Cobble Hill Interactive: Digital Sales & Marketing Consulting

Lay down a good scent trail to sustain momentum beyond your banner ad

People are bombarded by advertisements. The things are everywhere – blazoned on surfaces from taxicab roofs to bathroom stalls. And banner ads appear on virtually every website with traffic worth talking about.

But the ad isn’t an end unto itself. It’s great when your ad’s salient and catchy enough to snag someone’s interest. The payoff is what happens after someone clicks through.

Now, Vicky’s one smark cookie. And it seems she knows something many players in the advertising and marketing game don’t.

So let’s let her whisper in our ear.
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Read the entire newsletter: Volume 122

We’re currently accepting inquires for our open Engagement Coordinator position. This NYC-based, entry-level position provides a great opportunity to grow within our Consultancy. Becoming an expert in Conversion does not happen overnight. The first step is learning and honing your skills at listening to customers, and planning to meet their needs.

Our newest Engagement Coordinator is responsible for the first line of communication between Future Now and our prospects. This teammate begins spending time interacting with our prospects, engaging them to share their experiences and their issues, uncovering their needs and resources. The teammate is responsible for taking these customer needs to the experts and learning to plan engagements which resolve these needs within the resource constraints. Finally, the teammate will explain this engagement to our prospects, in plainly spoken English, and once their final questions have been overcome, will craft an agreement reflecting this engagement. The measures of success for this position will NOT be tied to sales, but rather satisfied customers and successfully planned engagements.

Are you, or do you know, someone who has a college degree, ideally with a Psychology or Communications background? Someone who’s extremely sociable, an excellent communicator, both orally and in writing; someone who’s had some work experience (at least one year); most importantly, someone who’s interested in Marketing Consulting in this brave new world of overwhelming customer power where the push marketing and advertising strategies of yesteryear are dead? 

Are you up to the challenge? Please send an email to pleasehiremefuturenow@gmail.com
and spend a few minutes letting us know why you’re interested in being included in this hiring search. Let us know what exceptional skills you bring to the table that make you worthy of this opportunity. Please do NOT send any attachments or resumes, as they will not be considered at this time. We appreciate and thank you for your interest in this position.

Long time readers of this space will recall our friend Tamara Adlin, contributing to both GrokDotCom and Call to Action her stance that an organization should never be caught with their corporate underpants showing.  I couldn’t help but think of her while I started my morning, and my afternoon too, at FedexKinkos.  FedexKinkos has a wonderful service known "simply" as "File, Print, FedexKinkos".  I’m putting the final stamp of approval on a Conversion Assessment, and in one click, it’s off to the printer to be professionally printed, bound, and then shipped direct to the client.  Sounds like a snap, right? 

It is, just don’t assume you can use your corporate Kinkos account to pay for the shipping, and don’t try that Fedex code to cover the printing either- they’re much too savvy for that.  The counter girl politely explains, to get a new Kinkos account I should call them, and they’ll help me.  Them?  I’m confused, aren’t you… them?  Yes, she kindly offers, but they can only access Fedex accounts, because they previously were a Fedex brick and mortar.  Thanks, that helps.

I move past the payment issue and ask to see the document before it’s shipped out.  My new friend takes my phone number and disappears only to return back 10 minutes later.  Do I recall who I dropped the document off with, she asks.  I explain, through the wonders of FPFK (can’t you just see the branding "wizards" who came up with this?), I "dropped it off" from the office.  She begins to laugh, "those come in through our other network, I’ll go check and be right back".  "Right back" was a bit of dramatic license I suppose, because 45 minutes later she returns asking if I could give them the document again. 

It seems FPFK couldn’t access the document, but don’t worry, she assures me, you were charged for it at the time of order, so they will still print it for me.  Somehow, I’m supposed to feel relieved at hearing this.  Imagine, the incredible value proposition of company who charges you for a product, then stands by their underwhelming customer service ability to… actually deliver the product.  Joy.

An Associate Manager returns some time after with my printed, bounded report.  He kindly explains to me, next time I should consider simply coming into the store, because it’s much easier for them to print things out on time that way.  As I left the store, I thought about sending Tamara’s Conversion Tip off to the FedexKinkos corporate HQ, I just wasn’t sure if I should send it to Dallas c/o Kinkos, or Memphis c/o Fedex 😉

The latest Wordtracker top 300 surge report confirms the holiday season has more than officially begun.  Searches for Christmas are in the top 10, Christmas gifts into the top 50, even Christmas wallpaper making an appearance at 170 (just ahead of Brooke Burke, sadly).  It’s crunch time for all those b2c retailers out there. 

For many of our Conversion Analysts, these next few weeks offer an opportunity to check out the bigger picture.  They’ve relentlessly pushed to get all their website conversion assessments out the door in time for action to be taken before the holidays.  Now they’ll get to do what they like to do most, see what people who don’t pay our salaries are doing in the online b2c space, and comment (sometimes loudly).  The names will not be changed to protect the guilty! 

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be bringing you Tales from the Conversion Assessment System, a holiday inspired look at the big boys and their ability to rake in revenues when it matters most.  We bring you

Enjoy!

I must admit, this SHOCKS me.  With all the ongoing commentary regarding the fragmentation of media, and the need to create a whole new experience where the customer’s content is king (or atleast queen), I thought we were all on board for the new paradigm.  I thought the shift from push (direct) marketing to pull (visitors as volunteers) was clear as crystal. 

Apparently not, because some college kid just raised HALF A MILLION BUCKS in just under two months.  Selling what, you ask?  Sp*m.  You read that right-  HALF. A. MILLION. BUCKS.  Selling Sp*m.

I give him plenty of credit for ingenuity, and for obviously understanding the Wizard’s first rule.  If you’re intrigued by his plan, and have yet to see it in action, surf on over to the Million Dollar Homepage, (and if you’ve ever weeded through your Junk folder, you’re going to recognize quite a few of those logos)

If anyone needs me in the next few minutes, I’ll be signing up for free hosting, while playing Texas Hold’em, and earning a quick graduate degree in the background while I wait for some "free movies" to finish downloading. 

Unreal.  Honestly, when will we ever learn?

Did Prilosec "Purple Day" come and go, and I missed it? Did anyone grab a screenshot?

I must admit, when I first read this article on ClickZ News about Proctor & Gamble taking over Yahoo, ESPN and a few other major homepages for the day, I was intrigued. Mostly for the audaciousness of it all, but also because we happen to know a few smart cats over at P&G, and they’ve been known to make the right calls time and time again. However, without seeing the execution, I’m incredibly skeptical.

Let’s take a listen to the VP of Media for the agency producing the campaign:

"The units are going to be very visual, and will definitely break through the clutter"

He’s talking about suprising Broca, right? So far, so good. Here comes the train wreck:

"The goal is to put people in the right mindset to get them ready to buy. This event is unlike any other form of communication because we instantly capture the consumer’s attention — and as a result, the brand will receive an immediate response."

Now he’s talking about framing the context, and the participatory nature of the online medium versus all those push mediums that existed in the past. Sounds like I should be thanking him for putting several of our principles on a national stage. Not so fast. Were they ever going to consider what goal the visitor had in mind before she visited Yahoo.com and was invaded by a page popping in purple? Doesn’t the context I came to the site with have some bearing on my relevance?  Is it possible someone is just a tad stuck within their own bottle?

I do agree on that last point though- the brand will certainly receive an immediate response. I wonder though, how will they track the negative Word of Mouth campaign they’ll potentially unleash on the ‘net?

Honestly, I doubt it.  Let’s face it, Coca-Cola did what most of us could only dream about- unleash a monster NEGATIVE word of mouth campaign, and live to tell about it.  Ironically, they even did one better- they profited so much from their failed campaign, the Chicago Tribune actually credited them with planning the entire strategy in advance.  Nice try, but even the executives acknowledged their flaws.

So what do we do as marketers today?  What do we learn from our past transgressions?  Apparently, we’ve learned nothing.  We continually hide our customers concerns beneath corporate double-talk and ad-speak in our messaging.  We shy away from actually trying to anticipate, and respond to, our customers fears and issues.  We sell them features, when what they really want is benefits.  We make them false promises, when what they really want is empathy.  We build our sales process around our business goals, rather than around the customer’s buying process, and meeting their needs. 

These examples are everywhere, and not the least bit challenging to uncover.    But here’s a positive example, someone out there doing something notable, from which we can all learn.  I’ve been critical of JetBlue in the past, because they still fail miserably at providing intuitive scent trails for us to follow when buying tickets, but today they did something impressive.  I was booking my ticket to Shop.org Annual when they popped the following message:

Imagine that?  Reminding me I’d be flying on a date that may not make me feel comfortable, and providing an alternate context with which I could choose to think about.  Of course, this also comes before I’ve confirmed my payment, so I could easily switch to another date, if I so chose.  Might it be an irrational fear for a flier to have?  Maybe, maybe not, but that’s not the point.  They’ve recognized some fliers may feel this way, and they envisioned the negative onslaught they’d receive if and when they charged $75 change fee for people who just realized the date, and were no longer comfortable flying. 

Don’t be afraid of creating fear in the mind of your visitor, be afraid of what happens when you fail to address the fear she’s already experiencing.

Seen CPB’s new viral campaign for the Gap yet?

If not, you should definitely pop over their site, and prepare for quite a laugh. The campaign is a spin-off of the popular online retailing "Virtual Me" 3D technology. It’s not exactly well tied to Gap’s inventory or catalog, and actually provides nothing more than a few links to Gap.com, and a few appearances of the Gap logo. Then again, it’s designed to be a viral campaign, not to aid in the selling process.

Here’s the interesting part- you’ll notice word is spreading, but certainly not like it could or should be.  Why not? Take a peak at this screenshot- it’s the end of the ad. See anything missing?  Like, say, something quite vital to all online word of mouth plays? Yup, for some reason, at the apex in momentum, while you and your co-workers are still belly-aching, there’s no ability to pass your virtual dancer (or even just the url) along to your other friends. Oops.

The crazy thing is, they actually do provide static urls that point to your designed GapGirl or Boy, they simply bungled the execution. Where’s the tipping point in a viral campaign? I doubt it’s before you get to the good parts…

Another short anecdote to end the week on an educational note!

I’m trying to arrange my travel plans for the fall dates that are filling up ever so quickly. Shop.org’s Annual Summit is coming up in Vegas, so I’m thrilled at the opportunity to fly jetBlue again.  Love jetBlue. Can’t praise them enough. Their flight service, that is. Their conversion practices, now that’s another story.

Anyone who’s familiar with our stuff, or ever heard us speak, knows of the 3 questions every page on the site must answer (if you don’t, email me). What’s the action you’d assume jetBlue would like most visitors to their website to take? Looking at their homepage, I think it must be getting more legroom, or checking in for their flights! Surely they must receive some comissions from the skycaps who don’t have to deal with all the passengers checking in, right?

Ok, ok, so maybe they’re unfamiliar with the Active Window- not a crime (though for anyone doing business on the web, it should be).  Well, atleast they have these handy Quick Links over here to help me out.  Let’s see, why am I here… TO BOOK A FLIGHT.  Guess that’s not one of those things jetBlue would like me to do quickly.

At this point, I’m laughing out loud. Ahhh, a top navigation link to Buy Tickets– comically, the graphic icon is of a person sitting in a seat, while the intuitive icon of an airplane links to a note from the CEO.  Doh! Since I’m sure he and I will be old friends now, I’m booking him on a little vacation where the "Book Your Flight!" Call to Action isn’t such a challenge to find!

A quick anecdote from my walk to the office this morning. 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn, there’s approximately 326 excellent Italian Patisseries per square block.  Luckily for each of them, on this seemingly 100 degree morning, there were no shortage of customers in need of cold drinks, and a cool place to read the morning paper.  Cafe after cafe I walked past in search of my morning Iced Coffee, and each one had a line longer than the next, until I found just what I had been looking for- an empty cafe.  Inside I went, had my cocktail poured in no time, and was on my way out the door when I noticed something pretty interesting… 

The sidewalk sign they had out front read "Hot Cinnamon Buns, fresh from the oven"