Content Marketing Meets Email: 4 Approaches Every Email Program Can Benefit From

Content Marketing Meets Content Marketing Meets Email:Email:4 CONTENT 4 CONTENT APPROACHES EVERY APPROACHES EVERY EMAIL PROGRAM CAN EMAIL PROGRAM CAN PROFIT FROMPROFIT FROM

BrightTALK Content & Customer Engagement Summit

Karen Talavera, Synchronicity MarketingKaren Talavera, Synchronicity MarketingFebruary 12, 2014February 12, 2014

• Nationally-known email marketing expert, speaker, educator, coach and consultant

• The DMA’s premiere email marketing instructor since 1999• Member Email Experience Council (EEC), Florida DMA,

Solo-Entrepreneur, Only Influencers• Top 100 Women in Ecommerce 2012 by WE magazine• President of

– Founded in 2003– Digital Marketing Training, Coaching & Consulting– Based in south Florida serving clients worldwide

Meet Karen Talavera

Agenda

Why Content Marketing in Email? What is Content Marketing Four Approaches for Email

1. Foundational2. Educational3. Engaging4. Personal

Why Content for Email?

The Old Model

One-way progression Single or limited channels Greater interest in being heard than listening Creating demand trumped creating value Sell vs. Serve

Remember AIDA?

Traditional mass and direct response demand generation model

The New Way

Two-way dialog Multi-channel Conversation vs.

broadcast Creating short and long-term

value equally important Serve first, then sell

(sell by way of serving)

IEEO: Nurturing vs. Forcing Demand Lends itself better to the content and

conversation-driven digital marketing channels we use now

What Is Content Marketing?

Giving away something valuable in order to sell something related

Creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience - with the objective of driving profitable customer action

The promise of worthwhile information on the other end of a link is a powerful motivator to conditioning future open/click response behavior and creating trust

Conditioning Response The #1 Advantage of Content Marketing: Sell by Way of

Serving First

Works on the premise of:

Asking subscribers to repeatedly take the lower-commitment actions (like reading a blog post, watching a video, downloading a report or signing up for a webinar) involved with content marketing conditions in them a pattern of response and trust that will pay dividends when the time comes for you to ask for higher commitment (like a purchase) actions!

All Successful Sales and Marketing Depends On Knowing:

Do you know which purchase consideration path your customers take – or that your product/service requires?

Craft your marketing to accelerate, enable, or streamline the consideration/buying process along one of these four types of paths

The longer the path, the more critical a role content plays

The 4 Types of Consideration Paths

Quick Path

Low decision time Low price/investment Little or no comparison-shopping No need to be approved or

qualified Universal or broad market

appeal Minimal consensus-building Often a commodity

Examples: Song, book, subscription, food item, office item, restaurant reservation

Winding Path

Low-to-medium price/investment

Medium time investment Often involves comparison-

shopping Requires review of details,

specs, terms, facts, figures, etc. May need approval or

qualification Broad market appeal Some consensus-building

Examples: Cell phone, computer, television, business trip, conference/event, insurance, jewelry

Long Path

Medium-to-high price/investment

High time investment or time-to-complete

Requires comparison-shopping Requires review of details,

specs, terms, facts, figures, etc. Often involves approval or

qualification Often consensus-building

Examples: Mortgage, car, financial investment, consulting, weight loss, coaching, many business services

Long & Winding Path

High price High time investment or time-to-

complete Definite comparison, detail review

and research Usually involves approval or

qualification Often involves changing

circumstances, dependencies or shifts in direction of decision Examples: Home remodel, long-term

business services, annual coaching or mentoring programs, real-estate investing, injury recovery, etc.

1. Lay A Strong Foundation

Four Approaches for Email

Purpose

Communication mainstay: maintain channel relationship

Create continuity Why? We tend to give trust, credibility and attention to company

communications which arrive on a consistent, predictable schedule i.e. subscriptions, statements, bills, rewards

Make great “umbrella” communications under which you can include a mix of content types, especially if higher overall email message volume is a challenge Reinforce and establish intentional redundancy with single-subject

messages

Characteristics

Low Segmentation (usually sent to entire list) Advantage: maintains minimum level of contact with less-

engaged subscribers

Broad content/topical range, but organized Smorgasbord style TOC and consistent design template help

Regular, predictable schedule important! Weekly or monthly Issue date, month or other identification included

Content vs. promotion-centric

Media Company Example

National Geographic“Sunday Stills” newsletter sent to subscribers interested in photography

Frequency: 2x monthly (every other Sunday)

Travel Example

Vail ResortsEpic Life newsletter includes

Welcome/greeting Weather updates Featured events Trip planning info Shopping guides Interactive experiences

(Vail’s mobile app is called “Epic Mix”

Frequency: 1x per month

Retail Example

Tory BurchRather than a newsletter, this designer fashion brand sends style and trend updates month, one of which is their “Most Wanted” bulletin

Frequency: Semi-monthly with increases during holiday season

B2B Example

American Express Merchant ServicesCompanies which accept Amex for payment are their clients and subscribers

“Member Insider” is the newsletter


2. Educate and Inform


Purpose “Lead Nurturing”

Move prospects down longer and more winding consideration paths by Giving them information they need in order to buy (inform) Teaching and tutorials (educate) Creating a context of helpfulness (service)

Create familiarity, comfort, and a conditioned pattern of response to low-commitment actions (like engaging with content) in order to lower high-commitment action resistance

Alert and remind Drive traffic to online content/increase content use and visibility Create rests from promotional messaging

Don’t be the “friend who only calls when you need something”! Provide post-sale support and maintain/increase customer

satisfaction

Characteristics

Often a series

May or may not come on a predictable, regular schedule

ALWAYS more in it for the recipient than the marketer (heavily audience-focused)

Selling by way of serving first; support sales after

Content-centric Video is huge!


National Geographic“This Month” National Geographic Cable TV channel guide supports content consumption in multiple channels (web and television)Helpful reminder/alert-style: advance notice keeps fans in the loop


Travel Example

Vail ResortsUtilizes this email type more for announcements and alerts like this one about a new zip line course opening, but also has a longer version which mimics a newsletter-style

Frequency: 3-4x per month

Retail Example

Tory BurchUses suggestions and curated content in a helpful, service-oriented context

Frequency: 1-2x per month

B2B ExampleAmerican Express Merchant ServicesFor more complex products/services, free trial and/or features utilization and training are important to ensure customers actually use and get value from productThis video tutorial and downloadable tips sheet educateFrequency: 1-2x per month

3. Entertain and Engage


Purpose

Create a sense of fun, reward, and play

Surprise and Delight

Opportunity for feedback & dialogue (“I matter”) Often through other channels

Further develop the conditioned pattern of response to low-commitment actions (like engaging with content) in order to lower high-commitment action resistance

Create breaks from promotional AND content-heavy messages

Characteristics

3 Main Types: Entertaining: Games, contests, stories Feedback-oriented: Surveys, ratings requests, reviews Reward: Sweepstakes, drawings

Extremely audience-focused Often leverage interaction in complementary

channels, specifically social media Lower-commitment and faster response than content Experience-centric


National GeographicSupported launch of its “Great Migrations” television series with both an online game and sweepstakesMore recent Google+ Hangouts invite online conversations via social mediaFantastic buzz-builders

Frequency: 1x per month/situational

Travel Example

Vail ResortsIdeally suited for video, they use it frequently in both umbrella communications and stand-alone emails like this

Frequency: 1x per month/seasonal

Retail Example

Tory BurchLive streaming online content and events (like this Tory Burch runway show) are both fantastic entertainment and brand engagement opportunities

Frequency: 1-2x per month/Seasonal

B2B Example

American Express Merchant ServicesAnything involving account access or use is sure to get attention

Service-oriented and benefits-focused

Frequency: Low (1x per month or less)

4. Create a 1:1 Personalized Dialogue


Purpose

Conditional response to specific subscriber behavior Cart or site abandonment Request for help or online contact (enter lead stream) Response/non-response to previous messages in series or trac

Stimulate specific 1:1 subscriber action

Personalize and customize communication stream

Support transactional nature of relationship

Power many rewards/loyalty programs

Characteristics

Personalized (name or other attributes)

Dynamically-customized content

Audience of one – highly segmented

Triggered email Behaviorally or demographically

Low volume, high response


National GeographicThis message is not only name-personalized, but invites subscribers to profile themselves and customize content online

Frequency: Low (1x per month or less) or conditional based on behavior

Travel Example

Vail ResortsUses email to support its rewards and loyalty program, PEAKSContent customized to member points status


Retail Example

Tory BurchNew subscriber welcome emails like this one are a triggered message “must” and begin the onboarding process with an initial offerBirthday emails great too!

Frequency: Low (1x per month or less) or conditional based on behavior

B2B Example

American Express Merchant ServicesUses email to send customer account statements and annual summaries


Why Is Variety So Important?

People become immune to and ignore incessant repetition We crave change and newness A problem if the majority of email is purely promotional

Both predictability and unpredictability are effective for different types of communications Continuity programs foster trust, comfort, and credibility Pattern interrupts surprise, delight and get attention

Over promoting is self- vs. audience-serving But content “sells by way of serving”

1:1 messaging gets personal, and personal gets noticed!

Read the post at http://synchronicitymarketing.com (August 2011 archive)

http://synchronicitymarketing.com/

http://synchronicitymarketing.com/

Content Improves Messaging Strategy

Always promotional? Mix of promotion and informational (value-add) content? Blend of promotional, informational, and entertainment? Triggered?

A greater mix of email message types stimulates deeper subscriber engagement and a longer pattern of response. Why? Because you’re not “the friend who

only calls when you need something”

You establish a pattern of giving and receiving value

You establish a pattern of “conditioned response”

© Synchronicity Marketing Twitter @SyncMarketing

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Email: [email protected]

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Phone: 561.967.9665

Thank You! Thank You! Questions?Questions?

BrightTALK Content & Customer Engagement Summit

Content Marketing Meets Email: 4 Approaches Every Email Program Can Benefit From

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Transcript of Content Marketing Meets Email: 4 Approaches Every Email Program Can Benefit From