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It was pretty much the worst case scenario realized for retailers last month. Retail sales declined 2.7 percent in the all-important month of December, drawing to a close the worst holiday season since 1969. With consumer confidence still at record lows, how can a typical retailer hope to survive such dire circumstances? While there are no easy answers to address this multitude of problems, it’s time for retailers, especially those in the SMB space, to embrace digital marketing to help survive and possibly even thrive in the current economic conditions.

As I noted in my previous article, digital marketing should be top of mind for anyone in the SMB sector, and this is especially true for retailers, both online and “brick and mortar.” Here are a few reasons why:

It’s Affordable-Unlike other more traditional marketing channels, digital vehicles like email and SMS should be within the budget of even the smallest of retailers.

It’s Trackable-Lower revenues and disappointing sales mean it’s time to re-focus on maximizing ROI, and digital marketing in its very nature is designed to be trackable. Whether you just want to see how many people respond to a specific offer, or you need more sophisticated conversion tracking, you can monitor, in real time, the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts.

It’s Attainable-Gone are the days where only larger companies could effective deploy and manage digital marketing strategies. This is especially true for mobile marketing, in which SMB retailers can use applications like our mobileStorm SMS platform to quickly and easily launch highly effective campaigns, such as mobile coupons.

It’s Adaptable–Being stuck with an ineffective marketing campaign can be a serious blow to a retailer, both in terms of lost revenue or even your reputation. Changing course in the traditional media outlets can be cost both time and money. In the digital realm, however, such corrections can be done with minimal effort and expense.

It’s Personable–Most forms of mass communication are geared towards the mass market, meaning that the same message is applied across a wide section of potential consumers. Digital marketing allows you to take an inverse approach, giving you the flexibility to customize your offer to a much smaller (and arguably more effective) niche audience.

It’s Inevitable–Whether or you are currently engaged in digital marketing, the fact is that eventually you’ll have no choice but to use it. Your competitors will be, or already are, doing so.

What has your experience been like using digital marketing as a retailer? If you haven’t started, what is holding you back from doing so? We’d love to hear your thoughts either way.

Until next time,

Steve Chipman
“Analog thoughts in a digital world”

We’ve all heard the dire predictions of what 2009 will mean to marketers and make no mistake about it, the news isn’t great. I won’t bother with a rehash of what others have reported because, quite frankly, it’s too depressing to do so. What I offer instead is the proverbial silver lining in this dark, gloomy cloud we’re facing: Digital marketing.

While traditional marketing budgets have shrunk over the past few months, digital marketing has proven to be a much more resilient form of communication in this same time period. In fact, most analysts are predicting at least a slight uptick in overall spending in digital marketing, notably email and mobile marketing, but nothing close to what had been initially projected before the economy was finally deemed to be in a recession.

Still, there are many reasons why companies should not only maintain but increase their digital marketing budgets in 2009, especially within the SMB (small-to-midsized business) space, to take advantage of its unique properties. These include:

Price
Digital is still by far the cheapest of the mass forms of communication. TV and radio rates have not fallen nearly as far as expected, despite the weakened economy; print is in a death spiral and increasingly not a safe play for a decent ROI; and outdoor/out of home is still a niche play at best.

ROI
Digital marketing wins this in a landslide as well. Other forms of mass communication simply do not or are not equipped to give the level of insight that digital can when it comes to ROI. Digital by its very nature is trackable, with more and more sophisticated analytics becoming available on almost a daily basis to even the smallest of companies.

Reach
Digital penetration rates are now as high as more mature forms of mass communication, especially mobile phones, which should reach 100% penetration over the next few years according to most studies. Mobile marketers have only begun to scratch the surface of what is possible and although email marketing is much more established, it too still has potential growth opportunities. This is especially true in the SMB market, where there are many affordable digital marketing platforms from which to choose.

Segmentation
Not only can digital provide companies with a way to reach a mass audience, it also works extremely well in terms of market segmentation. Digital marketing is a natural for “narrowcasting” and customization of the message, which isn’t economically viable in the other forms of mass communication. With a solid digital marketing platform, the message can be tailored to a specific audience or even an individual consumer in a matter of moments.

Control
As any seasoned marketer knows, keeping and maintaining control of a marketing campaign is vital to its success. For a small company, this is even more critical because of tight budgets and lack of internal resources. With a digital marketing platform, such programs can be created and managed by even a single individual, while still maintaining the polish and feel of a much larger, more sophisticated marketing firm or company.

The bottom line is that 2009 is going to be rough on pretty much every business, with marketing budgets shrinking in kind. However, savvy companies, big and small, will recognize and embrace digital marketing as a key objective for the coming year. After all, just because the economy stinks doesn’t mean marketing will cease all together. Companies will simply have to be much more selective and expect real results, which is exactly what digital marketing can bring them.

What other unique benefits does digital marketing offer companies? Feel free to list your own and/or discuss the ones noted above. Your feedback is always welcomed.

Steve Chipman, Chief Operating Officer, mobileStorm
Analog thoughts in a digital world

Maintaining consistent email delivery can be a very tricky thing. Sometimes, even if you are following best practices such as proper email collection, removing bounces and generally being a “good” sender, your delivery can degrade over time. Once this happens, it’s time to reassess what is going on and look at the potential pitfalls you may have triggered. One of the most obvious symptoms can be whether or not you are on a shared IP or a dedicated IP.

Let’s quickly talk about the basic differences of each:

Shared IP – A shared IP means that your mailings are being sent off an IP that includes other users/companies. Most ESPs will start your account on a shared IP. They sometimes use this as a probationary step because they need to see what you are like as a sender before determining where best to place you in a tiered structure.

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The digital marketing world is one in constant flux, which is the nature of any industry that centers on technology. From Apple vs. PC to BluRay vs. HD DVD, standards for new technologies become the battlegrounds for many companies trying to have their chosen formats to be the winners. Of course, this is hardly surprising given the vast sums of money spent to win such format wars.

As a result, companies trying to establish their particular format as the standard tend to dismiss the other proposed suggestions. So-called “early adopters’ are used to such shifts but by the time a particular technology reaches the mass consumer audience, normally one standard is established… hopefully.

Digital marketing channels are no different when it comes to standards, both good and bad. Some communication vehicles are more or less uniform in their standards but others offer digital marketers a sometimes bewildering array of options, causing many to go with the less common denominator approach. To help sort through the mess, here’s a quick guide on how various digital marketing communications deal with standards, from the easiest to the most contentious.

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Last year Apple changed the smart phone industry forever with the release of its wildly popular iPhone device. While other similar devices had been on the market for years, the iPhone used Apple’s unparalleled marketing prowess to quickly establish itself as a major player in the space. Plus, it just looked damn cool.

Still, while the iPhone was unquestionably a hit with consumers, it wasn’t as fully embraced in by businesses, which are the bread and butter of the smart phone industry. Granted that wasn’t necessarily Apple’s intended target with the first iPhone but it was still considered a drawback, especially since the device couldn’t synch to an enterprise mail server like Exchange. As a result Research in Motion’s Blackberry device continued to be the de facto standard when it came to business smart phone users.

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In the novel 1984, novelist George Orwell predicted a future where the government had complete control over the populace, monitoring their every move through technology. An enduring classic, the book introduced the concept that “Big Brother is watching you.” In fact, it proved to be such a seminal work that the term “Orwellian” became synonymous with technologies that are used in such invasive matters of privacy.

Of course, in today’s society we really are in the era of Big Brother, except that the monitoring technology is (or at least supposed to be) designed to protect us, not control us. Opponents of the infamous Patriot Act might disagree but that’s an issue for another day, or blog for that matter…

In some cases, marketers have implemented monitoring and tracking ideas that are almost as nefarious as those Orwell wrote in 1984. This has been exacerbated by online technologies. While for the most part, being online is relatively safe, the proliferation of viruses, Trojan horses and other applications designed to extract information about consumers has caused many to be a lot more cautious. Unfortunately for digital marketers, this skittishness is hurting the burgeoning use of what is being called behavioral targeted messaging.

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It’s inevitable with any new form of marketing that after awhile U.S. laws and regulations will be established both to protect consumers and limit what exactly constitutes an acceptable message. It had happened first with print, then voice, then fax, then email and now the cycle continues with mobile messaging. In the past few months, the most of the major carriers have either implemented or tightened their restrictions on mobile marketing and this trend shows no signs of abating any time soon.

In one sense, these new requirements actually point to a rapidly maturing mobile marketing industry. The last couple of years were essentially the testing and proving grounds for text messaging, mobile content and most recently mobile search. Companies were largely in an experimental mode, trying out various combinations of mobile campaigns to see what worked and what didn’t. Now, in 2008, these companies have largely settled on the types of mobile initiatives they want to implement and are starting to launch such programs in earnest.

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Earlier this month, Judge James B. Zagel became part of the email marketing industry’s history with his ruling on the landmark e360 Prospect vs. Comcast case. In his decision, Zagel dismissed all of e360’s claims outright, while keeping in play Comcast’s countersuit against the company. Ouch.

To me, the most fascinating of e360’s four charges was that by Comcast blocking their emails from being received by its subscribers, the ISP was essentially in violation of the First Amendment and the right to free speech. Interestingly enough, the judge agreed that “the idea of blocking seems at odds in some way with free speech protection, even though there are limits imposed on the free speech protection of commercial speech, which is, I infer, the principal, if not the only, business of e360.”

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In Part 1: Real Estate Mobile Marketing, we discussed how mobile marketing can be a tremendous asset for realtors/agencies in their listing strategy by taking advantage of the time-sensitive nature and accessibility of cell phones. Now, let’s talk about how mobile marketing can help with on-property marketing efforts.

As noted, the recent softening of the real estate market has led once hot areas to grow cold, while competition continues to grow. Therefore, any sort of competitive edge is critical for realtors and agencies to help get through these tough times.

Here are just a few examples of how mobile marketing can augment or even replace your current real estate listing marketing practices.

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It’s not exactly a fun time right now for the average real estate agent/firm. The sub prime fiasco mixed with a declining new house purchases has left the industry in a state of major change. Like any sector facing a tough market, agencies are making cuts to help survive, including, inevitably the marketing budget.

However, while cost-cutting measures like this can help in the short term, it’s more advisable to consolidate efforts to those that are both economical and effective. This is where mobile marketing can help.

At the very beginning of my career in the early 90s, I helped author a national housing survey for the Urban Land Institute. In the report, we concluded that the housing market, based on lot inventory levels I painstakingly had to research, was about to go very soft, especially in California. We recommended that more effort be placed on marketing and positioning of existing properties vs. future inventory.

This was a pretty shocking prediction as at the time California real estate agents basically did almost no marketing because demand was incredibly tight. Our findings were basically dismissed as overly pessimistic but as it turned out we were actually optimistic.

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