I think it depends on who you are targeting and what you are marketing but clearly SM is playing an ever growing part in the mix. I am still amazed at how many 'experienced' marketers still go with the 'safe' option of doing what they've always done.
I have been invited by a client to attend a 'How can we sell more to our retail customers?' rather than 'How can we help our customers become better buyers?'
Enjoying your blog.
Peter
Brick Marketing
· 1 year ago
Interesting article! Many companies are very apprehensive to rely on social media marketing as it's not quite as measurable as direct marketing but it IS the future of marketing so they must embrace it and soon we'll have endless studies on the effects and benefits of it as a whole.
Robert John Ed
· 1 year ago
Lee,
Great description in this post, kudos. I think the reason social marketing is so powerful is that it really taps into the community and understands the behavior, whereas DM is so reliant on information that doesn't have the same power.
They aren't mutually exclusive tactics. In this case the DM should be formatted after the social research and altered to complement the ongoing online presence, IMHO.
Great stuff.
Jenn Osborne
· 1 year ago
It's been my experience that the two can work very nicely together. It's like anything else, when you approach your marketing from a holistic standpoint, synergies should develop. Search, SMM and other online efforts should be a part of the overall mix. It's not a zero sum game.
Where budget is a consideration and choices must be made then it should be based on which tactics are going to give you the best ROI. You can waste time, money, and effort in both Social Marketing and Direct Marketing.
Lee Odden
· 1 year ago
Thanks Peter, your comments are appreciated. There is no doubt a major paradigm shift for traditional direct marketers moving into the web 2.0 space. A book I'd highly recommend for those in this position is Mike Moran's "Do it Wrong Quickly".
James Hipkin
· 1 year ago
Everybody isn't responsive to direct mail, nor are all the potential consumers participating in Social Media (SM). That said, SM can supports the beginning and the end of an integrated approach:
- On the front end, it's a great place to vet the sales proposition
- On the back end, it's a great place to build community among best customers
Lee Odden
· 1 year ago
Robert and Jenn, I agree Direct Marketing and Social Marketing can indeed work well together. It takes an understanding of each to make that happen though. A DM perspective towards engaging social networks can be disastrous.
I'm also very much on board with the holistic approach. That's why we've been TopRank "Online Marketing" and "Online Marketing" Blog for the past 8 and 4 years respectively, not "SEO" or "social media" or anything else that's specific.
A holistic online marketing approach considers the breadth of possible options and matches them with client objectives, resources and promotion channels.
Lorna Li
· 1 year ago
It definitely depends on your budget, manpower, time, your audience - and your company culture. It's great to do both, and each approach has different pros and cons.
Direct marketing - easier to control message, test marketing tactics and measure ROI. Marketing initiatives are directly tied to conversions.
Social marketing - ROI is more difficult to measure, messaging aimed at building community, community reluctant to being sold to, thus its difficult to tie conversions social marketing efforts. Content is viral and user generated, but marketers lose control of their marketing message in the favor of shared dialog.
A traditional brick and mortar company with an older target audience may be more hard-pressed to invest in marketing initiatives that have no clear-cut ROI. A new tech startup targeting teens and young adults may want to invest in viral web apps and establish a strong presence in the online communities where their audience hangs out.
In the end, you still have to choose where it makes sense to invest more of your marketing dollars.
Direct marketing is a way to reach a select group of people to convey a certain message (of course many view it as spam, which is a problem). I think the key differentiator between direct and social, is that social media marketing is (or should be) based on relationships that you are building with your consumers. It's about getting to know and really understand your users. That being said I don't think the two need to be at odds with each other.
What if you built a social media constituency and then used your relationships to direct market to them? Of course it's not that simple, you would have to direct market in a way that doesn't seem spammy.
What if you used direct marketing to inform or build your social media marketing constituency? Send out direct marketing information letting your users know about the new social media group that they might be interested in.
ROI for social media is a bit trickier to measure, but as I mentioned during the dinner we had: think of all of the friends in your life, how much would you pay to keep them in your life? That is how we should be thinking about social media. Not about how much we can get but about how much we can give.
Direct marketing and social media marketing are only 2 aspects of marketing, what about SEO, what about PPC, what about PR? For a marketing strategy to be truly effective. I would be curious to see an overall marketing strategy or case study, of a company that shows how it integrates all of these things into a complete overall marketing strategy.
great post Lee,
Jacob
Jenn Osborne
· 1 year ago
Lee, I totally agree that you need to understand both to make them work together - great point and great post! I really enjoyed it.
Anne Haynes
· 1 year ago
Lee great post, I enjoyed the read.
I just finished a proposal for complete integration, DM (no snail mail), SM, SEO Affiliate Marketing and PPC. The proposal also includes widgets, widget syndication, blog onsite, blog syndication, video optimization, and more. The proposal contains a big line item around strategy. If you don't think things through with the client, your campaign will fail. In my professional opinion, if any marketing activity hits the internet, there is an SEO benefit. I did a test where I created a video account using my primary campaign keyword; and that video comes up for the keyword. If you search on my name in Google, I'm taking over the search results using these social media spaces (my name isn't very competitive). But overall, social media is a powerful tool and it's dangerous as well. While it can compliment a DM email campaign (add to FaceBook, digg it, etc.), SM has more legs and continues to grow. I'm putting my marketing dollars in widgets; widgetbox.com integrates with SM and blogs and if the widget is cool enough, it can sell products and create some good organic traffic.
Lee Odden
· 1 year ago
Thanks Jacob, great insights. There are indeed challenges to measuring the effect of social media engagement but as that channel matures and clients become better educated, it will be easier to identify.
Anne, that sounds like quite a proposal! Hopefully it closes and can become a great case study for DM/SM integration.
Kim Danno
· 1 year ago
Great article Lee!
We just worked with a new direct response company called Viralytics Media (http://www.ViralyticsMedia.com) who has a great tool for measuring direct marketing initiatives inside social networking. Anyone interested in this sort of thing should get in touch with them
-Kim
Federal Watch
· 1 year ago
Direct Marketing is easy if you know who your targets are. But it usually cost a lo compared to social media marketing. Also direct marketing is only good for a small area unlike in social media marketing wherein the coverage area is greater and wider.
Travis
· 1 year ago
I have absolutely no experience with either method, but it seems as though social marketing would be the clear winner. It relates more to the individual, and in most cases the user/surfer will discover your profile/page/whathaveyou. Compare this to direct marketing where you're hunting down and attacking your potential user. Which one would you prefer?
Donna
· 1 year ago
I am working on building traffic to my online store for tie-dye clothing. I am working on marketing through social networks, but as a small business owner, this is very time consuming. Traditional marketing is more costly, but I plan to incorporate some of these tactics for a shorter term response. I think, in the long run, social networking might work out better due to the target audience already having an interest in the blogs, etc. that they are reading, whereas, many people have trained themselves to ignore flyers, advertisements etc. I don't think social networking has to be at odds with traditional marketing because they both are very different and come about marketing in different ways which will most likely have a positive affect on a greater number of people.
Russ
· 1 year ago
while my experience is limited as I am newer, I learn a lot by reading your blog. With my short experience I belive it takes both to reach out to all areas. Takes it all to make a whole.
Odlewnia
· 1 year ago
Direct Marketing is easy if you know who your targets are. But it usually cost a lo compared to social media marketing.
Barry Hurd
· 1 year ago
Having spent a lot of time in the direct marketing field, I really don't think that this is a VS. situation - rather an opportunity to educate marketers how to connect campaigns between both worlds. I think this is actually more true in the European marketplace, but they seem to be more accepting of the social media learning curve.
Chris Lang
· 1 year ago
Great article. I would be interested in your take on how social marketing traffic converts. While I have doubled my traffic with social marketing and upped my Google rankings I do not see a high conversion rate.
Also since you blog I think you would me interested in how Google really ranks blogs, way different than static websites.
Chris, social media traffic isn't meant for conversion. Exposure on social media channels gives exposure to publishers and blogs, should they re-post or write about what they experienced, will indeed send traffic that converts.
The blog ranking post is as much speculation as toolbar data and Google Analytics data. There's no way to prove it. There's also no reason not to attract plenty of RSS subscribers. It creates non-Google dependent traffic, which is a very good thing.
Lee Odden
· 1 year ago
Exactly Barry and Donna, they can work together.
Kim, I am not familiar with that company but will check them out.
Andy Headworth
· 1 year ago
Fascinating post Lee. As with a few other comments, social media has increased traffic for me, but we will only see over a longer period of time how effective SM really is. DM can quote chapetr and verse when it comes to stats, but then again they have the history. It will be interesting to see where SM is at in a few years time.
Sue
· 1 year ago
See what this former auto boss has to say about how his industry sector is failing to make good use of social media techniques.
Seems like the key is the transition point from building relationships via social marketing to exposing these people(prospects) to your direct marketing funnel.
A smooth and transparent transition is crucial or you've pretty much blown the social relationship you've built.
If the transition is too early, too hyped, too awkward, your killer direct marketing no doubt suffers.
Secondly, sure you can test and track the metrics on the direct marketing side. Now, as marketers, we need tools like the previously mentioned ViralyticMedia to make sure ROI metrics are in place on the social marketing side.
Hey, if the numbers work, why not blend the two?
Walt
Michael Gama
· 1 year ago
Good points, though I believe we need to be careful, as well, in our embrace of "new media." The reason here is that the seduction is to confuse the (new) media with the actual "thing." Years ago I sat in countless meetings in which the new phenomenon of the Internet was being pitched. The fervor approached white heat proportions. I often found myself asking uncomfortable questions such as, "But where do the profits come from...how do we get paid?" The answer too often came back: "It's the INTERNET!" (I discovered this to be related to the old saw, "If the music's too loud, then you're too old!")
Fortunately, though bruised we're wiser now.
So, as we move to embrace and employ strategies such as social media (and the as yet unforseen tools to follow) we always need to remember what brought us to the party in the first place -- the customer and the making and maintenance of a long-term, reciprocal relationships. That's static, all the other stuff can change. Once again, Nicholas Negroponte is proven correct: we need to imagine and anticipate how our products and services (and communications channels) may change once they're digitized. But, of course, Theodore Levitt before him, remains correct and fundamental, as well: customer-centricity vs. product-centricity is the key to success.
Finally, I see social media as simply an extension or evolution of traditional direct marketing, and one which simply moves direct and one-to-one (reciprocal) marketing a major and exciting step forward. Again, the same stuff, just digitized. (See Being Digital, Negroponte and Levitt, The Marketing Imagination).
(Really) finally -- I really like your description of both the DM and social marketing steps -- very helpful. But remember, there's also a demographic element here in that for some cohorts an exercise in social marketing would be an expensive waste -- and similarly, traditional DM marketing to their children (or grandchildren) could be a parallel waste!
Thanks for a very informative article.
Michael
Lee Odden
· 1 year ago
Thanks Michael.
Demographic is tougher nut to crack online than with offline marketing because the quality is often unreliable.
Behavioral marketing is where online and social media advertising innovations are making up for poor demographic targeting performance.
Kees Winkel
· 1 year ago
Hi, I'm a research fellow at the readership cross media content, university of applied sciences Utrecht, the Netherlands. Can you please give me a plausible definition of the word 'breath' in relation to social media?
Kees Winkel
Amy Bamberger
· 1 year ago
Market to people the way they want to be marketed to...oh, you don't know.
SoMed and DM work together to create a 360 program. Start with direct mail (still the only tool that is almost 100% touched and scanned by recipients) - with the call to action sending to a purl or micro site or BRC maybe. Email follows once it's in-home. How did the recipient respond - link on email? go to purl? phone? no response?
If they went to the purl or link we have started the 2-way conversation with them (and every move is trackable). They get to give us feedback and tell us how they prefer to be marketed to. As we build the community information maybe an on-line community gets built maybe not. The information or lack of sends a triggered response based on logic and the circle starts again. We learn more and more as we go along and are getting and giving better information.
In talking with agencies, I've found that the DM group and the New Media groups are in different silos and don't talk - a mistake. I suspect they don't know how to talk to each other. It's our job to be that bridge.
Kind of simplistic description but it's too easy to get caught up in the ugly stuff. That's what developers are for. Keep the carbs (aka sugar) and red bull stocked - that's what I say.
All Comments
I think it depends on who you are targeting and what you are marketing but clearly SM is playing an ever growing part in the mix. I am still amazed at how many 'experienced' marketers still go with the 'safe' option of doing what they've always done.
I have been invited by a client to attend a 'How can we sell more to our retail customers?' rather than 'How can we help our customers become better buyers?'
Enjoying your blog.
Peter
Great description in this post, kudos. I think the reason social marketing is so powerful is that it really taps into the community and understands the behavior, whereas DM is so reliant on information that doesn't have the same power.
They aren't mutually exclusive tactics. In this case the DM should be formatted after the social research and altered to complement the ongoing online presence, IMHO.
Great stuff.
Where budget is a consideration and choices must be made then it should be based on which tactics are going to give you the best ROI. You can waste time, money, and effort in both Social Marketing and Direct Marketing.
- On the front end, it's a great place to vet the sales proposition
- On the back end, it's a great place to build community among best customers
I'm also very much on board with the holistic approach. That's why we've been TopRank "Online Marketing" and "Online Marketing" Blog for the past 8 and 4 years respectively, not "SEO" or "social media" or anything else that's specific.
A holistic online marketing approach considers the breadth of possible options and matches them with client objectives, resources and promotion channels.
Direct marketing - easier to control message, test marketing tactics and measure ROI. Marketing initiatives are directly tied to conversions.
Social marketing - ROI is more difficult to measure, messaging aimed at building community, community reluctant to being sold to, thus its difficult to tie conversions social marketing efforts. Content is viral and user generated, but marketers lose control of their marketing message in the favor of shared dialog.
A traditional brick and mortar company with an older target audience may be more hard-pressed to invest in marketing initiatives that have no clear-cut ROI. A new tech startup targeting teens and young adults may want to invest in viral web apps and establish a strong presence in the online communities where their audience hangs out.
In the end, you still have to choose where it makes sense to invest more of your marketing dollars.
Cheers,
Lorna Li
Green Marketing 2.0
Direct marketing is a way to reach a select group of people to convey a certain message (of course many view it as spam, which is a problem). I think the key differentiator between direct and social, is that social media marketing is (or should be) based on relationships that you are building with your consumers. It's about getting to know and really understand your users. That being said I don't think the two need to be at odds with each other.
What if you built a social media constituency and then used your relationships to direct market to them? Of course it's not that simple, you would have to direct market in a way that doesn't seem spammy.
What if you used direct marketing to inform or build your social media marketing constituency? Send out direct marketing information letting your users know about the new social media group that they might be interested in.
ROI for social media is a bit trickier to measure, but as I mentioned during the dinner we had: think of all of the friends in your life, how much would you pay to keep them in your life? That is how we should be thinking about social media. Not about how much we can get but about how much we can give.
Direct marketing and social media marketing are only 2 aspects of marketing, what about SEO, what about PPC, what about PR? For a marketing strategy to be truly effective.
I would be curious to see an overall marketing strategy or case study, of a company that shows how it integrates all of these things into a complete overall marketing strategy.
great post Lee,
Jacob
I just finished a proposal for complete integration, DM (no snail mail), SM, SEO Affiliate Marketing and PPC. The proposal also includes widgets, widget syndication, blog onsite, blog syndication, video optimization, and more. The proposal contains a big line item around strategy. If you don't think things through with the client, your campaign will fail. In my professional opinion, if any marketing activity hits the internet, there is an SEO benefit. I did a test where I created a video account using my primary campaign keyword; and that video comes up for the keyword. If you search on my name in Google, I'm taking over the search results using these social media spaces (my name isn't very competitive). But overall, social media is a powerful tool and it's dangerous as well. While it can compliment a DM email campaign (add to FaceBook, digg it, etc.), SM has more legs and continues to grow. I'm putting my marketing dollars in widgets; widgetbox.com integrates with SM and blogs and if the widget is cool enough, it can sell products and create some good organic traffic.
Anne, that sounds like quite a proposal! Hopefully it closes and can become a great case study for DM/SM integration.
We just worked with a new direct response company called Viralytics Media (http://www.ViralyticsMedia.com) who has a great tool for measuring direct marketing initiatives inside social networking. Anyone interested in this sort of thing should get in touch with them
-Kim
Also since you blog I think you would me interested in how Google really ranks blogs, way different than static websites.
http://www.keywebdata.com/?p=71
Cheers! = Chris Lang
The blog ranking post is as much speculation as toolbar data and Google Analytics data. There's no way to prove it. There's also no reason not to attract plenty of RSS subscribers. It creates non-Google dependent traffic, which is a very good thing.
Kim, I am not familiar with that company but will check them out.
http://www.e-clipsblog.co.uk/2008/04/08/taking-...
Seems like the key is the transition point from building relationships via social marketing to exposing these people(prospects) to your direct marketing funnel.
A smooth and transparent transition is crucial or you've pretty much blown the social relationship you've built.
If the transition is too early, too hyped, too awkward, your killer direct marketing no doubt suffers.
Secondly, sure you can test and track the metrics on the direct marketing side. Now, as marketers, we need tools like the previously mentioned ViralyticMedia to make sure ROI metrics are in place on the social marketing side.
Hey, if the numbers work, why not blend the two?
Walt
Fortunately, though bruised we're wiser now.
So, as we move to embrace and employ strategies such as social media (and the as yet unforseen tools to follow) we always need to remember what brought us to the party in the first place -- the customer and the making and maintenance of a long-term, reciprocal relationships. That's static, all the other stuff can change. Once again, Nicholas Negroponte is proven correct: we need to imagine and anticipate how our products and services (and communications channels) may change once they're digitized. But, of course, Theodore Levitt before him, remains correct and fundamental, as well: customer-centricity vs. product-centricity is the key to success.
Finally, I see social media as simply an extension or evolution of traditional direct marketing, and one which simply moves direct and one-to-one (reciprocal) marketing a major and exciting step forward. Again, the same stuff, just digitized. (See Being Digital, Negroponte and Levitt, The Marketing Imagination).
(Really) finally -- I really like your description of both the DM and social marketing steps -- very helpful. But remember, there's also a demographic element here in that for some cohorts an exercise in social marketing would be an expensive waste -- and similarly, traditional DM marketing to their children (or grandchildren) could be a parallel waste!
Thanks for a very informative article.
Michael
Demographic is tougher nut to crack online than with offline marketing because the quality is often unreliable.
Behavioral marketing is where online and social media advertising innovations are making up for poor demographic targeting performance.
I'm a research fellow at the readership cross media content, university of applied sciences Utrecht, the Netherlands. Can you please give me a plausible definition of the word 'breath' in relation to social media?
Kees Winkel
SoMed and DM work together to create a 360 program. Start with direct mail (still the only tool that is almost 100% touched and scanned by recipients) - with the call to action sending to a purl or micro site or BRC maybe. Email follows once it's in-home. How did the recipient respond - link on email? go to purl? phone? no response?
If they went to the purl or link we have started the 2-way conversation with them (and every move is trackable). They get to give us feedback and tell us how they prefer to be marketed to. As we build the community information maybe an on-line community gets built maybe not. The information or lack of sends a triggered response based on logic and the circle starts again. We learn more and more as we go along and are getting and giving better information.
In talking with agencies, I've found that the DM group and the New Media groups are in different silos and don't talk - a mistake. I suspect they don't know how to talk to each other. It's our job to be that bridge.
Kind of simplistic description but it's too easy to get caught up in the ugly stuff. That's what developers are for. Keep the carbs (aka sugar) and red bull stocked - that's what I say.