Recently I attended a seminar about the web and e-marketing. We know it's the new medium and that large corporate organisations have been using it, and are now beginning to venture deeper into its possibilities. But what is exciting, is there is still so much more to learn about this new medium - even the big boys are still cutting their teeth on this new 'toy'!
Behind the web exists various new communication roads each one quite different and unique. There are things such as blogs, podcasts, user generated content, web 2.0, and Second Life (although Second Life is still an unknown quantity to many of the 'experts'.) There are new rules of play which if ignored can cause you real damage, so be warned. Organisations no longer control the messages they'd like to get out there, the audience has taken greater control and so you need to tread carefully.
Tips and Hints:
- Well if you haven't entered the e-marketing phase in a big way yet - don't worry - you haven't missed the boat. But having
said that, this is a boat you need to seriously start thinking about catching.
- The early adopters (by this I'm referring to large U.S. based corporations) are making mistakes and learning by them.
- Advertisers no longer have control over their brand message. Consumers are largely creating the brand message in the market place. And so blogs are becoming more and more important to brands/organisations.
- The most important rule for blogs are: To be totally honest and transparent..if you're not - watchout!
- Sure, we know that as a general rule, consumers largely don't believe the advertising message we put behind our product or cause...but in today's new technological era, word of mouth is becoming so much more important than ever before. Through the use of emails, the internet etc consumers have a much wider listening audience to their praises or grievances about your cause than ever before.
- But this isn't necessarily a bad thing - as with any negative view on your cause, it's how you deal with the complaint that is so important. After all you have a much wider audience listening to you now. So it's important to get it right, remember honesty and transparency are you're key weapons.
- In terms of who the consumers trust -
- recommendations from friends/family - 78%
- consumer opinions posted online - 28%
- requested email updates - 26%
- ads in newspapers - 24%
- ads on tv - 23%
- ads on radio - 22%
- ads in magazines - 20%
- branded web sites - 22%
- search engine ads - 8%
- web banner ads - 6%
- ads on mobile phones - 6%
Source: NACTAS Q3 2006 Media and Marketing online survey
The future sees an integrated marketing approach. And really - the future is right here and now. There's a substantial list of things to sample, such as email alerts, acquisition through email addresses, email newsletters and appeals on line to donors, blogs, video emails, the web, virtual games on the net. The above stats give an indication of what's working in 2006 - it's still early days yet as things begin to settle down and we learn the do's and don'ts.
If you haven't dipped your toe in the water yet, it's a good time to start. Start small, try new things, see what works and gradually expand on implementing new aspects of the e-marketing program into your fundraising and communication streams.
Megan McQuitty |
