Smart Marketing

Smart Marketing, at least the way I like to describe it is something that makes you look or listen or watch twice (at least). Something that you want to share. Something that juxtaposes the expected messaging about a product or service with a visual or a message that is completely unexpected.

Recently a friend forwarded me an email that they received after they had signed up for Hollrr, a web rating service that I had recommended to them.  Like so many other users of all these services, they signed up, played around for a little while then moved on to the next thing. We all do it. Twitter received a lot of criticism over the number of accounts that were abandoned within three months of being opened. But that is fairly normal behavior for a lot of users.

Hollrr recognizes this but is taking a proactive approach to try and stem the flow of users who sign up and then forget them.  The email is below, now as Groucho Marx said, Comedy is like a frog, if you dissect it, it dies. So while I’m going to point out the things that I think are relevant I’m not going to pull the message apart too much, enjoy it.

XXXX, are you playing hard to get?

It’s been nearly two weeks since we first met and I’m starting to get
the feeling that you’re ignoring me. I mean, all signs were pointing
to yes when you gave me your name and email and didn’t tell me to NOT
contact you.

Not only is this opening funny but it reminds the recipient that they opted-in to receive emails. Basically saying hey we aren’t spamming you. Sometimes it’s important to remind the reader that they did ask for emails to be sent.

When you ticked my terms of service box, I thought you told me you
loved me. How could you not?!? Look at all the great things other
people are saying about me. Am I just another notch on your belt like
the Foursquare and Aardvark floozies you play around with?

Keep yourself relevant and current. By comparing themselves to Foursquare Hollrr reminds the reader of what type of service they are, and perhaps why the user signed up in the first place. They also make the assumption that the user is an early adopter and they play on that.
My friends tell me that you’re ‘just not that into me’, but I really
thought we had something together. Don’t you know what you mean to me?
Don’t ever leave me….because if you do….I’d find you.

Ok so the last paragraph might come across as a little creepy, but of course that’s the humor, after all it’s meant to be from that rather strange person that you met at a mixer/happy hour/tweetup that is just a little socially inept.

Yours for eternity,

Hollrr

Overall I’d say a great job by Hollrr of sending out a reminder about their service without making it boring, using some Smart Marketing to re-engage a user and generally spread the word about their site.

How would you respond to this email?

Smart Marketers can leverage the days news to become a core feature of their next Smart Marketing campaign.

How many of you start the day with breakfast and the News? Whether you consume it online, on the TV, from a newspaper or the radio in the car on the way to work you are being supplied with Smart Marketing opportunities. Mostly you probably ignore the news you receive unless you find the story really resonates with you, likely because you have a hundred other thoughts running through your head and are already trying to get geared up for your work day.

However, the daily news can actually be the source for your next Smart Marketing campaign. Knowing how to tie those back to your product and which stories are likely to grab the eyeballs and attention of your potential customer is the Smart part.  Take a look at the headlines today and think of them as potential sources for a campaign, which ones would appeal to your audience?  Here is a fun example I came across:

The Simpsons aired an episode on August 1st in which they followed up on a previous “dream” episode from 1995, in which Lisa Simpson meets her future husband. One Etsy vendor tied the story to a pair of Piggy Cufflinks, exactly like those in the episode that they were offering for sale.  While not the most obvious connection, it’s definitely Smart Marketing, after all if you knew someone who was a Simpson’s fan and they were getting married soon (we are in wedding season after all), then why not get them a pair?

The Etsy vendor knows their audience, they know what they are doing right now (thinking about weddings) and they know that people who buy from Etsy are more likely to be looking for something that is unique and personal rather than mass produced. That is Smart Marketing. Of course it takes work to plow through the headlines and pick that one story that works for your audience, but so does trying to think of a quick campaign from scratch. Even the down stories can be used to your advantage, though of course those take a little extra careful thought.

What news story could be your next Smart Marketing campaign?

I was recently able to experience an interesting campaign that paired two companies that you would not immediately think of together.  The partnership between Hanes and JetBlue. Now call me weird but when I think of underwear I don’t immediately jump to airlines as the most likely partner.

Before I continue – the disclosure: Since 2009 I have been part of the Hanes Comfort Crew, a panel of Social Media advocates and advisors. However, they do not in anyway pay for content. They do make opportunities available to the Comfort Crew and we are free to use our discretion as to whether we accept them or not. This post was not requested or paid for.

What I liked about this was precisely that. The pairing was unexpected. This is smart marketing. The instinct to reach for the most obvious partner or association in what we perceive to be the mind of the consumer is the downfall of many marketers. I am a big fan, for example of the work of David & Goliath, the agency behind the Kia commercials. After all who puts a full size Sock Monkey on a mechanical bull as a way of selling suv’s to soccer mom’s?

So what was the idea with Hanes and JetBlue? Actually they hit upon one of the things that passengers are most concerned about, Comfort. Both brands are very focused on comfort. Hanes from a wearable perspective, JetBlue from a traveling perspective. They partnered up to try and bring comfort to the passengers of the early morning east bound flights in the US. The red-eye or Shut-eye as JetBlue calls it is certainly a place where passengers seek comfort.

I traveled from Denver to New York City on a JetBlue flight which departed from Denver at 00.50 (for those that don’t do military time, that’s ten minutes to 1am). The gate was surprisingly busy with a lot of people catching a few more minutes of sleep laying on the floor, slumped in seats, or sitting against pillars. If ever a bunch of people needed comfort this was it. As fate would have it, I was greeted at the gate by none other than Molly Lynn who is not only a great crew member for Jet Blue but a Social Media maven in her own right. She had been “warned” I was coming and that I’d be taking pictures & possibly video.

Warning or not Molly treated every passenger extremely well, again something that everyone flying at that ungodly hour wants. At boarding time, the passengers were advised that on boarding they were welcome to take a free Hanes t-shirt. This tied in with commercials that Hanes had been running both online and on TV for their new T-shirts with a no roll collar. Again part of the comfort angle. For this to really work it would have been better if each passenger had been handed a T-shirt at their seat, but as I later found out, that many t-shirts in boxes would have been way too much weight for the aircraft to carry around.

Some of the passengers didn’t take a t-shirt, especially those who were obviously headed to a business meeting at the end of their flight, others simply eyed them suspiciously as though heeding the security announcement that they shouldn’t take things onboard from people they didn’t know. The people that did take them were the ones you would expect to take freebies, kids, student aged travelers etc.

Overall this campaign gets my Smart Marketing nod because of the unique pairing. The execution was very difficult because of the physical limitations but for a company as traditional as Hanes to try new and innovative things is a great sign. For all of its buzz, Social Media will only take you so far. Getting closer to the customer in the real world should always be a part of a Smart Marketing campaign and not reaching for the obvious is definitely the way to make things memorable.

What Smart Marketing have you seen lately?

Image used under Creative Commons License by HowNowDesign