I am copying and pasting from this morning’s MediaPost because, well, this is well done…Enjoy!

Email Has Leading Role In Multichannel Engagement
by Chad White , Monday, October 26, 2009

Marketers are slowly catching up to their multichannel customers by ramping up usage of multichannel marketing tactics — and email is at the core of many of those efforts.  That’s the key finding of the “Retail Email Guide to Multichannel Engagement,” which Smith-Harmon created in partnership with ExactTarget. We’ll be releasing the guide next week, but here are some of the key points.

According to a study conducted by Forrester Consulting for ExactTarget, 84% of respondents agree that multichannel marketing is more successful than single-channel efforts. Email’s ability to play well with other channels is one of the key reasons that 81% of respondents said email would be as effective or more effective two years from now. Among those respondents believing that email will retain or increase its effectiveness, 58% say email is a key part of their multichannel initiatives, and 37% say that email boosts the ROI of other channels.

But in addition to supporting marketing messages in other channels, email benefits from pulling in content from other channels to boost relevance and subscriber engagement. Seventy-four percent of those respondents believing that email will retain or increase its effectiveness say that the relevance of their emails is increasing; 36% say that including more social features in their emails will make them more effective.

In the retail industry, there are great examples of email being used to drive traffic to and interest in…

Stores, as in this Mar. 11, 2008 Urban Outfitters email, which announces a new store opening.

Social networks, as in this Sept. 23 Dick’s Sporting Goods email, which asks subscribers to follow the company on Twitter.

Mobile sites and apps, as in this Oct. 3 Ralph Lauren email, which includes a promotion for an iPhone app for the company’s latest collection.

Direct mail, as in this June 27, 2008 Norm Thompson email, which asks subscribers to vote for their favorite catalog cover.

Online, as in this Sept. 27 HSN email, which promotes the top-searched items and departments from the company’s Web site.

TV, as in this Dec. 3 Victoria’s Secret email, which tells subscribers when the company’s fashion show is being televised.

As promising as these multichannel efforts are, the survey also revealed several barriers to taking a more multichannel approach to marketing. For instance, 62% of respondents couldn’t measure customer engagement. Also, only 37% of respondents knew which channel their customers prefer to use, and only 27% of respondents could measure whether efforts in one channel boost results in another.

These findings speak volumes about the need for better customer engagement visibility tools and more time spent unlocking channel synergies. What’s clear is that marketers who can best coordinate their channels and play to channel strengths will have a significant advantage over competitors who can’t. We hope the statistics and examples in the “Retail Email Guide to Multichannel Engagement” inspire you to take a leading position.

Springfield, New Jersey. October 20, 2009. Associates In Cardiovascular Disease, a leading Cardiology Group serving the Greater New Jersey Area, has launched a Youtube Channel. To view the channel go to http://www.youtube.com/aicdheart. The Youtube Channel showcases interviews with each one of the fourteen cardiologists at the diversified cardiology practice. Each cardiologist speaks about their specialty, their approach to patient care, and the team care delivery approach that is so appreciated by patients.

The videos also appear on Associates in Cardiovascular Disease’s website found at http://www.aicdheart.com. Videos include interviews with the following cardiologists: Dr. Barry Cohen, Dr. Robert Fishberg, Dr. Elliott Stein, Dr. Steven Sheris, Dr. Robert Mich, Dr. Sanjiv Prasad, Dr. Roberto Roberti (in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese), Dr. Michael Weinrauch, Dr. David Powell, Dr. Michael Lux, Dr. Sidney Glasofer, Dr. Steven Furer, Dr. Vance Weber, Dr. John Farry. The channel also includes videos by Nancy Meyerowitz, Executive Director and Kathy Caprio, Assistant to the Executive Director at the practice.

Associates in Cardiovascular Disease has several offices throughout New Jersey including Springfield, Clark, New Providence, Millburn, and Warren. All cardiologists at Associates in Cardiovascular Disease share a common purpose; providing each and every patient with the very best in cardiac care from prevention and diagnosis to treatment. In addition, the dedicated nurses, clinicians and staff work together as a team, ensuring that each patient receives first class service in a caring, comprehensive, and comfortable environment.

The Youtube Channel and Social Marketing strategy, including videos, were developed by Verasoni/Cambridge MedCom, a leading healthcare marketing communications firm that serves the medical, dental, hospital, and healthcare professional services markets.

To learn more visit http://www.youtube.com/aicdheart.

Holmdell, NJ – Ocotber, 14, 2009. Dr. Melinda J Staiger, a leading breast radiologist and Medical Director of Garden State Women’s Imaging, announced today the launching of her practice’s new website, http://www.gswomensimaging.com. The new website showcases the practice, provides critical information on breast cancer, breast cancer detection, and breast cancer treatment options.

Garden State Women’s Imaging provides screening mammography, diagnostic digital mammography, Whole Breast Ultrasound, Whole Breast Ultrasound, Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Biopsy (US-FNB) with Preliminary Test Results, Ultrasound-guided vacuum assisted core biopsy, Galactography, and Second opinion on outside studies.  Referring physicians can also learn more about Garden State Women’s Imaging’s approach to patient care.  In addition, the site also provides patients the convenience of paying their bill online.

Garden State Women’s Imaging serves the greater Central New Jersey Area and Staten Island, including Monmouth, Middlesex and Ocean Counties. Garden State Women’s Imaging delivers the highest level of breast health care for women in a highly personalized and confidential environment.  “Our commitment to each and every patient is what keeps our practice dedicated to delivering the highest quality of breast health care,” said Dr. Staiger.

To learn more about Dr. Melinda Staiger and Garden State Women’s Imaging, please visit http://www.gswomensimaging.com.

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So it’s been about fouryears since facebook redefined networking (MySpace fans, I do recognize that your site came first, but I’m on a roll here) and since, the world has come to see things just a bit differently. So here are some thoughts on what we have and have not learned about the new world.

1. Rush to fools gold - believe it or not, people still believe that you can get rich through social networking. This is Fools Gold 2.0. Yup, this is reminiscent of what happened with “the internet” about 15 years ago. The fact is, social networking takes time and work…one other thing, it’s not free. The medium may be free, but the work is not.
2. Who you tweeting to? - “I can get someone right out of college to do this stuff,” one of my current clients said to me when I was pitching his firm. “Certainly, you can.” I replied, “But will this person have the strategic background to build your network because if your network is not relevant, then there’s no reason to do this. Oh, and how are you going to keep your network interested in your firm.” Guess what? We got the account and the client is happy
3. Protect Your Brand - We now know that we need to protect our brands, products, and services on social networking sites. So it’s important that we secure these accounts even if we don’t intend to use them.
4. Your Network is Key - Building your relevant network takes time, but once it’s build it will serve you well, but only if you keep your network engaged. Are you measuring network growth? Are you measuring engagement? What are you doing for your network?
5. Social networking is the tip of the iceberg - It’s about integrating all the tools that the web offers and doing it well. Social networking is not a silo, it’s not an activity, and it must be a key part of your overall marketing communications strategy. And if it’s not, you’re probably dropping marketing bombs.

More to come.

1. Engage - People who join your group or fan page want something. Find out what it is and give it to them. Give them coupons, suggestion, offers, new, meetings, rallies, contests…what ever it is, you must keep your network engage or else you risk loosing it…or worse, having a stale network.

2. Aggregate - Social networks allow you to bring people together around your issues, products and services. Once you build your relevant network, you can engage by polling, conducting market research, delivering offers, and so on.

3. Measure Online - Measuring your activities on your social networks. For example, how many people joined your group. How many people are attending your events, how many people saw your event, and how many comments are made.

4. Measure Offline - Use every opportunity to drive your “offline” audience to your online social networks. So if have a quarterly magazine, or conduct monthly direct mail, or advertise in print or television, invite people to join your online network. Now you can measure what’s happening offline and at the same time grow your influence in your social network.

Social networking is no panacea.  But, done right, it can be a slice of heaven, even though it takes hard/smart/inspired work.