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I was introduced to Twitter in 2007 by a colleague at Constant Contact. Intrigued, I signed up. Within days I was bored. There was nothing to read and very few people were using it. Not to mention I had nothing to say that would fit in 140 characters. Since then, I’ve been an ardent anti-fan of the service, dissuading friends and clients from using what I believed was a service for vain and bombastic people. But recently I’ve begun to change my mind. One word. Egypt. When a country of 83 million can change its leadership with the help of Twitter, who am I to speak badly of it. I decided to give Twitter another try.

Participation not required.

I dusted off my 4-year old Twitter account and began to troll my Facebook and Linkedin accounts for people to “follow”. If you’re unfamiliar with Twitter, “following” a person is simply a way to read what they post on Twitter – their Tweets. Before I knew it I was following 50+ people. I also installed the free Twitter software on my Macs and iPhone. Twitter software makes it easy to read tweets. Otherwise, you have to visit the Twitter website and sign in to your account. Ugh, what a hassle!

So there I was, reading a steady flow of tweets. Some interesting, some intriguing, but most completely useless. I quickly unfollowed the “Tweeters” (yes, there’s a whole lexicon for Twitter) whose tweets didn’t interest me. In the past few weeks I’ve refined the list of people I follow, and now I’m getting some very interesting information. I’m laughing. I’m learning. I’m crying. Oy! But my biggest revelation is that there are actually two ways to use Twitter. One, simply being a voyeur, reading what’s tweeted. Or two, actually tweeting. Hmmmm. To tweet or not to tweet. That’s my next decision.

What’s your Tweeting strategy?

As I refined the list of people who I follow, I noticed a pattern emerge: There seems to be three distinct reasons for tweeting.

• A person tweeting for personal reasons
• A person tweeting for professional reasons
• A company tweeting to promote its products or services

The above is pretty self explanatory, but there are subtle combinations of each that aren’t obvious. For instance, celebrities tweet for personal and professional reasons. People are interested in their personal lives and their professional lives are on screen for all to see. Then there are gurus like Guy Kawasaki who have a lot to share and want to let people know they’re an expert. Then there are Tweeters like Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact. Gail shares her expertise on Twitter, and in doing so she promotes her company. This is my strategy for tweeting. I tweet under my own name and share my knowledge and point-of-view as a professional. And in doing so, I promote my company. And hopefully get some new business!

My point here is that you need to develop a strategy for using Twitter. Carefully consider the things you’ll Tweet about, and the things you won’t. Be methodical and thoughtful. (Shameless plug: We can help you develop a strategy and even tweet on your behalf.)

Should you join Twitter?

If you’re a curious person who wants to quickly know what’s going on in our world, become a voyeur – get a Twitter account, follow some influential people, and simply read. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll learn.

If you’re a professional who’s interested in letting people know that you’re an expert and passionate about what you do, get a Twitter account and start tweeting. You can tweet under your name or your company’s name. As you build your list of followers you’ll learn some interesting techniques for tweeting such as including links to websites and hashtags.

Twitter is here to stay. As time goes by, professionals and businesses will learn new strategies for using the service. My recommendation is to get onboard now, start small, and be consistent. Read your Twitter feed at least once a week. Refine the list of people whom you follow, and people will begin to follow you. KNOW your audience and begin to send Tweets that are relevant to them. And if you’re concerned about privacy (By default all your tweets are public) there’s a setting to keep your Tweets private. But if you’re Tweeting for professional reasons I don’t recommend keeping your Tweets private. Consider having multiple Twitter accounts that have different business/personal strategies.

Have fun and let me know how it’s going. And be sure to follow me @DonLutkus.

Email marketing services like Constant Contact offer a number of useful features – tracking, contact management, list segmentation, and design templates, just to name a few. These are all great features. But that’s all they are – features. They don’t help you with marketing strategy or messaging. And their design templates can only take you so far toward ensuring that your company’s visual brand is reflected in your email messages.

First let’s talk strategy.

You’re a small business. Most likely you have better things to do than think about the marketing buzz word, “strategy”. Yes, you want to do email marketing. Maybe you’ve even tried it. But when you sit down in front of the computer you’re faced with quandaries like “what?”, “who?”, “how-often?”, “when?”, “what should it look like?” and “what happens if?” (Yikes! Right now you’re probably thinking “I’d rather be at the dentist.” ) This is where professional marketing brains can help. Solving these marketing quandaries is what we do. A marketing professional can take your email marketing to a whole new level of effectiveness.

On to messaging.

You’re a restaurateur, or an interior designer. Or maybe a professional hit man. (Good. You’re paying attention.) Yes, you’re articulate and a good writer, but you’re not a copywriter. Marketing copy is a special breed of language. Good marketing writing knows what’s in the mind of the reader. It anticipates needs and questions. It always asks for action and it has a voice that reflects your company’s personality. My favorite analogy is “Yeah, I can cook. But when I want a superb meal, I go to a restaurant.” A professionally written email message will polish your reputation, increase open rates, and get more people to your web site. Not to mention give you more time focus on running your business.

Aesthetics is just a fancy word for “really nice email!”

I’m a designer by training. And I’m a self-proclaimed design snob. I’m also a geek, therefore I divide email aesthetics into two categories: The first, and most obvious is visual design. Email marketing services have templates and “Wizards” you can use to build your email. In my experience these tools focus solely on making design easy, but fall down on making design good. Yes, you can get it done, but there are many time-sucking obstacles like fighting with your service’s poorly designed user interface, and making design decisions that – please excuse me for being blunt – are too often, well, they stink – and don’t look as good as they really could. Like good copywriting, good design provides polish that will make your email blasts more effective.

The second aspect of email aesthetics is one you don’t see. It’s the code. The guts of a fancy HTML email are complex – more complex than a standard web page because of the wild diversity of email client software. Even the best email marketing services’ “Design Wizards” do a C+ job of making emails look good. But a web design professional with email coding experience will make your email beautifully detailed, completely customized with your company’s visual brand, and it will look as intended in all email software versions.

Gee, this all sounds expensive.

Yes, hiring a professional is more expensive than the $15 a month you’re spending on an email marketing service. Most of the expense will be in the upfront cost of setting up your email marketing strategy and developing your custom HTML. But once you’re up and running there’s a lot you’ll be able to do yourself.

Step away from the computer.

You know that email blasts are a powerful marketing tool. You can do it yourself and get results. Or you can go back to running your business, hire us, and watch your emails resonate.

The other day John and I had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in Chestnut Hill. If you’ve ever eaten at one of these cookie-cutter chain restaurants you’ve probably noticed that they run ads in their menus. It’s actually a good business practice because the revenue gained from ad sales is used to offset the costs of these full-color, ring-bound, laminated, 30-page extravaganzas. Most of the menu ads are mundane and uninspired, but that day, one ad caught my creative director eye.

The ad was for Coke and my immediate, out-loud reaction was “This is a wonderful example of contextual messaging!” Disinterested, my non-marketer, psychotherapist partner looked up from his own menu and suggested that I “Put in the blog.” I got the hint, shut up, and ordered my meal.

What the heck is “contextual messaging?”

There are many aspects to good creative. The most obvious being well-crafted strategy, copy, design, and high-quality production. One way good creative can become great creative is by employing what I call contextual messaging. Basically, it’s a technique that understands, and takes advantage of, the viewer’s surroundings at the moment they experience the message. When used skillfully, the technique combines marketing goals, media selection, and creative to produce a message that not only sells the product, but also entertains by recognizing aspects of the viewer’s surroundings. This ad for Coke is a perfect example of contextual messaging.

Coke ad in the Cheesecake Factory menu.

First off, the ad is completely Coke – It truly supports the brand with its clean, white and red design. The main image is a fire extinguisher with the Coke logo on it. The only copy is a headline – “Hot Cajun Jambalaya. Cool Coke.” (I’ll ignore the fact that the headline is in all lower case letters and followed by an “ah-duh” parenthetical statement. Hey, nobody’s perfect.) This ad refuses to be just another pretty lump of words and pictures. It actually becomes a partner in my dining experience, and in the process, inspired a smile.

Now for the icing on the cheesecake. It’s clear to me that the creative and media teams actually worked together to place the ad opposite Cajun Jambalaya listed in the menu – Freekin’ brilliant. Ok, maybe overstated, but I get excited about this stuff. You have to understand that in this age of glamorous broadcast and online media, innovative and thoughtful print creative is going the way of the dinosaur.
My hat is off to the team at Coke for creating such a great print ad. (And thank you for giving me a really good blog topic!) Oh yeah – Guess what I ordered? Yup. Cajun Jambalaya and a [Diet] Coke. Yum.