Inbound Industry Report: July 10, 2012

Top marketing news, articles and tips from the first week of July 2012.

Marketing Strategy

Sometimes we all need a bit of a reality check to

 break old habits. And, reverting back to the same old mediocre marketing campaign can easily become one of those habits. Jonathan Mead (@jonathanmead) tells it how it is: if your campaign failed, it’s probably because you played it safe.

Take note of Mead’s recommendations for a revolutionary marketing strategy:

• What once was innovative is now commonplace (webinars, anyone?). Assess your current go-to tactics, and see if they’re really working for you.
• People are afraid to venture into the unknown. Channel your inner Christopher Columbus, and be the first to discover a trailblazing technique new to the industry.
• “Being a pioneer can mean a lonely road
  .” You won’t have the analytics or data to back up a new theory, but the potential success may be worth the risk.

ROI

In any marketing campaign, it’s important to prove value and validate your efforts. But, unrealistic expectations and the wrong approach to ROI can actually be inhibiting. Vic Drabicky (@vicdrabicky) shares what marketers need to keep in mind to interpret ROI the right way, and accelerate brand growth.

Drabicky says we mistakenly put the value on marketing, and not the customers behind it. How can you fix it?

1. Investigate the value of the customer driving your marketing. Figure out a customer’s worth by setting up a system to quantify your conversions.
2. Track and know the value of every action a customer takes on your website. You lose value by just looking at a sale and ignoring engagements that may lead to sales down the road, like downloads, content shares, repeat visits, etc.
3. Combine the two to create a new marketing ROI model for a more detailed look at your campaign’s impact. 

Once you’ve mastered theses techniques for your overall marketing campaign, focus in on different components, such as calculating social media ROI. (Note: While the view here is simplistic, it offers a good place to start.)

Twitter Updates

Twitter’s plans to create a consistent user experience may have backfired, as criticisms of its decision to cut any non-affiliated, third-party apps continue to fly. Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) describes Twitter’s API eviction process as a “cacophony of confusion” for its users, and believes the result will be anything but consistent. Here are its faults:

• Disconnected mobile experience with website design and userface issues.
• Core feature inconsistency.
• Variant tweet and message readability, depending on device or platform.

Nova Spivack (@novaspivack) has also voiced his discontent with Twitter’s decision, along with an “everybody wins”-style solution to its API problem: free API access with intermittent ads shown on these apps, or premium API access that allows apps to opt-out of showing ads. 

What are your thoughts on Twitter’s changes?

Company News

• The FBI killed temporary servers servicing victims of DNSChanger, a virus that changes victims’ DNS servers, rerouting them to websites of the hacker’s choosing. Turns out, the shutdown wasn't quite as big a deal as expected. 
• More companies are jumping on the computing-eyeglass bandwagon, though the style aspect is not getting rave reviews. In addition to Google’s Android-powered Explorer Edition glasses, Olympus announced its own prototype, which is seven years in the making.
• In the mobile realm, Amazon adds competition to the mix with its own smartphone development. 
• A Facebook rebellion might be brewing, according to Mark Schaefer (@markwschaefer). With recent incidents gaining attention regarding both privacy and relevance, Schaefer believes that users may be feeling the “coolness” wear off.
• In addition to the API updates mentioned above, Twitter overhauled its search functionality, providing new features like autocomplete, spelling suggestions and more.

Stats & Studies

• A prime example of taking a marketing leap of faith, The Lung Cancer Alliance used shock tactics as the base for its risky guerilla ad campaign titled “No One Deserves to Die.” Its wild success is due to the combination of well-done content combined with social efforts.
• According to a new report using Forrester’s Social Technographics system, at least 8 in 10 adult internet users across the globe engage in social media.

What articles made your top list last week? We'd like to hear your opinions.

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