Take a moment and imagine what your customers are doing online – right now. Like you, they are engaged in digital experiences performing everyday tasks such as checking email, managing finances, booking flights, downloading music or connecting with friends.  These digital experiences are always more engaging than passive messages. They create emotional imprints that can either elevate brands or remove equity from them.

Brands that deliver engaging digital experiences build and sustain long-term competitive advantages; therefore, getting the experience right must be a priority. At Red Door, we’ve learned that engaging experiences all have the following characteristics. Consider them when evaluating how well your organization is serving its customers online:

• Engaging experiences create value – Whether through efficiencies that help us get more done in a busy day, stay connected with friends and family, provide entertainment or solve problems good experiences keep us coming back for more. They encourage us to take action and give us something back in return.
• Engaging experiences don’t make us work too hard – A helpful experience is one that guides us towards a solution. Simple inputs produce remarkable results that can’t be replicated anywhere else. These kinds of experiences make our lives easier. They instill a sense of accomplishment, empowerment and satisfaction leaving us feeling energized, not depleted.
• Engaging experiences touch our emotions – Usability and utility are fundamental to a good experience; however, those attributes alone won’t differentiate brands from one another. An emotional component must also be considered. Dull experiences will always be swapped with ones that have likable personalities.
• Engaging experiences are always available – Experiences that create value are needed at home and on the go. We expect them to be with us anywhere and available all the time.  Mobile compatibility and portability to desktops and social profiles ensure that when we need an experience it will be ready and waiting for us.
• Engaging experiences are easy to share – When we discover a valuable experience it’s increasingly important that we’re able to share it with others. Experiences that prevent us from sharing products of interest or engaging in dialogue around compelling messages detach us from the people we value most.

We hear time and time again that experience is the message. As consumers shift more of their attention online it becomes increasingly important for brands to deliver engaging digital experiences. Luckily, a common sense approach is often all it takes. Matching the goals of customers with business objectives is the winning combination.

So you think trendy online social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are great ways to make connections, keep up with the latest gossip and generally pass the time away?

Reid Carr sees them as opportunities for companies to build their income and bottom line. And, he can prove it with creative campaigns his team has developed for clients that include Cricket Wireless, Sempra Energy, the restaurants Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, and others.

Red Door’s mission is to help established companies leverage their brand on-line, build additional revenue, add business and retain customers. “Every company is on their own path toward e-business,” Reid believes. “We are here to facilitate that process.”

READ THE INTERVIEW IN IT’S ENTIRETY HERE

Presented by: Charles Wiedenhoft – Director of Business Planning & Optimization

DATE: August 25, 2009
TIME: 11:20am PST / 12:20pm MST

REGISTER NOW!!

We’re in the midst of Summer, but online retailers who were able to secure budget for major site enhancements have preparations for the holiday shopping season well underway. Those merchants who are operating under budgeting and staff reductions aren’t as fortunate because cutbacks in consumer spending have put many large-scale projects on hold. Stagnant to moderate revenue growth through the holiday season could be a best case scenario; however, new research indicates that even modest gains are at risk.

A recent PayPal survey revealed that nearly half (45%) of online shoppers abandoned their carts multiple times in the first three weeks of June 2009 due to high shipping costs, security concerns and lack of convenience. Another report by Coremetrics shows shopping cart abandonment hovering at 66% in March 2009 with lower conversion percentages predicted through the remainder of the year. That’s an alarming prospect for retailers hoping to weather another tough holiday season.

This webinar will provide retailers tactics for reducing shopping cart and checkout abandonment with minimal investment in time and resources. We’ll also present recommendations on emerging tactics that should be prioritized for 2010 budget consideration.

Topics will include:

* Shopping cart and checkout abandonment trends
* Top reasons why shoppers don’t convert
* Top methods of reducing shopping cart abandonment
* Influencing conversion before the cart
* Analytics and research methods

REGISTER NOW!!

If you have any questions, please contact Morgan Witt at mwitt@reddoor.biz

The focus of the presentation was to analyze an industry leader, Simpson Property Group and illustrate the SPG customer online experience. Additionally, the broad based presentation set the stage for the more focused presentations on social media, analytics, and search marketing throughout the rest of the conference.

Key Takeaways included:

• Your internet presence is not a website. Instead, it’s every point your target audiences are exposed to your brand online.
• Break down the online experience of your target audience into defined steps of the customer relationship – Acquisition, Conversion, Retention and Extension.
• Renters are looking online for peer support as well as information. Ratings and reviews as well as social networks are becoming huge factors in major decisions like where to live.
• With Internet Listing Services (ILS) and Online Classifieds, leads come from a multitude of online sources. Track and measure of all these sources and optimize these acquisition and conversion resources.
• Segment your audience into personas and understand their desired tasks.
• Get local. Capitalize on local search, and local social to acquire traffic.
• If nothing else, start ‘listening’ to social networks and create strategies to start participating.
• Be aware of mobile users and target them with mobile friendly listings.
• Your digital brand experience is not just your website, consider how users learn of you and make improvements wherever possible.
• Retention tactics like email, social and CRM may be the most effective ways to weather a tough economy. Keeping tenants is far cheaper than finding new ones.
• Build your plans from well implemented analytics. Without measurement, you’re not able to measure your impact on each step of the online customer experience.

Learn more about the the 2009 Apartment Internet Marketing Conference, and check out the Twitter history during the presentation, (start from the bottom).

I am proud of our compensation structure, which has always been performance-oriented and our results, bad or good, have always been transparent to our clients. That is why we continue to grow and thrive through these economic times, with long-standing clients (with several over five years which is not too shabby for a seven year old company) increasing their dedication to their improving Web presence by increasing budgets and allowing us to deliver results.

At the end of the day, by being transparent, we illustrate what works and what doesn’t in the same breath. While not everything “works” execution by execution, at least we learn and improve each day. By doing so, we reward risk for both us and our clients as well as provide a consistent positive net on our services. Our clients make more money each year they work with us which both weathers storms and rises with tides by being organic, adaptable and fluid as a true partner is.

The data driven marketing concept is no longer a myth or impossible to put into practice. The fact is that excuses like resource constraints, budgets, and lack of data are just that – weak excuses. There are ways to quickly and effectively harness customer and prospect information you most likely already have on hand. Here are five ways to get this done in rapid fashion.

Step 1 – Make a list. If you are a multi channel marketer there is no doubt a lot of customer data floating around in silo databases (like Email, POS, and Web Analytics). It continues to amaze me how many marketers don’t know where their customer data is being stored and how to get to it. Do some digging and make a list. Dust off your old copy of your preferred flow charting software to document the current state of your data flows. This “state-of-the-state” view will allow you to identify integration points moving forward.

Step 2 – Build an alliance with your IT folks and marketing technology vendors. Marketing and technology now go hand in hand, with many organizations and marketing parties logging into multiple interfaces daily to execute campaigns and track results (Email, Web Analytics, E-commerce, etc). Technology vendor account managers are incentivized to grow your business, so leverage them in this manner as much as possible. Run ideas by them, ask for advice, understand the pricing associated with integrations, and inquire about what their other customers are doing. Internally, your IT folks should also be your partners in crime, and misjudged to be your enemy; they will no doubt play an integral role in the data and technology integration process. Together, you will identify opportunities, prioritize, and build out a strategic roadmap with common goals in mind.

Step three – Identify relevant customer data points. Look for standard customer data points, such as customer ID’s, purchase history, and order value within your available sources that will allow you to build rich customer profiles for target marketing. Doing so will also mean that your IT team will give you less push back if you only need to ask for basic customer information. The goal here is to find the data points that will allow you to target customers with content and offers that are relevant to them as an individual based on the preference and purchase information you have on them.

Step four – Pilot with email. Email marketing continues to drive the most return on investment versus any other marketing channel in the online marketing portfolio. Such campaigns provide an incredibly flexible medium to leverage for data driven campaigns. Nearly all the best of breed service providers include API (Application Programming Interface) solutions for data/technology integrations and dynamic content engines that will allow you to populate emails with targeted content and offers. Pick a population of your customer and prospect databases to do a split test. Target your test group with a data driven campaign and the rest with your standard messaging.

Step five – Implement a test and learn methodology. Set some realistic goals as you pilot your initial data- driven campaigns. A couple of small wins will give you the insight you need to expand your strategy to include additional integrations (web analytics, e-commerce, social media, SMS, etc). Over time this incremental approach will allow you to become a rock star one-to-one marketer.

The common theme to all these steps is in their common-sense simplicity. If marketers can take a few moments to put these steps in motion, their productivity and ROI could skyrocket. It’s really more of a question as to whether an organization can afford NOT to leverage their existing customer data to realize higher conversion rate and sales. Otherwise, companies will leave money on the table without even knowing it.

Ryan Leslie is a producer, singer, rapper, and multi-instrumentalist who graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Economics and Government at 19 years of age.  Impressive to say the least!  Here is a short video introduction should you not be familiar with his work:

After signing a recording contract with Universal Recordings and never receiving proper marketing support for his music, Leslie decided that he was no longer going to rely on a major label.  In 2005 he launched Ryan Leslie TV, a Youtube channel where he began posting his music videos, behind the scenes footage in the recording studio, and an inside look into his day-to-day adventures as a young record producer.  This was an unprecidented approach to promotion in the music industry at the time.  The Youtube channel in coordination with his Myspace page provided increased exposure for his music and enabled him to cultivate a loyal fan-base.  In 2006, Leslie was accused of artificially inflating his Youtube channel ranking by creating fake accounts.  This lead to a temporary removal of  his channel from the “Most Subscribed” list.  After writing an official statement to the Youtube community channels denying the claim and an official investigation that resulted in no proof of wrongdoing, Leslie’s channel was reinstated.

Ryan Leslie continues to build his brand through social media tools.  His personal website RyanLeslie.com is a fully integrated “content hub.”  There he posts all of his personal thoughts, videos and ways to connect with him directly.  The level of transparency even goes as far as sharing his personal cell phone number and email address.  By opting in to receive communications from Leslie via his virtual Blackberry phone, you can get exclusive invites to shows, hear new music he is working on, and even a personal call from the man himself.  Sound too good to be true?  Check out this experiment he conducted while on a radio promo tour in San Francisco:

His personal Twitter account updates as well as Facebook Connect are integrated into the site so that users don’t have to create an additional user name and password to log on.  This also allows Leslie to attach a real person to comments and reactions.  Each of his posts can generate 150+ comments which goes to show the high level of engagement.

On February 10th Ryan Leslie’s self titled debut album was officially released.  Exactly 7 minutes after making an appearance at the Times Square Virgin Megastore (R.I.P.), the store was sold out of Ryan Leslie albums.  By sticking to a revolutionary idea and the use of  social media tools, Ryan Leslie is “helping to reshape the business paradiam for a dying industry.”  This video speaks for itself:

And just like children they go through a series of steps: incubation, birth, adolescence, adulthood, and finally they reach senior citizen status.

But unlike children, there is no What to Expect When You Are Expecting to refer to. You want to be a good parent, and that takes preparation. I want you to be prepared. I want you to know what to expect when you are expecting (a mobile campaign). So, before you find yourself in a delivery room, about to give birth to a mobile campaign, please read what follows.

Phase 1: Incubation.

“We’re having a mobile campaign!” Elation! Excitement! Then, realization, “We’re… having… a… mobile… campaign…” But fear not. Incubation takes time. In the business word you probably aren’t going to have nine months to wait. The birth of a mobile campaign is going to happen much more quickly, so it is important that you get prepared.

Haphazardness is not going to cut it.

Realize that for this campaign to work it needs to be fully integrated with the other channels in your marketing strategy. Think of Incubation as the planning phase. It is important to understand how you can leverage your other marketing channels to get people to participate in the campaign. This could include in-store, radio, television, and social media promotions, to name just a few.

And just like preparing for the birth of a child, preparing for a mobile campaign means you need to have the proper infrastructure in place. With a baby, you would prepare the nursery. For a mobile campaign, you need to find a partner that best suits your campaign strategy. Your partner should be well versed in the mobile tactic(s) you’ll be employing. Just as I wouldn’t want a plastic surgeon delivering my baby, I wouldn’t want a mobile application builder delivering my SMS campaign.

Make sure that the entire infrastructure is in place, that you have a strong plan, clearly defined business goals, and a sound strategy that is tailored to achieve those goals.

Phase 2: Birth.

Congratulations! Your mobile campaign has been delivered. It came out kicking and screaming, but it’s here… finally!

This is where panic sets in. You are responsible for this mobile campaign… for the rest of its life. Because of this, you want to do everything in your power to nurture it, to grow it, and to have it reach its fullest potential. (One day it might even go down in the history books as one of the best mobile campaigns that ever lived)

It is important that in this phase of the mobile campaign’s life that you keep an eye on it all times. Monitoring it constantly, checking for any problems, and addressing those problems immediately. It is delicate little being and it takes special care.

Phase 3: Adolescence.

Adolescents need nurturing. Adolescents grow. You want your adolescent campaign to reach its fullest potential. But how?

Nurturing is an important first step. You need to give your mobile campaign attention. It is not okay to set it and forget it (it’s not a Ron Popeil gadget for goodness sake). You need to look at your campaign goals and see how the campaign is performing against those goals. If it is underperforming, it needs to go to tutoring. Re-evaluate your campaign strategy and be flexible with it.

If executed well, the campaign will grow itself. The power of mobile is the pass-along that happens. If your campaign includes running mobile coupons, people are going to forward those coupons to all of their friends. Make sure that in all of your messaging there is an awareness component. You would want your child to make new friends and be exposed to different kinds of people. Same goes for your mobile campaign. Make sure that people know how to get involved.

Help your campaign make friends!

Phase 4: Adulthood.

Your mobile campaign has grown up now.

I’m sure you could identify how easy it is to get set in your routine – but routine in the mobile world is not good. Whether your campaign has exceeded all expectations, and especially if it hasn’t, don’t continue to do the same old things.

The world is growing and changing at amazing rates. The same thing can be said of the mobile world. If you don’t adapt, you won’t succeed. If your mobile campaign doesn’t adapt, it won’t succeed either.

Phase 5: Senior Citizen Status.

This is the one place where a mobile campaign is not exactly like your child. You would want your child, who has worked hard through their whole life, to kick back, relax, and retire – but not your mobile campaign.

Life-cycle messaging is an important aspect. Think about how you can continue to communicate with your customers via mobile. The sky really is the limit – especially as mobile continues to grow and evolve.

So there you have it. Sure it isn’t as extensive as What to Expect When You Are Expecting, but hopefully this should, at the very least, make you feel a little less anxious about bringing a new mobile campaign into the world.

You are now fit to be the parent of a stellar mobile campaign.

Bob Nelson, author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, notes that companies can boost morale by giving employees “increased authority and leeway in handling company resources.” At Red Door, non-managers are encouraged to be committee chairs, which provides the employees at all levels the opportunity to lead and tune into the needs and interests of fellow employees.

”As a small business with big ambitions, we wanted to merge our small-business entrepreneurialism, visibility and agile decision-making with the programs, incentives and social impact of some of the biggest corporations,” said Amy Carr, Red Door’s Director of Human Resources. “While we don’t have the resources of a Fortune 500 that can dedicate a person or a team to things such as maintaining company culture or philanthropy, we still wanted to offer opportunities that provide higher-purpose for the organization. The Red Door committees have done just that.”

The eighty percent participation rate in Red Door committees speaks to the value that that employees place in their individual role within the company as well as a desire to participate in defining roles and responsibilities to improve the company overall.
While most committees operate year-long, some committees pop up to address a specific need. For example, last year a group of employees recognized that there were inefficiencies in some of the processes which lowered project profitability.  In response, they established a “Project Budget Task Force” with representation from each department.  One of the more tangible outputs from the group included “meeting cubes” to place on conference tables to remind people how to efficiently run meetings.

Another output was a set of creative checklists that guided all creative reviews and feedback.  The efforts of the task force successful ly helped increase the profitability of projects, and just as importantly, get buy-in across departments for new and improved processes. The group earned a new term of endearment from fellow employees, “The Budget Police”.  Below are a few recent committee highlights to showcase what our committees have accomplished.

It’s not all work at Red Door! The Morale Committee established a “Mad Props” section on the company’s intranet to recognize the efforts of employees. Once a quarter the most nominated employee receives an extra paid day off. Another Morale Committee initiative was this past summer when the committee hosted “The RDI Summer Games ” at PETCO Park.

Of course, committees are not just about fun and games, the Learning & Growth Committee coordinates monthly brown bag lunches, where employees lead discussions on topics such as mobile marketing, the Tao of project management and SEO 101.

Committees are an important  aspect of company culture at Red Door, providing a means for each employee to contribute their time and resources to the benefit of the whole, gain leadership opportunities and make the work environment a more dynamic, fun and profitable place.

Additional Resources

• Managing the mid-size market: Tips on using employees as resources in smaller companies
• How to Boost Employee Morale on a Budget
• In Charge of a Committee? Learn how to run a meeting like Google
• Volunteering as a Benefit: Lean how some companies are offering employee volunteer programs that are motivating and retaining current employees, and attracting new ones

(Image: Red Door Feeding Frenzy, hosted by the Morale Committee)

These channels include:

·         display ads

·         online PR

·         contextual ads

·         paid search ads

·         organic search listings

·         email/CRM

·         landing page optimization

Consequently, successful online branding and traffic acquisition requires a coordinated effort among several departments.  In many companies, the departments involved (SEO, PPC, Email, Tech, Creative) operate primarily in silos that don’t communicate well.  This is where management needs to make planning and collaboration a company priority.  Need a case study to convince management that a broad and integrated online strategy will provide results? Below, you’ll find links to five of them.

Combination of display, contextual, and paid search provides 21% lift in purchase intent

Paid search with specialized landing page creates 136% conversion lift

Email sets viral campaigns up for success (pdf)

Paid search combined with SEO leads to increased purchase intent and brand recall

Deep-linked email landing pages lead to 69% increase in CTR