Has the low cost of email marketing made it a more appealing marketing tool with each passing day?  If you’re thinking of shifting your marketing dollars to email simply to save costs, you may want to read this article before hitting the Send button.  Because if your message isn’t getting through, have you really accomplished anything?

A recent report by MailerMailer confirmed what you may have been suspecting for a while now – email success rates are in decline. Open rates dropped from 12% in the first half of 2009 to 11.2% in the second half and click-through rates declined from 2.6% to 1.6%. Both have been in decline since 2007.

This does not mean you should abandon email marketing. In fact, we know it’s played a highly effective role in many programs we’ve developed for clients. But if marketers are thinking of consolidating the majority of their direct marketing tactics to email solely for budgetary concerns, they may want to reconsider. 

There’s no doubt email marketing costs less to produce than other channels such as direct mail or telemarketing.  But as SPAM blockers continue to get more sophisticated, as poorly disciplined companies overwhelm inboxes with irrelevant offers, and as people continue to get overwhelmed in their digital lives, the success rates of email campaigns is likely to continue this decline.

At SCG, our philosophy has always been no single tactic on its own will meet your marketing objectives. We know that it typically requires a minimum of 8-12 interactions to move a prospect from unaware of your product or service to taking action – and that can’t be accomplished as efficiently or effectively through one channel. For example, we typically recommend an integrated approach to converge on the customer. So to support an email campaign, telephone follow-up or mailing more detailed information such as a white paper on the topic might be the best answer. Only through this type of integrated approach can you be confident your message is reaching its intended target.

So however tempting it is to focus your marketing budget solely on email campaigns, resist the urge.  It will pay off in the end.

-Jeron Udean

Although Monday marked the official first day of summer, if you’re anything like me your summer is already flying by at warp speed.  The calendar on my fridge has so many dates crossed out with weddings, family reunions and camping trips that is looks like a giant Tic-Tac-Toe board.

Some days I can barely catch my breath, much less stop for a moment to think about what’s happening in two weeks. But if you’re not careful, you might not realize that it is nearly the 4th of July and before you know it, you’ll be stuck without a plan for watching fireworks.

Thankfully, I’ve taken the time to list the times and locations for all firework displays in the metro area.  Ok, that’s a lie, but I did take the time to find this handy link with all the firework shows in the Twin Cities. 

For the record, my favorite type of firework is the kind that emits a bright flash followed by a thunderous boom that rattles your bones.  Where will you be watching fireworks this year?

-Jeron Udean

Recently John Mayer went public with his displeasure of Twitter, with the crooner claiming he is contemplating closing his Twitter account (say that three times fast). He went so far as to predict the demise of the platform by stating, “I just think Twitter as a form of communication, I think it’s over to be honest with you.”

That’s pretty heavy stuff from a person with 3.2 million Twitter followers. And we know celebrities have tremendous influence over consumer trends, so it would be foolish not to place some weight behind Mr. Mayer’s words.

However, I see a major benefit to celebrities falling out of love with Twitter. One of the main complaints people who are reluctant to adopt the communication tool is how irrelevant most of the tweets are. They ask questions such as “why should I care what _____ is having for lunch or what ____ is doing right now?”  So in a certain respect, I hope John is right. If the people using Twitter to communicate information of little to no value would leave, it would open the door wider for those that want to share relevant information. 
Need an example?  How about Minnesotan musician Owl City. While I’m writing this he is one of Twitter’s featured Top Tweets.  His insightful words of wisdom—courtesy of Jack Handy from SNL—are, “If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let ‘em go because man, they’re gone.” I’m sure his 260,000+followers agree that truer words have never been tweeted. 

Granted, I’m cherry-picking, but these hollow tweets provide no value to anyone.  In musical terms, they act like the ear-splitting feedback that occurs during a sound check—making you wince while drowning out all other sound. 

Here’s a different example.  This time from Denny Hatch, who is an expert on direct marketing and is a columnist for Target Marketing magazine.  His latest Tweet, “Cloud computing—The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg takes us non-techies through the basics http://url2it.com/ddaq” includes a link to an interesting article on how “cloud computing” is revolutionizing the way we work and play.

This type of interesting tweet provides the real value that makes Twitter indispensible as a communications tool.

So I for one hope many people follow John’s lead and distance themselves from Twitter. Perhaps then companies and experts could more easily cut through the clutter and exchange relevant information with the communities that value them.

-Jeron Udean

Two or three years ago, if you would you have asked me to name the best show on television it would have been Top Chef by a landslide.  Or should I say a chocolate mudslide?

The drama that unfolded as chefs from around the world competed using only their creativity and taste buds was captivating.  But what made the show can’t-miss TV was the character development. The show progressed from a large group of unknown faces to chefs you grew to love or hate.  Admittedly, it was as much fun rooting against Marcel or Stephan as it was pulling for Sam or Fabio.  Toss in Tom Colicchio and Padma, and it had all the ingredients of a hit show.

Sadly, over the past few seasons Top Chef has lost its luster, at least for me.  Perhaps it’s because we know the routine…Quickfire Challenge, Elimination Challenge, announce the winner, make the bottom three bicker it out, wrap it up with Padma asking the losing contestant to “please pack your knives and go” with just the hint of a tear in her eye.  Or perhaps it’s because other “foodie” shows, such as Chopped or Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, now deliver my culinary entertainment.  But I think it’s mainly because the personalities of the top contestants over the past few seasons have been as dull as a cheap steak knife.

Either way, many Thursday mornings have passed since Joy and I HAD to talk about the previous night’s episode.  But hopefully that all changes.  Tonight marks the premier of Season 2 of Top Chef Masters.  Based on the same concept as Top Chef, the “Masters” version pits famous chefs against each other, competing for their favorite charity. 
Regular viewers of Top Chef will recognize many of the contestants, who have appeared as judges throughout previous seasons of Top Chef.  Let’s hope the likes of Wylie Dufresne, Marcus Samuelsson, Jonathan Waxman and Govind Armstrong  can whip up some drama and make Top Chef must-watch TV again.

-Jeron Udean

Keeping customers satisfied is a top priority for any successful company.  But during the economic storm that struck most recently, many companies have battened the hatches and done their best just to hang on.  Indeed, doing more with less has often meant simply maintaining current accounts and focusing on prospecting to grow revenue.  However, if you’re a company looking to increase sales, have you considered conducting a customer satisfaction survey?

Admittedly, the purpose of customer satisfaction research is not to sell.  However, it is well known that whatever you measure tends to increase (the Hawthorne Effect) and increased satisfaction may lead to more use of your product or service.  In fact, during a recent survey project, we noticed an exciting trend.  After reviewing what’s most important to the respondents and allowing respondents to voice any praise or concerns, we asked if they anticipated needing additional work from the client’s other divisions during the upcoming year.  This led to a number of leads, which wouldn’t have been uncovered without taking the time to check-in with these loyal customers and ask if they have unspoken needs. 

Even if a survey doesn’t uncover new sales revenues, it’s always a good idea to make sure your current customers are happy.  So, is customer satisfaction research in your 2010 marketing plans?

-Jeron Udean

We’ve written extensively about social media and its ability to help people make stronger connections with one another.  While social media sites are indeed great communications tools, it doesn’t take a cynic to see the irony in the term “social” when the participants are typically sitting alone in front of their monitor.

 I was recently watching ABC News when I saw a segment on the Vitality Project, an experiment by The AARP/Blue Zones conducted in Albert Lea, Minnesota.  The goal of the Vitality Project is to add 10,000 years of healthy life to Albert Lea residents by using lessons learned from cultures around the world where people live the longest.  In order to achieve its goal, participants had to transform the way they ate, worked, exercised, and played – in other words, to be more social. 

A funny thing happened.  As people got more active and involved in their communities, they became happier.  In fact, Dan Buettner, who led the experiment, estimates people who participated added 3.1 years to their lives. Perhaps more importantly, 500 participants claimed to make new friends due to the Vitality Project.  One person even commented that the project connected the community in ways he never thought were possible.

You can view the ABC News clip here or learn more about the Vitality Project at the AARP’s website.

So, do you think its time we spend less time on our laptops and truly become more social?

-Jeron Udean

I was alerted to, and alarmed by, this interesting article from the New York Times regarding Twitter users being paid to promote products and services by allowing commercial messages to be sent to their personal contacts.

According to the article, “the idea, according to the entrepreneurs who are developing such services for Twitter and other Web networks, is that people trust recommendations from those they know and respect, while they increasingly ignore nearly ever other kind of ad message in print, on television and online.”

What is mind-boggling is these entrepreneurs simultaneously get the point, and completely miss it.  The two very key terms they gloss over are trust and recommendations. How can you recommend a product or service that in all likelihood you have no experience with?  And how quickly will trust be eroded when it either comes to light that you’re getting paid for these promotions, or a follower has a bad experience with something you “recommended?”

If recent communications history has taught us anything, it’s that the fastest way to damage your reputation is to intentionally blur the lines trust and transparency.  Paying bloggers to promote your product, paying people to post positive reviews, or using web programs to post promotional messages to a website’s Contact Us form are all examples of tactics that leave me scratching my head.

Thankfully, many of these “recommendations” have signifiers like “#ad” or “#sponsor” to will indicate it’s a sponsored message.  However, in my opinion this is simply an evolution of Spam that will do more harm than good to both the individual and the social media service. 

If you’re a celebrity or otherwise famous person looking for a few extra bucks, with no real regard for your social network, this might make sense.  But if you represent a business using social media to strengthen relationships with your customers and prospects, my advice would be to stay far away from anything that blurs the line of transparency.

But maybe I’m wrong.  Would you like to receive unsolicited recommendations from people in your social network?

-Jeron Udean

Thanksgiving is upon us! It’s time to pile our plates high with turkey, yams and pumpkin pie.  But before we do, we asked ourselves, “What are you thankful for this year?”  Here’s how we replied…

Steph is thankful for her clarity and sanity.

Whitney is thankful for her family. “They can always make me laugh and have given me such unwavering support throughout this year.”

Trevor is most thankful for “my beautiful, healthy baby girl Luella. I am also thankful for how stinkin’ happy she is all the time!”

Joy is thankful that, “even though my family lives in three different states, we will all be together for Thanksgiving!”

Patricia is thankful for the trust our clients have placed in us during this challenging 2009.

Patrick is thankful that our agency was able to withstand the economic downturn and that our clients have generally weathered the storm very well.

Carol is so thankful for Makarei, her little granddaughter. “We get up at 4:30 in the morning to get ready for work and school.  On Saturdays she has piano lessons and choir practice.  She goes with me to Lay Organization and Missionary Society meetings and stays in a separate room dancing and singing.  Makarei is the joy of my life and I am so happy to have her in my life.”

Chad is thankful for his family.

Randy is thankful that his cousin Trent returned safely from Djibouti, Africa, after spending a 7-month tour of duty in the Marines.

Jenny is thankful for the small group she joined recently through her church. “We meet each Sunday night for a time of faith, fun and fellowship. It has already been such a gift and a wonderful way to start a new week. And our host is truly Rachael Ray Jr. so I leave each week with lunch for Monday!”

Jeron is thankful the economy has reminded him (and certainly many others) how much more valuable family, health and friendships are than material items.

Jane is very thankful to have a wonderful, big family that surrounds her with love and support. “I am also thankful that both Dan and I are employed and that our family is healthy and happy. And I am thankful to have been fortunate to have adopted such an amazing, loving dog to add to our family…we are so blessed to be able to share every moment of Lily’s life.”

What are you most thankful for this year?

We hope you enjoy your holiday with family, friends and those closest to you. Happy Thanksgiving from all of your friends at SCG!

Do you ever notice that when the leaves change in Minnesota, so does the mood of many of its inhabitants?  It seems the onset of winter turns some of the happiest people into grumps.  A few of my closest friends get a shiver down their spine in mid-July at the mere mention of winter. 

The one trend I’ve noticed among folks in Minnesota who dread the winter is they don’t have an outdoor activity they enjoy once the snow flies.  So instead of looking forward to shredding fresh powder, they dread scraping their car.  That first frost creates visions of driving on black ice, not cutting their first ice fishing hole.

Luckily, I’m here to help.  Here are 5 outdoor hobbies that any winter wimp should consider taking up:

1)       Ice hockey or boot hockey on your favorite pond or city rink

2)       Downhill or cross country skiing

3)       Ice skating

4)       Winter camping

5)       Ice fishing

What winter activities do you recommend for beating the winter blues?

-Jeron Udean

In my opinion, the most beautiful and powerful thing about the Internet is it allows an open exchange of information.  People from around the world, who would have never met otherwise, can instantly share information and ideas.  But it has an ugly side, as it also allows for an open exchange of insults.  It seems the anonymity of the Web provides people with added bravado to not only challenge others’ opinions, but also their intelligence and morals.

This isn’t news to anyone who reads the comments section of their favorite news site. But I’m not just talking about topics such as politics or religion that are historically explosive.  These attacks can be found anywhere.  For example, there is an outdoor forum I regularly visit for fishing tips and insight.  I’ve seen posts as mundane as a question on a regulation turn into heated exchanges.  I’ve also noticed I tend to be more agitated and dispirited after reading through this virtual sludge. 

Thankfully, I recently took a vacation in northern Minnesota and was “unplugged” for a week.  Upon my return to the office I was surprised to realize I didn’t miss those online sparring sessions.  In fact, I felt happier without them. 

 So if you’re a regular reader of comment sections and find yourself grumpier than Walter Matthau after reading them, run your own experiment and ignore them for a week.  I’d be interested to hear if you feel better too.

-Jeron Udean