Running a contest can be a powerful way to build word of mouth and long-term customer relationships. However contest promotion takes a lot more than a cool prize. It takes planning, clear objectives, timing integrating different marketing channels—and legwork.

Define your goals-why are you running this contest? Are you trying to get more brand awareness? Introduce new products or services? Gain consumer insight? Build an email or mobiles subscriber base? Increase your level social media engagement How will you measure success?

A contest is a terrific way to start a conversation. It is up to you to keep the buzz going. Don’t sit back and expect customers to do the work for you. Monitor the conversations, whether on Facebook, Twitter, bogs or other social sites. Every conversation is an opportunity to engage with your customers, and for them to engage with your brand.

Be relevant Make sure the contests prize is of interest to your customers. Just because you think a 52 inch flat screen TV is worth the effort you’re asking your customers to make, don’t assume they do. Match the prize to your customer profile.

Choose the right mediums and integrate them

Engage your team

Don’t underestimate the importance of internal communications. For many bricks and mortar business, the success of your contest lies in the hands of your front line people. If they are engaged and enthusiastic, they will transfer this to your customers. If not, chances are your contest will fizzle out , results will be disappointing and you could give up on a productive marketing channel.

Timing is everything

Know when to start and when to stop. Pick a time that allows you to focus the appropriate energy on your contests. Consider seasonality, other overlapping promotions, holidays and other events that may draw attention and energy away from your contest. Don’t limit participation by choosing too tight a window between launch and your contest cutoff date. Contests often pick up steam after the first week or so. It takes time for customers to begin talking about your contest and spreading the word. After all, that’s one of the main objectives. Conversely, don’t let the contest linger on too long in the hope you’ll get every possible participant. Maintaining the excitement will be next to impossible.

Having a contest on Facebook won’t be very productive if the majority of your customers are not on Facebook. Text messaging, email, contest entry websites and print, working together can provide amazing results while building or reinforcing your brand identity.

Integrate your existing marketing channels and consider additional opportunities. Provide alternative means of entries. Some states have laws requiring this. For example during this contest we combined the following marketing channels to create a synergy and promote a new brand:

• A contest website
• Facebook application
• Monile with text to enter
• Point of sale posters, flyers and handouts
• Email marketing
• Website updates
• Social media
• Google Analytics

Obey The Law

Last but not least make sure you are in compliance with your state contest or sweepstakes laws. You know the difference between a contest and a sweepstakes right?

• A “sweepstakes” is a game of chance one plays voluntarily and for which one is not required to pay anything to enter in order to win a prize.
• A “skill contest” is a puzzle, game, competition, or other contest in which: A prize is awarded or offered; The outcome depends on the contestant’s skill, and A purchase, payment or donation is, or seems to be, required, to enter the contest.

Most of all, be memorable.

Engage customers during the contest. Don’t use the conversation solely to promote. Ask questions, find out more about your participants interests, pay attention to the little things and be transparent. You’ll discover that the buzz is still going long after the contest ends. After all that’s why you started this process in the first place.

Sponsored by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association Educational Foundation
Registration details coming soon

You’ve invested time and money building up hundreds of Facebook fans and Twitter followers. You have videos on YouTube, write about your restaurant, food and cooking  blog, you’re connected on LinkedIn and treat your Four Square mayors like royalty.

Can you answer these questions?

• How much has all this activity contributed to your bottom line?
• Which social media channel is the most profitable?
• How do you measure the value ?

Social media marketing can generate value in many ways, from sales to brand awareness. But at what cost?

Find out how to measure return on social media, discover results you probably didn’t realize you were getting, and how to tell what efforts return real business value.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Seaport Hotel, Boston (directions)

Moderator: Dan Green, President, The Green Internet Group

Panelists: Durand Duin, AdWords Manager, Google; Leighann Farrelly, Community Manager, Yelp; William McAdoo, Publisher, Bostonfoodie.com

Keeping the focus on marketing and branding, the 2010 Industry Summit will take a closer look at social media, mobile marketing and other emerging technology. Moderator Dan Green, President of The Green Internet Group, will pick the minds of an expert panel to answer the questions: what is social media, and what does it mean to your business?  Green and his panel of experts will help you learn how to increase your web presence. Green will also explain how to evaluate, manage and improve your online reputation and measure return on investment from social media and new media campaigns. Full of actionable information, attendees will learn how to create an effective social media plan for their businesses.

The panel discussion is part of a full day program presented by The Massachusetts Restaurant Association. Registration information

What is social media, and what does it mean to your business?

With all the different social media channels, scores of mobile apps, and emerging technologies like GPS locating technologies, how do you decide where to focus your energy to get the greatest return?

Learn how to increase your online visibility, measure the effectiveness of this new media marketing, and take it to the next level. Social media experts will share tips to help you monitor what people are saying about your brand, how to manage your reputation, how to engage customers through social media campaigns that produce results, utilize mobile applications to get new customers and keep them coming back more often, and build a 30-day social media plan for success.

Presented by Moderator Dan Green, President, The Green Internet Group; Panelists: Leighann Farrelly, Boston Editor, Yelp; Durand Duin, Boston Manger, Google and Bill Macadoo, Bostonfoodie.com

Contact Dan Green for details. 866.506.1923

The world has gone wireless, and new media marketing has taken on a life of its own. But what does it mean to SMS text, tweet, friend, or become a fan?

In this seminar, we’ll explore how:

• Social media has impacted marketing strategies and mobile exposure.
• Brand interaction, lead generation, and coupons through SMS texting can maximize your message.
• Social networking through sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter can build new business and grow your presence in the online community.

New media marketing has changed the way businesses and consumers communicate and interact. This seminar will show you how to get connected.

Please note this seminar is recognized by the American Culinary Federation. Chefs who attend this seminar will earn two continuing education hours.

Date and Time:
October 14, 2009
1 pm – 3 pm

Location:
CaptureCode
1000 Winter Street, Suite 4000
Waltham, MA 02151

Cost:
MRA Members: $55
Non-MRA
Members: $75

Who should attend:
Owners, Managers, and Assistant Managers

What’s your story? Can you tell a colorful story that paints, from a customer perspective, a vivid picture of what it’s like to do business with your company? Describe every interaction at each of your touch points. Before you can make the social web work for your business, be certain you and everyone in your company can tell the same story to every customer.

Your story may start with someone answering the phone. How many times does it ring? What does the person answering your phone to greet your customer say? Perhaps your typical customer experience starts with a physical visit to your store, office or practice. What does the customer see, smell, hear–what grabs his or her attention immediately. Be a fly on the wall and describe the conversation between the customer and the person representing your company. Let’s give him a name and job description. How about Beau? (Why not Beau–you have a problem with Beau?) Beau is a salesperson. He may have other duties but at this moment of truth, your first customer touch point, Beau is a member of your sales team–and your marketing department.

In a retail environment with a typically short sales cycle, examine every touch point all the way through checkout including where Beau warmly thanks the customer for coming in. If yours is a professional service business with a longer sales cycle, describe exactly how you want the customer to experience very step in your lead nurturing process.

Putting words to this experience will enable you to consistently communicate to each of your employees exactly what is critical for every customer to experience. This experience is what your customers are talking about. If the experience exceeds their expectations they will create buzz. If it falls short, they will quickly forget you or create the kind of buzz you’ve worked extremely hard to avoid.

You may not realize it but your customers are describing this experience–on social communities like Yelp, shopping portals like Amazon, Biz Rate and in increasing volumes on Facebook and Twitter.

If you are a traditional marketer you may find yourself quite uncomfortable with this concept. Traditional marketers are used to doing all the talking. From mass media to more direct methods such as direct mail, email or print advertising, traditional marketers set an expectation. If the creative is good, it also begins to tell a story–the story you want to believe is true. But it’s the customer’s experience that determines which story gets told. This is especially true online.

In large numbers customers are looking to online reviews before making any buying decisions. Their numbers increase daily, spurred by tough economic conditions where every dollar counts. Their stories are the ones that matter, because it’s the one that will be told to friends, family, and co-workers. Oh yeah, they’ll also probably tell tens of thousands of others by writing about it on their Facebook pages and other social networks. If their experience was memorable, good or bad, you can bet you’ll get “Tweeted” about on Twitter.

This is part of marketing today that makes traditional marketers so uncomfortable. The customers are in control. You don’t get to do all the talking anymore. So what should you do about this?

First, make sure the experience you describe when doing the suggested story telling exercise is one that can be told and lived by everyone who interacts with your customers. If you can’t tell it, you can’t expect an Oscar winning performance by your staff. The primary generator of negative buzz is failure to live up to expectations.

Next, take a tour of MySpace, Facebook, and other sites that allow customer feedback and reviews. Yahoo Local and Google Local are a good place to start. Try to locate your business and see if there’s a conversation online you didn’t know about. If you stumble upon a bad review resist the temptation to write your own review or address any conflicts online–not yet. If your business is not listed you’ve stumbled upon a huge opportunity. Get listed on critical local search engines and social community websites.

Get a feel for the culture and tone of each site. Learn the lingo, what generates interest, what’s okay and what isn’t. Keep the bit in your teeth and don’t say anything yet. Words have an extremely long online shelf life. On social networks it’s important to learn how to listen before you start talking. Trying to undo a rookie mistake can be a daunting and expensive task.

If you find enough people telling your story differently than you tell it, start by taking a fearless look at your operations, examine every touch point and get to work on the story-telling fluency of everyone at your company. Make sure the same story is told to every customer. Once you have accomplished that, you’re finally ready to engage the online social community.

Next time we’ll discuss how to get started participating in online communities, how to handle negative buzz and how to use tools like twitter to stay a step ahead of your competitors.

Part one of a recent client engagement was to evaluate their past email marketing efforts. We found a lot of the same mistakes that other businesses , large and small, make every day. The email software providers aren’t to blame, except maybe for making it seem too easy. And most have good information on their websites. But obviously the best practices are not being read there. So on the fat chance that they’ll be read here I thought I’d share the most commonly made email marketing mistakes small business make and some advice on how to avoid them.

Know your readers preferences.

With and more people reading their emails via mobile devices it’s important to pay extra attention to layout and text version of your message. Test your message on a Blackberry-you’ll understand why re-thinking design is critical especially if the read on mobile first trends contuse-and it will.

Test Before You Send

Don’t limit your testing to mobile devices. A typical subscriber list consists of people using various versions of Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, and several other popular email clients. It’s likely your messages will look different in each. So keep the design simple and stick to some core design and spam compliance best practices.

Design Simply

Do not use Microsoft Word as your HTML editor-just don’t. Keep you message width at 600 pixels or below. Code simply. If you are not an HTML expert-keep things simple. Different clients rendering HTML differently. Use tables or if you must us CSS, use it inline. Webmail clients are notorious for wreaking havoc on CSS divs, especially Gmail. They’ll also strip out DOCTYPE, BODY, and HEAD tags .So use your CSS inline or better yet code cleanly and by hand using tags. Make sure your images are hosted on a fast pubic server not an intranet or secure server Don’t ignore the text version of your message. Read it carefully-it could be the only version of your message an important prospect sees.

Avoiding Spam

Spam filters are getting better—thankfully. But this presents a challenge for email marketers. Here are some common mistakes I see frequently when evaluating new client’s in-house email campaigns:

» Don’t send one big image as the message. This is a definite red flag spam filters look for.

» Don’t use too many colors of fonts, especially red and green. After all Christmas is but once a year. Besides making your message look like a  middle school bake sale flyer-it’s a spam trigger.

» Don’t use all caps and limit or eliminate exclamation points. Use of !!! has become rampant in general but carrying it over to email is guaranteed to put more of your messages into spam-so stop, okay! The same goes for other punctuation like quotations. Spam filters work on a point system. With enough minor deviation you can end up with a major deliverability problem.

» Don’t use words associated with spam. I assume if you’re running an online pharmacy or a financial scam from Nigeria you aren’t reading our blog but I guarantee a phrase like “Cheap V*I*A*G*R*A form Nigeria-FREE shipping” will end up in spam. Check your spam folder and look at the messages—you’ll see these and many other spam triggering words and phrases used repeatedly.

Don’t give up on email because of a few disappointing campaigns. There’s more to it than the advertising tells you-but it’s worth the effort. It’s one of the best ways to stop losing your best customers.

Make a good first impression with a well crafted welcome message. Email marketers consistently discover that interest fades quickly. A strong welcome message reminds the customer of the reason he or she signed up to receive your communications in the first place. It also re-enforces your brand name recognition. The “From” line is a critical factor a customer considers when determining whether to open or delete and email. By seeing your name as soon as possible after signing up, they are apt to quickly recognize it again in the “From” line of your next message. This is also a perfect opportunity to recap what the subscriber can expect from you. If you deliver on this promise you’re apt to keep the subscriber engaged.

A lot of clients ask us if there is a “best time and day” to send emails. The answer is yes, but it is different for each subscriber. Tuesday morning is an often repeated suggestion but beware of blanket recommendations. We like to examine open dates and times of earlier messages to find patterns that are specific to our clients’ subscriber preferences. Whenever possible segmenting sends based on historical preferred open dates and times can result in a substantial lift in response rates.

List fatigue is a common problem. After a while customers stop responding to your promotions, Many don’t unsubscribe. So what is going on? Some are lurkers, waiting for aggressive promotions. Others just delete your message without opening them, often in a mass delete during inbox cleanups. You can re-engage these passive subscribers. We’ve had great success by segmenting these non-responders and surveying them to find out what’s changed. Are their needs different? Have they changed jobs? Moved? Those that respond often become re-engaged and turn out to be one of your more profitable segments.

Reaching out to non-responsive subscribers is also a great way to keep you list clean. Besides keeping delivery costs down you’ll get more accurate data by eliminating passive list clutter that can skew important metrics.

Remember to be persistent in building your email list. By replenishing your list with new subscribers, you’ll maintain a source of repeat business that can help get you through economic times like these.