Author: Avi

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Can you go to jail for sending e-mail?

Can your e-mail land you in jail? E-mail is an important component of most company’s marketing mix. One Ohio carpet cleaning company attributed $1 million in sales to their e-mail marketing efforts.

When you are sending out e-mail, you considering factors like timing and frequency of e-mails, subject lines, and even capitalization. Certain trigger words (like “Dear”) are also likely to increase the likelihood of your e-mail going into the spam filter and never being read.

But have you thought about how you collect e-mail addresses and how people join your mailing list? Did you know that your collection mechanism might not only be bad practice and hurt your reputation but also against the law?

Unfortunately, you might be spamming people and not even know it. Many companies will gather e-mail addresses from contacts and add them to mailing lists without the person’s consent. Other people will request that their friend be added to their mailing list.

In 2003, the United States Congress passed the CAN-SPAM law. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 establishes the United States‘ first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce its provisions. Among other provisions, the law requires that companies provide a clear unsubscribe mechanism, not falsify e-mail headers, and not contact people with whom it does not have a relationship with. While it is not a best practice, the CAN-SPAM law does not require explicit opt-in – it is possible to e-mail people who you have a relationship with even if they didn’t explicitly opt-in to receive your e-mail marketing. Nevertheless, other countries have much stricter laws and that is still not a ‘best practice.’ It does have significant consequence and violators have been prosecuted by courts. On February 16, 2004, Anthony Greco, 18 was the first person to be arrested under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced in a closed session. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed and many people have been penalized by civil and criminal penalties. Your e-mail is serious business.

In 2008, Israel passed a more stringent law. The Israeli law requires that e-mail only be sent to people who explicitly ‘opted-in’ and consented to receive your e-mail. This is important even if your business is not located in Israel, because if you have someone on your e-mail list in Israel, they can still sue you. There are also many European laws similar to the Israeli law. The Act prohibits direct advertising by means of telephone, fax, SMS, or e-mail without receiving the recipient’s prior consent (in writing or in a recorded call) to receive ads. People can sue 1,000 NIS (about $277) for EACH unsolicited e-mail that they receive.

Of course, ultimately, the legal restrictions simply put into law what is best practice – don’t send people messages that they don’t want to receive.

For more information, and to ensure compliance with the CAN-SPAM law, check out the following resources from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC):

For information about Israel’s anti-spam laws, check out deliverability.com or the (Hebrew) site of ISOC, the Israel Internet Society.

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Former Head of CBS Digital: Newspapers Must Accept Digital Platforms

Larry Kramer, former head of CBS Digital Media, discusses the need for newspaper publishers to utilize multiple distribution platforms in this video on Bloomberg. Apple Inc. is developing a digital newsstand for publishers that would let them sell magazines and newspapers to consumers for use on Apple devices, said two people familiar with the matter. Kramer talks with Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack.”

The marketing lessons here are:

  • Newspapers have to change their business model. Don’t just rely on print. That doesn’t mean that newspapers don’t matter but that more people may be reading your article online than in the print edition of the paper.
  • The platform has moved from print to digital and content is portable. This means that your content must be real time, sharable, and across multiple platforms. Content must be portable.

Click on the Picture Below to Play the Video

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Changing Internet Usage in the UK

Online media consumption is extremely fragmented by age and task.

According to this eMarketer study of UK Internet users (77% of all UK adults, 16 or older), some interesting trends emerge. It is crucial for firms and marketers to be aware of these essential trends:

  • E-mail is not dead and is used by 90% of the Internet population, with little fluctuation across age groups.
  • 31% of users access the Internet through their phone.  Among younger users (ages 16 to 24), an estimated 44% browse the internet on their phones. If your site is not – at minimum – mobile accessible, this needs to be a priority!

I was a bit surprised, though, that more 25-44 year olds bank online (63%) than read online news (53%).

According to eMarketer:

TV is a big draw, with roughly 17 million people streaming television content from the web. Men were more than twice as likely to do this—perhaps because they are more likely to seek out snippets of news, sports or financial coverage during the day. Or perhaps women make more effort to watch when their favorite programs are broadcast. Whatever the reason, the ONS found that 52% of male web users had used video-on-demand services like the BBC iPlayer and Channel 4’s 4oD, compared to 23% of women.

There is still a huge digital divide. Three-fifths of people 65 and older have never gone online in the UK. But, for those under 65, digital marketing is a must.

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5 Tips for Aspiring Digital Copywriters

The Cline Group is always looking for up-and-coming digital copywriters, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a new post on Mashable, 5 Tips for Aspiring Digital Copywriters. Ironically, the move to digital – and the growth of SEO, blogging, and content production – has actually made good writing all the more important.

What makes a good copywriter according to Mashable? How about:

1. WRITE!

Start writing! Whether a personal blog, volunteer to write for open source software and hardware (check out Sourceforge for a list of open, volunteer, positions), or develop a website.

According to Mashable:

“Being is a matter of doing. Runners run. Fighters fight. If you want to be a copywriter, do what a copywriter does,” advises Dylan Klymenko, junior copywriter at Mullen. “Concept ideas for this space you’re interested in. Write up scripts for video content and then shoot it, edit it and put it on YouTube (who knows? Maybe you can make being a viral celebrity your back-up career).”
“Or grab a buddy who knows code — concept and create a website that could win an FWA [Favourite Website Awards] award. The point is: don’t wait. No one is going to ask you to do it, and you don’t need anyone’s approval. Just jump right into the digital fray, get messy every single day and you’ll become through doing.”

2. Get Knowledge!

You need to know the product, your audience, and the space in which you are writing for. If you are writing about a non-profit, you need to know their audience, their field. Writing for a cancer research fund requires different specialized knowledge than selling an iPhone app. A software product? Do you know their material?

According to Mashable:

As far as knowing the product goes, George Tannenbaum, executive creative director at R/GA advises digital copywriters to “cultivate their curiosity.”

“Good writers know things. They find out interesting things out about products or services. Things that may be hidden on page 32 of a long brochure. Be curious about everything. Learn all you can about the product you’re working on. Go to the supermarket and talk to people who buy the product. Read the buff books. Use the product. Learn the language of the product,” says Tannenbaum.

3. Deal with Rejection

Nobody likes rejection, but we’ve all had to deal with it at one point or another. Particularly in a growing field, there are traditional types that may not understand the difference between print and digital copy. Don’t be afraid to challenge them, but at the end of the day, they may be the ones who control the paycheck.

4. Less is More

One of the most important tips in Strunk & White (you do know Strunk & White, right? You do want to be a writer) is to “Omit Needless Words.”

Did Strunk and Write understand writing for the web? Whether a computer screen, iPad, or mobile phone, scanning is preferred.

According to Mashable:

“‘Less is always more’ is good advice for pretty much any writing, but I think it’s particularly apposite when talking about digital copy,” says Lewis Raven, associate creative director at glue Isobar, an advertising agency specialising in digital creative work.

“It’s so, so easy for readers to get distracted online. If you make your point with precision and originality your reader will appreciate it. They might even follow your instruction to ‘click here’, ‘roll over’, or ‘buy now!’ Go on too long and they will be straight off to to watch skateboarding dogs on YouTube. I know I would be.”

“Remember, if people want to, there are lots of places they can go to read really good, long copy. It might be a newspaper or a favorite blog,” continues Raven. “It almost definitely won’t be a brand website.”

Eloise Smith, creative director at Euro RSCG London takes the less-is-more-online wisdom a step further by suggesting that people read copy differently online than they do offline, so advises “writing visually” as something to take into consideration when writing for the web.

“Online users view text rather than read it,” says Smith. “They scan, skim and scroll. Normally at high speed. Online text behaves differently from print – it’s clickable, scrollable, copyable and searchable. So part of a digital copywriter’s job is to visually guide the user through text.”

5. Write Well.

Not everyone can write but facility with the written word is essential in business and marketing.

“The principles of good writing remain the same, whatever sort of copywriter you are. Cliched metaphors, misplaced apostrophes and unnecessary jargon are just as depressing online as offline. Writing in a way your audience relates to is key to any good writing. If that means writing in a familiar, conversational manner and using the word ‘awesome’ a lot, so be it. Ultimately, to be a successful digital copywriter, you need to be a good copywriter in the first place,” concludes Smith.”

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Crisis Communications Round Up

Crisis can strike at any time.

Here is a round up of The Cline Group’s articles on crisis planning, management, and communication.

Learn more about Crisis Communications and Workshops offered by The Cline Group.

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POST It: How to Develop a Social Marketing Strategy

As our president Josh Cline wrote, strategy is the most important component of any marketing endeavor. This is truer in the digital marketing arena. Inbound marketing and social media marketing are  strategic marketing tools. In order to succeed in your marketing efforts, marketing strategy is necessary.

In online marketing endeavors, because of its newness and freshness, there has been a tendency by some to rush into social media, talk about Twitter and Facebook, but have no real goals and objectives, understanding of its audience, or ways to measure success. This is not social media marketing, or any kind of marketing. This is putting the cart before the horse. As digital marketing is still a relatively new field (only 15 years old!), many of those who are most conversant with technology are least conversant with marketing strategy and many of the traditional strategists are not familiar enough with technology to understand and develop a comprehensive plan.

At the beginning of the social media era, it may have been acceptable to wade in the pool and experiment, even without a strategy, as the potential of social was still unknown and only early-adopters were engaged. Today, however, as social media has matured, social media marketing strategy is a necessity and not an option.

In order to be truly successful in any digital marketing endeavor – whether it is social  media, mobile, e-mail, or any other – the first thing that needs to be done – prior to talking about tools or tactics – is to talk about strategy.

Luckily, Forrester Research has developed a useful framework to develop a social strategy.

Forrester Research developed a strategic methodology called the POST method.

P is People. Don’t start a social strategy until you know the capabilities of your audience. If you’re targeting college students, use social networks. If you are reaching out to business travelers, consider ratings and reviews. Just do not start social without first thinking about it.

O is objectives. Pick one. Are you starting an application to listen to your customers, or to talk with them? To support them, or to energize your best customers to evangelize others? Or are you trying to collaborate with them? Decide on your objective before you decide on a technology. Then figure out how you will measure it.

S is Strategy. Strategy here means figuring out what will be different after you are done. Do you want a closer, two-way relationship with your best customers? Do you want to get people talking about your products? Do you want a permanent focus group for testing product ideas and generating new ones? Imagine you succeed. How will things be different afterwards? Imagine the endpoint and you will know where to begin.

T is Technology. A community. A wiki. A blog or a hundred blogs. Once you know your people, objectives, and strategy, then you can decide with confidence.

POST Method

Lacking in strategy leads to companies abandoning their social media efforts too soon. Promised “to go viral” (which is not a strategy!) companies go about this process backwards picking the technology first, saying “We need a blog” and “We need to go on Twitter” and then give up after a few months.  As Scott Opplinger wrote, “They might not get the results they want because they had no idea what results they were trying to accomplish in the first place and in most cases had no clearly defined method for measuring those results had they defined clear goals.”