this will simply get the conversation going in your marketing department, or when you sit down with your sales team to discuss your global sales and marketing tactics. It’s important to remember that understanding the differences between your US customer base and your international customer base will determine your success in the international email marketing space. Let me know what you think, did I leave something out, what else would you add to the list?

  Next up I’ll cover, Part II: Going International – The message and the delivery. In this portion of the series I will review some of the design principles and standards you may want to consider, and how to find basic demographic information about your international recipients.

  Until next time,
  Cheers

 

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• 

  e101 and hopefully answers to your questions, Coming Soon

  Justin 11:20 pm on February 10, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: atlanta seminars (2), dre barnes, e101, Internet Marketing, local e-marketing seminars, Social Media (4)

  Hello all. I just wanted to let everyone know that starting in March Dre Barnes, and I, will begin to give seminars and workshops on e-Marketing. If you own a small to mid-sized business, or just want to know what e-marketing is all about, then this is the event for you. We will start with the basics, and hopefully will be able to answer all of your questions about; e-mail marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), social media, web analytics and much more. I will give everyone details and an update on registration (Yes! You must register to attend). If anyone who is planning to attend has any preliminary question, please email me at events [at] bbigonline.com

  *Updated 2/24/2008
  You can now register for e101 by clicking the link below.
  http://bbigonline.com/ignite/events/e101

 
• 

  Email doesn't work?

  Justin 2:08 am on January 23, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Email Marketing (7), Internet Marketing

  I recently visited one of my favorites sites for e-marketers and ran across and article entitled; “Why email marketing doesn’t work!” My first reaction was to jump on the defensive, because as an email marketing professional, I take great offense to such an absurd statement. After realizing that the article was merely a plug for an email marketing alternative, I quickly decide that it would be better to simply point out just a few pros to using email marketing. This is what I had to say…

  Some really good reasons on why email marketing DOES work

  1. Customer Relationship Management – Email marketing is a great tool for customer retention and customer communications. Why? Because it can be extremely cost effective compared to call centers, or even traditional direct mail campaigns.
  2. Targeted Reach – For retail companies, email marketing is a great way to remind, or inform, customers of the great products, promotions, or services that your company may provide. If done correctly, the effectiveness and reach could make for a very profitable campaign.
  3. Cost efficiency – Email is great way to communicate to regions where the local infrastructure does not support traditional mail or communication, efficiently. For instance one of my clients that is a VERY large transportation company based out of Atlanta, only communicates with customers in the Asia-Pacific region through email. Why? Because it’s targeted, and much more cost effective than sending letters or developing out a multi-million dollar call center, or even outsourcing those call center needs to local providers.
  4. Sales Growth – Email marketing is a great way to up-sell and cross-sell existing or potential customers. The fact is targeted and personalized messages, based off of customer behavior has proven to be an effective way to generate additional sales and sales opportunities.
  5. Viral and Flexible – Also, email marketing offer the flexibility of personalization, but can be an extremely effective way to go viral. If an email has the right promotion, a recipient may just forward that information on to a friend that may be in the market for your product or service, even if the original recipient is not. It’s the next best thing to word of mouth, which is one of the most effective ways of marketing. I mean when was the last time someone re-mailed a direct mail piece. Never! It just doesn’t happen.
  6. Highly Effective – Lastly email marketing can be effective without large lists. Of course many email marketers would love to have a large list to blast messages to, because it increases their reach, but I can’t think of a single marketer who wouldn’t love a list of 10,000 people where, 50 to 60% actually took an action on the mailing as opposed to a list of 100K and only 3 to 5% actually even opened the mailing. Why? Because it’s about relevance not volume. Buying a list may increase your volume, but it will do little for your effectiveness, and will surely hurt a consumer’s confidence in your brand.

  I could probably think of at least 10 more reasons why email marketing “works” but I’m starting to think that this article is merely here to plug an alternative. That is ok, I just think that taking an obviously biased opinion for a site devoted to e-marketers is just a quick way to get criticized or ignored, but hey maybe that’s what you are going for. Nonetheless interesting perspective. I’ve heard someone say the same thing about SEO, buying ads, creating affiliate programs etc, but the true marketer will use a variety of mediums to find the best marketing mix. That’s Marketing 101.

  What do you think? Was the article out of line, was it simply biased, or do you think that there are some solid points in what the author had to say? Let me know, and I will shed more light on what APML is… after the break.

 
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  Getting Americans to spend 60 billion.

  Justin 7:36 pm on December 26, 2007 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing Strategy, strategy

  Apparently, retailer are hoping that Americans will spend 60 billion dollars on post holiday season sales. One estimate is that nearly 24 billion of that will come from cashing in gift cards. The only question I have is; “When are they going to spend it?” Many are focusing on cutting prices and capitalizing on the post Christmas sales, but in my opinion, spending “stored dollars” becomes increasingly important to customer’s retention and customer loyalty, not just a way to clear out the storage closet.

  Reminding customers that they likely got a gift card, during the holiday season, and that it is a welcomed form of payment for their next purchase, may be a way to strengthen the conversation between retailers and consumers, particularly online. Consumers may appreciate the fact that their favorite retailer, or potentially new favorite retailer, reminded them of their stored value cards, and can recommend products or service that fit their lifestyle and preferences. Integrating this information with your CRM can be a great way for marketers to target promotional communications and generate more revenue opportunities. Imagine receiving a target email communication that says; “We know you probably have a gift card, why not come spend it on some of those technology things you like and more.” You may just be willing to click on a few call-to-action buttons in the email and purchase some things. Sure consumers are spending dollars that someone else has already spent, but what about that additional $50 power cable, or the $100 spa membership that their friend or loved-one would not have bought. The upsell and crossell opportunities, could be huge. Now that consumers have nearly 60 billion dollars stored away, your sales team can focus on selling additional services or products to compliment a customer’s primary purchase. As a customer, I would much rather spend 50 bucks on the accessories for my iPod, than the 300 bucks for the iPod and accessories (Assuming a $250 price tag on the iPod, and the gift card is valued at $250). On top of that, let’s face it, as a retailer you are taking a better margin to the bank on the accessories and service offering than you are on most of the primary purchase products, anyway.

  Many retailers may think that this is a bad idea, but I see this as an awesome opportunity to capture a new customer, or even learn more about an old one. Increasing a customer’s spending, even if it’s stored value, increases the likelihood of that customer returning for future experiences, and buying similar products or service to compliment their previous purchase. It may even rekindle an old retail-customer relationship, that has been dormant for a while. Maybe I’m thinking too much like a consumer, but if the possession of a gift card gets a customer in the door or on my website, as I retailer, I’m happy you have it. Gift cards simply act as Mr. Opportunity knocking, it’s just up to retail to answer.

 
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  Social Networking started with email

  Justin 2:46 am on November 3, 2007 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Email Marketing (7), Internet Marketing, Social Media (4)

  Absurd. Right? Well, I recently jotted down some of the reasons I originally started to use email and compared it to the reasons I joined a few social networks. I soon discovered that the fundamental reasons I use social networks, is very similar to the original reasons I use email.

  Before social networks, people would share their photos, interest, and information through email, and before that… well let’s not go there. Online photo galleries would soon give people the ability to share photos and experiences with family member and friends and on many occasions the world, extending the amount of people a person could touch with just a few extra clicks of a mouse. Next came personal websites and the concept of a guestbook. Remember those? A guestbook would allow people people to enter their email address, web address, or name and leave a message on your page(Today we call it a wall). These messages, though now visible to anyone, look very similar to basic conversation style emails you would receive from a friend or colleague. Today social network users have; an inbox, where they can carry a dialog through one-to-one messaging, a photo gallery where people can tag, comment and exchange experiences, a wall where people call publicly post comments and more.

  I know that this observation is vague, but if you really take a step back and think about the nature of a social network you may realize that it is basically, and I stress the simplicity, the connection of; email, photo galleries, and personal websites with guestbooks. Of course with the addition of widgets, videos, and broadband connections, sharing information, photos and one’s digital-self has becomes easier, and faster, than ever before, but even with the progressive nature of the internet, the fundamental reason to use a social network stems from the same reasons people originally use email. Again I stress the fact that this observation seems fairly simple, and doesn’t take into account the sophisticated nature of a social networks today, but you really have to ask yourself. Is the social network one of the internet’s first Mashups? Just something to think about.

  -Justin D.