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July 31, 2009
If It Looks Like Spam, Smells Like Spam...
This morning I go an e-mail with the Subject Line "Time Sensitive Offer for the Wall Street Journal Online" from Sender "wsjo" and Sender e-mail "wsjo@branchedscho.com". It joins the growing list of e-mail pieces that I receive from premium brands using purported "CAN-SPAM Compliant" marketing services selling "lead generation."
Excuse my end-of-week grumpiness, but what bull. They are selling spam and amazingly (or not), supposedly smart marketers are falling for it.
To be clear, under the letter of the law, which only requires that a mailing has a valid opt-out and certain characteristics like a physical address, the e-mail pieces may not technically be spam. But I did not ask for it, I did not want it, and it annoys me to have to delete it. So, to me, it was spam.
Some companies have done this to me more than once (Pitney Bowes comes to mind) and have now created such ill-will that I consciously think about their junk mail when there are decisions to make in areas where Pitney could be a vendor. That's what spam does to a brand -- it creates conscious or subconscious feelings, usually negative.
Now in defense of the companies who spit this trash out, I am certain it garners some "opens" and possibly even some true leads. And, consistent with the American entrepreneurial spirit, if it is not illegal, I cannot complain about their business model. BUT, I can caution legitimate brands of the dangers of putting your good name in the hands of a spam factory.
Brands take years to build and burnish, but just seconds to tear down in a customer's eyes. In difficult times like we are currently experiencing, the lure of cheap lead generation is strong. But the dangers of bad practice far outweigh the minimal value you might gain from these type of programs.
Posted by jcioban at 7:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 17, 2009
Create Change.
I was in a meeting with a client yesterday, and we were discussing strategies for a cross-media fulfillment program. This particular client has recently been through some large merger activity and the meeting involved people from each of the original organizations.
Not unexpectedly, the final approach settled on conceded to political and cultural reality. "This is how our sales teams are used to working." "Sales people can be knuckleheads, so we need to keep it simple." And with that, we elected to follow the path of least resistance, and not necessarily the forward-thinking path.
Unfortunately, many of the attendees comments reflected reality. Implementing new strategic directions can be organizationally challenging. But that does not make the final decision the right one. Part of the reason for the decision was a need for expedient implementation and the simplification of near-term process was deemed appropriate. While the need for speed was real, in the world of hyper-change in which we operate, there is NEVER a good time for implementing process that change organization behaviors. So, in some cases, there is no time like the present. And in this case, the decision delays implementation of a strategic initiative intended to push the client deeper into an online solution...something appropriate for the markets in which they operate: high-end financial services.
The decision in this case was minor, and the implications small. But their process for decision-making is common, and risky in dynamic markets. Financial services is a world of contradictions -- wildly technical and sophisticated back-ends fronted by staid and conservative client-facing processes. But those front-ends are becoming increasingly important as clients seeks access to information that exposes the truth behind their investments. That means that "it's the way we do things" is the right answer in fewer and fewer situations.
Take a look in your organization and think if that same behavior is occurring. In the depth of recession, it is bold leaders willing to forge new paths who often emerge as the leaders. Finding the opportunities to Create Change is a way to break from the pack and build differentiating value in tight markets.
Posted by jcioban at 9:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 6, 2009
An Addendum To Summary Prospectus Conclusions
Came across this interesting video of Prof. Barry Schwartz from Swarthmore, who spoke at a Google seminar about "The Paradox of Choice." This three year-old video has some great information in it and is as relevant to marketers today as when it was presented in 2006.
Posted by jcioban at 5:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Lessons in the SEC Summary Prospectus Ruling
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe would be proud, as his "less is more" aesthetic is applied as an information architecture ruling by the SEC.
In its Summary Prospectus Ruling issued earlier this year, the SEC noted that the move to a summary document process, with hyperlinked access to the statutory prospectus and associated filings, would likely lead to better informed investors. At the core of this conclusion is that fact that shorter, simpler documents are more likely to get read. From an initial read, any desire for further information could easily be satisfied online.
The ruling created a win-win for investment companies seeking to cut costs since it paved a path to reduced overall production and distribution costs on regulatory mailings. But the real winner, as the SEC itself noted, was the investor.
Lightweight documents do encourage reading when compared to long, legalese-laden tomes. The statutory prospectus had become an impenetrable morass to all but the most fluent of financial readers. And like its insurance counterpart...the insurance certificate...was rearely read in full. By pulling the most critical items into a "plain English" summary then linking to more detail, the ruling creates clarity and usability.
From marketing to customer service, the SEC model for information architecture...a physical mailing trigger that connects to rich online content, is a powerful one. Its cross-media execution is a solid reminder that the online world can be confusing -- physical mail cuts through clutter well. But, for long-form information display, the online world is unchallenged -- hyperlinking is already powerful even without XBRL. And in this challenging economy, the powerful lesson of migrating print-bound media online to save money is compelling.
Who could have anticipated such a good lesson coming from a conservative government agency?
Posted by jcioban at 3:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
