Archive for November, 2009



Max Fose

11/30/2009

Kelly Watson Joins IWS
04:36 pm by Max Fose

We are excited to welcome Kelly Watson to IWS. 

Kelly joins the IWS account team and brings with her a great knowledge of email best practices and campaign execution. With IWS delivering over 150 million emails a year her experience will serve our clients well!

Previous to IWS, Kelly worked as an Account Executive at Fishbowl, an Alexandria, VA based agency and email marketing provider to the restaurant industry. In her role she managed loyalty marketing and frequency-based email programs for a variety of national restaurant chains.  

Kelly holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame.  She is originally from outside Philadelphia, PA and now resides in Alexandria, VA with her recently wedded husband, Brian. 

When asked what she does when not working she replied “cheering for her beloved Philly sports teams or picking out paint colors for her new home.” 

Kelly can be reached at Kelly@workwithiws.com

Brian Michael

11/30/2009

Awesome Excel Add-On
11:40 am by Brian Michael

In the email marketing world, you often find yourself inheriting lists of contacts for email delivery on behalf of clients.  Besides ascertaining the origin these lists (opt-in, matched file, etc.), it is important to do an initial cleansing of the lists.  This includes removing duplicates, filling in missing data and removing erroneous data.  If you have a person responsible for database administration he or she could probably get this done by loading the lists into a MySQL, SQL, or Access database and running a few scripts.  However, this person may not understand the specific logic that the data must follow (i.e. this type of record trumps this type), because it is often not known until someone actually rolls up their sleeves and starts digging.

So when you need to manipulate data using a fine point rather than the broad brush of database scripts, Microsoft Excel is a natural solution.  However it has its limitations in terms of sync-ing multiple lists.  Thankfully, DigDB is a useful Excel plug-in that allows you to do much of your data manipulation yourself.  Its website also features step-by-step instructions for common tasks like de-duping lists.  Check it out, it’s pretty cool and extremely useful.

Paul McKay

11/24/2009

Giving Thanks
07:24 pm by Paul McKay

Thanksgiving is hands down the best holiday of the year. This morning I went to my kindergarten son’s Thanksgiving assembly and was reminded of the true spirit of this holiday — the spirit of giving and reflecting on the concept of gratitude.  I was also struck by the joy of Thanksgiving when I heard seventy five 6-year olds belt out a song that wove the lyrics “Thank you teachers, thank you Mommy, thank you Daddy …” with “Turkey! Turkey! Yummy! Yummy!”  It was pure bliss.

This year I have a lot to be thankful for including the health and happiness of my family; the opportunities to learn from and grow with my colleagues at IWS; and the joy of coming to work everyday and work for great clients to help them advance their ideas and products.

Have a safe and joyful Thanksgiving.

Max Fose

11/24/2009

Time Online
04:10 pm by Max Fose

Traditional avenues for communicating a message are losing ground everyday to online communication tools. As the following two charts show, online is capturing more and more of an individual’s attention and time.  And, unlike competing options, online communication tools provide users with an immediate avenue to engage in the conversation that is measurable in real time.

1081071

108113

 

Maura DeBartoli

11/23/2009

Not Sure Where You Fit Best? Try On A Few Platforms, Find Your Creative Spot
07:24 pm by Maura DeBartoli

getmommed

Want to thrive in social media? Look different than everyone else at the party.

Being on Twitter and Facebook is still relatively new to marketers and brands alike, but more and more companies, businesses and entrepreneurs will have a full-blown social media strategy (or attempt at) sooner than later.  There are other online influential communities, not to be forgotten – maybe your audience’s most prevalent discussions are in forums, or scribd or whatever it may be.

Solution? Learn to create.

You should spend a little over ¼ of your time developing creativity. Your efforts in content creation are just as important (if not more) than connectivity and communication. Creativity can build blogs, viral videos, compelling email newsletters, and promote attractive media or applications. Need some assistance? Think crowdsourcing and co-creating. Two brains are better than one, so make a few friends!

Since we are human, and people get sick of repetitiveness, we seek out new material. A recent post by adAge touches on the “Big Idea” and how sometimes it can come from the exploration of a new technology or method that enhances consumer connection. It says,

Creative ingenuity lies within the idea, the technology, the concept, the innovation and, perhaps most important, the Holy Grail: consumer connection. Word of mouth is more prevalent than ever and interactive communities have an increasingly louder and more influential voice and are stronger (and sometimes the only) sources of breaking news stories.

These webs we now co-exist in weren’t made for Branded Co. XYZ (It had something to do with Al Gore and a big hole in the ozone layer… I forget now). But anyhow, find yourself a developer buddy and get creative.

Kleenex: getmommed

jmcglasson

11/19/2009

We like to think of ourselves as Santa’s little helpers
11:51 am by jmcglasson

img_4033With the current economic strain that our country is under, we do not have to look far to see a need. There is projection that this year there will be a record number of families who will need assistance this holiday season. Integrated Web Strategy may not be able to put a huge dent in the needs of our valley, but we can sure help. For the last 10 years, IWS has been committed to giving back to the community in any way that we can—regardless of the economic climate. Whether it be our continued pro-bono work for numerous not-for-profits, sponsoring community events, adopting families at Christmas or our turkey donations to help feed the hungry, giving back has always been a priority of our agency.

This year, IWS has a partner in our quest to help. And it’s not just anybody! We are working with the big man himself – SANTA! Bob Grinnell, a valley resident has been lighting up the lives of many children for years! Each year, he is focused on the mission to give kids a Christmas who will likely not have one. Bob’s long time mission to improve kids’ lives and spread the spirit during the holiday is one that is remarkable to see and exciting to be a part of. Santa Bob is a member of the Real Bearded Santa’s and for years has not only volunteered through hospice, lighting up children’s lives, but he orchestrates a yearly drive to assist needy families. Each year, the need grows which makes his job much more challenging. The families that he cannot find sponsors for, Santa Bob donates the money he earns for “hiring out as Santa” so that no family is turned away.

My own family has had the great joy of having Santa be part of our annual Christmas celebration for the last 4 years. Our family and friends feel it to be an honor to be able to assist him in his cause. As we quickly approach the holiday season, Santa is still in need of help! He has many families that he is hoping to fulfill wishes for. IWS would like to invite you to join us in our efforts this year. If your family or company is thinking about adopting a family, please contact Bob Grinnell. Or if you would like to surprise your family and friends at your upcoming holiday party, all proceeds that he makes as Santa go directly to providing needy children with joy on Christmas morning.

Andrew Holmes

11/17/2009

How well do you know Mr. G?
01:26 pm by Andrew Holmes

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is the complex process of improving a website’s traffic via online search engines. Blah, blah, blah. By now, most of us are at least somewhat familiar with this rather confusing and intimidating acronym, but I am here to give you my take on it. As an architect of the pages we view, scroll, click, shop, sign-up, comment, peruse, and ultimately rely on for a myriad of daily use, I am here to help sort out the enigma that is SEO. g

Of course I have to say, search engines (plural) in most cases when I’m talking about SEO, but lets face it, for now there’s really only one that matters. Who is this king of the search engines you ask? This internet moderator who answers those tough questions in life, like “Who delivers Chinese at 2 am?” or “How many feet are in a mile??”  Well I could let you take a guess out of……hmmm, I’ll say three, but I’ll just give you a hint instead. His name begins with G and ends with duh.

For most of you who know him, Mr. G is a pretty neat guy. He’s very popular, hip, clean cut, savvy and for the most part, friendly. Friendly of course, only if you speak his language and dress in his style… and guess what, he can be very choosy. Mr. G is at times extremely judgmental, especially if you try to climb his LONG ladder of friends unfairly, by bending his rules. The fact is, his popularity has given him certain rights. There are certain standards he has set in place that allow him to govern how you or your company rank on his coveted list of friends. Oh and by the way, just because you dress Flash-y doesn’t mean you’re automatically buds with G either.

Ahh, the science of SEO… this is where I come in. Though this “science” is complicated, tedious, and dull with outside opinions; I am a firm believer that the basic underlying concepts of SEO will for the most part remain the same. By following a few key rules any site can attract G’s much needed attention. These rules are simple: Have interesting, up-to-date content on a well-designed and developed infrastructure and, bing! your website will skyrocket to the top of Mr. G’s friend list faster than you can say Balloon Boy.

Maybe you love him, with his quick responses on how to spell words like “unconstitutional” or his perfect timing to remind you that, yes, it is actually Sesame Street’s 40 birthday. Maybe you struggle with Mr. G and his fickle, ever changing taste in websites and where he decides to rank them in importance. One thing is for sure: like him or not, the next wave we get from G….. probably won’t be a wave goodbye.

Maura DeBartoli

11/16/2009

They Know If You’ve Been Naughty or Nice
12:43 pm by Maura DeBartoli

picture-4

There was a recent post by eMarketer that discussed a growing number of web shoppers this holiday season, turning to social networks for advice, sales and information research.  A bit of news from the mobile sector:

Even more consumers – 19% – are planning on using the mobile channel for their holiday shopping… one-quarter plan to make a holiday purchase over mobile.

Does this information change your holiday marketing and sales plans?  It is an entirely new holiday shopping experience for consumers.  Since they’ll be seeking out brands they trust and interact with, it’s a good thing you’ve been ‘nice’ to them via social sites this past year, yes?

Image: miss karen

Jessica Carlson

11/11/2009

Three tips for fundraising via social media
06:30 pm by Jessica Carlson

picture-2There are few organizations and people that take fundraising to the social media sphere and generate a lot of success, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t easily be done, and with great rewards. Looking at three case studies, we can see how to apply best practices to our own social media fundraising campaigns and see significant results.

#1: Make it all about the medium. In non-profit and political sectors the bulk of contributions often come from events. Looking at Twestival, we can see how surrounding the event with social media incorporation can help increase awareness. Twestival, which originally was put into place to help raise funds for the infamous Charity: water, used Twitter as it’s primary medium for outreach for the event. People in turn shared the event with their followers, encouraging them to help out the worthy cause.

With such widespread outreach, the event garnered a lot of attention, and if you were big on Twitter, you better believe you were attending the largest Tweetup ever. They made almost made participation and knowledge of Twestival a right of passage on the micro-blogging service. Essentially, their event went viral because everything about the event was encompassed on Twitter, from the inception to promotion to the event happenings in real time to the end results. How successful have they been for making it all about the medium? Well, on their first try they raised $250,000 for Charity: water and Twestival local raised thousands of dollars for local charities in each of the 133 global host cities.

#2: Get your foot in the door. Taking an example from our playbook, our client, COAR has demonstrated that asking for a little gets you a lot. We’ve ran several campaigns asking for small donations, such as during World Refugee Week, we asked that people within COAR’s network donate seven dollars, or a dollar per day for the week. Not only did more people than expected participate, but people gave more than what we had suggested. Everyone who donated gave between $10 and $30. Using small asks, or getting your foot in the door, as opposed for asking for what you might really want to suggest, will encourage more participation on social media. Just ask COAR, asking for small favors over the past few months has helped increase their Cause Page donations by almost 300 percent.

#3: Tell a story and build connections. Although it’s our last tip, it’s actually the most important. Just like the chances of you buying a new product that you’ve never heard of are slim to none, the chances that people will donate to your organization without hearing your passions and stances are about as probable. Social media is a great tool that allows you to share your story and give supporters the chance to see the people behind your organization.

Who’s sharing their story on social media, and doing an amazing job of it? Charity: water.

Keeping the people behind the name at the forefront, their founder and CEO, Scott Harrison, plays an incredibly active role in sharing the Charity: water story. Whether it’s twittering about a well being drilled in Kenya or creating a video sharing how Charity: water began and all the successes they’ve seen in only three short years, he tells the story fluidly and with such emotion you can’t help but feel a deeper connection with the organization. Don’t have access to a full on production team? You’d be surprised what sort of emotions you can conjure up with a few photos and some well thought out words.

As a whole, they use Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to keep their supporters up to date. They share the normal every day things to the above average actions they’re taking, such as a picture of an internal meeting, a photo from a past event or their plan to bring water to a community in Uganda. Sharing these things make the supporters feel connected, and better yet, like their donations are truly making a big difference – something that without social media, they might not otherwise be aware of.

Photo via Catty Came Home.

Maura DeBartoli

11/10/2009

Break Me Off A Piece! Your Social-Email Strategy
06:07 pm by Maura DeBartoli

puppic

You can stay married to your current strategic development plan if you want the last bone. Unless the content in your emails, provided to subscribers is share-worthy, it’s probable that the content won’t leave that inbox.

Why you post information to social sites, the content within, and how frequently you engage in social media participation, all have to do with the motivation behind it. If you can apply those motivations to your audience, and provide material that perks their little ears, you’ve got yourself a social-email strategy.

The ruling motivators for social engagement include self-interest, self-expression or status-achievement. “What’s in it for me?” Include promotions, advice or interesting facts and media sources – no one will post Company XYZ’s mission statement and boring ongoing rates to their Facebook Page. Make me want to “tell 5 friends”.

Give your subscribers a way of self-expression. A brief example of this could be providing a link to a social site (Facebook is best for applications) that would allow for the creation of a personalized profile graphic to show off, and show support.

In the online world, it isn’t the brand of your shoes, or the model of your car that symbolizes your status. It’s numbers. Your audience—and people in general—want to feel like they have authority, reason to brag or just own a feeling of accomplishment. How can your brand capitalize on that motivation? Do something like this, for example… Whenever a subscriber shares the email content with someone in their social network, they get a point… or two. The more people that they share that information with, they more “points” they get. This could in turn, be used for pulling in subscribers for special events, all while raising awareness and creating a social-email strategy.

So get sharing!

Tip: Do your research. Recognizing what exactly motivates your subscriber base will help you develop email content that is share-worthy.

image: Back in the Pack