The New Year kicked off at Design4 Marketing with an avalanche of radio and TV/web ad scriptwriting and production. With our signature humor, we've taken typically dry material to make a point and, in these cases, encourage action. We're building on this successful model by integrating social media and mobile marketing opportunities into these campaigns. 

Everyone loves a success story, but one jumped out of the fourteen examples in this recent article on social media success:

Case-mate "Recession Case" drives record sales. Andrew Knight, VP of e-commerce, readily admits he was skeptical when a 22 year old on the marketing staff brought him the idea of selling a cardboard case for the iPhone (see image, above). Appropriately dubbed the recession case, this would retail for 99 cents.

"My initial thought was that this was never going to work. I was thinking we might sell a couple hundred but most of them we would just have to give away. What I underestimated was the power of social media!" said Knight. What happened is that Knight had met blogger Larry Greenberg through Twitter and Greenberg posted an article about the Recession Case. The next day, almost every major tech news site picked up on the recession case: Gizmodo, Engadget, TechCrunch, CNET, Mashable, etc.

"We broke our daily site traffic record by five-times and we set an all time revenue record in the same day! Our Facebook & Twitter traffic skyrocketed as the story spread virally and people shared it with friends and family. In four days we had sold over 7,000 recession cases! It was truly unbelievable how fast it took off," said Knight.

Case-mate also offered free personalized "Sharpie Script" on the recession case. This sparked a mini-phenomenon of its own, as people were buying cases for each other to simply send a personalized message (aka being social).

Knight points out another added bonus of the social propagation, "Our search rankings have improved nicely. Our two most important terms are 'iPhone case' and 'iPhone cases.' We are currently #1 for both of them on Google!" 

What do you think is the most common marketing tactic used by companies on Facebook?  More importantly, what do you think is the MOST effective?

A recent survey showed that the most common tactic  was posting status updates, followed by friending potential customers in order to drive traffic to corporate material.  However, one of the most effective tactics involved creating a Facebook application; fan surveys were another strong tactic. 

The results are not too surprising, given that users like an interactive experience online--surveys and well-crafted applications make this possible.

We'd like to hear from you!  What social marketing tactic yielded your highest results last year?  Go to our Design4 Facebook Page and post your comments.

Seems like every article forecasting marketing trends of 2010 includes mobile marketing right at the top.  What's different in 2010? As one writer says "The phones are smarter, the networks are faster, an open development ecosystem is leading to faster innovation, and specialty mobile agencies have built up a solid knowledge base of what works."

Having recently obtained an i-phone, I've entered the realm of those who browse faster on bigger screens. The phone is "location aware," making it easier to target my interests and ultimately my purchases.  Opportunities abound for those who know how to harness this power!

Design4 Marketing began adding mobile strategies to its campaigns this year and will roll out its own platform for reaching the mobile market in January.  Stay tuned!

Should it be a surprise that prognosticators are telling us to expect to see companies spending more in 2010 on email on social media?  We think not, given our own experience in 2009.

Creating a social media plan as part of a campaign is essential, and a research brief from the Center for Media Research stated that respondents identified the top three benefits of social media marketing as:

• Awareness building (64%)

• Customer loyalty and retention (49%)

• Expanded reach (46%)

While advertising on the web to drive traffic to a promotion, a cause, or even for brand awareness, the efforts given to social media are key in establishing a company's voice, personality and brand.  While campaigns run for a limited time, your social media efforts provide that ongoing opportunity for dialogue. Spending time to develop the social media strategy is worth the effort.

Do you have a social media strategy?

Whether planning a product or service launch or even a political campaign, online efforts require....well, effort!  A recent article in Politics Magazine outlines 10 ways to blow it in 2010 when it comes to political campaigns. We've picked a few of our favorites that apply to more than just political campaigns:

1. Start Late

Shoot a video, put it up on YouTube. Write a blog, post it.  Just because the web seems to deliver content instantly, you can't wait until the last minute.  Strategy, messaging, and creative take time. Spending the time to develop a plan pays dividends in the end.

2.  Steer Clear of Email

Before the internet, direct mail in political campaigns was king.  With the advent of email, a supporter goldmine became availalbe to the savvy marketeer or campaign strategist. Seems like we've all heard about the money and support raised in the last presidential campaign through a well-executed online strategy.  We've seen this success first-hand with other political fundraising efforts on statewide and regional levels.  However, there's an art, and a bit of a science, to making this work.

3. Treat Your Supporters Like ATMs

Do you like being asked for money every time you get an email from that pet organization of yours? Of course not!  Those online messages need to be infused with information the reader wants.  Ask yourself, "What's in it for my reader/supporter," before hitting "send".

For the other 10 tips on how NOT to blow it online in 2010 go to Politics. 

For 20 years now, Design4 has helped shape many an issue campaign by providing messaging counsel, marketing strategy and design expertise. See what we've done at  Design4 Marketing.

According to a Nielsen analysis of a media study conducted by the Council for Research Excellence, 77% of adults are reached by broadcast radio on a daily basis, second only to television at 95%. The study found that Web/Internet (excluding email) reached 64%, newspaper 35%, and magazines 27%.

We've continued to recommend radio for certain types of campaigns, particularly "advocacy" messages designed to reach the voter (radio ad examples).  Memorable creative, a solid call to action, and precision placement produces results.

Nielson also found via its study  "How U.S. Adults Use Radio and Other Forms of Audio,"  that:

• 90% of consumers listen to some form of audio media per day
• The 77% who listen to broadcast radio surpass the 37% who listen to CDs and tapes and the 12% who listen to portable audio devices.
• Almost 80% of those aged 18 to 34 listening to broadcast radio in an average day.

And, if you think that portable audio devices like the iPod and other MP3 players constitutes a threat to traditional forms of audio, this study's evidence suggests that the new technology has had a positive effect on radio consumption. Radio was found to have a higher reach (82%) among those who listen to portable audio devices, compared to the average reach for all audio consumers.

Another key takeaway from the reports is that broadcast radio is the dominant form of audio media at home, work, and in the car. Exposure to audio listening falls into four tiers in terms of level of usage among listeners:

• Broadcast & satellite radio (79.1% daily reach; 122 minutes daily use among users)
• CDs and tapes (37.1% daily reach; 72  minutes)
• Portable audio [ipods/MP3 players] ( 11.6% daily reach; 69minutes), digital audio stored on a computer such as music files downloaded or transferred to and played on a computer (10.4% daily reach; 65 minutes average use), and digital audio streamed on a computer (9.3% daily reach; 67 minutes)
• Audio on mobile phones (<2% daily reach; 9 minutes)

 A USA Today Oct. 22 survey shows 54% of businesses are banning social media from the workplace. You probably know the typical concerns, but what about the positives of embracing social media? Do you remember when the Internet became available at the office and companies had to decide if employees could use it, even during their lunch or break time, to pay bills, make appointments, or just surf around? We're seeing these same questions today as social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn are seeing tremendous growth.

Employees can be good brand evangelists for their company and the companies who want to use social media should provide simple guidelines on how to do that.  The Information Technology, Human Resources, Marketing and Public Relations departments should develop the guidelines and which should be part of all new employee training. Although it would be nice to funnel all company comments through one voice, it's just not practical today. And besides, whether the company is large or small, the personalities comprise the whole and give customers insight into the culture.

"Six Ways Social-Media Freedom Benefits Employers" provides a compelling case for allowing social media time at work.

What do you think?

E-mail marketing continues to be touted as a go-to-tool in marketing planning because of its seen as an ROI-positive channel.  We've seen success by recommending the dedicated email products of well-known news organization sites that cater to our clients' audience.   Not surprisingly, we've found that the message is key.  Is our offer compelling enough for a reader to click-through AND sign-up for our call to action?  Is the design visually appealing?  

Direct marketing e-mail open rates were up 18.2% year-over-year for the second quarter according to a report by Epsilon. Click-thru rates remained the same as 2008. Is email marketing working for you?

Are you using the mobile market to drive traffic to your web site?  Recent studies show that Web site traffic is increased by nearly 10% by those using mobile marketing strategies.  Given that in a typical day nearly 19% of Americans use a mobile device to access the web, and nearly 32% use their cell phone or smartphone for surfing, email or messaging combined, it's imperative that a marketing strategy includes this component.  

We are integrating this approach into a radio campaign and bus tour with the goal of mobilizing support and increasing interest in the organization. During the next four weeks we will monitor the increased traffic and reaction to the dialogue we are creating between our client and its audience. Stay tuned!

With health care at the forefront, one of our clients asked for a spot to illuminate the nuances of the current health care bill as it relates to abortion--a tall order given the bill's length. With humor and the help of a few interesting characters, we took at look at the much hailed Hyde Amendment and how it would actually work.  Take a look here.