Tuning our marketing to the economic times

Instead of reacting to customer behavior, we can use publicly announced trends as a leverage point. LinkedIn has found that unemployment and improving options for online education are converging to drive a new wave of students. The managers of graduate and continuing education programs have the opportunity to reactivate the people who previously inquired. 

LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Blog: A New Wave of Students is Looking to Higher Education Now, 2020-Aug-27 by Michael Levine

After the Great Recession of 2008, the number of students enrolled in Higher Education increased by 16 percent.... between 2007 and 2010... Many older adults enrolled in two-year programs. 

To help Higher Education marketers develop a better understanding of this new group of students, we partnered with Ipsos to survey a diverse group of more than 1,000 adults in the United States....

Some of the findings — a preference for online learning options, for example - reveal the acceleration of trends that were present before the pandemic changed the landscape of Higher Education. Still, other findings show a new sense of urgency among prospective students. Nearly 30 percent of respondents are exploring continued education because they are newly unemployed or worried about future unemployment....

Important things to note about this research: 

• Ipsos surveyed 1,000 adults between 25 and 55 who expressed ANY interest in continued education (not just online education).
• 33% proactively evaluating programs, and 43% are browsing casually. 
• Social platforms being used for the search: first was LinkedIn, then Facebook, then Instagram, and Twitter is fourth. 

Planning your newsletter with the time-frame measure of relationships

Newsletter frequency is traditionally every month, but weekly newsletters are becoming more popular. Newsletters that arrive without fail on the same day each week become part of many people's routine, especially if they reliably make a contribution to someone's life. 

Blue Penguin Development: The Friendship Illusion, 2018-Oct-19 by Michael Kat

Time frame and relationship strength are tightly correlated

When it comes to topics of discussion, in general, the better you and I know each other, the more frequently we communicate and, therefore, the narrower the time frame of the news we share.

My wife: one day.

My friends Matt and Rick who I meet at our local bar most Tuesday nights: one week.

People I went to high school with: 40 years.

All of this has important implications for the way you write and, in turn, the effectiveness of your marketing.

Simply put, if you want people to feel like they know you well, use short, specific time frames.

How American Express and IBM build B2B loyalty

Building loyalty within the B2B category can be very challenging, especially if price negotiation has taken place. Suppliers may feel they've already invested in a customer.  Unfortunately, the B2B customer may not feel the same way. After the sale, the best ongoing signal of support for a B2B customer is helping them succeed with their customers. For instance Jim Griffing, founder of Griffing & Company accounting, always helps his clients understand if their operating expenses are inline with industry standards. IBM helps its big customers by sharing original marketing research on its customers's customers, and American Express helps its small customers with advertising and promotions. 

IBM Global C-suite Study: Introduction

American Express Muppets Commercials released in 2015: Miss Piggy

Excerpt from Boston Herald: AmEx drops Small Business Saturday perk, 2015-Nov-28

Over the past five years, American Express has dangled a carrot to encourage cardholders to patronize independent stores on Small Business Saturday: statement credits from $10 to $30.

As the sixth annual homage to mom-and-pop shops starts today, AmEx cardholders who make a conscious decision to forgo the big chains must settle for a warm-and-fuzzy feeling in addition to whatever bargains they pick up.

AmEx, a longtime promoter of Small Business Saturday, isn’t making the incentive widely available this year to cardholders, according to its website.

“This year we are not offering a statement credit offer on Small Business Saturday,” the company said on the “Shop Small” section of its website. “In past years, the offer was one of the ways to encourage our customers to make a habit of shopping at small businesses as they begin the holiday season.” The company’s ShopSmall Twitter page addressed questions from consumers asking about the credit. “No incentive to shop small,” atom58 tweeted to ShopSmall.

American Express said it would continue to promote Small Business Saturday through local and national advertising. It said 55 percent of U.S. consumers are aware of the day — the highest figure yet recorded in a survey done on AmEx’s behalf.

Emailing responsibly (with purpose)

I'm torn by the necessity of sending regular contact to customers and the desire to wait until I have something important to say. It's a natural tension, and one I just have to confront on a monthly basis. If I haven't found something to email about at the end of the month, then I have to give up and email something anyway. 

"I still care about you" is the message I'm trying to convey.

Code School blog: Forget About Clicks, Design Emails With Purpose, 2015-May-15 by Corey Rabazinski

Here at Code School, we spend a lot of time thinking about, designing, and analyzing our emails. They’re not only a great way for us to communicate with the Code School community, but they’re also some of the most viewed “pages” under the Code School brand. In April alone, 4 of our emails were opened by over 200,000 people. Over that same time, only 2 of the pages on our site were seen by that many unique users.

But with great power comes great responsibility — we understand and respect that the inbox is not something to be abused. 

An idea that spurs creativity: give your customers their data

What if every company would share back your data as a normal part of customer service?

I work for a company that would find it very challenging, not because we wouldn't like to, but because it would be expensive to create the system to provide it. When I was collecting art, I really wanted my art dealer to help me keep track of all my purchases, but she couldn't afford to do it, partly because I was the only customer who was interested. 

Helping people collect data about themselves, in a useable format, is quickly becoming an industry trend. How can you and your company help?

Bryan Pearson: Data Sharing, 2013-Jun-10

Such forward-thinking initiatives, wherein the consumer is seen as a collaborator and not merely a source of insights, will be required for the data-science industry to grow prosperously. If we operate with uneven philosophies, wherein only some organizations invite consumers to review their information for the purposes of better interactions, then those that choose the non-communal approach will likely get shut out.

TFS: Attention to Effort

According to Daniel Kahneman in Thinking Fast and Slow, the two systems in our brain share the use of our attention, but are polar opposites when it comes to using effort. Using System 2 means more than slowing down, it means 'thinking harder.' Kahneman describes System 2 as lazy, which means it has to be kicked into action. I find it easier to think of System 2 as determined to conserve energy. The more you pressure System 2, the more you drain yourself, and one of the most exhausting things is to try and make slow thinking go faster. One of the best ways to avoid the drain is to apply your talents and skills, and to avoid multitasking. 

One of Kahneman's most amusing points is that System 2 sees itself as the hero of the story and never gives the fast-thinking System 1 any credit. And that's too bad because System 1 is the source of integration and insight. First, work your System 2 to dig up the missing facts then let things simmer for awhile. When everything things comes together you'll experience what Bill Duggan calls "strategic intuition" flashing out of System 1. 

Google in the morning, LinkedIn in the evening, Pinterest after supper time

Twitter after lunch and Facebook all afternoon... 

That's not entirely true, but it's fun to write. For most of us, just getting the message out is nothing short of a miracle, but there are better and worse times to post. Of course, the best approach is to observe your own target audience, but the Mediabistro sister publication Social Times is following the frenetic trendshifts. Social Times takes a light-hearted view of the business and has recently been added to my newsfeed.

B2B Marketing Insight Blog: Best Times of Day to Post Content on Social Media Profiles, 2012-Oct-9 by Andrew Bates

Recently Social Times shared Social Caffeine's infographic, "The Best and Worst Times to Post on Social Networks" with data from many sources including Mashable.