The From Line
Sending, Managing & Monetizing Email
A letter to ad agencies:
All of your agency’s clients are hearing social media campaign pitches right now from your
biggest competitors. Okay, so while that might not be totally true, it’s possible that your
clients are wondering if another agency would be a better choice to raise their social presence.
Your website lists it as a capability, but perhaps still can’t point to the success of completely
viral campaigns such as the Old Spice Guy.
All of your agency’s clients are hearing social media campaign pitches right now from your
biggest competitors. Okay, so while that might not be totally true, it’s possible that your
clients are wondering if another agency would be a better choice to raise their social presence.
Your website lists it as a capability, but perhaps still can’t point to the success of completely
viral campaigns such as the Old Spice Guy.
Well, I’m here to tell you this: that could be you featured on Mashable just like the Old
Spice Guy and I’m going to tell you how to get a leg up on the competition.
Spice Guy and I’m going to tell you how to get a leg up on the competition.
I'm not going to tell you how to be creative -- that is clearly what agencies have always been
good at. But once you have your concept in place, the most important part of going viral?
Get that first burst of activity within the first hour or two of campaign execution. To fuel an
important exponential response early, you should immediately execute an email campaign.
Email is the only direct form of viral marketing (versus passive mediums like twitter, facebook
and youtube which require fans to “catch” your news feed…when they get around to it).
This is one reason why email is never going to be replaced by social media. Social sharing sites
are still destinations while email is targeted, lists can be segmented, and ROI can be clearly
measured and analyzed. Plus, you are able to control timing and measure when someone
received a message and if they opened it.
good at. But once you have your concept in place, the most important part of going viral?
Get that first burst of activity within the first hour or two of campaign execution. To fuel an
important exponential response early, you should immediately execute an email campaign.
Email is the only direct form of viral marketing (versus passive mediums like twitter, facebook
and youtube which require fans to “catch” your news feed…when they get around to it).
This is one reason why email is never going to be replaced by social media. Social sharing sites
are still destinations while email is targeted, lists can be segmented, and ROI can be clearly
measured and analyzed. Plus, you are able to control timing and measure when someone
received a message and if they opened it.
-- Lauren
PS: Nobody has created the ability to do A/B split campaigns for social sites. If you hear of it,
let me know because given the technology behind how social media sites work, I am willing to bet
let me know because given the technology behind how social media sites work, I am willing to bet
it’s not the real thing. Trust me on this.
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Clearinghouse Outreach Through Email Solutions
Almost every Federal agency has at least one clearinghouse and, based on their mission, most agencies have several clearninghouses for providing information to the public. For example most of the institutes within NIH have their own clearinghouses. Among them are the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse, the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, etc. Other government agencies with their own clearinghouses include:
- Justice Department: National Criminal Justice Reference Service
- Housing and Urban Development (HUD): Public Housing Environmental & Conservation Clearinghouse and the Mulitfamily Housing Clearinghouse
- CDC: The National Prevention Information Network, the SAFETI Clearinghouse and the HIV/AIDS Resource
- FCC: PSHSB clearinghouse.
These clearinghouses are mechanisms for public distribution of the latest news, publications, regulations and guidelines, best practices, etc. on a specific subject. They play an important role to the professionals in the specific field and the public that has specific interests in the subject matter.
Both the public and professionals know that all of the information has been researched and vetted, represents factual content and is trustworthy. In other words, there is a basic trust between the consumer public and the government.
It is easy to sign up for a general clearinghouse newsletter that may be emailed once a month, but that won’t satisfy most consumers who are usually looking for immediate answers, specific information and real-time communications updates, especially during a time of crisis. A government agency cannot expect citizens to search its clearinghouse website every day. People want timely communications.People want to feel like they can continue that basic level of trust. But if agencies don't deliver messages at the most important time, communication with the public might be percieved as an afterthought. And that wouldn't be good.
Sophisticated email automation with dynamic content and database segmentation will allow the individuals to clearly tell government agencies exactly what content they want. At time of sign-up, the person can opt-in to allow automated email alerts via email and RSS feeds as soon as new information on the topics become available.
With sophisticated email tools such as one-click alerts (which allow the campaign to be preloaded and executed from a mobile device), and action-based messaging (such as emails triggered by someone clicking or not clicking a link for more information), clearinghouse communications can efficiently deliver the right message to the right person at the right time using the right medium.
The bottom line: Time is a commodity. Consumers depend on focused email alerts to keep up to date on the latest information essential to their needs. The right email campaign software will allow government agencies to not only save their own time, but save the public's time by focusing on the immediacy of email alerts.
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Gold Lasso is now on Twitter and folks have been sending me requests to be one of my "Tweeps" since I opened up the account a few weeks ago.
If you want to follow us on Twitter, feel free, the door is open.
I plan on sharing information on the email marketing world, and of course what's cooking at Gold Lasso.
To follow me , just go to http://twitter.com/goldlasso and follow us.
Hope we see all of our new Tweeps following us soon,
Jeremy
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