Seattle Direct Marketing Association

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At a recent Seattle Direct Marketing Association networking and learning event, representatives of the Parnassus Group presented on how to use social media in your Internet marketing mix. One of the topics they covered was how to monitor your organization’s coverage in the vast, vast Blogosphere. 

Due to a technical snag, attendees at the event weren’t able to view this part of the presentation.  But, our friends in marketing at Parnassus have created a quickie tutorial that can be viewed at their web site.

If you are a direct mail or email marketer, or any other kind of communications manager, and are not monitoring the Blogosphere because it seems too complicated, then this is good new for you!

These are easy-to-follow directions that can get you set-up to monitor any direct marketing (or other) news you want to follow in just a few minutes:

<http://parnassusgroup.com/2008/03/monitoring-the-blogosphere-with-google-reader-a-follow-up-to-the-sdma-presentation/>

Today was one of those, "Lessons learned days" that will prove invaluable, but that you wish you could know without it ever happening.  One you wish you were able to suck it back in, like a regrettable email. 

I recently changed my role from that of an in-house marketing manager to vendor with marketing customers.  Since Chief Marketing Officer is statistically the shortest lived position of ALL corporate roles, with an average life span of 18 months, chances are that this may happen to you some day too. My switch was by choice, but still, it comes with some adjustments. And, even though I began my career in agency, it is easy to forget some nuances of the outside position.

In my eagerness to "handle everything" for a very important client, I found that I'd overstepped my role.  The consequences were not fatal, but the anguish was visceral.  

Fortunately, my customer is experienced and understanding, aware that they are demanding and complex.  And they are willing to go through the learning curve with me. They must see some potential. I hope.

My pain involved my decision to approve a high profile project, in an effort to get the product to the customer expediently. I was confident in my ability to make wise choices, as I've done this for years on behalf of very discerning constituents.  

The problem.  I am the vendor.  The choice was not mine to make. 

Ultimately my eye on the color of this printed piece was acceptable. But the problem is, I've not yet earned this right to choose.

So, lesson of the day, if you are in a new position as an outside vendor, wait.  Wait until the marketing manager, or print buyer, or chief bottle scrubber has said, "You make the call on this one."  Then, put the dishes away with confidence.

Oh yes, and don't forget the beauty of the written word, and never forget their signature!  Think of it as filling your autograph book, and remember the customer is now the star of the show.

It was standing room only on Wednesday night 11/7 for the Trends in Email Marketing event at The Bellevue Club.  ExactTarget sponsored, DRG offered free cocktails to attendees, the bar was humming and we had a who's who of Seattle and Portland marketers. A few board members relinquished their dining seats to accommodate the event guests.

A knock out panel of marketing experts spoke about email marketing:  Annette Barnes, Director of Email Marketing from Alaska Airlines, Stacy Bennett, Online Marketing Manager from Tommy Bahama and Cheryl Engelaer, Group Marketing Manager of Microsoft.  Our moderator Justin Foster, VP of Professional Services at WhatCounts assembled the panel and facilitated an in depth discussion.  

Our surprise guest was Craig Spiezle, Director of Online Safety from Microsoft.  I saw Craig speak about email deliverability at the first annual ExactTarget Connections conference in Indianapolis this fall and was really impressed—so invited him to join us.  Not only did he join us, but he co-moderated the panel!  (Note: ExactTarget was the sponsor of this event.)  

Craig is a founder and chairman of the Authentication Online Trust Alliance (AOTA) in addition to being the director of online safety at MS.  Although our event focused on trends, RFM scoring and more — it was great to have Craig talk about deliverability which is a huge part of email marketing today.

In the past email marketers knew the rules:  avoid spam words such as FREE in content and be diligent about list management.  But that's all changed.  Now what matters is your online reputation which is comprised of a number of factors.  Frequency and volume of emails sent, whether your IP is registered and most importantly the relevance of your emails.  

This means that getting content appropriate messages to the people who want them is what counts.  Even people who've opted in to receive your communications "junk" your mail when it comes more frequently than they desire or the content doesn't meet their needs.  The process of junking your mail, negatively impacts your reputation—and there's the challenge.  Your deliverability goes down and in the worst case scenario you're black listed. So segmenting into audiences is just a starting place.  You also have to sub-segment your audience into different types of recipients.  Don't continue to send emails to someone who never opens them.  Instead, perhaps send a survey, or email them less frequently.

Welcome to the first week of the SDMA blog.

My name is Cynthia Cruver and I’m the SDMA’s ’07-’08 president. Sharon Long Baerny of We Know Words, left the organization to me in good order at the end of her presidency last year. And not only that, she set up the new blog spot. (Thank you Sharon.)

In 2004, the national Direct Marketing Association (DMA) based in NYC cut loose its local chapters and a scrappy bunch of entrepreneurial DM professionals picked up the pieces and built a very nice organization. The difference? More relevant content for our regional market place that focuses heavily on new technology and DM techniques. The organization continues to evolve with 100% volunteer labor and offers fabulous direct marketing networking.

This year we set out to clear up a few misunderstandings about the SDMA and direct marketing in general. Direct marketers don’t just put paper in the US postal system—we use a variety of media to illicit responses—direct email marketing, paper, online and more. Email marketers are direct marketers. And, there’s a big difference between the DMA and SDMA.

The board repositioned the .org with the help of SDMA VP of Marketing, Stuart Gordon of the Hacker Group. (See new positioning statement at the end of this post.)

Before I close, here’s a little about me. My day job is as a partner and account executive for GCDirect, a boutique DM firm located in Seattle, Washington. Previous to this business I was a partner at Three a.m. Direct. I help B2B and B2C marketers generate new customers and maintain existing customers.

From a personal standpoint I love the SDMA because I always come away from the meetings with new information and new tools I can immediately use to help my clients and my own business. Meeting for dinner and drinks (rather than lunch or breakfast), makes the learning more fun and less pressured (i.e. don’t have to rush back to the office or a meeting and get to have a cocktail which is always nice!)

On November 7 we have an amazing set of marketers speaking about the latest in email practices from Tommy Bahama, Expedia, Alaska Airlines and Microsoft. Something for everyone with actionable items to take away and use immediately. This meeting is our first EVER east side event to be held at The Bellevue Club in Bellevue. Please join us!

A special thanks to Compendium for sponsoring the SDMA with their compended blogging ASP. Thank you Chris Baggot!

And here’s who we are today:

The SDMA connects area marketing professionals with new ideas and emerging technologies. It nurtures innovative thinking in all areas of marketing, including ecommerce, creative development, data and production. Frequently scheduled events feature prominent speakers on a variety of relevant and cutting-edge topics, as well as quality networking SDMA membership is open to all interested marketing professionals.