How Not to Send a Follow Up Email

A couple of months back a friend of mine was looking for someone to help on a telemarketing project. In the end, the project never happened but she did receive a follow up email this week to see how things were going.

There are lots of ways to follow up effectively, but this one goes a bit over the top. Enjoy, its good stuff!



Subject: Happy Labor Day

Dear XXXX,

Labor Day lies ahead of us and there are many things that are going on with all of us, both professionally and personally. This time of the year represents the "harvest period" and I wish that all will benefit the from the Fruits of your Labor.

Please let me know how I can assist you as you begin harvesting those seeds you have planted. I wish you a wonderful Holiday weekend and look forward to speaking with you soon.


Sincerely,

XXXX

Studying Social Media

With all the talk about social media and specifically social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, it is amazing that most of the research associated with social media revolves around counting numbers and presenting them in pretty pictures (everyone loves a word cloud).

Well, we love word clouds too but have found that just getting a count of what is going on is not enough. And not paying attention to message boards, blogs, etc. can lead to some wild misrepresentations of the truth. Especially when you consider, according to our neighbors at Harvard University, that only a tiny fraction of the world is actually posting on twitter.

Both in stand alone projects and in conjunction with trackers, we use a multi-faceted approach to understanding what is going on, what best practices exist, the rules of engagement and what you can do about them. Counting is important, but these mediums are about information exchange and emotion. Want to learn more?

Still not sure what social media is all about? Check out this intro to social media.

Shop Til You Drop?

I have long thought that while the recession has slowed spending, people still have their needs and desires. Or on the business side, things that need to get done and cost money.

USA Today agrees (at least on the consumer side).

"There are positive signs. Shoppers are less willing to "limit their spending, seek deals or trade down to lower-priced brands and retailers" because of the recession, finds a survey by market research firm Retail Forward."

Some Quick Social Media Thoughts

We've been doing a lot of digging around on social media recently. 3 quick tips from the NExpo on tuesday coutesy of an excellent panel of speakers.

1. Social media should be measured in years not days. Need the human piece.
   Need to be a publisher and utilize people as the voice who engage with consumers.
   
2. Not measured in numbers... Measured in engagement. It is about 2 way conversations and you need more than authenticity, you need ruthless honesty.
   
3. Make sure your content is relevant. Relevance and benefits are better than strictly promotion.

Very funny viral video from VistaPrint today as well. I learned about it from their twitter site. As always, integration is the key to success! Enjoy!

Wifi in the Air

I am very excited that AirTran announced they will have wifi available on every flight starting in July. For the short period that they have the competetive advantage, they need to be promoting the heck out of it. I recently flew a Delta flight with WiFi and was shocked that it was an option. And because the airline industry is so full of parity, AirTran can win just by being first.

Good work AirTran!

Read the article here.

(Everyone else, get on the ball!)

Thinking Ahead: It was Just a Matter of Time

For a few weeks I have been wondering which companies were going to take advantage of the reduced number of advertisers and lowering rated by expanding their own spend. Its been obvious on the local level, where local businesses have gotten increasingly better placements. Or they have been sending the right bribes to media traffic staff.

On the national level, it looks as they Dr Pepper and Snapple are among the first to raise their spend. A good move in my mind, we'll see if it works the way it has in the past.

From Flex News via Reuters:

Company executives said they decided on the strategy after research firm Nielsen produced a study for them that detailed ad spending patterns during the early 1980s, the last prolonged advertising downturn."We wanted to find out what were the brands that were successful in '83 and '84, coming out of the recession?" said Trebilcock. "What did they do differently than others during the middle of the recession? Uniformly, the thing that came back is they didn't retrench. They reinvested."

The Down Side of Social Media

In marketing pubs and blogs you often see people raving about the power of social media and web 2.0, but our friends at Domino's had quite a different experience last week. In case you missed it, two uniformed employees posted a video of them making a mess of someone's order, boogers and all. Not surprisingly this made its way around the web in record fashion. Watch the video here.

The lesson: Not all buzz is good buzz.

It will be interesting to see if there is a real impact, but at least for a few weeks many consumers will think twice about what toppings they are really getting with their Domino's pie.

Here is a great article on how one YouTube Video can ruin a brand, including some research on the video's impact.

...And the pretty well thought out response from Domino's