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E-mail Branding: A Brand New View |
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| Articles Home - Marketing Articles - E-mail Branding: A Brand New View |
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| Monday, September 26, 2005, 08:09 |
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By Tom O'Leary
When we talk about branding in a traditional context, the subject involves our unique identity and how it affects recognition, confidence and
loyalty in our market. How familiar are people in our market with our name and products and services; or more importantly, what is their perception of our brand? In his
article on the ABCs of Great Brands, Bill Nissim discusses how the Appreciable Brand
TriadTM forms the basis of great brands. What do Attributes, Behavior and Circumstances have to do with great brands? According to Mr. Nissim, "The lack
of a solid foundation for a brand will ultimately undermine its future success. This foundation goes beyond the logo and brand fascia and provides the underpinnings of
legitimacy and ability to deliver real value. The type of reasoning that both buyer and seller share enables the origin of a relationship. The setting by which the foundation
and behavior can be acted on must be appropriate in many respects." The same is true for e-marketing. Our ability to reach into our customers' inbox will be useful only if
our brand is perceived as desirable to the recipient. How does this triad of brand backbone relate to online customers receiving your message?
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Attributes |
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Attributes distinguish people, places and things from each other. They are a critical spoke in our set of criteria used to purchase a product or
service. What features are important to consumers? What attribute differentiates your product or service from others? Of course, the attributes of any product or service are
perceived differently from customer to customer. Some car buyers select Volvo models for engine performance while others are attracted to safety features of the brand.
Online marketers must ensure that the attributes of their products are communicated effectively in their campaign. The benefit of email marketing is that marketers can
highlight specific attributes associated with their brand in segmented campaigns. For example, one email campaign can highlight the user-friendly aspect of a software
product for a mail group that is comprised of non-technical customers, while another campaign can highlight the cutting edge technical specifications that would be
attractive to a more technically focused mail group. This ability to easily extract product and service features based on demographically-defined mail groups allows e-
marketers to segment attributes to their customers. It is also important for e-marketers to ensure that the associations that their brand has within the online community
uphold the impressions of their market. Links within, from and to the marketed message should reinforce the brand identity for each customer. For example, the perception
that a non-technical customer has of a software product might be strengthened if he sees that product aligned with a reputable software-for-dummies web site.
Alternatively, a technically competent customer who received your message about cutting edge specs in your product will consider the brand more credible if the software
is listed in a reputable tech journal. Associations have much to do with the perception of value in regards to attributes. In e-mail marketing, it is important to identify
attributes in the subject of your message so that your targeted market will be attracted to what might be inside.
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Behaviors |
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Volumes have been written about customer behavior and the psychology of purchasing. Bill Nessim states "Don't we all behave the same way? You walk into a store to buy a can of soup.
You see two products on the shelf: one has a no-name white label, another red with the brand name Campbell'sTM written on it. Which one would you buy?
Remember, the type of reasoning that both buyer and seller share enables the basis of a relationship. As a consumer, you are buying more than a can of soup and this
purchase reflects who you are (at the cash register), the perceived quality you provide your family (brand trust), and what you deem as acceptable in your world (values).
This synergy between behavior and attributes, however contrived, becomes the paradigm by which we consume." E-commerce has an entirely different set of behaviors to
consider. Online consumers are not as affected by point of purchase image that traditional shoppers might be, but they are equally impacted by their perceptions of
quality, value and trust. Most importantly, e-marketers must understand how online shoppers behave. What makes them click on a link? What articles motivate them to go
to a website to learn more? For e-marketers, the ability to monitor individual customer behavior online is a powerful tool that traditional marketers never had. While surveys
provide useful information about what people say, online metrics provide evidence of what people actually do. The best market research available involves watching how
your market responds to your message. Sure, it's nice to know what the trends are. It's good to read about broad studies involving on-line purchasing behavior. But the
most effective approach to understanding behaviors of your market is to watch your market. E-marketing software, like Infacta's GroupMetrics allows marketers to see what every individual recipient of their message does with it. What links do they click on? What articles interest
them? What feature are they most interested in? The ability for e-marketers to monitor customer behavior instantly and over time allows them to implement change
continually. It provides a looking glass into your market.
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Circumstances |
Even with well communicated, market-valued attributes and accurate behavior patterns, successful marketing depends on circumstances. The
time and place must be right for a prospective customer to purchase something. In our software product example above, perhaps customer behaviors suggested that the
market was ready for an on-line version of your product. They demonstrated use with other on-line products and the attributes that they enjoyed were available or even
improved upon in your on-line version of the product. For some reason though, the on-line product didn't sell well. Perhaps your customers weren't ready to lose control of
the product from their PC. They liked the idea of an on-line version but still had some concerns about on-line security. Perhaps monthly subscriptions didn't attract them as
much as purchasing a software product outright. Other circumstantial considerations for an e-marketing campaign include the days and hours that you send your e-mail
message to your customers and prospects. Statistically, the best time to send a business or e-mail is during office hours between Tuesday and Thursday. On Monday,
inboxes are normally full, mostly with spam, and potential customers are in clean-up mode on Monday morning, clearing their inboxes so they have space for the week
ahead. Friday, on the other hand is a day spent thinking about the weekend rather than on initiating new projects or making new purchasing decisions. Often, people leave
work early on Friday to get a jump on the weekend. That said, you must determine the circumstances of your own market. When do your customers respond best? With
e-marketing, you are able to identify that easily by studying the open-rate responses of messages sent during different days of the week. Perhaps your market likes to
purchase on Friday afternoon? Circumstances will tell. Remember though, circumstances might also change.
E-marketing provides flexibility in addressing attributes, behaviors and circumstances to your specific customer and prospect base. There are
many issues to consider for e-marketers. One of the most important is consistency with your brand tag in e-mail. The first thing that customers or potential customers see
from your company is your email address (From) and the subject of your message (Subject). Is your brand recognizable from these two fields? What do people think when
they see your email name and subject? Will they know who you are? Will they open your message? They will if your subject suggests attributes that are important to
them. They will if they saw your name associated with other reputable industry sites. They will if you understand their behavior, what attributes they're interested in, and
when they like to do business.
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| "I just wanted you to know that I have been using GroupMail now for about a month and a half, and so far it has worked like a charm. I wanted to take a brief moment to thank you for all the technical support you gave me at the beginning of my efforts!" | | Steve Kelly, TalkCalgary.com |
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