Marketing Insights

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Ever heard that saying?  Well, I can’t tell you how many marketers when asked, “What results have you received?” They answer with, I don’t know or I can’t track or report properly.

So if you execute marketing programs and do not know what to expect, but keep executing, are you insane?  No, not necessarily.  Before marketing automation, my day-to-day professional life was the definition of insanity.  Every day I repeated the same actions and expected a different result…or at least hoped for a different result.   I expected my funnel to improve, but had no ability to measure the results.

Once I implemented marketing automation I had the ability to measure results. From there I was able to make sure I didn’t spend my time executing programs that didn’t make sense.  We figured out what worked and what didn’t work based on lead source tracking from inquiry to opportunity close.  We created personas and marketed to them based on tracking activities and behavioral criteria.  We did more of the things that worked and less of what didn’t…therefore we were more efficient and effective.

Insanity no more!

Tweet This Post!

For those who know me personally, you may be surprised it has taken me even this long to post something about Twitter. Well, today is the day. Many marketing success stories are popping up especially in regards to consumer brands. Great examples, indeed, but I have long suspected usefulness of Twitter for all types of marketers - some proof from the Groundswell team at Forrester.

I believe that Twitter is a useful tool for any marketer in any industry; however, the way you use it may be different depending upon your communication objectives with prospects and customers as well as your own career needs.

Learn
I personally started out just listening to the Twitter elite and marketing gurus to see what they posted about marketing topics that I was interested in. It was a great way for me to check in, get a pulse for  trends, and drill down further when I had time to research. I would certainly encourage any marketer to leverage Twitter in this way.

Tip: You don’t have to be “on Twitter” all day long – it can quickly become a timesink. Set up times in your day or week to tune in and review tweets.

Listen and Engage
Then, I discovered TweetDeck and become a much more efficient Tweeter by organizing my followers in groups and searching on keywords, etc. Now, I am able to really connect with Eloqua customers and partners – it has been incredible to watch the our active and growing community here. The ability to reach out and answer questions or direct people to resources in the moment has proved helpful to internal employees, customers, and partners alike. Are your customers, partners, and employees talking about your brand or asking questions you can answer on Twitter?

Tip: Maybe you just want to listen. LinkedIn has a great integration called Company Buzz where you can monitor tweets on certain brand names if TweetDeck and other tools appear daunting.

Embrace
Now, I feel that I am hitting the next frontier of Twitter – sharing and exchanging ideas. Now that I have a voice via this blog, I want to get the messages and ideas out to our community and beyond. I also want to hear more directly about what is working for people and what is not so that I can share this back with my clients.

So I am exploring a new set of chirping tools to maximize the dialogues I can have with my network on Twitter. First, I discovered auto DM functionality with TweetLater. I was intrigued enough that I set one up to welcome new followers:

 Thank you for the follow! Hope my tweets inspire your own marketing efforts.

My assumptions were as follows: (1) I advocate the best practice of a welcome, why wouldn’t I practice here? (2) I can go days and sometimes weeks when I travel without logging in to Twitterland…if I welcome them weeks later, will they even remember me? I did read some “best practices” to not self-promote and tried to make it about the follower and not me. Some Twitter purists, disagree, however. Some advice from a 10-year old – The Top 4 Common Twitter mistakes:

 Seriously, get rid of those auto responders. Auto responders are impersonal.

But, do they really have to be? Is it possible to have a warm, value-add auto welcome to a new Twitter follower? Or, are they simply a No-No in Twitterquette? I am certainly still learning how best to leverage this medium and welcome thoughts on if Auto DM Replies can work. I am now considering revising mine to:

 Thank you for the follow! What marketing topics are you most interested in?

Please comment or vote on our poll or send me an @jenhorton on Twitter with your thoughts!

Tweet This Post!

If you have autoresponders set up on your website forms (and I sincerely hope you do!) you may want to spend a few minutes making sure they’re up to date. Does the call to action still make sense? Is all of the contact information correct? Does the design reflect your latest branding?

You can check on this through your marketing automation system, or by simply filling out your website forms. You might be surprised by what you find!

Tweet This Post!